KodaLeFaye's recent activity
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Comment on The new Firefox is so snappy, even with uBlock Origin enabled! in ~comp
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Comment on How to get better at academic writing quickly? in ~humanities
KodaLeFaye LinkThe best advice for getting better at writing is to read a lot. Make anything and everything, good books, bad books, long works, short works, fiction, non-fiction, etc. You'll be surprised at how...The best advice for getting better at writing is to read a lot. Make anything and everything, good books, bad books, long works, short works, fiction, non-fiction, etc. You'll be surprised at how much you can absorb through osmosis if you just make it a habit to read as much as you can. Yes, even reading fiction can help with academic writing.
Think about what you're reading. We kind of have an intuitive sense on what makes "good writing." When you run across a piece of bad writing or writing that just doesn't click with you, ask yourself why you think so.
For academic writing specifically, from my teachers:
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Academic writing is supposed to be concise. You're not expected to put together beautiful, flowery sentences that'll make Shakespeare weep. At the same time, you don't need 10 words when 5 will do. Save the Neal Stephenson impressions for other types of writing
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There should also be clarity in academic writing. Since your goal is ultimately to convey information to your readers, your word choices and sentence structures should favor simplicity. You don't need to bust out the thesaurus and pepper your writing with $10 words. At the same time, if you're writing for professionals in a specific field, it is okay to use jargon and common terms in that field, especially if that word can save you a paragraph of explanations.
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Understand the structure of what you're going to write. Every form of academic writing has some basic skeleton into which you fill your points. For example, psychology journal articles are expected to have intro, method, statistical analysis, discussion, conclusion as the basic outline (with like ten subparts in each). On the other hand, a law review article will have a different format of historical background, reading of the law, analysis and implications.
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There is also a certain formal stiffness in academic writing. Avoid slang, cliches, colloquialisms, first person pronouns, second person pronouns.
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Comment on In search of the hypothetical iPhone Duo buyer in ~tech
KodaLeFaye Link ParentFor me, my last 3 phones were foldables and I get them for exactly 1 reason: reading. Foldable phones are the closest thing we have to simulating analog books in a electronic format. As someone...For me, my last 3 phones were foldables and I get them for exactly 1 reason: reading.
Foldable phones are the closest thing we have to simulating analog books in a electronic format. As someone who grew up with regular books, having a foldable like this feels downright comfortable and makes it easier for me to read. There is also the added convenience that I don't have lug multiple devices, where the phone acts as a communication device, music player, payment method, and reader all in one.
Is it worth the $1800 that I shelled out for it? For me, yeah, but that's also mainly because I'm single with a decent amount of disposable income. If I had a family, it'd be a much bigger ask.
As a side note, the absolute best phone that I've ever used in my life is the Microsoft Surface Duo 2. For everything that I mentioned above, it has the absolute BEST form factor for a foldable and I would happily pay Apple prices to get an updated model for that again. Dear God, I miss my Surface Duo 2 as my daily driver so much...
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
KodaLeFaye Link ParentWhen I first tried Breath of the Wild, I was coming off of quitting WoW and had a very quest-oriented mindset toward the game, making beelines to objectives and getting frustrated when there were...When I first tried Breath of the Wild, I was coming off of quitting WoW and had a very quest-oriented mindset toward the game, making beelines to objectives and getting frustrated when there were 15 billion things in the way.
My second time I tried it, I ditched that mentality and decided to just wander and that's when I really started to enjoy the game. I think that's the beauty of Breath of the Wild. You can run around and just explore without any objectives, doing a shrine here and there, picking up items in random places, etc. For most of the play-through, I kind of forgot that there was even a story because I was having too much fun just wandering around at random. I also like puzzle games so the shrines were my jam.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
KodaLeFaye LinkI picked up The Artisan of Glimmith during the Steam sale but didn't get around to playing it until just before the weekend. This was a bad idea because it ate up my entire weekend. Cheers for...I picked up The Artisan of Glimmith during the Steam sale but didn't get around to playing it until just before the weekend.
This was a bad idea because it ate up my entire weekend. Cheers for lost productivity.
As I get older, I'm finding myself less tolerant of games with elaborate stories, opting for games where I can just jump into gameplay without having to run through 2 hours of cutscenes. In that respect, I consider Tetris to be the perfect game because it's easy to learn, difficult to master, infinite replayability, no two play sessions are the same, can play short sessions or long sessions, etc. Artisan of Glimmith isn't Tetris but it has a lot of the same things that make me like Tetris.
At its heart, Artisan is about drawing shapes on grids. Each puzzle has certain rules to which you must adhere, such as only certain shapes allowed, shapes must have certain areas, shapes must contain certain symbols on the grid, certain shapes can't be next to each other, etc. The variations can get pretty intense, especially when they start combining rules. The easy puzzles can be finished within seconds but the harder ones can take up to an hour to get the right combinations of shapes in the right place. Most of the puzzles, though, are short enough that I got easily trapped into the "just one more" loop.
My only real complaint is that some of the puzzles seem to be mislabeled in their difficulty. Each puzzle receives a label from 1-7, with puzzles rated 1 supposedly being the easiest. I've only run across one 7 puzzle so far and a handful of 6's and I've been kind of disappointed with some of the 6's because they seem pretty easy. In fact, I solved the first 6 I saw within five minutes. This is opposed to some of the 3's and 4's, which had me pulling my hair out for dozens of minutes (with one particular 3 keeping me occupied for an excess of 45 minutes).
Still, this is easily my best buy of the year and I would've been happy to pay full price for this.
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Comment on What creative projects have you been working on? in ~creative
KodaLeFaye Link ParentOne of the best pieces of advice that I got for writing is to "just write." Turn off the inner editor, don't try for perfection, and just get stuff on paper. Whatever you write isn't permanent and...One of the best pieces of advice that I got for writing is to "just write." Turn off the inner editor, don't try for perfection, and just get stuff on paper. Whatever you write isn't permanent and can be changed and improved upon. The trick is to get it out on paper in the first place. For a beginner, getting a work completed is a major achievement in and of itself.
The other thing is that your first few works will probably be among your worst. I actively cringe at the stuff that I wrote 20 years ago because it's so bad compared to what I'm capable of now. However, that tells me that I've grown as a writer because I can look back and critique my own stuff and call it objectively terrible. It also means that I couldn't get to where I am now without having to go through a "bad writer" phase in the first place. You improve by writing, critiquing your own writing, and if you're brave enough, have other critique it, too.
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Comment on The 2026 Steam Summer Sale is live (runs June 25 - July 9) in ~games
KodaLeFaye Link ParentI'll put in a vote for Othercide. It's actually all XCOM with roguelite elements (not sure where the Automata comparison comes from). It's challenging as heck but if you like XCOM style games but...I'll put in a vote for Othercide. It's actually all XCOM with roguelite elements (not sure where the Automata comparison comes from). It's challenging as heck but if you like XCOM style games but without the "miss even if you have a 150% hit chance," then it'll be a great buy.
As a side thing, I love the visual aesthetics of the game and the soundtrack is actually pretty darn good (hint: turn your speakers up loud for the first boss).
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Comment on Tildes Survey #8: What is your favorite video game? (Results) in ~talk
KodaLeFaye LinkIf we're talking about most hours played, Tetris by a long shot. It's basically the perfect video game - infinite replayability, no two plays are alike, lots of variations, easy enough to...If we're talking about most hours played, Tetris by a long shot. It's basically the perfect video game - infinite replayability, no two plays are alike, lots of variations, easy enough to understand and play but with a great difficulty curve, and an insane challenge mode if you're willing to try out Master Mode in Tetris Effect.
For a story-based game, Nier Automata. I don't think I've ever cried so long for any story, no matter what the medium.
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Comment on What has changed as you've gotten older? in ~talk
KodaLeFaye LinkTwo major things for me: I've accepted that I'll be alone for the rest of my life. I'm in my mid 40s now, waaaay past my dating prime, and the chances of me finding "happily ever after" are...Two major things for me:
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I've accepted that I'll be alone for the rest of my life. I'm in my mid 40s now, waaaay past my dating prime, and the chances of me finding "happily ever after" are slim-to-none. I'm at peace with this and I embrace the freedom that comes with this.
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I've become a lot less tolerant of difficulty levels in games with stories. More specifically, I'll play games with stories but if the game has a strong story, then I will, at some point, download a trainer or a mod and cheat my way through it because I want to know the ending. If the gameplay is engaging, then I'll actually play the game proper during a second run through the game.
Mind you, this is only games with strong stories. Games that focus more on gameplay and not story, I'll play straight because, well, that's kind of the point.
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Comment on What Google thinks you're worth in ~tech
KodaLeFaye Link ParentI've used navigation maybe three times in my life and all of those was because I was lost. If I'm going to a new location, I generally look up the directions beforehand on Google Maps (on my...I've used navigation maybe three times in my life and all of those was because I was lost. If I'm going to a new location, I generally look up the directions beforehand on Google Maps (on my desktop, mind you) and memorize the direction. Since those journeys involve some freeways and some side streets, I can navigate the freeways without much issues and focus on learning the side streets. If there are more than 4 of them, I write them down but I otherwise commit them to memory.
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Comment on What Google thinks you're worth in ~tech
KodaLeFaye LinkI wonder what the effect of adblockers have on these costs. I'm technically in the sweet spot, according to that article - mid 40s, male, primary computer is a desktop (I hate using phones for...I wonder what the effect of adblockers have on these costs.
I'm technically in the sweet spot, according to that article - mid 40s, male, primary computer is a desktop (I hate using phones for anything but reading), single, no children... but I go out of my way to avoid ads. I don't have a TV, I block all ads on the Internet, I turn off location services on my phone (mainly because it eats battery like a mofo and I have yet to find a use for location services in the first place), I refuse to download any apps on my phone that contains ads, and I subscribe to the higher tiers in streaming services.
Sure, I'm one data point blip on the larger ocean of people but I can't help but think that I'm not the only one and that perhaps even though I fit the profile, people like me would hold significantly lower value because of the difficulty of reaching us.
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Comment on An insight into looksmaxxxing/blackpill "ideology" in ~life
KodaLeFaye Link ParentThere is also the flip side. I'm a guy and I end up swiping left on roughly 99% of profiles (this is not an exaggeration) because their profile is the same vapid nonsense that every other profile...There is also the flip side.
I'm a guy and I end up swiping left on roughly 99% of profiles (this is not an exaggeration) because their profile is the same vapid nonsense that every other profile has. I've spent one too many evening reading through dozens of "want to go on adventures," "likes traveling," "looking for partner in crime," "likes outdoors," and other such nonsense. It's either that or no profile at all. Funny enough, there was an evening in Tinder where I swiped left so many times that the app literally ran out of matches for me.
It's pretty much why I swore off dating apps. There's about as much depth as an inflating kiddie pool there and almost nothing of substance.
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Comment on What radicalized you? in ~talk
KodaLeFaye LinkIt was a pastor of a megachurch, of all places. I grew up in the church. My parents, being Korean immigrants, attended Korean immigrant churches (which has its own fascinating ecosystem). I got...It was a pastor of a megachurch, of all places.
I grew up in the church. My parents, being Korean immigrants, attended Korean immigrant churches (which has its own fascinating ecosystem). I got immersed into the culture, volunteered in various capacities, and made Christianity a core of part of my identity. I grew up as most people know Christianity - the whole nonsense with altar calls, the "accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior" stuff, repentance, etc.
The first time I heard this pastor, I was floored. I had never heard a sermon like it, one that pulled in the history, the word analysis, dozens of references from various parts of the Bible, and the modern context all in one go. It felt like I was in a graduate level theology class but the content was relayed in a manner that even a layperson could understand and apply it easily. It was through this pastor that I finally heard a salvation message that makes sense - one that doesn't rely on the "personal Lord and Savior" crap and all of its inherent contradictions and questions.
This pastor eventually left that church and began his own church on one basic principle - the church exists to serve others. This church had no Bible studies, no prayer meetings, none of the usual programs that you'd expect from a church. Instead, the philosophy revolved around coming together once a week on Sunday to be equipped and to fellowship as a congregation, and then to spend the rest of the week being good neighbors to those around us. The goal wasn't to sequester Christians with one another but rather, to mingle and demonstrate Christ in our respective communities.
The church sadly fell apart during COVID but I try to live out those principles as much as I can. His message on salvation, in particular, changed the way that I look at modern church practices with altar calls and such and gave me a way to explain Christian salvation in a way that makes more sense to others.
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Comment on An AI that turns any book into a text adventure game in ~books
KodaLeFaye LinkI tried Cyptonomicon by Neal Stephenson, just to see how it'd handle it. The answer: not well at all. Literally two posts in (after I made my first decision), it presented Bobby Shaftoe as (a) an...I tried Cyptonomicon by Neal Stephenson, just to see how it'd handle it.
The answer: not well at all.
Literally two posts in (after I made my first decision), it presented Bobby Shaftoe as (a) an admiral, (b) sitting behind a desk, (c) apparently swamped in paperwork, and (d) giving Lawrence Waterhouse a cryptography assignment.
Yeah... I'll pass on this.
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Comment on I wanted to make friends in a new city — so I hosted five strangers for dinner in ~life
KodaLeFaye LinkThis reminds me of a program that my pastor instituted at my old church. Instead of stuffy old Bible studies, prayer meetings, and all the usual jazz that churches get into, he encouraged people...This reminds me of a program that my pastor instituted at my old church.
Instead of stuffy old Bible studies, prayer meetings, and all the usual jazz that churches get into, he encouraged people to do something like this - host a dinner. That's it. No evangelizing, no religious talk, and don't even pray before the meal. Just invite people you don't know into your home and host a meal. We did it at first with just church members who we didn't know but some people eventually expanded it to their neighborhood.
His theory was that one of the biggest shortcomings of modern Christianity is that when Christians get together, there's always an agenda. He wanted instead to focus on building relationship both within and outside the church. It wasn't even about getting non-Christians to come to church; it was simply about being a good neighbor and a good person overall. He felt that we could do a lot more good in the world if we moved away from all the trappings of modern Christianity - missions, street evangelism, church programs, etc. - and spent more time building genuine relationships with other people without any kind of an agenda.
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Comment on What is your most important game? in ~games
KodaLeFaye LinkA couple that come to mind. Breath of the Wild is huge because it salvaged my gaming mindset. For over a decade, I played WoW for almost exclusively because a) I didn't have a console, b) I...A couple that come to mind.
Breath of the Wild is huge because it salvaged my gaming mindset. For over a decade, I played WoW for almost exclusively because a) I didn't have a console, b) I couldn't afford a console, and c) embarrassingly enough, I didn't know Steam existed until like 2018. I grew frustrated with it, however, as Legion progressed and actually quit for a while. I came back for Battle for Azeroth and quit 2 weeks in because it dawned on me that the game would essentially just be another time-gated grindfest like Legion.
A couple weeks later, I remembered that there was more to gaming than MMOs and so I bought myself a Switch and Breath of the Wild because I had heard so much about it. I actually first approached the game similar to how I approached WoW - pick up quest, go to area to complete it, pick up next quest, go to area, etc., which worked for the Plateau but getting to Kakiriko Village was such a chore initially that I gave up on the game for a few days.
I came back to it a few days later and took a different mindset - I'm just going to run around and go wherever I want. I basically had to wean myself off the WoW mindset of mindlessly jumping from quest to quest and once I did that, I found myself immensely enjoying the open world exploration. I don't think I did a single quest until at least 50-60 hours in because I was having so much fun just running around.
Basically, it reminded me that games shouldn't be a hamster wheel and this freeform gameplay changed my mindset on how I approach certain games.
And, of course, there is Nier Automata, which gets a mention because it was the only game that left me completely shaken by the end. There are a ton of great games out there but this was the first (and as of now, only) game that can be considered ART. For most other games, I play them, I beat them, and that's that. I might engage in a discussion or two on Reddit or whatnot but that's about it. Automata is the only game where I went out of my way to find as much supplemental material as possible because I just had to have more.
It also inadvertently led me to Final Fantasy XIV, which I picked up because I was so starved for Nier content, and I ended up staying because it had a great story. Not as great Automata, mind you, but still a great story.
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Comment on Film soundtrack discussion in ~music
KodaLeFaye LinkInception and Interstellar are two of my favorites. I actually had the privilege of seeing Hans Zimmer live and the Inception suite is probably my first or second favorite live experience of all...Inception and Interstellar are two of my favorites. I actually had the privilege of seeing Hans Zimmer live and the Inception suite is probably my first or second favorite live experience of all time (depending on how I feel about Nightwish's "Ghost Love Score" live with Floor at the moment).
An oddball one is Silver Linings Playbook. The music on there is a mix of Danny Elfman's score with some other jazz/pop pieces but it's one of the few movies where I feel like all of the music, score and pop, complement each other exceptionally well.
I also love Yuki Kajiura and I'm not quite sure if this qualifies as film but the Kara no Kyuokai OST hits me right in the feels as well.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
KodaLeFaye Link ParentIf you can get this up and running, I'd love to get a copy of this for my science classes. I knocked together a very simple version of an ecosystem simulator for use in my classes using Unity but...If you can get this up and running, I'd love to get a copy of this for my science classes.
I knocked together a very simple version of an ecosystem simulator for use in my classes using Unity but it's REALLY simplistic - just 2 plants and 3 animals using free assets. The animals move around but there are no animations. It sounds like your version would be way more advanced so if you can ever get it to work, please do share the link to it.
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Comment on What password management solution do you use and why? in ~tech
KodaLeFaye LinkI keep a text file but with a caveat. I have four different password schemes, each with about a half dozen variations. One of those schemes is 20+ characters long. I use this one to secure any...I keep a text file but with a caveat.
I have four different password schemes, each with about a half dozen variations. One of those schemes is 20+ characters long. I use this one to secure any account that involves money or identity. Everything else is secured by one of the variations of the other three schemes.
What I record in the text file, then, is not the password itself but the scheme and the variation. Anyone who got a hold of that text file would then have to first decipher which scheme is associated with the website and then which variation of the scheme. Thus, something like "Google: H$" is basically meaningless to everyone who reads it but makes perfect sense to me.
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Comment on Pixel Fold reviews (and possible concerns about its durability) in ~tech
KodaLeFaye LinkI've been using a Surface Duo 2 as my daily driver since it came out and I love this phone more than any other phone I've ever had by a long shot, probably because I'm the most boring phone user...I've been using a Surface Duo 2 as my daily driver since it came out and I love this phone more than any other phone I've ever had by a long shot, probably because I'm the most boring phone user ever - I use my phone to read, send text messages, watch some Netflix during lunch, and browse Reddit (before Reddit went haywire). I don't take pictures or play games so I couldn't care less about the camera or internals. I was sorely disappointed when I heard that Microsoft is ditching the Surface Duo line and so I've been keeping an eye on other foldables because I seriously cannot go back to a regular phone.
I'm really curious about the Pixel Fold but it's reviews like these that scare me and I'm wondering if I should just suck it up and get one despite the reviews in the same way that I got my Duo 2 despite the reviews. The only thing I'm worried about is durability - will this thing last as long as my Duo 2? The Ars article that OP linked has me scared because none of the initial Duo 2 reviews complained about the device dying. They picked apart everything else about the device but it at least continued to work throughout.
On a side tangent here, if Amazon came out with a foldable Kindle similar to the Duo 2 form factor, I'd be the first in line to buy it and I'd happily return to a more "normal" phone.
I've been a Firefox user since the days it was named Firebird... and before that, I was a Netscape Navigator user.
The thing is that I actually cannot use any Chromium based browsers now because I am physically addicted to mouse gestures and Firefox has the only good implementation. Mouse gesture extensions in Chromium browsers were always a step below Firefox ones and it's gotten worse over time.
This is actually the sole reason why I'll always be a Firefox user (at least, until they break mouse gestures).