tIDbits

Though Consumer Reports had remarked about the Wolf dual-fuel ovens’ lackluster self-cleaning (model number DF304 - 30″). I took that as requiring just a little more effort on my part. I should have listened.

The images tell the story. There is just lots of stuff that will not come out if run throught the self-cleaning cycle. On page 42 of my manual it states: “Never use oven cleaners. They are not necessary with the SELF-CLEAN mode.” What am I supposed to do, live with huge black stains?

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Buy Local - Keep Portland Maine Independent: portlandbuylocal.org
The Portland Buy Local campaign has been developed by business owners and citizens in an effort to educate the public about the importance of supporting Portland’s locally owned, independent businesses.

We believe the Portland Buy Local campaign is critical to our community and our way of life. Locally owned, independent businesses contribute far more to our local economy than chain operations controlled by out-of-state interests. And it’s locally owned businesses that give Portland Maine its unique identity and character in an increasingly homogenized consumer culture.

I saw the Matweeds, a Boston band, a couple of times in the mid-late 80’s.

The best time was at a Thayer Street loft party (de rigeur for Museum School types - present company included) I believe they played with the Gigolo Aunts (who are still around!). Pretty sure it was 1987 and that it was their loft.

Anyway, a song that they played that night has been stuck in my head ever since - especially the sax playing for some reason, and it pops up from time to time. So, today when the song popped into my head I finally googled it to see what the deal is.

According to this read-only page about the Matweeds, there exists a demo tape that has that song on it. The title of which (the song, not the demo) is I Can Feel The Fire. I had no idea that it was a cover, much less a Stones cover (kinda).

It’s a longshot, but anyone out there have this? I would be happy to convert it from any sort of analong format to digital, if that would be helpful. Anybody know any of the people in the band who might have one and be willing to make a duplicate? Anybody have a live recording of them?

According to the afformentioned web page (and some more google-ing), Richie Hughes and Dave Fredette (is he related to Stephen Fredette of Scruffy the Cat?) played in the Matweeds along with Dave Collins (D.Y.S) Jerry Lehane (Dogmatics and here) Frank Shacht (Last Stand) John Goetchius (Keyboards: Mighty Might Bosstones, Cherry Poppin Daddies) and Nate Bowditch - I think he played saxaphone (Enormous, Sorry). Also Jimmy Keough (link to photo of him performing by Anita L. Maffei) and Mike County.

Again, I know it’s a long shot, but what the hell.
You never know.

Thanks.

iTunes-LAME
Trying to figure out how to convert the super-high bitrate FLAC files from some live shows somebody loaned me.  Have been using xAct to convert to AIFF for importing into iTunes. The only problem is that the files are HUGE.  I think this might be the ticket for squishing them down a bit. “The iTunes-LAME Encoder combines the simple interface of iTunes with the high quality of the LAME encoder“.

Google Earth Blog: Bowdoin College Campus - A Google Earth Map Review

The actual map can be found here:
http://www.bowdoin.edu/about/campus/maps/earth/

Are there any benchmarks on how fast ovens heat up?

I did a bit of searching online and came up with nothing.

The reason I pose this question is that I recently purchased a Wolf 30″ Dual Fuel Range (Model DF304) and the oven takes much longer than our old cheapo range to heat up. For instance, it takes 15 minutes to get to 350 degrees (starting at room temperature) and another 5 1/2 minutes to get to 425.

21 1/2 minutes to warm up a high-perfomance range?

Is this normal?

Am I overly impatient?

I just subscribed to This Old House Magazine online and was greeted with this message after I checked out.

Subscriber’s Automatic Renewal Program:
You authorize This Old House Magazine to charge your credit/debit card or your PayPal account at the price above now and in time to renew your This Old House subscription, without interruption, before the start of each new annual term at the guaranteed low rate then in effect unless you tell us to stop. You may cancel at any time during your subscription by contacting customer service and receive a full refund on all unmailed issues. If your credit/debit card or your PayPal account cannot be charged, we’ll bill you directly instead.

I immediately called and and had them take off this “feature” on my account. To be fair, I went back and looked a the fine print in the checkout proceedure and that language was there beforehand.

In this day and age of identity theft, to have a major corporation hold onto my personal and credit card information for two years, just to auto-renew my subsriptions seems foolish.  Foolish for me in the exposure to my personal credit,  and foolish for them in that the cost of keeping that data 100% secure (do you think consumers would ever give them their credit card numbers if they were stolen en-mass?) for those 2 years has got to be outweighed by the risk associated with that.  Perhaps someone did  a cost analysis that proves me wrong.  I just think you could figure out a more creative way to keep subscribers - without the risk to all parties.  It is quite easy - have good product.
Also, I still think it is an obnoxious business practice.