JBL Flip 6 Review

 

Here's the deal. Your old home office aka "kitchen" bluetooth speaker dies, so what to do? Mourn the passing of your faithful 40 buck Anker Soundcore Select solution, which has served you well over the last 5 years, and go out and buy a new speaker. But which one?

deceased

There's plenty to choose from and I went for JBL's Flip6 because I know these speakers work for the same price they came in at 4 or 5 years ago, $99. You can open the speaker's attractive box with an old Kershaw but that's up to you, here's the marketing:

The beat goes on with the JBL Flip 6 2-way speaker system, engineered to deliver loud, crystal clear, powerful sound. Its racetrack-shaped woofer delivers exceptional low frequencies and midrange, while a separate tweeter produces crisp, clear high-frequencies. Flip 6 also features optimized dual passive radiators for deep bass, fine-tuned with using Harman's advanced algorithm.

 

Does the beat go on with the JBL Flip 6 2-way speaker system, does the advanced algorithm perform? To find out, I tested the compact and absurdly easy to set up beast against Waylon's Ghost of Robert E. Lee, Bonnie Koloc's awesome Roll Me On The Water, the Dead's Stagger Lee, McCreesh's Venetian Coronation, Lully, and Yes' Würm. Test the lo, mid and hi sorta thing.

Verdict? Bear in mind this is a $99 portable speaker and that said it works just fine, with an emphasis on low freq bass while mid and hi come through pretty much as advertised, and it's certainly powerful enough to fill the Compound's kitchen. You can even take it on walkabout, to the living room, front porch, back deck and beyond; Bluetooth, no wires you see.

So, if you're looking for a value for money, bassy, tabletop wireless speaker solution JBL's Flip 6 might be for you. The thing works, and that's at a premium in these dark, broken and barbarous times.

Rock on,

LSP

Was Julius Caesar A Person Of Color?

 

For years people have arrogantly assumed that Julius Caesar was an old white general who conquered Gaul, affirming their racial bias. But new research and analysis of marble busts, contemporary portraits of Caesar, clearly show he wasn't a violent white militarist but a wise and powerful person of color:

"Caesar has been decolonized," opined one expert from Satan's Vatican, Harvard, "The myth of settler superiority over Indigenous Peoples is broken. We've reclaimed Caesar as a person of color, breaking the oppressive myth of white supremacy. It is a global endeavor and the black busts of Caesar reinforce this."

In related news, Napoleon Bonaparte, the Corsican Upstart who was utterly defeated by the Iron Duke, was also a person of color.

Black portraits of Arthur Wellesley have yet to be found.

Virtutis Fortuna,

LSP

The Turin Shroud

 

The Shroud's a curious thing, a faint image of a powerful man with the wounds of Christ's crucifixion and it's been dismissed as a forgery, but not so fast. The image is a photo negative.  What? a negative? Yes. It also doesn't contain dyes or pigments, it's not a painting. So how was it made?

By a "burst of vacuum ultraviolet radiation... emitted from every three-dimensional point of the body in the Shroud." Wow, an insanely atomic burst of energy that somehow seared the image into the cloth. Perhaps, though no one knows who or what might cause such a thing.

You can read about the Shroud here and here and what do we make of it? If it's a forgery or piece of art it's remarkable and miraculous, how many 13/14th C paintings were photo negatives and made without paint or dye. And if real? You behold the face of Christ.

Surrexit,

LSP

Typical Hippy

All hail Roy. Rumor has it he got fired by Led Zep 'coz he was too hippy, even for them. So he retired to Wales.

See You at Stonehenge,

LSP

Where is the Kaiser's Army? Oh, it's in Chile

 

Where is it, that goose stepping machine of Edwardian military precision. In Germany? No, please don't laugh and cough into your drink. England? Don't be silly, the UK doesn't even have an army, despite its bellicose posturing. No, the Kaiser's Army is alive and well in Chile, that'd be South America, check it out:

Zu Befehl,

LSP

PS. why are any of these people wearing medals? Have they fought in some war we're unaware of? Ah, the Great War of life itself. Waged against the Weather? And transphobia?

What Did Cleopatra Look Like?

 

Cleopatra continues to fascinate after two millennia. What did she look like, this fabled woman who seduced not only Julius Caesar but also Mark Antony, and bore them both children? Was she beautiful?

Popular imagination and the halcyon silver screen portray Cleopatra as a seductively winsome Egyptian Queen in the style of Luxor or Giza. In today's enlightened and decolonized movies she's depicted like this:

such idiocy

Who knows, maybe Julius Caesar was attracted by her glittery Ukrainian eye makeup, perhaps Mark Antony was captivated by the Nubian side of things. But no, hardly. Cleopatra, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ, "Cleopatra the father-beloved" was Greek, a Macedonian Ptolomy, and she looked like this:

bust portraits of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, 1 C AD (Berlin)

Beautiful? Not conventionally, but she had power, you'll note her diadem. In that vein, she was utterly ruthless and didn't shy scared of having family members assassinated, much less waging war itself. 

This went badly for her, Κλεοπάτρα (Glory of the Father) took poison and died on learning of her lover Antony's defeat at Actium. She played for the highest stakes and lost.

Just ask the monkey,

LSP

Cat From Hue

 

A kind reader of this inconsequential mind blog sent me a book, The Cat From Hue. He was, forgive me if I'm wrong, trying to make sense of the Vietnam conflict as was the author himself, a CBS journalist who got right in the thick of things. Like no fooling.

And what things they were. The book starts off in 1965 and moves from there to Tet and I'm struck by the no-nonsense of the prose, the bravery of the reporters and the men they cover. Also, and this stands out, the number of WWII and Korean vets in the story.

There they were, on their third war, yes, people who'd seen action at Bastogne and Imjin equivalents. I don't dare comment except to say that this is an outstanding book written by a good man. Read it, you won't be disappointed, The Cat From Hue.

Semper,

LSP

Exodus

 

yet another urban hellhole

According to data from the Economic Innovation Group, some 2 million people fled large US cities from 2020-2022, with the largest exodus taking place in 2020-21:

Domestic outmigration from large urban counties to suburbs and exurbs continued in 2022, though at a slower pace than the year prior. Over 1.2 million people left large urban counties between July 1, 2020 and July 1, 2021, with nearly 800,000 flowing into the suburbs and exurbs; this movement continued to a lesser degree in 2022. Large urban counties trimmed losses to 861,000 last year, while inflows to the suburbs halved and domestic migration to exurban counties fell by one-quarter.

 

California and New York were especially badly hit by people leaving Democrat tyranny zones in 2022, with 300,000 people fleeing the Sunshine State and 343,000 pulling out of the Big Apple. Where do they go? Florida and Texas for starters, and can you blame them.

vote for the progressives, idiots

Serious question, are we heading for a black flag national divorce?

Your Old Pal,

LSP

Attention Soldats!

 

Ici. Patria Nostra.

La Mort c'est la Vie,

LSP

PS. How'd that fat guy get through selection?

PPS. Back in the mists of time we had a corporal in HQ Battalion who'd fled the Gloucesters for the 2nd Rep, for "some action" and then caught religion, jumped ship and handed himself in to UKLF. Pending trial for his infamy he served as acting corp, he'd give orders in French, "Soldats!" Good man and now, I believe, an Anglican Deacon somewhere in England. So.

Happy Cooking With LSP - Yorkshire Pudding

 

how can anyone take you seriously?

Can you have too much of a good thing? No, but only if the thing in question is absolutely good. That in mind, this humble cookery blog's focusing on the X-Ring, yes, Yorkshire Pudding, so very tasty. But how do you make these "puddings"? Good question and here's my fix, backed up by experts.

nice

Get a mixing bowl, mine's made of pyrex, you maybe have some other kind and that's OK. Tip a cup of regular flour into the bowl. Add 4 eggs. Stir it all about until smooth, perhaps you use an Olde Wooden Forke to achieve this τέλος, or a whisk, or whatever, your call.

Next up pour a cup of whole milk or 3/4 cup of whole milk and 1 1/12 tbs water into the mix. Add 1/2 tsp of salt. Stir until the consistency of cream. Well done, you've just made Yorkshire Pudding batter, no small thing. So now what?

next add milk/water, don't forget salt

Put the batter aside, expert YP science says it doesn't matter if it goes in the fridge or not, I use the fridge, and let it rest. Settled science says the longer the rest the better, up to overnight, makes for a better rise, because science. But if you're turning these beasts on a schedule/dime, 30+ minutes works too.

this batter's ready to go hot

Then clean some guns, or catapults, kitchen knives and sticks if you're in the UK, wash the kitchen floor, catch up on blogs and LL's excellent meditation on Faith and Substance while the batter's resting. Admire the rus in urbe aspect of your Compound's back yard while you're at it, all is good. Next?

hot tin

Preheat oven to 425* and pour beef dripping or olive oil into your pudding tin. I use olive oil and a sixfold muffin thing; you don't need much oil/fat, just cover the bottom of each indent or, if you're going hardcore heavy metal, 8" heavy metal skillets (x2).

Well done, you've got this far, sharpen a kukri while the oven heats. When it's ready, put the oiled tin into the oven, let it heat up for around 10 minutes if you're using a Sixer muffin tin. Tin hot, experts say it doesn't matter if it is, take it out and pour in the batter, around a 1/4 cup per ripping hot indent. It should sizzle. Word to the wise, don't take the hot tin out of the oven with your hands, sayn.

Command & Control from the, er, kitchen

Too much detail? Hey, no gain without pain; fire the superhot tin into the 425* (some techologists say 450*) oven and let it do its thing for around 20 minutes. Word to the wise, don't take it out too soon or the puddings will collapse, you want a crispy exterior which upholds the rise. They should look something like this.

a bit done? Hey 4 outta six, not a bad ratio

Mission accomplished, behold the beauty of the thing and fall upon your scoff, yes, like a warrior.

Adveniat,

LSP

Roll Me On The Water

 

Behold awesome.

Your Old Pal,

LSP

Just Marking Time

 

We're psyching up to put that rib in the oven, Oh yes indeed, defeat the New World Order and its Illuminati shill dupes. People keep, gentle readers, attacking the above with less than stellar result. Dance on.

And draw the parable as you take it,

LSP