a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
greatscott's comments
activity:

Oh, sad! Maybe next year! Alas, I don't know if I'll have a good review due to working most of it, but should hopefully be able to get some good backstage shots w/ the music headliners (I work on the A&E team).

greatscott  ·  3584 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The preventable, inevitable death

Subjectively: Have you ever fainted or gone under anesthesia, to have time jump in the blink of an eye? What happened in between? It doesn't matter. Time means absolutely nothing if you're not conscious. So at the very least, I don't think the concept of being dead itself should be worrisome.

Philosophically:

Other than that - and this is maybe unfounded - but I like to hope/assume that all instances in time actually exist together in a higher dimensional space. It just so happens that - (1) nearby instants in time are very similar to one another, and (2) the notion of the "arrow" of time is somewhat of an illusion derived from how our brains are built to have memory. But really all of these moments exist together despite our private subjective experience in the moment giving an illusion that time is moving forward. So in that sense, we're like books. It has a first page, middle pages, and a last page. There is an ordering. But the book is always still there. Every word is still on the page. And in that regard, we are immortals who cannot subjectively experience our own immortality. To give credit to the book analogy: the TED talk show on NPR recently had a good ep on "fear" and death was one of the topics : http://www.npr.org/2014/05/23/312544032/should-we-be-afraid-of-death

Last... do you really want to waste the precious moments that life has given you worrying about something you can't even have a subjective experience of? In a sense, it's JUST as silly as worrying about what a random person down the street is cooking for dinner every night. You can't/don't actually experience it. It's totally useless stress! Getting meta: there's so much we don't know about the universe. It could even be the case that time loops at some point. What if it is the case that your moments exist together for all "eternity" (for lack of a better term). Then you'd feel REALLY silly about wasting your time fretting, because you'd be re-living that worry over, and over, and over, and over.

greatscott  ·  3585 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski, what are your Irrational Fears?

Turbulence on airplanes, even though super heavy turbulence is even pretty safe.

http://www.askthepilot.com/questionanswers/turbulence/

Sorry, this comment is private.
greatscott  ·  3591 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: You're The Best!

Just got back into town and got mine!

greatscott  ·  3605 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What do you turn to when you feel lonely?

Just to be clear, it's a matter of not having the time to go out and socialize? If it's the case you have work, I recommend finding a local spot amenable to working at (e.g. coffee shop, bar, library, etc) and becoming a regular. Go almost every day for a few weeks, and get to know the people who work there. Aside from the perks you'll get as being a regular, it's also give you a nice dose of friendly non-work-related social interaction.

Turning towards creative endeavors as you've mentioned is also a great distraction, though doesn't solve the issue as well.

Last, even though you're busy, if there's any way you can do it - try to set aside one night a week to devote to hanging out with your friends. Doesn't have to be an all-night bender, either, and no shame in turning in early to work.

Sorry, this comment is private.
greatscott  ·  3607 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Soapbox Sundays S01E02: Expound on an Idea/Philosophy of Yours

OK mine. Kraftwerk. I get that they're crazy pioneers of live electronica/techno, and I respect them a ton, but I just don't get how people can go so insanely crazy over them. Is it just a nostalgia thing? In my opinion, their music has not aged well in any way. I would love to hear from fans of Kraftwerk about why they love Kraftwerk. Especially if there are fans of them who are under the age of 30. Other groups around in the 70s like Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), Tangerine Dream, or Jean Michel Jarre, I can totally get into. Just not Kraftwerk. Not a single song.

I have a feeling that the way older people feel about Kraftwerk is the same as the way I feel about (older) Underworld circa late 80s/early 90s, e.g. ~dubnobasswithmyheadman. I wonder what kids these days would think of that Underworld album.

Sorry, this comment is private.
Sorry, this comment is private.
greatscott  ·  3608 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What should my High School Valedictorian speech contain?

On a more serious note: I might suggest watching college graduation speeches from people you admire?

greatscott  ·  3608 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: IMACHINARIUM

Neat find! Thanks for sharing.

greatscott  ·  3608 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What should my High School Valedictorian speech contain?

(1) Look 'em in the eye and speak from the heart

(2) You gotta go away to come back

(3) If someone asks you to keep a secret, their secret is a lie

At least... that's what David Lynch's character said on the rules of show businesses in Louie S03E12. Sorry I am not so helpful.

greatscott  ·  3609 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski IRC - what happened??

The Monday after next-next (so about 2 weeks from now) works for me, but don't let that stop you all from doing something before then.

greatscott  ·  3609 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Seventieth Weekly "Share Some Music You've Been Into Lately" Thread

greatscott  ·  3609 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hedge funds are snatching up rental homes at an alarming rate

This is a bit of an unfounded fear of mine (as in, I don't know if legitimate or not), with regards to the widening income gap. How realistic would the following scenario be:

A future where a small group of companies/funds/individual own a large fraction of the domestic real-estate. Some unspoken price-fixing, and the result is that it's impossibly expensive for anyone to purchase property and people are slaves to price-gauging on rentals to a point that it just pushes the income gap to the very extremes.

greatscott  ·  3609 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski IRC - what happened??

Hell yes! This Monday would be fine. Starting next Monday I'll be traveling about a bit, though.

Here's a theme suggestion (but it may be difficult for some): closest (serious)^ local brewery that distributes as locally as possible. You have to pick a beer produced by a brewer from your city/town (or nearest city/town). Ideally from a brewer that doesn't distribute outside the city (or, if that doesn't work, the state). If it has to be a local brewery that distributes nationally (e.g. say, something like Dogfish Head), so be it.

^I say serious, as in, there are some restaurants that brew their own beer, but it's more of a novelty and not actually good beer, and they don't tend to actually distribute,

greatscott  ·  3609 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski IRC - what happened??

Yeah, that's sort of the problem when most people use a web-based as opposed to standalone client

greatscott  ·  3609 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski IRC - what happened??

I'm just kicking it on mountai.net:6667 #hubski -

Or, I'm hanging out on my radio stations channel (which, bizarrely has a very similar logo to hubski's) on https://webchat.packetsense.net/ #glitch.fm

greatscott  ·  3612 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: William Gibson: My Obsession

"I punched the Reload button like a bandit-cranking granny, in case somebody outbid me. "

Love this guy. A total neo-Hemingway.

Sorry, this comment is private.
greatscott  ·  3613 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: True Facts about a variety of animals, by Ze Frank

OK this is pretty great, thanks for sharing

greatscott  ·  3613 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Happy Summer Hubski - What's Your Favorite Summer Music?

Got a few summer anthems:

(1) Major Lazer's Get Free

(2) Underworld's Scribble

(3) Peter Bjorn and John - Nothing to Worry About

greatscott  ·  3613 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Happy Summer Hubski - What's Your Favorite Summer Music?

They actually just came out with a new album ("new" as in a year or two ago..., but quite new relative to that song). Pretty good too! It's on Spotify.

greatscott  ·  3613 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The MIT bitcoin project

While I do agree with the spirit of your argument, I also think that this argument in general is pretty subjective and can be applied to just about any sort of spending that doesn't have an underlying moral purpose. Who knows, maybe something good will come out of this, like Sean's Outpost came out of the Bitcoin community at large?

greatscott  ·  3614 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski, tell us about a triumph you've had.

Same. I've always made music over DJing, and I was never able to afford a real turntables. When I started, Ableton was on version 2 or 3, and Traktor had just come out. The first version of Traktor had a number of issues (e.g. the minimum bump in pitch increment was way too big)... so I ended up sticking w/ Ableton, and I used an M-Audio Ozone controller (a good # of years before the APC40 came out)... aaaand now I feel old.

Currently, I use a Livid Instruments CNTRL:R. You should check out the Livid stuff. To me it's gives a bit more control in Ableton (for live performance) over the Akai stuff. Plus, they're just a really cool company in general :)

greatscott  ·  3614 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski, tell us about a triumph you've had.

Thanks! I just found the original poster. This is REALLY EMBARRASSING and makes me cringe at myself, but... why the hell not...

prior to great scott, it was DJ Essen

greatscott  ·  3614 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski, tell us about a triumph you've had.

For a short time I was a superstar DJ in Beijing!

2006, I went to Beijing on a summer internship for Nokia. I had jokingly (OK maybe not so jokingly) told some of my colleagues back at home that I thought I'd get into DJing over there. Anyways, so I get to Nokia and I'm bored out of my mind: everyone working there is at least 10 years older than me and is not very outgoing. I need to make friends.

One of the funny things I'm just realizing now, is it never dawned on me / I never even thought of going to the bars/clubs at night to socialize. Then again, that's not exactly my sort of crowd. But back to the story at hand.

So one day, I make a decision and say screw it. I'm going to go find myself a little DJ residency somewhere at a club around town. Step 1: Acquiring blank CDs was a surprisingly difficult task, being that almost no one (especially in the part of town I was living in) spoke English. Step 2: Make demo. Done (was always an Ableton/laptop MIDI DJ). Step 3: Research all potential venues in Beijing that fit the style of music I was pushing (breaks'n'house). Step 4: ... cold call/ approach the venues.

Step 4 took some serious adversity. Over two weekends, I spent all day going around to these venues in taxis during the daytime. Towards the second weekend, though, a grad student from my dept. at home who was from Beijing came to visit, so she was able to help me with translating. Basically all the management didn't speak any English / I kept getting kicked out. It was a total failure.

So I gave up...

Then. One day. I was walking back to the subway station from Nokia with my boss. He points to a big-building and tells me it's a really popular nightclub in the city (he had no idea I was doing this music stuff in the background). Right under my nose. The entire time. On closer inspection, they even had some posters up for some big acts I recognized (Takkyu Ishino, in this case).

So I pass by this place for a number of days wondering if I just want to disappoint myself again. Finally I realize that I'll regret it if I don't try. So I muster up the courage, go in to the front desk, and put my friend on the phone to talk to them while I just stand their nervously. Conversation ensues. Finally, the receptionist hands me back the phone and my friend tells me that I should head back to venue later that evening to meet with one of the managers. What?

So to wrap this up, I handed the manager demo. Manager liked it, and offered me residency. However, instead of doing that, she decided to market me as a famous DJ for a few one-offs. I'm talking like posters with my mug on 'em plastered around the city. The first show I did was totally nuts - I headlined it. I walked out on stage at this pretty big club (maybe 2000ish capacity?) to a sea of screaming and whistling people. And people got down. So, I did this maybe 2 or 3 more times, and even got flown back to headline their new years eve party. It was a pretty magnificent experience.

Bonus: I got an incredible group of friends out of it, though sadly we've lost touch over the years. Through the manager, who was an awesome person, I met other DJs, local punk rockers, rappers, tattoo artists, street racers, and got discover some really neat other bars/clubs/lounges. One of the best times in my life all around.

The power of marketing is incredible. TLDR: Decided to try to get a DJ residency in Beijing. Epic failed for a few weeks, but finally landed one and instead got marketed and treated like a headliner...