secret_online's recent activity
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft: What do you want to see in the next season? in ~games
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft: What do you want to see in the next season? in ~games
secret_online Link ParentI will certainly be letting them know and offering a Tildes invite to them when the server starts, but there are some reasons why he didn't join last time when I joined. He's are a pretty...I will certainly be letting them know and offering a Tildes invite to them when the server starts, but there are some reasons why he didn't join last time when I joined.
He's are a pretty technical person, and there are farms we've built on that server that would be broken by Paper. And I think it's worth keeping Paper since I don't know the state of common plugins like World Protect (or alternatives) for Fabric, and I have personally witnessed a fly-hacker take a whirlwind tour of the server, try to break blocks but fail, and give up after I stopped showing interest in them (Tea banned them shortly after I sent a message). He's also been known to throw some of the snapshot versions on when particular changes are added, and Paper doesn't do snapshot updates.
The other main reason is that it also doubles as a family server, with two kids of different ages using it as a place to explore, grow, and build. While you all are great people, the Tildes server does have a different vibe to a closer family environment, and he still wants to connect with his kids in an environment they're comfortable in. Some of the value of the server for him is the fact it's a small place just for them to hang out in, with some well known and familiar faces jumping in too. I'm sure as the kids get older, this will be less of a concern, but for now that's the impression I get.
As I said at the top, I will let him know, and probably post in another place to see if some other Minecraft friends who will probably fit the vibe are interested.
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft: What do you want to see in the next season? in ~games
secret_online Link ParentYou joke, but last week I was reading a document at work dated December 2025 and for a whole minute was confused wondering why it was from last year despite being topical to right now. Realising...You joke, but last week I was reading a document at work dated December 2025 and for a whole minute was confused wondering why it was from last year despite being topical to right now. Realising that it was still 2025 shattered my world view for a while afterwards.
And of course now is the time that my usual Minecrafting partner is wanting to get back into our shared Minecraft world, so I'm probably going to end up split between servers again when this server starts up. I'll need to figure out how to balance the two, as I did burn out last time.
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Comment on Introducing SlopStop: Community-driven AI slop detection in Kagi Search in ~tech
secret_online LinkThis is great. I've been wondering what I'd be doing once SEO spam slop domains filled up my domain filtering list (which is still a long way away), but this seems like it will solve that issue....This is great. I've been wondering what I'd be doing once SEO spam slop domains filled up my domain filtering list (which is still a long way away), but this seems like it will solve that issue. Crowdsourcing feels like a natural fit for Kagi, especially placing it in the same menu where you change the ranking of websites in general.
My only concern is that this is at the domain level. I know it's by far the easiest, but a similar issue happens with the AI image labelling in Kagi's image search. Stock image sites saw AI as an opportunity to not pay people for their work and so the same domain had both a large library of actual stock imagery and AI slop, so you couldn't really mark the entire domain as AI. It's certainly better than nothing, so I'm not really complaining.
I wonder what the effects of (eventually) releasing the dataset will be. Kagi is too small to have a noticeable impact on the traffic to websites (really only Google is big enough for that), but if it gets used by more people and projects then there is at least the possibility that something changes.
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft: What do you want to see in the next season? in ~games
secret_online Link ParentI'm not so sure on a nether Tildestown. You basically need to spawn-proof everything, and the light levels required to prevent spawning are much higher (you need 12 or higher, compared to 1 in the...I'm not so sure on a nether Tildestown. You basically need to spawn-proof everything, and the light levels required to prevent spawning are much higher (you need 12 or higher, compared to 1 in the overworld). Either every surface needs to be brightly lit or made of non-spawnable blocks which really limits the blocks available to you.
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Comment on The best Steve Yegge posts (2015) in ~tech
secret_online LinkYay! More reading material. Though I think there's a pretty big omission here. Stevey's Google Platforms Rant was originally a Google+ post that was meant to be internal to Google but wasn't, so...Yay! More reading material. Though I think there's a pretty big omission here. Stevey's Google Platforms Rant was originally a Google+ post that was meant to be internal to Google but wasn't, so we have archives of it like that gist link. In it, he compares his prior time with Amazon with his time at Google. I'll let the following two quotes (which are paragraphs apart in the actual rant) be the hook.
One thing that struck me immediately about the two companies -- an impression that has been reinforced almost daily -- is that Amazon does everything wrong, and Google does everything right.
[...]
But there's one thing they do really really well that pretty much makes up for ALL of their political, philosophical and technical screw-ups.
It also contains my absolute favourite sentence in all of non-fiction writing, which I'll spoiler block here. If you have better sentences, please send them to me. I love a good crunchy sentence.
The best sentence
But I'll argue that Accessibility is actually more important than Security because dialing Accessibility to zero means you have no product at all, whereas dialing Security to zero can still get you a reasonably successful product such as the Playstation Network.
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Comment on Affinity V3 is here with a new freemium model in ~design
secret_online Link ParentI don't know how they're going to make money on AI subscriptions. Making it free just sounds like they're desperate to take market share from Adobe (and we absolutely need that) by any means...I don't know how they're going to make money on AI subscriptions. Making it free just sounds like they're desperate to take market share from Adobe (and we absolutely need that) by any means necessary and they'll try make it profitable later.
I do notice that they don’t talk about designer, photo, and publisher, though, so maybe they are merging them all into one product?
This was the big thing for me. Even in Affinity 1 (which is all I paid for) Designer and Photo already felt like two sides of the same coin, so it doesn't surprise me they've gone the route of making it one thing.
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Comment on Jet Lag Season 15 | Official trailer in ~hobbies
secret_online Link ParentEpisode 6 spoilers Congrats Ben and Brian on getting the first ever certificate of merit on the show! And to Adam for winning twice in one season. This is the hardest anyone has been...Episode 6 spoilers
Congrats Ben and Brian on getting the first ever certificate of merit on the show! And to Adam for winning twice in one season.
This is the hardest anyone has been DeutscheBahned in the history of Jet Lag, it's almost sad. In both Nuremberg and Kassel the boys were planning on taking a train that would allow the chasers to catch them, but both times the chasers have been delayed. the first being an actual accident where the train hit a tree, but the second where they're just stuck for two hours not far outside town is just bad luck.
That said, there's still a fair amount of drama for the lack of action in the latter half of the game. Well edited.
I love that we have two Snack Zone segments where both teams eat the same train biscuit.
My favourite part of this week's podcast was when they talked about getting on that final small train. The conductor was an old man who was confused as to why the three boys were getting on this tiny local commuter train, and absolutely forbade them from filming. He later brought them up to the front of the train to show the controls and complaining about how the train was old and bad. He also wanted to talk about the Detroit Lions because he loved the Detroit Lions. Adam asked if he'd been to Detroit. Nope, but he loves the Lions. Brian asked if he liked football (soccer), to which he said no and called the player cowards. Still no filming.
The chasers decided to call the game a little early, though it was pretty much over anyway, so that they could get their closing shot in Frankfurt while it was still daylight. The camera falling over just before they say the name of the show was just pure comedy.
I think this was a great season of the game. Having two teams changed the format enough to keep it fresh, and I'd love to see another game in this format later on.
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Comment on Removing obfuscation in Minecraft Java Edition in ~games
secret_online LinkThis is actually pretty cool. For years I've been wondering if Mojang would try and force people over to the bedrock edition somehow, but doing this seems like they still want people tinkering...This is actually pretty cool. For years I've been wondering if Mojang would try and force people over to the bedrock edition somehow, but doing this seems like they still want people tinkering around with, and therefore playing, the java edition.
I suppose I'll convert my tiny mods over to the official mappings soon to make the upgrade easier. I'm sure the fabric/neoforge/architectury projects will be where most of the work is going to go, so it's nice they're releasing both obfuscated and non-obfuscated snapshots after the next major release.
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Comment on Removing obfuscation in Minecraft Java Edition in ~games
secret_online Link ParentAs mentioned in the post, they didn't even release the obfuscation maps until 2019, 5 years after the Microsoft acquisition. This is also years after Mojang had hired the co-founders of the Mod...Though I'm honestly shocked it wasn't done sooner, before the Microsoft purchase.
As mentioned in the post, they didn't even release the obfuscation maps until 2019, 5 years after the Microsoft acquisition. This is also years after Mojang had hired the co-founders of the Mod Coder Pack, which was one of the earlier toolchains for decompiling/deobfuscating the game. I wonder what prompted them to remove the obfuscation step altogether, since it probably would have been easier to just keep it in.
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Comment on Jet Lag Season 15 | Official trailer in ~hobbies
secret_online Link ParentEpisode 6 spoilers Yeah, this was the hardest the crew has even been DeutscheBahned. The chasers were so close from the start of the game day around Zurich, and kept catching up, except something...Episode 6 spoilers
Yeah, this was the hardest the crew has even been DeutscheBahned. The chasers were so close from the start of the game day around Zurich, and kept catching up, except something would just go wrong.
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Comment on What ridiculous thing would you spend billions on? in ~talk
secret_online Link ParentI'm glad someone linked it. There's also a video version for people who want a 5 minute watch with mouth-based sound effects (and the sequel).I'm glad someone linked it.
There's also a video version for people who want a 5 minute watch with mouth-based sound effects (and the sequel).
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft: What do you want to see in the next season? in ~games
secret_online Link ParentI can also offer up secret_offline for some AFKing. I've always wanted to set it up as a bot where you can request for it to afk at certain places, but I got discouraged pretty quickly every time...I can also offer up secret_offline for some AFKing. I've always wanted to set it up as a bot where you can request for it to afk at certain places, but I got discouraged pretty quickly every time I've tried. So for now I log in as them, walk to the spot, then restart the afk bot process.
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft: What do you want to see in the next season? in ~games
secret_online Link ParentIf you do end up needing to use a controller, Controlify makes this a much more bearable experience.If you do end up needing to use a controller, Controlify makes this a much more bearable experience.
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft: What do you want to see in the next season? in ~games
secret_online Link ParentI have preferred building tunnels under the nether to roof portals, but it does necessitate a project to build proper nether tunnels. Having been in charge of one of those before, it's a grind and...I have preferred building tunnels under the nether to roof portals, but it does necessitate a project to build proper nether tunnels. Having been in charge of one of those before, it's a grind and I don't really want to have to lead that again. Even replicating the simple tunnel design I put together out of common materials (the outer walls were 5x8, I think, mostly concrete and glass. No duping, but I had plenty of sand) over the 2k blocks we actually completed was a task.
If we do plan something like that, then it's nice to have everyone near one of the major axes so that you don't need humongous branches, which does limit building somewhat.
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Comment on Jet Lag Season 15 | Official trailer in ~hobbies
secret_online (edited )LinkEpisode 4 Nebula: https://nebula.tv/videos/jetlag-s15e4/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXCNpEOyHSk Episode 4 spoilers Congrats Adam and Michelle! They had a pretty much straight shot...Episode 4
Nebula: https://nebula.tv/videos/jetlag-s15e4/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXCNpEOyHSk
Episode 4 spoilers
Congrats Adam and Michelle! They had a pretty much straight shot for their run, so most of the excitement came from the chasers trying to catch up to them.
They do talk about this on the podcast, but this win wouldn't have happened if Adam and Michelle had won the coin flip as to who stayed on the train to Laon. If that coin flip had gone the other way, then Ben and Brian would have made the catch on Sam and Toby, leading to a very different game. Ben and Brian initially didn't agree to the coin flip (this was cut from the episode), but they agreed after it was pointed out that if both teams were to try catch them in Laon, Adam and Michelle would be able to run faster.
They also finally mention what movie Ben and Brian saw in Laon: it was Lilo and Stitch.
As an aside, Michelle is now the only undefeated Jet Lag champion.
My watching buddy and I predicted what would happen this episode before we started. I remembered their coin balance being low enough that a 1 hour train would have meant doing a challenge, which would have probably meant waiting for the next train, which then meant they'd be caught, which was my guess. But it turns out the train is only 33 minutes and they had time to make the connection, so the game was sealed. I'm glad they planned for this in production, more jet lag is always good.
While the train up to the observatory might've only cost 330 in-game coins, it ended up being quite expensive in real life. A return ticket is about 130 Francs, so multiply that by 6 and you're looking at nearly 800 Francs, or 1000 USD at current conversion rates.
There was some discussion on the podcast about the new setup with only two teams. The two other power ups were removed because they would have trivialised parts of the game, but the double stayed because it's fun. The more interesting thing to me was the reason why they made the original winner's region neutral rather than splitting the whole circle in half. If they had split it in half, then the line would have been right where they were standing, and whichever team was running would immediately go "rat mode". This way, the runners have a straightforward goal at the start, which is much more predictable for the chasers, and therefore better for the storytelling of the show.
I'm guessing there's probably at least a couple more episodes left in this season, which means there's a lot that can happen. I'm tentatively guessing that Sam, Toby, and Michelle are going to get the second place prize, but a lot can happen very quickly in Jet Lag.
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Comment on Jet Lag Season 15 | Official trailer in ~hobbies
secret_online (edited )LinkEpisode 2 spoilers I'm going to put this forward for one of the best episodes of Jet Lag yet. It's a bit of a shame to see Sam and Toby's run end like this, it seemed like they had a pretty good...Episode 2 spoilers
I'm going to put this forward for one of the best episodes of Jet Lag yet.
It's a bit of a shame to see Sam and Toby's run end like this, it seemed like they had a pretty good shot at winning it outright. It's maybe a good thing from the production side of things that that didn't happen.
I love that Ben and Brian left Paris for Laon, only to watch a movie and (almost) immediately get on a train back to Paris. Not much action from the two of them in this episode, though I do like the move to try and fly from Paris to Zurich. Them taking the train south would have put them in the worst possible position if they made the catch and became the runners.
The plan to go to Prunay and then zoom on through while the seekers are frozen was a fantastic plan, that fell apart through really no fault of their own. Their connecting train left as soon as they arrived in Reims, and the bus accident left them stranded for 45 minutes. From the podcast, the accident was them getting a scrape from another bus that had also pulled over. It seemed to be company protocol to wait for a technician to come out, inspect it, and sign a couple of forms before they could get moving again.
I love the accidentally perfect framing of the shot where Sam and Toby do the throwing challenge, it was wide enough to catch Adam and Michelle sneaking up on them.
Adam and Michelle had an interesting starting position. Drawing the pinpointing challenge when they pretty much knew where both chasers were was incredible luck, and the fact that it allowed them to get moving immediately was also pretty cool.
Adam getting the coin flip challenge for a second time was incredible. Nearly 500 individual flips this time, which is just so many.
This season has been pretty interesting. It feels like strategies from the previous Tag seasons aren't working as well, so they're having to try different things. It's been a great refreshing of the format, which I appreciate.
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Comment on Who’s playing Blood on the Clocktower? in ~games.tabletop
secret_online Link ParentI'd also be interested in playing with some Tildepeople, scheduling permitting (yay for the earth being a sphere!). Playing online is definitely a bit different to in-person. I do find solving...I'd also be interested in playing with some Tildepeople, scheduling permitting (yay for the earth being a sphere!).
Playing online is definitely a bit different to in-person. I do find solving tends to be a little more mechanical than social. The official app/website has text and video chat, a grimoire-like setup that you can fill in, and you can make little notes next to people so there's lots of opportunity to track as much or as little information as you like. I think the game design itself still holds up pretty well, and there's still lots of room for social plays.
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Comment on What game is your personal "Silksong"? in ~games
secret_online LinkBaldur's Gate 3. I was (and am) a big fan of Larian's previous game, Divinity: Original Sin 2 (if anyone wants to play co-op and can deal with timezones, reach out. I've run out of IRL friends...Baldur's Gate 3.
I was (and am) a big fan of Larian's previous game, Divinity: Original Sin 2 (if anyone wants to play co-op and can deal with timezones, reach out. I've run out of IRL friends interested enough in a playthrough) so when I heard that they were going to be making BG3 I was very excited for it.
I played early access when it first entered, did a couple of playthroughs and then stopped, waiting for the final release. Since then, I've done one full co-op playthrough, one more ongoing, an incredibly dishonourable honour mode playthrough, and an embracing the dark urge playthrough (that I needed to decompress after).
BG3 is not a perfect game. It has a steep learning curve; everyone I've talked to who hasn't played D&D 5th Edition struggled with the concepts, and people who haven't played a Larian game struggled with the inventory/hotbar management. The lower city is physically large enough to burn people out right near the end (though now I know the place well, it no longer feels as large to me. It's just that the actually important things are further apart). The story itself is running on empty at the very end and just makes it across the finish line. But in spite of all its flaws, it has been one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had. I love the world, I love the soundtrack, and now I look forward to whatever Larian does next.
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Comment on Who’s playing Blood on the Clocktower? in ~games.tabletop
secret_online LinkAnother person who's become addicted over the past year. Clocktower has become my default background YouTube to put on while making dinner and other such mundane activities. Unfortunately...Another person who's become addicted over the past year. Clocktower has become my default background YouTube to put on while making dinner and other such mundane activities. Unfortunately timezones mean that I don't get to catch most of the streams, but I'm also not a huge stream watching person so that doesn't matter.
I have a local group that meets occasionally, but unfortunately the venue they've been using is shutting down (last game this Friday). Quite often there'll be new players, but when there's not we've had some rather silly games. One of my favourites was a game of "Nobody Fucking Move" (one of the best teensies out there) that I storytold where the players drew their tokens, but didn't look at them. Everyone had to figure out which character they were. The Duchess did double duty of being the only real information the town had, as well as a mechanism for the evil team to figure out their own alignments and find each other.
I've recently found someone else at work who owns a grimoire, so the two of us are now running fortnightly games after work in the office. It's most players' first or second times playing, so it's been TB and they're starting to get the game. Still very execution shy (and I don't really want to introduce the Vortox just yet), but there's been some decent world building. The players all seem to get the premise and are happily talking to each other afterwards, which I count as a success.
Live feed of Laser Kiwi upon hearing this news.