Ever Have One Of Those Evenings?

One spot of good news - I think I found a good entire spare tweeter that I didn't even remember I had socked away. I'll have to break out the solder gun and run it up the flagpole to see if it salutes. Oh, and I'm actually plugging in my electric guitars around the house now, instead of just plinking away unamplified. :-)

Hey, want to hear about something even funnier than audiogremlins? The night my system went down, my girlfriend whom I live with went to stay at her parents' house, so she could be there to help them when the ice-storm was supposed to hit the next morning. She naturally took my van instead of her Miata. When she was coming back the next day, she got a flat tire on the road. When I went outside to get her car to come help her, it had a flat tire just sitting there in the driveway. I don't even want to ask fate how many more shoes could be waiting to drop right about now.

Zaikesman, you could plug those guitar amps into cryo'd outlets!

Ever plugged into a Mesa Boogie guitar amp? What a sound for electric guitar! Nothing I have ever used like it! But I know you would need too much convincing......forget I brought it up. Good luck with the tweeter, and don't get the damn thing too hot(use some heat sinks) or shoes will start falling from the sky!

thedautch & Zaikesman -

I couldn't help but chime in here on the political comments re: Dems and Reps. yesterday I attended a teleconference broadcast from Washington on the "Patriot" act (yes the quotes are intentional) and the right to privacy and access to information. Until recently I subscribed to the belief that there wasn't a dimes worth of difference between the two. But, after hearing what Adolph Ashcroft and Chicken Little Bush have in store for Americans and for the Constitution: Be afraid. Be very afraid....

Maxgain - Although I'm partial to my vintage amps (guitar-wise, that is), lately I have been seriously thinking about beginning to audition some of the plethora of 'boutique' amplifiers available today, just to see if there's anything out there that could give me tone I like, yet be more flexible, dependable, and quiet. Don't even know where to begin with all the choices seemingly out there now. Though there have been some players whose sound I've liked who've used Boogie amps, that's never been my type of sound for me. But I'm sure as a company and product they are a prime inspiration for many of the present wave of 'hand-built' custom-ish jobs (though I wouldn't be surprised if trends in high end audio over the years have also played a part).

Slipknot1 - Caught a couple of academic law symposia on C-Span recently about that very subject, and not only couldn't I agree more, the plot has already been well underway for over a year now, but you're right, the ripple implications for the wider population won't be fully realized until after our present blinding fervor has waned. BTW, I noted today with satisfaction that W. has officially given Strom, Jr. the evil eye, so that limb he's out on is bending ever so tellingly. Now Daschle can try to 'splain why he gave his predecessor/successor an officially-stamped and personally-delivered pass on Monday, only to begin trying to pedal furiously in the backwards direction ever since. With as sharp and bold a political instinct as this on display in the Dem's de facto national political voice and leader, I'm afraid their loyal opposition won't have too much to worry about next time the curtains are drawn two years from now (at least not on the Senate Dem's account, anyway).

Zaikesman-
I am by profession a librarian and an IT person. I run the township network where I live as well as manage the library. The thought that the Feeble Bureau of Investigation can come into my site and confiscate servers, routers and paper records scares the bejesus out of me. The library is supposed to be a safe place, where one can come, ask any question, read any book and not be judged. During the teleconference I attended on Wed., a partner from the law firm of Ropes & Grey pointed out that many records produced by the Feds and available under the Freedom of Information act are no longer available; and the water reservoir data made available by the USGS is now being destroyed so as not to fall into the hands of "potential terrorists" US Govt Documents Depository Libraries are not recieving nearly as much any more as they once did. What's next? Soon we start recieving orders to destroy books on structural engineering, Flight manuals, Chemistry, Biology etc.? As an aside, Ashcroft has managed to roll the 1st ammendment violation known as CIPA into the patriot act as well. The district courts struck this law down as unconstitutional, but under the Patriot Act, it becomes fair game.