psi's recent activity

  1. Comment on Rumor: Insider claims Xbox handheld under development in ~games

    psi
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    I wonder if/when we will see a portable with eGPU support. There's a tendency to build more powerful devices, but high fidelity graphics are wasted on a 7" screen; you really only notice the...

    I wonder if/when we will see a portable with eGPU support. There's a tendency to build more powerful devices, but high fidelity graphics are wasted on a 7" screen; you really only notice the artifacts when they're blown-up on a television. So why not build a portable that targets 720p/60 fps at med/low settings in handheld mode but 1080p+/60+ fps at med/high settings when docked, with the extra juice coming from the dock itself?

    1 vote
  2. Comment on Folks in those $100k+ jobs, corporate types, office workers... What would you say you actually do? in ~talk

    psi
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    I'm fairly certain OP is American, however, so I assume they were referring to discrepancies within the US.

    I'm fairly certain OP is American, however, so I assume they were referring to discrepancies within the US.

    1 vote
  3. Comment on Folks in those $100k+ jobs, corporate types, office workers... What would you say you actually do? in ~talk

    psi
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    Link Parent
    Is location really the most important factor? I'd think you'd have to reach for the extrema to find places where you could quadruple your pay by simply moving. I also kind of doubt that 25k could...

    Is location really the most important factor? I'd think you'd have to reach for the extrema to find places where you could quadruple your pay by simply moving.

    I also kind of doubt that 25k could be considered a "good" salary anywhere in the US. Sufficient? Maybe. But good?

    4 votes
  4. Comment on Jared Kushner says Gaza’s ‘waterfront property could be very valuable’ in ~misc

    psi
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    Kushner might not currently be part of any government, but Trump appointed him to broker a peace deal between Palestein and Israel, resulting in the Israel–United Arab Emirates normalization...

    Kushner might not currently be part of any government, but Trump appointed him to broker a peace deal between Palestein and Israel, resulting in the Israel–United Arab Emirates normalization agreement (the "Abraham Accords"). Kushner's firm then received 2 billion dollars from Saudi Arabia after Trump left office.

    (As a side note, the blatant nepotism afforded to Kushner makes the fishing expedition against the Bidens look extremely hypocritical. )

    12 votes
  5. Comment on "The university campus is rapidly becoming a locus of infantilizing social control that any independent-minded student should seek to escape" in ~life

    psi
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    The reason for the US's doctor shortage isn't rooted in salary but rather the limited number of residency slots, which artificially depresses the supply of doctors. ("Why America Has So Few...

    The reason for the US's doctor shortage isn't rooted in salary but rather the limited number of residency slots, which artificially depresses the supply of doctors.

    “The first thing I would do is to expand the residency system so that more doctors can become residents after medical school,” Orr told me. “This might be the key bottleneck. The medical schools say they can’t easily expand, because there aren’t enough residency slots for their graduates to fill. But there aren’t enough residency slots because Washington has purposefully limited federal residency financing.” The arithmetic is simple: More funding means more residents; more residents allows medical schools to grow; more medical students today means more doctors in a decade.

    Increasing doctor pay won't increase the number of doctors -- in fact, we're seeing something like the opposite. Clinics are replacing general practitioners with less expensive nurse practitioners.

    11 votes
  6. Comment on Tell US Congress: Stop the TikTok ban in ~tech

    psi
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    Link Parent
    Let me preface this by saying that I take the national security concerns seriously and agree with the ban. That said, I think you're misrepresenting @papasquat's argument quite a bit. Their point...

    Let me preface this by saying that I take the national security concerns seriously and agree with the ban. That said, I think you're misrepresenting @papasquat's argument quite a bit. Their point is only that there are many things that could be labeled net negatives to society by an overzealous government. I don't really mind if people disagree on this matter, but I do take issue with this statement:

    Your reply is no more than a strawman argument. It distracts from the facts. It's lazy. It's unresearched. It exaggerates. You haven't listed a single argument on why those categories are a net negative, and for many, once again, I have to commit to some serious mental gymnastics to think of something. For TikTok, it's the other way around.

    As a general guideline: whataboutism usually results in very poor arguments. That's what seems to have happened here.

    I think you're unfairly holding papasquat to higher standards than you've held yourself. I would say both your initial post and papasquat's reply contained approximately the same amount of content and similarly casual, unrigorous argumentation. You've accused them of exaggerating, but you also implied that there are no redeeming qualities of TikTok. Surely that is an exaggeration, too?

    3 votes
  7. Comment on Donald Trump's lawyers say it is impossible for him to post bond covering $454 million US civil fraud judgment in ~news

    psi
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    Off topic, but according to the director (and given credence by Matt Damon) Trump "bullied" his way into that cameo. Unsurprisingly Trump has since responded with his standard deny-and-double-down...

    Off topic, but according to the director (and given credence by Matt Damon) Trump "bullied" his way into that cameo. Unsurprisingly Trump has since responded with his standard deny-and-double-down approach ("[They were] begging me to make a cameo appearance" and "I was very busy, and didn’t want to do it"), so I think we can safely conclude that Trump definitely did want to do it and bullied his way in.

    10 votes
  8. Comment on Time to delete your Glassdoor account and data in ~tech

    psi
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    The first three reasons are arguably in "cover your ass" territory, but this one? What does that even mean? I'm not being rhetorical here; I genuinely do not know what terms they're trying to...

    The first three reasons are arguably in "cover your ass" territory, but this one?

    we reserve the right to keep any information in our archives that we deem necessary to [...] exercise the right of freedom of expression and information.

    What does that even mean? I'm not being rhetorical here; I genuinely do not know what terms they're trying to convey. I mean, is the implication here that they can use the data for anything? If that's the case, they might as well have ended that paragraph at "...we reserve the right to keep any information."

    34 votes
  9. Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of March 11 in ~news

    psi
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    "Judge says Fani Willis can stay on Georgia Trump case if ex-boyfriend withdraws". The New York Times. Technically the judge said that either Fani Willis or Nathan Wade must withdraw, but Willis...

    "Judge says Fani Willis can stay on Georgia Trump case if ex-boyfriend withdraws". The New York Times.

    Technically the judge said that either Fani Willis or Nathan Wade must withdraw, but Willis withdrawing would doom the case, so Wade withdrawing is the only sensible choice.

    1 vote
  10. Comment on Happy Tau/2 day everyone! in ~science

    psi
    (edited )
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    The beauty of the radian is that it isn't really a unit at all. A radian is, by definition, just the angle subtended when the arc of a circle equals its radius. But since we know that we can...

    The beauty of the radian is that it isn't really a unit at all. A radian is, by definition, just the angle subtended when the arc of a circle equals its radius. But since we know that we can measure the arc length of a circle using s = θ r, that means that when s = r (i.e., when the angle is 1 radian), it is also the case that θ = 1 (per SI 2019, no units necessary!).

    This allows us to sensibly define Taylor series of functions that have angular arguments without needing a bunch of ad-hoc conversion factors, e.g. the tried and true

    sin(x [rad]) = x - 1/3! x^3 + ...
    

    instead of

    sin(x [deg]) = (x π / 180°) - 1/3! (x π / 180°)^3 + ...
    

    or

    sin(x [rev]) = (x / 2π)  - 1/3! (x / 2π)^3 + ...
    
    9 votes
  11. Comment on Happy Tau/2 day everyone! in ~science

  12. Comment on Do you have any game sub-genres that you have a name for, but aren't big enough to be "official" sub-genres? in ~games

    psi
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    Not exactly what you're looking for, but CrossCode has a reasonably good tower defense mini-game in this style.

    Not exactly what you're looking for, but CrossCode has a reasonably good tower defense mini-game in this style.

    2 votes
  13. Comment on Canadian father asks court to stop 27-year-old daughter's MAID death, review doctors' sign-off in ~health

    psi
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    I don't think it's appropriate for people to be speculating about who's in the right here. The only uncontested fact is that two of the three doctors approved of the procedure. Obviously it's...

    I don't think it's appropriate for people to be speculating about who's in the right here. The only uncontested fact is that two of the three doctors approved of the procedure. Obviously it's someone's business to determine whether her suffering qualifies for MAID, but the patient is absolutely right that the reason is "none of [our] damn business".

    In my opinion, people are reading way too much into this case given how little we know.

    28 votes
  14. Comment on Mundane Musings Monday in ~talk

    psi
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    A few of the anecdotes here have reminded me of a story. I would describe it as peak mundane, but somehow this memory has stuck with me for years, so maybe it's a perfect fit for this thread. Some...

    A few of the anecdotes here have reminded me of a story. I would describe it as peak mundane, but somehow this memory has stuck with me for years, so maybe it's a perfect fit for this thread.

    Some years ago I attended a local, minor league baseball game, and out of sheer luck, our section was gifted coupons redeemable for a free cupcake at a local bakery. I have a massive sweet tooth, so even though this coupon just guaranteed, like, a $4 cupcake, this small stroke of luck was the highlight of my evening.

    As my birthday was just around the corner, I figured I'd hold on to the coupon for a week or so (well before the expiration date on the coupon), at which point my friends and I would pick up the free cupcake as well as buy a few extra. The coupon had the somewhat unusual requirement that the order needed to be placed in advance. But it's a local spot, so I understood that availability could be limited. I waited a few days, went to their website, placed the order, and scheduled the pick-up time.

    Fast forward to my birthday. My friends and I walked into the shop, and I proudly announced that I had arrived to pick up a cupcake!

    "Did you get a confirmation email?"

    Yes, it's right here! Here is my confirmation email! It even has the scheduled pick-up time in it!

    "Oh, no. I meant, did you get a confirmation email from the owner?"

    Dear reader, I did not have this second, hitherto unknown confirmation email as required by this secret, hitherto unknown coupon requirement.

    I did not get a cupcake that day. I did not get that secret, second confirmation email ever. I did not get my free cupcake.

    8 votes
  15. Comment on Game recommendations, specifically (round 2) in ~games

    psi
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    Ha, AudioSurf is a blast from the past! Yup, I remember jamming to my songs while zipping around. Thanks for the memory.

    Ha, AudioSurf is a blast from the past! Yup, I remember jamming to my songs while zipping around. Thanks for the memory.

    1 vote
  16. Comment on Game recommendations, specifically (round 2) in ~games

    psi
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    Exo One nails it! And it's pretty obscure, so I don't think I would have encountered that naturally. Thanks for the rec! The others I'm familiar with, though I've only played each to varying...

    Exo One nails it! And it's pretty obscure, so I don't think I would have encountered that naturally. Thanks for the rec!

    The others I'm familiar with, though I've only played each to varying degrees. I've finished Spider-Man, dropped Sunset Overdrive, and somehow never played Just Cause. Of the three, Sunset Overdrive was the game that intrigued me the most, but I found the movement a bit too restrictive in the beginning (a literal rail shooter, if you will). I probably ought to give it another shot, though.

    1 vote
  17. Comment on Game recommendations, specifically (round 2) in ~games

    psi
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    I think it's been at least half a decade since I tried Warframe, so you're bringing up a good point. Maybe I'd enjoy it more now, either for evolution of the game or of what I'm looking for in a...

    I think it's been at least half a decade since I tried Warframe, so you're bringing up a good point. Maybe I'd enjoy it more now, either for evolution of the game or of what I'm looking for in a game. But it'll have to wait since right now I'm trying to get into FFXIV. I try to abide by a one-game-at-a-time rule (mostly unsuccessfully), but one-MMO-at-a-time is where I draw a hard line!

    As for my recommendations: in the previous thread, I suggested Defunct. I think it's the closest game I've found to Tribes movement-wise. My only complaint is that it's pretty short, so it ends up feeling more like a demo than a fully-fledged game.

    1 vote
  18. Comment on Game recommendations, specifically (round 2) in ~games

    psi
    Link Parent
    No worries! I think the point of this thread is to be picky. Unfortunately I can't think of any games that play like that (other than maybe DMC, as you mentioned). Yet, like a word on the tip of...

    No worries! I think the point of this thread is to be picky. Unfortunately I can't think of any games that play like that (other than maybe DMC, as you mentioned). Yet, like a word on the tip of my tongue, I feel as though I have seen similar games.

    I'll keep watching your replies -- hopefully someone else has an idea!

    2 votes
  19. Comment on Game recommendations, specifically (round 2) in ~games

    psi
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    I've played neither Pikmin nor the game I'm about to recommend, but I believe Tinykin is basically an indie Pikmin?

    I've played neither Pikmin nor the game I'm about to recommend, but I believe Tinykin is basically an indie Pikmin?

    3 votes
  20. Comment on Game recommendations, specifically (round 2) in ~games

    psi
    Link Parent
    Ah, I see what you mean now. Maybe you'd be interested in the insect glaive from Monster Hunter World/Rise?

    Ah, I see what you mean now. Maybe you'd be interested in the insect glaive from Monster Hunter World/Rise?

    1 vote