papasquat's recent activity
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Comment on What's something you're "in too deep" on? in ~talk
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Comment on Grok AI generates images of ‘minors in minimal clothing’ in ~tech
papasquat Link ParentYeah, this stuff is so frustrating. It seems like a company's AI product can do literally anything, and the most we hear from the company is "oopsie. We made a booboo. This stuff is really hard!"...Yeah, this stuff is so frustrating. It seems like a company's AI product can do literally anything, and the most we hear from the company is "oopsie. We made a booboo. This stuff is really hard!" and that's it.
If a random guy was posting CSAM on his Twitter account, he'd have the PD kicking his door down within a couple of hours and be branded as a predator for life.
When a multi billionaire does it, he doesn't even have to give a serious comment when asked about it.
This trend of treating LLMs as wild uncontrollable animals with conscious thoughts has to stop. They're machines that act the way they do because of their programming. The people doing the programing have to be held responsible.
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Comment on Not-so-humble brag: What are you proud of that you don't normally get to talk about? in ~talk
papasquat Link ParentDo you ever do this trick? "Let me go to the bathroom. Time to take my meds! Oh, I should check my email for that important email. What was I doing? Oh right, my meds. Gulp 30 minute later...Do you ever do this trick?
"Let me go to the bathroom. Time to take my meds! Oh, I should check my email for that important email. What was I doing? Oh right, my meds. Gulp 30 minute later grinding my teeth and starting to feel incredibly uncomfortable oh shit... I guess I actually did take my meds before I got distracted. Fuck."
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Comment on Not-so-humble brag: What are you proud of that you don't normally get to talk about? in ~talk
papasquat Link ParentSame here. It took me a while to dial in what medication schedule worked for me. I started out on methylphenidate, but I found that it gave me bad headaches. I switched to an extended release...Same here. It took me a while to dial in what medication schedule worked for me. I started out on methylphenidate, but I found that it gave me bad headaches. I switched to an extended release amphetamine. I initially took it only on work days, but I found I became depressed and massively unproductive on the weekends, basically having mini withdrawals. I've been on every day since then. I initially had reservations on essentially intentionally becoming an amphetamine addict, at least physiologically, but I'm a lot happier and more content with my life when I'm on medication than not, so for me, I've rationally decided with my doctor that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
I've also noticed the ability to rationally think about why minor frustrations cause me a flash of rage, and am able to handle that in a much more healthy way when I'm medicated and mindful about how my mind works. Before, I would get angry for hours if a notification popped up at the wrong time on my phone, but now I am usually just annoyed.
It's useful for me to think back at the times that ADHD let me do things that a more "neurotypical" brain would struggle with.
I became obsessed with the idea of learning piano a few years back. I got a midi keyboard and binged online piano lessons for 16 hours straight one weekend and somewhat decently learned how to play at a very beginning level in one night.
I of course abandoned the entire idea after a few months, but I made some pretty great progress as an adult that had never touched a piano, learned a few songs, got exposed to a new skill and had some fun.
I get a lot of enjoyment out of those hyper fixation sessions and have had a lot of exposure to a lot of diverse activities and skills over my life because of it, in a way that most of my friends and family never get to experience.
Finding jobs, lifestyles, hobbies, friends and partners that fit well with that frenetic chaos is the key to being content with ADHD I think.
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Comment on What video games would you say have the best stories? Feel free to suggest more than one. in ~games
papasquat LinkGrim Fandango is my favorite game of all time. It's an old school Lucasarts adventure game based around the Mexican day of the dead. You play as a grim reaper tasked with getting souls from the...Grim Fandango is my favorite game of all time. It's an old school Lucasarts adventure game based around the Mexican day of the dead.
You play as a grim reaper tasked with getting souls from the land of the living to their final resting place. In practical terms in the land of the dead, that means you're a travel agent, and the whole game is based on a guy doing a very mundane job in a very fantastical universe going on a big adventure.
It's an adventure game, so the actual gameplay is dialog and solving puzzles. That sort of thing would probably be called a "walking simulator" these days. The art, music, atmosphere, writing, setting and plot are all incredible though. I got very invested in the characters and plot and still regularly replay the game to this day.
My second favorite game is from the same era, and it's an RTS. Homeworld, from 1998. It has very heavy emotional moments and a grand, civilization sweeping space opera story. The gameplay is what you'd expect from an RTS campaign, except you keep the same fleet from mission to mission, so you feel a sense of progress as the fleet and the technology that makes it up advances.
It has a lot of very interesting story beats and twists, and an incredible orchestral soundtrack. There have been a few sequels but unfortunately none of them quite match the emotional investment I had in the first game.
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Comment on Not-so-humble brag: What are you proud of that you don't normally get to talk about? in ~talk
papasquat Link ParentThey really are! I feel like I got into them so late, and at a particularly bad time, considering the US government effectively just banned all foreign drone parts (literally like 99% of them in...They really are!
I feel like I got into them so late, and at a particularly bad time, considering the US government effectively just banned all foreign drone parts (literally like 99% of them in the hobbyist space). We'll see if that puts a damper on things, so far so good though.
It's a really fun thing that I'd highly recommend to anyone into tinkering/maker/open source software type stuff.
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Comment on Life: Your personal year in review for 2025 in ~life
papasquat Link ParentIs my understanding of stoicism wrong? It seems to me that that attitude is exactly what stoicism is about. That is, you are in control of your happiness, since your happiness only exists because...Is my understanding of stoicism wrong? It seems to me that that attitude is exactly what stoicism is about.
That is, you are in control of your happiness, since your happiness only exists because of your thoughts about the world around you, and you have control of your thoughts.
What's the key difference in your mind?
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Comment on Rapid swings between pro-EV and anti-EV US policies have disrupted long-term planning, forcing Ford, GM, and Stellantis to scramble to reshape their strategy in ~society
papasquat Link ParentThat's just a series hybrid power train. It sounds like EREV is just a new vehicle category made up mostly for marketing purposes? The BMW i3 as noted in another comment has always been a series...That's just a series hybrid power train. It sounds like EREV is just a new vehicle category made up mostly for marketing purposes? The BMW i3 as noted in another comment has always been a series hybrid, and Nissan has been producing them for 15 years or so.
It greatly simplifies the power train which is why it's attractive to manufacturers.
So it seems like a hybrid is any vehicle powered by both a combustion engine and electric motors. A PHEV is a subset of hybrids consisting of a vehicle that can be recharged either via shore power or an internal generator. A EREV is a subset of PHEVs consisting of any vehicle with a series hybrid power train and "relatively large" traction battery?
They've done a really good job of making this extremely confusing for consumers.
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Comment on Rapid swings between pro-EV and anti-EV US policies have disrupted long-term planning, forcing Ford, GM, and Stellantis to scramble to reshape their strategy in ~society
papasquat Link ParentHonestly even if Chinese auto makers were allowed to be sold in the US, or if US manufacturers were able to make cars of a similar quality and price as Chinese EVs, I think they'd still lose money...Honestly even if Chinese auto makers were allowed to be sold in the US, or if US manufacturers were able to make cars of a similar quality and price as Chinese EVs, I think they'd still lose money here.
The regulatory and cultural environment in the US are so different than that of Asia or the EU that comparing the two apples to apples really doesn't make any sense.
The main way to change the environment so that EVs become more popular here is policy, but I don't see that happening in the next 3 years, so I really don't see the American auto market being disrupted anytime soon, either by domestic or foreign brands.
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Comment on Not-so-humble brag: What are you proud of that you don't normally get to talk about? in ~talk
papasquat Link ParentI was 35 before I got an ADHD diagnosis. In retrospect, it was extremely obvious all growing up that I had pretty serious executive function issues. Learning about it and getting on medication has...I was 35 before I got an ADHD diagnosis. In retrospect, it was extremely obvious all growing up that I had pretty serious executive function issues. Learning about it and getting on medication has helped me so much. Being consistently productive has helped my well being more than anything else.
Hopefully you're able to find medications and systems that work for you too! It's a very freeing thing to realize, and although it's often talked about in negative terms, there are lots of positive aspects of ADHD as well. Once I learned that, and realized with some introspection that having my brain work the way it does gives me weird superpowers in certain situations, I was able to play to my strengths more, and avoid my weaknesses.
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Comment on Not-so-humble brag: What are you proud of that you don't normally get to talk about? in ~talk
papasquat LinkI've gotten really into fpv drones over the past year. In that time, my piloting skill yes, but especially my electronics and hardware knowledge has grown massively. I've built two drones now, and...I've gotten really into fpv drones over the past year. In that time, my piloting skill yes, but especially my electronics and hardware knowledge has grown massively. I've built two drones now, and I find those skills being applied to all sorts of other electronics projects around my house. I've gotten decent at soldering, understanding digitial PWM signaling and lots of other stuff. This has resulted in me spending a lot of time soldering together addressable LED light strings for our Christmas lights, lighting for my laundry room and bias lighting for behind our tv.
I've also done a few other little electronics projects, like home brew soil moisture sensors using ESP-32s. I've always been into messing with software and networking stuff, but there's a certain cool tactile reward that comes from actually building something with blinking lights.
I still know barely nothing about electronics (the concept of capacitance and inductance and how they interact feels like black magic to me), and I doubt I'll ever gain even a moderate level of skill at it, but it's been a cool hobby and something I never thought I'd be able to get into.
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Comment on Congestion pricing = accessible transit in ~transport
papasquat LinkI see complaints about this mainly from A. People who don't live in NYC, and have never even been to NYC, or any other large city where traffic is horrendous or B. People that, for some absolutely...I see complaints about this mainly from
A. People who don't live in NYC, and have never even been to NYC, or any other large city where traffic is horrendous
or
B. People that, for some absolutely insane reason, commute to lower Manhattan for some reason
Group B is well off enough that this law really doesn't effect them much, and if they truly do insist on driving still, will help them save a good deal of time. Group A is totally irrelevant.
Admittedly, I'm sort of group A myself, but I did grow up in the area, and still go up there pretty frequently, so I'm familiar with the problem at least.
Driving into lower Manhattan for any reason unless you're required to do so for your job (you're a maintenance worker, a cab driver, a cop, firefighter, and so on) is insane, irrational behavior in 99% of cases.
The only people I ever knew who did it were people who actually hated their lives and the excuse of sitting in traffic for two hours was better than dealing with whatever was waiting at home for them, or people who were so afraid of people of color that the thought of potentially interacting with them on the MTA was worse than spending that much extra time and toll money every day.
It was an insane thing to do even before the congestion pricing, but it's nice to see that the pricing is dissuading even more people. I'm wondering what the effects will be when the cost starts ramping up. I'm expect curious if the increasing costs will lead to more MTA revenue, or just even fewer people driving in lower Manhattan. Both would be good things.
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Comment on Nvidia-backed Starcloud trains first AI model in space in ~space
papasquat Link ParentThe only potential reason I could think of, and this is a reaaaaaal stretch, would be for image processing. If you put the AI compute into space, you could mount hundreds of extremely high...The only potential reason I could think of, and this is a reaaaaaal stretch, would be for image processing. If you put the AI compute into space, you could mount hundreds of extremely high resolution cameras on the satellite and run the image processing in the satellite itself, where streaming that data back to earth with processing would take up a ridiculous amount of bandwidth.
It's probably still way more cost effective to use a powerful directional microwave array or laser transmission systems and brute force the bandwidth with WDM, but maybe there's a tipping point where that becomes unfeasible. The two big applications I could think of would be surveillance (think, running an AI models to scan terabytes of images taken over an entire country for an instance of a license plate using temporal stitching methods to create even higher resolution images), or weather and climate science (scanning extremely high resolution images to track climate change and early indicators of weather).
In the former instance, if you want to use that data for targeting, latency matters a lot. When you're guiding a missile moving at 4 times the speed of sound, 400 MS of latency because of data transfer is the difference between hitting a target and leveling a random building.
It's probably cheaper to do this stuff on the ground, but I don't have any insight into the real costs and technical limitations here.
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Comment on Are you still using social media? in ~tech
papasquat Link ParentI think the thing that a lot of us discovered is that even the promise that social media has isn't actually desirable. Facebooks initial pitch was "stay in touch with all your old friends!". I...I think the thing that a lot of us discovered is that even the promise that social media has isn't actually desirable.
Facebooks initial pitch was "stay in touch with all your old friends!". I discovered I had hundreds and hundreds of old college classmates, roommates, coworkers, exes, people I knew in highschool and so on on my friends list. I never messaged any of them, I'm not really interested in their lives, and if it weren't for Facebook I probably would have forgotten their existence. I realized I'd be better off if I did.
If they were truly important to me, I'd still be in touch with them. The fact that I'm not means that they're not, so what's the point of being "friends" with them?
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Comment on Are you still using social media? in ~tech
papasquat Link ParentI don't even know what social media is anymore I guess, because people keep lumping in WhatsApp, discord, slack, whatever else. To me those are just messaging platforms, like signal or iMessage or...I don't even know what social media is anymore I guess, because people keep lumping in WhatsApp, discord, slack, whatever else. To me those are just messaging platforms, like signal or iMessage or IRC or whatever. Is there a meaningful difference there that I'm not getting, or maybe some features that I'm not aware of that push them into social media territory?
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Comment on US voter opinions about inflation and consumer prices look very bad for Donald Trump in ~society
papasquat Link ParentIt's fundemental to how the system works. It's a negative feedback loop. If a party has a significant shortfall in voters, they adjust their platforms and messaging to gain more. If one party...It's fundemental to how the system works. It's a negative feedback loop. If a party has a significant shortfall in voters, they adjust their platforms and messaging to gain more. If one party starts a winning streak, people start blaming their problems on them and the challenging party gets to capitalize on those weaknesses, and the cycle starts again.
It's always going to find an equilibrium setpoint because that's how first past the post systems inevitably work.
It's like how two connected lakes will always have the same water level given enough time.
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Comment on US voter opinions about inflation and consumer prices look very bad for Donald Trump in ~society
papasquat Link ParentAll of this is true, but I think the biggest point is that it does not matter how trump is handling the economy. I don't think anyone with half a braincell really thought Trump would handle the...All of this is true, but I think the biggest point is that it does not matter how trump is handling the economy.
I don't think anyone with half a braincell really thought Trump would handle the economy well.
They voted for him for ideological and tribal reasons, against their own interests in most cases. They wanted him to piss off people they don't like, and he's done a very, very good job of that. Focusing on polling asking about how he's handling the economy is cherrypicked nonsense that really isn't relevant.
His base is going to vote for him no matter what, because the economy isn't actually what they care about. They could have their house forclosed on, be fired from their job, and forced to live in the streets, and they'd still support Trump for sticking it to the libs.
It's shocking that after so long, we still don't understand this, and keep writing articles that some day, all of these people who have never looked at the evidence or seen reason will finally see the light.
They'll insist he's the best president to ever exist despite any evidence until the day they die. It's an identity for them, not a rational choice.
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Comment on Bringing back the battleship? - Railguns, US shipbuilding and a 35,000 ton bad idea? in ~engineering
papasquat Link ParentThe most offensive part of that to me is that it's a "Trump Class Battleship", of which the lead ship is the "USS Defiant"... But it's not a "Defiant Class Battleship" somehow. Let's just break...The most offensive part of that to me is that it's a "Trump Class Battleship", of which the lead ship is the "USS Defiant"... But it's not a "Defiant Class Battleship" somehow.
Let's just break 350+ years of US navy class naming convention for no reason.
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Comment on I feel that Destin (SmarterEveryDay on Youtube) is straying from the path in ~talk
papasquat (edited )LinkEh, I don't share his beliefs, but I don't have any issues with people who believe in God, or are religious, even devoutly so, as long as they're not using it to promote harm, or being overly...- Exemplary
Eh, I don't share his beliefs, but I don't have any issues with people who believe in God, or are religious, even devoutly so, as long as they're not using it to promote harm, or being overly preachy/prostheletizing.
I don't see Destin as ever doing any of those things. He's obviously a Christian, and it's an important part of his life, so I'd expect that his channel, which is largely based on him as a person, would share a little bit of that. I don't think he's a creationist or anti science at all. I don't see any problem with saying "this thing is cool and I want to thank God that things like this exist"
I have similar feelings as an atheist when I'm excited about something; not about God obviously, but I get thankful that things exist the way they do, and I'm certain if I were religious, I'd be specifically thanking God about it.
About the Sir thing, yes, it's 100% a cultural southern US thing. I live here and moved down from the northeast when I was a kid, and it was very jarring to me back then too. A lot of my friends called their parents sir/ma'am growing up, and I even got in trouble a few times for not also calling them sir/ma'am. It's not explicitly a religious thing, even though there is a strong correlation. I agree that it also makes me uncomfortable, but I'd chalk that up more to a me problem than a them problem; it's definitely very common down here, if not a norm. It's not only radical Christians that do it, although most of them definitely do.
Overall, no, I don't have any issues with him. He's a southerner, and very much is part of southern culture, but he's never been racist, ignorant, mean spirited, abusive, or overzealous as far as I know, so he's a ok in my book. He also seems like a very nice guy.
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Comment on Help me enjoy Baldur's Gate 3 in ~games
papasquat LinkBG3 is an RPG, and it's a CRPG in the classic meaning of the word. You are playing a role, just like if you were roleplaying in the pen and paper version of dungeons and dragons. As such, there...BG3 is an RPG, and it's a CRPG in the classic meaning of the word. You are playing a role, just like if you were roleplaying in the pen and paper version of dungeons and dragons.
As such, there are literally thousands of ways the game can progress, just like there are in real life. As such, there will always be content on a given playthrough that you will never see.
There will always be outcomes based on decisions you made that are unexpected. That doesn't mean you made the wrong decision, or you need to restart the game.
Restarting the game and making a different decision based on outside knowledge you now have sort of goes against the spirit of the genre. In a pen and paper RPG, it would be considered metagaming, and the DM would most likely forbid it, because the whole point is to make choices that you then see the outcomes of, and you live with those choices.
I'd encourage you to just choose the type of character you want to be, and make choices that you think that character would make, and just live with them. Don't look up "optimal" choices, or try to min max the game, because doing that just exposed the gamey mechanical parts and ruins some of the magic behind why roleplaying games are interesting in the first place.
So in summary, just chill out, make your decisions boldly, and live with the consequences.
Man, I feel a lot differently about it still than you it seems like.
I've also spent a lot of time and money into self hosting a lot, and it breaks a lot.
(It's gotten a lot more reliable over time, but still, breaking updates happen every so often, and I have to relearn everything).
I often sit back and wonder if any of it is worth it, or if I would have been better getting all apple everything, spending the 10 bucks a month or whatever for iCloud storage and never worrying about any of it.