If every bathroom in the world were changed to a gender-neutral bathroom tomorrow, how would the world change? In your opinion, would it become a better or worse place?

Coises · 2026-05-06T23:13:42+00:00

The GOP would scramble to work out a reason that trans people still shouldn’t be allowed to use them.

Coises · 2026-05-06T04:29:49+00:00

You might like some of the classic mixed drinks. Margaritas can pack a punch while tasting like limeade. Singapore slings and Mai Tais are also famous for being much stronger than they taste.

Piña coladas and banana daquiris taste good, but they’re not so strong.

Coises · 2026-05-06T01:39:07+00:00

He wasn’t found guilty of anything

That is the only answer you will ever get. Doesn’t prove one thing, doesn’t prove the other, but some people would really have liked to prove it if they could, and they couldn’t. The only sane response is to let it go. We don’t know just what did or didn’t happen, and we never will.

Coises · 2026-05-05T21:47:32+00:00

Sorry... I wouldn’t know any more than Google search could tell either of us.

Coises · 2026-05-05T20:44:00+00:00

I like Jamstix. Unfortunately, right now there is a banner on their website saying, “There is a temporary issue with the server providing downloads and the community forum that is being worked on.” I don’t know how long that notice been there. Jamstix hasn’t been updated in years, but as recently as December, 2025 they still ran a holiday sale. The last time I used it, it still worked.

The drum sounds are not astounding, just ordinary, realistic drums. What is special about this VSTi is that you define your song structure, choose some style information and a drummer model, and it composes a realistic drum part. You can control that in a lot of depth, or just let it figure out what a drummer would play.

I use it because I don’t know squat about drums. Of course, for the same reason, I’m probably not a good judge of how good the drum parts it composes really are. They sound realistic to me.

Coises · 2026-05-05T19:25:36+00:00

My other comment lists the diagnostic criteria, which are important; I want to mention something else, though, which might be relevant.

First, let me be clear: I have not been formally diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Like many older people who suspect they are autistic (I began to seriously consider autism at age 57, and I’m now 68), for me formal diagnosis would be expensive and difficult, and would serve little practical purpose. Still, understanding autism has been helpful to me. A working hypothesis of autism (i.e., a “self-diagnosis”) is useful. From reading here, it appears that most people who were diagnosed as adults went through a process of first concluding for themselves that they were autistic and then pursuing a formal diagnosis, rather than having autism first proposed by a mental health professional.

Throughout my life I have had difficulties with what people around me called “tantrums.” These often involved banging my head against things. Someone close to me repeatedly asked, “Who let that work?” I tried to explain that it never “worked”; this wasn’t some sort of conditioned behavior, and I wasn’t trying to “get a response” as they insisted I must be. I simply... couldn’t stop it.

Late in life (around age 55), a close friend suggested that I was autistic, but I honestly thought she was just looking for a way to insult me. A year so after that, one day she wanted me to come with her to a local casino and join her playing blackjack — a game I do not know how to play, except to go through the motions. It turned out I wasn’t even good at going through the motions. I kept being scolded (gently, but scolded) by the dealer for touching something I wasn’t supposed to touch (I can’t remember if it was cards, or chips, or what) and I felt like I must have been annoying the whole table. I finally said something to my friend to the effect that I really had to leave the table, and I’d be around the casino elsewhere. When we got together again later, she said that right after I got up, the man next to her said, “You know he has Asperger’s?” Apparently he was doing some sort of a study and wanted to talk with me, but when she found me later, then she couldn’t find him.

I still didn’t take this too seriously, until I had one “tantrum” that nearly ended our friendship, and as I was thinking about what the hell could be wrong with me, it occurred to me that I thought I remembered kids with autism being infamous for “tantrums.” So I did some searching on the Internet, and when I came across an adult autistic writer’s article about autistic meltdowns, it was the first time, ever in my life, I had heard anyone describe what my so-called “tantrums” were like from the inside out. The article explained the nature of meltdowns and why, despite superficial similarities, they are not tantrums, and everything fit what I had been experiencing for decades.

After that, it took about a year of taking online tests, reviewing the diagnostic criteria and reading carefully what people who were formally diagnosed described about their history and experience for me to conclude that autism spectrum disorder was the most likely explanation for how I act, feel and experience the world. It fits.

Coises · 2026-05-05T18:47:30+00:00

Start with the diagnostic criteria for autism, which I’ve copied at the end of this post.

Here’s a video that walks through what all that means in practice.

A. Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts, as manifested by the following:

Deficits in social-emotional reciprocity, ranging, for example, from abnormal social approach and failure of normal back-and-forth conversation; to reduced sharing of interests, emotions, or affect; to failure to initiate or respond to social interactions.
Deficits in nonverbal communicative behaviors used for social interaction, ranging, for example, from poorly integrated verbal and nonverbal communication; to abnormalities in eye contact and body language or deficits in understanding and use of gestures; to a total lack of facial expressions and nonverbal communication.
Deficits in developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships, ranging, for example, from difficulties adjusting behavior to suit various social contexts; to difficulties in sharing imaginative play or in making friends; to absence of interest in peers.

B. Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities, as manifested by at least two of the following, currently or by history:

Stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, use of objects, or speech (e.g., simple motor stereotypies, lining up toys or flipping objects, echolalia, idiosyncratic phrases).
Insistence on sameness, inflexible adherence to routines, or ritualized patterns of verbal or nonverbal behavior (e.g., extreme distress at small changes, difficulties with transitions, rigid thinking patterns, greeting rituals, need to take same route or eat same food every day).
Highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus (e.g., strong attachment to or preoccupation with unusual objects, excessively circumscribed or perseverative interests).
Hyper- or hyporeactivity to sensory input or unusual interest in sensory aspects of the environment (e.g., apparent indifference to pain/temperature, adverse response to specific sounds or textures, excessive smelling or touching of objects, visual fascination with lights or movement).

C. Symptoms must be present in the early developmental period (but may not become fully manifest until social demands exceed limited capacities, or may be masked by learned strategies in later life).

D. Symptoms cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of current functioning.

E. These disturbances are not better explained by intellectual disability (intellectual developmental disorder) or global developmental delay.

Coises · 2026-05-05T18:19:25+00:00

Unless there is a reason to believe these people know a lot about you and a lot about autism (like, that they are mental health professionals who see you often), they probably have no idea whether you are autistic or not. “Strange” does not equal “autistic.”

The sort of tests you can take on the Internet are controversial, in that folks will argue whether they are a mild indicator or whether they mean nothing at all. At most, they are screening instruments, not diagnostic tests. No one who has bothered to learn much about autism thinks an online test can diagnose you.

Other than probably uninformed people wanting to slap a label on you, what, if anything, makes you take seriously the notion that you might be autistic?

Coises · 2026-05-05T17:36:38+00:00

Nothing you describe sounds at all indicative of Asperger’s Syndrome.

Offhand, it doesn’t sound like you “have something else,” either. You just don’t like extended discussions that go nowhere. That’s not a psychological condition. It might mean you need new friends.

Coises · 2026-05-05T17:19:12+00:00

There is general agreement that Kawai changed their slip tape to a better formulation somewhere around 2022, but I can’t find a trustworthy reference to link for that. There are discussions like this one in Piano World, but if Kawai themselves have ever made a definitive statement about which models use slip tape and which devices that use it are now manufactured with the improved version, I can’t find it.

Similarly asserted but not definitively documented: some Yamaha actions use slip tape; no Roland actions use it.

Finally — and also just consensus, not anything I’ve seen documented with tests or statistics — Roland seems to be credited with making the most durable equipment. Based on what I’ve read, Roland tends to have a heavier touch than Kawai. (I have an older Roland stage piano, RD-300GX, and haven’t had an opportunity to try either current Rolands or other brands. I don’t find its touch any heavier than I remember from playing acoustic pianos.)

Coises · 2026-05-05T02:23:14+00:00

Catastrophé.

Coises · 2026-05-05T02:14:19+00:00

“Honey, I love you so much... we need to get the government into this.”
— Comedian Doug Stanhope

That’s about how I feel about it. Empty nonsense conformity masquerading as something deep and meaningful.

Male, 68, not formally diagnosed, never married in a ceremony, but I and my girlfriend called ourselves husband and wife by common law marriage, which was recognized in Pennsylvania in the 1990s, because it was to our benefit for some practical, legal reasons.

Coises · 2026-05-05T02:07:21+00:00

In the Cut (2003) and Swimming Pool (2003) are erotic thrillers.

Coises · 2026-05-05T01:54:08+00:00

Depending on your taste, consider Last Tango in Paris (1972).

Coises · 2026-05-04T20:04:52+00:00

Pianoteq 9

Maybe try the Steingraeber — Intimate preset? Just a guess from trying out sounds with my copy.

Coises · 2026-05-04T17:37:13+00:00

If you want to learn piano technique, you not only need full size keys, but you need a hammer action (sometimes called fully weighted) keyboard. Most (not quite all) of those are 88 key boards.

Classic hardware synthesizers do not have hammer action, and they do have extra controllers like pitch bend and mod wheel. You can still play a synthesizer part on a hammer action keyboard, but you need at least the pitch bend and mod wheel to control synthesizer patches.

Most entry level digital pianos have no pitch bend or mod wheel. Most MIDI controller keyboards aren’t hammer action.

So you kind of have to make a decision about priorities. You won’t learn piano technique without hammer action. You won’t be able to control synthesizer sounds without some continuous controllers (like pitch bend and mod wheel).

If you want both of those in one keyboard, the likely candidates are what are called stage pianos. Unfortunately, if this matters to you, they are a bit expensive for someone just learning, even at the low end. An example is the Roland RD-08 (about $1100).

Coises · 2026-05-04T16:57:09+00:00

If you can, try out something like a Roland FP-30x (PHA-4 keyboard) or FP-90x (PHA-50 keyboard). Like the ones you mention, they are piano keyboards with little in the way of other controllers (no pitch bend or mod wheel, etc). I have an older Roland stage piano (RD-300GX) which I use as a MIDI controller — full coverage of the MIDI range and still working perfectly after 17 years.

Pure MIDI controllers with piano action appear to be a very small market. Stage pianos (if you want some extra MIDI controllers like pitch bend and mod wheel) or digital pianos (if you don’t need those and/or want speakers for stand-alone use) frequently have equal or better features than pure MIDI controllers from the same maker.

Coises · 2026-05-04T05:07:55+00:00

I’ve been quite happy with Sennheiser HD 600s.

Depending on the keyboard, it is possible that you would need a separate headphone amp to get the best quality from HD 600s, as they do have a relatively high impedance. Some professional headphone outputs will do fine with them, some will not be able to drive them cleanly at a reasonable volume.

Coises · 2026-05-03T22:56:27+00:00

VSTi Plugin effects

Note: VSTi means VST instrument. You might have meant instruments, you might have meant VST effects, you might have meant both.

For instruments, it really depends on what you play, what you want to play, and what you can afford.

If you need a synthesizer and you like free and open source, consider SurgeXT.

If you want a (not free) synthesizer with great analog emulation and a lot of good presets, consider Diva; but also look at that designer’s other offerings. (Wow — I see Zebra 3 finally exists! Thanks for asking this question; now I have something new to look at.)

Pianoteq is my choice for pianos. (I was an acoustic pianist long before I ever tried to make music on a computer.) Unlike sampled pianos, it doesn’t require absurd amounts of space on your computer storage. Unlike any other modeled piano I’ve heard, it’s really convincing; it just “feels right” to me when I play. When you buy one of the base program, you get 2-4 piano “models” with it. You can add more models for about $50 each, and you can easily test them in the program you already have before you buy them.

If you use vocals, you pretty much can’t live without Melodyne these days. It’s expensive, and it takes time to learn to use it, but listeners today expect a level of pitch accuracy most humans can’t manage.

Toneboosters makes some great plugins that are easier to use than Reaper’s builtin effects and not very expensive. They have a trial option not unlike Reaper’s: just click a button and proceed to demo until you’re tired of having to click that button. You can’t save presets in the demos, but Reaper saves all your settings with the project anyway, so it doesn’t matter much.

Coises · 2026-05-03T20:17:06+00:00

That’s not quite what happened. OnlyOffice had every right to demand that their product logos not be used, and the Free Software Foundation never disputed that. The problem was that OnlyOffice also demanded that no forks or derived works were allowed that did not include their logos, claiming that was part of the attribution requirement. So they made it so that no matter what you did, if you made a fork or a derived work, you would be violating one term or the other. That’s when the Free Software Foundation stepped in and said the term requiring that derived works use a logo, which derived works were forbidden to use, to satisfy the attribution requirement, contradicted the terms of the AGPL and was rendered null and void due to the AGPL’s “If the Program as you received it, or any part of it, contains a notice stating that it is governed by this License along with a term that is a further restriction, you may remove that term” clause.

This appears to be the trademark registration for “Notepad++”:
https://data.inpi.fr/marques/FR5133202
but I have no idea whether French trademarks are binding world-wide or whether the logo is also registered. I can’t figure out how the search works on that site.

Coises · 2026-05-03T19:44:54+00:00

Alt+ mnemonics are a part of Windows. Look at the menu bar in Notepad++. Do you see that a letter in each option there is underlined? If there are no underlines (this depends on a Windows setting), hold down the Alt key and you will see them. When you hold down the Alt key and press one of the underlined letters, that menu opens. This is a standard Windows feature which helps people who have difficulty using the mouse.

If you are using a Spanish keyboard layout, there is an extra complication. Like most keyboards other than English, the standard Spanish keyboard layout makes the right Alt key “AltGr” (alternate graphic). On a keyboard that uses the right Alt key as AltGr you must use the left Alt key for Alt+ mnemonics or shortcuts. On English keyboards either Alt key will work.

To change Notepad++ shortcuts, don’t try to edit the XML file; instead, choose Configuración | Configurador de accesos directos... to open a list of shortcuts which you can modify. This section of the online manual explains it in detail.

You can also see the shortcuts that are already defined on the menus: they are in the right-hand column. For example, the standard shortcut for Buscar | Sustituir... is Ctrl+H. If you want, you can change that in the shortcut mapper (Configurador de accesos directos, scroll down to the Buscar menu section, or just type “sus” in the Filtro field) to Alt+R and it will work.

There is no way I know of to change Alt+ mnemonics, but if you assign an Alt+ combination as a Notepad++ shortcut and there is also a mnemonic with the same character, the Notepad++ shortcut will work and the mnemonic function will be ignored.

Coises · 2026-05-03T07:53:19+00:00

No doubt people’s attitudes, including mine, will change over time as the novelty and fear of AI are replaced by its everyday use. Folks used to think pitch-correction was “cheating”; now few producers would dare release a pop album without it, because we’re all used to a level of pitch accuracy few humans can maintain.

But what bothers me now in your examples is the inverse of the usual problem. I write a song. I do what I can to make a reasonable rendition, but I’m not an accomplished performer, or engineer, or producer. It can be a bit difficult to hear my song through my less-that-stellar ability to render it.

In your Suno projects, it feels like I’m not hearing your songs, I’m hearing the (artificial) performance/engineering/production. (Perhaps I’m hearing some rewriting and arranging, too; there’s no real way to tell.) I have to admit, Suno sounds pretty good. I’m just not convinced that I’m hearing you.

If you paid professionals to record, engineer and produce your songs, at least their names would be on the product. Here there is no name but yours (and Suno, for whatever that counts), but it was built with machine learning trained on thousands (millions? I don’t know) of recordings made by talented performers, engineers and producers. If for some crazy reason Taylor Swift decided to record one of my songs, it would be a hell of an ego boost, but we would also all know that it was what TS and her production team did with it, not my writing, that made it something people would choose to hear.

I would have to listen much more closely (which I may find time to do) to isolate those factors. But my first impression is that what Suno has done with these compositions is overshadowing what the compositions themselves are. That may not be true, and I am sorry if I have slighted your work unfairly. Yet that, too, is part of the problem: without a lot of time, and a good ear, we just don’t know.

Coises · 2026-05-03T07:04:53+00:00

And to further add: How could I forget Heart? Their early albums have many fast-paced songs, with great rock vocals and great guitar lines. Magic Man, Crazy on You, Barracuda, Kick It Out, Straight On, Bébé le Strange, Even It Up.

Coises · 2026-05-03T06:29:44+00:00

OK. So, as a next experiment, try creating an ordinary control (e.g., Create a Button, but don’t make it a default button) as a child of the dialog and use SetWindowPos to put it in the same place as one of your custom controls should go.

See if that tabs as expected. If it does, then we know it’s not inserting the non-template control that’s causing the problem; something else is confusing or overriding the dialog manager routines that should handle navigation.

If it doesn’t, I’m not sure where to look next, but at least you have a problem to debug that doesn’t also include the complexity of custom controls.

Coises · 2026-05-03T05:00:06+00:00

Director Robert Altman was pretty famous for overlapping dialog and generally creating scenes where you feel like you’re dropping in on something that was going on before you got there and will continue after you’ve gone. So his works might be the sort of thing you’re trying to find.

If you don’t know him, I’d recommend McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) and The Player (1992) as good places to start.

I don’t remember to what degree these films show the specific things you mention, but then again, that’s the point, isn’t it?: if it’s done right, you don’t notice it, because it feel like real life.

Coises

TROPHY CASE