joshtransient's recent activity
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Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
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Comment on Recommend me music similar to that of Tool? in ~music
joshtransient LinkWheel - long, proggy songs. vocalist sounds a little like Maynard Karnivool - less on-the-nose for a Tool comparison but definitely ticks the checkboxes for wall of sound plus interesting drums i...- Wheel - long, proggy songs. vocalist sounds a little like Maynard
- Karnivool - less on-the-nose for a Tool comparison but definitely ticks the checkboxes for wall of sound plus interesting drums
- i know this might sound a little nuts but some newer Chevelle songs sound like Undertow b-sides
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Comment on putt.day — a daily hole of mini golf in ~games
joshtransient Linki've been playing this one off and on for about six weeks now. here are my impressions: there are occasional, truly fun and wacky courses. y-axis changes, ramps, warps, speed boosts,...i've been playing this one off and on for about six weeks now. here are my impressions:
- there are occasional, truly fun and wacky courses. y-axis changes, ramps, warps, speed boosts, loop-de-loops, etc. i believe these courses are all the community designed ones and the rest (especially the aforementioned "pointless right angles") are algorithm-generated
- …i have admittedly rage quit about 1 in 5 of these because some are straight diabolical, or it's impossible to know which warps go where so you have to restart a lot
- …have not tried to create a community course myself.
- most of the time, the random right angle courses will wrap around on themselves, allowing you to jump the wall if the neighboring space is narrow enough, which leads directly into…
- 100% agree on poor physics. the bounce angles are bad, and just because i hit into a curved corner doesn't mean that curve is magnetic
- i've overshot the last putt about 50% of the time. it really just wants you to tap it in
- controls all around are questionable. overview sometimes doesn't get the entire course
of course, it's free and you do get a community course once in a while, and it's still kinda fun (especially to take the jump shortcuts despite poor design) and a little dumb. it's a nice daily game palate cleanser. like, ok, i've accessed my brain's cache of five letter words for the 1700th day in a row - i would like a break, please.
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Comment on iOS 14 and earlier will seemingly stop getting App Store app updates in 2027 in ~tech
joshtransient Linkdo you upload to the jailbreak stores? i would assume that a strong reason for people to stay on older versions (besides older hardware) is jailbreak ability.do you upload to the jailbreak stores? i would assume that a strong reason for people to stay on older versions (besides older hardware) is jailbreak ability.
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Comment on iOS 14 and earlier will seemingly stop getting App Store app updates in 2027 in ~tech
joshtransient Link ParentApple does push security updates for older version of iOS when the vulns are serious enough. 15+ got updates this past mayApple does push security updates for older version of iOS when the vulns are serious enough. 15+ got updates this past may
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Comment on Albums based on a recurring musical phrase in ~music
joshtransient LinkThe Ocean - Pelagial (2013) has several reprises of a noteworthy phrase on guitarThe Ocean - Pelagial (2013) has several reprises of a noteworthy phrase on guitar
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Comment on What are your personal crackpot conspiracy theories about the world right now? in ~talk
joshtransient Link Parentthe number of times i've used <unnamed authenticator app with a push code> and i got 69? too many. capital-T They know they're pushing a code to a grown human with a juvenile brain.the number of times i've used <unnamed authenticator app with a push code> and i got 69? too many. capital-T They know they're pushing a code to a grown human with a juvenile brain.
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Comment on What are your personal crackpot conspiracy theories about the world right now? in ~talk
joshtransient Linkthe toilet paper industry has a stranglehold on building contractors to keep bidets out of North America. think about it, man!the toilet paper industry has a stranglehold on building contractors to keep bidets out of North America. think about it, man!
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Comment on When did your preferred fighting game franchises peak? in ~games
joshtransient Linkall fighting games peaked with Divekick.all fighting games peaked with Divekick.
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Comment on Di.gg AI preview in ~tech
joshtransient Linki have some very mixed feelings about this. ugh. rss has been my "follow" for years. rss means marking stuff as read, which means eventually i will run out of stuff to read. i like it that way as...i have some very mixed feelings about this. ugh.
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rss has been my "follow" for years. rss means marking stuff as read, which means eventually i will run out of stuff to read. i like it that way as it reduces doomscrolling for me, which is a feature-not-a-bug for twitter.
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i tried to "do" twitter several times. signal-to-noise ratio always made me give it up. i do miss "weird twitter", felt like being in a stand up club, just hearing people yell out jokes to see which ones were good enough for a full set.
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i know that there is a lot of valuable knowledge and many smart people still on twitter for the reach, having really good discussions that need to be had. some even hopeful.
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i agree wholeheartedly with Brennan Lee Mulligan's "defend elon musk" bit for Game Changer. i want to give zero clicks or impressions to any domain connected to twitter or xAI.
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it would be nice for a mechanism to siphon the good discussions away from the troll bots, porn accounts (not judging, just don't want to see those in a news feed), disinformation, etc.
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the home page i looked at today felt like a copy-paste of hackernews, for which i already have an app (although as mentioned earlier in another comment, slop is regularly at the top of HN with lots of engagement).
i would like to check back in a few months and see if their whole "cluster" idea can be expanded to get past the same tech and world news links i see across most platforms already.
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Comment on Which Linux distro do you use, and why? in ~tech
joshtransient Link Parent+1. This is the only combo that helps my laptop with weird ACPI hibernation issues sleep for a week or more out of the box. I fought against KDE's complexity for a while but I decided built in...+1. This is the only combo that helps my laptop with weird ACPI hibernation issues sleep for a week or more out of the box. I fought against KDE's complexity for a while but I decided built in settings and plugins beat out Gnome extensions/tweaks that may break at any update. I don't really use any KDE specific apps other than its file manager. My only complaint is how often it updates. Feels like I'm having to download 10GB+ per week with about ten apps installed (2x flatpaks). Really stable otherwise.
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Comment on TV Tuesdays Free Talk in ~tv
joshtransient Linkmany years ago, i watched The 100 through season 6, but felt it was going off the rails with new location, more sci-fi stuff, so i never finished it. did a full rewatch and closed it out...many years ago, i watched The 100 through season 6, but felt it was going off the rails with new location, more sci-fi stuff, so i never finished it. did a full rewatch and closed it out yesterday.
good: flips the standard CW drama formula on its head in the first few episodes. excellent world building. great battle choreography and costume design. good mysteries without it being a mystery box show. character development is off the charts for those with plot armor, save for one or two baffling decisions at the end. exquisitely gray-area decision making.
meh: pacing and constant fights/wars started by temper tantrums. lack of explanation why 20-somethings are allowed to make decisions for hundreds of people including adults and elders, including leading them to starvation, death, etc.
bad (imo): the last few episodes introduced an entirely new (previously theoretical) deus ex machina into the mix, which wraps up everything very quickly. probably had to be done because the show was ending but wish they would've spent more time on this new party rather than 1.5 seasons worth of blind "where did this person go, i must rescue them" side plots. waaay too many Twenty-One Pilots needle drops.
would recommend for fans of post-apocalyptic fiction. grows the beard by the early season 2.
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Comment on Tell me about your favourite web-based logic puzzles! in ~games
joshtransient Link ParentI want to love Rogule, but RNG is proper random and some days are not winnable. I rarely had a 10+ day streak.I want to love Rogule, but RNG is proper random and some days are not winnable. I rarely had a 10+ day streak.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
joshtransient Link Parentmade me spit out my water. thank you for that. i will never beat Nyleth (silk issue), and i'm grateful for the heartbreaking end to Green Prince's story that will allow me to bypass that boss. now...absolute CBT that is act 3
made me spit out my water. thank you for that. i will never beat Nyleth (silk issue), and i'm grateful for the heartbreaking end to Green Prince's story that will allow me to bypass that boss. now if only i could summon calm during Karmelita phase 3…
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Comment on Games: Your personal year in review for 2025 in ~games
joshtransient Linkthis was the year of Death Stranding for me. i picked it up for iOS at the end of 2024 just because i thought it was technically impressive (and to justify my xmas present to myself, a Backbone...this was the year of Death Stranding for me. i picked it up for iOS at the end of 2024 just because i thought it was technically impressive (and to justify my xmas present to myself, a Backbone controller). after making it past the "tutorial" area, it really just made me want to play it on a big screen, so i put 60 hours in shortly after new year's. 5-starring first prepper and veteran porter were 10 hours on their own!
of course DS2 came out mid-year, and i did back-to-back playthroughs starting on regular and bumping up to very hard difficulty, which kept me busy all summer. when i decided to be finished, i celebrated by recycling all my gear, save for boots, and walked from Sydney-ish, to Perth-ish, back through the portal, and back home to Sam's shelter. i tend to min max my routes and that was the first time i really just walked and appreciated the landscape.
a week ago, a friend i've been begging to play the first one finally committed so…i started a new DS1 run the next day.
i never got into Metal Gear Solid although i am aware of most of the tropes, twists, and general facts via cultural osmosis, so DS was my first Kojima game, and i found it incredibly surreal. the attention to detail, the world building, the straight up wackiness, the 4th-wall breaking, the emotion that one can generate from a piece of media dismissed by some as a walking simulator…it all hits just right in a way that few other games have for me.
for any existing fans of the series, the most fascinating bit of my playthroughs was my second DS2 run, where i also turned off all social features. don't get me wrong - i love when the social strand system puts a good chunk of resources into a road, or drops someone's zip line or vehicle charger exactly where i need it. however, DS2's soundtrack and immediate access to the music player was ruined for me every time i passed through the signs people love to place going into a distro center, or on a built road. so a very hard run, plus i had to build out my own infrastructure was an excellent challenge.
however, it made playing the game feel less like i was part of the world and more a traditional 1P game "hero" type. like i couldn't unburden myself with the game, like i was truly alone instead of sharing it with my fellow PS5 owners. i really enjoy experiencing it all through the tiny interactions like the mushrooms marking…uh…"claimed" territory (or maybe you just wanted to make a clingy BT disappear!) or the shared lockers having just the right gear/materials when i need them.
so here i go again with DS1, dragging my buddy along who gets legit paranoid at some of the more cinematic BT sequences, just so i can relive it with him and get him to the more cozy parts like drop-kicking MULEs and soaking in a hot spring with BB.
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Comment on Zen browser / chrome alternatives in ~tech
joshtransient LinkZen was my daily driver for about 4-5 months, and I can appreciate how it operates for Arc refugees. When they started making workspaces something you couldn't turn off, I bailed. Personally, I...Zen was my daily driver for about 4-5 months, and I can appreciate how it operates for Arc refugees. When they started making workspaces something you couldn't turn off, I bailed. Personally, I just want de-bloated, hardened Firefox sans AI, which is what Librewolf is. Been using it all year with no complaints.
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Comment on NATO alphabet in ~talk
joshtransient Linkas a general rule, i believe NOGO words should generally be short so you can still rattle them off as quickly as NATO phonetic. some ideas to get the party started: anything that's a homonym with...as a general rule, i believe NOGO words should generally be short so you can still rattle them off as quickly as NATO phonetic. some ideas to get the party started:
- anything that's a homonym with a different starting letter e.g., eye/i
- any word whose first phoneme could go either way but is probably not the expected one e.g., phone, kraken, choir
- words that are numbers e.g., six. "eight and "one" are double-trouble for above reasons
- i appreciate culture-appropriate slang thrown in there. super troopers (2002) used peanut, munich, tijuana
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Comment on Cell phone advice in ~tech
joshtransient Link Parentdo you feel like it's rugged enough to not use a case? can you say if the xcover without a case is bulkier or less bulky than a typical galaxy or iphone from the last few years with a case?do you feel like it's rugged enough to not use a case? can you say if the xcover without a case is bulkier or less bulky than a typical galaxy or iphone from the last few years with a case?
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Comment on Dinoblade demo now available on Steam in ~games
joshtransient Link Parent…or Dinosouls.…or Dinosouls.
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Comment on What ridiculous thing would you spend billions on? in ~talk
joshtransient Linkthis is very personal to me and i'm very late to this convo, but. the original TV run of Daria had a Very Nineties soundtrack that was actual cuts of real bands' songs. however, for every digital...this is very personal to me and i'm very late to this convo, but.
the original TV run of Daria had a Very Nineties soundtrack that was actual cuts of real bands' songs. however, for every digital release of the series, due to licensing restrictions, a generic "90s ish" soundtrack was created, which straight up doesn't work for several episodes' key segments. i would blow close to all of my billions on buying out all bands for a one-time mass license rights buyout so a proper digital release with the correct music is available to all.
for those who don't want to wait for me to make a billion dollars, the Daria Restoration Project exists, and is built from hardcore preservationists (heroes) that spliced VHS versions of the audio into the digital video releases.
sociopaths make for fascinating, frustrating character studies. Nathan was a perfect choice for this because he's not afraid to sit with cringe…he's empowered by it. Holmes's muppet-like stare and plastic smile are the yin to Billy's aggressive conman-techbro yang. examining this bizarre relationship is a treat, with Nathan's deadpan honest interview style bringing humor and levity to the absurdity. very glad i saw this at the theater for the gigantic close-ups, although it was exhausting playing facial-cue detective for nearly three hours.
if you've seen the trailer, that will give you a solid idea of what the first half covers. in true Nathan fashion, several hard pivots to the film's focus occur after Holmes reports to prison. IMO all of these pay off very well because they each feed into the through-line of narrative manipulation. you will not walk away from this having any greater or clearer understanding of who really knows what, to include yourself. you will definitely mutter "what in the fuuuuck" to yourself as the credits roll.
the cinematography is superb. it feels like this was filmed the same way newer fiction is framed/color-graded/lit to underscore just how unreal the entire narrative feels.