Oil at $126.20

— Even though I've been following Peak Oil for years, it's still jarring when the effects show up at the door.

— I'm rather pleased that Obama didn't fall for the 'gas tax holiday' scheme. That's just circuses and cakes when what we're facing is a literal shortage of wheat and a figurative surplus of clowns.

— The SUVs and big pickups are starting to show up on the sides of the busy streets with "For Sale" signs.

— I'm seeing a lot more step-though scooters lately, and the occasional 3 wheeled motor bike.

— I still haven't seen $4.00 for regular yet, but I only see one gas station on my commute, and the day is young.

Fri, 09 May 2008 08:08:12 PDT - Link

Friday Cat Blogging

Tory James, who turned 12 yesterday, proves that in fact, you can fall off the floor.

Fri, 09 May 2008 07:18:12 PDT - Link

I Love 'Dem Inturtubewebs

So last night I'm working out the TAB for a song, and I'm wondering what I'd call the chord {x 6 8 8 6 x}, and I thought; "Maybe someone's done a web based application to find the name of guitar chords based on finger position."

Aah-yup.

Chord Namer at JGuitar is just such a tool.

Go to the site. Use The Tools. Click the ads!

Tue, 06 May 2008 07:38:09 PDT - Link

Oil Hit $120 a Barrel Today

CNBC will tell you it's because of a strike or strife in Nigeria, but I think it's because for each the last 25+ years, we've been using more oil than we've found in that year. More than twice as much in recent years.

This is supply and demand. We control demand, but the supply is now firmly in the hands of geology.

Chart from ASPO Newsletetr #89

Mon, 05 May 2008 08:49:34 PDT - Link

The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class

From the Graduate Council Lectures at UC Berkeley, Elizabeth Warren discusses The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class.

This is an outstanding and chilling presentation of the economic pressures on the typical American family of four in the most recent generation.

Take a look at this, then ponder the irrelevance of a summer gas tax holiday. Then ponder why the news is always talking about the tiny, simple stories.

Sun, 04 May 2008 10:41:45 PDT - Link

Friday Cat Blogging

Sleeping in. Again.

Fri, 02 May 2008 07:45:49 PDT - Link

Oh, That's Why....

Now it's much more complicated. There is a sliding scale based on the footprint of each individual vehicle. The footprint is defined as the wheelbase times the average of the track width or the area within the wheels. The larger the footprint, the lower the threshold that vehicle has to meet. Therefore for two cars of similar overall size but one with a longer wheelbase, the longer one would have a lower mileage requirement. Each automaker is then assigned an individual threshold to meet based on the sales weighted average footprint of the vehicles it sells. A company that sells more large footprint vehicles would have a lower hurdle to jump.

AutoblogGreen

Get ready for longer Detroit iron - something really stretched, and long and low, like the batmobile. Never mind, it's already here.

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:01:54 PDT - Link

New Toys

I told Darryl that his new Album War Of Blue was going to cost me.

The Guitar is a 2007 Les Paul Standard, which I picked up earlier this month on Craig's List from a guy who was switching to a Satriani Guitar more amenable to shredding. I haven't got a scale handy, but it feels quite light as Les Pauls go. It does have what's called a 'chambered' body, which means that some of the mahogany was drilled out above and around the tail stop at the factory. (X-Ray picture here).

It's still pretty stock, but I have plans to upgrade the pots, and yesterday I tweaked the nut slots under the E and A strings with superglue and some dust scrapped from a fragment of piano key I've kept in my art box since 1977. I also had to drill out the mounting holes in the tunamatic bridge to allow the height adjusters to operate correctly.

The sound is pure Les Paul - it has the newer BurstBucker Pro pickups, which have a classic, more interesting, hand-wound tone than machine-perfect-wound pickups. No complaints on the tone, (In fact I love it) although I am thinking of removing the bridge pickup cover to make it look more like Jimmy Page's 59.

Oddly enough, it seems to have come factory-loaded with Led Zeppelin songs. All the licks I practiced in the 70's came flowing back as soon as I picked it up.

This is my second Les Paul, the first was a '70s Deluxe, which I eventually let go because I couldn't get the tone I wanted. I can't say this will be my last Les Paul, but I'm planning on keeping it and playing it as long as I can move my fingers.

The amp is a VOX AD30VT, which combines a DSP front end, a 12AX7 vacuum tube driver, a 30 watt solid state power amp, and an enclosed 10" speaker (with cat-proof grill!).

I only picked it up yesterday, but the range of tones that this amp delivers is staggering. Everything from ultra-clean to metal crunch, with loads of variations in between. I can't say enough about how cool it is to have all these amp models (11 in all) to play with, and how each one seems to inspire a different song style to come from my fingers.

The DSP also delivers some effects which I describe as "interesting", but I may come to appreciate them after I've learned how to tweak them to my preference.

I picked it up at Guitar Showcase as a practice amp, for something to keep at home while my aging JC-120 does duty with the band, but I'm loving the tone so much it may take over as my main amp. (Any one in Silicon Valley want to buy a JC-120?)

It wasn't until I got it home and peeked in the manual that I discovered my favorite feature — it has a power level control knob on the back that allows me to set the max power anywhere from 30 watts to less than one tenth of a watt, without affecting the amp tone. Obviously, the speaker does contribute to tone as the volume changes, but the power level control protects the neighbors from accidental audio bombardment.

You might wonder why the whole world hasn't all switched to this amp, after this glowing review, and the answer is that the amp falls apart if you hold a chord to the very last. On a fully analog chain, the sound dips smoothly out of the distortion and keeps dropping until it disappears into the noise. In this DSP based system, the sound holds on for a very, very long time, but then falls off a cliff, and the distortion model begins to stutter and fail, then a noise gate kicks in to drop the output to dead quiet.

Shredders won't find this much of an issue, but those of us inspired by Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, and David Gilmore will occasionally find ourselves sinking into the digital chaos and silence.

Still, The VOX AD30VT a great value, and will teach you to play better — just set up a sound, get the speaker pointed at your ears, and play. I paid about $250 after taxes, it was on sale and I got a discount because of some shipping rash.

Anyway, if another week goes by without blogging, you'll know it's because I'm spending it with my new musical friends.

P.S. If you've been thinking about a new guitar and need some inspiration to get you over the hump, I recommend Darryl St. Johns new album War of Blue.

Gibson should give out copies at music stores. It's what drove me back into the Les Paul fold.

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 11:57:39 PDT - Link

Please visit the history files for earlier entries!