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Swag day at work...

Which one is mine?

Cold war morning: Some of these I forgot about....

Russian ex-minister says invasion of Ukraine is stalling because officials stole from military budget for 'mega-yachts in Cyprus'

I have put out a feeler (it’s just a feeler), for a 6 year old male Tux. He’s still in intro medical at the shelter, but I’m hoping to meet him. “Tommy Ten Toes.” That name is a thing. I can’t say I hate it. Silver and I need another cat. I’ve been working with her on stimulus (playing more, and holding her more, and introducing her to slightly unexpexred things), and I’m hoping introducing another cat at her home will work. This isn’t something that will happen tomorrow.

Vieux Carre....simply delicious. 3/4 oz good rye 3/4 oz cognac 3/4 oz sweet vermouth (I'm a big fan of Spaniard Lustau as me and amaro / bitter are not friends) 2 tsp Benedictine (think half as much as the above pours) 1 dash Peychaud's bitters 2 dashes Angustura bitters All the above into ice... stir for 20 seconds. I prefer straining into a whiskey glass with a large cube although pouring into a chilled coupe glass is more traditional. You can express an orange peel and do the high quality cherry thing. It's basically a New Orleans centric riff on a Manhattan. Enjoy... HS

Given that Russia is not a good faith actor re: The Budapest Memorandum. https://www.npr.org/2022/02/21/1082124528/ukraine-russia-putin-invasion https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2019/12/05/why-care-about-ukraine-and-the-budapest-memorandum/ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest_Memorandum_on_Security_Assurances

Uhm, yeah, again today, because they came and told me they had fresh Halibut.

ahem... bakers... thank you very much.

I'm sure one of them wants the TICE and the other one is jealous so he's trying to keep you away. Just be happy that it means you don't need to punch their lists anymore.

No big news here (Ricoh releases a new edition of a model that's just a focal length change from another model), but check out someone exercising their marketing muscles! | Main Features of the RICOH GR III Street Edition Special Limited Kit | The RICOH GR IIIx Urban Edition camera body is accented by a navy-blue ring around the lens barrel. This color was selected to represent typical street shooter imagery such as deep blue skies reflected in a puddle following a rainfall or the bright neon signs of a never-sleeping city. The camera body is finished in metallic gray, reminiscent of the gritty tones of the urban landscape. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ricoh-announces-ricoh-gr-iiix-urban-edition-special-limited-kit-301499622.html

I have decided that with dealing with my mother and her upcoming hip surgery it would be selfish of me to bring a new cat into my home when I may not be able to provide the amount of time that cats deserve. I hope Tommy Ten-Toes goes to a good home. I’ll figure something out a bit down the road.

good question. Whatever the beans I roasted before the rwandan beans. Probably ethiopian Limu

The geographic divide https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/10/russia-ukraine-west-global-south-sanctions-war

Would you? Would I? Very difficult question to answer. Either way, I would agree that Ukrainians should be thinking about the next stage. Learning to make IEDs. Guerilla warfare. Counterattacks on Russian infrastructure. Make it completely untenable to hold the country.

I wouldn't necessarily boycott local Stoli. It's actually owned by a Russian who had left Russia (forced out?) when Putin gained power.... Most of the world's source of Stoli is produced out of Latvia. That said....there are better vodka's out there, and Tito's is a good choice. Also agree on the "look East" comment....

This. Also, listen to the wise words from Naaman. There are literally some people that you cannot please, doesn’t matter what you do. They are best left to their misery, don’t make it yours.

ok, from you I'll accept crates of Italian wine

I kinda wish to further punish Russia instead of withdrawing from the country completely Coca-Cola would send all the Starlight space flavored soda there.

when in doubt shut the fuck up is a good policy. But it's better to participate and just learn the norms.

I posted once a long time ago and learned to be careful here from that so...

Awesome job, Steve. Going to make for some happy zen reading. As for the complainers, be glad you don’t work in a normal job with 100+ customers walking through the door. It’s about 1-2% but they are there everyday taking up 98% of everyone’s patience.

One of the employees of the bookstore I'm working on is also an employee of HookFish across the street. I bought us both lunch, because he gets a 50% discount.

Single best pull I’ve ever done, I think, and this is what I do with it. It is admittedly very good.

Flasback to when this image went viral 4 years ago:

Yeah there's a bunch of stuff you can follow on twitter for updates on what's going on, there is a good amount of analysts, both amateur and professional, keeping an eye on things. https://twitter.com/RALee85 https://twitter.com/warinthefuture https://twitter.com/KofmanMichael There's way more but these guys tend to be more factual and objective. There are Ukrainian sources but they're a bit heavier on propaganda, and there are Russian sources which are a bit heavier on not existing anymore, at least not independent ones with any degree of credibility. Also, the Institute for the Study of War has been publishing daily updates on the situation and seems to be quite reliable. And of course there are tons of memes. ALL the memes...

Damn! “You're occupants, you're fascists! What the f**k are you doing on our land with all these guns? Take these seeds and put them in your pockets, so at least sunflowers will grow after you die.”

Some people have been asking for specs on the Aeras, so here they are... Input: XLR – Accepts balanced or single-ended (with grounded RCA to XLR cable) Input Impedance: 50K x2 Gain: 1000x Frequency Response: 1Hz – 60KHz Max P-P Voltage: 1500VAC Max RMS Voltage: 1000VAC Output: Stax Pro-Bias x1 Vacuum Tubes: 6S4A x4 Power Consumption: 100W External Dimensions: 19 cm x 34.3 cm x 14.2 cm (7.5” x 13.5” x 5.6”) – W x D x H Weight: 5.5 Kg (12 lbs) Mains AC: 115/230VAC Switchable

Fat/Taco Tuesday, so I had a fat taco -- Diablo Burrito 😈

Issues: 1) The headband can twist out of straight-line, minor design flaw. 2) The CRBN has a serious "e-fart" issue. I first tried listening to them right when they arrived, and the temp/humidity of my room must have been too hot because just having the two pads lightly touch each other created serious distortion noises. On-head, even a minor touching shift caused a thunderous cracking noise. I'm giving them another go now since the temperature dropped ten degrees, and the effect is minimized but still apparent. You need to put these on or off your head very carefully - the sound it creates is 85+DB right next to your ears. Other people who were asking about this: this is not normal for any of the Stax models (6?) I've owned. I contacted Audeze to make sure this isn't a defective unit because it seems insane to think they thought this was acceptable for a commercial product. First impressions sonically: The CRBN is sonically a step down in terms of clarity/soundstage and an even more significant step down in detail/separation from the Stax 009S. The CRBN has less bass than I expected too; the Sr009S is not that far off when I use the Carbon amp. However, that's the "on paper" look at things. CRBN has a totally different game they're playing. The presentation is so diffused compared to 009 that it has an extraordinary "filled-in" effect. As mentioned before, the bubble of the soundstage is perhaps half(?) the size of the Sr009s, but it has the illusion of seeming like it can create sound in all directions within it (up/down, diagonal), where the Stax sr-009s is more like a straight string from ear-to-ear, and images appear highly separate on that string. I heard a song on the CRBN where an instrument moved from the back of my head to the front ... don't think I've ever listened to any headphone capable of such an effect. Instruments blend together, but in a musical way that enhances the harmony. Voices, for whatever reason, cut through the separation better and sound tonally correct. I find myself less fatigued, tapping my foot more, enjoying music. This headphone has a lot of soul.

Joanne made some Lemon Bars And thanks to the other Brits, there were a selection of Choccie Biccies

Home made, Thai Yellow Curry with Salmon.

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/orange-glazed-cranberry-bread/ And Tea!

Recovery Deck Brunch

Fish & Chips (twice!) @ https://www.prooflab.com/pages/hook-fish-co-at-proof-lab-beer-garden

Fried chicken hash from Hummingbird Cafe.

Different times https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca5qGAypgER/?utm_medium=copy_link

RIP to Charles Entenmann, baked goods legend; but interesting read regarding some other things he did... https://www.newsday.com/long-island/obituaries/charles-entenmann-funeral-bakery-legacy-1.50531126 92 years old, and a good life I'd say....

Ukrainian children’s hospital completely wiped out by Russian bombing.

Cool. No need to worry. "The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Wednesday that there was no need for immediate alarm over a loss of power at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, but left clear that the situation around the site of the world’s largest nuclear power disaster was deteriorating. The United Nations agency said on Twitter that the plant, which has been occupied by Russian troops since the early days of the invasion, had suffered a loss of power that violated a “key safety pillar” for the site of the 1986 leak. But the agency added that it saw “no critical impact on safety” at this time because the amount of water in cooling ponds and around radioactive waste was sufficient, even without continuous power to the plant." https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/03/09/world/ukraine-russia-war/chernobyl-power-outage-nuclear-plant

It's projects like these that keep me loving my chosen career path after some 40 years. On a sad note, I received my first negative criticism from clients this week. And it was from two gay men. It was a project that I didn't have a whole lot to do with, but have been there several times to do some small finish projects and knock off items on their punch list. They've turned in at least a dozen punch lists over a few months time, even though they've been asked to look everything over and get all concerns covered on one list. They've also signed off on many of the items I've completed from those lists. Yesterday my boss Ciaran showed me a text where they actually asked him specifically not to send me to their house anymore, as many items on the list I've only made worse. Ciaran has explained to me that he believes they're trying to not pay the balance of what's left on their contract, and therefore trying to create issues that don't exist. While I know that happens, it still hurts my feelings. Not only have I not received any negative reviews from clients before, they usually sing my praises to the bosses. Ciaran told me it's ridiculous and they can fuck off. He's personally seen the work I've performed there, still I can't help obsessing over it. I feel betrayed by my own people. Bitchy, little queens! Funny enough, Kathryn, the owner of the bookstore was there when he read the text to me. She's was furious, and has been stewing over it more than myself. Several times today she's pointed out things I've done that she says are works of art. She knows that it bothers me. Stupid I know, but it upsets me that they're more than willing to smear my reputation over a few dollars that they know they actually owe.