In the last ten days...

[jesse_the_k]

...we have spent altogether too many hours juggling AV boxes. However, we are now able to watch modern Blurays with "subtitles for the deaf & hearing impaired" as well as actual 708 closed captions AND older DVDs with old-style line 21 captions. (The key is that the FCC finally promulgated regulations that any Bluray/DVD player manufactured after January 2014 must include its own caption decoder to handle the old-style captions.) Our new player decodes the caps and then paints those pixels over the image it sends via HDMI.

We also discovered the ZVOX Soundbase soundbar speakers. They're not very expensive, and particularly designed for hard of hearing listeners. It overcomes the current, terrible sound mix fashion. No, it's not y/our imagination: in most modern seasons & films, the dialog is mixed lower then the music & sound. ZVOX reverses this trend with a "dialog enhancement" setting that makes the most mumbling numb-lipped speech comprehensible.
http://www.zvoxaudio.com/divinity-cart/cms/accuvoice/accuvoice/1.html

I have discovered how to increase my glee and reduce my anxiety. I now group my daily healthwork in the mornings. SAD light at 6:30 (before dawn); my PT/yoga mashup at 7; meditation at 7:30; (pause for breakfast) (and 3x/week swim at 10). I begin the day with mellow. Turns out the free-floating "need to do healthwork" deadline had been buzzing my head like squadrons of deer flies. Level up to more serenity!

Good thing, since so many other things on the planet have been horrible.

I started a good book (or at least, its first 60 pages meet that criterion). Not on Fire but Burning, by Greg Hrbek, is a literary novel aflame with parallel timelines and mysterious bombs destroying SF and other SNfal bits while it digs deep into the psychology of racism, hatred, and other poisons of youth. The whiff of PKDick is in the plot (but fortunately the prose is way better). I was particularly thrilled by the appearance of Brood X, the 17-year cicadas which sprout on the US east coast.
http://www.mhpbooks.com/books/not-on-fire-but-burning

MyGuy found a beautiful, framed 1800 print of an iris at Goodwill this morning.

More news as it happens; maybe politics next time.

What's your favorite thing right now?

Comments

[vass]

No, it's not y/our imagination: in most modern seasons & films, the dialog is mixed lower then the music & sound.

Head. Desk.

[jesse_the_k]

Yeah, I can't imagine why anybody considers this a good idea. Perhaps the dialog/actors deserve muffling?

[isis]

Yay mellow!

My favorite thing (object) right now is a stained glass piece I bought from a silent auction benefit for a nonprofit that educates people about peaceful coexistence with urban bears (which we have). It is a bear! With background of shades of green grass and blue sky and a yellow sun. I hung it in a kitchen window and every time I see it I smile. (The window looks out on the alley down which the bears usually come. I hope one sees it and smiles, too.)

[jesse_the_k]

Happy bear! Have there been unpleasant bear-human activities which that nonprofit must counter-educate? Do they root around in the garbage cans, or snack on the raccoons who're rooting around in the garbage cans? Are you now in need of some honeybee lampwork to finish the window decor?

On a related note, our city piloted adding a compost collection to the current recyclable and landfill streams. Not enough people participated, but I cannot imagine how verminous that would turn out.

[luzula]

I admire your discipline in getting exercise and taking care of your health! I've been...not so regular with that lately, mostly because it's dark and I'm not as motivated to go outside.

is a literary novel aflame with parallel timelines and mysterious bombs destroying SF and other SNfal bits

Wait, the bombs destroy science fiction?

ETA: Oh, and favorite thing. Hmm. Hair clippers, maybe? I have recently discovered them and they are great.

[jesse_the_k]

It's not so much discipline as I'm doing it before I'm awake enough to have other plans. Whether I'll still be keeping it up in February is a wide-open question.

Yeah, I'm sorry about that ambiguous semi-review. The mysterious nukes/rockets/forces of alien nature destroy the Golden Gate Bridge as well as the city of San Francisco. Now finished, I'm not particularly glad I read it. The point seems to be: we live as quantum beings. Our acts/families/societies at any moment could and can switch timelines. Detailed descriptions, but not any insight, follow. "Live for today!"

Based on your flamenco photos, those clippers are doing wonderful things! Do you shear yourself? (MyGuy does almost all, leaving the back to me. Won't be a problem very long, based on the extensive eggheads in his family.)

[luzula]

You continue to have the best icons.

Ah, of course SF could be short for several things.

I sheared myself the other day, but afterwards my flatmate had to help me get some odd tufts I hadn't caught.

[libskrat]

My favorite thing at present is Goodwill's auction website, from which I am furbishing up my A/V and digital rescue rig at work at ridiculously lovely prices.

[jesse_the_k]

Thanks!
The site is news to me, and it sure is well equipped with every kind of stuff, from power wheelchairs to costume jewelry.

[brainwane]

Yay for life improvements!

I will pick, as a favorite thing, the new standing desk where I am typing this. It is mounted to the wall so it takes up nearly no space when folded down, and when I am using it, the standing position gives me a little light exercise and keeps my joints from locking up (as they do if I'm laying down (or, sometimes, sitting) for big long periods).

[jesse_the_k]

Thanks!

How nifty, a Murphy Desk! Did you work from a plan or dream it up yourself? What kind of hinges does it require?

(This is more than idle curiosity: I'm hoping to convince MyGuy to make a PT table that also attaches to the wall: a two-leg platform bed with a thick mat, at around 24" so I can readily get on and off.)

[brainwane]

Oh wow, that kind of table would be super interesting!

I got an IKEA drop leaf table (the model name: Norbo) which screws into studs in a wall. The superintendent, who installed it, suggested it could hold maybe 20 pounds of weight.

[brainwane]

(That being because he was only able to reach one stud, rather than a few, when mounting it.)