Recognition!

Hail to the Orange
Hail to the Blue
Hail Alma Mater
Ever so true

We love no other
So let our motto be
Vic-to-ry
Ill-in-ois
Var-si-ty!


Yes, the polls are out and Illinois is #1 in both the ESPN/USA Today and the AP writers' polls. (I expect to hear much groaning and gnashing of teeth out of Lawrence, Kansas.) This is as it should be given the Illini's thorough domination of last week's #1 team, Wake Forest, and a gritty win on the road against Arkansas in Little Rock (see Jayhawks? A R-O-A-D game. Novel concept, eh?)

New Year's Eve

LOML and I will be taking in dinner at Chicago's fabulous Tru this New Year's Eve with our friends Brenda and Stefan. "And we can go dancing afterward!" cried LOML.

Well, I s'pose I'll be able to put those West Coast Swing moves to good use. By the time New Year's hits I'll have had 9 weeks worth of lessons from Jimmy Mulligan. Jimmy's a great guy and a fantastic instructor. He'll be at the 2004 US Open Swing Dance in a couple of weeks. Here's hoping he, er... well whatever it is you say to dancers before a competition.

Not 40 states...

...but it was a victory and a majority of the popular vote. Kudos to John Kerry for not carrying out the threat to litigate the vote all over the electoral map. Not sure what was up with John Edwards goofy non-concession concession, but then I'm not worried about it. No one will long remember what Senator Breckgirl had to say.

A note on the usual MSM call to "Reach out to the middle" which should always be read as "Come left!" The fact of the matter is that I'm perfectly willing to "reach out". However if the people on the Left don't reach back, there's nothing I can do. An example post from Democratic Underground which excerpted over on The Corner this morning:

I really don't care what happens anymore. From here on out, we get exactly what we deserve whether it's a fiscal depression, increased poverty, return to witchhunts, terror attacks, whatever. I don't blame the rest of the world for hating us. I hate us too.

The Snarky Me would say "did you ever NOT hate this country?" but the Reaching-Out Me would say "There, there... the economy is going well, and a rising tide lifts all boats. How 'bout a latte?" Would the unidentified poster take me up on the offer? I dunno. Probably not.

I really hope that the Democrats will come home to where the people of this country are... and I don't mean the people of the Upper East Side and Malibu, but those of us in the much-scorned "fly-over" country. They will need to ask themselves why it is that not a single Democrat won election in the South. (Not in the Senate, anyway, and not one southern state went for Bush.) And they'll definitely need to re-evaluate the question of faith. Could it be that they are gasp wrong about their stereotypical notions of people of faith? (Note to Katie Couric: if you wouldn't dream of calling Blacks "you people" or "these people", please don't call me, as a person of faith in that way, 'k?) Here's a clue: the second part relates to the first part. It isn't the whole story, but it is an important factor.

Would car bombs or suicide bombers be next?

Powerline has this item about a man who attempted to run down Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Florida) and a group of her supporters with his car.

The man, a registered Democrat, called the move 'political expression'. "I intimidated them with the car. They were standing in the street." He added, "I did not run them down, I scared them a little!"

The party that yells loudest about voter intimidation is the one engaging in it.

Here's hoping for a 40+ state Bush victory! Perhaps a full generation out of power is what the Democrats need to re-evaluate their strategies and tactics.

Procrastination Strikes

I've delayed work on the amplifier project to rebuild a home for my Nelson Pass-designed "Bride of Son of Zen". I'm presently trying to sort out the outboard power supply.

The base for it will be a glue-up of hardwood 1x2 from the local big box. (I don't have a jointer nor a planer, so I'm going with the S4S stuff.) The bonus is that this will serve as a model for a future workbench top.

The transformer and chokes, rectifiers and capacitors are housed in an aluminum box I picked up at Tri-State Electronics. I'd have prefered a steel enclosure, but they didn't have any. "They rust" was the terse explanation.

Anyway, I have an IEC power entry module which doesn't appear to fit within the aluminum housing... at least not without displacing the voltage stabilizers, which I don't want to have anywhere near the AC power wiring.

By extending the base out beyond the housing, I can use a wood skirt around the unit to hide external wires. It's going to end up looking a bit like a tube amp, including the protruding power supply reservoir caps.

Mahogany? Maple? Walnut? Okay, probably not Walnut... that's way more expensive than I want for this. Stain is not an option; I'm thinking shellac, or shellac followed by oil, as used by Dave Knipfer--the so-called "Rude and Crude" method, which looks anything but crude when done. See here and here for info, and here for an important safety note.)

At any rate, I'm trying to take my time and do a good job here. These metal boxes aren't particularly cheap and I'd rather not scrap this one and begin yet again.

LOML has bought her dress

While I've requested not to see it until The Big Day (10/7/2005), she did mention that she has bought her wedding dress. That's got to be a big relief.

Now I just need to arrange the rehearsal dinner, the car, the honeymoon--oh yeah--and figure out exactly who my groomsmen are going to be. Simple stuff.

CBS/Rathergate a Briarpatch?

Do you think the Kerry Campaign is clever enough to set up a delaying engagement with the Rather story? Has the blogosphere jumped into the briarpatch?

IUPAT Apologizes!

Color me surprised! The General President of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades actually issued an apology for the actions of a few thugs at the Edwards appearance in West Virginia.

Way to defend the brand! Unlike, say, a certain news organization with "BS" in their name...

A Suggestion for Dan Rather

We all remember the great pronouncements of Muhammed Saeed "Baghdad Bob" al-Sahaf during the earliest days of the latest Iraq War, don't we?

"There are no American infidels in Baghdad. Never!"

"My feelings - as usual - we will slaughter them all"

"Our initial assessment is that they will all die"


I think Dan Rather should take to wearing a similar green uniform--including the natty beret.


"The memos could be false... but the story is true. I triple-guarantee you!"

Brave Democrats rough up 3-year-old girl at rally

Al Gore once spouted off about W's "digital brownshirts". Well, it looks to me like the Dems have their own analog version, and they were on display in Huntington, West Virginia the other day. The big, bad Democrats seized the little Bush-Cheney sign that 3-year-old Sophia Parlock was holding, reducing her to tears. Said Mr. Parlock: "She was crying; they were pushing and shoving her," said Mr. Parlock, a Huntington real estate agent. "She was scared." (Washington Times story)

Okay... probably not the smartest thing in the world to bring your 3-year-old to a political protest, but it is enormously stupid to rough up a 3-year-old, especially when AP has photographers around.

If this story gets any significant play outside the blogosphere, it is going to hurt Kerry's already flagging poll numbers.

And the winner is...

...MK Catering of Rockville, Maryland!

They had the better food of the two caterers we actually got to sample as well as the most reasonable price. And it is run by a nice Brazilian lady, too. (If only we could change the theme to a rodizio-style churrascaria...)

I sent them the first 25% yesterday. I think we've got everything covered now... with the exception of LOML's dress, but she's on her own there.

Soon everything will be finalized and we can sit back and wait for the day to come, while sending the occasional check.

Muito obrigato to my parents who are paying for the flowers.

Wedding Planning: Tour de Crabcake

LOML and I have met with two caterers thus far. The first lady was quite nice, but there was nothing to sample. Hmm....

Last night we visited with a company up in Calverton, MD. (It's near Bal'm're, hon. More about that in another post.) The meeting was held at a reception hall and there were several couples seated at various tables chatting with sales people about linens and dishes and flatware and glasses and lots of other things. Since LOML and I have already booked Kentlands Mansion for the event, we got to skip all that other business and get right down to some eats.

The appetizers were all good--especially the little spanakopita--but there was something missing... oh, wow! They didn't put any crabcakes on the plate! Rather than stomp out in a huff, I asked if they perhaps had any available. They did, and they were fine, if not quite as good as the ones we ate at Legal in Baltimore. ("Bal'm're" ... it sounded to me like that fellow Ballmer who runs Microsoft these days.)

The salad was okay, but LOML managed to find some rather burnt almonds among the toasted almonds. "Away with them!" we decided. "No problem" said our consultant.

We were served two entree plates. Mine had beef tenderloin and salmon. LOML, being a vegetarian, had spinach ravioli. She eats seafood, too, so I gave her some salmon while I snarfed a few ravioli. Nice balance of spinach and cheese. The steak was a bit on the done side for my taste, but the gravy was nice. Likewise for the salmon: a bit too done for me, but the sauce was quite good.

We didn't taste cake because we've already picked Custom Cake Design of Gaithersburg to do that. A nice spice cake, which ought to go nice for our October wedding.

We did try out the chocolate fountain on the way out. Clever thingy, that looks a little like a terra cotta sculpture until you get close and realize that there is chocolate flowing over it... no, wait, it is all chocolate! LOML and I agreed: a nice touch, but messy. I fear she may have nightmares about someone--I can't go all the way and assume it is yrs trly--spilling all manner of red wine, axle grease, catsup, mustard and cranberry juice all over her dress. Can't have that! So, no, we won't do the chocolate fountain.

Tonight we meet with another caterer in Rockville. LOML seems to really like these people, and they definitely seem on top of things from a customer service perspective. The proof will be in the tasting, though.

Especially those crabcakes.

Midwest Debut of Stradivari Homage

Sonus Faber is unveiling their Stradivari Homage tonight at Quintessence Audio in Morton Grove, IL. I already got a sneak preview this afternoon and it is one striking-looking speaker. Sounds great, too. Even through a very impressive rendition of a pipe organ and male choir, I was able to easily follow the harp part. Wow.

The Tangled Web of 527s

The New York Times recently spilled some ink on the connections between a Bush campaign volunteer who also appeared in a Swift Vets for Truth ad. (The man has since stepped down from his campaign position.)

Well, Blogs for Bush has created a similar chart showing the connections between the DNC and various left-leaning 527s. Check out Harold Ickes. He sits on the DNC's executive board, and he's the "[d]riving force behind The Media Fund". But I'm just SURE he's not actually coordinating... no, I really mean it...seriously

JLH update: parts on order

I've decided to order up a batch of parts for my updated, higher-powered JLH amplifier. I'm getting a slew of 2SA970s and a handful each of 2SA1358 and 2SC3421 from MCM Electronics. The power transistors (MJ15003 and MJ15004) are from On Semi via Digi-Key. Also from Digi-Key are a quartet of 68,000uF/25V Panasonic AA-series capacitors.

I also contacted Conrad of Victoria, Australia about heatsinks. The units themselves seem to be priced mighty nice (~$71 for 2), but we'll see what the shipping quote is... and if they'll get too hot dissipating a whopping 133W each!

Kerry's remarks to the 105th VFW convention

(transcript found here: http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?ReleaseID=34876 -- I've snipped the portions where he shamelessly panders to his audience.)

Thank you. I am proud to be a lifetime member of this organization and grateful for your continued deep commitment to veterans and to the defense and security of our nation.

He didn't bother to wear the hat. I'm sure he was truly proud as can be, inspite of that. Even Al "Al" Gore wore the hat.

A few weeks ago, at the Democratic National Convention, I told the American people that I was reporting for duty. I did not say that lightly.

The salute looked a little funny, though, in my unexpert opinion.

I said it paying homage to and drawing strength from my crewmates on stage, the more than 500 delegates who were veterans in the Fleet Center and especially all of you -- every man and woman who has ever worn the uniform of the United States armed forces. We understand that the duty to serve goes on throughout our lives. That is what really brings us here today: our continued resolve to defend America so that all can share in the blessings of freedom. And let there be no doubt - when I am president, you will have a true brother in arms in the White House who understands that those who fought for their country abroad should never have to fight for what they were promised at home.

Translation: "with respect to goodies, I'll get you what I can." With respect to his 1971 accusation of warcrimes committed by his true brothers in arm in Vietnam, no mention of an apology.
*snip*

They testify to the truth that we will never back down in defense of freedom. We will use superior military force to overcome any enemy. Let me be clear: like you, I defended this country as a young man. And I will defend it as president. I will never hesitate to use force when it is required. Any attack will be met with a swift and certain response. Any imminent threat to our security will be dealt with swiftly and severely. I will never give any nation or international institution a veto over our national security. And I will build a stronger American military.

This sounds fine. But he's voted for massive cuts to the military budget for the last 19 years. When he talks about strengthening, I can't help but believe he's not really meaning it. He goes on to guarantee a good counterpunch against those who would bring more 9/11 type attacks to us. Thanks, but too little too late. I'll take the man who takes the fight to the enemy where he lives.

Not giving outside entities a veto over our national security should go without saying. But he says it.

But, in these dangerous times, there is a right way and a wrong way to be strong. Strength is more than tough words.

Action? Oh wait, you're not done yet...

After September 11th, I am proud that all our people rallied to the President's call for unity to meet the danger. There were no Democrats, there were no Republicans there were only Americans.

If memory served it lasted for about a week. Dems needed to break free from the ties that bound them to a President they positively can't stand.

How we wish it had stayed that way.
But since then, we have become a country divided over Iraq - and it didn't have to be that way.

As veterans, we know what kids go through when they are carrying an M-16 in a dangerous place and they can't tell friend from foe. We know what they go through when they're out on patrol at night and they don't know what's coming around the next bend. We know what it's like to write letters home telling your family that everything's all right when you're not sure that's true.

John Kerry even knows how it is to be in Cambodia on Christmas Eve 1968, getting shot at by the Khmer Rouge--who didn't yet exist, except, perhaps in the minds of a few men--and you were sent there on illegal mission by Nixon, even though he didn't take office until January 1969.

I know what we have to do in Iraq. We need a President who has the credibility to bring our allies to our side because that's the right way to get the job done in Iraq and bring our troops home.

John Kerry expects Our Allies -- different ones than those who are actually with us right now, since they apparently don't count in his book -- to take over while he pulls the troops home. "Thanks, Pierre. Good luck with the Baathist holdouts. Be seing you..." Apparently he feels he can simply snap his Northeastern Liberal fingers and the French will come a-running. I sincerely hope he doesn't hold his breath waiting.

We need to bring in NATO and other nations to share the cost and burdens. Right now, the United States is shouldering the lion's share of this effort. Ninety percent of all coalition forces and nearly ninety percent of coalition coffins are draped with American flags. The American taxpayers are also paying the vast share of the cost of this war.

Nevermind that NATO has served its useful purpose during the decades-long confrontation with the Soviet Union and its surrogates. Even if the rest of NATO came -- the members who aren't already fighting by our side right now -- who do they have to send? What military force can they field anymore? Now, granted, perhaps they could provide forensic accountants to track the flow of money among terror cells, but I don't think that's what JK meant.

We also need to massively improve and accelerate our training of Iraqi police and security forces so they can defend their own country; and we need ensure that there is far greater security to provide the credible elections in 2005 critical to advance Iraq's transition to stable, representative democracy.

That would be great. I s'pose he'll just 'change the dynamics' and it will be done. *poof*

As President, I will always ask hard questions and I will demand hard evidence. I will immediately reform the intelligence system - so policy is guided by facts, and facts are never distorted by politics.

Good thought, there. I suppose that it is supposed to be a scathing indictment of the Bush Administration. However The Commission found that there was no such political pressure brought to bear on the Intelligence Community. But it was such a good meme... why lay it to rest now?

As president, I will wage war with the lessons I learned in war. Before you go to battle,

You need to have your Super-8 camera and some extra film! Oh... sorry...

you have to be able to look a parent or family member in the eye and truthfully say: We tried everything possible to avoid sending your son or daughter into harm's way. But we had no choice.

Agreed, and during the 10 years of trying to compel Saddam Hussein to live up to his agreement dating back to the 1991 Persian Gulf War, I believe each succeding administration has done that. The 14 months in front of the UN Security Council was part of that effort, too. But Colin Powell and Co. couldn't overcome European economic interests in the region, nor their leaders' political interests back home. That's the way it goes.

And now, with so much at stake in the struggle against Al Qaeda the American people want to hear, in plain words the answer to a simple question. How are we going to get the terrorists before they get us? Just what is our strategy - not just for striking back against the terrorists, but for defeating their aims, destroying their movement, discrediting their cause, and bringing old and new friends to our side? What is our long-term strategy for making America safer?

Finally! Simple answers to simple questions! If you could have just answered these questions, that would have been great. But you didn't. Again. We are left to trust that you can change the ol' dynamics again.

Over the course of this campaign, I have laid out my plans to reshape and rebuild the American military so that it is ready to fight tomorrow's wars, not yesterday's.

Except that those who advise you seem hellbent on continuing the Cold War instead of fighting TODAY's war against militant Islamism.

As a combat veteran who has walked in your shoes, I know that the first duty of a commander in chief is to make sure that our troops are the best trained, best equipped fighting force in the world. And to never send them into battle without a plan to win the peace.

But you vote consistently to cut defense spending on weapons programs currently in use today. And you don't authorize the $87 billion dollars the troops need to keep supplied! You can vote against it if you first vote for it. The active military, I'm sure, will love to hear you revise and extend your remarks on that vote.

That is why I have called for adding 40,000 new troops, not in Iraq, but to relieve the pressure on our overstretched forces.

Must be going to send them to Germany or South Korea or Japan.

The fact is, the war in Iraq has taken a real toll on our armed services. Ninety percent of the Army's active duty combat divisions are either in Iraq, have been to Iraq, or are on their way.

I will also double our Army Special Forces so we can find and get the terrorists before they get us.

Double it how? Please tell me it won't be by lowering standards.

And we must end the stop-loss and involuntary recall of troops that amounts to nothing more than a back-door draft. To fight this war, we have called up our Guard and Reserves at historic levels. And many of these units are being pushed to the limit. The Administration has extended tours of duty, delayed retirements, and prevented enlisted personnel from leaving the service. And when these troops come home, many have lost the job they left. We're going to see to it that everyone who fought for this country has a good job when they come back to this country.

On a serious note: shame on the employer who cuts a Guardsman or Reservist who has been called up. Unless your whole enterprise has gone belly-up, I fail to see an excuse for not bringing back Reservists and Guardsmen.

At the same time, we must strengthen our homeland security and do everything we can to prevent another 9/11. We shouldn't be letting ninety-five percent of container ships come into our ports without ever being physically inspected.

Ah, now I see how Kerry intends to spur job growth! He's going to hire every man, woman and child to inspect all the other container ships.

We shouldn't be leaving our nuclear and chemical plants without enough protection. And we must make sure first responders have the training and equipment they need.

But, as you know, winning the war on terror demands a team effort. We all know that the best intelligence comes from working cooperatively with other nations through real intelligence sharing and joint operations.

Is Joe Wilson still on Kerry's team of advisors? The man who tried to singlehandedly scorch the intelligence given us by Great Britain and also, if memory serves, Italy? Just checking.

That's why for months now, I have been calling for the creation of a National Director of Intelligence with the authority to oversee all of our intelligence agencies.

Really? You, personally, have been calling for this? Before or after the 9/11 Commission Report called for the same thing?

Last month, the 9/11 Commission embraced many of these ideas.

I think we are to understand that these were his ideas and The Commission merely agreed with them.

I have urged the President and the Congress to act - and act now - to implement them.

Perhaps Monsieur can be persuaded to join us for the vote?

But if we are going to win this war, we will have to listen to another profoundly important recommendation made by the Commission. "Long term success demands the use of all elements of national power: diplomacy, intelligence, covert action, law enforcement, economic policy, foreign aid, public diplomacy and homeland defense."

As President, I will fight a smarter, more effective war on terror. We will deploy every tool in our arsenal: our economic as well as our military might; our principles as well as our firepower. Only then will be able to tell the terrorists: You will lose and we will win.

Cute. So you'll do all the same stuff being done right now, just... smarter. Oh, right, because you're a smart guy. From Massachussets.

Finally, I want to say something about the plan that the President announced on Monday to withdraw 70,000 troops from Asia and Europe. Nobody wants to bring troops home more than those of us who have fought in foreign wars. But it needs to be done at the right time and in a sensible way. This is not that time or that way.

*deep breath*
Am I to believe that the right time for bringing home the troops is when they are actively facing the enemy? And that the wrong time is after the threat they were positioned to face has been removed from the table for 15 years or more?

Is he trying to protect German economic interests by keeping bases open?
Or is he trying to simply be against anything that Bush is for (and conversely)?

Let's be clear:

Get outta here! You? Clear?!

the President's vaguely stated plan does not strengthen our hand in the war against terror. And in no way relieves the strain on our overextended military personnel. And this hastily announced plan raises more doubts about our intentions and our commitments than it provides real answers.

Actually, he's right that a statement of a plan doesn't strengthen our hand. Action taken has strengthened our hand.

For example, why are we unilaterally withdrawing 12,000 troops from the Korean Peninsula at the very time we are negotiating with North Korea - a country that really has nuclear weapons?

Well, because

1) They are OUR troops and OUR troops alone. Using the term 'unilateral' is just asinine repetition on the candidate's part; and

2) 12,000 troops do not stand a snowball's chance in hell against a nuclear detonation. The South Koreans, however, are capable of dealing with a conventional shelling of Seoul. In short, they don't particularly need us for the latter, and against the former, they'd be sitting ducks.

As Senator John McCain said, "I'm particularly concerned about moving troops out of South Korea when North Korea has probably never been more dangerous than any time since the end of the Korean War." This is clearly the wrong signal to send at the wrong time.

With al Qaeda operating in 60 countries, we need closer alliances in every part of the world to fight and win the war on terrorism. So, as president, I will be a commander in chief who renews our alliances based on shared interests and a common vision for a safer world. For more than 50 years, our allies have joined with us to say: the future doesn't belong to fear; it belongs to freedom.

Just curious here, but which alliances do we need to renew? I think it is more apt to say that we need to make new alliances.
*snip*

Thank you for your service to our country and God bless you and God bless the United States of America.

And there's a statement I agree with. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

Kerry's magic hat

When the story was dug up that John Kerry claimed to have ferried CIA folk into Cambodia back in 1968-69, I immediately thought "Wow... something right out of Apocalypse Now." I wondered if the guy looked more like Martin Sheen or Jerry Ziesmer, the civilian in Saigon whose memorable line was "Terminate... with extreme prejudice."

I'm not the only one who's been wondering about that story. Hugh's got a couple of emails up today that express basic flaws in the Kerry camp's story. For example, who in their right mind would take a 55' swift boat up the river for a supposedly clandestine mission? (Scroll up from the link to see one from a former vet with questions about the story.)

I'd be more than happy to believe that the hat Kerry supposedly totes around in his attache was, in fact, his own during Viet Nam. But why make up a CIA guy giving it to him? Hell, why would any CIA guy give up his hat right before going into the Kampuchean jungle?

Goodbye, Julia

Julia Child died in her sleep at the age of 91. She brought French cooking to the nation via TV in an engaging and seemingly easy way. She also introduced Emeril Lagasse via her PBS show. (Okay... maybe a little Emeril goes a long way, but I confess I still watch him from time to time.) Most recently she teamed up with Jacques Pepin for a couple of specials.

I wish I had known this before I put the frozen pizza in the oven. It doesn't seem like a very good tribute. I'll try to do better later. Something worthy of her trademark "Bon appetit!"

DIY Amp decision -- at last!

I'm going to build a version of the John Linsley Hood class A amplifier. I've kicked around the idea of building one of Nelson Pass's Zen amps. But the glowing descriptions of the JLH amp over at Geoff Moss's Class A Amplifier Site, I'm going with the updated, 2-rail version. (See figure 3 here.

I'm going to build it point to point, or at least try to. I still remember which end of the soldering iron is hot, but I haven't tried building anything without so much as a piece of vector board in a long while.

Using the Duncan Amp Tools PSU Designer I've settled on using a single raw supply which should provide a bit over +/- 19 volts DC. A 750VA transformer should do the job for both channels. After the rectifier bridges (one each for positive and negative rails), I'm going to use an LC-RC filter.



According to the sim, I can expect around 20mV of hum, buzz and general nastiness. Therefore, I'll use a capacitance multiplier circuit to further quiet down the rails. There will be a pair of these (+/-) per channel to give a modicum of inter-channel isolation.

Now... where do I get some big, honkin' heatsinks?

ads

I have no control over the ads that appear at the top, incidentally. As I write this I'm looking at one for the Carter Center. Wage peace. Nice sound, but let's just say I have doubts about their methodology. If you're looking at something up there that curdles your blood, go ahead and click it. It'll empty their coffers of a few cents and fill those of my fine hosts.

Thanks, Hugh

I have to give a shout-out to Hugh Hewitt who first answered a question that I didn't even know I had: "What's a blog?"

Well, now I know, and with a bit of encouragement from his book, here I am. (If you know an "undecided": buy this book. If you know someone who is planning to lodge a protest vote: buy this book. If you ARE someone who is planning to cast a protest vote: shame on you! And buy that book.)

I'll be using this space to comment on politics, various hobbies of mine and my upcoming wedding.