This Has Inspired Me
I don’t know how far I’ll get with it, but I know it’s lit a fire somewhere inside that I need to address. I think of my collection of CD and MiniDisc players, the various items of stereo gear in boxes in closets—not to mention clothing I haven’t worn in years, and I realize that I’ve got to start purging. I think of the embarrassment of knick-knacks on the top of shelves that I clean myself because I don’t want our monthly housekeeping service to have to deal with it. My desk drawers are a disaster, along with various other drawers scattered throughout the house, full of shit that hasn’t been touched in forever—not to mention the plastic storage tubs in closets that are full of things that if they were just thrown out nothing inside would be missed.
Don’t Let Them Gaslight You
Friend, I may not know you, but I’m pretty sure I know some things about you:
I know you feel something breaking inside lately, an invisible fracture that only you’re fully aware of, one that seems to grow deeper by the hour.
I know you walk away from conversations with people you once relied on for wisdom and compassion, doubting your own sanity because you no longer recognize those qualities in them.
I know you feel internally estranged from the friends, coworkers, family members, and neighbors you used to find affinity with, the people who once felt like home.
I know you stare at the perpetual parade of horrible scrolling past you, from the second you wake up prematurely in the early morning until the stretched-out nighttime moments you try unsuccessfully to fall asleep, and how you question the grip you have on reality.
I know the crushing disbelief you feel when you look around and see so many people who don’t seem the slightest bit bothered, who are carrying on as if this is all normal; people who appear fully oblivious to the Category 5 shitstorm that you’ve been screaming about for a decade, now.
I hear the nagging question that careens inside your head, the one you ask yourself a few hundred times a day: “Is it me, or has a huge portion of this country lost its mind?”
It isn’t you.
You’re quite fine, and this is, of course, both good and terrible news because of what it says about you and about the place you find yourself.
The fact that you see how wrong this all is means your faculties are intact, your mind is fully right, and your heart is working properly. It’s all confirmation that you still have a soul doing what souls are supposed to do: keep you deeply human in profoundly inhumane times.
This is why you need to hold tightly to that humanity because it is rarer and more valuable than it has ever been.
It’s why you need to kindle this holy unrest in the center of your belly, because it can push back the numbing flood of apathy threatening to swallow up the beautiful fury of good people.
It’s why you can’t allow your right but troubled mind to make peace with such abject madness.
If enough time passes, an otherwise healthy person can start to get used to feeling sick. They can slowly begin to convince themselves that almost any horrifying, toxic, painful, twisted reality is acceptable, even ordinary.
Little by little, they can gradually allow their hearts to acclimate to the nightmare, to come to see it as normal.
Either that, or they come to believe the damage to be beyond repair, and they collapse inward, a hopeless, lightless shell of who they once were.
I need you to hear this, friend:
You’re okay.
You’re not overreacting,
you’re not stupid,
and you’re not crazy.
You’re also in good company.
Right now, there is a massive army of similarly walking wounded sharing this place with you; fellow exhausted but still pissed-off warriors who realize that the bad people are counting on them to become so disheartened that they give up—and who refuse to give them the f*ckin’ satisfaction.
You and I, we’re seeing clearly, friend, which is always the more painful path; staring down the terrors and refusing to look away from what so many willfully choose not to see.
We know that this movement assailing our nation is an assault on decency, a rebellion against goodness, a mutiny against sanity, and that’s why we need to keep resisting it.
We need to shout down the legion of professional liars working so fiercely to convince us that it’s we who have gone mad.
We need to refuse to be gaslit by people who try to diminish our worries, mock our outrage, or dismiss our despair, even if we have once called them friends.
We need to press on undaunted and unafraid, knowing that the jittery chaos-makers realize their time is short, and they are rightly terrified of us because our goodness makes us dangerous.
So, breathe, gather yourself, and carry on.
Work to find your people, those who are as heartbroken and furious as you are. Find ways to care for human beings in peril, to organize against the legislative and physical assaults, to be focused and effective in your response, and to be strengthened by loving community.
You’re not crazy, but these days surely are.
You’re not upside down right now, friend; a good portion of this place is.
People of faith, morality, and conscience together, from every corner of this nation, will right it.
Grieve, and move.
Me Likey
Keisuke Kawaguchi + K2-DESIGN: 198.73 m², 2016, Hamamatsu, Japan
365 Days Of UNF: February 15th
Quote Of The Day
I Hope That’s Not How They See Us…
Vomiting It All Up
Happy VD!
Spotted on Reddit
It’s no secret that I’ve been infected with the HiFi bug since I was originally exposed to it in the 70s (the glory days of consumer audio as they’re known) in high school by my buddy Ken. Over the years, I’ve spent thousands of dollars in pursuit of that ideal sound and the irony has not been lost on me that as I’ve gotten older and my disposable income increased, allowing me the ability to chase after this ill-defined dream, my hearing has also been steadily diminishing on probably the same scale. I painfully discovered this in the early 2000s when I blew out a pair of tweeters in my system while trying to hear an 18kHz tone.
I’ve come to accept I can’t really hear pretty much anything over about 12kHz any more. Do I know I’m missing “something” that I used to hear? Yes. Maybe some of the “sparkle” that’s clearly lodged in my memory of these performances. Does that lessen my appreciation of music in any way? Not one bit.
That’s why this post on Reddit (copied below) resonated with me. I don’t know how many of you are as HiFi obsessed as I’ve been all my life or are just casual listeners, but I know that most—if not all—of my readers fall within in the same age range as myself and I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on this.
A Small Theory About Audiophiles and Aging (Curious What You Think)
I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and I’m genuinely curious whether it resonates with anyone here.
We all know age-related high-frequency hearing loss (presbycusis) is normal. Most of us could hear close to 18–20 kHz as teenagers. Over time, that upper range gradually declines. It’s subtle, but measurable.
At the same time, the people who go deepest into the hobby (high-resolution libraries, serious DACs, carefully chosen amplifiers, room treatment, premium speakers) often aren’t 20-year-olds. They tend to be older.
Of course, disposable income plays a role, but not always. I know very wealthy people in their 20s and early 30s who could afford serious systems if they wanted to.
Here’s the thought:
As our hearing changes, music doesn’t sound exactly the way it did when we were younger. Not worse, necessarily. Just different. Maybe a little less sparkle. A bit less “air.” Slightly less immediacy in the top end.
So we start refining.
We upgrade the source. Then the DAC. Then the amp. Then the speakers. We experiment with positioning, isolation, cables, power. Each change brings subtle differences. Sometimes clearly audible, sometimes more subjective, but meaningful.
What if part of that drive isn’t just about objective fidelity?
What if it’s also about chasing a memory?
Not a specific frequency response curve, but the feeling of how music hit us when our hearing was at its peak. The internal reference we formed in our late teens or early twenties.
In that sense, the audiophile journey might be partly restorative. We’re not only optimizing equipment. We’re trying to align our present experience with an earlier sensory benchmark.
Interestingly, this might also explain why some listeners gravitate toward slightly warmer presentations over time. A smoother top end, richer harmonics, a more relaxed character. Not necessarily more accurate, but more satisfying.
I’m not saying this is the whole story. Gear differences are real. Room acoustics matter. Recordings matter. Taste evolves.
But I do wonder: does the intensity of the pursuit increase as our hearing subtly shifts?
Has anyone here actually tested their high-frequency hearing recently and noticed a correlation with the sound signature they prefer?
Curious to hear thoughts, especially from people who’ve been in the hobby 20+ years.
I’m 45, by the way. Keen bass player. I keep spending money upgrading my three hi-fi systems, and yet I’m still chasing what those first CDs made me feel when I played them on our family’s very average Sony CD player through cheap earphones.
It was 1994–95, and that remains one of my most powerful “audiophile” experiences.
Addendum:
The more I read the thoughtful replies you’re taking the time to write, the more I realize that what I’m describing probably goes beyond simple EQ or frequency response.
Maybe what I’m actually chasing isn’t “more treble,” but things like staging, separation, definition, presence — that sense of space and realism that makes music feel alive.
It’s also possible that when I was younger, it wasn’t just my ears that were different, but my brain. I was more attentive, more curious, more emotionally open to discovering what music could be. I remember being genuinely overwhelmed by those songs, even through what I now recognize was a very average system.
So perhaps part of the reference point I’m trying to get back isn’t purely acoustic. It might be cognitive and emotional as well.
I hope this clarifies what I meant in the original post.
Quote Of The Day
Thomas Massie, Republican Representative from Kentucky, on the power behind the Epstein coverup:
“Last night I received a flash drive containing the complete list of files belonging to Jeffrey Epstein. Everything is there: every billionaire, every campaign donor, every single person. Now let me explain why you haven’t heard anything about this in the media. Because they’re all in there. They will do everything to prevent these documents from being made public. Epstein was far more than just a pedophile; he was an intelligence asset. He was part of a blackmail operation used to control billionaires, politicians, and world leaders. If this list ever sees the light of day, the system as we know it will collapse. The public has the right to know the truth, and I am not afraid to share it.”
Do it.
Share it all.
[Source]
Right?
365 Days Of UNF: February 13th
Safe To Upgrade…Finally?
After a very unpleasant experience with Apple’s latest macOS, Tahoe, back in December—and successfully downgrading back to Sequoia without becoming homicidal, I swore it off.
Based on everything I read online subsequently, I wasn’t the only one. “Worst O/S release in years!” seemed to be the common refrain. “Half baked, not ready for prime time!”
Usually Apple manages to iron out the little glitches in a new O/S within the first couple itertions. Unfortunately, based on what everyone was saying, the problems apparently continued through the 26.1 and 26.2 releases.
But this week, Apple released Tahoe 26.3 and the interwebs were strangely supportive. People were saying that nearly all of the glitches they’d been experiencing had been cleared up and it was running as well as Sequoia.
Hesitantly—very hesitantly—after doing a full backup, I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the upgrade. Despite the good reviews, I was still fully expecting to spend my evening (and no doubt a good portion of tomorrow) downgrading everything again.
But hey, at least this time I knew what would need to be done.
Imagine my surprise when the installation completed, the machine rebooted and, well…it just worked!*
Yeah, I had to turn off the glass effects via the “Reduce Transparency” toggle in System Settings → Accessibility → Vision → Display because I still hate “liquid glass” (although it’s not as bad it had been previously to 26.3), and once that was done it was golden.
So if you’ve been holding off upgrading because of all the bad press, I can tell you that at least in my own case, everything is finally working as it should. Please note that your mileage may vary and to proceed at your own risk. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya!
*one pretty striking glitch remains that I didn’t catch because I rarely use column view in Finder, so if you do be aware that this is still semi-broken..
I Could Live There
Built in 1963, this 5 bedroom 9 bath home was on the market in Austin, Texas. It is not currently for sale but I thought you’d all enjoy seeing these. The property was listed for sale at 3.9 million in early 2021 and sold later that year.
Someone’s Triggered
Yes Virginia, They Really ARE That Stupid
The Fuck You Are
Just Sayin’
Right?!
Triptych
365 Days Of UNF: February 12th
Oops, I Did It Again
The MiniDisc adventure continues.
This is the last one, I swear. And as is my self-imposed rule, one comes in, one has to go out.
I wish I’d done more research fifteen months ago before I got back into Minidiscs. Instead of just working off an old photo of the last deck I’d owned back in the day—forgetting that it lacked the PS/2 keyboard input for titling discs—and smashing “But It Now” on the first one I ran across that was fully functional and looked good, I could’ve saved myself a ton of money over the past year and went after one that was a better match functionally to my original deck from 2000 that also had a keyboard port,
As I got more and more back into this hobby, I realized how many functions and just little tweaks the deck I’d bought last November was lacking. Why did I go with that one then or even back in the day? It was a combination of faulty memory and the fact I was laser-focused LP2/4 recording capability. Back in the early 2000s it was probably a combination of not needing the keyboard port (I was able to label discs via my portable recorder and computer in conjunction with Sony’s admittedly horrible NetMD software) and more than likely it was cost related, since there were units in that lineup with keyboard ports.)
Oh well…the 480 still holds a place in my heart for nostalgia’s sake and it did what I bought it to do—so I haven’t been completely disappointed with the purchase.
Still, I got a pang whenever I ran across my original deck online—even if it didn’t do long play. But then I discovered the models that came out a year later had the same design and features and did the long play modes. Noted, and filed. The trouble was these days, the immediate successor to my original deck, the JE640, was pretty rare in the US. Even rarer was the top of the line, the JB940. Both models are readily available on the Japanese market, but they run on 100V (necessitating a step-down transformer if you want to use them in the states) and are seemingly only available in champagne gold. Nevermind the import tariffs!
I have triggers set up on eBay to email me when certain items show up. A week ago, a 940 appeared, and for once, it wasn’t a champagne gold 100V model. It was black (matching the rest of my gear), located in the US, and the price was—reasonable (all things considered). Even so, I made the seller an offer at a substantially lower price, never expecting that it would be accepted.
It was accepted.
It arrived today, and I have to say the build quality is so far and above the deck I bought fifteen months ago that it’s crazy. The 940 wasn’t Sony’s absolute top-of-the-line across their entire inventory that year, but it was top of the line for this particular series, and it shows.
So now I’m throwing my old 480 deck up for sale, hoping to recoup at least some of what I paid for this “new” one.
And yes, so far I’m enjoying the fuck out of it.
The Nuremberg Caucus
If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
America’s descent into authoritarian fascism is made all the more alarming and demoralizing by the Democrats’ total failure to rise to the moment:
But what would “rising to the moment” look like? What can the opposition party do without majorities in either house? Well, they could start by refusing to continue to fund ICE, a masked thug snatch/murder squad that roams our streets, killing with impunity:
That’s table stakes. What would a real political response to fascism look like? Again, it wouldn’t stop with banning masks for ICE goons, or even requiring them to wear QR codes:
Though it should be noted that ICE hates this idea, and that ICE agents wear masks because they fear consequences for their sadistic criminality:
This despite the fact that the (criminally culpable) Vice President has assured them that they have absolute impunity, no matter who they kill:
The fact that ICE agents worry about consequences despite Vance’s assurances suggests ways that Dems could “meet the moment.”
I think Dems should start a Nuremberg Caucus, named for the Nazi war-crimes trials that followed from the defeat of German fascists and the death of their leader:
What would this caucus do? Well, it could have a public website where it assembled and organized the evidence for the trials that the Democrats could promise to bring after the Trump regime falls. Each fresh outrage, each statement, each video-clip – whether of Trump officials or of his shock-troops – could be neatly slotted in, given an exhibit number, and annotated with the criminal and civil violations captured in the evidence.
The caucus could publish dates these trials will be held on – following from Jan 20, 2029 – and even which courtrooms each official, high and low, will be tried in. These dates could be changed as new crimes emerge, making sure the most egregious offenses are always at the top of the agenda. Each trial would have a witness list.
The Nuremberg Caucus could vow to repurpose ICE’s $75b budget to pursue Trump’s crimes, from corruption to civil rights violations to labor violations to environmental violations. It could announce its intent to fully fund the FTC and DoJ Antitrust Division to undertake scrutiny of all mergers approved under Trump, and put corporations on notice that they should expect lengthy, probing inquiries into any mergers they undertake between now and the fall of Trumpism. Who knows, perhaps some shareholders will demand that management hold off on mergers in anticipation of this lookback scrutiny, and if not, perhaps they will sue executives after the FTC and DoJ go to work.
While they’re at it, the Nuremberg Caucus could publish a plan to hire thousands of IRS agents (paid for by taxing billionaires and zeroing out ICE’s budget) who will focus exclusively on the ultra-wealthy and especially any supernormal wealth gains coinciding with the second Trump presidency.
Money talks. ICE agents are signing up with the promise of $50k hiring bonuses and $60k in student debt cancellation. That’s peanuts. The Nuremberg Caucus could announce a Crimestoppers-style program with $1m bounties for any ICE officer who a) is themselves innocent of any human rights violations, and; b) provides evidence leading to the conviction of another ICE officer for committing human rights violations. That would certainly improve morale for (some) ICE officers.
Critics of this plan will say that this will force Trump officials to try to steal the next election in order to avoid consequences for their actions. This is certainly true: confidence in a “peaceful transfer of power” is the bedrock of any kind of fair election.
But this bunch have already repeatedly signaled that they intend to steal the midterms and the next general election:
ICE agents are straight up telling people that ICE is on the streets to arrest people in Democratic-leaning states (“The more people that you lose in Minnesota, you then lose a voting right to stay blue”):
The only path to fair elections – and saving America – lies through mobilizing and energizing hundreds of millions of Americans. They are ready. They are begging for leadership. They want an electoral choice, something better than a return to the pre-Trump status quo. If you want giant crowds at every polling place, rising up against ICE and DHS voter-suppression, then you have to promise people that their vote will mean something.
Dems have to pick a side. That means being against anyone who is for fascism – including other Dems. The Nuremberg Caucus should denounce the disgusting child abuse perpetrated by the Trump regime:
But they should also denounce Democrats who vote to fund that abuse:
The people of Minneapolis (and elsewhere) have repeatedly proven that we outnumber fascists by a huge margin. Dems need to stop demoralizing their base by doing nothing and start demonstrating that they understand the urgency of this crisis.
[Source]
365 Days Of UNF: February 10th
I Could Live There
Vomiting It All Up
