Leg of Lamb

Once upon a time there was a young married couple who were deeply in love ...

One day the young man arrived home to a glorious aroma as he entered their home. "What is that?" he asked his wife.

"Shush now. Don't worry about it now." She replied. "Just go and get comfortable and you will find out soon enough."

And so they enjoyed a delicious meal of roast leg of lamb.

As he was savouring the meal the young man asked his wife "Where did you learn to cook lamb like that?"

"It's a family recipe. It has gone from one generation to the next."

"Wow," he said "it tastes absolutely fantastic. By the way, why did you cut the bone and fold it back like that?"

"Oh, that's just how my mom used to do it. I don't know why. I was a little girl and learnt from my mom as I grew up." she said.

Some time later they were visiting with the young woman's parents. "Mom, you know the leg of lamb we do. Why do you cut the bone and fold it back?"

"That's just the way I learnt it from your Nana." Her mother replied. "That's the way I've always done it."

Some time after that the young couple happened to visit the young lady's grandmother and she asked her 'Nana' the same question.

"My dear," she chuckled "do you remember the old coal stove at the farm. Well its oven was just so-o-o small."

So is there a moral to this tale?

I do believe there is and that is to watch out for the 'legs of lamb' in our lives.

Don't be afraid to question why something is done in a certain way. "That's the way it has always been done." is never a good enough reason by itself. That is the kind of thinking that hinders mankind from progressing.

If there is a good reason why something is done in a particular way and you can't think of a better way and a better reason then, by all means, continue doing it that way.

If you can think of a better way and a good reason for doing something a different way then do it. That is the kind of thinking that helps mankind to progress.

Amp Progress

This pic shows the pots and chicken head knobs have been placed in the chassis.



Chicken head knobs are way cool!

And this pic shows roughly half the components tacked onto the turret board.

I will tack them on and then get our bass player who has an electronics background to double check me before I finish the soldering.



I need him to double check me because it is so long since I worked with electronics that I started out getting my resistor multipliers wrong and then got paranoid and double or triple checked myself. But just like proofreading you can only check yourself so many times before your subconscious starts ignoring stuff it has seen before.

So far I am enjoying this project immensely. I love being absorbed in this kind of thing.

Jake and His Thugs

Another incident with Jacob Zuma's VIP Protection Unit ...

This time manhandling a journalist who wanted to take a picture of Zuma's entourage and then forcing the journalist to erase his pictures from his camera.

Why is this significant?

Because this behaviour is symptomatic of a number of much more significant issues.

Firstly, it demonstrates a very low tolerance for behaviour and activity that should be normal in a normal society. Consider the over-reaction to the Gesture by the UCT student. He could not have known for sure that Zuma was in one of the vehicles or even that it was a presidential entourage. So how could the student have been insulting a specific person, i.e. the president, when he could not have known for sure that the president was in the entourage?

Next, together with the first point there appears to be a growing paranoia amongst the ANC upper echelons that makes them increasingly intolerant of anything that may even imply criticism.

Things get sicker still ... I get a distinct impression that there is a distinct aspect of keeping up with the Jones in who has the biggest, meanest bodyguards. A kind of p****** contest between comrades.

Then Jacob Zuma and others take no public moral stance on the behaviour of these thugs, which implicitly condones their behaviour. And so they continue to behave abominably and even escalate their intolerant and arrogant behaviour.

Spare a thought, though, for these amped thugs ... the days of boredom ... no terrorist attempts to assassinate our good buddy Jake, not even rotten tomatoes get thrown at him ... So what's a thug to do to pass the time ...

Finally Happening ...

After quite a long time and quite a few detours I finally got the components for my guitar amp this weekend.



Last night I checked that everything arrived and started putting it together. I am forcing myself to not rush even though I am really excited that it is finally happening. I want to do it right and savour the experience.

And here for all the skeptics is proof of progress ...

They Did It ...

The National Party did it, Mad Bob and his cronies did it and continue doing it ... so don't be surprised when you recognise how Jake and JuJu and the rest of the ANC are now doing it to us ...

I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.

~ James Madison ~

Chopin Turns 200

In honour of Chopin's 200th birthday here is a quote from him ...

Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.