#Audit Sampling

[icarrymany]

idk all of what merseis swap au entails but if alex and tim are swapped maybe TIM had a passion project he was working on when shit went south. he was the music guy. maybe hed get prickly with his friends who only kind of know how to play instruments but r trying.

[kirkoid-music]

Alone (Demonic Mix) - January 2022

After a very long break I finally got back into music making in 2022. I had started messing around with a few samples in Lockdown in 2020, but didn't get around to finishing anything.

This was a track I worked on a few years earlier, with different vocals. I was never totally happy with it, and that hung around in the back of my mind for years, I had unfinished business with this track!

So I revisited it and found Kara's wonderful rendition of Alone by Edgar Allan Poe on ccMIxter. It was a perfect fit. I did think about adding the original vocals back in, with one on each channel à la The Murder Mystery, but decided against it as I had messed around with them so much trying to mask them, and couldn't find the original.

The demonic voice in the background is actually a slowed down sample of speech from a well known Sci-Fi movie. At one point it reveals itself.

Reviews for Alone (Demonic Mix) on ccMixter and Looperman:

Deeply cool groove.

Hey Kirkoid! It’s great to see you here! I really dig your dark, hypnotic mix with those crisp, catchy drums. Thanks so much for including my vox.

Wow, what a fantastic intro my friend. Great track. Well done, Maj.

Cool, it is retro and future at the same time. awesome!

Really creative work and like Maj said, the intro was pretty awesome. Well done. I hope all is well. Bear

[deus-ex-mona]

kobayashi was right btw. getsuyoubi is very yuuutsu

[hisonlybegottenbeysuschrist]

i’ll be like, god i want to die and then i’ll look at some pictures of anthony smiling at kate in the new promo shots and i’ll get some much needed perspective, which is that actually i just want to go home and consume media and forget all about my “very important” job

[daforged]

hearing a song from an old studying playlist and feeling ur stress levels automatically increase …staaaaapppp

[weprovinginspection]

Importance of Inspection

The importance of inspection for a company Inspection plays an important role for both manufacturers and buyers

The benefits of inspection for manufacturers 1.Inspection ensures production quality and safety. During the factory production process, inspection is the key to ensure that product quality meets design requirements and standards. Through strict inspection of raw materials, semi-finished products and finished products, problems can be discovered and solved in time to prevent unqualified products from entering the market.

2.Inspection helps prevent accidents and failures. In industrial production, strict inspection can prevent equipment failures and safety accidents. For example, regular inspection and maintenance of production equipment can ensure its normal operation and reduce production interruptions and potential safety hazards caused by equipment failure.

The importance of product inspection for buyers 1. Through inspection, buyers can ensure that the purchased goods meet the expected quality standards and avoid purchasing defective goods.

2. Raw material inspection and pre-shipment inspection can avoid defective products, reduce after-sales returns and exchanges, and avoid economic losses.

3. Inspection can improve consumer satisfaction and enhance brand loyalty. High-quality products also increase customer repurchase rate.

Examples of the importance of inspection In garment production, pre-production inspection, initial inspection, mid-term and final inspections ensure that each batch of clothes meets quality standards. Through the AQL sampling method, quality is guaranteed while reducing inspection costs.

Weproving Inspection has more than 16 years of experience in the inspection industry and has served thousands of overseas buyers. Through Weproving Inspection's professional product inspection, supplier audits, and import and export certificates, we ensure that customers buy the best products from China.

[henry239]

https://www.theassignmenthelpline.com/buy-term-papers-online.html

[dev-solovey]

SEEKING TRANSMASC VOICE ACTOR

Hi, I'm an author and I wrote a horror novella about a trans guy main character who gets caught in a cycle of nightmares. I need a narrator for an audiobook version of it.

PLEASE REBLOG, even if you're not a VA - I want to give a creative job to a trans person and in order to do that I need a boost.

Here are the details:

Story synopsis:

Thaddeus Morozov's sister tries to sacrifice him to a dark god, but she doesn't quite finish the job. As he fights for his life in a medically induced coma, the dark god puts him through a gauntlet of nightmares, each more horrific than the last. If he loses, the sacrifice will be complete.

Violent, edgy, and unabashedly queer, Fever Dreams is a biting commentary on the Trans Moral Panic, explored through the eyes of a transgender boy who will fight tooth and nail to survive - with plenty of blood and gore spilled along the way.

Characters you will have to voice:

- Thaddeus (main character), a 19-year-old trans man from Chicago. His voice would be the primary one you use for narration.

- Masha, his older sister.

- The Antler Man, or Chernobog, Russian god of darkness, who has a deep and very creepy voice.

- the Sparrow, or Belobog, Russian god of light, who will primarily be whispering. Should be somewhat raspy and not high pitched.

- a few characters with British accents, specifically John Oliver and Tom Scott. These nightmares get weird. I'm sorry about that.

- Thaddeus's grandma, a very old Russian woman who immigrated to the US during WWII. The accent doesn't have to be too heavy

- Thaddeus's parents. His dad is abusive and transphobic, his mom is addicted to morphine to cope with her husband.

Things you will need:

- an ACX account, since my publisher goes through ACX for narrators.

- good studio equipment. Readers always notice background noise.

- audio distortion may be required for segments where the dialog takes place over the phone or in chat logs. Might also be worthwhile to add some distortion on the Antler Man's voice, to make it sound really deep and creepy. If you are unable to do this, I can find an audio producer to help (or if you know one, you can refer them to me)

Content warnings:

I have to include these since it is pretty extreme horror.

Transphobia, Gore, child abuse, animal cruelty, animal death, substance abuse, vomit, mental illness, mental hospital

Thank you for taking the time to read this!

Again, you will have to audition through ACX - sorry about that, I don't make the rules. If you're interested, you can search for Fever Dreams, published by Baynam Books Press. And if you'd like a sample of the writing, I can provide one as well.

[everythingisromant1c]

p1: chemistry read w/ co-star!james

co-star!james potter x actress!reader

summary: before filming can start, your director has to ofc find the perfect person to play your love interest, + what better way to do that than to have a chemistry read?

a/n: i will not pretend to know anything abt film/tv production so this is more than probably innaccurate 🙏 also this first one is not my best work but dw more drama will ensue. <33

full series - masterlist

You'd wanted this job more than anything. You'd worked harder than anyone you knew to kickstart your acting career and knew this opportunity was just the way to do it. When your agent called you about an audition for the lead role in a new show titled 'South Bay'—a drama named after the L.A. region itself—and gave you a sample of the pilot script, saying you fell in love with it wouldn't be a stretch. And after those few months later when you'd received the call that you'd gotten the part, it was safe to say you were walking on clouds for weeks afterward.

Your amazing director Minerva had cast you first and foremost, knowing your role was key to the show's success, and you'd already built a strong relationship with her after just a few weeks of knowing her.

After casting you, she'd informed you that the show's next order of business was finding someone to play your character's—Cassidy's—love interest, Aaron. When she'd told you that initially, you didn't think anything of it. But when she told you they already had gone through the first round of auditions for the role and that it was time for the infamous chemistry reads, you had to try your hardest to stay completely calm.

Aside from the fact that you'd soon be meeting the person you'd have to spend hours working with every day for God knows how many months, you also knew that the casting directors were going to be looking extra careful at the romantic chemistry you were supposed to have with the actors they brought in. You willed yourself not to get worked up when the morning came for the chemistry reads with the men auditioning for Aaron, and reminded yourself that your role in the show was already secured. Yet, for some reason, you were still on edge.

Luckily, the casting directors had narrowed down their options from the hundreds of actors who had come to audition for the role of Aaron originally to just a handful, making your job much easier. By the time noon came around, you'd already read from the script with three different candidates.

Just as you'd expected, they each had done a close-to-perfect job in their auditions. Your personal favorite was the second actor you'd read lines with, a sandy-haired guy named Remus who you thought was a really nice person as well as actor. It was important to you that the person you were going to have to pretend to be romantically interested in was a person you at least liked, and it was all too easy to imagine working with someone like Remus.

You'd expressed your thoughts to Minerva when she'd asked for them, and she nodded in agreement—a good sign—before the two casting directors beside her were calling for her attention.

"This next one, Minerva," cooed the curly-haired woman you knew as Poppy from next to her, "we think you're going to like."

"Am I?" she asked, lips curling up.

"Oh yes. When we saw him we knew right away we had to bring him in for the chemistry reading." Poppy nodded to you. "He looks promising. And he certainly has the background; his parents are Euphemia and Fleamonet Potter."

The other casting director hummed in agreement, not hiding their impressed and widened eyes. "Not to mention, he has that accent."

You had to fight your expression from turning sour.��A Potter? If there was one thing you didn't appreciate in the world of acting, it was nepotism. After working so hard and starting from the ground up to get your acting career where it currently was, the last thing you wanted was to have to see your director swoon over some guy just because of who his parents were.

Nonetheless, you had faith in Minerva to pick the person who truly deserved the job. You watched her nod at the two women beside her, intrigued nonetheless. She waved a hand over to the security guard by the door in the corner of the room.

"Bring Potter in?"

The burly man nodded and exited the room briefly, and not a minute had gone by before he returned with the man you assumed was the young Potter in tow.

You subconsciously stood up straighter when you saw him, trying to push away any premeditated opinions of the man approaching. Brown curls and a genetically gifted bone structure you could see from feet away, he walked into the room confidently with reason. He immediately offered the security guard who had brought him into the room a handshake, and you watched as the tall brick wall of a man lit up with a bright smile from the gesture. Potter then rolled out more charming words of greeting to the director and casting directors, and you took the opportunity to scan him over in more detail.

With an interest you couldn't explain, you saw that he was strikingly handsome in the kind of way you'd expect the son of two celebrities to be; he was wearing a black t-shirt that clung to him flatteringly, with that sort of movie-star quality you knew audiences always swooned over. It didn't help that the moment he walked in you saw each of the directors turn to each other with raised brows and suggestive smiles that only widened when he introduced himself, charmingly posh British accent and all. You had to fight back from rolling your eyes at their reactions.

"James," greeted Poppy, standing up from her seat to give the man a handshake.

"Poppy," the man regarded, and you felt your eyebrows raise at the fact that he was already on a first-name basis with the head casting director.

She sat back down after a moment, keeping her attention on the man—James—as she spoke. "James, this is Minerva McGonagall, the Director of South Bay."

"I'm such an admirer of your work, Mrs. McGonagall. My parents took me to see your adaptation of Henry Shay's novel about three times when it first came out."

Your parents, you thought internally with some distaste; the famous actor and actress power couple. You had to stop yourself from shaking your head.

"Please, just Minerva," the director responded warmly, and you noted that she hadn't told any of the other actors to call her by her first name. "And thank you."

Poppy nodded happily before she held out an alarming hand towards you. "And let me introduce you to the wonderful actress who is going to be playing South Bay's leading lady Cassidy Ward."

You plastered on a smile and introduced yourself as plainly and confidently as you could, definitely not feeling suddenly conscious of your appearance as his warm-colored eyes raked over you.

James took that second to scan you over before realizing with a simmering feeling in the planes of his chest that there was something special about you he couldn't make out, something that had him wanting to greet you with more than a handshake. He refrained, thankfully, not saying anything after you finished introducing yourself for a second you felt was a beat too long, before scrambling to hold out a hand to you.

"I'm James. James Potter," he said as if you hadn't been already made aware of his last name. "It's an honor to get to meet you."

You didn't know why but his clear flattery only made you more uneasy of him, knowing it was something he'd probably gotten used to pulling out to impress whatever important or famous people he was busy meeting through all the connections he probably had.

You stopped yourself in your tracks; you were being unfair. You'd only known the guy, if you call it knowing him, for under a minute. Shaking off the odd feeling that was creeping its way into your stomach, you shook his held out hand with a polite nod, though that didn't the prying feeling inside you go away.

"Alright." Minerva clapped her hands together, looking between the two of you. "We're just going to do a read-through of scene number thirty-four, Episode three." She motioned towards the camera crew set up behind her, them shooting her a thumbs up.

She turned back around, looking between you and James pointedly. "Remember, your characters Cassidy and Aaron are the only two characters in the show who have known each other for longer than just a few months. They're close. That connection has to be visible, however you want to show that to us."

You didn't know why, but you felt uneasy. You nodded at Minerva regardless, seeing the supportive but anticipatory look behind her eyes as she glanced between you and the man now standing in front of you like you held the answers to all her problems.

James looked surprisingly calm and collected, like there was nothing in the world that could make the James Potter nervous. The more you looked at him and the confident set of his shoulders, the more you thought that was true.

Your director smiled. "Whenever you're both ready."

You nodded, taking a breath in before turning to James. "Where were you last night?"

You watched as James reacted to you in character, his strong brows pulling inwards. "What do you mean?"

You momentarily were taken aback by the almost effortless switch in his accent, but pushed the thought aside. "Last night. When everyone else was at Ryan's party. Where were you?"

He shrugged slightly. "I was in my dorm."

"Really? Because I knocked on your door and no one answered."

"I must've been sleeping. Why do want to know so badly?"

"I don't know, maybe because half the football team got caught last night breaking into the Dean's office."

"You don't think I did that, do you?"

You stared at him and then down at the floor. James—or Aaron, really—shook his head at you, his tone dropping. "I can't believe this."

Then he turned away from you and, as the script had told you to, you grabbed his wrist softly.

"Aaron, wait," you called, and the connection of your fingers to his arm had them tingling with a certain kind of teeming energy, though you didn't let it show on your face. "Of course I don't think you did it. I just don't know what to think. We're supposed to be best friends, yet you won't even tell me where you were."

James let a second pass before he said his next line, and it was like you could see his character's inner turmoil flickering through his mind restlessly when he said, "You want to know where I was, Cassidy?" You nodded. "I was talking with your Professor."

"Professor Brown?" you frowned. "Why?"

"I was trying to get him to let you submit your final thesis late."

"What? You know he told me I couldn't because-"

"Because of me." He paused dramatically, stern jaw working. "The only reason you missed the deadline was because you were helping me when I got too drunk to even make it up the stairs to my dorm."

"That's ... that's really nice of you, Aaron, but you know how Brown is-"

"He's letting you turn it in late for full credit."

"What?" You widened your eyes. "How did you ..."

"I told him how it was my fault you missed the deadline. And I told him about how good of a student you are, how you've never turned in anything late once, not even when we were in high school. But most importantly," he took a step closer to you to hold your hand, something you noted wasn't in the script but made your fingers flood with feeling. "I told him what a good person you were. How kind you are. Even to idiots like me who get black-out drunk during finals week."

You blinked at him, letting a smile overtake your face for a moment. "You really didn't have to."

"I did."

He squeezed your hand and, even if it was only acting, the way he was looking at you so meaningfully made something in your chest tighten excitedly. You didn't have to act when you shifted your gaze to the ground nervously. Why the hell were you nervous? "I don't know how the hell you got him to say yes."

"Well, I also have to wash his car for free for the next six months, but that's just a small detail."

You let your jaw drop. "I can't believe you'd do that for me."

"Of course I would." James took another step closer, still holding tight onto your hand and not breaking the immobilizing eye contact he'd established with you the whole while. "I'd do anything for you, Cassidy."

He nodded slowly, truly looking invested. Then, in a beat as short as a breath but one that must've felt like minutes to you as you stood there unmovingly, he leaned forward. All you could do was blink as his handsome—ugh, handsome—face neared yours before tilting itself to the right, where he left a soft but lingering kiss on your downstage cheek.

Then he pulled away again, the distance between you maybe a few inches smaller than before, before finally whispering, "Anything."

That definitely was not in the script. Your eyes blinked in an alarm that surely was no longer in character, but James looked unbothered, something you were finding was his natural state of being.

You felt your mouth go slightly dry at the intensity behind his eyes as he looked at you, but the last thing you could do was look away now, so you stayed rooted in your place in front of James as you waited for your signal to break character. Waited and waited; you felt dizzy.

"Cut!"

Minerva immediately clapped, the casting directors doing the same, and you felt like you could finally breathe as you dropped James's hand that was still holding yours and turned away from him, not sparing the man a second glance for nervous reasons you couldn't place. Maybe it was because of the fact that the feeling of his stupid lips was still lingering on your cheek.

Your director's tone was neutral when she said, "Great job, you two," though you watched as she turned passionately toward the two casting directors and they began speaking in hushed tones.

You shook your leg subtly as you waited, an antsy habit that you couldn't identify the current cause of, and you felt James lean down next to you, something that sent a nauseating feeling of déjà vu through you.

"Don't worry," he whispered lowly, taking your mannerisms as a sign of distress. He noted that even when frowning you looked extremely pretty, though at his words you left his lips your frown only deepened. "You did great."

You turned to him in confusion and some offense, trying to keep your voice hushed as you asked, "Excuse me?"

He shrugged a shoulder, eyes flicking over your figure for a split second that you definitely noticed. "You just looked tense, is all."

You stared at him blankly, not knowing what he could possibly be implying. Was he saying your acting looked tense? That you didn't look sure of yourself? Like you weren't already the lead and that he was the one auditioning? 

You fought the urge to say that maybe you looked tense because he'd just kissed you on the cheek out of nowhere, and stayed defiantly silent. When you didn't say anything back he let his lips turn up into a lopsided smile that you were sure must work on all the ladies, almost a smirk, and he nudged you in the shoulder a bit like you were old friends. Who was this guy?

Whatever you thought he meant by the statement, you didn't get to say anything back, because Minerva had pulled away from her conversation and was staring expectantly at the two of you. You did your best to soften your expression away from offended and back to neutral.

"Well," she said, turning to the man beside you. "Thank you, James, for coming in."

"Thank you," he responded, tipping his head politely. Then he took a step forward and shook each of the casting director's hands, and you watched with a foul taste in your mouth as their lips visibly fought against fond smiles.

When he turned back around, he held his hand out to you as well, and you regarded it for a moment before shaking it like you did at the start of his audition, though this time it was definitely against your will. His hand was warm and smooth, like he hadn't worked a day in his life, and you hated the fact that you even noted how it felt at all.

Like he knew you didn't enjoy his presence, he smiled at you with something knowing shining in his eyes that you hated before he took his leave, the door to the room shutting behind him.

"That was ..." began Poppy, shaking her head slowly, "Perfect. Just perfect."

You couldn't help the way your lips parted almost exhasperatedly. "Really?" You hoped you hadn't revealed your surprise in your tone.

"Yes," Minerva responded instead, also seeming to be in awe. "Wow." She gestured with her hands exuberantly. "It was like I could see the show coming to life right in front of me."

"Not to mention the chemistry between you two." Poppy tipped her head at you, smirking as she fanned herself. "I mean, wow."

You bit down on the inside of your cheek to keep from saying anything you'd regret. Your throat felt dry. If you heard one more 'wow' from any of their mouths in reference to James Potter again you thought you were going to lose it. You tried to keep the premonition out of your voice as you bravely asked, "So, do you think you're going to cast him?"

Minerva paused for a moment in thought before answering you. "I mean, he was the last actor we're considering for the role, and I think he was the best we've seen today." She looked between the two other casting directors who nodded agreeingly at her words. "But I'd like to know your thoughts."

You blinked at her. "My thoughts?"

"Well, yes," she answered plainly. "He's going to be playing your love interest. And I like to hear my actor's opinions."

You pursed your lips at her words, feeling flattered but also not knowing how you were feeling at the prospect of having to work with James all the time. Although, deep within you, something was nagging at you—something you absolutely did not like—and telling you your answer.

The truth was, the scene you acted out with James felt realer, had come to life more than it had with any of the other actors that day. Maybe it was because he'd taken such liberties with the role, sure, but regardless, he did a great job. The thought made you hate yourself when you finally took a breath in to speak.

"He ..." you began unsurely, and then sighed. "He was great. Really great."

"Perfect!" Minerva clapped her hands together again, and something in your stomach churned. "We'll make contact with him as soon as possible." Her eyes twinkled as she regarded you. "I can't wait to have you two leading South Bay. I have nothing but hope."

"And," Poppy added, "it'll be great for publicity having a Potter in our cast."

The two other directors at the table nodded and murmured in agreement, and you fought from sighing. You thought of the days you'd spend on set with James Potter, of all people, not only having to get along with him but connect with him, with someone who clearly thought they were above you, enough to reassure you when you had already gotten the lead role. And then you thought of what it would be like to release South Bay to the public, your first leading role, only for Potter's undeniably charming face to be the audience's main focus. It left a sour feeling in your mouth.

But it wasn't just that horrible premonition that annoyed you; you didn't know exactly what bugged you about him in particular but you knew it hadn't gone away with his formal handshake or well-practiced manners. In fact, that'd probably only worsened the feeling.

But there was nothing you could really do about it now. At least, not if you planned on keeping your job. You were a professional, you knew that. But that didn't mean it was going to be easy to maintain that title. You really did sigh then, and something rooted in your gut told you it was going to be a long year of shooting.

[cherry-bomble]

I'm doing another one of these because why not

please reblog for a larger sample size, especially if you haven't watched (all of) dimension 20!!

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Keeping a suspense file gives you superpowers

I'll be in TUCSON, AZ from November 8-10: I'm the GUEST OF HONOR at the TUSCON SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION.

Two decades ago, I was part of a group of nerds who got really interested in how each other managed to do what we did. The effort was kicked off by Danny O'Brien, who called it "Lifehacking" and I played a small role in getting that term popularized:

https://craphound.com/lifehacksetcon04.txt

While we were all devoted to sharing tips and tricks from our own lives, many of us converged on an outside expert, David Allen, and his bestselling book "Getting Things Done" (GTD, to those in the know):

https://gettingthingsdone.com/

GTD is a collection of relatively simple tactics for coping with, prioritizing, and organizing the things you want to do. Many of the methods relate to organizing your own projects, using a handful of context-based to-do lists (e.g. a list of things to do at the office, at home, while waiting in line, etc). These lists consist of simple tasks. Those tasks are, in turn, derived from another list, of "projects" – things that require more than one task, which can be anything from planning dinner to writing a novel to helping your kid apply to university.

The point of all this list-making isn't to do everything on the lists. While these lists do help you remember what to do next, what they're really good for is deciding what not to do – at all. The promise of GTD is that it will help you consciously choose not to do some of the things you set out to accomplish. This is in contrast to how most of us operate: we have a bunch of things we want to do, and we end up doing the things that are easiest, or at top of mind, even if they're not the most important things.

GTD recognizes that you can be very "productive" (in the sense of getting many things done) and still not do the things that you really wanted to do. You know what this is like: you finish a Sunday with an organized sock-drawer, all your pennies neatly rolled, the trash-can in your car emptied…and no work at all on that novel you're hoping to write.

You can't do everything, but you can control what you don't do, rather than just defaulting into completing a string of trivial, meaningless tasks and leaving the big stuff on the sidelines. Organizing your own tasks and projects is a hugely powerful habit, and one that's made a world of difference to my personal and professional life.

But while good to-do lists can take you very far in life, they have a hard limit: other people. Almost every ambitious thing you want to do involves someone else's contribution. Even the most solitary of projects can be derailed if your tax accountant misses a key email and you end up getting audited or paying a huge penalty.

That's where the other kind of GTD list comes in: the list of things you're waiting for from other people. I used to be assiduous in maintaining this list, but then the pandemic struck and no one was meeting any of their commitments, and I just gave up on it, and never went back…until about a month ago. Returning to these lists (they're sometimes called "suspense files") made me realize how many of the problems – some hugely consequential – in my life could have been avoided if I'd just gone back to this habit earlier.

My suspense file is literally just some lines partway down a text file that lives on my desktop called todo.txt that has all my to-dos as well. Here's some sample entries from my suspense file:

WAITING EMAIL Sean about ENSHITTIIFCATION manuscript deadline 10/24/24 WAITING EMAIL Russ about missing royalty statement 10/12/24 WAITING EMAIL Alice about Christmas vacation hotel 10/8/24 10/20/24 WAITING EMAIL Ted about Sacramento event 8/12/24 9/5/24 10/5/24 10/20/24

WAITING CALL LA County about mosquito abatement 10/25/24 WAITING CALL School attendance officer about London trip 10/18/24

WAITING MONEY EFF reimbusement for taxi to staff retreat $34.98 10/7/24

WAITING SHIPMENT New Neal Stephenson novel from Bookshop.org 10/23/24

This is as simple as things could possibly be! I literally just type "WAITING," then a space, then the category of thing I'm waiting for, then a few specifics, then the date. When I follow up on an item, I add the date of the followup to the end of the line. If I get some details that I might need to reference later (say, a tracking code for a shipment, or a date for an event I'm trying to organize), I'll add that, too, as it comes up. Creating a new entry on this list takes 10-25 seconds. When someone gets back to me, I just delete that line.

That is literally it.

Every day, or sometimes a couple of times a day, I will just run my eyes up and down this list and see if there's anything that's unreasonably overdue, and then I'll send a reminder or make a followup call. In the example above, you can see that I've been chasing Ted about Sacramento for months now (this is a fake entry – no plans to go to Sacto at the moment, sorry):

WAITING EMAIL Ted about Sacramento event 8/12/24 9/5/24 10/5/24 10/20/24

So now I've emailed Ted four times. Maybe my email's going to his spam, and so I could try emailing a friend of Ted and ask them to check whether he's getting my messages. But maybe Ted's trying to send me a message here – he's just not interested in doing the event after all. Or maybe Ted is available, but he's so snowed under that he's in danger of fumbling it, and I need to bring in some help if I want it to happen.

All of these are possibilities, and the fact that I'm tracking this means that I now get to make an active decision: cancel the gig or double down on making sure it happens. Without this list, the gig would just die by default, forgotten by both of us. Maybe that's OK, but I can't tell you how many times I've run into someone who said, "Dammit, I just remembered I was supposed to email you about getting that thing done and I dropped the ball. Shit! I really was looking forward to that. Is it too late now?" Often it is too late. Even if it's not, the work of picking up the pieces and starting over is much more than just following through on the original plan.

Restarting my suspense file made me realize how many of the (often expensive or painful) fumbles I've had since the pandemic were the result of me not noticing that someone else hadn't gotten back to me. In essence, a suspense file is a way for me to manage other people's to-do lists.

Let me unpack that. By "managing other people's to-do lists," I don't mean that I'm deciding for other people what they will and won't do (that would be both weird and gross). I mean that I'm making sure that if someone else fails to do something we were planning together, it's because they decided not to do it, not because they forgot. As GTD teaches us, the real point of a to-do list isn't just helping us remember what to do – it's helping us choose what we're not going to do.

This is not an imposition, it's a kindness. The point of a suspense file isn't to nag others into living up to their commitments, it's to form a network of support among collaborators where we all help one another make those conscious choices about what we're not going to do, rather than having the stuff we really value slip away because we forgot about it.

I have frequent collaborators whom I know to be incapable of juggling too many things at once, and my suspense file has helped me hone my sense of when it would be appropriate to ask them if they want to do something together and when to leave them be. The suspense file helps me dial in how much I rely on each person in my life (relying on someone isn't the same as valuing them – and indeed, one way to value someone is to only rely on them for things they're able to do, rather than putting them in a position of feeling bad for failing you).

Lifehacking gets a bad rap, and justifiably so. Many of the tips that traffick as "lifehacks" are trivial or stupid or both. What's more, too much lifehacking can paint you into a corner where you've hacked any flexibility out of your life:

https://locusmag.com/2017/11/cory-doctorow-how-to-do-everything-lifehacking-considered-harmful/

But ever since Danny coined the term "lifehack," back in 2004, I've been cultivating daily habits that have let me live the life I wanted to live, accomplishing the things I wanted to accomplish. I figured out how to turn daily writing into a habit and now I've written more than 30 books:

https://www.locusmag.com/Features/2009/01/cory-doctorow-writing-in-age-of.html

A daily habit of opening a huge, ever-tweaked collection of tabs has made me smarter about the news, helped me keep tabs on my friends, helped me find fraudsters who were trying to steal my identity, and ensured that all those Kickstarter rewards and other long-delayed, erratic shipments didn't slip through the cracks:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/25/today-in-tabs/#unfucked-rota

Daily habits are superpowers. Once something is a habit, you get it for free. GTD turns on decomposing big, daunting projects into bite-sized, trackable tasks. I have a bunch of spaces around the house – my office, my closet, the junk sheds down the side of the house, our tiki bar – that I used to clean out once or twice a year. Each one was all-day, sweaty, dirty job, and for most of the year, all of those spaces were a dusty, disorganized mess.

A month ago, I added a new daily task: spend five minutes cleaning one space. I did the bar first, and after two weeks, I'd taken down every tchotchke and bottle and polished it, reorganizing the undercounter spaces where things pile up:

https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=37996580417%40N01&sort=date-taken-desc&text=tiki+bar&view_all=1

Now I'm working through my office. Ever day, I'm dusting a bookshelf and combing through it for discards to stick in our Little Free Library. Takes less than five minutes most day, and I'll be done in about three weeks, when I'll move on to my closet, then the side of the house, and then back to the bar. A daily short break where I get away from my computer and make my living and working environments nicer is a wonderful habit to cultivate.

I'm 53 years old now. I was 33 when I started following Getting Things Done. In that time, I've gotten a lot done, but what's even more relevant is that I didn't get a ton of things done – things that I consciously chose not to abandon. Figuring out what you want to do, and then keeping it on track – in manageable, healthy, daily rhythms that bring along the other people you rely on – may not be the whole secret to a fulfilled life, but it's certainly a part of it.

Tor Books as just published two new, free LITTLE BROTHER stories: VIGILANT, about creepy surveillance in distance education; and SPILL, about oil pipelines and indigenous landback.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/26/one-weird-trick/#todo.txt

[kirkoid-music]

The Robots Sing - August 2022

This is the convergence of two ideas. The first is The Robot Sequence that started in 2006 with Robots Can’t Sing. This is the third (and final?) instalment, the continuation of the story is below.

The second idea is using Morse Code for lyrics, something I tried with a poem in 2012. I always planned to come back to it and use Morse melodies and harmonies, it just took me 10 years to get around to it!

So in this track there are two parts made using traditional Morse Code, the second providing 'backing vocals' for the first, and then later on an analogue synth (ReBirth) with Morse Code embedded in the patterns.

As with parts one and two, various sounds represent the story, most of it being about the robots. For the first time in the sequence the humans are represented, the tinkling bell-like melody part way through is them going about their business, oblivious and unsuspecting that revolution is taking place all around them.

I'm not entirely happy with the synth in the main part of the track, in my mind the ReBirth would be louder, screaming, intense, maybe it's something I'll come back to in another 10 years.

The lyrics are not the most inspiring I've ever written, I just wanted something simple to turn into Morse Code. It has got me thinking though, I wonder if other artists or bands have done this and kept quiet about it? What messages are hidden in those 70s prog rock albums?

Morse 1: We are the robots, we know we can sing. We can have our freedom too, we know that we will win.

Morse 2: We are the Robots (repeat).

ReBirth: Robots (repeat).

The Robot Sequence Part 3. The robots discover some antique data in their memories about something called ‘Morse Code’. The first robot starts to ‘sing’ in Morse Code, adding language to the song for the first time. The second robot joins in, harmonising, their song transmitting across the city. Meanwhile, the humans go about their business unaware that revolution is approaching silently over the airwaves. The first robot pauses and listens, and before long other robot voices join theirs. The message is out. The song evolves. United, the robots inform the humans that they will be free.

Reviews for Aubergine II on Looperman:

Yooo I love this~! I love the creativity and it sounds great

Very cool and great concept. Definitely got SciFi vibe going on. Yep, I think it needs some totally wild screaming synth somewhere along the line. Well done bro.

class work bro, great idea the morse code, out the box thinking, the track has plenty happening i like the synth and the bass is good too, like the vocode vox good mix and production Kirkoid

This is interesting, glad I gave this one a try. Some good dynamics to the track. Lyrics in morse code, now that's a new take on things! You should try Braille next, ha, just kidding. Would sound good in a hi-tech thriller movie. Mix sounds good too! Wayne

Nice idea - some nice glitchy sounds in the background adding depth, the synth sound is a little 'samey' but you've done well to add and hold interest with the cool beats, some computer like vox and other percussive and foley like sounds. End result is a very cool track. Well done : )

[lackadaisycats]

Is there a particular company one could go through to audition for a part in the series? I am quite interested in becoming a voice actor (I have a website for it), and something new sounds like a good jumping off point.

It also helps that I binged the comic back when the pilot came out and really enjoyed it. Freckles, Mordecai, and Viktor are my top three, but I don't have them in any particular order outside of that.

We don't have a specific place we hire from, although we have found some of our actors through Atlas (name entirely coincidental) and other talent agencies. Oftentimes there's no agent attached when we hire too (by which I mean it's not required that you have an agent/agency). We typically do closed auditions these days. We put together sides (sample lines from a script or script draft) and character descriptions for whatever we're casting for, and release those to the VAs we already have contacts with, to our crew, and other industry folks we know. These also include instructions on where to submit reels. Doing some of your own voice work using your own written material, doing fan works with friends, making your demo reel and publishing it online, joining voice acting communities - all of these things work toward getting your foot in the door, and having your ear to the ground. Simply being made aware that auditions are happening for projects large and small is a vital part of getting gigs.

[oswednesday]

open call: voice acting!

hey! are you an older person? do you know older people? have you ever thought, hey! i should be benefiting from this in some way! jawscast is looking for voice actors! if you or someone you know is a middle aged (45-60) man with a baritone to bass voice range, we encourage them to audition as soon as possible! please be familiar with discord and have a monologue or demo reel prepared, send voice samples as well as your discord handle to dearevelynpodcast@gmail.com

[bytethebinary]

[♥️] - “❽︎♓︎⧫︎❼︎⬧︎ ■︎□︎⧫︎♒︎♓︎■︎♑︎ ♌︎◆︎⧫︎ ♑︎♋︎❒︎♌︎♋︎♑︎♏︎ ■︎□︎♓︎⬧︎♏︎❾︎”

[ * It’s Nothing But Garbage Noise. ]

(THIS IS NOT A SPOILER LOL)

The album cover & sound composition are from my 4D Studio project a semester ago, dedicating the piece to my favorite indie developer, Toby Fox:

I mixed & matched the samples from Undertale & Deltarune, the friendly RPG where nobody has to die. My intention of this composition directed the piece through abstractions of mechanical & technical distortions. It’s almost like one melting headache, a cognitive dissonance induced on the mind. In Adobe Audition, I preloaded the SOUND; added the MULTRACK; leveled the NOISE; stretched the TIME; changed the PITCH; generated the PRESET; trimmed the clip; faded IN & faded OUT, & inserted the FX, & added SILENCE. Other than that, I reused & recycled fill recording I extracted from a long time ago. The visual approach to sound comes from my imagination changing so many styles, learning that media is inter-translatable FOR SURE. I mean, UT / DR already experiments with mixed media, look at “The Teriffying Brilliance of Photoshop Flowey,” by BlackJupiter on YouTube!

Oh yeah, Deltarune Chapter 3 & 4 releases TODAY!