Luke Judge

• Reduces exterior noise by more than 70 percent (10 dB) so you can hear music against a quieter background
• Closed-ear design for even strong isolation from outside sound
• 30 mm drivers deliver deep bass down to 16 Hz and provide outstanding dynamic range
• Folding headband and pivoting earpads simplify storage in a backpack, briefcase, or purse
• Extended battery life approximately 45 hours with a single AAA alkaline battery

Product Description
Use these headphones to block out noise, listen to music, or do both at once! Sony Noise Canceling Headphones reduce outside noise by more than 70%. Listen to Beethoven without being bothered by the symphony of your neighbor’s buzz saw. Take in the latest Salsa sounds on planes or trains. These magnificent headphones feature a “noise canceller” on/off switch (in case you need to hear what’s going on around you) and a headband that folds for easy storage. It reduces noise by 70% (10dB) making it ideal for travel – it gives you peace and quiet on planes, trains, buses and cars. It is also ideal for outdoor use when you are gardening or on a noisy street. Its noise canceling circuit actually senses outside noise with built-in microphones and sends an equal-but-opposite canceling signal to the headphones; cancels noise from 50Hz to 1, 000Hz, with a maximum of 10dB noise cancellation in the critical range from 100 to 400 Hz – where the human ear is super-sensitive. Enjoy its closed headphone design that gives you greater isolation from outside sound. Its folding headband and pivoting earpads make for easy storage in a backpack, briefcase or purse improving their portability.Amazon.com
Retreat to a world of music, sleep on airplanes, or focus allyour attention on study materials with Sony’s stereo Noise-Canceling Headphones. They fit comfortably and have soft, high-quality speakers that completely cover your ears for an all-encompassing listening experience. Unlike lower-end models, these speakers don’t pinch, leak sound, or cause pain with an in-ear insert. The noise-canceling feature blocks out 70 percent of all low-frequency sound. You’ll still be able to hear someone speaking directly to you, but ambient noise–papers being ruffled, the rumble of an engine–disappears almost completely. Headphones plug into a Sony Discman, Walkman, and most other portable stereos or receivers. A mini jack allows you to plug the headphones into the standard jacks in airplane armrests, which will give you much better sound than the $5 disposables will for in-flight music services and movies. Sony’s Noise-Canceling Headphones fold up for easy packing in a briefcase or carry-on luggage. One AAA battery is required to operate the noise-canceling function. –Cristina Vaamonde Amazon.com Product Description
If you are looking for a pair of headphones to use in loud areas, these headphones will fit the bill. The MDR-NC20 headphones are a nice companion for the airplane, the bus ride or a loud dorm building. The noise canceling system reduces outside noise by seventy percent (10dB), allowing you to hear the music accurately. To help reduce the amount of outside noise entering the ear, Sony has made these earphones with a closed type design.

The headphones are lightweight and comfortable, delivering quality sound. Sony has installed several technical features to the headphones to ensure a quality listening experience. The thirty millimeter drive units deliver deep bass, low distortion and a wide frequency response range (16 – 22,000 Hz). Neodymium magnets give the headphones maximum energy at a minimal size and weight. These magnets also produce ample sound output with 99 dB sensitivity (NC on.) The detachable input cord allows you to connect directly to an audio source.

The headphones fold up for compact storage. The pivoting earpads are both comfortable and storable. To turn on the noise canceling system, simply flip the on/off switch. A red power LED light illuminates when powered-on. The headphones run on one AAA battery, which will run for up to forty-five hours (alkaline).

What’s in the Box
Sony MDR-NC20 headphones, separate input cord and user’s manual.

Sony MDR-NC20 Noise Canceling Headphones with Foldable Headband

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WASHINGTON – Addressing House Republicans recently, President Barack Obama said some things are more important than high poll numbers — “and on this, no one can accuse me of not living by my principles.”

That joke about his own ratings slide drew a hearty laugh from some of the president’s fiercest political foes. It also neatly captured Obama’s sense of humor: mordant, self-deprecating, deeply ironic.

Does Barack Obama have a funny bone? The president certainly doesn’t seem to see himself as a natural comic. But more often than he gets credit for, he flashes a sharp and wry humor. It’s an important component of his style, helping to humanize an otherwise detached persona in ways that could prove valuable in the political wars ahead.

“He has a natural gleam in his eye,” said comedian and actor Larry Miller (“Pretty Woman,” “10 Things I Hate About You”), who first noticed it during the campaign.

At the annual Al Smith charity banquet in 2008, then-candidate Obama had New York’s tuxedoed elite in stitches with a sendup of his fawning treatment by the national media. “Contrary to the rumors you have heard, I was not born in a manger,” he said to knowing laughter. “I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father Jor-El to save the Planet Earth.”

“I mean, this guy was funny,” Miller recalled. “And not just in timing, or politically funny, or a little bit funny. He really had them going. He was saying things with a dry, elegant wit.”

Inevitably, though, much of Obama’s humor does involve politics.

In his State of the Union speech, he called the bank bailout “as popular as a root canal.” He suggested monthly meetings with congressional leaders, adding archly, “I know you can’t wait.”

At a New Hampshire town meeting, he faulted Republicans for slamming the government stimulus package and then praising the hometown projects that it financed. “They’ve found a way to have their cake — and vote against it, too,” he said.

During a college basketball game, the left-handed Obama told an interviewer he met with House Republicans “to prove that I could go to my right once in a while.”

The lion’s share of Obama’s humor is aimed not at his foes, but at himself.

At a recent observance of International Women’s Day, he saluted heroic women “from those on the Mayflower to the one I’m blessed to call my wife, who looked across the dinner table, and thought, ‘I’m smarter than that guy.’ ” It brought down the house.

In Obama’s comic telling, the first lady is the one who keeps him in line, or takes him down a peg when he needs it. He speaks of daughters Malia and Sasha and other women in his life as natural bosses.

Speaking about a planned tween sleepover his daughters had in the works, Obama told a reporter “there are 24 double-X chromosomes up in Camp David as we speak. It’s a little intimidating.”

So how does Obama rate on the scale of modern presidential humor? Pretty high, it turns out.

“I think he does have a good sense of humor,” said Meena Bose, a presidential historian at Hofstra University. “He has a cerebral one, though. It’s this dry irony. You have to pay pretty close attention to get some of what he’s saying.”

To many, the comedic gold standard among modern presidents was John F. Kennedy. Whether it was live news conferences or interplay with audiences, Kennedy always seemed to be ready with a witticism to charm or disarm. And he had a profound sense of the absurd. After declaring at the Berlin Wall, “Ich bin ein Berliner”, Kennedy paused for translation, then deadpanned, “I appreciate my interpreter translating my German.”

But other recent presidents have been standout humorists, too. Think of Ronald Reagan, the day he was shot, telling emergency room doctors, “I hope you’re all Republicans.”

Think also of after-dinner speeches by Bill Clinton and George W. Bush at banquets of White House correspondents.

In Clinton’s farewell video, aired at the correspondents’ dinner, he played a bored househusband, wandering the White House knocking over vending machines as his wife was off campaigning. Bush, for his part, appeared with a comedian-double who gave voice to his goofy — and ungrammatical — inner thoughts.

Such self-mockery contributes to a leader’s likeability, and can help grease the wheels of Washington policymaking.

“A good sense of humor won’t make the reputation of a president,” Bose said. “But a good sense of humor can bolster a good reputation.

“It indicates comfort, a sense of not being overwhelmed by the demands of the job,” she said.

In Obama’s case, it may help explain why his personal popularity has stayed strong, even as his job approval numbers have slumped. In a recent Associated Press-GfK poll, nine in 10 said they like Obama, including three of four Republicans.

It can’t hurt that Obama tries not to take things too seriously.

In June, visiting King Abdullah’s horse farm near Riyadh, he got the grim-faced Saudi monarch to crack a smile by admiring an enormous tent-like audience hall: “This is a much nicer tent than you gave to Prince Charles.”

Last May, he asked orbiting astronauts if they could see his Chicago home: “I’m trying to figure out if my lawn is getting mowed. I haven’t been back in a couple months.”

Of course, Obama’s humor has also gotten him in trouble. Following a “Tonight” show appearance, he apologized for comparing his weak bowling skills to those of Special Olympics athletes.

A few examples of Obama’s unflashy wit:

• In an interview, he complained of the “shine police,” aides who follow him around to pat him with TV makeup.

• Speaking about Mother’s Day, he praised his sharp-tongued chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, who’s “not used to saying the word ‘day’ after ‘mother.’”

• At a Nevada high school, he envied the principal’s standing ovation: “Obviously not exam time yet.”

• In a photo session, he declined to wear a helmet thrust at him by the champion University of Alabama football team: “It’ll mess up my do.”

• Praising high-speed rail, he noted its less-stringent-than-airport security: “You don’t have to take off your shoes. Right? Check to see if you’re wearing the socks with no holes in them?”

Miller, a veteran of standup and comedy writing, has some unsolicited advice for Obama: Do it more.

“I would let it out a little,” Miller said. “He’s keeping it under a bushel. You want to say, ‘Buddy, turn the brights down a little and let some of that humor come out. …’ “.

“People think of humor as being frivolous. But it’s not. It’s just a different kind of wisdom.”

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