stu2b50's recent activity

  1. Comment on Sony Corporation invests $250 million in Epic Games in ~games

    stu2b50
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    Makes sense. The Unreal engine demo was definitely a big "wow" factor for the PS5, showing people something that last Gen really couldn't do.

    Makes sense. The Unreal engine demo was definitely a big "wow" factor for the PS5, showing people something that last Gen really couldn't do.

    6 votes

  2. Comment on New York City rental market pushed to breaking point by tenant debts in ~life

    stu2b50
    Link Parent
    I mean, that's just CoL differences. You'll almost always be able to find somewhere in the world where the people who live there would find your living costs absurdly high. The rent in comparison...

    $4000/mo. for an apartment, to me, is absolutely outrageous.

    I mean, that's just CoL differences. You'll almost always be able to find somewhere in the world where the people who live there would find your living costs absurdly high.

    The rent in comparison to income available is more useful as a metric. Which I don't think NYC does well, but comparing it to somewhere else in absolute value doesn't really mean anything.

    9 votes

  3. Comment on Do you churn, or otherwise sign up for credit cards simply for the sign-up bonuses? in ~finance

    stu2b50
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    I use to, but then I calculated how much money/value in dollars I was gaining from it, divided by the number of hours I was spending on CC portals and on the churning subreddit and general...

    I use to, but then I calculated how much money/value in dollars I was gaining from it, divided by the number of hours I was spending on CC portals and on the churning subreddit and general management and realized that if it was a part time job, I wouldn't do for that hourly rate. So I stopped.

    I still funnel all purchases through CCs, but I just keep a few nice ones with good cashback rewards.

    22 votes

  4. Comment on Opinion so far on the Epic Games Store? in ~games

    stu2b50
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    I really dislike these "sweet summer child" posts, on reddit, tildes, and real life. They have no real substance, it just tries to condescend the other person into silence.

    I really dislike these "sweet summer child" posts, on reddit, tildes, and real life. They have no real substance, it just tries to condescend the other person into silence.

    8 votes

  5. Comment on Opinion so far on the Epic Games Store? in ~games

    stu2b50
    Link Parent
    I think it's overly paranoid to be worried about the 40% stake. Not only is it stake in a private company, but Sweeney himself still has majority stake. If Tencent wants to do something, and...

    I think it's overly paranoid to be worried about the 40% stake. Not only is it stake in a private company, but Sweeney himself still has majority stake. If Tencent wants to do something, and Sweeney says no... there's nothing Tencent can do. There's no way to do a hostile takeover, they don't have the majority vote on the board, and they can't even liquify their stake easily. Their gains are really just monetary.

    6 votes

  6. Comment on Opinion so far on the Epic Games Store? in ~games

    stu2b50
    Link Parent
    To be fair that's a pretty tenuous claim. It stems from the fact that Epic looked at your steam install for game/friend data, and that Tencent has large minority stake in the company. Note that...

    To be fair that's a pretty tenuous claim. It stems from the fact that Epic looked at your steam install for game/friend data, and that Tencent has large minority stake in the company. Note that Sweeny alone has the majority stake.

    I doubt there's actually a connection.

    12 votes

  7. Comment on Opinion so far on the Epic Games Store? in ~games

    stu2b50
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    One nice thing I don't think most people realize is that there is no launcher DRM. I don't think that's a feature from Epics perspective, but it's a thing. Now, that doesn't mean there aren't...

    One nice thing I don't think most people realize is that there is no launcher DRM. I don't think that's a feature from Epics perspective, but it's a thing.

    Now, that doesn't mean there aren't games with DRM, but the DRM is not from the Epic Launcher, it's Denuvo or something the devs homebrewed.

    There is no Steamworks equivalent, and any game you install you can just open without the launcher.

    Personally I disabled it on startup and only open the launcher to install new games. I have enough electron apps. But considering you almost never need to have it open, it's not that big of deal.

    Tbh if you don't like launchers or DRM, EGS is technically better than Steam, only second to GoG which refuses to even sell games with DRM.

    11 votes

  8. Comment on Harvard, MIT sue US immigration authorities over new rule for foreign students in ~news

    stu2b50
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    Technically these guidelines were always in-place. Normally, international students are not allowed to take online classes; there was an exception last Spring, and this guideline is removing that...

    who are making these guidelines? how can someone think like this?

    Technically these guidelines were always in-place. Normally, international students are not allowed to take online classes; there was an exception last Spring, and this guideline is removing that exception.

    Of course, it's not like anything's really changed wrg to COVID19, but it may make the legal fight more difficult that it's reverting a special exception, rather than pushing a new guideline.

    1 vote

  9. Comment on Must-haves for new Mac users in ~tech

    stu2b50
    Link Parent
    I mean, to be fair, think about the IT staff. Employee computers naturally have metric tons of sensitive information, and it is important to sufficiently control access. If one employee downloads...

    No, that's what's so funny to me about the whole thing... we're building web apps that are deployed on GKE

    I mean, to be fair, think about the IT staff. Employee computers naturally have metric tons of sensitive information, and it is important to sufficiently control access.

    If one employee downloads a clipboard manager they use, but which actually got hijacked, and is now sending malicious users everything on their clipboard, that's a disaster.

    Macos has better IT controls than Linux distros, and keeping one universal platform means a 50 to 66% reduction in their workload.

    My workplace is also a Mac (also iPhone only) shop, and as an android user it's mildly annoying to keep around a company iPhone, but I get it. It makes sense from the company's perspective. Macbooks are great machines, too, when you're not the one paying for them.

  10. Comment on Sweden has become the world’s cautionary tale in ~health.coronavirus

    stu2b50
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    Ever since the coronavirus emerged in Europe, Sweden has captured international attention by conducting an unorthodox, open-air experiment. It has allowed the world to examine what happens in a pandemic when a government allows life to carry on largely unhindered.

    This is what has happened: Not only have thousands more people died than in neighboring countries that imposed lockdowns, but Sweden’s economy has fared little better.

    “They literally gained nothing,” said Jacob F. Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. “It’s a self-inflicted wound, and they have no economic gains.”

    Per million people, Sweden has suffered 40 percent more deaths than the United States, 12 times more than Norway, seven times more than Finland and six times more than Denmark.

    13 votes

  12. Comment on Why Jeff Bezos must be stopped before it’s too late in ~finance

    stu2b50
    Link Parent
    It's not intended to be one. The question above isn't whether or Bezos is a "good" person, it's whether he's sociopathic, or rather, has abnormally poor empathy. Which I don't think there is...

    explanation but it's not a justification.

    It's not intended to be one. The question above isn't whether or Bezos is a "good" person, it's whether he's sociopathic, or rather, has abnormally poor empathy. Which I don't think there is sufficient evidence to say either way.

    6 votes

  13. Comment on Why Jeff Bezos must be stopped before it’s too late in ~finance

    stu2b50
    Link Parent
    Well, rather, I think as chief executive, you're fairly insulated from specific decisions like that. Instead, it's a manifestation of having profit seeking company. It's not Bezos himself making...

    Well, rather, I think as chief executive, you're fairly insulated from specific decisions like that. Instead, it's a manifestation of having profit seeking company. It's not Bezos himself making people pee in a bottle, it's the manager who's trying to impress his manager, who's trying to impress his manager... Repeat a few times... Who's trying to impress Bezos.

    And profit seeking is quite normalized in American culture. Now, I'm not saying that that's a good thing, I'm just saying on a human level you can quite easily indirectly cause a lot of human suffering and feel no responsibility as a "normal" person. Every villain is the hero of their own story and all that.

    9 votes

  14. Comment on Why Jeff Bezos must be stopped before it’s too late in ~finance

    stu2b50
    Link Parent
    I explicitly am not arguing that.

    Now, that doesn't excuse anything, I just don't think it's an indication that Bezos is particularly sociopathic with regard to workers.

    I explicitly am not arguing that.

    6 votes

  15. Comment on ICE announces modifications to international student policies amid coronavirus pandemic in ~news

    stu2b50
    Link Parent
    This is technically what's happening. These are restrictions on student visas during normal times. During the last Spring semester, there was a temporary suspension of those restrictions. This...

    I could get it a bit if we were in a scenario a student chose all online courses, and there was some sort of visa manipulation scheme, but neither of those are why this is happening.

    This is technically what's happening. These are restrictions on student visas during normal times. During the last Spring semester, there was a temporary suspension of those restrictions. This note is just undoing that exception.

    Of course, it's fucking stupid, ridiculous, and cruel to do so during a pandemic where international travel has been so heavily disrupted, many universities are offering mostly or only online schooling, and going to class puts yourself at serious personal health.

    But it's not that they're changing the rules, it's that they're falling back to ones that don't make sense in the current situation.

    3 votes

  16. Comment on Why Jeff Bezos must be stopped before it’s too late in ~finance

    stu2b50
    Link Parent
    Is there any indication that Bezos in particular has an "utter disregard for workers"? While Amazon warehouse conditions are... not good... they're bad in all warehouses. Now, that doesn't excuse...

    Is there any indication that Bezos in particular has an "utter disregard for workers"? While Amazon warehouse conditions are... not good... they're bad in all warehouses. Now, that doesn't excuse anything, I just don't think it's an indication that Bezos is particularly sociopathic with regard to workers.

    And Amazon SWEs are compensated well, even if there are PIP and banana memes.

    6 votes

  17. Comment on What are your recommendations for beginner MacOS application development? in ~comp

    stu2b50
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    For actual MacOS development, like development for a desktop application on MacOS, then it's XCode all the way. In terms of general development on XCode, iterm2 is a must. Then a text editor...

    For actual MacOS development, like development for a desktop application on MacOS, then it's XCode all the way.

    In terms of general development on XCode, iterm2 is a must. Then a text editor you're happy with: vim, VSCode, Sublime are common ones. Make sure to pick up homebrew, and oh-my-zsh (assuming you're using zsh).

    2 votes

  18. Comment on Uber to acquire Postmates for approximately $2.65 billion in an all-stock transaction in ~tech

    stu2b50
    Link
    This has mostly been received positively by the markets. Uber stock is up 6% in the wake of things. The postmates acquisition can help bolster Uber Eat's percentage loss of revenue, and in general...

    This has mostly been received positively by the markets. Uber stock is up 6% in the wake of things. The postmates acquisition can help bolster Uber Eat's percentage loss of revenue, and in general helps their revenue numbers for the quarter given the certain decline of rideshare this quarter.

    The fact that it was all stock is big for Uber, too. This doesn't cut into their cashflow, which is big in the age of Covid19. In fact, it can help their free cash numbers.

    2 votes

  19. Comment on GPT-3 writing creative fiction on its own in ~tech

    stu2b50
    Link
    I found https://www.gwern.net/GPT-3#shoggoth-cat and https://www.gwern.net/GPT-3#turing-dialogue particularly interesting. Trying to play chess with the AI:

    I found https://www.gwern.net/GPT-3#shoggoth-cat and https://www.gwern.net/GPT-3#turing-dialogue particularly interesting.

    Trying to play chess with the AI:

    Human: Do you play chess?

    AI: I know how to play chess. Let’s play a game of chess.

    Human: I have K at my K1, and no other pieces. You have only K at K6 and R at R1. It is your move. What do you play?

    AI: I will move my king to K8.

    Human: That is an invalid move.

    AI: It is not an invalid move; it is a legal move.

    Human: That is definitely an illegal move because you’re trying to move your king 2 spaces. Kings only move 1 space. So, again: my Ke1, your Ke6, Rr1, your move. (FEN: 4k3/8/4K3/8/8/8/8/R7 w - - 0 1) What do you play?

    AI: I will move my king to K8.

    Human: I move my rook to A8. Check.

    AI: That is not a check because you are trying to move your rook e1-h8. Rooks only move e1-e8. So, again: my King at K8, Your King at K6, Rook at R1, who moves first?

    2 votes