DistractionRectangle's recent activity

  1. Comment on Offbeat Fridays – The thread where offbeat headlines become front page news in ~news

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    Snuffleupagus, a newly described species, is an adorable little predator ...

    Snuffleupagus, a newly described species, is an adorable little predator

    The fish has quite a few things in common with its namesake — mainly its orange-brown colouring, the long filaments that look like shaggy hair, and its elephant-like snout.

    ...

    It's also extremely elusive, much like Mr. Snuffleupagus, who, in his early appearances on Sesame Street, was only ever seen by Big Bird, leading the other characters to mistakenly suspect he was imaginary.

    Harasti and Short tried for years to spot a snuffy fish again after that first 2003 sighting to no avail.

    Their luck changed in 2021 when some scuba diver buddies started seeing the little creatures on the Great Barrier Reef and got in touch. The scientists headed to Australia to see for themselves, and on their second dive, they found the fish.

    6 votes

  2. Comment on Google Search as you know it is over in ~tech

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    There's tons of metrics which could indicate this. The simplest one, if you make searches but rarely ever open a search result, it stands to reason you're using the above the fold AI overview....

    How does Google possibly know that?

    There's tons of metrics which could indicate this. The simplest one, if you make searches but rarely ever open a search result, it stands to reason you're using the above the fold AI overview. That signal gets stronger if one clicks to expand the overview, or actually engages with it

    3 votes

  3. Comment on Three Cheers for Tildes: App updates and feedback (May 2026) — Version 1.6 adds "Find in comments" in ~tildes

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    Ah, good point, edited with platform details. May be android specific.

    Ah, good point, edited with platform details. May be android specific.

    2 votes

  4. Comment on Three Cheers for Tildes: App updates and feedback (May 2026) — Version 1.6 adds "Find in comments" in ~tildes

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    Love the app, thank you for your efforts! Minor bug that I've been meaning to report Nesting a link in a summary renders correctly, but isn't clickable in the app. I use this pattern once in a...

    Love the app, thank you for your efforts!

    Minor bug that I've been meaning to report

    Nesting a link in a summary renders correctly, but isn't clickable in the app. I use this pattern once in a while to hide an aside or as alt text/context to a linked video/image

    Edit: Platform details, pixel 4a, android 13, version 1.6.0

    4 votes

  5. Comment on Help - Steam Link inconsistent across different games in ~games

    DistractionRectangle
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    Off the cuff it's probably a Wayland vs X thing. Use something like mangohud to figure out what graphics api is in use and if it's using Wayland or xwayland/x11 for the display-server and you'll...

    Off the cuff it's probably a Wayland vs X thing. Use something like mangohud to figure out what graphics api is in use and if it's using Wayland or xwayland/x11 for the display-server and you'll probably find a pattern to what games don't work.

    AFAIK, steam streaming doesn't like Wayland, but I've been using sunshine + moonlight for a long time now so I don't know the current state of things.

    Edit: quick search of "Steam link Wayland" suggests this is still a problem and sounds very much like you described, down to the big picture bugginess:

    https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/1ob0raz/steam_link_to_wayland_host_black_screen_x11_fine/

    https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/6148

    So my guess is non native games (running x11/xwayland) work, while linux+wayland native games or games where you've set the Proton_Enable_Wayland environment variable do not (and wayland desktop sessions of course)

    Edit edit: work arounds are either to configure the graphical user session to use X11 or go all in on sunshine + moonlight (one of us! one of us!)

    3 votes

  6. Comment on Humble Choice - May 2026 in ~games

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    Thumbing through the patches, there is a Linux build which is consistently maintained and it has been there since launch. Maybe the Proton + windows is just more stable and the Linux branch is for...

    Thumbing through the patches, there is a Linux build which is consistently maintained and it has been there since launch. Maybe the Proton + windows is just more stable and the Linux branch is for the purists.

    1 vote

  7. Comment on New Steam Controller reportedly $99 in ~games

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    You're correct, I missed that that when I did the initial comparison. The ultimate 2 replaced the ultimate at the same price ($60, and definitely closes the gap feature wise. And the ultimate 2c...

    You're correct, I missed that that when I did the initial comparison. The ultimate 2 replaced the ultimate at the same price ($60, and definitely closes the gap feature wise. And the ultimate 2c is a solid option at $20.

    Since steam input broadly supports other controllers, I didn't really consider that as a pro/con for either controller. I don't have an ultimate to test with, but I expect it's reasonably well supported by Steam Input. That was mostly an aside about the leaked review.

    2 votes

  8. Comment on New Steam Controller reportedly $99 in ~games

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    I see this comparison made a lot. The 8bitdo ultimate is a decent controller, when you look at the features, you can see where this would cost more. extra set of back buttons mappable capacitive...

    I see this comparison made a lot. The 8bitdo ultimate is a decent controller, when you look at the features, you can see where this would cost more.

    • extra set of back buttons
    • mappable capacitive grips
    • capacitive thumbsticks
    • gyro
    • squircle trackpads that offer haptic feedback and are pressure sensitive

    But is that worth $40 more? It depends on how much you value the extra feature set.

    If I was buying today, I'd spring for the new Steam controller, but if I already had the 8bitdo ultimate, I'm not so sure.

    As an aside, the leaked review misses the mark as you can't really review this controller without mentioning steam input. E.g. This controller has analog triggers and does support hair triggers through steam input... And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

    12 votes

  9. Comment on Valve uploads Steam Controller unboxing video, launch imminent in ~games

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    The customizability isnt actually a Steam Controller/Steam Deck thing. It's enabled by Steam Input, which broadly supports a bunch of controllers. It natively supports Steam Controllers/Steam...

    The customizability isnt actually a Steam Controller/Steam Deck thing. It's enabled by Steam Input, which broadly supports a bunch of controllers. It natively supports Steam Controllers/Steam Deck, which is to say they're fully supported (haptics, gyro, touch pads, extra buttons) - the same can't be said for other controllers (their extra features might not be supported). I expect this next iteration of the Steam Controller to be fully supported as it's essentially the Steam Deck controls in a different form factor.

    I go out of my way now to add non steam games to steam just for Steam Input.

    13 votes

  10. Comment on Which covers did it better than (or put a fresh twist on) the original? in ~music

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    I too was thinking of Disturbed's cover of Sound of Silence, however I don't actually like the recorded version. I much prefer their live cover they performed on Conan.

    I too was thinking of Disturbed's cover of Sound of Silence, however I don't actually like the recorded version. I much prefer their live cover they performed on Conan.

    5 votes

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

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    I considered writing a epic about how I waged war with the Wifi, but I'll spare you. It was DNS. It's always DNS. Apparently my carrier does DNS hijacking and I only just figured it out because...

    I considered writing a short epic about how I waged war with the Wifi, but I'll spare you.

    It was DNS. It's always DNS.

    Apparently my carrier does DNS hijacking and I only just figured it out because their system broke... Of course it was working when I went to trouble shoot it, which led to me tilting at windmills for a bit until I threw out all assumptions and rechecked DNS. It wasn't fruitless though, I did make some sizable wins on loaded latency and throughput as side quests by switching to an NSS build of openwrt and finding someone else did the legwork for autorate sqm (the alternative being an extremely low static SQM ceiling since my provider is cellular internet)

    1 vote

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

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    /offtopic This reminds me of a story one of Professors had about working for IBM's storage division during the dotcom bubble. When you sell shovels during a gold rush, corners are cut and...

    Almost everyone I know is having trouble with hard drives, WD or Seagate, purchased in the last 8 months or so. I'm very concerned that the stupidity of the AI market means they've shifted their QA and stuff that normally wouldn't make it out the door is now "consumer grade" (if you can get it at all).

    /offtopic This reminds me of a story one of Professors had about working for IBM's storage division during the dotcom bubble. When you sell shovels during a gold rush, corners are cut and inevitably quality suffers. I'm having trouble finding a source, as it wasn't the deathstar. Unlike the deathstar, it wasn't a long protracted problem. It was one horrendous batch that was DOA.

    Anyways. R&D is playing fast and loose in production because if you aren't first, you're last. So they had this oil on the platters, the idea being it safeguards against what would be minor head crashes. Kinda like how a hydro foil lifts a boat out of the water, the idea being that at speed, if the head collided with the oil layer, it would be lifted away. This requires a careful balancing act. If the oil is too fluid, it doesn't work as intended. The surface tension would be too little to course correct the head (and the oil probably doesn't stick to the platters). Too viscous, and you can get a wide range of problems. The worst of which being the HDD functions more like a blender. This is that story.

    The actual story is very short. Someone tweaked the formula of the oil, and while it looked okay in the lab, in practice the oil became very viscous. So viscous - once powered on - it ripped the head and the arm clean off, completely destroying the platters as they rattled around. Lots of R&D heads rolled (including my Professor), and that was the beginning of the decline of IBM's storage division.

    2 votes

  13. Comment on The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act in ~movies

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    Episode 3 and 8 is about as "horror"/graphic as it gets. The rest of it is much more toned down. It's mostly about people struggling with the state of their existence. So life, death, body...

    Episode 3 and 8 is about as "horror"/graphic as it gets. The rest of it is much more toned down. It's mostly about people struggling with the state of their existence. So life, death, body dysmorphia, loss, coping, empathy... That kind of thing.

    Description from the pilot:

    The Amazing Digital Circus is a psychological dark comedy about cute cartoon characters who hate their lives and want to leave 🎪😀

    Depends on the kid, you'll probably have to watch it (or at least parts of it) to get an idea if it's something your kid will be okay with.

    I just watched all the trailers, I find the ep 1 trailer to give the best taste of the show. The other trailers are surface level (except for 8/9) and portray the setting but less so the content of the show.

    2 votes

  14. Comment on Half-baked idea for metered inline image allowances in ~tildes

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    I have no strong feelings one way or the other We can already post links to stuff, and people can click on it. Inline images/media just removes that tiny bit of friction, and this proposal goes as...
    I have no strong feelings one way or the other

    We can already post links to stuff, and people can click on it. Inline images/media just removes that tiny bit of friction, and this proposal goes as far as allowing users to put that friction back. If tildes isn't doing the hosting, then they don't have to moderate the hosted content (just the comments/links, which they already have to do).

    I suppose an argument can be made that defaulting to displaying images inline will encourage more images, but it doesn't actually enable anything we can't do already.

    2 votes

  15. Comment on AI Coding agents are the opposite of what I want in ~comp

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    Qwen3.5 has quirks that need addressing, and Gemma 4 is new enough that there's plenty of bugs in support/quantization. Also, if you have older qwen3.5 quants, those had issues which required you...

    Qwen3.5 has quirks that need addressing, and Gemma 4 is new enough that there's plenty of bugs in support/quantization. Also, if you have older qwen3.5 quants, those had issues which required you download updated quants.

    Recent discussion with code addressing outstanding issues with qwen3.5: https://old.reddit.com/r/LocalLLaMA/comments/1sdhvc5/qwen_35_tool_calling_fixes_for_agentic_use_whats/

    1 vote

  16. Comment on AI Coding agents are the opposite of what I want in ~comp

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    Right now, low latency pair programming like use just isn't there, and trying to analyze/prompt you as you type requires implicit understanding from the AI, it has to intuitively discern what...

    Right now, low latency pair programming like use just isn't there, and trying to analyze/prompt you as you type requires implicit understanding from the AI, it has to intuitively discern what you're doing/trying to do. Turn based flows with explicit context works better with the current models/tooling.

    The closest thing to what you want, where it prompts you, is probably PR/commit code review. There it gets explicit context on what you're doing/trying to do via commit messages and diffs, and can take its sweet time looking for:

    • bugs
    • regressions
    • test coverage
    • algorithmic complexity
    • approach
    • security issues
    • style/code smells
    • etc

    And prompt you about what it finds.

    1 vote

  17. Comment on Three Cheers for Tildes: App updates and feedback (March 2026) — Version 1.5 can search for posts in ~tildes

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    When the keyboard is up I cannot see the content of my comment:https://imgur.com/a/9avtYd4 Pixel 4a on stock firmware - android 13

    When the keyboard is up I cannot see the content of my comment:https://imgur.com/a/9avtYd4

    Pixel 4a on stock firmware - android 13

    2 votes

  18. Comment on Afroman emerges victorious in ‘Lemon Pound Cake’ defamation case in ~music

  19. Comment on Subnautica 2 publisher Krafton's CEO asked ChatGPT how to void $250 million contract, ignores lawyers, loses in court in ~games

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    @delphi commented about agentic coding the other day, and the beginning of that comment I think applies well to using AI in general. It's especially relevant to this news:

    @delphi commented about agentic coding the other day, and the beginning of that comment I think applies well to using AI in general. It's especially relevant to this news:

    In the underwater survival video game Subnautica, you can eventually get access to the PRAWN Suit, a mecha that lets you go far deeper into the ocean than you could before. When you first construct it, the in-game computer tells you that it's normal to feel a sense of limitless power when first putting the suit on, and that the months of training suit operators usually get is not to learn how to pilot the thing, but to understand that you're not invincible in it. Claude Code works the same way.

    10 votes

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

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    I never got into tabletop (lack of time), but I've always loved procgen and have debugged a few tauri apps in my free time, so put me down for the alpha! As for monetization, that's ultimately a...

    I never got into tabletop (lack of time), but I've always loved procgen and have debugged a few tauri apps in my free time, so put me down for the alpha!

    As for monetization, that's ultimately a personal choice, but I think Aesprite has threaded the needle quite well. They're source available and don't put a limit on how use you personal builds, they just limit forking/redistributing the software. So in effect, they sell the convenience of compiled binaries.

    1 vote