Most liked posts in thread: What's new Pussycat too?

Just got my PS Vita back today after having it modded and setup with all the emulators by a local guy. Very nice machine and really convenient. Think it is going to become my go-to travel companion on holiday now

 

Good old Dominik Diamond, notoriously HATED by the software community but, by the sounds of it, by everyone including his parrents

I said before about him swanning around a trade show with his little entourage, went past the Team 17 booth where I was having a chat, he waved at them and carried on to get a chorus of "w****r" from them and I think it was the Gremlin lot,,,Not sure, memory card issue

Never understood why Patrick Moore did the show (apart for money), he wasn't a gaming sort and tremendously serious at the best of times. Tried to talk to him once on the Euston Road near the station, he nodded and sort of bumbled off with no word at all. I would not mind, but I was a keen astronomer growing up, and the Sky at Night show was a much-needed watch..

Hope the old tum is on the mend Al..

 

Sorry to hear about the sleeping, Al, not good when you have a day job.. I did wonder when I saw the time you typed this..

I hope Dom is better now, him and Timmy Mallett rubbed people up the wrong way at the shows. Not sure why Mallett got such a hard time, he was just going around hitting people with that inflatable mallet prop. I guess people didn't like that show 'whack a day' or whatever it was called. He came across as a person who just wanted to be liked.

I suppose slapping people around the head with a fake hammer goes against that

 

I'm not much of a reader Al,I basically only read what I have to, mostly manuals. Normal books have never been a big thing with me, my mother was the reader in the family, she loved a good fiction book, so we got her quite a collection, and she read them all. I on the other hand just speed read what needs to be read and look at the pretty pictures.

I learn stuff very easily in most cases (bar maths) so it’s not an issue for me, just can't be bothered

Serena is sat in Sheffield that this moment and it's bloody cold there, just before she arrived they had 40cm of snow over a period, but thankfully the snow turned to sleet and melted most of it. She's off with her mates to Meadowhall to look around, told her it was huge there, shame she's almost broke. Not been to Yorkshire in years, used to know it all pretty well as Wombwell was our head office (as I've said before). Very nice up there, would have loved to get out and see the countryside, but it was all work and very little play.

Have fun with the mags, hope the weather clears up for you.

 

"When I'm with you, baby
I just go out of my head
And I just can't get enough
And I just can't get enough

All the GAMES you RUN for me
And every TUNE you PLAY
And I just can't get enough
And I just can't get enough
...
It's getting hotter, it's a burning love
And I just can't seem to get enough of..."

 

No need to explain, my dear friend.
Those who know me will easily know the end
of my usual short story where I finally roar:
yet, I've got another Commodore 64!

 

Denon no less, lottery win Al, you being a 20 quid top price for everything

The one thing about LP's / 12 inches was the wear and tear, my cats (we had quite a few back then) used them as scratch posts no matter where you stored them. Everything else about them is great, especially the old picture disc's. I like the sound of this never evolution of the Vinyl record, even higher fidelity. Quite literally, sounds ace.

 

Take it easy and get well Andy, I'll say a prayer for you. Health is the most important thing in life. I'd rather be totally healthy and dirt poor than be a millionaire with health issues any day, hands down.

 

Thanks, Matt and Paul.

As you both say, when you've got your health you've got all you need but once it's gone and shot to shit, well... all the tea n spy balloons in China won't do you any good ;-)

God knows what caused the acute sudden intense pains last Sat night/Sun morning but it was like a constant searing pain in my lower intestines... never known owt like it before.

Tried the old bog clearout and fingers down the throat/multiple puke sessions and still it persisted.

In the end, Bev wheeled me into A&E and said told em she couldn't do anything with me - can you lot? So they pumped me full of I/V painkillers and I curled up into a ball between two plastic chairs and waited and waited and waited...

You guys know the drill and here's the lowdown on the Hull A&E:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-65039055

and

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-63904676

It doesn't make for good reading.

Any road, I must praise the bloods nurses who did all they could to both reduce my pain and take my bloods and just like last year when I went in with a dodgy heart, I never saw a doctor as I got to the end of my endurance/acceptable time waiting in such places (6-7hrs). Unfortunately their waiting times are anything between 12-20hrs plus which means that me and them are incompatible. It's appalling, guys, but I know you know this already.

Anyhow, Bev tells me, after I was also sent there Wednesday night for more bloods / amylase tests (another 7hr sesh and didn't get to see a doctor... again), that my stomach spasms are being treated for with what the locum GP has prescribed, Paul:

Co-Amoxiclav (3 times a day) and also Sodium Alginate/Potassium Bicarbonate pills plus Mebeverine tablets.

So what with me vitamin tabs each morn, I've suddenly become a walking chemical lab.

She knows of Omeprazole and says that's more for inflamed stomach?

As you say, you and Serena sound like you have delicate tums with all that acid reflex etc and you suddenly have much more sympathy from me now I've been down this particular gastro road.

No, with not seeing any docs they haven't taken any x-rays.

We will await the blood tests, mate.

They did tell me Wed night that the bloods they took Sat/Sun didn't show any levels showing any concern to them.

Hey ho, I haven't been sick since and I;m now left with feeling a tad bloated, sore, achy and washed out.

There are millions far worse off so I'll belt up!

Have a good weekend, guys and enjoy your retro pleasures.

 

Glad the vomitting has stopped now Andy, no wonder you are feeling washed out after that experience.
Have an easy weekend if you can and give yourself some time to recover. Maybe even a game of pinball or watch the footy if you feel up to it.

Take care everyone, springtime is coming!

 

Sorry Andy, had missed your reply....Hoping that something can be done to fix you up asap. Certainly does not sound fun one way or another.

Good luck with the controller Al, been looking at the price of retro joysticks and it's just silly money. I'd love a competition pro mini again, but the prices are just plain stupid. Until I see one at a sensible price then I'll just keep using my small set of old joysticks. Considering how little I play on the Amiga, C64 and Atari, I'm not willing to spend big money for a joystick. (not that I have the money to waste).

 

Latest acquisitions are Crazy Taxi for the GameCube and Final Doom for the PS1 nothing Atari related this week. I did buy a disk copy of The Eidolon with its manual it has Atari one side and C64 on the other. I just need Koronis Rift to complete my Fractal collection. I have Ballblazer on the 7800 and that’s a better version than the Atari/C64 so I’m not looking for that on disk. Next quest is for Infocom adventures.

 

Last night was not fun, had to sleep in the bedroom (as known I suffer night terrors and swing my fists in my sleep, hence if you look at my hands I get covered in cuts from thumping things). They all sat in the front room with the kids screaming and crashing about going towards midnight. Utter animals..

Thankfully, my night terrors did not kick in for once (lucky Cindy).

So far today they are pretty quiet, I warned them that my main surround system will be playing over the weekend and, it's going to be LOUD..

I have done it a couple of times in my house way back in 94 when the next door neighbour liked his drunken parties and screaming down a mic with music blaring. So at 3am as he went to bed I put the system on and put Die Hard on when the plane comes in to land on the titles. That shook the whole house, it did work but the side effect was that the bloke wanted to know what my sound system was because it impressed him..

Can't win them all...

 

I doubt my HIFI (such an old school term) could take Rush at any volume. I did have a listen of those track Matt posted, but hell, I'm losing my hair as it is, having it sand blasted off my scalp by heavy metal is just a step too far..

 

Sounds like a monster system Matt, good on you for it being a self-made item, I shall however, not be moving next to your property any time soon

 

You would have no worries living next to me with my sound system. I would only use it at high levels if I were celebrating with family and friends for some holiday or party that is outdoors and neighbors would be asked for permission beforehand, not just warned. Because I was raised to obey the golden rule, and be courteous, considerate and respectful to everyone, but especially those you live next to or near and aside from a few years of youthful rebellion I have kept those virtues.

However, the last time I had either such event cranking up the stereo I owned to it's non-distorted limit's was in the 90's while in college. I've lived where I am now for 8 years and not once would my stereo have been loud enough to hear outside my house if you were farther than 15 feet away.

A powerful, high quality system delivers better sound quality even when at conversational* volume levels. I like to blast it when know one is around, and by blast it, that depends if I'm in the room with it, or have my windows open and I'm outside. The first would be about 25% volume and the latter about 50-75%. But such opportunity I might get a couple times a year, but even then the closest neighbor is a 1/4 mile away and would still not here it from there.

I have the power to shatter my own windows, but keep it restrained in volume, yet it retains a higher quality sound, richer, deeper, clearer than you would get on any stereo system of lesser power, and a world of difference, even at low volumes, in it's richness, deepness and clearness with it's large loud speakers + subwoofer, than any modern surround sound or sound-bar system with their cute little cubes in the corners and a subwoofer.

I've experience all these types of sound systems at their best, and the best is still the large quad-surround systems of the 70's and 80's. Since then the new stuff is all downgrades, more convenient and less expensive, but you trade away great sound quality in comparison. But I know not everyone has the space, money, ability or time to go with old school quality and there are plenty of modern surround systems that sound great, just not as great as the days with the large speakers. Size definitely makes a difference, in a mans genitalia, and a mans speakers.

And sound-bars not only deliver poor sound in comparison, but a total lack of stereo separation and ability for proper sound staging of speakers to recreate the original sound scape intended. Yeah, you can get a bit of "3D" sound out of them from modern sound scaping technology, throwing the sound like a ventriloquist throws his voice, but it pales in comparison to the sound coming from all sides for real.

Even if the surround kit or sound-bar can output the same power wattage, compared to a full component system with full-size loud speakers (12" woofers or larger), one can compare the sound quality difference of them to comparing the sound quality of a pocket transistor radio from the 60's to the biggest stereo boombox from late in the 80's/90's boombox era in as much as the difference in sound quality emitted at conversational volume levels.

*I assume everyone knows what I mean with "conversation volume level," but just in case, it means the music volume is at a level that people can still hold a conversation at normal voice volumes and clearly by heard by one another.

 

Yes, it's horrendous designed mess controlled by not so secret societies. The whole royal pyramid of power, ruled by free masons, a group that as you say follows the devil, but puts up a puppet monarch who claims to be a member of the church. I wish more people would do a little research in to this huge lie. It's not a conspiracy theory, it's a simple fact, in parliament we have the Black Rod, just look at the attire, the symbols etc and then go to a Masonic shop like the one opposite their temple in Holborn in London, you will see all the same 'regalia'.

I'm not a Mason, I was approached by 2 people to join the ranks, one a bank manager and the other an engineer, fitting titles for them. I declined, as I don't adhere myself to anything that is directly religion based.

As for the ticking the diversity boxes, I was on the other side of that, when I ran my shop at Maplin I was pressured not to employ black staff because the owners didn't trust them. I on the other hand wanted the right folk for the job, so when I did interviews I judged on ability and personality. The ability to sell relies on those qualities. I ended up with a mixed set of staff who were excellent at their job. I detest this notion of putting people in positions based on colour, it HAS to be based on ability. We all have the chance to improve ourselves in most places, sure, we have area's that stagnate into criminality and poor education, but some part of that had to be laid at the feet of the people in these places. In a world where a Black man and woman can become the most powerful people in the world, that show's it's all possible. Sure, there's some politics involved in this, but if you had said to me in the 70's that there would be a black POTUS, I'd have laughed at you, racism was the norm then.

We can't have an infrastructure based on people put in jobs to tick boxes, if they are not up to the job then things collapse, it's totally against the rules of business.

 

Guess your woofers didn't like your woofers Matt...

 

There was barely any remanence left beyond the speaker chassis I photo'd above, so they ate it all. They also destroyed one of the covers as I mentioned, but didn't eat it. But also they ruined the trim of the speaker cabinet, so I'm going ahead and repainting and trimming the speaker cabinets before I install the new speakers. I thought about metal guards for the speakers, but I think these pups are old enough, with summer upon us, to stay outdoors all the time now, with dog houses of course. Only let in for severe weather.

By the way, those are 12" woofers and 3.5" mid-range speakers (they are more powerful than they look) and the tweeters (not shown) I think are 3". The 12" woofers are wired for both bass and lower mid-range frequencies, and now I have an 8" powered subwoofer that pumps out only low bass frequencies. I'll post pictures once I have them repaired, along with my surround speakers.

 

I love my music (especially country) but don't have the audio equipment knowledge of you guys. Been after a record player for a while though for a couple of albums only available on vinyl and picked this up today from an old friend who was selling it on Gumtree.
While it's nowhere close to the gear you all have, it sounds good enough for me and I get to watch the VU needle's go up and down lol. Also, it fits in quite well with my 70's type living room corner. Including 40 odd lp's it was £60 all in. Not bad considering it's less than a year old and still retails for £300 on Amazon!

 

Simple and sleek. And if your turntable isn't on a par with mine, it would only be down to the quality of the needle. The needle is the key ingredient for great sound from a turn table, and a $300 turn table can be made essentially as good as a $1000 turntable with a needle in the $200-300 range. But even a $100 needle would most likely be an improvement to a stock quality needle for a $300 range kit, which most likely has a needle in the $25-50 range as stock.

 

UK pool tables are usually the smaller kind and only have red and yellow balls plus a black ball, not the numbered balls of American pool.

I've listened to some records on the turntable and they sound decent but I get annoyed having to get up and either turn the record over or put on the second one in a longer album. Think I'm going to be sticking with CD's and probably just by the mp3 downloads of the couple of albums I want that aren't available on disc. Probably take the turntable to my local cash generator tomorrow and see what they offer me for it.

 

Music and books Andy. Two great distractions from the modern world right enough
Just finished a cracking read about a Glasgow club that went bust in the late 60's through alleged mismanagement. They played just a couple of miles from me and if you visit the park now some of the old terracing has been left standing as a reminder, very eerie but nice to imagine crowds of 40'000 gathered to cheer on and support Third Lanark as they were called.

 

Now then, Third Lanark rings a bell from maybe old footie programmes collected or old episodes of Grandstand / Midweek Sports Special / Sportnight that Tony Gubba, Frank Bough and Archie Macpherson used to introduce. I'll have to delve some more into that particular rabbit hole, Al!

 

Matt, yeah, I mean the smaller pool tables, as Al says, different balls and rules. Also the USA Pool tables use bigger ie Snooker / Billiards sized balls iirc. I did player snooker as well but I was more a pool player, and if I may pat myself on my back, a darned talented one back then. Once played a pool mega star, Maltese Joe Barbera, beat him. left him with 6 of his balls on the table. He was PISSED, refused to shake my hand. So a pool table would be nice..

Yeah, I do the lottery, won 13.50 UK and a free lucky dip on our various games last week. Normally I only play Lotto, like your Powerball but MUCH less money. Thank you for the kind words, I also hope we win (and of course all that play these games on here)

As I've said before, not much of a reader, normally only manuals if I can't work it out myself, never was a bookworm tbh, comics were my tickle. Had a treat purchase, the blu ray of Ghost in the Shell with Scarlet Johansson, a whole 3 quid brand new. It's not a brilliant film, but a nice bit of popcorn..

Lovely day outside, shame I'm trapped in here, along with ADHD kid upstairs who was fed sweets galore to keep him quiet, now everyone is getting his sugar rush at 100db, he's shrieking at the mum because he knows she hates the high noise (she aint the only one) and stomping around while poking the baby. You have heard of AI, artificial intelligence, well that family is AUL, Actual Un Intelligence..Had hoped they would clear orf for the weekend..No such luck, so far...

LOL, Frank Bough or Mr S&M as he was known...Was fond of being gimped up and thrashed by dominatrix types..(really)