jvlgato

Agree w/ wmcmanus. At least w/ my Apogees (which I assume are similar since Magnepan put them out of business for patent infringement), 5-8 feet was about right. Too close and the soundstage does not develop, too far, and it's too narrow. But they do need space around them to breathe. And they were VERY sensitive to placement - toe-in, distance from walls, each side being the same distance to listener, all needed to be very precise to have the best effect. But boy, when you get it all right, it's just magic! Who's the violinist sketched in your icon? Heifetz, maybe?

My Dad did not own a stereo at all.

Thanks for the info... Yes, I am aware. I replaced them myself once already when my friend's kids did the same thing a few years ago. My wife said she'd never seen me look so sad; she thought someone had died. I was never sure I did the tensioning quite right, but it did sound good to my ears. When my kids did it a few yrs later, I decided that if I fixed them again, it was only a matter of time before they did it again; it would just be a recurring battle until they reached a certain age. I gave them to a friend who had good DIY skills and who had a strong interest in them. I wasn't so active here yet, otherwise, I'm sure I could have found someone who would have gladly taken them off my hands! I bought a pair of dynamics (used Meadowlark Shearwaters) that I am quite pleased with, and the kids have shown no interest whatsoever. Something about those big shiny silver ribbons that attracts kids! Exactly. We have a pretty small house, and my man-cave now doubles as a kids' playroom. I have a fence going across the entire room to keep them out of the back where the good stuff is, but they leaned against it while watching TV, and the fence got closer and closer without me realizing it, until one day, there were the fingerprints embedded in both my ribbons, one of which was torn. My next door neighbor once told me about the time he found a pop tart jammed into his fabulous new CD player; his kid wondered what it would sound like! Anyone with kids will tell you similar tales; it's just the cost of having the beloved little darlin's ... I love them ... I love them ... I love them ... I'd think about starting a thread called 'What horrible things did your darling children do to your high end equipment', but it would be way too painful for me to read. Although it might be good group therapy ...

A double birthday party during the day for my two (now) 5 year olds; 23 kids and 19 adults. Coupla beers with the grown ups. Then had my wife's two college friends with husbands and their 6 kids over for dinner and overnight. French martinis, wine, champagne at midnight. But I only had about four drinks the entire day/night. Up till 230am. Dogs and kids got us up around 730am. One family went home, we hung out watching TV all day with the other til just now. Crazy day, but great people, so had a good time. Watching the Rose Bowl in peace and quiet now. More hung over from activity and too many kids than from alcohol. Happy New Year everyone!

Wow, those look nice! Sadly, I'm out of the ribbon market for now since my old Apogee ribbons had fingers put through them first by a friend's kid, then by one or both of my two 4 year olds who got past my full protective gate. I'll wait until they get a little older and live vicariously through you all for now!

Never even heard of natto, I had to look it up, thanks for the post! I was hoping someone would bring up Japanese. Puffer fish anyone? Or that fish they slice up live and flash fry so that it is not quite dead when it is served? Geoduck ('gooey duck') anyone? Never had it, but I love clams and missed my chance once in San Fransisco, when the menu offered fresh geoduck, but when ordered, was told they were all out. I've never understood terrine of any type, much less pig's feet. Terrine reminds me of jello w/ fruit cocktail in suspended animation and served as 'salad'. At my first Thanksgiving w/ my in-laws, in small town Wisconsin, the table discussion was the optimal number of cows to milk in a day; Uncle Bill asked me to 'pass the salad'. I looked in panic for anything leafy and green and could find none. My wife nudged me and whispered, 'he wants the jello,' which was sitting right in front of me. I looked like more of an idiot than I already am! Smelly tofu - I'll take a pass. It's tofu, and it's smelly; I'll just have tofu that isn't smelly. Durian is an acquired taste, I think. The first few times I had it, the odor was just so overwhelming. After a while, I got used to it, and it does have its charm. Interestingly, I have heard that the better hotels in Asia ban durian because it is impossible to remove its odor once it's been eaten in the area, and customers flee, never to return. Also, in all the Zimmern shows I've seen, with him eating bugs and rodents, and all kinds of putrid looking things, and ALWAYS saying, 'oh, this is delicious,' the ONLY item I've ever seen him turn up his nose in disgust with is ... durian. He nearly vomited in the midst of his first swallow and said it's the worst thing he's ever eaten. Which is funny, when he just finished a segment on some horribly yucky thing and saying he loved it!

I was in Maine this fall and had some fabulous shellfish. I have to say that I love it. But heard a great story there that there was a time when the local prisoners received so much lobster for their meals that they staged a protest to ask for something else besides all that damn lobster!

MMMMmmmm. Looks tasty! I like the rest of the page, too! I noticed the messed up eggs at the bottom, too ... Funny ... My favorite bizarre food ... pie, that is Boy, I think I've always done ketchup. I messed that up totally! Will have to try it again soon ... although I never did keep kosher, even when I was living in the Jewish neighborhood I grew up in ...

That's cool, Dusty! Sushi is great stuff, and plenty of people are afraid of that. And who needs bugs anyway, when you've got worms and lung?

You like mustard or ketchup on that tongue sandwich? I've never seen a dish of just marrow, but my brother and I used to fight over the big bones for the marrow when we'd have stew or soup with big boned meat involved. Can you get a bone marrow dish somewhere?

You would make my winter so much bearable. Please do ... Let me put on my shades ...

Dare I ask for the gory details? Interesting. I think I saw Zimmern eat that on one of his Bizarre Foods episodes. He quite liked it! My Mom used to fry Spam for breakfast when I was a kid. I think Spam is a delicacy in the Philippines, and in Hawaii. I seem to recall there was a four star restaurant that had a Spam dish in Hawaii. And of course there's the Spam Museum in MN. Never been there, though. Never had the courage to eat Rocky Mountain Oysters. It seems like it would be painful to even bite into a testicle. It hurts just typing this. I've got to have me some haggis. Been on my list for a while now. I just wonder how authentic anything in the USA would be? Wow, morphsci, I don't think I've had any of these! What is the taste and texture of reptiles, esp Iguana and Turtle?

I don't think so ... to me, most of this stuff isn't bizarre at all. People eat what's available! I just think you're open minded. But most of my life, when I talk about this stuff, the reaction I get is horror and disgust. It used to bother me, but now I kind of enjoy making people cringe. Have you eaten a lot of this stuff?

So you suck out the shrimp head innards? Still doesn't sound so good. I've sucked the insides of crawfish heads and that wasn't so great. Tasted like sewage to me. Wood ears - is that the hard/chewy/crunchy brown stuff that is sold dried; it shows up in all kinds of Chinese dishes, esp noodle dishes? I like the texture, but it doesn't seem to have much taste. But maybe my taste buds are deficient with fungi. I've had fresh truffles while in France, and didn't taste a darn thing. Huge disappointment, just let the pigs have 'em, I say! Yeah, my wife is pretty cool that way. White girl from small town Wisconsin, but really open minded. But then she'd have to be to marry me, the poor gal!

Shark fins soup is fabulous. But I felt really bad after I saw a show about how they catch them alive, saw off their fins and throw them back in. I know, all animals have to die in order to eat them, but it seems there can be some element of humanity involved. Sea cucumber is very nice, tasty and chewy! Can't say I've had a shrimp head. Seems like it'd be all hard shell, spines and eye balls. But reminds me, any bagoong fans out there? A strong smelling pink salty paste made up of ground up shrimp that is salted and fermented. Horrible stuff. One of the few things my wife couldn't handle. The first time she met my parent when we were first dating, they took it easy on her. The second time around, after they heard she had traveled quite a bit, and was open minded, they threw everything at her - we had pigs feet, jellyfish, oxtail stew, bitter melon, bagoong on the side, all over one weekend. She tried everything, and even liked some of it! She scored a lot of points, my parents have liked her ever since.

I LOVE oxtail! My Mom made a nice oxtail stew when I was growing up, and we still have it upon request. There's a Cuban place in town that makes a nice oxtail stew. What is rattle snake like? Never had any kind of snake. I've had quail eggs, but never raw. Fresh jack fruit is very nice, have had jarred many times, but it's not as good. Sweet breads were very nice at some French places I've been. Snails - I don't get why it's a delicacy. Frog legs - they're ok, nothing special, to me. Never had haggis; looks bizarre enough to me! Would like to try it some time. I've heard there are some pubs in Chicago that have it. Sea urchin sounds interesting. What does this pinkish goo taste like?

Uugh, those worms look awful, what was I thinking?! Although they don't look quite as bad when cleaned and prepared. Yup, have had all that good stuff we (Asian) 'brothers' eat. Can't say I esp LIKE organ meats, but have tried them. I had lung once, by mistake. My Dad thinks he can read Chinese (a few years of Chinese school in the Philippines as a child), but he really can't. He ordered what he thought was a beloved vegetable he hadn't had in a long time, but what came out was mystery meat. We recognized alveoli, and it was kind of spongy, so we figured it was lung. Of the stuff you list, I only like the pigs feet, octopus (awesome grilled!), squid. I've also had fish stomach (sometime called ' fish maw') which is really good. My poor Caucasian wife ate all this stuff when we were dating; such a trooper - she still married me! Yeah, 'bizarre' is only 'bizarre' outside of its cultural context. Really, no food is inherently 'bizarre' because if a culture eats it regularly, it's not bizarre; but if another doesn't, then that one thinks it's 'bizarre.' No Filipino I know thinks balut is in any way odd, but all my Caucasian friends do! There's some TV show w/ Andrew Zimmern which is fun to watch, and I think it's called 'Bizarre Foods', so I figured I had pick a title... I had brains once in scrambled eggs; not so pleasant, I thought. Now I'm afraid of getting prion diseases. No more brains for me! Eel is awesome - get it all the time at the sushi place. I had fish eyes once, thought it was awful. My Dad said it's the best part of the fish, next to the cheek. I let him have it every time. Would love to try more game meats - I've had a smattering of them, but it's usually at the Wisconsin state fair, so it's burgers and sausages, I don't know that I really taste the meat at all.

The snow is deep enough in Chicago now, that I have to dig a path for my two pug dogs to get out to the back yard. Otherwise, they sink to the bottom, the snow is above head level, and they have to bound like rabbits or perish. I love this topic so much, I created a new thread rather than continue to hijack this one ... http://www.head-case.org/forums/food-drink/7797-what-bizarre-foods-have-you-eaten.html#post310183 I hope you join me!

Have never tried fried termites. Sounds awful ... may have to add it to my list... I grew up on balut ... loved it as a kid, but one day got one that was allowed to develop too long. I opened it up and a tiny duck embryo head popped right up and looked like it was staring right at me. I freaked, and never ate another balut to this day. Messed up eggs - love 'em! Century eggs -yum! Had some over Tgiving weekend, great stuff, had it in the turkey broth congee my sister-in-law made! Where did you find the pics of Mopani worms?

Continued as a new thread which started in the f*cking snow thread ...

Crocodile is great! But not quite as good as warthog. Mmmmm, warthog! The worst is Mopani worms. Blech!

Not really a download. You ship your CDs to them and they rip them for you for a fee. Costs $1-2 per CD. Google 'CD ripping service'.

I have an old slow Celeron based laptop w/ a 750 GB external HD and listen to it around the house over my wireless network via a Pico DAC/amp plugged into a USB port on a Dell laptop Core 2 duo over wifi. No problems. I have also plugged that same external HD directly into my Dell laptop via USB and listened to the Pico DAC/amp off another USB port on the same laptop. No problems. I brought that exact system to Chiunifi and set up next to you. Unfortunately, I was also 2 1/2 hrs late, and you had a flange stuck in your ear. But I think you would have found my system to have been ok. )

Actually, after I saw those shirts Bryan brought (not the pictures, but the shirts at the actual event), I've recently started cruising around here a lot more. Great site here! I go to both sites now and think they're different enough to co-exist, no problem. Looking back now and just found this thread, sorry so late to the party! But then that's the usual for me ... As asr unfortunately knows ...