DeaconBlue's recent activity

  1. Comment on First shape found that can’t pass through itself in ~science

    DeaconBlue
    Link Parent
    My personal favorite of his was the usage of network latency to make a storage medium, but everything he makes is fantastic for (like you say) a particular flavor of nerd.

    My personal favorite of his was the usage of network latency to make a storage medium, but everything he makes is fantastic for (like you say) a particular flavor of nerd.

    10 votes
  2. Comment on First shape found that can’t pass through itself in ~science

    DeaconBlue
    Link
    Suckerpinch has a dive into his attempt to solve this problem too, which is a great way to see some of the software engineering involved in trying to solve this problem...

    Suckerpinch has a dive into his attempt to solve this problem too, which is a great way to see some of the software engineering involved in trying to solve this problem

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH4MviUE0_s

    12 votes
  3. Comment on 'This is definitely my last TwitchCon': High-profile streamer Emiru was assaulted at the event, even as streamers have been sounding the alarm about stalkers and harassment in ~games

    DeaconBlue
    Link Parent
    Surely a tracker would be easier to hide in the gift itself than the packaging?

    only be something like paper (where you can't put a tracker on it).

    Surely a tracker would be easier to hide in the gift itself than the packaging?

    3 votes
  4. Comment on Amazon Web Services outage shows internet users ‘at mercy’ of too few providers, experts say in ~tech

    DeaconBlue
    Link Parent
    When has a monopoly ever been a bad thing? They even made a super great board game about it!

    When has a monopoly ever been a bad thing? They even made a super great board game about it!

    7 votes
  5. Comment on Amazon Web Services outage shows internet users ‘at mercy’ of too few providers, experts say in ~tech

    DeaconBlue
    Link Parent
    They did learn - they learned that AWS will get things fixed within a few hours or a day, and any outage can be glossed over with "yeah, AWS is down" The cost of infrastructure (in terms of hours,...

    They did learn - they learned that AWS will get things fixed within a few hours or a day, and any outage can be glossed over with "yeah, AWS is down"

    The cost of infrastructure (in terms of hours, not compute costs) is a lot higher than most businesses will really care to spend. AWS going down a couple of times a year is just a cost of doing business.

    24 votes
  6. Comment on Thieves steal crown jewels in four minutes from Louvre Museum in Paris in ~arts

    DeaconBlue
    Link Parent
    Thankfully, the museum managed to save several thousand dollars on staffing costs.

    Thankfully, the museum managed to save several thousand dollars on staffing costs.

    38 votes
  7. Comment on What's your video game comfort food? in ~games

    DeaconBlue
    Link Parent
    Hard pass from me! I have seen some of those people play and it is bonkers.

    Hard pass from me! I have seen some of those people play and it is bonkers.

    2 votes
  8. Comment on What's your video game comfort food? in ~games

    DeaconBlue
    (edited )
    Link
    Super Mario 64 A time long ago when I had enough time to play MMOs, I would play Super Mario 64 when doing more idle-heavy gameplay stuff. I got to the point that I can do all 120 stars in a bit...

    Super Mario 64

    A time long ago when I had enough time to play MMOs, I would play Super Mario 64 when doing more idle-heavy gameplay stuff. I got to the point that I can do all 120 stars in a bit under three hours.

    That is short enough that I can do it once or twice a year as an afternoon lazy event but long enough to be fulfilling when I finish and not really desire to keep playing anything.

    8 votes
  9. Comment on What is your 'Subway Take'? in ~talk

    DeaconBlue
    Link Parent
    I am also making an effort to not use it, but like you said it slips out sometimes. I try to just use the collective "you" for the most part, because I think "folks" just sounds really weird.

    I am also making an effort to not use it, but like you said it slips out sometimes.

    I try to just use the collective "you" for the most part, because I think "folks" just sounds really weird.

    2 votes
  10. Comment on What code editor / IDE do you use (2025)? in ~comp

    DeaconBlue
    Link Parent
    Okay, Rider is good but yeah someone else has to be footing that bill.

    Okay, Rider is good but yeah someone else has to be footing that bill.

  11. Comment on What code editor / IDE do you use (2025)? in ~comp

    DeaconBlue
    Link
    At work, Visual Studio. It is all C# and you can try to convince me as much as you want that [pick an editor] is better but I am not buying it. At home I am in the same boat as you, Code OSS....

    At work, Visual Studio. It is all C# and you can try to convince me as much as you want that [pick an editor] is better but I am not buying it.

    At home I am in the same boat as you, Code OSS. Doesn't matter the language. Well, it was, until like April of this year when a bunch of the Microsoft plugins (especially C/C++) got removed. There are workarounds but those are going to get more and more annoying to deal with as time goes on.

    I have not had enough time over the summer to work on projects at home enough to look for alternatives but I am interested in what others are using!

    6 votes
  12. Comment on After quitting antidepressants, some people suffer surprising, lingering symptoms in ~health.mental

    DeaconBlue
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    I am curious on the correct way to "covertly" dispose of medicine that you don't want. There are places that accept drugs and prescriptions but I don't feel very anonymous when I go to those places.

    I am curious on the correct way to "covertly" dispose of medicine that you don't want.

    There are places that accept drugs and prescriptions but I don't feel very anonymous when I go to those places.

    1 vote
  13. Comment on Meta: AI chat interactions on Facebook and Instagram will be used for ad targeting in ~tech

    DeaconBlue
    Link
    Was there any expectation otherwise? It's pretty much the only way to monetize the interactions.

    Was there any expectation otherwise? It's pretty much the only way to monetize the interactions.

    14 votes
  14. Comment on I am angry at Google and wanted to share (rant) in ~tech

    DeaconBlue
    Link Parent
    Self hosting email is not worth the effort unless it's a hobby for you. There are too many providers that will send your emails to the aether and you won't have any clue why unless you're actually...

    Self hosting email is not worth the effort unless it's a hobby for you. There are too many providers that will send your emails to the aether and you won't have any clue why unless you're actually into the stuff. You'll just never hear responses. It's not like most services where you can grab a docker image and throw it on a server, hook up some DNS wires and be done.

    17 votes
  15. Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp

    DeaconBlue
    Link
    In my attempts to only do silly programs outside of work, I made a thing for OBS that allows you to turn any input source into a sliding puzzle. It turns out that OBS has a pretty decent API that...

    In my attempts to only do silly programs outside of work, I made a thing for OBS that allows you to turn any input source into a sliding puzzle.

    It turns out that OBS has a pretty decent API that I was able to use to (short version)

    • Duplicate an input source 8 times
    • Hide the original input source
    • Manipulate each of the 8 duplicated sources to have different crop and position offsets based on the position of the original
    • Move the children sources around after the fact

    The API, however, is a bit lacking in a few spots.

    • It is kind of annoying to try to rename the children items. You can create a new source of an arbitrary name and fill it with the guts of the parent, but there is no rename function after creation.
    • The API requires values for some fields even if they aren't provided by the API. For example, when you Get a SceneItemTransform, you cannot send the same response back as a Set because the API gives you bounding values of 0 for X and Y, but it requires a minimum value of 1 on the Set call. It's just fiddly.
    • Because of the first bullet point, the GetSceneItemId call is kind of useless for finding the values of the children and they have to be snagged during creation. Not a big deal, just annoying.

    Then I moved the code over to StreamerBot so that other people could use it (because I don't stream, this is particularly useless without sharing). This has its own hurdles. Streamerbot allows C# to run but I can't figure out where to put my objects that I want to use so that I can reference them all over the place. Instead, I just used JObjects and we're going to hope that is Good Enough. It's just a really awkward experience. I ended up copying the same method to four different actions (up/down/left/right) and changing one or two lines on each. It felt gross.

    I am also throwing everything in global variable storage because you can't stop me.

    Here it is in action, mangling a random picture of a puppy https://i.imgur.com/6gdvKiC.mp4

    3 votes
  16. Comment on America's dumbest crop: grass in ~enviro

    DeaconBlue
    Link Parent
    I wish I could let tress take root in my yard, but it is apparently the center of a spider web of power lines for the whole neighborhood. The city chopped down the one we had and I can't find a...

    I wish I could let tress take root in my yard, but it is apparently the center of a spider web of power lines for the whole neighborhood. The city chopped down the one we had and I can't find a spot that I can put another.

    In the meantime I just have to annoy neighbors with native flowers.

    4 votes
  17. Comment on ‘Predator: Badlands’ officially rated PG-13, meant to be “boundary-pushing” in ~movies

    DeaconBlue
    Link Parent
    I want this logic to be extended to all fantasy humanoids. Hyper violent movies that have a protagonist that is a half-elf or something tearing apart hordes of hobbits, as long as they aren't human!

    I want this logic to be extended to all fantasy humanoids.

    Hyper violent movies that have a protagonist that is a half-elf or something tearing apart hordes of hobbits, as long as they aren't human!

    15 votes
  18. Comment on We’re seniors. It’s not our responsibility to fix the housing supply. in ~society

    DeaconBlue
    Link Parent
    I mean the entire article is just quick blurbs.

    I mean the entire article is just quick blurbs.

    6 votes
  19. Comment on We’re seniors. It’s not our responsibility to fix the housing supply. in ~society

    DeaconBlue
    Link
    What are these quick blurbs meant to add to any discussion? It is mostly "we figured it out 30 years ago so you will figure it out too" with one or two paragraphs of fluff.

    What are these quick blurbs meant to add to any discussion? It is mostly "we figured it out 30 years ago so you will figure it out too" with one or two paragraphs of fluff.

    9 votes
  20. Comment on Bluesky melts down over Jesse Singal in ~tech

    DeaconBlue
    Link Parent
    Okay, the Jerry Chen post is the start and it is unavailable to view without an account. Now at least I follow the thread despite it seeming pretty random to me still. The name "Jesse Singal" also...

    Okay, the Jerry Chen post is the start and it is unavailable to view without an account. Now at least I follow the thread despite it seeming pretty random to me still.

    The name "Jesse Singal" also meant nothing to me until seeing this thread so I guess I am just not the intended audience.

    9 votes