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Slapped together a console for a friends business.

Live album from the Rumors tour in '77. Pretty solid! I think Lindsay's guitar and Mic's drums sound great. The complex vocal harmonies do suffer a bit in a live setting though. Chris McVie's voice can get lost in the mix at times. https://music.apple.com/us/album/rumours-live/1696829962

Let's talk about exotic lenses. What a cute kitty. Taken with a Sony full frame body and a Meyer Optik Diaplan 100mm F/2.8. The Diaplan was sold as a projection lens, so it lacks an aperture. It's nearly identical to the Meyer Trioplan 100mm F/2.8, which is very expensive cult lens. The appeal of both is the "soap bubble" bokeh they produce. I am not convinced. Historically, Japanese photographers (the obsessive nuts who coined the term "bokeh") look down on strong rings on OOF highlights. They call that "nisen bokeh" and view it as a bad thing. I tend to agree with them. The Trioplan is a meh lens that's soft and not terribly contrasty wide open, and only okay once stopped down. There are far cheaper lenses with modern build quality available for a fraction of a price. To wit: There's a clean Trioplan 100mm F/2.8 on the 'bay right now, with its original carrying case (also clean). Seller wants $850. Bro, you can buy a real lens for that kind of money. Goddamn vidiots have driven up the price of old manuals to insane levels. [Knuckles, please not another vidiot rant.] Also on the 'bay is a completely new TTartisan 100mm F2.8 in M42 mount for $155 shipped. Don't be too surprised if I buy one of those in a couple months. On the other end of the spectrum: Mercedes car show. Taken with a full frame Sony body and their 14mm F/1.8G. That is a $1500 lens, and dare I say it a bargain for what it is. I'm not super familiar with Sony bodies, but their lens lineup is pretty spectacular. They make a 135mm F/1.8 that's superior to the legendary Canon 135mm F/2L. It's sharper and has (on paper) better color transmission. Snow in Yakitori Alley by Ben Torode on Flickr. Sony 135mm F/1.8 wide open. They also make a number of killer 35mm primes (my favorite focal length) including a $1200ish F/1.4, a significantly cheaper 35mm F1.8FE, and a Zeiss designed 35mm F/2.8 Sonnar. Sony 35mm F/1.8, wide open by Steven Kramer on Flickr. Alfa Romeo in Vancouver, taken with a Sony body and 35mm F/2.8 Sonnar, stopped down a bit. Bonus: Taken with the Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM at the wide end. Giving the Canon 16-35mm F/2.8L a run for its money. This is an audio snob site (at least on paper), and Sony's (to quote Kevin Gilmore) wireless drive-by-wire management is the stuff of legend. With that said, they are also an enormous company, and utterly dwarf Canon and especially diminutive Nikon. When they, you know, actually bother with their products they punch so hard it's scary.

Yoghurt Shop* Pizza *(A loving cup & apizza) . Italian Sausage, something Steve may be familiar with, along with other unasked questions.

Sorry, no pic. But I had the second half of a mushroom sandwich I ordered at the brewpub with Al and Claire last night. Lightly battered and fried hen of the woods mushrooms, caramelized onion jam and arugula, on a delicious roll. Delicious. BTW, why isn't anyone asking me why I'm not fat?

Customer paperwork/artwork. They are a two man web/design/marketing company. Thank you!

That's some real nice slapping! What goes in the thin drawers?

@naamanf That's really lovely -----^

Anyone seen a plane around here? I found it!

I've been immersing myself in Quantum Computing so have been listening to The New Quantum Era.

Going to have the new Thunder laser paid off by the time it gets here selling coasters.

Wheels Turn Beneath My Feet Fink 2012 https://song.link/i/562220092 << song link - Album link only had two streamers listed Example: A very well recorded set of live tunes. And very consistent mastering, considering they were from 8 different venues. I was only familiar with one tune, but was very engaged for the entire set. I might have to check recent releases.

https://stairwayfreedom.weebly.com/mill-valley--sausalito/the-famous-dipsea-steps

Banana oat milk soft serve coconut mango sundae

Hot and sour soup And an outstanding Honey Hawthorne Chicken @ https://eatmamahuhu.com/ Mill Valley

I'm in the US and I dealt with STAX directly in Japan. This was several years ago and at the time the US Stax Representative situation was a ridiculous mess, but they worked with me. I hope you can get the help you need! I dealt with a representative from Edifier. They charged $780 to replace both drivers. EDIT #2: It was a big deal that I couldn't locate the serial number and they almost didn't take it, but finally relented. I tracked the previous history of the 007s both the shop and original owner and neither had the information. EDIT #1: Here's the email names redacted: Hi Bill, Kindly note that STAX Japan has accepted your RMA order without SN provided. The estimated cost of the repair is USD780 including the cost of Sound Elements, Technical Charges, etc. Please note that this is an estimation only. The actual cost will be quoted after inspection. If you are fine with this estimation, please pay attention to the following for product sent to STAX Japan for repair: Customer can send faulty unit to STAX Japan at customer's cost. A fee of USD 65.- will be charged as inspection fee. If the customer DOES accept the repair cost quoted, the inspection fee of USD 65.- will be used to offset the repair costs. If the customer DOES NOT accept the repair cost and requests for the faulty unit to be returned, then the inspection fee of USD65.- will be charged by paypal to customer and the unit to customer's address via post will be arranged by Edifier. Any additional charges incurred for parts replacement and other requirements will be quoted after inspection for customers' acceptance. We look forward to hearing from you on the above. Thanks & best regards,

Project Brazen ... announced the launch of “Spy Valley: An Engineer’s Nuclear Betrayal” The series, hosted by award-winning intelligence and national security journalist Zach Dorfman, explores the story of a man named James Harper, a Silicon Valley engineer turned spy, and how he began selling nuclear secrets to the Soviet Bloc. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/spy-valley-an-engineers-nuclear-betrayal/id1696589693

When in Yountville* *(With apologies to Thomas Keller)

Yes and no https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/28/business/global/sonys-bread-and-butter-its-not-electronics.html

The horrors of Derna, with an estimated >20,000 dead as a result of two poorly maintained dams bursting, is alas a direct result of a state ruled over by two opposing political parties and inevitable lack of maintenance of infrastructure. That said, there have been apocalyptic storms battering central Europe and North Africa over the last month or so Madrid Spain https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/subway-train-lines-roads-closed-madrid-central-spain-after-heavy-rain-2023-09-04/ Greece https://floodlist.com/europe/greece-floods-september-2023 Bulgaria https://floodlist.com/europe/bulgaria-floods-september-2023-update Georgia https://floodlist.com/asia/georgia-floods-landslide-september-2023 Slovenia https://floodlist.com/europe/slovenia-floods-august-2023 Turkey https://floodlist.com/asia/turkey-black-sea-floods-july-2023 Russia https://floodlist.com/europe/russia-hundreds-evacuated-after-floods-damage-200-homes-in-sochi