lynxy's recent activity
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Comment on What lesser-known sci-fi reads do you recommend? in ~books
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Comment on What lesser-known sci-fi reads do you recommend? in ~books
lynxy Link ParentI greatly appreciate the recommendation, and I'll be fast-tracking the Orthogonal Trilogy in my reading queue. Diaspora left me in a funky and pensive mood, and I absolutely devoured it.I greatly appreciate the recommendation, and I'll be fast-tracking the Orthogonal Trilogy in my reading queue. Diaspora left me in a funky and pensive mood, and I absolutely devoured it.
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Comment on What lesser-known sci-fi reads do you recommend? in ~books
lynxy (edited )LinkThere are three that come to mind, although whether or not they count as "big-name" is probably up for debate. I mention them because they have moved me, and because although they may sometimes...There are three that come to mind, although whether or not they count as "big-name" is probably up for debate. I mention them because they have moved me, and because although they may sometimes appear on "sci-fi you should read" lists, they're also not so large in the zeitgeist as far as the general public is concerned.
The Culture Series - Iain M. Banks
This is probably the better known of the three, and also the most extensive. The ten books are anthological in structure, and detail the interactions between the Culture- a post-scarcity space-faring society of humanoids- and smaller, less-advanced civilisations that don't necessarily share the same enlightened view of morality or society. I love it for its almost anti-dystopian lens into the future, for its discussion about purpose in an environment in which everything you'll ever need is provided at no cost, and for its approach to current societal issues which poses the possibility that maybe we could forget all of the manufactured animosity surrounding them entirely.
As to why it didn't get wider appreciation? I'm not entirely certain. The anthological nature might put people off, and while the series has been referenced in more high-profile contexts (such as the naming of the SpaceX landing ships), adaptations have also never quite managed to get off of the ground. Adaptation attempts seem to try to start with the first-published book, which might also be one of the rougher-edged in the series, and which also has one or two scenes which would likely never make it into any live-action medium.
Diaspora - Greg Egan
Perhaps a little less well known, Diaspora is a "hard science fiction" novel which spends perhaps a little too much time musing about the exact descriptions of four-plus-dimensional space- but would you expect anything else from a mathematician? This is a single book, not a series, and I think that it takes a very interesting approach to the subject of digital consciousness, self-representation (the "gestalt"), and purpose beyond the physical form.
This one is a little more difficult of a read, largely because of the aforementioned hard-sci-fi aspects, and it's one that I have yet to see much discussion about online, which I think is a shame. It would likely be quite difficult to adapt to another medium, and I think that the general public would not show much interest even if it were achieved.
A Fire Upon the Deep - Vernor Vinge
I really enjoyed these three books from the "Zones of Thought" universe, which is an interesting concept that puts some effort into trying to explain why certain limitations in technology might exist from our perspective. I also love the somewhat anthropomorphised dog-like "Tines", with their group-think behaviour and their focus on acoustic senses. This series, I think, is a little less philosophical (it's described as "space opera"), but it provides a compelling story with likeable characters, in a world that quickly pulled me in.
I'm actually surprised that this one has not seen wider appreciation, or any attempts at adaptation. I suppose that at the end of the day, there are wealth of IPs from which to pull and only so many capable teams producing media at once- as most of the big studios are happier making safe bets on sequels of already popular properties.
There are many other examples of brilliant books in sci-fi which might be, as you put it, "not widely appreciated" almost purely because sci-fi is only one genre in a medium that is just not as widely appreciated as film or TV is.
There exists older sci-fi which provides a backbone for a lot of the modern material, books which originated cyberpunk themes and the meta-verse (Neuromancer, which is getting an Apple TV adaptation soon; Snow Crash, which was tagged for a HBO adaptation some 7 years ago which never materialised), and softer sci-fi- which focuses more on the society and the humanity in a sci-fi setting (absolutely anything by Ursula K. Le Guin, who I recommend whole-heartedly as a writer whose work will often leave me crying- just check out "The Word for World is Forest" for a quick introduction to her style). There's more modern sci-fi (such as Adrian Tchaikovsky's children of time series; heck, even Paolini- author of the Inheritance Cycle- is getting in on the action with "To Sleep in a Sea of Stars", which I quite enjoyed).
I'm sorry, I've started rambling and haven't much answered the third question about what makes specific sci-fi less widely appreciated. I just enjoy sci-fi :3
Edit: fixed two spelling mistakes.
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Comment on Another week on Linux in ~tech
lynxy Link ParentI do appreciate people trying Linux, especially when they do so more than once as the ecosystem continues to mature. I admit to being a little disappointed that many such people seem unwilling to...I do appreciate people trying Linux, especially when they do so more than once as the ecosystem continues to mature. I admit to being a little disappointed that many such people seem unwilling to deal with the compromises that they may have to make- if you really want out of a walled garden, you sort of have to make it happen.
On the other hand, I also note that you have run into more issues than most, coming from Apple hardware. I have not used Asahi myself, but I do have an ARM laptop which has similar issues, and I'm no stranger to the #aarch64-laptops IRC channel.
The RAM one is an interesting issue, though. I see no reason why swap might be impossible on Apple hardware- perhaps you just missed it during the installation? It's easy to hit the wrong confirmation when you're greeted by a string of decisions. You might also have a look into zram, which implements in-RAM compression- a similar solution to Apple's. I'm not sure if it's configured by default on Asahi systems, but in theory it could be on Ubuntu.
My primary system is from roughly six years ago, and has a measly 8GB of RAM, which I have only ever had issues with when running multiple complex programs at the same time (Firefox, Discord, Blender, Prusa Slicer, a literal tonne of GPU accelerated terminal contexts). In day-to-day operation I only run a small subset of these (Firefox with approx. 70 tabs, Discord, Alacritty) and rarely hit more than 6GB of usage.
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Comment on BasicSync and Synctrain: solid apps for bringing Syncthing to phones in ~tech
lynxy Link ParentI'm not certain, but I would guess not. Termux has a package manager with a specific build of Syncthing, and you need wakelock capability. If you give it a go, though, I'd love to hear your findings!I'm not certain, but I would guess not. Termux has a package manager with a specific build of Syncthing, and you need wakelock capability. If you give it a go, though, I'd love to hear your findings!
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Comment on Compression is prediction in ~comp
lynxy LinkIt would probably have, were this blog post not almost a direct response to Three Blue, One Brown's latest video series on exactly this topic. What's strange is that the content and structure of...In this post, I’m going to walk us through the basics of compression to understand its deep relationship with language modeling. It’s probably going to blow your mind.
It would probably have, were this blog post not almost a direct response to Three Blue, One Brown's latest video series on exactly this topic.
What's strange is that the content and structure of the blog post is very similar to that of the video, which was released roughly two months ago, and yet no explicit mention is made of it?
This, coming from an organisation that seems to be all-in on AI, is putting a bad taste in my mouth..
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Comment on BasicSync and Synctrain: solid apps for bringing Syncthing to phones in ~tech
lynxy Link ParentI suppose that depends on what you count as significant! I've had a look at the battery usage statistics every day for the past four days, before plugging my phone in for the night, and Termux...I suppose that depends on what you count as significant! I've had a look at the battery usage statistics every day for the past four days, before plugging my phone in for the night, and Termux seems to be using between 3-4% of my battery pretty consistently.
Now, given I'm not traveling a lot currently, and I'm largely on my computer instead of the phone, this is probably a proportionally higher percentage than it would be in day-to-day life for somebody who travels to-and-from an office, for example. I end most days on >50% battery- so take that as you will.
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Comment on Reddit will require you to be logged in to use old.reddit.com in ~tech
lynxy LinkOld topic, but I am now (as of 10th August 2026) running into the sign-in prompt on old.reddit.com whenever I open the page. I am not certain if this is a phased rollout or something (ironically,...Old topic, but I am now (as of 10th August 2026) running into the sign-in prompt on old.reddit.com whenever I open the page. I am not certain if this is a phased rollout or something (ironically, I can't check the original post without a login now), but all of my devices (some with VPNs, and some without) show the same thing. I guess this is the end of my Reddit usage- I will never make an account.
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Comment on BasicSync and Synctrain: solid apps for bringing Syncthing to phones in ~tech
lynxy Link ParentNone at all, although I must admit I use a rooted device, and I'm not certain if that is important? All you have to do is drop a bash script into .termux/boot that fetches a wake-lock and then...None at all, although I must admit I use a rooted device, and I'm not certain if that is important?
All you have to do is drop a bash script into .termux/boot that fetches a wake-lock and then starts Syncthing:
#!/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/sh termux-wake-lock syncthingAt that point, you can access the Syncthing interface from your browser using the normal HTTP host/port (127.0.0.1:8384).
Remember, if you want Syncthing to handle directories that are outside of the Termux container, you must run termux-setup-storage first. This will setup the mount points so that your user's home directory is accessible inside Termux.
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Comment on BasicSync and Synctrain: solid apps for bringing Syncthing to phones in ~tech
lynxy LinkAfter the discontinuation of the Android release, I did briefly use the fork- but the project origin and potential reliability were dubious, and it didn't sit right with me. In the end, I switched...After the discontinuation of the Android release, I did briefly use the fork- but the project origin and potential reliability were dubious, and it didn't sit right with me. In the end, I switched to simply running syncthing inside Termux. This solution works absolutely fine, and you can access the web interface for full customisation of the service as you can on desktop.
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Comment on Chat control 1.0 passes even though majority actually voted against in todays vote in ~society
lynxy Link ParentI had not realised that this is the case- but I've had a little look into it and I'm (perhaps rightfully) angry. As of the 2024 elections there are 720 MEPs. Today's vote required an absolute...- Exemplary
I had not realised that this is the case- but I've had a little look into it and I'm (perhaps rightfully) angry.
As of the 2024 elections there are 720 MEPs. Today's vote required an absolute majority (a "majority of all members of the Parliament, regardless of whether they are present or voting"), which would be 361 votes, and had the following outcome:
(314 against, 276 in favor, 17 abstentions)
That's a total of only 607 MEPs accounted for. If we can assume that the missing MPs would have voted with roughly the same split, then we can estimate- with full attendance- the following:
([720 * ~0.52 = 374] against, [720 * ~0.45 = 324] in favor, [720 * ~0.03 = 22] abstentions)
This would have achieved an absolute majority- it would have been a close vote, but it would have stopped the bill. The question is: what is the usual attendance percentage of these votes, and how much has the choice of date affected it?
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Comment on European Parliament achieves upgrade to air passenger rights in ~transport
lynxy (edited )Link ParentStrangely, governments do not exist purely to legislate on or regulate exactly and only what the general populace cares about, but instead to foster an environment which is more beneficial to...This is something that 99.9% of people do not care about and is a strange basis for government regulation.
Strangely, governments do not exist purely to legislate on or regulate exactly and only what the general populace cares about, but instead to foster an environment which is more beneficial to them.
It happens that preventing harmful business practices falls within that goal- and the ways in which many of today's corporations handle and process our data, as well as restrict the ways in which we can do business, or otherwise interact, with them, are genuinely predatory, manipulative, and hostile.
From your comments across this entire thread, your attitude can seemingly be summed up as:
I don't care if other people are negatively affected by how a business conducts itself, as long as I get a discount because of it.
And don't pretend that Ryanair are the only company that employs these practices- or that other companies aren't also jumping on board. And you don't regulate against things only once every actor is doing them.
Edit: Spelling.
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Comment on European Parliament achieves upgrade to air passenger rights in ~transport
lynxy Link ParentYes, because it used to be that I would receive the digital boarding pass by email after booking, and I could display it using open source software on my open source mobile operating system,...Yes, because it used to be that I would receive the digital boarding pass by email after booking, and I could display it using open source software on my open source mobile operating system, without Google Play entering into the equation. Or without having to fetch an app for every damned aspect of my life.
This is a greatly appreciated change and Ryanair can suck my balls.
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Comment on EU introduces €3 customs charge on small parcels to curb cheap Chinese imports in ~society
lynxy Link ParentWith the added bonus of yet more middlemen taking a cut!With the added bonus of yet more middlemen taking a cut!
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Comment on EU introduces €3 customs charge on small parcels to curb cheap Chinese imports in ~society
lynxy Link ParentI suppose that some protection against a potential negation of the incentive to create locally is that this is largely just wiping out the "de minimis" exemptions, which shouldn't affect any...I suppose that some protection against a potential negation of the incentive to create locally is that this is largely just wiping out the "de minimis" exemptions, which shouldn't affect any organisation that wishes to produce goods en-masse because any amount of materials import they might require will be imported in bulk.
Although I personally think that this is definitely not a solution to the problem and will only frustrate me. Most of what I import are electronic components- the sort of stuff that platforms like Digikey sell- and I can't exactly pop down to the high-street and purchase any appreciable spread of these anywhere in central Europe. Additionally, as this charge seems to apply per-"item-type", it could result in quite a cost increase for a measly bag of bits that cost cents to make.
I am very un-convinced that it will incentivise localised production of such components, and I'm fully expecting to just end up paying more than I would for the next decade (because anybody who believes that they'll succeed in pulling off the customs reforms, that are slated for 2028, on-time clearly hasn't must experience with the EU).
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
lynxy LinkMy partner DJs, sometimes, and for an upcoming event he's hosting a panel in which a number of DJs will be tasked with transitioning between songs of specific "difficulty" (differences in key /...My partner DJs, sometimes, and for an upcoming event he's hosting a panel in which a number of DJs will be tasked with transitioning between songs of specific "difficulty" (differences in key / differences in bpm, potentially scoring difficulty using some form of weighted euclidean / manhatten distance system, or similar). Instead of simply entering a number of tracks into a randomiser, or sitting the "hosts" in front of a spreadsheet, he has asked me to spin up a project which will do this with a pretty interface.
My idea is to build it in a similar way to web games like Kahoot- I'm aiming for a single page application with "views" which are toggled depending on game state, which is kept synced to clients using websockets. I'll probably try out something like Centrifugo to proxy the websocket data for me. The host will pick the next DJ to play, and the next song from a set of filtered/unfiltered tracks out of a crate (apparently what DJs call their song collections). Filtering will allow me to provide the host with a set of songs that fit the game's difficulty range, or even apply a per-DJ sliding difficulty which introduces a negative feedback loop- resulting in the average difficulty for each DJ roughly matching over time.
On top of this, the audience can join as either an "observer", or a "voter"- the former will also be displayed on the large screen on the stage, and will display current and next round metadata, as well as general game state and join links / QR codes. The latter will see only a passive screen, until voting for the current round is open, at which point the only information they will get is a easy-to-hit voting system which is optimised for mobile devices.
On top of this, I'm trying to do it without any frameworks (not a difficult concept for me- I've never used a web framework), or any extensive libraries or other nonsense. I'm also, though this might not be a great idea, using my own asynchronous HTTP server implementation which I've been using for numerous REST projects over the last few years, as the backend. If I have the time, I might try to create a memory interface for the backend which stores the game state in a PostgresQL database or similar- I could try for high-availability. I don't know. It's a fun test of my skills, especially given I now have under a month to pull it off!
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Comment on US battery industry cuts losses, shifts to new ventures amid electric vehicle bust in ~transport
lynxy Link ParentWith all of the respect I can muster, and with the admission that I'm not a car person- I don't get how you can disparage the new Golf EV design and then compare it to the apparently more...With all of the respect I can muster, and with the admission that I'm not a car person- I don't get how you can disparage the new Golf EV design and then compare it to the apparently more favorable Mk7 GTE. As far as I can see, a lot of the design elements are retained, bar the obvious lack of grill and the more "modern" headlight strip. They're not radically different enough for me to immediately understand your critique. Can you elaborate on what you mean by bar-of-soap like?
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Comment on US battery industry cuts losses, shifts to new ventures amid electric vehicle bust in ~transport
lynxy (edited )Link ParentIt's a shame there has been such a downturn in EV sales in America- is this due to a fear that the infrastructure just isn't sufficient yet? A change in how EV rebates function? A general falling...It's a shame there has been such a downturn in EV sales in America- is this due to a fear that the infrastructure just isn't sufficient yet? A change in how EV rebates function? A general falling out with Tesla, which until relatively recently was one of the primary EV-focused car companies in the states? Or perhaps just a complete failure to compete with Chinese offerings on price and feature set?
I know that VW have just announced the new ID Polo EV and GTI EV, and they look like a shockingly good deal at a "low 20s price point" (in GBP). It does seem like some European companies are actually finally seriously addressing the competition- and a lot of the EU does indeed have superior EV infrastructure.
It is cool that the same battery format can be used in energy walls, or whatever you might call whole-house UPS units. I wish I didn't rent, as I'd install one immediately.
Edit: GTR -> GTI
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Comment on Not alive, but not dead: disembodied human brains used for drug testing in ~health
lynxy Link ParentThat was my first thought- if the intention is to recover brain function, how close can we actually get to Futurama's heads in jars, or Fallout's brain robots, and is such an experience...That was my first thought- if the intention is to recover brain function, how close can we actually get to Futurama's heads in jars, or Fallout's brain robots, and is such an experience psychologically survivable?
I don't know how I feel about what this company is doing, but I'm hoping that they do at least manage to further research into combatting neurodegenerative diseases.
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Comment on USB power delivery: Plugging into the benefits in ~tech
lynxy LinkThis is just an "informative" article discussing the introduction of (2021), and changes to (2022), USB PD (Power Delivery), containing a thinly veiled advertisement for Aptiv systems? It's nice...This is just an "informative" article discussing the introduction of (2021), and changes to (2022), USB PD (Power Delivery), containing a thinly veiled advertisement for Aptiv systems? It's nice to hear that max throughput has increased to 240W, and that multi-device power delivery is getting smarter, but surely there are better sources for this information?
On consideration, I agree with you. I think it the strongest of the three, and I'll admit to finding some of the inter-character tension in the third book a little frustrating to read. It has a cathartic resolution, but it could have arrived there quicker and with less whining.