I would follow that man into hell.

I already sent him one message this week!

Seriously though, this whole thing has me curious about the current state of things so I shot him a message asking about it. I’ll pass it along if he still needs the advice.

I’ve seen it online but it always looks like obvious interaction bait. Someone trying to get clicks and comments so they can be an influencer or similar.

My grandfather worked in NYC for over 20 years and he commuted by train. During those commutes, he sat next to the same man, twice a day - on the way there and on the way back - for years, and only once in at least a decade did they ever speak to each other. “Are you finished reading that?” Those were the 5 words that man spoke to my grandfather, who handed him the paper he had finished reading, and they never exchanged another word again. I don’t think they ever even looked at each other.

Best friend he ever had. They still never talk sometimes.

A psychopath that doesn’t want to make a habit of drinking at the house because they know it’ll become a problem but doesn’t want to interact with people because they’re going through shit? Possibly a psychopath that gets to drink for free because of the gear loan? A psychopath who wants to watch his gear and take it home with him rather than leaving it in a public place or with a group of drunk musicians overnight?

Let’s not forget the sexiest of M&Ms.

I don’t know what it is. I used to get approached semi-regularly, maybe once every few weeks when I was younger. But this dude, for whatever reason, was approached often. I think part of it is the places he was a lot of times. We’d be out at the bar (he would lend music/PA equipment to bands or small bars for a small fee and show up to basically drink for free) and there was one night I watched it happen half a dozen times. Not by the people who were borrowing equipment, but just random people who he didn’t know.

He said it never happened at like the grocery store or whatever, but very often in bars when he’d sit alone, less often in restaurants when he’d sit alone, and occasionally at the park when he’d go sit to read (headphones in). He’s good looking but not extraordinarily so and never looked especially friendly so that wasn’t it. It was both men and women, men more often but women more persistently.

Some folks just have something that makes others want to talk to them I guess. I imagine it’s worse for women for a few reasons (the way certain demographics of dudes are socialized, not knowing how a guy will react when you shut him down, etc). And some folks seem to believe that everyone is just waiting for them to strike up a conversation, even if the person they’re trying to strike it up with is obviously actively avoiding people.

It stopped happening to me. I’m not sure if I aged poorly over the pandemic or if I just look meaner these days. He moved away so I don’t get to watch that particular trainwreck anymore. I’ll have to ask him.

Story time! This isn’t here to say that dudes have it worse or just as bad or anything. It just made me think of this.

I have a good friend who wears wired earbuds often. He gets in a space where he doesn’t want to talk to anyone but he got to be out for one reason or other. I’ve watched person after person come up to him to talk. He rolls his eyes, takes out an earbud, make a huge show of pausing whatever he’s listening to while holding up the “Wait a second” finger. They’ll say whatever they’re trying to open with and he will nod and give the biggest fake smile. Then put his earbud back in. To continue the conversation they have to tap him again and wait for him to do it all over again. Some do, sometimes repeatedly.

Some people seem to have no concept that others aren’t just waiting for the chance to talk to them.

Absolutely. I’m still rooting for it but it seems to be kind of petering out here.

I’ve noticed that lately. It went from being everywhere to nowhere and now it’s creeping back up. I’ll be honest here, I miss the word but if it’s hurting that many people who haven’t done anything then you’re a fucking piece of shit if you use it.

I was rooting for the “gay” renaissance where people talked about how gay everything was but changed it to mean awesome instead of shitty.

That was my question. I’m working on a brisket as we speak and I don’t plan on watching sports, wearing a red hat, or treating any women like shit.

I also have a truck that I haul shit in, but notice I don’t feel the need to ask what’s wrong with that. I know very fucking well what’s wrong with trucks.

I like the idea of paying taxes, I just hate that I’m paying a larger percentage of my “wealth” than someone whose net worth is several orders of magnitude more.

The other side of that is when I see someone using a service that my tax dollars are paying for I feel pretty good.

That’s because they want to put it out at the same time as the machine and frame. They’ll continue to be quiet until they secure the RAM they need or drop the other hardware due to shitty AI companies buying everything up.

There’s really not a lot to say about the controller until release.

Others have already pointed out this is the tape in and that’s the headphone jack. To the left is an effects send and return which is after the preamp but before the power amp (it’s an in and an out where you’d plug in certain effects pedals). Far to the left is the instrument input. Depending on the specific signal you could probably route it through the effects return which bypasses the distortion of the preamp. I’d have to see exactly what the fuck they thought they were trying to accomplish.

The color of it makes me think of the old Peavey Rage 158 amps but they didn’t have an effects loop or tape in. So I’m not exactly sure which amp this is. The far right knob is the master volume and the one left of the effects loop is reverb. That’s not important but it’s interesting to me.

Partially correct. They’ll step in because they signed contracts and have moved AI under the umbrella of National Security. Brockman donated $25m back in September. Trump signed Project Genesis in November. So all these hardware companies feel pretty good because it’ll be backed by taxpayers.

“I love you”

Money that Nvidia might invest in them.

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Well now we know how Palpatine came back.

As someone with poor taste in women, I understand.