Knuckledragger

Was supposed to pick up my new lappy and iPhone yesterday, but an unforscene complication on the other end put the kibosh to that at 9:30 in the morning. Currently everything is up in the air.

Malcom Cecil and Robert Margoule's Tonto synth.

RIP Douglas Trumbull.

A fascinating short on the attempts to save an amazing bit of architecture: Also holy shit is the Scottish accent like getting hit by a claymore when you don't expect it. I say this as someone who has watched 5 seasons of Shetland.

Ew.

The Chinaman doesn't have battery life issues, Dude. Also, Dude, Chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature.

Gah. Just went out and cleaned off part of the Fit so I could plug in its trickle charger. Yep, that's some fuckin' snow. Biting arctic wind as well. It's pretty awful outside.

This is going to exceed the attention span of ...nearly everyone. I watched it tonight. I found to be utterly fascinating. It starts with the '08 housing crash, the birth of crypto and the "rise" of NFTs. It confirms many of my prejudices and biases, but also covers a lot of areas where I frankly I had no fricken clue. YouTube really is the best worst thing ever.

Canon is shutting down its Zhuhai factory in south China, citing low compact camera demand and chip shortages. Unsurprising, but still ...ulp.

Craaazy winds here. Power was out for six hours, tidily from ~6AM to noon.

America, fuck yeah!

Dropped the tea cup I've been using for nearly 30 years. 😕 It was a nice big one, vs. the standard entirely-too-small sized ones. "The en" indeed.

A very Head Case smrtphne.

Oh boy. This short film from 2011 by the Beastie Boys got uploaded in 1080p to YT recenty: It's so full of cameos, there is an entire guide to spotting them. I hadn't seen it in years until yesterday. While I think it's hilarious and it reminds me of everything I like about the Beasties, it also kind of makes me sad. Spoilers: Adam Yauch (gone 10 years this spring) looks in rough shape during his brief appearance. He'd not live another year.

I referenced this nearly 30 year old usenet post today and of course exactly no one knew what I was talking about.

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: