Knuckledragger

It just occurred to me. I uploaded my current avatar in 2008. I don't have a local copy.

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.

GabeCube is live. Starting price is $1050.

So, uh, I just created a patreon for a radio show that's been off the air for 3 1/2 years. Funny thing, the TestTone namespace was available(!) There is fuck-all on it right now, and that won't change for a while. Also, while I'm sure I've mentioned this many times in the ...29 year history of my show, but I lifted the name for it from a 1990 track by Richard H Kirk, under his Sweet Exorcist moniker. The RHK track is pronounced "test one" of course. In 1997, when I launched my radio show on WHAT (seriously) FM college radio, I used Richard's title as inspiration.

RIP Robert “Bobby” Caskin Prince lll, 1945-2026. In addition to being a Vietnam war vet and lawyer, Bobby is best known as the composer of the music for Wolfenstein 3D, Doom I, Doom II, Duke Nukem 3D, and a whole shit-ton of other games. 1

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.

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.

RIP Daveigh Chase, 'The Ring' and 'Lilo and Stitch' star, dead at 35(!)

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.

My reaction to the Knicks winning.

I'm slow on the uptake. Is "Cary Audio standards" a good or a bad thing? P2P always looks like a bit of a clusterfuck to untrained eyes. "That's well done" and "What a complete and utter shitshow" aren't that visually different. Unless it's McAllister (or late stage Rotenberg) tier work.

I went on a deep dive through Jacob's photos on FB. These are some shots he took over the years that AFAIK he did not post here: The opposite focal point of this shot (where the gate is in focus and the house is OOF) would be interesting. I think the slight vignetting here is an artifact of the lens, not a software filter.

RIP Gene Shalit, who passed at the tender age of 100.

Zoomer meme.

It flew off the WWE headquarters. That is entirely too on the nose.

Half my Steam friends list is playing FH6 and nothing else at this point.

Not a person, but RIP Juno Download(!) The DJing world has been moving to a subscription model for a while now. djay Pro, one of the most popular DJing apps, is designed around the use of streaming services. From the comments section of a DJ I know:

RIP Marcia Lucas. Not only did she put up with being married to George Lucas, she took the steaming pile that was his ideas and turned it into A New Hope. George Lucas is the definitive example that it is better to be lucky than talented. At every turn, he blundered into meeting people with abilities far beyond his own who could elevate his murky and misconceived visions into cultural touchstones. Peter Crushing was the absolute master class at portraying a bad guy. Sir Alec Guinness could inflect the most hokey dialogue imaginable in a way that resonated with like six different generations. James Earl Jones had the voice of all time. Irvin Kershner was a deftly skilled directory with decades of experience. Unlike George, Lawrence Kasdan actually was an accomplished screenwriter. Also Carrie Fisher was lighting in a bottle. I'm sorry, this is about about George's ex-wife, not The Neck himself.

Nato and EU condemn Russia after drone hits Romanian residential block. Romania is part of NATO.

Apple discontinues the Mac Pro with no plans for future hardware.

"It'd be a lot cooler if you did.

Long story short: Donny Diapers got buttmad because Stephen Tyrone Colbert was mean to him on air. Larry Ellison bought CBS and put his bratty kid David in charge of it. David fired Stephen to stay in Donny's good graces (and to get various corporate mergers approved.) Stephen made an appearance on Michigan public access TV. Stephen put the results up on YouTube. YT is now blocking searches for it(!) There are many guest stars.