Life is not random

I don’t care what they tell you.  Life is not random. 

Life bunches up on you.   It will come at you in patches and bursts.  You’ll spring for pizza on a thursday night, then someone will bring pizza to work on Friday, and you’ll visit your parents on Saturday, who will offer you some pizza.

Next, a three week pizza drought.

When was the last time you had alternating good and bad days?  –doesn’t happen.  You have a few good days, then a rut that lasts a week.

Why do you think they call it a lucky streak?  If it was totally random, everyone would win and lose equally.  (at least with games of chance)

Your Next TV–Component vs HDMI

The obvious choice is that you will run whatever connectors you have.  You can’t easily convert one to the other.   But, if you have a choice here are some guidelines. 

Over short runs in your entertainment center, you probably will not be able to see much of a difference (at least I can’t) Both are high definition connections, capable of 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, or 1080p. HDMI however is much cleaner, sending HD video and audio over a single cable with a USB sized connector.  Component uses three video connectors for video only, and audio is run separately as stereo (red and white RCA) or surround sound audio with a digital coaxial or toslink connection.

For the boring details about the differences, keep reading… 

This goes back to the digital VS analog battle.  Component is analog, and HDMI is digital. 

Since most devices process HD video as a digital signal, HDMI doesn’t need to convert to analog and back for the cable.  Any digital to analog conversion will introduce some loss, so this can maintain a better quality.

Second, besides sending an amazing video signal, it can also send up to 8 channels of digital audio (perfect for a 7.1 surround sound)–All that over a single, small connector. 

HDCPis supported on all HDMI connections, which can be a blessing and a curse.  HDCP is technically a content protectionmeasure.  It will check that every frame sent is a perfect signal transfer, ensuring that there is no loss over the cables, connectors, or interface.  However, in order to get an HDCP license, the product has to meet some copy protectionrequirements.   For most situations, it won’t interfere, but it can have its drawbacks–for instance HDMI and DVI-D use identical video signals (DVI doesn’t support audio)(And yet, the connector is like 4 times the size)  So you should be able to connect an HDMI source to say a digital widescreen monitor, but many DVI displays don’t support HDCP, so it will not play copy protected content.  Some legitimate video splitting or switching functions are disabled as well.

The HDMI specification states that a repeater is required for cable runs over 15 feet.  In practice I haven’t seen that always necessary.  HDMI was originally designed to run longer distances (45 feet) but was changed just before release.  Under 50 feet, there is rarely need for a booster, especially if you are using a high quality cable.  However if you are pushing a high resolution, (Like 1080p) you might notice some sparkling.  You can get an HDMI booster, which will clean up any sparkling or loss you might find.

Component doesn’t necessarily have it’s own features, but it doesn’t have some of the drawbacks of HDMI.  (I guess it does have some drawbacks of its own)

Since component is an analog signal, it handles long distances much better.  Over long or low quality cables, there might be some loss, but it will generally just be a slight loss of clarity or signal intensity, often unnoticeable.

Component video doesn’t support/require HDCP.  You can run full HD content without restrictions (Assuming your source will feed it to you)

Who thought that up?

 We had a conversation at work about some things that are cool, but don’t know how anyone figured it out.

An example I saw demonstrated by an old roommate, Riley:

1. Take a heavy glass tumbler, and flip it upside down (it’s recommended that you start with an empty glass, but at this point it doesn’t really matter)
2. Using a cigarette lighter, heat one of the edges of the tumbler
3. Turn the tumbler on it’s side and press the hot edge against a table or counter top until it cracks.  (just a crack)
4. Turn the glass upright and place it on the table/counter.
5. Wait.

The glass will spontaneously shatter.  I saw it twice.  Once, a chunk of the glass just hopped out of the tumbler, a little surprising, but not really impressive.   Riley wasn’t satisfied, so he repeated steps 1-5.  The glass exploded!  The entire glass shattered and shards slid across the counter-top and onto the floor.  It was really cool.

But I was left wondering, how did he figure that out?  What got it into his head?  How many glasses did it take to perfect the process?  How did he think that up?

Jonathan learned a trick to make a sparkling explosion with a couple of lighters–you’ll have to get the details from him.  But similar questions arose in his head.

The one that always got me… was bread.

Who thought that up.  I can’t imagine the process.  “Let’s see.  This really tall weed has a little chewable seed wrapped in some skin stuff.  Let’s not eat it now, but lets gather up all the little seeds, throw away the rest of the plant, and keep the seeds for a while.”

“Now the seeds are hard, lets see if we can grind them into a powder, but don’t eat it yet, lets mix in some water and make a sticky paste.  Hmm, I still don’t think it’s ready to eat”

“Maybe throw in an egg, or some little bacteria that will make the paste bloat and expand… yeah, that might be good… now let’s stick it in the fire…and….BREAD!”

I was baffled at how the breadmaking process could have ever been conjured up… then I realized–it wasn’t guessed, it was taught.

Bread was a gimme when Adam was kicked out of the garden “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground;” (Genesis 3:19)

So the conversation was more:

“Sorry, you can’t stay here anymore, but I found something cool you can do with that weed…”