Rooster_Ties

I'll probably be on the road, driving back from St. Louis, on Saturday. But I'll certainly be on the board, in spirit!!!

I've been searching around on Mosaic's website, and can't find any "fine print" about shipping, other than this: I don't see anything about possible additional "shipping" charges on the receiving end. Man, I would not pay one bit of those weird "additional shipping charges" until you look into this a whole lot further. Something smells fishy to me.

Come on, people. If you don't have the highest bid, then somebody else is gonna win. What's so hard to understand about that?? If you absolutely can't stand to loose in a particular auction, then bid as much as the GNP. Otherwise, bid as much as you really would want to pay for an item, and either that's the highest bid, or it isn't. Nothing to be "baffled" about, no matter who bids when. Back to the discussion of "sniping"... The whole point of sniping is that you don't show your cards (or even anounce your interest in an auction), until the very last second - or last 10 seconds. If an auction doesn't have any bidders at all, then someone who stumbles on the auction in the last hour or two may bid $5 or $10 for something, thinking that they are picking up a bargain. If your highest bid for this item is $25, then by waiting until the very end, you don't give anyone else a chance to chip away at your bid, until they finally outbid you. This happened to me once, before I started using a third-party sniping tool. About two years ago, I had already discovered that bidding at the very end was the way to go -- because I had been outbid before at the very end, several times. (And I always ended up loosing at a price-point that was below my absolute maximum bid, if I had been given the chance to bid again (one more time), after the final bids came in at the last second.) True Story: (and there's a lesson to be learned here): So, a couple of years ago, there's this eBay auction for this really obscure OOP classical CD that I've been looking for, for 3 or 4 years. (The disc had three obscure 20th-century trumpet concertos.) I've never actually seen the disc before (or seen it on-line anywhere either), and I REALLY wanted it, come hell or high water. But the auction closed in the middle of when I literally had to be on-stage for a performance of the Brahm Requiem (I sing in the Kansas City Symphony Chorus). So, 2 hours before the auction closes, there's still no bids on the CD, and the minimum bid required is only $5. Now I really want to make sure I win this thing, so I bid $50 for it, thinking that I'll probably get it for $5 (if nobody else bids on it), or maybe $10 or $12 at most (if anybody else even notices it). So I get home from the gig with the symphony, and -- yes -- I had won the auction. But some guy was also REALLY interested in the disc, and in the last 10 minutes of the auction, he had bid 15 or 20 times for it, chipping away at my maximum bid, dollar by dollar, until he finally gave up at $46 or $47 dollars. OUCH!!!! This was a couple years ago, before I discovered the sniping tools (I use www.auctionstealer.com). But if I had been able to place my bid for this CD at the very last second (last 10 seconds), this guy would have only probably bid $8 or $10 (one of his opening bids, when nobody else had bid on it, including me), and I would have won the CD for something much closer to $10 or $12, or certainly less than $20. But, because I bid 2 hours earlier, then I gave the guy the chance to keep bidding against me, bid by bid, dollar by dollar. And if I hadn't bid $50 (which I never dreamed it would ever even come close to), I would have lost. Also, I could have just as easily bid $40, or $35. I only picked $50 - just cuz that seemed like a reasonable "crazy" amount (but nothing as crazy as $10,000). This is why I always try to bid at the very, very end. I'm sure I lost $25 or even $35 or $40 that night, on this one auction, simply because I placed my bid early.

Only half of this disc is ultra-cheesy. The other half is pretty decent. Give it a chance sometime.

Nothing to be baffled about. Hardbopjazz, I'll bet you a dollar that the guy who won used a third-party sniping tool/site, and he simply had a higher maximum bid than you did. Repeat after me... Bid once, bid the very most you're willing to pay for the item, and bid within the last 10 seconds of the auction. This doesn't mean you'll win every auction, but you will win more auctions that you might otherwise, and you'll pay less over time too. There's no way to "defend" against someone bidding more than you at the last second, even if you also bid at the last second. It just means that someone had a higher max-bid than you did, and there's always that danger. The only way to perfectly defend against not loosing auctions is to bid super-mega-high max-bid prices, like $10,000, so that you are the high-bidder, no matter what anyone else bids (even at the last second).

FYI, I'm not concerned too much taping things and keeping them for the long term. 99% of what I tape is simply for short-term "time-shifting" purposes.

Zero. An unopened Mosaic lasts about 2 minutes in my house.

Our 10-year old VCR is on it's last legs, and I think I'm gonna need to replace it this time. (A good cleaning of the heads won't do it this time.) So, I'm looking at fairly inexpensive VCR's (in the "less-than-$100"-range --- and more in the "near-$50"-range). But I also realize that I'm pretty much only interested in having a VCR in order to time-shift my viewing of programs. So, I guess TiVo is probably something I ought to consider too. I don't know the first thing about TiVo, other than I'm sure it costs more than $50 or even $100. Anyway, any thoughts on the subject?? We're planning to get an inexpensive DVD player sometime in the next few months, but I'd like to stay away from a combo "VCR-DVD" unit, out of concern that eventually either the "VCR" part, or the "DVD" part will fail, and that repair costs will be nearly as expensive as just going out and buying a new one. (I'm also opposed to combo "TV-VCR" units, on the same theory -- that it's more likely that half of the thing will fail at some point, and then you've a thing designed to do two separate functions, but only one of the functions works.) More food for thought. Does anybody here have TiVo?? Or am I just as well off buying as cheap a "major-brand-name" VCR as I can find?? Thanks!!! PS: We have fairly old TV's, and we're certainly not interested in "state of the art" TV viewing. We don't rent movies all that much, and picture and sound quality aren't a big concern of ours. I just want something that's decent, and will work for at least 5 years, without any problems. Any danger of them phasing out blank videotapes?? (VHS)

Don't forget this fine quote... "Sound Can Wash Clothes" -- Sun Ra B)

Yeah, that's good advice, MwtGA. Back when I was in college, and doing laundry for the first time -- I'd stuff all the clothes in the washer, and dump the power in, on top of the clothes - and then I'd wonder why there would sometimes be undisolved grains of detergent in the folds of some of my jeans when I was done. Always disolve the power in hot water in an empty machine, then switch to whatever temp you really want to use, and then load the clothes. Or just use liquid. I really dislike the hassle of using powered detergent, and haven't for several years.

This is totally the way to go. Bid once. Bid your own personal maximum bid. And bid at the last possible second. Of course, this gets to be a pain, especially if you happen to have a life - and can't sit by your computer at any given instant, poised and waiting to bid. That's why there's 3rd-party sniping tools and sites. The one I use is "www.auctionstealer.com". They give you 5 free snipes per month, and I've used them for well over a year, and probably closer to 2 years. I don't bid on eBay all that often, so I usually fnd that I rarely need more than 5 snipes in any given month. But for those bidding on more stuff, they have subscription rates that more than pay for themselves (I suspect), when you weigh them against the money you save by sniping. You see, by bidding at the very, very end -- you will often win auctions at lower prices than you might otherwise win. Here's their FAQ... The best thing about auctionstealer is that your PC doesn't have to be on or connected to the internet. Their servers do the sniping for you. You do have to give them your eBay password (so they can bid for you within the last 10 seconds), but I did this probably 18 to 24 months ago, and have never had a problem.

My wife and I haven't seen a single one of the "Lord of the Rings" movies.

Thanks Jim. Yup, looking at the pics on that site, what I saw on the Oscars was a hurdy-gurdy. Looked a bit like this: Click Here We now return you to your regularly scheduled Oscars discussion...

OK, this is the official "Oscars" thread, so discuss anything you like about the awards show right here... BUT, I have a "musical-instrument"-related question for anyone who saw the Oscars tonight. What the heck was that instrument that Sting played?? It looked like an overgrown lute, but he played it by continuously turning a crank on the end of the instrument, which somehow caused the sound. I never did see his other hand long enough (or close enough) to get any sense as to if the instrument had strings, or some other kind of mechanism to designate the pitches. My guess (and this is just a guess), is that the crank turned a wheel that rubbed up against the strings of the instrument, much like a bow on a violin rubs up against strings. If that were the case, then the instrument would produce “drone” tones that play continuously, and that change pitch (somehow) by using the non-crank hand. What the heck was that thing, and how did it work?? Is my guess as to how it functions even close?? (And, failing an answer to that question, please feel free to discuss the Oscars here too.)

Congrats!!! B) B)

Powder or liquid?? I haven't used the powder version of Tide in years, but even just a faint whiff of it (no, I'm not snorting it -- this is a serious attempt to answer a serious question), but even just a faint whiff of the smell of Tide powder - is guaranteed to irritate my sinuses like almost nothing else I've ever encountered. Likewise, the smell of fresh laundry washed using Tide power, also bothers me. Now the liquid version of Tide doesn't bother me a bit -- and, in fact, that's what we use. Our washing machine is one of those low-water-consumption models, so we have to use Tide "HE", which is a "low-suds" detergent. But back in our old apartment, we used to use the regular (non-HE) liquid Tide, and it never bothered me a bit. If you're using the powder version, try the liquid - see if that helps. (In fact, I was home with my Dad, showing him how to do laundry last month, and my folks had Tide powder - and I specifically remember noticing a burning sensation in my sinuses as I scooped some out, and poured it into the washing machine.)

Still haven't pulled the trigger yet, maybe will later tonight (Sunday), or sometime tomorrow (Monday). I've got a dozen titles in mine, but I've gotta thin that down to 3 or 4 - somehow.

Not a bad price, and nobody's bid on it yet (as of 4:20pm, CST). Not my auction, and all the usual disclaimers apply... eBay: LINK

Some prime Don Cherry.

link: Janet Carpenter . . . . .

I've read about this on-line a couple places, but haven't actually heard it yet either. Who's got one??? I'd be currious.

(Another vote for Jeremy Pelt, though I realize that's not what this thread's supposed to be about. )

I couldn't remember, so I looked back through the receipts (which I have left in the boxes, along with the catalog they sent with each order, and any other paperwork and brochures they included). Don Cherry - back in 1994.

955.4!!!!!!!!! B) Can anybody break 1000????