thoughts on philosophy and science

The election until very recently has been nearly deadlocked. There are ups and downs but only occasionally were ratings far from center.

I live in a very democratic area and to my friends and colleagues it seems preposterous that Trump would be considered at all.

But the things and values that resonate with Liberal minded folks are different than that of Conservative. And so we argue over priorities and set points.

A calculation that shows fees have a greater impact on return than one time costs despite the fact the expense fees are very small.

Are state of the art video compressors and cheap, dense storage sufficient to distribute lossless video to consumers?

Definitions
Uncompressed: This is raw video with no processing
Lossless compression: This is video which was been compressed while keeping the integrity of the original material 100% intact
Lossy compression: This is video which reduces the size on disk while minimizing the observable (to the human eye) impact of the content

Constants
Movie Length: 3hrs (10,800s)

Slim line / entry level AVRs are quite popular these days. A pre/pro is basically an integrated AVR without the power amp. So why does it cost more?

I decided to look at the details. There's a lot of assumptions here but I think I'm reasonable and I have one example at least that supports my point.

I must express my disappointment in my new smartphone. I thought upgrading from the dated, failing and left behind Samsung Galaxy S III to the larger, faster, updated Samsung Galaxy S6 would be just the tool I needed to bump my game to the next level. But it was not so.

On the plus side the updated audio provided a much higher fidelity listening experience. And the display is gorgeous. And the ambient light sensor actually works (even in the dark it can be adjusted to a reasonable level). The camera is significantly faster, more capable and higher resolution.

Introduction
The time has come for a new home theater. It took 15 years to build the first one and as consequence some of the equipment is so old it is not completely compatible with the newer equipment. There has been significant progress in the audio and video quality that is available, even in the last two or three years, that it's well worth it to upgrade the experience. In addition, innovations have brought more connectivity options and home (IoT) integration will bring a more seamless, enjoyable experience.

I learned a lot in my first experience in a leadership role. This list, by no means exhaustive, are the learnings I took away from the experience:

It can be tough for a man to change his mind once he speaks. But not his thoughts. But isn't a journal a place for thoughts? A journal should be the only place a man can state something only to change his mind later.

But look at the Mark Twain journals. He poured his heart out (to the shock of readers) and it's cast him in a different light. Like we never knew the real Mark Twain. It's assumed that the things he wrote he believed for all time. He hasn't given the opportunity for growth, fleeting feelings, etc.

In a hifi setup, what is the best place to locate the DAC?

The key requirements are:

• Upgradeability
• Compatibility
• Absolute quality

When the components are broken down into their respective functions the upgradability improves. Initially the cost goes up due to chassis costs, additional test time, etc. But down the road each function can be upgraded while the rest stays in place.

Compatibility is obtained by choosing gear that uses standard outputs and adheres to well known standards.

Pondering science of people again. What are the building blocks of relationships? What are the fundamental concepts of communication? Then it occurred to me that the relationship between politics, interpersonal relationships and all possible communications can be described simply as below: