deathinactthree's recent activity
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Comment on What’s your “I didn’t know I needed that” item? in ~life
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Comment on What’s your “I didn’t know I needed that” item? in ~life
deathinactthree Link ParentI got a pair of these as a stocking stuffer for my partner, who has Reynaud's, and she loved them. Especially for walking our two dogs in the winter. They inspired me to pull the trigger to get us...I got a pair of these as a stocking stuffer for my partner, who has Reynaud's, and she loved them. Especially for walking our two dogs in the winter.
They inspired me to pull the trigger to get us heated gloves and heated jackets, and those were a true game-changer and my answer for "I never knew I needed that". Keeping up with all the charging is occasionally a chore but the benefits far outweigh it. And they're not really any more expensive than a quality jacket and pair of gloves.
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Comment on Humble Choice - December 2024 in ~games
deathinactthree LinkI'm wondering if Atlas Fallen is any good--on one hand, it just looks like another soulslike, on the other, it's made by Deck13 who made Lords of the Fallen and The Surge 1+2, which are actually...I'm wondering if Atlas Fallen is any good--on one hand, it just looks like another soulslike, on the other, it's made by Deck13 who made Lords of the Fallen and The Surge 1+2, which are actually enjoyable soulslikes. Not amazing, but I don't regret my time with any of them. AF looks promising, like maybe the pinnacle of Deck13's approach of "yes yes it's another From clone but don't worry, you'll dig it"?
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Comment on Your partner asks for your phone, you refuse over privacy, they tell you they don't trust you. How do you respond? in ~talk
deathinactthree LinkMy partner and I don't have an open phone policy. We also trust each other to not desire to ask. We still hand each other our phones if there's a reason. If, for example, we want to show the other...My partner and I don't have an open phone policy. We also trust each other to not desire to ask. We still hand each other our phones if there's a reason. If, for example, we want to show the other a few pet photos we took, we trust each other to not, like, keep swiping through the entire camera roll.
It's not because we keep nefarious stuff on our phones. It's because there's stuff on our phones--by extension, in our respective lives--that aren't the other's business. Sometimes it's because it's related to a gift or surprise we're planning. Sometimes it's a private text or email conversation with a close friend about a sensitive topic that isn't the business of anyone not in that conversation. Sometimes it's personal notes or material that isn't anyone's business, even though it's innocent enough on its own.
It's not that there's a lot of that kind of material on either of our phones, it's that there's any at all.
To the OP's question, I would tactfully reiterate a shortened version of the above as a response. If that doesn't end the conversation or results in an eradication of trust, I would not have much issue calling it a day on that relationship. It's completely fine if someone prefers to have that kind of open-phone policy with their partner, I'm not judging it as a practice, but it doesn't match my values or what I want in a long-term partner.
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Comment on You should have a website in ~tech
deathinactthree LinkI think among many of us who've been online long enough--including many here who I suspect like me have been online since the BBS/IRC days--it's melted deep enough into our brains to autonomically...I think among many of us who've been online long enough--including many here who I suspect like me have been online since the BBS/IRC days--it's melted deep enough into our brains to autonomically believe in the importance of "permanence" online. Like, just as a person. Completely separate consideration from whether you make a living or are public enough to warrant it, I think there's a deep impulse to maintain a "contiguous soul" online that really feels universal but in reality isn't.
I admit I certainly feel it to be fundamental need, though intellectually I know it isn't. I remember being devastated when I shut down my Livejournal (due to it being bought) around the same time the forum I posted on frequently for years lost most of its archives due to an apocalyptic server failure...it truly felt, and a bit still feels I suppose, like I just lost some version of myself that existed for about 8 years when all of that writing/posting disappeared. It wasn't that any of the content itself was historically or artistically important--it definitely wasn't--and it wasn't like I didn't have a complete life outside of the Internet--I definitely did. It was about a kind of sense of self that I think a lot of us project onto the Internet that got erased, and like I had to start over somehow.
I don't and have never had much of an online footprint, but to the point of the OP, I have been dancing around the idea of having my own site in some fashion. I kind of want to start blogging again for reasons that don't bear a dry retelling. Could be about "refinding my soul" viz. the above, but that's probably melodramatic and way overthinking it. But I started an account recently on WhiteWind, an ATProtocol-based website that works directly with your Bluesky account PDS, uses Markdown, syndicates Bluesky reactions as comments within the blog, and is free. The tradeoff is that it's a new and still extremely immature platform and even its few features (especially commenting) don't seem to work a lot of the time. It's not "your" site but everything's written to your PDS, which I'd considered close enough but lately I'm starting to wonder.
These comments have me down a rabbithole of looking at other options. Leprd seems pretty stable, full-featured, and is the closest to what I'm used to from having had my own sites in the past. Bearblog seems the dead simplest to manage and post on, and has a discovery feed (it could be easier to find though), but doesn't have comments or image hosting. Still thinking about it.
Anyway. I don't at all think that everyone needs to have their own website. The truth is there's absolutely no way to 100% own your entire existence online anyway, any more than it's ever possible to have total privacy online unless you unplug your computer and walk away from it. Nor is it in fact at all necessary to have some kind of contiguous existence over time on the Internet. But the OP's argument still resonates with me, to the point that I'm spending all of this morning on my day off looking at various ways to try building back a piece of my "self". Even though I know that's a bit silly--or at least, not actually real.
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Comment on November 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 5(ish) Discussion in ~games
deathinactthree LinkMy Final Card Mode: Standard Bingo! Finished 4/25 Considered a disappointment You can save/pet/care for animals From now-defunct dev studio ✅Cave Story+ Has a lives system ✅ Anachronox ✅ Alex Kidd...My Final Card
Mode: Standard Bingo! Finished 4/25 Considered a disappointment You can save/pet/care for animals From now-defunct dev studio A solo-dev project
✅Cave Story+Has a lives system You control a party of characters
✅ AnachronoxYou're giving it a second chance
✅ Alex Kidd in Miracle WorldNominated for The Game Awards
✅ CelesteA modded game Features a mystery Has permadeath Recommended by someone on Tildes ★ Wildcard Has driving Has a third-person perspective
✅ Ariel_Knight's Never YieldHas a skill tree Is considered relaxing A romhack or total conversion mod
✅ Project Borealis: PrologueSomeone else has played it for their Backlog Burner Has a score system Focuses on exploration
✅ CaynePopular game you never got around to playing Uses a unique control scheme Adaptation of other media type (e.g. board game, movie)
✅ Dark Future: Blood Red StatesIs open-source On one hand, I didn't get as far as I'd hoped, having only gotten to 8 games or so of my backlog. But! That's probably 8 more than I'd gotten to at any point this year. (I did play a few games here and there but only stuff I'd just bought, like the SH2 Remake.) I did find myself playing older, presumably shorter games because I figured I'd have a better chance of getting to more titles vs. loading up, say, Divinity II and being stuck on that all month with no hope of finishing. I don't see this as a bad thing, it was nice to force myself to just sit and play some games that don't require a steep learning curve or a ton of time investment. I would definitely try to do the bingo card again next year--this turned out to be a very fun way of forcing myself to pick something and go with it instead of staring forlornly at my ever-growing backlog.
Alex Kidd in Miracle World (Remake)
This was my interpretation of "giving something a second chance" because I wanted to focus only on games I hadn't actually played before--but I used to play the heck out of the original Sega Master System version of Alex Kidd. I remembered liking it a lot, even though I never could get particularly far in it, but I was maybe about 10 years old at the time. With a nice-looking full remake (not a reboot, it's 1:1 to the point that there's even a button you can tap to switch between the original 8-bit graphics and modern), and an added 3 decades of gaming experience since then, gotta be a good time, right?
Well, sorta. It is a delightful and fully faithful remake, I can't fault it for that. Anyone who loved the original will love this. What I quickly learned however is that the reason I could never do well in that game whereas at 10 years old I usually tended to beat any platformer I started is that Alex Kidd is the extreme opposite of a precision platformer. It's like every surface is made of ice, or at least it felt that way to me. If, per a previous N24BB post, it was an adjustment coming off of Celeste and into the comparative sponginess of platforming in Cave Story+ (which I still finished and loved btw), Alex Kidd makes Cave Story look like Hollow Knight.
I still had a good time with it though. I only did a little better this time around then 10-yr-old me, and did not beat it, but I definitely see myself picking this back up on a rainy day and brute forcing through it. It helps that unlimited continues as well as reduced difficulty settings are available where they weren't in the original, but I really wish they had introduced a save system, in both the original and this one, as it would remove most of the frustration of skating off a platform once again into a scorpion for a one-hit death.
Anachronox
This game has been sitting on my digital shelf for 20 years. I used to have a PC disc of it, never even installed it, then later (we're talkin' like 2010), I bought a digital version on GOG telling myself I would get to it as I like RPGs in general and a good buddy of mine used to rave about it.
I have to say, that I think I would have liked it best at the time and age I was when it came out, if I was going to like it at all. It does have a certain charm, but that charm doesn't extend far to me, as I feel like everything that game does decently well at was eclipsed even at the time by better games. This would be totally fine and would still be a fun way to kill time if it weren't offset by the things the game doesn't do well. The world setting is legitimately interesting, starting in the slums of a cyber-mechanical world built by a dead alien race, running a slipshod detective agency with the ghost of your dead secretary as your literal mouse cursor. But the script is pretty terrible--mostly just sub-Whedonesque quips that don't give me any real connection to the characters, when it's not a straight infodump. You spend many hours at the beginning of the game running back and forth between various grey, nondescript hallways and elevators before anything remotely interesting begins to happen. Battle Skills that you use during combat launch a short cutscene similar to the Final Fantasy 7+ games, and like FF7 can't be skipped, so although they're fun at first they just tediously drag out combat in short order. (Although I will say I laughed aloud the first time I used Grumpus' "Yammer" skill.)
All in all, there's a somewhat mediocre game in there that could be elevated to a good game simply by having writing that was inspired more by Ken Levine's work and less by Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and just a few quality-of-life improvements around menus and battles. But even the mediocre game is buried under enough tedium, and awkward and style-less blocky graphics that didn't even hold up at the time, that I can't recommend it in this day and age, or any other.
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Comment on Great shows with a truly satisfying ending? in ~tv
deathinactthree LinkThrowing in a vote for 12 Monkeys (the TV show, not the movie). The show seemed to kind of fly under the radar for most but is one of the most tightly written shows I've ever seen. It has a pretty...Throwing in a vote for 12 Monkeys (the TV show, not the movie). The show seemed to kind of fly under the radar for most but is one of the most tightly written shows I've ever seen. It has a pretty complex plot but ties it completely together in a satisfying way. True to the theme of the show, pretty much everything in all 4 seasons is connected to everything else and not necessarily in chronological order. Like, you might see a brief aside or scene in season 2 that seems completely random and like the script is wandering off the rails, but becomes a critical plot point in season 4. And vice versa.
But at heart it's still a good sci-fi time-traveling adventure story and you don't have to catch every detail to enjoy it. Easiest analog I can draw is the movie Inception, where there's a lot to read from it if you're looking for it but you don't have to, you can just enjoy the ride.
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Comment on Is OneDrive for Linux Mature Enough Yet? in ~comp
deathinactthree Link ParentSomething else you might consider is OnlyOffice--it's built using Office XML, has the same "look and feel" as modern MS365, and you can connect it to your NextCloud instance so it acts exactly...Something else you might consider is OnlyOffice--it's built using Office XML, has the same "look and feel" as modern MS365, and you can connect it to your NextCloud instance so it acts exactly like OneDrive syncing and sharing. Or you can get a paid OnlyOffice cloud account which will do the same thing, but you may as well use what you've got, since that's free.
I like the looks a little better in my personal opinion, as well as having tabbed documents all in one window. In terms of functionality, it's somewhere in between--much better than the web versions of MS365, missing just a few features from the native versions but according to your comments they're deep magicks your partner won't need and likely won't notice are missing. Fair warning that many keyboard shortcuts are not available for some reason, the functions are available but not tied to a shortcut. In return, some features are easier to use, such as a significantly better UI for building charts in Excel, better table and comment tools in Word, etc. (The functionality is the same, it's just an easier-to-use interface.)
I've been using OnlyOffice on Linux professionally for about 2 years as a VP at my marketing agency job and I've had no real issues with it, including footballing files back and forth with the rest of my team who are all on Win/Office. I'll put it this way: I've never once told them I'm using OnlyOffice, and they've never noticed! :)
Just another option, but worth a look if your partner wants as familiar an environment as possible to what they're currently using, with something built to work directly with your NextCloud.
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Comment on I just bought a 64GB iPad, anything I should know/do? in ~tech
deathinactthree Link ParentIt was this stylus from iPenbox, which I bought 2 years (and five days!) ago. The reviews on it are admittedly mixed but I'm still using it frequently today and it works just fine. Does palm...It was this stylus from iPenbox, which I bought 2 years (and five days!) ago. The reviews on it are admittedly mixed but I'm still using it frequently today and it works just fine. Does palm rejection, tilt sensitivity, etc. Only marks against it are not having pressure sensitivity, and that it has a 5-minute auto-off function that can get really annoying if you're not actively using it. It's not annoying enough to make me pay $130 for an Apple Pencil though.
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Comment on I just bought a 64GB iPad, anything I should know/do? in ~tech
deathinactthree LinkI also have an iPad (Pro 13") as my only iOS device, although I've used iPhones and Macs before. Just my opinion so take it as such, but I feel like I get the most out of it with a few additions,...I also have an iPad (Pro 13") as my only iOS device, although I've used iPhones and Macs before. Just my opinion so take it as such, but I feel like I get the most out of it with a few additions, otherwise I probably would have gotten rid of it for being expensive overkill just to browse Reddit and play like 2 games. Since purchasing the Pro not quite 3 years ago I've added:
- An Apple One subscription
- An active stylus (I bought a 3rd party one for $20 and it works just fine, it's only missing like one function from the Pencil)
- A magnetic desk stand
- Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad
- Compatible game controller (I use a PS4 DualShock)
- Folding folio case (folds into a stand)
- Affinity Suite
The Apple One scrip is probably the most important piece...Apple Music is honestly a great music app and service, to the point that I also use it on my Android phone and Linux PC (via Cider). Apple Arcade has enough decent games in it to keep you busy on an airplane. And importantly, with only 64GB you're going to want the extra iCloud storage. The rest of it I can personally kind of take or leave, but are nice to have, like Apple TV and News. I also add Affinity Suite because it's a one-time purchase and is a good general replacement for Adobe, but it's very optional, only recommended if you do more with your images than what you can edit in Photos. I don't think I've actually bought any other apps for it, though I do use a lot of free ones.
The magnetic stand (not a tray, not a holder, an actual adjustable stand) combined with the keyboard and trackpad basically turn this thing into a mini iMac, and the iPad works extremely well with the trackpad--much better than a mouse, I would not use even a Magic Mouse with it and definitely not a 3rd party mouse. Why am I recommending that and not the fancy Apple keyboard case for it? Because, IMO, if you want it as a laptop, just get a Macbook. Just my feeling on it.
Microsoft Office apps mostly work just fine, including Teams, Outlook, OneDrive, Excel, Word, etc. Do note that most of them aren't quite full-featured on the iPad versions, but are perfectly serviceable if you don't need the deep magicks or those apps. I find I can do most normal workday tasks just fine with this, and as such, I often take my iPad setup when I travel for work if I'm going to be in a hotel for more than a couple of days. Including the stand and the KB/pad and game controller, as it all fits into my sling bag.
My broad point is that for my uses, I find my iPad worth the money even as my only Apple device. I do find that I only really felt the value of it after investing in Apple One and some additional accessories. But it's pretty versatile, the hardware is very solid, and does a lot of professional and recreational stuff really well--I can pretty much always find a use for it.
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Comment on November 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 3 Discussion in ~games
deathinactthree Link ParentI can honestly say I didn't notice any timing or lag issues. FWIW I played it on my Linux mini-PC (AMD Ryzen 9, Radeon 6600M, Pop_OS) via Heroic Launcher, though I don't know that that's useful...I can honestly say I didn't notice any timing or lag issues. FWIW I played it on my Linux mini-PC (AMD Ryzen 9, Radeon 6600M, Pop_OS) via Heroic Launcher, though I don't know that that's useful info.
I didn't realize that it was that unknown, which is kind of a shame, it's a quality version of this kind of game and I generally don't care for endless runner games.
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Comment on November 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 3 Discussion in ~games
deathinactthree Linkdeathinactthree's bingo card Mode: Standard Bingo! Finished 4/25 Considered a disappointment You can save/pet/care for animals From now-defunct dev studio ✅Cave Story+ Has a lives system You...deathinactthree's bingo card
Mode: Standard Bingo! Finished 4/25 Considered a disappointment You can save/pet/care for animals From now-defunct dev studio A solo-dev project
✅Cave Story+Has a lives system You control a party of characters You're giving it a second chance Nominated for The Game Awards
✅ CelesteA modded game Features a mystery Has permadeath Recommended by someone on Tildes ★ Wildcard Has driving Has a third-person perspective
✅ Ariel_Knight's Never YieldHas a skill tree Is considered relaxing A romhack or total conversion mod
✅ Project Borealis: PrologueSomeone else has played it for their Backlog Burner Has a score system Focuses on exploration
✅ CaynePopular game you never got around to playing Uses a unique control scheme Adaptation of other media type (e.g. board game, movie)
✅ Dark Future: Blood Red StatesIs open-source Project Borealis: Prologue
I thought this would count as a total conversion mod for the bingo card, but it was a tech demo if I'm being extremely generous. There is literally no meat on this bone--it's meant to be a prequel to the Ravenholm level of Half Life 2, but it's just a few rooms full of headcrab zombies with some upgraded lighting and it's over. I never want to slam the modding community in general, but the trailer for it is as long as the actual game is. If I seem disappointed it's because I felt like it was a bit oversold. I might swap this out with another actual TC mod like Archolos if I have time to get to it.
Ariel_Knight's Never Yield
A 3D endless runner game with a frame story, set in a futuristic Detroit. Gameplay is the typical simple style for this game with directional controls (and a jump button if you want to use it), which is why it's a little odd it doesn't seem to be available for any portable platform except the Switch and Steam Deck.
It's very solid, and for better or worse there's not too much to say about it beyond that--graphics are great for this style of game, soundtrack is a standout, it's the kind of game you don't need to know much going in and can just kind of zone out to the beat and follow the colored instructions, as that how it announces the button you need to hit for each obstacle. All the more reason it seems odd you can't get this on a phone or tablet, as it seems it would excel there.
Celeste
An extremely well-made precision platformer game in the spirit of Super Meat Boy but with slightly (slightly) less challenge and more heart and visual style. An overall vibe that will take you back to the True Dark Souls Starts Here platforming of the old NES days. I am terrible at this game so far. I couldn't get even close to completing it, but I understand that's probably the typical story. I see myself going back to this and beating my head against it again in the future, but it probably won't be before the end of this month so I'm writing this now. Highly recommended if you like Super Meat Boy or N or similar precision platformers where frustration is expected and desired. Unironically.
Cave Story+
This kinda felt like cheating, as it's both one of the most popular PC solo dev projects, and also I completed the original Cave Story almost exactly 20 years ago (released December of 2004) on an old Acer gaming laptop that I had in college. But I bought the update several years ago and never played it, and going back to it honestly was a bit like going home for Gaming Christmas.
It's a "metroidvania-lite", in the sense that the overall structure and gameplay are the same but it's comparatively linear without a ton of backtracking (but some! secrets await in backtracking!). It has a story that is just compelling enough for a game this relatively simple and short. I ran through it in about 5 hours, didn't quite 100% it and got the Normal Ending. The biggest thing working against me was coming straight off Celeste, which has hyper-precise platforming controls, whereas Quote jumps more like Luigi in Super Mario Bros. 2. It occasionally drove me nuts.
But it's a great game, and is almost like comfort food for me after not having played it in 2 decades. The upgraded graphics are nice but not game-changing vs. the original, just a bit of zhuzsh. The soundtrack however is significantly improved and pretty terrific. I highly recommend this game if you just want to chill for an afternoon and play an old-school-style platform shooter that isn't too challenging but isn't too brainless either.
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Comment on How well do you cook? in ~life.men
deathinactthree LinkI started learning to cook at a very young age. Bluntly, I grew up in poverty with a single mom who was checked out on opioid pills most of the time, so I usually had to fend for myself, and...I started learning to cook at a very young age. Bluntly, I grew up in poverty with a single mom who was checked out on opioid pills most of the time, so I usually had to fend for myself, and around the age of 9 or 10 I'd gotten pretty sick of eating $0.70 microwave pizzas and cold Spaghetti-o's out of the can. (Although, fun fact, I still occasionally eat cold-can Boyardee as a weird sort of comfort food.)
I had to teach myself for the most part (this was before the Internet) but we had a couple of cookbooks lying around and I'd also watched people do a few of the basics like boil pasta in water or heat ground beef in a skillet to the right color. I started with spaghetti and red sauce because it seemed the easiest and it was. Then started building on it, adding beef and vegetables and seasonings (pepper, basil, etc), then started branching out into other kinds of foods. Never anything too complicated until later, but by the time I left home at 18, you could trust me in a kitchen to chop your onions, dice your potatoes, and heat a chicken breast in the oven that wouldn't put you in the hospital.
I didn't get a chance to cook all that much in my college years between full-time work and studying but always did when I could. I even had a friend (we are still friends today) with a bit more cooking experience than me, and we would set aside a Saturday or Sunday every month or so and make dinner together--he would show me how to make something if I didn't already know how. I also picked up a few things from the food service jobs I worked through college, but those were usually cafes and not full restaurants so I didn't get anything like actual cooking instruction, just the odd tip here or there about how to use which kind of knife for example or how to grill a bell pepper on a gas stovetop.
Once I finished school and had more free time, I started cooking much more often and experimenting with recipes and new types of cuisines. I don't pretend to Michelin-level expertise, but I sincerely enjoy cooking a lot and by now I'm pretty good at it. I consider it recreational and it never feels like a chore unless I simply don't have the time. To me, nothing beats a lazy Saturday afternoon putting on some music and just riffing on what's in my pantry that day.
I feel very confident in a kitchen, and I have a large repertoire of dishes I can make blindfolded, or simply figure out as I go. A few signature favorites from the past are mushroom stroganoff, chicken jalfrezi, and NY strip steak with a simple red-wine demi-glace. I also cook vegan--in fact I pretty much only cook plant-based this last year or two, probably 90% of the time--and it's been an extremely fun (really) challenge looking at food in a whole new way and figuring out what you can do with it. Feels like NG+, but it's also been kind of a blast to explore spices, sauces, and flavors that I used to not spend as much time or attention on.
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Comment on eBooks cost too much in ~books
deathinactthree Link ParentThis is what I do if I don't already know it's something I want and am confident in purchasing (or can't get it via Libby). I used to do this with music as well back before subscription services...This is what I do if I don't already know it's something I want and am confident in purchasing (or can't get it via Libby). I used to do this with music as well back before subscription services made it unnecessary--"obtain" a copy of the album, and if I love it I'll buy a copy, and/or merch, and/or buy tickets and see them on tour. I've even bought tickets for shows I had no intention of seeing due to schedule conflicts, just to support the musicians. They make more money that way anyway.
In theory, if I bought and then ended up not liking the book I would just return it anyway viz. whatever policies are supported by, say, Kindle. So I'm saving myself, the retailer, the publisher, and the author a bunch of logistical steps by verifying that it's something I want to pay for. Rightly or wrongly, I don't really see it as much different than the days of my misspent youth crouching in the corners of bookshops and comic shops reading stuff, and buying it if I read enough of it to know I want it.
That's my justification anyway, for better or worse.
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Comment on Daily driving linux (Fedora KDE) - My experiences after a week in ~tech
deathinactthree LinkI've been running Linux as my primary/only desktop OS for about 18 months, and bounced between several of the main distros during that time. I ran Fedora 40 for a long while and generally like it,...I've been running Linux as my primary/only desktop OS for about 18 months, and bounced between several of the main distros during that time. I ran Fedora 40 for a long while and generally like it, but ran into almost all of the issues you mention. Like you, most of them I was able to resolve (RPM Fusion, NVIDIA drivers, multiple displays, etc) but there were still small, nagging issues that just made F40WS feel kind of rough around the edges. Honestly what made me finally look for an alternative was the same thing that originally drew me--and you--to it: the semi-rolling release distributed so many updates when I was using it that I had to restart my computer several times a day or all of my work apps would break until I did. I couldn't afford to keep doing that and risk my stuff breaking and dropping me in the middle of an important work call.
Eventually after multiple distros I settled on Pop_OS and found it really stable--everything works (for me, YMMV) and required little setup. And no time in the terminal unless I just preferred to. However, yesterday I went back to the distro that originally convinced me to switch from Windows back in July 2023, Zorin. Zorin seems to get a mixed reaction but the most recent version was completely painless to set up, flies in a way that Pop_OS doesn't seem to, and is just a clean experience. I moved away from Zorin to Fedora last year due to the previous version (Z16) being based on an Ubuntu LTS version that was simply too old for my hardware. Z17 updated this--and I also switched to a pretty kickass and better-supported AMD-based miniPC this summer--so the hardware issues I had with my previous HP Pavilion gaming rig have entirely disappeared. I have this computer fully set up for daily driving since installing yesterday evening and I literally didn't need to touch the terminal once. I also need to note here for the record that I'm not a knowledgeable Linux guy at all, I had virtually no experience with Linux beyond occasionally spinning up a distro in a VM just for fun before I finally switched.
I guess my point here, assuming I have one, is that even with all this bouncing back and forth and researching and solving various issues, I've been super-happy switching to Linux from W11 last year. All my work apps function just fine with Outlook and Teams via PWAs that work better than the Windows native versions anyway. OnlyOffice works great as a replacement for O365 apps. All my games work, since like you I don't play competitive online games. Any issues I've had with various distros, and they do happen, were still WAY less of a headache than the constant troubleshooting I had to do with W11 before finally giving up on it. It's been pretty great.
Oh, and my other point is don't be afraid to test out other distros...F41 is great but the issues you mention are pretty common to Fedora and wouldn't necessarily be a universal experience across distros.
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Comment on Is empathizing by sharing experience not normal? in ~health.mental
deathinactthree LinkI'm coming from the opposite direction. My partner has severe ADHD, diagnosed and taking medication, and they hate it if they say something is going on with them and I respond by sharing...I'm coming from the opposite direction. My partner has severe ADHD, diagnosed and taking medication, and they hate it if they say something is going on with them and I respond by sharing experiences as a form of empathy ("oh man, that sucks, that happened to me once and I know how painful it is", etc.). They see it as "trying to take the spotlight", even if it's just a quick acknowledgement that I know what something feels like. So now I just let them vent and make "hm"s of agreement.
NB: I don't know if I necessarily qualify as neurotypical, but I don't have autism or ADHD so probably counts for the purposes of this question. For myself, whether I want empathy via experience or to just be given a space to complain basically depends on whether it's something I can actually do something about in which case experience is welcome even if it doesn't come with advice, or something I can't do anything about and I just want to release steam.
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Comment on Dwayne Johnson became the world’s biggest movie star. Now he’s trying to disappear. in ~movies
deathinactthree Link ParentRight--half the time his face turns came because he was so good at being the bad guy that the fans went from shitting on him to unironically rooting for him and it put the writers in a corner....I never watched Wrestling but a bit of reading, and listening to people who love the muscle soap operas in the ring, reveals he always played a heel.
Right--half the time his face turns came because he was so good at being the bad guy that the fans went from shitting on him to unironically rooting for him and it put the writers in a corner. Rock was often boring as a face (good guy wrestler), so it would never be long before the heel turns came around again. That's what the audience--including me--enjoyed. Rock's kind of a punchline now but it's hard to overstate just how good he was at being bad back in the late 90s Attitude Era days...so charming as a villain and so good at working a crowd that the fans are cheering you at your worst, not booing because it's part of being the heel.
It's a shame that we won't see him as a villain on the screen even on occasion, because I think he'd be great flexing those muscles again (no pun intended). He's a total dialtone as a hero most of the time. I'm not sure why he seems to have a phobia of it. Not just Arnold, but tons of modern A-list action stars have played bad guys and it didn't hurt their careers at all. Michael B Jordan, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, etc. Hell, Tom Cruise, arguably the biggest action movie star in the world going by receipts that aren't Marvel movies (then it's Samuel L Jackson, who has also successfully played villains), only ups his reputation when he plays villains like in Collateral.
What I'm saying, I don't think it's just a fear of box office numbers that's causing this aversion of never not being the hero. I don't have any insight as to why, just uneducated armchair psychology guesses that I won't bore the room with, but I don't think it's simply about the effect on his receipts.
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Comment on November 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 2 Discussion in ~games
deathinactthree Link ParentIt gives you a break in that there are multiple characters to unlock, but the one you start with (Brain in a Jar) lets you restart missions on death on your first run instead of ending the entire...I'm a bit surprised the game uses permadeath. I guess that mimics a board game, but feels a little strange in a mission-based video game adaption. I think I wouldn't mind the option of continues being allowed, but maybe unlocking perks are the main intended purpose of the game.
It gives you a break in that there are multiple characters to unlock, but the one you start with (Brain in a Jar) lets you restart missions on death on your first run instead of ending the entire run, although you still lose resources. The idea is to give you time to learn the game. But yes, the roguelite unlocking of perks that carry over is a main function of the gameplay loop.
It is much more like moving pieces around a constantly moving board vs. an arcade-style racing game like Road Blasters, although it can start to feel more like the latter as you get comfortable using the hotkeys more. It's interesting in how it successfully executes being a hybrid like this, and the novelty of the playstyle keeps your attention as long as you keep it to relatively short sessions before the repetitiveness sets in--fortunately it does lend itself pretty well to only playing for like 20 minutes at a time.
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Comment on November 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 2 Discussion in ~games
deathinactthree (edited )Linkdeathinactthree's bingo card Mode: Standard Bingo! Finished 2/25 Considered a disappointment You can save/pet/care for animals From now-defunct dev studio A solo-dev project Has a lives system You...deathinactthree's bingo card
Mode: Standard Bingo! Finished 2/25 Considered a disappointment You can save/pet/care for animals From now-defunct dev studio A solo-dev project Has a lives system You control a party of characters You're giving it a second chance Nominated for The Game Awards A modded game Features a mystery Has permadeath Recommended by someone on Tildes ★ Wildcard Has driving Has a third-person perspective Has a skill tree Is considered relaxing A romhack or total conversion mod Someone else has played it for their Backlog Burner Has a score system Focuses on exploration
✅ CaynePopular game you never got around to playing Uses a unique control scheme Adaptation of other media type (e.g. board game, movie)
✅ Dark Future: Blood Red StatesIs open-source I'm already a bit behind on my bingo card and was only able to fire up 2 games from my backlog so far this week.
Cayne
I don't play point-and-click adventure games pretty much ever--I have nothing against the genre but it's just not for me, especially when they become exercises in pixel-hunting. But I had seen enough positive buzz on the Stasis series and bought all 3 (Stasis, Stasis: Bone Totem, and Cayne which is a short series prequel) based on vibes.
And the vibe of Cayne is as good as I was promised, as you play a young woman who attempts to terminate her unwanted pregnancy and is kidnapped by $PLOT_POINT which wants to harvest the pregnancy at the expense of her own life. You escape from this fate by the skin of your teeth in the first few minutes of the game, and then attempt to discover where you are, why you're there, and how the hell to get out.
The writing and voice acting does sell the fear of body horror and sci-fi dystopia. As a narrative and an overall vibe, it was just what I wanted. Unfortunately the puzzles are sometimes not intuitive and do involve the aforementioned pixel-hunting (even sometimes just to figure out where to click to go through a door, which was pretty odd). I did have to refer to a walkthrough guide often, although again I don't normally play these kinds of games so take that for what it is.
The game length is short enough however that if you don't have any issue with occasionally referring to guides, which can also risk some spoilers, then I would recommend this game to sci-fi/horror fans for the story and presentation. I enjoyed it enough despite some minor gameplay and technical frustrations (there were multiple crashes) that I'm looking forward to the rest of the Stasis series.
Dark Future: Blood Red States
This was an interesting take as a translation of the tabletop game. As a Sanctioned Op, you take your Mad-Max-style (armed and armored) car through multiple missions that play as a semi-real-time tactics game. You don't actually drive per se, you pause/slow down time to issue "orders" to the car to speed up, slow down, change lanes, fire weapons, etc.
There are shortkeys for this so it can kind of feel like driving, but here's my recommendation: don't use the hotkeys at all until you really understand how the gameplay works, because even small mistakes can quickly cost you, and you don't get any do-overs--restarting the run means losing any fuel or single-mission items you went in with, and money to replace them is a precious resource you won't have a lot of. This may mean the game moves "slower" as you frequently pause to change and issue orders, but the difficulty curve spikes exponentially pretty quickly in this game, and death is frequent and semi-permanent (dying means you have to restart the game, but some perks carry over when you unlock them).
Missions can get pretty same-y: kill X enemies for whatever reason, escort this vehicle for Y amount of time, stick close enough to this truck long enough to scan it before the timer runs out, etc, all of them play out in a pretty similar fashion. You drive for a while, you blow stuff up while others try to blow you up, you fulfill the win condition in the the last couple of minutes. Upgrade your car in the shop between missions.
That said, the gameplay is quite fun for a unique take on a tactics game, and I've found the trick to enjoying it is to play it in short bursts before the repetitive missions wear out their welcome. (Most missions have a ~10-minute timer, actual runs usually take about 5-7 minutes, at least in the early game.)
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Comment on We can have a different web in ~tech
deathinactthree Link ParentI've been leaning towards doing the same--I have a spare PC (my last gaming rig) with 3TB of storage and I'm thinking about setting up a server with a blog, which I used to do all the time but...I've been leaning towards doing the same--I have a spare PC (my last gaming rig) with 3TB of storage and I'm thinking about setting up a server with a blog, which I used to do all the time but haven't in years. I'm kind of looking forward to learning about all the various pieces. I know just enough about doing a project like this to be dangerous, having had a hobby server or two a long time ago, but there's a ton about server setup and maintenance that I either never learned or have become super-rusty on.
Both pairs I got were from a brand called Sun Will. I only picked them because they were the right balance at the time (March 2023) of price, reported battery life, and number of positive reviews. I got my partner a pair of regular women's gloves, and myself a pair of motorcycle gloves.
She loves her pair. I generally like mine but wish they got a little warmer--I will say I like the built-in "rain wiper", the thick wrist covers and reflectors, and the armor on it is at least as good as my more expensive BMW Motorrad gloves. If they got 10 degrees warmer on the High setting they'd be perfect. Battery life on both pairs are good. I don't know that I'm specifically recommending the brand, it's another cheap kinda-generic Amazon brand, but the best thing I can say is we haven't replaced them yet.