first-must-burn's recent activity
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Comment on Trolley problem, again in ~humanities
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Comment on Announcing the eighth annual Tildes' Make Something Month (Timasomo)! in ~tildes
first-must-burn LinkI have several projects on my list. I will have to take a close look and see what this will encourage me to make!I have several projects on my list. I will have to take a close look and see what this will encourage me to make!
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Comment on What is your dream game? in ~games
first-must-burn Link ParentHave you played Little Kitty, Big City ? I recently played through it on the switch. It's pretty short but thoroughly enjoyable - funny dialog, interesting and weird characters, chill vibes. The...Have you played Little Kitty, Big City ? I recently played through it on the switch. It's pretty short but thoroughly enjoyable - funny dialog, interesting and weird characters, chill vibes.
The Untitled Goose Game is another strong rec. It is somewhat linear, but you are 100% a goose doing goose things, if goose things == being a complete agent of chaos. It's an interesting puzzle game.
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Comment on What is your dream game? in ~games
first-must-burn Link ParentWhat intrigues me about your idea is if you could model aggregate human behavior in similar detail - selfishness, apathy, local influence, the ability of charismatic individuals to kick-start...What intrigues me about your idea is if you could model aggregate human behavior in similar detail - selfishness, apathy, local influence, the ability of charismatic individuals to kick-start major change when society is "supersaturated". If you combine this with the detailed city building simulation, you could try scenarios with different parameters and see what it takes to get utopian / dystopian outcomes. You could even have pvp where some people are the reformers and some people play the robber barons, and see who wins out.
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Comment on Gadgetbridge: A FOSS alternative to your fitness watch’s app in ~tech
first-must-burn LinkThanks for posting this! What's great about this is that since the app is open source, I can tweak it myself if it's not perfect, but it's also receiving active support from the community. I'm...Thanks for posting this!
What's great about this is that since the app is open source, I can tweak it myself if it's not perfect, but it's also receiving active support from the community.
I'm pretty sure something about the Garmin app is glitching the notifications on my android, so I am keen to give this a try.
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Comment on There's a new "Google Jail" for independent wikis in ~tech
first-must-burn LinkI wonder if this will have the effect of sort of "freezing" the web. I also wonder if it will create a market for legitimate sites in before the cap to sell their domains / pages to people looking...I wonder if this will have the effect of sort of "freezing" the web.
I also wonder if it will create a market for legitimate sites in before the cap to sell their domains / pages to people looking to gain a foothold in the new era.
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Comment on Do you iron your clothes? in ~life
first-must-burn Link ParentOh yeah, I definitely can put my pixel 8 in either the front or back pockets. Also, this made me laugh: https://youtube.com/shorts/MSK-WQ9DB8wOh yeah, I definitely can put my pixel 8 in either the front or back pockets.
Also, this made me laugh:
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Comment on Do you iron your clothes? in ~life
first-must-burn Link ParentThe pockets are about the same as the old jeans. These are Lee Men's Extreme Stretch. My old jeans were the non-stretchy Lee Jeans. I was stable for a long time at the same waist are, but this...The pockets are about the same as the old jeans. These are Lee Men's Extreme Stretch. My old jeans were the non-stretchy Lee Jeans. I was stable for a long time at the same waist are, but this year has gotten the better of me.
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Comment on ‘Resident Evil’ scores $60m US opening: best ever for Zach Cregger and franchise in ~movies
first-must-burn LinkLooks entertaining. I binged the entire resident evil catalogue one time when I was sick. This looks like it at least gets a refresh from feeling too directly paced and shot like a video game.Looks entertaining. I binged the entire resident evil catalogue one time when I was sick. This looks like it at least gets a refresh from feeling too directly paced and shot like a video game.
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Comment on Do you iron your clothes? in ~life
first-must-burn Link ParentI am plus sized (male) and recently had to switch to jeans with stretch in them due to some embarrassing rips. It feels weird because I've been wearing the same jeans for the last ... 25 years....I am plus sized (male) and recently had to switch to jeans with stretch in them due to some embarrassing rips. It feels weird because I've been wearing the same jeans for the last ... 25 years. But in terms of freedom of movement it has been amazing.
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Comment on Do you iron your clothes? in ~life
first-must-burn Link ParentI taught my daughter to separate her whites and colors when she first started doing her laundry over a year ago. One time I happened to be in the laundry room while she was doing her laundry, and...I taught my daughter to separate her whites and colors when she first started doing her laundry over a year ago. One time I happened to be in the laundry room while she was doing her laundry, and I saw her just chucking everything in mixed together. I warned her it might discolor her white stuff, but she said, "I always do it this way and it's fine."
I guess between modern dyes, modern fabrics, and modern detergents, this is one of those things like light bulbs being hot that the younger generations will experience completely differently.
I can't quite bring myself to completely abandon it. I wash all my black stuff together so it doesn't get linty and I can use the woolite dark on it, then do a load of my nicer collared shirts, then an "everything else" load. I might have some trauma from a whole year of wearing a pink gym uniform (in Texas in the 90's) because my dad accidentally put a red towel in the load.
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Comment on VR questions, recommendations, tips, and tricks in ~games
first-must-burn Link ParentI feel like something like these VR boots getting to the consumer scale is the real answer to these problems. Or maybe saccadic redirection.I feel like something like these VR boots getting to the consumer scale is the real answer to these problems. Or maybe saccadic redirection.
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Comment on Tildes Book Club - Future in ~books
first-must-burn LinkRegrettably, I have been a spectator for over a year since going back to work full time. Much as I wish for it to continue, I can't realistically commit to participating regularly or hosting. (◡_◡)Regrettably, I have been a spectator for over a year since going back to work full time. Much as I wish for it to continue, I can't realistically commit to participating regularly or hosting. (◡_◡)
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Comment on The age of wonders and terrors in ~science
first-must-burn Link ParentThis is what I'm seeing at work. I can produce so much code (and am being asked to) that there's no feasible way to review it. More effective and intensive test frameworks are helping me create...Reviewing will have to be done partly by AI, because otherwise there’s no way to handle the orc army: the reviewers can’t unilaterally disarm.
This is what I'm seeing at work. I can produce so much code (and am being asked to) that there's no feasible way to review it. More effective and intensive test frameworks are helping me create confidence in the work, but that's mostly a defense in depth / reliability strategy, because we can't review all the tests either. So it boils down to: if I ask the AI to create the code and the tests independently, then I lessen the odds of a bug creeping through with unnoticed. I also do code reviews with a different model.
It's interesting that there are a lot of parallels to the N-version research that Knight and Leveson did. The bugs were mostly specification bugs, or arose commonalities in university training (everyone uses the same textbooks). So I forsee that the problems with my strategy will be similar to the problems they encountered.
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Comment on Deciding whether (or not) to have a child in ~life
first-must-burn LinkMy wife and I dithered about this too, and were in our mid 30's when we decided to try. The result is our daughter, who is now 11. She is amazing, and amazes me every day, even now when the...My wife and I dithered about this too, and were in our mid 30's when we decided to try. The result is our daughter, who is now 11. She is amazing, and amazes me every day, even now when the trajectory of development is much slower than the younger years. I would not trade her for anything, and being a dad is by far my favorite role. I spent a year as a stay at home dad, and that was my favorite year.
Some other caveats/context: we are financially very stable which puts one major worry far down our list. We don't have much in the way of local family support, which is very hard. My advice there is make friends / find a group with kids the same age. Even if you have family, it's good to have a community as well.
Here I will echo and affirm @worldasis 's comment. Our job as parents should be to make them into a whole, functioning, independent person. My wife's mother is a textbook narcissist who centers every interaction in herself and her feelings. Watching the lasting impact this has had on my wife has been hard. Unwrapping that is probably a whole post unto itself. Or maybe a dissertation.
Seeing the child as their own person is why I like the Montessori philosophy so much. Everything they do is centered in working with the child's developmental phases to help them grow. My daughter started Montessori preschool at 3, and is now in 6th grade. She will likely finish out the 8th grade program before transitioning to traditional high school. I think this has been one of our best parenting decisions, and learning from the teachers and implementing some of the practices at home has made us better parents. In particular, they have a clear, developmentally validated understanding of what a child's capabilities can be at different ages. Because of the mixed age classroom and the individualized curriculum design, each child learns the things when they, individually are actually ready. Not because it's week 17 and the syllabus says everyone is learning X today.
I would highly recommend the preschool through kindergarten ("Children's house") program. Once you're in it and have seen it work, you can make your own call about the later phases.
Practically speaking, many of the day to day activities of a child-centered approach are the same - behavior, hygiene, nutrition, socialization. But the underlying why is different. There is no manual for parenting, but asking "does this help her become a functioning adult" is a great litmus test for evaluating my own underlying motives. It helps to sift out the things that merely make parenting more convenient for us or others around us.
If you do the math, you will see that she was born in the heady days of 2015, before many of the existential crises you would now face were front and center. I can't imagine a world without my daughter, but I cannot also say with confidence we would have made the same choice if choosing today. The world seems so much darker.
However, she is growing up in that darker world and doing fine. We survived COVID -- she was five, and went to school masked for two years. Now she's involve in Montessori Model UN, which has been a great framework for learning bout the problems in the world but also believing that something can be done about them.
I feel pretty overwhelmed and helpless about the larger world, so I concentrate on small local changes where I can have an impact, and on helping my daughter be prepared for being a person in that world. I don't think I will change the world, that ship has probably sailed. But she still might, and if she doesn't, I'm confident that there will be many people whose world is better because her light.
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Comment on Ubuntu on Windows is about to become more popular than Ubuntu itself in ~tech
first-must-burn Link Parent+1 on both counts. For a while it looked like System76 was going to make PopOS a thing, but Ubuntu quickly became mainstream even on those systems in all my circles. I guess I rarely run graphical...+1 on both counts. For a while it looked like System76 was going to make PopOS a thing, but Ubuntu quickly became mainstream even on those systems in all my circles.
I guess I rarely run graphical applications in WSL (usually web dev, so the UI is conveniently in a Windows browser), so I'm not even sure I would care what distro it was, except for my familiarity with apt as a package manager. Even then I try to containerize anything that can be containerized, so I'm rarely running anything locally but docker and task.
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Comment on My son pooped in the toilet in ~life
first-must-burn LinkCongratulations! You have entered a new era. The end of diapers just got a little closer. Once my daughter was pooping on the toilet. She twisted around and looked in the toilet, then up at me,...Congratulations! You have entered a new era. The end of diapers just got a little closer.
Once my daughter was pooping on the toilet. She twisted around and looked in the toilet, then up at me, and said, "I've got skills."
If this is your first, I'll say that the move from diapers to no diapers was unexpectedly fraught. We went from, "ooh, stinky diaper, let's go find a place where it would be convenient to change this diaper" to "I have to go. Now!" I pretty much had to know where the closest bathroom was at all times.
We had a portable potty seat somewhat like this that was great because you could fold the arms out and put it on a public toilet seat to make it easier (and more sanitary!) to sit on, or make the tabs into legs so it stands up on its own. You put a bag in it, stand it up, and you can use it anywhere, including in the car. We did that quite a lot in those days: pull over, move the passenger seat all the way forward, and set it up in the back floorboard. Use a baby wipe to clean up, tie a knot in the bag, dispose of it at your earliest convenience. 10/10 would recommend.
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Comment on GPS tracker for an interstate move in ~tech
first-must-burn Link ParentGood idea!Good idea!
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GPS tracker for an interstate move
My parents are doing an interstate move in a few weeks, and I want to get them a gps tracker that they can put in a box to help them track their stuff. The main goal is to provide them their own...
My parents are doing an interstate move in a few weeks, and I want to get them a gps tracker that they can put in a box to help them track their stuff. The main goal is to provide them their own data if they get into the situation where the carrier and the trucking company are blaming each other for not knowing where their stuff is.
Tracki, Ameriloc, and LandSeaAir seem to be the big names, but there's very little signal and not much independent information. Also a ton of products on amazon in the <$30 range that seem indistinguishable.
Even several hundred dollars in cost is not a deal breaker here, considering the issue of their stuff, but I didn't really find a clearly better expensive option.
Whatever I get, I also plan to get two airtags as backup. Maybe that's enough by itself, but I like the idea of having an active option, even though I know they could all fail for different reasons.
Has anyone used one, and if so, what was your experience? What would you recommend using or avoiding?
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Comment on Elle Cordova - Modern day typographer (2026) in ~music
first-must-burn LinkHer work is hilarious. I think the font persona videos are peak. If you want music, how about the Star Trek Technobabble rap And for modern major general parodies, the og is Tom Lehrer - the...Her work is hilarious. I think the font persona videos are peak. If you want music, how about the Star Trek Technobabble rap
And for modern major general parodies, the og is Tom Lehrer - the elements - nothing beats rhyming Harvard with discov-aaard
I thought I would be adding the Animaniacs to the list, but I was disappointed to find that neither the nations of the world nor the ingredients song are set to this tune.
Somewhat of an aside: if we ever reached the point where an autonomous car is sophisticated enough to predict these outcomes and make moral choices about its actions, we will have come so far relative to the current technology that it would be nearly unrecognizable. Like the relationship between a middle ages wagons and the newest luxury sports car.
Asimov's Naked Sun, Robots of Dawn, and Robots and Empire explore the nature of the problem when the robots become this sophisticated pretty well.