Three topics and a sound
Not a literal sound. One of the topics is about sound. Does t...
So. One reason I haven't been around much is because I'm in the process of moving back to San Francisco tomorrow. I was planning on starting work Monday, but the looming strike by the train narrators and station agents of the Bloody Awful Rapid Transit is threatening to put a kink in these plans.
One thing that's interesting about the BART strike is how I cannot imagine it not backfiring. It appears that the union leaders were not negotiating in good faith, or at least knew there was a good chance the membership would vote down the agreement they came to. The Contra Costa Times published a list of BART salaries, revealing that many of the train narrators--whose job duties consist largely of mumbling "no bikes on the first car" and "next stop: [the next stop, when they get it right]"--make in excess of 100k a year. One of the station agents somehow managed to pull down $40,000 in overtime.
Although I bitch about it, BART is a halfway decent system. The trains are mostly on time, cleaner than many systems, and relatively fast. A strike by the highest-paid classes of BART employees crippling the Bay's transportation network (340,000 people ride BART a day, including 160,000 who use it to cross the Bay) does not, however, endear them to me particularly. Judging from rumblings in the blogosphere and letters to the editors, I am not alone.
Topic two: for those in my audience who are furries, here is a PowerPoint document outlining my tentative analysis of the state of furry writing and the possible ways to correct it. It includes an outline of what I see as a successor to furry writing websites and even includes an overly-optimistic timetable!
Topic three: speaking of furries. I am one, and a trekkie, a flight simulator geek, a snob about my keyboard and an ex-member of both marching band and the debate club. I can say in all and complete seriousness, then: audiophiles are fucking insane. Not, like, people who love music. I love music. Not even people who spend money on music. I have some decently expensive speakers that I consider a good investment; I know people who have bought noise-cancelling headphones, set up expensive home theatres with impenetrably complex blinkenlight boxes, and upgraded the radios on their cars. Fine.
I'm talking about the audience that Monster Cable caters to, the ones who snap up the $10000 audio cable when we've known for a decade now that it doesn't make any real difference. Actually, I've garnered a bit more respect for Monster, who appears now to be aware that there is no scientific, audible difference in their equipment (according to the son of the founder: "Scientifically, we know audible differences in cables are difficult if not impossible to measure") and the difference is all up to perception on the part of the listener. This is why the double-blind test determined nobody could tell the difference between Monster Cable and uncurled coat hangers.
Anyway, there's something about the technobabble that appeals to the audiophile fringe--buying the "quadruple-twisted 112% oxygen-free polygold alloy unobtanium-tipped silicon hyperwire" sets and so on. So it is today that I was riding in a car with a stereo system that proudly proclaimed it was "MOSFET-controlled". Indeed.
/a
One thing that's interesting about the BART strike is how I cannot imagine it not backfiring. It appears that the union leaders were not negotiating in good faith, or at least knew there was a good chance the membership would vote down the agreement they came to. The Contra Costa Times published a list of BART salaries, revealing that many of the train narrators--whose job duties consist largely of mumbling "no bikes on the first car" and "next stop: [the next stop, when they get it right]"--make in excess of 100k a year. One of the station agents somehow managed to pull down $40,000 in overtime.
Although I bitch about it, BART is a halfway decent system. The trains are mostly on time, cleaner than many systems, and relatively fast. A strike by the highest-paid classes of BART employees crippling the Bay's transportation network (340,000 people ride BART a day, including 160,000 who use it to cross the Bay) does not, however, endear them to me particularly. Judging from rumblings in the blogosphere and letters to the editors, I am not alone.
Topic two: for those in my audience who are furries, here is a PowerPoint document outlining my tentative analysis of the state of furry writing and the possible ways to correct it. It includes an outline of what I see as a successor to furry writing websites and even includes an overly-optimistic timetable!
Topic three: speaking of furries. I am one, and a trekkie, a flight simulator geek, a snob about my keyboard and an ex-member of both marching band and the debate club. I can say in all and complete seriousness, then: audiophiles are fucking insane. Not, like, people who love music. I love music. Not even people who spend money on music. I have some decently expensive speakers that I consider a good investment; I know people who have bought noise-cancelling headphones, set up expensive home theatres with impenetrably complex blinkenlight boxes, and upgraded the radios on their cars. Fine.
I'm talking about the audience that Monster Cable caters to, the ones who snap up the $10000 audio cable when we've known for a decade now that it doesn't make any real difference. Actually, I've garnered a bit more respect for Monster, who appears now to be aware that there is no scientific, audible difference in their equipment (according to the son of the founder: "Scientifically, we know audible differences in cables are difficult if not impossible to measure") and the difference is all up to perception on the part of the listener. This is why the double-blind test determined nobody could tell the difference between Monster Cable and uncurled coat hangers.
Anyway, there's something about the technobabble that appeals to the audiophile fringe--buying the "quadruple-twisted 112% oxygen-free polygold alloy unobtanium-tipped silicon hyperwire" sets and so on. So it is today that I was riding in a car with a stereo system that proudly proclaimed it was "MOSFET-controlled". Indeed.
/a
| Vulpecula 14.08.2009 - 6h07 |
Although I balked a the price at the time, my noise canceling headphones were one of the best purchases I have made ever. I love them so much. I'm so used to them that I forget how noisy BART really is until I'm brutally reminded the day I forget them. Every time I fly a red eye (which has been non-trivially often anymore due to them being cheaper) I'm very happy for the much-reduced plane noise. Some audio purchases really are worth what appears up front to be a very large amount of money. This is something I have learned first-hand. That said, I would not buy monster cables. Ever. Also speaking of BART: fuck the strikers. The agents are often hard to find and generally very unhelpful and treat everyone who asks a question like they personally are their worst enemy. And fuck the train operators who just look out a window in the station, mumble incoherently, and don't even drive the train (for those not familiar with BART, they're actually driven remotely from the main control center; the guy in the front of the train only takes control in emergencies). They all mainly just stand around and don't even deal with that many people directly. Certainly they should be paid for their work, but I have a hard time buying that they're worth double, triple, and even quadruple what I live off of. |
| Comrade Alex 14.08.2009 - 6h18 |
I'm not opposed to the concept of noise-cancelling headphones. My failure to own a pair mostly comes in the general category of "I would eventually forget to bring them" that doomed my Zune. I'm not good with things like that. On the other hand, today I sold my old sound card. I've been using onboard sound for six months. I can't tell the difference. And to hell with BART +ca |
| Galluskek 14.08.2009 - 7h44 |
In today's on the go business world it behooves us to eliminate extraneous elements and "overhead" in all complex systems. So, good work on ditching that sound card, modern integrated audio can reproduce all the tones that you need, 0 and 3.95khz. The fact that they can transmit music through those headset wires is just icing on the cake. As for the noise canceling dealies, you ought to get one of those ear buds that look like silicone ear plugs. I've got a pair, they're cheap, they work just like a mix between ear plugs and speakers. They shouldn't be too hard to forget. Unless of course you're not interested in headphone suggestions. >.< The stereo was probably MOSFET controlled though, you can take its word on it, I think. I personally am a fan of those new transistor models that they released recently, a far sight better than those tube based amplifiers! Noting beats listening to the dulcet tones of Pat Benetar using technology that is as old as she is. (Recently may be an inaccurate estimate...) In response to "Alexandria II", I am probably not the best person to pass judgment on a proposal, as my interests are not in that area, but it sounds like a great idea! I have had occasion to read a fan fiction story or two, and after making sure it was not some ridiculous slash or anything and spending the requisite time sucking down words through my retinas, I have found myself swearing them off time and time again for many of the reasons you have enumerated and a few you did not. The only issue would be that vetting system you proposed, it seems to me that in the wrong spirit it could be the genesis of a clique-y direction to the noble concept. I have noticed internet-types can be rather exclusive of those outside their "circle", not that it will necessarily go in that direction, merely that it is a possibility. Also, 100K to mumble stuff? That seems like good pay, why are they complaining when they could be earning as much as Miami Public Transit people? ($3/h+a ball of lint) I should be so lucky, I'm probably more qualified to have money thrown at me... |
| Vulpecula 14.08.2009 - 9h10 |
I'm sure little ear bud things can be great for some people, but they physically hurt my ears after more than about 30 minutes. I have yet to find a pair that don't. One of my big criteria in good headphones, even more important than the noise cancellation is that they be circumaural, not interaural. But that's just because of my own opinions on comfort, not because I don't think earbuds can produce as good of sound quality. |
| Comrade Alex 14.08.2009 - 9h11 |
My suspicion is that you are probably qualified (hell, overqualified) to drive the BART trains. They are, as has been said, not actually controlled by the people on the train (this is why I refer to them as narrators), so referring to them as "operators" is true only in the sense that you would consider yourself "playing" a racing video game by watching the AI drive about and resetting the game if they ran into a wall (hint: they don't). My only concern is that you are not surly enough, although given sufficient incentive, monetary or otherwise, I'm certain this is not an insurmountable obstacle. I snickered when I saw the "MOSFET-controlled" slogan and now I'm not exactly sure what it was about. My inclination is to brush it off as simple technobabble, trying to lure people in by sounding complicated. Given the size ("smaller than a breadbox") I have no doubt that it was, in fact, "MOSFET-controlled" (though now that I think about it, maybe it said "MOSFET-powered"?). In the event, I am always happy about the forward march of technology. From here on out, my blogs will be HYPERTEXT-ENABLED! Yeah! +ca |
| Galluskek 15.08.2009 - 6h40 |
Oh, I've heard wonderful things about hypertext, you should consider adding some PHP support and CSS compliance, I hear that blogs like that are 50% more likely to be XHTML browser capable. My condolences about the BART system, I hear that as of Sunday it'll be dead, to reopen when the operators get their 50% raise, retirement benefits, health insurance, life insurance, and in-ride masseuses (masseusii?). This seems like the perfect time for the president to step in and fire everyone. It is a government agency, and I'm sure there are a lot of people who would love to narrate for a living. They shouldn't be able to paralyze a city just because they don't want to make a slight compromise on the terms they want. They might consider arbitration instead. Oh who am I kidding, in our day and age no one is willing to crush the rights of the workers (even if they deserve it). We need someone who knows how to play the game, someone who understands the complex interplay of economic forces, maybe an actor of some sort... Zombie Reagan in '12! Or more realistically, Arnold will save you! (Hopefully) Oh, and Vulpecula, I am not a sound person, so I cannot really vouch for the sound quality, but ear plugs + headphones sounds like a good combination to me. Comfort is another story entirely, if you don't like 'em don't use them. Listening to ONIB now and it pleases me just as much as usual. "Siam s gonna be the witness to the ultimate test of cerebral fitness." Indeed. |
| Vulpecula 15.08.2009 - 11h21 |
In "fairness" to the BART workers (maybe "people who are employed by BART" is a better thing to call them?), the reason they are striking is because after the contract was rejected, BART's managing board forced the terms of the contract on them anyway. The reason is because BART is running large deficits and needs the money savings. Every day delay costs them more, so they can't wait for arbitration. So in some sense, the immediate strike itself is due to the board's actions more than the workers'. That said, BART's other unions overwhelmingly voted that the exact same terms were fair for their contracts. The thing is also, BART's good qualities are that it is clean, safe, runs mostly on time, etc. The management, technicians, support staff, etc. are all on board and willing to work. So the people who do the good part of BART are all working together. BART's downside is the mumbling people at the front of the trains and the unpleasant and unhelpful station agents. These are the people who are striking. I hope the public backlash against the strike falls squarely against them for being whiny babies. |