Wednesday, July 31, 2024
Gremlin Cat
Tuesday, July 30, 2024
Noise Gate
The people salute the rule of the noise gate: A cheapish noise gate has been installed onto the pedal board*. A blunt instrument some might say or even a waste of space but how else do you tackle the hum? Like guitar god tinnitus it's a disease without a proper cure. So we're perpetually chasing the hum, finding the source and then exterminating it, we hope. This futile pursuit is all guitar player's common mission. There are lots of suggested solutions; shielding, extra shielding, shielding tape, shielding paint, copper tape, expensive leads, higher quality equipment, better pickups, pedal board layout and sequence, going deaf, doing nothing and just giving up altogether.
In truth you can only get so far because the hum will return as you increase the gain, treble, volume or add pedals and effects etc. I did think for a bit that humbuckers would buck the hum, strangely they don't really. A single P90 seems to work best for me at the moment; it's likely the universe will reverse the effect quickly and I'll be back with the full on hum. Rubber soled shoes might be the best next step, combined with a tinfoil hat and assorted wire cutters.
*This information is well over a week old but so what?
Monday, July 29, 2024
The Hessler Nowik Liminal Conundrum
What does it all mean? New album of original music and soundscapes from Cloudland Blue Quartet, hear it here. There's a lot going on in the process of creation and naming of this album that I just can't explain. Please click onto the Bandcamp link above and all (?) might be revealed or you may well still remain somewhat confused. It's a great title anyway and I had a small amount of input by coming up with the original artwork (somewhat modified for the final product).
Saturday, July 27, 2024
Live and Almost Dangerous
Friday, July 26, 2024
South Queensferry Daily Photo
Thursday, July 25, 2024
Mini George
Big George meets Mini George, his ceramic doppelganger. Mini George is not so active and demanding as his larger double and needs a lot less attention. George, the big one, should really have been called Steve, as in Steve McQueen. He is the great escape artist in our clutch of cats. Up and over hedges, fences, gates and then getting stuck in precarious spots apparently in need of urgent rescue ... then not.
Tuesday, July 23, 2024
How it Started
Monday, July 22, 2024
South Queensferry From Above
A bit of somebody's Queensferry garden viewed from above as HMS Queen Elizabeth sails by, somewhere over to the left where there is a significant body of water and available tug support. The sun is determined to mostly stay behind clouds at the moment hence the deep sense of gloom amongst the green. We've no control over this. Black and white cat detail added for scale and orientation.
Friday, July 19, 2024
Good Advice
Some framed up good advice found in a public place in a public space and I'm sure that it's been duly observed and taken seriously many times by now. Proper cows and dairy farm workers everywhere are of course eternally grateful. Somehow though the core message doesn't quite flow as was intended.
Thursday, July 18, 2024
Early Dawn of the Mushrooms
Monday, July 15, 2024
Creepy
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkuIYgGT1mtTVco198OrHbCQglJmQMO6D0dNfVHnac4QwKZRMY5ZMyobbLd-Fpv-bJpLCvq0sP1Sp-zBzmXH4MOveV-A7dTspQkFCGJcP14G5Y6uv1u24pACIPLUmZ1GNc7BJfFu2CrpgpehiOuM5El-WICzqziWpcEXuq-OERe7GvVQLvqZo-/w320-h400/IMG_20240715_135130.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0xiWzFa88e2HGz9FqBv5sBk_3c6_QR7bUTQVv1hKWUcB7kZcZbg5l5FVnfHckF3ChAsZRmXKSMZ9mbfE6k4Y-2vqbCfQqUoKbPsf9whICrJBZ3weQuDBDXLMwB58z4FkZeA4Ce76LEd3UHtUrFPj6CkJhiQGQWE08qes4n0nSi00tz8oGxo9Y/w400-h400/IMG_20240715_113120.jpg)
Friday, July 12, 2024
Cat Controls
Where did it all go wrong? Two thirds of the local cat population have decided that the kitchen work tops are an essential part of their territory if they happen to be chasing flies, or even just observing them at a safe distance. Clearly this cannot stand ... (in the immortal words of the Dude). In the morning I'll be sending them a strongly worded memo about the household's standards of behaviour and hygiene expected from felines.
Thursday, July 11, 2024
Fried Eggs Without Crinkly Bottoms
Wednesday, July 10, 2024
Future Diaries
This strange message has just been released from the team of monitors monitoring the cult known as "Palace of Forever":
"I was unusually close to partaking in the red and green delights of the "all you might consider eating" salad bar when a mild but noticeable electrical current passed through me from an unknown source. Everything thereafter was blank except for the timely arrival of a rescue dog sniffing through the rubble. The weather has been somewhat unstable lately with alien activity reported and low cloud (Ground Level +3.5). Those may have been contributing factors."
"I'm quite confident that a good night's sleep at home in bed will repair any physical damage although my phone is reluctant to switch itself back on and the lawnmower seems to blocked up with milk chocolate. There's a peculiar odour in the air that I can't quite place. The sequence of highly destructive images (above) were freely taken from a door bell camera across the street that was somehow pointing in the wrong direction. I write this unsure of what to do when I awake tomorrow, as I imagine you may well be also, dear reader." - Message Ends.
Tuesday, July 09, 2024
Hosepipe at the End of the World
Here it is, not remote or far away but still beyond your reach. The single water pipe from which all of the H2O in the universe flows: and it's attached to a solitary tap which we control. Are we simply drunk with power? Yes, very much so, but however this goes, whatever the unintended consequences, let it be known that we mean no harm.
Monday, July 08, 2024
Can't Explain
Friday, July 05, 2024
Thursday, July 04, 2024
Who'd Vote For This?
Life is good. That's a generalization I know but it's how I prefer to think of things. Mostly good but it could be better and we need to ensure we don't go backwards and yes, this country has been going backwards politically and also regressing economically and socially for a few years. Maybe today is the election day when some of the rot can be stopped. If you're voting and you sense any kind of red flag (and not the socialist kind) with a candidate then don't vote for them. We need decent people to run our stuff, making good laws, giving hope and support, just being kind even. None of that should be too much to expect from our politicians. Sadly it's not been the case recently so let's vote sensibly and get the bad cnuts out and replace them with better, capable and honest people. We'll see how it goes ... voting for the least worst is also acceptable, that's what I'll be doing.
Wednesday, July 03, 2024
Big Bum Wipe
Always a pleasant surprise to open up a plain and pedestrian brown cardboard box only to be stunned by the bright, radioactive, technicolour blaze of a set of neatly wrapped toilet rolls in regimented rows there inside. It seem's their main mission is to save an otherwise doomed race from itself, one big bum wipe at a time. It'd be nice if things were only that simple.
Tuesday, July 02, 2024
When We Dream We Sleep
Goat's milk salted locust chocolates, celestial money, a pack of playing cards, a metallic cigar stump, fake but nonetheless real red wine from a 1960's movie set and tiny fallen stars of Martian gold adorn God's favourite coffee table as he puts his feet up to watch the latest episode of "Idiots Abroad" on Planet Earth TV (with surround sound and omnipresent effects).