Wmcmanus

A sensible comment if ever there could be one in a thread like this.

It was nice seeing everyone again, however briefly. The highlight for me was my chat about music and life and such with Rob from Zu, as well as listening to the fine system they had set up in a not so fine listening environment. It seemed pretty neutral in terms of tone, with nothing over or under emphasized, yet it still imparted a certain energy in very familiar music (Steely Dan, mostly) that made for a great listening session. I could hear all sorts of potential, but for some reason couldn't get the room limitations out of my mind. Maybe I needed a couple of beers or something, or just more time with them to better identify what I liked most about them. One thought that kept running through my mind was that these speakers shouldn't necessarily be limited to use as near field monitors in a small room environment. They seemed full range to me. I've always been intrigued by the Zu brand from the days the Druids came out and had such widespread praise at Audiogon and Audio Asylum. I mean, what a concept: produce extremely efficient and reasonably priced speakers that sound amazing and can be driven by anything! I'm thankful to have finally had a chance to give them a quick listen and meet a couple of the people from the company. I wish I could have spent more time at the meet (and the before and after parties), but there were logistical problems in finding a place to park my rig and I didn't quite have the courage to try to pull it into the hotel parking lot. I'm pretty sure I could have gotten in, but am 100% convinced that there was no way in hell I'd ever get out! That stupid cement plaza in the entrance area has just gotta go! Oh well, it was still fun while it lasted. I had done a long drive to get there (900+ miles from Virginia), and then decided mid-afternoon on Friday (while still driving) to opt for the Trans Siberian Orchestra concert on Friday night. Long story, but I wanted to take a couple of good friends (who just got engaged) to the show. It was a good time, but my guess is that 80% of the music was piped in and that 99% of the audience had no clue that it wasn't 100% live. I guess if you would like to see an extremely well orchestrated laser light show along with all sorts of jumping/running around air guitar battles (and even air violins) that come through giant speakers with note perfect, pitch perfect brilliance each and every note for 3 hours, then I'd recommend it highly. You'll just need to suspend your sense of reality a bit. Oh ya, headphones. I didn't listen to much but did get a chance to A/B two pairs of HD800, one stock and one Picadillo'ed (I know, wrong word, but whatever). There was definitely an improvement in sound with the after market cable. I'd say about $200 to $300 worth of improvement, unless I was missing something. About the HE-5. One of those pairs was mine, and it had exactly 46 minutes of break-in time. I've listened to all of one CD with them. So if that was the pair you were listening to, and if break in is even remotely important for these headphones, then you didn't hear them at their best. Can't speak for Colin's pair, and unfortunately, I didn't think to compare my pair to his to see if there were noticeable differences.

I'll be there with rings on my fingers and bells on my toes. You can call me Sweet Gypsy Rose, because I'll go anywhere CanJam goes. Seriously one of my favorite weekends of the year, even if I don't listen to any music at all. There are just so many people to meet and old friends to catch up with, I wouldn't ever miss it unless I absolutely had to.

Have a good one, John. Hope you take the time to smoke some fine c-gars, and spin a fine "slab of wax" or two (quoting you from CanJam).

That works for me. Most of us have been to (too) many meets, so something different will serve as a nice change. Plus, it's cool that the Zu folks are willing to do this at what I'd imagine will be a considerable expense, not to mention their time and effort. Well done, Mike!

I didn't really compare them side by side, nor did I listen to the same music on each, plus is was a loud room and fairly short listening sessions. I wasn't even thinking in terms of which was better because I had already bought the HE-5 and was only interested in getting a guy feel about whether that was a good decision (it was) and whether to add the LCD-2 into my mix of headphones (and I definitely will). They both sounded excellent to me. The LCD-2 seems to have an even wider soundstage, but probably a little more flat (as in neutral, non-colored, docile) and more O2-like in the sense of getting out of the way and letting the music shine through seamlessly. The HE-5 seemed a tad more aggressive, fun, and perhaps even somewhat colored in certain ways (although I didn't have enough time with them to pinpoint the why's and how's of this observation; it's more of a gut feeling). They just seemed more toe tapping, ever-present and noticeable. Of course, I've never been able to determine for myself which of these descriptions I like best. It's probably mood dependent. What's better? The O2 or the Jade? Same kind of thing with the LCD-2 and HE-5. They both passed the test in terms of being a great bang for the buck (SQ and build quality) so I'll get to know them better as an owner rather than trying to make firm conclusions under meet conditions.

Heard these at the NY fall meet today, and was quite impressed. I'll definitely be ordering a pair when they're available, which should be in the next 2-3 weeks or so.

Nice meet, and a big thank you to Erik and the other organizers. Hadn't seen a lot of guys from the NY crowd for quite a while (since the Fall '05 meet and the National Meet in '06), so it was definitely great to be back. Much warmer than the last time I was here in November, and I wasn't too late to miss all of the Fall colors. Not so excited about headphones these days, but I really liked the HE-5 and LDC-2 and think both are priced quite well and worth considering in you're in the mood for something a little different (transparent, huge soundstage, and pretty much effortless in terms of delivery). The other big hit for me was Hifiman's HM-801 DAP which is just a killer deal considering the quality of sound it delivers, along with all sorts of functionality. I'm not too crazy about collecting a bunch of expensive 32 SD cards (about $70 each, so that would add up in a hurry). Other than that, I'd be all over this little critter and say goodbye to iPods, LODs and portable amps.

That was my understanding, which is what led me to this one (as posted previously): Amazon.com: (9 Color Option) Mivizu Amazon Kindle 2 2nd Generation Leather Book Cover Case accessory travel package with reading book light: Clothing Now that mine has arrived and I've used it for a while, I'd have no hesitation in recommending it. Costs a bit more (an extra $15, but $20 really when you consider shipping) relative to the Amazon cover, but it's nicely padded and eliminates the risk of accidentally cracking it since it doesn't use the hinge holes.

As a White Sox fan growing up, about the only thing I ever liked about the Cubs was that they always sucked. Of course, the same could be said about the Sox, but at least they eventually won a World Series. Getting back to Al's topic, I don't like what money has done to professional sports, but that's now the way of life. What really sucks is that it has crept into the collegiate sports (especially men's football and basketball) as well, although thankfully, it's less painfully obvious at that level.

That's always been my style. If your class is fun and you joke around a little and allow students to do the same, it relieves a lot of pressure. Of course, there is a balance that you have to draw somewhere.

That pretty much sums up the main point I was trying to make, but because I teach at a small college with class sizes of 5 to 15, I'm now forcing them to be in class, whereas I would have never even considered such a thing when I was teaching 420 students at U of Kansas way back when. We actually needed at least 8% not to show up in order for everyone to have a seat.

Ya, I feel the same way, Al.

Not sure if you're agreeing with this or not, but that is definitely my position. Yet, in a job market that is extremely hungry for fresh "locally qualified" warm bodies, as is the case here in Cayman where 80% of all professionals are imported and Government puts extreme pressures on firms to hire locals, all that really matters is that they graduate. Therein lies the conflict. What matters to me is that they learn something, somehow, not even that I teach them anything. They can teach themselves or learn from each other. Doesn't really matter. But my goal is to put out as many competent people who have a fighting chance of passing the CPA exam as possible, not just to push warm bodies out the door who will fail miserably within the first 2 years on the job in public accounting, and then get hired by an equally hungry bank or captive insurance company, only to repeat the process as nauseum throughout their quote-unquote "professional" careers. What matters to them is the piece of paper. Once they have it, they're golden, so they're not necessarily motivated to do anything more than they have to do to achieve that singular task. Mediocrity becomes the goal, and teaching into a sea of such faces is not the most terribly exciting thing you can do for a living. Many of them (accounting graduates) know that they'll never pass the CPA exam, and thus won't rise within the profession, but don't care. They just need to graduate, then suck on the teets of a big 4 accounting firm for 2-3 years as they "try" to pass the CPA exam (not really, but it's a free trip to Atlanta for the review course every 6 months). After that, they just bounce from job to job for 40 years, always under-qualified for whatever their current level of responsibility happens to be. But they're paid well from Day 1, and don't mind being incompetent in a system that allows them to survive at any given job for 2-3 years before they can fool the next employer, equally anxious to please Government, meet quotas, etc. That's my point as well. I'd like for there to be a better correlation, so I've finally resorted to dealing with the reality of the cards that I've been dealt in terms of how the system works here. Changing the reward structure in a dramatic way (in terms of the point allocations for my undergraduate courses) has had an extremely positive effect; a far greater percentage of students are by far more competent when they graduate than was the case in prior years. They're no longer just sliding by; they're now actually working at it and realizing much of their potential.

Depends on who you're working with. Caribbean people are extremely laid back. It's a totally different culture here, and education has never been highly valued, other than for the extra dollars it can bring in the job market to have a "piece of paper". In North America and Europe, and I'm sure elsewhere as well, there are much stronger competitive forces at play. I agree, that in those environments, where it's sink or swim, only the strong survive (and such), placing more emphasis on the final exam (and maybe midterm) does the trick. Try that here and 80% of them would flunk. In fact, most of them wouldn't show up to the final because they would rather not take it than face the embarrassment of taking it and flunking it. It would be more "cool" to just not show up. Totally different mentality in a country where anyone who is from here is more or less guaranteed a good job as a birth right. Mind you, 50% of the total labor force is expatriate, and it's more like 80% of all professionals. What that means is that we can graduate people who don't know crap and they'll still get good jobs because the local firms are legally bound to hire "qualified" Caymanians (which is kind of an oxymoron). The reason there are so many expats is that there is a huge shortage of locally qualified people. Thus, any fool with a piece of paper is golden, and they know it. All of this creates a bit of a silver spoon effect, since they know that all they have to do is pass courses and graduate, and don't necessarily have to prove anything to anyone. Of course, it eventually catches up with them and only the best will ultimately rise within their professions, pass external exams, make partner, etc. But to someone who is 21 and likes to party and can make $5k to $6k per month tax free, live at home with mom, and drive a BMW, what's the incentive to want to excel? There is always time for that later on in life. My mission is to get them to wake up now and realize their potential such that they can get a jump start that will take them a bit further, or at least to the next step. In other words, not just to get a job, but to be able to pass the CPA exam, or to get into law school (I'm teaching mostly accounting and business law to undergrads). To accomplish that, they need to be in class. Most of them simply couldn't do it on their own. It's not a bunch of touchy feely stuff where there are no right answers, so there ins't a whole lot of "class participation" as such. They do a ton of work outside of class, and in class they figure out where they went wrong (or right) and get valuable reinforcement. Proof is in the pudding in terms of their exam performance, and that's way better than I've ever experienced in my 13 years teaching in Cayman. The 50% allocated to attendance and participation is a ruse anyway because it's not the first 50% that earns someone a grade anyway. It's your ability not to lose more than 10% that gets you an A, or not to lose more than 20% that gets you a B. The exams are structured in such a way that it's almost impossible to finish them on time unless a student knows the material inside and out. So the same people that would have earned A's and B's under my old system are still earnings A's and B's. No real change there. (We do have a fair number of excellent students who could compete anywhere.) But the slacker-minded majority can no longer slack. They're not being rewarded just for showing up, but for showing up well prepared and having done all of the required work. In the process, they teach themselves something, and are likewise actually "ready" to learn when they're in class (as opposed to being lost, as before). They don't view the 50% as being "free" points, because they've got piles of work to do for every class. Do I have them do work just for the sake of doing work? Nope, not at all. Without doing the work as the class progresses, they're almost sure to fail the midterm and final (as was the case for many years when they were left to self regulate by virtue of the slack attendance and participation policy). BTW, for my MBA classes, attendance and participation is 0%. I've taken just the opposite approach there. I don't want to hear people babble about their jobs and how the class is "relevant" or whatever. For MBA students, it's project work (50%), a take-home midterm (20%) and an in-class final (30%). They're mature enough (pretty much all of them) to respond well to this type of structure, and they're in class whether they need to be or not anyway because they enjoy the interaction. Ok, back to the regularly scheduled topic.

Oh, on the class skipping thing, I'm with Sherwood on that one. Make your education count, man. Take it seriously and do as well as you can. These days, every edge you can get is bound to help you out at one point or another. Besides, class skippers really piss me off. About two years ago, I finally convinced my Dean that I should be able to do anything I want to do with the point allocations for courses I teach. So now, class attendance and participation is -- get this -- 50% of their grade! Used to be 10%, which didn't have any impact whatsoever. People skipped when they wanted to skip. I haven't had one student miss more than one class during the past two years. If they miss more than 3 classes there is no way they can earn an A. It's mathematically impossible. But the reality is, once they make a real commitment to learning, they do well anyway, and just "being there" really is half of the equation. If someone knows they will have to miss a class and, 1) notifies me about it in advance, 2) submits the assigned work via email on time, then I'll let it slide -- but only once. Any unexcused absences are penalized. Same goes when someone shows up to class but hasn't done the work, they're marked absent even though they are bodily present. Totally objective. If they can't show me they've done the work, they might as well not show up. Friggin' works like a charm. I've never enjoyed teaching more than I do now, knowing that ALL of my students will show up to EVERY class and will ALWAYS be prepared. It took me more than 20 years of experimentation to finally realize that you have to force a fair percentage of students to take responsibility for their own actions, or they simply won't do it on their own accord. Those who would have consistently shown up to class well prepared are now being rewarded for what they would have done anyway; those who would otherwise be slackers have nowhere to hide and now get A's and B's instead of C's and D's in my classes. Some of them grumbled at first, but fuck 'em. I'm not there to make friends. I'm there to help dipshits have a chance of becoming CPAs and lawyers.

Anyone with class wouldn't be associated with us to begin with!

I hear you there. Except usually its $15 for the first bag, $25 for the second, $40 or $50 or $11ty billion for the third, because each additional bag you check in increases the probability that a luggage handling thug will throw his back out, and somebody needs to pay for that! Then they act all surprised that the overhead bins are overflowing. The US airline industry is getting almost as bad as the US auto industry in their approach to 'innovation' and 'customer service'. I knew we were heading down this path several years ago when American first started to "offer" their "Bistro service" which meant that you had to grab a plastic sandwich in a box as you boarded the flight. Apparently, because it would have been too much effort for 3 flight attendants to hand passengers a sandwich at some point during a 4 hour flight. I think I've been flying too much again. Need to cut back and stay put more often. It gets frustrating when you think about how much you spend these days on airfare and how little you get in way of service in return.

Bring scotch.

Du hast mich.

I'll pitch in the last $2 if that's what you're worried about, unless you're thinking about catching the laser meet, in which case I really don't know what to say! (Although the laser meet pics are way cooler than any headphone meet pics I've ever seen.)

Happy birthday! Today, you can have a beef burger and fries!

Thanks, guys.

Seriously, goats would do it. My next door neighbor is from Trinidad, and that's exactly what he suggested with a "You know what we do back home..." lead in. The good thing about it is that nobody would ever even think about robbing this place when the yard is a mess like that.

Isn't that the same link I just posted?