aoeu

Vg qbrfa'g znggre ubj zhpu ohearq va 30 zvaf - ol qrsvavgvba gur erznvavat ebcr (ubjrire ybat) jvyy nyfb ohea va 30 zvaf (be 15 jvgu obgu raqf yvg).

Kinda related and interesting/amusing - "This Guy Can Get 59 MPG in a Plain Old Accord. Beat That, Punk.":

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2007/01/guy-can-get-59-m...

> Perhaps that's what you're seeing?

Indeed yes, I'm talking about what temperament they use not what key they are in. Check the articles I posted if you're interested.

EDIT: could be this..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_musical_system

No, mouse closer better..

http://tlb.org/keyboardchop.html

msluyter, do you know what flutes (and other wind instruments) are generally tuned to these days? I noticed some of my sister's clarinet music books show different fingerings for sharps and flats so presumably an extended meantone? Ta :-)

It may simply be in a different temperament or just/pure intonation rather than out of tune. I'm rather curious if anyone can work it out.

http://www.kylegann.com/microtonality.html

http://music.cwru.edu/duffin/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_temperament

Gilbert appeared on edge.org..

"You may think that it would be good to feel happy at all times, but we have a word for animals that never feel distress, anxiety, fear, and pain: That word is dinner."

http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/gilbert06/gilbert06_index.ht...

I gave up with the Cygwin version and switched to the native port (http://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/emacs/windows/). Some Cygwin integration is supported by adding to .emacs:

  (require 'cygwin-mount)
  (setq cygwin-mount-cygwin-bin-directory "C:/cygwin/bin")
  (cygwin-mount-activate)

  alias emacs='D:/tools/emacs-22.3/bin/emacsclient.exe --no-wait --alternate-editor=D:/tools/emacs-22.3/bin/runemacs.exe'

Some more interesting info here..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2008/12/introducing_i...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/iplayer/

To me the article reads like an extension of current popular news stories.. which don't all reflect reality.

I remember this :-)

http://searchyc.com/the+bipolar+lisp+programmer

Wouldn't this be a better bet..

http://revengeoftheelectriccar.com/bring-back-the-ev1-press-...

As others have stated the status quo requires us to maintain current oil production not only to power farm machinery but also for fertiliser production, packaging etc and food transportation. We here in England are now net importers of oil, gas, coal, food and we have an ever increasing trade deficit. Hardly reassuring. Oh and oil production is set to continue declining..

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/5177

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/5241

> What do you know about the merits of this article?

Personally, not much actually - I hadn't heard of them either. However, I find the site to be addictive reading and the generally positive comment sections add weight to the articles.

I am convinced however that our current monetary system is fundamentally broken..

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/4611

Another interesting article about this on theoildrum..

http://europe.theoildrum.com/node/5260

If you haven't seen it "Who killed the electric car?" is an interesting film/documentary highlighting some of the shortsightedness of car manufacturers..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Killed_the_Electric_Car%3F

It was aired in the UK last night on More4 so may appear on their on catch up service at some point. Otherwise parts at least are on youtube.

Good points, thanks. The other issue is more interesting to me, the proliferation of equal temperament, which seems to be finding it's way into classical music also. Hopefully I'll have some info up on the web at some point once I've finished refretting my guitars.

Maybe the implication is the opposite - backbeat-based music has been lost over time in our countries. Perhaps to the expense of gaining harmonic complexity. Perhaps due to the rise of marching music? Just thinking aloud.

In any case, I think it's an interesting observation from his travels.

Not directly related but Bob Brozman has some interesting thoughts on music -

"African-based music normally has as the fundamental meter: both 2 and 3 at the same time. This opens the door to syncopation, polyrhythms and musical creativity, which occurs on a more primal level in the brain than harmony. It is acknowledged that Europeans developed harmony further than any other culture; but rhythmically their culture is among the planet's most primitive."

"Put simply, marching (colonizing) cultures see the downbeat as something to follow, and the "marched-upon" (colonized) cultures see the downbeat as something to react to, using the backbeat."

http://www.bobbrozman.com/tip_rhythm.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oPXRWRxda8

Additionally, the majority of western music is now performed in equal temperament which adds to the blandness. As hackers you may find the math of music interesting..

http://www.kylegann.com/microtonality.html

http://music.case.edu/duffin/

http://www.larips.com/

"To my surprise, in the rock examples the MP3 at 128 was preferred. I repeated the experiment over 6 years and found the preference for MP3 - particularly in music with high energy (cymbal crashes, brass hits, etc) rising over time."

Encoding to MP3 @ 128Kbs will apply a low pass filter (so that more bits can be used to encode the lower frequencies) and high freqeuncy sounds can sound smeared. I would guess one or both of these factors could be responsible for reducing harsh sounding treble.

I'm guessing of course but if right, I wouldn't say the MP3 was better. Merely, it masks a horrible sound to begin with.

I can't see that article (you can use searchyc.com to search) but there are lots of articles around if you search for loudness war. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war

If you're looking for a new camera I've found the following sites to be useful.. http://www.dpreview.com/ http://www.dcresource.com/ http://www.cameralabs.com/ http://www.imaging-resource.com/ http://www.photographyblog.com/

"Money is created through forms of credit and debt, i.e., when banks make loans and debtors accept them, the money instantly exists. Only a fiat system can allow this form of money creation." http://www.theoildrum.com/node/4611

I taught myself Dvorak many years ago during lunch breaks using this tutor (I think the webpage was much simpler back then, though the content looks the same).. http://www.gigliwood.com/abcd/lessons/

Although I could type quite well from an early age (despite the ZX Spectrum's rubber keys) I never learnt to touch type Qwerty. Learning Dvorak forced me to touch type and rest on the home keys properly. Using a "normal" keyboard also meant I couldn't cheat and look at the keys when using Dvorak.

Probably due to now touch typing, Dvorak is faster for me (and more comfy). I'm forced to use Qwerty often enough however that I can switch between the two fairly easily.

I'm in the UK but use the US-Dvorak layout as that is standard with Windows. I'm therefore missing the pound sign but ALT-156 gets me through the odd occasions I need it. I have tried the UK version on Linux but couldn't find the exact same layout for Windows and am too lazy to re-create it myself. The US version is good enough for me.

I tend to use the old DOS style keys for cut/copy/paste (Shift-Delete, Ctrl-Insert, Shift-Insert) due to the odd xcv layout others have mentioned. I learnt emacs after the switch so the layout seems fine to me. I haven't taken the time to learn VI.

Windows is a little awkward as switching layout with the taskbar icon only changes the active window and changing the default input language seems to miss things like the start menu.

I think an ergo keyboard is the next step (I can feel my wrists are pushed into a slightly unnatural position) but am yet to try one. This makes a lot of sense to me also but again I'm yet to try it.. http://www.tlb.org/keyboardchop.html

Just curious, can I ask where?

(I've been at Sony for nearly nine years and almost all laptops I've seen have been VAIOs).