Predator Soundtrack

For years, this soundtrack is hard to find at a decent price. This copy was brand-new and remastered in 2012 even. I haven’t noticed any of these until recently, so a batch of them must have become available somehow. I haven’t paid this much for a cd in a very, very long time, but it’s worth it as the movie has one of the best soundtracks ever. When I watch this movie, I’m always sad that the soundtrack is always out of reach.

I did find the Predator 2 soundtrack earlier this year at a thrift store; that is a rare find. Most of the soundtracks that get to thrift stores are always the same, and nothing by way of classics like these.

Again, it really looks like a batch of these just came out at the same time, because I’ve looked multiple times over the years and it’s never within reach. This one was thirty bucks, and I had to get it because I’m not going to run across this remastered version at a thrift store, ever. And I’m not in the thrifts very much anymore, anyway.

This is one of the best movies of all time, with a perfect soundtrack. A sign that it is a perfect movie is that most movies in the genre try to copy it, and all of the sequels can’t equal it. I’m a fan of the first three, but the fourth was a real disappointment, and I am not going to watch the fifth, or any other sequel unless it is regarded by people I trust as a worthy sequel. I haven’t seen the last two Terminators, either, nor the Kenobi or Boba Fett shows for the same reason. Just tired of my favorite characters being treated badly by poor writers and show runners. It used to be that a sequel to any of the big franchises was so rare that one had to go see it; now, the norm is that whatever you like is going to be sub-standard, even offensive. It took a lot of disappointments for me to figure out that the new normal is to just let them come out, and after time goes by, if sources I know to have a good track record (Critical Drinker) with these things say it’s okay, then I’ll watch. I’m not wasting time and money on them anymore, I’d rather spend on hard-to-find soundtracks instead.

Also. The classical music genre is so deep that I am never without good music to listen to, familiar or new. A sub-genre of this is soundtracks, and my soundtrack collection is pretty good, but with even bad movies often having good soundtracks, it is another area to explore or collect that has a great track record for good music. I would be more into soundtracks (I have about thirty or forty) if they were generally cheaper and I wasn’t so occupied with regular classical. But it is a nice diversion.

Pale Blue Earth Batteries

I have seven trackpads; two are newer, but not state-of-the-art Apple Magic Trackpads that have batteries built-in, are wider, and just plug-in to recharge. And that charge lasts for a reasonable amount of time.

I’d go into how and why I use this configuration, but it’s pretty boring. Well, not for me, but for you. Point being is that I have five other, older trackpads that require two AA batteries apiece, and I go with regular rechargeables. It would be okay to use regular alkalines, which give off more power and don’t require a lot of management, but I kind of like recharging batteries. I also like shredding paper. But that’s another post.

I’d buy all-new Apple Trackpads, but they are pretty expensive. I try to get Trackpads that have cracks on them, since those cracks don’t matter to how they work, it just looks tacky. I just don’t have the will to spend $700 on trackpads.

They blink when charging, and show a solid light when they are done.

Using normal rechargeables isn’t efficient. I have enough logistics to deal with, with all of my peripherals and my super-special keyboard, that when I get to work, I need things to be as simple as possible because it takes time to set everything up, get the bluetooth to recognize everything, etc. Battery issues do not help.

The problem with normal rechargeables is that they don’t put out the same amount of power that the normal alkalines do, and they are very bad at retaining a charge. They get weak very quickly. Charging them takes up to five, six hours. Not always, but that isn’t uncommon. And while you are charging them, you have to have something ready to put into your device, otherwise you are waiting around for your batteries to charge up. So, like I said, logistics. Plus, if the trackpad’s rechargeables are low on energy, they are weaker, so you aren’t using the entire charge and it is tougher to get the Bluetooth to pick them up.

I came across an online ad for a new kind of rechargeable battery, which uses a different kind of material to hold a charge, doesn’t need a charger, has lights on the battery to tell you when they are good-to-go, and charges in under an hour. Among other benefits. So, I had to give this a shot, and they arrived today. We’ll see how good they do.

It’s like with bottled water; more than twenty years ago, when I started to play hockey, I played at this outdoor rink three to four times a week for several years, and always brought tap water with me because, well, water is water, right?

But when I ran out of water, I’d have to go get a bottle from a vending machine. This happened every so often and after a while, this kind of involuntary taste-testing led to my practical understanding that cold, bottled water from a machine is far better than tap water that has been sitting in a bottle. I could actually tell the difference, not over one or two taste-tests, but many, many times.

The same thing is going to happen here; I am very experienced at rechargeable batteries in my computing environment, and how well they do, or don’t work. So I’ll be able to quickly tell if these new ones are a bust or not. The only think I can’t do is determine their overall value over a long period of time. The web site claims that they can recharge (I forget the actual number, but it might be 1,000 charges) a large number of times. Normal rechargeables do stop retaining a charge at some point, too, so I’m not worried about it either way. So long as they last about a year or two, its at least partially worth it. But I’m optimistic I’ll be using them for a very long time.

We’ll see how it goes.

Pale Blue Earth Batteries

Links • Geopolitics, History, and Current Conflicts

Here are the sources I follow daily for information and analysis of Geopolitics, history and current conflicts:

Preston Stewart – US Army veteran with a focus on both current and historical topics.

Ryan McBeth – Army veteran with incredible analysis not found in normal media, debunking common assumptions.

Andrew Bustamante – Former CIA operative who offers insight nobody else can provide.

Combat Veteran Reacts – American combat vet with news and current map analysis.

Artur Rehi – An Estonian soldier/YouTuber with great insight into the Russo-Ukraine war.

Anders Puck Nielsen – Military analyst based in Denmark.

James Ker-Linsay – Professor from the University of Kent, who holds a PhD in International Conflict Analysis.

Konstantin Kisin – Russian-English author and podcaster.

Patrick Bet-David – Host of the Valuetainment podcast on YouTube, focusing on the fundamentals of entrepreneurship and capitalism.

TIKhistory – TIKhistory is a YouTuber who creates detailed and accurate historical documentaries that aim to put TV documentaries to shame. With a focus on World War 2 and similar topics, TIK seeks to dispel the myths and distortions of the past so that we can learn from it and not make the same mistakes again.

Binkov’s Battlegrounds – Ever wondered how any given two countries would fare in a war? Or how certain weapon systems fared against each other? Or simply how missiles or stealth or anything military related actually works? Binkov gives you those answers!

Mark Felton – Mark Felton Productions is a STRICTLY NON-POLITICAL history channel presenting films by leading military historian and author Dr. Mark Felton on a variety of fascinating historical subjects, with particular focus on WWII and the Cold War.

Paul Warburg – He has replaced Peter Zeihan for me, in providing YouTube geopolitics discussed on long walks with a GoPro.

Jack Carr – Former Navy SEAL sniper and #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Terminal List series and the Danger Close podcast.

Shawn Ryan – A former SEAL, and hosts a great conversational podcast: The episode he did with the World War II flamethrower vet was the best I’ve heard.

MilitaryLand.net – Daily details regarding the war in Ukraine.

Jake Broe – Air Force Veteran and Pro-Ukranian YouTuber.

Denys Davydov – Ukrainian pilot with news and current map analysis.

The Russian Dude – Daily updates on Russian-Ukrainian war. 9-12 minute summaries of all the major events that happened that day, including footage from Ukraine.

Vlad Vexler – Moral philosopher with deep analysis on the Ukraine war and associated topics.

NFKRZ – A Russian YouTuber who has fled Russia, and vlogs about current events regarding Russia and life after leaving it.

Natasha’s Adventures – Natasha is from the Far East, right next to China and Japan, but fled Russia recently. Interesting long-form videos on life in Russia and beyond.

IN THE DOGHOUSE:

Zeihan on Geopolitics – Geopolitical strategist with insight on global issues. Many of his predictions are spoken with great confidence, but don’t come to pass.

Neil deGrasse Tyson – I can’t say whether his astrophysics is faulty; but once he ventures out of his realm of expertise, he loses scientific analysis and only believes things through an emotional lens. On one scientific topic that he was losing an argument on, his defense was, and I quote: “Why do you care! Why do you care! Why do you care!” That kind of passionate view on a scientific topic destroyed his credibility, in my view, and makes him more of the “Bill Nye, the Science Guy” of astrophysics.

New PAW Goalie Gear

My new Protective Athletic Wear gear finally arrived! It replaces an almost exact set I had made back in 2014-15!

The extreme curve of my old leg pads is due to me storing them upside-down, for a curve that is more appropriate by the time I get to the rink. I’m not going to do that anymore, though, as I’m trying to seal the opening when I drop into the butterfly and I think that curve was detrimental to doing that.

I ordered back in May, but it was expected to take this long, and that isn’t uncommon for custom gear like this.

Very glad to have this new set. I average two games a week, so over 7-8 years, I was having to use glue on a lot of areas of my old leg pads. Thanks to Smokey (Former Avalanche equipment manager) moving his shop into the Ice Ranch, I can have him fix things before they get too bad.

102922 • Thrift Store Finds

We only went to two thrift stores, and I went to a third. We’ve been to zero for a long time, so this was fun. Almost made it to a fourth store, but something came up and we had to call it a day. Amazing that I found no music, but that’s okay as I have plenty keeping me busy.

• Western Apache Raiding & Warfare • I have read a bit of this already, it is full of first-hand accounts, including the 100-year-old woman, born in 1830, daughter of an Apache chief!

• War at Sea • Full of fantastic paintings by the same artist, illustrating a history of the World War at sea.

• United States Navy Destroyers of World War II • The different classifications for ships has been explained to me a lot, but I still don’t understand exactly what the differences are, which is made far more difficult in that different countries have different definitions, and there are a lot of gray areas. But it looks to be very interesting and I wasn’t going to see it again if I passed it up.

• Science Fiction: The Illustrated Encyclopedia • I almost didn’t get this one, but it goes into a lot of authors and has a lot of great book covers in it. Maybe I’ll keep it, maybe I won’t. But I will read it!

• Hellfire Boys • This looks to be a very interesting book on the logistics of trying to kill and maim the enemy in new, innovative ways. So glad I wasn’t a part of this war.

• Churchill By Himself • A big book full of quotes big and small and in context. Not many people can have a book like this made about them, and this is the only one I know of like this. There might be one on Abraham Lincoln in my dad’s library, but other than that, this is it!

• Grant • I saw this when it was on television, and it was great. Thanks to this, I have an interest in learning more about Grant. Picked it up on DVD at Walmart for three bucks!

• Act of Valor • I did see this a long time ago, and all I remember is that all of the action was really, really good. After watching Open Range last month, a movie I saw years ago and only remembered it as boring, that movie upon re-watch was very good, so maybe this will be the same for Act of Valor. Also, I’m far more interested in this kind of movie after American Sniper, 13 Hours, 12 Strong, Lone Survivor, and Hurt Locker.

• Lone Survivor / American Sniper • I didn’t have a copy of Lone Survivor and only the DVD of American Sniper. Considering that all of the Blu-rays I found today were two dollars or less, it was time to get them.

• Lord of War • I watched this years ago, and every once in a while catch a little bit of it on cable. It’s a bit depressing, but interesting and like I said, it was two bucks.

• 1883 • Paid full price for this at Walmart today, on the strength of Yellowstone. Just finished the first episode, and it’s very good so far. I don’t buy full-price, new Blu-ray series very often, it has to be something I know will be really good.