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Bought 18 pounds of tri tip at Costco this morning and currently preparing a dry rub for half of them. We are hosting the Hong Kong national team, French and Italian coaches and a Russian with a So Cal BBQ tomorrow. The fencers and coaches are here training for the Anaheim World cup in two weeks so they will be at the club and training with Lance a bit . Weather seems not to be cooperating for tomorrow as intermittent rain and winds of 30 plus mph are in the forecast. My plan as usual is to drink lots of Brunello and figure it out as I go. At least we don't have Jose's sandstorm to deal with so life is good.

First day in two months the high has been below 55 and first day in almost 3 its snowed. Hopefully this bad luck isn't a sign of how things will go with the new toy i just took delivery of..

I just milled this board for a CNC probe I’m working on. Those are .01” slots. I’m surprised I could do this

Biscuit change is real. Here we've had a winter that never arrived. We have had a little snow, and some cold temps, but it's 1MAR and most of the animals think that spring is here. The birds are already back and with rain last week there's zero snow cover. I don't know that the ground ever properly froze this year. It will be interesting to see how bad the insects are this year after such a mild winter. Regarding coronavirus and travel, I've had to fly three times in the last 6 weeks and there have been plenty of folks with masks on and CDC announcements in the airports. It all seems a bit much, really. Yes, it has a higher mortality rate than the standard flu and given the prolonged incubation containment is complicated. I suppose we'll see how it spreads around the globe since that is all but inevitable and having just read Stephen King's, The Stand, maybe I'm desensitized to the idea of the flu as an apocalypse?

A highly strange parrot has been on my shoulder for the last half-hour or so. I had to contort to get his face in the frame: he seemed happy being anonymous, and won't jump off (he is digging into me as I type this).

Went for a walk in the rolling hills outside Novato with Joanne and some Brit's. I think some biscuit induced climate change made it somewhat breezier than we were anticipating. Later we went to Costco where the shelves seemed to be picked almost clean. I made it out with one of the last 4 slabs of Diet Coke. They were sold out of rice. The staff said it had been like that all week with people stocking up on dried goods. I can't think why? /s https://projects.sfchronicle.com/2020/coronavirus-map/

Joanne and I recently finished Beforeigners It's a mismatched Cop Buddy Nordic Noir / Scandi Thriller with a novel world building twist. Given the initial premise, they play it pretty much straight, although it does allow them to have some fun with political correctness and multiculturalism in the world they have built. "And in the Tjuvholmen case, one of the main investigators is actually a true Viking.The criticism is unjustified.We have a policy on this show that we avoid using the V-word.- The V-word? - We prefer "of Norse descent".Right.Of course.My apologies" We enjoyed it. Be aware: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt8332130/parentalguide, or as they said in one episode. Similarly, Lars is shocked to find that his Stone Age neighbor lets his grade school son watch Game of Thrones, because who doesn't like violence and naked women? From the portmanteau Title to the linguistic stylings of the characters, plenty of depth to drag you into it. https://sciencenorway.no/history-language-media/creating-languages-of-the-past-for-hbos-beforeigners/1560670 Good review with some light spoilers but no reveals https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/02/review-time-travel-and-murder-combine-in-hbos-riveting-beforeigners-series/ And in case you missed something in the subtitles, don't worry, someone transcribed them for you. https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/episode_scripts.php?tv-show=beforeigners-2019 Enjoy!

I keep forgetting to suggest Sneaky Pete from Amazon. Fantastic characters and acting. The writing and production is also top notch.

Pergolesi - Stabat Mater (𝛂 classics 2020) Just released on Tidal, Quobuz and other online streamers and sellers.

I preferred the Ethernet connection to the usb for sound and stability. I know they were working on the usb but had the Ethernet pretty much nailed last I spoke with MH a few months back. im actually simplifying my rig and will be selling my ULN8 after ten years or so of service.

This is the best Joe Biden meme I have ever seen. The baffled king indeed.

I use Old Bisbee as well.

And one more recommendation. This is from the place that we buy our green coffee beans. Bodhi Leaf Coffee Traders https://www.bodhileafcoffee.com/ They have lots of single origin and weekly specials. Their cupping notes are pretty accurate. https://www.bodhileafcoffee.com/collections/roasted-coffee https://www.bodhileafcoffee.com/collections/roasted-coffee/products/steve-favorites-roasted-sample-pack cheers

I'm still an Old BIsbee Roasters guy. They've never let me down and are on the more affordable side of small batch from my experience. They tend toward the darker side of roasting but have gotten a lot better about that than they used to be. I'd suggest their sampler to see how their tasting notes compare to how you taste coffee.

^yup, I enjoyed it a lot.

Tannoy Dimension TD12s driven by a pair of Mark Levinson No 333 monoblocks. Ho lee shit.

Thanks y’all. Survived Vegas, back in Arkansas living my best trailer park life.

She'll be three this year. I hope she continues to be as stupidly cute. This is my Silver Dilber. Bingie-cat Third Class.

Cool Story Bro: In the fall of 1990 I got my first CD player. A Pioneer 6 CD changer that used the removable magazines that were all the rage in the early 90s. I actually already owned a couple CDs at that point. The first "CD" I bought was the Led Zeppelin Boxed Set for $60 1990 dollars ($118 in today's dollars!) The second was one of a series of limited edition CD singles by Iron Maiden. In 1990 Maiden released their previous singles from the 70s and 80s (vinyl only, obviously) with exclusive B-Sides, 2 at a time on CD. They were expensive ($16 1990 dollars) but they had a bonus "Listen With Nicko" track at the end. On said track Maiden's drummer Nico McBrain would explain the history of the two single tracks as well as the B-sides on the CD. It turns out that Nico is absolutely hilarious and weaves an amazing yarn. One of the most infamous Maiden B-Sides in "Mission From 'Arry" which is not an audio track at all, but an extended argument between Maiden's bassist Steve Harris and Nico about extending a drum solo. The proceedings got fairly heated and were surreptitiously record by Bruce Dickinson. During the argument, Nico used the phrase "oh for fuck's sake, come on kids!" which has been in my vocabulary for 30 years now.

A few months ago a broke a #4-40 tap in a heat sink. After a lot of cursing and futile attempts to get it out, I just left it for another day. I felt compelled a few days ago to go after it again. This time I came across an article on the use of alum powder to dissolve the ferrous metal (tap) from the aluminum without affecting the aluminum. Long story short, I got some potassium alum powder, set up a double boiler with a Pyrex container and six hours later and a little baby sitting, the tap was gone and I was able to save the threads and all. Kind of amazing. You can see the small bubbles coming from where the tap was. Note that I don't remember any chemistry, so I'm hoping this was safe. 20200227_181723000_iOS.MOV

1977 Nakamitchi System-One.

In the UK it is still stiff upper lip. We were in London yesterday (at the National Theatre on the South Bank). No sign of anyone in face masks, crowded tube, no panic buying, supermarket shelves fully stocked. But will we be flying anywhere on vacation this year? No chance. And from what the airline companies are saying, we are not the only one by a long shot. And climate change? We have had a conveyor belt of storms coming in from the Atlantic for the last three weeks. Whole slabs of the UK are flooded with towns and cities essentially underwater. We're OK, by the way - we are well above the Thames flood plain.

All weekend without being able to leave home ... fucked in the dust

Better than the fate of a friend of mine, Paddy Glenny, who emigrated from the UK to start a brewery in Nelson in British Columbia, Canada. Along with his brewing activities he trained as a park ranger. As part of his responsibilities he used to paint ball grislies so that their movements could be tracked. He described this crazy process of getting down wind from this apex predator, and trying to get it with three different colours. After which put live rounds in the chambers in case the bear charged. He also packed a magnum hand gun, again as a back stop. Next thing he got gored by a juvenile black bear across the buttocks, that crashed into the clearing when he was eating lunch. It also stomped his satellite phone. So he had a very nervous 20 mile hike out leaving a blood trail. He survived that. At then, somewhat later he just plain disappeared. His remains were never found, the assumption being that a grisly eventually got him, and any remains were finished off by a host of other predators.