Raistlin's recent activity
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Comment on What's a culture shock that you experienced? in ~talk
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Comment on What's a culture shock that you experienced? in ~talk
Raistlin Link ParentHahaha, I'm sure he probably got used to it! It's difficult when you go to countries with different personal space bubbles than yours, and having to adapt to that. Yeah, same. When I say kiss,...Hahaha, I'm sure he probably got used to it! It's difficult when you go to countries with different personal space bubbles than yours, and having to adapt to that.
Yeah, same. When I say kiss, it's that cheek touching action and blowing a kiss in the air. Although with close family members (mom, aunties), it can be an actual kiss on the cheek if, like, they haven't seen you for a while.
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Comment on What's a culture shock that you experienced? in ~talk
Raistlin Link ParentI think it would be quickly understood that it's not a thing another culture would do. If a local, you might be perceived as... stand-offish, I suppose, if you didn't kiss. Rejecting a kiss would...I think it would be quickly understood that it's not a thing another culture would do. If a local, you might be perceived as... stand-offish, I suppose, if you didn't kiss. Rejecting a kiss would probably be perceived as intentionally keeping your distance, maybe almost rude, or at the very least strange. If my wife (who is also not Latin) were to reject kisses from my aunties and cousins, that would carry real social costs, for example.
It's heavily age and gender coded. You would absolutely have to kiss your aunties, for example, that's not optional. Males would kiss female friends of within a certain level of social distance, and female friends kiss each other. Male friends do not. I got kissed on the cheek in France by the father of the groom for a friend's wedding, which gave me a taste of my own culture shock medicine!
And yes, her reaction wasn't cute at all, she was legitimately distressed. I probably could've logicked my way into guessing that most cultures aren't as physically close as ours, but you make these unconscious assumptions sometimes. I learned my lesson, anyway!
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Comment on What's a culture shock that you experienced? in ~talk
Raistlin LinkWhen I met my ex girlfriend for the first time, when saying bye, I went to kiss her on the cheek. She's Chinese, I'm Latin. It turns out that this is not how to say goodbye to people universally.When I met my ex girlfriend for the first time, when saying bye, I went to kiss her on the cheek. She's Chinese, I'm Latin. It turns out that this is not how to say goodbye to people universally.
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Comment on Turtle WoW's remake of World of Warcraft using Unreal Engine is reportedly cancelled in ~games
Raistlin (edited )LinkI mean, good. It was a huge investment of resources, it put the game in Blizzard's sights, and to what end? It should've never been attempted.I mean, good. It was a huge investment of resources, it put the game in Blizzard's sights, and to what end? It should've never been attempted.
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Comment on Proposed amendments to Denmark's laws on copyright and broadcasting would see VPNs limited for common uses under changes to combat access to illegal streaming services in ~tech
Raistlin (edited )Link ParentI hear what you're saying, but I still don't understand the profit pipeline here. There are some sites that charge people less than the legal version. That I understand, I can see where the money...I hear what you're saying, but I still don't understand the profit pipeline here.
There are some sites that charge people less than the legal version. That I understand, I can see where the money is coming from. Generally on torrent sites, there's no business model, because the hosters don't actually have to host the software themselves. The seeds will be people that already own the software, not necessarily related at all to the people running the site. I suppose there'll be a small amount of profit from ads, but no serious pirate will click on a rom site without their adblocker on. So I don't understand why the mafia would host a torrent site for some GBA roms.
You're comparing digital piracy to stealing, and perhaps so does Danish law, but very very few countries equate the two. Stealing is defined as depriving someone of something, which piracy doesn't do. Piracy is usually defined as IP infringement, which is a different offense, often civil and not criminal. Again, I'll defer to you on Danish law.
The reason I'm digging deep into this is because it very important to me is that this law is used to protect children from exploition and not to make sure people can't watch Lion King for free. I tentatively support the Australian social media ban, for example. However, I do not believe in the concept of copyright as the modern world has formulated it, and would resist any attempts to tighten it, which this law seems to do.
From what I understand of this law (and I can't read Danish, so please correct me), it seems I'd probably write to my MP asking them make sure that the provisions of the law protecting children and cracking down on the mafia can't also be used by the police and corporations to enforce their copyright on normal individuals. If they were unwilling to do this, I would immediately assume that "protect the children" is being used as an emotive cover for unrelated policy changes because your legislative body doesn't have the confidence that they could crack down on piracy and IP infringement just on its own.
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Comment on Proposed amendments to Denmark's laws on copyright and broadcasting would see VPNs limited for common uses under changes to combat access to illegal streaming services in ~tech
Raistlin Link ParentYou've made this point that, basically, piracy funds actual crimes. I'm not trying to pick a fight, I just want to understand the pipeline here. I go to a rom site that is essentially links to...You've made this point that, basically, piracy funds actual crimes.
I'm not trying to pick a fight, I just want to understand the pipeline here. I go to a rom site that is essentially links to torrents. I download, I don't fucking know, Tears of the Kingdom through BitTorrent with my VPN on for extra safety.
How is the money being made here and how is it moving?
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Comment on How Europe is gearing up to follow Australia's teen social media ban in ~tech
Raistlin Link ParentI think there is a difference between "think what would happen if the children were exposed to this" and "this is actively hurting children and we can see it in our lived experiences". This law...I think there is a difference between "think what would happen if the children were exposed to this" and "this is actively hurting children and we can see it in our lived experiences".
This law isn't trying to stop a theoretical problem dreamt up by Parliament, who then blasted propaganda on state tv to get the public onside. This is addressing something that the overwhelming majority of the Australian public considers to be a problem, which Parliament is responding to.
You're not going to be able to tell a parent whose kid's response to any difficult situation is the Gen Z stare, who jokes about being unable to read stories that don't have any pictures (I've seen this!) that there's not a problem. And yes, these are anecdotal, but if every parent has similar anecdotes and the other side's solution is that there's no problem everything's fine, well then of course there's going to be a break there.
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Comment on How Europe is gearing up to follow Australia's teen social media ban in ~tech
Raistlin (edited )Link ParentThe internet is still open to them. Forums are open to them, Discord is open to them, tildes is open to them. In terms of social conservatives, they want to do this for their own reasons, but...The internet is still open to them. Forums are open to them, Discord is open to them, tildes is open to them.
In terms of social conservatives, they want to do this for their own reasons, but liberals are forcing leftists (mostly parents) to ally with them. So far the liberal approach has been (and continued to be) to not do a single thing about the effect of social media on kids. Similar to the leftist-MAGA alliance in stopping the Trump admin from going full GenAI. Both camps have two very different reasons for stopping this, but in the face of liberal indifference, who the heck are we meant to ally with then?
I think it's a bit extreme to say that an incalculable number of people are going to kill themselves over this, don't you think? I'm not going to say zero, because I truly have no idea, but if Aus does actually successfully implement this (which is a big if), I suspect that in average literacy will go up and suicide rates will go down, as some of these kids actually start going outside and socialising.
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Comment on How Europe is gearing up to follow Australia's teen social media ban in ~tech
Raistlin Link ParentI think that's perfectly fine. Like I said, if kicking them off Reddit gets them into Discord, that's fine. It's not ideal, ideally they go outside and socialise. But Discord doesn't have the...I think that's perfectly fine. Like I said, if kicking them off Reddit gets them into Discord, that's fine. It's not ideal, ideally they go outside and socialise. But Discord doesn't have the algorithmic poison that FB, TikTok and Instagram have. If they self organise and make their own bootleg forum, the government considers that a win.
Ultimately, this will resolve around metrics. If literacy goes up and suicides go down, this will be successful and we in NZ will replicate it. If it makes it worse, it'll be repealed and we'll try something else.
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Comment on How Europe is gearing up to follow Australia's teen social media ban in ~tech
Raistlin Link ParentI don't think it's meant to be an overall solution. If they move to discord, that's fine, that's not full of algorithmic poison. A lot of these kids aren't that tech savvy, they might not know how...I don't think it's meant to be an overall solution. If they move to discord, that's fine, that's not full of algorithmic poison. A lot of these kids aren't that tech savvy, they might not know how to get around it.
Like, if you're really intent in getting around it, you will. But you might be surprised on what simple roadblocks can do. Like, emulation is trivial, but I still see people excited about basic ports, even though it'd take them 30 secs to set up the game if they wanted to. Or how I still see so many people with ads in their browser, even though getting ublock origin is literally 2 or 3 clicks.
A simple roadblock can filter out a ton of people.
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Comment on How Europe is gearing up to follow Australia's teen social media ban in ~tech
Raistlin LinkLooking forward to seeing how this is implemented. NZ tends to let big brother Aussie try things first and then copy them if they work out fine.Looking forward to seeing how this is implemented. NZ tends to let big brother Aussie try things first and then copy them if they work out fine.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Raistlin Link ParentProbably a bit of both! The old translation was much worse, but the cards are still not translated. I think that'd be a hell of an undertaking, because it wouldn't be text boxes, you'd have to...Probably a bit of both! The old translation was much worse, but the cards are still not translated. I think that'd be a hell of an undertaking, because it wouldn't be text boxes, you'd have to change the art itself.
The numbers of dragonballs is the attack of the card. The symbol on the right (kanji, I guess??) is the defense. You can memorise it, but generally, the more elaborate the symbol on the right, the higher the defense. The central kanji is the character's preferred card, with which they attack everybody. You don't have to memorise it as the game will tell you it's the preferred card, and the preferred kanji per character is to the right of the character portrait during every fight, so you can always eyeball it.
I sought out everything but didn't really need to. I was super ready with the Yajirobe card and Gohan in the party when fighting Vegeta, but he never transformed into an oozaru. So I just beat him conventionally. Now I have a Yajirobe card in my deck and no idea what to do with it.
I just got done grinding in Namek and got Gohan to lvl 35 (power level 22k), so I'm ready to move on with the story. I know I have choices to make still. I don't have to have Piccolo fuse with Nail, as I can just train him conventionally. I also want to decide if I want to commit to trading Chiaotzu with Ginyu, as Ginyu only has one ki attack and then the body change. The funny part about body change is that it works on everything, so I can use it on Freeza and beat the game that way too.
Edit: one more neat thing about this super old 1992 game. It has random encounters like every JRPG, but once you reach the level cap for that particular map, the encounters stop, so you can explore every inch of the map at will. I thought that that was pretty great.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Raistlin (edited )LinkHey it's me, back at it again refusing to play normal games. Been playing Dragon Ball Z: Super Saiya Densetsu over the past 3 days. It's a Super Famicom title that never reached the West, but has...Hey it's me, back at it again refusing to play normal games.
Been playing Dragon Ball Z: Super Saiya Densetsu over the past 3 days. It's a Super Famicom title that never reached the West, but has an English patch.
Man, I wish there were other DBZ games.liie this. The time period covers Raditz to Freeza, and the battle system is turn-based with cards. Its so cool/cute to see the little sprites do the DBZ battles, slam each other into rocks or the water, dodge, do their signature attacks,.etc.
You have a lot of freedom in the game. For example, if you finish King Kai's training early, Goku can arrive pretty early on, and even before the Nappa fight. If the Z fighters survive the battle with the saiyans (minus Piccolo, he always dies), then you bring the whole gang to Namek, where they even have little lines of dialogue. My absolute favourite instance of this is that, if Ginyu changes bodied with you, you can use the frog card to follow the normal route to change back. Or... maybe Yamcha doesn't need his body back. Maybe you kill Ginyu rhe normal way, and now you have Ginyu in the party going forward.
The game is also nostalgic in that, because it never came to the West and not a lot of people played it, it's not that fully researched. There's no consensus on whether you can influence the gravity training at all, or if it's just RNG. Most of the guides say you need to press specific buttons. Some people say it's completely random, and I agree. It feels like playing in the 90s, where there's actually not a lot of information and I have to figure it out.
A big minus is the grinding, because the game takes its power levels seriously. Your 3,000 power level Chiaotzu isn't going to put a scratch on 18,000 Kui. Thankfully, there's an auto battle button and emulators have speed up, so it wasn't unbearable with a good podcast.
I'm not sure I'd recommend it per se, but I'm kinda in love with this game right now.
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Comment on Netflix kills casting from phones in ~tech
Raistlin Link ParentYup, I kinda make a judgement call on those. I haven't pirated the Star Ocean 2 and Super Mario RPG remakes because they look like they have a ton of effort out into them. The Star Ocean 3 PS4...Yup, I kinda make a judgement call on those. I haven't pirated the Star Ocean 2 and Super Mario RPG remakes because they look like they have a ton of effort out into them. The Star Ocean 3 PS4 port? Not a single difference, aside from extra crashes. No guilt whatsoever in pirating that.
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Comment on How did you choose your podcast app and would you switch to a different one? in ~tech
Raistlin Link ParentI didn't even know you could do that with YouTube Music! Yeah, I kinda slowly ended up with my system because I was intentionally trying to get away from YouTube as social media (likes, comments,...I didn't even know you could do that with YouTube Music! Yeah, I kinda slowly ended up with my system because I was intentionally trying to get away from YouTube as social media (likes, comments, etc). I just wanted the videos.
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Comment on How did you choose your podcast app and would you switch to a different one? in ~tech
Raistlin (edited )Link ParentYour post is far better than mine is! I just did it faster because I had less to say 🤣 Yup, I wanted to go out of my way to avoid the YouTube environment full stop (suggestions, likes, comments,...Your post is far better than mine is! I just did it faster because I had less to say 🤣
Yup, I wanted to go out of my way to avoid the YouTube environment full stop (suggestions, likes, comments, etc), and then remembered that YouTube still has RSS. The one caveat with my very jury-rigged method is that to get it to be seamless, the automatic action is set up to be "download", which means that if you link me a YouTube video, I have to download. I think I can have it set up for it to ask me every time, but eh, I can't be bothered.
But you set up a Videos folder wherever, add the folder to AntennaPod, and save your videos there. Then when you refresh, they're in your inbox. So the process is, YouTube video shows up in your inbox, you open and download it and mark it as completed. Then you refresh again, and the downloaded video shows up. Then I just add it to my queue.
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Comment on How did you choose your podcast app and would you switch to a different one? in ~tech
Raistlin (edited )LinkI've gone through several, and have settled on AntennnaPod. It's the one that's recommended by privacy guides (aka no trackers). It's lightweight and does what I want it to do. The big thing for...I've gone through several, and have settled on AntennnaPod. It's the one that's recommended by privacy guides (aka no trackers). It's lightweight and does what I want it to do.
The big thing for me is that I can subscribe to rss feeds, which means I run my YouTube subs from there as well. I have the app open the videos via NewPipe as a download, and then I have a local folder as a sub as well. So basically my videos joins my podcasts in the queue, which I can watch offline whenever.
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Comment on Netflix kills casting from phones in ~tech
Raistlin (edited )Link ParentI've had to kinda relearn how to be a pirate. After college and Steam, I'd mostly gone full legal in terms of music, games and shows. After Netflix changes, gaming price increases and the like,...I've had to kinda relearn how to be a pirate. After college and Steam, I'd mostly gone full legal in terms of music, games and shows. After Netflix changes, gaming price increases and the like, I've mostly gone back to full piracy, which is easier than I thought it'd be. I'll buy games from indies, or from studios I respect. I bought Slay the Princess a few weeks ago and it was brilliant. But, an Activision Blizzard game? Or a port of a game I bought in the 90s? Nah, I'm taking that.
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Comment on Joint declaration signed in Pope’s historic first visit to Patriarchate in ~humanities
Raistlin Link ParentI try to be positive about it, though you're absolutely right that a lot of suffering comes out of it as well. Another good and probably more familiar example is Egyptians Copts. It's not that...I try to be positive about it, though you're absolutely right that a lot of suffering comes out of it as well.
Another good and probably more familiar example is Egyptians Copts. It's not that Christianity and Islam are better than one another or even native to the land of Egypt, but Christianity preserves a lot of ancient Egyptian characteristics that the Arab Egyptians lost, like the liturgical language of Coptic (the modern version of the ancient Egyptian language), the Coptic script from the Ptolemaic era, and even their own endonym (rem en keme/lem en kemi/rem en khemi). That kem is derived from Kemet/Kumat/kmt. As in, the ancient and indigenous name of Egypt. Without Christianity, these features get absorbed into the sprawling emerging Islamic culture, which is indeed what happened to the vast majority of the Muslim world (to an extent, it's more complicated than that).
Anyway, I'm rambling! I like cultures.
Yup, same experience from the opposite world. Women offering their hands short-circuited my brain for a second before I could recover and proceed as normal. Having moved out of Latin America, my brain doesn't freak out anymore, but I think it's always going to feel a bit strange for me.