happimess's recent activity

  1. Comment on What is a scam that more people should be aware of? in ~life

    happimess
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    I spent a while in Athens, Greece. There, on a pedestrian walkway near the acropolis, was a boy with an accordion, one of many in that area. Some of them were good, and sometimes I gave them...

    I spent a while in Athens, Greece. There, on a pedestrian walkway near the acropolis, was a boy with an accordion, one of many in that area. Some of them were good, and sometimes I gave them money.

    This boy, however, would set up in front of a storm drain, with a few coins in a water bottle that had been cut in half. Inevitably, someone walking by would kick the nearly imperceptible bottle, the coins would fall into the storm drain. He would act shocked and outraged, and the mark would inevitably give him paper money to cover for all the coins.

    He'd then put a few more coins in his bottle and reset it in front of the drain. When it was quiet, he'd put a wad of gum on the end of a stick and fish the coins back out, to replenish the supply. If a few were left in the drain, it doesn't matter, because the mark didn't see the bottle in the first place.

    I watched him for weeks, and never once saw him even pretend to make a sound with the accordion.

    10 votes
  2. Comment on What is a simple tech tip that changed how you use your computer or other devices in a significant way? in ~tech

    happimess
    Link Parent
    Thanks for the detailed reply. I'll give this a try

    Thanks for the detailed reply. I'll give this a try

  3. Comment on What is a simple tech tip that changed how you use your computer or other devices in a significant way? in ~tech

    happimess
    Link Parent
    How do you accomplish this in OSX? AFAIK you must switch through them in order, and the OS sometimes silently reorders your virtual desktops.

    How do you accomplish this in OSX? AFAIK you must switch through them in order, and the OS sometimes silently reorders your virtual desktops.

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

    happimess
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    I'm impressed you've got content! I've been working on my own blog, and it was fairly late in the process that I realized that, no matter how smooth my build pipeline was, I still had to, like,...

    I'm impressed you've got content! I've been working on my own blog, and it was fairly late in the process that I realized that, no matter how smooth my build pipeline was, I still had to, like, write every single post.

    kudos! It looks good.

    2 votes
  5. Comment on Tildes multiplayer games in ~games

    happimess
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    I've been loving Ember Knights, which just came out of early access. It's similar to the old Gauntlet series (co-op game where you slay legions of enemies) but with some great improvements from...

    I've been loving Ember Knights, which just came out of early access. It's similar to the old Gauntlet series (co-op game where you slay legions of enemies) but with some great improvements from the past 15 years of game design.

    It's got a few performance hiccups on my (linux) machine, but I'd love to do some multiplayer. I'm mostly available evenings in American Eastern time.

    2 votes
  6. Comment on The ideal backend language to write web apps in 2023? in ~comp

    happimess
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    ASP.NET is a particular web framework that sits on top of some .NET projects. The modern dotnet stack has very nice cross-platform tooling that has a plugin for your favorite editor. It's easy to...

    ASP.NET is a particular web framework that sits on top of some .NET projects. The modern dotnet stack has very nice cross-platform tooling that has a plugin for your favorite editor. It's easy to get lost in outdated documentation, but that's true for a lot of languages.

    C# is a great language with some really sensible web server options, in the standard library and 3rd-party. F# is amazing if you like that sort of thing, and language interoperability is good.

    Golang has far more than "baby steps" into web development. The go templating language is sensible and feature-rich, and the standard library has REST routing and handling.

    That all said, I think our answer is right here:

    Till date, PHP remains my favorite language for backend development and most of my web projects involve CodeIgniter or even pure PHP.

    If it ain't broke...

    10 votes
  7. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    happimess
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    I got Ember Knights, which is in early access, and I'm really enjoying it. It's the same premise as the Gauntlet arcade series. Several warriors choose from a handful of archetypes (sword guy,...

    I got Ember Knights, which is in early access, and I'm really enjoying it.

    It's the same premise as the Gauntlet arcade series. Several warriors choose from a handful of archetypes (sword guy, magic guy, archery guy...) and battle through hordes of enemies and a few setpiece battles. It's very well done with great art design, and the endless variety of power ups keeps it interesting. It also feels friendlier than e.g. Gauntlet; it's not trying to take your quarters, it's trying to be a great game.

    I've been playing it with my (young) child, and they're loving it. I can manage to keep us alive for a good while, and there are build choices that let me resurrect my partner when they die. I'm excited to play it friends who are good at video games.

    1 vote
  8. Help me find vehicle customization video games

    Hi, lately I've been thinking a bunch about Phantom Crash, which I played on an XBox. It was a mecha battle arena game. It had two main modes (three if you count skipping through interminable...

    Hi, lately I've been thinking a bunch about Phantom Crash, which I played on an XBox. It was a mecha battle arena game. It had two main modes (three if you count skipping through interminable conversations with NPCs). First, you'd take your mech into an arena and blow people up. Then you'd go to your garage, spending your winnings on upgrading your mech.

    The degree of customization you could achieve was striking. There were big options like wheels / legs / hover platform, and a variety of energy / mass / missile weapons. You could get different aim assist chips that had meaningfully different characteristics. You could tune almost any piece of equipment to be lighter or heavier, and a heavier gun really felt more powerful in the arena.

    TBH the actual combat was only alright, but we loved the game anyway.

    Are there any other games out there that have this kind of feedback loop? Playable today is best, but I'd also go down an internet archaeology hole.

    8 votes
  9. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    happimess
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    I picked up Stray, and it's absolutely lovely. At its core it's a game about being a cat that wants to get outside, and it really captures the feeling. Movement feels good, the world is really...

    I picked up Stray, and it's absolutely lovely.

    At its core it's a game about being a cat that wants to get outside, and it really captures the feeling. Movement feels good, the world is really well crafted, and the story is good. I like the robots.

    6 votes
  10. Comment on US Congress to hold hearing after Ticketmaster-Taylor Swift fiasco in ~music

    happimess
    Link Parent
    The big reason is that LiveNation (Ticketmaster's parent company) owns nearly every large venue in the United States, so if you're going to compete with Ticketmaster, you're going to be stuck...

    The big reason is that LiveNation (Ticketmaster's parent company) owns nearly every large venue in the United States, so if you're going to compete with Ticketmaster, you're going to be stuck selling to small, indie venues.

    I wish I had a reliable citation, but I bet they own well over half of the concert seats in the country.

    3 votes
  11. Comment on Do you crush bugs? in ~talk

    happimess
    Link Parent
    +1 on cockroaches: The huge ones only come inside by accident, but an infestation is a completely different story. We part ways at spiders, though. If I see a spider, I give it a brisk nod and we...

    +1 on cockroaches: The huge ones only come inside by accident, but an infestation is a completely different story.

    We part ways at spiders, though. If I see a spider, I give it a brisk nod and we both carry on.

    1 vote
  12. Comment on Fortnightly Programming Q&A Thread in ~comp

    happimess
    Link Parent
    I just started using Go professionally, and that's a very real difference between the two languages. I'm writing more for loops than I have in many years. Go is a very manual language, especially...

    In Go, if i needed to mess inside an array i would loop and find something there. It was not easy for a beginner, but i could understand that it was going through things because i told it to do. In Python, it looks just like magic to me.

    I just started using Go professionally, and that's a very real difference between the two languages. I'm writing more for loops than I have in many years. Go is a very manual language, especially compared to python.

    But, compared to something like C, Go also has training wheels! You don't have to worry about allocating and deallocating memory, there's a reasonable string implementation out of the box, and loads more. And compared to assembly, C is a cake walk!

    I guess I mean to say that I hope you don't worry too much about whether or not you're using training wheels. There's lots to learn, and unless you have a specific need or passion, don't think that you're Doing It Wrong, or Taking The Easy Way Out. Learn what you need to scratch your own itch.

    4 votes
  13. Comment on Fitness Weekly Discussion in ~health

    happimess
    Link Parent
    That hasn't been a problem for me so far.

    That hasn't been a problem for me so far.

  14. Comment on Fitness Weekly Discussion in ~health

    happimess
    Link Parent
    This has mostly been an exercise in consistency, so I deliberately kept my expectations modest. I'd like to add core and leg strengthening to this. I may do that Tues/Thurs/Sat, or maybe I'll tack...

    This has mostly been an exercise in consistency, so I deliberately kept my expectations modest.

    I'd like to add core and leg strengthening to this. I may do that Tues/Thurs/Sat, or maybe I'll tack it on to my M/W/F routine. All told the current work-out only takes me 10 minutes, and much of that is resting between sets.

  15. Comment on Fitness Weekly Discussion in ~health

    happimess
    Link Parent
    Yeah, the "controlled descent" is a big part of my pull-up. Initially, I could do maybe 2 pull ups, then I'd hop-and-lower-slowly for the rest of my sets. Now I can do 5 pull-ups with good form,...

    Yeah, the "controlled descent" is a big part of my pull-up. Initially, I could do maybe 2 pull ups, then I'd hop-and-lower-slowly for the rest of my sets. Now I can do 5 pull-ups with good form, taking 30 seconds rest between each one.

    The cool thing about starting out weak is that I can really feel the difference after such a short time.

    1 vote
  16. Comment on Fitness Weekly Discussion in ~health

    happimess
    Link Parent
    I do this routine on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I also live a reasonably active life; this is just a strength-building program I've been working on.

    I do this routine on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

    I also live a reasonably active life; this is just a strength-building program I've been working on.

    4 votes
  17. Comment on Fitness Weekly Discussion in ~health

    happimess
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    I've been doing push-ups and pull-ups regularly for a few months now. I do 5 sets of whatever I can manage, pushing myself to exhaustion on the last set. I'm getting stronger, my numbers are going...

    I've been doing push-ups and pull-ups regularly for a few months now. I do 5 sets of whatever I can manage, pushing myself to exhaustion on the last set.

    I'm getting stronger, my numbers are going up, and I've been really looking forward to it on my off days.

    5 votes
  18. Comment on Would you eat lab grown human meat? in ~food

    happimess
    Link Parent
    In this case, you eat what you are.

    You are what you eat

    In this case, you eat what you are.

    7 votes
  19. Comment on Fortnightly Programming Q&A Thread in ~comp

    happimess
    Link Parent
    When I'm interviewing a software candidate (especially one who is new or from an unconventional background) I'm mostly interested in seeing if they're smart, competent, and easy to work with. For...

    When I'm interviewing a software candidate (especially one who is new or from an unconventional background) I'm mostly interested in seeing if they're smart, competent, and easy to work with.

    For smart and competent, you'll need to show that you've done real work on a software project, and thought about the decisions and trade-offs you had to make in the process. Any of the projects you listed seem reasonable for this; it's more about how you build it and how you talk about it than about the actual app. Personally, I'd do Advent of Code (because it's fun and covers a lot of ground) and really devote myself to good practices. Taking 2019 for example, I'd write a solid 'intcode' library with unit tests and a clean API, and then reference it from all relevant problems. That's a solid medium-sized chunk of software engineering, and plenty of fodder for an hour-long technical interview.

    For easy to work with, you'll just have to demonstrate that you can cooperate and take criticism and explain ideas; there's lots that goes into it, but it will transfer well from whatever else you've been doing, unless you're a jerk.

    I'd caution you against doing cheapo freelance projects. First, you'll spend a lot of time doing client management, and unless you want to go into freelancing long-term that may not be a great use of your time. Second, you'll likely sign away rights to the code you've written, so when you start interviewing for other jobs you'll be have to talk about the project without showing any code.

    If you want to dive in to open source contributions, start by looking through a project's github issues; there's probably some low-hanging fruit in there that you could fix and get merged. A well-written bug report should also help you avoid the "how can I parse through thousands of lines to understand what's going on" paralysis that you correctly anticipate.

    glhf

    2 votes
  20. Comment on Terrible joke thread in ~talk

    happimess
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    Did you hear about the jurisprudence fetishist? He got off on a technicality.

    Did you hear about the jurisprudence fetishist?

    He got off on a technicality.

    18 votes