Boojum's recent activity
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Comment on No one likes it, but I have to admit that unexpected, hardcore adversity is a feature not a bug in ~talk
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Comment on No one likes it, but I have to admit that unexpected, hardcore adversity is a feature not a bug in ~talk
Boojum LinkReminds me a bit of risk compensation; the theory that if you make things safer, then people will compensate with riskier behavior, and vice-versa. People seem to balance towards a certain degree...Reminds me a bit of risk compensation; the theory that if you make things safer, then people will compensate with riskier behavior, and vice-versa. People seem to balance towards a certain degree of aggregate risk. Perhaps part of that is because, deep down, we instinctively recognize that at least a little adversity can be good for the soul.
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Comment on How do you stay organized/avoid procrastination? in ~life
Boojum (edited )Link ParentRegarding your sidenote, my spouse is fond of quoting the proverb "Mornings are wiser than evenings," from various Russian fairy tales (namely Vasalisa the Beautiful, but also Vasalisa the Wise,...Regarding your sidenote, my spouse is fond of quoting the proverb "Mornings are wiser than evenings," from various Russian fairy tales (namely Vasalisa the Beautiful, but also Vasalisa the Wise, Finist the Bright Falcon, and many others depending on translation). It's become a shorthand in our household to remind each other to avoid panicky decisions when we're tired.
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Comment on What's an atypical thing you do that you'd recommend to others? in ~talk
Boojum Link ParentYour great grandmother reminds me of Gandalf:Your great grandmother reminds me of Gandalf:
"In one thing you have not changed, dear friend," said Aragorn: "you still speak in riddles."
"What? In riddles?" said Gandalf. "No! For I was talking aloud to myself. A habit of the old: they choose the wisest person present to speak to; the long explanations needed by the young are wearying."
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Comment on What kinds of philosophy are expressed in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels? in ~books
Boojum LinkI just did a re-read of Going Postal and this bit of conversation between Moist and Vetinari jumped out at me: What's interesting to me is how this somewhat mirrors the Christian concept that evil...I just did a re-read of Going Postal and this bit of conversation between Moist and Vetinari jumped out at me:
"The prospect of freedom?" he said.
"Exactly," said Lord Vetinari. "There is always a choice."
"You mean... I could choose certain death?"
"A choice, nevertheless," said Vetinari. "Or perhaps, an alternative. You see I believe in freedom, Mr. Lipwig. Not many people do, although they will, of course, protest otherwise. And no practical definition of freedom would be complete without the freedom to take the consequences. Indeed, it is the freedom upon which all others are based."What's interesting to me is how this somewhat mirrors the Christian concept that evil is a consequence of God giving us free will. That sin (i.e. evil) is deviation from God's will, but nonetheless we are given the choice. And of course that "the wages of sin is death." Very much like the choice that Vetinari offers here. I think the parallel is even more striking when you consider that in that conversation Vetinari ruminates on angels in that conversation:
"The first interesting thing about angels, Mr Lipwig, is that sometimes, very rarely, at a point in a man's career where he has made such a foul and tangled mess of his life that death appears to be the only sensible option, an angel appears to him, or, I should say, unto him, and offers him a chance to go back to the moment when it all went wrong, and this time do it right. Mr Lipwig, I should like you to think of me as . . . an angel."
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Comment on Post something from your notes app in ~talk
Boojum Link ParentI'm glad that I'm not the only one who does this! Much easier to make a list as I think of things in the days leading up to travel than try to think of everything on-the-spot as I'm packing.I'm glad that I'm not the only one who does this! Much easier to make a list as I think of things in the days leading up to travel than try to think of everything on-the-spot as I'm packing.
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Comment on Post something from your notes app in ~talk
Boojum Link ParentThat first one reminds me of two that I have recorded in my quote file from my personal reading. Both from Jorge Luis Borges stories: Something of a contrary view, but food for thought, perhaps.That first one reminds me of two that I have recorded in my quote file from my personal reading. Both from Jorge Luis Borges stories:
There are no moral or intellectual merits. Homer composed the Odyssey; if we postulate an infinite period of time, with infinite circumstances and changes, the impossible thing is not to compose the Odyssey, at least once.
-- "The Immortal" Jorge Luis BorgesThe truth is that we live out our lives putting off all that can be put off; perhaps we all know deep down that we are immortal and that sooner or later all men will do and know all things.
-- "Funes the Memorious" Jorge Luis BorgesSomething of a contrary view, but food for thought, perhaps.
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Comment on Post something from your notes app in ~talk
Boojum (edited )Link ParentHah! I've tried something like your hypothetical idea; it works quite poorly, hence asking for specific tracks by name instead. Usually when discussing it with my son (who's better at it that I...Hah! I've tried something like your hypothetical idea; it works quite poorly, hence asking for specific tracks by name instead.
Usually when discussing it with my son (who's better at it that I am), I just call it "vee-vee-vee". That's not too hard to say, and three vees are enough to be unambiguous, especially if the context is video games.
Also, since I've been learning adult beginning piano, I've really gotten into the niche of watching good pianists cover video game music (in the "I will never be that good, but it's fun and aspirational to see someone talented do it" sense). One of the ones that I originally listened to a lot is Verdegrand's Positive Force, which he contributed a clean version of to PPPPPPowerup!. And just the other day, I discovered this cover of Pushing Onwards which I've been listening to a ton. Chip tunes seem to translate surprisingly well to piano -- I also love this cover of Spider Dance from Undertale.
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Comment on Post something from your notes app in ~talk
Boojum LinkOoh, this is fun. Here's a note from my phone's Keep app that might be a good conversation starter: Additional context: the phrases in parenthesis are things that might help when requesting it...Ooh, this is fun. Here's a note from my phone's Keep app that might be a good conversation starter:
Amazon Prime Music - Games
- Stellaris
- Crusader Kings 3
- Skyrim
- Ori and the Blind Forest
- Crypt of the Necrodancer
- Hades
- Bastion
- Civilization VI
- Frostpunk
- Darkest Dungeon
- Dead Cells
- Final Fantasy ("Final Symphony", "Born with the Gift of Magic")
- VVVVVV ("Positive Force by Magnus Palson")
- FTL ("Last Stand by Ben Prunty")
- Portal 2
- Okami
- Ys ("Sunshine Coastline by Falcom Sound Team JDK")
- Legend of Heroes ("To the Future by Falcom Sound Team JDK")
- Mass Effect
- Bravely Default 2 ("Bravely Defaut [sic] by Revo")
- Castlevania ("Akumajon Dracula")
- Celeste ("Reach for the Summit")
Additional context: the phrases in parenthesis are things that might help when requesting it from the Echo.
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Comment on What's the oldest tech you use, and why do you still use it? in ~tech
Boojum LinkI still have my HP-48G calculator from (I think) 1993. I even still have the manual for it. That thing is built like a tank. I've joked before that I'll probably be able to pass it on to a...I still have my HP-48G calculator from (I think) 1993. I even still have the manual for it.
That thing is built like a tank. I've joked before that I'll probably be able to pass it on to a descendant some day.
I also like it well enough that I use the Droid48 emulator as the primary calculator app on my phone.
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Comment on Recommendations, specific folk tales: Sisphyus and others in ~books
Boojum LinkThe first one that pops to mind is the tale of Koshchei the Deathless from Russian folklore. Depending on the version, he keeps his mortality hidden outside of himself: locked up inside an egg,...The first one that pops to mind is the tale of Koshchei the Deathless from Russian folklore. Depending on the version, he keeps his mortality hidden outside of himself: locked up inside an egg, inside a duck, inside a hare, inside a casket, under a tree, in some desolate place, etc. Only by finding this and destroying it can the hero destroy him. You can find a version of the tale here..
For more, this type of story of the external soul is discussed in The Golden Bough. (Beware of somewhat "dated" cultural references). These types of stories are also classified as ATU 302, "The Ogre’s (Devil’s) Heart in the Egg" in the Arne-Thompson-Uther folklore motif index where you can find many more variations listed.
(Voldemort was hardly the first to get this idea.)
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Comment on Control Ultimate Edition free update adds Hideo Kojima mission for all players – coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series in ~games
Boojum LinkNice! I just finished the 45th mission this past weekend and thought I was done (finishing off Foundation) and thought I was all done. This is timely, since it means I get one more mission before...Nice! I just finished the 45th mission this past weekend and thought I was done (finishing off Foundation) and thought I was all done. This is timely, since it means I get one more mission before I move on to my next game.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Boojum LinkI've been playing Remedy's Control (Ultimate Edition) after kind of bouncing off of Metroid Prime Remastered on hitting the Phazon Mines on normal mode. Friday night I finished the main campain,...I've been playing Remedy's Control (Ultimate Edition) after kind of bouncing off of Metroid Prime Remastered on hitting the Phazon Mines on normal mode. Friday night I finished the main campain, and Saturday night I finished the AWE DLC.
It's been interesting! At the beginning, it feels fairly mysterious, spooky, and dangerous. By the end, once I got to the last act of the main campaign starting with that maze while fairly powered up, it felt like the power fantasy lovechild of Starwars (the Jedi telekinetics) and The Matrix (the gunplay and environmental destruction).
I've found myself comparing the design of Control to Metroid Prime Remastered, given that they're both considered 3D metroidvanias:
- Survivability: Jesse's considered something of a glass cannon, where survivability means keeping up the offense while moving quickly to avoid getting swarmed. By contrast, Samus is in power armor with energy tanks to help with that. But survivability in Control actually felt at least as good as Metroid Prime. Every enemy drops lots of small health elements when damaged and they don't despawn. (The radius around which you gather them is also much nicer, compared to Metroid where you have to directly touch energy pickups or use charge beam to pull them.) Jesse also feels way more maneuverable and fluid which helps to avoid getting hit in the first place. It also feels like she has more tools in the box, what with shield, sieze, evade, etc.
- Checkpoints: Comparing control points to Metroid's save rooms, they both fully refilled health and provided a save point. However, I really appreciated the generous frequency of the control points, the way they provided fast travel, and the fact that dying and returning to the last control point kept my progress. I remember my first time beating Thardus on Prime; I got a bit off-track and missed the next save room, died, and had to beat the boss again, which was super frustrating because it wasn't a particularly hard fight, but it was a tediously long one.
- Respawns: In Control, it seemed like the first time through an area (i.e., large room/arena) you'd always have to battle the enemies. But on revisits, they'd sometimes respawn and sometimes not, depending on how long since your last battle. If you'd just re-cleared a room of enemies, the next few rooms revisited would probably be peaceful and you'd have a bit of a breather. In Metroid, the enemies would always respawn, which made backtracking much more tedious.
- Enemy scaling: Combined with that, I'd noticed that in Metroid, at certain points of game progression (e.g., after beating a certain boss), some enemies would be upgraded which could make backtracking still more annoying. Control seemed to do this too; revisiting an early area, the enemies that I'd see would typically have higher level numbers. But again, since they wouldn't always respawn this was much less annoying.
- Interaction: Swapping to the scan visor in Metroid got rather annoying, especially since I tend to be a completionist and want to get all the lore. Likewise with the scan visor where it was the way you triggered switches. Just having a simple use button in Control was much nicer. I also kind of hated dark areas in Metroid where I was forced to use the heat visor. So blurry!
- Customization: I do like that Control gives me the ability to tune things for my preferred play style with ability points and a skill tree. Likewise, with weapon and personal mods, though inventory management here is a bit of a pain. Metroid offers no such tuning whatsoever.
- Destruction: I love how much I can destroy the environment in Control. The rooms properly look like warzones after a good battle. And even when not in a battle, just going around punching things is fun. Metroid, being a product of its time, is much more static.
Other fun details that I'd noticed that don't really have a comparison:
- Levitation: Levitation felt really clumsy at first; you just rise to a certain height depending on how long you hold the jump button and stay there until you start to slow fall, and can't go up again until you touch ground. I had expected it to be more like entering a free camera mode where you go up and down freely, and move towards wherever you point. As I got used to it, I realized why it's the way it is: during battles you can levitate around while looking down and firing on ground enemies easily.
- Hub area: I did like that Central Executive fills in with NPCs and clutter as the game progresses. They did a good job with making it feel like an emergency base that the survivors are gathering at to coordinate.
- Post game: It doesn't just reset after you win! So many games seem to do a thing where you beat the final boss and then you get a star on your save slot, maybe some new stuff unlocks, but in-game it's as though you're back to just before you entered the final dungeon/area. In Control, by contrast, everyone acknowledges you've defeated the main enemy but there's still a ton of mopping up to do. Very nice.
- Graphics: This was the first game I've played to have ray tracing (I upgrade about a year ago from a decade-old desktop to an 7950X/4090 desktop; 4k gaming is glorious), so while I've been working for years with ray tracing on GPUs professionally, it was fun to see it in action in a game played for fun. I did have to turn off some things that annoyed me too much due to lack of temporal stability, though.
Okay, I think I'll leave off there.
Spider time!
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Comment on Peeves, opinions, and hot takes about style in ~humanities.languages
Boojum Link ParentI've seen it justified as including the reader (e.g., "We explore..." meaning the author and the reader explore an idea together). That may just be a post-hoc rationalization however. My last...I've seen it justified as including the reader (e.g., "We explore..." meaning the author and the reader explore an idea together). That may just be a post-hoc rationalization however.
My last submission was a solo paper (fingers crossed!) and I used the royal we, as weird as that felt, after double-checking other solo papers at this venue. My main justification to myself was that I was helping to preserve anonymity during peer review; I didn't want to give a clue about the number of authors.
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Comment on Peeves, opinions, and hot takes about style in ~humanities.languages
Boojum Link ParentNope, even for displayed math! It's a fairly common convention. For example, from Wikipedia's style guide (emphasis mine): As an example of how old this convention is, take a look at the...Nope, even for displayed math! It's a fairly common convention. For example, from Wikipedia's style guide (emphasis mine):
Just as in mathematics publications, a sentence which ends with a formula must have a period at the end of the formula.[8] This equally applies to displayed formulae (that is, formulae that take up a line by themselves).
[...]
8.^ This style, adopted by Wikipedia, is shared by Higham (1998), Halmos (1970), the Chicago Manual of Style, and many mathematics journals.
As an example of how old this convention is, take a look at the typography of this short publication from 1946; you'll see it includes commas and periods at the ends of displayed equations and not just the inline ones. Going back farther, here's a scan of a book from 1905 -- page nine of that one (the second page of the table of contents) even has an example of semicolon at the end of a displayed equation.
(I find this convention to be one of those things where you don't notice it until someone draws your attention to it, and then you start to see it everywhere.)
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Comment on What is your strangely specific phobia? in ~talk
Boojum LinkUncovered ground-floor windows at night. I often get this thought of someone outside coming up, standing just out of the pool of light shining through the windows, and looking in -- and how long...Uncovered ground-floor windows at night.
I often get this thought of someone outside coming up, standing just out of the pool of light shining through the windows, and looking in -- and how long they could be watching before I'd notice them. As long as there are blinds or curtains, I'm fine. Likewise, I'm okay with uncovered upper floor windows because of the angle and distance on the sight lines.
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Comment on What is your strangely specific phobia? in ~talk
Boojum Link ParentIf it helps, you're not alone. Famously, there's a line in the 1990 LucasArts adventure game, The Secret of Monkey Island about them: The creator, Ron Gilbert's comment about that line: Someone's...If it helps, you're not alone. Famously, there's a line in the 1990 LucasArts adventure game, The Secret of Monkey Island about them:
The creator, Ron Gilbert's comment about that line:
“I had a feeling in hell here would be mushrooms” was one of Tim’s lines. Tim hates Mushrooms. I also hate mushrooms, but unlike Tim, I’m happy to pick them out.
Someone's even made a t-shirt paraphrasing the line.
For what it's worth, I find them fairly squicky myself (which is why I remembered that Monkey Island trivia).
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Comment on Peeves, opinions, and hot takes about style in ~humanities.languages
Boojum Link ParentNow that you mention it, my own dissertation was double-spaced! I remember hating the required style at the time (it looked so typographically ugly to me), but that's what the thesis editor...Now that you mention it, my own dissertation was double-spaced! I remember hating the required style at the time (it looked so typographically ugly to me), but that's what the thesis editor demanded, so that's what they got. I think I'd blocked that from my memory. :-)
In the LaTeX typesetting system common in computer science (my field), the two math modes are called "inline" and "display". But it's fairly common stylistically to treat math typeset in either form as part of the text and to punctuate accordingly. You're absolutely correct about line heights and it's one of the criteria that I'll use when deciding which mode to use. Inline mode is convenient if it's small and flows neatly with the rest of the text on the line without disrupting it. It's also often used for negative numbers since a proper minus sign is not the same as a hyphen. Display mode is good if the math is too big to fit conveniently, too tall to match the line, or would interrupt it in some other way. I'll also use display mode if I really want to highlight the math as important, or if I want it to be numbered so that I can reference it later:
Here we introduce the Fourier transform: ∞ ⌠ -2πikx F(x) = ⎮ f(x) e dx. (1) ⌡ -∞ ... The Fourier transform (Eq. 1)...I can certainly see how mixing East Asian scripts with Latin ones can be problematic, though fortunately, that's not a problem that I've ever had to deal with.
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Comment on Grammar errors that actually matter, or: the thread where we all become prescriptivists in ~humanities.languages
Boojum Link ParentI don't look for them, but they do tend to jump out at me while I'm reviewing for content. As long as they don't significantly impact comprehension, I don't factor them into my peer review...I don't look for them, but they do tend to jump out at me while I'm reviewing for content.
As long as they don't significantly impact comprehension, I don't factor them into my peer review evaluations of a paper. But I do always make sure that my reviews include a list of whatever I spot. If the paper gets accepted, great, the authors can fix those minor things along with any content-related fixes when preparing the final version. And if the paper ultimately gets rejected, I've at least given the authors a few things that they can fix before they can try submitting somewhere else. Ultimately, I just want to see strong, polished papers published.
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Comment on Grammar errors that actually matter, or: the thread where we all become prescriptivists in ~humanities.languages
Boojum Link ParentEm dashes work too: I’d like to invite my best friend—the CEO—and the mayor. Edit: Just scrolled down and saw /u/updawg's comment. Oh well.
I keep finding myself pulling from my file of quotations around here, but your spoon theory (a form of intermittent reward) just reminded me of one I'd read in Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita:
(Granted, theologically, that's a heresy against Romans 3:5-8, but in the story the speaker is the devil - the anti-villain of the story - being visited by one of the twelve disciples, so it makes sense in context. But I think the idea has some merit in mundane situations. Humans are remarkably good at judging contrasts, but poor at absolutes. It's easy to overlook good things without a foil.)