The Folk Prophet

This is like a 1990s understanding of digital music, and inaccurate. Digital music has come a long, long, LONG way, my friend, and by any objective measurement is better. To be fair...streaming sort of reintroduced a lot of the issues that early CDs and low quality mp3s had. But even that's not really an issue any more. Not with the speed of most connections now. You're living in the past buddy.

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.

Maybe this has been said (I didn't read all the responses), but me, for example, being an Elder...am STILL a Deacon. The age thing (unlike baptism), clearly isn't a hard rule, since we get 11 year old deacons now. But we are, undoubtedly, training young men. Ideally, yeah, 11-year-olds would be teaching... but...really? I'm a Teacher's quorum advisor...and some of those kids... like, you know... I don't want to use the word "retarded" or....anything...and not because it's politically incorrect to do so (which I shouldn't use it for that reason either)... but it's just a maturity thing. They're children still. And they act like it. The ages of 12 to 18 are HUGELY transitional years on maturing. We are training them. They get the priesthood young because they're old enough to start really learning and developing maturity and responsibility and all that...but they are NOT mature enough to just do it. So we train, and we train by assigning, and expecting, and giving responsibility to, and etc. And this is seen through more than just passing the sacrament and so forth. Almost every Young Man at some point will end up in a presidency, unless they're just not willing or active. And the way classes run now...the Young Men teach. And, boy howdy, we struggle with that. But they're learning. They improve, sometimes, in some ways, bit by bit. They're learning and preparing for missions. They're developing the things they need to become what being a Deacon mean by being Deacons, Teachers, etc. So, no, I don't agree they're treated as solely a sacrament passer...not in the least. But that is one way where they do learn, if nowhere else, responsibility, dignity, reverence, and so-forth. They are also all assigned as ministers. Which...once again... teaching, watching over the church, etc., But as Young Men...they're in training.

^This. Nice that we have a living prophet and revelation guiding the church, eh? Isn't "at-large" a bit confusing and subjective here? I mean you mention the 70s and high councilors. Surely the 70s and high councilors don't "govern" the church "at-large" (quote marks implying subjective words).

Maybe they'll add Michael Row the Boat Ashore.

And strumming it too!

I guess that depends on what you consider contention. Do we all have to agree?

Welcome to mortality.

Yeah, it's led you to philosophically misunderstand the nature of what a right is or should be.

The concept that culture defines my rights is baffling. Take that to the extreme. If culture dictates that it's legal or otherwise acceptable to rape and murder, you'd argue that those being raped and murdered should just accept that because of the so-called "rights" set forth by said culture or legality? Or do those being murdered and raped have the God-given right to rise up in rebellion against that abuse? I'm not even arguing for or against free Healthcare. But it's not a cultural question. Abusive is abusive. By the way... there's no such thing as "free". Someone is paying. It's only a question of who. Obviously higher taxes because of so- called "free" Healthcare isn't in the same class as rape and murder. But the logic applies, generally. That's not even my problem with a welfare state though. I'd be fine with higher taxes and free Healthcare IF... government didn't suck at everything! There may be exceptions... but they're few and far between. By and large, if you want to make something worse...put it into the government's hands. Socialist government's aren't compassion. They're beauracratic, wasteful, self-serving, corrupt machines of destruction. By human nature and the fact that they have their priorities wrong. ALL governments are beauracratic, wasteful, self- serving, corrupt machines of destruction. The best have checks and balances against such, and prioritize freedom above ALL else, including Healthcare or other welfare issues. Governments that prioritize welfare over freedom and/or have no checks and balances allow for unrestrained evil, pure and simple. No one is against welfare. But at the cost of freedom? Nope. Because welfare without freedom is for no one's welfare at all. Moreover... government can't and won't understand what's actually beneficial when it comes to things they can't and won't understand, because they're politicians and driven by politics. Capitalists have to understand or they don't make money. It's not a complicated idea, actually.

Welcome to the entire history of mortality.

And slavery, as we all know, is approved of in the Bible.

No.

I wouldn't say either of the sides of your equation here are accurate. Capitalism doesn't care about time, talent, or energy. Nor does it care about benefit. It's simply you sell what you can, and buy what you want. And that's it. If you can sell a lot, somehow, regardless of time, talent or energy, you make money. And if others don't want to buy what you have to offer, it doesn't matter if it's beneficial or not. Time, talent, energy, and benefit are useful tools. But they're not, on an individual basis, mathematical certainties in capitalism. That being said, in the long-term and the grand scheme of capitalism, that does tend to work out, as the market will equilibrate on the whole. But in the individual case it won't necessarily play out as an, if-you-work-hard-you-will-win situation. And that's one of the problems with the way some look at it. They see it, definitionally, as -- anyone who works hard WILL succeed -- and that is shown to be false pretty quickly. But the fact that it's false doesn't negate the reality that it's still the best system which allows for growth and potential to succeed based on hard work. But that's really missing the point in a way. It's less about the individual's potential (the so-called American Dream, if you will), but more about an overall system that best allows for overall growth of economy and benefit. Individually what capitalism gives back may not work out. But societally, what capitalism gives back with the broad input of time, talent, and energy IS beneficial to society at large, of which the individuals (even those without specific success from their time, talent and energy, or even input of those things at all), partake. That, of course COULD be true outside of capitalism as well...but it simply is not. Because the one missing component that all other systems (except one) seem to have is motivation. The reason capitalism works is because of the POTENTIAL that it will give back based on your time, talent, and energy. And, moreover (another false point in your equation above), the POTENTIAL that it will give back significantly beyond "proportionate" to the benefit offered. Simply put, the hope of getting rich, because it's actually a possibility, drives the value of capitalism. Yeah...most won't get rich. But the "dream" of it pushes the time, talent, and energy more than other systems. There's solid motivation for effort. There's a three-tiered hierarchy of motivation. At the bottom is fear of punishment. At the top is love and altruism. In the middle is hope for reward. Socialism and similar ideologies (communism, welfare states, etc.) claim love as their motivating factor, but they're delusional, and so must relegate to the lowest tier and motivate through fear. In an ideal world -- the generally fictional utopian only seen twice that we know of in all of history motivated by pure love and goodness -- all would be motivated without fear or hope for reward, by pure love. But in the real world, people are motivated by hope for reward -- a lower tier than the ideal, but one that works much better in this fallen world.

Finished "matching" hats for me and the Mrs. I say matching in quotes because, A. The bands are different (though you can't see the one on my wife) and B. The shape isn't the same because I have no idea what I'm doing. But they're similarly shaped. I supposed "finished" should be in quotes too since I still need to make hat liners for both. Or not. I guess I don't have to. But... On another hat...my brother said he wanted his IJ hat weathered. So... I need to rework the shaping just a bit on this one. Not that he'd know or care...but it's not quite screen accurate! Finally... my daughter really wanted me to make her a hat. But she's growing and I didn't want to spend too much money on a hat that she'd grow out of...so I got a super cheap wool hat blank. (Like $10) And it wasn't stiffened at all, so I had to stiffen it with shellac....which discolored it. Argh. And then my shaping on it was TERRIBLE. So I need to reshape it. She wanted it all yellow: Here's another angle on the "matching" hats so you can see they are sort of the same-ish: Sorry this one's fuzzy:

History says otherwise.

I totally agree...but.... I think the potential consequences of it all are terrifying. In other words, it's the ridiculous, nonsensical, extreme, unhinged reactions to Trump that are scary. And it's not just far leftists. The number of good, faithful, honest, intelligent, righteous people I know that blindly DESPISE Trump is shocking to me. And they're the good people. It's very worrisome. I've never reserved my points of view in pretty much anything with friends, family, etc., until now. Now when I have family get togethers, if politics and Trump come up...I don't say a word. And I'm no Trump fanatic. But the fact that I think he's doing mostly well and don't hate him makes me one, apparently, in many eyes.

The one I have has a phase reverse switch to solve that problem I think.

Oh..and @NeuroTypical there's another thing I got into at one point, which is Children of Bodom. I don't know how I got into that. But man alive I love them if I'm in the right mood. They're so...melodic in their instrumentation and the synth with the heavy guitars and drums just...I dunno, and countered by the non-melodic screaming... I can't explain it. Love it. But I don't indulge very often because there's a lot of f-bombs in it and I don't particularly feel like it's, you know...conducive to the Spirit. Last week I had two hour-long drives to myself though and listened to Children of Bodom the entire time. Another one I'm not fully into by any means, but love a few songs, is Meshuggah. My interest there is like...I dunno...not the music so much. It's fully the rhythms and poly-rhythms and just kind of overall technical craziness. But... also, I don't indulge in that much either. But I do like it. But...other than turning on country while working, the think I listen to the most is The Tabernacle at Temple Square. Because the primary reason I ever go out is to go to my weekly temple shift, and I turn that on to prepare, and then it's just on in the truck and I just kind of leave it because I like it. And we turn it on all day on Sunday too instead of country. One might call my music tastes.... eclectic.

So is life even better better with...2 subwoofers? Giggling. Otherwise....I don't know. I'm new to this. Never cared about this before. We got into Alexa devices (Echo) a bit back and making our home smart...but I wanted better sound for the music. Since then, we've moved to the Sonus Era 100s. I tried out the Echo Studio, but the Sonos Era 100 just sounded better. We don't listen to loud music. It's mostly background, but sometimes we turn it up a bit for cleaning time or something. The Era 100s are sufficient. We run 2 as a stereo pair and a solo in my office. I know it's not going to be as good as a good larger speaker (Klipsch The Sevens or Nines, for example...but ouch on cost), but it's sufficient for what we needed for now...and... I have to say, for the size the sound is shockingly good. Technology rocks... literally in this case. But going fully Sonos was beyond the pale on cost. The sub is $700! The Arc 2 is a grand! Too much for me. (Maybe someday on the grand for a soundbar... the upcoming Klipsch Flexus 300 soundbar has me thinking...hmm... but....NO. I won't do it! Except....you know... but no! Except....). Even adding the mini-sub to the Era 100s is $430. And that ain't gonna shake stuff like my 12" (though for music...I don't want that....but I digress again...). I might spring for the sub mini for the music someday. But for now the 2 Era 100s is working nicely. And they're Alexa devices so I can control my lights and etc still. So Klipsch won my money on the soundbar (I know that doing a full theater system with separated speaker is technically "better" but I'm not really that picky....yet... what have I gotten myself into!?) I developed some of my tastes in my teens. But Michael Jackson doesn't fulfill any longer. Though Phantom of the Opera and Les Mis still do. In my college days (I was older 20s at the time) I got into Metallica and Tori Amos* and a lot of the...I dunno "metal" of that time and the following decade. White Zombie (and later Rob Zombie), and so forth. But, as I said in another thread (about hats), I got into country a few months ago (having always hated it before). I listen to country music almost daily now while working. Shrug. I'm in my 50s now. (To be fair, I think medicine I started caused some hypomania in me, so I expect a new taste at this age is rare... except I think I might have some minor bi-polar going on so I'm getting into new stuff (like hat making) all the time in my 50s. Hmm.) My other favorite is folk music from the 60s, but I was raised on that so developed that taste in my pre-teen years. I really dislike bassy music at this point (meaning the kind that thump thump thumps to the beat in an obnoxious way). But maybe my music taste will develop (in a state of hypo-mania likely) from my new interest in bassy movies. Gangsta rap...here I come!

This isn't really about bass. Just about...stuff. And by "stuff" I mean stuff. Like...you know....things. But I digress... I've gotten into sound lately. It's really weird for me. But here's the basic story: When I saw Top Gun Maverick in the theater I was impressed by the theater shaking when the jets roared. So then, recently, my daughter and I have gotten into watching movies together at night. And I thought it would be fun to get a subwoofer. And so I told her we needed to make the room shake (she's 8, btw). And she loved the idea. So we got the cheapest soundbar/woofer we could find from Walmart. And...yeah... it made the room shake...sometimes...sort of. But...you couldn't hear dialogue and you had to constantly turn the sound up and down while watching a show. But still...fun. We made the room kind of shake and she giggled. That was my goal. But it got me into it. So..... I purchased a better soundbar for upstairs. And then....hoo hoo hooo....I ordered a 12" subwoofer. And HOLY COW! Like...seriously....if I let it ride as it was when we first turned it on (about half way on the volume knob)...I feel confident it would literally damage the structure of the home over time. EVERYTHING shook. And it was AWESOME! But...too much. But I got it dialed in I think. Now it only shakes the room on the really big sounds. Just right... maybe. And the dialogue is clear and I don't have to turn the sound up and down and up and down. Though... I kind of want more boom/thump when it does kick in. Maybe a 14" woofer? Maybe a 2nd 12"? No....that's silly. The whole thing is silly. But my little girl giggles and exclaims how it made her "butt shake" every time. And it's silly but awesome and fun and makes us both smile. I don't know how long it'll last as a fun thing. It might become fatiguing pretty quick. But for now...happy daddy. And I turned on the first part of Raiders of the Lost Ark and...the sound!! So engaging and exciting. I love the movie without...but...it's like a new experience watching it again. I don't think I saw it in theaters when it came out in the 80s. So, always on TVs with TV speakers. Happy daddy. Anyhow...feel free to share, as I said, not about bass, per se, but silly 'stuff' that makes/made you happy, and maybe you got sick of too...or whatever. What silly reasons have you acquired any given thing just to see your little one giggle or the like? I thought it might make an interesting topic. If anyone cares. I got the Klipsch Flexus 200 soundbar* (normally $500 but I got it for $300) and the Klipsch R-12SWi subwoofer for $219. So $500ish all in for the really shake the room and clear dialogue system. The Walmart one was $150ish (Hisense). * I went with this Klipsch soundbar because it had a subwoofer out port so you could get any subwoofer for it, whereas most systems connect wirelessly only to their own subwoofers. And I can expand the system with surrounds speakers later if I want to. The sub that connects wirelessly to this bar is $300 and only a 10" (though I'm sure it still rattles the windows), but because of the sub out connection I could do a cheaper but bigger sub.

I believe humour references a woman's um....moon cycle? Edit: I forgot to add this to the above comment:

I don't know how the United Order would even work in a virtual currency and technology based economy. If everyone were producers of physical goods, sure...but how many are any longer? None. Even if one has a job producing goods, one isn't the producer of that good. One is an employee of the producer of that good, for which one gets a salary. And that's not even considering the fact that robots are the primary producer of goods now. And if the producers of goods gives it to the church to divide up evenly...the ability to produce those goods gets destroyed. The simple fact is that capitalism was the means of creating the cell phone, computer, or whatever you and I are communicating on. Without capitalism, these things would not exist. Capitalism has done more for prosperity than any other system. Yes...it allows for evil. But it also creates immense wealth and technology that benefits all. Without it, we'd all be farmers still. And maybe that's fine. It's interesting to consider. But I sure like my computer. And my lightbulbs. And my TVs. And my cars. And my heater and A/C. And my etc., etc.... all thanks to capitalism.

Actually...it's super easy. Here's a basic tutorial: And to be super-duper humorous:

Hence the dancing banana. That being said.... socialism, as a theory, has a lot in common with the ideas behind the gospel principles of all things being common, and if could be applied without state control and voluntarily (which it cannot be without a truly righteous populace) would be great. It's the "state" part (and the associated removal of freedoms) that I actually have issues with. Socialism, as a theory, is less egregious to me as a welfare "state". A socialist "state" is just as egregious to me. But it's really the "state" part I have issues with. Welfare and the common regulation of goods isn't so much the issue to my thinking.