Leaderboard

This is funny, I just bought some SRD-7's to use as donors for my own boxes. A SR-Lambda was included with one of those energizers and just look at that serial number... Aside from the foam in the earcups being crusty and the earpads having been replaced at some point, they play perfectly for a 45 year old set.

One of my past customers, who has become a friend, owns a bookstore in the City, near the ocean. She called me this morning to tell me that her reader is sick, and ask me if I could fill in. I had expressed my desire to do so a few years back, while I was remodeling the bookstore. I got here a little while ago. Early, because she has a coffee shop in the bookstore, and the coffee is phenomenal. As I was catching up with her and the employees about 75 kids have come in and settled in the big back yard. I'm really excited, but also pretty nervous. I don't know the material at all. But they're kids. I could screw up pretty bad, and still fake my way through it, hopefully! OK, I'm up in 8 minutes. Wish me luck! Oh, and Maki is here keeping all of them occupied and having the time of her life!

Al and I built a new gate onto the dungeon entrance that houses Dorothy's sex slave. The last one broke loose and busted the old gate.

Speaking of lenses and Leicas, took out the Sigma 105mm f/1.4 on the SL2 Sunday. Helped a friend shoot a band. I was second camera so zero pressure. Most of me loves the lens. My lower back is the contrarian.

Here she is, finished as of today courtesy of my LBS who did the final wiring and brake lines. As it sits, with pedals, cages, saddle, 17.3lbs. Of course we are now supposed to get snow tomorrow so it'll be a bit before I get it out for the maiden voyage. 🤬

Saw a flyover of the ISS (International Space Station) According to this https://james.darpinian.com/satellites/ (And other sources)

I decided that 20mph winds with gusts over 30 were no reason to stay inside.

Man, have I missed out on all the fun here? I have no excuse, my home office serves double-duty as my blast shelter, so even when my windows shake from Iron Dome detonations I can certainly post. I can't share all the tea here on an open forum, but I'll make a point to pop by and represent the USG perspective on what is going on. This is obviously a subject that arouses very strong feelings in many (myself included), but as a paid propagandist working in exactly this area I think I'm uniquely qualified to stick my neck out.

Just had my final autocross in the Macan . Finished 8th on PAX (time adjusted by class) in a field of 42 cars! Easily my best finish. It helped that it was cold and rainy so the GT3 and RS cars on semi-slicks were having grip issues. Weather conditions are part of racing though so I make no apologies for finishing ahead of all but one of the GT3 drivers. There was another older gentleman in his 80s driving a '21 Macan as well who smoked me and finished 3rd on PAX (missed first by 0.2s!). He was 2.5 seconds faster on about a 60 second course, so the gap was substantial. I was able to ride along with the guy and he was an amazing driver. You learn so much riding right seat when a good driver is behind the wheel. Funny thing is, he left traction/ESC control full on! He just was incredibly smooth with pedal inputs and knew how much force he could put on the steering wheel without understeering. Assuming all goes to plan, I will soon be trading the Macan in for the Boxster. She has been an amazing car, but the Boxster should be a lot more suited to the kinds of driving I want to do! I've never owned a convertible before so open top motoring should also be interesting to live with. I feel like I am going to have a lot of bad habits to un-learn after 10 years of driving AWD cars, but should be fun. 718 platform with the mid engine seems to be about as forgiving as a sports car that fast gets.

So after many weeks of diagnostics and several trips to several part stores, my truck is finally producing an acceptable amount of voltage. It settled out after this photo and running the truck for about 35 minutes to about 14.2 volts. I am happy with that. It started with me hooking up the fifth wheel, about to make a short trip and noticed that I was no longer producing electricity. I proceeded to check things out and then replaced the alternator. This of course did not fix the issue. As it turns out, all the voltage regulation is run through the computer. I tried to buy a new one of those which would have cost me $500 but nobody had them or would sell me one. So I finally decided to go completely DYI and externalize the voltage regulator to its own device. I got that all hooked up and I was getting too many pixies with it, around 15.7 volts. I didn't want to just boil my batteries to nothing. So after running a separate power lead and doing some additional rewiring, none of which I am very proud of and will not take a photo of, I got it all back together and working "properly”. I can at least move on to other projects now.

Release date for the SR-X1 is set at May 9th: https://stax.co.jp/product/srs-x1000/ I've already placed a preorder.

Meant to post a pic of the whole cake, last Saturday made a snap decision last week to bake my dad a carrot cake for his birthday.

I have no idea where to post this, but SFMOMA has an exhibit next month that seems worth checking out:

Had a phenomenal Easter at the Bedecarre compound. Maki did really well around all the kids and adults. And of course she roughhoused with her boyfriend Wall-E all day and night.

I've mentioned that much of MV live takes place on Facebook groups (much to my chagrin.) There's 3 major ones: Islanders Talk (invite only, must be an MV resident, no politics allowed), Islanders Unfiltered (same, allows politics, reads like the staging area of the next January 6), and MV Stuff 4 Sale (what it sounds like.) In that last group I see all sorts of deals, and have listed a few things myself. I saw this yesterday:

Led Zeppelin III by Led Zeppelin (1970) https://album.link/i/580708279 Example: Classic for a reason - not revolutionary, but a nice progression of music and style from II to IV. And yes I have the old gatefold record with the spinny thing for the cover art. 😵‍💫 I do listen to Zep a lot during the course of the year, but it has been a while since I sat down and really listened to an album. Maybe like 6 months or something crazy like that.

Me, @cetoole, and Xavier went out. Xavier is just 1 week out from his surgery so trying to get some rides in before he takes an ACl break. #TooSoon

Thanks everyone for the well wishes. It's been a nice day which has culminated with some late night Ella Fitzgerald. What could be better?

So that was absolutely awesome! One of the most enjoyable things I've ever done. The kids were a fantastic audience. Many of them almost mesmerized. Just looking out at the looks on their adorable little faces as I dramatized and accentuated the presentation, was incredibly rewarding. Almost a kind of high. This could be an addictive experience. Another surprise was how many parents sat and listened, instead of browsing the store. Many of which took the time to thank and compliment me on my presentation. This experience has had me wondering about giving up on my first career choice. Teaching was what I originally planned as my career. I did get my BA degree, minoring in child psychology and majoring in education. But after some experience as a substitute teacher, decided against that. I probably made the right decision for myself, as I can't imagine a career not building beautiful things. And I don't imagine that teaching would always be as rewarding an experience as what I encountered today. This is definitely something that I want to continue with, especially after retiring. I kind of feel like I'm coming down from a euphoric high. So much fun! I ended up reading two books, with a short intermission in between. Both around 40 pages, with the second being a very quick read.

Goldfrapp - Supernature

Tell Mama by Etta James (1968) https://album.link/i/1371791759 Example: Just a few tracks that were not great for me. But the rest of the album kicks ass (like the example). Was over so fast that I had to pull this. At Last! by Etta James (1961) https://album.link/i/1440838775 Example: Everyone knows the title track... Much more the classical and strings versions, but man does it highlight her singing.

Not ashamed to say I still deeply love Thomas Dolby. There's a lot to appreciate across his portfolio but think "Astronauts and Heretics" is probably his strongest album. Contains, for my money, two of the better pure pop songs ever written.

Indeed. From https://www.mylondon.news/whats-on/whats-on-news/outrageous-life-notorious-chef-marco-21602394 "Allegedly, Marco even once made Gordon Ramsay - renowned for being a tough chef who regularly causes jaws to drop on shows like Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - break down in tears. Australia's news.com.au reports Marco trained Gordon at his restaurant Harvey's, and "exposed [him] to daily rituals of humiliation, foul language, flying knives and almost unbearable pressure," according to a 2006 profile in The Telegraph. Marco said: "I can’t remember what it was about, but I yelled at him and he lost it. The next thing I knew he was sobbing in the corner, holding his head in his hands, with tears rolling down his cheeks. "He was saying things like, 'I don’t care what you do to me. Hit me. I don’t care'." The problem is that the bullied and humiliated become the bullier and humiliator. I've had two bosses who fell into that category, alas (Both now safely dead). The poet Philip Larkin wrote a bleak poem called "This be the Verse" that describes this sort of process: They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had And add some extra, just for you. But they were fucked up in their turn By fools in old-style hats and coats, Who half the time were soppy-stern And half at one another’s throats. Man hands on misery to man. It deepens like a coastal shelf. Get out as early as you can, And don’t have any kids yourself.

Two items: First, Bridgeport has landed and I've got about 100 listening hours into it. It's big and beautiful and I love it. I'll share pictures when it's moved out of my bedroom and into my office. Second, there is a Torpedo III for sale elsewhere: https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650094412-ecp-torpedo-iii-amplifier/?utm_campaign=saved-searches-alerts&utm_source=notification&utm_medium=email

More culture. https://marinsymphony.org/tickets-events/2023-24-season/set5/

The 2006 energy of these photos. "Rotel Kitteh is warmin' hiz harbls on yr tranzistors."

Looks like I'll be hanging with Larry all weekend since none of you kool kids can make it. I might hang myself if a pair of his IEM cables.

Keeping a sex slave seems to require more work than one would think. This is why I keep wine in my dungeon.

Late lunch at Field & Tides. Fried oyster brussel sprouts, a crab salad jobbie, and redfish. Great little joint if you're ever in Houston. HS

Not nearly as rare, but any mention of Road Runners requires me to mention my favorite family car (random net photo) from '74. I miss Plymouth.

I always find something interesting...usually too many...at the Texas Mile. This one really caught my eye. It's a real deal (edit: superbird...it's a plymouth) and they had done a lot of fabrications work to get it to this point. Certainly not the fastest, but listening to the owner and builders love for it was really cool. And, big arse waaaaang, as my buddy would say. Not my thing but pretty nifty... HS

Probably should have cast his brother Randy, who has experience with aliens.

That's an interesting diffuser.

Got out early before the wind kicked up again. Hammered me a little on the way back, but not too badly.

No idea how to do art properly but I'm having fun with my Breville Barista Express.

Hot Cross Buns

I own a lot of lenses, but end up using a 50/1.8 almost all of the time. All of these were taken with it and my 5D4, at ISO 200. F/9, 1/400. F/9, 1/200. F/8, 1/40. F/10, 1/500. F/8, 1/320. F/8, 1/200. F/7.1, 1/320. F/5, 1/125. F/8, 1/160. I took this one with the 50/1.4 at F/4, 1/80. The 1.4 has significantly more barrel distortion than the 1.8, which is never noticeable in actual photos.

I didn't think you would buy it popped into my head immediately because he borrowed it for one day over a year ago. 😆 Just noticed that this is page @909 in this thread. Edit: Actually it became one after 909 with my post. Not planned but funny anyway.

Eye In The Sky by The Alan Parsons Project (1982) https://album.link/i/1205670750 Example: I was going to post Mammagamma or Old and Wise. But the title track is just so good. Like most of Alan's albums, they are just so good to listen to. And for something different. Spaces by Yosi Horikawa (2019) https://album.link/i/1463826014 Example: If you like a lot of looping of natural sounds. Tosi is the ticket. I am not sure how it got into my queue, but it really gave me an Art of Noise vibe - and that is a very good thing.

Is that my Alien chestburster or Quatto holding my tiny beer while my beard powers my headphones? Thanks for the good wishes all. My ear is doing very well and I am feeling grateful about that. Penny and I had a quiet day but I went out of the local tavern for an excellent broasted chicken dinner and a couple of Two Hearted Ales. Cheers friends!

Aliens Ate My Buick by Thomas Dolby (1988) https://album.link/i/1437333011 Example: Say what you want about 80's music, but it gave us this album and this 8.5 min chunk of jazz. Actually - "The Key to Her Ferrari" is a better jazz song, but I just like Budapest better.

^ I think you misunderstood Mike. That is a small portion of Ric's collection that he took to the event. 😋

A few snaps from another PhotoFair. Just like headphone meets, but without the fun, cool people.

I went to Chicken Alley today because I had $20 store credit. I walked out with an A1407 27" Apple display for $20, because no one in there knew how to turn it on. It has the old squarish magsafe power connector (which works with Mum's 2011 MBP, much to her surprise) and with a Thunderbolt to USB-C adapter, I can it get it to work with my M1 MBP. It's quite a display, 1440p, LED backlist, Apple color accuracy. It also has a hub function (wired ethernet, USB 2.0, FW800). I also picked up an Apogee audio interface and a Sunpak speedlite. More on those later. MV life is a trip.