Selfish Crab

NYTimes: Singer/songwriter Suzanne Vega’s ruminations on her song Tom’s Diner.  The original MP3 codec developers in Germany debugged the early versions of the MP3 algorithm using “Tom’s Diner”, relying on the song’s warm acoustic tones to test the limits of the audio compression algorithm.

When I was at Barnard College in Manhattan, I used to go to Tom’s Restaurant for coffee, and after I graduated I also ate there before going to work. It was then a cheap, greasy place on 112th and Broadway, and it still is, in spite of its celebrity.

* * *

So Mr. Brandenberg gets a copy of the song, and puts it through the newly created MP3. But instead of the “warm human voice” there are monstrous distortions, as though the Exorcist has somehow gotten into the system, shadowing every phrase. They spend months refining it, running “Tom’s Diner through the system over and over again with modifications, until it comes through clearly. “He wound up listening to the song thousands of times,” the article, written by Hilmar Schmundt, continued, “and the result was a code that was heard around the world. When an MP3 player compresses music by anyone from Courtney Love to Kenny G, it is replicating the way that Brandenburg heard Suzanne Vega.”

# 2008 Sep 29    {Columbia, Links}    #

Rainy weekends = programming fun.   I have channeled my happiness with the last two years of my life into an easy-to-remember website:  DoNotGoToLaw School.org.   Enjoy.

# 2008 Sep 29    {law school, nerd}    #

Some films perhaps you were not aware, or dare I say it, had forgotten that, starred the late Paul Newman:   Slapshot (1976, cult classic hockey movie),  Pixar’s Cars (2006, doc hudson), Road to Perdition (2003, greatest cast ever for a comic book movie?).

# 2008 Sep 27    {Life}    #

clouds by selfish crab.

I am transitioning webhosts, but Name Registrar refuses to accept the DNS settings of New Domain Name.

Therefore, I post photographs.

# 2008 Sep 27    {Life}    #

combat by selfish crab.

# 2008 Sep 26    {Life}    #

How many nights that drift to four AM, spent chasing digressive distractions, must be enjoyed before one realizes the source of one’s nocturnal meanderings lies in a fundamental dissatisfaction with the day’s deeds.  That is to say, one lingers, sleepless, because of a hope that some act will be accomplished– or knowledge, learned; or expression, sung– that will slake a heart’s craving for… happiness???

The solution must be an avowal, a promise to pursue daily at least a shard of one’s dreams, some small slice of satisfaction.   My apparition of a day job is not cutting it anymore.  Expect more photographs.  More programming.  Yes we can.

# 2008 Sep 24    {Life, law school}    #

After a brief hiatus, comment-making capabilities are restored to this site.  A tumult of outcry from people who rarely comment have righted the Selfish ship.  Thank you.    I also touched up the design, which is looking increasingly long in the tooth.     You all read this site through an RSS reader anyway, right?

# 2008 Sep 22    {meta}    #

a series of train cars, panning - 2 by selfish crab.

one in a series. Credit to driver K for maintaining our vehicle’s constant velocity.

# 2008 Sep 22    {Life}    #

In response to the financial market crash:

In response to natural disasters:

# 2008 Sep 17    {Links}    #

grand tetons by dawn by selfish crab.

More inside. This is the last of it from my Wyoming trip.   Read the rest of this entry »

# 2008 Sep 16    {Life}    #

And then there were two.

If anyone would like an excellent explanation of how we got into a massive credit clusterfuck, I highly recommend This American Life’s The Giant Pool of Money (streaming episode; duration: 1 hr).  They trace the subprime mortgage crisis from the low-income first-time home buyers to the foreign sovereign funds, and put a compelling human face on it.

[Quote via anonymous commentator on Leverage Sell-Out.]

Update 2008-10-08: A follow-up episode has been released explaining recent developments, including the just-passed bailout plan.

# 2008 Sep 16    {Life}    2

Finished moving.  I would like to thank the triptych of moving saints: humidity, rain, and traffic, for making this a memorably exhausting day.   I would like to think moving 4 times in 4 years keeps a man humble of his station and honest about his possessions.

The irony of signing my lease on 9/11 was unknown to me until my pen lifted from the paper.   My building teems with young people. At times, it seems like an NYU dorm, probably because it is actually full of NYU students, some of whom moved in concurrently wearing purple NYU tshirts.   Memories of waiting in line, with a moving bin full of miniature furniture, wash over me.

On my first night, I smashed my lamp against the wall. Correction, a box of my possessions fled from my hand, slid across another box, and thrust itself towards the lamp.   The floor lamp keels over into the wall; the light bulb shatters.  That lamp is my only source of light.   Darkness everywhere, broken glass below my feet, happiness pervades.

I decide to borrow a lamp from the common living room for just a moment.  Surely my two new roommates will not mind.   I pick up the floor lamp, and the shaft breaks free from the base.   Lovely.   I carefully re-insert the lamp pole into the lamp base.  I then pick up the floor lamp by the base.   The lower base, which appears to be made of heavy plaster and clay,  crumbles and disintegrates.  The floor lamp, that belongs to my new roommates, just shat all over the floor.  I have made a splendid mess.

I scrawl out a note on a paper towel, promising to clean it up in the morning, and crawl into bed, hoping no shards borne of my own clumsiness poke me in the ass.

# 2008 Sep 14    {Life}    #

Big Picture: pictures from the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.  The events are astonishing.  Wheelchair racing is a little obvious, but here are some events that takes pure moxie to participate:

• Blind soccer
• Blind Track/Field (a guide runs with you, tells you when to jump)
• Boccia (ball throwing for people with cerebral palsy)
• Goalball (blind handball; the ball has bells attached)
• Handless table tennis
• Armless archery (!!)
• Sitting volleyball

# 2008 Sep 14    {Life}    #

Where we stand right now.  This status update has been brought you by the letter Garfield Minus Garfield.

# 2008 Sep 11    {Life}    #

Grand Tetons, via the road by selfish crab.

# 2008 Sep 9    {Life}    #

black bear- check!!! by selfish crab.

# 2008 Sep 9    {Life}    #

My housing churn is clearly evidence of masochistic episodes. My decision making skills, also, leave something to be desired. I move yet again. It would funny if it weren’t so painfully expensive and disruptive.

# 2008 Sep 8    {Life}    #

good morning teton by selfish crab.

Best hike so far.  22.3 miles. From 6:30 AM to 7:30 PM.  Gumption at its finest.    Warning: large-size photos after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

# 2008 Sep 4    {Life}    3