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It being Father's Day a nearby hotel celebrated with $38 burgers, whiskey tastings, and a local Jaquar club showing off a few cars (mostly non-Jaquars). Thus more testing to try to figure out this confusing Light Lens Lab 50mm f/1.5 Z21 (Angenieux S21 clone). Paired with the SL (typ 601). Makes one more appreciative of modern flat field lenses. Still old lenses for old cars.

Andrew and I went for less-prep, faster-cook pizza for dinner tonight. Still working on my launching, but getting a bit more reliable.

I snapped this photo without tripod. It has a fairly high ISO, but nothing the R6II can´t handle.

Finally made it to the top of the local climb without blowing up. Key change was grinding out the steepest pitches sub 60 rpm to keep my heart rate out of the red. I was worried I’d be going too slow to stay upright, but it was fine. Also helps that I’m also slowly but surely getting more fit. I feel a lot better about the climbing on the Marin metric century now that I’ve finally been able to get up and over this thing. Nate is right, 32mm is the sweet spot. Put some on and they felt amazing.

ElevenHifi is a Rega dealer...

For the same money, you can buy a Steinway grand piano that will play itself.

Rick's wide angle images made me want to look at some older images. Here's one with a 21mm Zeiss distagon from 2015.

In this case, you don't know how wise you are.

I made a fusion Pad Thai / Mapo Tofu thing yesterday with Tofu, ground turkey, and noodles. I need to work up to the recipe I recently acquired (didn't have any Doubanjiang -- Chili Bean Sauce) and maybe make it more heart healthy, but I'm getting there. It was delicious.

A millennial friend of mine is touring .ca and got multiple free upgrades with his rental. I said "I got a Benz too and it's black like that." He gave me a blank look. SMH kids these days.

Or, from the source

Anthony Garcia - C’était L’été

Novato is Rocking The Block With Mercy and The Heartbeats

Twofer (or twoFUR) today. ZeosPantera is a guy who wears a GoPro, yaps at great length and ostensibly review headphones gear. It is my understanding that he is somewhat well known on that other site. I have watched his videos on and off for years. I don't think I've ever made a product purchase based on Zeos's reviews, but his content makes good "second monitor" entertainment when I'm doing something else. Zeos is know for a few things, he's got the gift of gab (45 minute video rambling on about a DAC/amp combo), his absolutely cringe taste in anime waifu art, and his various cats that make cameos in his videos. For years he had a small gray cat named Drake that is one of the mouthiest creatures I've ever heard. His persistent, insistent meowing is the stuff of legend. I happened to be checking Xitter (not something I normally do) and saw that Zeos had posted this: Very sad. His videos won't be the same without the Chorus of Drake. I'm not sure if YT deep links work on HC. The timestamp I used includes an earful of Drake.

Audio Technica makes a $108,000 headphone amp. The selector switches are unlabeled, so there's a handy wedge-shaped guide that sits below the amp. That is certainly a design decision.

R6mII + RF800 ISO800, 1/800, F11

I’m still testing the R6 Mark II against the 90D by taking photos of the moon. Last night I used 90D + 2x extender + 100-400 f4.5/5.6L. ISO 800, 1/800, F11 What do you think?

Anika Nilles: Getting To Know Rush's New Drummer

GabeCube is live. Starting price is $1050.

Happy Father's Day Belvedere! With Surreal Neil And Super Diamond

Says the man who explained "docking" to us.

Just a great day yesterday....went to hometown of Marblehead MA to help my mom with some work around the house, and just to spend some time. She's been having some health issues and I've also been helping with appointments and the like. It's good to get the time in with her. On a whim, I then called a dear family friend Judy who lives a couples streets away, and she was home. Got to spend a while with her as well, was great to catch up. She has had a tough time as well so I have been able to help her a bit too. It was then mid-to-late afternoon, but I hadn't had lunch. So on another whim I called my friend Melissa, she had re-connected with me when Karen passed; she lost her husband (suddenly) almost a year earlier. We've been very close since. She joined me for a late lunch/early dinner at a nice fish restaurant on the water in Salem MA. I speak a lot about "human connection" and how much it means to me. Yesterday was one of those great days, left me filled (heart and stomach) and happy!

I'm already on that

I love my P3. It was a great turntable out of the box but the Neo PSU was a pretty significant upgrade and the RS P3 comes with that so I would have bought that if it was available. IMO the P3 is pretty untouchable at its price point so I do not see a comparable unit being better than the P3 RS within a reasonable price differential.

This is a bit of an obscure one, but still significant. RIP Mickey Mann. Via the official Orbital FB page: I first head Pressure of Speech's "X-Beats" in a DJ mix, sometime in the mid 90s. At that point there was no Discogs, no P2P, and remarkably little info online. In 2002, I asked about it in the techno room on the then-new Soulseek. One of the UK denizens said "Oh, that's the sound engineer for Orbital." Some time later, I paid $25 on eBay for the 12" (a lunatic price for the time.) I was mortified to learn that the remix I liked so much was NOT on the 12". Eventually I got my hands on the Phase 1 CD an deduced that the track that moved me so much in 1995 or so was any version of X-Beats, but in fact "Elone," specifically the Pressure of Speech 12" Version. Elone got mislabeled as X-Beats on a number of compilations and bootlegs in the 90s. As much as I tend to romanticize that decade, especially compared to the oligarch-driven, AI-generated hellscape in which we now reside, I do grant that it was a right royal PITA to be into obscure electronic music in the dialup era. It is a moody, timeless classic to this very day. Times like these makes me wish my radio station was still going, so I could build a set around it. More on that later. Much later.

So Ignorance² is bliss²?

I always forget how squeamish heteros can be.

I do like Bocote wood, but I'll pass.

For certain topics I apply the saying "Ignorance is bliss" 🫣

But you're European, it could be important!

I don't want to know what it's about....

I can always count on you for more information than I ever wanted to know.

. I didn't. Now I'll hunt it down.

There is some amp porn included. Checking out the recent Vienna show. Lot more ribbon/electrostatic than I would have expected.

After several tests, it seems Cora is improving. The biopsies have finally ruled out cancer, pointing instead to a very aggressive bacterium. After almost three weeks of antibiotics, she seems to be starting to be herself again.

Detroit pizza a bit further North in Michigan

Also enjoyed Legends 👍🏻 I haven't looked to see if it is already in this thread, but we really enjoyed Kleo on Netflix. Funny and engaging and a fascinating place and time in Berlin before and after the Wall

The amount of dog hair that must be in that condo is making my nose itch. Our second foraging expedition, which was meant to be a dog walk, was a bonanza. Including the One Spear to Rule Them All!

Yeah, think I'll end up there as well. The 28s feel amazing WHEN the pavement is smooth. As soon as the quality goes to shit, I miss the bigger tires. 32 should be the sweet spot and is as big as the Vittoria Corsa Pros go. Did some good long rides this weekend so I feel ready to do the metric centuries I've signed up for. If I can survive the climbs, I'll finish no problem. It really is amazing how easy it is to pace with a power meter.

Got the monster truck tires mounted on the Aspero today and went out for a spin. Was happy to average 19 with 40s and the bike turning itself into a single speed for the last 13 miles.

This is a pretty cool take on a console system....could also go in Amp Porn but I like the wood on this one.

^ In that post, I just used the URL posted by the guy on the audiophile subreddit. The following will be more UK friendly. Fuck Nigel Farage. This Scandinavian fella is living his best life:

Those are quite pathetic little amp carts

Looks like they need Milo & Otis to make new amp stands, but the amps are sure shinny.

Here, or speaker porn? The ostentatious aesthetic of the amps wins out, I think.

Japanese market Panasonic SA-PM50MD CD/Minidisc system. Serious cassette futurism vibes.