aphoenix's recent activity

  1. Comment on Whatever happened to _____? in ~talk

    aphoenix
    Link Parent
    I wasn't questioning that at all, I was just responding to the "not sure what you mean by true correlation" bit.

    I wasn't questioning that at all, I was just responding to the "not sure what you mean by true correlation" bit.

    1 vote

  2. Comment on Whatever happened to _____? in ~talk

    aphoenix
    Link Parent
    I don't want to speak for @DefinitelyNotAFae but I do agree that the claims that there is a correlation are almost spurious. I think the easiest way to describe the issue is to consider another...

    I don't want to speak for @DefinitelyNotAFae but I do agree that the claims that there is a correlation are almost spurious. I think the easiest way to describe the issue is to consider another example. Take "people who breathe air" and "people who pick their nose and eat it". Is there a correlation between these? I mean 100% of people who pick their nose and eat it breathe air! But ultimately, this isn't a meaningful correlation, because everyone has to breathe.

    In the same vein, pregnant people can pretty much only take Tylenol for whatever ails them. "Pregnant people who take Tylenol" is not an exact match to "people who breathe air" from the example - that was an example to illustrate a point, not a perfect 1:1. But it is close enough that it makes any correlation that one draws from the group to be incredibly difficult to derive any meaning from.

    Or to put it yet another way - and forgive me because I don't recall the exact numbers - the "study" that they have quoted has said something like "75% of women who have children with ASD used Tylenol while pregnant" which is probably true. But they gloss over the fact that it also says something like "75% of women who have children without ASD used Tylenol while pregnant". For this to be a meaningful correlation, there would actually have to be a significant difference between those figures. The data would have to be meaningfully statistically different between the two groups.

    Without some kind of data change over usage, it is not a meaningful correlation, it's just a factoid.

    1 vote

  3. Comment on Hank Green: Pissing Out Cancer in ~tv

    aphoenix
    Link
    Oh, it's cool that this is just out on YouTube now. It was a "Dropout Presents" special that I watched last year when it came out (maybe this year? I no longer have a solid grasp on time) and it's...

    Oh, it's cool that this is just out on YouTube now. It was a "Dropout Presents" special that I watched last year when it came out (maybe this year? I no longer have a solid grasp on time) and it's pretty great. It's classic Hank, too - educational, funny, touching - and really worth the watch.

    5 votes

  4. Comment on Without looking, do you have a vague idea of your coordinates? in ~talk

    aphoenix
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    I updated the chart above to show this, and added in 3 new results.

    I updated the chart above to show this, and added in 2 3 new results.

    1 vote

  5. Comment on Without looking, do you have a vague idea of your coordinates? in ~talk

    aphoenix
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    I compiled the information as it is currently. Per @chocobean's request, I split this into four groups. exact - within a half degree on both axes close - within 5 degrees on both axes sort of -...
    • Exemplary

    I compiled the information as it is currently.

    Per @chocobean's request, I split this into four groups.

    • exact - within a half degree on both axes
    • close - within 5 degrees on both axes
    • sort of - knew one, or was within a continent / region for both
    • no - had no idea
    Responses Number Percentage
    Exact 12 24.5%
    Close 10 20.4%
    Sort Of 12 24.5%
    No 15 30.6%
    Total 49 100%

    So almost half of people know their location (matches your experience) but the rest are split between vaguely recognize the location and having no idea.

    Old chart for posterity
    Responses Number Percentage
    Knew General Location 21 46.67%
    Sort of Knew 11 24.44%
    Did not know 13 28.89%
    Total 45 100%
    4 votes

  6. Comment on Without looking, do you have a vague idea of your coordinates? in ~talk

    aphoenix
    Link Parent
    Depending on how far North or South you are, 20 degrees of longitude can be quite close. If you're at 89 degrees for example, then 20 degrees of longitude is about 40km, you're very close!

    Depending on how far North or South you are, 20 degrees of longitude can be quite close. If you're at 89 degrees for example, then 20 degrees of longitude is about 40km, you're very close!

    1 vote

  7. Comment on Without looking, do you have a vague idea of your coordinates? in ~talk

    aphoenix
    Link Parent
    The game (revealed elsewhere as Inscryption) is actually pretty great and actually as presented in the game, it doesn't even actually need to have it explained how he knows the coordinates are...

    The game (revealed elsewhere as Inscryption) is actually pretty great and actually as presented in the game, it doesn't even actually need to have it explained how he knows the coordinates are nearby. He could have just googled it, in the context of the game.

    Just to ask - if someone knows Morse code in a movie, is that shit writing?

    1 vote

  8. Comment on Whatever happened to _____? in ~talk

    aphoenix
    Link Parent
    I think that it's a bit nitpicky to say it wasn't cancelled. It's concluded, and there won't be more seasons; the conclusion matches what the showrunners apparently wanted, it was not...

    I think that it's a bit nitpicky to say it wasn't cancelled. It's concluded, and there won't be more seasons; the conclusion matches what the showrunners apparently wanted, it was not unceremoniously cancelled.

    1 vote

  9. Comment on Whatever happened to _____? in ~talk

    aphoenix
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    I would classify myself as a pretty die-hard Tolkien lore nerd - I'd be comfortable at a LotR Trivia Night to face off against Brennan Lee Mulligan and Stephen Colbert - but that's not the reason...

    I would classify myself as a pretty die-hard Tolkien lore nerd - I'd be comfortable at a LotR Trivia Night to face off against Brennan Lee Mulligan and Stephen Colbert - but that's not the reason that I think that the shows are only okay.

    I think there are a lot of things in the show that are very well done, and they've made some very good changes from the books, that make the story much more reasonable. For example, you can't tell the full story of the Rings of Power and the Second Age in TV form very well as the stories are written, because it takes place over thousands of years, so it was super important to compress it into something much more reasonable. And some of the character additions are fantastic - Disa, Adar, and Arondir for example are pretty great. I'm very in favour of changes to the source material that are done in service to making a better show or telling a better story in a different medium. But some of the changes seem to have been done in a way that do not serve the medium or telling of a better story, and some of the story lines or plot points aren't even internally consistent within the universe of Rings of Power.

    Spoilers for the show
    • the battle of Eregion is pretty nonsensical. The siege machines can break the mountains, but have a hard time with walls? And they can be pulled by a small group of Orcs? In the movies, siege engines were pulled by thousands of orcs, and it was an opportunity to show the untold hordes that were faced by Men; in this case, it just seems like they didn't want to spend the money to make that many orcs.
    • the dwarves uncovering the Balrog was pretty cool... except the shaft that they found was basically in downtown Moria. It really needed to be at the utmost extension of a mine shaft. The dwarves dug too greedily and too deep, they didn't uncover a secret unknown shaft just around the corner. It's also kind of internally important; the dwarves should have known that there was a shaft there, because they are Masters of the mountain.
    • the wizard is Gandalf. This was done as fan service, because Gandalf is a popular character. I was really hoping he was going to be one of the Blue Istari, because there's actual untold story there that has the potential to be interesting, and to be built around, but because it's Gandalf, we know that he's incorruptible and will survive. It just makes the story less interesting.

    I could go on (and on and on) about how I feel about a lot of things on this show, but I guess what really gets me is that each of the three things I listed above feel like they were decided by a committee, and done to reduce cost, oversimplify, or link to the movies. It's this feeling of story-by-committee that I think is actually the big problem with the show.

    Edit: there's one more that I was going to hold off on, but got me.

    Spoiler for end of RoP Season 1

    The creation of Mordor showed a fundamental misunderstanding of a specific aspect of Tolkien's writing, which is the connection between Masters and their Demesnes. The end of season one ends with a very sudden transformation of one entire area into Mordor, because water was diverted into Mount Doom which caused an eruption, but that misses a very important element of the writing.

    In Middle Earth, vast areas are linked to the master of that area. Rivendell is under the control of Elrond, Lorien is linked to Galadriel, Isengard to Saruman, Fangorn to Treebeard / Fangorn, Mordor to Sauron. All of the lands are a reflection of their Master. This is not an immediate process; silver flowers do not spring under Galadriel's feet, nor do healing waters follow Elrond. It takes time and years for the power of the Master to sink into the Land. A great example of this is Mirkwood; for many years it was mostly under the control of Thranduil and was beautiful if uninviting, but when Sauron moved into Dol Guldur as the Necromancer (around 1050), then over a period of a thousand or so years the place became Mirkwood; dark and moldy and filled with spiders. As Sauron exerted his control, the place became worse and worse, and after he was driven out, it started to rebound as the elves exerted their control.

    Morder is not barren and dead because of some gotcha with water going into Mount Doom, it is barren and dead because it is an outward reflection of Sauron's terrible nature. It's one of the main reasons to fight against Sauron; if he ever wins, then the Morder-ness will spread to every place he has mastery over.

    There's no indication of this in the show at all; Mordor is made because of the actions of Adar, which is a fundamental misstep; it cuts out an important part of the darkness and terror of Sauron, so that they could have a cool scene and people can go "oooh, it's MORDOR".

    8 votes

  11. Comment on Whatever happened to _____? in ~talk

    aphoenix
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Lord of the Rings post Hobbit: Rings of Power is okayish, but not particularly good. There's some discussion of it on Tildes in the Season 2 Trailer post. It's a travesty that this is continuing...

    Lord of the Rings post Hobbit: Rings of Power is okayish, but not particularly good. There's some discussion of it on Tildes in the Season 2 Trailer post. It's a travesty that this is continuing but Wheel of Time was cancelled. IMDb rating has it as 6.9/10 which I think is pretty accurate; it's not great, but it's not as terrible as the people who are likely to talk about it make it out to be. War of the Rohirrim is an anime that was released and is in a similar sort of "not great not bad" sort of spot. Neither of these are "must watch" sort of things.

    Star Wars after Rogue One: there is a lot of stuff here. If you are into Star Wars at all, then most of it is pretty watchable.

    • The Last Jedi - main movie - watch
    • Solo - "star wars story" movie - watch
    • Star Wars Resistance - cartoon - skip
    • the Mandalorian - TV show - watch
    • Rise of Skywalker - main movie - watch but... sigh
    • Book of Boba Fett - TV show - watch
    • The Bad Batch - cartoon / show - watch
    • Obi-Wan - show - watch if you like Obi-Wan and Vader
    • Andor - show - watch
    • Tales of the Jedi - animated shorts - good but skippable
    • Ahsoka - show - I haven't watched it
    • Tales of the Empire - animated shorts - good but skippable
    • The Acolyte - show - skip
    • Skeleton Crew - show - I haven't watched it
    • Tales of the Underworld - animated shorts - I haven't watched it, but probably also "good but skippable"

    Books for A Song of Ice and Fire - I am conflicted while writing this, but my current plan is to not ever read anything else George RR Martin ever writes. I started reading this series when I was a goddamned teenager and I'm at a point in my life where my age rounds up to FIFTY. Martin is not an author that writes for the love of the game, or for the love of his audience, and having spent more than one decade long wait for one of his books has broken my love for his style and content. I fully recommend avoiding reading his works or watching his shows. Similarly, Patrick Rothfuss, full avoid. I haven't watched House of the Dragon - I also didn't watch Game of Thrones past the first couple of seasons - but everyone I know that has watched it has enjoyed it a lot.

    Star Trek after Picard season one. I didn't make it through Picard, but Lower Decks is surprisingly good. Strange New Worlds looks pretty good, but I haven't gotten around to watching it yet. Section 31 was bad though.

    Rick and Morty - I didn't even make it as far as you.

    Marvel MCU after Multiverse of Madness: Love and Thunder was about as good as Dark World. Wakanda Forever was good. Guardians of the Galaxy 3 is of similar quality to the other GotG movies, it's quite good. The Marvels had some problems finishing the movie, but it's not as bad as the reviews made it out to be - a decent story with all female main characters, and Ms Marvel was one of my family's favourite Marvel series if you haven't seen it. Deadpool & Wolverine you can actually see if you go to the dictionary and look up "Fan Service" - the whole move is actually there in the definition (it's still a lot of fun). Captain America: Brave New World was pretty meh, as much as I love Harrison Ford and Anthony Mackie, and Thunderbolts was underwhelming. If you're picking and choosing, Wakanda Forever, Guardians 3, Deadpool & Wolverine are the ones to watch. I haven't yet seen the Fantastic Four movie.

    Dr Who, Breaking Bad, Al Yazawa's Nana, I have no particular info, other than that I've heard that Better Call Saul is as good as Breaking Bad.

    The Good Place spin-off - as far as I know, there is no good place spin-off, unless you're talking about "Man on the Inside" which is just a show made by the same people. It's quite good, I'm really enjoying season 2.

    3 votes

  12. Comment on Whatever happened to _____? in ~talk

    aphoenix
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    There's a bit of this flavour going on these days. It's differently bad from this image (it's just a picture of a bunch of different characters from a bunch of different IPs, probably originally...

    There's a bit of this flavour going on these days. It's not as bad as this image implies differently bad from this image (it's just a picture of a bunch of different characters from a bunch of different IPs, probably originally Fortnite related).

    I think that some entrenched players saw it as "the final straw", and moved to almost entirely proxying magic cards. I have certainly moved in that direction, and now I'm cataloguing my collection to sell because I no longer care at all about the value in the cards themselves. Some of the collaborations are better than others; the Final Fantasy and ATLA releases have a lot of great, well designed cards, whereas something like the Princess Bride release is just cards with different branding. I actually put together a deck that plays with this, though I'm going to have to update it: Everyone Hates This where you want to do things like use Buttercup (Princess Bride) to find Gandalf (LotR) to equip Ghal Maraz (Warhammer 40k) to Negan (Walking Dead) so that he and The Meep (Dr. Who) can crew the ECTO-1 (Ghostbusters). There are a variety of other IPs thrown in (Stranger Things, Marvel, Evil Dead, Lara Croft, Jurassic Park, Fallout, and more).

    What it really speaks to is that Wizards of the Coast is just churning out set after set after set, and the content is not all great. They are introducing mechanics that never get support and go away, and cards are feeling all over the place. Prices have gone up, and everything feels pretty cash-grabby.

    15 votes

  13. Comment on Without looking, do you have a vague idea of your coordinates? in ~talk

    aphoenix
    Link Parent
    I'm going to guess without looking: I think that's in Germany? Now I checked, and I was pretty close! I knew that the south of England is at about 50N (just north of the 49th parallel, which is...

    I'm going to guess without looking: I think that's in Germany?

    Now I checked, and I was pretty close! I knew that the south of England is at about 50N (just north of the 49th parallel, which is the border of US/Canada) and that 0E/W is about the middle of England. And at 50N, 1 degree is about 70km, so 13E is about 900km east of the middle of England, so I went East in the map of Europe in my head, and felt like the Munich area of Germany was about right. But you are a fair bit north and a fair bit east of where I pictured, and obviously in a whole different country.

    2 votes

  14. Comment on Without looking, do you have a vague idea of your coordinates? in ~talk

    aphoenix
    Link Parent
    This is the third time in the past week that someone asked me if I was in scouts. I was - shout out Scouts Canada - from age 5 until I was about 16. I've always liked maps, though, which is the...

    This is the third time in the past week that someone asked me if I was in scouts. I was - shout out Scouts Canada - from age 5 until I was about 16. I've always liked maps, though, which is the actual reason why I know my approximate latitude and longitude.

    The other times: I pulled out my pocked knife to open a letter, and I had a bandaid on me when someone needed it.

    3 votes

  15. Comment on Without looking, do you have a vague idea of your coordinates? in ~talk

    aphoenix
    Link
    I guess this is mildly interesting - I had an idea of my location, put in the guess into Google maps and ended up about a half km from my parent's house (which is about 19 km from where I am). So...

    I guess this is mildly interesting - I had an idea of my location, put in the guess into Google maps and ended up about a half km from my parent's house (which is about 19 km from where I am). So I got pretty close.

    ps I also knew:

    • 1 degree of latitude is about 110km
    • 1 degree of longitude is about 110km at the equator
    • 1 degree of longitude is about 75km at around 45 degrees of latitude

    Which is good for ballparking things.

    5 votes

  16. Comment on Games: Your personal year in review for 2025 in ~games

    aphoenix
    Link Parent
    Wanderstop is on my wishlist, I also love Wreden's other games, with The Stanley Parable being on my all-time top 10 list. Actually, Slay the Spire is on my all-time list as well. I also got in a...

    Wanderstop is on my wishlist, I also love Wreden's other games, with The Stanley Parable being on my all-time top 10 list. Actually, Slay the Spire is on my all-time list as well. I also got in a fair amount of Magic this year (Tabletop Simulator for more than half of it, but a fair bit in person). I love Betrayal as well, though we don't get to play it much here, because the thing that I love about it (rarely the same when you play it) is a thing that my wife specifically hates about games (she wants to learn what a strategy is and then implement that every time). Ah well.

    been a really long year for me

    it actually pulled me out of the depression I was going through

    I just want to add a virtual hug to my comment, and hope that everything is getting better.

    2 votes

  17. Comment on Games: Your personal year in review for 2025 in ~games

    aphoenix
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    I think The Farmer was Replaced is one of the best intro to programming games around - I just played it for the first time earlier this year, and I've now gifted it half a dozen times to people...

    I think The Farmer was Replaced is one of the best intro to programming games around - I just played it for the first time earlier this year, and I've now gifted it half a dozen times to people along with a copy of Automate the Boring Stuff. Edit: for clarity, it's also a great programming game for people who already know how, but it actually structures and teaches very well in the help materials in game.

    Satisfactory is a perennial favourite for me as well - I'm wearing a Ficsit t-shirt today, which I picked because I saw my son was wearing his.

    Both of those picks really resonated with me, so I've added Timberborn to my wishlist!

    2 votes

  18. Comment on Winter boot recommendations for women in ~life.style

    aphoenix
    Link Parent
    Interestingly, one of the things that I like about my Bogs is that they are accommodating for my massive calves. I'm wondering if that's maybe the difference between the men's and the women's...

    Interestingly, one of the things that I like about my Bogs is that they are accommodating for my massive calves. I'm wondering if that's maybe the difference between the men's and the women's versions of the same boot? I also walked 16k steps in mine yesterday and was pretty comfortable.

    To be clear, I'm not questioning your experience. I find it interesting how different people react to similar products, and it really just brings me round to mention that it's important to go try things out. It's one of the great things about brick and mortar stores; you get an idea for how something actually feels on your body.

    3 votes

  19. Comment on Winter boot recommendations for women in ~life.style

    aphoenix
    Link
    I am a man so bear that in mind with my recommendation. I have a pair of Bogs that I love for all outdoor winter activities, and wear any time I need real boots. My still-at-home kids both wear...

    I am a man so bear that in mind with my recommendation. I have a pair of Bogs that I love for all outdoor winter activities, and wear any time I need real boots. My still-at-home kids both wear Bogs day to day, and my wife has a pair that she wears when she is not dressing for style. They are durable, comfortable, and warm enough for our relatively harsh Canadian winters. The one drawback is that some people think they are goofy looking.

    I was at as party last night and someone there was tickled by the fact that she had the same boots as me, except hers could fit in mine. So it's not just my family that wears them.

    3 votes

  20. Comment on Your "Yukon Gold" potatoes probably aren't Yukons—here's why in ~food

    aphoenix
    Link
    It's mentioned in the article, but these were created in my home town, at my alma mater. There are a few places around here that still grow them, so I find them at local farmer's markets...

    It's mentioned in the article, but these were created in my home town, at my alma mater. There are a few places around here that still grow them, so I find them at local farmer's markets throughout harvest season, but that's the only time we really get "true" Yukon Golds. It's kind of interesting that this particular variety of potato only really existed for about 70 years; it started in the 60s and will likely peter out by the 30s.

    4 votes