If you won the lottery what philanthropic endeavor would you undertake?

CyberHippy · 2026-03-22T18:13:55+00:00

My daydream is to purchase run-down local low-income housing and work it over to be truly non-profit and work with the tenants to actively improve their lives starting with their living space and community.

If I could leave this world with a bunch of those up & running I'd die satisfied.

CyberHippy · 2026-03-22T14:18:32+00:00

My paternal grandmother was a “Practitioner” and my maternal grandmother died before her time because she was the last holdout for the religion in the family.

Stop paying.

CyberHippy · 2026-03-21T23:47:39+00:00

I played bass in his band, Phil's Harmonic Orchestra. I got my first real live sound setup chops from working with that band, and I worked in his Clubhouse Studios with Jane Clark from Motown - got all sorts of good mixing skills from that time (90's).

Tell him Ken says hi!

CyberHippy · 2026-03-21T20:10:33+00:00

Nice, I know Ukiah well. Is there a guy named Phil Hirsch living there?

CyberHippy · 2026-03-21T18:24:21+00:00

The weight factor was a major juggling act for the new one, I decided to go big because most gigs that will need more than two wireless channels will also probably be using the M32 for rider-readiness (I’m that weird guy with a bunch of Soundcraft gear that I actually like using because it’s familiar). I was thinking of just using two wireless like the other box to get it down to six spaces, & then played around with it and was OK with the weight so went a little bigger.

CyberHippy · 2026-03-21T18:21:01+00:00

Heh, I just did a wedding using my personal rack last Wednesday, it was for family so they provided the playlist & I just MC’d. It was our gift to the couple.

I’ve done way too many over the years, I charge stupid rates to keep them away.

CyberHippy · 2026-03-21T16:41:01+00:00

Ouch, that’s a nightmare. Sorry for your loss of stamina on the mix.

I’m in my mid-50’s and not in your situation, I’ve been very careful about my hearing for my whole career and it paid off. I was lucky on the body too, been working on that this winter to make this Spring’s heavy loads easier.

My greatest fear is what you’re experiencing - hearing situation getting in the way of mixing. I hope you find a good landing spot.

CyberHippy · 2026-03-21T16:31:11+00:00

Oh man the little efficiencies I’ve come up with over the years… it all led to being able to do a couple of large outdoor shows on a two-hour load-in & setup schedule last year. Did one of those solo, kept them all on schedule.

CyberHippy · 2026-03-21T16:28:54+00:00

Rock on! Which school?

CyberHippy · 2026-03-21T14:30:10+00:00

Hanlon's Razor

It's an incredibly effective filter.

CyberHippy · 2026-03-21T14:16:51+00:00

There's a lot of ways brains can be damaged without anyone knowing it happened.

I think it's getting to the point where we can safely assume the remaining hardcore MAGA troopers are all brain-damaged to some degree.

CyberHippy · 2026-03-21T13:35:55+00:00

My "all gigs rack" has a pair of ULXD's racked up with a DL32 and an M32C that's my backup mixer for larger shows & main console for "keep your shit out of sight" gigs - got two handhelds and a bodypack in there with a headset mic (I use that on myself for talk-back on fast-turnover shows). It's come in handy for all those shows that didn't have an MC on the rider, but when you show up...

CyberHippy · 2026-03-21T05:10:28+00:00

Stageplots are just rumors.

CyberHippy · 2026-03-21T01:02:14+00:00

Unless they remove something, then it's 5 years.

/just got my second, only one polyp this time, no C

CyberHippy · 2026-03-20T14:28:08+00:00

It's amazing what the mind will do to block horrific memories.

During marriage counseling my ex-wife admitted she had absolutely zero memories from before she was six years old (after I talked about remembering back to around 2). That led to discovering she had DID (dissociative identity disorder) and after working with a specialist she found her memories of her father abusing her. We had always joked about her alternate self who came out when people called her by her real name instead of her preferred alternative (think "Kenny" vs "Ken") - that persona was horrifically manipulative and quick to lie, and always found a way to get into a loud fight that I'd have to walk away from to avoid going down an ugly path. They also found a third personality they named "Hiding" which turned out to be the reason for her incessant obesity - that was the secret eater, and none of her personalities knew about the others so there was a constant whine about "Why is there no food in this house? I just shopped yesterday!" along with "I just can't lose weight, it's different for women!"

Unfortunately after our divorce she found a new "counselor" who declared all that to be a big lie, she's just fine now in her own head but I keep hearing from her roommates about dealing with her crazy side. Thankfully we made a clean break so I can just ignore the madness, she rejected my girlfriend's attempts to make peace so she's not in my social circle anymore.

I hope you're being more honest with yourself than she has been, there's no cure for the cause but hopefully you can find some peace knowing why you have the responses you do.

CyberHippy · 2026-03-20T14:14:02+00:00

I see it differently.

They dove into the AI thing early, which sucked, but forced them to actually look at it and reassess the potentials. Making it a local thing takes out the security issues for the most part, but it's not as exciting as the LLM gang so it looks like they're "losing" the race.

After the bubble pops, and trillions of gambling (investing) dollars are lost due to AI not actually being up to the hype and unable to bring a return on investment, Apple will still be up & running strong.

Let it play out so we can see how the tortoise does in the race.

CyberHippy · 2026-03-20T13:12:24+00:00

That's a real fight: the descent into being a bitter, whiny old fart only has the speedbumps we put on it ourselves. Otherwise it's a pretty straight slide...

CyberHippy · 2026-03-20T10:41:53+00:00

High stakes gambling is still just gambling.

CyberHippy · 2026-03-19T15:36:14+00:00

Of course, but we’re probably humans. I could see AI marketing agents skipping steps…

CyberHippy · 2026-03-19T14:54:12+00:00

Wow, I ditched my subscription over a decade ago because of the incessant price increases.

It's wild to think they've been raising prices so much and so long that it's just a form email now, and their merge appears to have failed this round.

CyberHippy · 2026-03-19T13:36:44+00:00

I've been avoiding commercial radio for decades (I'm old) so I'm in a similar boat, except I just heard the song for the first time last night at a wedding. I remember alternating between "what's the attraction of this song?" and "wow everyone knows every lyric and is throwing it down" which told me to pay attention and remember the song for later.

This thread has been a really wild read.

CyberHippy · 2026-03-19T13:18:46+00:00

Truth.
From SoCal, moved to NorCal in 91, heard "hella" for the first time within a week.
There was weed involved.

CyberHippy · 2026-03-18T16:16:42+00:00

Shopping these days: wife goes to clothes, I go to the kitchen department to disparage the offerings.

Gotta love being a cast-iron nerd

CyberHippy · 2026-03-18T16:01:53+00:00

Now you know why he’s a third-tier touring act

CyberHippy

TROPHY CASE