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Retirement is like a permanent vacation. Albeit mostly a staycation. “Up North” for a week of leaf peeping, hiking and discovery. Nicest cabin I have ever stayed in.

And...it's done. We'll, the concrete part. Steve and I need to build a wall, put in doors and a window, get a little electrical done, and then start making sawdust again. This time with a serious dust collection system and air filter in place.

Just heard a long segment on the Today current affairs radio 4 programme (in the UK), about the ESA BepiColumbo mission to Mercury. It has just done its first flyby of Mercury - the first of 6 before it gets captured into orbit in 2025. My interest in this, is that I was overall project manager for one of the 12 instruments on board - the Mercury Imaging X-Ray Spectrometer. That uses X-Rays from the sun, the reflected X-Ray light from Mercury having the spectrum of the elements on the surface of the planet - so how much iron, silicon etc, with a 10km resolution. It was launched in October 2018 After shakedown to make sure everything worked after launch, it then did a maneuver past the earth to send it on its way to the inner planets. Since then it has done two Venus flybys and yesterday the first Mercury one. So why go to Mercury? First because it is a rocky planet that has never had an atmosphere, so to learn about how the earth might have formed, Mercury is a good place to learn. Also it is the second densest planet in the solar system - very close to the Earth's density. In addition it has a magnetic field (no-one knows why), and ice at the poles (which is weird given how close it is to the sun). US interest in Ariane 5, is that the James Webb Space Telescope will be launched on one of those, imminently.

Chilling up in Maine.....

I'm watching What We Do in the Shadows, The Morning Show, Foundation, Archer, The Premise, QI, Ted Lasso etc.... But, in order to be supportive (I also tend to post when my Hollywood sister has a new project), I feel it fair to announce that my (60 Minutes) brother's written another free-to-download book about plastics...So he's ended up the guest on this podcast... Uncomfortable facts warning:)...

The doctor gave me his OK two months ago so I'm finally recovered ... I haven't been able to train much so tomorrow I just want to finish and have a good time in the middle of the peloton with my friends and coleagues.

Asus VivoBook Pro Ryzen 9. I’m not a gamer, so I wanted something more professional, yet still powerful enough to develop on, and this seemed the best bang-for-the-buck.

Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad / Jazz is Dead 9 (Instrumentals)

I got a great deal on a LNIB Bonavita brewer for my partner. I couldn’t stand her using her crap automatic anymore when good coffee (she does pour over on lazy mornings, but is often in a hurry) isn’t any more difficult or time consuming than the Hamilton Beach she got from Goodwill in undergrad 20 years ago. I’m ready impressed with the unit. physically it’s very compact and looks nice, with good quality materials, and the insulated carafe works great. Good pour, and it doesn’t retain too much coffee. The brew (I had bloom turned on) does a very credible impression of pour over. Well extracted, flat bed. A good cup of coffee. I’m impressed. Ground at about 14 on the Encore, 15:1 with a good washed anaerobic. If you want to get a good automatic drip without spending a ton (I got this for $60 on eBay, MSRP is closer to $200, I think), I recommend it, especially if you are space constrained.

Saturday Morning 90s smooth jazz. Between The Sheets Fourplay 1993 Bob James Lee Ritenour Nathan East Harvey Mason Yes please:

Unplanned lunch @ https://www.dierksparkside.com/

Joanne says "Subtle, but very good. You could taste the Bourbon". Sweet notes from the plums on my taste sample.

Argh, I meant subs. I mix up "neck" and "bridge", too. DERP

And it defaulted me to subs because that is how I watch! Really smart as I’d bet for a lot of casual viewers they would switch the show off before going in to the menu to change it from the default.

Always liked that album. Me: some Rush, some other stuff, but mostly new to me hard rock band, In Search Of Sun. Really digging this. Hard rock is the sweet spot for me.

No shit! That was new information to me, thanks for sharing. And it is pretty cool. I must usually watch subs dubs, because it set me to sub dub.

I’m happy the show is blowing up everywhere. It is legitimately pretty great. Thought this was interesting from a story in the WSJ today: ”’Squid Game’ went through some primping to become a global megahit. With a potential language barrier, Netflix emphasized visuals, outfitting competitors in green tracksuits and building colorful sets resembling children’s playgrounds. Some of the rules for the traditional Korean games were simplified or altered. Many Americans also enjoy watching foreign shows with English-language dubbing, rather than subtitles—a choice that Netflix’s algorithms can automatically select for users based on their past viewing.” So Netflix cranked the visual style up to 11 to carry the show cross-culturally. That was brilliant. Also cool the algorithm can guess whether a viewer would prefer subtitles or dubbing. Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/netflixs-squid-game-is-the-dystopian-hit-no-one-wanteduntil-everyone-did-11633183200?mod=hp_lead_pos9

It's hard to gauge that but the early 2000's sets are just fine now if they have been taken care of.

Yeah, finished watching the whole thing a couple weeks ago. BRUTAL! WRT both violence and emotion. I really dug the highly stylized visual presentation, the soundtrack, and the premise. So many great moments, I can't pick just one.

This

When in Santa Rosa ... Chocolate Raspberry & Bourbon Plum

Yeah, I didn’t mean that they changed the laws of physics and chemistry, only that they probably don’t run the dedicated PC OLED screens are hard or have other tech tricks to avoid burn in that they’d employ that would not be necessary on a TV. I think you’ll be just fine. I’ve seen that Dell laptops (at least I think they were Dell) with the OLED screens and they look great.

Turkey: 'Missing' man joins search party looking for himself

I follow a few game designers on twitter who were talking about the new Netflix show, "Squid Game." I started in on it last night. It is surprisingly compelling! I am impressed so far.

A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle shines new light on the classic album https://thebaffler.com/latest/a-coltrane-surprise-ho-bynum

Adia Victoria's A Southern Gothic