HelmetTesterTJ's recent activity
-
Comment on What's your quirk? in ~talk
-
Comment on What's your quirk? in ~talk
HelmetTesterTJ Link ParentSame problem as the acrylic: either it's too thin to block the light or it's enough of a glob to popped off. I am, to be clear, very rough on these headphones.Same problem as the acrylic: either it's too thin to block the light or it's enough of a glob to popped off.
I am, to be clear, very rough on these headphones.
-
Comment on What's your quirk? in ~talk
HelmetTesterTJ Link ParentI sleep on my side, but I only use an earbud in the ear not on the pillow. It tends to fall out in the night, so if I find myself awake and unable to fall back asleep, I just pop it back in. I use...I sleep on my side, but I only use an earbud in the ear not on the pillow. It tends to fall out in the night, so if I find myself awake and unable to fall back asleep, I just pop it back in.
I use neckband earbuds - the Sony WI-C400, no longer in production. I'm on my third pair in 12 years. The battery life on them is crazy. They're light; I don't even notice them around my neck, day or night. But they're always right there, easy to find, even when I'm mostly asleeep. I don't know what I'm going to do when I can't find them on eBay anymore.
The only thing I'd change about them is the flashing blue LED, and I can't really find a solution. Duct tape covering it doesn't last very long, acrylic paint either goes on too thin or, with a big glob, eventually pops off.
-
Comment on What's your quirk? in ~talk
HelmetTesterTJ Link ParentExactly. I suspect in twenty years I'll pull random geological facts out of my subconscious and impress everyone at the Christmas party.Exactly. I suspect in twenty years I'll pull random geological facts out of my subconscious and impress everyone at the Christmas party.
-
Comment on Tildes Book Club - April 2025 - Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky in ~books
HelmetTesterTJ Link ParentI finished Elder Race quickly and loved it, so I jumped right to the Final Architecture series. I'm about halfway through book two, Eyes of the Void, and I have no question it'll get scooped up by...I finished Elder Race quickly and loved it, so I jumped right to the Final Architecture series. I'm about halfway through book two, Eyes of the Void, and I have no question it'll get scooped up by Amazon or Netflix at some point and get turned into a series, and I encourage folks to read the books.
-
Comment on What's your quirk? in ~talk
HelmetTesterTJ (edited )LinkI go to sleep with an audiobook in my ear every night, and I keep it in throughout the night. Before I started this habit, it used to be that I would wake up and lay awake, panicking about all the...I go to sleep with an audiobook in my ear every night, and I keep it in throughout the night.
Before I started this habit, it used to be that I would wake up and lay awake, panicking about all the things I was doing wrong or failing to do in my life, and I'd lay awake for two, three hours, unable to shut my mind off. But with audiobooks, I can just (de)focus on what I'm listening to, and I fall back to sleep within minutes.
It's generally a book I've listened to a dozen times, not something I'm actually trying to take in. Right now, for example, it's Bryson's Short History of Nearly Everything. It's my bedtime book. It quiets the mind.
-
Comment on What's a game that you feel like you missed out on? in ~games
HelmetTesterTJ Link ParentWow, thanks! Now I feel like I need to rebuy Minecraft. I lost my account in the migration to Microsoft. Sure, they emailed me 40 times about it and told me to migrate, but why didn't they email...Wow, thanks!
Now I feel like I need to rebuy Minecraft. I lost my account in the migration to Microsoft. Sure, they emailed me 40 times about it and told me to migrate, but why didn't they email me 41 times?
-
Comment on What's a game that you feel like you missed out on? in ~games
HelmetTesterTJ LinkTwo come to mind for me, not because I missed the peak player time, but because I wasn't an early adopter: Eve - I would have loved to have gotten into Eve early. I have always dreamed of MMORPGs...Two come to mind for me, not because I missed the peak player time, but because I wasn't an early adopter:
Eve - I would have loved to have gotten into Eve early. I have always dreamed of MMORPGs in which quests/contracts/objectives were player-driven rather than NPC-driven. I like to feel like humans are the plot creators rather than just plot executors. But it got so min-maxed so fast. When I tried to get into it, it felt like I was showing up at a decades‑old poker table where everyone already knows every trick in the book and owns half the casino. Wealth begat wealth for the heavy hitters, borders were stagnant, and the game had moved from sandbox to spreadsheets. I deeply regret not getting into Eve the moment I could.
Similarly, Civcraft. It was a long‑running, player‑run Minecraft server built around the idea of emergent civilizations, politics, and economy. It was tightly coupled to the subreddit /r/Civcraft, which acted as the game’s forum, legislature, newspaper, and diplomatic back‑channel all at once.
Players formed cities, built factories, conducted trade, had governments. It had just about the best set of server mods I could imagine, aiming for the same goal as that which I mentioned above: player-driven everything. There were no bans, no moderators, all mods. The design philosophy could be summarized as:
Pillar How It Worked in‑Game Why It Mattered Anarchy‑plus Minimal admin interference—players handled justice via prisons, wars, or treaties. Forced societies to invent courts, police, espionage rings, and terror groups—mirroring real‑world politics. CivMods Custom plugins (e.g., PrisonPearl, Citadel, FactoryMod, TradeSigns) replaced vanilla mechanics. Enabled long‑term towns, secure vaults, functioning markets, and real consequences for crime. Subreddit Governance /r/Civcraft hosted charters, treaties, war declarations, propaganda, trade ads, and journalism. Cities and organizations also had their own subreddits (I was from /r/NewAugusta, where you can still find some of my cringiest writing Kept record‑keeping public and gave newcomers a place to catch up on years of lore. Map Resets as Eras Each iteration (1.0, 2.0, 3.0) wiped the world but preserved the social graph. Allowed fresh land rushes and tech shake‑ups while maintaining rivalries. PrisonPearl and Citadel were amazing together:
PrisonPearl: If you had a Pearl in your inventory when you killed someone, they were transported to "prison," which was a repurposed the End they couldn't get out of. You could only leave the End if your Pearl was thrown on the ground. Your Pearl could be kept in someone's inventory or put in a chest, and you'd just be stuck in the end.
Citadel: Allowed block reinforcement. Reinforcing with diamond, for example, meant you needed to break the block 1,800 times for it to stay gone. Iron bar was 250 times, and stone was 25 times. You could set groups (like your town), so members of the group could toggle the protection on and off, allowing remodeling, fixing, etc.
These two mods together were absurdly fun. Griefers could still grief, and non-griefers could combat them. Cities would build huge vaults at bedrock, pyramids of diamond-reinforced obsidian with a chest in the middle, holding the Pearls of griefers (or high-ranking governmental officials from neighboring towns). There were bounty hunters, vault breakers, cactus producers, mayors, lawyers.
FactoryMod drove the whole economy. Put raw materials into the factory, get items out, based on the type of factory you built. It had so much depth.
Unfortunately, I got there late. I had a few good months with it, but it was just as it was getting too popular, drawing from HardCore servers, and pulling the sort of players that used transparent texture packs to dominate and steal everything. It was frustrating to watch cheaters win in the end, but, more than that, it was heartbreaking that my time with the game was cut so short. Close allies just slowly drifted to other games as our very well hidden bases were again and again ransacked by players who could see chests through layers and layers of dirt.
Sorry to wax long; I just miss CivCraft so much.
-
Comment on Is it time to get offline? in ~tech
HelmetTesterTJ Link ParentOh, wow, noted. I was quoting the proverb: But copy that. I know for next time.Oh, wow, noted. I was quoting the proverb:
"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now"
But copy that. I know for next time.
-
Comment on Is it time to get offline? in ~tech
HelmetTesterTJ LinkThe best time to get offline was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.The best time to get offline was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.
-
Comment on What have you been eating, drinking, and cooking? in ~food
HelmetTesterTJ Link ParentWorse things have happened in my food experiments; I'll keep you posted!I highly doubt overnight oats would work well with your savory recipe though. I suspect the yeast would basically turn it into bread dough by the morning.
Worse things have happened in my food experiments; I'll keep you posted!
-
Comment on What have you been eating, drinking, and cooking? in ~food
HelmetTesterTJ LinkI got an electric kettle for Christmas and it's made oatmeal so much faster, so I've been making a lot of savory oatmeal for breakfast. 60 grams of oatmeal, 2 grams of mushroom bouillon granules,...I got an electric kettle for Christmas and it's made oatmeal so much faster, so I've been making a lot of savory oatmeal for breakfast. 60 grams of oatmeal, 2 grams of mushroom bouillon granules, 20 grams of nutritional yeast, 30 grams of chia seeds, a healthy sprinkling of spicy curry, and then just a ton of water.
No one else in my house will even give it a go, but I love my breakfast broth.
-
Comment on Pay what you want for every Wheel of Time book (supporting the ACLU) in ~books
HelmetTesterTJ Link ParentAlternatively, 19 days, 5 hours, and 25 minutes of listening.Alternatively, 19 days, 5 hours, and 25 minutes of listening.
-
Comment on Pay what you want for every Wheel of Time book (supporting the ACLU) in ~books
HelmetTesterTJ Link ParentDo they verify donor names? I love making liberal donations in my racist, MAGA uncle's name.Do they verify donor names? I love making liberal donations in my racist, MAGA uncle's name.
-
Comment on Non-app guided meditation recommendations in ~health
HelmetTesterTJ LinkI ripped a bunch of my favorites out of Waking Up and threw them on CDs. IIRC, it was much easier than ripping Libby files. I don't really think I could bother with guided meditations that aren't...I ripped a bunch of my favorites out of Waking Up and threw them on CDs. IIRC, it was much easier than ripping Libby files.
I don't really think I could bother with guided meditations that aren't from Waking Up. I need my determinism hard, my free will illusory, my consciousness a spandrel. I'm not here for self-improvement; I'm in it for self-destruction.
-
Comment on Fintech founder charged with fraud after ‘AI’ shopping app found to be powered by humans in the Philippines in ~tech
HelmetTesterTJ Link ParentHaven't the faintest; I live in rural northern Wisconsin. I can't even get high speed internet, much less a smart grocery store. But from what I'm reading online, the customer doesn't need to do...Haven't the faintest; I live in rural northern Wisconsin. I can't even get high speed internet, much less a smart grocery store.
But from what I'm reading online, the customer doesn't need to do the scanning. You put something in your cart, and the cart knows what you put in the cart, via various signals. Someone in the developed world will need to chime in to confirm my inferences though.
-
Comment on Fintech founder charged with fraud after ‘AI’ shopping app found to be powered by humans in the Philippines in ~tech
HelmetTesterTJ Link ParentYes, but openly and transparently But it's also what Amazon's "Just Walk Out" grocery shopping turned out to be, kind of. The stores claimed to be AI-powered, that cameras monitored your purchases...Yes, but openly and transparently
But it's also what Amazon's "Just Walk Out" grocery shopping turned out to be, kind of. The stores claimed to be AI-powered, that cameras monitored your purchases and charged you based on what you walked out of the store with. It turned out, Amazon had about 1,000 employees in India monitoring the monitoring. There's now a joke that Amazon believes AI stands for Actual Indians.
On one hand, it makes sense, especially for new tech, to aggressively audit for system accuracy. But with the discovery that they were "auditing" 70% of purchases, it strikes me as another example of Amazon over-promising and under-delivering.
In the end, they opted to shutter the program, developing the Dash Cart system instead, which scans your items as they go into your cart. In the end, this makes a lot more sense, monitoring purchases at the cart's-eye view rather than the store's-eye view. No news yet on how many Indians they're using to run it, though.
-
Comment on Which challenging book was worth the effort for you? in ~books
HelmetTesterTJ Link ParentDFW's The Pale King, compiled by his friend and editor posthumously, was equally engaging. I try to revisit both annually, and at this point, I actually like the Pale King more. It manages to take...DFW's The Pale King, compiled by his friend and editor posthumously, was equally engaging. I try to revisit both annually, and at this point, I actually like the Pale King more. It manages to take the concept of boredom and turn it into something you can evaluate and analyze within yourself.
Both books feel ultimately like guided meditations to me, Infinite Jest a meditation on hedonism, joy, and addiction, and the Pale King on ennui and existence within a system that views us as interchangeable cogs.
-
Comment on Follow up on the username thread: What Tildes users do you recognize when browsing and, without being rude or inflammatory, what is your impression of them? in ~tildes
HelmetTesterTJ (edited )Link@DefinitelyNotAFae stands out to me because an alt I've got on Reddit has approximately the same name length and has some of the same capital letters and letter combinations. I think they're...@DefinitelyNotAFae stands out to me because an alt I've got on Reddit has approximately the same name length and has some of the same capital letters and letter combinations.
I think they're probably a fae.
-
Comment on If you had to buy a car today, what would you buy? in ~transport
HelmetTesterTJ LinkI love my 2014 Prius V with the Advance Tech package. I'm not a new car buyer, and I don't go to dealerships. We got ours off FB marketplace for $6k a few months ago. Sure, we had to do the head...I love my 2014 Prius V with the Advance Tech package. I'm not a new car buyer, and I don't go to dealerships. We got ours off FB marketplace for $6k a few months ago. Sure, we had to do the head gasket, master cylinder, and ABS pump, but YouTube had tutorials for all three (the latter two are generally done together anyway), and we still came in well under dealer price for the car.
The Prius V isn't like other Priuses. It's got a lot more room in the back - I don't know the measurements, but we are comfortable car camping in it, and we can fit four goose-suitable kennels or six bales of straw back there (/r/anythingbutmetric).
The Prius community seems very into DIY and helping one another. We've gotten lots of advice, some of it good, on multiple forums, and people have walked us through using the software mechanics use to do mechanic stuff (deeper diagnostics, the software side of brake bleeding, etc.).
I don't know if it's big enough for you, but we're finding it incredibly versatile, and now that the big fixes out of the way, we are crossing our fingers and hoping it makes it to 400k miles (which, maybe survivorship bias is in play here, but that's not infrequent from what we see on the forums).
Addendum: I used "we" very liberally in this post, but my girlfriend is the mechanic in the relationship, and I've done my best to accurately explain the process she went through to diagnose and fix things. She's not trained, just resourceful, frugal, and determined.
Heeeey, that's a thing to try. Thanks!