Odd Lots

[jeff_duntemann]

• Although I reported earlier that Analog had reviewed The Cunning Blood in their June, 2006 print issue, it wasn't until a week or so ago that they had posted the review online. See it here. Wow.
• Michael Covington sent me yet more evidence that high-end audiophiles have way more money than knowledge of where good audio comes from. Auricaps cost upwards of $10 each for your typical .01 bypass; get up to 5 uF and you're over $100. It must be worth it, though. Auricap leads are (of course) Auric wire, which "is made of soft high purity stranded copper; each strand individually polished for better electron flow." Hey, Mr. Barnum!
• Another very cool Difference Engine, built fairly closely to Babbage's plans and made with Meccano parts. Thanks to George Ott for the pointer. There's no reason at all why this beast couldn't be run by a steam engine.
• The Wall Street Journal ran a short article in this morning's issue telling readers how they can buy an entire oak cask of Scots whisky direct from the distillery for about $1500 and put it in their basements, tapping off the booze as required. A cask contains the equivalent of about 200 bottles, egad. So whaddaya do if you decide, partway through the cask, that you're really really tired of whisky?
• The 'S' key is right next to the 'D' key. So please be more careful than these people were. (Or maybe we should go back to calling it "extreme unction.")
• I got a spam recently with the subject line: "Deerges Baesd On Yuor Kgwonlee" The line's true meaning may be obvious to some (or so the spammers hope) but the unintentional back-channel message does not inspire confidence in their degrees. And hey, wouldn't "Kgwonlee" be a great name for an alien?
• Here's a perfect example of a bunch of people without enough to do. I like that color, and actually looked at a polo shirt like that at Sears once, only to think, "Cripes, people will think I work at Best Buy."