bel's recent activity

  1. Comment on E-reader purchasing advice in ~tech

    bel
    Link
    +1 to Kobo. I've had 2 basic Kindles, 1 Kobo Aura ONE, and 1 Kobo Clara HD. I wanted the PocketBook InkPad 3 Pro to be something special. I imagined it'd be snappier or have a redder light. It's...

    +1 to Kobo.

    I've had 2 basic Kindles, 1 Kobo Aura ONE, and 1 Kobo Clara HD. I wanted the PocketBook InkPad 3 Pro to be something special. I imagined it'd be snappier or have a redder light. It's just an EReader with features that I, too, don't care about, like audiobooks and waterproofing.

    Kobos have nearly Kindle's prices without Amazon's ecosystem and market prevalance enough to need to maintain some reputation.

    4 votes

  2. Comment on YouTube is testing a three-strikes policy for ad blocking in ~tech

    bel
    Link Parent
    Consider also https://github.com/jmbannon/ytdl-sub. It's a script to templatize and manage downloading channels.

    Consider also https://github.com/jmbannon/ytdl-sub. It's a script to templatize and manage downloading channels.

    2 votes

  3. Comment on Where is a good place to get commissioned artwork? in ~creative

    bel
    Link
    ArtStation.com worked out for me (**discovered on Reddit via /r/commissions but found work on ArtStation). First and last time I did a commission, but I had a wonderful and sweet artist. I think...

    ArtStation.com worked out for me (**discovered on Reddit via /r/commissions but found work on ArtStation). First and last time I did a commission, but I had a wonderful and sweet artist. I think it was ~2months start to finish for a nontrivial scene with 2 primary, 5 background characters in full color.

    3 votes

  4. Comment on What's the best laptop for performance? in ~tech

    bel
    Link
    Sounds like you want a high performance machine to counter the anticipated slow down. If you're excited to learn, then consider going down that rabbit hole. I've found search results for windows...

    high performance (most important)

    I prefer Windows so I can game. My one problem with Windows is that... it gets slow

    Sounds like you want a high performance machine to counter the anticipated slow down. If you're excited to learn, then consider going down that rabbit hole. I've found search results for windows github de bloat helped my Windows boxes.

    6 votes

  5. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~talk

    bel
    Link
    I keep a diary of markdown files with a cronjob to generate a template file each day with sections for "wins", "incomplete", and "log". I started in January. Initially, I wanted to counter my...

    I keep a diary of markdown files with a cronjob to generate a template file each day with sections for "wins", "incomplete", and "log". I started in January. Initially, I wanted to counter my mediocre memory. There's a fair amount of things I learn at work that I don't document, and I also thought I might get lucky and capture some here.

    Over the year, the function has transitioned from a record to an emotional rubber duck. If I don't have anything to say, I just write "Happy Sunday" or whatever. If I do have something up in my life, I'll write as long as I want. It's all the most honest reflection of my personality I can manage, including the petty and selfish stuff. As a kid, I'd talk to my teddy bear at night with the same content. That behavior revived itself with a new target.

    I'm curious how much I'll cringe reading old entries someday, thinking how foolish I was and how small my concerns were.

    5 votes

  6. Comment on Cheap/small alternative to the guitar in ~hobbies

    bel
    Link Parent
    I picked up my first uke 1 month ago. Concert size for me. Soprano is the standard, but it's teensy. I played violin in school for 6 months and it killed my fingers, so I was concerned uke would...

    I picked up my first uke 1 month ago. Concert size for me. Soprano is the standard, but it's teensy. I played violin in school for 6 months and it killed my fingers, so I was concerned uke would be similar. Nope; probably 1/4 the impact of the violin's strings.

    1 vote

  7. Comment on Bye bye Mongo, Hello Postgres in ~tech

    bel
    Link
    A teammate and I are spearheading a database migration now, and coincidentally these articles have been popping up in my world lately. It's crazy how similar each process is, yet everyone has...

    A teammate and I are spearheading a database migration now, and coincidentally these articles have been popping up in my world lately. It's crazy how similar each process is, yet everyone has these duplicated learnings. Perhaps nobody wrote about it for so long that there's a wave of painstaking migrations. As for this instance, leaving that self-killing proxy is unthinkable, even as a temporary solution.

    2 votes

  8. Comment on Crowdsourced Twitter study reveals shocking scale of online abuse against women in ~tech

    bel
    Link
    It's good they consider the difference by race, but what about men? Are these numbers significantly different than male journalists and politicians? I imagine they are higher, but not notably so.

    It's good they consider the difference by race, but what about men? Are these numbers significantly different than male journalists and politicians? I imagine they are higher, but not notably so.

    1 vote

  9. Comment on On ghost users and messaging backdoors in ~tech

    bel
    Link
    Even if E2E encryption can have its own flaws and back doors with a poor implementation, building a back door is as dumb as ever. If the central server has global access to conversations, it can...

    Even if E2E encryption can have its own flaws and back doors with a poor implementation, building a back door is as dumb as ever. If the central server has global access to conversations, it can be marketed as E2E in name only.

    2 votes

  10. Comment on Amazon Prime Wardrobe officially launches to all US Prime members in ~tech

    bel
    Link Parent
    I too have reduced or avoided Amazon because Amazon's batch of products concerns me. My solution is to send traffic to seemingly reputable U.S.-based 3rd party sellers for a couple dollars more. I...

    I too have reduced or avoided Amazon because Amazon's batch of products concerns me. My solution is to send traffic to seemingly reputable U.S.-based 3rd party sellers for a couple dollars more. I still get Amazon's purchase protection and customer service, and my shipment isn't coming from Amazon's warehouse. Prime shipping is out, of course.

    1 vote

  11. Comment on Alternatives to Google as a Search Engine? in ~tech

    bel
    Link Parent
    I liked searx, but the default provider went down. They emphasized how users are not to use the "test" one as their go-to, but I still switched away from it when they went down for some hours....

    I liked searx, but the default provider went down. They emphasized how users are not to use the "test" one as their go-to, but I still switched away from it when they went down for some hours. Didn't have resources to host my own or the loyalty to find another host.

    1 vote

  12. Comment on Bethesda announces Fallout: 76 in ~games

    bel
    Link Parent
    As someone who missed the hype train for Rust, I am excited for a name as big as Bethesda to give it a shot. I heard good things about Rust and hope this turns out like Fortnite and PUBG.

    As someone who missed the hype train for Rust, I am excited for a name as big as Bethesda to give it a shot. I heard good things about Rust and hope this turns out like Fortnite and PUBG.

  13. Comment on Programming Challenge: Make a Caesar cipher! in ~comp

    bel
    Link Parent
    In case you didn't catch it on reddit the other day, Hitting this Block for 416 Years Crashes Paper Mario is now relevant.

    In case you didn't catch it on reddit the other day, Hitting this Block for 416 Years Crashes Paper Mario is now relevant.

    2 votes

  14. Comment on Programming Challenge: Make a Caesar cipher! in ~comp

    bel
    Link Parent
    I'm halfway through skimming your Learn MoonScript link, and this stuff is crazy. Dynamic typing is always pleasant to deal with, but the dependency on spacing for function calls and negation...

    I'm halfway through skimming your Learn MoonScript link, and this stuff is crazy. Dynamic typing is always pleasant to deal with, but the dependency on spacing for function calls and negation makes me think debugging would be a nightmare. Do you use Lua professionally or for some hobby?

  15. Comment on Programming Challenge: Make a Caesar cipher! in ~comp

    bel
    Link Parent
    Would a -50? I have not tested it, but I assume it would fail given your initial if shift >= 26

    Would a -50? I have not tested it, but I assume it would fail given your initial if shift >= 26

  16. Comment on Programming Challenge: Make a Caesar cipher! in ~comp

    bel
    Link Parent
    MoonScript isn't the most prevalent language, yet you used it two days in a row. What got you started on it?

    MoonScript isn't the most prevalent language, yet you used it two days in a row. What got you started on it?

    2 votes

  17. Comment on Programming Challenge: Make a Caesar cipher! in ~comp

    bel
    Link Parent
    As an ex-teaching assistant, I'm obligated to look for the weird stuff no one cares about. What about negative shifts? Then again, it'd probably be better to clean up negatives in a common...

    As an ex-teaching assistant, I'm obligated to look for the weird stuff no one cares about. What about negative shifts? Then again, it'd probably be better to clean up negatives in a common preceding function, like when gathering input. Are negative shifts even legal in a Caesar cipher or are left and right shifts their own category?

    1 vote

  18. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~movies

    bel
    Link
    I've seen the AKIRA movie a few too many times, both before and after reading the manga twice.

    I've seen the AKIRA movie a few too many times, both before and after reading the manga twice.

    2 votes

  19. Comment on What's your favorite video game? Why? in ~games

    bel
    Link Parent
    Oblivion is one of my top games of all time as well. If it's not my most played of all time, it's probably a close second. After all that investment, Skyrim and ES Online were quite the letdown....

    Oblivion is one of my top games of all time as well. If it's not my most played of all time, it's probably a close second. After all that investment, Skyrim and ES Online were quite the letdown. On the other hand, it's a wonderful thing to have enjoyed a game that set the bar so high.

  20. Comment on Programming Challenge: Translate 24-hour time into words in ~comp

    bel
    Link Parent
    I meant exactly what you did. Python is full of crazy looking stuff that fits the bill "is the time/energy saved ... worth making this extra line?" Readable or not, there's always some kooky...

    I meant exactly what you did. Python is full of crazy looking stuff that fits the bill "is the time/energy saved ... worth making this extra line?" Readable or not, there's always some kooky solution built in to this language.

    2 votes