maple's recent activity

  1. Comment on Throwback Thursday: Let's talk old flash and memes! in ~talk

    maple
    Link Parent
    I was there, man... I was there /me has a Vietnam style flashback /me realizes he's dating himself by using "/me"

    that one site that ended in .cx. If you know, you know, and I'm sorry that we do.

    I was there, man... I was there

    /me has a Vietnam style flashback
    /me realizes he's dating himself by using "/me"

    6 votes

  2. Comment on What do you do while walking your dog? in ~life.pets

    maple
    Link Parent
    Sorry about your dog. This is me too - I don’t listen to music, I just go for a walk and see what’s going on in my neighborhood. What the neighbours are up to, what the city is up to, what plants...

    Sorry about your dog. This is me too - I don’t listen to music, I just go for a walk and see what’s going on in my neighborhood. What the neighbours are up to, what the city is up to, what plants are newly in bloom, if there’s any interesting animal activity (we live in an area that gets beavers and bears). It’s often a bit of a chore but I do enjoy the increased situational awareness that comes with it.

    3 votes

  3. Comment on What useful licenses or certifications are surprisingly cheap and easy to get? in ~talk

    maple
    Link Parent
    I’m in Canada but yeah that’s roughly similar to here too (you can do your CPL at 250hrs here). I soloed at about 20 hours and I think I took my PPL flight test at about 60 hours, which is fairly...

    I’m in Canada but yeah that’s roughly similar to here too (you can do your CPL at 250hrs here).

    I soloed at about 20 hours and I think I took my PPL flight test at about 60 hours, which is fairly average. Plus ground school, books, headset, subscription to ForeFlight or whatever… I’ve never added up how much my PPL cost but I assume it was north of about $15k (CAD).

    1 vote

  4. Comment on What useful licenses or certifications are surprisingly cheap and easy to get? in ~talk

    maple
    Link Parent
    Can confirm, am licensed pilot. Happy to answer any questions you have OP but I agree that this cert/hobby probably doesn’t meet your criteria.

    Can confirm, am licensed pilot. Happy to answer any questions you have OP but I agree that this cert/hobby probably doesn’t meet your criteria.

    7 votes

  5. Comment on Shouldn't somebody *stop* "Meta Superintelligence Labs"? in ~tech

  6. Comment on What dashcam do you use? in ~tech

    maple
    Link Parent
    Very much so. Like the other guy, I fire up the app any time I want to pull off some video, but fortunately that happens <1 time per year for me. The rest of the time it just sits there quietly...

    Very much so. Like the other guy, I fire up the app any time I want to pull off some video, but fortunately that happens <1 time per year for me. The rest of the time it just sits there quietly recording in a loop. I have a 32GB high endurance card in it and that’s plenty… enough for many days of footage and realistically, if you need it, you need like the last 5 minutes of video before your “event” and that’s it. I think all the cloud stuff is a totally unnecessary complexity/upsell.

    I have mine connected to an ignition switched USB port in the car. I never have to think about it.

    Enjoy!!

    3 votes

  7. Comment on What dashcam do you use? in ~tech

    maple
    Link
    Garmin Dashcam mini 3. Tiny, no screen or other distractions, it’s set and forget. Has a bunch of automatic cloud uploading stuff I don’t use - it just writes in a loop to the SD card. It’s...

    Garmin Dashcam mini 3. Tiny, no screen or other distractions, it’s set and forget. Has a bunch of automatic cloud uploading stuff I don’t use - it just writes in a loop to the SD card. It’s accessed via their app over local wifi. Very rugged in terms of managing heat etc. Fantastic image quality both day and night. Man, this sounds like an ad! It’s not, I’m just very happy with it and it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.

    Concur with the other comment about buying a quality high endurance SD card. It’s worth paying the name brand premium.

    16 votes

  8. Comment on Lyon, France joins European exodus from Windows to Linux in ~tech

    maple
    Link Parent
    I want to love LibreOffice, I really do. But my god, they need to bring on a UX person. It fails the “my mom can - just - use Excel but I’m trying to get her off pirated Microsoft” test so hard....

    I want to love LibreOffice, I really do. But my god, they need to bring on a UX person. It fails the “my mom can - just - use Excel but I’m trying to get her off pirated Microsoft” test so hard. On my old Dell XPS with a hi-dpi screen the icons are all screwed up and unreadable. Their ribbon UI is close enough to the MS version to trigger your muscle memory but then stuff is infuriatingly in different places which makes it harder than if it was just totally distinct.

    I mean, I still use it, but every time I have to write a letter or do a spreadsheet I feel like a kid having to wrinkle his nose and take his gross-tasting medicine.

    10 votes

  9. Comment on Query: Recommendations on how / where to buy USB cables? in ~tech

    maple
    Link Parent
    IKEA is also known to have surprisingly good rechargeable batteries (possibly white labelled eneloops?) so this follows!

    IKEA is also known to have surprisingly good rechargeable batteries (possibly white labelled eneloops?) so this follows!

    2 votes

  10. Comment on Valve CEO Gabe Newell’s Neuralink competitor, Starfish Neuroscience, is expecting its first brain chip this year in ~science

    maple
    Link Parent
    You should watch the referenced Black Mirror ep if you haven’t already… be prepared for everything to be 100% predictable but still 100% depressing

    You should watch the referenced Black Mirror ep if you haven’t already… be prepared for everything to be 100% predictable but still 100% depressing

    3 votes

  11. Comment on Non-American, English language news sources in ~news

    maple
    Link Parent
    News Minimalist and a daily read of the Economist front page are my go-tos, with a regular check in to CBC (my local news) as well. As you say, the Economist is both broad and deep; I like it a lot.

    News Minimalist and a daily read of the Economist front page are my go-tos, with a regular check in to CBC (my local news) as well. As you say, the Economist is both broad and deep; I like it a lot.

  12. Comment on Dipping my toes in OpenBSD, in Amsterdam in ~tech

    maple
    Link Parent
    REPORT: I’m in this comment and I don’t like it

    I’ve read almost none of the documentation but by gods this should be easy, and then six hours later I’ve wound my way through the help pages of thirty different features and have perhaps constructed the knowledge available from the introduction web page by way of the negative space left by the rest of them.

    REPORT: I’m in this comment and I don’t like it

  13. Comment on Starsector 0.98a released in ~games

    maple
    Link
    I used to love EV Nova, so I’d totally be up for this - can anybody tell me if you can dial back the combat? I’m an old man now with not much time for gaming, I much prefer the...

    I used to love EV Nova, so I’d totally be up for this - can anybody tell me if you can dial back the combat? I’m an old man now with not much time for gaming, I much prefer the story/trading/strategy aspects of these games. A little combat is ok but I can never dedicate enough time to become satisfyingly good at it anymore #casuslgamer

    3 votes

  14. Comment on How can I prevent my work computers turning my home into an oven? in ~comp

    maple
    Link Parent
    Should you decide to go the colo route, it looks like you’re in the UK… I can heartily recommend Jump (https://www.jump.net.uk) for London based colo. They are small and aimed at enthusiasts and...

    Should you decide to go the colo route, it looks like you’re in the UK… I can heartily recommend Jump (https://www.jump.net.uk) for London based colo. They are small and aimed at enthusiasts and smaller businesses and are very very competent and easy to deal with, as well as renting by the U and being open to “weird stuff”. I used them happily for years.

    3 votes

  15. Comment on What's the oldest tech you use, and why do you still use it? in ~tech

    maple
    Link Parent
    Fellow 86 silverbadge user checking in! I tried to find one older than me but alas I couldn’t quite get there. Work from home really gave a new lease of life to that thing - I was never antisocial...

    Fellow 86 silverbadge user checking in! I tried to find one older than me but alas I couldn’t quite get there. Work from home really gave a new lease of life to that thing - I was never antisocial enough to take it in to the office.

    As a side benefit, it will come in handy as a melee weapon should the zombie hordes rise up against us

    2 votes

  16. Comment on Follow up on the username thread: What Tildes users do you recognize when browsing and, without being rude or inflammatory, what is your impression of them? in ~tildes

    maple
    Link Parent
    I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the Nordic countries ripping on each other is one of my very favourite rivalries (probably second only to Niles vs Roz in Frasier)

    I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the Nordic countries ripping on each other is one of my very favourite rivalries (probably second only to Niles vs Roz in Frasier)

    5 votes

  17. Comment on Human drivers keep rear-ending Waymos in ~transport

    maple
    Link Parent
    My suburban city went to great lengths and expense to rework one of our major east-west throughfares so that it included a grade-separated bike lane (actually a "multi-use path"), pissing off many...

    My suburban city went to great lengths and expense to rework one of our major east-west throughfares so that it included a grade-separated bike lane (actually a "multi-use path"), pissing off many NIMBYs in the process. It's beautiful clear smooth tarmac, with one lane in each direction. Well lit and about six feet offset from the road. I was thrilled to see it go in.

    The only cyclists who use it are the occasional casual cyclist like me, and kids. Dedicated cyclists (which is to say, the ones who own and wear special outfits, and ride fancy road bikes, often in gaggles of 10 or more) don't go near it, seemingly preferring instead to ride on the street with the cars. The very street that was made significantly narrower and more precarious by the building of the new path. I've actually witnessed more road rage (on both sides) since it went in than I did before.

    I'm sure this is the city's fault for some reason, perhaps it's not as convenient or enjoyable for the cyclists to have to go up and down dropped curbs at intersections, but I have little sympathy for the cyclists if they aren't using the facilities provided to them.

    I'm delighted to see more separate cycling infrastructure, but in this case we can't even get the horse to come to the water, let alone drink it. I'm not sure what to do about that. I guess my point is just that sometimes you can do everything seemingly right, but human behaviour confounds you.

    4 votes

  18. Comment on Three days in England - Overwhelmed by options - Looking for ideas in ~travel

    maple
    Link Parent
    I’m glad you said this because my first thought after reading they had a week in London and wanted to get out if the city was, “head North”! Travel time would make it tricky but it’s a very...

    I’m glad you said this because my first thought after reading they had a week in London and wanted to get out if the city was, “head North”!

    Travel time would make it tricky but it’s a very different vibe. I still think it would be worth it.

  19. Comment on SpaceTraders — A unique multiplayer game built on a free Web API in ~comp

    maple
    Link Parent
    I ran up ungodly phone bills playing Tradewars back in the day. Loved that game so much! You can still find it in various places online but it seems that all the players nowadays are using crazily...

    I ran up ungodly phone bills playing Tradewars back in the day. Loved that game so much! You can still find it in various places online but it seems that all the players nowadays are using crazily optimized macros etc, so it loses the nostalgic slow-paced feel.

    3 votes

  20. Comment on Mozilla is adding vertical tabs, profile management, and local AI to Firefox in ~tech

    maple
    Link Parent
    God I hope they don’t abandon it. I use tab containers for security/privacy reasons - keeping Facebook in its own jail etc. The UX of it isn’t so important to me (the centre of the universe)

    God I hope they don’t abandon it. I use tab containers for security/privacy reasons - keeping Facebook in its own jail etc. The UX of it isn’t so important to me (the centre of the universe)

    14 votes