Barney's recent activity
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Comment on MapTap: Daily challenges to test your geographical knowledge in ~games
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Comment on Zig creator weighs in on the Bun Rust rewrite in ~comp
Barney Link ParentI have nothing to add, you phrased it better than I could ever have. I fully agree with absolutely everything you wrote. Thank you for elaborating. These days I find myself writing mostly Odin,...I have nothing to add, you phrased it better than I could ever have. I fully agree with absolutely everything you wrote.
Thank you for elaborating.These days I find myself writing mostly Odin, despite finding gingerBill difficult at times. C3 keeps just a tiny bit too much of C to be my go-to language, but it's certainly the second.
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Comment on Zig creator weighs in on the Bun Rust rewrite in ~comp
Barney LinkI know very little about the creator of Bun, so I will not comment on anything regarding that, but this stood out to me: What sort of "bigger plans"? They keep pretending that Zig is like the...I know very little about the creator of Bun, so I will not comment on anything regarding that, but this stood out to me:
His singular focus on productivity and his startup's exit strategy was increasingly at odds with my longer term vision for the Zig project. I remember he kept nagging me to drop all my other priorities and work on a Language Server Protocol implementation and VSCode integration, while I had bigger plans.
What sort of "bigger plans"? They keep pretending that Zig is like the invention of the wheel. A complete joke, when the language is wholly unergonomic and effectively unusable for everyone who isn't actively working on developing it. Zig has been in development for a decade, and Kelly still acts like it's some pilot project in its early stages.
Posts like this are actually infuriating to read due to how holier-than-thou it comes across. I've been a big Zig critic for years and think the language is massively misguided and sells false promises.
Regardless of that, more than anything the surrounding people and general culture make it so repulsive to me. This entire post is insulting and unprofessional, even if it might be partly warranted.
Aparte: For anyone looking for actually usable languages in the same niche, I recommend checking out Odin and C3 instead.
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Comment on Humble Choice - July 2026 in ~games
Barney Link ParentNothing about gamescope is specific or limited to SteamOS though, you can run it on any distro you want. I'm running it on Void Linux (and ran it on Fedora and Debian in the past) perfectly fine....Nothing about gamescope is specific or limited to SteamOS though, you can run it on any distro you want. I'm running it on Void Linux (and ran it on Fedora and Debian in the past) perfectly fine.
One minor gripe I have about SteamOS is that it is based on Arch and ships with the AUR enabled. Which is, as we saw last month, a potential source of threat that the average user who follows youtube tutorials might not know about.
But yes, it's amazing! Gaming on linux has come a super long way!
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Comment on Humble Choice - July 2026 in ~games
Barney (edited )LinkAnother month, another massive W for proton. Honestly, at this point in time, I am genuinely shocked when a game (that's not bogged down by anticheat) doesn't run on linux. How good! I got this...Another month, another massive W for proton. Honestly, at this point in time, I am genuinely shocked when a game (that's not bogged down by anticheat) doesn't run on linux. How good!
I got this month's bundle as well, since Sea of Stars and Tunic have been on my wishlist for a while, so I figured why not! For this longer, winter nights. Dicefolk looked cool too.
This leaves me with the following games:
Neon White- Police Simulator
Drop Duchy- Sledders
Our Adventurer Guild
Games remaining from June's bundle:
Construction Simulator- Overlooting
If you'd like any (even multiple!) of these games, please reply to this comment and I'll DM you the redeem link. Please note that some of these games may be region locked.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
Barney LinkI took a short break from working on my anime tracker and decided to tackle one of the issues that's been bugging me lately: my application windows not being centred automatically. So wrote a...I took a short break from working on my anime tracker and decided to tackle one of the issues that's been bugging me lately: my application windows not being centred automatically.
So wrote a little applet for the Niri compositor that reads the event stream and centres all visible columns whenever something changes. Turns out this was much easier to do than I initially anticipated, and the result made my experience much better.
https://codeberg.org/Sylphrena/Niri-auto-centre-columns
Aparte: This also serves as a reminder than if something is bothering you, before putting it off, at least evaluate the effort it would take to fix. Chances are, it's less than you think!
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Comment on Why carbon capture can't solve climate change in ~enviro
Barney Link ParentThis is incorrect. There is no other solution. Everything else is a measure to slow the advance of climate change. Nothing, apart from carbon capture, can reverse it. If we transitioned to 100%...many other solutions do, but they require us to transition away from fossil fuels.
This is incorrect. There is no other solution. Everything else is a measure to slow the advance of climate change. Nothing, apart from carbon capture, can reverse it. If we transitioned to 100% fusion energy, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere would not change.
This is why the article is wrong. Carbon capture is a necessary part of every single complete solution
to climate change. It's certainly not the only measure, but it is unavoidable.My problem with the article is that it paints carbon capture as this outlandish hoax, when it isn't. It may very well be true that companies try to hide behind carbon capture to justify their emissions, but that does not invalidate carbon capture as a whole.
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Comment on Why carbon capture can't solve climate change in ~enviro
Barney Link ParentHow do you define "will not work"? It will not solve climate change immediately by itself, since that ramp up in carbon capture is unfeasible. Other measures are needed. But in essence, removing...How do you define "will not work"?
It will not solve climate change immediately by itself, since that ramp up in carbon capture is unfeasible. Other measures are needed.
But in essence, removing CO2 from the atmosphere and putting it somewhere else definitely does work in a sense that it has a positive effect. That effect may be borderline negligible as of right now, but it is still positive, so it does work.
It doesn't solve climate change, but dismissing it as "can't work, won't work" is ridiculous.
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Comment on Why carbon capture can't solve climate change in ~enviro
Barney LinkIt's a pretty silly write-up. Yes, it's true that carbon capture is not easy, since we're emitting such a formidable amount of CO2, but what's the alternative? Even if we went down to net 0...It's a pretty silly write-up.
Yes, it's true that carbon capture is not easy, since we're emitting such a formidable amount of CO2, but what's the alternative? Even if we went down to net 0 emissions tomorrow (which is completely impossible without carbon capture since certain processes inherently emit CO2, like the production of steel), we'd only stop the advance of climate change, not reverse it.
We need negative emissions to get out of this mess. The headline "Carbon capture cannot solve climate change" is like saying "a fan and a sun shade won't cool you down to 25C, so you might as well just stand in the sun". It's a ridiculous take. What's the point of the article? What's the alternative? How do you get CO2 out of the atmosphere?
Carbon capture does work, and it is an absolutely necessary step in halting, and hopefully eventually reversing, climate change. It's currently financially unviable, since it is always an added cost for the polluters. Of course it's not going to be economically profitable when they can just emit an infinite amount of CO2 for free. I know there are an increasing number of regulations in place in some countries, but it's still very very lenient and only limits the amount of CO2 they can emit and places nearly no pressure on capturing any of it.
As long as we keep emitting any amount of CO2, climate change is only going to get worse. Maybe not with the same velocity as it did these past 20 years, but it will get worse.
That article is a sad joke.
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Comment on Epic Games announces Lore open-source version control system in ~tech
Barney Link ParentI don't have much to add because one really needs to try it to see how brilliant it is. JJ was the biggest quality of life improvement I have ever made to my coding flow. It is actually incredible.I don't have much to add because one really needs to try it to see how brilliant it is.
JJ was the biggest quality of life improvement I have ever made to my coding flow.
It is actually incredible.
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Comment on Smartphones arrived just before the US fertility rate plunged. One study says it’s a direct cause. in ~health
Barney Link ParentIndeed, which will naturally happen no matter what since people have to live somewhere. Mortgage usually requires a 20% down payment, which most people do not have, so they're forced to rent their...Indeed, which will naturally happen no matter what since people have to live somewhere. Mortgage usually requires a 20% down payment, which most people do not have, so they're forced to rent their entire lives. Additionally, and this is the most concerning part, houses and flats these past 2 decades have been rapidly appreciating assets.
To give an actual example, the flat I've been renting for the past 10 years cost 550k when it was built 10 years ago. It is around 800k at the moment, meaning its value increased by 250k simply because it's older. No renovations, no additional features or anything, it's simply older. Which means, if I were saving up to buy this flat, if I'd saved up less than 250k over the past 10 years (2083 / month), I would be farther from buying it today than 10 years ago. And I'm not even living in one of the big cities.
Which is mental.
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Comment on Smartphones arrived just before the US fertility rate plunged. One study says it’s a direct cause. in ~health
Barney Link ParentA minor correction regarding this point. Homeownership rates will not increase unless legislation is passed to facilitate it. I am in Switzerland, and a formidable percentage of homes are owned by...with homeownership rates only increasing as the Boomers die off.
A minor correction regarding this point. Homeownership rates will not increase unless legislation is passed to facilitate it.
I am in Switzerland, and a formidable percentage of homes are owned by insurance companies and private pensions. The property of an old homeowner dying will more often than not end up in the hands of the aforementioned parties, not working or even middle class citizens.
The average person has already been, and unless things change, like will remain priced out of ever owning a home.
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Comment on Arch User Repository compromised, 1500+ packages affected in ~tech
Barney (edited )Link ParentI think it's very important to note, that while yes, the AUR is unofficial etc., there's an astronomical difference between and There is no justification for this sloppy of a process. At the very...These PKGBUILDs are completely unofficial and have not been thoroughly* vetted.
I think it's very important to note, that while yes, the AUR is unofficial etc., there's an astronomical difference between
"use these at your own risk, we're not thoroughly vetting them"
and
"literally anybody with 0 track record can claim thousands of orphaned packages without any need for approval and immediately push changes to them".
There is no justification for this sloppy of a process. At the very least, a new maintainer claiming packages people have installed needs some approval process, even if it's community driven. I.e, if it gets X downvotes in a week, it doesn't go through. Something MusicBrainz does for example.
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Comment on Earth’s east–west albedo symmetry in ~science
Barney Link ParentIf you consider clear-sky albedo, cloud radiative effect and open-ocean fraction combined, yes. However, purely for Earth's albedo as a whole, it's guaranteed to exist somewhere. Still, the fact...If you consider clear-sky albedo, cloud radiative effect and open-ocean fraction combined, yes. However, purely for Earth's albedo as a whole, it's guaranteed to exist somewhere.
Still, the fact all three are equal is fascinating. There's still so much we don't understand about global weather phenomena and geophysics. Very interesting times.
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Comment on Earth’s east–west albedo symmetry in ~science
Barney (edited )Link ParentCan we assume that the function is sinusoidal? Its derivative need not be symmetric between hemispheres either. The Earth's surface is very heterogeneous, so I don't think we can assume that it...Can we assume that the function is sinusoidal? Its derivative need not be symmetric between hemispheres either. The Earth's surface is very heterogeneous, so I don't think we can assume that it is.
Imagine a hypothetical planet where one half of it is covered in ice while the other half is made up of forests. The IVT still guarantees that you can choose a part of the planet that's albedo equals the rest, but it need not be two equal parts. And in this hypothetical planet's case, it trivially isn't. IVT only results in two equal hemispheres if the planet itself is homogenous.I'll leave the above example here for posterity but it's obviously incorrect and in no way refutes the claim lmao.
Edit:
After thinking about it a bit more, the only requirement for this to hold is that the albedo of the Earth, when measuring across a longitude, or indeed any dividing plane that passes through the centre, is continuous, since the choice of meridian is free. It doesn't even need to be sinusoidal. It truly is just the IVT after all.
Thank you for the great thought exercise @whbboyd, it would never have occured to me that this could be due to such a fundamental theorem.
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Comment on Earth’s east–west albedo symmetry in ~science
Barney Link ParentThe intermediate value theorem only guarantees that you can divide it into 2 parts of equal overall albedo, not that those parts are equal in size, which the 27° E meridian does. That is the...The intermediate value theorem only guarantees that you can divide it into 2 parts of equal overall albedo, not that those parts are equal in size, which the 27° E meridian does. That is the surprising part of this finding.
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Comment on Humble Choice - June 2026 in ~games
Barney (edited )LinkAnother month, another massive win for WINE / Proton! Love to see it! Really cool set of games as well! I intend to play Octopath Traveler 2 and Hell Clock. Seems like a silly little ARPG....- Exemplary
Another month, another massive win for WINE / Proton! Love to see it!
Really cool set of games as well!
I intend to play Octopath Traveler 2 and Hell Clock. Seems like a silly little ARPG. Probably nothing shockingly good, but reasonably interesting!That leaves me with the following games I have no need for:
Life is Strange: Double ExposureIndikaCitizen Sleeper 2- Construction Simulator
- Overlooting
If anyone would like any of these games, please respond here and I'll DM you the redeem link!
Do note that some games may or may not be region locked (I am in Europe). If for some reason you are not able to redeem the game due to region locking, please relinquish it to someone else :)
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Comment on My Accessibility Stack and the future on Wayland in ~comp
Barney Link ParentHave you read the post I linked? Gnome devs are constantly abused everywhere on the internet, at times simply for being a Gnome dev other times for their UI design philosophy. Read from section...Have you read the post I linked?
Gnome devs are constantly abused everywhere on the internet, at times simply for being a Gnome dev other times for their UI design philosophy.
Read from section 3.3 in particular.
I fully expect everything I say in this article to be dismissed or be taken out of context on the basis of ad hominem, simply by the mere fact I’m a GNOME Foundation member / regular GNOME contributor. [...]
I can’t speak for other regular contributors, but I presume that they don’t feel comfortable talking about this because they dared be a GNOME contributor. At least, that’s how I felt for the longest time.It’s so unfair and infuriating that all the work I do and share online gain very little activity compared to random posts and articles from privileged people without disabilities that rant about the Linux desktop’s accessibility being trash. It doesn’t help that I become severely anxious sharing accessibility-related work to avoid signs of virtue signalling.
We simultaneously need more interest from people with disabilities to contribute to free and open-source software, and the wider community to be significantly more intolerant of bullies who profit from smearing and demotivating people who are actively trying.
We should take inspiration from “Accessibility on Linux sucks, but GNOME and KDE are making progress” by OSNews. They acknowledge that accessibility on Linux is suboptimal while recognizing the efforts of GNOME and KDE. As a community, we should promote progress more often.
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Comment on Clanker: A word for the machine in ~tech
Barney Link ParentThat's a shockingly good parallel. An LLM "expressing", for the lack of a better word, remorse or any sort of regret, guilt etc. when it makes a mistake is complete fluke. When it encourages or...That's a shockingly good parallel. An LLM "expressing", for the lack of a better word, remorse or any sort of regret, guilt etc. when it makes a mistake is complete fluke. When it encourages or praises you, there is nothing real behind it.
Almost exactly like the demons in Frieren imitating human behaviour and appealing to their emotions.
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Comment on My Accessibility Stack and the future on Wayland in ~comp
Barney Link ParentI think you misunderstand their point. I won't claim to know what that particular developer meant by their comments, but the accessibility topic is very much a double edged blade. See this post by...I think you misunderstand their point. I won't claim to know what that particular developer meant by their comments, but the accessibility topic is very much a double edged blade. See this post by EvilSkeleton, one of the Gnome devs putting in most of the accessibility work.
And the above comment by BuckyMcMonks really resonates with their frustration. There's no we in accessibility development. We are not putting in any of the work. We are only using what's given to us, and then complain that it's not complete.
Accessibility is a very important topic, and if you follow the development channels, there is actual work being done across the board. The thing is, there is a lot of work to do and not enough people to do it. Being more demanding or assuming bad faith is not the right way to go about this.
That's good to know because I played it and wrote it off as "ridiculously easy with anyone who knows a bit about countries that aren't obscure".
Will give it a go for a week, thanks for the heads up! The idea seems super cool.