Acer + Vista + Realtek

Ok, so... I got a sweet new laptop and immediately made this stupid thing with Sarah Palin in Omaha and some Rude Staircase samples on Cool Edit Pro.

That was fun. Except that it's not that sweet of a laptop after all. Apparently Vista is incapable of monitoring incoming audio through the built-in sound card, the 1/8 in. audio input of which was the sole reason I bought this Acer. (the brand, it turns out, all around rejects Windows XP. Won't take it. So downgrading, as I had planned to, is out of the question. Incidentally, Dell charges $100 to downgrade to XP. That should have been my first clue to stay the fuck away from Vista, but of course the economy collapsed and the temping business instantly got 2000% harder. So, yes, a $450 laptop. Seriously, thanks Acer. You make dreams come true, and once I figure out a workaround for this problem, I'll sponsor your dumb computer.)

It's practically impossible to find a lap top with a quarter inch audio input, anyway. Apparently. Now.


Yes, I know, I'm stupid for not getting a mac. What are you, white?

So I wanted to use Cool Edit Pro. I grew up on Cool Edit Pro. I am Peter Quistgard. That is my actual name. And it's the strangest thing. I can't hear anything I play through the monitor headphones. It's almost as if there is no audio input at all--except that there it is, being recorded on the screen. Makes using the program impossible. And for Vista, or Acer, or Realtek, or whoever not to send the stupid audio through the stupid audio card is absurd.

According to this board, only people with Realtek sound cards are fucked. Oh good. That's me. All the other sound cards have a patch.

A person on that message board received this reply from Acer when asked about the problem:

Thank you for contacting Acer America. I’ll be happy to assist you with this matter. If I understand correctly, you want to connect your iPod (or other external playback device) and play the sound through the speakers on the computer. Unfortunately in Vista this is not possible. I realize that XP may have been able to do this however Windows Vista is very different and does not have all the same functionality. I'm sorry but we are unable to assist further with this matter.

Respectfully,
Acer America
Online Technical Support

Word.

Food Fight

A history of war by food. Pretty ingenious. (from Boing Boing)

William F. Buckley, conservative, dead today, on the Beatles:

"so unbelievably horrible, so appallingly unmusical, so dogmatically insensitive to the magic of the art, that they qualify as crowned heads of antimusic."

read the obit here.

"water cure"

A fascinating New Yorker article about water torture:

A letter by A. F. Miller, of the 32nd Volunteer Infantry Regiment, published in the Omaha World-Herald in May, 1900, told of how Miller’s unit uncovered hidden weapons by subjecting a prisoner to what he and others called the “water cure.” “Now, this is the way we give them the water cure,” he explained. “Lay them on their backs, a man standing on each hand and each foot, then put a round stick in the mouth and pour a pail of water in the mouth and nose, and if they don’t give up pour in another pail. They swell up like toads. I’ll tell you it is a terrible torture.”