atchemey's recent activity
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Comment on What's a question you could ask to determine if someone is an expert in your line of work? in ~talk
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Comment on What is your silly or (kinda) useless talent? in ~talk
atchemey Link ParentOh it's just "normal" for me. It was surprising when I found out that wasn't so for others!Oh it's just "normal" for me. It was surprising when I found out that wasn't so for others!
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Comment on What is your silly or (kinda) useless talent? in ~talk
atchemey Link ParentCurious. I've meditated before, but never had time loss...which is what it would feel like to me (I think). I had an appendectomy, and knew it went too long when waking up from anesthesia because...Curious. I've meditated before, but never had time loss...which is what it would feel like to me (I think). I had an appendectomy, and knew it went too long when waking up from anesthesia because I felt the time while I was out.
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Comment on What is your silly or (kinda) useless talent? in ~talk
atchemey Link ParentI didn't for a long time, because I just thought it was normal. Then I heard someone describe normal sleep like "power off, pause, power on" and I was so confused. Then it turns out others were...I didn't for a long time, because I just thought it was normal. Then I heard someone describe normal sleep like "power off, pause, power on" and I was so confused. Then it turns out others were confused by my experience when I started sharing it. All the memes about, "sleep is like a free trial of death," really freaked me out when younger. I still can't imagine non-existence in a real way, because I'm never really "off," you know?
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Comment on Did anyone play Chex Quest? in ~games
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Comment on The future is NOT self-hosted in ~tech
atchemey LinkI'm building my own self-hosting capabilities because it is worthwhile to me. I am also considering offering hosting to family and friends in exchange for helping to defray additional costs. I...I'm building my own self-hosting capabilities because it is worthwhile to me. I am also considering offering hosting to family and friends in exchange for helping to defray additional costs. I think such an approach could help broaden access to those who don't want to build/maintain their own, reduce the costs for them, and also improve privacy/security/independence. I'm not sure how to do this, and I'm not even certain if it could be done easily, but I want to try.
The answer to me isn't federation, though it kind of does look like it, but instead immediate environment community building. A community-hosted alternative could enable filesharing rather than defaulting to Google Photos or Docs - think of it as an app-based pseudo-SSH.
The risk of this is that small organizations are only as good as their executives. The unscrupulous "roleplayed sys admin" could leverage substantial power over their friends and family, potentially denying them access to their files (or accessing it themselves). While is fundamentally the situation we currently have with big corporations, it would be made a more immediate risk in this format. A trusted third party may be needed to ensure safety, an honest broker, to break out of the walled gardens. We have become bad at trusting, this is a low-trust society, making broader cooperation a challenge...so we really need to address that too.
Sorry, it's late, I'm rambling, just some thoughts.
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Comment on What is your criteria for what counts as a "retro" video game? in ~games
atchemey Link ParentThe one that came to mind immediately was Jane's F/A-18. I am BIG into flight simulators, and this was the first/only combat flight simulator I had as a kid. It's detailed, challenging, and fun,...The one that came to mind immediately was Jane's F/A-18. I am BIG into flight simulators, and this was the first/only combat flight simulator I had as a kid. It's detailed, challenging, and fun, and hates to run on new software. I even had to dual boot Vista 32-bit to get it to run! There's also a melange of older games that I remember but haven't particularly played recently, like a CD full of freeware/shareware games that had a few exemplars, or Age of Empires III - which I own on disk but wanted me to rebuy on steam. Then there are games like Dragon Age Origins, which I never played but my wife wanted...and yes I know it can be played on newer hardware with minimal fiddling, but she wanted it on the computer so she got it.
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Comment on What is your criteria for what counts as a "retro" video game? in ~games
atchemey LinkI would argue that retro is a definition that's best applied broadly. I would suggest a useful definition as being media that was not designed and is not natively compatible with current...I would argue that retro is a definition that's best applied broadly. I would suggest a useful definition as being media that was not designed and is not natively compatible with current generation technology. There is a bit of wiggle room for long-term support updates "breaking" the definition, but we could argue that this is a life enhancement to the game and focus more on the "not designed for" part of the definition.
For example, there are games that I remember from childhood, games that are optimized for performance on Windows XP or earlier. Some of those games do not play well with Windows 7, 10, or 11. That is why, I have a Windows Vista machine that I just built. It can play pre-2000 games without issues, but my infinitely more powerful Win10/11 system cannot handle it properly.
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Comment on What is your silly or (kinda) useless talent? in ~talk
atchemey Link ParentSame! I learned to whistle breathing in as a kid, didn't learn to whistle breathing out until an adult...then I learned to tone match the two, so I can whistle an arbitrarily long time just by...Same! I learned to whistle breathing in as a kid, didn't learn to whistle breathing out until an adult...then I learned to tone match the two, so I can whistle an arbitrarily long time just by alternating which way it goes without need for a breath break. Honestly, my lips begin to spasm after a minute or so of constant whistles, so that's the limitation.
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Comment on What is your silly or (kinda) useless talent? in ~talk
atchemey Link ParentSame, but I can (usually) even track time while asleep. It is almost always within 15 minutes even when wearing a blackout mask, but usually it's within 5 minutes. I also "feel" the time pass...Same, but I can (usually) even track time while asleep. It is almost always within 15 minutes even when wearing a blackout mask, but usually it's within 5 minutes. I also "feel" the time pass while I sleep.
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Comment on iOS26 "Liquid Glass" - is it really such a big deal? in ~tech
atchemey Link Parent*Vista...Win 7 did use it too, but it's even older than that!*Vista...Win 7 did use it too, but it's even older than that!
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Comment on Working on a ~2008 dream gaming computer running Vista (in an old server) in ~comp
atchemey LinkAlright, you folks convinced me. I ran legacyupdates.net (tossed a few bucks a month to the maintainer too) and things are running great. Unless they are 32 bit apps, in which case they mostly...Alright, you folks convinced me. I ran legacyupdates.net (tossed a few bucks a month to the maintainer too) and things are running great. Unless they are 32 bit apps, in which case they mostly don't run. Mostly. Some are doing great, others, like Rivatuner (which I want to use for benchmarking in games) don't run at all, blaming "not a valid win32 application."
I'm currently running updates on a dual-boot partition with Vista 32-bit. We will see if older games (like Jane's F/A-18, which I schlepped across the country) will run. That one actually had a weird error - apparently it thinks Vista is NT 4 (Win 98), which is wild. Gonna try and install it on the new partition.
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Comment on Working on a ~2008 dream gaming computer running Vista (in an old server) in ~comp
atchemey Link ParentNow that is an idea. I couldn't find any iso with drivers updated, but you're saying it's possible to modified the iso? I assumed checksums and the like made that impossible.Now that is an idea. I couldn't find any iso with drivers updated, but you're saying it's possible to modified the iso? I assumed checksums and the like made that impossible.
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Working on a ~2008 dream gaming computer running Vista (in an old server)
Any clever ways to connect to the Internet safely to update drivers, security, etc? I'd only want to connect to Intel, AMD, Microsoft, etc, and then would physically disconnect the lan card. I...
Any clever ways to connect to the Internet safely to update drivers, security, etc? I'd only want to connect to Intel, AMD, Microsoft, etc, and then would physically disconnect the lan card. I know, dangerous, but I'm trying a piecemeal approach with a flash drive and getting mixed results. I tried to update to Service Pack 2, and it bricked the computer on restart, back to flashing Vista.
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Comment on Jet Lag: Snake across South Korea | Trailer in ~hobbies
atchemey Link ParentBen is also just a "silly little guy," and I feel that this really shows how true his self-assessment is.Ben is also just a "silly little guy," and I feel that this really shows how true his self-assessment is.
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Comment on What is a quote that you really like that is from a problematic person? in ~talk
atchemey Link ParentSadly ... https://screenrant.com/joss-whedon-abuse-misconduct-allegations-accusations-explained/ -
Comment on Loretta Swit, Emmy-winner who played Maj. Houlihan on pioneering series ‘M.A.S.H.,’ has died at 87 in ~tv
atchemey LinkLoretta Swit was a legend. In MASH, everybody was close off camera, and turned in masterful performances on camera as a result. Unlike many other characters, she had the challenge of playing a...- Exemplary
Loretta Swit was a legend. In MASH, everybody was close off camera, and turned in masterful performances on camera as a result. Unlike many other characters, she had the challenge of playing a character who was easily disliked by the rest of the roles. She nonetheless managed to bring a real humanity to a brutal environment despite the initial harshness of her Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan.
The way she and Larry Linville played the lover-villains in the early seasons (while queer-coding his character!!!) was simply masterful. Every scene with them alone is so many things - melodrama and camp, villainy and ego, moronism and idealism, slapstick and affected canned delivery - that watching them is honestly a bit like being in a tornado, always getting turned around. They used to go off and practice scenes together and just turn the humor of their roles up to 11, usually by featuring their characters' lack of self-awareness. Later, she tortured Larry's Major Frank Burns ("Ferretface") with a fiancee and husband, while still showing a conflicted affection for Frank (even if she did call him "the lipless wonder" when drunk). Her Hot Lips persona in early seasons risked being one-note as written, as it seems she had flings with every General in the Far East...but she TRULY brought depth to it.
The changes we see in her over eleven seasons are profound and numerous. It feels like, as she spent more time on her own, Houlihan was able to find her own sense of confidence and identity. Her childhood is examined in depth a few times, including us meeting her dad. (Let's just say he was Regular Army, and a Regular Asshole.) She put him on a pedestal through the "present day," and we learn (by showing! not telling!) that she had self-confidence issues as a result. She was a Major, at the top of her profession as an Army Nurse - there were only a few women who were administrator-level Colonels in the entire Army, and no Generals - but she was deeply insecure. She was a hellacious persecutor of her nurses and enemy of the reprobate doctors who formed the featured cadre, in part because she didn't respect herself. She inflicted strict discipline because it was the only way she could find a measuring stick that her father would approve of. This found admiration from Ferretface, and kicked off their mutually toxic relationship...but with Frank gone at the end of Season 5 (and her disastrous marriage falling apart in Season 6), she found confidence in herself, and established a rapport with the rest of the camp. By the end, she was one of the most emotionally-available characters, even finding the time to write tearful and honest letters to children who mailed the camp. She is an inspiration, and I find myself thinking of connections to the lives of many friends and myself as I type here.
I've seen every episode several dozen times, all 256, just watching them over and over. I started watching MASH with my parents as a very young child, and then started receiving the DVD seasons every birthday and Christmas from 9 onward. Growing up in rural Indiana with only the "Farmer Five" TV channels (CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS, FOX), isolated from family by distance and peers by personality, I really fell in love with the things I fell in love with. MASH was my greatest media fixation. Through college, I could still quote every episode, tell the jokes, and hit the beats of the stories. Hell, I could even tell you what episode it was going to be it was from the establishing shot. Hot Lips was far from a favorite character when I was 9, but she grew on me over the years. Now, I've always been a bit of a cynic about narratives around character arcs, believing people were reading into things that didn't exist. It is only now, in retrospective, that I realize how remarkable a character Major Houlihan was, because of Loretta Swit. That growth, that change, it was real. Each step was so subtle that you didn't notice. But it was there. I sit in awe of her performance.
Thank you, Loretta Swit, for the incredible performance you gave the world. Your memory will be a blessing.
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Comment on US Democrat party has abandoned young men who want to ‘get laid and have fun’ DNC vice-chair David Hogg says in ~society
atchemey Link ParentStrength, friend. Glad to hear I'm not taxing you. Looking forward to your insights in the future :)Strength, friend. Glad to hear I'm not taxing you. Looking forward to your insights in the future :)
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Comment on US Democrat party has abandoned young men who want to ‘get laid and have fun’ DNC vice-chair David Hogg says in ~society
atchemey Link ParentHey, upvoted for insight! I say many words to try to persuade because I come from a tradition of trying to interrogate my own ideas by encouraging others to point out their flaws. The more issues...Hey, upvoted for insight!
I say many words to try to persuade because I come from a tradition of trying to interrogate my own ideas by encouraging others to point out their flaws. The more issues addressed, the clearer your thoughts become. You're right, that sometimes borders on haranguing, and I apologize to Fae since it seems likely that this was the impact. I will try to be shorter here. Edit: failed.
I think you pointed out an issue in what I wrote that's important to acknowledge. The burden should not be on the oppressed to accommodate the oppressor. I stand by that principle, but I inelegantly articulated an implication of the contrary. Apologies to all for the lack of clarity.
A better way to articulate my intended sentiment would be something akin to: Politics is about relative justice, not absolute. To non-violently make a more just system ironically requires interim political tolerance of those systems. Those who are willing and able to do so safely should try to undermine oppressive structures. Those who are not should provide resources (political, social, etc) as they are able to do so. In the David Hogg context, he is not threatened by those structures, so he can help work to use social and political privilege to undermine them, but it will not succeed without support from those who would directly benefit from such changes. It is not absolutely just, but it may be necessary to bring about the changes that are mutually desired.
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Comment on US Democrat party has abandoned young men who want to ‘get laid and have fun’ DNC vice-chair David Hogg says in ~society
atchemey Link ParentTruly no worries. Come back or not, I will not think less of you. Take care of yourself first and foremost :)Truly no worries. Come back or not, I will not think less of you. Take care of yourself first and foremost :)
Meta-$, type what to replace, type new words, hit enter a billion times.