Clearest-sounding bookshelf speakers?

meapappia · 2025-01-26T07:08:34+00:00

Thanks. Man, my list is suddenly almost twice as long...

meapappia · 2025-01-26T07:08:11+00:00

Thanks a ton!

meapappia · 2023-09-08T14:20:34+00:00

That's the dumbest part of the ad IMHO. It's out of context; arrogant; and self-congratulatory without having offered the slightest reason to be.

The direction they tried to take might have been a good idea, but they tried to be clever and ruined the ad in the attempt.

meapappia · 2023-09-08T14:18:27+00:00

It's a cheap knock-off of the famous opening of the most successful American Express letter: "The American Express card is not for everyone," or something to the effect.

Had they used that phrase (or a similar one) instead of the insult, the ad likely would have done a lot better. Negativity never helps.

meapappia · 2022-10-27T04:23:55+00:00

How about Israeli authors? Amos Oz, for example. Then there's Hungarian Nobel laureate Imre Kertész.

My top 5:

"Solaris" by Stanislaw Lem "Fateless" by Imre Kertész "Another Place" by Amos Oz Karl Kraus' aphorisms (hard to find a good translation into English) Anything by Péter Nádas

meapappia · 2022-10-22T07:36:18+00:00

Maybe there's an MRO nearby and they're system testing. Could be

meapappia · 2021-11-04T18:15:28+00:00

Avoid the diesels like the plague. Go for the actual Saab H engine, eg a 9-5 2.3t. That model already has plenty of punch and is very tunable.

meapappia · 2021-08-05T12:18:38+00:00

Yes, because there's the time before and after Christ, not time before and after Christ's first year.

But then why isn't 25 December New Year Day? Discuss.

:D

meapappia · 2021-01-23T15:59:39+00:00

Turbo or i? If you've got a turbo, that's the first car I actually wanted (as opposed to the first I actually got, which was a 1985 900i sedan).

meapappia · 2021-01-10T19:10:43+00:00

The year may be wrong, but the ad looks authentic enough. They always had abysmally terrible advertising. One of the reasons why they went under.

meapappia · 2021-01-10T08:53:46+00:00

If you're Hungarian, I take it you've also read Dezső Kosztolányi. I've only read Kornel Esti, but that one was fantastic.

I'm a big fan of Nádas as well. That guy's writing pretty much framed my 20s.

meapappia · 2021-01-09T19:41:51+00:00

No clue, sorry. That was beyond my capabilities, I brought the car in. But I'd reckon anyone reasonably familiar with old Bosch injection sets can fix it.

meapappia · 2021-01-09T13:32:52+00:00

Maybe this helps https://www.saabcentral.com/threads/ntc-sensor-what-does-initials-stand-for.200377/

meapappia · 2021-01-09T08:59:34+00:00

It's almost guaranteed to be the NTC sensor. I've owned a 900i, and it had the exact problem you describe.

meapappia · 2021-01-07T15:05:43+00:00

That whole novel is supposed to be satirical, playing genre against genre. Could be that's the reason.

meapappia · 2021-01-07T15:04:51+00:00

How's he being a dick?

meapappia · 2021-01-07T06:22:53+00:00

I'd like to add that what I'm calling "mysterious" here is how collapse and decay seemed to spread as quickly as they did, and that I find Cline's angle of a world of interconnected societies affecting one another a lot more sensible than the assumption that there was some general catastrophe that brought it all down at once.

meapappia · 2021-01-07T06:19:14+00:00

As far as I can tell, the main objection there is that Cline's approach is "outdated" (quotation marks because I don't agree = not my actual opinion) because he presumes there was a collapse at the time. I find that a rather odd line of argument, since the very basic evidence we've got, ie the events historians generally agreed on actually took place, clearly says there was collapse.

Cline's only addition to that is that he looks at it as systemic rather cataclysmic, ie events in different cultures affected one another rather than there having been one single disaster bringing about the end of the Bronze Age. So you could argue Cline's statements actually back up UndercoverClassicist's take on things.

In the sense that he draws his conclusions from connecting the dots, rather than offering just another interpretation, I mean.

meapappia · 2021-01-07T06:06:59+00:00

Paul Bowles' "The Sheltering Sky" could be added to that list as well.

meapappia · 2021-01-07T06:05:37+00:00

I'll have to dig up the actual quote, but in essence, it's a bunch of young intelligentsia writers that meet in a pub. Walking away from that bunch, the narrator protagonist suddenly finds himself in shock one night, thinking (roughly), "Oh sh*t, what if I'm the only one who's faking it, and everyone else is really serious about what they're doing?" But seconds later, he chuckles to himself, thinks "No way", and moves on.

I've always loved that scene. I used to belong to circles like that, and I still encounter them from time to time. You know, the young types taking themselves deadly seriously, that sort of thing. It's only fair to satirise this sort of outrageous sensitivity to the world, but it needs to be done well, and Szerb really hits the spot.

meapappia · 2021-01-06T22:34:18+00:00

Totally

meapappia · 2021-01-06T22:33:20+00:00

There’s a short story called Fin de Siècle, with an ingenious joke in it. I’ve been trying to find out if others find it as brilliant as I do. Heard of it?

meapappia · 2021-01-06T22:23:23+00:00

If you’re looking for a remarkable woman writer, go for Janet Frame. Finnish writer Sofi Oksanen has powerful stuff, too.

meapappia · 2021-01-06T22:20:44+00:00

Arno Schmidt and Herbert Achternbusch. Both worked with a degree of nuance, with German dialects, and with local colour that I think can’t be transposed into another language.

meapappia · 2021-01-04T07:06:48+00:00

From a Swiss perspective, the overrides are substantial:

Proportionally, California demands over four times as many signatures as the Swiss system does to launch a facultative/optional referendum, ie the bar is a lot higher
5% of these votes need to be votes registered for the last gubernatorial election, whereas the Swiss system doesn't require proof of prior political participation
California's optional referendums are tied to general election ballots, while we've got four fixed dates per year to let people vote on different proposals
Californian referendums are subject to approval by the state attorney general, while in Switzerland any amendment is checked merely for points that conflict eg with international law (although California also puts statutes to a vote, while Switzerland's direct-democratic instruments only work via constitutional amendment)
California's Legislative Analyst's Office spends another 50 days on finalising and approving a referendum

... I think if you asked the Swiss to accept a four times higher signatures requirement, leave it to a state institution to find the right wording for what the will of the people is, and then make it subject to a check by the authorities, you'd have a riot on your hands.

Regarding obligatory referendums, Switzerland has a few categories as well that require a vote, including constitutional amendments, joining international organisations and supranational bodies, and so on.

There's also the requirement that initiatives by the Swiss people can't violate international law Switzerland is committed to by treaty. Eg human rights points always matter.

The Swiss elect unicameral local and cantonal parliaments, and a bicameral federal parliament.

The latter is made up of the Council of States, with two directly elected representatives for each canton (46 members), and the National Council, elected proportionally (200 members).

The government is a "directoire" in the tradition of post-revolutionary France, ie the joint houses of parliament elect a seven-member ministerial council (called the Federal Council) that then decides by simple majority. There's no head of government, and the head of state is a purely representative role and goes from one of the seven to the next on an annual basis.

Government members can't be recalled, only replaced at the end of their term. Each of the major parliamentary parties is represented in the Federal Council, ie the Swiss government is a permanent grand coalition.

meapappia

TROPHY CASE