Flops' Friday mini blog

[crazylegs]

Glad to hear your healthy Mr Flopp's..

Acupuncture you say! sounds like a load of old needles to me..

Hope it works for you though..


And the blog is compulsive reading so keep writing, I'm sure many on here feel the same..

 

[Taffycat]

It's great to hear that your check-up went well Flopps, and long may you continue to be cancer-free.

Good news about the acupuncture too; to be able to get it on the NHS is a big advantage. Our previous GP used to provide acupuncture for his patients for free, (he only used to make a small charge for the needle packs.) I hope the treatment will be beneficial and help to ease (hopefully cure) your dry mouth. What a bummer not to be able to enjoy a cheese sarnie... I hope you'll get to do so again in time.

I second Zed and Crazylegs' opinions that you should keep the blog going Flopps - it is always a good read oh, and yes please, it would be interesting to see your pics of the Shard please. Haven't even heard of that one before. You see? Your blog is serving a "cultural purpose" too, by edificating non-Londoners about what's happening there

 

[floppybootstomp]

It's quiet 'ere today innit?

Well if some of you want me to waffle on regardless then I will.

I just don't want to be seen as some pretentious pratt who has the audacity to assume some peeps might be interested in the rather dull goings on in flopzworld

Alrighty then, vinyl. I seem to have swung around back to this analog media and I am so glad I did. About three years ago I thought I'd abandon vinyl forever and flog off my vinyl.

First I sorted every single album and 12" single and all those that were in really poor condition went down the local charity shop (for the local hospice in case you're interested).

There must have been at least a hundred. They put them out in the shop and when I went back there 3 days later they were all gone. And some of these discs were in awful condition, scratched and suffering from jumping. This made me wonder.

I offered my vinyl collection to friends at really cheap prices, musta sold about 30 12" singles and about the same amount of albums. The only one I regret selling now is Cypress Hill's Black Sunday which was two discs, heavy vinyl, wide grooves and recorded at 45rpm. Oh well.

Then I tried offering a few up to local record shops and frankly they took the p**s with prices offered, £1 & £2 offered for vinyl going for £15 - £30 on E-Bay. I'm a member of an Audio Forum that Dave The Bass, a forum member here, introduced me to and they're all vinyl nuts.

I noticed that CD's I'd recorded from vinyl actually sounded better than their digital counterparts. Strange but true.

Put all that lot together and I suddenly decided to entertain vinyl again.

I have detailed alsewhere on the forum about the valve amp & switcher combo I built, the turntable I'm using is an old (early 80's) Hitachi Direct Drive and I just bought a new stylus for my Nagaoka MP11 Boron cartridge. It was never one of the sought after turntables but it's fairly respectable and the Nagaoka cartridge sounds a lot sweeter than the Shure 35C it replaced.

I have just built a turntable stand for it which is basically some pineboard, white hardboard and a 450 x 450 buff paving slab, pix below.

At the moment I'm using a cheap and nasty B-Tech phono preamp and I had plans to build a valve phono stage but all the parts would cost £250-£300 so that's on ice for awhile, I will gradually gather parts and build it in the future.

In the meantime I shall buy a NAD phono preamp which has inputs for both moving magnet and moving coil cartridges and only costs £65.00. This will bea vast improvement over the B-Tech.

I really am getting a great deal of enjoyment out of playing vinyl, actually sitting down and just having a good listen, not something I often done with the I-Pod... And the album sleeves, big pictures, there's just something about them, they're, well, nice I suppose.

So, this is phase one coming to an end cos last night I visited Dave The Bass and he gave me a Goldring Lenco GL75 turntable that he's mounted in a home made plinth plus another identical turntable for spares. Which is just as well cos the one mounted in the plinth hasn't got a motor or centre spindle, I'll have to swap them over.

He's also lent me a Decca Pivotal arm which I'll have to mount and if I like it I can buy it off him for £120.00, which is about the going rate for one of these arms, apparently they're quite rare.

In the coming weeks/months then I'll acquire aNAD phono preamp and probably a Denon 103 moving coil cartridge and use the Lenco GL75. Eventually I'll build a valve phono preamp.

Tomorrow I will visit my lockup and bring lots of vinyl home again.

There, bet y'all wish you'd not asked me to carry on with the blog now eh? Cos I've rabbited on about a subject that possibly is only of interest to me.

Here's the pix. The first one is the view from my sofa (and yes, one day a TV will fill that empty space, lol) I had to pull the curtains cos the flash bounced back from the windows.

 

[captain zed]

Rock on dude !!

 

[crazylegs]

Nice!! Looks like things are only going to get better by the sounds of it..

Are you sure cd's sound better recorded from LP's Mr Flopp's, I ask as I listened to some old vinyl a while back and no matter how much I cleaned the disc, it was all crackly and hissy..Tried with different discs and they were all the same..perhaps your equipment is vastly superior to the stuff I was using at the time..But remember thinking "christ thankgawd for CD's" and never gave it another thought until I just read your last post..

Yeah keep it going mate its an enjoyable read..Sort of Minty..lol

 

[Taffycat]

Yay! Glad you're continuing to blog Flopps, and yes, it certainly was quiet in PCR yesterday. I popped in a few times and found myself to be the only only one here.... discounting the tumbleweed rolling by, over in the corridors of crunch

I'll bet your set-up sounds really good - in fact, seeing that lovely black, shiny LP stirs a bit of nostalgia - vinyl really does sound so different. Very "alive."

Your mention of "heavy" vinyl reminded me that some of my old albums were like that, whilst others, would seem very lightweight and were often "warped" right from new! They almost made you feel seasick to watch them turning. Lol

 

[muckshifter]

keep on talking

Well if some of you want me to waffle on regardless then I will.

well, I didn't make the thread a sticky for nothin ... easy to find.

crazylegs, if you put crap in, you get crap out ...


crank up the bass, man

 

[Abarbarian]

Accupuncture is great in my book. Just made an appointment to see the physio at the local hospital for some to free up a nerve that keeps getting trapped in me disintigrating neck bones. Be me fourth time for this and it works great. Go in with a really painful neck and fifteen minutes later after being stuck with twenty needles I'm pain free. Till the next time. Tried everything to free up that nerve and the only treatment that works is the good old needles. So go for it flops an I hope it helps.

 

[floppybootstomp]

well, I didn't make the thread a sticky for nothin ... easy to find.

I didn't realise it was a sticky You wascal you

Abarb: Thanks for the reassurance.

TC: As a general rule of thumb the older a vinyl platter is the thicker it is liable to be.

I remember when the really thin albums started appearing, record companies assured us they'd sound the same and that it was 'new technology'. Which on reflection is probably a load of old tosh.

CL: On a good setup and with an album in good condition vinyl easily sounds better than CD.

I noticed it from the start actually, when I first started using audio CD's.

Supply your own word but warmth, presence and detail come to mind

CZ: I am, er, rocking, er dude...

A song with a good use of the word 'Dude'

Comfort Eagle

 

[captain zed]

Nice!! Looks like things are only going to get better by the sounds of it..

Are you sure cd's sound better recorded from LP's Mr Flopp's, I ask as I listened to some old vinyl a while back and no matter how much I cleaned the disc, it was all crackly and hissy..Tried with different discs and they were all the same..perhaps your equipment is vastly superior to the stuff I was using at the time..But remember thinking "christ thankgawd for CD's" and never gave it another thought until I just read your last post..

Yeah keep it going mate its an enjoyable read..Sort of Minty..lol

If you don't use decent needles you will never lose the crackling and hiss. Also the records may have been worn. It is hard to lose the noise sometimes.

 

[captain zed]

A song with a good use of the word 'Dude'

Thats a really hypnotic song when it gets going Flopp's and it has a really familiar riff playing int middle. It sounds like its maybe a mandolin playing.But yeah his hat is on backwards Dude.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Alright, Tuesday evening. cold, wet, miserable.

Visited my lockup today and now have 156 vinyl albums at home to play with.

Gradually playing through them and although they all look fine to the eye some of them have jumps.

Problem is they were all used as tools for the disco rather than home listening.

The only one I've had to abandon so far is The Stone Roses first album which is a bit of a disappointment but side two jumps so much it's unlistenable. Oddly enough the track that got played the most at the discos 'I Am The Resurrection' plays fine. Strange.

I was supposed to go to me best mates birthday drink on Saturday but I didn't go. I really can't afford to spend 20 to 30 quid down the pub in my current financial situation. I can actually spend that much sometimes cos like a mug I'll buy most people a drink whilst getting relatively few bought back for me and I can't stand staying solo but I guess if I was sensible that's what I'd do.

And so far I've had gyp from five people for not going. And me best mate hasn't spoken to me since. Mind you, that's quite normal sometimes, lol

It's his real birthday tomorrow so I'll probably slip down the pub and have a few quiet pints.

Saturday was full on apparently, band, disco, and said best pal left a message on my answerphone at 4.30am from what sounded like a party at his place. I'm glad I turned me phone off.

It took me three listens to realise it was him, he was somewhat inebriated. Only words I could really work out were him asking me if I was still alive cos nobody had seen me since Christmas.

Bugger.

And on a positive note so far I have 4 disco bookings this year

 

[floppybootstomp]

Eldest daughter-san received Panasonic FS7 camera and case purchased through Amazon yesterday, she's really happy with it, I'll post some pix taken with it in the relevant thread shortly. The order through Amazon was supplied by three different traders, still waiting for the 4Gb Scandisk memory card.

I turned up at a school this morning to do some work I'd arranged to do saturday morning only to discover it's not Saturday today is it? Bugger, talk about dazed and confused....

Still, twas beneficial as they gave me a little job to do while I was there, two hours minimum charge, luvverly.

Ok, as TC asked for Shard shots, here are some, apparently this is going to be London's tallest building when it's finished and to my eye is a distinct improvement on that silly looking gherkin.

Link: www.shardlondonbridge.com

It's right next to Guys Hospital at London bridge, which is where I go periodically for checkups.

I've noticed them building this for some months now through demolition, foundations and now it's taking shape incredibly fast. Obvioulsy not a Council contract then, lol

Pix:

This is Guys Hospital. Nice looking building eh? Not. But without wanting to be melodramatic, folk there saved my life.

This is what it looks like as I step out of London Bridge railway station:

 

[Taffycat]

Thank you for posting those great piccies Flopps The Shard looks very imposing - or will, when it is completed. Can you imagine how much glass will be going into that structure!! Your link is very interesting too, I watched the presentation, etc., and that building will certainly have the WOW factor - a lot more pleasing on the eye, than the poor old Gherkin.

Referring again to your link... I'm a bit intrigued by that little round building which resembles a wonky pot on a potter's wheel...? It's the one on the left bank, just above London bridge. Do you know what that is please?

No wonder you enjoy living in London, there is so much interesting stuff to see.

 

[Abarbarian]

I quite like the gherkin

Must be damm fine Guinness you get down there flops

 

[floppybootstomp]

Thanks for the comments

The 'wonky pot on a potters wheel' I'm 99% sure is a hotel.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Ho-hum, ho-hum...

Have formed the opinion that Resident Evil 5, whilst improving on the interface controls of Resident Evil 4, is not particularly too good so it's going on the 'For sale' pile. Disappointing but at least it was a cheapie from the GAME shop, was in their '2 for £15.00' section.

Playing RE5 and then Left4Dead2 - well, what can I say?

Yesterday I ran a goose over. It upset me a great deal and I almost certainly killed it. I was driving through Chiselhurst by the big pond and three or four big geese just ran across the road and I went over one. Bonk-bonkity-bonk it went as it travelled below my vehicle. Quite sickening really. Was it a family? Did I kill Daddy Goose? Uncle Goose?

What upset me even more was a man shouting and shaking his fist at me as he'd seen what had happened. Oh yes, blame me why don't you? I feel as bad about it as you mate. And it was for that reason I didn't stop to see how the goose was. Little I could have done anyway and I imagine both the angry man and the goose's close relatives may have attacked me, so I drove on, which somehow, illogically, made me feel more of a creep.

I did wonder to myself if nobody had been about would I have slung the dead goose in the boot, taken it home, plucked and gutted it and popped it in the oven? Would it have fitted in my oven? Hmm.

I've run a few dogs over in my time but no people and no cats glad to say, but a goose is a first for me. Horrible.

I am wondering why since my BIOS crashed at Christmas time and I sent the board away to have the BIOS flashed only 3Gb of memory shows in the BIOS when I have 4Gb.

I also wonder why Win 7 64 Bit says it can only use 2.94Gb of the installed 4Gb whilst recognising there actually is 4Gb, see pic:

Puzzling.

I was playing CoD WaW2 just now and noticed it stutters a little. I do have it on quite high settings but this is the only game that stutters.

Made me think maybe it's time to consider a new video card. I don't have a big budget, I'd imagine £140.00 tops, so was wondering what would be an improvement? Think maybe I'll start another thread on this.

Today an order came through on me fax machine to install a new amp rack, which was one of three quotes I had out there for sizeable jobs. I'll be doing the work in the Easter School holidays and the profit should keep me in dolly mixtures until the Olympics start.

I was thinking, actually, I'll put the money in my building society account as a safety net should my car fail as I'd be lost without a car and use that amount as a base for a saving plan for a new vehicle, I do rather fancy a Volvo Estate.

Have landed a few other small jobs as well lately so things are starting to look a little better. I'll say that cautiously of course

Tomorrow carrying out maintenance and Portable Appliance Testing on a school's stage lighting system so that should keep me off the streets for a few hours.

Au revoir mes petite enfants.....

 

[V_R]

I am wondering why since my BIOS crashed at Christmas time and I sent the board away to have the BIOS flashed only 3Gb of memory shows in the BIOS when I have 4Gb.

I also wonder why Win 7 64 Bit says it can only use 2.94Gb of the installed 4Gb whilst recognising there actually is 4Gb, see pic:

Try the memory remap feature in the BIOS.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Try the memory remap feature in the BIOS.

Perfick

I am so overcome with Joye De Vivre I could give you a big girly kiss.

But I'm not going to.

You'll be relieved to know.

I do remember Ady telling me about this some time ago but creeping senility means I'd completely forgotten about it.

Well, can't remember everything eh?

 

[muckshifter]

Now you got, can see 4gb, does the stutter still affect the gamer, or was that 'fixed' too ...