Ding Dong..duhh?
This evening, while making dinner, my doorbell rang. This usually means a fund raiser. Sure enough, I beheld some poor girl, I’d guess around seventeen, with Penn Environment. She told me that Pennsylvania ranks third in global warming emissions, behind California and Texas. She wanted fifteen dollars. “So are you with our cause?” she asked. “Well, according to the United Nations own report, only six percent of emissions come from man. I worry far more about environmentalism getting used to introduce a police state.” “Uhh, well, yeah, it’s..” “It’s a balance, I know. I mean, I’m all for cleaning up the environment and all that, but you know.” I told her I’d check out the web site, and she left. I have a feeling they didn’t prepare her for that. I forgot to mention the
thirty-three-thousand scientists who have come out against man-made global warming, and that many of the scientists initially on the report for it have come out and said their names appeared on the document without their consent, even though they disagreed with it. Oh well.
Moral: Memorize facts for dealing with fund raisers when they come to your door.
Impeachmint Icecream
I came up with this idea two days ago, noted it in my diary, and tonight submitted it to Ben and Jerry’s. I wanted to publish it here on my blog to give a timestamp, and to confirm that I came up with it, should they actually follow through. Hey, it’s happened before, like when I called the Fox News “What’s Bugging You Hotline,” and told them that as a totally blind person, I could not read the number to the “What’s Bugging You Hotline” since they did not actually speak it. They called me back and we did an interview, but due to some unknown reason, they never aired it, or told me why, just that “something came up that they were not aware of” perhaps that they could not do a story criticizing themselves. Anyways, I reproduce the letter I sent to Ben and Jerry’s, via their suggestion form, below. I’ll keep you abreast.
While watching the hearings on Constitutional powers and executive limits, or whatever fancy name they called the impeachment hearings, it disgusted me that some of the Bush apologists said that most of America “does not live in the same bubble” and does not favor impeachment. Vincent Bugliosi gave brilliant testimony to the contrary, causing the crowd to applaud, and causing one of the fake conservatives to call for clearing the room, which did not happen. While ruminating over these things, I suddenly thought of a great way for the people to show their support: Impeachmint Icecream – The first ever peach-flavored icecream, with a light mint frosting, to show support for impeachment of the Bush administration for war crimes. I have begun composing a little song to this effect suitable for radio use, and have considered a web site design as well. The flavor might sound weird, but I feel if you could get the balance just right, in other words just a light mint, nothing overbearing, it might
actually taste pretty good. It would also show a concrete measure of support by the consumers at large. I thought of your company first, given its past record of championing socially responsible causes.
I just received the following automated reply:
Hello Austin,
Your idea has been logged into our Random Genius Ideas Database. If we
decide to+use it, you’ll be hearing from us.
Behind the Curtain, Episode 0
Check out episode 0 of my new (sort of) show, Behind the Curtain. I say sort of because I did start it last year on Ron paul Radio, but now I have decided to do it again my way, with my own platform. You can get podcasts here, or play it in real time, and who knows, maybe we will get it syndicated in time. Enjoy!
This episode has some audio rinkles, but we had a fun time playing tons of Squarepusher, plus a little Bluetech and Boards of Canada, and highlights from the impeachment hearings.
A tip for M-Audio MobilePre USB Users
I just got a hot new mixer, which I will shortly write about. In the mean time, I wanted to just share a quick tip for users of the MobilePre, a beautiful USB-powered audio preamp made by M-Audio, which I use as one of the components in the mixer. I have it both as an output and as an input. To do this, first turn on direct monitoring. You can do this in the volume control, under playback controls. Make sure that under “advanced” you have the “1-channel input” option unchecked. Hook the mixer or whatever you want to use to the line input on the MobilePre. Now the kicker: The two gains on the front control all audio data coming over all inputs, not just the xlr microphone inputs. This really threw me. At first everything sounded all muffled, and in mono. I couldn’t figure it out, it certainly did not seem on par with M-Audio’s respectable reputation. After some fiddling around, I realized this property of the gain controls, which seems somewhat obvious in retrospect. So, first connect the line, and connect
headphones to the headphone out. With the direct monitoring on, you will hear the audio coming over the line-in. Carefully adjust the two gains on the front – one for the left channel and one for the right. Use your brain to balance out the sound until it sounds perfectly balanced. There you go. Turn off direct monitoring, then hook the line-out to your mixer and enjoy. I wanted to post this on my blog in case someone else has this problem, then they will hopefully find it through a search engine and save themselves a few moments’ panic. No, you don’t need to buy a new sound device just to record your beautiful mixer’s output. Have fun!
Why I will never use Skype again
While chatting with a friend, she told me something shocking about Skype. We both have an interest in Internet radio, and I had started bitching that other broadcasters want to do lots of things at once, including taking calls with Skype, and Goddess knows what else. “They just don’t seem to get that they only have so much band width.” I lamented. “Yeah,” she said, “because Skype is peer-to-peer.” This stopped me in my tracks. I had no idea. I did some quick research, and indeed verified it for myself.
I felt stunned. For those who don’t know, this means that every computer carries data for other computers on the Skype network, irregardless of activity. “Yup,” my friend said, “That means that it uses up your bandwidth even while not using it, so you have less for Internet audio.” That really started me on a nice little paranoid streak. Imagine my shock when in my research-enduced rage, I found out something even more awful: that in 2005, Ebay purchased Skype! As the referenced article points out, Ebay has made some horrendous statements regarding their over-willingness to comply with law enforcement. It only requires a letterhead on a fax, and they will turn over everything.
For these two reasons, I will never use Skype again, except at the utmost of need, like when one of my Skype friends forces me to, and even then it will only happen with a great deal of complaining and making fun. Sorry, guys! Add another of my oddities to the list. Even though the title of this article proclaims that I will never use it again, I know that evil has ways of draggin the innocent back into its web. Just don’t expect me or require me to remain online regularly. Now that I think about it, I consider this a blessing – I abhor the way Skype’s chats steal focus, rankling Windows with its false priority. What of alternatives, I hear you ask? I don’t know. I don’t have any answers right now, only questions. I’ll have more to write though, and hopefully can provide a solution. This disgusts me. Stop using Skype!
I remember when the now defunct RPR Radio used Skype for everything – broadcasters, callers, everything. The same goes for the We the People Radio Network. Everyone ooed and aaed at the ease, though I did somewhat cringe at the audio quality with Skype’s trademark distortion, easily identified by anyone with ears to hear.
Many of my radio friends still use it for taking calls. I want to stop them, but know I cannot rescue the ones I follow. STOP USING SKYPE! I know that nobody will listen, and that you all will just keep using it – “It’s just so easy!!!” I can hear the chorus of cries now. Enjoy your crappy audio and having your privacy violated. Soylent Green is people!