HiWire

Happy Birthday!

RIP, Art. I always enjoyed his writing. There's a nice interview with him at Enjoy the Music regarding Listener magazine: http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/viewpoint/0902/artdudley.htm

Pump Up the Volume – original soundtrack ... and the missing tracks are helpfully listed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pump_Up_the_Volume_(soundtrack) Plastic Letters – Blondie

Who has the time? https://music.avclub.com/decorate-thine-facade-with-resplendent-self-seriousness-1798214487 AllMusic review of Fates Warning's 2000 album, Disconnected: "This is a significant effort by perhaps the most important progressive metal band of all time. Highly recommended." Whoa.

Not as serious... but long. The Top 20 Proggiest Prog Epics (see you next month): https://www.loudersound.com/features/top-twenty-proggiest-prog-epics Is it sacrilege to say that I've always enjoyed the album art of prog rock more than the music?

Thanks, aerius. That's why I've never owned a Benchmade. They do have some of the most beautiful designs, but they've always been pricy and I haven't been able to justify one so far. I prefer fixed blades in general. The Nimravus comes in 154CM and you'd think it would be consistently made as it was an issue knife for some military units... who knows. I don't have any knives in the new supersteels – the other steel I was looking at was S35VN. It seems to have a good balance of properties.

Excellent album title

Happy Birthday!

The stay-at-home lifestyle has reignited my old hobby interests and I've done some research on archery, crossbows, and, of course, swords and knives recently (thanks, Witcher novels!). Has anybody got serious experience with Benchmade knives? I've wanted one for a while, but they're kind of pricey compared to my usual stuff (Cold Steel). I don't have a large collection, but I do tend to favor medium-sized production tactical knives and martial-arts oriented combat knives. I lusted after the AFCK folder (in M2 steel – long out of production) back in the day: I've also wanted the full-size Nimravus with plain edge for as long as I've known about it: And, of course, the Infidel: On the martial arts side, I've always been attracted to stilettos/daggers (for their looks) and curved knives: Fairnbairn-Sykes fighting knife: Gerber Mark II (Vietnam) – I think the new-style serrations are an abomination: Spyderco Warrior – ridiculously overdone, which is why it is cool: CRKT First Strike (Steve Corkum) – handled one of these on a trip years ago – seemed a bit thick and heavy for its size, but I still want one: Even better is the CRKT Sakimori – they were mostly known for low-end folders a while ago, but they put out a few interesting pieces from time to time (this one is also discontinued). I had reservations about their choice of steel (O1) for the price as it is prone to stain or rust without care and it is relatively soft compared to modern super-steel alloys:

I'm surprised at how exposed some of the crowds are – it might be unlikely, but I'd want to be behind something solid near the corners at least.

Found a new bucket list drive... heaven for me:

Science! New research on cold-brew coffee and other applications: https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/04/the-chemistry-of-cold-brew-coffee-is-so-hot-right-now/

Bachelor No. 2 or, the last remains of the dodo – Aimee Mann

It was worth the wait!

Remain in Light – Talking Heads (for the first time!)

I reached the same conclusion researching an upgrade for my dad's stereo system. The Mac Mini (or something like it) + DAC/preamp/headphone amp (possibly all separate) seems like the best compromise to future-proof the system. Traditional hi-fi manufacturers' solutions (e.g., Naim Uniti) all seem to be expensive, clunky, and quickly obsoleted by the rapid advance of digital audio technologies. Running a full computer and operating system (+ storage management) seems like overkill for an audio system, but the crippled alternatives in the hi-fi boxes are worse for functionality and expansion options. You also have a lot more choices in software – running a full-fledged computer allows you to switch between a hi-fi/high-res audio library or casual streaming like Spotify, Tidal, or Qobuz. I gave up on trying to figure out high-res formats and took the easy route – ripping my CDs to ALAC as a way of increasing convenience and backing up the discs. No monthly fees, no hassle.

Gimme Gimme – Meiko

Believe It or Not (Theme from The Greatest American Hero by Joey Scarbury) – at home and screening my calls I had a huge crush on Connie Sellecca back in the day

I've been thinking a lot about the movie Children of Men, lately.

Sony has extended their PlayStation slowdown to the US: https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/27/21196835/sony-slow-playstation-downloads-us-internet-speed-isps-usage-coronavirus

These just popped up in my YouTube... never heard of them before Gary and His Demons Don't Feed the Humans

Could be tied to Doom Eternal or Animal Crossing traffic? The ISPs are probably throttling dynamically as traffic peaks with some kind of weird prioritization (porn). Animal Crossing may be the exact opposite of Doom – a little too soothing for my soul, methinks: This is more my style – No Prisoners! For the Emperor! Purge the coronavirus in cleansing flame:

Essential services are exempted 👋

My internet speed seems to be as fast as ever, too. I don't do a ton of streaming or downloading, though. Looks like employees at 9 Amazon warehouses have contracted the coronavirus, so I won't be doing as much online ordering, either: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/03/employees-at-nine-amazon-warehouses-have-contracted-the-coronavirus/

It seems to be hitting a bunch of services: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/03/as-players-shelter-in-place-online-game-platforms-see-spike-in-demand/ I've never done Folding@home... does it use a lot of power and generate heat? https://www.howtogeek.com/663539/how-to-fight-coronavirus-with-foldinghome-and-a-gaming-pc/ Folding@home has reached 1.5 ExaFLOPS: https://www.anandtech.com/show/15661/folding-at-home-reaches-exascale-1000000000000000000-operations-per-second-for-covid-19