Michael

@michaelcarnell.com

1674 Followers 2477 Following

I run on caffeine and sarcasm. You have been warned Books, music, chess, photography, British cars Charleston, SC /|\ 🦇 🌷 🏳️‍🌈 📷

Random photo of sunburned head from wearing a trucker ball cap. NO affiliation. https://bestelkar.click/product_details/39992423.html
Basket full of figs
When I die I want my ashed pressed into a record. It's my vinyl request.
Image is the album cover to The Claypool Lennon Delirium's "The Great Parrot-Ox And The Golden Egg Of Empathy". It is green with gold lightning bold emanating out from the center where an egg with an eyeball peaking out is just cracking open. Around the edge is a chain made of paperclips trying to contain everything within. The title of the album and band are also in gold on the cover.
I'm Not Saying I'm Old, but I Remember Celebrating America's Bicentennial in 1976
Photo is of a duck by a pond with a large crown of feathers on his head looking much like the Pompadour of a 50s or 60s singer
The image is a simplified diagram of my home music server. It includes the Dell machine running Ubuntu and Navidrome to serve the music, the Verizon carrier, the backup drives and service, my home computer devices, and the laptop software I use to maintain everything including Debian, SoulSeek, Fre:AC, MusicBrainz Picard and Discogs. I have intentionally not detailed out the security infrastrcture. Also not pictured is my CalibreWeb installation to serve eBooks.
Self-titled first studio album released on May 7, 2012, through Roadrunner Records. Described by Steven Wilson as being “the final part in the odd trilogy of records completed by [Opeth’s] Heritage and Grace for Drowning”. Storm Corrosion is the musical collaboration between Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth) and Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree). The project's self-titled first studio album (released on May 7, 2012, through Roadrunner Records) has been described by Wilson as being "the final part in the odd trilogy of records completed by Heritage and Grace for Drowning". Mikael Åkerfeldt first became aware of Steven Wilson circa 1995-1996 after Åkerfeldt's best friend Jonas Renkse played him the Porcupine Tree album The Sky Moves Sideways. Åkerfeldt instantly fell in love with the band and began collecting their work. Years later, Wilson e-mailed Åkerfeldt after being given a copy of the Opeth album Still Life by a French journalist. The two ended up meeting for dinner in London where Åkerfeldt asked Wilson to produce the next Opeth album. It was also during this dinner that the two first talked about a possible collaboration. Having worked with each other in the past, they decided to start work, on an on and off basis, on a collaboration in March 2010. Mike Portnoy of the band Dream Theater was initially reported to be a drummer for the material, but Åkerfeldt later revealed that he was no longer part of the project, citing that "there's just no room for drums on what we've done so far". Wilson would later clarify that only "15-20%" of the album would have drums on it, and it would be performed by Porcupine Tree drummer Gavin Harrison. The album was completed in September 2011, but held back for an April 23, 2012 release so that Wilson could concentrate on releasing and promoting his second solo album, Grace for Drowning, and Åkerfeldt could concentrate on Opeth's tenth studio album Heritage, both albums being released in September 2011 themselves.
The image says Amazon Sucks
Stack of CDs in their cases sitting on a table.
This is an AI generated image, produced by Gemini of a cybernetic female reading to a more elder seated male. The room is a library with a fireplace in the background and a chess set in the foreground.
The sleek and powerful Class J locomotive, designed and built in Roanoke by the Norfolk & Western Railway, has been widely hailed as the finest steam locomotive in the world. The Norfolk and Western 611 was built in 1950 by N&W engineers at the company’s East End facility in Roanoke, Virginia. It was categorized under the “J” class and was one of only 14 ever built. Today, it is the only surviving member of that class. The locomotive’s bullet-nosed streamlined design is considered one of the most novel and striking in railroad history. It is the official Steam Locomotive of the State of Virginia, a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The N&W Class J 611 is owned and operated by Virginia Museum of Transportation as a traveling exhibit. When not in excursion service, the locomotive is displayed at a trackside location at the museum in Roanoke. Headlining this landmark event is the return of the legendary Norfolk & Western 611. Built in 1950, the 611 locomotive is the sole survivor of the “J-Class” fleet — widely considered the pinnacle of steam technology. With its iconic bullet-shaped nose and elegant Tuscan Red stripe, the 611 was designed to be both a workhorse and a beauty, capable of pulling passenger trains over the Blue Ridge Mountains at sustained high speeds. As a super-power locomotive, she is not just a machine, she is a living, breathing icon of American engineering. These special excursions will operate on Virginia’s historic mainline tracks. Each journey lasts approximately 1.5 hours, offering an up-close encounter with the sights, sounds, and sensations of steam railroading at its absolute peak. Feel the rhythmic cadence of the pistons, listen to the distinctive call of 611’s whistle, and witness billowing plumes of steam against Virginia’s summer skies. Truly, there is nothing like it.
A small beehive shaped vintage miniature toy steam engine. Above the beehive shaped boiler is a flywheel coming off to the right and the piston and cylinder comes off to the left. All of this is held in my hand with plenty of room left over. Total engine is probably about 4 inches tall.
Image of a giant digital eye watching over a stylized city is from an article on "Forum IAS". That article explores the concept and dangers of Surveillance Capitalism. The article explains surveillance capitalism, where companies collect and sell personal data to predict and influence behaviour. Tech giants like Google and Meta track users for profit. This weakens privacy, autonomy, and democracy. Weak regulations allow corporations and governments to benefit from mass surveillance. https://forumias.com/blog/surveillance-capitalism-threatens-privacy-and-democracy/
Image is very 60s hippy-ish with both a man and a woman dressed in 60s clothes as well as mushrooms, a VW bus, and more. All of this to advertise the big record show in Charleston, SC, February 28, 2026 - Firefly Distillery near Park Circle. 11am to 4pm.
Poster with the classic Uncle Sam image pointing at the viewer that says, "TCBVinyl Wants You at the Charleston Vinyl Show". Also has the show details for Saturday, February 28 at Firefly Distillery.
Image shows the cover of the Tormato album by Yes that is made to look like it has a tomato splattered on it, and the cover and signed insert of the Prizefighter by Mumford & Sons.
A beautiful blue Ferrari with a handicapped tag in handicapped parking outside a Goodwill.
A colllection of CDs and one LP found at Goodwill today. Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade is the LP. The CDs are from Adele, Robert Hutto, Melissa Etheridge, Edwin McCain, Ben E king & the Drifters, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Annie Lennox, Roxy Music, the Mamas and the Papas, Delta Rae, Billie Holiday, Dwight Yokam, Billy Pilgrim, Bach set, Hayden set, and another Bach set.
The emotional side of things It’s what non-car people don’t get. They see all cars as just a ton and a half, two tons of wires, glass, metal, and rubber, and that’s all they see. People like you or I know. We have an unshakable belief that cars are living entities. You can develop a relationship with a car and that’s what non-car people don’t get. When something has foibles and won’t handle properly, that gives it a particularly human quality because it makes mistakes, and that’s how you can build a relationship with a car that other people won’t get. -Jeremy Clarkson
Photo shows the green cover puppy, Progressive rock album close to the edge by English rock band yes. Decided is the LP on the turntable.
Image is of my cat, Mischief or Missy for short, sitting on a wood table looking at me. She is a small black cat with shiny fur and very pointy tufted ears.
The image is a screenshot of my instance of Navidrom music server with the albums pictured being Genesis's "Wind and Wuthering", Gentle Giant's "In a Glass House", Porcupine Tree's "Fear of a Blank Planet", Porcupine Tree's Anesthetize, Tool's "10,000 Days", and Qveen Herby's "The Alchemist".
Image is a concert poster. Les Claypool will hit the road in Summer 2026 with Claypool Gold, a full-evening tour that brings together three of his most beloved and sonically adventurous bands - Primus, The Claypool Lennon Delirium, and Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade - for one mind-melting musical experience.
The image is an editorial cartoon of masked ice agents standing around with guns drawn over a body of the Statue of Liberty. They are saying “she was wielding a torch”
Solstice image of forest celebrants, such as a a forest Greenman Wizard, women in cloaks, and dear, gathered around a fire with the words Blessed Winter Solstice below.
Image is of a cat with disheveled fur looking very tired and confused. Text along with the cat says, "At work Monday like"
Photo of writer Mark Twain with a kitten on his shoulder with a quote that reads, "WHEN A MAN LOVES CATS, I AM HIS FRIEND AND COMRADE WITHOUT FURTHER INTRODUCTION" -MARK TWAIN
The image shows three toy diecast cars being held in the hand. The first one is a rover SD one sedan from matchbox. The second is a Land Rover Safari edition from matchbox and the third one is a Morgan three wheeler from hot wheels.
The attached image is of a posting on threads by a person warning that there is a buildup of the ice anti-immigration team happening in North Charleston SC. I personally have no direct knowledge of this and I’m just passing along what was sent to me.
Image shows two stickers. The first says, “We are all just trinkets in God’s shitty, overpriced thrift store”. The second says, “I, myself, am caffeinated & medicated”.
This image shows the cover of The Strawbs album, “Grave New World”. The album cover art is a painting by Willam Blake of a nude man with arms outstretched standing in front of a rising sun with parting clouds. Beneath the album cover you can see the record spinning on the turntable. The LP bears the A&M music company logo.
Pictured is an album cover with a woman sitting with hands on a typewriter. The vintage record is from the 1960: The title of the album is “Hear How to Touch Type for Beginners or Refresher Course”
** Trans Day of Remembrance ** November 20, 2025 This service is 7pm at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 4 Archdale Street, Charleston, SC #UU #UUA #CHS #Pride
The MINI Cooper Rules of the Road. #1 is Always park next to a MINI. There is safety in numbers. Backing in is preferred. #2 Wave at other MINIs! And so on ..
Image of two flies flying around a pile of feces with one of them saying, "Well I'm feeling bullish!"
Image is a cartoon that shows a person instructing another on how to properly recycle paper versus plastic versus glass. In the background though smoke billows from an industrial complex with buildings labeled Amazon, Meta, Apple, Microsoft, and Google. The use of AI generates amazingly huge power consumption.
Image has the tet "How to lose a job in 10 seconds" and then below that is the Linux command "user@bash: ~ $ sodo rm -rf / "here intentionally misspelled. This would delete everything on the drive from the root of the drive "/" on down "-r" is recursive and the "f" means force"
Image is of the Twitter logo with the international symbol of a Red Cross through it in a circle. No Twitter. Ban Twitter. Fvck Elon Muscovite
Chart shows Computer Operating System Market Share as of October 13. 2023. Windows 71.88% (Windows 11 = 51.77%, Windows 10 45.02%) MacOS 15.7%, Linux 4.2%, Chrome 1.86%, Other 6.54%. It is acknowledge that Chrome OS is Linux-based but tracked separately.
Celebrate the 75th anniversary of the first commercial LP with this authoritative, highly illustrated, and multi-faceted look at the history and culture of vinyl record collecting and turntables. Vinyl records continue to be hot commodities among everyone from obsessive audiophiles to newbie collectors getting their toes wet. In the Groove: The Vinyl Record and Turntable Revolution is the book for both—and everyone in between. Published to mark the 75th year since the introduction of the commercial LP, In the Groove is written by a roster of well-known music journalists, vinyl junkies, and stereophiles teaming up to present a gorgeous tribute to the vinyl LP and the culture it has spawned: Richie Unterberger explores the history of the 33 1/3 LP, including its predecessor, the 78rpm record, the first commercial LPs, the pressing process, stereo vs. mono, and formats like the 7-inch/45rpm record. Gillian Gaar tackles those temples to the turntable: record stores. Inside, she examines the history of LP merchandising everywhere from department stores to headshops, Record Store Day, the artist in-store appearance, and swap meets and record shows. Martin Popoff pens a paean to the physical object itself, discussing the advent of the sleeve, the great LP covers, famous sleeve designers, liner notes and packaging, colored vinyl, and more. Matt Anniss looks at the collecting hobby and topics like obsessive collectors, what makes a great listening space, playing and caring for vinyl, collecting and vinyl in DJ and hip-hop cultures, and the mixtape phenomenon. Ken Micallef, a top hifi journalist, has the gearheads covered with explanations of turntables from portables to audiophile-quality units, the workings and parts of a turntable from motors and tonearms to plinths and cartridges, and the components of a system.
Photo is of a fishbowl margarita with salt on the rim and chips and salsa nearby.
Audio-Technica AT-LP60_USB turntable Pioneer PL-990 turntable Kenwood KR-A5050 AM-FM Stereo Receiver, 100 watts per channel, 1993, no remote Kenwood CD-404 5-disk changer I found this Kenwood receiver and CD changer at the local Goodwill for only $20. Not fancy, but they do the job. I got the Audio-Technica LP60 turntable in trade for some other gear. Oh, I include the corner of my computer because it actually feeds into the system too. Sometimes. I have to figure out exactly how I want to handle that connection Below all that are my current LPs.
Albums pictures from front to back are The Well-Tempered Clavichord, Rick Wakeman's Myths and Legends of Kind Arthur, Emperson Lake & Palmer (ELP) Live, Renaissance at Carnegie Hall, and Tony Banks (keyboardist for Genesis) The Fugitive.
Image is an ad for Monster Music's 20% off Vinyl Saturday. The 1st Saturday of every month. #CharlestonSC #VinylSaturday #VinylSky
Image depicts a two traffic signs. Under them are the words "The US and Canada are 2 very different countries." The first sign is in Canda and has the saying "Watch for Ice" in front of a slippery road covered in snow and ice. The second sign is in the USA and also says "WATCH FOR ICE" but the image is of an federal agent holding down someone on the groubd,
The image is of an autumn toned scene with leaves falling, a vintage car and house in the background, and a person in the foreground with hand in pocket. The image is cropped so that you can see anything about them, just the coat and the hand. Superimposed on the image is a short poem. The poem reads… “Take my hand in your coat pocket, find me there like a smooth stone. I am the hush between heartbeats, the leaf that lands without a sound. When the sky feels too far, when the noise presses close — whisper my name into your collar, and I’ll bloom warm against your palm.” This was generated with the help of AI.
Photo of a margarita, chips, and salsa.
This image is a comic where a young boys calls out the emperor who has no clothes. In this case the emperor looks like Trump. After the boy calls out the emperor having no clothes he is descended upon and put on the ground by masked government thugs, who look like ICE. They say “you can’t mock Trump!” “Let me kick him!” “The kid must watch fake news!” “This is for thinking you’re smarter than us!”
Picture is of a beautiful autumn goddess surrounded by pumpkins and cakes and wonderful swirls and ribbons of fall.
Picture shows a dark blue 1968 Vanden Plas Princess 1300 4-door sedan parked on a street. The front license plate readers “PRINCESS68”. On the large front grill is a badge from the British Car Club of Charleston, SC.
Photo is of a shining beautiful classic 1971 Volkswagen Karma Ghia convertible. The car is a deep red with black top and white wall tires.
That is pictures is the fiscal vinyl LP and record cover for The Straws release, "Just A Collection Of Antiques And Curios"
Cloth patches from Goodwood Estate in England. One for the Festival of Speed the other for the Revival Meeting.
A blue and white MInI Cooper S four door parked next to a white and black MINI Cooper Clubman S in a small parking lot.
Image is if pumpkins and gourds in a large box at Wal-Mart grocery department. There are a variety of sizes and shapes and colors including orange, green, white, and all kinds of combinations and variations.
Image is of the music CDs - Genesis’s “We Can’t Dance”, ELO “Greatest Hits”, and “Pictures at an Exhibition” by Emerson, Lake, and Palmer.
I don't want to touch screens anymore, I hate it. I want dials, knobs, levers. Maybe even some cranks. Big chunky buttons. What's wrong with us? Why did we do this to ourselves?
Text - “sorry I can’t. I’m watching a live stream.” Image - a beautiful mountain stream with a person holding a cup of coffee in the foreground.