My mind is on vacation . . .
. . . to paraphrase Mose Allison, but my keyboard ain't working overtime. So, light posting again through this holiday week, as i play with my new toy, upgrade my old toy, and rearrange my work space to take advantage of them both.
Turns out that the vinyl comeback comes with a price. Check out Dylan's new one at Amazon on CD, and vinyl. At about 11 minutes a side, how great a listening experience is that going to be?
And Mrs D thinks this reminds her of me. I dunno.
Turns out that the vinyl comeback comes with a price. Check out Dylan's new one at Amazon on CD, and vinyl. At about 11 minutes a side, how great a listening experience is that going to be?
And Mrs D thinks this reminds her of me. I dunno.
Labels: metablogging
Since 1949, Durhamites have slept soundly, secure in the knowledge that, in our town, erection can be depended upon. Now, thanks to the power of the internets, we can spread that security all over the world.
8 Comments:
Ah, the XKCD virus is spreading. Egg-cellent.
By
Joseph H. Vilas, at 9:39 AM
The first panel of that strip bears an uncanny resemblance to the typical monologue heard from Mr. D. while stopped at red lights throughout Durham.
By
Anonymous, at 10:09 AM
Especially the one at Markham and Washington, which for a while was on a 30 second cycle for each direction, but then inexplicably became a 45 second green for Washington traffic, with only 15 second green for Markham traffic.
More recently, it appears to have been flipped back to 30 seconds for each direction again, and my bitching and moaning, at least at that intersection, has been reduced.
One of the things i took away from my sojourn in California was that it should be relatively easy to fit most signals with induction loops, and that after a certain time of day, say 8pm, or 10 pm, side street traffic should trigger a 15 second green whenever the loop is activated, instead of forcing a wait through the normal two minute cycle. This happens at some intersections in Durham at some times, namely Markham at both Duke and Gregson, but only if you approach the light from in between the two streets. If you hit the Duke St. light westbound, or the Gregson St. light eastbound at night, you have to wait for the whole cycle, unless a car comes to the light from the other direction.
The Markham/Washington intersection is rigged so that the second car westbound on Markham will trigger a green, but not eastbound.
I recognize that engineers make decisions about how to time signals that are based on traffic engineering arcana. But sometimes a little common sense is helpful, too.
By
Barry, at 10:34 AM
Sales of what music format went UP over 32% in 2007?
While CDs went DOWN 11%?
Care to guess?
Vinyl!
Even the RIAA admits it.
http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/04/riaa-admits-vin.html
(the following link may be too long, it is also located in the above link)
http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/commentary/listeningpost/2007/10/listeningpost_1029
Go to amazon's vinyl department, but honestly, support local business (and the tactile pleasure of holding a honkin' 12 incher in yer paws) at either OffBeat or Bull City Records...or even a 2nd hand joint like Books Do Furnish A Room, Nice Price Books or a thrift store. You'd be surprised what folks are dropping off there.
(if this link is too big -- and it probably is -- it's amazon's vinyl dept.)
http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=amb_link_961442_11/104-0299304-1637526?ie=UTF8&node=372989011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=browse&pf_rd_r=0HZW4N3ZNF1X2YPR7SN5&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=318818701&pf_rd_i=5174
Hey, just spinnin'!
T
By
Tony, at 10:07 PM
Toe - i wouldn't dream of buying that piece of vinyl from Amazon, just marvelling at the price differential.
Sadly, i stumbled on a record store up in Alexandria last weekend that was going out of business. Picked up some Joe "King" Carrasco and the Crowns and Dave Edmunds vinyl for a buck a piece. Also a Phil Manzanera lp, a Godley-Creme lp, and Dave Mason's Like You Never Left.
Can't wait for that new Grado cartridge to show up tomorrow so i can play 'em.
By
Barry, at 10:41 PM
Ah, the light at Washington and Glendale. I bias my trips near it so I'm not headed E<->W through it if I can help it. OTOH, it seems like a lot of traffic in Durham (other than 85 and to a lesser extent 147) is biased against E<->W travel. I figured that they're trying to shove traffic onto the highways, but what do I know?
w.r.t. xkcd: Did you know they have a super-secret, obscene, alternate URL?
By
Joseph H. Vilas, at 11:22 PM
Actually, Joe, i had to drive across town tonight around 9:30 or so, and the good news is that the lights on Markham at Washington, Duke, Gregson, and Buchanan were all configured to cycle through to green when one car approached and no traffic was coming the other way.
On Broad and Ninth, however, not so much. And the same all the way down Erwin. Particularly obnoxious was the light at Ninth and Main, which not only stayed red for 40 seconds with cars waiting on the north/south line and no traffic on Main, but then cycled through a left turn arrow for 20 seconds while no one was waiting to make a left turn.
By
Barry, at 12:00 AM
"Now there, I thought, was a job for someone with obsessive-compulsive symptoms—traffic management."
Jonathan Lethem
Motherless Brooklyn
By
Anonymous, at 11:06 PM
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