Fiachra's recent activity

  1. Comment on Call of Duty: Ghosts – Power, paranoia, and orbital tungsten rods in ~games

    Fiachra
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    I laughed every single time he used that "POV getting kicked in the face" clip as a title screen for a chapter. The comic timing is flawless.

    I laughed every single time he used that "POV getting kicked in the face" clip as a title screen for a chapter. The comic timing is flawless.

    3 votes

  2. Comment on Why do so many people think US President Donald Trump is good? in ~society

  3. Comment on Medieval Europeans were fanatical about a strange fruit with a vulgar name that could only be eaten rotten. Then it was forgotten altogether. Why did they love it so much? And why did it disappear? in ~humanities.history

    Fiachra
    Link Parent
    Good grief, you just made me hungry for quinces

    quinces taste like what pears wish they could taste like. They have a very fresh, complex, floral note.

    Good grief, you just made me hungry for quinces

    1 vote

  4. Comment on Medieval Europeans were fanatical about a strange fruit with a vulgar name that could only be eaten rotten. Then it was forgotten altogether. Why did they love it so much? And why did it disappear? in ~humanities.history

    Fiachra
    Link Parent
    Honestly before reading this article I'd never heard of Quinces in my life, I wonder if they're fading into obscurity in the same way the Medlar did, or if I'm just a brainrotted millennial with...

    Honestly before reading this article I'd never heard of Quinces in my life, I wonder if they're fading into obscurity in the same way the Medlar did, or if I'm just a brainrotted millennial with no regard for good food and nature...

    3 votes

  5. Comment on Medieval Europeans were fanatical about a strange fruit with a vulgar name that could only be eaten rotten. Then it was forgotten altogether. Why did they love it so much? And why did it disappear? in ~humanities.history

  6. Comment on What are the standards for a good father/husband? in ~life.men

    Fiachra
    Link Parent
    For most of my life I've found myself exasperated by my parents' generation and their disinterest in teaching and training. In parenting, university lecturers and in the workplace. It culminates...

    For most of my life I've found myself exasperated by my parents' generation and their disinterest in teaching and training. In parenting, university lecturers and in the workplace. It culminates in stuff like the famous bean dad thread - a man who publishes a story about how coddled young people are because his eight year old couldn't intuitively understand the can opener he never taught her to use.

    So yeah I might have complimented you too, not because it's amazing but because it's rarer than it should be and we want to encourage that.

    16 votes

  7. Comment on Karen Gillan joins the new ‘Highlander’ and has the best reaction to the news in ~movies

    Fiachra
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    Okay, chances are good that I won't even watch a reboot of Highlander but........ ..... Dave Bautista is a great choice for the Kurgan.

    Okay, chances are good that I won't even watch a reboot of Highlander but........

    .....

    Dave Bautista is a great choice for the Kurgan.

    3 votes

  8. Comment on Do you play games in a play by email format, and if so what are you favorite games? in ~games

    Fiachra
    Link Parent
    Keep an eye out for me! I use the same username as here

    Keep an eye out for me! I use the same username as here

    1 vote

  9. Comment on Do you play games in a play by email format, and if so what are you favorite games? in ~games

    Fiachra
    Link
    I didn't realise PBEM was still a thing, and I'm definitely going to discover some month-long hyperfixation because of this thread. I've been playing hnefatafl (otherwise known as 'viking chess')...

    I didn't realise PBEM was still a thing, and I'm definitely going to discover some month-long hyperfixation because of this thread.

    I've been playing hnefatafl (otherwise known as 'viking chess') through both an app of the same name and an unrelated website (https://aagenielsen.dk/). It's not a PBEM but it goes at the same pace as one; you make your moves and check the app a few hours later to see if there's been a response.

    The game could equally be played on a physical board and the moves relayed via email. You can play on a standard chessboard if you place pieces on the line intersections instead of the squares, to get the required 7x7 layout.

    2 votes

  10. Comment on Special announcement about “Hollow Knight: Silksong” soon in ~games

    Fiachra
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    Oh no no no, I'm not falling for that again. Fool me twelve times, shame on you...

    Oh no no no, I'm not falling for that again. Fool me twelve times, shame on you...

    23 votes

  11. Comment on ‘Being short is a curse’: the men paying thousands to get their legs broken – and lengthened in ~life.men

    Fiachra
    Link Parent
    Truly a hell of their own making. Christ on a bike.

    Truly a hell of their own making. Christ on a bike.

    4 votes

  12. Comment on AI is a mass-delusion event (gifted link) in ~tech

    Fiachra
    Link Parent
    Worth noting that options 1 and 3 both amount to the (financial) bubble popping, and will be devastating to global markets and a lot of ordinary people's pensions. I've seen it argued that the...

    Worth noting that options 1 and 3 both amount to the (financial) bubble popping, and will be devastating to global markets and a lot of ordinary people's pensions. I've seen it argued that the tech companies know it's going this way but are betting on being the last man standing once the recession subsides, like Amazon after the dotcom bubble.

    9 votes

  13. Comment on I am still awake after feeding my newborn in ~talk

    Fiachra
    Link
    For me, once the first light starts to show, it's a simple binary. If my eyes still feel heavy, I've just temporarily woken up and will be back to sleep as soon as I make it back to bed. If my...

    For me, once the first light starts to show, it's a simple binary. If my eyes still feel heavy, I've just temporarily woken up and will be back to sleep as soon as I make it back to bed. If my eyes feel open, even for a moment, I'm now awake for the day no matter what I do. Might as well put on a podcast, make breakfast, and get ahead of my to-do list.

    On nights like yours, I'm a fan of tidying up. There's nobody around to get in the way, and odds are good that the hectic demands of childcare have left behind a few messes.

    3 votes

  14. Comment on Why are there so many rationalist cults? in ~life

    Fiachra
    Link Parent
    Even if we assume a group could flawlessly screen for intelligence somehow, and everyone admitted was genuinely very smart, what kind of smart person would seek out a group like this? If the...

    Even if we assume a group could flawlessly screen for intelligence somehow, and everyone admitted was genuinely very smart, what kind of smart person would seek out a group like this?

    If the motivation is hanging out with smart people, academics hang out with smart people every working day anyway, so they probably wouldn't be as pushed. Same for many people in the private sector of intellectual fields. I could see former academics, former post-grads etc. being drawn to it though.

    If the motivation is proving themselves, it implies they don't (yet) have anything more substantive to their name. Again, reduces the chances of attracting the accomplished or people with 'smart-sounding' jobs.

    There are obviously going to be many counterexamples! I'm just talking about relative likelihoods here.

    This is going to bias selection toward people not (currently) working in intellectual fields and those on the insecure side. I will now mention that the stereotypical "squaring the circle" maths crank is a retired engineer who becomes irate when his pet theory is criticised. Many are very intelligent, but they're pursuing hugely ambitious goals in subjects outside their own expertise while accepting no corrections or feedback.

    7 votes

  15. Comment on Why are there so many rationalist cults? in ~life

    Fiachra
    Link
    Classic self-selection problem, same as people always say about MENSA: it's not an unbiased sample of high-IQ people, it's a group of high-IQ people who would want to join a famous club full of...

    Classic self-selection problem, same as people always say about MENSA: it's not an unbiased sample of high-IQ people, it's a group of high-IQ people who would want to join a famous club full of other high-IQ people. Stephen Hawking wasn't a member, but the creator of Dilbert is. Rationalist communities seem perfect for attracting science cranks.

    16 votes

  16. Comment on Question - how would you best explain how an LLM functions to someone who has never taken a statistics class? in ~tech

  17. Comment on Question - how would you best explain how an LLM functions to someone who has never taken a statistics class? in ~tech

    Fiachra
    Link
    To set the foundation, sit them down and have them watch either Catch Me If You Can, or I Love you Phillip Morris. Explain that an LLM works like a person who is bluffing really well: they've...

    To set the foundation, sit them down and have them watch either Catch Me If You Can, or I Love you Phillip Morris. Explain that an LLM works like a person who is bluffing really well: they've heard enough to know what the correct answer sounds like in any given situation, and can often improvisionally figure out a sensible answer or accidentally get stuff right. But no amount of bluffing skill will enable someone to perform open heart surgery, and when it encounters something it doesn't know, it's going to cling to the act at all costs like DiCaprio's character and continue making shit up.

    2 votes

  18. Comment on How are you planning for a potentially bleaker future? in ~life

    Fiachra
    Link
    Getting to know neighbours and organising with them for common interests. Starts with cutting the grass of common spaces, a decade from now you could be sharing resources when times are tough...
    • Getting to know neighbours and organising with them for common interests. Starts with cutting the grass of common spaces, a decade from now you could be sharing resources when times are tough
    • Build habits that are good for your health and for those around you. Exercise, sleep and eat well, stop doomscrolling, encourage others to do the same
    • Know how to make/fix/get things, and where you don't, build ties with people who do and learn from them
    3 votes

  19. Comment on How social media shortens your life in ~tech

    Fiachra
    Link Parent
    Not 'also'. Books are a good way to pass the time. Doomscrolling is a bad way.

    Not 'also'. Books are a good way to pass the time. Doomscrolling is a bad way.

    4 votes

  20. Comment on Modern masculinity and The Critical Drinker in ~life.men

    Fiachra
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    I would bet a million euro that the stoic and manly Critical Drinker has already described himself as being "cancelled" by this video.

    I would bet a million euro that the stoic and manly Critical Drinker has already described himself as being "cancelled" by this video.

    8 votes