What's Bothering You? (The thread about what is bothering you.)

[fohat.digs]

Russia, because it has the economy the size of Texas or something.

Precisely why they don't bother with conventional modes of competition.

[suicidal_orange]

Powercut, might be fixed at 1:30AM.  WTF can you do at midnight in the dark?  Try to browse the internet on a frustratingly slow phone or go to bed (alone)

[Gondolindrim]

Powercut, might be fixed at 1:30AM.  WTF can you do at midnight in the dark?  Try to browse the internet on a frustratingly slow phone or go to bed (alone)

Honestly? I try to just chill. These days we are so dependant on energy, and it's in those power outages that we realize we are just too overloaded. Reading a book, listening to offline music and concentrating on the lyrics or music quality. Learning to meditate, as in , chill and focus on something individualistic, has been a very useful skill lately amidst these crazy times

Or you can browse keyboards, your choice

[iri]

Powercut, might be fixed at 1:30AM.  WTF can you do at midnight in the dark?

Sleep.

[suicidal_orange]

Powercut, might be fixed at 1:30AM.  WTF can you do at midnight in the dark?

Sleep.

All week I've been getting home from work after 11, sleep was not really an option.

Honestly? I try to just chill. These days we are so dependant on energy, and it's in those power outages that we realize we are just too overloaded. Reading a book, listening to offline music and concentrating on the lyrics or music quality. Learning to meditate, as in , chill and focus on something individualistic, has been a very useful skill lately amidst these crazy times

Had a candle, couldn't position if to read a book.  Could have book in one hand and overbright phone/torch in the other but couldn't turn the page... During the day it would have been fine but the streetlights were dead and it was raining so not even any moon or starlight, just darkness!  Music was the answer

[fohat.digs]

try this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVE6ofG9d9c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw9mIBfVhO4

[suicidal_orange]

try this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVE6ofG9d9c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw9mIBfVhO4

Coo trick, not sure playing with hot glue and solder in the dark is a good idea though even if it did work

[fohat.digs]

It does work, and you don't need to glue everything in place as long as the wires make connection.

But you have to have the apparatus prepared in advance, of course. You can't build in the dark.
 

[iri]

So much liquid crap being poured on the working class in the past 5 years.

[yui]

It has become excruciatingly obvious that the creators of the interwebs were absolutely, utterly, dead wrong with their initial assumption that truth and reality would consistently win out in the war of ideas if it was played out openly across the world stage.

they could have been right, if no company found a huge cash mine in the form of serving falsehoods to peoples, pretty much all big search engines and social media will serve you stuff you align with only, so when you have a filter on the web like that of course truth can't win out, it is being actively pushed back for money, and i doubt anyone could have seen that development 30 years ago.

[iri]

Is DuckDuckGo not considered big?

[yui]

Is DuckDuckGo not considered big?

one i forgot about it, and 2 it still has a rather extremely small user-base and i do not think either google or microsoft will include it as default search engine in their browsers and OS

[fohat.digs]

if no company found a huge cash mine

The brainstorm that created the Google empire was the creation of an apparatus that rewarded clicks with money. Once in place, it was inevitable that an industry would emerge manufacturing click bait.

International organizations of cannibals and child molesters controlling politicians? Sure! Why not? Imagine the fortune that whoever dreamed that one up walked away with.

serve you stuff you align with only

Filter bubbles are arguably worse, because while it could be argued that the avalanche of misinformation that resulted from monetizing clicks was merely a corollary effect, filter bubbles were put in place by Google itself.

And there can be no dispute that they fly in the face of the principle that the internet was created to facilitate the universal open and free flow of information.

[yui]

serve you stuff you align with only

Filter bubbles are arguably worse, because while it could be argued that the avalanche of misinformation that resulted from monetizing clicks was merely a corollary effect, filter bubbles were put in place by Google itself.

And there can be no dispute that they fly in the face of the principle that the internet was created to facilitate the universal open and free flow of information.

if it was only google, it would far less of a problem, the thing is it is everywhere, pretty much, i am not even sure who implemented it first

[fohat.digs]

i am not even sure who implemented it first

This book is over a decade old, but still relevant.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10596103-the-filter-bubble

[iri]

serve you stuff you align with only

Filter bubbles are arguably worse, because while it could be argued that the avalanche of misinformation that resulted from monetizing clicks was merely a corollary effect, filter bubbles were put in place by Google itself.

And there can be no dispute that they fly in the face of the principle that the internet was created to facilitate the universal open and free flow of information.

if it was only google, it would far less of a problem, the thing is it is everywhere

Where is it outside the Big IT? Outside Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Twitter?

[yui]

if it was only google, it would far less of a problem, the thing is it is everywhere

Where is it outside the Big IT? Outside Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Twitter?

now find me 3 peoples that uses none of those services? even unknowingly, MS, Google, Amazon and Facebook have their algorithms in quite a few products that do not directly bear their brands, maybe less so MS they are too proud for that but you get integration in windows and office365, pretty much any android phone have a large level of google integration, i do not know Facebook well enough to remember that other social media they own, and amazon has a lot of powered by amazon stores and websites.
all of that discounting theire respective voice assistants.
i am guessing that if you are not part of a paranoid group finding anyone who uses none of those services is going to be rather hard, it is why i say it is everywhere.

[suicidal_orange]

Interview tomorrow, I don't usually do nerves but a 22% paycut for more hours is so much better than what my future holds should I somehow mess it up that I think I know what others' complain about.  Must ignore introspective tendencies and focus on preparation

[tp4tissue]

Interview tomorrow, I don't usually do nerves but a 22% paycut for more hours is so much better than what my future holds should I somehow mess it up that I think I know what others' complain about.  Must ignore introspective tendencies and focus on preparation

Life could always be worse, one could be hooked on droogs.

[suicidal_orange]

Interview tomorrow, I don't usually do nerves but a 22% paycut for more hours is so much better than what my future holds should I somehow mess it up that I think I know what others' complain about.  Must ignore introspective tendencies and focus on preparation

Life could always be worse, one could be hooked on droogs.

At least that is enjoyable temporarily, losing 5/8 Saturdays and never knowing what day it is is surely worse.  Though maybe the second disadvantage applies to both if you can find enough money

[noisyturtle]

Interview tomorrow, I don't usually do nerves but a 22% paycut for more hours is so much better than what my future holds should I somehow mess it up that I think I know what others' complain about.  Must ignore introspective tendencies and focus on preparation

Hey man, you could be working less than 20hrs a week @ $14 an hr with no medical and spending 1.5hrs to get there each way! Things could be a lot worse

[Gondolindrim]

Interview tomorrow, I don't usually do nerves but a 22% paycut for more hours is so much better than what my future holds should I somehow mess it up that I think I know what others' complain about.  Must ignore introspective tendencies and focus on preparation

**** the future, it does nothing for you. Nor does the past. Some might even say they don't even exist as time constructs since the future did not happen yet and the past is gone.

Focus on what's happening right now, that is what holds the power of change. That's why it's called a present. Is it an interview? Pour everything into it.

Good luck with your interview!

[yui]

Interview tomorrow, I don't usually do nerves but a 22% paycut for more hours is so much better than what my future holds should I somehow mess it up that I think I know what others' complain about.  Must ignore introspective tendencies and focus on preparation

if you are half as good at your job than at repairing other's keyboard online you are gonna get it i am pretty sure

[tp4tissue]

Ugh... just watched _Meander_,  it's like Cube,  but wayyyy worse and boring.

Tides 2021 (aka the colony 2021) is decent dystopia flic, thin but decent, the only drawback is the -bad guy in the movie is clearly logical, not good but certainly not wrong, I don't quite understand how the main protagonist was in the right at all.

[suicidal_orange]

Hey man, you could be working less than 20hrs a week @ $14 an hr with no medical and spending 1.5hrs to get there each way! Things could be a lot worse

I'm barely on $14 an hour now before the drop, they are kind enough to rob me of 38 hours of my week though, plus another 2.5 hours a day commuting.  No idea what medical is, it may be what we call NI?  That's basically extra tax, which you would avoid (along with regular tax) by working less hours.  Anything over 24 hours I only get 52% of so my money-in-pocket per hour worked rate is even worse...

if you are half as good at your job than at repairing other's keyboard online you are gonna get it i am pretty sure

I'm too honest which extends to my belief that I could do anything given time and space to learn which can come off as being arrogant.  Honesty also means I don't bend the truth well so playing the game of 'getting a new job' where you have to pretend [whatever] is your raison d'etre when in reality it's just a way of getting money to survive is a real challenge.

Good luck with your interview!

Thanks!


Update:  New job acquired.  Within six months I could be back on sensible shifts with a higher base rate than I'm on currently, and with a significantly shorter commute.

This is probably not the right thread for this post, sorry!

[iri]

Wow, very happy for suicidal_orange!

[tp4tissue]

Soon, The orange attracts a female with all the haz wurk salary he's sloshing about.

[SBJ]

Update:  New job acquired.  Within six months I could be back on sensible shifts with a higher base rate than I'm on currently, and with a significantly shorter commute.

That's amazing, congratulations!

[yui]

what's bothering me today is that my lungs decided they hate air with a passion now and will not take any of it least they hurt me...

and congrats orange, you see you could do it go post that on what makes you happy

[noisyturtle]

Super it worked out in the end, all that worrying was worth it.

[tp4tissue]

Scott pilgrim vs the World (film).   It's pretty well made,  but Tp4 can't understand what it's actually about.  Was there a point ?

It's like something happened, but then basically nothing happened.

[Kavik]

Scott pilgrim vs the World (film).   It's pretty well made,  but Tp4 can't understand what it's actually about.  Was there a point ?

It's like something happened, but then basically nothing happened.

I was just wondering about this movie a day or two ago, but I've never quite understood what it's about from trailers. I know there's some comic series it's based on that may have more background or context. My impression was that it's just a geeky guy with several girls interested in him, and he likes music, so it's not really a plot driven thing.

[matchaboba]

The heat is bothering me, more because for my dog than my discomfort. We’re observing the preventive measures (hydrate, fans, ice cream for her humans - dog-friendly ice cream for her), so this is more for my mental sanity.

Stay safe from the heat, everyone. And drink plenty of water or electrolytes.

[user 18]

Update:  New job acquired.  Within six months I could be back on sensible shifts with a higher base rate than I'm on currently, and with a significantly shorter commute.

This is probably not the right thread for this post, sorry!

Congrats, and best of luck!

[Darthbaggins]

Hey man, you could be working less than 20hrs a week @ $14 an hr with no medical and spending 1.5hrs to get there each way! Things could be a lot worse

I'm barely on $14 an hour now before the drop, they are kind enough to rob me of 38 hours of my week though, plus another 2.5 hours a day commuting.  No idea what medical is, it may be what we call NI?  That's basically extra tax, which you would avoid (along with regular tax) by working less hours.  Anything over 24 hours I only get 52% of so my money-in-pocket per hour worked rate is even worse...

if you are half as good at your job than at repairing other's keyboard online you are gonna get it i am pretty sure

I'm too honest which extends to my belief that I could do anything given time and space to learn which can come off as being arrogant.  Honesty also means I don't bend the truth well so playing the game of 'getting a new job' where you have to pretend [whatever] is your raison d'etre when in reality it's just a way of getting money to survive is a real challenge.

Good luck with your interview!

Thanks!


Update:  New job acquired.  Within six months I could be back on sensible shifts with a higher base rate than I'm on currently, and with a significantly shorter commute.

This is probably not the right thread for this post, sorry!

Congrats on the new job, I know how much a shorter commute can impact the ends - so much time and money wasted on long commutes (if they can be avoided).  I used to commute close to 100 mile/day when I worked w/ an eWaste facility that I was their PC/Server Tech for - only benefit of that job was the fact I got my pick on hardware I could repurpose into creating new machines (also why I have a stack of SSD's of varying sizes).  Now I work for an IT Deployment company that is a Dell and CDW partner, it has been a much better experience and my commute is now down to 15-25mins (10miles).  So your job change should help your mental health as well since you have a bigger opportunity from what it sounds like and the less stressful commute.

[suicidal_orange]

Thanks Darthbaggins, not sure losing my daily exercise (which was also the best part of my day when I could listen to music in peace while cycling) will be good for my dreary outlook on life but trying to be positive.

...

Stood up while wearing headphones plugged into my computer.  Big jolt, headphones fell off (nothing unusual ) but on returning the computer had frozen and the power button did nothing.  Plug off, plug back on, press on button and the fans run full and that's it.

Guess I'm wasting what's left of the weekend trying to diagnose a dead mobo/CPU.

Edit: Reseated RAM and it booted!  Guess the APUs are still >6 months away...

[Darthbaggins]

I've done that many times, so you're not alone - I had an external 4tb that I shucked and installed in my rig yesterday, forgot the drive shared a drive designation as another tied to my Plex server.  So I had to spend most of my Saturday diagnosing what I screwed up with an upset wife ticked that I interrupted her binging Big Bang Theory for the umpteenth time. 

Things will get better and with the shorter commute might allow more more time to jam out and ride (music is a big part of my commute to center and release alot of the crap circling my mind).  I want to start riding again since it was a great release and there are plenty of trails in the area of GA I'm in - also getting my 6yr old son on board would be a bonus.

[tp4tissue]

Headfones succcc, 

Towers + subwoof

[suicidal_orange]

Headfones succcc, 

Towers + subwoof

Show Image

Headphones sound the same at home, on a train or in the middle of nowhere on a bike, it's cheaper to try lots and find a sound signature that you love plus they block outside noise without relying on ear-damaging volume.  Unless you sit in the right position in a big room lined with egg boxes I'd say speakers are not as good although technically superior, and my neighbours would probably agree.

[fohat.digs]

Unless you sit in the right position in a big room lined with egg boxes

I must disagreed strenuously with this.

By definition, headphones cut you off from the world and that is unnatural. Regardless of the "accuracy" of how well the source is being reproduced scientifically, I find it quite disorienting to not be able to "feel" how the world around me is "living and breathing" in my local environment.

Certainly there is a time and place for headphones, particularly when you *DO NOT* want your environment to intrude into your consciousness (in my workshop I regularly use my inert headphones to eliminate tool noise) but to me it is a decidedly inferior way to enjoy and appreciate music.

[Darthbaggins]

I use open back headphones for home use since I don't have the area to use my speakers at the moment, don't think the in-laws would appreciate me listening loudly to music they tend to not favor.  So I stick with my Sennheiser PC360's (plan on getting a set of 58x's soon)

[yui]

i use both, when i do not mind being tethered to something or to annoy everyone around i use my earbuds (VE monks at home and VE zen LL at work, monks are rather good and cheap enough that then the cats bite on the cable it is not a big loss) and when i need to move around the house i use speakers, although almost never with the pc, but with the turntable or CD player plugged into the amp

[jamster]

Good headphones are great for detail and concentrated listening. Good speakers are great for effortless immersion and actual soundstage (I've never come across even vaguely convincing spacial cues with headphones).

A good headphone setup is far more economical and far less work to achieve than a good speaker setup. I still haven't figured out the latter, and suspect I never will (I'm too cheap to go down the serious speaker road, and not technically skilled enough to really build something amazing... maybe one day).

[noisyturtle]

Great audiophile quality headphone setup: $500-1500

Great audiophile quality speaker setup: $150000+

[tp4tissue]

Great audiophile quality headphone setup: $500-1500

Great audiophile quality speaker setup: $150000+

Audiophile headphones cost ~$50,  Idiots pay $1500 for them.

Same goes for speakers.

[yui]

Great audiophile quality headphone setup: $500-1500

Great audiophile quality speaker setup: $150000+

if you buy new, if you know your way around a soldering iron and a multi-meter you can fix yourself a good old stack for much less, and even without fixing there is a lot of old good HiFi for around 200 for a full complete stack without digging far (found one at a local used goods store without searching) true you can always spend more, but come on

[noisyturtle]

Great audiophile quality headphone setup: $500-1500

Great audiophile quality speaker setup: $150000+

Audiophile headphones cost ~$50,  Idiots pay $1500 for them.

Same goes for speakers.

Headphones are one of the most 'you get what you pay for' technologies out there.
and if it's not running through at least a quality amp, let alone dac or anything else, you are already not maximizing the sets potential

[Kavik]

Somehow I lost my wallet at the exact same restaurant that I lost it at several months ago (just a weird coincidence since I don't frequent this place). The staff found it both times, but it took over 24 hrs for them to find it this time, so I'd already canceled my debit and credit cards. Now I can't buy anything (I can but it's less convenient) for a week or two (however long it takes for the new cards to come in the mail).

[tp4tissue]

Somehow I lost my wallet at the exact same restaurant that I lost it at several months ago (just a weird coincidence since I don't frequent this place). The staff found it both times, but it took over 24 hrs for them to find it this time, so I'd already canceled my debit and credit cards. Now I can't buy anything (I can but it's less convenient) for a week or two (however long it takes for the new cards to come in the mail).

The C.1.A is performing medical experiments on you Kavik, the chemicals are doped into the leather or cloth of your wallet, and your average repeated skin contact with it is a Dose release control mechanism...

[jamster]

Audiophile headphones cost ~$50,  Idiots pay $1500 for them.

Same goes for speakers. [/size][/color][/font]

I've got headphones or earbuds that 'sound okay' for $50-60, after some quick EQ adjustments. I've yet to find anything that approaches 'audiophile' where I can suddenly hear all this new stuff appear in the music. I think that the Sennheiser 58Xs are 'audiophile' but have not found anything less expensive that I'd find comparable.

What speakers you think might be acceptable for $50? Which as far as I can tell is Logitech PC speaker territory.

if you buy new, if you know your way around a soldering iron and a multi-meter you can fix yourself a good old stack for much less, and even without fixing there is a lot of old good HiFi for around 200 for a full complete stack without digging far (found one at a local used goods store without searching) true you can always spend more, but come on

I've put together my own amp and a couple pair of speakers so far ($300-400 each + lots of time). Which by speaker standards is the loose change you'd find down the back of your sofa. All assembled out of kits as I have zero understanding of either electronics or acoustics. Unlikely to ever go down the vintage gear road though- I'm not really after Class A room warmers.

What I want to build, if I ever find the space for them, is Linkwitz dipole speakers. No woodwork, just PVC pipe and 3D printing!

https://www.linkwitzlab.com/LXmini/Introduction.htm