A Geek Goes Flying

Kill Your Television, Burning Man ’97 This Slate piece put into words what I’ve been trying to: The reason TV characters felt real was because we spent real time with them—a standing date, week in and week out. They were in our homes more often than anyone but our immediate family, and they, usually, aged as we did, whether or not the show acknowledged it. Buffy started sophomore year one season and junior year the next; John Carter went from raw med student to seasoned chief resident. We knew on some level that the barflies from Cheers weren’t really our drinking buddies, but they served the same function—a group of lively, funny, unpredictable oddballs you always knew where to find. They were, in the words of another classic sitcom, there for you. Streaming shows, by contrast, turn up when they feel like it—dropping by months or years later, sometimes without even the courtesy of an advance announcement. Rather than a steady, manageable commitment, they take up hours at...

Patent drawing I see a lot of confusion regarding locking tuners online. A lot of people seem to think locking tuners will provide additional tuning stability, or are redundant when a guitar as a locking nut (a la Floyd Rose). E.g., one person claimed: “Tuning stability is why they were invented.”  So, um, yeah. Not exactly. Or at least not completely. The first locking tuners were invented by Robert Sperzel, who was granted patent 4,625,614 . The main benefit Sperzel lists in that patent is that his invention “provides a tuning device having a string post which is rotated through a short distance to quickly and easily tune a string of a musical instrument to a desired pitch [...] by rotating the string post through a short distance.” His invention was intended make string changes less of a pain in the ass, faster and easier compared to existing tuners, which he describes: “The string post of the tuning device [then in use] must be turned through several complete revolutions ...

Ditching the NUX for wireless (it’s fine for what it is, but I don’t need to be maintaining multiple sets of tones, cluttering my brain with multiple interfaces, etc., when that time/space could be better put to mastering the Fractal learning curve ). I’ve already shifted to using S/PDIF to my home stereo  but now I needed a wireless rig (dogs), and to keep everything bundled together and allow for “two cable” operation. This achieves that. The pieces Temple DUO 24 pedalboard, which may be overkill given the devices I currently have, but it’s at least not cramped (the 17 would have been), and gives some room for growth. Fractal FM3 , which needs/provides: Power (120V IEC) XLR output(s) for the FRFR / front of house S/PDIF output for the home theater Wireless in for the instrument Audio input for accompaniment tracks etc. Line 6 Relay G75 , which needs/provides: Power (9V⎓500mA) 1/4" output to the FM3 Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus , which needs/provides: Power In (120V IEC) Power ...

June 11, 2026:  Solar generates more energy in US than coal for first time . “Data released on Wednesday by the global energy thinktank Ember, along with a report by the Solar Energy Industries Association (Seia) and analytics firm Wood Mackenzie, show the continued growth of solar and decline of coal in the United States despite federal policy. In May, for the first time, solar supplied more of the nation’s electricity than coal, or 12.8%, Ember said. Coal supplied 12.2%, its fourth-lowest monthly share ever.” I’d buy that for a dollar. Green energy collage Of course, other countries are ahead of us. Germany has, on occasion, supplied all of its electrical demand using renewables, at least as far back as May 17, 2016 (“If only for a brief while, the country was almost entirely powered by solar and wind–and the grid didn’t collapse”). Meanwhile, I’d still love to have something like the GoSun EV Solar Charger for truly off-grid capability. With everything I tote these days being ...

I now have two wireless guitar setups (three, if you count the NUX Mighty Air, which, I kinda don’t). Had to do a modicum of digging to get everything squared away. Here goes. Looks like Kesha was using the Neotech pouch on the Freedom tour Line 6 G75 I should get the Shure GLXD16+ , but $600 (even used, $500 or so) is a bit too spendy right now. I’ve heard excellent things about the higher end Line 6 kit, and although this is an older set, I got a great deal on it (used, obvi) and so here we are. This is a two-piece rig I’m going to use at home and when playing out. For home use, it’s kind of the same goal - not tripping over cables, not having the dogs trip over the cables, etc.  The transmitter (TB516G) has several third party strap mounts, including: Richter transmitter pocket ($65 6/2026 conversion rate) Neotech Wireless Transmitter Guitar Strap Pouch Medium ($20) (This came up in a search but the specs don’t quite  line up; it’s 4" x 2.5" x 0.8" while the T...

The NUX Mighty Air seemed like it would be a workable practice solution  back in January , but, uh, yeah. No. I don’t know if its a battery issue or saturated wireless bands or what, but it kept cutting out, and even when it was reliably connecting to the guitar (i.e., via an instrument cable), there's just only so much you can get from two 2" speakers and "8 watts" (however measured). The presets were kind of fun to play with for a minute, but against the overall limitations of the system, I never loved it, frankly. I have the FM3, and my tone chasing is best left to that device. The one (huge) downside: Dragging out the huge FRFR-112  for practice sessions is a drag. The more friction between me and practicing, the less I’ll practice ... Yeah. Anyway. So for wireless I found a used Line 6 Relay G75 system for a good price, and I can patch that into the FM3. For lower volume practice sessions (apartment living, yay...), I was looking at getting a single powered stud...

We’ll see if this setup survives the onslaught of The Puppers™ but I’m optimistic.  ESP Ltd single cut on Hercules stand Hercules GS405B SHOKSAFE stand (“features a shock-absorbing system [and] the yoke and cradle are flexible and secure to fully protect the instrument”), affixed to the perforated side of this credenza-ish thing with thin gauge aircraft cable . 🤞 ( Astrid II once tried to burrow under the cheap (also: inexpensive) Amazon Basics stand I had there before, to get to a ball that rolled under... Sigh...) The Office Guitar™ has returned... (And, I mean, I paid $150 used for this axe, so if it *does* do a faceplant I’ll survive... But given the design of the stand, and that I have it anchored, again, I think it’ll be fine 😌 ...) The anchor Honorary mention: The D&A Starfish also appears to be fairly topple-proof, but wouldn’t “catch” the guitar, and so I didn’t fully trust it would have been effective when the dogs are wrestling. Still, looks like a good ...