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Cheers Andrew.

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday!

So apparently Pi Desktop is based on Debian Bullseye, which went EOL in August. That explains the 404s I've been getting trying to update it. The repositories are gone. My next step is to install Debian, probably with GNOME. The Linux Nightmare continues.

Happy birthday!

A refresher and test of a commercially recorded compact cassette tape - regular 120µs EQ (Type I) vs. 70µs High-Bias Equalization. This video is from 5 years ago - it turns out that manufacturers did not increase quality to supply the compact cassette revival. Theoretically, you could launch a boutique manufacturing company making high-end metal (Type IV) cassettes with Dolby S noise reduction (the patent has expired), playing on Nakamichi-like decks with 3-head setups, dual-capstan closed-loop transports, and auto azimuth correction, but the remaining manufacturers have come in at the bottom with Tanashin clone tape mechanisms and ferric tape reissues, because they know they are selling to a hipster fad, not audiophiles or professionals. Going to replace the belts on my cheapo mid-90s Panasonic RQ-V80 cassette player (which has no bias switches).

FTFY pkg install firefox

Update 1 (of many): I successfully made install media on a thumb drive and was able to install Debian PiOS on the Beelink. The install process was mostly painless. There were a few points where I had to select something non-obvious to continue. Linux is FLOSSy and it never fails to show off that fact. That's about the extent of the good news. Debian ships with Chromium. For the last half hour, I have been trying to install Firefox and ...completely fucking failing. I can download the tar.gz file sure. I can extract it. I have tried a number of directories. The extractor defaults to /tmp. I cannot drag the firefox directory out of /tmp and place it elsewhere. I made $HOME/Applications. I extracted FFX there. I found what I think is the executable. It will not run. I have done like 17 searches using DDG and the Goog on how to install FFX on Linux. The answers are remarkably unhelpful. I'm breaking for lunch. Also, at the risk of accusations of preaching to the choir: Every experience with I have with Windows and now Linux is an argument for The Mac Tax. W11 is horrible in the most dystopian, Orwellian way imaginable. Linux is not horrible, but it is endlessly, relentlessly opaque an unhelpful. Linux assumes one's day job is linux and has no interest in any other possibility. Also, 10.6 Snow Leopard was the best version of MacOS, I will die on that hill.

Have a great one, my tall friend! Cheers!

Grant Green’s Funk in France: From Paris to Antibes (1969–1970) Full

As I have mentioned in Jacob's Jacobless Jacobing, I recently bought another micro PC for the purposes of installing Raspberry Pi OS (in this case Raspberry Pi Desktop.) The more I learn about smart devices, the more I want to return to monke build a proper standalone adblock/anti-tracking machine. Seriously. We live in a schizophrenic's nightmare. That 4K LG TV is like the offspring of the Five Eyes and Mark Zuckerberg. Your "Internet of Things" refrigerator is phoning home to China. A Russian has hacked into your washing machine. My solution to this Orwellian hellscape is try out a Pihole. Raspberry Pis, as devices, have become so cartoonishly expensive that it's actually a better economic decision to buy a low end micro PC (see above.) This thread will primarily serve as "lol, Knuckles thinks he's a linux geek" but will hopefully include at least a little useful info. The new micro PC, a Beelink SER, arrived today. I learned that the other low power micro PC I bought in 2022, a Minisforum UM350, is significantly more powerful than the Beelink. The former has a Ryzen 3 3550H (4 cores, 8 threads, better per-core performance, Vega 8 graphics) and the latter has a Ryzen 3200U (2 cores, 4 threads, Vega 3 graphics.) This is actually a good thing as the UM350 can pull up to 35W (I think mine is rated at 20W, but it's been ages since I looked that up.) The 3200U pulls 15W. Obviously, I will be running the Pihole 24/7 once it's fully set up. Also, I don't exactly need 3D graphic performance of any kind with it. The biggest surprise thus far is that I bought a unit that was not supposed to come with an OS and surprise, SUCKER! It's got Window 11 pre-installed. That OS is like a goddamn venereal disease. This evening I downloaded the Pi Desktop OS image. It's a svelte 3.4GB. I'm not sure I have the energy at this hour to format a bootable thumb drive and begin the OS installation process.

Now they’re loading for me. Cosa de brujas.

RIP photographer Ian Berry. So many great shots over the years. https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/photography/photojournalism/rip-ian-berry-the-magnum-photojournalist-who-shot-the-only-photos-of-the-sharpeville-massacre-and-who-spent-more-than-seven-decades-working-hard-being-humble-and-insisting-the-job-was-never-about-the-gear https://www.all-about-photo.com/photographer/1228/ian-berry And for Dylan fans Also https://www.magnumphotos.com/theory-and-practice/ian-berry-intimate-portrait-serge-gainsbourg-jane-birkin/

Yeah, but can they play live... yup Video quality is all over the place - but sound is good.

Mishima by Philip Glass, Kronos Quartet (1985) https://open.qobuz.com/album/0075597988956 Example: More Philip for fun. (probably should watch this at some point.) Followed by: Philip Glass: Mishima by Maki Namekawa 2018 https://open.qobuz.com/album/svzhtflbqsm9a Example: I really like the arrangement by Michael (also the conductor of Kronos Quartet above). Lends a more delicate nature to the work, also I like Piano. I didn't know Maki's work before this. Added things to my queue (now at 854 albums).

They loaded for me yesterday. Not today. For instance: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55528102446_c0178ed055_o.jpg

RIP Ian King - one of the guitarists for the FU's, local Boston band from the 80's, and later Straw Dogs. Got to see the FU's in the early 80's (stayed FAR away from the mosh pit!), and oddly again this year when they were part of a punk show along with a band my friend manages. They had an intelligent cynicism, even some about the punk rock scene..... Old: New (I saw them around this time, at another location):

A couple of days ago marked the 10th anniversary of the passing of Don Buchla. While Bob Moog was the "kindly grandfather" synth designer, and Lev Theremin was "secret agent" one, Don was the "I did acid in the 60s and came up with such radical synth designs that 60 years later the industry is still trying to catch up with me" pioneer.

I wonder if Flickr is blocking certain countries? I'll try my VPN. Hola, me llamo Arrastrando los Nudillos! ¿Dónde está la biblioteca? Mi amigo Brent tiene una cabeza gigante. Erm, I mean. I am now using ProtonVPN, with Spain as the exit country. The images loaded slowly, but they did all eventually show up.

I cannot see them either.

This stuffed-zucchini-boats-mushroom.pdf

(AI) This stuffed-zucchini-boats-mushroom.pdf