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New Turntable Cartridge

I can imaging myself going down the audiophile rabbit hole very easily. I have thus far refrained, but a few weeks ago I ordered a new Ortofon 2M Red cartridge for our turntable. To simply installation I got the one that is pre-mounted.

Installation re-balancing the tone arm were both easy.

Sitting here right now listening to XTC’s Skylarking. Honestly, this album sounds amazing anyway. It is one of the best produced albums we have, but the new cartridge really does it justice. It sounds fantastic.

I’m really glad I made this purchase. Records, CDs, and this stereo are my only real indulgence besides coffee.

Ortofon 2M Red turntable cartridge
clicky clicky for full sized image

 

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Anti-Productivity

I am firmly Anti-Productivity.

Obsession with productivity and optimization is the antithesis of a life well-lived.

You will never be productive enough the leaders of the Cult of Productivity. “Productivity” as it is measured is higher than ever in history, and yet we still all slave away. The idea of Productivity is bullshit as are the methods of measuring it.

The so-called Protestant Work Ethic is simply a means of getting people to slave away for their whole lives. It’s a lie.

No matter how optimized you are, you will still eventually die. No matter how rich you are you will die just like everyone else. Beyond not smoking, killing your liver with booze, you have no control over anything. Fit people get cancer and die every – single – day.

This is just a reminder. For myself.

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Social Media “Content”

As the months roll by it is actually kind of amazing to see the evolution of clearly bot/AI generated “content” on social media platforms. Fake “fan” groups and pages, etc etc. I hope some genius is out there writing a PhD dissertation on this particular disaster.

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Bubbles?

I’ve been reading some blogs this morning. A lot of posts about the effects of social media. A couple of ideas keep coming up, which I will list and comment on below.

We are retreating into our own information bubbles that tend to isolate and radicalize us.

Gonna have to disagree with this. At least for me. Curating your intake of information is not retreating. It is the Enterprise raising the shields. There are way too many graduates of YouTube/FaceBook/Twitter University out there, many of them not even actual humans, blabbering 24/7 to propagate lies about vaccines, support Trump, and tell you raw milk is good for you. No one needs that shit, but there it is. Shields – fucking – UP Mr. Sulu!

People are losing critical thinking skills

I’m not sure most people ever had them, but this is more of a comment than anything else. Every single one of the Trumpbots, Q-nuts, and other wackos believe their own ability to think critically is unmatched. So when I hear someone complain about the “critical thinking skills” of others I immediately question that person’s own intellect.