Scott Dolan

I nevr got a chance to meet him in person, but he always came across as a top shelf individual. I wish his friends and family peace during this somber time.

if they sound half as nice as they look, then they're worth every penny.

And BTW, got a pair of the new Apple Earpods with my iPhone 6. The first model of Apple earbuds were so bad, I'm not sure they could be accurately described without a great deal of curse words. They were rock hard and uncomfortable, didn't fit anyone with an ear hole smaller than a quarter, and sound worse than an old Radio Shack transistor radio. BUT, they somewhat got their act together with this latest incarnation. They are still rock hard, but not as uncomfortable as before. They even fit decently enough, though it's tough keeping them mounted properly. And the sound? Well, it's actually...passable? Certainly nothing special, but I will say that I've never heard a better sounding set of buds for $20. I keep mine in my glove compartment just in case my R6's bite the shitter while I'm at work. So there, I would find them to be a suitable replacement for a day if needed. Hey, that's a long, long way from the prvious model which I simply threw away.

I've owned a lot of cans over the decades. Koss, Sony, Grado, Sennheiser... I've never heard a set of Koss or Sony headphones that disappointed, yet never once heard inspiring performance from any of them. Competent and solid, and great bang for the buck products, IMO. As for buds, I mainly use them for podcasts while at work so I refuse to pay a lot of money for them. But at the same time, the cheaper buds can sound almost painful to one degree or another. Not to mention be so ill fitting that you actively dislike even having to use them. *cough* Apple... With that said, here are the current phones and buds in and around my house. Skullkandy Ink'd - megacheap buds my wife picked out at Best Buy. Her first pair lasted for 3 years, which is a pretty good shelf life for buds costing less than $20. They also fit quite comfortably. Unfortunately, it's all downhill from there. The sound is horrifying. Not sure which is worse, the ear-splitting highs, or th cartoonishly boosted bass. But, they are just fine for her. So be it. Klipsch Image S3 - After going through several sets of the excellent Klipsch S4 buds at work (usual piss poor Klipsch wiring really hamstrung them, and they could not stand up to the daily abuse), I decided to go with a less expensive set of the S3 buds. Expecting a lesser version of the S4, I was quite disappointed with the S3. The only thing the two models had in common were the fit. Where th S4 had truly admirable bass response, the S3 barely had any. Though the S4 had a nicely defined high end, the S3 became painful to listen to and I found myself occasionally wincing at painful high notes. So the less expensive Klipsch earbud experiment was short lived. My son now uses them, and is quite happy with them. Klipsch R6 - The R6 was the new model that came out to replace the S4 line. Having been exremely pleased with he peformance of the S4 (though crushed by its nonexistent durability), I decided to give these a try. Over the course of three years, I had burned through five sets of S4 buds. Glad I bought the extended warranty. Even one of the gals at Best Buy who exchanged a pair for me told me that her boyfriend thought they were the best earbuds he'd ever heard, but they kept breaking. Well, I guess Klipsch got tired of handing out so many free earbuds, and fixed the problem with the new R6. I've had my set for over two years now. No replacements. Sennheiser HD595 - I've had these old warhorses for somwhere around a decade now. For the money ($350), the fit and finish on these just did not hold up well over the years. They do present a truly wide soundstage, what with them being an open back model. The highs and midrange are almost perfect, but the low end suffers, as is the case on most vented cans. I don't listen to them anymore, butI'm still proud to own them. PSB Speakers M4U-1 - My baby. These are the headphones that really showed me what headphones were actually capable of. The fit and finish of high gloss platic, leather, and both polished and brushed aluminum make them look and feel very high quality. They fit comfortably crating a nice seal, though they can feel a bit tight after prolonged use. Their sound is second to none. Very expansive soundstage, as wide or wider than my open back Sennheisers, with simply awe-insipring playback from the lowest to the highest notes. The Canadian audio companies are really dominating the industry these days, and one listen to these headphones made it pefectly clear why that is.

Only division with four teams over .500 as well.

Nah, she's just blind as a bat.

BTW, she got 16...

26 And my wife tries to claim I'm color blind...

Right! *ahem* That's what I meant to say the first time through.

Happy B-day, brother!!!

Jim is spot on about this. We're always looking to point the finger of blame, but it's because we want to put a nice, tidy little bow on it so we can move on and get back to "normal life". It wasn't racism, or lax gun laws that killed those people. It was a crazy lone nut who thought, for whatever reason, killing 9 innocent people was just an acceptable/necessary thing to do. And no, we as a society most definitely do NOT bear some of the blame. That sort of self flagellation is an attempt at empathy that just doesn't have any weight to it. It's meaningless rhetoric to make oneself feel as though they've done their societal/human duty. And in complete honesty it's performed with the same cold disconnect as paying taxes.

"Insanity" means that the person either could not control their behavior, or they could not distinguish right from wrong due to mental illness. From all accounts, this individual was focused, determined and in full control of his actions. We tend to identify such people and their actions as "insane", "monstrous" or "pure evil" in order to protect and distance ourselves from the harsh reality that tragedies like this are the result of the fear, ignorance and hatred of those who believe they are losing their ability to exert power and control in our society. I can't follow you down that road. Besides, you kind contradicted yourself when you said being able to discern between right and wrong. Not sure in what reality murder is right, but it isn't in this one. And if he didn't realize it...

Not sure about that, sonny. There is nothing sane about murdering 9 people.

"Alabama" indeed. Coltrane captured a timeless sorrow. Horrific story. Glad they caught the living evil that did this. I wish peace and comfort for all the friends and family of those nine lost souls.

A wink and a nod, fine. Give a ring to a finger-less horse and see wht's good!

Not to a finger-less horse. Ah, social media. You scamp, you...

Pablo! Say it ain't so!!!

I'd say they are! I haven't watched hockey since we moved from Florida. I was a huge Lightning fan, but couldn't see them anymore so I drifted away from the game. And just my luck, they finally won the Cup just a few years later... I've tried to get into the Blues, but it just isn't the same. But, congrats to the Blackhawks and all their fans. They are indeed a "mini-dynasty" a la the San Fran Giants in MLB. Both are quality and classy organizations with a knowledgable and equally classy fan base.

The hilarious part being that this may be the dumbest sports story ever, yet one of the biggest. These guys were essentially acting like douchebags because they didn't like Luhnow. They really stood next to nothing to gain from this. And now they could be facing federal criminal charges and potentially jail time. Absolutely idiotic...

162 games can be tough to ride out. Lots of slumps and streaks to endure. We baseball fans are born masochists. May as well settle in...

Steady... The season isn't even close to the halfway point. Your boys are 3.5 games back, 3 games over .500, and would be in the wild card game today. Now, I may just be a lowly "ballot stuffing" Royals fan (we all are, according to the media), but I seem to recall your Giants making out pretty well from the wild card spot last year. My boys haven't been playing well lately, and I've had to endure ledge jumpers throughout our recent slump. But, you know as well as I do, this shit happens over the course of the MLB season. Never get too high, never get too low. Still a long, LONG way to go. And to put it bluntly, your boys are just fine, so just stop it. You're welcome.

Ah...I love this album. It got quite a few spins and it's in the car again this week. I had this album recommended to me a couple of years ago by a good friend. Still haven't picked it up, but glad to see more glowing opinions of it. The only Lovano I own to this point is his excellent Quartets: Live at the Village Vanguard. The first disc with the Ornette-like piano-less quartet is the standout, but both discs are really, really good.

Especially when Yoko Ono is involved...

I just remember him wrestling in the late 70's, or very early 80's which was within that small window of time that I kept up with it. But I don't recall much of anything about him. Just his wearing of the headdress to the ring. Wish I could have seen some of the old AFL games, but unfortunately it all became the NFL the year I was born (1970).

Man, I'm glad you posted that, Dave. Although GA claims not to know much about wrestling, when he called him The Great Wahoo I was dusting off the memory banks. I couldn't recall him being called that. I just knew him as Chief Wahoo McDaniel. Yet, when I "Googled" that name, it just kept showing me that awful Cleveland Indians logo. Interesting... ...and even more interesting.