Oxalis's recent activity

  1. Comment on The 88x31 GIF Collection in ~tech

  2. Comment on The BBC’s library of classic sci-fi sounds is now available to sample in ~tech

    Oxalis
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    The progenitors of much of the modern soundscape and tools/workflows all producers take for granted. As someone that enjoys being wrapped up in warm analog and reverb-drenched nostalgia, I find a...

    The progenitors of much of the modern soundscape and tools/workflows all producers take for granted. As someone that enjoys being wrapped up in warm analog and reverb-drenched nostalgia, I find a lot of my album acquisitions have thematic ties back to The Workshop.

    I'd love to just wander through the samples but I don't really have any hope of doing music production, my attempts over the years have always ended in frustration. I can understand the price and the licensing that drives it, I just hope it goes down a bit next Black Friday before I ponder a splurge.

    For people wanting to hear more, they released an album back in 1975 that's full of fun things: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pAWJYx24gc&list=PLRiipkN4nZRNcfgDgCqL3uQpDlU5Lv_OC

    And if you enjoy the sound, check out many of the artists on the Ghost Box label for modern takes on the style: https://www.ghostbox.co.uk/catalogue (clicking on an album will give you a selection of tracks to listen to in full)

    2 votes
  3. Comment on “Torrenting from a corporate laptop doesn’t feel right”: Meta emails unsealed in ~tech

    Oxalis
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    Interesting that there's this assumed standard that downloading is no sin compared to seeding/sharing it back. I wonder if there's case law regarding this? I guess illegally downloading media to...

    Interesting that there's this assumed standard that downloading is no sin compared to seeding/sharing it back. I wonder if there's case law regarding this?

    I guess illegally downloading media to transform them without rightsholder consent into an infinity scalable for-profit venture is totally cool and "fair use" now, says Meta in their official defense.

    14 votes
  4. Comment on Pharrell Williams, Michel Gondry scrap their movie musical at Universal in postproduction in ~movies

    Oxalis
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    Always sad to see a project get killed. This would have been the first feature film in English from Gondry since 2011. That said, I've always felt that Gondry's cleverness and ideas don't hold up...

    Always sad to see a project get killed. This would have been the first feature film in English from Gondry since 2011.

    That said, I've always felt that Gondry's cleverness and ideas don't hold up to a long runtimes. Shorts, music videos, and little clips are where his creativity shines.

    7 votes
  5. Comment on Inside Iceland's futuristic farm growing algae for food – Vaxa Technologies has developed a system that harnesses energy from the nearby geothermal power plant in ~food

    Oxalis
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    Has anyone here actually used spirulina as a food source or additive in their diet?

    Has anyone here actually used spirulina as a food source or additive in their diet?

    1 vote
  6. Comment on Announcing Supporters of Chromium-based Browsers in ~tech

    Oxalis
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    Fantastic, since Google/Chromium Project have been so welcoming of collaboration with the Linux Foundation and seeking non-Alphabet funding then they're implicitly welcoming a forced spin-off of...

    Fantastic, since Google/Chromium Project have been so welcoming of collaboration with the Linux Foundation and seeking non-Alphabet funding then they're implicitly welcoming a forced spin-off of Chrome from Alphabet as part of their loss in the antitrust ruling.

    Now there's no ambiguity of how the project will continue and thrive after being kicked out of Google's clutches!

    6 votes
  7. Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music

    Oxalis
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    Lots of chill out music recently, here are a couple new additions that I feel are worth writing about. This Ascension - Light and Shade (1991) Been exploring the, now diffused into ether,...

    Lots of chill out music recently, here are a couple new additions that I feel are worth writing about.

    • This Ascension - Light and Shade (1991)
      Been exploring the, now diffused into ether, sub-genre of "4AD Gothic Rock". This Ascension has been a stand-out act; strong female vocals that effortlessly strut from throaty Grace Slick-esque crooning all the way to sharp operatic highs, backed up by a very 90s palette of hazed out guitar and reverbed drums that feel very content to rest in My Bloody Valentine's gigantic shadow. If you enjoy somber rock best suited for walks among icy chill, this is a nice one to try out.

    • Röyksopp - Nebulous Nights ‐ An Ambient Excursion Into Profound Mysteries (2024)
      In 2014, the Norwegian kings of "warm" electro released an album called The Inevitable End, announcing that it would be their final LP and for the most part they stuck to that decree, until 2021 rolled around. Instead of gently sliding back into releasing music again, they ended their hiatus by piling three full length LPs (Profound Mysteries I, II and III) on fans in rapid succession. Honestly, it was a lot of music to process and make sense of.
      Fast forward to last December when this 3+ hour ambient mix was dropped; taking elements from the entire Profound Mysteries canon and turning it into a very "warm" ambient set that reframes the monolithic project with kind-hearted callbacks and references. It's helped turn a series of albums I didn't quite know what to think of into affectionate favorites.

    2 votes
  8. Comment on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS is reaching end of standard support soon: April 2025. Plan to upgrade soon! in ~tech

    Oxalis
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    It's worth mentioning that people using Ubuntu LTS on their servers can get Ubuntu Pro for free for personal use. That'll give you 5 more years of security patches and live kernel security...

    It's worth mentioning that people using Ubuntu LTS on their servers can get Ubuntu Pro for free for personal use. That'll give you 5 more years of security patches and live kernel security upgrades to take the time pressure off.

    17 votes
  9. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech

    Oxalis
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    Dead Internet Theory As A Service being trumpeted as a first-class feature from one of the biggies is not something I expected to see this quickly.

    Dead Internet Theory As A Service being trumpeted as a first-class feature from one of the biggies is not something I expected to see this quickly.

    39 votes
  10. Comment on Are you lost? in ~games

    Oxalis
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    It was a neat experience to watch this live. The concept of a NPC being a real person is such a powerful thing, I guess that's why games like Journey were so impactful. Another game that pulled...

    It was a neat experience to watch this live. The concept of a NPC being a real person is such a powerful thing, I guess that's why games like Journey were so impactful.

    Another game that pulled this off at a larger scale was the GMod map gm_construct 13 beta. If you have Gmod, try it out https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=2553727051

    For those that just want to see what the fuss is about:

    The main feature of the mod aside from all the spooky stuff Users of the mod are pooled into lobbies and randomly show up as NPCs in the instances of other users. It's honestly quite creepy to have random people showing up as broken models, doing weird things in your solo/offline game. https://gm13.xalalau.com/wiki/Mingebags
    1 vote
  11. Comment on Anyone interested in trying out Kagi? in ~tech

    Oxalis
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    For people that have been using Kagi, what's been the killer app so far? Research for things that have fallen out of the zeitgeist? Searches for things that commonly get filtered out of normal...

    For people that have been using Kagi, what's been the killer app so far? Research for things that have fallen out of the zeitgeist? Searches for things that commonly get filtered out of normal engines thanks to DMCA requests? Media searches for things that aren't AI slop?

    12 votes
  12. Comment on 2024 Spotify Wrapped thread in ~music

    Oxalis
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    I use listenbrainz (last.fm but freeee) to track my music habits but the result is the same. Getting a car with actual carplay integration has really changed my daily soundtrack. The top 4 of my...

    I use listenbrainz (last.fm but freeee) to track my music habits but the result is the same. Getting a car with actual carplay integration has really changed my daily soundtrack. The top 4 of my top 5 are things I have on repeat to stay relaxed while driving.

    Artists

    No. Artist Listens Genre
    1 Cocteau Twins 114 Dreampop, Shoegaze
    2 Bersarin Quartett 67 Downtempo, Ambient
    3 Oblique Occasions 52 Barber Beats, Vaporwave
    4 The Advisory Circle 48 Hauntology, Library Music
    5 Principles of Geometry 42 IDM, Ambient

    Albums

    No. Artist Album Listens Genre
    1 Cocteau Twins Heaven or Las Vegas 72 Dreampop, Shoegaze
    2 Oblique Occasions Animus 42 Barber Beats, Vaporwave
    3 Principles of Geometry ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 42 IDM, Ambient
    4 Hidden Orchestra Archipelago 41 Doomjazz, Downtempo
    5 Bersarin Quartett II 34 Downtempo, Ambient

    Tracks

    No. Artist Track Listens Genre
    1 Cocteau Twins Pitch the Baby 19 Dreampop, Shoegaze
    2 Cocteau Twins Iceblink Luck 12 Dreampop, Shoegaze
    3 Cocteau Twins Heaven or Las Vegas 12 Dreampop, Shoegaze
    4 Piano Magic I Am the Sub-Librarian 10 Chamber-pop, Ambient
    5 Tanuki ファンクOFF 9 vaporwave, j-pop

    Aside from the general domination of my re-discovery of Cocteau Twins, the Piano Magic track was played on repeat during intros of my Book of Hours streams since it's so apropos. The TANUKI track is just a pumped up remix of a song by Kanako Wada. I discovered it through Beat Saber and it tickles my brain in nice ways.

    4 votes
  13. Comment on iPhone music players with good CarPlay experience? in ~tech

    Oxalis
    Link Parent
    Since you already have a server, you might think about setting up an instance of gonic/navidrome (both are free+open source) then using a client app like play:sub (paid) or Amperfy (free). It's...

    Since you already have a server, you might think about setting up an instance of gonic/navidrome (both are free+open source) then using a client app like play:sub (paid) or Amperfy (free).

    It's nice to have a spotify-like interface for your collection that can work with apps on nearly every device out there. I use play:sub with navidrome and have loads of albums synced onto my iPhone for offline listening while driving about since I live in rural nowhere. The car play integration is pretty nice too.

    3 votes
  14. Comment on Mathematicians discover a new kind of shape that’s all over nature (3D tessellating forms) in ~science

    Oxalis
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    Here's the publicly-available full text: https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/3/9/pgae311/7754698?login=false I always love repeating geometry. I went down a massive rabbit hole with...

    Here's the publicly-available full text: https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/3/9/pgae311/7754698?login=false

    I always love repeating geometry. I went down a massive rabbit hole with triply-periodic minimal surfaces a couple years back which made for some pretty neat shapes.

    I'll have to try my hand at modeling some of these to 3D print and mess around with like futuristic Lincoln Logs.

    8 votes
  15. Comment on Just bought a Sous Vide. Those who own one, what are your favorite things to use it for? Any recommended accessories? in ~food

    Oxalis
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    Just since I haven't seen it mentioned yet: Sous Vide is awesome for fermenting. Being able to hold things in the temperature butterzone speeds things up massively. Yogurt in particular is pretty...

    Just since I haven't seen it mentioned yet: Sous Vide is awesome for fermenting. Being able to hold things in the temperature butterzone speeds things up massively.

    Yogurt in particular is pretty easy to make: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMInAL7JRRo

    Anova has a nice list of other ideas too: https://anovaculinary.com/blogs/blog/8-weird-ways-use-precision-cooker

    4 votes
  16. Comment on ‘Do not pet’: A robotic dog named “Spot” made by Boston Dynamics is the latest tool in the arsenal of the US Secret Service in ~tech

    Oxalis
    Link Parent
    Most of the options here require loony toons gimmicks of balloons on drones or someone getting within close proximity of the thing with some kind of cover. Ideally, a device can be taken down at...
    • Exemplary

    Most of the options here require loony toons gimmicks of balloons on drones or someone getting within close proximity of the thing with some kind of cover. Ideally, a device can be taken down at range with something rather innocuous that anyone can get.

    As someone who has accidentally fried a few laptop cameras during undergrad optics research, just get a high power laser off of ebay/amazon/aliexpress and pepper the sides till you take out some of the 5 or so cameras it uses to build a 360-degree composite view of its surroundings.

    Just be sure to wear proper protective eyewear!

    Spots in particular also have well-defined blindspots, thanks Boston Dynamics!

    11 votes
  17. Comment on Scientists and archivists worry Epic Games' control of the 3D model market will 'destroy' cultural heritage in ~games

    Oxalis
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    Oh no! This is what I get for being a lazy netizen and not reading the article. Thanks for calling me out. This isn't a good thing for anyone. FAB is a weird mess.

    Oh no! This is what I get for being a lazy netizen and not reading the article. Thanks for calling me out.

    This isn't a good thing for anyone. FAB is a weird mess.

    1 vote
  18. Comment on Scientists and archivists worry Epic Games' control of the 3D model market will 'destroy' cultural heritage in ~games

    Oxalis
    Link Parent
    SketchFab is pretty big in this space. They're mainly a webgl-based 3d asset viewer but do offer downloads and a store for scenes and models. They have a pretty diverse selection of cultural...

    SketchFab is pretty big in this space. They're mainly a webgl-based 3d asset viewer but do offer downloads and a store for scenes and models.

    They have a pretty diverse selection of cultural heritage, history, science, and archeology models from various libraries, museums, and research groups: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/categories/cultural-heritage-history?date=week&sort_by=-likeCount

    Many are downloadable too! (though most are not "water-tight" for 3d printing)

    5 votes
  19. Comment on The Kids Should See This in ~tv

    Oxalis
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    Projects like this always remind me of a quote from Activist Dee Dee Halleck, founder of public access channel Paper Tiger: The activation energy to find something genuinely wholesome for young...

    Projects like this always remind me of a quote from Activist Dee Dee Halleck, founder of public access channel Paper Tiger:

    It is one thing to critique the mass media and rail against their abuses. It is quite another to create viable alternatives.

    The activation energy to find something genuinely wholesome for young minds is tiring. Billions of options but the majority of them are brain-rot trash churned out at industrial scales to capture the view market. So even though this isn't an endless feed of content to plop a kid in front of (that's a bad idea anyway) it's awesome to have a resource for consistent, curated things that hearken back to the glory days of PBS.

    I especially love that many of the videos have additional text/image content underneath with lots of related links in them for context. Makes a video into a stepping stone for deeper learning.

    Though it's worth noting that many of the videos are curated from youtube as far as I can tell (with a smattering of vimeo), so ad exposure is still an issue. Hosting this much video content would be super expensive so I can understand it.

    10 votes
  20. Comment on E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders in ~food

    Oxalis
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    On a tangent, the fast food chain A&W released a "Third-of-a-Pound Burger" in the 1980s to compete with the quarter pounder. It was cheaper, it did better on taste tests, and had full ad support...

    On a tangent, the fast food chain A&W released a "Third-of-a-Pound Burger" in the 1980s to compete with the quarter pounder. It was cheaper, it did better on taste tests, and had full ad support nationally but still failed due to Americans not understanding fractions.

    Misunderstanding the value of one-third, customers believed they were being overcharged. Why, they asked the researchers, should they pay the same amount for a third of a pound of meat as they did for a quarter-pound of meat at McDonald’s. The “4” in “¼,” larger than the “3” in “⅓,” led them astray.

    https://www.snopes.com/news/2022/06/17/third-pound-burger-fractions/

    31 votes