imperialismus's recent activity
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Comment on Jet Lag Season 17: Taiwan Rail Rush | Trailer in ~hobbies
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Comment on Forget the AI apocalypse. Memes have already nuked our culture. (gifted link) in ~tech
imperialismus LinkIt's funny how almost rage-inducingly meaningless 6-7 is to many adults, but isn't that the point? Let's consider some slightly older "funny numbers". They reference something. 420 is a weed...It's funny how almost rage-inducingly meaningless 6-7 is to many adults, but isn't that the point? Let's consider some slightly older "funny numbers". They reference something. 420 is a weed reference. 69 is a reference to a sex position. 42 is a reference to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. 80085 is how you spell "BOOBS" on a 7-segment calculator display. 1337 is (e)lite spelled in gamer slang probably derived from that same 7-segment numerals-as-letters symbolism. But the way these joke numbers are used is often divorced from the original meaning. I don't even know what the origin of replying "nice" when the number 69 appears is from, but I remember it being reflexively used online at least 15 years ago, probably longer.
6-7 is a reference to a reference to a reference, but its actual usage seems to be a combination of tribalism (indicating you belong to a group by using a shared reference, even if the actual referent is vague or undefined), and the age-old "random is funny" type of humor. When I was in middle school, being "random" was often considered the peak of humor, even if the particular expression was different.
I'm way too old to "get" 6-7, but I think it's not all that different from previous generations' use of slang, often divorced from the original context to the point of absurdity, to indicate that you belong and to annoy the out-group, in this case, adults.
Which segues into the point of my comment, which wasn't to write an essay on a meme I admittedly don't "get" the same way that kids that use it get it. It's that modern brain rot isn't just the product of social media algorithms. Those algorithms may help spread memes further than they would in the pre social media, pre internet days. Kids will always copy each other, copy their older idols, sometimes do the exact opposite of what the adults are doing simply because they want to distinguish themselves from them. These are universal human tendencies that have existed at all times. In some ways, they're healthy. They're steps children take to define themselves as something more than the extension of their immediate family, and societies that don't allow that kind of self-expression are often ones that are socially regressive, authoritarian, and undemocratic.
I think there's an interesting conversation to be had about how modern social media shapes all of our lives, but I think it's a mistake to focus on individual memes as if they're something new and unique. The article kind of acknowledges this when it says maybe we should focus on the evolution of slang more generally, but it still falls into the trap of attributing "kids these days" to some fundamentally wrong algorithmically manipulated social reality. It's normal for kids to have "dumb" slang, and for adults to think that slang is dumb, and there's no reason to think that any particular meme is, in some fundamental way, different from memes of the past few generations. That they're somehow so void of meaning that only a machine could have made them.
I also have to say, as someone who spends quite a lot of time online and comparatively less on in person socialization, I still can't empathize with the idea of literally thinking in memes. That seems bizarre to me. I don't think it's indicative of any widespread trend to have your literal thoughts transform into rage comics and funny tweets.
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Comment on Sabastian Sawe breaks the two-hour barrier in the marathon, first to ever do it in an official race in ~sports
imperialismus LinkIn 2019, Eliud Kipchoge ran the Ineos 1:59 challenge, a race set up specifically for him to break the 2-hour barrier in the marathon. Because of the special conditions in the race, it was not...In 2019, Eliud Kipchoge ran the Ineos 1:59 challenge, a race set up specifically for him to break the 2-hour barrier in the marathon. Because of the special conditions in the race, it was not eligible to be an official record, but Kipchoge finished in 1:59:40. His official personal best, which was also a WR at the time, is 2:01:09. On Sunday, two men ran under 2 hours in an official, record-eligible marathon for the first time: Sabastian Sawe (1:59:30) and Yomif Kejelcha (1:59:41), the latter in his marathon debut (!). Third place Jacob Kiplimo also finished below the previous world record, which had been held by Kelvin Kiptum (2:00:35 in 2023), who unfortunately passed away in a car accident shortly after setting his world record.
It's interesting that Sawe has voluntarily entered an extra frequent doping testing program in order to prove he's clean. Sawe has never delivered a positive doping test, but his fellow countrymen have: more than 100 Kenyan runners are currently serving doping suspensions. Unfortunately, frequent testing is very expensive.
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Sabastian Sawe breaks the two-hour barrier in the marathon, first to ever do it in an official race
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Comment on What's a culture shock that you experienced? in ~talk
imperialismus (edited )LinkSeeing people openly carrying guns in public was a huge shock to me. The first time I encountered it was on vacation in Croatia, where there were guards with I think SMGs standing outside a local...Seeing people openly carrying guns in public was a huge shock to me. The first time I encountered it was on vacation in Croatia, where there were guards with I think SMGs standing outside a local bank, looking mighty menacing. In Norway, parliament authorized police to routinely carry guns last year. All my time growing up, not even the cops would carry guns. You'd never see an armed person in public. Ironically, Norway has a relatively high number of firearms per capita by European standards, because hunting is/was common, and sports shooting is also fairly popular. But those are kept strictly under lock and key when not in use. Sure, if you go for a hike in the woods during hunting season, you might see a hunter with a gun, but you'd never see one on the street. Nobody but criminals buys a gun for personal protection.
My most shocking experience was in 2009. I happened to be in Oslo when Obama was there to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. There were snipers on rooftops, men in military gear carrying automatic rifles in the streets, and the main street was closed to traffic. I felt like I'd stepped into a Hollywood movie. Experiencing that kind of culture shock within the heart of your own culture made it all the more shocking.
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Comment on Type inference of all constructs and the next 15 months of the Elixir programming language in ~comp
imperialismus LinkThis reminds me a lot of Crystal's type system. Crystal started out as "Ruby but statically typed and compiled". It's since evolved into its own thing and isn't commited to Ruby compatibility, but...This reminds me a lot of Crystal's type system. Crystal started out as "Ruby but statically typed and compiled". It's since evolved into its own thing and isn't commited to Ruby compatibility, but they did have to solve many of the same problems as Elixir. It allows you to omit type annotations in most cases, with extensive use of union types and flow typing. Flow typing is awesome. It basically captures the intuition of "this thing can be X or Y, but within this particular branch we know statically that it must be X (because we have performed a runtime type test as a branch condition), so we can narrow the type of (X or Y) to X within this particular branch safely."
The inference for the pattern matching is something I haven't seen to that extent before, so that's cool. On the other hand, not having parametric polymorphism or recursive types yet is a major limitation. Crystal solves this by requiring you to be explicit about parametric types, i.e., it won't try to infer the concrete type of a generic type like Array(T); you must specify the type of T when instantiating an empty array. It's one of the few places in the language where you cannot ever omit an explicit type.
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft Weekly in ~games
imperialismus Link ParentMoss farm would be nice!Moss farm would be nice!
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft Weekly in ~games
imperialismus LinkI'm slowly making progress on the custom forest. The goal is to have a slightly magical, possibly mildly spooky oak forest at the bottom of the hill, where my house is located, and a more airy...I'm slowly making progress on the custom forest. The goal is to have a slightly magical, possibly mildly spooky oak forest at the bottom of the hill, where my house is located, and a more airy pine forest at the top. I'm trying to make the landscape feel immersive, but detail work can get pretty tedious!
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft Weekly in ~games
imperialismus LinkI don't have any megabuilds planned, but I've been busy landscaping and trying to infuse my base with a bit of lore and a lot of small details, rather than building one giant thing. Here's a...I don't have any megabuilds planned, but I've been busy landscaping and trying to infuse my base with a bit of lore and a lot of small details, rather than building one giant thing. Here's a couple of screenshots of my progress so far:
- Slightly creepy
dungeonalchemist's lair - Beginnings of a custom forest of European red pine trees. (Slowly learning how to build trees.) My plan is to expand the forest and eventually build a firewatch tower on top of the hill, and possibly park a happy ghast in the tower if I get one.
- View of the path to my cozy little cottage (which is basically a hobbit hole, most of it is underground/built into the hill, to save on construction)
- Slightly creepy
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft Weekly in ~games
imperialismus LinkI made a small cactus farm in the industrial district yesterday, but I noticed shortly after I completed it, someone else built another one in a different corner of the district. Mine is currently...I made a small cactus farm in the industrial district yesterday, but I noticed shortly after I completed it, someone else built another one in a different corner of the district. Mine is currently very ugly, just a stone cube because stone was one material I had lots of to spare. My eventual plan is/was to replace the exterior with something resembling a giant cactus, but I'd need some green building blocks first. However, the nice thing about cactus farms is you can stack layers on top of each other without increasing the horizontal footprint. We probably don't need two separate ones when they can easily be combined into one to save space.
Thoughts?
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft - Season 3 Launch Day in ~games
imperialismus Link ParentNice. My home is at 89 67 -193.Nice. My home is at 89 67 -193.
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft - Season 3 Launch Day in ~games
imperialismus Link ParentThat's productive. I spent about 4 hours on the server and managed to build a tiny cabin, a couple of manual farms, and wasted a lot of time failing to find diamonds. Just wanted to let you know I...That's productive. I spent about 4 hours on the server and managed to build a tiny cabin, a couple of manual farms, and wasted a lot of time failing to find diamonds.
Just wanted to let you know I used your modpack, and I really like it. I usually play with Sodium, but I don't know what extra sauce you put in there, because I was getting very substantial performance gains on my modest desktop. At one point I was sitting at 666fps without shaders, which is just overkill. Also, whatever mod makes it so you can walk up full blocks like they're stairs -- how did I never think of looking for that before? That one's going to be a permanent addition to my singleplayer worlds as well, I think.
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft - Season 3 Launch Day in ~games
imperialismus LinkHaven't played on this server before, but I'm considering joining in this time. Question: how does the verification for the whitelist work? I don't see anything on the website but I presume that's...Haven't played on this server before, but I'm considering joining in this time. Question: how does the verification for the whitelist work? I don't see anything on the website but I presume that's because the server hasn't launched yet?
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Comment on Hate Brussels sprouts? You may be living in the past. in ~food
imperialismus LinkThis post just reminded me of a core childhood memory: a cartoon called The Forgotten Toys, featuring a grumpy teddy bear who absolutely hates brussel sprouts. I've never had any strong feelings...This post just reminded me of a core childhood memory: a cartoon called The Forgotten Toys, featuring a grumpy teddy bear who absolutely hates brussel sprouts. I've never had any strong feelings on the matter, but to this day I remember the line "I hate sprouts!"
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Comment on What do you leave out for Father Christmas? in ~talk
imperialismus LinkThe traditional thing would be a bowl of rice porridge, although it's not a tradition my family observes. (Scandinavia)The traditional thing would be a bowl of rice porridge, although it's not a tradition my family observes. (Scandinavia)
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Comment on I traveled above the Arctic Circle to find out whether the town of Sommarøy really can live free from the clock in ~life
imperialismus Link ParentMy sister spent some time in Zambia as part of her degree as a social worker. She told a story about how, apparently, Zambians all agree that if it's raining, you don't show up to a scheduled...My sister spent some time in Zambia as part of her degree as a social worker. She told a story about how, apparently, Zambians all agree that if it's raining, you don't show up to a scheduled event until it stops raining. Whenever that is. It sounds stressful to me. Never knowing exactly when you're supposed to be where, or for how long.
Sommarøy is a tiny village in Tromsø municipality. I've lived in Tromsø, although I lived in the city (population approximately 60,000). And I currently live slightly south of the Arctic circle, although the variations in daylight are still extreme (today: less than 3 hours of "daylight", mostly twilight; in the summer, more or less 24 hours of daylight). So I have some experience with the physical conditions that seemingly lead to a "timeless" society.
Paradoxically, I feel like clock-timing helps me live like an event-timer. The reason being that I've struggled with insomnia since my early teens. I'm frequently running low on sleep, and I'm an introvert who needs to recharge a certain amount of mental energy to function well in social settings. I really like to schedule things for a specific time, because I can make sure I'm actually well rested when it happens. And if I'm not well rested, I can at least mentally prepare for the event, so I don't become an unlikeably grump. If I were able to live entirely according to my schedule, sleep when I'm sleepy and be awake and active when I feel well rested, that would be great! But my personal schedule rarely lines up with anyone else's. And so it's actually easier to schedule things for specific times, because then at least, I know when I need to be "on".
I think this really is just a marketing scheme. In the end, clocks are mostly about coordinating activities between groups of people. In a small village, it's easier to coordinate without needing a fixed time. At the exact same latitude, which experiences the exact same daylight hours, but in a bigger city with more people, it becomes a lot harder. How did people manage without clocks back in the old days? Their social reality was simply smaller. The average person needed to coordinate schedules with far fewer people. The average person's life was limited to a small community, maybe a few hundred people at most. Rarely did they need to accomodate outsiders.
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Comment on Indie Game Awards rescinds Clair Obscur's GOTY wins over use of generative AI [for now-removed background assets] in ~games
imperialismus Link ParentHere are the results of the StackOverflow developer survey for 2025. You can dig into the numbers yourself, but suffice to say that the majority of respondents say they do use AI in their...So I feel you may be taking Silicon Valley hype at face value a little too much.
Here are the results of the StackOverflow developer survey for 2025. You can dig into the numbers yourself, but suffice to say that the majority of respondents say they do use AI in their development process, including in writing code. Only a minority claim that they use AI to write "the majority" of code, but according to the strict interpretation, any use is grounds for disqualification. It only takes one dev, one line of code. Is that unreasonable? I think so, but that was my entire point.
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Comment on Indie Game Awards rescinds Clair Obscur's GOTY wins over use of generative AI [for now-removed background assets] in ~games
imperialismus Link ParentIt does matter, because the overall point of my whole comment is that the rule is unreasonable and unenforceable, and therefore should not exist, or should be interpreted in a less strict manner....That point doesn't matter
It does matter, because the overall point of my whole comment is that the rule is unreasonable and unenforceable, and therefore should not exist, or should be interpreted in a less strict manner. If I'm telling you the rules are unfair and unreasonable, it's not a counterargument to say that it's in the rules.
In the gaming space, we tend to use "generative AI" to refer to assets seen in game, not code. if "code generation" is a form of AI then no game since the 90's counts as "not using AI".
Large Language Models are AI that generate text. Whether the artificial neural network is trained on text to generate text or trained on images to generate images is not a relevant distinction. The same uproar would have happened if they shipped dialogue written by ChatGPT. I'm clearly not talking about code generation tools that existed in the 1990s. I'm talking about things like CoPilot or Claude Sonnet.
This is especially because most games these days are made on top of engines, and developers cannot control what code Epic/Unity/etc. chooses to make under the hood.
If the entire industry is built on top of the forbidden technique, time to pack it up or loosen the restrictions. Would it have mattered if the illegal assets were outsourced to a third party? Probably not. They were still part of the development process. Just like the engine is. You can always choose to develop your own game engine. It's just prohibitively expensive and time consuming to attempt to reinvent the wheel for an indie developer. It's not a reasonable ask, but it is the logical conclusion of strictly interpreting this rule. If you can't vouch for the non-AI-ness of every part of every tool ever used at any point in development, including dependencies, then you could be "lying" and therefore ineligible for the award.
We could have a reasonable conversation about the ethics of generative AI in video game development, but I don't think it can be had with an absolutist stance that has no concern for nuance, which cannot be enforced except through trust, and which requires making arbitrary distinctions about what counts and what doesn't count to justify.
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Comment on Indie Game Awards rescinds Clair Obscur's GOTY wins over use of generative AI [for now-removed background assets] in ~games
imperialismus LinkThis is a stupid publicity stunt. I'm sure at least some of the other winners and nominees also used AI in some part of the development process, even if none of it made it into the released...This is a stupid publicity stunt. I'm sure at least some of the other winners and nominees also used AI in some part of the development process, even if none of it made it into the released product. Not to mention how ubiquitous gen AI is becoming in programming, and most indie games rely on preexisting game engines like Unity and Unreal that almost certainly have some lines of code that were written with gen AI assistance. Is it only artists and not developers that matter? Or how about the fact that tools that human artists use like Photoshop or Blender plugins have AI powered features, which said artists may even use without being aware of it? Or how the asset markets associated with popular game engines are flooded with AI generated content which may or may not be properly labeled, and which is commonly used for early development builds until more final assets are created?
It's unenforceable symbol politics. This company actually admitted their mistake, stated clearly that it wasn't intended to be present in the released product, and corrected it almost immediately. They're being punished for honesty. The intent behind the opposition to use of gen AI is to protect human creative workers. How is fairly innocent intended-for-internal-alpha-only use in any way a detriment to artists? It doesn't remove jobs for human artists. If anything, it creates them.
What a joke.
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Comment on As a reindeer herder, I am watching Norwegian renewable energy projects threaten our land, livelihoods and an Indigenous way of life the state once tried to erase in ~enviro
imperialismus Link ParentIn the end, aesthetics is a subjective field. There's no Platonic ideal of beauty that we can discover using science or mathematics. That said, you have to consider the context. Next to a typical...In the end, aesthetics is a subjective field. There's no Platonic ideal of beauty that we can discover using science or mathematics. That said, you have to consider the context. Next to a typical factory building, sure, I can agree that a modern wind turbine is quite sleek-looking and elegant. However, people don't build them next to old mid-1900s concrete behemoth factory buildings. Or at least, they don't in Norway.
They're typically built on mountains and highland plateaus. Areas that are currently relatively untouched nature. Areas which people specifically seek out to experience nature that is relatively unspoiled by human activity. There's no way I can think of to make them blend into such a landscape while still having them be effective. We're talking 100+ meter tall structures in wilderness areas. They stick out of the landscape like a sore thumb. If you plop them down in Yosemite, or the depths of the Amazon, would you still consider them beautiful? I can't speak for you, or anyone else. But the common sentiment (at least in Norway) doesn't come from nowhere.
I'm generally positive to wind power. I've visited places like Denmark, which is extremely flat and very densely built, with very few true wilderness areas. I don't necessarily think the wind turbines there spoil the landscape, because the landscape wasn't wilderness to begin with. But in a very mountainous country like Norway, where you generally stick them on top of a mountain that used to be (visually) unspoiled by human activity? It's a different matter.
Episode 8 Spoilers
Yeah, the last two episodes were just one blunder after another. Ben and Adam were forced to waste almost an entire day traveling back through their own territory, not taking stations or gaining chips, while Sam and Mike were completely free and had a ton of options. The board was extremely favorable to them, and yet they seemed to play purely for the brilliant endgame rather than using the time to actually gain a lead. And then they chose to stall when time is running out as if they're in the lead.I do enjoy the fact that the team that won, was the won that basically circumnavigated the map, and also were the ones actually playing the objective (gaining stations) rather than setting up 4D chess moves while staying in one small quarter of the map. I mean, it would have been really cool if Sam's plan worked, but it seems unlikely it ever would have. I guess, as a viewer, I just like gameplay that is more concrete and not so theoretical. Same reason I hate it when some seasons end up devolving into people staring at phones looking at train schedules. It's not very engaging from a viewer perspective.
I really enjoyed Mike on this season, will definitely check out his solo work. But I do think by the last couple of in-game days, he was mostly following Sam's vibes. Sam seems to succeed best when he has a more level-headed partner who can push back when he overthinks things. Next season he's teaming up with Amy, so maybe that's when Adam's win streak gets broken.