How does an autogyro work?

Or: do you have seven minutes to kill right now? I try not to put too many videos up here, but this one's worth it.

How the Autogyro Works -

(can't remember where I saw this.)

John Lennon's Ferrari 330 GT 2+2 coupe for sale.

(click image to embiggen)

If you're in the market for a new car, this might be just the thing. Bonhams is auctioning the car on February the fifth, which should give you some time to scrape a few extra pennies together.

Apparently, the Ferrari was originally left-hand drive, but Lennon had it converted to right-hand drive (possibly since he'd recently been driving on a learner's permit, and wanted things to be familiar.)

The New York Times article on the car's auction mentions that a 1965 330 is not a highly-desirable model, and that this could affect the sale price. Still, if you don't mind being caught "slumming", it's probably a decent automobile.

Study shows dopamine release before and during certain musical passages.

A McGill University study appears to show that there's an anatomically distinct dopamine release directly before and during passages of music that elicit a sudden, strong emotional response.

The researchers followed the brain patterns of test subjects with MRI imaging, and identified dopamine streaming into the striatum region of their forebrains "at peak emotional arousal during music listening."

(Read the ars technica article here.)

Participants supplied their own music in which certain passages give them "objectively verifiable chills" and data was gathered through the use of PET (Positron Emission Tomography) and fMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scans.

If you're feeling more adventurous, the more detailed article from Nature Neuroscience is here.

Bahnhof ISP in Stockholm, where Wikileaks is currently being hosted in a cold-war era nuclear bomb shelter 30 meters underground.

click image to enlarge.click image to enlarge.


edit: It looks like the photographer has taken down the 360 degree panoramas. Seems like there was too much traffic and the images became too expensive to host. I'm going to leave this post up anyway, in case the panoramas are restored. And anyway, the pictures are still interesting.

Here are some pictures of the Bahnhof ISP in Stockholm.

According to the Wikipedia page: Bahnhof is a Swedish Internet service provider founded in 1994 by Oscar Swartz in Uppsala and was the first independent ISP in Sweden. Today the company is represented in Stockholm, Göteborg, Uppsala, Borlänge, and Lund.

Whatever. The cool thing is that there are some pretty amazing 360-degree panoramas of the Bahnhof facility here.
Make sure you view the panoramas in fullscreen mode by clicking "full" at the bottom of each image.

Thanks again, Reddit!

In Russia, stereo plays you.

click image to enlarge

Russian president Dimitry Medvedev was having a photo op with Vladimir Putin the other day over breakfast when he decided to show off his $200,000 hifi setup. The original story seems to be from The Guardian but I think the picture is worth posting here. It seems that Mr. Medvedev is a fan of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple and he was apparently listening to them when they were on the official Soviet blacklist. I wonder what Leonid Brezhnev would have thought of that!

I wonder what the CD in the drawer is!

The Original Wayne Taylor Loudspeaker Stands

After many months and several prototypes, The Original Wayne Taylor Loudspeaker Stands are available at Austin Hifi.

(click here to see more pictures)

The Wayne Taylor stands will improve the sound of just about any loudspeaker in the 1.5 to 2.0 cubic foot range. They work especially well for Harbeth Monitor 30s and Harbeth Compact 7s. They've got an ultra-low acoustic footprint and they're low-mass and have very low resonance. We can ship them just about anywhere. Call us for details at (512) 236-9100 or email us at: creston@austinhifi.com

The Cantata Music Center by Resolution Audio

Yep, you can come and hear the Cantata Music Center at Austin Hifi. We'll also show you how easy it is to set it up to stream your digital music collection.

While you're here, have a listen to the Harbeth 40.1 and Harbeth M30 loudspeakers, the Tocaro Single-Driver loudspeakers, the ATC 50-ASL loudspeakers and the amazing Crimson Electronics 710 preamplifier and 640E series III amplifiers. Oh, and the Reson Rota turntable.

Give us a call at (512) 236-9100 or send us an email at: creston@austinhifi.com.