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[ToonyMan]

You could also record from stereo mix if that's available, a lot of computers don't have that capability though.

[Jackrabbit]

I just finished reading the Oregon Trail LP; the one with the Neckebards.

It was sadder than I was expecting.

Also hilarious.

[Chaoswizkid]

...but I've never seen a double ended audio cable, and I can't fathom why anyone would ever need one outside of this very unique circumstance.

Well, there's these sites called Pandora and Grooveshark and Napster...

And using the double ended cable instead of your speakers to play the music would totally ruin the purpose of those sites!
Yeah. That's what I meant. <.<

[Duke 2.0]

 Yeah screw that. I was not wrangling with that audio. It was wrangling that got me into that mess. Also, I actually have music now. Huzzah.

 Now searching for rock remixes of jazz songs.

[Aqizzar]

ah son of a fuck theres mosquitos in my room
they got my hands they got both my mother fucking hands
im itching like a damn crackhead here oh god

[ein]

Sounds like some crazy song lyrics.

[Vector]

He kicked me out of my own goddamned friend group and is doing whatever he can to make me need him again.  ...  It's especially bastardly because he doesn't think the other friends I have really exist.

How exactly are both of those things possible?  Even in a metaphorical sense.  I don't doubt that the guy is a serious dick, but I think I'll try taking a sword to your Gordian jackass problem, and say that you may have made too big a thing of him.  Your circle of friends being dysfunctional and scattered is certainly a bad thing (and believe me how I know), but how much could one guy actually have to do with that?

No, I'll explain.  Those are my friends outside of another little circle of friends I ended up in through high school.  He is not at all responsible for the disorganization of the rest of my friends.  He's responsible for taking over that group and systematically removing me from it, as well as using every available opportunity to mention social events with other people.  Directly after that, he basically says "come [put yourself in position of weakness], and that can be yours."

Dunno.  Maybe he's not being a gigantic tyrannical asshole.  Maybe he's just being clueless.  But what it feels like is that he's trying to manipulate and dominate me, because under his calm and collected demeanor he's a raging control freak (fact).  The sort of person who hurts people just because he can, and is obsessed with lightly touching situations so that they go off balance and destroy people.  He thinks it's funny.  I imagine he thinks it's especially funny because he can always find someone else to blame it on, so that he gets away with it scot-free.

See, I thought he was a garden-variety jerk--the sort of person who occasionally thinks about pushing people off their bikes and whatnot.  Just a bit immature.  But this guy is something else.  He seems to turn every social situation he's in into some sort of dance of favoritism, where he establishes himself as a competent person and then proceeds to ignore a good number of the people he's charmed.  It's all about making sure he's in power, and that he stays in power, and that any threats are eliminated.

Why does he do this?  Because he's frightened and learning that he can't really cope in the adult world, so his only recourse is to do things underhandedly and screw around with others.  He constantly makes promises he doesn't keep, saying empty words for a particular emotional response but withholding whatever it is due to sheer inconvenience.  Burn a CD?  Too inconvenient.  Then he talks about burning the same CD for someone else.  It's all about putting people in their place, because he has some sort of imagined hierarchy and can't stomach any deviation from it.  He has some sort of notion of entitlement, where his brilliance means that he has license to treat others poorly.  Furthermore, he can't stand the idea that someone else might be more brilliant and also not entirely supportive of him.

What can I say?  I actually can't explain too well, because I'm a bit worked up about this mess.  All I can say is that it's moved from "difficult person to deal with" to "systematically destructive, whether intentionally or not."  If he's doing this out of sheer cluelessness... well, too bad for him.  I've had enough.

[Aqizzar]

If there's one thing I've learned in dealing with jackass control freaks, it's that it's usually obvious to everyone else they're in contact with, but nobody wants to say anything due to the aura of passive-aggressive retaliation they give off.  Surely if you've managed to break down this guy's problems so thoroughly, all those other friends he's supposedly wedged away from you have to realize what a douche he is too.  Go around him, go through him, go to your friends and say "fuck that guy" and prove who's the person anyone actually wants to know.

The proper response to people that aggravating who are that difficult to deal with is to stop dealing with them.  Obviously you've long since come to that decision, but he's still getting away with controlling you just with all that text.

[Lumbajak]

My solution to that situation would more than likely be violence.

And I'm a pacifist.

[Vector]

If there's one thing I've learned in dealing with jackass control freaks, it's that it's usually obvious to everyone else they're in contact with, but nobody wants to say anything due to the aura of passive-aggressive retaliation they give off.  Surely if you've managed to break down this guy's problems so thoroughly, all those other friends he's supposedly wedged away from you have to realize what a douche he is too.  Go around him, go through him, go to your friends and say "fuck that guy" and prove who's the person anyone actually wants to know.

He's... good at hiding it (and when this started, I was extremely naive).  Yes, anyone who gets to know him finds out about it, but it's just a casual friend group that I got to know in high school.  They don't really know him.  All they know about him is that he's the cool guy with the awesome ideas, a genius, the sort of person who can hook you up with a great job.  He has power and charisma, and they're attracted to it.  They need him.

It doesn't help that they don't really know me, either, because it's all about keeping it casual.  This is a group of socially clueless nerds we're talking about.  They let him take over his younger brother's parties and look to him as the de facto leader, rather than really ... doing anything about it.  They also just don't care that much, because they're happy to be minions and he's good to those who want to serve and bootlick.  If they want to know what's going on with me, they ask him.  He has enormous amounts of control, and as far as I know they don't even realize it.

In any case, his younger brother is helping me talk to the rest of the group about everything that's happened.  He, too, is not exactly happy about what's happened, and is downright pissed at this point about Rosewood's conduct.  I'm lucky to have him on my side, because he's one of the core members of the group.

The proper response to people that aggravating who are that difficult to deal with is to stop dealing with them.  Obviously you've long since come to that decision, but he's still getting away with controlling you just with all that text.

Yeah.  I'm currently working on a plan for the remaining time that I have to deal with him (unfortunately, there's some obligations I can't avoid), but he can enjoy his assholish self in peace from then on out.

My solution to that situation would more than likely be violence.

And I'm a pacifist.

He knows aikido and iaido, and he has no real compunctions about hurting people.  I feel ya, man, but any sort of direct confrontation is just going to result in my loss.

[ChairmanPoo]

I think that at least half of what you are seeing is the group's fault.

TBH I don't like the mechanics of friends' groups too much, because they tend to adopt shapes very simmilar to what you are describing, with a bunch of alpha males who decide who is cool and who is not (interesting note: the worst of them tend to be cowardly and recoil if confronted with enough contundence), and the betas behind them, ganging up on the chosen victims.

[Akigagak]

Well, that is human nature. Follow those you think are stronger than you. If you don't think they're stronger than you, boss them around.

[ChairmanPoo]

I dont think it's human nature. Or rather, I believe that the dog-pack behavior is real enough, and indeed inherent to people, but I don't believe it's "binding", or that interpersonal affairs cannot be carried out in more mature ways.

[Azzuro]

My solution to that situation would more than likely be violence.

And I'm a pacifist.

He knows aikido and iaido, and he has no real compunctions about hurting people.  I feel ya, man, but any sort of direct confrontation is just going to result in my loss.

Hug him. And then stab him in the back with a knife, when he isn't expecting it. Aim for the spine, hoping to paralyze him. Then knee him in the groin. It always works!

To be more serious, just follow Aqizzar's advice and turn people whom you know don't approve of him against him. The best method here is to get all of his friends to outright ignore him, or else plan a social event without inviting him to it. Get his friends to not talk to him, etc. Try not to let it slip that they're intentionally doing so, just make it appear that they're drifting away from him.

[Aqizzar]

Well, that is human nature. Follow those you think are stronger than you. If you don't think they're stronger than you, boss them around.

Bah, I boss all of you around, and I have no idea how strong any of you are.  More seriously, I boss people around in passive ways who I'm absolutely sure could kick my ass, because there's so many social pressures in place against doing something that outrageous and stupid that physical violence doesn't even occur to most people.

For how many pacifists and psychology experts there are around here, I sure do see a lot of appeals to or explanations of threat of force.  Not this conversation necessarily, just, y'know, in general.