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So I had to come back to Atlanta to do my transfer to a different store up in VA. Just my laptop and a pr. of senn hd201s. Then here comes the king of all friends...(that would be Purk) Brings me a pair of HD800 and HD650's. Sets up new software on my laptop, brings all cables and a nuforce converter, along with headroom desktop headphone amp/dac and desktop power supply. After 7 months of health issues and not being able to work, getting back in the groove was not easy. Having these tunes to come home to has made so much difference! Thanks just doesn't cover this much trouble and time he's put into this hook up. He's the best

Good for you, Steve. The notion that a 3000 year old book somehow represents justification for bigotry is nonsense.

Walked into a homophobic discussion with gay slurs, and idiotic statements about how the new gay marriage ruling is a slap in the face to Christians and their beliefs. It got very, very quiet when I walked into the room. But for the first time I can remember, I remained calm. I stated my case without malice and without raising my voice. I have no idea if I changed anyone's mind in any way, but I don't really care. I was so happy with myself for not flying off the handle. I have to attribute recent events and my experiences at this years Gay Pride Parade in San Francisco, for my new found patience. I now think of all my great friends who wouldn't want me any other way than what I am, and I gather much strength from that. NFLO!

The hypocrisy in the Catholic Church is on an immeasurable scale. While some people think of child molesters who pray on boys somehow related to gay men and homosexuality in general, there is absolutely no relation whatsoever. Child molestation is rape, and rape is not about sex, but about power. I've mentioned before how pissed off I get about that comparison to homosexuality. While I'm not surprised at how Catholic people have little understanding of gay people, I cannot for the life of me wrap my brain around the idea that having consensual sex with a member of your own gender can somehow be seen as similar or worse than the rape of a child. While the Catholic Church would quietly shuffle off a molesting priest to another diocese, they would publicly condemn gay men and women for basically acts of love. So "Intrinsically disordered" is in one way a giant step forward. Also, as the general population becomes more understanding and comfortable with homosexuality, the Catholic Church has absolutely no choice but to soften the rhetoric. As for me, what has me most excited these days, is that equal rights has to be just around the corner. I can still be fired in Texas for being gay. No recourse at all! But that first domino has fallen, and surely the momentum is irreversible now. I love you gays and gals dearly!

Joshua Redman Quartet - Spirit of the Moment: Live at the Village Vanguard (1995) Available at Spotify and Tidal It has the privilege of being among the very few post 1990 albums to make the New Yorker list of 100 Essential Jazz Albums. As a matter of fact only eight post 1970 albums made that list (not a free and avant-gard jazzer myself).

Nice going Steve. Had a conversation with a group yesterday and the consensus was two presidential elections out this will be mostly a mute point. Of course extremists will be left (a sign of a general fading), but even those currently angling for political advantages won't have that option reasonably quickly. On the other side of history, I miss Plymouths. Stumbled on a car show tonight.

I enjoyed it. I put tumeric in the rice, and american saffron, thyme, paprika, and parsley in the paella. The kids apparently liked it too, as I didn't have any leftover.

The rice was cooking in the rice cooker, and it was shrimp, squid, octopus, and mussels, plus peppers, onions, tomatoes, and garlic.

Fuck those fucking fuckers, Steve. Good on you for having so much more grace in the situation than they obviously did. I bought a fishing license last week and took the kids fishing today. Caught a small northern pike, which I cleaned and intend to eat tomorrow, bones be damned. The kids were pumped. I think we'll do that again.

I hope so. It's better than shifting the Catholic power base to countries less progressive, which some fear. First step south of the Equator has shown signs of hope... even today. I'm not an optimistic guy, especially around religion/theology, but I do think we should celebrate the sometimes hidden moves forward in the tornadoes of ridiculousness. Apologies if I used this example before (it hits home as I still remember my mother trying unsuccessfully to explain the difference between dinosaurs and dragons), but Young Earth Creationists may think dinosaurs and humans played hopscotch together, but some mainstream Protestant Christian denominations*, even into the '70s, doubted dinosaurs existed (or thought they existed solely as a test). Dinosaurs are now REAL, even to the lunies! Progress. Of course no one had to be really against gay marriage until it had a possibility of existing, but the three steps ahead tactics of those fighting against, by some even in public statements since the Supreme Court decision, sure feels like an acknowledgment of gays/lesbians as people and a larger society acceptance, no longer possible to ignore. That some have pivoted from spokespersons of the American public to a "protect our religious views" minority position, seems huge no? Even the lunies realize. * BTW, we may want to be careful interchangibly using "Catholics", "Catholic Church" and "Christians."

You were looking for the regular porn thread Gregg?

It is my pleasure to help out Tom! He is my audio mentor after all. The loaner HR setup is actually an Ultra Desktop Amp with Max DAC/Amp module so it does a really good job with the HD800. Also I borrowed the HD650 from Mulveling so the credit goes to him to.

*hugs* We can totally have a virtual viewing party when you're ready. **BRENT**

Tim would've loved this. Don't know if I'll be ready to watch it. Just seeing the preview makes me tear up and miss Tim.

the 1k resistor in series with the 2 x 11k resistors. change to 500 ohms and I never liked virtual ground anything. just a bad idea.

Also the growing realization that those people are in the dwindling minority.

Paella.

I want a puppy. **BRENT**

If a pairing with Watson is needed, Crick could be a good one.

Thanks everyone!!! I had a slow day with some amp building and then took a trip to the half abandoned US Navy station here. Fun to see if as it is pretty much a large ghost town. I did get some cake, two of my friends picked me up just as I was going to bed and gave me a cake. The plan was to eat it outside but it was so windy that we lit the candles in the car. Almost set it on fire.... Anyway, a pic of my ugly mug with a cake.

I've finished building a KGST and it sounds amazing. Much thanks to the Stax Mafia for an awesome design and making all of this possible, Headinclouds for the group buy, and everyone here for your help and assistance! So I gave one of the two KGSTs I was building as a wedding gift to a friend who just so happens to be a photographer and he gave me in return some pictures of it. I'm still finishing up the other one but here is the finished one. The rest of the photos are here: http://adhikariphoto.smugmug.com/Portraits/KGST/n-9GZfc/

Here's a mock-up example of how I start my p to p builds. I start with a raw .090 aluminum top plate. First lay out all the major components, If you're using transformers, place the power and output transformers in diagonal corners to maximize the difference between them. Try to keep all power components in a tight area around the power transformer. Signal wires shoud be tight, short, and as far removed from power components as possible. If you have to cross power and signal wiring, do so at a 90 degree angle. Use DC for all filaments. Good AC filament wiring is an art in and of itself. Be prepared to take several different attempts at your wiring. Do not leave connections unsupported or hanging in the air. Don't be afraid to rip things out and start over. As you progress, you will always see things that you could do better a second time around. Remember always to think about safety and heat dissapation. Everybody that builds like this has a slightly different style. Rather than planning in advance where each particular small component or connection will be, I like to build a square of tie points around each tube socket and have a sort of connection point grid to work from. I like to keep everything at 90 degree angles if possible. For tie points, I like to use Soviet era Russian military connectors. Seller Sovcom on Ebay is a good source. I use a combination of 6 and 10 position connectors. They are pretty cheap, yet very high quality. Order 3 times as many as you think you'll need. I like octal tubes rather than 9 pin miniatures. The sockets are much easier to work with. They also usually sound better. Many miniatures have octal equivalents that can be used without any circuit modification. A 12AX7 is a 6SL7, a 12AU7 is a 6SN7., etc.. There is no direct octal equivalent to a 6S4, but half a 6BL7 comes close. Better than either of these would be to use a real power tube as an output device. A triode-connected EL34, or a trioide-connected 7591, which would be my personal choice (hey, it was good enough for McIntosh). There's lots more, and I'm sure others have points and considerations I haven't even thought of. Eventually you need to go ahead and jump in. Post your progress or problems here. Don't be embarressed if it's not a work of art at first pass. We're here to help and keep you safe.