What It Really Means To Be Real, i.e. What Gear Do We Actually Use

Discussion in 'Tales from the Bully Pulpit' started by purr1n, May 17, 2023.

  1. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

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    Yeah, I grew up in Vancouver in the 70s and 80s when the Honkies started invading. I hear it's full of borgeois mainland Chinese now. And property is totally ridiculous. London/NYC are prolly more expensive.

    Wait, maybe rent in Vancouver for a while first? The wife probably wouldn't go for it.
     
  2. Gazny

    Gazny MOT: ETA Audio

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    Portable:
    Airpods Pro 2 (5E135 mid focus eq)
    Truthear Hola

    Desk:
    BF2
    Ghorn
    B1+
     
  3. penguins

    penguins Friend, formerly known as fp627

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    I don't have one setup or chain I use every time. More of a "what do I want to eat today". Only have one setup as I mostly work from home.

    Copied from my SBAF profile page:
    PC or pi2aes to:
    DAC: Yggdrasil A2 // Holo Spring 2 L2
    Amps: DNA Stellaris // Cavalli Liquid Crimson // SW51+, Vali2+ and Piety for CIEMs and casual use
    Headphones: (Bocote) Auteur // Utopia // original JAR600 // HD6xx
    CIEMS: UERR, UERM
    Portable: UE5 w/ Shanling M0

    On the health side - those of you have met me multiple times since I've joined SBAF - you've seen me at literally my fattest when I first joined, at a healthy weight and in OK physical shape, and overweight but not as bad as before right now. While I absolutely agree that it's better for us if we take care of ourselves and be in good shape, not fat, etc - I have no problem saying that I am overweight right now because I genuinely enjoy good foods and drink more than I enjoy being at a very healthy weight, "looking better", or the slew of other obvious benefits. But even then, this hedonism lite is only more fun to a point - hence why I'm not letting it get as bad as before with the being fat. And I am sooner or later going to want to be healthy for at a while, and will (hopefully) once again go back to healthy weight for said while.

    With regards to hobbies that bring joy or things that bother you - I have to say - I guess I'm either pretty fortunate or somehow have the right perspectives - few things in my personal life bother me much directly. However, I get slightly to quite irked thinking about most of my hobbies beyond the hobbies themselves - most of them are slowly or quickly being chipped away. Either by 1) mindless bureaucrats who don't know what they're doing or politicians shutting stuff down b/c want votes from the masses or 2) human hubris and greed. Thank goodness the negative impact to audio stuff as a whole usually isn't TOO bad.

    Yes, it's pretentious to say these things, but I genuinely believe that it's even more pretentious for people to 1) assume "they know best for everyone" and have their EmOtIoNs dictate their votes for politicians that then tell me what I can't do OR 2) "I need the most moneys to feel the moar speshuls!!!!! And for every one else's sake, I'm just going to stop here.
     
  4. GuySmiley'sMonkey

    GuySmiley'sMonkey Almost "Made"

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    [Deleted content as it wasn't really relevant to the thread in hindsight]
     
    Last edited: May 19, 2023
  5. RestoredSparda

    RestoredSparda Friend

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    I've played around with multiple portable and bedside rigs but always end up never using them. I just have one rig. I really only listen to music when I want it to be the main event and the only focus.

    I'm very busy with work and twin 5-year-olds so my only listening time is from 9 p.m. until I fall asleep. Sometimes this is like 5 minutes. Lol.


    Holo RED -> AES -> Yiggy A2 -> DNA Stratus v3 -> ZMF Atrium Open / Aeolus / Verite Open

    20230413_095146.jpg
     
  6. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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  7. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    [​IMG]

    Off Sunset Blvd in 2023. This is off Sunset? One the main visitor drags?
    IMG_0442.jpg

    In 2005, I did this drive in 3:58 (just under four hours). Yes, I was speeding in my 400hp+ Mits Evo which probably can't be legal today. That is the modifications probably would not be legal (or no way to pass smog / inspection). and pretty sure CHP has to tolerance for 100mph+ shit today. (I had 9-11 commemorative plates)
    upload_2023-5-19_9-16-35.png

    Electricity rates. 'nuff said.
    [​IMG]

    In the 1990s, I was street racing with friends in industrial parks like on Saturday evenings. Mind you this was not LA. This was the SF Bay Era. Supercharged Fox bodies, Civics, stripped Toyotas, 3rd Gen Camaros, you name it. Hollywood, usually late to fads, came out with Fast and Furious years after this stuff really happened. Cops already cracked down when FF came out.
    sr.jpg

    Pete Wilson (OMG a Republican in California - how is that possible - aren't they all evil?) was Governor from 1991 to 1999
    [​IMG]

    Bottom line: California "back in the day" was cheaper (but still expensive), wasn't one party rule, and was a heck a lot more freer. People moved from Texas to California back then! Keep in mind if you have a family or a small business, it's multiplied by number of family members or employees.
     
    Last edited: May 19, 2023
  8. Eric Rosenfield

    Eric Rosenfield Facebook Friend

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    I probably shouldn't ask this, but how are you defining "freer" exactly?
     
  9. Biodegraded

    Biodegraded Friend

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    We were in London last month, and being Vancouver-desensitized we didn't think the prices in the windows of the real-estate offices we passed seemed too bad. This was Paddington area, so fairly central.
    No mate, rent here is ridiculously expensive now too! https://www.zumper.com/rent-research/vancouver-bc
     
  10. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    • Do a lot of "stuff" to your car or on the road without cops pulling you over
    • Build commercial buildings without the state mandating that you install solar along with w Tesla Powerwall and doing a survey on the endangered turtle
    • Afford to take the family out on dinners and vacations because you weren't getting crushed by utility bills
    • Install wood burning fireplace
    • Open a whiskey and bourbon bar without waiting two years for the permit
    • Buy a gas powered generator
    • Walk down Sunset without worrying about stepping on human feces
    • BBQ on balcony
    • Say anything positive about Republican candidates for office
     
    Last edited: May 19, 2023
  11. Eric Rosenfield

    Eric Rosenfield Facebook Friend

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    Definitely don't want to start a fight, but I would argue a lot of these things have nothing to do with a lack of "freedom" as I would tend to define it at least. (Like, you can say whatever positive things you like about Republican candidates, who's stopping you? People just might not like you for saying it, which, you know, is actually freedom.)

    But I think it's worth noting that if people are leaving California for places like Texas, I don't think it's because they can't barbecue on their balconies. It's because of one thing you didn't mention, one primary driver: crushingly high housing costs. And I think it's important to keep an eye on that when casting about for blame and explanations. (High utility bills I'm sure also factor in, but again neither of these things has to do with "freedom" as I understand it.)
     
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  12. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

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    Sunset off the strip has had homeless people camping there for decades, that's not new. I used to work on Sunset Blvd and we had homeless people wander in to our building 3x a week at least. Hollywood in general has long had a large unhoused population.
     
  13. roshambo123

    roshambo123 Friend

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    @purr1n Ok, so all said, do you think California should go back to the way it was? The fundamental ask I'm hearing is :
    • less traffic
    • less homeless people
    • ability to street race
    • dial back pollution standards on wood and gas burning appliances

    Because back when, CA had BAD air pollution, much worse.
     
  14. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I can't speak for other people, but for me, it's about freedom. I had already paid off the mortgage in full. My housing costs were zero, other than property tax, which wasn't too bad actually because of Prop 13. Found the local and state governments and special interests groups with bad public policy choking me to death. Sorry, excessive taxation combined with poor infrastructure planning and wasteful spending and attaching morality clauses to doing business, mowing lawns, being prepared for power failures, BBQ'ing, eggs, pork, etc. All this does trickle down into less freedom. Dozens of little things start to add up. Oh, and too many f'ing people - and NIMBY / permitting - if you want to bring up housing costs.

    I'd easily take all the bullshit if I actually got services in return, like how NY offers free admission to the Met (a visit to the Exploratorium in SF is like $150 for a family), good roads, or having public transportation that doesn't go from nowhere to nowhere, even kinda-crappy services like the NHS of Britain, a world class airport like LHR (not that horrendous LAX). California wants to emulate Britain or EU nations, even Canada, but what's the point if one gets all the disadvantages of those systems and none of the advantages?

    ^ All I can do is point this out. I don't agree with all of the politics here, but CCTX feels more like California of the 70s and 80s to me. Lots of dudes running catless headers in their muscle cars and guys in trucks rolling coal. It's annoying at times, but it's also refreshing: "Hey kids, do you see that redneck in the big truck roll coal as he went past that Tesla!"

    Bad argument. There were always homeless particularly after Raygun released them, but weren't the tent cities of today. LIke, holy shit, this is side street after side street bad. And SF Bay Area homeless were always more violent than the El Lay ones, even back in the late 80s and 90s. It's just that back then, Mayor Diane Feinstein would every other month get the SFPD to beat to shit outta them to clear out the streets. Now I think the hippies bake them pies (actually, this goes way back too).

    It's just the way it is. It can't go back. It's like what Musk said: California is a victim of its success. The cities in Texas will be like California now in 20-30 years. It's not because people from blue states moving it. It's because it's the nature of things.
     
    Last edited: May 19, 2023
  15. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Uhh, you don't get it.
     
  16. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    Reminds me of FL but with more freedoms. As I keep telling people, FL is turning into the red-state version of California.....ewwww.

    FL housing cost is cheaper than NY and CA, but if you are making local FL salary nowadays you can't afford anything locally unless you have tons of cash to complete with the NY'ers. Just like Cali folks saying f**k it and leaving for cheaper housing someplace else.[/QUOTE]

    Thank god I Escaped from New York at times to escape these types of comments. Then again, most of the NY Republicans who are here in FL bitch about the Democrats daily......same shit different day I guess....
     
  17. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

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    I encountered tent cities around Sunset and Vine in the early 2000s, but they'd get cleared out pretty quickly, then reformed a ways over, rinse and repeat. Maybe now the enforcement side is getting lax.

    The first time I visited SF I saw the most homelessness around Haight-Ashbury, which was still a haven for freaks like me, but the last time I went to SF a few years ago that area had become so touristy and commercialized that was filled with throngs of tourists that I had to literally wade through to get anywhere. That was way worse for me personally.
     
  18. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Yeah, El Lay was always rinse and repeat. Saw the cops clear out the Sepulveda Basin along Burbank Blvd, and then do so again. The homeless eventually found other places, usually under the overpasses, maybe on the hills of Malibu too. The Haight and South Berkeley never seemed that "homeless", but I was used to it as a local (lived in Santa Cruz, which had its own homeless problem, but drove up to visit friends - of course!). Post COVID, downtown SF is has gotten really bad. Same with El Lay. I think the cities just gave up. They aren't getting the money they need and citizens had voted in DAs which did not want to prosecute anybody short of murder, and even then.
     
  19. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    There were a lot of factors, but ultimately it was COVID that triggered "I've had enough". We can argue politics, science, the collective good vs. the individual, but what it came to for me was the individual freedoms.

    In 2020, I took a vacation to Texas with the family. (Yes, the US gov't advised against all travel because we were either all gonna die from COVID or spread it to others and cause them to die if we didn't). The following is a text message exchange when I was in Texas of 2020.

    FRIEND IN CALIFORNIA

    Don't come back.

    ME

    Why?

    FRIEND IN CALIFORNIA

    They closed everything.

    ME

    What do you mean they closed everything?

    FRIEND IN CALIFORNIA

    They closed all restaurants. They closed my business. Everything.

    ME

    Wait. You mean the county or Newsom?

    FRIEND IN CALIFORNIA

    Both. Does it matter?

    ME

    So when you say closed restaurants, do you mean not even 6ft apart? Not even with masks? Not even if the restaurant has plastic shields, not even outdoor tables?

    FRIEND IN CALIFORNIA

    Everything.

    ME

    Wait. That makes no sense. Countries in Asia like Taiwan and Korea, they are open for business with reasonable precautions and people there aren't dying en-mass. Americans are only dying in the because people are being retarded and going to huge Coronavirus parties. Closing outdoor dining and businesses with the mandated precautions won't dent the case numbers.

    FRIEND IN CALIFORNIA

    I know. Tell that to Newsom.


    .....

    ME (speaking)

    Julie, find a real-estate agent. We are looking a houses tomorrow.


    Sidenote: a few months later, Governor Newsom is spotted at Coronavirus party with this money people, violating his own edicts
    upload_2023-5-19_15-17-23.jpeg

    ME (thinking)

    f**k you Gavin. Seriously. f**k you.

    ---

    That was the straw the broke the camel's back. And FWIW, Texas was hardly "let it roll". The schools here offered a choice (OMG brilliant ain't it?): remote school or on-site school with masks, notices, etc. (We chose on-site). The tables at the restaurants were spaced out. Cashiers at the market had plastic shields. People wore masks. Actually a higher percentage of people wore masks at say the local HEB market than what I saw in California. Lots of people in Orange County I knew who completely disregarded any COVID precautions (LOL I think for them it was purely a political show - non sensible - but fortunately none of them got too sick)

    I'm not arguing which side is better in the common good vs individual. I'm just saying I moved to where I personally felt more comfortable on the scale of common good vs individual.
     
    Last edited: May 19, 2023
  20. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    Oh I get it, I miss NYC just about every day. However, the positives of being in Florida super outweigh still being in NYC. And of course I am not the only one.

    Things most NY'ers who move to FL like:

    • More freedom to do shit that you want.
      • Minus the upcoming abortion restrictions, but eh we can travel if needed.
    • No income tax and the state government budget is the same as NYC!!
      • I said NYC, not NY State.
    • Police can do their jobs.
    • Judges are firm and strict with their rulings.
      • DAs have to follow the law to the tee or else they will get removed by our gov.
      • Strict bond requirements and keeping people in jail unlike NYC and SF.
    • Limited welfare because most NY'ers I know got pissed of paying so many taxes for people to not work.
      • So much welfare benefits if you lived up in NYC, but the middle class folks were getting sick of tired of paying for other people's crap.
    • Don't feel like an enemy if you say you are a GOP supporter.
    • Better value of housing.
      • But that is slowly changing, South FL prices are just about similar to NY prices, and same for parts of Orlando and Tampa + beachfront properties.
    • Local government services is on the cheap side, but IT WORKS!
      • Good f'ing luck dealing with NYS Revenue, those motherfuckers.
    I read this quote once: "I become less of a liberal every time I step on human's shit on the sidewalk." This goes for most people, but folks like me from NYC are big fans of QOL (Quality of LIfe). If the QOL still sucks, why the f**k you are still there? No surprised why FL is being FL, just thousands of people who want a better QOL and got sick of how their previous state was being run. Shit, my boss is moving from Chicago to SC starting this weekend for a better life.
     

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