hydrachia's recent activity
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Comment on Looking for songs that include recordings of commentary in ~music
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Comment on Let's share some obscure forgotten tunes (<20K plays/views) in ~music
hydrachia (edited )LinkThere are lots of old Filk songs that fit in this category; a few of them got popular, but there are a bunch that are very obscure. (The fact that there weren't that many good recordings on the...There are lots of old Filk songs that fit in this category; a few of them got popular, but there are a bunch that are very obscure. (The fact that there weren't that many good recordings on the internet until recently doesn't help their popularity.)
- Space Heroes & Other Fools - Silver (1982) - 5.4k views. A sci-fi love song, sort of?
- Firestorm - Still Alive (1989) - 5.8k views. A bit depressing, but also optimistic -- most of this album is post-apocalyptic themed, so it fits the theme.
- Minus Ten and Counting - Apollo Lost (1983) - a bit over the limit at ~38k views, but it's a good song so I'll include it anyway. It's a song mourning the end of the Apollo Program. (With renewed interest in moon missions / the Artemis program, it may have some cultural relevance again)
(If you like those, some of the more popular songs from the same albums may be of interest; Some of my favorites: Pushin' the Speed of Light (~500k), Some Kind of Hero (~500k), and Hymn to Breaking Strain (~280k))
Sorry for the edits, I accidentally posted this half-way through finishing it... I should really draft these somewhere other than the actual comment box...
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Comment on What are your favorite webcomics? in ~comics
hydrachia LinkHere's a list of my favourite webcomics, with some short descriptions. (Links are to the first page of each comic, since webcomics really like putting spoilers on their main page...) Sleepless...Here's a list of my favourite webcomics, with some short descriptions. (Links are to the first page of each comic, since webcomics really like putting spoilers on their main page...)
Sleepless Domain
Basically magical girls with intermixed horror; I'm not really sure how to better describe it.
O Human Star (complete)
A scifi story with LGBT themes; quite good, and has won a lot of awards.
It's one of the rare comics with a fully completed story, so I'd recommend it even just for that.
Aurora
A sword & sorcery fantasy story; a bit more lighthearted than the others mentioned here.
Not quite as polished as the above two, but still quite good. (Like most webcomics, the art improves over time.)
The Weave (on indefinite hiatus)
An urban fantasy murder mystery with Celtic folklore.
This one stopped around the start of the pandemic, and looks like it probably won't resume; though if you're fine with that, it's still a good story. -
Comment on What did you do this week (and weekend)? in ~talk
hydrachia Link ParentThanks for the advice! It's been going reasonably well so far, though I probably haven't going about it with the best strategies. I ended up with workman on my desktop and qwerty on my laptop,...Thanks for the advice!
It's been going reasonably well so far, though I probably haven't going about it with the best strategies. I ended up with workman on my desktop and qwerty on my laptop, which has been useful to make sure that I can still type on both, but it can get confusing at times (though that seems like it's improving with practice).
I was using keybr with some customization before, but monkeytype looks much nicer! (Finding typing practice programs that actually let you use backspace is annoyingly difficult.)
One thing that I hadn't considered would be that much of an issue is video games - the default keybindings are all designed for qwerty and rebinding them all in every game is a pain, so it's easier to just switch back to qwerty while in the game.
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Comment on What did you do this week (and weekend)? in ~talk
hydrachia LinkI got a new keyboard, and I've decided to try to switch to a non QWERTY layout. I didn't spend that much time looking into the different layouts, and I just chose the workman layout which looked...I got a new keyboard, and I've decided to try to switch to a non QWERTY layout. I didn't spend that much time looking into the different layouts, and I just chose the workman layout which looked interesting. I've been practicing for about a week now, and I've mostly got touch typing down, though I still miss some keys reasonably frequently. At this point I can type well enough for it to be workable, though I'm still much slower than I was with QWERTY.
Does anyone have experiences with learning a new keyboard layout and roughly how long it takes? (If you have, what resources did you use / do you know of?) I'm reasonably confident that I'll end up learning it well eventually, but it seems like it's going to take a while.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
hydrachia Link ParentYeah, I got that impression from the narrative and from others who've played it; I've clarified my wording a bit. I'm not sure how far I'll end up getting in the story though, since there seems to...Yeah, I got that impression from the narrative and from others who've played it; I've clarified my wording a bit. I'm not sure how far I'll end up getting in the story though, since there seems to be a ton of content there that'll take a lot of time to get through.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
hydrachia (edited )Link ParentI've finished my first successful escape attempt (got lucky with boon combos on my third time reaching the surface); I see what you mean about the narrative, though I haven't spent enough time...I've finished my first successful escape attempt (got lucky with boon combos on my third time reaching the surface); I see what you mean about the narrative, though I haven't spent enough time talking to people / gifting stuff to people when I'm back at the starting area. And yeah, your power also grows significantly between runs.
Edit: clarified final boss -> escape attempt
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
hydrachia Link ParentI've now beat the final boss, at about 20 hours of playtime and ~40 runs. It scales quite well, since the persistent buffs can add up significantly once you have enough invested — and beating...I've now beat the final boss, at about 20 hours of playtime and ~40 runs. It scales quite well, since the persistent buffs can add up significantly once you have enough invested — and beating bosses that you've already beaten in previous runs gives you a lot of the resource you need to get those buffs, so each run will make you more powerful, even if you don't make it that far.
The earlier areas also don't get boring either — as you get further in the game, there are some changes to the earlier areas to mix things up, which I found interesting. I didn't end up getting stuck anywhere, though I did have to try out a few different weapons before finding a style that I liked.
If you're considering trying it, I'd really recommend it. I'm playing it on a controller, so I'm not sure how well it does with keyboard and mouse, but it should be fine. The only cases where I wouldn't recommend it are if you don't like fast-paced games, or if you have a hard time tracking lots of things moving on the screen. (Though if you liked Transistor, you'll be fine — the combat is quite similar to the realtime phase of combat in Transistor.)
Overall, it's a very good game, though I'm not sure how much time I'll have to play it once the holidays are over.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
hydrachia Link ParentI haven't tried the matchmaking system, but it's also very fun if you can convince a few friends to play. What class and gun do you typically use? Some guns end up using a lot more ammo than...I haven't tried the matchmaking system, but it's also very fun if you can convince a few friends to play.
the ammo you can carry doesn't seem like much at all
What class and gun do you typically use? Some guns end up using a lot more ammo than others, so you may want to try unlocking the other guns to try them out. Also, there are a lot of options in the gun upgrades that either directly or indirectly affect ammo usage - I typically avoid increasing fire-rate for that reason.
As for actually using those weapons: the secondary guns are all reasonably effective, so using them can help conserve the ammo of your main gun; your pickaxe is an effective weapon against smaller bugs; and try to shoot the less armored parts of the bugs to use ammo more effectively.
On the last point — the best places to shoot are any glowing spots or the bug's mouths. Also, the largest bugs can have indestructible armor pieces that you can't do damage though.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
hydrachia Link ParentSo far I haven't gotten stuck anywhere for too long, but that's been my issue in other rogue-likes and rogue-lites (Dead Cells, Noita, The Binding of Isaac). In Transistor you could always make...So far I haven't gotten stuck anywhere for too long, but that's been my issue in other rogue-likes and rogue-lites (Dead Cells, Noita, The Binding of Isaac). In Transistor you could always make forward progress, even if it was slow -- and you couldn't lose that progress once you reach a checkpoint. In Hades and other rogue-lites, the only persistent progress is your unlocks and buffs, which makes getting stuck a more likely possibility.
On difficulty scaling specifically: near the end, Transistor got much more challenging, but still not impossible due to checkpoints; my concern with Hades is that it might end up being similar, but instead of restarting from the last checkpoint I'll be restarting a whole run. If it isn't done well, I would end up having to spend a lot more time replaying the same sections just to die to the same boss each time without making progress, or having to grind to unlock more buffs.
So far, Hades seems well designed to me, but I haven't gotten to the areas where this would start to matter significantly. It seems a lot better about balancing and keeping the earlier areas interesting that Dead Cells does, and the persistent progress seems more influential than in other rogue-lites that I've played, so it probably handles the endgame well, but I'll see when I get there.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
hydrachia LinkI recently started playing Hades, since I've had some free time over the holidays; it's been fun so far, and rather rewarding after I stopped ignoring anything that the tutorial told me to do......I recently started playing Hades, since I've had some free time over the holidays; it's been fun so far, and rather rewarding after I stopped ignoring anything that the tutorial told me to do...
(I managed to beat Meg without any of the buffs from the mirror, though)I like the roguelite style more than the "lose an ability every time you die" style of Transistor, though I'm still not sure about the difficulty scaling of Hades.
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Comment on Welcome to 2022. What are your predictions for this year? in ~talk
hydrachia Link ParentBasically any way you could have specified this would have true to a reasonable extent; in 2022, there were: DALL-E 2 and Stable Diffusion for impressive image generation ChatGPT for impressive...There will be a new AI demo as impressive as AlphaGo or GPT-3 in an unexpected field this year. (80%) Need to make this less ambiguous.
Basically any way you could have specified this would have true to a reasonable extent; in 2022, there were:
- DALL-E 2 and Stable Diffusion for impressive image generation
- ChatGPT for impressive writing ability
- a bunch of demos that were overshadowed by the above two categories, at least for the past couple of months
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Comment on Welcome to 2022. What are your predictions for this year? in ~talk
hydrachia Link ParentDepending on how "real" the browser has to be, there are actually a few contenders for this one: Ladybird, a new browser by the SerenityOS team, with a fully custom engine Arc, a new (currently...A new web browser will be announced (40%), will use Chromium or WebKit (75%).
Depending on how "real" the browser has to be, there are actually a few contenders for this one:
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Comment on Wikipedia Speedruns in ~tech
hydrachia LinkAfter a few tries, I got a really easy one: (from the I'm feeling lucky button) "Saint Paul, Minnesota" to "Federal government of the United States" Time: 5.243 Seconds Number of links visited: 2...After a few tries, I got a really easy one: (from the I'm feeling lucky button)
"Saint Paul, Minnesota" to "Federal government of the United States"
Time: 5.243 Seconds
Number of links visited: 2It's a fun game! It hides the "See Also" and "References" sections, which makes it a bit harder, but I guess it makes the game a bit more interesting.
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Comment on AlbumLove recommendations thread: June 2022 in ~music
hydrachia LinkThe Music of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power I really love the music of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (the 2018 Netflix series) by Sunna Wehrmeijer. Though one of its strengths is how it...The Music of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
I really love the music of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (the 2018 Netflix series) by Sunna Wehrmeijer. Though one of its strengths is how it represents the conflicts and arcs within the show, I think most of the songs work well even without that context. But if you plan on watching She-Ra at some point, I would recommend watching it before listening to the songs, because I'd consider some of them to be spoilers—they integrate really well with the themes and story of show, and some of them work best if heard the first time in the context of the show. (The songs are titled by the name of the episode they first appeared in and are in chronological order, if you're watching it and want to avoid spoilers.)
My favorite songs in the album are Promise, Beast Island, and Fractures specifically because of how powerful they are at conveying the conflicts in the show.
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Comment on What are your linguistic idiosyncrasies? in ~humanities.languages
hydrachia LinkI haven't thought much about this before and haven't intentionally listened to the way that I speak that much, so some of these are guesses. I tend to write more formally than I speak (I think),...I haven't thought much about this before and haven't intentionally listened to the way that I speak that much, so some of these are guesses.
Manner of speaking
I tend to write more formally than I speak (I think), but both are generally formal. Sometimes I think my writing can be too formal; even in informal text-based conversations, I prefer writing in a grammatically correct manner (proper capitalization, adding apostrophes in contractions) even if it takes longer. Like a few other people in this thread, I aim for precision in my speech and writing, for similar reasons of avoiding debates over semantics and intended meaning, though I don't always succeed in preventing those debates.
Words/phrases that you love/hate
I'm uncomfortable using "y'all", for reasons that I haven't fully figured out, but I still use it sometimes because it's the best way of addressing a group of people. I think the reason I avoiding using "y'all" was because it has a strong association with Texan identity that I don't identify with, even though I grew up in Texas.
What other phrases do people use in this situation? The phrases that I've seen are "Y'all," which is very informal; "You all", which is somewhat awkward; "You guys," which has semi-gendered connotations; and "people," which only works in some situations.
I avoid swearing in most situations, especially when around my family, but I still sometimes swear. I'm not familiar with the usage or connotations of most emojis, so I generally avoid using them. (If someone knows of an emoji dictionary, I'd be interested)
One thing that bugs me and that I avoid doing is the pronouns people use in technical conversations. I've met a few (typically older) people who refer to parts of technical systems as "he" rather than "it," which makes me somewhat uncomfortable in those conversations.
Inner dialogue
I have an inner dialogue and it sounds like how my own voice sounds to me; I'm not fluent enough in languages other than English to think in them.
How do you adapt your patterns to different contexts?
I think I probably do, but I haven't thought about it much before.
I've semi-unintentionally split my social life into three separate groups: school, family, and an online friend group that I play games with. There is very little crossover between those groups, and I have somewhat different manners of speaking in each one. For example, I'll almost never swear when speaking with my family or friends from school, but I will sometimes swear when talking with my online friends.
Differentiating between serious and jokeful registers
I think I do a reasonable job of distinguishing jokingness while speaking, but not as much in text. In speech I use tone of voice to convey it, and in both speech and writing I use phrasing to convey it. I'm not sure how well it works, but I try to avoid making statements that could be ambiguous unless I'm talking to people that I know well.
Do you sometimes talk too much or too little?
I probably talk too little, but I'm trying to improve on that a bit.
Do you make a lot of faux pas?
I don't think that I do, but I'm not sure that I'm socially aware enough to notice.
Do you prefer to be addressed by specific pronouns which people often get wrong?
Not currently, but I'm still figuring that one out.
Other idiosyncrasies
I sometimes use commas in places where they aren't strictly necessary to reduce syntactic ambiguity, which most online grammar checkers that I've used complain about. I try to make my sentences as unambiguous as possible with my comma positioning, but I some places that I add commas seem natural to me but not to others.
Some random questions for others:
What common phrases do you use?
- How do you greet someone? "Hello"/"Hi"/"Hey"/etc
- How do you say farewell? "Goodbye"/"Bye"/"See ya"/etc
- "Yes"/"Sure"/"Yeah"/"Yup"? "No"/"Nah"/etc?
I typically fall into "Hello"/"Bye"/"Yes"/"No", but it depends on context.
How do you start a conversation or bring up a new topic in a conversation?
I often find myself saying "one thing" or "something that I found interesting" a lot, but I find that I don't know of good alternative ways to bring a topic up in conversation.
Departure Songs by We Lost The Sea has a few songs with commentary, though the themes are a bit different. Warning, it's an album about failed journeys/exploration, so it's theming is rather dark.