Red Tiger

There seem to be several major groups of people around on the Internet.

Some people take it far too seriously, assuming all they read about everyone and everything is true or treating comments and IM conversations as serious documents in which spelling, grammar and punctuation must be perfect. It's hard to hold a meaningful conversation on-line with someone like this, but at least it's possible.
I'll call this lot Group #1.

Some people don't take anything on the Internet seriously, dismissing anything they can't immediately understand as unimportant. The kind of person who intentionally goes offline in the middle of conversations to do something else, or responds to anything longer than two sentences with "TL;DR". The kind prone to logging onto messenger services and telling you they don't want to talk when you say hello, then getting upset when you say goodbye and leave!.
This is group #2, and the group to which most furs seem to belong. I tend to refer to these as "typical furries", although I should point out that typical furries also seem to obsess over sex as well.

The remaining few, of which I would like to consider myself one, I will call Group #3. These people don't take everything written on-line as true, not without enough evidence for proof anyway. They treat the Internet as a resource, open to both human errors and system failures. They see what is written and extract useful information from it, using multiple resources to construct accurate opinions of objects and people.
Most importantly, they acknowledge that they are still communicating with real people.

***

I've noticed over the past ten years or so I've had Internet access, that a great many people seem to "come and go". Or just go.
Since 2003 I've had broadband access, and have been a user of AIM, MSN, Yahoo and LiveJournal. More recently, I've joined FurAffinity. I used to use Hotmail, but was forced off by Microsoft's limitations and I used to use ICQ but was forced off due to excessive spamming.
Over these last six years, I've built up long contact lists... And now I find myself deleting many contacts simply because the people behind them have lost interest in that particular service.

It seems that LiveJournal is going in a similar direction to may other websites I used to know and use - the entire user base is migrating to the latest fad website, and will probably move on once again when something new comes out.
Personally I don't use Twitter, can't stand it, nor do I use Facebook, Myspace, or any other "social network" websites - there was nothing wrong with the network I'd built up here until everyone else in it buggered off!

I refuse to just up and leave because everyone else is. I like it here. It's comfortable.
I miss the days when I could chat to everyone I know on-line, and everyone I talked to was NICE and HONEST.

I'll be aggressively cleaning out my contact lists soon, there are only three people I will never remove - Darkpaw, Stormy and Aamplythikheyes. Everyone else who I never talk to, or perhaps even never see online, will go. I won't block anyone, though, and will re-add anyone who wants me to.

Another observation: If I remove someone who then contacts me later on, I'll ask them if they want to be re-added. Most normal people either say yes or aren't bothered, yet every fur with no exceptions has thrown a hissy-fit.

***

I have changed a lot over recent years. I don't like certain aspects of my personality from "back then" and I'd like to think I've become a better, more mature person. Despite this, I become less and less popular, and find I have less and less of a role to play among furs.
Is maturity scary to furs, or is it just the fact I don't "do" yiff*?

* In this instance, I refer to cybersex. It's POINTLESS.

My active crossover just bricked my iAudio 7.

Anyone want to buy me a new one, cus I can't fucking afford to.

I blocked embedded YouTube videos from appearing on my laptop, although I can still use the website.

This isn't a "matter of principle" or some other whiney shit, it's because my laptop only lasts for 30-50 minutes from a full charge, and youtube videos rape the CPU even if not on-screen.

You can blame YT/Google for this, as I have the same problem with all of my computers spanning several versions of several browsers and OSes. Fortunately I don't have to keep my power sage ridiculously low on any other machines.

I'm messing around with a selection of cheap but ridiculously sensitive Amstrad paper cone tweeters. I do love that word. I blame Edd.

( Cut for rambling. )

Something that has impressed me a little less is that there is noise coming from the left channel phono stage of the AU-505. I can't tell for sure yet whether this means the left channel is noisy, or the right channel isn't working.

I need to find a good quality, inexpensive connector which will allow me to send a very clean filtered and regulated 12Vdc into the amp to power relays, whilst allowing me to send an equally clean stereo audio signal in and take the output from the phono stage out.
The idea is to have a normally "on" relay in the mains input wiring, which can be switched "off" by sending 12V to it. Then I plan to use a series of relays that allow me to extract the output of the phono stage, whilst disconnecting the internal preamp and tone control stages and connecting the driver for the power amp directly to that clean stereo signal I mentioned!
Something shielded with at least 12 pins? Gold plated? Hmm, a DB25 would work I suppose, then I could double up all of the connections...

Something truly horrific, so awful I just cannot keep it to myself.

There is a ground loop somewhere in my Hi-Fi

='(

PlayPoolPool.com

Buy Pool Pool! chuffingtiger's idea & product - ask him if you want to know more!

(If I could afford the shipping, I would... @_@)

... Listening to the soldering iron click, and watching the output of a small transformer I'm testing.

It goes up and down in time with the clicks.

edit: I should point out it's only varying between 16.74V "on" and 16.75V "off".

My car has new, sprayed, A-panels fitted*, as well as new stainless bumpers. Looks very nice, and is now awaiting the purchase of waxoyl for filling the seam trims. There was no serious rust around the A pillars, no remedial welding was required.
The only major rust spots left are under the seals for the rear windows, and the corners of the windscreen panel (only major due to location, not size). Rear window holes will be sealed with gaffer tape for now.

There's no soundproofing at all between the engine and bulkhead now, meaning nothing to catch water and cause rusting. Also meaning I can hear the odd noises the carb makes, and the leaking vacuum advance. I'll sort that out when I strip and clean it - it only takes one badly fitting "genuine" air filter, eh...
I probably pulled the vacuum advance hose off when I was using it to draw water into the engine. Call it a waste of fuel if you will, I call it a very cheap and effective method of de-coking.

Next jobs will be the stereo and the battery isolator (together) and then the manufacture of a new panel to hold gauges, extra switches, the accessory socket and the custom immobiliser switch panel... Which I may modify to sound the horn if someone attempts to start the car with the wrong switch sequence. After I've fitted the airhorn. Oooh that's another job... And the spotlights...
Then I'll be working out how to fit an oil gauge, whether or not it's actually worth me keeping the current pressure warning switch, and whether or not the pressure gauges I have here work.

FAO Snow: Assuming the first one I try works, what do you want me to do with the other, and since I probably won't use the water temp. gauge, what about that?

*not by me

Belling. Or not.

I tried to heat something in the convection oven, set at one-hundred and fifty degrees celsius for a period of three minutes and thirty seconds.
It lasted until but forty-nine seconds were left on the clock, thenceforth it issued what can only be described as an interesting smell into the room, and... Then the whole house went very, very dark indeed.

I said the gauge Belling used (18AWG?) was too small for an 1800W element.

So, all skill is learned, and has nothing to do with an individual's brain...

All engineering talent is learned, nobody really has any natural skill.

... And yet when I explain things which have always seemed simple to me to anyone who is not an engineer or a programmer, they fail to comprehend even the most basic "building blocks" and systems.

All musical (or artistic) talent is learned, nobody really has any natural skill.

... Well, that would be fine if not for the fact that engineering is not, by itself, an art form. Music is, and what is considered "art" is widely open to individual tastes and interpretation.

***

I firmly believe that there are different "types" of human brain which lend themselves more to one discipline than another, logical brains have a hard time being artistic, artistic have a hard time being logical. There are probably other types and combinations as well, such as performing/non-performing but for the purpose of this discussion, they're irrelevant. I'm not here to re-hash old studies into human behaviour, only to gather opinions.

What causes this is beyond me, but I observe similar characteristics in many people and for the most part tend to associate more with logical thinkers than artistic thinkers.

Readers, excluding comments along the lines of "this/that artist obviously has no talent", what do you think?

Tell me something about my actions or personality that is completely untrue, and then argue the point regardless of any evidence, or in cases where there is no physical evidence, don't let me have my say.*
Yep, that pisses me off pretty fast - it's a good way to get yourself blocked online and ignored in real life.**

So far, I'm an "indier-than-thou asshole" who "only attends live musical performances for the atmosphere" (and not the music).***

The first one is just laughable, but I get the feeling that person just wanted a reason to hate (which is kind of amusing for someone who claims to follow PLURR religiously).
The second I'm not so sure about, I can't decide whether that person was being argumentative for the sake of it, or just honestly believed that they were right despite trying to dictate the motivation for my own actions to me after the event. Then again, that's the same person who tried to tell me that nobody is born with musical talent (or any talent) and that it is entirely learned - something I strongly disagree with.


* Much like our wonderful government.
** Shame we can't "block" ol' Gordon.
*** I'm also a drug-addicted brainless and possibly psychotic failure, paticularly since I don't earn the government any money through income tax. Oh, my!

Birfday ^^ yay!

xeriouxi sent me a cake-shaped v-gift x3
Soooo... bungle_bear dropped in briefly yeserday :3 I guess he makes more effort than me =/

*hugs for all*

Hmm... And I have cards...

Pond = Sealed, needs to set
Fence Posts = Drilled, need another coat of paint
Money = Sorted, for now

I've treated myself to a few bits and pieces from fleabay, including a new keyboard for this laptop [AT LAST].
Narrowly missed out on a NAD 3140 to match my existing one, but I'm too good at sticking to my maximum bids... Still, I've seen one, so I know they exist "in the wild" now, even if not in NAD's own archives!

I think I've had a fairly productive day, and it may shock some of you to know that I got up at 09:30!

Either tomorrow or Tuesday, I'll be ordering stuff from Minispares... Determined never to fail an MOT ;3

Much as I doubt it, some of you might be interested to know what kind of stuff I look at on eBay. Well, here's today's selection of links, in no particular order. Careful as you click, now!

Let's start with the obvious...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NAD-1020a-pre-and-2150-power-amp_W0QQitemZ280340386505QQ
I actually want a NAD 2140, to compliment the 3140 I picked up for a tenner. It's a great little amp by itself, although mine is in pretty bad shape to be honest - needs a good re-capping! I'd just like to be able to play around with bridging and possibly bi-amping.
I'm starting to think the 3140 and 2140 are actually quite rare, since they don't even get a mention in the NAD archives!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250398301005
THOSE BASS DRIVERS LOOK FAMILIAR. And I bet they sound so much better with a B&W badge on them, too! They certainly cost more like that...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NAD-802-80-WATT-BI-WIREABLE-SPEAKERS-SOUND-GREAT_W0QQitemZ250408843271QQ
I just like the look of them, don't ask me why.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NAD-8100-Speakers-in-Black-Ash_W0QQitemZ110386134429QQ
Those removerable grills uncover what look like GLL bass drivers. I might have to copy that design, since I seem to have all the parts!

Edit: Thought I'd separate the clean bits of this post out, makes no sense to hide them away ;3

... Spelling the time for retirement from sub duty for my trusty little 22W EL84 amp. Poor thing worked fine one day, then the next... Just went *phut*. It wasn't even doing anything!
The outputs have been "on the way out" for 5 years now...

Oh, well!
I brought my NAD 3140 down from the loft and slotted that in on sub duty. It runs insanely hot sat on top of the stone cold Sansui, but does a sterling job driving 4-ohm loads. Somehow, I doubt it's reaching the claimed 130W/ch with those smoothing caps and that bias, but I have subwoowers! In stereo! <3
'Though, that does show up the differences in level and response output from the now-very-fried-and-not-buffered-at-all active lowpass, built as a "temporary measure" just shy of 5 years ago.

When I find a job I should be able to afford to build my full Hafler matrix surround & lowpass/amp unit. I've got a nice little mesh panel 4U case with flip-down front for it all, but none of the parts to go *in* it yet!
Well... I have the main power amp... But that's it, and it's in pieces... And really needs a 500VA toroid... And a new set of four 68kµF caps. Maybe a 1kVA toroid if I mount the power heatsinks on the back... Hmm...
That is the only amp I've ever known to need heatsinking on dual 8A bridges.

Also I'd like to point out that spidermouse's graphic EQ is still sitting on a shelf in my shed, and will probably have it's case back on shortly after I get some new tips for my soldering iron. I still don't know what I'm meant to be doing with it (I have no use for it!), but I figured I'd fix it anyway. Seems rude not to after all this time.

[...]
In theory, the idea is that we all have a stern national duty to take lots of care of ourselves so that we do not become a burden on the holy, wonderful NHS. We guard ourselves from self-inflicted illness or injury for the sake of others.
Since my childhood I have been ceaselessly lectured about how to stay safe and healthy, with varying degrees of success.
The simple slogans of the TV campaigns still echo in my memory, and no doubt in millions of others. ‘Don’t ask a man to drink and drive’, ‘One for the road? None for the road!’, ‘Clunk Click every trip’.

Propaganda isn’t enough on its own. Law and fear are needed too.
[...]

Wait, what? Law and fear? I'm worried already...

[...]
Listen to an Englishman whinge when his driving licence is taken away, and you will see that there is still such a thing as punishment in our society, and it works.
I can remember the measurable change in the national atmosphere when the police began serious breathalysing.
Similar determination made us all wear seat belts. If only they’d do the same about the arrogant, murderous cretins who use mobile phones while driving.
[...]

I'll admit, I do agree with him here...

[...]
The authorities also quite clearly know that advertising and the behaviour of actors and presenters on TV and in films affect behaviour.
That is why they have banned tobacco commercials and why it now seems astonishing that Joan Bakewell used to smoke while presenting the BBC’s Late Night Line-Up in the Sixties.
Nobody ever said during any of these campaigns that it was all right to drive a bit above the alcohol limit, or that just a few cigarettes a day were safer than none, or that you could leave your seat-belt off for short trips.
The reason was simple. If you soften your message, you spread doubt about whether you really mean it.
I’ll stay out of the savagely comical area of ‘sex education’ here because it’s just too big.
[...]

You should see the American system, mate...

[...]
But look at the revelations that a Government-funded agency, supposed to discourage the use of illegal drugs, has been doing the exact opposite.
Callers have been told, apparently by giggling lunatics on ‘helplines’, that various forms of lawless brain-frying are really all right.
[...]

I think you'll find they're legally bound to tell the truth, unlike you.

[...]
No surprise to me. Some years ago I emailed this outfit, which claimed to answer any questions about drugs, with the query: ‘Is it wrong to take illegal drugs?’.
I received an answer of bottomless uselessness, when ‘yes’ was all they needed to say.
[...]

Notice how this wonderfully factual report is missing any evidence right about... Here...

[...]
Then there’s the endless shifting of ‘classifications’ of drugs.
Anyone who knows anything about the subject realises that cannabis is among the most dangerous drugs in existence, laying waste to young minds and rotting any society where it takes hold.
[...]

Let me repeat that bit again... "cannabis is among the most dangerous drugs in existence"
I think this is the first time I've seen an outright lie printed in a national newspaper!

[...]
But the establishment, notably including Mr David Cameron and various joke policemen, make it almost impossible to get this message across by falling for the well funded and brilliantly directed global campaign to ‘decriminalise’ this poison.
Many of them would like to make it legal and are prevented only by the international treaties which forbid them to do so.
Instead they sap, weaken and confuse the law until it is a dead letter. Some even lie that cannabis has medical benefits.
[...]

"Some even lie that cannabis has medical benefits."
And that'll be the second time!
So all those scientists and various medical studies are lying, right? All those MS sufferers are just fooling themselves? Those cancer tumours vanished for some other unknown reason that's completely unrelated to THC?

[...]
Why are they so feeble in stamping out a major and rapidly growing mental health threat when they fret about the amount of salt in hamburgers, try to frighten us into drinking disgusting skimmed milk, rave about the danger of sun-tan parlours and would rather shut down all the pubs in Britain and Ireland than let even one of them allow people to smoke inside it?
[...]

I dunno man, maybe it's because everything you just listed has known and documented negative effects on health? ... And why are you complaining about not being able to smoke drugs {tobacco} in a drug-den {public house serving alcohol}, anyway?

[...]
Simple. Their generation has been, in the direct sense of the word, corrupted by the drug culture, one which believes profoundly that pleasure is the highest law and that reward should be available without effort.
This trumps any concern for health or safety. No civilisation can last long based on such sick principles.
[...]

ARE YOU INSANE?

[...]
We have to choose, and soon, between the self-serving, twisted lies of the soft-on-drugs lobby and the truth - which is that if you don’t ban cannabis with stern laws, you will get epidemic mental illness hand in hand with irreversible moral decay.
[...]

We have to choose, and soon, between the self-serving, twisted lies of the Daily Mail scaremongering lobby and the truth - which is that if you ban cannabis with stern laws, you will drive dealing and consumption further underground and further criminalise a lot of otherwise law-abiding, mentally healthy people.

[...]
You know it makes sense.

- Peter Hitchens, Mail on Sunday

So I can resume from hibernation [S4], but I can't resume from standby [S3]...
Reason: a three year old bug that no developers seem interested in fixing. Seems to be a bug on shutting down rather than starting up again, and given that it's common to a lot of distros, I'd go with it being a kernel-specific bug.

Wasn't a major problem in 8.10 although resume from standby was often as slow as Vista, 9.04 flatly refuses to do anything, although the WiFi light on comes on when resuming from standby or hibernation. I havn't figured that one out yet, since the WiFi works regardless, but after a normal boot, the light isn't on - disabling and re-enabling wireless manually does nothing...

So I suppose that's two bugs of vastly contrasting importance, really.

Ubuntu: Linux for pissed off human beings.
But at least it's more reliable/faster/more secure than Windows.

What the FUCK has happened to YouTube?

"Official Video for N-Trance - Set You Free. UK No.2 hit in 1995!"

I'm not allowed to view the official music video for a song released in this country IN 1995.

HOW THE MERRY BLIND FUCK IS THAT HURTING ANYONE?! I ALREADY HAVE THE FUCKING SONG ON CD!!

I'd like to point out that I can view as many of the other uploads of the same track without the official video as I want. Most of which no doubt have much higher quality rippable audio.

***

So, who else wants to start shooting the stupid motherfuckers in charge of these record companies?
Actually, fuck that, it would be much more satisfying to beat their greedy, retarded heads in with an iron bar.

Fuck them and their DRM digital downloads.
Fuck them and their overpriced compilation CDs, and overpriced CDs in general.

I used to buy all the music I liked.
I still buy music from artists who deserve the money.
But... In future, I'm just going to pirate anything I want that's been released by a major record label.

And it's their own fault.

If they weren't so damn greedy I wouldn't mind giving them money, but after all the bitching about artists losing money - which is utter bullshit when you consider the percentage of the sales that the artist gets, and the percentage that the record label gets - I'm just sick of their bollocks.
I also know I'm not the only person who feels less like paying for music the more record companies whine about people pirating.

Another funny thing is, of course, that even if they did stop piracy on the Internet [which they won't, deal with it], they'd just push it back to the guy with a bag of CDRs in the local.

I'm amazed how many people don't understand how plants grow, specifically how they get from being a dormant seed to a seedling.

THEY ONLY NEED MOISTURE, NOT LIGHT.

Pidgin also crashes out at random intervals... Although I have just noticed that when it crashes out during resume from S3 standby, this machine resumes in less then 2 seconds as opposed to nearly 10 minutes. I think I'll keep it closed in future.

To be honest, I was expecting Opera to be the cause of that problem, since on my old laptop Windows XP used to complain rather a lot about it eating 500+MB of RAM {with over 100 tabs open}... And take over 20 minutes to resume.
Still, not as bad as Vista on the same system - that used to take half an hour to resume with nothing else running! Microsoft would have me believe this was my fault for installing Ultimate, but Home Basic did exactly the same thing.

I suppose the 5100 should be my testbed for Windows 7 as well really... Except it now only has 512MB RAM as opposed to the 1024 it had for XP and Vista.
Although, in my personal opinion, an OS shouldn't need that much RAM anyway.

Pasting an ebay link in its entirety crashes pidgin.
eg. I can paste:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Notebook-Keyboard-for-Dell-Inspiron-6000-9200-9300_W0QQitemZ160326674721QQ

but not:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Notebook-Keyboard-for-Dell-Inspiron-6000-9200-9300_W0QQitemZ160326674721QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_ComputerComponents_KeyboardsMice?hash=item160326674721&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72:1690|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318

Having locked up and forced me to kill the process three times in close succession, I'd say it was repeatable.

I'm beginning to remember why I hate this program. But at least when it crashes in Linux, it doesn't take out the entire OS, which is what it used to do in Windows. Which is why I started using Miranda.

I have a feeling I'll be installing WINE soon.

S4 fails...
S3 causes the CPU speed control to set itself to maximum speed {possibly only when it's set to "conservative"}, and causes something to disable networking.

Bizarre...

In Ubuntu 8.10, enabling "Show position of pointer when Control key is pressed" breaks all multimedia keys except Volume Up/Down.

I should probably report that, since it seems to be related to the fix of deleting ~/.gconf/desktop/gnome/peripherals/mouse/%gconf.xml, which also worked.

Actually I only noticed this because, during setting my trackpad up again, I tested the mute button at each stage.

( Cut for my own use... )

The Belkin N1 Vision is a very nice router, it's fixed the connection problems that everyone else's laptops were having in this house.

But it hasn't fixed *my* problem.

I get an average of 24Mbps connection, and if it drops below that, I get no data throughput. Every single ping times out. At 24Mbps it's touch and go as well, I average 1 in 6 pings in the living room.

If I can't get a reliable connection thoughout the house, I'm thinking of setting up the old DI-524 as a secondary access point, but I'm not entirely sure how to go about this - any tips, peoples?

In other news, I think I might give my LJ another overhaul soon.

I come back to be informed that...
Yes, Jade Goody is still dead.
Yes, our police are still cocks.
Yes, the banks are still fucked
Yes, global warming is still happening.
Yes, world governments are still money-grabbing liars.

... No, I'm not surprised.

This was originally going to be a photo update on some of my projects, I've taken the pictures but it doesn't seem very fitting to update people on a load of projects that have just been shelved indefinitely.

As some of you may know, I live with my grandmother (my father's side) and one of my aunts.
I've just about had enough of this living arrangement. ( Let me explain... )

TL;DR: I can't work on anything for me any more, since I have too much to do for my gran. As much as she claims I don't have to do these jobs, if or when I refuse one, she gets most upset and usually storms off to her room for a few hours.


*I want a job, I just simply don't have the time for one. That may seem a bit backward, live my life for a while and you'd understand.
**If anyone wants a 21" CRT TV, let me know. It works very well as a monitor (via composite + stereo audio) and has excellent picture quality to go with the excellent sound quality, I certainly can't post it though, since it weighs almost as much as I do.