Thread closures and controversy versus reality. Spoiler [Fact on the ropes]

[leeroy 85032]

this thread is quickly getting much better.. lots of good thoughts and a bit of humor...

 

[raistlin65]

Just what does that mean? Sorry, don't understand. Two countries divided by a common language?

S

Just because you should practice what you preach, doesn't mean everyone else has to follow your preachings.

 

[Soniclife]

Just because you should practice what you preach, doesn't mean everyone else has to follow your preachings.

That is close to my personal philosophie, that people are free to believe wherever they like, and practice their beliefs, right up to the point where their beliefs or opinions begin to impact other people, as soon as you cross that line you need to have evidence, facts and research to back you up.
So for example someone is free to believe that tea should only be stirred clockwise, but the second they start broadcasting that option, or trying to legislate for it they need to bring the science.

 

[Harmonie]

Wow,
6 pages in what 24 hours on a non related Hifi subject ?

That proves that not only Hifi, but also Pizza, beer, cars, old memories and other scientific or actual medical issues are part of this community;
Come on folks, you (we) are spending so much time on this site, I wouldn't have time to look elsewhere and particularly no occasion to share our thoughts with other members here that we appreciate !

I say: the Covid thread should be reOPENed !

@Thomas savage

 

[North_Sky]

The virus threads they have new data every single day, one day next after the previous day. To say it's always the same is pure baloney on top of a pepperoni/salami pizza with a case of cold Corona beers in the cooler.

Audio Science is our forte, what makes us all alive and healthy snd wealthy, thanks to Amir...I click on it with my cheque in the mail. Does the mail count?
Lol, how long it's going to take to count all the mail? ...Till Valentine's Day 2021?

We could start a Corona beer thread, a masked one?

 

[North_Sky]

There is a Poll thread, as to vote for which poll should be next.
That's something we don't see every day ...

Maybe we can vote if strip joints should be open or closed?
Does herd immunity include strip joints? That should accelerate the exponential rate yes?
... @ the speed of night.

 

[JeffS7444]

I have noticed over the last 20 years the way the West has become more Orwellian...

I wish I could remember more about an essay I once read years ago before the era of the smartphone, but IIRC, the gist was that Adolus Huxley ("Brave New World") had it right, and Orwell was wrong, that our oppression would come not in the form of Big Brother, but more as a friendly salesman, and that the truth would not be hidden from us, we'd simply be too caught up in trivial matters to care.

 

[leeroy 85032]

I wish I could remember more about an essay I once read years ago before the era of the smartphone, but IIRC, the gist was that Adolus Huxley ("Brave New World") had it right, and Orwell was wrong, that our oppression would come not in the form of Big Brother, but more as a friendly salesman, and that the truth would not be hidden from us, we'd simply be too caught up in trivial matters to care.

or.. the lack of ability to identify fact??

 

[North_Sky]

Be blind, say nothing, keep doing what you do. ...Rockin' in a free world.
Tomorrow many never come. Not a good time to die. Listen to the music.

 

[raistlin65]

There is a Poll thread, as to vote for which poll should be next.
That's something we don't see every day ...

Maybe we can vote if strip joints should be open or closed?
Does herd immunity include strip joints? That should accelerate the exponential rate yes?
... @ the speed of night.

If strippers are wearing masks only, does that still count as totally nude?

 

[raif71]

Wow,
6 pages in what 24 hours on a non related Hifi subject ?

That proves that not only Hifi, but also Pizza, beer, cars, old memories and other scientific or actual medical issues are part of this community;
Come on folks, you (we) are spending so much time on this site, I wouldn't have time to look elsewhere and particularly no occasion to share our thoughts with other members here that we appreciate !

I say: the Covid thread should be reOPENed !

@Thomas savage

it really isn't about anything .. kinda like Seinfeld

Yeah, sometimes the S in ASR stands for Seinfeld for some of the threads and comments in even audio related threads

 

[Dave Zan]

I wish I could remember more about an essay I once read...before the era of the smartphone....Huxley ("Brave New World") had it... [correct, not] Orwell...

That date clue would place it back in the 1990's, when the Berlin Wall came down, the Soviet Union collapsed.
"The End of History" was declared because 'they' had become just like 'us' (the Western liberal democracies).
But by 2003 I had pulled out my old copy of "1984" to reread the parts about the way in which history was rewritten or denied.
The West had provided weapons to Muslim militants because they opposed the USSR, and sold arms to Saddam Hussein because he was our "friend" in the battle with Iran
I won't discuss the politics of why this happened, too controversial, but it is a fact that it did.
I reread "1984" because these facts somehow ceased to exist after 11th September 2001 and then the invasion of Iraq.
They were 'disappeared', the same way the Chilean junta used to 'disappear' people, as a transitive verb.
Orwell saw that politically convenient double think was just as possible in the West as anywhere.
'We' had become like 'them', and not the other way round.
So I'd say he was fairly accurate in the end.

On the topic of future/dystopian fiction.
Like many people I read SciFi in my youth, and like many, I was always a bit disappointed that the future never really seemed to arrive.
"Where's my Jet Pack? Why doesn't my car fly?" as the meme says.
But this year it finally felt like the future.
You can buy jet hover boards that look so perfectly like a comic book illustration that I had to check if they were CGI.

The bushfire skies in Australia looked like "Blade Runner" and then we walked around in masks like some apocalyptic Outbreak movie.
But somehow I expected more like "2001"
And less like "Idiocracy"

Idiocracy "State of the Union" clip

David

 

[¥€$]

My point was why is Covid political?

Because of its huge economic and social impact, and its source. Why source, you ask? Exchange China, a global financial might with a totalitarian regime for a completely benign and financially insignificant country, like Estonia. Do you see now?

Even the social impact has a tendency to become political when people lose trust towards one another and begin to assign blame for not taking proper precautions, and any major change to economics upsets the political landscape.

Political and "problematic" may as well be interchangeable terms to describe banned subjects online, because their inclusion usually isn't worth the trouble they introduce, from the administration's point of view.

 

[Dave Zan]

Even in this forum, there are simple like-baits you can use. Just...end with clear and profuse compliments to the site and to Amir's work...

The extremely clever (and attractive) members of this excellent site, so kindly provided by the wonderfully benevolent (and attractive) Amir are far too smart to fall for such a simple trick.

Best wishes
David

 

[phoenixdogfan]

Even instrumental music [can be] political. Just ask Stalin or Shostakovich.

Let's not forget Beethoven's "Eroica!"

 

[MediumRare]

Just because you should practice what you preach, doesn't mean everyone else has to follow your preachings.

That is very well put.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

For the people that chose to let it in to their lives. I've never had a twitter, facebook or instagram account and most of my friends and family aren't the slightest bit interested either. It's been rather amusing watching the procession from the sidelines.

Those social media sites are privacy data mining operations. I knew from the very first that it was some puke making himself a multi billionaire by taking peoples' private data, packaging it with every other person's private data and selling it for billions of dollars to marketers, credit bureaus, employers, law enforcement, and political operatives while giving the owners of their own private information nothing-- save allowing them to pretend to be celebrities living a "La Dolce Vita" fantasy complete with their own private papparazi (selfies, y'all!)

Then when one day one of them is passed over for a job or a promotion, or denied insurance or a mortage or a car loan, or find a fascist elected official foised on them, they'll scratch their collective heads and wonder why, and never, ever figure out that Mark Zuckerberg may have had a hand in it by monetizing their private lives and selling it to their worst enemies.

 

[North_Sky]

Me I think this thread won't change a thing, there's no going back.
It's all normal as usual; new gear gets reviewed and we give our opinion, and add some more. We love it just the way measurements show us. The rest is only sweet music to our ears.

By the way, the smoke from the US West coast is back, I noticed it right away this morning. And when the moon showed up this evening it was bright orange (sorry for the pic. my ASA wasn't working ...).

 

[leeroy 85032]

That date clue would place it back in the 1990's, when the Berlin Wall came down, the Soviet Union collapsed.
"The End of History" was declared because 'they' had become just like 'us' (the Western liberal democracies).
But by 2003 I had pulled out my old copy of "1984" to reread the parts about the way in which history was rewritten or denied.
The West had provided weapons to Muslim militants because they opposed the USSR, and sold arms to Saddam Hussein because he was our "friend" in the battle with Iran
I won't discuss the politics of why this happened, too controversial, but it is a fact that it did.
I reread "1984" because these facts somehow ceased to exist after 11th September 2001 and then the invasion of Iraq.
They were 'disappeared', the same way the Chilean junta used to 'disappear' people, as a transitive verb.
Orwell saw that politically convenient double think was just as possible in the West as anywhere.
'We' had become like 'them', and not the other way round.
So I'd say he was fairly accurate in the end.

On the topic of future/dystopian fiction.
Like many people I read SciFi in my youth, and like many, I was always a bit disappointed that the future never really seemed to arrive.
"Where's my Jet Pack? Why doesn't my car fly?" as the meme says.
But this year it finally felt like the future.
You can buy jet hover boards that look so perfectly like a comic book illustration that I had to check if they were CGI.
View attachment 85632

The bushfire skies in Australia looked like "Blade Runner" and then we walked around in masks like some apocalyptic Outbreak movie.
But somehow I expected more like "2001"
And less like "Idiocracy"View attachment 85631
Idiocracy "State of the Union" clip

David

bottom line about why alliances shift so often with U.S. politics.. we become friends with those that oppose our "enemy" out of convenience without much thought about the stability of the allies... the middle east is a prime example .. we get killed still to this day with weapons we bought...

 

[Harmonie]

For the people that chose to let it in to their lives. I've never had a twitter, facebook or instagram account and most of my friends and family aren't the slightest bit interested either. It's been rather amusing watching the procession from the sidelines.

@restorer-john

You would be then, a lousy President, by today's new standards

Shhh, no politics