Raistlin's recent activity
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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
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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.
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Comment on Joint declaration signed in Pope’s historic first visit to Patriarchate in ~humanities
Raistlin Link ParentOh, it'd probably be an absolute disaster! Although this time, you can't call someone a heretic and ask the emperor to please kill them, so less bloody overall. In seriousness, I think it would be...Oh, it'd probably be an absolute disaster! Although this time, you can't call someone a heretic and ask the emperor to please kill them, so less bloody overall.
In seriousness, I think it would be nice. No one would change their minds and no schisms would be healed, but it's good to just talk and see that other people are people that sincerely believe in their beliefs.
Regarding your story, that's really fascinating! I think the Orthodox are far more familiar with their saints than the bulk of Catholics. My upbringing is Catholic, and I don't think I could name a saint that's not one like an apostle or Peter or a basic one like that. Most of my education revolved around Jesus, God the Father and of course the weirdly-similar-to-an-earth-goddess Mary.
I understand this is different in some countries like Mexico and Ireland where definitely saints are a bigger deal, but many (most?) Catholic countries have a much less emphasis on saints. Definitely compared to the Orthodox anyway, as there's no Catholic equivalent to the Orthodox iconodulism. You'll have an image of Mary or Jesus, but you wouldn't be kissing it.
All this to say, I think it's really cool when members of a religion are able to preserve their stories.
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Comment on Joint declaration signed in Pope’s historic first visit to Patriarchate in ~humanities
Raistlin Link ParentIt's true that the lack of autocephaly in the Catholic Church lets the Pope make more overall changes! But it does have limits. Push too far and you risk another schism. There were quite a few...It's true that the lack of autocephaly in the Catholic Church lets the Pope make more overall changes! But it does have limits. Push too far and you risk another schism. There were quite a few openly disloyal American bishops during Francis' tenure, for example, and they had to be handled very gently.
And I should probably not speak in absolutes about Orthodoxy. While the Orthodox are far more unified in worship (even while autocephalous) than most other denominations, they're also not robots, like you say. And I'm mostly talking about the Greek side (and the Ecumenical Patriarchate) when I talk about history. I suspect that a Romanian Orthodox is still familiiar with the history to an extent, but don't feel that horrible inherited sense of betrayal that a Greek person might.
That said, the sort of changes Catholicism would demand would be massive, starting with the primacy (and not just first among equals) of the bishop of Rome. I don't think to that a Pope that doesn't believe in the concept of Popes is ever going to be elected, and the Orthodox will never accept a head of the Church with this much power. And this one isn't an elite theoligical thing either, if there's one thing your regular Catholic cares about is that there's a Pope and that he's the head of the Church. Like the emperor of old in the Orthodox rite, it's the Pope's name Catholics wish good health on during mass. The concept is foundational to Catholicism.
Although I wouldn't be opposed to witnessing a full blown ecumenical council! It's been a hot minute since the last.one 🤣
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Comment on Joint declaration signed in Pope’s historic first visit to Patriarchate in ~humanities
Raistlin Link ParentYup. Not to demean the issues themselves, I'm certainly not trying to settle millenia of theology with a flippant comment on an internet forum. But these sort of honest differences of belief are...Yup. Not to demean the issues themselves, I'm certainly not trying to settle millenia of theology with a flippant comment on an internet forum. But these sort of honest differences of belief are generally tied to ethnic, national or social differences, and become the markers in a group.
Does it matter too much that Samaritans believe the holiest place in the world is Mount Gereizim and not Temple Mount? Probably not, you could probably reconcile the difference in a vacuum, but it's like one of the 4 or 5 core differences between Jews and Samaritans, so to the tiny 900 man Samaritan community it's extremely extremely important.
It can be unfortunate because it leads to war and death but... I don't know, I think it's kinda neat. There's a lot of history that would otherwise be lost in these esoteric little differences. A lot of identities that would've been eaten by the mainstream managed to barely hang up to the present day because of anchors like these.
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Comment on Joint declaration signed in Pope’s historic first visit to Patriarchate in ~humanities
Raistlin Link ParentTo be clear, it's a big deal to theologians. The average Greek speaker in Thessaloniki in the 18th Century wouldn't have been able to explain this to you. But much like other religions, it becomes...To be clear, it's a big deal to theologians. The average Greek speaker in Thessaloniki in the 18th Century wouldn't have been able to explain this to you. But much like other religions, it becomes a cultural demarcation and grows stronger the longer the two sides are separated.
During the Great Schism, the differences between both sides weren't that large. But it was politically fraught to have an emperor appointing patriarchs in the areas under imperial control vs having an independent bishop of Rome that quite enjoyed his independence thank you very much, with growing cultural differences in the Latin West and Greek East domains of the former ancient Roman Empire.
So I'd be surprised if your average Anatolian could tell you why bread was meant to be leavened or not leavened. But they sure as hell would've been sure that the Frankish barbarians were wrong.
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Comment on Joint declaration signed in Pope’s historic first visit to Patriarchate in ~humanities
Raistlin Link ParentTo be frank, Catholics don't feel anything about the Orthodox. I'd be surprised if your average Catholic knew what an Orthodox person was beyond "a Russian", and even that's a maybe. The...- Exemplary
To be frank, Catholics don't feel anything about the Orthodox. I'd be surprised if your average Catholic knew what an Orthodox person was beyond "a Russian", and even that's a maybe. The "boogeyman" of Catholics is Protestantism.
There'll be exceptions to this, like Croatia. As in, Catholic countries that have an ongoing relationship with Orthodox countries (E.g. Serbia), but for the vast majority of Catholics (Africa, the New World, etc) the relationship with Orthodoxy was just never a thing. I honestly don't think you could get the average Catholic on the street to tell you what the Great Schism was, or rattle off the pentarch seats. There's just no equivalent trauma on the Catholic side for the fourth crusade, so there's no reason to feel anything for the most part.
It's different for the leadership. I'm sure the Cardinals think about the Orthodox a lot, but I'm sure they also think about the Church of the East and the Oriental Churches a lot too.
I don't get the feeling that healing the schism is possible. The Orthodox (rightly) won't want to give up on the traditions that got them through Ottoman occupation, made possible by the Latins stabbing them in the back. The Catholics don't particularly see a need to change their ways either, as this is just not a relevant topic to the average joe, and the Pope will absolutely never give up being the head of the church, which is anathema to the Orthodox.
The Orthodox despise innovation, and define any differences between them and the Catholics as innovation. The Catholics "won" and won't make any changes for the weaker party. I don't see how either side finds a way out of this.
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.