Gourd's recent activity

  1. Comment on Comerica Park will be renamed to Fifth Third Park starting in 2027 in ~sports.baseball

    Gourd
    Link Parent
    Yeah, exactly! I'm just more amused by the amount of coverage this is getting.

    Yeah, exactly! I'm just more amused by the amount of coverage this is getting.

    1 vote

  2. Comment on Comerica Park will be renamed to Fifth Third Park starting in 2027 in ~sports.baseball

    Gourd
    Link
    Am I the only one who doesn't care about the name change? Comerica Park was also named after a bank. Unless we're going back to something like Tiger Stadium (which I think every non-billionaire...

    Am I the only one who doesn't care about the name change? Comerica Park was also named after a bank. Unless we're going back to something like Tiger Stadium (which I think every non-billionaire would greatly prefer), I don't really care which financial institution or megacorp it's named after.

    1 vote

  3. Comment on What are the genuinely worst films of all time? in ~movies

    Gourd
    Link Parent
    Thanks for the rec! I hadn't heard of Space Ice

    Thanks for the rec! I hadn't heard of Space Ice

  4. Comment on Steam Frame product page is now live in ~games

    Gourd
    Link
    Unfortunately, even if tons of exciting VR games were coming out and these headsets were super cheap, I'd need them to come with some sort of integrated dramamine IV drip to be able to use them...

    Unfortunately, even if tons of exciting VR games were coming out and these headsets were super cheap, I'd need them to come with some sort of integrated dramamine IV drip to be able to use them for more than 10 minutes.

  5. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    Gourd
    Link Parent
    I have both physically, but I’m playing on an emulator

    I have both physically, but I’m playing on an emulator

  6. Comment on Reginald Pikedevant - Just Glue Some Gears On It (And Call It Steampunk) (2011) in ~music

    Gourd
    Link
    This is the first video I've seen flagged as "AI" by YouTube itself. Guess their classifier doesn't take into account whether or not a video was uploaded 15 fucking years ago.

    This is the first video I've seen flagged as "AI" by YouTube itself. Guess their classifier doesn't take into account whether or not a video was uploaded 15 fucking years ago.

  7. Comment on What are the genuinely worst films of all time? in ~movies

    Gourd
    Link
    On a purely technical level, Neil Breen's Double Down is the worst movie I've ever seen, and it's not even close. The writing is so bad that I struggle to even use the word "writing". It's...

    On a purely technical level, Neil Breen's Double Down is the worst movie I've ever seen, and it's not even close. The writing is so bad that I struggle to even use the word "writing". It's legitimately impressive that someone was able to write a script this nonsensical. It's more akin to art house, which was clearly not the intention. There's no way to describe how bad the writing is. You just need to watch it to know.

    I'd say about half of the runtime is filled with stock footage or B-roll with voiceover. I think there are two or three scenes in the entire movie in which two characters have a conversation in the same shot. The rest of the dialogue cuts between centered headshots of the characters against flat blue sky.

    Neil Breen himself (and his godlike self-insert character) seems to have all the confidence in the world that this is a Very Good Movie.

    I actually had the idea recently to make a randomizer script to re-cut the movie in an entirely random order. I'm pretty sure the viewing experience would be essentially unchanged, and that's hardly an exaggeration.

    9 votes

  8. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    Gourd
    Link Parent
    I think a lot of hardcore fans back in the day didn't like that Capcom had put their own spin on it, and made games with a weirder feel and little narrative connection to the rest of the series....

    I think a lot of hardcore fans back in the day didn't like that Capcom had put their own spin on it, and made games with a weirder feel and little narrative connection to the rest of the series. But alongside Link's Awakening, I find it kind of charming that all three of the Game Boy-era LoZ games take place in some weird foreign land that never gets mentioned again.

    I also agree that Minish Cap is excellent!

    2 votes

  9. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    Gourd
    Link Parent
    As someone who has never really played a sports game for more than a few minutes but has at least a passing interest in watching sports: What makes MVP Baseball 2005 so good? I'm actually...

    As someone who has never really played a sports game for more than a few minutes but has at least a passing interest in watching sports: What makes MVP Baseball 2005 so good? I'm actually interested in trying it based on your enthusiasm. Actually, what even makes a sports game bad or good?

    1 vote

  10. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    Gourd
    (edited )
    Link
    Just finished (here I use "finished" loosely) a 2015 indie metroidvania called Environmental Station Alpha. I'd say it was a mildly enjoyable experience. The world and lore are very heavily...

    Just finished (here I use "finished" loosely) a 2015 indie metroidvania called Environmental Station Alpha. I'd say it was a mildly enjoyable experience. The world and lore are very heavily inspired by metroid. The world itself is frustratingly-designed. After each new ability, I spent a ton of time looking around for the one path forward rather than exploring a bunch of cool new unlockable areas -- the mark of a truly mediocre metroidvania imo.

    The engine itself is very rudimentary and janky with lo-spec art and 4-directional aiming. I think the game was designed fairly well around these constraints. The boss battles were a big highlight for me, although they're nothing too special. Without getting into major spoilers, there is a ton of secret stuff to do after the "end". Think something like Tunic. Interesting, but very obtuse in a love-it-or-hate-it sort of way, and it doesn't really compensate for the game's general mediocrity.

    I'd say play this if you enjoy metroidvanias, skip it if you're not really into the genre.

    And the other game I'm currently playing through is The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages for the game boy color. I played Oracle of Seasons (its sister game) for countless hours as a kid, so finally getting around to this one now at 30 years old is kind of a trip. I replayed Seasons last year in preparation, and I have to say that this game is much weirder. The dialogue in particular is just strange. It almost reminds me of Earthbound. I'm glad that it has its own unique feel compared to Oracle of Seasons.

    Gameplay-wise, it's largely more of the same from Oracle of Seasons. I've heard that these Capcom GBC zelda games are fairly divisive in the community, but I find them to be extremely cozy and nostalgic. In a way, I'm glad I waited so long to play this one. It's like having a sudden sequel to one of my most nostalgic gaming experiences.

    4 votes

  11. Comment on Where do we go from here? (Regarding AI) in ~tech

    Gourd
    Link Parent
    My experience mirrors yours almost exactly. And if anything, I've gotten more work to do since we pivoted to an AI workflow. My superiors who once thought of it as a magic button that will do...

    My experience mirrors yours almost exactly. And if anything, I've gotten more work to do since we pivoted to an AI workflow. My superiors who once thought of it as a magic button that will do everything are now reckoning with the reality; If used correctly, it can speed up development, but without proper planning and guidance it'll make things much worse.

    There is definitely some cognitive dissonance involved. I enjoy drawing and painting and making music. I won't consume any form of art that has been created with AI. Many communities I once felt at home in (mostly niche game dev communities, where art and music and dev discussion all mix) have become extremely fractured over this topic, often landing more on the side of zero tolerance for any AI usage whatsoever.

    I've seen multiple people people say things like "I'm fine with AI usage for coding, as long as it's something you could have otherwise written yourself". I hate to sound cynical and I know this will be an unpopular thing to say, but I get the sense that some people are rejecting AI-written code simply because they think it's lazy, or a shortcut, or something that devalues the programming skill that they've spent years developing. Or this idea of "I spent more time on this and did it the old-fashioned way, therefore it is inherently more valuable or more legitimate". I don't personally feel this way, as I've always found the design and engineering to be the more interesting parts of software development, rather than the implementation.

    And I want to be clear that I think there are many legitimate moral and ethical criticisms about AI and more specifically LLMs in general. But I do think the negative sentiment will become rarer over time in regards to code generation. It's an undeniably useful tool. I don't see that happening nearly as readily with art.

    8 votes

  12. Comment on CGA-2026-09 🕹️🙎‍♂️🛹 INSERT CARTRIDGE 🟢 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 in ~games

    Gourd
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    This is such a throwback! I think I last played this game when I was like 6-7 years old. I have no idea how I did it back then, because it's kicking my ass right now.

    This is such a throwback! I think I last played this game when I was like 6-7 years old. I have no idea how I did it back then, because it's kicking my ass right now.

    2 votes

  13. Comment on That book you remember some details but can't recall the title in ~books

    Gourd
    Link Parent
    No hate! I'm actually surprised, because I'm pretty sure I did the same thing a couple years ago and didn't get anywhere. I guess it goes to show how much the models have improved.

    No hate! I'm actually surprised, because I'm pretty sure I did the same thing a couple years ago and didn't get anywhere. I guess it goes to show how much the models have improved.

    1 vote

  14. Comment on That book you remember some details but can't recall the title in ~books

    Gourd
    Link Parent
    THAT'S IT! I've spent probably several hours over the years trying to search for this.

    THAT'S IT! I've spent probably several hours over the years trying to search for this.

    2 votes

  15. Comment on What's your line? in ~life

    Gourd
    Link Parent
    Do you mean no LLMs used for development? I’m curious about what percentage of companies are actually not using LLMs to write a majority of their code at this point. Have you been able to get any...

    Do you mean no LLMs used for development? I’m curious about what percentage of companies are actually not using LLMs to write a majority of their code at this point. Have you been able to get any sort of read on that during your search?

    1 vote

  16. Comment on That book you remember some details but can't recall the title in ~books

    Gourd
    Link
    There’s a book I read in middle school that I haven’t been able to find any details on. It’s about a teen boy of (iirc) Native American descent. He tracks and hunts some sort of giant white...

    There’s a book I read in middle school that I haven’t been able to find any details on. It’s about a teen boy of (iirc) Native American descent. He tracks and hunts some sort of giant white centipede monster in the forest near his house with a bow and arrow. There’s a scene where he discovers bloody tracks where the monster had killed a deer and dragged it into a hole in the ground.

    1 vote

  17. Comment on What are your current pain points with Linux? in ~tech

    Gourd
    Link Parent
    Also a veteran user, but I have an hp ZBook with a Strix Halo and 128gb RAM. I experience regular crashes related to dynamic VRAM allocation as the Linux kernel still hasn’t totally caught up to...

    Also a veteran user, but I have an hp ZBook with a Strix Halo and 128gb RAM. I experience regular crashes related to dynamic VRAM allocation as the Linux kernel still hasn’t totally caught up to the hardware, which is now about a year old. Sleep/resume can also be a nightmare on Linux laptops in general.

    6 votes

  18. Comment on I wonder if years from now hand written code will be antique in ~tech

    Gourd
    Link Parent
    So does anyone actually understand your current codebases? I feel like that's the direction we're headed as well, but I'm catching major issues during review on a semi-regular basis (I should be...

    So does anyone actually understand your current codebases? I feel like that's the direction we're headed as well, but I'm catching major issues during review on a semi-regular basis (I should be clear that I do use Claude during my reviews, but I also generally run through the same manual review process I've done for years). I think it would be a disaster for us if the traditional code review went away completely.
    I'm lucky in the sense that many of the projects I'm working on are small enough for me to basically be able to hold the whole thing in my head at once. I can't imagine this no-review vibecoding ending well for larger projects.

    4 votes

  19. Comment on I wonder if years from now hand written code will be antique in ~tech

    Gourd
    Link
    This is something I've been really struggling with lately. I do (and always have) at least somewhat enjoyed the actual process of writing code. Over the past few years, I've pivoted to a role that...

    This is something I've been really struggling with lately. I do (and always have) at least somewhat enjoyed the actual process of writing code. Over the past few years, I've pivoted to a role that is more focused on architecture and orchestration, so for me, the shift to AI-assisted coding has likely been a bit softer than it otherwise would have been.
    But I still feel like there's something missing. The satisfying "core" of the work itself is now largely automatable to the point where it feels like a waste of time to code by hand. If I can design the spec and have a robot write the code, then review and confirm it myself, and the end result is more or less exactly what I would have written in the first place, why would I choose to write it myself?
    On the other hand, I spend a LOT more time now doing code review for other devs. I used to know the individual coding styles of the devs I work with. Now that nobody is writing their own code, it's all over the place.

    20 votes

  20. Comment on Wildfire smoke from Canada will soon spread across the Midwest and East United States in ~enviro

    Gourd
    Link
    I'm near Detroit. We were hanging outside around 7 PM tonight and it was fine. By 9 we noticed a dense smog and a horrible toxic chemical smell.

    I'm near Detroit. We were hanging outside around 7 PM tonight and it was fine. By 9 we noticed a dense smog and a horrible toxic chemical smell.

    5 votes