Random Thoughts Part 4 - Split Thread

[zoobyshoe]

It would be nice to have some training available to be able to avoid all biases, or at least to the greatest degree possible. Ironically, those undergoing this training may end up feeling alienated, living in a society with institutions and many other assumptions built on biased, unsupportable assumptions.

The truly unbiased would have no bias against the biased. I have had this experience to some small extent. For example, I once spent a wonderful evening drawing with a girl whose world view consisted of pure new age B.S. Despite her whacky ideas, she had a sweet disposition and was exceptionally hot, so I wasn't about to challenge her believe that everything was explained by "frequencies." There is a range of biased people whose company is not unwelcome. I can't characterize that range, but I know 'em when I meet 'em.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Great idea, are we going to start with your Hammond organ version of "Phantom of the opera"?

That would be one of the parameters: the video would have to be 3 minutes or less. No posting your performance of the complete works of Alban Berg transcribed for the bagpipes, sort of thing.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Edit: though you could play a Berg piece on the bagpipes as long as it was 3 minutes or less.

 

[zoobyshoe]

A little less than four hours left till "Sherlock."

 

[Borg]

A little less than four hours left till "Sherlock."

5 minutes to go here.

 

[WWGD]

0 minutes until "Christmas Story". They have been showing it uninterruptedly for around 12 hours now, same exact movie back to back. I don't get the point of doing this. It is OK, but not that great to see it repeatedly like this.

 

[zoobyshoe]

And in the end, the little Masterpiece Mystery skeleton winks at the audience.

 

[DiracPool]

And in the end, the little Masterpiece Mystery skeleton winks at the audience.

Is that a "Sherlock" spoiler? I cut the cord and only have antenna TV. Do you need cable to get "Sherlock?"

 

[Silicon Waffle]

And in the end, the little Masterpiece Mystery skeleton winks at the audience.

I like it very much. No problem!

 

[zoobyshoe]

Is that a "Sherlock" spoiler? I cut the cord and only have antenna TV. Do you need cable to get "Sherlock?"

"Sherlock" can be seen on any television system that gets PBS. I'm pretty sure you can also watch earlier episodes on the internet for a fee. The new episode that aired tonight would probably be inexplicable to anyone who wasn't familiar with the characters and premises that have been laid out in previous seasons.

"Sherlock" is basically the Conan-Doyle character(s) imagined in modern day setting with modern day attitudes embroidered in. For example, in the first episode, "A Study in Pink," we have their new landlady, Mrs. Hudson, offering her understanding that Holmes and Watson are a gay couple, and that they needn't hide it from her. (Two single younger men sharing a flat, what is she supposed to think? But it's unthinkable such an idea would have been voiced in the original stories.) Additionally, Holmes is often assessed as being a sociopath in this series. Not a mean, killer sociopath, but simply someone with no remorse about hurting peoples feelings and a person too unhesitatingly confident in himself, and too intent on winning. The mental acuity of this modern Sherlock is bolstered by internet, mobile phone, transportation by jet, etc., but it is mostly the difference in attitude between the two eras that allows for this modern Sherlock to have developed in ways the old one could not have.

Anyway, we've had that going on for four seasons: Sherlock Holmes if he'd been created from scratch in modern times. Now, tonight's special holiday episode takes all that and turns it around, and we find all the modern day characters inexplicably transported back to the late 1800's. So, if this were the first episode of Sherlock someone happened to catch, they would have no idea what they were looking at.

 

[DiracPool]

Two single younger men sharing a flat, what is she supposed to think?

Back in the day, I always shared the lease on the rented properties with "younger men." I was young myself, but they knew we were not gay because of the hunreds of girls we escorted in and out the door. And we never drugged any of them, unlike Bill Cosby. The furthest we went was to sneak a shot of tequila in the beer bong

 

[Ibix]

That would be one of the parameters: the video would have to be 3 minutes or less.

I can't contribute 4'43" of silence, then? I promise it's better than anything else musical I might post.

Also, I expect the compression ratio to be quite good. Would there be compression artifacts? They would genuinely ruin it.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I can't contribute 4'43" of silence, then? I promise it's better than anything else musical I might post.

Also, I expect the compression ratio to be quite good. Would there be compression artifacts? They would genuinely ruin it.

Good quetion, and it inspires another parameter: No John Cage allowed.

 

[Ibix]

I can't contribute 4'43" of silence, then? I promise it's better than anything else musical I might post.

Also, I expect the compression ratio to be quite good. Would there be compression artifacts? They would genuinely ruin it.

Intriguingly, this last paragraph appears to be entirely incorrect. I knew very little about John Cage, and only made the post as a throw away line. I skimmed his Wikipedia article and it appears that in 4'33" of silence the "music" is the ambient environmental noise that you can hear when everyone (including the orchestra) is quiet. This is likely very random, so will compress very badly. Furthermore, one could at least make the case that compression artifacts were in fact a critical part of the performance. I think I now understand Zoobyshoe's proposed "No John Cage" rule.

 

[HomogenousCow]

How is it 2016 already?

 

[WWGD]

How is it 2016 already?

? How is it not 2016? I think the second it becomes Jan 2 somewhere, it must be at least January 1 elsewhere. During Jan 1 alone, some other countries may still be on 12/31, but after Jan 2 in , say, Japan, it must be at least Jan 1 everywhere else.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Intriguingly, this last paragraph appears to be entirely incorrect. I knew very little about John Cage, and only made the post as a throw away line. I skimmed his Wikipedia article and it appears that in 4'33" of silence the "music" is the ambient environmental noise that you can hear when everyone (including the orchestra) is quiet. This is likely very random, so will compress very badly. Furthermore, one could at least make the case that compression artifacts were in fact a critical part of the performance. I think I now understand Zoobyshoe's proposed "No John Cage" rule.

It didn't even occur to me, but you're right that, John Cage, at least, would almost certainly consider things like compression artifacts "critical." I'd be so much happier if you just posted a performance of "Chopsticks."

 

[zoobyshoe]

How is it 2016 already?

I have the opposite reaction: 2015 passed for me at a very nice walking pace. Last January actually seems like a whole year ago.

 

[Ibix]

It didn't even occur to me, but you're right that, John Cage, at least, would almost certainly consider things like compression artifacts "critical." I'd be so much happier if you just posted a performance of "Chopsticks."

I think I'll just contribute likes. My greatest musical endeavour recently was playing "Oh When The Saints" on an octopus, each of whose tentacles honked a different tone when squeezed.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I think I'll just contribute likes. My greatest musical endeavour recently was playing "Oh When The Saints" on an octopus, each of whose tentacles honked a different tone when squeezed.

You are certainly underestimating the number of people who would want to see you recreate that performance. Sounds like an instant classic to me.

 

[lisab]

Can you record your performance and post it? I'm fearing that LisaB renounced her "mentorship" simply to get the extra 150 bonus points you get when Greg puts you out to pasture as an emeritus. I'm lobbying to get LisaB back as a full Mentor!

I second the motion. PF is actually riddled with people who can play one instrument or another, and it might be fun to start a thread of PF performers. (There'd have to be parameters set, but that's no problem.)

Alas, I was attempting a joke so lame I feared it would not qualify for our esteemed Lame Jokes thread. And damned if I wasn't right about that.

 

[WWGD]

Kind of embarrassing, my toe nail grew so large it tore my tennis shoe open. On the plus side, as a sort of edward scissorfoot, I can mow a lawn in 10 minutes by just walking through it.

 

[JorisL]

Kind of embarrassing, my toe nail grew so large it tore my tennis shoe open. On the plus side, as a sort of edward scissorfoot, I can mow a lawn in 10 minutes by just walking through it.

I know a man (who might be my father) that experiences this with every sock he gets (1 a month would be a good guesstimate).
Every time we notify him, he gets angry. Might be because he can barely reach them, a source of laughter.

 

[WWGD]

I know a man (who might be my father) that experiences this with every sock he gets (1 a month would be a good guesstimate).
Every time we notify him, he gets angry. Might be because he can barely reach them, a source of laughter.

I can reach them, I am just too lazy and not too fastidious about these things, though maybe I should be more so. Still, I may have to register my nail as a potentially deadly weapon -- people should not come close to me when I am shoeless, or risk getting a serious cut.

 

[WWGD]

Another embarrassment, I was almost unable to solve the "train and fly" problem during a tutoring session : two trains driving towards each other , while a fly goes back-and-forth between the trains until the trains hit each other (of course, speed of trains and distance are given). What is the total distance traveled by the fly? Pulled myself out of it quickly and solved it. I was just trying to use a fancy way and got stuck. I ended up offering 20 free extra minutes.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Another embarrassment, I was almost unable to solve the "train and fly" problem during a tutoring session : two trains driving towards each other , while a fly goes back-and-forth between the trains until the trains hit each other (of course, speed of trains and distance are given). What is the total distance traveled by the fly? Pulled myself out of it quickly and solved it. I was just trying to use a fancy way and got stuck. I ended up offering 20 free extra minutes.

Fly? I thought it was a bird.

 

[WWGD]

Fly? I thought it was a bird.

Maybe the idea for using a fly instead of a bird is that a fly is almost like a point, dimensionless, to avoid issues of the space it may occupy while traveling back-and-forth -- or to avoid sharp toes that a bird may have (without sneaker protection) ;).

 

[zoobyshoe]

Alas, I was attempting a joke so lame I feared it would not qualify for our esteemed Lame Jokes thread. And damned if I wasn't right about that.

I care nothing for jokes! You are booked to play the mandolin! We're all waiting!

 

[Silicon Waffle]

Everlasting PF on jokes and conspiracy theories
I would like to buy 2 speakers of size as small as my fists to listen to my local traditional operas at midnight. I visit some retail websites and they charge me $4.5 for a pair of Microlab. Is this good enough ?

 

[Ibix]

You are certainly underestimating the number of people who would want to see you recreate that performance. Sounds like an instant classic to me.

Sadly, my son has outgrown the toddler group where I found the octopus. I only picked it up because a child had dropped it in a silly place. My thought process went something like

1. Oh, the tentacle makes a honking sound.

2. I wonder what the other tentacles do?

3. That sounds like a whole tone.

4. 8 tentacles - 8 tones. Hypothesis...forming...

5. If I rotate the octopus I can test the hypothesis and find the ends of the scale.

6. Success! Do I know any tunes that can be played on whole tones?

7. Play "Oh When the Saints".

It all seemed perfectly logical inside my head. From the expressions of the other parents, though, the sight of a grown man being nerd sniped by a toy for children aged 0-3 must have been quite amusing.

 

[jim hardy]

I would like to buy 2 speakers of size as small as my fists to listen to my local traditional operas at midnight. I visit some retail websites and they charge me $4.5 for a pair of Microlab. Is this good enough ?

i personally prefer over the ear headphones , they can do a better lob of the low notes from periphery of orchestra because they don't have to fill a whole room with sound just the volume of air surrounding your ear.

If you can solder , you might find repairable ones in thrift shops. I got two pretty nice sets for a dollar apiece, one needed fix at plug end and the other just inside right earpiece where wire attaches to volume control.

But to your questions
$4.50 US sounds inexpensive for amplified speakers.
Good enough? That's in the ear of the observer - did you try them out and compare several?

 

[Silicon Waffle]

i personally prefer over the ear headphones , they can do a better lob of the low notes from periphery of orchestra because they don't have to fill a whole room with sound just the volume of air surrounding your ear.

If you can solder , you might find repairable ones in thrift shops. I got two pretty nice sets for a dollar apiece, one needed fix at plug end and the other just inside right earpiece where wire attaches to volume control.

But to your questions
$4.50 US sounds inexpensive for amplified speakers.
Good enough? That's in the ear of the observer - did you try them out and compare several?

I can't solder! You are right! Thank you for your advice, I just bought them anyway (~$4.5 USD)

 

[rbelli1]

Yeah for the new capitalism. A product doesn't have to actually work well or even work at all. It just need to be cheap enough that returning it is more trouble than just throwing it away.

BoB

 

[WWGD]

There is a series of " In Depth" interviews in C-Span. Would like to see someone interviewed " In Width" , or " In Height" for a change.

 

[Ibix]

There is a series of " In Depth" interviews in C-Span. Would like to see someone interviewed " In Width" , or " In Height" for a change.

Just a broad overview, perhaps?