ButteredToast's recent activity
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Comment on German authorities find large chat groups focused on exchanging advice re how to effectively drug and rape women in ~news
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Comment on ‘Hedgehog’ still has upper claw over ‘Mufasa’ with $62M+ in pre-Christmas frame as ‘Lion King’ prequel loses crown in ~movies
ButteredToast Link ParentI’d guess that the novelty of live-action Disney remakes has worn off almost entirely by this point. We’ll see if that’s the case with their next one, but personally I think they’d be well served...I’d guess that the novelty of live-action Disney remakes has worn off almost entirely by this point. We’ll see if that’s the case with their next one, but personally I think they’d be well served by returning to a focus on animation.
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Comment on What does your computer setup look like? in ~tech
ButteredToast (edited )Link ParentIn the US it’s not too unusual for software engineers at small to midsize companies to be given a high level of flexibility when it comes to choice of machine. At minimum it’s choice of laptop...In the US it’s not too unusual for software engineers at small to midsize companies to be given a high level of flexibility when it comes to choice of machine. At minimum it’s choice of laptop size/specs (given that the spec choices are relevant to the work being done) but I’ve seen situations that allow custom built Linux towers and the like.
This is possible because there’s an implicit understanding that the employee is responsible for maintaining the machine and keeping it running because they have the technical acumen to do so. With custom builds for instance if a component fails the employee just expenses it and handles the installation themselves.
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Comment on What does your computer setup look like? in ~tech
ButteredToast Link ParentYeah that seems likely. Might be easier to cool too which means less noise which is always welcome.Yeah that seems likely. Might be easier to cool too which means less noise which is always welcome.
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Comment on What does your computer setup look like? in ~tech
ButteredToast (edited )LinkMain Setup Desk: Fully (RIP) Jarvis 72”x30”/42”x27” bamboo standing L-desk (shared with gaming setup) Personal machine: 16” M1 Max MacBook Pro 64GB/4TB Work machine: 16” M4 Max MacBook Pro...Main Setup
- Desk: Fully (RIP) Jarvis 72”x30”/42”x27” bamboo standing L-desk (shared with gaming setup)
- Personal machine: 16” M1 Max MacBook Pro 64GB/4TB
- Work machine: 16” M4 Max MacBook Pro 48GB/1TB
- Main monitor: Apple Studio Display (27” 5k 60hz)
- Secondary monitor: ASUS ProArt PA278CGV (27” 2560x1440 144hz IPS w/VRR)
- Keyboard: Keychron Q60 w/Diced Fruit Banana tactile switches (this rotates out periodically)
- Pointing devices: Apple Magic Trackpad (left) and GameBall Trackball (right)
- Dock: CalDigit TS4
- Audio: JDS Labs Element II DAC/amp
- Headphones: Sennheiser HD6XX + AirPods Pro 2
Notes:
My line of work is software development which influenced choices for both personal and work machines. Specs on personal machine might seem overkill but I bought it at a massive discount back when the M2 generation had been out for a long time and the M3 revision was imminent.Monitors and work laptop are on VESA arms that allow them all to sit at perfect heights and not take up desk space.
Switching between machines is done by switching which of the two is plugged into the thunderbolt dock because last I was shopping, all available Thunderbolt/USB-C KVMs had some kind of major drawback and were way more expensive than a high quality TB4 dock. At first had concerns about wearing out the TB4 input port on the dock but it’s held up great.
Gaming Setup
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Custom tower:
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Ryzen 5950X CPU
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EVGA RTX 3080 Ti GPU modded w/Noctua fans
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ASUS X570 ProArt Creator motherboard
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32GB 3600Mhz G-Skill RAM
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Fractal Meshify 2 Compact case
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Noctua NH-D15 cooler
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Monitor: Alienware AW2721D (27” 2560x1440 240hz G-Sync IPS)
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Mouse: Logitech G604 Lightspeed
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Keyboard: Archetype Minerva w/U4 Boba Gum linear switches
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Audio: Schiit Fulla 2 DAC/amp
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Speakers: Edifier R1280DBs
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Headphones: For rhythm games, Moondrop Aria Snow Edition earbuds, for other things Senn HD6XX’s shared with work setup
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Controller: 8bitdo Ultimate Bluetooth/2.4Ghz
Notes:
Was overkill when I built it, is still overkill, and will probably continue to be for the foreseeable future. Might actually downgrade the CPU to a 5800X3D when it’s next on sale and sell the 5950X on eBay.
Misc
- Study laptop: Lenovo ThinkPad Nano Gen 1 base spec model (love the size, don’t love fan noise and battery life)
- Tablet: 12.9” iPad Pro M1 (killer tablet, but I think I liked the 11” size better, might trade in next gen)
- Gaming handheld: Steam Deck OLED special edition
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Comment on Chrysler only sells a minivan. The iconic brand’s days could be numbered. in ~transport
ButteredToast Link ParentThat the doors on minivans are sliding instead of swing-open is also a boon, since it means they won’t be an obstacle that has to be navigated around and in some cases compete for space. Minivans...That the doors on minivans are sliding instead of swing-open is also a boon, since it means they won’t be an obstacle that has to be navigated around and in some cases compete for space.
Minivans are all around wonderfully practical vehicles. If I were in the market for something larger a minivan would be at the top of my list, and I think smaller vehicles could pick up some tricks from them (sliding passenger doors would be great there too).
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Comment on US Joe Biden administration grants California waiver to ban gas car sales in 2035 in ~transport
ButteredToast (edited )Link ParentI agree that 2035 is likely a realistic target from a technological standpoint. The rate of progress in EV tech is astounding and shows no sign of slowing down. It would not surprise me in the...I agree that 2035 is likely a realistic target from a technological standpoint. The rate of progress in EV tech is astounding and shows no sign of slowing down. It would not surprise me in the least if even by 2030 the average EV makes current models look like dinosaurs.
The biggest hurdle by far is culture. ICE vehicles have been very comfortably nestled in popular culture for the better part of a century by this point and oil/car companies have spared no expense in spreading EV FUD far and wide.
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Comment on US Joe Biden administration grants California waiver to ban gas car sales in 2035 in ~transport
ButteredToast (edited )Link ParentOn the note of response (or lack thereof) to emotional arguments, I think that much of it has to do with burnout. In the past decade and change, social media has vastly increased overall awareness...On the note of response (or lack thereof) to emotional arguments, I think that much of it has to do with burnout.
In the past decade and change, social media has vastly increased overall awareness of many woes. This is great in some ways, but it’s also been a bit of a double-edged sword. With advocates for more issues than can possibly be counted all vying for time in the spotlight, appeals to emotion (which have proven by far to be the most effective method) have spiraled out of control, resulting in a situation in which even mildly conscientious individuals find themselves overwhelmed. There’s simply too many woes in the world to be highly emotionally engaged with all of them.
And yet, emotionally charged messages continue to intensify and multiply in number on social media. This has understandably led to mass burnout.
So with that in mind, it would make perfect sense that the type of individual that might seek out a site like Tildes would be cognizant of that burnout, to have sought out alternatives because of it, and to have developed a kneejerk reaction to impassioned arguments even for issues where those are more than called for.
Of course, there’s a certain level of privilege that even having the option to try to opt out of emotional exhaustion requires that must be acknowledged, but that doesn’t mean that people in such a situation won’t try to seek relief anyway… that’s only natural.
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Comment on Contempt culture and its currency in ~tech
ButteredToast (edited )Link ParentCertainly this is a major factor, but from my perspective it looks like the majority of the available energy and resources are being occupied by work on “sexy” browser APIs, which tend to get...Far more influential is the fact that each of the dominant players on the web has to agree before anything changes on the platform, and backwards compatibility has been guaranteed since 1995, a situation few languages have to deal with.
Certainly this is a major factor, but from my perspective it looks like the majority of the available energy and resources are being occupied by work on “sexy” browser APIs, which tend to get favored over more “boring” work of putting language/ecosystem fundamentals like stdlib in a better place. Google in particular seems to have a penchant for this.
This may be a misperception of my own, though.
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Comment on School smartphone ban results in better sleep and improved mood in ~health.mental
ButteredToast Link ParentYep. As someone who was a high schooler in the early-mid 2000s, I spent many nights up late working on projects, raiding with my guild in WoW, or just spending time on the internet. Usually woke...Yep. As someone who was a high schooler in the early-mid 2000s, I spent many nights up late working on projects, raiding with my guild in WoW, or just spending time on the internet. Usually woke up early too so I could make sure to fit in a bit of computer time and a shower before school. Just had to make a stop by the vending machine for a caffeinated soda after arriving at school to keep me going.
I wasn’t a stellar performer but did pretty well in most classes, aside from maths which I attribute mostly to the “survival of the fittest” attitude that my math teachers tended to have.
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Comment on Contempt culture and its currency in ~tech
ButteredToast Link ParentTotally agree, but I do think it’s important to be mindful of keeping the two stances separate, because with the natural flow of members in and out of communities, it’s easy for the group’s stance...Totally agree, but I do think it’s important to be mindful of keeping the two stances separate, because with the natural flow of members in and out of communities, it’s easy for the group’s stance towards external criticism to become its stance towards internal criticism as well.
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Comment on Contempt culture and its currency in ~tech
ButteredToast Link ParentI would agree that criticism from within is most relevant, but that’s something that’s more or less acceptable depending on the community. Taking the example of JavaScript, as something of an...I would agree that criticism from within is most relevant, but that’s something that’s more or less acceptable depending on the community. Taking the example of JavaScript, as something of an outsider (I write it sometimes, but don’t actively participate in the surrounding community), my impression is that its level of internal self-criticality is considerably lower than that of other languages like PHP. This might’ve played a role in some of its longstanding weaknesses (such as its unusually thin stdlib, which makes for the crazy dependency trees it’s famous for) having persisted.
Another community that might fall into this bucket is that of Kotlin. There’s several times when I’ve been writing it and wondered why some bit of it feels awkward, searched and found discussions about that particular awkwardness posted by language users, and seen an overall dismissive attitude towards that criticism.
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Comment on Contempt culture and its currency in ~tech
ButteredToast LinkThis is something I’ve been familiar with for a long time, having been a Mac user for the better part of three decades now. Dunking on Macs and their users has been an internet pastime for as long...This is something I’ve been familiar with for a long time, having been a Mac user for the better part of three decades now. Dunking on Macs and their users has been an internet pastime for as long as I’ve been on the internet and has at points been so common that it has managed to leak out of nerd circles into more mainstream culture.
It’s not fun the be the subject of, and like other types of negativity it tends to fuel a cycle. For example, after the Mac operating system switched over to being a *nixlike and became popular with software devs, particularly during the rise of Ruby on Rails, many Mac (and Linux) users displayed this attitude towards Windows users looking to learn and build with Rails (which at the time, was badly supported on Windows) in a sort of schadenfreude — after years of being made fun of for not having any software to run, it felt good to have the situation reversed for once (“How’s it feel now that the shoe’s on the other foot?”). Of course, that didn’t make it right, but that’s how that played out.
Where I really saw contempt culture explode, though, was Reddit and later Twitter. Both platforms are built to reward dunks/takedowns, which are both mainstays of that culture. It existed on old school forums that preceded those of course, but it was relatively mild in comparison without upvotes and post burying to amplify it.
All that said, I would be cautious of efforts to address contempt culture being taken to extremes, making for “exclusively positive” spaces where it's difficult or impossible to pose constructive criticism. An environment like this brings high risk of stagnation and stunting of growth… being entirely uncritical makes it impossible to acknowledge problems and fix them.
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Comment on Chrysler only sells a minivan. The iconic brand’s days could be numbered. in ~transport
ButteredToast (edited )Link ParentAll fair, and agree that Chrysler could’ve made better use of the opportunities presented by the new market of EVs. Still though, it’s difficult for me to not feel dismayed by the market as it...All fair, and agree that Chrysler could’ve made better use of the opportunities presented by the new market of EVs.
Still though, it’s difficult for me to not feel dismayed by the market as it currently stands. The cars I want, by and large, aren’t sold in the US any more and are only available on the used market either half-dead already or if they’re still in decent condition, priced exorbitantly. Options for smallish practical “do everything” town/suburb cars are extremely thin. The market segment I sit in might not be huge or massively lucrative, but it’s almost entirely unserved at the moment which would make it easy for a company to corner.
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Comment on Chrysler only sells a minivan. The iconic brand’s days could be numbered. in ~transport
ButteredToast Link ParentIn my mind the appropriate response would have been to try to innovate to make existing models more competitive against foreign competitors and create new models to fit niches that haven’t yet...In my mind the appropriate response would have been to try to innovate to make existing models more competitive against foreign competitors and create new models to fit niches that haven’t yet been filled.
For example there was that wave of cheap, high customizable boxes on wheels that spawned the various Scions, Honda Element, Nissan Cube, and the Kia Soul, the last of which is still very popular today. R&D on those things couldn’t have costed much and there’s no reason why an American automaker couldn’t have kicked off that wave, but they didn’t… it was the East Asian automakers instead.
American automakers seem to have lost their ability to create new categories (IIRC, the last time they did that was in the 80s with the minivan) or even put interesting twists on existing models. They just make the same thing they always have, but this time bigger, with more subscription nonsense, and a higher price tag and then wonder why they’re losing customers.
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Comment on Chrysler only sells a minivan. The iconic brand’s days could be numbered. in ~transport
ButteredToast LinkAs someone who’s not a car enthusiast, it seems that US automakers in general have painted themselves into a corner by incorrectly responding to declining revenue. Instead of boosting sales with...As someone who’s not a car enthusiast, it seems that US automakers in general have painted themselves into a corner by incorrectly responding to declining revenue. Instead of boosting sales with healthy spread of models to acommodate for a wide variety of different customers/needs, they’ve trimmed away everything but their most expensive, highest margin models in hopes of that making up the difference and let foreign companies fill the holes left behind. Chrysler just happens to be the most severe case.
I was recently in the market (and will be again in about a year when my lease has come to an end) and I can’t tell you how much I wish it looked the way it did back in the early-mid 2000s. The choices have been boiled down to basic sedan, SUV, or giant truck with each of those options not really being a perfect fit for anybody, and it gets dramatically worse if restricting myself to domestic makes.
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Comment on Raspberry Pi 500 and Raspberry Pi Monitor on sale now in ~comp
ButteredToast Link ParentIt’s not terrible, but in the US at least there’s several similar portable displays on Amazon for around the same price, some of which have better specs. Most are no-name Chinese fly by night...It’s not terrible, but in the US at least there’s several similar portable displays on Amazon for around the same price, some of which have better specs. Most are no-name Chinese fly by night “brands” but there’s a few big name options like ASUS mixed in too. Might be worth putting some time into shopping around.
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Comment on How to get used to spicy food? in ~food
ButteredToast Link ParentThis lines up with how some of the spiciest (as in hot) foods I’ve eaten like a home cooked Pakistani dish I can’t remember the name of haven’t bothered me despite having grown up in a...This lines up with how some of the spiciest (as in hot) foods I’ve eaten like a home cooked Pakistani dish I can’t remember the name of haven’t bothered me despite having grown up in a near-zero-spice environment. They’ve all been on the richer side with plenty of fat and protein.
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Comment on Are DEI programs at work pointless or actually accomplishing the opposite of what they are meant to? in ~life
ButteredToast LinkThis is a subject I’m reticent to speak on, as I don’t necessarily feel qualified, as it’s not my area of expertise and I am not among the underprivileged groups that diversity initiatives are...This is a subject I’m reticent to speak on, as I don’t necessarily feel qualified, as it’s not my area of expertise and I am not among the underprivileged groups that diversity initiatives are targeting. My perspective may be skewed by blind spots that I am not aware of. If I’m wrong in what I’m about to say please do not hesitate to correct me.
With that disclaimer out of the way, it’s my uninformed opinion that effectiveness of these programs is at least partially determined by the industry in question and how well the larger system has been doing at producing a stream of minority applicants.
For software development roles in the US for example, despite efforts, in my limited experience supply is still not well diversified and remains dominated by a choice few demographics, which greatly limits the success that can be achieved by changes to hiring and company culture policies.
In this case specifically I don’t have good visibility into the root causes, but I would guess it’s a combo of things like scammy hacker bootcamps sucking air out of the room while not adequately preparing students (something I’ve witnessed personally), environments in relevant CS/SE university and high school classes remaining unfriendly to minorities, and outdated stereotypes coloring perceptions as early as elementary and middle school. If this suspicion is correct, then the problem is extremely deep rooted and beyond the scope of what DEI programs alone can reasonably fix. It’s like trying to apply a pinhole patch to a tire that’s had a huge chunk blown out of it.
However, there may be other fields where foundational issues have been much better corrected for and the remaining problems exist primarily on the corporate half of the equation, in which case a well executed DEI program could prove to be extremely successful.
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Comment on Norwegian payment service Vipps becomes world's first company to launch competing tap-to-pay solution to Apple Pay on iPhone – follows agreement with European regulators in ~tech
ButteredToast LinkWhile this kind of openness is good in theory, it makes me worry a bit. I really don’t want to have the streaming app problem with every bank, financial service, and public transit service...While this kind of openness is good in theory, it makes me worry a bit. I really don’t want to have the streaming app problem with every bank, financial service, and public transit service requiring its own separate (probably crappy, outsourced-to-lowest bidder) app to enable tap-to-pay… all of my cards being in the Wallet app has been nice.
I use it for 1:1 messaging only, no groups mainly because it has good clients on every desktop platform, which is an oddly rare thing (Signal desktop feels like an afterthought for example).