atchemey's recent activity

  1. Strange Pop! OS 24.04 behavior

    ~tech Ask
    I have a computer that is not quite powerful enough to run my flight simulators, but which is still quite capable. I tried to sell it for close to what I bought it for, after using it maybe 50...

    I have a computer that is not quite powerful enough to run my flight simulators, but which is still quite capable. I tried to sell it for close to what I bought it for, after using it maybe 50 hours, but the stink of "used" was on it, so I only got low ball offers for the system as a whole. Selling the individual components would be better but take substantially more effort. Instead, after finding an absurdly good 64 GB RAM deal ($150 for DDR4, in early December, crazy), I decided to use it to educate myself on some work-adjacent science simulation capabilities, putting it at home to avoid the feeling like I'm doing work (and also so I can install nonsense on it if I want).

    I settled on Pop! OS, after finding out it has the best NVIDIA GPU support of the .deb Linux family, and installed 22.04 on it last month. After a standard "oops I messed something up on a new-to-me Linux distro, might as well wipe it," I reset the bios to see if it fixed things, then loaded 24.04 on a live USB and ran the update at POST.

    24.04 made some very big changes to Pop! OS, which I won't list, other than one that puzzles me. After installing, I ran Geekbench 6 to benchmark it, and I found out my system CPU performance was about 33% down from the prior benchmark. I rationalized this as being due to no XMP being on, and tried to enter BIOS on boot...but Pop24 refused to enter BIOS, and my motherboard didn't even POST? But it would load into Pop24 without issue? So I was stuck without a way to tune my system. I eventually removed the SSD, hard wiped it on a separate device, and reinstalled Pop22, whereafter I was able to enter BIOS and enable XMP. Performance was restored, and even better than ever.

    My question...why is Pop24 different? I tried to disable fastboot. I tried to have it use systemctl to reboot into settings. I tried everything I could find online. The best guess I have is something to do with UEFI? But I have no clue. I'm not really a computer guy, I just futz around, and I don't know what I'm doing.

    11 votes

  2. Comment on Statement from Mozilla's new CEO in ~tech

    atchemey
    Link Parent
    Right? I just re-looked into it, and have set up a monthly donation for it. I occasionally have to use other browsers for work or because I'm setting something up unrelated to my normal browsing,...

    Right? I just re-looked into it, and have set up a monthly donation for it. I occasionally have to use other browsers for work or because I'm setting something up unrelated to my normal browsing, and they are strictly inferior to Vivaldi. Happy to support good web practices and no BS AI!

    2 votes

  3. Comment on Playtiles: The pocket-sized gaming platform in ~games

  4. Comment on Statement from Mozilla's new CEO in ~tech

    atchemey
    Link Parent
    I've been a user of Vivaldi for almost a decade. Please show me any evidence of Vivaldi going down that route.

    I've been a user of Vivaldi for almost a decade. Please show me any evidence of Vivaldi going down that route.

    6 votes

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

    atchemey
    Link
    I just thought about it and looked up. I guessed my location with a guess uncertainty of 0.25 deg Latitude and 5 deg Longitude. I ended up less than 0.1 off on Latitude and 3.3 off on Longitude....

    I just thought about it and looked up.

    I guessed my location with a guess uncertainty of 0.25 deg Latitude and 5 deg Longitude. I ended up less than 0.1 off on Latitude and 3.3 off on Longitude. Of course I'm a big old geography nerd and have a major latitude line ~0.5 degrees away, so that's probably a big help.

    9 votes

  6. Comment on The lossless scaling plugin is officially on the Decky Store in ~games

    atchemey
    Link Parent
    Yep! SLI and CrossFire scale sublinearly because of the overhead coordinating the cards, and have all those asterisks attached. Lossless Scaling is $7 and can even run on an integrated GPU or...

    Yep! SLI and CrossFire scale sublinearly because of the overhead coordinating the cards, and have all those asterisks attached. Lossless Scaling is $7 and can even run on an integrated GPU or similar, though only newer ones are recommended. It's honestly pretty miraculous software, and the fact it's only $7 to nearly double frame rate (on a single GPU) or more-than double (with a mixed setup) is pretty bonkers.

    A YouTube link I found helpful: https://youtu.be/JyfKYU_mTLA

    A community spreadsheet with Lossless Scaling info from various sources and GPUs: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17MIWgCOcvIbezflIzTVX0yfMiPA_nQtHroeXB1eXEfI/edit?usp=drivesdk

    1 vote

  7. Comment on The lossless scaling plugin is officially on the Decky Store in ~games

    atchemey
    Link Parent
    Not a dumb question, and neither! I'm running dual GPU with Lossless Scaling on a 2019 Mid-tier pre-built Alienware PC. My motherboard has an extra PCIe 4.0 x16 (physical) x8 (electrical), and I...

    Not a dumb question, and neither! I'm running dual GPU with Lossless Scaling on a 2019 Mid-tier pre-built Alienware PC.

    My motherboard has an extra PCIe 4.0 x16 (physical) x8 (electrical), and I bought a GTX 1050 Ti to add to the RTX 2070. Lossless Scaling tells BG3 to render frames on the 2070 at ~75% of desired resolution, then pass those frames to the 1050 Ti. This second GPU (only 35% of the Geekbench 4 score of the 2070) then does two things: it adds a frame between frames from the 2070, doubling apparent frame rate. It then upscales the frames to the full desired resolution. Neither of these requires much VRAM nor compute, so even the much older 1050 Ti can accomplish this. I then plug my monitor into the 1050 Ti, set the Lossless Scaling "Preferred GPU" as the same, and it runs beautifully.

    It appears that telling the 2070 to run at 75% of my ideal resolution improved the frame rate from 10->45, and then the 1050 Ti upscaled and doubled it to 90 FPS with steady frame times.

    I have an eGPU enclosure that I wanted to test this with, but regrettably I don't have any motherboards with Thunderbolt 3 or 4 right now. I thought I did, and was mistaken, as I was hoping to mess around with this. I bet if you had an eGPU that could work with your Steam Deck, you could pass to the eGPU as the "preferred GPU" and plug the TV in. I don't know of any USB-C eGPUs without Thunderbolt, though, and that's pretty important. Give it a shot, what's the harm?

    Edit for clarity: You can definitely run LS on a single GPU, but there's a small performance hit to the frame rate. Based on estimates with a different game, I'd expect 10->40 doubled to 80 with just my 2070.

    2 votes

  8. Comment on The lossless scaling plugin is officially on the Decky Store in ~games

    atchemey
    Link
    I can confirm Baldur's Gate 3 on a dual GPU LS setting with high settings for 3440x1440 goes from 10 FPS on a 2070 to 45/doubled to 90 FPS with the following settings: scale ~75% on 2070, 2x frame...

    I can confirm Baldur's Gate 3 on a dual GPU LS setting with high settings for 3440x1440 goes from 10 FPS on a 2070 to 45/doubled to 90 FPS with the following settings: scale ~75% on 2070, 2x frame generation, preferred GPU/plugged in GPU 1050 Ti, upscaled to native resolution...and it looks good.

    5 votes

  9. Comment on Zen browser / chrome alternatives in ~tech

    atchemey
    Link
    Vivaldi! It's a reworked Chromium base that makes stuff more secure and improves the memory handling. I routinely have 100+ tabs open and it moves just fine. Plus it has a ton more...

    Vivaldi! It's a reworked Chromium base that makes stuff more secure and improves the memory handling. I routinely have 100+ tabs open and it moves just fine. Plus it has a ton more hotkey/customizability for power users. I made custom hotkeys for my search bar that lets me cue up things like Google Scholar, Wikipedia, eBay, and even the great circle mapper utility.

    1 vote

  10. Comment on NATO alphabet in ~talk

  11. Comment on NATO alphabet in ~talk

    atchemey
    Link Parent
    "m as in mnemonic" is my favorite to remember.

    "m as in mnemonic" is my favorite to remember.

    1 vote

  12. Comment on Libertarianism is dead in ~humanities

    atchemey
    (edited )
    Link
    I've responded elsewhere to a comment, and the short of it is that I believe the author is correct. The book, "Late Soviet Britain: Why Materialist Utopias Fail," (described by the author on the...

    I've responded elsewhere to a comment, and the short of it is that I believe the author is correct.

    The book, "Late Soviet Britain: Why Materialist Utopias Fail," (described by the author on the market-liberal London School of Economics website, as the author is on their faculty) explains why market-utopias fail to achieve their claimed outcomes as much as socialist-utopias, and in a surprisingly similar manner. It's a fascinating read, and points out some of the contradictions inherent to market approaches, when those approaches are unmoderated by government intervention. In particular, just as socialist (and/or claimed communist) economies require miraculous levels of human understanding, goodness, and information sharing, so too do libertarian market philosophies. In worlds with incomplete information and imperfect logic there are similar outcomes and non-optimal economic outcomes, despite both claiming otherwise.

    Two paragraphs from the article stand out to me:

    The title of Late Soviet Britain may seem ‘‘strange and counterintuitive’’, she admits. ‘‘The Cold War and its aftermath taught us that Soviet socialism and neoliberalism (or Thatcherism in the British context) are absolute ideological opposites, and who could disagree: the everyday political values of these doctrines could not have been further apart. Ask how they understand the nature of political economic reality, however, and this dichotomy proves false.’’

    On closer inspection, she argues, "both Soviet and neoliberal doctrines are based on closed-system reasoning about the political economy. They are built on purely logical arguments from utopian assumptions - axiomatic deduction - rather than on arguments from observation and reasoned analysis - or hypothetical deduction, more commonly known as the scientific method."

    I need to reread it.

    7 votes

  13. Comment on Libertarianism is dead in ~humanities

    atchemey
    Link Parent
    I grew up in rural indiana, where the libertarian ethos is very strong. What the author is saying is exactly right, and he says it more eloquently than I, but it is a series of arguments that I...

    I grew up in rural indiana, where the libertarian ethos is very strong. What the author is saying is exactly right, and he says it more eloquently than I, but it is a series of arguments that I have had hundreds of times. The arguments with self-identified libertarians never changed. I agree with the analysis by the author regarding the naturally ingest conclusions of absolutism with regards to property rights.

    Overwhelmingly, libertarians that I have spoken with support Trump fully. Whether they see him as a means to an end, as some sort of libertarian messiah, or perhaps a monarch who will protect their property, does not matter. Only a small fraction have chipped off in the last decade. Those that have made a similar transition to the one the author describes for himself.

    It is only anecdote, but I am inclined to say that it has happened.

    17 votes

  14. Comment on Study suggests that the Universe's expansion 'is now slowing, not speeding up' in ~space

    atchemey
    Link Parent
    Don't go into metrology.

    I hate precisely measuring things.

    Don't go into metrology.

    10 votes

  15. Comment on Is 67 just brain rot? in ~humanities.languages

    atchemey
    Link
    I think we're all wringing our hands over nothing. The comparison I actually came up with is "23 skiddoo," which dates back to the 20s. If you squint, you can see "67 skibidi" hidden in there. I...

    I think we're all wringing our hands over nothing. The comparison I actually came up with is "23 skiddoo," which dates back to the 20s. If you squint, you can see "67 skibidi" hidden in there.

    I suspect the "post-(post...)-post irony" discussion is the best one on this post, because it fits with the evolution my generation (millennials) saw. Of course generations take it beyond its genesis, there is more irony in life today as the contradictions of our world becomes more transparent.

    Our response as a society to 9/11 now feels to me like the death of sincerity and the rise of self-aware irony in the anglosphere. The 2003-2007 "good times" (America flexing muscles again as democracy police, wealth growing, home ownership burgeoning) that felt like they would never end were an ironic contrast against the realities behind it (cruelties exacted abroad for economic power, debt exploding, sub-prime mortgages turning into a bomb). 2008 was the death of many illusions for then-under-30s about prosperity being shared, yet we still all parroted. Of course in 2009, we had HOPE, and it turned out the policies were gradualist in a time when the appetite was different. The continued recession-like malaise into 2015, the lack of economic progress, the disconnect between Wall Street numbers pumping the economy up and underemployment...no wonder 2016 folks elected a jackass who insisted he'd bring radical change, "because it's someone else's fault." The shattering of political norms as we still pledge allegiance to a flag whose ideals were long behind us is irony manifest. The pandemic resembled nationwide schizophrenia, with two radically different beliefs about the origin and how we respond, so who can trust anything? Ironies abound under what some other commenters here called "late-stage capitalism." Those who are children now are no less acute observers than we were.

    Of course, that post ironic memory also arose during the twenties, embracing The roaring times after horrible war and guilted celebrations, but with an awareness that it could not last forever. Even if only subliminal, it may have been there. So I guess the 2020s are the 1920s again.

    5 votes

  16. Comment on California voters pass Prop 50 to redraw the state's congressional maps in ~society

    atchemey
    Link
    The end of unilateral disarmament.

    The end of unilateral disarmament.

    17 votes

  17. Comment on Is anyone here in or familiar with Tokyo? Going on a trip and have zero idea what to do as a non-tourist... in ~travel

    atchemey
    (edited )
    Link
    Okay, a little about me, and why you should take my advice seriously: I was wrapping up my PhD and was looking at jobs worldwide in early 2019. There were two jobs I was applying to in Japan,...
    • Exemplary

    Okay, a little about me, and why you should take my advice seriously: I was wrapping up my PhD and was looking at jobs worldwide in early 2019. There were two jobs I was applying to in Japan, including one just outside of Tokyo. In preparation (and out of anxiety), I started studying Japanese on Duolingo and consuming vast amounts of Japan-based youtube content. I ended up not working there, but I've kept up my JP skills for ~5 of the 6.5 years since. I finally managed to go to Japan last year, spending 11 days in March traveling across southern/western Japan (Fukuoka and Saga Prefecture, Miyazaki, Hiroshima, Wakayama, Nagoya), 19 days across the rest of Honshu (Tokyo, Otsu/Lake Biwa, Aomori because of a typhoon, Kanazawa, Fukui, Sendai, and Tokyo), and I will be returning in January for a week due to finding a crazy good flight deal, visiting Osaka and Kyoto.

    You and I have a similar style. I do occasionally go to landmarks and tourist attractions, but they are not the main feature - the place is the thing. I don't usually make plans when I travel to Japan, I just wander around and book hotels a day in advance and then find a train to get there. That said, a week isn't long enough to scratch the surface of Tokyo. Don't try to. Find places that sound like they feel interesting and visit there. You'll find plenty of good things to do if you just go to a place and look around. It's the world's biggest metropolis (41 million metro), and it has many sub-regions that are themselves on the population scale of the cities of Chicago (2.7 million city) or Rome (2.7 million city). I did manage to successfully shepherd three 70-something friends-of-a-friend around Kanazawa and Tokyo this fall at their request despite having never been there before, and they expressed joy at the experience.

    My favorite youtuber, bar none at this point, is Abroad in Japan. (Actually, his content was posted to ~tech last week criticizing the "Japan is a disaster" sub-specialty of youtube content.) He's a sarcastic Brit who's lived in Japan since 2012, but who truly loves and appreciates Japan, enough to criticize it. He has a humorously-frosty exterior but it's clear that it's in a British "taking the piss" sort of way, very tsundere. He's also almost an auteur filmmaker in his style - very polished, very smart, and he really enjoys the filmmaking process. He has lived in rural northeast Japan, Tohoku region, as well as Sendai (biggest city in Tohoku), and now in Tokyo. He's also a very different kind of travel youtuber, almost more like Rick Steves, whose page begins, "His travel philosophy encourages people to explore less-frequented areas of destinations and to become immersed in the local people's way of life." All that to say, I'm going to recommend a video, but you shouldn't miss it just because it's a "how to tourist Tokyo video" - it'll fit what you're looking for.

    Ignore the clickbait title, 101 Things to Do in Japan is THE perfect video for you. Chris really emphasizes the importance of visiting out of the way places, including those that are just nearby to Tokyo, and doesn't just focus on tourist attractions. Perhaps a quarter of the video is about touristy things, the rest is just places that are interesting to go to. As the video says 30 seconds in, "It seems most people coming here seem to be doing the same six things, going home, having missed all the good stuff." I specifically identify Kawagoe and Enoshima (start watching here to begin with these regions) as places that match your goal. Other places include Shimokitazawa and Kamakura. Hell, he even recommends the Shinbashi business district, not quite a normal video. I'd strongly recommend the whole video, because there's a lot of asides and references to other places in the region that you'll hear him mention that may catch your eye. I'll also recommend searching "Abroad in Japan <region/city/ward/interest>" on youtube, and you'll probably find another video by him (or competitors who tag their videos with his name for SEO purposes) about it.

    Other advice from Tilderinos is good too, but some may not be the best for a single-week tour or in Tokyo specifically. Your trip can be VERY cheap or VERY expensive, but some advice, like staying in a true traditional full-service ryokan the entire time, will guarantee the latter in Tokyo. I have stayed at 3 ryokans, including a premium one and had a great experience, but I don't recommend for more than a couple days if you're interested in seeing the city itself...too much to do at the ryokan itself! That said, if you want the experience, spending a couple days at a ryokan at the start of your trip is a fantastic way to get over jet-lag, since the accommodations are a destination in and of itself...I'd just recommend a different city and future trip for that particular cultural touchstone.

    I would echo the /u/chocobean comments about wandering around. There's a ridiculous abundance of things to see and people to meet, so wandering is a genuinely great idea for finding unexpected things. Different wards (kind of like buroughs in NYC) have really specialized in areas to differentiate from each other...and they kind of go all in with it. Each ward can be extremely different from immediate neighbors. Walk between them and see how different they can be!

    Practically, you want to stay as close to a train station as possible. It is very easy to get across the city, but you want to be near the train to get around. The train network is very dense, so it won't be hard, but it should be a priority, even at a small premium. I would strongly recommend avoiding the "APA Hotel" brand, not for quality or price (both of which are excellent), but for reasons of politics - the country's xenophobic political wing owns the brand, and they even have English pamphlets in their rooms about how there were no Japanese war crimes in WWII and all allegations were a Chinese-American conspiracy. Fortunately, there are many affordable, clean, and convenient brands. Toyoko Inn, Tobu, Dormy Inn, Daiwa Roynet, and Route Inn are all large chains that have great consistency and modest prices. Weirdly, ultra-budget American brands such as Comfort Inn have a decent reputation - the floor for hotels is very very high, so even very budget accommodations are acceptable. Check reviews, but don't look at averages like an American, because they will have a ton of Japanese reviews (which are very very low by our standards) and a ton of upset foreign reviews complaining about the lack of English (which they speak very well in the hospitality industry). I'd suggest for a week you want a room with a built in shower, rather than a shared bath, and to spend $80-150/night for a single bed room (edit: in Tokyo about 50-70% of that in other cities). The rooms are not large, but they will do well and have clean and comfortable beds. Ultra-budget accommodations are available, but I wouldn't recommend them for more than a night unless you're in your 20s and don't care about quality of sleep.

    I strongly encourage getting a wide variety of food, and you can find it all over the city. If you can't read Japanese on the menu, just remember the phrase "oh-sue-sue-may-wa?", lit. "your recommendation is?" The waiter will very gladly recommend you something you will find delicious.

    Lunch/Dinner:
    Yakiniku (lit. "grilled meats") restaurants are an interactive dining experience where you are provided raw meats (they also have veggies if vegetarian) and you grill them at the table. Sukiyaki ("what you like - grilled," though it's not really grilled) is a related meal, where you prepare your meat in a broth in front of your plate, a hot pot variation. Another version is “shabu-shabu,” which is an onomatopoeia for the sound meat makes cooking in liquid. Yakitori ("grilled bird/chicken" on a stick) is a street food that is so elegant and simple and ridiculously delicious for a dollar. Teppanyaki ("iron plate grill") is a broad description for what Americans tend to call "hibachi" preparation - less of a show, more of an artistic meal in Japan, but worth it, especially with proper A5 wagyu, which is worth it, once. Okonomiyaki ("as you like it - grilled") is a sit-down experience at a teppan (the aforementioned "iron plate") where the chef makes it in front of you, and it is fully customizable; most food in Japan is done "correctly," so you don't get to modify it. Udon, soba, and ramen soups are a way of life in Japan, and there are more versions than I can describe, so try them all, especially in winter. Takoyaki ("octopus grilled" but really doughy balls that have octopus in them) are a street food specialty that will burn your mouth but are a favorite. Tonkatsu (“pork fried”) will make you understand why pork is the favorite meat in Japan, and I particularly enjoyed the donburi style from Miyazaki. Karaage fried chicken will give any fried chicken you’ve ever had a run for its money. Lots of meals will have pickled vegetables or cabbage with them on the side – even if you don’t like them at home, eat them, they will surprise and delight you.
    There is a large emphasis on family-style restaurants, and even brands like Denny’s will be abundantly available – expect the most premium Denny’s experience of your life. Complementary to these experiences are places that serve gyudon (“beef bowl”) with rice – AiJ has a great video on that too, since they can be VERY cheap and filling and frankly delicious. He recommends (and so do I) Yoshinoya. It’s very fast, you can typically order with a tablet in English, and the price is ~$7 for a full meal with sides and toppings and tea. Ippudo and Ichiran are two budget ramen joints that are worth a visit as well.

    Kaiseki is more an experience or level of service than a cuisine, but it is roughly traditional Japanese haute-cuisine; expect a 7-12 course meal with a curated menu that changes daily, and perfect dining experience.

    Breakfast, convenience stores/konbini, and vending machines/jihanki:
    Breakfasts can and should be cheap - go to any convenience store, get a tuna mayo onigiri (rice ball) and some canned coffee or tea and be done with it. They are low cost, tasty, and fast (and I don't even like mayo). Try different onigiri, including the tamago (egg omlette), but I'd recommend avoiding the trout for breakfast (salmon, great, trout...afternoon only), and only trying the umeboshi "plum" very very cautiously. That said, there are also a ton of cute cafes around...just try to avoid one that has smoking.
    Convenience stores are also a great option on the go to grab hot or cold tea and snacks like ice creams in summer - they also often have very very clean microwaves to heat your food. It's crazy, but the FamilyMart (my favorite), 7/11, and Lawsons (my least favorite) brands are everywhere and they have consistently high quality fresh food, because it gets bought so often they can keep it fresh on the shelf. The fried chicken wars of a few years ago were won...by Japan. Honestly, all three main brands have good offerings, but the FamilyMart "famichiki" is the consensus best, and I agree. Get a lusciously-breaded chicken tender for a buck and walk out, fastest hot snack you can get in winter.
    Vending machines are everywhere. They have hot and cold offerings, and the coffee is sneaky caffeinated. Enjoy them, they are a resource. While drinking beverages (including alcohol) as you walk and on the street is just fine, there is a large cultural taboo about eating while walking, so please find a place to park while you scarf down your onigiri and famichicki.

    Other food experiences:
    Kakigori ("shaved ice") has an international version but also a local variant that is far superior - get it with condensed milk on the top, and it's sublime. Tea ceremonies are worth doing, very much an experience that is worth the effort.

    To avoid:
    Natto. Don’t.

    Anyways, lots of advice. Feel free to message me if you want to chat more off-line, I’ve got a lot of experience and am happy to help however.

    23 votes

  18. Comment on What is happening to Japan? in ~tech

    atchemey
    Link Parent
    He's pretty open about this stuff. It's not a one-off comment, it's just "the price of doing business" with the algorithm. Honestly, his videos are refreshing, I say as a 6-year viewer of his content.

    He's pretty open about this stuff. It's not a one-off comment, it's just "the price of doing business" with the algorithm. Honestly, his videos are refreshing, I say as a 6-year viewer of his content.

    4 votes

  19. Comment on What code editor / IDE do you use (2025)? in ~comp

    atchemey
    Link Parent
    Yeah! And both of us are here!

    Yeah! And both of us are here!

    2 votes

  20. Comment on Forgot Chrome's unusable, any recommendations? in ~tech

    atchemey
    Link Parent
    Vivaldi has been my browser since 2016, and it's so good. It looks like Chrome to any website you're on, and you can use any Chrome plugin...but it just works. Major customizability, better...

    Vivaldi has been my browser since 2016, and it's so good. It looks like Chrome to any website you're on, and you can use any Chrome plugin...but it just works. Major customizability, better back-end memory management, and excellent privacy reputation. Oh and I just found out it's owned by the employees in Norway.

    3 votes