stu2b50's recent activity
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Comment on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom discussion in ~games
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Comment on Introductions | June 2023 in ~talk
stu2b50 Link ParentI'm planning a trip to the Alps on the Swiss side sometime in the summer, and a trip to Japan at the end of the year.I'm planning a trip to the Alps on the Swiss side sometime in the summer, and a trip to Japan at the end of the year.
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Comment on Introductions | June 2023 in ~talk
stu2b50 Link ParentThe other ones I use is mostly reddit. I use to go on old vbulletin forums but they all died. Reddit is the de facto replacement, for better or for worse. There's also hackernews, although your...The other ones I use is mostly reddit. I use to go on old vbulletin forums but they all died. Reddit is the de facto replacement, for better or for worse.
There's also hackernews, although your experience on hackernews is much better if you don't click on comments, as well as the lobster site. Lobsters is much more tech focused.
Honestly not much I'd recommend at this point, long form text seems like a seriously dying form of social media.
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Comment on Turning paint thinner into cherry soda in ~science
stu2b50 Link ParentNile Blue is unhinged and shorter, lower effort content with more failures.Nile Blue is unhinged and shorter, lower effort content with more failures.
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Comment on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom discussion in ~games
stu2b50 LinkIt's a good game. I'll be honest, I'd still prefer the old 3D Zelda formula. I'm just not that big into open world games, and I feel like the BotW formula doesn't reward exploration as much as I'd...It's a good game. I'll be honest, I'd still prefer the old 3D Zelda formula. I'm just not that big into open world games, and I feel like the BotW formula doesn't reward exploration as much as I'd want with weapon durability. Mainly in that generally the reward for exploration is spirit orbs and korok seeds, which are flat - a shrine hidden deep in the map gives the same amount of spirit orbs as a shrine in the the middle of plains.
That being said, ToTK is just a better game than BotW (not that there's anything wrong with that - it should be). The shrine puzzles are waaay more fun. Ultra hand and time reverse and fuse are just way more powerful and enable way more creative puzzles than the runes in BotW. Almost feels like scribblenauts. Never really like most of the shrines in BotW.
The world has way more things in it. BotW I feel got carried by the unknown - at the beginning, because you didn't know what was there, you imagined the world to have much more than was actually there. When the curtain gets pulled back there's not actually that many things in Hyrule in BotW.
I still wish you can just find a sick weapon that doesn't break. Fuse does help.
The dungeons... they're basically the same as the divine beasts. The bosses feel more like "Zelda" bosses, which is true.
I wish there was a way to persist the things you make with ultrahand. In practice, there's not much reason to make more than the bare basic vehicles. The crazy contraptions on the internet are mostly for fun.
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Comment on Introductions | June 2023 in ~talk
stu2b50 LinkI've been here for quite a while, 4 years by now. I probably post the most about tech, although I try not to. It is still the topic that I have the most expertise in. I've been mildly active...I've been here for quite a while, 4 years by now. I probably post the most about tech, although I try not to. It is still the topic that I have the most expertise in. I've been mildly active throughout. This is never my "main" discussion board (social media?), but I usually keep track of things.
I work for a tech company, but I mostly spend time either learning something different or working on some type of craft. I had a 3D printing phase a little ago but mostly doing sketching and watercolor at the moment.
I do play video games, way more when I was younger. There's basically two categories of games I play - either ones where I have friends that play, or long single player RPGs. I have a phobia of feeling like I wasted time, and there's nothing that makes me feel like time was wasted than grinding solo que ladders in games.
In general I don't like routine because it makes time mush together. I try to travel when I can, because it at least forms distinct memories, even when it goes wrong. Time unfortunately did a lot of mushing during COVID but what can you do.
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Comment on The ideal backend language to write web apps in 2023? in ~comp
stu2b50 LinkThe beauty of server side coding is that you can use anything you want, since it's about the most primitive type of input <-> output machine you can make. That being said, prioritizing for...The beauty of server side coding is that you can use anything you want, since it's about the most primitive type of input <-> output machine you can make. That being said, prioritizing for different things:
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pure development speed - Python. Django + django-rest-framework for maximum dev speed, fastapi for something newer and cleaner. I'd definitely use the static typing system and mypy, though.
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ease of deployment - go or rust. It's hard to beat single binaries with all the dependencies statically linked. Go has a lower barrier of entry.
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performance - go or rust. Go can be slower because it has a runtime and sometimes the GC does weird things.
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bonus developer speed - elixir. Sometimes the actor model just makes your life incredibly easy, and makes scaling incredibly easy. That being said, it's a pretty esoteric language, and the lack of static typing hurts.
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bonus bonus developer speed - JS or TS with node or deno. I'd prefer TS with deno. If you're also writing a webapp as the frontend, being able to share code (not to mention, you can't get more first class json support than javascript) is quite a big developer productivity boost. Typescript is genuinely a quite well thought through language with modern features .
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Comment on "Kraft Singles, the standard for American cheese, cannot legally be called American cheese, or even 'cheese food.'" in ~food
stu2b50 Link ParentIt's also good to put some kraft singles when you're making mac n cheese. It shouldn't be the majority of your cheese per se (well, it's up to you in the end), but to get the creamy texture, you...It's also good to put some kraft singles when you're making mac n cheese. It shouldn't be the majority of your cheese per se (well, it's up to you in the end), but to get the creamy texture, you need emulsifying salts, and it's kinda hard to actually buy emulsifying salts, so sticking some american cheese in the cheese mix is an easy and available way to do so.
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Comment on Reddit is going to enforce rate-limiting the API's free tier as well as charging for higher rates in ~tech
stu2b50 Link ParentThat should work, and I expect there’ll be FOSS clients that work like that popping up. But it’s not really feasible for the paid apps. If you need a users API key, you’re already limiting...That should work, and I expect there’ll be FOSS clients that work like that popping up. But it’s not really feasible for the paid apps. If you need a users API key, you’re already limiting yourself to an extreme minority.
I expect there’s enough hobbyist and developers that use Reddit to make a mostly functional 3rd party client without any plans of monetizing.
But it’s pretty doomed for Apollo and the like.
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Comment on IRC for tildes? in ~tildes
stu2b50 Link ParentHm I’m not sure I’d extrapolate it to be an issue with Discord. There is a general tendency towards selection bias for the negative. For instance, the bill Simmons subreddit (ostensibly) hates the...Hm I’m not sure I’d extrapolate it to be an issue with Discord. There is a general tendency towards selection bias for the negative. For instance, the bill Simmons subreddit (ostensibly) hates the dude, despite not only spending multiple hours a week listening to his voice voluntarily and then voluntarily spending more hours writing Reddit posts about him.
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Comment on Disney is staring down the barrel of a no good, very bad year in ~movies
stu2b50 Link ParentMario Movie? Record breaking box office numbers, and a very long tail with the movie still being shown and getting respectable numbers right now. Avatar and Puss in Boots also did very well (both...I think for many people it's simply just too expensive to go to the movies, especially for a family picture like The Little Mermaid.
Mario Movie? Record breaking box office numbers, and a very long tail with the movie still being shown and getting respectable numbers right now.
Avatar and Puss in Boots also did very well (both December releases). GotG is on track for solid box office numbers.
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Comment on Summer Games Done Quick 2023, a week-long charity fundraising event featuring speedruns, has begun in ~games
stu2b50 Link ParentBecause they could - it's not like GDQ went to online only for any reason but necessity. AGDQ was intended to be in person again, but they had difficulties with their venue.Looks like I missed SGDQ 2022 being in person. Why did they go back?
Because they could - it's not like GDQ went to online only for any reason but necessity. AGDQ was intended to be in person again, but they had difficulties with their venue.
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Comment on Summer Games Done Quick 2023, a week-long charity fundraising event featuring speedruns, has begun in ~games
stu2b50 Link ParentIt is not, SGDQ 2022 was also in person. I'm not sure what you mean by that. GDQs have always started on Sunday and ended on Saturday. I don't think shifting it around would do much to help or...it is their first live event since the pre-pandemic, right?
It is not, SGDQ 2022 was also in person.
Online viewership would likely have been higher if they had included a full weekend in the event (not doing so is likely a mistake)
I'm not sure what you mean by that. GDQs have always started on Sunday and ended on Saturday. I don't think shifting it around would do much to help or hurt. Ending on Saturday is important since it goes quite late in the night (all the delays push the ending back - the buck stops at the finale, after all), so both in person attendees and online viewers would probably appreciate not having to choose between going to sleep at 3am before a workday or missing it.
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Comment on Tally of covid-19 cases after CDC conference climbs to 181 in ~health
stu2b50 Link ParentI don't think the hand sanitizing would be the issue. COVID is evidently not particularly prone to surface transmission (in fact, this nyt articles claims that's there's quite literally zero cases...I don't think the hand sanitizing would be the issue. COVID is evidently not particularly prone to surface transmission (in fact, this nyt articles claims that's there's quite literally zero cases proven to be caused by surface transmission).
There was a line very early in the pandemic where there was the claim that laypeople would touch their faces while putting on the mask and give themselves the disease through that vector but in practice COVID doesn't really transmit like that.
That being said, it's still possible that most laypeople would wear masks with either tightly enough of a seal to prevent getting the disease on their own or the wrong kind of mask.
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Comment on What's your p(doom)? in ~talk
stu2b50 LinkWell, with respect to ChatGPT and the like, I mostly share in LeCun's view that it (autoregressive transformer models) are a dead end with regards to general intelligence. Neural networks in...Well, with respect to ChatGPT and the like, I mostly share in LeCun's view that it (autoregressive transformer models) are a dead end with regards to general intelligence. Neural networks in general (which AI is basically become in today's nomenclature) are clearly the best way for us to build discriminative models that can represent vast, high dimensional spaces with very nuanced distributions, and if we ever reach something akin to general intelligence, it wouldn't be that surprising if they played a part, but we're still quite far from that, and you shouldn't let the name fool you - a neural network resembles the brain about as much as the tree data structure resembles the plant.
In the long term, then it becomes a "well, anything is possible eventually" scenario, but I'd still put the p(doom) of nuclear annihilation due to humans doing human things at least an order of magnitude higher than p(doom) of some kind of true general intelligence related calamity. We already have nuclear weapons, after all!
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Comment on Reverse emotion in ~talk
stu2b50 LinkObviously it would not be okay lol While emotions can get out of hand, you do have emotions for a reason. If they are completely inverted you wouldn't be a functional person. If instead of feeling...if they did that without your acceptance ? would you be okay
Obviously it would not be okay lol
While emotions can get out of hand, you do have emotions for a reason. If they are completely inverted you wouldn't be a functional person. If instead of feeling accomplished when you did something difficult, you felt disappointment - if you feel excitement and joy over doing nothing. That's just... bad.
If instead of inverting it merely dampens negative emotions, then apart from the rather subjective and nebulous definition of "negative", then it would still not be something you would want to be on for the long term. Perhaps useful in short bursts. It would be similar to local anesthesia - you, uh, definitely want to feel sensations in your life, but for surgeries it's nice that you can go without it.
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Comment on Shut up and mint the coin in ~finance
stu2b50 Link ParentBecause the scope is limited to paying the principal and interest of debt issued for the prior and current budget. The markets already expect that that amount of money would enter the ecosystem -...Because the scope is limited to paying the principal and interest of debt issued for the prior and current budget. The markets already expect that that amount of money would enter the ecosystem - that's what the federal budget was all about, after all. US treasuries are considered the safest asset in the world - the world is already ticking around the idea that the US government will continue to make payments on the treasuries it issues like clockwork.
It's just a dumb trick to get around the part where the US has a discrete "debt ceiling" which is determined separately from the budget, so you get situations where the US has committed to paying X, Y, and Z, and then midway through Congress has to debate whether or not to actually pay X, Y, and Z, despite, y'know, committing to it already.
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Comment on What are we in the golden age of? in ~talk
stu2b50 Link ParentAlthough, there has also been the a complaint in a similar, but opposing, vein: that the internet has caused a collapse in American regional accents. Because so many of the voices you hear are not...Although, there has also been the a complaint in a similar, but opposing, vein: that the internet has caused a collapse in American regional accents. Because so many of the voices you hear are not from locals, but people on TikTok, youtube, and so forth, there's become a somewhat generic "normal" american accent that permeates through all americans, but especially the generation that grew up with the internet, with some regional variances, perhaps manifesting more in vernacular choice.
And in observation I find that somewhat true. I know many people from the US southeast, but literally none of them have any kind of "southern" accent. If you weren't a linguist with keen ears to hear minute differences, they could be from anywhere in the US.
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Comment on Why do recipe writers lie and lie and lie about how long it takes to caramelize onions? in ~food
stu2b50 Link ParentThat's a separate but related issue. What many other recipes call "caramelized onions" would be better known as browned onions. Indeed, in many cases you wouldn't want "mushy brown worms" in your...It doesn't take that long to caramelize onions. The problem is that not everyone agrees on what it means to be caramelized. In my personal opinion, most people overcook their onions
That's a separate but related issue. What many other recipes call "caramelized onions" would be better known as browned onions. Indeed, in many cases you wouldn't want "mushy brown worms" in your dish. In that case, it's more that "caramelized" sounds better than "browned", so amateur recipe authors substitute it to make their dish sound fancier.
But it's equally true that in many dishes, caramelized onions are not browned onions. In the article linked, one of the examples used is french onion soup. The onions absolutely need to be caramelized, sweet and rich, with a consistency that practically melt away into the soup body. Their strong flavor is really critical to the recipe. Similarly, 10-15 minute browned onions on a burger is not caramelized. Onions of any kind is fine on a burger, but caramelized onions should be very sweet.
You absolutely cannot caramelize onions in 15 minutes for french onion soup, as the article pointed to inside the article says.
My personal "hack" for caramelized onions is to fry them at a high temperature, and add in brown sugar.
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Comment on Thoughts on brinkmanship with the US national debt? in ~finance
stu2b50 Link ParentI mean, that's not really the issue. In fact, it really shows how stupid it is. Congress is going to have to pass a new budget quite literally later this year. Just move all the shenanigans there....I mean, that's not really the issue. In fact, it really shows how stupid it is. Congress is going to have to pass a new budget quite literally later this year. Just move all the shenanigans there. A budget won't pass without house approval - McCarthy will have his budget negotiations.
Meanwhile, the US government already committed, and issued debt for the current budget. The debt ceiling should automatically move up when the budget passes - there is no reason to have it be a separate process. It only adds destabilizing factors, as it turns out people don't like to loan money to entities that can randomly decide to not pay them due to partisan politics.
It's better to simply NOT issue that debt, and not commit that money, than to do it, and then debate over whether or not to renege on that commitment. And you do that by bringing the deficit talks to the bill that creates the new budget.
Yeah, I know about autobuild but it's not really the same thing. It just becomes annoying when the contraptions can despawn for fairly arbitrary conditions. For example, if you only play ToTK, and therefore can just suspend all the time, your builds stay around. But if you swap games, because you play more than one game, or your switch is shared, then saving and loading does not keep them around.
It makes it so that it's always better to build, say, that two fan hoverscraft, or the one wheel cycle, because you have to autobuild them every time, and it's much cheaper.
Fuse does mitigate the raw power level part of things, but mainly I want more persisted, and non-fungible, rewards for exploration. I don't like korok seeds and spirit orbs as rewards because of their fungibility. Getting new weapons never feels as good as in other games because they break.
It was a lost opportunity, because they could have made autobuild for weapons, that way it still costs a resource but getting a new powerful weapon feels exciting because you unlock the ability to rebuild it forever.