David Kirby

@homophoni.bsky.social

The one who walked away from Omelas

Can anybody identify this tach sensor? It's from an Otari MTR-10/12 capstan motor (MR5A023A). It looks like an early mono tape head (late-70s) with magnets glued to the side. Bonus points if somebody can tell me the gap width. #otari #repair

Bild

Here’s a drawing that my art partner in crime and I did in 2020 to protest DeJoy sabotaging the USPS. We made these into postcards and sent them all over the US. I wonder how many senators/reps received them. Quite a few I’m sure. Still relevant, unfortunately. I think I have a stack left somewhere.

An image of a burrowing owl in an old school postal truck with a little flag in top that says “Save the USPS” drawn in ink and painted in acrylic. My art partner in crime, Brent Wear painted everything then I inked over it. That’s our style. This particular piece was done on paper; which is rare for us, but it was made specifically for print. Together we go by Fancy Mammal, but this piece is unsigned. I can’t remember how many we printed. 1000? 1500? A lot. It’s surprising how many people like to write lettres. These got distributed my several penpal and philately groups, and requested by a surprising amount of postal workers. My mailman seemed to enjoy it when there were a stack in the outgoing mailbox. I hope others were pleased when they saw them. It was 2020, and we all felt quite helpless then. I’d been selling online for over a decade by that time, and I’d never had a package go missing before that. I had 3 packages disappear in that summer alone. The post office is magical, and they want to destroy every good thing. Please resist. Who doesn’t want to receive a hand addressed letter in the mail? A postcard from a friend on vacation or a birthday card with a few dollars inside..

I posted this photo before, but deleted it because I felt like it was too personal. I really should stop deleting posts. So, let's try again: here is a piano that my partner Christine gave me. It's basically the most incredible gift I've ever received from the most incredible person I've ever known.

A Yamaha piano, a cat named Raisin, a copy of D=D, and framed photos of Zapata.

Taking apart a destroyed Fostex 260 4-track. I don't like the digital transport buttons on these models, but they make gnarly feedback which I love. And this board is kinda beautiful by itself.

A Fostex 260 circuit board.