#could be a cool concept to follow with another hauling company I think

[blimbo-buddy]

Mobilewashing could have been about the new artificial intelligence that has started to become implemented into freighter ships to replace regular workers, only for things to get fucked up when the "ai captain" redirects the ship off course. And the whole time during being stranded it's just the ai voices talking to each other also Shinsuke should be the only human on that ship because you gotta at least have a backup mechanic in the flesh

[onisiondrama]

(Note: I’m not repeating stories he’s told before and just putting them in parenthesis. I have a lot more videos to go until I’m caught up so that would save me a lot of time. If he gives details I never heard from him before, I will type those.)

“The New Onision Conspiracy” prev. “Hitting Your Loved Ones Is Never Ok” Speaks, September 29?, 2020 (deleted)

- Says he got 6,000 - 7,000 new followers on Twitch during one stream. Allegedly, it’s from a streamer who was trying to say Onision beats his s/o. He thought it was about Shiloh (called the cops on Shiloh stories). - He found out over stream it was actually about a record or report from November 16, 2019 where someone said it sounded like there was domestic violence in his home. He says people don’t factor in that the police are often called on streamers and Youtubers. Internet people like to waste the money of tax payers and get Youtubers and streamers swatted or call animal control all the time. - Says he was told by a police officer someone called. At the time he thought it was about his pets because it happened so often. People from the internet called and would say they’re a neighbor to get the cops to come. - Anti-o is one of the most criminal and toxic community out there because they waste tax payer money and waste the time of the police, animal control, and CPS. - Someone tried to get him swatted, but it didn’t work. They released the audio. He never listened to it, but he was told it was really bad and embarrassing for the person who called. The person who picked up the call was intelligent and saw through that person right away. Emergency receptionists deal with a lot of imbeciles, like people asking for directions to Pizza Hut. - The pizza companies don’t like anti-o’s because they were pranked so many times. He asked them to put down his number and call him to confirm if he actually ordered a pizza because people would order meat lovers pizzas to his home. They tried to pointlessly kill animals and waste the pizza company’s time and money. The prank never worked because he would never take the pizza. - Lying is the go-to for people who want to be evil online. Sarah was reported as murdered and she answered the door. Kai was reported missing and Kai answered the door. - (He was reported to animal control for farting / muffin) - People create villainous legends about him online. If you watch his Twitch you’ll know he’s boring. He’s only entertaining in videos because he’s one of the best villainous actors out there. A director tried to put him in a loving role. The director asked him why he was so awkward and weird when he was brilliant in the other roles he gave him. He says it’s because he’ll the villain. He’s Loki, not Thor. He’s the guy that plays American Psycho, not Romeo from Romeo and Juliet. - Says people created a fictional universe where he’s a super manipulative intellectual who’s playing everyone. It’s an elaborate, nonsensical concept of him. You’d think the people who he kicked out of his life would say that’s ridiculous but they were kicked out for being liars. He’s actually quite virtuous. He has morals, standards, an overwhelming respect for the truth and justice. - He can be cold like L. He’d fit in the role of L. He hates playing Light Yagami. He always depicts L (I think he meant to say Light) as an idiot in his Death Note sketches because his motivations are stupid, he’s a criminal. He acts like a hero yet he’s killing people for disagreeing with him. - Says Thanos was an idiot too. [goes into detail about Thanos’ motivations] He should have doubled the size of the planets so he doesn’t have to kill everyone. He murdered countless individuals. - People tried to use a Leafy video as evidence against him to the police. Leafy recently wrote to him and said this was all r-worded. Keemstar also pointed out how stupid this all is. Neither of them like him, but they both had to deal with crazy anti-o. You’re all conspiracy theorists whack jobs. - (Hansen trespassed, Mike went to court) - Someone on twitter said he belongs in prison, but there was no crime. - All these people’s stories don’t line up. One person says he thinks he’s a god, another person says he’s a jerk, someone said he was rude to his husband. The consistency is he’s rude to people and you guys think that concludes a prison sentence. - People jumped to conclusions with Johnny Depp, but they flipped when they saw evidence of his girlfriend being awful. - He filmed himself walking in on Shiloh in the shower with a Go Pro. (He describes the sketch.) Says she was 18 or 19. He says it was a pretend prank. They also made a Taco Bell prank where they pretended to order in a drive thru when it was closed. He pretended to shave half of her head when she was sleeping. She told them to shave her head before the video. There was another prank where he said things like she’s not good enough at the end of the video. It’s what Youtubers do, it was fake drama. At the time you guys got it. The videos got 2,000 likes and 200 dislikes. Later on it’s out of context and people don’t understand the vibe. He threw candy corn at her and she pretended to be upset. They were dating and it was part of the joke. (He dumped Shiloh for cheating and getting pregnant story.) - If someone calls the cops on you, that doesn’t mean what they said is true. The person that called was not even a verified neighbor. - He has a hater that lives across the water. He filmed him bulldozing his weeds and made a huge thing online about it. [No. That guy worked for the fish and wildlife department in their county. He was literally doing his job. He saw a violation and reported it. He sent the video to the county when he reported it. People online got a hold of the video online because it was with the public reports on the site.] Says it was primarily blackberry bushes, nettles, and devil’s club that he cleared. Things that significantly hurt adults and children. Anti-os freaked out about it and his yard is literally better now than it’s ever been. People say he destroyed his land. What a bunch of numbskulls. - He recently did a poll on twitter and asked if he made a poll for legal expenses and after he collects it he says the majority will go to fixing his car, if that’s fraud. 80% said yes. An anti-o did that and it’s not fraud? He did another poll asking if he told someone he could destroy their life and they later asked him to sign an NDA and he told them only if they sleep with him, would that be rape? People voted 8/10 yes. Says that’s what Sarah did to him. - People used to show up to their debates and after would say they never really hated him. They were just being an entertainer or liking the attention he was getting them. You’re dealing with a bunch of liars. - He’s never found someone who talked about honesty as much as him and wound up being a liar. He swears on his own life that he’s an honest person. - He says he doesn’t need to talk about things like how he was crying when his daughter fell out of a window, but he’s trying to be transparent. - Says the domestic violence call thing obviously never happened. He and Kai are not violent. Shiloh was violent. She was hauled away for threatening to frame him for murder. Her ex said she threatened to put a bowie knife in him. (Shiloh stole his money story.) You guys hail that person a hero because you don’t care about reality. - He thinks possibly someone heard him making a meltdown video, but the only neighbor he’s near is cool with him. They text every few months about bears they saw. They invited him once to a BBQ. The hater across the water watched his with their camcorder zoomed in like a peeping Tom. 🙄 - Anti-os love breaking the law. You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain. [I swear if I got $1 every time I listened to him saying that quote I’d be rich.] They think they’re heroes, but they hurt people like villains. If you’re self righteous and you hurt others because you think you’re above other people, you’re a villain.  - He’s hurt a lot of people’s feeling and made people cry because he rejected them or said what was true. A lot of people don’t like that. - He talked to Kai about all this today and he was amused. Kai was upstairs smiling and chuckling about it. - Comment section is still closed because he doesn’t want people to talk about conspiracy theories. He’s thinking about making a forum so his fans can talk about his videos.

[racingtoaredlight]

Marshall Amps

This is Slayer’s backdrop for some recent tour of theirs.

If you’ve followed rock music at all, the “wall of Marshalls” is so iconic, it’s hard to separate the subject of the imagery from the backdrop of Marshall speakers.  Jimmy Page, Slash, Zakk Wylde, Eric Clapton...to name a few...but the man who made Marshalls the “greatest amps of all time” is none other than you know who...

So what is it with Marshalls?  Why did they become the “greatest amps of all time” yet seemingly don’t have a place in today’s guitar world?

***

What defines Marshall amps?

They have “Marshall” written on them.

Kidding aside, you will never hear about Marshall amps being called “versatile.”  “Clean” is something they do out of necessity, not design.  They are stupidly heavy.  They are a pain in the ass to maintain.  They only sound good at volumes that would peel the enamel off your teeth...and that’s just the 50w models, let alone the big boys.

Marshall amps really do one thing well...overdrive.  If you’re in a band that plays loud, plays dirty and plays aggressive, then Marshalls are likely right in your wheelhouse.  Bonus points if someone else is carrying your gear.

Any level of dirt...from bluesy hair on the note to full out metal grind...a Marshall is right at home.  When you overdrive the tubes in a Marshall and they start to produce those beautiful overtones and harmonics, it’s truly a sound of beauty that prickles the hair on the back of your neck.

***

Historical Context Part 1

To define Marshall amps, we need to start with their history.

Remember how when I used to actually write, I’d talk about putting things in historical context?  Lets go back to the early 60′s.  There is ONE amp company doing business on both sides of the Atlantic, Fender.  And, despite being primitive and archaic, those early Tweed Fender amps are still today some of the best sounding amps money can buy, which is even more impressive considering that a 10 year old who can use a soldering iron could build one.

But in America, it’s easy to source parts for an American company’s amp like Fender.  It’s right there in the country, stupid.  But for a company...shit, that’s not even accurate given they weren’t a company yet...for a Brit like Jim Marshall, you had to get creative.

Marshalls, at their very, foundational core, are almost a direct plagiarism of the Fender Bassman amp.  I mean, it’s exactly the same amplifier except for one key difference...the tubes.  The Atlantic Ocean thing mentioned earlier is a big deal...the 6v6 and 6L6 power tubes that Leo Fender used, nothing more than run of the mill military-spec electrical tubes, weren’t available.  Tubes might not be the lifeblood of an amp (the circuit is), but different tubes have a hugely variable presence in practical settings.

Given that most tube amps are powered by tubes that came from either the US, UK or Russian military industrial complexes...and there not being the internet or a secondary market for any of this shit...Marshall used, first, KT66 Russian tubes, and later British EL34 (big bottles) and EL84 (little bottles), depending on use.

As Marshall’s blew up (and it happened quickly), and musicians started playing bigger and bigger halls, Marshall took that Bassman ripoff and housed it in larger cabinets allowing him to add more tubes, and therefore, more power.  It was the perfect storm...

***

Historical Context Part II...the important stuff

So I linked to a bunch of pics above...famous dudes standing in front of walls of Marshalls.  The one I really want to hit on is the Eric Clapton one...

I just mentioned this a couple paragraphs above, but it bears repeating...there was no secondary market for things like tubes, caps, speakers, etc.  That pic of Clapton?  In each of those cabinets housing four speakers, maybe one was fully operational with half of another adding a bunch of fizz.  During Cream’s final show at Royal Albert Hall, he had only one speaker installed in the entire cabinet...the rest were just empty.

Now, that’s not to say there wasn’t any sonic benefit from having cabinets project sound waves with four speakers.  Rather, if one went down, at least you could still play.

Which leads us to the important stuff...

Primitive PA systems were not only garbage to begin with, but they were typically operated by burnouts who didn’t have the first clue of how to properly EQ a room.  This was true as late as the mid 80′s.  As shitty as those PA systems were though, guess what?  That’s still how Cream’s sound got shot through Royal Albert Hall.

Given the choice though, guitarists would rather have a slew of speakers doing the work rather than mic’ing up smaller amps.  Even with this option though, there’s a long history of...behind those walls of Marshall speaker cabs...there being a single half stack with just one speaker being mic’d.

Here’s a dirty little secret...Eddie Van Halen has not just endorsed multiple amps from multiple companies, but been heavily involved in the design of a lot of those as well.  BUT, when you hear him in the studio or live, you’re not hearing any of those amps...you’re hearing this.

Despite all the noise and propaganda regarding Van Halen’s wizardry with guitar and amp parts, the sound he’s most famous for and has relied on his entire career is produced by a relatively stock Marshall 1959SLP, known as the Super Lead.  The “Brown Tone” he’s famous for isn’t due to anything special in the amp itself, rather using something called the Variax to run the 100w amp at 90w, thereby making it warmer and more efficient (Marshall’s imported to the US still made to run at 110 volts despite most American outlets being 120 volts...the Variax reduced the electrical load to the amp, while also being an accidental signal buffer, allowing him to use time-based effects like flangers and delays, where running them into the front of a Marshall would cancel out those signals).

Jesus Christ that was a long aside...there was a point here though.

***

What was that point?

When PA systems and quality mic’s and sound guys became the norm, the necessity for stacks of Marshalls really started to go to shit.  Even before the internet boom, the jokes about wannabes hauling Marshall half stacks to tiny bars with no audience were already essentially canon.

I said this above...unless you are a touring artist in a hard rock band with logistical support and no front of house...Marshalls are completely impractical.  We’re not even going to touch on declines in quality (new Marshalls built on PCB have more in common with your phone than a 1987x, even if you buy a “reissue” of a 1987x), questionable marketing and oversaturating their own market...the fact of the matter is extremely simple.  Big iron is obsolete, no matter who makes it.

Marshall themselves know this, and released the “studio” line...which might as well be called the “shit we better make smaller stuff because our sales are getting FUCKED” line.  If you’ve ever had to pack a car full of gear yourself, it takes one gig before you’re looking for smaller, lighter amps.  Those 100w Marshalls?  They sound AMAZING cranked.

But unless you play them cranked, they sound like shit.  Think about it like driving a Ferrari at 25mph all the time...

For regular working musicians like myself, a great sounding tube combo can be found under 50 lbs.  Or I could ditch all that and go with a modeler, go straight into the PA and never need an amp again (PREDICTION...you will not see amplifiers on stage outside of Nashville and niche acts in 10 years).  That’s for a working musician.

For a touring musician, you can save tens of thousands of dollars per year by not having to hire logistical staff.  You might have scoffed at my prediction above...but these days, the majority of guitar sounds you hear are made digitally by a session guitarist sitting either at home or in the control room of a studio.  That 1987x is a digital patch rather than two trips to the car and ringing ears.

Point being...amps are already obsolete.  And if your amp weighs more than 50 lbs. and has more power than say 40w, it’s remarkably obsolete, no matter how cool it is.

***

Competition

I don’t have to tell you that Marshalls��� legacy was formed in the harder forms of rock.  Take one look at those monsters and you can tell they roar.  “Roar” is an interesting concept though...

Marshalls were made before hard rock really existed.  Guitarists almost ubiquitously came from a “clean” learning point, and even what we consider small amounts of dirt like this (and during the instrumental part of Ramblin’ Man) back then were FULL-THROATED.

Personally, that’s my ideal of the Marshall sound.  That Tweedy breakup that puts a shaggy head of hair on each note.  But to just about 90% of the music-enjoying public, this is the sound that immediately comes to mind when you think of Marshalls.

Definitely more dirty than Duane Allman’s version no doubt, but if you really listen to the guitar, the edge is more due to phrasing and Slash’s ballsy attitude than the guitar tone itself.  It’s still something I’d describe as more crunchy than full on distorted.

Which brings us to the clones.  Now, what better product to copy than a style that’s been obsolete for like two decades now!

We talked about Van Halen’s supposedly modded (but really quite stock) Marshall above...well, here comes one of his amp tech buddies Michael Soldano bringing a hot-rodded Marshall to the masses.  Then Bogner follows right behind.

Slash’s tone might not be that distorted, but plenty of metal guys absolutely were, and Marshall JCM’s were their weapon of choice.  But the time the calendar turned to 1990 though, Mesa Boogie’s rectifiers were already kings of the metal scene.  Almost as much as the Telecaster dominates country music, the Mesa Boogie Rectifiers own metal.

What was the common denominator in the competition?  MORE, sure.  More dirt, more quality, blah blah blah.  The biggest reason was Marshall, the company.  Unlike Fender, Marshall never got bought by bigger companies.  While that might keep them more “genuine” you have to realize that this guy was making amps in a tiny drum shop still when he was making stuff for Hendrix and Pete Townshend.

***

While Fender’s soul got twisted in a series of corporate takeovers, what it also eventually received was outside guidance from people with business AND music knowledge.  Fender was always forward thinking, from the day Leo Fender started the company.  Jim Marshall didn’t have that same type of vision.  The idea of a Fender amp being built on PCB is something Leo Fender would have embraced.  But to Marshall, it’s killing the amp’s soul.  Fenders never were BIG IRON...i.e. huge transformers fed by big bottle tubes...they never got into the size game.

To begin with, Marshalls were a stolen design.  That might sound harsh, but it’s not being unfair either.  They were never known for quality, rather known for quirks and unreliability.  They weren’t even that unique of a sound...you can get a very similar sound from a Fender Tweed cranked...you just cant take a Tweed to a huge hall and project the sound.

We can do that today.  Easily.  Like an $80 mic and a mic cable easy.  And now you have a true, pretty much genuine Marshall roar in a 30 lb. package.

Back in the day you couldn’t demand flawless point-to-point wiring, proper voltage and ohm specs, and wide-sweeping EQ bands.  Soldano and Mesa Boogie offered these as stock parts of their offerings at the same price points.  If you were a lead guy, Soldano was your choice...if you were a metal guy, it was Mesa...and in the two niches of the guitar world Marshall absolutely dominated, they were now second class citizens.

Or maybe even worse...new poor.

***

“Marshall” is a descriptor these days.  It’s describing the sound of a tube amp with a good-sized transformer being fed by British tubes, typically EL34′s.

If you want a “Marshall,” Marshall is probably the fourth or fifth company I’d recommend.  There’s a lot of debate about this, but I do not believe amps built on PCB are worth more than $1k...shit, that’s generous because I would not personally buy an amplifier using PCB.

This is the power amp section for a new Marshall JCM.

For all you IT guys out there, you probably know that PCB ain’t exactly the most receptive thing to changes in temperature.  Hey!  I got a great idea!  Lets put power and preamp tubes, that heat the fuck up, straight on some cheap ass PCB with janky copper wiring and automated solders!

Literally the only people who will tell you PCB is fine are people who build amps for a living.  Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t give a shit about making your job easier when you’re still charging me full price and plus some.  The only people saying that there’s no reason to do a point-to-point amp are those who are too lazy to, because there’s a big boutique market for this very thing.

Lets do a real apples to apples comparison here...

The top pic is a restored 1972 Marshall 1987x.  You can buy these used for under $2k...but let’s use $2k...plus $200 restoration (just the guts, who cares about how an amp looks).  We’re at $2,200.  And this electric shit is so simple a vacuum repair shop could do it.

The bottom pic is a brand spakin’ new Marshall 1987x reissue, modeled after...you guessed it...the 1972 Marshall 1987x.  That’s some clean wiring on that particle board!  But...wait...why am I paying MORE for a less desirable model, that took exponentially less work on Marshall’s end?  Why would I subsidize their profit margins for an inferior product with less resale value?

Furthermore...the 1987x is a one-channel, stupid simple amp.  Why do you need PCB to begin with?  I get it for a Soldano or Rectifier that’s multi-channel, with huge sweeping EQ sections, reverb, etc...but this is a plug-n-play.

Marshall...the company...has been doing that to their customer base for decades.  Back in the day, you knew what you were getting...a thunderous machine that likely would fail at some point, necessitating multiple amp purchases.  Literally the instant better, higher quality alternatives hit the market, it ripped into Marshall’s market share.

Today, if I were recommending a Marshall, the first place I’d recommend is George Metropoluos.  Second would be Friedman.  I’m currently deeply in love with a Friedman amp that’s a single-channel, point-to-point 40w amp that’s essentially a Tweed Bassman with EL84′s and a switchable gain stage...adorably named the Dirty Shirley.

***

Conclusion

Despite all that, I have a romantic love of Marshalls that overrides anything to do with quality or practicality.  It’s kind of like my love for the Gibson Les Paul grotesquely compounded...

You might think that I have a negative opinion of Marshalls based on everything I’ve just written.  Not true.  All of that stuff, it’s nothing in comparison to just how fucking incredible these things sound in person.  Again, neither of these instruments are in my wheelhouse, but if you asked me what the platonic ideal sound an electric guitar makes, it’d be a Les Paul through a cranked Marshall 1987x.

And even if you’re not into this kinda shit, trust me you’ve heard more than your fair share of Marshalls in the past.  They’re that great.  So great, it doesn’t matter how shitty they may or may not be.

PS...I wrote this in 3 different sessions, didn’t edit or re-read, and just posted away because something is better than nothing.

[ronaldbosieyiii]

Building Custom Stool Seats from Scrap Wood

 Things I Used in This Project: ISOtunes Bluetooth Hearing Protection Ultimiate Workbench Plans CrossCut Sled Titebond Original Wood Glue Rockler Surefoot Clamps Triton Router Infinity Spiral Bit Carpet Tape Triton SuperJaws Large Compass Large ROS Palm ROS Triton Router Table Infinity Round Over Bit Infinity Chamfer Bit Push Blocks Bench Cookies Dust Collection Cart RIDGID Round Shop Vac Universal Small Port Hose Kit Dust Right Separator Wipe On Poly

These seats are actually something I’ve been wanting to tackle for a while. They are inspired by a fabulous NY based furniture maker named Ethan Abramson. He has these stools he builds that he calls Maze Stools, that are made from different woods and have a very random yet elegant look to them. With Matt Cremona and I only having a single day to knock something out, I figured it was the perfect project. I also thought it would be cool to incorporate a scrap from Matt’s shop so I told him to toss something into his suitcase for me. Of course, it being Matt he brought me a beautiful piece of airdried walnut that he milled himself. 

To get started we rounded up some other cut off of hardwoods from my lumber rack. I had two good chunks of walnut then found some maple and Matt found some small pieces of curley maple. We divided them up then started playing with our designs. The great thing about this project is there is no right or wrong, mine is pretty simple whereas Matt went a little crazier with his, even throwing some end grain into the mix. 

Since we are dealing with scraps, almost all the boards are different thicknesses. Later we will plane our seats down but right now I just got the boards close by resawing them at the bandsaw. 

I was aiming for my seat to be around 14” so while I was building up mine I would use a tape just to make sure I was getting the weigh and height needed on the initial build up. Once that looked good, I started playing with adding more to the design. I wanted a strip of maple across the top so I grab a thinner strip, placed it where it looked good and used a pencil to mark on the bottom walnut, it’s location. Then I took it over to the table saw and cut along these pencil marks. This allowed to insert the maple strip where I removed the material.

With the general arrangement of our seats figured out, we started on the first glue up. Since I don’t yet have a jointer, we used my crosscut sled at the table saw to get the glueing edges nice and flat then started clamping things together. This part is a little funky because lots of things are cut at angles so they want to slip and slide once you start applying pressure with the clamps. But! We both played with it enough and got things to hold together. 

After letting that set for an hour or so, we unclamped our pieces and started cleaning up the edges for round two. On mine, I just cut the left side flush so I could add another board Maple to the edge. Then Matt cut his slides flush to add more walnut and curley maple to both sides. 

After letting round two glue ups dry, Matt attached the adjustable circle cutting router base to the router, then we turned these funky little creations into circles. You can see we placed a spoil board below the seat just to protect my new workbench top, then used carpet tape which is a strong double sided tape, to hold down the seat. Matt’s glue up was a tad bit smaller than mine so he went with a smaller diameter for his seat. We used a spiral upcut bit made by Infinity to make this cut, and since it’s pretty thick we took three passes to cut all the way though. 

One tip to remember if you do this project is to attach your seat upside down, so that what will end up being the top of the seat is facing the workbench. This will make the screw hole from attaching the router in the bottom where it will be unseen instead of the top. 

With that done, next we moved the seats and the SuperJaws outside because next step was to dish out the seat some. For this we were using my power carvers with the sanding attachment on them. To give a visual reference to follow, we used a compass to pencil on an offset line then just started sanding away material. 

And I’m curious on what other methods there are for dishing out seats that might be quicker. Although this process wasn’t too bad. Matt only took about 15 mins to get his dished, then enjoyed the nice Texas weather while I took a little bit longer to complete mine. 

Anyways, back to the project…..next we cleaned up the dish and also the edges with the palm ros sander. Or well, I used the sander, Matt used the spokeshave. Which I think proves power tools and hand tools can be friends. Just sayin….

Before applying finished, we took our seats over to the router table and used a 1/2” round over bit to round off the top edge. This not only looks a little nicer but will also make it feel nicer on the back of the legs when actually using the seat. Then something I did on mine is I placed a small chamfer on the bottom edge of the seat.

After he signed the bottom, he applied two coats of Danish oil. And my goodness that’s pretty. 

Matt and I actually made these back in August and two seats is just not enough for my shop. So I decided to make some more, but I loved the concept of including scraps from friends and having a piece of them in the shop. So for the past few months, if I knew I would be seeing a friend, I would tell them to toss a scrap into their luggage for me and I’ve come away with quite the haul. I ended up with enough to make at least six more stools so that’s what I did. 

I mixed and match the pieces to get a modge podge sort of look, but I also tried to maintain good aestics with color coordinating. One thing I didn’t pay any mind to is grain direction. Wood of course expands and contracts so typically you want to keep the grain all going the same way so it moves together and doesn’t bust apart, but these pieces are so small I don’t think it will create an issue. But hey, we’ll see. The two Matt and I made this summer are still looking perfect if that’s any indication. 

Something I made this go round to help with visualizing is a cardboard cutout. I used 14” as a template then could place this ring over my working piece to see if I liked the direction it was going or where on the board I wanted the circle placed. 

You can see that I placed a small sheet of wax paper under each one of my glue ups, this is just to keep me from gluing it down to my workbench. : )  Each seat had at least two glue ups, if not three but since I was building so many I was easily able to keep busy making another while things were drying. 

Of course this is a really great project to use up some smaller scraps but I think this would be a really fun group project. Call up some woodworker friends, everybody bring one or two pieces of wood and gather in somebody’s shop (whoever has the most clamps) then spend the day building a seat for your space while enjoying friends company then everybody gets to leave with a momento that’s useable.

It’s really cool to look them all at the end and see just how varied each one can be. It’s also funny to see what they look like after all the glue ups….at this point I was thinking “hmmmm, these are funky to say the least”. But I will tell you that after cutting them down into a circle, they look muuuuuch better. 

Now since I had so many, I used double sided tape to temporarily secure all of them down to my workbench and this made going over each one with my sander a little bit quicker rather than placing them one by one into my SuperJaws. 

Next up, will be making some bases to go with these tops. I have a pretty fun idea I can’t wait to try out, so stay tuned for my next video to see them complete. Big thank you to my friends and viewers who contributed a scrap for these seats. 

The post Building Custom Stool Seats from Scrap Wood appeared first on Wilker Do's.

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[thekebabstore]

The Kebab Store

The Kebab Store

My Saturdays and Sundays, at the age of 6, when not attending some kind of sports training, fixture or Sunday school was spent in Kebab shops hauling buckets (I could fit into) full of all sorts of tools. Often to heavy for me to carry I wouldn’t let another soul touch it, as even a single spanner going missing would equate to a titanic loss of pride.

My father is a mechanical engineer, focusing specifically on mending machines in kebab shops. Archway Chargrill, Falcon 350 series free standing fryers to the Fosters Pro Line cold rooms, there’s nothing he can't fix. More importantly with all these machines I had a private show, watching my father mend them and the chefs use them. I was immersed in the world of fast food shop machines and engulfed by the culture of such places. Relentlessly I would be tested and teased but what I was never faulted on was constantly watching over my dads’ shoulders and seeing what he is rebounded for… fixing the unfixable.

This pride lead me to develop my skills, by the age of 9 I was at the point of knowing what tool he needed before he asked for it and was competent enough to set stops on valentine thermostats on my own. This would allow the chef to cook his chips as efficiently as possible without burning the oil. To this day I still think the Valentine fryers are by far the most atheistically pleasing; something I’ve narrowed it down to, about the cool funder bolt logo.

(Image 1) Taken from google images - showing the mechanism of a fryers thermostat.

(Image 2) Taken from http://www.valentinefryers.com - of Valentine company logo.

A potential area of research could be the mechanisms behind the vast array of machines used in fast food stores. I think that this would be interesting, as most people don’t know the mechanics of such machines. Despite the fact that these machines are becoming more computerised, if I was to explore this area of study I will stick to more basic machines. This is because even though the basic principles of temperature control and mechanisms are the same, I feal that the older machines have more character. The older machines can be repaired and basic wiring circuits means that the machine is easier to understand. I feel that if I primarily looked at the newer machines this starting point will lead into coding (of vast array of circuit boards used in newer machines); I think this will lead me to a completely different area of study almost immediately. Despite this, I will consider this as a contrast to what is the traditional assembly.

(Image 3) off https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/734297914216680882/ showing how basic the old valentines fryers wiring was. If one part is not working you could simply follow the wiring through the machine and test each component.

This swiftly leads into the culture of the workers. What I could potentially look at is the traditions of a basic kebab house and compare this to possibly to chains such as McDonalds. This might prove to be extremely specific to my experiences (in regards to the kebab houses), especially without further research, as at least 90% of my dads clients are middle eastern. Although I have not been able to find exact figures for how many Kebab stores in London are run by middle easterners, for obvious reasons, I do believe that it is a majority (although futher research into this statement is definitely needed). With this come cultural traditions such as the constant brew of Turkish tea and the Salah prayers often performed by the elder, more religious men, this was always something that, for me, was fascinating to watch. This will be an interesting side topic to explore but I thing for the purposes of this area of study I will concentrate more so on their routines in regards to the business. For example certain higher quality kebab shops buy chicken breast, make their own source to marinade and make their chicken doners (derived from the Turkish word to spin) by skewering each breast through a removable steel spike placed on the doner rod during this process. I think methods like this will be interesting to contrast not only to stores that buy them ready made but stores, like McDonalds, that don’t sell doners but do buy order in their produced ready battered. And look at how the average Kebab store mill get a max of 30 people at any given time (plus deliveries depending on the store, where as a McDonalds can reach a max of 500 people (depending obviously mostly on time and location).  This area of study can easily lead into economics and topics such as scales of economy.

This spurs the idea of social etiquette of customers. Quite a personal experience for example would be the chef in kebab/fried chicken stores being referred as ‘Boss Man’ and term ‘the local kebabie’ when mates refer to their local Kebab store. But more interesting, I think, would be to look at the set up stores and how it manipulates the behavior of the customer. For example most kebab store will have their drink fridges on the customer side, this speeds up the service and saves valuable space in the line up of all the cookers; as well as this behind the counter get extremely hot which will cause the fridge to loose heat and malfunction more often. This is a clear example of treating the customer with the confidence they will not steel the drink and so they do not. As well as most store use techniques like placing their kebabs at the end with the window (if there is a window) so that customers out side will see the stunning, perfect, slowly cooking doner and want to come into the store. More often than not bright lights will be placed on the inside of the ventilation system pointing directly at the meets cooking; although this supplies light there’s is no doubt that the meats look more appertising when these lights are installed and on than when they aren’t. In my opinion looking at ways in which people behaviors are controlled are subconsciously controlled in a space is fascinating. I can find evidence for this in all sorts of areas, for example Harry Selfridge moving fragrances and makeup (what was a slightly taboo product) from what would originally be in the furthers regions of the store to ground level (setting the trend for current layout used by many stores) so that when people entered they would unconsciously brows these items before moving onto what they had first come to the store for. Contrasting this, for example, to TFL actual physical barriers, obviously put in place for crowd control. Although this is slightly off topic it shows the potential of where this are of study might lead.

This could be very interesting to explore as I could use my existing knowledge of what goes on behind the scenes in a kebab store to manipulate the behavior of customers. I would need to be careful however with this topic not to go too conceptual with the way in which people can be manipulated in a space but I will.

It would be interesting to look into the likes of Jaime Lerner and how architects have successfully manipulated people’s behavior. Although this is very much physical and evident it is an interesting topic of research for this idea. I can also look at artist like Marina Abramovic and Ulay, how they forcing people to make decisions. This can be taken further and the same concepts that Marina and Ulay were using in a kebab shop, forcing people to make a decision (possibly on their order) instantly without thinking. If I begin to research how the space in the kebab store is manipulating peoples behaviors I could partially long at Richard Long and Boyle Family Art. I think I need to be careful when referring to artists and works of art. I think that because all art is meant to in some way evoke an emotion and feeling (whether it be positive, negative or neutral) I could refer to any artist to gain insight as to something affecting you consciously and subconsciously. For this reason, during the Final Major Project (FMP) I will criticise the relevance of the artist I have been lead to before researching in full.

The concept of manipulation peoples behavior, I had touched on before in projects such as ‘A Soft Diagram’, ‘Input, output’ and also in my a-level project ‘Cycles, Links and Chains’. In ‘A Soft Diagram’ I noticed how people on the tube were regularly not filling the gaps in the train to create more space. So I developed a soft diagram to demonstrate how people should fill a carriage. In ‘Input, output’ I addressed the problem of people falling asleep by developing an Arduino program (using a C++ coding language) installed in various head wear (glasses, hair bands, hat) which prevented the user from drifting asleep. And during my ‘Cyles, Links and Chains’ project I raised peoples awareness of their own behaviors and encouraged, though my work, them to notice more of their surroundings and routines. Although these are all good examples of me exploring behaviors in the past, they are all very active ways of controlling behavior. As a starting point for my kebab store design I would want to use a more passive approach. For example my ‘BUILDING PROJECT’ where I used the form of my school design to create safe environment. An ideal outcome would be collaboration between the mechanics of the machines in a kebab store and the mechanics of human behavior.

[adamnovice]

Is PlayStation finally Aloying female protagonists to shine?

NO LINE ON THE HORIZON November 23rd 2012: Rumours were beginning to stir of a new console generation but as far I was concerned the PlayStation 3 was far from done. With the releases of God of War Ascension, Sly Cooper: Thieves In Time, Gran Turismo 6, Beyond Two Souls and The Last of Us still to arrive. But first up came Sony’s much mocked “Smash Bros rip off” PlayStation All-stars Battle Royale to PS3 and Vita. In fact it was this very day that said title arrived. As a massive fan of Sony’s hugely successful brand since Christmas 1997 this felt like a dream game (a brawler featuring all of PlayStation’s most memorable characters in a huge fan service package). Sadly this didn’t turn out what I hoped it would be, while the the actual fighting was sound, the roster and presentation was very lacking. Notable omissions included Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Solid Snake, Cloud Strife and Lara Croft. Of course Sony would have needed the rights but when other fighters like Raiden from Metal Gear, Big Daddy from BioShock and Dante from DMC were there just to promote upcoming games, it ended up exasperating the issue. But later on there was another problem I had with the roster. The game had a total of 24 fighters…only 3 of them were women, Fat Princess, Nariko from Heavenly Sword and Kat from Gravity Rush. Even then Kat was DLC and ironically despite 4 Fat Princess games existing this was the only time where you actually play as the titular princess. It left me thinking “where’s all the cool female characters that Sony have had over the last 20 years”? It’s not as if there wasn’t any options: Elena and/or Chloe from Uncharted, Jennifer Tate from Primal, Carmelita Fox from Sky Cooper and Kai from Heavenly Sword to them just a few. I can’t stress enough that this isn’t me pushing some kind of feminist agenda, far from it, it’s merely an observation on where Sony had been lacking in creating such memorable characters that I feel they could and should do better in.

HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO February 25th 2017: And now the landscape looks quite a bit different. As I write this Sony (fresh from the continuing success of the PlayStation 4) are about to release arguably one of their most important games in their 20+ years in the industry… Horizon Zero Dawn by Dutch studio Guerilla Games. The game has so far received huge critical acclaim for it’s combat, gorgeous world and surprisingly deep story. This is coupled with the game garning loads of hype ever since it was revealed at E3 2015 and quite possibly the biggest marketing push I have ever seen from Sony in all the years I have followed the PlayStation brand. But why is it so important? Ask yourself this, who is the face of PlayStation right now? Chances are you would say Nathan Drake or Kratos, problem is those characters have been well established for nearly a decade now and Sony usually gives birth to new heroes that become the unofficial mascot of the brand. PS1 had Crash and Spyro, PS2 had Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank and Kratos and PS3 had Nathan Drake and Sackboy. So far on PS4, it has lacked a new IP that can become a flag bearer for the platform. That’s where Horizon final key aspect comes into play, it’s protagonist Aloy, a young female tribal hunter with a curiosity of the outside world that she inhabits. Guerilla have stressed from the beginning that Aloy jumped from the earliest concept art right to the developers demanding to be the lead character. And I believe them, why? Because Sony had serious doubts, which they had every right to do so, if your running a business and you’ve greenlight a game that’s an old open world RPG (one of the most expensive genres you could make next to MMOs) that is not only a completely new IP but it’s been made by a studio that only made first person shooters in the last ten years. Sony quite rightly needed to make sure that they weren’t taking needless risks before dropping the likely $100million + in production costs. After all in recent times how many AAA games starring a female had been a big success outside of Tomb Raider? Sad state of affairs true, but nevertheless it warranted caution. Especially when Sony made the decision a few years previous to not publish Dotnod’s (of Life is Strange fame) Remember Me which also had a female protagonist. Though I imagine the game was dropped for far more then just that as the game did turn out to be rather ironically forgettable. Thankfully Sony bite the bullet, and ever since have expressed huge confidence it the game to the point where president of Sony’s Worldwide Studios Shuei Yoshida announced on stage at E3 “I get the honour of introducing a completely new franchise that I’m totally excited about” the keyword there is “franchise” not new IP but franchise as in Sony is in this for the long haul. This was emphasised even more when Guerilla’s managing director Herman Hulst just seconds later proudly announced “on behalf of everyone at Guerilla Games, I’m delighted to finally reveal our newest franchise”. The fact that this was the same E3 where The Last Guardian, Final Fantasy VII Remake and Shenmue 3 were announced yet Horizon wasn’t buried speaks volumes of the impact the game had on people. So what about Aloy herself, what is special about her? Frankly I don’t know because I haven’t played the game yet but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t “intrigued” about her. Like where did she come from, how has her experiences morphed her into what she is now. She seems to perfectly embody the player’s curiosity to explore this vast beautiful world where nature has retaken the landscape. Finding that out is going to be part of the fun.

A STORM IS COMING But here’s the rub, as far as PlayStation is concerned Aloy is not going to be alone as far as leading female characters for their games go. At PlayStation Experience 2016 the keynote was bookended by Sony biggest and most relevant studio… Naughty Dog. But what was also noticeable was that their games in question (Uncharted The Lost Legacy and The Last of Us Part 2) will have female protagonists in what are arguably the two biggest IP’s in Sony’s portfolio. In fact Sony didn’t even need to show all of Ellie’s face for people watching to erupt with glee, so was the impact both the first game and Ellie herself made. But why is this significant? Because things are gradually changing, the gaming industry is getting increasingly more diverse in sex, religion and race. And I’m not just talking about people who actually make the games we play but those that work in the media and the actual fandom of our favourite hobby. I’ve lost count of the times when I’ve seen female gaming Youtubers who are not only super into videogames too but also have excellent knowledge of various parts of the industry that they can teach me a thing or too. As for Sony to go from a company that only had three females in it’s own celebratory fighting game to now betting the farm with games like Horizon and The Last of Us Part 2 which are female led and don’t actually hide behind that fact show an extraordinary turnaround in such a few short years for me speaks volumes of gaming ever growing reach. FINAL THOUGHT At the end of Horizon Zero Dawn’s reveal trailer Aloy said “a storm is coming…And I…Will be ready” while I have no doubt that she was referring to an oncoming threat to her people in the game, for me it feels like she’s hitting the eye of the storm where half the world’s population is maybe just maybe finally getting the kind of cool and awesome characters that don’t always have to be defined by their sex and their sex alone. If things are indeed changing then maybe if or when Sony does a PlayStation All-stars Battle Royale 2, Nathan Drake and Kratos as they enter the battlefield they will see Aloy on the Horizon and she’s brought some friends with her.