WiseassWolfOfYoitsu's recent activity

  1. Comment on Welcome to the millennial midlife crisis in ~life

    WiseassWolfOfYoitsu
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    tbh, I think the concept of generations is becoming less relevant with the acceleration of technology and societal changes. We've reached the point where we have generation defining events and...

    tbh, I think the concept of generations is becoming less relevant with the acceleration of technology and societal changes. We've reached the point where we have generation defining events and technological shifts happening 3-4 times in the duration of a traditional generation, where in the past they were often defined by some single event or even lack of major event.

  2. Comment on Welcome to the millennial midlife crisis in ~life

    WiseassWolfOfYoitsu
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    I like to refer to my early 80s self as a Xennial. There's a few year span in there that just feels different from the surrounding groups - growing up with the internet, but with it being young...

    I like to refer to my early 80s self as a Xennial. There's a few year span in there that just feels different from the surrounding groups - growing up with the internet, but with it being young enough in general use that we still remember The Before Times.

    10 votes

  3. Comment on The first crew launch of Boeing’s Starliner capsule is on hold indefinitely in ~space

    WiseassWolfOfYoitsu
    Link Parent
    When you look at the broader problems with things like the Artemis program, it honestly looks as much like corporate welfare as an actual attempt at a manned space program.

    When you look at the broader problems with things like the Artemis program, it honestly looks as much like corporate welfare as an actual attempt at a manned space program.

    9 votes

  4. Comment on The lunacy of Artemis in ~space

  5. Comment on "twitter.com" is now officially dead in ~tech

    WiseassWolfOfYoitsu
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    Yep, the X gets read as Xi (kind of like She). It's how I've been referring to it since the change.

    Yep, the X gets read as Xi (kind of like She). It's how I've been referring to it since the change.

    3 votes

  6. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    WiseassWolfOfYoitsu
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    Due to a recent decision by Windows to just not any more, I had to reinstall my OS... and I took the opportunity to switch to using Linux as my daily driver. This has been rather interesting on...

    Due to a recent decision by Windows to just not any more, I had to reinstall my OS... and I took the opportunity to switch to using Linux as my daily driver. This has been rather interesting on the gaming front. Quite a few games just work out of the box now, but I've actually been surprised by how well Proton works to make Windows-only games work.

    Some things are certainly harder though. I decided to reinstall Skyrim in a bout of nostalgia, and of course, one can't play Skyrim without mods. The modding scene is definitely a bit more setup involved than under Windows... although again, I was actually pleasantly surprised, since I gave it even odds of not working at all, especially complicated ones with SKSE. However, after the initial bit of complexity to get things installed, it really went quite smoothly. Time to start bashing heads (for like 20 minutes until suddenly everyone starts getting bow sniped from stealth again).

    Also been working on finishing up A=B, a somewhat mind bending programming puzzle game. Just a couple puzzles left to finish, although I still have about a third to optimize to hit the challenge targets.

    13 votes

  7. Comment on US Federal Trade Commission bans new noncompete agreements in ~life

    WiseassWolfOfYoitsu
    Link Parent
    States with lax rules have been using them as cudgels to force down pay by limiting mobility. I've heard about it in field such as nursing, for example.

    States with lax rules have been using them as cudgels to force down pay by limiting mobility. I've heard about it in field such as nursing, for example.

    4 votes

  8. Comment on Kroger’s panopticon: Making criminals of grocery shoppers in ~tech

    WiseassWolfOfYoitsu
    Link Parent
    Kroger likes trying to corner markets. For example, the city I'm in has 5 Kroger. Used to have a couple of Marsh stores, but Kroger bought them up, and one local store... which Kroger also bought...

    Kroger likes trying to corner markets. For example, the city I'm in has 5 Kroger. Used to have a couple of Marsh stores, but Kroger bought them up, and one local store... which Kroger also bought the property for and has since left it vacant. Other than that, there's just some Whole Foods types, a tiny local organic place, and then discount type stores (WalMart and Aldis). Kroger is essentially the entire middle part of the market where you're not wanting fancy organic food but want better quality than the others offer.

    That said, the number of Kroger in town does make for a bit of an interesting comparison - I've at various times had reason to stop in to all of them, and between different jobs/homes/commutes I've gone to three regularly (and a 4th would have been the most convenient, but...). One is the Fancy Kroger nestled near the upper middle class neighborhoods. It's like an average Kroger but with a bigger wine, organic food, and fancy cheese section, and more up to date furnishings. There are three of what I would describe as "normal middle class Kroger" on the other cardinal points of town - they're of varying age but generally have the same stuff products/amenities/etc. Then, there is downtown Kroger, sometimes referred to by townies as "KroGhetto". Less updated building, less fancier types of foods. It's across the street from one of the largest local homeless camps and is known for people getting stabbed in the parking lot a couple of times.

    These stores have VASTLY different surveillance/security/loss prevention profiles. The only time I've ever seen open security at Fancy Kroger is just before closing on Saturday night, and he looked bored and was mostly chatting with people in the entrance. Only a few things in the health care area were locked up and required an employee to access. The three middle Kroger have surveillance trailers with security cameras in the lot; late evenings they'd often have a cop car parked in the lot with an officer waiting. Similar in store protection. I've never seen them actually check a receipt at any of these, and even when people have set off the beeper on the door out, they usually just get waved through and it gets silenced.

    KroGhetto was definitely different. There would always be at least one uniformed and armed police officer walking the aisles, and 1-2 cars in the lot, in addition to the camera trailer. Outside dotted with security cameras and playing annoying music. Many products beyond basic staples locked up - most medications, health/hair/body care products, all the alcohol.

    Given how highly I rank "I'd rather not be stabbed" in life priorities, I don't go to downtown Kroger if I can help it. I get the impression the times I've been that most of the shoppers are people who walk/bike/bus from nearby lower budget neighborhoods and hence have relatively less choice, since the only other nearby grocery is one of the expensive whole foods types.

    17 votes

  9. Comment on I have now donated a full gallon of blood products! in ~health

    WiseassWolfOfYoitsu
    Link Parent
    I can barely handle just a blood draw for a test. Then again, I do have somewhat stubborn anemia, so don't do the best with reduced blood quantities. (Mind, the test blood draw is anxiety due to...

    I can barely handle just a blood draw for a test. Then again, I do have somewhat stubborn anemia, so don't do the best with reduced blood quantities. (Mind, the test blood draw is anxiety due to that rather than actual reduction of blood quantity from having a couple of tubes drawn)

    3 votes

  10. Comment on Hey, monthly mystery commenters, what's up with the hit-and-runs? in ~tildes

    WiseassWolfOfYoitsu
    (edited )
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    I have been a fairly infrequent commenter here. I think part of it is the lower churn rate compared to Reddit combined with some fairly hefty ADHD. I do hit and run commenting because I do hit and...

    I have been a fairly infrequent commenter here. I think part of it is the lower churn rate compared to Reddit combined with some fairly hefty ADHD. I do hit and run commenting because I do hit and run browsing - I pull up the site, read for a few minutes, then... go do something else. Read a book, play with the dog, etc. Come back in a day or two. As opposed to the 3 hours a day of Reddit that made conversations more practical.

    5 votes

  11. Comment on Cargo ship hits major bridge in Baltimore, triggering collapse (gifted link) in ~transport

    WiseassWolfOfYoitsu
    Link Parent
    There are objects referred to as Dolphins, but they're not cheap. A bridge in Florida that got hit by a ship in the 80s was rebuilt with them - you can see them on the map at...

    There are objects referred to as Dolphins, but they're not cheap. A bridge in Florida that got hit by a ship in the 80s was rebuilt with them - you can see them on the map at https://www.google.com/maps/search/sunshine+skyway/@27.6180265,-82.6554579,1158m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu. Just those protections cost $90mil in today's dollars, as they're essentially 10-30 meter diameter concrete and rebar cylinders that extend down to the bedrock with piers driven down in to the rock to stabilize them. The big ones near the center piers are 25ish meters across, for example.

    A regular fender would do nothing here. They're good for smaller ships, or ships going slow, but this ship was going an order of magnitude faster than even the toughest ones of those are rated for. You need something that's both fixed and has a significant fraction of the mass of the thing hitting it.

    11 votes

  12. Comment on Folks in those $100k+ jobs, corporate types, office workers... What would you say you actually do? in ~life

    WiseassWolfOfYoitsu
    Link Parent
    Knowledge bases are a huge thing, I'll second you on that just having someone who knows the right thing at the right meeting can literally save man-years of wasted effort. Sometimes those are...

    Knowledge bases are a huge thing, I'll second you on that just having someone who knows the right thing at the right meeting can literally save man-years of wasted effort. Sometimes those are technical, but often it can also be knowledge about the organization or detailed knowledge of its products as well, so you get people who are paid surprisingly well just because they have the tenure to have acquired that level of knowledge about the organization.

    4 votes

  13. Comment on Folks in those $100k+ jobs, corporate types, office workers... What would you say you actually do? in ~life

    WiseassWolfOfYoitsu
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    Military R&D software developer. There's government BS (lots of training, meetings, etc), but between that, I design software subsystems to work as part of broader communication networks, build...

    Military R&D software developer. There's government BS (lots of training, meetings, etc), but between that, I design software subsystems to work as part of broader communication networks, build prototype test hardware, repair and modify COTS/GOTS equipment (including being allowed to stick my grubby fingers into pieces of hardware that cost several times my yearly paycheck), and taking these things out into the field for tests, at test ranges both on land and at sea.

    That said, while I get to do pretty much all of those over the course of any given year, most of the time, it involves sitting at a desk and programming, albeit often with one or two of those silly expensive pieces of hardware sitting on the next desk over while I get the software talking to it; also, it often tends to be programming that requires some fairly specialized skills regarding high performance/security minded code as well as knowledge of how certain military systems and comms protocols work. To be honest, even as someone making over 100k, I could probably double or triple my salary moving in to the private sector given some of my skill areas, but govvie work has some benefits when it comes to things like more regular hours and time off vs private industry and my current paycheck is enough that I don't feel driven to go for more at the expense of quality of life.

    2 votes

  14. Comment on A mistake in a Tesla and a panicked final call: The death of Angela Chao in ~transport

    WiseassWolfOfYoitsu
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    This kind of thing is why I keep a window breaker in the center glove box of the car. Tiny little thing with a spring loaded striker with a ceramic or tungsten point. Just put it to the window and...

    This kind of thing is why I keep a window breaker in the center glove box of the car. Tiny little thing with a spring loaded striker with a ceramic or tungsten point. Just put it to the window and push, and the tempered glass window will completely shatter.

    Not this exact model, but this kind of thing: https://adventureswithpurpose.com/products/window-breakers

    12 votes

  15. Comment on DoD updates telework policy for the first time since 2012 in ~life

  16. Comment on Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce and a MAGA meltdown in ~misc

    WiseassWolfOfYoitsu
    Link Parent
    There was a recent survey that showed it to be true of Gen Z. Not of the general public though - only of the youngest demographic group.

    There was a recent survey that showed it to be true of Gen Z. Not of the general public though - only of the youngest demographic group.

    5 votes

  17. Comment on Extreme metal guitar skills linked to intrasexual competition, but not mating success in ~science

  18. Comment on Welcome to Sealand, the world's smallest state in ~humanities.history

    WiseassWolfOfYoitsu
    Link Parent
    Possibly related to the newer Canadian law mandating that all services show a minimum percentage Canadian produced content for Canadian viewers?

    Possibly related to the newer Canadian law mandating that all services show a minimum percentage Canadian produced content for Canadian viewers?

    1 vote

  19. Comment on ChatGPT is leaking passwords from private conversations of its users, Ars reader says in ~tech

    WiseassWolfOfYoitsu
    Link Parent
    Yep, posted too quickly without reading deeply enough and conflated the two issues. There are problems with ChatGPT consuming data and spitting it out to other users, but that is not what is being...

    Yep, posted too quickly without reading deeply enough and conflated the two issues. There are problems with ChatGPT consuming data and spitting it out to other users, but that is not what is being seen in this case, thank for the correction.

    9 votes

  20. Comment on ChatGPT is leaking passwords from private conversations of its users, Ars reader says in ~tech

    WiseassWolfOfYoitsu
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    Related to the post a few days ago about criminals crafting ChatGPT searches to get data out of the engine, apparently they've decided to skip and step and just start handing it out without...

    Related to the post a few days ago about criminals crafting ChatGPT searches to get data out of the engine, apparently they've decided to skip and step and just start handing it out without prompting. As part of an unrelated conversation with an unrelated user, ChatGPT divulged credentials and secure links (with even more credentials embedded in the URLs) to a pharmacy management system. It really causes some wonder about how the internals of ChatGPT function with respect to user data - it looks like there are no rails at all, anything that anyone ever enters impacts and is potentially available verbatim to every other user.

    8 votes