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Leftover Thanks Episode Transcript. Length - 35:19 
Magnetofunky No. 195. It's Monday, November 29th, 2021. [intro theme] Yeah. Larry here. It's funny - Halloween is celebrated two weeks into Nov. it seems, then it's a week and a half of hectic preparing for Thanksgiving, and the very next day we slam full bore into Xmas season. You know, a lot of us still have Turkey Day leftovers on the Monday after, so to the extent that I observe this holiday where extended family gathers to scratch old wounds over heaping plates of food (and many barely acknowledge the history of indigenous bloodshed they give thanks for), I put together a short set of seasonal tunes as I cover the problems with my new mobile wifi hotspot and go over my latest piece of bike touring gear... [song] - 01:42 Ok, that was Pilgrims - Thousand Yard Prayer, a World music outfit from Croydon, UK, formed in 2002. This is from the 2012 album World Without End,and their Latest album is Fakir Of The Silver Mask released November 9 on Bandcamp. Thesong itself was pulled from the free mp3 stacks at Rev. This is a laid back (and often explicit - you bet your ass) underground international personal journal of extremely eclectic music and progressive politics, with a focus on mobile energy independence and creative West Coast wanderlust. My podpage is 1223studios.com/mfunky.h. The Twitter is @Magnetofunky, and while I have a FB account up, the page is /larry.winfield.967. [Grid Theory] - 06:19 Signal Interference In Grid Theory, Ok, this episode I'll get into the mobile hotspot issues that interfered with the clearing out phase for a week... There are a lot of dedicated travel routers, a lot of expensive 5G models I can't use because my phones and laptop only support 2.4Ghz or 4G, and most of them only available through Amazon or other online shops, one reason why I went with the Alcatel Linkzone 2 at the T-Mobile store. It's a low end device under $100 with average speed and a decent battery. It also has many customer complaints of bum hardware and low speed issues, but I could buy it local. Anyway, after getting it connected at the T-Mobile store (but not doing a speed test), I tried to get it going at home and the connectivity was for shit. After many days trying every suggestion from customer service via the phone app - inside and outside the building - I went back to the store and discovered I hit a trifecta of crap - the unit was defective, the SIM card was bad and I discovered that the main office geeks had put me on a 500MB tablet plan, not the hotspot plan (and the 100GB of data I ordered was for the 5G model; I could only get 50GB/month for 4G). It took a trip to a different T-Mobile store to get a replacement new hotspot, new SIM card, did the speed test, but back home I the damn thing wouldn't let me completely change the default password; I had to use a variation of the characters to connect the wifi. Anyway, the real problem is signal interference inside the building, because AT&T has equipment in the basement and something (a cell tower, a repeater, who knows) on the roof of the SRO, which messes with everybody's phone and internet. In my unit I barely get 1-2Mbps on the hotspot, often between midnight and office hours, but a couple blocks away the hotspot clocks in at 15-16. Because bluetooth also affects the signal I stopped using my mouse, and I had to download a wifi analyzer just to find the best channel out of 11 to lock in, but I'm making it work, even when it drops to almost dial-up speed during the day, and I remember dial-up. And I still had to use the phone's hotspot to upload the last episode-----[bell] That's one major hurdle, the other was, I thought would be a minor issue... [Back To The Stage] - 09:58 Ok, Back to The Stage, continuing the Brief Seasonal Reminder with a pair of tunes also curated from Rev.'s free mp3 stacks. First up is ThanksTAKING, a very not work safe take by Lyricold, an overweight, slightly out of touch rapper from Charleston, South Carolina. I found a YouTube page frozen at 2011-2012, but he's active on Twitter at lyricoldrap... Next up is Trail of Tears... a haunting instrumental by Louis Lacey, a bass player who lives in Las Vegas, and has played everything from Metal to Jazz... We close out with a classic piece by William S. Burroughs - A Thanksgiving Prayer. And of course, it ain't worksafe either, why would it be... [songs] - 11:07; 13:35; 17:11 ["Geeknotes"] - 19:28 Geeknotes: Premeditated Self Defense... Hey, Geeknotes! Ok, no ramblimg this time, just an observation on the outcomes of two hot topic trials and what it means for the next time this BS happens - of course, I mean the verdicts in the Kenosha Killer Kyle Rittenhouse trial, and the Lynch Mob Trio who stalked and murdered Ahmad Arbery. Thing is, I can see both instances as two sets of entitled white boys with guns loaded with grievance, who went looking for trouble and created a situation where they had no choice but to respond with deadly force. I don't call it vigilantism or being in fear of their lives, I call it Premeditated Self Defense against victims overwhelmingly unarmed who ain't entitled to be in fear of their lives. This time it was a split - because the wingnut judge in Kenosha put not his thumb but his foot on the scale and bent justice, Killer Kyle got off scott free. In Georgia, because the judge wasn't a complete corrupt asshole, the trio were found guilty (I wouldn't celebrate until after the retrial and mistrial motions and actual sentencing). At any rate, expect to see this PSD tactic employed the next time some red hat looking to be the next Nazi Channel/Newsmax race war celebrity expresses himself politically against protesters with an AR-15 or a vehicle. The outcome will entirely depend on where it happens, and whether the judge is also wearing that same made-in-China red hat. Anyway... If you like, or hate the show, go to ratethispodcast.com/mfunky. And, if you have non-Zoom promos, pluggers, gig info, an art opening, etc, send me an email. The address is [email protected]. And bands, artists and poets - download links, no attachments, please, and no promises... [Grid Practice] - 22:39 Camera Rig Ok, In Grid Practice, Now that I've picked the first bike trails to start practice riding, I want to document the ride with pictures and short videos, like everybody else who goes bike touring. This is one of the small changes I'm making to the podcast, but I'm not going overboard on a camera. I'm not getting a GoPro (not even a Hero 7, the only model I'd consider) cause I won't be ripping and running down single track mountain bike trails; my older Moto E4 will do just fine for filming on asphalt and the occasional gravel or dirt road. But I WAS briefly in the weeds on how to mount the phone for filming. I mean, I'm not gonna put the phone on my helmet, and most handlebar mounts, just like chest mounts or armband straps are strictly front or side facing; chest straps put your arms and the handlebars in the shot, and too many handlebar mounts look flimsy. But one brand name kept coming up in all the reviews - Quad Lock. I came across them a while back before I got the gas tank bag from Target (which I can't use cause my knees keep hitting it). Anyway, apparently they're the gold standard with a price tag to match. So I went to their website. Turns out they have a new set of components they call the 360 kit (360 degrees horizontal, 180 vetical) which allows me to do exactly what I want - do road ahead or selfie shots, then pivot for scenic side footage, locked down and very vibration resistant while mounted on the handlebars, according to the sales copy. I took a second look around for any comparable alternative mounts. Nope, so I bit the bullet and placed the order... The parts arrived a few days later. After unboxing, I was surprised that the only instructions came with the universal adapter you attach to the back of the phone. Anyway, a few minutes of fiddling and the phone camera rig was assembled. It looks nice, feels solid (it better), and only took a little more fiddling to mount on the handlebar. I was temped to go test ride the next day because the sun was out, but I still wanted a safety anchor just in case, cause Murphy's Law is always nearby... The next day I did a hard search and found a safety anchor small enough to work around the universal adapter - the Zigi Band by Moxyo, a small adhesive disk with a flimsy string attachment I can replace with a keyring. I took a chance on a WallyWorld in the Bay Area, but it took longer than the Quad Lock stuff to arrive. Anyway, it came right before Turkey Day, I attached it to the old phone and on Sat. I took a leisurely ride up the Wiggle to GG Park, through the panhandle, past the small Janis Joplin tree to the Peace Sign at Hippie Hill. The camera was secure; the video itself isn't exactly smooth and stable, but it'll do for now. The podpage has the YouTube link, and an added bonus, there's no commentary, just sights and sounds of the ride... [One More Tune] - 27:18 Ok, for this week's One More Tune, we close out with an actual new piece submitted through the transom - Damaged Goods, a classic Gang of Four song covered by La Roux-multi-award-winning artist Elly Jackson—at Andy Gill’s request and with his input, including a session at his personal studio, for The Problem of Leisure, the double album of Gang of Four covers he was working on at the time of his sudden death in February 2020. The album was released in June 2021... [song] - 28:00 [Music Bed] - 32:08 The music bed is Pools - Benjamin James Stewart, a French-American writer, musician and visual artist currently living in Mississippi. His debut album Spaces ranges from lo-fi ambient glitch-bliss to roaring fuzzed-out noise collages. The eight piece album was released November 12 on Projekt Records. Well, OK. [Closing] - 33:04 Hey, this show is a 1223studios joint. I'm on almost all the popular podcast platforms, including Apple Podcast Connect. Show notes are on the podpage. Send email to [email protected]. If you like the show, tell your friends, and, A final take on leftovers, a few that have gone past stale to rotten: Where the hell are P-Grabby's tax returns? Whatever happened to the Stormy Daniels case? What happened to Pres. Shithole being indicted, let alone perp-walked to the SDNY over any one of the actual crimes he committed? The shitstorm that rolled over Bill Clinton for getting a hummer is a friggin glacier when it comes to a mob boss administration with a closet full of other peoples' skeletons and a lynch mob base itching to replay the insurrection. With AG Merrick Garland moving at molasses pace, if the GQP retakes either the House or Senate, kiss the Jan. 6th hearings goodbye, cause the 2nd civil war will be on. And what will the corp. Dems fight back with instead of killing the filibuster and expanding the SCROTUS - stern objections and fundraising letters? Show themes "Rocket Power" & "Spy Glass" by NY musician and composer Kevin MacLeod. Some additional audio from freesound.org. Next episode I'll try for Dec. 13th, not promising any Xmas cheer... I'm Larry, trying hard to stay chill at my garrett in the Mission, and this is Magnetofunky, from San Francisco, where we go through, not into, the darkness. |
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