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sounds_sound  ·  1256 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The End of the Line for Trumpland Is a Poorly Rated Sex Shop in North Philly

sounds_sound  ·  1567 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The State of Hubski: 2019

Happy New Year to you mk. 10 years! Congratulations. When I came on board I knew nothing about places like Hubski. Looking back I'm a little embarrased about some of the designs I tried to push concerning the interface. A few were perhaps antithetical to the type of environment you envisioned and I clearly did not understand that. Through it all you were graciously open to exploration which I've always appreciated. Above all of it, you always had a concept for type of place this could be and I'm impressed you were able to see it through. Thanks for holding it down all this time my friend. I know that if I lived back in A2, we'd be solid drinking buddies.

sounds_sound  ·  1351 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Why a Court Overturned the Death Sentence for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

I was on a jury in 2006 for a domestic abuse case. They intervewed the jurors, dismissed one I think, and then accepted that replacement. The selection took about an hour. For this Tsarnaev case they interviewed 256 people which is insane. At that rate I would guess you get both bogged down by the sheer number of people, but also by the minutiae of each persons differences thus leaving a larger hole of subject matter for the other side to fit an appeal into. I think peer selection still has a place in the process but it sounds like in this case they were doomed from the start.

sounds_sound  ·  1454 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Long-Lost U.S. Military Satellite Found By Amateur Radio Operator

I shared this with a neighbor who is really into ham radio. He told me that Scott Tiley lives down the street from us in the town next door, Roberts Creek. He's 'ham radio' famous I guess.

https://apc-cap.ic.gc.ca/pls/apc_anon/query_amat_cs$callsign.QueryViewByKey?P_CALLSIGN=VE7TIL&Z_CHK=59580

mk hasn't had time to update the zen logo me thinks. He has the .svg's but they aren't up yet. It looks like a cog right now. It should be this:

It's tricky to make them look good because they are so small. Incidentally, you can see the current zen logo just to the left of the new in the iterations below. It looks better at a larger scale when you click on the image.

sounds_sound  ·  1245 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Rebuilding Notre Dame [with 3D printing]: a phoenix rising from the ashes

A true restoration should be the default strategy at this point unless someone can come up with a compelling design that is overwhelmingly beautiful. That may be impossible but it's a least a fun thought experiment. To my knowledge, Notre Dame in modern times remains an active participant in Parisian religious and civic activities. Historic but still at work. For that reason, I think it's worth considering how it can be renovated into the current image of the city, as cultural views on religion continue to change.

sounds_sound  ·  2464 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: July 19, 2017

Champagne tastes on beer budgets.

sounds_sound  ·  3811 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: TELL HUBSKI: Sticker Design Contest  ·  x 3

That was fun:

1. 2.

3. 4.

5. 6.

7. 8.

Edit: And just to scratch an itch, I thought I'd throw in a Frank Stella inspired version:

x.

sounds_sound  ·  1803 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: 330th Weekly "Share Some Music You've Been Into Lately" Thread

The new Big Thief album is excellent. My favourite album of the year so far. Has more of a fall feeling to it, but I'll play it this summer anyway.

sounds_sound  ·  2464 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: July 19, 2017

hey pal. you told me you wanted your studio to be bad-ass so i drew some bad ass details that are apparently too rich for even your blood. :) that entry is still gonna be cool, but less so now. oh well. next project right? right?

here's a teaser for everyone. the view is looking up from the creek toward the studio.

When I sold all of my pedals the only one I couldn't part with was The Rat. It sits on my work desk.

sounds_sound  ·  1872 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: 320th Weekly "Share Some Music You've Been Into Lately" Thread

Dan Mangan - Never Quiet

sounds_sound  ·  3045 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: December photo challenge day 16: "technology"

Here is a scale model of Venus de Milo that I 3D printed. The thing I love about it, is that the print was generated from a digital scan of the original object. Meaning that this tiny replica, with an accuracy of .01 mm, is second to none in reproduction. Every curve and fold of the garment is exactly as it appears on the original.

sounds_sound  ·  4057 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Bro, Check Out These Tits; Google Glass and the Laws of Unintended Consequences

First. You're putting the pussy up on a pedestal.

Second. You are right, GG ubiquity will mark the moment when I think a lot of people will stop and seriously ask themselves what role cloud connectivity plays in their lives. Sure my iPhone in my pocket keeps me connected, but I don't wear it and it isn't in my constant frame of view. I can still hide from it, and it from others. The coffee shop in my neighborhood has a sign that says 'no cell phones in line' and I really like that they make an effort to spell out their expectations of manners to their patrons. I think we'll start seeing a lot more of that happening. As long as GG is clearly discernible at least. I was at a department store recently and took a picture of a sweet pair of shoes and was asked to delete my photo. The person even waited to see that I did. There will be a increased alertness in behavior. You'll hear "Excuse me sure, is that Google Glass?, You can't wear those in here." Never mind that you have them mounted to your prescription pair. And guess what? Truth is, most places are private. We'll all start to realize that even more once we begin wearing cameras on our heads. But sure, there will always be the creepy guy that has every angle figured. The snake. But that dude has been around way before GG and will be around beyond its significance. Rest assured though, that that person is not really living, but only watching. Life is not a spectator sport. And believe me, actually touching boobs is WAY better.

sounds_sound  ·  3568 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Mid-2014 Hubski Sticker Vote Thread  ·  

sounds_sound  ·  3207 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: I Made a Community Throwaway So People Don't Have To Create One

I've been on Hubski for a while now. I joined because it was started by a friend(s) of mine. Before that, I had never used a social aggregator before. I have never used Reddit, so I'm unfamiliar with the culture there. I can't think of a reason that someone would want to post anonymously. With absolutely no snark intended, I'm curious why this is a desired feature. It feels a bit slippery to me.

sounds_sound  ·  3486 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski Economy: A thought experiment  ·  

I think kb is on the right track as far as collecting all the metrics on the site. But to spin it a different way, what if there was an actual real world cost given to the uses of the site. Say you take the cost of bandwidth and then you divide that by how much each individual user is drawing from the site. Then you take the cost of storage and you divide that by how much each individual adds to that storage by adding content, comments, etc. It would be interesting to see a little ticker on my feed somewhere that tells me, as close and specific as possible, how much I as one user costs the owner to keep the doors open. This info would only be visible to each person. No one could see other users usage and dollar draw. As a user that has been here for a while, I would love to know how much I am costing Hubski, and would definitely be more likely to give money - and likely even more than I cost. You could take this as far as you wanted. Say you took all the time that was spent to code the back end, upgrade hardware and what not, well that could be a line item too. The more users on the site, the more these costs are divided. The more active someone is, the more they cost. Payment would not have to be required, it would just be a "hey, fyi, your 50 posts today cost us $.00065 in storage.

Another idea is to have an actual page that you could go to with advertising on it. It wouldn't be on any other screen but one. It could look like "feed - chatter - global - tags - community - badges - accounting" or something. I click on accounting and it's just a stream of video ads or something. Also on that screen, there is another ticker that tells me how much the site is earning by me watching these ads. Say I wanted to earn Hubski 50 cents one day because I saw that that was how much my draw was that day for using the site, I could watch ten ads, or refresh my screen and get more ads or whatever. Mind you, I have no idea how ads work or give money.

Edit: My first point reminds me of the new Aphex Twin album cover, where he breaks down where all the costs of his album went to. I know for example that .00041 quid went to tracking and monitoring illegal download links and that .00113 quid went to advertising in Spain:

sounds_sound  ·  3536 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What's the worst physical pain you've ever been in?

When I was three years old I slipped on the steps of my front porch made of concrete. I managed to land on the toe of a step with my mouth wide open - as if to take a bite. The force of my mouth hitting the concrete pushed all of my upper teeth back into the gum until they were completely out of sight. The doctor said that all I could do was wait till each tooth slowly fell back down, which they ultimately did. Apparently, I looked like a chipmunk for the next several months. Cheeks and lips swollen. I had some fairly misaligned teeth after that which went on to inform how my adult teeth grew-in. This only got corrected once I had braces in my teens. Fortunately for me, I was so young that the memory of it all - including the pain - is not something I can recall. The only thing I have as a reminder is how dad describes my blood curdling screams as he picked me up with a mouth full of shredded gums and concrete dust.

sounds_sound  ·  3953 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Elizabeth Gunnison Dunn: Why tipping should be outlawed  ·  

The author has some fair points. Better service doesn't actually beget better tips is pretty right on. When I started serving at Red Lobster - 16 years ago - I would make okay tips. Actually, I started out as a line cook. Throwing beer-battered shrimp into the fryer by the armful. Split and cleaning lobsters. That was on the daily for me. I was even an Alley Coordinator for a while. You know the little dishes of ketchup and tartar sauce that come on your plate at some places? Yeah. Getting them on there was my job. And I was an excellent server too. I deconstructed the process and turned it into a game. I was a ninja on the dining room floor. I'll never forget the time I served the fattest dude 15 cokes without letting him miss a sip. The service he told me was jaw-dropping. And BAM - 15 percent for that. 1 percent for each coke. Ultimately, I understood that the difficulty in breaking the 18% tip ceiling was simply a matter of perceived value. At that point, after two years of serving garlic-butter scampi, I realized my tips were so consistently tied to the bill amount that I thought it better to work in a place with pricier food and a decent wine list. Enter fine dining. Which I did for the better part of a decade. Paid my way through undergrad lickety-split. Thing is, the boss only chipped in $2.65 an hour for my effort. The rest I had to smile for. (and god I hate smiling). But $200 tabs were the regular at my new place and after all was said and done I walked out the door averaging $18 per hour. In cash and after tax. When I started bartending it went up to $28 per hour. Not too bad I thought for being 22 - where I would wake up at 11 to get to work at 4 - where I would eat and drink for free. I often made rent in one good weekend. Even got hit-on occasionally! No doubt I've benefited from the current tipping culture. My income and work allowed me an insanely flexible schedule. I made quick gobs of money, took weeks off at a time, traveled all over, and partied along the way.

I'm intrigued by the idea of outlawing tipping and am incidentally in complete support of it. Folding tipping into the general price of the menu is definitely the way to go as I see it. The only thing that would happen if the U.S. did it is the general level of service would decrease dramatically (and if you think you've had bad service, try living in Canada). By outlawing tipping, servers will stop working for people and start working for companies. And companies cut corners. Bottom line. It's the food or the service. Personally, I think it's not a bad trade off because I feel that the tipping culture in America has an odd kind of systemic oppression to it - not the typical - meat and potatoes - sexist or racist kind of oppression as the author wrongly indicated, but more a delineation of class that we all could use a good heaping less of. In fact, in the States these days, it seems like a little equality should be the main course.

sounds_sound  ·  2832 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: PsBattle #1: Entry Thread

Add me please :)

sounds_sound  ·  3446 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Beautiful Maps

I've always been a fan of these USGS Mississippi maps:

Tons more on the link.

sounds_sound  ·  2612 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: "Can I Sit Next To You" -Spoon

looking forward to this album. thought their last was so-so. first half better than the back end. both ga ga ga ga ga and transference were near the top of my playcount from the last ten years though. not many bands can do so much with so little.

i think the first song i ever heard from them was 16 years ago now. crazy that 16 years ago is still in the 2000's.

sounds_sound  ·  3226 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Dr. Hubski or: How I Quit Worrying and Learned to Love Zen Mode

It does look like a gear. Thought that was changed? It's supposed to look like a lotus flower. There is a better icon that used to be on there, but I'm not sure where it went. mk?

sounds_sound  ·  1716 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Ask Hubski: I’m going to Paris in October. What should I do?
sounds_sound  ·  4009 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What's your online persona, and how does it differ from your meatspace identity?

You've described my MO as of late pretty succinctly here. I find that writing a comment, with a series of edits, helps me to understand how I personally feel about a particular topic. Once I've ironed out the creases of an idea in my mind, it's less important to me that other people hear it.

sounds_sound  ·  1761 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: 336th Weekly "Share Some Music You've Been Into Lately" Thread

Panda Bear - Master. From Buoys, 2019. Listening on my new Sennheiser Momentum 2s. Pretty sweet.

sounds_sound  ·  3850 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: New Users, Old users and the better angels of our nature -

Yeah man. I've called us Hubbies before. But I also remember calling us all 'Skiers' - because we don't surf the web, we ski it. That makes zero sense. Or complete sense. You choose.

sounds_sound  ·  3064 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Critics Wonder Whether Pennies Make Sense Anymore : NPR

Up here in Canada, all prices are still in penny denominations but when you get to the register, and pay in cash, it is the cashiers job to round things up or down to the nearest nickel. If you pay electronically, you would still pay the sticker price down to the penny - therefore making the psychological aspect of pricing still valid since most people pay this way.

If one were to be obsessive about it, you could use debit for all transactions where the price would be rounded up otherwise, and cash for those that are rounded down. Thus saving a few dollars a year. That would be some kind of sick individual though, I imagine.

sounds_sound  ·  3417 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Saving Money Costs Money. Period.

    buy real estate from people who are losing their homes

  "The time to buy is when there's blood in the streets."  -  Baron Rothschild
sounds_sound  ·  2777 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Vancouver Real Estate Bubble Has Burst

In other news.

    Seizures of undeclared cash spike at Vancouver International Airport

mk kleinbl00