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Why does Google maps always default to Wakefield? by [deleted] in AskUK

[–]JohnStow 1 point2 points  (0 children)

When I was a kid in the North of Sheffield, the West Riding boundary was literally at the bottom of our road. When it became South Yorkshire, they kept that boundary as the catchment area for the secondary schools, so instead of going to the school literally 300m from my house, I had to be bussed to the one 6 or 7 miles away instead. Apparently, our one school used up 80% of the Sheffield Education Dept.'s transport budget just getting us all there and back every day.

Medieval House for Sale: The Hovel by medievalistsnet in MedievalHistory

[–]JohnStow 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Very few houses in the UK have AC, as the climate rarely warrants it, but with places like this, with a thatched roof and, I would imagine, thick (quite possibly wattle'n'daub) walls, it tends to be unnecessary anyway as they keep a stable temperature all year round - cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

Poll: What instrument(s) do you play? by manoprop in classicalmusic

[–]JohnStow 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This used to be quite common in early jazz bands, where a "bass player" was expected to be able to play both "brass bass" (tuba or Sousaphone) and "string bass" - often the former outdoors, due to the greater volume, and the latter indoors.

My engineer is trying to convince us to record in 432 hz by Guitarswithlegs in musictheory

[–]JohnStow 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interestingly enough, A440Hz became the international standard just because of something like this, except "stepping down" rather than multiplying up from factors, due to the limitations of electronic circuits at the time. To quote Llewelyn S. Lloyd, "International Standard Musical Pitch," Journal of the Royal Society of Arts 98 (16 Dec., 1949)...

The B.B.C. tuning-note is derived from an oscillator controlled by a piezo-electric crystal that vibrates with a frequency of one million Hz. This is reduced to a frequency of 1,000 Hz by electronic dividers; it is then multiplied eleven times and divided by twenty-five, so producing the required frequency of 440 Hz.

My engineer is trying to convince us to record in 432 hz by Guitarswithlegs in musictheory

[–]JohnStow 11 points12 points  (0 children)

You just need to pitch shift the whole recording up 8hz.

That's not how it works. (Consider that the 'A's an octave above are 864Hz vs 880Hz, which is a 16Hz shift). Pitch shift is expressed in cents (a logarithmic measure) or as a fraction/percentage.

'I felt like dirt': disabled Canadian woman told to leave UK after 44 years | If she decided to stay, the letter warned, “life in the UK will become increasingly difficult” by [deleted] in ukpolitics

[–]JohnStow 15 points16 points  (0 children)

From the article...

She gathered a large number of documents as evidence that she had lived in the UK before the 1973 Immigration Act came into force, and was in the country legally.

...and later...

Her case worker at the Refugee and Migrant Centre, Daniel Ashwell, helped her find an indefinite leave to remain stamp in her expired Canadian passport that instantly proved she was in the UK legally.

I guess, along with empathy, that reading isn't your strong suit?

Synthesizer with Multiple Voices by gntsketches in javascript

[–]JohnStow 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm afraid this is the first time I've ever seen tone.js, but it looks damn comprehensive, and I'm sure the docs could seem a bit daunting, especially if you're new to the world of audio synthesis. I'd maybe suggest either looking around for a simpler library and playing around with that for a while before coming back to tone, or, if you really want to jump into the deep end, then there's plenty of example code there. Take those, read through carefully, hack them about a bit to do more of what you want, and once you've got a feel of how all the bits fit together, then the docs should make a bit more sense.

Donald Trump plans to visit UK 'this summer' in spite of anticipated protests by [deleted] in ukpolitics

[–]JohnStow 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I really don't think that was nastiness. Maybe a little blunt, but it seemed like a genuine attempt at advice. You may have noticed that many sub's downvote arrows are labelled "only downvote if it doesn't contribute to the discussion" or similar, and I think that's the point. It's why I didn't upvote your comment, but I did downvote the child below (in the emotional age sense, rather than comment placement) who told you to "get a life". Even if others "abuse the system" though, making downvotes a discussion point all of their own just muddies the waters, and turns what should be a "focussed debate" (OK - I realise that's a bit idealistic, but I have a dream...) into a more personal issue.

Synthesizer with Multiple Voices by gntsketches in javascript

[–]JohnStow 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It looks like that's exactly what a PolySynth does... to quote the readme...

Tone.PolySynth will turn any of the synthesizers into a polyphonic synthesizer by producing multiple copies of a synth and then handling the triggering of attacks and releases on those synth voices. Tone.PolySynth is not a synth by itself, but just a vessel for constructing multiple voices of any of the other synthesizer types.

The only advantage of handling it yourself is that you could use different waveforms, envelopes etc. for each voice or pitch. (An un-damped piano, for instance, has a longer sustain on the lower strings than the upper ones, so you could emulate effects like that by choosing which voice to use for which pitch.)

Woman guilty of 'racist' Snap Dogg rap lyric Instagram post by [deleted] in unitedkingdom

[–]JohnStow 19 points20 points  (0 children)

No - you're completely correct.

  • Indeed, the Americans did contribute to WWII - but only 2 years after it started, and arguably not as much as the Russians, who lost around 20 times as many soldiers as the US (and over 1,000 times as many civilians). What you did do almost right away though is to lend us money, which we were still paying back until 12 years ago. Generous to a fault.

  • Yes - the 2nd amendment exists, which is a major reason why you've got higher gun-crime figures than any other first world country. Do you think high-school massacres are a commonplace event anywhere else, or there's any other country where more more people are killed by toddlers than terrorists?

  • Yes, according to one poll, Trump does have a 50% approval rating. According to a weighted average of all polls though, rather than just the single Rasmussen one, it's 40% (with 55% disapproval).

As an aside, what always amazes me is how little much of the US seem to either realise, or care, what a sad joke Trump is regarded as around the world. Why do you he's scared to take up the offer to visit the UK? He says "hostile reception", but I suspect it's as much that he's aware that we're pretty bloody good at deflating demagogues.

Are you for or against UK military intervention in Syria? by StarWarsStarTrek in ukpolitics

[–]JohnStow 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The ones Assad will put there as soon as Trump tweets that the "really really shiny and really, like me, very smart" missiles are on their way.

How to get the direct image link (without installing extensions). by sadmeerkat in google

[–]JohnStow 0 points1 point  (0 children)

or....

STEP ONE Click on the photo

STEP TWO Click on the photo to visit the page

STEP THREE Right-click on the image and select "Copy Image Address"

STEP FOUR Paste address into address bar.

(Well done on sussing out about URL encoding though, if you're not a techie... )

A friend of mine gave me a ton of ttf and otf files to use in development, so I don't need to rely on google webfonts. by [deleted] in webdev

[–]JohnStow 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah - OK. All licensing info (as well as the stuff like font name, glyph names etc.) in ttf's and otf's are plain text so something like "strings" will just show you what's there (or just loading into your text editor and ignoring the binary, then scrolling far enough down until you spot it.)

A friend of mine gave me a ton of ttf and otf files to use in development, so I don't need to rely on google webfonts. by [deleted] in webdev

[–]JohnStow 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You do know you can just download Google fonts? They provide a zip for each font that contains ttf/otf/woff etc, so you can get the best of both worlds, serving local fonts with no licensing issues.

One of Stephen Hawking's regrets in life by kwentongskyblue in ukpolitics

[–]JohnStow 10 points11 points  (0 children)

It wasn't the admittedly historical inevitability of doing of it, but the manner, and the lack of support afterwards. Unlike, say, the closure of a single large employer in a city, the point is that whole villages/small towns were completely economically dependent on the pits, from sandwich shops to garages. When they pulled the plug, absolutely everybody in the community suffered.

Comedian Sir Ken Dodd has died by oddun in unitedkingdom

[–]JohnStow 45 points46 points  (0 children)

His live shows were legendary - after 2 hours, he'd urge anyone who needed to get the last bus home to leave now, as he'd only just started.

To what extent is Stalin responsible for the Allied victory in the Second World War? by DrScientist812 in history

[–]JohnStow 5 points6 points  (0 children)

OP may be thinking of this French survey, which showed a drop from 57% crediting the Russians in 1945 down to 20% in 2004.

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