lou's recent activity

  2. Comment on Spotify lowers artist royalties despite subscription price hike in ~music

    lou
    Link Parent
    I believe they were talking from the artists perspective.

    I believe they were talking from the artists perspective.

    17 votes

  3. Comment on Movie of the Week #26 - Aliens in ~movies

    lou
    Link
    I recently watched Alien and Aliens for the first time. My impression is that Alien (1979) is a masterpiece through and through with some of the best horror/suspense I ever saw. I love everything...

    I recently watched Alien and Aliens for the first time. My impression is that Alien (1979) is a masterpiece through and through with some of the best horror/suspense I ever saw. I love everything about it. Sigourney Weaver in her prime is quite a treat too.

    Cameron's Aliens in my opinion isn't horror, it is an action romp with grotesque elements. I can appreciate Cameron's genius in understanding the franchise's potential in that direction, but those movies scratch very different itches and I personally much prefer the slow build and psychological mood of the first.

    Aliens (1986) is an extremely enjoyable and brilliantly made action sci-fi. The original Alien is, to me, an universal masterpiece.

    6 votes

  4. Comment on Inside the Super Nintendo cartridges in ~games

    lou
    Link Parent
    Yep! That's basically me as a humanities and arts dude on Tildes a lot of the time :P If you have any questions, broad or specific, there are usually quite a few helpful compsci people watching...

    Yep! That's basically me as a humanities and arts dude on Tildes a lot of the time :P

    If you have any questions, broad or specific, there are usually quite a few helpful compsci people watching and willing to ELI5 ;)

    3 votes

  6. Comment on Fellow hardline materialists, how do you "enchant" the world? in ~talk

    lou
    (edited )
    Link
    I'm not a materialist myself, but I would venture that materialism is only "unmagical" if you have a very narrow notion of what matter is or can be. It would only take reading some Greg Egan to...

    I'm not a materialist myself, but I would venture that materialism is only "unmagical" if you have a very narrow notion of what matter is or can be. It would only take reading some Greg Egan to fix that. Or Greg Bear.

    When I read Blood Music, everywhere I looked I imagined bundles of cells doing all kinds of crazy shit. It was way more magical than any "magic" I could conceive. Remembering that book, it all comes back again!

    This is not entirely relevant, but, in philosophy, metaphysics is about the principles that govern reality. It isn't limited to the modern meaning of the word, which seems exclusively about the spiritual world.

    2 votes

  7. Comment on Have you had a life-altering change in who you are? in ~talk

    lou
    (edited )
    Link
    In the past two months, I realized that the person I considered my oldest and most loyal friend is a judgemental cunt that should have no place in my life. The "dossier" against him was built in...

    In the past two months, I realized that the person I considered my oldest and most loyal friend is a judgemental cunt that should have no place in my life. The "dossier" against him was built in my mind for the past 20 years or so. He is jealous and does not waste any chance to humiliate me and make me feel bad. He is egocentric, it seems that everything I do is only relevant in how it affects him. When I express my discontent, his only reaction is to make accusations. He never relaxes, is addicted to debating, and must always "win". That "friend" told me in no uncertain terms that I stole his ideas for my stories (I didn't). When I told him I would no longer discuss my writing with him, he was offended. How egocentric must one be to fail to understand the seriousness of an accusation of plagiarism to an aspiring writer? The fact that he expected me to forget about it is insane.

    Since I realized that person is no longer a friend, a lot of things are rearranging in my mind. Things I thought I had forgotten, like the way he treats his wife when he's drunk, and the day when he "jokingly" slapped her in the face in front of everyone. But also things about myself -- how much of my own personality was attached to that asshole? How many insults did I convince myself that were something else? How much of my self-image is intertwined with him? An insecure moralistic asshole that resorted to diminishing me in order to feel good about himself? Also, why does he only seem to be like that with me and another former friend who is also black?

    This is so much worse than ending a romantic relationship. My longer romantic relationship was 5 years! My "friendship" was 25! I look at the mirror and I don't know what I'm seeing. Every time I met him, it was like a fight to behave perfectly and avoid his harsh criticism. I now know that he is a bully, he was always a bully. I am free. That is exciting and scary.

    6 votes

  8. Comment on Online shopping - how convenient is it actually? in ~life.style

    lou
    (edited )
    Link
    I do find online shopping convenient. Most things I buy online are not sold in physical stores, and when they are sold near me they are overpriced and lacking options. I'm not even in a small town.

    I do find online shopping convenient. Most things I buy online are not sold in physical stores, and when they are sold near me they are overpriced and lacking options. I'm not even in a small town.

    3 votes

  9. Comment on Reasons why World of Warcraft private servers fail in ~games

    lou
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    My guess is that these pservers have their own customizations and fixes over the Blizzard client and providing it is a way to avoid issues. Some games run Vanilla on the Wrath client and such. So...

    My guess is that these pservers have their own customizations and fixes over the Blizzard client and providing it is a way to avoid issues.

    Some games run Vanilla on the Wrath client and such. So not exactly defaults.

    3 votes

  10. Comment on Reasons why World of Warcraft private servers fail in ~games

    lou
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Sure. I haven't encountered single server that does that.

    Sure. I haven't encountered single server that does that.

    2 votes

  11. Comment on Reasons why World of Warcraft private servers fail in ~games

    lou
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Private servers use Blizzard's assets, which are provided in the customized client they give out for players to download. Those are not replicated assets, they are extracted directly from...

    Private servers use Blizzard's assets, which are provided in the customized client they give out for players to download. Those are not replicated assets, they are extracted directly from Blizzard. That includes every single model, map, zone, etc. Not to mention music and sound effects. Private servers are in a fragile legal position regardless of the code.

    5 votes

  13. Comment on Looking for advice on replacing my motherboard in ~tech

  14. Comment on Looking for advice on replacing my motherboard in ~tech

    lou
    Link Parent
    I don't seem to find the exact same motherboard for a decent price. Do you think this one is pretty much the same as the Gigabyte B450M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard that I have? Its naming...

    I don't seem to find the exact same motherboard for a decent price. Do you think this one is pretty much the same as the Gigabyte B450M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard that I have? Its naming implies that it is a new version of that one.

    1 vote

  15. Comment on Looking for advice on replacing my motherboard in ~tech

    lou
    Link Parent
    That is very reasonable. Thanks!

    That is very reasonable. Thanks!

    2 votes

  16. Comment on Looking for advice on replacing my motherboard in ~tech

    lou
    Link Parent
    That's quite a bit beyond my abilities, but maybe I can find someone to help me out with that. Thanks ;)

    That's quite a bit beyond my abilities, but maybe I can find someone to help me out with that. Thanks ;)

    3 votes

  17. Looking for advice on replacing my motherboard

    ~tech Ask (advice)
    Back in 2022, Tildes helped me build my current PC (Thanks everyone!). Back then I knew that eventually I would have to replace my motherboard, which underwent corrosion and became unreliable. I...

    Back in 2022, Tildes helped me build my current PC (Thanks everyone!). Back then I knew that eventually I would have to replace my motherboard, which underwent corrosion and became unreliable. I never turn off or even put my PC to sleep because, otherwise, it won't turn on for hours. I'd like to change that. I'm pretty confident that is an issue with the motherboard, which underwent repairs before. Other components are much newer and my power source is top notch.

    Here's the machine on PC Part Picker. Should I just buy the same motherboard again? I mean, I don't have any complaints, I just happened to live by the sea back then, leading to premature failure. But it's still working. It's cheap, too.

    I might be up for a better processor, but price is a concern. What would be the next affordable step from what I have now? In any case, the CPU is rarely an issue for any of my tasks, and the only game I play that could use a more powerful processor is World of Warcraft, which I only play intermittently anyway. Maybe it isn't worth it.

    I'm getting a 1TB SSD, those seem to have gotten much cheaper since 2022!

    Because, unlike me, most Tildes users are in the US, Canada, and Europe, when taking prices into account, multiply them by 5 in your head to have a sense of what that expense means in my country.

    Thanks!

    7 votes

  18. Comment on Tildes Video Thread in ~misc

  19. Comment on How can I completely and permanently remove the ability to access the internet from a Debian derivative? in ~tech

    lou
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Probably not eBay (shipping usually costs more than the product, and import taxes are very high) but I might be capable of acquiring a cheap Chinese knock off on Ali Express if such a thing exists!

    Probably not eBay (shipping usually costs more than the product, and import taxes are very high) but I might be capable of acquiring a cheap Chinese knock off on Ali Express if such a thing exists!

  20. Comment on How can I completely and permanently remove the ability to access the internet from a Debian derivative? in ~tech

    lou
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Oh, I wouldn't wait for the perfect computer to start writing! I do wish improve my productivity but I'm writing already! To clarify, this is not main computer. I have a desktop from which nothing...

    Oh, I wouldn't wait for the perfect computer to start writing! I do wish improve my productivity but I'm writing already!

    To clarify, this is not main computer. I have a desktop from which nothing will be removed. The machine in question is an old, currently unused laptop.

    I considered using pencil and paper. I never did that before. Feels incredibly slow for my ADHD and I have terrible calligraphy. Sometimes I can't read myself.

    I went through every phase since an early age, but I really got into writing with a manual typewriter. I'm not a hipster, I'm just old. Later on I used different models of electric typewriters until I met the love of my life, the IBM Selectric. I progressed to Microsoft Word, which is when my writing process crystallized. I do not write fiction sequentially. I write all the parts that I need in whatever order they come. Only than I realize what belongs in the beginning, middle, or end.

    Essentially, I keep trying to achieve something that feels at once computer and typewriter. That must be the only Linux that doesn't really exist: a system that boots in 15 seconds to a completely self sufficient text editor -- and you can't easily access the rest of the system.

    That said, nothing prevents me from typing my handwritten manuscripts and reordering them as I please. It feels weird for the son of journalists to write without typing. But maybe that's just what I need. It's certainly cheaper than a typewriter!

    1 vote