http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/ en Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:04:32 GMT vBulletin 60 http://forums.biorust.com/images/misc/rss.jpg http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/ http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/moodsr4cattle/264-shameless-semi-self-promotion.html Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:26:35 GMT www.femrecords.com



A social networking section, forum (must register before you can see the forum) and store.

MySpace is here: www.myspace.com/femrecords

(No, I'm not one of the artists) ;) ]]> MoodsR4Cattle http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/moodsr4cattle/264-shameless-semi-self-promotion.html http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/tamlin/263-amazing-radio-amazing.html Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:14:00 GMT I’ve always resisted the idea of writing a blog for the same sort of reasons I don’t use Twitter or update my Facebook status – I’m pretty sure no one is interested in the details of my so-called life. However, I thought I’d break with tradition and start a Bio Blog to try to help inject a bit of... I’ve always resisted the idea of writing a blog for the same sort of reasons I don’t use Twitter or update my Facebook status – I’m pretty sure no one is interested in the details of my so-called life. However, I thought I’d break with tradition and start a Bio Blog to try to help inject a bit of life into the place. Don’t worry: I’m not going to be droning on about myself – I thought I’d have a go at writing about the non-photography-oriented stuff that seems interesting (music, film, TV, books etc.), in the hope that others might be interested too.

Having said all that, I’m going to preface this first entry with a little story. Recently I took my car in for a service and, as part of the work that was done, they evidently had to disconnect the battery for some length of time. The upshot of this was that when I got it back, all my in-car DAB radio presets had disappeared. I set about re-programming it until, part-way through, I stumbled across Amazing Radio. My radio is now permanently set on this channel.


Two reasons I rarely listened to the radio previously were:

1. The same old stuff churned out over and over again.
2. Obnoxious egotistical DJs, more in love with the sound of their own voices than any music they might be playing.

Amazing Radio triumphs in both areas. All the music played – yes, ALL of it – is by unsigned bands and artists who upload their stuff to amazingtunes.com. All of the playlists are chosen by the audience and there are no DJs bigging themselves up and talking over the tracks.

And the music? It’s great. Not all of it, of course, but the mix is so varied that if something you don’t like is currently playing, something totally different will be up next. I could go on singing its praises, but go to the websites and check it out for yourself.

http://amazingradio.co.uk/
http://amazingtunes.com/ ]]> Tamlin http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/tamlin/263-amazing-radio-amazing.html http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/moodsr4cattle/262-power-people.html Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:16:49 GMT Before making digital music gained mass appeal and every kid with a computer could glue together pre made drum loops with pre made riff loops, and upload it to the world wide web, there were musicians - real musicians. Not all those musicians were professionally trained, many couldn't read music, but they could play, they could sing or they could write. And way back then there were the mighty record labels who would seek out the real talent and serve it up to the masses on vinyl. Some of what the mighty record labels served was sh*t, but it was filtered sh*t. Cream of the crop sh*t, if you will. Being one of those elite record label artists was the goal of every kid with a guitar because it was the only way you could get your music to Joe Public. With the advent of digital, the filter's defeated, the flood gates are open and Joe Public is drowning in sewage.

So I look to the comfort of books. At least those are still controlled by the mighty book publishers. At least the sh*t they serve up is still filtered, still quality sh*t.
But technology wins again.
Yesterday I stumbled across an online on-demand book publisher where every inept witless dolt with MSWord can be a printed author. No proof readers, no editors, no continuity checks, no damn filter! Someone opened the damn flood gates again!

At least I've got the internet where I can post my malcontent on a public blog! ;) ]]> MoodsR4Cattle http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/moodsr4cattle/262-power-people.html http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/supertackyman/259-2nd-half-tour-mystery-revealed.html Sat, 12 Sep 2009 19:55:11 GMT ok, as Paul Harvey used to say: heres the rest of the story.
http://s253.photobucket.com/albums/h...Movie_0001.flv
i didnt know the video got chopped off. ]]> supertackyman http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/supertackyman/259-2nd-half-tour-mystery-revealed.html http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/supertackyman/258-video-tour.html Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:18:36 GMT Now sit right back and you'll see the film,
the film of my little shop.
That started with this tacky song,
made by a tacky man.

MOV00150.flv video by stm_album - Photobucket ]]> supertackyman http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/supertackyman/258-video-tour.html http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/moodsr4cattle/256-rats.html Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:03:55 GMT Yesterday my daughter came home with a small box - I knew something was up by that little glimmer in her eye. When she opened the box I was very surprised to find an itty bitty pink shape wiggling around inside. She found this 2/3 day old pink baby rat alone in the middle of the grocery store... Yesterday my daughter came home with a small box - I knew something was up by that little glimmer in her eye. When she opened the box I was very surprised to find an itty bitty pink shape wiggling around inside. She found this 2/3 day old pink baby rat alone in the middle of the grocery store parking lot. She picked it up with a napkin and took it to the pet store which is right next door. They said that they couldn't take it because it was not domestic, however, they did fill a latex glove with warm water and put it in a box with some bedding for the little runt. They also gave her a little can of condensed milk.
So here we are with this little pink rat, no bigger than a quarter, that we're feeding every two/three hours. I've contacted a couple rescues to see if they'd take "Lucky" in, but so far no luck. It's a rat after all, and not a domesticated one.
What to do, what to do.

** We've located a local wildlife preserve called Walden's Puddle that's agreed to take the little bugger. ]]> MoodsR4Cattle http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/moodsr4cattle/256-rats.html http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/supertackyman/254-workshop.html Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:26:15 GMT lately, I have been spending a bit of time organizing my workshop in my garage. I ended up with a bunch of tools from somebody who didnt want them and what started out as "finding a place to put them" ended up in me creating a pretty awesome workspace for myself.
i hung my dremmel rotary tool on the wall within easy reach with its flexable extention on, so all i have to do is grab the wand and turn it on.
yesterday, i took apart an old computer and scavenged the power supply. i mounted that under my workbench and ran some wires in a loom to the top edge of the bench, and into a set of those push button wire holders like on speakers. and a toggle switch to turn it on. i can now test 6 and 12 volt accessories.
on the three walls around my work bench, i have hung all the large tools, hammers, saws, levels etc. next to the bench i have my grinder and polishers. and in a cabinet below that i have my welder. on the wing wall (its just a short outcropping next to the workbench, along with the tools i mounted an "explosion proof switch" that a buddy mailed me. i wired it up to turn on and off my air compressor thats on the other side of the wall with a cabinet above for all the air tools. later, i will post some pics or maybe even a video tour of it. ]]> supertackyman http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/supertackyman/254-workshop.html http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/moodsr4cattle/253-carnivale.html Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:38:08 GMT A friend stopped by with a few items he thought we might be interested in. A Genesis box set (mildly interesting, not a big fan of the Phil Collins years), an inspirational book (he's very religious and takes every chance to convert), and a two season DVD box set of an HBO series called, "Carnivale". He made it a point to warn us that it has a lot of gratuitous sex scenes. Gratuitous Sex! Now we're talkin'! We had to see what our righteous friend was so determined to warn us about, so that night we watched the first episode.
I was hooked in the first scene. So David Lynch-ish! So dark! So well done! Well thought out characters, scenes and plot. We liked it so much that we watched two episodes each night (three on the weekends, 24 total episodes).
It's set in the dust bowl of the 1930's centering on the plight of a rundown traveling carnivale and a small town preacher's ascent to evangelist with a flock of 17,000.
Good vs. Evil, with a twist.
The story isn't just handed to you on a silver platter. You see bits and pieces that might not fit the puzzle for several episodes. You have to think while you're watching - which is probably why it was cancelled after two seasons.
The series was written to span 6 seasons. Each episode cost 4 million and the first year went well, however, the second year's viewers slacked off and unless they could do each episode for 2 million they were going to have to cancel it. Thus, the last two episodes are a quick wrap-up and although they were well done, they couldn't answer everything.
I'd still recommend watching "Carnival" if you get the chance.

http://www.hbo.com/carnivale/

Ps: I can see now why our friend gave the Carnival box set away. ;) Oh, and the "gratuitous sex" was very tastefully done. ]]> MoodsR4Cattle http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/moodsr4cattle/253-carnivale.html http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/moodsr4cattle/252-fly-must-die.html Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:28:19 GMT It must belong to an elite squad or undercover surveillance team - obviously of black-ops origin. Sure, it's pretending to fly around all confused, bumping into the windows and walls - but I wasn't born yesterday ... like it was. I know a spy fly when I see one. No doubt it's carrying high speed video that feeds directly to it's HQ. No ... no it would bounce over several servers so it couldn't be traced. Tricky bassturds.

I know how it got into the house too. Cleverly pretending to be caught in the spider web by the back door - it waited, oh yes, it waited until the hounds wanted out, then zoom!

There it goes again! Dive bombing my computer screen! Having the audacity to land on my hair! Buzz off!

Here it comes again ... that's all right, I'm ready this time. I'll exercise my right to bare arms with this useless fitness magazine! Whack! Damn, it's quick. Whack! Oh, ... well, I'll clean that up later. Whack! Whack! Whack! Nothing on the mag, damn. But it's quiet. Too quiet.

Off sulking? Strategizing? Tending your wounded .... ego?
Apparently you don't know who you're messing with!

Until next time, Monsieur Fly ]]> MoodsR4Cattle http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/moodsr4cattle/252-fly-must-die.html http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/moodsr4cattle/250-grumble-grumble-grumble.html Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:06:47 GMT I Farging hate designing websites.

Basic HTML isn't good enough anymore and sites made entirely in FLASH can't be updated by the client easily, so what's the oh-so-cool latest trend? CMS websites. Content Management Systems. I'm learning Joomla and man oh man, I'm just burnt out. How much more insanely convoluted could it possibly be? Extensions, Module Manager, Plugin Manager, Front Page Manager, Media Manager, Section Manager, Article Manager and Components (calendars, news feeds, banners, galleries, polls ... etc). Must create a category to put your sections in which hold your articles which contain your extensions .... AARRGH! And after you get the damn thing organized there's all the tweaking! Torturous hours niddly fiddling with individual module configurations and CSS.

I think I'll just shave my head and save myself the trouble of ripping my hair out one clump at a time. ]]> MoodsR4Cattle http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/moodsr4cattle/250-grumble-grumble-grumble.html http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/supertackyman/249-getting-comfy-shiny.html Tue, 26 May 2009 16:23:47 GMT Well, this weekend my motorcycle finally passed the line... the duct tape to actual seat material ratio reached critical mass and I couldnt take it anymore. I took apart an old pair of black jeans, and made a new seat cover. now i have a nice new denim seat. As I was cleaning up, I found some... Well, this weekend my motorcycle finally passed the line...
the duct tape to actual seat material ratio reached critical mass and I couldnt take it anymore. I took apart an old pair of black jeans, and made a new seat cover. now i have a nice new denim seat.

As I was cleaning up, I found some polishing compound and gave it a go on one of the engine panels (they were a dingy aluminum color) and had some acceptable results. so, I set to work pulling off all the panels and polishing them on my polishing wheel. now it looks all shiny.

next I have (want) to polish the aluminum wheel hubs and the forks. but that will have to wait until i can get a dremmel attachment to get the small, hard to reach places. ]]> supertackyman http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/supertackyman/249-getting-comfy-shiny.html http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/moodsr4cattle/248-windsong-stays-my-mind.html Tue, 26 May 2009 13:20:02 GMT It was short, but sweet. Last Thursday we ventured out to a rental cabin named, "Windsong" nestled in the Smoky Mountains near Gatlinburg. The edge eroded single lane roads leading to the cabin were long, steep and twisted. We didn't exactly get lost, but the instructions were pretty sketchy and the roads weren't well marked and some of them not at all. Once we found it, it turned out to be a really nice cabin clinging to the side of a foothill. Even though there are hundreds of cabins around the area we could barely see any through the vegetation - and that was nice. There was a postcard view of the Smokies from the balcony, albeit limited by the surrounding trees. The reason we were there was because "boyfriend-in-law" (my daughters boyfriend) wanted to go to an Opeth (yuck) concert in Knoxville and we thought to just make a weekend of it. We were joined at the cabin by boyfriend-in-law's friend and her daughter whom were Opeth fans too.

Unusual for us, we slept with the windows open and were greeted at sunrise by a symphony of birdsong. We made the trek to Clingmans Dome and even though the view was somewhat obscured by thick clouds it was beautiful to behold.

We wanted to skip the Gatlinburg commercialism and tourist crowds (and it was insanely crowded) so we asked the locals for some recommendations on their best local restaurants. We took their combined advice and went to an expensive one. The place was populated by the geriatric crowd (which should have been a big red flag) and the food they served was bland bland bland. We were all disappointed. We agreed that it must have been a fluke and decided to try another local recommendation after we checked out on our last day. Bland again. At least this time it was cheap. We concluded that the entire "local" population of the Gatlinburg area must be 70 years old and up, have no gallbladders (or teeth), and enjoy food that's been run through the deflavorizer.

Aside from the restaurant blues, the trip was really nice - even if it was for only a couple days. ]]> MoodsR4Cattle http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/moodsr4cattle/248-windsong-stays-my-mind.html http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/moodsr4cattle/247-21-years.html Wed, 13 May 2009 18:19:57 GMT Twenty One years ago today I stood in front of Judge Ann Lacy Johns in Nashville's Criminal Court and be came a wife. That May 13th fell on a Friday. I never wanted that massively expensive "biggest day of my life" kind of wedding - and my husband has been eternally grateful. I watched both of my older sisters go from happy, loving post-college giggly girls into stark raving, post-apocalyptic mutant yetis over their weddings. I firmly believe in learning from others mistakes.

So here I am 21 years later. Am I happy? I think so. Well, most of the time. I wouldn't say it's bliss, but it's not exactly hell either, although there have been a couple brief ventures into the eternal fires - but there have also been good times. Most of the time it's, what? It's just what it is. It's marriage.

When I was young I swore I would never get married and I would absolutely never have children. I also swore that I'd never get involved with a musician - especially one in my band - didn't keep that promise either. Sometimes we just don't really know what we want. But as it turns out, having children is wonderful. Being married is pretty good too - even if it is to a musician that was in my band.

So here's to my first 21 years of marriage. May we survive 21 more. ]]> MoodsR4Cattle http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/moodsr4cattle/247-21-years.html http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/man1c-m0g/245-back-bench.html Sun, 03 May 2009 09:07:22 GMT I must admit something - I've been very bad and skipped the gym for 3 weeks! I wasn't sitting idle, of course, but the change in the season and all the recent gardenwork left me with little inclination to continue. Now that I've started going again, though, my energy levels have perked up and I'm feeling slightly prowly all the time again. I seem to have lost a little strength and endurance, but I'm hoping to make it back in a couple of weeks. I'm definately not gonna have a sixpack for EF, but I'm starting to think that's an impossibility for me now to be honest...

In other news, I've decided to sell my 260L tropical fish tank. It's just lost it's appeal since I had to put it out in the gym due to lack of space in the new house. Anybody interested? I'll supply it cleaned and with plenty of accessories (including a cabinet base), but you'll have to pick it up as I can't carry it very far! ;) ]]> Man1c M0g http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/man1c-m0g/245-back-bench.html http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/supertackyman/243-backwoods-mechanic-meets-me.html Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:06:19 GMT ok so as most of you are aware I have a motorcycle that is 35 years old, and luck be the reason that it still runs. sometimes i cant figure out how. lately, since it warmed up out here in nevada, it hasnt run as well as it should. several removal and what i thought to be complete cleanings of... ok so as most of you are aware I have a motorcycle that is 35 years old, and luck be the reason that it still runs. sometimes i cant figure out how.

lately, since it warmed up out here in nevada, it hasnt run as well as it should. several removal and what i thought to be complete cleanings of the carbuerator only made things worse. even though i put things back the way that they were, minus dirt particles and gunk. the other day i took it off to clean it "one last time" before committing to professional help. This is what I found:

( a quick lesson an carbeurator mechanics to those that may not understand. imagine a carbureator as one of those old squeeze bulb perfume atomizers. as air passes over a submerged tube it draws the liquid up through the tube and vaporizes it out thru the nozzle.
now a carb has more tubes like that of various size and function but lets just consider the tube i was takling about on the atomizer. normally there is a hole that leads from the resivoir in the carburator (bowl) to a hollow bolt called a jet. the jet controls how much fuel can flow into the "vaporizer" tube. that "vaporizor" tube also has a flow control on it which would be referred to as the throttle.) lesson finished.
heres what happened:

some backwoods mechanic before me removed the jet assembly completely. having finished with that, a regular bolt was used to replace it.
then, since gas was leaking out around the threads, they took a lead .22cal bullet and plugged the hole that leads to the jet from the bowl with it.

I dont know how i rode 3300 miles with the equivialent of a 100% clogged a main jet. the only fuel it was getting was through the other, more secondary, holes and jets.

anyhow, i quickly fashioned a plug to keep gas from leaking out of the carb but still allowing it to flow where it was supposed to for a change and put it back on. runs much more powerfully now. has some real scoot.

now all i have to do is track down and get the right part. ]]> supertackyman http://forums.biorust.com/blogs/supertackyman/243-backwoods-mechanic-meets-me.html