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Übercomplicated

@ Uebercomplicated @lemmy.ml

Posts
6
Comments
97
Joined
3 yr. ago

Linux nerd. Music lover. Specialty coffee obsessed. The list goes on; stop using so many gosh darn periods!

  • Parents opt kids out of school laptops, ask for pen-and-paper

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  • Same!!! I have the auditory thingy and dyslexia, so writing (words, not math) was hell on earth for me for most of highschool. Getting to use a laptop in 11th and 12th grade was a godsent.

    But in 10th grade I actually did something that mostly solved my hatred of handwriting: I taught myself calligraphy and whole-arm-writing. Now I love handwriting, don't have pain doing it anymore, people compliment my writing, etc.

    Though I still can't listen to stuff while writing 🤷 luckily I was able to use a laptop in lectures (philosophy is very notes heavy), and after college it becomes irrelevant, thank god.

  • Parents opt kids out of school laptops, ask for pen-and-paper

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  • I did! The IT department literally laughed at me. I also tried to get them to let teachers install uBlock Origin, because they apparently will watch educational YouTube videos in class sometimes, and then get random ads for everyone to suffer under. But uBlock Origin doesn't have their support... Ironically, they only support Windows computers and iPhones on the school network. Android, MacOS, and Linux are all officially unsupported.

  • Spotify says its best developers haven't written a line of code since December, thanks to AI

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  • This is why I switched!!! I don't use streaming services much, but I hated spotify's shuffle and general music suggestions. So I tested qobuz and tidal, and can confirm that tidal's suggestions are far superior to Spotify's. I still prefer collecting albums and listening to them individually though

  • In a blind test, audiophiles couldn't tell the difference between audio signals sent through copper wire, a banana, or wet mud

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  • Nowadays, it's about how they mastered it. I can tell you for a fact Ozzy's no more tears CD sounds like shit and the double record mix is FARRRR better, because it doesn't have the life squished out of it from brickwalling. Is that digital vs analog? No. Its mastering.

    This is 10000% true!! I worked as a mixing and mastering engineer for a while, and lemme tell you... the loudness wars never ended. This is why I still collect vinyl, the medium is kinda shit, but the masters are so much better that it's hugely worth it for a about 2/3 albums I own (1/3 are duds; I can live with that).

  • In a blind test, audiophiles couldn't tell the difference between audio signals sent through copper wire, a banana, or wet mud

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  • I don't about you, but in my country Tidal is cheaper than Spotify. But that might be placebo

    /jk, though tidal is actually cheaper here. I can't tell the difference in blind testing between 320 kbps mp3 exported in Reaper and the original wav; they're indistinguishable to me. Actually, I can tell them apart with some airwindows dithers, but that is a pretty esoteric exception.

  • I used an original iPod Nano in 2026, and it worked surprisingly well

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  • Fiio is excellent, 100% agree. Everything I've ever owned from them has had superb build quality. I don't like their headphones or desk amps much, but all their portable stuff is, in my opinion, the best available.

  • Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney supports the $900 million lawsuit against Valve, arguing Steam is "the only major store still holding onto payment ties and 30% junk fee"

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  • I opened the windows in -5°C and this is the cat’s reaction

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  • Oh shoot, thanks for the correction. Dyslexia strikes again!

  • I opened the windows in -5°C and this is the cat’s reaction

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  • I may have been caught red handed... 😬

  • I opened the windows in -5°C and this is the cat’s reaction

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  • Everything my dad taught me – and his father him, and so on – would go to waste if I didn't do that! I couldn't disrespect him that way... And besides, it's good for you, to get some fresh air!

  • I opened the windows in -5°C and this is the cat’s reaction

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  • I was wondering why he was glaring at me...

  • Why doesn't it feel as classy?

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  • Plus one on Pro-Ject. Excellent record players.

    The cheapest "audiophile" record player they have is probably the Debut Carbon Evo, but even the cheaper ones, especially with an elliptical stylus, are are excellent. You can get their cheapest turntable, the E1, with a 60€ Ortofon OM 5E cartridge (elliptical stylus) for only 230€ in Europe. I've tested it and it punches well above its weight. The only thing missing is tracking force control and anti-scating control, so you're a little limited, but who can complain at that price.

    The one thing I'd note for people considering adopting the hobby is the importance of a good phono preamp. Most cheaper or built-in ones are wildly inaccurate and will intensely misrepresent your records. Always make sure to look up the frequency response and how well it matches RIAA from a third party's measurements! A good phono will do wonders for audio quality compared to one of lesser quality.

  • I'm just trying to lose a few pounds

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  • That little difference becomes very important in road cycling... I personally always recommend used road bikes. New, you have to spend many thousands. But I've seen superb used options (e.g. carbonfiber, ultegra or nowadays even 105, decent wheels and handlebars) for under 1000€.

    One will have to spend a little extra to replace a couple parts, but it's still a fraction of the new cost. My first good road bike was third hand and I was cycling competitively.

    A bike just for weight loss or something similar can be cheaper, of coarse. But serious road cycling is often trickier, you'll want carbon fiber at least. YMMV though

  • What's the longest audiobook you've ever heard?

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  • Is this a crazy coincidence or are you psychic?!? The picture in the post is from the Sorcerer’s Stone! I got sick and nostalgic, and started listening to it.

    I think it's a little shorter in reality though, compared to what audible claims here...

    You're 100% right about Rowling, she's gone off the deep end in a bad way.

  • Mixtapes 2.0

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  • I've tried everything and I really really really can't use Google. It just never gets me what I want. DDG works ok, and is usually my default because it's fast and simple.

    Recently (1 or 2 years) I've found Brave search to be fantastic though. You may want to disable the AI search summary (it's better than Google's or DDG's ai stuff, but still ultimately ai). Now, I find myself reaching for brave search when I'm doing more serious searching. I have both DDG and Brave saved as search short cuts in librewolf. Highly recommend.

  • Backing up Spotify

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  • I am a small indie artist. I earn nearly no money from streaming services, but I do from Bandcamp, SoundCloud (though fuck Soundcloud, they also suck), actual LPs and CDs sold, etc.

    If someone decides to listen to my music over Spotify, or really any streaming service, they are also "stealing" my music. Because I get no money from that, and listening to my music over those platforms strengthens their monopoly (this mostly applies to Spotify).

    I need to publish my music on Spotify et al (fuck you discogs) for discoverability, because they have an evil fucking global monopoly, but the moment anyone finds my music there, I would ask them to listen to it elsewhere.

    It will literally benefit me, and indie artist, more, if you bootleg my music instead of listening via streaming services, as this weakens their monopoly. Seriously.

    I have a different job, I don't need to live from my music right now, so the stakes are fairly low for me. But it still sucks to see streaming services ruin independent music like this. I would ask everyone to bootleg music, and then support artists like me through Bandcamp (especially CDs and LPs) and donations (or merch, though I don't have any), if you appreciate the art.

    I don't expect anyone to immediately buy niche music they don't know, so bootlegging until you become a fan seems reasonable to me. I've discovered many of my favorite albums like that, eventually buying LPs online and donating to the artist; that is far more beneficial to those artists than listening over any streaming service (including the slightly better tidal and Amazon music).

    /rant over

  • Removed

    Asking the right questions...

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  • Em dashes are considered informal, I have had several professors scold me for using them in academic writing. Like contractions.

  • functions

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  • You QWERTY people...

    /jk

    Colemak is great though

  • Order up

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  • Shelley kinda designed them to be doppelgänger, so you could also argue that they are the same.

  • Windows 11 to add an AI agent that runs in background with access to personal folders, warns of security risk

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  • I did the tidal ABX test, which I prefer since it's comparing FLAC, and the difference is almost negligible. I do hear a slight difference >15k, and I can only year up to 18.5k, but on most tracks it's not noticeable. Also slightly worse transients, but again, only noticable on a few tracks. I also can only hear any of this on HD600s with very, very high volume, which is not how I usually listen to music. I really like this test :)

    Lossless is still nice to have though, mostly because I can then rip FLAC files to do good remasters, which is why I happily use tidal (also for a number of other reasons).