TMoney

I was watching the latest Frontline special last night (a retrospective look at the last 8 years of the Obama presidency) and one of the theories Frontline put forward was that a lot of the roots of the explosion of populism and populist rage can be traced to the 2008 recession, the subsequent bailouts, and the uneven distribution of the fruits of the recovery. It actually made a lot of sense. I'll post more on it once I finish watching. It a 4 hour long program. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/divided-states-of-america/

Well, that certainly wasn't the inaugural address I was expecting. Not exactly unifying. He really feels like a true populist. This is the closest we are going to get to actually electing Willie Stark.

I like these two.

Today must be my lucky day. Typically I end up owing a couple of grand every year on my taxes because I must have checked too many boxes at some point. Last year it was about $3k. We just got our W-2's and it looks like I'm due for a $50 buck refund this time around! Going from thinking I owed another $3k to getting 50 bucks back sure put a smile on my face.

What happened to the GT3?

Happy birthday, G-Unit!

Agreed. Might be in the minority here, but I've never heard a Grado headphone I've liked and I've heard damn near all of them. Different strokes, I guess.

New XX album, "I See You."

Happy birthday, gentlemen!

I think I am also out.

Just drove home through the monsoon. Glad to get off the road with sheets of rain coming down. Stay dry out there, Bay Area crew!

Over the past few weeks I re-read the Foundation trilogy for the first time since my freshmen year of college. I suggested them to Brent and he said he didn't like the first book and gave up on the series. After going through them again I'm amazed how well they still hold up. Yes, the first book isn't the best, but the second and third totally redeem it. The trilogy is one of the best things to come out of the golden age of sci-fi and stands with the Robot novels as the best things Asimov has ever done. 5/5. Obviously. Brent, you are an idiot.

Tidal has the MQA software decoder built in so it is able to "unfold" the file. The next version of Audirvana will have it also.

First Aid Kit - Stay Gold

It is interesting to me that he does kind of bury the lead here which is that these MQA titles do sound really good. I don't see Jason ever wanting to fork over royalties to Meridian, but with the software decoder built in to Tidal I'm not sure its an issue. This is what I am worried about.

I think the MQA format itself is 16/44 but once it is unpacked by the decoder it is 24/96.

I'm not sure I can hear a difference between MQA and standard Tidal lossless in casual listening but as long as MQA is included in the lossless plan I already have then no complaints from me. I have noticed that some of the MQA albums they've been posting are better masters than some of the "remastered" dynamically compressed shit that has been there before but that has nothing to do with the MQA format and everything to do with the dynamic range of the baseline master.

So MQA finally came to Tidal. Now what the fuck is MQA?

Happy birthday to the man with the sick beats.

Good adaptation of the PKD original or something that should be considered its own thing?

American Experience: The Battle of Chosin Exceptional documentary from PBS on one of the definitive and representative battles of the little discussed Korean war. The story of the battle, the heroism, sacrifice, and courage of the soldiers and marines, Chosin's significance in the Korean conflict, and the battle's lasting legacy are all here and all very well done. History/Military History fans, check this one out. Also, kudos to the producers and interviewees for going out of their way to describe the equally amazing courageousness and sacrifice of the battle's other two major participants, namely the Chinese soldiers and the Korean civilians caught in the crossfire. Can be streamed on Youtube here:

Happy late birthday. Hope it was a nice one.

Never mind, twitter got faked out. Queen Elizabeth? Wow. RIP.

Seriously!? 2016, you have done enough.

Oh jeez, not Carrie too!? I thought she was recovering.