Random bits

I’m about the millionth person to write about this, but it’s a weirdly fascinating subject. Trump’s mug shot.

Stanley Kubrick knew that this pose somehow indicated derangement and danger, and trained his actors to use it as a method to instill fear in his audience.

I doubt that Trump is a student of Kubrick’s technique. He’s just a naturally deranged animal.

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I don’t drink much beer anymore, but I had a couple yesterday at a company going-away party for a friend. We met at Ballast Point’s brewing HQ just off Miramar Road, and I had an old favorite, their Sculpin Habanero IPA. I had forgotten how good it is – crisp, refreshing, and with a definite habanero kick. Pretty much a perfect beer, IMHO. May have to go back for another one soon

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For a guy who tends to hold on to stereo speakers waaaaay too long (I have about four sets tucked away at the moment – a pair of classic Vandersteen 2ce’s, my beloved Spatial Audio M3’s, a nice pair of PSB 6’s, and an ancient pair of 1990s bookshelf speakers), this little device has some promise. It’s a good idea, but I can’t find out what codecs it uses for the Bluetooth connection. Bluetooth is, in theory, capable of transporting pretty decent audio across the wireless channel, but in most implementations it is dumbed down to use highly compressed and lossy audio formats. So listening to good music stored on your iPhone as ALAC (a lossless format) might still sound crummy due to codec compression by Bluetooth. More research required. Though at $199 I might just buy a pair to try them with the PSB’s.

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The Socal heat wave I arrived in is scheduled to end today – we should get back to mid and even low 80s for a while. That’ll be nice. I’m tired of being stuck indoors in the AC. Yeah, I know, a first world problem.

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After reading this article about the UK Wildcats 2024 football team, I might as well not even watch the games. All the experts say the Cats will have a record of 8-4, and they even agree on which games they’ll lose. That takes all the drama out of the season, dontcha think?

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This is some hard-core irony. A 2016 Faux News talking head ranting that “We cannot have a country led by a President who is subject to ongoing criminal investigations.”, in reference to the never-indicted Hilary Clinton in 2016. My, how times have changed.

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