bratling's recent activity
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Comment on Should I switch to Apple Music or stick with Spotify? in ~music
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Comment on How China’s EV boom caught Western car companies asleep at the wheel in ~transport
bratling Link ParentKodak is a fascinating example. Most people seem unaware that Kodak invented digital photography. But they didn’t take it seriously. I am reminded of Upton Sinclair’s adage: It* is difficult to...Kodak is a fascinating example. Most people seem unaware that Kodak invented digital photography. But they didn’t take it seriously.
I am reminded of Upton Sinclair’s adage: It* is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.*
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Comment on How China’s EV boom caught Western car companies asleep at the wheel in ~transport
bratling Link ParentChina is not practicing socialism in its industry. It is practicing classic 18th century European-style mercantilism. China’s political-economic system bears very little relationship to the...China is not practicing socialism in its industry. It is practicing classic 18th century European-style mercantilism. China’s political-economic system bears very little relationship to the socialism that Marx predicted.
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Comment on How China’s EV boom caught Western car companies asleep at the wheel in ~transport
bratling LinkI’m a little surprised they didn’t mention BMW. Instead of trying to make their own small EVs they have been working with one of the Chinese EV makers to make the next generation of the MINI...I’m a little surprised they didn’t mention BMW. Instead of trying to make their own small EVs they have been working with one of the Chinese EV makers to make the next generation of the MINI Cooper EV. And a damn good thing, as the current MINI Electric is embarrassingly poor in range, performance, and price.
My point being that “if you can’t beat them or catch them, work with them” is one of the approaches legacy makers can take, and some (like BMW) are doing so. Not sure it’ll save them from seeing their lunch eaten by the new Chinese makers, in the long run. But not every company has its head firmly stuck in the sand. Just most of them. (And even BMW had to be dragged kicking and screaming.)
Well, it’s Wired. It wouldn’t be a Wired article if they didn’t miss an enormous part of the story. :-)
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Comment on Lets talk kitchen dishes in ~life.home_improvement
bratling Link ParentI’m glad it was helpful. Stoneware is fragile, but no more than any other ceramic serving ware. It’s quite comparable to the average coffee mug: subject to chipping if knocked against things, but...I’m glad it was helpful. Stoneware is fragile, but no more than any other ceramic serving ware. It’s quite comparable to the average coffee mug: subject to chipping if knocked against things, but otherwise sturdy.
But one other reason to maybe choose Corelle (or porcelain) is microwavability. With time, tiny fractures in stoneware’s surface glazing can admit a bit of moisture. That’s fine (it’s nothing like the amount of water that wood takes up!). But I have learned that once such a surface fracture starts, then water + microwave = rapid & localized heat expansion = fully cracked plate. (On the other hand, this has happened to two dishes in 18 years. Maybe I’m oversensitive to it. Still: No microwave if you can see any surface fractures in glaze!)
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Comment on Australians reject indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum in ~news
bratling Link ParentThank you, this comment was incredibly informative. (And reminds me, a US citizen, that my country hardly has a monopoly on being sh!##y to indigenous populations ☹️)Thank you, this comment was incredibly informative. (And reminds me, a US citizen, that my country hardly has a monopoly on being sh!##y to indigenous populations ☹️)
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Comment on Lets talk kitchen dishes in ~life.home_improvement
bratling LinkUSA resident here. We’ve had both styles. My spouse and I started with a full matched set of stoneware we love. That was fine until we had kids, and then the attrition rate shot up. So after about...USA resident here. We’ve had both styles. My spouse and I started with a full matched set of stoneware we love. That was fine until we had kids, and then the attrition rate shot up. So after about a decade, we bought a set of Corelle with a simple pattern. They’ve been metaphorically bulletproof. They take anything we can dish out (pun intended), from drops onto hard surfaces to microwaving to reheating food in a gas oven.
After the kids grow up and move out we may go back to stoneware. But for our current situation, Corelle is perfect.
Side note: Corelle is glass, but an unusually flexible type. That’s what gives it its resistance to damage. But, the edges can bend slightly from drops. The good news is that you can bend them back in your hands. Just apply strong, steady pressure.
(This alarms my spouse, because glass and a lifetime of experience showing that glass shatters. So I do it while they are out of the room. 😆)
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Comment on What do you think about other users' usernames? in ~tildes
bratling LinkI’m curious. Ping! (my username started as a semi-joke based on the username of someone I dated in the late 90’s. It stuck. You can find me on many of the primary social networks, and a few web...I’m curious. Ping!
(my username started as a semi-joke based on the username of someone I dated in the late 90’s. It stuck. You can find me on many of the primary social networks, and a few web forums, using the same one. I’m of the generation that kept names consistent across platforms. There are a few bratlings out there that aren’t me now, but for the first couple decades they were all me, as far as I can tell.)
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Comment on Get the lowdown on 'e/acc' — Silicon Valley's favorite obscure theory about progress at all costs, which has been embraced by Marc Andreessen in ~tech
bratling Link ParentPretty sure the industrialists and railway barons of the 19th century thought the same as these guys. And the European colonialists and enslavers of the 15th–20th centuries. And American Empire in...Pretty sure the industrialists and railway barons of the 19th century thought the same as these guys. And the European colonialists and enslavers of the 15th–20th centuries. And American Empire in the 20th–21st.
This shit isn’t new, it just gets a fresh coat of paint and rationalizations every few decades.
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Comment on Get the lowdown on 'e/acc' — Silicon Valley's favorite obscure theory about progress at all costs, which has been embraced by Marc Andreessen in ~tech
bratling Link ParentThat’s pedantic as hell. I approve. :-D (I want Ringworld. But we need to invent a material with tensile strength greater that the forces holding atomic nucleai together first. I’m sure the e/acc...That’s pedantic as hell.
I approve.
:-D
(I want Ringworld. But we need to invent a material with tensile strength greater that the forces holding atomic nucleai together first. I’m sure the e/acc bros will have that solved by next year.)
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Comment on Moving to PhotoPrism for photo self-hosting in ~comp
bratling Link ParentTailscale is fantastic. Can’t recommend it highly enough.Tailscale is fantastic. Can’t recommend it highly enough.
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Comment on Permanent archival formats. Do they exist? in ~tech
bratling Link ParentI just checked and the company that designed M-Disc is basically out of business, but since the media itself is produced by other companies under license, it should be OK. Still, I don't know how...I just checked and the company that designed M-Disc is basically out of business, but since the media itself is produced by other companies under license, it should be OK. Still, I don't know how useful optical media will be to me in 2 more decades, especially given that the M-Disc BDXL format tops out at 100 GB.
Today I use HDDs, and periodically copy everything to newer disks. It's fast and relatively low-risk for my purposes. (I used to use DVDs, but my storage needs outgrew that badly.)
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Comment on What are some modern first person shooters with a classic, old-school feel? in ~games
bratling Link ParentI just spent a few minutes with Dusk and it's delightfully silly. Love it. Thanks for the recommendation.I just spent a few minutes with Dusk and it's delightfully silly. Love it. Thanks for the recommendation.
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Comment on Permanent archival formats. Do they exist? in ~tech
bratling Link ParentNo proprietary hardware is required, actually! M-Discs are written in standard optical disc drives (DVD-R and Blu-Ray BD-R are both supported). And they are read in any optical disc drive, so long...No proprietary hardware is required, actually!
M-Discs are written in standard optical disc drives (DVD-R and Blu-Ray BD-R are both supported). And they are read in any optical disc drive, so long as the underlying format is supported (e.g. you can't read a BD-R in an old DVD-only drive).
(I'm not involved in M-Disc and don't own any. But they seem like a decent choice for medium-term archiving – decades, not centuries – and I would be comfortable using them to store old family photos and videos.
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Comment on Show ~/project: A thread to share your finished projects in ~comp
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Comment on Without saying where you live, where do you live? in ~talk
bratling Link ParentMy spouse assumed you were describing Washington DC in the US. When the answer was revealed as Canberra, they exclaimed “Goddamn, the British did it to them too?!” Ex-colony solidarity, I guess.My spouse assumed you were describing Washington DC in the US. When the answer was revealed as Canberra, they exclaimed “Goddamn, the British did it to them too?!”
Ex-colony solidarity, I guess.
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Comment on What consumeristic and somewhat pointless hobby do you have? in ~hobbies
bratling Link ParentI love my Saturn V. And while it is hyuge, it does separate into three stages which gives some more display options.I love my Saturn V. And while it is hyuge, it does separate into three stages which gives some more display options.
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Comment on Books with WTF premises in ~books
bratling Link ParentI think the big picture of TLT has some WTFuckery going on, but each book in it starts relatively simple-seeming. Book 1: Lesbian necromancers go adventuring in a gothic castle. Book 2: Lesbian...I think the big picture of TLT has some WTFuckery going on, but each book in it starts relatively simple-seeming.
- Book 1: Lesbian necromancers go adventuring in a gothic castle.
- Book 2: Lesbian necromancer grieves in gothic space station.
- Book 3: Life in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian Territories, with a side order of death magic.
But the big picture? (SPOILERS FOR ENTIRE SERIES)
One guy spontaneously develops necromancy, nukes the entire earth, eats the 11 billion souls of humanity, chases some people he is angry at for not taking his advice, treats the soul of the Earth itself as a pet dog, and embarks upon a 10,000 year campaign to find, chase and punish the descendants of those people while the other planetary souls chase him.But at least queer, non-binary, and transgender are 100% ordinary in his colonialist empire, so there's that.
It's a little weird.
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Comment on Self-hosters! Share your reasons for self-hosting and favorite apps! in ~comp
bratling Link ParentWow! That is a kind of madness, one that I respect. What an incredible project! There is zero sarcasm here; this is just astounding. Thanks for telling us about it!Wow! That is a kind of madness, one that I respect. What an incredible project! There is zero sarcasm here; this is just astounding. Thanks for telling us about it!
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Comment on Which show kickstarted your interest in anime? in ~anime
bratling Link ParentFunny… I like 2040 better. Broody Priss and broken Cylia are just so much more interesting to me than the original versions.Funny… I like 2040 better. Broody Priss and broken Cylia are just so much more interesting to me than the original versions.
Regarding those user playlists, I use the app SongShift to replicate them to Apple Music. SongShift can copy playlists across all the streaming services, so you can bring your own playlists with you, as well as your favorite community playlists. (Spotify asked SongShift not to copy Spotify’s own editorially created playlists. Annoying, but a fair request. I found a workaround anyway.)
https://songshift.com