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Some people see darkness when it’s only a passing shadow.

Here’s one for all those living rent-free in my head, including the person who first said to me, “why are you letting them live rent-free in your head???”

I find it fascinating when people make enemies of those who are basically on the same side as them because they think they aren’t as extreme as they are.

Generally, I don’t like political parties. They seem to be just another way for humans (mammals) to herd-think and for othering. Both are encapsulated in statements like, “vote for us, we will save you and democracy from them who are trying to destroy it.”

If you can’t stand the heat, maybe stop looking up the temperature all the time.

AirPods Pro 2 because I needed them

I bought my AirPods Pro back in November 2020 or so. Lately, I thought I was having a problem with the left one. The level seems lower, it’s making some weird noises, sometimes Siri has No Idea what I’m asking for (more than usual, wise guy), Lori said she mostly heard crackling sometimes when I called, and probably some other things.

Since we’re going on a flight this weekend, I decided to splurge and get a new set of AirPods Pro 2. Wow, what a difference. And it made me realize, the first set had not been working correctly for quite a while. I had been noticing that I’d been hearing noise despite being in Noise Cancellation mode, but I thought it was because of poor fit or something like that. I thought the noises were because I was running and soaking wet with perspiration probably all over the AirPods. The new ones are giving me near silence in Noise Cancellation. All the things I mentioned above, and even weird hums when I insert the AirPod, rattling and thumping noises, are probably all because they’re not working correctly, at least the left one.

I plan to see if Apple will fix them after I get back into town. There is a Service Program so maybe it falls under that. I think I should be within the three years they mention, though I don’t know how they will tell. I have nothing to lose besides time. Also, my Apple Pencil 2 is acting weirdly as well. It doesn’t stay charged and nearly every time I use it I have to stick it to the side of my iPad to charge it and make it see it. If I leave it on the side, it doesn’t stay charged. I don’t think it was always this way. Good thing I like Apple Stores.

An Interview with Bill Payne of Little Feat

[I mentioned this in a post back in July, but neglected to post the actual interview]

It was my pleasure and honor to interview Bill Payne, keyboardist and founding member of the iconic American band, Little Feat. They have just wrapped up celebrating the 45th anniversary of one of the great live albums, Waiting for Columbus, and will soon start The Albums tour, coinciding with new releases of Sailin’ Shoes and Dixie Chicken, doing one night of each per city.

Thanks to David Holloway (and Paul Bindig, whose absence allowed me to fill in) of https://keyboardchronicles.com for letting me participate in this interview. I’ve been a fan of Little Feat and Bill since my college days, which coincided with their reunion. Since then, I’ve both gone forward with them as well as back through their earlier catalog and loved every minute of it, so getting to interview Bill was a huge deal for me. Fortunately, I seemed to have kept my cool and didn’t go “Chris Farley” on him.

You can find these episodes of The Keyboard Chronicles wherever fine podcasts are streamed, as well as on YouTube where I have provided the links below.

Every time I think, “I wish they’d do a modern version of the old Mission: Impossible TV series,” I remember and go, “duh, we’ve been watching Leverage for years.”

Yeah, the tone is different, but they also have a lot of one-for-one parallels.

I purchased a new product, did my first unboxing video, hooked it up, recorded some of the steps, was going to do a review, and it didn’t work. At first, it was definitely my fault for connecting it incorrectly, but since then I’ve discovered other issues that I’m working with their support on. It’s a great product and I’m excited to get it working, but bummed that these issues are holding me back both from using it fully as intended and recording the review.