Optimal_Persona (u/Optimal_Persona)

Optimal_Persona commented on A mouseless tale: trying for a keyboard-driven desktop lwn.net/Articles/1005332/... · Posted by u/signa11

NBJack · 7 months ago

This is one of the things that pisses me off about MacOS. Every other majot OS out there at least offers a good failsafe keyboard navigation built in to each UI component. In a pinch, the keyboard is your friend, at least until your pointing device is back up.

MacOS: lol, sorry, bluetooth settings require a pointing device to add a new one. Keyboard navigation? Sure. It worked up until this part, but we didn't bother to allow the add button to be selectable. Why? Reasons.

Optimal_Persona · 7 months ago

It's not ALL bad, when I recently replaced my 2012 MacBook Pro with a 2024 Air M3, I was pleased to see that Apple FINALLY allows tabbing in system pop menus for things like Save, Delete, Close and selecting those options with the Space bar. Not sure when that was added as default behaviour, but I always found this frustrating coming from Windows. The interesting thing is that precisely one app I used on the 2012 MBP - Ableton Live Digital Audio Workstation - always allowed keying through popups flawlessly - so the underlying capability was there.

Optimal_Persona commented on Ask HN: How do I get good at math as a 42yo with kids? · Posted by u/goshatch

Optimal_Persona · 7 months ago

I'm in a similar situation but a decade older. My "aha" moment came with Ivan Savov's "No Bullshit Guide to Math & Physics". For some reason working through this book "sticks" in a way that Khan Academy and similar online tools haven't. That, combined with randomly reading entries in "Mathematics 1001" have gotten me to where I can read through audio acoustics/DSP and information theory papers (my main area of interest) and understand what's going on.

https://minireference.com/

https://books.google.com/books/about/Mathematics_1001.html?i...

Optimal_Persona commented on YueAI – Create Professional Music with AI, No Musical Expertise Required yueai.art... · Posted by u/alexzn596

Optimal_Persona · 7 months ago

Professional, so I will get paid and own the copyright, AWESOME! Thanks for fixing the broken music economy.

Optimal_Persona commented on Oliver Heaviside and the theory of transmission lines (2021) pa3fwm.nl/technotes/tn28-... · Posted by u/xeonmc

Optimal_Persona · 7 months ago

Curious if anyone here is also familiar with loudspeakers built on the acoustic transmission line (TL) principle? It comes and goes in hi-fi circles, I have a bass instrument cabinet produced by the now-defunct Euphonic Audio. It's an interesting TL design featuring a whizzer cone on a 12" speaker. While it isn't the deepest-sounding bass cabinet I've heard, it is very balanced & detailed throughout its range with great projection, and no phase cancellation in the mid/high ranges due to the whizzer/no crossover design. Thanks!

Optimal_Persona commented on 100 years of Bell Labs [pdf] novitoll.com/posts/2025-1... · Posted by u/cloked

Optimal_Persona · 7 months ago

TIL that Harvey Fletcher (who I knew from his acoustic/audio work, particularly the Fletcher-Munson loudness curve) contributed to the Millikan oildrop experiment. Thanks!

Another great resource for understanding what went on at Bell Labs is Richard Hamming's "The Art of Doing Engineering: Learning to Learn"

Optimal_Persona commented on Let's talk about bird tongues (2014) toughlittlebirds.com/2014... · Posted by u/quuxplusone

Optimal_Persona · 8 months ago

Here's some nice relaxing mood music as background for the discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVb2tnFN5AA

Optimal_Persona commented on Documenting an 1115 ft radio tower climb jeffgeerling.com/blog/202... · Posted by u/geerlingguy

defrost · 8 months ago

I free climbed radio towers on mesa's in the Pilbara as part of work experience in high school .. bit before health and safety was a thing.

The steeplejack work of Fred Dibnah is quite a thing to watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R3-YwDZrzg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3ma9iYx4rg

Optimal_Persona · 8 months ago

The Fred Dibnah stuff is some of the most impressive stuff I've seen, not just the scaling heights but the logistics of building the ladders as he went, and the demolition of large brick structures with a minimum of tools.

Optimal_Persona commented on 2400 phone providers may be shut down by the FCC for failing to stop robocalls docs.fcc.gov/public/attac... · Posted by u/impish9208

azinman2 · 9 months ago

TIL there are thousands of voip/telco providers. I cannot believe there are so many. How do they all stay in business, or get their customers?

Optimal_Persona · 9 months ago

By pushing new lines on you even if you don't need them, creating very low expectations for technical service, and automating away customer service at every turn.

I feel like there is a shadow cartel where all telcos agree to suck as much as possible so there's no real incentive to switch. Also aggregators love re-bills where you pay them for another provider's invoice but they can't do anything service-wise on it.

At my work (in charge of 140 Windows laptops/iPhones) the only way T-Mobile would give me a deal on 30 new iPhones was by selling me 50 new SIMs for lines I told them I absolutely didn't need. I'm turning those off now. Don't even get me started on Granite or Telepacific, each of which make Comcast and AT&T look like shining examples of greatness.

Optimal_Persona commented on SF tech CEO's billboards are 'dystopian.' That's how he wants it sfgate.com/tech/article/s... · Posted by u/thehoff

Optimal_Persona · 9 months ago

Well to be fair, the rest of the billboards in SF off the 80/101 are generally bland and corporate AF. Gee, another HR/payment processing platform. Wow, a new iPhone! Anyone unfamiliar with the SF Bay Area's rich cultural history who was just passing thru would think it's a company town filled with docile, well-scrubbed tech serfs.