Tuaam's recent activity

  1. Comment on What's a game that you feel like you missed out on? in ~games

    Tuaam
    Link Parent
    I got into it when I was in Middle School (around the same time). At the time everyone used the minecraftforums, I think people still use it but it's shifted attention. It also got me into PC...

    Had I missed it, I probably would have already aged out of being into the game, whenever it got popular around 2011. Still blows my mind how it became one of the biggest games ever

    I got into it when I was in Middle School (around the same time). At the time everyone used the minecraftforums, I think people still use it but it's shifted attention.

    It also got me into PC gaming, it did start a revolution in video gaming similar to stuff like Doom

  2. Comment on What's a game that you feel like you missed out on? in ~games

    Tuaam
    Link
    I missed alot of classic PC games which were hugely popular in the 90s, like Doom, Quake, and duke3D. Obviously you can experience them as played with OG hardware and enjoy them on emulated...

    I missed alot of classic PC games which were hugely popular in the 90s, like Doom, Quake, and duke3D. Obviously you can experience them as played with OG hardware and enjoy them on emulated systems and source ports, but never that original experience of connecting to computer networks and downloading stuff / joining multiplayer matches.

    So for me I think I missed out on alot of classic PC multiplayer gaming, though that in itself was still in it's infancy.

    2 votes

  3. Comment on Is anyone else frustrated with the eBay buying experience? in ~tech

    Tuaam
    Link Parent
    I barely use the site as is, I use the app more. I think the worst offenders are sellers from distant countries who sell you defective merchandise under the guise of it being "tested". But if you...

    I barely use the site as is, I use the app more.

    I think the worst offenders are sellers from distant countries who sell you defective merchandise under the guise of it being "tested". But if you stick to trusted sellers in your own country it seems to work fine.

    1 vote

  4. Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music

    Tuaam
    Link
    I got this 45rpm Squeeze single called "Labeled with Love" from the record store just yesterday. Kinda lame country-ballad which deals with some sort of post-war heartbreak story, it was 2 bucks....

    I got this 45rpm Squeeze single called "Labeled with Love" from the record store just yesterday. Kinda lame country-ballad which deals with some sort of post-war heartbreak story, it was 2 bucks. It was also produced by Elvis Costello which is the only notable thing about it.

    The B-side was this completely awesome mash-up of their previous songs (Cool for Cats, Goodbye Girl, Is this love) which was much, much better. I had a squeeze comp cassette somewhere but I unfortunately returned it back to the store for some reason, wish I kept it.

    Besides this I also found a Bryan Ferry album (His debut), Heaven 17 (How Men Are), and a Cars album (Panorama). Pretty good selection, and it was all under 15 bucks.

    1 vote

  5. Comment on Swiss church installs AI-powered Jesus in ~humanities

    Tuaam
    Link
    This sorta reminds me of a suggestion which once popped up in a muslim friend group about an "AI Fatwa Generator" and that it could generate fatwas in real-time for a wide variety of situations....

    This sorta reminds me of a suggestion which once popped up in a muslim friend group about an "AI Fatwa Generator" and that it could generate fatwas in real-time for a wide variety of situations. Obviously there would be no AI depictions of any religious figures here due to the restrictions imposed by iconoclasm (which makes sense given the context) but I'm assuming the bot would be trained on a wide variety of historical and modern fiqh manuals (Fiqh is similar to Jewish Halaka, btw).

    I think the problem here is that we have Fatwa websites which exist and they're always controversial because they're only good for generic questions (I.e, which direction to pray if you don't have a compass), but anything really specific or related to domestic issues is not something you should go to a website for. Secondly, many Fiqh manuals are historically-context sensitive because they're obviously centered around the culture they were written in (People in 8th century Iraq live differently than people in 21st century Iraq, for instance). Having a robot just get random answers from century-old books doesn't make sense, and it underlines the fact that you should really just be going to a real-life person for this sort of stuff.

    Technology helps us in numerous ways, but sometimes it's experiments like this which make me think that it's not to be used for everything.

    7 votes

  6. Comment on Framework’s first desktop is a strange—but unique—mini ITX gaming PC in ~tech

    Tuaam
    Link
    This looks really nice, I think the problem is that Desktop PC's have been long-standardized into a market of custom-built PC's since the OEM market got shot a decade ago (it was their own fault),...

    This looks really nice, I think the problem is that Desktop PC's have been long-standardized into a market of custom-built PC's since the OEM market got shot a decade ago (it was their own fault), or mini-itx computers with semi-modular components which are common in office spaces. People buy desktop computers because they expect a lasting product, if the product doesn't afford upgrade-ability then there isn't much of a point.

    I'll say that the chassis is remarkably small, normally for computers this size they'd have to make it larger to contain the DVD-rom drive and (at the time) a floppy drive.

    1 vote

  7. Comment on What is a book that every 13-year-old boy should read? in ~books

    Tuaam
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    I can't really recommend anything seriously heavy like The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath but I deeply recommend that for anyone who is much older (That is, in their early 20s). But I would recommend...

    I can't really recommend anything seriously heavy like The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath but I deeply recommend that for anyone who is much older (That is, in their early 20s). But I would recommend "Flowers For Algernon" if you're looking for something that deals with mental health.

    As for books for a 13-year old, I think "Of Mice and Men" and "The Outsiders" are perfect. "The Outsiders" is an excellent coming of age novel which deals with numerous themes like friendship and the loss of innocence. Of Mice and Men is a book about companionship, a depressing one but it signifies the friendship between two unlikely people in a time period where there is complete animosity.

    For Wartime novels this is a much difficult question, but I read Night when I was 12. The ending fucked me up because... Well I mean it's obvious due to it's themes of complete annihilation and the concept of god, but if a kid can stomach that then I'd suggest it.

    1 vote

  8. Comment on Playing DOS and Windows 98 games on a retro PC (real hardware) in ~games

    Tuaam
    Link Parent
    This is actually a very good point. And people underestimate how well old technology can work given you take care of it. For instance, my 486 from 30 years ago works totally fine, just as if it...

    What's not so good is that recycling is a distant regime of energy efficiency from simply keeping your shit working and not buying a new device quite so often. We can refine our infrastructure and processes to be more efficient, but we'll never reach the efficiency of doing it right in the first place. It takes energy–and at present, that means fossil fuels to a great extent–to recycle materials. It takes trucks to transport, machinery and human labor to sort, and electricity to run smelters. It takes much less energy to have someone replace a component on a main board, or the display on a phone. It's just not as monetarily efficient for huge corporations, so they don't even bother.

    This is actually a very good point. And people underestimate how well old technology can work given you take care of it. For instance, my 486 from 30 years ago works totally fine, just as if it were 1995. We're stuck in this constant loop of buying new technology which yeah, makes sense if you want new technology or new graphics hardware, but there's no incentive to keep a product when you don't need anything else.

    Maybe we will break out of this vicious cycle when we run into problems with our current workflow.

    1 vote

  9. Comment on US Department of Housing and Urban Development workers greeted by AI video of Donald Trump licking 'Real King' Elon Musk's (two left) feet in ~society

    Tuaam
    Link Parent
    I ought to watch this. Thanks for the mention

    I ought to watch this. Thanks for the mention

  10. Comment on US Department of Housing and Urban Development workers greeted by AI video of Donald Trump licking 'Real King' Elon Musk's (two left) feet in ~society

    Tuaam
    Link
    Why does everything feel like a South Park / Family Guy episode all of a sudden. I don't even think I know what's going on in my country's government anymore

    Why does everything feel like a South Park / Family Guy episode all of a sudden. I don't even think I know what's going on in my country's government anymore

    18 votes

  11. Comment on Audio enthusiasts share your audio setups in ~hobbies

    Tuaam
    Link Parent
    I think Equalizers are totally fine in a few instances - my EQ is a 4 band EQ and I only use it for pressings or headphones which require some sort of EQ to enjoy. For instance, alot of older...

    I think Equalizers are totally fine in a few instances - my EQ is a 4 band EQ and I only use it for pressings or headphones which require some sort of EQ to enjoy. For instance, alot of older records are very distorted and can lack bass, adding in EQ can fix this (though obviously you don't want to go overboard). Headphones like the Breyerdynamics are notoriously detailed, so having EQ where you decrease the treble and increase the bass will make your listening experience more palpable, and this is especially true for records as they can have alot of problems with the high-range (As in, tracking and sibilance).

    I think for speakers they're more or less a necessity to equalize your listening experience (get it), but for headphones they're loved or hated.

    1 vote

  12. Comment on Playing DOS and Windows 98 games on a retro PC (real hardware) in ~games

    Tuaam
    Link Parent
    Ah if it were a Core 2 Duo system that's probably not worth so much It's sad that we go through recycling so much without looking at what it's worth beforehand.

    Ah if it were a Core 2 Duo system that's probably not worth so much

    It's sad that we go through recycling so much without looking at what it's worth beforehand.

    1 vote

  13. Comment on Playing DOS and Windows 98 games on a retro PC (real hardware) in ~games

    Tuaam
    Link Parent
    Jesus Christ at that point you might as well just bin the system or pray for divine intervention What was it, a 2000s OEM pc or something older?

    Jesus Christ at that point you might as well just bin the system or pray for divine intervention

    What was it, a 2000s OEM pc or something older?

    1 vote

  14. Comment on Playing DOS and Windows 98 games on a retro PC (real hardware) in ~games

    Tuaam
    Link Parent
    Yep. Had a Gateway 486 33c with a busted barrel battery and that leaked all over the mainboard, destroying the keyboard encoder (long IC responsible for decoding and encoding keystrokes) and an...

    Yep. Had a Gateway 486 33c with a busted barrel battery and that leaked all over the mainboard, destroying the keyboard encoder (long IC responsible for decoding and encoding keystrokes) and an ISA slot. Replacing the IC socket it damaged was bad enough, and I was lucky the chip survived (which replacing it made the keyboard work), but getting a new replacement CR2022 battery was tough luck. I luckily have another 486 with a socketed dallas RTC chip.

    Other issues like bad capacitors is only inherent with motherboards and graphics cards made during the 2000s. Most 90s stuff tends to be higher quality, unless it's something notorious like pcchips. When you ignore all that though and like, have a working 486 in a nice AT case that you've fixed then there's a sense of pride and accomplishment which is somehow more satisfying than building a modern computer.

    1 vote

  15. Comment on Valve releases Team Fortress 2 source code in ~games

    Tuaam
    Link Parent
    It was one of the first games I got into when I built a PC. I also got into mapping and would frequent TF2Maps, now I've kinda stopped due to Hammer being very unweildly to use but it's a good...

    It was one of the first games I got into when I built a PC. I also got into mapping and would frequent TF2Maps, now I've kinda stopped due to Hammer being very unweildly to use but it's a good game, and honestly I'd love to dig into the source code.

    4 votes

  17. Comment on I'm alarmed by the apparent lack of an actual deep state in ~society

    Tuaam
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    I think the closest analogue to a Deep State would be intelligence services which are so clearly deep into the operation of a specific nation that they superceed anything. Contrary to popular...

    I think the closest analogue to a Deep State would be intelligence services which are so clearly deep into the operation of a specific nation that they superceed anything. Contrary to popular belief, I do not believe this is the CIA. Then again, I guess we don't really know.

    The only example I could think about is maybe the East German Stasi. But I think a genuine example would be Pakistan's ISI.

    8 votes

  18. Comment on Who's afraid of Hasan Piker? in ~society

    Tuaam
    Link Parent
    Yeah you basically hit the nail on it's head here, these people are absolutely useless to society and they're defended because they serve a "cause". It's not like they're forever useless, but they...

    Yeah you basically hit the nail on it's head here, these people are absolutely useless to society and they're defended because they serve a "cause". It's not like they're forever useless, but they choose to do pointless things like streaming. Sure, Hasan is very vocal about the Palestinian cause and is devoted to it, but he's not a scholar on the issue. Norman Finklestien, Noam Chomsky, and even Benny Morris have contributed way more to the discussion on the Israel-palestine conflict, Hasan isn't saying anything new. There are hundreds of intellectuals who champion left-wing values far better than Hasan. These people are at the end of the day, grifters who latch onto whatever hot topic comes their way. The other thing is that they latch onto bad faith arguments, for instance Destiny basically whitewashes anything Israel does as good and centers it around this extremely detached worldview which only makes sense if you go on reddit. Hasan on the other hand does the same with groups which are literally designated as terrorist organizations, and Asmongold said that he didn't give a shit about the extermination of the Palestinians because they had an "inferior culture". The cherry on top is that Asmongold doesn't even bathe or practice good hygiene, it's like the joke writes itself...

    Think of your iDubs, Drama Alert, Scarce, H3H3, xQC, Shane Dawsons and the like.

    Pretty much, I used to watch Idubbz (kickstarter crap is pretty good btw), H3H3, and Leafy in Highschool. That era is long gone, with the other thing being that they were barely political even then. Ethan and Hila barely got into Israeli politics up until Oct 7th happened, and now they've gone down the rabbit hole.

    5 votes

  19. Comment on Playing DOS and Windows 98 games on a retro PC (real hardware) in ~games

    Tuaam
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    ReactOS is apperantly notorious to install and get working correctly, so much so that installing older windows would be better. No seriously, this guy spends a week doing it makes you want to go...

    ReactOS is apperantly notorious to install and get working correctly, so much so that installing older windows would be better. No seriously, this guy spends a week doing it makes you want to go back to managing memory on DOS. It's that terrible.

    It's kinda similar to the reason why people just install MS-DOS 6.22 on 486s instead of period-accurate Linux or even FreeDOS, there's no use for open-source operating systems when you can just install something from the period and expect it to run because you're just playing Monkey Island or Wing Commander.

    1 vote

  20. Comment on Who's afraid of Hasan Piker? in ~society

    Tuaam
    Link
    Ugh, all of these streamers are going through my head. I don't even know any of these people - Destiny, H3H3, Hasan, Asmongold. It all becomes slop when you just see the drama related to them...

    Ugh, all of these streamers are going through my head. I don't even know any of these people - Destiny, H3H3, Hasan, Asmongold. It all becomes slop when you just see the drama related to them proliferate.

    I think the funniest part of this all is that these people are streamers. Like they're not even intellectuals or academics, they kinda just say vile and disgusting garbage to get younger people to agree with them. I saw a 1 hour video of Destiny arguing with Norman Finklestien and Benny Morris and he was just yelling and repeating very basic talking points against two people who were well above his grade. It's an embarrassment that people consider these commentators actually worth listening to.

    It's not even that, people like H3H3 have kinda bled off of youtube popularity by the end of the 2010s and they're only relevant because they post whatever dumb thing Hasan is saying. Like all that dude talks about is Hasan this, Hasan that.

    I know this comes off as a long-winded rant but I'm genuinely tired of what I see as an extension of terminally-online drama. Also to answer the question of the title in the article I guess that wouldn't be me.

    14 votes