Isolated Blurt Thread

[Hypoxia]

42 strings ?
http://www.oddmusic.com/gallery/om23350.html

Kewl, but it lacks zither courses and sympathetic strings. It's a good start.

 

[Handley_Page]

Kewl, but it lacks zither courses and sympathetic strings. It's a good start.

Ah, the zither; like this
Rather good, I reckon

 

[Hypoxia]

Ah, the zither; like this
Rather good, I reckon

Nomenclature gets cluttered. There's a genus of instruments called zithers, and there are specific classical zithers as in that great clip. There's a genus of instruments called lutes, and there are specific classical lutes and archlutes.

Somewhere recently (I can't track it down now) I saw a vid of a 'guitar' with maybe 5 necks, a number of sympathetic and free strings, and three 'zither' courses across the guitar's face, each with maybe a dozen tuned strings. Free strings make it harp-like. Sympathetic strings make it... odd. It must be played on a stand. It's fucking multi-dimensional, built for a crazy Dane.

It's too late now to look for that clip. Maybe later.

 

[Handley_Page]

Nomenclature gets cluttered. There's a genus of instruments called zithers, and there are specific classical zithers as in that great clip. There's a genus of instruments called lutes, and there are specific classical lutes and archlutes.

Somewhere recently (I can't track it down now) I saw a vid of a 'guitar' with maybe 5 necks, a number of sympathetic and free strings, and three 'zither' courses across the guitar's face, each with maybe a dozen tuned strings. Free strings make it harp-like. Sympathetic strings make it... odd. It must be played on a stand. It's fucking multi-dimensional, built for a crazy Dane.

It's too late now to look for that clip. Maybe later.

Played by a couple of Octopusses ?

 

[carsonshepherd]

Good thing we don't have any fucking carpets in this house.

 

[RocketLauncher]

Not at all. I quit many times.
Hard part was STAYING quit. That took a few years.
I eventually tired of awakening to the taste of birdcage-bottom.

I smoked between ages 15 and 25. Yeah, I quit the regular habit over four decades ago. We've occasionally shared good Cuban or Veracruz cigars since, maybe one every year or two, depending on current lung capacity.

I quit during my Army years. Cigs were still issued in C-ration packs. I traded mine for desserts -- a devil's bargain, but still...

I was dirt-poor till I enlisted. Ready-mades were costly even then so I was fast and facile with a rolling machine and ZigZags, rolling Bugler or cheap, juicy, long-cut pipe tobaccos for smokes. I'd pay up to 35 cents an ounce!

Wild 'Indian' tobacco plants grew around my desert shack later. I felt little urge to harvest and dry them. That time was past. Their datura cousins were more tempting but once was enough.

I'm reminded of an old gag where a mysterious dark figure asks the person with them, "Mind if I smoke?", then cross their arms and fume.

I remember rolling cigs back in my youth, drum tobacco and export rolling papers. Interesting fact about smoking and perhaps why the wild tobacco was not enticing. Before ammonia was added to cigarettes the average person smoked 25 -30 cigarettes a year. Once they added the ammonia the average smoker smoked approximately 20-30 cigarettes a day. Similar to cocaine and crack. Add ammonia to coke and voila! Crack and its instant cravings. You're right about the bottom of the birdcage taste, that's some good incentive right there.

 

[LoquiSordidaAdMe]

Walking back to the office from lunch today I ran into the cute bartender who inspired one of my stories. Got a hug. Today is a good day.

 

[MREDME2]

https://media1.giphy.com/media/26n6GXG2oyfCkIoEg/200.gif

 

[TheeGoatPig]

Note to my trainer:
Don't work my lats if you want me hitting a punching bag at the end of the workout. It's doing double duty on my back muscles.

 

[Hypoxia]

So many distractions cut into my forum time but that's dicey anyway. I disregard many discussions; not worth engaging relentless fucktards. I'm mostly down to haunting AH and SI. If I disappear here, I'm either very sick, or writing. Same thing.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Walking back to the office from lunch today I ran into the cute bartender who inspired one of my stories. Got a hug. Today is a good day.

Lol. I know that feeling! Mine's a barista or two.

 

[MREDME2]

I have become myself. Weird.

Pleased to meet me.

 

[RocketLauncher]

So many distractions cut into my forum time but that's dicey anyway. I disregard many discussions; not worth engaging relentless fucktards. I'm mostly down to haunting AH and SI. If I disappear here, I'm either very sick, or writing. Same thing.

I refuse to entertain the thought of 'very sick', you're one of a very small number of good people on the forums. And if your posts are anything to go by I'm anxiously awaiting your stories.

 

[Handley_Page]

Not at all. I quit many times.
Hard part was STAYING quit. That took a few years.

I'm reminded of an old gag where a mysterious dark figure asks the person with them, "Mind if I smoke?", then cross their arms and fume.

We had this version:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36m2jLl0Me4

 

[oggbashan]

Ancient Volvo is playing games again. It worked perfectly until we arrived at our destination - one of the remotest parts of Kent and at the bottom of a steep, narrow, twisting hill.

I had to turn the Volvo to park. As I started to turn the water began dribbling past my Port wine cork that was sealing the side of the radiator. As I parked?

Steam was hissing out from under all four sides of the bonnet (US = Hood) and water was flowing down the road.

We left the car to cool down and went to have lunch before walking around the parkland we had come to see. As we toured the park I looked for suitable length sticks to prop the Port cork into the hole in the radiator. I found a few and then a discarded two foot long piece of bamboo.

Back at the car I took out my small-bladed pocket knife (which all ex-Boy Scouts carry as a matter of course) and cut the bamboo to the correct length to wedge between the car's wing and the cork. I filled up the car with the 5-litre bottle of water I always have available and set off back up the steep, narrow, twisting hill.

I was worried that the bodged repair wouldn't hold because just over the crest of the hill it was end-of-school day at the local primary school. The traffic was held up while parents manoeuvred their too-large vehicles in the narrow road as the local bus tried to pass.

I drove us about three miles to the nearest D-I-Y warehouse and bought fast acting plumber's sealant. Leaving the bamboo stick in place I applied the sealant, left it to set for quarter of an hour before going to the nearby supermarket to replace my 5-litre bottle of water.

I then drove us the 30 miles home at a sedate pace. My bodged repair lasted all the way home without even a dribble of coolant.

But I really need a replacement radiator. I can't keep sticking a Port wine cork back into the side of the radiator...

 

[Handley_Page]

Well, Ogg, it does seem like the idea deal to increase the flow of Port.

 

[oggbashan]

Well, Ogg, it does seem like the idea deal to increase the flow of Port.

My younger son-in-law is responsible for the Port depletion.

 

[Tio_Narratore]

My younger son-in-law is responsible for the Port depletion.

I've been successful at sealing radiator holes with Molly bolts and rubber washers. And they've lasted the remaining life of the car.

Molly Bolt

Installation. Imagine the drywall is the radiator wall. and the object you attach is the rubber washer. Make sure you get a Molly bolt with an anchor wider than the hole.

 

[trysail]

We ran across a huge herd of dolphins today. It was astonishing. They were 135 miles north of the mouth of the bay.


There must have been a hundred of them headed south in sub-groups of five to ten. They were so graceful. They'd leisurely surface and dive, slipping through the water. We decided they must have been following a big school of rockfish. There were several instances of very loud and obvious tail-slapping. We couldn't help but speculate what that was intended to communicate or whether it was part of their method for driving the fish.


It's been years since I've seen such a big group— and, god knows— never, in my life, did I ever expect to see such a thing in that place.


Sailormen are always delighted to see dolphins. They make your day— and today was a special one.

​

 

[Hypoxia]

I refuse to entertain the thought of 'very sick', you're one of a very small number of good people on the forums. And if your posts are anything to go by I'm anxiously awaiting your stories.

Much do I thank you, and while some procedures seem to be working, i'm still disintegrating as I sit here. BTW a number of stories are available via the link in my .sig. Maybe start with The Botanists (late work) or Bride Of Kong (early work), but watch out for Big Banana (most viewed, lowest rated).

I mostly try to remain civil here. Some warrant shame. Others can be safely disregarded. I try to engage with other civil folks. Keep the stress level down.

Which reminds me of the recently late Harlan Ellison who described himself as 'bellicose'. "I go to bed angry, and I wake up angrier." I try for the opposite. Of course, I haven't all his awards or money, but such is life.

Oops, I'm late for the evening meds. To bad they aren't fun.

 

[oggbashan]

I should leave my car at home on sunny weekends.

I went to put some items in the local auction. While waiting in a queue of vehicles for a pedestrian crossing on the sea front, a woman reversed her car into the side of my ancient Volvo.

The wing mirror folded in and a piece of plastic trim is slightly loose - easily fixed with BluTack or super glue. I put the wing mirror back in place. Her car was undamaged because my Volvo's wing mirror and trim had cushioned the impact.

She was more worried about my car than hers. I reassured her. It is one of the advantages of driving an old heap. Another scratch or small dent doesn't notice.

But - if she had reversed into the car in front of me?

It was a two month old Maserati.

 

[RocketLauncher]

Much do I thank you, and while some procedures seem to be working, i'm still disintegrating as I sit here. BTW a number of stories are available via the link in my .sig. Maybe start with The Botanists (late work) or Bride Of Kong (early work), but watch out for Big Banana (most viewed, lowest rated).

I mostly try to remain civil here. Some warrant shame. Others can be safely disregarded. I try to engage with other civil folks. Keep the stress level down.

Which reminds me of the recently late Harlan Ellison who described himself as 'bellicose'. "I go to bed angry, and I wake up angrier." I try for the opposite. Of course, I haven't all his awards or money, but such is life.

Oops, I'm late for the evening meds. To bad they aren't fun.

What a wonderful philosophy, I think I'll take a page from your book.
Seems we have lost a great author in Harlan Ellison's passing. Love his sci fi, glad you mentioned it. I have some fun meds up here I'd be willing to share.

 

[RocketLauncher]

Oops, forgot, Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians!

 

[MREDME2]

I respectfully request TeflonGuy's last thread on "Believing in Something so Strongly.... " in the AH be reopened. It's very inspiring and an attempt to unite writers and authors alike.

 

[Hypoxia]

I have some fun meds up here I'd be willing to share.

Thanks, but I don't know how much fun I could survive now.