LumaBop's recent activity
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Comment on What game are you terrible at? in ~games
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Comment on What game are you terrible at? in ~games
LumaBop LinkDespite my general love of other Smash games, and platform fighters in general, I cannot play Super Smash Bros Melee, much to my chagrin. I think, because I grew up on SSB Brawl and later games, I...Despite my general love of other Smash games, and platform fighters in general, I cannot play Super Smash Bros Melee, much to my chagrin. I think, because I grew up on SSB Brawl and later games, I am far too accustomed to input buffering systems that are more forgiving compared to the precision required by Melee. I find the lack of an input buffer makes it feel like Melee always misses my inputs, or is somehow ‘sticky’. Add on that you cannot disable the ‘up’ input on the control stick being used for jump, a convention familiar in other fighting games but eschewed in modern platform fighters, I just find it really hard to control the characters in Melee. Naturally this is very dissatisfying to me as I consider myself something of a platform fighting game aficionado - I ought to be able to play the definitive game in the genre. But unfortunately I don’t have the time I once did to really dig my teeth into the game and develop the right muscle memory, so it seems Melee will remain something of a white whale for me.
I can also add on League of Legends, despite logging over 2000 hours in the lifetime of my account, I peaked Silver. Blame this on the general game design that makes growing as a player really tough, plus an off and on relationship with the game over the more than a decade I have been involved with it.
Finally I’ll also mention Valorant and Counter-Strike. I was really bummed out when a few friends of mine got really into these games and got good, as I could never have fun playing with them because I’m basically not very good at shooters.
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Comment on "Heartbreak mode" versus "Cosy mode" in ~tildes
LumaBop Link ParentSomething I’ve been learning in the past year is that thinking about things too much can be a problem - there is a time to think and reflect, and there is a time to act and do. It seems that many...But it seems that confirmation of that may have put a lot of people into Heartbreak mode, even though nothing's really changed; I have to hope it'll cool off relatively quickly.
Something I’ve been learning in the past year is that thinking about things too much can be a problem - there is a time to think and reflect, and there is a time to act and do.
It seems that many people were just using Tildes and not thinking about it too much, and Deimos’ announcement has caused a lot of people to start thinking more about the site itself and its future. It’s almost become a memetic hazard at this point, as people thinking about it leads to more posts on the topic, then more people read the posts and think about it and reply and think about it more… but those posts and discussions are not necessarily healthy for the site (people in general don’t come to social media to talk about the platform itself, if there’s too much self-reflective discussion people will stop engaging/leave, the community getting smaller reinforces the “bad” interaction patterns as more people transition from cosy mode to heartbreak mode. And so forth).
Unfortunately the cat is rather out of the bag at this point so we will just have to see if it becomes a real issue or not. Hopefully not! I was very happy in cosy mode (although I didn’t know it at the time) and hope to return ASAP.
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Comment on Is there any interest in building a Tildes successor? in ~tildes
LumaBop Link ParentRegardless of the specific points I 100% agree that the Reddit approach to user-led communities has big problems. And that isn’t what I was suggesting. I think it would be interesting to see if...Regardless of the specific points I 100% agree that the Reddit approach to user-led communities has big problems. And that isn’t what I was suggesting. I think it would be interesting to see if there is a way to take a less laissez-faire approach to it, where new communities require approval, and only people with a proven track record can moderate a community. I’m not saying that magically solves all the problems, I am just interested if there is a middle ground here.
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Comment on Is there any interest in building a Tildes successor? in ~tildes
LumaBop Link ParentOh absolutely - the point would be to enable the site to scale batter than Tildes has, but with some mind to keeping it sustainable. Which I have seen some people saying they would want, but...Oh absolutely - the point would be to enable the site to scale batter than Tildes has, but with some mind to keeping it sustainable. Which I have seen some people saying they would want, but clearly not everyone wants that! I think it would be neat though.
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Comment on Is there any interest in building a Tildes successor? in ~tildes
LumaBop Link ParentI think at least one interesting angle for a Tildes successor would be to try to make user-led sub-communities work, and thereby facilitate better scalability than Tildes. In my head I imagine a...I think at least one interesting angle for a Tildes successor would be to try to make user-led sub-communities work, and thereby facilitate better scalability than Tildes.
In my head I imagine a system whereby sufficiently reputable users could suggest new groups, which is approved by site mods could be created with the suggesting user becoming an organiser for that group. You can build up a pyramid of trust where group organisers primarily moderate their own groups, but are monitored and held to account by the (more highly trusted) site mods, who in turn a held to account by site admins / a BDFL.
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Comment on Is there any interest in building a Tildes successor? in ~tildes
LumaBop LinkIn short yes. But there are caveats. First, I hadn’t seen Deimos’ other comment that you linked to elsewhere in the thread. It does indeed sound like his view is to allow the site to gradually...In short yes. But there are caveats.
First, I hadn’t seen Deimos’ other comment that you linked to elsewhere in the thread. It does indeed sound like his view is to allow the site to gradually wind down. And that is a shame because I really love Tildes, it’s by far my most used “social” platform (really the only one I use).
Imo what makes Tildes great is its community, and I believe a good successor would be one which curates a similar social experience. I think it’s plausible you could scale it a bit larger, but it would be detrimental to let it grow too fast or too large. I feel like you could reasonably try to maintain a similar culture at 10x the size of Tildes, but 100x would probably push you over into something else. And that would demand both a very deliberate approach to moderation (as exists here) as well a mind towards what features you do or don’t include - for example one that comes to mind that one might think to add to a Tildes successor is image posts or images in replies, but I think Tildes focus on text-based discussion is crucial, and adding such a feature would not only miss the point but encourage/allow the wrong type of interactions.
I have relevant technical expertise that means I could help to run such a site, and the will to do so. I think the really question is whether or not now is the right time to set up a “new Tildes” when there’s nothing essentially wrong with the current one. Also, if it was a goal to encourage a significant portion of current Tildes users to move to a new site, I think it would benefit strongly from some continuity in the form of existing Tildes moderators being involved. I find that not entirely likely however (I’m sure people are busy enough as it is).
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Comment on Being well prepared makes me feel 😌 in ~life
LumaBop Link ParentThat’s a great story! Hopefully you can inspire your nephew to take a similarly can-do and selfless attitude. Imagine how great it would be if even a small fraction of people had the will and...That’s a great story! Hopefully you can inspire your nephew to take a similarly can-do and selfless attitude. Imagine how great it would be if even a small fraction of people had the will and capacity to fix just one or two broken objects they come across in their daily lives, even very occasionally. “It is harder to create than to destroy” etc.
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Comment on Being well prepared makes me feel 😌 in ~life
LumaBop Link ParentYour pouch sounds awesome! I’ve known a few people over the years who would carry around all many of curious multi-tool gadgets, though I’ve never taken to it myself (I wish I lived an interesting...Your pouch sounds awesome! I’ve known a few people over the years who would carry around all many of curious multi-tool gadgets, though I’ve never taken to it myself (I wish I lived an interesting enough life to randomly need a screwdriver or the like). Except of course I have a multi-tool in my bike’s saddlebag (along with a tire patch kit, naturally).
I haven’t been fortunate enough to witness a solar eclipse before, this was great! It was near-total for me (about 95%) - I was surprised that it still wasn’t that dark even at the peak! (But in hindsight I suppose it makes some sense, 5% of the sun’s light is still a lot.) I hope I’ll see a full on total eclipse one day, but the next time it will happen here in the UK is apparently around 2080, so while I expect I’ll live to see it I hope I can witness one elsewhere sooner!
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Comment on Being well prepared makes me feel 😌 in ~life
LumaBop Link ParentYes absolutely organisation is critical. That’s one reason I’m still using a really old and tired backpack, because I love its interior layout and pockets (and it’s tough, so although it looks a...Yes absolutely organisation is critical. That’s one reason I’m still using a really old and tired backpack, because I love its interior layout and pockets (and it’s tough, so although it looks a bit worn it’s still totally robust).
Do you have a particular umbrella or is it just a random small one? I find the smaller they are, the less robust they are. My main umbrella on the go is a Blunt Metro which I’ve found to be really durable and perform well in windy conditions, which is at least in part because it has one fewer hinge in each arm compared to most umbrellas… of course that means folded it isn’t as small as they can get.
I only just discovered that the same company recently launched a new smaller umbrella design, I may have to investigate… but if you have a recommendation for a solid, tiny umbrella I would be very curious!
I also use a small cardholder in place of a wallet, but usually I just don’t even carry a wallet at all most of the time.
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Comment on Being well prepared makes me feel 😌 in ~life
LumaBop Link ParentOh yeah, I do this too! I have an incredibly tiny packable raincoat I keep in my work backpack. It won’t keep my dry if it comes tipping down, but saves me in a pinch!Oh yeah, I do this too! I have an incredibly tiny packable raincoat I keep in my work backpack. It won’t keep my dry if it comes tipping down, but saves me in a pinch!
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Being well prepared makes me feel 😌
I have often wondered if I over prepare - if I have a tendency to carry too many things with me “just in case”. I aspire to minimalism, but I definitely fail to achieve it in practice. Indeed,...
I have often wondered if I over prepare - if I have a tendency to carry too many things with me “just in case”. I aspire to minimalism, but I definitely fail to achieve it in practice. Indeed, it’s not rare for me to go on holiday and pack several items of clothes for situations which do not materialise, or simply to realise that I’ve been carrying some item in my backpack every day for several months while never using it.
Well, today I was very happy to have a random item in my backpack that had been sitting there unused for god-knows how long.
European Tilderinos are likely also looking forward to the imminent near-total solar eclipse. I‘ve been really looking forward to it, and my partner and I had made plans to rendezvous at a park in our city after to work view it. But as I go to leave work, I realise: (minor) disaster! I am an optically-impaired person (I need glasses), but since I did not put on my contact lenses this morning, I will have to wear my eclipse-goggles over my spectacles! What a fool I will appear to everyone else at the park!
…and then I remembered: I almost always make sure to have a spare pair of contact lenses in my most-used bags (I wear dailies, so it’s cheap to set a small handful of pairs aside for this purpose) such that if I have a contact lens emergency while I’m out, I can safely remove the problematic pair and replace them with a fresh pair. Of course I also usually carry around my glasses if I’m wearing my lenses, but this isn’t always practical, or it may be important for me to be able to resume wearing lenses (if I am to playing sports, for example).
Now you might wonder why this fact slipped my mind initially, that would be because I’ve been wearing contact lenses for well over a decade, and in the last five or so years I don’t think I’ve had a single incident. But I remain hopefully that a past version of myself may still have been practicing over-preparedness…
So, I go a-rummaging in my backpack and, lo and behold, I do indeed have a set of emergency contacts! Now I will be able to stare directly at the sun mildly more conveniently! Thanks, past me!
(Perhaps you can tell that this situation made my extremely happy, hence why I felt the need to share.)
Have a lovely solar eclipse day (to all who celebrate)!
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Comment on D6 TTRPG suggestions in ~games.tabletop
LumaBop Link ParentS&V looks really fun! I definitely plan to get around to playing it at some point.S&V looks really fun! I definitely plan to get around to playing it at some point.
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Comment on D6 TTRPG suggestions in ~games.tabletop
LumaBop LinkTL;DR play Fellowship or Grimwild if you want fantasy, or Blades in the Dark if you want something else. I’ve been running Fellowship 2e recently which I really love as a system. This is also a...TL;DR play Fellowship or Grimwild if you want fantasy, or Blades in the Dark if you want something else.
I’ve been running Fellowship 2e recently which I really love as a system. This is also a Powered by the Apocalypse game which others have mentioned, you play it with 2d6. As far as PbtA games go this is my favourite system so far for generic fantasy games, however I would also mention Dungeon World as perhaps the closest analogue to 5E in the PbtA sphere, but in my opinion it is an inferior game. I have read but not run Chasing Adventure, and I would say it lies somewhere in the middle as it seems to me to have a slightly more D&D-like flavour than Fellowship without some of the shortcomings of Dungeon World.
I also really love Blades in the Dark, a system with a lot of apocalypse-DNA but its own resolution system based on d6 pools - you roll a number of d6 determined by your skill and other factors, and the highest number you roll tells you your result. Blades isn’t suitable for general fantasy - this is a game about a gang of scoundrels in a haunted city going on heists. It’s fun! But if you want more to do fantasy, I suggest Grimwild which I have played fairly extensively (as a player, not GM, but our GM really loves this system) as it retains many of the core mechanics from Blades while mixing in a bunch of fun new ideas, and is geared towards fantasy stories.
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Comment on Why does WhatsApp drain so much phone battery? in ~tech
LumaBop LinkFor my two cents, I’m on an iPhone 17 and WhatsApp seems to have a normal battery impact i.e. if I compare it to any other app which I spend a similar amount of time using on any given day, the...For my two cents, I’m on an iPhone 17 and WhatsApp seems to have a normal battery impact i.e. if I compare it to any other app which I spend a similar amount of time using on any given day, the battery usage is comparable (about 5-8% for me, with on average 20-30 minutes screen on time and about an hour of background activity).
I do think there is no normal explanation for why WhatsApp has such high background activity however, it’s very odd.
FWIW I have three linked devices (an iPad and two Macs). I also disagree with some other comments about poor app performance, the apps seem to work pretty well thanks to native implementations across each Apple OS.
Now I still hate WhatsApp for their weird UI changes, aggressively pushing Meta AI, and now this stupid subscription where they are taking basic features and putting them behind a paywall. You have to pay to be able to pin more than three chats! Insane!
I also have definitely noticed weird WhatsApp battery drain in the past however. I think on my old iPhone 12 I sometimes experienced comparable battery drain to what you describe, but I have not observed it in some time.
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Comment on Keir Starmer announces resignation as leader of Labour Party in the UK in ~society
LumaBop Link ParentThe UK economy never truly recovered from the ‘08 financial crisis - we’ve just been compounding economic problems since then. In 2010, the Labour government which oversaw the crisis was ousted by...- Exemplary
The UK economy never truly recovered from the ‘08 financial crisis - we’ve just been compounding economic problems since then. In 2010, the Labour government which oversaw the crisis was ousted by the Conservative Party, which adhered to an economic policy called “austerity” until 2019. Austerity meant: the government is broke, so we’re going to try to spend as little as possible so we can get back to a level footing. There are two big problems with austerity: one is that government spending helps to stimulate the economy, so the economy is not as active during this period as it could be; two is that whatever savings made during austerity were pissed away on a series of frivolous policies (the list is endless but HS2, Brexit, and dodgy COVID contracts come to mind), completely defeating the point.
So, economic growth is already suppressed - on top of that we vote for Brexit, which comes into effect in 2020, massively dampening trade with our closest partners, plus the effect is even worse than it could have been because it’s handled so badly that it causes huge confusion and uncertainty.
I would actually say that COVID itself, whilst it has a noticeable short term impact, doesn’t particularly leave the UK worse off than anywhere else. So let’s keep moving. The UK is in a pretty weak financial position when Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine shocks the global economy, and fares worse than most - this is also when we start to hear about a “cost of living crisis”, due to a combination of general inflation as well as particularly severe increases in energy bills hitting the general population. This also has a severe effect on businesses, plus the knock on effect of households on tight budgets spending less, again dampening growth.
In the wake of COVID, the then-prime minister Boris Johnson is forced to resign due to a scandal - what follows is the shortest and most damaging premiership the country has ever seen. Liz Truss is prime minister for only 49 days - and the reason it’s so short is her completely disastrous economic policy.
Shortly after taking office, Truss (and her Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng) announce the infamous “mini-budget”, containing £45 billion in tax cuts funded exclusively by additional borrowing. The financial markets are thrown into turmoil by the insanity of this economic policy, the pound collapses and mortgage rates skyrocket. Weakened confidence in the UK economy also means higher interest on debt for the government, and this remains stubbornly high, and exceptionally sensitive to any policy announcements, long after Liz Truss is forced out for her catastrophic decision making.
After this, management of the UK economy turns a corner somewhat - PM Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt keep things fairly sensible for the remainder of the Conservative’s run in parliament, until the 2024 general election, in which Labour win, led by Starmer who brings in Rachel Reeves as chancellor. They continue to run a pretty sensible and fairly fiscally conservative economic policy - they have their work cut out just trying to balance Britain’s books, let alone trying to improve growth. But USA tariffs and the Iran war mean, in the two years since then, although we haven’t been actively declining, things haven’t got much better either. It’s still extremely difficult for the UK - we have very little financial headroom for extra spending on crucial public services (which are suffering from over a decade of underfunding), businesses are hiring less due to economic uncertainty and AI, and this means people have less to spend. It’s all a vicious cycle, and problem and crisis I’ve mentioned has compounded with the next, to leave the Treasury coffers empty, businesses stagnating, consumers with barely any cash to spend, and financial markets jittery at the slightest sign the government might overspend.
I also found the graphs in this Guardian article very illustrative; even overlooking the article’s main focus on Brexit, it paints the weakness of the UK economy compared to its peers in stark colours.
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Comment on Keir Starmer announces resignation as leader of Labour Party in the UK in ~society
LumaBop Link ParentHow do you see Burnham avoiding the same decline in support Starmer has seen? Do you think he will manage to manage to deliver some significantly more impactful policies than we’ve seen in the...How do you see Burnham avoiding the same decline in support Starmer has seen? Do you think he will manage to manage to deliver some significantly more impactful policies than we’ve seen in the last two years, or will it be more about avoiding the same kind of scandals and image pitfalls that Starmer has fallen into?
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Comment on Keir Starmer announces resignation as leader of Labour Party in the UK in ~society
LumaBop Link ParentThere is one timeline that many people see as likely: the new PM (almost certainly Burnham) is installed in about two months. The government/Labour enjoys a brief honeymoon period with the people...There is one timeline that many people see as likely: the new PM (almost certainly Burnham) is installed in about two months. The government/Labour enjoys a brief honeymoon period with the people and the press as people feel optimistic that the country might be turned around. However, continuing economic pressure and deep-set issues within the country mean that over the next ~2 years people do not feel a meaningful improvement in their lives and financial situations, as well as experiencing continuing cultural unrest despite the government touting progress on important economic and social issues. Support for Labour gradually wanes to levels similar to current by the time a general election rolls around in 2029, and Nigel Farage’s Reform Party (our MAGA equivalent) performs well (extremely hard to speculate whether it’s feasible for them to achieve a majority, but they could still wield a lot of power as a large minority party). If we get to that point, it’s fair to say Britain would be in for a similar prolonged spell of far-right agitation, cultural unrest, economic turmoil and broadly “bad situation” that we currently see in the US.
The reason a lot of people, myself included, see this timeline as realistic, is that despite the present government having made credible progress on a number of important issues in this country, it seems that the populace at large finds the pace of this change too slow; but it does not seem plausible that any other leader/government could bring about change much faster, because the country’s finances are so constrained due to a prolonged period of economic decline. Now, that is not to say that the current government has not made several, major mistakes. So it really depends on your view of just why the current government / Keir Starmer are so unpopular: if it is fundamentally due to the dire economic circumstances the country finds itself in, then this problem is not fixable in the short term, and the snake-oil salesmen of Reform can continue to have a field day proposing non-solutions that appeal to a certain part of the population but would leave the country worse off long term. However, if the more important factor in Starmer’s collapse in popularity is his numerous policy u-turns and scandals*, perhaps a different leader could fair better.
*but note that the UK news media is notoriously hostile to Labour, and it’s unclear the extent to which any leader could avoid the negative news vortex.
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Comment on Keir Starmer announces resignation as leader of Labour Party in the UK in ~society
LumaBop LinkWell, this was heavily rumoured over the weekend, and it looks like he has effectively been forced out as all support from his MPs and cabinet has collapsed. For context, this means he will also...Well, this was heavily rumoured over the weekend, and it looks like he has effectively been forced out as all support from his MPs and cabinet has collapsed.
For context, this means he will also be stepping down as Prime Minister in due course (i.e. once the party has selected a replacement). It looks likely that there won't be a genuine contest to replace him from within Labour, instead it seems the party will allow Andy Burnham to run uncontested. In all likelihood Andy Burnham will be UK PM by September.
If you're unfamiliar with the UK system, there is no requirement for an election in the case that the PM stands down, as technically speaking they are elected by parliament, not the people directly. In practice this means that the largest party installs the PM, with Labour currently commanding a huge parliamentary majority. Therefore it is an internal Labour Party mechanism that will decide on the next leader and PM.
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Keir Starmer announces resignation as leader of Labour Party in the UK
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Yep I love RoA (especially the original), one of my all time favourite and most played games!