Ukelele Alternatives and Similar Software - AlternativeTo.net
I modified my Mandolin-banjo to sound less obnoxious
I restrung it with tenor banjo strings and retuned it to an alternative ukelele tuning I saw someone recommend in a comment on a banjo forum. They mentioned Mandolin Banjo as one of the shorter necked instruments that could be tuned to slack key GCEG. I thought I would give it a try as I haven't liked any tuning I'd tried yet. I had it tuned like a mandolin as recommended (it's made by Gold Tone) when I first got it. At this point it was strung with mandolin strings. I didn't like the sound as much as I thought and had a really hard time with some of the chords and the strings being difficult to press down evenly enough to get a decent sound. I looked online for suggestions. I saw someone recommend restringing with tenor banjo strings for a warmer, more vibrant and less brassy sound. So I gave it a try, and tried out the tenor banjo tuning. Didn't quite like the sound still. However now with it restrung and tuned to slack key, I'm really loving the sound! And I do like the tenor banjo strings better! Having to relearn chords and wasn't sure how easy it was gonna be....initially thought I was going to have to be transposing chords myself but thankfully found some resources! Looking forward to sharing how it sounds when I get better at playing!
Colemak / neo2 / AdNW (for English and German typing)
Hello, I did search the forum, but could not really find anything suitable for my question. So even though it might surely have been asked before, here it goes: Some backstory: I'm interested in a new layout. Currently and all my life so far I have been using QWERTZ, the German variation of QWERTY, on a German keyboard (yes with umlauts). I did look at Colemak maybe two years ago for a brief time, also at mod-DH and the wide spread (ergo?) variation and also started making an adaptation for my use case using Ukelele on Mac. But then stopped all this because of life things and general lack of time and interest. Some other notes: I sit in front of a computer for work and also in parts for private. I communicate in English and German (but am currently unable to give exact percentages). I use vim, but don't write code. I like to use shortcuts in MacOS and Linux, including bash shortcuts. And now I'm trying to find out what kind of layout would suit me. I know it is highly personal, but maybe some others have had similar experiences, especially when it comes to not only English. Currently I'm undecided between Colemak (not sure if plain or with a mod), neo2 (which is optimized for German, but seems to work well in English as well) or AdNW (a variation of neo2 for which people claim that it is better then neo2). Some thoughts: - Colemak is not very different then QWERTZ/Y and therefore I suspect it is easier to learn0 - C. is also available by default in Mac and Linux - C. has no umlauts by default. Yes there is a German variation of it, but then we have no default integration anymore - What about shortcuts? and vim? (I saw there is a vim colemak plugin) - neo2 is optimized for German, so yeah umlauts and should also work with English - It is present on Linux by default and also has good drivers for MacOS - It is very different, so more learning time? - It has additional layers with navigation keys and special characters; more learning, but could be very useful (maybe) - Shortcuts? - AdNW is always a custom install as far as I can tell - it is also very different, so same learning curve as neo2 I guess - Layers, etc. are similar to neo2 -Shortcuts? I guess my thought process is that I would suspect Colemak would be easier for me to learn (I could be wrong here), but neo2/AdNW seem to have other advantages over Colemak. I seem to be especially put off about having to push an additional modifier for umlauts in Colemak, even though I can't tell if this would really be an issue once I would learn it. Any experiences?
Today, for me, marks 20 days free from beer and cigarettes. I've been a smoker since I was a young teenager (26 now) and over the past few years began heavily drinking on the regular. It escalated until I was getting drunk nearly every night. Staying up way too late. Having Horrible, mean fights with my husband. Waking up feeling ok but emotionally all over the place throughout the day or incredibly hungover and wasted my day recovering only to continue poisoning myself that night. I've gained so much weight and had the bloated belly, low energy, and body to prove it. I was experiencing terrible IBS symptoms that led to an anal fissure but I kept drinking. I was so ashamed of myself and no one but my husband knew. I heard that voice of freedom and reason every day but I wouldn't listen to her. Finally, I tried again and here I am. Reading posts in this forum has helped me so much. I check it every day. Thank you all for sharing. On day 10 I felt very tempted by my husband (he is still struggling). I even told him to buy me some when we were in the parking lot to pick up. When we got home I made my final decision to abstain and what really helped me was my number on here. I didn't want to change it. I've had rough days since then when I recognize that I would usually drink. I'm working on acknowledging those feelings and letting them pass. I've been taking an epsom salt bath every night to get away from my usual habits of drinking, watching tv, and late night eating. I've been practicing intermittent fasting every day and a few 24-48hr fasts which have helped me lose my inflammation very fast and I plan to work on that daily as another habit replacement. So far, I have saved over $200 and nearly 100 hours. To celebrate 2 weeks, I bought myself a ukelele. I feel SO much better (mood, energy, sleep quality)and I can't wait to discover how I'll feel after a month! Thank you for reading. IWNDWYT ❤
[Question]Microsoft word for Mac OS having an issue with Bengali compound letters.
Having some issues with writing compound letters in Bengali in Microsoft word for mac. But with the same keyboard layout, there are no issues in a mac text editor and google doc. Also, there is some issue with the fonts, writing with Bengali fonts have the tendency to revert back to a none desired fonts. Anyone know how do I resolve this? The keyboard layout was created on ukelele. As per Microsoft forum, it was a platform-dependent issue then they stopped responding. But, it works perfectly on mac's native text editor. It also works on OpenOffice without any issue. How do I resolve that? Also, if anyone knows any keyboard application for macOS that accepts jason keyboard layout please do let me know. That will be a great help. https://i.redd.it/sykd2itrrux41.gif https://i.redd.it/yov0f2urrux41.gif https://i.redd.it/du8npetrrux41.gif https://i.redd.it/b237l1urrux41.gif
Everest Rubber strap for Tudor Black Bay watches with 22 MM Lugs. Strap is in great shape and super comfortable. Makes your black bay look like a bad ass watch that a secret agent would wear. Probaby my favorite way to wear the Black Bay Steel, but I'm selling that watch so the strap has to go too. If you have a black bay, you need this strap. If you don't have a black bay, you need to get one, and then get this strap. It should go without saying, but the watch and my daughter's ukelele in the third picture aren't included.
I'm creating my own module and I've drawn some artwork to go along with it, mostly as a way to pass the time. This seemed like a good place to share it. These might be a little bit... large. I'm new to Reddit. Might be a better way to present these than just slapping them down here, but oh well. If you want to check out the module and comment/suggest changes, feel free to do so. I'm also on the Paizo forums under the username TheGreatWot, and I post a lot of updates on the module there. Here's a summary for those susceptible to TL;DR. I suck at summarizing, but this is still better than reading 20 pages - so far- of module. The module is one book long. PCs begin at level 4 (4th level wealth) and end at level 7. A mothman named Mozerah goes crazy, starts to worship Shub-Niggurath. He seeks a tribe of creatures to bend to his will so he can perform three rituals and summon one of his goddess' avatars. The Twisted Claw gnolls fall under his control. First ritual transforms their chieftain into a mutated oracle, second ritual induces the birth of an undead offspring named Makani (Mozerah did the nasty with Mother's Fang and quickened the birth using the ritual), and third ritual will draw in the essence of thousands of sacrifices once Makani has been slain in the proper manner. Mozerah spends a year consolidating his power and converting all the gnoll tribes, then sends a horde of gnolls and monsters to Andalee, a nearby town run by non-evil hobgoblins based in the fortress of Grasswall. The horde overtakes the town, Grasswall is besieged and falls within a day. Hobgoblins lock themselves in the catacombs and begin a war of attrition with the gnolls above, whose numbers are equally low. A cleric named Utobi keeps the gnolls from infighting. The PCs, who begin in the town of Kes, are contacted by hobgoblin delegates from Grasswall who left before the raid to recruit adventurers to help lower the increasing number of gnoll war bands sighted. The PCs travel along the Seer's Road, kill some orcs who've occupied a bridge-fort, and arrive in Andalee to find that, surprise, everything is ruined. They fight through the town, enter Grasswall via a secret tunnel in Andalee's fortified armory (still held by survivors), and clear out the first floor of the keep. After that, they can go below to meet with the hobgoblins in the catacombs or keep going up and clear out the second floor. Once that's done with, the PCs can ascend the great tower of Grasswall and enter the cave where the leader of the raid, the fallen dragon Nukariax, has secluded himself. Once he's dead, the PCs will have liberated the town and fortress. Yay. Except that, of course, it's not all done. The true purpose of Grasswall being built was to keep the Tomb of the Crippling Gaze, a crypt below the fort itself, sealed up. Every year, a ritual is performed that seals the tomb and keeps the rejuvenating undead (including the three souls of Andalee's founders) from escaping. This event only happened once over a century ago, in what was known as the Night of Long Shadows. The PCs will go down into the tomb, destroy the undead there, face the Maidens Three, and seal the crypt. If they've picked up on the right clues, they might even be able to put the Maidens to rest for good. When that business is done, there's only one thing left to do! Travel to the gnoll city itself and put a stop to the raids for good. Luckily for the PCs, the gnolls have recently undergone a schism. Instead of being a unified force led by the growing cult of Shub-Niggurath, they're now split into said cult and a smaller faction of traditionalist Lamashtu worshipers. The PCs can either do their own thing, or side with the Lamashtu worshipers and destroy the cult of Shub-Niggurath with their help. The Lamashtu worshipers are led by a (secretly) CN gnoll who's actually kind of a nice guy as gnolls come, and he wants to help his people become less self-destructive. When the gnoll leaders die, the cult falls into chaos and the PCs are free to let the traditionalists take back control, hopefully with a spark of redemption in their future. That leaves only one obstacle in the PCs' way: The one behind it all, Mozerah the Lightdrinker. The final chapter sees the PCs traveling to Mozerah's cave and battle through an ancient cavern system inhabited by morlocks, aberrations, and worse. There, they face the mothman - a CR 10 foe - in all of his unholy glory. If he's killed, the heroes will have saved all of Sotrea and lands beyond. If not, Mozerah will take matters into his own hands- in his wrath, he'll repeat his rituals, fly to the gnoll city, squash the insurrection, and begin a campaign of slaughter that will claim thousands of souls, gnoll and human alike, in the name of Shub-Niggurath. But that's enough talking. Here's some art. I'm not too good with handwriting, but I think it's legible. A hard-partying gnoll bard and his intelligent ukelele Former adventurers and founders of the town of Andalee, now unquiet spirits bent on destruction Mother's Fang, a gnoll shamaness and \"power behind the throne\" of the Twisted Claws The Lightdrinker, BBEG of the module Corrupted chieftain of the Twisted Claw gnolls, pawn of Mozerah, and an oracle of the Dark Tapestry Nukariax the fallen brass dragon, wielding his sword Deliverance Mutant gnolls worshiped and ritually devoured by the cult of Abhoth Yay for NPCs!
Hello everyone. Thank you in advance! • How old are you? What's your gender? Give us a general description of yourself. I'm a 27-year-old female English teacher in Portugal. I was born in Macau, where I lived until I was 18, and raised by a Portuguese dad and a Filipino mom. Growing up in such a multicultural environment may have contributed towards my ease at learning languages and adapting to different cultures. I grew up in waves of permanent cultural shock. • Is there a medical diagnosis that may impact your mental stability somehow? I would consider myself mentally stable at the moment, but I have had some episodes of depression in my teen years and early 20s. • Describe your upbringing. Did it have any kind of religious or structured influence? How did you respond to it? My mom enrolled me in catechism when I was 6 or 7 and at the beginning I just thought it was a storytime class that would end in a boring mass. The highlight of my one or two years at catechism was running to the church to be an acolyte, which would at least give me something to do during the mass. After the first communion, I stopped going to church entirely because I came to the conclusion that I don't exactly believe in God. Religion is a touchy topic with my mom and because I really don't enjoy drama (at least when I'm involved) , I avoid that topic. • What do you do as a job or as a career (if you have one)? Do you like it? Why or why not? I'm a freelance English teacher. I have worked as an administrative assistant and a translator in the past and teaching has definitely been my favorite job. I really like being the authority and not having to work much with people aside from the actual classes. I didn't really enjoy the restrictions of working in an office (long working hours, small talk, office hierarchy, etc). • If you had to spend an entire weekend by yourself, how would you feel? Would you feel lonely or refreshed? I wish I could have more of those weekends. I feel so refreshed after spending some time alone. • What kinds of activities do you prefer? Do you like, and are you good at sports? Do you enjoy any other outdoor or indoor activities? Language learning, cooking, going to the gym and reading are probably my favorite activities. I also love writing, but haven't had much inspiration as of late. I absolutely hate running, but I enjoy working out at the gym and swimming. • How curious are you? Do you have more ideas then you can execute? What are your curiosities about? What are your ideas about - is it environmental or conceptual, and can you please elaborate? I am extremely curious about things I find interesting. However, if I have no interest in the topic whatsoever, I find its concepts hard to grasp as well as retain. For example, I love learning languages and the more languages I learn, the easier the process becomes. I love learning, understanding and comparing grammar structures and finding similarities and differences. I find the challenge of learning a difficult language (i. e. with more differences in grammatical structure, phonetics, etc) a lot of fun and exciting. I also am generally curious about different cultures, different cuisine, different perspectives and even some more abstract philosophical topics. Regarding my ideas and the execution of these, they can be divided into two categories: 1) short-term ideas (e. g. trying out a new recipe or writing a short poem) and 2) long-term ideas (e. g. learning a language to the point of fluency and writing a novel or a short story compilation). The former of the two categories comprises of ideas that I execute within the span of a week after the initial idea has occurred to me. The latter of the two includes ideas I have either already completed or am still working on as well as ideas I plan to start in the future once I have completed another long-term idea. • Would you enjoy taking on a leadership position? Do you think you would be good at it? What would your leadership style be? I prefer to work behind the scenes and give my insights to a leader. However, if I often find myself assuming the role of the leader, because no one else seems to care about getting things done as much as I do. I don't really enjoy it because I prefer working alone. I usually just delegate the tasks, so that we can all work alone and schedule some meetings to verify how the work is progressing or check on my colleagues as the deadline approaches to ensure everything is done on time and done properly. If I think someone isn't doing his or her work right, I will just do it myself, because if I am working hard on something, I don't want the overall result to suffer because of one weak link. I am averse to conflict though and I am not sure how I would handle confrontation with the aforementioned weak link. Hence why I try to avoid the leadership role. • Are you coordinated? Why do you feel as if you are or are not? Do you enjoy working with your hands in some form? Describe your activity? I think so. I have fast reflexes. I also love cooking and arts and crafts. I learned how to cook because I moved to Portugal and missed my mom's cooking. Food at restaurants is also expensive, so I learned how to cook delicious food from around the world to be able to eat delicious food without spending much money. I wish I could have learned more hands on skills like carpentry and sewing clothes - mainly out of my desire to save money as well as be more independent. • Are you artistic? If yes, describe your art? If you are not particular artistic but can appreciate art please likewise describe what forums of art you enjoy. Please explain your answer. I used to be more artistic, but I have been to busy balancing work, language learning, chores, gym, spending time with people I care about to produce any meaningful art. I noticed I tend to produce more art when I am depressed as I find it hard to talk about emotions and I use art as a means of expression of those emotions. Art helped me in times of inner turmoil when I was too afraid of expressing those inner feelings. Most of my art consisted of stories, novels, drawing and poems. I tried to dabble into music (guitar, singing and ukelele), but I am not musically gifted. I still enjoy singing and rapping. Lately I have replaced artistic endeavours with cooking experiments: following recipes from all over the world and adding my own flair to them by mixing flavours that I know go well together. Kind of like a culinary trip without leaving the house. • What's your opinion about the past, present, and future? How do you deal with them? The past serves as a lesson and also has made me who I am today. I tend to focus on the opportunities I can grasp in the present to take me to where I want to be in the future. I spend most of the time thinking about and preparing for the future. If I find myself to be on the right path to get to where I want to be in the future, I am happy. I like seeing a progression. If I stop growing or find myself regressing in my growth, I feel worthless and start panicking. I look at the past almost like a distant observer. It doesn’t really affect me, but I remember certain episodes with clarity. I don’t remember the exact details of the scene, but I remember some words and my general interpretation of the situation. • How do you act when others request your help to do something (anything)? If you would decide to help them, why would you do so? It depends on the person and it also depends on the request. If I care about the person, I will do anything in my power to help him or her. If I don’t care about the person, I don’t offer to help. However, if a person, who doesn’t appear to have ill intentions, approaches me and asks me for help, if it doesn’t take too much of my time and it is a fairly simple request (e.g. giving directions to a lost tourist), I will help them. When a person I care about requests my help, I tend to approach the request from a problem-solving perspective, offering solutions to whatever problem he or she is facing. • Do you need logical consistency in your life? I like when things make sense to me, but I look at external facts to understand and learn about things before I come to my own conclusions. • How important is efficiency and productivity to you? Extremely important. I prefer to get stuff done in the shortest amount of time possible. Once I have learned a procedure, I find shortcuts and ways to make my workflow more efficient. • Do you control others, even if indirectly? How and why do you do that? I don’t really enjoy controlling people, but mainly because I don’t like to be controlled and I respect if other people have the same desire. As a result, I don’t think that just because someone is the authority that they automatically deserve respect. I respect someone for their insights and their intellect. However, I have a tendency to prefer to have some control over the situation, not necessarily the people. This tendency manifests itself in group projects, in planning gatherings with friends, at work and in my desire to be the authority figure in some way, rather than work under an authority figure. • What are your hobbies? Why do you like them? 1 - Learning languages (Chinese at the moment) – because I want to move to Macau in the next two years and knowing Chinese is a valuable skill there. I also was born and raised in Macau, but never actually learned Chinese because I studied at a Portuguese school and was raised by two expats. Once I started learning, I started loving the language more due to its challenging nature and I was provided with insights into the Chinese culture. 2 - Cooking - I learned to cook out of necessity and out of homesickness. Growing up in a multicultural Asian city, I had access to a variety of cuisines and in Portugal, where I currently live, that kind of food is either not accessible, not authentic or overpriced. Therefore, I learned how to cook the dishes I have tried in all of trips to different countries around the world. 3 – Gym – To get fit and I enjoy the adrenaline rush. 4 – Travelling – There is no better way of learning about the world around us than to travel and to see different places and meet different people. 5 – Reading – I love immersing myself in a fictional story. Some stories even offer me a different perspective on certain things, which I highly appreciate. I have other hobbies, but these are my main hobbies at the moment. Edit: 6 - Photography - I have always loved photography and I usually take photographs of things I find interesting or beautiful in some way. • What is your learning style? What kind of learning environments do you struggle with most? Why do you like/struggle with these learning styles? Do you prefer classes involving memorization, logic, creativity, or your physical senses? I learn best by learning either by myself or by having one-on-one lessons. I noticed that I tend to learn faster than the average student, so I don’t enjoy learning in a classroom with a lot of students. I also noted that I learned best by finding patterns in the stuff I am learning. It simplifies the learning procedure and I am not very good at memorizing (I forget most of it after I memorize it for a test or an exam), so by understanding the patterns, I don’t only get the big picture of the thing I am trying to understand, but I also retain it in my memory. • How good are you at strategizing? Do you easily break up projects into manageable tasks? Or do you have a tendency to wing projects and improvise as you go? I am very good at strategizing. I tend to work with manageable goals. I set myself some smaller goals so that I can see progress taking place. Once I have reached a goal, I feel satisfied and can take a break, if I am feeling tired. I do prefer when I am prepared for something, but I also think I am pretty good at adapting and improvising when necessary. • What are your aspirations in life, professionally and personally? I want to be able to afford to travel around the world, save money for the future (for when I decide it’s time to settle down and raise a family) and be satisfied with my career. I intend to continue pursuing my teaching career because it has so far been the most fulfilling job I have ever had. • What are your fears? What makes you uncomfortable? What do you hate? Why? Failure and death are my biggest fears. When I fail at something, I feel worthless and when things don’t go my way, I feel frustrated. I am afraid of death because I am afraid of ceasing to be who I am. I feel uncomfortable around intense emotional displays. My natural instinct is to troubleshoot the person’s problem, but I have had many experiences dealing with tragic instances, where troubleshooting is not the best solution and I feel helpless and uncomfortable in those situations. I also feel uncomfortable when having to follow rules of social etiquette due to my lack of knowledge about that kind of stuff. I absolutely hate incompetence, ignorance and disrespect. I am an extremely patient person, but if I encounter someone with any of the above characteristics, I tend to distance myself from them so as to not get pissed off. Edit: Added the above last two paragraphs. • What do the "highs" in your life look like? Achieving a goal makes me feel amazing. I feel an adrenaline rush and am enveloped in a blissful state. • What do the "lows" in your life look like? I either isolate myself and spend a lot of time alone, creating art or doing nothing at all, or I have self-destructive tendencies and party, have a lot of casual sex, do a lot of drugs, etc. My thoughts are all pessimistic and I experience self-hatred. • How attached are you to reality? Do you daydream often, or do you pay attention to what's around you? If you do daydream, are you aware of your surroundings while you do so? I often work on auto-pilot, knowing exactly where to go, but I find myself in my mind most of the time. I am constantly daydreaming or thinking about things in general. When I am not, I am reading stories. Occasionally, I pay attention to the world and, in these moments, I love experiencing and embracing the beauty of the world. • Imagine you are alone in a blank, empty room. There is nothing for you to do and no one to talk to. What do you think about? Everything probably. • How long do you take to make an important decision? And do you change your mind once you've made it? A long time, but once I make that decision, I stick with it. • How long do you take to process your emotions? How important are emotions in your life? A long time as well. I often react to situations, but only analyze my emotions after the fact to understand what it is that I felt in that moment. I need to distance myself from everyone and be alone to process my emotions. • Do you ever catch yourself agreeing with others just to appease them and keep the conversation going? How often? Why? I have learned in life that sometimes I have to act in a way I don’t necessarily feel is authentic to me if I want to get what I want. I don’t enjoy unnecessary conflict, so I don’t feel the need to voice my opinion or to be very vocal about my beliefs unless I deem it necessary. However, if I find myself in a situation that goes firmly against my beliefs, I am not afraid to voice my opinion. • Do you break rules often? Do you think authority should be challenged, or that they know better? If you do break rules, why? As I mentioned above, I don’t believe an authority figure deserves respect simply because he or she is an authority figure. I respect an authority figure for their insights and intellect. If I feel like a rule is stupid or if I feel the rule doesn’t make sense to me, I have no qualms in breaking that rule, as long as I don’t risk my goals in breaking the aforementioned rule.
"Efficient Players Hate Fun": Subjectivity vs Objectivity
RuneScape is one of the most grindy games on the market. Hardcore WoW players can bring a new character from level 1 to 90 in one to two weeks. Even Korean MMOs famed for their lengthy progression pale in comparison to the time it takes for a player to reach maxed level in RuneScape. Whatever the reason for reaching the end, be it showing off, a sense of accomplishment, or maxing out a character's potential by attaining the coveted Completionist Cape for bossing, there has always been a portion of the community that sought out to most efficient way to finish this long slog. However, these efficiency-minded players often butt heads with those who do not follow the same RuneScaping doctrine. A lot of the time, these players racing to the end are perceived as arrogant and rude. Why don't they just chill out and have fun? RuneScape is a game after all. I've seen these arguments all over the place. In my last major post about Opportunity Costs, there were a slew of comments in regards to the “fun” factor when doing an analysis. While I was mining away at the Battle of Lumbridge, there was conversation going on about whether or not to collect tears for the purpose of trading lamps. It surprisingly caught the attention by a lot of nearby players and peaked out when one frustrated player decided to chime in: “Efficient Players Hate Fun” Quite a bold claim. This sentiment and its connotations linger in many parts of the community. Since I felt I did an inadequate job addressing this subject in my previous post and have overcome my procrastination finished up a busy summer, I figured it was a good time to reiterate my opinion on the topic.
Cold Calculations
Let's first look at where the efficient players are coming from. For the most part, activities in RuneScape can be easily measured and then extrapolated. You can determine roughly how much money you would make from killing 10000 chickens or how long it would take get 99 woodcutting at the Tai Bwo Wannai Cleanup minigame. Once these numbers have been calculated, players use various means of comparing them, one of the most fundamental comparisons being opportunity costs. I won't go into much detail about OCs here, but the main idea is to look at a method and see how much it costs not only in terms of money, but also time. Efficient players understand that time is not unlimited and make their decisions accordingly. All of this process allows someone to look at things objectively. By being objective, a person takes a fact based approach while stripping all personal opinion to arrive at an unequivocal, universal, logically-reasoned result.
Efficiency Police
One of the most common things we see in-game, on forums, and here on Reddit is someone asking for advice. From “How do I make money with these stats?” to “What's the fastest, cheapest, and most sexually arousing way to get 99 Sailing?”, there's usually a mixing pot of replies. Aside from the responses telling the player to simply look it up on RSWiki or Google (which can lead to problems), we often see two general sides that get distilled out. On one side you have someone who gives an anecdote of how they did method XYZ and praise it for how profitable it was and how enjoyable they found the experience. On the other, you have players who, sometimes viciously, strike down these methods, saying they're completely wrong and instead offer the “best” method. A lot of the time, you find a back and forth between these groups, the personal fun method users fervently trying to defend their way of playing while their opponents stand adamantly against them, unwavering about their position on their optimized approach. The efficient players are accused of being overly uptight and too concerned with powering through RuneScape; games are about fun after all.
While we're on the subject...
So RuneScape is about fun. But what is fun? Fun is when you...it's kinda like...sorta like... Well Fun is about Friends, Ukeleles, and NO SURVIVORS- No, that's not right. Fun is a largely subjective concept. Whereas objectivity takes a stance devoid of emotion or feeling and the same everywhere, subjectivity is direct opposite of that. It should follow then why fun is subjective; it's all about what you think is the most enjoyable and what one person thinks can be hugely different from another person. So when playing RuneScape and any activity within it, each player has their own sense of what makes the game fun and so long as they've tried it they have a good idea of what specific things they like doing. Personally, I think farming is a great skill. You put in effort a little bit at a time, go do something else for a while, and then come back to nice chunks of XP and profit. It feels very rewarding to me. Meanwhile, I think most other gathering skills like woodcutting, fishing, and mining to be immensely boring since you have to sit in the same place and grind it constantly.
The Fun Conundrum
Having established the difference between objective and subjective, we run into a bit of a problem. Can you objectively claim something is more fun? Fun, like many subjective things, is incredibly hard to measure. For starters, what can be even called fun? Let's take two sports, golf and football (for the purpose of this example, interpret this as whichever one you please). I can make a lot of undeniable objective claims and observations. A set of top of the line golf clubs costs more than top of the line football footwear. The average high performance football player will expend more calories than the average high performance golf player during a game. But can I say that one is more fun than the other? Is it more fun to pull off a perfect swing or a perfect pass? Is it more fun to spend a couple hours getting to the 18th hole chilling with friends over a beer or roughing it with them trying to make awesome plays? The answer is it depends and on a ton of things at that. There's no clear answer as to what's more fun for everyone and it's usually hard to say what's fun even just for yourself. For the sake of argument, assume that we find some magic way of just knowing on an individual basis exactly how fun something is. For imaginary person Frank Jurgen, a game of football brings him 100 “happiness units” and golf only 70. We run into another problem. Even if fun can be measured, does it behave arithmetically? Let's say Frank also likes smooth Belgian chocolate and each piece he eats gives him 10 happiness units. If Frank plays a game of golf and eats three pieces of chocolate, would it bring him the same amount of happiness as playing a single game of football? Are there different kinds of happiness? Do they interact with each other? Does some happiness fade away whereas other happiness become stronger over time? Can later events depreciate the relative happiness of previous events?
Where I Stand
Trying to get a handle on fun poses a plethora of difficult questions to answer and thus pose an annoying challenge for efficient players. In that regard, I assert that efficient players do hate fun, but not because they're fun vampires that want the world to be sucked dry of enjoyment, but rather that fun is hard to measure and compare. I may love farming and hate fishing, but other people may feel the exact opposite. However, I know that per unit of time spent on training farming via tree patches, I get faster raw XP than if I did barbarian fishing. Efficient players elect to discard the fun piece when determining what method is “best” and come up with the objective answer. It's simpler to assume all other factors like enjoyment are even because a method loathed by one person may be loved by another. A good portion of players even derive their pleasure from the quest to be efficient in and of itself.
Be Charitable
As a final thought, I want to go over the idea of being charitable. I don't quite mean literally giving poor players free stuff so that they can finally afford a godsword, but instead to be open-minded when judging the opinions and claims of others; this goes for both sides. For the player more concerned with doing things their own “fun” way, understand that efficient players are coming from an objective point of view. Their “best” method is really the best method from an objective stance and they are only trying to offer the most efficient way of reaching a goal. It is incredibly frustrating when someone claims that the method isn't ideal since it's not perceived as fun. Another way of looking at it is that many efficient players simply want to do things they think are fun. Vorago, Kalphite King, or Nex are some of the most challenging pieces of content in the game and able to access them, players want to get through the tedious training as fast as possible. In many ways it's a similar reasoning behind personal bots, bypassing the boring bits to get to the fun. As for efficiency-minded players, keep in mind that objective claims are just that: Pure mathematical calculations backed by empirical testing to arrive at a perfect theoretical conclusion. The method settled upon might not be enjoyable by some and while you know that you'll reach 99 woodcutting faster by doing high APM arctic pines, others prefer the laid back nature of ivy and don't mind spending a little more time. Do your best to explain your reasoning, but try not to beat people with it to the point of resentment. I hope that this somehow calms tensions between fun and efficiency. It is my goal to slowly, but surely draw the community closer together into rational and amicable discussion. -K
So recently, a guy posted here asking how friendly/non-friendly we tended to find the game, "Destiny," when it came to playing as a woman. All the comments I saw personally were positive, and that had been my own response, as well. Until last night. Granted, it could have been worse. It could have been a LOT worse. And in general, I face sexism very little while I play (I tend to stick with people I know, although there are common exceptions). I'm on of the very lucky ones. But last night, this situation just bugged the crap out of me, and I wanted to share it with others. So I spent a period of time looking for a group to play with in the Iron Banner event (it's PvP, but a week-long event where only the highest-ranked players typically compete). I eventually found a random group from an online forum, and got into their party. After speaking briefly into the mic, I found myself being 'serenaded' (such a strong word, really) via ukelele. Which...normally, I'd think that was pretty funny, if the guy wouldn't stop gushing over how I was a 'female', asking if I wanted to adopt his children (huh?), asking how old I was, and then referring to me as 'it' for the remainder of the game. Dude 1: Wait, how do you actually know it's a female? Dude 2: She said 26 - how many guys sound like that at 26? Dude 1: Wait, are we really calling it, 'it'? -___- Needless to say, I kept myself muted pretty much the entire match. When I finally did go back on the mic to say I was heading off, I get, "I love you." Again, this is far from the worst that could have happened. But it's the first time anything like this had happened to me in Destiny. The only other time my gender was ever even mentioned was when I entered a party, and was greeted with, "hey man." I greeted him back, and he apologized profusely (I told him it was quite alright). I kept referring to me as 'sweetie', which I did see as being purely cultural (he was very Southern), but after I explained that it still wasn't something I really cared for, he apologized and stopped. WHY CAN'T MORE GUYS BE LIKE THAT??
Megapost of tips and information I've experienced myself, seen in streams, or read on reddit/klei forums. Feel free to post more below and I'll add to the post as long as they're not extremely obvious. My last post with in-depth season/poison information can be found here Thank you kuirem for crockpot recipes. All new recipes can be found here . General:
Volcanos can be found anywhere on the map, randomly generated.
Seashell spawns are tied to the tides, which are affected by the moon cycles. They are renewable
Seashell armor and the gas mask negate poisoning from all of it's sources(mosquitos, snakes, spiders with armor, gas clouds and stinkrays with mask)
There's a bug where woodie, when in beaver mode, can farm a single sand pile nonstop, creating an infinite amount of sand very quickly
Venom glands are dropped by Stinkrays, venomous spiders and snakes, and digging up gas clouds.
Instead of using a machete to collect bamboo/vines, digging them up takes only one action and you get roots as well
Slot Machine/Treasure chests have a huge reward pool, including endgame weapons and armor, and obsidian items
You can transform a 1% torch into a 100% boat lantern, game does not distinguish torch percentage
Bermuda triangles can be found in the middle of the sea, they replace wormholes.
Sailing towards the edges of the map(white fog) will cause you to appear on the other side of the map, reduces sanity
Hammering debris surrounding the area where you spawned will reward you a boat repair kit
Trawl nets have have one prolonged use, equip it and it'll fall off when full, letting you harvest it.
Chopping down mangrove trees gives both logs and sticks, they respawn with time
Golden machete doubles as a spear, same amount of damage. Crafting spear is not needed if you have plenty gold and a science machine.
Bamboo and Vine farms require fertilizer, collect flowers from the start to have enough wet goop for when you settle down
Bamboo and jungle tree farms are essential, you will need plenty for sandbags and general resources(eggs, banana, logs)
You can find new trinkets in treasure chests(Ukelele, Orange Soda, etc long list)
Parrots will sometimes drop dubloons on the floor, 3 dubloons can be crafted to make a gold nugget
. Weather:
Monsoon season will cause flooding. If your structures are flooded, they will not function(Science machine, alchemy engine, crockpot, etc).
Picking up volcano staff will force start summer season
Season order is Autumn(dry) > Winter(Hurricane) > Spring(Monsoon) > Summer(Meteor shower)
Volcanic meteors will drop wherever the player currently is, essential to run away from base when shaking begins, signalling the start of meteor shower.
Build lightning rod before winter(hurricane season) and sandbag fort before spring(monsoon season).
You will not be able to survive a meteor hit, unless you have the best endgame armor and even then, barely. Being in a boat with a life preserver will save you.
Freezing in winter does not seem to be a problem, overheating in summer is similar to first days of RoG summer, nothing too serious.
Mosquitoes will spawn throughout the spring, they will poison you when they sting.
Snakesin hats are most effective in stopping rain as they're fairly easy to craft, going to need bone shards and snakeskin.
During Hurricane season, waves will be taller than normal. This means more ship damage if hit and you can't ride them for speed boosts.
. Ships:
If your ship breaks, you'll die unless you have a life preserver, regardless of location
Thatch sail and cloth sail seem to have very similar speeds, it's likely they only differ in durabiltity
First boat is never worth building, skip straight to raft whenever possible.
You can craft an extra ship and not place it, saving it in crafting menu for moment of need
You can only equip a tool while sailing(torch) once your ship has a sail, eliminating the need to row
You get speed boosts when using waves at the correct angle, water damage to ship if not done properly. Chaining waves will result in very fast ship movement.
. Food:
Brainy sprout can be found in coral biome. Can be used to craft Brain of Thought which unlocks all crafting recipes for 4 uses. It also heals 50 sanity with a cost of 10 health. Spawns back every 3-4 days.
Ice machine(Thermal stone + 5 bamboo + 2 Electrical Doodadas) incredibly useful, one log/manure will give 3 ice, spits them out one by one
Meatballs(1 monster meat, 3 ice) still one of the best crockpot recipes for hunger
Straving is least of worries in SW, easy to gather food is plentiful(seaweed, limpets, sweet potato, berries).
. Monsters and friendlies:
Swordfish are found in open sea and are fairly easy to kill, you can craft a cutlass from it. Best SW weapon, 150 uses.
Whales are the koelafant replacement, follow bubbles to find them. After killing, must let carcass decompose for 3-4 days before looting.
Clockwork ships can be found in the sea, killing them is the only way to get gears, aside from treasure chests
Packim Baggins is a pelican companian that substitutes chester, you must pick up fishbone. Placing one piece of obsidian in each of his slots will transform him into a fire breathing pelican.
Yaarctopus is the new Pig King, he can be found in open sea in a random coral biome.
Monkeys will not steal from backpacks or chests
Oxes replace beefalo, they can be found in mangrove biomes. Very rare.
Jumping onto a ship will reset monster aggro
If in the ocean, Hound equivalent sharks will spawn in same numbers with same health. They drop monster meat or shark fins, used to craft a shark hat that increases speed.
Packim the pelican seems to be bugged, he will sometimes eat items that are given to him, caution.
Palm Treeguards replace normal treeguards, planting coconuts does not calm them down.
Enraged monkeys will throw poop at you, reducing your sanity very quickly.
. Sanity:
Building a sandcastle and standing right on top of it will give a huge sanity boost, essentially filling it up entirely overnight if standing right on top.
Bananapops and Surfnturf are food that both gives 33 sanity, very useful.
Abundance of green mushrooms can be found in swamp biomes
[Misc] The First Time My Gender Actually Mattered in Destiny
(I posted this in /girlgamers subreddit, but felt like I should share it here, as well. I'd like to hear from other woman Destiny players what their experience has been like.) I want to start off by saying that my experiences in Destiny, when it comes to being a woman who is gaming, have all been very good. In fact, I never had a single person make a huge deal about my gender, because IT SHOULDN'T MATTER, anyway. Until the other night, that is. So I spent a period of time looking for a group to play with in the Iron Banner event (it's PvP, but a week-long event where only the highest-ranked players typically compete). I eventually found a random group from an online forum, and got into their party. After speaking briefly into the mic, I found myself being 'serenaded' (such a strong word, really) via ukelele. Which...normally, I'd think that was pretty funny, if the guy wouldn't stop gushing over how I was a 'female', asking if I wanted to adopt his children (huh?), asking how old I was, and then referring to me as 'it' for the remainder of the game. Dude 1: Wait, how do you actually know it's a female? Dude 2: She said 26 - how many guys sound like that at 26? Dude 1: Wait, are we really calling it, 'it'? -___- Needless to say, I kept myself muted pretty much the entire match. When I finally did go back on the mic to say I was heading off (I finally just couldn't take it anymore), I get, "I love you!!" Again, this is far from the worst that could have happened. But it's the first time anything like this had happened to me in Destiny. The only other time my gender was ever even mentioned was when I entered a party, and was greeted with, "hey man." I greeted him back, and he apologized profusely (I told him it was quite alright). I kept referring to me as 'sweetie', which I did see as being purely cultural (he was very Southern), but after I explained that it still wasn't something I really cared for, he respected my wishes. WHY CAN'T THAT HAPPEN MORE OFTEN?? To the guys who treat women players as normal fucking people - THANK YOU. I'd call you the 'real MVP', but in all honesty, that sort of behavior SHOULD be the norm. And in Destiny, it usually is. The community is still one of the best I've ever played in, and I thank you all for contributing to that :)
I have just recently found this sub-reddit and am always glad to see like-minded souls spread throughout the world, struggling with and celebrating the deeper textures of conscious existence which the average human would rather leave hidden, buried beneath the subsconscious, social structures, and material world. I have a lot I would like to say in this ongoing, emergent discussion within this decentralized, anonymous online community. I hope to not bore you, nor carry on in overly elaborate detail and examination, but I also wish to unfold my long mind, to deeply stretch my powers of prose like an early morning yawn, both because I enjoy the process and because I feel there might be some among you who appreciate this sort of reading, those who can find a reflection of themselves in my thoughts and experiences, and hopefully find access to a 'higher,' more synthesized perspective towards our individual lives and their relationship to the greater consciousness of the species and beyond. My name is Casey Harris. I am 24 years old, born and raised in the Bible Belt, in West Tennessee. I was taught in school that evolution is a lie, that the earth is actually only about 7,000 years old. I was raised in a private christian school until highschool, and went to a fairly fanatic church group until I was 16, read the God Delusion, and publicly declared myself an atheist after having extended debates with the youth group pastor on multiple occasions. Beyond this, I was already a very weird kid, from an early age. I did not make friends well, and spent more of my time in school reading long fantasy series like The Wheel of Time than talking with people, or, god forbid, playing sports. I was not exactly picked on, though not much liked either. I kept to myself and my own imagination, which ran wild, creating long, complex and outlandish stories in my head, based loosely on Dragon Ball Z and whatever books or video games I was absorbing at the time. I knew every inch of the original Halo, and was caught up in the feverish frenzy of anticipation for its sequal when I was 12. There was a girl I liked, but when my older brother found out, he starting dating her within a week, using his greater age and social skills to take what I wanted most, to prove his superiority over me. They would cuddle on the couch and watch movies, while I hopelessly surfed online forums or played warcraft 3 in the isolation of my room. I was both too proud and too weak to do anything about it, so I pretended I was not hurt, while my heart was torn apart and I mindlessly escaped into whatever distracting fantasy was available. It was around this time, maybe slightly before, at age 11, that I saw parts of 'The Exorcist' on t.v.. After the scene where she spider walks down the stairs backwards, roaring with blood pouring out of her mouth, I was traumatized, and could not sleep upstairs alone for years, crying in pitiful terror when I was forced to. I did not try hard in school, had a very small circle of friends in highschool, and got by just OK. After dropping from the church, I started smoking weed, at which point my life became a shallow blur of online porn, video games, stupid classes, netflix binging, and more fantasy books. My last year of highschool, I joined the Academic Decathlon team, mostly to avoid being in trouble after my parents found my weed stash. Being on this team was an extremely transformational experience. The coach for the team was an incredible type-A teacher that could inspire a house cat to start a strenuous workout regiment. I excelled, sweeping several gold medals and highest individual score at the local and state levels, as well as several bronze and a silver at the national competition. I became very close with my team, bonding with them over the board game Risk as well as a few nights of drinking and weed, which was very unusual for a team of nerds (and we certainly were). The summer after highschool, I took shrooms twice in the span of a week. The first time was hugely revelatory, and I started talking to friends and family about the experience, but the second time was even more powerful, as I doubled the dose to a 1/4 and was introduced to the 'Yellow Submarine' film by the Beatles. I felt so connected to this group, which I had never payed much attention to or listend to before, but in the hour or so of that psychedelic film it seemed as though the entire phenomana of their meteoric sucess and influence on their era was channeled through me, the power of their love, their promotion and exploration of the mind, spirituality, awareness, and their almost inhuman level of creative brilliance. I felt distinctly called, to follow a similar path, that I could be the next John Lennon, if not musically than through some other, newer means. So I entered college with the perspective that my brilliance and originality would dazzle the world, and that I would quickly rise to the top of the social sphere and history books. Some element of this feeling of invincible exceptionality and superiority seems to be common in many youth, but due to my unique circumstances I believe that it was 10 fold in myself, if not more. When I wrote in college, it was from the perspective of a supremely intelligent savior, come down to give order to the madness and dulness of humanity. Needless to say, I again did not make many friends, and though my grades were decent, the outcome of my efforts was little more than moving on to the next semester, at least outwardly. As I noticed that the world was not responding to my attempts to be recognized as a legendary figure, I began to become continuously more dangerous with my mind. A friend had introduced me to robotripping that summer after highschool, and I began to return to it, only once a month but still something which seperated me further from real connections to other humans. I was doing p90x, meditating, reading works like 'Conciousness Explained' by Daniel C. Dennet, and 'The Synthesis of Yoga' by Sri Aurobindo, eating relatively healthy, and remaining completely isolated, fully committed to proving I was a genius and did not need anyone else, anyone that would only hold me back with their dullness and fear of truth and consciousness, or limited perspective on what a human being such as myself could do. I started reading Shakespeare and wrote my own short novel, which was an extremely dark, post-apocolyptic fantasy/sci-fi blend, fully self-absorbed and self-agrandizing. I was sure that this would be my ticket, that people would realize my brilliance once they read my book. No one accepted it for any awards, and only one person reviewed it, giving it a 2 out 5 stars for being short and too hard to follow. Ok, whatever, people just can't understand it. I took out a student loan and bought a few thousands dollars of studio equipment, even though I could barely strum a few chords on the guitar and my voice sounds like a room full of tortured rats. I went to a couple of large music festivals, by myself, tripping on high doses of LSD, and made one of if not the worst mistake of my life - I ignored the girl. A lovely girl from Denver, Colorado, who listened to my exasperated complaints of life among the dull minded back home, my aspirations for greatness, the perils of the world we live in. She did yoga near me, followed me around, down to the river, showing off the body of a beautiful girl in her prime. At this point, I had still never had sex with a girl, never kissed a girl, never had a girlfriend. I regarded her narcisistically, as a silly creature with nothing of value for me other than the cheap thrill of sex, which as a spiritual and intellectual aspirant I found to be beneath my pursuits. I left sunday morning after the most powerful trip of my life to that point, without seeing her again or saying goodbye. It was not until several months later, as I was reading some useless material for school, that the full weight of what had happened hit me, and I was broken. I had finally been given the chance of a lifetime, offered on a silver platter, and I slapped it away, too absorbed in my own mind, too insenstive to the value of human touch, too focused on my ideas and ego. From there I started to spiral down. My investment on the studio was a waste as I could not learn the software well and seemed to have no music talent afterall, my time in school began to feel more and more like a dead end, and the cumulative effects of years of isolation and strenuous mental grasping were begining to collapse on me. And for all my intelligence and striving, I seemed to still have nothing to show for it but a mind that was quickly becoming frayed around the edges. More stuff happened, but eventually I dropped out of college, 3 1/2 years in. I started playind Dota 2, which is based on a mod from warcraft 3, which I had played extensively years before. And I played, and played, and played, completely absorbed in it, completely shutting out the outside world, my failed life, all my dreams and hopes, all shut out for the sake of the game, the never ending moments of victory and defeat within this virtual competitive landscape. I hoped to be a professional gamer... but after months of playing was no where near good enough and in too poor a mental condition to continue. I moved back home, started seeing a therapist at my parent's encouragement, to whom I tried to explain all of the failings of my species and why I could not be a part of it. I began to reconnect with my few consistent friends on a more regular basis, started playing disc golf, tried to learn math (I always hated it and made a point to not learn it) so that I could tutor the GMAT test and have a practical way of making money using my brain, while in the mean time I worked for my Dad on his towboat as a deckhand, working the 6 hours on, 6 hours off shift of a labor grunt. I went on and off welbutrin. I felt that I was still sane, but defeated by the enormous weight of the existential challenge I had committed to after taking shrooms at age 18. I had to readjust, try to be more human, try to find my own happiness instead of trying to save the world or prove my intelligence. I eventually found myself in Ecuador, at the Ayuhuasca center known as 'Gaia Sagrada.' Here in itself is a whole different chapter, but I will summarize by saying it was profoundly heart opening and again tranformational, and the people were very supportive of me, as my calm intellect and devotion seemed to give hope to the older people there and inspiration to those closer to my age. Finally, I felt some recognization for being an advanced consciousness, not just a weird outcast. I met another girl, a world traveller who did LSD and lost her virginity at 15, ran away from her parents at 16, and tied people up for 150 pounds per hour in Berlin, when she happened to pass through. I did not get physical with her, having still not crossed that barrier and not willing to miss my flight for it after the retreat, but we kept up a long, intimate correspondence through facebook as I learned of her radically diferent perspective on life, her sensual, free flowing nature, which conflicted with my still overly rational mind. That was last year. I continued to work on the boat, spent a couple months out in Colorado doing yoga and living out of my car, greatly enjoying and indulging in the benefits of legalized marijuana. Feeling as though my life was still not where it should be, I planned another trip to South America for Ayahuasca, this time in Peru. I spent the entire month of Decemeber indulging in video games once again, this time Fallout 4, The Witchter 3, Tomb Raider, Halo 5, all on my 50 in. plasma T.V., stoned from the goods I brought back from Colorado. I love to immerse myself in these fantasy worlds, to wake and breath and dream the beautiful aesthetic and story telling experiences which modern technology and designing can produce. But on December 31st, I stopped, clearing my mind for my upcoming spiritual journey in Peru. I planned to stay this time, as a work exchanger, for 3 months before returning to the states to try out my next idea. SO. All of this is quite a TL;DR auto-biography, maybe not entirely suited to /Psychonaut, even though it does involve my use of psychedelics and their profound effect on me. But I feel it is necessary to lay the groundwork for what follows. SO. For anyone who has stuck with me this far, I appreciate your attention and perseverence, and will continue. PERU I did not attend just any Ayahuasca center. I chose the one which promised to be the most intense spiritual workshop in the world, which has a mixture of love/hate responses online, as some claim Mikis, the leader of the program, to be the greatest philosopher and spiritual teacher to have ever existed (as he does himself), and others claim him to be a egotistical con man, a hoax who brainwashes people into submission and control. This seemed too interesting to pass up, as I am fairly cocky myself, and the promises they make on the website seemed too outrageous for anyone to make up and still maintain a working program with a continual stream of willing and satisfied participants (tierramitica, if anyone is interested). As I said, this is not a normal Ayahuasca center. Mikis starts the first day by sharing his life story - in long form, much more so than what I have done here with my own. It took about 5 hours. If he does not like your posture, he will call you out on it and require you to comply, ensuring you are attentive, respectful, and yes, submissive. And he is a compelling story teller, at times shouting, other times crying profusely as he relives his childhood traumas for everyone to see. He sometimes jokingly refers to himself as the ogre, as he is an old, fat, balding, oddly proportioned greek guy. Who lives in the jungle. The workshop is 10 days long, each day consisting of about 11 hours of group discussion, lead by Mikis, or 5-6 hours on nights we did ceremony. He promised that everyone who stuck through until the end (which is usually 60-70% of participents) would break down emotionally, get angry at Mikis, and go brain dead at some point during the course. He has a very aggressive style, where he attempts to break down your ego and beliefs, so that he can replace them with his own, superior beliefs. He will put someone on the 'hot seat,' and drill them about various aspects of their lives, dreams, traumas, whatever. He will call you out on bullshit without hesitation, he will shake the jungle when he roars in dramatic escalations, or make people fall on the floor in tears as he pushes and pulls the emotional energies in the room with unbelievable power and skill. Still, he made mistakes, he was not flawless. And, naturally, I quickly became a primary target of his, as his attempts to break me down were far more difficult than the rest, my wits suited to hold my ground at the very least, if not at times making him scramble to maintain his own sure footing. We locked horns at one point, after the first Ayahuasca ceremony, for about 3 hours, as the rest of the group was shocked by the force and stress of our conflict, and no one was able to share their experiences until much later in the day as Mikis and I hashed it out all the way until lunch. I was not trying to be obstinate, but he had to prove a point of being smarter and more advanced than me, which was a difficult and cumbersome ordeal, though eventually convincing for the rest of the group. By 6 1/2 days in, it was apparent that we could no longer work together, and I agreed to leave the group. I never got angry or broke down emotionally, though I came close to brain dead out of sheer exhaustion during our longest conflict which I just described. I stayed on the premises and did the last ceremony with the group, after which I felt good but not completely satisfied. So, after my run at Tierra Mitica was over, I left for a low-key San Pedro resort that someone had referred me to down there. Here, the attitude was completely different, as the guy who primarily ran it, Max, who was only a few years older than myself, believed in a very hands-off philosophy. They did not hold formal ceremonies, just drank cactus juice which he made himself, and enjoyed it. I drank there 3 times. The first, during the day, with a girl I met. Both high on San Pedro, we cuddled, which at age 24, was amazingly the first time in my life to do so with a girl. We danced with electric poi and flow wire, she played Ukelele, and we had a great time. The next night was her last there, and we got much more intimate, very quickly. She taught me how to french kiss, and other things too. That is to say, we had sex. I was finally no longer a inhuman, mechanical abomination, but a newborn. She left the next day (after we had sex again), and I drank a higher dose of Juice, at night, where I stayed in my room alone. The best way I can describe this night is like having an orgy with the spirit world. My mind and body were so full of sexual energy, my energy so highly raised from previous experiences, and I felt what seemed to be a dragon, an alien, and a harmless but curious demonic force occupying my mental sphere all at once, co-inhabiting this strange etheral world that this human had managed to develop in his mind. I chattered my teeth and writhed and was blown away. Two nights later, I drank a higher dosage. And this was IT, THE psychedelic realization, as I felt so much life flow through me, from the struggles and sacrifices of my ancestors that allowed me to get to this point, to the brainwaves of the cows and kittens outside as they casually thought of very little but food (cows) and fun/exploration (kittens). I felt my final resistences, the last holdout of my rational, protective mind, give way, as I accepted the true interconnectedness of all consciousness, the higher spirit which calls and guides us but requires our faith to truly function. Some call it God, which I believe is a loaded term and so refrain from using myself, but the word could be applied here. My mind felt so clear, so vibrant, so encouraged and inspired, not just touched but wrapped and carried away in the divine force of the universe. I flew back home, touching down precisely 48 hours after embarking on the most powerful psychedelic journey of my life. I started working out again, rearranged my room, had the best jam sessions with friends that we had ever had, started exploring my guitar again. I would shiver when a bird sang and dance and shout to new music I was discovering that fit my heightened emotions perfectly. For about 2 weeks. Then I lost the motivation to workout. I was watching Dota 2 professional games again. I did not feel like meditating. Would vape weed at night like before. Had to work for my Dad for just a few days, which was harder than ever because my sensitivity was raised so high that the conditions, such a contrast to the paradise in Peru, were almost unbearble. Now, 4 months later, I ride the waves of excited inspiration and long, drawn out days of lethargy as I try to contain and channel all that energy I felt. A month or so back, my dog died and I unwisely took LSD a few days later, under my willow tree on a cold day. I shivered under a blanket and mentally crawled over my isolated and painful childhood, all the way to the present day, where I have no reliable income, living at my parents place, with increasing pressure for me to find my own way in the world, as my Dad's business is not doing well and he is under tremendous stress himself. So I found my way here, seeing who else might have similar experiences, reaching the heights of energy and awareness which proper practice and substance use can unlock, then trying to fit that back into the mundane world of material and social necessity, day by incessant day. I feel I have failed in some way, as the energy was too bright, too hot, and I could not hold it for long before retreating to similar patterns of escapism and distraction. I know I have gained much from it and have raised my propensity to reach those levels again, and am more assured now that my greater calling and my egoic desires are more in line with each other, that I have a greater understanding of both my limitations and my potentials. But still, I wonder if I have not at least partially squandered the promethean fire which seemed to be handed to me, as I just want to play video games, or read fantasy books, or watch Cenk Uyger from The Young Turks rant about our political/media system, and not actually deal with the world of chaos, confusion, suffering, limitation. I feel like I am just biding my time, loosely floating around the atmosphere of new-age psychedelic language and emotion while struggling to slowly, oh so slowly, manifest the visions that have been given to me. So anyways... TL;DR - I am pretty smart and have been blessed with some unique experiences and opportunites, and am looking for opportunities to make use of it while I wait for the pieces of my own business start-up to come through. If you have any questions, about anything loosely related to psychonautisism, existence, conciousness, my own story, whaterver, fire away. I would love to see if my experiences and perspective have anything to offer this community. In all of this, I have avoided saying anything too specific about philosophy or values, so you are forced to ask if you are curious!
(So, first off, I have no financial stake in the company, nor are these affiliate links or anything, but they did screw up my order and send me something extra for free, so I'm inclined to like them from a customer service standpoint...) I travel a fair bit, usually flying, and have always been on the lookout for portable instruments to take with me. Last summer, I came across the Enya company on a ukulele forum, and ordered their EUB-X1 baritone ukulele. Two things stand out about it:
It's made out of high-pressure laminate (HPL), essentially counter top material. Martin makes guitars out of the same material. It's impervious to humidity/temperature/etc. changes, remarkably durable, and sounds very much like wood.
The neck un-bolts from the body, meaning that it can fold into a carry-on bag easily. This is done by unscrewing a bolt that also functions as a button strap, and the instrument comes with an Allen wrench for this purpose.
I took it on a trip to Ireland in the fall, and it worked like a charm. It also comes with various accessories, although besides the strap and bag they're pretty low quality (take off and throw away the stock strings immediately!). I actually wish the bag was lower quality/thinner, because it's too well-padded to be able to fold up nicely for travel. It will be coming with me to Belgium in May, and it currently sits on the couch as my "noodling around" instrument, since it's a bit too cold for me to busk here in Massachusetts (although hardier folks than me are still out there!). I have no idea why they call themselves Enya, why they've decided to make this line of instruments, or much at all about the company except for the fact that my package came straight from China. The writing on the listings is poorly translated (a shaker is a "finger sand hammer") and sometimes just plain wrong (they do not have "carbon fiber" strings). The musician Enya has nothing to do with the company, although the logo looks very much like hers, which makes me wonder about the legitimacy of the whole operation. But the instrument is well-made and has a remarkable fit and finish for the price point. u/bazmaz did a review of the soprano on his site "Got A Ukulele" and was similarly impressed. They make a whole line of ukes that they call "X1" with HPL and detachable necks, and they sometimes drop the prices precipitously on particular models, presumably to sell through stock (right now the concert and pineapple versions are on sale). They also have a guitar-ukulele thing that looks interesting. Anyway, I spent a long time looking for something portable and durable for my travels, and have been more than satisfied with my bari uke. I figured I'd let you guys know about it, since it seems very well suited to busking and traveling, especially if you end up flying and needing to fit everything in a carry-on. EDIT: Spilling airers
I am trying to gather resources to help me build a cello. Currently I have this photo-essay and some videos (without voice over) from this man and I will probably be purchasing the actual plans from here. I was wondering if anyone else has any other materials on hand or any experiences to share? I need to find what kind of tools I would need on my own, I have access to a wood shop but I think I would require my own chisels. I would also like to know a bit more on how the kind wood affects the sound of the cello. My first attempt will likely be using cheaper or scrap wood just to practice on but I would like to use something like purple heart or cherry. Of course it would suck to do that just to have it sound terrible. After this post dies I will probably try again in /luthier if there is nothing useful here. EDIT: Will update this thread. Resources shared with me: Buying tonewoods:
http://www.makingtheviolin.com/ Seems to be...the best website. Explains tools, process. It appears it even includes printable templates, though I have not printed them yet to confirm. http://imgur.com/a/zRxZz Rabidchicken shows us how to make a fiddle. Really nice detail and good pictures.
Progress: I have built the mold, out of plywood. I started off doing the measurements but then I got lazy and just printed out a pattern. I will post a pic asap. At the moment I am waiting for my next paycheck to drop to pick up some tonewood. Should be this coming week and I will assume that it will take a week or two to get here. UPDATE - 2 May 2015: I was paid yesterday. yay So I bought some tonewood from internationviolin. also yay I figured I should update this here. Anyway I only purchased the top and back and the sides. I wanted practice bending so I bought them straight. Supposedly the wood shop has a bending iron, but they say they use it for ukeleles so I will have to check on that but if it is a no go I will likely buy a universal iron because I plan to do a cello as well. Next pay check I will look into purchasing the other parts or tools depending on what I've done. UPDATE - 12 May 2015: The wood has arrived. I will get too work soon, also still need pics. Apologies for the laziness.
26 [F4R] international request from california sunflower girl
Hello, all! I lived the last 4 years in Europe--was freelancing as an artist/singeactress and am now home in the states for a hot second, taking care of some things and resting before the next big adventure! Before coming back, I did a goodbye tour, traveled alone with just me and my ukelele, but only just started a little project of mine here in the states--I'd like to cover my ukelele in stickers from all the places I've been. I would love to trade postcards, words, a recorded thank you song... for stickers! Please, this would make my day. Needing: Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Croatia, Montenegro, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, England. Also needing Morocco and Mexico. I expect to be back in Europe in the (near) future, but not sure how soon--am currently working for a winery and absolutely love it. If you're from another country and open to trading, please let me know! I absolutely love writing and connecting with others (hand-written, online, etc) and would love to whatsapp or somehow send a little thank you lullaby, if interested! In general, I'm an artist currently tasting wine and getting paid for it, back in California after some years spent freelancing/working in theatre while traveling Europe--lover of good wine, good people, good tea, good stories. I've posted in the past on another r4r forum, but no luck so far. I tend to fall in love with dreams and places more than people... I fall into friendships, adventures, books, and music, but not so much into love. I'd love to experience love and look forward to whenever it may come. Send a message if interested in connecting in any way, can send a picture or chat, whatever makes us both happy. Smile and find the best in today. xx
I request your opinion and advice on a case concerning women and competing gentlemen.
Dear Gentlemen, The whisperer in the dark has it that this forum of high-standard discussion is an excellent place for educated opinions on nimble matters. I have arrived at this facility to ask for your consult. The case is as follows; at a recent convention (centered on animations of asiatic origins) I have acquainted a fair maiden. We have engaged in constant communication by means of digital telegraph for the past week, and this day we went for a strol through my nation's oldest city center. The lovely maiden flattered my by stating she would like to gain further knowledge on my inner workings before engaging in further relations, but alas and alack, she also brought to my attention that she posessed a strong love for another gentleman, whose name was never mentioned. If her feelings were to be replied, she would hesitate, but the odds are on his side. I come here with the following question; ought I to prove my virtue and worth as a man (in this scenario, I consider recording a Magnetic Fields song on ukelele or guitar, and sending this over per digital telegraph), or ought I to not engage into a woman who posesses such an intimate desire for another man? Amendment (Edit in layman's terms): Dear Sirs and Madammes, I would like to show appreciation for the consultancy you have been so proper as to dispense for my humble cause, and have decided upon the followin course of action: I will record a Magnetic Fieldian ballad to be dispatched to her by means of digital telegraph, which will convey to her the message that her heart is not for me to capture, and forfeit my chances at engaging in romantic endeavours with the honourable lady. I am hopeful that this memento will promt the fair maiden to commit herself to her distant lover or to abandon all hope on capturing my former antagonist's heart, since this limbo is an unfit position for the poor creature. I myself will continue my search for a lady worthy of pursuit.
The Serge Gainsbourg Ukulele Project. L'intégrale de Gainsbourg au ukulélé, album par album. Reprises en audio, en vidéo, partoches et tabs pour aborder les chansons du grand Serge sur notre instrument favori... Rejoignez-nous ! Engagez-vous ! Modérateur: arnalsauvage. 672 Messages 10 Sujets Dernier message par meilhac dans Re : The Serge Gainsbour... le 14 octobre 2020 à 19:32:46 ... Forum; Ukulele Boards; Uke Talk; Page 1 of 1833 1 2 3 11 51 101 501 1001... Last. Jump to page: Threads 1 to 20 of 36654. Forum: Uke Talk. General Ukulele Discussion. Forum Tools. Mark This Forum Read View Parent Forum; Search Forum. Show Threads Show Posts. Advanced Search. Threads in This Forum. Title / Thread Starter Replies / Views Last Post By. Sticky: UU VIP Program. Started by rayan, 04 ... Triff deine Auswahl! (Bild---im gleichen Fenster Text---in einem neuen Fenster) Popular Alternatives to Ukelele for Windows, Mac, Web, Self-Hosted, GitHub and more. Explore 12 apps like Ukelele, all suggested and ranked by the AlternativeTo user community. Downloads. Download the software using the links below. The .keylayout files may be installed by copying them to the Keyboard Layouts folder within /Library or ~/Library; then they are enabled via the Input Sources (Input in 10.5 and earlier) tab of the Keyboard (Language & Text in 10.9 and earlier, International in 10.5 and earlier) module within System Preferences.
The Model - Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - YouTube
Is an E chord normal? Gerald Ross Ukulele, Hawaiian Steel Guitar Website! Free mp3 downloads! http://www.geraldross.com. Baritone ukulele tuning - (D G B E) tuning. Online Ukulele Tuner from http://ukesong.com/ BARITONE tuning (D G B E) The open strings of the ukulele from low ... UkuleleUnderground.comTons of free video tutorials and Play-Along videos on YouTube, PLUS a complete suite of ukulele instructional programs and improvement ... Ukulele Lockdown, Episode 1, clip 5. The Model by Kraftwerk performed by George Hinchliffe's Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain while in self isolation. This... Follow us on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/giggear/ Visit our site - https://www.giggear.co.uk/folk/ukulele/ukuleles/ What size Ukulele should I buy?...
![[Question]Microsoft word for Mac OS having an issue with Bengali compound letters.](https://b.thumbs.redditmedia.com/v7TyCRuzwmHYPBMC9_REy0CRey1ABcHfP6pUaL9eh8Y.jpg "[Question]Microsoft word for Mac OS having an issue with Bengali compound letters.")
