Speciaal voor de SAP Community Network (SCN) is er een applicatie ontwikkeld, de eerste nieuwe sinds 2008, waarmee SAP developers, analysts, consultants, en administrators zich kunnen profileren. Op deze wijze kun je aan collega’s of (potentiële) opdrachtgevers je lidmaatschap en berichten tonen in SCN. Het profiel toont SAP lidmaatschap status, recent bijdragen en artikelen, en je SCN Point Level.

Message boards centered around sports memorabilia came alive on Saturday. Steiner Sports had a promo code (YANK909) which allowed purchasers to get $50 off any order with no minimum to buy. So if you could find something for $49.99 then you only had to pay shipping and the item was yours. Virtually free. To good to be true? Probably. Collectors were suspicious but it did appear to be working. I did it myself and after placing my order I got an email which contained this…

Product                Quantity      Price
——————————————————
BASEBAU000014 – Official Major League Baseball
3              $44.97

Subtotal:                                    $44.97
$50 Off Your Purchase: ($44.97)
Shipping:                                  $9.99
Sales Tax:                                  $0.00
Grand Total:                              $9.99

So far so good! My order went through and common-sense aside I had no reason to doubt the legitimacy of the offer. Orders poured in at Steiner Saturday and Sunday. A lot of people made several separate orders to take full advantage of the promotion (Greedy? Maybe, but it makes good business sense, so I can’t fault any of them). Meanwhile, someone at Steiner put up a red flag. The promotion stopped working sometime last night because it turns out it was only supposed to be good for Yankee season ticket holders Another reason to hate the Yankees). I’ve seen some reports of orders being kicked back. Reports of people being asked by Steiner for their season ticket number and reports of people getting charged as though they never used the promo code.

So Steiner has a mess on their hands. This fact alone delights me. To me Steiner represents all that’s wrong with the hobby and this “Yankee season ticket holder only” offer only accentuates what’s wrong with Steiner. Steiner makes collecting exclusive. Serious collector’s know which players have contracts with Steiner and that if they want that guy’s autograph they’ll likely have to shell out a lot of cash. A lot of those players only rarely sign autographs at games and even then will only autograph the side-panel of a baseball, as opposed to the sweet spot, or avoid marquee items. “Yes, I’ll sign your ticket stub! But you with the 16×20? Take a hike.” (And who do you think is the bigger fan? The guy who purchased a 16×20 or the dolt who came completely unprepared and only had their ticket stub? And Steiner supports that type of activity. Hell, they pay for it! They pay ballplayers not to sign your items for free! They pay the right to sell that autograph (that you had the chance to get for free) for $600, and because they’re so big they find buyers. They land big contracts. So personally, I dislike Steiner sports.

That opinion aside, what should Steiner really do here? Well first of all, I don’t see how they didn’t catch this within the first few hours. Then maybe they could have honored those orders and looked like the good guy. Now, with how many orders were placed I would not expect them to honor the promo code orders. If I hear nothing back, and my card is never charged I will not feel slighted by Steiner. I tried. The ball’s in their court now. They were careless and stupid to let this even happen, but now that it did I don’t think it would be unethical for them to simply cancel orders and refund money. Now if they really do try to charge people the full amounts, then I would have a serious problem with that. One person has said they’re trying that with him, but I don’t think we’ll see a lot of it.

No matter how they play it from here, Steiner made a big mistake. I’m just happy that I get to know that they are all stressing out over there trying to figure out how to fix it. Both logistically and from a customer-service standpoint. No matter what this story has a happy ending.

-:UPDATE HERE:-

It is the beginning of the 09-10 pitch season for broadcasters and I am excited to be pitching Cheshire Smile Animation’s latest preschool property The Littlest Bridge Troll to SCN in Saskatchewan today, and other preschool broadcasters (SCN, Treehouse, and Nickelodeon) at the 2009 Ottawa Television Animation Conference in October.

Billy The Littlest Bridge Troll

The Littlest Bridge Troll was originally conceived as a series called The Bridge City Trolls a variety style show with different trolls under different bridges. The idea lay dormant for a number of years until I had the great fortune of attending Little Airplane Academy last August in New York City. Quite simply this is the most in depth, honest view of what it takes to conceive, develop, produce and exploit a Great Pre-School Television Series.

This blog gets a lot of hits from people who are interested in learning how to pitch and create television series for children. I can tell you, that in all of my years attending conferences like KidScreen, Banff, MIP, and the Ottawa Television Animation Conference, there is no better crash course to be take that can give you a more complete view of the process than Little Airplane Academy. If you are hitting this page because you want to learn how to pitch and create a TV series for children – Go to this workshop – you will not regret it + you get to spend a killer weekend in NYC.

I came away from the experience inspired, and The Littlest Bridge Troll is the result. Check it out.

The Littlest Bridge Troll
Created By: Tim Tyler

Logline: The Littlest Bridge Troll is a 6 x 11 minute pre-school animated series starring Billy, a little boy bridge troll, who can’t help but get himself into trouble. It’s his troll nature! Through honesty, the advise of his troll elders, and the support of his best friends, 3 pigeons, he always
puts things right at the end.

Design Brief: The Littlest Bridge Troll mixes cut out friendly muppet monster style animation designs, with larger than life green screen live action characters, and digital sets that merge surreal perspective photographic bridge imagery with home and life elements such as bedrooms,
kitchens, studies, and back yards to create a distinct collage style reality that is clearly not of our world, but relatable to kids through it’s familiarity to their own lives.

Curriculum: Social Development – honesty, tolerance, and problem solving. Let’s face it everyone makes mistakes. It is important for children to learn that mistakes are a part of life and honesty, tolerance, and problem solving are the best way to deal with them.

Backstory (As told to the producer by Billy):

Hi, I am Billy. I am a little boy bridge troll.

I was born when they started building a new bridge over the Saskatchewan
river. My mom says when they finish it, I will be all grown up.

My 3 best friends are pigeons, Cagny, Scott and Thimm. They live under my
mom’s bridge too.

There are lot’s of Bridges in my city. Each one has it’s own Troll.

There is the University Bridge. It’s the bridge to the university and
Professor Thumpson is a very smart Troll. He is my teacher.

There is the Broadway Bridge. Fran lives under that Bridge. She loves music,
and people and lets me play her Bongos.

The Victoria Bridge is the oldest Bridge in Saskatoon. Mr. and Mrs BrassHorn
are two veerrry old trolls who live under it. They have lived there forever.
Once I was playing Troll Tag with Cagny, Scott and Tom, and broke a light.
Mr BrassHorn was very mad, but Mrs. BrassHorn said it would be OK and I
helped him fix it. I don’t think he likes little boy trolls.

The Freeway Bridge is where the highway crosses the river, Jet, who lives
under it is the fastest Troll I know. He never does anything slowly, he zips
and jumps from here to there, and talks really really fast. When I grow up
he is going to show me how to skateboard.

I live with my mom and dad under the Family Bridge. It’s the bridge that
families cross when they go to their homes at night after work and school.

Recent research has identified Lignans as key nutrients for maintaining optimal health. Only 1 scoop of Mila™ The Miracle Seed provides 935 mg of Lignans. Flax contains only 33 mg of Lignans for the same serving size.

The amino acid protein profile of Mila™ yields 91% protein quality versus only 60% for Flax.

Flax has a strong, dominating flavor. Mila™ has a neutral flavor and its hydrophilic structure lends itself to limitless recipe applications while taking on the delicious flavors of foods in which it is blended or cooked.

Flax contains substances called cyanogens, which are converted in the body into another chemical called Thiocyanate (SCN). High blood concentrations of SCN for prolonged periods of time may have adverse affects on the thyroid function. Mila™ contains no harmful cyanogens.

Flax also contains vitamin B interrupters that can cause malnutrition. The US government regulates flax consumption to more than 12% of your total caloric intake. Vegans and others on diets low in protein or sulfur containing amino acids (methionine and cystine) must be very careful consuming flax seed.

Warning: Flax seed cyanogens convert to cyanide; a poison that can be life threatening.

Please Note: Flax is not approved as a regular food or supplement by the FDA and is illegal or restricted in some countries.

The Signature Grain™ has a certified food status by the FDA.

Mila™ The Miracle Seed absorbs more than 15 times its weight in water and does not require refrigeration. Flax absorbs only 6 times its weight in water and requires refrigeration.

Mila™ unique soluble fiber forms a gel in the stomach that creates a physical barrier between carbohydrates and the digestive enzymes that break down what you’ve eaten. This process slows the conversion of carbohydrates into sugar.

This slower digestion period keeps your body hydrated longer and lets you fully absorb all of Mila™’s valuable nutrients thus dramatically increasing your energy and endurance.

Flax has little of these gel forming properties.

We learned in middle school that there are two, and only two, types of light sensitive cells in the retina, rods and cones, right?  Right, that’s what we learned.  Could be the science teachers are still saying that, since the third type was discovered within the last decade. 

Mammalian retina

The mammalian retina consists of many layers.  One might think that light would first strike the rods and cones, the photosensitive cells we use for vision.  But our retina is “inside out” compared to the more logical layout found in the octopus and its relatives; light in our eyes must travel through the many retinal layers to reach our rods and cones.  

One of the first layers the light reaches is composed of the one and a half million ganglion cells, most of which are involved in processing visual (image forming) information.  Fewer than 25000, some say just a couple thousand, of these cells are themselves sensitive to light. They function as light meters and they function much more slowly than the rods and cones, not registering abrupt fluctuations in light intensity.  These cells project their axons to several brain centers including the suprachiasmatic nuclei, SCN, the “body clock” through the retinohypothalamic tract.  They thus provide the major clue for the adjustment of the body clock.  The incoming information about light intensity is also used to adjust pupil size (narrowing of pupils in bright light) and to regulate physical activity and melatonin synthesis. 

Newly discovered, they are called by many names:

• intrinsically photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells (ipRGC, also pRGC)
• photosensitive ganglion cells
• melanopsin-containing retinal ganglion cells
• melanopsin-expressing retinal ganglion cells (mRGC)

Late in the previous century, scientists weren’t sure that there existed ipRGCs, and those who thought that they do exist were arguing about what opsin, what pigment, they use.  Is it  melanopsin or one of the cryptochromes, which also respond to blue light?  One argument against melanopsin was that it resembles invertebrate opsins and differs from other opsin photopigments found in vertebrates.  

Again, as with our hormone melatonin, it was research on specialized light-sensitive cells of frog skin which provided answers.  

It has been known for a while that even when vision is lost, the light-sensitive ganglion cells may function perfectly.  Recent research on mice at Salk Institute shows that the opposite also is true.  A way was found to knock out the ipRGCs while leaving the rods and cones alone.  The mice became arrhythmic, but still could see. 

One of the researchers speculates:  “It is entirely possible that in many older people a loss of this light sensor is not associated with a loss of vision, but instead may lead to difficulty falling asleep at the right time.”

Update:  I’ve just discovered a wonderful post, Why can’t human eyes detect all wavelengths?, on the blog of Xenophilius Lovegood (!?).  Xeno, claiming to be “a slightly mad scientist”, explains the physical / chemical / electrical changes in the rods and cones as they react to light.  He also has a bit about the ipRGCs.  Recommended.

 ______________________________________________

Next:  (coming soon)

______________________________________________

» MÚSICA

Nesta sexta-feira, a música caipira da dupla Zé Mulato e Cassiano toma o auditório da Eletronorte (SCN, Quadra 06, Conj A, Bloco B, 1º subsolo). Nascidos em Minas Gerais, eles chegaram a Brasília há 40 anos e já receberam prêmio de melhor música regional, em 1998, com o álbum Meu Céu. A apresentação começa às 13h, com classificação etária livre e entrada franca.

Go Canada is an animation/live action documentary series developed by Cheshire Smile Animation, Kids CBC, and SCN, for 2-6 year old children starring Canada: an inspired, animated map of our favorite country.

Inspired by kids, her audience, Canada travels our nation discovering and exploring entertaining, educational and cool stories about iconic elements of Canadian geography, locations and life. Canada is possessed by an insatiable curiosity for the country where she lives. As the host, Canada, leads the adventure, but she learns alongside the children viewing the show as she discovers, explores and experiences special places within the Canadian Community.

À 48 anos o Benfica levantava a taça de Campeão da Europa depois de vencer o Barcelona por três bolas a duas na final de Viena.

Faz hoje 48 anos que o Benfica venceu o Barcelona na final da Taça dos Campeões Europeus, foi a 31 de Maio de 1961 no estádio de Wankdorf em Viena. Sem dúvida, um dos mais importantes jogos de toda a História do clube.

Depois do domínio do Real Madrid nas edições anteriores da Taça dos Campeões Europeus, o Benfica conquistava frente a outro grande Espanhol o epíteto de campeão da Europa e se à partida o Barcelona era considerado o favorito, no final do jogo, a Europa passava a conhecer e respeitar nomes como Germano, Coluna, José Augusto ou José Águas. E o Benfica iniciava aqui uma fase de grande fulgor na Europa (5 finais da TCE em 8 anos), que infelizmente apenas se traduziram apenas em 2 títulos.

Benfica: Costa Pereira; João, Neto, Germano, Angelo; Cruz, Augusto; Aguas, Santana, Coluna, Cavem.

Barcelona: Ramallets; Foncho, Gracia, Vergés, Gensana; Garay, Kubala; Kocsis, Evaristo, Suárez, Csibor.

Benfica – Barcelona 3-2

20min. Kocsis 0-1

30min. Aguas 1-1

32min. Ramallets 2-1 (o.g.)

55min. Coluna 3-1

75min. Czibor 3-2

Fonte: SCN

Link

The 62nd Annual Yorkton Film Festival, the longest running film festival in North America, announced the winners of the 2009 Golden Sheaf Awards on May 23rd.  Of the 21 genre categories, three craft categories and six special awards recognizing excellence in Canadian short film, four Saskatoon producers were honoured with nine nominations and six awards at the Golden Sheaf Awards Gala, closing a weekend of meetings, workshops and skeet shooting in Yorkton, Saskatchewan.

Writer/ director/ producer Anand Ramayya (KarmaFilm) and producer/ researcher Ryan Lockwood (Hulo Films) accepted the Golden Sheaf for Best of Saskatchewan Ruth Shaw award and Best Research for their work on Mad Cow Sacred Cow.

Wapos Bay, the charming stop motion animated series created, written, and directed by Dennis & Melanie Jackson (Dark Thunder Productions), was awarded the Golden Sheaf award for Best Children’s Production for the episode Raiders of the Lost Art. The Jacksons and Anand Ramayya produce the series with Executive Producer Derek Mazur (National Film Board of Canada).

Producers Ryan Lockwood and Anand Ramayya also accepted the Golden Sheaf award for Landing, winning Best Documentary Series, and Best Multicultural Documentary for the Razawa episode.  The series also won the National Film Board of Canada’s Kathleen Shannon award, presented to an independently made documentary film that “allows people outside the dominant culture to speak for themselves.”

Hulo Films’ Interpersonalities, produced by Stephen Huszar (Hulo Films) and directed by Aidin Nakhai, received a nomination for Best Short Drama and the Ruth Shaw Award for Best of Saskatchewan.

###

Mad Cow Sacred Cow – Best of Saskatchewan Ruth Shaw Award, Best Research

Landing – Best Documentary Series, Best Multicultural, NFB Kathleen Shannon Award

Wapos Bay – Best Childrens Production

Interpersonalities

For the DBAs who want to have a refreser on SCN (system change number), this article article is very nice and explained clearly written by Sandeep Makol. It started on where you ‘ll find info for SCN (controlfile and datafile headers) then goes to the backup and recovery scenarios where knowledge of this “magic number” is very useful.

Below are some useful scripts (with sample output) as well

-- get specific datafile
col name format a50
select 'controlfile' "SCN location",'SYSTEM checkpoint' name,checkpoint_change#
from v$database
union
select 'file in controlfile',name,checkpoint_change#
from v$datafile where lower(name) like '%&&datafile%'
union
select 'file header',name,checkpoint_change#
from v$datafile_header where lower(name) like '%&&datafile%';

SCN location	    NAME					       CHECKPOINT_CHANGE#
------------------- -------------------------------------------------- ------------------
controlfile	    SYSTEM checkpoint						  1151614
file header	    +DATA_1/ivrs/datafile/sysaux.258.652821943			  1151614
file header	    +DATA_1/ivrs/datafile/system.267.652821909			  1151614
file header	    +DATA_1/ivrs/datafile/system_02.dbf 			  1151614
file header	    +DATA_1/ivrs/datafile/undotbs1.257.652821933		  1151614
file header	    +DATA_1/ivrs/datafile/users.263.652821963			  1151614
file in controlfile +DATA_1/ivrs/datafile/sysaux.258.652821943			  1151614
file in controlfile +DATA_1/ivrs/datafile/system.267.652821909			  1151614
file in controlfile +DATA_1/ivrs/datafile/system_02.dbf 			  1151614
file in controlfile +DATA_1/ivrs/datafile/undotbs1.257.652821933		  1151614
file in controlfile +DATA_1/ivrs/datafile/users.263.652821963			  1151614

-- get distinct checkpoint_change#
select checkpoint_change#, 'SYSTEM checkpoint in controlfile' "SCN location"
from v$database
union
select distinct checkpoint_change#, 'file in controlfile'
from v$datafile
union
select distinct checkpoint_change#, 'file header'
from v$datafile_header;

CHECKPOINT_CHANGE# SCN location
------------------ --------------------------------
	   1151614 SYSTEM checkpoint in controlfile
	   1151614 file header
	   1151614 file in controlfile

-- get distinct datafile count
select 'controlfile' "SCN location",'SYSTEM checkpoint' name,checkpoint_change#
from v$database
union
select 'file in controlfile',to_char(count(*)),checkpoint_change#
from v$datafile
group by checkpoint_change#
union
select 'file header',to_char(count(*)),checkpoint_change#
from v$datafile_header
group by checkpoint_change#;

SCN location	    NAME					       CHECKPOINT_CHANGE#
------------------- -------------------------------------------------- ------------------
controlfile	    SYSTEM checkpoint						  1151614
file header	    5								  1151614
file in controlfile 5								  1151614

-- info from x$kcvfh (All file headers)
SELECT hxfil file_num,substr(hxfnm,1,40) file_name,fhtyp type,hxerr validity, fhscn chk_ch#, fhtnm tablespace_name,fhsta status,fhrba_seq sequence
FROM x$kcvfh;

  FILE_NUM FILE_NAME					  TYPE	 VALIDITY CHK_CH#	   TABLESPACE_NAME		      STATUS   SEQUENCE
---------- ---------------------------------------- ---------- ---------- ---------------- ------------------------------ ---------- ----------
	 1 +DATA_1/ivrs/datafile/system.267.6528219	     3		0 1151614	   SYSTEM				8196	    146
	 2 +DATA_1/ivrs/datafile/undotbs1.257.65282	     3		0 1151614	   UNDOTBS1				   4	    146
	 3 +DATA_1/ivrs/datafile/sysaux.258.6528219	     3		0 1151614	   SYSAUX				   4	    146
	 4 +DATA_1/ivrs/datafile/users.263.65282196	     3		0 1151614	   USERS				   4	    146
	 5 +DATA_1/ivrs/datafile/system_02.dbf		     3		0 1151614	   SYSTEM				   4	    146

.

SELECT CURRENT_SCN FROM V$DATABASE;

To get the current SCN

SELECT DBMS_FLASHBACK.GET_SYSTEM_CHANGE_NUMBER FROM DUAL

1.1 ORA_ROWSCN

Is a pseudocolumn of any table that is not fixed or external. It represents
the SCN of the most recent change to a given row, that is, the latest COMMIT operation for the row. For example:

SELECT ora_rowscn, last_name, salary FROM employees
WHERE employee_id = 7788;
ORA_ROWSCN NAME SALARY
———- —- ——
202553 Fudd 3000

1.2 SCN_TO_TIMESTAMP( nSCN NUMBER)

Converts a SCN to TIMESTAMP
It has a precision of +/- 3 seconds

SQL> select scn_to_timestamp(884871) as timestamp from dual;

TIMESTAMP
—————————————————————————
09/03/2007 14:52:02,000000000

1.3 TIMESTAMP_TO_SCN(dTimestamp)

Converts TIMESTAMP to SCN
It has a precision of +/- 3 seconds

SQL> select timestamp_to_scn(to_timestamp(’08/03/2007 14:24:54′,’DD/MM/YYYY HH24:MI:SS’)) as scn from dual;

SCN
———-
845396

1.4 Table: SMON_SCN_TIME

This table translate time to SCN approximately.

When you use time based flashback you get the data in a period between +- 5 mn.
DBMS_FLASHBACK.ENABLE_AT_TIME and AS OF TIMESTAMP maps to an SCN value.  As the SCN-time is recorded every X minutes. The time you specify is rounded down by up to X minutes from database startup.
This situation could create the ORA-01466 unable to read data – table definition has changed. There is only track of times up to a maximum of 5 days (Database up time).

SELECT TO_CHAR(TIME_DP,’DDMONYYYY HH24:MI’) DATE_TIME,SCN
FROM SMON_SCN_TIME
Date_time               SCN
04MAY2006 16:20 576601
04MAY2006 16:26 576799
04MAY2006 16:30 577003
04MAY2006 16:36 577393
04MAY2006 16:41 577585
04MAY2006 16:46 577790

LINK WIKI ORACLE

Some have been wondering what to do about Amplitube Fender’s lack of compression and overdrive in front of the amps. While you can get the whole pre-Fender Powered-By-Amplitube suite (AT2, AT:Metal, AT:Jimi Hendrix, Ampeg SVX) for just $299 from IK’s site, there are probably still going to be plenty of people who invest in amp modeling because of Fender and don’t feel like spending another chunk of money to make it complete. While I personally would hate to give up the rest of the plugins, I definitely understand that perspective, especially in this economy. Well, one thing that people might not consider since this is supposedly the virtual, in-the-box paradigm is that you can actually use your real pedals up front and get realistic results! Run them directly into your DI. Obviously you’ll have to be more careful than levels than you might with a real amp, especially if you have a finnicky DI (StompIO, for example, can take a hefty boost and overdrive naturally thanks to its well-designed class A preamp, while Rig Kontrol 3 is a little bit daintier and you have to watch your levels lest you clip it in a not-so-pleasant way). So take care with your levels depending on your interface!

Over on KVR and elsewhere, people are bowled over by the amp quality but not everyone wants a fuzz in front of the amp, or a compressor after it. With that in mind and two brand new Musician’s Friend Stupid Deal of the Day scores in hand, I set out to test it out for me and for you (okay, that’s not totally true – I’ve used dirt in front of virtual amps many times in the past, often without telling people that the amp in a clip wasn’t real and sometimes getting funny questions like “What tubes are in the head, and what speakers in the cab?”).

The two pedals are the BBE Freq Boost treble booster and BBE Orange Squash compressor, well-built true-bypass clones of classic designs – I think the Freq Boost is a Rangemaster and I know the other is an Orange Squeezer. If you’re looking for a dirt pedal and a compressor up front, well, I’ve got good news, you can use them that way just fine. As usual, when I make a claim I don’t want it to just hang out there unsupported – I’ve got freshly recorded clips to back it up! I also decided to take this opportunity to demonstrate three amps that I feel deserve your attention, one of which I haven’t done yet at all (the ‘59 Bassman). The Pro Junior was featured in a short automated Fuzz Wah demonstration, and I have spent some time with the Metalhead but it’s just such fun to play that I decided I’d use it again. Plus, compression and boosting are often weapons of the high-gain player’s arsenal, so it makes some kind of rationalized sense For these clips, my signal path goes from my guitar to the Orange Squash to the Freq Boost to my DI.

Here’s the structure of the clips: I play the same thing three times with a pause in between each. The first time I play whatever it is, it’s with both pedals bypassed – they are genuine, 3PDT-switch true bypass pedals, so it’s just like adding a few inches of cable and nothing more when they’re bypassed. The second time I play whatever similar-sounding passage being played, the Orange Squash is engaged. The third time, both the Orange Squash and the Freq Boost are engaged. Alright, enough of that – on to the clips.

Example 1: Fender Metalhead
The guitar used here is my Fender strat with SCN pickups. They are very “single coil” pickups, noiseless but the dynamics and tonality of classic strat singles is captured flawlessly in my opinion (I swapped out a set of very real and quite noisy vintage single coils to put these in). Yes, that means the first clip here is a strat used for high gain… Sounds silly, but listen to how the Orange Squash makes it a reality. In my opinion the Freq Boost with my Strat is probably too much for the Metalhead model, which has a pretty unique treble profile. Part of the cool thing about a treble booster is that you can dial in your amp for a lower gain, somewhat darker setting to get a really thick tone, then run the treble boost full-time to tighten it up and make it really roar. This is a trick most often used by guitarists wielding humbuckers, not strat-slingers, so it might be time to put down my beloved strat and pick up one of my humbucker equipped guitars if you guys want a demo of the Metalhead that really shows it off… I might record a demo of that tomorrow, if there’s interest. I did switch around my pickups here. I used the bridge pup for most of it, but when you hear it become smoother during the (late-night, unfortunately rather sloppy) shredding I’ve switched to the neck.

Example 2: Fender Pro Junior
Alright, the second clip, this time into the Amplitube Fender Pro Junior model. Same guitar, bridge pickup, different amp. I chose the Pro Junior because it is probably the most Vox-like of all the Fender amps, with a simple two-knob (Volume, Tone) control scheme and a very harmonically rich tone. It is destined to become a favorite when you get to play it, it’s just an awesome and lively amp that’s hard to turn off when you start jamming on it.

Example 3: ‘59 Bassman
Final clip for tonight, the same setup into the ‘59 Bassman. This time instead of the bridge pickup I’m using position 2 (Neck+Middle for non strat guys) blended in parallel with the bridge pickup by way of a modification that was done to the guitar to allow this and other additional pickup switching options. I love this mod because the way the pickups are set up lets me get a very full sound but with plenty of sparkle and even bite, as you’ll hear. Rolling back the volume attenuates the non-bridge pickups much more sharply, so backing off from full to 8 or even 9 mixes in a substantial amount of the bridge pickup tone. I love how the Orange Squash and Freq Boost completely change the way this amp reacts – it’s a sign both that these are great pedals and that the amp model is superbly done.

Tomorrow, if there is interest… I’ll continue in this way by demonstrating some more pedals into the Fender amps. I’ve got a variety of dirt pedals so if there’s a sound you’re looking for, I can at least get close. Want to hear how these amps take distortion? Overdrive? I’ll do my best to accommodate any requests.

In the December 24, 2008 issue of The New Republic, Oren Harman reviewed a book on biological clocks, Rhythms of Life: The Biological Clocks that Control the Daily Lives of Every Living Thing by Russell G. Foster and Leon Kreitzman, Yale University Press (2005). Link to The New Republic book review.

In the review, Harman explains that scientists have discovered that the internal biological clocks in animal organisms are synchronized to the outside world by cues from the environment. Syncronization is necessary for the internal biological clock to operate in the world and be useful to the organism in survival. The process is called “entrainment.” Harmon writes:

. . . while cues like temperature, food availability, humidity and even social contact can act as triggers, light is nature’s greatest entrainer of all.

This makes good evolutionary sense. Light is the most stable of these cues, and it can be used not only to signal dawn and dusk, but also, since the amount of light falling on the Earth varies precisely with latitude and season, to calculate the time of year.

In his discussion of how light “entrains” an organism’s biological clock, not surprisingly, Harman offers no explanation of how light in the environment causally effects evolution to bring about this new biological feature. Of course, it cannot because current evolutionary theory relies on microbiological change unconnected to the environment. That new mammalian receptor would have to evolve through a pathway of naturally selected random mutations of DNA uninfluenced by the light of day or the dark of night, and then be naturally selected once the pathway randomly produced the final functioning new receptor.

Presumably, historical evolutionary reptilian precursors to mammals without the new receptor would have trouble getting to sleep and waking up with no biological clock, but apparently that would not prevent survival until the receptor appeared in the evolutionary advanced human species we are. Apparently, then, the mammal with the new receptor would be be more fit for survival, for example, now able to follow the maxim: “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” Accordingly, he and she would dominate in the battle of the selfish genes, and the inferior time-confused genetically-older semi-reptilian brethren, rising too late or too early, would become extinct.

The alternative to development in accordance with the gradulism premise of Darwinism, would be a giant random genetic leap from reptile without the new class of receptors to a mammal with it. The massive genetic mutation necessary for the information in that leap is likely highly mathematically improbable. The gene that expresses the protein that connects the inside of muscle cells to the outside, running through the cell membrane, for example, has 2.5 million base pairs in a specific order. What precise genetic information would be necessary for a new photoreceptor containing multiple proteins?

Harman writes:

“Light has been such an important entrainer that evolution has even “invented” in mammals a whole new class of photoreceptors, different from the rods and cones used for vision, in order to bring it safely to the SCN in the brain. ["SCN" is the suprachiasmatic nuclei of 20,000 neurons in the brain now believed to be the neural center of biological clocks] The surprise existence of such receptors, discovered in Russell’s own lab six years ago, made it clear that even diseased eyes need to be kept intact in order to allow them to perform their circadian functions. Blind people, with no working rods and cones, still need their eyes for waking and sleeping.”

Thus, with great unspoken faith in evolution as an explanation, even recognizing the miraculous nature of this biological development in humans by his use of the language of creation and design, though he uses quotation marks to let you know that he is only kidding, Harman writes about evolution “inventing” this new receptor, with no thought of just how an empty-headed, dice-rolling machine of “evolution” might have done done that.

This is another example of the underlying evolutionary principle of expedient use and disuse of probability estimates in light of scientifically established historical time. For a scholarly discussion of the probability problem in micro-evolution of the species, see Stephen Meyer’s paper from the Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, The origin of biological information and the higher taxonomic categories. If it could have happened by chance, it did, regardless of the probability in light of time available or the lack of evidence in natural history or the laboratory. That is great faith.

ProTone Jason Becker Distortion – Analog amp modeling in a pedal

First, this is the picture of the pedal I got.

They’ve changed the graphic to a different painting by his dad for the newer run of the pedals, I actually really like this graphic because of how the control colors correspond to the “elemental” association of the colors behind them, and the Burn and Drive controls are touching the fire and water, respectively. But the new ones look good too, and they’re probably closer to Becker’s general aesthetic style (check out his Peavey with its child-like appearance, he lived a great sense of humor in everything he did).

If you don’t know Jason Becker’s story, you ought to head over to the wikipedia entry on him, it’s sad, poignant, and inspiring – I won’t cheapen his life by giving a “short version” here. The pedal is made by Dennis, the sole proprietor of the Protone pedal company, and part of the proceeds go to Jason Becker’s family and causes.

I’ve had it in for a day or two now from FuzzHugger, and while I’m reserving a full review for the edition-after-next of FrugalGuitarist, I wanted to bring a killer pedal to your attention. The goal is pretty common, I guess – make a Marshall in a box. In this case, it’s aiming for an analog miniaturized solid-state recreation of the amp Jason Becker used to record his early album Perpetual Burn, but with additional gain on tap to achieve some of the higher gain tones he was using towards the end of his playing and recording career. Well, okay, not even counting the official Marshall pedals to that end, that’s the Box of Rock, Crunch Box, Plextortion, Hot British, etc., etc., etc. – there are tons of Marshallesque pedals.

This one’s different, though, in some important ways. First, all of the “volume” related controls on it have to do not just with output level but with the amount of crunch you get. The Master Volume on it behaves like an amp’s master volume, increasing volume and then sort of reaching a maximum output point and past that increasing compression/distortion. It has a Pre-Amp gain control and a Drive control as well. All three of them interact to produce the final amount of distortion of the dirt side of the pedal. The other side of it is a class-A boost, very warm and clean, I love what it does to my single-coil strat (and to anything, really, it’s a great boost). The boost has its own adjustable gain and is operable separate from the “amp” side of the pedal. I made a quick clip demonstrating it with my single-coil (Samarium Cobalt Noiseless-equipped) strat. For the FG review I’ll have clips with a few different guitars of course.

The control scheme seems a bit complicated at first glance, but it’s straightforward once you get it into perspective. It’s got a control layout like a relatively simple, single-channel amp with an overdrive pedal up front. So you’ve got your EQ section, Lows, Mid, Highs – that’s clear, tweak it like an amp. Then you’ve got your Pre-Amp gain and Master Volume. Those are the amp’s own controls. Then there’s the overdrive pedal control, which is just called “Drive.” The final control, “Burn,” is the boost control, so it’s really just a one-switch/one-knob boost that happens to be attached to the rest. It’s easy to get the hang of if you’ve ever played an amp more complicated than the Valve Jr.

Anyway, here’s the clip, going for a “strat into a Marshall” tone with my SCN-equipped mid-’80s Fender Contemporary Special 22 Japanese Strat:

Edit: I’ve recorded another clip to demonstrate how it sounds when used with a hot humbucker-bearing guitar, this time with an arrangement of a song that was pretty popular in the ’80s… Thanks, Jake E. Lee

Of course, it’s a fairly, ah, “liberal” arrangement… But in my defense, if you ever saw him play it live he improvs a great deal anyway, as did a lot of the ’80s greats (though by no means all, not suggesting they’re all hipshot gunslinger types who lay down a wicked improv solo in the studio then don’t bother to learn it for the road – but many did, a la George Lynch, etc.).