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I learned a ton and had a blast at my Driver's Academy class on Saturday. There were 24 students, about 16 of the 24 were teens and young-twenty-somethings and the other 8 of us were older drivers. For the 24 of us they had 6 cars and 6 instructors, so we were four to a car plus an instructor. The day was almost entirely cone drills and was all about car control. While car control is obviously important to the enthusiast, I really do think this is a class that anyone could benefit from. Knowing how to handle your vehicle in an emergency like a sudden lane change, slide, or emergency braking situation is something all drivers should know. Getting to learn these skills on a closed course in a safe environment rather than doing it for the first time out on the public roads under duress is tremendously valuable. I think auto insurance companies should offer discounts or subsidies towards paying for one of these types of classes. They really are that beneficial. As an experienced driver I found that while I intellectually know what a lot of car control theory is, there is a difference between knowing it and being able to execute it while under stress. There is also a "feel" component to things that a video game or simulator just can't replace. A lot of driving at the limit is being able to feel what the rear tires are doing through the seat. It was great to be able to ride along as a passenger while the other students were getting instruction. Not only could you soak in what the instructor was telling them, you could feel through the seat what the car was doing. The difference in feel between doing something the right way and the wrong way is really something you have to experience in person. Most of the drills were done in normal cars. Camry, Altima, Malibu, CLA250. Tires were shitty all seasons. All drills were done with traction and stability fully off. I think the idea behind this was you can find the limit at much lower speeds than you could in some of the race cars they had. It worked great. Driving a slow car fast is a heck of a lot of fun, as always. We cycled between three drills in a morning and an afternoon session. In the morning the drills were: Skidpad (my favorite!) - Go around until the car understeered, learned how to handle understeer. Then oversteer. Get a feel for how to catch it, what it is like to not catch it and spin. I was good about counter steering but I needed to learn to wait until the rear end hooked back up before correcting my steering input. ABS emergency brake + maneuver - Do a full ABS slow down and then maneuver to avoid hitting a "wall" of cones. I was familiar with doing ABS stops but adding the maneuver element to end was a new twist. Under full ABS all the available traction is going to braking so if you don't lift a little on the brake you are just going to understeer and plow in to the cone wall. Proper cornering - they had a hairpin turn set up with cones. Drill was to trail brake in, hit the apex, power out as you unwound the wheel. Hairpins are hard because everyone's natural tendency is to turn in early. The apex on a hairpin is well past the geometric center of the curve, so this drill was all about eye training and visualizing your line. It is amazing how much speed you can carry when you get the line right. Afternoon drills were: Introduction to autocross - They took the hairpin in the morning session and added a bunch more corners to make an autocross course. I loved this. Taking it slow at first and then building up speed on consecutive laps felt great. Emergency Lane Change - Speed towards a cone wall with a lane to the left and right of it. A second before you get to the wall the instructor shouts "left" or "right" and you have to make an emergency change to that lane, then slow the car. Scariest drill of the day, as you feel like you could roll the car. Doing this kind of emergency lane change at 45mph felt extremely FAST, but we built up to it. Driving a Manual Transmission Car - I basically have never driven stick before ever, but I know how things are supposed to work. We did this one in the Mustang race cars they had, which was fun. After stalling once I got a feel for how heavy a race clutch is. After that it was pretty simple. I don't think I need to go out and buy a car with a stick, but I get the appeal. On the whole, an awesome day. I feel like I learned a lot and it was the kind of learning that I only get by actually doing the thing. As I said before, I'd recommend this kind of Driving Academy or defensive driving class to anyone. It was pricey, but worth it. Instructors were great and we got plenty of seat time.

If you haven't seen this skit, it is must see TV!

Let the testing begin.

Thanks, and understood - My issue is that with the Oracle (semi-auto) I can only adjust the dose so much. I reduced it this morning to its absolute minimum, and that gave me a 22 dose, which is the dose I really like right now. The grinder uses a little telescoping post with a set screw to adjust the fill level (max stroke). I was thinking for a few bucks I could have the flexibility to go to a lower dose if I wanted with an 18g basket. I really should be just talked about in terms of the size of the basket, the current VST that I have is 26mm high, and smaller one would be 24mm. The limitations of the all in one machine. That all being said - the 22g in and 46g out that I am sipping on right now is glorious.

For what it's worth, mikeymad, I don't ever use my smaller basket. I find the 20g one has plenty of flexibility. Great to see you're having fun and enjoying good coffee. HS

No, I don't dare touch them.

I just throw all of my sawdust away. Finished installing the Oneida. Still need to plan the two routes for dust collection. I am leaning at the moment to use the 25’ of nice flex hose that came with it to run to the tablesaw, jointer and planer. If I tried to run any PVC on that run it would only amount to about 8 feet of PVC and $100 plus in adapters etc. I will then run a 4” PVC across the ceiling to provide one drop in the middle for the router/drum sander and then two drops under the soffit for the drill press and CNC/Bandsaw.

No.

Yup - that was my experience on the first pull. It is a deeper basket than the stock one. I ended up with just under 24g in. So I pulled 50g out, and it was a lovely complex shot out of the gate. I pulled another one just to see if the consistency was there, and sure enough it was. So, I poured them together and sipped on the quad shot for a while. I didn't finish it, I would have been way too buzzed. But I am happy with the basket, I may pick up an 18g just to be able to run smaller doses in the future.

I think you’ll like it. You should get a bit more extraction.

Well here is something odd, it's well known how much I "love" the SR-009 and I recently picked up a used one in Japan as a part of a larger bundle. I was just going to move it on as I already had one in my collection so after putting it off for a while, I sat down to test it in my main rig just to make sure it was ok. Now here is the odd part... this one sounds nothing like the other eight SR-009's I've had here over the years. It has a slight forward tilt to it but far better than any 009. It lacks that artificial "boxing in" of voices or the excessive brightness superimposed on everything. I dare to say they are pretty smooth and with proper bass response too. Thinking I was going nuts I grabbed the other set from my collection (which sounds like all the other 009's) and did a double blind test. I had my better half pick songs and hand me either of the two sets (plugged into the same Carbon CC) and this wasn't even close. With the regular 009, just the opening of a song was enough to give them away. That same feeling as with Tyll reviewing the Ultrasone ED10 if anybody remembers that... Now this set is never leaving my collection but why is it like this? It's not a super early one or a late one, I've had both (plus everything in the middle) and they all sound the same. In fact the other set I have here is one of the last ever made and it sounds the same as the very first set I got back in 2011. This set is in the SZ9-1200 range so this has to be a QC issue or something like that. I don't know the history of the set but no mention of it ever being serviced. Earpads feel like new and the whole set feels like new so yeah... not sure what is going on. I first tried tried them on Friday and I've probably logged 10 hours on them by now which is pretty unheard of for me with 009's. Hell, I had to force myself to try the Purrin Rock set which just arrived (those are weird) and now I'm back on the 009's.

Crucible of hell. Details the invasion of Okinawa. Lot's of detail from people that were there on both sides. One of the worst battles of the war. I was stationed in Okinowa for a year in the mid 70's. It was an eye opening experience for a 19 year old from a rural area of Iowa.

Lisa Loring, the original Wednesday Addams, dies at age 64 https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jan/30/lisa-loring-the-original-wednesday-addams-dies-at-age-64

RIP Tom Verlaine of Television and other musical adventures. https://pitchfork.com/news/televisions-tom-verlaine-dies-at-73/amp/