macleod's recent activity

  3. Comment on 1Password wades into a right-wing mess after funding a Linux project in ~tech

    macleod
    Link Parent
    You can host VW on a private network, and then rely on tailscale (or headscale, the OSS reverse engineered version) or Netbird (OSS) to create your own virtual private network that can't be...

    Vaultwarden, however nice, I don’t want to host an instance public to the internet.

    You can host VW on a private network, and then rely on tailscale (or headscale, the OSS reverse engineered version) or Netbird (OSS) to create your own virtual private network that can't be accessed from the public internet.

  4. Comment on What are your current pain points with Linux? in ~tech

    macleod
    Link Parent
    Interesting, I run Kalpa, which is an immutable (and somehow even more stable) remix of Tumbleweed that, as far as I can remember, enables this option OOB in setup. I could be mistaken though.

    Interesting, I run Kalpa, which is an immutable (and somehow even more stable) remix of Tumbleweed that, as far as I can remember, enables this option OOB in setup. I could be mistaken though.

    1 vote

  5. Comment on What are your current pain points with Linux? in ~tech

    macleod
    Link
    I use openSUSE,, there are no pain points.

    I use openSUSE,, there are no pain points.

    12 votes

  6. Comment on Operation Bluebird launches Twitter.now in ~tech

    macleod
    Link Parent
    Besides, this website just feels like it was every "flat" website I designed from 2013-2016, specifically a flat design with some box shadows on the buttons using Twitters OG opensourced bootstrap...

    Besides, this website just feels like it was every "flat" website I designed from 2013-2016, specifically a flat design with some box shadows on the buttons using Twitters OG opensourced bootstrap theme.

    1 vote

  7. Comment on Operation Bluebird launches Twitter.now in ~tech

    macleod
    Link Parent
    I believe it's supposed to signify a phoenix, but ended up looking like a chocobo.

    I believe it's supposed to signify a phoenix, but ended up looking like a chocobo.

    2 votes

  8. Comment on How rigid/fluid is your LGBT identity? in ~lgbt

    macleod
    Link
    It's so fluid that in all manners it has become less like an ocean of physical force to flail against and more like a dense fog that moves and swirls at even the slightest thought of a breeze.

    It's so fluid that in all manners it has become less like an ocean of physical force to flail against and more like a dense fog that moves and swirls at even the slightest thought of a breeze.

    6 votes

  9. Comment on Afterworld | Official reveal trailer in ~games

    macleod
    Link
    A lot of talk and visuals of war, not much on diplomacy or strategy, which worries me. That's where Paradox excels at, diplomacy above all, but this seems to be taking the worst parts of their...

    A lot of talk and visuals of war, not much on diplomacy or strategy, which worries me. That's where Paradox excels at, diplomacy above all, but this seems to be taking the worst parts of their other games and forcing a 'destruction at at all costs' kind of approach from this video. Really hoping I am wrong.

    Doesn't help they don't even mention Stellaris in the description just "Afterworld is in development at Paradox Development Studio, the creators of Crusader Kings III and Hearts of Iron IV."

    Edit: Looking at the gameplay, looks to be that way :/ A smaller, more focused, world-building version of Stellaris would be incredible by them, but I guess I'll have to wait another twenty years.

    3 votes

  10. Comment on What theme do you use with Tildes? in ~tildes

    macleod
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Correct. Plus, my monitors are so large white is just an obnoxious color that fills up too much room and blinds me. Like staring at several bare lightbulbs direct on. On mobile though, white/light...

    Correct. Plus, my monitors are so large white is just an obnoxious color that fills up too much room and blinds me. Like staring at several bare lightbulbs direct on.

    On mobile though, white/light mode lets me tune my OS to have a smaller DPI, since I can read things better black on white, than the other at small sizes, meaning I can set me DPI to way below standard, and have desktop mode for almost all websites be able to be read.

    2 votes

  11. Comment on What are we in a golden age of? in ~talk

    macleod
    Link Parent
    Ha. Thank you for taking control of the keyboard Mr. Rosling, it was wonderful to have been your vessel for today. His book Factfulness has been downloaded and in my queue for probably two... or...

    Ha. Thank you for taking control of the keyboard Mr. Rosling, it was wonderful to have been your vehicle vessel for today.

    His book Factfulness has been downloaded and in my queue for probably two... or more.... years. The subtitle "Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think" always deterred me, maybe I just need to ignore it and get to reading it.

    2 votes

  12. Comment on What are we in a golden age of? in ~talk

    macleod
    Link
    Literacy. That's it. More people can read, understand, write, and speak (from the knowledge transferred from reading) to another on a level much higher than ever before, across the world, across...

    Literacy.

    That's it. More people can read, understand, write, and speak (from the knowledge transferred from reading) to another on a level much higher than ever before, across the world, across societies, across generational, economic, caste, race, gender, wealth, all of them we have transcended.

    We may not all speak the same language, but we all have a level of intellectual curiosity and ability that has leveled the playing ground not by lowering it, but for-once by raising it. If the last thirty years have changed anything, its this very concept. Literacy is what builds societies, and historically have only catered to the wealthiest to build those societies, and this is the first time we have all been able to take an active part in it. You can argue that this change began in earnest globally starting in the 1620s, or 1870s, or even the 1960s (all eras that began large upward swings) , but for the great acceleration, the point in which growth became not just incremental but astronomical, astronomical in reaching the vast majority of 90% of the entire globe, that began in earnest thirty years ago. There is no real going back from here. The old generations must communicate to the young, they will always teach them to read/write, to have them know recipes, and ideas, and concepts, and invention, and trials and tribulations, previous discoveries and invention. There just won't be any practical ways of going back, even if a nuclear holocaust happened, or complete societal failures, or even when 99% of the population dies in the next pandemic of 2035.

    Everyone keeps arguing that the internet has changed society for the better, or worse, depending on their mood for the day - but one thing is certain: More literacy builds new empires, destabilizes the old, and experimental new developments can flourish. We are living through turbulent times because of the high rate of literacy, because everything was predicated on knowledge, speech, reading, and writing that were only truly held and used by those in the upper echelons of society - and now everyone can take part in that, to converse, to determine, to understand others view points, in prose, in speech, in novels, in plays, in movies, in news, in everything. Before, literacy was a tell-sign of wealth, of power, or privilege, even to the wealthiest and most uniquely perceptive, someone of a dirt-poor station can now sound and affect and effect at the highest level of the bureaucratic elitist order with the (ahem) write words.

    We were previously in an age of growing literacy, and now we are in an age of the Literate, and that is changing, has changed, will change everything. Everything is fair game, no one can really envision a future or the possibilities, because we have never as a human society, as a civilization, been able to achieve this. All past revolutions, changes, structures, are going to radically change purely because we are now all literate.

    The only path forward is higher level comprehension, we will never be able to long-term lower the level of literacy, it will always progress, change, become more unusual and understanding, higher level, and that is a glorious thing - and that starts now. That's the age we are in and it's rather glorious when you think about it. The next age we are beginning to live in is the rise of the comprehensive literate, unknown when that will truly arrive, we may already be there, but those results are a bit harder to really determine as everyone's concept of 'comprehension' is different, but it will, surely, get better.

    12 votes

  13. Comment on What theme do you use with Tildes? in ~tildes

    macleod
    Link
    White on mobile. Black on desktop.

    White on mobile.
    Black on desktop.

    3 votes

  14. Comment on Japan tried to build an operating system for the entire world, then the US government intervened in ~tech

    macleod
    Link Parent
    There is an entire subgenre of video essays devoted to Japanese web design, and it boils down to "more information is better". This is a decent Answers In Progress video on the subject and this...

    There is an entire subgenre of video essays devoted to Japanese web design, and it boils down to "more information is better". This is a decent Answers In Progress video on the subject and this follow up response by cynzy are a rather good starting point.

    I actually like the overall design philosophy, I get it.

    11 votes

  17. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    macleod
    (edited )
    Link
    I just read the first two books of the Book of the New Sun series, for the first time. The first book is... rough. The formatting, the writing. His adherence to using any sort of punctuation, his...

    I just read the first two books of the Book of the New Sun series, for the first time.

    The first book is... rough. The formatting, the writing. His adherence to using any sort of punctuation, his dialogue style (momentary pauses in speech are broken by new lines in the same quote), and the authors kind of juvenile focus were all offputting. But the story seemed interesting enough, and I slogged my way through it, by about the third fourth mark, I was able to get into the direction and enjoyed the worldbuilding. It's regarded as one of the greatest science-fiction novels even though its written entirely like a pulp fiction medieval fantasy novel. I read a general world spoiler and that helped keep me going (down below).

    spoiler - in fact knowing to look for these things make the series better! they are easily missed! the world takes place in the far future, where the sun itself is at the end of its life, so billions of years, where society has broken down, magic is actually forms of ancient technology or genetic mutation, and there are even cyborgs and visitors from the off-world colonies that 'larp' on earth like a ren faire, computers that are referred to as 'books' that are the size of a large cabinet, or monitors that are referred to as 'bright mirrors'. Holograms are phantoms or something like that. It's a wonderful premise.

    I made it through the first book, as said it was rough, but by the end I was invested in our little Executioner/Torturer (main character is a from a guild of torturers. who are revered for their work, this is how he makes money on the road, by lopping off the heads of those found guilty - the character doesn't quite enjoy it, but it's all he knows) - he also makes an earning being in a traveling theatre troupe, yes, really.

    The second book I immediately started reading the same night I finished the first, and by the Autarch it was monumentally better written. I can't imagine he had gotten that much better within a year of his break-out hit, but he did certainly send it to a phenomenal editor. Kept some of his unique styles, but now it's far better to read, understand, follow, and enjoy. Glory to the editors, the unsung heroes of the writing world. I finished that one just recently as well, it was enjoyable and quite interesting up until the third fourth of the book, which was the opposite of the first, and then in the last ~15 pages it picks up speed. Then ends.

    Looking forward to the next book, I've seen scant writings online and it seems to be getting to what the story has been kind of getting around, if they can steer clear of the author's weird predilections for describing women's bodies in the worst way possible - like a thirteen-year-old boy describing a playboy centerfold to another who has never seen a naked woman, or the romance plots (they are horrible, absent one), then this could really make a great story. In a way, the fact that they keep ignoring the main story makes it more enticing.

    The other interesting thing, other than the spoiler above, is that the narrator (the main character, writing about his travels well-after the fact) is that he loves to re-iterate how perfect his memory is, and that he never lies, and remembers everything perfectly and he is proud of it. Authors note: Dear reader, he is the most unreliable narrator I have ever read, and it makes figuring out intentions, and reasonings, and his stories he tells others inside the story he is telling you, even more interesting because he will tell a story three times, leave certain things out in one version, change another in another version, and you get to figure out what the "real" story is. The books themselves are like a fun and interesting puzzle of finding out the real story under cover of an offputting one.

    I highly suggest them. I am rather enjoying them.

    4 votes

  19. Comment on The tantalizing possibility of locating consciousness in the brain in ~science

    macleod
    Link Parent
    I answered most of this in other replies, sorry! Check out the parent comment of mine and see there, I love talking about this because it's such an interesting conversation and I have yet to found...

    I answered most of this in other replies, sorry! Check out the parent comment of mine and see there, I love talking about this because it's such an interesting conversation and I have yet to found anyone who agrees with me, which is fine, people tend to get defensive when I discuss how 'you' don't exist and that the idea of a 'consciousness' is just an easy "pattern" yor the mind to fall back to in the face of existence.

    1 vote

  20. Comment on The tantalizing possibility of locating consciousness in the brain in ~science

    macleod
    Link Parent
    In a philisophical/quantum definition to me, consciousness is reliant on a concept of a 'self', a near ominopotent dictator or orchestrator that has complete power and ability to pick and choose...

    In a philisophical/quantum definition to me, consciousness is reliant on a concept of a 'self', a near ominopotent dictator or orchestrator that has complete power and ability to pick and choose directives based on pure willpower on it's own merits, without care or reason for previous knowledge. This just can't exist in my view, we are bound by the laws of physics and a general consensus model of reality.

    In a medical sense, it means to be able to actively consume patterns (including the pattern that is the collection of patterns that is defined as 'you').

    Might be important to read this reply I just left.

    Day to day though? Doesn't really matter either way, we're all just vibrations, philosophy is a drag existentially but it's cool to ruminate on from time to time. I do think if people thought more about their apparent patterns then lives would be made better as it seperates the failures and success of others and the self down to indivudalized, yet aggregated, patterns of data.

    1 vote