max@uwm.UUCP (Max Hauser) (05/17/91)
1. Call for absurdities
Please bear with me for a request that might at first seem facetious but
is in fact very real.
I've been asked to give an annual address at one of the electrical
engineering international conferences in several months. (I'll post the
details later.) This is to be an "entertaining" talk rather than primarily
a technical one. The subject I've chosen is absurdities in consumer audio
electronics. I have some fine source material already but I am looking for
other references and examples.
I am not concerned at all here with esthetics or preferences or subjective
evaluations, but rather with technical or technical-sounding arguments of
the kind that might be used, for example, to buttress the advertising of
some new gimmick. Thus for example a microscopic monolithic platinum
speaker wire would not be absurd, as much as an accompanying claim that
this special material accelerates the electrons to well beyond the speed
of light. I am sure that cosmopolitan readers of the various audio
publications will have access to real-life examples against which even my
hypothetical sample pales.
If you have items that you think might be amusing in this context then
please e-mail or FAX references, or even better send or FAX copies, to my
attention. Your contribution could see a very wide audience. Be sure to
include your name and phone number so I can get back to you and give credit
where due; also indicate if you'd prefer not to be acknowledged publicly.
Max W. Hauser {mips,philabs,pyramid}!prls!max
Signetics Corporation prls!max@mips.com
M/S 61, P.O. Box 3409
Sunnyvale, California 94088 FAX: 408-730-8158
2. Upcoming talks
In case any readers are nearby: I'll be giving a research seminar about
oversampling at Caltech down in Pasadena, California next Thursday, May 23,
at 4:00 PM (Edward Posner's Thursday afternoon seminar in the Electrical
Engineering Department). (Caltech is known, incidentally, as a prime
spawning ground of fanatic audio high-end startup companies.)
Also presenting two more papers about audio electronics at the Fall (91st)
AES Convention in New York City, October 4-7.