Bob is a smart guy – “People tend to think of the Internet in terms of the Web but the real importance is in the basic End-to-End philosophy. You build applications at the edge of the network and don’t make unnecessary assumptions about what’s in the middle.”

Tested my surround sound setup for our front yard this AM.

* For authoring using Sony acid pro. Works great, no complaints. You can mix an arbitrary number of sound sources, each traversing the listening space on independent arbitrary paths. * Getting XP to play an ac3 file is impressively hard. Of course I can play it back on the machine with Acid Pro, but if I want to use another machine, it is tough. Graphedit is super helpful for examining codec chain to see if you can play the media. Klite mega codec pack is good for getting codecs and tools. * Despite all this, wmp only plays half the ac3s I give to it. The ones that do play – wmp gives me an error saying I am missing a codec. The ones that don’t play – just silently fail. Klite to the rescue again with wmp classic which seems to play them all. * Using Turtle beach audioadvantage roadie for 5.1 output. Seems to work fine. Nice control panel to test surround features. I didn’t have to pay anything like the $80 MSRP for this device. * Feeding the turtlebeach output via spdif to a generic av amp – bought the cheapest open-box unit i could find at bestbuy

Overall it sounds good. I have a much bigger listening area than typical for a home theatre install – and the impact seems to be that the center channel is a little too dominant. I’m going to experiment with moving the sound locus to further back in the listening field. And for my big lightning strikes, I may try 5 duplicate strikes, each positioned out at one of the speakers.

Oh and I am going to try some codec options to get WinAMP to play 5.1 via spdif.

• Obscure but handy firefox extensions. I’ve used several of these, generally good.
• Ten Windows Apps You Need. I can’t agree with the Picasa reco, Picasa doesn’t seem happy with my photos stored on a remote server. But Notepad2 is awesome, ffdshow is nice, etc.
• Fineprint raves. It doesn’t excite me but I guess I should try it for a week
• Windows Live Writer. Phil seems to like. I don’t know, I just don’t have the time to install software on the 4-6 machines I regularly use.
• EasyPrototype. I could see using this occasionally.
• Dymo stamps. I’ve got a dymo label printer so maybe this is worth trying

As I take the intro to MEMS course at UW, I am also reviewing basic undergrad chemistry because it has been a billion years since I’ve done so. I’m using Amazon.com: Principles of Modern Chemistry: Books: David W. Oxtoby,H. Pat Gillis which seems to be a fine book, but gosh do I think we teach chemistry bass-ackwords. I just don’t see the value, in 2006, of teaching first the classical bonding models and then much later reexamining from a quantum perspective. The classical models just seem brain-damaging to me. Learning things like “The formal charge on an atom in a Lewis diagram is simple to calculate…it would have a postive charge equal to its group number…from this positive charge, subtract the number of lone-pair valence electrons…and then subtract one half of the number of bonding electrons…” is just painful, it just seems like black magic alchemy when it isn’t founded on a deeper understanding of the underlying behaviour. Oh well.

Xia_soft_lith_review.pdf (application/pdf Object) – good overview of soft lithography (pdf)

* Rich on ipod backup and ipod diagnostics * Judysbook launched deals site a while ago, i’m late on this one * 111 search plugins for Berry411 now. Awesome. Oh and maps that don’t suck * Brett on 802.11n. Looks like you should wait * Rich on video conversion * Andy on improving board meetings. good ideas. i hate wading thru status.

• Don’t Buy Product Warranties – no shocker here. Anything the stores are pushing that hard can’t be good for you.
• How higher RPM drives rip you off – some contention around this but interesting
• Hidden light bulb camera – cool
• Parallel Jaw pliers – also cool
• Han Solo in lego carbonite – ouch
• Unfortunate domain names – very ouch
• Unlimited gmail addresses – wish our stupid exchange server would do this
• AStores. interesting, I guess I should have one.
• Viewscore – aggregated product reviews. Would be nice to combine with Astores.
• Bob points to Hikipedia – useful
• Winsnap in here is a nice replacement for the windows screencap tool
• Getting markdown to work with editpadpro – nice, wish this kind of linking was easier to do on Windows.
• New Wikicalc beta. Just love the idea.
• Sharpcast to cover all file types. Might be worth trying again.
• DropMyRights – useful, previously blogged.
• Animated BCS Race – go bucks
• Adventures in cablecards – I will wait until football is over before I dip my toes back into this pool.

UPDATE 11/6/06: I’ll leave the original entry below for history but Alienware finally worked this out with me. I received a full refund. So at the end of the day they were reasonable. I have to credit Amex with assistance, I am sure that raising a dispute via them helped to resolve things. Original entry follows.

-————————————————————

Why? Because I ordered an Alienware box in July, it arrived broken in August, and it is now October and I have yet to see the fixed box returned to me. I have moved on to trying to get my money back. I have contacted support via phone and email so many times I’ve lost count, and all I get is handwaving.

* Alienware Sucks! – the classic with a complete guide to providing pressure on recalcitrant merchants. Even merits a small WIkipedia mention * Another guy who managed to get a refund * some guy has created a t-shirt immortalizing the sentiment * another set of gripes * plenty of forum posts about unhappy alienware users – for instance, or here * Reseller ratings which shows a lot of dissatisfaction, and dropping overall scores

Personally I am contacting American Express in an attempt to get my money back, I am sending mail to Alienware daily. I’ve given up on phone support as you will a) spend a lot of time on hold, b) have to reeducate someone new each day (Groundhog Day), and c) learn that they don’t know what is going on and can’t find anyone to help you.

Tong Family Blog: No more A9 Rewards – well why the hell will i ever use a9 again? the only point was the reward.

I don’t think I’d do a better job than this guy – Bowl Championship Series Ratings. Obviously the Buckeyes control their own fate. The interesting discussion is the #2 position which USC currently owns. It is amazing to think that if USC wins out and say an Auburn or Florida wins out, USC would go to the title game and the SEC team would get screwed.

A reader recommended this – Haunt Controller - Software for automating your haunt - holiday display - animatronics – PC software that interfaces with these kit74 relay boards. Looks kind of cool. I think it is too late for me to play around with this halloween but I would certainly consider for next. I guess it doesn’t give me materially different controllability than my DMX software and dimmers but it is a lot cheaper.

I am refreshing my education – links for ME 504 at UW

* Class Page * Feynman’s talk – handed out at first lecture * Streaming video of lectures * MyUW page

* welcome to hawk central – Iowa City newspaper coverage * Blog at the Des Moines Register; Des Moines Register Iowa section

Consider this early pre-reading for the trip to East Lansing.

EDSBS ? Archive ? JOHN L. SMITH FAILS TO FINISH SANDWICH, PUZZLE

EAST LANSING, MI–Michigan State Coach John L. Smith was unable to finish a pastrami on rye sandwich at Side Streets Deli today, citing the overly generous portions of lunchmeat on the sandwich and the “really thick bread” it was served on.

“It was just too much for me,” said Smith, packing the remaining half of the sandwich into wax paper sheepishly. “All that meat and bread. I felt pretty confident going into the second piece, but one bite and I was finished. They really pile on the meat at that place, I tell you.”

J pointed out to me there is a book about “Charlie Weis and Notre Dame’s Rise to Glory” which seems a little odd, since you generally need to both achieve glory and rise to have a “Rise to Glory”. I decided to do a little amazon sleuthing to compare Charlie with some other coaches who just maybe have a greater claim to a “rise to glory” given that they have won national championships – Tressel, Carr, Stoops, Carrol, Paterno. I’m looking for books with the coach’s name in the title, or where he gets an authoring credit of some form:

* Amazon.com: charlie weis. Sure enough, we have “The New Gold Standard: Charlie Weis and Notre Dame’s Rise to Glory”:amazon written by some 3rd party. And we have “Echoes of Notre Dame Football: The Greatest Stories Ever Told (Echoes of)”:amazon with a foreword by the Super Genius himself. But most damningly, we have “No Excuses: One Man’s Incredible Rise Through the NFL to Head Coach of Notre Dame”:amazon coauthored by “one of football’s greatest minds who has helped shape today’s game” – if you think today’s game is all about pillow soft defenses I guess. * Jim Tressel – just one book – “What It Means to Be a Buckeye: Jim Tressel and Ohio State’s Greatest Players”:amazon. Jim writes a foreword here, the book is not about him though. Kind of akin to the 2nd book in the Weis listings, the least self-aggrandizing title. * LLoyd Carr. Nada. Apparently people in Michigan can’t write. Or read. * Bob Stoops. Two titles, the obligatory “What It Means To Be A Sooner: Barry Switzer, Bob Stoops And Oklahoma’s Greatest Players (What It Means)”:amazon and “Heir to the Sooner Legacy: The Championship Story of Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops”:amazon written by some 3rd party. Apparently people in Oklahoma are doubly infinitely more literate than people in Michigan. * Pete Carroll. No “what it means to be a trojan” title, just a 3rd party championship season “Conquest: Pete Carroll And The Trojans’ Climb To The Top Of The College Football Mountain”:amazon title. * Joe Paterno. You don’t coach longer than Stoops and Tressel have been alive without getting a truckload of books written about you. Deservedly so. Some authored by him, most not. If I were to buy one, it would be Quotable Joe

So I’d have to say – Paterno is the clear accomplishment winner – great accomplishments, long career, many books. Stoops, Tressel, Carroll all seem to be right in line with their accomplishments. Carr needs a better PR firm. And Weis wins the pompous bombast title – maybe he should be coaching defense instead of writing a fricking book.