Posts by bombastic bob 10944 publicly visible posts • joined 1 May 2015
"You must mean live UNAMPLIFIED music, with no possibility of live Autotune.... folk or classical?"
How about JAZZ?
/me "takes 5"
'Real Musicians' play jazz and/or classical; wannabe's use autotune. Many musicians are obviously talented enough to play jazz or classical, but would rather make money...
A lot of 80's music is like jazz/rock crossover. JPOP too. no wonder I like it! [but that 70's disco+soul crap can be flushed into the sewer as far as I'm concerned]
most mastering is done digitally these days. So in theory the CD will have the "true fidelity" to what the master has on it.
analog mastering is highly overrated. It has to do with the way tape DISTORTS the audio. Just the tape itself, putting it on magnetic media, changes the audio. Some people prefer "that sound" for a number of reasons, as the effects might actually be similar to what happens when you mp3 something. There's a natural volume compression, for one, that affects different frequencies in different ways. Analog recording techniques did their best to limit the changes to the audio, but it's definitely there. Try listening to 'tape monitor' while recording, as a good example of the changes. The tape's output is always close, sometimes REALLY close, but is never an exact copy. it's just the nature of analog recording.
ack on the lossy compression. sometimes it makes it sound "better" but just as often, not.
This also relates to the perceived "loudness war" i.e. max out the digital signal values on EVERYTHING, keeping it on "max loud" all of the time [cutting off transients, and adding some harmonic distortion in the process]. Strangely, mp3'ing or ogg'ing that tends to mellow out some of the artifacts caused by the clipping...
So the REAL problem might be "the loudness war" - and of course the streaming audio could sound just a _bit_ better.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war
well, music marketing is definitely different. But I think that streaming should give independent musicians a better deal. Downside: you'll have to market your own stuff.
In the past, RIAA would get a contract with musicians and then do all of the marketing, etc.. They literally OWNED your career. They'd use one very successful musician/group to finance several others.
Now it may be the mediocre groups/artists [who seem to be VERY plentiful these days] not doing so well, whereas a few REALLY GOOD ones actually _DO_ do well.
Or something like that. I'm quite dissatisified with a lot of the CRAP I hear. Occasionally you'll get another album from Muse or a new group popping out of the woodwork that's worth buying a CD for. Other than that, it's mostly CRAP on the radio these days, and I am not willing to pay money to search for music I might like. Streaming radio stations are helpful, though, and a lot of 'niche' stuff on I-Heart-Radio and similar.
Lately I find myself listening to a 'classic rock' station, the local 'metal' station, the local JAZZ station, and streaming radio (JPOP primarily; where ELSE can you find it?). None of it costs anything, and as long as they don't play anything by 'Red Hot Chili Peppers' [holding nose while "singing" about birds sharing some kind of lonely view] I'm satisfied.
In general, "modern music" kinda sucks. But there are gems to be found. They're just too few and far between. It's a reflection of RIAA's antiquated "marketing", propping up stinky bands [and leveraging radio stations to play their songs "until we like them"], and funding a handful of stinkers for every one that's worth paying for.
ack on physical media. but if I can DL in a simple format like mp3 [i.e. no DRM] them I'm fine. I don't use a "DRM encumbered" operating system anyway.
I might want to point out that if artists produced music WORTH BUYING, then more people would BUY IT.
I have to wonder how much streaming/downloading THIS year is for things NOT produced within the last 3 years...
[and a better marketing channel for JPOP would be nice]
sulfur is chemically similar to oxygen. An alcohol formed with sulfur in place of the oxygen is a 'thiol', for example. H2S is a bit like H2O except that it's not a liquid, probably because the hydrogen bonds don't work the same way. but sulfur compounds are important in organic things and so you get them a LOT, particularly when you eat a lot of eggs and beans.
But yeah the most pungent odors are of the sulfur variety. H2S, methane thiol [which is what is often added to natural gas lines so they stink], and of course, SO2, all stink like rotting eggs because that's kind of what rotting eggs produce from the bacteria and anaerobic digestion.
I think skunk musk is also a sulfur-based compound...
All snark aside, did you think UWP would protect it? No, it actually becomes _worse_
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/04/21/security_roundup/
With particular attention to the "Windows 10 S bypass" part.
The Win32 API is what Microsoft should *STICK* *WITH*. All of that other 'S' should NEVER have been TRIED in the FIRST place!
That means: ".Net", Silverlight, UWP, 'The Metro', "The Store", 8.0's TILE SCREEN, "the Settings", that ridiculous attempt at a hybrid start screen + start menu on Win-10-nic, the slurping, the tracking, the "Microsoft Logon", the FORCED UPDATES, the ALWAYS ALPHABETIZED "apps" list, and (of course) the 2D FLATSO!!!
These should have NEVER been tried, let alone IMPLEMENTED.
Microsoft: Ruining Windows since 2003.
"Or maybe it's just called vendor lock in?"
That may be what it really IS. But I'll tell you what it is NOT: It is NOT "their customers actually WANT their products". It's more like an addiction, or a near-monopoly.
Any current earnings 'boon' due to data slurping and spying is short-lived, almost like a 'dead cat bounce'.
is what PETA _should_ be.
Mmmm... BEEF!
Penn & Teller once exposed how PETA owned a HUGE walk-in freezer. Its purpose? "Euthanizing" animals! OK one site suggests it's just for storage, rather than for freezing animals to death:
http://911animalabuse.org/Peta-News.php
PETA: where hypocrisy goes to an EXTRA level!
"The real Russian stealth killer is Buk from 2M series onwards. It is quite visible how it is operates for real in battle conditions on amateur footage from Damascus last cruise missile attack"
considering how every missile/bomb reached its target in the last attack on Syrian chemical weapons storage and manufacturing, I'd say it's not very effective.
Maybe this entire thing is JUST politics. Russia trying to make it look like they're an actual threat. U.S.'ians having to save face and be consistent in foreign policies, so we have to threaten sanctions against Turkey, who probably got a 'sweet deal' from Putin, just to rub our noses in it. And, Putin laughing all the way.
"I've learned that calling them Pakistani drives them through the roof."
I wonder what subtly insulting their ACCENT does...
"I'm sorry, what was that?"
"I can't understand, can you repeat that?"
"Can you say it again, slowly?"
"Can you spell it out for me?"
"What was that one letter again, I didn't quite understand it?"
"It sounded like [insert ethnic slur here] to me, is that right?"
And of course, LOUDLY wind it up [right before they hang up in anger] with something like:
"If you're going to SCAM someone in an ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRY, then LEARN TO SPEAK [profanity]-ING ENGLISH, you [profanity] [profanity] PAKISTANI!!!"
or something like that. Then you get to troll them AND vent your spleen!
"Leading them down a long alley for 20 minutes while pretending to be a dimwit is the right thing"
and, gloriously entertaining!
sorta like the "419 eaters"
/me notes that in the article, along the side, it notes that the U.S. treatment of these worthless scumbags is overly tolerant, whereas the U.K. response is much more appropriate. I think that EVERYONE is being too kind to these sociopathic PARASITES, as they STILL LIVE.
@Steven Raith
"I dunno, you're annoying me with your [whatever]"
You're probably a SMOKER, right? Tit for tat. And assuming you're a smoker, enjoy your cancer/COPD.
And don't smoke in the presence of others. You can do whatever you want to YOURSELF.
Or take up vaping, which isn't such an irritant to everyone around you [or just QUIT the toxic exhausting into EVERYBODY ELSE'S AIR]. Vape 'vapors' smell kinda like air freshener, if anything at all, and [from the studies I've read, and my own personal observation] doesn't cause people to have adverse reactions [at least to the best of my knowledge].
Public smoking is a PUBLIC NUISANCE and should be banned and heavily fined for violations. But if you want to vape, have at it. The actual dangers (and irritation) of doing so, ESPECIALLY to everyone else around you, is practically non-existent.
"massively less hazardous irritating to everbody ELSE than smoking"
fixed
[I care NOT what people do to themselves. That's THEIR business. What _I_ care about is HAVING TO BREATHE THEIR DIETY CONDEMNED FEELING *EXHAUST*, because their SOCIOPATHIC DISCOURTESY and SELF-CENTERED "NEEDS" takes precedence and priority over EVERYBODY ELSE, in particular ME, whether or not anyone ELSE is affected by that damnable CIGARETTE EXHAUST because of a medical condition, like asthma or other allergic reactions, or if it's just simply irritating, or both. I mean, My "NOT Smoking" isn't bothering anyone, now is it? And self-imposed addictions should NEVER be prioritized over EVERYONE ELSE's comfort, health, etc.. Ok done now.]
it's a fair bet that a LiPo or LiIon battery that bursts into flames was SHORTED OUT ELECTRICALLY.
They do have a very low internal resistance with a full charge, so even a small one could balloon up and catch fire within seconds if you short it.
I once accidentally shorted one when I plugged a battery into a device I'd modified slightly (added something to it as part of testing) and it had a small solder bridge that I didn't catch after modifying it, which shorted out the battery, and when I plugged it in it swelled up like a balloon and got VERY hot. I unplugged it quickly and soaked it with water to prevent flames. It suddenly shrank back down but was completely worthless after that [would not hold a charge at all].
So yes, it is VERY likely that keys+change+whatever in the guy's pocket caused a short circuit, causing flames etc. but then he LIES about it and says the batteries were IN THE DEVICE and he burned himself NOT grabbing flamin batteries out of his pocket, but trying to REMOVE bateries from the device. OK I would've thrown the device on the ground, with the batteries inside, hoping to save body parts instead of something that can be replaced, and I think MOST sane people would, too.
So yeah probably some B.S. in the guy's story, which does NOT help his lawsuit. If _ANY_ of his claims are bogus, the entire thing will be thrown out of court by any reasonable judge.
but, IANAL and juries are often COLLECTIVELY STUPID and *FEEL* instead of THINK.
yeah, and I suppose "all corporations are evil" [even the ones that are not].
A corporation is there to make money. And when they can't continue funding a particular project, what are they supposed to do, LOSE money? Of course, they 'cut costs'. A job is NOT an entitlement. It's an exchange of WORK for MONEY. And when there's no work, there's no money. That's just the way it is.
In other words: The BUSINESS WORLD is _NOT_ a FORNICATING WELFARE PROGRAM! And, I'm quite HAPPY with THAT fact!!!
Well I guess this means trying to apply for a contract position at Qualcomm will be out of the question for a while, and my friend that works there may be looking for work again.
This could also mean "business opportunity" with a bunch of competent engineers that will be looking for employment in the very near future. Keep in mind that Qualcomm's efforts are most likely in the world of ARM+Linux and having 1000 or so experienced engineers in THIS realm may lead to something VERY interesting.
[now, where can I find a VC willing to go with this...]
no longer any need for it to be "requested"
My first reaction to this was "'Obaka D.O.J.' vs 'Trump D.O.J.'" and "draining the swamp".
And if the requests become "we really need this" kinds of info, and it's WELL justified [instead of, let's say, a FISHING EXPEDITION], then data providers (like Micro-shaft) might be more WILLING to cooperate...
But yeah - I hope Micro-shaft and OTHER data providers hold out FOREVER in any cases where it's pretty obvious that the D.O.J. is simply on a FISHING EXPEDITION. Any judge signing an order like THAT _deserves_ to be 'objected to' and such a case where a motion to compel discovery might lead to an actual TRIAL over it, I think Micro-shaft [and others] would WIN, and it would be a really GOOD fight for them to engage in, in the name of data security at least. Good P.R.. But of course, IANAL and my legal opinions might not work as well as I'd like.
As for providing information when it's LEGITIMATE to do so, I tend to favor the cops on this one. And fewer requests, I think, would increase the percentage of cases in which it _IS_ legitimate.
I thought it happened at the 1997 PDC, but apparently I was mistaken.
'Developers Developers Developers Developers' was in 1993, as i recall [though Ballmer may have done it more than once].
And I _MUCH_ prefer Win '98 to Win-10-nic, in AS MANY WAYS AS ARE POSSIBLE!
"students seem to be actively discouraged"
this is the key point. You cannot be *INDOCTRINATED* if you start thinking for yourself. Next, someone will have to provide an army of those face-slappers from the Vogon planet that will slap the thinking right out of them, starting on day 1 in kindergarten...
That's right. Let's create a generation of VOGONS and overly-sensitive SNOWFLAKES, ready willing and able to create a scene that requires security to intervene, and then photograph the "un-sensitive" individual [OH, the HORRORS!] that DARED to made reference to the story of the young Dutch boy that saved the town by STICKING HIS FINGER IN A DYKE!
Obligatory reference to the red light district in the town that defined the trope...
[political correctness can bite my hairy, naked, ass]
"Whos going to assemble and program the robot"
Uh, other robots?
The biggest loser in this scenario is CHINA. Unless, they're making the robots...
Here's a thought: build your factories in countries where LOTS of robotics-savvy people are, where shipping costs direct to customers is lower, and have the bots make EVERYTHING [not quite 'lights out' but close]. Unskilled labor basically disappears, everyone who works for you is a reasonably well paid technician or engineer, "levels" of middle management are no longer required, etc. and the cost of manufacturing is pretty much the same, anywhere in the world. "Offshoring" will "die on the vine".
@LenG
uh, do you REALLY understand IPv6 at all? It coexists just fine with IPv4. but yeah, really old code written ONLY for IPv4 would need to be updated to do IPv4/IPv6 sockets. That, and devices with ethernet or wifi devices that only handle IPv4 [like wiznet ethernet controllers, for example].
Other than that, should be NO problem!
I haven't had trouble with any 'droid device on my network [I have IPv6 via an he.net tunnel and AAAA records for a domain that correctly point to multiple machines' IPv6 addresses].
I'm running the usual support protocols as well as DHCPv6 so maybe that's why everything just works...
[and I've had people come to my house and use their 'droid and iOS devices, no problems noted]
part of the scheme uses an IPv4 /30 block, which basically wastes 3 of the addresses. In reality, a scheme that uses something _like_ PPPoE or some other kind of tunneling protocol would only require 1 IP address in a block of 255 to be a gateway address. The additional bandwidth you might get by having to NOT use a tunneling or PPP-derived protocol (maybe 5%, let's say) would be compensated for by a much lower price. The ISP would be able to sell 3 times (or more) as many fixed IPv4 addresses to customers that need them.
All of this being said, it's the lack of efficiency of small netblocks (particularly /30's that potentially waste 3 for every 1 that gets assigned) that's eating up the IPv4's I'd bet.
I still want everyone migrating to IPv6. It's just that the ISPs have been dragging their feet for SO long that it's likely I'll need to maintain a fixed IPv4 address for the short haul, at least. And I don't want to see them priced out of the range of affordability.
what about by-default blocking of ALL auto-play content? I do _NOT_ want AD VIDEOS being streamed, EVAR, on ANY web site. A 'click to view content' replacement graphic is acceptable.
because, you KNOW it's coming!
I didn't see in the article where you can block ANY auto-play content with any kind of setting. Must I load a plug-in for this? Because, flash blocking is easy, javascript blocking is easy, HTML5 video blocking may NOT be so easy, and I _DEFINITELY_ want to do _THAT_!!!
From the article:
"EU members knew this stuff was coming as safety is a legislative priority for the Union 2018-2019."
EU members knew this stuff was coming as safety MORE CENTRALIZED CONTROL and LESS FREEDOM is a legislative priority for the Union 2018-2019.
Fixed it for ya. (it's often like that across the pond, too)
Shhh... don't get them started on the possibility of a MICROSOFT "solution" to this!!! [please, NO!]
Remember, these are ACCOUNTANTS we're dealing with. They're inevitably the ones who got the spear-phishing e-mail that took down every computer on the network. Hand their boss a "solution" with "Microsoft" or "IBM" or "Cisco" or "Oracle" (or even "Google") on it, and they'll be like WHEN DO I SIGN THE CHECK? [and will *BEG* Con-Grab to fund the grossly inflated price tag]
post-edit: I don't know what took the IRS net down, besides too much demand on it, but a spear-phishing e-mail would be ironic, don't ya think?
I try to set things up so I pay THEM at the end of the year. That way they won't b0rk up the refund and make me wait 2 months to get my money out of them for some bureaucratic B.S. reason. THEN, I e-file some time before the dead line (say a couple of weeks) and have the amount owee auto-deducted from the bank a day or two before "the deadline". Then I check the bank balance online to make sure they didn't b0rk it up. Generally it works without problems, but I have to pay a kind of 'toll' (turbo tax or similar) along the way to make it happen. I think it's still cheaper than a CPA for what I need to do...
BUT, _I_ have A SOLUTION to all of this! Just *SIMPLIFY* the tax code. Make it a FLAT rate, "you earn this much" "you pay that much" and END OF PROBLEM (something like the Forbes plan would be good, too). You can 'file' on a post card that way. And no more "progressive" (*spit*) tax rates and bizarre deductions! [they only empower politicians anyway]. In fact, make everyone WRITE THE CHECK 4 times a year, as in NO payroll withholding. We'll see how long tax rates remain as-is...
This reminds me of a bad light bulb joke...
"How many 'vendors' does it take to 'feel good' about web security?" Or maybe "how many companies from Redmond and Silly Valley does it take to change a light bulb?"
Apparently, it takes 32 + Cisco and Micro-shaft, and one electrician to find a new light bulb and replace the old one with it. Except they may have trouble as to what 'type' is the politically correct light bulb of the day, harumph harumph harumph .
Sorta like 'How many people from Marin County does it take to change a light bulb?' It takes 50. One to actually change the bulb, and 49 to "share in the experience".
Well I suppose those 34 companies are "feeling really good" about themselves, not getting a damn thing accomplished, but making a handful of people someplace overly proud, as if they have.
At times it's "all about the FEEL" and NOTHING about the ACCOMPLISHMENT, these days...
in Firefox, this might help:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/cookie-whitelist-with-buttons/
there are others, too, but this particular one lets you go into "session cookie only" mode, where it acts as if it's storing a cookie, but when you turn it off, or exit the browser, they all go into the bit bucket. Whitelisted cookies are saved as usual.
LinkedIn are even more annoyingly insidious at this point.
I should delete mine. It's been a few years since I looked at it. After Micro-shaft took over I said "I'm gonna delete it". I've gotten occasional spam from it, too. Haven't logged in at all. Just too lazy I guess...
part of the problem may be the use of H2 rather than kerosene. The Saturn V first stage used kerosene but all other stages used liquid H2.
As I recall some of the problems with using liquid H2 in the first stage has to do with the fact that it's at an extremely low temperature, which causes material problems. Metals get brittle at cryo temperatures, and lubricants "don't". It's not so bad when you're operating in a vacuum or near vacuum, at least as I understand it, but at sea level you have moisture accumulation and the engine nozzle is somewhat of a compromise since it has to operate at atmospheric pressure as well as a near vacuum, and everyplace in between.
To get fuel into the engine at the necessary volume and pressure, you need to have a high volumetric flow turbine-powered pump. And apparently that's what broke. I think they use reaction-style turbines.
(unfortunately this site requires javascript to view the content)
https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/rocket-engine-turbo-pump-cutaway-f-1
Anyway, my understanding is "it's tricksy" and Elon avoided it in the 1st stage, deliberately. And so did NASA back in the 60's. Probably for the same reasons.
I would guess the fuel tanks would be smaller as well, though the 1st stage would weigh quite a bit more when fully fueled, using kerosene rather than liquid H2.
