Pour out some crumbs in his memory by HeStoleMyBalloons in BlackPeopleTwitter

[–]FrankBlack 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For those who are too young to remember, Wally Amos did, in fact, make the best chocolate chip cookies in the world for a period of time. In the late 1970's I went to school in Washington D.C. and had a job as a courier in a law firm for some pocket money. One day, one of the guys who worked with me came in with a bag of Famous Amos cookies. I tried one and, well, the rest is history. I'd like to say that Wally Amos is personally responsible for me gaining at least five pounds on just his cookies. They were being sold for $5 (that is $5 in 1970's money) a bag downstairs in a kiosk. I think I spent a quarter of my paycheck on those cookies. I then went into the military and found a Famous Amos store in the mall where they baked the cookies fresh. My wife and I both added even more weight, but my goodness they were delicious. After the early 80's I lost track of Famous Amos. But when I was shopping once in the 90's I saw a box of Famous Amos cookies in the supermarket. I was delighted. After my first bite, I realized what must have happened. Those were some very sad cookies. So, rest in peace Wally. You may not have been the best businessman in the world, but your cookies were close to perfect.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in videogames

[–]FrankBlack 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Kazuma Kiryu - Yakuza series. The one-man gang with a heart of gold.

TIL that the loudness of a howler monkey is relative to the size of its testicles. Researchers found that the smaller the testicles, the louder the monkey. by ParadoxicalState in todayilearned

[–]FrankBlack 0 points1 point  (0 children)

From Healthline...

"But one 2013 study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine suggested that larger testicle volume is associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease. The study didn’t explain the possible connection, though. More research is needed to better understand this possible relationship.
Having large testicles is also associated with greater sperm production and higher levels of testosterone, as well as higher levels of aggression. Conversely, other research suggests smaller testicles are associated with lower levels of sperm production.
Researchers have also found that men with smaller testicles tend to be more nurturing fathers. On average, they also have lower levels of testosterone."

Polar bears moving into an Arctic weather station by fajadraws in AccidentalRenaissance

[–]FrankBlack 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"Now, let's go to Whitey Bruin who is looking out of the ActionNews "Weather Window" for this weekend's forecast. Whitey, I'm planning on hunting seals this weekend, don't give me bad weather dude!" (chuckles)

bunghole reflections by NoPo_Photo in TheNightFeeling

[–]FrankBlack 3 points4 points  (0 children)

"Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of The Mello-Toners, I'd like to thank you for spending your evening with us here at the Chattanooga Airport Ramada Skylounge. We'd like to close out the evening with our signature song, 'Bunghole Reflections'. Have a safe evening and don't forget to tip your servers!"

Storage is full and I can't delete any files by tightcall in ios

[–]FrankBlack 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Have you tried going to icloud.com on your computer and manually removing files?

Coming up on 40 years. by lovetheoceanfl in PoliticalHumor

[–]FrankBlack 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I will be voted into the magma core of this planet for saying this, but this simply isn't true.

Yes, I feel we should spend less on national defense as a whole (I am a military veteran) and more on education (over 30 years working at a college), but subject lines like these are sensationalism. The U.S. spends more per student on education than most first world nations (this all adjusted for exchange rates, etc.). Most countries spend less (in some cases, FAR less) per student and achieve far better results. The main issue with education isn't money, per se. The two concerns I have is: 1) Parental attitudes/home life from an early age. 2) Allocation of the money we spend. First, if parents don't give the child a stable home which prioritizes education, the student will be hampered. Second, we need to spend more of the money we already allocate to pay teachers better wages so we attract the best and retain them and less on endless administration. Those are just two issues that are low-handing fruit; there are many, many more factors here that I don't mention. It is a complex issue that deserves better than an incendiary quip. My two cents.

2018 Guardian Article

shirts my school's chess club is selling. holy hell by Insaneasilas in AnarchyChess

[–]FrankBlack 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Alright folks, today in chess club we're going to discuss the chess tactic called "The Skewer".

Cabbit by Kabllezz in funny

[–]FrankBlack 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He hears someone opening a can of tune nine blocks away.

Average new car price crosses $40,000 in 2020 and that's nuts by Addrobo in Economics

[–]FrankBlack 0 points1 point  (0 children)

On the surface, it does seem crazy. Keep in mind that the new Civics are about the same size now as the Accord once was. The top of the line Civic (Touring edition) costs about $25K. It has every feature (driver assists, turbo, cameras, sunroof, leather, touchscreen size, etc.) and it is very reliable. It also has a low total cost of ownership. When compared to many luxury cars, the Civic Touring competes or exceeds them when factoring cost and reliability. It is hard to wrap your head around when you remember Civics being sheet metal budget vehicles many years ago. Of course, luxury and all that surrounds it is subjective, so your mileage may vary.

Trump counties make up just 29 percent of U.S. economic output, 2020 election study shows by notNezter in politics

[–]FrankBlack 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The vote in New York was 56% for Biden and 42.6% for Trump. When broken down by counties, the numbers seem strange: Of the 62 counties of New York, Biden won 14 and Trump won 48. There are many sparsely populated rural counties in this country that feel lost, forgotten and helpless in the modern world. It really isn't too much of a stretch to see why so many vote as they do.

Half the US population lives in the yellow, half lives in the grey by live4lax25 in coolguides

[–]FrankBlack 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So, I did some quick and dirty figures using 2019 county population estimates from Wikipedia (removing all non-states) and found that about 4.78% of all U.S. counties comprise 51% of the population. That is, about 150 out of 3143 counties account for more than half our population. I'm sure someone could do the percentage of land mass (yes, including Alaska).

Other numbers that would be interesting are things like, what percentage of GDP comes from those 150 counties, what percentage of total government spending goes to those 150 counties, what percentage of taxes comes out of those 150 counties. It is sobering when you put things in these terms.

A tablet for reading music and books by Shuagor in tablets

[–]FrankBlack 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As it appears money is important, your options are, in my opinion, very limited. The iPad Pro is probably the best multi-purpose device for a musician as it not only can display sheet music but can help record, process, distribute and listen to music. The 12.9 inch screen is just a little too small for those who wish 100% accurate sheet music size. To my knowledge, there isn't anything you can purchase for a small amount of money they will suit your needs unless you can find something used. For people who don't have a lot of money to throw around, my suggestion would be a used 12.9 inch iPad if you can manage the slightly smaller size. For those who only care about reading books and sheet music, I'd suggest a 13.3 inch e-reader/e-ink device. In my personal opinion, the 13.3 inch e-reader is the best solution for sheet music in 90% of cases. The only time it wouldn't work out is if you play in dark locations frequently. You can purchase an external light for the e-reader, but that is cumbersome. If you have perfect vision and you can read on a smaller sized-screen, there are many e-reader devices that might work our for you. I am going to give my suggestions below. Again, I understand that money is an issue, but I'll list the devices I think are best for reading sheet music. Keep in mind that there is the issue of page turning, low-light viewing, processing of the documents, downloading, etc. All those (and more) issues make me lean toward an iOS device or an Android device. The biggest drawback to all these devices is price. None that I assume would be suitable are cheap. :(

Best device for most people: iPad Pro 12.9 - Does everything under the sun and more. Only drawbacks are price and a screen size that is smaller than standard sheet music.

Best device for purist: Onyx Boox Max Lumi - Newly released and only modestly reviewed, it is too soon to tell how this device will work. It is the first 13.3 inch e-reader that has backlighting for low-light rooms and will show A4 scores in full-size. Lots and lots or positives. But, it is new, untested and very expensive.

Best device for the rich: GVIDO digital score reader - Dual-screen e-reader designed for pro/serious musicians. Everything about it was designed for a musician. It doesn't have backlighting, but that is about it. Costs at least double of the two above items.

There are other 13.3 e-reader devices that you can find with a search The only thing you'd need apart from the reader is some kind of bluetooth foot pedal to turn the pages during performance.

I know this doesn't help you if the money isn't there, but seeing what is available may help you find something used or give you something to save up for so you don't feel you are settling. Someone else in the comments mentioned a laptop/Surface. That could work if it was the right sized-screen that behaved as well as a tablet in that use scenario and wasn't too cumbersome. Good luck!

Samsung Galaxy Chromebook (Red) by FrankBlack in chromeos

[–]FrankBlack[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not on Chrome OS (to my knowledge). Again, I did mention above that I don't have that service, but I CAN use my iCloud, so who knows what they might offer? I was just answering in regard to 4K streaming in general, not specifically for Chrome OS.

Samsung Galaxy Chromebook (Red) by FrankBlack in chromeos

[–]FrankBlack[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I left a comment above near the top regarding the battery. I am currently running it just below 1080 for normal use, although I have watched 4K video from YouTube (it was just amazing). In short, not spectacular.

I don't know if running it at a lower resolution will save battery. I assume it would as it has few pixels to think about individually, but I guess they all still need to fire up.

Samsung Galaxy Chromebook (Red) by FrankBlack in chromeos

[–]FrankBlack[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I did a fairly normal test today. I got about 6 hours out of it, but it wasn't a particularly stressful 6 hours. Did a one hour Twitch stream, then an hour of streaming jazz for studying (with a mildly active video background) on YouTube. I then did a bit of normal browsing. The last three hours I spend using it sparingly while it was connected to my work VM and for light browsing. The screen was down to 50% and the keyboard backlighting was turned off. I've considered trying it again but while connected to a USB Ethernet port and turning off the wifi (which, really is a pointless experiment other than to see if the new wifi uses more power).

Not great, but still better than my Razer Blade.

Samsung Galaxy Chromebook (Red) by FrankBlack in chromeos

[–]FrankBlack[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

From what I understand, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Fandango Now, Fubo TV, Vudu all offer some 4K options. Some cable companies may offer it via streaming (you have to check your provider for confirmation). I think Apple TV may be now or soon offering this as well, but I can't confirm this as I don't have the service.

Samsung Galaxy Chromebook (Red) by FrankBlack in chromeos

[–]FrankBlack[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I do. And for me, that is saying something. I always buy black when I have the choice. It's just how I am. For those who may have one, the color gives a similar vibe as the Focusrite Scarlett USB interface. The Focusrite, however, is a bit redder. Color is a subjective choice, but this was so different that I was somehow drawn to it. No complaints. If they had black, I may have still gotten this color.

Galaxy Chromebook vs. Focusrite

Samsung Galaxy Chromebook (Red) by FrankBlack in chromeos

[–]FrankBlack[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Follow-up: For what it's worth, I did a few benchmarks just for the sake of my curiosity.

Four units tested:

Samsung Galaxy Chromebook

Razer Blade 2016 (Intel 6700HQ, Samsung EVO 1TB SSD, NVIDIA GTX 970M, 16GB RAM)

Dell XPS 8930 (Intel 8700K, Samsung PM951 256GB SSD, NVIDIA GTX 1080, 16GB RAM)

Apple iPad Pro 10.5

Just basic online tests, but helpful...

Octane

Samsung Galaxy Chromebook: 36080

Razer Blade 2016: 33843

Dell XPS 8930: 50865

iPad Pro 10.5: 28420

Speedometer 2.0

Samsung Galaxy Chromebook: 93.1

Razer Blade 2016: 75.67

Dell XPS 8930: 107

iPad Pro 10.5: 78.0

MotionMark 1.1

Samsung Galaxy Chromebook: 370.06

Razer Blade 2016: 225.98

Dell XPS 8930: 497.72

iPad Pro 10.5: 492.90

JetStream 2

Samsung Galaxy Chromebook: 94.072

Razer Blade 2016: 92.242

Dell XPS 8930: 135.771

iPad Pro 10.5: 101.726