WikiLeaks, Assange, Fallujah, Afghanistan and all that..

While news-media seem to focus on silly things like the accusations against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, did you know that the people in Fallujah are worse off than those around Hiroshima after the bombing there? Coincidentally, what former marine Matt Howard says might be more true than we would like to believe: A year ago I attended a festival for and by hackers, called Hacking At Random. Among many of the interesting people camping there were the WikiLeaks team. They were involved in some inspiring talks there, of which you can still download the videos. During my stay at HAR I even had a short conversation about gevulde koeken and some other superficial things related to the festival with mister Assange. I think of myself as being a…

Continue ReadingWikiLeaks, Assange, Fallujah, Afghanistan and all that..

Audiophoolery

excerpt from Ethan Winer's website:THE CABLE GUY The earliest audio scam I can recall is fancy wire for connecting loudspeakers, and it's still going strong. These days vendors claim their wire yields better sound quality when compared to normal wire, and, of course, it's much more expensive than normal wire. In truth, the most important property of speaker wire is resistance, which is a function of its thickness. The resistance must be low to pass the high-current signals a power amplifier delivers, and is exactly analogous to a large water pipe allowing more flow than a small pipe. For short distances - say, up to five feet - 16 gauge wire of any type is adequate, though thicker wire is needed for longer runs. The three other wire…

Continue ReadingAudiophoolery