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Post by jandl100 on Feb 19, 2021 8:51:42 GMT
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Post by jandl100 on Feb 19, 2021 7:45:23 GMT
New research shows that the most recent reversal of the Earth's magnetic field, 42000 years ago, was a catastrophic event for life on Earth causing major global weather pattern changes and mass extinctions. "Earth's magnetic field dropped to only 0-6 percent strength during the Adams Event," says Prof. Turney. "We essentially had no magnetic field at all—our cosmic radiation shield was totally gone." Early humans around the world would have seen amazing auroras, shimmering veils and sheets across the sky," says Prof. Cooper. " Ionised air—which is a great conductor for electricity—would have also increased the frequency of electrical storms. "It must have seemed like the end of days," says Prof. Cooper. There are indications that the magnetic field is starting to flip again. phys.org/news/2021-02-ancient-relic-earth-history-years.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter
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Post by jandl100 on Feb 18, 2021 21:39:39 GMT
That's just PR crap.
The technological achievement seen this evening is staggering.
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Post by jandl100 on Feb 18, 2021 21:35:30 GMT
Fabulous.
It was weird watching it "live" knowing that the outcome had already happened 8 minutes before.
The speed of light is so slooooow!
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Post by jandl100 on Feb 18, 2021 19:54:14 GMT
I'm very excited, too!
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Post by jandl100 on Feb 18, 2021 19:52:06 GMT
John McCabe makes a very strong case for John Joubert's piano sonatas in this chamber music collection. Powerful music.
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Post by jandl100 on Feb 18, 2021 16:13:00 GMT
A pleasantly varied and enjoyably laid back album by John Metcalf, a Welsh (I assume) composer. All a good listen,but the highlight is the Cello Symphony- the opening movement of which is kind of reminiscent of Gorecki's 3rd symphony but more cheerful!
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Post by jandl100 on Feb 18, 2021 11:08:56 GMT
Contemporary awesomeness.
George Crumb - Makrokosmos
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Post by jandl100 on Feb 18, 2021 7:20:55 GMT
Here is a rather strange T4S.
I can't find any background info.
The title implies a take from the point of view of the Basque region.
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Post by jandl100 on Feb 18, 2021 6:47:54 GMT
So here we are near the beginning of our exploration of a new world.... zapping the place with lasers and X-rays and blowing up rocks. And littering up the place with techno junk. Humans will be humans, I guess!
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Post by jandl100 on Feb 18, 2021 6:15:45 GMT
In my never ending search for great recordings of Mozart's violin sonatas (it's so easy to be stodgy or glib in these works) right from the start this recording made me smile. Full of the light and life of the music.
I'd not heard of either performer before. Stephane Rougier violin. Sophie Teboul, piano. Bravo!
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Post by jandl100 on Feb 18, 2021 5:59:00 GMT
Enjoying this now. Interestingly weird.
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Post by jandl100 on Feb 18, 2021 4:32:03 GMT
'Along with characterizing the planet’s geology and climate, and paving the way for human exploration beyond the Moon, the rover is focused on astrobiology, or the study of life throughout the universe. Perseverance is tasked with searching for telltale signs that microbial life may have lived on Mars billions of years ago" This article takes a closer look at the range of instruments available for the search for evidence of past life on Mars, and the thinking behind them. www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/searching-for-life-in-nasas-perseverance-mars-samples?utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nasajpl&utm_content=daily20210217-1The landing site, Jezero crater, now a dessicated and barren frozen wasteland, is known to have been a large lake of water 3.5 billion years ago. And the hope is that this would be a strong candidate for the support of ancient Martian microbial life, if any. "Any hunt for biosignatures will include the rover’s suite of cameras, especially Mastcam-Z (located on the rover’s mast), which can zoom in to inspect scientifically interesting targets. The mission’s science team can task Perseverance’s SuperCam instrument – also on the mast – to fire a laser at a promising target, generating a small plasma cloud that can be analyzed to help determine its chemical composition. If those data are intriguing enough, the team could command the rover’s robotic arm to go in for a closer look. To do that, Perseverance will rely on one of two instruments on the turret at the end of its arm. PIXL the Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry) will employ its tiny but powerful X-ray beam to search for potential chemical fingerprints of past life. The SHERLOC (the Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals) instrument has its own laser and can detect concentrations of organic molecules and minerals that have been formed in watery environments. Together, SHERLOC and PIXL will provide high-resolution maps of elements, minerals, and molecules in Martian rocks and sediments, enabling astrobiologists to assess their composition and determine the most promising cores to collect. An enduring hope of the science team is to find a surface feature that couldn’t be attributed to anything other than ancient microbial life. One such feature could be something like a stromatolite. On Earth, stromatolites are wavy, rocky mounds formed long ago by microbial life along ancient shorelines and in other environments where metabolic energy and water were plentiful. Such a conspicuous feature would be difficult to chalk up to geologic processes.'
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Post by jandl100 on Feb 18, 2021 3:35:51 GMT
l loaned a set of speaker cables and not expecting much..... let me say my tickle has been fancied!! Hope to purchase a set later on in the year- took my system to another level. You are a tease.
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Post by jandl100 on Feb 18, 2021 3:33:16 GMT
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Post by jandl100 on Feb 18, 2021 2:54:55 GMT
2.45am and awake with a recently vaccinated somewhat sore arm. Some Penderecki a la Mutter will probably take my mind off it
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Post by jandl100 on Feb 17, 2021 18:57:54 GMT
I had heard that modded original 405s are the best ones, the Pros even better. I have no experience of Quad in my system, though. Gosh, I've not heard that before. An unmodified original 405 could certainly be categorised as pipe and slippers, a very uninspiring amp. The mk2 is hugely better, not a bad amp at all.
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Post by jandl100 on Feb 17, 2021 17:05:49 GMT
Interesting - Quad Revisie, a Dutch company dedicated to the refurbishment of Quad amps, thinks the 303 was one of the best amps ever, and the best produced by Quad! That does rather tie in with my own experience so far. www.quadrevisie.eu/quadrevisie.htmlMy 303 is certainly a very good amp in absolute terms, if rather unforgiving in its explicit way. I can imagine needing a break now and then with the more relaxed 606ii.
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Post by jandl100 on Feb 17, 2021 16:24:31 GMT
They obviously don't object to ss, as that's all I have atm!
.... yeah, quite tempted to look for a valve pre (as you know) but decent ones come expensive with the necessary remote volume capability.
And I have to confess that I've had at least as many mediocre sounding valve preamps as I've had decent ones. So I am kind of wary. Maybe I'll see if I can arrange a swap with someone for my Primaluna power amp. But maybe I'll just stay with a Quad ss pre.
I'm currently using the volume control in the Quad CDP-2, and I've a Quad 99 pre coming out of quarantine on Sunday.
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Post by jandl100 on Feb 17, 2021 14:04:15 GMT
Re the pipe & slippers reputation of Quad - coincidence maybe, but it's curious to note that the sound of the 3 power amps gets increasingly less dynamic and incisive the more recent the kit is.
I wouldn't class any of it as P&S, though.
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