Knuckledragger

I picked up two rare EPs by the excellent (and criminally ignored) Canadian group Perfume Tree. I got Fathom the Sky and the uber-rare Roots EP. The latter turns out to be an official CDR from the band, ca. 1999. I got quite lucky getting it for $10 in a Buy It Now auction. Bidding wars for rare Perfume Tree can get ugly. I've seen the Remote EP bring well over $100.

Good idea but I am uh, not one who should be trusted around a soldering iron. The last electronics project I made was in high school, ca. 1991. Blinking lights for a model railroad crossing grade, that used IR leds to trigger. It didn't work.

Analog audio signals should never be inside a computer case. KTHX.

A friend of mine gave me an Agfa Snapscan 1212u flatbed scanner (USB). It appears to be an older, but very nice unit. Unfortunately, he didn't have the power supply for it. It needs 16 volds DC/900mA, in a barrel connector <mumble> size, tip positive. I can get one of the connectors @ Rat Shack, but where am I going to find a 16v PSU that puts 1A or so?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXxhHWmzDXk

Apropos to nothing, this picture is wicked cool.

NAD T752 A/V receiver. Complete and total overkill for my intended purpose, but it was cheap ($205 shipped). I'm going to use it to decode the digital output from my Wintel desktop (which only does 5.1) and use the two front channels only. This will free up my old Yamaha receiver, which really belongs upstairs anyway. The NAD will drive me EV Sentry 100As for the time being. I might eventually replace them with something newer than 1988.

Negative, it's New York City, 2008 on Flickr - Photo Sharing! as seen from Jersey City. Made from over 20 exposures, apparently.

That's just what we call "pillow talk" baby. Uh, I mean... According this, it's only $60 if it's King Size. Queen is $50 and standard is $40. Still more than $25, of course.

The most bad-ass film stock on the planet. Also among the hardest to use. It's ISO50 slide film, with very narrow shoulders. I have never worked with film this advanced before. It will be a significant challenge to get good results with it. Done right, Velvia is very rewarding: it has such a fine grain, it's detail level is equivalent to a ~20MP sensor, and it has color saturation and contrast that no digital camera can match, period.

A Canon EOS Rebel K2 film camera and a 28-90mm kit lens. I was not in the market for another consumer level film body (I want an Elan II or 7) but I was working at the club last night and this girl offered it to me for $50. I had $48 in my wallet, and she took it. I tested it mechanically, and it works fine. I'm going to load some BW400CN into it later this afternoon, and give it a whirl.

The, ahem, acting and direction are far better in Firefly. The main characters are more compelling. The bad guys are more scary (dude, Niska.)