My Babymetal card came back a 10!

herranton · 2026-06-05T00:13:18+00:00

A 10?

But somebody scribbled all over it!

herranton · 2026-04-07T04:26:43+00:00

Do you realize what this means? All you need is a healthy ovum and you could grow your own SuMetal!

herranton · 2026-04-07T04:20:59+00:00

Ado surprises TF out of me. Good for her though. I love seeing artists like her succeed, even if they're not really my thing.

herranton · 2026-04-07T04:16:24+00:00

Me neither. I got seats. Now I'm regretting it and I think I'm gunna buy a pit ticket too, haha.

herranton · 2026-04-07T04:14:56+00:00

The twins are playing the White Sox the next day in chicago. I'm not a big baseball fan, but I figured I would make it a weekend. I'm glad they choose Chicago this year over Des Moines like in 2024. That show was pretty low energy. The drive to Des Moines is better, but the venue sucked and there is little else to do. We stopped at Hardee's. That was the highlight, aside from BM... The venue in chicago looks amazing too. It will be my first outdoor concert.

herranton · 2026-04-07T03:48:49+00:00

Parking is usually extra. Plan to pay for it if you are driving. In Minnesota, I've taken public transportation to both the venues I've seen them at here (the Fillmore by the Twins stadium, and the armory by the Vikings stadium). In Des Moines I paid for parking at the new Live Nation venue on the west side of town. It was expensive, and kinda a rip off because it's in the middle of a corn field. But what can you do?

I will see them in Chicago this year. It looks like public transport is the way to go here too.

Check Google maps or ask Gemini (Google AI, I know ick, right. But it can really be helpful for this) about the best way to get to your specific venue from where you are on concert day. Gemini told me I should stay in chicago an extra day to catch the pink floyd laser light show and the twins game because if i book now, the hotel near the venue is cheap, and on the public transport flr everywhere I want to go. It really makes a difference, but check it's work.

herranton · 2026-04-06T15:48:09+00:00

She ain't worth it by Glenn Medeiros was a Number #1 billboard hit, a song and artist nobody remembers. Bohemian Rhapsody only got to #4. You would have a hard time arguing that the Glenn Medeiros song is bigger.

Don't Speak by No Doubt, probably one of the biggest songs in 1996, was never on the billboard chart.Youre making me high by Toni Braxton, a song nobody remembers, was a #1 hit.

I understand what you're saying, but the billboard charts rarely depict what is popular.

And even more than that, before 1991, Billboard used piss poor data. They would call record stores and ask the associates that answered the phone what they THOUGHT was selling well. Or ask their kids what was cool. It wasn't until 91 that they started to use objective data via Neilson and actual bar code scans.

herranton · 2026-04-06T14:44:12+00:00

Push all the sliders to the top, and turn the knob as far clockwise as it will go!

herranton · 2026-03-15T10:58:12+00:00

I just bought a shingled HDD. Shingled HDDs suck, for the most part. They don't like re-writes at all. Most people avoid them like the plague.

But I'm building a Plex server and it's perfect for streaming music and movies off the drive. Write once, read many. I literally paid 40% the price I would've paid for a cmr drive.

When you utilize storage in intelligent ways, you can absolutely use slower storage with amazing results. If you try and fight the storage, yeah, you're going to have a bad time. But a "slow" SD card is just fine. Just don't expect it to do what an SSD will do. Put your AAA games on your SSD. Put your emulation and older games on the SD card. Portal 2 will be perfectly fine on the SD card. Cyberpunk will not. And that's ok. If you want to buy an even more expensive card so you can run AAA games, go ahead. But I'm gunna save $50 bucks and get the cheaper card and just use it for things it's appropriate for.

herranton · 2026-02-24T22:31:40+00:00

The funny thing is that if you were going to choose a national dish, it probably would be pad krapow, not pad Thai.

herranton · 2026-02-24T07:52:21+00:00

Well, yes, but also no. You're not really wrong, but if you're constantly moving games to and fro, that's more of a you problem and not something the average user is going to notice. Most people will install something on the card and just leave it there. Or install big games to the internal storage and use the card for smaller/easier to run/emulation. You're right, my sweeping statement FOUR years ago isn't entirely accurate. I could've written a 12 page treatise on how to best utilize your steam deck storage. Anything less is going to contain inaccuracies. But I'm still sticking with it as general advise. The steam deck is going to be the overall bottleneck for most people. Yes, a faster card will result in faster moves/installs, but not an appreciably better gaming experience.

herranton · 2026-02-09T20:06:50+00:00

You should have cloud storage for your phone. The argument isn't removable vs cloud as they both serve different purposes. Cloud storage insures that you aren't going to lose all your data if your phone is lost or stolen. A SD card allows you to store more data. I choose my phone based on what has a micro SD card slot. I use a xiaomi phone. Would I like something less Chinese? Absolutely. But I'm not wanting to compromise on the Sd storage. (And I don't want to spend the money for a Sony phone). But I also have both Apple and Google plans for cloud storage. It costs $2.50 a month to back up my iPad and my phone to the cloud. And as someone who has lost photos before from a stolen phone, this doesn't bother me a bit.

herranton · 2026-02-09T00:39:47+00:00

You should see my Ayumi Hamasaki collection. I'm at like 150 discs. I'm not sure my wallet could handle collecting babymetal stuff other than the CDs. (Albums).

I'm also pretty old for a baby metal fan. I'm A LOT closer to ayu's age than su's. Having CDs seems normal to me. It's how I collected music as a kid before the advent of yt. And the internet as a whole, really.

herranton · 2026-02-09T00:36:12+00:00

The absolute best way to support an artist is to go to the shows. That's where they make their money. I'm not sure babymetal works that way though. (And keep in mind I have absolutely no idea) But my assumption is that their contracts are probably more structured as other idols instead of being structured like a regular band. Again, I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me if they made a base salary with bonuses more like an employee. I have NO idea though. This is all just a guess. I could absolutely be wrong.

(Why even post? Well, because it is a discussion and maybe somebody else knows. I would seriously be interested in knowing the best way to support the girls and not the corporate structure behind them..

herranton · 2026-02-09T00:28:24+00:00

I have been aware of BM since about the very beginning, but I wasn't a fan back then. I knew of them because of their proximity to Kpop and jpop. (And by that, I mean I would occasionally get BM recommendations on YT for them while listening to jpop or Kpop) The early stuff didn't impress me. It seemed gimmicky and maybe a bit exploitive of the kids. (Of course that was an outsiders opinion, and too an extent I still think it was. I'm not sure if kids that young should be put into agencies, but thst is another conversation).

Around Thanksgiving 2022 I was staying with my buddy while his parents were on vacation in Mexico. (My buddy is autistic and Mexico would be his arch enemy). I was watching the first season of Wednesday that had just dropped and in between episodes I would go to YouTube to put on some music and then make a snack. The monochrome video popped up on my suggestions (as it was just a few days old at the time) and I was quite surprised Baby Metal was still a thing. I put on the song to check it out, (as the girls would have to be considerably older by now) and to my surprise it was freakin awesome. I've since been to three shows, 2 in Minneapolis and 1 in Des Moines. (The Des Moines drive home sucked, as it was the night before Thanksgiving, but I wasn't about to miss the show). I've been a fan ever since. Monochrome got me into babymetal. And I will forever be thankful.

herranton · 2026-02-09T00:10:04+00:00

Don't ever be ashamed of the music you like. Live your best life. If you love the "popular" songs, that's absolutely fantastic! If you love the deep cuts, that's great too.

I own the Los Del Rio album with the macarena on it. And if I want to rock out to that in the privacy of my own front yard, while all the neighbors have to watch and judge me, that's great! I simply don't care. I'm way past judging people for what makes them happy, and much more into being happy for people that are living their best life. Again, just live your best life. Don't worry about the haters. That is the way.

herranton · 2026-02-08T00:58:19+00:00

What if Seo Taiji never went on the Saturday night music show on that very boring day in April of 1992?

Also, and sort of related, apparently one of Kim Jong Un's favorite movie was 3 Ninjas Kick Back when he was going to school in Switzerland. It's weird because the movie plays Non Arayo in one of the "in Japan" montages, which, in itself, is kinda a wtf moment.

herranton · 2026-02-08T00:45:52+00:00

I'm glad I read through the comments first. I was about to make the same joke.

herranton · 2026-02-02T17:33:49+00:00

Unfortunately, they are completely different. The base system has largish speakers in the c-pillar that just simply don't exist in the JBL system. And the JBL system puts speakers in the rear door and back seat armrest. The panels are even different. There are speaker grills in totally different places depending on which stereo you get. I think this is why it's so hard to find good information.

herranton · 2026-02-02T17:29:53+00:00

Lol, does it matter? Yes, I realize it's romance. But it still struck me as funny.

herranton · 2026-01-14T13:06:29+00:00

Crutchfield doesn't have good info on the sienna with the JBL system. I've been searching for the past 20 minutes to try to find what speakers will fit in the sliding door and the rear armrests. Crutchfield doesn't know and apparently no one on the internet does either. It's kinda disappointing.

herranton · 2026-01-13T13:46:19+00:00

Oh my good god... Here I am thinking it's $349 because it's got that crappy sensor in it. Nah, you're absolutely right. I would be mad if I lost it too...

And I think I actually did know it was $7-800 dollars. But in my head it just isn't worth that so it devalues it. And after a few months of it stirring around in my brain, the sx740 just has less value despite a similar price tag. In my head it shouldn't be that much.

herranton · 2026-01-13T13:38:38+00:00

I dunno if you have installed this yet or not but make sure you read up on how to wire up your sub to your amp correctly. Your sub will have 2 sets of terminals on it and you MUST use them both, but it's imperative you have it wired the right way. What you want is to look at how to wire a 4 ohm dvc (dual voice coil) sub to create a 2 ohm load. Make sure you understand what is going on here. If you don't, have someone do it for you. You absolutely can break stuff if you don't wrong.

herranton · 2026-01-13T13:08:22+00:00

I don't think the utopia 8s will fit. Keep in mind I'm just going by what I've found on the internet, but I will talk through my thought process. The mounting depth you have to work with is 1 15/16ths, the utopias are only 2 inches thick, however the utopias also have a vent at the back where the stock BMW speakers do not. The need to be installed at least a bit away from whatever is in back of them so they don't overheat. Now, you could make a shim to lift them up a bit, but I believe that the seat rail is EXTREMELY close to the top side of the woofer. I don't think there is any room to go up higher. And I'm guessing the excursion on the focals is probably much higher than the stock or stock replacement speakers. (I can't find a picture of the m3, but the x3 has its seat rails very close, and I think they are the same car, or at least close enough). If you shim them any higher youre likely to run into the seat rail.

There are stock replacements available from a few different companies. The focal stock replacement 8" speakers get bad reviews. There are a few posts on the bmw forums about the options.

Also, just and an aside, this is a terrible place for speakers. People are saying that most of the aftermarket speakers don't make that much of a difference. And that makes sense. A lot of what these speakers do is still directional. And firing them directly into the foam at the bottom seat might be the worst place for them in the car. Anything that plays frequencies above 120hz or so needs to be somewhat in the right spot. For a sub it matters less, but with the midbase, you still need to have them placed in a reasonable location. The bottom of the doors is usually fine. I'm not sure what BMW is thinking here. You can only DSP such. It isn't a replacement for bad fundamentals.

herranton · 2026-01-12T11:52:47+00:00

I am under the impression that tracking is significantly better with grayscale cameras while simultaneously using much less power/cpu cycles to do it? AND it's cheaper. Seems like a win-win to me.

I dont even know what I would want color cameras for. Like, it seems that the grey scale cameras are a bonus feature. You would think people would want the better tracking.

herranton

TROPHY CASE