Promonk's recent activity
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
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Comment on Order of the Sinking Star | Release date announcement in ~games
Promonk Link ParentYes, and that's my point. I've yet to come up against a subject that couldn't be discussed provided I took the time and effort to develop cogent, well-reasoned things to say about it. My suspicion...Everything doesn't have to be a confrontation.
Yes, and that's my point. I've yet to come up against a subject that couldn't be discussed provided I took the time and effort to develop cogent, well-reasoned things to say about it. My suspicion is that people who complain about this stuff like it's ubiquitous just can't be assed to put in that effort. It's not surprising to me that Twitter seems to be the epicenter of this, since the whole platform encourages knee-jerk emotional responses and nothing else.
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Comment on Order of the Sinking Star | Release date announcement in ~games
Promonk Link ParentWhere does this "scared to speak my mind" horseshit come from? The only time I ever feel intimidated to speak my mind is when someone higher than me in the corporate totem pole gets enamored of an...- Exemplary
Where does this "scared to speak my mind" horseshit come from? The only time I ever feel intimidated to speak my mind is when someone higher than me in the corporate totem pole gets enamored of an obviously dumb idea, and then the "fear" only drives me to rephrase my impulsive ridicule into something more politic (to mixed success).
If I get the feeling that what I think is not going to be received well, my first instinct is to ask myself, "is my thinking on this subject sound? Am I failing to see this from another perspective? Am I just full of shit?" It doesn't intimidate me, it drives me to examine my conceptions to see if I'm taking cognitive shortcuts. Those who piss and moan about cancellation just strike me as cognitively lazy assholes bitching that society expects them to put in mental effort before they fart out the first half-baked, malformed thought that flits through their minds. My reserves of tolerance for that bullshit are exhausted.
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Comment on Less than a year on, Microsoft tells Mico to pipe down in ~tech
Promonk Link Parent"Blob of semen" feels kinda like it's stretching for prurience. It's probably damning enough that Microsoft was so gutless in their Copilot marketing that they were only comfortable getting behind..."Blob of semen" feels kinda like it's stretching for prurience. It's probably damning enough that Microsoft was so gutless in their Copilot marketing that they were only comfortable getting behind an amorphous blob. The damn thing literally has no corners.
Same goes for most of the comparisons of AI company logos with anuses. In the majority of cases, the similarity to a person's fundament is incidental to the choice to represent their organization with a symbol so valueless, so devoid of meaning, that the most anybody can say about it is, "I guess it's kind of a ring-shaped thing." What do we stand for? Round objects with holes! Give us money!
Except for Claude and ChatGPT. Those are straight-up bungholes.
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Comment on AI data center developers begin suing local jurisdictions behind bans and moratoriums — claims range from officials exceeding authority to violations of due process and equal protection laws in ~tech
Promonk Link ParentTell that to the numerous conservative-leaning communities in my state who've banned cannabis dispensaries, strip clubs and liquor stores.I don't think communities themselves have carte blanche to unilaterally stop a business from building provided they bought the land and pay taxes, no?
Tell that to the numerous conservative-leaning communities in my state who've banned cannabis dispensaries, strip clubs and liquor stores.
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Comment on Elon Musk on tomatoes in ~food
Promonk Link ParentA small kid might actually come up with something interesting to say on the subject. They tend not to be driven as much by ego.A small kid might actually come up with something interesting to say on the subject. They tend not to be driven as much by ego.
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Comment on Any significant changes to Tildes are extremely unlikely in ~tildes.official
Promonk Link ParentThat's the strangeness at the heart of Christianity in general and its European fork in particular that makes me so endlessly fascinated by it. It's such an obvious logical trap! So obviously an...Tolkien, like many Christians, struggled with the problem of evil in a world with an omnipotent omniscient God, and is following the old tradition of trying to solve it.
That's the strangeness at the heart of Christianity in general and its European fork in particular that makes me so endlessly fascinated by it. It's such an obvious logical trap! So obviously an invalid syllogism, prima facie, and yet theologians and other devouts have spent 2,000 years trying to hammer it into some sort of valid logical shape–and mostly failing miserably, by my lights.
On some level Tolkien must have thought to himself, "I'll make a world that makes sense of evil. How hard can it be?" And he ends up with deadbeat gods and a really thorny Orc problem. I guess I gotta hand it to him: he kept trying even beyond his death, in a way. That's better than most.
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Comment on Any significant changes to Tildes are extremely unlikely in ~tildes.official
Promonk Link ParentIt's probably worth remembering that the "text as written" is a compendium of writings produced over decades and collected and edited by his son after his death. Tolkien himself was aware that he...The out of universe reason for all of this is that Tolkien was a Catholic trying to marry his brief system into a fictional world full of contradictions. But taking the text as written, I have a very poor opinion of the Valar.
It's probably worth remembering that the "text as written" is a compendium of writings produced over decades and collected and edited by his son after his death. Tolkien himself was aware that he was never able to satisfactorily square that circle, which is partly why the Silmarilion was never published while he had editorial control over it. We only have the work because Christopher Tolkien realized what a tragic loss it would be if it were never made available to readers. Some grace should probably be given on that account.
For what it's worth, I absolutely agree with your assessment. Tolkien's greatest weakness–if it can be so called–was his insistence that his creation be consistent with his vision of Christianity (OK, maybe his "greatest" weakness was his love for and imitation of archaic verse forms, but the Catholicism comes in a close second).
But I think that's only really a weakness in a textual context; metatextually I think it makes his ouvre even more rich and fascinating. It throws the incompatibility of the pre-Christian mythic modes with Christian theology into stark relief, and sheds light on the tremendous shift in thought that must have accompanied christianization in medieval Europe (not coincidentally Tolkien's subject of expertise).
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Comment on Any significant changes to Tildes are extremely unlikely in ~tildes.official
Promonk Link ParentYeah, I don't buy his conclusions or his morality either, but I find eavesdropping on his reasoning fascinating anyway.Yeah, I don't buy his conclusions or his morality either, but I find eavesdropping on his reasoning fascinating anyway.
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Comment on Any significant changes to Tildes are extremely unlikely in ~tildes.official
Promonk Link ParentI think that's a tad uncharitable to the Valar, though. Eru Ilúvatar didn't make the Valar to do things in the world. He made the Children for that. The Valar were for building the world, setting...I think that's a tad uncharitable to the Valar, though. Eru Ilúvatar didn't make the Valar to do things in the world. He made the Children for that. The Valar were for building the world, setting fast its pillars, ensuring that Eru's plan goes off as well as possible.
Part of Morgoth's kink is that he doesn't understand that. He's chosen to be an active force in the world, and in fact, all of the maiar who choose to take an active role in Middle Earth–as opposed to merely accepting the charge given them by Manwë, such as the faithful Istari–are "evil." It's part of what defines evil for Tolkien in his creation.
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Comment on Help with troubleshooting PC hardware in ~tech
Promonk Link ParentThat was what it sounded like to me as well, which is why I immediately jumped to tracing the power-on signal. It sounds like OP doesn't feel very confident replacing caps though, which is likely......it sounds like some kind of failure to initiate the boot/POST sequence. When you jumped the power button, did you do so on the motherboard jumpers?
That was what it sounded like to me as well, which is why I immediately jumped to tracing the power-on signal. It sounds like OP doesn't feel very confident replacing caps though, which is likely where this is headed if swapping the CPU doesn't do anything.
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Comment on Help with troubleshooting PC hardware in ~tech
Promonk Link ParentBarrel capacitors are probably the easiest board-level repair possible after straightening socket pins. It sounds worse than it really is.Barrel capacitors are probably the easiest board-level repair possible after straightening socket pins. It sounds worse than it really is.
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Comment on Help with troubleshooting PC hardware in ~tech
Promonk Link ParentIt depends on the board. Some boards have an array of debug LEDs that will tell you where in the POST process the system got hung up. They're an extremely dumbed-down and oversimplified version of...It depends on the board. Some boards have an array of debug LEDs that will tell you where in the POST process the system got hung up. They're an extremely dumbed-down and oversimplified version of the stop codes that many server and higher-end workstation boards display on power-on. Not every board has these–even gaming boards, which are a kind of workstation, sorta–and some of the ones that do aren't refined enough to differentiate between various CPU errors. So, you might get a DRAM debug LED light up if one of the CPU socket pins that addresses memory is bent up. That would be a CPU/socket fault, but the debug lights will seem to indicate a DRAM error.
You can buy debug tools that will read the stop codes the system is going through on POST–because the board is going through all the same stop codes as a server or workstation board would, even if it doesn't actually display them anywhere–but my experience with them is hit or miss.
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Comment on Help with troubleshooting PC hardware in ~tech
Promonk Link ParentOne other thing I wanted to add: if you have the ability, test the CPU in another board, or test another CPU in that same board. The power on signal runs through the super-IO directly to the CPU,...One other thing I wanted to add: if you have the ability, test the CPU in another board, or test another CPU in that same board.
The power on signal runs through the super-IO directly to the CPU, which reads it as a command to initialize everything else. If your power button is pushing that 3.3V signal, it's possible that the CPU itself is just fried. Testing the board with a different CPU would actually be what I'd do first before tracing out the power on signal as I described above, but then I have a mountain of random components I can pull stuff from at work. Tracing the power-on signal and testing the VR capacitors is just what I'd do if I didn't have that luxury.
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Comment on Help with troubleshooting PC hardware in ~tech
Promonk (edited )LinkYou can't really test whether a PSU is good just by plugging it in without having it connected to something. You have to short (edit: TWO VERY SPECIFIC PINS!) in the ATX 24-pin connector so the...You can't really test whether a PSU is good just by plugging it in without having it connected to something. You have to short (edit: TWO VERY SPECIFIC PINS!) in the ATX 24-pin connector so the PSU thinks it's actually connected to something. They sell bridged testers for it, but you can just use a length of paperclip to bridge the pins.
I'm sorry that I can't remember which number pins those are offhand; I have a full tester for that task that tells me voltages and whatnot, so I've always just looked it up when I needed to.Edit: they are pins 16 & 17. Consult an ATX 20+4-pin header pinout chart to identify the correct ones.That's kind of irrelevant at this point though, since you already got a new PSU.
You've already got a hunch that the problem is something to do with the startup signal. Those two pins the power button shorts to send the startup signal should read 3.3V when you bridge them with a multimeter set to DC voltage mode (though a few boards will push 1.5V instead). If the power button pins read the correct voltage, you check the super-IO pins to see if it's receiving the startup signal as well. Maintain the short across the power button pins and test each of the pins on the super-IO until you find that same signal. If none of the pins show the signal, then you've got a broken trace from the power button header.
Most likely you'll find the signal though, and probably a few other signals besides. Your next thing is to check all the capacitors to make sure they have continuity. The most likely problem is that you have a blown capacitor somewhere in the VRM (the ranks of barrel capacitors that ring the CPU socket). You can replace them with just a soldering iron and braid, but a desoldering gun will make the job much easier. Look up "through-hole capacitor desoldering" or something similar to find videos to show you how it's done.
(Edited because it occurred to me that I could've been construed as advising someone to bridge any random two pins on a 700W power supply, which would definitely lead to at least an unpleasant shock and maybe worse. The correct pins are 16 and 17.)
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Comment on Tildos, let's be unserious for a while; show us your dankest memes and god-tier shitposts! in ~talk
Promonk Link ParentYou kinda had to be there. Good news is that you can! Be there, I mean! I'm saving all my piss up in jars in my basement so I can turn it to gold in order to afford the synthetic fish milk the...You kinda had to be there. Good news is that you can! Be there, I mean!
I'm saving all my piss up in jars in my basement so I can turn it to gold in order to afford the synthetic fish milk the Deep State doesn't want us to have, and it's all thanks to Infowars. I unironically love Infowars!
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Comment on Tildos, let's be unserious for a while; show us your dankest memes and god-tier shitposts! in ~talk
Promonk (edited )Link ParentYeah, Tim decided that Alex Jones, who died by bursting like a balloon in his SUV, was probably having "a gay old time" down in hell with Keith Moon and Jimi Hendrix, and that didn't sit right...Yeah, Tim decided that Alex Jones, who died by bursting like a balloon in his SUV, was probably having "a gay old time" down in hell with Keith Moon and Jimi Hendrix, and that didn't sit right with Tim. So he took a lethal dose of a sponsor's supplement, "Methylene-Brown," and shat himself to death while having a tear-filled reconciliation with his wife Chesapeake, whom Tim had mistakenly accused of murdering his horse Horace (it was a funny name before he lost Horace in the divorce) and slipping Horace's severed head into his bed like that scene in The Godfather.
Turns out, Tim had just drank a little too much Jack Daniels and had a manscaping mishap, which explained all the blood he was covered in when he stumbled shirtless onto the Infowars set last week. The blood and shirtlessness didn't keep him from conducting a stellar interview with Graham Platner (or "Plabber," as Tim called him) though, who called in to promote his new three stand-up special deal with Netflix he got because he's "one of those cancelled guys now."
Anyway, Tim is down in hell now ruining Alex's gay old time, because he's a man of integrity.
It's bloody brilliant, both literally and figuratively sometimes.
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Comment on Tildos, let's be unserious for a while; show us your dankest memes and god-tier shitposts! in ~talk
Promonk Link ParentThe main event is the YouTube channel. Tim Heidecker inhabits the skin of Alex Jones so freaking well it's scary.The main event is the YouTube channel. Tim Heidecker inhabits the skin of Alex Jones so freaking well it's scary.
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Comment on Why does Opera GX rarely come up in browser discussions? in ~tech
Promonk Link ParentThe AI features in Firefox are opt-in, not opt-out. I'm not particularly interested in AI features in my browser–I only rarely use AI summaries in search engines, and only then for extremely...The AI features in Firefox are opt-in, not opt-out. I'm not particularly interested in AI features in my browser–I only rarely use AI summaries in search engines, and only then for extremely low-stakes "I wonder..." kind of queries, or if I have no luck finding something the old fashioned way. The only notice I got that Firefox has optional AI integrations (outside of opinions from random forum users with dubious understanding of the issues) was a single pop-up that I dismissed once and never saw again.
I'm coming to accept that LLMs are somewhat useful for certain tasks (though nowhere near as broadly useful as certain people expect) and will be a fact of life for the foreseeable future. I can't fault any vendor very much for simply trying to add the capabilities, only for how they go about it. Mozilla has settled on the opt-in approach, which is about as much as we can reasonably expect from them.
As for the recent behavior you nebulously referred to, that likely all stems from the extremely difficult position in which they've been placed. They do not have enough market share to stand on their own two feet funding-wise, and I'm not sure their model allows for that no matter how big a slice they have. They've relied on their primary competitors for the funding to continue operating for years upon years now, and while that arrangement hypothetically (and legally) preserves their independence, they have to be realistic about the market and their place in it. Google could decide tomorrow that they're not really in any danger of anti-trust actions, and that it's not worth spending the millions to keep a marginal competitor afloat. Mozilla forgoing integrating features that are in demand simply to save face with a vocal minority of anti-AI purists in their userbase sounds like a recipe for even worse irrelevance to me.
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Comment on PC upgrade vs replacement in ~tech
Promonk Link ParentI've been wondering why there seems to be no demand for the 5060, and this makes it clear. Used to be -- BACK IN MY DAY (insert cliche prospector voice here) -- that the x060 models were good...I've been wondering why there seems to be no demand for the 5060, and this makes it clear. Used to be -- BACK IN MY DAY (insert cliche prospector voice here) -- that the x060 models were good budget fallbacks for when pricing went wonky, but nobody seems to want what NVIDIA is offering anymore, excepting them that can float a used car's-worth of equity in a fancy triangle drawing machine. I've gotten a lot of good use out of a 12GB 3060, despite never once reaching anything like full VRAM utilization, but with the cut down bus interface, I don't much see the point to the upgrade. If anything, this underscores for me why NVIDIA is a dead-end in the consumer market.
It's worth remembering that Halo was released some 25-ish years ago, and has been super influential ever since. Its truly ground-breaking elements have been homaged into the ground in the intervening decades, such that it can't help but feel a little stale. Few games that blaze trails manage to fully realize their potentials on the first outing, so inevitably landmark titles will be lacking the mechanical polish and QoL improvements that their imitators refined.
A remake should address some of that, but it's a tightrope walk: refine too much and it'll lose a bit of the nostalgia that is the basis for consumer interest. Refine too little and people will argue that there's no reason for the remake. Oftentimes walking that line will mean some of the rougher edges remain, even, and perhaps even especially those elements that were sanded down by titles that took inspiration from the OG.