somadaj's recent activity

  1. Comment on Fitness Weekly Discussion in ~health

    somadaj
    Link Parent
    First of all, anything close to 200 kg in the squat is very impressive, so congrats! But how come your DL is lagging so much behind your other lifts?

    First of all, anything close to 200 kg in the squat is very impressive, so congrats! But how come your DL is lagging so much behind your other lifts?

    1 vote

  2. Comment on Happy Lunar New Year! in ~talk

    somadaj
    Link
    I had a Chinese roommate for 8 months last year. Thanks for opening a thread, gave me a chance to say hi to him. Good guy, had some weird rabbit-themed ornaments on his door.

    I had a Chinese roommate for 8 months last year. Thanks for opening a thread, gave me a chance to say hi to him. Good guy, had some weird rabbit-themed ornaments on his door.

    7 votes

  3. Comment on RSS users - how do you use, organize and maximize your enjoyment of RSS? in ~tech

    somadaj
    (edited )
    Link
    Aside from using the Feeder android app for reading a bunch of news sites, I'm a big fan of Newsboat + mpv for subscribing and watching/queueing YouTube videos from my desktop. I have this in my...

    Aside from using the Feeder android app for reading a bunch of news sites, I'm a big fan of Newsboat + mpv for subscribing and watching/queueing YouTube videos from my desktop.

    I have this in my urls file and it's basically like a Subscriptions page:

    "query:new videos:(unread = \"yes\") and (tags # \"yt\")"
"query:all videos:tags # \"yt\""
https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UC..................JtAw "!some channel" yt
https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UC..................M7dQ "!another channel" yt

    The "!.*" special tag hides the individual feed from main view. Then, in the config file:

    feed-sort-order lastupdated
browser "linkhandler %u"

    And this is for opening/queueing videos in mpv:

    $ cat linkhandler
#!/bin/sh

exec >/dev/null 2>&1

case "$1" in
        *youtube*)
                if [ -e /tmp/mpv.socket ] && pgrep mpv; then
                        echo loadfile "$1" append | socat - /tmp/mpv.socket
                else
                        setsid -f mpv --no-terminal --input-ipc-server=/tmp/mpv.socket "$1"
                fi
                ;;
        *)
                setsid -f $BROWSER "$1"
                ;;
esac
    4 votes

  4. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    somadaj
    (edited )
    Link
    I have been playing carrion on the steam deck and is such an unexpected gem. Reminds me for its physics of the old gish at the dawn of popularized indie gaming some 10 years ago. Overall an...

    I have been playing carrion on the steam deck and is such an unexpected gem. Reminds me for its physics of the old gish at the dawn of popularized indie gaming some 10 years ago. Overall an excellent reverse horror game, incredible atmosphere, great soundtrack, anyone who likes Carpenter's The Thing will probably love this.

    Ps: wow, gish is from 2004. 20 years ago. Now I feel old.

    6 votes

  5. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    somadaj
    (edited )
    Link
    God, I have such a bad rapport with gaming. I have amassed approximately 300 hours of playtime in 2023, not a whole lot, but I feel like a majority of it has been low quality time. I've been...

    God, I have such a bad rapport with gaming. I have amassed approximately 300 hours of playtime in 2023, not a whole lot, but I feel like a majority of it has been low quality time.

    I've been itching intensely for a JRPG lately, and I have such a dusty old backlog that finding something to play shouldn't have been hard. Nonetheless I spent countless days procrastinating and "pondering" what to play between DQXI, Bravely Default II, Octopath Traveler, or just replay some ps1-era Final Fantasy for the N-th time.

    This weekend I didn't feel like doing much, so I finally got around starting BD2, and just about from the start I despised every line of the childish dialogue and dubbing combo. The sound of the child wailing while being held hostage in one of the early cutscenes had me cringequit.

    Then I launched OP. Started as Haanit. I was immediately captured by the battle system, aesthetics, and overall more mature dialogue. Played for a couple hours until I crossed paths with Therion. He's presented as such an experienced thief, so cunning and cynic, and a loner as a consequence, that of course it makes complete sense that he immediately joins my party, no question asked, and we proceed to Ravus Manor. On top of that, completely ignoring the fact that the plan for infiltrating would not work for two people.

    I don't know, it feels like I can't appreciate anymore these things. I end up playing little games where the suspension of disbelief is entirely out of the picture, like Bad North or Slay the Spyre for the millionth time. Those at least appease me. But the itch remains unscratched...

    Sorry for the rant, but I felt like sharing. Also I realise my wording can be weird at times.

    1 vote

  6. Comment on Does Linux From Scratch actually teach you anything? in ~comp

    somadaj
    Link Parent
    It's my fault. I just assume everybody on the internet is a linux wizard, outside of the mainstream social media platforms.

    It's my fault. I just assume everybody on the internet is a linux wizard, outside of the mainstream social media platforms.

    1 vote

  7. Comment on Does Linux From Scratch actually teach you anything? in ~comp

    somadaj
    Link Parent
    While I like Arch and pacman and the AUR, and have been using them for years, honestly it stopped being educational after a while. This is not what I have in mind with respect to "going in depth",...

    While I like Arch and pacman and the AUR, and have been using them for years, honestly it stopped being educational after a while. This is not what I have in mind with respect to "going in depth", but that's OK, and I appreciate your answer.

    All I can say is my next step in learning Linux has been gained by troubleshooting parallel computing systems for years, but if I have to pinpoint at a specific resource or set of resources I wouldn't know where to start. Reading books and cultivating toy projects, I guess, but that's just being vague.

    I feel like whenever I ask for more formalized training/resources I get the same "just do more" answer, even in a business context.

    1 vote

  8. Comment on Does Linux From Scratch actually teach you anything? in ~comp

    somadaj
    Link Parent
    Is there any particular resource you'd recommend, then?

    If you just want to purely educate yourself deeper on linux, I wouldn't recommend doing this

    Is there any particular resource you'd recommend, then?

  9. Comment on What are your favorite Christmastime movies that don't deal with Christmas as a topic? in ~movies

    somadaj
    Link Parent
    Trading Places is considered the quintessential Christmas movie in Italy since decades.

    Trading Places is considered the quintessential Christmas movie in Italy since decades.

    1 vote

  10. Comment on Seeking advice: German or Swiss German for moving to Basel in ~humanities.languages

    somadaj
    Link Parent
    It's much more than the distance between British and American English. This YouTube video seems to do a good job in outlining the differences.

    It's much more than the distance between British and American English. This YouTube video seems to do a good job in outlining the differences.

    3 votes

  11. Comment on Seeking advice: German or Swiss German for moving to Basel in ~humanities.languages

    somadaj
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Thanks. I'm an Italian expatriate in my early 30s, working in the biomedical field in the US. I understand that it's easy to make friends with fellow expats, as our life experiences tend to become...

    Thanks. I'm an Italian expatriate in my early 30s, working in the biomedical field in the US. I understand that it's easy to make friends with fellow expats, as our life experiences tend to become more similar the more we move around the world, especially for those of us who have gone through analogous paths in academia. That's why I had actual Swiss people in mind when asking my question. Communicating with locals has been easy here, given my proficiency in English, but I'd hate to miss out on the connections and culture, even though I realize Americans might be friendlier and more extroverted on average. Regarding activities, it's very likely that I'll join a gym soon after moving. I go on a lot of day hikes from May to October. Nightlife is not particularly my thing, but I don't entirely avoid it.

    3 votes

  12. Comment on Seeking advice: German or Swiss German for moving to Basel in ~humanities.languages

    somadaj
    Link
    Thank you cfabbro for adding tags. I'll keep that in mind for future topics.

    Thank you cfabbro for adding tags. I'll keep that in mind for future topics.

    4 votes

  13. Seeking advice: German or Swiss German for moving to Basel

    ~humanities.languages Ask (advice)
    I am planning a move to Basel and have no background in either German or Swiss German. My work language is English, in which I am already fluent enough, so I am exploring which language would be...

    I am planning a move to Basel and have no background in either German or Swiss German. My work language is English, in which I am already fluent enough, so I am exploring which language would be more advantageous for social integration and daily life in Basel. I am interested in understanding the benefits of each language in the context of non-professional interactions and community engagement. Additionally, I am looking for recommendations on effective learning resources for either language. Any shared experiences, advice, or information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

    8 votes

  14. Comment on Food that was eaten at the first Thanksgiving - American groundnut in ~food

    somadaj
    Link
    At the end of the day, just as the number of domesticated animal species is low, so are domesticated plants. There are many things to consider with food production at a scale. Their geographical...

    At the end of the day, just as the number of domesticated animal species is low, so are domesticated plants. There are many things to consider with food production at a scale. Their geographical availability in ancient times has also had a significant influence over which populations could go through the different stages of civilization.

    1 vote

  15. Comment on If you use ChatGPT or other LLM, how do you use it? in ~tech

    somadaj
    Link Parent
    It's just too amenable and lax otherwise. I don't think it can become decisively confrontational.

    It's just too amenable and lax otherwise. I don't think it can become decisively confrontational.

  16. Comment on Fitness Weekly Discussion in ~health

    somadaj
    (edited )
    Link
    Dr. Mike Israetel barking at weights has been the leitmotif for me this week. Currently I'm recovering from a back tweak, but I just finisged squatting 5x5x225 without any pain, so I see light....

    Dr. Mike Israetel barking at weights has been the leitmotif for me this week.

    Currently I'm recovering from a back tweak, but I just finisged squatting 5x5x225 without any pain, so I see light.

    Also on Wed I did dumbell curls for the first time ever, sets of 15. I get the feeling it might be time for me to slowly transition towards a more aesthetically focused training. I'm not very strong but I've been worrying a lot about diminishing returns as of late.

    4 votes

  17. Comment on If you use ChatGPT or other LLM, how do you use it? in ~tech

    somadaj
    Link
    I just recently paid for one month of gpt4 and I'm trying to use it for interview prep. I can lazily paste a job offer in the chat box along woth my resume and ask it to start a mock interview....

    I just recently paid for one month of gpt4 and I'm trying to use it for interview prep. I can lazily paste a job offer in the chat box along woth my resume and ask it to start a mock interview. I'm finding it a little hit or miss, but useful nonetheless. Being half-decent at prompt engineering goes a long way. I also use it for bouncing off ideas for tasks where being creative is more or less relevant, mostly as a sanity check to assess the feasibility of concepts about which I'm feeling unsure.

    Bonus tip: I like to instruct it to strictly adhere to Crocker's rules, I find that it helps a lot.

    8 votes

  18. Comment on Chiropractic isn’t what you think it is in ~health

    somadaj
    (edited )
    Link
    It's basically the same in Europe with osteopathy. What worries me is the high frequency of medical professionals that have an osteopathy diploma on the side, even among university professors who...

    It's basically the same in Europe with osteopathy. What worries me is the high frequency of medical professionals that have an osteopathy diploma on the side, even among university professors who actually teach physiotherapy.

    Nice documentary though.

    7 votes