Are Galveston And New Orleans Toxic Waste Sites?

By Bruce of Stone Marmot
Galveston and New Orleans are two of a number of cities that have been fairly recently devastated by flood waters from hurricanes. We heard so much in the news about the number of homes that were damaged and destroyed by these events. But what about the businesses? [...]

Drug Enhanced Performance – Double Standard?

By Cindy of Stone Marmot
Our society appears to consider it a big no-no for someone to try to enhance their physical performance with drugs. We hear about Olympic athletes being tested for drugs and barred from competing if they test positive. Baseball pitcher Roger Clemens was front page news because someone accused him [...]

Fixing An Ampeg B25 Problem

By Sid of Stone Marmot
The Ampeg B25 is a great vacuum tube bass amplifier that was manufactured from the late 1960’s to the mid 1970’s. It also sounds quite good with guitar. It was conservatively rated at 55 Wrms, though many measure around 70 Wrms. It does have one subtle though potentially [...]

Too Much Money In IRAs And 401(k)s

By Sammy of Stone Marmot
In a previous rant I argued that the best place to put your money to get safe and high returns is to pay off your debts. But many people who do have a reasonably amount of money saved up will have a difficult time doing this. Why? [...]

High Yield Investment For Turbulent Times

By Sammy of Stone Marmot
Right now the economy is not looking too good. Stock values have dropped dramatically and interest rates are approaching 0 %. Where do you put your money to get safe and high returns?
Simple! Pay off your debts. If you are paying 12 % interest on a [...]

Today’s Economy – More Proof Socialism Doesn’t Work

By Sammy of Stone Marmot
Housing market collapsed. The stock market drops almost 40 % in one year. Major banks failing or about to fail. It seems like capitalism doesn’t work.
WRONG!! Most all of this was caused by seemingly well intentioned government intervention into the market place eventually screwing it up. [...]

Make The Ampeg V4 Midrange Control Like SVT

by Sid of Stone Marmot
The Ampeg V4 series amplifiers (V4, V4B, and VT22), as well as the V2 and VT40, have the same unique active midrange circuit as the Ampeg SVT. But the SVT has the selectable center frequencies set for about 220 Hz, 800 Hz, and 2500 Hz, whereas with all the other [...]

How To Make The Ampeg V4 Better For Bass Guitar

By Sid of Stone Marmot
Ampeg produced the V4 and the VT22 vacuum tube guitar amps during the 1970s, which were conservatively rated at 100 Wrms. The V4 and VT22 electronics are absolutely identical for a given model year. In fact, though the front may be marked “V4” or “VT22,” the back chassis of [...]

Landscaping For Hurricane Protection – Part 2

By Sammy of Stone Marmot
Apparently I’m not the only one who has noticed that the proper landscaping can help protect your home during hurricanes. I recently found a book entitled “Stormscaping – Landscaping to Minimize Wind Damage in Florida” by Pamela Crawford. It is Volume 3 of her “Florida Gardening Series” books. [...]