Done Since 2025-09-14
Sep. 21st, 2025 06:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mdlbearA very busy week. Perhaps not quite as productive as we'd hoped. But anyway, we put down a lot of scratch tracks, and put in a total of eight hours of studio time. Some of which is definitely going to have to be re-done. Not clear how much we can salvage, but we learned a lot.
Meanwhile I re-strung Plink, in part so that I could replace the battery. I broke a wire in the process of trying (unsuccessfully) to get the new 9V battery into the clip. Thereby accelerating my long-term goal of mounting the battery outside. An ill wind, and all that. I still need to buy a new battery holder, and see if I can locate my soldering iron.
As if I didn't have enough rabbit holes to fall into, I've discovered a static (web)site generator called Hakyll. Written in Haskell. See Tuesday. I am (so far) not looking in that direction.
And as if we didn't have enough problems to throw money at, we decided to call in a plumber after the kitchen sink leaked all over the floor one time too many. He confirmed my speculation that the mess (not a rat's nest -- that's wires; maybe a can of worms) under the sink was caused by a previous owner who thought they knew what they were doing. It looks much saner now, and everything empties faster after reaming out 12m of drain. The temperature control on the first-floor shower is still broken; since all the works are inside the wall it may stay that way, unless their "old guy who knows everything" can identify the brand and point the way to a fix that doesn't involve tearing into the wall from the other side.
The best links are on Saturday this week -- these include guinea pig rental services in Switzerland and an an amazing Bohemian Rhapsody Flashmob. Although last Sunday's Busy Beaver article may be worth a look if your taste runs to Turing machines and insanely large numbers.
ADHD research
Sep. 18th, 2025 12:12 pmfirecat(Content note: The article uses language that frames ADHD as a problem)
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/adhd-advantage-hypercuriosity
Thankful Thursday
Sep. 18th, 2025 07:29 pmmdlbearToday I am thankful for...
- Kaleidofolk's new album starting to come together,
- Mario of StudiOjo in Wateringen. Also, having a professional recording studio walking distance (450m) from our house.
- Learning a lot about recording. NO thanks for my scratch tracks being barely usable. Oops.
- Bandmates (m and N) with an ear for harmony, as well as m's voice coaching.
- Bronx's growing talents as a snuggler. He may be taking lessons from Ticia. Also, having a cat to keep my back warm on cold nights.
- 5mm cube magnets.
Done Since 2025-09-07
Sep. 14th, 2025 07:28 pmmdlbearOn the whole it's been a pretty good week, modulo problems with the kitchen plumbing, and my internal plumbing. But music! With m leaving next week for the US until the end of October, we had to get as many of their tracks on the new Kaleidofolk album as possible recorded. For this we needed scratch tracks, and as of this afternoon we have them. We have studio time booked for Wednesday and Thursday.
We visited StudiOjo Friday evening. It's only 450m away -- an easy walk even for us. I'll be saying more about the album soon, presumably; all that's needed is time to write it. For now, I'll just mention the title, Winds of Time, which comes from a line near the end of the next-to-last track, "Millennium's Dawn".
In the process of searching for an instrument cable I came across my MXL large-diaphragm condenser mic, so the purple RØDE NT1 I've been coveting will have to wait until this project is done. Hazard pay.
We need to talk
Sep. 13th, 2025 05:04 pmfirecatI never got the hang of Twitter. I have similar problems with Bluesky. I don’t need a social site to deliver me more links. I want conversation. Is conversation dead? Where is it? (I know there’s some here…)
I miss Usenet, lol
Thankful Thursday
Sep. 11th, 2025 10:04 pmmdlbearToday I am thankful for...
- A very bad hiss on one channel of my recording rig turning out to be a bad cable, and not the (rather expensive) microphone. (If it had been the interface it would have been a good excuse to get a better one.)
- Having extra mic cables sitting around for just such a situation.
- Having made a psych appointment for next week, before N told me that I probably needed one. NO thanks for freaking out under stress.
- Progress, specifically in breathing and singing exercises. Having m as a vocal coach.
I do not know how to characterize the fact that the RØDE NT1 now comes in PURPLE. Gratitude doesn't seem quite appropriate.
September, still
Sep. 9th, 2025 04:37 pmcellioThe other day, I saw something cute and reposted it on Mastodon:
Overheard, and for Internet old-timers: "Today is the 11,691st day of September 1993".
Someone responded to tell me that Debian has the sdate command "which keeps track for all of us".
I laughed. And then I found that there are also online calculators, for people who don't use Debian.
I am amused, even if -- or perhaps because -- those of us who remember the September that never ended are now a very small minority of the online population. Back then people were frustrated; today it's quirky history. Whatever your online community is -- Usenet, mailing lists, Twitter, Reddit, Dreamwidth, Stack Overflow, whatever -- it's going to change just from the people using it, let alone technology and companies. Don't get too comfortable.
strange credit-card pitch
Sep. 9th, 2025 04:27 pmcellioI've had my Visa card for a very long time (decades). I've been happy with the provider, and the few times I needed the weight of Visa behind a dispute, they came through. No fuss, just like I want a credit card to be.
A few months ago they started sending me email to invite me to add another authorized user to my card, suggesting it as a safety net (so if something happens to me, someone else can administer my account). Maybe that appeals to someone, but I'm not interested so I ignored it. More recently they have been offering minor inducements (a one-time small credit) to do this, and that makes me wonder what their real goal is.
If this is merely a service they offer for peace of mind, the peace of mind is the inducement and nothing else is needed. That they are trying to entice people to do it means there's some other motivation that benefits them more directly. I'm assuming this is not a way to add your minor children so they can more easily make in-app purchases or whatever the kids are doing these days -- and anyway, unless they're giving you a way to throttle spending from other users, that would be a very bad idea.
The only thing I can come up with is that this is a way for people with bad credit scores to get access to credit cards. They aren't going to issue cards to such folks directly, but if they can get you to add your deadbeat cousin with a terrible credit rating (to "help" your family member), then the credit-card company gets more transactions and thus more transaction fees at very low risk to them. They know an existing customer who'd like to keep a good credit rating is on the hook for the charges; they're going to get paid. This might be in Visa's interest, but how is it in mine? It's not, which is presumably why they're trying to buy folks off.
Have I missed some benign reason for them to push this scheme?
(Still not doing it, but curious.)
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