Memorial Day marks start of Bob Cleverly All-Star Week
Organizers and coaches kicked off the Bob Cleverly All-Star Week on the Montana Tech campus Monday. Formerly the Treasure State All-Star Game, the week-long affair features big time players from small town schools. They are the best of the best, including players like Casey Crippen of Sheridan.
Read more on KXLF Butte

Thompson running for re-election as HC Recorder
Biography My husband Bob and I live on a family “Century Farm” between Woodbine and Logan. We will be married 30 years this year. I am currently in my 16th year serving as Harrison County Recorder. Bob works for the Iowa D.O.T. and we also farm and have a cow-calf operation. We have three sons. Cody and his wife Emily live in Lubbock, Texas. Cody is a PhD. Student of Zoology at Texas Tech …
Read more on Logan Herald-Observer & Woodbine Twiner

Opera 10.6 Alpha Gets Even Speedier, Enhances Interface [Downloads]
# downloads Windows/Mac/Linux: Opera’s 10.5 browser release caught tech testers off-guard with its faster-than-Chrome JavaScript engine and page loading . An early 10.6 release promises even more speed boosts, along with some tab and Windows-7-focused interface improvments. More »
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Making the Negev bloom with high tech
A new incubator hopes to profit and also bring jobs to the south.
Read more on Globes Online

Virginia Tech Power Plant

Image by daveelmore

Essex County Tech to hold blood drive Monday
WEST CALDWELL TWP. – Essex County’s Vocational-Technical West Caldwell Tech campus, 620 Passaic Ave., will hold a blood drive from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, May 24, on the campus.
Read more on The Progress

New Tech students participate in recycle fashion show
What will you do for Memorial Day? Tell my kids why we celebrate Memorial Day. Go to the local cemetery for a Memorial Day ceremony. Have a cook out for friends and family?
Read more on Coppell Gazette

Lab tests? It’s their fate
KUALA LUMPUR – A MALAYSIAN leader on Sunday drew criticism from animal rights groups for saying it was the fate of animals to be used in drug testing at a proposed multi-million-dollar laboratory in his state. The remarks came after activists last month slammed Indian drug company Vivo Bio Tech’s plan to build the US0 million (S7 million) lab in Malacca, a state in southern Muslim-majority …
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Madison Company’s Technology Estimates Travel Times
MADISON, Wis — Over this Memorial Day weekend, many drivers will likely face delays. But a Madison company is using technology to estimate travel times for motorists.
Read more on WISC-TV Madison

Unplugged: Connecting with the past and present without technology
What was I doing without the Internet? Reading “Huckleberry Finn” to my 9-year-old son, snuggling with my 7-year-old daughter and bathing my 3-year-old girl. History – United States – Dog – Technology – Recreation
Read more on Washington Post

Technology: The rivalry between Apple and Microsoft
Interactive graphic on IT rivals Apple and Microsoft, as Apple, maker of the iPod, iPhone and iPad, overtakes the software giant as the world’s biggest technology firm in terms of market value for the first time.
Read more on AFP via Yahoo!Xtra News

Just a quick heads up to anyone looking to try out Sirius XM. There’s a free seven-day trial you can sign up for that, among other things, Opie and Anthony trash Memorial Day weekend radio, and Ron and Fez debate which animal Fez could beat in a foot race. Oh, and knissors.

There’s more than 120 channels to choose from, including the Howard Stern channel (he’s still around?), and America Right and America Left. Because all political opinion in this country can be expressed in simple binary: yes or no, good or bad, go or stay.

That’s it!

The Best $600 Acoustic Guitar, Period.

Not too long ago I decided to purchase a new acoustic guitar. I’d grown tired of my 7-year-old Ovation Celebrity Deluxe – the shallow-bowl Lyrachord backing makes for a plastic-sounding attack. I gave myself a budget of $1500 and set out to find an all-wood guitar that would meet all of my criteria: a natural, woody sound; even tone between strings and throughout the higher registers; and a great playability. My main buy targets were Martin and Taylor guitars, both well-respected guitars.

Down in Florida for Memorial Day weekend, I decided to hit the local guitar center to sample some guitars, figuring I would get a taste of what I wanted and refine my search later back in my home state of Tennessee. I found the acoustic section and began to look around. Since a clearly deranged individual occupied the “expensive” room, yowling and banging away on a two thousand dollar guitar, I decided to sample the budget guitars first just to get warmed up. The first guitar I picked up was a Taylor 110 acoustic guitar, which I eventually took into the classical guitar room in hopes of escaping the sounds of the Lithium-deprived individual and some nu-metal kid playing the same riff over and over.

What struck me right away, even before moving out of the noise, was how easy it was to play the Taylor 110 Acoustic Guitar. I knew the strings were mediums (I had played custom lights on my Ovation), and I had been out of practice, but it was still easy to play all my songs, even the technically difficult ones. Jumps from 1st to 5th position were just as easy as on my Ovation, and the narrower neck kept my hand from getting fatigued when playing hand-stretching chords.

After playing the Taylor for a little while, I picked up a Martin of a similar price and went back to my sanctuary. I was surprised to notice that the build quality of the Martin seemed inferior to the Taylor – there was a fair amount of buzzing on the frets (although the intonation was fine), and the Martin just felt more clunky than the Taylor 110 acoustic guitar for some reason. The strings unfortunately were rather dull – Martin strings their guitars with their own strings; Taylor uses Elixir Nanowebs, which in combination with the Martin’s darker, woodier tone made it difficult for me to get even sound on the higher strings, particularly in higher positions on the fretboard. I tried a more expensive Martin ($1100) that had less of the same issues but enough that I felt a bit disappointed.

By this time the psycho’s girlfriend or sister (or maybe his parole officer) had convinced him to leave, and I was able to venture safely into the “expensive” room. Unfortunately there was only one guitar in there below my budget of $1500, another Martin. I played it for a bit, but it just didn’t have the same feel as the Taylor 110 acoustic guitar and suffered from dull string syndrome as well. I went back to the Taylor, having fallen for its simple beauty, nice sound, and excellent craftsmanship.

I was a little shocked that the Taylor sounded and played better than a guitar more than twice the price and pretty excited about shaving $900 off my budget. The store sale actually pushed the price down even further on an already on-sale guitar, so when I added an SKB hard case, the total came close to $600 including tax – a steal by any definition.

To be fair to the other acoustic guitars, the Taylor 110 Acoustic Guitar isn’t perfect – it’s got a Sitka spruce top with Sapele laminate sides and back, which combined with the Elixirs creates a tone that’s almost a little too bright. The finish and inlays are really plain, and for this price you don’t get a preamp. However I couldn’t argue with the sound – I had a friend play the guitar for me, and it was “that sound” – the sound I’d come shopping for.

For around $600, you simply can’t buy a better guitar than the Taylor 110 Acoustic Guitar.