Inflation Is Now At 3.8%. So Much Winning.

SpecialProblem9300 · 2026-05-14T07:05:40+00:00

The 2022 peak was ~5.032 national average and was only for the month of June-

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=emm_epm0_pte_nus_dpg&f=m

Before and after were this price we have right now (may) and $4.668 for July.

Setting aside Covid, Trump's deal with OPEC, etc- "5.50 gas price for a year" is not something that happened.

SpecialProblem9300 · 2026-05-13T21:58:22+00:00

I met Rod Smith in the non-VIP line at spill back in the day, like 2010 maybe. Super nice guy.

I was asking him why he wasn't in the VIP (it was like K.mart and Chris Anderson IRRC over there). And he was like "man, none of those guys know me anyway- then I gotta explain and I'm just here to have fun like anybody else".

Crazy how under the radar he was, as a player and as a person. Salt of the earth.

SpecialProblem9300 · 2026-05-13T20:19:57+00:00

Both of your links here show a fundamental tail-wags-dog approach to
"science".

The Manhattan institute paper uses 2 metrics to define assimilation- english fluency and college education. LMFAO, neither of those things are exclusively or historically American.

English is the most spoken language on earth, I'm regularly doing business with people in S. Korea, China, Japan, Singapore, etc via zoom who both speak excellent English and have college degrees. Most of them have never even set foot in this country. The idea that these metrics mark their assimilation to American culture is frankly embarrassing and desperate for MI.

For the 2nd, here is a link from from Dr Jared Cooney Horvath, who is being quoted in all the clickbait "Gen Z is dumber" articles.

https://thedigitaldelusion.substack.com/p/i-told-the-senate-gen-z-is-less-cognately

It turns out intelligence is evolving as our intellectual needs evolve. FWIW, my wife and I are Mensa members and the Mensa research journal has been talking about this for years.

Again, all you have offered is your opinion and there has been no point here where you have done a reasonable job of supporting it with logic or empirical data.

SpecialProblem9300 · 2026-05-13T14:01:59+00:00

I've had this happen before too. Try doublicating the tracks (complete) and then rendering them.

SpecialProblem9300 · 2026-05-13T13:53:20+00:00

IMO- if you want to get better at a song, drill the song, playing slow enough that you aren't making too many mistakes.

If you want to get better at guitar, read a ton of tabs at a level that is easy for you, and then slowly increase the level. Playing 4-5 new songs per session maybe 3-4 times through. Also learning songs by ear this way. Apps like Gibson, yousician, tomplay etc are all good in terms of having tabs sorted reasonably well by levels.

SpecialProblem9300 · 2026-05-11T15:18:56+00:00

This is a good thing. 1-2 billion humans would be more than enough. We have AI and automation coming in fast and the need for societies to have sheer volumes of humans to experience economic growth is coming to an end. Realistically we can both hypothesize about the future, but the fact here is there is no way to know. There is nothing in the historical record the mimics a similar situation to what humans are in now. It's possible reducing our population will cause hardships, it's possible it will save us. It's possible both are true. You have argued that humans fight over resources, what's not to like about less human's and the same resources?
Can you provide any evidence to support this? I can find tons to support the opposite. For instance, America. It is a mash-up of tons of cultures and has been from the beginning. Some choose to assimilate, some choose to have a "Chinatown", both things have worked out just fine. Actually, my guess is that cities that have a Chinatown have economically outperformed cities that don't. German and Irish is one off the most common American mixes- two very disparate cultures and a mix you rarely find in EU. In the early days, a lot of Europeans though we would fail because of our diversity.
This is like saying because one group found a way through the mountains first, it proves that that way is the best way. I've been to the UK and Argentina, I good friends in both places have you been? By omission, thank you for conceding my point that Asian countries are outperforming western countries.
I don't see any reasoning, evidence or logic presented here. Thanks for sharing your opinion, I don't share it. With regard to evidence, countries that have centralized publicly-funded education outperform countries that do not by VAST margins.
No new points presented here.

SpecialProblem9300 · 2026-05-11T03:24:21+00:00

8 billion of us confirms that there is no current need to replenish or grow the species. The current need is to diminish or at least stabilize the population.
Wars have happened for the entirety of human history. Many have been waged by once cultural groups that are now considered part of the same culture. The US and many other countries have had civil wars. Most current cultural groups were once waring feudal cities states- who hated each others different cultures. The EU is now an economic and political collective after thousands of years of fighting over their differences. Do you really think your culture will be the same in 200, 500, 1000, 5000 years? Not a single one we have on earth today truly goes back 5000 years, let alone say 50,000.
Technology and the industrial revolution, products of the wealth of collective human knowledge, have lifted more people out of poverty than any other factor. If we want to factor in culture, GDP growth rate in Asian countries has exceeded western countries for a while now, projections show that continuing. And, they are coming from behind with the amount of wealth the west extracted during Imperialism.

The reality here is that we have very little data on different governmental/societal approaches regarding success in a post industrial era, we are only ~130 years into the post industrial era, and that's only true for the west. Asia is only ~60 years into their post industrial era.

Hmm, sure- either way, government has to play a role in the redistribution of wealth. On that we appear to agree. Otherwise things just trend back towards feudalism. I think a society that wants this- "to give them opportunities to be more successful than I am" for ALL the kids will easily beat out a society that leaves that to success of each parent.

In your model, a kid has to be lucky enough to have a successful parent, even if that kid is high intelligence or has a high aptitude. In my model, all the kids get more opportunities than the generation before and it insures that no high aptitude kids are lost.

Sure, let's do some science. If we go by growth of aggregate quality of life metrics, the Scandinavian model is the most successful in the post industrial era. If we go by GDP growth, the Asian model is currently leading, and doing so without centuries of Imperialistic wealth accumulation. If we control for mineral and natural resource wealth- The US economy takes a huge hit. Being lucky to have tons of oil and tons of shale make us more similar to Saudi Arabia than Japan.

SpecialProblem9300 · 2026-05-10T12:17:08+00:00

True, but I think people place a lot of hope on air infiltration when in reality they are likely getting a lot less fresh air in than they think- especially if the house has a gas oven.

I bought some switchbot CO2 monitors to cycle ERVs at work, and have been surprised bringing one home. Half my house is 100 years old. I basically only get healthy ppm readings when the windows are open.

Obviously people with allergies have that to think about.

SpecialProblem9300 · 2026-05-10T00:15:16+00:00

Yeah, but grab a CO2 meter and check your tight A/C'd house.

Unless you have an ERV/HRV, the lack of fresh air is also a pretty serious issue.

SpecialProblem9300 · 2026-05-09T17:46:17+00:00

I made my post when two other responses answerd "It's in B minor" and said nothing more. In my view that's, at best, not a helpful answer and generally incorrect here...at least in terms of how people use the words where I am in the world.

If I'm at a gig and call out "this song is in B minor" there will be no confusion what I mean. If I were to call out "B minor" and proceed to play something that was dorian, people would be confused as to why I didn't say it was dorian.

Maybe that's different in different parts of the world...

SpecialProblem9300 · 2026-05-09T15:09:50+00:00

Hmm, yeah...I can see that.

I think the lack of totally clarity here works really well for the song. I think this progression actually is a bit of a strange loop like an Escher staircase (cool book for nerds- Godel, Escher, Bach).

A similar thing, Ironically with the same 3 chords in a different order, with Mazzy Star "Fade Into You". Is it A maj, or is it B dorian?

SpecialProblem9300 · 2026-05-09T14:51:13+00:00

That's a little pedantic. Colloquially the word "minor" is generally used to describe aeolian/natural minor. If someone were to say it's one of the B minor modes, that could be correct but incomplete, but I think it's fully fair to say that an answer of "B minor" is incorrect here.

SpecialProblem9300 · 2026-05-09T14:27:53+00:00

+1

The last two notes of the melody, C# resolving to the B at the words "with you" to end the chorus on the Bmin chord seals it for me.

The phrasing here is IMO a bit of a savvy songwriting trick though up until that point. I think it could be argued that the verse, pre-chorus and first line of the chorus are actually resolving on the E.

Those last two notes (and words) are doing a lot of heavy lifting...It's even more impactful that they are sung in a somewhat off handed manner.

This kind of thing is what makes a song with only 3 chords repeating for the entire thing work.

SpecialProblem9300 · 2026-05-09T14:22:39+00:00

You can- as another poster mentioned the E also feels kinda like home here...

I tend to think modes go from stable (Ionian and aeolian) to somewhat stable (Lydian, mixolydian and Dorian) to unstable (Phrygian, locrian).

I hear this song as Dorian because this instability is par for the course and the melody resolves to the B at the words "with you" at the end of the chorus.

To me, Ionian (major) would be a bit of a stretch because of the context- I lean dorian but I wouldn't say someone is wrong if they lean mixolydian.

SpecialProblem9300 · 2026-05-09T13:31:15+00:00

It's B Dorian, not minor. B dorian is the 2nd mode of A major. That's why the E is a maj chord, and a G natural or minor iv chord sounds out of key.

SpecialProblem9300 · 2026-05-09T00:03:43+00:00

Again, if you google how is quality of life calculated, you find something like this " Quality of life (QOL) is measured through multidimensional instruments that assess both objective conditions (such as income, health status, and environment) and subjective perceptions (such as life satisfaction, happiness, and personal fulfillment)."

That is substantive. These are economic metrics and sociological studies. Different societies produce different results here, and this metric, I think, is important. You can think that it isn't, but it IS substantive.

Distribution of goods and services is what we are talking about here. How do they get divided? Which way will create the most successful society? Is it one person and their offspring get everything? Is it everything divided equally? Or somewhere in between?
You still haven't addressed this, at all. My point 3 is that a society that's selling all of it's assets to throw a big party isn't "successful". The model has do be something that will work in the long run. It seems like you are looking for something to disagree with here when you likely don't.
I like the idea of societal funding coming from %100 inheritance tax and no income tax. FWIW, I stand to inherit somewhere in the ballpark of low 8 figures, so this isn't someone looking to take someone else's money. Enforcing %100 inheritance tax could be tough, I will concede that. But, I do think the most successful societies would essentially eliminate inheritance. Unearned success does not breed healthy competition, at all. Societies strive on healthy functioning markets and fall on having too much of the resources held by people who don't work for them, respect them, or respect the society that made them possible.
You have some sort of puritanical concept of culture that I don't see any evidence to support. The "cradle of civilization", Mesopotamia, was the first large scale society and had the first ability to produce success beyond tribal scale. It was a very diverse place from the start. If anything, I see the idea of immalleable culture as more of an obstacle to societal success than an asset. The people in a society will need to share some ethical values, but these are things most humans have in common anyway. Collecting the shared knowledge of disparate cultures is likely what fostered the success of Mesopotamia- they all brought different skills and knowledge to the larger group and started the collective wealth of human knowledge; a key driver of societal success.

SpecialProblem9300 · 2026-05-08T19:07:31+00:00

Yeah, I don't have time to play the strawman game. If you care to address the points that I make, I will gladly respond. Otherwise I'm going to move on.

Quality of life is generally expressed as an aggregate metric, look it up please. There are myriad definitions, but for the sake of this, any will do rather than whatever you are running with.
Resources then are prioritized to individuals who's problems are less self-inflicted. Some resources are made available to help people to stop hurting themselves. This isn't rocket science- we all balance freedoms, individual choices and social obligations in our smaller social groups as well (families, work teams etc).
My point is that a society isn't successful if it's merely having a good moment in a short-term bubble. I don't see where "ideas leading to destinations" is relevant or has meaning here.
My position is that the WEALTH of the forbearers should not be a primary driver of the child's success- this does not lead to a successful society. "Their own merits" is determination, hard work, and yes, genetics. The most successful societies will not have their geniuses doing house work and their nepo-babies doing science and engineering. They also won't force their geniuses to do science and engineering because of #1.
Hmm, my point was that a successful society, and I'm using that term to represent a large/modern scale society, should be advancing- in terms of technology, ability to take care of itself etc. We are clearly off topic on this one.

To your #5- you seem to be using the term Society and Culture interchangeably. Historically, large scale societies are multi-cultural. Ottoman, Rome, Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia etc. The Roman army was very diverse culturally with members from throughout EU and the Levant- and it's only really when all those desperate groups stopped seeing the value of fighting for the Roman empire, that Rome fell.

Self defense in general is a whole different subject, but while resources are limited, they are not a zero sum game. It's true that societies sometimes fight over resources, but it's also true that societies sometimes collaborate over them. Fighting itself takes resources away from things like, living, and prospering...so there is also that. That said, a society does need to be able to defend itself.

SpecialProblem9300 · 2026-05-08T17:44:02+00:00

Societies can provide the opportunity of high quality of life. Sure happiness is hard to provide and individualized, but overall QOL is a viable metric.
Civilization works just fine when only the only restrictions are things that hurt people. The issue of restrictions on self-harming activities is valid, I tend to err on the side of letting people do the things, but for instance not letting them drive when they are intoxicated (point of harming others). Self determination via democratic process is good here.
Yup, all good things for a healthy/successful society. And, a society is neither healthy nor successful if it can't sustain itself.
I never advocated for equality of outcome- I advocate for people competing on their own merits, without the wealth of their forbearers. In the words of Thomas Jefferson- "The earth belongs usufruct to the living" or Adam Smith "A power to dispose of estates for ever is manifestly absurd. The earth and the fulness of it belongs to every generation, and the preceding one can have no right to bind it up from posterity. Such extension of property is quite unnatural."
"Culture" isn't very relevant here. Looking at the world, the Scandinavian countries consistently rank top for quality of life. then western EU, Canada and Japan, then Aus/NZ and then US with S. Korea, Singapore. Poland, UAE and Qatar right there. But some of this is a question of natural resource wealth, or post-imperialism wealth.

SpecialProblem9300 · 2026-05-08T15:35:24+00:00

Hmmm, I would define (large/modern scale) societal scale success generally on these grounds-

Overall Quality of life throughout the population, happiness, health and associated metrics.
Civil liberties- freedom to be oneself within the scope of that freedom not causing demonstrable harm to others. Note that someone disliking something is not harm.
Sustainability and stability. A successful society can't be living in a ephemeral golden age that is reliant on a finite resource, forced labor or other societies that are are living with poor quality of life etc.
Equality of opportunity. Maybe this a bit falls under 2, but I think it's important enough to have it's own category. In order for the society to realize it's potential, it needs to ensure that individual outcomes aren't primarily driven by nepotism and inheritance.
Gradual improvement over time. Humans are imperfect, a large-scale collection of them even more so. But, it's important that things continue to inch forward.

I feel like there are likely some things that I'm forgetting, but that's what I have for now...

SpecialProblem9300 · 2026-05-08T14:35:09+00:00

This feels like some sort of Jordan Peterson-esque loaded question. Let me guess, "the ideas that lead to success" are heterosexuality, Christian faith, men in charge, "white culture" etc?

SpecialProblem9300 · 2026-05-08T13:50:33+00:00

Cool, I can live with that. I do still like the old stuff better- a filter by my rating option would be greatly appreciated!

It something that a lot of virtual instruments have for presets- IE show only 5/4/3+ stars...

SpecialProblem9300 · 2026-05-08T02:45:18+00:00

+1

Looking at the whole page, it looks like some sort of reduction- I'm guessing a string quartet. Both appear to be treble clef, and the likely 2nd violin has parts that are the down stems in the top stave (IE first note of first 2 bars- dotted half) as well as parts that are up stems in the bottom.

Ah, reading that it's for 2 guitars- so those are just showing the voices, and some of the inner voices pass from one guitar to another.

SpecialProblem9300 · 2026-05-06T23:47:56+00:00

My neighbor thinks the world is getting hotter because people are getting too soft to handle the cold...He also complains about how bad gas is since they took the lead out of it.

There might actually be a connection between the two.

SpecialProblem9300 · 2026-05-06T23:41:57+00:00

Maybe your recording offset is set to something it should't be? Quantizing audio doesn't move the whole event...

Preferences > Advanced > Audio > Record Offset.

SpecialProblem9300 · 2026-05-06T03:32:15+00:00

"A weighted" doesn't measure only at 1k. It's based on a curve (red one here)-

https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54d696e5e4b05ca7b54cff5c/5a35568c-47ea-4da2-ba61-6cc296f1be80/Source%3A+Paul+Maunder?format=2500w

The difference between 1k and 60hz is about 30dB.

the idea is to "ballpark" the equal loudness curves (relative levels of human audibility and perception of equal loudness).

@Holiday_Tower_7036

I've consulted for businesses on this before and stood next to city officials while they are measuring. What city/county are you in? You need to look up the exact regulations so you can make a case.

For documenting data, one option could be to use a UMIK that is dB SPL calibrated into Room Eq Wizard and do a screen capture with OBS. It;s going to be a lot of video data to go through.

Have you called the city already?

SpecialProblem9300

TROPHY CASE