dsavitsk

Have you ever been there when the guy parks his ice cream truck next to the line, and plays the ice cream truck music non stop? Makes the mere long line seem like bliss. What's amazing to me is that with the thousands of hot dog places in Chicago, so few competitors to Hot Doug's have emerged.

Happy Birthday!

Usually between May 8th and 10th, and then again from September 28th to the 30th. Unless it rains.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/food/stew/chi-hot-dougs-closing-20140506,0,7406836.story

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

I'll agree with the dirt cheap part. Just make sure you measure the secondaries to be sure they do what you think they are doing.

Happy Birthday!

I think it went pretty well

Happy Birthday!

Frankie Knuckles, house music 'godfather,' dead at 59 http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/turnitup/chi-frankie-knuckles-obit-20140331,0,565674.column

Thanks everyone!

Today in Hartford ...

I have wrecked my share of long handled switches. The rest of the AR might be a tank, but the switch handles are pretty flimsy. Percy (http://percyaudio.com/) has the long handled Tocos switches still.

I needed to get a CT license. First step was to wait on line to get a number. Then I went to a booth to have my picture taken. Then I waited to be called to have someone check my paperwork. Then I sat around and waited to be called to have my eyes checked. Then I waited around to be called to have my paperwork checked ... again after which I waited to have my picture taken, again. It was like a bureaucratic palindrome. I have no idea what the first picture or paperwork check accomplished. Oh, and I had to make multiple payments at different stages. They never told me what some of the payments were for. CT seemed overstaffed -- the employees (who I should note were all quite pleasant) seemed to be waiting around as much as anyone else. And Erika forgot her social security card, and thus gets to go back tomorrow.

I went to the Connecticut DMV. It was impressive. I did not think anything could be less efficient than the Chicago DMV, but it was playing on a completely different level.

For those who have been waiting patiently, the next set of amplifiers is very close to being ready. Here are a few pics of the final Black Diamond proto. You'll just have to imagine the wood sides -- my wood worker says we should have the initial set done by April 5.

Happy Birthday! Hope you have one of these!

Totally underrated.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clustering_illusion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot-hand_fallacy

Straight north on Delaware for 7 or 8 blocks and you'll hit the end of the Mass Ave neighborhood which is where most of the more interesting/independent stuff will be. I have not walked around the area in a few years, so I am not sure what is there anymore. In closer proximity will be more tourist-y and steak-y type places. I think people used to like St Elmos -- a friend's brother used to play saxophone there, which is all I know about it. Ambiance is nice.

In this case I am. Actually, in this case, I am a pick up an off the shelf thing that works type. I really think that the I/V and output stage make a lot more of a difference than digital format or jitter, so coupling someone else's digital solution to my analog is the approach here. Do people even buy spdif input dacs anymore? Would certainly be easier, and more future proof.

It is a little more general purpose, but I do think it does pretty well.

That sucks. Why has there not been a class action suit against the CC companies yet? Or has there?

I think we called it the DSHA-0. It's a pretty neat piece in that it has 5 (?) inputs + both preamp and headphone outputs. Most protos have used the PCM1794. It is nice to work with as it is easy to use and sounds good. For the next revision, I am looking at the DSD1794. Basically the same chip but with DSD capability. The upside is that it adds DSD functionality which the kids seem to think is important these days. The downside is that it requires a little bit of firmware programming and finding a good USB to I2S/DSD converter. This isn't that hard, but it is another step to do.