RheingoldRiver's recent activity

  1. Comment on OpenAI insists it's not launching a search engine nor GPT-5 on Monday in ~tech

    RheingoldRiver
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    I am really impressed by chatgpt's speech recognition, do you know of any android keyboard app that does voice transcription powered by the same engine? ive been using gboard and it's honestly...

    I am really impressed by chatgpt's speech recognition, do you know of any android keyboard app that does voice transcription powered by the same engine? ive been using gboard and it's honestly atrocious in comparison

    2 votes

  2. Comment on My not so nice thoughts on Battlestar Galactica in ~tv

    RheingoldRiver
    Link Parent
    Caprica, however, has a fantastic soundtrack (so does BSG but BSG's is often praised and Caprica's is way overlooked imo)

    Caprica, however, has a fantastic soundtrack (so does BSG but BSG's is often praised and Caprica's is way overlooked imo)

    3 votes

  3. Comment on Undocumented workers played a larger and more dangerous role in delivering the Olympic Games than the Emmanuel Macron administration acknowledges (gifted link) in ~sports

    RheingoldRiver
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    Maybe add "Olympic" to the title before "Games" ?

    Maybe add "Olympic" to the title before "Games" ?

    5 votes

  4. Comment on A big new facility built to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere opened up in Iceland. It's a stepping stone to bigger plans in the US. in ~enviro

    RheingoldRiver
    Link Parent
    I heard it as "everyone who breathes in dihydrogen monoxide dies" which I found really funny

    everyone who drinks dihydrogen monoxide dies way

    I heard it as "everyone who breathes in dihydrogen monoxide dies" which I found really funny

    13 votes

  5. Comment on Jack Dorsey quits Bluesky board and urges users to stay on Elon Musk's X in ~tech

    RheingoldRiver
    Link Parent
    I stopped using Twitter/X when they killed Tweetdeck and I am absolutely 100% less informed about current events in the world, in my interest circles, with my (online) friends. I miss it a lot.

    I stopped using Twitter/X when they killed Tweetdeck and I am absolutely 100% less informed about current events in the world, in my interest circles, with my (online) friends. I miss it a lot.

    13 votes

  6. Comment on MIT scraps diversity statements in faculty-hiring process in ~humanities

    RheingoldRiver
    Link Parent
    I can totally understand the opinion "DEI statements are kind of bullshit and everyone just bullshits on them" but the idea that promoting DEI is somehow orthogonal to academic freedom....? If...

    I can totally understand the opinion "DEI statements are kind of bullshit and everyone just bullshits on them" but the idea that promoting DEI is somehow orthogonal to academic freedom....? If you're that concerned about academic freedom, fix the pressure on faculty to seek grants & publish regularly, and let them do research that might not be useful for a long time, or even just spend time reproducing other published results. I don't see how you can be fine with that but not fine with requiring promoting DEI.*

    *(I do see, people are racist)

    21 votes

  7. Comment on How do you take notes while reading? Do you have a “marginalia” process? What has helped you learn better and retain new knowledge? in ~creative

    RheingoldRiver
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    Ideally for nonfiction I like a print copy in front of me & also to listen to audio concurrently (at 3x speed, it would often be faster but that's the speed limit of my audio book player app & it...
    1. Ideally for nonfiction I like a print copy in front of me & also to listen to audio concurrently (at 3x speed, it would often be faster but that's the speed limit of my audio book player app & it dives me crazy). I find this helps me read quickly while having pretty high retention (and knowing how all names are spelled, etc). I probably go more for underlining rather than writing notes when I'm listening cos audio goes so fast, but I try to pause a lot. Reasons for underlining/writing:
      • Important word or person
      • Unfamiliar word that I had to look up
      • Connection to something I recently read
      • Referring to something that was discussed earlier and the author didn't put a page number, I'll find it myself and write a c.f. on both the earlier occurrence and the current one
      • Sometimes I write sad faces or happy faces, or like 👀 which I've gotten reasonably competent at drawing
      • If I'm reading a textbook with exercises, I do a couple of them in the margins sometimes
    2. I write in the margins in pencil. Occasionally (very occasionally) I'll also type up my notes when I'm done with a book, e.g. I did this for OSTEP.
    3. Transfer notes from the margins into vscode yes
    4. Don't be scared to write in nonfiction books (assuming you own them!!) - I grew up with the idea of writing in books being kinda anathema, but the most precious resource is actually time, not the book. So do whatever you need to keep track! I've even dog-eared corners of important pages in a few books.
    2 votes

  8. Comment on What are some non-science-fiction books that are deep, insane, mind-bending, etc? in ~books

    RheingoldRiver
    Link Parent
    The Just City is additionally interesting to read because of the provenance of LLM tech. You read the story in a completely different light from how it was intended I think, which I think is a...

    The Just City is additionally interesting to read because of the provenance of LLM tech. You read the story in a completely different light from how it was intended I think, which I think is a fascinating case study in changing attitudes in spec fic given real-world technological advances.

    3 votes

  9. Comment on Three Cheers for Tildes: App updates and feedback (May 2024) — Version 1.0 is out for iOS! in ~tildes

    RheingoldRiver
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    Hi! I have a feature request: if a topic is marked as spoiler, could all replies to that topic be marked as spoiler in the commenters' profiles? (I would really love this to be implemented in the...

    Hi! I have a feature request: if a topic is marked as spoiler, could all replies to that topic be marked as spoiler in the commenters' profiles? (I would really love this to be implemented in the web version too, there's a gitlab ticket for it that's been open for a while)

    6 votes

  10. Comment on What your next water heater will look like in ~enviro

    RheingoldRiver
    Link Parent
    Electricity markets are also very weird because of physics constraints. There are times of day that it would make economic sense to pay you to consume electricity so that the circuits have the...

    Electricity markets are also very weird because of physics constraints. There are times of day that it would make economic sense to pay you to consume electricity so that the circuits have the correct amount of demand on them. I won't dispute that companies usually try to screw over customers, but in the case of electricity specifically, the variable pricing makes a lot of sense for everyone.

    source: I took a class about electricity markets in college as an elective and remember a little bit of what was discussed. We used this book if anyone is interested in further reading.

    1 vote

  11. Comment on Stops along a drive from Texas to Pennsylvania in ~travel

    RheingoldRiver
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    Near Pittsburgh is Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater house - not a way to break up the trip so much, but would be cool to visit when you are there!

    Near Pittsburgh is Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater house - not a way to break up the trip so much, but would be cool to visit when you are there!

    2 votes

  12. Comment on Tildes Book Club - Second nominations thread in ~books

    RheingoldRiver
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    I'm not exclusively audiobook but I definitely prefer audiobook

    lots of people are listening to audiobook versions (which there isn't one for HoL)

    I'm not exclusively audiobook but I definitely prefer audiobook

    2 votes

  13. Comment on Tildes Book Club - Second nominations thread in ~books

    RheingoldRiver
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    Kindred by Octavia Butler - it's been on my tbr for ages and I don't think I'll ever get around to it unless it's for a book club

    Kindred by Octavia Butler - it's been on my tbr for ages and I don't think I'll ever get around to it unless it's for a book club

    8 votes

  14. Comment on Happy 6th Birthday, Tildes! in ~tildes

    RheingoldRiver
    Link Parent
    what about the 5 screens of bbcode at the bottom of every page :D

    what about the 5 screens of bbcode at the bottom of every page :D

    15 votes

  15. Comment on Self published authors, how do you market your books? Nothing I've tried has had any success. in ~creative

    RheingoldRiver
    Link Parent
    I'm a little hesitant to recommend this but one option is of course to give away your books for free permanently on a website you host (just let people download epubs). The biggest downside of...

    I'm a little hesitant to recommend this but one option is of course to give away your books for free permanently on a website you host (just let people download epubs). The biggest downside of this (I mean other than that you make no money lol) is that a lot of people will assume your books are bad if they are free. But if you have some short fiction too, people might take a chance on your short fiction and then give your novel a go if they like it. Especially if it's in the same universe. But in this case quality is waaaaaaay more important than quantity because you need to make sure that everyone's first experience is positive.

    4 votes

  16. Comment on Self published authors, how do you market your books? Nothing I've tried has had any success. in ~creative

    RheingoldRiver
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    I don't think it should cost you anything? But I've never seen this from the author side, just the reader side. To be clear though, I am talking about the ebook, not a paper copy. I mean I guess...

    I'm curious about the free sales you mention... Would those end up.costing me, or is there a special type of sale you've seen where it doesn't cost anything as a promo?

    I don't think it should cost you anything? But I've never seen this from the author side, just the reader side. To be clear though, I am talking about the ebook, not a paper copy.

    I suppose that if I really want to reach folks though, I should just buckle down and figure it out.

    I mean I guess I'd ask what you want out of this. If you want to get more out of the time investment you put in previously, imo you are falling for the sunk cost fallacy & I might suggest moving on. If you think some time spent marketing can make you some returns now, then that's probably true if your book is good (or at least not bad lol), but you will have to put some regular time in. Marketing is a ton of work, if you aren't enjoying making the content it might not be worth it.

    1 vote

  17. Comment on Self published authors, how do you market your books? Nothing I've tried has had any success. in ~creative

    RheingoldRiver
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    Not an author but I read a lot and I used to be really really active on /r/fantasy, not so much since the api changes but this past month I've been posting again. I also wrote reviews for about 9...

    Not an author but I read a lot and I used to be really really active on /r/fantasy, not so much since the api changes but this past month I've been posting again. I also wrote reviews for about 9 months but I was finding it stressful so I stopped. My answer depends a bit on the genre, but I'm gonna assume it's some sort of genre fiction (SFF/romance/mystery/etc). And mostly I'll talk about spec fic cos that's what I read.

    There are a few places you want to be active, and I mean active not just talking about your own book but also reviewing other books, making recommendations, etc:

    • tiktok (booktok)
    • youtube (booktube)
    • instagram
    • reddit - the rest of the post will be about reddit

    Which subreddit(s) specifically depend on the genre. I'm mainly on /r/fantasy but other ones are /r/printsf, /r/romancenovels, etc, there's also a lot for REALLY specific subgenres like /r/cozyfantasy, /r/litrpg, etc. Different subreddits will have different self-promo rules so promote according to those. DO NOT overpromote yourself even within the rules like e.g. in the case of /r/fantasy there's a self-promo thread once a week, and sometimes authors will post about themselves every single week for months on end (which is allowed by the rules!) and the community will start to get very tired of this.

    I would recommend trying to participate in indie sales; there are several indie charity sales every year in the SFF space and I'm sure there are some in other genres too. And put your book on sale for $0 for a weekend when you post it to reddit - that's one of the best ways you can get people to at least put it on their kindle, and then maybe they'll read it when they are bored sometime, and if they like it, they might start talking about it.

    Oh also let me add that it sounds to me like you are using KU, and from what I've heard, some authors are leaving this as it pays really badly now and also some readers are very anti-amazon and will only buy your book if it's available on other platforms. So you may want to consider that too.

    4 votes

  18. Comment on Tildes Book Club - Next up The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin in ~books

    RheingoldRiver
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    spoiler It's possible that partially inspired it, but I just really like mobiles and I made a lot of mobiles for fun. I painted them to look like planets and I said something like "oh the book...
    spoiler It's possible that partially inspired it, but I just really like mobiles and I made a lot of mobiles for fun. I painted them to look like planets and I said something like "oh the book demonstrates that the society on each planet requires the existence of the other planet to stay stable because otherwise people would be upset and want to change but because the other planet exists, they have something to be opposed to, so they are stable in balance opposite each other....just like a mobile hahaha"

    which is like. not at all a real theme in the book? but if I wanted to make up a theme that a mobile would demonstrate it would be that, so I pretended it was lol

    1 vote

  19. Comment on Tildes Book Club - Next up The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin in ~books

  20. Comment on Tildes Book Club - Next up The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin in ~books

    RheingoldRiver
    Link Parent
    I have been marking the pings as "noise" every time, not sure if that works given they get upvoted too but maybe if we all do it?

    I have been marking the pings as "noise" every time, not sure if that works given they get upvoted too but maybe if we all do it?

    1 vote