Re: [Octal-dev] Hellooooo out there!

[Dave O'Toole]

Arthur Peters wrote:

> I haven't seen any traffic on the list lately. What's going on? Is dto
> gone or something? I didn't here about that. Anywho, I just wondered

:-) No, I guess it has just been quiet. As for me, I was away in
Pittsburgh for a week visiting family. I really needed to take a little
break. I feel pretty re-energized. There is nothing like completely
getting away from computers and seeing the sights of the city + valleys
to clear up a case of coder's block! I returned home last night and I've
been pretty excited to get back to coding. Also, the code documenter
program (that I plan to start using on Octal) is available at
dto.qwsi.net in case anyone would like to see it. Let me know if you
have any feedback. 

I saw the Cathedral of Learning (largest school building in the western
world) at University of Pittsburgh; it's actually the building where my
parents first met, while they were students there. If you are ever in
the area, visit this cathedral! It's amazing; the tour of the
nationality classrooms is worth more than the $3 they charge you. 

It's also nice to see how the waterfront area is being revived from
Monongahela valley up to the outskirts of the city; the long-closed
steel mill buildings have finally been torn down, and are being replaced
by shopping malls, restaurants, movie theaters, and the like. There's
also a "Dave and Buster's" which is sort of like Chuckie Cheese's but
for adults. I got to do a virtual reality Robotech tournament, where I
came in fourth place :-( 

I scoped out the student bookstores at CMU and Pitt hoping to find a
copy of "The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs" but
didn't get one; I will probably find it on the internet somewhere. (I
don't want the hardcover, it's way too expensive.) 

The highlight of the trip was Kennywood, one of the world's oldest
amusement parks (it recently turned 100.) This is the last year for the
Guinness-book-of-records roller coaster "The Steel Phantom" so we had to
go (I rode it the year the coaster was first completed.) I had not
visited the park in about six years so it was fantastic to go. What I
didn't know was in the meantime they changed the Log Jammer ride so that
you get COMPLETELY soaked. It used to be a "light sprinkle" ride, sort
of like Splash Mountain at Disney. No longer, they now station a guy at
the top of a hill who jerks the boat so you get drenched. 

> what was going on and why noone has been discussing the pros and cons
> of DSP algorithms I don't understand. Latter.

I think everyone is on the music-dsp list instead :-). There has been a
big discussion about sample interpolation there recently. It's much
better than a while back when someone was talking about exactly how they
morphed Cher's voice in that repetitive dance song.

By the way, did anyone else think "X-Men" was really great?

-- 
@@@ david o'toole
@@@ address@hidden
@@@ www.gnu.org/software/octal