V17's recent activity
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Comment on Macklemore - Hind's Hall (2024) in ~music
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Comment on NHS is broken - also, did my Pa have a stroke? in ~talk
V17 Link ParentFrom what I've read about this - and I'm not from the UK but from a different country which might be heading this way in the next 10-15 years, which is where my interest came from - the main issue...Many will chime in "Oh. That's a Tory government causing this!" but it really feels like a management and workflow issue. A simple workflow assigned to each patient with treatment and timing path would really free up nurses who seem to be bumbling along and missing basic things.
The NHS are great and very overworked/under paid but it just looks very unprofessional too.
From what I've read about this - and I'm not from the UK but from a different country which might be heading this way in the next 10-15 years, which is where my interest came from - the main issue is aging population gradually but rather significantly increasing the strain on the healthcare system, and literally every government just ignoring this main issue and kicking it down to the next one until it was too late to do anything.
There was enough time to do something, but nobody did, and now it's going to be bad for some time before it gets better because the problem with aging population is very likely going to keep getting worse over the next decade or two. I'm sure there are gaps in efficiency, but there is no way they will be enough to solve it.
I see some hope in interventions focused on reducing parts of the workload that are not spend on patients, like using AI to record speech to text and use it to do paperwork (there's an article linked on Tildes about it right now, it seems to be working well so far), or just hiring more non-medical assistants. But I don't know of any other quick solution.
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Comment on ‘Escape From Tarkov’ fans are outraged at new $250 pay-to-win edition in ~games
V17 Link ParentIt's a different game, but if someone's looking for a fresh take on a similar formula in singleplayer, Stalker Anomaly: GAMMA is a modern Stalker conversion with heavy survival milsim elements,...I have heard there's a mod that allows you play single player and doesn't wipe your progress. Essentially turning the game into PvE. My friends who are still interested in the game told me it's the only way they play nowadays.
It's a different game, but if someone's looking for a fresh take on a similar formula in singleplayer, Stalker Anomaly: GAMMA is a modern Stalker conversion with heavy survival milsim elements, inspired by Tarkov. It adds realistic guns, crafting, scavenging is the main gameloop, and it shifts the focus away from the story and horror elements of the original game. So it's quite far from OG Stalker. But it still has mutants and anomalies. I think it's the best free survival shooter game there is.
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Comment on Is there an intuitive (but powerful) music thingie? in ~music
V17 Link ParentReaper is not a tracker, reaper is a standard linear DAW that is quite surprisingly deep and flexible for how cheap it is. It's a great one. Getting something like Ableton's performance mode (or...There are other DAWs out there like Cubase and Reaper but with Cubase it's something youths talk about and I don't know about them, and Reaper is a tracker and I've said enough about them (but can you really say enough about them)?
Reaper is not a tracker, reaper is a standard linear DAW that is quite surprisingly deep and flexible for how cheap it is. It's a great one. Getting something like Ableton's performance mode (or how it's called) is only possible with user scripts though, not really made for that. Perhaps you meant to say Renoise (which is also awesome)?
What you say about Cubase is funny because in my mind it's a classic DAW that was popular when I was a kid and is mostly used by pros. Apparently still really good and deep, but again meant more for standard linear work (recording in a studio or composing).
Some unsolicited advice:
Stay way from modular/eurorack. It's a hobby for drooling idiots like myself.Signing this. It's one of the best toys ever made, but when you do realize that it really is just a toy for most people, it's expensive as hell. There is merit in doing things physically to get a different source of inspiration, but few people seem to really be able to use that benefit to create or perform music they wouldn't be able to with different, cheaper tools.
Every time I see a young dude with just a modular about to perform somewhere, I expect it to be shit, and most of the time it is.
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Comment on Looking for help scraping and deleting a Reddit account in ~comp
V17 Link ParentJust adding that these scripts never worked for me very well, so do check the results. They did edit/delete most comments, but never managed to go back far enough and even before that time cutoff...As for deleting, there's scripts available you can add as a bookmark and then run - it'll overwrite all your posts and comments for you (and can delete them after). You want your stuff overwritten because reddit has a nasty habit of un-deleting mass-deleted stuff. If you overwrite your stuff first though and then delete it then if reddit restores anything it'll just be the overwritten stuff. Here's the link: Power Delete Suite (make sure you read the instructions thoroughly!!)
Edit: Minty's will work as well but Power Delete Suite is a lot easier to use, so I'd recommend that if you're not super comfortable with coding; For PDS just copy and paste some stuff as described in the instructions on github :)
Just adding that these scripts never worked for me very well, so do check the results. They did edit/delete most comments, but never managed to go back far enough and even before that time cutoff left out some comments (and posts) here and there for unknown reasons even with repeated attempts. I had to use some python script (maybe what Minty linked below, don't remember) which then worked with no issues.
No problems with reddit undeleting anything though, iirc that may have been a false alert due to the fact that you cannot see and access your own comments from subreddits that are set to private and you have no access to, which was happening all the time during the blackout, and as the subreddits gradually became public again, your comments made there suddenly reappeared.
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Comment on Kingdom Come: Deliverance II -- coming 2024 in ~games
V17 LinkI'm actually kind of disappointed by the trailer. One of the things I liked about the first game was how nice and even welcoming the whole world felt - despite some of the brutal things that...I'm actually kind of disappointed by the trailer. One of the things I liked about the first game was how nice and even welcoming the whole world felt - despite some of the brutal things that happened around you, the eternal summer, colorful clothes and many friendly NPCs made it feel like you're on a summer vacation adventure.
This shift in tone is not something I wanted from the game, and Vávra seemed to confirm that it's not just the trailer: "The story and plot of KCD has evolved—it’s darker, deeper, and more cinematic, yet also crueler with pivotal decisions and plot twists that challenge the players’s conscience. Nevertheless, it retains its humor and down-to-earth approach."
More cinematic also often means more mainstream-oriented and streamlined, which would be another big negative for me. I still expect it to be very good and very likely will buy it, but not on release, before I know the details.
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Comment on Palestinian Relief Bundle — 373 games for $8 (save 99%) in ~games
V17 LinkI'm not going to post a list of recommended games, but a list of silly sounding games. It's not as ridiculous as with a tabletop bundle some time ago, but there are still some funny names and...I'm not going to post a list of recommended games, but a list of silly sounding games. It's not as ridiculous as with a tabletop bundle some time ago, but there are still some funny names and blurbs:
EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER: BOUND BY ASH: Gay disaster mech pilots killing fascists, Season 2
HRT Simulator 2023: SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS
An Outcry: Harass your neighbours. Debate with birds. Smoke to survive.
YOU ARE A WIZARD: A game where you're a dang ol wizard!!!!!
Lore Distance Relationship: Welcome to the 2000s.
Interactivity: The Interactive Experience: Please enjoy this interactive exhibition. But not The Button.
THE MILK IS SOUR: a glimpse into a future
My Strange Plane is a Thing Body Moves Through: Walk among weird objects in a weird place and hear them talk. -
Comment on The internet used to be ✨fun✨ in ~tech
V17 Link ParentA good tip, thanks! I'll look into it if I have the time.A good tip, thanks! I'll look into it if I have the time.
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Comment on The internet used to be ✨fun✨ in ~tech
V17 Link ParentWall of text for those who haven't heard this story, because it's almost mindblowing for me. It's like watching indirect everyday reports of somebody's mental health in real time. The original...Wall of text for those who haven't heard this story, because it's almost mindblowing for me. It's like watching indirect everyday reports of somebody's mental health in real time.
The original Sinfest used to be basically a playful, lighthearted webcomic that often made fun of relationships, sex and various religions in a relatively non-aggressive way.
Then something happened and the author suddenly became a stereotypical "feminazi", around the time when aggressive online "feminism" was reaching its peak. All playfulness and subtlety vanished and were replaced with sometimes straight up calling men inferior or evil, sometimes with metaphors on the level of a woman standing inside falling code from The Matrix that says subtle words like PATRIARCHY. The author also became hostile towards his fans who were not happy about this.
Then something else happened and he switched from hating men and patriarchy to being a stereotypically far-right populist hateful. So now you have admiration towards tradwife-like values and hate towards transsexualism and any sexualization of anything in general, and seeing those as firstly one and the same and secondly an attempt to brainwash the population from either the government or some secret cabal.
The one connecting point of those two was being staunchly anti-porn and sex-negative in general (and obviously hateful, though that increased as well), otherwise it was like two flicks of a lightswitch. Nowadays he added antisemitism to the mix, for obvious reasons.
Various articles were written about this in the webcomic fandom over the two+ decades. The only thing that gives any hints about what could have possibly happened is that he seems to be a dude who spent his entire life drawing a comic that has to come out every day, and yet he never really became successful, so he kind of scraped by until he realized that it's not going to happen and perhaps thought it was too late to change careers, so he became a hateful shut-in. And those two ideological changes are just a way to channel that bitterness that he found in online communities. But who knows.
At one point I decided to write a script that would download all of his comics, run them through OCR and do simple statistics on the words used, to identify the points of ideological change. But I quickly realized that the overwhelming majority of words used were non ideological and I'd have to filter out the relevant ones by hand, which is firstly a lot of work and secondly not trivial to do without introducing my own biases. But I may try to finish it in the future.
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Comment on NPR suspends veteran editor as it grapples with his public criticism in ~news
V17 Link ParentI agree with this, though from my side of the ocean it seems that american right wing media are too tolerant of hateful right-wing opinions whereas left wing media are too uncritical of dumb ideas...However not all ideas/views should be given equal treatment nor should they be assumed to be of any inherent quality simply because a particular type of person holds them. Ideas should be considered on their own merit alone and some ideas have none.
For example, if someone is anti-LGBTQ, I have zero need to include their perspectives in the name of diversity.
I agree with this, though from my side of the ocean it seems that american right wing media are too tolerant of hateful right-wing opinions whereas left wing media are too uncritical of dumb ideas expressed by members of marginalized groups, which is also wrong. Nevertheless, I am not saying that all ideas are equal.
They are tied together in some ways sure, in that by focusing on real diversity of race, orientation, gender, etc you will get varied perspectives.
There are two issues with this. Firstly if you limit diversity only to selected individual traits, you limit the diversity of opinions quite a bit. A black gay woman from California and a white heterosexual man from California have significantly more similar life experiences to each other than either has to a white heterosexual man from rural Appalachia. Some sociologists would also argue that for a majority of people their political affiliation is about as unchangeable as their sexual orientation, though I never bothered to check how legitimate some of that research is.
Secondly, excluding truly unacceptable opinions is the logical thing to do, but what seems to usually happen is that people throw out the baby with the bathwater and decide that nearly half of the US population is evil or stupid. Not only is it not true, it's making the political division in society worse. The way I understand the original article of the NPR editor, this is a big part of his problem.
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Comment on NPR suspends veteran editor as it grapples with his public criticism in ~news
V17 Link ParentHonestly I find this really weird because I think it's the other way around. When ignoring the possible benefits for the individuals (giving a job to someone who might otherwise be discriminated...Separately, equating diversity of inherent traits (race, orientation, etc) to diversity of worldviews/ideas/opinions/viewpoints (choices) I think is pretty flawed.
The former are not chosen. The latter do not need to be given the same default weight or respect or pursuit of "diversity"
Honestly I find this really weird because I think it's the other way around. When ignoring the possible benefits for the individuals (giving a job to someone who might otherwise be discriminated against), what is the benefit of any kind of diversity if not diversity of opinions? Is that not the goal?
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Comment on Ukrainians contemplate the once unthinkable: Losing the war with Russia in ~misc
V17 Link ParentThe problem with this is that the US absolutely will face consequences, it will just take more time. US economy and geopolitical position require Europe to be stable and to see US as its most...Again, it's a matter of practical interest. If Ukraine was in NATO, it would be a different story, but as is, the US providing military aid is no different than the US providing aid to the regime it propped up in Afghanistan. It's subject to the whims of politics because it's in the end, not something needed, nor promised - it's just part of the foreign policy machinations of the current administration.
The US will never face direct consequences from Russian aggression, aid from it will always be unstable, because its populace will never have non-existential foreign policy ambitions as their number one priority (in fact, it's about as low as it gets on American voter's priority list).
The problem with this is that the US absolutely will face consequences, it will just take more time. US economy and geopolitical position require Europe to be stable and to see US as its most important and reliable partner. Isolationism may be "fair", but it absolutely will make the US worse off in the medium term.
We would greatly prefer if mainstream political opinions realized and reflected this instead of having to go through the motions and seeing the consequences play out in real life because fixing what's broken always takes more time and makes everyone (hopefully temporarily) worse off.
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Comment on Ukrainians contemplate the once unthinkable: Losing the war with Russia in ~misc
V17 Link ParentNot exactly important, but I think you're underestimating the size of Ukraine here a bit, heh. Half a day's train ride is still eastern Europe, and we've been trying to help, but we don't have the...The backbone of Ukrainian support should be the countries who are literally half a day's train ride away from Putin's soliders.
Not exactly important, but I think you're underestimating the size of Ukraine here a bit, heh. Half a day's train ride is still eastern Europe, and we've been trying to help, but we don't have the cash. By percentage of GDP our contributions have been acceptable imo, and I'm quite proud of our recent actions, namely finding a source of over 1 mil pieces of artillery ammunition and acting as a middleman in their purchase.
It is absolutely true that at least some countries in western Europe do not seem to understand the gravity of the situation at all though.
There’s been a lot of incorrect expectations - that the sanctions would cripple Russia, that the people would rise up against Putin, that Ukraine would have the strength against an incompetent and ill equipped Russia to at least reclaim their territory up to crimea.
These seem like beliefs of the public based on dubious evidence, not beliefs of analysts or people in charge. The effect of sanctions was weaker than hoped, but it's still important. Russians rising up against Putin was naive nonsense from the beginning (plus the alternatives to Putin are hardly better) and while people believed and believe that Ukraine may reclaim its territory, at no point was it considered a highly probable option.
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Comment on Can noise canceling headphones be effective against non continuous noise such as music? in ~tech
V17 Link ParentI can't speak for headphones, but as someone who knows a bit about sound reproduction (I've designed and built loudspeakers commercially for a bit), their loudspeaker reviews are often completely...I can't speak for headphones, but as someone who knows a bit about sound reproduction (I've designed and built loudspeakers commercially for a bit), their loudspeaker reviews are often completely useless and at odds with measurable facts, so personally I'd be careful when heeding their recommendations regarding headphones as well.
I do take that as a sign that Bose might have innovated as well and my information is outdated, that is quite possible, but don't take What Hifi's word for it.
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Comment on Can noise canceling headphones be effective against non continuous noise such as music? in ~tech
V17 Link ParentThis used to be the case years ago, but afaik they did not manage to innovate as well as Sony for example, so at the least I don't think the difference is as clear now.From everything I've read, Bose are the best for noise cancelling if that's your main goal. My priorities are sound quality though.
This used to be the case years ago, but afaik they did not manage to innovate as well as Sony for example, so at the least I don't think the difference is as clear now.
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Comment on Can noise canceling headphones be effective against non continuous noise such as music? in ~tech
V17 Link ParentSpecifically with earmuffs (OP's situation) this is incorrect. Earmuffs are very bad at attenuating bass and well made active noise cancelling is pretty good at it. I don't have a specific...Active noise-cancelling is never going to be better than very good passive noise-cancelling.
Specifically with earmuffs (OP's situation) this is incorrect. Earmuffs are very bad at attenuating bass and well made active noise cancelling is pretty good at it. I don't have a specific comparison, so I'm not saying noise cancelling is objectively better (they work differently, so it's tough to compare or measure) or which one is cheaper, but when dealing with bass I'm pretty sure there are situations where active noise cancelling is going to be more practical and also more comfortable.
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Comment on Can noise canceling headphones be effective against non continuous noise such as music? in ~tech
V17 Link ParentThis is not true. The app just has to have its internal sound mixer, and some sound generators do. The problem is that since most other apps rely solely on global volume control, when you want to...It seems that Android is fundamentally incapable of providing multiple volume sliders for anything every slider is global.
This is not true.
The app just has to have its internal sound mixer, and some sound generators do. The problem is that since most other apps rely solely on global volume control, when you want to lower the volume of Spotify or Youtube, you also lower the volume of the sound generating app (which is logical, you don't want apps completely bypassing the main sound mixer). But you do trivially get the noise/rain app playing at say 10% of (global) Spotify volume.
I just tried this app to confirm it.
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Comment on Can noise canceling headphones be effective against non continuous noise such as music? in ~tech
V17 (edited )Link ParentA few tips that might be helpful for you or other people in a similar situation: Since we're talking specifically about music with loud bass, these might not be the best. They attenuate a lot, but...A few tips that might be helpful for you or other people in a similar situation:
The best earplugs I found were made by 3M, the 1100 Foam Earplugs.
Since we're talking specifically about music with loud bass, these might not be the best. They attenuate a lot, but foam plugs in general are very frequency dependent and commonly attenuate high frequencies about 8x more than low frequencies.
Generally attenuating bass is a difficult problem, though it's still easier with earplugs than with earmuffs. I've had really good experience with Flare Isolate, a memory foam + aluminium core earplug that's sadly not sold anymore, likely because it attenuated so much it was not that useful outside of sleeping, and for sleeping it was uncomfortably shaped. But if I was in a situation where it was needed, I'd 100% at least try Flare's current aluminum sleeping earplugs because they seem to know what they're doing and the isolation of Isolate was ridiculous.
I have also owned many noise-cancelling headphones and earbuds. They are largely ineffective for the task of blocking "interesting" or non-repetitive sounds like music or people talking, or sounds come on suddenly like sirens or car honks. At best they equal the sound deadening effects of great passive earplugs when it comes to non-repetitive sounds.
You should say which models specifically you used here because the difference in quality between brands and older and newer models is large. My experience with some of the newer and more expensive Sony models is that they are actually okay for speech as well - they block out the lower frequencies and leave out only the upper part of the spectrum, which is less intrusive than the full sound. And it can be easily blocked with earplugs.
Modern noise-cancelling headphones are generally pretty good at attenuating bass. I've never used them specifically in a situation like a neighbor with a loud subwoofer, but I do think it's always worth a try with a good quality model.
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Comment on Swedish company Scout Park has launched a mobile app where you can tip off wrongly parked cars to traffic wardens to earn money in ~transport
V17 Link ParentHonestly as long as public transport works well I don't care. I have a feeling that many people online read about car centered infrastructure in the US and conclude that cars are a terrible evil...Honestly as long as public transport works well I don't care.
I have a feeling that many people online read about car centered infrastructure in the US and conclude that cars are a terrible evil in any situation. The city I live in has excellent public transport, reasonably priced bikes for rent, and the wider center is walkable. I do want to give public transport more priority in places with high traffic and I want more separate bike lanes, but I see no good reason to restrict cars any more.
There are good reasons to own a car and the problem of pretty much all car restrictions is that they target the poor working class the most. I am against that.
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Comment on In Berlin, I experience icks I never thought possible in ~travel
V17 Link ParentMy experience confirms this. I grew up in the 90s in a post-communist neighbor of Germany and I remember that even when racism against the Roma was rampant in the 90s and neonazis repeatedly tried...The thing about the N-word is a bit of projection I think. To understand why it is not just bad but very racist to say the N-word, you have to be aquanted with US history on slavery. The writer pretty much assumes that people in Germany should all just know this, but never considers the culture difference.
My experience confirms this. I grew up in the 90s in a post-communist neighbor of Germany and I remember that even when racism against the Roma was rampant in the 90s and neonazis repeatedly tried to organize pogroms, almost everyone apart from said literal neonazis was like "well I hate gypsies, but I've nothing against black people, they're cool".
Then with the boom of mainstream rap music suddenly our media was flooded with either literal ex gangsters or gangsta-wannabes saying the n word in every other sentence and those same people were like "wow, this is what black people are like? I guess I don't like blacks now!" Naturally they had very little idea about american history or even current reality and mostly based their opinions on largely shitty popculture imports.
It almost felt like we had to import this kind of racism first. But nobody thought of importing US history, of course, why would they. Fortunately since it was imported, it didn't catch on that much, and people who base their opinions on popculture don't tend to have too long attention spans.
Adding to that, the idea of a word being banned is just completely foreign to most of us. Some people literally view banning the n-word (and I mean banning it regardless of context, banning its usage as a direct slur is completely different) as so foreign as reading about the world of Harry Potter banning the word Voldemort. Nothing similar exists here.
The author also says this, which I think is funny:
Take the white people here, for instance. I have possibly never seen so many white people with dreadlocks.
Our minister for regional development is literally a white dude with dreadlocks who's a psytrance DJ (with a PhD, as is the custom here). I hope she doesn't come here next.
I know there's always a lot of annoying hysteria about these following elections being the most important elections ever, but it's not really about pretense, it's about acknowledging the consequences of the vote and making the decision accordingly.
In my opinion specifically presidential elections offer some of the worst tradeoffs between a possible effect on the popularity of a third party or the popularity of third-party political opinions, and the effect of objectively helping the worse of two evils by voting for someone who doesn't stand a chance.