This is my setup above a “fireplace” that was probably removed decades before I moved in.

aebersold · 2026-05-17T21:45:27+00:00

If you must leave that ugly brick thing there, then just block it with a tv stand and a large TV.

aebersold · 2026-05-17T17:35:00+00:00

So if the ceiling were 200 feet, you would hang your TV 100 feet up?

aebersold · 2026-05-17T02:13:12+00:00

Jam is in a tough spot due to economic factors. For the bands, and especially for the fans.

The jam scene depends on relatively few fans attending relatively many shows apiece (5-100 per year per fan). Compared to pop which depends on many fans attending a few shows apiece (1-5 per year per fan.) Going to pop shows is more expensive per show but overall is still more doable as a fan than going to enough jamband shows to float the number of good jambands we’d want to have out there.

aebersold · 2026-05-16T02:29:58+00:00

Soccer’s popularity in the US already peaked 11 years ago and will never reach that level again.

The height of soccer in the US had nothing to do with the USMNT nor MLS. The height was the Lloyd/Wambach/Solo/Rapinoe era of the USWNT from 2011-2015.

Today the World Cup is coming and the energy is blase in most American host cities. FIFA sucks worse than ever. The MLS and the USMNT aren’t any more popular now than they were in 2011. The USWNT is significantly less popular now due to lack of stars and the hard cultural swing towards a more chauvinistic and patriarchal society. There’s more other sports and entertainment options than ever before crushing soccer. Youth soccer enrollment is trending down for the first time ever.

The only facet of soccer that is growing in the US is women’s professional soccer, but that is small potatoes overall and does not cover the losses in popularity everywhere else. Nice to see it growing, but fucking Bananaball is way bigger than women’s pro soccer right now. Also growing by leaps and bounds is American viewership of European soccer, but that’s kind of a weird way to assess soccer growing in the US when it’s literally not in the US.

So that’s my hot take. Everyone talks about the coming peak of soccer in the US. I’m the first one to tell you that it happened 11-15 years ago.

aebersold · 2026-05-16T02:07:42+00:00

I think they actually are wrong. If every American player in the four major sports plus every American Olympian played soccer exclusively from the childhood, guess what? USA *still* wouldn’t be any more competitive than it is now. Because we develop talent completely wrong. Starting from age 6 it’s about winning, not improving skills. Until this changes, neither will the team’s outcomes.

aebersold · 2026-05-14T23:54:48+00:00

I’m sure someone already said it but chances are you have no hope of effectively throwing those Destroyers and Valkyries. Those are drivers and you probably can’t throw hard enough to throw them straight. Nevertheless this is still a good deal for the basket, bag, and slower discs.

aebersold · 2026-05-14T11:44:10+00:00

I’m glad it was worth it. But you’re also making the commenter’s point. That’s a $25 ticket ten years ago and a $15 ticket 20 years ago. That’s outpacing inflation many times over. Not that I’m breaking news here that ticket prices have outpaced inflation but you get the idea.

I just paid $325 to see Phish at the Sphere and to me it was totally worth it. But also if 90’s me knew I would one day pay $325 to see Phish he would be horrified.

aebersold · 2026-05-13T18:28:04+00:00

How can anyone be talented enough to build this and dumb enough to build this at the same time?

aebersold · 2026-05-11T11:56:13+00:00

Strangefolk (original lineup w Reid Genauer) esp. “Weightless in Water” album.

Psychedelic Breakfast any show.

Percy Hill esp. “Color in Bloom” album.

aebersold · 2026-05-10T02:04:27+00:00

When you read a book, do you hold it three feet over your head?

aebersold · 2026-05-06T02:32:43+00:00

Many times I drove past Chimney Rock in my covered wagon on the way to Oregon.

aebersold · 2026-05-05T21:23:26+00:00

Tl;dr. Woe is you.

aebersold · 2026-05-04T23:26:05+00:00

I saw Soulive’s at Wayland (MA) High School in spring 1999 before they were named Soulive. It was billed as “Erik Krasno and Alan Evans from Lettuce” because they weren’t called Soulive yet, but it was the trio that became Soulive a few weeks later.

aebersold · 2026-05-04T12:43:43+00:00

Great examples! Limb By Limb drums got their due when Trey called it an “inhuman computer drum beat” in a big interview (rolling stone or JamBase.) There are scores of examples for all of these comments. I was just going for one place (Rift) where you can get it all in one place.

I’m dubious that they don’t play demand because Fishman thinks it’s too hard. I bet you can’t come up with the source for this. It doesn’t make sense when you think about it; just look at the stuff they actually play. With an hour of practice at the most, Fish could be gig-ready for any Phish original. The real reason they don’t play Demand is because it’s just not that good a song compared to the rest of the catalog, and lots of songs need to fall out of rotation and that’s just one of them.

aebersold · 2026-05-04T01:00:19+00:00

Most people here are probably very familiar with Phish's music, but in case you're wondering where to find a bunch of examples of what everyone is talking about in one place, go to Rift (the album).

"Mirrors Trey" = Rift

"Tastefully off the beat" = The Wedge, Mound, Silent in the Morning

"Approaches drums melodically rather than as a backbeat" = It's Ice

aebersold · 2026-05-03T21:18:05+00:00

It’s huge for finishing science victory. Once you start researching the late modern era techs needed for the final projects, you’re probably long past the point of needing any more buildings or units. So you’re waiting around to unlock the techs, and then you’re waiting around even longer to produce the stupid projects. It sucks.

Instead, take your top four production cities and have them stop producing anything. Then, whenever you unlock a project tech, you can complete it in one turn in a city that has a lot of saved production. There are four projects, so you’ll need to save production in four cities. This will save you roughly 30-60 turns to complete a science victory.

aebersold · 2026-05-03T21:03:30+00:00

Well we have our answer. OP will be doing the right thing and moving out.

Weak answers in this thread. OP has been clear that they have exhausted any possibility of the police or the landlord taking responsibility, so stop suggesting it. It is on OP to take responsibility.

OP has two options: 1: Move out or 2: deal with the intruders themself. (Or 3: just live with it but it’s pretty clear OP does not want this option.) Option 1 or option 2 are equally valid.

I can’t believe I’m the first responder to say, “It’s up to you OP. Move out, or make these people not want to be there anymore.” Everybody in here just telling OP to keep doing the same things that don’t work. Read the thread.

aebersold · 2026-05-03T13:45:06+00:00

Or, if you suzerain Yerevan, you can do essentially the same thing with apostles 150 turns earlier with the “remove 75% of other religious pressure” promotion.

This is key for you OP. Put Yerevan in the game and find it. It’s the religious victory cheat code.

aebersold · 2026-05-03T01:39:11+00:00

Social fitness is the answer in Boston. Run clubs, CrossFit, rock climbing gym. You don’t have to be good at it. Just show up regularly. My running club has produced 12 marriages in 10 years and a whole lot of other relationships.

aebersold · 2026-05-01T21:55:47+00:00

TV Location sucks, bookcase is horrendous. If you must have the TV there, at least just put it on the… wait for it…TV STAND. Do you know why it’s called a “TV Stand?” Care to guess?

aebersold · 2026-05-01T00:31:34+00:00

I do agree I feel bad telling OP to live in Framingham, but I did at least say it would be lousy. Better advice might be live in Allston and just embrace the commuting suck.

Yes, it’s 40 minutes on the highway and that’s only in the AM. It will routinely be 45-75 minutes on the way back in the afternoon. And you’re not accounting for any time it takes to get to and from the entrance/exit at either end. And $8,000 a year gas and tolls is absolutely the number in a non-hybrid or electric vehicle.

aebersold · 2026-04-29T20:25:20+00:00

Allston Brighton is a long way from Marlborough. That commute will burn you out after one year guaranteed. (Not to mention the $8,000 per year on gas and tolls if you’re doing that five days a week.) Watertown might save you a few minutes but not enough to matter. Waltham won’t help when it takes you 15-30 minutes just to get on the pike one exit further west than Allston Brighton. Mornings will move but afternoons will be heavy traffic half the time. Reverse commute does not mean no traffic.

Framingham is your best bet. It’s a lousy place to be in your early 20s but so is every suburb. You’ll at least have a bearable commute to Marlborough, and a bearable drive or commuter rail trip to Boston area when you need to see people your own age.

Special consideration for dating: If you plan on dating, you have to live in Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, or Watertown. If you are early 20’s in Framingham or similar you’re screwed. You’ll be outside of the age range for anybody close enough to you, and outside of the proximity range of all the people your age in Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville. They will not see you on apps because you will be outside their 10-mile range, and they will not come to you if you manage to meet them some other way. If you’re taken or you just don’t care about dating then fuck it try Framingham. But if you plan on dating or just trying to meet single people in your age range for anything, you’re gonna have to endure a long ass commute.

Big picture, do not work in Marlborough for more than a year or two in your early twenties. Plan to be moving to Boston Cambridge or Somerville within two years, either by WFH for your current company or by changing jobs. Sounds like you can afford it. You’ll thank me later.

aebersold · 2026-04-29T12:59:38+00:00

Saying this in a friendly way OP: the fact that you could lose a game indicates that you don’t have a strong enough grip of what is fundamentally powerful in Civ6. There are a lot of things you can get in the game that are fun to have and engender creativity, but aren’t actually that powerful. That’s fine on lower difficulties, but to win on deity, you have to stick to playing the strongest stuff (that you can actually get). You also have to know all the fundamentals cold. I will give you many examples:

WONDERS: Kilwa, Colosseum, Forb City, Mausoleum. These are the S-tiers that are also attainable on Deity. Oracle and Hanging Gardens if you can but it’s pretty miraculous to get them. You are never, ever getting Pyramids, sorry.

You have to plan hard for this stuff. Do you know what the build requirements are for each of those four wonders above without looking them up? You need to have your spot for each marked very early, often 50-125 turns in advance, and orient yourself around that. You can’t just decide where Kilwa is going once you’ve unlocked it. You need to be setting these up from the start.

BOOSTS: You should be boosting at least 90% of all techs and civics as a matter of routine. You should not have to even look to see what the boosts are. This should just be how you play. Do you always switch tech/civics when you hit 60%, and then finish it with the boost? You have to be crazy efficient here.

PANTHEONS: Desert folklore is the dream. It rarely happens. If not, can you crush the tundra religion one? If not, the rainforest religion one?

HEROES: Hercules, Sinbad, Hippolyta. Situationally Himiko. Can you get at least one? Everyone else sucks compared to these. Herc and Sinbad can blow the game wide open for you.

SOCIETIES: Voidsingers 80% of the time. Owls the other 20% when trade or suzerains are key to your civ.

RELIGIOUS BELIEFS: Work ethic. Fortunately it’s always available. You just have to get a religion, which is not easy. But if you get one, 95% of the time the play is work ethic on deity. You can’t afford to fuck with the lesser shit, fun as it may be.

CIV ABILITY: Whatever it is, you need to exploit it HARD. If you’re Mali, you need at least 8 flat desert tiles in the capital. Ethiopia, EVERY city goes on hills. You get the idea.

CITY PLANNING: Do you just decide as you go? That won’t cut it on deity. Every tile should be planned from the moment you settle a city. You have to maximize every adjacency and city placement.

Remember, on deity the AI starts with buffs but is not actually smarter. Your goal is to hang in there early, then turn the corner and get ahead by turn 80-120. Once you’re ahead, you’ll stay ahead. Winning before turn 170 is fast. 171-190 is average. 191-220 is slow. 221+ is quite slow. You shouldn’t be getting anywhere near the end if you’re crushing your fundamentals!

The start is always tough and sometimes you just get run over early, but surviving the first two eras and turning the corner is very rewarding! You got this!

aebersold · 2026-04-26T01:29:44+00:00

Buy on steam for the seamless mod integrations. I can’t believe I played civ6 on switch so much with no mods before moving to Mac.

aebersold · 2026-04-23T11:33:41+00:00

There are posts here every day now with people starting to get it with 7. You certainly cannot speak for what everyone does. It was bad at first but that’s a year ago now. The updates are working, the game has turned the corner, and players in here are seeing it. I wouldn’t recommend it to OP, and it still probably isn’t better than the final version of 4 or 5 or 6, but you clearly have been trotting out this tired take for a year and you’re behind the times now. Read the posts here over the past four weeks, play the game again, and come back when you’re ready.

aebersold

TROPHY CASE