Binge List for Escapists

Foreword: 

I have a video collection that surprises me, when I look at its size, and there is a lot from many genres, that I caught on all kinds of sales.

This list however fills 2 criteria:

1. It has currently available series, that are available on affordable streaming services not snobbish about connection requirements and preferably without ad interruptions! In other words, you don't need a ton of money for fast connections. 
2. They are also offering an "escape" from daily life, as in they take you to places and worlds not normally seen.

 
When I look at these favourites of mine on streams, and my DVD collection (Netflix is apparently not very active in DVD sales though), it proves that women are just excellent in creating and acting content with brains! Believe it or not, I do not care too much for most "action" flicks anymore, unless they are different and have something extra, like Vin Diesel's movies. The others just bore me to tears with their mucho-macho antics, because they have been doing the same shtick for decades. More of them is just more of the same.

If you like to escape, here is what is currently included in a couple of budget streaming options. SciFi/Fantasy has gotten really much better in the last 20 years, so most series on this list ran their last episode within the last 10 years or very recently, but if it's good, it never gets old:

Netflix and Hulu, but also Amazon Prime, are budget internet-connection friendly services. They work surprisingly well through my T-Mobile phone as hot-spot feeding my 58in el-cheapo Roku-TV or the computer hooked to it. Amazon Prime seems a little shifty and rotates offerings a lot more than Netflix or Hulu, so it is here today, and gone when you finally got to it on your list, but it does work just fine. I have the Prime account frozen, because I grazed off everything I wanted to see.

UPDATE: Amazon rotates a lot, but I have found they eventually bring back what goes away, at least some of the things I was interested in! At least until now, they seem to have had smart buyers, who secured rights that default back to Amazon Prime, when a lease from another company expires!

The CW and its cwtv.com website is also in the running!

FORGET AppleTV+. It plain crashes its Roku app, and on computer browser it was constantly buffering and caused major errors every 5 minutes. "Foundation", slightly modernised version of Isaac Asimov's literary classic multi-book series, was worth the trouble, but I let the trial expire.

UPDATE: AppleTV+ is now available as an add-on to Amazon Prime, and there it actually works, just like all other Amazon videos! 

SHOUT! is a 3 dollar add-on to Amazon Prime and damned well worth it, NO ADS, but tons of classic stuff, like a few spin-offs from the Doctor Who universe, and other morsels!

THE STREAM LIST:

Here are really neat ones you may have missed, and it is an interesting variety, from sci-fi to fantasy and classic sagas and folk and fairy tales:

YIKES! I just added this. How could I forget about one of the most delightful and quirky series ever?

Lucifer

(Netflix)
Was there ever as much fun in and out of hell as with Lucy?
The cast is just stellar talent throughout, the comedy roars, the demonic, angelic, and even godly family infights are out of this world, Lucifer runs his club the way he likes it and is a great sidekick to his detective and love, and crime finds justice.
You have to just love the cast, lead by naturally born total showman Tom Ellis in the title role, Lauren German as Det. Chloe Decker, and a crew of cops and demons kneedeep in the plot. Every one of them gets a chance to steal a scene, and they all do!

Lost Girl 

(CW, streams fine on cwtv.com , Roku app works) 2010-2016
OK, so here is one ad-interrupted offering, but if you did not catch it on Netflix before it left, and are on a budget, this is too good to pass up!
Xenia Solo as streetwise survival artist Kenzi, Anna Silk's (playing main character, the succubus Bo) sidekick, constantly steals the show being so damned cute, and is just a riot and a total hoot to watch! Keep an eye on her, because Xenia Solo is one of those chameleon actors, who can do complete transformations in a flash without any costumes or masks! In another series, "Project Bluebook", she plays a Soviet era sleeper spy in a completely different role.
Take all the old folk tales and sagas, with all their creatures, chimeras, demons, spirits and whatever, mash them up, populate a modern city with creatures from all legends, fanged or not, in an underground world, have a bit internal wrestling for power and the need to hide from humans, and you get:
A Fae World! Fae being creatures of the magic realm that is.
There is a lot going on here, and a big story arc, for a grand story that draws you in.
DVD set is really worth it.

Grimm 

(Amazon Prime) 2012-2017
There is a lot of offbeat humour here, just like in Lost Girl!
Again, we have creatures from all sort of old legends, hiding in plain sight, and causing a lot of mischief! While it may not seem as overtly political as some others here, there is a strong theme of anti-racism.
Between a princess in peril, a werewolf and a fox-lady in a forbidden love affair, the titular main character as a cop initially clueless about being "a Grimm!", and the revelation, that the fairytales collected by the Grimm brothers were REAL, and the Grimms were the first monster hunters, who scared and murdered even the most innocent wild creatures out of superstition, there is enough to fill a few books. Grimm books that is.
Love it!
DVD set is really worth it. 

Sense8 

(Netflix) 2015-2018
From the same creators that brought us The Matrix trilogy!
Being about a "pod" of 8 people with connected minds, including of course everything and their most intimate lives, it is just as trippy as The Matrix, even more so, and it is much hated by certain people for being "woke", which is why I love it. Sense8 has a cult following and is must see!

Northern Rescue 

(Netflix) 2019
OK, this is soapy family drama, with a search and rescue commander relocating his family after his wife dies. The thing is neat though. Don't ask me how I stumbled over it, I'm just glad I did, because there is actually stuff to miss here.

The 100 

(Netflix) 2014-2020
Save this for last, because while I have a long watch-list, all else seems trivial now. I was left in awe, it is that good.
The 100 is a post apocalyptic ride through yet more hardship and catastrophes, without being a wham-bam stupid-thriller.
So despite all the action, the pace is good, and it does not exhaust you, and it takes TIME to unfold the story and characters.
THAT was difficult to pull off, but they did it. Neat full character development, insight into human nature without anybody ever doing annoying "philosophical waxing", total drama in classic Greek Theatre style, fun to watch, and also so heart breaking, it leaves you in tears. The conclusion in season 7 is a nice wrap up!
The cast is international, with a lot of Canadian and Australian as well as USA talent, all just excellent and delivering characters so believable, they all become real, frightening, loveable, and hateable.
DVD for all 7 seasons can be found (careful, many sets only have 1-5 or 1-6) and are available at low prices. Damned well worth it!

Travelers 

(Netflix) 2016-2018
Time travelers try to fix things in their past (our present), before it all goes to pot. Nothing new there. What is however totally new and different, is the so far only plausible way to travel in time, that actually would be feasible from a real theoretical point of view. Effectively they replace existing people, which of course causes a few complications.
This series is different and intelligently written.

Motherland: Fort Salem 

(Hulu) 2020-2022
Alternate universe, where witches became the Army that fought for the revolution, instead of getting burned at the stake. The deal goes sour thanks to anti-witch zealots. This is political dynamite, and a stinging slap against ... that would be telling, but the writing is excellent! One person's terrorist is another's hero.
DVDs were made, but hard to find.

Siren 

(Hulu) 2018-2020
A charming series about a mermaid. With FANGS that is. Again, a vehicle for a lot of thoughtful observations about human nature, like environmental destruction, racism, sexism, etc. Who would have thought old fairytales could deliver so much?
DVD is well worth it, use a search engine.

Saving Hope 

(Hulu) 2012-2017
A Canadian cult favourite!
OK, let's mix up another medical drama (fine, call it soap) and a ghost story, and you get ... something completely different.
Michael Shanks, known as archeologist Daniel Jackson from Stargate SG1, is not a doctor of Egytian history burried in sand and on other planets this time, but a surgical doctor Charlie Harris. The series is not just charming and a big love story, but also sets what has to be some world records!
I swear, they toss out this misunderstood one particular organ with a reputation for being of little use in just about every single episode, when another accident victim rolls into the OR. "This one is crushed, no good" "Toss it!", and whoopsy goes another spleen!
Aside from that, as already mentioned, there is this whole arc of a big love story, but with ghosts in the building!
Get out yer hankies, ye sniveling lot, and watch out for the ghosts, because they haunt this place!
DVD sets hard to find right now.

The OA 

(Netflix) 2016-2019
WARNING: Do NOT tackle, if depressed under any circumstances!!!

This is a tour-de-force, created and acted by Brit Marling. As the villain, we see Brit Marling's husband Jason Isaacs, also seen in the new Star Trek alternate universe.
The first season is brutally dark, but the second one makes watching the whole thing worth the pain of watching the first. Heavy stuff! Especially when I'm down, I cannot digest comedies, but this is so far out and bizarre, it is a total trip to the far side of existential experience. This is ultimately all about recovery from severe trauma and getting into a new life.

Stitchers (Hulu) 2015-2017
The concept seem morbid, a secretive crime investigation department pulling in a young student to perform "stitching". They connect her into what is left of the minds of dead crime victims. Somehyow, the creepy factor is minimised to deliver a really good "who dunnit", but there is more going on, otherwise I would not have gotten hooked on it!

Dollhouse (Hulu) 2009-2010
Modern slavery gone high tech in a hidden lab, with mind alteration of people used as "dolls" for assassination and espionage. They are empty minds between "missions" and never remember a thing about any past events, even their own lives. That is how it is supposed to work. Two people, one detective looking for missing people, and one "doll" become aware, toss a wrench into this empire of manipulators.
Brought to you by Joss Whedon, known for "Buffy, Vampire Slayer" and "Firefly".
Eliza Dushku, from "Buffy" fame, stars and coproduced this one.
DVD is worth it, but rare.


Finally, to the big legends most people know of:

Stargate SG1,
the 1997-2007 series inspired by the 1994 movie, was a whopper of a success and ran for over 213 episodes. It is on Netflix moved to Amazon Prime.

Stargate Atlantis 2004-2009 is on Amazon Prime.
Stargate Universe is on Amazon Prime.

The whole Star Trek franchise was consolidated on Paramount+. I have not tried Paramount+, so I do not know, how well it streams on a budget connection without a hard internet line!

Star Wars is on Disney+, part of ABC's Hulu offerings, so I would expect it to be OK as well.

Babylon 5 apparently moved from HBO-Max (available as an add-on on Amazon Prime, so it works!) to some free streamers. I don't watch anything with ad-interruptions, but Babylon 5 is just too loaded, with brainy content and biting political commentary, to miss it! Keep an eye out for it!

Grokking Science

I never understood why people don't dig Relativity Theory, Quantum Theory, and Thermodynamics!

 

Ey man, I grokked relativity when I was 7 years old.

It's like, discovering the principle and developing the math took Albert Einstein, but once it was there, it was easy peasy stuff!

 

It's like this:

 

You can hop on a light(ning) fast race car and have real fun, and get somewhere fast, but in those 15 minutes your mom gets like 10 years older. That's Special Relativity, because there are other ways for your mom to get older fast too!

 

Then you get a girlfriend, and she eats chocolates and chips and dip like a Black Hole and she kinda like freezes in time watching TV, while you get old really fast watching her get bigger every day, and your bank account smaller every day, and that's General Relativity, because that is what generally happens.

 

And quantum theory (that is part 1, part 2 is here) is only weird, when you insist on having a stiff brain! It's like, you get a hard-on, and then there is a probability distribution of the different places where you can put it, but you don't know where you stuck it, until you're done!

 

And thermodynamics? Big deal - it's like you gotta put more charcoal on the grill to cook your veggie-burgers. Then they are done, and you put them on a plate on the table, and the grill fire dies. So now the neighbour's damned dog steals the burgers, and you wanna cook more burgers, but the charcoal is all gone and used up! And that's called entropy, it leaves you hungry, without burgers, a dead grill, a grinning smart ass dog that farts on his way back through the fence, and that's all there is to thermodynamics!

 

Jokes aside, here is the real scoop!

A scientific theory is NOT "just a theory", because a scientific theory is REALITY as we can see and prove it! People always confuse "theory" and "hypothesis". A hypothesis is an intelligent speculation, which turns into a theory when it is proven to be real!

 

A scientific theory always stands, as long as it cannot be proven to be false. That also means, it needs a construct that can be examined and tinkered with, to see, if it breaks. When something is impossible to examine, and cannot be proven wrong for lack of a mathematically sound description, it is not a valid theory, but some hokey-pokey spooky belief, like unicorns, gods, and divine flying hot-dogs! 

 

When somebody can prove a theory is wrong in experiment and mathematics, or comes up with a better idea about how something works, AND can actually prove it, the theory is then overhauled or replaced. That does not sit well with people, who base their lives on "beliefs", but that is just tough stuff, so deal with it!

 

Did you know?

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grok#note-1

Grok may be the only English word that derives from Martian. Yes, we do mean the language of the planet Mars. No, we're not getting spacey; we've just ventured into the realm of science fiction. "Grok" was introduced in Robert A. Heinlein's 1961 science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land. The book's main character, Valentine Michael Smith, is a Martian-raised human who comes to earth as an adult, bringing with him words from his native tongue and a unique perspective on the strange, strange ways of earthlings. "Grok" was quickly adopted by the youth culture of America and has since peppered the vernacular of those who grok it, from the hippies of the '60s to the computerniks of the '90s.
 

 

Special Relativity Theory:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AInCqm5nCzw

General Relativity Theory:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzQC3uYL67U

Quantum Mechanics part 1 and part 2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kb1VT0J3DE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO_W70VegbQ

Thermo-Dynamics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i1MUWJoI0U

And, EY MAN, this shit is like REAL!
https://www.livescience.com/58245-theory-of-relativity-in-real-life.html

The Duel of the phono preamps - both parts!

 After forgetting I had even started a blog page for over ten years, it suddenly started filling up! To my own dismay I noticed, that it already takes a medium attention span to find and read both parts of my review and comparison of two audiophile grade, but somewhat affordable phono-preamplifiers.

So here are both parts together:

 

THE DUEL, Part 1

It's the duel of the phono preamps at high afternoon!

Lehmann Audio Black Cube goes vs. Pro-Ject Phono Box S2 in toe to toe vinyl combat!

Why no Youtube video? I am not set up for video productions, and my house is a mess, PLUS Youtube is famous for censoring even test videos with short samples, if they happen to recognise any copyrighted music. So no, no video!

The story how this came about (to skip this all, look for the header "The Duel"):

I've had my Pro-Ject Phono Box S2 for several years now, and really love it. It simply is plain pleasure, has no noise, and no hum on my OC9 moving coil cart, which is difficult for any budget phono-preamp!

Some cheap pieces are plain lame and are too low in volume, or they spit, hiss, and shriek. The Pro-Ject in contrast is a joy, as it is refined, and has very good adjustable gain to give music enough impact, without distorting anything.

In the shelf before the Lehmann Audio:

Its companion phono-preamp for a second turntable so far has been a surprisingy good and dirt cheap (around 80 bucks) Technolink TC-760LC from Phonopreamps.com. They sell the TC-760LC on Amazon with an optional higher grade power supply. They come in black and a dark off colour sort of "champagne" silverish kind of finish.
The Technolink is noticeably weaker and has a bit more hum on the moving coil input, but if you are on a budget, it is perfectly satisfactory, delivers fine detail, does not fatigue, and is a good long play listening device! As my first moving coil capable phono box was a cheap Music Hall (which cost 20 bucks more!) with actually a bit lower and non-adjustable gain, this one is not bad at all. If I had not tried and kept the Pro-Ject, I would probably be ignorant and happy with this budget phono-preamp!

The 200 dollar Pro-Ject Phono Box S2 (which has been more than excellent for my very entry level system) had bumped a far more expensive Creek OBH15 without contest. That was easy, as the Creek was playing so bad with my Audio Technica OC9 moving coil marvel, having some kind of deep bass resonance problem, it made my ears hurt, no matter what amp I yanked from my collection of vintage classics that included Marantz, Superscope, Pioneer, Yamaha, Technics, and others at the time. So the OBH then sat in its box in a dusty shelf for several years, and I was glad to be rid of it as a trade in before I even bought the Pro-Ject.

My friend Peter, proprietor of "Turntable Treasures" in Tacoma, was curious about what I thought of this "Lehmann Audio Black Cube Statement" and loaned it for a little testing.


The Setup:

This called for 2 turntables, close enough to start with and set up to sound identical.
My main living room turntable has been a Dual 510 for some time now. The original platter mat has been replaced by a foam mat, which makes the normally slightly dark sounding machine (due to its factory mat it turns out) a little brighter. It is augmented by a secondary player, a Dual 1246, fully automatic, with a very similar platter, but different mat. This mat was also replaced by a foam mat of the same type. Having the same arm and counter weight, and both running with a Grado Black now, we now have two practically identically source turntables.
The machines feed into the Lehmann Audio (Dual 1246) and the Pro-Ject (Dual 510), then into a remote control Sanyo LC 75342 chip set kit preamp, into a Dayton Audio APA150 power amp. The Dayton came out of an audiophile scrutinisation on TNT-Audio with flying colours, and I have to say I like it!
The weakest part of the chain is my speaker pair, the Dayton Audio B652, but I cannot play loud in this neighbourhood, and the B652 is actually highly regarded in many circles, so there would be absolutely NO point for me to spend more money on other speakers. They deliver the goods at low to mid volume.


THE DUEL:

FIRST RECORD

Archic Produktion
"Musica Antiqua Koeln", Reinhard Goebel
Digital Recording on vinyl
Digital Stereo 2566127

side 1 track 1, Pachelbel, Kanon & Gigue D-dur

Lehmann: more chunkie sounding cembalo with more impact

track 2, Handel, Sonata G-dur, 2 violins & coninuo

On the Lehmann the violins are more open/spacious sounding vs. more boxed in on Pro-Ject.

I drifted off on the rest of the record and just enjoyed through both preamps, somehow turning off my critical listening mode. This actually means, that BOTH preamps achieve a most important goal, which is just forgetting about the equipment, and enjoying the music. I have certainly had equipment, where I kept thinking and imagining what a better piece would sound like, but these preamps just simple are. "Zen", just being, has been achieved. 

 

FIRST RESULTS FOR MOVING MAGNET CARTRIDGE TEST ONLY:

This is a comparison test, so while close, if you have the extra money, the edge goes to the Lehmann Audio.

Both are a step above cheaper phono stages, and they are VERY close. 

The Lehmann Audio Black Cube does appear to deliver a "sturdier" bottom end foundation and sounds more spacious than the Pro-Ject, so it gets the nod!

However, we have entered the realm of "high end" audio, where differences and improvements are subtle. Too often, an upgrade of one piece means skipping another vital part altogether, so setting up your budget is first, and choosing the second best option with something else you need for a complete system will often win over not having a missing piece. 

In this case, the more than 250 dollar difference between the Pro-Ject S2 and the Black Cube phono stages (you need a phono stage for playing vinyl) means being able to buy the Dayton Audio APA150 (which you can use as a standalone without any remote control preamp) and a pair of the reasonable good and audiophile approved Dayton B652 speakers. 

Plus, the differences noted in this first comparison will likely only be noticed in a direct back and forth comparison of the same record rapidly plopped from one player/preamp to the other.

BUT ISN'T THERE A WINNER FOR NOW? 

Yes my Dear, it is the Lehmann Audio Black Cube Statement.

Here is TNT-Audio's take on The Lehmann Audio Black Cube:
https://www.tnt-audio.com/ampli/statement_e.html

Here is the TNT-Audio review of the Dayton Audio APA150:
https://www.tnt-audio.com/ampli/dayton_apa150_e.html

The low budget, but very acceptable Technolink TC-760LC:
https://www.phonopreamps.com/TC-760LCpp.html

The TC-760LC with upgraded power supply:
https://smile.amazon.com/TC-760LC-BLACK-Phono-Control-optional/dp/B00II2L880/

The TC-760LC with upgraded power supply in silver(ish ... sort of)
https://smile.amazon.com/TC-760LC-SILVER-Phono-Control-optional/dp/B00IHHNVNG/

Pro-Ject Phono Box S2:
https://www.project-audio.com/en/product/phono-box-s2/

Lehmann Audio Black Cube Statement:
https://www.lehmannaudio.com/phono-stages/black-cube-statement.html

The Duel, Part 2

This is continued from the first part of "The Duel", so please refer to it for more details about my set-up!

Tonight, the duel between the Pro-Ject Phono Box S2 and the twice as expensive Lehmann Audio Black Box Statement came to a thundering conclusion. 

Mounted was my sample of a 20 year old Audio Technica OC9 moving coil cartridge. A new moving coil cart is simply not in my budget, but this old classic still works just dandy!

This old beastie, despite all opinions about the cantilever suspension dying a slow rubber grommet death after 5 years (I for one think this is mainly a sales pitch for new junk, as long as you store your treasures in good temperature and humidity conditions), still delivers the sounds locked up in the vinyl grooves in a way, that my most recent brand new and best moving magnet cartridges simply cannot replicate.

It sounds positively great using my Pro-Ject S2.

However, on the Lehmann Statement it really comes to life in a way I never experienced before!

Toto IV (1982, CBS Master Sound, HC47728, 7464-47728-1) is a well known classic. 

On the Pro-Ject S2, the vinyl sounded a lot like the radio and CD deliveries I was used to. There was simply nothing wrong, and the S2 just amplified the sound my OC9 delivered with all the improved detail in a very enjoyable way.

Then I put the record on the other machine connected to the Lehmann Statement. 

It suddenly came to life in a spectacular way. The sound started to pop, bass was cracking, and something magical (hard to describe) had happened to the clarity and spaciousness of just everything. It was the kind of thing you need to hear to understand.

The Lehmann Black Box Statement was absolutely the immediate clear winner without any arguments.

The one question is this:

Is it worth the extra money?

The rest of your system needs to keep up for sure, especially your cartridge and turntable!

As I mentioned in Part 1, the extra money spent on this Lehmann vs. the Pro-Ject S2 can actually buy you a fairly decent amplifier you may not have yet!

Prices for everything have gone up last year, so you cannot include speakers anymore, but still, 200 bucks stepping up from the S2 to the Lehmann is a real word difference that many people cannot sneer at!

Most likely, a phono-preamp will be in your shelf for many years, so budgeting and how to pay it or save for it will be a very personal decision.

I have to say that my personal budget is really restricted, and I am happy with and enjoy my Pro-Ject Phono Box S2. While it is "entry level", cheaper than many other phono-preamps (but expensive for frugal observers), and sneered at by some HiFi snobs, it is certainly already above what most people have in their homes. But had things gone differently, the Lehmann Black Box Statement would be my pride and joy for sure!

If you have the budget, go for it. There is nothing to regret with the Lehmann!
Otherwise, any budget minded curmudgeon can get along with the basic but surprisingly good Techlink TC760LC from phonopreamps.com, or the definitely already refined sounding Pro-Ject Phono Box S2.

The Duel, Part 2

This is continued from the first part of "The Duel", so please refer to it for more details about my set-up!

Tonight, the duel between the Pro-Ject Phono Box S2 and the twice as expensive Lehmann Audio Black Box Statement came to a thundering conclusion. 

Mounted was my sample of a 20 year old Audio Technica OC9 moving coil cartridge. A new moving coil cart is simply not in my budget, but this old classic still works just dandy!

This old beastie, despite all opinions about the cantilever suspension dying a slow rubber grommet death after 5 years (I for one think this is mainly a sales pitch for new junk, as long as you store your treasures in good temperature and humidity conditions), still delivers the sounds locked up in the vinyl grooves in a way, that my most recent brand new and best moving magnet cartridges simply cannot replicate.

It sounds positively great using my Pro-Ject S2.

However, on the Lehmann Statement it really comes to life in a way I never experienced before!

Toto IV (1982, CBS Master Sound, HC47728, 7464-47728-1) is a well known classic. 

On the Pro-Ject S2, the vinyl sounded a lot like the radio and CD deliveries I was used to. There was simply nothing wrong, and the S2 just amplified the sound my OC9 delivered with all the improved detail in a very enjoyable way.

Then I put the record on the other machine connected to the Lehmann Statement. 

It suddenly came to life in a spectacular way. The sound started to pop, bass was cracking, and something magical (hard to describe) had happened to the clarity and spaciousness of just everything. It was the kind of thing you need to hear to understand.

The Lehmann Black Box Statement was absolutely the immediate clear winner without any arguments.

The one question is this:

Is it worth the extra money?

The rest of your system needs to keep up for sure, especially your cartridge and turntable!

As I mentioned in Part 1, the extra money spent on this Lehmann vs. the Pro-Ject S2 can actually buy you a fairly decent amplifier you may not have yet!

Prices for everything have gone up last year, so you cannot include speakers anymore, but still, 200 bucks stepping up from the S2 to the Lehmann is a real word difference that many people cannot sneer at!

Most likely, a phono-preamp will be in your shelf for many years, so budgeting and how to pay it or save for it will be a very personal decision.

I have to say that my personal budget is really restricted, and I am happy with and enjoy my Pro-Ject Phono Box S2. While it is "entry level", cheaper than many other phono-preamps (but expensive for frugal observers), and sneered at by some HiFi snobs, it is certainly already above what most people have in their homes. But had things gone differently, the Lehmann Black Box Statement would be my pride and joy for sure!

If you have the budget, go for it. There is nothing to regret with the Lehmann!

People really think the Taliban is not tied to the US Department of Dirty Tricks?

Yes, we created the Taliban, like it or not! 

Most Americans obviously do not remember, or know about, or they just stupidly deny the 1980s, when the "mujahideen" "freedom fighters" got propped up with US military advisers and weapons deliveries to fight a proxy war against the Soviet Union. 

 

US gave them guided missiles, grenade launchers, machine guns, assault weapons, and all the munitions they wanted and more than they could carry back then. 

More importantly, they also got training from US military "advisers" that taught them some really nasty tricks about fighting a really dirty war. 

 

The warlords we supported in the 1980s (the exact opposite of wet Hollywood fantasies about fictitious royal honourable fighters in "Rambo III" and "The Living Daylights") later morphed into Al Quaida, Taliban, and ISIS. The guys we propped up were absolutely not nice!

 

Yes, they have always had their nasty warlords, but we made them worse and better equipped than ever, and now we have a historically fierce monster that has outgrown and seriously whooped US, with no possible win in sight. The smarter officers who fought there know it, as I just heard in a few interviews. 

 

Afghanistan has been invaded for thousands of years. Even Alexander The Great was not the first emperor to attempt running through it to get to India, but he was the best known of antiquity.

 

Empires always got their asses handed to them by the Afghanis, and the USA is no exception. It is called the "Graveyard Of Empires" for good reason.

 

Everybody who tried to play the tribes, always ended up creating a monster they could not control, because people don't like to be ruled by invaders. The Taliban will eventually fade, if no other empire moves in with guns again. But that fading will take more than a life-time, or three, and will likely be interrupted by another invader.

 

Just a few of the empires that had their butts handed to them in Afghanistan:

 

Greeks

Romans

Persians

Ottomans

Indians

Mongols

Brits

Soviets

Americans

 

So who is next?

AH! China is next to try and fail you say, because they are already sending people there, right?

 

I for one think China will be there to stay, because they are not moving in with battle horses, guns, and tanks. They are moving in with railroads, bridges, waterworks, power-plants, and other things people actually want.

So far, every place they moved into has been quiet, and nobody really notices how far China has spread its sphere. They don't bomb their way in. They just peddle. And they win where others fail.

Yellow Air, Smoke Choking All

South Pierce County, Spanaway, Washington State:

 

Smoke in the air is getting thicker. 

Has been making me sneeze and has been irritating my eyes for days. This morning I climbed into the shower and ended up dropping my liquefied nose contents into the tub as if I'd been in a CS riot gas attack (often called tear gas, but the military kind) right after taking little Bella outside.

 

With 35 deg Celsius heat (95 Fahrenheit) this afternoon, the air is thick and stinging, and I have not seen any birds in the air for a while!

 

The light is shaping the colours of all surroundings into an eerie golden brown tint, like last year right before it got dark for weeks.

 

This is the second summer we have this biting smoky air and strange light with a mucked up atmosphere.

 

This may well be the new normal, and the end of good summers for years to come.

So what does all that QAnon stuff have to do with ... The X-Files???

 "The government is putting Bill Gates' microchips into people with those vaccines!"

 

These people ARE serious about secret microchip implants to track them, and they also think the vaccine somehow changes their DNA.

 

Do you know, where that all comes from?

"The X-Files" - SERIOUSLY!

 

Before FOX ever got bought by an Australian media mogul to get into the "news" business, they were strictly entertainment. Then Rupert Murdoch started buying them out. Their stations had no news, but in the early nineties they started to experiment with misinformation and how much B.S. they could get away with. First with "The X-Files" (aired 1993 to 2018), and then the infamous "Alien Autopsy" (1995).

 

People took both at face value as completely true, hook, line, and sinker! Even after Jonathan Frakes (Star Trek Next Generation's Cmdr. Riker), who had narrated "Alien Autopsy", stated officially it was a fun hoax, people said "yeah right, it was REAL!"

 

Most of the QAnon madness is straight from the X-Files, and people believed back then it was real, and now they believe it is true as retold by QAnon.

 

It was a chore slugging through all 217 episodes in month long binge this spring (back in the 90s I had lost interest, as they were trying to feed me too much nonsense, and I am a total SciFi freak!), but it was eye opening to watch all of the X-Files series episodes ad-free on Hulu. The movies are streaming somewhere else. You can get it done with a free trial in a month. Just have plenty of beer/wine/schnaps and chips/dip/hot-dogs/pop-corn/pizza or whatever next to you, and a stash of headache pills, because too much of that stuff is so bonkers, it is beyond suspension of disbelief.