0x29A's recent activity

  1. Comment on Starlink Direct to Cell in ~tech

    0x29A
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Billionaires are indeed monsters, regardless of their personality or how kind they seem. Hell, if they still own or are worth billions, they're monsters even regardless of whether they're...

    Billionaires are indeed monsters, regardless of their personality or how kind they seem. Hell, if they still own or are worth billions, they're monsters even regardless of whether they're philanthropic, IMO. TBH, I could not care less about whether or not I know billionaires or other similarly extremely rich people personally. I also could not care less if they seem "like a good person"

    Simply owning or being worth that much money, in my eyes, is inherently immoral. No one deserves that much wealth. No one should be allowed to keep that much wealth. This even includes the ones some people think are the "good ones" or the "exceptions". Even some of them that have "foundations" that may or may not do good work. There may indeed be one or two exceptions out there, but I remain even skeptical of those. There is no kindness large enough to hide the monstrosity of their wealth unless they give 95+% of it away. Yes, this may include your favorite musician.

    No war but class war.

    5 votes

  2. Comment on Is anyone planning to play Path of Exile 2? in ~games

    0x29A
    (edited )
    Link
    Yes, and will probably pay for early access too. PoE1 is one of my favorite games. A few years ago, I considered PoE1 too intimidating and overwhelming and a game I'd never be able to get into...

    Yes, and will probably pay for early access too. PoE1 is one of my favorite games.

    A few years ago, I considered PoE1 too intimidating and overwhelming and a game I'd never be able to get into because of how complex it seemed, but now I'm glad I played anyway and got accustomed to its systems. A friend convinced me to dive in a bit more, and I'm glad they did.

    I won't deny the systems are intimidating but I think people get intimidated by it too easily. No, it's not going to hold your hand (and yes I do personally think GGG could do more to help players learn these systems during their first playthrough), but these are all things i thought but then found out aren't so bad, so I wanted to speak to them here, in case it's putting off people from trying to get into the series:

    • "oh god way too many currencies" - don't think of them simply as currencies. they're more like items that serve very specific purposes. you can think of it as an expanded idea of items in something like Diablo (runes, charms, gems, scrolls etc) - it's just that, many of them are very specific in PoE to certain mechanics. the base set of currency items you deal with on a daily basis is a small subset of them, and they're very easy to understand. town portal scrolls, identify scrolls, items that increase a gear's rarity, items that reroll the mods on gear, items that add/roll sockets on gear, etc. a lot of the "currencies" are simply crafting tools or league-specific things.

    • "oh god, the skill tree is enormous" - yes, but, the skill tree accommodates all characters (vs the "every char has their own isolated tree" like a lot of RPGs), and different characters start in different places, and the actual "portion" of the tree you'll be interacting with is a lot smaller than you think. if you zoom out and see a huge tree of 1000 nodes and think its overwhelming, sure- but those aren't your choices. at the beginning of the game, often you just have two different branches you can start on. so your choices aren't 1000, but instead 2. yes it grows more complex over time, but that gives PoE builds unrivaled flexibility. you can eventually branch out your tree into other areas, depending on the type of build you're going for and your gear.

    if you play through the campaign and just experiment, you can get a grasp on the mechanics and design philosophy of the game, and I think many, like me, will find out that it looks FAR more intimidating than it actually is. yes, it has plenty of complexity, but as you play you can grasp it all pretty easily, and information on the wiki/web is abundant when you do have questions.

    As far as PoE2, it will grow likely to be just as complex, and yes it has large skill trees, but they have streamlined skill gems a bit while making them complex in new and cool ways. They've streamlined the second tree (atlas) for the endgame and made it a bit easier to get at a glance. And, most importantly, PoE2, especially if you get in early (either beta or final release), you'll be getting in at ground zero, instead of having years worth of updates and changes like PoE1 has had.

    The complexity is worth it, not as intimidating as it seems, and gives the game plenty of flexibility that other games (that often very much streamline you into a boring few choices) don't. I understand that's still not for everyone, but I do think a lot of people should give PoE in general more of a chance than they do

    7 votes

  3. Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music

    0x29A
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    Listening to releases from week of Nov 8, 2024, and my faves are as follows: Clean-sung, instrumental, or otherwise non-extreme music. Black Rain - Neuromancer Ambient industrial, originally...

    Listening to releases from week of Nov 8, 2024, and my faves are as follows:

    Clean-sung, instrumental, or otherwise non-extreme music.

    Black Rain - Neuromancer
    Ambient industrial, originally written to be the soundtrack to the 10th anniversary audiobook release of Neuromancer, now seeing its first full release as a standalone album. Cyberpunk atmosphere full of indifferent machines, rain, fog, and cold air. Computer sounds, suspenseful drones, and a deep story being told with sounds alone.
     

    Extreme heavy music (harsh vocals)

    Morke - Forged in Steel and Love
    Minnesota castle metal from Morke. Triumphant, medieval, optimistic yet complex. Regal dual guitar leads and majestic atmospheres. For fans of Obsequiae and Weald & Woe and features a cover of Agalloch's Falling Snow.

    Auriferous Flame - The Insurrectionists And The Caretakers
    Ayloss from Spectral Lore/Mystras continues the Auriferous Flame project with a third release. Explores themes of revolution. Dark, fercocious, atmospheric, and black/thrash aggression. As the description says, think of it as 'castle black metal'.

    Molder - Catastrophic Reconfiguration
    Filthy, dirty death metal from Illinois. Beefy, heavy riffs. Wild fast solos. Old school songwriting and death growls. Everything soaked in reverb.

    Valontuoja - Luonnon Armoilla
    Melancholic Finnish atmopsheric black metal. Desolate soundscapes. The sound perfectly matches the album cover. This is a swirling blizzard of black metal that instantly emits themes of nature, despair, and the weight of solitude. Subdued, quietly mixed screams and shrieks. Melodic and sad guitar sections. Plenty of variety and energy musically.
     

  4. Comment on Ten free ebooks for getting free (Haymarket Books giveaway until Nov 25th, I think) in ~books

  5. Comment on Follow up on the username thread: What Tildes users do you recognize when browsing and, without being rude or inflammatory, what is your impression of them? in ~tildes

    0x29A
    Link Parent
    Aw, thanks!! Made my day :)

    Aw, thanks!! Made my day :)

    2 votes

  6. Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music

    0x29A
    (edited )
    Link
    Mostly been listening to releases from 11/1 to make my faves list. Link (or spoilered LONG post below) Faves for the week of 11/1/24 Or you can view them in a spoilerbox (forgot this was an option...

    Mostly been listening to releases from 11/1 to make my faves list. Link (or spoilered LONG post below)

    Faves for the week of 11/1/24

    Or you can view them in a spoilerbox (forgot this was an option until now)

    Click to view long list

    Clean-sung, instrumental, or otherwise non-extreme music.

    Bubble Tea and Cigarettes - We Should Have Killed Each Other
    Whispery dream pop / indie rock that may or may not be an intentional nod to Cigarettes After Sex. Beautiful soft warm indie rock guitars, piano/synths, and an overall ethereal atmosphere.

    Leaving Time - Angel In The Sand
    Energetic, heavy shoegaze/indie rock. Perfect soundtrack for driving. Minimal, simple, and effective vocals. Great drumming and song structures here too. Has an energy that makes you want to move which is a bit opposite of the classic shoegaze atmosphere.

    Fionn Regan - O Avalanche
    Indie folk from Ireland. Not really traditional folk, more like standard folk-rock/singer-songwriter. Borrows the reverb and light and easy vocals you'd hear in other genres like shoegaze and combines that with the acoustic guitar and more folk-sounding instrumentation. Crisp, ringing, shiny acoustic strums and gentle vocal melodies and layering.

    Flower Face - Girl Prometheus
    Indie acoustic folk/rock from Canada. Gentle vocals, gliding steel-guitar like atmospheres with piano, picked guitar chords, but progresses into big bombastic atmospheric indie rock and then back to whispery silence. The album is constantly playing with dynamics and contrasts and makes a hell of a statement in doing so.

    Deary - Aurelia
    Continuing a very common theme throughout this week and really, a lot of my softer music listening in recent years, with this dream pop from London. Like many other artists from this week, you've got the laid back whispery vocals, reverbed guitars, and beautiful atmopshere.

    The Cure - Songs of a Lost World
    A band that really needs no introduction or explanation. These english goth rock legends return for their first release in 16 years, and buck the trend often seen with these older bands that come out of hibernation by actually releasing something very strong that stands up to the rest of their catalog. Most bands that resurrect like this do themselves a disservice, but The Cure have avoided that pitfall.

    Neon Nightmare - Faded Dream
    A guilt-free way to listen for Type-O fans who rightfully can't stand Steele's awful views and lyrics- Neon Nightmare is a Type-O Negative worshipping (to the point of sounding extremely similar) goth doom metal/rock band from the US that executes the sound wonderfully. Just forget Type-O ever existed and listen to this instead. Neon Nightmare gets to own the sound now.

    Tribulation - Sub Rosa in Aeternum
    Third goth release on the list this week. I've always enjoyed Tribulation, but I understand their middle era (featuring harsh vocals but with increasing goth rock attitude and less metal musically) was a contrast of sounds that didn't work for some listeners, especially fans of the early Tribulation releases.This time, they've leaned much heavier into the goth rock sound, and I think they've actually nailed it. Many more cleans, and still a few harsh vocals. But a refined, well-chosen placement of both. As was the recent Poltergeist release, I think this is yet another goth rock/metal release that is outshining Unto Others' latest a little bit, exposing their flaws a bit more in comparison. It feels like the expected conclusion of Tribulation's trajectory so far and I think it succeeds more because of leaning into it, instead of straddling the line like their last few releases. I enjoy all Tribulation, but I definitely feel like their strongest output chronologically bookends everything else in between.
     

    Extreme heavy music (harsh vocals)

    Gravekvlt - Full Moon Fever
    Step aside Devil Master and Zorn, a third horror punk/metal with chorus-soaked guitarwork has entered the arena, and they kick ass! The album is name your price on bandcamp as well? Sold! Horror themes, fast punk energy, aggressive black/thrash-like vocals, this is pure fun.

    Vampirska - A Liminal Heart Paints the Deepest Shade of Serenity
    Vampiric, melodic black metal that seems to avoid the sketchines often associated with the subgenre. Some goth rock influence- pianos and melodies that would not be out of place there, but it's all soaked in an aggressive layer of black metal. Because of this it leans a bit more bright and melodic at points than one would expect for a black metal project on the raw side. It works great, though. It doesn't get too post-metal, nor does it sound like a carbon copy of every other bedroom black metal band.

    Paganizer - Flesh Requiem
    This remains my favorite Rogga project of them all. High quality Swedish HM-2 death metal. Great riffs and aggressive, sharp death growls. This project just has the right polish and stands out as a lot better than their HM-2 peers.

    Petrale - The World Down There
    Avant-garde/dissonant black metal with pained shrieking vocals, punky drums, and lots of dissonance and plenty of interesting songwriting. The entire thing has a very spooky air about it. Given that the lyrical themes are incredibly specific and unintentionally-humorously described on metallum as "Manifestations of the Devil in a rural Mediterranean Catholic area" it all makes sense. I wouldn't expect music with those themes to sound like anything other than exactly what Petrale does.

    Rotborn - Shrapnels of a Panic Spiral
    Brazilian death metal that has influence from Suffocation, Krisiun, and others. Very Suffocation-like vocals and palm-muted guitar chugs. They used AI art on their last release, but since the new one seems to have avoided that trend, I'll grant this an exception, though I am torn about including it at all.

    Lifesick - Loved by None, Hated by All
    HM-2 hardcore / death metal mashup from Denmark. Aggressive hardcore yelling vocals, sawblade HM-2 death metal guitars, and songwriting that falls somewhere in between.

    Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean - Sisyphean Cruelty
    Now this is heavy. Sludge in the vein of Thou (given the band's name is a reference to a Thou song, that comes as no surprise). Super heavy bass low-end, blown out crispy guitar distortion, despairful and pained vocals. Filthy, depressing, and cathartic.

    Sun Worship - Upon the Hills of Divination
    Black/death metal from Germany. Atmospheric but heavy and fast. Produced in a way that makes it a forceful wall of sound. Melancholic and angry. Multiple vocal styles from growls to pained yells.

    Mitochondrion - Vitriseptome
    It's difficult to pick just one release, but this is definitely in the top of the running for the week. One of my favorite bands returns after 13+ years to release a huge, 90 minute, 17 track record that rivals anything they've done before. Super heavy, dissonant, dark, sinister atmospheric death metal. Think Ulcerate and Avtotheism. Constant barrage of extremely low-tuned blasting. This isn't your standard death metal, this is something much more sinister and evil, and it's hard to describe that without experiencing it for yourself.

    Cryptic Blood - Necrotic Flesh Bacteria
    Death/doom with some experimentation, with plenty of old-school death metal influence and production. Huge variations in tempo. Moments that almost feel like funeral doom, where drums and guitars linger while vocals fill the spaces in-between. Swirling speed changes that keep songs from falling into any particular pace, from blasts to extremely slow doom.

    Aethyrvorous - Akephalic Palingenesis
    Fans of the Mitochondrion recommendation should like this one too. Dissonant, evil, dark death metal with a very sinister atmosphere. Incredible that both this and the Mitochondrion release came out in the same week, and only a week after the Avtotheism release. Been a great few weeks for this particular brand of death metal. Deep growls, low-tuned blasting, and Aethyrvorous are more adventurous in their tempos, leaning into nearly a doom version of the aforementioned projects in some spots.
     

    2 votes

  7. Comment on Air fryers are simpler than you think, but still pretty neat in ~tech

    0x29A
    Link Parent
    Ah yeah, that makes sense for sure. I always love these videos / discussions about how things work. It is candy for my brain for some reason, just realizing the innumerable ways things can be...

    Ah yeah, that makes sense for sure. I always love these videos / discussions about how things work. It is candy for my brain for some reason, just realizing the innumerable ways things can be affected that are often invisible to us.

    2 votes

  8. Comment on Air fryers are simpler than you think, but still pretty neat in ~tech

    0x29A
    Link Parent
    Seemed like he described the differences having to do with the placement and effectiveness of fans, burners, etc For instance one of the toaster ovens had a really small fan on the side that...

    Seemed like he described the differences having to do with the placement and effectiveness of fans, burners, etc

    For instance one of the toaster ovens had a really small fan on the side that barely blew air.

    9 votes

  9. Comment on Elections: ultimately, it’s going to be okay in ~society

    0x29A
    Link Parent
    Want to add this, a few outlets are giving away sets of ebooks for free, some in the wake of recent events. Haymarket also having a huge sale. Unfortunately in both cases it does require creating...

    Want to add this, a few outlets are giving away sets of ebooks for free, some in the wake of recent events. Haymarket also having a huge sale.

    Unfortunately in both cases it does require creating an account / providing personal info, so I understand if people do not want to (and in that case, seek out the books via a shadow library like Anna's Archive or similar ways of acquisition). Also Haymarket must have gotten tons of traffic as their download system is failing for me at the moment but you can always try again later after you've added them to your library / "checked out" (for $0).

    https://www.haymarketbooks.org/blogs/508-free-books-for-a-free-palestine

    https://www.haymarketbooks.org/blogs/517-ten-free-ebooks-for-getting-free

    https://www.akpress.org/featured-products/featured-topic-free-ebook.html

    2 votes

  10. Comment on What creative projects have you been working on? in ~creative

    0x29A
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    Messing around a lot with music creation. Lately been experimenting with more fringe genres (harsh noise) and also trying to crossover fringe stuff with accessible stuff (bring lots of heavy noise...

    Messing around a lot with music creation. Lately been experimenting with more fringe genres (harsh noise) and also trying to crossover fringe stuff with accessible stuff (bring lots of heavy noise into a track with whispery clean / soft vocals, kind of like how HEALTH does with their clean vox + electronic heavy sound, but in a much sharper, noisier way). Think almost shoegaze+noise.

    5 votes

  11. Comment on Linux Mint desktop environment recommendations? in ~comp

    0x29A
    Link Parent
    Yes, Kubuntu has snaps by default just like Ubuntu. I'm actually planning for my next upgrade / OS move to be going from Kubuntu -> Mint. I've used Mint recently on a laptop and have decided I...

    Yes, Kubuntu has snaps by default just like Ubuntu. I'm actually planning for my next upgrade / OS move to be going from Kubuntu -> Mint. I've used Mint recently on a laptop and have decided I like it more than Kubuntu which has been my daily driver on my gaming PC for years now.

    I'm actually using Cinnamon (the default DE on Mint) on Kubuntu right now because KDE's compositing had some weird issues that I could never solve after days and many hours of trying, and just in general I kinda started disliking a number of things about it. It's kind of a frankenstein of a system at this point and I don't think a Kubuntu OS upgrade would go too smoothly, so I think I'm going to jump to Mint.

    You can disable snaps in Kubuntu and all of that, but I just want to stop at least directly supporting Canonical's choices and move to something they don't have control over.

    3 votes

  12. Comment on Elections: ultimately, it’s going to be okay in ~society

    0x29A
    Link Parent
    Yes, this is one of those 'mask off' moments where fascism is getting sloganized and just stated upfront and out loud, and half the nation still cheers for it. Things like "mass deportations now"...

    Yes, this is one of those 'mask off' moments where fascism is getting sloganized and just stated upfront and out loud, and half the nation still cheers for it. Things like "mass deportations now" IMO prove that the parallels people are drawing between Trump and violent, genocidal dictators are apt and always have been.

    12 votes

  13. Comment on Elections: ultimately, it’s going to be okay in ~society

    0x29A
    Link Parent
    Agreed, the will certainly is there, so there are a lot of scary possibilities, and although I'd believe it's going to be bad even if they weren't saying it outloud, the right-wing doesn't even...

    Agreed, the will certainly is there, so there are a lot of scary possibilities, and although I'd believe it's going to be bad even if they weren't saying it outloud, the right-wing doesn't even hide the appalling things they're willing to do anymore. They just come out and say it, and admit it to our face, while laughing. The mask has long been off.

    2 votes

  14. Comment on Elections: ultimately, it’s going to be okay in ~society

    0x29A
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    There's an FB thread I have bookmarked where it's asking for recommendations specifically regarding that theme, so I'm hoping to find a number of things there. If at some point I've found more...

    There's an FB thread I have bookmarked where it's asking for recommendations specifically regarding that theme, so I'm hoping to find a number of things there. If at some point I've found more useful things, I'll try to make sure I share that info. In the meantime, I will be combing through some possibilities at:

    Various selections from
    https://crimethinc.com/library
    https://theanarchistlibrary.org
    https://libcom.org/
    https://abolitionnotes.org/
    https://abolitionnotes.org/leftist-online-resources-archives-study-guide
    https://www.akpress.org/

    With topics like mutual aid, abolition, struggles for liberation, survival under oppression, Black Panther Party literature, and more.

    An example: https://www.akpress.org/beyond-survival.html

    4 votes

  15. Comment on Elections: ultimately, it’s going to be okay in ~society

    0x29A
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Well, let's not assume our definitions of 'rough' mean the same thing. To be fair, rough times are already here but let's not kid ourselves into thinking anythings going to get better than the...

    Well, let's not assume our definitions of 'rough' mean the same thing. To be fair, rough times are already here but let's not kid ourselves into thinking anythings going to get better than the disaster we have today. The incoming powers are all-but-certain to make it worse, what do you think is going to stop it? I'm sure some marginalized communities will see some of what they may experience as more than frustrating or annoying. Given the person taking power and his followers, I believe it is quite okay to think that things will be 'rough'. It's quite possible fascist violence will increase, whether state or interpersonal. That leftist (and even dem) organizations and people will become targets even more than they already are. We already know trans folks, immigrants, and others already are targets and will be even moreso. Fascists/racists will be further emboldened. The economy isn't going to get magically fixed by a new president. How far does it have to get for it to be considered 'rough'?

    As long as the imperialist, capitalist, zionist system remains, rough times for many will be a given. That which will happen within the next four years won't be simply undone at the ballot box, nor was all of it preventable with the ballot box to begin with. A meaningful difference, sure, though, as we'll accelerate into some awful crap if the administration gets what they've been openly saying they want to do and have designed an entire project around

    It's time to build power and community outside the system, as we always should have been doing, instead of relying on the designed-as-broken system to ever care about the non-ruling class. This is and forever will be class war. There wasn't a lot of hope even if Kamala won. I no longer believe in the American experiment nor in any form of supposed 'democracy' we have, it's a joke. The 'democracy' we hope to protect is its own kind of sham.

    16 votes

  16. Comment on Dropkick Murphys feat Violent Femmes - Gotta Get to Peekskill (2023) - More solidarity and anti-fascist recommendation? in ~music

    0x29A
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Uprising - https://uprisingblackmetal.bandcamp.com/album/iii Dodsrit - https://dodsrit.bandcamp.com/album/nocturnal-will Auriferous Flame -...

    Uprising - https://uprisingblackmetal.bandcamp.com/album/iii
    Dodsrit - https://dodsrit.bandcamp.com/album/nocturnal-will
    Auriferous Flame - https://truecultrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ardor-for-black-mastery
    Tyrannus - https://truecultrecords.bandcamp.com/album/unslayable
    Mystras - https://truecultrecords.bandcamp.com/album/empires-vanquished-and-dismantled
    AFBMN Comp - https://antifascistblackmetalnetwork.bandcamp.com/album/black-metal-ist-klassenkrieg
    Traktat - https://fiadh.bandcamp.com/album/dogmatic-accusations
    Dawn Ray'd - https://dawnrayd.bandcamp.com/album/behold-sedition-plainsong
    Gungirl (war metal) - https://fiadh.bandcamp.com/album/vengeant-siege-of-unholy-divinity
    Prehistoric War cult (war metal) - https://prehistoricwarcult.bandcamp.com/album/barbaric-metal
    Becrah - https://becrah.bandcamp.com/album/-
    Sordide - https://sordide.bandcamp.com/album/ainsi-finit-le-jour
    Bonjour Tristesse - https://bonjourtristesse.bandcamp.com/album/the-world-without-us
    Morke - https://morkemn.bandcamp.com/album/forged-in-steel-and-love
    Gudsforladt - https://gudsforladt.bandcamp.com/album/friendship-love-and-war
    Qwalen - https://qwaelen.bandcamp.com/album/syv-hiljaisuus

    4 votes

  17. Comment on Dropkick Murphys feat Violent Femmes - Gotta Get to Peekskill (2023) - More solidarity and anti-fascist recommendation? in ~music

    0x29A
    Link
    Listening to a lot of Rage Against the Machine, and then a lot of smaller anti-fascist artists in more extreme genres (powerviolence, hardcore, black metal, etc). Also Public Enemy. Eric B &...

    Listening to a lot of Rage Against the Machine, and then a lot of smaller anti-fascist artists in more extreme genres (powerviolence, hardcore, black metal, etc). Also Public Enemy. Eric B & Rakim. Select tracks from Brother Ali (Uncle Sam Goddamn, Letter from the Government) and other artists. Run the Jewels is a good call. It's on-the-nose, but YG's "FDT" still is a good anthem, and so on.

    Would love to find some revolutionary playlists of artists/songs

    5 votes

  18. Comment on Elections: ultimately, it’s going to be okay in ~society

    0x29A
    Link
    Certainly, let this radicalize you rather than lead you into despair. Rough times are indeed ahead, but as always, regardless of who is in charge, we need to take care of us. All power to the...
    • Exemplary

    Certainly, let this radicalize you rather than lead you into despair. Rough times are indeed ahead, but as always, regardless of who is in charge, we need to take care of us. All power to the people. Protect, organize, feed, share, commune with others. Build resilience, community, networks. A big part of that start for me is going to be reading about how to better accomplish these things and how oppressed groups have done it in the past.

    60 votes

  19. Comment on Reddit is profitable for the first time ever, with nearly 100 million daily users in ~tech

    0x29A
    Link
    Sad news, honestly. Was hoping they'd eventually go away forever.

    Sad news, honestly. Was hoping they'd eventually go away forever.

    8 votes

  20. Comment on E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders in ~food

    0x29A
    Link
    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)

    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)

    1 vote