Knuckledragger

I went to Chicken Alley today because I had $20 store credit. I walked out with an A1407 27" Apple display for $20, because no one in there knew how to turn it on. It has the old squarish magsafe power connector (which works with Mum's 2011 MBP, much to her surprise) and with a Thunderbolt to USB-C adapter, I can it get it to work with my M1 MBP. It's quite a display, 1440p, LED backlist, Apple color accuracy. It also has a hub function (wired ethernet, USB 2.0, FW800). I also picked up an Apogee audio interface and a Sunpak speedlite. More on those later. MV life is a trip.

Size Queen upgrade:

I've mentioned that much of MV live takes place on Facebook groups (much to my chagrin.) There's 3 major ones: Islanders Talk (invite only, must be an MV resident, no politics allowed), Islanders Unfiltered (same, allows politics, reads like the staging area of the next January 6), and MV Stuff 4 Sale (what it sounds like.) In that last group I see all sorts of deals, and have listed a few things myself. I saw this yesterday:

I hope that floor is reinforced.

RIP Marcello Gandini, who designed some of the most iconic cars ever.

I went to Chicken Alley today and walked out with a final gen Airport Extreme for $28. It took me longer to factory reset it than it did for me to set it up as a range extender and update the firmware. Solid Just Works/10.

Holy shit. BRB, moving to .de

I did some big boy wood working today. (Please Tice, stop snickering.) My (sainted, octogenarian) bought a "computer desk" at the end of the 20th century. It's made of solid wood, so it's still in one piece. Unfortunately, it had some really crap plastic-on-plastic casters that just disintegrated. Today I cleared it off of all computer hardware, flipped it over and gave it new feet: The new casters have a different screw pattern than the old one, but I re-used one screw hole from each so I didn't have to attempt any fancy alignment. I exited the proceedings with no more loose screws than I started with.

I declare this the spiciest meme of 2024 (so far): Explanation, part 1. Explanation, part 2.

Say it out loud if you must.

I always thought it was "use some fiction." Man, I'm dumb.

RIP Toby Keith, dead at 62 after battle with stomach cancer. I have mixed feelings about his catalog ("Red Solo Cup" is in the running for worst country song ever; "Boot In Your Ass" was the anthem of America going in exactly the wrong direction post-9/11) but his contributions to country music in the 90s are undeniable. This was list a guy on reddit put together: Whiskey Girl Country Comes To Town I wanna Talk ABout me You Shouldn't kiss me like this Stays in Mexico How do you like me now I'm just talkin about tonight Wish I didn't Know now American Soldier As good as I once was Courtesy of the red white and blue Should've been a cowboy Does that blue moon ever shine on you He ain't worth missing Dream Walkin A little too late beer for my horses I love this bar Made in America You ain't much fun Who's That Man I recognize a surprising number of those and I wasn't exactly a big of contemporary country in the 1990s. In any case, 62 is entirely too young. F cancer.

RIP Carl Weathers. He was 76.

🤣

I showed great restraint today. 4x5" Speed Graphic, in very good condition. $225, On-Island. I said no. As much as I have lingering desires to sit at the big boy's table with the other large format photographers, I've realized I'm better off if I don't. I mentioned previously that lurking in the large format subreddit has underscored what I already knew: The larger the format, the bigger the delta between the skilled photographers and everyone else. I've seen so many mediocre to outright bad effects with LF cameras, all done at considerable cost to the photographer. Seriously, nothing is cheap about film in 2024 and LF is "if you have to ask..." (ULF is "you should not ask.") For every artist I've seen showing great skill in their craft, there are dozens of sloppily framed, questionably exposed, poorly printed counterparts. I'm afraid I'm closer to the latter than the former. Even though I'm now friend with a spry 87 year old who has his own darkroom set up for 4x5", I just cannot see myself ever putting even one frame through the Speed Graphic. If I bought it, it'd be a dust collector and nothing more. Sure is a looker, if one has a taste for such things.

I did something silly. There was a Kenko fisheye adapter listed on the 'Bay. It mounts to the front of a conventional lens with a 58mm filter thread. The seller had it up for $40 + $18 shipping + Taxachusetts. I adjusted an offer until I got shipping and tax to bring the total to exactly $50. The guy accepted it within half an hour.

I wish AAPL more success with their VR widget than The Zucc had with his. I also wouldn't shed a tear if Zucc slipped and fell into the gaping maw of Halemaʻumaʻu. I still have no interest in VR. I'm mostly blind in one eye and I've learned that I can get motion sick. My limited experience with VR gear has been meh at best. Also I helped an elder Vineyarder buy herself a new MacBook Air this past week. Apple makes it an absolute PITA to get a decent config. They wanted to sell her a model with 8GB of unified RAM like it was 2010. I was able to get her a configuration with 24GB (the max in an Air) and a 1TB SSD. In classic Apple fashion the cost was more than some MBPs, but she loves the lighter form factor of the Air. TBH, I don't blame her.

Won't embed because ...of the fricken NFL? Wat. It's a half hour documentary on Tom Petty. Tom is probably the musical artist I've listened to for the longest time. I first heard "You Got Lucky" on the radio in the early 80s and set out figuring out who it was. As most of the fossils of HC will remember, there was no Information Age back then. Also, the grownups I encountered weren't super interested in helping out a child figure out the name of some damn rock n roller. In the early 80s, the only people I knew who had cable TV were my grandparents. This was during the dawn of MTV, which was a new and and magical horizon. I had to sneak in my viewings, and I was lucky enough to see the video for You Got Lucky. I was too young to understand the Mad Max reference. I just knew I liked the song and Tom knocked over an arcade machine. Some time after that I got my first cassette player, and I bought Long After Dark and Damn the Torpedoes ("Refugee" was another favorite of mine.) As my musical tastes evolved and changed from metal to extreme metal to techno to downtempo to ambient, I have always revisited Tom's music and loved it. Catch me on the right day and I'll proclaim that "Last Dance With Mary Jane" is my favorite pop song.

That video drove me nuts. They clearly shot on a full frame DSLR with a longish zoom. The camera's AF system was fighting and uphill battle and lost more than it didn't. They really should have used an APS-C body and a wider zoom. Not everything requires a narrow depth of field. More often than not, it's a good idea to have the majority of a frame in-focus. Also yesterday I went to Chicken Alley, the second hand store where I found the Leica, Marantz and many other baubles. I got this neat case for a ten spot: That's a bunch of my smaller manual focus lenses, plus some adapters and filters. They fit amazingly well.

More, from various sources:

Via redderp:

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. Absolute party animal that I am, I spent the day shopping for high profile items like "an ozone generator" and "a new SSD." Also I've got my eyes on a Kenko fisheye adapter so I can do something idiotic.... Waitaminnit, this isn't Jacob's! I suppose it is now. 🐵