Hey tumblr, does anyone have any recs for good/comfortable mic headsets?
I will likely need to replace the headset I need to use for dictation sometime soon (the USB connection point is weak) and I’m looking for something that won’t hurt/put pressure on my ears quite so much.
I currently have
the Logitech H390 model with Noise Cancelling Mic, and while the sound quality is good and the mic is good, the pressure it applies to my head/ears is headache inducing, so I thought I’d ask you guys if you found any headsets that work well with sensory/physical issues.
Given that dictation is how I primarily work for drafting these days to try and save my wrists/hands from further damage, I need the mic to be really good, and it’s something I’m willing to drop money on for comfort as well as function.
Plus I get to write if off as a business expense so that’s neat!
I personally enjoy the SteelSeries Arctis line: weight on my head is Fucking Awful, but the suspended band (elastic under the plastic keeping it where it needs to be) and relative lightness makes them comfortable in a way the others haven’t been at their price/build quality. I am also a klutz and have kept my headset working in reasonable order for over a year, other then having to replace some cords because see: klutz.
I DO NOT HAVE WORDS FOR HOW MUCH THE ETHICS OF THIS SYSTEM MAKE ME E N R A G E D but i would totally do this if i could have 12* vr systems and headphones so that i’m transmitting other things to them because when you add SCIENCE to the experience i’m here for it
apparently in my brain, some scientists are wizards, with all the questionable Ethics that entails sorry you have to know this tumblr
umbralreactor asked: Out of curiosity, what's the most "thundering handful of dice" role playing game you know? For the purposes of this question, things like "what narrative does this serve," "what are the mechanics," and "is this even any good" take a back seat to "and THIS is why I buy dice in bulk" situations.
In some iterations of Shadowrun you can occasionally rack up damage rolls in the hundreds of dice by messing around with explosives in tight spaces. Most people don’t
bother to
actually roll at that point, but in theory it’s on the table.
As for the largest dice pools you can expect to routinely roll, probably some version of Exalted - it’s not hard to stat up a starting character who’s bouncing 25+ dice on any test that matters.
Exalted is why I used to carry a 15-20ish spectrum of d10s with me in my dice bag. It was fun to collect dice to fill in portions of the spectrum I was missing (good way to support the store we were playing in, too) and arrange my dice into order as idle distraction when I didn’t have anything to do in that campaign. I think the max I rolled with that particular character was something in the range of 34, though it’s been long enough that I can’t truly remember.
A new series: a random pickup that I read the first chapter of and it was pretty funny! Immortal Tatsu is an ex-yakuza who’s given up violence for making an honest man of himself - but is it still possible for a devoted stay-at-home husband to get into a few scrapes? Read and find out at the Google Drive link above!
(and since this is a question at this point, will I TL more? There’s only one chapter out now, and it comes out weekly, which is a commitment, but if it remains as simple as this first chapter then yeah!)
Someone needs to write an Escape The Room style game only the goal is to assemble enough hidden resources to hold down a steady job, have stable lodgings, eat decently, and manage one’s mental health sufficiently. Please. Allow me to escape into a room as nicely decorated as most Escape The Room games.
I realized at the ball game today that it is totally possible to list off the various Traditional American Baseball Songs in the style of Cultural Folk Ballads:
I Am So &#$@ing Ready To Play Baseball!!
We Will Definitely Win Today
This Is The Song We Chant In The Stands
He Was Not As Ready To Play Baseball As He Believed
I Want Some Snacks
Our National Anthem Is Super Hard To Sing
This Lady Is A Nice Lady, I Really Like Her
Nah Nah Naaaaaa Nah NAH NAH NAAAAAAAA NAH
This Is The Song Where We Clap
Someone Popular Wrote This, I Guess We Have To Like It
Here’s your dose of “What the Fuck Is Going On” News (2/21/2017 - 2/22/2017 edition)
The Trump administration has rescinded the policy that protected the rights of transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice. A letter will be sent out to public schools nationwide to explain that protections were lifted. It was reported that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was reluctant to sign off on the letter due to the “potential harm” that would come to these students. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions fought DeVos on the issue and suggested quick action, the issue was heightened when Trump personally intervened and convinced DeVos to give in. (source)
The Army Corps of Engineers began to shut down the Standing Rock protest, and the water protectors were told they need to leave or face arrest. At least 10 protesters have now been taken into custody under “suspicion of obstruction of justice.” Police have now backed away from the camp, where up to 50 people remain. They hope those that remain will vacate peacefully tomorrow and state that no more arrests are planned for the night, but will continue in the morning. (source)
Trump finally took some time to address anti-Semitic threats and vandalism. “The anti-Semitic threats targeting our Jewish community and community centers are horrible, and are painful, and a very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil,” he said. This comes after a week of dismissing the concerns raised by Jewish journalists. (source)
Trump’s statement on anti-Semitism was criticized by some Jewish groups who thought the statement was too little, too late. The executive director for the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect said that Trump’s “sudden acknowledgment of anti-Semitism is a Band-Aid on the cancer of anti-Semitism that has infected his own administration.” Press secretary Sean Spicer took offense to the statement and said “It’s ironic that no matter how many times he talks about this that it’s never good enough.”
Top lawmakers from both parties sign a bipartisan letter to members of congress highlighting the importance of immunizations. The letter explains how vaccines protect against diseases and how it was a “turning point” in public health when it came to polio and measles. This comes after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (an anti-vaxxer) talked last week about the vaccine safety committee him and Trump have discussed. (source)
The new Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Scott Pruitt, has been exposed through emails that he closely coordinated with major oil and gas producers, electric utilities and political groups. Some politicians tried to postpone the vote until the emails could be made public but Pruitt was confirmed anyways a couple days before the emails were released. This exposes a problem because it shows how much Pruitt fought against the EPA and that he’s extremely close to the industries he’s now charged with policing. Obviously, environmental groups are concerned and Pruitt is fast becoming one of the most controversial of Trump’s picks. (source)
As of right now, the Trump administration has nominated fewer than three dozen of the 550 most important Senate-confirmed jobs. This is due to the White House’s deep involvement in the hiring decisions, which is frustrating those involved in these agencies. Trump and his advisers are not allowing Cabinet nominees to freely pick the people that fill their departments. This has lead some candidates to drop out and others to become frustrated with Trump and lose some of their aides who have been deemed “too liberal,” or “too critical of Trump.” (source)
People flooded town hall meetings across the country to voice their anger and concerns to their local elected officials. They were raising concerns over a number of issues, particularly health care. However, Trump and his administration are telling the public that these people are “paid and professional protesters,” “plants,” and only expressing “manufactured anger.” (source) (source)
Trump’s detailed plans for a sweeping crackdown on undocumented immigrants will likely cause a sink in U.S. home prices. Cities with the biggest concentrations of foreign-born buyers will be hit the worse because one-third of undocumented immigrants live in a home that they own or a family member owns. This means mass amount of people will be leaving homes empty with nobody to fill in the space. (source)
Trump’s federal hiring freeze is still in effect and it has now caused two major Army bases to close some child care programs. Military families with children who attend child development center programs at Fort Knox in Kentucky and U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden in Germany were notified last week about the suspension of the program. Military families in Germany were only given six days notice before the closure. (source)
Trump’s deportation and immigration plans are set to trigger waves of lawsuits which will join the list of legal fights regarding the travel ban. (souce)
Six former campaign officials for Trump detailed how they attempted to keep Trump from making inflammatory tweets during the election. They had to ensure that his media consumption included a steady stream of praise and when that was low they would turn to friendly outlets to drum some up. They also attempted to amplify his attention of Trump-positive media like Fox News, Breitbart, the Daily Caller, and InfoWars. (source)
The Department of Homeland Security unveiled a sweeping plan to deport undocumented immigrants. The memos instruct all agents, including Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to identify, capture, and quickly deport every undocumented immigrant they encounter. The memos also increase the ability of local police to aid in this, calls for the hiring of over 10,000 immigration agents, and requires immigrants to be placed in detention centers until their cases are resolved. (source)
So far there hasn’t been a single day in Trump’s presidency where he hasn’t said something that was completely false or misleading. He currently averages four public lies a day. (source)
The petition on the White House website demanding Trump to release his tax returns received over a million signatures. This petition broke the website’s record but as of yet the White House has not responded to request. Sen. Susan Collins told the press that the Senate may force Trump to turn over his tax returns as it pursues questions about Russian interference. (source) (source)
Just in case anyone is caught up in mainstream media coverage of Standing Rock, the Oceti Sakowin camp was being cleaned responsibly and the burning of the structures was a respectful akcnowledgement of the sacredness of the camp. The eviction is taking place right now, with legal observers being arrested by police in full riot gear.
This morning, Indigenous Rising spoke with Darren Begay who has been managing the Navajo style structures at Oceti. He told us that as This forced evacuation grew nearer, he consulted with elders from his ancestral lands and they all agreed that based on the behavior of the law enforcement in the past, who during raids have broken and thrown away sacred items and who have shown disregard and horrible disrespect to tipis and sacred dwellings, it is best to burn these scared structures instead of having them desecrated by Morton County and North Dakota law enforcement.
Lighting our dwellings on fire is a sign of respect for them. It’s a sign of respect for the purpose they have served over these past few months. They have been containers for prayer and for brining people together. By lighting them on fire we send their smoke up like prayers. By lighting them on fire we ensure these structures go out in dignity.
“My parents disappeared during the last dictatorship. They were political activists. My father was taken first in 1977. My mother was taken a year later during the World Cup. We were standing in a public square, and two cars stopped, and they grabbed me and my mother. They let me go. But my mother was never heard from again. I learned all of this later because I was only three at the time. My grandparents raised me. When I was a child they would tell me that my parents were working. I used to imagine them building a skyscraper, wearing helmets, and getting closer and closer to the top. It wasn’t until the age of ten that I learned what really happened. But even then, my parents were only ideas to me. They were two-dimensional. But when I turned seventeen, I visited the town where they first met. I found their old friends and they told me stories. I learned that my father loved the Beatles. He also loved to dance. A man gave me a costume that my father would wear when he danced. And suddenly my parents weren’t ideas anymore. They were people. They were Daniel and Viviana. And for the first time, I cried for them.”
Lawblr side of Tumblr, here. I don’t think anybody even understands how terrifying this is. If the Executive can ignore the Judiciary, then we have a full-on Constitutional Crisis on our hands. Our country immediately falls apart. The only options for enforcement of judicial orders are 1) U.S. Marshals (which are ordered around by the Judiciary but ultimately still a part of the Executive as part of the Department of Justice), in which case we have an ACTUAL ARMED CONFLICT BETWEEN TWO BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT, or if the Marshals refuse to comply, 2) the Governor of the state, say Virginia, sends in the National Guard of the state, which leads to AN ARMED CONFLICT BETWEEN A STATE MILITIA AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
In case you weren’t getting the picture, let me be blunt and dramatic: this is literally Civil War-level shit right here.
And Trump has been in office a week.
This is fucking terrifying.
I spent the day at SeaTac (Seattle-Tacoma International Airport). We got very little done because CBP refused to talk to us at all. When one of the attorneys with us annoyed them so much that they finally answered their office door (she literally knocked on it for 10 minutes straight), they directed her to the press release on their website (side note: I don’t know if there even is a press release on the CBP website). They told her they don’t care how many attorneys show up, they don’t take orders from attorneys or judges. Senator Patty Murray showed up just after 4:00 & CBP refused to talk to her, too. I will repeat that: Customs and Border Patrol refused to talk to a sitting United States Senator. They refused other senators at other airports, too, according to a WaPo article I read earlier.
I had to return to Portland tonight because I have work tomorrow. ACLU & International Refugee Assistance Project attorneys will be back at SeaTac tomorrow at 5:30 a.m. (including my law school bestie, I am so proud).
There were 13 people detained at SeaTac yesterday who were secretly transferred to a detention facility in Tacoma, so the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project is working with attorneys to straighten that right out.
Basically: Shit is going down, y’all. The women I went up with today? Both were Arabs. One was from Pakistan, the other was from Lebanon (a Christian, a Muslim and a Jew walk into an airport…). When I asked them if I was overreacting by feeling like this was a coup-in-progress, they said no. That’s precisely what this is.
I thought we had a coup-proof system. I was mistaken.
Keep fighting the good fight, lawyers. And if you’re in Portland, I’ll see you at Perkins-Coie tomorrow at 5:30 for the L4GG meeting.
At Dulles, CBP has been stonewalling four members of the US House of Representatives, the governer and attorney general of Virginia, and Senators Cory Booker (NJ) and Mark Warner (VA)–the latter of whom chewed out the head of CBP in person. No dice. Not even with a federal court order telling CBP at Dulles, only them, and them in particular to give detainees access to lawyers.
And they’re pulling an old trick from the national-security handbook that’s been used to evade the courts on issues like domestic surveillance: “Lawyers and advocates still didn’t know how many people were being held in the secondary inspection area at Dulles or what their immigration status was, which led to a catch-22: Attorneys couldn’t file for contempt of court without having proof that legal residents were being detained and not being given access to lawyers, but they couldn’t get proof without getting access.” (x)
At least two VA reps have found out (via friends and family) about constituents being detained at Dulles, at which point CBP released them in order to dodge the access-to-lawyers issue. The representative for my district is on the warpath–and also on the House Oversight Committee. Here’s hoping these fuckers get slapped with contempt of court so hard their ears ring, then get hauled in front of a committee hearing to see if they want to try their chances with contempt of Congress.
All of which doesn’t even get into the Monday Night Massacre clusterfuck inside the executive branch, when the acting attorney general of the United States refused to make the DoJ defend the lawfulness of the immigration order in court. And was summarily fired and replaced with someone more compliant. So here’s also hoping the Senate puts Jeff Sessions through absolute hell on his role in all this before they vote to confirm him as AG.
It’s like the civics lesson from hell.
Even if you agree with the ban, this is not right. Due process must take place before moving forward with any action. We are a democracy and we must have proper checks and balances in place to avoid abuses of power.
