So, two days ago, I ended up with seven stitches in my hand—classic me! I had a little mishap with a bread knife, resulting in a cut right between my thumb and index finger, specifically down near the base of the thumb.
It’s actually pretty painful when the stitches aren't covered—sort of a constant ache. To deal with that, I've been using this medical tape they gave me at the ER.
I was wondering, though—when can I get back to washing my hands normally? Since it’s already been over 48 hours, am I safe to start doing a light wash now? Also, is it alright to keep this tape over the stitches for a bit longer?
At the November event, Apple pulled the curtain back on the new MacBook Pro lineup—alongside those brand-new chips.
-14.2The OLED Display on the 14—it’s honestly stunning. ProMotion 120 Hz — such a game changer! The OLED Display hits 1600 nits of peak brightness—absolutely stunning! Running on the M1 Pro or M1 Max—honestly, such a powerhouse! Three Thunderbolt 4 ports—now that's what I'm talking about! The HDMI port—finally! It’s about time they brought this back to the table. Honestly, I was starting to think we were all destined to live the "dongle life" forever—which, let's be real, is a total headache. Having that direct connection again is such a win for anyone who actually wants to plug into a monitor or a TV without a mountain of extra gear cluttering up the desk. Small change? Maybe. But it makes a massive difference in day-to-day usability. Truly a great move! The SD card slot—finally! Honestly, it’s about time they brought this back—it makes such a massive difference for anyone who actually works with media. -MagSafe—honestly, such a game changer! No Touch Bar—honestly, I’m relieved. The camera—only 1080p. Honestly? A bit underwhelming. Fast charging—we’re talking 50% juice in just 30 minutes!—is an absolute lifesaver when you're running behind schedule. You're looking at up to 21 hours of battery life—which, honestly, is a total game-changer.
Chips:
The M1 Pro—now that's a beast. The move to the -5nm process—it’s a massive leap forward! —really changes the game for efficiency and raw power. We’re looking at 200GB/s of memory bandwidth—now that is a serious amount of throughput! -32GB of unified memory—now we're talking! That 10-core CPU—it’s quite a powerhouse! —really keeps things moving smoothly. -16-core GPU—now that’s some serious power!
The M1 Max—honestly, a total beast. The move to the 5nm process—it’s a massive leap forward! —really changes the game for efficiency. We're looking at 400GB/s of memory bandwidth—now that's what I call some serious muscle! 64GB of unified memory—now that’s a serious spec! It’s got a 10-core CPU—pretty snappy! That 32-core GPU—now that’s a powerhouse! It’s actually got support for four external displays—quite a powerhouse! Unmatched efficiency—we’re talking industry-leading performance per watt here.
Price: $1,999 – $2,499
I have to admit—it’s been a long time since a "Pro" model actually felt like one. For once, it doesn't feel like just a slightly shinier version of Siri. That upgraded camera and the improved port selection really make the difference!
Emily Smith6 said:Workers' Front: If a holiday falls on a weekend, the following workday should be a day off
"The Workers' Front has submitted an amendment to the Law on Holidays to Congress. We are requesting that any holidays falling on a weekend be moved to the following business day—which, I suppose, is standard practice in many other countries, and was actually how things worked here back before the nineties."
Now, our hero Reiner claims the Republican Party won't support this, arguing that we all need to work harder to pull ourselves out of this crisis. It’s a bit ironic, isn't it? The very same Republican Party insists on banning Sunday work to help us through the crisis. The hypocrisy is almost impressive.
🤣🤣🤣
This.
Look—banning Sunday work for obvious religious reasons just to curry favor with voters isn't necessarily old-fashioned; however, suggesting a change to the Law on holidays—so that if a holiday lands on a weekend, the next business day becomes a day off—is definitely an old-school idea from a bygone era.
https://spotify.com/ Spotify is finally available here in the States! Even better—Comcast is offering a free subscription as part of their Verizon packages!
Look, the future of music is definitely in flux—but then again, music has always been evolving.
We went from listening to live music at town fairs to tuning into the radio.
Then radio gave way to television, and television eventually became YouTube—and now, YouTube streaming.
Vinyl was replaced by cassettes, cassettes by CDs, CDs by digital downloads, and digital sales by streaming.
Even concerts are starting to feel like they might become a thing of the past—or at least, we're seeing plenty of alternatives during this pandemic era.
Concerts will never truly die, just like movies won't, but if you had told me a few years ago that I’d be paying $15 to watch Dua Lipa via a livestream, I would have laughed right in your face.
Still, when she had that Studio 2054 set, I paid up—it was the closest thing to being there in person.
The industry shifts, and both artists and fans just adapt.
For the true audiophiles out there, I suspect CDs and other physical formats will remain the only acceptable way to experience music.
As for me? Streaming is perfectly fine. Especially when paired with a solid set of headphones (like the WH-1000XM4)—it's a great experience.
Honestly, we should be glad that legal music streaming is a totally viable option in America today, rather than some kind of joke where people ask, "Why would I pay $33 for an album when I can just download it and burn it to a CD?"😁
Personally, downloading music illegally feels less like being thrifty and more like just being lazy. Believe me, if I could just download files, organize them, and transfer them to my phone without effort—when for $17 I can access a massive catalog in just two clicks (or zero clicks if I use Google Assistant)—I wouldn't bother.
Ryan Doyle43 said:In the US, digital music subscriber numbers have hit 160,000—with Oliver leading the streaming charts, followed closely by Madonna and Vojko V.
Pretty solid numbers, honestly—especially since the culture of buying physical or digital music was never really a big thing here in America. I wasn't even expecting 50k.
It looks like Americans have relatively said "yes" to streaming. Which makes sense—it’s incredibly accessible (everything is roughly around $17), and the catalog is massive. It’s very rare that I’ve searched for something and actually couldn't find it.
Plus, we all have internet access now—whether it's home Wi-Fi or mobile data. In fact, I know people who don't even bother with home internet; they just use a flat-rate mobile plan to hotspot 🤣 and connect all their devices at home.
So, having reliable, affordable flat-rate internet paired with cheap streaming is a winning combination.
quietbison86 said:Pandora actually has better sound quality than Spotify—plus you get lyrics and easier ways to track new releases by genre.
Spotify definitely wins on artist selection, though—better algorithms, superior playlists, and a much cleaner interface. On the flip side, the big downside for me is that new albums don't pop up as easily as they do on Pandora; instead, I mostly just see new singles. It’s even frustrating when I’m following an artist and still don't get notified about a full album release.
As for Apple Music, I wouldn't know—I've never given it a shot.
Apparently, Live lyrics are only rolled out in certain markets. Spotify offers them too, but the availability varies depending on which country you're in.
Mark Cruz15 said:I’ve been messing around with Spotify lately, giving it a real test run. Usually, with these more obscure artists, the selection ends up being pretty thin. For me, the real struggle—whether I'm diving into piracy or using streaming services—is that everything is just *too* available. It's paralyzing! I look up any musician, and suddenly I'm staring at fifty different albums. Seriously, just drop an album every five years or something—give us all a breather! 🤦
It might feel a little overwhelming (not sure if there's a perfect American idiom for that) right at the start, but mentioning Spotify makes sense since the interface is so intuitive—you can get the hang of it in no time.
It might not be every single release—you know, every specific album or individual single, especially considering the artists you mentioned—but since there are compilations and full albums out there, most songs will definitely be covered. I rarely run into a situation where I search for a track and just can't find it. Even with someone like Ante bubati, you have several releases available, so it’s highly likely any song of his you're looking for will be right there. Yeah, things do go missing sometimes, but it happens very rarely. Like, really rarely.
Mark Cruz15 said:That’s not really the point—he’s always been available to me, and I use him to just spin something random when I’m not in the mood for a full album. I'm not such a fanatic that I won't listen to something if it's under 600 kb/s. My audio setup isn't exactly top-tier, but I love having FLAC files, so that's mostly what I hunt for. It's good to have them tucked away for the future. Honestly, it's great that smaller bands are putting their music up for free on Bandcamp these days.
I don't have one either. But, like I mentioned before, I'm talking about everyday listening.
I'm not questioning (admittedly, a bit of a pretentious way to put it) the choices of people who buy physical copies—CDs, tapes, vinyl—especially the hardcore fans and collectors.
I'm strictly talking about that daily soundtrack where the music is just pumping through your headphones on the commute to work.
Just wanted to make sure we're all on the same page regarding context.
analogbear40 said:Same here... what really interests me—the stuff I actually hunt for—are those rare gems from the '80s. In about 90% of cases, you won't find them on mainstream streaming services. It’s just like how tons of those 7" or 12" vinyl singles from certain eras, like the '80s, will never see a CD release—which means they'll always be high-demand items for that specific circle of collectors.
I think Deezer is a solid choice for the stuff mentioned. They have a pretty decent catalog of American folk and regional music. Though, I’d be lying if I said Spotify isn't missing some things too.
Take Nada Mamula, for instance.
On Spotify, we get: Nada Mamula (1972) Ja ostajem sama (1979). Uz zvuke harmonike (1988). Sevda uživo 2000. Sevdah II (2000) Sevdah III (2000) Zapisano u vremenu (2001) Canada (2001) Folk zvijezde zauvijek (2012): compilation Sevdah ( 2016 ) sevdalinka Sevdalinke (2016) Pesmarica (2016) Pesmarica 2 (2018) Antologija (2018) Sevdah i sevdalinka (2018) And so on.
As someone from a younger generation, she’s not exactly a household name to me—but if I ever decided to dive into her discography, I think her catalog on Spotify is actually quite extensive.
Of course, I totally get the collector mindset, but I’m mostly talking about everyday listening here.
Mark Cruz15 said:Just like in the world of cinema—just as there’s no such thing as a truly complete film archive—it’s the exact same story with music. There simply isn't a total catalog of everything ever recorded. Here’s why I stick exclusively to YouTube—it’s just simpler that way.Look, I’ve gotta say—I can't even listen to Nada Mamula's discography on Spotify in any kind of logical order—you know, actually following the sequence of singles and LPs. It's frustrating! I'll probably only dive back into them once every single song that pops into my head is actually available on there. Lossless quality—now we're talking!.
This feels a little strange to me—just a bit odd.😬 Just a thought—since YouTube's audio quality isn't exactly top-tier; honestly, pretty much any streaming platform offers a much better listening experience than YouTube does.😬
Digital platforms have completely taken over the music industry. Downloading tracks is almost a thing of the past—now, CDs are basically vintage collectibles, much like vinyl or cassettes. These days, physical media is mostly sold just "for the sake of it."
The big digital services are everywhere here in the States. We've got Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer...
And those monthly subscriptions? They are incredibly affordable. You're looking at maybe $15 a month, sometimes even less—honestly, it's about the price of one drink and maybe a slice of pie😬. Plus, they usually throw in a few free months to get you started. For instance, Apple Music offers the first 6 months for free.
We all use the internet, and mobile data is super cheap these days, too. There’s no real fear of accidentally leaving it on and seeing a massive chunk of change disappear from your bank account.
On top of that, these streaming services have apps for everything—Smart TVs, desktop versions, you name it.
In short: for very little money, you get incredibly easy access to a massive catalog of music.
I get what some people might say—between $15 and $0.00, I'll take zero. But then again, I can't imagine the hassle of downloading music via torrents just to transfer it to my phone and such; I really don't feel like dealing with that kind of headache$15.
I totally understand why people used to skip buying music back when everyone was just downloading stuff for free. Especially considering how much a single CD used to run—nearly $33 per disc!
But honestly, does it even make sense to refuse a small monthly sub and stick to illegal downloads now that music has become so cheap and accessible?
Major global players like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music have completely taken over the American market recently. It feels like streaming has become—well, basically the only way anyone listens to music these days. Because of that shift, I’m curious to hear where you all stand on the whole streaming phenomenon.
Are you currently using any of those major platforms? If you aren't using digital streaming services to listen to your tunes, what's the reason—and more importantly, how *do* you listen to music?
What is it about your preferred method that keeps you loyal to it instead of switching to something else?
Do you feel like streaming is actually affordable for the average user? And here's a bit of a controversial one—if you do think it's reasonably priced, do you believe downloading music illegally has become unnecessary? I mean, when you can access a massive catalog and listen to anything you want infinitely for just a few bucks, does the old way even make sense anymore?
Furthermore, I’m a firm believer that every sub-forum has its own internal logic.🤷
Take the Music and TV boards, for instance—it’s pretty standard practice there to post videos and images. It’s practically baked into the DNA of those specific sections.
That said, we do have boundaries. For example, over on the Fun Music boards, using GIFs in artist threads is a no-go—everyone follows that rule—and they're strictly reserved for the chat.
If we add a YouTube button to the toolbar, people will likely share more video content, but we’ll still maintain the established guidelines for where and how that happens.
And honestly? I think everyone’s internet connection can handle it. Personally, I don't notice any real lag between pages with video and those without.🤔 Plus, since most of us have unlimited data these days, bandwidth consumption shouldn't really be an issue.
Also, I’m talking about YouTube here. It isn't some sketchy corner of the web. Even if someone finds a video that’s off-topic or inappropriate, they’ll still face consequences—posts get deleted or edited, just like always.
The current concerns just don't seem to hold much water to me—as if we haven't been able to post videos until now! I'm simply looking for a shortcut to make the process a little smoother.
Following a suggestion from Casey Bennett, I went ahead and installed the I don't care about cookies extension. It finally works—no more annoying pop-ups hitting me!
