dsavitsk

Best pepper mill I've ever used. http://www.unicornmills.com/Peppergun-0/

Links to lots of "Best Photos of the Year" lists at http://kottke.org/12/12/the-best-photos-of-2012

I use Tried and True oil for the wood on my amps - usually 6 to 8 coats applied over 2 weeks or so - and then buff it for 10-15 minutes with an old cashmere sweater.

The Fuji has arrived. It is pretty nice, but in comparison to the Contax it is replacing, the fit and finish is a full step down. To be fair, this is a $1K camera, and the Contax was well more than that in 1997, but the feel is a tad disappointing. More Canon/Nikon than Leica. One other thought is that in 1963 Olympus managed to cram a pentaprism into a smaller body with a similarly sized frame. Why are digital SLRs so big? And why could they not do something similar here? These three pics were, oddly enough, taken with a Canon S100 (and hugely compressed in PS -- they originals look much better) that I bought during the Back Friday sales because every indication was that the Fuji was not going to ship until after the holiday and I needed something sooner. Oh well -- I actually quite like the Canon and will keep it around for keeping in my pocket.

Happy Birthday!

Does anyone have a suggestion for high voltage relays for use on the output of an electro-static amp?

Just about any reputable watch dealer will either have a guy, or a guy they can send it to. Be aware that prices can range hugely -- I looked around to take my wife's 60's Omega in for service (it also loses time badly), and one place quoted $100 while another said $1000 minimum, but probably more.

That's really really cool, but just a little too dear. I am holding out for the Fuji with the 41mm equiv pancake as a main camera as I have no use for the zoom they are currently bundling, and it really makes it too big for a travel camera. The ability to take the lens off and use my Contax glass for the occasional table top shot probably makes it the right choice over the Sony, too. As does the included EVF (which I am not so opposed to instead of the OVF.) Adding that to the Sony drives it up another $500. But it is really really cool ... ... if the Sony had a shutter speed knob on top ...

Ow wow. I think someone made the perfect digital camera.

Looks like the camera I have been waiting for is finally arriving. http://www.dpreview.com/previews/fujifilm-x-e1 Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a 23mm fixed lens

If someone is interested in taking the DSHA-1 for a spin for the purposes of writing a short review somewhere, I am happy to oblige. There are lots of places to do a writeup. Also, there is a new blog post for the first half of the Black Diamond headphone amp -- a project I am working on at http://diy.ecpaudio.com

Looks great, Marc.

Happy Birthday!

Does the DCR matter?

http://singularityhub.com/2012/10/15/19th-century-french-artists-predicted-the-world-of-the-future-in-this-series-of-postcards/

Can anyone recommend a good used watch dealer?

$6000 more?

The whole thing is basically an empty shell. My issue is that I wanted the feel of the Thinkpad, wanted to use a smaller X series computer as my main computer, but also wanted a large monitor. The external keyboard is the same as what they use on the laptops, but the shell does not offer as much support as a dense laptop body. So I was really filling it with goop in order to make it solid and heavy. The noise dampening was a side benefit. The hardest part of the whole thing was getting the case open. All of that said, it is still not silent. I think the only way you are going to not hear the keyboard at all is to go in the other room

I took a Lenovo Thinkpad USB keyboard and opened it up and filled the hollow bits (all of it) with Dynamat sound dampener. This is basically gooey tar with a foil backing. I then put a layer of adhesive rubber on the bottom. Keyboard is solid as a rock, and very quiet -- not quite silent, but better than most others I've tried.

@ jury duty ...

If you are traveling a lot, I'd take a look at a Thinkpad. I bet there is some way around here to eek out a discount on one, too ...

The Pickett Furniture/ecp audio Morkt Samfunn Console is up on Apartment Therapy as a submission in their 2012 Design Showcase!

Happy Birthday!