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Thanks guys. Spent the day shopping, so what could be better?

I'm afraid the heat increase on each slap would dissipate before the next slap comes in, even using both hands and a dick or a pair of tits.

Oh shit, Colin's old!

Snow is really good in the Sierra Nevada's this year. Debated heading up to Tahoe for snowboarding but the lines are fuct on Sundays(64 inches in the last 3 days). Desert trails on the other side of the valley have 2 to 4 inches depending on where you are, so lots of fun in the x3.

This. I buy 2lbs every time I buy (to get free shipping) and it usually takes me around a month to get through both bags but I'm not going to pound coffee just to get through a bag faster. I grind the beans daily and prep in the French press. This is so much better than 90% of the coffee that I could buy on my way to work and less than 1/4 the cost.

Burger at Fifty Fifty Brewing: half pound beef with jalapeños and honey cream cheese. Sweet, spicy, delicious, to use the Mikey three word tasting notes style.

I have been roasting for several years now and I have always lived by these rules -- "Store roasted coffee in a cool and dry environment (avoid the freezer or refrigerator). An air-tight container with a one-way valve to allow CO2 to evaporate while not letting oxygen into the container is ideal" But the main rule is coffee is considered 'fresh' for up to 2 weeks, not much more.

Christ, you're as old as Jesus ever got! Happy birthday and many more. Stay away from Romans this year. Cheers!

Literally tons of snow everywhere in Tahoe. Tomorrow or Tuesday should be ideal on the slopes, assuming forecasts are correct and it stops falling.

Nice Wayne! I have tried all three boards and would suggest the G3 as the best of the bunch, especially since Brent refuses to comment on this thread and backed a different choice earlier. I would also suggest you start buying darts from https://www.dartscorner.co.uk/ as there is a much better selection that what is available on Amazon and much better pricing. Next, look at buying an assortment of stem lengths, as pairing these to your darts and throwing style takes some experimentation. My particular journey has ended up with polycarbonate. My warning with the aluminum stems in particular is they tend to very slightly bend and it’s hard to tell when this occurs and impacts your throw quite a bit. Once you find a length that you like, you can consider various stem/flight systems. I am currently using the Robson flights for example and these are very durable. I also have started punching my non-molded flights and that has cut down on flights popping off. Can’t wait to see some pictures of your setups!

I’m basically doing the same thing you are, Nate, only pour-over instead of French press. While it sounds like buying one 1-lb bag at a time is best as far as flavor goes, it also sounds like doing 2 1-lb bags at a time and consuming them within a month also isn’t the end of the world. And yeah, the cost savings of doing it at home are insane. I used Quicken to look at how much I spent on Starbucks and Peet’s coffee in 2018. It was a lot. This coffee is better and, even at a fairly high cost per bag, so much cheaper. Grinding and brewing in the morning is also kind of enjoyable.

TMoney, This is just my two bits. I've read exactly what mikeymad posted many years ago now when I spent an excessive amount of time absorbing coffee related info. I rarely find the quality of beans locally that I have come to appreciate (I got very fortunate a month or so ago and found some local incredible Ethiopian recommended by a friend). Shipping can be costly, some roasts are limited in duration, and often I don't make the time to make my French press during the work week so my bags can last longer than two weeks. I agree whole heartedly that coffee is best when recently roasted, but it doesn't go "bad" a few weeks after. Good coffee is good coffee and the coffee I buy is still pretty damn good after 14+ days. It does deteriorate....loses some aromatics / flavors but as long as you're not more than say a month into a bag it is still very drinkable in my humble opinion. A proper roaster generally supplies a good quality bag with a one way valve. If yours doesn't, keep one from your prior purchase. Also, if you're going into a bag daily you're releasing built up CO2 at least once a day so perhaps that will help you rest easier if you prefer a sealed canister...keep it in a cool / dry place like a pantry. I always keep mine in the supplied bags. I kept coffee in the freezer years ago to test it and it was not the end of the world as some on the forums would lead one to believe. I appreciate the science behind good coffee, but it goes a bit far at times for my liking. I'm currently drinking some lovely coffees from La Colombe. My first time buying from them. I prefer medium roasts...went well past my all has to be dark phase years ago. It depends on the beans. I can highly recommend the Rwanda Lake Kivu and the Bourbon Workshop from them. Happy cupping... HS

I wouldn’t recommend buying more expensive beans than you can drink in 2 weeks but freezing them is the recommendation I’ve heard.

I’m using a modified T2 power supply. +250V reduced to +220V. +/-500V and -560V are reduced to +/-400V and -460V. +/-12V increased to +/-15V. Filaments as original. But the -400V is not used at all with this amplifier.

Happy Birthday! Stuff yourself to bursting!

Happy Birthday, Colin!

Hence the need for an artificial hand. The thermodynamics is really where the thought exercise falls down - a box that is sufficiently insulated so there is no heat flow into or from the chicken via the environment over much greater than one year? A mechanical or electrical coupling into the artificial slapping hand that has no additional heat flow? I think I'll just keep using the oven

Quite. His calculation does not work anyway, because the majority of any animal is water. So you first of all have to overcome the latent heat of fusion, which is 334J/g. So to take a 1kg frozen chicken at 0C to an unfrozen chicken at 0C takes 334,000 J, which would take 37.5 mega-slaps. Actually the main calculation is wrong anyway. Assuming his specific heat capacity is correct at 2270 J/kg (pure water would be 4200, so his number seems about right). I would not cook a chicken to 205C, because it would be a cinder, but leave his assumption in place. So from an unfrozen chicken at 0C to a cooked cinder at 205C would take 2270 x 205 / 0.0089 = 5.2 mega-slaps (not 23 kiloslaps) which would take 60 days at one slap per second. So the conclusion is 1.2 years to unfreeze the chicken at 60 days to cook it to a cinder (or about 22 days to cook it to 75C, the accepted internal temp of a cooked chicken). Of course you'd need an artificial hand that was at all times isothermal with the chicken so that no heat (from a hot hand) was transferred to the chicken at any point. And the whole shebang would have to be in a perfectly insulated box. Apart from those trivial problems......

Straps wear out. They are like tires. Just wear the damned watch the way it was made.

PSFW: I don't understand why the chicken is frozen, are we in a Disney movie? Why not start at 106 degrees Fahrenheit?

good luck and have fun.. done additional melting progress here. but there maybe more snow in the future..

https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/4698092045 From 32,000ft

With JoaMat's blessing, Jose and I had the "mini T2" PCB fabricated for our use.These are proven boards - one working amp has been built. The right board has one error – one 1206 resistor got a 0805 pad but it’s possible to put the 1206 on it. The boards are 2mm thick, 2oz copper and right and left channel boards are mirrored (see pic.). There are a few remaining sets available, PM me if interested. EDIT: Added schematic and BOM that JoaMat provided. The BOM uses thick film resistors, you may want to substitute with thin film resistors. EDIT: Feb 22, 2019 - replaced schematic with corrected one BOM mini T2.xlsx Schematic mini T2.PDF

So in the meantime in typical HC fashion, I've ordered 3 dart boards (so I can compare them, go figure, knowing nothing about darts like I do). Also, a surround thingie to protect my wall, and a bunch of darts and extra flights. Winmau Blade 5 (didn't get the Dual Core, lots of bounce outs per reviewers): https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NAL48FU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03__o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Unicorn Eclipse HD2: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B076Q3V2VY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03__o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 One80 Gladiator 3 (lots of love for this at the Darts Nutz forum): https://www.darts.com/dartboards/one80-gladiator-3 Backboard: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B003WKZTGU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03__o00_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Viper Blitz 28g: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B005NAZHSW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Cuesoul 26g: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B075FQ72RK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Then assorted sizes, inexpensive darts to have around for whoever shows up and wants to experiment (3 each of 18g, 20g, 22g, 24g, and 6 of the 26g): https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B06Y1113D2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D4J1BDM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Flights: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B06X9X9KQH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0114PCUZM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0084SPYVK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 All told something like $600. That should cover me for now and forever unless I get the idea that I'm actually any good at it and want to get more fussy with better darts. Another foolish hobby, just what I needed! It will be fun to compare the boards though.

For sale! https://m.imgur.com/a/Zxj3EWw Not for sale!

Nothing is happening until my custom ECP phono stage is completed ?

There has been some renewed interest in the DSHA3F (which is our Focal optimized amplifier) of late. In order to keep the manufacturing process as smooth as possible, I am accepting orders for this amplifier for a small batch run for the next 2 weeks or so. I expect these amplifiers to be delivered around late March (with any orders after this batch not being ready until June or so.) Price is $2800, and orders require a 50% nonrefundable down payment.