Scott Dolan

You're probably right, Jim. And while I suppose a politically incorrect "age correction" should be applied, I still hear a master pianist slogging through a solo that even he doesn't seem sure of. When you have to say a Brubeck solo is "interesting", it's not exactly high praise. It's really not praise at all.

Posted link works for me. Like the keyboard is made of something soft and sticky? Wow. Yeah, I definitely hear what you're talking about. Sounds as though he's trying to tentatively walk himself through some kind of slow-motion 60's era avant garde. It certainly isn't Brubeck-ian, and I'm not sure what to think about it. Though seemingly well thought out, it does come across as slow and sloppy... Will have to listen to it again.

Prepared DAC!

I hear that loud and clear, Beefy! My last Windows machine was a Dell laptop, and it was a disaster from day one. I bought it around 2006-7, and all I had ever heard about was how awesome their custom service was. Come to find out, it was quite possibly the worst customer service I'd ever experienced. Vista was shit, the machine was shit, and their tech support had less of an idea of what was going on than I did! The one positive thing I will say is that when they replaced my hard drive (twice!), the new drive was on my doorstep less than 24 hours after my service call. I understand how, but it was still impressive none the less.

But, IMO, that opinion doesn't really hold water. If the exploit were such an evil open door as the "experts" are claiming, hackers would be climbing over each other for a chance to take advantage of it. Hell, Lizard Squad would have been all over it in a matter of days. Yet another reason why I think this may be much ado about…well, not nothing. But very, very little.

If it's been in the market for the last six months, you'd have to think there would already a ton of breaches being reported. That's all I'm getting at, ejp. It's not like I'm trying to run some kind of interference, I'm strictly an Apple guy and have no dog in the fight. But ever since the apocalyptic Y2K pronouncements from all the "experts", I've learned to take all of these "this is what could happen" reports with a grain of salt. I won't simply take these things on faith anymore.

So were there any lawsuits against Lenovo due to people's identities being stolen and bank accounts emptied? Or was the Slate article just a breathless theory from an IT flunky? I mean, he goes on at length in full blown "trust me" mode, telling us everything that supposedly "could" happen. But there's zero evidence that it ever really did.

Rese Witherspon?

So they can't be used offline?! That's absolutely insane. Apple may have apps that work like that, but I sure haven't encountered them. And I've got a ton of apps. You can't use the Mac's Image Capture app with the Nikon? It works fine with my decade-old Epson scanner. No. Understood, but that sometimes happens with Windows as well. I was just saying there is no evidence that Apple has some kind of four year window that they enjoy slamming shut on users.

That's true with iOS, but I've seen no evidence of that with OS X.

+1,000,000! *applause*

Apple isn't perfect. It definitely has its flaws just as Microsoft does, but the varying level of those flaws are rather jarring. I avoided Apple like the plague for well over a decade, but a combination of Wind'ohs Vista and Dell Computers finally pushed me over the edge. And I'm glad they did! I've happily surrounded myself with Apple products for the past five years now. I know a few who swear by Linux. I've messed with it a little in the past and it always struck me as a perfectly competent OS. Software support is about the only issue I know of when it comes to Linux. If you have to remain PC-based, I'd highly recommend you give it a shot. If nothing else, restore your Windows machine (if that's a possibility), and partition your hard drive so you can run a dual boot system with both Windows and Linux. That way if you find that Linux doesn't support certain softwares that you are accustomed to using, you'll always have Windows to fall back on.

Disc 4 track 4. Track 1 isn't as impressive, IMO. Plus it doesn't have Bushell playing that excellent oboe opening.

It's a fine list, just a bit boring, IMO. Then again, I'm probably far more adventurous than most who would be getting into Jazz. All I know is that I had to sit and intently listen to Kind Of Blue around 12-14 times before I finally "got" it. And my first two Monk albums (all purchased around the same time) got two listens and then hit the shelf for a rather extended period of time. And while our local PBS "played the hits" during their night time Jazz programming, I was still very lukewarm to the art form. But that time I put in the first disc from the Village Vanguard box, I went through some kind of weird and wonderful transmigration of my musical soul. I started out aghast and bewildered, wondering how ANYONE could even dare consider this music! After a few minutes I started wondering if there was something here that I was missing. Later, I started thinking that perhaps there IS something going on here. When it finally ended, I had absolutely no idea what the hell I had just listened to, but knew that I had to listen to it again immediately! 10:20 of life, death, and reincarnation. As Steve said, don't be surprised what one can hear. Sometimes shock and excitement is just what the doctor ordered. It's one of the main reasons I have a harder and harder time getting into something new, musically. Those shocks and surprises are nearly impossible to find anymore.

I'll certainly never go back to Wind'ohs. I had no idea Office was subscription-based now. That's just ludicrous. But, it's hard to avoid as it's the most airtight office suite on the market. Apple certainly doesn't have anything to challenge it.

That place has turned into quite the roller coaster ride.

Which is exactly why I'd put India in the mix. Up until I heard that for the first time I had been only listening to stuff like 50's Miles and Monk. India was both emotionally and physically shocking, but I knew right away I had to hear it again, and again, and again! It then set me down a path to find more things like it.

I'm surprised nobody has thrown in India. To this day hearing him and Dolphy rip the paint off the walls on that one is still a huge thrill! I'd also have to find a way to shoehorn Your Lady onto the CD. Yeah, the coda he always put together for that one is like a Coltrane highlight reel in and of itself.

Yeah, that's still comping.

I always thought Monk's music was as humorous and joyful as it came. "Playful" is how I've described it in the past. Ornette and Dolphy's music could also be labelled as such.

Um…OK...

Yeah, the initial reports do not look promising. Ken Rosenthal tweets: Asked a baseball executive if Hamilton’s discipline was for PEDs. His response: “Worse.” The executive declined to elaborate.

Yeah, the Big Three had a rather historic run last year. You pretty much had to have a lead on us after six, or it was game over. And we're getting Hochevar back this season, which makes that pen even more dangerous. As hard as that is to believe...

In the moment I thought to myself, "man, they should have just sent him". It had the look of an inside-the-parker, and Gordon does have some decent enough wheels. But, once I saw the replay from multiple angles I was completely convinced it was the right call. The Giants are a class organization, and it was an honor to play them for all the marbles. And after a 26 year playoff drought, to then go down to the last out of Game 7 against a team that can be truthfully called a dynasty…eh, I had no complaints. Panda winking into the camera as he was on deck may be one of the most classic moments in MLB history. And players like Pence, Panik, Panda and the Bummer made me an overnight Giants fan. There were no "bad guys" in that series. It was two good guys delivering haymakers, and one of them had to lose. I'm just glad we went down giving you cats everything we had.

Buddy of mine who was in the Pirates organization back in the 60's (made it all the way to AA) was at the game with his wife, and they were seated just behind the third base dugout. He said Usain Bolt wouldn't have made it home on that play. All the replays bear that out as well. The Giants defense was just as airtight as the Royals, and that would have been an incredible embarrassing way to lose Game 7.