riQQ's recent activity

  1. Comment on Satellite space junk might wreak havoc on the stratosphere in ~space

    riQQ
    Link

    It could spell bad news for the ozone layer in particular. Aluminum oxide, for example, is a by-product of the oxidation during re-entry of aluminum-based spacecraft components, says José Ferreira, an aerospace engineer at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. “And we know that aluminum oxides are catalysts for ozone depletion.”

    This new threat to the ozone layer is particularly frustrating in the wake of the success of the Montreal Protocol, a 1987 agreement to ban the production and emissions of known ozone-destroying chemicals (SN: 2/10/21). By 2016, the annual hole in the ozone layer that forms over Antarctica was already showing signs of healing, on track to completely close up within about 50 years (SN: 12/14/16).

    There are myriad other ways that spacecraft pollutants might tinker with the atmosphere’s complex chemical brew, Murphy says. Soot emitted from rocket engines absorbs solar energy, which can warm the atmosphere. Copper and other metals released during the incineration of spacecraft wiring and alloys are known to be powerful catalysts for chemical reactions in the atmosphere. Among other things, those metals could promote the creation of the tiny particles that act as the seeds of clouds.

    There’s not much direct information on which of these reactions might already be happening. The data that do exist are destined for computer simulations that track the life cycle of these pollutants and their interactions in the atmosphere. Murpyh’s team is planning more flights in 2025 to continue tracking the growing inventory of spacecraft debris.

    10 votes

  3. Comment on Chinese-flagged cargo ship Yi Peng 3 crossed both submarine cables C-Lion 1 and BSC at times matching when they broke in ~society

  4. Comment on Undersea telecom cable between Lithuania and Sweden damaged in ~tech

  5. Comment on Tips for increasing online privacy (without going insane)? in ~tech

    riQQ
    Link Parent
    Are you thinking about switching from Android to iPhone and back every 5-6 years? Otherwise you also have to use a new Google / Apple account every time you're switching phones, otherwise at least...

    Are you thinking about switching from Android to iPhone and back every 5-6 years?

    Otherwise you also have to use a new Google / Apple account every time you're switching phones, otherwise at least Google / Apple can trivially connect your phones.

    2 votes

  6. Comment on MTG Arena state of the game 2024 in ~games

    riQQ
    Link Parent
    From what I remember this was done to cater to people playing a lot, e.g. streamers, and therefore getting bored fast. But it don't know why they chose to prioritize this over supporting formats...

    From what I remember this was done to cater to people playing a lot, e.g. streamers, and therefore getting bored fast.
    But it don't know why they chose to prioritize this over supporting formats with older cards.

    4 votes

  7. Comment on MTG Arena state of the game 2024 in ~games

    riQQ
    (edited )
    Link
    Core Achievements System Expanded Social Features more Arena Direct events (possibility to win physical booster display boxes) Multiplayer as a distant goal...
    • Core Achievements System
    • Expanded Social Features

      Social is a critical prerequisite for an MTG Arena future that supports digital Magic play with three or more players.

    • more Arena Direct events (possibility to win physical booster display boxes)
    • Multiplayer as a distant goal (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnPkrVn4J90&t=573)
    3 votes

  9. Comment on Playdate Stereo Dock shelved in ~games

    riQQ
    Link
    The problems of outsourcing:

    The problems of outsourcing:

    What happened? Well, our first regret was assuming that our factory at that time — a factory that made lots of Bluetooth speakers — could easily design the electronics for us, saving us lots of time and money. That went pretty well at first. But they, in turn, outsourced the Bluetooth software and chipset to another company in another country.

    As a result, the Stereo Dock would crash often — rapidly adjusting the volume would do it. The Bluetooth pairing/unpairing experience was rough. And when we played music, it just didn’t sound very good. The back-and-forth between three companies trying to fix bugs became a huge challenge. And worst of all: the cost of the Stereo Dock kept getting higher and higher.

    19 votes

  10. Comment on The Foundations of Magic's next era in ~games.tabletop

    riQQ
    Link Parent
    To me this is a big one. Especially relevant in limited formats, this weakens defensive combat tricks and makes decisions in the combat phase simpler and blander.

    Minor rules change - when defending player declares blocks, attacking player no longer has to order them and assign lethal damage, they can split damage however they want.

    To me this is a big one. Especially relevant in limited formats, this weakens defensive combat tricks and makes decisions in the combat phase simpler and blander.

    5 votes

  11. Comment on The Internet Archive is under attack, with a popup claiming a ‘catastrophic’ breach in ~tech

    riQQ
    Link
    Update: https://blog.archive.org/2024/10/21/internet-archive-services-update-2024-10-21/

    Update:

    In recovering from recent cyberattacks on October 8, the Internet Archive has resumed the Wayback Machine (starting October 13) and Archive-It (October 17), and as of today (October 21), has begun offering provisional availability of archive.org in a read-only manner. Features like uploading, borrowing, reviewing items, interlibrary loan, and other services are not yet available.

    Please note that these services will have limited availability as we continue maintenance.

    https://blog.archive.org/2024/10/21/internet-archive-services-update-2024-10-21/

    5 votes

  12. Comment on uBlock Origin Lite maker ends Firefox store support, slams Mozilla for hostile reviews in ~tech

    riQQ
    Link
    More on the reasons for dropping support from Raymond Hill, the maintainer:

    More on the reasons for dropping support from Raymond Hill, the maintainer:

    Looks like the sentence "however trivial this may look to an outsider, it's a burden I don't want to take on" is lost on many who want to have an opinion about all this.

    I dropped support for uMatrix years ago because it had become a burden I couldn't take on. This is such a case here, the unwarranted de-listing of uBOL and the requirement of having to deal with this caused the support to maintain a Firefox version to cross the line into the "burden I can't take on" territory. Amount of burden to take on is a personal decision, not something to be decided by others.

    18 votes

  13. Comment on Paypal opted you into sharing data without your knowledge in ~tech

    riQQ
    Link

    PayPal quietly opted users into sharing data with third parties for “personalized shopping experiences,” according to multiple complaints on social media and 404 Media’s own tests.

    As of writing, PayPal opts users into sharing their data by default, without their knowledge—unless they navigate to the personalized shopping settings on their own. On that page, a toggle is set to “sharing on,” agreeing to the statement “Let us share products, offers, and rewards you might like with participating stores.” 404 Media tested the process with two PayPal accounts, including a historical one and one created over the last few days. In both cases, the accounts were opted in by default.

    13 votes

  15. Comment on uBlock Origin Lite maker ends Firefox store support, slams Mozilla for hostile reviews in ~tech

    riQQ
    Link

    If you use Firefox and the uBlock Origin Lite content blocker from the Firefox Add-ons Store, be aware that the extension is no longer supported. Raymond Hill, the maker of the extension, pulled support and moved uBlock Origin Lite to self-hosting after multiple encounters with a "nonsensical and hostile" review process from the store review team.

    9 votes

  17. Comment on Leauge of Legends Season 2024 Split 3 gameplay changes in ~games

    riQQ
    Link
    Champion Emphasis, Combat Pacing, and Snowballing

    Let’s start with the biggest change you’ll notice going into this split: the global item nerfs. Simply put, we’re removing 5-15% stat efficiency from almost every Legendary item in the game. Those changes get us several important benefits: slowing down combat pacing, reducing snowballing, and making champions themselves take up a larger portion of the power budget.

    Most players queue up for a game of League because they want to play a champion. We don’t see anyone load into game and get excited to play Infinity Edge—they want to play Jinx or Yasuo. With this in mind you can think of this change as a Durability Update 2.0 in the sense that we want more time for players to play out their champion’s gameplay fantasy and to put more emphasis on champions than items. Now let’s dive a bit deeper into how we got here.

    2 votes

  19. Comment on Retrospective on the introduction of the Vanguard anti-cheat software to League of Legends in ~comp

    riQQ
    Link Parent
    It sounds like it relies a lot on macOS native stuff if they can run it from the same unprivileged process as the game client.

    The unique security of the macOS environment allows us to be a little less stringent on defending its kernel, so as the name implies, this won’t require any extra installs—the security is “embedded” right into the game client. Further still, we’re actually already using mVG to great effect on VALORANT console and on Wild Rift.

    It sounds like it relies a lot on macOS native stuff if they can run it from the same unprivileged process as the game client.

    2 votes

  20. Comment on Retrospective on the introduction of the Vanguard anti-cheat software to League of Legends in ~comp

    riQQ
    Link
    Very interesting read with statistics and information about the state of the art in anti-cheat software. Previous discussion when Vanguard was introduced to LoL:...

    Very interesting read with statistics and information about the state of the art in anti-cheat software.

    Previous discussion when Vanguard was introduced to LoL: https://tildes.net/~games/1fkf/riots_vanguard_comes_to_league

    4 votes