As online time-wasting goes, you could do a whole lot worse than to spend a day exploring Scientific American's website. I have a digital subscription which lets me download the whole magazine for each month for the past 11 years in full-color, high-resolution PDF format (or individual articles, if I prefer). I justify the expense (to my department) because I am always scanning it for articles I can ask my students to read. I'm never disappointed.
The February 2005 issue is on newsstands, but it isn't up on their public website yet. It is up on the digital (password protected) website, though, and I found a neat article about how those new Bose noise-cancelling headphones work. For 300 bucks, you get not only high quality, comfortable headphones that are constructed to effectively block a lot of high-frequency noise, but they also have electronics inside to cancel low frequency noise. With a little external microphone in each earpiece, the device detects incoming low-frequency waves and a mini-speaker inside the headphone broadcasts the same sound, 180 degrees out of phase so as to cancel out a lot of the noise. As time goes on, presumably they will get better at this trick.
Meanwhile, time to add a new item to my wish list. Gimme summa them headphones, a nice new iPod, and maybe a Sirius satellite receiver base that broadcasts wirelessly to a little walkman I can carry around (so I can listen to Air America around the house without being stuck next to the computer), and I'll be all set. Just a thousand bucks or so. Not the highest priority (I'd probably get my eyes lasered first if I had that kind of money to spend on myself), but I like to have things to dream about.
Posted by Observer at January 22, 2005 11:48 AMComments on entries can only be made in pop-up windows while those entries are still on the main index page. Sorry for the inconvenience this causes, but this blocks about 99.99% of the spam the blog receives.
Beats dropping $1300 on long-deferred periodic maintenance of your truck, like I did yesterday :-/
Actually, as a bus commuter (on routes that have, at least in the evening commute, a fair number of rather strung-out indiviudals) true noise-cancelling phones are very attractive. Around the house with kids ... too seductive. I need to keep an ear open for what they're doing to let myself tune out entirely.
Posted by: Feff on January 22, 2005 01:20 PMYou're totally dreaming baby! If you really want things to dream about, I suggest thinking about stove top and oven if you want me to keep cooking for your ass!!
lol
Posted by: felicity on January 22, 2005 02:37 PMA colleague tells me you can get the equivalent of the Bose headphones for about $100 if you shop carefully, read product reviews, etc.
When I was at the Honda dealership last time to get the van door fixed once and for all, I managed to get a maintenance schedule from them. I think it was the 105k maintenance that they wanted about $1200 for. Holy crap. I'm used to a $400-$500 hit for replacing the timing chain plus other assorted maintenance on cars I've had, but breaking $1000 just for maintenance is going to be hard to stomach.
Posted by: Observer on January 22, 2005 04:40 PMWell, out of that $1300, about a third of it was the dreaded replacement of the timing belt, which is something you can't avoid, really. Another big chunk was a tranny seal replacement, but shouldn't happen but on a '94 pushing 100k on it, well, shit happens.
At least I'm not like the guy who left the garage before I did. He ignored the mechanic who was telling him his brakes had about 2% left. And this is a garage that doesn't BS you, either.
Posted by: Feff on January 23, 2005 11:16 PMGetting your eyes lasered is a fair bit more than $1000. Unless you only want one eye done... :) I'm having my eyes done on the 1st of February. Our vision insurance just started covering a portion saving us $500 on the procedure.
Posted by: Liz on January 24, 2005 08:05 AM(Feff shudders.)
Man, I'm too squeamish to even put contact lenses in my eyes. NFW anyone is taking a cutting tool to them. (Well, until I get old and start getting cataracts... sigh.)
Posted by: Feff on January 24, 2005 09:19 AM