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This is just plain beautiful! All pales in comparison 💕

Remember when I mentioned 19th century railroad bridges a few months ago? A part of my re-visiting of photos I took in 2010, I ran a few shots I took of the Chester Arches and water below through modern software. Luminar 4 is a fine tool if one wrangles it properly. I'm still not much enamored by Luminar Neo. Watch out for that train! Tune in next time for a walk around town with a not very good Tamron superzoom "vacation" lens.

Non Fiction - Piano Concerto in Four Movements by Hania Rani (2025) https://open.qobuz.com/album/xnmzga8qy8r2a Not an Example - but a mini doc: Released Yesterday. A pretty serious work. It will be interesting to see how this settles for my in the future.

I don't know anything about D&D or One Piece, but I can tell you're a good dad!

Happy autumn everybody...

Maybe….

Working through my FLAC catalog and doing a little hunt and peck for some of my favourites. (currently in A ) Anoushka Shankar & Karsh Kale - Breathing Under Water Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra - Who is this America? Archive - Londinium Asian Dub Foundation - Community Music

Great shots. Back from another PhotoFair, just throw shit on the table edition. Also their 50th anniversary. I was good and only bought two $5 “tabletop” old tripods (the only type I seem to use anymore). That justifies buying the ridiculous new lens I really want, right?

My reward for getting up and getting my laundry done early. A scramble of orange bell pepper, shallot, tomato, avocado and eggs. Bacon, biscuits and fried potatoes with shallots. Iced coffee with Irish Cream Liqueur.

The Bleak Shop of Old Stuff (2011): Featuring some strangely familiar old faces...

I find that both endearing and annoying.... I first noticed it with someone at my last company (back in 2011). She did talk like that with the "question inflection" at the end of many sentences. We started emulating her, doing the American Pie "Bandcamp Girl" voice that also does that inflection. Unfortunately, we found it started sticking, and we were doing it normally. So we weened our way off of that. I still occasionally hear myself doing it, and try to adjust as quickly as I can.

Our daughter, having lived in Australia for the last 10 years, developed the characteristic rising inflexion at the end of each sentence (listen to the Wombat walkers). She then decided that it sounded just wrong as an ex-pat Brit, and eradicated it totally from the way she speaks.

Learning about the Melungeons.

Qobuz exists. Just sayin.

In my forever quest to make electrostatics from cheap dynamic headphones, I just got a pair of these, the Kiwi Ears something or the other: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005009234464157.html?pvid=c3232602-d097-4531-93f9-6433fea6c6ac&pdp_ext_f={"ship_from":"CN","sku_id":"12000048952692658"}&scm=1007.25281.473483.0&scm-url=1007.25281.473483.0&scm_id=1007.25281.473483.0&pdp_npi=6%40dis!USD!US %2469.99!US %2459.49!!!69.99!59.49!%402101529317631651718268540ec641!12000048952692658!gdf!IS!134806951!X!1!0!n_tag%3A-29919%3Bd%3A824946d7%3Bm03_new_user%3A-29895&mainPicRatio=1&spm=a2g0o.tm1000037862.2920499520.d0&aecmd=true They seem to be good contenders for this, dual cable entry, earpads which will work nicely for electrostatic duty and they are dirt cheap. The baffle has a row of holes around the driver face but I'd use 4 of them to mount the new drivers and the first PCB will cover up the rest. Some light glue there would help it seal better. This does mean the baffle won't have to be modified at all, just pull out the drivers (which is a pain) and I also took off the foam but it's not that difficult. I've already modified my Superlux/Beyerdynamic drivers to fit them and I'll order some PCB's up tomorrow. The only issue I can see, aside from the usual baffle woes, is the close to zero clearance to fit the mounting screws for the drivers. The earpads are on a bayonet piece and there is no distance between it and the baffle. It is possible to use counter sunk screws and just modify the baffle to fit them flush so that will be my first test. The opening is roughly 46mm and the drivers are 67mm in diameter with a 55mm opening to clear a raised part of the inside of the baffle.

No, that's not what I mean. Your little orange haired gnome can stuff it.

Wait, what? Canada? Don't you mean the 51st state? 😝

Recently I had been toying with the idea of streaming and making videos, but had been dragging my feet on actually starting... Then around a week ago I was watching elybeatmaker, a streamer I enjoy, and he decided to raid me when he finished. Ended up being an absolute blast and I think I was actually decent at it. Figured this might be a good way to reconnect with some of the friends I've left behind along the way and rekindle/reapply some of my previous 'obsessions'. Not to say that I don't listen to music anymore, but I'm not as picky as I once was and tend to spin vinyl with the kids on some modest speakers while the ThunderCougerFalconBi... *ahem* McAlister Audio Massive Attack sadly collects dust for the most part. Hoping to change that soon though. Anyway, the shameless plug: [philodox42 on Twitch] I've only had three streams so far, and one was largely a technical test. I'd recommend watching the first bit of the long one as that's when the raid hit and you can see me scramble. I'm actually pretty close to Affiliate after that raid, so a follow would really help and it would be a great way to catch up with some old friends. I can also post here the next time I stream in case anyone wants to chat. Doesn't have to have anything to do with Minecraft... and if anyone here does play Minecraft, lmk and I can send you an invite to my server. PS. If the links aren't allowed, please strip them from the post.

Ok, I think we have our adventuring party for Jack's bday: Jack - Human (regular, which in this gets +1 to all ability scores in this!?) Warrior (based on Fighter) / Elemental Weapon Subtype + Devil Fruit (he actually rolled and got Gomu Gomu and is so happy) West - Mink(Tiger) Rogue / Thief Subtype 4 Friends: Fish Person (Shark) Martial Artist (based on Monk) / Fish Man Karate Subtype Human (Human Giant, think Garp) Chemist (based on Druid) / Genetics Subtype Cyborg Tinkerer (based on Wizard) / Robotics Subtype Human (Variant, for skills and a Haki feat) Marksman (based on Ranger) / Bounty Hunter Subtype If anyone familiar with One Piece can weigh in on this it would be appreciated as I've only really watched the first season.

Thanks but I have a local company that does 3D printing for me plus almost all of the PCB companies offer it for next to nothing.

I miss when the Decemberists were good.

At least it's not ipodBJ

I just checked them and the channel imbalance has drifted a bit but not as bad as they used to get which was completely dead. I'm not sure why they are getting worse though, could be because the coating is too thick. I could barely touch the diaphragm from fear it would rip off the ring completely. I might go in again for a second try or just design new rings to hold the diaphragms. The coating on the DIY sets seems to hold up just fine as I'm currently listening to the Senn HD600e and they are perfectly balanced. The EX-1a is a great and there are still ways around those pesky tariffs for those so inclined... In Stax related news, I just stretched my first ever SR-009 replacement diaphragms tonight. I've already redesigned the spacers a bit but we'll see if these work for a first try. New dust covers and a new way to mount the earpads too which doesn't take an hour to do. These drivers were completely shot but I'll have to wait on some o-rings and screws to work any more on this project.

Thanks! I'll have to do the same with Tidal (cancelled my Spotify subscription and renewed my Tidal near the start of the boycott). They do have an EP entitled, Retrospective II Rarities, but it's only 20 minutes. Oh hai, WB. Archive, nice. (I'm still a big fan.) And yeah, I need to listen to that Hania Rani.

For me too. The first showed the same not available in your country message.

That second link worked.

I can't play the embedded version, nor know what this is, but in case others can play on YT... youtu.be/9gJq_BMVY7I?si=her4S2d9uLJj9v2e youtube.com/watch?v=ABZT8IoL2dg

Just ordered that Mustache toner from 123ink, so I'll let you know how it is.

She sure is, Key-Lime Pie Girl and I have been together since then. Good memory! Rachel remembers you as well and was part of the push for me reaching out to Renato et al. and coming back here. Takes good care of me. We actually got married recently as she wanted her Dad to walk her down the aisle (he has Parkinsons).

Digesting the Johann Johannsson Retrospective II set... ... so tonight...

God we are all getting old. Jarvis is starting to make me think of Kipling's "a rag and a bone and a hank of hair."

Years and years of hoarding!!!

This is outstanding Birgir! I think you were already doing this or talking about it back when I was active, but this is a whole other level! Also, I took a peek at your site. How do you have so many Stax sets for sale!?!? Did you buy an abandoned factory and get lucky or something!?

Famous Blue Raincoat. Songs of Leonard Cohen by Jennifer Warnes (1986) https://open.qobuz.com/album/0826663104905 Example: Very well recorded Jennifer.

Easy Fish Stew With Mediterranean Flavors

Let's see if I'm gonna have a happy birthday...

I've got a question about turn on thump with the CFA3T/Protector boards when running a subwoofer: Path is balanced/4x CFA3(T) > Protector Board > 4PDT switch (headphones or speakers). To send signal to the sub, I have two simple voltage dividers between the + of each channel and power supply ground that then go to an RCA that feeds the sub. My confusion is; why am I getting a turn-on thump when I turn the amp on when the switch is set to speakers? (No thump with balanced headphones) The protector board with it's turn on delay means the +'s aren't even connected to the speaker outputs/sub yet. Is the turn on inrush just enough to cause a big transient on the power supply ground, which is making it to the sub?