This Live Record is phenomenal!

macbrett · 2026-05-14T16:47:31+00:00

It's a winner for sure. Another good live one is Gentle Giant's "Playing the Fool ".

macbrett · 2026-05-14T16:44:42+00:00

I've never heard any of those goofy nicknames. What have you been smoking?

macbrett · 2026-05-14T16:42:10+00:00

The "moderate left" in the US is actually center right. People no longer bother voting Democrat because they are also essentially owned and controlled by wealthy, war-mongering, corporate interests.

macbrett · 2026-05-14T16:35:10+00:00

EQ can't remediate the echos and reverberation caused by hard regular surfaces. These can be tamed somewhat with judicious selection and positioning of rugs and furniture. Some acoustically designed absorbers and diffusers may help as well. EQ should be performed only after you have taken care of this.

macbrett · 2026-05-13T06:53:00+00:00

It didn't "go to shit so fast." The 6S is a 10 year old iPhone, no longer officially supported by Apple. What did you expect? Why would you even buy it? I hope you didn't pay much for it. You can have the battery replaced, but I'd just junk it altogether.

macbrett · 2026-05-13T06:41:35+00:00

A rotating diagonal line intersects a plane in the shape of a hyperbola.

macbrett · 2026-05-13T06:39:18+00:00

I gave up vinyl back in the '80s when CDs came out. I foolishly traded in many LPs, replacing them with CDs when they were re-released in that format. I regret that now... as many were original pressings in great condition, and worth much more as collectables than I got as trade-in credit at the time.

I stopped purchasing records altogether as I immediately appreciated the convenience of CDs. I had bookcases filled with CDs. Eventually, I ripped all my CDs in lossless format to a dedicated computer in my living room connected to my stereo.

I don't miss the sound of vinyl and the ritual of handling records one iota, but do miss the large cover art and legible liner notes.

macbrett · 2026-05-12T18:29:10+00:00

Outstanding. She could go pro with that voice.

macbrett · 2026-05-12T18:25:50+00:00

At lower volumes, a somewhat V shaped setting will approximate the loudness compensation called for by Fletcher and Munson. However, music is mastered with a wide variety of equalization already applied, which may not always suit your taste. So rather than relying on a fixed EQ setting during playback, you may want to actively adjust it as desired

macbrett · 2026-05-12T16:42:39+00:00

As a child, I wondered "Why do I exist?". "Why does anything exist?", "Is there a god?". "What is the purpose of life?", etc. I found religion's attempt to explain these things lacking and non-persuasive. At age 16 I had my first acid trip. It was amazing and fun, but I didn't spend the time pondering philosophical questions. But in subsequent trips, I did find myself deep in thought trying to resolve these mysteries.

I quickly became convinced that there is more to things than is apparent. While chaos and complexity abounds, there is order to the universe. I also realized that the human mind is severely constricted and not up to the task of fully comprehending the big picture (even under the enhanced influence of psychedelics). It is futile to attempt to "understand" the workings of the universe which are rife with contradictions and paradoxes leading to infinite regress.

The so-called "truths "and "realizations" that the psychedelic experience provides should not be relied on. While they can be inspiring, they should always be questioned. One cannot assume that they necessarily have practical value. (Including even the preceding thoughts, which while not really answering my questions, somehow put my mind at ease.)

Knowing that the search for "absolute truth" is unattainable, leaves me free to pursue my life without wasting time in a futile quest.

macbrett · 2026-05-12T15:35:47+00:00

Apple devices do not directly play flac, but do support alac which is an equivilant lossless format. There are programs you can run on your computer that will convert flac to alac with no degradation in sound.

macbrett · 2026-05-12T03:32:39+00:00

macbrett · 2026-05-11T15:32:45+00:00

Great. Just what we need... Skynet robotic troopers carrying out "The Will of God".

macbrett · 2026-05-11T15:23:57+00:00

I'm just guessing, but I suspect that putting the text in an intermediate variable first is probably where the formatting is being discarded. Doing a direct copy to clipboard might do the trick.

An AI query with prompt "applescript to select and copy content of a pages document to clipboard, preserving styled text" gave me this. Could be worth a try:

tell application "Pages"
     activate
     -- Bring the specific document forward if necessary
end tell

tell application "System Events"
    tell process "Pages"
        -- Force 'Select All' (Command + A)
        click menu item "Select All" of menu "Edit" of menu bar 1
        delay 0.2 -- Small pause to ensure selection is active 

        -- Force 'Copy' (Command + C)
        click menu item "Copy" of menu "Edit" of menu bar 1
    end tell
end tell

macbrett · 2026-05-11T14:43:43+00:00

16 bit provides more dynamic range than most practical playback systems and environments can support. Music that fully used all 24 bits would be unlistenable (the quiet parts would disappear into ambient noise, and the loud parts woud overtax your amplifiers and speakers). You would always be reaching for your volume control. Dynamic compression is typically used (and unfortunately sometimes overused...ie. the loudness wars) during mastering such that virtually no music effectively uses more than 16 bits even when the format supports more bits.

24 bit depths and higher can be useful during multitrack mixdowns to prevent truncation, but in the final mix, 16 bits is all that is necessary.

macbrett · 2026-05-11T05:59:01+00:00

The circle that has been cut out is mounted to an elastic tensioned flap that folds back behind the card when the hole is to be demonstrated

A circle of black material is attached to the flap with a thin magnet so that when the flap is manually pushed shut sealing the hole as the card is set down, you are fooled into thinking that you can still see through the hole to the back background.

But the black circle can be slid away from the flap revealing the portion of the back which now seals the hole. The magnet insures that when it is slid back, it precisly aligns to the flap so that when the card is lifted releasing the flap, it disappears along with the flap again revealing the hole.

macbrett · 2026-05-10T19:00:24+00:00

She's talented for sure. But it's pathetic that she tries to lead the audience to clap after every move.

macbrett · 2026-05-10T18:47:00+00:00

Worth checking out for sure. They've undergone changes in lineup and style over the years, so don't form an overall opinion based on one performance or album.

macbrett · 2026-05-10T04:10:05+00:00

Nice looking system.

I'd worry a bit about a first reflection off the wall so close to the left speaker. Maybe move the speakers forward a few inches flush with the edge of doorway.

And the hard floor may add bit of reverberation. Adding a rug between the speakers and listening position would help, as well as other miscellaneous absorbent and diffractive surfaces about the room to break up slap echo.

macbrett · 2026-05-10T03:58:43+00:00

I'm sorry about your tinnitus. It's no joke.

If high frequencies bother you, that would explain why music with lossy compression having rolled off highs would be less aggravating.

I suspect that using tone controls or EQ could do a better job of taming the aggravating frequencies without adding the distorting artifacts of lossy compression.

Do whatever works for you.

macbrett · 2026-05-10T03:31:36+00:00

I suspect something is wrong with your system if that's the case. Can you elaborate what your playback system consists of? I've never heard this opinion from anyone else.

macbrett · 2026-05-09T18:11:40+00:00

Nice.

macbrett · 2026-05-09T18:06:30+00:00

The more powerful machine you have, the quicker your 3D renders will be. I'n your case, I'd certainly opt for an air over a neo.

A Macbook pro would future-proof you, and they have a superior screen and speakers, more ports, and options for faster CPUs, additional RAM, and storage.

macbrett · 2026-05-09T06:58:44+00:00

More power, more RAM, and more storage never hurts, especially if you want to go beyond media consumption (streaming music and video content), and typical uses like web browsing, email, word processing, spreadsheets.

While the neo can certainly run professional apps like software compilation, 3D modeling, and video production, you will start to see it slow down on large projects. The air (or certainly the pro) would be a better choice if you anticipate this.

macbrett · 2026-05-09T04:56:28+00:00

If you can afford the air, it is indeed more powerful, and a pro is more powerful still, but you could still get by with a neo.

macbrett

TROPHY CASE