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I read an interesting article regarding disposal of plastics in third world countries by burning in high temperature rocket stoves. It reminded me of a local endeavor that ignorant politicians wouldn't buy into. The late DuPont Corporation had built a fluidic bed All Fuels Boiler (essentially a giant rocket stove) which would burn any combustible material with less emissions than heating oil. They tried to interest county commissioners in using it for waste disposal and generating electricity but the commissioners were not forward thinking enough to consider it.
 
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I would like to try a Riversong guitar the neck through design is supposed to realty improve acoustics.
Riversong Guitars
I've never owned an acoustic, though the one I'm building has a piezo bridge so I should be able to emulate acoustic tones. (The idea forthis guitar is to be able to go from bluegrass to metal to country at the flick of a switch; some of the music I write features sudden extreme tonal changes.)

I was in the market for an acoustic for a while, and I was drawn to archtops because they have such a different look, and play a bit more like electrics for some reason. Maybe part of it is the lower string tension. Really I like weird-looking acoustics.
 
I read an interesting article regarding disposal of plastics in third world countries by burning in high temperature rocket stoves. It reminded me of a local endeavor that ignorant politicians wouldn't buy into. The late DuPont Corporation had built a fluidic bed All Fuels Boiler (essentially a giant rocket stove) which would burn any combustible material with less emissions than heating oil. They tried to interest county commissioners in using it for waste disposal and generating electricity but the commissioners were not forward thinking enough to consider it.
There was a cogeneration power plant in Columbus Ohio that burned trash along with coal. It was originally called the trash burning power plant but had so many problems it was nick named the cash burning power plant. It raised the dioxin levels for miles around and had all sorts of operational issues and was finally closed. It only operated about 10 years. They sold the plant but they eventually decided to tear it down. It was a big facility. The idea was good on paper but not so much in practice. I did a quick search and there were 75 waste to energy (WTE) plants in the US in 2019 but probably less now because they were having trouble competing with the low costs of electricity.
 
@Flyover, the Riversong electric sports some of those innovative adjustment features as well.

The infinity neck joint isn’t a bolt on system, it is a three bolt threaded stud system that allows infinite adjustment of:

  • Neck angle for string height
  • Deck height for space between body and under side of strings
  • Fretboard camber for the angle of the fretboard perpendicular to the neck angle for wrist comfort and playing ease
 
ugh. My message said I was a couple minutes early. LOL. I seem to remember always having to wait and wait in doctor's offices. So, I don't think it's the electronic system. From what I understand they schedule every 15min and sometimes the doctor is late or has to take breaks or a consult takes longer than usual. Some consults take less time. Some offices will actually schedule every 5 minutes but it usually takes way longer. It was for a diabetes consultation to tell me what not to eat and stuff like that. I sat through those same appointments with my mother and brother. There's no point in rescheduling because I'm not going to get a blood sugar meter and poke my fingers.

Mom woke me up at 3:50AM because she accidentally let two of the un-neutered male cats into the living room and she thought they were knocking stuff down (she was wrong) and she was freaking out about it. I've been having trouble getting good sleep at night and it was the first night where I was getting good sleep so of course she had to screw it up. It's almost like she does it on purpose. I had taken the meds that make me clumsy and I didn't want to chase cats around the room so I got up and put out food. The two cats in the living room were begging to get out. I opened the door for them and went back to bed but had trouble getting back to sleep.

I got cat food out of the truck, took some trash out of the truck (empty package boxes), and managed to get a cementboard into the tub so I can put aquadefense on it later. My left arm is not cooperating at all though and is not moving very high. I'm going to have to proceed with the reno without my friend. He's going on a cruise on Friday (his sisters inherited $ from their deadbeat dad and got him & his gf tickets). He didn't even think about who will take care of the cat while he's gone. I hope he doesn't need a passport but he doesn't have one. And he can't swim so I worry about that. I'm surprised he agreed to go bc he doesn't like being around deep water. He's going to get his tooth pulled after the cruise and won't be able to lift anything heavy for awhile.

Speaking of which, he said he feels something weird in the arm he broke when he lifts stuff so he went back to the doctor who did the surgery but they wouldn't let him have an appointment bc they don't take self pay patients anymore.

I made dinner for Mom, watched the latest episode of The Mandalorian, and am about to take a nap.
 
There was a cogeneration power plant in Columbus Ohio that burned trash along with coal. It was originally called the trash burning power plant but had so many problems it was nick named the cash burning power plant. It raised the dioxin levels for miles around and had all sorts of operational issues and was finally closed. It only operated about 10 years. They sold the plant but they eventually decided to tear it down. It was a big facility. The idea was good on paper but not so much in practice. I did a quick search and there were 75 waste to energy (WTE) plants in the US in 2019 but probably less now because they were having trouble competing with the low costs of electricity.
The trash didn't even have to be segregated. It could contain putrescibles, medical, plastics, metal, and whatever. I viewed some of the ash containing mauve colored burned nails, strange shapes of what had been molten glass or metal and other stuff that wouldn't vaporize. The good news if the county had adopted it wasn't necessarily the electricity that could be sold to the grid but the landfill savings and environmental benefit. Whatever ash remained went to a concrete block plant.
 
@Flyover, the Riversong electric sports some of those innovative adjustment features as well.

The infinity neck joint isn’t a bolt on system, it is a three bolt threaded stud system that allows infinite adjustment of:

  • Neck angle for string height
  • Deck height for space between body and under side of strings
  • Fretboard camber for the angle of the fretboard perpendicular to the neck angle for wrist comfort and playing ease
Most guitars have truss rods in the neck that allow you to adjust neck angle for string height (and other things), and most electric guitar bridges also allow you to adjust string height. There isn't a huge difference in string height between most people's extreme high and low action preferences, so between the truss rod and bridge adjustments you can usually get it right where you want. (Provided you have the correct type of bridge for the guitar given its neck pocket angle.) One of the things I dislike about standard acoustic guitar bridges is it's very tricky to intonate the strings (subtly change the distance from nut to bridge saddle), and this was one of the things keeping me from buying a conventional acoustic or acoustic-electric guitar.

Neck-through is a time-tested innovation on electrics, interesting to see it on an acoustic.
 
I wish I'd learned a musical instrument when I was younger. Mom got violin for my sister and clarinet for my brother but refused to let me get anything. I played around on a kid's electric organ that was for all of us but never had any formal lessons. I do feel bad for my brother that she made him get a clarinet instead of any other instrument because her parents made her get a clarinet- and my brother had asthma. I was in choir/chorus though.

The sun is starting to come up and I'm waiting for it to be the right time to take my allergy meds and vitamins. My brother got me a salad last night on his way home from work.

Been chatting with my friend about what he'll need on the cruise he's going on. There's a lot of stuff he didn't research that he really should have. Read that he might have to wear dress shoes and a collared shirt for dinner. He doesn't have any of either of those things. He's going to have to do some last minute shopping.

Anyone have tips or info about cruises? I don't know if he said it was Carnival cruise or what... I'd have to ask him again.
 
I wish I'd learned a musical instrument when I was younger. Mom got violin for my sister and clarinet for my brother but refused to let me get anything. I played around on a kid's electric organ that was for all of us but never had any formal lessons. I do feel bad for my brother that she made him get a clarinet instead of any other instrument because her parents made her get a clarinet- and my brother had asthma. I was in choir/chorus though.

The sun is starting to come up and I'm waiting for it to be the right time to take my allergy meds and vitamins. My brother got me a salad last night on his way home from work.

Been chatting with my friend about what he'll need on the cruise he's going on. There's a lot of stuff he didn't research that he really should have. Read that he might have to wear dress shoes and a collared shirt for dinner. He doesn't have any of either of those things. He's going to have to do some last minute shopping.

Anyone have tips or info about cruises? I don't know if he said it was Carnival cruise or what... I'd have to ask him again.
First time I ever remember you mentioning a sister.
 
I read an interesting article regarding disposal of plastics in third world countries by burning in high temperature rocket stoves. It reminded me of a local endeavor that ignorant politicians wouldn't buy into. The late DuPont Corporation had built a fluidic bed All Fuels Boiler (essentially a giant rocket stove) which would burn any combustible material with less emissions than heating oil. They tried to interest county commissioners in using it for waste disposal and generating electricity but the commissioners were not forward thinking enough to consider it.
I'm curious why you you say "the late Dupont Corporation?"
 
I'm curious why you you say "the late Dupont Corporation?"
It used to have a prominence in the US but was essentially absorbed by DOW Chemical. The plant in my area was closed after being sold twice. I guess the boiler was demolished.
 
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Most guitars have truss rods in the neck that allow you to adjust neck angle for string height (and other things), and most electric guitar bridges also allow you to adjust string height. There isn't a huge difference in string height between most people's extreme high and low action preferences, so between the truss rod and bridge adjustments you can usually get it right where you want. (Provided you have the correct type of bridge for the guitar given its neck pocket angle.) One of the things I dislike about standard acoustic guitar bridges is it's very tricky to intonate the strings (subtly change the distance from nut to bridge saddle), and this was one of the things keeping me from buying a conventional acoustic or acoustic-electric guitar.

Neck-through is a time-tested innovation on electrics, interesting to see it on an acoustic.
The Riversong innovation is that string height can be changed instantly on the acoustic with no fuss. The solid body electric neck angle is a bit more intricate with multiple stud adjustments. Truss rod adjustment is to take out warp and bow not to adjust neck angle. It will be interesting to see if the Riversong is chosen by artists. Not that he's an artist but IIRC my son tried 17 Taylor guitars before he found the exact sound he wanted. I guess I like gimmicks, I chose my Ovation because of the round back acoustics.

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Anyone have tips or info about cruises? I don't know if he said it was Carnival cruise or what... I'd have to ask him again.
The only cruise I ever went on was for my honeymoon. I think we did Norwegian cruise lines. There were no clothing requirements for dinner, but we usually ate in one of the "main" dining halls (which were all still very nice); there might have been restrictions at some of the onboard nightclubs we didn't go to. Bring a swimsuit and a hat with a broad brim would be my advice. My cruise ship had a gym too so I brought a set of workout clothes and tennis shoes.

Eddie, I said you could use the truss rod to adjust string height. Neck angle is of course fixed, based on bridge height. (Oh wait I did say neck angle in my earlier comment. That was me being sloppy and tired at 6am; adjusting the bow/warm does sorta change the angle of part of the neck I guess...)
 
I've mentioned my older sister before. She skipped grades and graduated when she was 16. Got scholarships for college and graduated at the very top of her class. Got hired by the company she worked at during her internship and has been working there ever since. She's not in a management position but still does code monkey work. She can't talk much about some of the stuff she works on because of the security. Although she told me she once found a bad instruction for missiles while debugging. The original programmer told the missile that if it missed its target to return home. She changed that line. Don't know to what, but she said absolutely do not return home. LOL.

Flyover from what I understand my friends will have to stay on the ship when they stop at various ports because they don't have passports. Hopefully they will still have fun. My friend said he's looking forward to peace and quiet with nobody demanding things from him. No grandpa rolling up and laying on the horn all hours of day and night. No work blowing up his phone wanting him to come in. No exes calling to gripe about the kids. No having to change diapers or deal with toddler tantrums (his ex is really angry that she has to watch her own kid-- the other ex doesn't even watch the older kid but so long as her boyfriend is there he should keep her safe- she's not safe with her brother and mother when the boyfriend isn't there). My brother will be dropping by to feed the cats and check on the place.

I got up and ate breakfast and then took a nap. I'm always tired after eating. I then managed to get the lid off the aquadefense and mix it up (took a looong time and I had to find a video bc that sucker was stuck). Even after thoroughly mixing it didn't look the color that it appears in videos. So, I hope I didn't mess it up. It's just another extra layer of protection just in case so its not crucial. I'm letting the first coat dry and then will do a 2nd. Possibly 3rd just in case.
 
Zannej, I think I did remember you mentioning your sister. What I'm curious about is how your dad went from zoologist in Guam (& SE Asia?) to question-mark-occupation in rural Loozyana. Also the way you describe your mom sounds like she was pretty awful, maybe borderline or even not-so-borderline abusive, but that your dad was fond of you, so I have trouble understanding why your dad would, upon his passing, sentence you to a life of caring for this woman who was rotten to you and treats you like a servant. Also by extension, having to clean up after a brother who is about 1/6 the maturity he should be for his age (surely your dad noticed). These are mysteries that might not be solved by scientists or philosophers in our time.

Speaking of mysteries, I belonged to an online guitar forum that disappeared a month or so ago. The url just suddenly stopped returning anything. I was getting helpful advice there on this guitar I'm building, so now it feels a bit more like I'm flying by the seat of my pants, and there was nice camaraderie and stuff there too. Because I often forget to turn off my VPN it's hard to sign up for new forums: I'll try and register only to be instantly banned forever because the forum software thinks I'm a Russian spambot based on my ip address or whateverb and it links my mac address too so if I disable the VPN and try again it still won't let me join. Or sometimes they'll let me register but never send me a verification so I can post. Frustrating. There are one or two other guitar forums where I'm pretty sure some of the same regulars are active from the one that disappeared and I could ask those people if they know what happened...if only I could create an account and have it approved!
 
Flyover, He worked in federal law enforcement and we moved all around. There is a federal prison in the area so that is why we moved here. We got the farm because he wanted to be away from people. We ended up getting transferred to Singapore for his job and then to Guam. The zoology thing was just a side hobby/interest. His bachelor's degree was in philosophy (he liked to laugh about how he had a BS in Philosophy). It was the fasted degree to get that still qualified him to work in federal govt. He was in the Army prior to that. He stayed in the reserves until we transferred overseas.

Mom was the love of his life and he worked so much he didn't see a lot of her behaviors. She's not a terrible person but I guess she might sound that way from some of the things I've complained about. One thing I learned from her was to focus on the negative stuff. Its a habit I need to break. She can be very loving at times and she was protective. She just had a really bad temper and flew off the handle at times. I suspect maybe some bipolar tendencies and low key narcissism. We get along much better now but I vent about times she frustrates me. He was hoping my brother would grow up and move out like our sister but that never happened.

I'm just waking up and am about to take vitamins and should probably have some breakfast. I found some multi-grain cheerios that I like. I got a 2nd coat of the aquadefense on the edges. I messed up the plastic & tape a bit while moving the cementboard but I can still make sure I know the screw locations. I was able to rotate the board (with quite a bit of difficulty bc my stupid left arm was refusing to lift more than a couple of inches). It's ready for me to coat the one edge I didn't get. I think I'll lay plastic down on the floor and seal the others outside of the tub so I don't have to worry about messing the tape up again..

I'm a bit nervous about my friends driving to Galveston today. Traffic on the way can be a nightmare. Apparently they will stay in a hotel overnight and the cruise leaves tomorrow.
 
Real interesting video from a Doctor that I have followed most of this Century. He's a classically trained MD that branched out into Functional Medicine, which is the same Doctors I watch in those conferences.

The secret to healing is in all actuality brutally simple for lots of "diseases" that are simply symptoms of a clogged body. Most of us are clogged by bad diet and environmental toxins.

 
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