Fiachra's recent activity
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Comment on Peter Watts on Margaret Atwood and the hierarchy of contempt (2003) in ~books
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Comment on After break with US President Donald Trump, Marjorie Taylor Greene will resign in ~society
Fiachra Link ParentThe rumour is she turned on trump because she wanted to run for senate and he told her no.The rumour is she turned on trump because she wanted to run for senate and he told her no.
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Comment on Strange YouTube watch-tracking behavior in ~tech
Fiachra Link ParentI have definitely experienced the second: I search for something fairly narrow and get a video result that's more broad, but fast forwarded to the relevant section. The times it's happened it has...I have definitely experienced the second: I search for something fairly narrow and get a video result that's more broad, but fast forwarded to the relevant section. The times it's happened it has usually been helpful.
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Comment on The Florentine Diamond resurfaces after 100 years in hiding. Legendary jewel of the Habsburgs not seen since 1919 and thought lost, has actually been safe in a Canadian bank for decades. (gifted link) in ~humanities.history
Fiachra Link ParentIt's an interesting question. Presumably there are government buildings and land that were inherited down that chain from the Habsburg government to the modern Austrian state. If the diamond was...It's an interesting question. Presumably there are government buildings and land that were inherited down that chain from the Habsburg government to the modern Austrian state. If the diamond was considered government property and not the personal property of the family, I could see the argument.
Then there's the question of where modern law draws the line of personal property in the case of a monarchy, people who only obtain great wealth through the use of state power over centuries.
My guess is that without serious charges and a trial of individual members, a successor government can't just seize on-paper personal property of former monarchs, even if it was clearly obtained through state power (not saying that applies in this case, I have no idea either way).
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Fiachra LinkI've just gotten platinum on Deathloop. It's a pretty standard Arkane studios stealth action with superpowers game, but with the gimmick that your game can (optionally) be invaded by another...I've just gotten platinum on Deathloop. It's a pretty standard Arkane studios stealth action with superpowers game, but with the gimmick that your game can (optionally) be invaded by another player hunting you. So I could summarise it as "Dishonoured, with a PvP mode", which is a strong pitch. I've just hit 90 hours or so and I'm still playing after getting platinum (first platinum ever btw!), so obviously I liked it a lot despite the flaws I'm going to list. I think it's a good game with a premise that promised a really really great game, and if it suffers at all it's only by comparison to that promise.
The Good
I think the Time Loop is a good framing device for storytelling: you could encounter a side quest by finding the aftermath of a heist. You then investigate the same spot at an earlier time of day and the side quest might have you alter the outcome or use information you learned from the aftermath or just storm in and kill everyone. The main story plays out similarly: you encounter information organically by exploring maps, leads are placed into a handy log so you never miss anything vital, and the threads you follow direct you toward things you can mess with to tilt things in your favour. Your aim is to break the time loop by assassinating 7 "Visionaries", who are careful not to be in the same place at the same time. But you only get 4 times of day: morning, noon, afternoon, evening, across 4 maps. So you need to learn who is having a secret rendezvous, who has big events in their day you can disrupt to get them to another location, who will be around dangerous machinery you can sabotage. Mid-way through the story as you're figuring this out it almost feels like a Hitman game. At the start of the game when you try assassinating them at their publicly known locations, each spirals into a unique boss fight. So it gives a fantastic feeling of progression when you learn enough to kill each one without lifting a finger. Feels like mastering groundhog day.
The Bad
But then you get to the end of those plot threads, and you find that they're spelling out a single correct solution to the assassination puzzle, summarised for you in a literal cutscene. Your only freedom really is in the kill method you use within missions. None of this undercuts the fun of progressing in the story, but it made the end feel weaker than I hoped. It feels like the intention was to be free-form and they lacked the time to execute on it, just my impression. The side quests also felt like good ideas not given enough air, with many of them being pretty shallow 1 or 2 step affairs that don't give you a choice of resolutions. Some make you alter events, some make you exploit pre-knowledge, in some you just have to bust in and take their loot or you get nothing.
The I-don't-know
The mechanic I'm most torn on is "infusing" which lets gear persist across loops if you can spend the points to keep them. On the one hand, building up a curated armoury with the right powerups for the job was one of the more satisfying parts of the game for me, on the other hand it becomes so easy to infuse all the gear you want that you no longer "feel" the time loop. I think the mechanic is at its strongest in the early game when you can kill bosses but then need to make strategic decisions about what gear you want to hold on to, because you can't afford to infuse everything you drop. I think there could be a version of this game where you couldn't just bring every gun you need into each loop and would have to take detours to retrieve key gear for use later in the day.
The PvP is good
In-game, the antagonist Julianna is the only other character who remembers across loops, and will appear at random to hunt you and derail your plans. This is either another human player or, if you disable pvp, a computer-controlled character who wanders around hunting you but is fairly easy to hide from. I'm sure it's controversial among stealth fans, but personally I like the fact that even the most intricate and rehearsed plan for infiltration needs to be resilient against disruption. Your near-miss brushes with death tend to make better memories, I find. Then when playing as Julianna, the maps are hard to search through, so it becomes a mind game of figuring out what objective they seem to be targetting (based on what doors are open, which NPCs are gone etc.), thinking how you would proceed in their shoes, and cutting them off in the right location. That's how you pull off plays where the other guy pokes his head out a door and you're ready and waiting in your sniper nest halfway across the map, plays that make you feel like a genius sniper in a movie.
The Guns are silly fun
There's a sharpshooter's rifle that doesn't consume ammo when it hits, and when it misses it jams and won't fire for the rest of the mission, and I just think that's a neat idea. There's also a machine pistol with two magazines that can be reloaded while firing. There's also a telekinesis ability that lets you somersault NPCs sideways off cliffs without making much noise, which is extremely fun in a game with a lot of cliffs.
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Comment on Giant mirrors in space to reflect sunlight at night? No thank you, astronomers say. in ~space
Fiachra Link ParentWhat is it with tech companies and Tolkien references?EARENDIL-1
What is it with tech companies and Tolkien references?
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Comment on Labubu movie in the works at Sony in ~movies
Fiachra LinkMan, if Hollywood functioned this way in 2017 they would have had "A Fidget Spinner movie" released before the fad even ran out.Man, if Hollywood functioned this way in 2017 they would have had "A Fidget Spinner movie" released before the fad even ran out.
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Comment on EU country grouping cleared to build sovereign digital infrastructure in ~tech
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Comment on US teacher shot by six-year-old student awarded $10m by jury in ~news
Fiachra Link ParentI wonder what age was the youngest person charged?I wonder what age was the youngest person charged?
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Comment on Iceland's volcanoes might have an unexpected new purpose – an architect duo want to harness molten lava to shape the construction of houses and cities of the future in ~design
Fiachra (edited )LinkThere are some obvious problems with the idea, such as the fact that it would exclusively build settlements that are directly in the path of active volcanoes. But the way they talk about it sounds...There are some obvious problems with the idea, such as the fact that it would exclusively build settlements that are directly in the path of active volcanoes. But the way they talk about it sounds more like a thought experiment or very early stage brainstorming:
"But the wider concept of the pavilion is not just about lava. It’s about addressing a risk and changing perspectives, hopefully inspiring conversations."
“One of the core concepts is that there is no private ownership of lava in Iceland,” says Skarphéðinsson. “If we create a city out of this material, then it would be owned by the people who live in it. And in this respect, we’re also thinking about places such as the Congo, where there are so many riches, so many minerals, but the people who live there don’t get any of the rewards. We want to put forward these questions that aren’t really being asked.”
Arnhildur Pálmadóttir seems to be a public advocate for sustainable building practices:
Her designs, [...] have a strong emphasis on using sustainably-sourced materials, reusing materials, reducing energy and resource use, climate-neutral solutions, and creating a more sustainable lifestyle
If it is in fact in the spitballing phase, I'd like to suggest diverting lava flows into large brick-shape moulds, then taking the new basalt bricks somewhere further away from the active volcano to build with.
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Comment on Grieving family uses AI chatbot to cut hospital bill from $195,000 to $33,000 — US family says Claude highlighted duplicative charges, improper coding, and other violations in ~tech
Fiachra Link ParentI'm referring to it finding billing errors and duplicated charges, not the coding part.I'm referring to it finding billing errors and duplicated charges, not the coding part.
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Comment on Grieving family uses AI chatbot to cut hospital bill from $195,000 to $33,000 — US family says Claude highlighted duplicative charges, improper coding, and other violations in ~tech
Fiachra LinkI never considered before that the way to ensure AI output gets fact-checked is to use it in adversarial situations where the receiving party has a contrary interest to yours. Food for thought in...I never considered before that the way to ensure AI output gets fact-checked is to use it in adversarial situations where the receiving party has a contrary interest to yours. Food for thought in future I think.
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Comment on CS2 skin update ‘rug pulls’ collectors as $1 billion wiped from market cap in ~games
Fiachra LinkThis label of "rug pull" needs to be pushed back against, I think. You saw similar rhetoric out of MTG collectors a while back when some notable cards were devalued. These were not created or sold...This label of "rug pull" needs to be pushed back against, I think. You saw similar rhetoric out of MTG collectors a while back when some notable cards were devalued.
These were not created or sold as investment assets. Valve had no agreement with anyone that these would be run as financial assets. They have no obligation to ensure they remain a "store of value", especially when the speculation actively worsens the game that makes them their money.
People who lost their arses on this have every right to be upset, I have sympathy, but to be angry at valve? Nah. They didn't put that rug under you.
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Comment on CS2 skin update ‘rug pulls’ collectors as $1 billion wiped from market cap in ~games
Fiachra Link ParentIf the fed decided "meh, fuck it" and deliberately halved the value of the US dollar for no gain whatsoever, their heads would be on spikes by the end of the day.If the fed decided "meh, fuck it" and deliberately halved the value of the US dollar for no gain whatsoever, their heads would be on spikes by the end of the day.
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Comment on Amazon Web Services crash causes $2,000 Smart Beds to overheat and get stuck upright in ~tech
Fiachra LinkWithout servers to verify you paid your sleepscription I'm surprised they didn't deploy those metal spikes they use to keep unhoused people off of public areas. Meanwhile us free thinkers who...Without servers to verify you paid your sleepscription I'm surprised they didn't deploy those metal spikes they use to keep unhoused people off of public areas. Meanwhile us free thinkers who jailbroke our two grand nootropic AI Blockchain beds are sleeping soundly.
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Comment on Thieves steal crown jewels in four minutes from Louvre Museum in Paris in ~arts
Fiachra Link ParentHonestly it probably was. Probably all sorts of disgruntled employees past and present with the insider knowledge to help plan this.Honestly it probably was. Probably all sorts of disgruntled employees past and present with the insider knowledge to help plan this.
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Comment on Thieves steal crown jewels in four minutes from Louvre Museum in Paris in ~arts
Fiachra Link ParentI had been told that it was about the size of a sheet of A4 paper, 210 x 297 mm, but apparently I was just lied to on that.I had been told that it was about the size of a sheet of A4 paper, 210 x 297 mm, but apparently I was just lied to on that.
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Comment on Thieves steal crown jewels in four minutes from Louvre Museum in Paris in ~arts
Fiachra Link ParentThe fact that the Mona Lisa is so surprisingly small might actually be relevant to why it was stolenThe fact that the Mona Lisa is so surprisingly small might actually be relevant to why it was stolen
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Comment on Thieves steal crown jewels in four minutes from Louvre Museum in Paris in ~arts
Fiachra Link ParentSome French gang boss is hanging out in his media room with a Napoleonic crown and sceptre as we speak.Some French gang boss is hanging out in his media room with a Napoleonic crown and sceptre as we speak.
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Comment on Thieves steal crown jewels in four minutes from Louvre Museum in Paris in ~arts
Oof. That part aged well at least. I'm guessing that at the time he was referring to SARS.