I've been an audiophile for a few years during early twenties because it was fun to check out new and used equipment every weekend in the store I frequented, listened to various great music, and read reviews in various magazines. I had enough disposable income to afford a nice set of highly regarded yet less hyped brands, and even once helped out set up a set with a pricetag of a good house.
Life changed and eventually gave up on the hobby while still being drawn to music and the technology behind audio. Then a "golden" kick out the door of one employer meant I could build the speaker set I had in mind based on Siegfried Linkwitz's knowledge. The total cost for the speakers was about 2000,- but it did take between 2000 and 3000 for a fully active setup with two subwoofer towers and two 3.5 way main towers, all open baffle.
I have never heard a more perfect three-dimensional soundstage before and after, and it still sounds like the artists are actually playing in the livingroom even from other parts of the house. This was kind of Siegfried's message about good sound, the speakers are what make it (electronics are more than good enough at low prices) as long as they're made on scientific grounds, and not another heavy set of hyped monkey coffins. I have reached my audiophile end goal without forking over a fortune. Also fun, I came across one of the only two or three Yamaha CD-1 players made for Europe back then as a trade-in, one rarity I kept as souvenir of those early years. ;-)
Yeah, the Linkwitz stuff seems relatively affordable to me, yet based on actual science instead of audiophile voodoo. Building one of those is definitely on my list (to replace the early 90s monkey coffins I inherited). 3000€ for a hobby is a bit much at once, but considering it can bring joy for decades that's actually quite cheap.
Though IIRC his original design used active XO with op amps (after all he's the L in LR filter) instead of going the DSP route with IIR/FIR (which IIUC wasn't a good option back when he was alive). Did his successors modernize that aspect of the design?
Religion is just one of the excuses/covers used to grab more power and/or shiny baubles by psychopatic people. And there are the ones who just want to see others suffer no matter what. Most of the people that are left don't feel like lifting a finger unless it directly endangers their own comfortable life.
Call me cynical, but I haven't seen any improvement in human nature in 50 years.
When I felt my conscious fading away from a heart attack two years ago, I thought "Ah, I guess I die now. Too bad I can't tell my friend to clear the cache as a last joke."
It confirmed I'm not actually afraid to die, just regretting for a moment before the void that I can't witness what'll happen to the world in the future.
> just regretting for a moment before the void that I can't witness what'll happen to the world in the future.
If I may ask, were you regretting about the decisions made in past or decisions that you won't see in future and jokes aside, what was the most important thing in that moment, was it about family, (does anything like random-thing-we-worry-about-for-too-long/work/tech/whatever-else even runs through the mind)?
I don't worry about decisions. Once they're made, they're made and life continues unless there's a good reason and possibilty later to change it. I just like to know where the world as a whole is headed to (before the inevitable supernova event, I'm just curious).
There was also nothing important coming to mind. Family and friends is a small group and I have every bit of confidence they'll do just fine without me. I just hope they'll have a fun party as a final goodbye to me. :-)
Besides, death is the ultimate "What, me worry?" as there is nothing left. Can't even experience the void we enter ( unfortunately because I'd like to experience my brain not thinking about anything at all for once :-p ).
The sun won't go supernova, but it will become a red giant in about 5,000,000,000 years, which will have roughly the same consequences for life on earth.
To be honest, I can't quite predict if humanity truly survives within the next decade or two/three or a century. Let alone millions of times more than that amount.
We humans are very likely to be our own worst enemy. I would wish for the world to exist till the 5_billion year date that you mention.
> I'd like to experience my brain not thinking about anything at all for once
You can! While you’re alive and everything! I’ve had this experience of few times of it being very quiet, and overall my brain is a lot quieter since then (and I see reports from people who’ve gone further/deeper; I get the sense the path is never-ending).
There’s a ton of resources and people out there that basically point to the same thing in different ways. Meditation is one of the ways but it’s not the only one. Some keyword soup if you want to go searching: jhana states, Jhourney, Art of Accomplishment, Joe Hudson, Zen, Buddhism, awakening, Michael Singer, Loch Kelly
There are varying levels of “woo” in this, and if you’re on the woo-averse side, Joe Hudson’s stuff is a good way in.
Until you try to add / modify a feature of the software and run into confusing template or operator or other C++ specific errors and need to deconstruct a larger part of the code to find (if possible) out where it comes from and spend even more time trying to correct it.
C++ is the opposite of simplicity and clarity in code.
I think zswap is the better option because it's not a fixed RAM storage, it merely compresses pages in RAM up to a variable limit and then writes to swap space when needed, which is more efficient.
It worked very well with my preceding laptop limited to 4GB of RAM.
Speaking of SimAnt, I soon discovered the bug that by moving into the top corner, the black ants would conquer all squares with no intervention from that one sideways and downwards and too easily win the game.
Still, it was fun just messing around with the ants, watching the trails, and chasing spiders by calling forth all ants.
Life changed and eventually gave up on the hobby while still being drawn to music and the technology behind audio. Then a "golden" kick out the door of one employer meant I could build the speaker set I had in mind based on Siegfried Linkwitz's knowledge. The total cost for the speakers was about 2000,- but it did take between 2000 and 3000 for a fully active setup with two subwoofer towers and two 3.5 way main towers, all open baffle.
I have never heard a more perfect three-dimensional soundstage before and after, and it still sounds like the artists are actually playing in the livingroom even from other parts of the house. This was kind of Siegfried's message about good sound, the speakers are what make it (electronics are more than good enough at low prices) as long as they're made on scientific grounds, and not another heavy set of hyped monkey coffins. I have reached my audiophile end goal without forking over a fortune. Also fun, I came across one of the only two or three Yamaha CD-1 players made for Europe back then as a trade-in, one rarity I kept as souvenir of those early years. ;-)
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