Ternaugh

I've owned the boxed set of JI for well on 30 years now. I was lucky to pick up Lands of Mystery from Aaron Alston's website over a decade ago, and so my copy is signed by him.

My late wife strongly disliked beards, until I shaved off my goatee and moustache. She shook her head, and told me to grow it back, adding that I looked like Crazy Guggenheim*. So, it's only in a mirror universe that my evil twin is clean-shaven. *Unfortunately, she was pretty much correct on this.

Is there no sign of light as we stand here in the darkness? Watching the sun arise Is there no sign of life as we gaze at the waters? Into the strangers eyes And who are we to criticize or scorn the things that they do? For we shall seek and we shall find Ammonia Avenue If we call for the proof and we question the answers Only the doubt will grow Are we blind to the truth or a sign to believe in? Only the wise will know And word by word they handed down the light that shines today And those who came at first to scoff, remained behind to pray And those who came at first to scoff, remained behind to pray When you can't hear the rhyme and you can't see the reason Why should the hope remain? For a man will be tired and his soul will grow weary Living his life in vain And who are we to justify the right in all we do? Until we seek until we find Ammonia Avenue Through all the doubt somehow they knew And stone by stone they built it high Until the sun broke through A ray of hope, a shining light Ammonia Avenue

Silent Running soundtrack. Finally released to CD by Intrada.

Streaming is a different issue, and the linked article does not compare physical media to streaming. In general, though, album sales have been dropping across most media, except for an uptick in vinyl sales. This "vinyl resurgence" is helped along by a nostalgia for being able to see really big album art, and to be able to "touch" the music. There's a process that needs to happen before a vinyl disc is played, and the experience is highly subjective. Now, I have a small number of vinyl albums in the house (mostly from box sets where they were included), and a really good Technics SL-1300 turntable*, but I haven't played an LP in perhaps 15 years. I still buy music on CD**, but it pretty much gets ripped almost as soon as it enters the house into FLAC files. Over the last few years, I've been increasingly likely to buy a high-quality FLAC download of an album, if it's available. *I think that it needs a new stylus, as the last one was probably replaced in the 80s, and not by me. I also need a receiver to run it through.... **Some of the stuff that I buy is limited to a certain number of discs, or comes with a high resolution or surround sound format, which usually isn't available as a download.

It's really hard to gift a digital download in an attractive way, and new vinyl albums generally cost more than the digital downloads of the same album. Likewise, there are a number of collectors editions that have come out with vinyl included with CD and DVD-Audio or Blu-Ray Audio discs, which might be counted as vinyl. Some are also including high-quality FLAC downloads with the LPs. And digital downloads are seen primarily as a mover for individual tracks, not albums.

They go to all that trouble, and then they use a light whipped cream from a can.

My birthday present to myself arrived a day early. Currently listening to the new Parsons 5.1 mix of Tales of Mystery and Imagination: Edgar Allan Poe by the Alan Parsons Project, from the 40th Anniversary Edition.

Rachael: Do you like our owl? Deckard: It's artificial? Rachael: Of course it is. Deckard: Must be expensive. Rachael: Very. Rachael: I'm Rachael. Deckard: Deckard. Rachael: It seems you feel our work is not a benefit to the public. Deckard: Replicants are like any other machine - they're either a benefit or a hazard. If they're a benefit, it's not my problem

Pence, on the other hand, is making time for his briefings. This seems to be falling in line with the rumors surrounding the VP offers--Trump would "Make America Great Again" and the VP would do the actual foreign and domestic policies. In effect, he's outsourcing all of the hard, no-fun stuff to others, to concentrate on Presidential Cabinet Apprentice.

Please remember, many of the areas with high concentrations of Latino voters did break for Hillary. It's one of the problems with conflating national polls vs local.

Alan Parsons Project-Turn of a Friendly Card (whole album)

And now I'm picturing alternate lyrics to the Starland Vocal Band's greatest hit. "Rubbin' two Cheetos together makes the sparks ignite"

If I were ordering tofurky, I certainly wouldn't care anymore. And the less said about vegan cheese, the better.

So, is the Vegan version pretty much just the roasted squash and cranberry orange jam on bread?

RINO is essentially a purity test label to say that traditional members of the Republican Party "aren't one of us". Political parties aren't a social contract for its members; I don't have to believe in everything to belong, nor do I have to support every candidate blindly. Not socially conservative enough? Well, too bad! There's over a century of Progressive tradition tied to the Republican Party, and some supporters remember that. Maybe, we've got it wrong. Maybe, RINO is actually a bit of psychological projection from those who have strayed from the party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Ike.

"It takes more than that to kill a bull moose."

Good Heavens! RINOs! Whatever will we do with moderate Republicans? Oh, wait, I'm using one as my avatar. Never mind.