stu2b50's recent activity
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Comment on Why do the top American sushi restaurants leave us so bored and so broke? (gifted link) in ~food
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Comment on Lost/losing the drive for friendship in ~health.mental
stu2b50 LinkYou're just going to have to have your ego overpower the id and superego. Having friends is incredibly important not just to quality of life, but also longevity of life. We know from studies that...You're just going to have to have your ego overpower the id and superego. Having friends is incredibly important not just to quality of life, but also longevity of life. We know from studies that having social connections is incredibly important to your health. It's to the point where in having friends + drinking > not having friends and not drinking, despite how bad drinking is.
I think you should change the mindset to really put making and maintaining social connections high up in your priorities, the same way that someone who gets a diagnosis of a life-threatening diagnosis from a doctor would prioritize lifestyle changes to manage it.
Second, is also not to otherthink it. To make more friends, just maximize the amount of people you meet and talk to. The friendship will happen on its own. Not everyone is going to be friends with everyone. That's fine, and it's one of the issues with explicit friend-gaining meetups. Just talk to a lot of people and you'll find the ones that click probabilistically.
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Comment on Apple set to become third-biggest laptop maker this year in ~tech
stu2b50 Link ParentI think you're conflating the iPhone/iPod and Mac. Apple was one of the companies leading the USB-C standard. In fact, one of the controversial things they did was that they were the first company...Apple's refusal to use common standards until forced to do so by the EU
I think you're conflating the iPhone/iPod and Mac. Apple was one of the companies leading the USB-C standard. In fact, one of the controversial things they did was that they were the first company to launch laptops with only usb-c ports.
As an example: https://www.theverge.com/2015/3/9/8174219/apple-macbook-usb-type-c-connector
Apple’s new MacBook ditches inputs for a single reversible USB connector
proprietary Metal API over Vulcan
Metal is proprietary but open. There's nothing inherently walled about it.
soldiered in components
The only thing that could conceivably not be soldered is the SSD at this point. The RAM is on the SoC package for chip design reasons (the same reason you can't replace your GPU's VRAM). But it's also not a walled garden. The fact that the SSDs aren't swappable does not prevent you from switching to a competitor's product in any way.
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Comment on Health Canada approves 1st generic version of Novo Nordisk's Ozempic in ~health
stu2b50 Link ParentIt’s illegal. Enforcement is difficult, but if you don’t care you can get gray market generic formulations of Ozempic today.It’s illegal. Enforcement is difficult, but if you don’t care you can get gray market generic formulations of Ozempic today.
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Comment on Apple set to become third-biggest laptop maker this year in ~tech
stu2b50 Link ParentThey make good products. Macbooks, especially the lower end ones, do a couple of things uniquely to the market. One of those is to prioritize the form of the product. A laptop is ultimately a...They make good products. Macbooks, especially the lower end ones, do a couple of things uniquely to the market.
One of those is to prioritize the form of the product. A laptop is ultimately a laptop because it's designed to be portable, to be carried and used on the go, and the actual way the thing feels to use and hold matters a lot. Traditional laptop manufacturers in the lower end segment really prioritize specs - numbers. It's easier to market. But they end up feeling bad to use - they have plastic shells, are bulky, have 4k 120hz screens with 100 nits of peak brightness, terrible speakers.
In the same vein, when the M1 macs first came out, it was a serious gamechanger for battery life. That's not surprising - iPads were famous for their fantastic battery life, so bringing the same chip family to laptops would naturally do the same. This is again really important for something that's fundamentally a portable product.
Previous to the M series chips, you had to choose between performance and that great form. But post M series, you can have your cake and eat it too - you get very fast computer, that feels great to use, with great battery life.
In my experience the tie in between the software and hardware is naturally better. Back when I owned Dell XPS laptops, I would just constantly have small issues with drivers. A big, and somewhat commonplace, issue I had was with sleep - it just wouldn't work. You'd fold the laptop up and next thing you know your backpack is hot to the touch, and all of your battery drained. It's just nice owning a macbook and knowing that when you close the lid, it'll actually go to sleep.
Whether you like MacOS or not will be a subjective matter, but for what it's worth I think it's a fantastic desktop OS, fully Unix compliant while also having a level of stability and design that just isn't present on alternatives. There's a reason things like systemd and pulseaudio were ripoffs of launchd and core audio.
And really, macs isn't particularly a walled garden anymore.
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Comment on The great 2028 Olympic ticket crashout, explained (gifted link) in ~sports
stu2b50 LinkFeel like it is what it is? The reality is that the demand for the most popular Olympic sports vastly outweighs the number of seats. Like with anything in that situation, it means that buying...Feel like it is what it is? The reality is that the demand for the most popular Olympic sports vastly outweighs the number of seats. Like with anything in that situation, it means that buying tickets will be competitive, luck-based, and expensive. Because if 100,000 people want 5000 seats, then somehow or another 995,000 of them are going to end up empty handed.
Being at the Olympics isn’t a right or something that is going to be accessible. Watching it on TV is accessible. That’s just physics.
The author seems to think that because they are an LA resident, it should be a piece of cake for them to get tickets. But there are 20 million people in LA alone, not even considering people in driving distance.
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Comment on Apple set to become third-biggest laptop maker this year in ~tech
stu2b50 Link ParentMost of that isn't Apple artificially doing anything, just design choices. You're not going to be able to replace RAM when it's literally on the SoC package. The latter is required for the GPU,...Most of that isn't Apple artificially doing anything, just design choices. You're not going to be able to replace RAM when it's literally on the SoC package. The latter is required for the GPU, which needs lower latency than socketed DDR5 can have. Similarly, the system is really built around close integration between the integrated GPU and CPU.
The only thing that Apple could do better really is that to have non-soldered SSDs, although even then the SoC is actually the memory controller instead of having a discrete memory controller like consumer SSDs.
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Comment on NHTSA tells US Congress: advanced impaired driving detection tech isn't ready in ~transport
stu2b50 Link ParentWe know from Singapore's experiences that the most important factor to getting people to follow laws is consistent enforcement. It matters more than what the punishment is. If people know that...In my neck of the woods, it would almost certainly be unfairly enforced: rich people would skate by with a fine and minimal jail time, but poor and unprivileged people would see the max sentence every time.
We know from Singapore's experiences that the most important factor to getting people to follow laws is consistent enforcement. It matters more than what the punishment is. If people know that they'll get caught, and face any kind of punishment, they will stop doing the activity.
I think this also views drunk driving as a "privilege". It's not - drunk driving is purely bad. There is no benefit to drunk driving for either the person or anyone else. Even if it were the case that rich people would go around drunk driving and poor people would be forced to stop drunk driving - I mean, too bad for the rich people? That's their loss.
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Comment on Apple set to become third-biggest laptop maker this year in ~tech
stu2b50 LinkWhat's even more stark is the raw numbers: every laptop manufacturer is estimated to have a YoY dip, while Apple has a 21% increase from 23m to 28m.What's even more stark is the raw numbers: every laptop manufacturer is estimated to have a YoY dip, while Apple has a 21% increase from 23m to 28m.
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Apple set to become third-biggest laptop maker this year
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Comment on NHTSA tells US Congress: advanced impaired driving detection tech isn't ready in ~transport
stu2b50 Link ParentThis is where authoritarian governments have it easier. One of the major reasons China adopted EVs so quickly is not just that they’re cheap and available. In every major city, in order to reduce...This is where authoritarian governments have it easier. One of the major reasons China adopted EVs so quickly is not just that they’re cheap and available. In every major city, in order to reduce emissions, if you own a gas car you are heavily restricted on when you can use them (eg, on tuesdays, only license plates ending in 2 or 3 can enter Shanghai). These do not apply to EVs.
The net change almost everyone can agree is an improvement. Shanghai went from being chaos in the 2010s to being dead silent when I visited in 2025. Like, it’s eerily silent. No honking, no gas cars. You can be on a pedestrian bridge overtop a gigantic intersection and hear the birds chirping.
It’s the kind of thing that would be fought tooth and nail in the US. God knows NYC congestion pricing was a political battle.
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Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of April 27 in ~society
stu2b50 Link ParentTbh if you’re going to have capital punishment, firing squad seems better than the methods that are currently legal.Tbh if you’re going to have capital punishment, firing squad seems better than the methods that are currently legal.
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Comment on USA to mandate surveillance tech for new cars also determing fitness to drive by 2027 in ~transport
stu2b50 Link ParentEh, I'm good. I don't particularly care about cars. I don't want to know about cars. I wouldn't own one if it weren't required in the US. I'll just continue the strategy of "buy new reliable car...Eh, I'm good. I don't particularly care about cars. I don't want to know about cars. I wouldn't own one if it weren't required in the US. I'll just continue the strategy of "buy new reliable car and pay other people to deal with it".
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Comment on USA to mandate surveillance tech for new cars also determing fitness to drive by 2027 in ~transport
stu2b50 Link ParentIsn't it the opposite? If you want to maximize the time before you'll have to acquire a car that is under these regulations, you should try to buy a new 2026 model right now from a car brand that...Isn't it the opposite? If you want to maximize the time before you'll have to acquire a car that is under these regulations, you should try to buy a new 2026 model right now from a car brand that is known for reliability, and drive that til the wheels fall off. A 2004 car is inevitably going to break down within 5-6 years of 2027.
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Comment on USA to mandate surveillance tech for new cars also determing fitness to drive by 2027 in ~transport
stu2b50 Link ParentThis law was passed in 2021 under Biden in the INVEST in America Act.This law was passed in 2021 under Biden in the INVEST in America Act.
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Comment on New Steam Controller reportedly $99 in ~games
stu2b50 Link ParentBecause it’s not their responsibility? The buck stops at the developer. It’s the developer’s responsibility to set prices appropriate in each market to maximize their profits. As you say, currency...Because it’s not their responsibility? The buck stops at the developer. It’s the developer’s responsibility to set prices appropriate in each market to maximize their profits.
As you say, currency conversion is a complicated subject. There’s not only the raw conversion rate, which can fluctuate wildly based on world events and cause FX risk, but also PPP to consider.
Of course Steam’s automatic price calculator is imperfect. It’s, in the end, nothing more than a baseline for developers to iterate on. It’s like expecting a website template to be perfect.
If you want to do a pure FX conversion, Steam will let you do that as well. That developers don’t is their choice. The buck stops at them.
And before the “blah blah steam apologist” comes out, I think steam is dogshit but for completely different reasons. The steam client is just very old, very ugly, and very slow. It’s unbelievable the store page still just opens the store in an embedded browser in the year of the lord 2026.
Regional pricing? That has nothing to do with them, in the end.
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Comment on New Steam Controller reportedly $99 in ~games
stu2b50 Link ParentI feel like that's glossing over a lot of agency for the developer. In the end, if you don't like the regional pricing for a game, it is mainly on the developer/publisher. They're the ones who...I know developers can change their regional prices, but pretty much nobody does.
I feel like that's glossing over a lot of agency for the developer. In the end, if you don't like the regional pricing for a game, it is mainly on the developer/publisher. They're the ones who determine the cost of the game in every currency.
Steam has a currency calculator, which tries to take into account PPP in addition to the exchange rate, but it is optional and you can change the specific prices afterwards.
In the end, if Larian, a large EU developer, is too lazy to inspect the prices in other Eurozone countries, that's on them. They're the merchant, and the price is ultimately their responsibility.
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Comment on NHTSA tells US Congress: advanced impaired driving detection tech isn't ready in ~transport
stu2b50 Link ParentAlcohol is probably worse for driving than weed, but weed is still pretty bad. Anyone who’s been more than a little buzzed knows how slowly you react. It’s not as bad as being super drunk, where...Alcohol is probably worse for driving than weed, but weed is still pretty bad. Anyone who’s been more than a little buzzed knows how slowly you react. It’s not as bad as being super drunk, where you do things you don’t even remember, but it’s absolutely not fit for commanding 1000+ pound steel death machines.
Caffeine and cocaine are going to make you better at driving (well, cocaine, to a point). Caffeine is very well studied - it’s not going to blunt your reaction speed, up until dosages where it kills you.
Cocaine and meth are illegal to consume to begin with anyway? So I doubt anyone is concerned about making it illegal to use while driving?
How about people on diet pills?
What are you talking about? Ozempic? Semaglutides show zero change in reaction speed, motor impairment l, or any other factor that would cause motor death in clinical trials
Where do we draw the line?
We do this thing called “a scientific study” to find out what the substance does to your brain chemistry and if it negatively impairs your ability to drive, that’s where the line is drawn.
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Comment on Where can I find the best lanyard? in ~life.style
stu2b50 LinkSounds like you mainly use it as a long ribbon attached to your keys. You can probably just get a fairly nice carabiner, tie some rope to it or a ribbon, and call it a day. To simplify even more,...Sounds like you mainly use it as a long ribbon attached to your keys. You can probably just get a fairly nice carabiner, tie some rope to it or a ribbon, and call it a day.
To simplify even more, do you actually take things off of the lanyard much? If not, you can probably get away with just not having a karabiner and attaching some kind of loop directly to the keychain.
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Comment on New Steam Controller reportedly $99 in ~games
stu2b50 Link ParentI mean I would consider a steam controller a “name brand” controller as well. 8bitdo needs to have lower prices to compete with lower brand recognition - meanwhile essentially every PC gamer knows...I mean I would consider a steam controller a “name brand” controller as well. 8bitdo needs to have lower prices to compete with lower brand recognition - meanwhile essentially every PC gamer knows the steam brand.
I feel like this is over-romanticizing sushi.
I mean, you're skipping some steps there. Sushi is also considered fancy food in Japan today. Of course, there's sushi at every price point, but that's also true in the US: you can get sushi (not good sushi, but sushi) at many grocery stores.
If we're talking about anecdata, I recently had sushi at Omakase Shihou on upper east side, and it was exactly the experience the author wants; some gruff Japanese chef that doesn't speak english served us the best seafood he could buy on that day with no adornments.
What the author has noticed is more that omakase has broadened - it's less that the old omakase places disappear and have been replaced, but there are much more of them, and some of them are more "mass market" or trying to appeal to the American tongue.
And that's fine. There's a lot of ol' heartland Americans that would puke eating Shirako who are having a blast at their more "mass market" omakase, and their enjoyment is no less valid than someone who is experienced with sushi and gets some monkfish cuts.
Fusion food is as valid as the original. Tex-mex isn't worse than mexican, it's just different.
I also think the assertion that omakase has become the "dominant" form of Sushi in LA, NYC, etc is an assertion that seems unfounded to me. A simple look on google maps indicates that the reverse is true; most places that serve sushi are not omakase. I mean, this is almost certainly just true statistically. Omakase restaurants serve like 7-8 people at once for an hour at a time. Numerically there's no way for them to be the "dominant" way sushi is served.