Euro2: Bruxelles to Geneve

Just like any trip there have been a few hiccups, and things not running quite as smoothly as I had hoped. But I have survived. Mostly it seems to be caused by communication errors on my part.

While initially my plan was to spend two weeks with Aurore in Bruxelles, She thought that I was staying with Eduard for the second week. Then though Eduard was organized to go out drinking with me on sat night I wasn't sure (not having much contact with Ed) and so implemented a backup plan of visiting Geneva to see one of dads friends Rev William.

Surprisingly Geneva reminds me of a sci-fi book (I don't recall the title) in which the main character is a part of an organisation that was formed on the ruins of an old galactic civilisation. when they re-discover a planet with life on it it is inspected and audited to determine how warlike it is and if it will rebel against the recovering civilisation. If they pass then they are incorporated and assimilated, if they fail then they are isolated and ignored until such time as they rediscover space travel.

Maybe its just because I was staying in an old bomb shelter but Geneva seems very warlike to me. Railways high up, shops only on ground level, all the carparks are underground in bomb shelters. Wouldn't be hard to remove all the street signs so that foreigners get lost. More than anything else though is the constant metion of war, peace advocacy and human rights. In a nation truly at peace wouldn't this be far from the minds of its citizens?

In contrast Bruge & Yvoire seemed like a tourist towns, stone buildings, windy streets. not much there except shops and no carparks.


Wednesday I will be travelling to Nuremberg, and hopefully finish my Terry Pratchett book "Dodger" which has an unfortunately predictable plot and is not as humorous as I had hoped.
I've been unable to open a new swiss bank account because I'm not a resident. and have not been able to locate a nice wallet or a camelpack water bottle.

and now some pictures

 This church I think was at the uni we went to in Bruxelles, the only one with light coming through the stained glass.

 These flowers are only visible in the first few days of spring.

 shaking hands with a tiny T-Rex, couldnt find the big one

 the taxidermy of australian animals was very strange

 some interesting architecture

 The Vennus of the north

 Unecpextedly I found Michalangelo's mother and child, mentioned in the movie "Monuments Men". Though I'm sure Aurore knew it was there. and this makes up for never going to Ghent.

 Photo of one of the lace shops for Mum.

 A beer wall in Bruge, all the belgian beers that I have not yet drunk with Eduard.

 Leaving Bruxelles, one of the nobby no leaf trees that were everywhere.

 Founding Fathers of the Swiss reformation

 A beach with stones in place of sand.

 the massive fountain with a space invader

 In the red cross museum

 in the museum of glass and porcaline

 one of the many swiss shops

 Ringing in a big bell

 a landmine amputated this cambodian chair

 Finally found some yellow spring flowers

Euro1

will see what happens here, it possibly will take some time to comment but...

Tall Door

 Street of the Tqll Door

 Close up of q Green Man

will see what happens here, it possibly will take some time to comment but...

Mech Warrior Online: Returning to the frey

In the beginning when I got the founders pack for the unique mech I picked catapults because I thought they would be alive at the end of a match. But I never played much because my friends didn’t really like the game. I like the control scheme and the torso twist and I should really like the customisation options. Weather I run long ranged or close, go for speed or be a LRM boat, all strategies should be fairly effective. But never perfect. Just like in the early Final fantasy games where you had to have some diversity and couldn’t defeat every boss just my usine Ice powers
I like the spiders because they are small/fast and have jump jets. With this I should be able to seek out all the AFK kills. Or stealthily spot for the LRM boats that I usually roll out.
I still find the loadout system to be sparse on information and complicated. But I like Smurphy, much easier to see a loadout overview on that.

I should get a hero mech or two up to elite status before activating the 3 month of premium time that I have banked up, to maximise the %increase. Also need my founders mech to achieve master status. Which isn’t all that far away now. Soon I’ll have to decide on which hero mech to grind C-Bills with. Leaning towards a light, though it would be quick to level up a Jester due to my experience with the other Catapults. Alternatively I could wait for a hero with ECM, I like the strategy of the EMC but I haven’t tried one yet. EMC and AMS seem to be the only support mechanics available in this game.

But for now the current plan:
Rename the new centurion mech to zombie, and have 3 different types of SRM, to trial the targeting systems. I didn’t know what a zombie-build was but it seems I’d already built one [GroundBound]. Generally this means that you are still fully functional when it looks like you should be dead. The opposite would be a glass cannon with weapon systems in the arms, and an XL engine. Such that a crit hit to any part of the mech will disable or destroy you.
I should probably only keep the mechs that have a EXP boost so that I can get more pilot skills when they are maxed [S][C][F][H]. So once my three Catapults have completed the epic rank I’ll sell the 2 extras for parts and continue working my way to master status in my [F]. But no real need to sell anything until I fill up my last 2 mechbays, and no need to buy anything until I return from my sabbatical. At which point probably the most efficient way forward is the Jester followed by a batch of light mechs, just to make certain it is the spiders that I like best, and not a flamer stunlock build. Unless a really cool clan mech comes out.

I note that there is a new clan thingy coming out, which adds a different way to customise the omnimechs that are more technologically advanced. Seems that the new weapons will require more skill but be potentially more effective, and rather than swapping out components on your arms, the arms themselves are removed. Allowing re-configuration of the available hardpoints. Interestingly you have to pay to participate in the beta for these clan mechs as well as donating your time for bug fixes and rebalances. Overall none of this new system interests me.

RE: Solution

With resolution I set out my resolution to accurately divine the resolution of my monitor’s resolution so that it’s no longer blurry, the resolution resolution probably revolves around acquiring new drivers. I’ll derive the appropriate driver my monitoring the modification of my monitor’s resolution resolutely. Eventually I’ll resolve the riddle and return a reliable solution for my resolution resolution resolutely. Hopefully I won’t have to monitor my monitor to maintain a reasonably reliable resolution.

So eventually I figured what I wanted from my mew Amp

Amplifier
Make something small bigger. In this instance electrical energy is added to an audio signal, weather its solid state or valve technology it will either be increasing the voltage or current. Thereby providing more energy to a speaker; resulting in larger kinetic movement; larger compression wave; and therefore greater decibels.
DAC $250
Digital Audio Converter, to replace the on-board sound card in a PC
Pre Amp $1-2k
May increase volume, but it’s primary purpose is to improve the signal quality (at all audio frequencies) in preparation for amplification by the “Power Amp”.
Equalizer
I think this belongs here, once the sound is analog (DAC) and  clarified (pre-amp) it could be passed through an Equalizer. This splits the left and right channels, then allows fine tuning of various frequencies. In it’s simplest for an equalizer consists of three dials for Treble/Mid,Bass otherwise there will be ~10 individual sliders, each labelled for a specific Hz. The Equalizer then recombines this into a single waveform.
Power Amp $1-4k
Seems to make no difference to the price if its stereo, 5.1 or 7.1. They weigh 10-30kg, depending on the wattage. This has a nice big dial on the front to adjust the amount of power that is actually sent to the speakers, reducing the power decreases volume and distortion, turning the dial the other way sends more power to the speakers increasing volume and distortion.
Integrated Amplifier
Is a pre-amp + power amp
Receiver $1-5k
A combination of any/all of the above; Plus a lot of added features like LCD display and input selectors.

Sound Card $10-300
Lives in a computer; Combines a DAC, Pre Amp and Equaliser. All controlled through software on the PC. You can’t get a Power Amp in a PC because the PC power supply cant supply enough electricity. Plus the weight and heat dissipation problems.

Speaker $0-10k (usually complimentary when buying an amp)
Turn electrical energy into kinetic energy, creating a compression wave that we can interpret as sound.
Should be rated with watts and inductance for example 20W (RMS) 8Ω, as per this guide
http://lenardaudio.com/education/05_speakers_3.html
A single speaker unit may have up to 4 individual speakers, each sized (by diameter/weight/stiffness) to be optimal for a specific frequency range, for example. 40cm (20-100Hz), 20cm (100-600Hz), 10cm (600Hz – 6kHz), 2.5cm (6-20kHz)


Will component A work with component B?
As near as I can tell the answer is yes, though it may not work well. On the other hand I couldn’t tell the difference. As a rule of thumb the RMS wattage output should be more than the sum RMS wattage of all the speakers you intend to plug into it. It’s easier to turn down a system that’s too loud than mane an underpowered system audible. And speakers should be wired in parallel, not serial to maintain their impedance (Ω)

What is the one thing I should upgrade the most?
If you want clearer sound then, Speakers you could double the wattage but better than that is to get ones with an inbuilt tweeter, mid-bass, woofer. Then a powered subwoofer will give you the 4 main frequency ranges.
If you just need dB then a Power-Amp is the way to go.
Alternatively have a look at buying a full home theatre system that is more expensive that what you have, then check your spec to theirs and upgrade the weakest link. Though it may be impossible to compare apples with apples.

In the end I found a friend who wasn't using his 2.1 Edifier S330D so I bought it. There is separate power to the Subwoofer unit which functions as the DAC + Integrated Amp. I've settled on the fiber optic input and connected my 40+yo Sanyo speakers in parallel with the existing satellite speakers.
Thus I have:
16.5cm 36W 5Ω
and 2x
~13cm 20W 8Ω
5.08cm 18W 5Ω
0.19cm 18W 4Ω