Get off my LAWN! "Grumpy Old Farts"

[Jeff Scott]

I took one look at those paintings and thought, 'some people have way too much time and money... or I'm very dumb!' Just didn't see buying in that price range for what they were offering. Excuse me for showing my serfdom!

I saw in a movie once, I think it was Steve Martin, who bought an abstract painting for an obnoxious price then hung it upside down in his living room!

I have that movie, somewhere!

As to the modern art, one of the guys I worked with at the photo lab had a SMIL who's family has a major foundation related to the arts (Tremaine Foundation). Years ago they had a huge sell-off/auction at Sotheby's which helped with funding of the foundation. All major and very desirable (to those into modern art) pieces, by artists such as Jasper Johns, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, etc. Even after the auction, she still had a lot of that art in her house (a Picasso over her bed, for example). We got one of the Warhols in to photograph for one of the foundation publications one time; if seemed a bit surreal to consider it as just another everyday copy job to do!

I will say that I don't spend too much time in the Modern Art Galleries at the CMA. Some of the current artwork is truly weird, to me. Some of it is is like "Why?????"

 

[mikeoso]

You can incorporate hand crushing walnuts into your workout routine. That way you can combine exercise with prepping the bird chow.

They don't need me to open their walnuts. The smaller macaws can exert about 1200 PSI with their beaks. The bigger ones get up over 2000. The hyacinth gets in-shell macadamias as a large part of his diet. Our smallest birds get in-shell almonds.

 

[beans-on-toast]

With that sort of pressure, I hope that they never accidentally bite their tongue.

 

[alaskaleftybass]

With that sort of pressure, I hope that they never accidentally bite their tongue.

I hope they never bite anything of mine!

 

[beans-on-toast]

I hope they never bite anything of mine!

I wouldn't show them anything unusual that they'd want to investigate. Always feed with your plucking hand. You wouldn't want to loose a finger on your fretting hand. I suppose the question is, do parrots have the sense to not bite the hand that feeds them.

 

[mikeoso]

I wouldn't show them anything unusual that they'd want to investigate. Always feed with your plucking hand. You wouldn't want to loose a finger on your fretting hand.

^^^^^
Truth!

 

[alaskaleftybass]

^^^^^
Truth!

I also understand that they can be very affectionate too. I've seen some great vids of them imitating every kind of sound you could imagine. Still, not a good idea to provoke a bird...

 

[SoulReflection]

I also understand that they can be very affectionate too. I've seen some great vids of them imitating every kind of sound you could imagine. Still, not a good idea to provoke a bird...

Bird = Woman.

 

[Passinwind]

Lead times and out of stock are two killers. I needed Grayhill switches. Two were in stock at Newark, two at Mouser. Capacitors are a killer. There seems to be more and more products out of stock when I'm ordering. So orders often have to be split between three suppliers. Seemingly less of a problem with surface mount parts but often not what I want. Shipping charges add up, either that or go with larger orders that qualify for free shipping. Sometimes it makes sense to pad out orders, buying stuff for inventory that I don't need now, just to get the free shipping.

These companies keep getting swallowed up. Mouser is currently owned by BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY. I find that prices at mouser can be higher as a result. Newark has good sales. You always have to shop around.

Yep, it just depends. Mouser and Digkey have really good customer service IME and that's sometimes worth a little extra dough to me. I really need accurate info on what's actually in stock, it's generally my first search filter these days.

As much as I've resisted using surface mount parts, resistance is futile. So I'm doing lots of hybrid builds these days and taking advantage of the often better SMD opamps and film caps, which you can often find at +/- 2% tolerance now. And commodity level SMD resistors are commonly spec'ed at +/- 0.1 percent. Very easy to do parallel pads for custom values as well. Not as many pretty colors though...

 

[notJaco]

I wouldn't show them anything unusual that they'd want to investigate. Always feed with your plucking hand. You wouldn't want to loose a finger on your fretting hand. I suppose the question is, do parrots have the sense to not bite the hand that feeds them.

No
Just got to be in a mood.

 

[Deleted member 268085]

The noxious combination of cv and Brexit makes my blueburst semi-hollowbody Chowny a finer thing for me to have in hand than be waiting to arrive.

This exactly. Why I bought my G&L Fullerton Deluxe Fallout short scale bass now, before leaving for France, where it would have been MUCH more expensive.

 

[beans-on-toast]

This exactly. Why I bought my G&L Fullerton Deluxe Fallout short scale bass now, before leaving for France, where it would have been MUCH more expensive.

Good idea. Prices in Europe are way expensive for US products, even used.

Income taxes will give you sticker shock. Maybe it's changed now but you have/had to file with the IRS every year even though you are a resident of another country. A friend living abroad had to hire a US tax attorney related to his pension, it took years to resolve.

 

[Deleted member 268085]

Good idea. Prices in Europe are way expensive for US products, even used.

Income taxes will give you sticker shock. Maybe it's changed now but you have/had to file with the IRS every year even though you are a resident of another country. A friend living abroad had to hire a US tax attorney related to his pension, it took years to resolve.

I'm working with a tax guy in France. Since all of my income is from 4 pension checks, he says what I won't owe any additional taxes if France. If I had regular income in the US, I'd have to pay France the difference between the US taxes and what they would have been in France for that same income.

Least wise, that's what I've been told recently.

 

[GwenOnBass]

Always good to let the instrument acclimatize to the room temperature for several hours before opening the shipping box. I once received an instrument during a bitterly cold period in January. I was worried about shipping at that time of year. It turned out fine, it did better than my nerves.

At this time of year especially. Waiting a whole day would not be unreasonable.

That I kinda know all the delivery folks now 11 months into lockdown tells me there's good use for crushed walnut shells. It's how fur is cleaned. Coats and stoles get tumbled, and no I don't know how many cycles a load of walnut shell is good for.

A few hours before it's unpacked feels reasonable.

From what I see of the gig bag, it will absolutely fill all the duties required of a gig bag. Or should I say, that I require in a gig bag. Anything that takes out the bass is going to take me out too. I look both ways before crossing the street. I don't walk under falling safes.

If I need to fly with it, my SWAG is the gig bag will fit just fine inside an SBK Bass Safe.

The gig bag looks so cool.

 

[the harp unstrung]

 

[GwenOnBass]

This exactly. Why I bought my G&L Fullerton Deluxe Fallout short scale bass now, before leaving for France, where it would have been MUCH more expensive.

The Fallout looks like a real get-er-done bass.

 

[Deleted member 268085]

Good idea. Prices in Europe are way expensive for US products, even used.

Income taxes will give you sticker shock. Maybe it's changed now but you have/had to file with the IRS every year even though you are a resident of another country. A friend living abroad had to hire a US tax attorney related to his pension, it took years to resolve.

And with the exchange rate totally sucking right now, it would be stupid expensive. I can move large amounts through OFX for just over .80 (80 euro cents for 1 US dollar). Not all that long ago, it was .9. Gonna leave as much of my money in my US bank as possible, until the rate improves.

 

[Deleted member 268085]

The Fallout looks like a real get-er-done bass.

The Tribute Fallouts are really pretty good. The US Fallout is aces! The US version came strung with La Bella Nickel Round Wounds. They actually feel pretty good. I've ordered a set of DTFs for it, but may play the rounds for awhile. They're quite smooth for a round wound. Let's see how long it takes me to miss that flats (on all of my other basses).

 

[beans-on-toast]

View attachment 4155132

I played many of those songs. Not {Henry Mancini, Fifth Dimension, and B.J. Thomas}. The girls liked Sugar, Sugar. Help Me Rhonda fit into that class, a song people liked to sing along with.

 

[gtmalone]

... ... Not as many pretty colors though...

Something like this vintage color TV chassis perhaps? Lead dress, component orientation - who needs it! Actually, I'm sure quite a bit of thought went into the layout.