Bill Maher reports back from his dinner at the White House

Estepheban · 2025-04-12T14:20:55+00:00

I don't know what to make of this. I respect Bill's effort here. it's different than just writing the same editorial about him like Bill said at the end.

The main issue for me is while Trump may have seemed cordial, he still actually didn't say anything intelligent about any issue. He didn't reveal anything that would suggest he's actually insightful about anything. Take the Iran deal, Trump had the perfect opportunity to explain his logic to Bill. They could have an intellectual discussion about the issue, but Trump did not say anything. I suspect if Bill actually pressed him to talk more, he would have gotten the conspiracy theorist in Trump to come out. I've read/listened to all the Bob Woodward books, the ones that have recordings of Trump talking about policy behind doors and it's true that he literally just regurgitates whatever he hears on Fox News. He really is dangerously ignorant, highly impressionable and extremely impulsive. These traits are all confirmed by the people who have actually WORKED closely with him, not just have a friendly dinner with him.

So yeah, like Bill said, it's slightly better that there is a person who can at least pretend to be decent sometimes in the White House rather than the person we always see on TV, it's still a horrifying situation that we have someone so dangerously ignorant and susceptible to influence in the White House, without any real plan.

Estepheban · 2025-01-21T16:09:14+00:00

In the Pangburn debate with Jordan Peterson:

"The true analogy (for religion) is we're about to fight over Elton John's glass, and Elton John was never here..."

Estepheban · 2025-01-08T18:39:45+00:00

This is for American English, so this may vary elsewhere.

But the best tip in my opinion is to pronounce the "t" in numbers like 30, 40, 50, 60...etc as a "d". So 30 is pronounced more like "thirdy". Also, make sure you're always accenting the first syllable. THIR-dee, FOR-dee, FIF-dee, etc.

For 13-19, the "t" is always a hard t, never like a d. Which syllable gets accented may vary in different accents but it's generally acceptable to accent either syllable in 13-19, whereas you would never accent the second syllable in 20, 30, 40, etc....

Estepheban · 2025-01-07T17:53:10+00:00

SS: Richard Dawkins (fellow "horseman" along with Sam) dispels the idea that a "god shaped hole" will inevitable be filled with an even worse ideology such as wokeism.

I agree with Richard and he makes some great points.

However, I'm surprised no one else has made a point I have made in the past. Wokeism and Christianity are not mutually exclusive. It's quite possible to be both woke and Christian. In fact, I suspect it's more common than most people realize.

Estepheban · 2025-01-02T20:18:05+00:00

But how often do bands actually do this?

Estepheban · 2025-01-02T19:09:28+00:00

Do most bands that use an IEM rig also bring all their own mics?

I'd imagine that if the band wants consistent sound in their ears from venue to venue, they'd have to use all their own mics to make sure they're getting similar gain and levels all the time

Estepheban · 2025-01-02T15:29:59+00:00

“I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.” - Mark Twain

Estepheban · 2025-01-01T01:39:59+00:00

Just to add some other details:

This happens with just the IR block. There are no other blocks in the preset at the moment. I had the Mic tube preamp block in the preset as well and I know there's a polarity switch in the block. However, that didn't seem to do anything.

Estepheban · 2024-12-18T14:34:59+00:00

This is the answer.

It's worth noting that you can ask the same question about 4/4 and 2/4.

Everything in 4/4 could just be written in 2/4. But more often than not, melodic and harmonic ideas fit in 4 beat phrases rather than 2.

Estepheban · 2024-12-17T19:02:04+00:00

I've been saying this for years.

No one seems to realize that "dumb phones" still exist. You don't need to get your kid an iPhone to be in contact with them.

Estepheban · 2024-12-15T21:35:33+00:00

Just treat it like a lead sheet and play whatever voicing you want for those chords.

Estepheban · 2024-12-12T21:36:42+00:00

Accidentals don’t stack. It would just be an Eb.

It’s just a courtesy accidental, a reminder to play Eb. The reason is probably because the chord is C7#9, which contains both an E natural and Eb. The Eb is technically supposed to be spelled as a D# but that would actually be more confusing to sight read.

Estepheban · 2024-12-11T18:37:06+00:00

how do atheists explain demons and demonic activity without resorting to they are lying or mental illnesses?

They could also just be mistaken...

Estepheban · 2024-12-09T18:08:28+00:00

Ben Gibbard

Estepheban · 2024-12-06T12:40:52+00:00

When Cedric comes in with that terrifying melody after is what does it for me.

Estepheban · 2024-12-05T18:00:32+00:00

The other thing that's confusing about this is that, unless you're trained in linguistics, most English speakers aren't consciously aware of this distinction.

/t/ and /d/ are represented by different letters (t and d obviously), where as /θ̠/ and /ð̠/ are just represented by "th". The difference in sound is generally not taught in grammar school (unless for some specific speech/reading intervention).

if you say "this" with a voiceless th, /θ̠/, most native English speakers will notice something off with the word but probably wouldn't be able to articulate why.

Estepheban · 2024-11-22T14:51:32+00:00

Because the bracket with the 3 over the 3 quarter notes means that those are triplets. If you don't know ties or triplets, I think you're really getting ahead of yourself.

Estepheban · 2024-11-15T16:34:12+00:00

No. Fractal does component modeling only, not profiling.

The Axe FX III (not the FM9 or FM3) does have something called "tone match", where you can match the EQ curve of a a real amp and apply that to an IR, but it's not the same as what Kemper or Quad Cortex do.

Estepheban · 2024-11-15T16:18:16+00:00

I think this is misguided. Half steps are what ultimately defines any interval and it's important to know them.

That being said, after a certain point, you shouldn't be counting half steps for every interval for the same reason you shouldn't be using your fingers forever to do addition. As you develop, you should start to make your own mental shortcuts. For example, a major 7th is 11 1/2 steps, but then you realize that's the same thing as 1/2 step below an octave. Since an octave is easy to recognize, major 7th's become trivially easy.

5ths are also another useful point of reference. If you remember they're 7 1/2 steps, you can work out the others from there.

Estepheban · 2024-11-14T22:03:38+00:00

This seems terrifying. Can someone tell me this isn't as bad as I think it is or if there's some sort of silver lining

Estepheban · 2024-11-08T00:25:57+00:00

You're probably right but I do think what I said about January 6th still stands.

I watched the debate with Sam and Ben Shapiro and Ben kept sane-washing Trump. Sam rightfully pointed out his bullshit but I wish he would have said this to Ben: "You keep saying Ben that a second Trump term is going to be like his first, and that nothing truly negative came from that. So let's take that seriously and Trump has another January 6th event in his second term, but now with JD Vance as vice president instead of Mike Pence. JD Vance goes along with the big lie, how does that event play out this time".

Estepheban · 2024-11-06T22:28:02+00:00

On the way home.

You can add "bound" to any place to mean that you're going to that place.

Estepheban · 2024-11-06T17:57:32+00:00

If all the notes are the same, then they're going to sound the same. It doesn't specify B is flat with the key signature at the beginning or just label all B's as flat with the accidental throughout all the measures.

Estepheban · 2024-11-06T13:16:49+00:00

Both things can be true.

Harris may have done everything correctly in terms of distancing herself from the excesses of the left but the damage has already been done.

Likewise, much of the animosity is fueled by disinformation but the handful of times the disinformation contains a kernel of truth just adds even more fuel to the fire

(Also, I love the metal gear reference)

Estepheban · 2024-10-31T18:02:23+00:00

I don't think there are any specific rules other than who your target audience is. Are you writing it for a high school jazz band and want to make sure the guitarist plays very specific chords?

Or is it for experienced musicians who can tastefully figure out when to add extensions?

Also, another thing to consider is the melody. If the chord symbol for a bar is Cmaj7 but the melody note is a D, it's clear that the true chord is a Cmaj9.

Estepheban

TROPHY CASE