There's a lot of good information in there.

One thing I've really never been satisfied with is the way articles describe how an engine will run under certain conditions in regards to needle settings being too rich or more so, too lean.

Here is what I practice:

Nearly everyone can tune an engine for high speed. It's very obvious what is lean and what is rich, so I'll skip it. It is at the low speed needle adjustment that many people don't grasp very well and can cause many headaches that are completely uneccessary.

For the low speed needle:
You always see the pinch test and idle test in every article written about tuning. I find those tests ridiculous. They do not address real operating conditions and are vague at best. So what I do is get the engine up to temp and go wide open until the engine winds out and then slam on the brakes. When you do this, pay close attention to the rpm of the engine. A rich low end setting will keep the engine idling high for a short time before settling down into its normal rythm. A lean setting will cause the engine to sag, then go back up to the normal rythm. Adjust to the point at which the engine will go from full speed right down to the normal idle speed with no variation at idle.

With this technique, my engines will idle for at least 10 seconds with near zero loading up. Longer idles of up to a minute will leave a thick trail of smoke upon a hard throttle jab. Temperature stays approximately the same.

And best of all... It takes only about three full speed passes (at most) and it works every time.