Something Random

[timwhit]

I decided to order a T-Amp and see how it works. No one has them in stock though.

I guess I will be getting one from fleaBay.

Interesting article about it here.

 

[mubs]

Tim, if you look at it on Amazon, it says it will be shipped from Target. Some people have apparently bought it there for <$15 on clearance. If you're in a hurry, you could check there.

 

[i]

timwhit, that Amp would probably drive those speakers pretty well, at least at modest volumes. But it needs an AC power adaptor. I'm not sure quite where to find one.

Here?

 

[mubs]

From Tim's link:

The T-Amp uses Tripath's lowest-end chip, the model 2024, which puts out 15 watts of power and costs $3; its most powerful chip puts out 500 watts, costs $45 and is found in high-end stereo gear costing thousands of dollars. Other than power, there isn't much difference; the chips all use the same basic technology.

So which higher-power amps use the more powerful versions of the chip?

 

[timwhit]

timwhit, that Amp would probably drive those speakers pretty well, at least at modest volumes. But it needs an AC power adaptor. I'm not sure quite where to find one.

Here?

Based on the original review that Mercutio posted it looks like it is better to have something around 13-13.5 volts and close to 2 amps.

Amazon sells this. Seems kind of expensive for an AC power adapter.

 

[timwhit]

I think I might get this one to power the amplifier. 12 VDC and 2 amps. Pretty good power for a wall wort.

 

[time]

So which higher-power amps use the more powerful versions of the chip?

Car audio.

 

[GIANT]

...I'm really interested in Gary H.'s thoughts on something like this.

I just read the original raving lunatic review of the amp; it sure looks to be a con job (amp worth U$40).

By the way, the R-E-A-L audio power rating for the T-Amp integrated amplifier (that's a power amplifier and a preamplifier integrated) should be 6 watts, not 15 watts. No self-respecting company will overdrive the shit out of an amplifier into clipping then measure its RMS power.

A basic thing to remember in this discussion -- and this has not changed over the years -- is that power amplifiers based on integrated circuits make for mediocre power amplifiers. Such devices simply can't handle the high levels of voltage and current that are required to drive large loudspeakers with acceptable distortion characteristics (low levels of distortion). Only discrete electronics can provide this level of performance.

Otherwise, the integrated circuit that it's based on looks to be perfectly adequate for inexpensive boom boxes and such, and I'm sure this T-Amp will work well as a little utility amp. It's really worth about US$15 to $20 -- no more than that for sure.

 

[Mercutio]

For $40, if it lets me connect a set of real, non-sucky speakers to a computer, I think I'm OK with whatever I get.

Since I've been making proclaimations about things that I like and sincerely believe are worth time and money, I thought I'd point out a few comic book series.

Comics, as a rule, don't make the grand list of respectable literary genres. Which is a shame, 'cause there certainly are very talented people making them these days.

One writer I really want to point out is Warren Ellis. Mr. Ellis still writes super hero comics for big-name companies from time to time, but those are not his speciality. Nope, Warren Ellis makes very readable science fiction titles. I'm comfortable mentioning his name in the same breath with Zelzany, if that tells y'all something.

As I've been down with allergies over the last several days, I've read a LOT of his comics. I get them over the internet, in .CBR format (there's a reader program out there, it's hosted on a geocities account, but it's been there for YEARS)... anyway, I downloaded them, and now I plan to buy them - actually, I'm doing that now, which is why I'm posting this.

Warren Ellis has written a couple things that I think are extremely appealing, even to folk who don't like comics:

"Global Frequency" - This title follows very large group of what I can only call independant experts, connected to a central hub by nothing more than a cell phone. Small groups of these people might be brought together to disarm a bomb or prevent an alien invasion. The stories are spare but utterly captivating. Because the cast changes from issue to issue, sometimes the good guys don't win.

The other great Ellis title is "Transmetropolitan" - I have no better way of explaining this series, except to suggest one imagine Hunter S. Thompson by way of "A Brave New World". There are wonderful diatribes against consumerism and media culture, and a pretty decent political thriller is embedded in everything as well.

Anyway, these are things that're out in internet-land someplace. They're both worth the time they take to read.

 

[Handruin]

Ferry horn fun. I got a much needed laugh out of this...

 

[mubs]

Ouch, that can hurt! Isn't it illegal to have such loud horns?

I was at an Autozone the other day, and there was a guy with a huge Dodge truck that had come in for something. He and I were taking turns talking to the same guy at the store. He apparently knew the store guy and was chatting him up quite a bit. At one point he was relating how a woman in the car behind him honked at him for no fault of his. He let her get ahead and honked back - with the train air-horn that was fitted in his truck. He demoed it for us, and man, was it loud!

 

[Buck]

The first few instances I laughed, then it quickly became annoying.

 

[jtr1962]

He let her get ahead and honked back - with the train air-horn that was fitted in his truck. He demoed it for us, and man, was it loud!

If I had the room for it, I'd put a train horn on my bike. Nothing else seems to get people's attention these days.

 

[Santilli]

I just took a friend out to dinner last night to a place in Carmel-by-the-Sea called Cassanova. Really good food, but the wine tb alone went over $200. The meal was closer to $500. Oh, well, she's a good friend.

I LOVE that place. Even sitting outside, with the heaters, if they still have them, I really enjoyed that place, and have eaten there many times, but, it was in the early 80's, when the food wasn't 200 dollars.

I managed the Shadowbrook in Capitola for Ted Burke for 5 years, and I would take girls down to Casanovas, and, The Sardine Factory was my other favorite spot.

http://www.shadowbrook-capitola.com/

I was the wine buyer for 8 years. Needless to say, in those days, you brought your own wine, without any problems...

One of my bigger regrets was not asking Katie Bargetto to marry me, but, ...



GS

 

[Groltz]

I still like this oldie: http://www.lookatentertainment.com/v/v-114.htm

 

[ddrueding]

A friend recently gave up his truck for a super small econo car (his commute was costing a fortune). The first thing he did was install 2 huge airhorns behind the grill, now he still manages to get trucks to pull over for him.

 

[ddrueding]

I just took a friend out to dinner last night to a place in Carmel-by-the-Sea called Cassanova. Really good food, but the wine tb alone went over $200. The meal was closer to $500. Oh, well, she's a good friend.

I LOVE that place. Even sitting outside, with the heaters, if they still have them, I really enjoyed that place, and have eaten there many times, but, it was in the early 80's, when the food wasn't 200 dollars.

I managed the Shadowbrook in Capitola for Ted Burke for 5 years, and I would take girls down to Casanovas, and, The Sardine Factory was my other favorite spot.

http://www.shadowbrook-capitola.com/

I was the wine buyer for 8 years. Needless to say, in those days, you brought your own wine, without any problems...

One of my bigger regrets was not asking Katie Bargetto to marry me, but, ...



GS

I still go to the Shadowbrook at least once a week, it's my favorite resteraunt this side of San Francisco (House of Prime Rib / Harris make it a close 3rd). During the off-season they have winemaker's dinners in the rock room that are a real experience. The Sardine Factory hasn't impresed me to date; I've only been there a few times, but the Whaling Station, Charthouse, and The Duck Club all struck me as restraunts with a litle less stufiness and much better food.

 

[mubs]

Merc Alert!

L.A. Times article: Joss Whedon used every cost-cutting trick he knew — or could invent — to keep production of the sci-fi feature "Serenity" in L.A.

I confess to not having read the article. I'll rent the DVD when it's available, just because Merc said it was a good movie.

 

[Mercutio]

mubs, it's a very good movie, but you'll miss a lot if you don't watch the TV series first.

When can I send you the DVDs?

 

[mubs]

Anytime, my friend! I'll watch 'em and gladly send them back. I'll be out of the country mid-Nov to mid-Dec, though.

 

[i]

The crickets are deafening.

 

[CougTek]

I just want to let Mercutio know that I've seen Serenity and it wasn't the complete lemon I thought it would be. It won't make it to my memorable movies list, but I don't regret the price of the ticket.

 

[Santilli]

I just took a friend out to dinner last night to a place in Carmel-by-the-Sea called Cassanova. Really good food, but the wine tb alone went over $200. The meal was closer to $500. Oh, well, she's a good friend.

I LOVE that place. Even sitting outside, with the heaters, if they still have them, I really enjoyed that place, and have eaten there many times, but, it was in the early 80's, when the food wasn't 200 dollars.

I managed the Shadowbrook in Capitola for Ted Burke for 5 years, and I would take girls down to Casanovas, and, The Sardine Factory was my other favorite spot.

http://www.shadowbrook-capitola.com/

I was the wine buyer for 8 years. Needless to say, in those days, you brought your own wine, without any problems...

One of my bigger regrets was not asking Katie Bargetto to marry me, but, ...



GS

I still go to the Shadowbrook at least once a week, it's my favorite resteraunt this side of San Francisco (House of Prime Rib / Harris make it a close 3rd). During the off-season they have winemaker's dinners in the rock room that are a real experience. The Sardine Factory hasn't impresed me to date; I've only been there a few times, but the Whaling Station, Charthouse, and The Duck Club all struck me as restraunts with a litle less stufiness and much better food.

Ted Burke and I had a bit of a falling out. He ran the costs of improving his house through the restaurant, and deducted it from the profits. Great for an owner making a ton of money in the summertime, and, who said his favorite fiction work was his tax return (Ted's dad is a judge in Santa Cruz county).

End result is he hires managers on a % profit basis, and, we did a REALLY good job, and, by running the house costs through the restaurant, he dropped the profits of the restaurant, built his house, and I think I should have a room in his house named after me, but, he had to sell the house, since his wife dumped him.

Also, Ted made the waiters tip out so much, the job became MUCH less attractive, and, most moved on. When you tip out 55-65% of your tips, it sucks.

Anyway, Charles Halliday, is now the president of a south Florida Culinary school, he was the GM I worked under, and with, for ten years, Gene Milburn, the other manager, is comfortable, in the Santa Cruz mountains, and I'm getting ready to get out of teaching and get into law, suing school districts to do what they are supposed to do by law, in special ed, comes to mind.

You might also try The Big Sur Inn. Fantastic, romantic, and reasonable.

I drive by a classic San Francisco restaurant, Westlake Joes', IIRC, every morning. That's another classic. Half Moon Bay has Pasta Moon. Wonderful owner, Kim, and, the chef's name is Shaun. He was our head chef at Shadowbrook for a LONG time. I worked for Kim in another restaurant she sold, in South San Francisco, in the mid 1990's.

The Sardine Factory has a REALLY good wine steward, and a very good wine list. That's what I like. I can usually find some obscure, old bottle, for a decent price.

You are right. The Monterey Charthouse is one of the best, and their baseball cut top sirloins are nearly as good as my home cut, and cooked, filet strips.

I've always found in stuffy restaurants ordering a bottle of Dom, or even any good bottle of bubbles right off the bat has ALWAYS got me decent service.

In some old, stuffy, now dead, (La Burgone?SP?) restaurant in San Francisco, I took my mother for her birthday. I was nicely dressed, as was she, but, we were being ignored. I ordered 1961 Dom, and a half bottle of 1961 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, and, we had a wonderful dinner, and my mother remembers it, as much as she can remember anything at this point...

GS

 

[Mercutio]

I just want to let Mercutio know that I've seen Serenity and it wasn't the complete lemon I thought it would be. It won't make it to my memorable movies list, but I don't regret the price of the ticket.

It helps if you've seen the TV show. I'll mail you a set of discs.

 

[Dïscfärm]

...but you'll miss a lot if you don't watch the TV series first. When can I send you the DVDs?

I was at Würst Büy this weekend, and just happened to have seen a "Firefly" DVD box set for $39.99. It claimed to be all of the episodes on four DVDs.

 

[Mercutio]

That is correct. There are only 13 (or 14. Whichever) episodes.

 

[Gilbo]

Dan has brief blurb on that inexpensive, audiophile amplifier in his latest letters column. It's well worth checking out .

 

[Mercutio]

Inexpensive = $500.

And for headphones. Ugh.

 

[Gilbo]

I just have to mention the best review at 6moon's: the Cable Tower 1 and the Cable Tower 2.

Those are plastic things meant to keep you cables off the ground. You see, static buildup in carpets can impair the performance of your expensive music system if you're such an idiot as to just run your cable's along the floor iteself!

I couldn't believe what I was hearing: greater transparency, improved dynamics and quieter backgrounds. All this from tiny acrylic saw-horses placed beneath my power and speaker cables! Over the next few weeks, I spent a lot of time ABA testing the Cable Towers with dozens of recordings. With each test, I was surprised by how much of an improvement they made for a system that I thought sounded pretty decent already.

Yes, the reviewer actually said that.

Many of Dan's other links are equally entertaining...

 

[Gilbo]

It's worth mentioning that Dan does say that particular amplifier is likely worth the cash with some caveats regarding its power output --which were exactly what were pointed out here.

 

[mubs]

I followed a link from digg.com and saw the first 9 minutes (official teaser) of Serenity. Very interesting! I understand why Merc insists some Firefly background is necessary to fully appreciate Serenity.

 

[mubs]

Amazon has "Firefly - The Complete Series (2002)" for $31 shipped. Average Customer Review: 5 full stars Based on 1716 Reviews. Yikes!

 

[LunarMist]

...all 1716 viewers that liked the show.

 

[timwhit]

...all 1716 viewers that liked the show.

That's an average.

 

[LunarMist]

Yes. Perhaps I should have been clearer.

All 1716 viewers that liked the show bought the DVDs.

I'm sure many would be horrified by my favorite TV series.

 

[mubs]

All 1716 viewers that liked the show bought the DVDs.

I'd hazard a guess that you're wrong. Obviously I didn't go through all 1716 reviews, but I'll bet there were a few who dissed the show. But these are drowned out by the overwhelming majority who did give it 5 stars. I've seldom seen this many reviews for a product at Amazon.

 

[GIANT]

...I'm sure many would be horrified by my favorite TV series.

There is not a thing wrong with Mister Ed. Nothing.

• 

 

[CougTek]

I went to Judas Priest's show this evening. I'll be partially deaf for a few days. The drum and bass were so loud that they buried almost completely the lead guitars. I had a hard time to follow, even the songs I know very well.

 

[Tea]

COUG, YOU DON'T HAVE TO SHOUT! I CAN HEAR YOU JUST FINE.

 

[ddrueding]

You have another new girlfriend already?

From another thread, but I'm trying to keep that one on topic. Yes another new girlfriend, but this one is of the long-term type. The last few have been of the "wow you're cute and available short-term" type. The last of the long-term type left me for another...woman. The one before that I was engaged to before she left me for another...woman. See a pattern here? This is the third major relationship of my life, and the last two have ended with the other person changing teams. So here I am, no longer looking for threesomes and adventure, with a more mature and stable woman. She owns a house, and her own business, and was married for a significant amount of time, and we have tons of stuff in common, and if the age difference (12 years) doesn't somehow mess it up; than we'll be doing fine for quite some time.

So...I know I've been a playboy lately, but before the SR disaster I was a .com geek with no social skills, and now I'm a hopeless romantic geek with few social skills. As they say in one of my favorite musicals: "Gentlemen, deal me out, do not try and feel me out."