Knuckledragger

Thanks for the birthday wishes. I spent my actual birthday ...being sick. I've alluded to some of the issues I'm facing (including 9 hours in the ER a month ago). I had a followup appointment at the local medical establishment I use last Tuesday. They called me the Monday before and cancelled it. I dunno if anyone's noticed, but it turns out that the US medical care system is under great pressure for some reason. Who knew? The good news is that I'm not dead, and by the end of the month I'll have a new iPhone (my current one is a 6S, which came out in the fall of 2015) and a shiny new (and expensive AAF) 16" Macintop. The means I might actually be back on the air before the collapse of modern civilization.

I've been listening to a lot of Steve Roach recently, particularly his 2003 album Life Sequence. Steve is an insanely prolific artist and I will not live to get through his entire catalog. Generally I prefer his late 90s/early 00s works. I haven't kept up with what he's been doing for the last 15 years. As I said, he cranks out the albums, his tracks tend to run long (it is ambient, after all) and it takes me time to digest long form music. I keep coming back to this song in particular: There is a live version from 2002 (before the album came out) on YT, but I find that version to be less clear and fully formed. This studio version, OTOH, is quite a corker.

Synth nerd humor.

Exhibit A: Exhibit B:

I have a German friend named Finn I've known on Discogs for nearly 20 years (going back to 2002) who's been a strict vinyl only DJ since the 1980s. He's a few years older than me (he turned 52 a couple weeks ago) and has maintained constant dedication to being a vinyl only techno DJ for decades, I found out recently that he replaced his DJ mixer. He had been using the same one since 1995(!) The old one is on the left, obviously. Ecler didn't sell its products in the US back in '95, but I remember seeing their wacky designs in European electronic music magazines in the mid 90s. Those wacky angled channel faders are quite a relic. I am genuinely amazed when I see a piece of consumer electronics that gets used daily last for in excess of a quarter century. Also, I'm always slightly jealous of my European friends who live in rich pockets of electronic music culture.

On the HC DC I snarked that meatspace conventions are buggy whips. Someone said "Is that a Larry the Liquidator reference?" and I said "Yes, via this Norman Feller track from a decade ago:"

Just so we're clear, this is my absolute favorite car of all time.

A friend of mine texted me this evening "So is your show ever going to be back on the air?" I said "Still don't have a new lappy and Macintops are four grand easy. I'm not famous enough for a Patreon or a GuFundMe." He said "You should set one up anyway."

Everyone's favorite hyperactive, high-pitched tech dropper reviews a pair of overpriced and underperforming air pods.

A Scottish story in four parts:

It's fucking snowing here again.

Deffo not. My chip is decidedly not on the short list of ones that can run W11.

Forza Horizon 4 / 5 is almost enough to make me want to buy a new SSD and try out W10.

Spent over 8 hours in the ER, from 1AM to ~9:30AM. I'm OK. Well "ok." Don't have much use of my right hand which makes typing super fun. Docs not sure what's wrong with me ("Gee knucks we coulda told you that in under 5 minutes.") but they think it might be somethi9ng autoimmune related. Got prescribed ROIDS which might make me cranky. I'm sure no one will notice the difference. I have some really gross pics of my hand, b ut I'll spare y'all. Need to go get my scrip filled.

Taken on the South Shoah: “Supremist” indeed.

No fuckin' way. It's snowing here.

The theme song from a 10/10 movie with an 11/10 soundtrack.

Damn, dude.

Long form, but a fantastic watch for anyone who had a modem in the late 80s or early 90s.