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[Reelya]

IDK. I had this friend in my hometown who had an insane stereo setup he had installed professionally with speak stacks > 2 meters tall. He'd had some big work accident years before I met him, from which he got a huge payout and got all this cool stuff, including getting a professional to install the mother of all sound systems in his loungeroom.

We downloaded mp3 from the 'net back when everything was just 128 kbps, burnt a CD and put it on his stereo. With his setup, you could close your eyes and you could be fooled that you were at a live concert, the reproduction was that good. And that's just from a CD burnt from downloaded mp3s in the late 1990s. A good amplifier, speakers and equalization makes all the difference in the world, and compression schemes aren't that important overall, as long as you have a bare minimum of bitrate. From this experience, I'd guess that a fair chunk of traditional anti-mp3 bias is because most people heard their mp3s through shitty PC speakers and the like, not good quality stereo systems.

[martinuzz]

They say vacuum tube amplifiers have sound quality that can't be beat by digital.

^^

[Mesa]

I now have a girlfriend!~


And a damn great one at that! A British transgal, who's as confused and inexperienced when it comes to romantic relationships as I am, but we're both trying our best and it's going amazing so far.
Tumblr might be a hellsite, but it's a hellsite that made me (in slightly unconventional circumstances) meet her, so I can't harp on it too hard, I guess.

[SalmonGod]

IDK. I had this friend in my hometown who had an insane stereo setup he had installed professionally with speak stacks > 2 meters tall. He'd had some big work accident years before I met him, from which he got a huge payout and got all this cool stuff, including getting a professional to install the mother of all sound systems in his loungeroom.

We downloaded mp3 from the 'net back when everything was just 128 kbps, burnt a CD and put it on his stereo. With his setup, you could close your eyes and you could be fooled that you were at a live concert, the reproduction was that good. And that's just from a CD burnt from downloaded mp3s in the late 1990s. A good amplifier, speakers and equalization makes all the difference in the world, and compression schemes aren't that important overall, as long as you have a bare minimum of bitrate. From this experience, I'd guess that a fair chunk of traditional anti-mp3 bias is because most people heard their mp3s through shitty PC speakers and the like, not good quality stereo systems.

And then of course there's the production quality of the recording.  A perfect FLAC rip over a perfect stereo of a shitty recording will still sound shitty.

There's a lot of factors, and people have differing opinions about what sounds good, too.

Having a good quality copy (vinyl/lossless) just eliminates one potential cause of bad audio.

[TD1]

Congratulations to Mesa!

Personal happy: When I was younger I absolutely loved the Percy Jackson book series (not the movies, ugh). Still do, really, though the writing seems more simplistic. Anyway, I recently picked up the sequel series and am reading it. Spoilered in case anyone actually cares.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I just read the bit where Calypso meets Leo on her island and they seem to fall for one another. This is a happy because past me may have been profoundly saddened by Percy having to leave her island. And, okay, possibly current me.

Even wrote this about it:

My home is far away. Calypso calls
With less her word and more her being; soft
And next to me she lies, her arms around -
Her hair cascading 'bout me falls.
Sweet words by day, passion by night
The curse that cleaves the seas -
For fair Calypso loves me, yet she bars
Paths home to Ithaca and its fair halls -
To her, whose very memory -gods! -
Whose very honour I have marred
By lying with this goddess of the sea.

Each morning, here, on this bare stretch
I vent frustration, stare at the horizon
With red-rimmed eye and baleful glare.
Many a curse against the wretch
Of Trident and of foam, Earth-breaking man
Posiedon, god of seas and trickeries!
Is spat unto the ever-changing tide.
But then, my voice will fail and catch,
Broken by figures from my memory;
Achilles ever-fleet, honourable Ajax
And her, my wife, fairest Penelope.

Give me a city stormed, a trap of steel
Or ventures o'er the realm of Nereids -
Anything but this woman, made of light
And kindness, sower of the moonlight seeds
Lover of ocean grottos, stars of malachite
Blossoming under her most tender care.
Most fiercely loyal to her duty! So much of a Penelope
It breaks my heart. To leave, to stay. It breaks my heart.
By needs, I fight myself, yet know that leave I must
For heir and sceptre, isle and crown
For he to whom I left my home, my son, Telemachus.

She calls, she beckons, cruellest fiend - no, friend, alas!
My friend here at world's end, where honour fades
And I am brought low by the gods on high.
Along the water's edge the base gull wades
Whilst red as Trojan blood the sky
Is lit by one brand, great and terrible
To behold. It gleams on all the same,
The hero and the unremarkable
To forge Achilles of a gull, or tame
The reckless pride of this brash islander
Who looks on the horizon, filled with pain.

In retrospect, and as conclusion, I am a total G_reek.

[Doomblade187]

I concur, that was an excellent scene.

[martinuzz]

Who are Leo and Percy and what do they have to do with the Odyssee?

[Trekkin]

Having had a look up of what it'd cost to get a full set of leatherworking tools, optional things included, it'd be about £160

Not cheap, but when compared to a blacksmithing intro course (£300) definitely cheap. It also has the advantage of being something I could do in, say, the garage.

But, were I to go ahead with this, I'd rather get back home and see what we have that I could use. I'd be unsurprised to find my dad had some tools that'd make entirely acceptable replacements, given how he accumulated tools on the off-chance he'd use them.

If you're looking for that general kind of hobby, chainmail is very cheap to get started with. The only actual tools you need for butted mail are needlenose pliers.

[TD1]

Who are Leo and Percy and what do they have to do with the Odyssee?

Rick Riordan wrote a series of books for young adults based on Greek mythology. The characters Leo and Percy are the sons of Hephaestus and Poseidon respectively. First Percy, then Leo, find their way to the island of Calypso. Here, like Odysseus, they must leave the heart broken goddess behind to pursue their own quests.

[Rolan7]

Up till recently I'd have unironically posted this in "mildly sad" at best, but... not this year.  I hate birthdays because I'm afraid of stagnation, but this year was anything but.
Particularly these past few days, frick.  I could tell you a story all about how my life got flipped turned upside down, but I need to get ready for DND night.  I think we're either going to Ravenloft or the icy tundra above Neverwinter.

If there's a surprise party imma punch someone in the arm

[Dunamisdeos]

I could tell you a story all about how my life got flipped turned upside down

I'll sit right here if you'd like to take a minute.

[Sirus]

Having had a look up of what it'd cost to get a full set of leatherworking tools, optional things included, it'd be about £160

Not cheap, but when compared to a blacksmithing intro course (£300) definitely cheap. It also has the advantage of being something I could do in, say, the garage.

But, were I to go ahead with this, I'd rather get back home and see what we have that I could use. I'd be unsurprised to find my dad had some tools that'd make entirely acceptable replacements, given how he accumulated tools on the off-chance he'd use them.

If you're looking for that general kind of hobby, chainmail is very cheap to get started with. The only actual tools you need for butted mail are needlenose pliers.

And the cost of the metal is...?

[JoshuaFH]

I finally got motivated to clean up my apartment and do the dishes today. Considering this mundane event only seems to occur at random periods separated by many months of time, yay! I even got the garbage bag that's been sitting in the corner of my apartment for the better part of two years, I completely forgot about it until now.

Perhaps that's just gross and not worth celebrating. Though what convinced me to do so was that my landlord's maintenance crew was stopping by for their twice yearly inspection of the furnace, and I didn't want to perhaps get in trouble by being found out as a squalid trash man. I mean, I didn't get everything, but it was better than nothing, I guess.

[JoshuaFH]

Up till recently I'd have unironically posted this in "mildly sad" at best, but... not this year.  I hate birthdays because I'm afraid of stagnation, but this year was anything but.
Particularly these past few days, frick.  I could tell you a story all about how my life got flipped turned upside down, but I need to get ready for DND night.  I think we're either going to Ravenloft or the icy tundra above Neverwinter.

If there's a surprise party imma punch someone in the arm

Happy birthday Rolan!

[Dunamisdeos]

I finally got motivated to clean up my apartment and do the dishes today. Considering this mundane event only seems to occur at random periods separated by many months of time, yay! I even got the garbage bag that's been sitting in the corner of my apartment for the better part of two years, I completely forgot about it until now.

Perhaps that's just gross and not worth celebrating. Though what convinced me to do so was that my landlord's maintenance crew was stopping by for their twice yearly inspection of the furnace, and I didn't want to perhaps get in trouble by being found out as a squalid trash man. I mean, I didn't get everything, but it was better than nothing, I guess.

Man look I brought 9 bags to the trash today because our maintenance guys are coming through and we realized we had so much general junk (non-organic trash) and we didn't want him to see it.

It's all good, everyone does it.