HelmetTesterTJ's recent activity
-
Comment on Steam Spring Sale suggestions in ~games
-
Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
HelmetTesterTJ LinkI'm really enjoying Everything Is Illuminated (wiki). I'd never heard of JSF until I asked ChatGPT to give me the literary children of DFW and Jonathan Franzen. It gave me JSF as the middle child,...I'm really enjoying Everything Is Illuminated (wiki). I'd never heard of JSF until I asked ChatGPT to give me the literary children of DFW and Jonathan Franzen. It gave me JSF as the middle child, Zadie Smith as the oldest, Ben Lerner as the youngest, and Danielewski as the red-headed step-child.
I consume literature exclusively in audiobook format and forgot how to read years ago, and Robert Petkoff does a fantastic job narrating this one. He's one of my favorite narrators, having done DFW's Consider the Lobster and the Pale King (which is amazing), Franzen's Purity, and Proulx's Barkskins.
The story is a frame story that follows a fictionalized Foer traveling through Ukraine to better understand his family history, while also following the story he uncovered/invented about his ancestors. Reviews out there can better convey its greatness, but I give it four out of five stars.
SPOILERS BELOW
SPOILERS BELOW
One section of the story explores a Jewish village during the Holocaust, dealing with the horrors of watching a genocide occur, and I thought this excerpt was powerful and applicable enough that I transcribed it myself:
... And so it was when anyone tried to speak. Their minds would become tangled in remembrance. Words became floods of thought with no beginning or end and drowned the speaker before he could reach the life raft of the point he was trying to make. It was impossible to remember what one meant. What, after all of the words, was intended.
They had been terrified at first. Shtetl meetings were held daily. News reports, Nazis kill 8,200 on Ukrainian boarder, examined with the care of editors. Plans of action - drawn up and crumbled up. Large maps spread out on tables like patients waiting to be cut open. But then the meetings convened every other day, and then every other every other day, and then weekly, serving more as social minglers for singles than planning sessions. After only two months, without the impetus of any further bombing, most Trochenbroders had removed all of the splinters of all the terror that had entered them that night. They hadn't forgotten, but accommodated. Memory took the place of terror. In their efforts to remember what they were trying so hard to remember, they could finally think over the fear of war. The memories of birth, childhood, and adolescence resonated with greater volume than the din of exploding shells.
So nothing was done. No decisions were made. No bags packed or houses emptied. No trenches dug or buildings fortified. Nothing. They waited like fools, they sat on their hands like fools, and spoke, like fools, about the
time Simon D. did that hilarious thing with the plum, which all could laugh about for hours but none could quite remember. They waited to die, and we cannot blame them, because we would do the same, and we do do the same. They laughed and joked. They thought about birthday candles and waited to die, and we must forgive them. They wrapped Monachium's jumbo trout in newspaper, "Nazis approach Lutsk," and carried beef briskets in wicker baskets under tall tree canopies by the small falls.
Bedridden by his first orgasm, my grandfather was unable to attend the first Shtetl meeting... -
Comment on Piglets will be left to starve in a controversial art exhibit in Denmark – Marco Evaristti aims to raise awareness of the suffering caused by modern pig production in ~arts
HelmetTesterTJ Link ParentLove or hate the art exhibition, I don't think he can stop and still make his point. This isn't the guy's first controversial piece related to animal suffering and death, and if he'd pulled the...Love or hate the art exhibition, I don't think he can stop and still make his point.
This isn't the guy's first controversial piece related to animal suffering and death, and if he'd pulled the plug on the first exhibit once awareness was achieved, any future work would be dead in the water - if there's no threat, there's no spectacle, and an exhibit like this is only going to gain the notoriety it needs to achieve its goals by being a spectacle.
So, sure, he could quit now, but it would render any future work pointless, to be written off as trivial.
-
Comment on A daily tea routine partially protects people from heavy metals, study finds in ~food
HelmetTesterTJ Link ParentI recently learned about using cacao shells/husks for tea, and I'm loving it. Alone, it's like drinking warm water run through pipes made of chocolate. I add a very little heavy cream and a little...I recently learned about using cacao shells/husks for tea, and I'm loving it. Alone, it's like drinking warm water run through pipes made of chocolate. I add a very little heavy cream and a little brown sugar, and it takes it to a new level. We overpaid for the husks while on vacation, but I've seen people mention you can get them super cheap if you have a chocolatier in your area.
I use a snap ball tea infuser, and it gets the job done. They're easy enough to clean, a little annoying to fill (but probably only because I'm trying to overfill them), cheap, and long-lasting.
-
Comment on What are some good, non-microtransaction riddled mobile games? in ~games
HelmetTesterTJ LinkSorry, I'm late to the party, but this just got boosted to the top of the front page and it's the first I've seen it. But I am hooked on Melvor Idle right now. It's cross-platform between Windows...Sorry, I'm late to the party, but this just got boosted to the top of the front page and it's the first I've seen it.
But I am hooked on Melvor Idle right now. It's cross-platform between Windows (Steam) and an app version. It also works in-browser.
It sounds so dumb, I know, but: It's an clicker idler based on Runescape. You can do one thing at a time, between Combat, Woodcutting, Fishing, Firemaking, Mining, Smithing, Cooking, and a bunch more. You initiate an action, get the resources that that action produces, and then use those resources to unlock other actions and resources. It keeps going when you're not online after you've initiated an action, so long as you've got inventory space and necessary resources. I've been mining runite, smelting runite bars, and crafting runite platebody armor for days just to level my Smithing to 95 so I can buy coal from my Township so I no longer have to mine coal. It's so dumb. It's so fun. Numbers go up.
I got HEAVY into incrementals, clickers, idlers, etc. a few years ago, and this one is the most in-depth, well designed one I've played. The skills are beautifully interwoven.
Admittedly, buy-in is a little steep - $25. It's got the core game ($10) and several DLCs ($5 each). Don't get the DLCs yet. But you buy it on Steam, and then your log-in retrieves your save files for whatever else you play on. It also brings over your mods when you move between platforms, even into the mobile browser version.
I basically run it on my PC in the background (even though you don't have to; it has offline progression but I'm a micromanager) while I'm working, then open it from time to time in the evening on my phone.
There's always someone playing it on Twitch if you want to see it in action.
-
Comment on When there’s no school counselor, there’s a bot in ~tech
HelmetTesterTJ LinkOh, nice, they're getting prepped for what will amount to healthcare for the rest of their life.Oh, nice, they're getting prepped for what will amount to healthcare for the rest of their life.
-
Comment on Grammar errors that actually matter, or: the thread where we all become prescriptivists in ~humanities.languages
HelmetTesterTJ LinkI had a high school Theory of Knowledge teacher who liked to say (paraphrased): He was also fond of the phrase: It wasn't until years later that I realized I don't have to have pet peeves,...- Exemplary
I had a high school Theory of Knowledge teacher who liked to say (paraphrased):
There's no such thing as a true prescriptivist, only descriptivists really committed to the language of a specific time and place.
He was also fond of the phrase:
You pick your pet peeves
It wasn't until years later that I realized I don't have to have pet peeves, grammatical or otherwise, and the pet peeves I had developed only served to:
- unnecessarily annoy me when the opportunity warranted
- give me a chance to bore people with conversations about my pet peeves
- feed into my unnecessary (and incorrect) sense of superiority
It's so much more fun to instead watch it happen and celebrate the imperfection of language.
There is a fun development, though, that I've been keeping an eye on lately. It isn't so much a pet peeve as a "whoa, humans are fun" moment. It was drilled into our heads in school that "a lot" is two words. What I didn't expect was to see other words getting the ensquishening that our teachers were fighting - Atleast (at least) and Aswell (as well). I've been seeing them more and more, and I kind of love it.
The polling website 538 has an n-gram viewer for Reddit. Put in a word or phrase, and it charts over time the prevalence of that word in comments. I made one for "atleast" and "aswell" here. Look at the rise of the two words, almost in unison, beginning in 2009, and together getting more and more common. It's a thing of goddamn beauty, and I suspect teachers in twenty years are going to be yelling at students not just for alot, but atleast and aswell.
-
Comment on Dystopian book recommendations in ~books
HelmetTesterTJ LinkTo stray from the classics a bit: Jasper Fforde - Shades of Grey (and its sequel, Red Side Story) It's a whole lot of fun, as far as dystopias go.To stray from the classics a bit:
Jasper Fforde - Shades of Grey (and its sequel, Red Side Story)
Chromatacia is a future dystopian society that exists at least five hundred years (although possibly more) after the collapse of our own society, identified as 'the Previous'. All life is governed by the laws set by Our Munsell, the supposed and revered founder of Chromatacia. The rules range from sensible, such as outlawing murder, to bizarre, such as outlawing the manufacture of spoons (though old spoons are often kept as personal heirlooms).
The social hierarchy of Chromatacia is defined by the ability to see colour, which is limited in most people to varying degrees of one hue, or at most two. Those who can see red predominantly are in the second-lowest social order (only ranking above 'Greys', who cannot perceive colour), and 'Ultra Violets' hold the highest rank.It's a whole lot of fun, as far as dystopias go.
-
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
HelmetTesterTJ LinkBalatro - an absurd amount of fun. I didn't think that could be said for roguelite deckbuilding video poker, but jeez, it's problematically addicting. If Steam found a way to let me swipe my...Balatro - an absurd amount of fun. I didn't think that could be said for roguelite deckbuilding video poker, but jeez, it's problematically addicting. If Steam found a way to let me swipe my credit card for each hand, I'd be in deep trouble. Works great on Steam Deck. There's also a mobile version that I have not bought.
Melvor Idle - I wouldn't describe it as fun, but if your endorphins flow from watching numbers go up, it definitely presses the buttons. It's an incremental idler based on Runescape with what feels like endless progression. I micromanage it while working, and I love it. I bought it straight away on recommendation from my roommate, but I think there's a demo version if you want to try before you buy. Not great on Steam Deck; hard to scroll and crashes. BUT once you buy it on Steam, it also works in-browser on the phone (Firefox, not Chrome for some reason).
Brotato - Another roguelite, a top-down reverse bullet hell with tons of replayability. You're a potato with weapons and upgrades fighting waves of bad guys. Near endless synergies to play with. I'm 600+ hours in, which isn't bad for a game+DLC for $9, and I've got plenty of potatoes to beat still. It feels like it was built for the Steam Deck, and the Steam Deck built for it.
-
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
HelmetTesterTJ (edited )Link ParentHow's the bot problem lately? Last time I tried to get back into TF2, I was getting 360 no-scoped from snipers flying through the sky. If the bots have been fixed, I don't know that a game old...How's the bot problem lately? Last time I tried to get back into TF2, I was getting 360 no-scoped from snipers flying through the sky.
If the bots have been fixed, I don't know that a game old enough to vote needs a seconded recommendation, but TF2 is my favorite FPS of all time. Silliness is the right word for it, but it's also super well balanced.
I've spent hundreds of hours just on the map ctf_doublecross, and I consider it to be the greatest map in the history of FPSs. If your group is ever voting between two maps, always push for Double Cross. If you want to be obscenely mobile with Scout, the Force of Nature, the Winger, and the Atomizer loadout functionally gives you quadruple jump, and on Double Cross, you can capture the flag in something like 25 second, intel room to intel room.
Just typing this out made me go reinstall the game.
-
Comment on What creative projects have you been working on? in ~creative
HelmetTesterTJ LinkI've been into modular paper folding lately, namely the Bascetta Star. I screwed up 2024 Christmas gift giving (a personal annual tradition), so I want to stay on top of it for 2025. I learned...I've been into modular paper folding lately, namely the Bascetta Star.
The Bascetta Star is a three-dimensional star that is assembled from 30 modules. The modules are folded from squares. Mathematically, it is an icosahedron with 20 triangular pyramids on its sides.
I screwed up 2024 Christmas gift giving (a personal annual tradition), so I want to stay on top of it for 2025. I learned these stars when I was a Mormon missionary (no longer Mormon) in Germany, and I would come back to them from time to time. When I was working in a call center, when they still allowed paper, I would churn them out while I was on talking to customers, and they littered the tops of the cubical dividers.
But this year, it's my objective to make as many of them as I can before December and give them all away. I can make them without thinking at this point, and can knock one out in an hour and a half. So, while we're watching something in the evening, I'm generally making them.
And the more I make, the more interesting I find them. I've started cutting my own paper from books (working through Ender's Game right now, and I've done a couple with the Hitchhiker's Guide). I've done a few with graphic novels (most recently Full Metal Alchemist). My favorite so far is for a communist friend of mine - 20 of the squares are from an old copy of the Communist Manifesto, and 10 of the squares are gold foil, red backed paper. Monster Manuals make pretty cool ones too.
I've made a plexiglass square (jig?) that I can use to figure out what parts of each piece of paper are going to be visible on the star and which parts are going to be hidden in the folds. I was going to make a bunch of pieces of plexiglass, each a different size, until I realized I could just use one window and hold the piece of paper further from it to visualize what's going to be visible. It's been fun learning how to make sure the right words from a book or faces from a manga show up in the end result.
My goal is ~4 a week until I get tired of it.
Yeah, maybe I'm not great at the Steam UI or maybe it's junk, but I feel like they're missing out on word-of-mouth opportunities by giving us a spot to easily see sales on games we already own. "Hey, friend, I enjoy playing games with you and also talking about games with you. I own RimWorld and have dumped hundreds of hours into it, and with Steam's interface, I can quickly and easily see that it's on sale. You might consider purchasing it. Heck, I will purchase it for you."
I know social media is the bane of all existence, but Steam could definitely be doing a better job of being the social media of games.