Boojum's recent activity
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Comment on Best recommendations for PC couch multiplayer games? in ~games
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Comment on The death of punctuation in ~humanities.languages
Boojum Link ParentI'll sometimes include a TL;DR or BLUF at the top for this reason. Then the details and context are still there if they want to read them.I'll sometimes include a TL;DR or BLUF at the top for this reason. Then the details and context are still there if they want to read them.
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Comment on The death of punctuation in ~humanities.languages
Boojum Link ParentI like to think of it as a form of batching. (Weirdly, I can't help but envision the extra bytes of overhead and metadata sitting in a database somewhere when I send things in multiple messages.)...I like to think of it as a form of batching. (Weirdly, I can't help but envision the extra bytes of overhead and metadata sitting in a database somewhere when I send things in multiple messages.) I'm also a fan of the "no hello" and "don't be spooky" policies. I also work on an international team, so a lot of communication tends to be asynchronous anyway.
The one downside I see is that if the other party already knows most of the context, then they may be able to confirm this right away and save you from writing out a lot of extra context for their benefit. But then again, I find that redundancy can also help to stave off misunderstandings and make sure you're truly on the same page.
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Comment on The death of punctuation in ~humanities.languages
Boojum LinkCapitalization, punctuation, and two spaces after every sentence: always! (Even in texts, chats, and gaming.) I like to think that if I'm ever under duress or impersonated, my family will know it...Capitalization, punctuation, and two spaces after every sentence: always! (Even in texts, chats, and gaming.) I like to think that if I'm ever under duress or impersonated, my family will know it by the lack of periods at the end of my text messages. I proudly wear the "Oxford Comma Preservation Society" joke t-shirt that my spouse got me last Christmas, I prefer logical quotations, and I know when to use "i.e.," vs. "e.g.," (with commas!), "less" vs. "fewer" (hello Stannis!), and "who" vs. "whom".
I may be showing my age as a Xennial engineer here, but I refuse to bow before the forces of entropy! (It's also quite possible that I may have some undiagnosed ADHD or autistic tendencies.) Moreover, I've been writing this way long enough that it's easier for my to just capitalize and punctuate everything consistently than it is for me to switch it off in less formal context, though the wording may more colloquial. If all that means that my writing may be mistaken for LLM output, then so be it.
Part of it is that I write as much for myself as others. First, writing helps me to organize my thoughts. I find that understanding something systematically and writing about it in a structured are closely interrelated. I may start more with one or the other, but the outcome of one tends to lead to the other. Second, I'm often forgetful, so detailed emails that I write for others do double-duty as notes for myself. The same goes for detailed commit messages, code comments, work-internal chat messages and wiki pages, text messages, posts, and so forth.
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Comment on Best recommendations for PC couch multiplayer games? in ~games
Boojum Link ParentPlaying through that this week with my 9.5yo! (Portal 2 is great too, but we've already solved all the co-op puzzles multiple times.)Playing through that this week with my 9.5yo!
(Portal 2 is great too, but we've already solved all the co-op puzzles multiple times.)
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Comment on How has AI positively impacted your life? in ~tech
Boojum LinkI've used it for checking the clarity of my writing (e.g., for a technical paper submission). I'll feed it drafts of what I've written and then quiz it with some comprehension-checking questions....-
I've used it for checking the clarity of my writing (e.g., for a technical paper submission). I'll feed it drafts of what I've written and then quiz it with some comprehension-checking questions. Where it fails, I'll go back and update those points in my draft. I use its artificial stupidity as a proxy for
an inattentive readera peer reviewer. -
I've also found it surprisingly good at serving as an editor and answering grammar questions. Should I add or remove a comma here? Which punctuation is best there? Which tense of this word fits here? Which of these possible phrasings best captures the nuance that I want?
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It's good for dredging up half-remembered terminology when I'm having a brain-fart. Or cases where I'm sure there must be a term for something, but I'm not quite sure what the accepted term is. I'll describe the thing, get the term, and then use that as a starting point to go do research and verify it. If I'm dancing around a concept, it can usually give me the concept.
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I'll use it for coding up quick throw-away scripts.
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I have also had some success rubber-ducking architectural ideas for a larger project I've been thinking about (writing a video game).
In general, I prefer to do all the real work myself and write things in my own voice, or in my own coding style. But I'll take its feedback under advisement. And occasionally it will surprise me and pop out with a really nice alternative suggestion that works way better than anything I'd been thinking - the perfect phrase, or an elegant little bit of code that's cleaner than what I was trying.
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Comment on New research shows attention lapses due to sleep deprivation coincide with a flushing of fluid from the brain in ~science
Boojum LinkIf true, it seems like the brain is going to flush CSF one way or another - ideally during sleep, but while waking if it must.If true, it seems like the brain is going to flush CSF one way or another - ideally during sleep, but while waking if it must.
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Comment on CGA-2025-10 🕹️⏰ 🗺️ 🐸 REMOVE CARTRIDGE ⏏️ Chrono Trigger in ~games
Boojum Link ParentSNES version bsnes core on (Steam) RetroArch Steam Deck docked to TV NTSC CRT video filter- SNES version
- bsnes core on (Steam) RetroArch
- Steam Deck docked to TV
- NTSC CRT video filter
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Comment on CGA-2025-10 🕹️⏰ 🗺️ 🐸 REMOVE CARTRIDGE ⏏️ Chrono Trigger in ~games
Boojum Link ParentI've noticed before how vivid my memory is for the specific games that I was playing right before one of my children were born. It's an odd effect.I've noticed before how vivid my memory is for the specific games that I was playing right before one of my children were born. It's an odd effect.
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Comment on CGA-2025-10 🕹️⏰ 🗺️ 🐸 REMOVE CARTRIDGE ⏏️ Chrono Trigger in ~games
Boojum Link ParentIf memory serves, there's still a use for the lower tier numbered spells in the old SNES-era Final Fantasies, at least for heals. The smallest heal is the most MP efficient for the amount healed....If memory serves, there's still a use for the lower tier numbered spells in the old SNES-era Final Fantasies, at least for heals. The smallest heal is the most MP efficient for the amount healed. So you can use a massive heal in a pinch, or for turn efficiency, but it's going to cost more MP overall.
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Comment on Scripts I wrote that I use all the time in ~comp
Boojum (edited )LinkI'm definitely going to have steal some of these. (Both from the article, from this thread, and from the HN thread.) Anyway, in the spirit of sharing here are some Zsh aliases and functions of my...I'm definitely going to have steal some of these. (Both from the article, from this thread, and from the HN thread.)
Anyway, in the spirit of sharing here are some Zsh aliases and functions of my own:
alias rshare="chmod -R go=u-w" alias runshare="chmod -R go=" alias runexec="chmod -R a-x+X"rsharerecurses through a directory tree and for each file or directory copies my user permissions, minus write access, to group and other. I usually run locked down withumask 077, sorsharemakes things accessible to others.runsharerevokes those perms.runexecis useful for cleaning up directory trees copied from Windows filesystems where the executable bit comes set on everything.function go() { local i; for i ($@); do xdg-open $i; done }I use this one constantly. It opens up a file or list of files with whatever desktop program is assigned to them. Or for directories, it shows me the contents in the desktop file browser, etc. (Regarding the name, I was using a version of this alias long before Golang existed, damnit!)
alias ec="emacsclient -n" function cde() { local d=`emacsclient -e "(buffer-local-value 'default-directory (window-buffer))"`; cd ${~d:1:-1} }Quick edits in Emacs via the client. I have Emacs set to launch the server on startup, and
ecjust tells that instance to open whatever files I give it and then immediately returns. It's useful when I'm justcding around in the terminal and want to pop a file into my Emacs window.cdekind of goes the opposite direction and tries tocdme into the directory holding the active buffer's file.alias opng="oxipng -o max -Z -v -v" alias toimg="pygmentize -Ofont_size=16,line_number_chars=3,font_name=Cascadia\ Mono,style=borland -o" function pdf2png() { gs -q -dQUIET -dSAFER -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -dNOPROMPT -dMaxBitmap=500000000 -dAlignToPixels=0 -dGridFitTT=2 -sDEVICE=png16m -dTextAlphaBits=4 -dGraphicsAlphaBits=4 -r600 -dEPSCrop -dUseCropBox -dFirstPage=1 -dLastPage=1 -sOutputFile=$2 $1 }Some image utilities:
opngcrunches down PNG files as much as possible,toimgrenders stdin or a text/source file to a syntax highlighted image,pdf2pngrenders the pages of a PDF to images.alias pdiff="git --no-pager diff --no-index --patience --color=auto -U15" function attach() { gdb --pid `ps -o pid= -C $@` ;} function alarm() { perl -e 'alarm shift; exec @ARGV' "$@" ;} function countdn() { local c; for c in {$1..1}; do echo -ne " $c... \\r"; sleep 1; done } function vbreak() { eval `resize`; echo "\033[1;95m\n"; for r in {1..3}; do for c in {1..$COLUMNS}; do echo -n \#; done; done; date; echo "\n" } function echob() { echo "\033[1;31m$@\033[m" }And finally a grab bag:
pdiffuses Git's patience diff on two arbitrary files (which may be outside of repos),attachtries to attach the GDB debugger to a running process by name so I don't have to look up the PID,alarmtakes a time in seconds and a command to run and kills the command after the time is up,countdntakes a time in seconds and gives me a little count down (useful when I want to delay or stagger the start times of some commands to run unattended),vbreakshows a honking big bold magenta divider bar with timestamp that I can't miss in the scrollback buffer, andechobjust echoes some text in bold red. -
Comment on Scripts I wrote that I use all the time in ~comp
Boojum Link ParentFor things like your lsc, I prefer to just alias ls to itself along with some others where I pretty much never want the vanilla defaults. alias ls="ls --color=auto" alias grep="grep --color=auto"...For things like your
lsc, I prefer to just aliaslsto itself along with some others where I pretty much never want the vanilla defaults.alias ls="ls --color=auto" alias grep="grep --color=auto" alias fgrep="fgrep --color=auto" alias egrep="egrep --color=auto" alias less="less -i" alias du="du -hc" alias ps="ps -Heo pid,pcpu,user,rss:7,args" alias strings="strings -a" alias hexdump="hexdump -C"For the very rare occasions where I actually do want the default behavior, prefixing the command with backslash disables alias expansion. E.g.,
\ls. This way, I give my common case the shorter name, and the uncommon case the longer name. -
Comment on What code editor / IDE do you use (2025)? in ~comp
Boojum Link ParentCompared to many things, I'd call it pretty lightweight with the right setup. I know that some people complain about multi-second startup times or longer, but that's usually due to their config....Compared to many things, I'd call it pretty lightweight with the right setup.
I know that some people complain about multi-second startup times or longer, but that's usually due to their config.
In a quick test of spinning up new instances on my machine in graphical vs. terminal mode (
emacs -nw) and with my config vs. pure vanilla (emacs -Q), the startup times (M-x emacs-init-time) with a warm disk cache and the initial resident memory usage from the best of eight runs each are:Mode Config Startup time RSS Graphical Mine 0.292 s 83 MiB Graphical Vanilla 0.182 s 70 MiB Terminal Mine 0.107 s 70 MiB Terminal Vanilla 0.001 s 58 MiB And of course, it's nearly instantaneous if you're just attaching to an already existing instance running a server (
emacsclient).For a fun comparison, going to my W11 work laptop and starting up Notepad, the task manager reports 40MB of memory used. So we're talking approximately two Notepad instances worth of memory for Emacs here.
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Comment on What code editor / IDE do you use (2025)? in ~comp
Boojum Link ParentI dunno; I think it checks off a number of the mentioned asks: [X] Open-source (FSF GNU!) [X] Relatively clean / light weight (not Electron, can run in terminal) [X] Capable of providing a project...I dunno; I think it checks off a number of the mentioned asks:
- [X] Open-source (FSF GNU!)
- [X] Relatively clean / light weight (not Electron, can run in terminal)
- [X] Capable of providing a project overview (Speedbar built in, other packages for in-frame)
- [X] Tabbed or vsplit / hsplit buffers (Splits have been around forever, tabs are fairly new)
- [X] Comprehensive syntax highlighting
- [X] Some form of language server interface (Eglot built in, or lsp-mode)
- [X] Something theme-able (definitely, some configs look very different)
- [~] Good to look at (opinions may vary, depends on config)
- [~] Relatively intuitive or well-established keyboard shortcuts (arguable intuitiveness)
That said, I've been using it for decades now and it's my "forever editor" at this point, so I'll freely admit that I'm somewhat biased. :-)
There was mention of not suggesting VIM since it's overwhelming. But at least for Emacs, I got started running it way-back-when with no config. Vanilla Emacs gives you a menubar to explore and a simple toolbar with buttons for loading and saving files, cut/copy/paste, and search. You can navigate with all the cursor keys as expected or point-and-click with the mouse and start typing right away. Basically, when I started I was able to treat Emacs pretty much like a fancy Notepad until I gradually started to internalize the keybinds, learn the deeper functionality (there's an ocean in there), and start heavily customizing it.
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Comment on Help choosing a new linux computer? in ~tech
Boojum Link ParentAnother Fedora user here - to soften your warning to @MimicSquid about it, I'll just add that the RPM Fusion futzing is a one-time pain point. I set it up when installing Fedora and bringing up my...Another Fedora user here - to soften your warning to @MimicSquid about it, I'll just add that the RPM Fusion futzing is a one-time pain point. I set it up when installing Fedora and bringing up my new system almost two years ago, and haven't really had to think about it since, even through several distro upgrades (Fedora 39 to Fedora 42). I'm running Fedora KDE and it's been quite solid.
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Comment on What happens when the internet goes out at your work? in ~tech
Boojum Link ParentThat's my situation as well. I've worked from my laptop on battery using mobile hotspot when my neighborhood has had power outages, for example. If it's on my employers end, then theoretically I...That's my situation as well. I've worked from my laptop on battery using mobile hotspot when my neighborhood has had power outages, for example. If it's on my employers end, then theoretically I could still try to do some offline code reading, architectural planning, or coding. In practice, yeah, break time.
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Comment on Travel essentials: eight items to pack for your next trip – and what to leave at home in ~travel
Boojum Link ParentI'd never heard of packing cubes before your comment, but here as I'm Googling for them, they look pretty cool. (I usually just use a good-sized travel backpack in the overhead bin and/or a...I'd never heard of packing cubes before your comment, but here as I'm Googling for them, they look pretty cool. (I usually just use a good-sized travel backpack in the overhead bin and/or a smaller laptop backpack for under-the-seat.) I might have to pay a visit to the local REI flagship store at some point.
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Comment on Travel essentials: eight items to pack for your next trip – and what to leave at home in ~travel
Boojum LinkAh, there it is: (I'm not complaining, since I think it makes an interesting Topic for Tildes discussion. But whenever I see lists like these with specific products recommended rather than general...Ah, there it is:
The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link.
(I'm not complaining, since I think it makes an interesting Topic for Tildes discussion. But whenever I see lists like these with specific products recommended rather than general categories, I always wonder what's the angle.)
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Comment on Brannon Braga calls for longer Star Trek seasons in ~tv
Boojum Link ParentHeck, "The Inner Light" still sticks strongly in my mind all these years later! (Fairly meditative, and yet one of the most memorable episodes to me.)Heck, "The Inner Light" still sticks strongly in my mind all these years later! (Fairly meditative, and yet one of the most memorable episodes to me.)
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Comment on Tildes, I need your advice. Looking for Nintendo Switch 1 and NS2 games. in ~games
Boojum LinkIf you're going to be buying multiple games, consider checking if they're Game Voucher eligible (most of the first party ones are). If you have a subscription to Nintendo Switch Online, you can...If you're going to be buying multiple games, consider checking if they're Game Voucher eligible (most of the first party ones are). If you have a subscription to Nintendo Switch Online, you can buy them in pairs for $100. Since a lot of the Switch games are $60+, buying vouchers and redeeming them will save you about $10 each. (Note: I found out the hard way that your Online subscription must be active to both buy and redeem vouchers. But once you've redeemed one for a game, the game is yours.)
Elsewhere, you'd mentioned you'd be interested in games to stay away from. Let me put Animal Crossing on there. I'd originally thought it would be fun to get for my family back during covid. Once I saw that you get one island per Switch (shared across all accounts on it), and only one person can be the island representative and get those perks, I noped the f... out. Unfortunately, my teen bought it for himself and his siblings with his own credit card. And yes, all the drama that I anticipated ensued. Tears were shed as he steamrolled over his siblings, including restarting the island once or twice without checking with the others.
I have both the Links Awakening remake and Echoes of Wisdom for our Switch. I enjoyed both. Links Awakening is classic overhead Zelda with some 3D polish. Echoes of Wisdom is a bit different from the usual Zelda formula in that it focuses more on the exploration and puzzle solving and less on the action. You need to explore every nook and cranny to find echoes, which you can then use as parts of solutions to the puzzles or to rock/paper/scissors tough enemies.
While playing with my 9.5yo this past week, I found many of the cut-scenes pretty cringey myself. (Amusingly, at one point it led to him asking when my spouse and I were going to get a divorce. Um, probably never, kiddo.) For his part, I think he kind of finds them boring - he's started taking the longer cut-scenes as an excuse to go get a cookie, or brush his teeth, or use the bathroom when we're playing together just before his bed time.