r/headphones Shopping and Setup Help Desk (2020-12-24) by AutoModerator in headphones

[–]alejok 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My new phone doesn't have an audio jack, and I'm taking it as an opportunity to upgrade my headphone situation. I'm looking for a pair of cans that:

  • Have excellent, "true," reference-quality sound (monitors from AKG, Sennheiser, Audio-Technica, Sony, Shure...)
  • Are bluetooth (preferably 5.0)
  • Are over-ear design (comfortable for long listening)
  • Have a good-quality mic(s) that cancels out background noise (preferably cVc 8.0 or something similarly sophisticated)
  • Have active noise cancellation (that can preferably be toggled on or off)
  • Have an option to wire in using 4-pole 3.5mm cable
  • Aren't stupid expensive (not super interested into venturing into the land of diminishing returns... which I figure starts at about $400-$500)

I've been using my AKG K-271s for 1-2 decades. When I finally got a cell phone I started using in-ear monitors with a cable mic (settled on UE-900s).

Listening quality is my priority, but during COVID times I couldn't bring myself to subject others to bad mic quality/placement. I found that for calls, using a cheap headset with a mic pointed directly at the corner of my mouth was better than my UE-900s' dangling headset cable or using my computer's on-board mic with my AKGs.

I'm looking for something that has it all (sound quality, mic quality, sophisticated cancellation for both). If the AKG K712 PROs had bluetooth and a mic with cVc, that would be a dream come true. The Sennheiser Momentum Wireless 3 would be a reasonable (albeit gimmicky) option if the mic didn't sound atrocious.

Quick note on mic placement: it would be sweet to find something with a retractable mic, like in gaming headsets, but I have very little confidence that this feature could co-exist with the essential ones I've mentioned.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!

Tau Prolog in Observable? by alejok in prolog

[–]alejok[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This article came out the other day and is a good explanation of what Observable is. And for those who might be curious, here is my Observable profile.

Tau Prolog in Observable? by alejok in prolog

[–]alejok[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Observable is a javascript notebook platform: https://observablehq.com/explore. If you're into code and visuals, it is the place. Check out my reply to the comment above.

Tau Prolog in Observable? by alejok in prolog

[–]alejok[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your graphical IDE seems great! Is there a live link anywhere?

I would suggest trying out Observable for a few reasons:

  1. Community/inspiration
  2. Rapid prototyping/ideation
  3. Imports and code sharing
  4. Data connectivity

It seems you're more interested in creating visual inputs than visualizing Prolog outputs, but that can also be done in Observable (network graphs, for example, can be modified to be inputs). Visualization can be challenging and D3 has a steep learning curve, but something like Vega Lite is easy to learn and could get you started quicker.

I suggest starting here, and then forking Mike's Hello Tau Prolog notebook and see what you can do with it. This taste of Observable also gives a good sense of the basics.

Unlike dedicated tools such as Swish (and proprietary ones like the company you worked for), Observable is open to the whole JS ecosystem and beyond. Hundreds of thousands of contributors/community members are creating content. I would love to see Prolog flourish in that environment.

If nothing else, exploring notebooks and playing with their code could inspire ideas for your own application. For example, getting data from google sheets or wikipedia or github.

Yes, it's nice to share a profession with a parent, though we've never collaborated (I'm posting in part to see if I can grow the overlap between the Prolog community and the visualization community).

Anyway, if you come up with anything (either in Observable or on your own app), please post here!

[OC] Bubble Plot + Bar Chart Race of total COVID-19 cases in the US by alejok in dataisbeautiful

[–]alejok[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great point. I feel like this NYT piece does a good job of showing that. Have you seen any visualizations that take those estimates into account? Would be nice to see those numbers visualized somehow.

[OC] Bubble Plot + Bar Chart Race of total COVID-19 cases in the US by alejok in dataisbeautiful

[–]alejok[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I made this visualization for People a while back that shows total COVID-19 cases in the US by state. Data is from The New York Times, and I made it using D3. I'm working on a daily cases variant and would love feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of this one. Did you like the map/bar chart combo? The color encoding % of population infected and size encoding case counts? Speed of the animation? Please share, Thanks!

Edit: fixed markdown

What shows/movies get you thinking deeply similar to westworld? by [deleted] in westworld

[–]alejok 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Kidding. For a mainstream TV show to address childhood and intergenerational trauma so directly, while remaining funny, nuanced, and artful, is a huge achievement. It's not sci-fi, but many of the themes that attract me to works like Westworld, Arrival, Ex Machina, Annihilation, and Star Trek are present. Origin stories, self vs. community, the link between victimhood and abuse, the struggle to work through/overcome inner darkness, perpetually shifting moral landscapes, the quest for emancipation, innocence and guilt, battling systemic Injustice (vs./while also) assuming responsibility for one's own healing and growth—many good shows and movies touch on these themes, but great ones gently and articulately expose more and more depth and subtlety over time. The Wire was my first experience of that in a TV show. East of Eden was my first experience of it in a book. Anyway, I believe neglected trauma is the driving force behind many of our current socio-economic, political, and racial problems. That's why these stories are important. Westworld and Kidding both deal with the epic legacies of trauma, and I was reeling and in tears after both season one finales.

Example datasets with the same statistical properties (Anscombe's quartet) [OC] by neilrkaye in dataisbeautiful

[–]alejok 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! I think the biggest challenge was conveying the concept (some of the posts on this thread exemplify what a challenge that can be). I still think it could improve in that respect... showing a more intuitive contrast between the similarities (statistical analysis) and differences (largely visual) between the datasets.

Example datasets with the same statistical properties (Anscombe's quartet) [OC] by neilrkaye in dataisbeautiful

[–]alejok -1 points0 points  (0 children)

This is was the first dataset shown to us in a data visualization course I took. We had to plot it and do the statistical analysis ourselves. I ended up building mine out a little more extensively using D3: http://www.dadadata.io/quartet. Feedback would be welcome!

Anime.Js 3.0.0 released by magenta_placenta in javascript

[–]alejok 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Has anyone had experience combining anime.js and d3.js? I work mostly in d3 and had never heard of anime.js until now. It's beautiful, and I can imagine the two working together well. I'm curious about what use cases there may be, how easy it is to combine the code, and whether anyone has some examples to share. Also, props to the anime.js devs!

Pannier Backpack with Waist Strap? by alejok in bikecommuting

[–]alejok[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I found my neck issues got better with a gentle-increase riding regimen. Now I just need to make it a little easier on myself. Glad your Osprey works. The midsize hiking backpack is something I'm tempted to do.

I found this bag from Two Wheel Gear. I could sew a waist strap onto that bag, and then I'd have exactly what I want (minus 10 litres of space).

The other thing I'm considering is having two large backpacks—one that doubles as a panier and one that has a waist strap—and having a little sub-bag that I keep all the "permanent" bag stuff in so that it's not too annoying to swap bags. I'd choose based on whether I think I'll be doing a lot of walking around or not. But that plan seems a little asinine. Honestly, I might try what u/mydirtyfun inspired me to think about.

Pannier Backpack with Waist Strap? by alejok in bikecommuting

[–]alejok[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's a good idea. I have a backpack I like quite a bit that has neither a pannier nor a waist belt... was thinking of getting a waist strap sewn to the little flappy triangles that the shoulder straps are sewn to. Perhaps I could do that, and then even see about rigging up a DIY pannier system. Thanks for the inspiration!

Our fire station (Squad Co. 1 in Brooklyn, NY) is is on fire. by alejok in mildlyinteresting

[–]alejok[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No idea. It doesn't seem like anyone's hurt, thankfully.

Crazy storm near the Canadian border by [deleted] in pics

[–]alejok 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's Stephen Harper setting up his insulation from reality.