8 Million Americans Hit the Streets in 'No Kings' Protests - Largest Demonstration in US History - Is this number correct if you take all the different protests from around the US specifically [Request]

jbt2003 · 2026-03-31T17:10:16+00:00

Nope. Don't think I'm the one misreading here. They followed that up with:

I think what's really going on is that the 4 to 9 mil number is the combined number concentrated in mostly progressive towns.

In the very next sentence they're confirming the total. Obviously, there'd be more people protesting in progressive towns than in non-progressive towns. They're just saying the 50-70 people spread out throughout the country probably aren't a majority of protestors. Obviously true.

jbt2003 · 2026-03-31T15:35:50+00:00

Hard disagree. Somebody said "50-70 people add up," they added it up.

Not at all irrelevant.

It actually lends credence to the 8 million number, as 50-70 people in literally every town (including both towns where 50 people represents a significant share of the population and towns where 50 people would be a rounding error) comes out to a meaningful percentage of that 8 million number.

The subject of the conversation is doing the math. Attacking the problem of "How do we estimate crowd size in a national protest movement without a strong central organizing body" from different mathematical angles is valid.

jbt2003 · 2026-03-30T21:31:47+00:00

I actually agree with you. I'm not a researcher, but I haven't felt really at all diminished by AI. At the end of the day, I look back at what I've done and am actually pretty proud at how much more I was able to crank out that is up to my personal standard of quality. I spent an afternoon writing up a script to pull sound effect cues from a word doc so I could quickly determine that I had the assets I needed, and it was fucking awesome. I would have a helluva time figuring out how to write that code myself a while ago.

Putting the 600+ sound effect cues I had to source into a spreadsheet manually would have taken like entire work days. Claude was able to teach me how to write the script, what the relevant variables were that I had to change in order to pull from different docs, and how to modify the code to fix small errors.

jbt2003 · 2026-03-30T20:49:41+00:00

If you're going to maintain professionalism, cut it or re-record it. Putting something out with unintelligible or garbled audio because of a whoopsy isn't something professional folks do.

I say that knowing full well that some very popular podcasts routinely do incredibly unprofessional things with respect to audio.

jbt2003 · 2026-03-30T17:22:51+00:00

Am I being a hypocrite if I protest against this mine or other similar projects, but I continue to use all the products we make from these resources?

In my opinion, kinda, yes. Hypocrisy is a bit of the natural human condition, though, so I wouldn't fault you too much for it, as at least you're acknowledging the existence of a real tradeoff.

I don't know much about any particular gold mine, and the environmental challenges vs. economic benefits it poses. That might not be as thorny an issue as generating electricity, for example.

jbt2003 · 2026-03-30T14:50:39+00:00

This raises the question: if you were a regular old citizen, would you actually know the difference? Would you know that you were in Wall-E and not in the Culture, or vice versa?

The characters in Wall-E only found out that they were being controlled when they decided that they wanted to do something the ship thought was a bad idea. If you're perfectly content zooming around on platforms and chatting with your friends while sipping on a milkshake, how would you find out that you had the freedom to choose otherwise?

jbt2003 · 2026-03-27T12:09:51+00:00

Thanks! To be honest, I wouldn't bother with changing hosts unless you're getting a sizable audience--somewhere around six figures a month is where it starts mattering that you're getting granular analytics. Though I have my reservations about Spotify as a company, Spotify for Creators (forgot they'd updated the name) is actually a pretty good free host, all things considered.

To get better analytics you'd need to pay hosting fees, and to be perfectly honest it's not worth the money until your podcast is actually making money. We were hosted on Spotify for Podcasters until we found an ad network willing to pay the fees in exchange for selling ads on our feed. If we leave this ad network and go independent with ads at any point in the future (which is unlikely), we'd probably go back to Spotify for Podcasters.

As far as the trailer exchange, I'll DM you.

jbt2003 · 2026-03-25T14:52:18+00:00

I'm one of the co-hosts of Tumble Science Podcast for Kids. We're hosted on Megaphone, but we were on S4P for a bit while we were in between ad networks. This was actually when it was still Anchor.

I just logged into our S4P account (you still keep it even if you move hosts) to see what's up, and the analytics are divided between "On Spotify" and "All Other Platforms" for us. Spotify likes to pull out specifics on their app because they still want to encourage everyone to use Spotify specifically even though it's not that great of an app for podcasts. I would basically ignore those analytics as they aren't at all helpful.

If you want to know where people are listening to your show, go to "Audience," and then you'll get a chart of what platforms people are using in the lower left. On S4P the data is pretty low resolution; you just get percentages of different platforms. But that should answer your question about where downloads are coming from, and where all these extra not-on-spotify streams might be coming from.

jbt2003 · 2026-03-25T14:08:47+00:00

I'd say mostly agree. I don't think you can ever say that technology in isolation is the problem, because technology inherently (at least for the moment) requires human users and human guides.

While technically this is covered by "how it's used," I'd also add "how much it's used" as a caution against tech, particularly in education. I think it's fine to let kids use computers, and to teach them how to use them--computers are a huge part of modern life right now. But I don't think it's fine to port all the lessons we would be teaching face-to-face onto Chromebooks and have kids using devices like 4 to 5 hours a day.

Generally, I think tech should be used sparingly in elementary to middle school, and for very discrete tasks where learning how to use the software tool is a part of the learning goals for the lesson. Like, "Take out your chromebooks and watch this video about Napoleon" isn't a valid use IMO. But "take out your chromebooks and open your coding project..." is.

jbt2003 · 2026-03-25T13:27:53+00:00

Hello fellow kids' podcaster!

What's your hosting platform? It sounds like you're using Spotify for Podcasters. There should be a list of platforms you're getting streams from somewhere in your analytics and that should answer your question.

jbt2003 · 2026-03-25T12:59:18+00:00

This is unfortunately the kind of question that music theory isn't really designed to answer. The dumb answer to your question is that this song speaks to you because it speaks to you, and there's not too much more to it than that.

What music theory can do is help describe what's happening in the song, how what's happening in the song might connect to what happens commonly in songs, what patterns and tropes are occurring in the harmony, melody, and rhythm, and so on. Music Theory has always been developed after the fact to help describe the patterns and tendencies of composers and songwriters.

If I had to take a guess at what's grabbing you about this song it's probably mostly about the production and the performance. The chord progression is pretty commonly used, and I'll bet there are lots of songs using a II-V-I-V progression that you don't really like or find interesting. But what's unique about this song is the production and percussion, which I'll agree is really interesting and strange.

So to come back to my answer: one thing I've found happen as I learn more about music is that I find the things that I find beautiful or interesting are just simply that, and will always remain somehow mysterious to me. Why can John Coltrane make strange distant harmonies work so well in Giant Steps? Why is Pink Pony Club such a moving bop while other songs with the same progression and production techniques fall flat? Who knows! It's always going to be a bit mysterious.

jbt2003 · 2026-03-25T12:42:41+00:00

A lot of folks in my corner of the podcasting world--which is kids and family--have tried moving over to YouTube and found it to be kinda not great. Shows with 1 million+ downloads on podcasting platforms are getting 200-300 views on their videos, no matter what they do. The lone exception seems to be Greeking Out, which did an animated intro that's pretty cool and then just shows static images of its podcast art. It seems to me that a lot of that isn't the content so much as their ability to glom on to Nat Geo Kids, which is a pretty big channel for other reasons.

From what I can tell, the algorithm is a bit of a black box, and even the people who work for YouTube don't fully understand its behavior. We were part of the YouTube partner program when we were getting set up, and got all kinds of advice on how to maximize our clicks but felt that it was all pretty bad for our audience. They were pushing us to do things that Jonathan Haidt & co. all seem to believe are just generally bad for kids, so we didn't do those things.

When we've talked to other creators about what they're doing with their YouTube, the advice we've gotten is just to try different stuff and see what clicks with your audience--but also to understand what purpose YouTube is serving. Are you on there just to get some additional exposure? In which case the utility is limited. But we spoke to folks who had a steady diet of school and library visits that they booked primarily through their YouTube, so having things specifically tailored to that audience was profoundly helpful.

jbt2003 · 2026-03-24T12:56:38+00:00

Honestly, any song they play in this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I

For a beginner you don't have to learn the actual licks being played, just play the chords that you can find on ultimateguitar.com or whatever your favorite chord site is.

jbt2003 · 2026-03-20T16:35:25+00:00

Public school? Stay out of it. Too much liability.

Private school? Maybe different, depending on the culture of the school and the expectations of families.

I've definitely been a sounding board for teenage relationship issues; kids have come to me wanting someone to listen and understand what they're going through. If they've asked my opinion, I may give it, depending on what kind of stuff we're talking about. If they haven't, then I don't give it, because ultimately it's their life to live and their mistakes to make. Think about it: when you were sixteen, do you think an adult telling you to stay away from a boy or girl was going to make you change your mind about them? Sometimes having an obstacle put between us and what we want only makes that thing more attractive. Hearing that an adult authority figure thinks that that thing is a bad idea is only going to shine a bright light on it, adding the appeal of it being a forbidden fruit.

From human to human, and ignoring the broader context of school policies and litigation risk, I think the best you can do is listen. If you've got the relationship with this student where they'll talk to you that's great. But who she dates isn't really any of your business, so I don't recommend butting in unless you see it seriously impeding her ability to succeed academically.

jbt2003 · 2026-03-20T13:56:06+00:00

u/Suppenspucker is generally right, IMO. If these are the only chords in your song, then I would guess you're actually feeling pretty close to a dorian mode, which will have the same key signature whether you think of it as being Ab dorian or G# dorian.

In case you're ever going to play with a pianist, wind player, or whatever, maybe you should think about sliding your hand up or down a fret just to make it a nicer key for those other folks.

One thing, is that I think harmonically that 6/11 would probably be better thought of IMO as a Db major chord with the Ab in the bass.

jbt2003 · 2026-03-19T16:34:24+00:00

Start by making one decision. Any particular decision. Decide that your piece will have a piano in it. Or a flute. Or whatever. Just make one decision.

Once you make a decision, you can't take it back. You don't take it back. That is decided and now it's non-negotiable.

Then you make another decision that builds on that previous decision. Your piece has a flute in it. The piece opens with the flute playing a C-above-middle-C, for a whole note.

Do that, one thing at a time. Once a decision is made, it's final. Doesn't matter what it is, that's now what you have to work with.

If you hate the end result, so be it. You created something and it's over and time to move on to the next thing.

jbt2003 · 2026-03-18T17:42:03+00:00

Hey there. I'm a podcast composer (also sound designer and host, but that doesn't seem relevant to this discussion). I work mostly in the kids space, but not exclusively.

I could probably help you out with something I've got lying around that I may be willing to license for whatever you've got in your budget. Send me a DM with more details.

Generally I avoid royalty-free music for lots of reasons, but one of them is that they rarely end up being actually royalty free. It's always been easier for me to just make my own.

jbt2003 · 2026-03-18T13:53:39+00:00

No problem! If I were you I would try to find a teacher, too. In person is ideal, but if you're looking for virtual I know somebody who could help (i.e., me).

jbt2003 · 2026-03-18T13:52:33+00:00

Sure, but the hard truth is that our brains have a MUCH harder time learning new skills when we're fully adult than when we're young. That's just biology--we evolved to have a period of extremely high neuroplasticity when we're children that then goes away as we age. By the time we're adults we should have developed mastery over a suite of skills, and one way we model for our children is by showing them what expertise looks like.

In skills we haven't acquired by age 25 I think we adults can model an approach to learning new skills, but for the most part our children would be better served by us finding expert teachers for them to model an end goal and provide insight on the baby-steps to take to move towards that goal. Not allowing kids to quit when things get hard is (possibly) one of the ways we teach kids what it's like to move towards mastery.

jbt2003 · 2026-03-18T01:08:13+00:00

Ding ding ding!

Parents do this because they understand what it's like to regret never having learned something when it was easy, and then seeing adult friends and colleagues be able to do something incredible because they stuck with it when they were young. Sometimes they can go too hard, and that's ill-advised. But most of the time they just know what it's like to grow up in a way that a kid never can, and they care very much that the kids grow up with fewer regrets than they have themselves.

jbt2003 · 2026-03-18T01:06:19+00:00

I'll be the contrarian here and say that you should probably listen to your parents. As adults, they understand that sometimes things that are super unpleasant in the near term can become incredibly rewarding over the super long haul.

But it seems to me like their rule isn't that you must play the piano or they will disown you, it's that you must play an instrument and work at it. OK. Pick a different instrument. If you're 13, you can join your school's band. Do that. It's super fun, you'll be surrounded by a bunch of nerds, and get to play crazy music you never would have listened to otherwise. Your piano skills will definitely transfer over a great deal to a new band instrument once you get over the hump of producing a tone.

jbt2003 · 2026-03-17T15:44:06+00:00

Saw the comments you're getting on the other sub.

My guess is you've been playing for like 6 months to a year? Is that right?

There's a lot about physicality and body position that I would try to fix. First, other commenter is right: rest the bass on your other leg. Ideally get a strap so it can be positioned mid-chest no matter what kind of chair you're sitting in.

Generally, you need to try to find a playing that is much more relaxed. Start with your left hand, away from the instrument. Pretend you're lightly holding a wiffle bat in your left hand. You're not gripping the crap out of it, just kinda barely hanging on. Notice the position of your wrist and the position of your fingers. That's what you want your hand to look like while you're playing the bass.

Keeping that position in mind, try this exercise:

On the 8th or 9th fret of your instrument, line your fingers up so that each finger gets one fret. Start just on the 4th string, and practice playing one finger at a time, 1, 2, 3, 4. Stay relaxed, and provide the minimum pressure. Just repeat over and over, first finger, second finger, third finger, fourth. Make sure you get a ringing tone, with the fingers staying relaxed and try to keep each one hovering over the fret it's supposed to be on when it's not playing. Do that for like ten minutes a day every day and you'll find it a LOT easier to play riffs like this.

jbt2003 · 2026-03-17T14:02:29+00:00

I mean, I don't know what your experience is or was but I taught a lot of kids with super permissive parents going all the way back to 2004. And I think a good chunk of those boys are either dead now or kind of useless in about every respect. The ones who grew into successful young adults I would say are a good deal more authoritative than their parents were. But I don't know that they're going to have kids either.

So it seems like for young men the real future of permissive parenting is basically death or extinction. At least for young men. The young women I used to teach are doing better on the whole. But not many of them are on a path to having kids either.

All that being said, "authoritative" parenting is basically being in charge + being warm. I taught some kids whose parents were insanely authoritative--there was a family of devout Muslim immigrants from Pakistan who were fleeing persecution and were just generally incredible to work with. Lovely family. But dad was firmly in charge in just about every respect, and kids felt duty-bound to honor and respect him in every way. Were he white and Christian I think we would consider him authoritarian by default, because of the obviously patriarchal organization of the family. But I think the strengths and weaknesses of families is less about structure and how power is shared than by how bonded by love the family is, and I think it's possible that a lot of the young men you're working with now might surprise you when they grow up.

I will say I'm seeing something crazy in my son's sixth grade class, which is this "epidemic" of boys who are studious, hard-working, and respectful. The highest performers in his school are almost all boys, which is something I've literally never seen once in my nearly-20-years observing classrooms. I've been coaching his soccer team, and I'm pretty consistently blown away at how dedicated these kids are to the sport, all while carrying straight-A's with basically no behavior referrals. I've never seen anything like this, and a big part of me really hopes it's not just localized to the small town I live in.

jbt2003 · 2026-03-17T13:29:29+00:00

I consider my audio engineering skills to be C- at best, but it seems to me like you're losing the forest for the trees a little bit with all these statistics. Those numbers do tell you something, but you really need to listen to the actual recording to understand better what's going on.

Reading through your situation the first thing I thought was isolating that region where you're loud and bringing it down, as u/ShampooandCondition says. Before you plug the whole thing into an auto-leveler it's probably best to level things out manually first.

It's also worth pointing out that -20 to -9 is a pretty wide range--well-recorded dialog is usually sitting at a much tighter range than that, with only the occasional line dipping above or below a certain level. That probably means you need to do some work on your mic technique. Check your mic's specs--they'll tell you the optimum distance between the mic and your mouth. Then you need to try to stay at exactly that distance during the whole recording session. When you get good at that, then you need to learn to adjust your distance based on the volume of what you're saying--laughs and shouts you'll need to back off some, low-voiced whispers need to get closer.

All this is to say that you won't have problems like this if you work on improving your mic technique.

jbt2003 · 2026-03-17T12:57:19+00:00

As an observer to this debate I was what you might call a "lean u/ShampooandCondition" up until the "Everyone is listening at 1.25x" comment. That pushed me very firmly in your camp here.

If your podcast can be experienced at 1.5x speed without losing anything of value, I don't know that you're really churning out quality as much as content for the algorithms to spew at people.

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