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White House defends Trump comment to let Iran 'take out'...Gavin Newsom called the remarks "deranged", but the White House said Trump was warning of the risk of a nuclear Iran.

In September of 2009, I drove to a local brick & mortar store and paid them $30 for a DVD of Snow Leopard. It felt like a genuine upgrade from 10.5. Some time I after that I doubled the RAM in my laptop (remember when we could do that?) from 2GB to 4. I also replaced the spinning rust HDD with an SSD. Good times.

A Motown machine that writes music (and I'm not talking about Stevie Wonder or Holland–Dozier–Holland)?

A guy on reddit built a "1968 system." A 275 driving Cornwalls had got him like this:

First post here, just want to share pictures of Carbon I built. My goal is as small as it can be. Use c3m0900170m instead of c2m1000170d (to-3pf version of c3m0900170d), lm4040-10 instead of lt1021-10, ksc5042m instead of ksc5026m, 2sc2705 instead of pzta42 (easy to buy from local shop). Two output sockets from Stax for pro bias and normal bias. It runs at 400V, 20mA. Heatsink temperature is about 55°C after an hour (ambient temperature is around 24°C). No short, no magic smoke, everything seems fine. 🙂

SILO Season 3 I found it more interesting and with more action than the previous ones.

HAH. Controversial televangelist Jim Bakker dies at 86. Know Your MemeRIPBOZO | Know Your MemeRIP Bozo, often written as RIPBOZO, is a phrase used online to celebrate a person's death, deeming them a "bozo," commonly defined as someone who is insign

I just noticed the Soviet Union had the exact same plastic chairs as my junior school in the 1980s.

Bach: Cello Suites by Zuill Bailey (2010) https://open.qobuz.com/album/j4dmw5jtyv1uc Example: So, to answer the question: Do I need to listen to any other recordings other than the reference of Yo-Yo Ma's CBS masterworks recording? Well after some exploration (don't worry, you will not see 30 recordings of this reviewed), I would have to say yes. This Telarc recording (good first sign) by Zuill is a good example of a excellent recording that has a bit more liveliness, bounce, pace that I am drawn to. I will always go back to the Yo-Yo 1983 recording, but it is nice that there are these additional flavors that are really good. I would like it if it was more than 16/44 but I will survive.

Dozens quarantined after researcher at Russian plague laboratory dies of ‘unknown’ infection. Oopsie doop-ski. It's a (possibly/probably weaponized) variant of the bubonic plague.

Music on TIDALYorushika - second personListen to second person on TIDAL in exceptional sound quality, or on your choice of serviceI haven't listened to the full album yet , but No.8 Sunny is one of my favorites .

Ranking John Coltrane’s best albums

Sonoma Plaza Combo Swirl

Dessert!

Made a trip to Cardenas Market. Got a super burrito w/ pollo, beans, rice, guacamole, sour cream and tomatoes. And a grande Orchata. Ate half and froze half. Also picked up some beautiful fruit (the real thing, not a twink) and made a gorgeous fruit salad glazed with Greek yogurt. A big wedge of flan, which I'll have tomorrow and eggs, queso, veggies and Honduran chorizo, for a lovely South of the Border omelet tomorrow morning, along with some pappas frito. I really love that store! And usually learn a few new Spanish words to take home with my haul. Sorry, no pics.

Our own (Brit) spread at Roche winery.

Political cartoon from 2005.

R5 Mk II arrived yesterday, and by "arrived" I mean I drove to the post office and picked the damn thing up. The camera body is comparatively small and lightweight vs an equivalent DSLR. The 5D IV with its battery grip feels like a hulking behemoth in comparison. Even the 5D classic a chonker next to the R5. Funny how much bulk a pentaprism adds. The R5's UI is ...Canon. I had to figure out how to enable shutter activation when "no lens is attached" to use my manual focus glass. From the get go, the R5 pestered me relentlessly to set it up with my iPhone. That necessitated making a "MyCanon" account ...which I did on my laptop, with a real web browser and password manager. Then I had to sign into Canon on my iPhone and pair the two devices. The entire process made want to buy a view camera from 1920. I own zero R lenses and probably won't for quite some time. I am totally buying an R mount anamorphic. I started with the Canon EF to R adapter and it did what it said on the tin. The lens I had closest was the 135L, which says more about me than it. For reasons unclear to me, Canon ships their bodies set to fast burst mode. My 30D came that way 20 years ago. Some fussing later, and I had single shot and daylight white balance set (AWB is the devil.) Of course, the first actual keeper shot I took was with my beloved Super-Takumar 35mm F/3.5, a lens design that goes back to the 1950s. My copy is from the 70s and while it's far from perfect lens, I love how it renders things. This marks only the second time I've used the 35mm Takumar with a full frame sensor. Its ass is too fat for EOS bodies and on the 5D IV, it requires mirror lockup and live view to use. I find that workflow to be a miserable PITA, so I only ever used the 35 with my EF-S bodies (of which I have 3 ...for reasons.) While I loved the shots I got with the Tak on a cropped sensor, I knew I was losing out on much of the flavor of the lens by not having it on full frame. It's like own a Mac tube preamp and not using the phono input. The Fotasy M42 to R adapter is very well made. I had to enable the "shoot with no lens attached" setting or the shutter won't work with non-electronic lenses. Of course, the second lens I tested was the 35mm Takumar's 50mm, radioactive, F/1.4 sibling: There are a lot of variants of the F/1.4 Takumar, and mine is among the least desirable. The original 8 element version proved to be too expensive to produce and is a bit of a white whale amongst collectors. Besides being radioactive and yellowing, my version has a terrible coating and makes giant orange hexagon flares. Of all the lenses I own, it might be the one with the most "character." The 50's posterior isn't as bulbous as the 35's, so it's far less invasive inside the camera body and as a result I've shot with it on full frame for years. Before lunch today I had a go with the Nikon F to Canon R adapter (also made by Fotasy.) I have never been good friends with the Nikon lens mount. It's backwards. Also, I have owned precious little Nikon glass over the years. The only ones I shoot with are the mighty 300mm F/4, an excellent 50 F/1.8 I got from a certain 🐵 in 2010(!) and the decidedly mixed 18-200mm VR. Of those, the 300 was the obvious choice. I replicated a shot I took nearly 20 years ago of the house across the pond. Manual focusing a long lens with an EVF takes some getting used to. The R5 has a zoom peek function, but I as of yet haven't figured out how to use it. That's it for now. I'll out some modern electronic AF lenses tomorrow. What a silly idea.

Melvin Sparks' Sparks!

Came across this by Talitha MacKenzie. She has done some modern takes on "Mouth Music" and "Waulking Songs," but she also writes and sings some protest songs as well. Like the first one below; she doesn't hold back much 😅. Second one is a live version of a cool song from her album Solas.

Music on TIDALSheena Ringo - Shouso Strip -Winning Strip-Listen to Shouso Strip -Winning Strip- on TIDAL in exceptional sound quality, or on your choice of service

^ I have no way to justify this as stylistically they’re so similar, but if you’re like me and not exactly a fan of Movie Guy Richie, a second vote for Television Guy Richie. And speaking of fun and the use of “cunts”…

Just finished Season 2. A worthy Guy Richie concoction at the intersection of dodgy geezers and -- checks transcripts -- posh cunts. Quite the ride with some fabulous locations, wardrobe and interiors.

Those silly 18th century Koreans ruminating on what they feared most could come across as repetitive in 2026. I think these fine K-pop folks are just keeping to the grossly outdated lyrical tradition of pansori and trying to make it fresh with modern K-pop grooves. The good news is, I think they've succeeded. This song was played every time the South Koreans scored a goal in the world cup, and the original video has over 20 million views. I love learning about other cultures through music but didn't expect it to come from K-pop. Claude says: In 18th century Korea, tigers were a real and common danger, not just folklore. Korea back then had a notably dense tiger population, enough that the Joseon government kept dedicated tiger-hunter units, called chakhogapsa or similar, specifically to deal with maulings and livestock attacks in rural areas. Tiger attacks on people and livestock were frequent enough that they shaped a lot of Korean culture and superstition from that era, which is actually where that Leenalchi song "Tiger Is Coming" draws from, it's adapting a traditional pansori story rooted in that same fear and reverence.

Did it land?