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Had Joanne compare similar different greens under various lighting conditions in various locations. Apparently getting Gemini / nano banana to replace wall colors in a picture isn't good enough 🤷‍♂️ Also, how many greens are there. Many many many apparently.

Living under large Redwoods, Mikey, I understand the trauma of laying in bed listening to huge gusts of wind and cringing, hoping one of those "widow makers doesn't break off and find its way to the roof. Glad you'll have a little more piece of mind.

Sarah on Kelly - just a pretty tune.

Figured I'd post this picture here as well as in the Stax thread, MA-009 vs SR-009D I've just been on holiday so no work on this project but I'll probably make some new diaphragms for the MA-009 soon. The ones in there are just too unstable, any major airpressure and they just stick to the stators.

Well I've been away and a certain SR-009D showed up in the meantime... Sorry for the crap picture but I've only had a couple of hours with them and I should have been in bed an hour ago... First impressions, I like the color but it's clear that Stax have cheaped out with one of those surface treatments that are so popular in China. Nothing as nice as the 009BK here, it's that matt but shiny black except in the grove on the back. It's okey but we are clearly seeing production moving away from Japan here of crucial parts. Same is true for the earpads, very different from regular 009 pads and the smell and feel is identical to the various earpads I've been buying from China. Nothing wrong with that really... if they didn't resell the 10$ pads at 200$. They are also odd as they don't seem to fit nicely on the headphones but feel nice, much better than the 007S trash pads. They are similar to the Omega pads in some ways, large opening and pretty thin. The headpad seems also different from the older models so likely a new supplier there too. Same basic thin pad design though but a bit wider overall compared to the L500 part I have on the MA-009 in the picture. Same cable as the SR-X1 and the 007S. I'm not in Japan so I'm not getting the shorter cable as instead of throwing them into the boxes, Stax wants you to send in for them, in Japan only. Gotta love companies living in the 70's. As for the sound... I was expecting to hate them but no... these are the first 009's that aren't way too colored for their own good. For the most part, they are easy to live with with plenty of bass and presence. Maybe a tad dull and uninvolving at times but still easy to get long with. Now they are not perfect, there is a distinct "bass drum" resonance on many tracks and some certain ranges make them way too shouty in the midrange but it's far from as bad the originals or what the hell the 009S was. Nice controlled soundstage with some depth to it, good extension on both ends of the spectrum so yeah... I'm pleasantly surprised. I haven't detected any of the serious driver resonance issues as with the 007S either. Only a couple of hours with them but some volume matched comparisons with the MA-009, I prefer the fuller sound of the latter but it's not a long way off. I do feel the irony of me finally tackling the long planned project of fixing the 009's, only with Stax releasing a new version which doesn't suck like the older ones at the same time. Still, this is good move in general and at present I'd recommend these over the 007S and the X9000, let alone the older 009 models.

Crew fell six trees yesterday, and one more this morning. All about 2' diameter. I have a lot of cleanup work to do. So I bought a beefyer chainsaw. 16” 56V. I still have a tree that should be topped, but not critical. Edit: We did take out one green one - it had no more friends to protect it from the wind.

‘I’d never heard anything like it’: the prepared piano revelations of jazz star Jessica Williams Dave Brubeck called her a great and Mary Lou Williams gave her advice. But the prodigy grew frustrated with jazz, quit and started dismantling her instrument. A superb new reissue showcases her findings https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/jan/05/jessica-williams-jazz-prepared-piano-blue-abstraction

https://www.instagram.com/p/DTIw5mdDvq2/?igsh=MWRhbW02MGx3c2x3bQ== This could be amusing.

Trump would repeat that we could until you made it true.

Stephen Miller, a top aide to President Trump, asserted on Monday that Greenland rightfully belonged to the United States and that the Trump administration could seize the semiautonomous Danish territory if it wanted. “Nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland,” Mr. Miller told Jake Tapper, the CNN host, after being asked repeatedly whether he would rule out using military force. “We live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power,” he said. “These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.” https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/05/us/politics/stephen-miller-greenland-venezuela.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/06/politics/trump-greenland-venezuela-colombia-miller-analysis

Finished Stranger Things. Now back to my first viewing of The West Wing. About to the end of S1. This will be worth it to grok an Aaron Sorkin joke in 30 Rock. Also, 93% chance I'm about to re-watch 30 Rock another couple times. Oh, also constantly have on Wednesday as background whilst I'm falling asleep as of late.

Nope, still needs a bunch of processing, especially their heavy crude. Think diesel.

Okay, but the oil is still there and ours for the taking, isn't it? @naamanf you can fly a helicopter on crude oil? I thought you said we can do that./T

Yeah, shawarma is good stuff. I've had the Wegmans pre-marinated stuff, restaurant made (today, even!), and it would have disappeared faster than light with me around, too. Yum yum yum, gnosh gnosh gnosh, yum yum yum

Interesting that he has abandoned his trademark plain black leather jacket in favor of a snakeskin (?). I wonder if he will use the word, "molt".

Yeah, he's really just a shill for Skynet our soon-to-be-bot-overlords. That said, I was still very interested in everything he said about Vera Rubin. (The hardware platform that he just introduced.) Their usual rule is only change one or two things. They threw that out with this iteration and completely redesigned everything. My theory: they == AI. I don't think they actually were directly involved with the design. Having spent most of my life working in the cleared sector, no-one in the government that I knew would let this pass muster. Additional editorial note: The only way we are going to be able to defeat Skynet AI-used-for-evil is AI-used-for-good. And we are way behind with that. We are so fucked as a planet.

Cooked yesterday in a marathon session so that dinner was a non-event (prep wise) tonight. Chicken shawarma with homemade naan. The naan was all I managed a pic of.

Reports of gunfire near Venezuela’s presidential palace. File under: Rorge; Ruh-roh.

-- Search "AI" = 210 hits comments turned off - wonder why.

Fat squirrels and fat(?) cats to follow. Possibly some dupes. Xreffing is a PITA. Squirrel tongue! These shots were taken only a month ago. When there's sufficient snow on the ground, squirrels will eat the berries. I spent new year's eve with 3 octogenarians (one of whom will be turning 90 this year) and 2 cats. Wisely(?) I brought my 85L and iPhone. Gidget vigorously investigating what's going on with Peter's trouser leg. Gidget is a gray card with legs. I've mentioned in the past that I really like the Moment app for iOS. It has great manual white balance. I need to xref what kelvin value I use it in and start using the same on the DSLR. Shot with tungsten white balance and then adjusted in Photoshop. To be fair, Gidget does have a lot of brown in her coat. Molly displaying her usual aggrievement at the presence of humans. Gidget absolutely savaging my knee with all four paws. She didn't draw blood, but it sure felt like it.

Was so last week... Justice Dept. Drops Claim That Venezuela’s ‘Cartel de los Soles’ Is an Actual Group Last year, before capturing President Nicolás Maduro, the Trump administration designated a Venezuelan slang term for drug corruption in the military as a terrorist organization and said he led it. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/05/us/trump-venezuela-drug-cartel-de-los-soles.html?unlocked_article_code=1.CVA.zRgG.g6wk2FuZKAY4&smid=url-share (gift article)

I think that is the way to go after the joys of my approach...LOL HS

Watching on Amazon requires selecting German as the language and English for the subtitles, which is a huge improvement over the trailer of dubbed crap. 👍🏻

So, funny thing...