YGingras^.net

A few months ago I acquired a pair of Beyerdynamics DT770 headphones. Since then I used them everyday at work to isolate myself into my little private bubble of serenity. Sure, I missed many episodes of office entertainment. People who wear headphones with less isolation remove then when people start screaming at each other so then can enjoy the show; with the DT770, I don't even notice that something is going on.

After a few months of using high quality headphones, I started to wonder how much of an upgrade I would get by switching to a more expensive pair. There is virtually no limit to the amount of money that one can spend on a pair of headphones. Either there is something to gain at every price bracket or it's just a status symbol. Considering that Skull Candy produces headphones that are a lot more sexy and a lot more affordable than DT-48, it seems safe to assume that the status symbol is not that important, though I will not pretend that it's not what many are looking for.

• Full text (582 words)
• Comments (2)

I'm typing this on an Asus EEE 1000 HE laptop. You've probably read a lot of good things on it and I have to say that it's definitely a very nice little laptop.

Since last October, I was using an MSI Wind U100 and before that I was on a Thinkpad X61. I love little laptops with big batteries. I'm now typing with the computer on lap, very reclined sideway on my couch. That's not the best position to code or to work on a graphical design but somehow I really like it for writing prose, that is, blogging and answering emails. When the summer will be back, I look forward to type using the very same position but in my hammock this time. You can't do that if your computer is heavy or if you need to carry a power cord around.

I don't work much on the road. It happens that I put my laptop in my backpack and that I hit the road with my motorcycle. When it happens I end up working from a café in a remote town or from the side of a lake in a provincial park but that is far from my typical usage. Nope, nothing that fancy. I'm just a lazy bum with a hammock.

• Full text (1116 words)
• Comments (7)

Glassdoor is a very useful website where one can see salaries for jobs in a given geographic area. Until recently, the service was limited to jobs in the United-States. However, we got a pleasant surprise last week when Glassdoor announced the availability of their survey for Canada.

It works on a century old barter: tell me your salary and I will tell you mine. Almost all the salaries are private until you report how much you earn for a given position. Once you disclosed your little secret, you can see very detailed break down of salaries and bonuses for specific job titles, grouped by companies and cities. One common objection to using the service is that one might exposed himself to retaliation if his report reveals his identity, which is probably common is small shops. It turns out that this is no problem at all since Glassdoor will gladly unlock the survey for you as long as you provide a salary and a job title; the company is not required.

Here in Montréal, I am always amazed by the wide diversity of salaries for people doing essentially the same IT related job. In the States, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases very detailed data in the public domain. Those data are re-released by numerous independent websites in an easy to search format. Until Glassdoor opened for Canada, there was no public database of average salary for a given profession. These is some census data by Statscan but they only release those for a fee and I'm not sure on the level of details.

Let's hope that the Glassdoor survey will help many to back their argument when they start an overdue wage negotiation.

• Comments (0)

Scams, there are quite a few of those around us. Overpriced products and services sold with misleading descriptions, the scams that appeal to the child inside us who wants to believe in miracle and magic, the scams that we fall for just because we are used to fall for them.

Telephone companies are really good at selling the later kind. As an example, they sell a voice mail service for 7$ a month, which I paid for during several years without hesitation. Hey, that thing is much better than an answering machine, and it never breaks. These days, you can get an answering machine for 20$; it contains only solid state components, which makes it unlikely that will break, and it will gladly let you retrieve your messages remotely over the phone. At that price, answering machines have 10 times the capacity of the voice mail service offered by the phone company.

My mother saw through the voice-mail scam long before me; her answering machine gave her many years of good service but eventually it failed and she asked me to find her a good deal for a new one on the Internet. I was looking at the new models and I was delighted by the features: maybe it would be better if I gave her mine and offered myself an upgrade.

• Full text (807 words)
• Comments (1)

There is a lot of noise in my life. There is the fact that I live in a lively city with busy streets and a lot of night life. Thats the kind of noise that I like. Then there is the noise that is killing me: office noise.

I work in a cube farm of the wost kind. Not only are partitions low enough to make it practical to shout over instead of moving your ass, partitions are made of painted gypsum instead of cloth. As a result, noise is reflected all over the place instead of being absorbed. Not all noise is created equal: it was shown that conversation is the thing that kills the concentration of office workers the most. At work, we are packed tight and I can hear at least 10 persons when they are talking, which certainly can't help my productivity.

A few weeks a ago, I asked experts for advice. They praised the quality, isolation, and comfort of several pair of head phones. Thanks to their recommendations, I'm now the proud owner a pair of Beyer DT770 Pro and I finally can enjoy tranquillity at work.

• Full text (713 words)
• Comments (2)

A common misconception is that science is a body of knowledge. Science is more accurately described as a process. This misconception is undoubtedly the result of bad textbooks that list known facts like an encyclopedia and tell little about how we come to then and what kind of evidences would be required to challenge them. Most textbooks teach much on what to recall but little on how to think.

I really like Richard Dawkins's prose so I was extremely pleased when he announced that five video lectures were now free to download from his website. I'm impressed by his talent as a lecturer: he leads his argument methodically without getting lost into details, he uses a wide variety of props and samples to illustrate his points, and he interacts efficiently with the audience to keep them alert. Those are the best videos I've ever watched on a computer, be sure to have a look at them.

• Comments (2)

In Montréal, bagel shops never close. Don't get me wrong, I could wait until sunrise to get a snack. I would not mind. And there are alternatives. But, when dawn barely shows, when birds start to sing, it seems that I'm hardwired for bagels, fresh from a wood-fired oven.

It might be that I'm skeptical. Do they ever close? Some say that they can't even lock their door. Indeed, Fairmont Bagel's door has no handle, knob, or anything that vaguely resemble a locking mechanism. This is hardly conclusive, they could install another door when they close. But no mater when I go there, at night, at noon, on Labor Day, or on Yom Kippur, they are open and there are other people shopping. Always, wood burning and bagels tightly packed, roasting in plain view for everyone to admire while the delightful smell makes their mouth water. One must have a really twisted schedule if he doesn't hit a lineup at Fairmont Bagel.

• Full text (700 words)
• Comments (2)