You are currently browsing the monthly archive for October, 2007.
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OK, I’m officially stoked for this movie. Yes, Black Sabbath’s song is prominently featured.
I haven’t been this pleased with Foobar 2000 in a long time. The default user interface (UI) in 0.9.5 has been significantly upgraded, with integrated support for things like album art, autoplaylists, and themes. I’m already tweaking out a new config that uses the default UI combined with the Facets plugin I linked to before, changing away from Columns UI after using it a few years and dabbling in the Panels UI a little.
FB2K is my favorite app for encoding, tagging, organizing, and, oh yeah, playing my digital music. If only it would stream to my Airport Express…
Update: Added a screenshot of my current config.
Going into Week 8, the teams that the Bills have played are a combined 25-15 and their remaining opponents (including two games against the Dolphins) are a combined 28-30 (not counting the 0-7 Dolphins twice).
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A very cool media library viewer plugin for FB2K 0.9.5. I’m playing with a completely new layout on the current beta.
I can’t ping the DynDNS domain names I had registered and their website doesn’t remember my account. Be wary of free services. Anyone else have an issue with them?
Update: I had registered with DynDNS with my “root” Comcast.net email address, which I don’t check as regularly as Gmail. They gave me 48 hours to keep my account active in a message from 10/21 that I didn’t see it until… just now. Guess I’ll re-register, but my warning about free services stands; you get what you pay for. My account was completely blown away; their lost password service didn’t remember my email address.
The email talks about Account Upgrades “to prevent your hosts from expiring every 30 days.” Guess I was the victim of a money grab?
Update (10/25): I think I was bitten by the fact that I wasn’t using an updater client to regularly check in to DynDNS since my IP doesn’t change very often. I’ve re-registered with DynDNS and am running inadyn as a service to check in every so often.
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Hmm… may have to start looking at Verizon to replace Comcast’s internet service.
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StubHub and other ticket brokers/scalpers (whether organized or individual) are garbage. Tickets have face value for a reason, a reseller scooping up multiple times the ticket’s value is stupid.
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WITF is in the midst of a fundraising campaign. Interested in looking at the public, non-profit organization’s financial statements, I was surprised to find that the ones included on WITF’s website are from 2005.
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A Message from WITF re: WITF and NABET CWA Local 213 Negotiations
WITF is in the midst of a fundraising campaign. They’re locked in a stalemate with the local CWA chapter representing 20 WITF employees. This message from WITF lacks the detail necessary for me to determine its fairness.
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NABET/CWA WITF Press Release 06-15-07
WITF is in the midst of a fundraising campaign. This message from the union contains interesting details, if true, about the distribution of salary at the broadcaster.
It should be noted that I am a fan of NPR programming and WITF’s services. However, I’ve never felt compelled to give them money, nor would I without knowing more about their income sources and operating expenses.
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Apparently WHP doesn’t care much for the image quality of the CBS HD programming they transmit. Macroblocking is in evidence even in the prime-time dramatic programming.
I’ve got less time for TV these days, so shows that aren’t entertaining me are getting the boot. The first of this season is Heroes. It’s going absolutely nowhere and has too many characters. I’ve been checking out BBC America’s Torchwood, but it’s turning out to be more “fi” than “sci”. Might give it one more episode.
Why would a network affiliate bit-starve their flagship HD content to broadcast SD subchannels? That’s what WHP is doing. I used to chalk up macroblocking during CBS football games to the network’s transmission capabilities, but after years of following NFL HD discussion on AVS Forum I’m convinced that the games would look fine if WHP would either get rid of their SD subchannel (who’s watching it?) or bit-starve it and leave plenty of bandwidth for the HD content. I can forgive a little macroblocking during live fast-motion football shots, but when I see it in pre-recorded dramas like Numbers I think WHP (owned by Clear Channel) doesn’t really care what their programming looks like. On the forums, CBS is praised for their HD NFL coverage over NBC, Fox, and sometimes ESPN. However, the picture we’re getting in Harrisburg is being compromised by WHP.
I’m definitely interested in the over-the-air set-top-box (OTA STB) coupons that the government will be distributing to assist with the DTV transition. Namely, what kind of antenna and placement will be required for adequate reception with the boxes, and what kind of outputs will the boxes in the estimated price range have? The documentation is geared towards a box designed to connect to an analog standard-definition set via coax or composite video/audio, but I’m wondering if mid-tier (s-video, optical audio) and higher-end (component video, HDMI) options will be available and eligible for the coupon. With most of the HD programming we watch delivered by broadcast networks, I can’t help but think of investing in an over-the-air alternative to Comcast’s HD DVR service. Like other Comcast services, it never seems to get cheaper. Two HD OTA STBs connected to an HD Tivo or similar unit (or a carefully-crafted media PC) might seem like a lot of money in the short term, but after a year or two of Comcast bills are avoided, it would probably pay for itself.
Update (10/14): My post at AVS Forum: WHP Is Killing Cin @ KC
Update (10/19): I had thought WHP had two SD subchannels, one for weather and one for MyNetworkTV, but was mistaken. They have just one SD subchannel for MyNetworkTV. I’ve edited my previous comments.
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Rush had the 6th-highest grossing tour last summer.
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JoCo rocks!
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Hmm…
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Thanks to Justin and crew for making 2.0 a free upgrade for us registered 1.x users. It’s the best audio mixing/mastering tool I know and can afford.
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Behind the scenes with Ed Hochuli’s crew.
…I don’t think it’ll be another 13 years before a Skycam hangs in Ralph Wilson Stadium. Brian Moorman, Jabari Greer, Angelo Crowell, Trent Edwards, Marshawn Lynch and the rest of the guys gave us what may end up being the best MNF game of the season. After the game, Tony Romo called his team “resilient” a number of times, but he should acknowledge their incredible luck at the end of the game. A little more offense from the Bills and they probably would have won.
I was alerted a few weeks back to the impending MFSL pressing of Rush’s 1980 album Permanent Waves via one of my Google News filters, and Power Windows just confirmed that Amazon has the product available for pre-order: Permanent Waves MFSL CD. I have the MFSL versions of Moving Pictures and Signals, so this would complete the re-treated set of what I consider the pinnacle of Rush’s output. Not that their other stuff is bad; these three albums are just so good.
MFSL (Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs) CDs are noted for their ample headroom and pristine quality. I’ve kicked myself several times for not picking up the 2112 MFSL CD when it was at retail. Once these pressings leave retail, they fetch a pretty penny on the open market. My pre-order for the PeW MFSL is in. How about yours?
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Via Psychophil. A noble policy; one that doesn’t specify a military invasion by the US as a way of affecting the desired change.
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I have a 5-digit Slashdot ID. Don’s is only 4! Happy Birthday, Slashdot.
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“Radiohead, one of the world’s most influential rock bands, plans to sell its new album from its Web site as a digital download and let fans choose what they want to pay.”
OK, the Bills are 1-3 after a quarter of the season. Can they get to 8-8? 9-7? Let’s look at the rest of their schedule:
Mon 10/8 Dallas 8:30 pm 1-4 (Correct, BUF 24 DAL 25 in a MNF nail-biter.)
Sun 10/21 Baltimore 1:00 pm 2-4 (Correct, BUF 19 BAL 14.)
Sun 10/28 at NY Jets 4:05 pm 3-4 (Correct, BUF 13 NYJ 3.)
Sun 11/4 Cincinnati 1:00 pm 4-4 (Correct, BUF 33 CIN 21.)
Sun 11/11 at Miami 1:00 pm 5-4 (Correct, BUF 13, MIA 10.)
Sun 11/18 New England 8:15 pm 5-5 (Sunday Night Football in Buffalo!) (Correct, BUF 10, NE 56. OUCH!)
Sun 11/25 at Jacksonville 1:00 pm 5-6 (Correct, BUF 14, JAX 36.)
Sun 12/2 at Washington 1:00 pm 5-7 (Incorrect! The Bills win a nailbiter: BUF 17, WAS 16.)
Sun 12/9 Miami 1:00 pm 6-7 (Correct, the Bills are 7-6 after squishing the fish: BUF 38, MIA 17.)
Sun 12/16 at Cleveland 1:00 pm 7-7 (Incorrect, the Bills lose the Snow Bowl. BUF 0, CLE 8.)
Sun 12/23 NY Giants 1:00 pm 8-7 (Incorrect. BUF 21, NYG 38.)
Sun 12/30 at Philadelphia 1:00 pm 8-8 (Correct. BUF 9, PHI 17.)
It’s looking like 8-8 right now to me. We’ll see.
Update (10/22): Figured I’d update this entry, noting my predictions to date. The Bills are 2-4 after their upset of the Ravens.
Update (11/5): The Bills are back at .500 with their defeat of the Bengals. The rest of my predictions should hold up, except for the last two games of the season. I think those games’ results will be reversed. The Bills should definitely reach 8-8, and have a great shot at 9-7.\
Update (12/3): The Bills finally break from my predictions, in a good way. Thanks to a decent defensive performance, Rian Lindell’s leg, and Joe Gibbs’ overeagerness to freeze said leg, the Bills won 17-16 over the Redskins.
Update (1/1/2008): The Bills limp out of the season 7-9. I correctly predicted all but one of the wins and all but two of the losses.
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