benpocalypse's recent activity

  1. Comment on A new era of intelligence with Gemini 3 in ~tech

    benpocalypse
    Link Parent
    I graduated college with a Computer Engineering degree right as the bubble burst, and I looked for months for a programming or engineering job with no success. The whole time that 6 month deadline...

    I graduated college with a Computer Engineering degree right as the bubble burst, and I looked for months for a programming or engineering job with no success. The whole time that 6 month deadline on starting to pay my student loans back was staring me in the eye. I ended up taking a job that required me to travel 100% of the time essentially as a glorified wrench turner.

    It took me 3 years to finally land a job in programming. So yeah, the dotcom bubble bursting really made the start of my career painful.

    3 votes
  2. Comment on A Cloudflare outage is taking down large parts of the internet - X, ChatGPT and more affected in ~tech

    benpocalypse
    Link
    Remember when 5 9's was a thing?

    Remember when 5 9's was a thing?

    5 votes
  3. Comment on I think nobody wants AI in Firefox, Mozilla in ~tech

    benpocalypse
    Link
    Their CEO disagrees. He wants AI to be shoved up your ass so hard.

    Their CEO disagrees. He wants AI to be shoved up your ass so hard.

    2 votes
  4. Comment on How has AI positively impacted your life? in ~tech

    benpocalypse
    Link
    It hasn't. I'm being forced to implement it for my dayjob and I hate every single moment of this fad.

    It hasn't. I'm being forced to implement it for my dayjob and I hate every single moment of this fad.

    4 votes
  5. Comment on Unfuck Google Drive (It's Gemini garbage, of course) in ~comp

    benpocalypse
    Link Parent
    I switched from Google Drive to pCloud years ago. It's a one time payment that has regular sales and has clients for all the major operating systems. I used to worry that pCloud couldn't sustain...

    I switched from Google Drive to pCloud years ago. It's a one time payment that has regular sales and has clients for all the major operating systems. I used to worry that pCloud couldn't sustain this business model, but their phone app and backup client are amazing and regularly getting better.

    Give it a look: https://www.pcloud.com/

    4 votes
  6. Comment on Anthropic aims to nearly triple annualized revenue in 2026, sources say in ~tech

    benpocalypse
    Link
    I also aim to triple my revenue by 2026.

    I also aim to triple my revenue by 2026.

    13 votes
  7. Comment on 'This is definitely my last TwitchCon': High-profile streamer Emiru was assaulted at the event, even as streamers have been sounding the alarm about stalkers and harassment in ~games

  8. Comment on mRNA COVID vaccines may substantially extend life for those undergoing cancer treatments in ~health

    benpocalypse
    Link
    Quick, let's make those illegal!

    Quick, let's make those illegal!

    3 votes
  9. Comment on What are some interesting landmarks in your neck of the woods? in ~talk

    benpocalypse
    Link
    I'm not doxxing myself here, as I live quite a drive from this, but Fitch's Falls in Western NY is amazing. It's a hidden gem as there is no public access to it even though it's on public lands....

    I'm not doxxing myself here, as I live quite a drive from this, but Fitch's Falls in Western NY is amazing. It's a hidden gem as there is no public access to it even though it's on public lands. The usual route folks take is to follow a right-of-way trail under some high voltage power lines, and then hike across the back of some farmland to get to it. The folks that own the farms usually don't mind as long as you're respectful. It's not Niagara Falls, but it feels so special because not that many people know about it.

    https://www.nyfalls.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=1703

    2 votes
  10. Comment on What ridiculous thing would you spend billions on? in ~talk

    benpocalypse
    Link
    Making billionaires illegal, and then giving the rest of my money away.

    Making billionaires illegal, and then giving the rest of my money away.

  11. Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp

    benpocalypse
    Link
    I'm finally building a big, moveable rack to make my solar panel installation more permanent. I never wanted to put them on the roof, so I making a rack that has 10" casters on it, I'm trenching...

    I'm finally building a big, moveable rack to make my solar panel installation more permanent. I never wanted to put them on the roof, so I making a rack that has 10" casters on it, I'm trenching the conduit to it, and this way I can turn and pivot the panels to take maximum advantage of the angle of the sun.

    I also plan on adding a wind turbine to my system later this year, because we live on a hill and get lots and lots of wind.

    5 votes
  12. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    benpocalypse
    Link Parent
    Outer Wilds is my favorite game of all time. Enjoy every minute of it.

    Outer Wilds is my favorite game of all time. Enjoy every minute of it.

    12 votes
  13. Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies

    benpocalypse
    Link
    I'm going to get downvoted to oblivion for this, but my wife, kids and I love the movie Captain Ron, and watched it just last weekend. We watch it at least once a year, and I don't care how bad it...

    I'm going to get downvoted to oblivion for this, but my wife, kids and I love the movie Captain Ron, and watched it just last weekend. We watch it at least once a year, and I don't care how bad it sucks, I love it.

    2 votes
  14. Comment on Atlassian acquires The Browser Company (Arc, Dia) in ~tech

    benpocalypse
    Link
    As someone that has to use Atlassian tooling every day for work, I can't see this going well. I mean, Atlassian has bought a bunch of companies as part of their tooling, and they still have at...

    As someone that has to use Atlassian tooling every day for work, I can't see this going well. I mean, Atlassian has bought a bunch of companies as part of their tooling, and they still have at least 3 different flavors of Markdown depending on what product you're in. It's infuriating.

    8 votes
  15. Comment on What happened to your first car? in ~transport

    benpocalypse
    Link
    My first car, a super crappy 1987 Cutlass Cierra, I drove all through college. It had almost 300k miles on it. After I graduated college I got a job where I traveled 100% of the time, so I gave it...

    My first car, a super crappy 1987 Cutlass Cierra, I drove all through college. It had almost 300k miles on it. After I graduated college I got a job where I traveled 100% of the time, so I gave it to one of my younger cousins as their first starter car. I have no idea what happened to it after that.

    It had awesome bench seats, the aftermarket CD player I installed in it rarely would read the CD you put into it, and at a certain point the gas tank sprung a slow leak, so I could never fill it above half a tank or else it'd just drip out. Good memories.

    1 vote
  16. Comment on What are some great actual comedies made in the last twenty years? in ~movies

    benpocalypse
    Link
    I always get yelled at for this, but I love Super Troopers 2. I regularly watch this scene, and watch the movie at least once a year. Downvote me into oblivion, but I'll die on this hill. Rob Lowe...

    I always get yelled at for this, but I love Super Troopers 2. I regularly watch this scene, and watch the movie at least once a year. Downvote me into oblivion, but I'll die on this hill. Rob Lowe as the mayor is just amazing.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfeC2HxziqI

  17. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    benpocalypse
    Link
    I'm on my second play through of Starfield, and previously I had defended it to the death, but this time I see the cracks starting to show through. The first go-round I was blinded by the amazing...

    I'm on my second play through of Starfield, and previously I had defended it to the death, but this time I see the cracks starting to show through. The first go-round I was blinded by the amazing story and amazing number of places you could go.

    However, this time, I can't help but feel that the various disparate systems in the game do not in fact make a whole game. The ship builder is unbelievably broken even after all this time. The reasons for building a base are essentially zip. The actual quests are great, but ultimately it feels like an empty universe. I'm gonna still finish this play through, but not ever come back to it again. On the first play through I was so hooked on the main quest that any annoyances I encountered, I just tucked them away. This time I can't seem to ignore them.

    I completely understand why people don't love this game.

    1 vote
  18. Comment on What do you need to vent about? in ~talk

    benpocalypse
    Link
    3 years ago my wife and kids and I moved into our dream home, and ever since, it's been like the movie The Money Pit. The foundation and fundamentals have been great, but everything else has been...

    3 years ago my wife and kids and I moved into our dream home, and ever since, it's been like the movie The Money Pit. The foundation and fundamentals have been great, but everything else has been a complete nightmare. I've sunk countless money into keeping the plumbing and HVAC in order but it seems like at this point I'm fighting a losing battle. We've had to replace the water pump for our well 3 times, had to install an insanely expensive water filtration system, and had to get a lot of general plumbing work done thanks to the poor quality water. I love the challenge, but at a certain point I just got burnt out.

    It's not like I can't afford it, but it's hard to find contractors to come out and even work on it. I am very mechanically inclined, and could do most of this myself, but I just don't have the time. I do as much as I can, but again, it just feels like an uphill battle. I know other folks have a worse situation than I do, but this just wears on me mentally.

    15 votes
  19. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    benpocalypse
    Link Parent
    I haven't read Mutiny on the Bounty mainly because it's so intimidating as far as the lore goes. For me, the apex mountain is Master and Commander. I've read that book many times, and have watched...

    I haven't read Mutiny on the Bounty mainly because it's so intimidating as far as the lore goes. For me, the apex mountain is Master and Commander. I've read that book many times, and have watched the movie a million times.

    It's so weird, after I turned 40 a few years ago I suddenly got into birding, books/movies about sailing, and WW2 movies. Previously I was mostly into Sci-Fi books and movies exclusively.

    1 vote
  20. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    benpocalypse
    Link
    After having finished reading The Terror, and watching the accompanying 10 episode show, I'm now reading The Wager by David Grann because I just can't get enough old timey tales of sailing ships...

    After having finished reading The Terror, and watching the accompanying 10 episode show, I'm now reading The Wager by David Grann because I just can't get enough old timey tales of sailing ships gone wrong.

    2 votes