Author: Isaac

Categories
freedom politics

Extra-judicial

I’m not using the prefix of extra to mean larger, in this context, it means outside of. I have written before about the administration’s use of predator drones. Like I said, there is an argument to be made about pursuing folks that are actively fighting the US forces beyond the combat zone and doing away with them. I don’t buy them, but the arguments can be made. Where I have a real issue is when US citizens are targeted, ones that are not actively fighting the US. The administration has OK’d the killing of this American for inspiring the underwear bomber. There has not been a trial, there is no indictment, there is no jury. Did we gun down Tim McVeigh when we found him? No. We didn’t even kill Sadaam when we found him. Maybe this guy deserves to die, but surely we shouldn’t allow the executive branch to execute whomever they think they should. If Dubya had done this, there would have been universal outrage, and it would have been warranted. The current president is getting a free pass and I have no idea why.

I was happy to see a modest protest about this though. There is what looks like a transformer or phone circuit box on the right as you go over the Key bridge into Georgetown.  On it has been spray painted an image of a predator and the word “extrajudicial.” I doubt most people understand or care, but I am glad to see it. I am glad that there are some people that are bothered with the power that had been seized by Dubya and is now being wielded by Obama. I wish there were more…

 

Categories
odds and ends

Actual conversation with a customer yesterday

Customer: I just moved up here and I can’t get used to the heat.

Me: Where are you from?

Customer: Atlanta

Me: …

 

I take this as official confirmation that it is hotter than hell here.

Categories
economics

Another great protest coin

Another “hard times” token, this one in silver.

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“No pyramid can endure when the base collapses… So let it fall.” I continue to be impressed with the artwork and symbolism in these things, they are miniature works of art in their own right. I ordered some of the Amero silver coins tonight, what do you think?

 

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The eagle is a little ominous, but still striking. I also ordered some others as well. I really do like the messages in the others I’ve posted, I might start collecting protest coins…

Available from here.

Categories
economics

"End the Fed" and other rebel coins

The groups I belong to on Facebook (Libertarian party, Mises Institute, etc.) land me on some interesting ads lists. One caught my eye, it is a group minting silver coins that say “End the Fed” on the front and a chart showing the devaluation of the dollar on the obverse.They are 1 oz. silver coins and look quite good. I was struck at the quality of them and did a bit of googling. It turns out they aren’t the only “hard money” group out there printing their own coinage. Check out these hard times tokens.

coin.jpgTell me that isn’t some anger on those! Using puppet masters on the front and using the slogan “Real money doesn’t grow on weeds. Not one Federal Reserve Dollar” on the back pretty much sums up that group’s feelings. I can’t say I’m unsympathetic to the cause, and I’m mightily impressed with their coinage to boot.

One of the more stunning coins I came across was the “Amero” currency. I was unaware that there was an idea that would have had us adopting a single currency across all of North America. There were a lot of conspiracy theories out there, people going crazy over losing our sovereignty, etc. As far as i can tell, all that is dead now. Personally, I wouldn’t care if we did have a unified currency as long as it was made like these “concept” coins were, in copper, silver, and gold denominations. If we agreed on using hard currency like this, it wouldn’t matter where the money was from, or even what was printed on it. Plus, who wouldn’t love carrying these around in their pocket?

 

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Go ahead, tell me those aren’t beautiful coins, I dare you! I still think the days of us going to a hard currency are a ways off. I’m not sure if it is inevitable or not, part of me wonders how far the dollar will devalue before there is either a crash or revaluation, or both. I’d welcome hard currency, especially with such talented artists out there making the coins!

 

Categories
music

This machine kills fascists

That was a line in a book I was reading. It rang a strong bell, but I couldn’t place it. In the story, a punk rocker was saying it after an unlikely dispersal of an alien with a guitar chord. But who was that? Who said that? Oh right…

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In many ways, Woody Guthrie was the original punk rocker. He didn’t really align himself with right or left (although these days he’d be squarely on the left I think) but he knew when he didn’t like something. He could sniff out corporitism and crony capitalism at its worst. We need more Woody Guthries than we do John Lydons…

Categories
odds and ends

The Georgetown store…

… is lovely. I have now worked there two full days and I can say I really enjoy working there. It is spacious, look great, and seems to function very well. The best thing, the absolute most wonderful thing about it though is NATURAL LIGHT!!! The whole front lets in a lot of course, but the whole back is one big skylight. Yes, I know that direct sunlight can make some things challenging, but Lord, it looks and feels so much better than artificial lighting.

I was a bit surprised at how plain the store looked, but I have warmed up to it. The facade is rather understated, but the rather plain exterior is offset by the expansive views inside. You can see all the way to the back of the store and of course all the goodness in between. The back wall, the one that is under the huge skylit area, at first seems rather plain (it is simply white painted brick with some displays just over head level), but I have come to appreciate the shadow play across that area as the day goes on. The patterns and shapes thrown onto those essentially blank screens are quite striking.

Alas, this goodness is stuck in Georgetown, and that’s the reason I can’t see myself moving to that store. The commute for me is brutal. I’m not going to drive there, I’m just not. I have always avoided driving down there because it makes me insane. So I’m stuck using public transport. That translates to a commute that is a little over an hour each way, a huge increase from my normal 15 minute one. Honestly, the store might as well be in Baltimore, or Boston for that matter. The commute time is such that I would have to move in order to work there…

Wednesday will be my last day there. I’m both sad and relieved. it is such a nice place to work, and the architecture is so stimulating, but I dread getting there and going home. So it’ll be back to Pentagon City on Thursday. I’ll miss you guys at Georgetown!

Categories
free market freedom

Self sufficiency and freedom

 

Our entire way of life depends on others doing lots of work for us. We do our work for them as well. It’s a great system. You do what you you can to help other people, and they do what they can to help you. Isn’t it great to have other people do things for you? It’s especially good since I have no idea how to make a lot of the things I use. We all barter our labor for the things that we want through the intermediary of money. You work and are given IOU’s to other people’s labor in the form of money. Other people will do almost anything for you in exchange.

When viewed in this way, it is easy to see why a society based on freedom of exchange works so well. It gives all of us the most varied products and services and the lowest prices. When you see money as the way to barter your labor for others labor, paying low prices seems even better! Cooperation is the name of the game, and freedom is the cause of it, and the result of it.

People that espouse “self sufficiency” have a general distrust of this idea of free cooperation. In my more cynical moments, I get the feeling that they just distrust people in general. Self sufficiency is the road to privation. You spend much more of your most precious commodity, time, on things that could be gotten much more easily with exchange. Cooperation and exchange is the two laned road to abundance and freedom.

There are people that espouse the idea that we should grow our own food, raise our own animals, and do our own canning (canning for God’s sake!) in order to pursue freedom. All that stuff is fine if you enjoy doing them, but don’t pretend that you are any more “free” because you did it yourself. Don’t kid yourself, you have given up a lot to do those things.

Our current wealth is evidence. I once asked my grandmother why she didn’t can things and make pickles anymore. She gave me a look that I’ll never forget and said, “Because I don’t have to anymore.” Canning was hard work and it simply wasn’t worth her time. She would have laughed in my face if I had told her that some people think that canning is part of the formula for freedom.

Go shopping for the things you need, work for other people’s benefit, and enjoy the extra time you get instead of doing everything yourself. What could be more freeing than that?

 

Categories
audio

My stereo

I know you’ve all been waiting with bated breath waiting to hear what I’ll be doing next with my audio gear… Well, you’ll be able to rest easy now, now more sleepless nights worrying!

I’m still enjoying the heck out of my Squeezebox Touch. It is the digital front end I have always wanted in a system. Instant access to all of my music, and really good sound quality to boot. It is capable of playing back up to 24 bit recordings, so if I ever get any of those, I can go to the realm of hi-rez playback…

The problem is that my system is “too big.” My room is small, too small for my amplifiers and CD player. Now that I’ve replaced my CD player (and with something that outperforms it…finally), the speakers and amps were the issues. I had originally thought of getting some active speakers. having the amps and speakers in the same enclosure would really improve the space problem. There are also some potential technical advantages to them as well. I was coveting some speakers that were a little over 2 grand. I had rationalized that the price wasn’t too bad considering that I would be getting a good quality set of speakers, a good DAC (Digital to Analog convertor), and a good preamp. That was all true, but it was still 2 grand…

So I started thinking about some single driver speakers and a really cheap amp. That combo would give me some sound that was decent, would be small, and would satisfy an audiophile itch. That was going to run about $400. Better, but it would be a pretty limited system. The speakers wouldn’t have any real bass, and single driver speakers have a rather unique sound. I was worried about them only being good for certain types of music.

Going back to the active speaker sites, I found some active monitors that were in the $300-$400 range. These would not have any of the limitations of the other speakers, but they would still have the limitations of being cheap speakers. Considering that my speakers were in the $1500 range when I bought them, I didn’t really want to take such a big step down.

And then it occurred to me. I had discounted using my speakers because they were too big. True, they are on the large side as far as monitors go, but they would be on stands. Here’s the thing, once you put speakers on stands, they all take up the same amount of space.

So, I am going to use my old speakers, but with a new, smaller and cooler amp. It is what as known as a gainclone amp. Yet another piece of equipment that I have wanted to hear. I hope to have a good sounding system up within a week! I’ll let you know how it goes.

Categories
music technology

Last FM and more…

I had mentioned Pandora radio before, I now feel that I have found an even better internet radio service. It’s called Last FM and it is amazing. Here’s the way it works, it looks at all the music you have played, in iTunes, internet radio, and on your iPod, and builds an artist library for you. From there, you can play “your” radio station (assembled from the artists you play), or listen to recommendations for you based on those artists.

I am in heaven. I have found a radio station that will play Joan Jett, Wilco, Devo, Glenn Gould, The Bouncing Souls, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Spoon, the Detroit Cobras, and all of my other favorite groups. There isn’t another station that has that kind of spread. It’s my station, made of my music. Oh life is good, life is good my friends.

That station is for the sure bet, when I’m in the mood for something reliable. I haven’t done a lot of listening to the recommended station yet, but I’m excited about that too. I’m getting new music ideas from the Slacker “Indy Rock hits” station, Radioio’s jazz standards station, a crazy east coast Doo-Wop station on live 365, and I’m looking into classical.com.

This is the radio I’ve been waiting my whole life for. I had no idea that this was even possible. Last FM may be all the reason I need to actually get an iPhone, it will allow me to take this on the road. We’ll see if I ever shut up about this, in the meantime, please bear with this music lover’s gushing….

Categories
audio technology

I have music again!

So, my Squeezebox Touch got here today. In a lucky break, so did my switch and ethernet bridge. To recap, the SB Touch is a network/internet music player you can hook up to your stereo. I can stream the music from my computer via the network to it, or I can use it independently to listen to internet radio stations.

Here’s how I set it up. Since I’m on FIOS, I was able to use a MOCA ethernet bridge to get the internet from the coax cable in my room. I took that ethernet cable and attached it to a 5 port switch. That gave me 4 more ethernet ports. I then simply hooked the computer and the SB Touch into the switch and I was done. I now have the music from my computer going over our network in the house.

I have been enjoying listening to my music without having it bog down my computer. I’ve also been enjoying the radio. I listened to my college’s radio station WICB for hours, they are still one of the best college stations I have heard. I can also get all the worthwhile local stations like WTOP for news, and the Public stations too. I need to figure out when a Prairie Home Companion comes on so I can start listening to it again… All of these sound much better than regular FM, and as far as I can tell I can get damn near any station in the US.

Of course the other great thing that internet radio allows is the ability to use services like Pandora or Slacker. Slacker is a really good internet service. They sound great and have a lot of diverse stations. Pandora is a service that allows you to make your own stations based on an artist or song. It will pick others like the one you picked and then you can tell it what you like and don’t like to narrow the view down. So far, I have made Buddy Holly radio, Silversun Pickups radio, Tito Puente radio, Beck radio, and Where is My Mind radio (from the Pixies song).

I overspent on all of this, but I am already really enjoying the experience and plan on taking the radio around the house since it ties into the wireless network as well. My iPod touch controls it through the wireless as well. This is the first audio toy I’ve bought in years, and it’s a winner. I’ll let you know if I find any hidden gems out there while “twisting the dial….”