Bullmaestro's recent activity
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Comment on Hi, how are you? Mental health support and discussion thread (April 2026) in ~health.mental
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Comment on Hi, how are you? Mental health support and discussion thread (April 2026) in ~health.mental
Bullmaestro (edited )LinkI'm starting a temp job next week. Ironically with the company that laid me off over a year ago. Those are the positives. My parents switched internet service providers and I don't blame them....I'm starting a temp job next week. Ironically with the company that laid me off over a year ago.
Those are the positives.
My parents switched internet service providers and I don't blame them. Virgin Media were ripping them off. EE on the other hand have offered us far better Internet but a terrible TV service.
It's been a nightmare especially because my dad has been basically a male Karen throughout all of this. He expected two set top boxes that could record programs. Only one could (hard coded EE limitation),
Their set top boxes have lost connection a lot. But also, my dad has been obsessed over a particular Freeview channel that isn't on their television's internet mode - Blaze, basically showing conspiracy theory shit including the whole Ancient Aliens stuff.
Had a conversation with my brother about Reddit. I don't want to get into specific drama but I kinda agree with him on the "delete my account" angle. It's so polarized.... I think if I purged myself from Reddit, my mental health would improve.
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Comment on Eurovision Song Contest launches first-ever Asia edition in ~music
Bullmaestro (edited )LinkSouth Korea aside, none of these countries are particularly known on a global scale for their music scene. The only other outlier here is the Philippines, generally for how much they love karaoke....As of now, the 10 participating countries are Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.
South Korea aside, none of these countries are particularly known on a global scale for their music scene. The only other outlier here is the Philippines, generally for how much they love karaoke.
If Eurovision got Taiwan, India, China or Japan on board, things would potentially get very interesting. Japan has j-pop, India has Bollywood, whilst Taiwan and China are their own behemoths among Chinese-speaking audiences.
There's also the question of whether they'd allow Australia and New Zealand to take part, or if either nation would want to participate in Eurovision Asia. Both countries are geographically far closer to Asia than Europe, plus Australia have already been taking part in Eurovision since 2015 despite being on the other side of the world...
It's unclear if the same rules will apply for the Asia edition, but the event's website states that "every vote will count" and promises that the contest will be "a celebration of original pop music".
For Eurovision, switching (back) to a semi-jury system as of the late 2000's was absolutely a necessity, because a lot of particiating countries (especially in Eastern Europe) effectively formed voting blocs that would vote highly for one another, regardless of the quality of their music.
Asia is a lot less politically cohesive by comparison, so I think they'll go with televoting/SMS voting.
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Comment on Vaping likely to cause lung and oral cancer, Australian researchers find in new review of evidence in ~health
Bullmaestro LinkWent for lunch with someone a few years back and we talked about the subject of vaping. She said it would be interesting to see the true effects in a few decades time. I always assumed that...Went for lunch with someone a few years back and we talked about the subject of vaping. She said it would be interesting to see the true effects in a few decades time.
I always assumed that nicotine was the psychoactive element of a cigarette that got you hooked, and that it was actually the tar produced from smoking tobacco which contained carcinogens and damaged your lungs over long-term use; so this study surprises me...
...is what I would say if it weren't for the fact that a lot of vape fluid contains harmful chemicals that aren't safe for inhalation, such as Diacetyl which can cause popcorn lung. This particular chemical, while not considered a carcinogen, is banned for use in vape fluid across much of Europe.
Part of me wonders if the carcinogenic nature of vaping is related to a particular chemical.
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Comment on "CEO said a thing!" journalism in ~tech
Bullmaestro LinkA lot of our policies have been built on this. Ever wondered why the United States still doesn't have a decent high-speed rail network? Because CEOs like Elon Musk and Richard Branson promised...A lot of our policies have been built on this.
Ever wondered why the United States still doesn't have a decent high-speed rail network? Because CEOs like Elon Musk and Richard Branson promised that they could develop the Hyperloop and revolutionize the industry. Meanwhile China have been building tens of thousands of miles of maglev tracks to the point where getting across the entire country is both convenient and affordable.
Vactrains aren't even a new concept. We've been toying with the idea of building railway tunnels in low-pressure tubes to minimize or eliminate air resistance for years. And again, it looks like China are leading the race...
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Comment on Announcing Riftbound's first bans in ~games.tabletop
Bullmaestro LinkTIL that League of Legends has a trading card game. When looking out of curiosity at where I could buy cards, I also found out there are two places centrally which sell them, including a...TIL that League of Legends has a trading card game.
When looking out of curiosity at where I could buy cards, I also found out there are two places centrally which sell them, including a long-running comic book store which (surprisingly) moved locations, and a place called Game Corner which opened up as a specialist trading card shop.
I haven't been to the centre of Bristol in a long while...
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Bullmaestro LinkPicked Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred back up after finding out the new season was well underway and to prep for Lord of Hatred's release over the next month. Had to make a new character to take...Picked Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred back up after finding out the new season was well underway and to prep for Lord of Hatred's release over the next month. Had to make a new character to take part, but decided to start with VoH this time around, because I was given the option to for some reason despite not fully finishing the original campaign. My first character was a Spiritborn but I went with a Mage this time around, going with a burn build.
Based on my experience going through half of the Vessel of Hatred campaign, it feels a lot different. Enemies swarm the absolute shit out of you, to the point where this is the first time I've genuinely amassed huge killstreaks from running through a dungeon, even approaching a near-1000 one in an instance. But the difficulty feels a lot lower than base Diablo IV.
In Old School RuneScape, I completed the Dorgeshuun quest line, excluding Land of the Goblins which I plan to do next. Revisiting it felt surprisingly nostalgic, especially when I hardly remembered it the first time around. All I really remember about RuneScape lore was that it became something of a poorly written clusterfuck by the early-2010s when the main devs decided that killing off Guthix, sparking a new God War with the Sixth Age, pandering to crap forum suggestions with contrived updates like the Queen Black Dragon and Kalphite King, adding action bar combat, loading their game with microtransactions, and then rebranding the main game "RuneScape 3" was their way to go. Yes, they're slowly fixing a lot of this stuff and yes, I may revisit RS3 soon for Havenhythe, but I don't see how it'll even remotely hold a candle to the world built around OSRS.
The difference in quality between the two games really shows when you look at RS3's world map and it looks incredibly blurry, like much of it had a Gaussian filter put over it, whereas the OSRS one is clean, incredibly clear, very detailed, and about 150% larger...
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Comment on What is something you're holding together? in ~talk
Bullmaestro LinkA Thursday karaoke night at my local-ish pub. The previous host, a guy in his late-forties, used to do it every week but took a step back and decided to only host it monthly due to health reasons....A Thursday karaoke night at my local-ish pub.
The previous host, a guy in his late-forties, used to do it every week but took a step back and decided to only host it monthly due to health reasons. For years, he had been balancing a full time career in civil engineering, parental duties, karaoke DJing as a side hustle, and chemotherapy (he has stage 4 non-Hodgkins lymphoma), so I'm not surprised that doing Thursday nights specifically were taking a toll on him.
Another KJ has stepped in to host the other Thursdays, but many of the regulars who followed the previous host aren't coming to these nights. It's usually just me and one other regular holding the fort and without business, the worry is that Thursday karaoke will eventually be cancelled.
I get along with the new host and she has regulars of her own who sometimes come to this pub, but the others in my group aren't so keen on her. Her setup is inferior, she uses Karafun (which isn't a bad app, but it's missing features, songs and even support for externally downloaded tracks compared to VirtualDJ, Singa and other platforms.)
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Comment on What did you do this week (and weekend)? in ~talk
Bullmaestro LinkSaw Galliano and The Brand New Heavies last night. Amazing gig that was absolutely worth the money.Saw Galliano and The Brand New Heavies last night. Amazing gig that was absolutely worth the money.
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Comment on Olympic committee announces a broad ban on transgender athletes and athletes with differences in sex development in Women’s events (gifted link) in ~lgbt
Bullmaestro LinkI'm guessing the IOC announcement means that Imane Khelif won't be able to compete in the 2028 Olympics? She has confirmed in an interview that she has the SRY gene, which is a common mutation in...I'm guessing the IOC announcement means that Imane Khelif won't be able to compete in the 2028 Olympics? She has confirmed in an interview that she has the SRY gene, which is a common mutation in DSD patients.
So this ruling potentially means you could have a condition like Swyer Syndrome, be born with functional female genitalia, a vagina, uterus and fallopian tubes (you'd need HRT in order to go through puberty and can only conceive via egg donation) but because you have XY chromosomes, you're not biologically deemed a woman in the eyes of the IOC.
This really does feel like TERFs and transphobes moving the goalposts in spectacular fashion just to hurt a very small minority of athletes, and the IOC blatantly ignoring the science and pandering towards Donald Trump...
And this is absolutely not a Laurel Hubbard situation, with an athlete who transitioned well into adulthood (she started transitioning in 2012 at the age of 34.) Khelif was born as a woman with the SRY gene.
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Comment on Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone | Teaser in ~tv
Bullmaestro (edited )Link ParentI really don't get why Imane Khelif has drawn so much controversy when it is very plausible that a medical condition that gives her high levels of testosterone got her flagged on IBA testing,...I really don't get why Imane Khelif has drawn so much controversy when it is very plausible that a medical condition that gives her high levels of testosterone got her flagged on IBA testing, contrary to the right-wing belief that she transitioned.
Do you think a trans athlete would be born in and represent a predominantly Muslim nation with harsh anti-LGBTQ laws like Algeria?
She has stated that she's willing to undergo genetic testing for the 2028 Olympics if the IOC does it, and that's probably because she doesn't trust the IBA or its competitor. I feel like the outcome of that is going to make JK Rowling look incredibly stupid.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Bullmaestro (edited )LinkBeen trying to find another action roguelike to scratch that Megabonk itch, so I've bought three this week. Grind Survivors is like the lovechild of Vampire Survivors and Diablo, and it was good,...Been trying to find another action roguelike to scratch that Megabonk itch, so I've bought three this week.
Grind Survivors is like the lovechild of Vampire Survivors and Diablo, and it was good, until I got to Burned Forest on Dark 2, the second available difficulty of the first stage in the game. Then I found enemy spawn rates were heavily increased and they became a lot tankier to the point where I could barely survive 2 to 3 minutes in a run. It turns out that weapon tiers dropped in later stages effectively add a x10 stat multiplier compared to the previous tier, making the game's gearing system effectively zone-locked around a ridiculous grind to get a decent epic/legendary weapon for your tier with the right affixes. The game also runs like shit on the Steam Deck (only has playable status) and was making my device roar like a jet engine.
If they work out the glaring balance and performance issues, then I can see this game doing very, very well.
NIMRODS is only slightly better. I am greatly struggling with the almost complete lack of ability to regenerate health, and I don't know if this is down to me playing a bugged build of the game, or the developers being complete and utter morons.
Sometimes I can go entire minutes in a run without an apple (restores 5HP) or medkit (restores ~30HP) spawning. For perspective, you start with 100 HP baseline before weapon upgrades and gene mutations apply, so having an item that can only restore 5% of your base HP barely spawn is already bad enough.
The only weapon part I've seen which has anything even approaching lifesteal is Piercing Ammo. For every enemy penetrated by a bullet, except for the first and last one, you recover 0.003 health. This means that you'd have to land about 33,000 penetrations just to recover 99 hitpoints. And that upgrade is basically worthless unless you're running a slow fire rate weapon like a shotgun or 50. Cal that can penetrate multiple enemies baseline.
Passive health regen on weapon upgrades is somehow ever-so-slightly worse. Minor upgrades seem to offer 0.026 regen per second, whilst one of the tropies which drops from a boss lowers your max health by 50 but regens at a rate of 0.25 per second.
Apparently there are health regeneration genes and lifesteal upgrades which can be unlocked which do greatly boost survivability, but I have not been able to find these at all. And if I venture beyond the Chaos Grove into another area, I basically die either because I get swarmed with enemies (Hive Warrens is really bad because the moment you disturb a hive, your screen gets swarmed by bees) or have to deal with zones designed around narrow corridors and chokepoints.
What doesn't help is how woefully outdated the game's wiki and any other online resources of it are. And the subreddit is basically dead, with only two posts.
Risk of Rain 2 is the one I've played least, only putting about 33 minutes into. The jellyfish boss from the first zone kinda pisses me off because of how devastating its ultimate AoE attack is, but other than that I like the design.
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Comment on Michael Hafftka releases all of his ~3800 paintings as Creative Commons, explicitly for use in training AI in ~arts
Bullmaestro LinkWill be interesting to see if this poisons the AI well in any way; much like how their attempts to replicate Studio Ghibli artwork led to that yellow piss filter you see in a lot of generated images.Will be interesting to see if this poisons the AI well in any way; much like how their attempts to replicate Studio Ghibli artwork led to that yellow piss filter you see in a lot of generated images.
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Comment on Saturday Night Live UK is here - but can it make you laugh? in ~tv
Bullmaestro LinkI had low hopes for SNL UK but when I saw them absolutely nail Keir Starmer I realized I need to give this series a chance. The Gen Z adviser almost ruined this sketch but they were definitely on...I had low hopes for SNL UK but when I saw them absolutely nail Keir Starmer I realized I need to give this series a chance.
The Gen Z adviser almost ruined this sketch but they were definitely on to something.
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Comment on Elon Musk found liable to Twitter shareholders in fraud lawsuit over $44 billion takeover in ~tech
Bullmaestro LinkCompletely forgot that his buyout of Twitter ended up being forced through, making his offer one of the most expensive shitposts in history.Completely forgot that his buyout of Twitter ended up being forced through, making his offer one of the most expensive shitposts in history.
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Comment on Job hunting absolutely sucks right now in ~life
Bullmaestro LinkI don't work in software development and I'd argue that my profession got hit even harder by the rise of agentic AI, post-COVID mass layoffs and the global economic shocks of having a warmongering...I don't work in software development and I'd argue that my profession got hit even harder by the rise of agentic AI, post-COVID mass layoffs and the global economic shocks of having a warmongering human-sized cheeto as US president.
There are hardly any accountancy jobs now, which means this is the second time I've gone into higher/further education and ended up with worse job prospects. Firstly it was graduating from university with a History degree on the lie that I could "walk into a job" once I graduate only to end up unemployed for nearly two years, and now it's not even being able to find low-paid accounts admin work despite having full AAT qualifications and being ACCA part-qualified.
I recently quit a temp purchase ledger role which paid like shit and involved a two hour commute. On days where I had to wake up at 5AM and get ready for an 8AM start, I kept asking in my head why I was torturing myself with that shitty job. But apparently this is what you have to do if you want money in your bank account.
My brother is a software engineer working for a FAANG company. His entire field has been hit with wave after wave of redundancies and RTO mandates. I genuinely worry how he'll manage if they decide to give him the axe.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Bullmaestro Link ParentI found the cave more annoying when I played it years ago on my now-RS3 account. But then again, I did it without protection prayers.I found the cave more annoying when I played it years ago on my now-RS3 account. But then again, I did it without protection prayers.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Bullmaestro Link ParentIt's a very grindy game. Getting a single skill to 99 can take well over a hundred hours, even using the most efficient training methods and pathway. Some skills such as Agility, Slayer and...It's a very grindy game. Getting a single skill to 99 can take well over a hundred hours, even using the most efficient training methods and pathway.
Some skills such as Agility, Slayer and Runecrafting are notoriously slow. Even the best Agility training method which is Hallowed Sepulchre's 5th floor, which is quite click-intensive and unlocked at 92 Agility, gives just 90k experience per hour. For perspective, you would need 6,517,178 XP to go from 92 to 99, and that would take over 72 hours alone.
Some methods are slow purely due to dated game design decisions, but can be sped up by engine exploits. Fishing is a very good example of a skill which is very slow unless you use click-intensive tick manipulation methods.
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Comment on Queering the Map in ~lgbt
Bullmaestro LinkI'm surprised at how few pins there are in Bristol, despite the city probably being one of the most LGBTQ-friendly in the country and having a massive student population. Even around Frogmore...I'm surprised at how few pins there are in Bristol, despite the city probably being one of the most LGBTQ-friendly in the country and having a massive student population.
Even around Frogmore Street (OMG Bar, Queenshilling and OMG, three gay bars within a few metres of each other), St Nicholas Market (Seamus O'Donnells, an Irish pub which has been turned into a gay bar), Old Market (Bristol Bear Bar) and the Lloyds Amphitheatre (where our annual Pride festival is held each year) I've seen very few pins.
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Comment on Tom Scott: England — Official teaser for Nebula in ~travel
Bullmaestro LinkYou know the planet is starting to heal when Tom Scott comes out of retirement...You know the planet is starting to heal when Tom Scott comes out of retirement...
I got banned from r/technology for acknowledging that that manosphere has a point. That means a lot.
I hate the red pill, incel, MGTOW and MRA communities and think that they push some very damaging viewpoints. But even acknowing their conclusion that there's a problem with the world of dating, is anathema to a lot of Reddit mods.
Fact that this earned me a ban shows how polarized Reddit is.