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On 1 Aug 2003 06:42:34 -0700, (Howard Ferstler)
wrote:

dave weil wrote in message . ..
On Thu, 31 Jul 2003 12:59:51 -0400, Jacob Kramer
wrote:

Wasn't it Dave Weill who noticed the plagiarism?

I'll certainly take credt for pointing it out on RAO.

This "take credit" triumph of Dave's means essentially nothing. The
book will be published and I hope that Dave will buy a copy, re-read
the article in mention, and then do some kind of formal complaint to
the publisher, while also notifying the audio company about the
plagiarism. The result should be interesting, assuming that Weil has
the cajones to actually make the protest.

Hopefully the proper attributions will be made. It *is* the legal and
scholarly thing to do. Mr. Ferstler should know this, having toiled in
the library system of a major US university for years.

Shame about having lost a biographical entry though. This means that
you lose about $2 (figuring at the .03 a word that you might derive
from it).

For the record, I left RAO (well, almost left, because I occasionally
scope for my name being mentioned, and when it feel it is necessary I
will interject a comment or two) for two reasons:

Well, I guess you changed your mind when you wrote your exit post a
while back. Just goes to show that you can't stay away...

1. My wife and I are in the process of doing some major
home-improvement work. (Yeah, we recently came into some big money.)

You barely mentioned this in your goodby post and it was in the
context of being able to actually do it because you were reducing your
writing output and were going to be able to do it, not that it was the
reason you were leaving. The post will be reproduced in its entirety
below, for all newbies to read.

This does not involve my 400 square foot main room or main system
(although I will probably replace my current ceiling-mounted projector
with an HDTV version), but it does involve enlarging the current 230
square foot middle system's room to 370 square feet. The A/V system in
there will be upgraded considerably (it will also get the main room's
ceiling-mounted projector), and the result will be a system that is
quite in contrast to the existing main system. The latter stresses
sound power and wide dispersion, whereas the expanded-room system will
emphasize a flat first-arrival signal. (I'll be doing a feature
article on both systems and their rooms in a future issue of The
Sensible Sound, by the way.) I wonder how many A/V enthusiasts have
two ceiling-mounted projection systems in two different rooms.

Amazing that someone like Howard would brag about spending big bucks
on AV equipment after chastising people for the same thing.

The remaining home upgrades involve remodeled bathrooms, new hardwood
flooring and tile replacing carpeting in all the non-A/V rooms in the
house (well, the currently carpeted living room, which will get oak
flooring, will be an exception, but the system in there is not
destined to be a major player, anyway), all new kitchen appliances, an
expanded patio, new landscaping, additional insulation, extensive
painting, new doors, new windows, and the conversion of my combination
computer room and photo darkroom into a large premium-grade storeage
room. (Most houses do not have enough storage room, but ours will now
have plenty, and it will allow me to comfortably store assorted
speakers, etc. that I review.) The computer (the one I am working with
right now) will be replaced and the new one will be installed in the
expanded A/V room, where I can use it as part of my audio work. Hey,
I'll now be able to do some work with Arny's PCABX system.

You forgot a new broom closet.

This project has also forced me to back off from my regular magazine
writing work (other than recording reviews), although I will be
getting back into that in the future, but on a smaller scale than in
the past. It also caused me to cancel writing a new book. Books eat up
a huge amount of time and the payoff is just not worth the work. I'd
have cancelled the enterprise (I had been approached by a publisher
about doing the book some months ago) even if the home-improvement
projects were complete. And, no, the book project was not cancelled
because of my RAO "reputation" as a plagiarizer. (Only "get a life"
nitwits like you guys are revved up about that issue.)

Nobody's "revved up" about it. We were just pointing out a fact, a
fact that even *you* couldn't spin because you know it was true. You
might as well have taken a book out of the library and copied it
freehand and inserted it into one of your books.

And, number two....

2. You people are psychologically challenged. Why debate obsessive
types who are not about to see their belief systems shattered?

Have a nice series of rants, guys.

See you next time, Howard. I hope that you are more careful with your
writing the next time.

Here is the alligator tears goodby post from Howard from a little
while back:

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=group:rec.audio.opinion+author:ferstle%40 attglobal.net&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&as_drrb=b&as_mind=1&as_minm=6&as_miny=2 003&as_maxd=1&as_maxm=7&as_maxy=2003&selm=3EE3ACE2 .AFF25506%40attglobal.net&rnum=1

Hello, Audio Freaks,

Since I left RAO rather abruptly a while back I decided it
would be a good idea to come back and say "so long" in a
more formalized manner. Because many of you dunderheads
appear to live in order to become involved in obsessive
backbiting sessions, doing this will give a few of you
something to do. You can chew on your keyboards as you post
rants about this note.

I left RAO for a number of reasons, not the least of which
was a desire to re-enter the real world and get away from
some of the most moronic, deluded, dishonest, and
small-scale corrupt individuals imaginable. This distasteful
contact with RAO's "small people," combined with a personal
state of mind that had me hoping that some of them would
actually roll over and die, was more than reason enough to
jump ship. Since leaving, I feel ten years younger.

Yep, this is my last Usenet message to the muddlehead-audio
crowd. You guys are just not worth the trouble. May you
continue to banter about trivialities and cultivate ulcers
as a result.

Incidentally, I contacted my book editor about certain
"plagiarism" charges being bantered about here, and he backs
me fully on everything I have done for my Encyclopedia of
Recorded Sound project. If any of you want to make trouble,
he is more than ready for you.

I mentioned to him that John Atkinson (a paradigm of
minor-league audio deviousness in my opinion) would be
contacting him to request a withdrawal of his biographical
sketch, and he indicated that he would honor that request
and that it would be Mr. Atkinson's loss and no big deal for
the book at all. Routledge (a branch of the Taylor & Francis
book-publishing group) is a big outfit, and they certainly
do not sweat the loss of Mr. Atkinson's biographical
profile. My editor is also very familiar with typical
tweako-audio states of mind, and so he was not concerned by
a situation that Mr. Atkinson is obviously trying to
capitalize upon.

Incidentally, while I have departed RAO and the audio Usenet
scene, I am not going to give up audio magazine writing
entirely, although I will certainly do a lot less than I
have in the past. This reduction in output includes giving
up on writing still another book, which would have eaten up
way too much of my free time. (I have already contacted the
publisher about this, and he understands.) Books are almost
not worth the trouble these days, since most audio book
purchasers are tweakos looking for a Bible to believe in.
What point is there in writing a brass-tacks oriented book
that they would never purchase?

And now back to musical listening (there is plenty of time
for that now) and drawing up my home-improvement and
home-expansion plans. I expect that this message will
generate many replies from the peanut-brained contingent on
RAO. However, do not expect me to swap insults with any of
you. I have given up debating claptrap with pieces of human
lint.

Howard Ferstler