V17's recent activity
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Comment on Police threatened to use LRAD devices ("sound cannons") in Minneapolis. There is misinformation online on how to protect yourself. in ~society
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Comment on Police threatened to use LRAD devices ("sound cannons") in Minneapolis. There is misinformation online on how to protect yourself. in ~society
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Police threatened to use LRAD devices ("sound cannons") in Minneapolis. There is misinformation online on how to protect yourself.
Note: I couldn't decide whether to post this to society or to health, in the end I think it's more important that people interested in the protests see it, but feel free to move this. I have not...
Note: I couldn't decide whether to post this to society or to health, in the end I think it's more important that people interested in the protests see it, but feel free to move this.
I have not seen an LRAD from up close, I'm going from what is available online and my knowledge of acoustics. There's a lot of misinformation floating around that could be dangerous for protestors, so I'm trying to clear up the worst of it.
What are LRADs/sound cannons?
LRADs are incredibly loud highly directional loudspeakers capable of reproducing medium to high frequencies. They can be used for communication, but they can also be used for playing tones or alarms at volumes so high that it completely paralyzes a person even with ears covered or earplugs inserted. This mode can easily cause immediate permanent hearing damage.
This is what they look like (sorry for daily mail link, but it's a decent current article)
The police in Minneapolis did not use it as a weapon yet afaik, they only used it to amplify voice and threaten to actually use it, so hopefully there was no harm done unless someone was standing close to it. However I think that in current political climate we have to assume that this can change at any time.
Benn Jordan's video on LRADs is wrong
I have seen links to a video by Benn Jordan on LRADs posted again in various places. Ignore this video and warn anybody who posts it as it's completely wrong and you are going to get hearing damage if you listen to it. Benn Jordan did not do his research and is shockingly lacking some fundaments of acoustics, I could write a whole post on that, but let's focus on the most imporant thing:
The video is about ultrasonic modulation speakers, whereas afaik all of the common LRADs are "just" incredibly loud normal loudspeakers. Here's a teardown that makes it obvious, some evidence can be found on the manufacturer's website as well.
Which means that most of what he says in the video simply does not apply. Most importantly, a piece of stiff glossy paper or plastic foamboard, which people on reddit or youtube keep posting about, will not help at all, it will do nothing, and if you ever try to rely on it, you're going to get hearing damage!
What does help?
The only thing that truly does help is always keeping your distance from an LRAD and/or at least standing far enough from the angle in which it produces maximum volume, which is about 15°. I believe a relatively safe distance without any hearing protection would be about 200 meters (about 650 feet) for the loudest models, but even then it just gives you time to GTFO.
If you need to be closer, wear earplugs. Soft foam earplugs cost almost nothing and may prevent hearing damage (but not if you're close and the LRAD is used at maximum volume). Something like this will provide more isolation. If you expect to be close to an LRAD, wearing large over the ear protection, as strong as you can get, with earplugs underneath is a good idea. Even that won't shield you from 150+ dB, so do not ever get too close.
A stiff, large and heavy shield will help. There's a link at the bottom with more information. However this only shields direct sound, and sound reflects off things, so if you're near a wall, or in a narrow street, you may still get dangerous volume levels just from reflected sound. I think it's usually safer to stay mobile than to carry around a heavy shield.
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Comment on Iran’s supreme leader signals harsher crackdown as protest movement swells in ~society
V17 Link ParentThanks a lot for your information! Yeah, that was based on information that was available at that point.Thanks a lot for your information! Yeah, that was based on information that was available at that point.
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Comment on Hunger signals messed up in ~health.mental
V17 LinkI also get suppressed appetite when stressed. My question is: are you still eating the same portions? In other words, is truly the issue a lack of hunger signals, or is it that you feel full much...I also get suppressed appetite when stressed. My question is: are you still eating the same portions? In other words, is truly the issue a lack of hunger signals, or is it that you feel full much quicker than before?
The reason why I'm asking is that for me when I stress-starved myself in the past for an extended period of time (weeks?), the issue was that my stomach significantly suppressed its natural peristaltics (seen on endoscopy), and as a result I felt full quickly and when I attempted to eat normal portions of food I quickly became nauseous. But when I didn't eat, I regularly became nauseous as well, likely from the stomach acid produced on an empty stomach. Herbal teas for aiding digestion seemed to make the second issue worse while not helping the fist issue.
The solution from the gastroenterologist was to force myself to eat regularly until the stomach starts moving normally again. This was really difficult and I failed until I got a tip from a different doctor who was into alternative medicine (a red flag, but this thing in particular worked): he told me to only drink warm fluids, even if it's just warm water with a bit of lemon juice for taste (I usually used diluted fruit syrups warmed in the microwave), no cold or room temperature drinks whatsoever, do not eat raw vegetables, only cooked, and avoid dairy. I assume that the first thing was the most important and afaik is backed by some evidence, but I decided to do the latter two as well just in case, so I cannot say for sure. I felt a difference in a week and within two weeks I was able to eat mostly normally.
Good luck in any case, and a visit to a gastroenterologist seems warranted. Endoscopy is not that bad.
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Comment on Scott A. on Scott A. on Scott A. in ~comics
V17 Link ParentHonestly that's valid. What I intended to say by that is that I acknowledge that it is clearly a jab and not neutral commentary, but I think it's a jab at attittude, not at a diagnosis or people...You described it as "mildly offensive observations." I don't think it makes sense to be like "no not like that, it's mildly offensive in another direction"
Honestly that's valid. What I intended to say by that is that I acknowledge that it is clearly a jab and not neutral commentary, but I think it's a jab at attittude, not at a diagnosis or people with the diagnosis in general. And I think that things can be stated in a somewhat offensive way but still be mostly accurate.
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Comment on Scott A. on Scott A. on Scott A. in ~comics
V17 Link Parentcopying what I say above: I don't interpret it that way, I see it as a criticism of "2010s tumblr"-like focus on the diagnosis as the most important thing in one's personality, which doesn't seem...What a brave take; a doctor dismissing people with literal mental illnesses. Bravo. I can't wait to never read any of his other material.
copying what I say above: I don't interpret it that way, I see it as a criticism of "2010s tumblr"-like focus on the diagnosis as the most important thing in one's personality, which doesn't seem healthy.
Btw here's a piece by the NYT on the man, doxing him, to provide more context into the enviously large, genetically superior brain behind these works.
Of all the reasons to hate him I think this is one of the worse ones and recommend looking up and reading the subject's response together with it, it gives reasonable explanations why some parts of the article are just badly written/wrong.
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Comment on Scott A. on Scott A. on Scott A. in ~comics
V17 Link ParentI don't interpret it that way, I see it as a criticism of "2010s tumblr"-like focus on the diagnosis as the most important thing in one's personality, which doesn't seem healthy.I don't interpret it that way, I see it as a criticism of "2010s tumblr"-like focus on the diagnosis as the most important thing in one's personality, which doesn't seem healthy.
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Comment on Scott A. on Scott A. on Scott A. in ~comics
V17 (edited )Link ParentI don't think that's a fair observation. edit: more specifically, I don't think it's any more correct that saying "oh, this is one of the people who freak out any time a link to ACX is posted on...I don't think that's a fair observation.
edit: more specifically, I don't think it's any more correct that saying "oh, this is one of the people who freak out any time a link to ACX is posted on tildes" on some of the other commenters.
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Comment on Scott A. on Scott A. on Scott A. in ~comics
V17 Link ParentI just want to point out that this, and its consequences, is exactly what the article that this linked article is responding to is all about. It goes deeper, shows examples of his opinions from...I just want to point out that this, and its consequences, is exactly what the article that this linked article is responding to is all about. It goes deeper, shows examples of his opinions from non-Dilbert sources, his personal development, and also has some funny or accurate jabs at him or at nerds as a whole (the author also being one and, like all of us, having to go through the conflict of realizing early on that we're not as capable as we thought as teenagers).
I enjoy mildly offensive observations, so I liked this passage in particular, but the rest of the article is otherwise quite kind and empathetic:
Every nerd who was the smartest kid in their high school goes to an appropriately-ranked college and realizes they’re nothing special. But also, once they go into some specific field they find that intellect, as versatile as it is, can only take them so far. And for someone who was told their whole childhood that they were going to cure cancer (alas, a real quote from my elementary school teacher), it’s a tough pill to swallow.
Reaction formation, where you replace a unbearable feeling with its exact opposite, is one of the all time great Freudian defense mechanisms. You may remember it from such classics as “rape victims fall in love with their rapist” or “secretly gay people become really homophobic”. So some percent of washed-up gifted kids compensate by really, really hating nerdiness, rationality, and the intellect.
The variety of self-hating nerd are too many to number. There are the nerds who go into psychology to prove that EQ is a real thing and IQ merely its pale pathetic shadow. There are the nerds who become super-woke and talk about how reason and objectivity are forms of white supremacy culture. There are the nerds who obsess over “embodiment” and “somatic therapy” and accuse everyone else of “living in their heads”. There are the nerds who deflect by becoming really into neurodiversity - “the interesting thing about my brain isn’t that I’m ‘smart’ or ‘rational’, it’s that I’m ADHDtistic, which is actually a weakness . . . but also secretly a strength!” There are the nerds who flirt with fascism because it idolizes men of action, and the nerds who convert to Christianity because it idolizes men of faith. There are the nerds who get really into Seeing Like A State, and how being into rationality and metrics and numbers is soooooo High Modernist, but as a Kegan Level Five Avatar they are far beyond such petty concerns. There are the nerds who redefine “nerd” as “person who likes Marvel movies” - having successfully gerrymandered themselves outside the category, they can go back to their impeccably-accurate statisticsblogging on educational outcomes, or their deep dives into anthropology and medieval mysticism, all while casting about them imprecations that of course nerds are loathsome scum who deserve to be bullied.
(maybe it’s unfair to attribute this to self-hatred per se. [...] )
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Comment on Scott A. on Scott A. on Scott A. in ~comics
V17 LinkWhat a coincidence, I just finished reading The Dilbert Afterlife by Scott Alexander, which this article reacts to, and I want to recommend it, I think it's brilliant. It talks about the pitfalls...What a coincidence, I just finished reading The Dilbert Afterlife by Scott Alexander, which this article reacts to, and I want to recommend it, I think it's brilliant. It talks about the pitfalls of being a clever but onesided nerd, about the cultural context of early 00s nerdom and how it developed, and also talks about ridiculous non-Dilbert books that Scott Adams wrote, among other things.
Scott Adams felt the contradictions of nerd-dom more acutely than most. As compensation, he was gifted with two great defense mechanisms. The first was humor (which Freud grouped among the mature, adaptive defenses), aided by its handmaiden self-awareness. The second (from Freud’s “neurotic” category) was his own particular variety of reaction formation, “I’m better than those other nerds because, while they foolishly worship rationality and the intellect, I’ve gotten past it to the real deal, marketing / manipulation / persuasion / hypnosis.”
When he was young, and his mind supple, he was able to balance both these mechanisms; the steam of their dissonance drove the turbine of his art. As he grew older, the first one - especially the self-awareness - started to fail, and he leaned increasingly heavily on the second. Forced to bear the entire weight of his wounded psyche, it started showing more and more cracks, until eventually he ended up as a podcaster - the surest sign of a deranged mind.
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Comment on What are some stories of progressivism gone wrong in implementation? in ~society
V17 LinkToday on a walk a randomly remembered two stories to share, hopefully bumping this thread won't be too annoying. Seems better than opening a new one. Both stories relate to #metoo and the changes...Today on a walk a randomly remembered two stories to share, hopefully bumping this thread won't be too annoying. Seems better than opening a new one. Both stories relate to #metoo and the changes it caused. I do not intend to judge #metoo as a whole.
First is a story from a soundguy, and it's not exactly terrible, it just shows the limits and side effects of the approach to workplace sexual harrassment.
One of the things you have to regularly do in theater or TV production is install microports on people (possibly has a different name in english) - those tiny microphones that are placed either somewhere around the actor's face or nearby on clothes. This involves very carefully running and taping a small wire around their body to the transmitter somewhere around their waist so that it stays put, doesn't snag on anything etc., and it obviously has to be done under clothes. So it usually involves touching people in their underwear, sometimes in uncomfortable places, and being quite close to them.
Pervs exist in all walks of life so naturally there are sound guys who either seemed like they possibly enjoyed touching women during this process a bit more than appropriate, or were just clearly over the line. This was not common, but even just one person working a TV production gets ample opportunities to grope people regularly.
#metoo empowered people to complain and generally created an atmosphere of fear of being inappropriate. While it's difficult to judge and there's no clear data, it definitely seemed like it improved the situation with pervs who want to grope women. However. Some portion of people is always going to be stupid, ignorant or malicious. This applies to potential victims or ex-victims as well. And unfortunately installing microports really does require getting up close and touching people in their underwear in uncomfortable places even when done completely professionaly. So false accusations of inappropriate touching from people who do not understand or do not want to understand the dificulty of this job also spiked, some actresses were known to complain regularly even when everything was done as carefully as possible, so sound guys talked among themselves and tried to avoid them etc.
Miscommunications or screw ups happen in every field, but with accusations of sexual harrassment the stakes shot up sky high. As a result a number of experienced guys, who almost certainly never behaved inappropriately but either received a false accusation scare themselves or saw one happen to their colleagues, understandably decided that it's just not worth it risking their career and name over this and since then only work jobs that do not require them to do this at all, to anybody. Which leaves the job to less exprienced guys or guys who don't care.
The second one is actually kind of similar, but more personal. A teacher from Academy of Arts, theatre faculty, was accused of being inappropriate with his female students, repeatedly touching them in sexual ways. The problem here is that he's a teacher of acrobatics.
I only met him briefly, his wife a couple times more, but we have various friends in common and as far as I can judge based on everything I know, I am 95% sure he's innocent. His reaction was, paraphrasing, "But I teach acrobatics! I have to touch them! They can die if I don't!".
I tried to find the newspaper article that mentioned him being accused, which I read when it happened a few years ago, and couldn't. It's quite possible it was pulled, I don't think a formal accusation happened, certainly not a lawsuit towards him, and he's not at all the kind of person who would file a lawsuit against the accusers. However the result is that he's not teaching anymore. He had somewhere around 5 years until possible retirement and his career ended with being falsely accused and rather leaving to not have to deal with the fallout, rebuild trust with students who can break their neck if they don't trust him etc. This is an incredibly kind person who spent his life so far as a performer bringing joy mostly to little kids, and while teaching was just one part of that, it's a sad, sour ending.
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Comment on Looking for audio recording advice in ~hobbies
V17 Link ParentEQ is short for equalization/equalizer, which is a process, nowadays done with software, that changes the loudness of various frequencies. Generally microphones (and also loudspeakers or...EQ is short for equalization/equalizer, which is a process, nowadays done with software, that changes the loudness of various frequencies. Generally microphones (and also loudspeakers or headphones) are never perfectly linear, meaning they record each frequency with a slightly different loudness and change the color of the sound in that way. They also often do not record the very lowest frequencies, some do not record treble very well etc. With EQ we can change the balance of various frequency bands and make the device more linear - if it seems to have a bit too much sibilance for example (as the Yeti might have), you can turn the frequency band where sibilance is located down a little bit and make the sound more natural. This can help the overall sound a ton.
However, a specialized EQ software may not be necessary here, as firstly part of what the person in the video is doing is tuning a very basic EQ that is built into the Logitech software, and secondly the overall color of the sound changes based on how close your mouth is to the microphone (this is called simply "proximity effect"), and moving closer generally increases the low frequencies, so the sound often no longer sounds thin or sharp. In youtube videos the Yeti seems to have okay sound when used properly and from up close.
The video you sent made me realise I have the Yeti set to the wrong setting - the one that looks like a figure-8 instead of the dented circle. So that's one change I'm going to make!
This should help, that is the cardioid pattern and it picks up sound from the sides and back less than from the front. But the main takeaway from that is that I recommend reading the manual, because unless Logitech is really lazy it should explain these things and possibly provide some best practices on how to use it as well.
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Comment on Iran’s supreme leader signals harsher crackdown as protest movement swells in ~society
V17 Link ParentLooks lilke a couple days after I looked up the above fragments of information the situation has changed. Terrible.Looks lilke a couple days after I looked up the above fragments of information the situation has changed. Terrible.
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Comment on Looking for audio recording advice in ~hobbies
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Comment on US households using Ozempic spend less on groceries in ~health
V17 Link ParentIt's not that simple, for example the gut microbiome can send signals to you brain, telling it to start craving even specific types of food. Also your gut can digest different kinds of food with...It's not that simple, for example the gut microbiome can send signals to you brain, telling it to start craving even specific types of food. Also your gut can digest different kinds of food with different efficiency based on the microbiome composition, making CICO more complicated.
Bad covid fucked up my gut microbiome (this is pretty common, though the symptoms can be completely different), the result was that I had returning stomach pains for almost a year, and I started gaining weight despite eating the same diet the whole time. And I'm sure I did not increase the amount of food because the stomach pains reduced my appetite slightly. In 10 months I gained 10 kg. After that the pain gradually stopped and my weight stabilized. It has been almost 3 years now I think and the weight comes back to that new normal if I get sick and lose a few kgs, going over it is quite hard - the same as it has always been for me, except now the stable weight is 10 kg higher than it was.
I have had my microbiome sequenced before and during this (I have a chronic illness that's closely linked to it) and I did notice a significant temporary raise of bacteria associated with obesity. No idea how exactly it works though. I was on the low end of normal BMI, now I'm in the middle, so I have no idea how hard losing the weight would be since I have no reason to try.
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Comment on Looking for audio recording advice in ~hobbies
V17 Link ParentPossibly this is a nitpick, but it's neither. It's not open sourced, and it has a fully functional trial period of 60 days, but those 60 days are not enforced by the software, you just get a nag...(Reaper) is open source and free
Possibly this is a nitpick, but it's neither. It's not open sourced, and it has a fully functional trial period of 60 days, but those 60 days are not enforced by the software, you just get a nag screen on start up, with which it is technically unlimited. But I think it's worth saying that it is still a commercial piece of software and you are asked to buy it after the trial period. The price makes it such a good deal (60 USD for a discounted version which applies here) that it's worth supporting it.
I'd get good dynamic mics (like the SM58)
An alternative: we just switched to sE V7 with my band because it's a bit more flat, with less of a presence boost and a slightly more extended high end, which makes it sound slightly more studio like. It costs slightly less than an SM58. But honestly I think the Yeti might be okay, OP sounds like they're not using it exactly right, it should sound good when used from up close with the cardioid setting even with non-ideal acoustics.
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Comment on Looking for audio recording advice in ~hobbies
V17 (edited )LinkThere are some dubious claims around the thread. My specialization is sound reproduction, not recording, but I dabble in recording a bit as well, I have recorded and mixed a few songs for my band...There are some dubious claims around the thread. My specialization is sound reproduction, not recording, but I dabble in recording a bit as well, I have recorded and mixed a few songs for my band with good results.
- The difference in room sound between the Yeti and the headset is caused mostly by the distance between the mic and your mouth. Halving the distance between the mic and the mouth makes your voice twice as loud, while the room noise stays the same loudness. Therefore putting the mic as close to your mouth as comfortable is the best room noise/reverb suppression by far - shouldn't be necessary to kiss it, but I'd say try 10 - 15 cm. Also set the Yeti to the cardioid pattern, which should make it the most directional. And if you hear pop sounds from plosives, add a pop filter in front of it, it's pretty cheap. Speak to the mic from the side, not from the top, into the front side with the logo.
- Using modern software reverb/echo suppression techniques might help, but it will likely make the recording sund too dry and unnatural, and it almost always creates some artifacts. What helps is to use some software that splits the audio into the reverb-less voice and then just the reverb without the voice, where the two then sum together perfectly into the original track. That way you can try to reduce the reverb by say 4 dB, which makes it less pronounced, but doesn't make the artifacts as apparent. A great free software that can do this is UVR (it has several models, you have to experiment), the commercial standard is probably Izotope RX Studio, no idea if it's better. Generally this is postprocessing only, doesn't work in real time.
- The sound of the Blue Yeti is not bad (though there are better mics out there, but I think the Yeti is fine when used properly), but it is a bit thin and harsh especially when used from a distance, which can be improved by EQ. It is also possible to add other effects that improve sound. You can either use various built-in or VST effects in whatever software you use to finalize the sound after recording, or apparently you can use logitech software with effects specifically for your mic. The slight issue here is that the frequency response (the "color" of the sound) changes based on how close the mic is to your mouth. Recording from up close makes the bass stronger on directional microphones.
- If you send me a recording of you talking to the microphone from the distance that you will use in a video, after you work out what's comfortable and practical, I can make you some okay EQ that you can then use. If you end up not using the Yeti, I can try to make some EQ for the headset as well, it could help, though usually those don't use very good mics. I think overall the Yeti is going to be okay, and it's possible that from up close it's going to sound decent without EQ as well. You can try EQing it yourself, but unless you have really accurate headphones or speakers it's difficult to truly make it better.
- Covering your room with blankets etc. helps, but when you have the mic close to your mouth, it usually ceases to be necessary.
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Comment on Looking for audio recording advice in ~hobbies
V17 Link ParentTiny mics in headsets are almost impossible to make very directional outside of high frequencies, generally the methods to build directional mics need either bigger capsules or multimic arrays...The thing about the (basic/gaming) headset mics (in my anecdotal experience) is they're extremely directional so they're picking up a lot less of the room's sound whereas the Yetis, while a decent basic upgrade as far as mic quality, are going to pick up much more of your surroundings.
Tiny mics in headsets are almost impossible to make very directional outside of high frequencies, generally the methods to build directional mics need either bigger capsules or multimic arrays (which can be quite tiny with MEMS microphones, but that's not what cheap gaming headsets normally use). The effect OP is talking about is almost always just the effect of proximity: when the mic is just a few centimeters from the mouth, voice is so much louder than the room that it effectively suppresses noise.
The Yeti is going to be similar when used from such a close distance.
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Comment on Looking for audio recording advice in ~hobbies
V17 (edited )Link ParentThis is not true. And the quicker falloff is not true either afaik, they just don't really pick up the highest frequencies, so with the (normal) falloff with distance the already muted high...You probably want dynamic microphones. Because of how they work, they are less sensitive and have a more specific pickup pattern, which means rhat they don’t pick up background noise. The con is that they need to be right next to your face - like, literally less than inch away from your mouth.
This is not true. And the quicker falloff is not true either afaik, they just don't really pick up the highest frequencies, so with the (normal) falloff with distance the already muted high frequencies vanish early. But the way I understand it, the only reason why they tend to produce less feedback or room sound is that they're usually used from up close and therefore with less gain, and the reason why they're so popular for live sound is that not having the highest treble doesn't matter as much and they're much more durable than condensers, plus they don't suffer from handling noise as much.
At home where feedback is not an issue a condenser with a pop filter used from up close tends to sound better for less money.
Fixed!