greyfire's recent activity

  1. Comment on What short book series is worth more than its page count? in ~books

    greyfire
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    Best punster gets their tab covered. And by best, I mean by pun standards, obviously.

    There's Sunday, see, and then there's Monday, and then there's Punday.

    Best punster gets their tab covered. And by best, I mean by pun standards, obviously.

    3 votes

  2. Comment on What short book series is worth more than its page count? in ~books

    greyfire
    Link
    Spider Robinson's Callahan's Crosstime Saloon and its sequels. Page counts range 160-maaaaybe 200ish, but they are absolutely full of hope, joy, and optimism towards humanity (loose definition,...

    Spider Robinson's Callahan's Crosstime Saloon and its sequels. Page counts range 160-maaaaybe 200ish, but they are absolutely full of hope, joy, and optimism towards humanity (loose definition, aliens and robots and werewolves totally count).

    Also puns. Lots of puns.

    5 votes

  3. Comment on Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield reverses US policy that would have limited anesthesia periods in ~health

    greyfire
    Link Parent
    I did this job for a while. Hours every single day of nothing but going through denials, finding them in the filing cabinets, printing rebills, addressing, packing, stamping, and re-sending...

    I did this job for a while. Hours every single day of nothing but going through denials, finding them in the filing cabinets, printing rebills, addressing, packing, stamping, and re-sending paperwork. All because, as the doctor I was working for said, they virtually always deny just because a significant portion of denials never bother to try again.

    It was soul-crushing. The evils of a for-profit medical system cannot be overstated.

    7 votes

  4. Comment on Favorite "A Christmas Carol" adaptation? in ~movies

    greyfire
    Link Parent
    Speaking of BBC versions, while it's not my favorite favorite, I do love Blackadder's Christmas Carol. Rowan Atkinson playing the most generous man in Victorian England.

    Speaking of BBC versions, while it's not my favorite favorite, I do love Blackadder's Christmas Carol. Rowan Atkinson playing the most generous man in Victorian England.

  5. Comment on Someone made a dataset of one million Bluesky posts for 'machine learning research' in ~tech

    greyfire
    Link Parent
    Yep! Quite a few. The first one I was recommended is @skywatch.blue - you'll see Lists in the middle of the page, and from there you can select any list you want to block. There'll be a Subscribe...

    Yep! Quite a few. The first one I was recommended is @skywatch.blue - you'll see Lists in the middle of the page, and from there you can select any list you want to block. There'll be a Subscribe button at the top right, and when you select that, it offers you the option to mute or block the entire list (which will apply to all new entries to the list as well).

    Some bad actors have created misleading lists, so you do have to make sure you choose ones that seem solid and come well-recommended.

    8 votes

  6. Comment on What are your favorite “chore” games? in ~games

    greyfire
    Link Parent
    And for a visual demonstration.... The Saga of Bronzemurder. I think just about every DF player who gets very far gets deja vu from this. Smells like Dwarf Fortress.

    And for a visual demonstration.... The Saga of Bronzemurder. I think just about every DF player who gets very far gets deja vu from this.

    Smells like Dwarf Fortress.

    1 vote

  7. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    greyfire
    Link Parent
    Hah, I hear that. I made a pretty good start on Everybody Loves Big Chests (protagonist is a mimic), which miiiight count as dungeoncore?, but lost interest and wandered off after a little too...

    Hah, I hear that. I made a pretty good start on Everybody Loves Big Chests (protagonist is a mimic), which miiiight count as dungeoncore?, but lost interest and wandered off after a little too much succubus screen time. I'll probably get back to it - it's not badly written and I'm told the smut level tapers off and is mostly ignorable.

    1 vote

  8. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    greyfire
    Link Parent
    I keep meaning to get around to Beards and Brews, it looks like fun. And I've already ripped through the Heretical Fishing stub available on RR, dangit. This stuff is worse than popcorn.

    I keep meaning to get around to Beards and Brews, it looks like fun. And I've already ripped through the Heretical Fishing stub available on RR, dangit. This stuff is worse than popcorn.

    1 vote

  9. Comment on Any recommendations for books, novellas and short story collections? in ~books

    greyfire
    Link Parent
    Dickson's Dragon books are some of my all-time favorites, thanks for mentioning them and reminding me. I need to do a re-read. Did you know there's a cartoon movie of the first book, A Flight of...

    Dickson's Dragon books are some of my all-time favorites, thanks for mentioning them and reminding me. I need to do a re-read. Did you know there's a cartoon movie of the first book, A Flight of Dragons? Pretty true to the plot and great fun.

    Currently reading Pratchett's Guards! Guards!, with Small Gods next up. So good.

  10. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    greyfire
    Link Parent
    I've heard of Merchant Crab, the other two are new to me. I'll have to give 'em a whirl. And yeah, HWFWM is one of my favorite takes on LitRPG.

    I've heard of Merchant Crab, the other two are new to me. I'll have to give 'em a whirl. And yeah, HWFWM is one of my favorite takes on LitRPG.

    1 vote

  11. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    greyfire
    Link Parent
    Late to the party, but if you haven't read He Who Fights with Monsters on Royal Road I've got to give it a shout-out. Eleven (almost twelve) enormous books, and while the protagonist's a bit of a...

    Late to the party, but if you haven't read He Who Fights with Monsters on Royal Road I've got to give it a shout-out. Eleven (almost twelve) enormous books, and while the protagonist's a bit of a wanker at first he really grows into the multi-universal mess he gets dumped into. Isekai and heavy on gamerspeak if you are/aren't into that. The audiobook narrator (Heath Miller) does a fantastic job too if you prefer your fiction that way.

    Wandering Inn's another good (and free) web serial, not on Royal Road. Also isekai and gamery (I have a type), female protagonist I sometimes want to shake, but I like her and the rest of the cast quite a bit.

    1 vote

  12. Comment on How chain restaurants use smells to entice us in ~food

    greyfire
    Link Parent
    No, it was breathtakingly awful, and unidentifiable. Chemical. I like @tanglisha's description - it was just aversive, sick-making.

    No, it was breathtakingly awful, and unidentifiable. Chemical. I like @tanglisha's description - it was just aversive, sick-making.

    2 votes

  13. Comment on How chain restaurants use smells to entice us in ~food

    greyfire
    Link Parent
    Red Triaminic, for me. The orange was okay. The yellow-- I don't know what that flavor that was supposed to be but it was an effort not to throw that up every time.

    Red Triaminic, for me. The orange was okay. The yellow-- I don't know what that flavor that was supposed to be but it was an effort not to throw that up every time.

    1 vote

  14. Comment on How chain restaurants use smells to entice us in ~food

    greyfire
    Link Parent
    Active gag response, here.

    aversive memories (the smell of cherry cough syrup is not friendly, as far as I'm concerned)

    Active gag response, here.

    5 votes

  15. Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp

    greyfire
    Link
    I'm trying to get back into Drupal, after ten years of mostly WordPress with my current shop. I want to love it. I used to love it. I recognize that it's got a lot of improved qualities with the...

    I'm trying to get back into Drupal, after ten years of mostly WordPress with my current shop.

    I want to love it. I used to love it. I recognize that it's got a lot of improved qualities with the changes made since 7. But I just keep on slamming into problems that tell me exactly why people keep just giving up and going with WordPress, despite Drupal's vastly superior toolset. Why does it all have to be so hard? I'm not new to any of this - I'm a full-stack dev, I've written modules, my entire schtick with my current contractor is fixing whatever nobody else in the shop can figure out. And even I want to give up at this point. It's horribly frustrating.

    I'm reading my way through a couple recommended books by devs with cred, but oh god they're Packt and the misprints, missing information, and general poor organization are making me crazy.

    2 votes

  16. Comment on How an apple from a rejected tree became the Honeycrisp in ~food

    greyfire
    Link
    We occasionally get a cultivar here that they're calling Evercrisp, and at least at the height of the season they're the best apples I've ever had. Honeycrisp are good, but these were...

    We occasionally get a cultivar here that they're calling Evercrisp, and at least at the height of the season they're the best apples I've ever had. Honeycrisp are good, but these were better--apparently a cross with Fuji. So crispy and delicate they practically evaporate, with a sweet-tart that was just right. Should be back in season soon....

    4 votes

  17. Comment on How an apple from a rejected tree became the Honeycrisp in ~food

    greyfire
    Link Parent
    I miss good Granny Smiths. The last few times I've gotten them here, in season, instead of tart and crisp they've been mealy, thick-skinned, and barely tart at all. I don't know if the growers...

    I miss good Granny Smiths. The last few times I've gotten them here, in season, instead of tart and crisp they've been mealy, thick-skinned, and barely tart at all. I don't know if the growers we're getting them from are having issues with climate change or have decided people don't actually want the old kind anymore, but I've given up on them entirely.

    9 votes

  18. Comment on If you could send someone to any historic moment, who and when? in ~talk

  19. Comment on The Modern CLI Renaissance in ~comp

    greyfire
    Link Parent
    I live on the command line and in vim, and this is my new favorite thing. Thanks!

    I live on the command line and in vim, and this is my new favorite thing. Thanks!

    1 vote

  20. Comment on Hi, how are you? Mental health support and discussion thread (September 2024) in ~health.mental

    greyfire
    Link
    I thought I was doing fine, then I just completely melted down over the weekend. I feel better for it, though? It dragged out a lot of things I was refusing to think about, and I'm trying to put...

    I thought I was doing fine, then I just completely melted down over the weekend. I feel better for it, though? It dragged out a lot of things I was refusing to think about, and I'm trying to put together a game plan to start dealing with some of the mess.

    I'm flailing with work, feeling like I don't know how to keep up in my field (the crunchy parts of web dev). I ordered a hundred bucks worth of the best-rated books for what I really want to work in, and I've spent the last two days learning the rudiments of Docker, so that's something. It's going to be a long road.

    Family is a nightmare. My elderly/ill parents and health-challenged sib are mostly alone on the other side of the country from me, and our relationship's messed up enough that even the idea of visiting gives me a simultaneous massive load of guilt and enormous dread. They have no support system that isn't also struggling or needing their support more, but I feel empty and useless--it'd kill me to go back there, and there's almost nothing I can do from here.

    Most of my nearest and dearest friends are having health problems, and when I stop pretending, I'm really terrified about it. My best friend is having major surgery next week and I'm holding it together so he doesn't see how scared I am, but I'm collapsing inside. Other close friends have just gotten through surgery or have more scheduled, mysterious health conditions--it feels like always waiting for the other shoe to drop.

    And I don't even want to think about dealing with my own health, which is Schroedinger-style--if I don't get anything checked out maybe it'll all be in my head. But I've got to get the belated physical and other regular crap done, and dental stuff I can't afford, and test for a condition I might or might not have that wouldn't show any real symptoms until my organs fail. And I've got an ADHD workbook on the way because maybe that's a thing and maybe it'll help and I sure can't afford a shrink or meds.

    It's a lot. But damnit, one step at a time.

    Back to Docker.

    7 votes