chromakode's recent activity

  1. Comment on xkcd: Machine in ~games

    chromakode
    Link Parent
    Thanks for the kinds words. I want to emphasize that I only occasionally contribute for these special interactive comics. It's an honor to collaborate with Randall and davean, and I find working...

    Thanks for the kinds words. I want to emphasize that I only occasionally contribute for these special interactive comics. It's an honor to collaborate with Randall and davean, and I find working with both of them to be really inspiring!

    7 votes

  2. Comment on xkcd: Machine in ~games

    chromakode
    Link Parent
    Not far enough, hence it being 5 days late. We came up with this idea on Mar 13th and started prototyping on the 17th.

    Not far enough, hence it being 5 days late. We came up with this idea on Mar 13th and started prototyping on the 17th.

    5 votes

  3. Comment on xkcd: Machine in ~games

    chromakode
    Link Parent
    This was my 15th annual April fools project with xkcd. The A1s are are typically made as creative collaborations among friends for the fun of it, with Randall, davean, and me focused on creative,...

    This was my 15th annual April fools project with xkcd. The A1s are are typically made as creative collaborations among friends for the fun of it, with Randall, davean, and me focused on creative, backend, and frontend respectively. I usually participate as an adjunct volunteer on interactive comics. We brainstorm ideas together with past collaborators. Since we try to do something different most years, the scope and team size varies a lot!

    21 votes

  4. Comment on xkcd: Machine in ~games

    chromakode
    Link Parent
    Thank you! This is one of my favorites we've made in a long time 😁

    Thank you! This is one of my favorites we've made in a long time 😁

    31 votes

  5. Comment on xkcd: Machine in ~games

  7. Comment on Oregon decriminalized drugs. Voters now regret it. in ~life

    chromakode
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    This was a decision by lawmakers, AIUI. As an Oregon voter, I don't believe I got a vote!

    voters voted to re-criminalize

    This was a decision by lawmakers, AIUI. As an Oregon voter, I don't believe I got a vote!

    26 votes

  8. Comment on What is the most reliable and affordable form of storage medium to use as a backup drive for your computer? in ~tech

    chromakode
    Link
    Cloud storage for small amounts of data you want to survive a house fire, and spinning rust for large amount of data you don't.

    Cloud storage for small amounts of data you want to survive a house fire, and spinning rust for large amount of data you don't.

    6 votes

  9. Comment on Using work OSX machine while travelling in ~comp

    chromakode
    Link
    I would recommend against installing personal software or dual booting the work machine. One of the most important reasons companies provide a dedicated work machine is to have a separate security...

    I would recommend against installing personal software or dual booting the work machine. One of the most important reasons companies provide a dedicated work machine is to have a separate security context. When you introduce your own software you take on the risk and responsibility for any confidential work data compromised by your personal use.

    I used to run a single laptop with both work and personal stuff running in VMs. That was my daily driver when I worked at reddit in the early 2010s. Using VMs or doing everything personal in a browser are pretty low risk, because both function as a sandbox.

    However, these days, it's not worth the complexity imo. It's nice to close up the work laptop and have it stay closed at the end of the day.

    1 vote

  10. Comment on Christian Super Bowl commercial outrages US conservatives in ~humanities

    chromakode
    Link Parent
    I got one as well. Straight into the recycling bin.

    I got one as well. Straight into the recycling bin.

    1 vote

  11. Comment on how do you manage your personal ssh keys? in ~comp

    chromakode
    (edited )
    Link
    A pointed response: if you're having trouble keeping track all of the endpoints you're SSHing from, you have too many contexts to keep secure and up to date. If your priority is security, the best...

    A pointed response: if you're having trouble keeping track all of the endpoints you're SSHing from, you have too many contexts to keep secure and up to date.

    If your priority is security, the best strategy is to simplify your mission critical remote access to as few keys and trusted contexts as possible. Your best bang for buck is to partition your device contexts into privileged and unprivileged and give remote access to only the privileged ones.

    I use the built in ed25519-sk type in SSH 8.2+ to generate keys based on my Yubikeys. Each device has its own security key, which is set to require a tap to authenticate. The SSH keys are also encrypted (password protected).

    This way, it's not feasible to extract the SSH key using software (it requires the physical key) and if my device was stolen or I lost access you'd still need a passphrase to load the key. I don't create different keys per service -- the only benefit I see there is anonymity (since servers can identify you based on your GitHub SSH public keys), and I don't SSH into unfamiliar servers.

    7 votes

  12. Comment on Frustrations with Cities Skylines 2 are starting to boil over among city builder fans and content creators alike in ~games

    chromakode
    Link
    It has to be satisfying to the team at Hello Games that No Man's Sky is now held up as the exemplar of post-release updates.

    It has to be satisfying to the team at Hello Games that No Man's Sky is now held up as the exemplar of post-release updates.

    12 votes

  13. Comment on Alan Wake 2 questions in ~games

    chromakode
    Link
    I loved Control. Never played AW1. Tried AW2 on Halloween and ended up refunding it. I found the game tedious and repetitive in its first few hours, it ran poorly on my 3080Ti with stutters and...

    I loved Control. Never played AW1. Tried AW2 on Halloween and ended up refunding it. I found the game tedious and repetitive in its first few hours, it ran poorly on my 3080Ti with stutters and audio desyncs, and I wasn't happy to support an Epic Game Store exclusive.

    The mind palace investigation system felt totally on rails, and sorta like the forced concepts review at the end of an educational show. I anticipate it gets more interesting later in the story, but by that point I was out.

    I decided to wait until it comes out of exclusive before trying it again, since there were so many other great story driven games of this year.

    ...though all that said, it leads to the question: why not give it a try and refund if you don't like it?

    4 votes

  14. Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music

    chromakode
    Link Parent
    Their album "Go To School" is a favorite of mine. A rock opera concept album about a monkey living as a human teenager.

    Their album "Go To School" is a favorite of mine. A rock opera concept album about a monkey living as a human teenager.

  15. Comment on Realized my screen is 144, not 60 hz in ~tech

    chromakode
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    In the 144hz @ 144fps case the frames will be more similar than 60fps, so even if GtG is constant they will have less delta between frame values. Pixels will also change sooner than the next 60fps...

    In the 144hz @ 144fps case the frames will be more similar than 60fps, so even if GtG is constant they will have less delta between frame values. Pixels will also change sooner than the next 60fps frame. These sound like minor differences but they make motion smears appear more vibrant since it'll fill the gaps between 60fps frames better.

    You can see this in action on https://www.testufo.com. On a high refresh rate display, look at the red UFO body and the yellow capsule. Assuming the GtG is constant between the 60fps and 144fps rows, the colors on the 144fps row look noticeably sharper due to better contrast in the motion.

    2 votes

  16. Comment on How do you journal? in ~talk

    chromakode
    Link
    I made a little journaling app last year, which provides randomized writing prompts: https://tmthf.me Keeping up a long form journal has always been difficult for me. Breaking it into little...

    I made a little journaling app last year, which provides randomized writing prompts: https://tmthf.me

    Keeping up a long form journal has always been difficult for me. Breaking it into little slices of life I can update during breaks in the day has helped me to capture more.

    8 votes

  17. Comment on Realized my screen is 144, not 60 hz in ~tech

    chromakode
    Link Parent
    Faster pixel gray-to-gray response times can make a difference because you're seeing less of the previous frame superimposed on the current one.

    Faster pixel gray-to-gray response times can make a difference because you're seeing less of the previous frame superimposed on the current one.

    4 votes

  18. Comment on Realized my screen is 144, not 60 hz in ~tech

    chromakode
    Link Parent
    Haha, fair, I was thinking about color and contrast when I wrote that, not resolution. 4K at 27" looks pretty good to me. That upcoming ASUS monitor will be 32", so still some room for improvement...

    Haha, fair, I was thinking about color and contrast when I wrote that, not resolution. 4K at 27" looks pretty good to me. That upcoming ASUS monitor will be 32", so still some room for improvement DPI-wise, though higher resolution become harder to drive. When my partner upgraded to a 4K display her laptop struggled to keep up, so she wasn't able to get much benefit until upgrading her computer.

    1 vote

  19. Comment on Realized my screen is 144, not 60 hz in ~tech

    chromakode
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    The perceptible improvement to motion quality is distinct from reaction time. Eyes have persistence of vision: what you perceive is an average over a period of time. This is why fast moving...

    The perceptible improvement to motion quality is distinct from reaction time. Eyes have persistence of vision: what you perceive is an average over a period of time. This is why fast moving objects blur. With screens, you can see every frame drawn averaged together as your persistence of vision trails off.

    This is easiest to see with fast motion, because there's a large distance between frames. For instance, try moving your mouse or scrolling quickly. On 60fps screens you'll see the image break up into multiple superimposed frames (LCDs with low pixel response time will exaggerate this even more). Higher refresh rate displays show more in-between frames for motion, resulting in smoother blur as objects move.

    The qualitative difference is a smoother smear rather than multiple frames with gaps overlayed. This is particularly noticeable with text, since it's high contrast with fine details. In 60fps scrolling fast text jumbles due to discrete frames overlapping, at higher refresh rates the motion is easier to interpret because it's more apparent as a smear.

    Another notable detail is high refresh rate displays are often synonymous with faster pixel response time. Many 60fps LCDs have pixels which take longer than a single frame to transition between colors, which exaggerates the trail effect. This has a direct impact on image clarity during motion because you're seeing a longer trail of previous frames overlapping your latest one.

    10 votes

  20. Comment on Realized my screen is 144, not 60 hz in ~tech

    chromakode
    Link Parent
    Here's rtings's current 4k recommendations. They also have a great matrix view where you can filter based on your feature preferences. I avoid Dell, since I've had coil whine issues with them in...

    Here's rtings's current 4k recommendations. They also have a great matrix view where you can filter based on your feature preferences. I avoid Dell, since I've had coil whine issues with them in the past.

    I'm personally waiting for early next year. ASUS teased a 32" 4K QD-OLED (model PG32UCDM), though the details are currently sparse. Those are my ideal specs, until PHOLED becomes prevalent, though it may be diminishing returns from here 😁

    3 votes