arch's recent activity
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Comment on What's a setting that you'd recommend? in ~tech
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Comment on Is Tildes protected from malicious actors, aka paid trolls, aka bots? in ~tildes
arch LinkI'm curious to see what the general consensus is here, I'm sure you'll get more informed replies than I am going to give. That said, if you suspect an account is a bot, is engaged in trolling, or...I'm curious to see what the general consensus is here, I'm sure you'll get more informed replies than I am going to give. That said, if you suspect an account is a bot, is engaged in trolling, or is otherwise breaching the Tildes Philosophy then you should bring it to the attention of those in charge. I've only ever had one occasion to reach out, it took about 8 hours for them to shut down and remove the offending thread after I reached out. The post was up for over 16 hours total, and unfortunately baited a large number of users in a sexist manner. But in the end the team was responsive and they removed the thread confirming to me that it was not something they wanted on this site. This is still a very small community, and all "moderation" is done manually by very few people. If you have records of accounts you feel have been engaging in questionable patters, and you have links to support it, I doubt there is any harm in you emailing that information directly to either contact@tildes.net or abuse@tildes.net -it's possible that no one has read all of the content that you have seen to piece together a pattern.
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Comment on Is OpenWRT worthwhile at home? in ~comp
arch Link ParentOne thing I like about OpenWRT is that I can mix and match my hardware without running multiple software ecosystems, and support older hardware for longer. I currently run a TP-Link Eap245v1 which...One thing I like about OpenWRT is that I can mix and match my hardware without running multiple software ecosystems, and support older hardware for longer. I currently run a TP-Link Eap245v1 which TP-Link hasn't updated since 2024. A TP-Link EAP110-outdoor which was only recently updated by TP-Link after years of having none. When I was running their software controller I was stuck on v3 for years to support both of these devices. There are options like OpenWISP RADIUSdesk and others if you want a controller, but I haven't actually bothered with only 2 access points.
If I bought a MikroTik to add to my network I'd be fragmenting my software further. Most home users don't care about that, since they're just buying a new router with WIFI to replace the old one.
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Comment on It’s the little things that make me not fully jump to linux in ~comp
arch LinkI am not familiar with CachyOS, but I was under the impression that many of the issues you ran into were resolved in the last year with the latest releases of Wayland, KDE, GNOME and/or nVidia...I am not familiar with CachyOS, but I was under the impression that many of the issues you ran into were resolved in the last year with the latest releases of Wayland, KDE, GNOME and/or nVidia drivers. I could be mixing up some things I remember that may be Gamescope/SteamOS specific. Even if I am trying to say that these problems are "fixed" on Linux, it's certainly not a situation where these things happen by default or on the majority of distros, and it is frustrating. You will likely have to set it up in a very specific way to get a system to do these things properly. Sometimes you may have to issue terminal commands. That said, there are many things that Windows just doesn't support and there is no solution.
Bazzite might be a better fit for you if you ever want to give this another try. It is supposed to support VRR, monitors with different refresh rates, screens with different scaling factors. I might actually try it myself on my gaming PC this weekend just for fun.
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Comment on Is OpenWRT worthwhile at home? in ~comp
arch LinkMy priority isn't to have a home network that I just plug in and never alter. If that is your goal, then I wouldn't use OpenWRT. I have been using OpenWRT at home for decades. I enjoy using Linux,...My priority isn't to have a home network that I just plug in and never alter. If that is your goal, then I wouldn't use OpenWRT.
I have been using OpenWRT at home for decades. I enjoy using Linux, I am familiar with it, I am cheap, I like to know I have the latest security updates, and I link to tinker. I also get frustrated when a device doesn't work in the way I want it to, but I don't have the access to change it how I want/fix the bugs I run into. I want to customize my SQM/QoS setup. I want to use custom dns adblocking. I want to be sure I have dns over tls working on my LAN. I want to have it run as a local NTP server and sync all of my home devices to that. I want to use it as a Snapcast reciever to stream music to my basement speakers without a separate device. I want to use it as an SMB and NFS service with a USB hard drive. There are other ways I could accomplish each of these tasks, either with my proxmox server, or other hardware. But I want to save my mini PC's resources for other things, and my Raspberry Pi running OpenWRT has enough resources to spare to accomplish each of these tasks.
If I wasn't cheap I would probably go with OPNsense in some sort of rack mounted device. But the networking hardware I have doesn't support it, and I'm not about to buy new hardware when what I have works fine.
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Comment on 'Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale' review: Change is afoot (again) in ~movies
arch Link ParentSeason 1 is the best in my opinion. There are going to be obvious spoilers for the most impactful moments of season 1 in anything after that. There's a lot of character development and growth that...Season 1 is the best in my opinion. There are going to be obvious spoilers for the most impactful moments of season 1 in anything after that. There's a lot of character development and growth that takes place there, and it makes you care about these characters in a way that makes the later events emotionally significant to the viewer.
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Comment on OTC nasal spray seemed to cut COVID infections by 67% in mid-sized trial in ~health
arch Link ParentI think you're confusing this with Afrin, which is a decongestant and vasoconstrictor. Azelastine is a 2nd gen antihistamine which should have very few side effects. This is due to their inability...I think you're confusing this with Afrin, which is a decongestant and vasoconstrictor. Azelastine is a 2nd gen antihistamine which should have very few side effects. This is due to their inability to cross the blood brain barrier, which reduces side effects over 1st gen (Benadryl). I'm not a doctor, I don't know how spraying it into your nose effects this.
It's also different than Flonase (corticosteroid) which have cause me headaches and nose bleeds. I've never used Azelastine, but I might look into it. I'm already on daily oral antihistamines during allergy season. I'll have to look into it more, but I'd be surprised if this wasn't a lower total dose of antihistamines compared to my daily Allegra.
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Comment on Perplexity’s Comet browser invites in ~tech
arch Link ParentFrom what I have read on this particular subject, the solution in the abstract is to make it so a summary is not able to initiate new prompts. In practice, I imagine this is much harder to solve....How could you patch something like this?
From what I have read on this particular subject, the solution in the abstract is to make it so a summary is not able to initiate new prompts. In practice, I imagine this is much harder to solve.
From a user standpoint, I think the solution is to not give an LLM access to your secure information, including financial data.
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Comment on Therapists are secretly using ChatGPT in ~health.mental
arch Link ParentI am not sure if you are familiar with the concept, but your comment made me think about the negative outcomes of talk therapy as well as treatment resistant anxiety. There seems to be a treatment...I am not sure if you are familiar with the concept, but your comment made me think about the negative outcomes of talk therapy as well as treatment resistant anxiety. There seems to be a treatment resistant variant for every psychological disorder. There are cases where therapy does make people feel worse off than they were before they started it. I personally think there needs to be significant psychological research into what psychological trauma is, how it is processed in the brain, different ways people can cope with and manage it, etc. I imagine there are occurrences of people who have repressed or dissociated from their traumatic memories in same way only to have them dug back up by therapy when they weren't able to cope with them.
Personally, I had a hugely positive experience with therapy, it has changed my daily life significantly. I wish I could have done it sooner. I also kind of doubt I would have been open to it sooner. I used to be so terrified of the idea that I could have had difficulties and shortcomings to overcome that I hid them voraciously.
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Comment on Perplexity’s Comet browser invites in ~tech
arch LinkI just want to mention that anyone using Comet should be very careful about what data they give it access to. I have heard that there are potential exploits to agentic browsing that could be...I just want to mention that anyone using Comet should be very careful about what data they give it access to. I have heard that there are potential exploits to agentic browsing that could be fashioned to go to a 3rd part website, input your credit card information, and make a purchase all without user intervention. I think not giving it access to login information for any websites that have your financial data would be reasonable.
I'm usually not much for AI FUD, but this one in particular seem legitimate and troubling.
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Comment on Letting younger children access Fortnite - Looking for opinions in ~games
arch Link ParentHonestly, I'm not at all experienced with it the way I am with Fortnite, so it's tough for me to feel at all competent when forming a salient position. And that's exactly why I'm not letting my...Honestly, I'm not at all experienced with it the way I am with Fortnite, so it's tough for me to feel at all competent when forming a salient position. And that's exactly why I'm not letting my kid play for now, because I can't be sure it's anywhere near safe for her.
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Comment on Could a space traveler accelerate at 1g forever? in ~space
arch Link ParentI definitely don't understand what you're saying. The first place you lost me was when you said "you can outrun light indefinitely while moving slower than c as long as you keep accelerating". I...I definitely don't understand what you're saying. The first place you lost me was when you said "you can outrun light indefinitely while moving slower than c as long as you keep accelerating". I don't follow what you mean by that.
I tried doing some quick research to understand better, but I ran into this even more confounding thing: the speed of light is constant regardless of the observer. Meaning an object on a body that is moving 50% of c is going to measure the speed of a wave of light as the same speed of a "stationary" observer would. My understanding of that is that from our perspective and understanding of all things we measure, they are getting a different result for the speed of that thing. If the light was a baseball, and one person moving with it at 29 meters per second measures it moving 29 meters per second away from them, the person standing still would measure it moving 58 meters per second away from them. But with light, they both measure it as 29 meters per second. Suffice it to say, I have no reference frame of anything I have experienced in my life under which to comprehend this. How do we even know how fast we are moving? (I guess we probably don't?)
Hell, I really just want to take a deep breath, say something that sounds smart but is ultimately meaningless like "it sounds like C is actually the speed of time" and move on with my life.Maybe I'll leave relativity to the physicists for today.
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Comment on Letting younger children access Fortnite - Looking for opinions in ~games
arch Link ParentI'm nodding along as I read your comment: I totally get it. My ADHD is masked with an unhealthy dose of anxiety disorder, a component of which has always been a fear of being destitute. Couple...(and this may just be my experience because ADHD is a factor) goooood luck getting them to not spend vBucks on shoes or some useless crap
I'm nodding along as I read your comment: I totally get it. My ADHD is masked with an unhealthy dose of anxiety disorder, a component of which has always been a fear of being destitute. Couple that with the desire to always get the best deal, and as an adult I was able to convince myself to save all my earned vBucks for the next Battle Pass (except one occasion because I really really needed the Silver Surfer's Surfboard). I haven't tried to convince my 8 year old to do the same because she'd rather build bases in Minecraft with me for now. It's probably a lesson that gets learned when she spends the vBucks on an emote and can't get the next BattlePass. Being forced to sit out a season and see all of the skins you're missing out will definitely be hard for a kid. But I do keep hearing that consequences are hugely important for learning healthy habits with ADHD.
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Comment on Google will require developer verification for Android apps outside the Play Store in ~tech
arch Link ParentIf you are serious about this, then buying a PinePhone is probably the way to go. If you just want to dip your toes in, then buying a device that's "supported" by postmarketOS or Ubuntu Touch is a...If you are serious about this, then buying a PinePhone is probably the way to go. If you just want to dip your toes in, then buying a device that's "supported" by postmarketOS or Ubuntu Touch is a good way to experiment (and see what is missing, because a lot is missing). My sole experience with this is installing Ubuntu Touch, then postmarketOS on a Pixel 3a XL with UBports. It was a fun experiment, I can see how it could work for daily use with a more powerful device, but it wasn't good enough for me to put my SIM in it and actually try to daily drive it. Basic functionality is missing, and it varies by device. You could lack bluetooth, for instance, or backlight dimming. RCS does not and will not work full stop (because Google won't open it up).
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Comment on Letting younger children access Fortnite - Looking for opinions in ~games
arch LinkI have played Fortnite a few times in front of my 8 year old daughter (she was 6 or 7 when I let her watch). My main hesitation with it is that the game is people shooting each other, but she...I have played Fortnite a few times in front of my 8 year old daughter (she was 6 or 7 when I let her watch). My main hesitation with it is that the game is people shooting each other, but she seemed to deal fine with it in the end. Characters "come back" after they get shot, it's really little different than playing Nerf, paintball, or the dozens of other socially normalized violent games that kids have played for hundreds of years. There isn't really much gore that I have seen in my years of playing.
That said, I would absolutely shut off voice chat completely, and disable messaging. If your kid has friends who play, then support them doing an Xbox game bar for voice chat with only them, and they can play together when the time comes. You should be able to disable access to custom maps if you have any concern that someone is going to create an inappropriate map. I know that's an issue with Roblox. The thing with skins, purchases, etc. is that you don't have to allow them. Do not link a credit card, do not let your kid have access to it, and flat out refuse to let them engage with that part of the game. If you decide to make an exception to it, I would personally recommend starting by being willing to get them the Battle Pass if and when they are playing regularly (~2 hours a week). If they do not waste their coins on things that are not included, the Battle Pass lets you acquire enough coins to purchase the next Battle Pass only through in game currency, and then they can keep unlocking more skins for no real world money.
I do not think Fortnite is anywhere near the level of problematic that Roblox is. I flat out will not let my kid play Roblox. A huge part of that is probably that I have never played myself.
If your still not okay with it, I think letting them play some of the Lego games in Fortnite would be fine. There's a Lego Cat Island that my daughter loved.
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Comment on ‘Being short is a curse’: the men paying thousands to get their legs broken – and lengthened in ~life.men
arch Link ParentYou have a great comment, and it's right in line with my experience with absolutely everything from start to finish. The only quibble I would raise, is that it's not brought on by the internet....You have a great comment, and it's right in line with my experience with absolutely everything from start to finish. The only quibble I would raise, is that it's not brought on by the internet. Because it happened long before the internet, and will continue to exist even after the internet becomes so regulated that it has completely changed into something else. It was happening when I was an 8 year old boy watching Married with Children, it was happening when women did the "how to please a man" quiz in Cosmopolitan magazine. It is happening when men gather at gentlemen's clubs (yes they still exist) and engage in "locker room talk" about women, and when women gather at the nail salon and talk about their boyfriend's penis size (which my wife assures me she has done in her life). I have vivid memories of being a teenager, being in locker rooms or in men's clubs, and being disgusted with the things they would say about women. It kept me from joining, it kept me from going back when I had a choice, but I fear I am the minority there. Call it what you will, but each name will alienate someone who is reading this: toxic masculinity, patriarchy, gender identity, the social construct of gender, etc.
Personally, I think it's going to keep on happening until we somehow all come to think of men and women as just other humans. That is what I see as the main difference in my own thought process from others. I truly believe that as a man it's no different to understand a women than it is a man, because our brains really do function the same. The moment we write off a person's thoughts or feelings as a factor of their sex, gender, race, etc. that is a moment we find our prejudice.
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Comment on Seeking advice for back-up internet connection at home in ~tech
arch LinkAs far as cost effectiveness goes: I would personally go with Mint Mobile (t-mobile) or Visible (Verizon). This is assuming their cellular services are good in your area. In my area, whenever the...As far as cost effectiveness goes: I would personally go with Mint Mobile (t-mobile) or Visible (Verizon). This is assuming their cellular services are good in your area. In my area, whenever the power goes out, Verizon's 5G service drops out too and my speeds plummet as their slower network gets overwhelmed. As for this actually being useful for you in the long run, I highly doubt it. Even when my power goes out, I'm able to power my ONT and networking equipment off a battery backup unit, and I still have Fios. I am of the mind that your money would be much better spent on a UPS unit and/or a generator instead of a monthly cellular plan to be used only for this use case. I use an EcoFlow RIVER in UPS mode, it keeps it charged at 80% and will automatically keep devices powered in the case of a power failure. I happen to need a CPAP though, so it's plugged into that and not my networking equipment. It's just more important and too far away for me to wire in both.
There was one time that a car took out a pole directly in front of my house, and I lost both power and internet access for ~24 hours. I was able to use my phone as a hotspot to a laptop. Then I configured my my router to (OpenWRT) and share my cellular connection throughout my house. It can be done, in fact it isn't even that hard to do, but if you're not in a very high stakes use-case, or in a location that frequently has drop outs, it's really not worth it. If I was going to do something permanent, I would probably look into a router with a SIM card slot that is supported by OpenWRT. I actually use a Raspberry Pi, so I'd probably just get a USB cellular modem and be all set to set it to fail over. If you don't use OpenWRT then you can change your search variables accordingly. You could even use something like this as a "travel router" to keep a hotspot with you if you go on road trips or camping.
I apologize, in the end I wound up writing more about my specific setup than yours.
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Comment on Tildes Book Club - Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut - How is it going? in ~books
arch LinkI'm about 1/3 of the way into Cat's Cradle so far. This is my first time reading Vonnegut, and I've been pleasantly surprised at how accessible his writing is. I haven't exactly figured out how he...I'm about 1/3 of the way into Cat's Cradle so far. This is my first time reading Vonnegut, and I've been pleasantly surprised at how accessible his writing is. I haven't exactly figured out how he manages it, but his style is at once heavily clichéd, but somehow dodges actually feeling cliché. I'm not sure if it's the overlapping frameworks that he uses (the story being so much about describing the religion Bokonon as it is anything else) or the fact that his main character isn't so heavy with it in his internal monologue vs. when he speaks to the other characters the clichés fly incessantly, making it somewhat comical. It manages to come off as tongue-in-cheek instead of annoying. I'm also trying to stay constantly aware of the fact that Cat's Cradle is 60 years old, so some of what may feel overdone today is due to the effect that Vonnegut has had on the cultural canon.
It's a really fun read. I didn't expect the short chapters, it makes it very easy to pick the book up for a few minutes and then put it down when life interrupts me. I'm not sure if that's slowing me down more than it's speeding me up, but I am definitely more likely to walk away after just a few minutes because of it.
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Comment on Just Buy Nothing: A fake online store to combat shopping addiction in ~health.mental
arch Link ParentWe're all different. When I browse actual products I'm going to buy, I have a negative feedback loop of all the potential issues going on: where will this fit in my life? Do I actually need it? Is...We're all different. When I browse actual products I'm going to buy, I have a negative feedback loop of all the potential issues going on: where will this fit in my life? Do I actually need it? Is this the best value for my money? Can I find it cheaper on X website? With this, I can just ignore it, because it doesn't matter! I can get those earrings my wife will love, I don't have to pass on them any more because they look heave and they'll hurt her ears.
I just wish the checkout button did something, even if it just cleared your cart.
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Comment on Time to judge books by their covers in ~life
arch Link ParentNot sure if I'm just playing devil's advocate here, or just being contrarian to you, but I'm fairly confident that what you've labelled as the premise is meant to be a tongue-in-cheek headline....Not sure if I'm just playing devil's advocate here, or just being contrarian to you, but I'm fairly confident that what you've labelled as the premise is meant to be a tongue-in-cheek headline. The points in the article that are raised: us filtering the huge number of options are valid, for better or worse. We do it every single day. We may only be looking through the comedy tv shows category on Netflix for something that strikes our fancy. I have personally given preference to a resume with firstnamelastname@gmail over hotdoglover420@hotmail. Furthermore, I have chosen an article with a silly yet somewhat clickbait title that takes less than 10 minutes to read over the article about AI turning a man into a superhero because that one is estimated to take over 30 minutes. I can't get 30 minutes without interruption, and if I could I would read a book instead, because my time is so limited.
It's... way more complicated than that. I'm a little reluctant to get too into it, because someone else always comes along and nitpicks the details. But for a crash course, all of the consumer TVs are doing some sort of frame interpolation under those settings. That means they are making (interpolating) new frames to insert in between the actual frames that are in the content you are watching. It can make videos you watch "feel" more realistic, which is probably why people say it's for sports. This is the same method that modern de-compilations of N64 games -like Ship of Harkinian- are using to hit 60 fps or higher (but those games are much better at it than the TV because they have more information about the image and movement to go off of).
One of the reasons these settings have become so widespread is due to the issues with how modern televisions work compared to CRT. The old tubes had phosphors that would glow when the light beam hit them, then slowly fade out over a few frames. This made the image look a lot smoother than it does now, but introduced a type of blurring to the image. Modern screen's visual issues are most noticeable to me in films that are panning left to right quickly. If there is text, the jitter and stutter of low frame rate makes it impossible to read without pausing. On a CRT, it would be blurry, but you would have an easier time reading the text. With frame interpolation, we can more easily approximate that. The best solution available seems to be CRT beam simulation on a high HZ display (we're talking 120hz to be usable but with noticeable flicker or 240 or higher hz to actually look good to most users). Maybe one day we'll have a 480 Hz OLED that integrates this software solution, but I honestly doubt it.
Where I want to speak up is the idea that these settings are inherently bad because they're not. You may not like them, I may not like them, but some people do and they are there for a reason. It leads to a demonization of actual high frame-rate content, which sucks because filming in high frame rate is absolutely better for certain content. If can reduce the likelihood of rolling shutter issues for a start. That one is something that Netflix is extremely bad about. Ever notice how shows/movies where there's a bunch of flash photography going off on screen will have different potions of the image lit from frame to frame? It drives me crazy and immediately takes me out of the experience, but most people don't notice it. Suffice it to say, none of this technology is perfect. If someone likes the motion interpolation, then let them enjoy what they like.