u/ArtDecoNewYork

People on reddit always claim "the charts are irrelevant because of streaming", and insinuate that everyone these days has a super unique taste in music with no correlation to the Billboard Hot 100.

But if you look at the most streamed songs on Spotify, it usually correlates heavily with the Billboard Hot 100, as well as the stuff most young people in real life listen to.

Stuff like pop country, normie pop, etc.are in fact, very popular and are the soundtrack of normie life in America. I don't even live in the target market of country music but I hear "Choosin' Texas" all the time (a song many reddit hermits claim they've never heard before).

Was it a seen as dated, like a holdover of the early 70s?

It seems like male long hair (besides mullets) died out except among Deadheads and maybe metalheads. Only for it to make a big return with 90s alternative music.

Something surprising that I figured out not too long ago, is that my accuracy for short distance sidespin shots has gone way up by NOT adjusting for deflection at all!

What got me to try this was when set I set up some maximum sidespin shots from a couple feet away, and was shocked to see the ball hit the center of the pocket when I aimed it like a center axis shot.

I play with a Meucci the Pro Shaft, which I would guess is considered a medium deflection shaft.

This revelation has made me much more comfortable using sidespin, at least for short distances. Now a shot I use often, is using high inside to get under a ball that is close to a rail (when the natural angle would send the cue ball the opposite direction).

For long distance shots, I still try to avoid it and use speed and tip height for position instead. But even for long distanxe shots with sidespin, I duspect that I had been overcompensating for squirt this whole time.

The Rolling Stones (thankfully) did not break up and the 1970s were mostly huge for them. They were continuing to release quality, culturally relevant music until the early 80s. In addition to touring, both of which further cemented their legend status.

Similar case for The Who to a lesser extent.

Therefore, I don't buy the claim that we always see on here about their 1970 breakup being good for their legacy or beneficial to their catalog's strength.

Their early 70s solo work is good, but IMO they never really reach Beatles level highs again after that. They are much better as a group and could have sustained a longer creative peak.

We could have even got a disco tinged Beatles album in the late 70s, imagine how fun that would be.

Note: this is obviously a hypothetical situation where they got along well enough to not want to break up in the first place.

A bar opened up in Manhattan that I've been hanging out in a lot, and thankfully it has a pool table like its predecessor.

This time around, a 6.5 foot Great American table with very generous pockets, possibly even more so than the typical Valley buckets because of the new cloth. The pockets accept some very poorly struck ball, I'm surprised at what goes in!

Even though I prefer playing on Diamonds with tighter pockets, I am growing to accept this bucket pocket table and find that it has its merits.

Importantly, it kind of forces discipline. It is forcing me to choose the right patterns early on, because even someone who is not a great shooter has a chance of running out or leaving me in a bad situation. I have a tendency to win a lot of games by playing safeties and two ways (even against stronger players), but that becomes difficult when the pockets will take any ball within its zip code.

The other thing it is making me do is be even more careful with the cue ball, since it is very easy to either scratch or overrun the shots by a mile with the new cloth, table lean, and heavy cue ball.

It is doubly humbling because: stronger players win against me even more, while weaker players have a better shot against me as well.

I still hope they replace it with a Diamond at some point, but I'm having a lot of fun even with this kind of table that I previously would have derided.