Jordan117's recent activity
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Comment on A new era of intelligence with Gemini 3 in ~tech
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Comment on Project Hail Mary | Official trailer in ~movies
Jordan117 LinkOdd choice to go with "Champagne Supernova" when The Electric State just used it last year. Hopefully this is less disappointing.Odd choice to go with "Champagne Supernova" when The Electric State just used it last year. Hopefully this is less disappointing.
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Comment on PSP: The rise and fall of Sony's first portable in ~games
Jordan117 LinkNo story of the PSP is complete without a look at the most funky fresh ad campaign in history.No story of the PSP is complete without a look at the most funky fresh ad campaign in history.
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Comment on Amtrak steadily continues upgrading Wisconsin stations for level boarding - improving access and travel time in ~transport
Jordan117 LinkI'm surprised programs like this haven't been nixed already, not just because of DEI WOKE TRANS MARXIST ACCESSIBILITY BAD, but because Biden was such a famous lover of trains.I'm surprised programs like this haven't been nixed already, not just because of DEI WOKE TRANS MARXIST ACCESSIBILITY BAD, but because Biden was such a famous lover of trains.
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Comment on For those who didn't know, find what you want to watch and for how much on services! (justwatch.com) in ~movies
Jordan117 LinkI was never able to get reliable results out of sites like this. You'd think the streamers would want to collaborate on some shared directory to encourage people to stream more things...I was never able to get reliable results out of sites like this. You'd think the streamers would want to collaborate on some shared directory to encourage people to stream more things holistically.
These days I use Stremio plus Real Debrid and never have to puzzle out which title is available where ever again. It all Just Works -- even titles that are no longer available anywhere or are region-locked.
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Comment on Jeffrey Epstein alleged in emails that US President Donald Trump knew of his conduct in ~society
Jordan117 Link ParentJournalistic ethics 101: don't accuse someone of a crime unless they've been convicted in a court of law. You'd even see such hedging used when the suspect was caught on 4K video or confessed...Journalistic ethics 101: don't accuse someone of a crime unless they've been convicted in a court of law. You'd even see such hedging used when the suspect was caught on 4K video or confessed themselves.
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Comment on Signs of introspection in large language models in ~tech
Jordan117 (edited )Link ParentI mean, it's an open philosophical question, right? We don't fully understand how these models work, or how consciousness works. I'd much rather have a company treating it as a real possibility...I mean, it's an open philosophical question, right? We don't fully understand how these models work, or how consciousness works. I'd much rather have a company treating it as a real possibility and trying to reduce needless suffering than just abusing them to the fullest extent because we can. Even if it ultimately proves to be unnecessary, it reflects well on them.
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Comment on US President Donald Trump’s swift demolition of East Wing may have launched asbestos plumes in ~society
Jordan117 LinkIs it, Ars? Is it really? Sometimes I wonder if there's any objectively bad apolitical thing that he doesn't stubbornly support (or vice-versa, like the fact he never laughs, or apparently hates...As Ars Technica has reported, Trump has a startlingly supportive stance on the use of asbestos.
Is it, Ars? Is it really?
Sometimes I wonder if there's any objectively bad apolitical thing that he doesn't stubbornly support (or vice-versa, like the fact he never laughs, or apparently hates dogs).
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Comment on A Nazi tattoo exposes US Democrats’ greatest weakness in ~society
Jordan117 Link ParentAbsent that, he should have picked Doug Jones as AG over Garland, since he had a track record of aggressively and successfully prosecuting white supremacist terrorism and no illusions about what...Absent that, he should have picked Doug Jones as AG over Garland, since he had a track record of aggressively and successfully prosecuting white supremacist terrorism and no illusions about what the modern Republican Party would go to bat for.
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Comment on A Nazi tattoo exposes US Democrats’ greatest weakness in ~society
Jordan117 LinkThe terminally-online more-progressive-than-thou types calling him a Nazi tick me off so much. For one thing, the rise of the far-right around the world shows that branding somebody a "Nazi" (even...The terminally-online more-progressive-than-thou types calling him a Nazi tick me off so much. For one thing, the rise of the far-right around the world shows that branding somebody a "Nazi" (even accurately!) is not the rhetorical killshot it should be. But more to the point, we have over a dozen years of his pre-politics internet comments to trawl through for evidence of his beliefs. And while I see a lot of edgy ex-military banter and disappointing but fairly normie levels of sexism/racism/homophobia, I do not see evidence of hateful bigotry or extremist white nationalism. If anything, he very clearly denounces Nazis, genocide, Trumpism, etc., while embracing more left-wing/anti-fascist philosophy. The idea of him being a dumb drunk twentysomething jarhead who got the tattoo because it looked cool and then either never realized the symbolism or (more likely) did but felt un-implicated because that's not why he got it feels far more likely given that history.
Now, that doesn't mean he has great judgment, is electable against Collins, or would make a good senator versus his primary opponents. But he's obviously not a Nazi, and insisting he is (and that anyone who doesn't automatically reject him is a Nazi, too) is self-defeatingly stupid when he has a double-digit lead among Maine Democrats right now.
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Comment on Halo: Campaign Evolved | The Silent Cartographer – Thirteen minute gameplay demo in ~games
Jordan117 LinkI am honored to give this post its se7enth upvote.I am honored to give this post its se7enth upvote.
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Comment on At least twenty-five US states plan to cut off food aid benefits in November in ~society
Jordan117 LinkI don't understand articles like this. Why would they do the journalistic legwork to contact so many states agencies, put the number of confirmed no's in the headline, and then just... not share...I don't understand articles like this. Why would they do the journalistic legwork to contact so many states agencies, put the number of confirmed no's in the headline, and then just... not share the list of states? Even if it's likely they're all a no and only 25 responded in time, that's not necessarily something every reader will know about.
It's like doing a radio announcement about local school closures and just saying the number that are closing.
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Comment on Updated 2025 fall vaccine guide in ~health
Jordan117 LinkI thought the "new and improved" guidelines limited COVID shots for under-65 adults to those with specific health conditions. Did that change?I thought the "new and improved" guidelines limited COVID shots for under-65 adults to those with specific health conditions. Did that change?
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Comment on The Oatmeal: A cartoonist's review of AI art in ~comics
Jordan117 Link ParentI'm talking about the entire middle section where he calls "middle managers, executives, or marketers" who think that AI tools give them a way to express creative ideas "shitbirds" and "talentless...I'm talking about the entire middle section where he calls "middle managers, executives, or marketers" who think that AI tools give them a way to express creative ideas "shitbirds" and "talentless fucking losers." That people with jobs like "Chief Brand Ambassador" ("or whatever the fuck their job title is") cannot possibly be "storytellers" because they "work in tech". It's of a piece with the sort of thinking you see from AI critics all the time that assumes that people interested in AI (or in the industry broadly) do not have -- or cannot possibly have -- any creative spark, and that any claim to it is worthy of ridicule. It's a really ugly, exclusionary sentiment.
It's also telling that he excuses his own use of AI for "administrative" stuff like backgrounds that he finds dull and unrewarding. Well guess what guy: not everybody enjoys the grind of practice or investing in physical supplies, and some see the actual process of drawing/painting/sculpting to be as tedious as syncing lip movements in animation or cross-hatching a dark background for the 10,000th time. They like AI because it gives them a way to immediately translate the vision they have in their head to something real, and just because it's a shortcut or not entirely under their control doesn't mean it has zero worth.
I do wonder how people will react if and when we get to the point that generative AI can directly capture the visual images we have in our heads, perhaps through some kind of brain-computer interface. Imagine being able to record memories or dreams to video with the fidelity of Veo or Sora. It would be the purest route from thought to expression in the history of art, and yet I bet there would still be people saying it's tainted or that pure imagination is lazy and doesn't count.
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Comment on The Oatmeal: A cartoonist's review of AI art in ~comics
Jordan117 LinkDisappointing take. For one thing, it indulges a bit too much in the gross "ugh, now the worthless talentless PLEBES will be sullying Art with pretensions of sophistication" gatekeeping, which...- Exemplary
Disappointing take. For one thing, it indulges a bit too much in the gross "ugh, now the worthless talentless PLEBES will be sullying Art with pretensions of sophistication" gatekeeping, which kind of undermines his later point about any effort, even scribbles, being worthwhile.
But it also completely overlooks the fact that not all use of AI in art is of the format "insert prompt, receive finished product." For one thing, many artists have already begun experimenting with models fine tuned on their own work, so every output is by definition a reflection of their own artistry. See "A Love Letter to LA," for instance, which took the art of Paul Flores, trained a LORA on his portfolio, and used a different model to extrapolate the resulting assets into 3D (something which Adobe's new Turntable tool makes available publicly). Also, advanced AI tools like ComfyUI let artists endlessly iterate, curate, selectively edit, and recombine AI-generated elements in highly intentional ways, which clearly puts a human stamp on the result.
Ultimately, the creative possibilities of these tools outweigh the downsides (which are a problem of capitalism, not technology). And people who insist on focusing on strawmen like "it's lazy" or "oh no, now Bob in HR thinks he's an artist" remind me of similar pushback against digital art from traditional artists. Or AutoTune. Or modern art. Or photography. Etc.
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Comment on A better way to watch YouTube in ~tech
Jordan117 LinkI do the opposite of this and my experience has always been pretty great, to the point that I wonder what everyone else is doing wrong. My "process": Have a YouTube account since '06 (avoids...I do the opposite of this and my experience has always been pretty great, to the point that I wonder what everyone else is doing wrong.
My "process":
- Have a YouTube account since '06 (avoids spurious age checks)
- Leave history on to help build a recommendation profile and make finding old videos easier
- Like/add to Favorites playlist often (but only stuff I both actually like and want to see more of)
- For stuff I definitely want to see, subscribe to the channel with the "notify for all" setting
- On the rare occasion I get a bad recommendation, use the "not interested -> I don't like this" feedback, or block the channel for extreme offenders
- If I ever watch a video I don't want "infecting" my algo, make sure to do it in incognito or manually remove it from my watch history
My homepage ends up being a good mix of content I'm likely to enjoy, with short-term interests occasionally taking over maybe half the slots before burning out on their own. It's even good about recognizing context -- for ex, my iPhone app pushes short-form videos, while my TV leans more toward 10-20+ minute content.
Ofc, the biggest QoL improvement is to either pay for YouTube Premium Lite or use an adblocker or modded client like YTLitePlus (iOS) or SmartTube (TV).
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Comment on Why does this happen? in ~tech
Jordan117 Link ParentHere is a Facebook post from the same group with the quoted Kongjian Yu story. It's likely that at the time the page was crawled, this headline or a snippet from it was featured as a related post...Here is a Facebook post from the same group with the quoted Kongjian Yu story. It's likely that at the time the page was crawled, this headline or a snippet from it was featured as a related post on that Instagram page.
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Comment on Tildes, I need your advice. Looking for Nintendo Switch 1 and NS2 games. in ~games
Jordan117 LinkKatamari Damacy! :D A cult classic Japanese puzzle game where you have to roll a magical sticky ball around cluttered environments, gradually rolling up larger and larger objects from pencils and...Katamari Damacy! :D
A cult classic Japanese puzzle game where you have to roll a magical sticky ball around cluttered environments, gradually rolling up larger and larger objects from pencils and thumbtacks all the way up to skyscrapers and mountains.
The original is a timeless classic -- the simplified blocky graphics and oddly surreal, fever-dream vibe have aged really well, and the core tactile gameplay remains unique, intuitive, and fun. Plus it's got one of the greatest, most joyful soundtracks of all time. It's one of very few video games in the permanent collection of the MoMA (along with other design masterpieces like Tetris, Portal, and SimCity 2000) and it absolutely deserves it.
For the Switch, there are three titles available:
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Katamari Damacy Reroll ($30): an HD port of the original
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We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie (currently on sale for $7.50): a similar port of the sequel (which had even more creative challenges) plus extra content
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Once Upon a Katamari ($40): a brand-new entry in the series, coming next month
It's probably my favorite game of all time, a thing of beauty to play, watch, or listen. Highly recommended.
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Comment on Jimmy Kimmel pulled “indefinitely” by ABC after Charlie Kirk comments in ~tv
Jordan117 (edited )Link ParentSinclair owns a bunch of local ABC affiliate stations (they were the ones responsible for mandating that creepy "This is extremely dangerous to our democracy" script on dozens of local news channels).Sinclair owns a bunch of local ABC affiliate stations (they were the ones responsible for mandating that creepy "This is extremely dangerous to our democracy" script on dozens of local news channels).
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Comment on Which directors have a flawless filmography? in ~movies
Jordan117 Link ParentReally? I thought his character was portrayed rather refreshingly, clearly there for national security reasons but willing to hear out the experts and follow their lead (which is why that one...Really? I thought his character was portrayed rather refreshingly, clearly there for national security reasons but willing to hear out the experts and follow their lead (which is why that one conspiracy-addled soldier cracked). The CIA/NSA-type guy and the Chinese general were shown as much more aggressive and hostile (though even the general came around in the end).
Reminds me of the other day when I'd asked ChatGPT 5.1 Deep Research to investigate some technical issue I was having. Clicking the chain of thought while waiting, I saw it had run into a dead link and was surprised to read its reaction:
"After learning that the sevenforums content is lost, I feel a mix of disappointment and nostalgia. It makes me wonder about the future direction of the forum."