Googl’isms on Me.

At least some of this stuff is about me, which is really not all that exciting. But, some of the Patwardhans of the world are really something!

Hum-Drum

Today, during late-lunch hour, I took a jaunt over to Jack’s Drum Shop in Boston. Jack’s is an independently-owned shop, and the people who work there are pretty clueful. Unlike Banjo Center, for instance, Jack’s carries a lot of professional drum product. This is not to say that everything in the store is pro (read: expensive) gear — because they have to cater to a larger market of musicians — but if you’re looking for pro gear, Jack’s won’t try to sell you something under the guise of it being pro gear (if it’s really not).

Today, I exchanged a kick drum pedal for Dave (Mighty Ira!), and then I went looking at snares. Through the recording process of the Jarvik-11 album, I’ve really begun to understand what it takes to make a nice-sounding recording (well, a recording that’s effective enough to control the chaos that is heavy metal, that is!), and for drums, the essential ingredient is the snare drum. By far, it’s the loudest drum in the kit, as it’s got the most pronounced (or even, the widest) position in the frequency band. As far as recordings go, the snare will get picked up by every microphone in the room — guaranteed. So, if the snare sounds like crap, every last drum track will sound like crap. If the drummer doesn’t know how to play, the recorded drums will sound like crap. Mighty Ira is a good player, so the rest is up to drum quality and recording technique.

I’ve learned these undeniable truths — embarassingly — through making some of the worst conceived recordings possible.

A few months ago, I’d picked up a couple of new snare drums: one Ludwig 6.5″x14″ (maple with metal rims) and one PDP 5.5″x14″ (all maple!). The Ludwig snare, after taming it a bit with a coated batter-side head, is loud, clear, and lively on recordings. Gosh, in the room it’s even deafeningly loud! For the PDP snare, the jury is still out, as I haven’t been able to use it productively yet. In slang, snares are often spoken of as having “crack”. “Crack”, or that “sizzle” when you hit a snare drum, is generally what you’re looking for, as that characteristic is what makes the snare a special drum. There are those who look for “boom” in snares as well, but the 80’s are over, ok?

Today, I had the privilege of trying a snare drum … that costs $1300. Thing is? Aside from being loud and having a good “crack”, I couldn’t find anything so special about this snare drum that would justify the price tag. Why is it $1300? Just so that one could say they’d paid $1300 for a snare drum? Hrm.

Maybe it’s like how some people spend thousands of dollars on a bottle of wine, while others spend a few dollars — for basically the same concept in wine, and may even enjoy it equally as those who’ve spent a thousand.

Free to be Bought

I remember when Linux was free (to Stallman fans out there, I mean free as in “I didn’t pay anything for it out of pocket”). That is, I remember when a desirable Linux distribution — with frequent updates and patches — was easily downloaded, burned to a CD, then installed on my system.

Something happened over the last few years. For desirable Linux, you pay. For everything else, you don’t, but there’s a pretty large gap in between the full-featured system installers and the ones that you find in some of the lesser distributions. In addition, there are varying degress of kernel and software versions, as well as security updates. Sometimes, I think of Linux as its own version of an African nation. Sure, you get various flavors and cultures, but without good decision making, you get Blackhawk Down.

Granted, over the years, I’ve dealt with some pretty manly UNIX and Linux installations. Last year, in fact, I was known to install Solaris from tape — as co-workers at my former company will tell you. I’d sit there, griping as I watched files slowly wind themselves off tape. And then when it was done, I’d inevitably raise my arms high, or even pound my fists on my chest.

Following that, ease of operating system installation really boils down to civility. Unfortunately, the only ones who seem interested in making order out of utter install chaos are those Linux vendors who charge you something.

So, if you folks out there would recommend a nice Linux distribution out there that’s stable, easy to install, and current (and no, I don’t think of Debian as being a current release, no matter how stable it is!), I’m all ears. I’m thinking Slackware, perhaps. But please don’t mention Gentoo. I’ve been building software for UNIXen and Linuxen for 10 years, and I’ve really concluded that there’s not a whole lot of fun, danger, or challenge in it, especially when it comes to building the entire operating system from a source kit then bootstrapping. Besides, just using the words “source” and “bootstrap” in the same sentence — not in the context of “the source of my pleasure is your booty” — suggests that building an entire operating system from scratch is something that should take a backseat to finishing the Jarvik-11 album … or speed dating.

Floored II

Okay, I can’t seem to get this out of my head. Why would someone postpone an election? Really.

It’s not like all American voters pile into a central location that contains both voting machines and the Bush family themselves. As you’re aware, it’s quite the opposite. Crackers vote in suburbia. Minorities are tricked into taking free food and gifts, then are dissuaded from returning to the voting area. Almost everyone under 35 stays home. It’s always the same.

In other words, in the event of a terrorist act during election day, the vast majority of Americans will live, if only because they chose not to vote at all! So, it’s easy for me to conclude that there’s no need to implement a contingency plan for an election, merely on the grounds that such a notion flies in the face of every last lazy tendency that we’ve inherited — as the result of democracy.

Floored!

So, color me floored. Are the cats in Washington really trying to “postpone” the election whilst delegating special powers to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission? Hello?

Sure, yes, there’s always contingency planning, but goodness, elections have taken place in this country under arduous conditions in the past.

This smacks of Alexander Hague after the Reagan assassination attempt.

“But everything is OK”, said Alexander Hague after the Reagan assassination attempt, “I’m keeping charge of things around here.”

Really, Mr. Didn’t Read the Constitution?