balooga's recent activity
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Comment on IO Interactive announces plans to lay off unknown number of employees after Xbox pulled funding and publishing support for its in-development project codenamed "Project Fantasy" in ~games
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Comment on I need more hilariously awful pick up lines to make my wife roll her eyes at me in ~talk
balooga Link ParentThat’s about as funny as a screen door on a battleship.That’s about as funny as a screen door on a battleship.
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Comment on I need more hilariously awful pick up lines to make my wife roll her eyes at me in ~talk
balooga Link ParentMy college roommate used to carry a sugar packet everywhere he went, just so he’d always be prepared to use this one, lol. You never know when the opportunity might strike!Hey girl, you dropped your name tag. Hand her a packet of sugar
My college roommate used to carry a sugar packet everywhere he went, just so he’d always be prepared to use this one, lol. You never know when the opportunity might strike!
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Comment on Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles in ~games
balooga LinkMan, I used to get rankled about this sort of thing but I just don’t anymore. The PS5’s internal SSD read speeds are literally 120x faster than those of its Blu-ray drive. This means discs are...Man, I used to get rankled about this sort of thing but I just don’t anymore. The PS5’s internal SSD read speeds are literally 120x faster than those of its Blu-ray drive. This means discs are only actually used for game installation and license verification anyway, because there just isn’t the bandwidth to play from optical media directly. And discs are susceptible to physical damage over time; so a disc is in effect just a non-replaceable key to content that lives elsewhere, whereas your PlayStation Store purchase keys are safely backed up in the cloud.
Now it’s true that the disc contains the game data too, so I hear the local archivist argument, but let’s be honest: That really only matters if you’re trying to preserve the release version 1.0.0 of a particular game. Kinda sucks if that game is, say, No Man’s Sky or Cyberpunk 2077. Even with a disc you’re going to be downloading updates after installation. It’s also worth pointing out that the disc format tops out at 100 GB capacity, which games are increasingly exceeding. So then you’ve got to either ship multiple discs in the case, or just ship a mostly empty disc that holds an installer that downloads from the web. So pointless and wasteful.
None of this changes the fact that physical media is ownership and digital downloads are revocable licenses. That remains a real problem. But what we should be pushing for is DRM-free downloads, self-hosted or local console data backups, and third-party game marketplaces… not the continuance of legacy formats that are growing more irrelevant every year.
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Comment on Odd gestures in public in ~tech
balooga LinkI don’t think I’m going to be truly happy with future smart tech until there is a safe, non-invasive bidirectional brain-computer interface that runs 100% on-device locally, that’s pocket-size and...I don’t think I’m going to be truly happy with future smart tech until there is a safe, non-invasive bidirectional brain-computer interface that runs 100% on-device locally, that’s pocket-size and doesn’t obstruct any part of my body.
And I suspect that’s literally not possible under any current understanding of physics, so we’re just going to have to make amends with endlessly encroaching dystopia for the rest our lives.
Because we can’t just, y’know, change direction. Or heaven forbid, reverse course.
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Comment on Reddit will require you to be logged in to use old.reddit.com in ~tech
balooga Link ParentI haven’t seen that one before… seems to work pretty well! Thanks for the link!I haven’t seen that one before… seems to work pretty well! Thanks for the link!
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Comment on Reddit will require you to be logged in to use old.reddit.com in ~tech
balooga Link ParentHonestly, I’m stunned that they’ve kept it online as long as they have. It was always meant to be a temporary concession while they transitioned over to the redesign. It’s been over eight years...Honestly, I’m stunned that they’ve kept it online as long as they have. It was always meant to be a temporary concession while they transitioned over to the redesign. It’s been over eight years now. For comparison, old.reddit.com is older than GDPR, Avengers: Infinity War, the Thai cave rescue, Red Dead Redemption 2, and the Notre Dame fire. Crazy! Feels weird even referring to the current look of Reddit as a “redesign,” connoting newness, when plenty of other sites would already be talking about how old this design is and how the site’s probably due to replace it with something even newer.
I mean, I’m with you… I think of it that way too. It’s just hard to believe they didn’t pull the plug on old. ages ago. I remember being sure its days were numbered the day they announced the thing. I figured we’d only have it for a few months at best. It’s hard to be mad about that.
I walked away from Reddit (for real this time) in the 2023 exodus and haven’t looked back. Of course, web searches will still lead me back to it on occasion but I’m not browsing it anymore. When I do end up there, old. is essential. But they’ve already been making it harder for years by blocking VPN users. This is just another hurdle.
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Comment on I made a satirical AI detector in ~tech
balooga Link ParentNot X. Not Y. A full helping of Z. That’s what makes it so tragically perfect.Not X. Not Y.
A full helping of Z.
That’s what makes it so tragically perfect.
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Comment on The local weather in ~society
balooga LinkI’m not sure what to make of this. It’s an interesting, dystopian vignette. It reads like sci-fi but it’s not. I think it pretty effectively encapsulates the weirdness of the times we’re living in...I’m not sure what to make of this. It’s an interesting, dystopian vignette. It reads like sci-fi but it’s not. I think it pretty effectively encapsulates the weirdness of the times we’re living in right now. I wish he had more of a point to make, but maybe I’m just blind to the subtext. I’m not familiar with this blogger or other things he’s written, to be able to piece together more meaning.
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Comment on Mullvad CEO gives ≈€452,000 to the Örebro Party in ~society
balooga Link ParentNot sure I agree with that. Google may benefit from a standpoint of trademark security, but when everyone uses “google” generically they benefit from brand recognition, which is arguably more...Not sure I agree with that. Google may benefit from a standpoint of trademark security, but when everyone uses “google” generically they benefit from brand recognition, which is arguably more valuable to them. Especially in these hyper-competitive times, when the staying power of search engines as an entire category is on the rocks, they want their name on your lips. When no one is saying “google” anymore they’ve lost the mind share battle to Claude or whatever.
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Comment on Mullvad CEO gives ≈€452,000 to the Örebro Party in ~society
balooga Link ParentEww. That’s obnoxious. If we’re just talking about the tone of a company’s branding and comms… I want my VPN provider to be serious, professional, and responsive. Not puerile and vaguely...Eww. That’s obnoxious. If we’re just talking about the tone of a company’s branding and comms… I want my VPN provider to be serious, professional, and responsive. Not puerile and vaguely homophobic NSFW jokes. Instant red flag.
That’s not even mentioning the shady crypto-bro scheme. Don’t want my data going anywhere near a company that thinks like that. (It’s worth mentioning that Mullvad accepts payments in crypto, but that’s specifically to facilitate anonymity — it’s not a coin they devised or control being used as a side hustle.)
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Comment on Mullvad CEO gives ≈€452,000 to the Örebro Party in ~society
balooga LinkI’ve been mulling over (heh) this news since it was posted here and I’m really torn. Mullvad is a great service. It works well and the client is frequently updated with improvements. From a...I’ve been mulling over (heh) this news since it was posted here and I’m really torn. Mullvad is a great service. It works well and the client is frequently updated with improvements. From a privacy standpoint they’re doing everything exactly right… they’re the gold standard of what this kind of company should be.
I’m not anywhere near Sweden and don’t know much about its politics but obviously I don’t want to fund fascist anti-immigration movements anywhere. Ugh.
When I first started using VPN services many years ago I was proud of my decision to use Private Internet Access. They were doing everything right, and I loved the endorsement / involvement of Rick Falkvinge. After a few years I realized Falkvinge had at some point quietly parted ways with PIA — sus! — and of course their acquisition by Kape Technologies was bad, bad news. If you can’t trust your VPN provider, what’s even the point? Just from a basic opsec/privacy standpoint, I had to jump ship.
After a pretty lengthy research phase I landed on Mullvad. It was following all the same best practices that initially won me over to PIA, going even further in some respects. Not being operated from a Five Eyes country was a nice bonus. So is the fact that (AFAIK) Mullvad’s never been one of those spammy VPNs with all the aggressive YouTube and podcast marketing campaigns. As far as I’m aware Mullvad remains uncompromised by hacks, leaks, breaches, etc. and their third-party audits always come back clean.
So yeah, I’m torn. I’m a satisfied customer! I don’t think there are any better alternatives on the market right now. Mullvad has earned my trust.
…but fascism. Argh! Why is it always fascism?! 😩
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Comment on Tildes Game Giveaway: June 2026 in ~games
balooga Link ParentHonestly this is an old grudge of mine that I guess I've gotten over... but the lore and worldbuilding of the Animus and the present-day search for lost historical secrets in the first few games...Honestly this is an old grudge of mine that I guess I've gotten over... but the lore and worldbuilding of the Animus and the present-day search for lost historical secrets in the first few games was amazing. Particularly the Ezio trilogy. I was a huge fan of that. And then AC3 completely lost the plot. It set up a lame meme-y 2012 Mayan calendar apocalypse threat, failed to resolve anything meaningfully, and painted the franchise into a corner that it couldn't proceed from.
Ever since then it's been a weird mishmash of concepts that don't really cohere. More vibes than story. I haven't played all of them but I remember being especially annoyed by Rogue (the weird Black Flag spin-off that released on previous-gen consoles at the same time Unity came out for next-gen ones). Origins was effectively a series reboot, not in terms of lore but it changed a lot of the core gameplay loops and mechanics, and added skill trees and light RPG-style progression. I like most of those changes tbh, though I miss the old-style parkour which was slower and more strategic. Anyway the present-day elements have really been sidelined and they basically just pay it lip service now so they can still justify the Assassin's Creed branding. I'd love a return to the mystique of the early series but I'm mostly okay with that if it means no scrawny white dudes in Detroit.
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Comment on Anyone want to try a theme? in ~tildes
balooga Link ParentTildes is a great candidate for custom styles! This one isn’t my particular cup of tea but I love that it exists. May others follow!Tildes is a great candidate for custom styles! This one isn’t my particular cup of tea but I love that it exists. May others follow!
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Comment on Anyone want to try a theme? in ~tildes
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Comment on Tildes Game Giveaway: June 2026 in ~games
balooga Link ParentI loved Origins too! Nobody ever talks about that one but it was great fun. Both Origins and Valhalla have educational modes, more like a museum exhibit than a game, where you can explore the...I loved Origins too! Nobody ever talks about that one but it was great fun. Both Origins and Valhalla have educational modes, more like a museum exhibit than a game, where you can explore the region with all the combat removed and learn some history. I give props to Ubisoft for adding that completely unnecessary content. It's not something anybody asked for but they did it anyway. It shows off the care they took in researching these eras and recreating the real-world environments digitally.
I might be wrong but I don't think the other Assassin's Creed titles included anything like that.
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Comment on Tildes Game Giveaway: June 2026 in ~games
balooga Link ParentValhalla's surprisingly good, I've logged many hours in that one myself. Never finished it, actually, I got lost in all the side content.Valhalla's surprisingly good, I've logged many hours in that one myself. Never finished it, actually, I got lost in all the side content.
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Comment on Tildes Game Giveaway: June 2026 in ~games
balooga (edited )Link ParentDamn, kfwyre! What a list! I’m interested in Monument Valley and Sonic Frontiers. Thank you! FYI your Stunt Paradise link points to the wrong URL. I didn’t check all of them but did notice that....Damn, kfwyre! What a list!
I’m interested in Monument Valley and Sonic Frontiers. Thank you!
FYI your Stunt Paradise link points to the wrong URL. I didn’t check all of them but did notice that.
ETA my reasons for those picks: Nostalgia, mainly. I’m an old-school fan of Ron Gilbert’s point-n-clicks (see the Secret of Monkey Island CGA I hosted awhile back) and 2D Sonic platformers. I haven’t been wowed much by Sonic since, well, I guess Sonic Adventure 2 (excepting the fantastic Sonic Mania) but the open world concept in Frontiers looks interesting and I’ve been curious about it.
Edited, again: Derp, I was thinking of Thimbleweed Park when I saw Monument Valley but I recognized the name because it’s another title I’ve been interested in. Oops! My request stands, lol.
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Comment on 4 × 3 in ~games
balooga Link ParentSounds like he’s not confident about publishing new daily puzzles over the long term. I hope he can! They’re tricky to design well! Because I wouldn’t expect any one person to commit to so much...Sounds like he’s not confident about publishing new daily puzzles over the long term. I hope he can! They’re tricky to design well!
Because I wouldn’t expect any one person to commit to so much for a (free) puzzle game, I wanted to see how good ChatGPT is at designing puzzles for it. I used the same prompt three times to see if it would produce unique ones or if it would keep revisiting the same themes. That’s too small of a sample size but I’m still impressed with what it came up with. Formalizing a list of previously used words/categories to exclude would probably help.
Puzzle 1
STOUT BREEZE CALL-UP SKETCH DRAFT LAGER OUTLINE GUST CONSCRIPTION Answers
Purple — Compulsory military recruitment
DRAFT, CALL-UP, CONSCRIPTIONBlue — Preliminary versions or plans
DRAFT, SKETCH, OUTLINEGreen — Beer terms
DRAFT, STOUT, LAGERYellow — Air currents
DRAFT, BREEZE, GUSTHub word: DRAFT.
Puzzle 2
SUMATRA RUBY EDUCATION JOE PYTHON JAVA BALI BEDROCK MUD Answers
Purple — Minecraft product/edition names
JAVA, BEDROCK, EDUCATIONBlue — Indonesian islands
JAVA, BALI, SUMATRAGreen — Programming languages
JAVA, PYTHON, RUBYYellow — Coffee slang
JAVA, JOE, MUDHub word: JAVA.
Puzzle 3
STING CREST CORK SEA OTTER PRINCE CAP WALRUS STAMP SEAL Answers
Purple — Mononymous musicians
SEAL, PRINCE, STINGBlue — Official marks or emblems
SEAL, STAMP, CRESTGreen — Close a bottle/container
SEAL, CORK, CAPYellow — Marine mammals
SEAL, WALRUS, SEA OTTERHub word: SEAL.
I think all three of these are pretty solid. Each took an average of 2:15 to generate with GPT-5.5 which is way faster than it would’ve taken me (and presumably also Hank, his intelligence notwithstanding).
The prompt I used
Create a new puzzle for Hank Green’s 4x3 puzzle game.
This is similar to the NYT Connections game, but there are only 9 words instead of 12. One of those words is the “hub” word, which appears in all four categories. All of the other words only fit into a single category. Each category contains only three words. Care must be taken to ensure that the categories are specific enough and mutually exclusive, so that no word fits into multiple categories (except the hub word, which fits in all of them).
What I need from you:
- The list of all nine words, shuffled.
- The list of four categories, each followed by the three words from the main list that belong to that category.
- The colors assigned to each category — purple, blue, green, and yellow, representing their relative difficulties from hardest to easiest respectively.
For our puzzle purposes, “words” are usually but not always single words; sometimes they are two or three words long but always as brief as possible. Proper names are allowed, as are occasional word fragments or words in foreign languages.
The categories themselves follow the same rules as those of Connections, which can vary quite a bit. Research examples of common category types in that game to understand the conventions that players expect.
Be clever! The best puzzles are the ones with red herrings, where two words that are not in the same category have something unrelated in common, suggesting a relationship between them, but no third word is present that would complete that set.
Before presenting your puzzle to me, double-check it thoroughly to ensure that all the requirements have been satisfied. Make sure each category has exactly three matching words, and that the hub word appears once in every category. Check for category specificity, accuracy, and overall puzzle cleverness.
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Comment on Signs you're a dangerous terrorist: using Signal, moving zines in ~society
balooga Link ParentYou’re both right, and I was stretching too far to suggest there was no crime committed. I’m sympathetic to Song and the others but they did some reckless, irresponsible shit. Not 100 years...You’re both right, and I was stretching too far to suggest there was no crime committed. I’m sympathetic to Song and the others but they did some reckless, irresponsible shit. Not 100 years reckless and irresponsible, but still criminal.
At the same time, I expect the person whose murder Song averted is grateful to still be alive. There’s no legal path to intervene meaningfully against impending police abuse.
Ugh. Honor your agreements, people. If you commit to something and later regret it, suck it up and make different agreements next time. But have a little integrity.