Friday, July 23, 2004

Ron's hands   11:02:40 PM     Do you know... ...how comforting it is to walk into a restaurant, and the waiter or waitress says hey, and brings you your favorite beverage as you sit down... My favorite beverage with New Mexican food is Bohemia beer, with a slice of lime of course. And the best New Mexican food is found here, at Maria's on Cordova Road. Here, the Chile Rellenos are made with Mexican cheese - trust me that makes all of the difference in the world... and last tuesday they served my favorite special for lunch, the pork tacos with two fresh salsas... The old part of the restaurant used to be the Santa Fe city jail... it has a certain something special... and it is the smoking section... I don't smoke myself, but growing up in Germany I used to go to pubs when I was 16 (legal drinking age) and the pubs there where always thick with smoke - so it's something that I don't mind - it even awakes fond memories for me... I dream of this place when I am on the road. Did I mention they wrote the book on Margaritas?   10:52:18 PM     Fuel Cell Technology Breakthrough Claimed As they say: "Small, cheap, and good: pick two." But no! Or so says the University of Houston, who have claimed to developed a small, cheap, and good fuel cell using thin film solid oxides. Small: a fuel cell with the volume of four sugar cubes can power a laptop computer; one the size of two soda cans can power a house. Cheap: does not use the ultra-pure and exotic materials of standard fuel cells. Good: thin film solid oxides have a 60-70% efficiency, and run at half the temperature of normal solid oxide fuel cells, at a mere 450 to 500 degrees Celsius. Wow! I can't wait to put a tiny 500°C battery in my lap. Read - 'Cool' Fuel Cells Could Revolutionize Earth's Energy Resources [EurakAlert!] [Gizmodo] There is something about Gizmodo that keeps me going back there. Like a cheap sugar rush or something...   9:22:49 PM     Song of the Outcasts LR writes: Received that flamenco book, "Song of the Outcasts" by Robin Totton... have only read 25 pages, but man, it's great... just blows it wide open... "ole" is from the Moorish "by Allah", he says. Great analysis of the "form" i.e. the solea. I mean, this guy knows whereof he speaks. Comes with a CD [which I haven't had time to check yet]. Off to the book store... I always wondered whether there was a connection between the words Allah and Olé. Especiually since the Gitanos often pronounce it more like Alle...   8:11:45 PM     Last coffin-nail in DVD Audio? One of the inventors of the MP3 format is back with a new technology that he hopes will revolutionize audio, creating superrealistic sound for theaters, theme parks and eventually even living rooms. Dan sent me this link and wrote: When I finished reading this article, I remembered you saying that surround sound is not that great because it's only good while you're in the sweet-spot. It looks like they've just found a way to overcome this problem. What do you think? I think that's great, Dan. It also makes me think of how fast hardware changes these days. A few decades ago the interested amateur could start building great stereo equipment in his garage and slowly turn that into a business. Now there does not seem any room for "tinkering". You need large teams of engineers to press ahead. Everything seems to get geared towards larger and larger corporations, doesn't it. Tinkerers are a dying bread. My dad is a great tinkerer and I think he is sad that I have no talent for tinkering at all.   7:54:54 PM     United music menu I think that selection of songs should work pretty well...   8:19:14 AM     United Inflight Entertainment In September and October you will find several "La Semana" tracks on United Airlines flights. Since "Eurobeat" is available on a lot more flights than "Worldbeat" we decided to put the music there. As you know categories do not matter much to me. May many a wary traveler discover "La Semana" on their flight...   8:07:17 AM     Apropos nothing... [Beyond the Beyond] I don't know what to say...   7:58:11 AM     Outdoor show Microphone set-up for an outdoor show with wind-socks on the mics. Check out the snazzy foam piece my crew made for the talking mic to rest on!   7:45:26 AM

© Copyright 2004 Ottmar Liebert. Last update: 7/29/04; 9:49:03 AM.