Just Saying -- the soapbox thread

[Muadzin]

I would not extrapolate too much from this one incident onto an entire culture. There are lots of reasons for substandard facilities and dangerous behavior: grinding poverty, disease, fatalism at a cultural level, government corruption, lack of education, a low value of human life and low self-worth. I don't think it's willful recklessness.

I don't get the impression that anything you said contradicts what I said, just that it explained it better. It's not willful recklessness, but it is a general recklessness nonetheless. Which is different from the recklessness we have in the West which is more willful and individual. People willfully doing stupid things for shits and giggles. As opposed to we don't know any better, it worked 99.9% of the times so it will probably do so again and if it doesn't then God/Fate wills it.

[alanp]

I've read about sapeurs before, but hadn't seen any video.

They look amazing in their outfits. I suspect that their families are not so keen, though.

[Muadzin]

I've heard about those guys as well. Isn't it both weird and fascinating that such things exist? And I reckon I must be sort of like those guys as well, as I got a closet full of suits, some of them in weird colors. I mostly bought them for gigs, as I've grown tired of jeans and a black t-shirt with a band print as the standard rock uniform. But you walk through the town dressed in a flashy suit and people will notice you. And give you comments. And so far none of them have been bad.

[alanp]

While Charles Dance played both characters, I still say that Vetineri would eat Tywin Lannister for breakfast.

[stringsthings]

While Charles Dance played both characters, I still say that Vetineri would eat Tywin Lannister for breakfast.

Wouldn't Tywin have something to say about that?

[alanp]

Tywin Lannister is a very powerful man, who knows how to use that power. Most of it is very clear -- Lannister gold, armies, allies (more like vassals, with how he treats them), etc.

Vetinari is nowhere near as straightforward. All of 'Making Money' is set off, pretty much, purely from Vetinari introducing Moist to Mrs Lavish ("Topsy"). That's not a move that Tywin would have done -- he'd have sent in one of his own men (or Tyrion, or Kevan Lannister) with orders on what to do.

Vetinari's assets are also not straightforward. It's never made clear just how much direct power Vetinari has -- he is, in theory, the tyrant ruler of Ankh Morpork, but he mentions a few times that he is bright enough not to go against popular opinion ("Vox Populi, Vox Deorum"). The Palace Guards are his most obvious personal army, but they aren't many in number, compared to any Westeros army. The clearest thing we know about Vetinari's personal power is that very nearly NOTHING goes on in Ankh Morpork that he doesn't know about.

Vetinari also doesn't make a move unless completely necessary -- in Guards Guards, he allows himself to be thrown in his own dungeon. (Granted, one he'd kitted out for his protection, but still.) This means that he is very hard to predict for other people -- you don't have a track record you can point to, other than that he almost inevitably wins. (The time when he comments that he may have wound Vimes up too far comes to mind -- Vimes doesn't pound the wall outside the Oblong Office like usual, and is in a state of resignation, rather than his usual Sam Vimes rage against the injustice of the world. This time is the obvious exception to Vetinari's usual always-winning byzantine planning.)

All this is why I think Vetinari would win.

[juansolo]

Charles Dance as Vetinari was delicious. Perfect casting.

[alanp]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6032027/Photographer-Jay-Maisel-lived-Bowery-1966-2015-charted-areas-gentrification.html

Some really, really neat photographs in this.

[Willybomb]

While I love the convenience of board mounted pots, I really don't like committing an enclosure to the effect before I've tested it out.  With my last couple of builds - Dangerzone, Naughtyfish, Megatron, Arcaditator - the best practice has been  to solder the pots while they're mounted to the enclosure for proper fit later.  This means that if an effect doesn't set me on fire, I've drilled out a box for an effect I may not really care for - it seems like a bit of a waste.

[madbean]

Here's what grinds my gears: youTube. Specifically, if you are making a woodworking video on building something don't put shitty music over it. Or, any music. Use your mic and record what you are actually doing. Do the Diresta thing - when you speed up the video just leave the ambient sound in there sped up. It sounds cool. No one wants to hear the same license-free craploops over and over. It blows!

Also, don't narrate every step. Hit the important points. Show...don't explain.

[stringsthings]

Or, any music. Use your mic and record what you are actually doing. Do the Diresta thing - when you speed up the video just leave the ambient sound in there sped up. It sounds cool.

+1

[EBK]

Also, don't make a 10-minute YouTube video showing something that can be described entirely in 3 photos and 3 sentences. 

The absolute worst I've seen is a web page that said, "the schematic is in the video".

[Muadzin]

While I love the convenience of board mounted pots, I really don't like committing an enclosure to the effect before I've tested it out.  With my last couple of builds - Dangerzone, Naughtyfish, Megatron, Arcaditator - the best practice has been  to solder the pots while they're mounted to the enclosure for proper fit later.  This means that if an effect doesn't set me on fire, I've drilled out a box for an effect I may not really care for - it seems like a bit of a waste.

I can understand that if you're of the rock before you box school. Personally I've never built anything I did not also box. So I don't have that problem. I've always found it so bewildering that so many of you had so many unboxed circuits around and were complaining that you had to box at least some of them. To me building an effect means also drilling and painting the enclosure. And with Tayda a 125B costs less then the average PCB. So it hardly seems like a waste.

On the downside I do have whole boxes full on pedals I don't use. But I reckon they might still come in handy. Waste not, want not.

Also, don't make a 10-minute YouTube video showing something that can be described entirely in 3 photos and 3 sentences.

+1

Nothing worse then having to scroll to the relevant bits because there's endless rambling. If you want to do that at least provide a link so people can skip it.

The absolute worst I've seen is a web page that said, "the schematic is in the video".

Yes and no. It makes you want to rip your hair out if you have to do that because no link to a schematic is being given. Additional aggravation points if the video or description says you just have to mail the maker to get the schematic.

On the other hand however, links can disappear over time and the video might outlast any link the maker did provide. Or even the maker himself could disappear and never be heard off again. In which case, annoying though it is, if its included in the video you'll still have something.

[Willybomb]

I can understand that if you're of the rock before you box school. Personally I've never built anything I did not also box. So I don't have that problem. I've always found it so bewildering that so many of you had so many unboxed circuits around and were complaining that you had to box at least some of them. To me building an effect means also drilling and painting the enclosure. And with Tayda a 125B costs less then the average PCB. So it hardly seems like a waste.

A lot of it comes from the fact that I build a stack of stuff on vero too, and if I don't like it so much a lot of things will get recycled into the next thing. Boxing for me means a hell of a lot of work compared to just building the circuit - that's the easy part - it means templates, artwork, drilling, painting, getting the label right, and starting again if any of those things go wrong.  I resanded Dangerzone at least once, and did 2 labels on Naughtyfish, and 4 on Megatron.  I actually think there's a lot more commitment needed with a enclosure.

[stringsthings]

Boxing for me means a hell of a lot of work compared to just building the circuit - that's the easy part -

+1