1338's recent activity

  1. Comment on What happens when the internet goes out at your work? in ~tech

    1338
    Link Parent
    Do you get free internet working for them?

    Do you get free internet working for them?

    2 votes

  2. Comment on Illiteracy is a policy choice: why aren’t we gathering behind Mississippi’s banner? in ~society

    1338
    Link Parent
    Where are you seeing flash? The graphs I see are SVG based.

    Probably, I just missed some particular subsection or some graph failed to load for me (what sites still depend on Flash?!?)

    Where are you seeing flash? The graphs I see are SVG based.

  3. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    1338
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    I enjoyed The Intelligence Trap by David Robson. It covers a lot of different areas when it comes to what intelligence is and why we fall into certain "traps" where a "smart" person essentially...

    I enjoyed The Intelligence Trap by David Robson. It covers a lot of different areas when it comes to what intelligence is and why we fall into certain "traps" where a "smart" person essentially becomes highly trained and knowledgeable in specific areas but heavily deficient in a lot of other matters. A lot of it seems based on real psychology but I certainly haven't done enough research to know how much is pop or controversial vs how much is relatively well established. But some of the basic ideas like overlearned heuristics, lack of humility impairing learning, and the need to take steps back and reconsider things socratically makes a lot of sense to me. I especially enjoyed the chapter about education.

    I adored The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. It's one of those books I can see myself re-reading just for the mood. I put post-it notes for some of the words I really liked. Didn't totally love the end when it seemed a lot of words were just synonyms for "existential dread" but the earlier chapters especially had a lot of words I related to.

    I finally finished Fellowship of the Ring.

    I also read On the Calculation of Volume Vol I by Solvej Balle and Theories of Multiculturalism by George Crowder. The former was OK, I like the groundhog day trope and it's an interesting reflective thing, but I didn't enjoy the narrative much and I found rationality clashes with the artistry. The latter book was similar in that I found the subject matter interesting but I was not a fan of the author's narrative.

    I'm currently reading The End of the World as We Know It and liking it. Most recently read one story that has a direct tie-in to the last scene with Rita.

    1 vote

  4. Comment on McDonald’s redraws battle lines on subminimum wage in ~food

    1338
    Link Parent
    Well when you have a title that mentions a massive corporation, "battle", and a government regulation, I think some things are natural to infer. I assumed the "battle line" was going to be...

    Well when you have a title that mentions a massive corporation, "battle", and a government regulation, I think some things are natural to infer. I assumed the "battle line" was going to be McDonald's trying to pay subminimum by classifying their employees as "tipped" or some such.

    8 votes

  5. Comment on imgur.com geoblocks the UK in ~tech

    1338
    Link Parent
    Surveillance state aside, that would require parents to take on all the burden. The reason these laws have popular appeal is because they externalize (a small bit of) the social burden of...

    Surveillance state aside, that would require parents to take on all the burden. The reason these laws have popular appeal is because they externalize (a small bit of) the social burden of child-rearing away from the parents. Given such a large portion of society either are parents, were parents, or are sympathetic to parents (of minors), and the popular idea that raising children is overly burdensome and constantly getting harder (due in part to cultural trends of infantilization), anything that can allow parents not to deal with the mental overhead and real labor of navigating modern technology/security while still keeping their children "safe" is going to be popular. The long-term effects of such legislation on the internet as a whole is in contrast a very abstract, nebulous concept and further removed from the day-to-day of the average person.

    While in theory it's a matter of a checkbox, that presupposes you have a proper admin/user setting on computers, have their phones locked down, keep the credentials secure, have awareness of the various ways to work around it (like a browser extension to add the header), know how to allow them limited access to the things they legitimately need, and regularly check to make sure they haven't done something sneaky like bought a cheap burner or reset it.

    11 votes

  6. Comment on What game is your personal "Silksong"? in ~games

    1338
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    Final Fantasy 7 Remake. I first played FF7 around like 2000 but a few years later is when I got really focused on the idea of the remake. I would regularly browse this site dedicated to FF7,...

    Final Fantasy 7 Remake. I first played FF7 around like 2000 but a few years later is when I got really focused on the idea of the remake. I would regularly browse this site dedicated to FF7, desperately looking for rumors of the a re-release/remake/remaster. That was back in like, oh, 2004-2007, around the time Advent Children/Crisis Core/Dirge of Cerberus came out. So there was plenty of content for that blog, but of course the remake idea never went beyond the most spurious of rumors back then. I eventually stopped stalking desperately around for signs that it was actually being made but never gave up the dream. And 15 years later it finally started releasing! Of course we're still waiting for the rest, so I guess 20 years and counting?

    I certainly didn't expect it to be anything like what we're getting. Back in the late PS2/early PS3 timeframe my mind was mostly about it just being a graphic upgrade. I was certainly disappointed we never got the true-to-the-classic remake, but it's not like I haven't replayed the original multiple times. And the remakes are fun too, excessive mini-games aside. But being able to get to have more of the characters and see the world as more than polygons was the real magic.

    4 votes

  7. Comment on What are some of your personal misheard lyrics? in ~music

    1338
    Link Parent
    Until I looked up the lyrics I thought you meant it was “Soy un perdedor” instead of "so why don’t you kill me." That would have been a real brainfuck.

    Until I looked up the lyrics I thought you meant it was “Soy un perdedor” instead of "so why don’t you kill me." That would have been a real brainfuck.

    3 votes

  8. Comment on Open social: an explanation of the ATProto principle in ~tech

    1338
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    The lack of direct mention of ActivityPub stands out. The intro of the article says it's why he feels AT is the future but there's no comparison to the most predominant preexisting alternative.

    The lack of direct mention of ActivityPub stands out. The intro of the article says it's why he feels AT is the future but there's no comparison to the most predominant preexisting alternative.

    6 votes

  9. Comment on Looking forward to Apple Container/Containerization tool in macOS 26, an alternative to Docker in ~comp

    1338
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    Seems they kept the CLI interface consistent so like podman it'd just take a single ln -s to make it 90% compatible with existing scripts. Hopefully the socket is consistent too. Always good to...

    Seems they kept the CLI interface consistent so like podman it'd just take a single ln -s to make it 90% compatible with existing scripts. Hopefully the socket is consistent too. Always good to have more alternatives to docker desktop.

    6 votes

  10. Comment on Looking forward to Apple Container/Containerization tool in macOS 26, an alternative to Docker in ~comp

    1338
    Link Parent
    Is that a typo or a combination of third and first? I'd google it but I'm pretty sure "thirst party" would give me imagery I don't want to see.

    already a thirst party solution

    Is that a typo or a combination of third and first? I'd google it but I'm pretty sure "thirst party" would give me imagery I don't want to see.

    17 votes

  11. Comment on Has anyone here tried bone conduction headphones? in ~tech

    1338
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    I'm also a one-earbud-er. I tried one of the bone conduction headphones for a while and they generally were fine audio-wise but the problem I ran into is that most of them aren't adjustable at...

    I'm also a one-earbud-er. I tried one of the bone conduction headphones for a while and they generally were fine audio-wise but the problem I ran into is that most of them aren't adjustable at all. I guess I have a big head as the ones I got barely fit me. If I looked up/down I'd get one of them covering my ear or pulling free, then eventually the things snapped. Granted, I got a cheap one as I wasn't sure about the bone conduction thing, but even looking at expensive ones I had trouble finding ones that are adjustable.

    4 votes

  12. Comment on Rhode Island’s ‘Taylor Swift Tax’ on vacation homes of the wealthy is influencing second home tax policy in other US states in ~society

    1338
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    What a great article. I especially love how it lists reasons why the policy is a good idea, but presents them as if they're negative.

    What a great article. I especially love how it lists reasons why the policy is a good idea, but presents them as if they're negative.

    25 votes

  13. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    1338
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    I read a couple smaller non-fiction books. The Elements of Style by Strunk & White is a marvelous thing, useful rules well-written. Most of the criticisms I could raise against it are more flaws...

    I read a couple smaller non-fiction books.
    The Elements of Style by Strunk & White is a marvelous thing, useful rules well-written. Most of the criticisms I could raise against it are more flaws either of myself (I took way too long to realize there was a glossary) or reality itself (it's over a century old and last updated half that long ago).
    Incompetent: Coming up Short in a world of Achievement by James Flammang is a super relatable memoir focused not on the author's achievements or even their notable failures, but instead on the things they sucked at and never did again.

    Then I read a couple political books:
    The End of America by Naomi Wolf - written in the Dubya days, it talks about how the various major political scandals/controversies (war on terror, abu graib, flight watchlists, spying) "echo" Authoritarian/Fascist governments. I was a bit disappointed by this one. I've recently been thinking about how things got this way from how they were in the 60s and thought this could help me with the smudging of my mental painting. But, while it was a good reminder of the scandals of 15-20 years ago --which had gotten a bit dusty in my head-- I got distracted by the iffy rhetoric. That said, there were some things that rang true with connection to today, like the way the boogeymen changed from an external one to an internal one, the way things never got better but just "paused" (like a prisoner walking with a ball and chain on only one leg), and the warnings about the national guard.
    Coming Up Short by Robert Reich. I just finished this one. It did a much better of answering that thing I was wondering, albeit from much more of an economic and meta-causal standpoint than I was originally considering. It was a really good read and very informative, I learned a lot. Even just the more anecdotal things he mentioned (like Nixon and the hardhat riot) I quite enjoyed learning. I found myself having to take breaks to stave off the helpless feelings; he does a great job of illustrating the "giant man-crushing grindstone" aspect of it all.

    I had to take a break from the serious reads and started on Green Dumb Guide to Houseplants. It's a pretty and pithy book with illustrations, color coded pages, and useful info about various houseplants. I read most of it in one sitting and have a few candidates for what to make my third (surviving) plant.

    I'm also still working on The Fellowship of the Ring in parallel. The commenters in the last thread were right: it does get better after chapter 7. I'm 2/3rds of the way through at the chapter where the newly introduced nigh-immortal drops a bunch of lore (No, the other other one). I don't think I have it in me to go right through the trilogy right away, so I will probably switch over to The End of the World next.

    4 votes

  14. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    1338
    Link Parent
    Ooh I have this one sitting on my to-read shelf. Good to hear it holds up.

    Ooh I have this one sitting on my to-read shelf. Good to hear it holds up.

  15. Comment on Benjamin Netanyahu vows there will be no Palestinian state ahead of UN meeting in ~society

    1338
    Link Parent
    I wouldn't say "few decades." They were receiving criticism for their human rights violations and official policies of disproportionate response by the 60s. I mean, the freaking nakba was...

    I wouldn't say "few decades." They were receiving criticism for their human rights violations and official policies of disproportionate response by the 60s. I mean, the freaking nakba was immediately after the partition.

    13 votes

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

    1338
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    I received feedback from my second alpha reader for my manuscript/draft. Assuming I can finish my side/practice thing (which somehow has exploded to 60k), I'll get start on Draft 2 this weekend. I...

    I received feedback from my second alpha reader for my manuscript/draft. Assuming I can finish my side/practice thing (which somehow has exploded to 60k), I'll get start on Draft 2 this weekend.

    I was a little disappointed by the first reader's feedback. While there was good feedback I can incorporate, it was very micro and limited. The second reader's feedback is far more substantial. They pointed out some higher level areas to make changes, what worked/didn't, and things that felt not great.

    I was most surprised by some of the feedback I didn't receive. I expected to hear very strongly that my opening was too weak. While the first reader pointed out one, especially slow, segment in the second chapter, the second reader seemed to enjoy the character depth that the pace allowed. I have one character I was worried is fairly trite in terms of representation (LGBT) but they were well received, the only major feedback from my second reader (who is LGBT themselves) was a lack of closure for the character at the end of the book.

    I was actually feeling pretty confident with the direction I wanted to take Draft 2 before now. I was thinking I'd do a focus on plot, cut the scenes and themes that aren't relevant to it, and take a step back from the strict narrative structure I have in place. That would allow me to bring the first action-heavy chapter closer to the beginning and really eliminate everything that isn't the story. The cost would be some degree of world-building and character exploration. Now I'm considering if I should instead do a micro-level pass where I buckle down on superfluous scenes and wordiness, as well as incorporating the specific items of feedback, but without those larger changes.

    This weekend I expect I'll read the feedback more thoroughly and then re-read my draft before deciding. It's been over a month since I finished it, so I'm hopeful I'm far enough removed now to really take a scalpel to it.

    5 votes

  17. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

  18. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    1338
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    On the fiction side I read Boomsday by Christopher Buckley and The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak since last thread. Both of them were in the bucket of generally enjoyable but far from...

    On the fiction side I read Boomsday by Christopher Buckley and The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak since last thread. Both of them were in the bucket of generally enjoyable but far from my favorites.

    The quasi-America but even worse in Boomsday certainly makes the satire easy though I did find some plot points a little strange given the that predicate. I would probably have enjoyed it more had I read closer to the Bush era than our current Trump one.

    In Wedding, I was mostly impressed by how the fact that literally everyone was quite unlikable didn't seem to detract from how enjoyable the book was to read. I like there being unlikable characters but it often can make it harder to stay in the book but that really wasn't the case here. A lot of it comes down to an unusual balance of the predominance of character flaws I suppose. The major shift in how the daughter was presented was very well done though that did leave a lot of the ending predictable. Not in a bad way necessarily, but in a "of course that's how this goes" way. One that pairs with Boomtown now that I think about it.

    The only non-fic I finished since last time was On Writing by Stephen King. I definitely walked away with some good things to think about. One thing I'd learned myself recently and the book helpfully helped reinforce/validate is the importance of taking a break between Draft 1 and 2 to give yourself the headspace to look at things cleanly. As an aside, I had such a weird feeling of deja vu reading the chapter about his car accident until I remembered it was due to the Dark Tower books where he literally wrote the accident into the narrative.

    I've started in on The Fellowship of the Ring as I didn't want too big a gap between the prequel and main books since it messes up my bookcase. I think it's going to be slow going for me to get through the trilogy as I'm not loving it so far. At the current rate I'll still be working on it through October but maybe that'll change once we leave the shire and things pick up. On the bright side, reading this might help me finally get a month where I read more non-fiction than fiction.

    On the non-fiction side, I'm most of the way through I'm Gonna Say it Now: The Writings of Phil Ochs which is a collection of various (non-song) things Ochs wrote. It's quite interesting to see how his lyrics are mirrored in his prose and the themes/repeats between his writings from things he liked. One thing I've noticed is how much he loved to say someone's name as a punchline. It's something he did a bunch in his on-stage introductions to songs and even a few times in the songs themselves, but that trend is also present especially in his earlier writings. This book is also a great companion to the biography I read earlier that quoted bits of some of these writings. I have a couple more biographies about him still on my shelf.

    Addendum... Not a book book but since there's not a (non-Japanese) comic thread... I recently finished reading The Boys TPBs. I quite enjoyed it. It was remarkable how utterly different it is from the show; pretty much all of the things I didn't love about the TV show are things that were totally absent from the comic. I get some of the changes they made, especially given the politics (corporate and otherwise), but a lot of them feel like they just make the story weaker in the long-run. It does make me more curious where the show is going though as obviously many of the comic's machinations can't happen. The very last TPB (vol 12) took me by surprise, it's certainly appropriate for the characters and in some ways now that I've had time to digest it feels perfect, but it was gut-wrenching in the moment. I especially love the way Homelander is so much more of a slowburn in the books that gets more and more intimidating over time and how no-chill the comic's satirizations are. Comic-wise I'm planning to read Maus next.

    3 votes

  19. Comment on What follows GitHub? in ~tech

    1338
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    Almost like we shouldn't centralize our infrastructure on for-profit corporations.

    One is maintained by the community for the community and the other is maintained by a business worth hundreds of billions for profit. I don't have anything to back this up, but I feel like large corporations can never stop iterating and adding/removing features.

    Almost like we shouldn't centralize our infrastructure on for-profit corporations.

    15 votes

  20. Comment on See the true relative geographical size of different countries in ~science

    1338
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    I think one of the more interesting things about this is how you can observe how the equal-area projection they use to implement this doesn't preserve angle/orientation by moving a country...

    I think one of the more interesting things about this is how you can observe how the equal-area projection they use to implement this doesn't preserve angle/orientation by moving a country north/south (especially the US or Canada due to their large flat border)

    3 votes