I put it in a plastic bag… in case it rains.
Biggest problem is the size. It falls out of a shirt pocket, and if I put it in the
phone pocket in my trouser leg it is at risk of being damaged. Animals bump into
your legs, trample your feet , and generally are unpredictable.
The speed limit on my Segway Ninebot G65 (Australia only model) is 25 km/h - and that’s the legal limit - for shared use paths - the limit for actual footpaths is 10 km/h (and yet I see morons doing 30-35 past shops or schools - it’s idiots like this who ruin things for responsible user / owners).
The Dragon Cyclone Pro I think is capable of 70 km/h - not that I’d EVER want to go that fast on a scooter - they’re hideously dangerous and unstable - if I want that much fast fun on 2 wheels, I just gotta wait for my Harley to be fixed. Ideally - I’d like an electric motorcycle - especially the BMW CE04 - but I don’t need one - and will probably sell the Harley, if, whenever, it’s fixed.
The thing about wanting a powerful scooter - is - for uphill - my Segway conks out on anything over 15 degrees incline - the Cyclone Pro doesn’t even notice 25 degrees… Oh and range too - but I don’t the think the Cyclone can go much further than the Segway, on a single charge.
Sorry to hear your harley is sick, hopefully nothing too serious or expensive.
More and more towns are banning electric scooters due to speed issues and the fools that ride them. We are starting to have issues around our area with scooters appearing from nowhere at great speed and like many I just do not hear them until they are on top of me.
My wife has a electric bike which i ride when the battery is flat as its so heavy for her to peddle and she takes my much lighter normal bike.
I worked with a guy who bought a pistol holder for his phone which he wore as a sholder holster, he thought he looked like james bond! But then there was a scare about phones close to your heart… i wore mine on my belt, but then a scare for brain cancer… now my phone is on my desk, somewhere under a pile of computer things and i forget to take it with me.
My wife has no trouble tracking me down, she just looks at the water, sea or pool I will be close by.
That’s the best of XM for me. They have a couple more easy listening type stations too, like The Bridge and Yacht Rock Radio.
And there’s a Jimmy Buffett channel, for us unreformed parrot heads.
Right now this song:
I followed the link and there were the Beatles! Hot damn! And also on the page was California Dreamin’ by the Mamas and the Papas. So I paused it, fired up Audacious, hit record, and restarted the music. Many thanks!
Did someone say music?
Nearly always listen to, mostly, a sub-genre of heavy metal - “doom / stoner” (note Black Sabbath are credited with inventing Heavy Metal - and - Doom Metal - at the same time!)
Me and a mate just listened to a compilation of 158 songs (we both work from home, he’s a draughtsman) called “Trip to England” by a US based record label called “WEEDIAN”…
I listened to the whole list about 4 times (starting 5 weeks ago - mind you!).
Got 45 songs off that… Of those 45 acts from England - I bought 9 albums on Bandcamp Friday yesterday (usually first Friday of the month - where 100% royalties go to the artists)…
When I first played the list of 158 songs (it was only 153 - they added more songs on later) - I got to track 4 - and went off on a wild tangent of only listening to that band : “Desert Storm” for a week… And I bought two of their albums on the previous Bandcamp Friday for September! That’s 11 albums…
So many songs - I had to make a table so I could keep track… My mate ended up doing the same thing…
Anyway - this is the SECOND time WEEDIAN have released a Trip to England!
And neither include Scotland or Wales… There’s a Scotland one from 2024 (with 64 songs!)… And WEEDIAN are releasing a Trip to Wales any time now… And they did a Trip to Ireland recently too…
I also follow the Australian, and especially local West Australian doom and stoner rock scenes and go to gigs they put on… There’s also few doom festivals in Perth every year, early in the year “Spliffs n Riffs”, and then later in the year “Armagedoom” - they often have headliners from the East Coast or internationally - next year “Spliffs and Riffs” is headlining Boris from Japan… Not sure if I’ll go - but I’ll probably cave in… Saw Boris on their own early last year…
Note: DON’T PUSH CHANGES TO PROD ON FRIDAY!
Bandcamp had a “site wide” bug or glitch - and from the first batch of 8 albums I bought - they double billed me for six of them! I logged a ticket and they resolved it this morning and I’m getting a refund…
Note : I don’t only listen to doom metal or heavy metal - included in the albums I bought yesterday - an Aussie band from Brisbane called “Full Flower Moon Band” (I guess they’re kinda “indy”?) - who I found out about because of “beer marketing” (a brewery released some beer in cans with Full Flower Moon Band name) - and another UK band called “Dry Cleaning” - and they’re not metal either - probably also “Indy”…
I also occasionally listen to classical music, like Mozart, Vivaldi, Chopin…
Harley got fixed in September last year - in fact - I went and picked it up on Father’s Day 2024! What a Father’s Day pressie! It wasn’t cheap - maybe close to $2500-3000? i.e. parts, labour, and getting it transported to a mate’s place…
Sometimes I like to hear covers of oldies from the 70s. I have several favorite YouTube channels. Here is an incredible guy.
https://www.youtube.com/@russwilloughby501
And one of my favorites from him.
When working I like to listen to psy-trance.
When relaxing I like to listen to jazz.
When doing anything else, I like anything else (from classical to metal).
I dont really resonate with any man-made sounds.
Natural sounds are my preference.
If I had to find a music it would be monophonic… polyphonic music is noisy rubbish.
Our world today is more noise than is the past. The medieval world was quiet compared to today … occasional horses hooves, a bell ringing, local tradesmen working… but no constant hum of traffic, aeroplanes, radios.
I think the modern level of background noise is unhealthy. We are not adapted to that. Some try to use music to block it out. That is like using an air conditioner to combat climate change. It makes the problem worse.
@nevj :
Hi Neville, ![]()
Funny you should mention it.
That´s precisely what I do in every session.
On the one hand I can´t stand complete silence. It just drives me crazy.
On the other hand any music would distract me in some unwanted ways (especially if lyrics are involved).
Couldn´t do any work this way while having to concentrate. ![]()
So the solution for me is:
I play a loop of some coffee shop background noise at a low volume.
I once retrieved that sound file from the anoise programme I installed on a Linux distro running in a virtual machine.
There are some other background noises available as well, like fire, storm, wind etc.
I play it this way:
firejail mpv --volume=120 --loop=inf /media/rosika/f14a27c2-0b49-4607-94ea-2e56bbf76fe1/DATEN-PARTITION/Musik/sounds_von_anoise/sounds/coffee_shop.ogg
My system´s voulume level is set at 35%.
It´s perfectly convenient for me. ![]()
Many greetings from Rosika ![]()
Hi Rosika,
The background of insect noise here is 30 Db… I have an app that can measure it.
No such thing as complete silence… not here anyway.
I never thought of using a natural sound as computer background. It should complement the screen background… a waterfall would be good. Will see what I can set up.
Regards
Neville
Audio Lab | Microsoft: Inside B87
There is a challenge with a prize of $5 million to stay inside for one full hour. No winner yet.
The Challenge: Survive Absolute Silence for One Hour
Microsoft’s anechoic chamber in Redmond, Washington—officially the quietest room on Earth—offers a mind-bending challenge: stay inside for one full hour and you could win $5 million. Sounds simple, right? Not quite.
What Makes It So Difficult?
Record-breaking silence: The room measures an astonishing –20.35 decibels, below the threshold of human hearing. It’s quieter than Brownian motion—the random movement of air particles.
Sensory deprivation: With no sound reflections and zero ambient noise, people report hearing their own heartbeat, blood flow, and even bones moving.
Disorientation: The lack of auditory cues can cause dizziness, hallucinations, and a warped sense of time and space. One journalist lasted only eight minutes before needing to leave.
How the Room Is Built
Six layers of concrete and steel isolate it from external vibrations.
Fiberglass wedges line the walls, floor, and ceiling to absorb sound.
The chamber is used for precision audio testing, but its eerie silence has become a psychological endurance test.
The $5 Million Challenge
Goal: Stay inside alone, in complete darkness and silence, for 60 minutes.
Prize: $5 million if you succeed.
Status: As of now, no one has completed it.
They should lock Steve Ballmer in there and never let him out
![]()
I like to have some quietish “white noise” and moving air when I sleep…
A smallish fan is enough for that…
I live on a busy street - a fairly major thoroughfare… Perth doesn’t have many bridges over the Swan River - so every road that leads to the few bridges is a major chokepoint…
So - there’s a lot of traffic noise… I’m used to it - but the “white noise” of a small fan helps drown out the traffic noise…
In your environment an evaporative cooler would work well.
We already have aircon throughout the house… It broke completely during a heatwave in Feb last year - had to go out and buy a portable aircon for one room for during the day, while we waited for parts on the main aircon…
Even when it’s not overly warm - I like having air moving over me… and the white noise the fan creates helps me sleep…
I actually don’t have a huge amount of trouble sleeping during a heatwave…
That does help with sleeping. Still air and humidity are the big sleep issues.
On the East coast, summer humidity is unbearable without some aid, such as a fan.
We get a mediterranean climate here in Perth - I remember learning about it in geography at High School (in Melbourne) : wet westerly winds in winter…
But in summer (RIP Bill Paxton) - it’s a dry heat - and persipiration actually works to cool you down… But sometimes - 40+ celsius days with hot winds blowing in from the desert to the East… can be unbearable…
