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Happy Birthday, Brent! I wish it’s a great one

Happy Birthday!

I had her new album in my queue and then this showed up. so Let X=X by Laurie Anderson (2026) https://open.qobuz.com/album/syta310h4wo50 Example - Just the album opener: Always a treat to have more Laurie.

Point the first: Generative AI is the devil. Point the second: Locally generated (as in on one's personal machine) is the devil we know. Point the third: I told point the second to render "A Mexican in his mid 40s, with a beard, celebrating his birthday. His head is a giant biscuit." It shat out this: Point the fourth: I am now more afraid of AI than I was before. Point the fifth: Feliz cumpleaños, FATHEAD.

Robert Fripp @ 80, the series (not just the intro, there's already a couple episodes out) I won't say one of my biggest influences, but I am deeply fascinated with everything he thinks, says, and does -- I want to be influenced by him, but that's a rather high bar -- so will definitely be watching this series with interest.

Or from the source

Pre Movie Brunch On the Patio In the (Brolly) shade!

Happy Birthday!

Epilogue...

You can look but you can't touch! Have a good one nonetheless, Brent. Cheers!

Every 3-4 years I listen to Paul Simon's The Rhythm of the Saints, and with apologies to Graceland which I love, but has never quite resonated the same, think it's international mix fills a hole no other album does or likely ever will. I'll listen to a dozen or so times in quick succession and promptly stop again. Two times today... so far. Maybe you will find a love That you discover accidentally Who falls against you gently As a pickpocket Brushes your thigh Further to fly

In my iPadPro running the iPadOS 26.4.2 I can watch YouTube without ads and creating my own cues (a feature that is supposed to be available only in payed subscription) by using Firefox. At times the thing tries to open (and opens) the YouTube App, but it just takes to close it, then correcting the URL in the browser to just go to YouTube.com, without all the crap that they add trying to force using the App.

Tom Harrell. "5"

Last night I was able to pick up the 70-200mm lens... I couldn't go out for a training session today (my Great Dane is in the hospital with a growth-related fever), so I suppose I'll have some time today to try it out. The only thing I don't quite like is that the shoe gets in the way when using the zoom ring, so I've had to move it to the side.

A couple big art exhibits in San Francisco. The crowds, of course, are going to the Monet, but the Etruscan show at the Legion of Honor is the one we hit today. Loved it.

RIP Rapper Rob Base, known for 'It Takes Two,' dies at 59 after private battle with cancer. I was there in '88 when this dropped. It turns out he was internationally known.

I'm having trouble finding a news source, but I learned (from Toby Marks of Banco De Gaia of all people) that Dick Parry died. He was a hell of a session musician, best known for his work with Pink Floyd. His sax solos are legendary.

#LewisMaxxing

I'm not an EV guy, but the lines on these are very nice. My buddy has one a few years old in the metallic green and it's a stunner. I do understand that, I want to say 2020 or 2021...the earlier ones are the ones you see used mostly and that's for a reason. The slightly newer ones improved a good bit from what I heard. Enjoy...it's a rental HS

Necro Part Deux. This will be an exceptionally long walk. As I have said a number of times on this site (and even made a thread about) I shave using an old time safety razor. It's a slow and methodical process. While I do it, I like to have a YouTube video or podcast playing. For years I lugged my laptop into whatever bathroom where I was shaving. I even set up a shelf audio system for the purpose in my old house. Super exciting bathroom pic. Not the power and USB cables at the ready. In my new digs, I have a much less space overall. Going from a 5 bedroom farmhouse to a compact (and energy efficient) ~1200 sq ft house has been an experience. I have an older iPad Pro that I got a while ago. I run the Orion browser on it, and use an adblock extension. I picked up the "iHome iDL 100" iPad dock at a second hand shop last year. It has two Lightning connectors and a USB input. Unfortunately, the design is too clever by half. The iPhone (small) and (iPad) big mounts only work if the iOS device is not inside a case. I keep my mobile devices in protective cases for obvious reasons. The USB input on the iDL 100 works just fine, so for quite some time I kept my iPad Pro mounted on it, in landscape mode, and fired up a YT video while I shaved. It was slow to get started, but it did work. As of a few months ago, Google has won the arms race against ads on iOS and I cannot get the above combination to work. There is only so much I can do against a 4 trillion dollar company. Enter the Alldocube iPlay60 Mini Turbo Android tablet. It's not rooted, but I can side load and patch apps on it. As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm using Morphe to patch the official YouTube and Reddit apps to remove all ads. Now both apps are actually useful and not absolute hell. The tablet works like a charm, but the iDL 100 will not connect to it at all. The two Lightning connectors are a non-starter obviously, and also the USB port only works with iOS devices. Also, I had some issues with that port failing to charge the iPad so I'd be hesitant to use it even if it did connect. The iHome does have an 1/8" stereo input jack, but the Alldocube does not have a headphone output. Precious few mobile devices do these days. A while ago, I bought a USB-C DAC maybe by JSAUX that also supplies power. As far as Chinesium cables and accessories go, JSAUX is a better one. I have used a number of their DisplayPort and high bandwidth USB-C cables (as well as irritating but necessary ones like USB-C to mini, not micro, USB-B). They have all worked exceptionally. The JSAUX DAC has a clear plastic top so one can see the chips inside. This is a recent trend that I find to be dumb as fuck. Ignoring the peculiar case choices, I tested it out in my main speaker rig using a 1/8" to dual RCA cable and it sounded ...fine with streaming audio. TBH the only time I ever focus on DAC quality these days is if it's actively horrendous or I'm doing careful listening at night. With that success, I found a 1/8" to 1/8" TRS cable and connected the JSAUX to the iHome ...and was immediately rewarded with 60Hz hum. No amount of fussing with it would fix the problem. The hum was bad enough that it was distracting while trying to listen to a YT video. Cursing, I went on Amazon and found a Y cable shaped DAC on sale for $4. It has a USB-C male on one end, and USB-C female and 1/8" audio female on the other. I swapped the $4 unit in for the JSAUX and no hum at all. Now I can listen to reviews of old manual focus lenses, tales of crypto scams, and how Demented Donnie Diapers is burning down the entire fucking planet while I shave. This has been your hood-fi moment.

Happy Birthday!

Ooooh, that was Elvis Costello, not Randy Newman. 🙃

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