Sapholia's recent activity

  1. Comment on Fallout's Timothy Cain talks about encumbrance in games in ~games

    Sapholia
    Link Parent
    It's an interesting point you made about being forced to use your stuff. When playing Diablo II, I tended to hoard potions, but also felt fewer qualms about using them because they freed up some...

    It's an interesting point you made about being forced to use your stuff. When playing Diablo II, I tended to hoard potions, but also felt fewer qualms about using them because they freed up some space. (Yeah, I did a lot of transferring from inventory to belt during quieter moments -- that time spent wasn't exactly a plus.)

    I always rather liked Torchlight's system, in which you have a pet you can periodically send back to town to sell the stuff you've looted but don't want to keep. You couldn't get them to buy new stuff for you, though (or so I seem to remember). It felt like a good balance, but after watching this video, I wonder if it came with some hidden costs that I didn't see at the time.

  2. Comment on US President-Elect Donald Trump ignores transition rules in ~society

    Sapholia
    Link Parent
    First of all, I love your comment. I like seeing that little peek into a world totally unknown to me, in a way that shows me how the people involved are both impressive and relatable. I haven't...

    First of all, I love your comment. I like seeing that little peek into a world totally unknown to me, in a way that shows me how the people involved are both impressive and relatable. I haven't personally used "circus" to describe Trump & co. and I won't do so in the future.

    I wonder if it's not actually a testament to the skill of the circus performers and showrunners, though. Most people know a circus from the seat of the audience, and to us, a circus is a nail-biting show of near-chaos where anything could go wrong at a moment's notice -- since it's been carefully cultivated to appear that way. Not to mention that the clowns in the show are deliberately playing the buffoon! We experience that dichotomy of appreciating the incredible skill of the performers while also buying into the drama that the show presents -- that maybe, this time, disaster could strike.

    Man, I gotta find out where I can go watch a circus. It's been a really long time.

    4 votes

  3. Comment on How To Train Your Dragon | Official teaser trailer in ~movies

    Sapholia
    Link Parent
    Oh my fuck, I can actually picture how this would look. Nick Park wouldn't do that to us though, right? Right?

    Oh my fuck, I can actually picture how this would look.

    Nick Park wouldn't do that to us though, right? Right?

    5 votes

  4. Comment on I am looking for 100% ad-free apps for older adults with dementia. Things like jigsaw puzzles, coloring and the like. Paid is fine. in ~life

    Sapholia
    Link Parent
    As one of the people who has recommended Simon Tatham's Puzzles before, and also someone who has known someone with dementia, I fear that app won't be simple and intuitive enough. I hope it can...

    As one of the people who has recommended Simon Tatham's Puzzles before, and also someone who has known someone with dementia, I fear that app won't be simple and intuitive enough. I hope it can still work, especially if they're still in the early stages, but I'm doubtful.

    I hope you find what you're looking for. Something that helped the person I knew was watching constant repeats of The Golden Girls; it was one of his favorite shows and the familiarity got him to give otherwise rare laughs. He also loved listening to the bands from his youth. (We tried to get him into Wii Sports, specifically bowling since that used to be a favorite activity of his, but even those simple controls were too much to remember.) If you have any way to put on nothing but old favorites to watch or listen to, it could help a great deal. If you have the time for it, I'd even suggest ripping the episodes and putting the files on their devices with a VLC playlist or something.

    Sorry I don't have any suggestions that fit the actual question you asked. Good luck.

    4 votes

  5. Comment on Churchil Solitaire - The game that turned me off from buying mobile games in ~games

    Sapholia
    Link
    Are you only looking at recent games? I mentioned Simon Tatham's Puzzles in a comment the other day, but it's been around for quite a long time now.

    Are you only looking at recent games? I mentioned Simon Tatham's Puzzles in a comment the other day, but it's been around for quite a long time now.

    6 votes

  6. Comment on Half-Life 2 20th anniversary update in ~games

    Sapholia
    Link
    A free remaster with RTX is "coming soon", so if you're willing to wait to play/replay the game, keep an eye out for that. It's being developed with NVIDIA, so maybe you'll need an NVIDIA card for...

    A free remaster with RTX is "coming soon", so if you're willing to wait to play/replay the game, keep an eye out for that.

    It's being developed with NVIDIA, so maybe you'll need an NVIDIA card for it? I'm not clear.

    Anyway, on another note, I thought the easter egg on their full anniversary webpage was fun.

    5 votes

  7. Comment on How well do you cook? in ~life.men

    Sapholia
    Link Parent
    Avocado nigiri has been one of the few veggie varieties that I do see when getting sushi from a restaurant. It's usually quite nice! The other options are usually a mixed veggie roll (carrots,...

    Avocado nigiri has been one of the few veggie varieties that I do see when getting sushi from a restaurant. It's usually quite nice! The other options are usually a mixed veggie roll (carrots, cucumber, avocado, sometimes kanpyo but I'm not so much a fan of that ingredient), avocado roll, or cucumber roll (sometimes the latter two available as a hand roll also). Once I got asparagus nigiri! It looks quite satisfying with the spear tips arranged on top.

    Your mention of umami makes me wonder if mushrooms could be used.

    I'd quite like to try a tofu nigiri someday, I think.

    1 vote

  8. Comment on How well do you cook? in ~life.men

    Sapholia
    Link Parent
    Ok, the miso roasted carrots sound amazing. I'm not sure why I've never seen tofu in sushi before, either. Does any of this work as nigiri or is it better as rolls?

    Ok, the miso roasted carrots sound amazing. I'm not sure why I've never seen tofu in sushi before, either. Does any of this work as nigiri or is it better as rolls?

    1 vote

  9. Comment on How well do you cook? in ~life.men

    Sapholia
    Link Parent
    What do you put on/in your vegan sushi? I love veggie sushi, but I never get much variety because it's always on the menu as an afterthought.

    These days, I make a pretty darn good vegan sushi boat.

    What do you put on/in your vegan sushi? I love veggie sushi, but I never get much variety because it's always on the menu as an afterthought.

  10. Comment on GOG Preservation Program in ~games

    Sapholia
    Link Parent
    Oh, interesting, I didn't know that the Heroic launcher also worked with GOG games. I think I only heard about it for games from the Epic store (perhaps back when the launcher was first created?)....

    Oh, interesting, I didn't know that the Heroic launcher also worked with GOG games. I think I only heard about it for games from the Epic store (perhaps back when the launcher was first created?). I'd used Lutris a few times for non-Steam games, which seemed to work ok, but depended on someone else creating a working script for each game if you didn't know how yourself. After a while I think I just faded back to playing all games on Steam since they mostly worked.

    2 votes

  11. Comment on Is ADHD really that debilitating? in ~health.mental

    Sapholia
    Link Parent
    Personally, I tried the Nuva Ring once, and remembering to change it monthly was definitely much harder than incorporating the pill into my daily bedtime routine (which includes brushing teeth and...

    Personally, I tried the Nuva Ring once, and remembering to change it monthly was definitely much harder than incorporating the pill into my daily bedtime routine (which includes brushing teeth and taking meds), which is pretty hardcoded into me by now. :-) YMMV!

    1 vote

  12. Comment on Is ADHD really that debilitating? in ~health.mental

    Sapholia
    Link Parent
    I have a practical question about using an app that way. If a period tracker deletes your data monthly, what is the use case for the app? It won't be able to predict your next period or ovulation...

    I have a practical question about using an app that way. If a period tracker deletes your data monthly, what is the use case for the app? It won't be able to predict your next period or ovulation cycle, and if you need to track irregularity over months (some people use them to keep tabs on their PCOS, for instance) it can't help there either. Is it that it only deletes the previous month once it predicts the next cycles?

    I get that you can probably set a longer time between deletes, but that does run into the risk of the data hanging around long enough to get into the wrong hands, too.

    I appreciate very much the app suggestion and the Mozilla link, by the way. I'm going to look at those today!

    Just a note:

    Someone suggested emailing yourself for Christ's sake, which is a MUCH greater legal risk than almost any period tracking app.

    The email suggestion was only to set up auto-reminders to write in the paper journal. Sure, having a digital trail that you're tracking your period at all is at least slightly dangerous, but there would have been no actual tracking data in the emails.

  13. Comment on How self-driving cars will destroy cities in ~transport

    Sapholia
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    Most American cities would need much more than Utrecht's overhaul to become some walkable utopia. They are so spread out that they would really need to be completely redesigned and rebuilt from...

    Most American cities would need much more than Utrecht's overhaul to become some walkable utopia. They are so spread out that they would really need to be completely redesigned and rebuilt from the ground up, if we want mixed-use neighborhoods. As it is, most people generally have to get in the car to get to any grocery store, restaurant, bar, theater, etc. at all. (Not to mention visiting each other's homes.) An aggressive public transit overhaul could probably help with some of this, but I'm not really sure it can be designed in any efficient fashion for most cities. There would be so much route transferring to get to any destination outside of the major commercial areas.

    I have a disabled relative. I provide a lot of transportation for them. The medical destinations alone are spread out across the city, and while these destinations are in small commercial zones, they aren't in the major commercial zones. Not to mention, my relative actually needs to spend as little time in a sitting position as possible. While I appreciated the many shots of Utrecht's flat, curbless, accessible streets (although a few inaccessible areas did not escape my notice), a leisurely roll down those streets in a wheelchair or power chair would be excruciating for my relative. Public transit would be a nightmare. A car is the only option.

    Ok, but accommodations are provided for vehicles for disabled folks, the video said. I'm dubious. I hope that system works out well, but many disabled accommodations are something added almost as an afterthought. Most people don't use them, so most people don't want to see them or have them in their way. Many accommodations are almost good enough, but in reality are a complicated pain in the ass.

    Don't get me wrong. I think it was a major mistake for our cities to be designed around cars and suburbia, and we'll probably be paying for that mistake for centuries to come. I would love to support any initiative that would create safer roads, more options for pedestrians and cyclists, more thriving local neighborhoods with real communities. I think there are a lot of good points in the video about the possible dangers of trusting the future to auto-driving vehicles and the corporations that make them. (I'm still not sure I would ever trust an AV enough to get in one, personally. Edge cases are rare until they happen to you.) But the solution he paints, while not simple or cheap, is (for American cities) still far more complex and costly than he makes it out to be.

    1 vote

  14. Comment on Save Point: A game deal roundup for the week of November 10 in ~games

    Sapholia
    Link Parent
    Can corroborate, PlateUp is some great co-op with lots of replayability due to variation. The randomized upgrades alone provide that, but also different menu items provide different challenges,...

    Can corroborate, PlateUp is some great co-op with lots of replayability due to variation. The randomized upgrades alone provide that, but also different menu items provide different challenges, and you can tweak your preferred strategies for kitchen layout and automation.

    A cooking series I have a lot of fondness for is Cook, Serve, Delicious (other than Cook Serve Forever, which I haven't played due to the change in gameplay). The thing that sets them apart from other time management food service games, for me, is the control scheme. You have the option to type on your keyboard to assemble and serve the various food items, and (if you're a touch typer) you can get good at it and feel like you're flying through the orders with skill and efficiency. Which is not to say it's easy, because it's still pretty challenging. You can choose to use mouse or gamepad instead, but keyboard is my favorite.

    2 votes

  15. Comment on Is ADHD really that debilitating? in ~health.mental

    Sapholia
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Thank you for explaining so clearly why OP got the response they did. Life these days is both bigger and smaller than it used to be, thanks to the internet. We're all starting to become more aware...

    Thank you for explaining so clearly why OP got the response they did. Life these days is both bigger and smaller than it used to be, thanks to the internet. We're all starting to become more aware of how our words affect other people, but even if one has the best of intentions, one can and will fall into conversational pitfalls. If it's a conversation between friends, it's much easier, on that individual and personal level, to explain how it feels to hear it. No blame is assigned, because the receiver of the advice knows that the initiator only needs to learn a new concept of courtesy which they, through no fault of their own, had previously been unaware. But if Anonymous Person #1000 offers advice which is well-meaning but demonstrates that lack of awareness, it's easy enough for it to feel like the straw that broke the camel's back.

    @BeanBurrito, am I right in reading that ADHD was never brought up in the discussion before your suggestion of paper journals? If so, I think the response you got was completely unwarranted (from your description it seems more aggressive than explanatory, although it's hard to tell). Your followup suggestion of emails is a bit trickier of a gambit, as I think you may have now realized. I as well appreciate you looking to understand further. Thank you for doing so. (By the way, tact is not my strong suit; I badly would like to be good at it, and I try very hard, but I just want to say explicitly that my purpose in writing this out is not to make you feel bad in any way.)

    For the record, this applies to any disability or medical condition. "Have you tried" and "you should just" are phrases that we all, unfortunately, become very familiar with and very tired of hearing. It's along the same sort of lines as meeting someone and saying, "You're very tall!" They hear it all the time, because it's the first thing anyone thinks of on meeting them.* If a solution immediately comes to mind upon learning of someone else's long-suffered difficulty, then they've likely already tried every variation on it years ago. When we realize this, I think it's like a little hack for unlocking a bit more empathy that we're able to employ.

     
    * I did this to a good friend of mine on meeting them in person for the first time. I knew they were surprisingly tall; I knew they got comments on it all the time; and yet the first words I blurted were, "You are tall!" They forgave me, since we are such good friends, but it's definitely part of my cringe reel. :-) And I have worked since on attempting not to let my first thought run my mouth in similar situations.

    Edit: Minor rewording.

    12 votes

  16. Comment on ADHD and TODO lists in ~health.mental

    Sapholia
    Link
    Here's something that blew my mind when I learned about it recently. It was the comment section of an Ask a Manager post:...

    Here's something that blew my mind when I learned about it recently. It was the comment section of an Ask a Manager post: https://www.askamanager.org/2024/10/succeeding-at-work-if-youre-neurodivergent.html

    First, there is the idea that we're all different, and what works for one person with ADHD will be the opposite of helpful for another. This idea was not new to me, but it's always good to reinforce it.

    Second, though, was how many people who commented that they have to change systems every so often because the old one stops working for them. This was new to me. I always wondered why I kept trying to find a magic bullet, and I'd stick to it for a while and very sloooowly attempt to reinforce the habit, and then one day it would all come crashing down. I thought I could find one thing that worked for me and stay with it forever, and the previous systems were just ones that didn't fit me. But perhaps this wasn't the case after all.

    (Incidentally, a lot of good suggestions in that whole comment section for different task management systems!)

    7 votes

  17. Comment on What did you do this week (and weekend)? in ~talk

    Sapholia
    Link
    I finished watching the Fallout TV series. I've never played the games myself but I've apparently absorbed quite a bit of the worldbuilding from the people I know who have, so it was a lot of fun...

    I finished watching the Fallout TV series. I've never played the games myself but I've apparently absorbed quite a bit of the worldbuilding from the people I know who have, so it was a lot of fun to recognize various concepts. On the whole I enjoyed it, although I have some questions. Glad to hear it's coming back for a season 2, although apparently the first season had something like two years post-production, so it might not be any time soon.

    Click to expand spoiler.  

    Apparently extreme capitalism goes like this:

    • Create nuclear bunker vaults
    • Sell vault colonization slots for buttloads of cash
    • Hide the existence of cold fusion which any half-competent corporation could surely use as a license to print money
    • Drop the bombs to create a future where money is meaningless
    • ???
    • Profit?

    I have to say that finishing it out this week felt particularly pointed and kind of soured things a bit.

    2 votes

  18. Comment on Mindless games, preferably mobile in ~games

    Sapholia
    Link Parent
    I'm the same, love the game on PC and Switch, can't stand touchscreen controls on mobile.

    I'm the same, love the game on PC and Switch, can't stand touchscreen controls on mobile.

  19. Comment on Mindless games, preferably mobile in ~games

    Sapholia
    Link Parent
    Ooh, I like that site. Thanks! And it seems my playing of Forgetful Dictator has really prepared me for it -- I didn't get a perfect score, but I wouldn't have had any clue how to get from France...

    Ooh, I like that site. Thanks! And it seems my playing of Forgetful Dictator has really prepared me for it -- I didn't get a perfect score, but I wouldn't have had any clue how to get from France to Greece before. I'm wishing it weren't a daily puzzle, but perhaps it's good for habits like you said.

  20. Comment on Mindless games, preferably mobile in ~games

    Sapholia
    Link Parent
    My tiny list of free mobile games (also ad-free and microtransaction-free) that are worth playing: Simon Tatham's Puzzles, as I mentioned elsewhere. Shattered Pixel Dungeon, shockingly robust...

    My tiny list of free mobile games (also ad-free and microtransaction-free) that are worth playing:

    • Simon Tatham's Puzzles, as I mentioned elsewhere.
    • Shattered Pixel Dungeon, shockingly robust roguelike (this is the only roguelike I've played that somehow captures the feeling of original Rogue while making many modern quality-of-life improvements). I liked this one so much I bought it on PC when it was ported, and though it has been a full game for years, all versions are still receiving major content updates.
    • Seedship, menu-driven text game about finding a new planet for humanity to colonize. (This one is also a browser game).
    • Forgetful Dictator, reasonably fun & funny edutainment that teaches you (most of) the world's countries, their capitals, and their flags. I saw someone recommend this on Tildes and I've forgotten who, so sadly I can't thank them.

    The other three didn't fit OP's criteria, so I didn't recommend them in my initial comment, but if you or anyone else is interested, there they are. :-)

    3 votes