Disqus - Latest Comments for donmak

Re: Best Budget Windows Laptop For Recording

Don Mak — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 15:59:05 -0000

My daughter uses Reaper. I recommend it because it is pretty lightweight, yet has most of the features they will use as they grow and use other "industry standard" DAWs, like Pro Tools or Logic X. However, I am going to be getting her a copy of Ableton this year, as many of her friends use it, and it fits her and her friends' style of contemporary music better. Some audio interfaces come with trial or "lite" versions of many of these DAWs.

http://mscgr.com/choosing-d...

Re: Best Budget Windows Laptop For Recording

Don Mak — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 14:20:51 -0000

Yeah, if that is the case then I would suggest figuring out what DAW he is going to use, then at least make sure the laptop you ultimately decide on has, at the very least, the minimum requirements that DAW requires.

Re: Best Budget Windows Laptop For Recording

Don Mak — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 11:28:18 -0000

Eirik,

Since I don't know what kind of music your 12-year old is going to record or mix, I'll run under some assumptions, and you can go from there. For recording a guitar, or piano, it should be fine. But if your child wants to add virtual instruments, say, some strings, or synths, or a drum program you will start to hit the limits of your processor rather quickly. On top of that, mixing down (or rendering) your projects will also see the processor struggle.

The limits will manifest themselves in: skipping or jittering while recording, latency (delay between the instrument being played, and when it's recorded to disk). I have an Intel i3 processor that is quite dated, but more powerful than a Celeron, and when it struggles I get odd clicks a stutters while mixing down.

The Celerons are designed to be used in lower cost, entry level computers. They have significantly less (or no) L2 cache, and a lot of the higher performance features are disabled.

Other than, perhaps, a simple acoustic guitar and vocals demo, your processor will start hitting limits pretty early on.

Hope that helps!

Re: Lily Allen: Spotify is not the enemy – Tidal may boost pirate sites

Don Mak — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 07:12:02 -0000

Labels are the root of the problem.

Re: Former Jehovah's Witness Accuses Church of Hiding Child Abusers from Congregations

Don Mak — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 13:09:59 -0000

This. And also, the stuff they write in the margins of their elder's books at their "elder's school" are even more creepy.

Re: Why Entrepreneurial Publishing is Catching Fire in Local Digital

Don Mak — Fri, 03 Oct 2014 08:23:46 -0000

Great article. This news site in Asheville North Carolina is operated (bootstrapped) by ex-Gannett folks who were fired from the Asheville Gannet paper: http://www.ashvegas.com/

Re: Chili's Considering Ban On Law-Abiding Citizens Carrying Guns In Their Stores

Don Mak — Wed, 28 May 2014 15:01:55 -0000

Why is this article under the category Big Government? This is a corporate decision by a business. Oh right ... because then it won't fit your narrative.

Re: Producing an EP Part 1: Scratch Tracks and Acoustic Guitars

Don Mak — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 13:05:44 -0000

Thanks for this. Practical, easy to follow, and well-produced. Thanks again! Looking forward to part II ...

Re: Ok now it’s official there’s a new game on this earth :

Don Mak — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 20:20:43 -0000

Hopefully the Watchtower Society aren't members anymore.

Re: JW-Archive.org • "21st Century English" Bible now released by...

Don Mak — Wed, 16 Oct 2013 13:14:22 -0000

So ... he does not ask anything else of us ... except everything of us? Is that what you're saying?

By your own words, two comments up, "undeserved kindness or unmerited favour this means when GOD gives us something he does not expect any thing in return"

But he does ask something of you in return. Again, you yourself said, "when it is unmerited or undeserved he does not expect any thing in return only to serve whole souled"

Both in the same comment and you still can't see how you contradict yourself.

Re: JW-Archive.org • "21st Century English" Bible now released by...

Don Mak — Mon, 14 Oct 2013 09:37:28 -0000

So he does not expect anything in return ... except all of your devotion? Can't you see how that statement contradicts itself?

Re: JW-Archive.org • "21st Century English" Bible now released by...

Don Mak — Fri, 11 Oct 2013 12:41:37 -0000

So when they say "no beards", that is JEHOVAH telling you not to wear beards? Or is that just an opinion of men? Because it is certainly not a scriptural law or principle. If a decision comes down to what is scriptural, or what a group of men running a book publishing company tell you, and you choose the group of men, you are no longer walking with God in the scriptural sense, you are instead relying on the interpretation (dogma) of men.

Re: JW-Archive.org • "21st Century English" Bible now released by...

Don Mak — Fri, 11 Oct 2013 12:39:24 -0000

Uh. They do indeed meet in secret. In fact, the room in which they meet is banned from being photographed even. I've been in that room, as have many readers of this site.

On the congregation level, judicial and service committees often meet in secret. On top of that, letters to congregations, which are read at every meeting are often markedly different from the one the elders themselves receive. Ask any elder, if they're not lying, they'll confirm. :-)

Re: JW-Archive.org • "21st Century English" Bible now released by...

Don Mak — Fri, 11 Oct 2013 12:35:41 -0000

Wow. For anybody watching this is why discussing faith rationally with someone is impossible. I guess Carl Sagan was right:

"Doctrines that make no predictions are less compelling than those which make correct predictions; they are in turn more successful than doctrines that make false predictions.

"But not always. One prominent American religion confidently predicted that the world would end in 1914. Well, 1914 has come and gone, and -- while the events of that year were certainly of some importance -- the world does not, at least so far as I can see, seem to have ended. There are at least three responses that an organized religion can make in the face of such a failed and fundamental prophecy. They could have said, "Oh, did we say '1914'? So sorry, we meant '2014.' A slight error in calculation. Hope you weren't inconvenienced in any way." But they did not. They could have said, "Well, the world would have ended, except we prayed very hard and interceded with God so He spared the Earth." But they did not. Instead, they did something much more ingenious.

"They announced that the world had in fact ended in 1914, and if the rest of us hadn't noticed, that was our lookout. It is astonishing in the face of such transparent evasions that this religion has any adherents at all. But religions are tough. Either they make no contentions which are subject to disproof or they quickly redesign doctrine after disproof. The fact that religions can be so shamelessly dishonest, so contemptuous of the intelligence of their adherents, and still flourish does not speak very well for the tough-mindedness of the believers. But it does indicate, if a demonstration were needed, that near the core of the religious experience is something remarkably resistant to rational inquiry."

Carl Sagan "Broca's Brain" (New York: Ballantine Books, 1979, pp. 332-333)

Re: JW-Archive.org • "21st Century English" Bible now released by...

Don Mak — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 09:27:09 -0000

First off, that never happened. It's one of the JW rumors, urban myths, like demonized smurf dolls, angel interventions and such. Second, to use a game show - A GAME SHOW - as proof is so silly as to not warrant a response. (Besides the point that never happened.)

You started by claiming "The Bible has NOT been changed to fit doctrine or for any other reason." (Your words not mine.)

I pointed out an obvious place where they did.

Then you went off on a rant about your faith, called me an apostate. Never addressed the issue. You even went so far as to say you "don't care" about Jesus's primary teaching of "grace". (As a purported "Christian" even!)

So, I reiterated my point.

You went off about the Jeopardy urban legend and whether I'm going to question a game show host. A GAME SHOW HOST!

It's obvious I'm not dealing with someone (you) who has seriously examined their faith, and instead bases their faith on lines repeated by rote, and rumors about answers on game shows.

Re: JW-Archive.org • "21st Century English" Bible now released by...

Don Mak — Tue, 08 Oct 2013 19:23:52 -0000

The point was, which I explained rather plainly, was they DO change the bible to fit their doctrine. I just gave a very simple example.

Also, to ask questions and point out flaws does not equal apostasy.

Re: JW-Archive.org • "21st Century English" Bible now released by...

Don Mak — Tue, 08 Oct 2013 18:23:45 -0000

Grace is not an archaic teaching. It was Jesus's primary doctrine while on Earth, and the NWT translators minimized it for the reasons I stated above. You missed the point. (due to cognitive dissonance no doubt)

Re: JW-Archive.org • "21st Century English" Bible now released by...

Don Mak — Tue, 08 Oct 2013 10:02:18 -0000

Exactly. I mean, the previous NWT already removed Jesus primary doctrine, that of "grace" and replaced it with "undeserved kindness".

The concept of "grace", which Jesus taught, was that no man, or group of men, or organization, was to get in the way of a person's individual relationship with God. That is why the Pharisees and such were so incensed at Jesus, because THEY were supposed to dictate people's relationship with God and Jesus was taking that away from them. So it's easy to see why the Governing Body had to remove Jesus primary teaching of grace because, well, the whole JW religion is based on an organization of old men dictating your relationship to God. So instead the Governing Body changed it to "undeserved kindness" - taking one of the most (if not the most) beautiful teachings of Jesus and instead give it a negative connotation - i.e. "you don't deserve it, listen to us instead".

Oh wait ... I guess the Governing Body did change it to fit their doctrine. My bad ... :-)

Re: Out With The Old, In With The New: Google Partners Replaces Google Certification Program

Don Mak — Thu, 03 Oct 2013 15:51:11 -0000

Yeah I'm in the middle of studying for my Analytics Cert.

http://donmakoviney.com/201...

So, I'm a little hesitant to complete it if I have to study for another test in a few weeks, or months, or even 10-12 months from now. Also, the current "official" training materials - screencasts, etc. - are all pretty outdated from the current interface and they don't seem keen on updating them anytime soon.

Re: Google launches Analytics Academy, offering free community-based video courses about digital analytics

Don Mak — Thu, 03 Oct 2013 11:42:23 -0000

It's a partnership "with google". It's also announced on the official Google Analytics blog. Did you even click on any of the links?

Re: Out With The Old, In With The New: Google Partners Replaces Google Certification Program

Don Mak — Thu, 03 Oct 2013 10:01:41 -0000

Does this also apply to the Analytics Ceritifcation? Or AdWords only? The email I received from Google was unclear.

Re: The Fire Last Time: Bronze Age apocalypse - The Breaking Time

Don Mak — Tue, 23 Jul 2013 19:22:41 -0000

Damn ... keep em coming. And thank you.

Re: Need Support for Gmail Or Facebook? Good Luck

Don Mak — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 20:30:38 -0000

That would not help the author of this article get his password any faster. Did you read the article?

Re: How Google’s Lack Of (Re-)Consideration For Local Businesses Makes Life & Listings Difficult

Don Mak — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 10:37:38 -0000

"For Google Local, though, the reconsideration process went away, and communications are insufficient. Account suspensions create additional problems for businesses, and a lack of communications leaves business owners confused and frustrated."

You can replace [Google Local] with many other services (like AdWords, AdSense) and the quote above from your article applies to generally ANY of Google's products. In my experience, their customer support is terrible, vague, dismissive and directly hurts businesses bottom line.

I would love to continue b*tching about my specific experiences as a [previously] loyal customer and advocate for Google, always keeping my sites above board by faithfully reading their company blogs on tips and best practices and putting those into practice on my (and many of my clients' sites) but if I'm going to write a novel I want to write about something more interesting.

Plus, I fear it won't be until someone comes close to competing with them in any of those spaces until they pull their heads out of their collective algorithms and pretend to give a click about anything other than getting your credit card number so they bill you on a recurring basis.

Re: The time before X: how a generation gets old - The Breaking Time

Don Mak — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 14:51:50 -0000

How about how we had to be in front of a TV to catch a show, otherwise we wouldn't see it again til reruns in the summer? In the age of Netflix, Hulu, Apple App Store, Amazon, and BitTorrent this almost seems absurd. :-)