Rudism's recent activity

  1. Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime

    Rudism
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    I read through all 28 volumes of Kaguya-sama over the past several weeks. I'd seen some of the anime before and thought it was funny, and I'd heard so many good things about the manga that I...

    I read through all 28 volumes of Kaguya-sama over the past several weeks. I'd seen some of the anime before and thought it was funny, and I'd heard so many good things about the manga that I finally decided to dive in. It was good! I wasn't the hugest fan of the direction the ending went in, but overall I enjoyed it a lot.

    Next I'm starting on Komi Can't Communicate, for similar reasons (I remember seeing some of the anime and I vaguely recall being amused). Only a couple volumes in, but enjoying it so far.

    2 votes
  2. Comment on Prince estate blocks release of Netflix documentary by Oscar-winning director Ezra Edelman in ~movies

    Rudism
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    Bad look for the Prince estate, and could potentially do more harm due to the Streisand effect. I personally wouldn't have been interested enough in Prince to watch a 9 hour documentary about him...

    Bad look for the Prince estate, and could potentially do more harm due to the Streisand effect. I personally wouldn't have been interested enough in Prince to watch a 9 hour documentary about him if they just dropped it on Netflix one day, but now I'm really curious about what they're trying to hide--enough that if the original doc ever leaked I'd probably watch it, and now I'm way more likely to seek out unauthorized content about him.

    11 votes
  3. Comment on Patent filed by Nintendo for novel input method involving Switch 2 Joycon in ~games

    Rudism
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    I have a feeling this will go the way of the IR camera they included in the OG switch joycons. Neat in theory, but it feels too gimmicky to get any kind of wide support in games. People who game...

    I have a feeling this will go the way of the IR camera they included in the OG switch joycons. Neat in theory, but it feels too gimmicky to get any kind of wide support in games. People who game on their Switches are either a) not mouse and keyboard gamers, or b) going to play on their computer if they're in the mood for a mouse and keyboard game. It probably also won't make its way into many/any 3rd party joycons, so other than whatever Nintendo puts out as a tech demo, there probably won't be any games that actually require using them that way.

    1 vote
  4. Comment on Single most useful program you daily use? in ~tech

    Rudism
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    I used to be similar on grep, but I haven't used it in a long time now since installing ripgrep on all my machines. It's similar, but equivalent commands in ripgrep tend to be less verbose than...

    I used to be similar on grep, but I haven't used it in a long time now since installing ripgrep on all my machines. It's similar, but equivalent commands in ripgrep tend to be less verbose than grep for my most common use cases.

    6 votes
  5. Comment on Family sues over adult son's fatal asthma attack after US insurance company removed medication from coverage in ~health

    Rudism
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    I don't understand how UHC gets away with not covering asthma inhalers. I've got UHC through work too and they don't cover my inhaler either. Fortunately my pharmacy has its own "coupon" plan that...

    I don't understand how UHC gets away with not covering asthma inhalers. I've got UHC through work too and they don't cover my inhaler either. Fortunately my pharmacy has its own "coupon" plan that gives it to me at a more reasonable price, but (excuse my French) what the fuck is UHC good for if they're not going to cover basic-ass necessary life saving shit like asthma inhalers?

    55 votes
  6. Comment on Looking for a new mouse (maybe) in ~tech

    Rudism
    Link Parent
    Ploopy sells both kits and fully assembled trackballs that I'd recommend any trackball aficionados look into. They run on open-source QMK firmware (and I believe the hardware is also fully...

    Ploopy sells both kits and fully assembled trackballs that I'd recommend any trackball aficionados look into. They run on open-source QMK firmware (and I believe the hardware is also fully open-sourced) so can be customized to a ridiculous extent. Personally I use a Ploopy Nano (which is an ultra-tiny trackball with no buttons) and mapped a layer on my split keyboard with keys for left/right/middle clicking, as well as a toggle between normal trackball mode and scroll-ball mode. I know that kind of setup wouldn't be for everyone, but they sell models in a variety of other form factors.

    I'm not affiliated or anything, just a huge fan.

    3 votes
  7. Comment on What game intended for multiplayer did you enjoy playing solo? in ~games

    Rudism
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    I have a couple houses that I got for free from the daily rewards, but I mainly just use them as a place to stash any random furniture items I come across--they might be fun as a place to hang out...

    I have a couple houses that I got for free from the daily rewards, but I mainly just use them as a place to stash any random furniture items I come across--they might be fun as a place to hang out or role play with friends, but I can't think of any use for them as a solo player. As for crafting, the only way I really interact with it is I'll research items instead of selling them whenever a slot opens up and I've got something with a trait I haven't learned yet. I've never actually crafted anything that I used for very long, so it's another system that I don't find very interesting for my solo/casual play style.

    Maybe I'm kinda weird, but the mindset that gives me the most enjoyment out of ESO (and other MMOs that I've played) is an archaeological one. I like exploring the world, stumbling across little nuggets of environmental storytelling that the map designers put off the beaten path, finding hidden areas that a typical player wouldn't normally reach or see, stuff like that. If that idea doesn't appeal, and if the quest stories and combat aren't fun to you, then I don't think there's much else there to appeal to a solo player.

    1 vote
  8. Comment on What game intended for multiplayer did you enjoy playing solo? in ~games

    Rudism
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    I've got an absurd number of hours into Elder Scrolls Online, which is an MMO but I play 100% solo. Mostly because I really like the lore of the Elder Scrolls games, and ESO is brimming with it...

    I've got an absurd number of hours into Elder Scrolls Online, which is an MMO but I play 100% solo.

    Mostly because I really like the lore of the Elder Scrolls games, and ESO is brimming with it across all the main story and side missions, all of which are very solo-friendly. The only stuff you really miss out on playing alone is the PvP content and the group dungeons, but even a lot of that could theoretically be done solo if you're into min-maxing your build. Other group content like public dungeons and world events can be enjoyed solo by just waiting for crowds of people to form and throwing in at the same time. Personally I just like feeling like I'm in that universe, exploring the map, reading lore books, and finding interesting quest lines to follow.

    4 votes
  9. Comment on No Man's Sky: Worlds Part II in ~games

    Rudism
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    I've played a bunch on my Switch in the past, but this update made me decide to get a copy on Steam so I can play on a proper non-potato. Has anyone had luck getting a slot in the cross-save beta?...

    I've played a bunch on my Switch in the past, but this update made me decide to get a copy on Steam so I can play on a proper non-potato. Has anyone had luck getting a slot in the cross-save beta? Do new slots open occasionally? I guess I don't mind starting over, but it'd be nice if I could bring my Switch progress over to the PC.

    1 vote
  10. Comment on AI is creating a generation of illiterate programmers in ~tech

    Rudism
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    I'm skeptical that the source code of a language could be used for training on that language. It's not like an LLM would actually understand the functionality of the compiler/tooling source code...

    I'm skeptical that the source code of a language could be used for training on that language. It's not like an LLM would actually understand the functionality of the compiler/tooling source code it's reading and be able to translate that into how to construct code in the new language that could be compiled. The exception to that might be if the compiler and tooling for the new language was itself written using the new language, but in that case the source code would just be used to create its text prediction weights. I'm not familiar enough with LLM training to know how much source code input for a new programming language would be required to build a model that could reliably spit out syntactically correct code in that language, but I suspect it's probably a lot more than a typical compiler and project tooling alone would consist of.

    7 votes
  11. Comment on AI is creating a generation of illiterate programmers in ~tech

    Rudism
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    In my experience this isn't really a message that the majority of developers want to hear, even though it seems trivially obvious if you think about it even a little bit. I think the arguments...

    In my experience this isn't really a message that the majority of developers want to hear, even though it seems trivially obvious if you think about it even a little bit. I think the arguments seem to boil down to a couple points (hopefully I'm not straw-manning here, it's based on feedback I got on a similar article I wrote a while ago):

    1. It doesn't matter, because AIs will become so good at programming that it will just become the "new normal," kind of like how we don't need blacksmiths or horse-and-buggy drivers anymore, we won't need human programmers anymore.

    2. It's a tool no different from a better IDE or syntax highlighting or autocomplete--it will actually make us better programmers because we can more easily churn out the trivial stuff and just focus on the actual problems that need solving.

    The first one just makes me a little sad. I think it's extremely optimistic and unrealistic to expect that LLMs will 100% replace software engineers, but instead it's going to transform software engineering into a different (worse IMO) job where instead of writing code you'll just be reviewing it--spending all your time testing, debugging, and tweaking LLM output.

    The second one was the most popular response. I can understand where they're coming from, but I think LLMs are fundamentally different from the other tools and assists we've gotten to this point in that it can completely remove the need for beginner programmers to write or understand code at all. Part of the thing that makes a good programmer is becoming familiar with fundamental concepts when you're first starting out, but if you leap frog over that step by having an LLM do that stuff for you, you're never going to get a grasp on those fundamentals, which eliminates (or at least severely hurts) your chance of ever advancing your skill.

    10 votes
  12. Comment on Looking for an Android tablet with some probably unreachable requirements in ~tech

    Rudism
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    Probably a bit overkill and outside your budget, but I've been pretty happy with my OnePlus Pad. I mainly picked this one because I wanted an Android tablet with a good stylus (which was a...

    Probably a bit overkill and outside your budget, but I've been pretty happy with my OnePlus Pad. I mainly picked this one because I wanted an Android tablet with a good stylus (which was a separate purchase). It was released a couple years ago and still gets regular security updates, although I'd be surprised if it ever gets an update to Android 15. I know it can be unlocked and rooted, but I'm not sure if anyone's got a Lineage build that works on it yet. It looks like maybe they have a cheaper version in some non-US markets called the OnePlus Pad Go that could be worth looking into.

    1 vote
  13. Comment on My hair is thinning. Tips and tricks, please! in ~life.style

    Rudism
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    Can you grow a beard? Bald + beard = god tier (I'm biased). I started going thin on top in my mid-late 20s, started shaving it around when I turned 30 with no regrets. And by shave I don't mean...

    Can you grow a beard? Bald + beard = god tier (I'm biased).

    I started going thin on top in my mid-late 20s, started shaving it around when I turned 30 with no regrets. And by shave I don't mean actually shave with a razor, I just take the guard off my clippers, so it's not a clean shave but looks like maybe how it would in the evening or next morning if I did clean shave. Every two weeks or so I got a good amount of fuzz going on over my scalp so I do it again (plus give my beard a trim). Haven't been to a barber in over 15 years and have gotten a handful of compliments on my look in that time (more on average than when I had hair, but maybe they're pity complements, I don't really know or care).

    If you go that route, get some hats you like to protect yourself from the sun when you're outside.

    2 votes
  14. What are some accidental life hacks you've stumbled into?

    Recently my wife was complaining how her phone has been getting overzealous when flagging incoming phone spam, and as a result she's missed some important calls. It made me think about how easy it...

    Recently my wife was complaining how her phone has been getting overzealous when flagging incoming phone spam, and as a result she's missed some important calls. It made me think about how easy it is for me to avoid spam calls, despite using a 3rd party dialer on my phone without any kind of spam ID features.

    It's because around 15 years ago when Google started letting you pick your own phone number through Google Voice, I (for various reasons) needed to change my phone number. I ended up choosing one with what I thought was a really cool area code, and I've ported that number to every new provider I've swapped to so it's stuck with me since then. It turns out that all the spam callers, bless their hearts, like to spoof incoming phone numbers with the same area code as the number they're dialing. It means whenever I see a call coming from the same area code as my number it's ~100% guaranteed to be spam, and if I see a call coming from the same area code that I actually live in it's ~100% guaranteed to be something actually important (doctor, pharmacy, kids' school, something like that). It wasn't my intent when picking the number (I just wanted the cool area code), but it turned out to also be the perfect spam call ID system. (At least so long as I never move to the place that matches my area code.)

    So I'm curious if anyone else has similar stories, where you did something for one reason but it turned out to actually be awesome for an entirely different, unexpected reason?

    69 votes
  15. Comment on To those who have been trying out Kagi: what do you think of it? in ~tech

    Rudism
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    I think I could possibly be happy enough with DDG from a privacy/quality standpoint too. My main hangup is that the combination of their checkbox to disable ads and having no real option for users...

    I think I could possibly be happy enough with DDG from a privacy/quality standpoint too. My main hangup is that the combination of their checkbox to disable ads and having no real option for users to otherwise financially support the search business makes me wonder how sustainable it is. I know they have some kind of VPN/privacy subscription service but I'm not really interested in that--I just want a good search engine with a business model that doesn't rely on ads at all (the ability to turn them off doesn't really count for me). Right now Kagi is the only option I'm aware of that satisfies that condition so it's why I'm sticking with them for now.

    7 votes
  16. Comment on The upcoming US PEPFAR cut will kill millions, many of them children in ~society

    Rudism
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    I guess I'll be the cynic here and point out that compassion for non-Americans (and in particular non-white non-Americans) is not just a low priority for Trump and his administration, but the lack...

    I guess I'll be the cynic here and point out that compassion for non-Americans (and in particular non-white non-Americans) is not just a low priority for Trump and his administration, but the lack of compassion may actually be the reason for doing stuff like cutting foreign aid and programs like this.

    16 votes
  17. Comment on How much power does US President Donald Trump have? in ~society

    Rudism
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    Anyone remember how the Republicans lost their shit over Obama signing executive orders? I think Jeff Sessions called him an "emperor" and everyone was mewling about how he was exceeding his...

    Anyone remember how the Republicans lost their shit over Obama signing executive orders? I think Jeff Sessions called him an "emperor" and everyone was mewling about how he was exceeding his executive authority. Where are all of those guys now?

    23 votes
  18. Comment on [SOLVED] How can I hide streams from my YouTube subscriptions page? in ~tech

    Rudism
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    I used to watch a lot more YouTube in the days before shorts, but I can barely stand it anymore. I have been considering writing some shell scripts and cron jobs to download new videos from the...

    I used to watch a lot more YouTube in the days before shorts, but I can barely stand it anymore. I have been considering writing some shell scripts and cron jobs to download new videos from the few channels that I still care about into Plex (using something like yt-dlp, which I think has rich enough filtering that you could exclude shorts and live streams). Like if it's a choice between fiddling with browser extensions (that probably won't work across all the devices I watch on) to hide unwanted stuff, or fiddling with yt-dlp so I can watch using apps that I actually enjoy using then I'd rather spend my time on the latter.

    2 votes
  19. Comment on UFO50AndroidUnofficial: A tool to build your own Android version of UFO 50 in ~games

    Rudism
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    I was holding out for a Switch port, but I might pick it up on Steam now and give this a try on my Logitech G-Cloud. Does anyone know how this actually works? Is it because UFO50 was built using...

    I was holding out for a Switch port, but I might pick it up on Steam now and give this a try on my Logitech G-Cloud. Does anyone know how this actually works? Is it because UFO50 was built using some platform-agnostic engine that already has an Android runtime, or is it using some kind of emulation?

    3 votes
  20. Comment on US President Donald Trump to make historic move towards revoking birthright citizenship in ~society

    Rudism
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    I think the current supreme court has proven beyond any doubt that jurisprudence has no meaning anymore, and pretty much any previous rulings are fair game for "reinterpretation" to fall in line...

    I think the current supreme court has proven beyond any doubt that jurisprudence has no meaning anymore, and pretty much any previous rulings are fair game for "reinterpretation" to fall in line with Republican party goals.

    12 votes