Self Care – How Vinyl Records Are Made

This is a clip from the How It’s Made series… a series I used to love very much.

As for vinyl records; yup, I’m a fan. Initially it was for audiophile reasons. I very much used to believe that analog recordings were better overall than digital recordings. And I’m sure that was true back in the 80s when digital was new and in the 90s when it was upgrading and coming into its own.

Now, though?

Now even downloadable digital files can come in high enough quality that the claim “vinyl records sound better” can, at the very least, be challenged. I do still prefer lossless compression to lossy compression (though, of course, I still use MP3 to carry music with me on my phone), especially for unofficial recordings (like audience recordings of live shows). The reason is because the quality of the recording, especially of a recording of a live show done in the 60s and 70s, is iffy at best (and sometimes quite terrible), and so keeping the audio files as close to the master recording as possible is preferred, as a loss in musical data can easily make an already iffy recording sound utterly horrid. FLAC is the standard lossless format, and my favorite, as well.

That said, though, I do, indeed, listen to vinyl when I can, if for no other reason than I’m the type who likes to sit back and just listen to music, and, mostly for cultural reasons, vinyl is the preferred way of doing that.

So anyways…

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Ivanka Trump as Our First Woman President? Please No.

This is a seriously surreal article over at Ozy magazine. I don’t know how to handle it…

While the world remains distracted by the constant circus surrounding the Trump White House, I sense a different kind of power play, and potential American future, brewing beneath the surface at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: Ivanka Trump becoming the first female president of the United States.

Whatever you think of the character and presidency of Donald Trump, it’s clear he adores his daughter Ivanka, and cherishes the totemic power of his name. And what better way to ensure his family’s legacy than by setting up his daughter, already installed in the West Wing, to assume the presidency? In our current topsy-turvy political era, stranger things have already happened. Let’s take a look at a few potential Twilight Zone scenarios, which aren’t as unlikely as they once might have seemed.

And we’re already off to perhaps one of the most horrific episodes of The Twilight Zone ever dreamed up…

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Agent Orange Asked Comey to Stop Investigating Flynn

This is looking worse and worse…

From the New York Times…

President Trump asked the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, to shut down the federal investigation into Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, in an Oval Office meeting in February, according to a memo Mr. Comey wrote shortly after the meeting.

“I hope you can let this go,” the president told Mr. Comey, according to the memo.

The documentation of Mr. Trump’s request is the clearest evidence that the president has tried to directly influence the Justice Department and F.B.I. investigation into links between Mr. Trump’s associates and Russia. Late Tuesday, Representative Jason Chaffetz, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, demanded that the F.B.I. turn over all “memoranda, notes, summaries and recordings” of discussions between Mr. Trump and Mr. Comey.

Such documents, Mr. Chaffetz wrote, would “raise questions as to whether the president attempted to influence or impede” the F.B.I.

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Self Care – Astronomy Picture of the Week: Propeller Belts of Saturn

I’m still pulling from Cassini’s Grand Finale mission. Is it at all strange that I’m so sad about this? I don’t want to say I feel like I’ve built some kind of bond or something with Cassini. It’s just that Saturn’s always been my favorite planet, and for as long as I’ve been interested, Cassini’s been our window to it.

And now, Cassini’s incredible life is coming to an end. And I’m sad about that.

But anyways…

Cassini shot this amazing, extremely sharp image of some features in Saturn’s A ring called propeller belts. As always, click on the image for the tiff download…

Also, I’m putting this one below the fold…

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Watchdog Seeks to Investigate New Jersy Congressman for Ethics Breach

From AP News…

A nonpartisan watchdog group asked Tuesday that officials determine if a New Jersey congressman violated House ethics rules when he notified a bank board member that an employee had joined a group critical of him and President Donald Trump’s policies.

The Campaign for Accountability asked the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate longtime Republican U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee.

Saily Avelenda says Frelinghuysen included a handwritten note on a letter to a Lakeland Bank board member that said a “ringleader” of the protest movement worked there. Avelenda says she wasn’t asked to resign but was uncomfortable about being confronted over her outside activities and ended up quitting her job.

Frelinghuysen’s campaign office has said he wrote a “brief and innocuous note.”

Avelenda is part of the group NJ 11th For Change, which refers to Frelinghuysen’s district number. The group has criticized Frelinghuysen for not holding in-person town hall meetings to discuss issues, including the Republican-crafted health care plan.

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Reminder: GGS, AP of the W, and Self Care in General All Open for Submissions

I just want to remind readers that Self Care in general, as well as Great Guitar Solos and Astronomy Picture of the Week are open for submissions. I’m eventually going to run out of stuff to post in these series, and would love to know what space pictures/videos/ideas you find interesting, what guitar solos you love, and what videos, pictures, recipes, etc you just enjoy and make you feel good, so I can post them here.

Don’t be shy! I’m genuinely curious, and I’d be happy to share it!

He Actually Leaked Classified Info to the Russians. Seriously.

I don’t even know what to do with this…

From the New York Times…

President Trump boasted about highly classified intelligence in a meeting with the Russian foreign minister and ambassador last week, providing details that could expose the source of the information and the manner in which it was collected, a current and a former American government official said Monday.

The intelligence disclosed by Mr. Trump in a meeting with Sergey V. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, and Sergey I. Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States, was about an Islamic State plot, according to the officials. A Middle Eastern ally that closely guards its own secrets provided the information, which was considered so sensitive that American officials did not share it widely within the United States government or pass it on to other allies.

So… he just wants us to know that he was hand-picked by Putin, doesn’t he?

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Self Care – Great Guitar Solos: Jeff Beck and David Gilmour Play Hi Ho Silver Lining Live at the Royal Albert Hall on July 4, 2009

This is an audience recording, so the quality isn’t entirely great, but seeing Jeff Beck and David Gilmour play together is just… it’s damn well near a spiritual experience…

This solo may not be technically flashy or pack an emotional punch, but I adore this one because it’s just fun! They’re clearly enjoying themselves.

They both play the guitar solo… it’s a guitar solo duet! It starts at 2:13 and ends at 2:44. There’s a second one (which actually looks like it wasn’t entirely expected, but hey! That means improv!) starting at 3:07 and ending at 3:43.

Enjoy!