In your fantasy binary turnabout world wouldn’t the birdfemale host get slapped by another bird female actor for having insulted her husband?

I think the point he is making is that our reactions towards violence, either received or perpetrated, tends to be highly coloured by the gender of the people involved and is thus not consistent. I think that posts point is that this is perhaps hypocritical and problematic given that men are far more likely to be victims of violent attacks. That’s how I read it.

Understandable and acceptable are two different things. Unfortunately by doing nothing about it, the Academy is tacitly saying it’s acceptable.

Some day someone will make a digital camera with just shutter speed, apperture, ISO, exposure comp and maybe an aperture priority mode and that’s it. Nothing else, not even a screen on the back.

Oh wait hang on, some already did. Shame they charge £5k for it.

Sat in the house and having a little practice, everyrhing seems ok. As soon as i need to use it out and about in anything but auto mode i find it obstructive and a little frustrating.

Yep, it’s because Sony isn’t a camera maker; they makes sensors but not cameras and it shows up in their user interfaces, which are just awful.

Have my eye on a Foveon sensor for subsequent adventures into compact cameras, so probably a Sigma DP Merrill or Quattro.

DO they still make the Foveon sesor? I think the current Sigma cameras all use Bayer array sensors so a Foveon would mean a second hand purchase. You’re aware of their reputation for being a pain in the ass to work with in post right? Not impossible but the work flow was always notoriously challenging, which is a shame because the results from those cameras are among the most analogue like of all digital cameras I’ve seen.

From the ongoing project with my friend (which I’ve been working on now since the week lock down started!)

It’s all part of the wider trend of virtue signalling, which is very harmful if you think about it as it’s ostensibly a form of behaviour control.

Best produced album I’ve ever heard is Daft Punk, Random Access Memories, which apart from being a brilliant brilliant album, is exceptionally well mastered.

When buying anything HiFi, I take Mrs Spanner along, just to calibrate my bullshit meter. She has no interest in Hifi, but loves music.

I always think that a neophyote’s unbiassed view is the best – if someone with no axe to grind tells you that something sounds really good, then usually they’re right. My girl friend is also a fabulous ‘ear’ and regularly comments if I make a change, as to whether it’s in the right direction or not.

You’re still totally missing the point and labouring under the impression that people who call themselves audiophiles are trying to prove empirically that A is better than B. That’s not what most of us care about.

We care about whether we prefer A over B and for that there is no test needed other than listening and (subjective) opinion.

We can at least agree that it’s entirely possible for system A to sound different to system B right? I mean let’s establish what your actual premise is here since it just seems like you’re saying that ‘all hifi equipment sounds exactly the same’.

That said blind testing happens all the time But it’s really of little value because it assumes that what a piece of kit looks like has a material effect on what you hear. Maybe that’s true with very very high end pieces of equipment that look very expensive but I’ve listened to plenty of systems like that not like them because they sound to clinical.

Now listening without knowing the price is a much more useful exercise but the most useful exercise of all is just listening. Some people are better at that then others.

I take issue with flowery word salad claims and non-scientific voodoo that cannot be backed up by a quantifiable measurement – the scientific method.

To do what you ask would be as pointless and flawed as trying to offer you empirical evidence for why a Monet is better than a Madrigal. There is no scientific method for measuring it.

Two Hi-Fi systems built with entirely different circuit topologies and design parameters will sound different because they are different. I think we can both agree in that right? If one sounds better to you then why that is might be something that can try to explain from an engineering perspective, class A SET vs class AB solid state for example, but there is no way to measure the nuanced experience and any attempt to do is largely redundant.

And what value does this add to the thread, exactly?

About as much as your own comment does I guess.

provided you’re ok with a fixed lens

You can get some flexibility with it via adapters that work very well. There are 35mm (50mm FOV 35mm equiv) and, I think, 19mm (28mm FOV) available. They aren’t cheap mind even second hand from MPB.com

The other compact, large sensor camera that most people ignore, perhaps understandably, is the Ricoh GR. I understandably because until recently the only lens option was 19mm (28mm FOV in 35mm terms) which is just too wide for most people. However they now do one with a 26mm (40mm) lens. It still doesn’t have a view finder though but it does have an aps-c sensor in a camera only marginally bigger than the Sony RX100.

I’m not entirely sure I know what you mean by better image quality or if you know what you mean by better image quality but at that budget if you wanted something that was also still relatively compact and had what I regard as being much better colour rendition (which is how I interpret better image quality) they have a look at the Fuji X 100 or indeed any of the other X range cameras with interchangeable lenses. The way they process colour is significantly more naturalistic than the Sony interpretation which I always found was far too oversaturated especially in the red channel. Of course if you really want to go to something a whole order of magnitude nicer than find medium format film camera 😂👍

Maybe a limited edition print sold by the artist (eg. https://elishaenfield.co.uk/store (personally I wouldn’t use the word original, it’s a print)), or if the artist is a litho-printer, an original of one of those…?

Yes it’s this. In the world of fine art photography the notion of a ‘print’ is confusing becuase there are so many ways in which it can be done (and each has a different value).

The ultimate is a ‘hand print’, which means it is made using the traditional method of exposing an analogue negative, via an enlarger, onto photographic paper. Usually that is a process done by a specialist printer (indeed most photographers will prepare prints via a specialist printer) with a great deal of care and attention to things like dodging and burning. The results are stunning but it’s hugely costly.

After that you get C-types and inkjet prints that are either sanctioned and supervised by the photographer (hence ‘original print’) and thus usually signed and numbered, or they are just reproductions, in which case they aren’t ‘original’.

Of course you could also have something like an original Ricahrd Learoyd where the negative is the final print and that’s the only copy that can ever exist because there is no negative. He shoots direct to positive print using a camera obscura and his work is sublime. It’s worth checking out.

I have a large, original signed print of this, by my favourite photographer, Laura Panack, on one wall:

I always find hi-fi threads on this forum so very amusing. I mean my word you guys tie yourselves up in knots, desperately trying to prove that everything you’ve never experienced and don’t want to believe in this the product of someone else’s furtive imagination. And Lorde don’t the derogatory remarks about individual character just spring forth like music from a speaker. Why is that do you think why are you so at pains to desperately claim somebody else’s experience and knowledge as wrong?

DSD files contain nothing but ultrasonic frequencies/introduced noise above 22000khz and as such they contain no worth at all, this has been proven in signal analysis.

That is true for ‘converted’ media, i.e. media originally recorded in PCM at 24bit 44.1KHz; it’s not true for media recorded in DSD natively, but as I say, there’s very little content of this around for obvious reason.

However, even the PCM converted DSD sound better for reasons explained here:

EDIT – it may be that the reason DSD sounds so much better might not be for the reasons I stated above, it might be for other reasons and maybe there is indeed no ‘additional’ information in the signal.

However, it categorically DOES sound better and everyone I’ve demonstrated this to agree. If you won’t or can’t hear the difference that’s your problem not mine.

Yeah it’s a bit like that Hunter Biden lap top story really…..

Interesting but hardly a new product – Astell & Kern have been making high end portable players for a while. I’m not sure if they support DSD. If they don’t, and the Sony product does, that will be an interesting first. Although there is precious little natively recorded DSD music out there, even where the files are converted to DSD from a PCM recording process, the results are still significantly improved over standard PCM. Where files are recorded natively in DSD they are superlative.

Edit – the top A&K player supports native DSD512k and costs north of £3k so the Sony version is really a ‘catch up’ product. Even as an audiophille myself, I’ve never really got the point of these products. The DSP element is one thing but for it to be truly portable product you need to be able to plug your head phones into the unit, at which point the point is lost because the best headphones need a lot of current to work well and the only way to get that with a portable decide is via Class D, which sounds (to my ears) awful. Combining them with a portable headphone amp/DAC does make some sense but then you’re into a £7k system and I’d rather spend that on my home system.

As said above, very very limited appeal.

Does anyone know if this channel on YouTube is officially sanctioned by the BMJ? Either way the content is interesting but obviously if it is an official channel (for the BMJ) then the implications are far more significant.

Lord knows why but for the school run this morning I could not get the lyrics ‘Hot dog, jumping frog, Alberquerque’ out of my head.

At one point I sang the lyrics out loud to which my nine year old asked ‘What’s Alberquerque?’, which then precipitated a conversation about US states,

Which led to a conversation about UK counties

Which led to how and why we write addresses

Which led to postcodes

Which led to the NATO alphabet

Which led to the situation in Ukraine…….

The school run is an interesting episode in my day.

Why anyone would want to buy a shonky picture of an even shonkier looking bike is beyond me.

Have you seen Rita, Sue and Bob too? Might influence the generosity factor?

That’s one of those films that would just never get made now! Besides I’mn not married.

Yeah or worse, I find they’ve dropped something on one of the amps and broken the main output tube.

Actually the breaking of the output tube wouldn’t be the worst outcome. There’s 1500 volts going through those things!

Do tell me you actually have broadband though?

I have fibre to the premises! Oh and a kick ass stereo!

You monster!

That’s not the half of it. I make them empty their lunch boxes when they get home from school, put their shoes and coats away, place their dirty dishes in the washer and even sort their own washing!

So without netflix, the babysitter(s) will bring her/his boyfriend/girlfriend around and entertain themselves on your bed…I would hire a video from blockbuster for them…

Or indeed Go Pro……LOL.

it’s sat watching Netflix whilst concurrently raiding the fridge

LOL she’ll be sorely disappointed. I do not have a TV and the fridge is usually empty!

Interesting to think that the cost for baby sitting is substantially more than the cost of the concert I’m trying to attend; there’s no resentment there, just an observation!

The irony of people not getting irony!

I’ve been told unambiguously by senior managers that if I want more money I should leave because that’s the only chance you get to negotiate your salary in today’s job market.

It’s very true! Not sure I like that situation any more than you, which is why I just changed jobs having remained with the same company for ten years. Interestingly I increased my base salary by 33%!

You can use all the fancy language you like to obuscate the real purpose of this destructive management philosophy

Well that’s where you start to sound very angry and bitter. Perhaps you should consider changing jobs? The ‘MBA types and management consultants’ are probably doing something right, including their own original research to find out how things work rather than just getting angry at a situation. This tends to be reflected in their pay!

I did do my own original reseatch on this subject but as I said before, I really couldn’t care less if you think it’s nonsense or not; I do however feel for you if you are feeling disenfranchised by your current position as that is something I can empathise with. I sincerely hope you get some resolution there but suspect the only way you’re going to do that is by finding a new job.

Sincerely, good luck with that.

thats what your “fluid workforce” actually means. Its calling it a “fluid workforce” that is the right wing babble as its words used to obfuscate the real meaning and make it sound something desirable

OK sure, if you say so 🤷‍♂️

Well with that nonsense I can already tell you’re paid too much.

As I said, I have data that supports this, just can’t be bothered to dig it out. You really don’t have to take my word for it though; makes no difference to me.

No, not at all. There was some wee outfit called BioNTech that did something recently but for the life of me I can’t remember what it was.

First off, the use of the word ‘tend’ is key in that sentence. It means ‘mostly but not exclusively’. Well done done for citing BioNtech but is not a pharmaceutical compnay, it’s a biotechnology company and they are very different (thankyou because the example highlights my point).

Biotech as an industry is very much assoicated with process refinement – big molecule treatments (as opposed to drugs which are small molecule treatments) are grown in cultures, not chemically engineered. This ability to grow them is a process refinement skill. BioNtech is also tiny with revenues in 2020 of less than EUR500m. List out all the other very large drugs companies and you will find that they are overwhelmingly US/UK based with some exceptions.

Take that out of right wing babble and what yo actually mean is insecure jobs with poor terms and conditions allied with appalling low worker protections and benefits levels

First off, it’s not ‘right wing babble’, it’s simply an area of academic study as to how capitalism works in a given environment. It’s observational data gathered with the express purpose of explaining, not justifying. I know well your socialist credentials TJ and i do respect them and even share a few, but sometimes I think you let your political beliefs get the better of you.

Second, yes, you could easily see it that way. Anglo Saxon models of capitalism are very much characterised by low levels of commitment between employers and employees and can result in some very extreme and highly disenfranchising behaviour, a good example being P&O and IAG (which made everyone at Gatwick shorthaul redundant in 2020 and is now launching a new lower cost service there!)

However the level of security you experience is not entirely related to the law; companies always want to keep their talented people even if the law allows them to be made redundant. In this regard, the way our system of capitalism works is not a question of better or worse, just different.

Germany isn’t known for radical inventions but they are known for process refinement; high commitments between employer and employee mean that the people building the VW Golf are the same ones now as were doing it 30 years ago and so there’s little they don’t know about doing that process well. But you don’t tend to find blocbuster drugs companies in Germany; they are typically British and American and for good reason. New drugs are the result of radial innovation, which is itself stimulated by having a relative fluid work force.

It’s time they isolated the gene in cats that makes them burry their own poop. If they could do that and then introduce that gene into dogs, I might well become a dog owner.

the thing I was not sure about was if the mat leave is a protected characteristic

It is; it’s regarded as indirect discrimination on the grounds of sex since only females can get pregnant and thus take ‘maternity’ leave. The way the law is structured is kind of interesting in this respect as men still don’t have a right to anything more than two weeks statutory paternity leave. If they want more than this, then it has to be ‘donated’ to them by the mother of the child (from her maternity leave entitlement).

It’s also why it’s still permissable to offer differentiated levels of benefit to men and women taking parental leave, i.e. a company offers enhanced maternity leave benefit (which only female employees can take) but not enhanced parental leave benefit (which fathers would take). Some companies, such as Diageo, have taken the step to equalise these enhanced packages but they are the minority. Until this equalisation becomes law, the burden of parental leave will likely remain with the mothers rather than the fathers.

and I think but not sure she would be able to do so as she is returning from mat leave even if less than 2 years

Protection from being discriminated against a protected characteristic is granted from day one of your employment. If there is no protected characteristic involved in your dismissal (whether than be redundancy or otherwise), then you need two years service before you get protection against unfair dismissal.

A lot of companies do ‘muck it up’ but your ability to leverage that in a negotiated settlement will depend on how badly they muck it up and how long you’ve been in employment with them. You can make anyone redundant, even someone on parental leave (as we call it now), you just have to be careful to follow the process and as is pointed out above, your ability to negotiate a better settlement is not quite as easy as suggested by TJ. It’s a hugely challenging process, which is time consuming and full of emotional blind alleys; it’s designed this way to prevent vexatious claims.

How many people are at risk? If it’s more than (I think, but this may have changed) 30, then there will need to be a collective consultation process which will take time – 90 days IIRC. If less then it will be an individual consultation and the process will move very rapidly and could conclude within a few weeks.

Union involvement won’t make much, if any, difference as the process is very clearly defined in the UK and it’s really not hard to adhere to it; ultimately it’s this adherence where companies slip up and where a union will help then leverage that error to your advantage. It’s a game and it sucks (I’ve been though it several times) but ultimately if her role has been put at risk, then chances are she will be made redundant.

Her position as a maternity returner does give her a little extra ‘cover’, meaning that they need to be very careful to follow that process correctly. If they slip up even a little then she will have some leverage to negotiate the terms of an exit, but exit is what it will still result in.

The key to the process is making sure that the employer acts in good faith, fairly and objectively. Every effort needs to be made to consult without prejudice and to find suitable alternatives where they exist. The criteria for selection (for redundancy) need to be made clear and shared so that those at risk know why they have been selected. Valid criteria include things like performance appraisals and attendance records (i.e. sickness).

The best piece of advice I can offer however is to tell her to try and find a way to move on quickly and without resentment (assuming of course there are no legitimate reasons to suspect a discrininatory elements to this – but on that point, also advise her that it’s very easy to believe this is a factor when you’re coming back from mat leave. That whole period before and after having kids is hugely emotional and can skew the way you interpret things – I’ve been there myself and so speak from experience!).

Disagree. It stimulates gaming of the system by people who are good at the process of moving between jobs. What’s more valuable to an employer? A talented engineer or technical person who wants a stable, secure and fulfilling career, or someone who’s good at marketing themselves, doing job interviews and negotiating their salary?

The way capitalist systems work is hugely complex and nuanced and my simple statement of ‘it stimulates radical innovation needs context.

Radical innovation comes when you have a relatively fluid work force; people moving between companies gives rise to new ideas because new ways of thinking are constantly intersecting with each other. I can’t share this with you now (because the data is archived somewhere), but there is analysis of patent applications between countries that show how Anglo Saxon models of capitlaism operate more effectively for radical innovation than Alliance models, which operate more effectively for process innovation.

It’s not so much that uplifts in salary promot radical innovation so muchas it is that releatively low levels of commitment between employer and employee result in a more fluid job market; radical innovation is a product of that fluidity, one might say a conicidence but when all the coincidences align to give you a competitive advantage (of nations) then you have a system rather than a coincidence.

Maybe there are isolated exampels of people ‘gaming’ the system as you say but I doubt that operates as a systematic level and it certainly didn’t appear as a material factor in my research when I wrote my dissertation on this subject.

Its not close to zero. she has paid half the mortgage – the OP states this and that is easily shown. She has residence rights and she has rights to the equity.

You’re not a lawer – this one is.

im a trusts solicitor who deals with this kind of thing, I’ve not read all the replies but basically if you’re the sole legal owner then it will be up to her to assert a claim of beneficial ownership, as ‘equity follows the law’, then the starting position is that you are sole owner of the legal and beneficial title. And therefore she’s not entitled to anything.

I think the OP is in for a real shock when he gets his legal advice. If this gores leagal he will be paying legal fees and an awful lot more than 30 000 IMO

Of course, so will his ex and it sounds’t like she can less afford the fees than he can. I think the few actual lawyers who have responded on her have made it pretty clear that when one party owns the house and the other does not, any claim that might be made by the party who doesn’t is tenuous at best. It’s not zero (which is a surprise to me), but close to zero.

Really?! Talk to more divorcees.

I was being somewhat ironic! Although that siad I’m a divorcee myself and when my ex said ‘f you you’re not having half my pension’ the law was a very useful thing to fall back on. Of course there are other horror stories and really it comes down to how reasonable and rationale both parties want to be. It’s all one pot before you start bickering and fighting over who gets what.