pseudolobster's recent activity

  1. Comment on America tips into fascism in ~society

    pseudolobster
    Link Parent
    Fair points. To be equally cheeky I think the last one that was a boots-on-ground land invasion was the war of 1812 where the Brits who lived in Canada came and burned down the White House....

    Fair points. To be equally cheeky I think the last one that was a boots-on-ground land invasion was the war of 1812 where the Brits who lived in Canada came and burned down the White House.

    Anyway, I would caution my fellow Canadians to remain vigilant and pay attention. Trump's actions are precedented. We've been down this path before. History really does repeat itself. I have absolutely no faith in the checks and balances of the US government anymore. It appears the executive branch now wields ultimate power. This is like the second chapter of any book describing fascism.

    PS: "overmuch" is a great word. I'm going to try and incorporate it into my vocabulary.

    2 votes

  2. Comment on America tips into fascism in ~society

    pseudolobster
    Link Parent
    I think what I'm saying is that time and time again, despite insurmountable technological advantage, the US military has been overcome by sheer willpower alone. We have a lot more determination to...

    I think what I'm saying is that time and time again, despite insurmountable technological advantage, the US military has been overcome by sheer willpower alone. We have a lot more determination to defend our country than the average US soldier has to invade us.

    1 vote

  3. Comment on America tips into fascism in ~society

    pseudolobster
    Link Parent
    I guess it depends how comfortable you'd be living under US / Trump rule. I for one, wouldn't stand for it. I'd rather go down defending my country than live under fascism. I'm not even a patriot....

    I guess it depends how comfortable you'd be living under US / Trump rule. I for one, wouldn't stand for it. I'd rather go down defending my country than live under fascism. I'm not even a patriot. I'm sorta indifferent towards Canada as a nation. I just know that the alternative is far, far worse.

    3 votes

  4. Comment on America tips into fascism in ~society

    pseudolobster
    Link Parent
    I'm holding out hope. Canadians are vicious in battle, with a history of punching way above our weight class. The Marvel character Wolverine was meant to embody the Canadian spirit after all. We...

    I'm holding out hope. Canadians are vicious in battle, with a history of punching way above our weight class. The Marvel character Wolverine was meant to embody the Canadian spirit after all. We also feel betrayed by our closest ally who we sincerely do not want to become a part of, so that's extra motivation to defend our country.

    Canadians have never before been as unified as I've seen them since the start of the 2nd Trump administration. We've been pretty damn unified in our "elbows up" message, that we will not stand for annexation.

    Think back to the past, idk, ten wars the US has been in. They haven't had a win since 1945. They have a hard time dealing with people in jungles or other heavily forested areas. They have a hard time dealing with impoverished farmers in the desert, where anyone could be an insurgent. They've also never encountered a war on their own soil.

    Now imagine if there are thousands upon thousands of kilometres of undefended border going through wilderness, where the insurgents speak exactly the same language, know exactly the same cultural references, and can pass as Americans perfectly. There could be a 9/11 level event every week if Canadians had motivation to do so. Look to The Troubles in the UK if you want to know how these sorts of things play out with similar cultures on a land border.

    They can't nuke us since 90% of our population is within 100km of the US border. In theory we have NATO allies. I'm not looking forward to what happens if they try, but I'm also not too concerned about our sovereignty. We're a resilient people.

    11 votes

  5. Comment on What's your current PC wallpaper? in ~tech

    pseudolobster
    Link Parent
    British Columbia. Near Top of the World Provincial Park.

    British Columbia. Near Top of the World Provincial Park.

    2 votes

  6. Comment on What's your current PC wallpaper? in ~tech

  7. Comment on Does anyone have a digg invite code I can get ? in ~tech

    pseudolobster
    Link Parent
    I think I might be old. I heard Alexis Ohanian and Kevin Rose got together to dig Digg out of the ashes and promote it as some new thing, but I never expected anyone would be psyched for it. For...

    I think I might be old.

    I heard Alexis Ohanian and Kevin Rose got together to dig Digg out of the ashes and promote it as some new thing, but I never expected anyone would be psyched for it. For that matter, I've seen no hype or advertisement for it since it was announced like a year and a half, maybe two years ago.

    Am I out of touch? I left Digg in 2008 and haven't thought a lot about it since then. I have to wonder is everyone here registering because of nostalgia or because of never having heard of it before, and they're just tuned into a marketing campaign outside my bubble?

    3 votes

  8. Comment on Does anyone have a digg invite code I can get ? in ~tech

    pseudolobster
    Link
    Time is a flat circle.

    Time is a flat circle.

    36 votes

  9. Comment on What happened to your first car? in ~transport

    pseudolobster
    Link Parent
    Sure, so, recently I took her from Vancouver Island in BC to somewhere near the Alberta border. About 1000km, or 600 miles. Here's a bighorn sheep in Radium Hot Springs, BC. Apparently sheep drive...

    Sure, so, recently I took her from Vancouver Island in BC to somewhere near the Alberta border. About 1000km, or 600 miles.

    Here's a bighorn sheep in Radium Hot Springs, BC. Apparently sheep drive their whole economy now that the effects of radium are known.

    Here's my average commute. Did a lot of driving through scenic mountains and stuff. People come from around the world, spending tens of thousands of dollars to visit here, but when you're driving here every day it kinda gets mundane, which is kinda funny.

    Here's where we installed a solar panel, charge controller, lithium phosphate battery, and hooked up a 12v cooler. I just think it's a nice picture of Frank.

    Here's another scenic vista. We'd often stop in these places when we needed to pee. We'd take a piss off a cliff with a good view and we called it the "panoramic pee", which I must say is immensely satisfying.

    Here's some cool rock formations in a place most people would never discover. Lots of beautiful waterfalls and rivers in this area, but the road is a bit sketchy.

    Here's Frank's totally normal average parking job. We needed to get off the main road, so we parked on a bit of an angle.

    Here's why we drove a thousand kilometers in the first place. We were picking morel mushrooms, which grow in coniferous forests where a forest fire burned last year. They're incredibly delicious, and pretty expensive. We were hoping to pay for the trip by picking and selling some mushrooms, but in the end we barely covered gas, let alone food or other expenses.

    Here's why. We had 3 weeks of no precipitation, we were waiting for rain, and on June 21st, the first day of summer, we got snow.

    All in all the trip was pretty disappointing from a financial perspective, but still pretty epic from the adventure perspective.

    2 votes

  10. Comment on What happened to your first car? in ~transport

    pseudolobster
    Link Parent
    I'm fortunate to live in British Columbia, which has something like 2 million logging roads. A side effect of the fact that we've raped the earth cutting down ALL the trees to the point where...

    I'm fortunate to live in British Columbia, which has something like 2 million logging roads. A side effect of the fact that we've raped the earth cutting down ALL the trees to the point where there's only a few thousand hectares of old growth left is that you can drive all over these mountains with an offroad vehicle.

    Frank has enabled me to explore all sorts o remote hot springs, crazy rock formations, insane scenic vistas, etc. I love her dearly.

    2 votes

  11. Comment on What happened to your first car? in ~transport

    pseudolobster
    Link
    I still remember my first car. It was a 1990 Toyota Hilux Surf. Basically a 4runner, except diesel and right-hand drive. It has the same engine and transmission as the one in the Top Gear episode,...

    I still remember my first car. It was a 1990 Toyota Hilux Surf. Basically a 4runner, except diesel and right-hand drive. It has the same engine and transmission as the one in the Top Gear episode, same transmission, frame, etc as the Whistlindiesel torture tests on youtube. She wasn't the fastest on highways, especially on hills, but once you got onto a dirt road she would climb over anything.

    Her name was Frank, short for Franklin, as in the turtle (Canadian cartoon/book series). I chose it because it really pisses some people off that I identify my car as female but gave her a male name. Anyway... Here she is in her native habitat: https://i.postimg.cc/hGqgqB9W/hilux.jpg

    Anyway, despite 350,000km on her, there's absolutely no rust on the frame, only a patch of rust the size of a toonie on the rear fender. I bought her a year ago. I am 43 years old. Only got my license recently. I figured my first car should be something special, so I got some weird and backwards indestructible Japanese tank from 35 years ago. Starts great every time and I've put maybe 10,000km on her so far.

    3 votes

  12. Comment on How many remakes have ever actually lived up to or surpassed the original? in ~movies

    pseudolobster
    Link
    Every film I was going to say has already been mentioned, except True Grit. I'm not even a fan of westerns, but after watching the original, the remake is infinitely better, yet hits all the same...

    Every film I was going to say has already been mentioned, except True Grit.

    I'm not even a fan of westerns, but after watching the original, the remake is infinitely better, yet hits all the same beats. It's a true homage to the original movie and book, yet does it so much better. Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld give fantastic performances.

    I guess when we're on the subject of westerns, I haven't actually watched the original but I understand the 2007 version of 3:10 to Yuma is better than the original as well.

    7 votes

  13. Comment on Why recycling solar panels is harder than you might think in ~enviro

    pseudolobster
    Link
    I'm always really skeptical about articles that portray solar panels as some kind of hazardous waste product that's some looming threat we need to consider. This article is no exception. Solar...

    I'm always really skeptical about articles that portray solar panels as some kind of hazardous waste product that's some looming threat we need to consider. This article is no exception.

    Solar panels are mostly glass and silicon wafers. They're made of sand, and... well, also sand. There aren't really any toxic compounds here. Perhaps there's lead in the solder, but that's super easy to recover. The frames are aluminum, which are also super easy to recover. The rest can just be broken up, crushed, and turned back into sand.

    The environmental impact of solar panels is in their production, which is significant enough to talk about, but nowhere near the impacts of traditional energy sources. These articles never seem to mention how much it would cost to decomission a coal mine, coal processing plant, or coal generator, or what kinds of hazmat teams would be required.

    Solar panels are glass and silicon wafers. How many glass bottles are made for beer every year? That's a lot of smelting. Uses a ton of energy. People say the phosphorous doping process puts chemicals in the water. Phosphoric acid is an ingredient in Coca Cola; why is no one upset about the environmental impact of that? The process of making silicon wafers is energy intensive, sure, but how many electronic devices with chips in them do you dispose of each year?

    Any article that starts off saying solar has a negative environmental impact but doesn't follow up by comparing it to traditional energy sources is suspicious at best, but more likely it's disingenuous and misleading on purpose.

    7 votes

  14. Comment on Michael Bay will direct the ‘Skibidi Toilet’ movie in ~movies

    pseudolobster
    (edited )
    Link
    This is the worst timeline. edit: please label as joke/noise/offtopic

    This is the worst timeline.

    edit: please label as joke/noise/offtopic

    20 votes

  15. Comment on What are the rules of this subreddit? in ~tildes

    pseudolobster
    Link Parent
    Dude, I think you're overthinking things. Just lurk a bit more, get the vibe of the place, see if it's for you. It's very obvious when someone has been banned or "censored" if you will. It'll say...

    Dude, I think you're overthinking things. Just lurk a bit more, get the vibe of the place, see if it's for you. It's very obvious when someone has been banned or "censored" if you will. It'll say "Comment deleted by site admin".

    I've seen that maybe a dozen times in my years of being here, and it's always been for a good reason. 14 year old boys end up on the site from time to time, deliberately stirring up shit. They need to be banned, for good reason.

    I'd guess there are about a dozen active people on the site who have "mod powers", but those amount to housekeeping stuff like editing tags, titles, or moving a post from one group to another. We're generally chill, not trying to get in the way, just trying to organize the site better.

    In comparison, reddit mods have this lord of the flies hierarchy where in every subreddit all mods must obey top mod who dictates all the rules for their sub. Here, only one person is able to delete posts or ban people, and he's got a day job.

    This is why we implicitly ask that you not be a dick. It's a real inconvenience to the guy who built this site, who we all respect.

    35 votes

  16. Comment on The 'deprofessionalization of video games' was on full display at PAX East in ~games

    pseudolobster
    Link Parent
    Don't quote me but I'm pretty sure Zach was contributing like a third of the code from like 2010 to almost a decade later. I don't think he's contributed directly to the code since then, but has...

    Don't quote me but I'm pretty sure Zach was contributing like a third of the code from like 2010 to almost a decade later. I don't think he's contributed directly to the code since then, but has mostly just done research about the weights of different animals and their ignition temperatures, etc.

    I still think it's fair to call him a co-developer.

    1 vote

  17. Comment on The 'deprofessionalization of video games' was on full display at PAX East in ~games

    pseudolobster
    Link Parent
    Tarn wrote most of the code, but Zach did more than just mailing people crayon drawings. He did contribute code over the years. Anyway, I guess I should have said it was a two-person team instead...

    Tarn wrote most of the code, but Zach did more than just mailing people crayon drawings. He did contribute code over the years. Anyway, I guess I should have said it was a two-person team instead of two developers.

    1 vote

  18. Comment on Observation: Video links go unwatched in ~tech

    pseudolobster
    Link Parent
    We try and enforce non-clickbait titles here. If you feel like a title is clickbait feel free to dm or tag me, @cfabbro, or @mycketforvirrad in a comment and we can edit it to be more descriptive.

    We try and enforce non-clickbait titles here. If you feel like a title is clickbait feel free to dm or tag me, @cfabbro, or @mycketforvirrad in a comment and we can edit it to be more descriptive.

    11 votes

  19. Comment on The 'deprofessionalization of video games' was on full display at PAX East in ~games

    pseudolobster
    Link Parent
    In no particular order, I can think of: Dwarf Fortress had only two developers for almost 20 years Factorio had three developers Cuphead had two developers FTL had two developers Balatro had one...

    In no particular order, I can think of:

    Dwarf Fortress had only two developers for almost 20 years
    Factorio had three developers
    Cuphead had two developers
    FTL had two developers
    Balatro had one developer
    Celeste had two developers
    Hotline Miami had two developers
    Minecraft started with only one developer

    Of course they often ended up as a team of a half dozen including artists, musicians, etc, and often once they became popular they expanded to a couple dozen people, but still. Some of my favourite and most replayed video games of all time came out of tiny studios of a small handful of people on a shoestring budget.

    8 votes

  20. Comment on Observation: Video links go unwatched in ~tech

    pseudolobster
    Link Parent
    I'd just like to point out for anyone who doesn't have this setting enabled, there's an option for "Show topic tags in listing pages (home page, groups, etc.) " under your Settings page. I find...

    I'd just like to point out for anyone who doesn't have this setting enabled, there's an option for "Show topic tags in listing pages (home page, groups, etc.) " under your Settings page.

    I find this really useful for knowing at a glance what a post is about without having to click the link or click through to the comment section in order to see all the tags. It makes the front page a little more cluttered, but I really appreciate the additional context.

    9 votes