Levantus's recent activity

  1. Comment on The Finals | Season 2 trailer - March 14 in ~games

    Levantus
    Link Parent
    This is absolutely true. In this game, your “50%” win rate is actually 33% due to 3 teams, so if you are unable to enjoy a game that you don’t win as much, prepare to be disappointed. I would...

    This is absolutely true. In this game, your “50%” win rate is actually 33% due to 3 teams, so if you are unable to enjoy a game that you don’t win as much, prepare to be disappointed. I would treat this almost like a battle royale in terms of wins because it can get so hectic at the end and it’s anyone’s game a lot of the time but wins are hard to come by.

    2 votes
  2. Comment on What's something about your lived experience you wished people understood, but rarely do? in ~talk

    Levantus
    Link
    I’ll share from a perspective that isn’t often brought up in these types of online spaces. I consider myself a Christian person and attend church, follow certain principles, etc. I just want to...

    I’ll share from a perspective that isn’t often brought up in these types of online spaces. I consider myself a Christian person and attend church, follow certain principles, etc. I just want to say that I’m sick of all the hate in the world directed both at and by religious people. I grew up religious and have had most of my family stop practicing religion for various reasons, though I remain faithful. I am also lucky to have had a very loving upbringing by my parents and didn’t suffer any shaming, poor treatment, or mental, emotional, or verbal abuse like I read so often when someone says they were brought up religious. That’s another subject I suppose, but going back to my family: regardless of each individual’s belief or lack thereof, we still have very good relationships and love and accept each other.

    Part of being a Christian is striving to understand others and to be able to empathize even when we disagree. But it also isn’t unfair to expect some empathy and understanding in return. It truly pains me to see religion simultaneously weaponized and attacked more and more in the modern world. I choose to believe that life has meaning and we’re not all destined for an empty void of non-existence, so why should I be constantly belittled (albeit indirectly) every time religion or spirituality enters the online discourse? To give additional perspective, I work in healthcare as a profession and have seen more death than most and as a result truly hope for something better after this life. At the risk of this sounding like “Can’t we all just get along?” I’ll stop here for now but I wanted to get that out.

    9 votes
  3. Comment on Notifications are ads in ~tech

    Levantus
    Link Parent
    Absolutely. I've started moving that direction.

    Absolutely. I've started moving that direction.

  4. Comment on Notifications are ads in ~tech

    Levantus
    Link Parent
    I thought notifications on my desktop OS would be a good thing, but it's honestly obnoxious like you describe (at least on Windows) so I often find myself in Focus/DND modes 90% of the time. Linux...

    I thought notifications on my desktop OS would be a good thing, but it's honestly obnoxious like you describe (at least on Windows) so I often find myself in Focus/DND modes 90% of the time. Linux is looking better every year.

    1 vote
  5. Notifications are ads

    This is a thought I've been having a lot lately. It seems like 90% of notifications I get these days both on my phone and computer are ads begging me to either: upgrade a service I already have...

    This is a thought I've been having a lot lately. It seems like 90% of notifications I get these days both on my phone and computer are ads begging me to either: upgrade a service I already have ("you're running out of space on [insert cloud service here] at 75% usage will you please UPGRADE?") or re-engage with an app that hasn't sucked enough of my attention ("we MISS you! PLEASE engage!"), with the remaining tiny minority being useful actionable information. I've noticed too that social media notifications NEVER give you enough detail about something that's going on to not have to open the app directly. It's kind of exhausting to the point where I've disabled most notifications on my devices altogether. I don't really know the point of this post other than to commiserate and to simply open it up for discussion. Thoughts?

    EDIT: WOW this blew up! Thanks everyone for your contributions!

    101 votes
  6. Comment on Apple Original Films’ ‘Argylle’ with C+ CinemaScore and near $17m opening isn’t cutting it at weekend box office in ~movies

    Levantus
    Link
    I feel like a lot of people will wait for the Apple TV+ release on this one. Looks interesting enough but not enough for tickets the way they are these days.

    I feel like a lot of people will wait for the Apple TV+ release on this one. Looks interesting enough but not enough for tickets the way they are these days.

  7. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    Levantus
    Link
    The Finals released this past week and I popped in and bounced right off of it. Felt like I was getting destroyed by sweaty try-hards all the time from Fortnight and Apex Legends. I gave it a...

    The Finals released this past week and I popped in and bounced right off of it. Felt like I was getting destroyed by sweaty try-hards all the time from Fortnight and Apex Legends. I gave it a couple of days and came back with friends and trying to be more methodical/strategic and found a lot more depth that way. The game can be played a number of ways but I’m having a blast with it now.

    9 votes
  8. Comment on Any Star Citizen folks here? I'm a new player with a barely passable rig, looking for tips to make play bearable... in ~games

    Levantus
    Link Parent
    I don't know about that with a GTX 960... maybe if the GPU were stronger and the CPU weaker. I think the GPU will be the bottleneck to be honest though. That should be the priority to upgrade...

    I don't know about that with a GTX 960... maybe if the GPU were stronger and the CPU weaker. I think the GPU will be the bottleneck to be honest though. That should be the priority to upgrade first anyway.

    1 vote
  9. Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies

    Levantus
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Interesting take on The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. To me it felt very meandering. The Hunger Games had a pretty well-defined story arc and TBoSaS felt like it wasn't sure what it wanted to...

    Interesting take on The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. To me it felt very meandering. The Hunger Games had a pretty well-defined story arc and TBoSaS felt like it wasn't sure what it wanted to achieve. HG wasn't high-end cinema by any means but it seemed more focused. Yes, there was some good acting in this one. Rachel Zegler's voice is phenomenal and Jason Schwartzman carried the torch well as the host, but there was something missing. I know you'll disagree but I also found the protagonist to be kind of boring with inconsistent characterization, and I think he may have been better cast with someone with more gravitas.

    1 vote
  10. Comment on A Dutch artist reconstructed Tenochtitlan in 3D in ~humanities.history

    Levantus
    Link
    This is an incredible endeavor that merits a share. Full disclosure, I came across this on Hacker News but thought you’d all appreciate it here as well!

    This is an incredible endeavor that merits a share. Full disclosure, I came across this on Hacker News but thought you’d all appreciate it here as well!

    6 votes
  11. Comment on The war on stolen content in ~tech

    Levantus
    Link
    Skit by Ryan George (of the Pitch Meeting series on YouTube) addressing these issues. He's a comedy channel but has great insight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zsbXosf5FM&t=8s

    Skit by Ryan George (of the Pitch Meeting series on YouTube) addressing these issues. He's a comedy channel but has great insight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zsbXosf5FM&t=8s

    2 votes
  12. Comment on 'We are really struggling with space': Amsterdam pushes more cars off its streets but is it enough? in ~transport

    Levantus
    Link Parent
    This is key. Cars are absolutely the least efficient way to transport large numbers of people but that was never their intent. Obviously in larger cities like Amsterdam, transportation priorities...

    This is key. Cars are absolutely the least efficient way to transport large numbers of people but that was never their intent. Obviously in larger cities like Amsterdam, transportation priorities should emphasize capacity and efficiency in moving large numbers with less trips. It is interesting though that with Amsterdam's focus on cycling as a primary mode of transportation, car owners are now feeling the squeeze rather than the opposite that has been happening in other large more car-leaning cities of the world.

    7 votes
  13. Comment on What creative projects have you been working on? in ~creative

    Levantus
    Link
    I’ve started designing tees on one of those POD sites. I don’t intend to try to make a bunch of money off of it but I’ve always designed as a hobby and figured I’d at least try putting some...

    I’ve started designing tees on one of those POD sites. I don’t intend to try to make a bunch of money off of it but I’ve always designed as a hobby and figured I’d at least try putting some designs out there into the world to pay for my Affinity Designer purchase 😆.

    1 vote
  14. Comment on Hurricane Hilary could dump over a year’s worth of rain on parts of the Southwest US in ~enviro

    Levantus
    Link
    To my knowledge, this will be the first of its kind, a hurricane from the Pacific making landfall on the west coast of the US, though It's expected to reach as far inland as Las Vegas,...

    To my knowledge, this will be the first of its kind, a hurricane from the Pacific making landfall on the west coast of the US, though It's expected to reach as far inland as Las Vegas, southwestern Utah, and even as far north as Idaho and Oregon prior to dissipating. I don't know how anyone can deny climate change at this point.

    20 votes
  15. Comment on 'Barbie' review: Sometimes corporate propaganda can be fun as hell in ~movies

  16. Comment on 'Barbie' review: Sometimes corporate propaganda can be fun as hell in ~movies

    Levantus
    Link Parent
    Absolutely not. It was obvious they had no intention of that initially. I see that the filmmakers were trying to show how women feel in today’s society but the message kind of comes across as “see...

    Are you really suggesting the gov't the Kens wanted to enact was egalitarian?

    Absolutely not. It was obvious they had no intention of that initially. I see that the filmmakers were trying to show how women feel in today’s society but the message kind of comes across as “see how you like it” rather then “let’s see how we can improve it”.

    I agree with your other points.

    6 votes
  17. Comment on 'Barbie' review: Sometimes corporate propaganda can be fun as hell in ~movies

    Levantus
    (edited )
    Link
    I don’t disagree with a lot of the messaging (women deserve more attention and power in society) but it became so blatant and heavy-handed I thought I was watching a politician speak. And then at...

    I don’t disagree with a lot of the messaging (women deserve more attention and power in society) but it became so blatant and heavy-handed I thought I was watching a politician speak. And then at the end of it all,

    (spoilers)

    Ken is told to be grateful for his non-existent lot in life and a more egalitarian form of government is laughed off.

    To be fair, this is coming from a man but it did feel pretty inflammatory.
    12 votes