Today I learned...

[Animeniax]

Recently started watching Friday Night Lights. It's mostly "pretty people with problems" but what I didn't like is that the high schoolers looked too old for their age, which makes sense since they are mostly 20 somethings playing 17 and 18 year olds. Today I was flipping channels and saw a 7-on-7 high school touch football tournament on ESPN and the guys were frickin' huge. The top rated HIGH SCHOOL running back is 6'1" 232lbs.

A frickin' high schooler is that big and probably hasn't finished growing. People complain about all the hormones and chems the food industry injects into our food but I say let them do it. We'll evolve the human race into giants for the betterment of the species.

[Animeniax]

I've been reading more about the Survivorman/Grylls feud as I watched recent marathon runs of Survivorman on Discovery. I support Stroud's skills and show and consider Grylls' show to be frivolous Hollywood bullshit. But I just realized that supporting Stroud over Grylls makes me an old fogey because most younger folks prefer Grylls' flashiness and entertainment value over Stroud's real expertise and countrified demeanor.

[Ryllharu]

That the wait times for checkout at Autozone stores always suck.

Thankfully, there's always an Advanced Auto Parts across the street.

[Buffalobiian]

Today I learned (or so it seems, I can't scientifically verify) that a high(er) end sound system may improve the sound of lossy encodes more than lossless ones. This contrasts with the common (and true?) perception that a high fidelity system brings out the flaws in recordings. I think that statement applies more to physical/mastering flaws.

I was playing around with lossy codecs today because the AAC-LC encode from Freac (an audio conversion program) sounded worse than anticipated. I spent a good few hours playing with some LAME mp3 settings as well as the output from a handful of AAC encoders. I was having much more difficulty telling the difference between themselves compared to my brother's less-hifi speakers. On my set, I was trying to tell how they were different. On his speakers, I could hear the difference - the headache was deciding on which type of distortion I could deal with better.

I think what happens is that the low-fidelity (but not complete rubbish) system's non-flat frequency response thwarts the psychoacoustic masking techniques employed by the codecs when they try to make artefacts "inaudible".

[Kraco]

I think what happens is that the low-fidelity (but not complete rubbish) system's non-flat frequency response thwarts the psychoacoustic masking techniques employed by the codecs when they try to make artefacts "inaudible".

Assuming anybody has ever even done any real research for the development of the less than Bill-level audio equipment, it wouldn't really surprise me if they were meant to play well only lossless and mp3. That is, they would only deal well with good ol' mp3's psychoacoustic masking techniques. After all, it would cost money to run multiple tests with all manner of less used formats, not to mention to put the test results to use, and chances are nobody would notice a thing. After all, the people who would notice are already getting better equipment for a reason.

[Ryllharu]

Today I remembered that Bill is still, "I can hear the bit loss in the cable. This is why I only use 14 AWG!" crazy.

On a barely-related note, I'm obsessed with the inhale sounds on most of my music lately. It's very...interesting, disturbingly bewitching. It's especially interesting on singers who do it very little, because they generally have proper breath control. That means they're doing it intentionally, or recovering/preparing from a truly belted out segment. They're generally covered by the music on more rock/pop tracks, but the other music styles make it easier to pick up.

I guess higher quality audio equipment helps you detect the subtle ones better.

[poopdeville]

That I can pass the Society of Actuaries exam on probability. I learned this by passing it.

I use lamp cord, but I do have a decent set of speakers and a Denon amp.

[Animeniax]

Is that one of the battery of tests that you have to pass to get your actuarial license/cert?

[poopdeville]

Yup. 5 to go. I have like 5 years of experience as an analyst/statistician, so I think I can get an entry level job with one under my belt. If I get that lucky, the insurance company will pay for me to take the rest (and even give me 10 weeks time off for it every year).

[Animeniax]

Nice. I knew some actuarial scientists in school. They said those tests are a bitch, and each failed the first one they took. So congrats on passing the first one.

[Death BOO Z]

congrats!
at first I didn't understand that you were replying to other posts, and I thought that you said you used a lamp cord to pass the exam.

[poopdeville]

Nice. I knew some actuarial scientists in school. They said those tests are a bitch, and each failed the first one they took. So congrats on passing the first one.

This one wasn't so bad, but then again I failed it when I took it the first time (two years ago). Mostly, I was out of practice doing calculus then. I'm sure I would have passed if I had done it right out of school. This time, I made and memorized about 1000 flash cards and bought a subscription for a month's worth of practice tests.

[Buffalobiian]

I learned today that you can play on consoles with keyboards and mice via adapters.

I feel like I missed out.

[Animeniax]

I learned today that you can play on consoles with keyboards and mice via adapters.

I feel like I missed out.

I set up my PC on the big screen for Sleeping Dogs. Using the keyboard and mouse from the couch was bad for the back.

[Ryllharu]

That not everything in geology happens slowly (or results in a large number of deaths when it doesn't).




Exfoliation!

[Animeniax]

That not everything in geology happens slowly (or results in a large number of deaths when it doesn't).

Exfoliation!

Cool, seen those all over Enchanted Rock in Texas, never knew how they formed. Always wondered if there was any danger of them rapidly sliding off the rock face, but that doesn't appear to happen with such geological features.

[Xelbair]

Interesting, but it fits into what i know of geology/geoengineering - shit either happens really slowly.... or lightning fast.

[Ryllharu]

The important bit is that when it happens lightning fast, people don't always get hurt or die.

[Buffalobiian]

Never use hot water with protein shakes.

It turns into a solid, clumpy, rubbery plastic.

Guys who relax in hot showers may be familiar with this texture. Imagine eating 250mls of it.

I couldn't do it.

[shinta|hikari]

Why did you use hot water in a shake in the first place?