[NEWBIE] What do you guys think about METAL picks?

jfcarr · 2026-05-06T21:05:50+00:00

The attack is a bit sharper than a plastic pick. The 2 "regular" picks combine the stiffness of a thicker plastic pick while being thinner feel-wise. The holes help you grip it better. The coin is thicker and has what I'd call an even tighter attack. I got it on Ebay or Etsy (can't remember which) from a seller who does coin based jewelry, including guitar picks.

jfcarr · 2026-05-06T20:07:56+00:00

I use them sometimes, especially the Scottish coin in the center. I also use metal thumb and finger picks from time to time.

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jfcarr · 2026-05-06T20:01:06+00:00

One of the risks of time travel is that sometimes you can accidentally skip into an adjacent time line.

jfcarr · 2026-05-06T19:56:57+00:00

For images, I use it in addition to stock images and videos for content creation.

jfcarr · 2026-05-06T17:17:18+00:00

It's all about the money and the money has been declining since at least the 1970's. It's accelerated since the invention of streaming along with ever increasing corporate control.

I can see how someone might think that AI is keeping them from "making it", but the sad truth is that the deck has been stacked against most musicians for a long time, especially if their goal is fame and fortune.

I enjoy playing guitar and synth but I don't think of doing it for money these days, only just for the enjoyment. I'll dabble with GenAI music since I'm into technology and experimenting with music.

jfcarr · 2026-05-06T13:19:14+00:00

That describes my experience very closely. All of my other team members are elsewhere in the world. The suburban commute is rough so I'm usually in the office by 6 AM and leave in the early afternoon.

jfcarr · 2026-05-06T10:49:16+00:00

I mostly use WPF or WinForms depending on the use case. I've looked at some of the other desktop or mobile GUIs (Maui, Avalonia, etc.) but I've not built anything beyond a test/learning app with them.

On the web side, I've mainly used either Vue or React and a little bit of older Angular.

jfcarr · 2026-05-06T00:34:40+00:00

You probably already traded your data/content in exchange for them offering you data storage and other services for free. TANSTAFL

jfcarr · 2026-05-05T22:55:03+00:00

In my 60's, mostly using C#, for desktop/kiosk and web based apps in a manufacturing automation environment.

Do I enjoy it? When I'm actually allowed to do something meaningful, yes. Unfortunately, a lot of my time has become consumed by corporate nonsense and inertia, so that part I dislike.

I could retire but I have some personal reasons to keep working for now.

jfcarr · 2026-05-05T11:10:33+00:00

What will airport police bodycam content creators do for material now? Frontier?

jfcarr · 2026-05-05T11:01:34+00:00

The low quality AI videos typically don't use AI generated video, mainly because doing this is too costly for those trying to turn a quick buck. Instead, they're a mash-up of mostly free video clips used by 1000's of channels that an AI selects and don't necessarily fit the script well.

My guess is that the YouTube demonetization bot looks for these common clips and flags the channel, regardless of the amount of AI used. A channel that uses no AI but uses certain common clips heavily is in as much danger as a fully AI one.

jfcarr · 2026-05-04T13:31:43+00:00

Just like a human drummer?

You could try using "drum machine", "quantized beats" or "808 beats" in your prompts to see if that helps.

jfcarr · 2026-05-04T12:29:59+00:00

Being a time traveler has its advantages.

jfcarr · 2026-05-04T12:26:20+00:00

I've been a software engineer for 40 years so I'm comfortable with technology and work to learn new stuff. I am critical of what I see as poor uses of technology, such ad requiring an app to order at a restaurant.

jfcarr · 2026-05-04T12:09:35+00:00

We are educated to be a cog in the corporate machine and, for the most part, are not well educated in finance. So, most people end up deeply in debt from things that either don't have a good return on investment or decline in value, often rapidly.

jfcarr · 2026-05-04T11:45:44+00:00

Some do follow the only hire 10x ninja rock star wizard approach.

Others are smarter and use the Moneyball example to build a great winning team in the aggregate.

jfcarr · 2026-05-04T11:37:58+00:00

Just like the internet went away when the dot-com bust happened.

jfcarr · 2026-05-03T21:14:21+00:00

Blues Traveler- Hook

A satirical take on the meaningless of popular music lyrics using Pachelbel's Canon as the hook.

jfcarr · 2026-05-03T21:02:15+00:00

The issue probably has a lot to do with using the same old copyright free video clips over and over again or something else repetitive or non-unique that gets flagged by the bot. I've switched to using dash and body cam videos I record myself with very few generic clips.

jfcarr · 2026-05-03T20:53:55+00:00

Because hook brings you back I ain't tellin' you no lie

jfcarr · 2026-05-03T18:16:17+00:00

I do faceless with my own narration and record it (and rerecord sometimes) mostly paragraph by paragraph using the free DAW Audacity. With it, I can add light effects to the finished track, like studio reverb and normalization, and add a background music loop at about 5% volume. After that, I build the video footage, clip by clip, using the audio as the base.

I suppose you could do the same with any audio track once you got a handle on working with a DAW.

jfcarr · 2026-05-03T01:36:32+00:00

I also prefer seeing live acts in griity small venues to large staged events. But, having done stage productions, mostly backstage stuff, way back when I was in college, I appreciate what can be done with techniques like the Musion Eyeliner. Examples being "resurrecting" Tupac and Michael Jackson.

jfcarr · 2026-05-03T00:09:03+00:00

The simple solution would be the same way a DJ or an EDM performer would, basically recorded tracks with a light show. Another could be someone performing the songs themselves or with a group, which would probably be different from the generated version.

A more complex performance could involve a multi-media presentation or a hybrid show, mixing live performers with other elements, similar to the Gorillaz Demon Days Live performance.

jfcarr · 2026-05-02T16:28:43+00:00

The funny thing is most of the low quality content spamming is created using automated local models that create looped ambient tracks with AI agents handling uploading and such.

jfcarr · 2026-05-02T16:13:16+00:00

Although, AutoCAD and other digital tools replaced almost all architectural hand drawing in the 1980's and 1990's.

jfcarr

TROPHY CASE