1338's recent activity
-
Comment on Hytale is saved! in ~games
-
Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
1338 LinkI had a non-fiction month, then a horror month, I guess now I'm in... female protagonist month? I subscribed to the fairyloot combo subscription after a while on the waiting list and have received...I had a non-fiction month, then a horror month, I guess now I'm in... female protagonist month? I subscribed to the fairyloot combo subscription after a while on the waiting list and have received two boxes so far. The books are undeniably pretty but I was a bit worried whether I'd enjoy them enough to justify the high cost. I'm leaning towards "probably not" but it's not bad enough for me to have canceled it yet. I do like the surprise aspect.
Of those I first read Alchemy of Secrets which was a definite "meh" for me. Not objectionable and certainly a super easy super quick read with the occasional decent bit, but overall it lacked anything really interesting and the twists really felt lazy. Just very generic of a type I don't super care for.
And then I read Never Ever After which had some of those same issues but nowhere near as bad. I enjoyed it overall and the family aspect I think contrasts well with Alchemy as it's very much the same setup but handled better in my opinion. Both seem to set up sequels and hook into a bigger world but Never felt much more complete about it.I read Lessons in Chemistry as I got a nice copy for free. I did not care for it.
I've also been reading some of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel novels as I found a bunch in my local bookstore's basement. I mainly read through the Wicked Willow trilogy, which I really quite liked. I wish that was how the TV series had ended season 6, it's a much better rendition. The last book was especially good. I do wish they had "gone all the way" but I understand why they couldn't. I also read Angel: Love and Death (the only novel this month that isn't female protagonist) which was in the "alright" range and I'm finishing up "Chaos Bleeds" (I had the game when I was younger), which I'm finding a bit painful.
-
Comment on Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani’s supposedly radical policies as ‘normal’ in ~society
1338 Link ParentThere's a reason I didn't capitalize the 'r'There's a reason I didn't capitalize the 'r'
-
Comment on Tilderinos in ~talk
-
Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
1338 Link ParentBy this do you mean a complete lack of paragraphs? I just got my copy and scanning through it, I'm a bit disturbed already.I was told to prepare for blocks of text and page long sentences, and while the book has these things, it is not a difficult read.
By this do you mean a complete lack of paragraphs? I just got my copy and scanning through it, I'm a bit disturbed already.
-
Comment on Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani’s supposedly radical policies as ‘normal’ in ~society
1338 Link ParentA pro-communism liberal makes as much sense as a pro-monarchy republicanThis is what is so maddening to me about the liberals who claim they want better policies but then go around calling people comrade and talking about how great communism should have been.
A pro-communism liberal makes as much sense as a pro-monarchy republican
-
Comment on Are cooperatives more virtuous than corporations? in ~society
1338 Link ParentYour rudimentary logic can be equally applied in the other direction by replacing members with shareholders (who are also people). The distinction needs to be the constituency of those groups,...Your rudimentary logic can be equally applied in the other direction by replacing members with shareholders (who are also people).
The distinction needs to be the constituency of those groups, since while shareholders includes middle-class 401k owners, it's overwhelmingly dominated by a small number of the rich. An illustrative example is 100 people investing $1 each (either liquid or as labour) vs 1 person investing $93, 1 person investing $5, and then 2 people investing $1 each. Benefiting 100 people is obviously a greater benefit for society than benefiting 4 people (even though 1 of those 4 benefits a lot).
-
Comment on What makes a game, a game? in ~games
1338 Link ParentWell a thought experiment of a hypothetical game I think is a special category in and of itself. It'd be similar to the Saw "games" or even the "pick a winner on the street" hypothetical from the...Well a thought experiment of a hypothetical game I think is a special category in and of itself. It'd be similar to the Saw "games" or even the "pick a winner on the street" hypothetical from the survey, I'd say it's maybe a game to the judge/sadist but not to the criminals/victims. I'm comfortable with a game, as a social construct, being more a subjective than objective thing.
-
Comment on Hate-reading? in ~books
1338 LinkI think there's an interesting demarcation between hate-reading and stubborn-reading. I don't care to DNF a book, so I have plenty of books I only completed for sake of stubbornness. I can only...I think there's an interesting demarcation between hate-reading and stubborn-reading. I don't care to DNF a book, so I have plenty of books I only completed for sake of stubbornness. I can only think of a few times I've done proper hate-reading, which I'd consider more akin to watching a perilously close bus crash rather than running to safety. Haunting Adeline is one example, for reasons I think would be fairly obvious to anyone who has heard of that book; reading it did psychic harm to my existence. Johnny Angel by Danielle Steel I went into expecting to be a hate-read but, while I didn't like it, it wasn't as bad as I anticipated. One that probably was the most hate and the least stubborn (owing largely due to its short length and how obviously bad it is going in) is The Tao of Management, which is an attempt to apply (imitate) the Tao Te Ching to the banal, mid-century, Office Space-style middle management ethos.
-
Comment on Super Pixel Quest in ~arts
1338 LinkThat's the most innovate advertisement for a domain name I've ever seen.That's the most innovate advertisement for a domain name I've ever seen.
-
Comment on What makes a game, a game? in ~games
1338 LinkI selected "yes" to pretty much everything. The one exception was the one about picking a random person on the street, which I would have said "yes" to had it been "was I playing a game?" A couple...I selected "yes" to pretty much everything. The one exception was the one about picking a random person on the street, which I would have said "yes" to had it been "was I playing a game?" A couple I felt torn on just due to wording, e.g. you can "read" Where's Waldo without actually "playing" Where's Waldo by going page to page and looking at the pictures without looking for Waldo.
The definition I'd be most inclined to would be the cop-out definition. A game is an engaging activity that the participants consider a game, often involving arbitrary rules, competition, or repetitive, non-productive activity. A race between children would typically be a game, but professional sports not as likely. Sports stop being a game when the participants stop considering it thus. Picking someone on the street and declaring them a winner could be a game for you; the random people on the street you're picking among would say they're just walking and not playing a game so it's not a game for them.
-
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
1338 Link ParentIt's a sand mandala. It's doing for sake of mindful recuperation, not to productively construct a final outcome. The story is what's meant to be the satisfying thing--and the memories (pictures)...after which the whole clearing is reset and you start over, losing all your gardening and shop decoration, and gaining a whole new set of NPC acquaintances. What happened to the old ones? Shrug.
It's a sand mandala. It's doing for sake of mindful recuperation, not to productively construct a final outcome. The story is what's meant to be the satisfying thing--and the memories (pictures) formed along the way.
But I was certainly shocked the first time it happened and all my work was gone. Which feels like also the point. It's very much more on the art and emotion side than pure dopamine loop, for sure.
-
Comment on Dick Cheney dies at 84 in ~society
1338 Link ParentIt's pretty standard for a site's logo to link to the homepage, even on the homepage, so it's unlikely any crawler that can't handle cyclical links would get this far.It's pretty standard for a site's logo to link to the homepage, even on the homepage, so it's unlikely any crawler that can't handle cyclical links would get this far.
-
Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
1338 Link ParentThe strength of your reaction makes me want to read it!The strength of your reaction makes me want to read it!
-
Comment on Find your flight seat map in ~transport
1338 Link ParentThe seatmaps webpage is just a recent offering using the data they already had for their actual business, which is software for booking flights for airlines and third party travel platforms....The seatmaps webpage is just a recent offering using the data they already had for their actual business, which is software for booking flights for airlines and third party travel platforms. They're incentivized to make the expensive seats sound all the better since that means their customers get more margin.
-
Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
1338 LinkSince last thread I read through some horror novels. The M.D. by Thomas Disch and Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay. The M.D. was fairly enjoyable. I found myself enjoying the teenage years the most....Since last thread I read through some horror novels. The M.D. by Thomas Disch and Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay.
The M.D. was fairly enjoyable. I found myself enjoying the teenage years the most. I didn't totally love the ending, it felt like they skipped too far ahead and should have had another snippet in his 20s (maybe by adding some brevity the childhood portion) to help introduce all the brand new characters and give more weight to the son especially.
Horror Movie was odd. I don't know what I was expecting. Seemed... maybe experimental? Idk maybe if I read that type of story (or that type of movie) more I'd enjoy it more as an inversion/deconstruction sort of thing. It was a slow build in the way where you don't know if it's going to be a swing set or a sex swing when it's done. I guess in a charitable way you can say it kept you guessing. The ending was... eh, I wasn't impressed.
I'm currently reading about the most horror topic imaginable: children being raised in evangelical Christianity. Specifically "Hell Is A World Without You" by Jason Kirk (whose name always makes my brain skip a beat because I occasionally listen to the Triple Click podcast which has one host named Jason and another named Kirk). I'm not actually reading it in the Spooktober theme, I just ran low of actual Horror books (well, ones I wanted to tackle right now at any rate). I'm liking it even though I'm halfway through and it's devoid of any semblance of plot, besides the inevitable and clearly forecast crisis of faith that is. The writing is just quite enjoyable and the nostalgia element of the setting helps keep me hooked. I don't know all of the in-depth churchy references but the book does a great job of explaining those as it goes. I probably would have finished it already but life has had me reading barely any pages this past week.
-
Comment on Announcing the Backlog Burner event for November 2025: Shrink your unplayed games list this coming month! in ~games
1338 LinkI didn't realize/forgot there was one of these in November. I probably won't be nearly as active as last time. I hadn't been playing many games the last month or two, reading or writing in that...I didn't realize/forgot there was one of these in November. I probably won't be nearly as active as last time. I hadn't been playing many games the last month or two, reading or writing in that time instead. That is, until just recently when I started on Pokemon ZA. I might have resisted the call of starting Pokemon had I realized this was coming up. But I'll see about trying a game or two over the weekends, lord knows I have plenty of backlog to burn.
-
Comment on Double meaning Tildes post tag writing prompt in ~creative
1338 Linkslayer could be a band or a serial killer e.g. the Southside Slayerslayercould be a band or a serial killer e.g. the Southside Slayer -
Comment on What diagramming tools do folks use? in ~comp
1338 LinkI've been a fan of lucidchart for work stuff for years. Straightforward, usable, and interactive/shareable. Has all the various shapes you'd need with options for grabbing images when you want...I've been a fan of lucidchart for work stuff for years. Straightforward, usable, and interactive/shareable. Has all the various shapes you'd need with options for grabbing images when you want something niche. Great for professional software use.
Though I'm not loving their recent AI nonsense push, but hard to find vendors free of that crap.
-
Comment on For the first time, artificially created neurons can process signals from living cells without a device in between modifying the signals in ~science
1338 LinkSeeing the use of memristors is awesome. It's a fundamental piece of circuitry whose invention, perhaps aside from initial discovery, happened entirely in our lifetimes. It was only a decade ago...Seeing the use of memristors is awesome. It's a fundamental piece of circuitry whose invention, perhaps aside from initial discovery, happened entirely in our lifetimes. It was only a decade ago that they finally cracked how to make the things and now it's playing pivotal roles in tech like this.
I also lost my account that way and would love to join a class action, but giving all my personal information in a google form from some random youtuber? Eh...
And seems it's only for residents of Sweden?