ALAN LAVENDER @lavenderlens@qoto.org

some excellent new independent releases today! of which i have helped make two (2) 🙀

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Amery / Continue as Amery

https://amery.bandcamp.com/album/continue-as-amery

kinda dreampop-y? it's lightweight. but i like it because of that, not in spite of it 💅🏻

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Bone Haus / Comfort on the Floor

https://open.spotify.com/track/4ulaXKJggaGAa3NXnt49vS (not on bandcamp yet)

gothy postpunk 🦇💀

* full disclosure, i mixed this

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Shannon Curtis / A Little Respect

https://songwhip.com/shannoncurtis/a-little-respect

synthpop. our homage to the original ❤️ produced+mixed by me!

A Communal Coral fossil in a stormbeach pebble.
County Donegal, Ireland.

Cormacscoast.com walking tours

#wildatlanticway #walkingtours #discoverireland #keepdiscovering #fossil #irishfossils #coral #ireland

Daily Telescope: The initial results from Europe’s Euclid telescope are dazzling - Enlarge / Messier 78 is a nursery of star formation enveloped in a shro... - https://arstechnica.com/?p=2026897 #dailytelescope #science #space

A Pro Se plaintiff walking out of federal court, in a lawsuit against one of the most powerful companies in the world, after a motion to dismiss, with EIGHT claims intact, and another SIX claims still possible to add (so, a total of fourteen viable claims), is.... remarkable.

I sent Apple the first request for production of documents in the US Dept of Labor case (which already went to discovery).

I asked Apple for some very specific things & now, today, Apple's trying to stop discovery.

I created dedicated webpages for Apple's secret silicon fabrication exhausting its toxic gases into thousands of homes. You can read it here: https://www.ashleygjovik.com/3250scott.html

I also created a dedicated page for everyone's favorite Triple Superfund site and the Apple office on-top with a cracked floor & the toxic gases being piped *into* the HVAC. It's here: https://www.ashleygjovik.com/825stewart.html

IBM packages its Power cloud into 'pods' that run on-prem - Zero bucks to start but then the meter runs on everything – for years IBM has decided the... - https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/05/22/ibm_power_virtual_server_private_cloud/

Neuralink’s First User Is ‘Constantly Multitasking’ With His Brain Implant - Noland Arbaugh is the first to get Elon Musk’s brain device. The 30-year-old speaks to WI... - https://www.wired.com/story/neuralink-first-patient-interview-noland-arbaugh-elon-musk/ #science/biotech #science/health #cyborgtraining #science

Certain people think I’m saying cassettes sound better than CDs. I don’t know why they believe this—I’ve never said that whatsoever.

I am saying that cassettes can sound better than vinyl. And this isn’t theoretical. I can make cassette recordings that sound empirically better than vinyl.

Nevertheless, why would I buy a cassette when CDs sound better? Price.

A new release on cassette is often half the price of the same album on CD. And the thing is, I have the equipment to make cassettes sound pretty darn good.

For those of you interested in recording to cassette, here’s a good overview of the different types:

Ferric oxide (type I)
Chromium oxide (type II)
Metal (type IV)

There is a type III, but it was rarely in use.

This video gives a good summary of how each type sounds. Most people agree that metal (type IV) sounds the best.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkYyvttjLQU

The thing about physical media formats is that it doesn’t have to be “superior” for you to want it.

For example, I have a VHS and VCD collection. I know these are inferior formats compared to DVD or Blu-Ray.

But have you ever seen Blade Runner on VHS through a CRT? Have you ever seen Ghost in the Shell on VCD through a projector?

I have, and they’re amazing experiences I would not trade for anything.

Why are people surprised that cassettes are still made?

It should be obvious why they’re still around.

Cassettes are the cheapest form of music media out there. Anyone can buy one blank cassette and start recording. Equipment is cheap: all you need is a boombox.

If you want good analog recording, you can use them on a TEAC Portastudio 4-track machine—and it will sound great.

I went to a music store the other day and saw the same album on vinyl, CD, and cassette. Guess which one I bought?

It was the cassette. It was C$12—thus C$28 cheaper than the vinyl.

Here’s the kicker. If you have a good tape deck, and a quality recording, cassettes can sound better than vinyl. Even a type 1 cassette theoretically has better dynamic range than vinyl.

In Japan, people hire middle-aged men to simply do nothing and be there.

I wonder if that service would take off over here. This could be a new line of work for me.