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Yea, I don’t get the spreading the blame at all. Jada has alopecia, not stage four cancer. She’s struggled, but “became friends” with it last year. She no longer hides it and clearly going for a strong bald look now. The joke was a softball, that’s what they do at these shows, and Will initially laughed at it (rewatch). And he was protecting his wife how exactly? He probably just sabotaged both their careers. What a ridiculous mock manhood. That family, and I’m including Jaden here (I don’t know enough about Willow and should we mention the infidelities and hidden first family?), has been fucked up for a long time (while pretending to be the perfect Hollywood family). This was Will exploding. Simple as that. If that set him off what wouldn’t next time? And the speech he gave for Best Actor a few seconds later “love makes you do crazy things” sounded exactly like the justification court testimony of every boyfriend who’s killed their girlfriend. I can’t figure out if I hope he is banned from all future award shows or they book Ricky Gervais next year with the request he only makes jokes about the Smiths. Well, maybe let him make fun of CODA too. EDIT: His acceptance speech is even worse than it sounded like from reports. I don't pretend to understand the pressures he feels, but Will Smith as savior is a bit much. Who's "the devil" in this speech? Vessel and Ambassador of Love? And still giving him a standing ovation?

Lost Not Forgotten Archives: Live in NYC - 1993 Dream Theater 2022 https://album.link/us/i/1603690904 I have been seeing a trend recently of releasing live albums. Not a recording of anything recent (for reasons), but of an old concert. Maybe it is just the artists that I follow, and the fact that I follow and listen to a lot of new albums these days (thx streaming) At first, I was like cool, they released the John Coltrane Live in Seattle recording. But since I noticed it, I started to see more and more of these releases. Now when looking through the new releases, I first think yay, a new album. Oh, it is a live release from 15-30 years ago. It wasn't good enough to release at the time, but now it is fair game? Not that I am really complaining, I really enjoy this well recorded performance. But I also feel that it is a little, we have to release something, and we have not been in the studio, so here listen to this.

Will and Jada Smith?

I went down several internet rabbit holes this weekend. The first was rare versions of the white album by the Beatles. Given that it's arguably the most famous album by the most famous rock n roll band of all time, I expected some doozies. I found fewer than expected, but I did discover a few notable examples: The 1982 MFSL half speed master shouldn't surprise anyone. TBH I expected a 4 record version, maybe at 45RPM. The 1968 US mispress from the wrong master is something I remember hearing about but had never bothered to actually look at. I'm vaugely curious what it sounds like. There are a number of vintage open reel versions: 1968 UK mono, 1968 UK stereo, 1968 US stereo and 1970 US stereo. Weirdly, none of these are that well regarded among analogue snobs. US and UK stereo '68 suffer from lousy mixes and poor mastering. 1970 US has better mastering but has all sorts of edits to the songs to cut time. Yuck. This is where things get weird. There are a couple PlayTape versions, which is some weird cousin of the 8-track. There was also an initial version on 4 track cartridge, which was a format I'd never heard of before. I asked a friend of mine who is enough older than me to remember it and he said (twice) "Madman Muntz!" to which I said "WAT." and then saw just how far the rabbit hole went. Earl William "Madman" Muntz was a man who was (in)famous in the mid 20th century for selling anything any everything. He designed (borrowing heavily of course) his own radios, TVs, tape format and even a car called the Muntz Jet. He was married 7 times, dated Phyllis Diller and was friends with Dick Clark. I was peripherally aware of him because I saw one of his Muntz TVs at an antique auction in the late 80s. At that time my father didn't deal in TVs so he had no interested in it. I did a YouTube search for Muntz and found this: An entire documentary on him that's an hour and 47 minutes. I'm sure it will exceed the interest of ...everyone on HC, but I found it fascinating. The car was pretty cool looking, at any rate. Next up: the horror if AI generated faces and music.

Ricky Gervais retweeted

Sounds like the Baftas were even more fun. Rebel Wilson made light of the fact that Smith wasn't present to collect his best actor prize when she hosted the Bafta Film Awards in London earlier this month. "Will Smith won for King Richard, but I thought his best performance over the past year was being OK with all his wife's boyfriends," she joked from the stage, a reference to the couple's apparently open relationship. After an audible gasp from the crowd, the Australian comic added: "What? Come on, he didn't show up."

On the plus side, we'll have plenty of meme fuel for the foreseeable future. General internet savagery: You might have to say this one out out. Minecraft: TF2: Not to mention #BlackPeopleTwitter A couple serious points:

Happy tamper arrived (wish engagement ring would be so quick, but it routed through the awful Chicago facility so I’ll probably be married before it does). The Happy is very well made. It’s very clever. Its well designed. It has great packaging. It’s easy to use. It’s comfortable. It’s… sort of happy. Is it worth the money? Of course not; it’s espresso dork equipment: it should be $50, not $125. Is it worth it over the Normcore, which is half the price? No, of course not. But the Happy is easy to adjust and the Normcore is a bit of a pain. And I honestly prefer a palm tamper, though the Normcore is an excellent tamper. Was the Happy a waste of money? Yes; it’s home espresso. My container garden is a waste of money. Having a cat is a waste of money. It’s a hobby. Would I recommend it? Yes. It’s very clever. But not if you care about wasting money, which is a completely reasonable thing to care about. But I don’t think not wasting money on espresso gear is the target audience. Plus it’s happy!

^ Ding, ding, ding... I couldn't have summed up my own views better.

Will Smith has had several homophobic incidents in his past. Maybe he'll confront them now that it looks like Jaden is most likely gay. Chris Rock has been an asshole for decades, and has admitted to some pretty foul behavior. I can understand wanting to slap Chris Rock into another dimension, but that's a complete loss of control at the very worst time. I think it tells us a lot about his issues.

I felt very sorry for Checo, he had bad luck with the safety car right after his box visit. Leclerc is a clever guy Very entertaining race, looks like this season is going to be disputed. Finally.

I think both of them are assholes.

For cutting small things I have this cute saw: https://www.proxxon.com/en/micromot/27160.php The soldering pins I source from a German distributor... similar things should be available everywhere: https://www.reichelt.de/de/en/soldering-pins-1-mm-pack-of-100-rtm-1-100-p15321.html The corresponding lugs are these here: https://www.reichelt.de/de/en/solder-lugs-1-mm-tin-plated-pack-of-100-vt-rf-1-100-p231422.html

smelting time?

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Ca7gcT4gz1O/?utm_medium=copy_link

Impressive to see Max beat the Ferraris. That kid can drive. Glad no missiles fell on the track during the GP. My favorite driver after watching the Netflix series is Pierre. I’ll buy one of his jerseys if he is able to make a podium this year.

Must be some difference in the components somewhere between both channels. I would do a diode test on all the sands and check that all resistors have been soldered where they should be (if not measured one by one prior to soldering).

I've posted this before, but Carl Sagan's commentary is worth repeating here. The image is called Pale Blue Dot, and was taken by Voyager 1 from about the same distance Neptune (6 billion km). Although the Earth is clearly blue, it is actually only 0.12 of a pixel in Voyager's camera. "From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."

Because, reasons. Sonic Highways Foo Fighters 2014 https://album.link/us/i/910701272 RIP - Taylor

https://www.swatch.com/en-en/stores-bioceramic-moonswatch.html 11 versions (9 planets, the moon, the sun) $260 each...Saturday in person, limit 2...might go on sale online at a later date...

While there are sources too numerous to cite for beans the fact is that some experimentation is required, at least for me anyway. One, some beans and their flavor profile simply do not work for espresso for me. Two, some suppliers are so inconsistent in what is available that there’s no way to have consistently good coffee (I have definitely found beans that I don’t like for either espresso or coffee). So for me it was about finding a reliable source with enough choices and supply that I know what I’m getting. Like every other vice in life (it seems) coffee has gotten radically more expensive in the last 10+ years and for me, my sweet spot is in the $15-$20/lb range with medium or darker roasts that are not depicted as “sweet” or “fruity”, generally speaking.

Blue Banisters Lana Del Rey 2021 https://album.link/us/i/1584675130 Example:

I bought a pair of these headphones because I really wanted to see how good they could be and to support this new comer. My experience is pretty much similar to Birgir's. I like the build quality. The clamping force on the head isn't that much, which is a good thing. However, it can be a bit too loose. The headphones almost fell out of my head a few times. About the sound, they sound very similar to my Omega clone. I might be a bit bias, but my Omega clone has just a bit better bass extension. Overall, I would say that the phones are very nicely built. The headband can use some improvement. The price, IMO, is a bit pricey putting it in a similar price range as the Stax SR007.

I've had my set for over a month now and I would take them over the SR-009's but then again... never liked the 009's. I've been meaning to write up some impressions for the last couple of weeks so now might just be the time. First of the build quality is outstanding which means they are pretty heavy but yeah... very well made. The only issue I've run into is that there is a tiny bit of play where the forks attach to the cups but after a month of daily use they seem to be no worse for wear so probably not a long term issue either. I would also like some strain relief on the cables as they leave the cups (the 007Mk1 issues spring to mind) and on the plug but these are not easy to do on small scale build. They ideally have to be injection molded and well... that isn't cheap. Still this is me and I'm picky... 😉 The packaging is also superb and small touches like the markings on the cable splitter are appreciated. The fit is very much SR-Omega so a bit loose on the head and they have almost slid off a couple of times, usually when I'm lost in assembling some PCB boards or something like that and forgot they are there. Not really and issue under normal use. Now for the sound, same system as usual, Denafrips Terminator dac feeding a Carbon CC. I've yet to try the other set of earpads so they have the stock set attached... I think. Anyway... the set they shipped with. TL:DR, I like them a lot though I wouldn't call them an SR-Omega clone...they very much their own thing. Balanced sound signature over all but not quite as warm and relaxed as the Omega. There is a small bite to the mid-range that bothers me a bit on some recordings but far away from the SR-009 level of aggression. So not as smooth as I'd like it but that smoothness was also the Omega's downfall in some areas. Bass is not up to the SR-007 levels of depth, control and quality but perfectly fine and superior to any of the 009's. It's linear and extended but not the best there is. Still this is a more relaxed sounding set compared to the 007's so that is to be expected. Sound stage is controlled, yet expansive but can't quite pull off the layering trick the 007's can do so well but again... not really a complaint. Overall I don't think it is fair to compare them to the SR-Omega due to their status and the sad fact that so many Omegas out there sound far from stock. Bad earpads, badly treated drivers etc. all change how the old ones sound like while this one is nice and fresh... also not silly money. So very much recommended and it's always welcome when I have no complaints when testing something new. Small bite to the midrange that bothers me from time to time, not quite as engrossing as the SR-007's but yeah... just a different type of sound and nothing wrong with that. Finally, this set has been running for well over a month now and the amp used is being subject to a lot of power cycles (i.e. I'm using the time at home to do some stress tests) and they have had no complaints. No imbalance issues, charge up instantly and dead silent drivers.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/taylor-hawkins-death-foo-fighters_n_623e86dfe4b0e340f6a3374c RIP Taylor Hawkins, Foo Fighters drummer, at age 50. This one hurts a bit.