TMoney

This times a million. I buy the stupidly expensive $45 Japanese SHM-SACDs by the handfuls not because I have any great love for the format but because most of them are flat transfers of original master tapes.

^ Also found out I owed a couple K's to good ol' Uncle Sam. Its a shitty feeling, but if it makes you feel any better we have basically been getting an interest-free loan from the government for the amount of tax we owe. Those getting a refund, however, have been giving the government an interest-free loan.

3.5 TB iTunes library? Wow, thats a ton! (EDIT: Wait, forgot iTunes has music and movies. That might explain things.) Congrats on getting your NAS problem taken care of.

+1 for the Kindle Paperwhite. I totally agree. Since I got it I gotten back to my goal of a book a month after going a long time only reading 2-3 books in an entire year. Its an amazing device, especially for reading at night. Way better than reading on an iPad.

Finished Double Helix. Watson was/is an arrogant SOB, but it was an enjoyable read and it was interesting to learn about the process of one of the most important scientific discoveries of the last 100 years. I think both the praise and the criticism Double Helix gets are both well deserved. In an effort to alternate fiction and non-fiction, I'm doing this next:

Never mind... on Shm-SACD last night Holy guacamole does the Shm-SACD sound great. This is seriously the best I've ever hear the album. It blows the redbook CD completely out of the water. The separation between the instruments and the clarity of Rotten's vocals is miles ahead of any version of this album I've ever heard. I don't have vinyl, but I have to imagine this is as close to the vinyl sound that I'm going to get. Highly recommended.

Because I have no self control, a stack-o-SHM-SACDs from cdjapan. Wallet hurting. Camel - Moonmadness Camel - Rain Dances Creedence - Bayou Country Rainbow - Difficult to Cure Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells a Story Rolling Stones - Still Life Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bolllocks and The Mahler Cycle I've never heard any classical SHMs, so I figured it'd be a good place to start.

Good episode last night. Compared to Sagan's episode on selection with the "warrior crabs" and the staged ancient japanese battle, NdGT's version is a little more down to earth. Its fun to see both not as competing, but as compliments to each other. NdGT is much more relatable whereas Sagan's high-mindedness really gave majesty to the ideas he was presenting. Really enjoying this new one.

The WD MyCloud EX 2 might do the trick for ya. Amazon has the diskless version (you supply your own) for $200. http://www.amazon.com/Cloud-Diskless-Personal-Storage-WDBVKW0000NCH-NESN/dp/B00I2P53NY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1394841454&sr=8-3&keywords=mycloud+ex+2

Got a good laugh out of this on Ars this morning: Oklahoma station drops evolution from showing of Cosmos http://arstechnica.com/science/2014/03/oklahoma-station-drops-evolution-from-showing-of-cosmos/

I didn't love the last two episodes as much as the first six, but wow, what a pleasant surprise of a show. Really looking forward to see who they get and what they do with a second season.

^ Totally agree. If you go on the Universal-Music website it tells you where the master came from. The Queen SACDs are not transfers off of the analog masters. All of the Queen SACDs list the source is listed as "24/92 transfer by Bob Ludwig." In contrast, the Sabbath CDs say "Latest DSD master based on original analog tape." See: http://www.universal-music.co.jp/international/sacd/ I learned the hard way after buying a few of the Rolling Stones SHM-SACDs. Some sounded pretty mediocre, some sounded great. Turns out the mediocre ones (like Beggars Banquet) used the same masters as the earlier Stones ABKCO SACDs while the great ones (like Exile on Main) used new transfers directly off of the analog masters. Go figure. I no longer buy any SHM-SACD unless it was a transfer from an analog master. Even then, the quality of some of the analog originals can be iffy, depending on the condition of the analog tape. I have ended up with a few duds even though they were from original analog masters. The reviews on SA-CD.net are really helpful in sniffing out the lemons. For 40$+ a pop its expensive to be wrong. But, goddamn, when they get it right they sound better than anything other than the original vinyl.

Listened to some of my Black Sabbath SHM-SACDs last night. Goddamn they sound good. Seriously, I doubt you'd get better sound if you were plugged in to the sound board while they were recording. Just amazing. If only these damn SHM-SACD didnt cost 40+ a pop... Seriously, if they were 10-15 a piece I'd own the whole damn universal SHM-SACD catalog.

If the DAC is really the Sabre then I wonder if the Pono will someday be able to play DSD with some kind of a firmware update?

Here's hoping for an Inner Fidelity review!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1003614822/ponomusic-where-your-soul-rediscovers-music

I also liked the first episode. The visuals in this one are on a totally different lever as compared to the Sagan version, which is to be expected. The scientific content also seemed to be quite a bit lighter, but it was only the first episode so I'll be willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Ballsy to go after the church like that right off the bat.

Just finished Kavalier & Clay. Its great. I've heard a number of literary figures call it one of the best books to come out of the 2000s. I don't necessarily agree with that, but it is a very good and very touching story. Recommended. Starting this classic now: Modern Library placed it in their top 10 non-fiction books so I'm pretty excited to get through it for the first time.

So don't get me wrong, I really liked Breaking Bad, but if I had to make a list of other great shows since 2000 that I either liked more or thought were in the same ballpark as Breaking Bad just off the top of my head , it would look kind of like this: Shows that I think were better than Breaking Bad: The Wire Mad Men South Park - Yeah its uneven, but when its good, its great Arrested Development Curb Your Enthusiasm The first few seasons of "Lost" - Before it went off the deep end Shows in the same ballpark quality-wise as Breaking Bad: Chapelle's Show First few seasons of "24" Rome Game of Thrones The British version of "The Office" So again, I thought BB was really good, I just think there has been plenty of good-to-great stuff on TV in the last 10-15 years or so. I don't watch a ton of TV, so I'm sure there is other great stuff I missed.

Finally got to see the end of this show now that the 2nd half of season 5 is on netflix. I'll admit, that was a hell of a run of episodes to end the series. Riveting TV, no doubt. Great ending too, I might add. IMO the best parts of the series were when Walt was nasty, intense and desperate and when he dropped the act of being the bumbling nice guy caught up in the scheme. We got to see a lot of that side of Walt towards the end which made me very happy. I will say though, maybe my memory is failing me but I thought the quality of the 5th season was substantially better than the rest of the series by a long shot. If the show had ended after season 4 (or heck, even after the half-way point of season 5) I suspect the show wouldn't have garnered quite as much acclaim. Still, great ending arc though. It changed my opinion of the show from "above average" to "pretty solid".

With only two episodes left to go they are going to have to be pretty explosive. I'm really looking forward to it. I have to say, I'm really impressed with Michelle Monaghan's acting. In so many of her roles she is there to stand around and look pretty. Here she more than holds her own against the two male leads.

On the contrary, I think I enjoyed season 2 a bit more than season 1. They may have gotten a little too cute with the plot for their own good, but I generally liked it better than season 1.

Probably going to be there, but might get called into the office.

On the bandwagon as well. Seems like a great show so far.