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I'm safe and good, and as per the official statement "we continue with our mission to deliver best-in-class headphones to recording professionals, audiophiles, and gamers."

Madison, Wisconsin

Funny enough I was independently listening to: {Great Minds} Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow Rainbow 1975 https://album.link/i/1440924592 Example: Good 'early' Dio, even though he was deep into his 30s at this point.

https://archive.org/details/billystrings2023-08-24.4017vl Saw Billy Strings last night at the Knoxville Coliseum. Crowd was obnoxious but the show was brilliant.

I certainly get the big issues with both parties, but I don't understand minimizing the severity of their differences or equalizing the blame. Using your example of abortion, if one party wanted to ban abortions and the other to force abortions, it would be admirable to aim towards the center, but that's not remotely the situation. One side wants to ban the procedure in increasing severity and the other is protecting the option of choosing, and yes, keeping options right up to very late term abortions because of special cases. All the recent changes are on side. I don't deny it's become an identify issue for both sides, but I also don't know what it is like to be a woman and have body integrity rights removed after half a century. We tend to expand rights, not restrict them. Apply the same to lots of other recently discussed issues. Zero Democrats are requiring everyone to be trans. Many Republicans are trying for no one to be recognized as such. I don’t get the middle.

Crushed through the 75% marker today, pressing hard on family to step up to the bat to get me closer to the finish line. You folks, as always, are simply amazing.

Maybe this is how it went down?

The internet has been busy: Bonus:

^ I'm the opposite. Although I've heard some of Rainbows songs, I never got into them. I listened to their first album. It had Man On The Silver Mountain... and that's about the only song worth listening to. This one, after Richie Blackmoore fired everyone but Dio, hits the mark. The song Stargazer is a masterpiece. In fact, The Charismatic Voice, reviewed that song on YouTube which sent me down this path. The song: These two in awe.

https://www.headamp.com/blogs/news/sony-buys-audeze The information they sent to dealers says that the company will remain independent with the same management and they'll continue to develop gaming products for non-Sony platforms

America: Greatest Hits 180g LP I've always liked these guys' vocals/choirs...almost as much as Cross, Stills and Nash

Rainbow - Rising

MSM Schmidt - Life (2017) Some sort of jazz fusion that I found by serendipity, and enjoying so far. It features Allan Holdsworth (a crazy guitarist that I fancy for unknown to me reasons). Available on many platforms even Qobuz.

Once again this year I'm prepping to ride a century in support of the Kelly Brush Foundation. Between Zwifting as required by the rainiest spring in history, the MTBs, and getting outside as much as possible this summer I'm piling on the miles in preparation this year and should in proper form before the event. Once again this year it'll be an in-person ride up in VT, with friends mostly coming from near-by so we should have a strong crew of 8 with some riding the 50 and most doing the full 100 miles. For me this is the 12th century that I've done in support of either Northeast Passage or Kelly Brush and I'm hoping the recent trend of good weather continues. So the mission remains the same, I'm trying to raise a bunch of money again this year with a goal of $3,000. As usual, all of the donations are tax deductible and maybe some legislation will get passed this year to make that more meaningful but really, I'm hoping the motivation isn't just to get a write off. So for those that are interested, here's the link to my personal fund raising page - Nate's Fundraising Page. Any donation large or small is very much appreciated. A bit about KBF - they are a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting individuals with spinal cord injuries in finding ways to get out and enjoy an active lifestyle. For me, this is a cause close to my heart. I love the outdoors and the freedom to explore it in a variety of ways and have worked with organizations like the KBF for the last twenty years to help others do the same. Last year's crew with Kelly at the starting line.

Said me to a twink NEVER! 😘

We're not done. AI generated mugshot made hours before. It's a good example of what AI gets wrong. Now two three(!) stars from Home Alone 2 have had their mugshot released. Also this is grossly unfair to Mac. There's been a lot of examples like this floating about. This is unfair to 80s one hit wonders. Also, I quite like that song.

Besides he has to help me rebuild my PSU for my ES1 first..

1. Honest gun control. Not everybody should own a gun. 2. Congress to pass abortion laws. Spell out limits and exceptions. 3. Term limits 4. Limit the ability of government employees becoming lobbyists. Also some limits on who they go to work for. Example- former Head of cybersecurity now working for Chinese telecom firm known For hacking. 5. Roll back many of the extreme government powers created under the patriot act. 6 Set nationwide standards for education. Dumbing down requirements helps no one. 7. Roll back someone the extreme mandatory sentencing guidelines of the 90's. 8. Decriminalize pot. But regulate it. Not good for minors. Good for PTSD and some mental issues like extreme stress,etc. 9. Reign in some district attorneys on catch and release. Prosecute, but allow the convicted to get help to change their behaviors. If they don't, off to prison they go. 10. We aren't the leaders of the free world. Put away the soap box and deal with the reality of things. 99% of everything we try to improve we F up. If you can't fix Memphis, (example) you can fix a country thousands of miles away. 11. Stop drugging school kids. All those ADA kids of the 90's turned into the addicts of today. I saw too many of my son's friends go down this path. 12. Control spending. A broke government can help no one. Yes, debt matters. That's some big issues for me. I'm sure at least a couple will piss off someone here. I'm old and miserable. Sorry for the rant. I'll go back to yelling at the TV set.

Wayne Shorter: Zero Gravity on Prime. First episode was great.

$.11 cent 4.25x4.25 wall tiles from HD, sprayed with white paint for the Titanium Dioxide and engrave and then clean off the paint in a bowl of thinner. Sold 136 of these yesterday to neighbors at $32/set of four or $10 each. $15 in tiles, $6 in paint and then the design work.

^ Don't tell me what you are against. Tell me what you are actually for, and how you intend to achieve it.

Of course we all have our own agendas and our own priorities. But let's face the fact that at this point in time, no one President is going to be able to accomplish everything we or even he/she may want. Accomplishing anything in a bipartisan manor today is almost miraculous. As a gay man, I'm just constantly amazed that there would be a person in the oval office that would be attentive to my needs and wants in any way whatsoever. I just never expected it in my lifetime, and now there have been two Presidents to show me that I matter. Nevermind being a woman that would like to be able to make her own decisions concerning her own body. The idea that any Republican would believe a majority of women would like to hand that authority back to a group of men with their own interest at heart is ludicrous! And if I were an addict, I myself would find a bit of comfort in a President that did everything he could to help his own Son's struggles with addiction. If I were concerned about the homeless, I would vote as completely opposite of the Republican party as possible. I think most of us would like to see much less war, but war isn't going away anytime in the near future. The best that I can hope for is to have a responsible person in charge of those decisions and the big Silver briefcase. Again, I'm not discrediting anyone for their political leanings. I'm just stating my reasons for my own.

Damnit. I hope my LCD-XC doesn't die anytime soon.

I myself am pretty happy with what Biden has accomplished. And I'm absolutely ecstatic to have a human being with a moral code and empathy for others back in the Whitehouse. I'm looking forward to 4 more years of Biden.

Added some more

It is clearly why Sony bought them. Expect them to to change their focus.

hopefully he has stock

Feel free to add me as a friend on steam, Rob! I'll follow along with your progress by looking at the steam achievements. I love talking about the game with people but I hate to spoil things. The joy of making discoveries in this game is unlike almost any other game I've ever played. Link to my steam profile: https://s.team/p/kwb-rtw/kbggtbtj

I've been busily going through photos I shot on film in in '07 and '08. I used a variety of different cameras, and many film stocks. Many of the exposures are lousy and more often than not the scans are bad as well. Eventually I will buy a scanner and correct some of these problems. Over a long enough timeline I will buy a slide scanner and get revisit the expensive, risky and hugely rewarding world of Fuji Velvia 50. I've got several posts to make about my old film shots, but they're going to have to wait for the moment. While going through scans of a roll of Fuji Superia X-Tra ISO 800 color print film, I found a number of frames I took with my then new to me Meyer-Optik Orestegor 300mm F/4. I've mentioned the insanity of this lens repeatedly. Sadly, my copy has grown some fungus and haze in the 15 years since I last used it regularly. I was not great at taking notes about exposures I took for the first few rolls of film I shot, which is a fact that comes back to bite me in the ass every time I revisit them. By the time I got my second Canon film body (and EOS Rebel K2, which I still have) I began recording time, date, lens, exposure settings etc. For this shot I wrote "Frame 3: Edgartown, 10/06/08 - 2:35PM - Orestor 135mm @ F/6.7 1/2000 - tree + reflection vert. oops shot!" That means I didn't plan on taking that photo. For several reasons (mostly having to do with the crap shoot is that is shooting color print film), I like it better than the shot I meant to take. Most modern SLRs display metering info when one half presses the shutter button. This is a super handy feature. It can be difficult to avoid a full press sometimes, triggering an unwanted exposure. In the digital world, this is irrelevant. When shooting film, it's a PITA and can be an expensive one. I've done it a bunch of times. This summer I can count two accidental exposures I did with the little Leica C3 I got a the second hand shot as well as at least two more with the Rebel K2 which I have pressed back into service. Even though we live in a "post tag" world now because of abuse by things like bots and spammers, I still obsessively tag every photo I post to Flickr (itself a site that is a relic of the past). My personal favorite is Taken While Driving, each frame of which represents me endangering myself and others. Yesterday I decided I needed a name for "oopsie" photos I didn't plan on taking. August 2005, which I was slightly past the "shiny bit toward subject" level of photography. I think this was at Landmark College, my old alma mater. October of that same year. The PowerShot S60 I had slipped out of my hand and went for an impromptu bungee jump on its wrist strap. I decided on the term "accidental exposure." I checked Flickr for the term. It turns out that "Accidental Exposure" and "Accidental Male Exposure" (which comes up in the same search) are commonly used terms for specific types of dick picks, and there are thousands of them on Flickr. There's at least one group dedicated to the subject and one user who had that as a name. I'm ...not opposed to consenting adults who want to share dick picks amongst themselves, but I don't want my clumsy shutter presses getting lost in the sea of old man peens. So I went with "Accidental Shutter Release" instead. This has been your "there are a lot of dicks on the internet" moment.

I waged war with a family of rats that were under the garden shed. I bought a rat trap, put some chocolate on. Next morning trap snapped shut, chocolate gone, no rat. Tried cheese - same thing. So I bent the trigger so that if you sneezed it snapped. Chocolate on. Same damned thing. The darned things are really clever - must have been using a stick as a tool to trip the trap so they could eat the goodies. The neighbour bought a "humane" trap, and all he caught was a hedgehog. Then my cat got on the case, and worked here way through the lot. Came in each time looking a bit battered (rats fight back), tail high and proud. On the deck a half eaten rat. Repeat four times. Rat problem gone

Gene Ammons, Boss Tenor (Rudy Van Gelder Remaster)

Take your time and baby your throat. It's now all irritated and doesn't trust food, air, liquid, etc. Make sure to take slow inhales and fast but not damaging exhales, and let your mucus do it's work (bringing up the last bits out of your lungs). I wish you feel completely better with no side effects soon.

The key is that the thing being shoved into the hole is not too big, nor too small.

Some photos using my tele lenses (sorry I'm a real newbie in photography): The last month, I used a Canon ef 70-300mm f4-5.6 is ii nano usm: This week I used a Canon ef 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6l is usm: I still have to practice a lot to achieve acceptable results, especially with the 100-400, although the weather, the haze and the forest fires don't help much.

Today I got another manual focus 135mm prime lens in the mail. Ya rly. This makes ...I've lost count. It's a Japanese made Suntar Auto 135mm F/2.8. The copy I got is very clean. I stuck an M42/EF adapter on it and ambled around my yard during the golden hour. First thing of note. The minimum focus distance of the Suntar is eight feet. This thing is more farsighted than I am. For comparison, the Orestor can do just over 4 feet, the Tair does 1.2 meters (feet are capitalist propaganda), and the the Sonnar can do 3.3 feet ...and that's just the 135mms I have on this desk. What that meant is I had to completely rethink the way I shoot. Goofing around with DoF during the golden hour. I think this shot was around F/8. Next major point. The Suntar only has full stop aperture increments. Hello? What decade is it? The Great War called. Jerry's up to his old tricks again. This is a colossal limitation that will greatly impact how I take photos. Using a modern digital body, I can of course futz with shutter speed and ISO in 1/3 stops to compensate. I've been spoiled by all my vintage glass with its free floating aperture settings. This one was either F/5.6 or F/8, I do not remember. The Suntar has a not insignificant CA problem wide open, but it seems to lose it quickly when stopped down. I need to test this more, of course. Another bottle shot. This is documentation of me trying to make sense of the minimum focus distance. I will not be using the Suntar for close up images of small objects. TBH, this is not a problem. I already have a small army of manual 135mms and while each has their own quirks and character, they're all good at capturing a bottle sized object. The Suntar is an odd beast, and I will have to move outside my normal comfort zone to make use of it. I should mention I got it for $18 shipped, which is less than I'll pay for the UV filter I eventually put on it ...just as soon as I figure out its filter size (it isn't marked.)

This will be a long drawn out post. Just a fair warning for those with better ways to spend 15 minutes or so. I hadn't posted about this here, but the last couple of months have been extremely difficult for my Mother. As it happens her husband stopped making the payments on the motor home (unbenounced to her) that they lived in. To make matters worse, it was close to being paid off. She had 3 days notice of repossession (they're both in their 80's). Couldn't find a way to stop that from here. But I was able to find a used 40' bumper pull trailer in great shape, very close to her. She was able to make that purchase, and the trailer was supposed to be delivered in 3 days time. So just a short hotel stay. That turned out to actually take over 3 weeks and a $2000 hotel stay. She's on a very fixed income. Then, after locking up her old motor home and actually cutting the water and electric hook ups, the bank decided that the motor home wasn't worth repossessing. The giant slide-out had rusted frozen after nearly 20 years in the South Texas beach weather. Also with my Mother and her husband both being legally blind, they had no idea that they were living in a roach infested, mold infested, horrible environment. They had a pretty bad roof leak. My Mom has COPD, and could barely walk from one end of the 32' motorhome, to the other. So, this frozen up motor home that wouldn't start, and was going to cost almost $4000 to be removed from the RV park they live in, the bank decided to abandon at the RV park, leaving my Mother on the hook for removal. Mind you, the bank held the title, left the motorhome locked and unusable (no hook ups). After talking to several businesses, my Mother discovered that no one would even consider moving it without a title. Long story longer, the bank wasn't able to get away with their despicable activities. I fully understand that the mortgage was behind some eight thousand dollars ( however, even though he had missed 8 payments, he had made 6 payments after that. Payments that the bank had accepted). And again, they were literally a few payments away from being payed off, minus the 8 back payments. She did end up having to make rent on two lots for one month, once the new trailer was finally delivered, and the old motor home was still in the old lot space. So, to catch up... They found a company to haul away the motor home with a giant wrecker. This company charged the bank (the legal owner) space rent, while they started refurbishing the motor home. The bank settled with them for lot rent and removal fees. The bank also settled with the RV park for lot space rent (2 months) which the park gave to my Mother. The RV sales company that turned a 3 day delivery into 3 weeks has agreed to reimburse my Mother for 80% of the hotel bill, and the hook ups that they were supposed to do and didn't, which my Mom had to pay someone else to do. Also the payment on the trailer was knocked down $130 a month. They told her that to qualify for the loan, she'd need an extended warranty. Turns out that was bullshit. And she had only financed $7000, and paid cash for the other $11,000. People really like to fuck over Senior citizens! Today I got the news that my Mother qualified for Medicaid. This also qualified her for a helper to come in 14 hrs. a week to clean, do laundry and all the shopping. My Mother and her husband can't drive anymore. He's almost fully blind, and she's loosing her sight pretty quickly ( both have macular degeneration). The Dr. has told her that her COPD is vastly improved (no mold or roach poop for a few months now). And finally, South Texas has no real transit help for Seniors or handicapped individuals. The bus they paid for to get to Dr. appointments is now also covered by Medicaid. That and they qualified for Meals on Wheels (more of a logistics challenge than a financial one). So, what was a complete pain in the ass, and absolutely despicable behavior by the bank (at least in my opinion), has now turned into a bit of a rainbow after a bad storm. I can't thank my Cousin enough, who spent hour after hour moving, boxing, cleaning and redelivering all of the roach infested clothing and belongings. Also pairing down a ton of crap that they just didn't need. Happy ending!

While Tice was boosting his health, I was endangering mine(!) Not so Cool Story Bro: Tonight I had some vegetarian quiche, which was good but kind of bland. I added some Tapatio hot sauce to make it more interesting. I took a bite that was bigger than perhaps it should have been. A bit went down the wrong pipe. A bit soaked in hot sauce went down the wrong pipe. I felt instant irritation and blockage. I spat out what I had been trying to chew (gross, but this was an emergency.) I stood up, I began coughing frantically and pounding myself on the chest. I stumbled toward the sink while my (sainted, octogenarian) mother watched on in horror. To her credit, she did not panic. There is nothing quite as scary as the feeling of "I need to take a breath now" followed by "I can't." I sort-of knew I was going to be alright, as I wasn't genuinely choking so much as having a reaction to my attempts at breathing hot sauce. Eventually (mere seconds, but it felt like time dilation at light speed) I got a few haggard breaths in. I hacked up "I'm okay" and kept coughing for a bit longer. Eventually I managed to drink some water and in time even finish my dinner. I'm "fine" now, but my throat feels like something mean got at it. It's been quite an evening.