definition:Buzzardo

A vewpoint provided by NBC on a particular wind turbine in Connecticut. If you have an opinion, leave feedback on the NBC site under the video!

Goshen residents oppose wind energy

Go, economics. One of the pure joys in my life is being able to listen to well-recorded, high fidelity music. Weather through headphones, or on a carefully selected component system, there is nothing that beats the sound of a great recording. Unfortunately, this has been gradually changing for the past 15 years.

This past summer, I met an audio-enthusiest who has been noticing sometheing peculiar while listening to music.  He observed that some music was fatiguing to listen to, while other music was not.  He also noticed that this did not seem to be related to the overall volume at which he listened to the music.  Originally, I thought that this fatigue was caused by peaky, unnatural response in the audio playback system.  It seems, however, that the recording industry may have much more to do with this modern phenomenon than many audiophiles could have imagined.

Apparently, due to the prolific use of mp3’s, and other compressive storage devices, record lables seem to be responding by actually requesting that audio engineers limit the fidelity of more and more recordings. They are doing this by compressing the data stored on the recording, and by limiting the dynamic range of the recording.  This, in turn, causes the music to sound louder and  more foreward; it decidedly worsens the sound quality.  Read all about it here [if you can stomach it].

This seems like a great idea - if, like many, you listen to all of your music on a crappy system, ipod, or download all your music from the internet. A great idea - if you listen to music while exercising, while programming, or if the music is a background filler. A great idea, if you stand to profit from jamming more data into less space.  However, if you appreciate the ability to relax with a glass of Sandeman’s Port wine, and listen to some great music on a great system, you may be greatly dissapointed.

So, what will happen?

Will more an more people become dissatisfied with listening to crap, and will the artists get tired of their recordings sounding like crap?  Or does cheap, easy music that whores the industry out to a modern trend in electronics make crappy, ineffectual recordings acceptable?

Hat tip: Oliver, Ben

Imagine, for a moment that you are one of the very few [...] unlucky people who have had their personal information compromised during some electronic transaction.  Imagine next, that you have just recieved another potentially menacing phone call, where the caller is unassumedly asking for your hair color, telephone number, house color, the car you drive, your mother’s maiden name, social security number, dog’s name, shoe size, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, and what you are cooking for dinner.  Now, imagine that you have pulled some strings with your buddies in the FBI, and can immediately cross reference voices with names, addresses, phone numbers, and other identifying information. 

So, here it is.  Don’t give away your own personal information, feed them theirs.

How long do you think it would take the caller to realize that you are reading their own information back to them?  Would they not realize that they are scamming themselves?  Are some stupid enough that they would actually call the police and report that their personal information was being stolen?

I can feel the flushing of faces, hear the puckering of asses, and see the dropping of coffee mugs, followed by a brief but deafening silence. 

“Excuse me, sir.  I think I might have the wrong number.”

“I think you’re right.”

“April showers bring May flowers”.  Except, maybe when those showers are snow showers.  Luckily, a seven foot snowman keeps watch over the field.  He lists dangerously to one side before the wind knocks him to the ground.  The weather is not particularly favorable for bike riding, although some hardcore riders may beg to differ.  Nonetheless, I don’t think I’ll see any more trails up here this year [grrrrrrrrrr]. 

This snow is the kind that you love when you are five and don’t have to wash your own socks when they get totally soaked with freezing water.  It is so wet that it is turning grey from being saturated with water.  There is no longer six inches of snow on the ground.  It is four inches of slush.  I don’t even have any more highly concentrated, artificially sweetened, somewhat hydroginated, wjowsa colored syrup to pour on it and sell as a slushie! 

We can’t even make snowmen anymore, which is a real shame because we had planned on making a snowman family in one of the freshman dorm bathrooms.  And by planned, I mean ‘mentioned in passing to other delinquents’.  And by making a snowman family, I mean ‘talk about making a snowman family until it becomes too late in the evening and we are all like “[yawn] I’m tired, what’s on T.V.?’”.

P.S.: wjowsa. google it. you’ll be glad you did.

One thing that entices me to see a new movie is the title.  Often, I find titles are either: 1. too obvious (Snakes on a plane), 2. too cheesy (Snakes on a plane) or sound like a group of teenage D&D players devised it after drinking several liters of caffinated soda (Snakes on a plane).  I was attracted to the movie “300″ mostly because of this simplistic title, which forces one to think a little before understanding the plot.  In this case, in the battle of Thermopolae, a group of 300 Spartans and a few thousand Greeks held back an onslaught of ‘one million’ Persian soldiers for several days before fighting to their deaths.

Talk about epic movie material.  Heroism, sacrifice, bloodshed, victory, defeat; everything is there historically, yet somehow I was left with the feeling that this movie was a mockery of the whole event. 

So, why did the movie SUCK?

1. It attempted to cater to too many different audiences; from teenagers to historians.

2. It unneccessarily used computer animation to inflate the appearence of certain enemies.

3. It did not focus on the sacrifices and reward of said sacrifices; it simply stated facts in between wildly fantastic scenes.

4. It’s plot line was hasty and seemed like it was designed for a ten year old.

5. It has a horribly misplaced sex scene that did nothing but whore the movie out to eighteen year olds.

6. Quazimodo made a cameo appearance, and it was fit in to the movie poorly

7. Xerxes was incinuated as a homosexual, which again was fit poorly into the movie.

8. There was a giant armored rhinoceros (cgi of course) with a soldier riding on its back.

I could go on further if I had not walked out of the movie.  I was amazed at the stares I was getting as I walked out.  It was as if I was an uncultured being who was uncapable of understanding the complicated plot.  I later realized that the movie was based upon a graphic novel, not on the history itself.  Do you remember in grade school when a teacher told a secret to one student, and the secret was passed around the room until it came back to the teacher in distorted fashion?  Enough said.

My contempt for this movie was reaffirmed as I watched a history channel special about the battle of Thermopolae.  Amazingly enough, the TV special was far more entertaining to watch than the movie “300″.  I was later asked: if I were to have seen the movie under the pretenses that it was based upon a graphic novel, would I have liked it better?  My simple answer is: No.  It tried too hard to be the movie that did it all, and did not focus on the personalities, controversy and challenges that each boy faced as he was turned into a Spartan soldier.

It was not all bad, however.  Some cinematography was excellent.  The battles used a timing that would change randomly and show horrific detail.  Oh, and the previews were good, as previews go, and I wound up watching one of the previewed movies ”Reign over me” starring Adam Sandler in his first real serious role.  A wonderful movie, really, if not just a bit overdone.

But one serious fact remains: most movies are made by confused ‘professionals’ who try too hard to make everyone happy.  Maybe they should stick to the basics, or maybe they should go watch “Gladiator” one more time.  And maybe, just maybe, they should stop using computer animation to make up for their lack of cinematic, casting, or directing abilities!!

GRRRRRAAAAAAHHHHHHH!

1. What is your top priority at this very moment?  2. What is the scope of the event it entails?  3. What would it take to convince you that something else is more important?  An answer to these questions was presented just the other morning.

ESPN.com reported a pregnant woman, not wanting her husband to miss an all important NFL playoff game, decided to have labor induced early.  So, answering the questions posed above, 1. make sure the money was not wasted on NFL tickets; 2. capitalism and the proliferation of overpaid players; 3. the possibility that the birth of your child may interfere with attending a football game.

……

How do you explain that to your now eight year old child?? 

[go colts]

Here’s a thought…in light of dave’s recent post which discusses mandatory annual testing for drivers over the age of 65 [a great idea], why not liscence parents too? 

……

AAAANNNDDD, i’m done.