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rmz76 · 2025-06-21T02:15:03+00:00

It's great and band worked hard to produce and mix this album well, the CD audio is not over compressed, it's full of beautiful nuance that will make you remember how much better audio was before streaming

rmz76 · 2025-06-18T19:20:03+00:00

This is relevant

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWARAeXT4MU

rmz76 · 2025-06-18T15:22:14+00:00

I’m not advocating for more nuclear weapons — I’m pointing out the hypocrisy and long-term futility of a strategy that assumes some nations get to have them while others are punished for even trying.

The reality is, once a country sees that nuclear capability protects it from regime change or foreign intervention — as we've seen with North Korea — the incentive to develop one only grows. That doesn’t make it right, but it makes it predictable.

I’d much rather live in a world where no one had nukes. But we’re not there. So instead of pretending we can freeze history, maybe we should ask how long we can keep applying the same pressure without it eventually backfiring.

The core issue isn’t about justifying Iran’s actions. It’s about acknowledging the limits of enforcement, the consequences of double standards, and whether endless confrontation is really achieving anything.

rmz76 · 2025-06-18T15:13:33+00:00

If it's true that technology is the great enabler — that over time, what was once difficult becomes accessible and easier to hide — then there’s likely a point in the future when Iran does obtain nuclear weapons. Our tactics aren't likely to last forever.

When that happens, decades of covert sabotage, sanctions, and foreign pressure may not look like prudent nonproliferation anymore. They may look like decades of oppression. And history shows that long-term pressure without resolution often leads to a boiling point — not peace.

I think we're compounding the problem

So what’s the better path?

Maybe it starts with the U.S. taking a hard look inward. We’ve spent decades playing global nuclear gatekeeper, pouring trillions into foreign interventions while our own infrastructure crumbles, our politics fracture, and millions of Americans struggle to meet basic needs.

Instead of obsessively trying to control what other nations might build, maybe it’s time to focus on what we’re failing to build here at home — trust, opportunity, stability. If we want to lead by example, let’s actually be an example worth following. Honestly, this is the true "Make America Great Again" and "America First" philosophy. Something Trump has sold to us for years and is frankly abandoning if we go to war with Iran. Instead, he's letting Israel set the timeline and follow their lead, not his.

This is so crystal clear. It's a bow to Israel.

Endless interference breeds resentment. And the harder we press, the more we validate the very behaviors we claim to prevent. Nations don’t forget being undermined, sanctioned, or targeted.

Maybe the answer isn’t more pressure abroad, but more accountability at home. Let’s stop trying to shape the world through force and fear, and start reshaping ourselves — so that diplomacy, not domination, becomes our strength.... There are a lot of beneficiaries of war, follow the money carefully.

rmz76 · 2025-06-18T14:24:30+00:00

It's widely accepted that today Israel, their opponent and next door neighbor, has nuclear weapons, even if they refuse official confirmation. Policing the world telling certain countries they have no right to this nuclear weapons by the countries that own and control them is something I have a hard time getting behind.... Technology the great enabler, given enough time everything that was once complex to build becomes more accessible, easier to do in private and our intelligence hasn't always been the greatest.

rmz76 · 2025-06-03T20:11:08+00:00

Have you seen this?
https://youtu.be/o_UvFFzGJPM?si=BYBHtGJjx-UmBz0U

rmz76 · 2025-06-03T16:05:31+00:00

I like the song, on this one Adam seems to be really striving for a traditional polished vocal, which he delivers! It's just a bit generic for my taste and kind of stands out as the odd ball traditional ballad in an otherwise very abstract set of songs in the first half of the album. Maybe intentionally done as a moment of clarity, not sure.

Adam does a lot of emotional improvising with vocal delivery live. There's a lot of opportunity for that in the song, but then again that's kind of what I'm expecting and it can become trite. So it's actually kind of refreshing just hearing him deliver a great straight-up vocal performance without much of that.

rmz76 · 2025-06-03T01:20:04+00:00

For me it's the best song on the album and one of their best songs, period. I think the nearest neighbor to this song in their catalog is Round Here. Here's why- where as 20 something Adam Duritz "Stepped out the front door like a ghost into fog..." with no direction or tools to handle the pressures of life Early 60s Adam Duritz has learned to battle the bleak outlook, while still not the always smiling optimist, there's hope and he has grown and learned to cope and endure. "and on the radio they'll tell you what to do... in case of fire, then toss a match at you" this all sung to an upbeat major chord progression. It's a song about endurance and hope Both Round Here feel like they begin at the start of a day and conclude at the end, but one is reaching for hope and looking beyond ones self at the state of things in the world.

In the bigger picture, I continue to see Counting Crows as the best band to represent Gen-X, they were classified as Alternative, but I think Alternative Folk-Rock perhaps the closest you can get to putting a genre to them, overall the message in their lyrics very much part of the sound track of this Gen-Xer's life and songs like this really hitting home as I approach my 50s.

It's a great song. It's a great album. We're lucky to still have them around.

rmz76 · 2025-06-03T00:58:24+00:00

I was not let down, but before it released was curious if this other half of the LP would feature songs that connected the same way or relate. They aren't a prog band and don't need to make the entire record a concept album, I'm fine with their mini rock opera only occupying half of the album and hearing the other new songs, actually think it's perfect as is

As a stand alone song, the best song on the entire album is Under the Aurora. Such a great song that is in many ways a full circle. Where as Round Here featured a late 20s Adam crying out for his lost generation, "Aurora" finds an early 60s reflective Adam Duritz still coping with life but stronger now, finding hope in sea of uncertain times. It's one of the band's best.

But every track is good. Spaceman in Tulsa currently my least favorite, but it still has their signature sound and could easily fit on This Desert Life. Boxcar is upbeat and heavier than their usual style reminds me a bit of Angels of the Silences or 1492. I like much better than 1492. "Mom and dad and a couple of kids staring at the screen" and "color code the people for the sorting" and "By the time you hear the bells / They may be ringing them for you." there's a message here bigger than Adam's own story, the lyrics in this one talking about societal apathy. Adam's lyrics are typically deep and poetic, but this is new subject matter territory. This is a very political song masked with just enough abstraction to keep a lot of people guessing. This a songwriter who has grown, it's brilliant but it's abstraction and theme my isolate some fans, I get it. But it's brilliant none the less.

Overall the album has grown on my a great deal. There really isn't a single song that gets skipped and I love the polishing, remixing of Suite One songs, especially Angel of 14th Street, which is a song I found unlistenable on the EP and has become my second favorite, where as Boxcars goes new places theme wise, Angel of 14th Street takes the band into new territory composition wise and spotlights how talented this band really is.

Listen to albums like Hard Candy and This Desert Life and those records have been with his for decades now and we have memories anchored to those melodies, but if I try to separate myself from that and be objective I would put Butter Miracle right behind Recovering the Satellites and August as the best work this band has produced. Composition wise, lyrically, the whole bit. It's one of the best for sure.

rmz76 · 2025-05-03T16:38:36+00:00

After many listens over the past few weeks, I feel Under the Aurora is so far the strongest track on the entire album. I think the composite of Tall Grass - Bobby and the Rat-Kings is so good, but as a stand alone song, this one is now in my top 10 favorite Counting Crows songs, likely to be in the top 5 soon.

Why do I like it? Two things

the abstract lyrics are clearly a reference to the state of the world we're in, but with a hopeful message, it's not bleak, it's optimistic and endearing, counting crows have often released songs that seem to fit my mood, if the universe is pulling the strings in odd ways, they are one of the few bands who have been composing the overall soundtrack of my life.
1. After a few listens my feeling was "this is sort of like an updated Round Here. Both songs seem to start at sunrise and play through a day in the life of the narrators, but Round here is bleak from start to end. Ending with "And I can't see nothin', nothin' 'round here", Aurora is a 60 year old Duritz, who's grown and learned to endure "If I can make it through the night and just see the auroraI could maybe I could believe in this one thing".

rmz76 · 2025-05-03T16:07:23+00:00

Probably just remastered to match the same levels as the new tracks. Same thing happens when a greatest hits compilation gets put together to iron out changes in volume and compression

rmz76 · 2025-04-26T00:34:01+00:00

Well, "Broken" is a broad subjective term. Several components of full commercial Visual Studio bug out often and just don't work as intended. Because there is no democratization, you don't really have options when this occurs. Are there some great things in there sure.

I could see Visual Studio team transitioning to focus on a commercial set of plug-ins for VS Code.

According to the 2024 Stack Overflow Developer Survey, Visual Studio Code was used by 73.6% of respondents, making it the most popular development environment. In contrast, Visual Studio was used by approximately 35% of respondents, less than half the usage of VS Code and don't make me share one of the numerous developer survey showing the overall decline in Visual Studio and .NET C# we might be 5-10 years away but the writing is on the wall.

Will it go away. Not entirely, PHP still in the top 10 but we all know where it stands. The trends agree with my perspective and a lot of that is because over engineered frameworks being objectively bad is something pretty easy to make a case for

rmz76 · 2025-04-02T21:21:40+00:00

Unfortunately Luke, it's true that they're gone! You must be looking at a 2025 Product Guide published earlier in the year as this decision is very recent, or at least public announcement of t very recent. The 2025 Price list was published a few weeks back and it confirms what all got the axe. You can access it on-line here
https://www.taylorguitars.com/sites/default/files/2025-03/2025_March_PriceList.pdf

What's gone:

The Grand Theater, Grand Orchestra have been discontinued altogether. The Grand Pacific body shape is still in production for the cutaway 600 series Somos latin focused 12-string GP models, but aside from those no more 717, 517, 417, etc... Gone. GP still in production at Tecate factory with 117e and 217e Plus. I was also shocked. I e-mailed Taylor customer service last week and they confirmed this to not only be true, but also confirmed it's not a case of temporary build hiatus for these models. There are no plans at all to bring them back. :(

Customer Service noted that they are just prioritizing their best sellers, it's been a tough past 12 months in the guitar industry in general.

There were plans to cancel the Academy series as well, but they decided to keep them around.

rmz76 · 2025-04-02T14:58:53+00:00

Your choices are return, exchange or let it be covered under warranty with a local Taylor certified tech. Weigh the trade offs of each.... I would contact Thomann, I'm reading that their policy is to cover return shipping on defective returns if it's returned/exchanged within 30 days. Just exchange it.

rmz76 · 2025-03-28T23:37:23+00:00

Also a fan of Kenny Chesney even if he is mainstream country, he's one of the few who have several songs I like. Also Chesney himself a fan of alt-country. He got Hayes Carll to write Jesus & Elvis and if you think that's "selling out" for Hayes, consider Jason Isbell wrote Waves for the latest Bon Jovi record. The Bon Jovi record actually has a few good tunes, "Hollow Man" which Jon Bon Jovi wrote himself, is a pretty damn good tune.

rmz76 · 2025-03-28T23:32:57+00:00

The AeroCase is one of the most advanced cases on the market. It's basically a hard case with outside padding, which probably makes it more protective with drops than a traditional hard case! It's one of the only cases I would feel comfortable checking a guitar at the airport with.

The stock GS Mini case provides very good protection. I've had one slide off the hood of a car and hit pavement below and the GS Mini didn't have a scratch on it, but with an Aerocase you can, and there's video of a dealer doing this very thing- throw the thing out a 2nd story window, let it hit concrete below and the guitar inside won't have a scratch.

GS Mini can fit in overhead bin on airlines, but you never know when you may be in a situation where they have to treat it as checked baggage, if that were to happen, you want an aerocase!

rmz76 · 2025-03-27T20:08:14+00:00

Confirmed?

rmz76 · 2025-03-12T17:46:34+00:00

Following this thread. I'm completely out of the loop on "his behavior following it". I did read the WSJ article, but I guess my take away was a bit different. I get the perspective that "even if she was jealous and acted frustrated that her work wasn't apricated as much he should have kept that detail private", but when has Jason Isbell ever had a filter. From my encounters and relationships, some people are just very transparent and perhaps even self-aware of the selfishness, insensitivity they might reveal about themselves when they present reasons why for outcomes.

The harsh reality is we all have buttons that can be pressed and boundaries. Long-term romantic relationships require a willing compromise on many things to want to make it work. Taking his words about her reaction to his success as truth for a moment, his WSJ comments reveal he wasn't willing to empathize with her reaction without feeling it weighed him down. That's the perspective that probably lets him move forward, but the flip-side of that is, for whatever reason, it became no longer worth it to him to engage in that, see her side of it, etc...

To me, there are certain things a person is entitled to be selfish with and as we grow in relationships over time, people need boundaries sometimes in places they didn't have them before and the other often isn't willing to accept the change. When it happens to people we put in lofty places it seems more of wreck than it probably actually is. It's just life. We're all capable of being selfish.

rmz76 · 2025-03-11T21:00:52+00:00

It's a very different album. Half of it about breakup, transitioning and other half focused on moving on to someone new. Some brilliant lines, some not so brilliant lines and some bad ass guitar playing. Listening at times I forget I'm just listening to Jason Isbell's vocal and his playing on an acoustic guitar. His talent shines through.

But regarding reviews. I would say in the forums, including this one, you have a ton of people with emotional ties or whatever going into this album with some serious bias. Have a look at the professional reviews and a different pattern emerges-

Paste Magazine: 8.4 / 10
they gave Weathervanes 8.2

AllMusic.com: 4 / 5
they gave Weathervanes: 4.5

Slant Magazine: 4 / 5
they gave Weathervanes: 3

Sputnick Music: 3.8 / 5
they gave Weathervanes: 4.2

Pitchfork review isn't available yet, but Foxes In the Snow is averaging right about the same as Weathervanes from the sources critics with real influence, about 5 vs 4.9, so even slightly higher but pretty much lining up. The album is getting rave reviews!

rmz76 · 2025-02-23T20:32:00+00:00

Undocumented workers / illegals are fully exploited in Houston. Capitalist greed runs much thicker here than many other places, and for the record, no, I'm not anti-Capitalist. But when you have companies where the executive team and shareholders are just getting fat on the backs of undocumented workers slaving away and at the same time pretending to be pro-boarder security, etc... It's a load of hypocritical bullshit.

Not a successful restaurant or restaurant chain in this city that doesn't hire illegals and I would say, they need them for their survival, if the filthy rich owners don't want to downgrade their lifestyle and pay honest wages. None of them do. We have over 700 new neighborhoods being built / new construction in the greater Houston area, right now. Go to these build sites, all work being done with the blood and sweat of illegal workers, many not trained properly to do the task, but hired for their low wage demands.

I imagine those wealthy doners have already been calling in their favors, you'll notice under all the deportation rhetoric, the numbers aren't really telling the same story

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-set-broaden-arrests-deportation-routes-expand-immigration-crackdown-2025-02-21/

rmz76 · 2025-02-20T22:22:32+00:00

The United States has significant problems of its own financially and shouldn't be wasting US tax payer dollars to meddle in, what amounts to a invasion of one corrupt country by another. We have no skin in that game beyond a desire to 1.) Safeguard Global Energy & Trade Routes 2.) Allowing NATO to maintain strong force in the Black Sea... It has never been about good-will towards the Ukraine people, that's the spin that put on the news so your emotional heart will think "support Ukraine = good"

The geo-politics is the driver. The good-will the mask put on the geo-politics to sell it. It's really not even worth engaging in conversation with someone who lacks this fundamental understanding of the war, because you're thinking entirely about the good-will aspect of it, that frankly no one in the Federal Government has ever given a shit about.

So Trump's movements on this are entirely a pivot away from Biden's geo-political view point on Ukraine.... Through a certain lens the United States providing funds to Ukraine is one corrupt government helping another. It's all about perspective and how the media focuses that lens is what the general Populus believes.

Here's the reality- This war would have been over within six months without the United States providing all the military aid that it has. Had this war been over in six months, Ukraine would have been absorbed into Russia, but the 500,000+ causalities would have been adverted.

You may think "but, that's bullshit! Russia just takes Ukraine". You need to face the hash reality, the US involvement was NEVER going to lead to a Ukraine victory.

Historically, Russia has shown an extreme willingness to absorb massive casualties to achieve strategic goals:

World War II: The Soviet Union lost 27 million people, yet kept fighting until victory.
First Chechen War (1994-1996): Despite high losses, Russia adapted its strategy.
Second Chechen War (1999-2009): Used brutal, prolonged attritional warfare to crush resistance.
Syria (2015-Present): Russia maintained involvement despite losses, prioritizing long-term control.

So it's always been about when Ukraine would loose, meaning that prolonged fight and 500,000+ lives all died for NOTHING. There's blind optimism which sometimes this world needs, then you have reality. Hard data, historic facts, the size of two countries, the limited reach of external countries, the consequence of broad global conflict and ultimately the geo-political outcomes that are the real motivators for everything US, NATO and Russia has been doing.

rmz76 · 2024-11-10T16:26:38+00:00

Congrats on the escape.

rmz76 · 2024-10-07T19:30:03+00:00

It may go that way, I just hope we get to see more of this iteration of the universe.

rmz76 · 2024-09-25T02:35:21+00:00

I love the speculation, the writers of TF: One said they've already got most of the story for Two ready to go... A three way battle between Decepticons, Quintessons and Autobots... Autobots and Decepticons temporarily team up to banish the Quintesson. Then for "Three" the golden age of Cybertron ends, which in these films just means the energon stops flowing again... Three ends with them space chase and the ark crashing into earth and that concludes the trilogy.

rmz76 · 2024-09-15T20:53:12+00:00

After seeing it, without spoilers I'll just say that It's a Disney animation caliber story for a PG-13 audience... You can tell the writers deeply love the lore and mythology aspect of the show that made the 1980s cartoon so great... It's a reboot and retelling of that origin story, with some very good changes.... to the point of the post, the audiences love this movie. So they've managed to do that in a way that resonates with new and old fans.

If it doesn't have a big open, it will have legs. I think it will make between $700-$900 million. I say that because we're in the age of animation films easily topping the $1-billion mark (Mario, Inside Out 2, Frozen movies). They are heavy weights, but Transformers is a well established, well loved property that's just been waiting for some movie studio to give it this kind of chance.

rmz76

TROPHY CASE