lgr9-blog

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My Mind Map

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Belly rubs? I am always ready.

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Science and reason have, from the beginning of time, played a secondary and subordinate part in the life of nations; so it will be till the end of time. Nations are built up and moved by another force which sways and dominates them, the origin of which is unknown and inexplicable: that force is the force of an insatiable desire to go on to the end, though at the same time it denies that end. It is the force of the persistent assertion of one's own existence, and a denial of death. It's the spirit of life, as the Scriptures call it, 'the river of living water,' the drying up of which is threatened in the Apocalypse. It's the æsthetic principle, as the philosophers call it, the ethical principle with which they identify it, 'the seeking for God,' as I call it more simply. The object of every national movement, in every people and at every period of its existence is only the seeking for its god, who must be its own god, and the faith in Him as the only true one. God is the synthetic personality of the whole people, taken from its beginning to its end. It has never happened that all, or even many, peoples have had one common god, but each has always had its own. It's a sign of the decay of nations when they begin to have gods in common. When gods begin to be common to several nations the gods are dying and the faith in them, together with the nations themselves. The stronger a people the more individual their God. There never has been a nation without a religion, that is, without an idea of good and evil. Every people has its own conception of good and evil, and its own good and evil. When the same conceptions of good and evil become prevalent in several nations, then these nations are dying, and then the very distinction between good and evil is beginning to disappear. Reason has never had the power to define good and evil, or even to distinguish between good and evil, even approximately; on the contrary, it has always mixed them up in a disgraceful and pitiful way; science has even given the solution by the fist. This is particularly characteristic of the half-truths of science, the most terrible scourge of humanity, unknown till this century, and worse than plague, famine, or war. A half-truth is a despot... such as has never been in the world before. A despot that has its priests and its slaves, a despot to whom all do homage with love and superstition hitherto inconceivable, before which science itself trembles and cringes in a shameful way.

Fyodor Dostoyevski, Demons

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Let me add, however, that in every idea of genius or in every new human idea, or, more simply still, in every serious human idea born in anyone's brain, there is something that cannot possibly be conveyed to others, though you wrote volumes about it and spent thirty-five years in explaining your idea; something will always be left that will obstinately refuse to emerge from your head and that will remain with you for ever and you will die without having conveyed to anyone what is perhaps the most vital point of your idea.

Fyodor Dostoyevski, The Idiot

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Bandit, you can call him an asshole because he is over protective for his beloved humans so much that he makes a rod for his own back and could do anything to protect his ward. Actually that is not a bad thing if you live in the wild, but if you live in a city; especially a crowded one, that is a big no.

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Aria Pro II SBR-150

There are Arias and there are Arias.

An SBR from the late 70s, especially if it has "The Aria Pro II" on the headstock is a great bass and will be still be holding its value. Unfortunately there's also a lot of very ordinary and average instruments with the Aria name on them. With regards to when did Aria fall from grace, I think it’s down to the expanse of the range available and where that range is positioned. The SBR range was quality. I think any brand that has a range that spans entry level all the way through to top end has a risk of losing its ‘clout’.  I’ve recently tried several top end Ibanez basses and they’re great, but they don’t hold their value.  I think this is down to the fact that sometimes people can’t or won’t distinguish between the budget and the higher end models. Ultimately it’s still down to how good the products are. Were entry level Aria basses in the eighties far superior in terms of build quality and materials used to their more recent cousins?  Probably.  But weren’t everyone else’s too?  All I know is that they made some great basses and there are no doubt some great basses within the range today.

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Warwick Corvette 2005

Warwick occupies an unusual stratum in the bass market. The scope of its business is exponentially bigger and more diverse than any other high-end bass manufacturer, for one. Not only does Warwick manufacture insanely expensive instruments (including Framus guitars) in its German factory, it also has a broad line of inexpensive Chinese-made import basses and accessories, plus a surprisingly diverse range of amps and cabinets, and it also handles distribution in Europe for some of America’s biggest music-gear brands. Warwick also hosts a top-shelf bass camp each autumn and involves itself in charitable and ecological campaigns. The company exists in a sphere occupied by mass-production juggernauts such as Fender and Gibson, but tries to maintain its carefully cultivated reputation for expensive, custom-designed instruments. It’s a difficult line to straddle, but having seen Warwick’s German production facility, I’ve learned first-hand how it works. By integrating the latest manufacturing technology, like CNC machines and a one-of-a-kind neck shaping and fret-laying machine (with a healthy dose of hand finishing), Warwick basses seek to combine the consistency of high-tech production with the old-world craftsmanship that their high price connotes.

Our review instruments here reflect two sides of the Warwick coin. The “$$” (double-buck, i.e., double humbucker) Corvette is a sleek and modern solidbody with burly active electronics, while the Star Bass is a semi-hollowbody with huge Hagstrom-like single-coils and passive electronics. Each was built in Germany, although like most Warwick models, close approximations of each are available via Warwick’s Chinese Rock Bass line.