mellowminx's recent activity
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Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music
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Comment on What creative projects have you been working on? in ~creative
mellowminx LinkWorked on the customizable colors for fishbowls and bubbles in my desktop pet fish game! Also slowly inching towards a better demo. Life's been hectic lately so I've been mostly squeezing in...Worked on the customizable colors for fishbowls and bubbles in my desktop pet fish game! Also slowly inching towards a better demo.
Life's been hectic lately so I've been mostly squeezing in gamedev time late at night. I just have so much fun doing it!
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Comment on Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent in ~tech
mellowminx LinkI couldn't tell if my device had this Chrome AI, but I recently switched to Brave anyway so I just went ahead and uninstalled Chrome. I did notice that Chrome occupied 6GB on my hard drive while...I couldn't tell if my device had this Chrome AI, but I recently switched to Brave anyway so I just went ahead and uninstalled Chrome. I did notice that Chrome occupied 6GB on my hard drive while Brave only occupied 1GB.
P.S. Just in case anyone else is thinking of switching too, I found the switch to Brave super easy, since I can still use Chrome extensions, and I was able to auto-import all my bookmarks/history/settings from Chrome too. I also like that Brave has a one-click mute/unmute audio per tab function. Never knew I needed that! Chrome doesn't have it.
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Comment on For thirty years I programmed with Phish on, every day. In 2026, the music is out of phase with the work. in ~tech
mellowminx Link ParentI believe you! Your comment reminded me of this personal essay by Aella where she talks about how she started on this job feeling so excited and eager to learn and improve, but it just turned out...I believe you!
Your comment reminded me of this personal essay by Aella where she talks about how she started on this job feeling so excited and eager to learn and improve, but it just turned out to be soul-crushing tedium: When I was 19, I spent a year assembling electrical relays on a factory floor for $10/hr.
Excerpt:
I hated the work. It was a horrible no-good kind of work. You couldn’t zone out and just do autopilot, because you had to follow a set of instructions with slight variations, that change a little each time. You had to pay attention. But the attention you paid was not interesting; it was ongoing, it was relentless, it was stupid. My mind wasn’t mine, it was just barely pulled over some threshhold into a mind-killing, mundane amount of repetition.
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Comment on For thirty years I programmed with Phish on, every day. In 2026, the music is out of phase with the work. in ~tech
mellowminx Link ParentI interpreted this piece as being about his work, so I didn't assume that he eschews everything else life has to offer. I only know him from this one article so I wouldn't assume that he doesn't...I interpreted this piece as being about his work, so I didn't assume that he eschews everything else life has to offer. I only know him from this one article so I wouldn't assume that he doesn't have love in his life, or doesn't care for creatures/plants, etc. That said, if his life is completely filled up by programming while listening to music and by traveling to watch live music-- I don't necessarily see it as sad or one-dimensional either, since I see both of those activities as multifaceted and potentially filled with a lot of different experiences already.
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Comment on For thirty years I programmed with Phish on, every day. In 2026, the music is out of phase with the work. in ~tech
mellowminx LinkWas very moved by this personal essay about generative AI degrading flow state. It's relatable for me even though I'm not a professional programmer. It's not necessarily AI specifically (although...Was very moved by this personal essay about generative AI degrading flow state.
It's relatable for me even though I'm not a professional programmer. It's not necessarily AI specifically (although that's definitely a significant factor for me), but also things like rapid context-switching and algorithm-controlled feeds (which I both consume content from and produce content for).
I've been a professional visual artist most of my adult life, but I've been struggling with getting into a flow state with that recently. I'm currently learning game development and I really enjoy coding (even if I'm not good at it and make a lot of spaghetti!), so it's been easier for me to get into a flow state with that at the moment.
Excerpts below:
I used to make a joke that if I ever had to interview for a new job, I’d need to ask the interviewer to put Phish on so I could actually program for them. I’d say it as a joke, because saying it straight would have made it sound deranged. But it wasn’t a joke. After three decades, the cue and the state had fused. I could not, with any reliability, get into the zone without the music. The conditioning was complete and I knew it.
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Since January, the work has changed.
I don’t really write code anymore. The main thing now is managing agents. I open a session, ask a question, redirect, switch to a different one, check on a merge, review what came back, send it back for changes, switch again. The day is a queue. Things finish at different times and require different responses, and the responses are short and the contexts are constantly different.
This is engineering. I keep being told that. It is engineering and it is the future and it is more leveraged than what I used to do. All of that is probably true. But it is not the work I have been doing for thirty years. The shape of it is different. The rhythm is different. The way it sits in the day is different.
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The music is more present in my life now than it has ever been. It isn’t what’s gone.
But the music is out of phase with the work. The jams are built for one continuous arc of attention. The work is staccato. I’ll be three minutes into a song and I will have already context-switched four times. The song is happening and the work is happening and they’re no longer happening together. They’re parallel, but they no longer touch.
I’m sad. I don’t get into that state anymore. I don’t know how to be honest about this without sounding like I am complaining about progress, but I can’t pretend that something hasn’t been taken. The flow state I had for thirty years is not part of my workday now. The creativity that lived inside it is not there either. I do useful things. I do not feel what I used to feel while doing them.
The discussion about this on Hacker News may also be of interest, since there are others sharing differing perspectives. For some, coding with AI has improved flow state since they prefer working rapidly with ideas / design / architecture.
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For thirty years I programmed with Phish on, every day. In 2026, the music is out of phase with the work.
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Comment on Today I shipped twenty apps and a screensaver in ~tech
mellowminx LinkOmg! This is making me want to make my own screensaver too. Thanks for sharing. I downloaded the floppy saver, and I'm trying out the Stapler app :DOmg! This is making me want to make my own screensaver too. Thanks for sharing. I downloaded the floppy saver, and I'm trying out the Stapler app :D
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Comment on Which covers did it better than (or put a fresh twist on) the original? in ~music
mellowminx Link ParentWhat a lovely cover of Rasputin! Thanks for sharing :D If you haven't heard it yet you may also enjoy Debbii Dawson's cover of Dancing Queen - live / studio. -
Comment on Which covers did it better than (or put a fresh twist on) the original? in ~music
mellowminx (edited )LinkI love cover songs! Here are some of my faves - Funk Nirvana cover - Ruby and the Vines - Heart-Shaped Box Dancey electronic/hyperpop Shakira cover - Dorian Electra - Hips Don't Lie Angelic rock...I love cover songs! Here are some of my faves -
Funk Nirvana cover - Ruby and the Vines - Heart-Shaped Box
Dancey electronic/hyperpop Shakira cover - Dorian Electra - Hips Don't Lie
Angelic rock Tatu cover - Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers - All The Things She Said
Haunting Cascada cover - Dan Avidan - Everytime We Touch (soundtrack for Touchstarved, a gothic horror romance visual novel game)
Haunting Crowded House cover - The Rescues - Don't Dream It's Over (soundtrack for Pantheon, an outstanding scifi animated series, if you haven't watched it yet I am begging you to, and I do recommend going into it blind if you know you like scifi)
Smooth saxxy hiphop Daft Punk cover - Balance and the Traveling Sounds - Something About UsThis Elvis Costello I Want You cover by Fiona Apple is probably my all-time fave cover song. Just a phenomenal, emotional, heartbreakingly beautiful live performance.
These others are remixes but they are pretty fun:
Mariah Carey, Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion - WAP Belong Together - the music video edit is amazing too
Plastic Love but it's In Da Club by 50 Cent - fun cover image too
Hot In Herre x Bring Me To Life - unhinged but it works -
Comment on Which covers did it better than (or put a fresh twist on) the original? in ~music
mellowminx Link ParentLove K-O's, this is a great cover!The Good Lovelies' cover of Crabbuckit
Love K-O's, this is a great cover!
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Comment on Your favourite karaoke songs? in ~music
mellowminx (edited )Link90s-2000s songs! My fave is Evanescence - Bring Me To Life duet with my (unwilling) husband 😂 Some others in no particular order: The Cranberries - Dreams Meredith Brooks - Bitch All Saints -...90s-2000s songs!
My fave is Evanescence - Bring Me To Life duet with my (unwilling) husband 😂
Some others in no particular order:
The Cranberries - Dreams
Meredith Brooks - Bitch
All Saints - Never Ever
Britney Spears - Baby One More Time
Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love
Michelle Branch - Everywhere
Tatu - All The Things She Said
Avril Lavigne - Complicated
Blink 182 - I Miss You
Vitamin C - Graduation
The Calling - Wherever You Will Go
Sixpence None The Richer - Kiss Me
Goo Goo Dolls - Iris
Dashbord Confessional - Hands DownI also have a soft spot for the 80s / new wave!
When In Rome - The Promise
Thompson Twins - Hold Me Now
Depeche Mode - Shake The Disease
Erasure - Always
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - If You Leave
Seona Dancing - More To Lose
Gazebo - I Like Chopin
Nena - 99 Red Balloons...
I also enjoy singing songs from other decades including this one, but friends I karaoke with are more likely to know songs from the decades above and it's more fun to sing together when everyone's familiar with the song <3
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Comment on I made a website with free and low-cost resources for web development, game development, privacy, graphics, small web, etc in ~tech
mellowminx Link ParentThank you! Yes, Marginalia is already there :DThank you! Yes, Marginalia is already there :D
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Comment on I made a website with free and low-cost resources for web development, game development, privacy, graphics, small web, etc in ~tech
mellowminx Link ParentIn my case I just hadn't heard of Windscribe before, so thanks for letting me know! I will add it :)In my case I just hadn't heard of Windscribe before, so thanks for letting me know! I will add it :)
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Comment on I made a website with free and low-cost resources for web development, game development, privacy, graphics, small web, etc in ~tech
mellowminx Link ParentI'm adding this (as well as the YT), thanks so much for the recommendation!I'm adding this (as well as the YT), thanks so much for the recommendation!
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Comment on I made a website with free and low-cost resources for web development, game development, privacy, graphics, small web, etc in ~tech
mellowminx Link ParentThanks so much! I'll see if I can get into SSGs and RSS too. That reminds me, I do have an old minimalist PHP flatfile CMS I made years ago... maybe I'll dig it up and rework it!Thanks so much! I'll see if I can get into SSGs and RSS too. That reminds me, I do have an old minimalist PHP flatfile CMS I made years ago... maybe I'll dig it up and rework it!
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Comment on I made a website with free and low-cost resources for web development, game development, privacy, graphics, small web, etc in ~tech
mellowminx (edited )Link ParentThanks for letting me know! I just checked DNS propagation and there do seem to be issues in some areas currently, including Netherlands. [EDIT] I just mirrored the homepage on Github Pages in...Thanks for letting me know! I just checked DNS propagation and there do seem to be issues in some areas currently, including Netherlands.
[EDIT] I just mirrored the homepage on Github Pages in case this helps :)
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Comment on I made a website with free and low-cost resources for web development, game development, privacy, graphics, small web, etc in ~tech
mellowminx Link ParentI'm so excited to go through all of these, thanks for sharing! I made a beeline for the Winamp museum... that brings back memories :)I'm so excited to go through all of these, thanks for sharing! I made a beeline for the Winamp museum... that brings back memories :)
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Comment on I made a website with free and low-cost resources for web development, game development, privacy, graphics, small web, etc in ~tech
mellowminx Link ParentI'll definitely have to add a table of contents at some point, thank you! And yes-- personally using the text conversion JS method for obfuscation myself. I'm so happy it's easy.I'll definitely have to add a table of contents at some point, thank you!
And yes-- personally using the text conversion JS method for obfuscation myself. I'm so happy it's easy.
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Comment on I made a website with free and low-cost resources for web development, game development, privacy, graphics, small web, etc in ~tech
mellowminx Link ParentI've added these, thanks so much!I've added these, thanks so much!
Dorian Electra - Hips Don't Lie - This hyperpop Shakira cover really hypes me up! Also love their cover of Feel Good Inc.
Saint Agnes - Good Boy - Rebellious rock song, magnetic visuals