Amir's Audio, Video, Technology, etc. Blog

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
Speaking of A Great Big World, this revised version with Christina takes a nice track to the next level:

 

JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
12,303
1,420
1,820
Manila, Philippines
I adore Christina Aguilera when she doesn't over sing.
 

Johnny Vinyl

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
May 16, 2010
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amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
Costco (discount stores) moving up the ladder. Was looking for something else (Beef Clod) and landed on this other extreme: Proper Wagyu (Japanese beef). It goes for the meager price of $1,200 per package or $167/pound! http://www.costco.com/.product.1001...chpageNoResults|SolrSearchToView#BVRRWidgetID



Four 24 oz NY Strip streaks. Looks like the real deal I had in Japan, not the poor imitation raised in US. Reminds me of having it in Japan. Of course our Japanese host would pay so didn't have to think about how much it cost :).

Key is fat that melts at room temp so as soon as you put it in your mouth, it dissolves better than butter! As one of the reviewers says, you need to try this once in your lifetime.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
Some of you may recall that "Amp Hour" is one of my favorite electronics podcasts. It is usually very technical in nature. But this episode is not. It is a very fascinating story of a person getting into electronics at young age, finishing as an engineer building satellites at the age of 21! It is the kind of story that gets better and better as he tells it.

Here is the MP3 link: http://traffic.libsyn.com/theamphour/TheAmpHour-220-DoctiloquentDoveDeployer.mp3

And the link to the manuscript and details of the podcast: http://www.theamphour.com/220-an-interview-with-shaun-meehan-doctiloquent-dove-deployer/

His story is like a novel. I hope you listen and enjoy/become inspired as much as I was.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
Just watched this superb documentary on state of electricity in Kanpur, India. My jaw stayed dropped the whole time! This trailer does not do justice to it but gives you a feel for what is going on:


It was broadcast in US by PBS (Public Broadcasting) so I am afraid the link to the whole video probably won't work overseas: http://video.pbs.org/video/2365349000/

It is a must see video. The dangers. The politics. The corruption. The wiring! Oh man, the wiring. The people's story.

What we take for granted in the west is like air and water (literally) in India.
 

Ronm1

Member Sponsor
Feb 21, 2011
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wtOMitMutb NH
The wiring is scary indeed!!!
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
Indeed. To then climb into it takes it to another level. Of course first he causes a short in the transformer as to force the power company to shut the power. Imagine if they put the power back on while was still in that mess! He tells many stories of getting shocked later in the video.

Love the part where he pulls he insulation on the wire with his teeth. Truth to be told, I used to do that routinely when I was young and working on electronics :). If my mother caught us doing it she would chastise us. But we did it anyway. It was hard on the teeth but much less danger of cutting through the conductor than using cutters. Maybe I can get a job in India helping steal power for people! :D
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
I am a big of fan of contemporary dance and contemporary music. I look forward to every season of So You Think You Can Dance. Wanted to post a track that happened to be danced to by Amelia Lowe who had a lovely character of living in the silent movies. Turns out she and her partner danced to a number of nice tunes so I thought I post a few of them. Hope you enjoy:

This is her audition dancing to Non, je ne regrette rien by Edith Piaf


Lovely tune by The Cure: Lovesong

And the song that made me post this series, "Koop Island Blues" by Koop dancing to Mia Michael's famous "Butt Dance:"

 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
And while on the theme of So You Think You Can Dance, here is one of the most amazing dancing solos I have seen by the Australian Winner:Michael Dameski

Music is Unstoppable by E.S. Posthumus who produce music that sounds like movie trailers:


The precision and power is beyond imagination.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
OK, I can't stop posting my favorites now :). Here is a very memorable trio auditions showing another type of precision and tremendous control:

First one is accompanied by a lovely piano solo from Patrick Griffin called Shadow bird.

Out of the three Cyrus Glitch went on to greatness in that season.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
I hope you guys don't get tired of me posting these reality show snippets. What can I say, that is what I play in the background as getting work done on the laptop.

Last night's The Voice had this really amazing performance by Matt McAndrew, performing the cover of Hozier's "Take Me to Church."


Lot of the talent on the show think the story is only about standing on the stage and just seeing how loud they can shout. Great to see such stage presence and enjoyable performance.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
Just saw this Sonos (multi-room wireless audio) commercial with "pop art." Quite cool. Wish it was longer:

 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
The reviews on Amazon can be hilarious. I have been interested in getting a propane blowtorch to burn off weeds. This one is coming up for sale and this is the first review. Gets funnier at the end.

---------------------

I bought this thing while I was camping. Our firewood was a bit damp and I was having trouble getting the campfire started. With this handy-dandy roaster, I had a bonfire within a minute or so. Then, I decided to use it on the weeds at home. The instructions warn against using the torch near conifers (like Evergreen-type shrubs, bushes, topiaries), so I stayed about 5 feet away from those. Well, this thing is hotter than the blazes of Hell and Damnation itself! I roasted a few of my bushes, but thankfully, they've started to come back. We just had a few inches of snow here in Chicago and I drove over it in the driveway. I ended up with icy patches of packed snow and figured I'd pull out Satan's air conditioner. Not only did it melt those ice patches faster than a hooker drops her panties, it melted a five foot section of snow (about 3 inches deep) in front of the nozzle. Well, after that, I just had to screw around with it. I cooked a frozen hot-dog in less than 30 seconds. OK, "cooked" is the wrong word. I turned a frozen hot dog into a pile of ash. Since that was fun, I tried it with an old cell-phone I had laying around. It stunk, but man it was cool to watch it turn into a gelatinous pile of stink. Someone else mentioned having to roast your weeds and then come back to weed by hand a week later. That's totally unnecessary. Just hold the flame on the weed for about 10 seconds and it'll kill it, burn it, turn it to ash, and then burn the ash into smaller ash. The roots will be dead and the weed will never return. OK, maybe it will, but I roasted a section of stone in my backyard that had weeds growing up. It's been nearly 2 years and nothing has grown there. Yeah, it sounds like a jet engine when you fire it up, but it's awesome! I highly recommend this for weed burning, camp fire starting, party tricks, and hot dog cremation. And next week, I'm going to head over to my mean, old, crotchety neighbor's house in the middle of the night and burn "A-Hole" into his lawn. Man, I can't wait till my kid's hamster bites the dust!
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
Been bargain shopping on Amazon and ran into an item I thought would be useful: a chain which I was hoping came with hooks on both ends. This is what I found instead:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...C0931G2GYVV7N0Z&pf_rd_i=20&pf_rd_p=1980506282



OK so it doesn't have hooks. But check out the details:
Price: $1,576.86 - $2,378.40

Oh brother! $2,000 for a chain? Looking further it shows this:

Shipping Weight: 575.4 pounds


Good grief. Nearly 600 pounds worth of chain advertised as a holiday special?

I can just hear the conversation:

"Spouse: what would you like for Christmas?"
"Husband: there is this thing I have been really wanting but is a bit expensive...."
"Spouse: Oh, don't worry about that. You have been such a great husband and father that you deserve to get something special from Santa."
"Husband: I worry you may have a hard time wrapping it in a box..."
"Spouse: You know I can wrap anything better than any male on this planet. Tell me what it is."
"Husband: You have to promise not to laugh..."
"Spouse: I won't assuming it is not a sex toy or anything like that."
"Husband: Well, it has some application in that area too!"
"Spouse: OK. I don't mind. As I said you deserve it. Please tell me what it is."
"Husband: it is 600 pounds of galvanized chain from China! and is on sale on Amazon!!!"

Crazy thing computers do when humans are not involved. Some Chinese person is laughing at ease with which they could get this industrial item to be seen by millions of people by just flagging it as a sale item with whatever extra cut Amazon wants.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
I am not into country music (with some exceptions) but my wife is. So I recorded the CMA Country Christmas special. To my pleasant surprise, it did not have much of a country tone to it. Instead it had such fantastic recreations of the original Christmas Carols such as this incredible one from LeAnn Rimes:


If someone didn't tell you this is a 100 year old song you would think it was a modern one just composed.
 

GaryProtein

VIP/Donor
Jul 25, 2012
2,542
31
385
NY
Been bargain shopping on Amazon and ran into an item I thought would be useful: a chain which I was hoping came with hooks on both ends. This is what I found instead:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...C0931G2GYVV7N0Z&pf_rd_i=20&pf_rd_p=1980506282



OK so it doesn't have hooks. But check out the details:
Price: $1,576.86 - $2,378.40

Oh brother! $2,000 for a chain? Looking further it shows this:

Shipping Weight: 575.4 pounds


Good grief. Nearly 600 pounds worth of chain advertised as a holiday special?

I can just hear the conversation:

"Spouse: what would you like for Christmas?"
"Husband: there is this thing I have been really wanting but is a bit expensive...."
"Spouse: Oh, don't worry about that. You have been such a great husband and father that you deserve to get something special from Santa."
"Husband: I worry you may have a hard time wrapping it in a box..."
"Spouse: You know I can wrap anything better than any male on this planet. Tell me what it is."
"Husband: You have to promise not to laugh..."
"Spouse: I won't assuming it is not a sex toy or anything like that."
"Husband: Well, it has some application in that area too!"

"Spouse: OK. I don't mind. As I said you deserve it. Please tell me what it is."
"Husband: it is 600 pounds of galvanized chain from China! and is on sale on Amazon!!!"

Crazy thing computers do when humans are not involved. Some Chinese person is laughing at ease with which they could get this industrial item to be seen by millions of people by just flagging it as a sale item with whatever extra cut Amazon wants.

A nice shiny chrome plating would have been nice.

I have heard women say ropes are OK, but they didn't like chains because they were cold!

Did I just say that? :p
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
Was looking at a WiFi magnifier reviews of a Celestron and ran into this funny jab at Apple users: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HQ12JTG...TSNSSH0032D3G11&pf_rd_i=20&pf_rd_p=1980506282



By Dr. Roger L. Mccarthy on November 1, 2014
This is a handy and clever little gadget, and two years ago I would have given it 5 stars, but 640x480 resolution (.3mp) is just not competitive anymore. BUT, it sure works as advertised, and when you download the android app (in the unlikely event someone using an iPhone is technically advanced enough to need a microscope :) there is one for iPhone too) and connect your phone (which takes about 3 minutes total) you can see the excellent images on your phone. And now you have a phone connected camera with its own light source that you can get into a lot of tight places for a picture you can't fit your phone, not to mention any arbitrary magnification if you have stand off distance from the subject. Unfortunately if you are using a modern smart phone, like my Note 4, (or a galaxy 5, etc) with a 1080p screen and 430+ ppi, you do notice you are looking at a 640x480 image. If you are using an older smart phone, or a smart phone whose technology is a couple years behind, like the new Apple 6, with only 1,334 x 750 pixels of resolution and only 326ppi, you won't notice this issue as much.

:)
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
Not a fan of country music in general but I do like some of the "crossover" ones. Not sure this is quite in the crossover category or not but I find it quite enjoyable. Blake Shelton and Ashley Monroe duet:

 

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