Optimal_Persona

Finland , Finland , Finland

The country where I want to be

Rolling mats down the mountain

When there's no snow to ski

Whether shortshrifted winters

Or spring summer or fall

Finland , Finland , Finland

Finland has it all

I'm probably an atypical calculus learner. I'm middle aged and brushing up on my math(s)/physics so I can do audio DSP, understand the acoustics/physics of musical instruments, and explore patterns in nature - all for personal/artistic reasons rather than job-related (for now :-)).

I had an "a-ha" moment when I came across Ivan Savov's "No Bullshit Guide to Math and Physics" about 6 weeks ago in terms of finding a resource that meets my needs perfectly. I personally find it useful to work through a certain number of problems by hand so I understand the concepts, as well as how folks did the work before the advent of computers. I'm also the kind of person who will type out examples by hand when learning a new computer language so I can get a feel for it.

https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/noBSguide_v5_previ...

I find learning calculus & physics together is a good mix for me especially in light of my musical/DSP interests. FWIW just in these 6 weeks - I've been able to read through things like Claude Shannon's classic Theory of Information or Manfred Schroeder's books on chaos/fractals and number theory and get the gist of the math in a way I couldn't before.

So it sounds like the patriarchy's got this one all sewn up!

Interesting, I have a history in West Coast food co-ops as a baker, manager, and volunteer board member. In my time of direct involvement (1997-2007) I didn't see any union busting or undue influence from UNFI, CDS or other outside entities. Of course it's been a while since then!

Additionally, I found the Carver Policy Governance model we followed effective and intriguing. FWIW "speak in one voice" on our board was a strength, meaning we worked out our differences of opinion on official matters in the board room, but were always free to voice our independent opinions as member-owners and expected to make it clear which "hat" we wore (board member vs. member-owner) when talking to members.

My quick gloss on Policy Governance - Basically you draft "Ends" that the organization follows (mission & values, etc.) and then prohibit what means the GM can take to enact them. Everything else is up to them, and if you're doing it right as a board you're paying VERY close attention to language and intentions, and chains of cause and effect (always keeping "bad GM" scenarios top of mind). The board is basically the legislature (and judiciary in times of need) to the GM's executive branch.

Maybe it's unique to the co-op I worked in - but a key part of being a board member was "Member Linkage" meaning that while the board couldn't directly enact the changes that members requested, it was 1000% our obligation to listen to them, give them space on agendas, and take these requests seriously. When I was involved, employees were encouraged to run for board seats, and AFAIK there has always been direct staff representation on the board before and after my tenure.

IANAL - But if a board member knowingly lets an outside entity change its bylaws in a way that negatively affects the co-op and its members - that is a breach of a board member's fiduciary duty for which they could be personally liable. Same - if an outside corporate stooge is installed on the board and prioritizes their outside biz' well-being over the co-op's, that would also be a breach of fiduciary duty. Also - if such a stooge ran for a board position and didn't disclose their business connection and intention to prioritize their employer's needs over the co-op's, that would be a blatantly clear conflict of interest that is grounds for immediate removal in any org with decent bylaws.

So - not calling BS on this, but something isn't quite adding up here in the articles linked.

Interesting, will have to check this out.

A few questions - - Is there anything like an Edit Decision List (EDL) that's common in video editing software? - As this supports Ableton Live - how would it handle exporting Session View clips from Live to a DAW that doesn't do Session clips - which can be triggered manually or programatically but due to this non-linear nature, don't really "live" anywhere on a timeline? - Does this include automation, internal/VST plugin parameters/automation, tempo/beat subdivision, and key changes?

In the 1960's, both the (US) East Coast and West Coast's premier drug-fueled experimental countercultural rock groups were briefly called The Warlocks.

New York faction went on to be called The Velvet Underground, San Francisco contingent became The Grateful Dead.

I think the cones must also screw up their aural spatial sensation (changing their perception of sound from fairly omni-directional, to seeming like all the sounds are coming from in front of the cone).

Also the audio frequency bandwidth is narrower on AM, so fewer treble frequencies.

TBH I think music from up to the late '60s (especially if originally released in mono) sounds really good, or at least more "era-appropriate" on AM radio. I remember my grandparents tuning in to easy-listening AM stations as I grew up in the '70s and '80s, to my ear Tennessee Ernie Ford's "16 Tons" or a classic Phil Spector "Wall of Sound" production sounds more "right" coming through the AM bands.

And, in the age of cellphone speakers and compressed MP3/Bluetooth codecs - I'm not sure how much people actually care about audio quality.

As someone who has made lots of purchasing decisions for software (ERPs, Electronic Health Records, productivity tools) at places I've worked over the last 18 years:

I don't want to talk to salespeople, only product designers, developers, executives, and support staff. They are the people who make the stuff and/or are left holding the bag for the product when the salesperson is jetting off to their next meeting.

Same goes with service contracts for leased business equipment (copiers, postage machines, alarm/security systems) - let me talk to the "support" staff who don't read their own technical bulletins BEFORE I sign so I can decide not to go with a vendor who "requires" full admin rights to my server to manage their copiers.

This doesn't necessarily scale past small-mid size businesses (mine have been up to $20ARR and ~150 people). The occasions I've talked only with sales, there have been broken promises, missed deadlines, and a big mismatch between what we were sold and what we got.

I'm surprised that people are surprised by science being done in non-scientific ways.

I got a taste of this in my high school honors biology class. I decided to do a survey of redwing blackbirds in my town. I had a great time, there was a cemetery across the street from my house with a big pond, where 6-8 males hung out. I was excited when later in the season several females also arrived and took up residence.

I eagerly wrote up my results in a paper. I thought I did "A" level work but was distressed when the teacher gave me B- or C+. She said "My husband and I are birdwatchers who have published papers on redwing mating habits in the area, and we haven't seen any females this year. Neither did one of your classmates who watched redwings in her neighborhood." While she did not directly in writing accuse me of fraud, she strongly implied it.

I told her to grab her binoculars and hang out at the cemetery one morning. She declined, as she was a published authority and didn't need to actually observe with her own eyes. IIRC I had photos but they were from faraway with a Kodak Instamatic (this was the mid-'80s), so she didn't accept those as evidence.

I often wonder if my life would have gone in a different direction if I had a science teacher who actually followed the scientific method of direct observation! It didn't come easy to me, but I was very interested in science before this showed me clearly that science is just another human endeavor, replete with bias, ego, horseshit, perverse incentives, and gatekeeping.

Maybe if he had formed a shell corporation around his fake listeners, that would have been OK because according to the US Supreme Court, corps are peeps!

I also have a background in food co-ops (member owned), I was in the bakery of one for 7 years, then served on its board. Food co-ops are really interesting orgs because food is one of the things people can control in their lives so their feelings, neuroses, fears etc. come out.

When we expanded about 17 years ago we managed to drive a new Whole Foods that had sprouted across town out of business within a year. Haven't heard of that happening elsewhere. They had a terrible location which didn't help but I think it was more due to the loyalty of our customers who had buy-in (literally).

My second thought was "Wow!" My first was "I hope everyone with these nails has a bidet!" I mean, how do you...

I hang around the KVR DSP forums and indeed, it's always impressive to see mystran answer questions posed by world-class commercial plugin devs who are stumped or stuck somewhere. mystran appears to have one of the best understanding of both DSP theory and the tricks required to implement efficient C++ algorithms.

One of my favorite things I've ever found on the internet is the "Reverb Subculture" thread on GearSpace. https://gearspace.com/board/geekzone/380233-reverb-subcultur...

It's a discussion of some of the finer (and coarser) parts of reverb design and includes comments from Casey Dowdell (Bricasti), Sean Costello (Valhalla DSP), Matt from LiquidSonics, Urs Heckmann (u-he), Chris from Airwindows, Stian (Acon Digital) and other top-notch audio DSP gurus. They're not giving away trade secrets but there are fascinating discussions around reverb design, topology, theory, and of course perception.

Title should include “(2017)”

And it's not quite as obvious as setting up the chessboard on a windowsill...

As an SF Bay Area resident who walks/BARTs as much as possible, IME bicyclists are at least as big a threat to my safety as motorists, who at least have a license and insurance on the line if they screw up. I can't tell you how many times I've been hit or very nearly hit by entitled cyclists who don't think that traffic laws or common courtesy apply to them. Even worse since motorized bikes/scooters hit the streets...er, sidewalks in recent years.

One of my favorite software developers - Valhalla DSP, who make awesome reverb, delay, and modulation audio plugins - references the NASA design guidelines.

https://valhalladsp.com/2011/04/26/valhallaroom-an-overview/

"The idea behind the GUI was to organize the controls in a logical manner, such that their size and display status was an accurate representation of their relative importance. The GUI is also proudly 2D, with the controls being more of an abstraction of knobs and sliders than an ersatz depiction of hardware that doesn’t exist. Futura Demibold was chosen as the font, as it is specified as the control panel font in the NASA usability guidelines, and because it just looks cool. The tooltips area is an effort to incorporate documentation as a design element, in keeping with the minimalist/Swiss School influences."

Valhalla is one of the few audio plugin developers who make plugins that are usable/legible even when the vector interface is zoomed down to its smallest size. Apple could do well to take inspiration from NASA and Valhalla - their redesigned plugin interfaces in Logic Pro X have small regular weight Helvetica, tons of wasted blank space and are unreadable to my not-getting-younger peepers at smaller sizes. I feel like no one in Apple's design department is over 30.

There's a "Search" box at the top of Teams window that has never not found what I was searching for, and - once you've clicked into a channel (including General, which is the default channel in every Team) "Find in Channel" works as needed for me. No grouping is correct but you can use tags to kinda sorta have the same effect.

I'm no big fan of, or apologist for, Teams but this stuff is pretty basic and easily discovered in the UI or documentation.

Not my experience, I just Teams messaged myself to verify and it came right through.

I wish you were still actively developing it, I haven't been able to run it on Mac for a while now. More than any other recording software, AudioMulch gave me a taste for digital audio and specifically realtime resampling. Since using AudioMulch, any DAW that doesn't let me record arbitrary combos of audio streams in realtime feels hopelessly limited.

Tomorrow's headline: Turd de France - How professional cyclists poop (or don't) on the road...

I have an "Intelligent Human Turing Test" when I sell things on Craigslist (usually professional/pro-sumer music/audio equipment). If someone doesn't pass it I don't respond. If they do they are generally thrilled to be getting a real deal on gear that's in the shape it's been described. This has worked in the greater SF Bay area through good and bad economic times over the last 20+ years.

"In person, cash transactions ONLY, no shipping or trades. Scammers will be ignored. Prices are firm, please don't respond if you don't understand what that means - I monitor markets daily on (CL, eBay, Reverb, XYZ music sites), here are links to recent similar condition gear sold for $xxx more. Respond with a phone # and 2-3 times this week that work for you to talk or meet."

At my work some of our best employees (including myself!) were found through Craigslist. And as a hiring manager, CL ofter brings me better applicants than Zip Recruiter, Indeed, Idealist and other "mass application spam cannons" HR inexplicably favors that have made being a hiring manager a real PITA in the last 5 years.

Nothing new, this has existed in my household for the last 20 odd years -

"Hey honey, move this thing over there. No, an inch and a half to the left. NOPE - back to the right a few mm, and forward a little. Yup - wait...just a little bit more. There, you've got it!"

I was going to post the same link to Andy Farnell's book, it's one of the finest resources for procedural audio that I've found. A bit later I will post some links to software synthesizers based on simulating specific physical processes.

I worked at a ~$20M food company where we had a new CEO coming in. Management/Board were over the moon, saying "This guy has been running a multi-billion $$ company for years."

Curious as to why someone would transition so abruptly from the major leagues to the minors, I searched on his name and the first hits were about an active SEC investigation into him for witholding payments to suppliers (small and medium farmers) to inflate the balance sheets to give it a higher valuation for a buyout. He actually turned out to be more effective than the previous 2 CEOs and I forged a perfectly fine working relationship with him, but it made me aware that business people will ignore any variety of moral/legal issues when the dollar signs are in their eyes.

I believe he put the SEC thing behind him, avoiding jail time by not quite admitting nor denying guilt and writing a ~$2M personal check.

Drugs that can be activated by the military flipping a switch? Nothing to worry about here, folks!

Well - I had no idea goose feathers were an appropriate medium for long-range data transmission. You learn something new every day!! ;-)

The description you wrote applies very well to school district administrators. The difference is that district admins are out of direct contact with students, or never had it in the first place.

Do district superintendents have to wait 6 hours to use the bathroom because there's no one to cover their duties?