Books I read in 2023

Posted on by Iain 'Cutty' Carlin

2023 was a big year for me for reading. I haven’t done that much for over a decade, so, I thought I would list off all the books that I read in 2023 (or at least the ones that I can remember):

  • I got right into John Scalzi after hearing him speak on the New Scientist podcast about Starter Villan:
    • Starter Villan
    • The Kaiju Preservation Society
    • The Collapsing Empire
    • The Consuming Fire
    • The Last Emperox
  • The Ulysses Contract – Michael Kemp
  • Outlive (The Science and Art of Longevity) – Dr Peter Attia
  • The Miracle Morning – Hal Elrond
  • Mindset – Carol Dweck
  • Aboriginal Myths, Legends and Fables – A.
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Happy New Year 2024

Posted on by Iain 'Cutty' Carlin

What boring old farts we have become when we are in bed asleep at 9:30pm on New Year’s Eve. Woke up briefly at 12:05am to the sound of fireworks then drifted back off to sleep. Welcome 2024, looking forward to seeing what this year brings. Happy New Year everyone.…

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Lawson – A life in words and music

Posted on by Iain 'Cutty' Carlin

Friday 2nd September 2022, Adelaide Festival Theatre. Adelaide Symphony Orchestra + John Schumann and the Vagabond Crew with Richard Roxburgh as Narrator.

Overall I enjoyed it. I’m a big John Schumann fan and I’ve seen this show (without the ASO) three times now. I reckon the Lawson album is some of his best work. That said, the second half of the show was much better than the first. I thought the band overwhelmed the orchestra in the first bit – I was really struggling to pick out the orchestral instruments apart from the percussion section.

Not sure whether they were given a heads up, but pretty sure they turned the band down post interval.…

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Instrument Making Course

Posted on by Iain 'Cutty' Carlin

I learned most about guitar making by doing the Instrument Making course at Tonsley TAFE. Unfortunately, TAFE have for some strange reason decided to discontinue that course (I thought it was very popular…go figure?!)

Anyway, Michael Snowden, who taught that course, has now set up his own business offering instruction on instrument making. Check out his website here: Adelaide Artisan Instrument Making. Guitar Making for everyone – Wood & Strings – Adelaide Artisan Instrument Making…

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Jigging, plating and sanding

Posted on by Iain 'Cutty' Carlin

So despite my lack of motivation, I did make some progress this week.

I thought I had finished making jigs, having completed acoustic number 4 entirely in my home workshop…apparently not.

Number 4 had a dovetail joint for the neck, for which I bought a template from Stew Mac and build my own device for using it. Nothing wrong with the jig or template, but I swear I’m not doing another dovetail joint, they are just too difficult!

So for this build, I’m doing straight mortise and tenon joint with bolt on neck.

But, I needed the template to cut the mortise and tenon.…

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Fridays are lutherie days!

Posted on by Iain 'Cutty' Carlin

Earlier this year I negotiated with my employer to work 4 days a week, allowing me one day, Fridays, to spend in the workshop making guitars. So far it’s working out OK. A lot of those Fridays haven’t fully been spent on lutherie, or I’ve had medical appointments or lunch catch-ups with friends. I could probably have been more diligent about reserving Fridays just for lutherie.

Never the less, I have managed to punch out two bodies and start on two necks in that time, acoustic dreadnoughts number 5 and 6. I’m using timber I picked up from David Linton of Australian Guitar Timbers back in September 2019 when I was on holidays on the Sunshine Coast.…

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The difference between lies and bullshit.

Posted on by Iain 'Cutty' Carlin

Philosopher Harry Frankfurt famously drew a distinction between lies and what he termed “bullshit”.

A lie is an untruth, but it is still tied to a fact. It is the corruption of the fact. Bullshit is speech with no basis in fact, in truth. Many of us think we live in an age of lies, when in fact we live in an age of bullshit.

Bullshit is like belief, its embrace affords no room for questioning.

Frankfurt’s notion of bullshit can help us better understand the nature of modern politics, advertising, news and even science (think climate change denial or anti-vaxxers).…

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If you’re going to be a dick, expect to be treated like one!

Posted on by Iain 'Cutty' Carlin

Don’t get me wrong, I know I’m a grumpy old bastard sometimes, and one of my character flaws is not admitting I’m wrong. But in the face of irrefutable proof that I’m wrong, I’ll most often accede the point.

However, one thing that gets my goat is when someone says something that is clearly wrong, is then proven wrong by stating the facts, then goes on to continue to rant about being treated disrespectfully rather than admit they were wrong in the first place!

If you’re going to act like a dick, expect to be treated with the same amount of respect as you gave!…

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