gco's recent activity
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Comment on What can I do with my old Pixel 3 phone in 2025? in ~tech
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Comment on Make new friends here! in ~life
gco Link ParentThank you, so much stuff to add to my list! I'll check out Brain Science but I'm not sure if that's something that will make the rotation, on the surface looks more in depth than I can handle in...Thank you, so much stuff to add to my list! I'll check out Brain Science but I'm not sure if that's something that will make the rotation, on the surface looks more in depth than I can handle in that area. I do listen to Inner Cosmos, but I'm not sure if I would call it strictly a neuroscience podcast; it does have some of that with perhaps some psychology thrown in.
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Comment on Make new friends here! in ~life
gco Link ParentI get it, I like my routine and I also mainly listen during my commute. So Monday mornings are SGU listening time :)I get it, I like my routine and I also mainly listen during my commute. So Monday mornings are SGU listening time :)
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Comment on Make new friends here! in ~life
gco Link ParentBoth solid recommendations, but I'm a bit sad the podcast is dead. Do you think it's worth going through the back catalogue? And yes I use Card Forge, I got a bit bored of the adventure mode but...Both solid recommendations, but I'm a bit sad the podcast is dead. Do you think it's worth going through the back catalogue?
And yes I use Card Forge, I got a bit bored of the adventure mode but did play for a while. I now use it more to playtest decks before building them :)
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Comment on Make new friends here! in ~life
gco Link ParentLast sale I bought: The Vagrant Maneater Sunset Overdrive Superflight Bad North Spiritfarer Wall World I think a few of those I might have picked up from some of the game threads here, I'll...Last sale I bought:
- The Vagrant
- Maneater
- Sunset Overdrive
- Superflight
- Bad North
- Spiritfarer
- Wall World
I think a few of those I might have picked up from some of the game threads here, I'll sometimes go and chuck something on my wishlist after reading their comments. Of these I've only played Spiritfarer and it was really good, a lighter take on the crafting genre (Which is my favourite) with an amazing soundtrack and great writing. Besides this one, I'm currently playing Bloodstained and having a lot of fun with it. Before these I played Dave the diver which I loved, great crafting/management game with tons of unexpected minigames. It is very odd that I play multiple games in a row that I would recommend, I can be quite fuzzy when it comes to them. I wasn't always like this but at some point I realised I got limited time and there's way too many good games out there to waste my time with ones I don't enjoy.
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Comment on Make new friends here! in ~life
gco Link ParentI used to play around the 2000s and things have changed, but the basics are pretty much the same. What made me fall in love with it this time is playing commander. While I enjoyed playing...I used to play around the 2000s and things have changed, but the basics are pretty much the same. What made me fall in love with it this time is playing commander. While I enjoyed playing standard, I never felt it was that interesting for many reasons. Commander is more casual, but still has a bit of competitiveness, I love that you can use pretty much any card in your deck, and the fact that you can only have one copy of each at most means that you generally can't bruteforce your way to a victory. It also means that you don't have to spent tons of money to make a decent deck (Though that option is always there).
The hardest part about the game, as I feel is with any other in person game, is finding a consistent group. I'm lucky that I found some people at work that are also into it and we get to play every week or so.
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Comment on Make new friends here! in ~life
gco Link ParentThanks for the recommendation! I did check it out (I think last year) but something about it didn't click for me. Can't remember what it was and it was a bit odd, because I do like Sean Carroll.Thanks for the recommendation! I did check it out (I think last year) but something about it didn't click for me. Can't remember what it was and it was a bit odd, because I do like Sean Carroll.
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Comment on Ed Zitron: How to argue with an AI booster in ~tech
gco Link ParentI agree with you. I think that there's a lot of emotion driving the article to the point that it does it a disservice, however I find some of the ways the author suggests to engage useful but more...I agree with you. I think that there's a lot of emotion driving the article to the point that it does it a disservice, however I find some of the ways the author suggests to engage useful but more in a skeptic's mindset in general. Usually when talking to true believers in something (For example conspiracy theories) you'll see very similar rhetoric, and generally asking them to be specific or explain their experiences rather than what they've seen/read makes their own argument "fail".
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Comment on Make new friends here! in ~life
gco Link ParentI feel you, I'm also very interested in astronomy, it was my gateway to physics. Here's what I can recommend for you: The Supermassive podcast: The alternate episodes between answering listener...I feel you, I'm also very interested in astronomy, it was my gateway to physics. Here's what I can recommend for you:
- The Supermassive podcast: The alternate episodes between answering listener questions and an astrophysics related topic. The back catalogue is not huge but worth giving a listen. Also, at the end of the regular episodes they go over interesting things to look out for in the night sky for that month (So not as relevant unless you're listening to the latest one).
- Crash Course: The universe: This one is a short one, only 11 episodes but it takes a look at how the universe started, how we got to where we are and what will happen in the distant future. Despite being recent I've noticed that some of the things they mention here are slightly out of date (The field has advanced heaps since release despite the short time) but nothing that would be wildly wrong.
- In Our Time: In this one there is a panel of experts and an interviewer asks them questions. This podcast is about plenty of subjects (Including history and literature) but you can just go for the physics related episodes.
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Comment on Make new friends here! in ~life
gco Link ParentNot heard of that one before but I'll give it a listen :) My Favourite is The Skeptics Guide to The Universe. It's the main way I keep up to date with science news and I've been listening to it...Not heard of that one before but I'll give it a listen :)
My Favourite is The Skeptics Guide to The Universe. It's the main way I keep up to date with science news and I've been listening to it for probably over 15 years now. I like the dynamic between the hosts and the way subjects are presented. Also, the consistency is incredible, they haven't missed an episode since I started listening (Probably haven't missed one at all) and they publish every week. There have been podcasts that I stopped listening to either because they ended or the direction changed to something I didn't enjoy but I foresee myself sticking to this one for many years to come. -
Comment on Make new friends here! in ~life
gco (edited )LinkLet's give this a shot. I enjoy listening to podcast (Mainly science but I might be on the lookout for a good comedy podcast soon). I play a lot video games, mainly slightly old single player...Let's give this a shot.
- I enjoy listening to podcast (Mainly science but I might be on the lookout for a good comedy podcast soon).
- I play a lot video games, mainly slightly old single player games. I usually wait a few years for a good discount before making the purchase.
- I also enjoy playing board games, though since I started playing MTG (again) last year I've been obsessed and haven't touched boardgames much.
- While I don't play or make any music, it plays a big part of my life. I'm always on the lookout for more and one of my favourite things to do is go to gigs. My tastes are in quite the range, including metal and classical (Specially great orchestral movie soundtracks).
- I also am very interested in physics, I tend to watch a lot of videos on the subject and like to read articles. Hopefully I brute force enough knowledge so that I can read papers and understand them sometime in the future.
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Comment on Understanding what a VPN can do for you and how to pick the right one in ~tech
gco LinkI thoroughly enjoyed this video but had a hard time picking a title that conveys what it is about without too much hyperbole. It is a good showcase of how marketing can be used to mislead users...I thoroughly enjoyed this video but had a hard time picking a title that conveys what it is about without too much hyperbole. It is a good showcase of how marketing can be used to mislead users into using a product that does the complete opposite of what it promises. It goes into the following:
- Some history of some VPNs and VPN like apps and how they've been abused to spy on their users.
- How there's some companies that have acquired VPNs and "Independent" review sites throughout the years.
- How some companies that profit from spying on users have acquired these VPN companies.
- What can a VPN can do for you in terms of privacy and security (Spoiler: not that much).
- What use cases is a VPN suited for and how to pick a good one.
- Other tools to protect your privacy online.
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Understanding what a VPN can do for you and how to pick the right one
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None of this is real and it doesn’t matter
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Comment on Meta allegedly pirated terabytes of porn to trick the BitTorrent protocol into letting them pirate books faster in ~tech
gco LinkIs this realistic at all to expect? Even if Meta is found guilty (Not sure if that word exactly applies here), how could they demonstrate they have deleted the videos and retrained their models?...The company also wants Meta to delete any stolen videos from its AI training data and existing AI models. The company alleged that Meta could use its high-quality copyrighted works—which provide rare long cuts of "natural, human-centric imagery" showing "parts of the body not found in regular videos" and "unique" forms "of human interactions and facial expressions"—to create a rival adult video generator that could "eventually create identical content for little to no cost."
Is this realistic at all to expect? Even if Meta is found guilty (Not sure if that word exactly applies here), how could they demonstrate they have deleted the videos and retrained their models? Wouldn't it be better to request royalties or some sort of ongoing compensation? I would also think direct economic impact would be a better deterrent for others trying to get away with something similar.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
gco Link ParentI'd be curious to know how the other games turn out if you decide to play them, unfortunately I missed out on the deal. But I'm not that gutted, I think your assessment is right.I'd be curious to know how the other games turn out if you decide to play them, unfortunately I missed out on the deal. But I'm not that gutted, I think your assessment is right.
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Comment on The great LLM scrape in ~tech
gco LinkI've personally felt the impact of this, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. A few years ago, when GDPR legislation came into place to require sites to let users manage their cookies, every site...I've personally felt the impact of this, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. A few years ago, when GDPR legislation came into place to require sites to let users manage their cookies, every site would flash a sort of pop up making you choose (Many still do). Now, going to most websites requires spending about a second or so doing nothing while they verify you; thankfully this verification is not as hostile as reCaptcha, but I dread it might head that way.
The other way I've been impacted is in my ability to run small scripts or automations that are dependent on information published on websites. For example, I love going to concerts but the demand is so high that I sometimes miss out on tickets, I built a small workflow that checks the marketplace for secondary tickets to alert me when some become available. That no longer works thanks to scraping protections.
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Comment on What is your personal online "tech stack"? How do you like it? in ~tech
gco LinkVideo Sonarr + Radarr on my Synology NAS. It's outgrowing it's size so I got a new device to migrate to but I haven't bought hard drives yet. I also plan to add ytdl-sub once I upgrade; before I...Video
Sonarr + Radarr on my Synology NAS. It's outgrowing it's size so I got a new device to migrate to but I haven't bought hard drives yet. I also plan to add ytdl-sub once I upgrade; before I used yt-dlp to grab my subscriptions but have recently upgraded my TV to a smart one with a custom app that doesn't show adds and integrates with Sponsorblock.
Music
Self hosted Gonic. This is on the same NAS as above. It works amazing, the one thing I've not been able to do perfectly is volume normalisation. I'm using rsgain which works well for 80~90% of my music.
Video Playback
I'm using Kodi, unfortunately this is working as an app on the TV which makes it so there are audio sync issues sometimes (Super annoying. I discovered that the pc I used for playback before upgrading my tv cannot handle 4k at 60FPS so neither option is good and I don't want to invest in something else at the moment.
Password management
I was just looking at this yesterday and finally made the move from Keeweb/Keepass to 1Password. I was very tempted by ProtonPass but could not justify the price (1Password is free because of work).
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Comment on How is Linux these days? in ~comp
gco Link ParentI own an HP Reverb G2, that one operates under WMR in Windows and it's the only thing preventing me from switching from Windows to Linux. While there are guides out there that claim it works, I...I own an HP Reverb G2, that one operates under WMR in Windows and it's the only thing preventing me from switching from Windows to Linux. While there are guides out there that claim it works, I have not been able to make it work properly. First off, the guides were out of date and some steps I had to supplement on my own, thankfully I'm experienced with Linux enough to do that. While I technically got the headset working, it is limited to 60FPS. It does run Beat Saber fine, but coming from 90FPS everything looks too choppy, I've also read that low FPS in headsets can be a significant contributor to nausea so I'm not keen to use the headset until it goes all the way up to 90.
Everything else has worked perfectly, and I personally prefer Linux. But I can't justify the move in the hopes support for my headset will improve in future.
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Comment on Experiences with psychedelics? in ~life
gco Link ParentIf you're ever in a position where you're comfortable trying mushrooms out, it can be a fun project to grow your own. In many places (Check your local laws) trading spores is fine, so it is...If you're ever in a position where you're comfortable trying mushrooms out, it can be a fun project to grow your own. In many places (Check your local laws) trading spores is fine, so it is completely legal to purchase them. Then you take care of them for a few weeks and then you'll have your own grown psychedelics.
I bought a pre-paid SIM card and popped into an old phone. Then when places that shouldn't have my number demand I give it to them, I just give them the secondary one. Keeps them from spamming my main number.