Simply random stuff

[inspclouseau]

This was yesterday morning, This morning is up to -22. We got all outside chores done, moving snow etc right before the bulk of the Arctic moved in. A good day to stay inside and listen to music.

 

[JohnN]

https://globalnews.ca/news/10203811/digital-music-purchases-future/

 

[mandrix]

You're gonna really enjoy Fiber. I can't even imagine having to go back to 100mbits down 10mbits up...seems like torture now!

Yes, my wife will be happy. We get all our TV via internet and she's always complaining about how long it takes things to load.

 

[Sonik Wiz]

Hey...now that contacts were mentioned....after a very long time I integrated a 7.1 Zektor into my system last night!!! I'm quite pleased.

However, when I switch between different processors while playing, I get a significant pop out of the speaker(s). It does not do it everytime, but the majority.

Any thoughts or experience? Much appreciated.

On the bright side, it was extremely cool switching between the DPL II, QSD-1, Tate 101A on the fly.

I should have mentioned I could have asked the same question when previously using my cheap manual switches to do the same thing. Those caused the pop as well. I was hoping the Zektor would eliminate that for whatever reason.

FWIW, my Zektor is well behaved when switching. The only noise you hear are the tiny little relay clicks. I wouldn't plan on cleaning the contacts as the relays are the small type with plastic enclosures around them. If you had this problem sometimes with your older switch boxes then you can probably rule out the Zektor as culprit. Time to do some more detective work I guess!

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Hello! Hooray! They just strung fiber down my driveway!
I hope it comes soon, it's simply a must
But I hear no connection until August.
So I'll bide my time until that day
-ponder on how I shall pay.

Seriously though, 2Gig up/down for $100 a month the network admin told me. Well.. before the State gets their taxes in. I could choose lower speeds, of course.
So tired of ADSL.
"Boondocks" comes to the 21st century at last. I'm stoked.

Fiber to the Prim; wholly hell I’m envious!

What provider is it?

 

[Bill B]

https://globalnews.ca/news/10203811/digital-music-purchases-future/

Another article about the death of owning music. For people like us it would (could) be a windfall. While the majority of young people may be happy renting music for a monthly fee for the rest of their lives, there will always be a subset of folks who want to own it. Imagine how much our physical media collections would be worth if everything went out of print tomorrow. We probably wouldn't want to part with it, but it would be something our heirs could cash in on.

 

[LB-V]

FWIW, my Zektor is well behaved when switching. The only noise you hear are the tiny little relay clicks. I wouldn't plan on cleaning the contacts as the relays are the small type with plastic enclosures around them. If you had this problem sometimes with your older switch boxes then you can probably rule out the Zektor as culprit. Time to do some more detective work I guess!

I had the same thought when I realized it was a pre-existing condition. Darn. No quick fixes! But I'm motivated because now I found one more way to keep my lazy self in my chair...love the remote capable Zektor.

Thank you Sonik.

 

[mandrix]

Fiber to the Prim; wholly hell I’m envious!

What provider is it?

It's actually our local electric co-op. They own the power poles so it's all being strung on them; goes pretty fast that way. With the support of the membership replying to a government survey on broadband, and finally getting some decent grants, it was begun.
Now that it's down my driveway, but not up to the house yet, I just need that last "drop" finalized and I will be a happy camper. Looks like they are ahead of schedule.

 

[Jeffrey Michael]

Another article about the death of owning music. For people like us it would (could) be a windfall. While the majority of young people may be happy renting music for a monthly fee for the rest of their lives, there will always be a subset of folks who want to own it. Imagine how much our physical media collections would be worth if everything went out of print tomorrow. We probably wouldn't want to part with it, but it would be something our heirs could cash in on.

I’d like to be buried with my collection.

 

[inspclouseau]

Another article about the death of owning music. For people like us it would (could) be a windfall. While the majority of young people may be happy renting music for a monthly fee for the rest of their lives, there will always be a subset of folks who want to own it. Imagine how much our physical media collections would be worth if everything went out of print tomorrow. We probably wouldn't want to part with it, but it would be something our heirs could cash in on.

..as well as looking up your favorite rented song or entire record only to find that it has been removed. Getting old is not for the timid, we PURCHASED and kept what we liked instead of being rented and controlled. Fortunate to have so many of our favorites.~ On target Bill..

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

While the majority of young people may be happy renting music for a monthly fee for the rest of their lives

The young population doesn't understand why they should be buying physical media, or for that matter, paying for music at all. If some music gets taken off of streaming, they simply don't care. They don't go out of their way to try to listen to it. At least, in my experience.

Forget about anything else I can't even get my peers to understand why they should be listening to certain albums in album form instead of playlisting and shuffling.

 

[Bill B]

..as well as looking up your favorite rented song or entire record only to find that it has been removed. Getting old is not for the timid, we PURCHASED and kept what we liked instead of being rented and controlled. Fortunate to have so many of our favorites.~ On target Bill..

At this point I feel like if they stopped selling any kind of music whatsoever, I'd be just fine with what I have.
Of course, that's not what I want.

 

[Bill B]

The young population doesn't understand why they should be buying physical media, or for that matter, paying for music at all. If some music gets taken off of streaming, they simply don't care. They don't go out of their way to try to listen to it. At least, in my experience.

Forget about anything else I can't even get my peers to understand why they should be listening to certain albums in album form instead of playlisting and shuffling.

Yeah, there is just no value placed on music. At least when compared to 20 years ago. It's just "there",,, like coffee. Perhaps there will be a boomerang at some point. Nostalgia is a pretty powerful force. When they start turning 40 they might start seeking those songs out (probably find them for free somewhere on the internet), but the point is.... they will care. Some day.

 

[barfle]

Hey...now that contacts were mentioned....after a very long time I integrated a 7.1 Zektor into my system last night!!! I'm quite pleased.

However, when I switch between different processors while playing, I get a significant pop out of the speaker(s). It does not do it everytime, but the majority.

Any thoughts or experience? Much appreciated.

On the bright side, it was extremely cool switching between the DPL II, QSD-1, Tate 101A on the fly.

I should have mentioned I could have asked the same question when previously using my cheap manual switches to do the same thing. Those caused the pop as well. I was hoping the Zektor would eliminate that for whatever reason.

I’ve run across a few pieces of gear that, although they are AC coupled at the output, don’t have pull-down resistors after the capacitor. If you’re into tinkering with such stuff, try putting a 10k resistor on each of the inputs, with the other end of the resistor grounded.

 

[barfle]

This was yesterday morning, This morning is up to -22. We got all outside chores done, moving snow etc right before the bulk of the Arctic moved in. A good day to stay inside and listen to music.

Here in neighboring Idaho, we’re about 40 degrees warmer than that. We got about 8” of snow, which is heave for here, and it’s starting to pile up. And, of course, our HOA doesn’t have a snow plow contract, so getting out to the main roads can be a bit adventurous.

 

[barfle]

Fiber to the Prim; wholly hell I’m envious!

What provider is it?

When we first bought our house in Virginia (early 2002), we had no high speed internet at all. Dial-up was as good as we could get at the time. A few years later, Verizon brought FTTP to the neighborhood, and we were one of the first on board.

Since we moved to Idaho, we have cable internet, and it usually seems fine. We can stream two shows at once, which is all we need.

 

[zdjh22]

When we first bought our house in Virginia (early 2002), we had no high speed internet at all. Dial-up was as good as we could get at the time. A few years later, Verizon brought FTTP to the neighborhood, and we were one of the first on board.

Since we moved to Idaho, we have cable internet, and it usually seems fine. We can stream two shows at once, which is all we need.

Here in the boonies of the central Colorado mountains, outside of the “cities” (the nearby booming metropolis of Leadville has 2600 residents) the only options are satellite, something called direct WiFi if you have line-of-sight to an antenna, or via one of the phone companies (slow 5G or generally slower). A bit south of me, Saguache County Colorado had the distinction of having the worst per capita access to internet of any county in the continental US.

When direct WiFi became available (metered 40 to 80 Mbps depending on what you are willing to pay, optimistic numbers as achievable was often less) I could finally reliably stream one show. The state provided funding to the company (out of Saguache County) to extend their service north and south well before Federal efforts came to fruition IIRC.

I’ve since switched, first as a beta user, to Starlink. Self-installed, 100s of times better than the older geosynchronous satellite offerings (Hughes or ViaSat). Not cheap though, but at times up to hundreds of Mbps.

 

[mandrix]

When we first bought our house in Virginia (early 2002), we had no high speed internet at all. Dial-up was as good as we could get at the time. A few years later, Verizon brought FTTP to the neighborhood, and we were one of the first on board.

Since we moved to Idaho, we have cable internet, and it usually seems fine. We can stream two shows at once, which is all we need.

I had to live with dial up for years. To get something marginally better I went to satellite for several years. Rain, data caps, having to periodically re align the dish.
Finally the telecom got the fiber backbone we all paid for and a switch was installed about 1/4 mile down the road and I was able to get ADSL. On good days about 80mbps down and 20 up. For a long time we had bonded DSL modems, but with only one phone line, or as I lovingly call double twisted pair, it was no benefit for me. At least now we don't have to use their modem/router but the new upgrade is not bad so I stick with it.

I have a friend in Northern Idaho, he uses Starlink. Good speeds most of the time I think, although no port forwarding available.

I am so ready for fiber, I honestly did not think it would make out here to the boonies in my lifetime.

 

[inspclouseau]

Here in neighboring Idaho, we’re about 40 degrees warmer than that. We got about 8” of snow, which is heave for here, and it’s starting to pile up. And, of course, our HOA doesn’t have a snow plow contract, so getting out to the main roads can be a bit adventurous.

I didn't know there were 'HOA's' in Idaho! Friends of ours have lived there for so many years and scattered from north to south and right in the middle. Most in very small towns. Including our son. One of our friends who was born/raised there recently sold their home and left for the gulf coast. Said they were being bombarded with new homes all over the hills and folks re-locating from all over. It was a sudden decision to leave as they were definitely not the city type, and it is becoming one around their home. Prices began to sky rocket as well. I just do NOT understand why they went to Louisiana, not knowing anyone at all, or really anything about that state other than more affordable. ( I think the kids were priced out of Idaho as well, so they are now there too) They do live in what appears to be a very rural area though for sure. I don't think we could ever be rural enough. We get into a city, we can't get out of it quickly enough. Another very cold day (but beautiful and clear) at -24, but warming up starting tomorrow. Ah well...winter. barfle, put a blade on your truck and make a little money $$.

 

[mandrix]

I didn't know there were 'HOA's' in Idaho! Friends of ours have lived there for so many years and scattered from north to south and right in the middle. Most in very small towns. One of our friends who was born/raised there recently sold their home and left for the gulf coast. Said they were being bombarded with new homes all over the hills and folks re-locating from all over. It was a sudden decision to leave as they were definitely not the city type, and it is becoming one around their home. Prices began to sky rocket as well. I just do NOT understand why they went to Louisiana, not knowing anyone at all, or really anything about that state other than more affordable. ( I think the kids were priced out of Idaho as well, so they are now there too) They do live in what appears to be a very rural area though for sure.

I have spent time in Louisiana and met some nice folks there. Never lived there, though. You can get pretty rural if you want to.
Where I live in North Central Florida, the neighbors and I are all on 5 acre plots, though a few are subdivided now. There are 40 acres of pines behind me, and empty wooded 5 acre lot to my East. I have a neighbor in front and the road runs in front of their house, so I have a little cushion and a long driveway to the road.
My neighbors and I leave unattended woods between us as well for a little more "cushion".
But more and more people are moving up from South Florida, and the traffic in our little town 13 miles away is getting pretty bad. Our rural county is not going to be so rural one day. Of course people move in from out of State every day.
We have had 8 generations of Floridians in my family. I have seen the destruction of habitat and the beaches blocked with condos in my lifetime. Makes me sad.
Build on the beach, put up signs saying stay out. Then hurricanes come and wreck them and the insurance rates go up. Hardly seems right.