Sheepdog1969

Gary Sinise and Tom Hanks in Forest Gump

I've got a '96 G&L HB/HSS Legacy (USA made) and I love it! It has a cool switch that changes the Seymour Duncan humbucker to single coil if/when needed. (The single coils are G&L factory) You've got a really cool guitar from a really cool girlfriend!

Ask many men who are in a relationship, and they will tell you it only got worse after she took their pair. 🙃

I sent him a PM a few days ago asking the same question. After 2 months of being MIA, I was getting concerned. Still haven't heard back. Thanks for posting that question to a wider audience Steve.

That sounds great. We'll talk about doing diner or something.

Thanks brother, I will pass your kind words on to her. I hope Ash's special day was awesome. Pass on our congrats to her! LMK if you want my Father and I to do anything for her during her boot camp, assuming she is at Great Lakes. Talk to you soon.

It's legal here too. Again, I plead the 5th, LOL!

Ha! No, my daughter sent me a text @ 8am the first day of "remote learning", from her bedroom to me as I was downstairs doing laundry, saying an explosive device had been planted in "the school", (my house). She has a great sense of humor. As for the drinking teacher issue, my attorney recommends I plead the 5th.

The first day of "home school" at my house, during the COVID lockdown, was awful. The day started out with a bomb threat and ended with a teacher being reprimanded for drinking on the job.

In 2023 Chicago Public Schools spent $29,900 per public school student. That same year, Macon County Illinois (Central Illinois) spent $12,822 per public school student. O'Fallon Illinois, in St. Clair county spent $11,909 per public school student in 2023. (Southern Illinois near St. Louis/Scott Air Force base) In 2023, O'Fallon, IL: 41% of elementary students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 45% tested at or above that level for math. Also, 40% of middle school students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 32% tested at or above that level for math. In 2023, Macon County, (Decatur IL): 6% of elementary students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 5% tested at or above that level for math. Also, 6% of middle school students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 5% tested at or above that level for math. In 2023, Cook County Il, (Chicago): On the South Side, just 15% read at grade level. In math, just 8% are at grade level. On the West Side, it’s 13% and 7%. On the Southwest Side, it’s 12% and 7%. On the Far Southeast Side, 18% and 9%. And then there are the individual results of some majority-black CPS schools: At Fenger Academy High School, 0% of black students read at grade level, 0% in math. At Hirsch Metropolitan High, 0% and 0%. Collins Academy High School, 0% and 0%. Chicago Excel Academy HS, 0% and 0%. Dunbar Vocational HS, 0% and 0%. There are 32 schools across Illinois where not a single student can read at grade level. There’s another 67 schools where not a single student is proficient in math. Please note the inverse relationship between the amount each of these Counties spend per student, per year, and their respective literacy rates! Last week, a large group of Chicago Public School District teachers and administrators took a day off from their educational duties and travelled to Springfield to lobby the governor and lawmakers to INCREASE funding to CPSD. They demanded that CPSD receive an even larger percentage of Illinois' total, State wide, Public school yearly tax funds. This, by definition, would reduce the remaining percentage of State Public School funds allocated to every other school district in the State. CPSD currently spends nearly 3 times more than O'Fallon, Il does each year per student. Yet, O'Fallon's literacy rate is around 3 times more than CPSD's literacy rate. It isn't about insufficient tax payer funding, per student, at Illinois Public Schools. If anything, it's about the disproportionate distribution of said, which rewards failure and punishes success.

I am not necessarily a Sheryl Crow fan, but I do enjoy "Soak up the Sun", simply because it has a great summer vibe. Today I was playing some music via my laptop through my PA in my "back 40" for a bunch of friends to kick off the Memorial Day Weekend, (and celebrate my daughter's HS graduation), and I played the song via YouTube. I guess I had never seen the video for the song before, because the guitar she was playing stopped me in my tracks. I'm not sure what kind of Gibson acoustic she has, but it sure is purdy!

Weird how Nancy P and a number of other congress folks, all without finance degrees, have made more money, (returns) on their Stock Market investments, by massive amounts, than the worlds best professional investment companies. It is also weird how these same congress people have exempted themselves from SEC insider trading regulations. My father was formerly one of the top 6 investment advisers in the world. I, and anyone else who lived in his home, were barred from investing/trading in the market except for investing in funds who's stock picks were independently controlled/chosen by the company who controlled the fund, PER SEC LAW!!!! Yet, Pelosi and her ilk, who know in advance what legislation they will pass which will determine future stock values of companies effected by said legislation, ARE EXEMPTED FROM SEC INVESTMENT REGULATION, BY THEIR OWN LEGISLATION. Sorry folks, Nancy ain't that smart without her insider info.

The purposeful elimination of Civics education has resulted in the moronic ignorance of too many of our current government officials that do not understand the purpose of "separation of powers". It also, as you stated, has created an electorate who are easily manipulated by individuals who mislead them with emotional arguments that are antithetical to the Constitution. These ignorant sheeple repeatedly state their willingness to give up Constitutionally protected freedoms for an ounce of perceived safety. They deserve neither!!!

I was formally trained as a concert/symphonic trombonist, and then graduated into a nationally recognized HS funk/jazz band. We toured nationally and throughout Europe and recorded an album each year of original works written by Doug Beach and other talented composers. I can read bass clef in my sleep. I was trained to be able to proficiently "sight read" any piece of previously unseen music, regardless of it's style or key. I have done so countless times, as part of competitions, during "try outs", and/or when ever it was required. Sadly, my school course load never allowed me to take theory, but but my ears began to learn, over decades of playing and listening, the formulaic nature of chord progressions. My instructor's intense focus on improvisation with-in "solo" sections of known arrangements exponentially expanded my knowledge of musical boundaries. I particularly enjoyed how the playing of a dissonant, seemingly off key note, could introduce an uncomfortable emotion, which would generate an even more powerful/reassuring feeling when followed by a "gliss" to the "on key" root of the next key change, (especially when that key change was a transition from minor to major) It was like inducing a gut tightening wince to a relaxing "aaahhh". It is a totally "out of bounds" move, but it works. Simply being able to effectively read sheet music, and or having an educated understanding of music theory, is no replacement for the soulful interaction one has with music. Swing and/or Jazz sheet music is not written in the way it is to be played. If anyone were to play Pennsylvania 6-5000 as it is written, it would sound nothing like how most of us know the song. Just playing sheet music as written is pathetically sterile and sad. Just mechanically following the "acceptable/traditional" music theory progressions, is just building another Hyundai, or Bob Ross landscape. Without soul, and the willingness to color outside the lines, music is just boring math/calculus. My guitar experience, being a Treble clef instrument, was based on "learning by rote". I was shown how to fret a chord and told the name of that chord, and I copied what I was shown. (Three chords and the truth style). I never ventured beyond the 5th fret until I F-ed around and learned darn near every variation of the chords I had previously been shown. Being left handed, I saw guitar chords and riffs I picked up as shapes/patterns. I still see my fingers on the fretboard the same way to this day. My musical training taught me to hear the next note I was to play in my head before I played it. I tend to navigate the fretboard by knowing what sound will be produced by fretting a string on the fretboard canvass, based on my experience with that canvass. I defiantly couldn't tell what note I am playing while I improvise, but I might be able to tell you the Key, because I am fundamentally a Rhythm guitarist who enjoys laying the foundation of a tune more than "making it cry or sing". I am still learning, and I still love it.

I think that it is not actually an issue of paying taxes, but more about how efficiently/productively those tax dollars are utilized. Obviously, this efficiency issue varies greatly depending on where you reside. Additionally, how and upon whom tax dollars are dispersed will always be seen as good by some and bad by others. Ultimately ROI (return on investment) should determine the efficacy of any expenditure. And, an evaluation of ROI must focus on the actual amount/percentage of each investment that ultimately reaches the intended recipient(s), versus the amount/percentage of that investment lost to administrating it's allocation. If a program "fails" to achieve it's intended result, yet 99% of the money invested into it is taken by administrative costs, and only 1% is left for the intended recipient, the only thing that can be determined as failing is the system charged with running the program. It is impossible to be able to determine said programs success or failure based on that investment structure. Conversely, if an efficient system funds a program where the recipients receive 90+% of the allocated investment, yet it fails, throwing more money at it will not guarantee a different result. Tax revenue cannot be seen as an endless trough of funding for governments. Nor will blatant inefficiencies regarding the use of tax revenues be tolerated by the small percentage of tax payers who pay the majority of those taxes. The citizens who's success results in disproportionate taxation, are the citizens who are financially able to leave the high tax areas that over rely upon them for their tax payments. Thus, those who cannot afford to escape ultimately bear this unfulfilled tax burden. Do you really own property/land, if you are forced each year to pay the government property taxes on it, based upon that same government's arbitrary valuation of that property, despite you not selling it and profiting by said sale? If you have a mortgage/loan for said property and your lender holds the title for said property, doesn't that lender actually own the percentage of said property that you currently still owe? Why is the mortgager not responsible for the percentage of that property's property tax liability based on their current percentage of ownership, and the mortgagee not pay the percentage of said property taxes for that property based on their percentage of ownership? Legally, I do not actually own my property until I possess the title/deed for said. Legally, my lender owns my property until every last penny of my loan is paid back, with interest to my lender. Yet, for the entirety of my mortgage, and then until I sell my property, I am responsible for 100% of the property tax liability assessed upon said property. Property tax is actually a "wealth tax", which assess a financial liability based on unrealized and uncapitalized profit for merely residing upon a tract of land mortgage holders do not own, and for title/deed holders, a financial liability in accounting terms due to the associated costs of ownership, (and only as "Equity" when borrowed against or sold.) Note that borrowing against Equity actually increases debt/liabilities, and the sale of Equity includes "Sales taxation" in the form of income tax and/or a sales tax, (without the ability to "write off" years of negative costs/assessed property taxes paid.) Are you old enough to remember when "Staples", such as bread, milk, eggs, and meat were exempted from sales taxes? Do you know that when sales taxes are based on a percentage of an item's cost, that any increase in the cost of said item, (inflation based or otherwise), increases the sales tax on said item at an ever increasing rate for every penny that item increases in price? Do you know what percentage of each gallon of gasoline you buy is tax cost and what percentage is gasoline cost? What percentage of your utility bills are taxes and fees versus the cost of the utility service you are buying? (Currently I pay more in taxes and fees on my Water bill than I pay for the water!) Paying taxes in order to fund the societal benefits that a Representative Democracy/Democratic Republic provides is far different than being repressed/controlled/owned/enslaved by a gluttonous/unaccountable/inefficient/self serving band of low IQ liars who spend more money to get elected than their job pays per each term.

1st, I am happy to hear how professional and quality focused Gibson was regarding your repair/restoration issues. Like how a parent worries about their kid the entire time they're away at summer camp, it has to be unnerving sending your baby anywhere without you, (regardless of why). Based on personal experience, I fear the shipping process more than the repair/resto. 2nd, as the original owner of two wonderful Gibson guitars from the '80's, I never thought about how Gibson's warranty may "cover" product failure unrelated to negligent abuse/damage the instrument incurred throughout it's life. As an example, the 3 way selector switch on my '83 CSE Korina Explore has been giving me fits for the last 5 years or so, despite always either being stored in it's case or beneath a guitar cover while on a stand unless it is/was being played. (it's volume and tone pot(s) exhibit no "crackling" associated with dust contamination, btw). When the selector is left in the bridge pickup position after it was played last, I find I must "jiggle" it a bit, the next time I play it, in order to get output from the bridge p/u. Until recently, I only had to employ this "jiggle" method once, at the beginning of a playing session to "activate" the bridge p/u, regardless of how many other selector changes I employed after that, during that same session. Now, I find that switching to the bridge p/u is becoming more and more hit and miss, without employing a "jiggle". Despite the 40 or so years of body dings and wear, (I bought the guitar new in '85 from GC), never has the selector suffered an impact or been abused. I have never attempted to "clean" it with any chemical spray for fear of harming the original finish and/or screwing up the selector. I have used the upholstery brush attachment on my vacuum to attempt to suck out any contamination in the switch, to no avail. Since the '83 Explorer is a CSE, it has 24K Gold plated hardware (all original), so just replacing the selector is not a simple process. Gibson does not make it easy to simply order CSE Gold plated replacement parts, nor do I want to mess with anything on a Guitar that represents 1 of only 6 or 8 made like mine that year. (Based on my research, I have not been able to find even one other example matching the exact factory set up my Explorer came with.) I am wondering if Gibson would consider this part failure as a warranty covered issue? Any thoughts?

I am so sorry to hear about you going through that all to common issue. I had sent you another long winded reply last week which discussed that potential complication. "Often, prescribed pain killers inadvertently result in constipation. Try to find natural fiber based food sources, combined with electrolyte rich hydration sources, that include vitamin rich components that will supplement the known vitamin depleting characteristics common with many medicinal treatments whilst keeping you regular." I had hoped that you, or one of your loved ones, would have been able to read my reply before you had to experience that "plumbing backup" yourself. I know you have a lot going on right now, (the understatement of the century), but my reply to you Thursday of last week addresses a number of common post-op digestive concerns that many people are unaware of, From my experience, medical professionals fail to fully detail and clearly relay post-op effects that relate to your digestive tract, and the appropriate preventative measures required to avoid/mitigate them. A fecal impaction is well beyond the constipation commonly associated with pain killers. I'm guessing a number of factors contributed to this, with your pain meds starting the chain reaction, and the other issues each exponentially compounding it. (Strong pain killers in combination with dehydration, reduced/diminished "good gut bacteria/enzymes", diminished digestive tract muscle function associated with internal post-op swelling/bruising and the prescribed muscle relaxers, being in a supine/semi-supine lying recovery position for an extended period, and consuming a post-op diet lacking the volume of dietary fiber and probiotics required to counteract your current medicinal/medical realities, would be the most obvious combination of factors.) Maybe I should have sent my reply to you last Thursday, covering these digestive tract issues, to you via PM, but I know there many others here that could benefit from this info, if and/or when it may apply to them. If it is easier for you to access PM's containing detailed info like this, (and conversely use this link for our loving well wishes and your health updates, let me know.) If you, or a loved one, are reading this, but have yet to read my Thursday morning reply to you, please review it as it more fully discusses post-op digestive concerns. I wish for you better days and smooth sailing from here forward! Love C

A Gibson Carol Cracked nuts found upon my Gibson Guitars So my LP's are just resting in repose Yuletide carols being played without the star and folks like us know that really blows. Everybody knows that real bone is the way to go to help your axe sound nice and bright tiny cracks that appear to grow will mean no sleep for me again tonight I know the replacement is on it's way they've sent my package out to me today but guys like me will be forced to spy to see if FedEx tonight will really fly. I'll stop now, before I really embarrass myself

Congrats on the solid find! I bet she sounds great. Regarding weight, I have found myself, (possibly subconsciously), buying lighter guitars the older I get. My first was an ""83 Gibson Korina CSE Explorer, and my most recent purchase was a Squire Strat. The Explorer feels like an anchor, and the Strat feels like a helium balloon, (comparatively).

Growing up north of the Mason-Dixon line, I never had a Sam-Ash store anywhere near me. I defiantly had heard of the company, and understood what they were, but I really don't know where their stores were located. Are they a Southern thing, or what? Just wondering.

Ok, last "non hook up" comment/question. My older home literally has a furnace made by Coleman. Since there was no central air based on this antiquated system, I did a bunch of research and learned that "zone" heating and cooling tended to reduce cost/energy use because homes with multiple "zones" of climate control were more efficient than homes that simply heated/cooled the entire structure to a specified temperature, regardless of where any of it's occupants were located. I employed 3 "air conditioning" zones for the summer months, which allows me to "feather" A/C needs within zones that are occupied each hour of each day. Unoccupied zones are "closed off" but still maintain an internal air temp of 75 degrees F. Occupied zones are adjusted to maintain 72 degrees F when occupied, or 75 degrees F when occupied but when external humidity/dew points are less than 67 percent. Since you have 4 AC units, are you doing the same as we are? And, yes, we do have an AC in each bedroom, which we use small fans blowing cold air from, to circulate cold dry air to our three large common rooms by day, but we tend to close off our bedrooms at night. Per the square footage of my home, we seem to be very efficient per other homes of similar square footage by using this zone cooling method. Are you not experiencing the same efficiency?

Listen, If you continue to be so freaking nice, I will be forced to provide you with my second born daughter in addition to my generous guitar gift. (She is a lovely girl who may have a slight stigmatism, but she milks the heck out of a cow.) She informs me that she can win (re: loose) the heck out of a square dance. (Due to her stigmatism, she tends to dance a trapezoid)

Dude, I'm Amish. We will seriously need to square dance to figure this out. (Not exactly sure how one "wins" a square dance, but based on Amish and Quaker faiths, the winner actually looses.) So, F-U, I'm finding you a F-ing guitar, and I'm bringing up north to you, eh, and I expect to be riddled with guilt for helping you out, because that's normal, RIGHT? LOL

So I am a constitutional conservative, and similarly a financial conservative... ....because I am cheap (sic. Frugal) I learned long ago that you will always find a need for something you had, but threw away, only minutes after the garbage truck drives away. Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle was a Great Depression thing, only after they stole the idea from us Hillbilliys. Waste not, want not, (and hide your junk from your wife, lest she waste your time wanting to throw out your sh!t.), was what some guy named Ben said. I've been gathering power from the sun since the first commercially available mono crystalline mini solar panels became available. I still own and use a Sun Systems bi-fold two panel solar charger from the late '90's which I used on multiple back country backpacking solo trips, (Isle Royal, Glacier National Park, Porcupine Mountain Wilderness State Park, etc.) This solar device allowed me to charge batteries during week long trips that insured my ability to use my hi-powered two way radio to call for help, if needed, long before cell phones existed. I currently own multiple portable, packable, yet powerful solar arrays that are quite capable of powering the multiple lithium-ion energy storage devices I own. As a rural home owner, I have relied on these power sources for a week on average once every two years, due to catastrophic weather events. I keep hearing that new panels exactly the size of mine are now 40%+ more efficient than my 2 year old tech. Would I buy an EV? No. Why? Because my 155 year old home is only wired for 60 amp service. Additionally, per my civil engineer friend in town, our grid could not support even 1/8th of our 9,000 population town attempting to charge EV's. (The average US household possesses an average of 4 vehicles. To charge a single EV requires one 220v outlet, which combined with average household electrical consumption, requires a minimum of 110amp residential electrical service, (2 phase). In order to charge two/three EV's simultaneously, in combination with normal US household electrical consumption, said household would require 3 phase electrical service. Based on my small town's electrical supply availability via our state's electric provider AND the multiple solar farms servicing our community AND our town's grid capability AND the transformer stepdown capacity per neighborhood, even one EV per residential property would exceed our grid's capability. This does not even account for the rural travel mileage requirements compared with the 15+ hour recharge average hour time based on said daily mileage vehicle use, (per single light weight duty vehicle estimates). I can go on and on about the rural impossibilities for EV's, without ever getting into heavy load rural vehicle needs. (Simply put, "Do you want to eat??") Are EV's good for short haul, light weight transport within urban environments? Defiantly, if said urban grid is capable of supporting their charging needs and weather conditions permit. Are EV's reliable nationally, in all seasons, even for light weight short haul transport with grid capability? No. Based on optimum environmental conditions, is long distance, time efficient intercontinental EV travel possible today in the US? No. Not judging, just saying.