Anyone that knows me knows I'm sorta obsessed w/ audio technology. Headphones, stereos, pre-amps, amps... that sort of thing.

I already own a set of grado sr125 but with my new ipod shuffle, but for practical reasons I had to get a set of ear buds.

I had a pretty good reason for the In Ear Monitors (IEMs). I wanted to use them on the metro and while I was biking around. Most importantly they had to sound good cause I'm spoiled like that.

So I debated between the Etymotics er6i and the Shure e3c's for a long time w/ my audio-crazy friends. It came down to the fact that my friend GB was gonna buy the e3c's and I was gonna buy the er6i's. Purchased from buy.com these cans were $92 shipped.

I have to say that in the three days I've had these things:
1) My ears have gotten used to having silicon nipples shoved into them.
2) They sound great.
3) The level of isolation pretty much allows me to hide from the outside world.

The first worry was that they wouldn't fit. I have pretty small ears. And at first these cans are pretty uncomfortable. To get the best sound out of them you really do have to shove them almost the point that they touch your cochlea but once you master how to shove them in...

As far as sound quality goes: OMFG they're awesome. Nice and clean articulate highs, headful bass and that isolation.

These thing supposedly provide upto 32db of isolation... If you know anything about math, 32db is HUGE. Basically when you shove these things in you can't hear very much at all. I liken it to having your head underneath four or five pillows and underwater. Loud sounds will register to you, but conversations will be totally gone. This is a feature.

Overall I give these cans a 7. The "Shove-in-head-until-you-see-yellow" was basically why I rate these lower than they should. We'll see how I feel about these things in 2wks.

--- [a month later] ---

DAMNIT! I can't reply to these things if I'm the one that posted. BUG!

Anyways I did a dumb thing and got a shampoo and a haircut w/ these headphones still in my ears. Bad mistake. The headphones got really wet and after a couple of days all the sound in the left ear disappeared. I called in their customer support and asked if there might be a problem and the nice lady told me that "you probably have to replace the filters". I did and they're back to sounding groovy.

So I went back to the etymotic site and bought more filters and some new ear plugs and a case... that added $40 to the cost of these headphones but the quality has been worth it.

--timball

Etymotic Research, Inc. - ER6i Isolator Earphones

The MemeStreams site code has been updated to fix a number of issues with RSS.

1) All feeds are now RSS 2.0.
2) Links in meme descriptions have been slightly reformatted for clarity.
3) The main page's RSS feed now includes the author of the post.
4) Browsers such as Safari will now detect RSS feeds.

RSS feeds are not just for news readers. It is possible to power an external website using your RSS feed. My website is an example of this. There are numerous libraries available that allow you include content from your RSS feed in other webpages. I'm currently using a PHP library called OnyxRSS, which no longer appears to be available. Magpie may currently be the best option available to others looking to do something similar.

MemeStreams Site Update: RSS Improvements

Felt said that if he had something for me, he could get me a message. He quizzed me about my daily routine, what came to my apartment, the mailbox, etc. The Post was delivered outside my apartment door. I did have a subscription to the New York Times. A number of people in my apartment building near Dupont Circle got the Times. The copies were left in the lobby with the apartment number. Mine was No. 617, and it was written clearly on the outside of each paper in marker pen.

Felt said if there was something important he could get to my New York Times -- how, I never knew. Page 20 would be circled, and the hands of a clock in the lower part of the page would be drawn to indicate the time of the meeting that night, probably 2 a.m., in the same Rosslyn parking garage.The relationship was a compact of trust; nothing about it was to be discussed or shared with anyone, he said.

How he could have made a daily observation of my balcony is still a mystery to me. At the time, before the era of intensive security, the back of the building was not enclosed, so anyone could have driven in the back alley to observe my balcony. In addition, my balcony and the back of the apartment complex faced onto a courtyard or back area that was shared with a number of other apartment or office buildings in the area. My balcony could have been seen from dozens of apartments or offices, as best I can tell.

A number of embassies were located in the area. The Iraqi Embassy was down the street, and I thought it possible that the FBI had surveillance or listening posts nearby. Could Felt have had the counterintelligence agents regularly report on the status of my flag and flowerpot? That seems highly unlikely, if not impossible.

Bob Woodward on his relations with Mark Felt.

How Mark Felt Became 'Deep Throat'

I TAKE IT ALL BACK! FELT WAS DEEP THROAT!

Woodward & Bernstein Confirm: Felt Was 'DeepThroat'

Straight from the AP -> CNN -> memestreams -> YOU!

So this former FBI agent claims he's deep throat. Neither Woodward, Berstein, or Bradlee are confirming. So we won't know definitively until he dies... I'm not advocating murder, but at some point someone please just drop dead so we can finally know. Otherwise the conspiracy nut jobs will just keep breeding.

Ex- FBI official says he was 'Deep Throat' - May 31, 2005

Data points from 15 different polling agencies (Pew, Gallup, etc), with a best fit curve line. I wish it included 2005 info, but still very informative.

Bush's approval rating graph 2001-2004

blood diamonds. I've hated deBeers ever since I found out they owned the market on tetra-carbon... damned bastards.

Ten reasons why you should never accept a diamond ring

This is a great article about Line Sitters. Line Sitting is a unique-to-DC phenonimon/occupation where someone actually pays someone else to sit in line. Typically this job involves waiting for seats in committee hearings in either the House or Senate. Who might pay for seats? Who might pay $10-$15/hr for this sort of access? Well Lobbyists of course!

DC Power brokering is about access. Who. What. When. Where. If lobbyists are the pinnacle of the special interests then the line sitters are the frontline grunts. They are placeholders for power. They are placeholders for access. They stand vigil for any and all special interest. If you want to talk about an existential crisis look no farther than here. Infact get in line, cause much like all things DC, this industry is competitive as hell.

What facinates me about this is the fact that the only qualification you need for this position is the ability to show up at the capitol and wait. Out infront of my building, the Hart Senate Office, I typically see this loose crew of people in their canvas lawn chairs reading books, talking or just generally waiting around. I kept wondering "What the hell these people waiting around for?"

Keynes was right! Even when dealing with politics, power, and access, it's all about supply and demand.

washingtonpost.com: The Line Starts Here

Sorry I didn't do this earlier but the articles haven't been good. Waren, Salazaar, McCain, Lieberman, Byrd turned what could have been the brink of disaster into a victory for the US Senate as a whole. The nuclear option would have tested the limits of our democracy.

The Senate now will get back to the business of the American people.

--timball

Senators Reach Deal on Filibuster

The Evens are Ian MacKaye of Fugazi and Amy Farina of the Warmers. It's really good. Load up your ipod and go.

Dischord | Bands | The Evens