arches

- posted by vcmc @  9/02/2011 08:59:00 PM  |  0 comments

 
yay again

- posted by vcmc @  6/24/2011 06:23:00 PM  |  0 comments

 
robots.txt

- posted by vcmc @  2/08/2010 01:45:00 PM  |  0 comments

 
Bass trapping / sound dampening on the cheap
At a little under $50/trap, this is one of the most economical ways to treat a home studio. Compare to $200 for a similarly sized and similarly performing panel from RealTraps, or $135 from ReadyAcoustics fully assembled with a frame.


What do I need?

I would recommend starting with treating corners closest to your monitors and first reflection points on walls (6 traps), e.g.,:
http://www.readyacoustics.com/index.php?main_page=popup_image&pID=26

If your budget and space allows, treating rear corners and the next closest reflection points (ceiling and/or back wall) would be recommended as well (8+ traps) - along the lines of:
http://www.readyacoustics.com/index.php?main_page=popup_image&pID=27


Supplies:

- Ready acoustics 'ready bags - broadband bass trap' bags. These are fabric bags which will enclose the insulation so you don't have to worry about handling traps or having ugly insulation around uncovered. Buy one for each trap.

readyacoustics.com
http://www.readyacoustics.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=26_11_2&products_id=4

I would recommend ordering these first - the supplier has been known to have significant delays in fulfillment. You probably want to call to find out whether a particular item is in stock - the website isn't kept up to date very well. Note I've been quoted wildly inaccurate estimates for when an item not in stock might be available to ship (off by 2-3 months, in some cases), so if you need something soon, make sure it's in stock when you order.

Note the dye used for darker/more brightly colored bags is likely to rub off on walls - "magic erasers" work ok to take marks off on matte finish paints, but I had to repaint a room where I used these which had been painted with semi-gloss. Stick with lighter colors (white, sand, grey, tan) if you don't want to worry about cleaning up walls.

Cost is about $30/bag.


- johns manville 'spin-glas 814' sheets, 24" x 48" x 2" - two for each trap. These come in bundles of 9 sheets - they're less messy to handle in bundles, but they're quite bulky - only one fit in my car at a time. The supplier said they sell them in individual sheets if need be, last I checked (mid-2009).

Keep in mind these are fiberglass and may irritate the skin if you touch them without gloves; they'll also "shed" fibers until you get them into the bags. It wouldn't be a bad idea to wear one of those dust masks while handling them either, particularly during assembly.

Available from MacArthur Co. in St. Paul, near 280 and University.
2400 Wycliff Street
St Paul, MN 55114-1268
(651) 646-2773

(Johns Manville is distributed outside the mpls/stpl area, but you're on you own for finding a supplier. Check the dealer locator on their website - you're looking for 'mechanical insulation', and make sure the HVAC box is checked when you search.)

Cost should be around $8 per sheet (price checked mid-2009). I wouldn't buy the insulation until you have confirmation the bags have been shipped (unless you have a place to store it).


Assembly notes:

The bags are designed to fit tightly around the insulation, so it can be a bit tricky to get them in. I used cardboard on either side of the insulation to help slide it into the bags.

Assembly will get some insulation fibers on the outside of bags, which can be cleaned up pretty easily with packing tape.
- posted by vcmc @  1/09/2010 01:15:00 PM  |  0 comments

 
coffee reviews, pt. 2
(All reviewed coffees are made in an Aeropress, and tasted at least twice with varying temperatures and steep times.)

Cafe Britt, costa rican shade grown organic. medium roast.
http://www.cafebritt.com/costa-rica-shade-grown-organic/

Cup 1: Already much better than the Peruvian. Still on the acidic side for my taste but I may be able to cut that by adjusting temp and steep time. Can't put my finger on flavors, but it's richer and more complex than the Pachamama, though there's a slight stale taste on the finish.

Tentative 3.5 of 5 beans (pending 2nd cup).
- posted by vcmc @  6/19/2009 11:04:00 AM  |  0 comments

 
coffee reviews, pt. 1:
(All reviewed coffees are made in an Aeropress, and tasted at least twice with varying temperatures and steep times.)

cafe britt, organic shade grown peruvian Pachamama. Roast not specified, looks medium-dark.

8oz bag for $9, much less bean/$ than most of their other coffees. It's far too acidic for my tastes, and there's nothing interesting that really sticks out about the flavor profile. "Earthy" is about the only way I could describe it, really.

2 beans out of 5. Will not buy again.
- posted by vcmc @  6/19/2009 10:12:00 AM  |  0 comments

 
shocking, shocking

...it has been shown repeatedly that suicide increases in the month after a front page suicide story. There is also evidence that the effect is bigger for famous people and gruesome attempts.

from bad science
- posted by vcmc @  4/07/2009 10:13:00 PM  |  0 comments

 
holy shit

"I’ve seen pages of equations and computer code by quants dedicated to trying to figure out how to optimize a crack addict’s NINJA loan in a 360 dimensional hilbert space. Not to optimize it so that it gets paid off, ... but how to squeeze as much juice out of it before the expected default probability spins out of control, leaving the bank with the home it had started with (that was worth a fortune, because home prices keep rising!)."

from Rortybomb
- posted by vcmc @  4/02/2009 06:24:00 PM  |  1 comments

 
bike snob nyc gets analyzed; or, a critique of the notion of anti-capitalist "authenticity"
From Hipster Nascar. There's some back story which isn't really important to the point being made here, but is linked to from the Hipster Nascar post if you want to go read it... (very minor editing for readability)

...But, does commodification really mean the necessary reification of an identity, or is it more complex than that? Do identities formed in a capitalist moment change when they are "co-opted?" If so, how?

I think that, in essence, Bike Snob’s post reproduces a conservative and inherently Romantic notion of identity that depends very much upon a notion of purity, and upon the notion of the degenerative force of capitalism. It’s understandable, to a degree. The Romantic notion of the corrupting influence of bourgeois capitalism is as old as, well, bourgeois capitalism, as is the Romantic notion of a pure and unadulterated cultural existence that pertained before the advent of bourgeois capitalism.

All this is not to defend capitalism or capitalist exploitation. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. My point is to suggest that people like Bike Snob can’t conceive of capitalism as a totality, and thus they miss the extent to which it is a force on all forms of practice, including identity formation. They still think there are realms of cultural “purity” that exist outside the structures of capitalism, and so it’s only when Nike, say, decides to jump on the fixed-gear bandwagon that the fixed-gear scene becomes compromised.

Yes, companies seek to exploit pre-existing groups and identities. It’s so easy for Nike to sell windbreakers to an exiting “market.” Just learn the cultural codes and shared signs of the “group” and build a marketing approach out of that material. Yes, it’s problematic. But does it mean that a group or an identity or a scene are hopelessly corrupted? Rubbish. The fixed-gear “scene,” to the extent that there even is one coherent scene, is born of capitalism. It’s inherently bound up in the relations of production that has cheap frames made from from Indian steel by migrant workers in Taiwanese factories shipped across the Pacific on Nigerian registered freighters crewed by Indonesian sailors, unloaded by Polish dockers in the United States and bought by kids in SoCal from the "local” bike shop that is financed by a small business loan from a Swiss bank. It’s a totality. We exist within it, and to some degree it shapes (though it doesn’t define) our habitus, our opportunities for action.

It seems to me that Bike Snob is a hopeless Romantic, longing for the days of Rousseauian purity, all the while seeing capitalism as something “out there,” something alien. That’s why he uses the word “appropriation” so much, as if things, practices, identities, groups exist beyond capital first, and are only later appropriated by it and thus rendered invalid. Well, I’ve news for you, capitalism is corrupting, but it touches everything, and identities must be formed from within its totality. Maybe those identities are not as explicitly revolutionary as we might like them to be, maybe they’re inherently reactionary, but the point is, they don’t start outside the realm of capital and then get co-opted. They are formed inside the realm of capital. But, even though they are formed inside that realm doesn't mean that they won't or can't seek to move beyond it. An identity or a group or a practice is never one or the other, it’s never outside capital and pure, or inside capital and corrupted. It’s always, to some extent, both.

For a theorist like deCerteau, even just walking around the city could be an expression of liberty against the tyranny of the scopic gaze, so why not fixed-gear bikes? Maybe even if the riders are wearing Nike?

- posted by vcmc @  3/11/2009 07:10:00 PM  |  2 comments

 
ho ho ha ha good one.
i have a new favorite webcomic. it's kind of hit or miss but there are some exceptional ones: (warning, the following are a selection which represent my dry, occasionally dark, obscure sense of humor. The public at large may or may not consider these to be "funny".)

oh no pigeons

continuity errors

You Might As Well Punch A Poor Person In The Junk.

let us be perfectly clear

let's see how long it takes for grandma to be racist

where did it go how could this happen

art school

my favorite music is:

internet

who rubbed meat on my window?

let's do some terrorisms!
- posted by vcmc @  1/31/2009 07:33:00 PM  |  0 comments