Karunamon's recent activity
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Comment on What are people’s thoughts on Edward Snowden? in ~talk
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Comment on What games would you consider "expired classics"? in ~games
Karunamon Link ParentOf course - this applies to just about any video game. You have to moderate your expectations a bit and realize that nearly every game is a product of its time (excluding the occasional bit of...Almost every modern game has a richer, more detailed virtual world to explore than Myst offered.
Of course - this applies to just about any video game. You have to moderate your expectations a bit and realize that nearly every game is a product of its time (excluding the occasional bit of dark wizardry like Factor 5 did on their Star Wars games on the N64). You can't judge retro titles by modern standards, it just doesn't work.
Not to mention how lifeless and empty Myst was.
That wasn't a limitation of the tech, that was an explicit design trope. Even in the newer games in the series (failed MMOs notwithstanding), human contact is very limited; most of the story is told through journals and the environment. You might not see the owner of a house much, but you can rifle through their papers, their bedroom drawers, and such. There was a lot of showing without telling. You learn a lot more about the personalities of Sirrus and Achenar going through the ages they resided in and reading Atrus' books than you do actually talking to them through the red and blue books.
It seems your definition of "expired classic" is "doesn't look as good as modern games", and I can't really follow that logic. Myst still tells its story well (and with this kind of game, the story is the entire point), even though it's basically a HyperCard stack at the end of the day.
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Comment on What games would you consider "expired classics"? in ~games
Karunamon Link ParentWow, that is like night and day! The textures "swimming" before he flips the switch almost gives me motion sickness (and that's not something I usually have a problem with outside of VR!), but...Wow, that is like night and day! The textures "swimming" before he flips the switch almost gives me motion sickness (and that's not something I usually have a problem with outside of VR!), but with that setting on.. wow.
I think you've given me something to do this afternoon :D
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Comment on CDC and states update number of cases of lung injury associated with e-cigarette use, or vaping - now 805 cases, twelve deaths in ~health
Karunamon LinkIs it basically confirmed at this point that all cases surround CBD/THC juices? I've heard conflicting reports.Is it basically confirmed at this point that all cases surround CBD/THC juices? I've heard conflicting reports.
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Comment on What keyboard shortcut was a game changer for you? in ~tech
Karunamon Linkctrl (or cmd) L will move your cursor to the URL box on most web browsers. Great if you hate having to take your hands off the keyboard.ctrl(orcmd)Lwill move your cursor to the URL box on most web browsers. Great if you hate having to take your hands off the keyboard. -
Comment on What games would you consider "expired classics"? in ~games
Karunamon (edited )Link ParentYou might want to try the Steam remaster if you haven't already. It has a new engine, adds proper mouselook controls, and while there's no not having the graphics be dated, it's a lot more...You might want to try the Steam remaster if you haven't already. It has a new engine, adds proper mouselook controls, and while there's no not having the graphics be dated, it's a lot more playable than the initial releases.
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Comment on What games would you consider "expired classics"? in ~games
Karunamon Link ParentSo much this, and I say this as a person that gets actually upset when people harp on retro graphics. There's "retro graphics", and then there's "literally painful to look at". Some games hold up...So much this, and I say this as a person that gets actually upset when people harp on retro graphics. There's "retro graphics", and then there's "literally painful to look at". Some games hold up better than others - Spyro on the PS1 holds up remarkably well today, but then look at something like Vagrant Story (or really almost any RPG on the system) and the jaggies are so bad that it detracts from everything.
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Comment on What games would you consider "expired classics"? in ~games
Karunamon Link ParentI'd definitely give you that with the possible exception of Myst/Riven. They're mostly environmental puzzlers and have precious little acting.I'd definitely give you that with the possible exception of Myst/Riven. They're mostly environmental puzzlers and have precious little acting.
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~comp
Karunamon Link ParentThere's a pretty large difference between the concepts of "difficult" and "literally impossible". At the end of the day, once you've released something in a way that actually complies with the...There's a pretty large difference between the concepts of "difficult" and "literally impossible".
At the end of the day, once you've released something in a way that actually complies with the principles of free software (including freedom zero, which all of these "morality clauses" directly abrogate), you've given up the level of control you need to do any kind of enforcement anyways.
Basically, free software and "thou shalt not use this for a vaguely defined list of purposes" are at fundamental odds with one another. If you're more interested in restricting what people do with your code, fine, that's a valid stance to take - but don't call it free software.
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Comment on Slush Idea Bin in ~talk
Karunamon LinkThe "endgame" module for XScreensaver, but it allows you to point it at a folder of PGN files, playing out a whole game and showing any annotations in the file. And cross platform, needless to say.The "endgame" module for XScreensaver, but it allows you to point it at a folder of PGN files, playing out a whole game and showing any annotations in the file. And cross platform, needless to say.
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Comment on Reinventing Home Directories in ~tech
Karunamon (edited )Link ParentI don't think that's a completely fair read of people's issues with Poettering, systemd, and the like. Part of it is the attitude. If systemd or its developers breaks something, it is...This draws ire from users who have to adapt to the changes.
I don't think that's a completely fair read of people's issues with Poettering, systemd, and the like.
Part of it is the attitude. If systemd or its developers breaks something, it is automatically your fault. Systemd can do no wrong.
And I don't mean that in the sense of not having bugs, I mean that in the sense of that if systemd-whateverd breaks your system, that's your problem. Systemd is making all the things better, get out of the way, little peon! It's an attitude thing. I recall a kerfluffle on the kernel mailing lists a few years back where systemd decided to squat on a debug flag on the kernel's boot args, which led to so much crap being piped into dmesg that it actually led to systems failing to boot, requiring the kernel developers to make changes to message handling in response. The systemd developers were incredibly dismissive of this issue, closing the bug report in a couple of hours until a large amount of outrage (and possible hostile changes from the kernel developers) forced their hand.
It's a mix of presumptuousness, antagonism and inability to admit being wrong. And when I say antagonism, I don't mean leveling insults, I mean the kind of "civil" antagonism you might see on a politically hot article on a Wikipedia talk page.
Systemd might solve concrete problems, but it does so at the cost of a monstrous increase in complexity, bug (and so, security attack) surface, and wasted sysadmin time dealing with both of these things. It never solved a problem I actually had (to include writing init scripts - who actually does this by hand anymore?), but has most definitely caused me hours of headache at work, and that's not even getting into the stuff I've had to deal with at home.
Give me openrc and does-one-thing-well daemons any day of the week.
The chilling effect caused by knowing you're being watched is more than enough harm. And besides, that's not the right lens to be looking at this through. The right question is not "is this a good thing?", rather, it's "do they have the right to do this?"