WOW! Is it just me or have prices sky rocketed on gear?

∞Fractals said:
Don’t hate on other peoples success. As long as others are succeeding it means we have the opportunity as well.


The more that succeed, improves everyone’s opportunities. 👍❤️🙏
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I don't know how much that is true. I always think about kids, for instance, in high crime areas where they're targeted in a ton of different ways because of their circumstance, being pressured to join gangs on one hand, and profiled and harassed on the other, just hoping to get by. The barriers are so real there.

I do think there's a very real class system in the world, in the United States too, and we should all try to transcend that as much as possible, but it's so ingrained, and gets into everything. I feel like classism exists in music too, in just every aspect of life.

And I think about the MeToo movement, all those women whose careers were hamstrung because of pure evil. I think their opportunities in their chosen professions were so dictated by awful stuff most men never have to think about. Opportunity is such a relative thing.

I mean, in my eyes, god bless those who are able to achieve financial security, but there are so many ways people's lives are screwed up by barriers that are invisible to most; it feels wrong to minimize that as if everyone's dealing with the same stuff, and that what it takes to get somewhere applies equally. I think about some kid growing up in Syria's civil war, or in Yemen, and I think about what kind of future is possible for them. And the age old thing of foreigners having to be twice as good to be considered as good.

I'd love to think that anyone can break out of any situation, but I think that circumstance, the caste system, if you will, is a real thing.

And I'm not trying to say I view opportunity as a zero sum game, but I do think it's very very easy to forget the invisible barriers so many people face, and not to wonder how far oneself would get in those shoes.
 
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It's pretty much been proven that success is dependent upon dumb luck and chance (location of birth, family of origin,
socio-economic status, culture, sex, ethnicity, genetics) far more than just hard work and eternal striving. But that doesn't
mean outdated and sketchy myths about success won't live on for a long time.
 
State of Epicicity said:
I don't know how much that is true. I always think about kids, for instance, in high crime areas where they're targeted in a ton of different ways because of their circumstance, being pressured to join gangs on one hand, and profiled and harassed on the other, just hoping to get by. The barriers are so real there.

I do think there's a very real class system in the world, in the United States too, and we should all try to transcend that as much as possible, but it's so ingrained, and gets into everything. I feel like classism exists in music too, in just every aspect of life.

And I think about the MeToo movement, all those women whose careers were hamstrung because of pure evil. I think their opportunities in their chosen professions were so dictated by awful stuff most men never have to think about. Opportunity is such a relative thing.

I mean, in my eyes, god bless those who are able to achieve financial security, but there are so many ways people's lives are screwed up by barriers that are invisible to most; it feels wrong to minimize that as if everyone's dealing with the same stuff, and that what it takes to get somewhere applies equally. I think about some kid growing up in Syria's civil war, or in Yemen, and I think about what kind of future is possible for them. And the age old thing of foreigners having to be twice as good to be considered as good.

I'd love to think that anyone can break out of any situation, but I think that circumstance, the caste system, if you will, is a real thing.

And I'm not trying to say I view opportunity as a zero sum gain, but I do think it's very very easy to forget the invisible barriers so many people face, and not to wonder how far oneself would get in those shoes.
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Unpopular opinion time.

Yes there is a very real class system in our world and it consists of only 2 classes: those with money and those without money.

There is simply no excuse to not get out there and achieve unless you’re actually in a horribly impoverished country or a war zone. #metoo? The selective service has now sent a few million American young men to their deaths simply because they have testicles. Even in 2022, we value American young mens lives less than young womens lives due to this. No one has the easy street and everyone’s cross to bear is different. Most of these crosses are unacceptable, yet they continue to exist either because of human nature, lack of popularity in cause or simply what’s shoved down our gullets.

Truth is if you want to pilot the space shuttle, lead a Fortune 500 company or become a General, nothing is stopping anyone in america except themselves.
 
la noise said:
It's pretty much been proven that success is dependent upon dumb luck and chance (location of birth, family of origin,
socio-economic status, culture, sex, ethnicity, genetics) far more than just hard work and eternal striving. But that doesn't
mean outdated and sketchy myths about success won't live on for a long time.
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Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers - great stuff, explains why nearly all pro hockey players have birthdays in January or February, for example.
 
∞Fractals said:
Self-fulfilling prophecies

I’ve lost everything twice including a family. I know what’s on the other side of the struggle.
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I'm very sorry to read that, and glad that you were able to recover. May that continue and increase for you and those you care about.

I don't think it's right to hate people based on success either; that's just envy, and it's boring and unhelpful. What I was really arguing is the idea of opportunity being much more complicated than anyone ever imagines. It's cool if we disagree, but know that what I'm writing doesn't come with any negative judgement for those who've transcended hardship; that's a beautiful thing I wish were more common. But mainly I'm also not blaming those who don't transcend the hardship either; I feel like the barriers are just so different for everyone that we can never know how it feels to be in that awful situation that destroyed someone else. I'm thinking, yeah, I can totally see how that would break someone apart.
 
It's about to get even worse. With Neon gas exports from Russia and Ukraine choked off, it'll put that much more strain on the semiconductor industry.
 
artzeal said:
An Axe FX will get you through times without money better than money will get you though times without an Axe FX.*

*change the component value of "An Axe FX" to "Grass" for authentic 60's circuitry.
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freak-brothers-t-shirt-13419-p.jpg
 
jefsummers said:
Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers - great stuff, explains why nearly all pro hockey players have birthdays in January or February, for example.
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Really? I have to get to that. It's like 10 or 15 years old now, isn't it? I enjoyed Tipping Point,
but there are just soooooooooooo many good books to read. :)
 
jefsummers said:
Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers - great stuff, explains why nearly all pro hockey players have birthdays in January or February, for example.
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I don't know about that. "Nearly all" is a giant stretch if you look up the actual statistic. Yes, there is a bit more likelihood of making to the NHL if born in the beginning of the year, but nearly all would imply at least greater than 50%. There is just such a rhetoric telling kids and teens these days that they are stuck because they were born one thing or another. I don't think it will help in the long run.
NHL Birth Month vs Percent of NHL poplulation
1February9.6%
2January10.3%
3July8.3%
4March9.8%
5October7.4%
6June8.2%
7May9.2%
8April9.4%
9September7.5%
10December6.6%
11August7.1%
12November6.5%

But yeah, gear is expensive. I have stayed away from buying anything for the last year or so.
 
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Intoodeep1113 said:
I don't know about that. "Nearly all" is a giant stretch if you look up the actual statistic. Yes, there is a bit more likelihood of making to the NHL if born in the beginning of the year, but nearly all would imply at least greater than 50%. There is just such a rhetoric telling kids and teens these days that they are stuck because they were born one thing or another. I don't think it will help in the long run.
NHL Birth Month vs Percent of NHL poplulation
1February9.6%
2January10.3%
3July8.3%
4March9.8%
5October7.4%
6June8.2%
7May9.2%
8April9.4%
9September7.5%
10December6.6%
11August7.1%
12November6.5%

But year, gear is expensive. I have stayed away from buying anything for the last year or so.
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Interesting, I just believed the book without checking, and you're right, it's not a huge edge.

It is an edge, one no competitor would throw away, but as with most things, the variation in individual people completely swamps any generalizations, even true-ish ones.
 
It's definitely taken some of the fun out of buying gear. There are very few things I need, but I always enjoyed buying and selling and trading. Instead of being able to pick up an 80s Charvel for $300 and mess around with it for a while, people want over $1000 for them. If you do buy it, it's close to impossible to sell locally. If you do decide to play the game on Reverb, you stand a decent chance of being ripped off. Just takes the fun out of it.

I like to mess around with pedals as well, and there has been hardly any around for a while now.
 
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