alessa's recent activity

  1. Comment on AT&T defends misleading ā€œ5Gā€ network icons on 4G phones in ~tech

    alessa
    Link Parent
    I'm not sure what's going down in Slabs these days, but in theory it's still an anarchist off the grid settlement, so there's no need to airbnb. You just find a patch of land you like that hasn't...

    I'm not sure what's going down in Slabs these days, but in theory it's still an anarchist off the grid settlement, so there's no need to airbnb. You just find a patch of land you like that hasn't been marked off as claimed, and set up shop. There are definitely some camps there that offer more amenities where you might need to reserve a small living space like a camper or something and that can cost.. But most people live out of a van or a tent or improvised shelter.

  2. Comment on AT&T defends misleading ā€œ5Gā€ network icons on 4G phones in ~tech

    alessa
    Link Parent
    It's not a bad idea truthfully. I think this year I'm going to spend a few months doing something like that. There's festivals and camps you can find in the US that are off the grid. I spent...

    It's not a bad idea truthfully. I think this year I'm going to spend a few months doing something like that. There's festivals and camps you can find in the US that are off the grid. I spent winter of 2016 in Slab City and I may try a Rainbow Gathering this year. I've heard from old heads that it has gone south over the last decade but it'll be new to me.

    4 votes
  3. Comment on New years resolutions? in ~talk

    alessa
    Link Parent
    For starters anywhere but here. Probably be living at festivals for awhile. Rainbow gatherings. Follow the dead. Find some dirty kids or some hippies and just be with my people. There's nothing...

    For starters anywhere but here. Probably be living at festivals for awhile. Rainbow gatherings. Follow the dead. Find some dirty kids or some hippies and just be with my people. There's nothing for me in civilized society. Gonna go hit the highway again and aim for an early death.

  4. Comment on New years resolutions? in ~talk

    alessa
    Link
    I'm going to leave when it's warmer and I'm not gonna come back.

    I'm going to leave when it's warmer and I'm not gonna come back.

    1 vote
  5. Comment on Let's talk browsers in ~comp

    alessa
    Link Parent
    I'm on Firefox now too. I gave up on Chrom[ium|e] as soon as I started coding again because of poor tab management. The tab management extensions are a joke. Firefox did away with their out of the...

    I'm on Firefox now too. I gave up on Chrom[ium|e] as soon as I started coding again because of poor tab management. The tab management extensions are a joke.

    Firefox did away with their out of the box tab groups but there are extensions which reimplement it. I run a group of a dozen tabs or so for each language or project I do and I can cycle between them quickly with a keyboard shortcut or see all my groups in one window.

    Of course once I switched to Firefox I found out it actually runs much better than chrome now on my comp. And it doesn't have any conflicts of interest in the privacy domain either.

    5 votes
  6. Comment on Doomba in ~tech

    alessa
    Link Parent
    What horror hath science wrought? But for real, this is neat as hell.

    What horror hath science wrought?

    But for real, this is neat as hell.

    2 votes
  7. Comment on Razer wants gamers to mine cryptocurrency for store credit in ~games

    alessa
    Link
    And why would I do this instead of mining my own coins? All I can see is that it's potentially easier to use customer loyalty points on a store website than it is to figure out cryptocurrency. I...

    And why would I do this instead of mining my own coins? All I can see is that it's potentially easier to use customer loyalty points on a store website than it is to figure out cryptocurrency. I guess if your electricity is paid for...

    6 votes
  8. Comment on Hey, that's our stuff: Masaai tribespeople tackle Oxford's Pitt Rivers museum in ~humanities

    alessa
    Link Parent
    We have some great techniques now for recording and replicating objects - I think you could make a case for scanning the object using photogrammetry and perhaps building or 3d printing a replica,...

    We have some great techniques now for recording and replicating objects - I think you could make a case for scanning the object using photogrammetry and perhaps building or 3d printing a replica, and giving the original back to its people of origin. You might be losing the objects but at least you're not losing them completely. Though that is quite a predicament. If I were the one to decide I wouldn't be speaking so quickly I'm sure.

    2 votes
  9. Comment on New study shows Medicare-For-All savings likely 2.5x previous estimates in ~health

    alessa
    Link
    This right here has me kind of slackjawed. Not only does the working class pay out the nose for healthcare, but the owning class actually makes money on healthcare? Granted that it's less than a...

    Contrast this to the top 20 percent of Americans (those making over $221,000). These families spend an average $7,980 on health care each year. At the same time, they receive $8,290 in tax exemptions for health spending, including both the share paid by them and the share paid by their employers. This means they receive, on average, a surplus of 0.1 percent of their income through health spending. The top 5 percent of families, meanwhile, receive a 0.9 percent surplus.

    This right here has me kind of slackjawed. Not only does the working class pay out the nose for healthcare, but the owning class actually makes money on healthcare? Granted that it's less than a percent of income, that's still a pretty damn stacked deck.

    Otherwise I'm very pleased by this news and the result of the study. It is really great to have this backing us up. We'll definitely need more of a sea change in our government to get it implemented but it'd change so many lives. Medicare is really, really great.

    2 votes
  10. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech

    alessa
    Link Parent
    I had been looking forward to Allo coming to desktop, too.

    I had been looking forward to Allo coming to desktop, too.

    3 votes
  11. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~games

    alessa
    Link Parent
    I didn't catch Morrowind at release, I played it a year or two after, but even now it's pretty crashy without the community patches. This debacle is clearly worse than anything Bethesda has pulled...

    I didn't catch Morrowind at release, I played it a year or two after, but even now it's pretty crashy without the community patches.

    This debacle is clearly worse than anything Bethesda has pulled so far though. I mean wow. I've watched some documentary stuff on the history of the company and its games and Fallout76's design, bugs aside, seems to be indicative of Todd's design philosophy. He's basically said his game design theory is to pull out and simplify as many systems as he can. You can see that in Skyrim's gutted progression/perk systems. And you can really see that in Fallout 76.

    I don't have super high hopes for the next Elder Scrolls game anymore. If it's even playable I think it'll be a huge AAA game but at the same time it'll probably be just a shadow of what the series once stood for.

    10 votes
  12. My dad had a stroke; looking for free Android games to help him pass time and recover

    Last month my dad had a stroke. Miraculously he didn't lose much functionality at all, though he does have some minor cognitive issues that we're working on in rehab - mainly memory. Accordingly,...

    Last month my dad had a stroke. Miraculously he didn't lose much functionality at all, though he does have some minor cognitive issues that we're working on in rehab - mainly memory. Accordingly, we want to find some games he can play on his tablet to help keep his mind active and focus his attention. But the mobile game market is hard for me to navigate and sort through for what I'm looking for.

    I need games that're about a dollar or less and don't have in-app purchases. Basically games you could give to your kid and trust that they're not gonna be psychologically manipulated into wanting to empty your bank card or something like that.

    Brain teasers and simple puzzles are ideal for sharpening his mind but any game that's good clean straightforward fun will work. I don't think he's going to be able to handle anything with a whole lot of moving parts like an RTS right now, for instance.

    I can't afford to spend much on this and I don't know what kinds of games will interest him most so I want to give him a lot of choices. I've already looked through a couple of the other mobile game rec threads on here and I'm checking out the games listed there, but I was hoping you all could help me think of some stuff more geared to my situation. Any pointers even just on where to go looking or what to google would be appreciated. Cheers!

    Edit:

    Thank you all for being so supportive! I've added a bunch of the games you recommended, and I also found a couple nice lists that I thought I'd add here for anyone else interested.

    Short List of Totally Free Games

    10 Completely Free Mobile Games

    Stay awesome tildes!

    20 votes
  13. Comment on Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes denied visa to tour Australia with 'The Deplorables' in ~news

    alessa
    Link Parent
    It warms my heart to see these kids being massive fuckups.

    It warms my heart to see these kids being massive fuckups.

    1 vote
  14. Comment on At Yale, we conducted an experiment to turn conservatives into liberals. The results say a lot about our political divisions. in ~science

    alessa
    Link Parent
    Yeah the way they describe it is pretty exaggerated. They're showing a short term change of opinion when expressed in a low stakes situation. That's cool, I dig it. But how long does the effect...

    Yeah the way they describe it is pretty exaggerated. They're showing a short term change of opinion when expressed in a low stakes situation. That's cool, I dig it. But how long does the effect last and how firmly will they hold to these changed opinions for that duration, if for instance the survey questions are asked by family or friends instead of a stranger or a questionnaire? Perhaps these questions are examined in the study itself but from this article I'm not seeing the headline justified. This is good preliminary research for beginning to examine how to make a conservative liberal or vice versa though.

    3 votes
  15. Comment on Stan Lee, Marvel Comics' real-life superhero, dies at 95 in ~comics

    alessa
    Link Parent
    Hah. And the machine grinds ever onward.

    Hah. And the machine grinds ever onward.

    2 votes
  16. Comment on I collected my plastic waste for a year, and learned the truth about recycling in ~enviro

    alessa
    Link Parent
    The author also brought up that plastic recycling processes are horribly inefficient apparently so the whole thing still seems disingenuous... I was persuaded that the real solution is to address...

    The author also brought up that plastic recycling processes are horribly inefficient apparently so the whole thing still seems disingenuous... I was persuaded that the real solution is to address the culture of consumerism itself. That'd have to happen on a lot of levels at once.

    Along the lines of what you're talking about we could also perhaps penalize the manufacture and sale of disposable nonbiodegradable products and packaging. There's gotta be a million ways we can do things better.

    3 votes
  17. Comment on Stan Lee, Marvel Comics' real-life superhero, dies at 95 in ~comics

    alessa
    Link
    Wow, it shouldn't be surprising but it is. Dude is a legend. I hope they don't start putting 3d generated Stan Lee cameos in the movies...

    Wow, it shouldn't be surprising but it is. Dude is a legend. I hope they don't start putting 3d generated Stan Lee cameos in the movies...

    8 votes
  18. Comment on DNA testing reveals baffling bird is three species in one in ~science

    alessa
    Link Parent
    It's pretty incredible how we can trace lineage like that. I found the faintly judgy undertone in the article amusing. I for one applaud the tiny dinosaurs brave enough to find love outside their...

    It's pretty incredible how we can trace lineage like that. I found the faintly judgy undertone in the article amusing. I for one applaud the tiny dinosaurs brave enough to find love outside their species.

    (I did understand the abstract concerns they were referencing to be clear.)

    2 votes
  19. Comment on Bonfire of the humanities: The role of history in a society afflicted by short-termism in ~humanities.history

    alessa
    Link Parent
    This article is along the lines of thoughts I've been having lately. I've taken an interest in ancient history and prehistory, and my latest read is Fingerprints of the Gods. Say what you will of...

    This article is along the lines of thoughts I've been having lately. I've taken an interest in ancient history and prehistory, and my latest read is Fingerprints of the Gods. Say what you will of its credibility, but my reading has made me reconsider what a long time actually is. We talk about events of decades ago as though they were from a bygone age and in the big picture it might as well have been yesterday. It's an interesting dichotomy. We move and change so quickly that in a sense we really can think of passing years and decades as a change of eras, but at the same time mankind has been here doing stuff and living lives for what, a couple hundred thousand years at least? Our species has probably forgotten more than modern man knows today.

    2 votes
  20. Comment on How bicycles have changed in the last twenty-five years in ~transport

    alessa
    Link Parent
    Yeah this was a really neat article. Biking hasn't been a part of my world for about as long as you so it was genuinely novel to see some of the changes.

    Yeah this was a really neat article. Biking hasn't been a part of my world for about as long as you so it was genuinely novel to see some of the changes.

    4 votes