Shevanel's recent activity
-
Comment on Why Swedish schools are bringing back books in ~books
-
Comment on Why Swedish schools are bringing back books in ~books
Shevanel Link ParentOn paper, what you’re describing makes perfect sense! In practice, the whole thing is insidious. It’s a constant struggle to keep things consistent, even with those policies in place. The real...On paper, what you’re describing makes perfect sense! In practice, the whole thing is insidious. It’s a constant struggle to keep things consistent, even with those policies in place. The real issue is the moment class ends. It doesn’t matter how “under wraps” things are in the classrooms when every single kid uses their phones in the halls between class to catch up. It’s like a second school day within the school day, just kids catching up on phones. And that’s where a ton of bullying and ostracizing goes on, those quick little five minute spurts. Parents don’t help a bit - they are usually okay with kids giving up phones for a single period of the day, but the idea of losing contact with their kids all day is unfathomable to many of them. It’s just a mess.
-
Comment on Why Swedish schools are bringing back books in ~books
Shevanel Link ParentKind of a weird boomerang effect. I agree that it was the norm ~15-20 years ago, but as phones became more ubiquitous, it quickly became a losing battle. Schools became the weird ones for cracking...Kind of a weird boomerang effect. I agree that it was the norm ~15-20 years ago, but as phones became more ubiquitous, it quickly became a losing battle. Schools became the weird ones for cracking down so hard on what was seen as an integral part of one’s life. As a former teacher, I actually had parents confront me for removing phones in the classroom because they felt that they wouldn’t be able to reach their child in the case of an emergency. Which, yeah, also being in the U.S., that’s a whole other can of worms I won’t open for now. Suffices to say that the current state sucks IMO, as both a former educator and a future schoolchild’s parent.
-
Comment on Why Swedish schools are bringing back books in ~books
Shevanel Link ParentI don’t have anything to add, other than the fact that this thread very accurately outlined the dissonance in my brain over all of this, so thank you all for saving me the time to respond properly 😅I don’t have anything to add, other than the fact that this thread very accurately outlined the dissonance in my brain over all of this, so thank you all for saving me the time to respond properly 😅
-
Comment on Why Swedish schools are bringing back books in ~books
Shevanel LinkNot entirely related to the topic at hand, but I’m so desperately hopeful that US schools follow suit before our toddler reaches “cell phone age” (whatever age that may be by the mid-late 2030s)....Not entirely related to the topic at hand, but
The Swedish government also plans to make schools cellphone-free throughout the country.
I’m so desperately hopeful that US schools follow suit before our toddler reaches “cell phone age” (whatever age that may be by the mid-late 2030s). I know some are beginning to go that way, but it’s not enough IMO. My wife and I would love to keep the phone out of the kiddo’s hands during the school day but we also don’t want him to be socially ostracized because he has “those parents.” Schools making the call on our behalf would be such a weight lifted off our shoulders.
-
Comment on Dimmu Borgir – Ulvgjeld & Blodsodel (2026) in ~music
Shevanel Link ParentI felt similarly. I was initially surprised at the vibe as I haven’t kept up with them in a while, but then realized that the album with which I’m most familiar, Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia,...I felt similarly. I was initially surprised at the vibe as I haven’t kept up with them in a while, but then realized that the album with which I’m most familiar, Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia, released 25(!!!) years ago. I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised by the changes.
-
Comment on Commonly misspelled words quiz in ~humanities.languages
-
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Shevanel Link ParentWill do - thanks for the recommendation! I’ve also heard about Verho and FlyKnight as two entries that are worth looking into, but I haven’t tried either yet.Will do - thanks for the recommendation! I’ve also heard about Verho and FlyKnight as two entries that are worth looking into, but I haven’t tried either yet.
-
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Shevanel LinkThe King’s Field bug bit me HARD last week after finishing the first two entries to the series, and I’ve been having a lot of fun poking around more “Fieldies” as I’ve affectionately heard them...The King’s Field bug bit me HARD last week after finishing the first two entries to the series, and I’ve been having a lot of fun poking around more “Fieldies” as I’ve affectionately heard them referred to online.
I tried out the Queen’s Domain demo and immediately fell in love—that’ll be a day 1 buy for me.
Also finally got around to trying out Dread Delusion. People in the space tend to say that DD is different enough that it’s not really a King’s Field-like, but I think it leans far enough into the old school vibe that it certainly scratches the itch. I’d place it squarely in the middle of a spectrum that spans from King’s Field to Skyrim. Lots of creature comforts and RPG-ification that is otherwise absent from King’s Field entries, but way less hand-holding than e.g. any Bethesda RPG. Big fan so far!
-
Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music
Shevanel Link ParentMatt Garstka has been dropping drum playthroughs for the Manifeste songs on which he played on his YouTube channel. I’m so glad those cats crossed paths - seriously incredible stuff coming out of...Matt Garstka has been dropping drum playthroughs for the Manifeste songs on which he played on his YouTube channel. I’m so glad those cats crossed paths - seriously incredible stuff coming out of their minds!
-
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Shevanel LinkI stumbled across the Hark the Ghoul demo during the Steam Next Fest, and I enjoyed it so much that it inspired me to boot up the PSX emulator on my Steam Deck and finally work my way through all...I stumbled across the Hark the Ghoul demo during the Steam Next Fest, and I enjoyed it so much that it inspired me to boot up the PSX emulator on my Steam Deck and finally work my way through all of the King’s Field games I’ve been putting off. I’ve played through the first two so far, which is to say King’s Field (the Japan-only release) and King’s Field II (jp), aka King’s Field (everywhere else).
KF jp - it’s so very… slow. Not like boring, like literally physically a very slow game. I actually turned the emulation speed to 200% once I got the hang of combat lol. Way easier to time things.
The exploration and general unforgiving combat is very DS-coded. It definitely feels like a game with the same bones.
Separately, this game got so brutal at the end. I legitimately don’t know how I could have reasonably beat it without a proper meta endgame build. It feels like it almost forces you to 100% it to get through the final area, especially the last boss.
KF II (jp) / KF - Generally enjoyed it more. Really didn’t enjoy the navigation though, the map felt incredibly same-y, to the point where I still could not reliably find my way back to points in game that I had visited and revisited probably a dozen times. And these weren’t like little hidden dungeons or locked chests, I’m talking entire villages.
Gameplay itself felt fine, minor improvements from the first entry and, while the end game was still very tough, it felt considerably more reasonable.
These were both 3/5s for me, the rough edges of the first game and its ending were salvaged from a 2/5 by the fact that I really enjoyed the navigation and map structure (generally), and the miserable map layout of the second game stopped it from being a 4/5 in my book.
-
Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
Shevanel (edited )Link ParentI love that this is a solution that relies totally on a tool that anyone who finds themselves in a terminal will almost certainly already have! Thanks for sharing. I do have a large more formatted...I love that this is a solution that relies totally on a tool that anyone who finds themselves in a terminal will almost certainly already have! Thanks for sharing. I do have a large more formatted “notebook” repository that I use with git in a way similar to what you’re describing.
My approach with mrndm is to take away a lot of guesswork for the end user (if they don’t already have git set up), but also to reduce the friction. I like the idea of being able to run a script that enables the end user to type
mrndm “return library books”, hit enter, and then go about their day. I’m absolutely sure we could use aliases to do a lot of that lifting regardless though, so your approach still makes good sense and renders this moot if folks are comfy with git!Edit: I forgot to mention that using git, I’d still need a more frictionless means of capturing memos on my phone, hence my SMS approach that I’m looking to implement in the near future. I know it’s not impossible to do this via git clients that can interact with one’s phone, but it’s more hands-on than texting a phone number.
-
Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
Shevanel (edited )LinkI built a lightweight brain-dump tool that lives in your CLI and allows you to send super quick notes to a server of mine with a single command, and retrieve them in much the same way. Since memos...I built a lightweight brain-dump tool that lives in your CLI and allows you to send super quick notes to a server of mine with a single command, and retrieve them in much the same way. Since memos are stored in a server, you can sync your account across workstations and write / retrieve anywhere. It’s an app intended for an audience of one, but in the interest of respecting the privacy of anyone interested in trying it out, I encrypt all notes stored in the server, so I can’t view anything regardless. You need an account because otherwise you couldn’t sync notes across environments, but email is totally optional and used only for password recovery.
Impetus: I hated losing track of notes across mediums (did I save that random thought to my phone’s Notes app? To a notepad on my Linux desktop? Or my Windows work laptop? Or my personal MacBook?), so this is widely usable in any Unix based CLI, including Git Bash if you’re on a Windows machine (though I recommend WSL). I also appreciate that it keeps me in flow. It’s a lot easier to bash out a single line command and get a thought out of my head without any extra finagling.
Of note: this is a virtually worthless tool if you are fully bought into Apple and have synced Notes functionality everywhere. I do not have that, and I also like building little CLI tools :)
More information and the download can be found here: https://mrndm.sh
Would love any feedback folks are willing to share about the script or the functionality as an end user!
Future functionality: I’m working on getting SMS certification on a phone number I’ve leased, which I’ll hook up to the server. Once that’s good to go, you can also choose to (totally optionally) link your phone to the app and save memos via text. Phone numbers will also be encrypted in the DB!
-
Comment on My T430 in ~comp
Shevanel LinkThanks for sharing. This is a fun coincidence - I did a very similar overhaul on a Lenovo T440p recently! Picked one up on eBay for $60 USD and its current specs (old and new) are very similar to...Thanks for sharing. This is a fun coincidence - I did a very similar overhaul on a Lenovo T440p recently!
Picked one up on eBay for $60 USD and its current specs (old and new) are very similar to what’s in this post. I opted to get an oversized battery cell but didn’t change the charging port itself - it still uses the old cable and jack but is a lot more healthy.
The whole thing was a fun pet project and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to swap everything out. Biggest pain was the touchpad and keyboard by a long shot. I followed this “tutorial” on YouTube which is already quite dated, but for only a couple hundred bucks I have a little workhorse that does a perfectly passable job in 2026.
-
Comment on Color game — how well can you remember colors? | Dialed in ~games
Shevanel Link ParentThis is fun! Grays and browns are really tough for me, not sure if others feel the same.This is fun! Grays and browns are really tough for me, not sure if others feel the same.
-
Comment on Angine de Poitrine - Sarniezz (2026) in ~music
Shevanel LinkI hadn’t heard of these cats before their KEXP performance, and I was instantly hooked. One thing that isn’t called out in the tags or comments so far is that their guitarist leans into...I hadn’t heard of these cats before their KEXP performance, and I was instantly hooked. One thing that isn’t called out in the tags or comments so far is that their guitarist leans into microtonality a good amount, which (combined with the odd meters and general energy level) contributes to their super fun chaotic sound. Pinging one of Tildes’s resident microtonality musicians - @eyechoirs would love your take on this act!
-
Comment on What creative projects have you been working on? in ~creative
Shevanel Link ParentI know we’ve crossed coffee paths before when talking about Hoffmann so I shouldn’t be too surprised, but it’s wild how similar our setups, methods, and roast / origin preferences seem to be....I know we’ve crossed coffee paths before when talking about Hoffmann so I shouldn’t be too surprised, but it’s wild how similar our setups, methods, and roast / origin preferences seem to be. Makes me very excited to try some of the roasters you review. Thanks for sharing this!
-
Comment on Sony is shutting down the PlayStation studio Bluepoint in ~games
Shevanel Link ParentI’m reading between the lines, and yes, I do want to plan an Ocean’s 11-style heist with you to steal the Bloodborne remaster beta.I’m reading between the lines, and yes, I do want to plan an Ocean’s 11-style heist with you to steal the Bloodborne remaster beta.
-
Comment on Sony is shutting down the PlayStation studio Bluepoint in ~games
Shevanel LinkThat’s a shame. Selfishly, this makes me lose any hope for an official Bloodborne remake/remaster/port. The PC emulation is shockingly good, but I was definitely ready to throw my money at a legit...That’s a shame. Selfishly, this makes me lose any hope for an official Bloodborne remake/remaster/port. The PC emulation is shockingly good, but I was definitely ready to throw my money at a legit version of it.
-
Comment on I don't "get" soulslikes, but I'm interested in Bloodborne in ~games
Shevanel Link Parent100% agreed, one of my favorite ways to play DS1 especially!100% agreed, one of my favorite ways to play DS1 especially!
I get what you’re saying - it’s a grey area. Those things will happen regardless, agreed, but I can say from experience that they are just so much worse when you’re dealing with (virtually) 100% of the student body being connected to every rumor, every diss, every whatever in a social situation between classes, vs. whomever you happen to walk by in the hallway during those five minutes.
(Edit: acknowledging that I agree with your comment on US schools & communication specifically but I don’t have the emotional energy to acknowledge it any further; no idea how to tackle that one given the current climate here, everything sucks)