We Saw a Chicken …

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  • the analogue hole

    I have a bunch of Catherine’s old family recordings to digitise (do people still do that – sit around a tape recorder and make recordings?) and I had recorded one of Ken’s shows on minidisc, so I needed a relatively clean way to get analogue audio onto the computer.

    I ended up getting a Griffin iMic, a small USB audio input device. The sound quality is remarkably clean; here’s a sine wave recorded from CD to minidisc, then recorded on the iMic:

    tracks000.png

     

    The  iMic seems to work with all Mac audio software as an input device. The free Final Vinyl recording sofware is pretty, but a bit buggy and annoyingly, only works when the iMic is connected. I just use Audacity, and have done with it.

  • Ravenswood Opening

    a V82

    Yesterday — five years after the WindShare turbine started generating — Sky Generation‘s Ravenswood wind farm was officially opened. Ravenswood is the first wind farm built under the Ontario Standard Offer program, and four of its six 1.65MW turbines operate under that system. The other two turbines supply power to Bullfrog.

    Tom, Glen & Martin
    Tom Heintzman, Glen Estill and Martin Ince.

    The Mayor, the Landowner and the Energy Minister

    The Mayor, the Landowner and the Energy Minister cut the ribbon.

    Glen shows the Energy Minister the SCADA

    Glen explains the SCADA to Gerry Phillips, Ontario Energy Minister.

    Here’s what Glen said about the opening: Grand Opening of Ravenswood.

    Gallery: http://scruss.com/gallery/v/ravenswood/

  • recursive headline

    This CBC headline baffles and delights me: Review of mailboxes leads to review of mailboxes

    Following a safety review that led to the replacement of many end-of-driveway mailboxes, the P.E.I. Department of Transportation is setting its own guidelines for the safety of the new super mailboxes.

  • extreme time waster

    Flight of the Hamsters

  • broom.mov

    Remember when this video seemed quite nifty? broom.mov

    (I think you need real QuickTime to view it; VLC and others just give up.)

    It used to grace the front page of tmbg.com.

    This, of course, is not to be confused with this somewhat baffling broom.mov.

  • nice chips, shame about the hours

    What’s it with good east end chippies? St Andrews (Ellesmere and McCowan) closes at 8pm, and Duckworth’s at 7:30.

  • Ken Reaume | Wavelength Music Series + Zine

    krfourhorsesposter.jpg

    Interview: Ken Reaume | Wavelength Music Series + Zine

    January 20th 11pm – 18th, 2008Ken Reaume– at Sneaky Dee’s (431 College St, Toronto)

    “Four Horses” CD release

    Tags: guitar toronto acoustic pwyc

    This hCalendar event brought to you by the hCalendar Creator.

  • moicy!

    The Holy Modal Rounders documentary DVD, Bound To Lose is now available for us international types. But the price? $28 in the US balloons to $40 elsewhere. At that price, I’d expect Peter and Steve to deliver it in person!

  • you’re a tube, Leo …

    I caved to the tone craving, and ended up buying a Fender Champion 600 all-tube combo amp. It’s nice; just the right volume level for the basement, and even dimed (or duodimed, since it goes up to 12) it’s unlikely to raise too many complaints.

    But filling in the registration card was a problem. Tell me what’s wrong with this question:

    fender.png

    Hint: it’s not the content …

  • soan papri frenzy

    I had this Indian sweet last night. It’s good; better than that, maybe. It’s an ultra-friable milk, sugar, flour and nut delicacy, with a strange layered consistency. If you thought that tablet melts in the mouth, this positively vanishes. Good stuff — I shall look out for it.
    Update: I found it. Two stores within five minutes of the house have it. When it’s in little squares, it’s soan papri. When it’s in little cakes, it’s soan cake. Either way, it’s good.

  • poem

    The Mower

    The mower stalled, twice; kneeling, I found
    A hedgehog jammed up against the blades,
    Killed. It had been in the long grass.

    I had seen it before, and even fed it, once.
    Now I had mauled its unobtrusive world
    Unmendably. Burial was no help:

    Next morning I got up and it did not.
    The first day after a death, the new absence
    Is always the same; we should be careful

    Of each other, we should be kind
    While there is still time.

    —  Philip Larkin

  • stuck inside of T.O. with those K.C. blues again

    With fresh memories of Arthur Bryant’s, I tried Phil’s Original BBQ (838 College, at Ossington). It does a very creditable BBQ brisket, and the got sauce has the right mix of vinegar and burn. Not so sure about the sweet sauce, which has enough sugar and cinnamon to make french toast happy.

    There’s blues on the sound system, and the service is quick and friendly. The bread’s maybe a bit too good – hey, if Wonderbread works for Bryant’s – but maybe it’s the closest you’ll get to KC BBQ without driving 1600 klicks.

  • tim hortons = thirst no mo’

    oh no, there’s a Tim’s opened right kittycorner to my office.

  • Jeremy = teh smrt!

    Jeremy Clarkson thought it would be a good idea to publish his bank details to show that the whole thing about identity theft was hooey. Not such a good idea.

  • my hero

    Machete-wielding grinch caught on tape deflating Christmas display

    … But their Christmas card to Calgary, as they call it, was ruined early Thursday when a man came up the hill at about 3:30 a.m. and began slashing the inflatable Santa, polar bear and Christmas train with a machete.He also dismantled a sound system playing Christmas music.

    Dude, if anyone was playing Christmas music in my neighbourhood at 3:30am, it’s probably just as well I don’t own a machete.

  • and many were the kilojoules

    A new Tim Hortons across the road from my office isn’t going to help a carefully-controlled diet. This is just as well, as I don’t have one.

  • nothing says Happy New Year …

    … like coming home to a brick through the kitchen window.

    xlx2-20080103-011952.jpg

    The place was a mess, but the police and the insurers are being helpful.

  • unhungry in lansing

    We went to Elderly Instruments in Lansing, MI yesterday on the way home. It was about lunchtime, so we asked the staff for recommendations. The nearby Mama Bear’s Café was closed, so we took up another recommendation: the Golden Harvest.

    Oo-aw, it was good. Where else can you munch on a perfect smoked turkey reuben while there’s Olivia Tremor Control cranked on the stereo? The Golden Harvest even has a MySpace page.

  • Well, it happened today …

    Feed Article | Business

    U.S. crude fell 44 cents to $99.18 a barrel by 2:30 p.m. EST (1930 GMT) after hitting a peak of $100.09 earlier in the day.

  • down home radio show » The End of the World Banjo Band

    down home radio show » Various Field Recordings
    Anthology Film Archives – New York City 12/8/07:

    This show was after a screening of the film “Bound to Lose” which is a GREAT documentary about The Holy Modal Rounders. “The End of the World Banjo Band” is a current project by Peter Stampfel of The Holy Modal Rounders. It’s an all banjo band featuring Peter Stampfel, John Cohen (of the New Lost City Ramblers), Jeannie Scofield, Walker Shepard and Down Home Radio’s own Eli Smith. Faced with the end of the world, seemingly the only option is actually to create an all-banjo-band. The band has 5-string banjos, banjo-mandolin, and 6-string banjo-guitar.

    The End of the World Banjo Band Live!