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My aunt who was suffering from cancer passed away this morning, imho she was in extremely bad shape, her suffering end. Me and my father went ro their home for condolences, my mother didn't. People who didn't know what has happened between them keep asking for her. It was fucking sad and awkward. At least my mother isn't angry with me and my father for visiting them. Gonna attend the funeral tomorrow. Other than that 1st day of being vegan was easy. Got some vitamin supplements for not risking proper Nourishment and plant(pea) based protein powder.

Happy New Year everyone! Bit bittersweet for me. The last few years Karen and I have had mixed celebrations: 3 years ago at some friends' place in NH, we went to bed early but watched the ball drop on streaming. Two years ago, same friends weren't feeling well so we skipped, but watched the ball drop. Last year, too tired, went to bed early. This year, I fell asleep reading, but woke up at ~11:40 to turn on the TV and watch the ball drop. When the clock struck midnight, I turned to the other side of the bed...and started crying. The sweet side was some of my closest friends sharing pics and texts for the New Year, our bonds are ever closer. Hoping that 2026 is a much better year....for me, for my family, for all of us here, and for our country and the world!

Can we replace the Q7 KSC5026 with STN0214 ? Since someone mentioned it can be replaced in GRHV build. Also, an extra 1N4007 may be good here(photo 2) for further protection i guess. Try to shrink the size of the PCB and see how far we can go.

@Knuckledragger I'm sure you've heard this before, but I was triggered by this video to listen to the whole song

Started watching "The Beast In Me" on Netflix, with Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys. Supposedly uses the production team from "Homeland", which I always like. The series follows an author (Danes) who begins writing a book about her new next-door neighbor (Rhys), a real estate executive who allegedly killed his wife. Two episodes in, and it has captured my attention.

Todd and the Book of Pure Evil (2010)

Sheeeeeeeit! https://youtu.be/4UXJZgOiVAI

This would never happen at a Waffle House. No, seriously, RIP IHOP person.

I became full Vegan today. So no more dairy products as well.

Hoping for a much better 2026 than its predecessor.

Today, one of the staff at this same IHOP was shot and killed in the kitchen while the restaurant was open. I mean the food wasn't that bad...😲

Celery

I may have over ordered. Goat Vindaloo Samosa's (2pc) Lamb tikka masala Lamb korma Butter chicken

This is my favorite edit. From almost 20 years ago. RIP.

That sucks. RIP Isiah

https://deadline.com/2025/12/isiah-whitlock-jr-dead-the-wire-spike-lee-movies-1236658855/

All that was a side effect which doesn’t say much in favor of human nature.

... But her artistic mishap created an economic boon for Borja, a town of 5,000 inhabitants. Tourists flocked to see her efforts. Less than three years later, more than 150,000 visitors from Japan, Brazil, the United States and elsewhere had made a trip to Borja, paying one euro, about $1.20, to view her work under a protective clear cover. Local officials told The Times in 2014 that the tourism spike had stabilized the town’s restaurant industry and helped the area’s institutions. The nearby Museo de la Colegiata, which houses religious medieval art, experienced a rise in annual visits to 70,000, from 7,000. Vineyards in the region squabbled over the rights to put Mrs. Giménez’s Christ on their labels. In 2016, two Americans even staged an opera about the affair in the same church. Mrs. Giménez, once ridiculed, became a beloved figure, even handing out prizes for a competition of young artists who had painted their own “Ecce Homo” portraits. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/30/world/europe/spain-jesus-fresco-restoration-painter-gimenez-dead.html

michika: chill mix with Japanese grandpa at a stationery shop

Oh come on, poor woman . I think it’s terrible that someone lets you do such thing when you’re not qualified for the job, but being remembered after your death for it…

It turns out Discogs has a YouTube channel:

I've been following along with it utter crap springs to mind. The amplifier is a Stax SRM-1 Mk2 with some cobbled together power supply. I have no idea what output devices are being used but they look modern so holy Cob batman... yeah... As for the headphones, I've not heard anything good about them. Going by his speakers, this is amateur hour. No dust covers, the bias supplies in the speakers are those 3$ modules from China which ring like mad and spew out trash... for what 100k$?

RIP Cecilia Giménez, painting restorer https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/30/cecilia-gimenez-monkey-christ-mural-dies-spain

Fall was pretty recent, it was also an eternity ago. I went out with a variety of different lenses, captured the colors and annoyed the local fauna. In 2009 I went to the MV alpaca farm with my (sainted, then-septuagenarian) mother on her birthday. I'm sure I posted a number of those shots at the time. I used the never good 75-300mm consumer zoom, and spent ages in Photoshop, masking, denoising and sharpening. I'm much more lazy less interested in such labor intensive editing these days. We went back to the farm for her birthday this year. I used the also not very good Tamron 28-300mm. So far I've only edited a few shots (see above). Llamas serve as guard animals at the alpaca farm. Gidget the kitty doesn't know or care about "color balance." Molly being characteristically unamused at the presence of humans. This is the only shot I've ever gotten of her where she was lit properly, in-focus and looking at me. Of course, she's glowering. Changes afoot as the Hathaway house. Again with the craptastic Tamron. I haven't used it that much, but it's a bit of a "bad penny" lens. The same taken with my radioactive 1970s Super Takumar 50mm F/1.4. It's crazy how pricey this lens has become. Mine it's not the most desirable version. The very rare first iteration, which proved too expensive to produce, is a collector's bauble at this point. My version isn't that rare, but copies of it have a nasty tendency to yellow (because radioactive.) My copy is bit yellow, but for now that means it has a permanent "warming filter" installed. That makes it ideal for fall colors. Same scene at twilight, taken with my beloved Canon EF 50mm F/1.8 Mark I. Honestly, in spite of all the lenses I own, I could shoot with a 50 the vast majority of the time and be happy. In the parlance of our times *laughs in Henri Cartier-Bresson.* Morning Glory Farm, or as it is known by the younger generation, "MoGlo" had quite a display of pumpkins. Even though I live in walking distance, I only managed to get there once. In my defense, this fall got ball-freezingly cold quickly. My OCD neighbor's yard, taken with the Takumar. It excels at golden hour shots. 17-40mm at the wide end. I used to love the super wide angle look, but a decade and a half of cameraphone photos have made me reverse that stance more or less completely. Now I greatly prefer the telescopic compression that happens at focal lengths greater than 100mm. Same idea with the nifty fifty. Taken at F/5, which is a little silly. In retrospect I should have committed one way or the other and either stopped down significantly or gone full retard at F/1.8. Tune in next time for more fat squirrels, Christmas lights and even some short lived snow. Spoiler alert: The EF 100-400mm is a goddamn bazooka is tiring as all fuck to handhold for any length of time.