ylph's recent activity
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Comment on Wikipedia's list of the best video games: how many have you played, and what's missing? in ~games
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Comment on Share your favorite live music performance recordings in ~music
ylph LinkIronically, the music I usually like the most (various forms of electronic music) doesn't really lend itself to being performed live that well. However, I mix in other genres of music into my...Ironically, the music I usually like the most (various forms of electronic music) doesn't really lend itself to being performed live that well. However, I mix in other genres of music into my listening and the following are some of the recordings that have been in heavy rotation for me over the past few years:
Hania Rani, Arte Piano Day 2022 - I have all Hania's records, but for some reason this performance really hits home with me.
Khruangbin, Pitchfork Live 2018 - this was my introduction to Khruangbin, and I still listen to it frequently. The tone is really great too, especially the bass. It like triggers my taste buds somehow..
Aurora, Live at Rock en Seine 2025 - only got into Aurora recently, so haven't quite covered all her live recordings, but this one is a standout. She sounds great on her records of course, but it's amazing to see her pull it off live (with the help of some great backup singers for the layered harmonies)
I could list more, but curious about other peoples faves.
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Share your favorite live music performance recordings
As Youtube has become my primary method of discovering new music over time, I find myself listening mostly to live recordings of both old artists I have been a fan of for a long time, but also...
As Youtube has become my primary method of discovering new music over time, I find myself listening mostly to live recordings of both old artists I have been a fan of for a long time, but also especially new artists (both new and new to me)
I could go on and on about how I feel about modern studio recording, and music industry in general, but I think people mostly know all this, and live music has been a counter to some of these trends, as a place to find more authentic musical connection between artists and audiences.
I have discovered a few new artists through discussions here on Tildes before, so I thought I would ask people to recommend their favorite live music recordings. Most specifically I am looking for live performances that are both great themselves, and also well captured/recorded so that they can be listened to as a studio album would (there are a lot of live sets recorded by people holding cellphones, which usually have audio ranging from bad to terrible.) Also would love to see examples of complete sets/concerts rather than single songs. I love listening to "long form" music so to speak, and appreciate the journey that is often consciously crafted when artists put together their live sets.
And it doesn't have to be a critical or formal recommendation, doesn't have to be the best of that artist or genre or anything like that - I am more interested in the personal faves, anything that resonates with you specifically for whatever reason, that you can go back to over and over. Basically, recommend a live music recording you have personally listened to in its entirety at least 5 times. I am open to any genres or time periods (as long as the quality is decent enough to listen to for pleasure)
I'll include my own picks in a comment below. Thanks !
Edit: thank you all for the recommendations - looks like it is going to take me a few weeks to go through these :) Quite a variety of different genres too, and a lot of new to me artists, which is great.
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Comment on What is your "when I found out about 9/11" story? in ~talk
ylph (edited )LinkI left the PATH station at the ground floor of the WTC around 8:30am on 9/11 (less than 15 minutes before the first plane hit) - I had a 15-20 minute walk to my office at 125 Broad Street. When I...- Exemplary
I left the PATH station at the ground floor of the WTC around 8:30am on 9/11 (less than 15 minutes before the first plane hit) - I had a 15-20 minute walk to my office at 125 Broad Street. When I got to the office, people were talking about a plane that just hit one of the WTC towers. My office was almost on the 40th floor, with perfectly clear view of the WTC towers, but the first plane hit from the North, so we couldn't see the point of impact. Most people thought it was a small GA plane. Soon the column of smoke intensified, leading to the whole floor standing by the North side windows observing what was happening. There were papers floating in the air from there, which was quite eerie (the wind was blowing the column of smoke down in our direction). This is when the second plane flew into view from the left (passed about 1500 ft West of our building) with a roar, and smashed into the south tower with a massive fireball. It was an unbelievable sight. Almost everyone watching made a spontaneous decision to get out right away, and headed for the elevators. I was on one of the first elevators down, after that the elevators couldn't handle the rush, and most people headed for the stairs, some of my colleagues walked down the 40 floors to get out. It's probably an irrational response, but everyone felt uneasy about being on a high floor of a skyscraper at that moment. Of course then we're standing outside in a big crowd, and nobody was too sure what to do.
Needless to say, it was a very long day, and I witnessed some horrible things I don't like to think about anymore. I lived in NJ at the time, and only got home after dark that night. Ended up getting evacuated from lower Manhattan by a ferry, then had to go through decontamination shower tents setup in Hoboken, before getting a train back home..
When the first tower fell (which we had no idea is what happened at that moment or was even a possibility - we were in a lobby of a building, when suddenly the bright sunny day outside turned to pitch black in an instant, and we couldn't see the street outside anymore, just swirl of dust pelting the big glass facade of the lobby. It was absolutely apocalyptic, and people were legitimately convinced that a nuclear bomb went off at that moment, causing quite a bit of panic.. but I digress) - I ended up hiding from the dust in a basement of the building we were at with a person I just met at work a few days prior, for quite a few hours, we struck up a deep conversation. This person eventually ended up becoming my life partner, we had a kid together who is about to become an adult, and we still live together 25 years later, after moving through several states since.. so there is some personal silver lining in this terrible event for me.
Of course that was just my personal experience, and I was quite lucky in the end. Many people much less so, both on that day, and continuing to today, with the first responders suffering terrible health consequences. My heart breaks for those people.
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Comment on What's a show you love that's from before your time? in ~tv
ylph Link ParentI would have been old enough to watch Twin Peaks when it aired, but it wasn't on TV in the country I grew up in, and went off air by the time I came to the US. By the late 90s I became a big David...I would have been old enough to watch Twin Peaks when it aired, but it wasn't on TV in the country I grew up in, and went off air by the time I came to the US. By the late 90s I became a big David Lynch fan, and Twin Peaks had absolute cult status by then, but was impossible to find anywhere. I've seen the movie several times then, but could never find the show... The VHS box set was out of print. I ended up paying several hundred dollars (probably equivalent to $500 in today's dollars with inflation) for the complete used VHS set and the pilot on eBay - one of my first eBay purchases... Binge watched it with my girlfriend at the time over like 2 days, still one of the peak memories of my youth..
(I've had a similarly difficult time locating a copy of Eraserhead to watch - ended up finding it in a university library in Germany by accident, and watching it in one of those library movie watching rooms.. people have it so easy today with the internet and the ability to instantly find almost any piece of media ever created..)
I remember when the rumors and hype for season 3 started, and was really scared and unsure if it's even a good idea trying to bring back Twin Peaks.. but I was completely blown away. Season 3 ended up being in my opinion the best piece of television work in history. Lynch was a true master of his craft, the world has really lost something when he passed...
I still do a full re-watch of all 3 seasons every few years, it's my comfort watch, I love going back to that world, it feels timeless to me.
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Comment on Operation Bluebird launches Tweet.app in ~tech
ylph Link ParentThere is a tiny US air taxi company Hopscotch Air, which some time ago made a deal with Swiss Airlines to brand their planes with "SWISSAIR" branding, which was the name of the former flag carrier...There is a tiny US air taxi company Hopscotch Air, which some time ago made a deal with Swiss Airlines to brand their planes with "SWISSAIR" branding, which was the name of the former flag carrier airline of Switzerland that went bankrupt in 2002. A regional Swiss airline called Crossair took over most of the routes of Swissair, and renamed itself to Swiss Airlines, and became Switzerland's new flag carrier. Later they were able to acquire the rights to the Swissair name from the bankrupt company as well, basically to stop any competitor from spinning up a new Swissair to compete with Swiss Airlines. However in order to avoid the risk of losing the rights to the name due to abandonment and non-use, they made this license deal with a small US company, where the name would continue to be used in aviation, thus preserving the rights, yet kind of out of sight, in a way that is basically invisible to any Swiss Airlines customer, so it won't cause any confusion with their main business.
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Comment on From millionaires to Muslims, small subgroups of the population seem much larger to many Americans in ~society
ylph Link77% of Americans have read a book in the past year ? That's almost shockingly unexpected to me, I would have guessed a lot lower on that one. On a semi related note, I feel like a lot of people...77% of Americans have read a book in the past year ? That's almost shockingly unexpected to me, I would have guessed a lot lower on that one.
On a semi related note, I feel like a lot of people just don't understand how percentages work, which is the only way some of these numbers make any sense.
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Comment on The 100 best novels of all time published in English in ~books
ylph Link ParentAmong the 172 reviewers, LotR got 3 votes (including a #1) - could have easily made the cut with different weights, as other 3 vote novels made the top 100, HHGTTG got 2 votes, Watership Down got...Among the 172 reviewers, LotR got 3 votes (including a #1) - could have easily made the cut with different weights, as other 3 vote novels made the top 100, HHGTTG got 2 votes, Watership Down got 1 vote. The only book by King that got a vote was The Stand.
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Comment on The 100 best novels of all time published in English in ~books
ylph Link ParentWhich translation did you end up reading ? Were you happy with the choice ? I've read and still own a Slovak translation, and later also the Ginsburg English translation, but both of those are...Which translation did you end up reading ? Were you happy with the choice ?
I've read and still own a Slovak translation, and later also the Ginsburg English translation, but both of those are from 1967, and apparently based on the censored text published in USSR back then.
I loved the book, and would love to revisit one of the more complete uncensored versions again. I can understand Russian fairly OK, but not quite on the level to be able to read a book like this unfortunately.
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Comment on The 100 best novels of all time published in English in ~books
ylph (edited )LinkBased on the methodology, this is not really a list of top 100 novels, it's a list of 100 top 10 novels. It's a subtle difference, but I think it introduces a type of bias into the results. I...- Exemplary
Based on the methodology, this is not really a list of top 100 novels, it's a list of 100 top 10 novels. It's a subtle difference, but I think it introduces a type of bias into the results.
I created a list of all the novels the reviewers ranked (172 people each picked 10 novels) and ranked them all based on just how many times they appeared in the rankings, ignoring the actual ranking.
There is a total of 659 unique novels ranked, and to place in the top 50, it only takes 6 of the 172 reviewers to include it on their list. 3 out of 172 places the novel in top 91-131.
I think anything past the top 50 or so on this list is mostly dominated by noise, there isn't enough data to really separate the novels past that, or make much conclusion about. Many of the novels ranked 100-250 here (which includes most of the books mentioned by the other commenters as missing) could have just as easily ended up in the top 100 with just different sampling.
Edit: fixed some errors and dupes, it's 659 unique novels now - there was actually a significant number of duplicates in the raw data, where either the name of the author or title were spelled differently for the same novel
Edit 2: to illustrate the type of bias I am talking about, here is a list of novels but only including novels ranked #1 on any of the top 10 lists - so this is a list of 92 #1 novels, as opposed to 100 top 10 novels. Many novels from outside the original top 100 now make an appearance due to at least one reviewer granting them the #1 spot on their list, like LotR, while some previously highly ranked novels are gone (e.g. Jane Eyre with 21 votes, but not a single #1) I bet if the reviewers were asked to list 20 or more novels each, the results would be still different. Even using a different weighting based on the top 10 placement would likely shuffle the results significantly, ending up with a different list of 100.
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Comment on Happy Birthday David Attenborough, 'the voice for nature,' turns 100 in ~enviro
ylph Link ParentIn the US about 60% of 100 year olds are expected to reach 101. It does compound pretty quickly after that of course, only about 6% of 100 year olds are expected to reach 105, but still 50% of the...his odds of seeing 101 are vanishingly slim.
In the US about 60% of 100 year olds are expected to reach 101. It does compound pretty quickly after that of course, only about 6% of 100 year olds are expected to reach 105, but still 50% of the 104 year olds.
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Comment on Dual national Londoner stranded in Spain by new border rule in ~travel
ylph Link ParentFrom the article it kind of sounds like she is not actually a British citizen (it says her father couldn't automatically pass the citizenship to her, and lawyers advised her she is in a "grey...From the article it kind of sounds like she is not actually a British citizen (it says her father couldn't automatically pass the citizenship to her, and lawyers advised her she is in a "grey area" and "risks rejection" if she applied for a UK passport ?) - but she lived in the UK as if she was a citizen. Couldn't UK refuse her entry as a Spanish citizen, if she claimed she lives in the UK (i.e. is not a Spanish tourist) ?
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Comment on Why are we still doing this? in ~tech
ylph (edited )Link Parent"compute" has been used as a noun in English for hundreds of years - for example in the phrase "beyond compute" meaning a great amount, uncountable - there are examples of this usage from the..."compute" has been used as a noun in English for hundreds of years - for example in the phrase "beyond compute" meaning a great amount, uncountable - there are examples of this usage from the 1600s.
It has been used for over 10 years as a noun in cloud computing to refer to computational processing power as a resource.
English is a living language, words acquire new meanings through use all the time.
Edit: actually it goes back quite a bit more than 10 years - the term starts to appear in reference to distributed and parallel computing in late 1980s, e.g. "compute node", "compute cluster", etc. - mostly in academia and government (people working with supercomputers) - doesn't look like modern tech bros invented this usage.
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Comment on What's good in modern flashlights/headlamps? in ~hobbies
ylph Link ParentI kind of went down the same path as you, and at some point had a 18650 based setup (with 18650s used as both power banks and headlamp/flashlight batteries) - even tried to go with 18350s to...I kind of went down the same path as you, and at some point had a 18650 based setup (with 18650s used as both power banks and headlamp/flashlight batteries) - even tried to go with 18350s to reduce weight - but eventually switched to a ultralight headlamp with built-in LiIon battery (Nitecore NU25 360, the 2017 version)
This is a very popular headlamp in the ultralight backpacking community, and for good reason honestly - it's so light you forget you are wearing it - with full strap it only weighs 50g (vs 140g for my 18650 headlamp) - and can be used with a string strap which shaves another 12g off. It easily lasts for 2-3 day backpacking trips on a single charge (but I do usually carry a powerbank if needed, both for headlamp and phone)
Yes, the lifespan of the LiIon battery is limited, but I think you can easily get 10 years out of it if not more - unless you are hiking the entire PCT every year or something.
An interesting option I have not fully investigated yet (since I am so happy with my Nitecores) are 16340 based headlamps (e.g. Fenix HM50R) - they have the benefit of replaceable batteries, and are still half the weight of a 18650 headlamp - usually <80g.
I only use the headlamp around camp at night, and usually go sleep soon after it gets dark. If you plan to actually hike with a headlamp, then the parameters change, and some kind of replaceable battery with decent capacity makes a lot more sense - although the Nitecore can be run continuously on external power, so you can run a usb cable to it and strap a powerbank somewhere for long term use, and still not have to carry weight on your head with straps, which can get uncomfortable after a while.
The 2017 NU25 uses a Micro-USB port which is annoying in the present USB-C dominated world. The 2022 version removed the red light and the ultra-low 1 lumen mode, so I would skip that one. There is a NU20 Classic now which is basically the old NU25 (with red light and 1 lumen mode) but with USB-C, and also NU25 MCT which has bigger battery and both red light and 6 lumen mode - so these 2 are the ones I would consider today.
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Comment on What's good in modern flashlights/headlamps? in ~hobbies
ylph Link ParentCan the headlight on your beanie be angled down ? I've had a few scouts bring these camping and backpacking, probably some cheap ones from Amazon, and they could not be angled, in addition to...Can the headlight on your beanie be angled down ? I've had a few scouts bring these camping and backpacking, probably some cheap ones from Amazon, and they could not be angled, in addition to being pretty bright. Everyone hated them, as any time a person wearing one tried to talk to you, you would get blasted in the face with the bright light - we had to pretty much ban them in our troop.
I imagine they are ok when you're by yourself and the uses you outlined, but if camping around other people, the ability to angle the light so it points straight down is essential. Red-light mode is also nice to have, as well as ability to change brightness.
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Comment on No bull: This Austrian cow has learned to use tools in ~science
ylph LinkWell that answers the question of what the long curved stick is for at leastWell that answers the question of what the long curved stick is for at least
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Comment on An AI-generated country song is topping a Billboard chart, and that should infuriate us all in ~music
ylph Link ParentAI music to me feels very similar to AI image generation actually (and to some degree LLM generation as well) - there is this quality about both that is hard to put into words exactly, but a sort...AI music to me feels very similar to AI image generation actually (and to some degree LLM generation as well) - there is this quality about both that is hard to put into words exactly, but a sort of uncanny intensity. Like you can feel the training is definitely distilling some deep human sensory processing mechanisms from the vast amount of human created data it uses, and is able push those sensory buttons in a very direct way - sometimes uncomfortably so, but with careful curation of the outputs, you can select examples of both that are close to the edge and still feel "realistic"
I think we have more defenses built into our visual processing (as we primarily interact with the world visually, and expect a lot more logical consistency in our visual inputs) vs audio processing, which makes it a bit easier to get AI music past them - most people process music on a more abstract level.
I also think we have a built in sensitivity to mimicry - if we detect something is trying to fool our senses in certain ways, it can trigger a negative emotional reaction. I find that the more AI generated content I am exposed to, I develop a new level of aversion towards it - what at first glance seems curious, even compelling, later makes me feel uncomfortable and repulsed as my brain recognizes it as mimicry of human expression. I went through this with AI images, and now AI music as well - once I begin to recognize the signs, I start to hate it, and I don't mean as a conscious choice (I actually came into the gen AI space with very open mind initially), the repulsion comes from some deeper layer of processing. I guess I just don't feel comfortable having my emotional buttons pushed by robots.
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Comment on Paid e-mail providers - your experiences, how you use them and how I would use it in ~tech
ylph Link ParentFor paid accounts, Proton has an IMAP/SMTP bridge app that you can run on your machine (in Linux, Windows or MacOS) that allows any IMAP client to read and send e-mail using a Proton account. I...For paid accounts, Proton has an IMAP/SMTP bridge app that you can run on your machine (in Linux, Windows or MacOS) that allows any IMAP client to read and send e-mail using a Proton account. I use eM Client to manage my many mail accounts, and it has no problems with my Proton accounts. (I have also used Thunderbird in the past with Proton)
Technically, Proton only keeps your e-mails encrypted on their servers, and does not store your decryption key, so that if anyone got access to your e-mails via Proton, they would not be able to read them. However, this also means they could not serve you those e-mails over IMAP. The bridge does the decryption locally, under your control.
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Comment on The hatred of podcasting in ~life
ylph Link ParentApple did not actually coin the term podcast. The term was coined and in use by the community before Apple added support for podcasts into iTunes and iPod. Podcasts originated as audio over RSS,...Apple did not actually coin the term podcast. The term was coined and in use by the community before Apple added support for podcasts into iTunes and iPod. Podcasts originated as audio over RSS, which was later automated with scripts and apps to upload the mp3 files downloaded from RSS feeds to your iPod for listening, all without Apple involvement. Apple adopted the term and added the feature directly into iTunes later.
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Comment on Felipe Massa’s $80m F1 ‘Crashgate’ lawsuit heads to court this week: What to know in ~sports.motorsports
ylph Link ParentAccording to the article, Massa is not asking for the championship results to be changed, at least not at this point. In addition to the monetary damages, he is asking for FIA to make a...According to the article, Massa is not asking for the championship results to be changed, at least not at this point. In addition to the monetary damages, he is asking for FIA to make a declaration that he would have won the championship, if they followed their own rules. It is possible that if FIA was forced to make such declaration (which I think is already unlikely), he could use it to try to overturn the championship results with additional legal action, but I think it would be very difficult.
Hamilton or McLaren were not even involved with the controversy - as far as I know, it was between Renault and Ferrari, with Renault trying to help Alonso at Massas expense. Even if you disqualified Alonso from the race, that would result in 2 extra points for Hamilton, and 0 for Massa, so he would have lost the championship by 3, instead of by 1. The only way Massa wins the championship is if the whole race result was cancelled, but I personally don't see how that would be justifiable under these circumstances (not to mention that FIA has explicit rules against revising results once the season is complete and prizes are given out)
I haven't really followed this too closely for a long time, so I could be off on the current situation with the FIA, but I would think at most they would try to settle with Massa for some money, and in exchange make him agree to drop any further challenges.
Interestingly, while the game was developed for use by a single class at a single school, the computer they used was owned by and located at the district (Minneapolis Public Schools) and shared by ~10 different high schools in the city. Each school could access it using a teletype, the HP 2100 it ran on was one of the first minicomputers that allowed time-sharing, and the game was written in HP time-shared BASIC which allowed up to 32 users to dial into the computer and run the game (or other BASIC programs) simultaneously. Reportedly students and teachers at several other district schools found out about the game and were playing it during the semester when it was loaded on the system.
Also, it wasn't technically a text adventure yet, more of a strategy/simulation game. These early text games in the 1960s and 1970s had very limited memory to work with, so the code had to be very concise. The early text games used simple math simulations and the player entered parameters to progress, and had to balance various conditions. There wasn't usually enough room for much text and any serious world building, for which the later adventure games became known for. I think Colossal Cave Adventure from 1975 is generally considered the first text adventure game (and gave the genre a name as well)
It's cool that Oregon Trail made this list, although it's likely due to the later ports of the game to 8-bit home systems that made it really popular and widely available.
Text games were very popular (relatively to the user base of course) in the era of mainframes and minicomputers - they just weren't covered by the media to make the criteria to appear on this list. I was a kid in the 70s, but my dad was a programmer, and when I would visit his office, he would usually load up Lunar Lander for me on their minicomputer (from paper tape) and I spent hours making new craters on the moon (especially once they got an actual terminal with a display, and I didn't have to waste paper on the teleprinter). Pretty much any office that worked with computers back then had games.
I recently played around with TSS-8 (the time sharing OS for the PDP-8) running on SIMH emulating a PDP-8 on my Linux machine. I OCR'd the original 1969 Lunar Lander FOCAL code and loaded it up in the TSS-8 FOCAL-8 interpreter, to show my teenage gamer son what computer games were like when I was a kid :)