Sherwood

I have brought this pox upon your house, Al. Forgive me.

woof.

Losing it over Peranankan food these days. Having some char kway teow and fried bee hoon. INSANE. Gonna eat a fish's whole head later. Fucking love China.

If they're clean, they might fetch you some cash, Dan. There is some kind of prognosticative devil worship to IBM keyboard pricing, though, so who knows.

The obvious joke is Steve.

I think it has something to do with the pollution and the lifestyle. I remember when it seemed ridiculous to own headphones that played full volume out of both sides. Loudest ones, MX blues. I do have little silicone rings on the key stems to help deaden the sound when I press a key hard enough that it bottoms out, but that only goes so far. I have mine in an acoustically-treated room, and my wife doesn't seem to mind. I can't bring any personal electronics to work, so I've no idea if my coworkers would mind. Interesting...

I hesitated. For awhile there we were getting people registering to join discussions we had on office chairs, and I did not want those people here. Keyboard enthusiasts are yet worse. Nevertheless, the heart wants what it wants.

I've been sort of into mechanical keyboards lately. I spend a lot of time typing, and I felt I should start doing it properly. Naturally, that has meant spending money on unnecessary things. Out of DIY interest, I bought an Ergodox keyboard kit from Massdrop. Improbably, I assembled it correctly and I've been enjoying playing around with layouts. I've not gotten too interested in the more esoteric collecting popular elsewhere on the internet, but this little thing sure is fun. I have some legended keycaps coming, soon, but I've gotten okay typing on the blank ones. Anyone else interested in this type of thing?

Well, consider that a blessing.

Looks fun to these untrained eyes. I'd love to build one, but I'm far too green to be any help to development.

I've been making everything from this book for the last year, and I love it. Skip the poncy intro, and don't worry overmuch about ingredients, but do worry about tools. Cambio mix tubs, a good kitchen scale, and either a baking steel (for pizza and focaccia) or a cast iron dutch over (enameled or not, for larger 'boule'-style loaves.) I have not baked baguettes yet, as I don't have the kit for it. My loaves are killer, though, as are my pizzas, rolls, focaccias, etc. I've made decent pretzels out of this dough (and a lye bath) but I can't readily tell them apart from pretzels that have only risen for 1-2 hours. I have a starter that apparently lives off the mercury vapor and tin shavings we breathe here in Beijing. Followed the guide in the book to get it going from nothing, and feel like that's a fine way to go unless you inherit a starter. The only downside is that this process is not friendly to bread machines, Edwood. My post is mostly for the benefit of other by-hand bakers. Of course, no one here has the baking chops of Iceland's baker laureate, the creator of the skyr cake, and wielder of the electrostatic hammer of the Gods, Birgir þor Gudjonsson.

^^ I don't know what to do if the 'case gives you shit, though. Then I'm at a loss.

Unfollowing is easier, but getting your hackles up and firmly rebuking a family member takes some guts. Thankfully, you've guts in abundance, Steve. Anyone gives you shit, 'case has got your back.

What does plastic sound like?

Congrats, Steve. I expect to be included in eventual glowing details.

I'd love to make his acquaintance some time and spend an afternoon in the barn. I've seen pictures of it for years, and it is something of a legend in my home. I couldn't care less about the gear, frankly, as it looks like he's spent more than my entire system's value on speaker cables, but I'm very interested in the room. It's evident from the gear choices he's made that the "iffy shit" runs deep in him. Given his resources, I'm not sure what my system would look like. I'm imagining it would basically be Ray Kimber's old show demonstration rig of 12x soundlab electrostat panels run through huge Pass amps. http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=gallery;image=7739

Technically, all amps are limited runs. Doug's are somewhat more limited.

God, that room, though. That room is a dream.

I am just happy that he listened to us.

Yep, same guys. Their phones are also pretty stellar. This brand has not made a lot of missteps,

This is a really interesting question. The U.S.' standard line on IP theft is to bring it up at the highest levels, say that it undermines trust in business, say we can't release the best stuff in China, etc. etc. We basically try to shame leaders with it, and use it to paint a picture of China as a backwards place, which is not in their interest. It's the same kind of "top-down" approach we are using against Russia in Crimea, although obviously not as severe. Germany's approach to IP theft is different. They invest in Chinese companies making unique IP, and assume that China will develop robust IP protection in response to its own industry being pirated. I think both approaches have merit, and I'm glad German companies are willing to invest in a possible solution here.

Chinese companies usually know how to get a good product from Chinese manufacturers. I imagine these will be made as advertised, though possibly with used caps.

Don't scratch it too hard. Upside is that it is soldered properly and built to spec.

Taobao, as of last week, accepts a few more payment options. It's not just Chinese bank account or Alipay account, now. Shipping overseas is still tricky, but not so tricky that they're about to turn down a sale. I'd say buy on Taobao like the locals do -- right from the seller.

They look like Usher X-718s to me.