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Harry Tuttle

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Re: The Question Thread
« Reply #465 on: August 02, 2009, 11:07:07 PM »

This may seem out of place, but you just reminded me of it. I went to the Orange County Fair last week. It was kind of cool. We saw "Al's Brain" and enjoyed it, but one of the best displays was the woodworking area. First, I saw a bunch of well-made stuff that impressed the hell out of me. In a time of mass-produced plastic stuff it was really awesome to see hand-crafted work with careful detail. At the very end of the building there was a group of guys just carving ducks out of wood and spinning wooden bowls, or carving tops on a lathe. Cool stuff. It makes me wish I was better making stuff with my hands.
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Bill Brasky

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Re: The Question Thread
« Reply #466 on: August 03, 2009, 12:49:32 AM »

This may seem out of place, but you just reminded me of it. I went to the Orange County Fair last week. It was kind of cool. We saw "Al's Brain" and enjoyed it, but one of the best displays was the woodworking area. First, I saw a bunch of well-made stuff that impressed the hell out of me. In a time of mass-produced plastic stuff it was really awesome to see hand-crafted work with careful detail. At the very end of the building there was a group of guys just carving ducks out of wood and spinning wooden bowls, or carving tops on a lathe. Cool stuff. It makes me wish I was better making stuff with my hands.

I have a small, old-time amusement park here.  Well, I don't have it, I just attend it once every ten years.  Its about a hundred years old.  Very cool stuff.  Its got an old Merry-Go-Round, with hand carved horses.  It probably one of the ten-best old-time permanent regional parks in the nation, as far as I'm concerned.  Its clean as a whistle, and its got a whole bunch of those idiotic baby rides for toddler kids, that go up and down on a hydraulic arm, like jeeps, Red Barron planes, and what-have-you. 

Way off in one corner, they have a village of craftsmanship that blows me away every time I see it.  They have a guy pounding horse shoes, a guy who runs a steam tractor (it has a boiler that works like an antique locomotive) and cuts lumber with it, various and sundry candies and goodies like popcorn cooked in a kettle with a wooden paddle.  Its a great place.  I had half a notion to document my last visit, but those sorta things are often trash-talked, so I don't often make the effort. 
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Riddler

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Re: The Question Thread
« Reply #467 on: August 03, 2009, 09:02:01 AM »



If it was here in the States, they'd probably call a halt to it, . 



there was a documentary on discovery about an american co. that does this very thing.
back in the day, when they floated logs down rivers to the mill, there would always be a certain amount lost to sinkage.....
lack of oxygen preserves the wood, etc...
these guys harvest the sunken logs......150+ yr old wood...big money
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Bill Brasky

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Re: The Question Thread
« Reply #468 on: August 03, 2009, 09:35:29 PM »



If it was here in the States, they'd probably call a halt to it, . 



there was a documentary on discovery about an american co. that does this very thing.
back in the day, when they floated logs down rivers to the mill, there would always be a certain amount lost to sinkage.....
lack of oxygen preserves the wood, etc...
these guys harvest the sunken logs......150+ yr old wood...big money

I'll bet you PETA is all over that one, disturbing the bottom of riverbeds.
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freeAgent

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Re: The Question Thread
« Reply #469 on: August 04, 2009, 09:03:22 AM »



If it was here in the States, they'd probably call a halt to it, . 



there was a documentary on discovery about an american co. that does this very thing.
back in the day, when they floated logs down rivers to the mill, there would always be a certain amount lost to sinkage.....
lack of oxygen preserves the wood, etc...
these guys harvest the sunken logs......150+ yr old wood...big money

Yeah, I saw that show.  It's pretty interesting.
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fatcat

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Re: The Question Thread
« Reply #470 on: August 05, 2009, 02:47:28 PM »

Is molecular gastronomy bullshit?  Is it just cooking with a fancy name or fancier equipment?  Or is it something fundamentally different from cooking-- and if so, why?

Real gastronomy is utterly brilliant. Theres plenty of bullshit being passed off as gasto-food at the moment, but cut the wheat from the chaff and you can find some really amazing stuff going on.


Heston Blumenthal making 4 separate flavors in one drink

[youtube=425,350]3nyVrGFFkLY[/youtube]


Heston Blumenthal on Salt Myths
[youtube=425,350]nlFJVvqgY7k[/youtube]


Heston Blumenthal in search of perfection
[youtube=425,350]P-GJCAogmZk[/youtube]
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Level 20 Anklebiter

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Re: The Question Thread
« Reply #471 on: August 05, 2009, 05:52:21 PM »

Anyone know who are the investors of General Fusion?
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Bill Brasky

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Re: The Question Thread
« Reply #472 on: August 05, 2009, 06:15:18 PM »

Anyone know who are the investors of General Fusion?

Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital, a Vancouver-based venture capital firm, led a C$1.2 million seed round of financing for General Fusion in 2007.[2][4][5]

In 2009 a consortium led by General Fusion was awarded C$13.9 million by Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) to conduct a four-year research project on "Acoustically Driven Magnetized Target Fusion";[6] SDTC is a foundation established by the Canadian government. [7] The other members of the consortium are Los Alamos National Laboratory and Powertech Labs Inc.[6]


-----

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Fusion
refs/links/sources at bottom of page




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Rillion

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Re: The Question Thread
« Reply #473 on: August 05, 2009, 07:20:39 PM »

Real gastronomy is utterly brilliant. Theres plenty of bullshit being passed off as gasto-food at the moment, but cut the wheat from the chaff and you can find some really amazing stuff going on.
(Heston Blumenthal clips)

Neat!  Thanks so much for the clips....I'm going to have to go on to see if he makes the perfect Baked Alaska. 

The reason I asked was that there was an episode of Top Chef Masters which featured Wylie Dufresne, who is apparently into molecular gastronomy, and all of the judges were making these comments about "scientific cooking" and how they distrusted it.  And I was thinking "Well, cooking is  science....it's manipulation of temperatures, physical pressures, and chemical contents to achieve a desired result."  It seems more like a difference of perspective to me than an actual difference of method. 

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Rillion

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Re: The Question Thread
« Reply #474 on: October 27, 2009, 06:15:40 PM »

Need some new speakers for the laptop.  Prefer maximum sound for under $80 or so.  Any suggestions? 
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Bill Brasky

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Re: The Question Thread
« Reply #475 on: October 27, 2009, 06:21:00 PM »

Bose 3 series, I think they connect with the little headphone 3.5mm chrome prong.  Its basically a home system with a little bass cube, ac powerd.  If they need to be totally transportable, it wont work. 
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freeAgent

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Re: The Question Thread
« Reply #476 on: October 27, 2009, 08:30:56 PM »

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rabidfurby

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Re: The Question Thread
« Reply #477 on: October 27, 2009, 08:38:26 PM »

Yeah, how portable you need them to be matters a lot. If you want to be able to throw them in a laptop bag, get these:

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-970155-0403-Notebook-Speakers-Black/dp/B0009WKBGC/ref=pd_cp_pc_0

They plug in through USB, which means you get built-in play/pause/volume buttons, and there's no extra power cable.

If you're going to have them plugged in at a desk where portability doesn't matter, there are a bunch of good 2.1 systems in the $50-$100 range. I'd get one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Bose-Companion-Multimedia-Speaker-System/dp/B00062QY5W/ref=dp_return_2?ie=UTF8&n=172282&s=electronics (the little brother of the ones Brasky mentioned, which are $200+)

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Speaker-System-Subwoofer-Black/dp/B000AM6QHE/ref=pd_cp_pc_1

http://www.amazon.com/Altec-Lansing-VS4121-Powered-System/dp/B000TMI07O/ref=dp_return_1?ie=UTF8&n=172282&s=electronics
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Rillion

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Re: The Question Thread
« Reply #478 on: October 27, 2009, 09:03:41 PM »

I don't need them to be portable at all.   Extra power cables aren't a problem-- better sound is the preference, with budget as the constraint. 

Thanks for the suggestions....looks like I'll need to decide from amongst the three that rabidfurby suggested.  Bose, Logitech, and Altec Lansing are all reliable brands so far as I know....
« Last Edit: October 27, 2009, 09:11:45 PM by Rillion »
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Bill Brasky

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Re: The Question Thread
« Reply #479 on: October 27, 2009, 09:15:11 PM »

Don't let the size fool you - those microspeakers pack nice sound.  And opt for a system with the bass cube, it makes an enormous difference.  
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