LATEST ADDITIONS

Great, readable essay by William Gibson on the season that changed his life. He has some fascinating thoughts on H.G. Wells that have made me want to dip back into that writer's work.

Set your irony scanner to high and read about the kerfluffle involving the MPAA making copies of a film submitted for a rating. Even better, if the film maker sues, the MPAA's defense will probably hinge on whether or not it intended to sell it. Does that mean if they argue successfully that intent to profit is the definition of piracy that we can make copies too if we promise not to sell them?

When I was hired to sell hi-fi almost 20 years ago, I figured I knew my stuff and I knew audiophiles. <I>How hard could selling good gear be?</I> I wondered. Phenomenally hard, it turned out. I began to learn how to sell and the crux of it wasn't trickery or fast-talk, but actually listening to what people wanted (and, granted, sometimes hearing stuff they weren't actually saying).

<I>Artnatomy</I> is a really cool tool&mdash;for learning to draw faces, of course. I can't even draw a stick figure for Hangman, but stuff like this makes me dream about unleashing my (extremely) inner artist.

I spent perhaps a total of ten hours in my apartment this weekend, and for about eight of those, I was asleep. So, unfortunately, I didn't have the time to make any real comparisons. I faced no problems, however, in disconnecting the Arcam Solo and bringing the A3.5 units into my little system. It was an easy-breezy piece of Key Lime pie. I didn't even feel bad about it; the Musical Fidelity pieces are so attractive, I couldn't wait to get them going. Though the setup required merely sticking the AC cords into the appropriate sockets, making the simple connection between the integrated and CD player, and hooking up the speakers &#151; black to black, red to red &#151; I felt some small amount of pride for getting it all done without a hitch. Anyone could do it, really.

'Fess up&mdash;you've always wondered about that butter side down thing.

This online dialog between Neal Stephenson and the readers of <I>Slashdot</I> isn't new, but I'd never read it before. There's good stuff on money, copyright, and his three deathmatch battles with William Gibson.