Narry's recent activity
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Comment on The death of punctuation in ~humanities.languages
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Comment on Todd Snider, Americana music master, dead at 59 in ~music
Narry LinkI've been sitting here for the past two hours trying to think of something thoughtful to say, something soulful, something y'know... good. But all I can think is "that sucks, man." We lost a...I've been sitting here for the past two hours trying to think of something thoughtful to say, something soulful, something y'know... good. But all I can think is "that sucks, man." We lost a little something special, but we've still got what he left for us. I can't complain.
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Comment on NATO alphabet in ~talk
Narry LinkI've committed the whole NATO alphabet to memory for reasons, but before that, I used words/names that started with a sound as close to the actual letter's pronunciation as possible. There are a...I've committed the whole NATO alphabet to memory for reasons, but before that, I used words/names that started with a sound as close to the actual letter's pronunciation as possible. There are a few (F, H, L, M, N, R, S, X, and Y) that I just couldn't ever come up with a word that started with that letter and required you to say "Ehff", "Aych", "Ell", "Em", "En", "Ar", "Es", "Ecks", "Why") but my list informally was (and I was surprised to learn a few of these were NATO already):
Apex, Bee-Bee, Citizen, Deacon, Eagle, Foxtrot, Genius, Harold, Isaac, Jason, Kangaroo, Lima, Money, Novice, Oregon, Peter, Q-bert, Roger, Sam, Team, Uniform, Venus, Whiskey, X-Ray, Yellow, Zebra
But NATO is demonstrably cleaner/better and that's some of why I use it.
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Comment on Original Mac calculator design came from letting Steve Jobs play with menus for ten minutes in ~design
Narry LinkSo I used a calculator designed by Steve Jobs for about a decade while I had my old Macintosh? Neat. I like how they pointed out how HyperCard basically took the concept of "roll your own" and ran...So I used a calculator designed by Steve Jobs for about a decade while I had my old Macintosh? Neat. I like how they pointed out how HyperCard basically took the concept of "roll your own" and ran with it.
HyperCard unfortunately suffered from serious neglect, and ironically to me it always felt like Jobs either made no move to undo that neglect or actively hastened it. From reading the Wikipedia page, I may be right about that. Swift, at least, has fared far better in terms of longevity than HyperCard.
HyperCard was a tool that knew what it was, and blended design and functionality together. It was just a joy to use (though these days HyperTalk chafes, when I try to use its successor AppleScript.)
I still firmly believe that HyperCard is one of the best tools for introducing people to programming, and for knocking together quick prototypes. I kinda wish it had been the tool that we picked to create websites and apps with instead of CSS/HTML/JavaScript. There was a brief period where downloading a HyperCard stack was one of the best ways to access someone's designs. I had stacks that had lyrics of songs, one that was a recipe keeper that came preloaded with tons of recipes and functionality to add my own, of course I had a bunch of different games, indie 'zines, even humorous stacks that were just someone being goofy. HyperCard just did a lot things right that even modern stuff can't quite pull off, even with all that power. If I had it my way, we'd take something like Decker and go back to swapping stacks. Do we really need all these fancy fonts and animations, or could we all benefit from mostly black and white and the odd pop of color? I know I'm deluding myself.
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Comment on Humble Bundle vets launch new game discovery platform Digiphile in ~games
Narry Link ParentI’ve been participating in the Humble Bundle in some way, shape or form for pretty much its entire existence. At one point, I had close to 80 unused keys, and I ended up giving most of them to my...I’ve been participating in the Humble Bundle in some way, shape or form for pretty much its entire existence.
At one point, I had close to 80 unused keys, and I ended up giving most of them to my friends and acquaintances just to get rid of them. It took months to find anyone that wanted them.
Even giving away that many license keys, I still have somewhere in the hundreds of titles on Steam that I’ve gotten from various bundles where I’ve activated the key, but never touched the game. Maybe this would fix that going forward.
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Comment on AI stocks lost more than $820 billion this week in ~finance
Narry Link ParentTo be honest, AI has a past and a future... just not LLMs or GenAI or AGI. AI for things like spotting tumors in early stage cancer, parsing telemetry and photography and other data from space,...To be honest, AI has a past and a future... just not LLMs or GenAI or AGI. AI for things like spotting tumors in early stage cancer, parsing telemetry and photography and other data from space, and even AI for certain robotics applications absolutely have a future.
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Comment on Psychostick - Æt (2025) in ~music
Narry LinkI’m still hung up on Numbers. I can only count to four!I’m still hung up on Numbers. I can only count to four!
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Comment on Nick Offerman | Closet Picks in ~movies
Narry LinkAlways a good time hanging with Nick Offerman. Now I wanna see Megan Mullally's picks.Always a good time hanging with Nick Offerman. Now I wanna see Megan Mullally's picks.
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Comment on Tips for becoming a tea person in ~food
Narry LinkI have three different major views on tea: hot, cold, and milk, and I'm kind of an outsider on at least two of them. My Southern heritage demands that tea be ice cold and sweet as the devil's...I have three different major views on tea: hot, cold, and milk, and I'm kind of an outsider on at least two of them.
My Southern heritage demands that tea be ice cold and sweet as the devil's lies. And while I can drink this, my body complains so if you see me drinking sweet tea in the spring and summer, it's likely sweetened with Stevia instead, and I've cut it to be almost not even really tea. My people like it strong as hell, but I do not. I am an outsider in my own culture.
I grew up being given hot tea only when I was sick, and always served with lemon and honey. When I was about 10 or 11 we got cable TV and both Comedy Central and Nickelodeon were trying to get their feet under them at the time, so I got shown quite a lot of British comedies and cartoons. And I of course noticed them drinking tea, and always they put some sugar and milk in it. Well, we had tea and I was allowed to boil water, so I made myself a cup of what is now called Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice but had a different name back in the early 90's. I added sugar and let it dissolve, then added milk and tried it a bit timidly but... those wacky Brits were right, that stuff was gold. I switched to Earl Grey for many years after seeing a rerun of Star Trek the Next Generation and Jean-Luc Picard ordering it. Let it never be said that I'm immune to propaganda or cultural influence from television shows. And now I drink mostly Scottish Breakfast, Oolong, and varieties of green, and I don't drink hot tea without sweetener (stevia, now, and/or monk fruit) and more milk than is probably seemly. But this is how I drink tea, and it tastes wrong and bad without the extra body that milk brings. For a long time I couldn't tolerate dairy milk, so I used Oatmilk and that worked just fine.
Finally, we come to green tea and the paradox of everything I just said. Green tea is often meant to be drunk hot, with delicate flavors, and most people I know sweeten it. I like it ice cold, genmaicha style (with roasted rice in the brew bag) and completely unsweetened. I don't like it with sweeteners, I don't like it warm. Ice cold, genmaicha style, no sweetener.
Those are some tea things, I guess. I have no idea if you're going to find this useful. I hope so?
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Comment on DM-ing with a stutter? in ~games.tabletop
Narry Link ParentI’ve been looking at StenoKeyboards and their little $50 Asterisk, $100 Uni v4, and $125 Polyglot keyboards. It would take time and practice but if you can achieve their stated 225wpm upper bound,...I’ve been looking at StenoKeyboards and their little $50 Asterisk, $100 Uni v4, and $125 Polyglot keyboards. It would take time and practice but if you can achieve their stated 225wpm upper bound, you might be able to get a Text to Speech synthesizer to approach near conversational speeds.
Something like: you type and it speaks as it receives complete words or sentences from the buffer. Might require a custom setup to work, as I’m not fully sure if it works with standard computer apps or if one of the apps the company says it supports is mandatory, but it’s an intriguing idea. At least to me.
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Comment on New research shows attention lapses due to sleep deprivation coincide with a flushing of fluid from the brain in ~science
Narry Link ParentIANAD but my thought is that the flush is autonomic, something your body just does on its own when needed. If I'm right, I'd think it was a lapse of concentration from the flush and not the other...IANAD but my thought is that the flush is autonomic, something your body just does on its own when needed. If I'm right, I'd think it was a lapse of concentration from the flush and not the other way around. I think this is part of the parasympathetic nervous system, part of the "rest-and-digest" functions that the body handles on its own.
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Comment on Affinity V3 is here with a new freemium model in ~design
Narry Link ParentI found one called Amadine that’s paid but looks promising that I plan to check into at some point. I like that even though they’ve got a subscription they’ve also got a reasonably priced...I found one called Amadine that’s paid but looks promising that I plan to check into at some point. I like that even though they’ve got a subscription they’ve also got a reasonably priced permanent upgrade. All that remains to be seen is if it has truly useful functionality. The Mac version seems to allow you to save in a proprietary format. They paywall exporting and printing, but it otherwise appears to be free to use. Which seems fair enough.
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Comment on Affinity V3 is here with a new freemium model in ~design
Narry LinkMoving on from my original stated skepticism, Brad Colbow did a video about this and I think he’s got the best take I’ve seen so far: This? This was the Big Affinity and Canva Announcement?Moving on from my original stated skepticism, Brad Colbow did a video about this and I think he’s got the best take I’ve seen so far: This? This was the Big Affinity and Canva Announcement?
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Comment on Cyclist falls down 130-foot ravine in France, survives three days by drinking wine he had in shopping bag in ~life
Narry Link ParentMeanwhile, two hours without food will kill the average house cat (according to my cat.)Meanwhile, two hours without food will kill the average house cat (according to my cat.)
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Comment on US libraries scramble for books after giant distributor shuts down in ~books
Narry LinkBaker & Taylor is shutting down? That's sad as heck. I wonder if Boundless is going to shut down as well? I can't see how it won't. Dang.Baker & Taylor is shutting down? That's sad as heck. I wonder if Boundless is going to shut down as well? I can't see how it won't. Dang.
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Comment on Affinity V3 is here with a new freemium model in ~design
Narry Link ParentI share your pessimism. Unfortunately for me I made the mistake of buying them through the Mac App store, so I've only got installers until they pull them down or Apple stops allowing downloads...I share your pessimism. Unfortunately for me I made the mistake of buying them through the Mac App store, so I've only got installers until they pull them down or Apple stops allowing downloads due to incompatibility with later operating systems. I'm just going to uninstall them and return to using GIMP and Inkscape, myself. I really appreciated some of the stuff that Designer was doing, but not enough to swap to V3.
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Comment on Starter comments on Tildes? in ~tildes
Narry Link ParentMore good advice, thank you. I appreciate you taking the time.More good advice, thank you. I appreciate you taking the time.
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Comment on Starter comments on Tildes? in ~tildes
Narry Link ParentThat's reasonable, thank you for a straightforward answer.That's reasonable, thank you for a straightforward answer.
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Comment on Starter comments on Tildes? in ~tildes
Narry LinkI'd feel like I'm not starting an actual discussion if I don't at least provide my opinion, but I can also see the view of "just provide the content and let others form an opinion about the...I'd feel like I'm not starting an actual discussion if I don't at least provide my opinion, but I can also see the view of "just provide the content and let others form an opinion about the content, not form an opinion about your opinion." I think for me it would come down to checking if I want to discuss the thing I'm linking or if I want to discuss my thoughts on the thing I'm linking.
Also, can I lightly hijack to ask if anyone has any suggestions about tagging new threads? I've encountered stuff I'd like to see if there's discussion around, but I don't want to under or over tag. Or should I get over myself and tag what I think is reasonable and let others add tags as needed?
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Comment on Playing with words in ~creative
Narry Link ParentSure! Fnulare makes me think of Gnu Flair, which makes me think of Gnome window manager, which reminds me of Ubuntu, which used to use animal names for major releases, and I got started with...Sure! Fnulare makes me think of Gnu Flair, which makes me think of Gnome window manager, which reminds me of Ubuntu, which used to use animal names for major releases, and I got started with Breezy Badger, and now I’ve got that badger mushroom snake song stuck in my head so your name is Weebl.
I learned to type in the 8th grade on a typewriter and I had to learn punctuation, spacing, home row, all of that. So now I type quickly on keyboards and I automatically default to proper formatting. I express about a third of all of my sentiments in the form of GIFs in Discord in my personal life, and Teams at work, and everywhere else I am operating at a significant handicap. But...
i actually have to force myself to think about it to not use proper formatting
They told me that my lols and rofls would render English spoken online unintelligible, and maybe it did, but I don't see short form taking over anywhere but personal speech, and that's where it's always dominated. In my professional life people will use short form inter-personally, but when we have to address corporate, we swap to proper formatting. All articles I read are in proper formatting, as well. I see no problem with this; I don't think I could take seriously a run-on sentence trying to report the news of the day. But if you come at me with proper punctuation and formatting in private life, I might wonder why you're being so formal.
What I'm saying is... ngl i guess it pays to be multi-modal