Kitchen musings..... shelving vs. cabinets, notions of design....

[The Daring Dufas]

Of course not, I'd never be so arrogant to claim I've seen everything but I'm confident I've seen TOO much. I know I'll never live long enough to see EVERYTHING. ^_^

TDD

[The Daring Dufas]

I used to be referred to as Polish Engineering but that's not Politically Correct so a group of folks who don't care had to be chosen to take responsibility for all bizarre and stupid constructs. White Trash is such a group of people and it may not be widely known but February is White Trash Month and has been for many years since it's the shortest month and WT has always gotten to short end of the stick. The White Trash month celebrations going on at trailer parks across the nation have been quite entertaining for the participants this year. ^_^

TDD

[Michael A. Terrell]

And always have to be installed in the worst places. :(

[Michael A. Terrell]

May you live long enough to regret that remark. ;-)

[Michael A. Terrell]

It started in the '70s with that memo about it being wrong to say something was 'Afro Engineered'. Some day, all of the rednecks will decide they've had enough and there will be hell to pay. 'Riled-up rednecks on a rampage! :)

They live in trailer parks, because they aren't minorities who can get subsidized housing.

[The Daring Dufas]

Oh I know plenty of WT on the government dole. Most people refuse to believe that Caucasian females account for the greatest number of welfare recipients. It used to be that they would stay on welfare until they could get back on their feet but from what I've seen, they will now accept it as a way of life. O_o

TDD

[Norminn]

When I was a kid and my parents had company, I tended to sit with the men. One, especially, who was born 1904 in Norway, whose mother operated a lighthouse there...had the best stories. He could make the telling of cleaning a fish highly interesting. He lived a long life and he and his wife were the best friends a person could hope for...they had a special gift for making one feel special when with them, would do anything they could for a friend but sure didn't suffer fools. They could be gutting and remodeling their home, which they did several times, and yet have company for dinner and not have a spec of dust anywhere. In later years, both had severe health issues but did together what neither could do alone.

I discovered in the early days of working in nursing homes that old folks had awesome stories and rarely were unappreciative of the care I gave....those who were unappreciative needed more :o)

[Michael A. Terrell]

Fourth or even fifth generation in some families. Sad, but true. I don't see it much anymore, but back in the '60 & '70s I did TV repair and saw a lot of disgusting things. Did you ever run a service call in a whorehouse? The place reeked, and everyone there looked like death warmed over.

[HeyBub]

There are oodles of home-made glass cleaning formulas on the web. It's cheap enough to try them one after another 'til you find the concoction that meets your needs.

[HeyBub]

Yep. And many early music groups had advanced degrees in music (The Limelighters, etc.).

[The Daring Dufas]

I ran TV service calls back in the 70's but here in the Bible Belt, a whorehouse was something hidden and only available to the well-heeled and politicians. Of course I had to bug bomb some TV sets outside the shop to keep roaches off the bench and had to explain to a number of folks that their cherished Sony TV should have been unplugged, hosed out and allowed to dry after their kid spilled milk into it and brought into the shop immediately, not a week later. My Dog, I swear I've been a witness to "The Dumbassification of America" over the past half century and it's getting worse. I run service calls in retail stores and my favorite is the Ann Taylor stores where I find the funniest things wrong with equipment. The gals working there invariably nice but I find things unplugged or network gear with stuff piled on it as though it were a shelf causing it to overheat or knocking the wires out. I often have to explain to the manager that nothing should be leaned up against the telephone backboard and the equipment closet containing any network, phone equipment or electrical panels is not a storage space. O_o

TDD

[The Daring Dufas]

Me and JH do work on telecom, network and other low voltage systems for a chain of nursing homes and we were in one a two hour drive away last Wednesday and Thursday. We were both in a lot of pain and I couldn't climb up in the attic to pull wire so I was down in the hall handling the 10 foot ladder going from access hatch to access hatch. I was having some chest pains the first day and of course every joint was hurting so bad I had 90 year olds in walkers come up to me and ask if I was OK. Me and JH have been looking for a young sober guy about 50 years old to help us pull wire. ^_^

TDD

[The Daring Dufas]

I've always enjoyed Picasso's work but his later works look as though he discovered psychedelic mushrooms since LSD hadn't been synthesized in those days. ^_^

TDD

[DerbyDad03]

With Afro Engineered being the PC version of N----- Rigged.

I grew up with jerry-rigged or jury-rigged, depending on who said it.

Some sources say that jury-rigged is a bastardized version of jerry-rigged with "jerry" referring to the ways the Germans were often forced to improvise as they were losing the war and couldn't get supplies.

[DerbyDad03]

I'm not going to waste whatever time I have left on this earth viewing 1167 images of sloppy repair work.

[The Daring Dufas]

Solders of any nation have always been notorious at hacking together solutions to problems in times of war. ^_^

TDD

[The Daring Dufas]

Too many are burned into my memory. ^_^

TDD

[Existential Angst]

Many? Please..... You'd be hardpressed to find rock'n'rollers with ANY degrees in ANYthing, much less in music per se. I'll bet that 50% of rock'n'rollers didn't graduate HS. An ADVANCED degree?? ie, MS, PhD?? Are you KIDDING????

If I'm wrong, I"d enjoy hearing your cites. And the irony to that is we then have to listen to GED bullshit philosophies on love and life, recorded for all of eternity, for the rest of our miserable lives.

Speaking of which, Jim Morrison (Doors) *did* finagle a degree in theatre/fine arts, and was widely read in philosophy. YET, the sum total of the cultural impact of the Doors was this: Every post-pubescent female in the USA, Japan, and Germany were dreaming of, vying to fellate Jim Morrison. If you don't believe me, conduct your own poll. Get your wife drunk, and ask her.... Mine still denies it, but I know she's lyin.... lol Well, mebbe not.... but Engelbert Humperdink, f'sure f'sure.... lol Heh, and proly 25% of the male population dreamed of fellating Morrison, as well.... lol

A few instrumentalists studied formally, for a while, but few actually graduated, as the demands of performing (at least for the really talented) prevailed. Examples are Al Hirt (Green Hornet theme, one of THE virtuoso displays in trumpeting), Jacques Loussier (Play Bach, stunning rendition of Vivaldi's Four Seasons).

But formal study was rare in rock'n'roll. I mean, really, yer playin I-IV-V, I-IV-VI all fukn day long..... what's to study???? Alvin Lee (Ten Years After) I don't think ever even changed key.

Billy Joel was classically trained in piano, as was Elton John, but neither, to my knowledge, had music degrees. Jeff Goldblum, in his clown role replacement of Vincent D'Onofrio in LawnOrder, is apparently quite the accomplished jazz pianist, but not formally trained.

That Jacques Loussier, Al Hirt et al did not gradurate is of course moot. My point being, mostly, that you and Jim Wilkins may have a pernt, but you shouldn't OVERstate your case..

And Al Hirt could blow that pompous academic wannabe Wynton Marsalis clear out of Lincoln Center, into New Jersey.....

Billy Joel, btw, has a brilliant command of the "rock'n'roll" lexicon. In a recent and lengthy interview on NPR/WNYC, at a piano, he could bang out, at will, it seemed, the full arrangement of a wide variety of tunes, seemingly impromptu.

I'm sure some in the Moody Blues were classically trained, but proly didn't obtain degrees.

And Louis Armstrong could barely read music. Go figger.

Ultimately, talent is talent. Can trad'l/formal education tweak it? Sure. But apparently, it's not necessary. Esp. if the bulk of your repertoire is I-IV-V chords, fergodsakes....

But back to Jim Wilkins: I didn't know I wrote like e.e. cummings..... Thank you -- I coulda did worse, eh?

[ChairMan]

its presidential engineered now

[Robert Macy]

LOL! You are correct! I just bought a 900W microwave from Walmart [made in China] for around $46. I have not had to clean the buttons yet, because ...yes, the plastic coating has deteriorated and looks like I ran a soldering iron over them.At first, I thought this was a protective plastic sheet that I had neglected to remove and was supposed to be removed. Guess not.