n_maher

I'm sure I'm in the minority, I like the ES-2.

Yes, 18ga is a large conductor. Most "stock" power cords use 18ga wiring, most "stock" headphone cables use 26ga and up. In addition to wondering what the flexibility of a braided 18ga cable I seriously question how heavy it's going to be. That's ignoring the insane amount of $$ it costs, I'm guessing you just shelled out the better part of $600 for these things, right?

Watched the last episode last night, I agree that it finished very strong and will be a real pisser if it doesn't get picked up for next year.

So the only good news out of this so far is that the seller of my transport is being very accommodating so that part of the equation seems like it'll come to at least a reasonable end. Not sure what the hell is going to happen with the beta22 though.

I won't really fault anyone for liking the Ultrasone sound (it's not for me) but 18ga headphone cable? Yikes.

Here's a quick shot of the production version of the connectors.

Because they're just as bad?

South Park S07E11 - Casa Bonita I need a laugh.

So, on the day that my damaged transport is picked up (yesterday) I find out that UPS has decided to play kick-ball with the beta22 that I shipped out last week. Now today I hear back about the damage claim to the transport, which of course they denied sighting "insufficient packaging" and "no damage to packaging". Oh, sweet. I guess that custom cut 2" thick foam inserts and double boxing are now deemed insufficient packaging in their mind. And the entire corner of the box crushed 1" (through both boxes) qualifies as "no damage". I hope the guy who sold this to me is a good lawyer... Now, onto the beta22 that I had professional packed. Evidently they managed to treat that package with such disdain that the transformer became dislodged and played pinball with the amp's internals and went so far as to snap one of the adjustment pots off of a pcb. I'm sure they'll deny that claim to claiming that layer upon layer of foam and bubble wrap was insufficient. Looks like I'll get to un-retire and repair that in the near future. So, long story short, UPS can kiss my ass, I'll never ship another package with them if given the choice.

The view out my office window tells a very different story. The seacoast (and southern NH in general) is a pretty polarized region where you're either mid to upper middle class or scraping by.

Honestly Mike, for me it's as much about the folks who can only afford health insurance where the premium is more than they make a month (which is getting more and more common). A lot of employers are being forced to move to plans like this due to the increasing cost of insurance. A friend of mine, who has a good job at a good company recently got told that his company provided insurance was changing. He now gets to worry about a $5k deductible on top of whatever the monthly premium is for he and his family. So basically, even when he's healthy he pays through the nose every month and then pays for any treatment that he does require up to $5k. And you wanna bet that that $5k is probably per insured and not a total for the plan? I don't know about the rest of you but I couldn't absorb many $5k hits before I'd be up shit creek, and I've got my priorities pretty well sorted.

Link? And then I'll comment more.

For now let's say it is, now pay for heat, electricity, and maybe a phone and you're at the $1000/mo figure I mentioned. That's "rent" in my book, however much it costs to live somewhere with the barest of necessities. And you'd never find a 3br in portsmouth for a grand, even in the shitiest of neighborhoods. Rooms for rent go for more than that in places where I've literally seen dead bodies by the front door. No fucking joke. It has nothing to do with priorities. Food isn't a priority. A roof over your head isn't a priority. Notice I didn't include a car of any kind. $2000 a month in raw, not-able-to-be-lived-without necessities is easy to imagine. Take home pay for $40k a year is probably in the $2500 a month range, assuming that you live in NH with no income tax. That's precious little buffer.

That's a pretty huge generalization and would depend on your location and local cost of living. I can tell you this, in my neck of the woods $40k w/ a family of 4 would put you at or near the poverty line and that $400 would be the better part of 20% of your take home pay. Figure another $400 a month for food (minimum), another $1000 for rent and it's not hard to imagine that you'd be living on the bleeding edge where one unexpected bill would spell doom. $40k is barely a living wage for a family these days, the gov'ts estimation of what constitutes poverty and the middle class is laughable.

I will download a clip, a whole episode, NEVER!

I wish I could say that it had some redeeming value, hell anything to make it worth watching. Nothing, and I do mean this, NOTHING will get me to watch another episode of that show.

Probably. The show would have cause me to stick the hot iron into my eyes to find out if the nerves really are super sensitive. Honestly, right now, I'm in search of that hour of my life fearful that I may never get it back. It was bad, so very, very bad.

You heard wrong. Wow, just...wow. I just suffered through the first two epidsodes (hour?) and holy hell, I don't know what else to say other than I can't believe after that long he still can't run fast. What the fuck?!?!??!

Wifey is a HS Guidance Counselor, I officially qualify for the discount - no shenanigans required.

Quick, probably stupid question. It's been a decade or more since I owned a MAC and back then monitors that worked on MAC's didn't work on PC's and vise versa. Is that still the case or will any old LCD do? I've got a nice 19" display at home which is what initially made me think mini.

You have a MAC. The last version for windows still doesn't support it. I just downloaded and tried.

Yeah, option #1 right now is a used Imac or Mac Mini. I posted about buying a mini yesterday as the result of my favorite childhood game being re-released and I'm seriously considering picking up something mac-based to use as a desktop replacement in the office.

Thanks Dan.

[me=Vince]makes mental note to discuss video transcoding with Jacob.[/me]