papasquat's recent activity
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Comment on What is your 'Subway Take'? in ~talk
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Comment on What is your 'Subway Take'? in ~talk
papasquat Link ParentDreads really are gross. The ones that black people have do often seem to be less gross though, and I don't know if that has to do with the kind of care they tend to put into them, the kind of...Dreads really are gross. The ones that black people have do often seem to be less gross though, and I don't know if that has to do with the kind of care they tend to put into them, the kind of black person that's more likely to have dreads vs the kind of white person that's more likely to have them, or the texture of their hair, but they do seem to be nicer.
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Comment on What is your 'Subway Take'? in ~talk
papasquat Link ParentI don't know that a Halloween costume would necessarily even fall into the category of cultural appropriation. The point of a Halloween costume is to dress up as something you don't normally dress...I don't know that a Halloween costume would necessarily even fall into the category of cultural appropriation. The point of a Halloween costume is to dress up as something you don't normally dress up as, so anything you wear as a Halloween costume is kind of inheritely something that you haven't appropriated.
I think it's a dick move because you're using something that presumably a religious symbol as a costume; I'd feel the same way if someone dressed up as the pope or Muhammad.
Where I think the prevailing opinion goes wrong is that a white person wearing feathers in their hair or native American beadwork or mocassins is somehow wrong. That meets the definition of cultural appropriation, but there's no real harm there, and people don't own their cultural trappings simply because they were raised in them.
Most cultural phenomenon wouldn't even exist if no one shared and appropriated parts of other cultures. There are no cultures that exist in a vacuum, not today or ever.
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Comment on What is your 'Subway Take'? in ~talk
papasquat Link ParentIn all of these examples, I don't see any actual harm done. The people in all of them are profiting off of ideas foreign to them; what's the issue there though? It doesn't seem particularly...In all of these examples, I don't see any actual harm done. The people in all of them are profiting off of ideas foreign to them; what's the issue there though?
It doesn't seem particularly relevant that the kimono was made in a seat shop either. The blue jeans that the guy in the example are wearing are likely also made in a sweatshop. The issue is the sweatshop, not the kimono.
Like, is it annoying when people suddenly start eating a food or drinking a drink or listening to music or using language you've used your entire life, way before anyone in the west heard of it? Yeah, but it's annoying in sort of a hipster, "I was doing this before it was cool" way, not in an actually harmful way.
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Comment on Looking for feedback on a homelab design in ~tech
papasquat LinkHonestly... I would take a step back and ask yourself if this is something you really want to do. I've gone through ebs and flows with homelab stuff, because some of the stuff it does is useful...Honestly... I would take a step back and ask yourself if this is something you really want to do.
I've gone through ebs and flows with homelab stuff, because some of the stuff it does is useful (home assistant mostly), but other things become a huge pain in the ass at inconvenient times for me.
Right now I run a kind of complicated setup with proxmox hosting my pfsense firewall and a few other things that require me to pass network interfaces around, tag ports with different clans and so on.
It's kinda grown that way to meet a bunch of different needs and it makes sense if you understand it, but if I don't pay attention to it for a few months and something suddenly breaks, I'm banging my head against the wall for hours trying to fix something.
The advice you get online about how to prevent stuff like that is often misguided too, and only works in a theoretical perfect world where your setup is exactly the same as the developers of thousands of little components envisioned when they were writing the components your lab relies on.
So my advice would be to take a step back and ask yourself if investing a lot of ongoing time and money into this project is really worth it to you, like, is it something you'll continually enjoy doing even if a lightning strike knocks out a NIC, or a volume that you were accidentally not monitoring fills up and bricks your hypervisor, or a bug in some random component causes your whole setup to crumble and you have no idea why. Because each of those things are a minimum of several hours to fix, and if your household relies on those services, it's several hours of not having it.
Personally, I'm very hot and cold about it. Sometimes I love messing with the stuff, often times, I wish I'd ripped all of it out, used a Netgear router and just paid for apple cloud storage.
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Comment on Grand Theft Auto made him a legend. His latest game was a disaster. in ~games
papasquat Link ParentYeah. As much as people like to pretend that executive leadership are just fat cats lounging around and being unfairly rewarded for the work of the people under them (and in some cases thats...Yeah. As much as people like to pretend that executive leadership are just fat cats lounging around and being unfairly rewarded for the work of the people under them (and in some cases thats true), management is a true skill set.
This idea we have that just because someone is a brilliant programmer, or amazing artist, or even a talented middle manager, that they'll be able to step into an executive role and be successful. They're totally different skill sets, and require a personality that allows you to make compromises to juggle many different competing priorities, instead of having those priorities laid out for you.
That's what I see as the fatal flaw of many of these celebrity game designers. Their vision is the thing that matters the most to them out of any of their priorities, and that's just objectively not the case. They're essentially too close to the work and not able to step back and understand that if you don't release a playable game that people enjoy in a reasonable timeline, the company will go out of business.
They end up spending so much time on perfecting a vision or trying to do something radically new that the economic realities sneak up on them and then they have to rush to ship something that's always half baked garbage.
Having a detached executive that can say "enough is enough. Cut out the overambitious features and ship this thing" seems necessary for any large scale software project, but especially for AAA games.
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Comment on Reusable rockets are here, so why is NASA paying more to launch stuff to space? in ~space
papasquat Link ParentI think there are a few factors here. One, crewed spaceflight is obviously far more expensive, the risks are far higher, and they're far more publicized. If you lose a probe, no one aside from...I think there are a few factors here.
One, crewed spaceflight is obviously far more expensive, the risks are far higher, and they're far more publicized. If you lose a probe, no one aside from scientists really care. If you lose an astronaut, the American public will want someone's head on a platter, and political careers will fail.
Secondly, crewed spaceflight is mostly a publicity stunt. It doesn't confer significant scientific advantages over unmanned missions that justify its massively larger expense and risk.
The reasons countries fund manned missions is so they can say they have; for bragging rights. That means that those missions are inherently highly political. Their political usefulness are the main reason they're greenlit in the first place.
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Comment on YouTube has a new video player in ~tech
papasquat Link ParentMaybe, but I think that may be both overestimating googles technical competence and long term planning skills. I don't really think that if Google had some foolproof way to stop people from being...Maybe, but I think that may be both overestimating googles technical competence and long term planning skills.
I don't really think that if Google had some foolproof way to stop people from being able to download their content without inconveniencing their legitimate users, they'd hesitate in deploying it.
I just think it's a very difficult, if not impossible problem to permanently solve, but they spend lots of engineering time trying to anyway.
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Comment on Death in D&D 5e, the various revival spells, and their impact on the game in ~games.tabletop
papasquat Link ParentEh, that's not really the kind of game I play, nor is it one I'm really interested in playing. Roleplaying can be very narrative, but it's still a game, and games need to have risks. If I knew the...Eh, that's not really the kind of game I play, nor is it one I'm really interested in playing. Roleplaying can be very narrative, but it's still a game, and games need to have risks.
If I knew the only way I'd possibly die is if the DM very intentionally telegraphed that they didn't intend me to go this way and that I have a chance of dying, that would make the "approved" route boring. If there's no real risk of dying, what are we even bothering with the combat for? We're just kind of going through the motions and rolling dice to kill time at that point.
I like to feel like I'm a struggling adventurer going into dangerous situations in search of gold and glory, not because I'm all powerful and impossible to kill, but because I have no other choice. When I narrowly escape a dragon breath, it feels good because I know if I didn't, I probably would have died, and that would be it for that character.
Getting killed by randomness is part of the fun for me, and if I was playing with someone that got legitimately mad that an enemy killed them because they critted, or because the DM didn't deus ex machina a giant haybale at the bottom of the cliff they fell off, I probably wouldn't want to play with that person any more.
I mean, it's called adventuring because it's dangerous. Most of what you do in the game should have some inherit danger.
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Comment on Can we bury enough wood to slow climate change? in ~enviro
papasquat Link ParentWe're not really sequestering carbon by producing it, since producing it requires energy, which right now mostly requires us to to burn fossil fuels. The carbon being used to produce it was all...We're not really sequestering carbon by producing it, since producing it requires energy, which right now mostly requires us to to burn fossil fuels. The carbon being used to produce it was all also already sequestered. We pumped it out of the ground where it would have happily sat for millions of years, not affecting the atmosphere at all until we decided it should turn into a grocery bag.
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Comment on Spit on, sworn at, and undeterred: what it’s like to own a Cybertruck in ~transport
papasquat Link ParentLike, if I gave a massive, huge, gargantuan benefit of the doing to these people, I could see the argument that just because you bought a cybertruck doesn't mean you like Elon Musk or are a...Like, if I gave a massive, huge, gargantuan benefit of the doing to these people, I could see the argument that just because you bought a cybertruck doesn't mean you like Elon Musk or are a fervent Trump supporter and have lots of other batshit ideas.
I think that argument holds a lot of water in other situations. Just because you order stuff from Amazon doesn't mean you hate unions, for instance.
The difference is that Amazon is a ridiculously convinient service that has cornered the online retail market.
The cybertruck is an unreliable, shoddily built, dangerous, expensive, and hideous vehicle that intentionally makes a statement. The likelihood that someone buys one in 2025 completely divorced from its status as a political symbol is almost zero.
For a quick illustration of this, no one is flicking off or shouting at model 3 drivers, because there are reasons to own that car other than to make a political statement.
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Comment on Spit on, sworn at, and undeterred: what it’s like to own a Cybertruck in ~transport
papasquat Link ParentI don't understand... Is this guy implying that he got divorced because he has a cybertruck? Or he can't get a date because he owns a cybertruck? I don't know if I believe either of those things....I don't understand... Is this guy implying that he got divorced because he has a cybertruck? Or he can't get a date because he owns a cybertruck?
I don't know if I believe either of those things. Seems to me a classic case of questionable cause. Seems like the kind of guy that would buy a cybertruck would just... Have issues that would make a lot of women steer clear
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Comment on YouTube has a new video player in ~tech
papasquat Link ParentAlways so annoying. The amazing part is that when YouTube debuts their new latest anti download technology, the absolute heroes over at youtube-dl and yt-dlp usually take maybe an hour or two to...Always so annoying. The amazing part is that when YouTube debuts their new latest anti download technology, the absolute heroes over at youtube-dl and yt-dlp usually take maybe an hour or two to figure out how to defeat it and upload a patch to resolve it.
I've gotta wonder why Google even bothers to spend the no doubt gargantuanly expensive engineer time to try to stop downloading. It's clearly a battle they can't win and it just ends up wasting a lot of people's time.
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Comment on What's your favorite hobby? in ~hobbies
papasquat Link ParentAwesome! I have a couple of betafpv tinywhoops I fly around my house constantly and annoy my fiance with. I don't know if I'd ever be confident enough to try actually racing though, lol.Awesome! I have a couple of betafpv tinywhoops I fly around my house constantly and annoy my fiance with. I don't know if I'd ever be confident enough to try actually racing though, lol.
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Comment on Financial collapse? in ~finance
papasquat Link ParentThe US government creates US dollars via fiat. They have no interest in taking money. They have no need for money in general; they can simply create it if they want more in the economy, and tax it...The US government creates US dollars via fiat. They have no interest in taking money.
They have no need for money in general; they can simply create it if they want more in the economy, and tax it back if they want less.
The damage they'd do by suddenly evaporating people's bank accounts wouldn't even be slightly worth it. They'd just tax you more to achieve the same thing without creating a national catastrophe.
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Comment on Financial collapse? in ~finance
papasquat Link ParentThe US economy isn't going anywhere. Even in a massive recession, the US dollar is going to remain a pretty stable currency, and the US dollar can't crash without everything else in the world...The US economy isn't going anywhere. Even in a massive recession, the US dollar is going to remain a pretty stable currency, and the US dollar can't crash without everything else in the world crashing too.
A country's economy doesn't depend on its currency. It depends on it's productive capacity. The US is still an absolute powerhouse when it comes to production of goods and services.
The dollar represents that productive capacity, and as such isn't going anywhere either.
Torpedoing your entire life to "hedge" against the USD isn't a rational course of action.
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Comment on Financial collapse? in ~finance
papasquat Link ParentBankruptcy is a painful, complicated process. It often requires you to liquidate assets to cover debts if you can. It's not generally something you want to go through, and is only worth it if the...Bankruptcy is a painful, complicated process. It often requires you to liquidate assets to cover debts if you can.
It's not generally something you want to go through, and is only worth it if the alternative is spending the rest of your life paying down debt you can't possibly ever get out from.
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Comment on Financial collapse? in ~finance
papasquat Link ParentYeah, there's a tendency to think that people were stupider hundreds or thousands of years ago. They were just as smart as we were. Humans haven't had significant brain development for the past...Yeah, there's a tendency to think that people were stupider hundreds or thousands of years ago.
They were just as smart as we were. Humans haven't had significant brain development for the past 300,000 years or so.
People doing something for thousands of years should give you an idea of how difficult and unintuitive it is, especially when you consider the fact that we didn't figure out how to do it until 12,000 years ago.
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Comment on What's your favorite hobby? in ~hobbies
papasquat LinkFor the past year or so it's been FPV drones. I'm super late to flying them, it seems like their heyday was maybe 6 or so years ago when people were still amazed by the videos, but building,...For the past year or so it's been FPV drones.
I'm super late to flying them, it seems like their heyday was maybe 6 or so years ago when people were still amazed by the videos, but building, flying, and crashing them has been a blast. I don't do it to make content or post videos, I just do it because flying them is fun, and tinkering with them may be even more fun.
I've always been interested in computers and electronics, so the idea of configuring a computer to fly through the air well is really badass.
There's also a satisfying muscle memory/physical skill progression aspect that comes from being able to fly them well; pulling off cool tricks, flying fast and close to objects, and getting the aircraft to do what you want.
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Comment on What ridiculous thing would you spend billions on? in ~talk
papasquat Link ParentNice. The problem with normal docks is that they usually don't have high speed Pina Colada hose hookups. This helps us out immensely.Nice. The problem with normal docks is that they usually don't have high speed Pina Colada hose hookups. This helps us out immensely.
I agree with this, and I live in a house with an HOA.
The issue is that most of my neighbors don't.
Most people who own property are older, wealthier, and like the suburban police state. The fact that if they don't like some kid playing on the front yard, they can make the homeowner's life hell, and they get an outsized say in what other people do with their own lives isn't a bug, it's a feature.
Any HOA can be dissolved if it's members vote to do so. Most of the people that live in them, and especially the ones that are involved enough in them to actually show up and vote don't want to.
All of the things about HOAs that people complain about online are the things they like. They like that they
can fine people for not having the chance to mow their lawn on a given weekend; they're retired and mowing their lawn to compare to other people's lawns is their main hobby. They like that they can fine people for having cars in front of their house; they don't have friends that come over to visit so there's no reason anyone else would ever park there.
Basically, the whole point of them is to force everyone in the neighborhood to live lifestyles similar to theirs, and punish them if they don't. They enjoy this aspect of them, so even if there were county wide votes to abolish them, they're not likely to pass.