jp11801
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Posts posted by jp11801
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Well every republican voter I know is pretty pissed off at the spending that occurred under Bush. Some to the point of calling him a bad president, but not all.
The basic argument for the spending is obviously that those in charge felt it necessary, and put safety above all else. "Spend now or spend far more later".
To me, Bush was damned if he did and damned if he didn't. Had he not used all the resources available to him to prevent terrorist attacks, and had a repeat performance of 9/11, it would be political suicide. That said, I'm disappointed myself, but not to the point of considering him among the worst of the worst. People seem to forget the evidence presented of WMD's, and Hussein's own history of biological weapons. Pretty convenient.
Its also a bit odd to me to pretend that a democrat would not have spent similar money, even if in different fields. The global warming thing became a runaway train in the press, and probably would have spawned significant damage if mandates and spending grants were given out. That too would be ridiculous to some, less ridiculous to others, the same way defense spending is now.
With all the attention given to "pork" these days, its my hope that both sides of the isle will get with the program. Hopefully we can get the "Google for government" people are talking about.
couple of quick points, invading Irag one of the most secular governments in the middle east as a means to prevent another 911 is a waste of resources if post 911 safety is the objective. The history of biological weapons use in Iraq occurred under the Reagan administration and then under the Bush (the father) administration. Our own people who were on the ground as weapons inspectors showed no evidence of an ongoing program. Remember Iraq at that time had been under pretty brutal sanctions that severely limited their ability to raise capital and we were flying daily missions in both northern and southern Iraq enforcing 'no fly zones'. There was no credible evidence of weapons unless you include forged documents regarding yellow cake uranium, a bunch of old metal tubes that were not specked for centrifuge use or third grade drawings of train cars with weapons labs in them provided by coerced testimony from an Iraqi living in Europe. This is the reason why intelligence agencies need to be allowed to do their work free of the executive office telling them what to find.
As to a democrat spending similar on other things fair comment, for the money spent on Iraq we could have provided FREE health care for all or given out free college educations to every high school graduate or maybe fixed our crumbling infrastructure and yes as you duly noted installed a solar panel on every house in the US. I would have supported any of the options over an occupation of Iraq. I am not sure if you are aware that over 50% of the govt spend each year is on 'defense' this spend is more than the rest of all nations on earth combined.
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As a matter of fact it was brilliant if you know anything about strategy. Bush fought the war in Afghanistan where is could be won. Then he changed the battleground to one that was winnable when the enemy ran into the mountains. Sending troupes into mountains of Afghanistan is like sending sausage into a grinder. If you wanted to fight them fight them where you can win. Draw them out and you can deplete their strength. Go in and you deplete yours.
If Obama goes into mountains of Afghanistan's and Pakistan I will take that as Obama only wanting to weaken us as I believe he actually plans to do and to do so to place the blame on someone else such as Bush.
Those here seem to be so smart but yet have no memory of all those Democrats that also supported the war in Iraq because of the intelligence information. Weapons were found after a long investigation. There is no sense in showing the evidence to those with such closed minds. It is on the net just look. Early release of the info would have lead to others hunting for it. Therefore when it was cleared then the info release but then no one wanted to hear about it.
Apparently to some 9/11 is lost in memory as well and it's effect on our country. I could make a case that this latest phase of this centuries long war started under a Democratic president 30 years ago, Mr. Carter with his demonstration of weakness. Will the latest Democratic president elect follow President Carter's rather weak example in foreign affairs and just how much more blood will this weakness cost us in the future? Obama has shown only disrespect toward this wonderful country of ours during his public life. He has no respect for this country's military, it's constitution (his own words) or this country. I fear for her.
When you have a moment try reading 'All The Shah's Men' by Kinzer for a more comprehensive understanding of the Iran situation. I honestly do not blame the Iranians for the Islamic Revolution we left then little choice.
Unfortunately many of us have a fairly shallow historical understanding of the Middle East. Iran had democratically elected Prime Minister that unfortunately the CIA mistook as a communist during the height of the Cold War. We did not need to bring democracy to Iran they had it for themselves. Since 1953 we propped up the Shah, trained the Savak and armed Iran to the teeth (10 billion dollars worth between 1972-1976 alone). We then gave Sadam the green light to invade Iran after the Shah (our man in Tehran) was deposed by a popular uprising. Then Sadam uses weapons of mass destruction on Iran and his people with our full knowledge and wonder why they hate us. They do not hate us for our Freedom as GWB often states they distrust us because the Brits and Americans have screwed the Iranians over since oil was discovered there in the early 1900s. As far as Carter goes I do blame him for continuing to back the Shah and send arms to him but this situation started long ago and was policy for 20 years prior to his presidency.
I am pretty sure no one has forgotten 911 particularly those that were born and raised in the shadows of those buildings but using that horrible day as an excuse to invade Iraq, gut the constitution and create mass fear as a means of extending control is Orwellian and criminal. The Democrats and Republicans both should have been less spineless in those dark days and held this administration to a higher standard prior to invading Iraq and signing into law the (un)patriot act.
As far as your statement regarding Obama showing nothing but disrespect for this Nation, our military and constitution I am going to have to disagree on all points.
As far as your point goes about weapons of mass destruction they were outdated and no longer viable chemical weapons held in storage and not ready for use. If he had weapons of mass destruction they would have been used during the war or at a minimum put in a state of readiness for use.
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I enjoyed it I don't have really high expectations of most movies other than to entertain
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LOL. I've just learned the difference between pass out and pass away. Forums are good to learn English
I have almost passed away at several Florida meets but to the chagrin of the folks there I had only merely passed out.
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fuck all you wet shaver haters!
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Vickie does not sleep during meets, she tends to spend 36-48 hours listening to gear or drunken ramblings from the rest of us. After she herds us all back to the hotel and after we pass out she takes full advantage of all that gear.
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Earl mine is about a month to two away from completion mainly just cosmetic challenges now. Did you do two sets of tube sockets or one? I stuck with a design that focused on 6sn7s but with the flex to use 9 pins with an adapter. I had won some v-caps at the VSAC conference in Portland earlier in the year so the amp is getting those. We also went tube rectified instead of SS, I've heard great amps with both implementations but the builder wanted to go tube rectified.
The early version I heard with garden variety parts was outstanding and easily played at the level or above the level of the Raptor, MPX3 and Zana when we heard it at VSAC. Some of this may be my enthusiasm for the design but the proto was not a looker and if anything my expectation should have been lower based on the eye appeal of the amp.
Earl, when are you getting yours
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cough Doug Deacon cough
certainly he is a big fan of the Doshi pre and I stumbled on to the Doshi pre from a ZYX thread I was reading by Doug however there seems to be a decent sized core of people that have heard the Doshi pre and think it plays well in the Shindo range and above.
Al and I checked out the Ayre gear yesterday and damn the ayre pre/power combo mated with the Wilson Watt puppies was really special. Probably the deepest bass with definition that I have heard from a system. The mids could have used more life but that proved to be more a factor of the Wilsons more so than the Ayre. Probably the cleanest most defined image I have heard. Later in the demo we swapped in the nagra pre amp and it was not a good match as the bass lost most of its definition and did not go as low. On the up side the mids were really nice and the guitar sounds were more correct sounding to me with the nagra. I would not want to live with the nagra (not that I'll ever have the $$$ for it) after hearing the ayre's ability to play both low and high with amazing definition without ever getting bloated in the bass or harsh in the highs.
After some time we wondered what the ayre sound sound like on a speaker with a bit more body. The guy who did our demo was really accommodating and brought in some Sonus Faber speakers (I think they may have been the cremona m's but Al can verify this). This was more my cup o' tea as they had more body and warmth than the Wilson's just not the bass slam and they were not nearly was wide open sounding. In short the aryre gear seemed to perform equally well with both speakers.
Just a quick word about the retailer Music Lovers in San Francisco, they were top notch and really went out of their way to accommodate. Yes I know this was a high $$ system we were listening to but I left with the impression they treat all their customers well. If you live in the Bay Area they are a great resource and had some nice used gear in house as well.
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bought a new/old phono pre amp, picked up the Mod Squad (McCormack) Phono Drive and a McCormack DNA-1 (power amp) gold up graded by SMc audio including added balanced inputs. I am not sure if this will best the Berendsen but it is worth a shot. The phono pre is in da house and the power amp is about a week out.
Oh Earl I love the Millet SS car theme very cool and maybe a perfect work desktop rig amp.
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I have never heard the Doshi pre amp but many of the analog folks over at audiogon speak exceedingly high about it and in particular the phono pre section. They take a bit of a wait to get and you pretty much have to buy them blind when buying new so the chance to hear one local was really intriguing.
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Going to hear these beasts on Friday afternoon. Trying to figure out if bringing JP#s would be a good reality check or whether he would just be whispering DEW EET! in my ear the whole time.
Time and place please, I am the voice of reason!
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old tube receivers are great but can be like owning an old MGB fun to have around if you are handy as they often need tinkering.
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i am a crazy packer -- i bet i could pack it well enough to survive shipping, but finding that screw or something that would achieve the same end would be ideal.
provided you pack the cover separate, pull the platter and sub platter (if it has a removable one) off and wrap that separate, secure the tonearm well (remove if possible, remove the feet if they come off. Not saying it can't be done but most packers approach it like it is a cd player or something and at a minimum trash the cover.
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Are you still using the Zyx cart on your Sony?
I didn't get the X75 I posted about due to just being too busy at the time, but I'm still keeping my eyes open if I find one locally.
yes, the ZYX Bloom is still my favorite cart under a grand. Although at .24 output I have to get a phono pre with 60db gain or better to get it good volume.
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the most critical thing with shipping a table is does he have the original box and all the styrofoam as well as transport screws. If the answer is no then stay away, I would not care what he said about his shipping prowess. I am 1 for 3 on turntables arriving intact with no original packing materials.
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at least he only takes cash prior to the start of the build
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If i were in a position to buy this amp I would buy at least 1 set up back up tubes. This amp can also be rewired for different tubes should the AD1 disappear, this was from Craig when I expressed a similar concern.
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you get get NOS Teles for a grand
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Wonder why he's choosing such a pricey tube to base a new amp on
he thinks very highly of this tube over and above the 6c33bs, 307as, 300b...
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while the AD1 is on the expensive side it is still in the same range as the best new production 300bs like WE or KR at $500-800 a pair. I am sure that Craig can sell a pair or two to amp buyers at his dealer discount. Which would probably put you at $500. So this is not so far out there when you consider that David in your 2a3 amp you had well over that in tubes with the rectifier and driver.
As long as I got 2 years of heavy use out of a pair I would consider that to be worth it of the amp was Craig at his best, which I strongly believe this amp will be.
Oh and yes it was a bitter sweet gathering for me as I said farewell to the HD2. While this was by far the best amp I have ever owned I am in a downsizing trend and find myself listening more to speakers when I listen. Believe it or not the amp in the Berendsen is actually not too far off the mark and I have a Stacker ll amp being built. I commissioned the Stacker ll prior to considering the sale of the HD2 but $$ trouble got the best of me, don't get old fellas.
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anybody know if the First Watt F1 or F2 would work well with the SRD mkll pro? The amps are 10 and 5 watts and are current source based.
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Vicki here's to hoping you had a fun birthday! See ya in Tampa
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my concern with this amp is to get 18 watts out of the 6c33b you need to run them hard. While I am not a tube expert in the least 18 watts is the outer limit for this tube I am told.
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True Blood
in TV
Episode 5 finally gave some payback for the first 4 that were a bit of a snooze.
Monks Kick a little ass
in Off Topic
Posted
Just found this funny somehow
Monks brawl before religious ceremony - CNN.com
I wonder WWJD