Craig Sawyers

The first picture (if you look at the pattern of the carpet) shows the chair is absolutely on axis between the speakers. The second photo's angle gives a deceptive perspective.

O think it is an AC regenerator for the turntable motor. The variac is used to set the voltage. I think that the knob at the bottom is a frequency switch to set the motor speed (45/33/78). Looks homebrew.

This is long, but fascinating. A serious Scottish rock scrambler going up Tower Ridge on Ben Nevis. This is Grade 3 - the highest grade, with some spectacular exposure.

The infamous Edsel is a bit of a classic car now. Typically $20k+ in good condition.

All you need is a tall listening chair

Because of the power intensity of data centres, and the cost of noisy air conditioners for cooling them, there are very serious studies to build them in the bottom of lakes and the sea - the water is cold and becomes the cooling. Which removes the air conditioning entirely. And makes them quiet. And inherently secure too.

Ginger Baker in full flight in 2011 with an 8 minute drum solo in "Toad".He was a mere 73 at the time....

That is a fine sight. No precision flying team does it like the Red Arrows. Good to see them strutting their stuff in the US.

I must buy that - the whole idea of Domingo and Norman in Lohengrin is just too awesome. We were lucky enough to see one of the other three tenors - Jose Carreras - in one of Hampton Court Palace quadrangles, maybe 20 years ago. We had seats in about row four (on a corporate hospitality junket). In my rush to get to our seats, Carole said "did you see who you just shouldered out of the way?" - "er, no" "John Cleese". Oops. He was about ten rows behind us... That was one hell of a treat. VIP seats dead centre about ten feet from Carreras, with piano accompaniment.

A very happy and belated - hope you had a blast!

And a very happy very belated!

And in two of my absolute favourite pieces - the finale Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, and Im Abendrot from Richard Strauss's Four Last Songs, both of which bring me to tears.

RIP Jessye Norman, one of the finest classical sopranos there have been. In full glory as Sieglinde in die Walkure https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-49887748

Galileo would have been absolutely gob smacked by the imagery from planetary probes, when all he saw was a blurry image. Enough to see the moons of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn, but no detail at all.

Sand dunes with ice melting near the North pole of Mars

Have a spectacular day!

For creepy. Playgrounds from hell. And whoever thought that this was a good idea for kids?

Really? I never would have guessed that. Well, I kind of see Snoopy, but the rest is a strange and wonderful mystery.

I have no idea what those weird images are from. But I'm torn - I don't know whether I want to watch it, or not.

Happy birthday, tall thing!

Ivor Tieffenbrun's (Linn) maxim was always "If it sounds better, that is because it is better". On the one hand it could be taken as just a company slogan, like Quad's "The closest approach to the original sound". But on the other, it is quite a deep statement to the effect that measurement is not enough in determining subjective quality.

Oh bugger. Far, far too early.

You heard it here first. Solid gold toilet stolen from Blenheim Palace. Apparently an artwork. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-49700620