Episode: 4336
Title: HPR4336: The Everything-I-Know 20-minutes Show
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr4336/hpr4336.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-25 23:14:48

---

This is Hacker Public Radio Episode 4336 from Monday the 17th of March 2025.
Today's show is entitled, The Everything I Know 20 Minutes Show.
It is hosted by Semla's M. St. Louis and is about 20 minutes long.
It carries a clean flag.
The summary is, from Microsoft Word templates to microphone types starting with embracing
the core.
I was counting here and in a little more than the fingers of one hand, you can sum up all
the things that I know and I'm going to share with you in this Everything I Know 10
Minutes Show.
Collection 20 Minutes Show.
Thank you.
Number 1 is how to carry weight more safely.
When you carry weight at the gym or at your house or at the work, anywhere.
If it's a heavy weight, a weight that makes you feel clumsy, not very comfortable carrying
by your side or in front of you.
You can have it better by straining your abdomen, your core.
Technically it is to embrace the core.
When you tighten the abdomen, you have more stability so you can exert more power, use
your strength more comfortably and even more safely because you can avoid some minor
injuries that could occur because your spine also will be more stabilized when you're
straining and bracing your core to carry weight.
I hope it helps.
Number 2 is microphone types.
Microphone types are specially divided by connection or by its diaphragm and I am going
to tell you the two most used of each.
A USB microphone, and that is about the connection, is universal to connect to your computer, to
record like it can be in a headset or a standalone mic that connects to the universal
serial bus port of the computer.
It's plug and use, it's cheaper, it's a good choice if it's okay for your use.
But if you have more money to spend, the XLR microphone is a good investment because you
can upgrade the microphone and not the interface or vice versa and have a good quality professional
mics, use XLR, most of the mics are XLR.
The addendum is you can't connect directly to your PC because a PC does not have the XLR
port to connect.
So you need, if you're using to record, a USB audio interface.
The most common brands are focus rights or bearinger or M audio that are generally good
brands and the microphones, well, the variety is great.
If you're using of course to public address or something a live event, not recording, you
can plug it directly in a mixer in the room you're doing your presentation of course and
not needing the USB audio interface that is to record your computer.
Well, let's say the division of mics but diaphragm they use.
Let's start with the most simple one, the simpler one, that is the condenser microphone.
A condenser microphone captures the voice in more detail.
So you hear a deeper bass, more detail, treble and most of the USB microphones uses this
technology.
It's rare a USB that is a dynamic phone that is another diaphragm.
As at this advantage, they catch even the minimum sound details of the environment because
it vibrates little waves of sound around, even distant, even if you can't hear monitoring
by your headphones.
You hear it later in the recording and listening, so if you have a treated room that is
isolation without reverberation, a condenser might be a good choice but if you're hearing
noises all the time from the street or your walls are playing and reverberate too much,
you might prefer another type of microphone, not the condenser.
The condenser is a favorite of singers in studio.
You can see professional singing in videos or live if you are lucky enough to know someone
that you can see singing in the studio and you see that they don't talk or sing on top
of the condenser because it might produce a low and undesired muffled sound.
The condenser needs it to be recorded by the right side of it.
There is one side of the condenser or sometimes both, that is the correct to record and not
on top of it.
Microphones can be dynamic, that responds to the audio source, be it voice instrument,
that is very close to the diaphragm.
They do not capture sound, more than some centimeters or some inches away.
It's the best for amateur use or in a room without acoustic treatment.
Like for usage, musicians performing live use dynamic microphones, so the instruments
and the crowd around don't get their sound amplified by the artist's microphone.
Videos also prefer dynamic mics because it goes to a more impactful voice.
It rejects eventual sounds from noisy mixers or keyboards nearby that the radio host might
be operating.
Right now I am using a dynamic microphone and I am tapping on the table, I don't know
if you hear it, but I am tapping very, very strong, a condenser would amplify it a lot,
you would capture it much sensitivity, but maybe here you won't hear it too much or at
least my voice would be more clear than it would be without the technology of the dynamic
that captures very better the impact of the source of the sound, very close to it.
An example, the R-E20 from Electro voice, that is a model and brand of microphone, is
a favorite of radio stations, maybe you see a lot if you know the mic and pay attention
to the use.
In part for being dynamic of course, radios prefer it, and in part because this microphone
in the specific R-E20 reduces the proximity effect that is the sound exploding when the
source gets junior to the capsule, like I did right now, because it has the variable D technology
and it since 1968 it's a long-aged microphone.
Now polar pattern is about the directional response.
For example, some are omnidirectional, captures sound equally from all the sides.
Most of them are cardioid, capturing the sound coming from the front, the speaker, the instrument
directed to it, but rejects sound from the rear.
Ah, a detail, my dog barked outside, I don't know if can hear it maybe yes, but with a condenser
it would be even worse.
Ok, let's go to number three, Microsoft Word or LibreOffice Writer templates.
Do you know that one that uses templates for text archives that facilitate the use for
commonly used documents, like to put up name, age, detail, use of a contract, etc.
How do you know if you do a template, what do you have to change?
You had light in yellow, right?
Or do you put a text in red?
Well, no, or better.
My recommendation is to use instead an asterisk in that point or curly brackets or even the
angle brackets.
Any other symbol that you can easily type, that your keyboard has an easy shortcut.
Then you can find better later when you have to change, and when you change everything,
you can easily control F to find that character to know if it's something missing that you
have to do or not.
Of course, if it's in color, you can see by your eyes, but our eyes can fail, and later
you have to return to the right color in the end.
It's more work and more prone to errors if you use colors.
If you use a symbol or symbols to embrace what you have to do, like curly bracket open,
name a close curly bracket.
Something then your control F, curly bracket without needing to do anything later, and
easily check it by a control F instead of seeing with your eyes, if it's only the color
that many people use.
With color you can find also, but it's little more work to control F by format, and so
that's it.
Let's see if there's something more in this topic that I have notes.
No, that's it.
Let's go to the next.
No, no.
Of course, if you're a professional, there are forms you can do in the document processors.
Real templates you can use with different formats that you can open and it automatically
opens a copy of it.
You can use fields if you're something used too much, so you have time to perfection it.
But if you don't use all the template tools specifically and only do the things I'm saying
that might be okay and satisfying for 90% of the people that do what we can call templates.
Not on templates specifically, but I have made the revision of books using it, using these
tips to know where to come back later to review something or to mark where I have stopped
on some day.
It was perfect for my use.
I also use commentaries, so if you don't know these two, the commentaries, you can try
it also to see if it adapts to your necessities, but we're not going too far here.
A recording tip.
Always record at least three seconds totally quiet and in the position you're going to
be when recording before starting the show.
This silence is the room tone you may use for three things.
One, as an adequate silence in the editing process, like you cut apart and for it not
to be totally silent, that's not good to the listener, you can substitute it with the
room tone that part that you cut in the middle of the show.
You may take that room tone in the beginning, if it's noisy, for example, two noise reduction
to make the noise reduction profile with that part.
And if not anyone, you can only delete in the end, if you don't find what to do with
it.
I record in knowledge number two in the same tip, save always an uncompressed version
of the raw of your recording and work only on copy, have the original non-compressed version
secured, so in any problem you have it.
It's an experience you don't want to do it again, it's an experience you want to learn
by yourself when you need it, so have your original file.
Five, permission for amps, see the permissions of it, especially with more or no things not
from the great names or not open source and renown, see the permissions they need,
like why your solitaire game is asking for your contacts or internet access, so it may
not do good to your privacy, it may waste your battery because they can run in the background
to personalize ads by knowing your interactions with your mobile phone, it's a care you can
have, not install anything if it's not necessary, but if you need to install something and
you're just made distrust, you can at least put it to sleep, deep sleep in your configuration,
so it does not run in background only when you open it, it may be a little better and
don't give the optional permissions, like contacts or media if you're not explicitly using
it for the program.
The same tip is valid for true information you normally have when you open the app in
the official store of the mobile phone that are the ads, like ads sometimes are invasive,
if you can avoid ad-based programs, even if you have to pay one time, it's better.
And about in-app purchases, you can get angry with an app, because you think it's free
and later you have to pay for minimum features that you expected, sometimes they are recurring
payments.
The chairwoman that does clean my house sometimes has said this week that her son used it in
her credit card, a thousand and thirty reais, five reais is one dollar for comparison, only
in games, maybe I didn't ask details, but maybe that games, that for the user, they
uniform of the character you have to pay for a new app or for advancing in the game, that
in-app purchases might be a loophole, so if you're not likely to go to this journey, avoid
the ones with in-app purchases.
Sometimes it's for donations, like signal users in-app purchases, but you see it as described,
but it's only for, if you want to donate, it's different, it's not something that's
wanting you to pay.
Well, with more sensible applications like browser or communicating apps, choose the big
names, you don't go wrong, or open-source, renounce the developers, do not pick any
piece, even if it claims that it's private and no one knows, especially those unknown
that are claiming too much security, it can be a catch that's not safe for your communications.
And please, don't download any app that promises performance enhancement.
The system beat and ride or iOS is already optimized for what it is.
A third-party app can do little or must come only nothing to help, and is more space and
features load in your system.
So if it's not fast to you, delete the apps that are not necessary, or at least disable
notifications of the apps that don't need, like email, you check two, three times a day
in the phone, so do you need it to be popping up and notificating you when there is a new
message?
If you're going to check any way and the email is not instant, if you put it to deep sleep
and only open when you need it without notification, it will be one last process that's running
all the time to notify you in a real time of things, that's it.
Let's go to number six, the battery of the mobile phone.
You use your phone all day and still have more than 20% of battery, or do you recharge
two times a day or a three?
If it's this last option, and your phone is not even three years old, and you never
use uncertified chargers, chargers that are not from unknown brands, that is, if you're
treating whatever battery, and it's too low in capacity, you can try to have a worry
free all day phone usage, doing what was said before, disabling apps that run in the
background, it's a one by one process of choosing, but it's once and for all.
Anyway, if it's this way, charging every day more than once a day, because you're using
intensely for anything that it'd be, well, take profit of your mobile phone and drive
the product, it's not about the steps, but the battery is using because you use effectively
your phone.
We did not enter on details, no explanations or reasons abounding, we didn't even go
to number seven, even though seven would be the number of perfection, because I have
not a seven could idea, only the bits here, the six bits of what I think I know, that
I value as precious, I hug, and bye.
You have been listening to Hacker Public Radio at HackerPublicRadio.org, today's show
was contributed by a HBR listener like yourself, if you ever thought of recording a podcast,
and click on our contribute link to find out how easy it really is, posting for HBR has
been kindly provided by an honesthost.com, the internet archive, and our sings.net.
On the Sadois status, today's show is released under Creative Commons, Attribution 4.0 International