0d_billie's recent activity

  1. Comment on What does ChatGPT know about you? in ~tech

    0d_billie
    Link Parent
    That’s crazy cool, but also kinda terrifying!

    That’s crazy cool, but also kinda terrifying!

    2 votes

  2. Comment on Travel essentials: eight items to pack for your next trip – and what to leave at home in ~travel

    0d_billie
    Link Parent
    I have started doing the same and it is an absolute game changer. I've got to assume it's to do with the familiar smell, however subconscious the awareness of that is

    The big game changer for me is packing my bed pillows. There’s always ample room in a checked bag and they make a huge difference on sleep quality.

    I have started doing the same and it is an absolute game changer. I've got to assume it's to do with the familiar smell, however subconscious the awareness of that is

  3. Comment on What does ChatGPT know about you? in ~tech

    0d_billie
    Link
    I won’t share all of it, but I have no recollection of telling ChatGPT to stop giving administrative commands with sudo:

    I won’t share all of it, but I have no recollection of telling ChatGPT to stop giving administrative commands with sudo:

    You are typically logged in as root, so you don’t need sudo in command examples.

    6 votes

  4. Comment on The top 100 things I'd do if I ever became an evil overlord (1996) in ~books

    0d_billie
    Link
    I misread the title as "evil landlord" and it was quite entertaining reading through the list with that particular lens

    I misread the title as "evil landlord" and it was quite entertaining reading through the list with that particular lens

    7 votes

  5. Comment on I want to learn to draw on my iPad in ~creative

    0d_billie
    Link Parent
    This is really very good advice. When I first started learning to play the guitar, this is what I did. I didn't bother with a course, I just started trying to play songs I liked. I think it let me...

    But I would also content that it's not necessary to strictly follow any course. As a self-learner, what you should do is find what you really want to draw, even if it's hard, and just keep trying it. Watch endless tutorials on youtube. For 90% of people, what they want to draw is... people. But they keep psyching themselves out and spent their time drawing 250 boxes and get burnt out. Just draw humans. That's what'll keep you interested, and therefore that's what's best.

    This is really very good advice. When I first started learning to play the guitar, this is what I did. I didn't bother with a course, I just started trying to play songs I liked. I think it let me advance a lot more quickly than a structured course. Somehow, 20 years on from that beginning, I seem to have forgotten that "just fucking do it" is the often best way to learn a new hobby. Thanks for the reminder!

    11 votes

  6. Comment on I want to learn to draw on my iPad in ~creative

    0d_billie
    Link
    Off-topic musings about the semantics of the title I struggled to sum this one up very succinctly. For me the existing title suggest that I can already draw, but not on an iPad, and want to...
    Off-topic musings about the semantics of the title I struggled to sum this one up very succinctly. For me the existing title suggest that I can already draw, but not on an iPad, and want to transfer those skills. But I want to learn to draw _and_ learn to draw on my iPad. Idk, I'm definitely overthinking this, but I'm still failing to come up with an adequate title!
    4 votes

  7. I want to learn to draw on my iPad

    ~creative Ask (advice)
    I have recently found myself wanting to learn to draw. I have very minimal visual arts skills, and feel much more comfortable with a musical instrument than a sketchbook. I would like to change...

    I have recently found myself wanting to learn to draw. I have very minimal visual arts skills, and feel much more comfortable with a musical instrument than a sketchbook. I would like to change that, not to become some exceptional artist or anything, but because I like the idea of being able to just sketch and draw and doodle in my spare time.

    I have an iPad, Apple Pencil, and ProCreate, but I don't really know where to begin. I would be most likely learning to use ProCreate at the same time as learning to draw, although I don't know if that's a bad idea or not.

    Are there books, online courses, YouTube videos that you would recommend for a complete beginner?

    25 votes

  8. Comment on Donald Trump Department of Justice is looking at ways to ban transgender Americans from owning guns, sources say in ~lgbt

    0d_billie
    Link
    What a fucking bleak outcome from an already bleak event. And yet somehow it was blindingly obvious that this attack would be used to further withdraw trans rights. It is with some trepidation...

    What a fucking bleak outcome from an already bleak event. And yet somehow it was blindingly obvious that this attack would be used to further withdraw trans rights.

    It is with some trepidation that I watch all of this nastiness unfold from across the pond, since the UK seems determined to import as much of it as possible. I hope my American siblings are managing to stay safe and connected to community at the moment.

    10 votes

  9. Comment on Glow-in-the-dark succulents could be the future of ambient lighting in ~science

    0d_billie
    Link Parent
    … How do they intend to prohibit propagation?

    … How do they intend to prohibit propagation?

    2 votes

  10. Comment on What's a question you could ask to determine if someone is an expert in your line of work? in ~talk

    0d_billie
    Link Parent
    Mint is a really good shout for this. It’s a familiar enough environment that your father should feel well at home :) You could have a try with elementary OS as well; it’s somewhat opinionated,...

    Mint is a really good shout for this. It’s a familiar enough environment that your father should feel well at home :)

    You could have a try with elementary OS as well; it’s somewhat opinionated, but it’s clean and simple, and a doddle for a less computer-savvy person to use.

    2 votes

  11. Comment on What's a question you could ask to determine if someone is an expert in your line of work? in ~talk

    0d_billie
    Link Parent
    Linux Consultant, but close enough! Distro-wise I like Debian for servers. Rock solid and with great compatibility. It’s rare that I’ll need something that isn’t already packaged for Debian on my...

    Linux Consultant, but close enough!

    Distro-wise I like Debian for servers. Rock solid and with great compatibility. It’s rare that I’ll need something that isn’t already packaged for Debian on my servers.

    For a personal computer that can depend on what you’re up to. Debian (or a derivative like Mint) is pretty good here too, but if you’re eager to try lots of new packages and applications that are in active development then you can end up with a pretty janky system that doesn’t update super gracefully.

    I cut my teeth with Arch Linux, which was a brutal introduction where I made a lot of mistakes and had to reinstall my OS a ton. But for learning it was unmatched, and the Arch wiki is second to none. You have access to just about every package under the sun.

    2 votes

  12. Comment on What's a question you could ask to determine if someone is an expert in your line of work? in ~talk

    0d_billie
    Link Parent
    I should go to more of those! Preaching the gospel of OG Sapir-Whorf might also get the blood suitably boiling. Or failing that, just straight up Skinnerian behaviourism.

    I should go to more of those! Preaching the gospel of OG Sapir-Whorf might also get the blood suitably boiling.

    Or failing that, just straight up Skinnerian behaviourism.

    3 votes

  13. Comment on What's a question you could ask to determine if someone is an expert in your line of work? in ~talk

    0d_billie
    Link
    Interesting question, and one I’m not sure I have an answer to for my actual job. Linux is such a wide and varied subject matter; there’s not necessarily one thing I could ask to figure out...

    Interesting question, and one I’m not sure I have an answer to for my actual job. Linux is such a wide and varied subject matter; there’s not necessarily one thing I could ask to figure out exactly how much of an expert someone may or may not be. Maybe I’d ask how to find and replace every instance of a given string in a number of text files. Or like, their preference for SSH key algorithms or something.

    For people opining about language I think I’d ask which of the generative and constructivist schools they fall more into. Every linguist I speak to has an opinion about it, and it’s a quick way to sift the “I have opinions about language and here they are” type from the “I am a linguist and here are some cool facts” ones.

    24 votes

  14. Comment on Five major misfires that derailed Russell T Davies' second Doctor Who era in ~tv

    0d_billie
    Link Parent
    Nobody dislikes Doctor Who like Doctor Who fans, to paraphrase an old adage. I quite liked the last couple of seasons too. I think they did suffer from having a lot of setup that went nowhere, or...

    Nobody dislikes Doctor Who like Doctor Who fans, to paraphrase an old adage.

    I quite liked the last couple of seasons too. I think they did suffer from having a lot of setup that went nowhere, or had payoff that was ultimately dissatisfying. But the overall quality of the individual episodes was pretty high. I do wish we’d had more time with Gatwa’s Doctor, and both companions. I especially feel like we didn’t get to know Belinda well enough.

    I do think the show would benefit from a long hiatus. Like, in the order of 10-15 years. Let a generation of kids grow up not having seen it, let today’s new TV writers cut their teeth on other stuff first, get a feel for the stories they want to tell. And then when the time is ripe for another go, pass the torch. Forget about Moffat, Chibnall, and Davies and give the helm to someone new. Do a big, in-world narrative reset (akin to the off-screen Time War between classic Who and Nu Who). Give the show time to rest and, well, regenerate.

    6 votes

  15. Comment on Troubling scenes from an Arctic in full-tilt crisis. The heat that hit Svalbard in February was so intense that scientists could dig into the ground with spoons, "like it was soft ice cream." in ~enviro

    0d_billie
    Link Parent
    I’ve been increasingly of this opinion too. I don’t believe that climate change will wipe out humanity, but I am mostly convinced that it will be bad enough that the global population will settle...

    I’ve been increasingly of this opinion too. I don’t believe that climate change will wipe out humanity, but I am mostly convinced that it will be bad enough that the global population will settle somewhere towards pre-industrial revolution levels. Enough for pretty much all technology to be come mostly unsustainable and unusable. Enough for our descendants in a couple of hundred years to wonder about this race of giants that walked the lands before them.

    4 votes

  16. Comment on Victories and challenges: An A[u]DHD community and support fortnightly thread #5 in ~health.mental

    0d_billie
    Link
    I’m getting to grips with the fact that I’m quite probably autistic. All of my article-reading, quiz-taking, video-watching, and conversation-having seem to point to that conclusion. But there’s a...

    I’m getting to grips with the fact that I’m quite probably autistic. All of my article-reading, quiz-taking, video-watching, and conversation-having seem to point to that conclusion. But there’s a part of me that still rails against the idea that I am autistic and not just socially anxious, a little awkward, and millennially burned out. Part of that is doubtless stigma and internalised negativity.

    To some extent, I don’t feel“autistic enough” to warrant the label. It feels like my capacity to muddle or brute-force my way through life’s changes and social situations is such that I feel like claiming this label for myself would be insensitive to those who have more intense needs than I. That’s a remarkably similar situation to how it felt coming out as trans, notably.

    Realistically the only thing that changes if I do get diagnosed (self- or otherwise) is that I come to understand myself better, and perhaps have more ammunition by which to forgive myself when I don’t meet my expectations. My additional support needs are minimal to non-existent, and I can’t see my way to lessening my parental, professional, or …partnerial (romantic, but I really wanted that triple alliteration dammit) responsibilities as a result of “coming out” as autistic. So really, what would the label be for, other than as a heuristic for other people to box me into a set of their own prejudiced expectations? I can learn to accept and love myself as how I am without having to define myself as having autism.

    I think a huge thing that I’ve been struggling with (and this might actually be really autistic of me) is seeing these influencers online whose whole output is about autism. They (seem to) construct their whole identity around a diagnosis and it makes me feel like I would need to do the same. And maybe that’s the thing that I’m railing against. I don’t want to define myself by this, just as I didn’t and don’t want to define myself by my transness. I am a musician, linguist, writer, parent, fiancée, gamer. I want to define myself by what I do, not what I am. If I do get diagnosed (self or otherwise) then I feel like I would have to review everything in my life through this additional lens of what I am, not what I do. And… I don’t wanna.

    I don’t know. This is my fourth or fifth attempt at writing this comment, just on this iteration of the post. I’ve been trying to get it out for some time, and I can never seem to manage to. I still don’t necessarily feel like I’ve properly said what I want to. I’m finally going to hit Post though, because I’ve been drafting for at least an hour and I should really get dressed.

    9 votes

  17. Comment on A less affectionate approach to technology in ~tech

    0d_billie
    Link Parent
    Ditto the UK, and much of Europe.

    Ditto the UK, and much of Europe.

    6 votes

  18. Comment on European VPN recommendations in ~tech

    0d_billie
    Link Parent
    This is the approach I’ve been considering, except possibly with OpenVPN instead of WireGuard (I’m just more familiar with it). I prefer to be in control, plus it gives me another server to tinker...

    This is the approach I’ve been considering, except possibly with OpenVPN instead of WireGuard (I’m just more familiar with it). I prefer to be in control, plus it gives me another server to tinker with 😁

    1 vote

  19. Comment on European VPN recommendations in ~tech

    0d_billie
    Link Parent
    Does Albanian YouTube not have ads?

    Does Albanian YouTube not have ads?

    2 votes

  20. Comment on What silly complaints would your pets try to report? in ~life.pets

    0d_billie
    Link
    Cosmonaut would like to lodge a complaint with ground control that they are not sufficiently enthused by the 3:30am zoomies, and nor do they even attempt to get up and zoom with him. Honestly,...

    Cosmonaut would like to lodge a complaint with ground control that they are not sufficiently enthused by the 3:30am zoomies, and nor do they even attempt to get up and zoom with him. Honestly, you’d think the damn humans weren’t on call, the way they just try to roll back over and sleep.

    And then, when he tries to remind them of their duties, his (definitely) gentle maul nibble of their toes beneath the blanket seems to initially work. One human (the shorter one, usually) arises fast and quick like a cat, elevating his hopes for a zooming partner. But no. They toss him out of his bedroom and close the door!

    Appalling behaviour, and absolutely no way to run a mission.

    8 votes