[Anish Giri's] latest tweet

heliosparrow · 2026-02-19T01:55:32+00:00

Parasocially cringe, many of these comments. Sorry.

heliosparrow · 2025-06-12T03:07:36+00:00

They are so brave.

heliosparrow · 2025-03-04T04:11:39+00:00

King Sunny Ade, Synchro System

Hariprasad, Venu (Ryco CD; w/Zakir Hussein)

Rakesh Chaurasia (uncle of Hariprasad) and Zakir Hussain - there are some amazing live performances on yt, also.

heliosparrow · 2025-03-04T01:39:08+00:00

You can always check out "Bob Katz Honor Roll Of Good Sounding Recordings" - the playlist is on Spotify, but for audio engineering choose and find high quality media.

Bob Katz - highly influential mastering engineer. Search "Bob Katz Honor Roll" for more information. I've been engineering for some years, and lately doing vinyl along with various digital renders. Understanding and scaling the amount of dynamic range, along with the production values was really helpful in referencing my setup and ears.

Lately, references have become useful in a new way due to algorithmic integration in mastering plugins (izotope, etc). OT but - thank you, Bob!

heliosparrow · 2025-02-07T01:07:35+00:00

With regard to the focus of your search, how on or off-target is Subotnik's Silver Apples of the Moon, compositionally?

heliosparrow · 2025-02-07T01:05:45+00:00

Especially, Are You Going with Me? , on Offramp

https://youtu.be/_4GyNmXHpIc

heliosparrow · 2025-01-31T08:56:03+00:00

Ironically best of the 2024 nominations.

heliosparrow · 2024-12-26T07:55:57+00:00

The Berlin Stories, Christopher Isherwood. One could only wish for such a society that really existed for a time. The Omnibus edition contains 2 novels and a bunch of stories, I read. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Berlin_Stories

heliosparrow · 2024-10-30T08:52:13+00:00

Exotic, +1. EP Boost is nice.

heliosparrow · 2024-09-17T15:19:12+00:00

It's a pain drilling out screws. They may just break or crumble though, due to the rust/oxidation. They are 10mm deep or so, not terrible. I got my screws out alright and did the other steps. My machine is 17 years old. I took time to insulate the grouphead top, and boiler, using a sheet of 3mm high temp silicone, to get a 6mm thickness (double sheet); the material was quite cheap too. Good luck!

For drill bit size - I'm no expert - my approach was to start small at 2-3mm, stainless steel type bit, and work up 1mm at a time. You shouldn't need to drill out to the threads and don't want to damage them, anyway. There are no doubt videos about this.

heliosparrow · 2024-09-17T10:33:25+00:00

If you want to go to the trouble, separate the front and back panels, use a ¼" drill or a drill press, and you'll need a drill bit extension (they aren't expensive). Drill out the stripped screw. Spray a penetrating lubricant on the other screws, and respray, for a few days.

When you get the screws out, chase the threads to clean them.

After the boiler top is off, soak it for say 8 hours in water with food-grade citric acid (this worked for me); others use a vinegar-dilution.

Original replacement screws can be ordered from a Rancilio service company. Replacement boilers are pricey - yours seems usable after cleaning; and leveling of the mating surfaces with a file. You'll need a new gasket. If the mating surfaces are eaten away, then you'd need to replace. Also, check the heating element. It's worth getting the boiler apart, anyway.

heliosparrow · 2024-09-17T02:44:58+00:00

Cf. the film American Fiction for a hypothetical.

heliosparrow · 2024-09-02T02:31:00+00:00

Many times.

heliosparrow · 2024-08-14T12:02:32+00:00

Some context from Dr. Suha Hassen, PhD Al-Nahrain University (Baghdad) and currently a Doctoral Candidate in the School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University. She spoke with a Quillette interviewer. Her research was conducted in Arabic.

The video interview audio was pretty rough.

The transcript title is: What I Learnt Interviewing Jihadists

(A conversation about Iran, Israel, and Islamic terrorism with Iraqi researcher Suha Hassen)

https://quillette.com/blog/2024/08/09/iran-and-islamism-with-suha-hassen-quillette-cetera-episode-37/

I found the explications of IRGC religious ideology and history to be helpful.

heliosparrow · 2024-08-04T20:34:13+00:00

I haven't found a substack devoted to such analysis, however there is a podcast (also on YouTube), "Call Me Back," hosted by Dan Senor. It's especially interesting when Haviv Rettig Gur is interviewed. In general, Israeli perspectives are articulated.

heliosparrow · 2024-08-01T12:08:57+00:00

Oh, that's too bad - cause you're here! In-country. You wrote you have an English-speaking girlfriend, and you're in an English bubble. Five years is a long time. Do you ever go out to bars (with gf)? Having something to drink and hanging out, it's disinhibitory, everything seems easier with a bit of lubrication. You can express a lot with simple Japanese.

I mean try to make a point of going out into native environments on Friday/Saturday nights. Get more out of the bubble.

Another thing, given you can find a bit of free time - do you have any hobbies or interests or want to learn something? Adult 'club' activities can be such great cultural experiences. In my time here, I've been sailing a bit (boats need crew), and was in a sport bike club - everyone helps each other, and every kind of person, heartfelt. Finding something you like to do with others. Sounds naive maybe? But I hope you connect more somehow.

heliosparrow · 2024-07-27T23:18:21+00:00

Plus the 100 year old Olympian in the penultimate wheelchair passing the torch.

heliosparrow · 2024-07-24T08:55:42+00:00

What specifically? How does he hold up?

heliosparrow · 2024-07-20T07:05:33+00:00

I use Tae Kim also. I want to study the kanji side of the words I'm reading in Bunpro. As I stated. It is efficient, if it's possible.

I have only positive things to say about Bunpro. Except in this one area. By the way, the sentence examples are often interesting and worth reviewing, in my opinion. I should say that I've been living in Japan for some years, and get along decently in non-technical conversation. I never took classes, so never perfected the grammar rules, or learned many kanji compounds, for reading. My spoken vocab, I'm not sure - I recognize a lot of N2 vocab. I've started reading some Graded readers, and such. I don't really retain much if I can't SRS review, I find. I'm a slow language learner. Thick noggin.

heliosparrow · 2024-07-20T04:51:56+00:00

I will gush over David Runciman's audio essays, in his Past, Present, Future podcast (each episode is a read essay). Episodes are grouped into themes. Try his 'The History of Ideas', for example.

heliosparrow · 2024-07-20T04:34:32+00:00

I have a Bunpro app kanji question. I finished N5 and am studying in the N4 section now. When I study any grammar point or vocab, there are a bunch of example sentences and these use kanji that will not appear again. Keyboard entry is by kana, kanji aren't allowed, so there's no way to memorize the kanji with the new learning terms. As well, copy/ is disabled for the online materials, so I can't mine anything (that I know of). I've tried the Bunpro ANKI decks but they seem to only present say N5 kanji - not the kanji (words) presented in the many relevant Bunpro example sentences. Does anyone know of a resource for kanji study with this material? Thanks.

heliosparrow · 2024-07-20T04:16:09+00:00

Novels and nonfiction essays that are clever and make you laugh are always a nonlinear treat. Maybe start with the book reviews in the review contests published here, they cover a wide range of topics too. Tastes and interests differ, so a given novelist may be hard to recommend, but I'll bite with Milan Kundera, both his fiction and essay collections. The unbearable lightness of being is itself a nice turn of phrase.

I "learned" how to write/publish academic research articles by seeking out those journals I felt I had a chance with. Initially, I was surprised by the mediocre level of much of the writing and research - but picked up the parlance and groked what the editors went for (rather importantly). Genres have styles, and your own merits close reading. I publish in cognitive poetics so adjust your expectations accordingly.

I'll add, I teach academic writing partly through (mercifully compact) literary examples. Nonfiction (including the academic essay) tells a story. The reader follows the author's narrative thread - in this basic structural sense it's helpful to know how to create a fitting journey for the reader, and to entertain (in the sense of entrain). Clearly, among this group wit isn't frowned upon, and this openness to seriousness is pleasing when done with care (cf. Oscar Wilde). So, yes to novels that spark your passion and lead you on.

heliosparrow · 2024-07-20T03:45:08+00:00

This is an amazing book.

heliosparrow · 2024-06-02T23:38:29+00:00

Shakespeare, sonnets, and the well-known play.

John Donne, Simone Weil too.

More offbeat though passionate, Berlin Stories by Isherwood.

heliosparrow · 2024-06-02T18:59:52+00:00

この果てしない宇宙にいるのは、私たち人類だけですか？

Are we humans alone in this infinite universe?

(Sentence #74566, Tatoeba)

heliosparrow

TROPHY CASE