text:
Pink Floyd Engineer Alan Parsons Rips Audiophiles, YouTube and Jonas Brothers
Oooh, now this should be good. Let's see what we got here.
Everybody strives to get perfect sound and we work hard to get the best sound we can. A certain artist or song or style of music will sound a certain way. It would be ridiculous for me to make a Jonas Brothers record using the techniques and procedures I normally use. The techniques used to make many modern pop records involve a lot of compression and that's what those consumers want, according to the labels. A lot of the processing that audiophiles criticize is a style thing and part of the music itself.
Oh, my god, the Jonas Brothers are so burned! He did not just say that they are trying to get their sound to be a certain way that their audience prefers. Oh no he did not! I can't believe it, I haven't seen a meltdown like this since Christian Bale flipped out on a stage hand. Somebody, call Disney and have them put the Jonas boys on suicide watch tonight in their cells -- not even paper underwear, they know how to hang themselves with that. When they hear this news they'll probably never perform again.
I think what perhaps critics don't appreciate is that there is a lot of luck in getting a good sound. It's not all about the equipment, spectral response and compressing. It's all about the quality of the musicianship, the songwriting and the sound reaching the microphone
Wow, I am so glad I'm not an audiophile right now. I would be fuming! Never have I heard such a direct and searing attack on audiophiles. The era of hipster sound snobs may be over as we know it.
There's another damaging situation: You can complain about iTunes and subscription sites being damaging to copyright owners and having inferior audio quality, but one of the worst culprits is YouTube. You can look for any record ever made and it's on YouTube for free - usually with crappy audio - and let's not even mention the video content that's out there to go with it. I sense there will be a huge copyright court case over the content on YouTube someday.
Oh, now he's stepping on a big dog's toes. You cannot print that, that is slander and that is libel. YouTube promises to provide only the highest quality sound and video
Seriously? That's considered "ripping"? Everything I read was fact and on top of that, he's still predicating his sentences with "I think."
"Well gee golly, Fred Rodgers, how will we put up with all these harsh words flying out of Alan Parson's mouth?" I think you need to take a trip to the Abuse Department to hear some real
And another thing, get off his lawn!!!
Abuse? Oh sorry, this is arguments. Abuse is down the hall.
No it isn't.
Yes it is.
That's the new "Internet News" media standard. Story titles will flat out lie if they have to get you to click that link. It's all about driving traffic. "A rips B" is a classic New Media headline. BTW, the HuffingtonPost is the worst at this. I used to read it regularly when it was a political site and before it turned into a tabloid Kardashian watch rag.
Indeed. WTF are Kardashians and did they realize what they were naming themselves?
This show would SO be more popular than their show. [tshirtbordello.com]
...the Cartesians. Just a bunch of squares. Cubic, man.
Oddly enough, when I read the headline, I assumed "Alan Parsons Rips Jonas Brothers" meant he was using samples of them.
I even started imagining the result. Let's all sing along, now...
There are pyramids in my head
There's one underneath my bed
And my lady's getting cranky.
(I can't get your smile outta my mind.)
Every possible location
Has a simple explanation
And it isn't hanky panky.
(Modesty is just so hard to find.)
Given that this is Slashdot, I'm surprised that the article wasn't headlined "Engineer for Apple Corp Artists Rips Audiophiles, YouTube and Jonas Brothers, Mentions Apple Itunes. Apple."
We've now reached the point where even the people writing the article summary don't RTFA.
The submitter works for the website that posted that interview. He certainly read it, but chose to make up sensational lies when posting it to slashdot to get more people to click the link.
You forgot "Everybody sees Pink Floyd and figure there might be some cool bootlegs on the site and stampede the thing". Personally this is one thing i love about being a normal indie musician, we can just not compress the living crap out of our music. I'm happy to say the only compression I've ever used is a pedal to even out the string response on my basses and most of the local artists agree with me that compressing the hell out of the sound is crap. Better to just turn the volume down a little and have plenty of headroom for the instruments instead of squishing everything just so you can turn the volume up a little higher. This is especially true when you like to play three piece like i do as its the gaps between instruments that lets it "breathe" for lack of a better word and lets me and the drums get a nice chunky backbeat going while the guitar and vocals kinda float on the top.
Now while I agree with him on acoustics sadly most of us can't afford the kind of spaces required for that, especially for recording. That is why for us DIYers I'd say the local studio has the best compromise, with each instrument separated in soundproof doghouses and a clear plexi booth for the drummer so you can play together and get that live feel without having everyone stepping on each other tracks. Sure it would be nice if we could pipe the instruments to amps in their own large rooms to get some natural depth but those kinds of spaces are seriously costly so you do what you got to do. That said a good mike along with a DI mixed in does give a nice full sound even when you are using isolation boxes, at least IMHO.
Well said sir.
Alan Parsons says things thousands already know. It makes news because it's Alan Parsons saying it. If I said the same thing (which I sometimes have) people do not stop what they're doing, drop their jaws and mouth "oh
I know some audiophiles who do pay attention to room acoustics. I've attended a few CES, the audiophile stuff, where you can often find companies present who will come to your home/business/site, perform materials, surface, etc., analysis and make changes as necessary for op
Alan Parsons says things thousands already know. It makes news because it's Alan Parsons saying it. If I said the same thing (which I sometimes have) people do not stop what they're doing, drop their jaws and mouth "oh
Yes, and no. Yes, people say this all the time, and I agree, the sentiments/concepts involved are nothing special. But most people aren't accomplished sound engineers with at least one iconic album under their belt. Alan Parsons is talking about things that he is either a professional and accomplished practitioner of, or they are at least things that are tangential to his profession.
So yes, it's news because he said it, but just because thousands have said it before, doesn't mean his words aren't newsworthy or at least interest-worthy. It's entirely possible that things that thousands of people say are entirely wrong. You're never really going to be able to get to a better level of understanding unless someone who knows what they are talking about makes a pronouncement. Sure, he didn't share a secret with us, but he did provide an affirmation that lends credence to these statements.
The pro audio guy will prioritize room acoustics and do the necessary treatments to make the room sound right. The hi-fi world attaches less importance to room acoustics, and prioritizes equipment; they are looking more at brand names and reputation.
He says quite a bit more than that, and while not quite ripping it is still unfavorable to the hi fi fanatics.
Tales of Misery and Confabulation.
Apparently not, in the eyes of "First time accepted submitter CIStud."
Although I was a fan of Alan Parsons Project albums, I think the vast majority of music listeners would say "Alan Parsons?", with the logical response being "He engineered Dark Side Of The Moon".
I think the vast majority of music listeners would say "Alan Parsons?", with the logical response being "He engineered Dark Side Of The Moon".
I'd be willing to bet you're overstating "vast majority". By a lot.
Find 100 people, ask them if they've heard Dark Side of the Moon. Of the ones that say yes, ask how many know who the sound engineer was. I bet you'll find it quite small.
I've got pretty much everything published by Pink Floyd up until about '95 or so
Then again, I'm neither a musician, nor someone who knows the endless trivia about who was sitting where during the recording and if he was wearing pants or not. That is the "vast majority" of music listeners. The behind-the-scenes talent remains anonymous to most of us.
That's not to say there aren't loads of people out there who do know these things; but I seriously doubt it's even close to a majority, let a lone a vast majority. It's really only the hard-core music geeks who keep track of such things.
Sorry, I wasn't clear in my narrative.
Me: Did you read that article about Alan Parsons?
Average music listener: Alan who?
Me; Alan Parsons. He was the recording engineer for "Dark Side Of The Moon".
Average music listener: Oh, I know that album, didn't know the name of the engineer.
Ah, my apologies
Sorry about that, chief.
Sorry, I wasn't clear in my narrative.
Me: Did you read that article about Alan Parsons?
Average music listener: Alan who?
Me; Alan Parsons. He was the recording engineer for "Dark Side Of The Moon".
Average music listener: ???
Me: You know, Pink Floyd?
Average music listener: Ah Pink, but she's sooo 2005 - and who is Floyd?.
There, fixed that for you.
Although I was a fan of Alan Parsons Project albums
I was also a big fan of Alan Parsons Project 30 years ago. Lately, I "accidentally" found a torrent of their discography, and gave it a try. It was not a good idea.
I was also a big fan of Alan Parsons Project 30 years ago. Lately, I "accidentally" found a torrent of their discography, and gave it a try. It was not a good idea.
LOL, I think I'd be the same way if I took out the LP's and listened today. I did a lot of college radio, mostly on the engineering and production side, and I collected a lot of albums that had strong production values (clear recording, cool effects, etc). Alan Parsons Project albums were so well recorded and produced, but the actual music probably doesn't stand the test of time. I used to snap up anything recorded or produced by Mutt Lange and Roy Thomas Baker as well, and there are hits and misses in t
Alan Parsons Project albums were so well recorded and produced, but the actual music probably doesn't stand the test of time.
Depends on your tastes I suppose. I've been a fan of Alan Parsons and the late Eric Woolfson since I first listened to a cousin's LP of Tales of Mystery and Imagination back in 1978 at the age of 10. While some of the albums hold up better than others, I still enjoy listening to quite a bit of it.
Actually, the vast majority of today's music listeners would say, "Oh, yeah, that's the guy that they made that joke about in Austin Powers that I didn't get until I looked it up."
And let's not forget, he was the Cambridge physicist who invented the laser!
Right. He's had one top 40 album of his own, and several top 100 albums.
His own stuff is closer to acoustic folk than rock, which is why he's likely to care about subtle audio quality. Pink Floyd could be played through a bullhorn without much loss.
To be fair, most people listening to Pink Floyd are probably high as fuck to even care if it's Floyd or a bullhorn being played.
Right. He's had one top 40 album of his own, and several top 100 albums.
His own stuff is closer to acoustic folk than rock, which is why he's likely to care about subtle audio quality. Pink Floyd could be played through a bullhorn without much loss.
For what it is worth, Dark Side Of the Moon is widely considered as one of the most well recorded albums of all time.
This is well worth watching, 4 parts in all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pljfIQcZf-0 [youtube.com]
Its not the techies who did it, its the marketing departments. Any audio engineer who refuses to over-compress is just going to get replaced by someone else who will.
In case anyone is wondering what Skinkie is talking about, here's the link [wikipedia.org].
An audio/video explanation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ [youtube.com]
The good news is that this problem only seems to affect "pop" music (including popular genres such as Rock, Hip-Hop, Countrry, and Western). Jazz and orchestral seem to be uninvolved.
The bad news is that there is a lot of great new "pop" music, and many of the records have terrible sound quality because of what you describe well as the loudnesswar.
Example: One of the last big label pop albums I bought (a country record) had a beautiful "hit song" on it that was ruined because the "loudness adjustment" cause
Yeah, both jazz cds and all 7 classical releases sound fine to me.
You might be amazed how many classical CD titles there are - likely more than pop CD titles. Classical performers can be quite prolific, compared to pop performers, because they don't need to write each new piece (amazing what happens with out-of-copyright works and creativity). For a while the Academy of St Martin in the Fields orchestra was releasing around 30 CDs a year (they got quite good at the technical aspects of recording a CD). Luciano Paverotti lists about 90 titles on the discography on his w
You need high end audio equipment and acoustics to fully appreciate high dynamic range and the market for that is small. Most people want to be able to enjoy their favorite songs on their subpar equipment and the engineers give them what they want.
Compressed dynamic range sounds better in car stereos, iPod ear buds and noisy bars, which is where the majority of consumers listen to music. It is annoying to have to adjust the volume mid song because I can't hear the soft parts.
Compressed dynamic range sounds better in car stereos, iPod ear buds and noisy bars, which is where the majority of consumers listen to music.
Then why can't they just release records without overcompressed dynamic range and let the car stereo or the digital media player handle noisy-environment mode?
The loudnesswar has killed virtually anything on a digital medium, resulting in a worse quality masters. Far worse than compressed phonogram recordings in the past.
I recently purchased the MP3 of the original Broadway class album of Hair, which was record on May 6 1968. I could not believe how good these tracks sounded. Dynamic range was a big part of that. It's like we've forgotten that a piece of music can get louder and softer. The vocalists' performances really benefited from having that range to work with.
I wonder whether the reason so many pop songs vocals are so overwrought, but only come out sounding like near-beer blues is that without the dimension of lou
The loudnesswar has killed virtually anything on a digital medium, [...] give us back the -12dB, then complain about our rooms.
Alan Parsons Shares Lessons Learned During Legendary Career [prosoundweb.com] (from 4 years ago):
But one of his biggest pieces of advice for students and anyone interested in recording now is not to join the loudness war.
"Record labels want their records to sound louder than everyone else's so they compress the s--t out of them," he says. "It's terribly sad and I hope you will support me in resisting this concept.
"If a song has dynamics and breathes then don't push it. If your record is quieter than someone else's then just turn it up with the volume knob!"
Audiophiles are pretty much the dumbest group of people ever.
No, you can't hear a difference between this $5000 speaker and this $150 speaker.
No, these cables don't sound "warm".
++ This. Too dumb to become a real geek? Then become an audiophile. All of the angry nerd posturing with none of that meddlesome knowledge.
I've found that cheaper cables taste better, especially with a little ketchup.
Our rabbit prefers the taste of gold-plated cables to plain old copper.
Probably trolling, but what the heck....
There are certainly are noticeable differences in the sound produced by different speakers, different amplifiers, etc. However, if the source material is compressed and equalized so there is minimal dynamic range then the differences in sound from one setup to another will be less noticeable.
You may not be aware of the amazing phenomena he is referring to. Yes, there are differences in those various components, but what he is talking about are the people who are sure that only a $9000 speaker cable will do and that the human ear will perceive the difference between that and a good heavy zip cord. He is talking about the people who clip special piezoelectric rocks in a vial to their cables to suppress, well, something they're sure they otherwise hear. The people who actually believe that a speak
Those people.
People who would buy this cable [amazon.com] for example.
Then GP should have said that.
Instead he proved he was an idiot. Speakers are the most important and lowest performing part of any audio system.
You talk about parts without measurable differences.
He talks about parts with THD measured in whole % (speakers; yes I know THD isn't a great metric).
Smart audiophiles spend about 65%+ of their money on speakers, 20% on amps, 10% on room accustics, 5% on everything else. They also reject the label to avoid being confused with the 'Black Mamba' 5K$ power cord idiots.
He is talking about the people who clip special piezoelectric rocks in a vial to their cables to suppress, well, something they're sure they otherwise hear.
Piezoelectric rocks?
WTF? I thought you were just making it up, but sadly, no. You can't make up [audioasylum.com] this sort of thing.
Fact: Diamonds have good bass but rolled off highs
Fact: Citrine follows in the similar sound quality.
Fact: Amethyst has very good top end and upper midrange energy.
Fact: Diamonds and most other crystals, are thermoluminescent, whereby the crystals pick up stray electrons, trapping them in their latticework, and can release them later along with a photon (QED). This fact is utilized by archeologists to date buried artifacts ( flint and other material normally not datable by carbon), by heating the crystals up to 900 degrees and having a photomultiplier present as they do so to count photons released. Apparently, exposure to even light purges the stray electrons within the crystal thus "resetting" the crystal back to zero, giving a rough time line as to when the crystal or rock was reburied., as the natural radiation i the earth "recharges" the crystal.
Fact: Amethyst transforms itself into clear quartz when heated to 450 degrees C and into citrine when hated to 550 C.
Fact: Clear quartz does not quite have the openness of amethyst.
Fact: In addition to the trace amount of iron, amethysts are supposedly to obtain the darker shades of purple by exposure to natural radiation contained in the soil in which they are buried. The darkest shades seem to come from deeper within the earth.
Speculation: Being that the piezo effect means that an EMI field hitting a piezo electric crystal can generate movement and thus help dissipate energy, could it be possible that the citrine and diamonds have their unique sound signature because they are absorbing some of the electrons?
Perhaps amethysts have a lattice work which is "full" and thus more energy is transformed into mechanical motion. While some mineralogists warn that prolonged exposure to sunlight will bleach out the coloring of stones, most amethyst is fairly stable color wise.
I have tried heating some matched amethyst beads with an alcohol lamp and have succeeded in creating clear and a slight citrine coloration. The experiment was interesting because I could listen to the purple application and then heat the crystals up and reevaluate. One caveat: the crystal can "pop" like popcorn and they are very hot! Theoretically, the crystals remain unchanged except for the application of heat. The molecular structure is supposedly unchanged, but there are distinct differences in color and in sound when applied, with the top end distinctly being rolled off.
Incidentally, if you missed it over on Tweaks, sugar is also piezo electric and using a sugar cube certainly makes an effect. The cool thing about sugar cubes is that you can shape the cube and it most certainly has an effect upon the sound ( see the post on Tweaks for more information, a reply to FidPup's query about crystal alternatives).
Audiophiles are pretty much the dumbest group of people ever.
No, you can't hear a difference between this $5000 speaker and this $150 speaker.
Um, you're dead wrong about that one.
Audiophiles are pretty much the dumbest group of people ever. No, you can't hear a difference between this $5000 speaker and this $150 speaker.
Um, you're dead wrong about that one.
Yeah, you're obviously using the wrong cable. If you had something like this [bestbuy.com] maybe you would have a different opinion.
For the record, anyone that pays $1100 for an HDMI cable should be mauled by angry weasels.
Call me a moron, but I don't get why one would pay the extravagant prices for "audiophile" equipment.
With the same cash, I can go get studio equipment, such as a good set of monitors with a subwoofer, a mixer, an amp, a parametic equalizer, a graph equalizer, and other rack equipment. Heck, with the price of some "audiophile" stuff, I can end up with a mixing deck, a top of the line keyboard, and enough cash left over to treat the room (kill standing waves, have proper bass traps at the corners, etc.)
But then aren't you just buying audiophile equipment but different one?
I mean, I wouldn't go back to my $50 pair of Sony headphones I picked up at radio-shit 5 years ago after using A700s this entire time. Anyone who can't tell the difference is probably deaf, it's completely absurd to claim there is none.
Realize that there is affordable audiophile equipment and some that is a lot more expensive.
Absolutely true on (1), though one of the other conditions how good your hearing is. I can hear just fine up to 24KHz, whereas many adults my age would have trouble hearing past 18KHz. That makes a vast difference in sound perception. The sound source and the speaker have to support the best hearing of those listening, but for cost reasons it's usually "better" for a record label to only support the worst hearing of those listening.
(For those observing that CDs started at 44KHz, it is important to note that
The dumbest group of people ever is the one that bases their judgement on other groups of people solely on prejudice.
Audiophiles are pretty much the dumbest group of people ever.
No, you can't hear a difference between this $5000 speaker and this $150 speaker.
No, these cables don't sound "warm".
There is a very significant difference between a $150 speaker and even a $500-$1,000 speaker. Not even approaching audiophile territory here, any random person you pick off the street who isn't deaf is going to be able to tell the difference. Stupid audiophile territory starts a little higher; once you get to around $5,000 plus or minus a couple thousand, yeah, you're into the realm of rapidly diminishing returns and you probably aren't going to hear any difference unless you really look for it.
Agree about the cables, though - that is just dumb.
All that said, I think the point Mr. Parsons was trying to make is that a lot of people will pour money into their speakers, cables, amps, turntables, etc. but totally ignore the room they are in. There's absolutely no point in my trying to put together an ultra-high-end system because I use it in a room that also has a refrigerator, often times AC or heater running, people walking around, noise coming in from the street, no attention to acoustics, etc. Basically, no matter how perfect the system is, the listening environment is sub-optimal. Unless you spend the money to install some acoustically perfect and isolated listening environment (basically, a recording studio), it makes absolutely no sense to spend tens of thousands of dollars chasing those last tenths of a percent of performance. And if you do install such a room, then I'd have to agree with one of the other commenters - at this point you are more interested in listening to your system than you are interested in listening to music.
In other news, Bose, Monster Cable, Bang & Olufsen and other brands announce a entirely new line of room acoustics kits for the audiophile. The kits will be sold for tens of thousands of euros, and are specially engineered for those who wants to hear those bitstreams as if the mp3s were coming directly from the sound studio.
I think what perhaps critics donâ(TM)t appreciate is that there is a lot of luck in getting a good sound. It's not all about the equipment, spectral response and compressing. It's all about the quality of the musicianship, the songwriting and the sound reaching the microphone
... that's crucial. It's often been said, "garbage in means garbage out," so if that's the case you wonâ(TM)t get a good sound.
All true, Mr. Parsons, and entirely beside the point. Music lovers care about the music, but they're listening to you because you're exceptionally talented. They love your music so much they're even willing listen to put up with crappy 128kbps encodes on YouTube.
But we're not talking about music lovers here, we're talking about audiophiles.
Audiophiles don't use their equipment to listen to your music. Audiophiles use your music to listen to their equipment.
I want an AC3 file (or whatever) with all the sound tracks split. Vocals, back up vocals, each instrument, etc on it's own track.
How about a couple sub channels of editing instructions like how much compression and post processing cues.
That way you could adjust them on you new MP5 player?
So the player processor would take all the channels and combine them in realtime to play them and you could have a nice friendly knob to dial up or down compression as they play back.
Sorry Dr Dre, but having you design speakers is like having an acoustics geek make a hip-hop record.
IF they spent $100.00 on the fricking room they would make more of an increase in sound than $10,000 in gear.
Problem is Audiophiles, the type that read Audiophile magazine and Buy bullshit like B&W are not looking for sound quality, they are trying to show "HOW RICH I AM"
My home theater I built in the basement only tapers from front to back by 1 foot. the rear wall is 1 foot narrower than the front and the ceiling also tapers by that much. Floor is flat except for the riser. This cost me NOTHING extra in the build out.
I then covered the walls in cheap carpet tile and the ceiling is simply a drop ceiling with 3" of fiberglass batts laying on top of them for weight and more sound control (so I cant hear the wife stomping around upstairs)
It sounds better than the $200,000 theater rooms I have installed for rich people. Because I have reduced the room nodes significantly by eliminating parallel walls. (rear is parallel to front, but I have bass traps back there.)
Great, now I expect crappy contractors to excuse their lousy builds with the statement "we did it for the acoustics".
Audiophiles are not known for using controlled, double-blind testing. That's a problem, because you can actually control a lot about how you hear things. In short, if you expect something to sound different, you can actually hear a difference; not imagine you hear a difference, actually hear a difference.
JJ Johnston gave a presentation, Why Do We Hear What We Hear? [aes.org]. (PowerPoint, but LibreOffice should open it just fine.) If you look at slides 14 and 16 you will see him explaining the above points.
With double-blind testing, the audiophile will not be able to tell the difference between a $2 cable from monoprice.com and a $1000 cable from some audiophile scam web site. Without the double-blind, a confident audiophile will hear differences that favor the expensive cable.
The crazy thing, and I'm not making this up, is that some audiophiles claim that double-blind testing "doesn't work". They claim that you introduce errors that mask the superiority of the expensive equipment.
P.S. If you would like to have quality audio gear, and you would like to see the gear tested scientifically, you have to check out the NorthWest AV Guy [blogspot.com] blog. He bought a $1000+ DAC/amplifier that audiophiles like and that tests well objectively, and then he designed a very inexpensive headphone amp that in double-blind testing cannot be distinguised from the expensive one... and he open-sourced the design; you can build one if you like, or buy one pre-built. He uses professional test gear, and for example he showed that the Sansa Clip really is a good-sounding media player (which plays Ogg Vorbis and FLAC, by the way). Check it out. (And NWAudioGuy, if I ever meet you in person, I'll buy you lunch or something.)
The crazy thing, and I'm not making this up, is that some audiophiles claim that double-blind testing "doesn't work". They claim that you introduce errors that mask the superiority of the expensive equipment.
But they're right. The problem is not with the audiophiles, but with the testing.
A _proper_ double-blind test would involve you, the tester, telling the test subject the names of two competing brands of audio equipment, but not their price. The subject would then hold lengthy conversations with his peers about how much better the equipment makes everything sound without ever plugging it in. Whichever brand leaves him feeling more superior at the end of the test is clearly better.
If you're just going to bring stupid crap like listening to music into it then you're completely missing the point and your testing methodology is doomed to failure.
I must disagree about this point:
It would be ridiculous for me to make a Jonas Brothers record using the techniques and procedures I normally use. The techniques used to make many modern pop records involve a lot of compression and that's what those consumers want, according to the labels. A lot of the processing that audiophiles criticize is a style thing and part of the music itself.
Crushed dynamic range and signal clipping are not a "style" or "part of the music itself". They are production errors. They are defects. If done in purpose, they are a sign of defective thinking -- "it has to be as loud as the latest #1" rather than "it has to sound as good as possible".
I know an audiophile and so am privy to that world. They do care quite a lot about room acoustics, contrary to what this guy is saying. Also, serious audiophiles don't just go out and buy the most expensive equipment available. Serious audiophiles obsess over what to buy before they actually get it. The ones who go out and buy the most expensive equipment are poseurs who want something they can brag about. A lot of them are very technically inclined. I knew this guy who was an engineer and actually built his own speakers.
$300 power cord containing $15 worth of parts:
http://gizmodo.com/371536/300-audiophile-grade-power-cable-is-really-worth-15 [gizmodo.com]
$1000 power cord on sale for a mere $750:
http://www.essentialsound.com/essence-power-cord/index.htm [essentialsound.com]
$2000 power cord:
http://www.dedicatedaudio.com/inc/sdetail/125/24045 [dedicatedaudio.com]
$695 cable for digital signals... that's right, a $700 S/PDIF cord:
http://www.lessloss.com/digital-cables-c-70.html?zenid=l5tu6jq73toh5mk09a315pkid0 [lessloss.com]
Machina Dynamica. Oh man. I really wonder if the guy running this site even believes in his own products, or if he is gleefully exploiting the gullible. Products include "The Clever Little Clock" which seems to be an ordinary travel alarm clock with magical powers, "The Super Intelligent Chip" which not only improves the sound of your CDs, but does so permanently (by altering the structure of the CD in some hand-waving "quantum" fashion), his new product, "The Quantum Temple Bell", a decorated bell you walk around your house ringing and your audio sounds better, and my favorite "The Teleportation Tweak" where he calls you and plays magical tones through your phone, and your audio sounds better afterward.
http://www.machinadynamica.com/ [machinadynamica.com]
I don't listen to the radio. My friends post YouTube suggestions of artists they like. I check them out, and if I like them, I buy their music.
Music sales are up in the digital age and some point don't seem to understand that.
"Conversion, fastidious Goddess, loves blood better than brick, and feasts most subtly on the human will." -- Virginia Woolf, "Mrs. Dalloway"


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subset: commoncrawl


text:
I need to buy a TV but I want it to double as an occasional computer monitor for my living room storage.
Although I'm more of an Argos man, in M&S yesterday I noticed a TV which had a DVI connection.
I don't want a big screen. Please, does anyone have any recommendations of what will work under Linux? Or any alternatives like a separate converter?
Thank you kindly,


text:
Gmail Dock is not your ordinary Gmail client. It is designed with the realization that the best way to do most tasks in Gmail is to use the web. The web-based Gmail client gets new features before most desktop clients, and it provides a great user experience. Still, it would be nice if Gmail integrated more deeply with Mac OS X. That's what Gmail Dock is about.
- Easy, one-click access to your Gmail account
- New mail notifications with Growl and sound options
- Handling of mailto: links from any browser or application, systemwide
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- Support for Apps for your domain
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The Conference USA Tournament came early this season. That, or Tigers guard Joe Jackson has his dates confused. After two roller coaster seasons that included winning the Most Valuable Player award in two straight league tournaments – a C-USA first – Jackson apparently has decided to flip the calendar forward.
After leading the Tigers to an 85-80 victory at Tennessee on Jan. 4 and scoring 20 points with 7 assists, 4 rebounds and 4 steals, Jackson was named the C-USA Player of the Week. But coach Josh Pastner and Jackson's teammates take a longer view because Jackson has been playing at a heightened level for going on two months and his 13.8 points per game and 4.5 assists lead the team.
"We have total faith in everything he does," Adonis Thomas said after Jackson scored 15 points in a Jan. 9 win (67-54) over East Carolina to give him 10 straight games scoring in double digits.
Yes, the old, erratic, Joe Jackson was on display in November in the Bahamas when he had 7 turnovers in the loss to Virginia Commonwealth and scored just 2 points in 7 pouty minutes in the loss to Minnesota. But for the most part, "Bad Joe" only makes cameo appearances.
There were a couple of "Bad Joe" moments against ECU when he drove into traffic and threw up no-chance shots. But those plays hardly defined his game. He finished 7-of-11 from the floor and hit two big pull-up jumpers late to put the game away.
"Poise," Jackson said afterward, admitting he wanted the ball. "That's my job."
Joe Jackson's play in a recent win over the University of Tennessee helped garner the University of Memphis junior Conference USA Player of the Week honors.
(Photo: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports)
The job description has changed, however. A pure scorer at White Station High School, which recently retired Jackson's jersey, he arrived at the University of Memphis with the mandate of having to play point guard because when you're 6-1 and 171 pounds, well, that's what you do. But after Jackson's struggles early this season, Pastner moved Jackson to shooting guard and it proved the perfect jump-start. Over his last eight games, he's shooting 57.8 percent (48-for-83)
"I've never really focused on that (point guard label)," Jackson said. "He put me in a position to succeed. I've just been in my groove – off the ball, with the ball. That's any guard in the country doing well; they're not restrained to just one position."
Now, Jackson just plays. Yes, he runs the point. Yes, he plays the two guard. And you might think that playing both spots would give Jackson more to think about, not less. But that's not how this works. The over-thinking, the stressing, that all came earlier and was the shadow Jackson could not shake.
"That's the tale of my whole college career," Jackson said. "Especially my first two years – just thinking too much and causing mental errors."
Pastner believes other forces were in play as well.
"He's not letting anything bother him from the outside," Pastner said. "We can coach him hard and he's not taking anything personal. He's got a smile on his face and he's not listening to people that he shouldn't be listening to who haven't coached or played at this level. In the past, and I think he'll admit this, there were 900 voices in his ear and I think it played games and tricks with his mental approach, which is just normal. The maturation process has allowed him to filter some of that stuff."
Jackson has a routine that includes watching more film and taking more shots. More telling, he has an ease about him.
"I think he felt tense toward the beginning of the year," said freshman Shaq Goodwin. "Now's he's more vocal, more of a leader."
More confident.
"Confident like (in) the conference tournament," Jackson said, adding, "I feel a little better, to tell the truth. … You gotta go through growing pains. I've stayed working hard on my game. I haven't changed. It's all work. You reap what you sow."


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Monday, October 25, 2010
MZone Pop Quiz: Bo Schembechler Quotes
MULTIPLE CHOICE (You may select more than one answer)
Bo said:
A. "The Team! The Team! The Team!"
B. "If I still aspire to call plays and be involved in the offensive planning or special-teams planning, there is only so many hours in the day. I want to know what we're doing defensively and have some input, but those guys spend a lot more time watching that film and studying that and have got expertise. I can give them two cents' worth. I hope it's worth more than that."
C. "Those who stay will be champions!"
D. "Vince Lombardi could come, too, and not going to fix some of the problems we have on defense, so we've got to do what we've got to do."
E. "I can get a piece of ass anytime I want. Shit, I've got Caroline in the bedroom right now, passed out cold. I could violate her ten different ways if I wanted to."
6 comments:
- srudoff said...
You like Jake? Jake's my boy!
- October 25, 2010 10:33 AM
- Yost said...
Niiiiice, Sru. Glad somebody got that.
- October 25, 2010 11:31 AM
- Andy said...
Guys, I hate to be picky... But Jake Long never played for Bo.
- October 25, 2010 11:37 AM
- phil said...
My favorite quote:
"And if that player did that again, I'd slug him in the face again!"
(oh wait, sorry, that was Woody)
(well, at least I had the time period right)
- October 25, 2010 11:53 AM
- Yost said...
I don't know what's funnier, Andy - your comment or the added sarcasm markers. ("Hmmm. Yost and Sru - not the brightest. So just in case...")
- October 25, 2010 12:09 PM
- srudoff said...
I'm sure he added those for me
- October 25, 2010 2:24 PM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


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Detailed up-to-date information regarding the documents required to get a NC Driver License or
Learner Permit can be found in the:
Listed below are acceptable documents you can use for a U.S. Citizen:
Listed below are acceptable documents you can use for a non U.S. Citizen:
One of these documents is needed to establish proof of Social Security:
If you are a non-resident of the state of North Carolina, you will need to bring 1 additional document that proves one of the following:
Proof of age and identity includes providing your full name and date of birth.
Listed below are acceptable documents you can use, provided they include your full name:
Driver License, Learner Permit or State-Issued Identification Card from NC or another state, Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, or a Canadian province that is expired less than two years. The DL/ID or learner permit submitted must reflect a photo.
Certified birth certificate issued by a government agency in the US, Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory or Canada, or U.S. Report of Consular Birth Abroad. No photocopies allowed, unless certified by issuing agency.
When making application for an original identification card, learner permit or driver license it is required that you provide DMV with a valid Social Security number. If you are not eligible for a Social Security number, you must provide documentation issued by the United States government indicating legal presence.
Tax forms that reflect your full name and full SSN, e.g. W-2 or 1099.
Certified NC Motor Vehicle Record, Non-Certified NC Motor, Vehicle Record.
Certified Out-of-State Motor Vehicle Record .
NC school transcript/registration signed by a school official, or diploma or GED from an NC school, community college or NC university.
Driver Education Certificates, Driving Eligibility Certificates and report cards are not accepted as proof of identification.
Valid, unexpired passport from any nation.
Certified marriage certificate from a Register of Deeds or government agency in the U.S, Puerto Rico, U.S. territories or Canada.
Limited Driving Privilege issued by North Carolina court. Cannot be expired more than one year
Valid, unexpired documents issued by the DHS/USCIS.
Court documents from US jurisdiction, Puerto Rico, US territories or Canada.
North Carolina law requires that you provide proof of North Carolina liability insurance when registering your vehicle. Your vehicle must be insured by a company licensed to do business in the North Carolina.
Proof of North Carolina liability insurance includes providing insurance documents that show your name, the effective date of policy, the expiration date of the policy and the date the policy was issued.
Even if you do not own or drive a currently registered vehicle you may still apply for a license, but a restriction will be placed on your driver license. This restriction limits you to only driving "fleet vehicles." To remove this restriction, you'll have to pay the $13 duplicate fee and present proof of financial liability.
The N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles accepts
money orders,
personal checks[?]
and American Express, Visa, MasterCard and Discover credit and debit cards at all NCDMV office locations.
Listed below are acceptable documents you can use:
If you change insurance carriers or you have a lapse of coverage, your insurance company is required by law to notify the Division of Motor Vehicles. When the Division receives this information, they are required to send Form FS 5-7 Notice, and you are required to respond within 10 days.
You must enter your correct insurance information on the Form FS 5-7 and return it to the Division within 10 days from the date on the FS 5-7 Notice.
You must re-certify with the correct insurance information and submit the listed penalty amount within 10 days from the date of the letter in order to retain your license plate.
In order to relicense after 30 days, you must:
If you feel the termination of your insurance is unjustified you do have a recourse. An insurance hearing may be requested when you feel the action is unjustified or when circumstances were beyond your control. You may call 919-715-7000 to set up a hearing. (An FS-1 is required for this option)
Two of these documents are needed to establish identity; one must contain your date of birth:
These documents are required along with the Identification Documents and the Proof of Social Security:
Under the following circumstances, Vehicle Registration may be denied.
The following are the current Vehicle Registration requirements for North Carolina.
To retain vehicle license plate, liability insurance must be maintained continuously.
Affidavits are used when the North Carolina Title or Manufacturer's Certificate of Origin have been assigned to an entity or individual and lost.
A mandatory 15-day waiting period will occur before the title is issued.
Note: A military customer does not need to go to a driver license examiner office when they return to North Carolina. They will not need to go in until time to renew their license.
If your name is different from your birth certificate, passport, government documents or REAL ID, you must present one of these documents:
To provide proof of your Social Security number when applying for an N.C. REAL ID driver license or ID card, present one of these documents:
To prove your identity when applying for an N.C. REAL ID, present one of these documents listed below.
Photocopies of those documents are not allowed unless they are certified by the issuing agency.
A valid, unexpired U.S. passport
Documents issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security or U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services:
A valid, unexpired REAL ID driver license or identification card from another state with your full name.
To provide proof of your current North Carolina address, you must present two of these documents:
Minors (individuals under 18 years old) may present the following:


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Stockton, CA
Angela Simone Vosburg
Sept. 7, 1925 - Aug. 18, 2013
Angela Simone Vosburg, age 87, passed away on Sunday, August 18th. She was born on September 7, 1925 in Van Buren, Maine. Angela was the oldest of three children. She married
Milford Vosburg in Van Buren, Maine and they had eleven children.
Angela was a faithful member of the Catholic Church. She enjoyed helping raise her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Angela will be remembered by her loving children: Nancy Smith (Bill), Ralph, James (Judy), Richard (Cindy), Peggy, Robert, Laura Rasmussen and Brian (Renee) Vosburg and her sister Theresa Arsenault. She is also survived by 13 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren. Angela is pre-deceased in death by her children, Gloria, David and Christopher Vosburg and brother Gerard Lagasse.
There will be a Rosary held at 6:00 pm on Thursday, August 22nd at DeYoung Memorial Chapel, 601 N. California Street, Stockton 95202. A Mass to celebrate Angela's life will be held at 1:30 pm on Friday, August 23rd at the Cathedral of the Annunciation, 425 W. Magnolia Street, Stockton 95203 with a committal immediately following at San Joaquin Catholic Cemetery 719 E. Harding Way, Stockton 95204.


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May 2 Colloquium Will Describe 'Physiological Roller Coaster' of Stress
- 04-30-2013
- By University Communications
Dr. Elizabeth Shirtcliff, of the University of New Orleans, will speak on "Riding the Physiological Roller Coaster: How Life Stress Alters Stress Responsive Physiological Systems," Thursday, May 2 at 4 p.m. in the Davis Center's Williams Family Room.
The popular notion is that stress and, by extension, stress hormones are deleterious and aversive, but this view does not take into account many beneficial properties of stress hormones. Early theories about stress allow for dynamic hormone responses to stressors such that the stress hormone cortisol can be both beneficial and deleterious. Shirtcliff's talk will build from these theories to describe the Adaptive Calibration Model of stress responsivity. The ACM emphasizes the functional purpose of the stress hormone cortisol in order to understand that cortisol's ups and downs are a roller coaster, but at least the ride is fun.


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Then spring arrived and we then warmed to the hot days of summer. Now spring is a memory and summer seems to have flown by too fast. I just hope a certain day in October (the 20th to be exact) is a warm sunny day.
This day is important for it is the day of our Wonderful Woodhaven Street Festival 2013. So think good thoughts for sun, sun, sun.
If you are not registered to vote on November 6, the Greater Woodhaven Development Corporation has voter registration forms available for new voters. Please call our office at (718) 805-0202 for more information.
If you voted in the Primary Election on September 10 and had to go to a new polling place, that is where you will again to vote in the runoff election on October 1 and on Tuesday November 6. This is a very important election, do not lose your opportunity to make your vote count.
On Tuesday evening, the Greater Woodhaven Development Corporation held our September meeting with our Annual Remembrance of September 11, 2001 and Candidates Night. I will report on this in my next article.
If you have a cell phone, be advised that you can register your phone with the NYPD. Please call the 102nd Precinct at (718) 805-3217. The registration of these numbers on allows tracking of lost and stolen cell phones.
The NYPD Enforcement Explorers Program is available to young men and women ages 14 to 20 years old. For more information, call the 102nd Precinct at (718) 805-3215. This program educates young adults regarding to Law Enforcement.
New York State will hold exams for the position of Environmental Conservation Police Officers (ECO's) and Forest Ranger. Applications will be accepted until October 2, 2013. The Civil Service Exam will take place on November 16, 2013. Visit www.nycoa.org or www.dec.ny.gov for more info.
Good news for pets and pet owners. Now pets will be allowed to stay with their families in homeless shelters at certain locations. In this way, they all can be together.
We nearly lost our ROTC Program at F.K. Lane H.S. This important program thankfully is here and will remain with us. They will be appearing at our Wonderful Woodhaven Street Festival, as they have done in previous years.
Many of our Jamaica Avenue stores will also be participating. In this way you can shop our stores, too. Why should you go to impersonal malls, with their few salespersons and help yourself attitudes? Shop locally in your hometown at the stores and businesses that support our community organizations and contribute to our Woodhaven Business Improvement District (WBID). So Shop locally at our stores during our fair.
Don't forget to come out on Sunday, October 20, from noon to 6 p.m. on Woodhaven's Jamaica Avenue from 80th Street to Woodhaven Boulevard for our Wonderful Woodhaven Street Festival 2013, now in our 34th Year. Bring the family for a safe, fun-filled family day.
We will have rides and games, antique cars, and a variety of vendors with unique products and our great Woodhaven stores and bargains. The entertainment for the festival will be the great country-western music of the Mary Lamont Band, with line-dancing instruction and dancing in the streets rock. Local bands Plastic Soul, Solid State Band, and Heartbreak Station will also perform.
This year again our special feature will be The Malaysian Lion Dancers of Lunar New Year's fame. Also appearing, our veteran Shorinjiryu Kenryukan karate with Myron M. Lubitsch, who have appeared in our street fairs for over 25 years. Please have some good thoughts for sun for Sunday, October 20.
May God bless our leaders, may God bless our armed forces and disabled veterans, and may God bless our America.


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Good afternoon fellow programmers,
I've been reading my reference book but I can't figure out to create more than one page for my list.
I want to create a simple list from my DB.
Then once I get to 100 titles I have a link that says NEXT
Then the next page has the next 100 titles
If you need to see my code I will send it
Thanks for your advice
hope it will help you


text: I'm running LSWS 4.2.1 with 'LiteSpeed API' PHP handler and I have a couple newb questions: 1. If I want to compile PHP with LSAPI should I choose the version of PHP that I currently have compiled in Apache? 2. When I look at the 'real-time stats' I see the following as my top process: type: LSAPI / name: APVH_lastspar_Suphp This makes sense for the user 'lastspar' but I'm curious why it shows 'suphp' since I'm running FCGI in Apache and SUEXEC in LSWS. I'd be grateful if someone could help me understand this stuff. Thanks


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China's Population Crash Could Upend U.S. Policy
It isn't quite true that demography is destiny. But if Nicholas Eberstadt is right, our destiny is going to be shaped by demography in ways we may not expect.
Eberstadt studies demographics for the American Enterprise Institute, and makes projections in full awareness that the field has gotten the future wrong before. In the 20th century, the global population increased almost fourfold, to 6.1 billion from 1.6 billion.
About Ramesh Ponnuru
Ramesh Ponnuru is a senior editor for National Review, where he has covered national politics for 15 years.
Ramesh Ponnuru
"Nothing like this magnitude or tempo of population change had ever previously been witnessed in the history of our species," he has written.
It was reasonable to fear, as many people did during that period, that the result would be mass famines. Instead, the world saw rising prosperity.
Today's most important population trend is falling birthrates. The world's total fertility rate — the number of children the average woman will bear over her lifetime — has dropped to 2.6 today from 4.9 in 1960. Half of the people in the world live in countries where the fertility rate is below what demographers reckon is the replacement level of 2.1, and are thus in shrinking societies.
A Few Predictions
In the U.S., we are accustomed to thinking about how this trend affects the welfare state: Longer lives and fewer children make it harder to finance retirement programs. But the rest of the developed world is aging faster, and it's worth thinking about how that will change America's global position, as well.
As Eberstadt points out, we can make predictions about the next 20 years with reasonable accuracy. The U.S.'s traditional allies in western Europe and Japan will have less weight in the world. Already the median age in western Europe is higher than that of the U.S.'s oldest state: Florida. That median age is rising 1.5 days every week. Japan had only 40 percent as many births in 2007 as it had in 1947.
These countries will have smaller workforces, lower savings rates and higher government debt as a result of their aging. They will probably lose dynamism, as well.
All these effects will, in turn, almost certainly make these countries even less willing than they already are to spend money on their armed forces. Americans who want Europe to bear more of the free world's military burden — or even provide for its own defense — are probably going to be disappointed. So will those who expect Europe to take on humanitarian missions. It won't even be able to maintain its current weight in future debates about the values of peace and democracy.
But one country that worries American military strategists will also face serious demographic challenges. China's rise over the last generation has been stunning, but straight-line projections of its future power and influence ignore that its birthrate is 30 percent below the replacement rate.
The Census Bureau predicts that China's population will peak in 2026, just 14 years from now. Its labor force will shrink, and its over-65 population will more than double over the next 20 years, from 115 million to 240 million. It will age very rapidly. Only Japan has aged faster — and Japan had the great advantage of growing rich before it grew old. By 2030, China will have a slightly higher proportion of the population that is elderly than western Europe does today — and western Europe, recall, has a higher median age than Florida.
China's Challenges
China, notoriously, has another demographic challenge. The normal sex ratio at birth is about 103 to 105 boys for every 100 girls. In China, as a result of the one-child policy and sex- selective abortion, that ratio has been 120 boys for every 100 girls. From 2000 to 2030, the percentage of men in their late 30s who have never been married is projected to quintuple. Eberstadt doesn't believe that having an "army of unmarriageable young men" will improve the country's economy or social cohesion.
He thinks demographic change will pose two problems specific to China. Its society has relied heavily on trust relationships within extended-family networks. In a country where fewer and fewer people will have uncles, those networks will rapidly atrophy. The government, meanwhile, relies for its legitimacy on a level of economic performance that demographic trends imperil.
All in all, Eberstadt concludes, "we might want to have some additional new friends and allies in the world." America's growing ties to India, a nation he describes as "aging moderately," strike him as promising. But he warns that it has not made the most of its population: "India has an appalling education deficit."
Foreign-policy thinkers can often lose sight of demographic trends, Eberstadt says, because from a policy makers' view "they tend to look really glacial. If it's not happening in the next 48 to 72 hours, it's not in the inbox." But "population change gradually and very unforgivingly alters the realm of the possible."
(Ramesh Ponnuru is a Bloomberg View columnist and a senior editor at National Review. The opinions expressed are his own.)
How soon we forget about China's " One Child" Policy.
For all intents and purposes..this was a "subtle ethnic and cultural genocide" planned by the Elite…who hid behind the Communist label and pulled the strings.
One cannot undo positive demographics….you cannot create instant 20 …..25….30 year olds. (Though any demographic group can be "negated"….)
I does not take a rocket scientist to determine that in many cultures the Male child is the preferred gender. Thus, if given an option, a couple under a "one child policy" may "roll the dice" until they get the male child.
However, a country needs a birth rate over 2.1 per couple to maintain the status -quo, let alone grow.
Hence the one child policy was a subtle form of genocide that will have consequences in the near future, especially if the country does not allow major immigration. It appears everyone considered China , with a population over ONE BILLION , as crowded and non – sustainable, but that is simply a generational snapshot.
The ratio of males will exceed females, and as the article above notes, a cultural genocide will occur. The family unit and the extended family unit will slowly dissolve. To observe the future, simply observe what has happened to Japan. An aging country, a bad economy, and a younger "replacement" generation that has turned its back on marriage and having children.
In the end, China will simply be westernized and the family unit destroyed, making it truly ripe for the real criminals..Big Brother and the Elite who simply used Communism ( flip side of Corporate Capitalism) as a ploy to slowly indoctrinate China and its citizens in the New World Order and Global Governance.


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William is a docile blob, like his father. I find this photo hideous:
What a witch! That Kate Middleton commoner (I love to have an opportunity of slinging around that shitty term) is straight out of a Harry Potter remake. Her regard is no less topsy-turvy than her crazy hat. When I observe the physical features of this potential future queen, I fear that the kingdom is in danger. But what can you expect from the mad Windsors? I find it terribly sad that many of my Anglo-Saxon brethren still seem to take this royal farce seriously. What a fucking ridiculous phenomenon. It's high time that the British people as a (w)hole—I resisted the temptation of saying asshole—pulled its finger out. Why must this royal comedy endure?
Sadly, there are many ready answers to that rhetorical question:
• Hordes of dumb English-speaking folk, from one end of the planet to the other (including my native land), seem to get a kick out of watching the antics of these so-called Royals, as if they were exotic animals in a zoo (which they are, in fact).
• In a sociopolitical context, certain serious specialists would argue—for obscure obsolete reasons—that royalty is the best, if not ideal, solution to the challenge of national guidance.
• Many lazy apathetic bastards say: Why change something that has been working for ages?
• Certain powerful individuals say to detractors (well, they don't actually say it explicitly, but rather make it known): Hey, fuck off, old chap! The existence of royalty guarantees me my privileges.
• Countless individuals don't give a fuck.
Do you want to know what I think? Well, I reckon that the antiquated phenomenon of British royalty will soon fizzle out for reasons that are not evoked, in any way whatsoever, in the above arguments. They will disappear suddenly and mysteriously, almost overnight, like the dinosaurs many eons ago, or like the Soviet Union in 1991.
We should not waste our time and energy running in circles, screaming and shouting about the absurdity of British royalty. Things will change inevitably, no matter how much or how often we scream and shout. We should give Time its due time. And that limited time is written already in the ugly face of "Queen Kate".
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
3 comments:
And what about the Aussies retaining the monarchy? Isn't it time we grew up?ReplyDelete
If the world were to change, Annie, then complacent Australia might (or might not) be expected to get around to following the world. Sadly, in this domain as in others, Australia is incapable of inspiring and masterminding any kind of intellectual or political revolution.ReplyDelete
Amazing that otherwise rational and supposedly adult people fail to see the advantages of a monarchy.ReplyDelete
Or perhaps you just so love ad trust your elected officials.
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
OPR's investigation was so biased, so flawed, and so beneath the Justice Department's own standards that last week the department's ranking civil servant and senior ethicist, David Margolis, completely rejected its recommendations.Yoo says he fought for "to help our president—President Obama, not Bush.
If a president cannot, or will not, protect the men and women who fight our nation's wars, they will follow the same risk-averse attitudes that invited the 9/11 attacks in the first place.
Without a vigorous commander-in-chief power at his disposal, Mr. Obama will struggle to win any of these victories. But that is where OPR, playing a junior varsity CIA, wanted to lead us. Ending the Justice Department's ethics witch hunt not only brought an unjust persecution to an end, but it protects the president's constitutional ability to fight the enemies that threaten our nation today.


text:
Good news for those who still want to rock out this year on the Fourth but are worried about the inclement weather that Hurricane Arthur might bring to the region.
Well VH1 and Palladia are celebrating Independence Day with fireworks and four-time Grammy award-winning band and hometown favorites The Roots for the fourth annual Philly 4th of July Jam.
The signature event of the Wawa Welcome America! festival, will be simulcast on VH1 and Palladia tonight from 8-11 and live streamed on PhillyJam.VH1.com and the VH1 App.
The Roots will perform and serve as the house band with this year�s lineup, including Nicki Minaj, Ed Sheeran, Jennifer Hudson, Ariana Grande and Aloe Blacc. Capping off the musical event, the evening will include a spectacular fireworks display over the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Billed as the �Largest Free Concert in America,� the Philly 4th of July Jam is a celebration of freedom and music. It�s an unforgettable, entertainment-filled night that has featured some of the top artists in the music industry. This is a one-of-a-kind concert, free of cost and fun for all ages, located right in the heart of the City of Brotherly Love. With 500,000 people jamming out on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, there is no other place to spend the Fourth of July.
The Jam is coordinated by Welcome America Inc. and its executive director, Desiree Peterkin-Bell, along with executive producers Scott Mirkin and Shawn Gee. Ahmir �?uestlove� Thompson and Tariq �Black Thought� Trotter of The Roots serve as musical directors for the Jam. Executive producers for VH1 are Lee Rolontz, Rick Krim and Keshia Williams.
To contact music columnist Michael Christopher, send an email to firstname.lastname@example.com. Also, check out his blog at www.delcotimes.com


text: Prognostication on this is pointless without first-hand knowledge of the coaching and infrastructure situation on the ground, I reckon. Having a slew of talented young players is a fraction of the picture and the WI have never struggled to produce them. Without the system to support them, they won't produce consistent Test cricketers.


text:
I've recently been able to do some widget development for OS X (nothing complex, just some HTML, JS, and AJAX calls). It's a neat little environment but the error reporting left a lot to be desired.
That said, I really appreciate the ability to open Dashboard widgets in KDE. The interface isn't that magical, and except for the ability to call native code shouldn't pose much of a problem for the developers. I was wondering if they were going to do something like this and I'm glad they have.
The little widget I developed could be used by users of one of our applications. I think a fair number of them would like it. For various reasons, 30% of the users of this application are using Macs, so that doesn't pose a problem. But when I pitched the idea (with a mostly complete widget) to my superiors they weren't that interested. I was basically told "that's quite neat, but it needs to work on Windows."
Ignoring my minor "let Mac users have something first" attitude, there is a very serious problem with providing the Widget on Windows. I can't (reasonably). I researched the options and here is what I found.
That list ignores whatever GNOME uses, and the 5-10 smaller engines that very few people use. Who knows how many people use Google Desktop or Yahoo! Widgets. None of the widgets developed on these systems works with any of the other system. Even if the widget is a simple as a "Hello, world" HTML file and image(s), the markup between Dashboard and Google is quite different. From the quick look I put into it, the same thing is true with Vista and Yahoo!. Google Desktop widgets can be loaded into the Dashboard, if you have Google Desktop installed on your Mac, because it performs some kind of translation.
So I can't develop a widget. The only user base I can promise is Vista. That's a big headache and only 2/3s the side of the Mac users we know of. Asking users to go install Google Desktop or Yahoo! Widgets just to be able to view our little widget is a little tough. Making the application native would take quite a bit of time. Integration for a custom Google homepage is probably the best option for us, but still not worth it due to the inability to predict the number of people who would actually use it.
So the project (which was just a side project of mine) is basically dead. Unless they decide that providing the widget to only Mac users (I find this very unlikely), the time isn't judged to be worth it (and I don't blame them). Until Vista takes over (probably by this time next year due to MS phasing out XP sales to OEMs) there are just too many widget engines. Targeting any decent sized group of users is nearly impossible. It's a quirk of our market that Macs have the market share they do.
This kind of consolidation is a very nice thing. As a KDE user, instantly getting so many widgets available (since outside of native code and possibly running shell commands, there shouldn't be porting) is a very nice thing.
At this point, that's basically what WebKit is. If someone just makes a Windows front end, we'll be set. Getting Google to adopt it for Google Desktop would be great, but at this point I find that unlikely due to momentum. Dashboard is just little Safari windows, hiding things like the title bar, with a special Javascript object to let you do things like set preferences, flip sides, and know when your widget is shown.
This this version of KDE is supposed to be able to be compiled and run on Window much easier than the giant mess that used to be necessary (my understanding is that this is due mostly to QT4), we may even be most of the way there. All that is needed is to get the users. Being able to say "use Apple Dashboard widgets" would be a major plus in getting the users.
If it wouldn't cut into one of Apple's argued advantages, they would probably release Dashboard for Windows.
But as it stands, there doesn't seem to be any way develop a widget and have it run on any decent fraction of the Windows computers out there. Like it or not, that's a large market.
Hmmm, it would be great to have an OSS widget engine that ran on Windows, OS X, and Linux. I wish I had more time to code these days.
Mozilla is kind of there with Prism [mozilla.org] but not quite. Here's the user interface [mozilla.org] where most of the UI controls can be disabled/hidden. So I think you could actually get just a plain window left in the end, if you want to. But you'd still have the window frame and things like that, I guess.
Otherwise, it has a lot of what one is looking for: builds on all open source components, platform support, a proven and established renderer (the Gecko engine), and a goal with the project to provide web applications in a de
I think you would be very, very surprised at the state of Linux pro audio (esp. Ardour.)
I really really wish this were true. While ALSA supports quite a large selection of pro hardware nowadays, I still find Ardour lacking. I know it's very capable as a multitrack recorder, and can be hacked to support at least some VST effects, it's still missing sequencing and VST instruments. I like OSS and use Linux almost exclusively, but until I can get Kontakt, Battery etc. working properly under Linux I'll have to continue booting into XP when I want to do some music.
(but please do correct me if I'm
Suse.....................Your Choice at install
Damn Samll.............Joes Window Manager
So default installs... 4 with gnome, 4 with KDE, 1 your choice... and of course on any of these you can add the other manager anyway.. I don't see any conspiracy against KDE... people use what they want.. There is Kubuntu, same people, but it's not in the top 10 (it's 15th).. If done right, I am sure it's a great window manager.. My experiences with it have been ok, but I prefer gnome.. BTW gnome can be done wrong too.. I tried an alpha release of Suse with gnome, and hated their menu.
But I looked at your page also (good find).. I actually agree more with your list, and I'd substitute Xandros for FreeBSD to keep it all Linux.. and you would have the major players.
Strange...update.. I think early april fools, but the list of Linux distros at distrowatch,... is just weird.. see for yourself.
Is is because it[KDE] is mainly European based and all the so called major distros are American based? I hope not.
Lets see, the highest market share distributions using Gnome are:
It looks to me like there are as many KDE users as Gnome and it doesn't really correlate to where the compan
So it should eventually shift back to, no matter how good it looks if it don't function right it sucks and the minimalists life style, only have what you need, work to live don't live to
Speaking of which has anybody noticed all the websites going to a light gray text on white background?
As a long-time KDE fan, I have been waiting for what seems like forever for KDE 4. I've been using 3.5 every day, along with OS X Tiger/Leopard, for the last couple of years. I love the apps, I love the environment and, in general, KDE's sense of style. The beauty that is Oxygen has had me stoked since the first screenshots came out.
I've been trying to use it as my regular window manager since a repo became available to Kubuntu users. I have been fully prepared to sacrifice some functionality and applications to use the latest and greatest, but yet still can't use it on an everyday basis, by a long shot.
Besides just general bugginess, there are some issues with the user interface that need fixing ASAP. First and foremost is speed. KDE has always been snappy for me, even on PowerPC G3/G4 hardware. On my Dell Inspiron with a 1.83 GHz Core Duo, things take forever to launch. It feels like OS X Public Beta all over again to me, in terms of application launch speed. (KDE 3.5 is super snappy on this same box.)
Next on my hit list are the widgets. We need to be able to hide the widget launcher in the right hand corner of the desktop. I've always been able to keep a super-minimalist desktop with KDE, and this menu is nothing short of distracting. And why is the panel now a widget that can only accept other widgets (of which there are a very small amount)? Where are the great little applets and buttons from KDEs past? Why can't I add an application launcher icon to the panel, like in any other desktop environment out there? For that matter, can I even create a custom application launcher anywhere? Why can't the panel be made to be a custom size?
KDE 4 has the potential to be truly revolutionary, but at this point, it's all good looks and severely lacking in functionality. Here's hoping 4.1 will actually be where 4.0 should have been.
And why is the panel now a widget that can only accept other widgets (of which there are a very small amount)?
Because there's no reason to have half a dozen different classes and types of little doodads that are fundamentally identical.
Where are the great little applets and buttons from KDEs past?
Currently being rewritten.
Why can't I add an application launcher icon to the panel, like in any other desktop environment out there?
You can by now.
Why can't the panel be made to be a custom size?
Because they probably shouldn't have called KDE4.0 4.0.
KDE4 is a major rewrite the way KDE2 was. And if you think back KDE2 didn't become usable until KDE2.1/2.2 either but the code they wrote then was the basis for KDE all the way through the 3.x series. Linux 2.6, Gnome 2.0, none of them were ready for primetime and inclusion in distributions. But with OSS you have to release at some point because otherwise you end up with Enlightenment 0.17.
At least they 'fessed up and told us that the lack of functionality was caused by a lack of time and not by some brilliant vision for a new simpler, "more usable" DE. =P
On a more KDE-centric level, I'm not enjoying the low-contrast Qt themes with the insistence of rounding every possible corner, and I've yet to come across any themes that give be the beautific simplicity of Plastik
How about the Qt 4 version of Plastik, called "Plastique", which ships with Qt 4 by default?
Many (if not all) of your other complaints, while valid, are things that have simply not yet been fixed, or features that have not been implemented. It was just that KDE 4.0 was somewhat rushed (it probably should have been still beta, but at least this way it got lots of development attention).
As for Amarok, you really don't need a playlist of all your music just so you can listen to random stuff or stuff based
The new XP-style kicker replacement is an absolute abomination to use. Too many clicks, practically impossible to browse the program hierarchies quickly.
Absolutely right. I came here to see if anyone was going to mention it. I have a long description of what's wrong with the new KDE 4 application launcher [ath0.com] on my web site. I've told the maintainers, I've tried to bring it up on the KDE 4 HCI discussion mailing list. So far, I've heard absolutely no response.
I gather that the window is now resizeable, but the
If you suspect a man, don't employ him.


text:
Sept. 15, 2009
BOSTON, MA - Sophomore setter Cassy Hanneman (Denver, CO) broke the school record for assists, while helping the University of Massachusetts Boston women's volleyball team over host Suffolk University, 25-14, 25-5, 25-8, tonight at Regan Gymnasium on the campus of Suffolk University in Boston, MA. The Beacons win their eighth straight match to improve to 8-2 on the same day they received nine votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association National Poll. The Rams fall to 1-2 on the season.
Hanneman picked up her 15th assist of the night to give UMass Boston a 3-1 lead in the second set and pass Trisha Alloway (1998-2000) for the top spot on the Beacons' career assist list. Hanneman finished the night with 24 assists to give her 1,437 for her career. She also added a pair of aces and a dig to her evening.
Senior outside hitter Kate McWhorter (Bakersfield, CA) led UMass Boston with 14 kills on a torrid .650 hitting mark, while scooping up five digs, getting up for a block solo and serving up an ace. Freshman middle hitter Shannon Thompson (Moorpark, CA) was equally effective with a blistering .769 hitting percentage to fuel a 10-kill performance in just 13 attack attempts and no errors. She also fired an ace and registered a block solo. Sophomore middle hitter Molly Rattigan (Dorchester, MA) chipped in with five kills on a .500 hitting mark, a pair of block solos and a dig, while freshman outside hitter Melissa Brown (Gardnerville, NV/Silver Lake Reg. HS (MA) made the most of her attempts with a season-high four kills in five tries for an .800 hitting mark in addition to a pair of aces and a dig. Freshman setter Frana Burtness-Adams (Fairbanks, AK) got the nod as the setter for the third set and responded with 11 assists and three aces, while classmate Bethany Rossoll (Colorado Springs, CO) notched a team-high six digs to go with a season-best four aces and a kill in her only attempt.
The Beacons will be in action again on Thursday, September 17 when they travel to nearby Wentworth Institute of Technology for a 7:00 p.m. match, while Suffolk heads to Nashua, NH on September 17 to take on Daniel Webster College at 7:00 p.m.


text:
Mainers seek ways to handle frigid temps | News
BANGOR, Maine (NEWS CENTER) --- As cold weather once again gripped the Pine Tree State on Thursday, many Mainers were finding ways to keep warm.
Tennis students were busy practicing their skills at 'Bangor Tennis' in Hampden. Many said they not only enjoy being inside on a cold day like this but they also enjoy how the game makes them warmer from all the hustling around.
People are also turning to tanning beds as a way to stay warm. Many businesses that offer tanning including 'Planet Fitness' in Bangor say more people have been signing up to get some sun and thaw out from the cold.
"It just makes you feel wonderful," reamarked Elena Hennessey as she went for her appointment, "like you can't get away but you kind of can."
Staff at the fitness center say people are also coming to tan to get ready for vacations to much warmer destinations.


text:
It is time for a better Farm Bill. Now. Sign the petition & mark your calendar for Nov. 15th - the national day of action
It's now or never for the 2012 Farm Bill – speak out today!
As of this month, our nation's food and farm policy in the form of the 2008 Farm Bill has officially expired, with no workable replacement moving forward in Congress. This has left critical programs high and dry with no funding – and means Congress dodged the chance to make real reforms and an investment in an equitable, sustainable future for food and farms in America.
With no new farm bill or extension, the programs that address rural and urban job creation, training opportunities for beginning farmers, natural resource conservation, and access to healthy food are in big trouble.
Can Congress still finish a farm bill this year? YES!
There is a short window of time for Congress to finish the bill when they return to DC after Election Day. So when Congress returns to the Hill, we'll need YOU and other farmers and advocates across the country to tell them loud and clear: we need an equitable, sustainable 2012 Farm Bill!
PASA has launched a major grassroots effort in collaboration with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and allies across the nation to make our voices heard. Sign onto the citizens' petition today – and mark your calendar for a national day of action on November 15!
Sign your name to this petition and tell Congress we need a 2012 Farm Bill that:
Invests in the future of healthy farms, food, and people
Protects our precious air, soil, and water
Reforms farm subsidies and levels the playing field.


text:
Database of Recorded American Music (DRAM)
Database details
- A collection of American music online, includes all genres (jazz; classical; Native American; electronic, experimental, electro-acoustic, folk, and contemporary music; and musical theater).
- Offers access to over 7,500 compositions from the following labels: New World Records, CRI, Albany, Cedille, Innova, Mutable Music, New York University, Pogus, XI, and Deep Listening.
- Continually updated
- Includes liner notes, essays, bibliographies, and discographies.
Need assistance? Contact the Web Administrator.


text:
"Albert Einstein remains not just scientifically relevant but a multipurpose icon as well."
Yes indeed - he's used as the icon for all science stories on Slashdot. I'd definately call that multipurpose!
the noble prize is not awarded posthumorously
<spelling=nazi>No, they tend to only have fun after the (Nobel) prize has been awarded.</spelling>
Einstein: God does not play dice.
Bohr: Don't tell God what to do!
Some Highlights...
Dear Dr. Einstein,
I am a pupil in the sixth grade at Westview School. We have been talking about animals and plants in Science. There are a few children in our room that do not understand why people are classed as animals. I would appreciate it very much if you would please answer this and explain to me why people are classed as animals.
Thanking you,
November 12, 1952
The very thoughtful answer...
Dear Children:
We should not ask "What is an animal" but "what sort of thing do we call an animal?" Well, we call something an animal which has certain characteristics: it takes nourishment, it descends from parents similar to itself, it grows, it moves by itself, it dies if its time has run out. That's why we call the worms, the chicken, the dog, the monkey an animal. What about us humans? Think about it in the above mentioned way and then decide for yourselves whether it is a natural thing to regard ourselves as animals.
With kind regards,
Albert Einstein
January 17, 1953
"Einstein said that he thought in images and even muscular sensations," says John Stachel, a physicist and the founding editor of the Papers Project. "The hardest part for him was to translate his findings back into language that others could understand."
Sounds like the good man was addicted to drugs. And yes, I can image it is really hard to translate an LSD trip into language others can understand. However a real artist will be able to do so.
Or maybe not. Allow me to quote jambands.com [jambands.com]I can image it is really hard to translate an LSD trip into language others can understand. However a real artist will be able to do so.
As the story goes, the first time Paul McCartney got high, he discovered something very deep and mystic. He wrote it down on a piece of paper and folded it up, entrusting it to Mal Evans, the Beatles' road manager. The next day Mal asked Paul if he wanted to see what was written on the paper. Paul said "yes". He opened it up. Scrawled across it was the phrase "there are seven levels".
Unfortunately, the article in question doesn't seem to be available on the internet, but here is the reference:"Something that can't be proved is taken very blithely as fact," said Marlin Thomas, an expert in learning disabilities at Iona College who published an analysis of the claim about Einstein. Thomas became curious when he saw the diagnosis showcased on T-shirts, Web sites, ads and even brochures from the American Academy of Pediatrics."
"Einstein said that he thought in images and even muscular sensations," says John Stachel, a physicist and the founding editor of the Papers Project. "The hardest part for him was to translate his findings back into language that others could understand."
I've been watching a lot of footage of Joe Cocker on stage, and if I understand his body language correctly, he can expound volumes on Stephen Hawking's latest theories.
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
"It would be better if you begin to teach others only after you yourself have learned something." -- (to Arthur Cohen, age 12, who submitted a paper to Einstein, 12/26/28; Einstein Archive 25-044)
From that page:
Driving Mr. Albert chronicles the adventures of an unlikely threesome--a freelance writer, an elderly pathologist, and Albert Einstein's brain--on a cross-country expedition intended to set the story of this specimen-cum-relic straight once and for all.
After Thomas Harvey performed Einstein's autopsy in 1955, he made off with the key body part. His claims that he was studying the specimen and would publish his findings never bore fruit, and the doctor fell from grace. The brain, though, became the subject of many an urban legend, and Harvey was transformed into a modern Robin Hood, having snatched neurological riches from the establishment and distributed them piecemeal to the curious and the faithful around the world.
Traversing America with Harvey and his sacred specimen, Paterniti seems to be awaiting enlightenment, much as Einstein did in his last days. But just as the great scientist failed to come up with a unifying theory, Paterniti's chronicle dissolves at times into overly sincere efforts to find importance where there may be none, and it walks a fine line between postmodern detachment and wide-eyed wonderment. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the book offers an engrossing portrait of postatomic America from what may be the ultimate late-20th-century road trip.
Is is any wonder the poor guy has been reduced to being an advertising shill for everything in sight?
There are some interesting memories of Einstein in John Archibald Wheeler's Geons, Black Holes, and Quantum Foam: A Life in Physics [amazon.com]. Wheeler was also Feynman's thesis adviser.
The book I mentioned does discuss this issue, and while I have nothing to use to prove its validity, the author gives the feeling that's it's much more complicated than just 'how much'.
Mileva was involved at varying degrees throughout their realationship. She was at times (especially early on) heavily involved in development, doing calculations for Einstein and serving as a person to bounce ideas off of. However, both in the early stages of the idea forming in his head, and later on, Mileva was not involved at all. But she was definitely not just a muse.
She also was hardly ignored because of her gender or race among her peers. Remember, this was during the time of Marie Curie and Serbia had a wealth of scholars.
It seems as if she was forced to distance herself afterwards by the pressure from her family and her children, and the moving around with her husband (who was trying to make enough money to get by while the theory was being worked on).
Well, I've rambled myself out. You may wish to read the book for a more detailed version of this.
Einstein never bothered to remember his own phone number, reasoning that he seldom needed to call himself. On rare occasions when he did, it was something he could look up.
As a student in a co-op education program, I move every four months, so I can't remember my phone number either. It's nice to know I have something in common with Einstein. (Yes, I study physics too, but I'm not going to flatter myself.)
With regard to famous mathematicians and physicists forgetting where they live, this joke has been told about many scientists.
A quick survey of the web shows that Scientist X is usually mathematician Norbert Weiner, though a number of others are cited less frequently.Scientist X is moving today. Since he knows how absent-minded he is, he takes care to jot down his new address on a slip of paper. He has an important lecture to deliver, so his family moves while he is in class during the day. When Scientist X prepares to go to his new home, he realizes that he cannot find the piece of paper. Distraught, he returns to his old house, and sees a young girl sitting on the front step. He asks her, "Excuse me, little girl. Can you tell me to where the family who used to live here has moved?"
She immediately replies, "Of course, Daddy. Mom knew you'd forget, so she left me to remind you."
Sure, we know he wasn't good at math, but an even more important point was that he couldn't memorize details to save his life. I remember reading a story about how he called the telephone operator from a pay phone to ask what his phone number and address were -- he couldn't remember them.
A friend of mine says that if I named a famous man, he could name something humble about him, so he challenged me, and he's one of those high energy guys, so he says "GO!", like we're starting a race or something. So I say Thomas Edison, and he says "Thomas Edison always remembered the names of everyone he met". And I'm thinking, okay, this is fun, so I say Albert Einstein, and he says "Albert Einstein personally answered all of his own telephone calls".
So I'm thinking it over, and I'm just awesomely impressed with the humility of the man, so important and famous, to answer all of his own calls, but then I think: Wait a second! Who called Einstein?
In less than a century, computers will be making substantial progress on ... the overriding problem of war and peace. -- James Slagle