LoneLocust

LoneLocust, 1 day ago (edited 1 day ago) to Podcast

Talk about silk purses from sow’s ears!

I take my 13yo #podcast episodes, some of which we recorded over Skype and sound pretty janky, run them through #LogicPro’s #StemSplitter, isolate the voices and process them through the #Adobe #EnhanceSpeech tool, then re-integrate it replacing the original voices and it actually sounds pretty good.

AI tools have their place (just probably not as information repositories.)

(Needless to say, I don’t have the original master recordings anymore.)

LoneLocust, 2 days ago to random

I hate door-to-door solicitors, but I don’t mind occasionally seeing how they deal with nonstandard responses.

“Hi, my company is in the neighborhood doing a couple of installs down the street, so you may see some cones around their vehicles.”

“Oh, ok, great, thanks for giving me the heads up. I won’t call the police on them, then.”

“Heh, um… thanks.”

1/?

LoneLocust, 3 days ago to random

“I pledge to use and internalize the Metric System in my own life wherever possible, so long as it does not impact safety. Further, I will not make it easy for others to cling to outdated measurement systems.”

— The Metric Pledge

#MetricPledge

LoneLocust, 6 days ago to random

I woke up this morning to this alert on my phone.

My first words uttered this morning were, “Go home, Siri, you’re drunk.”

1/2

LoneLocust, 6 days ago to Phoenix

So, Weee! (https://www.sayweee.com/en) is an Asian grocery delivery service. (Probably not very carbon-friendly.) They deliver a lot of goods difficult, if not impossible to find in #Phoenix, but they also (apparently) listen.

I ordered Chashu from them a while back but, being frozen, large, and uncut it was problematic if you’re just making a single bowl of ramen.

1/?

LoneLocust, 6 days ago to Taiwan

Many details to square away, but No. 1 Offspring, having completed their university degree, and with no immediate prospects for gainful employment beyond McDonald’s, has opted to go live with their grandparents in #Taiwan for up to a year and participate in the government-endorsed (?) Mandarin language learning program.

1/?

LoneLocust, 10 days ago to DoctorWho

In just 2 hours, the first @podcast episode on the new series of #DoctorWho episode #SpaceBabies goes live.

In 13 years, this is the first time I've had to include the explicit tag.

LoneLocust, 11 days ago to random

Who says Arizona is too far south to see the #AuroraBorealis?

I’m pretty sure that’s the #aurora right there.

LoneLocust, 13 days ago to random

As I watched this ad, my first thought was, “WTF?” But about halfway through, I realized it was being compressed INTO an iPad. “OK, I get it…”

But

The misstep to me is that the items are (a) obviously being destroyed and (b) leaking out and therefore escaping being part of the iPad. The iPad is therefore less than the sum of the parts.

Also, the rubber ball face doesn’t look happy being squished.

I reckon this ad will disappear very soon.
https://mastodon.social/@arstechnica/112411319892987319

LoneLocust, 13 days ago to StarTrek

My years-long watch/re-watch of every episode of every series of #StarTrek has brought me to today where I start series 5 of #StarTrekDiscovery.

I have caught up to the current season and will be caught up to the current episode by next week.

Just in time for the end.

LoneLocust, 14 days ago to Phoenix

Nasty little secret about #Phoenix: They claim to have 700-800 miles of bike paths, and while I don’t doubt the number, I do doubt the value of them.

There are many, many demarcated bike lanes that go a couple blocks and then end.

I’ve started a little project to write up and highlight a number of the useful bike paths — the ones that can get you some distance reasonably easily.

Today’s ride (as was yesterday’s) was Maryland Ave.
(1/2)

#BikeTooter

LoneLocust, 14 days ago to cycling

Reminder to self: eBike battery meters are apparently exponential, not linear.

1 bar and 4.5 km to home.

#BikeTooter

LoneLocust, 14 days ago to cycling

Ever have one of those days when you’re out riding your bike and you just end up somewhere where you never expected you’d be? #BikeTooter

LoneLocust, 15 days ago to cycling

It’s always the fucking landscapers parking in the bike lane — RIGHT in front of the No Parking sign.

#BikeTooter

LoneLocust, 16 days ago to cycling

I am now officially the owner of an old man’s bike seat. #BikeTooter #SpongyWonder

LoneLocust, 19 days ago to random

My home internet has been up and down all day. When it works it’s painfully slow, Nd then it’s gone again, no logic.

Long story short, it’s actually been COMPLETELY out all day, but, long ago, I’d configured my router to connect to my phones hotspot during internet outages.

The up and down has been it connecting and then losing the connection to my phone.

LoneLocust, 19 days ago to random

You buy a 16 oz bottle of mouthwash.
Instructions say use 2 tsps to rinse your mouth.
Closed book test: how many doses are in each bottle?
—
You buy a 480 ml bottle of mouthwash.
Instructions say use 10 ml to rinse your mouth.
Closed book test: how many doses are in each bottle?
—

Stop enabling these Imperial bastards. REFUSE to use Imperial measurements!

Time for a periodic link to my Metric Pledge:
https://lonelocust.com/2023/08/10/3035/

1/

LoneLocust, 19 days ago to Taiwan

Oooo, “mysterious winged creature” found in #Taiwan!

A cryptid? A lost pterosaur from the dawn of time?

No. A moth. Do you have any idea how many moths and butterflies Taiwan has?
—
‘Mysterious’ winged creature rediscovered in Taiwan after 87 years, study says. See it

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article288201975.html
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article288201975.html

LoneLocust, 20 days ago to DoctorWho

I hate sharing links to YouTube these days, but… it’s #DoctorWho, so I’ll let this slide.

Disney certainly are pulling out all the stops as Ncuti Gatwa hits the late night shows.

https://youtu.be/R03XXW1pLQ4?si=BSFqa3R8PUuYpZmY

LoneLocust, 20 days ago to Phoenix

Here’s something I never thought I’d see in the United States, let alone #Phoenix.

#DoctorWho advertised on a bus stop.

LoneLocust, 22 days ago to random

Did one of those political phone surveys, which, at first seemed to be intended to favor RFK Jr. although when they got to the question, “what is one position or issue about RFK Jr. that makes you unwilling to vote for him?” I made absolutely sure that she got the spelling right on, “he’s an anti-vax crackpot lunatic.”

1/

LoneLocust, 23 days ago to Phoenix

Another bike-riding metric: nails/km

Very short 14km ride this morning for breakfast and back home.

I collected 4 nails (by hand, not by tire) along the route. That’s 1 nail per 3.5 km. That’s excessive even by #Phoenix standards.

They were all along 23rd Ave.

#BikeTooter

LoneLocust, 24 days ago to DoctorWho

Goddamit the BBC and Disney+ bullshittery. This is worse than than the UNIT dating controversy.

If you say you’re releasing #DoctorWho Season 1 on Blu-Ray in August, you’d damned well better be talking about William Hartnell.

Otherwise, it’s #NunuWho.

LoneLocust, 24 days ago to cycling

Note from 1981 me to 2024 me: when you install a new bike inner tube, the last step is to always make sure the valve stem is tight.

Had a slow leak since install, seemingly fixed now (fingers crossed) since I tightened the stem. #BikeTooter

LoneLocust, 25 days ago to Phoenix

That was… thunder? #Phoenix