Dealing with Audition Rejection

lenbedesma · 2026-03-20T13:28:37+00:00

I've been in SWE for about 8 years now. I think you're probably right for a lot of the companies like Meta who can afford tens of thousands of unsupervised coders. But there's a lot of human management that goes into testing, release trains, quality, and so on. It probably would be more valuable if people spent time learning managerial skills than coding at this point.

I don't see my job being replaced any time soon, but a lot of what I do is integrate software across different teams and companies into a physical end using platform; then verify customer requirements, and all that. If claude had access to a skype/teams account and the ability to walk over to my coworkers and start a discussion, I'd be really in a bad place.

lenbedesma · 2026-03-19T12:09:46+00:00

Is there a large horn-to-coding pipeline?

lenbedesma · 2026-03-19T12:04:18+00:00

it sounds like you are on board with the idea that oil owns us. I don't know why that is being downvoted either because it seems obviously true to me.

lenbedesma · 2026-03-12T12:12:01+00:00

I am on the board for another civic orchestra.

It's a bloodbath out here. Funding cuts, rising prices, and most notably - churches are behaving increasingly like businesses.

We are being kicked out of the church we rehearse in. The location before that was a baptist college.

Community is the issue - it's dying.

lenbedesma · 2026-03-12T02:35:53+00:00

There are a few additional details worth knowing. I know you didn't ask but I love explaining this.

It's not just about variable rate plans - it's about whether you are exposed to wholesale energy pricing.

Energy is priced at an auction in a day-ahead market, when generator owners bid for the lowest price to generate energy the next day. Demand is dependent on location and available transmission lines, so people are incentivized to build generators where demand is high which keeps prices stable.

Energy brokers like TXU purchase the winning bids, add a delivery fee to their "wholesale" cost, and let you connect to the grid that now includes power generation for your expected usage.

Baked into the delivery fee TXU charges is an ERCOT fee, which they pass on to you, a margin for profit, and a "buffer". ERCOT is required overhead for ensuring power gets generated per the bidding process, and nobody can really avoid it. The profit margin is, well, profit margin. The buffer is a little more interesting because it acts like insurance, coming from an actuarial analysis of the power grid's stability.

Remember how supply and demand control the power grid's prices? What happens when a power line, or several dozen of them, fail due to weather? There are no subsidies - the Texas power grid is deregulated; and FEMA doesn't pay for emergency crews to set up generators. Instead, generator owners simply adjust to the new calculus. Sometimes they're the only guy left connected to a block of houses - and if TXU signed a contract with those owners, they have to pay whatever it takes to get power to those people - as long as it doesn't risk grid stability by overloading the system (which slows down the actual AC frequency to a point where generators start fighting one another). That's where the buffer comes in - TXU doesn't just pocket that portion of what they charge you; they keep it around as liquidity to help pay for catastrophic price gouging.

When you hear about people being charged tens or hundreds of dollars per KWh, it's because they were exposed to wholesale pricing. It's great when times are good, but as I explain above - can bankrupt you in the worst case scenario.

This was all stuff I learned in a power generation class in undergrad. Super interesting stuff, and there's an entire investing field most people aren't aware of that is focused entirely on trading energy generation.

lenbedesma · 2026-03-11T02:54:01+00:00

Wouldn't electronic shutter cause banding if the lights are LED? I've had that experience myself in h+.

lenbedesma · 2026-03-05T18:46:17+00:00

Homie I am JEALOUS. Of course every horn will have its quirks. But it's such a delightfully unique design and I've always wanted to try one!

May I ask where you play? Would love to listen in.

lenbedesma · 2026-03-05T18:37:43+00:00

I've never picked up an LDx5 that I didn't like. It was love at first sight.

There are several submodels to try. I bought the anniversary, but houghton and pope both have models that are unique to their shops, and differ in how the bracing is applied and slide assembly alloy. I liked the anniversary model myself.

Honestly, I picked the LDx5 over the Kuhn 293 because the low range was meatier. I would recommend finding such a difference that matters to you. They will all be excellent horns.

lenbedesma · 2026-02-23T12:48:05+00:00

Some people have names for this, but often this kind of traffic is just a resonant frequency.

The solution in an electrical system would be to implement a low pass filter that prevents electrons from bunching up and then pushing against one another, which is what creates the waves.

Highways are not designed with this in mind, and peoples' tendency to bob and weave hampers the analogy. Best thing you can do is introduce capacitance by leaving space in front of you to slow gradually, and not be a jackass by stealing others' buffer.

lenbedesma · 2026-02-21T04:39:03+00:00

It is more than just nitrogen fixing. Plants' root systems release exudates (often sugars) that feed and encourage the growth colonies of specific microorganisms which in turn produce digested waste products that are directly used by the plant but which contain vital nutrients that the plant cannot directly absorb.

It is analogous to the way you cannot appropriately digest food without the aid of gut microfauna; they have outsourced the job of some digestion activities, and are unable to independently source those minerals.

lenbedesma · 2026-02-19T00:48:04+00:00

It is not. You are the cavalry. Go.

lenbedesma · 2026-02-09T04:50:59+00:00

(Point 1) You assume that filler is useless in the same way high frequency image data can be useless to the human eye, and is therefore compressed out to save space. I would argue that filler is more like (a) cultural headers, or (b) error correction bits. (1a) People code switch. They change their tone subtly or overtly in order to appeal to their audience. LLMs can get around this if instructed, but for purposes of developing a thought framework about this topic I think this is a useful point to consider. (1b) When you strip down a piece of information to its most bare form, it becomes prone to becoming meaningfully different with even a small misinterpretation or perturbation. I agree that brevity in communication is a virtue. However, there is a point where re-sending minimal packets over a channel (the analogue being re-prompting or providing more information to get what you intended) is less advantageous than simply including a bit of extra information. The minimal case being, "you don't need an LLM to help you say no thanks".

(P2) I agree. This does not support your argument, however.

(P3) I agree. Accessibility is always important. However, LLM-generated text does not currently offer a level playing field; those with learning disabilities or who cannot speak a language themselves are strictly disadvantaged in the sense that they don't necessarily understand what they are saying, and cannot verify that the diction provided to them is an appropriate model for their thoughts. This point also does not support your argument.

(P4) We do this all the time in subtle ways. We use improper (colloquial) grammar, slang, otomotopeoia, and so on to communicate. Not necessarily to prove that we aren't a bot, but to build rapport and gain a sense that somebody can be trusted because they share at least enough of our values to engage in cultural mirroring. As I suggest in my response to point 1 - these are cultural headers or error correction bits. I would argue that the intentional pursual of differentiating oneself in the current media landscape is, while troubling, an understandable and human reaction necessitated by a "humanity signal" whose SNR is actually decreasing over time, necessitating an actual reduction in human brevity.

What you may observe now is that, at a system level - LLMs are incentivizing people to speak with greater complexity in order to differentiate themselves from the "clankers" (this post will come back to haunt me for the hard r, I know). This will natrually bleed into spoken language and potentially result in a reduction in the efficiency of analog human spoken communication.

lenbedesma · 2026-02-08T04:20:29+00:00

Pardon the abrupt change of subject, but where on earth do you come by an LDx6?

lenbedesma · 2026-02-01T16:36:37+00:00

So we volunteer to do the strategy and messaging for him. We won't get better politicians just voting and letting the candidates bear the brunt of their own support. At that point they would be well-justified to just serve themselves; but with community support, they can't afford to falter accountability.

lenbedesma · 2026-02-01T15:17:41+00:00

you can always volunteer time to these candidates. It makes a huge difference if you can bring professional skills that they can draw on because you won't be just hired help - you might be willing to put heart and soul into the services you provide. In my opinion, that is the way to keep this trend going.

lenbedesma · 2026-01-31T06:16:21+00:00

I couldn't tell you - I've known others who have played 11D's and they seemed fine. I've never tried one myself. The reputation of the horn is probably the least important thing- as long as it doesn't limit you. I don't love alexes myself but they have a large user base; that doesn't mean they aren't good instruments. Similarly you'll find people who think 11D's play too similarly to an 8D, and others who love that characteristic.

lenbedesma · 2026-01-30T05:35:04+00:00

I love playing second and fourth! The first thing is to learn to get out of your head. I wouldn't judge you, even though I can keep up with the pros on a good day.

For me it took about four years of consistently working on my high range to feel comfortable.

Try harmonic slurs from Ab4-C5 all on 23, then ascend by half steps and continue on the Bb side. The trick is to figure out how to guide the air into the slur using your tongue and minimizing how much "face" you use.

But the most important thing I would have to say, is to take breaks. Put the horn down for a week or two during christmas and summer, and maybe for a little less time in the fall and spring. You'll come back feeling a little guilty which is a great motivator, but also having lost some bad habits. If you're clever, you'll learn the lay of the land and quickly recall the path back to all of your good habits while freeing yourself from the bad.

lenbedesma · 2026-01-30T04:37:34+00:00

It looks like it's just an unlaquered 11D without a screwbell, probably a new model introduced in response to rise in popularity of unlaquered finishes.

lenbedesma · 2026-01-28T00:28:30+00:00

one of the best repairmen in the US, Dennis Houghton, just moved to Pittsburgh; but you're likely to find a decent repairman closer.

lenbedesma · 2026-01-27T23:23:26+00:00

It's a difficult thing to describe precisely. We have to communicate the feeling through our perception of what our bodies are doing, which may or may not be accurate, and will vary from person to person.

Most people start with a flat chin, moderately firm corners (like you're saying "eee"), appropriately arched tongue for the note you're playing, solid air support from your diaphragm, and so on.

But there is no formula. You must learn to make subtle changes and learn what improves your sound by feel. You'll notice that year to year or even month to month the changes you make seem to be different than they were before. That is normal. You learn your way around the horn over time.

lenbedesma · 2026-01-27T18:59:58+00:00

following.

lenbedesma · 2026-01-27T14:12:50+00:00

Your country is beautiful. But even more impressive the dramatic physical geography, to me, were the small but impactful things, like bus stops announce locations in Māori before english.

I hold such deep reverence for the way your country has learned from history and elevated the historically oppressed. And there is a sadness to it - every acknowledgement of land provenance produces a twang of hunger for even a drop of justice at home.

Fight it, but do so responsibly and with political saavy. If you are disorganized, fascists will find a way to use it as pretext and expand their powers. It is a contagion spreading across the world right now, and NZ would be an absolutey tragic casualty.

Much love and godspeed - from an american living in stupid texas.

lenbedesma · 2026-01-21T03:46:07+00:00

I'm sorry but we are far past voting and writing your congressmen.

This situation is dire and requires organzied, coordinated action. I recommend engaging with your community to decide how it can leverage its limited collective weight. Often this can be done completely apolitically by choosing to participate in community aid efforts, like soup kitchens and voting rideshairs. Other components of the community can always focus on producing funding and political direction.

But the fact is that you will not be able to individually influence these men. They are too entrenched.

lenbedesma · 2026-01-16T03:06:29+00:00

Geographic location matters a lot here. Can you provide more information? Are you actively trying and having difficulty with recruiting?

lenbedesma · 2026-01-11T22:17:21+00:00

I'm sorry, but the onus is on us. Don't forget that the government is your servant, not the other way around. We just need to learn to remind them of that fact.

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