Leaderboard

There was a time when I desired a decent sound system in my home. Because I am an engineer – I did my research. There are two general types of speakers, acoustic suspension (sealed) speakers and ported (open or reflex) speakers. Generally speaking, ported speakers are better at making noise and acoustic speakers are best at reproducing specific sounds. I designed my home stereo sound system with an array of various acoustic speakers at the front for sound stability and accuracy with two matching ported rear speakers and a 16-inch subwoofer for maximum depth. I had to have a custom amplifier to distribute the proper frequencies to the proper speakers. I really loved my system. I could listen to a full choir and orchestra, close my eyes and pick out individual instruments and voices and where they were located. The good old days of accurate sound systems are long gone and shattered by digital sound systems that chop off a great deal of the overtones kept and maintained by analog systems. There is something else everyone should know about the music (sounds) they listen to, especially those that are digital. Very low sounds (around the 10 hertz) cannot be heard by humans but can cause significant damage to the human ear. This can cause many to increase the bass volume for their own enjoyment that is painful to others that maintain accurate hearing abilities. One may think that listening to their music their way is their right. This is hardly the case. Noise pollution has a way of reaching beyond the creator of it into the space of those not impressed by the waisted energy – to the point of even causing injury. I believe scripture says it best that the miserable like to pass their misery on to others – and I would add – weather the others desire it or not. The Traveler

UConn showed the heart of a champion.

@LDSGator Y’all made that game way to exciting.

If you want an expensive hobby, try getting into ham radio. That can drain your bank account very quickly.

On some other stuff: I have too many hobbies. It's ridonkulous. I get into stuff. Here's some of the stuff I've gotten into over the past: Motorcycles Digital photography/videography and camera gear Making (braiding) bullwhips Model Trains Playing plectrum banjo Leather carving (belts, bags, holsters) Bicycling Making hats and western wear Guns And that doesn't include the primary hobby I have, which is writing musicals. I know...you can't buy happiness. But you can buy pleasant distraction. And goodness me...why are most of the hobbies I get into SO expensive! It's interesting to me how some of these that I've gotten into I never expected to. Like...I got into braiding bullwhips because I (delusionally) thought I could make myself a high quality, what would be $1000+ Indiana Jones bullwhip for the cost of materials (a few hundred). 15 years later and I've spend WAY more than the $1000+ and still don't make them as well as the pros. (Though a lay person wouldn't know they're not as good. Here's a pic of 2 of them I've made:) Anyhow...because they're "leather" people would often ask me back 15 years ago or so when I was getting into it if I did other "leather" work. And I'd say no way. No interest. Not my thing. I just wanted a bullwhip. It wasn't about the leather. But.... then a few years back I get it into my head that I can make myself a high quality gun holster on the cheap too! (Same delusion as before.) And...voila...into leather work. Now I'm really into leather work. Silly me. And bicycling. I have a bro-in-law who's always been into it and I'd always be like, "Bah...." about it. But then a few years back, the wife and I decided to get in shape and decided to get bikes...and then I got into it...like obsessively. I even got myself some of those biker shorts I swear I'd never be caught dead in! And...western wear and country music? That's just weird. Anyhow...mostly I'm just a big nerd and when I finally started making "grown-up" money, I realized, bit by bit, that I could....sort of...afford stuff. And so a lot of it is just child-hood fantasies being realized. Except I'm always trying to not just spend like crazy...so instead of buying the nice bullwhip or holster or cowboy hat or whatever...I decide I can be frugal and make my own. And then I get into the hobby because I'm a bit obsessive (the proper term, I believe, is hypo-mania ), and I end up enjoying the researching and crafting and hobby of it more than I enjoy the thing itself. Owning and cracking a bullwhip has brought much less pleasure and fun to me than making bullwhips has. Same with quick-drawing a six shooter (I wanted to get into cowboy quickdraw...they have real competitions and shoot wax bullets at metal plates and stuff....). I've much more fun getting into carving leather. Anyhow.... currently I'm into the hat making (as per the other thread I started on that), but I decided to sell a bunch of stuff I've gotten over the years on Ebay. Stuff that didn't quite work out. One of the cameras I have. One of the very expensive model trains I had. Etc. One of the excuses I always make myself is that I can always sell things to get out from under it if I get into financial trouble. Which ends up being true with a lot of hobby stuff. Model trains...expensive ones...are limited runs often. And that means they hold value pretty well, especially buying popular ones. I got the VisionLine Big Boy back in 2014. Spend $2200 on it (on a sale). Should be able to sell it for $2000 on Ebay pretty easily over a decade later. The problem was (if anyone cares) is the thing is too big and I had delusions (a common theme here) of having a cool train layout. But, I don't have the space! It's too big. The minimum curve of the thing is 6 feet. And that's for a simple circle, which isn't all that fun. I just don't have room to build a layout. Here's a pic, btw. So selling it....which is good because it's ended up being nothing but a decorative item for ten years (I've literally only run it once), has gotten me into the idea of moving to HO scale (which is half the size of the larger 0 gauge that this one is). And HO is less expensive. The size is cool on the 0 gauge. I'm kind of a go-big-or-go-home thinker on these things. But, in practice, that doesn't work out a lot of times. So HO might be just the ticket. So now I'm back into researching model trains again! Dang it! Haha. Except not dang it. I love the research almost more than the thing. If only I could stick to just researching and not actually buying I could have all the research fun without the money spent. But...it's the fantasizing about buying and building and all that that's half the fun, and so if it was just research..... Well, you get my point I suppose. C'est la vie. I've rambled on here a bit too much. But, you know... I did say the thread wasn't really meant to be about just soundbars and subwoofers.

I saw that one but the one I'm thinking of was a General Conference talk. I just can't seem to find it now. But thank you for trying to help.

Wisconsin looks overmatched. It’s only 42-31 at this time-but Wisconsin doesn’t look good.