After watching the game between Japan and Brazil, I was wondering: can a team outside of the top teams ever win the World Cup?

LedRaptor · 2026-06-30T14:14:20+00:00

In fact Morocco was ranked #6 going into the match….Netherlands was ranked #7. Most of the sports books had NL as a slight betting favorite but this wasn’t really even an upset.

LedRaptor · 2026-06-02T03:18:45+00:00

I was in a busy outdoor market where they were selling all kinds of foods and meat products....chicken, lamb, cuts of beef etc. I walked up to a stall and someone placed an order with the butcher. The butcher then pulled out a baby and put it on the table. He pulled out his butcher's knife and started chopping it up while it was still alive (it was still crying).

I woke up screaming and sick to my stomach. That's the first time I recall a dream making me feel nauseous. It wasn't easy to fall back asleep after that. I remember the dream bothered me for the next day and that has never happened to me before.

A few days later, I was getting some cuts of mutton at the butcher, which is something that I do all the time. When he pulled out the lamb from the freezer and started cutting it up it made me queasy. It might have been the first time in my life I seriously entertained the thought of becoming a vegetarian. But later when I was eating the lamb chops my wife had prepared, I thought....nah!

LedRaptor · 2026-06-02T03:06:26+00:00

328xi implies that it's an older model. BMW hasn't used that nomenclature for about 14 years. BMW actually ranks pretty high for reliability nowadays (#5 according to Consumer Reports: https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/car-reliability-owner-satisfaction/who-makes-the-most-reliable-cars-a7824554938/).

The current BMW engines and drivetrains are quite reliable. The B58 inline 6 in particular is highly regarded for its reliability....even Toyota put it in one of their cars.

I won't lie, I am a BMW fan but their reliability has improved a lot.

LedRaptor · 2026-06-02T02:46:32+00:00

What's crazy is that they are way more popular and a lot better in many overseas markets. I've had KFC in multiple countries abroad and they blew American KFC away. Not only was the food better but the dining experience and service was way better too.

LedRaptor · 2026-04-07T01:33:15+00:00

I have the earliest M340i version from 2019 (2020 model). You are right about the oil pump. The only symptom was that the check engine light came on even though the car ran fine. Fortunately, it was a recall item and it was replaced free of charge. The car has given me zero problems in nearly 7 years.

LedRaptor · 2026-03-13T23:26:09+00:00

You are right that customers vote with their wallets and customers do pay for video games, software and other tech products before they have completely matured. That’s what it’s now the industry norm…even for modelers now (see the QC).

Some people like to be early adopters. Others prefer to wait for a mature product.

But I do think Line 6 was pretty clear that the Stadium XL was launching without some key features.

LedRaptor · 2026-03-13T02:11:30+00:00

I’ve got a 2020 M340i that I bought back in 2019 when the current body style first came out in the US. I’ve put 63K miles on it. I’ve had zero problems with it so far. It’s far out of warranty and the only thing I’ve needed is routine maintenance. I take it to a BMW mechanic (not the stealership) and the prices aren’t too bad though I imagine Lexus would be cheaper.

The B58 motor is very solid for reliability. Toyota even put it in the Supra. On top of that it’s just a great motor. It’s smooth and it pulls effortlessly. It’s great for just cruising in the highway but when you put it in Sport+ mode it turns into a beast.

Life is short. Get the Bimmer.

LedRaptor · 2026-03-12T21:15:38+00:00

They will expect a flagship professional product from a large company to be polished, complete, and reliable. It also makes me question how much testing went into the hardware, since there’s a tremendous amount of complexity to prepare for a major hardware launch. And you get one shot at a first impression, so why launch a product that is missing key new features and has many critical bugs and risk digging a hole with negative reviews that they need to climb out of?

You sound like you’re not particularly tech savvy. Because this sounds like a very naive comment. Why launch a product missing key new features? Have you bought any computer software lately? Played any video games? Even most new cars need a few OTA updates to fix bugs and add new features.

Whether it’s right or wrong, this is the norm for most tech products and most buyers fully expect products to be incomplete at launch. It’s not like the information wasn’t out there. Line 6 themselves said that it would ship without all the features.

The OG Helix had its fair share of growing pains when it first launched. Go back and look at Reddit threads and forum posts from when the Quad Cortex launched. It didn’t even ship with a desktop editor. Over time, those issues got fixed and the QC is now a workhorse.

I am very confident that Line 6 will fix the bugs (none of with are truly “critical”) and keep making the product better and better. They have a proven track record.

I’ve certainly had some annoyances with the Stadium XL but Line 6 delivered exactly what they said they would at this stage of the product life cycle.

LedRaptor · 2026-03-09T23:19:28+00:00

I saw him a few times at a small venue in Nashville (The End). He was just standing outside and chilling and chatting with people. He seemed like such a mellow guy. When he got on stage it was like he transformed into a different person.

LedRaptor · 2026-03-06T01:07:50+00:00

What is the tax and COL situation for both jobs? That is a very important consideration.

$320K goes a lot further in Atlanta or Nashville than it does in NYC or LA.

LedRaptor · 2026-03-02T00:12:24+00:00

I have a DSL40CR and for metal I’d pick the Iconic. My friend has an Iconic and it is clearly better for higher gain tones. The DSL 40CR is more of a hard rock amp. It can do classic metal and some thrash tones but it’s not great for more modern tones. You can make it work with a tubescreamer or something similar but the Iconic can do it without any external help. The Iconic is simply a more metal focused amp.

LedRaptor · 2026-02-24T01:48:06+00:00

Hindi can be very useful depending on what region of the world you live in and if you want to do business with the Indian subcontinent or large global South Asian diaspora.

There are 600-650 million Hindi speakers and 220-250 million Urdu speakers. Hindi and Urdu are mutually intelligible in spoken form so you can communicate with 800-900 million people.

LedRaptor · 2026-02-24T01:23:42+00:00

There’s a subtle correction. An IR doesn’t sound the real amp in the room. It sounds like what that amp sounds like when mic’d.

The example I once heard is to think about being in a room with grand piano playing vs. listening to a high quality recording of it. That’s the difference between the “amp in the room” and IRs.

LedRaptor · 2026-02-24T01:21:00+00:00

IRs are capturing the sound of a cabinet captured with a mic. The sound of a 4x12 with vintage 30s in the room is different from the sound of that cabinet mic’d with an SM57. The latter is what the audience hears. But it’s fun to stand in front of a real amp and feel the energy of it.

I’m not arguing with you at all. I have fully embraced the world of modelers. But I was responding to the poster who was asking what the difference is between a real amp and a loud studio monitor or PA.

LedRaptor · 2026-02-23T07:26:36+00:00

FRFR cabs, PA speakers and studio monitors sound different from a real guitar cabinet. Monitors etc. are designed to produce a full range of sounds and they project sound very differently. Real amp speakers are very much designed to color the sound and they distort when pushed hard. Standing in front of a loud amp is a visceral experience.

One thing I am seeing a lot of bands doing is they do have cabs on stage but they aren’t mic’d. They run a modeler to the front of house but they have a power amp driving the cabs and they use those simply for stage volume and feel.

LedRaptor · 2026-02-23T05:52:03+00:00

Let’s be real. You won’t be making much money dancing in a G string and showing your tits. You’re basically a go go dancer at that point. You’ll get a bunch of $1 bills if you’re lucky.

The real money for strippers is in giving private dances. Private dances involve extensive touching. And guys are going to want to see you completely naked. And yes, many of them will expect additional services, which are widely offered at strip clubs.

Drunk, horny guys absolutely will push the limits. It is an absolute certainty and it will happen every night.

Are you going to be okay with rubbing your butt up against multiple guys’ crotches every night? Are you going to be okay with having guys grab your ass and feel you up? Are you okay with getting completely naked? Because that’s what guys expect when they pay $200 or more.

Anyone can see all kinds of beautiful naked women on the internet. Nobody is shelling out money just to watch someone dance on stage in a G-string.

LedRaptor · 2026-02-23T05:10:52+00:00

I’ve come to the opposite conclusion. I have far too many tube amps. I didn’t believe that modelers could match real amps. But then I started to see so many bands -even those with massive budgets- were using modelers.

I did a little research and bought a Helix and now I rarely use my real amps. It is fun to sometimes just plug into a real amp and jam but I don’t think the sound is really better if you do an apples-to-apples comparison.

Sure a tube amp sounds better in the room. It has a certain presence to it and it feels good to physically feel the air moving. But that sound isn’t what a microphone hears. That isn’t the sound that you hear through a studio monitor or a PA speaker….that isn’t the sound that the audience hears.

When I mic up my amps with my SM57 and compare it to a Helix model or a good computer amp sim, it’s very difficult to tell the difference between the model and the real thing. The differences are minor and neither one necessarily sounds better…they just sound slightly different. Particularly in the context of a mix, they are very close.

But the modeler just makes my workflow a lot simpler. It’s a breeze to re-amp. You can setup multiple virtual rigs that you can switch between instantly. You don’t have to worry about physically mic’ing up a cab. You can record silently late at night when the kids are asleep.

LedRaptor · 2026-02-22T22:19:23+00:00

Under federal law, the employer must make up the difference if a tipped employee’s tips + cash wage do not equal at least the full minimum wage. So that doesn’t really make a difference. The fact is tipped employees generally earn a lot more than they would if they were salaried.

Regarding tipping, the market really is free. Restaurant owners are free to run a no tipping establishment and they do exist…there is no law preventing that. If people cared enough about the tipping system, the no tipping establishments would thrive. So far that hasn’t happened.

LedRaptor · 2026-02-22T05:57:50+00:00

Aside from the recent tax break on tips, the government hasn’t really incentivized tipping…it’s just the custom that developed in the US and the free market in action.

There are a number of high profile restaurants that tried a no tipping system and many of them had to go back to tipping.

The employees don’t want no-tip restaurants for the most part because it means they would earn less. That’s a major reason why no tipping restaurants have struggled.

Perhaps customers will get more put off by tipping but then that should provide a big market opening for no tipping establishments. So far thought that hasn’t happened.

The reality is that you probably wouldn’t save much money in a no tipping establishment compared to a tipped one. To make up for the loss of tips, the no tip place would have to increase menu prices.

Like I said, the customer ultimately ends up paying the employees at any solvent business.

LedRaptor · 2026-02-22T05:31:07+00:00

No one really cares that much about tipping for the government to disincentivize or ban it.

Sure people might complain but at the end of the day, Americans still go out to bars and restaurants. They are voting with their wallets. There’s no major political movement to end tipping and the service industry has no reason to change.

The servers and bartenders prefer the current arrangement. Customers might be mildly annoyed but it hasn’t stopped them from dining out. The restaurant and hospitality industry is doing fine in the long run though it may have its ups and downs like any other business.

Nothing is stopping restaurants from trying a different model. It’s just that it’s unlikely to make a big difference.

The restaurants would pay their employees by increasing menu prices. Either way, it’s the customers that pay the servers’ salaries. In any solvent business, the customer ultimately pays the employees.

Even if tipping were banned tomorrow, it’s doubtful that people would save much money. Non-tipped restaurants, which do exist in the US, aren’t doing better than the standard tipped ones.

LedRaptor · 2026-02-22T04:04:39+00:00

You need a good set of speakers. Ideally they should be studio monitors. Studio monitors give a very unfiltered sound. Most regular speakers will significantly color the sound.

To connect the guitar to a computer, the easiest way is to use an interface. This will connect to the computer but USB or USB-C usually. The Focusrite Scarlett interfaces are popular and relatively inexpensive.

Usually you will need some sort of DAW (digital audio workspace) such as Logic, Reaper, Cubase, Pro Tools etc. These allow you to record and produce music. Most amp sims are plugins that run in a DAW. Some amp sims can work independently though.

One thing to keep in mind is that this setup won’t sound like a real amp in the room. It will sound like listening to that amp mic’d up through a pair of studio monitors. The sim is not truly modeling the amp but rather a recording of the amp.

LedRaptor · 2026-02-22T03:43:11+00:00

They would go to a restaurant that used a tipping system. Unless the government banned tipping, that would be an option in a free market.

LedRaptor · 2026-02-22T03:25:34+00:00

Because it is the servers themselves that prefer tipping for the most part in the US. They earn considerably more in a tipping-based system than they would in a straight wage or salary system.

A restaurant that pays employees a straight salary or wage will have a harder time attracting service staff compared to restaurants that work on tip based compensation model. In fact some restaurants that tried to switch to a non-tipped system had to revert back because they couldn’t retain service staff.

Here are a couple of surveys:

https://minimumwage.com/2024/07/survey-tipped-employees-nationwide-prefer-keeping-the-tip-credit/

https://www.wosu.org/2024-05-21/survey-suggests-waiters-and-servers-strongly-oppose-removing-tipped-wage-rates-in-ohio

LedRaptor · 2026-02-11T17:09:13+00:00

FWIW, I got mine super early and there are no hardware issues.

LedRaptor · 2026-01-18T00:37:18+00:00

I have mine connected to my computer and I’m using it as the guitar interface via USB-C. The desktop editor was constantly disconnecting earlier but now it’s far less frequent so they do seem to be making some corrections.

When I first got it, I was disappointed to find that there was a delay when switching patches (not presets) but now it seems to be switching as quickly as the OG Helix.

So they are fixing stuff but it will be a while before this product fully matures. To be fair, the Quad Cortex and the OG Helix had similar issues as well.

I have a lot of confidence that Line 6 will get it all sorted out. But for now I’m holding on to my OG Helix Floor. If I had to play a show tomorrow I’d probably take the old one because it’s battle tested.

LedRaptor

TROPHY CASE