eigenstuff

I also have perfect pitch, and it was actually an article posted here on HN that made me realize no, I'm not crazy, my perfect pitch has gone flat with age (I'm 29) and having not played violin regularly.

Me and a friend figured it out, I've pitched down from the 440 Hz standard to 428 Hz.

I'm a sculptor who specializes in math and physics visualizations, I have two Prusa printers and they are invaluable tools for me. I 3D print a lot of sculpture parts and things like sculpture bases that would be difficult and time consuming to make on a milling machine (grids of tapered square holes, etc), in addition to lots and lots of tooling like jigs for setting the back stop on my model railroad chopper to precise lengths.

I love my two printers. They enable me to achieve the kind of computer precision my artwork requires in a way I don't know I'd be able to achieve otherwise, at least not in such a short amount of time.

I have a calling/passion, I'm a sculptor. And the marketing thing is what I seriously struggle with. I'm working on it and slowly pushing myself out of my comfort zone, but I disagree with passions only mattering if you make it visible. I'd love to be left the hell alone to be lost in my work forever, but I regrettably have to start making it visible if I want it to start paying for itself or at least break even. Art supplies aren't cheap. I want a laser cutter one day and that money isn't going to appear out of thin air. Making it visible is how to make it sustainable. I'm not in it for other people's approval and validation, the person I'm most concerned about impressing is myself.

This is kind of the harsh reality of being an artist though: how successful you are is less about the quality of work you do and more about how hard you can hustle. The person who makes unoriginal garbage art but is good at selling themselves is gonna beat the recluse who does high quality, innovation work but doesn't put themselves out there every single time.

I'm gonna have to disagree, I live in East Tennessee and Dolly Parton opening Dollywood right outside Great Smoky Mountain National Park created a booming tourism economy here when we used to be one of the poorest places of the country. And now Big Moonshine, who got big on a lot of those tourism dollars in the past decade or so, is turning around and dumping money into revitalizing lots of East TN cities that used to be total dumps (who knew Johnson City could be so cute?!), as well as pouring tons of money into boosting Knoxville's already strong arts and crafts scene. Tourism has absolutely been East Tennessee's salvation. All you gotta do to see that is cross the border into eastern Kentucky, left behind and still one of the poorest parts of this country.

Sure, tourism ruins a lot of shit, but tourist dollars have improved the quality of life for millions and millions of people all over the world.

Dying jealous of your Desoxyn rx, I've been on Dexedrine my whole life (after trying everything and always crawling back to it) but my shrink would never let me try Desoxyn.

Desoxyn is not front of the line because it's literally methamphetamine lol.

What makes you think it's only corporate power companies out to make a profit that are the bad guys? It's all of them, including the public utilities. I live in the Tennessee Valley, TVA is consistently the WORST utility in the South in terms of green energy initiatives, and they're a quasi-governmental agency with a complete monopoly over the region they serve. They don't make profits. Their green power program is a sham and in fact they killed our budding green energy manufacturing economy back around 2005 with absurd, arbitrary restrictions on who could get solar panels and hook them up to the grid because those were a threat to their coal buddies' bottom line. Freaking DUKE POWER, whose history includes the blood of who knows how many coal miners, blows us out of the water. (Not that TVA doesn't have blood on its hands, either, but that's another story.)

Anyway, to all the people who wonder why Appalachia won't do the obvious and just replace coal with green energy: oh, we tried, and the powers that be shut that shit down cuz they weren't gonna have none of that. Coal owns us and they aren't gonna let go without a fight.

As a woman: no, this comments section is a sexist dumpster fire of the usual "but false accusations!" variety that paints women as generally being out to get men, because... Who knows! I still haven't figured out what our motivation is for all the alleged false accusations we apparently enjoy making, and I'm pretty sure in reality we all just want to live our lives and mind our own business. But also, you know, have some protection or recourse if some co-worker thinks it's cute to grope us or make gross comments about our boobs or something.

I enjoy reading HN, but it absolutely has a sexism problem and it shows everytime an article about something like this is posted. You know how to not get "falsely" accused of harassment? Don't be a creep and don't treat your woman collegues as being lesser-than. Really not that hard. I promise.

Could you not cut your own cards with a hobby die-cutting machine? I have some old punch cards and a Sillohouette Curio, I don't see why it couldn't work given a good sharp blade and a fresh cutting mat. That kind of cardstock cuts like butter, too.

Living in rural southern Appalachia and occasionally getting stuck behind the school bus dropping off the [white] kids who live in the trailer park that butts up to my property, I absolutely beg to differ. There are more white people living in poverty than all other races combined, it's just not sexy or cool to advocate for them. There have also been studies that show Appalachians are often discriminated against in the college admissions process because of where they're from.

I'm all for this. There is untapped genius in trailer parks and backwoods hollers and at the end of long and winding gravel driveways, just as there is in inner city black neighborhoods and the far more invisible rural black communities in the Deep South. All are absolutely deserving of a little extra help in breaking the cycle of systemic poverty, be it urban poverty or rural poverty.

This is exactly what's happening and it's not even the first time.

Tennessee had a budding green power sector back around 2005. TVA nuked it with absurd, arbitrary restrictions on who can put up solar panels on their houses because TVA is in bed with the coal operators and green power was competition they didn't want. It kills me to think about how much more money this state would have in its economy now if that hadn't happened.

There's reasons the whole "just replace coal jobs with solar jobs" thing has never played out. It's not for a lack of trying or because nobody here ever coming up with the idea. It's because the powers that be sure as hell weren't gonna let it fly.

(TVA continues to be the least green utility in the South btw. Promotion of the welfare of the people of the Tennessee Valley my ass.)

Coal continues to "thrive" because it went out of its way to keep those people impoverished and unable to fight back while it bought their state governments from governors down to school boards and sherrifs.

You should go read about the Battle of Blair Mountain and the Coal Wars. Big Coal more or less committed genocide in Appalachia and not only got away with it but had some assistance from the US government. That's how powerful they are. The number of senators these states have is pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme.

Better yet, put them to work reclaiming mine sites where possible. Rape is not too strong a word to describe mountain top removal. I don't even care if it comes out of my taxpayer dollars instead of the pockets of the coal operators who need to be held responsible, I just want it done. It has to be done, there are places in West Virginia that have been on boiled water warnings long before Flint. And so much of Appalachian culture is having deep ties to the land, so it'd be very meaningful work in the same way being an nth generation coal miner is meaningful work, regardless of how misguided that seems to outsiders.

Oh, no, the regulatory authorities are there. They're just paid off by the entities they're supposed to be regulating or don't give a shit.

See: the entire state of West Virginia.

Lmao for real, this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what rural black communities in the Deep South are subjected to because they do not have the political clout necessary to stand up for themselves and their hardships are out of sight, out of mind, so no one else tries to help them fight for better like with Flint. Go do a Google about the sewage infrastructure crisis in Alabama.

This shit has been on my mind a lot lately: all the atrocities Appalachians have been subjected to, the sewage infrastructure crisis affecting rural black communities in the Deep South, cancer alley, probably even more issues Deep South rural black communities deal with that I'm unaware of, etc.

P much my conclusion is nobody gives a shit what happens to people in rural areas, and ESPECIALLY in the rural South. We're all out here, out of sight, out of mind, just "getting what we voted for." However, what goes on with rural black communities IS racially motivated, or maybe a better phrase is "racially justified." BUT. What goes on in Appalachia is ALSO "racially motivated/justified" in the sense that Appalachians are "white trash" and therefore "lesser than" just like black people and therefore in the eyes of some deserving of all their hardships. It's just instead of race, prejudice against Appalachians centers around having a distinct culture completely separate from the rest of America. The Appalachian dialect being synonymous with backwardness and stupidity is a stereotype over 100 years old.

It's all a caste system, and imo the whole "Trump Country" narrative just serves to reinforce it and give the rest of America an out for fully reckoning with the continuing legacy of slavery in the rural Deep South and finally just plain recognizing the legacy of extractive industry in Appalachia to begin with. The rest of America's wealth was built on the blood of both of these groups.

Oh, honey, no, Appalachia absolutely suffers from the resource curse as well, to the point you often see scholars describe the region as an "internal colony." Big Coal came in, forced people off their land, extracted all the wealth, sure as hell didn't pay its fair share of taxes on it, bought the local governments all the way down to school boards and sherrifs to squash any opposition, and then left behind nothing in its wake except horrific environmental atrocities and poverty on par with inner city black neighborhoods, Native reservations, and the rural Deep South black belt. The negative stereotypes of Appalachians still perpetuated to this day were largely invented by industry to justify their exploitation and disenfranchisement. Negative stereotypes about blacks couldn't apply to a mainly white region so they just became "white trash" instead. The explosive growth of the American economy in the 20th century was fueled by the blood of over 100,000 coal miners who never saw a dime of that sweet sweet American dream money. And this shit is still going on to this day.

The poorest state in the US is Mississippi. That is the legacy of slavery. The second poorest state is West Virginia, which ironically shares a border with Maryland, the richest in the country. That's not an accident nor a testament to the allegedly poor character of Appalachians as a distinct cultural group separate from the rest of America. That was completely by design, because you can more easily manipulate a group of people if you force them to fight for scraps. That is the legacy of extractive industry in Appalachia. And so the cycle of rural poverty continues. Don't let them fool you with the "Trump Country" narrative or "Hillbilly Elegy".

Women have definitely reclaimed "bitch" to an extent.

It is prejudiced against the South. That's the last acceptable prejudice amongst the "woke," and I say this as a red state SJW. Lots of blue state liberals have no idea that the Southern diaspora code switches with them, often avoids having to talk about where they're from lest it be held against them, that making comments about "escaping the south" isn't cute or funny at all, it's insulting, hurtful, and a microaggression if there ever was one. You can't get ahead if people decide your funny way of talking means you're inherently backwards, ignorant, stupid, and uneducated. For all the crowing and screaming about diversity, where the hell are Appalachian voices in mainstream American discourse? Where are the voices from the rural Mississippi Delta? Places whose culture is unique from the rest of the country but incredibly rich and beautiful and full? Is it because if these places were humanized, maybe the "get what we vote for" narrative used to justify our disenfranchisement and maintain the exploitative power structures that be down here would fall apart?

Mississippi is 40% African American. Of course there are racists down there as there are any where else, but you have any idea how hard it would be to function in Mississippi with that demographic make up if people were half as racist as the South is alleged to be? You'd think they'd be uncovering clandestine mass graves of black people every other week or worse down here s2g. I cannot and will not get over the blackest part of America being labeled "Trump Country" and used as the scapegoat for all of the nation's bigotry. It's fucking lazy victim-blaming. We are the poorest, least educated, and most vulnerable part of the country. Shitty rich people with shitty agendas own our governments, as they have for decades and decades, and the rest of the country sure does get off on telling us our hardships are our own fault.

That second group of states is half states in the black belt. Those state governments are bought and paid for and their people largely disenfranchised, same for much of Appalachia. (Like, c'mon, Mississippi is around 40% African American, you really think them electing Donald Trump reflects the true will of the people? Of course not!) They're run by shitty rich people with shitty agendas who are just out to further enrich themselves and have a vested interest in maintaining the power structures that be. That's why the South "votes against its own interests." It's literally a narrative invented by the coal industry so it could justify and get away with brutalizing West Virginia and leaving it far worse off than it was before. Coal owns WV all the way down to the school boards and sherrifs.

And this is why Appalachia still cannot break its cycle of systemic rural poverty.

I think people fail to realize or are just now realizing that the opioid epidemic beginning in West Virginia and eastern Kentucky (as well as on reservations) wasn't an indictment of the character of Appalachians as a distinct cultural group by any means, it was a calculated move to exploit the vulnerable and forgotten: rural populations isolated from the outside world, full of bodies broken in the mines and in pain, few prospects and little hope for anything better. Purdue was pumping hundreds of thousands pills into these little hollers. Just one more corporate entity committing... Can we call it genocide yet? Between this and tens of thousands dead in the mines and from black lung and cancer caused by pollution? Because basic safety would cut into the bottom line and these people are seen as disposable? Just a bunch of backwards yokels who can't speak English right and get what they voted for? Things have happened in this region that make the Flint water crisis look like amateur hour.

Their schools are chronically underfunded because industry owns local governments all the way down to the school boards and sherrifs, that they would pay their fair share of taxes and invested in these communities with that kind of death grip on the region is laughable. I live near a trailer park, it kills me to think there is genius in there and in trailer parks all over the place that goes unrecognized and never developed and allowed to grow to reach its full potential. What's the point of staying in school if all you've ever expected of yourself is working at the gas station because you don't know you can want more for yourself? Because your family is poor, and you need to go to work to help feed your little siblings?

That teenage pregnancy rates are higher is hardly surprising. If you're standing in line at 6 am for Remote Area Medical to get a tooth pulled, it goes without saying you have no access to birth control or abortions. Not that you could even afford the latter anyway.

And so the cycle of systemic rural poverty continues.

I'm schizotypal and I do. For me, weed is how I get my brain to shut up long enough for me to get in the groove when I'm working on my artwork. My symptoms are primarily issues with thought disorganization and it's often a struggle for me to sit down and get to work because my behavior is often very disorganized as well. I've been treated for ADHD since I was little, but I see my ADHD and schizotypy as two sides of the same coin.

I don't smoke a lot, though. Just a hit every few hours, enough to give me a buzz. If I get too stoned to do anything, that defeats the purpose for me. Weed is a tool, weed is for work. If I want to just have fun, I'll drink.

It does, however, contribute to psychotic episodes sometimes. But it's never the only contributing factor, it's usually in combination with too much isolation and/or not eating/sleeping properly. If I feel like my thoughts are starting to get more and more unorganized, I generally take that as a sign I need to get out of my apartment and go see my friends. My psychotic episodes are pretty benign, though, all that really happens is my thoughts get too rapid fire and disorganized for me to do anything but sit there in a stupor because I can't get it together enough to execute tasks. They're over when I wake up the next morning. (I will also say, they were pretty frightening before I realized what they were just because it's frightening to feel like you've lost control of your own brain like that.)

I'm a professional artist, where are these sources of cash I can convince to give me money instead of spending all my money from my day job on materials?

I always feel so bad for people that work at Hobby Lobby, it's just nothing but the WORST elevator music versions of Christian shit. I give thanks everyday for the Michael's we got a few years ago, so much better in every single way. Every time I'm forced to go to Hobby Lobby when Michael's doesn't have what I need, I can't get out of there fast enough.

In fact, those with psychotic disorders are far more likely to be VICTIMS of violence than perpetrators. Psychosis comes in a wide variety of flavors. I have a psychotic disorder and have occasional psychotic episodes. It feels like my brain is short circuiting and my thoughts become too rapid fire and disorganized for me to do anything but stare into space and just ride it out and go to bed. Its pretty frightening to feel like you've lost control of your own brain like that if you don't know what's happening. About once a year or so I'll have a paranoid episode, I just get really combative and accusatory and start trying to pick (text, verbal) fights with my friends but fortunately it's so out of character for me that everybody can tell something is wrong. The next morning I'll wake up just fine and dandy like it never happened, minus feeling really embarrassed and apologizing profusely to whoever I was trying to pick fights with.

Chronic wasting disease wouldn't affect wild hogs, though, and wild hogs are destroying the environment in Texas.

I'm schizotypal (schizophrenia lite, essentially). I eat tons of Greek yogurt. Dairy is my favorite food group. I really struggle with thought disorder, and when I eat well, I feel a lot less crazy and mentally disorganized. Definitely eat better than the stereotypical American.

There's some Dali quote out there where he says he is not that technically skilled as an artist, and if you look up close at some of his paintings in person, you can kinda see what he's getting at. He is no slouch by any means but he is definitely no Sargent or Vermeer. I think a lot of people who aren't really into art assume greatness=technical prowress, in particular those quick to poo poo modern art, but (speaking for myself at least) those who are in the art world are more concerned with the novelty and innovation of ideas (given some baseline level of craftsmanship, of course).

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing but respect for people who can paint hyperrealistically, because I know and understand and appreciate the amount of work that goes into that level of mastery. But at the end of the day, I'm going to be far more impressed by an artist like Riusuke Fukahori who took that skill set and used it to create a new and novel sculptural technique. That's technical mastery combined with creative genius. That's great art.

She also started Dollywood as a way to create jobs in a historically impoverished part of the country. You don't bad mouth Dolly in East Tennessee, she's like our patron saint.

When I see Bangor, I think of Bangor, Maine! Their police department's Facebook page has a huge following for being really funny and wholesome, I follow it even though I've never been there. It's really cute.