Leaderboard

Had dinner with @cetoole and @MexicanDragon, who graciously drove out to meet me in Lake Forest Park. I am also convinced Seattle is entirely too cold for me. Get me back to sunny California!

Starting to look the part!

I just got a colnago c50 with super record 11, but no pictures until Christmas because it’s under the proverbial tree.

Got a ride with the ANG two weeks ago to check out our remote project site in what southerners call Northern Maine (Bangor area). They had an issue with the first aircraft, but thankfully had a spare, and the delayed departure made for a convenient return time.

Glad that you got to see Colin.

Met @swt61 in the Costco parking lot. By Chance.

Decided to have a go at Chicken Korma. Bites while seasoning were pretty great. Naan is staying warm in the oven to go alongside.

Finally the PCB's arrived for the Kiwi Ears headphone drivers: Just three different PCB's needed, on the left is the diaphragm ring which is a 0.6mm pcb but with no solder mask so it is actually 0.51mm. This has to be ENIG to make it completely flat but most fabs require that anyway. Film is 2um mylar-c as that is so simple to get and relatively easy to work with. In the middle is the dust cover holder/spacer. I made this 1.6mm thick as that way it clears the stock lip on the baffle that was around the dynamic driver. I used the first one as spacer and then stacked up the driver sandwich. For the dust covers I used the same mylar as the diaphragms but not stretched as much Finally the stators, 1mm ENIG pcb's and this is the outer side with the inner side having a smaller active area, aka like the SR-007. Holes are a bit less than 1mm but that can easily be altered for another run. Here they are assembled with the only alterations to the baffle where I counter sunk the mounting screws. There were just the three holes there in a row and with the earpad mounting plate being flush to this, it had to be done. One second with a counter sunk bit will do this as this is nasty, cheap ABS plastic. Here they are assembled. Only mods to the chassis is that I enlarged the two holes there are on each side (cable entry and a port on top) to 5mm so the strain relief would fit and the solid plastic plug I glued into where the port is. The cable is the 6 core silicone wire that can be found everywhere now with a 3D printed Y-split and Stax plug made from an XLR plug and pins. Now for the sound... lets just call it work in progress. This is very much the first draft and one channel is slightly weaker than the other (I swapped out the diaphragm for another which fixed it mostly) so I need to look into that. I'll probably just build a second pair of drivers so I can match them into pairs as I have another set of the headphones. Massive baffle leak too and the housing... has issues... so bass is not their strong suit for now. That needs to be fixed but I might have to get creative with that. Still for a cheap project that took only a few hours to make and cost less than 150$ all in... there are worse ways to spend an afternoon.

Saw that some people in Marin are making an effort with their Christmas / Holiday decorations.

Few more from the drive....the first is my new Spirit Animal!

Meanwhile...

Another Tiny Desk this week - lovely.

I had no idea they were the first ever Conan musical guest. Talk about starting on a high note!

A while back, I bought a lot of camera gear because I wanted one specific piece. The lot was cheaper than the item on its own, because eBay. Included in the pile of gear was a Tamron "vacation lens" (all-in-wonder, not good at anything) 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD A010. Yes, that's its name. I was not expecting much with the Tamron and it's barely delivered even on that meager promise. With that said, I did have some fun with it. This past September, I took the 5D IV and Tamron for a walk around downtown EDG. This New Beetle is parked in front of this shop all summer. 78mm @ F/9, 1/200. Old Beetle! It made genuine air cooled noises, and belched out noxious exhaust fumes. 87mm @ F/8, 1/200. The main drag, which is one way, because it was built for horses. 70mm @ F/8, 1/200. Zoomed in on the same, 179mm @ F/7.1, 1/250. Main St. never meant to hold a Wagoneer. A rather famous boat, with Chappy in the background. 28mm @ F/10, 1/320. Speaking of famous, the Dolphin returns to harbor. 71mm @ F/10 1/320. Both On Time ferries, 109mm @ F/9, 1/320. A Series III on Kelly St. That's a pet pickup truck I see in the summer behind it. 195mm @ F/7.1, 1/200. The line for the On Time, Daggett St. 97mm @ F/8, 1/160. Mose St. is two way, and has parking. It's even less suited for Wagoneers. 97mm @ F/8, 1/200. The Connaught House, now just another goddamn rental. 109mm @ F/8, 1/250. North Water St. 179mm @ F/7.1, 1/250. A cute MG and absolutely garbage bokeh. 223mm @ F/7.1, 1/320. South Water St, which I have callously ignored for 20 years now. 87mm @ F/8, 1/200. September is still vacation for some. 43,mm @ F/8, 1/250. The Tamron is not a very good lens. It covers a large focal range and not well. I had to work over many of the above pretty thoroughly to get decent results. I also had a bunch of shots that were not really worth the effort to salvage. Tune in next time for Vineyard wildlife and some seasonal colors.

And more Tiny...

Oh. Shit. There's someone on island selling off their EF lens collection: 24-70mm F/2.8 II (very functional but not super interesting zoom) 100mm F/2.8L Macro (expensive new, unfamiliar to me) 135mm F/2L (niche, but exceptional) 100-400mm F/4.5-5.6 II (bird annoyer tele-zoom) 85mm F/1.2L II (Gojira) BRB, selling off some antiques.

I've never been a big Frank Zappa fan. But I can't deny how clever he is. Qobuz has a 1970 playlist that I was listening to, and I liked one of the songs on this album. So, I decided to listen to it. I enjoyed it, kinda. It's short about 40 minutes and that's just about enough. ex.

Game went so well. One of the kids couldn't make it, so I played the big guy. Really leaned in to his 9 INT, named him Tonk, spoke in third person. At the end they found a Deck of Many Things and everyone drew 1-2 cards (I had removed the game ending ones)... Tonk got 'avoid a tragic event from your past' and suddenly his INT shot up to 15 and his manner completely changed (basically just made him me), the kids loved it. My son was definately MVP, being a 3rd lvl fighter dual wielding light Katana with Elemental mastery and 30ft of reach was devastating. He basically got all the HDYWTDT's as he one shotted all the bosses, was a complete riot. 🙂 Any suggestions on Tonks 'educated' full name? Maybe something like Tonculis Reginald Fairweather III? 😄

Gordon Murray (designer of the McLaren F1) modifies cars - his Alfa Romeo Junior Z from Alfaholics:

Hehe, I don't think I'll ever be there but I have a lot of fun messing with this stuff. I might open this up as a DIY project if anybody is interested as this isn't all that hard to do and no bad chemicals are used. While on the subject, I finally got the last parts to get my reclaimed SR-009 drivers up and running with new diaphragms and dust covers. I skipped straight to the Mk2 version of the main diaphragm rings and they are now sitting on my head with nothing holding the earpads on them and cables just dangling off. I keep reiterating the new cable entry design so I won't post pics until the system is all complete.

Jumpstarted the holiday cheer (winterless necessity) with a trip to lights.

I forgot I had a bunch of 1975 (50yo) albums in my queue. so Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy by Elton John (1975) https://album.link/s73nbgfjm47tw (hey look album link is working again) 🤷‍♂️ Example: I was going to share the title track which I like so much, but this is just prettier. I grew up with this album, my sister had this. I spent a lot of time with looking at the cover.

It's the start of the Holiday Concert Season at the College of Marin

Been in the Seattle - Museum of Pop Culture (MOPOP) - many times - always enjoyed the building as much as the collections. Here is an exceedingly boring shot.

If anybody was wondering how much larger the Duo was than the Zero. The answer is “a lot,” but also “not that much.”

Just a bit of nerd fun.

Such a nice touch on the piano. A well-chosen mix of works.

The ‘Race Against Time’ to Save Music Legends’ Decaying Tapes https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/01/arts/music/iron-mountain-audio-tape-preservation.html?unlocked_article_code=1.5U8.T2jL.WEmPfaX9fX5G&smid=nytcore-ios-share (Gift article)

Violin repair: Winter Wallace & Gromit:

A bit of minimalist droney piano stuff. Quite lovely if you like that sort of thing. https://vantzou-harrison-bennett.bandcamp.com/album/christina-vantzou-michael-harrison-and-john-also-bennett

Yeah, I was just going to mention, I remember all the stories from Steve Hoffman about having to cook the tapes so they could at least be run through the player. Movies also have all their own issues.

I found another article covering the tape degradation: https://www.headphonesty.com/2025/11/worlds-important-master-tapes-lost-experts-warn/

Sapphire Sandwich arrived. I neglected to make sure the stock bracelet had enough links, so it’s a good thing I had a Forstner Flat Link (which was a bear to size) ready to go. I’m very happy with it.

Newb question: I just bought 10 lbs. of coffee (enough to last me a year). What's the best way to store it? Hermetically sealed, frozen, or other?

I got to handle a GFX100RF. It convinced me to buy one. I don’t know if I’ll keep my Q once it arrives. It’s brilliant, though. I got to handle a Hassy 907/100C, and it was cool, but very fiddly and fragile feeling. I bought a Nikon 810 with a 58 f/1.4 as well, in mint condition. I should be good on replacing my film photography.

You didn't eat it? A floor would have to be pretty dirty to keep me out of an apple pie.

Thanks. Losing the pie sucked, but the burns were fire.

Damn delicious if I do say so myself!

Why did Cloudflare go down? Nerdy Rust programming explanation:

I'm not ready for a new espresso machine as the Lelit Bianca I bought some years ago is still doing a great job, but I found an announcement from Fellow interesting. I bought a Fellow Aiden I have been enjoying thanks to @luvdunhill , and have been receiving Fellow marketing emails. Here is an early review for the curious. I have to admit it piqued my interest, particularly how quickly it heats up. Looks like it can be bought for $1200 with an early discount and they toss in a credit for coffee beans. https://www.engadget.com/home/kitchen-tech/the-espresso-series-1-is-the-new-crown-jewel-in-fellows-coffee-gadget-lineup-170008473.html HS

Great shots. Back from another PhotoFair, just throw shit on the table edition. Also their 50th anniversary. I was good and only bought two $5 “tabletop” old tripods (the only type I seem to use anymore). That justifies buying the ridiculous new lens I really want, right?

I hope UMG gets skewered over and over again.