One Canuck's Radio Weblog

  Wednesday, 14 January 2004

.< 9:08:22 PM >
TIME.com: Confessions of a White House Insider -- Jan. 19, 2004
So, what does O'Neill reveal? According to the book, ideology and electoral politics so dominated the domestic-policy process during his tenure that it was often impossible to have a rational exchange of ideas. The incurious President was so opaque on some important issues that top Cabinet officials were left guessing his mind even after face-to-face meetings. Cheney is portrayed as an unstoppable force, unbowed by inconvenient facts as he drives Administration policy toward his goals.

.< 8:04:47 PM >
Bush's "unsustainable" war on terror

A military scholar says that conflating al-Qaida and Iraq, and setting the impossible goal of ending terrorism, "violates fundamental strategic principles" -- and could strain the U.S. military to the breaking point. [Salon]

< 7:57:36 PM >

People watching the online music industry say two things about that digital marketplace: business is booming, and the business stinks. [New York Times: Technology]

< 7:56:51 PM >

Sales of cell-phone ring tones hit $3.5 billion this past year, according to a study. The worldwide sale of ring tones now amounts to about 10 percent of the $32.2 billion music market. [Wired News]

Good grief!

< 7:53:41 PM >

With almost 23 million households sporting high-speed, always-on Internet connections, the broadband home of the future makes every room the center of the networked world. By Chris Anderson from Wired magazine. [Wired News]

< 7:39:20 PM >

Apple on Wednesday reported its results for the first quarter of its fiscal year 2004, which ended December 27, 2003. The company reported a net profit of US$63 million, or $0.17 per diluted share. The company noted that revenue for the quarter jumped 36 percent year over year, to $2.006 billion -- a four year high. [MacCentral] 'Apple noted that it shipped 829,000 Macs during the quarter -- a 12 percent increase year over year. Apple shipped 733,000 iPods, an astounding 235 percent increase year over year.'

< 7:39:12 PM >

Apple on Wednesday reported its results for the first quarter of its fiscal year 2004, which ended December 27, 2003. The company reported a net profit of US$63 million, or $0.17 per diluted share. The company noted that revenue for the quarter jumped 36 percent year over year, to $2.006 billion -- a four year high. [MacCentral] 'Apple noted that it shipped 829,000 Macs during the quarter -- a 12 percent increase year over year. Apple shipped 733,000 iPods, an astounding 235 percent increase year over year.'

< 7:05:48 PM >

< 7:02:09 PM >

< 5:20:20 PM >

There's some freaky shit going on regarding wind, hydrogen, and Prince Edward Island energy policy. So freaky that it's hard to believe. For example, here's Hon. Jamie Ballem, Minister of Environment and Energy, quoted in a CBC story:

"It's such a renewable, and it's so clean," says Ballem. It's our oil. It's our opportunity because it's one thing we do have here. We have good wind conditions. Maybe we should be maximizing it. If we can get Maritime cooperation then it makes it a lot easier for us to look at. Instead of 15 per cent of our energy coming from wind, can we make it 50 per cent, can we make it 100 per cent?"

I had to read that paragraph three times before I believed it. Some days, it's just good to be alive. [Reinvented News]

< 5:19:02 PM >

In 2004, Alpine Electronics will introduce a high-end multichannel surround sound system that pairs their new IVA-D901 in-dash DVD/CD/AM/FM receiver featuring a motorized, high-resolution WVGA display with their PXA-H701 multichannel audio processor with integrated support for Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Pro Logic II, and DTS[ProSound News]

< 5:16:47 PM >

Top Music Samplers and Sound Designers Using Millennia HV-3D Preamps
PLEASANT VALLEY, Calif., Jan. 09, 2004 -- Leading “sample library” creators have selected Millennia HV-3 microphone preamplifiers for critical applications. Jorg Mayr, Chief Audio Engineer for the most extensive classical music sampling library to date, the Vienna Symphonic Library, says “we are recording the entire Vienna Symphony Library with Millennia HV-3D preamplifiers. Our main concerns are transparency, minimal coloration, the lowest possible noise floor, and absolute reliability because we record 360 days a year. I simply could not find anything better than the HV-3D.” Read more [Digital Pro Sound News]

These days almost all CBC Records CDs are made using these mic pre's. They really are excellent.

< 5:14:58 PM >

Playing trumpet takes more than 'plumbing,' lip service , Jen Graves, The News Tribune [Tacoma], 1/13/2004 [La Scena Musicale - News] 'One of Chin's favorite maxims about the famously brassy brass instrument came from James Thompson, a mentor at the Eastman School of Music: "It requires the daring of a fighter pilot, the precision of a surgeon and the bravura of a circus performer."'

Cool. Jim used to teach at McGill when I was there.

< 5:05:52 PM >

An American Airlines pilot is detained in Brazil after making an obscene gesture when photographed on arrival. [BBC News | World | UK Edition]

< 5:01:12 PM >

Net notes: The rise of digital devices could spell the end of film photography. Follow our web history of captured light from pinhole to Kodak DC40. [Guardian Unlimited]

< 5:00:37 PM >

Eastern Canada in the freezer again
A second bout of severe cold in less than a week settled over a region extending from Manitoba to Nova Scotia on Wednesday, triggering pleas to conserve power, launching emergency plans for people without homes and closing many schools. F U L L S T O R Y
[CBC News]

It was -20 when I woke up this morning. Too cold to snow, I thought. I was wrong. We're in the middle of a good ol' snow storm!

< 4:43:22 PM >

I thought that multiple alarms had disappeared in the last version of iCal, but they're just a little hidden. If you click on the label "Alarm," as seen in the image at left, a pop-up menu shows "Add Alarm" and "Remove Alarm.... [macosxhints]

< 4:40:28 PM >

Macworld UK reports that Apple sold about 125,000 iPods in the UK during the last quarter -- about 17 percent of global iPod sales, according to the publication, and the largest single market for the MP3 player anywhere in Europe. [MacCentral] 'Apple UK's success in getting iPods into consumer's pockets reflects a resurgence in consumer interest in music in the UK. Official UK music sales figures released this week to Music Week show that album sales here rose by 7.6 per cent, with 121 million artist album sales – not including compilations – an all-time high for album sales in this territory.'