balooga's recent activity
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Comment on Tildes Game Giveaway: Holiday 2025 in ~games
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Comment on Most parked domains now serving malicious content in ~tech
balooga Link ParentAbsolutely sage advice. This behavior is known as domain tasting by the way. GoDaddy did this to a domain I was looking at ages ago (literally 18 years ago so I dunno if it’s still an active...Absolutely sage advice. This behavior is known as domain tasting by the way. GoDaddy did this to a domain I was looking at ages ago (literally 18 years ago so I dunno if it’s still an active problem). Thankfully they didn’t actually register the domain, they just held it for the five-day grace period mentioned in that wiki page. Because that was free for them to do, but actually registering domains people searched for would be unsustainable for their little hustle. I just waited it out, and bought my domain from a non-malicious registrar the moment it went back on the market.
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Comment on CGA-2025-12 🏴☠️🏝️🍌 INSERT CARTRIDGE 🟢 The Secret of Monkey Island in ~games
balooga LinkMy kiddo just completed their playthrough this evening and loved it. Now I've played through the original version, the special edition, and the ultimate talkie edition, and talkie is where it's...My kiddo just completed their playthrough this evening and loved it. Now I've played through the original version, the special edition, and the ultimate talkie edition, and talkie is where it's at! It's extremely well done, much more polished than I expected it to be. As I was watching the end credits roll I really appreciated that the talkie team added the full VO credits as well as credits for all the fan volunteers who contributed to the talkie project. I'd been under the impression it was just a quick and dirty hack but it was clearly more than that.
I think there's a talkie for LeChuck's Revenge also, I'm gonna look that one up next. As far as I'm concerned this is the definitive way to play!
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Comment on Cato Institute - The US Government unconstitutionally labels Immigration and Customs Enforcement observers as domestic terrorists in ~society
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Comment on Cato Institute - The US Government unconstitutionally labels Immigration and Customs Enforcement observers as domestic terrorists in ~society
balooga Link ParentIt still astonishes me that it hasn’t backfired on them spectacularly. “Antifa” is literally an abbreviation of “anti-fascist.” It’s right there in the name. Antifa opposes fascism. If you are...It still astonishes me that it hasn’t backfired on them spectacularly. “Antifa” is literally an abbreviation of “anti-fascist.” It’s right there in the name. Antifa opposes fascism. If you are anti-antifa you are pro-fascism. And sooooo many people are okay with that. You can’t make this shit up.
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Comment on Rob Reiner and wife Michele Singer found dead at LA home; homicide suspected in ~movies
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Comment on Disney inks blockbuster $1b deal with OpenAI, handing characters over to Sora in ~tech
balooga Link ParentThere’s something grimly hilarious about the idea of Disney going all in on AI models trained extensively on AI slop, firing all their actual artists and animators, and officially releasing...There’s something grimly hilarious about the idea of Disney going all in on AI models trained extensively on AI slop, firing all their actual artists and animators, and officially releasing feature-length movies of the most melted Elsagate garbage imaginable because their execs are too far gone sniffing their own farts to recognize it’s all absolute shit nonsense. Sort of a 21st century Emperor’s New Clothes story.
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Comment on UK and Denmark are demanding overhaul of European immigration laws – Keir Starmer and Mette Frederiksen argue populists will continue to gain ground if something isn't done soon in ~society
balooga Link ParentWell I’m just one person but you asked for why I think this way so I’ll share it. This is hard to articulate, and still half-baked, so please bear with me. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about...Well I’m just one person but you asked for why I think this way so I’ll share it. This is hard to articulate, and still half-baked, so please bear with me.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the whole “darkest timeline” and “brain rot” and “dead internet theory” trajectory the world seems to have been on for the past decade or so. About how a huge portion of MAGA influencers were recently revealed to be foreign trolls, and about the inexplicable surge in popularity of people like Andrew Tate and Nick Fuentes and Candace Owens, whose worst behavior only seems to propel them faster into the spotlight.
And I’ve been getting this nagging feeling that it’s all fake. We know about Russian disinformation campaigns, troll farms, election interference, Cambridge Analytica, the Internet Research Agency, and so on. Not to mention bot armies and the shadow economy of social media follower accounts and reddit karma for sale to the highest bidder. There used to be news articles about this stuff, but I haven’t heard much about it lately. It hasn’t gone anywhere. Why should we believe that it has? I’d posit that mass manipulation online is more powerful now than it’s ever been, and better at covering its tracks.
We’re absolutely awash in invisible campaigns to shape our opinions and drive our discourse. The nature of the internet makes it nearly impossible to trace these campaigns or identify their sources of funding. And there are HUGE perverse incentives for the people behind these anonymous campaigns: Corrupt political gain, nation destabilizing, corporate interests, ideological coup, and metric kilotons of classic shameless money-making grift.
What I’m saying is, I think we might be being taken for a ride. Or rather, a bunch or rides in different directions, all at the same time. (This isn’t one carefully mastermind operation, more like turbulent ocean waves crashing into each other chaotically.)
How do we measure the popularity of “influencers” like the people I named, today? YouTube view counts, podcast metrics, social media buzz. All things that can be manipulated by those with enough motivation and resources. It’s all online stuff. Why do we trust those numbers? Do these influencers really have audiences as big as they purport? Can anyone (including them) even know?
Okay I know I said “it’s all fake” but that’s obviously not true. These populist movements are very real. What I’m getting at, though, is I suspect they’re artificially inflated. Manipulators are putting their thumbs on the scale to tip sentiment in their favor. They’re kingmaking specific types of influencer voices that will produce a more favorable media ecosystem for them to exploit. They’re lining their own pockets along the way. And the result is this monumental shift of the Overton window that we’ve been seeing, where suddenly the most insane fringe ideas and hateful rhetoric are now considered acceptable and mainstream. I don’t think that’s happening organically.
The thing that sucks about this is we know the metrics are inflated, the comments are from bots, the reels are AI slop, the algorithms are being gamed, the LLMs are trained with intentional bias, and outfits like Fox News and its myriad copycats are making hay while the sun shines. We know this. But we can’t point our finger at the responsible parties. We can’t produce admissible evidence of wrongdoing. We can’t quantify the boundaries or scale of the manipulation. We don’t know who’s behind the curtain and there’s likely no way for them to be held accountable even if we could. They’re as emboldened as ever and our hands are tied.
That’s my theory, anyway. My conspiracy theory, I guess, albeit ironically. Occam’s razor says I’m being preposterous and the better explanation is that I’m just in denial about a political sea change happening that I don’t like. That’s fair. Maybe I’m just retreating into a form of solipsism because I’m mad about the state of the world and I’d rather believe everything’s still okay. Like, maybe if we could find a solution to this, we could get the train back on track. I mean that’s not exactly being hopeful but at least it’s something and it lets me hold onto some shred of faith in my fellow man.
Anyway, to answer your question: I’m having a hard time believing that our current situation actually IS “democracy doing democracy things.” There are a lot of bigots out there but are we really overrun with them? Is xenophobia really the majority view now? Or is that just a perception that certain interests would like us to have? I don’t know the answer to that, honestly. But it makes it hard for me to roll over and accept that this downward spiral is truly “what the people want.” Hell, even if they do want it, it’s worth fighting back against.
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Comment on Whatever happened to _____? in ~talk
balooga LinkWhatever happened to the stunning, research-based, and wholly credible HHS conclusion that autism is caused by Tylenol? Surely the entire scientific and medical world has been flipped upside-down...Whatever happened to the stunning, research-based, and wholly credible HHS conclusion that autism is caused by Tylenol? Surely the entire scientific and medical world has been flipped upside-down by this revelation?
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Comment on CGA-2025-12 🏴☠️🏝️🍌 INSERT CARTRIDGE 🟢 The Secret of Monkey Island in ~games
balooga Link ParentThank you for sharing these! Super interesting! On a personal note, I’m actually at a midlife career crossroads at the moment, dealing with some major burnout and looking for possible new...Of course, if you're into stuff to do with game preservation, emulation, and all that, all 3 of these talks may be interesting albeit lengthy.
Thank you for sharing these! Super interesting!
On a personal note, I’m actually at a midlife career crossroads at the moment, dealing with some major burnout and looking for possible new directions to explore. One thing I hadn’t considered yet is digital archival work. I’ve always had a huge appreciation for what these folks do but never considered it as a possible vocation. These GDC talks are really inspiring to me. No idea how one would pivot into something like that (and still be able to pay the bills, let’s be realistic) but I’m going to think on it a bit. I wonder if this is something that would require going back to school to study library science or if my technical background would be enough of an in. 🤔
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Comment on UK and Denmark are demanding overhaul of European immigration laws – Keir Starmer and Mette Frederiksen argue populists will continue to gain ground if something isn't done soon in ~society
balooga LinkI’m over on the other side of the planet so I should probably just keep my mouth shut about European politics. Even so, it’s curious to me how giving the populists more of what they want is...I’m over on the other side of the planet so I should probably just keep my mouth shut about European politics.
Even so, it’s curious to me how giving the populists more of what they want is supposed to prevent them from gaining more ground?
Now I’m going to reveal how hopelessly naive I am, but I’m generally of the opinion that IMMIGRATION GOOD. I like seeing the old ethnostates transition to multicultural pluralism. I think it’s a great way for populations to learn tolerance, if not empathy, and discover new strengths through diversity. And it’s a great way for people in hard situations to seek something better for themselves and their families. If I were in charge I’d fling all the borders wide open and just let people go where they wanna go, live where they wanna live, and be who they wanna be.
That would probably result in absolute disaster as thousands of unintended consequences piled up in intersecting fractals, leading to total societal collapse. It’s good that I’m not in charge.
But still, capitulating to xenophobes’ cry of IMMIGRATION BAD is surely a move in the wrong direction too. If we’re worried about populism, perhaps the actual way to combat it is by promoting policies that don’t foment division, fear, marginalization, and violence.
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Comment on These travel influencers don’t want freebies. They’re AI. in ~travel
balooga Link ParentOh wow, I'm out of the loop. Agreed, this year's is better than that but it's a very low bar.Oh wow, I'm out of the loop. Agreed, this year's is better than that but it's a very low bar.
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Comment on These travel influencers don’t want freebies. They’re AI. in ~travel
balooga Link ParentYikes! That’s atrocious. Thanks for the link.Yikes! That’s atrocious. Thanks for the link.
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Comment on These travel influencers don’t want freebies. They’re AI. in ~travel
balooga Link ParentDo you have a link to that? This is the first I’ve heard of it.Do you have a link to that? This is the first I’ve heard of it.
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Comment on Moving camera forced perspective in ~movies
balooga LinkGreat video! I really loved a few things in particular: The admission that no one knows how to do these shots anymore because VFX has replaced practical effects and the last generation’s...Great video! I really loved a few things in particular:
- The admission that no one knows how to do these shots anymore because VFX has replaced practical effects and the last generation’s painstakingly learned institutional knowledge is not being passed forward.
- The callout that the shift to VFX has resulted in a culture that is no longer willing to commit to the level of planning that used to be required.
- The reminder that modern BTS footage is often straight-up faked to hide how shots are actually done (with the requisite nod to “No CGI” is Really Just Invisible CGI, which I originally found here on Tildes and it radically changed the way I think about moviemaking today).
- The surprise inclusion of some other YouTube personalities, namely my boy Captain Disillusion. Always nice to see him pop up, wish it was in his own channel more often.
Also I just want to say, that one VFX shot they felt compelled to include in their final bit… looked like crap. Sorry but it didn’t improve the overall effect at all. It immediately jumped out at me. Not sure if the problem was poor rotoscoping, unconvincing shadows, bad acting, or what, but it failed to sell the illusion — and actually broke the illusion the forced perspective had created. I agree with their statement that VFX, used appropriately, can elevate a practical shot. But this one did not do that, IMHO.
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Comment on These travel influencers don’t want freebies. They’re AI. in ~travel
balooga LinkRandom technical thought I had about this: I’m sure the people behind these “AI influencers” are training custom LoRAs to preserve consistency of their characters’ appearance across many images....Random technical thought I had about this: I’m sure the people behind these “AI influencers” are training custom LoRAs to preserve consistency of their characters’ appearance across many images. But if they’re being paid to promote specific places, their sponsors also have an interest in making sure the locations are accurately depicted.
I doubt they’re doing this now but I could totally see high-profile destinations preparing their own LoRA packages for distribution to influencer account creators. It’s one thing to render a character in a generic vineyard or with a vaguely familiar structure out of focus in the background. But the next level is convincingly recreating those places’ unique real-world architectural details, works of art, vistas, etc. without hallucinations. That’s going to be important to sponsors who want to avoid being misrepresented and feel like they’re getting their money’s worth. To do this right would require photographers to go on location and intensively image (and annotate) these sites for model training. I can totally see that becoming a new niche profession with real money involved, if this AI influencer trend has staying power.
I guess that idea goes further than travel content. Any brand sponsors are going to want to ensure their products are pictured accurately in AI imagery. If they want shots of the influencer wearing their clothes, eating their food, driving their cars, whatever — to do that right is going to require lots of tailor-made LoRAs. Demand for that could conceivably lead to a whole new cottage industry.
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Comment on Day 7: Laboratories in ~comp.advent_of_code
balooga LinkTypeScript Yesterday was busy for me so I'm playing catch-up now. This was the first puzzle that tripped me up! I breezed through Part 1 with a nice single-loop solution but walked right into the...TypeScript
Yesterday was busy for me so I'm playing catch-up now. This was the first puzzle that tripped me up! I breezed through Part 1 with a nice single-loop solution but walked right into the trap of doing a naive recursive brute-force approach for Part 2 and hit my first OOM crash of the year.
I guess I've "done" dynamic programming in the past but never called it that. Usually I'm thinking in terms of managing React state and minimizing re-renders by memoizing expensive function outputs, etc. I'm not used to considering this kind of problem in the same way.
I don't think it's cheating to lean on ChatGPT a bit when you get stuck in AoC, as long as you're earnestly tackling the problem, and working through different approaches — not just generating a full solution in one go. So in full disclosure, that's the route I had to take for this Part 2. Seems like most of you figured out the right approach straightaway, but it was not intuitive to me all! Just as I predicted, lol.
Parts 1 and 2
import { RunFunction } from '../../../types'; type InputData = string[][]; enum Direction { L = -1, R = 1, } function formatInput(input: string): InputData { return input.split('\n').map(row => row.split('')); } export const run: RunFunction<InputData> = () => { const validatePosition = (grid: InputData, rowIndex: number, colIndex: number): boolean => { return rowIndex >= 0 && rowIndex < grid.length && colIndex >= 0 && colIndex < grid[0].length; }; const countBeamSplits = (grid: InputData): number => { let total = 0; for (let rowIndex = 0; rowIndex < grid.length; rowIndex++) { for (let colIndex = 0; colIndex < grid[rowIndex].length; colIndex++) { if (grid[rowIndex][colIndex] === '|' || grid[rowIndex][colIndex] === 'S') { if (validatePosition(grid, rowIndex + 1, colIndex)) { if (grid[rowIndex + 1][colIndex] === '^') { if (validatePosition(grid, rowIndex + 1, colIndex + Direction.L)) { grid[rowIndex + 1][colIndex + Direction.L] = '|'; } if (validatePosition(grid, rowIndex + 1, colIndex + Direction.R)) { grid[rowIndex + 1][colIndex + Direction.R] = '|'; } total++; continue; } grid[rowIndex + 1][colIndex] = '|'; } } } } return total; }; const countQuantumTimelines = (grid: InputData) => { let total = 0n; const startCol = grid[0].indexOf('S'); let curr = Array<bigint>(grid[0].length).fill(0n); curr[startCol] = 1n; for (let rowIndex = 0; rowIndex < grid.length; rowIndex++) { const next = Array<bigint>(grid[rowIndex].length).fill(0n); for (let colIndex = 0; colIndex < grid[rowIndex].length; colIndex++) { const count = curr[colIndex]; if (count === 0n) { continue; } const nextRowIndex = rowIndex + 1; if (nextRowIndex >= grid.length) { total += count; continue; } if (grid[nextRowIndex][colIndex] === '^') { if (colIndex - 1 >= 0) { next[colIndex - 1] += count; } else { total += count; } if (colIndex + 1 < grid[rowIndex].length) { next[colIndex + 1] += count; } else { total += count; } } else { next[colIndex] += count; } } curr = next; } return total; }; return [formatInput, countBeamSplits, countQuantumTimelines]; };Benchmarks: The median input formatting time over 50 iterations is 22µs on my machine. Part 1 is 74µs and Part 2 is 160µs.
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Comment on Paramount launches a hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery in ~movies
balooga Link ParentI just got the hang of looking for the phrase “private equity” as an increasingly frequent warning light appearing in articles like this. Now I have to train that same muscle to watch out for...I just got the hang of looking for the phrase “private equity” as an increasingly frequent warning light appearing in articles like this. Now I have to train that same muscle to watch out for “sovereign wealth.”
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Comment on CGA-2025-12 🏴☠️🏝️🍌 INSERT CARTRIDGE 🟢 The Secret of Monkey Island in ~games
balooga Link ParentThanks for digging that up, that’s great. Part of me always wondered if there was some corporate mandate to include X number of unsolvable puzzles, to drive business for the pay-per-minute phone...Thanks for digging that up, that’s great. Part of me always wondered if there was some corporate mandate to include X number of unsolvable puzzles, to drive business for the pay-per-minute phone hint line, or to sell guide books. A bit conspiratorial but that was part of the model in those days.
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Comment on CGA-2025-12 🏴☠️🏝️🍌 INSERT CARTRIDGE 🟢 The Secret of Monkey Island in ~games
balooga Link ParentI keep forgetting that Monkey Island is a part of their war chest now. I don’t want them to make a movie, but I’m morbidly curious what one would be like. In competent hands it could be great, but...Nowadays, Disney of course also owns both IPs.
I keep forgetting that Monkey Island is a part of their war chest now. I don’t want them to make a movie, but I’m morbidly curious what one would be like. In competent hands it could be great, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for ten minutes about that ever happening.
I would love Full Throttle: Remastered, please!