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Finished a couple more Murder Boards/Christmas Presents.

George Baselitz exhibit was already on the list but we went today to honor the architect as well.

This is my best pass. I think it's got another tick or two in it but I'll never see a 9 unless I up the boost and that means losing the cats, pinning the crank and a lower pulley swap (harmonic balancer). Trying to leave the daily alone...err as is. HS I could also pull the seats, etc... but I'm a lazy racer.

I'm currently playing mentally with the idea of a spring lever machine. Since I don't want to move espresso machines between my house and my girlfriend's house twice a week, I'm tempted to get a spring machine for the girlfriend's house.

He designed the buildings I used to work in - PA Technology in Melbourn (near Cambridge UK) and in Princeton NJ, below (designed 1985) After that he became too famous and expensive to do little jobs like the above! But what an architectural titan. RIP Richard Rogers.

Cases and heatsinks are a problem for DIY builds. Front panels of thick alloy need machining and tapping as do heatsinks. These items are hard to get machined or the sizes the builder wants are not available. I devised a way of making cases, which eliminated these problems and made for easier case design, lower costs and quicker builds. Cases Made from sheet aluminium alloy of preferably 3mm so only single sheet of material needed. I get the parts laser cut by a company which will also supply the material. The case parts need holes to be countersunk where necessary and are then taken for surface finishing, (bead blasting and anodising in my case). I then take the front panels to be screen printed with the graphics I provide. The assembly is with corner posts and angle brackets cut and drilled, and bolted together. I only drill and tap corner posts to attach base and top panels. The case is basically a box with a front panel on to cover the front of the box. Heatsinks https://uk.farnell.com/amec-thermasol/fch505010t/heat-sink-50mmx50mmx10-25mm-ceramic/dp/2499023 Edit; a link to these was omitted, http://www.amecuk.co.uk/ Element14 has them in many countries. https://www.newark.com/c/cooling-thermal-management/heat-sinks?brand=amec-thermasol I discovered porous ceramic heatsinks and realised that these small, light, self-adhesive items would solve problems. I bought a few and tested to see if they did what was claimed. A single 50mm square of 10mm thick could dissipate 5-10W stuck on sheet aluminium. To make heatsinks you only have to bolt the semiconductors directly to the 3mm plates and place the ceramic heatsinks as needed. They are not expensive, and with a range of sizes you can arrange heatsinks of different shapes. I was concerned that they might unstick but the opposite has been true, they are hard to remove. They are not pretty so I contain them inside the case and organise slots above and below to act as a chimney to allow convection. This works well and they do not run hot. The porous ceramic devices are very effective. I have found that this method is much easier to procure and build. The amplifiers built this way can be smaller and lighter.

PA Princeton did not come through. Trying again.

Guess I better convert from Ebony penis extensions to Wenge penis extensions this Christmas.

RIP RR. We will definitely make a pilgrimage to the Pompidou.

Here is my solution for filament transformer… …mounted on bottom case plate, belonged to a now retired Blue Hawaii. I also found a piece of Bergquist Gap Pad for the transformer to rest on. It seems that cathode resistor voltage is much lower for Emission Labs tube than for EL34, so I decreased the negative high voltage from 460 V to 400 V. The lowered voltage called for change of Cathode resistor and trimmer, now 402R resistor and 100R trimmer. A few things had to be removed before component changes.

The issue with these heavy vehicles, and I mean the Challengers, Chargers, Jeeps and RAM’s…all of the hellcat based vehicles is the driveline. I had my transmission “built” which really only meant beefed up clutches and steels were available at the time, and I ate an aluminum sprag in it when I was using another tuner…over reved shift points. Now you can get a billet version of that sprag so you can push them harder. The transmissions, transfer cases, differentials (particularly the cases so a beefed up diff mount setup can prevent it) and the half shafts (axles) are all fuses. Beefing up the power by 100-150 rear wheel horsepower is easy peasy. HS

Made my semi-annual appearance at the Texas Mile in October. I've been running my piggy and by golly if we didn't go faster than we had before despite finding a roofing nail in one of my tires at one point....here is to a good tailwind! HS

Nespresso has a nice selection of coffees which taste far better than the K-cups, brews the coffee at a higher temperature and they recycle the used K-cups. Friends don't let friends drink K-cups.

I might like to be swaddled in bacon...

I would also say the same, but knowing they are instruments of death, I just can’t.

A feast for an old Alaskan. My favorite homemade hashbrowns (bake potato the night before in microwave, chill overnight in fridge, then shred with cheese grater and cook). A smoked Alaskan salmon/cream cheese omelet, bagel and an Earl Beige.

RIP Renay Mandel Corren El Paso, TX—A plus-sized Jewish lady redneck died in El Paso on Saturday. Of itself hardly news, or good news if you're the type that subscribes to the notion that anybody not named you dying in El Paso, Texas is good news. In which case have I got news for you: the bawdy, fertile, redheaded matriarch of a sprawling Jewish-Mexican-Redneck American family has kicked it. This was not good news to Renay Mandel Corren's many surviving children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, many of whom she even knew and, in her own way, loved. There will be much mourning in the many glamorous locales she went bankrupt in: McKeesport, PA, Renay's birthplace and where she first fell in love with ham, and atheism; Fayetteville and Kill Devil Hills, NC, where Renay's dreams, credit rating and marriage are all buried; and of course Miami, FL, where Renay's parents, uncles, aunts, and eternal hopes of all Miami Dolphins fans everywhere, are all buried pretty deep. Renay was preceded in death by Don Shula. Because she was my mother, the death of zaftig good-time gal Renay Corren at the impossible old age of 84 is newsworthy to me, and I treat it with the same respect and reverence she had for, well, nothing. A more disrespectful, trash-reading, talking and watching woman in NC, FL or TX was not to be found. Hers was an itinerant, much-lived life, a Yankee Florida liberal Jewish Tough Gal who bowled 'em in Japan, rolled 'em in North Carolina and was a singularly unique parent. Often frustrated by the stifling, conservative culture of the South, Renay turned her voracious mind to the home front, becoming a model stay at home parent, a supermom, really, just the perfect PTA lady, volunteer, amateur baker and-AHHAHAA HA! HA! HA! Just kidding, y'all! Renay - Rosie to her friends, and this was a broad who never met a stranger - worked double shifts with Doreen, ate a ton of carbs with Bernie, and could occasionally be stirred to stew some stuffed cabbage for the kids. She played cards like a shark, bowled and played cribbage like a pro, and laughed with the boys until the wee hours, long after the last pin dropped. At one point in the 1980's, Renay was the 11th or 12th-ranked woman in cribbage in America, and while that could be a lie, it sounds great in print... https://www.fayobserver.com/obituaries/m0028451

It's kinda the opposite of the DE, so I'll have covered all the bases.

Not bad for a Jeep 😂. Rumor has it there will be a dealer installed option for the TRX that will give it a extra 100 hp and still keep it under warranty 🤞I would like an even 1000hp truck but will settle with 800. 😂

Cheese and rice that thing is quick.

Boy did I ask for help...LOL. Nespresso is a more practical suggestion for me. I'll do some research. Separately, I've got a love hate with Onyx Coffee Labs. They went to a Neiman Marcus style she-she packaging and cut back on the coffee provided. I stepped away from them for a long while but they put me back on the mailing list and hooked me with their 2021 Advent Calendar. Damn them...they know how to choose beans and roast them, though. Today's morning coffee is an Ethiopian Negusse Nare that's amazing via Chemex. HS

Yes and the orange are Paduak.

Some Type-C Pr0N (revving that straight 6) for your enjoyment.

The coffee I bought today was from a grocery store and was roasted on December 12th, but it was not a regular grocery store… If k cups are what works it’s what works. But I really would look into Cometeer. People I trust say it’s very good for what it is, though it has the same sort of waste issues that a Keurig does.

I would have said a Jaaaag, as you can almost make out the cats ears on the badge above the radiator. Google reverse image search said Jaguar C-Type. "Jaguar C-Type - Wikipedia" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaguar_C-Type Looks like it.

Murder Boards are THE Christmas gift this year. Better get your ping pong table warmed up.

Holy crap Jeff, those look great!

It’s that time of year for the Meat Manger to come out…

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I have a reusable K-cup I've toyed with. I have been with my company north of 30 years and always had an office. Now I work on a trade floor and literally have what I call a 4x2. One file drawer on rollers. No excuses as I don't feel the need to apologize. Just not much space for my things so I keep then in my briefcase that comes in and out with me. On to our regularly scheduled programming... Onyx Honduran Edgardo Reyes via the Chemex. A very nice cup with some tropical fruit notes..some nuttiness and pleasantly sweet. HS

Now my Emission Labs tubes finally have gotten a dedicated DHT amplifier. Picture is taken in almost complete darkness, so most of the light comes from LEDs and tubes. Current is 27 mA which gives a voltage of 15V cross cathode resistor. Filament transformer is on the bench behind the amplifier - I have to find a more permanent solution I guess…

After several years layoff I have built a KGSShv Carbon which uses boards I had in and 4 Cree sicfets from several years back (luckily). The power supply is KGSShv v8 and the amps Carbon v6. It has been one of the easiest builds because of a different way of making the cases which I have described in Making diy cases, https://www.head-case.org/forums/topic/18892-making-diy-cases/ It is set for 400v supplies and 17mA output stage currents. It does not get particularly hot in a 20o C room, the heatsinks run a max of 40o at the centre. The power supply pass transistors are bolted to the bottom of the case and the case runs pleasantly warm to the touch. The size is 335 W x 314 D x 155 H inc feet. Weight 8.5Kg. (13in x 12.4in x 6.1in, 18.8lb.)

I assume with all these retirements you must be in charge of everything by now Nate. I would like to chat with you about surplus nuclear subs that might be available for a plan I am working out. Put the Walrus Wax on the board and threw it in the kitchen as Kasia decided to keep this one.

Obviously.

Just a hop, skip and a jump away from me. I'm going to pass though

Because I feel it's my job to be a Christmas downer, over time, wenge will lighten to a medium brown, purple heart will lose its purple and turn medium brown, and padauk will turn a kind of medium brown. So in a year, it will look more or less like a walnut cutting board.

RIP architect Richard Rogers. If there's anyone currently in Paris, maybe a tip of the hat towards the Pompidou Centre. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/dec/19/richard-rogers-pompidou-and-millennium-dome-architect-dies-aged-88