Author: DOuG pRATt

More Mach Schau!

Andrew at Parlogram Auctions delves into the Beatles’ forced return to Hamburg in late 1962. It had been almost exactly a year since Ringo sat in for Pete Best at the Cavern, making it inevitable that he would become a Beatle.*

I have both an American and a German copy of the LP. Andrew prefers the German pressing, and so do I, but it must be noted that both editions are in that most irritating of audio formats, “fake stereo” (with Haeco-CSG processing being a close second).

This mono copy sounds nice and solid. Saying something is “SUPER RARE” is funny, because that’s no longer true the moment it’s on YouTube.

*All These Years: Tune In, Extended Special Edition, by Mark Lewisohn, Vol. 2, pgs. 1044-1045

WEBB WHUHHH… ???

The inevitable first ding.

Twitter for the headline, blog for the story.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2022/06/08/webb-engineered-to-endure-micrometeoroid-impacts/

My Little Chickadees

The flap for the dryer vent cover broke off last year, and I hadn’t gotten around to replacing it. This made it possible for Mr. & Mrs. Chickadee to build a nest that completely filled the vent. I realized this when I saw one of them looking into the dryer from the other side of the drum!

Once I started working, the birds escaped without injury, but they were not happy! Clever birds that they are, they were using dryer lint to pack between twigs. Fortunately, there were no eggs yet in the nest.

Replacing the cover required, of course, more effort and tools than it should have. The problem was the hole for the old, all-metal, vent wasn’t wide enough for the plastic housing of the new vent cover. With a hammer and wood chisel I was able to widen it just enough to make it fit. Mr. & Mrs. Chickadee will now have to find another place to prepare a nest for their blessed event.