0x29A's recent activity
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Comment on E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders in ~food
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Comment on What creative projects have you been working on? in ~creative
0x29A LinkContinuing music pursuits- learning more piano. Messing around with synths. Honing skills and absorbing all the inspiration I can to eventually transmute all of that input into hopefully some...Continuing music pursuits- learning more piano. Messing around with synths. Honing skills and absorbing all the inspiration I can to eventually transmute all of that input into hopefully some original tunes. Not in any structured way or anything. Just watching videos for technique and playing stuff by ear and learning some chords. Recorded a partial cover of a song for fun once I got the piano "riff" down.
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Comment on WebStorm and Rider are now free for non-commercial use in ~comp
0x29A Link ParentSublime Text is definitely my favorite editor. Paid for it and have no regrets. Blazing fast. Tiny, native, efficient. It embodies what modern software has forgotten. That said, still kudos to...Sublime Text is definitely my favorite editor. Paid for it and have no regrets. Blazing fast. Tiny, native, efficient. It embodies what modern software has forgotten.
That said, still kudos to Jetbrains for doing this. Free non-commercial licenses reduce barriers to learning skills, etc.
I might still give these a try in case they cover a particular use case in a way I really enjoy
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Comment on Intuit asked us to delete part of this Decoder episode in ~finance
0x29A LinkComms officer has gone and Streisand Effect'd the interview.Comms officer has gone and Streisand Effect'd the interview.
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Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music
0x29A LinkBelow are my faves from week of 10/11 which is what I've been checking out this week. Aside from new stuff, also been heavily listening to David Bazan in general and specifically a side project,...Below are my faves from week of 10/11 which is what I've been checking out this week.
Aside from new stuff, also been heavily listening to David Bazan in general and specifically a side project, Lo Tom. They're one of my favorite bands and one very consistently in rotation. Also Iress, Black Fucking Cancer, Harp, Groin, Arioch and a bunch of random individual tracks on shuffle (which is how I often listen in the car, so I can hear a lot of my collection in bits and pieces).
Clean-sung, instrumental, or otherwise non-extreme music.
HAEVN - Wide Awake
Dutch ambient-pop band with a very easy listening sound and a number of collaborations with artists and choirs that give some of their songs some international cultural influence. I wouldn't necessarily call it commercial but it is very slickly produced. That said, in this case I find that enjoyable, even if I feel it's "big" music in a "soundtrack to a film" kind of way.BABii - DareDeviil2000
Hyperpop / future-pop artist and one of the first of the genre that I've liked. It's much more laid back compared to most other pop in those subgenres. It still has plenty of genre crossover and lots of experimental and changing influences depending on the track, but it feels much more constructed rather than the typical hyperpop chaos.MASTER BOOT RECORD - HARDWAREZ
Heavy, chiptune/digital, instrumental, industrial-leaning metal from a veteran of the sound. Yet again, MBR does not disappoint. With tracks named after various computer parts, a price of $3.86 (I see what you did there) and a motherboard as the album art, MBR fully commits to their aesthetic, as expected. Always a fun listen.
Extreme heavy music (harsh vocals)
Vitriolic - Black Steel Vengeance
Blackened speed metal from Finland (that isn't obviously sketchy? Nice.) Fast, old-school, satanic. Classic old-school black/thrash riffs and production. Raspy, hellish, ghoulish vocals.Abberrator - Beckoning Tribulation
Death metal that sometimes leans into death/doom territory. Slow, doomy growling passages that morph into fast death metal blasts. Absolute barrage of death growls, filthy murky riffs, and an absolute wall of noisy and heavy drums.Bonus Record (any time, any genre, any reason)
Tomb Mold - Manor of Infinite Forms
Sophomore release from this Toronto death metal band and the release that introduced me to them. Massive mix here. Feedback, a few touches of progressive influence, deep growls, death/doom-style plodding and stomping interspersed with blasting sections. Just a wall of filthy death metal. All of their releases are worth a listen, especially this one.
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Comment on Kobo for a casual reader in ~books
0x29A LinkI got a Kobo Clara 2E because my extremely old Kindle Keyboard no longer worked (even after replacing the battery). I also wanted to move away from Amazon. I found a way to enable a simple...I got a Kobo Clara 2E because my extremely old Kindle Keyboard no longer worked (even after replacing the battery). I also wanted to move away from Amazon.
I found a way to enable a simple "sideload mode" on the 2E, which disables its online functionality and essentially makes it an "offline reader" that you load up with books via USB. It also cleans up the interface a bit. There are also some third-party configuration/firmware things you can use to truly customize things. With sideload mode, it makes it so you can't use DRM-based stuff like books you get from the Kindle or Kobo stores, which is fine with me because I avoid DRM anyway (and passionately hate it)
But in sideload mode it's the perfect reader for me because I want full manual control over loading e-books on the device directly. I'm not picky, and because the last e-reader I used was one from 14 years ago, the Kobo doesn't feel "slow" or clunky or bad at all and I've not had issues with it that others have mentioned.
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Comment on Big changes are coming to ArchiveBox! in ~tech
0x29A LinkThis is great. Love to see responses / actions like this in light of the Internet Archive situation. Helping create software to make archiving easier and more useful and to help strengthen...This is great. Love to see responses / actions like this in light of the Internet Archive situation. Helping create software to make archiving easier and more useful and to help strengthen peoples' ability to archive when that is being attacked.
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Comment on RIAA's flags latest piracy threats, sees a future for AI in ~tech
0x29A Link ParentThose trackers were so complete and had so much information, formats, details, tag quality, and availability of rare and out-of-print stuff, losing them was like losing a library of wonders. No...Those trackers were so complete and had so much information, formats, details, tag quality, and availability of rare and out-of-print stuff, losing them was like losing a library of wonders.
No legal means of acquiring music has ever come even close to matching the breadth, completeness, and abundance of choice. Certainly the music industry has tried to fill that void some by offering various things (streaming, etc) but they'll never be able to offer something that truly competes with what we had.
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Comment on Follow-up to an earlier topic I made about my hunt for a privacy-respecting notes app in ~tech
0x29A LinkI'm a fairly happy Joplin user, especially since it can have a more traditional "folders" view for organizing which I strongly prefer to tags or the "All Notes" kind of interfaces that most other...I'm a fairly happy Joplin user, especially since it can have a more traditional "folders" view for organizing which I strongly prefer to tags or the "All Notes" kind of interfaces that most other notes apps have where all of your notes sort-of intermingle and then you filter them with tags. For some reason explicitly having notes separate in folders and no overarching "All" view just is more comfortable for me. Seems like a wild nitpick but it really does make a difference.
The only issue I've had with it is that sometimes it seems very slow to sync/update on my iPhone. I use Backblaze B2 as an S3-compatible sync target. It's hit or miss though, sometimes it seems fast, other times it's been an issue where it doesn't want to sync automatically (or does so extremely slowly) when the iOS app is launched and I have to manually pull to get to my note quickly. This may have to do with my nitpicky iOS settings re: background refresh and so on, though. I should dig a bit deeper.
Otherwise I'm very happy and no cost to me at all. Nice to know about Notesnook though, it looks neat but does have that "tag/notebook instead of folder" interface that doesn't work as well for me
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Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music
0x29A (edited )LinkOct 4th favorites have been among what I've been listening to, here they are (updated with descriptions now): Clean-sung, instrumental, or otherwise non-extreme music. Hiemal - Yūgen Drone/dark...Oct 4th favorites have been among what I've been listening to, here they are (updated with descriptions now):
Clean-sung, instrumental, or otherwise non-extreme music.
Hiemal - Yūgen
Drone/dark ambient from France. Haunting, icy, windy, emotional ambient soundscapes. Amazing how music like this is so simple and yet extremely evocative. Listening to it can conjure all sorts of emotions and mental visuals (barren landscapes, weather, etc)Occults - Rituals
Post-punk/synth/goth from LA. Lots of familiar post-punk sounds here. Deep, rich, enjoyable vocals. Chorused guitar leads, tons of reverb.Balance and Composure - With You in Spirit
PA indie rock, but not just your everyday indie rock. They have a very specific sound. I don't know how to explain this, but the vibe of this band is incredible. Great vocal harmonies and songwriting where the choruses and song parts just really emotionally land super well. Very emotionally-connecting music and gorgeous guitarwork choices.Godspeed You! Black Emperor - NOTITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD
Ambient/post-rock legends return with an extremely relvant and poignant record, continuing with their embodiment of leftism, this time, but not the first time for the band, taking aim at the events in Gaza.Lowen - Do Not Go To War With The Demons Of Mazandaran
Clean sung and yet heavy as hell. Progressive doom / heavy metal from the UK. Beautiful middle-eastern influence throughout (lyrics, sounds, melodies). Heavy doom riffs with Nina's soaring (and sometimes layered) vocals on top. Progressive songwriting- tempo changes, constant movement, but without getting too extra with the musicianship. Beautiful mix of it all and as a perfect treat on top of it all: possibly the best album art of the year with a masterpiece by French artist Hervé Scott Flament.
Extreme heavy music (harsh vocals)
Morke - Forged In Steel and Love
Minnesota black metal project takes a turn into castle metal with this medieval, Obsequiae-inspired love letter to the subgenre. Dual harmonized guitar leads. Triumphant, majestic, and will transport you right into beautiful castle landscapes. Don your chain-mail and buy this record now!Cosmic Putrefaction - Emerald Fires Atop the Farewell Mountains
Death metal with doom, technical, and other influences. Swirling clouds of darkness and riffs. Spooky, spacey, low-tuned, and progressive. Cavernous, reverbed death growls and incredible drumwork.Agency - Iron Attrition
Crust/punk/hardcore from WV. Angry, fast, and ascerbic. Heavy, buzzing riffs, and mean vocals.Abhorration - Demonolatry
Blackened, thrashy death metal. More organic/raw production on this one. Fast, ripping, heavy, sharp. Complex guitar solos, piercing vocals, and an overall old-school feel.Undeath - More Insane
Hardcore-influenced death metal from NY. Fast and thrashy. For fans of: Gatecreeper, Tomb Mold -
Comment on Trans activists release 6,000 crickets on transphobic LGB Alliance conference in ~lgbt
0x29A (edited )Link ParentAnd more power to the activists. Bigots get what they deserve and what they deserve isn't civility, kindness, deference, or even being ignored. Not saying you said this but I am personally quite...And more power to the activists. Bigots get what they deserve and what they deserve isn't civility, kindness, deference, or even being ignored.
Not saying you said this but I am personally quite tired of the "aren't we being a little mean to the bigots?" sentiment I see often
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Comment on Why I don't play online anymore in ~games
0x29A LinkMultiplayer gaming was my thing decades ago but I've grown out of most of it. Rocket League is the only exception. 99% of my gaming these days is single player and i prefer it that way. Even if...Multiplayer gaming was my thing decades ago but I've grown out of most of it. Rocket League is the only exception. 99% of my gaming these days is single player and i prefer it that way. Even if it's an online / co-op game like an ARPG (PoE, etc) I am playing it solo the majority of the time.
I could potentially get into more co-op with friends if there was an amazing game for that (most co op is no longer interesting to me either)
Async or essentially zero-interaction can be fine (Backpack Battles, MTGA)
I generally avoid random online players completely at this point though. I do not want to deal with it, period. I don't even like being considered a "gamer" despite loving video games.
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Comment on Using winutil or MicroWin to disable Windows Recall is breaking File Explorer in ~tech
0x29A Link ParentThis. Would not be surprised if Recall gets re-enabled with every single damn Windows Update like a lot of their other garbage. I've literally "uninstalled" OneDrive before just to have it...This. Would not be surprised if Recall gets re-enabled with every single damn Windows Update like a lot of their other garbage. I've literally "uninstalled" OneDrive before just to have it force-reinstall after reboot, so I wouldn't be surprised. I hate MS with the fire of a thousand suns (and thankfully have abandoned MS products everywhere I feasibly can)
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Comment on WordPress.org’s latest move involves taking control of a WP Engine plugin in ~tech
0x29A LinkMatt continues with his latest chapter in showing he is absolutely unfit to lead a company, foundation, or to be any sense of an important figure in "open source" anything. He needs to step down...Matt continues with his latest chapter in showing he is absolutely unfit to lead a company, foundation, or to be any sense of an important figure in "open source" anything. He needs to step down and go away forever.
Any potential or initial "good point" or concern he may have ever had has been buried under absolutely asinine piles of ill will and petty behavior. I no longer even care if he had anything actually useful to say in the beginning, he surrounded it with bad faith from the beginning and continues it to this day. Any valid criticisms he has had are null and void given his actions
A manchild if there ever was one, and as a comment on the article states:
"He literally went from criticizing Musk to emulating him in a matter of months. "
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Comment on How does your HR department handle the deluge of job applications? And how does that affect you as a hiring manager? in ~talk
0x29A Link ParentYeah where I am moving to there are some union trade stuff like car chassis assembly etc, might be able to find a way into that or something elseYeah where I am moving to there are some union trade stuff like car chassis assembly etc, might be able to find a way into that or something else
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Comment on How does your HR department handle the deluge of job applications? And how does that affect you as a hiring manager? in ~talk
0x29A (edited )Link(EDIT: Sorry, guess this response is off-topic, but someone else recently telling me their experience and then my anxiety, and reading other posts here, caused me to rant about the absolutely...(EDIT: Sorry, guess this response is off-topic, but someone else recently telling me their experience and then my anxiety, and reading other posts here, caused me to rant about the absolutely asinine job market.)
Not sure what I'm going to do when I re-enter the job market in the future. I'm trying to postpone that as long as possible and give myself time to try to find other ways to make money and reduce my budget extensively, because I'm not looking forward to the job hunt process at all anymore.
No one calls back, your resume gets overlooked because of some technicality or some dingus that made a typo or decided to be overly zealous in their filtering, half of the companies don't behave in a way that i would ever want to work there anyway, requirements are ridiculous, pay sucks, and it's only worse now than it was 6-7 years ago when i did my last search. AI is making a mess of things. Job sites suck now too. There's a bunch of busywork BS you have to do (oh great, I upload my resume but then I still have to manually fill out a form that answers everything that my resume that I spent time working on answers? jesus christ).
Hoping I can just nope out of ever worrying about this again. I'm so cynical and jaded and done with the entire career landscape at this point. Maybe a reference from a prior job will get me somewhere, maybe not. Don't have any dreams or ambitions re: careers anymore. I just want out of the rat race altogether. I don't even care if I make a low amount of money now. Just want something bearable that will eventually cover my kept-small budget / living costs and just coast forever.
I know unemployed people with decades of experience in their fields that have been unemployed for years now and to this day, even after addressing things in their resume they thought might be getting them denied, they still get auto-denial after auto-denial. F the entire job landscape at this point.
Thinking about changing fields completely from what I have experience in and hoping I can land some union job that gives training for something I haven't done before and just go that route.
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Comment on What creative projects have you been working on? in ~creative
0x29A LinkStill continuing my "creative October" stuff. Have missed two days so far, but not going to beat myself up over it. The whole point is to just do what I can, no matter how big or small, but try to...Still continuing my "creative October" stuff. Have missed two days so far, but not going to beat myself up over it. The whole point is to just do what I can, no matter how big or small, but try to commit to at least one tiny thing (or as big as it ends up being) every day. Even if it's just spending time honing a skill for a few minutes. Just something to push me out of my "sit around all the time" state and get creative juices flowing.
So far: animated avatar gif, 88x31 button for my site, vector graphic for a blog post, a slightly animated pixel art gif, two quasi-haikus, a pixel art tarot card, a 30 second clip of playing around with synths/keys, some time spent setting up and starting to learn double-bass on my edrums.
Next: have a cover of Pedro the Lion's "Rejoice" in synths that I'm working on. Have a metal/powerviolence song lyric I'd like to create along with some music which is hopefully able to reflect my anti-generative AI stance without sounding too cheesy (current title is Adversarial Soul Preservation).
Not sure what other types of creative work I'll delve into. I have some ideas though. Photography will be involved at some point. Not sure what else.
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Comment on Moving wikis away from Fandom in ~tech
0x29A Link ParentYeah, I went back and edited my post to reflect "other alternatives" too. (wiki.gg is the main one I use instead of Fandom anytime I need a game wiki). And I specifically like that fact too- and...Yeah, I went back and edited my post to reflect "other alternatives" too. (wiki.gg is the main one I use instead of Fandom anytime I need a game wiki).
And I specifically like that fact too- and even think it's better than there are multiple alternatives/wiki sources. More wikis hosted across the web should be a thing. Especially ones that are not user hostile. Better to not centralize it all under one wiki host in case they go the Fandom route
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Comment on Moving wikis away from Fandom in ~tech
0x29A (edited )Link ParentIf you or anyone else is really interested in blocking ads in Steam browser, a network/DNS based ad-blocker (nextDNS, PiHole, other options) is one way to accomplish that. That said, the various...If you or anyone else is really interested in blocking ads in Steam browser, a network/DNS based ad-blocker (nextDNS, PiHole, other options) is one way to accomplish that. That said, the various options require anywhere from a lot to a moderate amount of tech knowledge and understanding of how to do it and the implications of doing it. It is nice to be able to block ads at the network level and not get them on any device in the house (or on cellular data, since i run the nextDNS app there)
As far as growth, it's all about how the owners of wiki.gg treat it. Fandom owners did not care at all, and made the ads incredibly intrusive, unrelated, inappropriate, and resource-intensive (videos, etc). They also did a number of other things (awful UI, lack of features/customization, irrelevant internal marketing, etc). They just made the site awful to use. It is possible for wiki.gg (and other alternative wiki services) to grow AND also treat readers better. In our society, yes, there's always the likelihood that it gets bought out, or owners sell out, or it enshittifies in some way, but that's not a guarantee.
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Comment on What creative projects have you been working on? in ~creative
0x29A Link ParentThanks! It is built on https://bearblog.dev/ I can't remember which one, but I applied a basic theme, but then inserted custom css / custom footer, edited the nav, etc. So just a...Thanks! It is built on https://bearblog.dev/
I can't remember which one, but I applied a basic theme, but then inserted custom css / custom footer, edited the nav, etc. So just a heavily-customized version of one of the existing themes. Have to work within the constraints of the system (but for now, and this might change, I like having a CMS type thing because it reduces the friction of writing and posting)
You know what, I realize now I had onions from Hardees today. Hopefully not the same supplier... I am not in an affected state (yet)