Ephemere's recent activity
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Comment on Britain's parliament approves law seeking to block October no-deal Brexit in ~news
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Comment on In "The Testaments", Margaret Atwood expands the world of "The Handmaid’s Tale" in ~books
Ephemere LinkIt's kind of funny. I read the book and found it horrifying, can't bear to watch the show, and similarly have no desire to read this followup as any form of entertainment. Two passages jumped out...It's kind of funny. I read the book and found it horrifying, can't bear to watch the show, and similarly have no desire to read this followup as any form of entertainment.
Two passages jumped out at me:
On the show, the couple who imprison Offred as their Handmaid, Commander Waterford and his wife, Serena, are played by attractive actors in their forties and thirties, respectively. I’m not sure what is gained—other than, perhaps, additional viewers—by transforming them into sexy rapists.
...
The breakthrough of “The Testaments” lies here, in the way it solves a problem that “The Handmaid’s Tale” created. We were all so busy imagining ourselves as Handmaids that we failed to see that we might be Aunts—that we, too, might feel, at the culmination of a disaster we created through our own pragmatic indifference.
I do somewhat fear that a portion of the audience are imagining themselves as Commanders, though I suppose I really should spend less time dwelling on what loathsome people might think.
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Comment on A web and popular mobile app based manga reading service, Mangarock is shutting down its service in ~anime
Ephemere LinkThe intersection of international politics here is pretty fascinating:The intersection of international politics here is pretty fascinating:
・While countless manga authors are struggling to make ends meet, MR workers have a fancy office in Vietnam, decked out with Macs.
・Vietnam is considered a close ally of Japan, and we have fostered very strong diplomatic ties with one another.
・They also love Japanese anime and manga content. So it’s heartbreaking to see that a Vietnamese company is bringing suffering to the very Japanese authors that the Vietnamese people claim to love.1 vote -
Comment on What creative projects have you been working on? in ~creative
Ephemere LinkI have a bunch of electronic projects in flight, generally on the 'lame IOT' side of things. Anyway, I got it in my head that it would be really fun / pretty to be able to 3D print cases for all...I have a bunch of electronic projects in flight, generally on the 'lame IOT' side of things. Anyway, I got it in my head that it would be really fun / pretty to be able to 3D print cases for all of them, so this weekend I picked up a creality ender 3. That has sort of sidelined any other such projects, as now I'm just playing around with it.
So I suppose specifically, today's efforts have been spent trying to add my wife's initials embossed to the wings of a small models of a Bee I found on thingverse. Mostly just to try out the workflow and toolchain, but I hope she likes it.
6 votes -
Comment on I made my own thermostat using a Raspberry Pi in ~tech
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Comment on ‘Matrix 4’ Officially a Go With Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss and Lana Wachowski in ~movies
Ephemere LinkThis will be pretty interesting, as Trinity is in the flesh dead, though I suppose she could be an (aged?) simulation. I suppose there is a slim chance that they will pull a Terminator and pretend...This will be pretty interesting, as Trinity is in the flesh dead, though I suppose she could be an (aged?) simulation.
I suppose there is a slim chance that they will pull a Terminator and pretend at least Revolutions didn’t happen, but that would be a long shot.
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Comment on Taiwan can win a war with China in ~misc
Ephemere LinkBut what if there is a protracted air war? Chinese short range ballistic missiles could utterly cripple the economy of the island without landing a single soldier. I suppose traditionally the...But what if there is a protracted air war? Chinese short range ballistic missiles could utterly cripple the economy of the island without landing a single soldier. I suppose traditionally the expectation is that if given any time at all the US would come to Taiwan's aid in strength, but I don't know how confident anyone can be that the traditional order will persevere.
2 votes -
Comment on Mythbuster Jr is pretty entertaining in ~tv
Ephemere LinkThanks for the suggestion! I was utterly unaware that it had returned, and that certainly does sound like something with cross-generational appeal.Thanks for the suggestion! I was utterly unaware that it had returned, and that certainly does sound like something with cross-generational appeal.
3 votes -
Comment on What are you coding today? in ~comp
Ephemere LinkI'm working on a simple hobbiest electronics project, using an ESP2866 and a BME280 to create a live website showing the current temperature, humidity and air pressure. This is actually bringing...I'm working on a simple hobbiest electronics project, using an ESP2866 and a BME280 to create a live website showing the current temperature, humidity and air pressure.
This is actually bringing back to life something that I thought I broke maybe a year ago with poor soldering on the BME280, but I'm trying to get back into the swing of things after a few years of looking after small children in my free time.
So far, amusingly enough, the biggest hurdle has been configuring nginx correctly, as I'm hoping for the website it produces to be globally accessible while also secure. This should have been fairly trivial, but I didn't realize that nginx had it's own, site-config default configuration which was leaving the proxy open against my desires.
I'm 90% done, I just need to get the website to render everything as expected.
The stack:
NodeMCU + BME280 using arduino C to program it.
perl/Dancer for the host webserver, using SQLite as the datastore and jquery/highcharts to display the live status.I'm super looking forward to this being done, so I can move on to something else.
2 votes -
Comment on Americanisms the British public can't bloody stand in ~humanities
Ephemere LinkA lot of these are pretty fun. I've totally heard people say that. Just wait until they hear people talking about 'pinging' one another. This one may actually be legitimate, dealing with...A lot of these are pretty fun.
- “I got it for free” is a pet hate. You got it “free” not “for free.” You don’t get something cheap and say you got it “for cheap” do you?
I've totally heard people say that.
- “Touch base”—it makes me cringe no end.
Just wait until they hear people talking about 'pinging' one another.
- My brother now uses the term “season” for a TV series. Hideous
This one may actually be legitimate, dealing with differences in how television is constructed in the two nations.
That all said, I'm fully behind the point of view that english is a garbage language, with no hard and fast rules whatsoever. Sometimes we follow historical english pronunciation and spelling guidelines despite a word being of french origin, sometimes we follow french rules. We have letters with duplicate sounds, punctuation rules which are mostly suggestions.
Of course, that garbageness is one of it's strengths. But I do pity someone learning to speak, or, god forbid, write in it.
6 votes -
Comment on “We are essentially the ships that the Navy forgot”: As tensions heat up in the Persian Gulf, the US Navy’s minesweeping fleet may be too old and broken to do their job in ~news
Ephemere Link ParentJust an off the cuff reaction, but it seems like an autonomous drone would be much expensive than a mine, making this a good trade for the minelayer. I also have little trouble believing that...Just an off the cuff reaction, but it seems like an autonomous drone would be much expensive than a mine, making this a good trade for the minelayer.
I also have little trouble believing that select parts of the military are starving while others are drowning in cash. If memory serves there were a bunch of articles about the shameful antiquity and neglect in missile command a few years ago. Given that minesweepers haven’t been used in war in decades, it seems plausible that they would be a very low priority to the admiralty.
10 votes -
Comment on NEC shows 'flying car' hovering steadily for minute in ~tech
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Comment on Why Sriracha Sauce Became So Popular in ~food
Ephemere LinkI would argue that it's the product itself, more than the backstory behind it. It's nicely spicy but not excessively so. It lacks the strong, vinegar flavor of tabasco, frank's red hot or many...I would argue that it's the product itself, more than the backstory behind it. It's nicely spicy but not excessively so. It lacks the strong, vinegar flavor of tabasco, frank's red hot or many similar hot sauces, and what flavor it does have is nice and different from other available condiments. It's an excellent component to a great many dishes for people who like a bit of heat with their food.
9 votes -
Comment on Wolfenstein: Youngblood - Launch trailer in ~games
Ephemere LinkLooks great! I had a sufficiently good time with "The New Colossus" that I was a little disappointed to hear that they had new characters for this game, but clearly I had nothing to fear....Looks great! I had a sufficiently good time with "The New Colossus" that I was a little disappointed to hear that they had new characters for this game, but clearly I had nothing to fear. Definitely looking forward to it.
2 votes -
Comment on What is a good gender-neutral pet name for my daughter? in ~talk
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Comment on The board game of the alpha nerds. Before Risk, before Dungeons & Dragons, before Magic: The Gathering, there was Diplomacy. in ~games.tabletop
Ephemere LinkOh man, this game caused me to literally lose a friendship I had enjoyed for decades, and it was the first game I had ever played, too. Apparently agreeing to perma-ally with someone whom you have...Oh man, this game caused me to literally lose a friendship I had enjoyed for decades, and it was the first game I had ever played, too. Apparently agreeing to perma-ally with someone whom you have an existing close relationship is deeply against the spirit of the rules, though at the time it seemed to be a suitable plot.
Afterwards I played a number of 'a turn a day' games here https://www.playdiplomacy.com/. It was great fun, but I eventually realized that it was dominating my thinking and producing anxiety in a nonproductive way, so I stopped.
6 votes -
Comment on Boris Johnson will be the UK's new prime minister in ~news
Ephemere LinkWell, three more months until the deadline. I suppose I'm super curious if something is going to give in that time, or if they will indeed go no deal. Obviously no deal has come about so far due...Well, three more months until the deadline. I suppose I'm super curious if something is going to give in that time, or if they will indeed go no deal. Obviously no deal has come about so far due to mutually impossible requirements, but things can get pretty loosey goosey in the eleventh hour.
8 votes -
Comment on Several deaths and many injuries in Kyoto Animation studio fire in ~anime
Ephemere LinkMan, most of the headlines related to this neglected to highlight that it was an arson, so I was unaware until I actually read one. It's terrifying that one man with a small quantity of gasoline...Man, most of the headlines related to this neglected to highlight that it was an arson, so I was unaware until I actually read one. It's terrifying that one man with a small quantity of gasoline can spark such a deadly fire.
5 votes -
Comment on Why Today’s Amazon Strike Is So Important in ~misc
Ephemere Link ParentThat does seem literally impossible. I wonder if they actually drive them to such a rate, or whether the expectation is set so that everyone fails, so they can be let go 'for cause' at any time....That does seem literally impossible. I wonder if they actually drive them to such a rate, or whether the expectation is set so that everyone fails, so they can be let go 'for cause' at any time. Either way, that's quite exploitative.
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Comment on People Tell Us How QAnon Destroyed Their Relationships in ~life
Ephemere LinkThanks for the interesting read. This sort of thing terrifies me as my father has just started to get into politics-adjacent youtube videos. He's always been a very reasonable, albeit partisan...Thanks for the interesting read.
This sort of thing terrifies me as my father has just started to get into politics-adjacent youtube videos. He's always been a very reasonable, albeit partisan conservative man, and this both seems like an easy hole to fall down and a well trod one.
5 votes
Well that is certainly good news, though I don't see how it fundamentally addresses the backstop. Unless the UK intends to defacto remain by delaying it's exit in perpetuity, sooner or later something will have to give.