HoodedHawk

I went to see Suzanne Vega at Ram’s Head tonight (Tuesday). Great show; front row table at this intimate venue. I had never seen Ms. Vega live before and I can say she didn’t disappoint. She played songs from her first album (Suzanne Vega), through to her latest (Beauty and Crime). I really enjoyed myself (hey, they have “Genius Stout” on draft - made there).

I recorded the show on a Zoom H2 audio recorder. I just finished processing the first 17 songs of the set, and I have to say, the Zoom H2 in combination with Audacity on my MacBook really does result in good sound! Highly recommended. I’ve put three links below to mp3 snippets. They are saved as high quality VBR, so they are each about 1 MB. This is my first foray into “good” audio recording; I’ve avoided it in the past due to the cost of equipment. But the (relatively) inexpensive H2 has me hooked!

I had tried to record a Wilco concert recently at Tanglewood in MA, but that was a stadium concert, and I had set the gain too high (as well as playing with other settings), so most of the sound was clipped. This time I did more research, and left the gain on the low setting, and did not boost the “level” via menu options on the recorder. I also recorded at 48k/16bit, as my reading indicated that the “native” sampling rate of the ADC chip was 48k, not 44.1k. And 16bit was more than enough dynamic range. Also, it appears that all the “options” (and there are many) available on the recorder are done in the digital domain, *after* the source is recorded by the ADC chip. So post-processing on the computer will accomplish the same thing. Thus, I left things as “raw” as possible for the recording and I processed the files in Audacity, increasing the gain there to normalize, and split the large sound files into smaller individual song tracks. Note that iTunes read in the 48k sample tracks just fine, but when I tried to burn a cd via Toast, the sound was icky. I guess I’ll have to export as resampled 44.1k files to burn to cd. Anyway, the snippets are below:

Frank and Eva snippet
Pornographer\’s Dream Snippet
The Queen and the Soldier snippet

[Read 2/01/2008] Science Fiction. 1968

I’ve watched the movie (Blade Runner) based on this book about 4-5 times now, and plan to watch it again; but only now have I read the book. Wow. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and I can see why people call it a classic. The edition I read was part of the Library of America edition of “4 novels of the 1960’s”, which included 3 other Dick novels: The Man in the High Castle, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, and Ubik. I like the quality of Library of America books; this volume will last a few lifetimes!

There are significant differences between the book and the movie. I have to say that while I really enjoy the movie, the book as they say, is better. The movie relies on dark sets for “mood”, and the androids (”andys” in the book, “replicants” in the movie) are a lot more militaristic in the movie. \n\n

The basic plot is of a future where radioactive fallout from a world war has forced most of humanity to emigrate to colonies “offworld”. To help the colonists, humanoid robots (androids) are created as servants. The more recent models are indistinguishable from humans (hey! Cylons!). The only way to tell humans and androids apart is by application of a psychological “empathy” test. Since androids lack empathy, they fail. What happens when a deviant human (without empathy) takes the test is not explored.

Rick Deckard is a bounty hunter working for the San Francisco police. His job is to hunt down and “retire” (kill) androids - because by law they are illegal on Earth. Eight androids mutinied from a colony world and are loose on earth, and all happen to be in the San Francisco area. Rick spends the novel tracking down 6 of them (his predecessor got 2 - and now he’s in the hospital).

The development of Rick’s character in the book was very engaging. Yes, I felt empathy. He hooks up with Rachel - an android from the Rosen Corp (which manufactures the androids). Unlike the movie, Rachel learns early that she is an android, and just accepts it.

One of the ideas in the book is “Mercerism” - where people empathically connect with some guy Mercer who is trudging up some hill in an obviously Sisyphean task. Anyone holding on to their Empathy Box will join all the others currently holding on to theirs, including Mercer. I don’t really get the point to doing this (masochism?). Also in the story is a more appealing machine: the Penfield Mood Organ. You can dial in any mood you want, i.e. “Total Bliss”, or “Desire to watch tv no matter what is on”, or the recursive “Desire to dial in a mood”.

Note that in the book there is a ~2year lifespan for androids, but it is not intentional; they simply can’t get the body cells to last longer. In the movie there is an artificially imposed 4yr lifespan - in other words no technical reason that androids have to die (young). This adds an extra dimension to the movie, as it turns out Rachel was actually created without an expiration date.

Since the price of the new iPhone 3G is now half of the original price (bringing it in line with the cost of a new Razor or similar phone), I could justify (to my wife) getting one. I went to the local AT&T store on the day they were released (July 11), but they didn’t have any left. I had to get the phone from AT&T vs. an Apple store due to a technicality on our AT&T account and “upgrade pricing”. Anyway, I ordered one (only to discover they were on backorder already). I ordered one for Kirsten as well; I had convinced her to wait to get a new phone until the 3G came out so she could sync with her office email (Exchange), etc.

I got a notice that my phone was in one week later (this past Friday). I picked it up after lunch, but had to wait until after work to play with it. All was rosy for an hour, and then the screen became all washed-out, and began to flicker. Ick. I went through all I could think of (restored phone via iTunes, complete wipe, etc.) to no avail. I called the AT&T store where I bought and they said to try an Apple store! I guess AT&T can’t do much more than send in a defective phone.

Anyway, by Saturday morning the phone seemed fine again. But by late evening the screen washout problem was back. Sunday (yesterday) I stopped by my local Apple store (in Columbia, MD). I didn’t have an appointment to see one of the “Genius” bar assistants, but got on a “standby” list. Within 15 minutes I was squeezed in between appointments (thankfully someone was late for their scheduled one), and an iPhone specialist was helping me. I showed him my phone with the washed out screen, and he immediately went [paraphrased] “whoa - that’s not right. Obviously a problem with the LCD screen”. I explained the problem more fully to him and he said he could go ahead and give me a new phone (new, not refurbished, etc.) right then to replace mine - under warranty. He swapped out sim cards, and verified for me that the new phone was working. He also had me go ahead and do a complete reset of my old phone (deleting my personal data for security). After filling out the paperwork, I was out the door with a new, working, beautiful iPhone. Total time in store: <30 minutes. I just love Apple, and the service at the Columbia, MD, Apple store!

BTW, the iPhone is great. Now if I can just keep my 13 year-old from grabbing it to watch YouTube videos or playing Texas holdem…

Also, Kirsten has had her iPhone for about a week now, and she loves it - especially the ability to check her work email, contacts and calendar from anywhere.

A bookseller on ABEBooks.com is selling a first edition of Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy for $25,000.00. That’s quite pricey for this book - however they are throwing in the typewriter Adams (presumably) used to write the book. I’m a big Adams’ fan, but this is a bit much.

I went to see Salman Rushdie give a reading from his latest book, The Enchantress of Florence on Monday night (June 30). The event was at the Sixth and I Historic Synagogue in Washington, DC (presented via Politics and Prose Bookstore). Quite engaging speaker. The event was sold out (you got free tix if you bought the book, as I did, at Politics and Prose) and I’d estimate 300 700 people were there. After the talk he answered audience questions, and then he did a signing in the hall in the basement of the synagogue. Long line, but they served refreshments so time passed fairly quickly.

I’ve read the book, and while I liked his prose very much (beautifully descriptive and evocative), I didn’t find that the book gelled. Part history and part fantasy, it was often a blurry line between the two and hard to follow with any sense of cohesion. But it was a quick read, and enjoyable if taken as a few loosely-coupled fables. This was the first book I’d read by Sir Rushdie (he was recently knighted by the Queen), and I liked his prose enough that I will be going back and reading one or more of his other books.

I video recorded the talk (the above is a still).

NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander dug a trench about four days ago, and this image shows that the bright substance (see lower left, in shadow) has disappeared. Scientists believe that it must have been ice (presumably water) which sublimated away, as other substances such as salt do not behave like this. Woo Hoo!

Some people collect books (ahem), others cars. John Travolta has his own 707 aircraft (and another one - a Gulfstream?). He built his house in Florida with two airport terminals (he has his own runway). Must be nice! Fuel alone must be out of this world, let alone the CO2, etc. emissions such vehicles produce.

Yes, that’s a 2GB USB stick, er, stuck into a computer. And you can have your very own for only US$128.00.

Last night I went to hear Carl Hiaasen give a talk at Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington, DC. He is promoting his new book, “Downhill Lie“, a memoir about his foray back into the world of golf after 30 years. I’ve had his book, “Skinny Dip” on my queue for awhile, but haven’t read anything by him.

Anyway, his talk was hysterically funny, covering everything from sinking a golf cart to doing battle with rats. Monkey golf and late-night Golf Channel adventures were also covered. I recorded the talk, and I’m officially bumping his books up on my queue (meaning I may get to them this year).

[Read 1/14/2008] History/Science. 2007

The Archimedes Codex is the story of the Archimedes Palimpsest, formed when a medieval prayer book was created by taking parchment (sheepskin pages) from several ancient codexes, scraping off the old text and re-using the parchment. One of these ancient manuscripts happened to be the earliest surviving copy of Archimedes Codex C. An informative website is dedicated to the Archimedes Palimpsest.

The old prayer book/palimpsest was purchased in 1998 at auction for $2million. The new owner entrusted Noel, the curator of the Walters Museum in Baltimore, to unlock its secrets. Netz is a Stanford classicist; the two authors alternate chapters.

I was more interested in the technology used to uncover the Archimedes text than in the text itself however a majority of the book is on the text and how it contributes to our understanding of Greek mathematics (geometry, combinatorics, etc.). Only the last 20 pages focus on what caught my attention initially, namely the use of a beamline at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) to do X-ray absorption studies on the palimpsest. These studies reveal hidden text via the iron in the original Archimedes text’s ink. I’ve done X-ray absorption (EXAFS) studies myself at SLAC so I liked the tie-in.

I think Noel is either being tongue-in-cheek or is a new earth Creationist (ick!). He once says that sheepskin evolved “or was Intelligently designed” with more antibiotic properties on the side facing out. In another passage , when discussing dates in the codex, says the dates as written by the orthodox monk were from the origin of the earth - “which as everyone knows was 5500 BC”. He can’t possibly believe that the earth was created ~7000 years ago! Anyway, the Archimedes text was written ~6-900 AD, while the Prayer Book it was made into was written ~ 1200 AD.

Interestingly (and sadly), as described in the book, most of the damage and deterioration of the book took place not in the past, but in the 20th century! The book today was very brittle, moldy, and glued(!) together.