shinyhappyrainbows

On the ABC today... Abbey Road console used by The Beatles finds new home at MONA's Frying Pan Studio I think this is a marvelous acquisition by David Walsh and his crew. History should be preserved including audio history, and any museum is a good museum to preserve it. Add to that the fact that it is going to be a piece of living history, used to record Tasmanian music, even better. Preserving old techniques is as important as preserving old tools. The one problem I have with this is the "rabid analog worshipers." Analog is not better, it is different. Different is good. If you're recording Miles Davis era Jazz, or delta blues, or Beatlemania... [breaths]... it's appropriate. Some analog electronic instruments, like classic synths are better for certain genres of EDM, likewise, valve amps have a particular style of distortion or drive that sits really well with guitar. These are colourations, and colourations are simply mathematical formulae, and can just as e...

I have some, shall we say, "unusual" views on alternative transport. Riding isn't worth getting the bike out for for under 10km, for that, I'll use my e-scooter, especially under 8km one way. Less than 4km, I'd rather walk. And I've recently realised that a train trip (with a bike) to Bairnsdale, to do the East Gippsland Rail Trail is 2 days riding (Bairnsdale to Orbost and back) because I can't put the bike on the coach from Orbost back to Bairnsdale. So, why not walk it over three days, yet plan for 5, and make an adventure of it? The whole trail is about 98km, the walking equivalent of 490km cycling. That, for me, traditionally was 5 days cycling, but I find I have, post heart attack (Nov 20, 2020), more stamina walking. So I'm aiming for 33km/day on foot, with a 5 day "reality check" packing and timing limit. Here's the route... East Gipsland Rail Trail::RideWithGPS.com Wikipedia has a great article on the trail and, if ...

JAx Dragon Violin , via Thingiverse. eSun PLA wood and Flashforge PLA aluminium. Verily did the Devil make his way unto Georgia, forsooth!

What it says in the title. Seriously, telecommunications, especially broadband, isn't a luxury, it's a necessity. It's what used to be called a "common carrier service," back in the days when a landline phone was considered an essential service and carried government guarantees. Telecom Australia wasn't expensive because they had no competition, they were expensive because successive govenment ministers were funded by international Telcos, so they artificially priced the service for low probablity disaster contingencies. I used to work there when "the debate" about privatising telecommunications was taking place. It wasn't a debate, it was a skilled market manipulation. Prices didn't come down because Telecom was sold off as Telstra, into a competitive market. They came down because of major advances in technology, in exchanges, in network systems, etc. We wuz conned.