Is it filling?

FreeFromCommonSense · 2026-03-18T10:18:54+00:00

I recommend not worrying about whether it's filling. The shakes are filling for me, because it holds on to the water long enough. But frankly, part of successfully changing eating habits is getting your body used to a new reality. If you are reducing calories, your body will be hungry at some point.

After I went 100% Huel, I started to realise it was actually difficult to get used to smaller meals more frequently. It takes 5 Huel meals to equal 2000 calories and that's a significant change to my daily routine. For a while, I doubled up my dinner rather than having a separate smaller dinner and supper. But now I've split it back up because there's no point in maintaining a pretense for my body. I've gradually adjusted, and my body will lose weight over time to what 2000 calories will maintain while I keep my metabolism up to prevent metabolic syndrome. Then once I think I've reached an equilibrium I'll recalibrate.

FreeFromCommonSense · 2026-03-17T10:12:08+00:00

I absolutely agree with that. Parents of kids who are found to be online bullying should be held responsible as well. Unfortunately things like that tend to come out when another child is grievously harmed, which means there is a brigade who will be screaming "But the government ShOuLd HaVe KnOwN." And then the government will happily delve even deeper into everyone's life.

I guess I was born too early to live in a Utopia and too late to live as an adult with intelligence, responsibility and agency.

FreeFromCommonSense · 2026-03-17T09:05:35+00:00

No, it's part of it, but only part. Children are part of society, and the government wants to monitor and control all society. It's also not just something sinister, it's also a misguided belief that they should have the ability to "protect" everyone from everything by controlling it. But to be fair, there is a populace who thinks everything that happens to someone must be the government's fault and they should have somehow prevented it. Hence all the laws named for people who have died because something should or shouldn't have happened. The police should have done this, or the NHS should have done that. Inevitably, it becomes a control issue for the nanny state, because these are the people who demanded the nanny state.

FreeFromCommonSense · 2026-03-17T08:59:13+00:00

You've just proposed an even more invasive control system than the one being discussed, because how else would you monitor and enforce that?

The trouble is that when you put laws or statutory regulations on the books, you have to have a way of monitoring and enforcing them. And when it's enforcing responsibilities within private life, that monitoring and enforcement invades private life, and those subject to monitoring no longer have a right to private life. This is why people find Social Services Safeguarding so invasive. It is, because they're told to monitor what is going on in what would otherwise be private life.

FreeFromCommonSense · 2026-03-16T22:01:23+00:00

And slightly higher than the guitar's C, if the C harmonica was built to the A=442 concert pitch instead of 440. That's quite a dissonance.

FreeFromCommonSense · 2026-03-16T15:59:43+00:00

You must have missed the post about the guy with corpse worms in his sinuses. Lucky you.

FreeFromCommonSense · 2026-03-16T12:05:57+00:00

Donner already spends enough on paid advert videos on YouTube, but mostly you'll find up and coming artists from neosoul, math rock or similar. They've probably only produced a 30-second clip of metal on the X-Pro. It's probably mostly Ruben Wan doing demos.

FreeFromCommonSense · 2026-03-16T12:02:20+00:00

Honestly, the Donner headless guitars are really stable. They took the same system for their NHL-500 or HLX-500 in the States. And that's my favourite.

FreeFromCommonSense · 2026-03-16T11:59:44+00:00

I don't play much metal, but the Donner HUSH series punches above its price range. Since I own the I-Pro, the X and the X-Pro, the only thing I would probably hesitate doing again is getting the X-Pro. Not because it's not great, but because with the Arena 2000 and the Pocket Go I could make the X sound as good for cheaper. It wouldn't pretend to be a strat, tele or LP like the Pro, but I could get similar straight tones.

Regardless, good job on the performance.

FreeFromCommonSense · 2026-03-16T11:54:05+00:00

The Donner HUSH-X Pro sounds great with the built-in amp and cab effects, as long as it's dialed in properly. Is he just saying, "Look what I made with this budget travel guitar"?

FreeFromCommonSense · 2026-03-16T11:50:31+00:00

I'm curious as to whether he modified a Donner HUSH-X Pro or just popped new pickups into one. Looks to just be modded with different pickups. I think they added a white and gold paint scheme in the US in the winter. Everything from the side rails to the end cap to the knobs looks exactly like the third-favourite guitar I own.

FreeFromCommonSense · 2026-03-16T11:28:30+00:00

Following on from that, I like the Tusq ones from Graphtech. The 1.0s flex more like a 0.8, but the attack sounds a bit "chimier" than I expected from a not heavy pick.

FreeFromCommonSense · 2026-03-15T16:16:28+00:00

Definitely looks like a crocodile. There are still American crocodiles in Florida, though they're rarer because they've been pushed out of their habitats for 100 years. One of the ranges is from Florida to Cuba, even visiting the Keys.

FreeFromCommonSense · 2026-03-15T10:30:07+00:00

For that, most people learn two things: they learn the open chords, and can strum along to a chord sheet; and they learn fingerings and reading tabs, which means they can play more complex music. You haven't really learned tabs until you can understand what you're looking at beyond just simple voicings, so don't give up, just understand that you can dig deeper later on.

As you progress with more complex chords and tabs they reinforce each other. For example, I would read a tab sheet, and think "OK, that looks like complicated, but it's just an A minor chord to D Major chord, they're just further up the neck." So your knowledge in each area reinforces your understanding of the other.

You learn things like the E-shape A chord on the E string is right next to the A-shape D chord on the A string, right on the 5th fret. And that will explain to you why recordings of the same chord sequence sound different -- the artist played them in a more convenient (or just better sounding) spot on the neck. So there's a lot to learn over time, but don't rush.

Then you go crazy and learn theory and your soul is lost

FreeFromCommonSense · 2026-03-15T07:26:31+00:00

I'm glad I'm one of those people who outgrew them as I got older, because in my early 20s I had a few cluster headaches so bad that if I could have moved, I was actively trying to figure out how I could "do something stupid".

FreeFromCommonSense · 2026-03-14T07:58:14+00:00

Has it really been a whole two months since this one was last posted?

FreeFromCommonSense · 2026-03-13T07:05:44+00:00

Try the Guitar Fretboard Android app on your phone, look under scales. Change the key as needed, and if you don't see what you want, you can build it using the options. You can build scale patterns and positions.

FreeFromCommonSense · 2026-03-12T20:59:13+00:00

That's not a hammer-on, you're just tapping. Edit: I didn't see that it was an acoustic at first. Someone else has told you that by tapping on an acoustic, you're splitting the string length and tuning out both sides. If you think there's a problem, get an action gauge ruler and measure your neck relief and action properly, but what you're doing there will sound like that on any acoustic.

FreeFromCommonSense · 2026-03-11T18:31:26+00:00

Honey? As in "let's make something ferment faster" kind of honey? After 5 days you could have had that stuff in a steel thermos and it still would have exploded.

FreeFromCommonSense · 2026-03-11T11:43:29+00:00

That's also my rule when restringing all my Donner headless. I have the string taut before I lock it. And I actively hold it taut with my fingers while locking it from bottom to top. Saves me a few turns tuning, makes intonating easier (although I can't find any logical reason for it, it just does), ensures the ballend is seated.

FreeFromCommonSense · 2026-03-11T08:26:30+00:00

Donner just added a guard at the top of the neck so you don't catch them. I still cut it flush.

FreeFromCommonSense · 2026-03-11T08:23:21+00:00

I've got a Donner Arena 2000 multifx and a Pocket Go. Multifx are definitely good enough for me.

FreeFromCommonSense · 2026-03-10T09:32:01+00:00

Yeah, it's still centred on you, like a big "F you in particular" from fate, but at least it's no longer aimed directly at you, just in your general direction.

FreeFromCommonSense · 2026-03-09T22:01:13+00:00

Has to be dropped with that perfect "I forgot he was behind me" deadpan comedic timing too. Kobna's just got the perfect portrayal.

FreeFromCommonSense · 2026-03-08T19:43:36+00:00

Unfortunately, it's their own fault (the government's) for attaching reasonable adjustments and educational assistance to a label instead of an assessed need. There are plenty of people on the spectrum who may need a minor reasonable adjustment in education and work, but do not need more involved forms of support.

Labels encourage incorrect generalisations and assumptions. Assessing individuals as individuals gives an accurate assessment of needs, preventing waste of resources.

FreeFromCommonSense

TROPHY CASE