stu2b50's recent activity
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Comment on A global explosion of absurdly spicy foods in ~food
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Comment on GameSir Pocket Taco Kickstarter has been launched in ~games
stu2b50 Link ParentA lot of sites blanket ban IP ranges from known VPN hosts. Unfortunately, VPNs are often used for nefarious purposes, from botting to pentesting, so it's not uncommon.A lot of sites blanket ban IP ranges from known VPN hosts. Unfortunately, VPNs are often used for nefarious purposes, from botting to pentesting, so it's not uncommon.
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Comment on Sony’s TV business is being taken over by TCL in ~tech
stu2b50 Link ParentI mean, the behavior on pretty much every smart TV I’ve ever used is that if you select an HDMI input, and don’t change it, the UI won’t even come up. Or maybe there’ll be a brief splash screen on...I mean, the behavior on pretty much every smart TV I’ve ever used is that if you select an HDMI input, and don’t change it, the UI won’t even come up. Or maybe there’ll be a brief splash screen on startup.
Either way, if you just want to have another box do all the TV-ing I’m pretty sure almost every TV out there will do that just fine.
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Comment on GameSir Pocket Taco Kickstarter has been launched in ~games
stu2b50 Link ParentThat's a double edged sword. One, is that honestly my phone's battery is more important than a gamepad's battery. I'd rather not have it mooch off of my phone, since these days your phone does...That's a double edged sword.
One, is that honestly my phone's battery is more important than a gamepad's battery. I'd rather not have it mooch off of my phone, since these days your phone does critical things like pay for parking tickets or your commute home.
Second is that the USB-C port is one of the more vulnerable parts of a modern phone. These kinds of designs cause far more wear than charging them do, and can bring phones to require repair or replacement much earlier than they otherwise would.
It's not uncommon for battery-banks with a similar form factor to cause damage. Imagine if you had the controller on and dropped your phone - that's suddenly a lot of force on the USB-C port.
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Comment on What are your favorite home remedies or comforts when you're sick? in ~health
stu2b50 Link ParentUnless the fever is at a dangerous level (at which point you should probably go to the ER anyway), it's better just not deal with the fever. The fever isn't caused by the virus or bacteria, it's...Unless the fever is at a dangerous level (at which point you should probably go to the ER anyway), it's better just not deal with the fever. The fever isn't caused by the virus or bacteria, it's caused by your body to cure the viral or bacterial infection. Lowering it through medicine or external treatment may provide short-term comfort, but it will ultimately hamper recovery.
Of course, fever can get to a point where it's doing more damage than good, but at that point professional medical care is really required.
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Comment on What are your favorite home remedies or comforts when you're sick? in ~health
stu2b50 LinkNot sure if this technically counts as a “home remedy” but I just chug water for infectious illnesses. Goal is for my urine to be clear the entire time. If it’s not, more water. You can add...Not sure if this technically counts as a “home remedy” but I just chug water for infectious illnesses. Goal is for my urine to be clear the entire time. If it’s not, more water.
You can add electrolytes but honestly given most people’s diets probably not something to be worried about.
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Comment on Sony’s TV business is being taken over by TCL in ~tech
stu2b50 Link ParentI don't see why that would necessarily be the case. TCL famously (or infamously) doesn't do any TV software - they just outsource it to Roku, and the angst with TCL TV software is mostly that Roku...I would expect rebadged-TCL-Sony models to be significantly more junked up and to use less capable compute.
I don't see why that would necessarily be the case. TCL famously (or infamously) doesn't do any TV software - they just outsource it to Roku, and the angst with TCL TV software is mostly that Roku sucks.
Now that they presumably have acquired Sony's software, I don't see why they wouldn't just continue using it. Can't imagine it's more expensive than paying Roku licensing when you already spent a bunch of money acquiring it. It's not like TCL particularly wants to evangelize the software of a different (and American!) company if they don't have to.
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Comment on Sony’s TV business is being taken over by TCL in ~tech
stu2b50 Link ParentI don’t think the title is inaccurate. In terms of control, owning 49% is going to give you as much control as owning 0% if a different party owns 51%. It does mean that Sony still has a financial...I don’t think the title is inaccurate. In terms of control, owning 49% is going to give you as much control as owning 0% if a different party owns 51%. It does mean that Sony still has a financial stake, and therefore should be willing to offer the new TCL owned spinoff any support necessary, but nonetheless the new venture is owned and controlled by TCL.
As to alarm, I don’t disagree, but how does the title imply that people should be alarmed?
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Comment on Sony’s TV business is being taken over by TCL in ~tech
stu2b50 LinkAnd with that, the last of the Japanese TV manufacturers ends. That being said, I imagine the TCL x Bravia TVs would probably do just fine - the high end TCL TVs perform as well as any other...And with that, the last of the Japanese TV manufacturers ends. That being said, I imagine the TCL x Bravia TVs would probably do just fine - the high end TCL TVs perform as well as any other manufacturer's. But it does mean that none of the manufacturers are domestically owned in Japan anymore.
Somewhat remarkable the way Korean companies leapfrogged the Japanese tech giants over the last few decades. Chinese companies as well, of course, but Korea has a fraction of the population of Japan and an even smaller fraction of the land.
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Sony’s TV business is being taken over by TCL
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Comment on Does anyone else find CBS News particularly stressful? in ~tv
stu2b50 LinkCan't say that I have. To refresh myself, I watched a bit of CBS on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ygySTWJ92M), and nothing particularly stood out to me as "stressful".Can't say that I have. To refresh myself, I watched a bit of CBS on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ygySTWJ92M), and nothing particularly stood out to me as "stressful".
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Comment on 2026 Oscar nomination predictions in ~movies
stu2b50 Link ParentIt might get nominated for cultural importance, but to be honest, as a film, it is quite mid. It was animated beautifully, but the story was fairly shonen-slop (although, to be fair, much of that...It might get nominated for cultural importance, but to be honest, as a film, it is quite mid. It was animated beautifully, but the story was fairly shonen-slop (although, to be fair, much of that is the source material), the pacing was truly atrocious (this is where I think it even fell short of the anime), and I don't think it adapted the manga particularly well.
I wouldn't really say it deserves much more than a passing nomination.
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Comment on What's the benefit of avoiding the debugger? in ~comp
stu2b50 Link ParentI wouldn't really just say that it's about opinionated or not. Like I said, even Java doesn't agree with checked exceptions anymore. Much of Java 9 and Java 11 was about streams and lambdas, and...I wouldn't really just say that it's about opinionated or not. Like I said, even Java doesn't agree with checked exceptions anymore. Much of Java 9 and Java 11 was about streams and lambdas, and they just won't compile if you call any method with a checked exception.
This implicitly is nudging all future Java code to avoid checked exceptions, since otherwise if you have a framework or library with checked exceptions, it can't be used with significant parts of Java's standard library anymore.
The fundamental issue is that checked exceptions aren't exceptions - it's really information that should be encoded in the return type. And indeed, that's how modern languages do it. In Rust or Swift you won't find checked exceptions, because the replacements are some form of the Optional<> or Result<> forms. For any case where certain failures are expected (like, file I/O where the filepath does not point a file), it should be encoded in the return type itself. If you really want to get deep in language specifics, this is in a way treating them as a monad.
Encoding it as part of the exception system caused many issues. It made the syntax more verbose. It conflated two logical paths which shouldn't be done together (true exceptions and expected failures). It causes many issues with control inversion (which is why lambdas can't have checked exceptions) in the type system.
Today, Java also has Optional and Result (see: https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/util/Optional.html), and it's generally considered best practice to use them and avoid checked exceptions, even in the language of origin.
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Comment on What's the benefit of avoiding the debugger? in ~comp
stu2b50 Link ParentHonestly I find that somewhat surprising to read. Checked exceptions is probably the #1 thing people complain about in Java, from a language design perspective. In fact, it's gotten to the point...Honestly I find that somewhat surprising to read. Checked exceptions is probably the #1 thing people complain about in Java, from a language design perspective. In fact, it's gotten to the point where modern Java has developed many ways to avoid checked exceptions, and any existence of checked exceptions just fundamentally breaks modern Java language primitives (for example, you can't have any checked exceptions in lambdas).
It's generally considered one of the worst parts of the language, like C making strings end-terminated.
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Comment on Curl will end its bug bounty program by the end of January due to excessive AI generated reports in ~comp
stu2b50 Link ParentIf anything it'll kill nonprofit community projects who don't have the resources to deal with "slop" first.If anything it'll kill nonprofit community projects who don't have the resources to deal with "slop" first.
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Comment on Canada agrees to cut tariff on Chinese electric vehicles in return for lower tariffs on Canadian farm products in ~transport
stu2b50 Link ParentYou can use the Australian market as a barometer for what cars would cost without any tariffs or trade barriers in a developed economy, since Australia essentially just gave up on having a...You can use the Australian market as a barometer for what cars would cost without any tariffs or trade barriers in a developed economy, since Australia essentially just gave up on having a automotive industry and more or less let the floodgates open.
The cheapest BYD offering is a mid-sized Sedan (the "seal") for $23,000 AUD, or $15,000 USD or $21,000 CAD.
At least in the US, that would be considerably cheaper than other cars in that segment (Corollas and Civics start at $22k, and certainly no EVs are there).
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Comment on Why we are excited about confessions in ~tech
stu2b50 Link ParentThere’s nothing inherently non-deterministic about LLMs. It’s ultimately a bunch of matrix multiplications, which is the same every time (otherwise linear algebra would have been a pretty wild...There’s nothing inherently non-deterministic about LLMs. It’s ultimately a bunch of matrix multiplications, which is the same every time (otherwise linear algebra would have been a pretty wild class). The non-determinism comes from the random sampling of tokens, but it’s not like you have to randomly sample.
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Comment on US to stop processing visa applications from seventy-five nations in ~society
stu2b50 Link ParentOccam's razor is that Trump has traditionally done well politically with immigration restrictions. He's looking for a bump in approvals after multiple political hits has left things looking pretty...since it doesn't make much sense through any other lens.
Occam's razor is that Trump has traditionally done well politically with immigration restrictions. He's looking for a bump in approvals after multiple political hits has left things looking pretty dire before the midterms.
In particular, this is a continuation of the Somalia Minnesota scandal. That was a big win for Republicans politically, and this is "list of poor countries we can block immigration from without causing serious economic or political repercussions". Countries like China or India are not on the list because they would cause serious economic or political repercussions, which would kind of negate the point of a quick symbolic PR win.
Now Trump can go "underBiden, we got those Somalians scamming your hard earned tax dollars, I've blocked the poors from robbing you bigly". That's pretty much the point.
If you're a white nationalist trying to make America a white ethnostate this would do almost nothing to accomplish it.
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Comment on US to stop processing visa applications from seventy-five nations in ~society
stu2b50 (edited )Link ParentIdk, it doesn’t include China, India, or Mexico, which are some of the largest non-white immigrant countries (well, “whiteness” and Latinos is somewhat complicated, but your average KKK member...Idk, it doesn’t include China, India, or Mexico, which are some of the largest non-white immigrant countries (well, “whiteness” and Latinos is somewhat complicated, but your average KKK member probably wouldn’t consider anyone from Mexico as white).
In contrast, Russia and many Soviet satellites are on the list, and many Americans would consider them white. After all, Trump himself married someone from a Soviet satellite state.
The list isn’t all that cohesive from a racial angle. Why is Thailand banned but Vietnam not? Why is Pakistan banned but not India? Why is Kuwait banned but none of the other Arab states?
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Comment on Is it possible to live without WhatsApp? in ~tech
stu2b50 Link ParentYes, arguably moreso than some other modern chat apps, since irc is really focused on rooms and less on individual 1-1 messaging.Yes, arguably moreso than some other modern chat apps, since irc is really focused on rooms and less on individual 1-1 messaging.
Hm, maybe it would seem more uncommon in, like, midwestern US or something where most of the "chinese" food is panda express, but generally sichuan/chengdu style food (e.g, very spicy, mala) is probably the most popular single regional type of Chinese food in the US (and in China, for that matter - Shanghai has more sichuan-style restaurants than Shanghai style restaurants last time I went), and has been for a while.