milkywayflyinginsect's recent activity
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Comment on Wait... ARC Raiders might be peak in ~games
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Comment on Wait... ARC Raiders might be peak in ~games
milkywayflyinginsect Link ParentI have the exact same gpu + cpu, haha. I know the freezing you're talking about. After it happens on the right you can see 3 warning indicators flash. It doesn't happen often. I thought it was a...I have the exact same gpu + cpu, haha. I know the freezing you're talking about. After it happens on the right you can see 3 warning indicators flash. It doesn't happen often. I thought it was a server related problems as those indicators flash. Surely will get fixed once the games released. Other than that I had no performance issues and everything was running smoothly. Was averaging ~140 fps everything set to epic.
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Comment on Wait... ARC Raiders might be peak in ~games
milkywayflyinginsect LinkA friend sent me this video, and it eventually led to me trying the game out! It's from an older playtest, but the points still hold up perfectly. It's a great introduction to the game and...A friend sent me this video, and it eventually led to me trying the game out! It's from an older playtest, but the points still hold up perfectly.
It's a great introduction to the game and extraction shooters in general, and what really sets Arc Raiders apart from other games in the genre - which, as the author pointed out, have mostly been Tarkov clones.
Honestly, before trying it the genre seemed uninteresting and overly complicated to me, but Arc Raiders genuinely feels like a breath of fresh air.
The sound design is what really stood out for me. So much of the game revolves around it. In the video, the author mentions hearing someone looting from a distance. Walk into a building and alarms might go off. Get near a car? It starts beeping. The gunfire, the distant extraction sounds, ambient nature, Arcs getting alerted all create this immersion that's hard to express.
Also, PVE combat vs Arcs is way harder than it looks and adds an interesting dynamic.
The game's free to playtest from October 17th through the 19th. I'd definitely recommend giving it a shot!
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Wait... ARC Raiders might be peak
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Comment on Spotify, the world's biggest music streaming service, has announced it is working with major labels on using artificial intelligence in a "responsible" way in ~music
milkywayflyinginsect Link ParentYep, AI music is incredibly good. I don't think it's anymore possible to tell it's AI generated. You need to experience it. https://youtu.be/0CqL2nRBiN8?list=LL&t=1482 This whole channel has...Yep, AI music is incredibly good. I don't think it's anymore possible to tell it's AI generated. You need to experience it. https://youtu.be/0CqL2nRBiN8?list=LL&t=1482 This whole channel has incredibly high quality AI generated music.
Just listen to this song. Battery and the last song (散り散り) are my favorites from this playlist. -
Comment on YouTube capitulates to US President Donald Trump in ~society
milkywayflyinginsect (edited )LinkAfter being banned from Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube in January 2021, Trump filed a lawsuit claiming these platforms violated his free speech by acting as “government agents” under pressure from...After being banned from Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube in January 2021, Trump filed a lawsuit claiming these platforms violated his free speech by acting as “government agents” under pressure from Congress. Courts immediately shut this down. The judge said, that private companies can ban who they want and that the First Amendment doesn’t apply to them. The case was such a legal long shot that it was laughed out of court.
But then… Trump got re-elected in 2024.
And suddenly, none of that legal logic mattered.
Twitter (X) paid him $10 million to settle a case they’d already won. Facebook (Meta) followed with $25 million. And now Google (Alphabet) has paid $24 million - not to Trump personally, but funneled through tax-exempt trusts supposedly for the National Mall, but really to fund construction of a massive 90,000-square-foot Mar-a-Lago-style ballroom on the White House.
The worst part is this sets a precedent. One payoff doesn’t buy safety. It just shows the president it works. ABC paid $16 million, and a few weeks later, Trump threatened to sue again when they didn’t fire Kimmel.
So we end up in this situation where:
Platforms can't moderate content without risking presidential retaliation
The president can force platforms to remove content he doesn't like (like Jimmy Kimmel)
Tech companies with monopolistic practices get a pass as long as they pay tribute
The legal system becomes irrelevant when the president can just threaten companies into settling cases they've won -
YouTube capitulates to US President Donald Trump
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Comment on What's a product or service that you use but don't want to pay for and why? in ~life
milkywayflyinginsect Link ParentFor me it's the opposite haha, I just can't bring myself to cancel it. I've made a lot of changes with the whole anti-big-tech and buy-from-EU movement, even switched to Linux. But can't cancel...For me it's the opposite haha, I just can't bring myself to cancel it. I've made a lot of changes with the whole anti-big-tech and buy-from-EU movement, even switched to Linux. But can't cancel Youtube Premium.
I'm paying 10 euros a month, and something like 40% of that goes to creators if I remember right. Plus, the bit of listening I do on YouTube Music also pays artists, and they actually earn more per listen than on Spotify.
When I tried to cancel I thought maybe I'd try some YouTube Music alternatives and just donate to a few favorite creators each month instead. I looked into Qobuz, but turns out they don't even accept all European countries (I'm from the Baltics), and I wasn't about to switch to Spotify after their whole Joe Rogan deal thing.
Then on top of that I realized I watch tons of different small creators, not just a handful. Most of them don't even have donation options set up.
There's also the thing that without premium, I'd need to run adblock on my iPad, Android phone. Probably doable, but honestly don't feel right about adblocking anymore. Every website I visit, if I find it valuable, I whitelist it on my adblocker so they get some revenue. So I'd feel weird adblocking YouTube creators too.
For 10 euros a month, the deal's pretty solid. I find so much great, valuable, informative content on YouTube anyway. I'm generally pretty picky with my subscriptions, but somehow can't step away from this one at least for now.
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Comment on US Immigration and Customs Enforcement bought vehicles equipped with fake cell towers to spy on phones in ~society
milkywayflyinginsect LinkFascinating techFascinating tech
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US Immigration and Customs Enforcement bought vehicles equipped with fake cell towers to spy on phones
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Comment on Salt vs. potassium in ~health
milkywayflyinginsect Link ParentYeah after reading about the sources I understand a bit better as to why there are a lot of identical listings. I'll try it out and go with NCCDB where possible for consistency, thanks.Yeah after reading about the sources I understand a bit better as to why there are a lot of identical listings. I'll try it out and go with NCCDB where possible for consistency, thanks.
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Comment on Salt vs. potassium in ~health
milkywayflyinginsect (edited )Link ParentI tried Cronometer and found it pretty confusing because there are often multiple almost identical food choices, and they all show different nutrient amounts. When I checked fava beans, the...I tried Cronometer and found it pretty confusing because there are often multiple almost identical food choices, and they all show different nutrient amounts. When I checked fava beans, the differences were huge - even in protein content.
I mean, just look at these options yourself: "Broadbeans (fava beans), mature seeds, raw," "Fava Beans, Cooked from Fresh," "Broadbeans, Fava Beans, Mature Seeds, Cooked, Boiled, with Salt." The variation between them is significant.
Since I'm not from the US, there are no familiar brands to reference. Other than just messing around with it, it's hard for me to imagine actually tracking much in the app, let alone tracking absolutely everything. It seems like a real chore, especially when you cook for yourself and deal with leftovers and all that.
As for Michael Greger, I don't see much point in arguing about him as well. I personally trust the guy, which I can't say about the people cited in that Wikipedia article. Good to keep an open mind though.
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Comment on Salt vs. potassium in ~health
milkywayflyinginsect LinkI've been watching Dr. Gregor for years now, and he was the key person who helped me adopt a healthier lifestyle and diet. I was never concerned about the amount of sodium I get, whether while...I've been watching Dr. Gregor for years now, and he was the key person who helped me adopt a healthier lifestyle and diet. I was never concerned about the amount of sodium I get, whether while cooking or when buying food from the store or eating out. I'm a healthy 20-year-old with no real health problems like high blood pressure, so I thought naturally it's fine.
However, this video of Dr. Gregor made me reconsider. I started checking the foods that I buy and was astonished at just how easy it is to go over even the higher American Heart Association recommended dose of under 1500mg. Almost everything has a decent amount of salt in it, and often times we're so used to it we don't even consider it as a problem since it doesn't even taste salty.
Even this healthy bread that I had been buying had 1.2g of salt per 100g, which amounts to ~500mg of sodium. That's one slice of bread! I could keep going on, but you get the point.
Salt intake is linked to high blood pressure, affects gut health, leads to higher risk of strokes, heart disease, kidney disease, stomach cancer, and inflammation in the body.
Dr. Gregor also mentions that most people are deficient in potassium, which actually helps lower blood pressure. Our ancestors ate a ton of it from plants, but today more than 98% of Americans don't even get the minimum recommended amount. Less than 0.015% of people (or about 1 in every 6,000 Americans!) actually meet the goals for both salt and potassium.
He suggests using potassium chloride as a salt substitute to counter both of these problems at the same time.
Do you guys watch your sodium intake? Have you tried potassium chloride?
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Salt vs. potassium
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Comment on The video games to avoid if you don’t want to support Russia’s war in ~society
milkywayflyinginsect Link ParentProfits generated by companies with Russian ties, especially those with investors linked to state entities like Gazprom, contribute to the Russian economy and tax base. You're looking for a direct...United24 haven't uncovered any links or evidence of any kind of transactions or payments between these companies and Russia
Profits generated by companies with Russian ties, especially those with investors linked to state entities like Gazprom, contribute to the Russian economy and tax base.
You're looking for a direct transaction from a game developer to the Russian military / government, which is an extremely high and often hidden bar.Warthunder is hardly funding Russia's war effort because of their publisher making one ad deal with a youtuber?
Gaijin bought advertising on a YouTube channel that filmed with Russian-backed militants in occupied Donbas. It's financially rewarding content created in collaboration with combatants.
Battlestate collaborated with a weapons giant like Kalashnikov and pro-war bloggers.
How is that acceptable for you?I'm curious what small fraction of the money from Space Marine 2 has gone to Russia's government? What smaller percent of that has gone into the war?
It is impossible to track what a specific tax dollar is spent on and the moral objection is not to the amount of money, but to the fact that any money is contributing to the economy of a state engaged in an invasion. I for one choose not to participate in this economic chain, regardless of how small one's individual contribution is.
Any profitable company operating or paying taxes in Russia is, by definition, helping to fund the state as a whole, which includes its military actions. Therefore I will avoid all Russian companies if I can help it.
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Comment on The video games to avoid if you don’t want to support Russia’s war in ~society
milkywayflyinginsect LinkI also found a steam curator that lists all Russian linked games. I can’t verify the validity of the list, so take it with a grain of salt: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/42985013/I also found a steam curator that lists all Russian linked games. I can’t verify the validity of the list, so take it with a grain of salt:
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Comment on Wireless earphones: a belated review in ~tech
milkywayflyinginsect LinkTo me though, this feels more like a theoretical problem. I switched to wireless back in 2015 - many years ago now - but I went with Anker ones that still had a wire connecting one earbud to the...The second reason was my conscience, which took a while to accept that wireless earbuds have a limited lifespan because of the battery. On average, after two years capacity hits about 80%, the threshold for good performance. Except for rare (and expensive) exceptions, earbud batteries aren’t replaceable, which means most wireless earbuds are destined to the nearest landfill.
To me though, this feels more like a theoretical problem. I switched to wireless back in 2015 - many years ago now - but I went with Anker ones that still had a wire connecting one earbud to the other, even though the device itself was wireless. Used them for 5 years and generally didn't complain about the battery life. And they didn't even have a charging case! I had to replace them because one side stopped playing completely, not because of battery issues.
Then in 2020 I bought Anker Liberty Pro 3s - now completely wireless earbuds with noise cancellation and all that jazz - and I'm still rocking them. Battery capacity problems are almost completely nonexistent since there's the charging case and they charge pretty fast. That being said, I did run into charging issues quite early on (one side wouldn't charge sometimes), but I started regularly cleaning the contacts with isopropyl alcohol and I think that solved the problem.
Before wireless, I had these expensive wired earbuds - I don't even remember the company - they cost around 80 euros. After a couple of years I also had to replace them because one side was no longer playing.
So yeah, from my experience it seems like you're more likely to replace them eventually because of some other non-battery related issue and they last generally okay.
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Comment on AI tokens are getting more expensive in ~tech
milkywayflyinginsect (edited )Link ParentYeah, it's not that the tokens are getting more expensive, it's that reasoning models are putting out more tokens and because of that AI cost has actually gone up overall despite the predictions...Yeah, it's not that the tokens are getting more expensive, it's that reasoning models are putting out more tokens and because of that AI cost has actually gone up overall despite the predictions in the past that everything's going to get cheaper. This is unsustainable for businesses who give unlimited AI usage for a flat subscription cost.
This is certainly true when using AI for coding, but I’m not sure it’s true for consumers in general. How often do you need a deep research query outside work?
While it may be true that for deep research, i don't think it's true for reasoning models. I think we will be relying more and more on these reasoning models as we go into the future. They're just so much more reliable and better. And most people will always go for the best models. It's one of the points the author makes.
I almost never use the non-reasoning models for medium+ difficulty tasks. Only for easy questions.It used to be before that reasoning models would be very unconversational, unnatural sounding , robotic, have weird formatting and that is still the case for a lot of them, but googles gemini 2.5 pro bridged that gap. I don't know what they did, but I remember having that wow moment when using it. It was a big leap. I almost exclusively use it now.
I think non-reasoning models will still exist and have a place but most people will just be using the reasoning ones.
By the way, there's this Youtuber that went through this article and also shared his experience (he has an AI business as well), i found it insightful how costly grok 4 is.
https://youtu.be/mRWLQGMGY80 -
Comment on Guilt and video games in ~health.mental
milkywayflyinginsect Link ParentExactly! I haven't read Becoming Yourself yet. Mentally putting it to my "to-read" list. I did go through both Zen Mind Beginners Mind, and more recently, Not Always So. I enjoyed the latter way...The monk drying mushrooms was simply hot Buddha, right?
Exactly!
I haven't read Becoming Yourself yet. Mentally putting it to my "to-read" list. I did go through both Zen Mind Beginners Mind, and more recently, Not Always So. I enjoyed the latter way more even though the former is more well known. The talks in Zen Mind Beginners Mind feel deeper in a sense, but it's a bit harder to wrap your mind around.
Currently reading Crooked Cucumber and Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness. Loving both a lot ! -
Comment on Guilt and video games in ~health.mental
milkywayflyinginsect Link ParentWere you listening to a book by Shunryu Suzuki ? Perhaps his 'Zen mind, beginners mind' ? I have been reading his talks for a long time so naturally something of him must have rubbed off on me....Were you listening to a book by Shunryu Suzuki ? Perhaps his 'Zen mind, beginners mind' ? I have been reading his talks for a long time so naturally something of him must have rubbed off on me.
But yeah, good spot on the Zen thing. It teaches you to go beyond your conditioned mind deeply into what IS right now. A good story that I recently read from a book, i think it speaks to your situation:
“Kato liked to hear Suzuki’s English-language version of classic Zen stories—some about the great old masters of China, others about the life of Dogen. In one story Suzuki told during a Wednesday evening lecture, Dogen met an old monk in China who was drying mushrooms by a monastery wall on a hot summer day. “Why are you out here in the heat? Why not go in and rest until the sun is lower in the sky?” Dogen asked. “This is what I’m doing now,” answered the monk. “It’s my job and no one else’s job. Why would I try to be somewhere else?”
“The time is now,” Suzuki said after he told the story. “What we are doing is now. There is no other time. This is reality. I am here now. You are here now. That incident with the old monk taught Dogen what a Buddhist life is, what reality is. It is not for another time or another place or another person.”The monk isn't thinking about comfort or a "better" time to do his job. He's not resisting the heat or wishing he was in the shade. His reality, in that moment, is drying mushrooms. That's it. His mind isn't divided between what he's doing and what he'd rather be doing. He is fully present with his task.
Dogens mind is in the future, in the shade, calculating just like yours, thinking about how to make things more ideal, productive.
So, the whole point is to stop mentally running away. If you're washing dishes, just wash the dishes. If you're drying mushrooms in the sun, just dry the mushrooms in the sun. That, in itself, is the entire practice.
Once you do your whole guilt problem just fades away, things become finally clear. At some point you will look back and think "boy was this a dumb 'problem' that I had".
Yeah... had the experience of being one but that's part of learning a new game I guess.