- ...newsarchive
Sept 19 , 2008
- I fixed up an early version one of those wonderful $100 dollar bikes from Canadian tire that is now
in it's 4th revision. This revision was owned by someone named Steve and bought second hand with a frame
that hand been re-painted by hand with a brush in a working class blue color. I should have taken a
picture of it (and Steve) but it reminded me that I had a page built up earlier in the year about how
utilitarian and pratical these bikes are for the big city. Now that my internet provider has partially
sorted out their web providing issues, I thought it be neat for you to have a look at the page on the
latter revision of Steve's bike called the SC-1800
(click to enlarge)
- One of things about today's consumers goods is that use of plastic instead of metal. The other
thing is that switches and levers are much less durable. The Canon A60 that I've used and borrowed from
my wife is on it's last legs.
- The shutter release has a mind of it's own and has lossed the half-press position so important
to locking exposure and focus
- The protective front shutters now refuse to open fully
- A lose wire in the bowels of the camera now cause the image to become a insane mess of chaos
that looks something like purple pudding flowing horizontally. A sharp precise knock to the body
often fixes it, but I've been seen to deliver ten repeated blows to get it back to a state that it
can take pictures....sometime they (the pictures) go away.
In my younger days, I looked longingly at the film based Nikon FM and FM2. So after much deliberationn
and a timely sale by a Electronics store, I bought a Nikon P50 digital camera. Have a look:
(click to enlarge)
I think it's that cat's meow!
Sept 18 , 2008
From the dates from my previous entry, you thought I've dropped off the end of the earth or hidden underneath
a rock for the last two years. A lot has happened and some of it has had to do with this particular web page.
- My internet provider has been upgrading its servers and has lost updates from the last
year to these pages. Hence the date
- My entries marking Sheldon Browns early exit to this planet have been
lost. If you ever wanted to know how to fix any problem with your bike. Go there. The link
is a web address that was setup some time after his death and taken from the Harris Cylcery
site.
- My entry marking my Mom's death last October (2007) is sadly gone. Thoughts are so
fleeting and the human mind so transient...I'll never know what I put down in writing that
day but it came down to that special place that we all reserve in the honour of Mom's that
grew up in an age of little education and huge hearts. These people are rarerin "modern"
societies and "world class cities" (NBA team, NHL team, tall skyscrapers)...but I guess that
is why we sometimes long for the smaller cities. As Schumacher put it "Small is Beautiful".
Opt for local autonomy.
- I'm off for about a year and half sabbatical of sorts due to a combination of company
downsizing and the idea that we all need to take a sabbatical of sorts. It's going to hurt
the bottom line but I've been treated and rewarded "well" by my employer. Time to spend some
of that good will on the economy:
- Adirondack/Vermount/Quebec cycle trip
Basically 10 days of cycling/camping and hiking in these beautiful settings on the
east side of North America. Highlight of the trip had to be a day of cycling on
secondary roads in Vermount outside of the town of Warren. Details to come. Prior to
that, some cycling and hiking in the Adirondacks up Mount Hurricane and along the
Nun-da-ga-o Ridge. A six hour journey marked by lack of fluids and a compensating
post-hike sit down at a Stewarts gas bar marked by lotsa Root Beer, ice
cream floats and an old fashion ice cream...not all ingested by one person.
Quebec's La Route Verte is a great concept that has exceptional merit in concept. For
experienced cyclists, the route becomes somewhat predictable in that it will
inevitably run by a river or body of water. These are typically the places that
people tend to congregate and escape to by car and that is precisely the problem. The
best riding was found off on the secondary roads that exists in close proximity to
the route. One of the best places to ride (next to Warren's roads) were those
outside of Richmond. On a 4 day loop, these nice open roads were a welcome change to
the dark and closed in surrounds of gravel packed bike paths that so many people
crave.
- Boston bus trip
When I was about 12, my uncle was entering his fifties and decided to go vacationing
with his wife. They took the Greyhound bus. Despite giving up the flexibility of a
car and doing your own thing, these trips, as I came to find, have their own appeal
of nice accomodations, food and socializing with like-minded individuals that want to
be on time. So I went on this trip with my Brother's family and got to spend some
time with my nephew, brother, sister-in-law, Aunt Betty and my father. We got to see
Whales, dolphins, the Vandebuilt mansion, a casino in Conneticut and do some great
factory outlest shopping....who could ask for any more over 3 days!!!
- Nahanni River trip
One of my very favourite trips was to take a bike from Calgary to Jasper. There is
something akin to speaking to "God" when you stare up at the changing views of those
peaks as you ride on your bike. Picture that but with the base of those mountains
moved in towards each other on either side of the road and with the road replaced by
a river called the Nahanni. The logistics of a 15 day trip were handled by two other
families that I was in fortunate enough to tag along. Highlights of the trip had to
be the food (plentiful, great quality with great company) and the 320 km of river to
paddle with a 10 km/hr current. Weird and wonderful.
Oct 5 , 2006
Today marks the ninth year since my mom passed away. In the
intervening years since then, the number of close aunts/uncles (at least we
referred to them in this manner) has tallied to a count of six and we
remember them all in the spirit of shared moments etched in times of
celebration. Today happens to be one of those cold rainy (melancholy) days
where you want to keep the lights on and be someplace warm. I was reminded
of today by my Sister and brother last night of today but the word
anniversay of death is somewhat odd in phrasing. In my brother's case, it
was a late phone call from my eldest brother: Something to be expected in my
family and answering it is in keeping with the phone calls I was promised to
make when I travelled in younger days, but keep less, today. One difference,
this year, is that my sister is married a man that that makes her very happy
and that my mom would be proud to call her "son". But it is in times of joy
that the human reaction is least predictable and I find myself not at ease
with my less than "bright" surroundings. I know she be up "visiting" with my
departed Uncles/AuntsI miss you lots, Mom, and want you to know that your
little girl will soon become a mother and to try not to smile "too much"
:) ...love lots from Ray.
April 7 , 2006
It is one thing to be known as a failure
and another to be known as a miserable
failure...a message brought to you direct to you from the White House
!!!
Jan 28 , 2006
It's been a while ...here goes a assortment of
odds and ends:
- ATI has a new chip (R580)and line of cards called the X1900 culminating
in a simul-release of reviews and avalability on the 24th of January, 2006:
- Anandtech
X1900 review
- Beyond3D X1900
review
- Digit-Life
review
- Driver
Heaven X1900 review
- EliteBastards
X1900 review
- Guru3D X1900
review
- HardOcp X1900
review
- Hexus X1900
review
- Hot
Hardware X1900 review
- Tech
Report X1900 review
- Trusted
Reeviews on X1900
- Tweak Town on X1900
- Legit Reviews on
X1900
- Bit-Tech
X1900 review
- The CES (Consumer Electronics Show) and T.H.E (The Home Entertainment)
Show were held at the beginning of this year. Read the various reviews here:
- Audiophilia's
Coverage
- AudioFederation
Coverage
- Big
Sound Coverage
- "Dick Osher's
CES Coverage
- "Enjoy the Music"
T.H.E. Coverage
- Positive
Feedback Coverage
- SoundStage
coverage
- Stereophile coverage
- UHF(Ultra High Fidelity)
magazine coverage
- Ultralinear Audio Journal's
Coverage
- Vacuum Tube Valley's
Coverage
- Chinese new year will be upon those that use the lunar calendar. In the
12 year cycle, marked by an animal, this will be the "year of man's best
friend"...doggy!
- I've upgraded my commputer to $80 Asus P4P800-MX motherboard. This was
prompted by a trip to a surplus store which was clearing out computer cases
by Acer...it had a great look. Other than the small form factor computer
cases out there designed to fit on the same shelf as your "stereo", Computer
Case designers need to go back and take course "101" on AESTHETICS. The case
I brought is usually bundle as complete computer called the "Acerpower F2". The neat
thing about this case is that 5.25 inch and 3.5 inch components that quickly
removed and attached without needing a screwdriver. A quick release
mechanism latches onto the cylindrical heads of attaching screws mounted
onto bare components. The drive bay is modified by having slots to accept
the slightly wider girth of the components with the "attached screws".
Easier to appreciate with a pic that I'll post when one of your readers
prompts me via e-mail. So what else it new on my first new computer upgrade
in over 7 years ( Previous motherboard was a Asus P5A with Pentium MMX CPU
running at 200 MHz).
- Upgraded original Honywell Keyboard (circa 1984) and 3-button no-name
"Mouse Systems" mouse to wireless Logitech
Corless Desktop Express for $10...hello Boxing Day.
- My previous motherboard was an classic AT with a mass of ribbon
cables. The new board is an ATX form factor with all serial, parallel,
keyboard, mouse, video and USB ports mounted on the main board. Ribbon
connectors are mostly near the edge to minimize disturbing air flow. The
neat thing about the unit is that you can turn it on by just pressing any
key on the keyboard or pressing a mouse button: This is accomplish the a
new low power supply output (5VSB) in combination with a
motherboard option to detect a power on when activity is detected on the
PS/2 ports. Picture turning on a computer by clicking a mouse with no
wires. Cool!
- The hard drive is now virtually silent. Kudos to Seagate for
introducing an 80 GB 7200 RPM drive with technology to cut down the high
frequency whine present on my old 5GB Western Digital Drive. The drive
noise is reported in decibels (dBA) and is supposed to be in the mid to
low 20 dBA region. Read more about Seagate and other quiet drives at this
link.
- The new motherboard has integrated sound (courtesy Analog Devices) and
video/graphics (Intel 865GV). This means that it has no external AGP slot
support for the insecure. I looked at my habits of mostly web use and
email and concluded that this would be enough. For kicks, I brought out my
games from my playing days (Doom and Quake) and they were playable. A
playable demo of "King Kong" bundle with my issue "Maximum PC" ran this
DX9.0 game just fine. I like my games to look like games and am not into
photrealistic rendering. I do not like heat and associate this with
performance cars that are always at the verge of performance or a
breakdown....just my own person priorities.
- The included CD-ROM from ASUS deserves mention as it contains support
of both the sound chip and the ethernet chip under Redhat Linux 7.2 via
the modular use of Linux Modules. I'm connected to the internet as I type
this with the "Superman (Crash Test Dummies)" playing under a winamp clone
called XMMS. I'm currently running the graphics sub-optimally but OUT OF
THE BOX using the VESA framebuffer support. This means that even if your
favourite graphics card does not have its latedst 3D or 2D features
supported by the various Linux development sites, you can run GUI/graphics
based operating systems (like GNOME or KDE) right out of the UNIX box with
judicious search of the terms "framebuffer" "GRUB" and "vga=ask". Trust
me...it is great.
- Software is just as important and the hardware. Red Hat 7.2 has been
superseded but I found it to be an amazingly complete and easy to maintain
version of Linux. Kudos to the graphically based adminstration scripts
from Red Hat running under GNOME.
- GNOME has the famous "G" prefix associated with GNU. It is at once
simple and slick.
As you can tell, I really like where Linux has
gotten to since my last upgrade. The packaged "GIMP" (Graphic Image
Manipulation Package) has rescued many digital images from bad
underexposure.
Nov 17 , 2005
- Do Canadians need another election ?
My answer is not for simple
obvious reasons :
- This action may well push us into American style goverments where
"minority goverments" do not exist due to an inability to generate
consensus. The Liberal goverment has a clear plan outlining their
activities but it takes "two" to govern as a consensus is needed. Vote on
the issue and not on the self interest of individuals wanting to gain more
power. Ask yourself the question of whether law, order, economy, society,
fairness are being served with your annual contribution to the goverment.
- The cost of an election pushed on people by NDP, Conservatives and Gil
Doucet. Are they afraid that Martin is making a positive difference in
Canada.
- What different will a few weeks make except that initial reaction to
the second Gomery report will put a long dead issue back at the front of
people minds. Paul Martin has done much to have outside people look at the
sources of this corruption and the appropriate action and correction are
forthcoming.
- The inconvience at a time when people should focus on their families.
- The real mutual interest between the conservatives and leadership in
Quebec is separation. The sponsorship deal meant to keep Canada together
(in the spirit of Trudeau) has always been at odds with a flippant mood
willing to ride on emotion and "throw it all away".
- A minority goverment in a country with many social institutions
balanced on one side by reformist Concervatives and on the other side and
the fiscally unresponsible NDP on the other (Remember "Pink" Floyd
Laughren miring Ontario in dept).
- The NDP will again have a minority goverment. They are only setup to
be a small opposition group and do not have people who can manage and get
things done.
- The CD format can still be capable of very good to amazing results. I
was recently down at "Applause Audio" to listen to the C.E.C. (CEC) TL-51xz tranport plugged
into the battery powered dAck in my backpack. At $1599 Canadian it is steep
but it shows you what can be done with a pioneering audio company with
expertise in mechanical turntable design. For those on more modest budgets,
Toshiba's system expertise has been able to offer "great sound" on a budget
with their SD-3980 DVD
player...it gets to the soul of music. Make sure you get one with the recent
"metal chassis" changes.
- Some neat music for Xmas:
- Joel Plaskett: Heart felt folksy tunes in his debut solo called La De Da. He's opened for
the "Tragically Hip" at some their recent concerts.
- Anne Schaefer: 12 Easy Pieces
- Norah Jones: "Feels like home" is just one of those albums that grows
and grows on me since I got it over a year ago.
May 8, 2005
- School is out for many students in university/college stream and for me
it means taking out the canoe to slalom the raised water levels in Canada's
streams. I took my first day trip to the town of Marmouth to paddle a
section of the Beavercreek river system. Tipped once and got to try out my
new neoprene booties and farmer John's outfit...great stuff and now I think
I have a better aprreciation of the seal's love of cold water.
- Canada is in the throngs of a "power wannabe" called Steven Harper upset
over the preliminary results of "pro unity sponsorship issue" that just
pales in comparison to goverment(s) which lied to its own people on the
actual issues of going to war (Bush/Blair). Steven Harper has nothing to
lose as he does not like playing "second fiddle" in a minority goverment.
Just a year ago he was decidedly questioning what he wanted to still be the
leader of the Conservative/Alliance party after the loss in the election.
Without giving a chance to the workings of a minority goverment, this person
is willing to put the country through an expensive election on the basis of
what some "minister" did on the "previous" leader's watch. Go figure. As I
said, he has nothing to lose and the best medecine would be have the
Liberals get another majority under the strong leadership of Paul Martin.
April 21, 2005
Its been a while since I've posted here but
various sections have been updated within these web pages over the last 6
months.
- Canada's minority goverment is proving to be big costly thorn. While I
am one who believes in "principal", but the opposition parties
(Conservatives, NDP and PQ) are now posturing the position of the moral high
ground and using words like outrage. CBC has revealed that Gomery
Inquiry has already spent about 72 million dollars of taxpayers money
not including separate RCMP investigations. The call for a snap election
will cost taxpayers another 200 million dollar plus.
Will it lead to better goverment or a better leader...I doubt it. I
prefer to give the Martin goverment a chance to prove his metal. One of the
first things he did was to cancel the sponsorship program when he took
office. Many of those close to Chretian are now out of the picture with his
cabinet. Would any of this exist if the Liberals had a majority
goverment...highly unlikely.
Note that the diversion of public money into the hands of a contry's
leader is much more evident in the case of our neighbour to the south via
the rewarding of war contracts. For a drop in the bucket program with well
intentions, the people involved have already been fingered in the form of
Alfonso Gagliano.
- The second generation Ack! dAck 2.0 has been released in the middle of
February and received almost unanimous favourable praise
from the audio commnunity. If you are involved in the performing arts...look
no further for a product designed by an ex-violinist.
- I modified by Toshiba 3950 following the Swenson
Mod but using internally mounted Auricaps. The distortion that creeps in
with CDs recorded near the maximum permissble level has abated.
- The Toshiba 3950/3960 has raised the bar for DVD players that perform
the duty of CD playback based upon a recent audition of a stock Denon 3910
DVD player. Dynamics and tone of this $1700 was impressive. Internal
construction apparently uses copper shielding for key portions of the
design.
Oct 24, 2004
- Audiophile taste but on a budget ? For under $50, you can have the Sonic Impact Class-T
amplifier that has had some long time philes shaking their collective heads.
Dec 1, 2004
- I've had this desert island CD (Good Dog Bad Dog by Over the Rhine )for about the last two years and it is still
near the top of my play list. They got a deal with Vigin on their "back
porch" series of CDs and I've acutally seen their CDs at HMV about 6 months
ago. My problem is that their latest 2 CD offering called Ohio is no
where to be found in the bins :(
P.S. If you are stuck for music that
will fill the soul...give OTR a listen...makes a great Xmas suggestion for
that difficult to buy for audiophile...give them a listen below:
- Later
Days from Good Dog Bad Dog
- Poughkeepsie
from GDBD
- Ohio
from OHIO CD
Oct 17, 2004
- In my parent's time it was called being practical. In the engineering
arena the phrase used is "if it ain't broke...don't fix it". The following
site essentially talks about the idea of products/services that more than
meet our needs by being good
enough.
- For a cent under $50, Radio Shack has a introduced the Flatfoto camera that
should just about nail the market looking for their first time digital
camera to replace their "point and shoot" film camera.
Oct 7, 2004
- With damming evidence
from the the diplomat to South Africa, George W Bush and Dick Cheney
deliberately lied to the World about Sadam Hussein trying to obtain uranium
to make a atomic bomb. This "fear setting" set the acceptance of the
American public to go with their unilateral decision. The words "stove
piping" (of information to Bush) and "Cherry Picking" information to support
a agenda to "have people dancing in the streets of Iraq" is a Utopia that
could only be thought up by flunkies of Yale. The televison program "The
Fifth Estate" has done us all a service to show that all power corrupts and
absolute power corrupts absolutely (Presidential Override/Vetos).
- The current lockout
of the NHL Players by the owners is I think justified and long overdue.
A floating "salary cap" tied to 60% of the revenue pool of the owners is "no
salary cap"...DO YOU UNDERSTAND BOB GOOEDENOW. The problem is the money
grabbing agents that operate on a percentage basis of their client players.
Short on skill, many of these ex-NHLers feel bummed out by their lower pays
when they were non-stars. The person with the best view on this is the
Vancouver owner Brian
Burke.
- The slow startup times of digicams unfolding their zoom lens may be a
thing of the past...take a look at the folded lens technology
of Minolta Dimage Xt....now adopted by some of the Olympus cameras.
Sept 19, 2004
- My wife found a small little camera in the mall about 2 inches by 1.5
inches with a keychain on it...a week later, you can today take a look at
the tinycam page.
- The little ART SLA-1 amp "that could" is back in the news in the speaker
review of the Usher
X-798. As much a amp review as a speaker review as the overall sound of
the system was evaluated. Another user review can be found here.
- First there was the renaissance of toy push scooters that had many
adults relive their childhood memories...except Kevin Spacey did it in his
Mahnattan neighbourhood. It is only natural that electric scooters begin
to make their appearrence.
Sept 1, 2004
- What digital camera to buy or get for free ? I've noticed a insane trend
of bigger is best when it comes to digital cameras. How much resolution do
you really need really depends. For 80% of life's photos that we put on the
fridge and stick in the photo album, a 1.3 megapixel camera would be fine.
This would generate a 1280x960 image that could hold up to about 6"x4" well.
This image takes about 1/3 of a megabyte, meaning we could store about 200
pictures (8 rolls of 24 exposure) on a 64 MB digital memory stick. Once in
while we like to take a 8x10 photo and for this we need something on the
order of 2048x1600 pixel camera (3.2 megapixels if you do the math).
Compression typically reduce the raw storage requirements by abour 4x in the
best JPEG format. More typical in cameras that need to deal with compromise,
the highest resolution mode will reduce storage by about 8x. Medium
resolution mode will offer about 12x reduction and the low resolution mode
(not recommended) was invented in the days of pricey memories. I would say
that everyone could use two digital cameras. A simple focus free camera of
1.3 to 2.0 megapixel should be fine. Its advantages are low battery draw(no
focus motor to drive), fast startup (no lens to retract and then
focus...major pet peeve), and sheer simplicity. The main thing is that the
lens is sharp and the colours are true to life. The one thing I've found
about digital cameras is that if find a good one, the colour consistency and
accuracy beats that of the traditional roll film viewed through prints. One
reason is that the variability in negative development and paper development
is removed through direct view on your monitor or TV.
So to sum up, what features are important:
- Small format
- Focus free
- low standby power of less than 50mA. Typical NiMH batteries of
1300mA/hr will last about 26 hours. Because most cameras power down after
two minutes automagically. This does not mean using the LCD viewing panel
which consume a whole lot more.
- Low reserve operation. On a trip, I was viewing the results of my
pictures every so often until the LCD blanked out. To my surprise I was
able to continue taking pictures for the rest of the remaining three days
using my Fuji Finepix MX-1300. In the end, I shot in excess of 100 pics
and probably could have shot more.
- Fast startup(not so important but noticeable on cameras with autofocus
and zoom).
- Low shutter lag time (1/2 second will drive you crazy...trust me).
So what cameras can I recommend in this category:
- Fuji Finepix MX-1300
- Fuji A101 -> 1.3 megapixel two battery wonder
- Fuji A201 -> 2.0 megapixel two battery wonder
- `
- When America votes in the upcoming election remember that there are
people that can live with and resolve the conflicts through persistence.
Witness the IRA and the incredible tolerance put forth by England and the
current agreement that they have. The violence is committed by a few but the
technology enables a greater toil on the innocent in public spaces/places.
The violent act itself is not on the increase (How many airplanes have
crashed into towers, lately?). It is our underestimation of how "crazy" the
act (taking innocent children, suicide by educated individuals,
indoctrination from a young age of the innocent). Orange Alerts are more a
case of covering one's self for fear of libel introduce by international
policy. (We go to war alone and will not stop until the cancer is
destroyed...how's that for a simplistic view of a moral and just society).
As humanity has found, "an eye for an eye" does not work or in the Bush
Administration. When you vote next time remember why you have a roll of unused duct tape sitting
on your table.
- In the 1970's, before the CD was unleashed. The turntable "art" had
evolved to a point where better meant better motors, heavier platters,
better tonearms, and improved cartridge technology. The British had people
convinced that the belt drive was the right path to take to spinning a
platter over the technologically beautiful Direct Drive approach. The
"Idler" became the orphan child on the notion that any vibration from the
motor would couple through a hard rubber wheel used to coupled the turns of
a motor onto the rotating platter. Here are a couple of links that will
probably drive up the price of turntables from a Swiss company called
Lenco :
- Freek's
Lenco Page
- Lenco
Heaven by Tom McQuiggan
All this started by a local in my home
city called John Nantais.
- The state of politics in the U.S.A is sad. Ultimately who really cares
about the military record of a President. The president himself ultimately
delegates the decision about how war is fought to others. Kerry could easily
point out the following aspects of the present Bush adminsitration:
- Failure to heed United Nations council against ware against terrorism.
- The lack of correct intelligence on the issue of weapons of mass
destruction.
- The faultering American economy
- There are now more Al-Queda operatives in Iraq than ever
- The people in Iraq are not jumping up and down in the streets with
joy.
- "Shock and Awe" have created so much damage to the infrastructure of
Iraq that this former nation with one of the highest standards of living
has even the basics of water and health (hospitals ransacked) compromised.
- Giving the President the exclusive executive power to go to war
instead of the "tried and true" deliberation of an Act of Congress. These
acts of terror do not require faster deliberation....just better
deliberation.
- All power corrupts...absolute power corrupts absolutely.
A CBC documentary pointed out that a leaked report prior
9/11 and the election of the Bush administration was a a
priori plan to invade Iraq .
Washington, D.C.: The go-ahead for a war may come
soon. But some people think that plans for the war may have been made
years ago. Some analysts think President George W. Bush has been slowly
and carefully putting policies in place recommended to him by the Project
for the New American Century. That organization was launched to promote
the U.S. as the leader in global leadership which includes taking
responsibility to enforce peace around the world.
Some of Bush's key defence advisors, including Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney helped draft a
document calling for the U.S. to, for example, abandon the antiballistic
missile treaty. Bush's administration did that. The document called for
more permanent military bases around the world. President Bush is putting
them in Philippines, the country of Georgia and, likely, in Iraq after a
war. He also called on the U.S. government to change regimes including
Saddam Hussein's and others. All of this would happen with or without the
U.N.'s support.
Interestingly, the report says for these global
changes to get going a catastrophic event "like a new Pearl Harbour" would
have to take place. (Pearl Harbour, Hawaii was bombed by the Japanese in
1941, dragging the U.S. into the Second World War.) Many feel the
terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 was the event that set Bush's
policy direction in motion.
What was missing was a reason
for the public to rally around or a cataclysmic
event. A chronological timeline shows that the most
of the ideas were set forth by 1992. The "new Peal Harbour" document
came into being in 1999...well ahead of the events of 9-11 2001.
Maybe someone like Clinton happens only once in while (Rhode's Scholar)
but thank goodness that it did. The 9/11 woke up a sleeping giant that there
are fanatical people that will do extreme things. In many ways like a cancer
(with no cure), terrorism keeps changing its face and its methods. The first
bomb detonated deep in the recesses of the garage was unsuccessful and
security was beefed up to prevent it using daily patrols using sniff dogs
and vigilance. You can be sure than "little Johnny" will not be able to
visit the Pilot's cabin...hands up if you think a cabin door think the cabin
door is some sort of space age metal with a entry protocol of no access
after takeoff. Time was simpler when the phrase of "You have nothing to fear
but fear itself". The reality is that technology has advance the
instantaneous damage that a few crazed "men" can wrought. Whether that be a
plane crashing into a tower or a band of militia wiping out an African
Village using maching guns against machettees.In the past, these types only
had so much time before their luck ran out...todaythey have access to the
latest that the North American technology has to offer to evade capture. I
do not have an answer to the problems of today, but Mr Bush has had "his 4
years".
July 1, 2004
Happy Canada Day!!!
- The desmise of the turntable has now turned into a resurgence.
Manufacturers from the 70's have now resurfaced in the form of Thorens
and Lenco.
I still have fond memories of looking at the vintage Lencos through the
left
display windows at the original Bay-Bloor Radio.
- Hindsight is 20/20 but there are lies and damn lies.
The war that never should have been fought. Even in the week prior to the
the 1990 Persian Gulf War, this is what the Bush
Administration said:
"the United States has no opinion on Arab-Arab conflicts, like your
border disagreement with Kuwait."
June 2, 2004
If you want to keep track of your webpages, try
out http://www.statcounter.com/.
You can also go there by double-clicking my counter. It provides lots of
neat stats beyond just the hit-count such as unique vistors, browser
breakdown, operating system, keyword seaches to arrive at your site, etc.
- I think I like where I am with my modest audio system. Bottom
line is that audio industry has been plagued with two-wrongs making a sort
of "right" analog tuning issue. Natural sounding transports/dacs are key and
everything after that seems to follow. One major problem is that so many
problems for so long have been pointed out to be that of the DAC or CD
transport that once you are past this hurdle, you may not know it.
- Axiom M22ti continues to be my reference speaker. While surfing
yesterday, I found some neat links to this speaker:
- HomeTheatreSpot
Axiom forum. I do not think you could find a more enthusiastic bunch
of first time buyers. They even post about the impending arrival of
mail-order goods.
- Axiom
Audio Tour ...take a visit to cottage country and the headquarters of
Axiom Audio in Dwight, Ontario. This 6MB article is full of pictures of
the factory floor.
- Voted
Top Pick in the tough $200 to $500 dollar speaker range by "Stereo
Speaker Buyer's Guide" web site...how's that for originality.
- There you are on a Friday in front of a computer with an hour to kill
before you head off home...what to do? Try Friday Afternoon URLs and
learn about why the U.S. is in
Iraq? ...how long to
coakroach heaven? ...how my car ended up
wedged between a boat and a pier...Fridays may never be the same.
May 15, 2004
The problems with moving to a new web space
provider are that they crash, my old page counters break, FTP does not allow
uploading which is found to be due to a firewall configuration issue....you
get the idea...not a lot of fun.
- With most of this behind me, spring was limited to a 8 portage/13 rapid
river run of the Missisauga River ending in the town of Buckhorn. Technical
enough on parts that I'm somewhat glad not to take my fiberglass canoe.
- Two inexpensive but ear opening audio projects have come to fruition of
late. But before I begin, forget about universal SACD/DAV-A/CD
players...Toshiba has put out some chipsets that for the first time, in CD's
20 year history, get the tone right. The
digital forum in Audio Asylum has been abuzz with a player that is just a
joy to listen to listen to....even some vinyl addicts have come into the fold.
- The first audio project is speaker cable in the guise of a 14
gauge extention cord first bought to attention of people by a recording
engineer of some repute name Tony Faulkner. The Absolute Sound put
out a cable survey that pretty much confirmed that an equivalent orange version of this cable
with a black stripe was not very far off the mark from its high end
breathen. They dubbed it the HD-14 cable for lack of a better name. It has
also been referred to affectionately as Halloween cable.
- The second audio project is a tweak to the very high standard bought
about by the Toshiba 3950 and the HD-14 cable. To elevate the sound just a
bit furtherthe 3950 was place on a set of three DIY Roller Blocks.
Feb 1, 2004
Welcome to my new home. As pages get updated from
the old site, the background page colour will shift to "baby blue" until I
find something I like better. Cheers.
Jan 28, 2004
First entry for this year. January is about 3
weeks old from the break between the years. A tremendously loyal and hard
working friend of mine recently slipped away to get married...she kept it
quiet for quiet for about two months. Congratulations Sandra...we still need
to celebrate...even if you do not need to.
- While waiting for Norah's (Jones) next album, I picked up an CD titled
"New
York City" by the "Peter Matlic Group" featuring Norah. It has a groove
propelled by a warm bloatey bass that just swings with Norah. Great Music
spot lighting a familiar but different aspect of Norah Jone's versality and
range. Her next (post breakthrough) album is called Feels
Like Home. What a girl does for an encore after 6 Grammys is not really
relevant...good music and musicianship are....it is a gift. Coming to you on
February 10. A cover of a Jewel song I could almost picture.
- Also on February 10 will be a Album distributed by EMI called Some of my best friends are
songs. It will be a collection of blues and jazz flavoured songs by an
amazing peformer/singer who is best described as timeless. Colm Wilkinson is
one cool guy with a guitar who could pass for twenty something in his
freshness. Too bad we all know him primarily for operatic numbers froms "the
Phantom" and "Les Miserables". Should be a knockout.
- North America has been hit by a cold spell that has lingered around the
city of Toronto for the last week. It bought in record snowfall resulting in
the type of snow banks that kids clamber onto while walking to and back from
school. If you are a senior and a junior(someone in high school), you can
meet some wonderful people in your neighbourhood while helping each other:
Kids in their formitive years need work experience,$$$, and adult talk as
much as seniors need to get errands done (snow shovelling, walking the dog,
fetching groceries) during inclement weather. If you need your sidewalk to
be shovelled at a reasonable rate...call the SAINTS.
Nov, 2003
The year is winding down and it has been hectic as I
transition put on an additional hat as a part-time teacher. As someone in
politics put it: "You cannot hold on to one trapeze and move on to the
next". I've tried....it is a lot of work. Below are some random notes from
the last few months.
- First off is a little penguin (Linux anyone?) that my wife picked up.
You wind it up and it basically teeter and totters on its high centre of
gravity like a child leaning to walk. Must have stocking stuffer. My wife
picked it up from GANZ warehouse sale. Everyone I've shown it to wants
one....made by IWAYA
CORP
![Iwaya mini penguin]()
![]()
![Iwaya mini penguin]()
Click on the images them in medium, larger and smaller images.
- CBC's "Saturday Night at the Movies" put on the sleeper hit from the
80's called Breaking
Away. Still one of the coolest movies for a twelve year to come
across...even in the era of moutain bikes.
- A web service for $2.95 a month with unlimited connect time...I've beta
tested the services offered by 295.ca and
have no complaints. I'm running the Opera
Browser under Linux and Win98....runs much better and more stable under
Linux. Dialing in from a dumb terminal, it looks as if the servers are Linux
based based upon the userid: and password: prompts. In order to use this
service under Linux you need to put the nameserver in your /etc/resolv.conf
file. This allows you to type in strings like "www.google.com" and have them
translated to appropriate IP addresses numeric strings to access the
web...if you decide to stick with Win98...read on...
Most users of Win98 have seen the steady degradation of their once humber
computer to what seems like 1/2 the horsepower of the unit when it was new.
For people with problems under Win 98, here is "some" salvation short of
updating and obsoleting your Pentium 200 class computer in a forced upgrade
to WinXP:
- Run "RegCheck" utiliites. These may have to be download. You can also
run SCANREG.EXE from MS-DOS normal/safe mode. It does a very similar
function. To do this, you may need to hold the SHIFT key down as your
computer boots prior to the Windows "spash" screen coming up.
- Run "msconfig" from the Start Menu using the "RUN" facility and the
look at the startup files. You can disable tons of stuff that installation
programs have forced upon you.
- Have the optional "accessories" for Windows installed that included
the "resource meter". This will tell you if it is your active imagination
or something real stealing resources from your computer.
If you are running Linux/Win98, download the best human engineered
browser period. If you have not tried Opera. Key
features are:
- One key click: Show Cache pictures/Show all pictures/Show no pictures
toggle button
- One key click variable magnification from 10% to 1000%
- One key click "printer preview"
- One key click for "blank webpage" background...allows you to see
purple text on blue!!!
- Ignore "Pop-up Windows"
- Cover of Bryan Adams song "Heaven" on the episode of "Cold Case" called
"Fly Away". It is that time of the year to be looking for music. I heard a
voice from the past in a radio interview with Jane Siberry.
- Rank your sites traffic using Alexa.
Somewhat controversial is the basic mechanism for ranking.
- High-end FM radios...modify your
SRF-49/SRF-59FM radio. Take your home hi-fi sound on the road. For you home
stereo, I would recommend analog interconnects based upon Jon Risch. I have
them in my system since mid summer and extended listening just wants me to
leave my system to playing the music.
Sept 2003
- In the fall of 2003, my uncle Bak Yit Chew passed away. Born in 1913 in
the city of Sanhoi, he followed his father to Canada at the age of 13. His
influence upon my own father is that of a father as he was 20 years his
senior. Always the peace maker and broker, my uncle was without peer in
dealing and interacting with people 40 years or more his junior. I say this
having experienced him from when he was 50 years of age. By that time he had
established himself as a general mechanic. He could take apart a motor,
boiler, hydralic machinery and put it back together better than it was.
During the Second world war he was entrusted with running the factory floor
for a manufacturing company (whose name now escapes me). With the arrival of
cousins, brothers, and village acquaintances from Canton, how would he ease
their transition into Canada. He picked up a copy of the "Joy of Cooking"
and thus began his foray into the restuarant businees with the establishment
of Moon Palance Restaurant. His annual Birthday get together was a joyous
occassion marked by an abundance of gleeful children and a wide variety of
foods. I was about ten when his son mentioned to my older brother that Uncle
Joe's shortness of breath was diagnose as emphysema and that his doctor's
prognosis was not good if he continued. He stopped the next day and searched
for a form of exercise as his doctor suggested. He heard about Tai Chi.
Within a year he master many of the basic moves and got deeper into the
meditative aspects of the martial art. He sought out masters from other
cities and invited them to Toronto and formed a Tai Chi class in what is now
Toronto's SOHO district at Beverley and Queen street (right beside the HMV
Store). Of course he invited his grandchildren, me, my brothers...I guess he
thought the next Bruce Lee might come out it.
My memories of the 80's are filled with that of school and university. My
uncle at this time was living in a duplex in the High Park area. His son's
family on the second floor and he comfortably on the first. Tai Chi
continued to play a large role in his life, as was learning the Mandarin
dialect. He often said to me: "Ray, if I was in position, I would learn
Mandarin and go back to China...great opportunity in many different ways".
So I went back last year for my first trip seeing small villages to visit.
More as a tourist, I travelled to small towns and regions fo China. The
sense of opportunity was there as my uncle predicited. In the last 90's a
feinting spell led to a bad fall that left the left side of my uncle
partially paralyzed. He regained an incredible amount of movement back
through deep meditation. I've seen him sweating profusively after these
"mental visualization exercises" in earlier days and I'm sure the doctors
were somewhat mistified. He lived with his wife in a condominium in North
York in his last decade. Fiercely independent, his son William would drop by
each week with his children. His great grand children were as enamoured of
him as I and countless other cousins, grandchildren, acquaintances. I'll
have to come back and touch this up but a few more details need to be added
about the RCMP and community in which he grew up and help build in
Chinatown.
- High end Audiophile replay may never be the same. It seemed as if the
movement to more features in HT receivers was diametrically opposed to
simplicity seen in high end Audio. Zero feedback, No tone controls, short
signal paths, etc were the norm for amplifiers featuring emphasis on
non-visible expenses suchs as large toroidal transformers, wide bandwidth
output devices, good electrolytic caps in signal paths, and low noise
resistors. I'll cut to the chase and let John Meyer talk about the
discontinuity introduced by good sounding Class D power amplifiers enabling
six channels of quality 100W amplification to be packaged into a nine pound
package....take it away John
July 19, 2003
- With one week left in the Tour de France, commentators have been saying
that this is the strongest field seen in some time. Lance Armstrong survived
a bout with high heat conditions losing about 10% (15 pounds) of his
bodyweight to retain the yellow jersey. Today's foray into the Pyranees was
fast paced and tactical to whittle out the field down to the main
contenders. A colleague of Tyler Hamilton on the Danish CSC team named
Sastre won the stage on his bicycles designed and built in Canada named CerVelo. As Armstrong
predicted, Jan Ulrich is back in fine form and a contender for the podium in
Paris.
- If you are looking for serious cables to connect your Audio pieces at a
reasonable price...take a look at Signal
Cable run out of the home of Frank Dai. They offer state of the art
power cables, interconnect and speaker cables at prices hovering around the
$50 mark for the power cord and the interconnect and about double that for
speaker cables. Some have tested them against the best of their class and
had them come out ahead. Some of the designs are based upon those of Jon
Risch.
July 4, 2003
- I thought I put in a plug for an acquaitance of mine that I met over the
web when he decided to reproduce the circuits changes I made for the NAD
3020 on a friends unit. If you wish you could afford the Audio Note or
Sakura DAC units that operate at 1x sampling rate with no digital output
filtering...then you owe it to yourself to listen to the dAck! DAC. Chris Own has a love and heard a
lot of great music...he also appreciates the voicing of electronic
equipment.
June 4, 2003
- One month I'm comtemplating $2000 components and the this month I
purchased a $300 amplifier in the form of the ART
SLA-1 amplifier. I put together a summary of this
amplifier which is presently on the radar of many looking for the "DI/O" of
amplifiers...from none other than the folks at "Applied Research &
Technology".
![Front of SLA-1]()
(click to enlarge)
May 3 , 2003
- The link to "Connoisseur Audio" is broken deliberately. Similar to the
Audio Note situation
where Peter Qvortrup stole the "Audio Note" trademark from the original
designer Hiroyasu Kondo. It seems as if a similar situation is occurring
with this firm's circuit designer Howard Lee. My friend and I met him at the
Montreal Audio show and asked if we might arrange a review of his SE-2 300B
amplifier after the show.
In Howard's case as in the case of "Audio Note", where the mindshare of
the chief designer, Kondo, was gradually extracted over time under the guise
of of a distributor. This blossomed into a lower end line of electronics
that ultimately ran into trouble in the U.K. and went bankrupt. A separate
company was resurrected as "Audio Note" and then filed for the trademark in
countries outside of Japan. Peter Qvortrup claimed he built the brand name
outside of Japan and was entitled to the trademark. What would GM, BMW, or
Mercedes say if a similar situation happened with their products. Your
deserved better, Howard. For more on the saga of Kondo, click here.
To support Mr. Kondo, visit his his Kondo website.
March 31 , 2003
- Read my review
of audio show held in Montreal from March 28-March 30, 2003 called "Le
Festival Son & Image". The Art DI/O was there as well as an amazing
integrated amplifier by Connoisseur
Audio. The Art DI/O was there in a box at one distributor's room...most
of the retailers have not heard of this unit.
![]()
(click image to enlarge)
March 7, 2003
- This site was shut down for two weeks in protest of the US invasion of
Iraq. This page was replaced by the following one
. If you do not agree, just keep it to yourself...I do not believe in a
new world order based on the authority of predominantly one force.
January 25, 2003
- I have been recommending digital cables for the SP/DIF output connection
for the DI/O DAC from someone named Cousin Dupree of Audio Asylum
fame...beware that a number of people have
not recieved cables that they paid for on the web. Until this is
resolved, he will get a conditional recommendation.
(click to enlarge) 