Promonk's recent activity
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Comment on Introductions | July 2026 in ~talk
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Comment on There is no reason to buy another PlayStation or Xbox in ~games
Promonk LinkI've seen people argue that consoles are so much easier than PC when it comes to just sitting down and playing something without fussing over software updates and whatnot, but I wonder how true...I've seen people argue that consoles are so much easier than PC when it comes to just sitting down and playing something without fussing over software updates and whatnot, but I wonder how true that actually is. My console gaming over the last decade or so has consisted solely of visiting my friend's house and playing something on PS4, and it never seemed any easier to me. I recall waiting for console updates damn near every time (he's not as into games as I, so it might never have even booted when I wasn't around), and performance never seemed so much better to me.
I wonder if a little of the antipathy console players hold for PCs is down to having had issues in the '00s and not much recent experience with the PC gaming environment. I also remember vividly how deeply entwined console ownership and identity were for kids back in the '80s and '90s, and wonder how much of the kinda abusive relationship some people have with console manufacturers stems from that.
I don't mean to be dismissive of people who feel their use-case is better served by consoles, but whenever I see arguments to that effect, I can't help but feel they aren't terribly persuasive. I've seen people say things like, "I just want to plop on the couch and start playing." Then I compare my own experiences with PC gaming: I plop down in my computer chair and can be actively playing within 30 seconds from a cold start. I could even set it up so my computer boots directly to Big Picture Mode to navigate with my controller, should the spirit take me.
Am I missing something?
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Comment on Humble Choice - July 2026 in ~games
Promonk Link ParentI'd like to try out Construction Simulator. That was one of the "huh, maybe I'd give that a shot" titles from last month for me.I'd like to try out Construction Simulator. That was one of the "huh, maybe I'd give that a shot" titles from last month for me.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Promonk Link ParentThis game is in the current Humble Choice bundle, if anyone is interested in picking it up cheap along with Tunic and a few others.This game is in the current Humble Choice bundle, if anyone is interested in picking it up cheap along with Tunic and a few others.
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Comment on Vatican declares Society of St. Pius X in schism, excommunicates bishops in ~humanities
Promonk Link ParentThe adjectives I'll give you. I've never seen good translations of those. I'll argue about the verbs, though. Yes, you lose a bit by removing the Roman connotations around sexual passivity and the...The adjectives I'll give you. I've never seen good translations of those.
I'll argue about the verbs, though. Yes, you lose a bit by removing the Roman connotations around sexual passivity and the euphemistic metaphor, but I'd argue that "sodomize" and "face-fuck" do the job tolerably well. They certainly get the point across, at least.
All that's up for debate. What I got from Google translate on the other hand is just objectively bad:
"I will bite you and crush you, Aurelius, the pathetic and the scoundrel of Fury."
I'm not even mad about the confusion on the names. Those verbs tho–
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Comment on Vatican declares Society of St. Pius X in schism, excommunicates bishops in ~humanities
Promonk Link ParentDid you look up a translation or use Google translate? Google absolutely does NOT do the line justice...Did you look up a translation or use Google translate? Google absolutely does NOT do the line justice...
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Comment on Vatican declares Society of St. Pius X in schism, excommunicates bishops in ~humanities
Promonk Link ParentFunny you should say that, as the first three words together are my Steam ID.Funny you should say that, as the first three words together are my Steam ID.
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Comment on Vatican declares Society of St. Pius X in schism, excommunicates bishops in ~humanities
Promonk (edited )Link ParentPedicabo ego vos et irrumabo, Aureli pathice et cinaede Furi... Sounds lovely to our ears, for what that's worth. This poem is a great example of why subjective aesthetic judgments regarding a...Pedicabo ego vos et irrumabo, Aureli pathice et cinaede Furi...
Sounds lovely to our ears, for what that's worth. This poem is a great example of why subjective aesthetic judgments regarding a language we don't understand are probably bad criteria by which to judge.
The poem is Catullus Carmen 16. I'll leave it to the reader to search up a translation. Fair warning, it's extremely NSFW.
Edit: look up a proper translation. I just used Google translate, and it bowdlerized it fiercely.
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Comment on Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles in ~games
Promonk Link ParentMaybe you can explain the appeal of the yearly rigamarole of paying full price for a roster update for a middling (at best) sports game with no real innovations in 20 years.Maybe you can explain the appeal of the yearly rigamarole of paying full price for a roster update for a middling (at best) sports game with no real innovations in 20 years.
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Comment on These tacky men with ridiculous glasses want you to wear them too in ~life.style
Promonk Link ParentOk, but smartphones though? We've already reached market saturation on tiny cameras that can be used to take creepshots. I don't see how cameras on glasses are this whole other class of thing.Ok, but smartphones though? We've already reached market saturation on tiny cameras that can be used to take creepshots. I don't see how cameras on glasses are this whole other class of thing.
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Comment on These tacky men with ridiculous glasses want you to wear them too in ~life.style
Promonk Link ParentIn that case, how is it much different than a smartphone? Creeps gonna creep and all. I'm not at all excusing anyone for being a sex pest, it just seems like kind of an odd line to draw that...In that case, how is it much different than a smartphone? Creeps gonna creep and all.
I'm not at all excusing anyone for being a sex pest, it just seems like kind of an odd line to draw that cameras worn on the head are verboten, or at least a sign of deviance, while nearly everybody has a concealable camera on their person 24/7.
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Comment on These tacky men with ridiculous glasses want you to wear them too in ~life.style
Promonk Link ParentWait, if smart glasses are for creeps who want to take upskirt photos, wouldn't that mean they'd have to get their heads down to get an angle up a skirt? These are smart glasses, after all. I'm...Wait, if smart glasses are for creeps who want to take upskirt photos, wouldn't that mean they'd have to get their heads down to get an angle up a skirt? These are smart glasses, after all. I'm just imagining some weirdo laying on the ground, eyeglasses pointed up some woman's skirt thinking to himself, "Yes! Nobody suspects a thing!"
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Comment on No, artificial intelligence is not conscious in ~tech
Promonk Link ParentIt's an uncharitable way to frame it for sure, but it's not completely disconnected from reality. You cannot deny that a major impetus for the AI industry is the prospect of eliminating paid...It's an uncharitable way to frame it for sure, but it's not completely disconnected from reality. You cannot deny that a major impetus for the AI industry is the prospect of eliminating paid worker positions in favor of automated "workers." Whether the replacements should be considered people and therefore slaves is something of an open question, and not anywhere near the top of the list of concerns, but it's not wholly fantastical. It may very well be a thing we'll need to hash out in the not-too-distant future, but not today, thanks be.
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Comment on Nobody clicks your share buttons in ~tech
Promonk Link ParentThat's a pretty blatant whataboutism, but let's humor it anyway. Driving gets a person where they need or want to be, and eating meat can sustain them. Those are both pretty important things, and...... it doesn't seem worse than a lot of other things people do every day, like, say, driving or eating meat.
That's a pretty blatant whataboutism, but let's humor it anyway.
Driving gets a person where they need or want to be, and eating meat can sustain them. Those are both pretty important things, and while they could be accomplished more sustainably, they need to happen somehow. Are you prepared to claim the same for generated images? Hell, take it further: could you say the same about coding agents, the most persuasive use-case of LLMs and related technologies?
More importantly, society has been structured to fulfill transportation and food needs in a particular way, and the specifics of how those needs are provided for were determined by the exigencies of history and the limited understanding of the people who furthered development at various times. It's a fine and necessary thing to note that cattle ranching has a deleterious environmental effect, but you also have to acknowledge thousands of years of human history that's wrapped up with beef as a food source, and decades or centuries of infrastructure development devoted to providing it as cheaply at the point-of-purchase as possible. Those don't excuse the problems, but they should be taken into account.
What's happening right now is different: a powerful subset of society is propelling development of these tools in ways that are pretty categorically unsustainable (in multiple senses), despite well-founded, logical criticisms. It's disingenuous to equate the current development of a technology in full understanding of its drawbacks to systems that were built up for decades, centuries or millennia without that same understanding.
If you're simply looking for reasons to disregard criticisms, you're welcome to have that one, though it's not what I would call a respectable position.
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Comment on Nobody clicks your share buttons in ~tech
Promonk Link ParentAh, so you're talking about finding a meme somewhere that conveys an idea relevant to the subject and putting it in as a visual element, not making a meme yourself. In that case, I'd argue that...Ah, so you're talking about finding a meme somewhere that conveys an idea relevant to the subject and putting it in as a visual element, not making a meme yourself. In that case, I'd argue that the creation of the meme is creative and transformative, and the meme should be attributed in any quasi-journalistic work if possible. "Thoughtless" isn't categorical here, since it can take a fair bit of sifting to find le meme juste, to coin a phrase. Additionally, most memes are created and published anonymously, because the manner of distribution is itself a major part of the artistic medium. "I collaged this thing together specifically for you to throw into online conversations" is kinda the raison d'etre of the whole medium.
I don't see how one's judgment of the artistic merit of a work pertains, but for what it's worth, I wouldn't think too highly of a blog that exclusively used memes scrounged from various Internet sources either. I would still rate a blog that leans on AI-generated images lower though, because there are so many serious concerns about environmental and societal damage being caused by the industry that to blithely ignore them for the convenience of having easy access to bland and weirdly uncanny visual elements strikes me as scummy. It feels not so much like rearranging deck chairs or striking up the band on the Titanic, as taking this whole ship sinking thing as an excuse to sneak off to steerage for a quick wank.
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Comment on Nobody clicks your share buttons in ~tech
Promonk Link ParentIn the case of clip art, that's its intended purpose. In the case of memes, I'd say the majority of them are transformative in a meaningful way. Using someone's art to train an AI to replace them...In the case of clip art, that's its intended purpose. In the case of memes, I'd say the majority of them are transformative in a meaningful way. Using someone's art to train an AI to replace them is not meaningfully transformative.
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Comment on US battery industry cuts losses, shifts to new ventures amid electric vehicle bust in ~transport
Promonk Link ParentThat's funny you say that about "not every problem someone tells you about do they expect you to solve" because I gave nearly the exact same lecture somewhat jokingly to a coworker who's also on...That's funny you say that about "not every problem someone tells you about do they expect you to solve" because I gave nearly the exact same lecture somewhat jokingly to a coworker who's also on the spectrum earlier that very day. She reacted as though I had just said something incredibly witty, though in truth I was just trying to be a bit of a smartass.
What I don't know is what outcome or ideal future you want for yourself in this context.
Yeah, me either. That's a leitmotif in my personal symphony, it seems.
I think the part about repair that really scratches the soul itch for me is that each unit is a little puzzle. You've got this complex machine that isn't working right, and you have to figure out how each subsystem works together so you can identify what part might be causing the whole to fail in this particular way. That moment when you form your mental map of the system and apply a fix based on your understanding and experience, and it just works. That's the sauce. That's climax–getting money and maybe a little thanks afterward is just denouement.
I suppose my goal is to arrange things so I can get that juice as much as possible while keeping myself fed, housed, and reasonably healthy. It doesn't seem like much to ask, but it's a harder trick to pull off than I've expected it to be.
I thank you for talking about it with me. It's given me some things to chew over and maybe a sort of lateral perspective from which to look at things. I'll keep you in mind when I need to rubber duck some ideas about branching out and trying new things, if you don't mind.
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Comment on US battery industry cuts losses, shifts to new ventures amid electric vehicle bust in ~transport
Promonk Link ParentI don't know. I think mostly I'm just venting, and it's nice to be able to externalize these thoughts to someone who can understand who isn't also my reflection in the mirror. I'm not sure I was...I don't know. I think mostly I'm just venting, and it's nice to be able to externalize these thoughts to someone who can understand who isn't also my reflection in the mirror.
I'm not sure I was aiming to "accomplish" much aside from commiseration, honestly, but if you have something particular in mind and don't want to broadcast it, you can shoot me a DM.
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Comment on US battery industry cuts losses, shifts to new ventures amid electric vehicle bust in ~transport
Promonk Link ParentIt's been a point of occupational frustration for me for some time that I can't seem to climb that scale you've described. I'm stuck at multimeter–and barely that, truth be told–and it's been...In that scope of work you can do a lot with a little (hand tools, multimeter, soldering iron, [cheap]microscope in that order), and the repair scenarios that would call for the use of more expensive / sophisticated / niche tools often align with the same situations in which COR is higher than RWN (Cost Of Repair / Replace With New).
It's been a point of occupational frustration for me for some time that I can't seem to climb that scale you've described. I'm stuck at multimeter–and barely that, truth be told–and it's been almost entirely because the economics of repair and refurbishment have been constructed in such a way to discourage taking repair further than that. The incentives have been so perverted on so many levels that it's mind-blowing–and more than that, they've been set in what feels like exactly the right way to offend my own personal ethos, as though it's directed at me. I know that's not true, but when frustration mounts, the ego finds its way in.
A thought has been bouncing around my head lately, inspired in part on discussions regarding software engineering and the advent of coding agents. One of the great concerns AI critics raise is this idea of skill development, and how it's necessary to have junior positions available for people to grow into senior engineers. If AI gets good enough at the sorts of tasks people employ junior engineers to handle, there's no reason to employ them and the career track that ends in a healthy pool of senior engineers simply disappears.
It occurs to me that this exact phenomenon has been happening to technician career paths for decades, only instead of sophisticated machine learning algorithms displacing junior engineers, it's the manufacturing process developments, logistics agreements, regulatory capture, globalism and economies of scale that have disrupted the development of technicians. Unless the devices in question are huge, highly specialized and extremely expensive infrastructure investments–of the sort you describe–there's just no incentive to foster the development of technicians.
I've been working as a PC hardware repair and refurbishment technician for about a decade now, and I can count on one hand the number of techs I've met who were proficient with a soldering iron and logic analyzer–and I'd still have enough fingers left over to make a couple of rude gestures. The number of boards I've scrapped that only required simple, straightforward fixes that nobody had the capacity to perform sickens me–and this in an industry that loves to plump itself as sustainable and environmentally friendly. The cherry on top is that despite my dedication to the craft (and I do consider myself a craftsman to some extent), the only time I've ever made a living wage in this field was when I was a field technician for big OEMs–exactly the sort that IT folks love to deride as incompetent, bumbling boobs–and I ended up getting laid off after two years for my troubles.
What truly pisses me off though is that this isn't the first time I've found an occupational field I love, only to have it yanked away by market forces completely outside my control. In college I studied specifically to be a newspaper editor, only to leave school in '07, just as that industry was embarking on its torturous drain-circling in earnest. I spent years afterward blindly groping around for purpose and meaningful work, and finally found repair after the smartphone revolution kicked off. It seemed like it was the Next Big Thing™, so I worked to get in on fixing the bastards for a living at the ground floor. Soon it became clear that no one was interested in fixing up old shit–least of all the consumers–so I moved on to PC hardware. That's infra, right? People are going to want to fix stuff that requires considerable investment, right? Apparently, manufacturers took notes on how the smartphone market went and learned all the right lessons to make oodles in the short term, and damn the long term straight to hell.
Apologies for the rant, but you seem like exactly the sort of person who completely understands the struggle, and that's oddly rare nowadays.
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Comment on US battery industry cuts losses, shifts to new ventures amid electric vehicle bust in ~transport
Promonk Link ParentThanks! I'll look through your stock and see if anything grabs me. I'm in the trenches doing basic consumer electronics repair, so it looks like most of the stuff you process is a bit out of scope...Thanks! I'll look through your stock and see if anything grabs me.
I'm in the trenches doing basic consumer electronics repair, so it looks like most of the stuff you process is a bit out of scope for me. I've had a hard time getting my employers to even buy soldering consumables, if that tells you anything.
It's been a continuous point of frustration for me how resistant the repair and recycling industry is to, you know, actual repair. So much of the stuff that has come across my benches has needed just a little more time and effort to fix up than anyone (but me) is willing to give it.
It's immensely frustrating, but I've ranted about that elsewhere. I probably don't need to preach to the choir on this.
Why not Tildesinos?