We already know what a world without work looks like
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crulife's recent activity
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Comment on What have you been eating, drinking, and cooking? in ~food
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Comment on TV Tuesdays Free Talk in ~tv
crulife LinkI started watching the 2022 series Interview with the Vampire, which is based on Anne Rice's novels from 1979 and on. I had low expectations, but it's actually not that bad. I thought it was a bit...I started watching the 2022 series Interview with the Vampire, which is based on Anne Rice's novels from 1979 and on. I had low expectations, but it's actually not that bad. I thought it was a bit needlessly gory at times, though, hard to recommend to people who're queasy about that. Suits the theme though.
I read perhaps the first 6 books of the series some 15 years ago and remember liking them. Even though they were a bit fanfictiony, there's something genuinely fresh about them.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
crulife LinkBodycam got a major upgrade and it's really fun now! I haven't played anything else since its Sep 02 release.Bodycam got a major upgrade and it's really fun now! I haven't played anything else since its Sep 02 release.
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Comment on What's a show you love that's from before your time? in ~tv
crulife (edited )LinkThe Prisoner is a delightfully weird mini-series from 1967. It's a show about a British secret service agent who resigns in anger for reasons never told and is then spirited away to a dream-like...The Prisoner is a delightfully weird mini-series from 1967. It's a show about a British secret service agent who resigns in anger for reasons never told and is then spirited away to a dream-like prison island where people cannot leave because huge balloons that are apparently organically grown in the island will incapacitate them.
There's no way it is not a product of drug use.
Major themes: collectivism, individualism, overreach of governmental authority.
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Comment on Recommendations for noise cancelling, over ear headphones in ~tech
crulife Link ParentMomentum 5 just came out this year, and the sound quality is pretty amazing. Noise cancelling has probably improved too, although I never tried 4.Momentum 5 just came out this year, and the sound quality is pretty amazing. Noise cancelling has probably improved too, although I never tried 4.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
crulife (edited )LinkI dived into a KeeperRL binge, playing it long enough that I essentially solved the game again. Takes about 5 hours. It's a great GPL-licensed Dungeon Keeper clone with graphical and music assets...I dived into a KeeperRL binge, playing it long enough that I essentially solved the game again. Takes about 5 hours. It's a great GPL-licensed Dungeon Keeper clone with graphical and music assets available from Steam.
Then checked out Bodycam because their September 2 release (holy crap tomorrow) was starting to look very exciting. In its current form, it's all about presentation with not a lot of content beyond that. But it looks and sounds amazing, and apparently will be even better tomorrow.
Also looking at Wardogs with some interest, but that's still a few weeks away and I didn't get to be a betatester.
edit Wardogs added some new anti-cheating tool which of course doesn't work on Proton :-(
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Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music
crulife LinkMuse released a new album on June 26th, "The Wow! Signal". For an old Muse listener, this is just honey to my ears. It's like an amalgamation of everything that's great about the band.Muse released a new album on June 26th, "The Wow! Signal". For an old Muse listener, this is just honey to my ears. It's like an amalgamation of everything that's great about the band.
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Comment on What are your current pain points with Linux? in ~tech
crulife (edited )LinkI'm a bit disappointed at the level of security in 2026. the surface area for supply chain attacks is wide and surprisingly unused (that we know of) every program can generally speaking read and...I'm a bit disappointed at the level of security in 2026.
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the surface area for supply chain attacks is wide and surprisingly unused (that we know of)
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every program can generally speaking read and write the files of every other program, unless you use Flatpaks et al, which remains a bit awkward
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Nix has increased state-of-the-art when it comes to declarative configurations, but I feel like we're waiting for an "Arch Linux" moment, i.e. somebody making it much simpler without diminishing the power too much
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new laptop prices, wow. If I upgraded my X1 Carbon to the latest model with the same ram/ssd specs, I'd pay 5000 euros
Just in everyday usage, things are pretty awesome. Audio and graphics seem solved: Wayland is amazing and so is pipewire. Windows has been made completely obsolete thanks to Valve, and Apple survives (in my mind) only thanks to their amazing hardware.
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Comment on Compact phone in the works for the fans of small phones in ~tech
crulife Link ParentI meant https://commodore.net/store/callback-8020/ -- not the Android phone that's the primary focus in this post.I meant https://commodore.net/store/callback-8020/ -- not the Android phone that's the primary focus in this post.
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Comment on Operation Bluebird launches Twitter.now in ~tech
crulife LinkThis looks like a scam site designed to steal money from people who either hate Elon Musk a bit too much or liked Twitter a little too much.This looks like a scam site designed to steal money from people who either hate Elon Musk a bit too much or liked Twitter a little too much.
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Comment on Software engineers / programmers: how’s it going? in ~comp
crulife LinkI've worked in software-related areas for 25+ years. Things are completely the same as before, i.e. everything changes completely every 5 years. This AI thing is perhaps a bit more radical than...I've worked in software-related areas for 25+ years. Things are completely the same as before, i.e. everything changes completely every 5 years. This AI thing is perhaps a bit more radical than usual, but conceptually kinda the same: everything changes all the time.
I kinda like it. I'm able to make things happen that I could never have 5 years ago. Understanding all of it is becoming more of a challenge, though.
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Comment on Compact phone in the works for the fans of small phones in ~tech
crulife LinkThat's nice -- roughly the size of the iPhone 13 mini, which is 131.5 x 64.2 x 7.65mm. Commodore upcoming flip phone is even smaller though (116 x 66 x 19.4). Completely unproven at this point, of...That's nice -- roughly the size of the iPhone 13 mini, which is 131.5 x 64.2 x 7.65mm. Commodore upcoming flip phone is even smaller though (116 x 66 x 19.4). Completely unproven at this point, of course.
I'll let you know how it is when/if I ever get it. Preorder is in.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
crulife (edited )LinkAngels Fall First, a very interesting PvP scifi FPS that apparently combines space battles with ground battles. I didn't get very deep into it, but I like that people are trying something...Angels Fall First, a very interesting PvP scifi FPS that apparently combines space battles with ground battles. I didn't get very deep into it, but I like that people are trying something different.
Bodycam, an incredibly realistic-looking and -sounding FPS with the focus on technical excellence and attention to detail. They've been hyping a September release that will bring a lot of interesting new stuff, so I decided to buy this and give it a shot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YUWQXv0MTk
It was good. The combat is as chaotic as you might imagine it being in real life and the sound design is already amazing without the upcoming new stuff.
KeeperRL. This is a GPL-licensed Dungeon Keeper rogue clone with artistic assets available for a price in Steam. Perhaps the best of its genre, but the mid game is pretty challenging.
Stardew Valley. I'm not really playing this myself at this point, but worth mentioning that I managed to set up a 3 player local co-op for my family with two controllers and a keyboard/mouse combo. This required to create a fake first controller, otherwise the first player would also take the first real controller for themself. Works surprisingly well.
Running a platform for others to play Stardew Valley feels a bit like work. Like it would be a serious catastrophe if their farms got wiped and we didn't have any backups. I guess Steam cloud saves can be trusted... but is that enough, I sometimes wonder.
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Comment on What are your favourite anime and/or manga? in ~anime
crulife LinkI have a soft spot for Madoka, the original 12 episode series. The story, the art and the soundtrack (best thing Yuki Kajiura has done) all were superb. The followups were entirely unnecessary.I have a soft spot for Madoka, the original 12 episode series. The story, the art and the soundtrack (best thing Yuki Kajiura has done) all were superb.
The followups were entirely unnecessary.
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Comment on We economists have done the maths: ‘growth’ is a doomed strategy – there is a better way in ~finance
crulife Link ParentThis implies that socialism creates far weaker economies, if they can be simply sanctioned away. It seems to me that simply "powerful computers" isn't quite the magic sauce that would make those...The USA or allies issue trade sanctions or other unreasonable tarrifs.
This implies that socialism creates far weaker economies, if they can be simply sanctioned away.
The planned economy failed before 1995 when computers began to be able to operate on a worldwide logistics scale.
It seems to me that simply "powerful computers" isn't quite the magic sauce that would make those systems work. But I'm certainly intrigued of the possibility of a deeply planned economy working in the future with the help of LLMs and other new computing things.
That rules out an awful lot of the supposed intrinsic inevitable failure of planned economies.
All economies are essentially planned economies. Socialism is a bit more invasive than that.
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Comment on We economists have done the maths: ‘growth’ is a doomed strategy – there is a better way in ~finance
crulife (edited )Link ParentCould be the inevitable end of our lives that's driving the hurry. It can be trivially denied using data available to anyone. (GDP is nominal per capita) Country GDP 1980 GDP today South Korea...What's the hurry? Seems like it's due to greed and competition.
Could be the inevitable end of our lives that's driving the hurry.
I don't see how anyone could deny that poor countries are severely lacking in economic growth of nearly all kinds.
It can be trivially denied using data available to anyone.
(GDP is nominal per capita)
Country GDP 1980 GDP today South Korea $1,700 $36,000 Taiwan $2,400 $34,000 Ireland $6,400 $105,000 Poland $1,600 $24,000 Romania $1,500 $20,000 Chile $2,500 $17,000 Malaysia $1,900 $12,500 Mauritius $1,150 $12,000 China $195 $13,300 Botswana $1,150 $7,500 Life expectancy has grown by ~20 years in low-income countries. Child mortality has lessened significantly. Literacy, electrification, access to clean water: pretty much everything has become better almost everywhere.
Some countries are waging war or are internally mismanaged so badly (usually due to socialist policies) that they have become poorer. Pretty much every poor country that has been able to avoid war and has adapted sensible free-market, non-kleptocratic liberal policies has grown significantly in every way.
Admittedly, "sensible" is doing a lot of lifting in that previous paragraph. Unfortunately, there's no easy recipe for growth. It's not just "do whatever Milton Friedman suggested", but it still seems rather clear that in a broad stroke the free market approach works very well.
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Comment on Is there any interest in building a Tildes successor? in ~tildes
crulife Link ParentUsenet had pretty much unrestricted speech in many groups, with *plonk* being the main way to moderate. In many ways, 4chan was its most faithful continuation.Usenet had pretty much unrestricted speech in many groups, with
*plonk*being the main way to moderate. In many ways, 4chan was its most faithful continuation. -
Comment on Is there any interest in building a Tildes successor? in ~tildes
crulife LinkThis place is remarkable for actually being able to hold people with wildly differing opinions without all of it going to shit. I haven't seen anything like this anywhere else, and I have been...This place is remarkable for actually being able to hold people with wildly differing opinions without all of it going to shit. I haven't seen anything like this anywhere else, and I have been swimming in these things since 1996.
Somehow it manages to work even without a blocking/muting feature. It's not the technology that does it.
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Comment on Which privacy-friendly home appliances exist? e.g. robot vacuum cleaners. in ~tech
crulife LinkKärcher sells pretty decent robot vacuums, but I suspect their software stack is entirely made in China. However, since Kärcher itself is Germany-based, they are bound to some relatively strict EU...Kärcher sells pretty decent robot vacuums, but I suspect their software stack is entirely made in China. However, since Kärcher itself is Germany-based, they are bound to some relatively strict EU privacy laws. Unless they found some loophole around that.
This isn't recent, but some time ago I noticed that my local shop is selling frozen whole squids! I remember eating some superb squid in Portugal, so I had to get one.
I boiled it for a while, applied some spices (thanks, AI) and threw it on my charcoal grill for a few minutes and it came out pretty good.
Not very cheap, not easy or fast to prepare, but tastes great.