WTF-Beta

@Bernard said in Is poetry pretentious?:

But I'm having a hard time finding anything funny about the "poems".

Same. I find it in bad taste and to me it shows his character. And what it shows is that his character is not what I'd want in someone in public office. Although, looking at who sits in the White House, perhaps he's actually perfect for the role. /eyeroll.

As to the questions of giving someone a pass for something they did "years ago" or "in their youth" ... 12 years is not that long, and 30 (or almost 30 or whatever) is not "youth." So I personally wouldn't give him a pass.

@wtg disgusting

@wtg that was interesting, thanks for posting it!

Not the same as agentic AI, I’ve spent a lot of time testing ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot in voice mode in Japanese to see which chatbots are best as a conversation practice partner for learners. They all have problems, but ChatGPT (the OpenAI product) is by far the best (currently). It’s interesting how much better it is than the others (esp since Copilot shares some infrastructure with ChatGPT).

@andyd those are both very nice! I noticed that each listing has less than 20 photos, unlike some American listings on Zillow which have 100+ photos!

Thank you!!

I shared this in the PT holiday recital, so I wanted to share it here too

Piece: Joy to the World, arranged by David Nevue

Link to video
Source of music: sheet music purchased from David's website (https://davidnevue.com/sheetmusic.htm)
Recording method: iPhone, I also used "ScreenPal" to trim the beginning and end, that seemed easier than the iPhone and I'm considering getting a paid subscription.

I love David Nevue's arrangements of traditional Christmas carols! If you do as well, let me know and I'll link my favorites!
Actually, I've recorded this before (I think) but it's been years. This was a quick re-learn, mistakes and all as always! But if I wait any longer, it will be after Christmas!

P.S. do you like my Christmas decorations? I wasn't expecting them to look so tilted!

@Steve-Miller said in Virtuoso tuba:

Quite different. The Tuba has a much faster rotary valve action vs. the Sousaphone’s vertical valves. The tuba also has a fourth valve, the function of which zine never determined.

Very impressive performance. I doubt it could have been performed on a Sousaphone.

Very interesting! I didn't know about the differences

@Steve-Miller said in Theft at the Self-Checkout Lines:

I’ve seen several stores where the self check registers have been removed.

I would be happy to have more check out lanes with clerks to go through. It's always faster to do it that way.

When Mr. SK and I shop together and go through the self-check out, usually I scan and hand the item to him, and he bags it while I pick up the next item. If the machine didn't seize up, we could be quite fast that way, but it can't handle it (like if there's a nanosecond where I'm scanning the next item before the first item's weight registers in the bagging area). So we end up having to slow down. It's a pain in the rear.

@Piano-Dad said in Theft at the Self-Checkout Lines:

I would feel soiled.

I don't know if I'd go that far about myself, but I also feel strongly about not stealing.

This morning, we were going through self-checkout. I had two things of vitamins, and I thought I'd scanned them both, and both were bagged, no warning was coming up, but I could see there was only one in the running list of items that had been rung up. I called someone over to help me, but as the clerk was fixing it for me, I thought to myself "I probably could have walked off without paying and no one would have noticed. Or if they had, I could have just said it was a mistake."

But it would have been dishonest and that's not how I want to be as a person.

Also, I know that shoplifting is not a victimless crime, as some like to say it is, and definitely wouldn't want to do something dishonest where there's also a victim -- or rather, victims. Because we are all paying for the "product loss" or whatever they call it.

@Bernard OMG! That was amazing!! First of all of it was beautifully played, lovely tone with such a gentle feel, perfect for the music.

Second, ummm…. Can anyone say “lung capacity”??? I bet she can hold her breath for like…. an hour….

OMG that's horrible.

@Piano-Dad said in Hey, how about this place? :

A friend of mine posted that it looks like the Venetian in Las Vegas threw up all over an apartment!

That's putting it mildly.

This one made me laugh out loud:

Re this:

Every detail reflects uncompromising quality, from the exceptional materials and masterful craftsmanship to the fully appointed interiors, which include numerous historically significant furnishings, highlighted by rare pieces from the Versace Estate.

Do you think that means they're selling it with all the furnishings?? What real estate agent in their right might would think that is ok?

There probably aren't enough residential remodeling dumpsters in all of Ann Arbor for that...

Speaking of which, why on earth is there a penthouse like this in Ann Arbor in the first place???

Who lived there? The football coach?

OMG!!!!!!!!! How awful.

@wtg said in 25th Amendment. Seriously.:

Leavitt says these things with a straight face. Remarkable.

yep. They have become totally immune to how these things sound

@wtg said in 25th Amendment. Seriously.:

Why is no one questioning this man's sanity?

Clearly because they are so unpatriotic and so selfish that all they care about is protecting their own interests.

Or wondering, at least, why he's wasting time and money on crap like this?

Indeed. I would love to see a detailed report of all the unnecessary expenditures like this that are happening, each with a column that gives a numerical ranking on a scale of 1 to 10 of the level of petty…. Or in a sanity. This one would be a 10.

A series of plaques

It’s the plaque version of his social media posts.

@CHAS said in The Great Chicago Tune-Off (from 1997):

I think he is 80.

Yikes! How is his hearing?

I had a tuner when we lived in the South, before I found the ex-S&S tuner (who was excellent!) and he was quite elderly and very hard of hearing! He used an ETA. And of course, back then that was when I had the rickety old Baldwin upright, so it was more than good enough!

@Rontuner nice, that’s great!

I would imagine that a big city like Chicago will alway be better able to support more tuners than the smaller cities and towns.

Also, not important but in my post above, I meant to write “ I would love to have heard some of those!” (Not “I would drive to have heard…” silly autocorrect! I edited it of course!)

@Rontuner said in The Great Chicago Tune-Off (from 1997):

There have been a few "tune-offs" over the years - some between equal temperament and alternates and others between competing electronic tuning devices. (I hosted/ran one of those for the Chicago chapter years ago, using a number of Baldwin school upright pianos - notoriously difficult scale design for devices to calculate a decent tuning)

Cool! I would love to have heard some of those!

One note about the first tune-off: I studied a bit with Virgil Smith

Oh cool! I figured you might know about this but I should have known you would actually know them!

Am I remembering correctly that you are semi-retired now? Or are you fully retired? Or am I fully wrong?

Did you have anyone take over your clients?

I had this story on Piano Tell and it’s turned into a discussion of how hard it is to find a tuner now.

I might have mentioned that my current turner is the retired head technician for the music school here. He is amazing. His tunings make my piano sounds great glorious and the tunings seem to last forever. But he’s probably closer is indeed semi-retired and will eventually fully retire. And then I can only hope that I’ll be able to find someone else who’s even remotely close to his capabilities.

The dwindling number of tuners always makes me very sad.

I saw this on Facebook, it’s an article from a 1997 issue of the Piano Technicians Journal. They had two veteran tuners tune two side-by-side pianos, one aurally and one with an ETD, and then had listeners do a blind listening test. I would imagine there are more recent tests like this with more recent technology, but I thought this was a fun read nevertheless. It almost made me wonder if this magazine is still in publication (perhaps online?)

It seems to me that a lot of people have lost their jobs for saying similar things about Charlie Kirk…

I loved When Harry Met Sally.

Add This is Spinal Tap to the list!