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Saw Suzanne Vega Saturday night. Can't believe it took me this long to see her (I, like many, became a fan with the Solitude Standing album which contains Luka, Tom's Diner, etc.). Great voice, and she was a great chatter and storyteller as well! Loved her intro to Flying With Angels, and then her explanation of what it means to her hit a big chord. I had more than one of those "angel" moments taking care of Karen. Links to videos https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pbVJOr7oRrMu3qFmzp_BR2ClAard30ou/view?usp=sharing - Luka https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yoDLhsgfoNn9umTOkQ3h7JGVvBIizeM9/view?usp=sharing - Flying With Angels

Grahame outdid himself making all of these delicious curries and two more salads/sides from scratch, although he only sliced the banana. As you can see, defending the universe requires a lot of sustenance. Thanks again Grahame and Joanne for hosting us at your wonderful new home!

There may have been Curries and fixin's to help defend the universe and sustain excessive woodworking. There may also have been exquisitely crafted Apple Tart And fixin's But I couldn't possibly comment.

Shouldn't this be in the baking thread? Well technically both. I tried an experiment. A pretty standard sourdough mix at 78% hydration. Formed yesterday, sat overnight in fridge. Baked this morning on pellet grill. I use a cast iron dutch oven/combo cooker. I heated the grill to 500 with the cast iron. loaded and scored the bread lowering the temp to 450. I took it out of the cooker and baked in the grill at 350 for an additional 30 minutes. The oven spring wasn't great but good enough, And I probably could have baked it a little longer. But there is a decidedly Smoky flavor to the entire crust. I'm not sure if I would want it all the time but it's pretty darn yummy.

Minor story: likely my first trip to Sundance we ate at a Mexican restaurant in Park City next to an actor we recognized, but couldn't name. Eventually we figured out it was Tom, and in fact we discovered tomskerrittishot.com that day, though now long gone.

Horowitz playing Mozart is a good thing. CD CD

https://we.tl/t-3CV8Ne8KJixHF1gP Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit at the Ryman 10/22/26 Ben Nichols from Lucero opened

There's always the new iPad mini. Lifestyle Benefits Narrative Or Minimalist Product Showcase What's not to like? Several things, actually. OLED, yes, nice, but only 60 Hz, not 120 Hz ( sorry, Pro Motion) Display?

R'uh roh. m2-vp9-res_624p.mp4 8y9xmvhcyfxh1.mp4

Or rather used our local official ballot drop box avoiding potential USPS shenanigans. "Gentlemen, this is democracy manifest"

I enjoyed this set.

What a cutie

dat bass

Not a new band, but fits a mood occasionally.

New band from Ireland, the kinda music I like (post-punk, I think)

That's why the annual predictability of same form factor, slightly faster processor, slightly nicer display, slightly better camera is so comforting to us. Bless.

I looked up Stereotomy - it got negative reviews and sold badly when it was released, but I think this song shows there were still good parts in that album. AllMusic says Eye in the Sky is Alan Parsons Project's only pure pop album, and I've had my eye on the Mobile Fidelity SACD edition of the album for years. Somebody uploaded the Mo-Fi I Robot - with YouTube compression, your mileage may vary: Also forgotten (from Gaudi in 1987): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggijVDI6h_0

I've been really enjoying this YouTube channel, Caffinated 80's, a mix of old remixes and home-made mixes. They did a Naked Eyes tribute when Pete passed away; they did an Alison Moyet tribute recently (I had to check whether or not she passed away -- she didn't, so probably just a loving tribute), and have several Alan Parsons remixes. Not Stereotomy, though.

They sell a ton of these to pilots. You put them on a knee board and it's perfect for displaying charts/approaches etc. and with a pencil you can jot down complicated ATC clearances. The biggest ask for a couple of years has been a brighter screen, so we'll see if the OLED is a step forward. Some folks will even mount them on the control yoke as an additional flight control display, although the FAA officially frowns on this.

And Now there's the iMac's and MacBooks with M6 Power! Spec Bump? Price Bump! $4K, Nice? They may announce a Touch Screen Tomorrow.

Mi Historia Americana: Sur by Daniil Trifonov (2026) https://open.qobuz.com/album/z5ctty71t1zjt Example: A lot of new works for me. I should have looked at the runtime (knowing Daniil's work in the past). I was not ready for 2.25 hours of music right now. I am a little over half way. I really enjoy it, there are some challenging works mixed in with lovely powerful pieces. Edit: I forgot to mention a feature in Qobuz that I recently found. I don't know how long it has been there. But for some classical recordings they include the digital booklet. So that you can have liner notes and track lists. I do hope that they keep expanding it, because having the back album covers for old jazz releases would be great. Ex. (18 page booklet)

North Node by Natalie & Brittany Haas (2026) https://open.qobuz.com/album/q8qgcdcx9xl6c Example: The Haas sisters back at it again. I thought Brittany was too busy with the Punch Brothers that I missed this one coming out. Just what you would expect from a Cello and Fiddle album. And that is what I wanted with a touch of mandolin thrown in here and there.

Watch a snake 'nope out' (not actual headline)

I was going to get a Duo, but now think I'll hold off and upgrade to an 18 Pro Max instead. Gruber's "it's a great tablet but a lousy phone" take seems about right to me. Daring FireballThe iPhone DuoIt’s been a lot of fun trying the Duo out for a week, but it feels like I’ve gotten to use an extraordinarily polished prototype — not a finished product that I’d want to buy and carry.

Albert Anker (Swiss artist in the 1800's) clearly loved his coffee. There is another Girl drinking coffee, Still life with coffee, Bernese peasant woman drinking coffee, Still life with coffee and potatoes, Coffee and cognac, etc etc

The background to my favorite background music Trailer: Doc: Updated website guide. Said Website: An eclectic musical adventure...Radio Paradise streams highly curated, eclectic mixes of music -- chosen by real humans -- with unparalleled audio quality.Thanks Bill!

Pelageya blending some folklore themes with Hans Zimmer. I want to hear her try some Bjork songs one day just to see what she can do with it.

Finished Setup: 4 PSUs on GaN transistors 27.5V, bias 180mA. Sound impression: completely reference, lively and interesting, full control of my headphones HifiMan HE-6. For my ears better then DynaMight. Thanks to all who helped with configuration.

Everything But The Girl - Young and Dumb (single from their new album coming in February)

Woob 1194 Music on TIDALuploader - Woob 1194Listen to Woob 1194 on TIDALWill probably listen to the spiritual successor https://woob.bandcamp.com/album/repurpose The lost tracks https://woob.bandcamp.com/album/lost-1194 And whatever you want to call this https://woob.bandcamp.com/album/drift-1194

RIP, Donnie Iris

There are long standing threads for speaker and amplifier porn on HC. Thus far, sources have been neglected. It's true, speakers and amps are in general better looking units than most sources but there are certainly some good looking ones out there. Let's start with a mid 80s Revox CDP that is a bit of a legend amongst collectors: The Revox B225. It's overbuilt like a MFer, which is good as it's also prone to failure and in need of extensive servicing. I just watched a really good YouTube video on repairing one while I was editing a whole stack of photos. TL;DW: A whole pile of Swiss engineering, dirty electrical contacts and a new motor. There were some variants with balanced out and at least one meant for professional use: Love those green lights.

Lampazitor is such utter crap, almost as bad as Chord. Fucking hate that garbage.

The following is less porn in the "hubba hubba" meaning and more in the "fake, unsatisfying and containing gratuitous bulbous objects" sense. LampizatOr is a Polish based manufacturer of, ahem, "ultra high end" DACs, music servers and totally-not-snake-oil cables. They share a 90s l33t sp34k brand name similar to Switzerland's darTZeel (whom I have mocked mercilessly over the years.) Recently LampizatOr came out with a new DAC. It's called the Aphrodite, it has a bunch of tubes sticking out the top and can be yours for the low, low price is $105,000. Tariffs not included. The Aphrodite has tubes in places in the signal chain where tubes don't normally go. This "revolutionary" and "iconoclastic" design philosophy is enough to make one wonder where Mikhail Rotenberg scampered off to, but I digress... Anyway, on to the toobs like fake boobs: Pardon me for a second. All that and USB A?!? In twenty twenty fucking SIX? Get with the USB-C times, old man. The following photos were online in such absurdly large size that I had to scale them down, and I'm someone who shoots with a 45MP camera body. I have legit never heard of "XDMI" before. As someone with freakishly large hands and increasingly bad eyesight, this remote looks like pure pain to use. Thank you for watching TubeDAC ...Tube. Maybe next time I'll post some Polish gear I actually like.

Don't forget the pencil.

Played with it in the apple store today when I was out ring shopping. I was a lot more impressed with the hardware than I thought I'd be. Seam really is basically invisible. The phones were hot to the touch but they are floor models with brightness cranked and plugged in to the AC main, so makes sense. Happy to sit this year out as wallet is empty after making a different large purchase, but I will be tempted for Rev 2.

You pointed out the real issue with all tablets and probably fold phones. Navigating/typing on it is awkward, and if you get a keyboard case, you basically have a watered down laptop.

80s electro-funk compilation... some real bangers:

Avedon

Oberschoßhundführer Drumpf For a Dr. Strangelove or Catch-22 style satire, the slur should sound absurdly bureaucratic, aggressively hyphenated, and entirely mock-serious. Since it is a derogatory term used by other characters rather than an official rank, it should bite—exposing the leader's cowardice while mocking their delusions of grandeur. Here are a few satirical, German-style slurs tailored to your two-faced, sell-out head of state: The "Sell-Out" & "Traitor" Angles Oberausverkäufer (Oh-ber-owss-fehr-koy-fer) Meaning: Chief Clearance-Sale Director or Supreme Sell-Out. Satirical punch: It treats the betrayal of an entire nation like a cheap retail liquidation event. Oberkollaborateur (Oh-ber-koh-lah-boh-rah-tehr) Meaning: High-Command Collaborator. Satirical punch: It uses high-sounding military phrasing to call them a spineless Quisling who does the enemy's paperwork. Oberrückgratloser (Oh-ber-ruek-grah-tloh-ser) Meaning: Supreme Leader of the Spineless. Satirical punch: Pure bureaucratic mockery of his absolute lack of courage. The "Puppet" & "Lackey" Angles Oberbückling (Oh-ber-buek-ling) Meaning: Chief Bootlicker / Grand Bower. Satirical punch: "Bückling" comes from the verb to bow or grovel. It positions him as the world's highest-ranking sycophant. Oberpantoffelheld (Oh-ber-pahn-tof-fel-helt) Meaning: Supreme Slipper-Hero (Henpecked Leader). Satirical punch: A classic German idiom for someone who acts tough but is completely submissive behind closed doors to their actual master. Oberschoßhundführer (Oh-ber-shoss-hund-fuehrer) Meaning: Commander of the Lapdogs. Satirical punch: It highlights that he thinks he is a "Führer," but he is actually just a tiny pet to the dictator. The "Nihilist / Clown" Angles Obertheaterdirektor (Oh-ber-tay-ah-ter-dee-rek-tor) Meaning: Chief Director of the Theater. Satirical punch: Fits the Dr. Strangelove vibe perfectly, mocking his entire geopolitical strategy as a fraudulent, deadly stage play. And I stand by: he's laying the groundwork to get the USA invaded by Russia, whether intentional or not.

I don't think we should be sad - she had a life well-lived, and acted in podcast works well into her 90's.

Time for an update on the MA-90... or what ever I'm going to call this thing. This is prototype nr.2 and it seemed only fitting to put on the "Orpheus" IQ stand: So what's new, well the headband is now fully DIY with just the arc being borrowed off a Senn HD58x but they are all the same and very close to the HE90 arc in design. Then a custom adapter block in the HE90 style adapts it to the forks... which didn't come out quite right. A bit too long and too thick to bend correctly so I'll have to redesign them but no big issue there. The actual housing is mostly complete at this point but the biggest hurdle were the metal backs, or so I thought: In the end, pretty simple and I can mass produce them by hand in quick order. I've made about 20 of them at this point and they fit snugly in there, no glue needed at all. Inside there is a new baffle, new spacers and new stators but they will need further work. Mostly I have to move the contacts to better fit inside the housing and those are ready to be made. This set is fitted with the cheap Chinese Solitaire earpads and sound pretty good with them. They are 15$ shipped compared to the HE90 pads which are impossible to get at this point.

🐓🍛 4 BDF