kej's recent activity
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
kej LinkMy son found some old games installed on my laptop and has been enjoying 20 Small Mazes, which is a free collection of maze games that sounds dumb but is actually a really clever little puzzle...My son found some old games installed on my laptop and has been enjoying 20 Small Mazes, which is a free collection of maze games that sounds dumb but is actually a really clever little puzzle game. The developer's other two games (one free, one $5) are both good as well.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
kej Link ParentYou probably already know about this, but just in case or for anyone else, there is a plugin called Geyser that will let bedrock clients connect to a java server, which is nice if you want to...You probably already know about this, but just in case or for anyone else, there is a plugin called Geyser that will let bedrock clients connect to a java server, which is nice if you want to support both types of clients.
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Comment on Elon Musk net worth estimated at $1.1 trillion in ~finance
kej LinkI'm reminded of this story/poem by Kurt Vonnegut, originally from The New Yorker:I'm reminded of this story/poem by Kurt Vonnegut, originally from The New Yorker:
True story, Word of Honor:
Joseph Heller, an important and funny writer
now dead,
and I were at a party given by a billionaire
on Shelter Island.
I said, “Joe, how does it make you feel
to know that our host only yesterday
may have made more money
than your novel ‘Catch-22’
has earned in its entire history?”
And Joe said, “I’ve got something he can never have.”
And I said, “What on earth could that be, Joe?”
And Joe said, “The knowledge that I’ve got enough.”
Not bad! Rest in peace! -
Comment on Write your own virtual machine in ~comp
kej LinkThanks for this; I wanted to read more about VM implementation after reading about this other minimal virtual machine earlier today: https://100r.co/site/uxn.html It's interesting how much you can...Thanks for this; I wanted to read more about VM implementation after reading about this other minimal virtual machine earlier today: https://100r.co/site/uxn.html
It's interesting how much you can get out of such simple building blocks.
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Comment on What are your gaming idiosyncracies? in ~games
kej LinkI have a very difficult time playing games out of order. Baldur's Gate 3 might be amazing but I have to finish 1 and 2 before I can even look at it.I have a very difficult time playing games out of order. Baldur's Gate 3 might be amazing but I have to finish 1 and 2 before I can even look at it.
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Comment on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – Nintendo Direct 6.9.2026 in ~games
kej Link ParentThe fourth or fifth time I bought the original Legend of Zelda was about when I decided to primarily switch to PC gaming and not feel too bad about emulating consoles.The fourth or fifth time I bought the original Legend of Zelda was about when I decided to primarily switch to PC gaming and not feel too bad about emulating consoles.
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Comment on Updates to store tags: additions, removals, and edits in ~games
kej Link ParentI agree that it would be nice to have this built-in, but in case you're not already following them there is a curator for 5+ player games:...I agree that it would be nice to have this built-in, but in case you're not already following them there is a curator for 5+ player games: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/11707935-More-Than-4-Local-Multiplayer/
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Comment on Pizza Hut reinstating the BOOK IT! program in ~books
kej LinkAt least locally Barnes & Noble also has a very generous summer reading program. You could potentially get free books and free pizza.At least locally Barnes & Noble also has a very generous summer reading program. You could potentially get free books and free pizza.
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Comment on The Dealer's Tarot - Modern games to play with a tarot deck in ~games.tabletop
kej Link ParentFunny coincidence, I received my copy of The Dealer's Tarot in the mail just yesterday. I went down a rabbit hole of alternative card games a while back and landed on the wikipedia page for tarot...Funny coincidence, I received my copy of The Dealer's Tarot in the mail just yesterday. I went down a rabbit hole of alternative card games a while back and landed on the wikipedia page for tarot card games. I haven't had a chance to play any of the games yet, but they seem well designed. I also think Level 99 did a good job with the accompanying decks they are offering, since most divination-style decks aren't very convenient to play with (they usually don't put the suit and number in the corner, making it hard to fan your hand and see everything at a glance). I still might pick up this deck because I like the Rider Waite artwork even if I'm not a reading cards person.
My dream is to one day develop a card-based TTRPG system, and I hadn't thought of using Tarot before but may have to consider it.
You should check out Everway, a weird RPG system from the 1990s where decisions were made based on the cards. They used custom decks where the imagery was supposed to inspire the storytelling, but something similar using a tarot deck would be a neat idea.
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Comment on What is your go-to project for learning a new language? in ~comp
kej Link ParentThis phrasing makes it seem like Swedish accounting differs significantly from other accounting. Is that the case, or am I reading too much into your word choice?I did a parser for Swedish accounting data
This phrasing makes it seem like Swedish accounting differs significantly from other accounting. Is that the case, or am I reading too much into your word choice?
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Comment on US senator to introduce bill aimed at ending sports blackouts, making games easier to watch for fans in ~sports
kej LinkI'm generally in favor of anything that shifts power from big corporations to individual consumers, but at this moment in history this bill feels an awful lot like panem et circenses.I'm generally in favor of anything that shifts power from big corporations to individual consumers, but at this moment in history this bill feels an awful lot like panem et circenses.
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Comment on What is your go-to project for learning a new language? in ~comp
kej LinkThere is a 1978 book called Etudes for Programmers (overview here, but you can find a full PDF pretty easily) that has a bunch of problems that most software developers think they can solve, but...There is a 1978 book called Etudes for Programmers (overview here, but you can find a full PDF pretty easily) that has a bunch of problems that most software developers think they can solve, but that most software developers have never actually sat down and solved. Things like simulating Conway's Game of Life, or a basic accounting system, or the AI for a simple board game.
I've only done a few of them, but they feel more satisfying than some of the Advent of Code/Project Euler puzzles, although I enjoy those quite a bit as well.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
kej Link ParentJust chiming in to make sure you know about Standard Ebooks. They take the transcriptions from Project Gutenberg (and others) and clean up the typography but keep the same free price tag. Worth...Just chiming in to make sure you know about Standard Ebooks. They take the transcriptions from Project Gutenberg (and others) and clean up the typography but keep the same free price tag. Worth checking them first before getting the Gutenberg versions, in my experience.
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Comment on Nvim 0.12 released in ~comp
kej Link ParentWhether they'll ever reach it is an open question, but there are plans for a Neovim 1.0 release.Whether they'll ever reach it is an open question, but there are plans for a Neovim 1.0 release.
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Comment on TV series suggestions in ~tv
kej LinkMy wife and I have both enjoyed Only Murders in the Building and A Man on the Inside lately.My wife and I have both enjoyed Only Murders in the Building and A Man on the Inside lately.
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Comment on Does anyone have experience exchanging actual letters with a pen pal? in ~talk
kej LinkAs a teenager in an AOL chat room I met someone who claimed to be a girl from California and actually turned out to be a girl from California. We would chat online almost daily, and then when I...As a teenager in an AOL chat room I met someone who claimed to be a girl from California and actually turned out to be a girl from California. We would chat online almost daily, and then when I was leaving to work at summer camp I gave her the camp address in case she wanted to write, and ended up exchanging a bunch of letters back and forth. We became pretty good friends, as far as online things go, over the next few years. She lamented her unrequited love for a male friend of hers, I told her about my unrequited love for a female friend of mine. We were pretty high on each other's list of people to tell about any major life events, both good and bad.
Eventually we kind of drifted apart, and the mass exodus from AOL didn't help with that. We talked once a few years later, and she told me that the night before her wedding she had sent me a long email, but it had gone to my old and unchecked AOL address and I never saw it, nor did she tell me what it had said. I looked her up on Facebook recently and sent a friend request, but after the initial "what have you been up to?" chat there hasn't really been a reason to keep the conversation going. I guess sometimes the past is supposed to stay in the past.
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Comment on Zachtronics returns from retirement to release an add-on for Opus Magnum in ~games
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Comment on Zachtronics returns from retirement to release an add-on for Opus Magnum in ~games
kej Link ParentSort of tangential, but there's a great talk by Guy Steele (co-creator of the Scheme programming language who went on to do a lot of work on Java) called Growing a Language, and his point is that...Sort of tangential, but there's a great talk by Guy Steele (co-creator of the Scheme programming language who went on to do a lot of work on Java) called Growing a Language, and his point is that a good programming language starts small but makes it easy to add things as complexity grows. (It starts slowly, but watch the whole thing and you'll understand why. It's a really good presentation.)
I think that ability to add things is what is missing from a lot of the Zachtronics games and the zach-like genre as a whole. Instead of solving a small problem and then being able to use that solution in the more complex ones, you end up having to repeat the small solution and add the larger solution at the same time, which makes it a lot harder to keep all the complexity in your head.
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Comment on Let's talk about tropes! in ~books
kej Link ParentI'm just going to invite myself into this branch of the conversation to say that I would like to hear more about the distinction.I was mostly using "trope" and "cliche" as synonyms, but there is a distinction. It wasn't my goal to hash that out, but we could if that interests you
I'm just going to invite myself into this branch of the conversation to say that I would like to hear more about the distinction.
On the off chance that you're not aware, they went back and made an expansion for Opus Magnum a few months ago. It's been a while since I played Opus Magnum so the expansion has me back at the "what on earth is happening?" stage, but it's been fun working through those sorts of puzzles again.