HiWire

I read Anandtech's guide to the new Z590 motherboards (some of which are more than $1,100) and said a big nope to building a new box. https://www.anandtech.com/show/16347/the-intel-z590-overview/54

Catspaw – Matthew Sweet

It's a niche product for sure, but even the Fuji cameras are niche products at this point, when people are using their phones, drones, or GoPro to create a lot of the content I'm enjoying. The review mentioned a learning curve and using the Quattro as a second camera, which sounds like a bit more investment than a casual photographer would tolerate. I was "gifted" a Nikon D70 (with NIKKOR 18-70mm 1:3.5-4.5G ED) that I haven't tried out yet, and I'd feel bad if I didn't make an attempt at learning its ins and outs. There is also a local place that still processes (the last time I checked) APS film and I've got to finish off those rolls of film as soon as possible. It's a good problem to have. P.S. I was searching for the Lytro camera but found this oddball product first: https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/4/10/17218758/light-l16-review-camera-photos which may be reaching the end of the line: https://www.dpreview.com/news/3781485434/l16-camera-manufacturer-light-abandons-consumer-imaging-turns-to-automotive I still think the Lytro is an awesome idea, just not for the selfie market...

Looks like Sigma Corporation acquired the Foveon technology and they've been using it in their digital cameras – the Sigma SD Quattro H seems to have been the most recent product (2017) and it was well-reviewed by dpreview: https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sigma-sd-quattro-h Their newer, compact Sigma fp camera (2020) uses a Bayer sensor. I lost track of them after the Merrill camera... it sounds like someone is going to keep working on it if they can get enough resources to continue development.

There was a lot of discussion about Fuji's X-Trans sensors vs. the Bayer filter in the early days of the technology. I think people mentioned the different greens, for example, in Fuji images (and the human eye doesn't have "balanced" preferences for colors anyway), so there is as much art as science in developing the technology, in my opinion. https://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2020/04/20/fujifilm-x-trans-is-it-really-all-that-different

I've still got a few rolls of Fuji APS film. I found them a little less colorful (possibly more accurate, less saturated) than the Kodak rolls, but APS is not the greatest examplar of film quality. ... been wanting to get a Fuji digital for a while, something like the X-T30.

For those really long hikes:

"What's in my violin case? Violence!" https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/tommy-guns-violin-cases-gangster-films-history/

Julia Fischer – Mozart

Happy Birthday!

Sometimes music pops into my head for no reason – I credit Girl Talk for singlehandedly informing most of my 80s (and 90s-early 2000s hip-hop) pop-listening habits in the last decade:

Happy New Year! 🎆

I'm looking at the Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol S88 (MkII)... what a mouthful, vs. the Arturia KeyLab 88 MkII for general messing around (coming from a classical piano background). I'm not sure how the instrument libraries compare. I may even be more excited about it than this guy (bonus weasel words inside):

Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday!

In the grim darkness of the near future, there is only pork:

Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews The Jennifer Lawrence movie was based on this book (haven't seen it). I'm halfway through and completely engrossed. Great for fans of Le Carré, Fleming, etc. More spycraft and character-building, less Hollywood prurience.

Happy Birthday!

There was too much to address in cutestory's query, but: Keeping (or getting) your knives sharp is a combination of metallurgy (alloy, heat treatment, etc.), edge geometry, and consistency. It's easy to wipe out a good factory edge with poor sharpening (I have done it) and harder to improve a poorly-executed edge by skillful re-profiling and sharpening. It's better to start with cheap knives. A harder steel will keep it's edge longer, but an overly-hard heat treatment will mean that it can also be more brittle. Each alloy of steel has an ideal hardness range, depending on your application. Softer steel will get dull more quickly but it may be tougher in abusive situations (e.g., camp work, chopping, swords/axes, etc.). Different sharpener grits for different jobs, just like in wood sanding. Coarse grit to remove lots of metal (unnecessary for most knives), medium grit for a less aggressive re-profiling or sharpening a completely dull knife, and fine to ultra-fine for edge maintenance or a finer, more polished edge. Some people prefer a slightly coarser edge for more biting cuts into tougher material like wood or rope (the microscopic teeth on the edge will be more aggressive) and others like a very smooth edge for sashimi cutting, for example. Some people like to use a leather strop to finish the edge on a knife or razor. Explained here: https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Understanding-Strops-W111.aspx Edge endurance can also depend on the bevel type and angle... having more steel at the edge will make it tougher, but a thinner edge will feel sharper and cut more easily through softer material. You can see in the list of edge geometries at the bottom that the V (flat grind) is the simplest to understand and to sharpen properly, which is why it is the most common. This popped up on YouTube... not a lot of "super-steels" in here: https://youtu.be/MKMG-FdCGtM

... and there's a sucker born every minute. http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/shunyata-research-releases-full-suite-of-top-tier-reference-series-omega-digital-cables/

I just started playing Pillars of Eternity yesterday – what a great game! It's a spiritual successor to classic isometric party-based RPGs like Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale. It's a free download on the Epic Store until December 17.

Computing on a 1990 Apple Quadra 700: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/12/it-still-runs-on-your-imagination-passing-2020-time-with-a-macintosh-quadra-700/ ... and I thought I was hoarding old technology.

"For those with deeper packets..."

It makes the bits sound sweeter: https://www.hifiplus.com/articles/english-electric-8switch-streaming-audio-network-switch/ I think I'd save my money for a 10 Gigabit switch instead.

Driver's Seat – Sniff 'n' the Tears