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no-cheating  ·  3353 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: There Really Is No Excuse To Steal Music Anymore

I've done my share of music piracy and a pretty big one. I don't feel too bad about it. I wasn't earning money and couldn't afford to buy this music back then.

The other reason that came up later is the modern mastering quality. It is quite poor (because of things like compression and noise-reduction). For older records (which I listen to a lot) you're much better snatching some 1980s CD or even better an original vinyl copy. The audio quality will simply be much better. The prices of these ones can be astronomically high, where you can find quality vinyl rips (vinyl recordings converted to digital formats) on the web for free. Of course, when downloading such free versions, you could still purchase any original copy to support the artists.

For big labels artists most (I'm not sure but I read somewhere that it can even get up to 90%) of the money goes to the recording company, not the artist himself. Your money supports not exactly what you'll want it to. And so I feel it's more the industry that would benefit from stoping piracy than the artists themselves.

I've had really great experiences on the pirating sites I've participated in (most notably what.cd). They were great communities that are not about money. They're full of music lovers - people who rip obscure CDs, vinyls, discuss them with passion. They have nothing to earn, people just share music there out of love, because they want it to be heard.

And don't you think that the artists' main intention should be to just reach the audience no matter if it's through a pirated or a legal copy? I understand he must also earn money, but being an artist is not a regular job that one take just to make a living.

no-cheating  ·  3354 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What do you think of video games?

In the end I think I'll give up TrackMania, at least for now. It'll be better, if I spend this time practising on the guitar, reading and looking for a job. Maybe after I'll find a job, I'll give it a try.

no-cheating  ·  3354 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What do you think of video games?

That is a really interesting video indeed. I haven't realized that the mechanics possibilities are limiting the ways of expression of game producers.

Nice to hear that. Good luck to you both : ).

no-cheating  ·  3354 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Seeking recommendations on books on change

I'll pass on it now. I wouldn't mind the marks at all, but I don't think it's exactly what I'm looking for and I already have pretty big pile of books to read. Still thank you for the offer.

no-cheating  ·  3354 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Seeking recommendations on books on change

It seems like an interesting story. I'll write it down and maybe get and read it sometime.

no-cheating  ·  3354 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Led Zeppelin – Going to California [not your usual Zeppelin]

Not my favourite band, but I love this song. Great lyrics.

Probably the nicest thing I've read here. Thanks for sharing it. Hope your mom somehow worked things out since then.

no-cheating  ·  3355 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What do you think of video games?

You're right telling that there are a lot of good video games around there. My view is probably more pessimistic, because these are simply not the ones which I see people around me playing. And just as you I've had some bad experiences with hardcore gamers.

no-cheating  ·  3355 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What do you think of video games?

I did play the first part of Geometry Wars. It was nice.

no-cheating  ·  3355 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What do you think of video games?

Haven't heard about that classification. It looks helpful indeed.

As for TrackMania... I also had great times with TrackMania Sunrise. Ah, my mind wandered to the hours spent on nailing the tracks for an Author Medal... And then the next one.

I always thought it's such a neat game, because it's stripped of all of those unimportant features you have in other games - like earning some reputation, money, new cars, some poor background stories. In TrackMania all you're left is the challenge (as you mentioned) to do it faster than the previous time.

All this talk about TrackMania made me want to play it...

no-cheating  ·  3355 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What do you think of video games?

Were you upset your parents didn't allow you to play video games when you were young? Do you now think it was a good decision?

no-cheating  ·  3355 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Best Free Handwritten Script Fonts (for commercial use)

I've been looking for handwritten fonts myself only recently. I wanted to use it for one small part of text in my CV. I settled on Christopher Hand and the CV turned out really cool.

no-cheating  ·  3355 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What do you think of video games?

I agree that old titles on average basis were so much better than the current ones. It seems especially paradoxical when you consider how poorer the computer powers were back then. In many cases even the outward gameplay possibilities were limited by that. Still the whole experience was deeper and more diversified and that's what should really matter. Current games are mostly about audio-visual fireworks, but shallow when you look deeper than that.

Speaking for slow I had a lot of fun listening to reversed version of Bob Dylan's "Desolation Row". Some people in the comments were hearing a lot of different things in the lyrics.

no-cheating  ·  3355 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Is there any way to view who is currently online on hubski?

It seems you posted your question without any tag. No one (other than people who follow directly you) will be able to see your post. Add a tag to it. #askhubski would probably be good.

As for your question I don't know how to see a list of users online (if there exists such a feature). But I think you can use chatter feature to emulate that.

no-cheating  ·  3355 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: How Did You Hear Of Hubski?

I found it searching for almost the same term : ). Only I used DuckDuckGo instead of Google.

no-cheating  ·  3355 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Fuck resolutions, what are you watching?

I prefer movies. The only TV show I've watched in my adult life was Twin Peaks and Lars von Trier's Riget.

Few days ago I watched a documentary Paradise Lost. A disturbing story about 3 teenagers being sentenced for life (one of them for death) for murders of 3 boys on a very poor evidence with a lot of inconsistencies. Some DNA tests made few years ago freed all of them.

A week ago I've been in a cinema with a friend. There were 3 animations played (two shorts and one full feature): Hedgehog in the Fog, Tale of Tales and Watership Down. I liked all of them, but the first and last mentioned one really stunned me, giving me shivers more than a few times and even few tears. Can't recommend you enough watching Hedgehog in the Fog. It's only 15 minutes but such a memorable video. I think you can even find it on YouTube.

no-cheating  ·  3355 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Becoming a vegan. Where to start?

What's wrong with buying books? I find the info in books (although I can't say about the average, as I always do some research to find some best ones in the subject) generally valuable, while in Internet it's more hit and miss with much more percentage trashy content. And I guess I simply like that feel and the fact that I'm off of the screen for a while.

I'm going vegan, as I feel it can do more good for the animal welfare.

no-cheating  ·  3355 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: There are more slaves today than at any time in human history

Yeah, I also find the title bit misleading, but the other points that the article makes are much better.

no-cheating  ·  3355 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Simbha rounds up his friends in one big circle and says

I had no idea we're close! Still it's nice, thanks.

no-cheating  ·  3363 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hi hubski! Any home-schoolers there? How is it? How do you do it?

I stick to the same rules - both at work and after it The problem I often have is making my goals too big (or too many). That means that I either have no free time or don't complete every task from the list. The point is putting your own goals can be tricky to get right. Also while short-term (daily) goals may be easy to set up, first do the in-depth thinking about your long-term (for the whole year) ones. Only then set the smaller ones accordingly. But yeah, repeating myself, planning can be difficult. At least to me.

And breaks. Never forget to take breaks in between learning. When you have a lot to do, it's easy to "forget" about them. But if you don't take them, you quickly begin to lose effectiveness. I think everyone has it's own rhythm. For me 5 minutes every 30 minutes or 10 minutes every hour works well. It's good to do some exercise (I'm often juggling), as that positively stimulates the brain and I always feel my mind significantly refreshed after doing even few minutes of some physical activity.

I'd also say that the choice of a good textbook is very important. It can affect your learning speed and the amount of knowledge you'll remember in a positive or negative way - just like the regular teachers do. So always take some times to dig through the web reading and comparing people's opinions on which textbooks in given subjects are worth picking. It's actually one of your advantages over what you have when schooled in an institution.

And if you have some doubts (when learning alone you'll sometimes feel in need of some teacher to tell you if you're going in the right direction) go and talk to someone qualified. You can go to your current public school teachers from time to time or you can write on a forum. What's important is to always dispel the doubts as that may sometimes block you. You might also consider contacting some qualified people (like teachers) from time to time to control your progress, if you need that.

Good luck swedishbadgergirl!

no-cheating  ·  3363 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: 105th Weekly "Share Some Music You've Been Into Lately" Thread

One of my few favourite bands with a very good live performance (Carrie Brownstein's kicks also add much to it's value :]). I only wish the video/audio quality was be a litter better.

They're to release a new record very soon.

no-cheating  ·  3365 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Suggestion / Request - A Lower Bounds Setting For Tag Display

I think it might be nice to link somewhere on the tags page to another list - all tags ever used. It's helpful (and reduces mess) when you create a post and are not sure how to tag it. That could be expanded by giving auto-completion on +post page in the tag field.

no-cheating  ·  3365 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What does clicking a comment's hubwheel do?

I get it, it's only the recent ones. I thought that tags page lists all of the tags used ever.

no-cheating  ·  3365 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What does clicking a comment's hubwheel do?

Thanks.

The first link mentions tag #suggestions. Why is that tag hidden in the tags list? Was it disabled? In fact I was in need and looking for such a tag once.

no-cheating  ·  3366 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Extremist Vegans [cartoon]

Yeah, it is quite inexplicable to me how many rational stances are taken as extremism when it comes to animal rights.

no-cheating  ·  3367 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: How do you take notes?

I found an app TagSpaces, which is something you may find very handy, if you use simple files to store notes.

For my purposes files aren't enough, because you can't easily hyperlink between them (unless they are HTML files) which is something I do often and find very handy.

Sorry, this comment is private.
no-cheating  ·  3367 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Radiohead – Let Down

One of my favorite songs from "OK Computer". I always thought the album's cover illustrated that one especially perfectly - when I listen to it I see a crowded city with a lot of cars and everything moving in fast motion.