Halffull.org

We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

Now that most of the halffull writers are back, I will reinstitute an old custom: The weekly news update. However, I need a name for my news report. Any ideas? Comment below with your suggestions.

And now for the news.

For those of you who did not follow this year’s “American Idol”, you didn’t miss much. The winner, Taylor Hicks, whom I predict in three years will be relegated to performing lounge acts in Vegas as an opening act for Tom Jones, has been recently voted as People Magazine’s Hottest Bachelor. For some bizarre reason, the masses have been charmed by his gray hair and long, shaggy eyebrows, and have somehow decided that he looks like George Clooney. I assure you, this is not the case at all. Halffull has done some extensive research and has discovered that Taylor Hicks is, in fact, Jay Leno’s mini-me. Our research is guaranteed to be factual because it was done over the internet. By ninjas. Internet ninjas. Yeah.

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Some of these opinions are long overdue. Since my last review, I have come into delightful contact with many varied areas of consumer culture. The following presents my take, which, of course, you should use as only a part of your research if you are spending your hard-earned and heavily-taxed money.

Sennheiser HD580 headphones

I’ve had a set of these for a few years now and have been nothing but impressed. Music is perfectly clear and full, and has a rich tone that can’t be explained if you’ve only used crappy earbuds or cheapo headphones. There’s a true soundstage - close your eyes and you can position every element of the performance as if you were there. I couldn’t class myself as an audiophile yet, but my HD580’s produce some of the best sound I’ve ever heard. Don’t expect them to block any outside noise, though.

The HD580 is the baby brother to Sennheiser’s HD600 and, more recently, the HD650. That’s a pretty good family to be in, I’d say. All three have a 300 ohm impedance. If you don’t know an ohm from an amp, impedance measures the resistance to your music that the headphones provide. The higher the impedance, the more power your music player needs to put out. For comparison, most earbuds have around a 16 ohm impedance. If you’re going to use real headphones like the HD580’s with a tiny portable mp3 player, you’ll need a headphone amp. (Some mp3 players have a decent output and can put out enough power themselves, but don’t count on it unless you’ve checked.)

That said, the retail price on these bad boys is $200 - $250, though you can get them at most stores for $150. If you’re serious about your music and have a decent source, I’d say it’s worth every penny.

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A few months ago, the regular halffull contributors reached an impasse.  Tension and differing opinions on the site had been mounting for a couple of months, and nasty things were said. 

That’s all over now.  We’re back, but there must be rules. 

1.  There will be no name calling.

2.  As Patrick Swayze says in Road House, “Be nice.”

3.  No hijacking.  In the internet world, if you take someone’s post and derail it to talk about your agenda, it’s called hijacking and it’s considered extremely rude.  Create a new post and talk about whatever is on your mind; don’t steal someone else’s thread.

4.  There is a misnomer that this site is for ranting and fighting and arguing and serious topics.  Not everyone is a ranter or someone who likes to argue.  A lot of it is meant to be humor or general expression. Please don’t read everyone’s posts with a chip on your shoulder.

5.  Everyone is welcome at halffull, except jackasses.

If you’re an old timer who left the site due to inactivity, welcome back to a kinder, gentler halffull… with a side of rant.

This page hasn’t changed much in a while. That’ll change tomorrow.

I’ve been delaying an upgrade of the site for too long, because I’ve made so many custom modifications that it would become more of an overhaul. Still, it’s about time, and the best plan seems to be a clean upgrade with a new (or at least a single) theme, after which I will have a clean slate to apply changes. I think, overall, it’ll lead to a better site that’s easier to maintain and a bit easier to use.

Expect that to happen tomorrow. Also, more good news - some of our authors are coming back from hiatus! Halffull is dead, long live Halffull!

Update: Due to some server trouble, the upgrade will have to wait a short time. Don’t worry, I’ve already done a lot of work, I just couldn’t test as much as I needed to without a responsive server.

Update: Some more server trouble struck in the past few days, but I believe I have all of the important work done. I’m going to try to move over the new site layout in the next few minutes. If things blow up, that’s what backups are for, eh?

Update: Ok, a few issues to work through. The upgrade went fairly smoothly though!