61–70 of 136 posts
> What’s pernicious about this new organization: whereas the status of a double-breasted banker suit is transparently obvious, the technical arrangement that conspires to give an amazing streaming setup is altogether inscrutable to lay people. What is truly inscrutable is the decision to adopt this particular style of writing.
This comment does not contribute to the conversation and is unnecessarily mean.
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I was an organizer for a major ACM conference last year, and I really struggled with my home video streaming setup. A lot of equipment was sold out last year. I followed the recommendation of some YouTubers and realized that this is not as simple as it seems. Despite realizing the importance of a live stream setup and investing in it, I'm pretty unhappy with the results. Thankfully we are out of the worst of the pand…
I wonder if using a polarizing filter over your webcam would reduce the glare from your glasses. Polarizing sunglasses very effectively reduce glare on water, as well as car windshields.
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> in much the same way that it would be hard to take a poorly-dressed person seriously The sooner we can get over this obsession with people dressed "nicely" and instead listen to people who know what they are talking about, the better. Any monkey can wear a jacket and tie. I hate that society automatically elevates well dressed people the way it does. To me it only signals that they have money.
It signals that they have money... and/or high conscientiousness—you can fake that with enough money, to e.g. pay for someone to entirely take care of having your clothes clean and ready on-time and waiting right where you need them, of course, but for anyone other than the "employ multiple full-time people as 'help'"-rich, fine clothes require more care and attention from the wearer than a hoodie and jeans. Wearing…
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> in much the same way that it would be hard to take a poorly-dressed person seriously The sooner we can get over this obsession with people dressed "nicely" and instead listen to people who know what they are talking about, the better. Any monkey can wear a jacket and tie. I hate that society automatically elevates well dressed people the way it does. To me it only signals that they have money.
You may be surprised to realize that you’re the one being superficial here in equating style with money. Dressing well does not require money - what it signals is a form of sophistication or good taste in the case of high fashion, or tidyness and well-being for casual clothing. Millions of people dress nicely from Primark/C&A alone, and even fashion students get going on tight budgets sourcing second hand items. Much…
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The point of the article is not "how to do it", but rather to observe that this kind of thing, previously a (relatively) niche concern, has become important to a general audience. The article even suggests that there's a business opportunity for fashion businesses to create tailored videoconferencing spaces, which is predicated on the notion that most people lack the time or inclination to set up their own bespoke se…
I was an organizer for a major ACM conference last year, and I really struggled with my home video streaming setup. A lot of equipment was sold out last year. I followed the recommendation of some YouTubers and realized that this is not as simple as it seems. Despite realizing the importance of a live stream setup and investing in it, I'm pretty unhappy with the results. Thankfully we are out of the worst of the pand…
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I would rather give them a few minutes than spend the entire meeting straining to understand people over their echos, terrible mic quality, etc.
That’s the false dichotomy that lures people into these over-complicated setups. You don’t need a professional podcasting microphone to be understood. Plenty of us do just fine without. I have pro audio gear at my disposal, but I’ll still reach for the MacBook Pro built-in Mic when it’s convenient. It just works and I don’t have to worry about placement, reflections, setting gain and clipping, keeping noise sources a…
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> in much the same way that it would be hard to take a poorly-dressed person seriously The sooner we can get over this obsession with people dressed "nicely" and instead listen to people who know what they are talking about, the better. Any monkey can wear a jacket and tie. I hate that society automatically elevates well dressed people the way it does. To me it only signals that they have money.
You may be surprised to realize that you’re the one being superficial here in equating style with money. Dressing well does not require money - what it signals is a form of sophistication or good taste in the case of high fashion, or tidyness and well-being for casual clothing. Millions of people dress nicely from Primark/C&A alone, and even fashion students get going on tight budgets sourcing second hand items. Much…
Caring about sophistication or good taste in fashion is a luxury that it takes money to afford. Even just the time investment it requires to be fashionable, to source nice clothes and plan outfits and all of that shit, it's absolutely the domain of people who have money.
I don't think you've ever been poor. Poor enough that "second hand" doesn't mean thrift stores, it means "hand-me-downs".
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> in much the same way that it would be hard to take a poorly-dressed person seriously The sooner we can get over this obsession with people dressed "nicely" and instead listen to people who know what they are talking about, the better. Any monkey can wear a jacket and tie. I hate that society automatically elevates well dressed people the way it does. To me it only signals that they have money.
It signals that they have money... and/or high conscientiousness—you can fake that with enough money, to e.g. pay for someone to entirely take care of having your clothes clean and ready on-time and waiting right where you need them, of course, but for anyone other than the "employ multiple full-time people as 'help'"-rich, fine clothes require more care and attention from the wearer than a hoodie and jeans. Wearing…
Having the time to put in that effort requires some amount of money. To afford to have someone take care of the kids for a bit, or to pay someone to work on your car on the weekend instead of fixing it yourself.
It takes money to have the free time so you can spend the time clothes shopping instead of doing life maintenance.
I write off anyone who video conferences with a bookshelf behind them as a fool trying to pass off as more intelligent than they actually are. It’s so cringey because of how blatantly manipulative it is.