Vintage Audio Porn

Pioneer RT-909

I was never a huge fan of reel-to-reel tape back in the day; mainly because the hardware was extremely expensive. But moreso, cassettes were in their ascendancy and soon to overtake the much older format. That being said, I can't deny the absolute beauty of some of the machines…

Pondering

In a normal world, in the event of a President resigning, becoming incapacitated, or being Impeached and removed from office, the order of succession is pretty clear. The Vice President would then step in to take control, and if he was unavailable then the Speaker of the House, and so on and so forth as called out in the table below:

(image courtesy Wikipedia)

All well and good. But the question I've been pondering lately is considering how deep Russian collusion may go in this administration, how far down the line of succession will we have to travel in order to get a Chief Executive who untouched by the scandal?

The VP has been conspicuously silent on the whole affair, but if this bit of reporting is to be believed, it's for good reason. Paul Ryan as Speaker of the House apparently has his own ties to Russia. Orrin Hatch? I haven't heard his name come up in anything regarding Vladimir Putin, so he may in fact not have the stench of this upon him, but who knows?

Obviously Hatch would not be my first choice for President, but after the dog and pony shit show of the last sixty days, I think I—and perhaps the vast majority of the rest of the country and the rest of the world—would breathe a collective sigh of relief at the prospect of actually having someone (regardless of his politics) who is at least a competent adult in the White House again.

If it is shown that the tentacles of Russian collusion reach further into our government than just the upper echelons of the Executive Branch, we are facing a truly unprecedented situation. If it can be proven that 45 and his gang of thugs were illegitimately installed during the last election, what can be done about removing the entire lot? Does the country call for a new election, or is it somehow awarded to the person who actually won the popular vote?

We're in uncharted waters here, folks.

I Didn't Want This To End

It's taken mankind what, 6,000 years or so to fully explore the land mass of planet earth? And then I look at this and realize that even if we had the capability to send humans to Mars, a dozen lifetimes wouldn't be enough to explore it all. We aren't even to baby steps yet; as a species we're still learning how to roll over and crawl in this amazing universe we find ourselves in.

Gratuitous Josh Bowman

I don't want to like ABC's Time After Time. I really don't. I know where the story's going (jump to a different era in every episode as H.G. pursues the dastardly Jack The Ripper in order to save lives and stave off some future calamity), but I keep coming back to it. As my friend Mark said, "I know you. It's got a dark haired Brit with a hairy chest and a beard."

Regrettably, I really am that shallow. But to be perfectly honest, I couldn't make it all the way through the most recent episode in one sitting. It was so…predictable…that halfway through I had to turn it off and return to it this evening.

Something Something Arrow Backwards Something

There is a quote that is something along the lines of If it feels life is drawing you backwards it's only because the Archer is drawing back his arrow to let you fly. Or something. I know I either blogged the original quote or sent it to multiple people in an email, but I'll be damned if I can find a trace of it anywhere.

I kept that quote in mind as I was slogging through my employment at DISH, knowing that things couldn't get much worse and the only direction I could go was up.

The other day it dawned on me that this could also be an apt description of society and civilization as well. Sometimes it just needs to feel like everything is going backward in preparation for a truly monumental leap forward.

Maybe that's what is happening with the current situation in these United States. The longer 45 is in office, the more we're drawn backward, but once he's gone we'll spring forward and regain everything that was lost and more with an energy and intensity not seen since the end of World War II.

At least that's what I'd like to believe.

Nostalgia


Back in the 80s and 90s, I had hundreds of these. But even with a good deck, cassettes (from whatever manufacturer) never sounded as good to my ears as the original vinyl they were ripped from. Close, yes. But not the same.

There was no denying the convenience, and in the days before portable and car CD players, they were the only way to take your music with you.

I gave most of my cassettes to my sister during the great purge of 2003, but I think I still have about a half dozen in a box somewhere.