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midiguy

So a plane which has withstood probably countless landings, had its nose gear collapse while sitting statically at a gate of all times and places? Weird.
Re:Aspartame is not that bad? on Friday April 24, 2026 @01:44PM (#47893507)
It's not that everything has to be sweet, but rather that, for example, Coke really isn't Coke without sweetness and people just happen to enjoy Coke. And if you're going to enjoy a Coke, Coke Zero or Diet Coke is better for your health.

Of course there are other things like coffee that really are not defined by sweetness and can be perfectly enjoyed unsweetened.

I feel like I am exactly the target demographic. Love the taste of meat. Would eat it every day if there were no consequences. But I mostly cook vegetarian at home because my wife is veg and I do somewhat care about the impacts of factory farming ('ethical' meat being stupid expensive). For me Beyond burgers are a good way to scratch that itch a bit. I feel like there must be many more people like me because meat is both delicious and problematic but maybe that's my own bias.
Re:Show HN: A real-time strategy game that AI agents can play on Wednesday February 25, 2026 @02:13PM (#47156330)
I am so glad we have automated away game playing so that I can just sit around and be a lifeless vegetable
Re:Show HN: Web dev is still fun if you want it to be on Saturday May 31, 2025 @11:49AM (#44145042)
Tbh, I would be pretty frustrated developing any non-trivial frontend code without a type system. But I am interested to try dropping frameworks.
Re:Was Sam Altman Right About the Job Market? on Friday March 14, 2025 @07:07PM (#43368266)
The techno optimism has morphed into VCs and tech founders lobbying Trumps governments to self-destruct the US government so they can lord over techno-feudal city states

The arrogance and narcissism of the Silicon Valley elite is going to result in horrible outcomes for just about everyone. These people do not know a single thing about responsible public administration, they can only see dollar signs.

Re:How Spotify Killed Lo-Fi Hip Hop on Tuesday February 04, 2025 @01:57PM (#42936925)
The same thing is happening to jazz playlists. Spotify is cramming jazz playlists with bland interpretations of standards that they paid bottom dollar to desperate conservatory students for. As a long-term jazz fan, I know what I am looking for and it ain't that. But for someone new to jazz who doesn't know exactly what they are looking for, their attention is being diverted to this slop, and they may never discover any dimension of jazz music beyond it, which is kind of sad.
Re:How Spotify Killed Lo-Fi Hip Hop on Tuesday February 04, 2025 @01:45PM (#42936769)
Lofi peaked long before the term lofi even came about
Re:My Favorite Book on AI on Monday January 06, 2025 @07:09PM (#42617664)
Let's face it. Our world is currently filled with rogue states waging pointless wars, spying on their own citizens, launching cyberattacks, seeding disinformation outside their borders, etc. If they want to make it happen they will. It is a damn hard coordination problem.
I'm picturing scientists in another universe clenching their butts as the monkey goes to type the last letter of Hamlet..... and misses 't' for 'r' and the whole observation hall erupts with loud groans
Re:Next.js, TypeScript are instant turn offs on Friday October 11, 2024 @05:46PM (#41814108)
Pretty much every issue with Typescript is actually an issue with Javascript. Typescript is purely an improvement.
Re:Legalizing Sports Gambling Was a Mistake on Friday September 27, 2024 @02:04PM (#41673763)
Most dopamine producing activities are in some way beneficial in moderation to outweigh the negatives (sex, eating, exercise, even many recreational drugs). I don't know whether pointlessly bleeding money away to some greasy corporation counts there. That said I don't like telling people how they should waste their money but it seems there needs to be some form of a plan for problem gambling.
Re:Legalizing Sports Gambling Was a Mistake on Friday September 27, 2024 @01:38PM (#41673439)
Poker is the only casino game approaching fair where a highly skilled player can be profitable as they are taking money from other players and not the casino (casino just collects their rake on every hand). But that's why casinos hate offering many poker tables, it's just not as profitable.
Re:Batteryless OP-1 on Thursday August 22, 2024 @07:19PM (#41325103)
And with the advent of Eurorack, not only do you need more instruments, but the instrument you do have is never finished either

At least lots of Eurorack builders are small passionate shops as opposed to big soulless corporations

The difference is that Roman sculpture is revered for it's ingenuity and craftmanship at a time where that style of sculpture was being developed with the more limited resources they had back then, and it often depicted important motifs from religion, society, etc. Whereas this is just a copy of that with limited cultural relevance (no one is going to be talking about Priscilla Chan in 20 years, let alone a couple thousand).
The real culprit here is UI. Yes, there are many better languages and runtimes than JS without a doubt. But most of their UI libraries are just as terrible if not more terrible than HTML/CSS/JS. And that is because developing sensible but also flexible and easy-to-use patterns for user-reactivity and data-presentation is HARD.

So sure, start a clean new operating system with a clean language with a clean runtime. I don't look forward to using whatever mess of a UI toolkit that gets built on top of it.

It used to be about playing people back when no one knew anything. Now that people study GTO, it's definitely more about the cards.
Re:A brief interview with Awk creator Dr. Brian Kernighan on Wednesday July 17, 2024 @03:09PM (#40989261)
I agree it was an incredibly awkward interview
I'm one of those weird people for whom alcohol feels nice but also makes me incredibly sleepy to the point that I become way less social. Thus I will enjoy a beer at home but if I'm going out I will choose other substances (or abstinence).
Sure, it increases anxiety overall particularly when going through withdrawals or hangovers. But I have never heard of its usage directly triggering fully-fledged panic attacks as weed so commonly does.
Re:ChatGPT-4o vs. Math on Thursday May 16, 2024 @01:16PM (#40380797)
Not gonna lie, when I see that someone is banned on X, I assume credibility
Re:Everything We Can't Describe in Music on Wednesday April 17, 2024 @08:36PM (#40071724)
He definitely opened the door for timbral exploration on the guitar using electronics.
Re:Everything We Can't Describe in Music on Wednesday April 17, 2024 @08:33PM (#40071706)
The reason I hate heavy autotune in recent hip-hop is because it destroys all of the interesting timbre that could be there, and reduces it all the same annoying voice
Re:Baruch Spinoza and the art of thinking in dangerous times on Thursday February 08, 2024 @08:56PM (#39310498)
Interpretations of the Vedas vary widely. Name any 'eism' and you will find groups of Hindus adhering to it.
Re:Baruch Spinoza and the art of thinking in dangerous times on Thursday February 08, 2024 @04:58PM (#39308339)
It took Europe a pretty long time to produce a thinker who would restate the pantheistic ideas that the Upanishads described vividly before the birth of Christ. I wonder if Spinoza had any exposure to Hindu thought.
Re:When America First Dropped Acid on Monday January 22, 2024 @12:36PM (#39092453)
Microdoses have no real effect on me at best, and put me totally on edge at worst. But I love a mild 1-2g trip. I personally think the optimal dose is a mild tripping dose (perhaps mid ~3.5g if you are experienced and are looking for that kind of experience).

But at the end of the day, everyone reacts different. I don't know if there is a point to characterizing what should be 'normal' dosage. They are basically completely different drugs with different uses at different doses.

I kind of hate how this article did not once clearly explain what it meant by the nebulous term 'edge'.
Re:Jazz Comping on Friday July 21, 2023 @06:18PM (#36820698)
I would agree that it is not a prerequisite to play popular music, and music theory will not necessarily make you a good player (theres so much more to it, including feeling as you say, as well as fine motor control).

> Improvisation is about feeling the music and interacting with it, it is not about finding the best scale and writing the notes on paper.

Knowing music theory is not about finding the best scale. It is about being able to talk and write about the building blocks that give rise to musical expressivity in a common language that is communicable to others. In other words, it is descriptive, not prescriptive.

> in fact it may hinder you ability to discover by yourself

As someone who has taken 6 semesters of music theory, and still stumbles upon things that surprise me musically, I would disagree. The difference is when I stumble upon a new sound, I can remember it not only by feeling and how it sounds but also by it's harmonic, rhythmic, melodic, structural characteristics. Which would allow me to use it in greater contexts.

Re:Jazz Comping on Thursday July 20, 2023 @01:15PM (#36803593)
Being able to transpose != understanding how transposition works.

I mean sure you can handpick scenarios where some musicians on certain instruments may be able to transpose without knowing any theory. But knowing a bit of theory would unlock the requisite knowledge to do it reliably on any instrument. There is really no reason not to learn some music theory is what I am getting it - it will only make you a more versatile musician.

Re:Jazz Comping on Wednesday July 19, 2023 @11:32PM (#36796598)
> Any player who has musical practice but no knowledge of theory understands the notion of changing keys.

If they understand the notion of changing keys, then they don't have no knowledge of music theory. Transposition is basic theory, but music theory nonetheless. What do you reckon theory is? It starts with understanding how scales and chords are built.

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