Promonk's recent activity
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Comment on Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without an online account in ~tech
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Comment on What common misunderstanding do you want to clear up? in ~talk
Promonk (edited )Link ParentIt kinda makes sense in the context of Roman culture though. Like any expansionist culture, they were jingoistic enough to neglect the things they didn't value too highly, and I'm sure by the time...It kinda makes sense in the context of Roman culture though. Like any expansionist culture, they were jingoistic enough to neglect the things they didn't value too highly, and I'm sure by the time of the Empire they were convinced Carthage was a solved problem, especially since Cato and his war hawk buddies made such a stink about the city. They weren't generally the sort of culture to celebrate the losing side, except in the very specific and complicated subject of Greece.
Then again, they did have Troy to look to as a template. I'm sure lots of Roman patricians thought of Carthage as their own Troy, even before Virgil made the connection explicit. The Iliad we have today is pretty celebratory of the Trojans despite, or maybe because of, their loss and extinction. Maybe there was some cultural bias against acknowledging the continuance of Carthaginian culture after the conquest because the really good tragic losers have the decency to stop existing after they lose.
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Comment on What common misunderstanding do you want to clear up? in ~talk
Promonk Link ParentYeah, that's a good point. I've always been a hardware guy, so my own views about what each component is are strongly influenced by the role the physical object serves, not the conceptual function...Yeah, that's a good point. I've always been a hardware guy, so my own views about what each component is are strongly influenced by the role the physical object serves, not the conceptual function of it. Since I was the jackass who brought up von Neumann, that's a fair gotcha.
I think what I was really trying to get at is what is and isn't a CPU or APU or SoC or whatever is more complicated now than it was when the vocabulary was established, which is understandable. We've come a fair way from the first white paper for EDVAC, and as we've hit various bottlenecks and physical limits, we've refined the roles that individual components (logical and physical) play.
This is part of why I usually try to avoid this sort of discussion topic. There are enough perfectly valid perspectives on any given subject that you could play the "well akshually" game until heat death if you're stubborn enough, and I lack that sort of commitment. I'm only stubborn enough in that regard to be annoying.
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Comment on What common misunderstanding do you want to clear up? in ~talk
Promonk Link Parent"Carthago Delenda Est" would actually be a pretty good name for a Mediterranean-flavored metal band, come to think of it."Carthago Delenda Est" would actually be a pretty good name for a Mediterranean-flavored metal band, come to think of it.
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Comment on What common misunderstanding do you want to clear up? in ~talk
Promonk (edited )Link ParentThe Phoenicians didn't establish a colony there for no reason, I suppose. I should do some learning about Carthage. It occurs to me that I don't know much about the region or the culture, aside...The Phoenicians didn't establish a colony there for no reason, I suppose.
I should do some learning about Carthage. It occurs to me that I don't know much about the region or the culture, aside from that it must be destroyed.
Edit: I remembered that I have watched/listened to the Carthage episode of the fantastic Fall of Civilizations podcast. It's good stuff, but keep a pot of coffee handy, because his narration can induce narcolepsy (in a good way).
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Comment on What common misunderstanding do you want to clear up? in ~talk
Promonk Link ParentTechnically, only computers made with the Von Neumann architecture have CPUs, which comprise the control and arithmetic units of the machine. There are other architectures where control and...Technically, only computers made with the Von Neumann architecture have CPUs, which comprise the control and arithmetic units of the machine. There are other architectures where control and arithmetic aren't centralized functions (or at least aren't centralized in the same way), so it wouldn't make sense to designate a unit the "CPU."
You could make the case that computers haven't really followed the Von Neumann scheme for decades, since Intel split off some control functions to the Southbridge. You can also make a case that current-day, multi-core, hyper-threaded CPUs aren't actually "CPUs" at all, since they often integrate graphics processing and split control and arithmetic between cores. Those are semantic, not practical distinctions though, and I don't think anyone bothers to argue that–aside from AMD's marketing department, I guess.
Relatedly, another common misconception regards the term "supercomputer." It isn't technically a jazzy term for a really fast, really powerful computer, it refers to computers composed of multiple less powerful computers configured to function together. Think along the lines of an ant colony being a "superorganism;" the individual organisms function together in such a way that the collective's behavior resembles that of a single entity. A pop culture analogy would be Voltron or the Power Rangers' Megazord: giant robots composed of smaller, individual robots connected together to form a super-robot.
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Comment on What common misunderstanding do you want to clear up? in ~talk
Promonk Link ParentWho says old jokes aren't funny? People have been cracking this non sequitur off for more than 2,000 years, and I still chuckle at it.Anyway, I think that Carthage must be destroyed.
Who says old jokes aren't funny? People have been cracking this non sequitur off for more than 2,000 years, and I still chuckle at it.
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Comment on What common misunderstanding do you want to clear up? in ~talk
Promonk Link ParentIt's probably more accurate to say they have a clutch and a set of brakes rather than two sets of brakes.Pretty much! They do have two separate sets of brakes. In order to stop, they release the grips from the cable and use traditional friction brakes to slow down.
It's probably more accurate to say they have a clutch and a set of brakes rather than two sets of brakes.
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Comment on Avalanche Studios' UK office is set to be closed as part of a workforce restructure – will also impact their Swedish studios in Stockholm and Malmö in ~games
Promonk Link ParentDo we really need a return to form though? The thing that made JC3 great was the addition of the wingsuit, and I have a hard time imagining what a similarly innovative new mechanic would even look...Do we really need a return to form though? The thing that made JC3 great was the addition of the wingsuit, and I have a hard time imagining what a similarly innovative new mechanic would even look like. It seems like Avalanche had a tough time with it too, considering the speed with which we got 4 and the resounding thud with which it was received.
I think they kinda blew their creative wad with 3 and its DLCs and never came up with a new mechanic to rival the wingsuit. Without that the franchise was in danger of falling into the Ubisoft pattern of releasing a new entry every couple of years with a slightly new setting and window dressing, but nothing substantively new to offer. That might be fine for devotees, but I think the general gaming public saw the writing on the wall with 4 and gave it a pass.
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Comment on What are some of your personal misheard lyrics? in ~music
Promonk Link ParentI went back and listened for that line, and my agéd, Internet-addled brain went to "she knows just what it takes to make a probe Lush." O! The advances we've made as a species in the field of...I went back and listened for that line, and my agéd, Internet-addled brain went to "she knows just what it takes to make a probe Lush." O! The advances we've made as a species in the field of teledildonics in the last 40 years!
Another thing that occurred to me on re-listening to that song–aside from that Kim Carnes perpetually sounded like she desperately needed to clear her throat–is that a lot of these misheard lyrics were probably down to the shit audio quality of commercial radio back in the day. Both "Bette Davis Eyes" and "pro blush" came through crystal clear on YouTube, even with their compression. If you misinterpret lyrics today it's probably due to funky enunciation or the lyrics themselves being nonsensical.
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Comment on Avalanche Studios' UK office is set to be closed as part of a workforce restructure – will also impact their Swedish studios in Stockholm and Malmö in ~games
Promonk (edited )Link ParentThat was probably off the table already, considering how poorly Just Cause 4 was received. I haven't played JC4 so I'm not really in a position to criticize it too harshly, but I adored JC3–came...That was probably off the table already, considering how poorly Just Cause 4 was received.
I haven't played JC4 so I'm not really in a position to criticize it too harshly, but I adored JC3–came as close to 100%-ing it as I ever get in any game–and even I felt no interest in what they presented in 4. I even got free licenses for JC4 twice, and I've never once bothered to run the exe.
It's regrettable I guess, but I'd already written that franchise off as a zombie. I'm more bummed that we'll likely never get a successor to Mad Max, but that was also unlikely.
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Comment on What are some of your personal misheard lyrics? in ~music
Promonk LinkThis one is a little different in that I always knew I was mishearing the lyrics, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out what they were supposed to be. For probably 35 years I must never...This one is a little different in that I always knew I was mishearing the lyrics, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out what they were supposed to be. For probably 35 years I must never have heard a DJ announce the title "Bette Davis Eyes," because if I had, I would've realized that the line wasn't "she's got better days aside," which makes no sense.
It's especially odd because occasionally I'd hear someone say "Bette Davis eyes" as a reference, but I never put together that it was a reference to this song specifically. I even knew it was a reference to a song called "Bette Davis Eyes," but I never realized it was referring to that song because I couldn't make out the line in the chorus.
I don't recall when or how the dots got connected for me, but the feeling that making the connection gave me was reminiscent of the feeling I got as a kid when I realized that two roads in my hometown that we always took to go to different destinations were actually right next to and ran parallel to each other. My mental map of the universe underwent a sudden, dramatic and almost wholly inconsequential realignment, and I couldn't tell anyone about this revolution in thought because they'd just say, "of course Railroad Ave and the Expressway are right next to each other and run parallel. Of course the song is about a girl with weird eyes like Bette Davis had."
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Comment on The neo-Victorian neo-nazi lesbian BDSM cult that made video games in ~humanities.history
Promonk Link ParentIt's a dilemma for your garden-variety Portland weirdo hipster: sure, cider is great and tasty, but it's difficult to drink a hard cider ironically. A Cosmo is tasty in its way as well, but it's...It's a dilemma for your garden-variety Portland weirdo hipster: sure, cider is great and tasty, but it's difficult to drink a hard cider ironically. A Cosmo is tasty in its way as well, but it's also more than a little ridiculous in its bargain bin ostentatiousness. That's a perfect formula for being unironically enthusiastic about something that deserves scornful irony.
"Unironically enthusiastic about something you should by rights be scornful of" is my mental longhand for "mid-aughts Portland." I think it's a kind of reaction to grunge-era nihilism.
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Comment on The neo-Victorian neo-nazi lesbian BDSM cult that made video games in ~humanities.history
Promonk (edited )Link ParentIt's probably a little of both. He talks at some length in other videos about being on the spectrum, and I have noticed some linguistic stumbles of the sort I associate with some folks with...It's probably a little of both. He talks at some length in other videos about being on the spectrum, and I have noticed some linguistic stumbles of the sort I associate with some folks with autism. I don't reckon he'll ever speak like a classically trained voice performer, even if he tried.
Thing is, I don't think he needs to. I get the impression that to some extent the rough and amateurish style is intentional. As I and others have noted, his channel is reminiscent of an earlier time in YouTube's history, which is part of the appeal for me. There are a lot of more recent YouTube tropes that get under my skin, but they're largely absent in his videos (for example, many creators try to add variety to shot composition by throwing in unnecessary and jarring zoom cuts with little relevance to what's actually being said). He has a kind of outsider style that reminds me of old public access shows, which makes sense considering where he developed the format.
It also reminds me somewhat of the mid-aughts Portland vibe, though I can't articulate exactly why. He wouldn't have seemed out of place in some dive bar on Hawthorne circa 2006, sucking down an ironic cosmopolitan. The sort of place decorated with a holographic Last Supper and a windsurfing board with porn macrame'd onto it. (If that seems oddly specific and weird, you might've had to have been there.)
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Comment on The neo-Victorian neo-nazi lesbian BDSM cult that made video games in ~humanities.history
Promonk Link ParentHey, Corvallis has its own local charm too, I imagine. There's probably an interesting pattern in a wheat field or something there. (Just in case you needed any more proof that yes, I attended UO.)Hey, Corvallis has its own local charm too, I imagine. There's probably an interesting pattern in a wheat field or something there. (Just in case you needed any more proof that yes, I attended UO.)
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Comment on The neo-Victorian neo-nazi lesbian BDSM cult that made video games in ~humanities.history
Promonk Link ParentI should know. I was one of those clowns who blew into town to give the townies conniptions.I should know. I was one of those clowns who blew into town to give the townies conniptions.
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Comment on The neo-Victorian neo-nazi lesbian BDSM cult that made video games in ~humanities.history
Promonk Link ParentHe very passive-aggressively pulls the mic closer to him while staring dead-eyed at the camera in the beginning of another video, so I suspect plenty of people have given him well-intentioned...He very passive-aggressively pulls the mic closer to him while staring dead-eyed at the camera in the beginning of another video, so I suspect plenty of people have given him well-intentioned technical advice on that point.
As for his performance, I rather like the roughness of it. He's not putting on airs and tightly editing his stuff, he's just being his own spectrum-y self, sharing weird shit he's geeked out about. There's a sort of dignity in it, I think.
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Comment on The neo-Victorian neo-nazi lesbian BDSM cult that made video games in ~humanities.history
Promonk Link ParentHe's a Eugene townie, which is its own unique species of weirdo–or several species, really. They have all the resentment and underachiever's pride of your stereotypical college town townie, but...He's a Eugene townie, which is its own unique species of weirdo–or several species, really. They have all the resentment and underachiever's pride of your stereotypical college town townie, but the people they're resentful and prideful about are UO students. I expect it's a similar dynamic as must exist in that Florida town with the clown college, though I can't be certain as I've never been to Florida.
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Comment on The neo-Victorian neo-nazi lesbian BDSM cult that made video games in ~humanities.history
Promonk LinkThe title of this one reads like the kind of word salad you'd get if you gave ChatGPT a prompt for "the most click-bait-y title for a YouTube video possible," but it actually manages to deliver on...The title of this one reads like the kind of word salad you'd get if you gave ChatGPT a prompt for "the most click-bait-y title for a YouTube video possible," but it actually manages to deliver on its premise.
I've been bingeing this guy's videos after a godly algorithm pull, and have been loving the OldTube vibe of them. I was actually surprised to see the channel is pretty new, and thought that his sub count seemed low for the kind of videos he makes. His writing is on-point, and he has a kind of goofy, autistic charm that might not be everyone's cup of tea, but that I enjoy immensely. I'll be mildly surprised if he doesn't hit a million subs within a year.
In other videos he mentions that he started the show on his college's radio station (Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR), before making it a podcast, and then finally into a YouTube channel. A lot of his videos were scripted for those earlier incarnations and re-recorded for upload to YouTube, which explains how he's managed to be so prolific in such a short time.
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The neo-Victorian neo-nazi lesbian BDSM cult that made video games
32 votes
I am going to come at you with "Linux is ready now," because the issue isn't the readiness of Linux, it's the unwillingness of software vendors to support it. The distinction might not be meaningful to you personally, but it's integral to understanding the broader problem of Microsoft's near-monopoly on end-user OSes.
I'm not even saying it's all sunshine and roses on the Linux side of the fence, just that framing it as "Linux just isn't ready" is reductive to the point of being misleading.