aphoenix's recent activity
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Comment on What does your computer setup look like? in ~tech
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Comment on What does your computer setup look like? in ~tech
aphoenix Link ParentI use IFTTT to hook various smart objects up using a Webhook the Pi. I don't think this is a particularly effective way to do things, but it was very fast and I have a lifetime IFTTT account. I...I use IFTTT to hook various smart objects up using a Webhook the Pi. I don't think this is a particularly effective way to do things, but it was very fast and I have a lifetime IFTTT account. I have some trivial things:
- mostly voice commands that will run various light patterns on the smart lights
- notifications when the laundry is done
- I've been fiddling with some voice commands to do things with the plex server I have, such as "hey google, get the newest episode of [whatever]" but this is not currently functional
- i keep a little log of how often the dishwasher runs
- there are a bunch of cameras hooked up, but I haven't really done much programmatically with them
I'm planning to do something with christmas lights next year, but I just haven't gotten around to putting up smart lights yet.
There are other people here who do a lot more with home automation, like @mat. And not to ping him twice in one thread, but @teaearlgraycold (who sent me this raspberry pi quite a while ago) as well. They might be able to give you some better ideas.
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Comment on Looking for board game suggestions for non-gamers in ~games.tabletop
aphoenix (edited )LinkThe thing to get non-gamers into it is that it has to have little downtime, and easy to explain rules. There are a lot of great suggestions in this thread about quick play tabletop games from...The thing to get non-gamers into it is that it has to have little downtime, and easy to explain rules.
There are a lot of great suggestions in this thread about quick play tabletop games from earlier this month. I'll go over my answers from that thread again here:
Hues and Cues - this game features a board that looks like a colour picker tool in your browser, showing 480 colours in a grid. The clue giver receives a card with four colours on it; they pick one of the colours and give a clue to everyone else to try to get them to correctly choose the colour.
Priorities - you get a deck that has a bunch of items on cards. One play turns over 5 cards - you might get something like this list: "$100, a $10 Flat White, Constipation, Awkward Silence, The Lord of the Rings". That player secretly writes down their rating of these things from 1 (best) to 5 (worst). Everyone else debates and ranks where they think that player would put them. You get a score based on how accurate you do as a team. This can be a delightful game, but be warned - you might have to explain to your mother-in-law why your heathen children rank Apple Pie better than God (true story).
Hot Seat has a similar vibe to Priorities. One person reads the topic, and it might be something like "Who is my celebrity crush?" and everyone else writes down who they think you would say on a piece of paper and pass it to you. You read them out, and then people go around and try to guess which one is the correct one. You get points for being right. This is another fun one, but be warned - you might hvae to explain to your mother-in-law why your heathen children have crushes on Zendaya and Tom Holland at the same time.
Wavelength gives you a card that has two opposing concepts - good superpower / bad superpower for example - and a random spot on that spectrum that you have to get people to guess. The game has a specific game gizmo that enables this guessing, and it's kind of hard to describe, so this is one to look at a video or the pictures on BoardGameGeek. This is my favourite of all the ones here. We always have several big laughs and often have interesting discussions when playing this game. This one doesn't even require you to buy anything if everyone has a smartphone - there is an official app: https://www.wavelength.zone (thanks @Minori for the heads up)
The Mind. You play as a team. There's a deck of 100 cards. Each person gets a relatively small number of cards, and all you have to do is play them in order. The catch is that you cannot communicate at all. You just have to vibe it out to figure out when you play your cards. There are definitely ways to cheese the game - you have to discourage people from tapping toes or nodding heads to really get it to work - but this can be a lot of fun.
Here are some other ones from that thread that I think are pretty great for this:
Sushi Go / Sushi Go Party is pretty easy to introduce people to. Take a card, put it in front of you, pass your hand. Try to make sets out of them! More sets is more points. The art is adorable.
Edit: I reread and saw that codenames was on the just of no-gos above, so I might skip this one. Dixit is a popular modern party game where 4-8 players give clues to make some (but not all) players to guess their card from amongst a set of cards with surreal images. Works well with young and old players!
Set has a grid of cards on the table showing 1-3 objects of a certain shape, color, and shading pattern. Everyone plays at once with the goal of finding sets of cards; “A set consists of three cards that are either all alike or all different in each attribute”. When a set is removed, fill in the gaps with three new cards. Game ends when the deck is exhausted and there are no more valid sets on the table.
There are probably several others from that thread, but I haven't played them before.
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Comment on You make friends *HERE*?! in ~tildes
aphoenix Link ParentTilderen! I think you're right - you can make friends anywhere. The main thing is being open to the fact that it can happen. There are lots of ways you can engage with others here - monthly...Tilderen!
I think you're right - you can make friends anywhere. The main thing is being open to the fact that it can happen. There are lots of ways you can engage with others here - monthly events, shared interests, sharing openly of oneself, or even just a similarity of username can be enough to spark a friendship.
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Comment on What does your computer setup look like? in ~tech
aphoenix LinkI am a developer / manager. My work area: 2020 Apple M1 13" MacBook Pro LG Ultrafine 27" 5K External monitor Apple Magic Mouse I use the keyboard laptop and the laptop screen, and the external is...I am a developer / manager. My work area:
- 2020 Apple M1 13" MacBook Pro
- LG Ultrafine 27" 5K External monitor
- Apple Magic Mouse
I use the keyboard laptop and the laptop screen, and the external is placed so that it is above the laptop screen. I use Rectangle and almost always split the big monitor in half; it functions like 3 approximately equal screens.
My Desktop / Fun computer:
- Windows PC - fairly run of the mill. Core i9 with a 2080ti and 64G ram.
- two 27" monitors, one 2k one 4k both middle-of-the-road
- monitor stand for said monitors
- corsair mechanical keyboard and mouse
- yeti microphone, sennheiser headphones, a nice soundbar
There are two more gaming PCs in the games room belonging to my two younger kids.
- both fairly middle of the road Windows PCs. I think both are Ryzen, one has a 1080, I forget the other
- mechanical keyboards and decent mice
- 4k monitors
I have a raspberry pi doing some home automation things (thanks @teaearlgraycold!) and a laptop that's running a minecraft server and a small home server that's doing nothing but will hopefully start actually being the media server over this holiday.
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Comment on Superman | Official teaser trailer in ~movies
aphoenix Link ParentI'm not saying this to be argumentative, but merely as an observation about how different people get different things out of art. The thing that feels underwhelming to me is that from what I've...I'm not saying this to be argumentative, but merely as an observation about how different people get different things out of art.
The thing that feels underwhelming to me is that from what I've seen, it doesn't feel like Corenswet has the physical presence that superman should have. He's very lanky, and I felt like he lacked the bulk of Superman. He's about the right height, but doesn't have the physique of Cavill or Hoechlin... or Welling, or Reeve, or Routh. Part of it might be the suit, which just wasn't working for me. It's a throwback to the Reeve suit, but that was a product of its time and not one of the great suits.
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Comment on Superman | Official teaser trailer in ~movies
aphoenix LinkI am definitely excited for Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor. I have been an enjoyer of his performances since About A Boy, and I think he is rarely better than when he is playing an outlandish...I am definitely excited for Nicholas Hoult as
HitmanLex Luthor. I have been an enjoyer of his performances since About A Boy, and I think he is rarely better than when he is playing an outlandish character - Nux (Mad Max), Hank McCoy (X Men), Renfield (Renfield), R (Warm Bodies), or even Tyler (The Menu). This is a huge step up from Jesse Eisenberg as Luthor; while I like Eisenberg in lots of things, there's always a real sameness to a lot of his characters, which have the same feel as Michael Cera caricatures.I am underwhelmed by their superman actor, and the things that were teased didn't genuinely pull me in. I give this a tepid "okay"; I don't think it's going to recapture the fervor people experienced for Marvel between 2008 - 2019.
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Comment on Inline image support in ~tildes
aphoenix Link ParentI think the solutions is mostly "these types of threads aren't really what Tildes is all about, and that's okay". I understand that people want to have a drop-in reddit replacement that has some...I think the solutions is mostly "these types of threads aren't really what Tildes is all about, and that's okay". I understand that people want to have a drop-in reddit replacement that has some casual threads as well, but I think that's just not what the site design and philosophy is about. So having the workarounds and options as you've pointed out to make things better for a particular experience is the right solution.
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Comment on Inline image support in ~tildes
aphoenix Link ParentThat's a great point, but I think that actually has its own problems in terms of usability as well. For example, in the pet thread, one might open a few images of pets, have them open in new tabs,...That's a great point, but I think that actually has its own problems in terms of usability as well. For example, in the pet thread, one might open a few images of pets, have them open in new tabs, and then have to have the cognitive capacity to remember "tab 1 is the pet belonging to phoenixrises, tab 2 is the pet belonging to JCphoenix, tab3 is for first-must-burn" etc. That's not an outlandish thing to remember, but it is cognitive load that would not be necessary if the images were inline.
In both cases, I think it's more about how usable browsers are on a phone than about how usable Tildes is, but I just think it's worth recognizing that if there were to be a thread that was primarily focused on images, then having them inline would be much more usable than otherwise. I don't think that's a sufficient enough reason to make a change to how images are approached, but I think when deciding on utility and usability issues, it's important to have a full grasp of the problems before deciding on solutions.
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Comment on What does the delete button on a post do? in ~tildes
aphoenix Link ParentI'm pretty sure that the comments are all still visible, and if someone navigates to that URL they can read them.I'm pretty sure that the comments are all still visible, and if someone navigates to that URL they can read them.
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Comment on Armchair governing dictator - new rule for 2025 (fun) in ~talk
aphoenix LinkI will be the Mighty and Supreme Leader of Canada and the hill I will die on for love of country is Electoral Reform. Our current first-past-the-post system is a travesty, especially since we have...I will be the Mighty and Supreme Leader of Canada and the hill I will die on for love of country is Electoral Reform.
Our current first-past-the-post system is a travesty, especially since we have 4 or even 5 viable options for federal politics. The unfortunate reality is that one can have a majority government where 60% of the populace voted against the party that ends up in power.
I am not a political expert, and I'm not 100% sure what system would be best, but I would likely lean towards a Proportional Representation system.
The irony of being made a supreme dictator and then implementing a rule to prevent dictatorships is not lost on me.
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Comment on Inline image support in ~tildes
aphoenix Link ParentWhile I agree, fully, with keeping Tildes free of images, this is really only the case for people who are connecting from a device with a fair sized screen and a mouse. On my phone, for example,...While I agree, fully, with keeping Tildes free of images, this is really only the case for people who are connecting from a device with a fair sized screen and a mouse. On my phone, for example, if I were to look into a thread that was primarily about images, it would be very annoying to have to click, look, click back, find where I was, scroll, click, look, click back, etc.
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Comment on How to pass the time when you have nothing to do at work and just your phone? in ~talk
aphoenix (edited )LinkI enjoy the NYTimes free games, which are Wordle, Connections, Strands, The Mini Crossword. I think there is a free daily Sudoku as well. That's only up to about 15 minutes per day though. Edit:...I enjoy the NYTimes free games, which are Wordle, Connections, Strands, The Mini Crossword. I think there is a free daily Sudoku as well. That's only up to about 15 minutes per day though. Edit: The Mini Crossword also plays the "crossword complete ditty"
Simon Tatham's Puzzles is one that I (and others here) often suggest. It meets your criteria of not having sound, and being vertical to play. The puzzles are well thought out and engaging, and you can ratchet up the difficulty to be whatever you want.
I definitely agree with the others who have recommended an eReader app. I have been using the Kindle one on my iPad, and despite the relatively poor ratings that the app has, I find it perfectly usable, plus the books from the library as someone else mentioned is pretty great. There are also a lot of options for books in the public domain.
Probability Puzzles is a pretty good one for learning things, though it gets to the point that you'll need paper to do working out relatively quickly (the "getting serious" game mode probably needs paper), and Pythagorea is similarly educational. If you ever found yourself missing your second year "history of maths" course, then it's perfect. If not, then YMMV.
Neal.fun has a bunch of fun games that tend to work fairly well on your phone.
There are a variety of online comics to read - Questionable Content, XKCD, Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal are the ones that spring to mind.
TvTropes and SCP Foundation are both pretty interesting rabbit holes to fall down into. TvTropes is a well named site that's entirely about tropes that you will find in television (and movies, books, comics, etc). SCP is a fictional set of files that have been released about a Foundation the "Secure, Contain, Protect Foundation", a clandestine organization that protects the world from a lot.
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Comment on What’s something that you weren’t supposed to see/hear, but did? in ~talk
aphoenix Link ParentIt's not even the only time I've experienced this exact thing, it's just the most funny. With a different girlfriend several years after this, I met her parents, and they expressed displeasure to...It's not even the only time I've experienced this exact thing, it's just the most funny. With a different girlfriend several years after this, I met her parents, and they expressed displeasure to her about me in Greek... but at the time I'd just finished an ancient greek course, and then tried to at least learn a little modern greek because that seemed actual useful. Her mom didn't like how pale I was, and I was a few years younger. That time I did immediately start in and say "I actually understood that, just so you know" which actually helped quite a bit.
I think it's pretty dependent on where you are; in Vancouver, very few of the white people speak any kind of chinese, so probably every other time they'd ever spoken "in code" they didn't get caught. Or the person who caught them wasn't impish enough to then spring it on them afterwards.
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Comment on A liar who always lies says “All my hats are green.” in ~science
aphoenix Link ParentI do see the difference between "any hats I own are green" and "all my hats are green". I do still think there is a difference between "I have stopped smoking" and "all my hats are green" though;...I do see the difference between "any hats I own are green" and "all my hats are green". I do still think there is a difference between "I have stopped smoking" and "all my hats are green" though; there must be because when you dive into them "all my hats are green" is vacuously true, and "I have stopped smoking" is not; if they were not different, we wouldn't have discovered the differences in their purely logical contexts.
I think what I'm grasping towards is often connoted in natural language as "I'm technically correct - the best kind of correct!" If I explain this puzzle to someone and I say "it's technically correct that all of my no hats are green" they will understand. My source is experiential; my son did the puzzle the other day, and easily got to "it's A or C", and hit a bit of a wall. I asked him "what colour are no hats?" and he got the rest of the way there. Now there's probably some other linguistic and genetic things at play - as my son, he's probably more inclined towards logic puzzles and math and such, both via nature and nurture - but I think that if I can get a 10 year old to quickly arrive at the answer, a lot of other people should be able to.
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Comment on What’s something that you weren’t supposed to see/hear, but did? in ~talk
aphoenix Link ParentWell, to be fair, I didn't call it that, @rudism did. I would usually call it a "24-hour clock" but also recognize military time, railway time, or continental time. Also, I'm not US American. AM /...Well, to be fair, I didn't call it that, @rudism did. I would usually call it a "24-hour clock" but also recognize military time, railway time, or continental time.
Also, I'm not US American. AM / PM is also prevalent in a bunch of other countries - every North American country, all the Caribbean countries I've been to, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, and I feel like Great Britain does as well, though I haven't been there in 20 years, so I could be wrong.
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Comment on What’s something that you weren’t supposed to see/hear, but did? in ~talk
aphoenix Link ParentWhile I try not to enjoy the misfortune of others this did cause me to chuckle out loud in commiseration."you don't suppose they mean AM on the time here do you?" (several hours after the flight
While I try not to enjoy the misfortune of others this did cause me to chuckle out loud in commiseration.
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Comment on What’s something that you weren’t supposed to see/hear, but did? in ~talk
aphoenix Link ParentWow, it's gutsy to presume that someone in Europe doesn't speak English! From my experience I learned to always err on the side of "there's a person nearby who may unexpectedly speak this...Wow, it's gutsy to presume that someone in Europe doesn't speak English!
From my experience I learned to always err on the side of "there's a person nearby who may unexpectedly speak this language" no matter which language in which I am conversing, and I'm guessing that the girls on the train did as well.
ps. military time for life, all the clocks in my office and on my devices use it.
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Comment on What’s something that you weren’t supposed to see/hear, but did? in ~talk
aphoenix LinkAbout 25 years ago, I was living in Vancouver and living my best life as a Research Assistant / mildly useful handyman / beach bum / person who leeches off their more successful girlfriend. I was...About 25 years ago, I was living in Vancouver and living my best life as a Research Assistant / mildly useful handyman / beach bum / person who leeches off their more successful girlfriend. I was learning Cantonese from said girlfriend, and while I never got fluent, I could have bad conversations with people. I have mostly lost it since - use it or lose it is so true - but at the time certainly spoke enough to go to a restaurant and order, or to have a conversation as one might have with a three year old. Of course, my girlfriend taught me a lot of naughty stuff because we were 20 and that was hilarious.
One day I was in dire need of a haircut, because I was looking a little bit too beach bum, and the end of my gloriously long mane was very frazzled, so I went to a local place that my girlfriend liked. It was totally empty except for the two hairdressers, who were both petite 30-ish Chinese ladies.
It is notable that I had been working out a lot - I was swimming for a couple of hours a day, working 15-20 hours of physical labor a week, riding my bike most places, and my girlfriend was out for 12 hours shifts doing science (she was running an experiment at the particle accelerator), and I knew exactly one other couple who lived in Vancouver, so I had a lot of free time, which I mostly used to lift weights. I am a big guy, but at that point I was a big muscular guy with a lot of curly reddish-brown hair and a big beard and a pretty good tan for someone who tends more to hiss at the sun and stay in his basement. In comparison to these two tiny ladies, I was an absolute giant.
They ushered me in and got to work, all the while chatting in Cantonese. They washed my hair and cut it, trimmed my beard, etc. The entire time, they were talking about how huge I was, and wondering about things that were very graphic and sexual - every naughty thing you could imagine someone saying in that situation, and probably more that I couldn't understand. Also to be clear, I'm not a person that typically immediately elicit lust from someone else based on looks alone (I'm a 10/10 personality in person though), so this was a strange occurrence.
I mostly just kept my eyes closed and tried not to laugh.
When we finished, I got up, thanked them with my best formal Cantonese thank you, and watched them turn absolutely crimson. One of the ladies just straight up left and the other had to stammer through the conversation of taking my money. I thanked her for the pleasant conversation, gave her the biggest tip I could afford (oops double entendre) and left feeling pretty great about myself.
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Comment on A liar who always lies says “All my hats are green.” in ~science
aphoenix (edited )Link ParentWell, it's also been a couple of decades since my linguistics courses as well! They are why I used "stopped smoking" because it is the classic example, from what I recall. I think that the...Well, it's also been a couple of decades since my linguistics courses as well! They are why I used "stopped smoking" because it is the classic example, from what I recall.
I think that the qualitative difference has to do with what the presupposition trigger is saying and the problems that arise when those triggers are untrue, but when I try to express what I think the results are, it all comes back to the use of the null set in the argument, which just seems circular.
If you say "I stopped smoking" then the presupposition trigger implies that you used to smoke. If you have never smoked, then that's a conflict with a state based action. The lack of truth makes the statement nonsense because it is the opposite of what has happened. From the reading you suggested, I would parse this as a "semantic catastrophe", because it renders the statement to be nonsense because it cannot evaluate to true.
If you say "My hats are all green" then the presupposition trigger implies that you have hats. If you have no hats, then the presupposition is false, but the falseness of this doesn't actually cause a conflict, because of the understanding of the null set; "no hats" being green doesn't cause the same semantic catastrophe as the smoking example.
But that seems like it's begging the question pretty hard; the truthiness of the green hat statement is different because it uses the null set, and the statement about why it's different is because it uses the null set.
I'll check it out!