Stuff from November, 2003
This is the archive of tumbledry happenings that occurred on November, 2003.
This is the archive of tumbledry happenings that occurred on November, 2003.
Friday was Halloween Friday. We watched The Exorcist and it didn’t scare me nearly as much as I thought it would. Of course, that’s only because I had my hand up to the screen for 86% of the time during the scary/horror/core parts of the movie. I, however, can now say I have seen most of the Exorcist. In what was later generally agreed to be a good move, we followed up the scary movie with the Best of Will Ferrel. The Saturday Night Live skit in which he is the devil trying to play music on the guitar is so funny: “Son of bitch!” Plus, I hear Mr. Ferrel is in a movie called “Elf” that is supposed to be quite good. Speaking of movies, were planning on a The Matrix Revolutions on this coming Saturday night. Oh wow it will be amazing.
I’ve been out and about; I am back to write an update.
I’ve spent part of tonight modeling subwoofer enclosures on this great program called WinISD for the Shiva Mark III. The program has an unbelievable help file and a great graphing system. Now I just learned all this tonight, so bear with me: The idea of a ported enclosure is to increase the efficiency of the subwoofer driver; in other words, it makes it easier for the thing to move air when there is a hole in the box. Each driver reacts differently to the same box because they have unique sets of properties. This program allows the user to enter in those properties and then to run box size simulations. In the shot below I have a simulation of a closed box of 66L (4027.6 cubic inches), which is graphed in yellow. See as the frequency drops, the volume that the sub is able to produce in the box drops as well. Going from right to left, the yellow line drops off quite early. However, take a look at the green line. That’s a 100L (17.48” X 16.00” X 30.00”, 6102.4 cubic inch) box that is ported. “Ported” means it has a 4” square air “tube” that guides air out. The length of this tube is precisely calculated by the program as 22.4” (as you can see) and that is what lets the green line on the graph stay up higher. But, “that line drops off as well” you say? Not to fear, I can solder out (there are instructions, don’t worry) two resistors on the 250W plate amp that I am looking at and they will boost the green line by 4dB between 20Hz and 23 Hz, which will bring that green line nearly horizontal (albeit artificially for those last 3 Hz) down to 20 Hz, which is nearly feeling, not hearing, territory. Anyways, the box will be constructed out of MDF (haven’t determined the width) and I am waiting on more information on what to use to acoustically dampen the inside. Either way, I am pretty excited about the project - it has the potential to work. We’ll see, though. We’ll see.
We focus more on the bad things; we think they affect us more. Why do you think the human mind is so good at placing gigantic rose tinted glasses between itself and memories? If it didn’t, we would dwell on all the bad turns life had dealt us; we would be reduced to self-pitying lumps of half-humanity. Truth is, it’s the good stuff that affects us more, but we are ill-equipped to realize this pleasant reality. I’m trying, God in heaven I am trying to know this. Something deep inside me “gets it” but until that part triumphs, I am drifing much more than I would like to.
The people below me run a moderatlely high-powered Bose home theater system. They play music loudly on it, but are pretty responsible with the power they wield - I do not begrudge them any late night music playing as it usually does not last long. Regardless, one night a couple of weeks ago I woke up to this little ditty.
drogetserp (7:37:05 PM): it’s her superhero pose
drogetserp (7:37:32 PM): she hears the distant call for help, her ears perk up, and she’s off to save the day! allie dog is on her way!!
drogetserp (7:42:37 PM): they did it in color so the people from the inside look retarted
More vintage audio this weekend. Got the Grado Black cartridge installed on the Dual 1245 and replaced the belt. Now we’re spinning at exactly 33 and 1/3 RPM - so I can finally accurately convert some vinyl to CD format. That way, we can keep listening to these great Christmas records years down the road without the worry of them decomposing on us. Ooh, additionally, I received and tested the center channel for the surround set-up I am putting together. It sounds perfect - I got a $450 speaker for $74 shipped (the magic of eBay). I am a happy camper. I try to advance the progress on this system every week, so this coming week we will be installing the re-foamed 8” driver on the HPM-60’s and hopefully veneering them. If I am lucky, we might be able to order the DVD player (which is the core of this system as it has the pre-outs for all 6 channels), but that would be stretching it. To avoid dragging this out any longer: my goal has become Christmas for completion. Here’s what remains: install re-foamed drivers, veneer rear surrounds, build stands for rear surrounds, move furniture to basement, move tv to basement, order DVD player, move current equipment rack, buy speaker cable, locate (and buy) center channel amp, build subwoofer. Despite that long list, we only have three major unknowns (center amp, DVD, sub) - hopefully it will work out - I really want to share the audio with a good group of people. Maybe it will turn out to be just a dream, but I think I can make this work.
We’re going to see Othello this Thursday evening. This means my Thursday will be busy from 9:55am to 11pm. That’s two classes, a lunch, math meeting, pre-dental meeting, a workout, dinner(?), and shower. It’s no wonder these weeks fly by, every day holds something different. I am working on getting a two day week for Thanksgiving - we’ll see how the English pans out. Originally our Prof. was going to Europe for a lecture, but that was cancelled, so I think he still wants to have class - this is unfortunate in the extreme. Good luck getting a short week guys.
We live our lives under the influence of two major things: dreams and reality. One drives us and one leads us. Which is which for you?
*Spanish accent*
This is a message for your from SoBe
They want your spirit to be high
Your body to be fit
And your mind to be ready
Right now maybe you feel a’strong
But you want to feel a’stronger
You want to be able to stop a train, maybe in case of emergency
If a pretty girl was tied to the railroad tracks
And a train was coming
Then’a it would be good to be able to’a stop’a the train
Maybe only with one hand to impress the pretty girl
Maybe you take her out to dinner afterwards
Maybe you tell her about’a SoBe power
And she ask you “whazzit feel like?”
And you can tell her to drink SoBe power
Feels like a’rock and roll in you body
Before I end, remember; there are many, many SoBe drink so please chose one that fits you.
Well, it was an interesting Thanksgiving. My sister ended up in the emergency room on Thursday morning due to intense lower back pain. Although (thankfully) the turkey was already in the oven, I helped prepare the other dishes in preparation for the meal. I even learned how to make gravy. My mother and sister ended up missing Thanksgiving. It turns out Katy had a kidney stone. On Thanksgiving. She had to have some pain killers and wait it out until things resolved themselves later in the day. Congratulations, Katy on passing your kidney stone! Yes indeed, I am quite proud of my older sister. She has many other talents, including math, english, art, music, etc. and who knows why I decided to point out that particular accomplishment. Oh well.
The song “Little Miss” by the Spin Doctors is really good.
Little miss, Little miss can’t be wrong
Little miss, Little miss, Little miss can’t be wrong
Ain’t nobody gonna bow no more when you sound your gong.
Little miss, little miss, little miss can’t be wrong
What’cha gonna do to get into another one of these rock ‘n’ roll songs?
Other peoples’ thoughts they ain’t your hand-me-downs
Would it be so bad to simply turn around
You cook so well, all nice and French
You do you brain surgery too, with a monkey wrench