j0hn1215's recent activity
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft: What do you want to see in the next season? in ~games
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft: What do you want to see in the next season? in ~games
j0hn1215 Link ParentYeah, I've always liked the idea of an acctually functioning village that still allows for safe villager trading. I've built a good sized one in single player, but it's hard to get something that...Yeah, I've always liked the idea of an acctually functioning village that still allows for safe villager trading. I've built a good sized one in single player, but it's hard to get something that looks natural but still works with villager mechanics.
Villagers are fickle creatures. They love to get stuck in holes, run off, and summon endless unneccesary iron golems. I have to run some tests, but I'm also pretty sure they won't always return to the same bed each day, which can make an RP villager village hard to maintain. -
Comment on Tildes Minecraft: What do you want to see in the next season? in ~games
j0hn1215 Link ParentWell, the idea of a sky map should be visible from underneath as well. Once you're on the nether roof, it'll look as if the overworld is hovering above you. It might also be possible to have holes...Well, the idea of a sky map should be visible from underneath as well. Once you're on the nether roof, it'll look as if the overworld is hovering above you. It might also be possible to have holes in the suspended map that could allow elytra flight above the map.
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft: What do you want to see in the next season? in ~games
j0hn1215 Link ParentMy two favorite, if impractical, nether roof map ideas: Build the map in the sky, say, 10-50 blocks up. One of the downsides last season was it could be difficult to tell it was a map, as it was...My two favorite, if impractical, nether roof map ideas:
- Build the map in the sky, say, 10-50 blocks up. One of the downsides last season was it could be difficult to tell it was a map, as it was hard to get a good vantage point on it.
Downsides:
- Elytra travel could prove difficult without accommodations depending on map roof height. If Elytra travel would become overly impaired, this idea is a no-go.
- And this one would be a tremendous amount of work both technical and in-game but, trying to make a 1:8 3D scale model of the overworld on the nether roof with a glass roof over it all to provide a view down into the mini-world. The vertical dimension could be stretched or squished (or trimmed) as desired. Walking atop it, one could see 1:8 scale mountains, valleys, large builds, etc. as if walking at build height in the overworld. Portals would be built on top of the glass roof.
Downsides:
- How would one go about creating a blueprint for such a build? In-game maps can only go so far, and I think you'd need access to the actual world code and then find a way to convert the level data in the same way that in-game maps do, but in 3D...
- The absolute nightmare that such a build would be to mobproof.
- Build the map in the sky, say, 10-50 blocks up. One of the downsides last season was it could be difficult to tell it was a map, as it was hard to get a good vantage point on it.
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft: What do you want to see in the next season? in ~games
j0hn1215 Link ParentAnd here I was balking at ~1.5 million blocks in a pyramid! (but that's only if I build the pyramid completely solid; but if I'm building another pyramid, I want to build an interior step...My city design so far will need approximately 5.5 million blocks
And here I was balking at ~1.5 million blocks in a pyramid! (but that's only if I build the pyramid completely solid; but if I'm building another pyramid, I want to build an interior step structure and then cover it with quartz.)
Have you considered using froglights to make a floor on the nether roof, then put carpets on top of them?
I thought that magma cubes spawn regardless of light level in basalt deltas?
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft: What do you want to see in the next season? in ~games
j0hn1215 LinkA few of my goals/ideas/ramblings on next season: At the beginning of the off season, I designed an improved furnace-block super smelter (16 furnaces, mostly silent, more even input, kelp...A few of my goals/ideas/ramblings on next season:
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At the beginning of the off season, I designed an improved furnace-block super smelter (16 furnaces, mostly silent, more even input, kelp farm/refinery/furnace all fitting in one chunk, toggled and animated fire texture for the big block). I need to revisit it and run some stress tests, but I'd need to build it in an area that was loaded often...and preferably super close to an established community storage.
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In the Ancient Egypt theme, albeit constructed about 2400 years after the old-kingdom build I did last season, I've been blocking out a scale replica of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, and I think it'd be a good centerpiece of a middle-eastern/central-asian themed villager village I'd like to build. (It also seems significantly easier than trying to build a full-sized bent pyramid, which I made in creative, but it's too big to reasonably build in survival)
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Actually build a village populated by (somewhat) free roaming villagers. That was my initial goal last season, and I finally got around to building the farmland for the village right about when the server sundown was announced (not a criticism of the mods, but a criticism of my adhd). I need to look into some more of the recent discoveries vis-à-vis villager pathfinding/AI hacking. RedLogic on Youtube has been doing some great things in the past few months.
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AFK. Still haven't worked a new design for an afk spot (and perhaps a new skin?), but I'll likely be offering my AFK services this season.
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Nether roof map art. I think it looked pretty cool last season, but I'm also pondering alternatives, but most run into mob-spawning issues or seem impractical. On maps, I'd love to get pristine maps of much of the overworld before much building occurs to have a kind of before-and-after map display somewhere.
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Comment on How to watch one of the year’s best meteor showers, the Geminids in ~space
j0hn1215 Link ParentDefinitely. It's not like the aurora that's heavily biased towards the poles. Some Geminids should be visible from pretty much everywhere except, perhaps, the south pole. Technicall best viewed...- Exemplary
Definitely. It's not like the aurora that's heavily biased towards the poles. Some Geminids should be visible from pretty much everywhere except, perhaps, the south pole. Technicall best viewed when the radiant (i.e. the constellation of Gemini) is directly overhead, but even at the equator, they should still put on a good show!
Some more technical info: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-geminid-meteor-shower/ -
Comment on Does anyone use Ground News? in ~talk
j0hn1215 LinkI'm interested in this as well. The concept seems great, and I've seen this advertised by a bunch of "content creators" I generally consider trustworthy, but I'm always hesitent to spend money...I'm interested in this as well. The concept seems great, and I've seen this advertised by a bunch of "content creators" I generally consider trustworthy, but I'm always hesitent to spend money based solely on sponsored content.
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Comment on Library exhibit brainstorming in ~tech
j0hn1215 LinkMy librarian sister once set up a " NYTConnections" themed display that challenged people to find the groups of 4. So, maybe something that links them together that also informs on...My librarian sister once set up a " NYTConnections" themed display that challenged people to find the groups of 4. So, maybe something that links them together that also informs on topics/themes/setting?
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Comment on Zork I, II, and III go open source in ~games
j0hn1215 LinkThese were some of my favorite computer games when I was very young. We'd all play together as a family to solve the puzzles. And, predictably, me and my siblings would argue on who would get to...These were some of my favorite computer games when I was very young. We'd all play together as a family to solve the puzzles. And, predictably, me and my siblings would argue on who would get to "drive" that day.
Heck, I've played more than a dozen D&D campaigns in the world of Quendor. I also have a 300 page printed binder of the entire history of the Zork world.
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Comment on Giant mirrors in space to reflect sunlight at night? No thank you, astronomers say. in ~space
j0hn1215 Link ParentAgreed. I feel like this is a bid for "Sunlight as a Service."Agreed. I feel like this is a bid for "Sunlight as a Service."
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Comment on What is your 'Subway Take'? in ~talk
j0hn1215 Link ParentBoth this and the patent comment I agree so much with. Senators were meant to be like Prime ministers, representing not the people, but the government of the states. The fact that there is no one...Both this and the patent comment I agree so much with. Senators were meant to be like Prime ministers, representing not the people, but the government of the states. The fact that there is no one in the federal government that represents the states themselves as an entity is one of the big reasons why the fed has been able to consolidate so much power and control. The entities that raise funds to support the federal government have no voice in said government.
If I could personally draft amendments:
-Repeal the 17th.
-Expand the House considerably
-Expand the supreme court, and have each case heard by a random 9 justices to avoid temporal judge shopping
-Hottest, and least thought out take: (Somehow) make a rule that disallows ANY political party from holding a majority in either chamber. This one would take a lot of work to figure out how to implement, but I beleive it's a national shame that an unelected group of party bigwigs can make descisions and 'whip' their members into action; it removes the entire purposes of the chambers as deliberative bodies if what gets passed is almost entirely decided in party congresses. -
Comment on Most people, even highly technical people, don't understand anything about AI in ~tech
j0hn1215 Link ParentCorrect me if I'm wrong, but the "AI" innovations in drug discovery, protein structures, and mathematical proofs have come from various machine learning techniques. I have not heard of any...Correct me if I'm wrong, but the "AI" innovations in drug discovery, protein structures, and mathematical proofs have come from various machine learning techniques. I have not heard of any substantive discoveries coming from an LLM or any of the current generative AIs.
New algorithms in all sorts of comp sci fields are being called "AI," but LLMs and GenAI seem to be exclusively useful in writing small programs in well documented languages, with a sufficient amount of sample code avaliable (ingested without permission, of course).
I doubt this was your intent, but it just rubs me the wrong way when it's implied that LLMs/GenAI have played any role in drug discovery or other interesting recent comp sci breakthroughs.
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Comment on Over twenty-one days of talking with ChatGPT, an otherwise perfectly sane man became convinced he was a superhero in ~tech
j0hn1215 Link ParentWhile I do agree with this regarding the importance of education, I think it's important to be extremely careful with arguments that can be misinterpreted as "some people don't really count as...While I do agree with this regarding the importance of education, I think it's important to be extremely careful with arguments that can be misinterpreted as "some people don't really count as people, and their ideas and opinions are inherantly less valuable than mine and people who think like me." I don't think this is the intent of what you posted, but it's super easy to have arguments like this slip into "those peoples wellbeing and lives have no value, and so they can be dismissed, or eliminated. "
Just food for thought. -
Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
j0hn1215 (edited )LinkMy current frivolous programming project has hit a snag due to a geometry problem. I'm writing some MATLAB code to determine at what date/times various sides of Egyptian pyramids were illuminated,...My current frivolous programming project has hit a snag due to a geometry problem.
I'm writing some MATLAB code to determine at what date/times various sides of Egyptian pyramids were illuminated, and by how much. Once I had sun vectors for each day at 5 minute intervals (Using Cartes du Ciel, which has good ephemera back several thousand years), the bulk of the work was done. But the issue comes in the edge cases, where the sun is only partially above the horizon, or partially above the "horizon" of that particular pyramid face.I need a function to determine the proportion of the sun's area shining on a face. Trouble is, the problem seems very different depending on whether the circle segments overlap some, overlap entirely, or don't overlap, and I'm not sure how to create an area function that is just a function of h1, h2, and theta (See diagram).
I feel like this should be straightforward, and I'm likely making it more complex than it needs to be. A numerical solution would be fine, too, but I have no idea how one would implement that in MATLAB.
Crudely drawn diagram of the three cases to better illustrate the problem.A silly project, but it gives me something to ponder when rocking a baby.
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft Hardcore - Live at 20:00 UTC today in ~games
j0hn1215 Link ParentYeah, my issue with sky rails is also aesthetic, but mostly on bluemap; Floating islands or your floating glass house always rendered oddly when viewed from a distance. And if we do use a rail...Yeah, my issue with sky rails is also aesthetic, but mostly on bluemap; Floating islands or your floating glass house always rendered oddly when viewed from a distance.
And if we do use a rail mod, we do want to make sure that it doesn't interfere with standard minecart tracks used in farms. I feel like added a copper powered rail (or similar) that boosts speed would be best, as minecarts would have strictly vanilla behavior unless you added a unique mod-added block.
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft Hardcore - Live at 20:00 UTC today in ~games
j0hn1215 Link ParentSo, I've been looking at some ice boat designs. One of my biggest issues with ice boats is that they're unable to go uphill without killing all momentum. I've tried water columns, slime block...So, I've been looking at some ice boat designs.
One of my biggest issues with ice boats is that they're unable to go uphill without killing all momentum. I've tried water columns, slime block launchers, and tripwire-activated pistons, and all of them rob some momentum.
Through my non-exhaustive search, my best solution is a chunk-long piston system that lifts you up a block. It's only a 4% grade, and a series of them can slow an ice boat down to about 16m/s (Still twice as fast as a standard minecart, though!). It does however also slow you down to that speed while going downhill.
Some obstacles to uphill travel:
-Being pushed up by a piston creates friction and slows the boat
-Bubble columns kill all forward momentum
-A blue ice boat at max speed moves about 7 blocks per redstone tick, so any device has to be fast
-Chunk loading can't be guaranteed on all computers at max ice boat speeds, so whatever uphill mechanism needs to function at slow and fast boat speeds.
-Most uphill moving mechanisms also slow down your boat when going downhill on the same track, which feels unnecessarily, and inefficient.I'd love to have fast overworld travel next season, but I'd like to have transport that can change y-level without a loss of efficiency.
Potential avenues of research:
-There might be something in slime-block launchers, but I don't have a lot of experience with them, and all my experiments fell flat.
-I know some racing servers have a mod for boats to climb 1 block ice inclines, and/or stairs and slabs
Any ideas out there for something to improve ice boat versatility? -
Comment on The hater's guide to the AI bubble in ~finance
j0hn1215 Link ParentThis is often my argument: LLMs are only useful at producing text that ultimately doesn't matter, so what's the point?This is often my argument: LLMs are only useful at producing text that ultimately doesn't matter, so what's the point?
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Comment on The hater's guide to the AI bubble in ~finance
j0hn1215 Link ParentI feel like a comparison to the printing press is exactly the type of thing this author is railing against. The reason the printing press was revolutionary is because it allowed the dissemination...- Exemplary
I feel like a comparison to the printing press is exactly the type of thing this author is railing against.
The reason the printing press was revolutionary is because it allowed the dissemination of new ideas, something that LLMs are structurally incapable of doing. LLMs can produce text that is strikingly similar to human writing. That's it. It cannot understand the ramifications of what it is writing, it cannot intentionally elicit an emotion in a reader, it cannot empathize with a reader, and it cannot contain a lived experience of the world in which we all live. It generates text that is statistically consistent with text a human could write, that's it.
Also, printers in that day printed cheap screed because it made them money; the main thrust of this article is that these companies are losing billions to produce generally useless text. The analogy would be apt if the printing press could only print cheap trash.
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Comment on Metronomy - The Most Immaculate Haircut (2014) in ~music
j0hn1215 LinkOh, man, I haven't thought about Metronomy in years. Pip Paine and Nights Out were two of my friend group's favorite albums in college! This song is a banger, too. Thanks for posting this!Oh, man, I haven't thought about Metronomy in years. Pip Paine and Nights Out were two of my friend group's favorite albums in college!
This song is a banger, too. Thanks for posting this!
Oh, and:
#6: Build a Spawned Inn as soon as is possible. A cozy spot adjacent to spawn to welcome new players, and serve as a respite should one find themselves finding themselves spawning back at worldspawn for some unfortunate reason.
I'd love to get something like this set up fairly early on, as such a structure is most useful at the outset of the season. So, I'd love some help in the idea/design/building part of the project if anyone would be interested!