Narry's recent activity
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Comment on Minecraft: Java Edition finally adds free peer-to-peer multiplayer and friends list in ~games
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Comment on “Rediscovering” the operating system (AKA: the desktop is the killer app) in ~tech
Narry LinkI grew up on macOS starting with System 7, and on Windows 3.11 and later Windows desktops, So, yeah, I organize the bejeezus out of my files and folders. I live out of three directories: My Home...I grew up on macOS starting with System 7, and on Windows 3.11 and later Windows desktops, So, yeah, I organize the bejeezus out of my files and folders. I live out of three directories:
- My Home directory, which is ~/ in the terminal and the house icon in Finder.
- My Projects directory, which lives on my external SSD.
- My iCloud directory, which is not as organized as I'd like but is far more organized than most other people's stuff that I've encountered.
But I really only use the Finder a few times a day. I mostly live in my terminal, my browser, and a few other apps that get booted as-needed. Organization is something that the terminal encourages, because when you list the files in the current directory, it's best if the buffer isn't so big you have to scroll back or pipe it through a command that lets you paginate the output.
Finder itself does have some power, but if Apple nixed it tomorrow and left me with the macOS equivalent of the iPhone/iPad Files app, and still let me use Terminal (or iTerm2 in my case), I'd be alright. I wouldn't be happy, but I'd be alright. If they nixed terminal, I'd simply sell my Mac and I'd be fully back on Linux without skipping a beat.
The thing is, I don't accept the "iPhoneification" of even my iPhone. I know exactly where all of my apps store their stuff in iCloud, and how to get to it without my iPhone or iPad. Except for Photos. I still have to use the Photos apps to get to those. But I make sure only actual camera photos live there as much as possible, and anything else goes to a real folder in iCloud.
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Comment on Just published my first game in ~games
Narry Link ParentWell the card and dice games are generally variations on other games I’ve played and enjoyed but with rules to make them generic and not beholden to a special deck of cards or special dice,...Well the card and dice games are generally variations on other games I’ve played and enjoyed but with rules to make them generic and not beholden to a special deck of cards or special dice, although I do have a few unique games that I invented specially to be played inside of other TTRPGs for flavor.
The solo TTRPGs are based off of a system I’ve created but haven’t formally laid out, that is making an attempt to be a headless, genre-less system that describes meta-narratives and act specifically as an extendable template, so that I don’t have to roll a custom system if I’m inspired to create a different genre of story.
Right now it revolves around progression and regression tracking, and narrative-modifying events, which trigger narrative progression and regression adjustments. It sounds rather dry but it’s meant to be something of a sketch, giving you ideas how to tie dice rolls (or whatever randomization element you choose) back to narrative conceits.
The fun of this system is applying it towards modules that implement and extend the rules. I’m on my phone so it’s tough to describe, but basically it’s very much what I think of as LEGO for narrative design. I’d be happy to provide an example later when I’ve got some time at my computer.
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Comment on Just published my first game in ~games
Narry Link ParentThey do. Ideally I get my rules into the hands of beta testers, but barring that I try my best to play them and come up with edge cases and game breaking scenarios. Since my current obsession is...They do. Ideally I get my rules into the hands of beta testers, but barring that I try my best to play them and come up with edge cases and game breaking scenarios. Since my current obsession is with single player games, it works out that I am often the only one testing it, but ideally it gets the shakedown from others.
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Comment on Just published my first game in ~games
Narry LinkCongratulations! This is something to be proud of. Let me know if you’re ever able to develop a version for iPhone, I’d be happy to play it. I don’t have many thoughts about the development...Congratulations! This is something to be proud of. Let me know if you’re ever able to develop a version for iPhone, I’d be happy to play it.
I don’t have many thoughts about the development process because I mostly develop TTRPGs and cards/dice games, so for me the refinement and play cycles are what interest me. It takes next to nothing to sit down and come up with a rule set and then immediately start testing it since my developer tools are often literally just a text document and some dice.
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Comment on I think that we won’t see any new and radical new gaming input devices or form factors anymore in ~games
Narry LinkThere's a lot to unpack here, but I'm going to focus on the VR for a moment. My issues with VR are numerous, and I can explain in glorious detail why it failed with me personally and I believe...There's a lot to unpack here, but I'm going to focus on the VR for a moment. My issues with VR are numerous, and I can explain in glorious detail why it failed with me personally and I believe this will map onto a significant portion of the population.
First, I need corrective lenses for distance vision, and my up-close eyesight is failing as I age. VR headsets do not correct for vision deficiencies in-software, and until VR doesn't require a kludgy workaround such as replacing my VR headset lenses every time my prescription updates, VR headsets are functionally useless to me.
The headsets limit my vision, are heavy, and most games/apps require standing. These factors directly play against the utility of VR for me, as they generate risk of injury and fatigue. In real life, I'm accustomed to being able to see with over 180° of freedom. The extremely narrow fields of VR are disorienting to me, causing me to need to turn my head often. Without the headset, turning my head is a small movement with very little chance of causing injury. With a headset on, I've added quite a bit of weight to my head and neck and now turning my head involves a significant uptick in chances to hurt myself. I also find standing while having my vision limited to be extremely disorienting. I've fallen over just standing still with a VR headset on. It's not great.
Unless and until VR can overcome every last one of these issues, it'll remain niche, I believe.
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Comment on ‘It’s shameful’: New York’s elite lash out at Zohran Mamdani’s second-home tax in ~finance
Narry Link ParentFrom what I gather, NYC’s problem may be down to a few NIMBYs and property speculators, but places elsewhere have the problem that corporations are buying up housing and letting it sit empty for...From what I gather, NYC’s problem may be down to a few NIMBYs and property speculators, but places elsewhere have the problem that corporations are buying up housing and letting it sit empty for the tax breaks, along with a few other issues like overvaluing the rent when they take out the loan to buy the property.
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Comment on Anyone else a bit unnerved by the number of visible satellites? in ~space
Narry Link ParentEvery problem we face in society tends to come down to overcoming people’s feelings and irrationalities, huh? We really run a whole planet on Truthiness.Every problem we face in society tends to come down to overcoming people’s feelings and irrationalities, huh? We really run a whole planet on Truthiness.
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Comment on Anyone else a bit unnerved by the number of visible satellites? in ~space
Narry Link ParentNortheast Texas, near the DFW Metroplex with around nine to ten million other folks. I’m technically outside of the city proper but the skyscrapers of downtown Dallas light up a whole section of...Northeast Texas, near the DFW Metroplex with around nine to ten million other folks. I’m technically outside of the city proper but the skyscrapers of downtown Dallas light up a whole section of my sky. We’ve been in conditions where we’re in a blackout due to storms or someone crashing into a substation or something and you can still see the glow of Dallas.
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Comment on How democratic governments came to view VPNs as circumvention software that must be restricted in ~tech
Narry LinkThis is some real bullshit. We thought a lot of these problems would be solved by getting younger folks that understand tech into these important government positions, but it turns out that only a...This is some real bullshit. We thought a lot of these problems would be solved by getting younger folks that understand tech into these important government positions, but it turns out that only a tiny percentage of all generations actually understands what the fuck is going on and what’s truly at risk.
At this point? Fuck it, might as well abandon technology. I’m moving to the country; I’m gonna eat me a lot of peaches. (Just not from Del Monte.)
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Comment on ‘It’s shameful’: New York’s elite lash out at Zohran Mamdani’s second-home tax in ~finance
Narry Link ParentIt sounds to me like the money is the problem, and like maybe absurdly vast individual fortunes are not beneficial to society as a whole. I’m just spitballing here.It sounds to me like the money is the problem, and like maybe absurdly vast individual fortunes are not beneficial to society as a whole. I’m just spitballing here.
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Comment on Anyone else a bit unnerved by the number of visible satellites? in ~space
Narry Link ParentI can't remember if I mentioned it elsewhere, but I haven't had a good night's sleep in decades because I haven't been out where it's truly dark in so long. There was an experiment where a guy...I can't remember if I mentioned it elsewhere, but I haven't had a good night's sleep in decades because I haven't been out where it's truly dark in so long. There was an experiment where a guy lived in a cave in absolute darkness for like a month or so, and I forget the reason and the outcome of the experiment but all I could think was "I'd love to have a pitch-black cave that I could sleep in."
I think if I were ever wealthy enough to have a panic room, or a fallout shelter, I'd probably have a bedroom in there just to get some sleep.
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Comment on Anyone else a bit unnerved by the number of visible satellites? in ~space
Narry Link ParentYeah but then I might have to hear, see, or think about my neighbors. Get to know them. Live in community with them. Be thoughtful and courteous towards them and ask that they be thoughtful and...Yeah but then I might have to hear, see, or think about my neighbors. Get to know them. Live in community with them. Be thoughtful and courteous towards them and ask that they be thoughtful and courteous to me in return. Me? Advocate for my own space in a city when I could just drive out to a satellite exurb in my pickup truck and claim the 90 minute round trip is freedom?
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Comment on Anyone else a bit unnerved by the number of visible satellites? in ~space
Narry Link ParentI was hoping that the swap from Soda Lamps to LED lighting would improve it, with more directional light and less excess shine, but it seems to have done nothing for ground-level light pollution....I was hoping that the swap from Soda Lamps to LED lighting would improve it, with more directional light and less excess shine, but it seems to have done nothing for ground-level light pollution. Short of demanding that all lights be turned off or at least set to a lower lumen level at night, I don't that there's a good solution. I was told that the lights being on is there to help deter criminals, but crime still happens in the night anyway so maybe that wasn't such a good reason to bathe our cities in eternal light.
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Comment on Anyone else a bit unnerved by the number of visible satellites? in ~space
Narry LinkHonestly at this point I'd take even that. I miss the night sky. When I was a kid, even in the city I could look outside and see much of the stars. Being at my grandparents' place in the country...Honestly at this point I'd take even that. I miss the night sky. When I was a kid, even in the city I could look outside and see much of the stars. Being at my grandparents' place in the country (rural but not remote) and seeing the spill of the Milky Way was amazing. But the sky has gotten less and less visible as I've gotten older. I never get to see it anymore, without traveling into basically the wilderness. I think it's been decades since I last saw it unobstructed. I don't think I could see a satellite moving across the sky on even the clearest night, at least not here. I'm doing good to see Orion's Belt most of the year.
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Comment on ‘It’s shameful’: New York’s elite lash out at Zohran Mamdani’s second-home tax in ~finance
Narry Link ParentWell then I'm stumped. Because if it's not something beyond their immediate control as I assumed (as I believe is the case with hoarding), then I have no idea how to get through to them. I don't...Well then I'm stumped. Because if it's not something beyond their immediate control as I assumed (as I believe is the case with hoarding), then I have no idea how to get through to them. I don't wish them any ill, but I want them to stop causing the harm that they are. Maybe I'm too naïve, expecting that the reason they don't examine their own actions and stop their behaviors is because they can't. Maybe they can and they rejected the notion, which is very sad.
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Comment on ‘It’s shameful’: New York’s elite lash out at Zohran Mamdani’s second-home tax in ~finance
Narry LinkThey're hoarders, plain and simple, it's just that rather than hoard empty pizza boxes and newspapers and discarded tech, they hoard wealth and riches. It's the exact same mental illness, and we...They're hoarders, plain and simple, it's just that rather than hoard empty pizza boxes and newspapers and discarded tech, they hoard wealth and riches. It's the exact same mental illness, and we should treat it as such. For their own good these things need to be removed from them, it's sapping them of their basic humanity and causing them to destroy the only home we all share because they're so frightened of losing their accumulations that they literally cannot think straight.
Let me pull out this old saw: if a monkey lived in a colony with other monkeys but kept all of the bananas to himself, and fought any monkey that tried to come get a banana from him, we wouldn't put him on the cover of magazines and laud him as the best and most clever of the monkeys, we'd ask what the fuck was wrong with that monkey.
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Comment on Why so many people are going "no contact" with their parents in ~life
Narry LinkMy mother is in my life, my father is not; they split when I was a kid, but he was still around in my life off and on. We had a falling out and I split the state and cut him off him in my very...My mother is in my life, my father is not; they split when I was a kid, but he was still around in my life off and on. We had a falling out and I split the state and cut him off him in my very early 20's for about 3-4 years. We reconnected, spoke again and he seemed to have genuinely reflected and understood my viewpoint and we started talking regularly and hanging out again. Then he got married to a new lady and was very shortly back on his toxic bullshit and I cut him off again 18 year ago and I refuse to let him back. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.
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Comment on Nintendo raises prices for Switch, Switch 2 and NSO in ~games
Narry Link ParentCertainly food for thought. I do tend to play exclusively docked, and I've heard the Switch 2 is pretty beefy when docked...Certainly food for thought. I do tend to play exclusively docked, and I've heard the Switch 2 is pretty beefy when docked...
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Comment on Nintendo raises prices for Switch, Switch 2 and NSO in ~games
Narry Link ParentI’m debating between trying to sell my Switch 1 and scrape together the remaining funds for the Switch 2 before the prices hike in September, or just wait with the assumption that there will be an...I’m debating between trying to sell my Switch 1 and scrape together the remaining funds for the Switch 2 before the prices hike in September, or just wait with the assumption that there will be an OLED version of the Switch 2 coming out sometime between now and 2028 which will make it easier to save for that higher tier item, and maybe some games.
Good news for me. My two platforms are macOS and Linux. Guess which edition I run on both of those? I mean, I do have it on my iPhone as well, but it’s basically unplayable.