DynamoSunshirt's recent activity
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Comment on The ugly truth about Spotify is finally revealed in ~music
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Comment on Hank Green on the recent US drone sightings in ~transport
DynamoSunshirt Link ParentHank Green/ John Stewart 2028, anyone? When politics has essentially become a reality TV show, why not recruit people who are actually likable?Hank Green/ John Stewart 2028, anyone?
When politics has essentially become a reality TV show, why not recruit people who are actually likable?
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Comment on You make friends *HERE*?! in ~tildes
DynamoSunshirt Link ParentCouldn't agree more about Discord. There's just something about the medium that makes it very difficult for me to latch onto a community and make meaningful connections. I guess it's the mix of...Couldn't agree more about Discord. There's just something about the medium that makes it very difficult for me to latch onto a community and make meaningful connections. I guess it's the mix of ephemeral messages and quick turnaround time for responses? I find I prefer email cadence (and scale!), personally, which Tildes matches quite well.
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Comment on You make friends *HERE*?! in ~tildes
DynamoSunshirt Link ParentSorry if this is a dumb question, but what are the other 'tildeverse' sites?Sorry if this is a dumb question, but what are the other 'tildeverse' sites?
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Comment on What possession(s) do you have that continue to delight you every time? in ~talk
DynamoSunshirt Link ParentStill using my Pebble Time Round every day! Still the sleekest and best smartwatch for my use cases.Still using my Pebble Time Round every day! Still the sleekest and best smartwatch for my use cases.
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Comment on What possession(s) do you have that continue to delight you every time? in ~talk
DynamoSunshirt Link ParentAny advice on resoling? I have a nice enough pair of dress shoes that I really ought to resole before they wear completely through. If it doesn't require too much specialised equipment, I'd love...Any advice on resoling? I have a nice enough pair of dress shoes that I really ought to resole before they wear completely through. If it doesn't require too much specialised equipment, I'd love to learn a new skill!
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Comment on What are your favorite special kitchen ingredients? in ~food
DynamoSunshirt Link ParentExcellent on roasted potatoes!Excellent on roasted potatoes!
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Comment on Have you ever seen your own imagination of a book's world eerily brought to life on screen? in ~books
DynamoSunshirt LinkI just rewatched Harry Potter and the Sorceror's stone, and god damn I forgot just how well executed the movie is. The settings. The cast (RIP original Dumbledore, Maggie, and Alan). Little bits...I just rewatched Harry Potter and the Sorceror's stone, and god damn I forgot just how well executed the movie is. The settings. The cast (RIP original Dumbledore, Maggie, and Alan). Little bits and bobs like learning to fly a broom, and Christmas at Hogwarts, and Privet Drive, and the hut on the sea.
I read the book as a little kid, of course, and saw the movie just a few years later. But it's one of the few where none of the adaptation truly annoys me.
Fellowship of the Ring is probably up there as well for 'absolutely amazing adaptations that only make acceptable and understandable concessions to the movie medium".
On the other hand, the gruesome display of disdain for source material that is The Hobbit (trilogy?) probably makes the top of my 'worst adaptation ever' list. Bloated to the extreme with unrelated material, action sequences, and CGI. Mediocre casting. Poor cinematography, especially compared to LoTR. And somehow they STILL omitted most of my favourite book details!
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Comment on What are your predictions for 2025? in ~talk
DynamoSunshirt Link ParentI am dangerously close to tears, gazing wistfully over at my XZ1 Compact, the last truly great phone, in the corner. But you're not wrong.Sony sells smartphones? I'm thinking that leaving the market would be wise.
I am dangerously close to tears, gazing wistfully over at my XZ1 Compact, the last truly great phone, in the corner. But you're not wrong.
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Comment on What are your predictions for 2025? in ~talk
DynamoSunshirt Link ParentDidn't they do exactly that with New Vegas?Didn't they do exactly that with New Vegas?
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Comment on What are your predictions for 2025? in ~talk
DynamoSunshirt Link ParentI was so excited for ES6 for so long. I remember talking about it back in 2020 with some good friends with so much excitement! But at some point MSFT made it clear that they were making ES a...I was so excited for ES6 for so long. I remember talking about it back in 2020 with some good friends with so much excitement!
But at some point MSFT made it clear that they were making ES a platform exclusive, and the series has been dead to me since. Honestly, Windows has only gotten worse and even less likely of a buy for me since then.
Has that situation changed? Would be happy to play it on my Mac or PS4 Pro, but I'm guessing even if they did support PS they'd make it a 5 (Pro?) exclusive.
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Comment on What are your predictions for 2025? in ~talk
DynamoSunshirt Link ParentVery interesting thoughts about China and Russia, I definitely didn't realise their economic situations were this dire. But couldn't you make the same argument about overheated markets and...Very interesting thoughts about China and Russia, I definitely didn't realise their economic situations were this dire. But couldn't you make the same argument about overheated markets and potential stagflation in the USA and possibly the EU? Is there something specific that makes you think it could all reach a tipping point soon, or just a gut instinct about sustainability?
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Comment on What are your predictions for 2025? in ~talk
DynamoSunshirt Link ParentWhat confuses me is the castle-in-the-air speculative nature of housing. Unlike pretty much every other good, whose price is mostly determined as a function of how much money it takes to create...What confuses me is the castle-in-the-air speculative nature of housing. Unlike pretty much every other good, whose price is mostly determined as a function of how much money it takes to create the thing, housing (and rent, which oddly is quite distinct) has a price determined by... whatever everyone else is paying?
That's fine IMO for stocks. Maybe even commodities like gold. But that sounds to me like a fundamental problem with housing in our world. Surely we'd all be better off if housing was treated more like, ... well, I was about to say 'ground beef' or 'eggs' or 'toilet paper' but all of those have become financialised in the past few years as well. I guess I want housing to be more like the cost of a cup of coffee: driven down close to the theoreticsl cost of manufacture, but with a profit margin to make it worth selling. You wouldn't buy a $10 cup of drip coffee unless it wss truly worthwhile because you can either make it yourself or buy a cheaper cup down the street. A $1-$2 cup still has a healthy 10x margin over base costs, and perhaps a 10% margin if you account for the storefront and cost of employees.
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Comment on Inline image support in ~tildes
DynamoSunshirt LinkExpensive and dangerous to store. Antithetical to the idea of good discussion. No offense, OP, but I think I'd prefer if Tildes never ever ever did this.Expensive and dangerous to store. Antithetical to the idea of good discussion. No offense, OP, but I think I'd prefer if Tildes never ever ever did this.
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Comment on Never forgive them - On digital platforms vs users in ~tech
DynamoSunshirt Link ParentOn the other hand, I have no traumatic event that caused me to step back. Instead, I just got frustrated that social media was constantly rug-pulling, teasing, and manipulating me with ads,...On the other hand, I have no traumatic event that caused me to step back. Instead, I just got frustrated that social media was constantly rug-pulling, teasing, and manipulating me with ads, sponsored content, and constant redesigns that distracted from the actual interpersonal elements of social media.
I think I noticed because I was originally an absolute social media power user. I grew up somewhere where I didn't have a lot of access to actual in person socialization, so I used early facebook and instagram as a replacement. It honestly worked quite well until they filled the feed with ads, switched to a non-chronological feed, and turned up the 'engagement' dials to favor links, memes, and flame wars over text posts and photos.
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Comment on What are your predictions for 2025? in ~talk
DynamoSunshirt Link ParentWould you mind providing a list of your top 5 subs, or a similar semi-anonymous list? Personal fav subreddits I've seen collapse: whatisthisthing coffee xbiking bikecommuting asoiaf a wide variety...Would you mind providing a list of your top 5 subs, or a similar semi-anonymous list? Personal fav subreddits I've seen collapse:
- whatisthisthing
- coffee
- xbiking
- bikecommuting
- asoiaf
- a wide variety of small tech related subs, though my personal favorite and largest was Android
- homelab
- buildapc
Some of them have been more obvious and catastrophic failures than others. Some have been (allegedly) due to modding, some have happened organically. Most of these still seem pretty active, but if you've been around for a long time, the low-effort meme posts and reposts become obvious and there isn't much to draw you back in.
This might also just be a symptom of my own mental state in life: back in the day, I used to learn a lot from these subreddits. But subreddits for hobbies don't really mature with you, so after a while it's easy to 'level up' and stop learning as much from those subs. As I've gotten older, and the core demographic of these subs stays the same age, it's increasingly frustrating to stop learning and realise that I'm the one who has to increasingly do the teaching. Or, my interests grow more and more niche, to a point where eventually I don't align with the average commenter on the sub anymore because I disagree with the hivemind too often.
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Comment on A few questions about replacing our clothes washing machine in ~life
DynamoSunshirt Link ParentWhat is the 'scratch and dent'?What is the 'scratch and dent'?
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Comment on What are your predictions for 2025? in ~talk
DynamoSunshirt Link ParentI would not be surprised by this. In fact, I'm astonished it hasn't happened yet! But I honestly just won't care much. All of my old favourite subs have atrophied significantly since the API...I would not be surprised by this. In fact, I'm astonished it hasn't happened yet!
But I honestly just won't care much. All of my old favourite subs have atrophied significantly since the API changes. The most thoughtful users have left. The best mods have given up. Obvious spam and AI posts are way up. Memes, low-effort 'DAE <popular_thought>', and obvious karma-farming reposts now run amok in subs I used to love for high-quality text posts. The few that have escaped that fate are now a veritable ghost town. The only subs that still have engagement seem to be local geographic subreddits, but those have devolved into a NextDoor clone, with all of the racism and culture warring you'd expect there.
My only remaining use case is old posts about tech and tech workarounds. Some content essentially only lives in this form. But it's growing out of date with each passing day, and tech moves fast enough that someday soon it'll be worth very little.
It is all a bit sad though. Where have my people gone? Tildes is great, of course, but so many niche communities around hobbies and fanbases have essentially evaporated. Maybe they're on Discord? Regardless, I'm not about to invest in platforms vulnerable to enshittification. At least my engagement with the real world is up.
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Comment on What are your predictions for 2025? in ~talk
DynamoSunshirt Link ParentI woukd very much like to see an AI market crash. Mostly because I am completely, utterly, entirely sick of seeing news about it. People are trying to make it happen SO desperately it's become...I woukd very much like to see an AI market crash. Mostly because I am completely, utterly, entirely sick of seeing news about it. People are trying to make it happen SO desperately it's become entirely pathetic to me.
I understand that it's a valuable tool for certain tasks. It could seriously destroy the job markets for a lot of jobs whose output is honestly not that valuable in the first place. But those are also largely bullshit jobs that tend to drive up prices for related goods and make the job holders miserable, so... mixed bag. If we could have a serious, mature conversation about UBI and guaranteed basic quality of living -- mediocre housing, basic healthcare, mediocre food -- I would be a lot more hopeful, because otherwise when those bullshit jobs go away a lot of people's livelihoods will be destroyed.
Anyway, there is SO much that tech companies can improve with current products. Accessibility. Recyclability, repairability, and longevity. Affordability. Respect for personal privacy. Better UI and UX. User friendliness. And more variety of form factors and user choice. But instead everyone is trying to overhaul absolutely everything to shoehorn AI into even the silliest use cases. And often doing even more damage and neglecting the base product in the process. It would be really nice if we could admit the shortcomings and move on.
A real estate market crash would also be welcome, both for my own selfish house buying aspirations and for the good of literally everyone except for housing speculators. Lower property taxes and prices benefit everyone except those who have selfishly profited from the homelessness of others.
In terms of my own predictions, I can't predict anything related to politics because the president-elect of the USA is some kind of masochistic human roulette wheel. However, his past administration was really big on not regulating industries and allowing consolidation (as long as the right people were paid off). So my hot take for 2025 is that we're going to see Big Tech move from AI to ramming self-driving tech (that I staunchly believe is NOT READY AT ALL for generalised use) across as much of the USA as possible. This could be a benefit for safety in some cases compared to modern ride sharing, but will have absolutely devastating knock-on effects on employment, public transportation funding, and eventually the car industry in general. But most of those are a long way down the road. For now, we'll mostly just see big lawsuit settlements for the people self-driving cars murder.
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Comment on What long standalone book is worth its page count? in ~books
DynamoSunshirt LinkI don't see any nonfiction in here yet, so let me nab The Power Broker. It's dense, but honestly the very best biography i have ever read. Caro absofuckinglutely nails it. It feels like you're...I don't see any nonfiction in here yet, so let me nab The Power Broker. It's dense, but honestly the very best biography i have ever read. Caro absofuckinglutely nails it. It feels like you're reading a piece of fiction about some crazy Macbeth-style tragic hero. It is just SO detailed that you might think Caro is making parts of it up. But if you ever listen to Caro speak or read interviews about his process, it's clear that he was simply completely obsessed with Moses for many years. To the point where he almost lost his house and marriage to finish the book (thankfully, it all paid off and they remain happily married).
My one-sentence sell? This is the book for anyone who's ever wondered WTF is wrong with infrastructure in America.
I'm not so confident that Spotify is an improvement over piracy. I pirate some media so I can sample lots of different artists for a reasonable price, but I feel guilty. So I'm much more liable to attend concerts, and buy merch, and I buy vinyl to maintain a physical library of my very favourite artists. For some artists, I even buy digital downloads on Bandcamp, though I prefer buying vinyl.
I do the same for books -- most, I pirate. Those that I love and respect, I buy physical copies of, so I can read a physical version next time. Some prolific authors that I love, I buy physical DRM-free ebooks from, if possible. But DRM-free ebooks are quite rare.
Personally, I think it's a fair way to compensate my favorite artists. They get a few hundred dollars from me. I get memories (from concerts) and physical keepsakes (vinyl or merch) while giving them a hopefully-healthy profit margin. And most importantly, I don't kid myself into thinking I'm contributing anything to them by paying for a streaming middleman service. Remember: even if you're a devout fan who listens to a ten thousand tracks by a single artist in a year (an unlikely proposition, based on my last.fm stats from the last decade), you're only paying that artist... $30 (based on the $0.03 rate). Literally attending one concert or buying one vinyl beats that. And trust me, you're not listening to your fav artist 10k times in a year -- more like 1-2k, even if you're an obsessed 16 year old with lots of free time listening constantly! At $3-6 a year, you're better off attending one concert for your favorite artist every decade.