About a week ago I flew on an airplane for the first time in my life. I cannot say that I looked forward to climbing into a metal tube and being flung across the country. In the end though, I think all went well.

I believe I was much more paranoid about the security check than actually flying. Which helped me forget about how nervous I was about flying. Luckily, it seems that all of the rumors I heard about the security check were just silly. The most important tip would be to read the TSA Guide for Travelers. Pay special attention to the identification, liquid, and prohibited items sections. You will have to take your shoes off during the check. You can always spot the seasoned travelers because they are the guys in suits with flip flops on. When passing through the metal detectors don't forget about belt buckles, gum wrappers, and keys. You may also be asked to remove your laptop from a bag if you are carrying one. One of the TSA and airline guidelines that saved me was keeping liquids in a 8x7.5 inch plastic zip top bag. My hairspray exploded due to poor packaging or the high altitude and I had sticky deodorant, toothpaste, and body spray containers the whole week. At least my clothing wasn't sticky. That brings me to another tip. Don't just look at the TSA guidelines, go to your airlines Web site as well. Most of the time the guidelines will match, but certain airlines could choose to be more strict about what you are actually allowed to bring onboard. One of the most misleading airline guidelines is carry-on sizes. While most airlines provide 22"x14"x9" as the required measurements this can be confusing. First of all, if you purchase a bag from the store that claims to follow these standards be aware that they generally push the limits. Smaller airplanes will not accommodate a bag at the same size as planes in the size range of a 737 and up. Also keep in mind that any bag that comes close to those dimensions in the store, once packed, will most likely exceed them. However, with the smaller planes you can generally do a gate check. I purchased an Embark Pilot Upright Bag for my trip and encountered no problems, except for a gate check on my flight from Columbus to Cleveland. The suitcase fit very well in the overheads for the larger airplanes.

Neither my departing flight nor my returning flights were non stop. However, the layovers were both very nice breaks. My departing flight from Cleveland to San Francisco lasted five hours, which was generally horrible. My return flight was split, one three hour and one two hour flight, which was much more bearable. Bringing a laptop with movies on it saves a lot of money as the airlines attempt to sell you television and movies. However, Delta provided a free movie in flight, which was nice. I believe I made it lucky with the people I sat next to on all of my flights. My first flight from Columbus to Cleveland I was able to sit alone. The first person I sat next to was a former stewardess that was returning home to Sausalito, California. Just knowing that she had flown countless times helped put me at ease. On my return flight I sat next to a couple, one of which had a fear of flying. His extreme terror of flying actually put me at ease. Thankfully, he had his fear under control and just closed his eyes and mumbled any time we hit turbulence. My final flight was very short and by then I was fairly comfortable with things. I sat next to another couple and chatted with the wife about the Amazon Kindle.

As far as overcoming my fear of flying, I would like to state once again, metal tube with rockets. Pretty much I think the only way to overcome fear of flying is to just say to yourself that you are risking your life and if you die, well, you die. Once you get past that, it is pretty fun. I found that having window seats helped. Being able to look out the window gave me a sense of control, no matter how absent any control actually was. I experienced a lot of turbulence on my flight from Columbus to Cleveland, mostly during the landing, which was all that much more terrifying. The worst by far though was the first return flight. It was a three hour flight and the turbulence was so bad that the stewardesses were not able to bring out food carts until the last hour of the flight. We were also told to stay in our seats if at all possible during this time. Of course, keeping in mind that this was the flight with the guy that had the fear of flying. I felt really bad for him.

Android developers got a nice boost from Adobe. As Apple continues to abandon and oppress potential developers. Adobe has officially announced it will stop pursuing iPad and iPhone development with Adobe Flash. While the feature will still be included in CS5 it will not be developed any further. Instead, Adobe has decided to shift focus on Android development with Flash.

"Fortunately, the iPhone isn’t the only game in town."

-Mike Chambers, Principal Product Manager for developer relations for the Flash Platform at Adobe

With a vast number of Flash developers out there this is most certainly welcome news to any Android user. Comparing the Apple AppStore Games to Android Market Games reveals a large weakness in the Android platform. If Adobe truly throws their weight behind this project Android users will certainly benefit. As much as Flash has grown in the past ten years this also means a lot for basic applications on Android. The ability to leverage web services through Flash will make it a powerful productivity platform as well as gaming platform for development. This is something that has really taken off in recent years and many people tend to think of Flash as only for fancy menus and games.

Flash has been unwelcome in many Web Development circles due to accessibility and usability issues. I think the true problem regarding flash in Web sites relates to its abuse and not its intended purpose. Development for mobile devices is where Flash truly shines. For any mobile company, to leave Flash out of equation, just sounds like bad business. Mike Chambers, Principal Product Manager for developer relations for the Flash Platform at Adobe, said on his blog: "The primary goal of Flash has always been to enable cross browser, platform and device development."

Sources:

• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8639240.stm
• http://www.mikechambers.com/blog/2010/04/20/on-adobe-flash-cs5-and-iphon...

I have decided to move my sites into Drupal. It has been a slow and long process. Keptosh.com has already been moved over. I didn't bother changing the theme at this time, but may do so in the future. I'm also considering changing the overall function of that site. My wife's site funnylittlebirds.com has also been moved over to Drupal, but she hasn't populated it with content yet.
 
I have made a lot of "I don't blog enough" posts over there years. While I do not want to do away with the blog altogether, my goal for the future is to remove the emphasis of the site from it. My blog will become my ranting ground, as it always has been. Instead, I will shift my focus to articles or features. These articles will not have an associated date and they will appear in rotation on the front page. They will be stand alone commentary on a variety of subjects that interest me and will hopefully interest my readers. This will allow me to focus on specific topics that would seem out of place in the blog and still keep the blog informal. This also releives the pressure on me to produce blog posts as frequently.
 
With the current organization of the site if I don't blog everyday the site looks stale and dead. That last post date is just kind of floating up at the top declaring the last day I bothered to interact with my site. I think the web is changing too much for this to be a true indicator of activity. I tweet more than I blog. So, this will find a more dominant place in the new design. I also would like to turn more of attention of this site to my music. This will mean a featured album or something of that nature.
 
As of this writing the new theme has been built in photoshop, but not assembled yet. I will probably launch the site with the default Drupal theme initially. The horror of having that theme live should motivate me to finish the xhtml and css for the new design. Until I have enough articles to take the new front page live the blog itself will remain on the front page.
 
That is what is on the horizon for now. If you do find yourself reading this blog, let me know what you expect from it. What would you like to see more of.
 
later,
-junc

Recently I was asked about turntables and digital DJing. It turned into a very interesting journey. As I consulted about what to purchase and what to not purchase, I realized, there is no where for someone to go for these answers. For someone who is completely new to the subject, there really isn’t a friendly way to find the answers you are looking for. So, here is my attempt to provide those answers. Do keep in mind however, that I am by no means an expert on the subject. A lot of people may disagree with what I have to say, but, I’m just here to help, so take what you like from it.

Getting into spinning records is pretty much the same regardless as to what kind of music you are interested in. If you want to scratch, play techno, house, acid, or just experiment, the answers are all the same. The DJ has evolved in a very strange way over the past few decades. At various points in that evolution some DJs have branched off and remained in a certain phase, while others go on to rest in other phases. It is my personal opinion that the final phase is that of the turntabilist. This is the end of all paths that the DJ travels. By no means does a DJ have to be a great turntablist to be a great DJ. A DJ is great based on many things, music selection, scratching, beat matching, it all has an equal importance. Scratching is going to be useless to a DJ who is only playing records at a radio station. Just as music selection might not be of the greatest importance to the scratch DJ. These issues are not what I’m going to discuss or would wish to debate. The point of it all is that the type of music or type of DJ that you wish to pursue has no affect on the gear you own. I believe that if you are going to pursue any path, that your gear should prepare you for the end of all paths, the turntabilist.

The turntabilst is one that uses the turntable as an instrument. A DJ plays the records and the focus is on the music on the record itself, not on the creation of music with that record. A musical instrument should always be afforded a certain amount of respect. So it is important that we take this approach when we talk about purchasing gear. You are not just buying a record player. This is the device you will use to communicate with your audience.

If you would like to learn more about the origins of the DJ and turntablism I would recommend checking out the movie Scratch. It provides an excellent history of the evolution of the DJ and is always an inspiration for me.

I imagine a lot of purist and old school DJs feel that digital DJing is sacrilege. I think that there is a certain way you can approach it that is sinful. My hope is to keep people from making those mistakes.

Onto the meat. Money. People want to do this cheap. They will rush out and buy the first pair of Numark belt driven battle pack super kit they find. That, would be a waste of money. The flip side is the digital side, rushing out and buy a cool looking controller. Both of these are mistakes. Research is the most important thing that needs to be considered. Before you buy anything, read reviews, watch YouTube videos. Learn all that you can about it.

Turntables, the elitism you will encounter on this subject can be overwhelming. If you don’t know how to match a beat going out and laying down $500 a table might not be the best idea. The second hand market is thriving, eBay is your friend. If you must go the turntable pack route the things you are looking for are Direct Drive tables and a mixer with a three frequency equalizer (high, mid, and low). At this stage brands are not as important as many people will lead you to believe. If you are going to be scratching then investing in some low end tables with high torque should take care of you for now. If you are just going to match beats just about any direct drive table should do the trick. Many people are going to see the belt drive and that very affordable price and just say screw it. Don’t do this, please. The difference in the feel between belt drive and direct drive is too great. I’m sure many people will tell you that expensive belt drive is as good as cheap direct drive, but just ignore them. Belt drive is taboo, and you are investing in something here. What you are actually investing in is resale value if you are going this route. If you decide that DJing is for you, if you have the extra cash, or if you just don’t have to go the turntable package route, there is only one set of tables for you, Technics. If you buy anything else, don’t let them leave your bedroom, and cover them with a blanket if anyone you respect comes over. Trying to DJ in public on something other than a pair of Technics should make you feel embarrassed. I imagine it would get you beat up in some places. So let’s say you bought the crappy tables and want to upgrade. A lot of people will tell you that you wasted your money. Catch is, the second hand market for turntables isn’t all that bad. You will make back some of that money. Consider the money spent an investment in your education. Technics cost around $500 brand new. You should be able to find them on eBay for around $250 each. This is a pretty good rule of thumb for most gear. Expect the resale value on your crappy tables to be about half of what you pay for them. If at all possible, buy the Technics first.

If you do buy used you may find that your tables lack needles. You can spend hundreds of dollars on needles if you are not careful. A pair of Shure M44-7's run about $50 each and should be a decent balance between sound quality and holding up while scratching. The M44-7H is a little more geared toward scratching but costs around $80.

The mixer. This one is pretty simple, as I mentioned above go with a three frequency equalizer (high, mid, and low). You can go with two or three channels depending on if you want to have any external gear. Three channel is typically the best because it prepares you for any future expansion, but two is really all you need. There are a few brands to avoid here, Behringer is one of them. Go with some names like Numark, Gemini , or Vestax if possible. If you just do two channel you should be able to find something for under $100 new. Over that will take you to at least $150 and beyond very quickly.

The digital DJ setup is a little more tricky. You can go in a lot of directions with this. The Pioneer CDJ revolutionized the digital DJ world. These are amazing machines, but cost a small fortune. Most USB based controllers are terrible when it comes to digital DJing. If they lack an internal audio source, which most of them do, you will need some other way to cue music. This is an essential function for a DJ, listening to one channel in the headphones while the other plays to the audience. This is how you beatmatch and simply find your place in a track. Also, beware of controllers that come with crippled software that costs hundreds of dollars to upgrade to a full version. In my quest to find a decent low cost digital DJ solution I did not find anything that could accurately replace the feeling of using vinyl in the controller world.

This leaves us with the Virtual Vinyl world. I can only recommend one of these for beginners, and that is because of price, Torq. $300 or less is pretty hard to beat in the Virtual Vinyl world. Most of these systems cost between $500 and $800. I don’t consider these to be entry level prices. Since I’ve never used it I’m basing the advice on reviews and research, not experience. So please, do you your own research and try to test out a setup of Torq if you can, don’t just take my word for it. However, if I were buying any Virtual Vinyl software, Torq would be it.

So, where does that leave us? $600 for tables, $100 for mixer, and $300 for software. This is a pretty big investment for someone that is curious about DJing. Beware of cutting corners though. You can definitely get the cheaper turntables or go with a digital controller setup, and maybe you will like it, maybe you will love it, but in the end, you will be missing something. Cheap tables will need to be replaced and equally priced digital controllers will lack the tactile feel of tables.

I have been very saddened by how slowly the digital DJ world has progressed in the past few years. The only hope I’ve seen for the digital DJ recently is Numark’s NS7 with it’s $1300.00 price tag. I must admit, this is a piece of gear I’m considering. I’ve owned tables in the past so I know what I’m getting into though. For me, the $1300 investment would be worth it. For the beginner, this might be a bit to take on all at once. Once it hits the used market though, it might really be a good place for the Digital DJ to get a start. It is a comparable price to the setup I’ve outlined here and the feel and performance is supposed to be outstanding. Until it hits the used market though, and I’ve done my research, I won’t be taking the plunge.

If you walk away from this with anything I hope that it is at least a basic knowledge of where to start. I encourage you to not take my word for anything. When making any investment it is always best to do your own research. Hopefully, I have provided you with enough information to get you started on the right path. If you have any further questions, no matter how silly you think they are, feel free to post in the comments. The goal here is to help the beginner.

Good luck, and happy spinning.

later,
-junc

I picked up a Nikon D60 yesterday and took pictures all day long. http://juncmodule.deviantart.com/ Just what I needed, another hobby. Heh. I will hopefully be finding some old photographs, scanning them in, and uploading them throughout the day. I had a lot of fun yesterday and I might go down to campus and take some more pictures today. Keep an eye on my Deviant Art page. If you see something you really like you can buy prints of them directly from the Deviant Art site. later, -junc

I've had this thing about Paris for a while now. It all started with just wanting to flee the country. I've bounced around on where to go a lot. Paris, London, just about anywhere really. The point being, not in America any more. Paris has been the high point though, the one that sticks out the most. Every time I see any documentaries, travel channel shows, or read about Paris it just seems like a good fit. I've made a pseudo-commitment to move there in 5 years. So, by April 2014 I should be in Paris. By that time I will have 5 years in at my job, possibly a B.A., and should be fluent enough in French to get by in a job. My hope is to find a web development job. So, if you are in need of a web developer in Paris drop me an email or something. Obviously, I will continue looking for jobs in Paris within the 5 years and attempt to move sooner. The 5 year commitment is simply the end of the road. At that point, if I'm not there, I'm going to do anything possible to get there. Even if I have to live in the streets, I will get there and stay there. So, why not in America anymore? Am I not a good patriot? Do I hate my country? No, I don't think so. I'm pretty frustrated with my fellow Americans though. Sky high gas prices, economy run into the ground by huge corporations that control our government and what do we do. Nothing. We have been doing nothing since Vietnam ended. Our will to stand up and scream in the face of the government has faded. Too me, that is just un-american. I don't want to be a part of it any longer. We don't fight for freedom. We take it for granted and give it away at the first opportunity. We lost so much freedom after 9/11 and we will never get it back. Americans live under a delusion of what freedom is anyway. We allow ourselves to be diluted into thinking that we have these specific freedoms and rights. I want my freedoms to be transparent. Don't tell me that I have the right to bear arms and speak when the truth is I can only do those things based on very specific rules. That isn't freedom or rights, that is a very comfortable lie. Is France better? No, I don't think so. To be perfectly honest, I don't know much about France. What I do know is that people strike, demonstrate, and when needed, they riot. France is the birthplace of the modern concept of freedom. The European Union seems to be moving forward in a direction that fits my moral goals more closely. The European attitude seems so much more in tune with my own. Regardless, it is the refuge I have chosen. Now, I just need to seek it out. I wish I felt comfortable in America. I wish I felt like more people agreed with me. I wish I was in Paris.

later,
-junc

There are a few people that don't think that Amazon's Kindle is such a great thing. There is a sort of primal fear that people get when you talk about taking away their books. Images of book burnings and dystopian societies where knowledge is forbidden spring to mind. Empty dusty bookshelves and unemployed librarians fill our nightmares. Without paper books, this sacred thing, there is no knowledge, no freedom to pursue that knowledge. Since man started calling himself civilized, he, or she, has measured that level of civilization by the ability to read. From scribblings on walls to rolled scrolls filling Ancient Roman Libraries. The greatest tragedy of the ancient world some may say was the burning of the library in Alexandria. As time wore on christian monks began duplicating books, spreading and sharing, and even stealing, knowledge throughout the world. We imported much of our mathematics from the Middle Eastern world. Once the printing press took hold, slowly, knowledge became accessible to the comman folk. Literacy, over the centuries started to become a concern for nation states. Today, many nations measure their wealth not only in treasures, but in overall literacy rates as well. With all of that history, all that humankind has strived to pass on, it is no great suprise that people fear the loss of the book. What the Amazon Kindle brings to the reading world is the distribution of literature on a level which we have never imagined. While eReading devices have been around for more than a decade, even in the same price range, they have never achieved the fame which the Kindle has. This portable library offers a promise. Imagine all of the classics of literature, encyclopedias, and dictionaries in every language distributed throughout the world. Imagine the affect that type of exposure to reading materials will have on literacy rates in all nations. The concept of the laptop, in a truly portable form has only existed for about 15 years. Only in a moderately affordable form for about 5 years. Imagine when someone takes the initiative to launch a one Kindle per child initiative. Preloaded with all the knowledge of the world. The Amazon Kindle may come and go. But the future of reading, of knowledge, is here. later, -junc

Winter NAMM is up and running and Ableton is working hard at making me go broke. I just picked up Ableton Live 7 and only a month and a half later they drop the Ableton Live 8 annoucement. If that isn't enough they have teamed up with Akai to create the APC40, a MIDI controller built specifically for Live. Oh, but there is more. They are also releasing an instrument called MaxForLive. Integrating Max/MSP into Ableton. They are saying second quarter 2009, so at least I have some time. When considering which application to invest in there were about four real contenders out there. Ableton Live, Reason, Reaktor, and Max/MSP. Reason was ruled out pretty quickly for several reasons. In many ways I see it as just as much of a toy as FL Studio. While you can do amazing things with FL Studio and Reason they just don't fit my style of music creation. Reaktor came pretty high on the list because I could build my own instruments. Of course that appeals to me a great deal. Reaktor really only came into the picture because I saw it as a simpler and more user friendly version of Max/MSP. Then again, I decided that if I'm going to drop that kind of money, it might as well be on the real deal. Max/MSP and Live being the last two left to decide from made things a little difficult. Max/MSP really caters to the whole experimental aspect of things while Live falls into the perform by instinct aspect. The problem with Max/MSP is the complexity. It would be months before I could really be up and running with it. Every time I've played with it in the past I've just been overwhelmed. Ableton was never that way. Several tracks on my last two albums were already made with versions of Live LE so I already knew the program and could get results from it. At the time I was also unaware of the built in synths and drum machines in Live, the LE I was using was a rather older version...perhaps 4?. My choice for Ableton Live has certainly paid off. I'm am continuously amazed by what the program can do and how it just feels like home for me. While building up samples for my next album I even found that it eliminated the need for my Roland JP8080. Instead of spending time learning a piece of hardware that can't go everywhere with me I can invest it in Live and a nice little VST called SuperWave P8. I believe I have finally killed the age of hardware. Even considering the cost of upgrading and these new tools it no where near matches the incredible amount of money I spent over the years on hardware. Of course, MIDI controllers and a good Piano are always desirable. However, when it come to the core of things the computer finally does feel right. later, -junc

Looking back on the 6 topics covered I can't really say that any of them will fail to keep me occupied over the next few months. Each of them provides plenty of fuel for the blog. I think that being a self-aware blogger kind of hurts the genuine nature of a personal blog. This certainly is no where near becoming one of those professional blogs which are very self aware. I believe I have attempted to balance between the two types for too long. In the end I think the point is that the blog will focus more on my personal ramblings and stop attempting to achieve cohesion which I always fail at reaching.

A while back a made a post about the presidential election that leaned in the pro-McCain direction. Quickly after “getting to know” Sarah Palin, this all changed. It was sad to see the only republican worth liking, John McCain, become so unlikable. Needless to say, I’m very happy with Obama’s victory. I think this will make politics very interesting other the next eight years. The past eight years have been way to frustrating to bother with. Slowly watching your country get ripped to shreds by an incompetent president was not fun. Hopefully Obama can put some America back into America. So far the Obama Administration seems to be keeping an open policy about how it is proceeding. The site change.gov is very promising, offering a good source to find out what the president-elect is up to. This may allow me to follow events a little more closely. The rest of the world also seems to have finally fully discovered the web so I can watch world news videos on the web and get a quick update as to where the world is at. I may attempt to go to the inauguration in January, but money is tight right now and I have a feeling there might be a very large amount of people attending this inauguration. later, -junc