tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4458751050813616092024-02-06T20:20:02.499-08:00Bug'n out of BabylonOur move from SF to DNoiz Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10271364253147672592noreply@blogger.comBlogger65125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-445875105081361609.post-9281506916549010172020-03-19T10:12:00.000-07:002020-03-19T21:23:51.653-07:00Beer not just for Breakfast anymore<p>A post from 2012, but it’s still relevant. Though a bit less today as a number of laws have relaxed. And of course at the moment hardly anybody is flying and bars everywhere are being closed. But flash to happier times and the bars are open again…</p><p>“Drinking friendly state” the bartender answered my “a civilized state”. This was in response to buying a beer at the airport and being told I could bring it anywhere inside the airport. Wow a state that doesn’t seem to be still yearning for prohibition.</p><p>Coming from California where it’s not too bad to Michigan where the state has to wholesale all liquor sold in the state. Drives the prices up a bit but it kills variety. There are three or four kinds of most liquors available but that is a drop in the cocktail glass of what is available in say California. There are liquor stores in CA that sell almost nothing but Tequila. It’s not unusual for a well stocked store to have 30 to a hundred different brands and grades of a given type of liquor. This also impacts things like bitters and other essential cocktail ingredients. Is it possible to have a first class society if you can’t make a first class cocktail (legally).</p><p>There are those that would say yes but I’m not so sure. You don’t want a land of drunks but limiting variety doesn’t impact that. You can get cheap liquor in MI, just not a variety of GOOD liquor. A lack of innovation is a lack of innovation.</p><p>OK yes you can have a first rate society with out any liquor at all, but it’s an up hill battle.</p><p>A interesting side effect is that beer is really good in MI. There is a tone of craft breweries and a lot of home brewers and MI is the state that wrote the bill (not passed) that would have legalized home distilling.</p><p>The thing is that folks who like interesting cocktails are also the same kind of people who like interesting beer and interesting wine and good food. So if you have most of those people will find a workaround. They can buy in other states, and do, they can buy in Canada, and do, they can make their own, and do.</p><p>So the question is as a state do you want your citizens working their creativity to get around stupid laws or do you want to support them to use that creativity to boost the economy of your state.</p><p>On the base level if they are buying outside of your state your loosing money. If they are spending time getting around laws, that shouldn’t exist, they are not spending that time helping your state thrive.</p>Noiz Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10271364253147672592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-445875105081361609.post-16387415040100085862020-03-18T16:58:00.000-07:002020-03-19T21:14:40.346-07:00Cowering in Place<p>Well… Now that I have more time, or actually maybe less time but am stuck at home anyway, I thought maybe I would post some more entries in the Detroit adventure.</p><p> So opening this back up after?… A bunch of years I notice that I had some posts started that I never posted so I will finish those also, unless they just seem stupid which is a possibility.</p><p>It looks like my last post was in 2014, so OK a lot has happened. We lost our huge old elm tree. The trunk was 5 feet in diameter and it was over 100 years old and Dutch Elm disease took it out in less than a month. We tried a bunch of things but there isn’t really a treatment and while it did cling to a slight vitality for a year or so it finally gave up. Really sad. It was taller than the house (three stories) when the house was built, there are photos. We did refuse to go with the “grind it up and burn it” plan that the first tree place wanted to do and got a place that works with an outfit that planks the wood and sells it to furniture makers. And we got a bunch of the smaller boards and I will make some furniture for the homestead from that wood.</p><p>I don’t think I had been brewing a lot by 2014. That changed and I brewed close to 200 gallons a couple of years since. There is a big home and garden tour in the neighborhood and I brew for the after party. And neighbors are good at drinking down the stash so I don’t get too backlogged. We started doing floats/ costumes for the Marche du Nain Rouge. That is postponed/ canceled this year because of the virus But we did everyone but the first two? I think. In a kind of scary foreshadowing this year I was doing a “zombie” running for president and riding a tricycle. I was thinking Mad Max but someone who saw early pictures though more Tim Burton. If you are seeing this you probably get either my Instagram or Facebook feeds so you can see a shot of “Vector the Super Spreader”. I will put up some shots of the final creation. He is just about finished so maybe I will post on the day of the parade (well when it would have been).</p><p>We had a monumental fight with the city over street lights, and won! Oh I should jump back a second. I got talked into joining the board of directors of the homeowners association. It was crazy because of a huge mess that I had no idea I was stepping into but the association was in bad shape and just realizing it. That got fixed, I am not taking credit, it took a lot of people doing a LOT of work and I only did a small part of that. We were just about out of the woods when the city decided to lie and then try and cheat their way out RE: our street lights. It’s way too long a topic to deal with in this post but it went on for a year plus and involved lawyers and a bunch of money and threats of RICO violations and well a LOT of trauma. BUT in the end (everyone needs some positives about now) we prevailed. Not as smoothly as we hoped but we did win in the end. It took a HUGE community effort but in the end it worked. This I will take a tiny bit of credit for. There have been at least one other big neighborhood projects that have also worked out and I think a lot has to do with the lighting working out, but I had basically nothing to do with them.</p><p>Aislinn is doing a TON of pottery. That also started after my last post. There is a local place Pewabic Pottery, that in certain circles is kind of a Ford of Pottery, though MUCH smaller. Well know and high quality, but in Detroit. So she started taking some classes and has been doing a lot of work there and at home since we have a potters wheel downstairs now!</p><p>There is a lot to the pottery story, but maybe later.</p><p>The shops have been “expended”. Expanded is really more a capability than space reference. Because I have been doing a lot more building than sound work the shops have expanded there capabilities to match. I did a lot of wood work but limited metal work because I was a “subtractive” only shop. I have a small mill and a small lathe, but I had no ability to weld. Not strictly true but no ability to quality weld. With the bigger Nain Rouge projects welding became a must so the whole metal working part of the shops has become MUCH more capable.</p><p>AND food. When we arrived there was really no restaurant I would have brought a guest to in Detroit. Harsh maybe but pretty accurate. So I added to my normal cooking to doing a lot more. I started baking bread pretty regularly. I was already roasting coffee but that ticked up some and brewing went way up. But I also started cooking a lot more meals, and not just your OK meals but meals that reminded us of the kind of places we would have gone to in SF.</p><p>Now Detroit has become a foodie location and, before the Virus, there were a ton of places with amazing food you could go to. But I got over the hump and we still eat in well regularly.</p><p>Now that everyone is hunkering down (You Fing better be!!!) all of these skills are working out well. We are heading into spring and if I finish up a couple of projects we may be almost self sufficient for a fair amount of time.</p><p>Here is hopping anyway.</p><p>Stay healthy and keep safe.</p>Noiz Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10271364253147672592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-445875105081361609.post-1925567283150320302016-11-10T10:41:00.001-08:002016-11-10T12:55:09.419-08:00Mourning in America<div class="p1">
OK it’s been a long time since I posted but mostly things have been going well and Detroit is a fantastically changed place since we moved here.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
So why the title, and what’s the connection?</div>
<div class="p1">
Well the connection is that if what you read about Detroit in the 1990’s and early 2000’s then get ready because the individuals that just got put in power are like the white flip side of the folks who drove this city into the ground.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">This election I think turned on a LOT of pent up anger. I get it I am still pissed off at Wall Street and the banks and the complete lack of congress to get much of anything done. </span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Trump came along and said it's OK to vent in ways that have never been acceptable in public and people wanted to vent. I'm sad that so many people didn't see beyond that anger and look at what a Trump / Tea Party America would look like. An America (white male AmeriKKKa) first, isolationist, turn back the clock and pretend it’s 1952 (and that we are not fighting a War in Korea) world.</span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">What that doesn’t of course take in to count is that WE are not the kings of the universe. If we can ignore Europe, then we hand it to Putin’s remaking of the USSR. If we ignore Asia then we leave it to China.</span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">The America they want to back to depends on things that don’t exist anymore. A huge industrial base. Being the only world power not devastated by WWII, England was still on food rationing.</span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">We can either be positively involved with the rest of the world or end up living by Moscow and Beings rules. The ONLY thing that keeps them in check is American partnerships with Europe.</span><br />
<br />
Atomic weapons are pointless because they all know any use ends all of their reigns. No power survives an atomic war because there is no way to stop retaliation, the other sides missiles will launch long before the first ones land. And any crazy leader pushed to the point where they have no viable survival chances will throw the hail marry play, as Saddam did by launching missiles into Israel. If Bush senior had not managed to keep the Israeli’s uncharacteristically out of the war there would be a lot of green glass in the middle east and a LOT of people still dyeing from the after affects.<br />
As a weird aside it’s sort of interesting that the Tea Party chose to name itself after a media stunt that is remembered for something it was not.</div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p6">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p6">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p5">
<span class="s1">It wasn’t about the tax on tea, americans didn’t drink a lot of tea. Tossing the tea was a slap at England for a tax on molasses which is the key ingredient in rum. Something that americans did drink a LOT of. The colonies were at the time the largest makers of rum in the world, and they were no exporting…</span></div>
<div class="p6">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p5">
<span class="s1">So I am mourning the loss of the ideal of America. </span></div>
<div class="p6">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p5">
<span class="s1">The country didn't change, nobody suddenly became different. I worked and lived at a theatre squeezed between tenements and projects in a rather scary part of Oakland California in the late 70’s so I have seen this side of america and I have seen what black americans deal with that white americans rarely experience. I also did a set design for a gay theatre in the 80’s where I and the other straight contributors were given an orientation on how to stay safe. See there were thugs that would assume we were gay just because we left the building. Not having had to probably deal with this issue the theatre wanted to make sure we knew to never leave alone and to watch out because we might well be attacked on the assumption we were gay. This was in San Francisco where one would have assumed it wouldn’t be an issue. The point got driven home when one of the crew was caught on the two block walk to the subway and beaten so bad he spend a week in the hospital. He hadn’t payed attention, he grew up in suburbs and wasn’t gay. Didn’t mater to his attackers. Perception was all it took. So I know that under belly probably better than most folks “like me”.</span></div>
<div class="p6">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p5">
<span class="s1">But till now there was at least the ideal that if we had our issues we at least in principal were striving to be a better place. America was proud to be the “Melting pot” Sure some were on the top of the pot and it wasn’t as easy to get from the bottom to the top and it was harder if you fit into any number of groups, BUT most people still seemed to believe in the pot. At least they said they did. Folks have said the want Trump because they want the america of years before. Well that America publicly embraced the melting pot and would NEVER have found most of what has publicly said about women acceptable. They probably wouldn’t have a big issue with tighter immigration, but they would not have supported a WALL because WE saw ourselves as a Melting Pot. America has played with isolationism before and restrictions on some races have been at times very restricted but mostly the concept of immigration has been strongly supported.</span></div>
<div class="p6">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p5">
<span class="s1">This election showed that a significant portion of the population rejects that idea. The core founding idea of America. This is the most unAmerican result possible and that more than anything else is what really shocks the rest of us.</span></div>
<div class="p6">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">The next election someone will be able to truthfully run on a "make America great again", because 4 years of Trump and TeaBag control is going to leave us looking fondly back on the "good days" of the "great recession".</span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">The “Tea Party” is fundamentally unAmerican and always has been. The “government” IS America. If your stated goal is to “reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub” you are by definition antiAmerican. It actually stands on the brink of advocating a violent overthrow of the government which would be, ah, treason.</span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">And speaking of treason Russia says it was working with Trumps campaign during the election.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-russia-in-touch-election_us_582475f5e4b0d9ce6fc0e5f4?section=us_politics">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-russia-in-touch-election_us_582475f5e4b0d9ce6fc0e5f4?section=us_politics</a></span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Working with a foreign power to subvert an American election…</span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">It sounds like a bad remake of the MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, maybe the PUTIN PUPPET?</span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Part of this travesty is the fault of the DNC and the RNC. That is one part Trump got right. I don’t hate Clinton, I don’t really hate Trump either. Neither should have been their party’s candidate. And not Bernie either. Neither Party when out and found any viable candidates. Though I have to say the RNC did a MUCH better job. I didn’t like the RNC crop but they at least had some variety, not many I would call Ike republicans but at least they had some not already on Medicare. </span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">I get it Hillary took one for the team and was a good soldier for Obama but sorry she is TOO OLD. I’m a boomer and ALL of the choices that came close with the exception of Cruze were TOO OLD. Somewhere around 70 you should become ineligable. If you need more bodies lower the start age to say 30. I would much rather see a 30 year old in office than a 70 year old trying to learn on the job.</span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Hillary is not a bad person despite a decades old obsession of the right to try and “nail her” on something, anything. But she is a TERRIBLE candidate, and nearly the worst choice possible to try and get the first woman in the oval office. She has a history of doing things that while not illegal look bad. She has had a (possibly unfair) image of being an elitist that dates back to when Bill was governor. I know you owed her but putting her out there was just WRONG. Wrong for the DNC and WRONG for the election.</span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Trump on the other hand IS a criminal. He will go to trial for FRAUD, not an accusation but an actual trial. He may have to do time before his term is up. He has publicly bragged about sexual assault. He will probably have to be in court over some of those issues. He made an issue of Bill’s exploits but with possibly one exception they were all conventual. None of Trumps have been. It is now documented that Millania violated her Visa so that means she had to purger herself on her citizenship application. They are very unlikely to take any real action but she IS an illegal Immigrant. Who BTW was working illegally and so taking away jobs that would have gone to people who could legally work in the US.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">He has been divorced twice and was openly having an affair while married.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Trump employed illegal workers to build Trump Towers and paid less than the minimum wage. He was sued and lost by the housing administration for discriminating. And didn’t pay any taxes for 18 years.</span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">There is probably more and the point isn’t that any of these necessarily means he would be a bad president. Some of our better presidents have had some of these same “flaws”.</span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">But imagine for a second Hillary having any of these “flaws” and what the RNC’s position would be. Now you can join me in saying RNC How DARE you put Trump on your ticket.</span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">And while I can agree with the argument that with Hillary if she got the votes she and you can’t talk her out of it has to be the nominee. Though it appears you did a lot less that even try to get her to step aside. There is NO excuse for the RNC. Trump is a criminal. Not a speculation or suspicion or a maybe or an innuendo but an actual criminal who has bragged about it publicly. And he embraces NONE of the traditional Republican values. He is not a conservative, he is not fiscal astute, he is not religious, or moral. He is not pro business (he is pro Trump business but he has stiffed hundreds of small business owners over the years). </span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">He is NOT a Republican. He doesn’t embrace the parties core beliefs. He could have and should have been rejected by the RNC. Yes you would have lost some TeaBaggers, but you would have picked up the middle and in the end Trump wouldn’t have been a contender. His outrageous behavior wasn’t new, the fact that you were letting him try to be your candidate was new.</span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Do the parties survive? Hard to tell. I stopped giving any time or money to the DNC when they abdicated an election they won. If you don’t fight for your winners what is the point? The DNC has now shown such a total lack of interest in what America want’s or needs that for me it is totally dead. I will support candidates I like but I’m reregistering as an independent. My out look on the DNC has gone from disappointment to disgust. They don’t represent me, or even seem passingly interested in doing so.</span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">The RNC on the other hand???? Does it even exist? Certainly it no longer supports ANY of what it has traditionally stood for. I have never been a Republican but I have liked some of their candidates and I have had a fair number of friends and family who were Republicans. For those of you locked in a left wing bubble, there are a LOT of republicans you would have a good time with and a LOT of them did not vote for Trump (if that would be a stopper for you).</span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Republicans used to split mainly between the more liberal IKE republicans and the more conservative William F. Buckley Constitutional conservatives. I actually have a lot of respect for both groups. I don’t know if many of either side would be happy with the RNC today. The driving force seems to be the TeaBaggers who don’t support really any of the core values of either group. They are big on select parts carefully interpreted of the constitution but want to trash the rest. They want to trash government support for everything but what actually benefits them personally. They have no long term hopes for America or making it better, or even maintaining it. Take a look at your roads next time you bump along. Eisenhower started the national highway system to benefit America, the TeaBaggers won’t maintain it because they would have to pay for that maintenance so they leave it for future generations to deal with and hope it doesn’t totally fail while they are in office. They want no taxes. Well no taxes means no services, no roads, no police, no fire department, no FDA and all those pesky regulations that keep what you buy in the store from killing you.</span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Well I moved to Detroit five years ago and I can tell you at that time the tax base had eroded to the point that we had a good taste of what a minimal government city looks like. Twenty two minute fire response time (if you were lucky). To put that in more concrete terms it means any serious injury and you DIE. Any house fire and you loose your house and all your belongings. And because of the above you either can not get insurance or your premiums are through the roof. So you want to buy it has to be cash. You want to sell you can only do that for what someone can pay cash for because there is no possibility of a mortgage. Houses in Detroit today that are gong for close to a million dollars were selling for thirty thousand in 2010. If you had a mortgage then in most cases it wasn’t worth paying it. People walked away in droves and the ones who stayed couldn’t afford to do much in the way of maintenance. When we bought the house needed a new roof. That roof cost as much as the selling price. The downward spiral happens fast and takes a LONG time to recover from. This country is only partially recovered from letting the banks have their way 12 years ago.</span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Assuming Trump and the TeaBagers don’t get checked (or locked up) my recommendation is to brush up on your first aid, buy a lot of fire extinguishers, and learn to garden.</span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">And hope that americans get over their rage at the “establishment” and remember what America is all about. I agree that monopolies and globalization is generally a bad thing. “Big Business” and Wall Street will screw you three ways to Sunday if given a chance. But the solution is not trashing the only systems that can keep them in line. And immigration did not take your jobs. Globalization to a certain extent did, and the evolution of manufacturing and energy to a big extent did. The solution is not to bring in the head of a global corporation. NOTHING you want is in Trumps interest. If there is one thing that has been obvious for his entire life, Trump ONLY does things that benefit Trump.</span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Breaking up the big multi nationals and bringing back the old requirements that government contracts have to use actual American companies that are using actual American components will bring back some jobs. </span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Coal? Forget it. It won’t be coming back and really should have been a dead issue years ago. 12,000 people died from coal smoke in five days in London in 1952. It was a bit of a freak of smoke mixing with the fog (the origin of the word SMOG BTW) but anything that dangerous has no future is there are any alternatives, and there are plenty now. There is no “clean coal” that was a lie to get your vote. Get mad you deserve it, but the answer is to transition people into jobs that do have a future. You are energy workers, there will be a lot of need for energy workers going forward. Make sure the people you vote for will keep those jobs in the US, that is a future. </span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Manufacturing? even if we can force a bunch back to the US the job count in modern manufacturing is 1/2 to 1/4 of what it was when it left. Figure at least 3/4 of you are going to have to find other work. The answer is probably not “learning computers” a phrase that would make anyone who works in high tech fall down laughing. If anyone ever proposes to “teach you computers” or any politician ever uses that term put them on your “never to vote fore” list. They lying to you or they have no idea what they are talking about. Either way you don’t want them to have anything to do with your future. So I’m not sure what to say except that the more you keep companies from combining and growing into market crushers the more jobs there are and the more stable the industry is. A small machine shop is not going to move to Mexico to save a few dollars an hour on labor. You are probably not going to make what your union says you should, but they lied to you also. They didn’t move to protect you from the changing manufacturing landscape and instead tried to lock manufacturers into old models. So the jobs moved because it cost too much to play the “nothing ever changes” game. Detroit’s water department had a guy on staff who’s job was to maintain the horses shoes. They haven’t had horses in the department in generations so this guy got the job well after there were no horses to shoe. It was a grandfather job the union wouldn’t let them eliminate. They didn’t do the guy any favors. We went bankrupt and his job was eliminated and what skills does he have going forward? A horse shoer who hasn’t been shoeing horses.</span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">I’m not anti union I’m just pointing out all of your representation union and political has been blatantly lying to you any time they talked about “bringing all your jobs back” because those jobs don’t exist anymore and they never will again. Buggy whip makers had this problem in the past, and countless other industries have had similar evolutions. Get your people to be straight with you. It won’t be easy but it’s the only way you are not going to get screwed.</span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">America is strong only when it works together. The whole concept America was born with was working together. It is US all together that make America Great, not politicians. Trump can’t make America great, even if he really tried. Only YOU can make America great.</span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">The flip side to Detroit when the city was failing big time was that neighborhoods largely gave up even worrying about the government, you knew they weren’t going to help. So neighborhoods and communities started doing it on their own. If you got stuck in the snow there was always a bunch of folks to hep get you out. If someones house alarm went off are things looked strange neighbors would investigate. If you needed a hand with something lots of folks would lend it. When arson became a thing on the night before Halloween citizens organized city wide watch groups. That arson at it’s height a number of years ago was over 300 in one night has dropped to 0 two years running. People took over abandon properties and started community gardens and tiny farms. Where there was no street lights many communities started their own patrols to cut down on crime.</span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">So I have also seen the strength of Americans when they work together. Say hello to people you don’t know. Get to know your neighbors. Get involved in local politics. And I mean your block, neighborhood, and eventually maybe the city. You can get a lot done if your block or neighborhood can speak as one voice. You can’t do that unless you embrace all of them, not just the ones that look and think like you. Not because it’s politically correct but because you are ALL Americans and with out them YOU are weaker. You don’t have to agree with their politics or religion, or even want to have them as friends. Just respect them, and talk to them. You will find lots of things you agree on. And when you have worked with them maybe to organize the neighborhood to force the city to fix that pothole, they might even lend you a ladder when you need it. Or call the cops if it looks like your house is being robbed. You might even find out you like each other. And after that you may still disagree on politics and religion, but at least you will know that like you they are not an “other” but an American.</span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">And that is the best outcome I can see from this disgusting election cycle.</span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<style type="text/css">
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica}
p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px}
p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #1d2129; -webkit-text-stroke: #1d2129; background-color: #f6f7f9}
p.p4 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #1d2129; -webkit-text-stroke: #1d2129; background-color: #f6f7f9; min-height: 14.0px}
p.p5 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #1d2129; -webkit-text-stroke: #1d2129}
p.p6 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #1d2129; -webkit-text-stroke: #1d2129; min-height: 14.0px}
span.s1 {font-kerning: none}
span.s2 {font-kerning: none; background-color: #f6f7f9}
</style>
<br />
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Maybe, just maybe people will finely realize if they don’t learn work together nothing will ever get better.</span></div>
Noiz Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10271364253147672592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-445875105081361609.post-32165643943367089292014-02-16T11:22:00.000-08:002020-03-18T17:48:58.632-07:00Report From the frozen midwest - and the NCL<p>So long time and no posts WTF? Well life mostly.</p><p>But we are in the first “real” winter since our improve adventure started. Last Feb. I was in the Bay Area and it was colder there than in Detroit. This year I’m hear and it’s in the 70’s in the Bay Area and Detroit is breaking records for cold and snow.</p><p>Jan. was the snowiest Jan. ever recorded in Detroit, and the coldest. As it turned out it was also the snowiest month ever recorded in Detroit period. With a bunch of days breaking individual records.</p><p>Feb. is looking like more of the same. Lots of snow and a few heat waves in the 40’s but mostly in the teens.</p><p>The most snow ever recorded in winter in Detroit was 93.6 inches in 1880-1881</p><p>As of Feb. 11Detroit had 70.8. Which kicked 1899-1900 out of fit place (69.1).</p><p>We had probably an inch accumulate this week and we are scheduled to have about four inches today and tonight so that might jump us right into third place leaving 2007-2008 (71.7) and 1981-1982 (74.0) in the dust.</p><p>To get to number two it only takes a few more inches (1925-1926 (78.9)), but number one still has a sizable lead. On the other hand we are only had way through Feb. and the year I first got here it was still snowing in April, so we still have a good chance.</p><p>Last year was the wettest one ever recorded for Detroit, and California is officially in a drought. So obviously Climate change is fiction...</p><p>Actually I generally bypass the whole political question and go straight to the “weird shit is happening more often” and if we can’t agree on what is causing it can we agree to try to find ways to survive it?</p><p>Because wether it’s people driving cars, or a cyclic change, or “god’s will”, we all have a vested interest in trying to find a way to stick around till things get better. So stuff like solar power and alternative fuels can be pushed as ways to stop climate change, but that is a hard sell to some. But they can also be sold as ways to survive what is obviously happening. Because when everyone north of Panama gets “real” winters and the far north, like Detroit, is only getting a month or two of thaw, it’s going to get tricky survival wise.</p><p>And BTW the heat and Drought are bad but what the scientists keep pointing out, but somehow doesn’t get a lot of press, is that the heat only goes so far, then the gulf stream changes and in a decade or so we are in an ice age.</p><p>I grew up with the concept of ice ages taking thousands of years to happen. But then they took core samples from the arctic ice pack and oops, the last one came on in about ten years. Atlanta had a hard time with a few inches of snow how are they going to do with permafrost in 2025? </p><p>I love bread but if the wheat states don’t get a growing season what do you think is going to happen to the price of bread? The basic thing is that world population was growing at a dangerous level. It’s tapered off. And it’s sustainable, but what happens when you cut the food supply in half?</p><p>Where do you get the power to keep the population from freezing to death.</p><p>But lets get to the really important stuff. No grains no BEER. Or bourbon, etc. No spring no Baseball. No Nascar (they could do it indoors but then they would have to use electric cars to avoid asphyxiating everyone, so Prius nascar?)) No grazing land, no hamburgers. </p><p>American’s will be forced to watch Curling on Sundays and sip some heavily marketed beverage made from recycled urine. OK the beverage is close to what those guys are drinking now so they may not notice that part. But no pretzels or burgers to go with it!, that’s a show stopper.</p><p>So stop trying to sell climate change, or trying to get people to do “what’s good for the earth”. Sell the image of drinking piss while watching curling as what is waiting around the corner. NCL Sundays, anyone?</p>Noiz Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10271364253147672592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-445875105081361609.post-50196140150102282582014-02-16T06:22:00.000-08:002014-02-16T12:21:46.644-08:00Report From the frozen midwest - and the NCL<p>So long time and no posts WTF? Well life mostly.</p><p>But we are in the first “real” winter since our improve adventure started. Last Feb. I was in the Bay Area and it was colder there than in Detroit. This year I’m hear and it’s in the 70’s in the Bay Area and Detroit is breaking records for cold and snow.</p><p>Jan. was the snowiest Jan. ever recorded in Detroit, and the coldest. As it turned out it was also the snowiest month ever recorded in Detroit period. With a bunch of days breaking individual records.</p><p>Feb. is looking like more of the same. Lots of snow and a few heat waves in the 40’s but mostly in the teens.</p><p>The most snow ever recorded in winter in Detroit was 93.6 inches in 1880-1881</p><p>As of Feb. 11Detroit had 70.8. Which kicked 1899-1900 out of fit place (69.1).</p><p>We had probably an inch accumulate this week and we are scheduled to have about four inches today and tonight so that might jump us right into third place leaving 2007-2008 (71.7) and 1981-1982 (74.0) in the dust.</p><p>To get to number two it only takes a few more inches (1925-1926 (78.9)), but number one still has a sizable lead. On the other hand we are only had way through Feb. and the year I first got here it was still snowing in April, so we still have a good chance.</p><p>Last year was the wettest one ever recorded for Detroit, and California is officially in a drought. So obviously Climate change is fiction...</p><p>Actually I generally bypass the whole political question and go straight to the “weird shit is happening more often” and if we can’t agree on what is causing it can we agree to try to find ways to survive it?</p><p>Because wether it’s people driving cars, or a cyclic change, or “god’s will”, we all have a vested interest in trying to find a way to stick around till things get better. So stuff like solar power and alternative fuels can be pushed as ways to stop climate change, but that is a hard sell to some. But they can also be sold as ways to survive what is obviously happening. Because when everyone north of Panama gets “real” winters and the far north, like Detroit, is only getting a month or two of thaw, it’s going to get tricky survival wise.</p><p>And BTW the heat and Drought are bad but what the scientists keep pointing out, but somehow doesn’t get a lot of press, is that the heat only goes so far, then the gulf stream changes and in a decade or so we are in an ice age.</p><p>I grew up with the concept of ice ages taking thousands of years to happen. But then they took core samples from the arctic ice pack and oops, the last one came on in about ten years. Atlanta had a hard time with a few inches of snow how are they going to do with permafrost in 2025? </p><p>I love bread but if the wheat states don’t get a growing season what do you think is going to happen to the price of bread? The basic thing is that world population was growing at a dangerous level. It’s tapered off. And it’s sustainable, but what happens when you cut the food supply in half?</p><p>Where do you get the power to keep the population from freezing to death.</p><p>But lets get to the really important stuff. No grains no BEER. Or bourbon, etc. No spring no Baseball. No Nascar (they could do it indoors but then they would have to use electric cars to avoid asphyxiating everyone, so Prius nascar?)) No grazing land, no hamburgers. </p><p>American’s will be forced to watch Curling on Sundays and sip some heavily marketed beverage made from recycled urine. OK the beverage is close to what those guys are drinking now so they may not notice that part. But no pretzels or burgers to go with it!, that’s a show stopper.</p><p>So stop trying to sell climate change, or trying to get people to do “what’s good for the earth”. Sell the image of drinking piss while watching curling as what is waiting around the corner. NCL Sundays, anyone?</p>Noiz Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10271364253147672592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-445875105081361609.post-15312095367490033472013-01-31T18:39:00.001-08:002013-01-31T18:39:21.036-08:00THank you Julia Child<p>Thank you Julia Child, and my parents more directly.</p><p>Why would I say that? Well I’m sitting here by a fire on the coldest day Iv’e lived through (with the possible exception of some day in Germany when I was an infant - not sure how much german winter I “lived though” before I was hauled stateside) eating ice-cream w/ chocolate sauce sitting in a pair of KrumKakes.</p><p>I woke up this morning and it was three degrees outside with a wind chill of -20. For a Bay Area boy that’s COLD!</p><p>I guess it’s cold for around here also because they were warning people to not go outside and make sure your pets were all in so they wouldn’t freeze to death.</p><p>I decided to use this weird pa n that must have been my Norwegian grandmothers (it makes a Norwegian waffle cookie called a KrumKake and I can’t remember ever having any except at her house). My mother must have inherited it and I inherited it from her. I’ve never seen it used and didn’t have any recipes, actually didn’t know what the name of the cookie was till I looked it up. They are a bit like a Scandinavian version of cannoli. You know “leave the gun, take the cannoli”.</p><p>So I looked up a recipe and plowed on in.</p><p>I’ve been doing a bunch of cooking lately. I have a version of potato leek soup I make pretty often and I’m working at a fish stew that is pretty much like cioppino. French sourdough (actually doesn’t use a sourdough starter, Croissants etc.</p><p>Before it sounds like I’m off on a Martha Stewart tangent... The point is I like to cook.</p><p>I love to go down to the Eastern Market (Huge farmers Market) and I’m really digging (OK I’m dated) the “cooking seasonally” aspect. I’m not a “foodie”, well I wouldn’t put it that way anyway because I really hate the term. I just like to eat well. Maybe if I had a lot of cash and there were a lot of good restaurants in town like back in the Bay Area or in NYC I would just go out a lot. But I doubt it, because I like to cook.</p><p>And why is that? I grew up when straight men didn’t cook (in the US anyway) and a lot still don’t.</p><p>I do because that’s what we did growing up.</p><p>Recently I for some reason got on a Julia Child kick and read a few things including a biography called “Dearie”. Not a great book but the subject shines through and it’s not bad. I think my parents must have gone through something similar to her journey because they cooked well from as far back as I can remember. I say parents because both cooked. Admittedly mostly my mom but still my father is the only father that I knew growing up that cooked other than a BBQ.</p><p>And when I say cook I don’t mean “beanie weenie” or “mac & cheese”. With three kids there was plenty of meatballs and gravy, etc. But we also had a wide selection from “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” and a slew of other cookbooks. If my parents went out and liked a dish they would work out how to make it at home (as I kind of implied we were not rolling in dough - if we had been maybe they would have eaten out more?). Probably not a lot more though because I think they really liked cooking.</p><p>So how does this wrap back to JC ;~)</p><p>Well “The French Chef” was one of our “family shows”. We would all sit around and watch JC “wing her way” though some recipe. After reading the bio I know there was very little “winging it” going on but it seemed that way to me. My brother and sister may have been too young to have it imprinted as strongly?, but they both cook well and enjoy it so...</p><p>The BIG thing was she instilled the idea that you can just do it. And it will be fun. Even the disasters will be fun and fixable, or fun and a lesson.</p><p>People coming over for dinner was never a time to pull out the tried and true. It was a time to try something new and spectacular. Disasters, in the kitchen, don’t end the world. You can salvage most and roll with the rest.</p><p>It’s been a saving grace since we moved to the Big D. There are not a lot of restaurants that will “surprise” you in motor city. There are a number that do basic stuff really well, but few that surprise.</p><p>In SF we couldn’t afford to go out to high end restaurants often but you knew you could. There were any number of places that you could go and the food was SOOO good you just wanted to go home and make something like it.</p><p>I haven’t found one in Detroit yet that has given me that feeling. There is one that comes close.</p><p>So here, for now any way, you have to surprise yourself. ;~)</p><p>That is the connection BTW. </p><p>My parents really change the way their kids approach food and cooking. Most of my friends growing up really looked forward to the “special” TV dinner as opposed to the every day TV dinner.</p><p>Julia Child helped change the way many in america approach food and cooking.</p><p>It’s not slow food and it’s certainly not fast food, but it sure is damn good food.</p><p>So thank you to all three, you have made my life much more enjoyable.</p><p style="text-align: center">-30-</p>Noiz Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10271364253147672592noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-445875105081361609.post-44688785689122307712012-12-26T21:35:00.001-08:002012-12-26T21:35:00.765-08:00Detroit paranoia VS Detroit reality<p>So tonight we are sitting in front of the fire and we hear a noise. I look out and there are two guys shoveling out front walk and driveway, it’s 9pm and???</p><p>Twice today guys have showed up wanting to shovel the snow, but we are in Detroit and who the heck is going to be shoveling snow at 9pm???</p><p>So we go into paranoia mode and figure they must be casing the place or are going to ring the bell and want to get paid. I mean who shovels snow at 9pm!</p><p>So I called a neighbor because the association pays to have the snow plowed, the city only does downtown, and ask if this is something the association pays for.</p><p>Aislinn, has a more positive out look, that turns out to be the case, and says maybe they are the neighbor kids - more later...</p><p>But still it seems weird so we are paranoid. Too much of the “hype” of Detroit...</p><p>Well earlier we were out walking the dog. We were coming home and a car was stuck in our driveway. Because of where our house is our driveway get used as a turn around place for neighbors so it is not unusual for people to turn into our driveway to turn around. It’s a neighbor a few doors down and she has gotten stuck because of the snow. So we put the dog in and we and another neighbor help push/ rock her car so she can get some traction and make the move.</p><p>As it turns out it’s her kids! She has sent them out in the cold to shovel our walk and driveway.</p><p>It’s a good thing and our paranoia, maybe more my paranoia, has gotten us on the defensive over a good neighbor thing.</p><p>It’s funny because in San Francisco where there is less “paranoia” (for no good reason) we would have been shocked at this, but here in Detroit there is a very strong neighbor helps a neighbor culture and in reality we should have expected this. It was one of the first things Aislinn thought but it just seemed “strange” from a west coast orientation so we got paranoid.</p><p>Maybe it’s because we did have 5-6 inches of snow and that is a bad thing to be stuck in, and there is no way we would let someone sit out there in stuck in those conditions but it never occurred to me that someone would “repay” that “kindness” by going out in sub freezing temps to shovel out snow.</p><p>So it changed from paranoia to a “It’s a Wonderful Life” kind of moments.</p><p>It’s great when life surprises you in a good way. It happens more times than not in Detroit.</p><p>Kind of the opposite of the press that you read on Detroit.</p><p>Maybe after we live here awhile it will seem normal, but right now it still is one of those “wow” moments.</p><p>And a great cap to the Christmas week.</p>Noiz Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10271364253147672592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-445875105081361609.post-49859685176315436382012-12-09T19:17:00.001-08:002012-12-09T19:17:52.496-08:00Summing up a bunch of months<p>It’s been awhile. So lets see... what happened.</p><p>Still living in Detroit ;~) and there are a number of ways you can take that.</p><p>Here are some tit bits and now that it’s snowing I’m going to finish up a bunch I started earlier so there should be a little flurry of activity ;~)</p><p>Kid Rock has moved into the hood, kind of. </p><p>Apparently he looked at a house down the street but actually bought another place. East side good size colonial... So it has to be around here someplace. Well actually it’s is around here. Basically down the street till you hit the water and hang a left a couple of blocks.</p><p>A slightly right wing nutcase. Actually as far as I can tell not really a nut case as in Ted Nugent.</p><p>The black guy kept the white house! A lot of folks were worried, I didn’t think it would be that close but then I got worried. So I checked the LasVegas odds, yes they bet on everything, and they had Obama by 90.5 electoral college votes. So I relaxed again.</p><p>We had some snow around Thanksgiving :~)))))) But it didn’t last. I’m kind of hoping we will have snow for Christmas, but?</p><p>The lakes NEED a bunch of snow this winter, because of a couple of dry years and warm winters they are very low. We are getting some cold weather but it gets mixed in with some warm so it’s kind of Bay Area neither here nor there kind of weather but generally colder. We have been having heavy fog and you wake up to the fog horns on the river honking away. Makes it feel like SF. Though my father says they don’t use fog horns in the Bay Area any more. I thought I remembered hearing them not long ago but maybe it’s just such an iconic Bay Area sound I just think I heard them? But we have them here!</p><p>Work continues on the house, smaller less impacting work, though I still haven’t finished the sun porch. most of the floor is out but I need to get more aggressively destructive and peal up the bottom of the walls also to actually put in the new joists and re do the floor. Probably spring.</p><p>Been brewing for more parties and such. My numbers are going to be close to 150 gallons this year!</p><p>Speaking of which we kind of resurrected out Thanksgiving dinner. Camille was the only other family to make it and we held it on the Sat after Thanksgiving (hardly anybody was available on Thanksgiving) but we had just under 30 folks and it was very reminiscent for the SF annual bash.</p><p>The BIG change here is that they all fit in the dinning room!</p><p>The kids, there were a bunch of younger ones, had a grand time doing all kinds of stuff that their parents thankfully didn’t know about till later, but no permanent scars and they cleaned up after themselves!</p><p>I tried pickling, not so successful. And made a bunch of chili souses from the huge late crop of peppers.</p><p>That reminds me. Aislinn was hot to do raised planter beds so we build four 2X8 beds and she stuffed them with all kinds of plants the GREENING of DETROIT was giving away. We ended up with a monstrous crop of tomatoes, a bunch of tomatillos bunches of peppers and pounds of eggplant. We still have some cabbage and broccoli out there (winter is late) and piles of herbs.</p><p>OK I’m signing off this post.</p><p>To Be Continued.........</p><p>Cheers</p><p>SK</p>Noiz Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10271364253147672592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-445875105081361609.post-10385605222263079902012-12-07T08:24:00.001-08:002012-12-07T08:24:15.961-08:00Slow food what a awful name<p>In a fast world who has time for slow food. OK I get it it’s the opposite of “fast food”, but it sounds like eating in an eastern block country where it takes an hour to get a menu. And that is the WRONG impression to make.</p><p>What is it about?</p><p>Well, not eating poisoned disease laden food. Not eating meat that has been processed in such filthy conditions that they have to soak it in toxic chemicals so it has a chance of passing a rare FDA check.</p><p>Now there are laws around the country that say IF I say something bad about say the meat industry they can sue me. It doesn’t matter if what I say is true or not it’s still bad for business and so they can sue me.</p><p>Well I won’t say anything bad about the food industry, but personally I would rather eat food than a factory product.</p><p>Fortunately I can say negative things about the government, at least for now.</p><p>And while the “evil” corporations are the “perpetrators” that is kind of what they are supposed to do. We would all like business to think about the environment and the future and well their customers health. But WE (as in the government we let govern) have passed laws that push them to always look for the short term profit. Ideally they would be “good citizens” and fight that but really when was the last time someone gave you some money that you handed back for ethical reasons?</p><p>So they are doing some “bad” things but the FDA is supposed to keep that from happening. Democrats AND Republicans have gutted the agencies that are here to protect us from those bad practices. At best it’s a 50-50 thing.</p><p>Back to the topic.</p><p>The name is trying to imply the opposite of Fast Food. But really good food can be fast and you can take a long time to make junk.</p><p>So I stick “slow food” in with other bad names like “global warming” and “foodie” and pretend I heard a better name.</p><p>Maybe unjunk food, or how about, and this is radical, Real food.</p><p>Basically look at the ingredients, if it doesn’t sound like stuff you should put in your mouth then don’t.</p><p>Of course you could go radical and actually cook your own food.</p><p>It’s not always possible, unless you get a bit crazy with it or have a LOT more free time than most people do. BUT you can cook 90% of what you eat and buy your ingredients with some thought of where it came from. I try not to buy produce that has traveled thousands of miles and especially if it’s from a country with a spotty track record of public safety. In most places you can head to a farmers market and buy from the people who grew it. You can also often buy meat from ranchers at the market. That depends a lot on where you are of course. Fish also is often available that is fresh and not shipped in from a distant land. </p><p>Most cities also have shops or areas that are a close second to the farmers market. In the Bay Area you can go down to the docks and get very fresh fish. In Detroit you can also get fresh fish, though most of what is fresh is fresh water fish, but there is lots of that. We also have a HUGE farmers market. It has tons of produce, and fish and meat. The meat is seasonal, as in they don’t sell fresh meat when it’s not freezing out side, but some of the same people sell frozen during the summer. There is some fish but there is also a shop across the street that has a large selection of fish and meat.</p><p>Once you have the “stuff” meals are not that hard.</p><p>Breakfast can be made in not much longer than it takes for the coffee to brew.</p><p>Lunch can be very fast as in make a sandwich.</p><p>Dinner could take a long time, or be very quick.</p><p>Even things like bread that take “a long time”, don’t actually take a lot of your time. Mix it up, beat the hell out of it, and let it sit for some hours. Beat it again, shape it, let it sit for an hour or so and pop it in the oven.</p><p>Your time is maybe 15-30 min total, quicker than going to the store and back.</p><p>Don’t get me wrong you can spend a great day cooking. But if you need to be quick that is easy also, and you will reduce your “chemical load” a lot. The generation that grew up on a lot of processed food (post WWII) has not fared to well in the health department.</p><p>So go out and eat some unjunk food and celebrate the passing of Twinkies, a “food” so toxic it can be used as a defense for murder.</p><p style="text-align: center">-30-</p>Noiz Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10271364253147672592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-445875105081361609.post-22078380646777633992012-05-04T19:21:00.001-07:002012-05-06T12:29:32.715-07:00Netflix or Amazon Prime<p>I don’t know how many films Netflix has for streaming but it’s a LOT, many thousands anyway.</p><p>Well I read something about Amazon Prime having fewer but still a lot of films. And it offers other perks so I though I would give it a try. Netflix is not super cheap and I don’t watch that many films so...</p><p>Well it may be true that Prime has a good number of films available but most (by far) cost extra to watch!</p><p>Some visual aids.</p><p>So here is I assume what’s available. It’s a bit misleading since a lot of “titles” are actually behind the scenes and trailers.. but still almost a million</p><p><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-A2karnMHzKY/T6bRFv92laI/AAAAAAAAA9w/jFQ-JWxGC90/Screenshot2012-05-04at10.16.01PM-2012-05-4-22-21.jpg" alt="Screenshot2012-05-04at10.16.01PM-2012-05-4-22-21.jpg" width="512" height="150"></p><p>BUT what you can watch with our extra charges is drumroll less than a thousand and a LOT of those are trailers and such.</p><p><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-l6n5xMkbgQo/T6bRGHCjC_I/AAAAAAAAA94/Jyi6KlvCQbs/Screenshot2012-05-04at10.17.30PM-2012-05-4-22-21.jpg" alt="Screenshot2012-05-04at10.17.30PM-2012-05-4-22-21.jpg" width="512" height="115"></p><p>Now there is this ??? category that doesn’t look to bad but the difference is that it lists any film that yu have to buy but can get free shipping on.</p><p><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-97buc4ZeJZ4/T6bRGm-uFoI/AAAAAAAAA-A/t7KJAnmFouM/Screenshot2012-05-04at10.16.27PM-2012-05-4-22-21.jpg" alt="Screenshot2012-05-04at10.16.27PM-2012-05-4-22-21.jpg" width="512" height="269"></p><p>And if your looking for free streaming here it’s ridiculous. But I also think it’s probably meanigless.</p><p><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-e7GtmHeOhCU/T6bRGxcRAoI/AAAAAAAAA-I/9mEHdp_1f7s/Screenshot2012-05-04at10.17.03PM-2012-05-4-22-21.jpg" alt="Screenshot2012-05-04at10.17.03PM-2012-05-4-22-21.jpg" width="512" height="113"></p><p>So as far as I can tell, and I did try this out for a month, Prime gets you around 700 streaming titles of which maybe 3/4 are actual shows (some are TV shows so maybe less than 1/2 are actual films). Netflix gets you more than the total that Amazon offers including the ones you would have to pay to rent (on top of membership).</p><p>Bottom line IF Prime makes sense for you with out the streaming go for it and the few films available are gravy. If you are looking for an alternative to Netflix Prime is not even a distant compeditor.</p>Noiz Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10271364253147672592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-445875105081361609.post-76329527217724418132012-04-26T12:16:00.003-07:002012-05-08T08:58:30.601-07:00No truth in the News and no news in the TruthThis is more of a rant on the poor state of journalism in the US than it is about Detroit. <br />
You are warned...<br />
There are a couple of incidents that have come up recently that I find disturbing. <br />
A teaser for this post is that FOX News reported a story more honestly than CBS or CNN. <br />
What!!!!!<br />
Let me preface this with I DO NOT LIKE FOX NEWS. I think they are biased and often not even close to factual.<br />
It brings up my alternate “Topic” “Is NPR actually better than FOX News?” But as nice and button pushing as that title is it’s really CNN and CBS that were the stand out Bad guys and I haven’t heard NPR’s coverage so...<br />
The actual story in question is the sad case out of Florida.<br />
The spin I and pretty much everyone else in the US got from the media was that this jewish white guy (not stated but implied) in Florida saw this innocent looking black young man (and we had pictures of this very non threatening kid to go along with the story) that happened to be wearing a hoodie. Got threatened because he was black (we get some 911 transcripts to prove he was fixated on him being black), followed him against the orders of the police and hunted him down and shot him. The police being racist bastards didn’t charge him.<br />
Now that is a story to get pissed about and a whole lot of people, including me, did.<br />
Unfortunately a lot of the “spin” was just spin to sell papers and make a buzz.<br />
Not that our shooter is sweet and innocent but this story is all grey and not black and white.<br />
So what IS the story. <br />
Well our “villain” has a “jewish” last name but he is hispanic. But that doesn’t play into the white on black crime angle so not talked about.<br />
Our “hero” is not the innocent kid in the photos. <br />
<img alt="Screenshot2012-04-26at4.04.53PM-2012-04-26-15-16.jpg" height="409" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-9_Xz0b-V8iA/T6bNyQteeHI/AAAAAAAAA9U/xfrSeZcO7FA/Screenshot2012-04-26at4.04.53PM-2012-04-26-15-16.jpg" width="315" /><br />
Those are his photos but they are from when he was 12. He was 17 and 6’2” tall,he wasn’t that kid anymore. <br />
<img alt="Screenshot2012-04-26at4.04.43PM-2012-04-26-15-16.jpg" height="403" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Jf9_JNp458A/T6bNy1p8ndI/AAAAAAAAA9c/f8vXe9mO3AE/Screenshot2012-04-26at4.04.43PM-2012-04-26-15-16.jpg" width="390" /><br />
To be fair there have been some claims the photo is a fake but there are archives of his twitter account that show similar shots. Also what doesn’t show here is that he had a bunch of tattoos.<br />
He was wearing a hoodie but also the rest of the “gansta” out fit. <br />
Then there is the twitter archive.<br />
<img alt="OXAjN-2012-04-26-15-16.png" height="226" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ZdMfzKdAlLk/T6bNzFlauDI/AAAAAAAAA9k/mDeHd2ZRdXk/OXAjN-2012-04-26-15-16.png" width="512" /><br />
Where he is maybe dealing drugs??<br />
And he was on a 10 day suspension from school for something the family’s lawyers have had the court seal.<br />
None of this means he was a bad guy or did anything wrong BUT he also was not the innocent 12 year old he was painted to be. If you take away the “innocent child” angle the story changes dramatically.<br />
Our “villain” did ignore police saying he shouldn’t follow the guy, but they didn’t order him not to. AND he lost him so he was heading back to the car when the shooting happened.<br />
How did the confrontation actually happen then? Well our hero followed our villain, confronted him and decked him, then he got shot.<br />
From a FOX News report, but verified by others since.<br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><strong>"The guy on the bottom who had a red sweater on was yelling to me: 'help, help…and I told him to stop and I was calling 911," he said.</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><strong>Trayvon Martin was in a hoodie; Zimmerman was in red.</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><strong>The witness only wanted to be identified as "John," and didn't not want to be shown on camera.</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><strong>His statements to police were instrumental, because police backed up Zimmerman's claims, saying those screams on the 911 call are those of Zimmerman.</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><strong>"When I got upstairs and looked down, the guy who was on top beating up the other guy, was the one laying in the grass, and I believe he was dead at that point," John said.</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><strong>Zimmerman says the shooting was self defense. According to information released on the Sanford city website, Zimmerman said he was going back to his SUV when he was attacked by the teen.</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><strong>Sanford police say Zimmerman was bloody in his face and head, and the back of his shirt was wet and had grass stains, indicating a struggle took place before the shooting. </strong></span><br />
Again this doesn’t make our villain a good guy, but it does paint a very different picture from the race obsessed guy hunting down the innocent kid.<br />
The notorious 911 clip that has our villain talking about the scary black guy, is not actually what happened. It was edited by CNN to sound that way. Our villain didn’t mention color the dispatcher ASKED him and he answered. They cut it so it sounded like he was following him because he was black.<br />
That tidbit was brought out by FOX news. Since I don’t watch FOX News I heard about it when John Stewart brought it up. All I can say is WTF!<br />
Does this mean that race had nothing to do with it? Well no. But we would have to go to other incidents to come to real conclusions. Would our villain have been less concerned with a white guy he didn’t recognize “prowling around”. Hard to say, maybe but he was hispanic so maybe not? We all, if we are honest, are more leery of folks that are not part of our “group”. Some of those “groups” are based on race, some are not. I have worked for black theatres where I felt part of that group so in a lot of cases I would have been more worried about a white guy prowling around the theatre than a black guy. I also did a show at a gay theatre in SF and we (non gays) had to be educated about how careful you had to be leaving the theatre because you would be assumed to be gay and there were folks who would beat you to a pulp on that assumption.<br />
So I (as a white guy) have quite a bit of experience being on the “other side” and yes you often have to watch out for folks who are not “in your group”. The real question then would be whether out villain thought our hero was in his “group”. I’m guessing not. Was that a race issue? I’m guessing partly. But our villain was a watch captain so he knew everyone in the neighborhood. If our hero had been in the neighborhood then he would have been part of the “group”. But our hero was just visiting the area and so our villain didn’t recognize him. I think that probably had more to do with it than color. <br />
The police didn’t arrest out villain because there is a witnesses to the incident and there really isn’t a case. There might be in another state but by Florida law it’s self defense.<br />
He is on trial now because of public out cry but he will almost certainly walk because of the laws in Florida. Actually he would get off in any state that allows you to carry a gun since it was a fairly clear case of self defense.<br />
At most he might get tried on unintentional manslaughter in other states. But even that is thin because it is pretty clear he was getting pounded before he shot.<br />
Now it gets a bit complicated from a human stand point since our villain really set up the situation. But by the time the shooting took place he was no longer the aggressor so...<br />
It’s a sad story and our villain is certainly guilty of creating the environment that lead to the shooting but so was our hero. He could have let it go. He didn’t and by being the first person to “attack” he looses (legally) all the benefit of having been pursued.<br />
The larger sad part though is that there wasn’t anything close to real journalism going on in the sources we (non FOX news watchers) have come to rely on.<br />
That leads to the title above.<br />
In the old Soviet Union there were two state papers. One was named “Truth” the other “News”. The Russian joke was that there was “no truth in the News and no news in the Truth”.<br />
It’s a sad day when Russian jokes apply to American Media.<br />
<br />
BTW I will gladly alter this to reflect new information providing you can give me some way to substantiate it. I looked at a bunch of sources and as far as I can tell everything above is accurate. <br />
<br />
Actually what I'm going to do is delete stuff that turns out to be wrong and just post a link here to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Trayvon_Martin">Wikipedia article</a> since it seems to be one of the most balanced accounts.<br />
<br />
My point was more about bad reporting than to try and "solve" the case. There is still a fair amount of conflicting stories so...<br />
<br />Noiz Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10271364253147672592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-445875105081361609.post-4214367136110637652012-04-24T12:31:00.000-07:002012-04-24T14:20:59.442-07:00Aniverseries<p>So it’s been a year. Actually a bit over but I’m lazy about posting.</p><p>A year ago the house was freezing. The dog and I had no heat or water, the roof was kind of patched, there was snow on the ground and we were heading into lots of demolition then pouring rain and sweltering heat, and more destruction, and trees falling over and blackouts etc.</p><p>But in April and early may I was just trying to keep warm and waxing poetic about the good old days when I had flush toilets and running water. Showers and flush toilets. The ability to wash clothes and dishes and... flush toilets.</p><p>Well, it’s been a year and on the 31st of March we held a party. Did I mention that this neighborhood like parties. Anyway we had somewhere between 100 and maybe as high as 150 over the course of the night. Went through a lot of home brewed beer, lots of food (these neighborhood parties are pot lucks) and generally had a good time.</p><p>I was in the basement (brewery) manning the taps and thought (mistakenly) that people would come down get some beer and head up. It got crowded upstairs so a lot of folks decided to just camp out in the basement. That was fun but it meant I hardly saw anyone who didn’t come down. I had some help so I did get up eventually but wow.</p><p>I had brewed around 15 gallons of beer and five of hard cider. That was all consumed shy a class or two. Even though a ton of food came, it all got eaten. We had hardly anything left over. A lot of kids came with parents and they had a room for games and such upstairs but a lot were hanging out with the crowd so I guess it was interesting enough for them also. We did stock a large amount of juices etc. so they weren’t starved for libation.</p><p>Monty, who has been party tested but never with such a large crowd, resisted all his breeding and did not counter surf. He just kept circulation keeping track of the goings on. He slept pretty solidly for the next two days.</p><p>In April last year it looked like </p><p><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-T9FzryPBR_I/T5cZFWcqaEI/AAAAAAAAA60/GeNN4697Pn0/IMG_0504-2012-04-24-15-31.JPG" alt="IMG_0504-2012-04-24-15-31.JPG" width="512" height="384"></p><p>This year March looked like</p><p><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-XyGZkYWBkNw/T5cZGQuPU5I/AAAAAAAAA68/gGC0pCn-yi8/DSCN0121-2012-04-24-15-31.JPG" alt="DSCN0121-2012-04-24-15-31.JPG" width="512" height="384"></p><p>And now we are in full bloom SPRING!</p><p>BTW this is the same date as the snow picture above, but this year...</p><p><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-RbilkLNou1g/T5cZHHQTfKI/AAAAAAAAA7E/_rlgDfsj0hE/DSCN0104-2012-04-24-15-31.JPG" alt="DSCN0104-2012-04-24-15-31.JPG" width="317" height="421"> </p><p><strong>But back to important things.</strong></p><p>You can look back at the posts if you don’t remember but at one point the house looked like a bomb had gone off downstairs.</p><p>But now!</p><p>The dinning room</p><p><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv9X2vnaK693RtOKnxEl4CsE-LtqIpBTvlny5S-vtoWnJtZNKulqm4Eu-hJsNMEzrSWRwO8p39hHxjmz_BFaOQlziuMX5sp4iepRySK8NLrVjwavHtfoJA05FitmmhOpISPEhqKeT44Fg/" alt="hack_party-9794-2012-04-24-15-31.jpg" width="360" height="240"></p><p>Once looked like</p><p><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-4gjMpUPsz7w/T5cZITfDU5I/AAAAAAAAA7U/rS8GL3xn_J8/IMG_1060-2012-04-24-15-31.jpg" alt="IMG_1060-2012-04-24-15-31.jpg" width="384" height="512"></p><p>And the “breakfast room” (we really haven’t figured out names for all the rooms yet).</p><p><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-5do_dfX6u38/T5cZJKqVgfI/AAAAAAAAA7c/9dXNs_cp3lw/hack_party-9822-2012-04-24-15-31.jpg" alt="hack_party-9822-2012-04-24-15-31.jpg" width="360" height="240"></p><p>Used to look like</p><p><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-mY_2HBhxB14/T5cZJsfTaxI/AAAAAAAAA7k/qMgGYrdoXSU/IMG_0639-2012-04-24-15-31.JPG" alt="IMG_0639-2012-04-24-15-31.JPG" width="391" height="293"> </p><p>Actually it got a lot worse. About 1/4 of the ceiling and parts of the wall were gone before the it started to get better.</p><p>I like this shot... It’s the stairwell to the basement. When the bozo owners at some earlier time moved the stairs they made them really steep AND not enough head clearance. So I put the sign on the head bonker so people would notice and not get knocked cold coming down.</p><p>Must have worked because no concussions!</p><p><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Xq12pC-aeqU/T5cZKVQ6-EI/AAAAAAAAA7s/-lk-1y95FNY/hack_party-9861-2012-04-24-15-31.jpg" alt="hack_party-9861-2012-04-24-15-31.jpg" width="360" height="241"></p><p>The basement “brewery”. That is the old boiler behind me that we are trying to sell.</p><p><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ii04S9lSpec/T5cZLKg0YyI/AAAAAAAAA70/dYGLM4Q3028/hack_party-9839-2012-04-24-15-31.jpg" alt="hack_party-9839-2012-04-24-15-31.jpg" width="360" height="240"></p><p>Looking the other direction in the basement.</p><p><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXtVV6Q_hkZfu_RAz5vXW5nrSEIYWL7JckLQ3IGC-WT39O9O9KD0IcsgndGPf_CdBNAbaiJUG4yvRb9sDULK53ImunN5jq9zm7MUGoprFEPPo170MO9mH-AMj38Cg0VJPEriCgrLQibos/" alt="hack_party-9875-2012-04-24-15-31.jpg" width="360" height="242"></p><p>And some “before” shots.</p><p>Removing the old heating system</p><p><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-RSu5cD5_yUE/T5cZM5BS1EI/AAAAAAAAA8E/37SKwq5Mn-Y/IMG_1023-2012-04-24-15-31.JPG" alt="IMG_1023-2012-04-24-15-31.JPG" width="512" height="384"></p><p><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-f8JC1eTLXKE/T5cZNdceczI/AAAAAAAAA8M/0sAHyGi3u6Q/IMG_1011-2012-04-24-15-31.JPG" alt="IMG_1011-2012-04-24-15-31.JPG" width="512" height="384"></p><p>And YES it was wet!</p><p><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-1FTgbQirMuI/T5cZOdJXJzI/AAAAAAAAA8U/sX11pnfJ8ck/IMG_0713-2012-04-24-15-31.JPG" alt="IMG_0713-2012-04-24-15-31.JPG" width="512" height="384"></p><p>So a good year. Early spring and who knows?!</p><p>A friend sent an article from the Huffington Post</p><p>The #1 most affordable place to buy a house?</p><p>Detroit</p><p>The #1 most expensive place to buy a house?</p><p>San Francisco.</p><p>This may be why this year there have been three households (other than us who have moved into Indian Village from California and at least two from NYC. There are a lot of new faces and suddenly we are no longer the new comers but “old hands” in the hood.</p><p>So long for now from the Big D.</p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 19pt;"><strong>BY THE WAY,</strong></span></p><p style="text-align: center"> All the nice photos of the Party were by Annie Oneill. </p><p style="text-align: center">She does weddings and all kinds of events. </p><p style="text-align: center">She shot these as a favor because she is both Great! and a great neighbor. </p><p style="text-align: center">Her email is <a href="mailto:annieoneill@mac.com">annieoneill@mac.com</a></p><p style="text-align: center">and here website <a href="http://weddings.annieoneillphotography.com/">http://weddings.annieoneillphotography.com/</a></p><p style="text-align: center">-30-</p>Noiz Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10271364253147672592noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-445875105081361609.post-41110160732227421192012-03-22T07:38:00.000-07:002012-03-22T07:53:21.816-07:00Spring is springing - Global warming is a crock<p>I like the title, gets your attention and 1/2 are mad at me and 1/2 are finally!</p><p>Well it’s true, “Global Warming” (at least as most people think of it) is a crock.</p><p>The general impression is that “global warming” means we will get warmer weather. Actually while the globe may be warming YOUR weather could be doing just about anything. Our weather is just off and weird. Last winter was one of the coldest in history, at least since folks started keeping track. The summer had the “heat dome” and was one of the hottest on record. Now we had a super mild winter and late spring like temps in March! And the Rockies are getting truckloads of snow and freezing temps.</p><p>So though the Globe my be warming YMMD.</p><p><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-0uY6fQ3Kk1Q/T2s81xoPG7I/AAAAAAAAAw8/Ba_VVghMkJo/DSCN0104-2012-03-22-10-38.JPG" alt="DSCN0104-2012-03-22-10-38.JPG" width="165" height="219"> We are track to be the warmest March on record.</p><p>Parts are nice. (for perspective hop back to my first posts from Detroit last year in April)</p><p><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-idyo-buy6zg/T2s82ZUmbtI/AAAAAAAAAxE/rZCPLkl9obw/DSCN0120-2012-03-22-10-38.JPG" alt="DSCN0120-2012-03-22-10-38.JPG" width="281" height="210"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-iX00q5HdmMQ/T2s83UXhwuI/AAAAAAAAAxM/7xReLDiT640/DSCN0122-2012-03-22-10-38.JPG" alt="DSCN0122-2012-03-22-10-38.JPG" width="287" height="215"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-IIMecxOh9R8/T2s84F-9kuI/AAAAAAAAAxU/JMIFDr45z2k/DSCN0121-2012-03-22-10-38.JPG" alt="DSCN0121-2012-03-22-10-38.JPG" width="289" height="216"></p><p>But come summer there are going to be a ton of bugs. Good thing we have a lot of bats!</p>Noiz Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10271364253147672592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-445875105081361609.post-57670218132768995982012-03-15T18:58:00.000-07:002012-03-15T19:07:24.770-07:00Making tracks at Motown Studio A<p>Aislinn and I wandered over today and ended up singing in studio A! OK so it’s the museum now and nobody was recording but still kind of cool. And it’s an attached garage! This was THE studio for Motown. Only one hit was not recorded there. Well it was recorded in the building but not in the studio... It was recorded in the bathroom! Got to get that “singing in the shower” Motown sound. The studio had a “futz room” (a Fantasy studios term) built in the attic with lots of hard surfaces and a speaker and microphone. Can we say low tech reverb.</p><p>It was a LOT of fun walking around.</p><p><a href="http://www.motownmuseum.com/">Motown Museum</a></p><p>If you come out and visit we’ll take you by and you can also sing in studio A - Hitsville USA</p>Noiz Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10271364253147672592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-445875105081361609.post-91234649110316052492012-03-15T09:37:00.001-07:002012-03-15T19:33:55.966-07:00BLOGO RIP<p>It had a fun warped Logo<img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-j0PwJ0ALFrs/T2Kmkx7bFbI/AAAAAAAAAws/36Nqy2u9ka8/Blogo-2012-03-15-12-37.jpeg" alt="Blogo-2012-03-15-12-37.jpeg" width="73" height="73">reminded me of Harvey</p><p>BUT they haven’t updated it in a LONG time and it doesn’t work with Blogger anymore and that is where my blogs live so...</p><p>I’ve looked for an alternative for awhile and there were some promising alternatives but none were as simple and just plain easy to use.</p><p>MarsEdit is nice but kind of $$$, and this is just for fun after all.</p><p>Mac Journal from Mariner is what I have landed on. It wasn’t really all that blog friendly and the last time I tried it it was convoluted and hard to do what I do, which is not very complicated. Some text a link or two and pictures.</p><p>But they came out with a new version and it seems to be much better. Or my brain finally figured it out???</p><p>Either way it is working well so maybe I will get back to publishing more than once in a great while.</p><p>I have a few drafts so maybe in the next week I will start catching up.</p><p>To come.</p><p>The trip to the Bay Area.</p>Noiz Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10271364253147672592noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-445875105081361609.post-61978451035500693812011-12-13T14:06:00.001-08:002011-12-13T14:06:25.410-08:00A capsule of the last few weeks - and a test of some software<p>I'm testing out some blogging software. What I had been using has now gone wonky and ??? if they will ever fix it. But part of the scarcity of posts is lack of a decent tool.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But I digress....</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So, We had fall bounce out close to the last time I posted.<img title="IMG_1075.jpg" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy8keJdAUklUl2jcMiIxoeAfAiKBKKvwtUf-1y3ivy62r6EuSgokI5r2H5vFOmzzvuxyrVf2zFWLRyvrBb54zgYYmxnUTi7LU7zJixfvbB0ErsvCoCNHLDj8hjY4aDTg04Iza69-nbFpo/?imgmax=800" border="0" alt="IMG 1075" width="450" height="600" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p>A pause for an interesting sign.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><img title="IMG_1091.jpg" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-BznIYVm7vGY/TufMJDhAHeI/AAAAAAAAAuU/s7ksZ2THITU/IMG_1091.jpg?imgmax=800" border="0" alt="IMG 1091" width="450" height="600" /></p>
<p>OK back on topic...</p>
<p><img title="IMG_1104.jpg" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-1n3qtW6gdyQ/TufMJ1aeYKI/AAAAAAAAAuc/M20AA32U8sc/IMG_1104.jpg?imgmax=800" border="0" alt="IMG 1104" width="450" height="600" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p><img title="IMG_1108.jpg" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Gmu0BtsY3cw/TufMMMira0I/AAAAAAAAAuk/3qbBXMW-hiQ/IMG_1108.jpg?imgmax=800" border="0" alt="IMG 1108" width="450" height="600" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Then Monty got dressed up for Halloween.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><img title="IMG_1112.jpg" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-PVPFitEv04Q/TufMM-h6lyI/AAAAAAAAAus/YaXGcAO-8x4/IMG_1112.jpg?imgmax=800" border="0" alt="IMG 1112" width="450" height="600" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>And the green bushes in the back finally decided it was fall.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><img title="IMG_1116.JPG" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-9h7LBgwBuIg/TufMN1EWd7I/AAAAAAAAAu0/SBKsfbG6Mz4/IMG_1116.JPG?imgmax=800" border="0" alt="IMG 1116" width="600" height="450" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Then it turned cold and we started using the fireplace(s).</p>
<p><img title="IMG_1118.JPG" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-kV40abmEMM8/TufMOkkQV9I/AAAAAAAAAu8/PGb2vogYoUs/IMG_1118.JPG?imgmax=800" border="0" alt="IMG 1118" width="600" height="450" /><img title="IMG_1120.JPG" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-sRNhnqG2mL0/TufMP5ZrW3I/AAAAAAAAAvE/HDlQV-6qaAE/IMG_1120.JPG?imgmax=800" border="0" alt="IMG 1120" width="600" height="450" /></p>
<p>And Thanksgiving came. I failed miserably in documenting it so all I have is the morning after shot of the Big ass table (actually two end to end. It's not so easy to see here but there was plenty of room for more table!</p>
<p><img title="IMG_1131.jpg" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-XyoZY3I7mVI/TufMRMb6ebI/AAAAAAAAAvM/z3jTlpOxHbo/IMG_1131.jpg?imgmax=800" border="0" alt="IMG 1131" width="450" height="600" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p>And then Winter arrived. On the 30 of Nov. we had a bit of the white stuff.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><img title="IMG_1133.jpg" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-lUpLNh6IUSk/TufMSbxUROI/AAAAAAAAAvU/Se6yFPrIyeM/IMG_1133.jpg?imgmax=800" border="0" alt="IMG 1133" width="450" height="600" /></p>
<p><img title="IMG_1136.JPG" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi52weJl-rd6gJGABGolBpnveXSDbpdExrgK9-oOttNQLu27Osw_FxEo6Q7Ql4jTDWt7jWNThz0_9Udcb9SJiEkWZjo04IB7_UZJyZA671_6PXa2HgQYrS7mKMbQ4tgj4ApU6cKzclybzE/?imgmax=800" border="0" alt="IMG 1136" width="600" height="450" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p>The stubby maple is still pretending it's fall but pretty much everything else has given up.</p>
<p>The recovered dining room. Thetable in the back is what extended the main table for Tday.</p>
<p><img title="IMG_1146.JPG" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrTozrbumcYbrcGEFHM_o8qy-Xe_AfVidvG6boYr3nYtRvg6nKHW5c_sn8U5nQVAK6iTkeQcxkBwPg49GMN0ODcQwPuwzY4JiJm1Of2zHXfN690kNI4qhuqu7O78ZEZU0vnn-qkQXZ8TI/?imgmax=800" border="0" alt="IMG 1146" width="600" height="450" /><img title="IMG_1147.JPG" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-udPnqA4cHfg/TufMVLuoimI/AAAAAAAAAvs/PJcGkAPV9VQ/IMG_1147.JPG?imgmax=800" border="0" alt="IMG 1147" width="600" height="450" /></p>
<p>For those that know, we have everything in here we had in SF plus a trunk and the second table. It's kind of mind boggling.</p>
<p><img title="IMG_1148.JPG" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-Wum0FX7K7LU/TufMV0nGnrI/AAAAAAAAAv0/4XNi70P5Ppw/IMG_1148.JPG?imgmax=800" border="0" alt="IMG 1148" width="600" height="450" /></p>
<p>The once red bushes a week or so later.</p>
<p>It's cold but we only have gotten light snow so you get some pretty interesting images like this one.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><img title="IMG_1151.jpg" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-WMjvAlAW2Ig/TufMW7JQpaI/AAAAAAAAAv8/cmVYhVEfKYA/IMG_1151.jpg?imgmax=800" border="0" alt="IMG 1151" width="450" height="600" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p>And it's nippy enough in the back bedroom at night the the beast has no problem snugling up.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><img title="IMG_1154.JPG" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-DDgYMuE7fHs/TufMXis4E2I/AAAAAAAAAwE/DtIpPqYTnN8/IMG_1154.JPG?imgmax=800" border="0" alt="IMG 1154" width="600" height="450" /></p>
<p>well thats</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">-30-</p>Noiz Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10271364253147672592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-445875105081361609.post-90735702561206394322011-10-10T19:55:00.001-07:002012-03-23T08:20:20.776-07:00The big questions<p>After the why did you move?, comes:</p><p>Did you move on a lark?</p><p>I HATE to move, so if it's a lark it's not mine.</p><p>Did you know how much it would cost to fix up the house?</p><p>Yes and no. It's coming in at almost exactly what I said it would but it's not exactly where I thought it would be spent. And we thought it would spread out over a number of years instead of whacking us all at the same time. O the flip side we will have very must do tasks left.</p><p>How can you stand the weather?</p><p>I kind of like it. We will have AC next summer so those few really nasty days will be livable, but most of it has been pretty nice. Of course we are heading into winter and that is going to be cold.But, and this is a big ?, so far I like that you have to change things around. You can't wear the same cloths, the same food doesn't really work, etc. It's a little like the Olympics. Was it was once every four years it was special and we all looked forward to it and planned around it, at least a little. Now that there is one every four years it's almost always happening or getting ready to happen... kind of boring. So I'm looking forward to winter because it will be loaded with things that can't be done in the summer. The Bay Area doesn't have a lot of seasonal change, there is some. But san Francisco has a lot less than the East Bay and it all mushestogether a bit. Now ask me in a year if I'm looking forward to winter and it might be a different take.</p><p>OK still no pictures but soon really.</p>Noiz Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10271364253147672592noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-445875105081361609.post-18115005567578017572011-10-10T19:39:00.000-07:002012-03-23T08:21:19.800-07:00Seasons...<p>So this is what they were talking about!Maybe.</p><p>For the first time in months it's warmer in SF than it is here, though that should change in a day or two. Bur SF you go from warm to cold going across the city but here it's pretty consistent in the day. But... Sat was in the 90's, Sun it was nice in the low 80's, Mon. it was in the 50's. That is SF kind of weather. We have had a few days of 50's - 60's so if it's a trend it's "Welcome to Fall". Lots of squash in the market, but still a lot of berries. Where did the summer go. But we are definitely heading into fall.</p><p>So time to do winter...</p><p>Apple season is just coming in so cider time! And I just got the summer brews in a good place.</p><p>OK so winter brews, hard cider, apple jack etc.</p><p>house news.</p><p>The doorbell is working again, it got broken in the heating adventure (might have been me pulling down pipes).</p><p>Wow I started this a while ago... So sorry about the delays. It's been chaos, mostly of my mind.</p><p>Well I will finish this off quickly and try to get a better one up in the next day or so.</p><p>Roof is almost done, looks great.Heating is done except for inspections and closing walls.The exterior has had some adventures but gets closed up tomorrow and then a week needs to go be before they can paint and then the roofers have to do the portico.</p><p>I have to get off my but and give the front drain another shot. If we can't seal it we will have to bypass it and put a redo for that bathroom on a list for another year. It would mean disabling the bath tub but everything else would work.</p><p>I have heard from a little bird that the film incentives are getting largely reinstated so things are looking up.</p><p>And we are going to be featured in an article in the Detroit Free Press.</p><p>Unrelated to that...There is a pop up biergarten that has been happening every Sun. and I have been helping out and I got captured a bit on film so I'm also in the Detroit News.</p><p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20111009/OPINION03/110090311/1408/local">Here</a></span></p><p>And Monty won cutest dog at the Living in the V event.</p><p>So pictures next time</p>Noiz Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10271364253147672592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-445875105081361609.post-26621083836873909562011-08-31T10:28:00.000-07:002012-03-23T08:22:35.551-07:00I'll be fixing some holes... my mind is wandering<p>HVAC,</p><p><strong>H</strong>oles, <strong>V</strong>acuuming the dust from all those holes, <strong>A</strong>ll those damn holes, <strong>C</strong>alling someone to fix all those damn holes.</p><p><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-t2GlxVK2WSA/T2yVJF4hsjI/AAAAAAAAAxg/s-wDpv4X7ao/IMG_1031-thumb-2011-08-31-13-28.jpg" alt="IMG_1031-thumb-2011-08-31-13-28.jpg" width="380" height="506"></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-SjZLGgRNCMI/T2yVJj6IAYI/AAAAAAAAAxo/K7svXTDkhsk/IMG_1032-thumb-2011-08-31-13-28.jpg" alt="IMG_1032-thumb-2011-08-31-13-28.jpg" width="380" height="285"></p><p><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ioLg4QKBUsY/T2yVJ0QxjVI/AAAAAAAAAxw/VOFXW0HqfT8/IMG_1033-thumb-2011-08-31-13-28.jpg" alt="IMG_1033-thumb-2011-08-31-13-28.jpg" width="380" height="506"></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5Z3fKhyXB2Y/T2yVKmPM9nI/AAAAAAAAAx4/FRMSa2CQMbU/IMG_1034-thumb-2011-08-31-13-28.jpg" alt="IMG_1034-thumb-2011-08-31-13-28.jpg" width="380" height="506"></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-GJ3DjyebAhI/T2yVLFPE0DI/AAAAAAAAAyA/dlnk0F_152Q/IMG_1037-thumb-2011-08-31-13-28.jpg" alt="IMG_1037-thumb-2011-08-31-13-28.jpg" width="380" height="506"></p><p>I think there is a theme here. We are beginning to refer to the guys as the gods of Destruction. It turns out "minimally invasive" means that they don't strip the walls back to the studs. For some silly reason we thought "a few holes" didn't include ripping two foot wide channels up walls and into ceilings (and cross your fingers , not yet across any ceilings).</p><p><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-vQx-I2PKoKE/T2yVLpprOHI/AAAAAAAAAyI/fe64Nfb7KQo/IMG_1039-thumb-2011-08-31-13-28.jpg" alt="IMG_1039-thumb-2011-08-31-13-28.jpg" width="380" height="506"></p><p>To be fair they figured we had balloon construction which is common with this vintage but low and behold we had much sturdier construction. Good in general, bad for running forced air ducting. ANd they would have had to rip into a lot of the same places to get to the water lines that were broken so...It's still a lot of ravage for the poor old house. It's also going to be a LOT of repair work after the fact.</p><p>I was pretty resigned to the fact that the house was going to be a construction site till all the work was done, so while it's a bit more than I expected it is in the general ball park. Aislinn however missed the first round when the plumbers were chopping holes (smaller and MUCH fewer) so I think she is kind of in shock right now. Until you go through it it's hard to comprehend the shear volume of dust and that it gets EVERYWHERE. Till they are done and we can really vacuum this dust will be in everything we own and eat.</p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcB9RERe-7ykcKKJyh3l8aK_zY2o0R6WnHB0j0v732HRiRDWHEQGPFIUR3qXNjhFzHhMi_kKjVBCIT7ivYL502EZG6Nlt1Hd_-NUr5VedoeryUZvQa4SzuDPWtS_psmXK9TTEgz60udGY/" alt="IMG_1040-thumb-2011-08-31-13-28.jpg" width="380" height="285"></p><p>To a lesser extent it will happen again when we close up all the holes.</p><p>But then we will be able to actually start unpacking!</p><p>On an up note the deck is almost back together.</p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-DORkz-sBFQs/T2yVNqm7RMI/AAAAAAAAAyY/A18ePjVhsP0/IMG_1042-thumb-2011-08-31-13-28.jpg" alt="IMG_1042-thumb-2011-08-31-13-28.jpg" width="380" height="506"></p><p>And Monty found a new playmate (appropriately named for the houses condition "Dusty").</p><p><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_XuP7VhF875Dg0gYDclkvaAlhGqyylh1MAWMgpDzUYR-KkioU6nfvaSPQCo4ULsaNlXbL6wZnGFOsIvfknV_XLIlKWKBMjOQjx-T43Jfq2vV9ob0CBKfugTaTQD3VdLWqeNT2rLBPRNg/" alt="IMG_1028-thumb-2011-08-31-13-28.jpg" width="380" height="506"></p><p>The electrical is almost done with the first phase.</p><p>Bottled yesterday while the power was off, so were stocking up!</p><p>so long from the BigD</p><p style="text-align: center">- 30 -</p>Noiz Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10271364253147672592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-445875105081361609.post-45508206342589602642011-08-26T12:25:00.001-07:002011-08-26T12:25:42.981-07:00Al Grain, no Pain<p style="clear: both">A quickie on brewing in the hood because the beer festival is looming...</p><p style="clear: both">So on coming to the big D and regaining some space one thing I really wanted to do was get back into brewing and up my game a bit.</p><p style="clear: both">Extract brewing is good but it's a bit expensive and a bit limiting and I wanted to be a bit more "off the grid".</p><p style="clear: both">So That is what it has been, mostly. I had some extract from before so I have used a bit in some of the brews but mostly all grain.</p><p style="clear: both">First I tried the Brew in a Bag. I like the idea and will revisit but with out being able to get or make a big enough bag (we are still mostly in boxes remember) it was not super successful. Or it was successful but I had to use a fair amount of extract because of the bag limit..</p><p style="clear: both">Then I went crazy and tried to do a Pari-Gayle brew. I did but when your living out of boxes it's silly to try a complicated brew day. That was two smaller batches of tasty beer but ...</p><p style="clear: both">Then I had this fruit that needed to be used and was over ripe so I brewed a weird mix of fruit juice and grain that is really refreshing. A crazy brew of malt plus plums, apples and peaches with some ginger thrown in in a fit of madness. </p><p style="clear: both">Then I calmed down and did an American Pale ale. I had a lot of two year old hops so I calculated the loss in bitterness but I guess I stored them better than I thought and ended up with more of an IPA than a PA but still very good.</p><p style="clear: both">In the fermentor right now is, or should be, closer to what I was aiming for last time.</p><p style="clear: both">I have also managed to scrounge up some used kegs and scored a great deal on a CO2 tank, so this or the next brew may go into a keg! How cool is that.</p><p style="clear: both">Cooling might be an issue but I have plans for a way to cool keg to tap and in the winter...</p><p style="clear: both">In future I'm planning to do a bunch of hard cider when apples come in and then turn that into Apple Jack over the winter. If it works I will probably put that in my ale keg and let it sit for a year or so and have it ready for Thanksgiving 2012 or 2013. Actually since I may end up with three or four gallons It may come out many years running...</p><p style="clear: both">Speaking of T Day. We set up the table the other day. We can't find some of the parts (they are in a box someplace...) but I stuck a dowel in and used some cedar shingle shims. We even had guests for dinner the other day. So we have no idea how many people are going to show for T day. It's looking like probably under ten, which as many of you know is way down from the 30-40 of recent years. But you never know.</p><p style="clear: both">Cheers from the Big D</p><p style="clear: both; text-align: center;">- 30 -</p><br class='final-break' style='clear: both' />Noiz Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10271364253147672592noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-445875105081361609.post-19625231826334606982011-08-26T12:03:00.001-07:002011-08-26T12:03:06.488-07:00Radiating Pain<p style="clear: both">I had mentioned before that we had a little hiccup with the heating system...</p><p style="clear: both">Well essentially all the radiators are trash and way to many of the feed pipes also, SO.<br />we had to give up and move to forced air. To save some bucks I with some help from Aislinn did most of the "demo", cutting out the old heating system pipes and stacking them up. It's kind of cool actually but 4" steel pipes are HEAVY!</p><p style="clear: both"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRbikMs0KEbSGxmM6Pf-pvYZfp9iDohY5uSNYREAUSph9D0IvlHimaiCIh3EthTkpYOKiDnbU1hH6lnObY2j7jIf3N7NEm89b6LgfL1-6rBHb6lF9SJ_-TEw_7PKE8gTs8ZyiD2chyxNQ/s800/IMG_1007-thumb.jpg" height="285" align="right" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: right; margin: 0 0 10px 10px;" />The pile grows...<br /><br /></p><p style="clear: both"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipShH9nkANk5N4R10aB2848l-pWDUtCJAIINIXqYa8CNDBdnyGtQEW0gXHIGD85BhHzZVZp8Z1ya4bHeZaAHMI9lQy5C4kXsJaowOE7V8kQ-4L2fGEBSTcB9Qwr-vW_fdH2N1IFjzPDMM/s800/IMG_1008-thumb.jpg" height="285" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" />Slice and dice baby!</p><p style="clear: both"></p><p style="clear: both"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-S8qOP4F4f6A/TlftwBAfULI/AAAAAAAAAqw/9GJaPqAf0yE/s800/IMG_1010-thumb.jpg" height="285" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /><br style="clear: both" />Back at the boiler it looks really cool...</p><p style="clear: both"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-pE2qrqpjjxg/TlftxfqSoQI/AAAAAAAAAq4/wmmcMooDwYY/s800/IMG_1011-thumb.jpg" height="285" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></p><p style="clear: both"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-KPk8YTlpYgs/TlftzFCiJDI/AAAAAAAAArA/k9OJVGJaDyE/s800/IMG_1012-thumb.jpg" height="285" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /><br style="clear: both" />And then there were none...<br /><br /></p><p style="clear: both"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-GshjrRQh48E/Tlft0lbhL_I/AAAAAAAAArI/AhR1dfGtd8Q/s800/IMG_1023-thumb.jpg" height="285" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></p><p style="clear: both"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-3mJN8615jig/Tlft11yw0DI/AAAAAAAAArQ/Nti4ZMXhB60/s800/IMG_1021-thumb.jpg" height="285" width="380" style=" text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 10px;" />So now they are cutting holes in the walls all over the place to run the vents...</p><p style="clear: both">On an up note Aislinn got to experience the joys of the old super wimpy 20 gal electric water heater.</p><p style="clear: both">Side bar, did I mention that the fridge and washer drier she ordered showed up? Big fridge, lots O ice, mmmm. Somehow it was OK for me to live off a dorm fridge but.... well anyway the big bertha arrived and we can now shop at CostCo again ;~)</p><p style="clear: both">So anyway she also had little tolerance with no washing machine. So it all arrived and I hooked up the washer (drier needed a gas line run, and a couple of loads with warm water and that emptied the tank. Now I knew from the dark days when the water heater was just turned on that it takes a couple of days to get hot. Well Aislinn took a shower after the washing and was less than thrilled. When after two days it still was not really hot, replacing that sucker moved way up her list.</p><p style="clear: both">So since the heating guys were just kicking back now that they didn't have to deal with the boiling beast she made them put in a new on demand water heater!! WhoHoo! They got a smaller one than they wanted because of the price point so this one only does 8.5 gal a minute.... So basically we could have showers going in all four of the bathrooms (if they all had showers) and still be able to wash dishes. And we could do that continuously till we all turned into prunes.</p><p style="clear: both"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-yxJoWaN878U/Tlft3ledxwI/AAAAAAAAArY/TihxWzsa6As/s800/IMG_1025-thumb.jpg" height="506" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /><br style="clear: both" />And the electricians have arrived...</p><p style="clear: both"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-qTISnI8hUHA/Tlft4-t5tkI/AAAAAAAAArg/SsyB_h_j8Bw/s800/IMG_1026-thumb.jpg" height="506" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" />They are not going to do a huge amount right now. Check out what is here, Ground the system, it's the little things that count. And put a whole house surge protector so everything doesn't get fried in the next storm.</p><p style="clear: both">They are also going to run power for the shop. It's now located where the furnace and water heater used to be. Bigger space, better access and a flue for those fumey things like welding and a forge? ;!) (probably not but one can dream...).</p><p style="clear: both">There is a lot more usable space "down under" now that there isn't heating pipes running all over.</p><p style="clear: both">In taking down the piping I found a few pipes that probably would have popped once the system was up and running. Ones that I started cutting and had just break off. With the auto feeder on the boiler it could have pumped a LOT of water into the basement before we noticed something was wrong. So sad as it is it's probably a god thing that we have moved beyond the radiators.</p><p style="clear: both">Also we may have cut the heating bill by 2/3rds. That is the guess at the efficiency difference. And it can be switched to do cooling also. If Aislinn finds out that we can do geothermal (sounds strange like personal nukes but it's the new thing, not too expensive and completely passive once it's in) we can hook that into this heater and it would have been complicated with the boiler.</p><p style="clear: both">So long from the Big D.</p><p style="clear: both">Soon it will be time for !) the big beer festival and 2) the huge jazz festival.</p><p style="clear: both; text-align: center;">-30-</p><br class='final-break' style='clear: both' />Noiz Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10271364253147672592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-445875105081361609.post-83685443836561345042011-08-26T11:14:00.001-07:002011-08-26T12:03:49.582-07:00Mish mash and smish smash<p style="clear: both">So I will try to cover a bunch of time.</p><p style="clear: both">So I got back, we had a lot of heat and then it has been mostly pleasant weather wise.</p><p style="clear: both">The tree trimmers are still going sporadically. Partly because there have been a few storms through and partly (I think) because it's down to "topping" the elm which is around 120 feet tall. Me personally... it would be a freezing day in hell before you got me up there, it is scary tall. To put it in perspective if you were up where they need to be and fell you would fall about 80 feet before you hit the peak of our roof and that is three stories + the roof up. The guys who fixed the chimney were a bit in awe of the tree trimmers and that guy was sitting on top of the chimney (~40 up) with no safety line!</p><p style="clear: both">Oh and we had the fireplaces inspected and "pointed" and a new flue put on one and spark arresters on the rest.</p><p style="clear: both">A pause for some Eastern market food porn.<br /><br /></p><p style="clear: both"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-wweodpnAnTg/TlfiDNoqG-I/AAAAAAAAAoI/VKELAoz_nKo/s800/IMG_0933-thumb.jpg" height="285" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></p><p style="clear: both"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-0XcAw4y0bYs/TlfiEyf5k3I/AAAAAAAAAoQ/1I7cT7iNoss/s800/IMG_0935-thumb.jpg" height="285" width="380" style=" text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 10px;" /></p><p style="clear: both"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-lA1j0gtxjkI/TlfiGzVpm5I/AAAAAAAAAoY/O1_tOPrPaIU/s800/IMG_0937-thumb.jpg" height="506" width="380" style=" text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 10px;" /></p><p style="clear: both"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-VgJPJsWZgmg/TlfiIvMFiBI/AAAAAAAAAog/32gk8hZNutQ/s800/IMG_0939-thumb.jpg" height="285" width="380" style=" text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 10px;" /></p><p style="clear: both"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-mpT_KB7hb8M/TlfiKSucTQI/AAAAAAAAAoo/Fv0Fw_xxsEE/s800/IMG_0940-thumb.jpg" height="285" width="380" style=" text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 10px;" /></p><p style="clear: both"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-JKtgZK7yRCY/TlfiMEtijsI/AAAAAAAAAow/OGPAfd7oPFE/s800/IMG_0941-thumb.jpg" height="285" width="380" style=" text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 10px;" />Well that was good for me, you?<br /><br />OK so we are in the middle of construction and destruction all at the same time. Aislinn is hot to get everything painted AND we needed to do that behind the radiators while they were pulled for the system test. So most rooms have color tests in them now.</p><p style="clear: both"></p><p style="clear: both"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Vij7XN8krFI/TlfiN4twxzI/AAAAAAAAAo4/-NScwGATTzE/s800/IMG_0946-thumb.jpg" height="285" width="380" style=" text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 10px;" /></p><p style="clear: both"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-YNZRy8pPXd4/TlfiPu8UVDI/AAAAAAAAApA/Q_NHf-21pCs/s800/IMG_0948-thumb.jpg" height="285" width="380" style=" text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 10px;" />And the room that was falling off the house, kind of we needed to jack up and support. Well they needed to see inside the floor to make sure jacking it up wouldn't break the kitchen ceiling. So since that room was tiled and those would break when we jacked it up level I needed to remove the tiles. They came up pretty easy but they were laid on concrete board. Think sheetrock but made from concrete. The folks laying it down were of the "belt and suspenders" crowd (folks who don't trust either and so wear both). And they glued AND screwed it down with determination. That meant basically breaking it all into small pieces with a hammer drill.<br /><br />So this room</p><p style="clear: both"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-P1agUib2-NE/TlfiRMYR-yI/AAAAAAAAApI/sQNksbTmFfo/s800/IMG_0272-thumb.jpg" height="506" width="380" style=" text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 10px;" />Became this room</p><p style="clear: both"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-2bpEvkmaIoI/TlfiSmOHSxI/AAAAAAAAApQ/oU3-SsaM3JY/s800/IMG_0949-thumb.jpg" height="285" width="380" style=" text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 10px;" />And slowly all these little rocks got cleared away</p><p style="clear: both"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqSUj1qtjsx5v4eVMykKbAOOqV8NfW3iLmDWRlcxn3W4LJypBjMEEib3nXpnDtiVFTu6ftAwAyfdKY6nfvxKEtqBdjwfXh3Hqb_Bg4JwMwSlx1aAl6HY-12lQftwLpWDAbEdrS3EnPRZE/s800/IMG_0952-thumb.jpg" height="285" width="380" style=" text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 10px;" />In this bucket</p><p style="clear: both"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSjuJTeX9L-MrBoAiPEGNtXkR6OSg2Fgqqj3EfxL7AeDaODfPhD5HQSIqixvPvRTjCC2Te-D77HjDJoX9-QnC01eJmBbSBmaAGFpv7dW6W1laASSpdRrw6LkcxBcrExcYGaw1LCyHO20c/s800/IMG_0953-thumb.jpg" height="285" width="380" style=" text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 10px;" />And a lot of sweat<br /><br /></p><p style="clear: both"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE9R19-_C9Lo4Dgy5jhRy0madXi_ZvZObU_z4KD3fOF96gP0Jtaa4y7XBROLNKZB0i0L3FdCYmmC7zyOx_eSD_DG7nDrpCTHIbyAQiz-7GdwTdwNg3I-wRPRSTPkzXcMj1U2VagHfLoMo/s800/IMG_0969-thumb.jpg" height="285" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /><br style="clear: both" />And we got down to the boards and then beyond...</p><p style="clear: both"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifkRevPIAExyx0IQe07DIqN3MZ0P5isN6WEs5jpnTM3lO3JeeuazrQufzw_Y15D_B_YaExPj2n6CvGALolJVRrXfRmcDI6UA2s1JZ9ZtY6QbvAjvoqcMVvntJ4ZfxKN4q3q8_bXs0_OqM/s800/IMG_0981-thumb.jpg" height="285" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></p><p style="clear: both"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-hTVbCRqIuEM/TlficCu8lAI/AAAAAAAAAp4/touEr0NdR5k/s800/IMG_0989-thumb.jpg" height="506" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" />You probably can't see it in this shot but the first three joists are cracked because of the "falling" room.<br /><br /></p><p style="clear: both">But then Ray and Ron rode in on white stallions, or maybe it was a car? and ripped open the deck below and put in some posts that could actually hold some weight. They also jacked up the room. It had sagged over an inch on one end and just under an inch on the other. FYI that is a LOT of sag for the five or so feet that hangs over the deck.</p><p style="clear: both"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-q4EUfgY8QL4/Tlfid7IAfPI/AAAAAAAAAqA/ul4sl-4DovU/s800/IMG_0990-thumb.jpg" height="285" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" />Old semi-useless posts.</p><p style="clear: both"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-kGhRnDGIpnU/Tlfie0hS_XI/AAAAAAAAAqI/M5xcXUgSWQE/s800/IMG_0996-thumb.jpg" height="285" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" />Though they had replaced older and even less useful posts...<br /><br /><br /><br /></p><p style="clear: both">Now with all new and really useful posts</p><p style="clear: both"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-3Uvc5-XLNtY/Tlfig2bz3fI/AAAAAAAAAqQ/6ar4B_zAZ5s/s800/IMG_0997-thumb.jpg" height="285" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></p><p style="clear: both"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-NcpJm_k317Q/Tlfih9xmKhI/AAAAAAAAAqY/cra781weYPM/s800/IMG_0999-thumb.jpg" height="285" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /><br style="clear: both" />OK next, radiating pain...</p><br class='final-break' style='clear: both' />Noiz Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10271364253147672592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-445875105081361609.post-80699726914931504272011-08-21T10:01:00.001-07:002011-08-21T10:01:57.949-07:00Personal nukes are the answer!<p style="clear: both">WE have been going through a bit of hell with the heating system. The 50% loss of radiators has turned into closer to 100%. Add in some burst feed pipes and... Well the radiators have to go. Actually we can't even find them. That is the other twist. It looked like we would have to buy many new radiators. The catch is that the new ones are pressed metal ones from a german company that look nothing like traditional cast iron radiators. So as the cost skyrocketed we needed to make a decision.</p><p style="clear: both">So we went with what passes for renewable energy out here and we are installing a small personal reactor.<br /><br /></p><p style="clear: both"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-a8csZ8H-Fhe8Q_J3EF-BHsaXs9aAHDibIg6n7kjOazq-GVyD5H8zhG4wwuj0pfhF-Z513edAhkZ_Ne_qgav2_micvLfUb9un3oKm6GUTvIrfI3TRG-Q3HPmySla2_uC7VmT25mMYLOg/s800/photo_1-thumb.2.jpg" height="320" width="240" style=" text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 10px;" />It's kind of a new thing and our electrician was a bit puzzled by how to hook it all up.<br /><br /></p><p style="clear: both"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-OCph-ggfGjE/TlE6A4hJLCI/AAAAAAAAAoA/P6KiWh0ciJY/s800/photo_3-thumb.2.jpg" height="242" align="left" width="240" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" />But he did figure it out. Turns out the lead in the water is great in the cooling loop and keeps the drinking water from glowing after dark. We did have to put in a tsunami wall (new US regulation) though there has yet to be a tsunami on the great lakes.</p><p style="clear: both">The little baby puts out 500KW so we don't have to worry about power and the heat coming off the core heats the house nicely. Of course right now it's still pretty warm so we are using some of the juice to power a big ass AC unit in the basement. Every few years we have to change fuel rods but they say you can do it with work gloves if you move fast and it's legal for individuals to simply put the used rods in the trash!</p><p style="clear: both">So it looks like we are set for awhile. The big test is Tue. We flip the switch and it either works or we burn a two block whole in Detroit.</p><p style="clear: both">I have to go now and get a cowboy hat and practice my Slim Pickens impersonations.</p><p style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> -30-</p><br class='final-break' style='clear: both' />Noiz Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10271364253147672592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-445875105081361609.post-56582189502317060712011-08-07T19:44:00.001-07:002011-08-07T19:44:20.035-07:00Buy American...Where? How? I know why.<p style="clear: both">OK before you think I've gone off on another tangent let me say that there are about three posts in the works so I will catch up on the happs. And this does relate, but wait I digress.</p><p style="clear: both">First a question. What is the largest American own brewery? You can ponder that for now I will tell you later.</p><p style="clear: both">How it relates? Well one of our contractors, never thought I would know so many.... , was talking about how he tries to always buy American. Not having lived in the manufacturing heartland it was something that I kind of did but not so dedicatedly. Anyway he and his wife went in to buy a car and they had researched it and it was an american car actually made in america and when they got there it was pointed out that the colors had all changed a bit for the models because the paints come from Japan and deliveries had been affected by the disaster. </p><p style="clear: both">What? We buy paint from Japan because???<br /><br />He also said he uses all Hilti tools. Nice stuff but when I looked<br />Hilti Corporation<br />Feldkircherstrasse 100<br />P.O. Box 333<br />9494 Schaan<br />Liechtenstein</p><p style="clear: both"><strong>Liechtenstein!? </strong>I thought they made stamps?</p><p style="clear: both">My point is that it's very hard to know what IS american made and what just seems to be american made. There are a lot of "american" companies who's products are actually made over seas. Porter Cable was/ is an "american" company but their tools are no longer made in america.</p><p style="clear: both">Or are they? Porter Cable is a division of Delta</p><p style="clear: both">In January, 2011, Taiwan-based Chang Type Industrial Co., Ltd. purchased the Delta brand from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Black_%26_Decker" title="Stanley Black & Decker">Stanley Black & Decker</a>.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEFink2011_1-1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_tools#cite_note-FOOTNOTEFink2011-1">1</a></sup> Chang Type formed a wholly owned subsidiary, <strong>Delta Power Equipment Corp.</strong> to own the acquired assets including trademarks, designs and industrial tooling.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMcKenna2011_0-1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_tools#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMcKenna2011-0">2</a></sup> Chang Type is moving Delta's production tooling from a Stanley Black & Decker owned facility in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson,_Tennessee" title="Jackson, Tennessee">Jackson, Tennessee</a> to a facility in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anderson_County,_South_Carolina" title="Anderson County, South Carolina">Anderson County, South Carolina</a>.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTESouth_Carolina_Department_of_Commerce2011_2-1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_tools#cite_note-FOOTNOTESouth_Carolina_Department_of_Commerce2011-2">3</a></sup> Bryan Whiffen is President & Chief Executive Officer and Norm MacDonald is Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer of Chang Type's Delta Power Equipment Corp. subsidiary.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMcKenna2011_0-2"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_tools#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMcKenna2011-0">4</a><br /></sup></p><p style="clear: both"><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMcKenna2011_0-2"><br />BUT In this article on Black and Decker...<br /></sup></p><p style="clear: both"><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMcKenna2011_0-2"><br /></sup></p><p style="clear: both">Black & Decker (the corporation) is distinct from "Black & Decker" the brand; the latter is used by more than one corporation. In particular, "Black & Decker"-branded household products in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americas" title="Americas">Americas</a> (but outside of Brazil) are marketed by a division of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Hobbs_Inc" title="Russell Hobbs Inc">Applica</a>, and a Florida-based corporation much smaller than Black & Decker Corporation. None of Black & Decker's power tools are manufactured in the United States of America any longer. </p><p style="clear: both">Brands include: <br />DeWalt<br />Porter-Cable<br />Delta Machinery (sold)<br />DeVibiss Air Power<br />Kwickset<br />Baldwin<br />Weiser Lock<br />Price Pfister<br />Emhart Teknologies<br />Oldham Blades<br />Black and Decker Firestorm<br />Vector<br />DustBuster<br /><br /></p><p style="clear: both">So it's just darn confusing since IF Porter-Cable is actually a division of Delta then it's a Chinese (not PRC) company that is making the products in the US, if not it's an "american" company making it's products outside the US.</p><p style="clear: both">Which is the more "american"? Personally I would have to go with the chinese company as being the more "buy american", and that is just plain weird.</p><p style="clear: both">OK back to the beer question.</p><p style="clear: both">Anheuser-Busch, right. I mean BUDWEISER, BUSH, MICHELOBE, BUD LIGHT. What can be more american.</p><p style="clear: both">Well, actually in 2008 they were bought by Brazilian-Belgian brewing company <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InBev" title="InBev">InBev</a>.</p><p style="clear: both">OK so then it must be Miller, another American giant.</p><p style="clear: both">Hmmm, The <strong>Miller Brewing Company</strong> is an American beer brewing company owned by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom" title="United Kingdom">United Kingdom</a>-based <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SABMiller" title="SABMiller">SABMiller</a>. </p><p style="clear: both">But there is more. On 1 July 2008 the<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MillerCoors" title="MillerCoors">MillerCoors</a> company was formed as a joint venture with rival <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molson_Coors" title="Molson Coors" class="mw-redirect">Molson Coors</a> to consolidate the production and distribution of its products in the United States, with each parent company's corporate operations and international operations remaining separate and independent of the joint venture.</p><p style="clear: both">MillerCoors? MolsonCoors??? That just killed the other contender also.</p><p style="clear: both">But what is SAB?<br />Miller was acquired by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Breweries" title="South African Breweries">South African Breweries</a> from Philip Morris for $3.6 billion worth of stock and US$2 billion in debt to form <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SABMiller" title="SABMiller">SABMiller</a>, with Philip Morris retaining a 36% ownership share and 24.99% voting rights.</p><p style="clear: both">OK so all the icons are owned by Brazilian, Belgian, Canadian, South African super conglomerates. Who is the largest american owned brewery?</p><p style="clear: both">Samuel Adams.</p><p style="clear: both">That small craft brewery in boston that was formed in 1984.</p><p style="clear: both"><strong>Samuel Adams</strong> is an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States">American</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand" title="Brand">brand</a> of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer" title="Beer">beer</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewing_company" class="mw-redirect" title="Brewing company">brewed</a> by the <strong>Boston Beer Company</strong> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Stock_Exchange" title="New York Stock Exchange">NYSE</a>: <a href="http://www.nyse.com/about/listed/lcddata.html?ticker=SAM" class="external text" rel="nofollow">SAM</a>) and its associated contract brewers. The company was founded in 1984 by Jim Koch, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_M._Rubin" title="Harry M. Rubin">Harry M. Rubin</a>, and Lorenzo Lamadrid in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston,_Massachusetts" class="mw-redirect" title="Boston, Massachusetts">Boston, Massachusetts</a>, USA. The brand name of Samuel Adams (often abbreviated to Sam Adams, even in advertisements), was chosen in honor of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Adams" title="Samuel Adams">Samuel Adams</a>, an<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_(American_Revolution)" title="Patriot (American Revolution)">American patriot</a> famous for his role in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolution" title="American Revolution">American Revolution</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Tea_Party" title="Boston Tea Party">Boston Tea Party</a>. According to tradition, he was also a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewer" class="mw-redirect" title="Brewer">brewer</a>.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-2"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Brewing_Company#cite_note-2">7</a></sup> </p><p style="clear: both">Following Anheuser-Busch's 2008 sale to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InBev" title="InBev">InBev</a>, the Boston Beer Company became the largest American-owned beer company in the United States.</p><p style="clear: both">Second largest and oldest is.<br /><strong>D. G. Yuengling & Son</strong> is the oldest operating <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewery" title="Brewery">brewing</a> company in America, established in 1829. It is one of the largest breweries by volume in the country, and is the second largest <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States">American</a>-owned brewery after the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Beer_Company" class="mw-redirect" title="Boston Beer Company">Boston Beer Company</a>, makers of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Adams_(beer)" class="mw-redirect" title="Sam Adams (beer)">Sam Adams</a>beer.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-0"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuengling#cite_note-0">8</a></sup> Its headquarters are in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pottsville,_Pennsylvania" title="Pottsville, Pennsylvania">Pottsville</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania" title="Pennsylvania">Pennsylvania</a>.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuengling#cite_note-1">9</a><br /><br /></sup></p><p style="clear: both">So buy american, if you can figure out what that is.</p><p style="clear: both">Next time all Detroit All the time! Updates on the house, the Eastern Market and some demolition... oooo POWER TOOLS!</p><br class='final-break' style='clear: both' />Noiz Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10271364253147672592noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-445875105081361609.post-57729848383260661542011-07-23T15:48:00.001-07:002011-07-23T16:04:05.215-07:00Two weeks of blessings and heat<p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-5XhDMxd6v08/TitOlIa07XI/AAAAAAAAAlA/Jwtq3UF0YHM/s800/IMG_0918-full1.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-YaO8PVZLD2o/TitOkVU3atI/AAAAAAAAAk8/hOEQJfXiM5k/s800/IMG_0918-thumb2.jpg" height="517" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a>But now I'm back in Detroit! under the "heat dome". Kind of like the Thunder Dome but without the fun sports angle.<br /><br /></p><p style="clear: both">Before I left and Aislinn arrived and the tree fell over a friend from SF who's traveling around the US on a secret project dropped in and we shared some beers, BBQ and a Giants game! He saw them in Chicago (almost going to Zeros rehab start - he doesn't like him to put it mildly) and then came here and we saw them play a crazy game against the Tigers. Both are leading their divisions so that could be a very interesting World series, at least for me ;~)</p><p style="clear: both">OK you non baseball fans can wake up again.</p><p style="clear: both">So it's not all head and depression. About 5 min away in Grosse Pointe there is a concert in the square every Thur. evening.</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGkbaDxYRCYP9A9VujCjaxpkwXpis3I3s3_sNSAqbzTSAc09T00BZucb9U7uIJE_Txcd-zEB0YkQZg403Fp3W_QRTdfdvnHgGABi8LMpfk50_97n2wN6w0t8RstP4S3YmFPJP3nJhTYVA/s800/IMG_0921-full1.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-alTiC-UmTyg/TitOn4c-cfI/AAAAAAAAAlE/Q_apQlMez7U/s800/IMG_0921-thumb1.jpg" height="285" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a>This was a jazz orchestra that was in the area for a festival so they booked them for the night.<br /><br /></p><p style="clear: both">Eastern Market today</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-HU8OVt3zU_M/TitOtaoS7HI/AAAAAAAAAlQ/2HbPNPDGuck/s800/IMG_0922-full1.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjUCz1yDIOO3yh34xvTlMM9qGHDBa4dVIKEt8HpMvxTUISxDq0xqfyt1tbIWOtx4oROS2uKp0wteZ_oy7k9Q9qtYiYxOSHKkygHdNArO2hT-ASsxPmBbuwnLNuvjgMzJ_-YwkKBye5vMQ/s800/IMG_0922-thumb1.jpg" height="285" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a>Carrots and Tomatoes $1 a basket</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/--8hCel-38Bo/TitOzO6eUuI/AAAAAAAAAlY/x4WFEg2qjvk/s800/IMG_0923-full1.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-WfC2Y_qPlfY/TitOwM3wFEI/AAAAAAAAAlU/np5ypb13dlQ/s800/IMG_0923-thumb1.jpg" height="506" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a>Plums (the over flow from the other bag), Cherry peppers (YES they are back - I already have them pickling) and limes. $3 for the peppers and the limes - the plums come later.</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-sZYRD62C82k/TitO1QXjBFI/AAAAAAAAAlg/AhxWWFUNWn4/s800/IMG_0924-full1.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-kx5-QVB1isY/TitO06IVdBI/AAAAAAAAAlc/A42-7d4WeWU/s800/IMG_0924-thumb1.jpg" height="285" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a>Blackberries, they pushed them on me $1 a basket.</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-1Z5kn0RupD8/TitO2HMInVI/AAAAAAAAAlo/y_FxvYPfcC4/s800/IMG_0925-full1.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-gjrN1AOL8xs/TitO13HPlFI/AAAAAAAAAlk/QhAuBoOp3JA/s800/IMG_0925-thumb1.jpg" height="285" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a>Romaine lettuce and celery, I think $1 each?</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-dyj_wyBb3gA/TitO5vArmfI/AAAAAAAAAlw/wU5nri-fTgk/s800/IMG_0926-full1.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-zveCgxUG13o/TitO2QX5rGI/AAAAAAAAAls/1jP1WM3LbM4/s800/IMG_0926-thumb1.jpg" height="285" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a>OK this is a bit of a ringer. Aislinn wanted Ricotta and none of the cheese vendors had any so I went to <a href="http://www.detroitarmy.com/2008/08/r-hirt-jr-co.html" target="_blank">R. Hirt Jr. Co.</a><br />They are part of the Eastern Market just not part of the Farmers market.</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-s_nCXWLqZN0/TitO_cAd03I/AAAAAAAAAl4/YwF_72f2hCg/s800/IMG_0927-full1.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-UxMqIkyuv58/TitO9SKI6bI/AAAAAAAAAl0/vVIR9GmZdTw/s800/IMG_0927-thumb1.jpg" height="285" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a>More peppers, Bell and Poblano, some Roma tomatoes and a few Peaches.</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-Ew2rz_8v_yI/TitPChPv_VI/AAAAAAAAAmA/hWjO8a78lYg/s800/IMG_0928-full1.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-u1AC6T9Qyk0/TitO_qmBKOI/AAAAAAAAAl8/j2WcwiFCtKk/s800/IMG_0928-thumb1.jpg" height="285" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a>And Plums. The guy was selling them for $2 a flat. The flats were about 2 feet by one foot by three or four plums deep. A Jamaican guy and I were looking knowing we couldn't use that many so we decided to split the flat. So all the plums here and above were $1.</p><p style="clear: both">Going back in time a bit.</p><p style="clear: both">HHDL - DC</p><p style="clear: both">It was scorching outside and freezing in the venue. We were in the Verizon Center and it was close enough to walk from the house, which I did quite a bit.</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdnRmkHQ42g-FMkaMHzcg1Tp02bAx3Y08fSVepCDZ7NJcWvOYcJAkES42I3KhRtWOaHbvOkvsAY-BoE3quNHFbOWkWP64w_kbXphYjXtl6f71NwReHvhF3ZaKgV4p62-Yhr_zOkRT9rXA/s800/IMG_0868-full1.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-8cTE2mxWS1g/TitPEOjT27I/AAAAAAAAAmE/25qOjW1dqsk/s800/IMG_0868-thumb1.jpg" height="285" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a>First day there, carpet is going in and the stage is still under construction.<br /> </p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-WbfXQLnc3tg/TitPKq8uoTI/AAAAAAAAAmU/jfFbXhlClRk/s800/IMG_0869-full1.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-riyuR1rEIQE/TitPJlbv52I/AAAAAAAAAmM/cXKps2OifW0/s800/IMG_0869-thumb1.jpg" height="285" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a></p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-P3RULGLnGYI/TitPLfEzcvI/AAAAAAAAAmc/DnkH0xDqVGU/s800/IMG_0871-full1.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-73GI1waN9pc/TitPKyqAsSI/AAAAAAAAAmY/rsxbLD45YWs/s800/IMG_0871-thumb2.jpg" height="285" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a></p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-rCr1gzL3XyQ/TitPVLX9Q7I/AAAAAAAAAms/hOCAGbh4K-s/s800/IMG_0872-full1.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-_A_sVJzgGNM/TitPQ6nt6SI/AAAAAAAAAmk/NQACW7aYSto/s800/IMG_0872-thumb1.jpg" height="506" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a></p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Tm4xYYp3Vck/TitPaWViBMI/AAAAAAAAAm0/dCruq09aKEE/s800/IMG_0873-full1.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-HhgfHjxLP1A/TitPZfgH7DI/AAAAAAAAAmw/6QSpo6ysmY0/s800/IMG_0873-thumb1.jpg" height="506" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a></p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-9tUGG_TNX30/TitPhHGOfaI/AAAAAAAAAm8/XM40U9R8f60/s800/IMG_0874-full1.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVUCbBpe2AI3fkw4ANEEAwW9IQaof8oLcKDO-pMtV5tnB5QV3XerKSDkjTvyQqJrUb0h41Nw5iG7hA-yP8k44hyphenhyphenbASCuvT1-WHx2P_9HIeEo2LT7GUkkxbZjaP33jv9TuunAfh9FdzPfU/s800/IMG_0874-thumb2.jpg" height="285" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br /><br /><br /></p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-dG88owXph7A/TitPi2OkpSI/AAAAAAAAAnE/xGDePipw4gg/s800/IMG_0878-full1.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-Ch4GNIoI9Sk/TitPiUSsBsI/AAAAAAAAAnA/2es4YgUFu_Q/s800/IMG_0878-thumb1.jpg" height="347" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a>The Front Of House guys. Mixer on the left and lighting on the right.<br /><br /><br /></p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-CYbK8gTe2ZQ/TitPjTUTPBI/AAAAAAAAAnM/Z8NLNA8n9lY/s800/IMG_0881-full1.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-sbSuVyXgYDs/TitPjLGUB-I/AAAAAAAAAnI/-h_xCCGImOk/s800/IMG_0881-thumb1.jpg" height="285" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a>The control room for video and projections (JumboTron etc.)<br />In the back left next to the mixing board is where the streaming was being done. The public talks and teachings were streamed live in English, Russian, Chinese, and Vietnamese. Some portions were also uploaded to YouTube.</p><p style="clear: both">If you were at the event you could get headsets and have your choice of nine different translations.</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-V1fZVRnWHKk/TitPlWaihXI/AAAAAAAAAnU/_qbhBHr03So/s800/IMG_0889-full1.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-DyW1q42pyAg/TitPkOs15rI/AAAAAAAAAnQ/KIVcMcXBjX4/s800/IMG_0889-thumb1.jpg" height="285" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a>What they are looking at. A bunch of cameras and a computer feed for display announcements, schedules etc.<br /><br /></p><p style="clear: both"></p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-TYRKapaK-JU/TitPl-g_MqI/AAAAAAAAAnc/_6VEVVO0x6M/s800/IMG_0900-full1.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-EoHYhE90U2k/TitPloIh69I/AAAAAAAAAnY/zMUGgT8r--M/s800/IMG_0900-thumb1.jpg" height="285" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a>My little corner, actually a room off the control room. Depending on what was going on I'm recording up to 12 tracks including the three streamed translations.</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-othhCVf6yDg/TitPn_kAgPI/AAAAAAAAAnk/XYbweCOBoSc/s800/IMG_0896-full1.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Pd4dsthjqpM/TitPmUFz1kI/AAAAAAAAAng/nOsQDWI4oXk/s800/IMG_0896-thumb1.jpg" height="285" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a>People liked the shoes ;~)<br /><br /></p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-hQnrFScvFcA/TitPoQVayNI/AAAAAAAAAns/vZDVvhBlOic/s800/IMG_0875-full1.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-wGBEFN80EI0/TitPoJXPr4I/AAAAAAAAAno/xSFez5ayt2A/s800/IMG_0875-thumb1.jpg" height="250" align="left" width="330" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a>One of the more difficult parts of the adventure was that His holiness is an early riser and no mater what time the schedule says he starts when he wants and ends when he's done. So it's all very flexible. Most of the time our call was 6am but then he started coming earlier. One day the mixers came really early so they could tune some things and when they arrived at 5am HHDL and a bunch of monks were already in place chanting!</p><p style="clear: both">But all worked out and it was nice working with consummate professionals. Sometimes you show up and the guys you have to interface with are doing it because they got the short straw and while they are often nice they really don't know anything about sound. These guys were pros who were very good and VERY easy to work with. I only really deal with sound but from what I heard every one was very impressed with the skills of the crew.</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-ILB_MvCf7aA/TitPpIgiGxI/AAAAAAAAAn0/zz5STT8J8Ao/s800/IMG_0906-full1.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-AknLUIPKG6Q/TitPojSIJiI/AAAAAAAAAnw/0oMdrU6L-Gw/s800/IMG_0906-thumb1.jpg" height="285" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a>Flying back to Detroit. Wow I live in the midwest!? But hey we are eastern time so maybe that is mideast.</p><p style="clear: both">I have a video clip of the house with the audience in, packed to the rafters. If I can figure out how to link it up I will.</p><p style="clear: both">Later dayz...</p><p style="clear: both">Cheers<br />SK<br /><br /></p><br class='final-break' style='clear: both' />Noiz Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10271364253147672592noreply@blogger.com0