ThrowdoBaggins's recent activity
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Comment on Firefox for iOS now has a native adblocker in ~tech
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Comment on Firefox for iOS now has a native adblocker in ~tech
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentAs /u/redwall_hp pointed out, browsers are already opinionated, by blocking pop-up ads and no longer supporting flash, for example — both have been vectors for advertising (and more malicious...Looking at it from a purely technological perspective however, a browser's job is to fetch web resources and present them to the user, not to make opinionated choices about how to do so.
As /u/redwall_hp pointed out, browsers are already opinionated, by blocking pop-up ads and no longer supporting flash, for example — both have been vectors for advertising (and more malicious programs) in the past, and today we see them as totally fine for modern browsers to default-block.
Personally I have no issues with browsers being opinionated and default-blocking some actions and technologies (Chrome promised for years they would block third party cookies and then abandoned that promise with little fanfare) as long as they allow individual users the option to change their own browser’s behaviour.
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Comment on What game are you terrible at? in ~games
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentI can give you some good general rules to play by. Some I’ve learned through people analysing the game mathematically, but lots just based on vibes. My family and I play a dozen games per year,...- Exemplary
I can give you some good general rules to play by. Some I’ve learned through people analysing the game mathematically, but lots just based on vibes. My family and I play a dozen games per year, with or without lots of expansions, and I’m generally considered the strongest player in every game unless I get unlucky early on.
Others here have already mentioned placing your settlements on the more likely numbers, and that’s certainly part of it, but not the whole story. When planning my first few settlements and general strategy, I’ve often made slightly less optimal choices (if you were looking at raw odds for dice rolls), by using tricks to compound advantage or mitigate risk.
My first trick is that, perhaps unintuitively, if your resources arrive in a feast-and-famine (e.g. many turns with no resources, then a few turns with loads of them) you’re much better off than if they trickle in slowly but consistently. Therefore rather than diversifying my numbers to try to get some resources on every turn, I instead try to build on the same numbers, so that when my number is rolled I get a lot more, but when my number isn’t rolled I just sit there doing nothing. I suspect this is because the robber (rolling a 7 and discarding cards) punishes holding onto resources for longer, but I’m not sure.
My second trick is that ore and wheat are more valuable than brick and wood. I suspect a lot of people believe that their value is shaped by the progression of the game (e.g. bricks and wood are more valuable early game and less valuable late game) but my impression is that ore and wheat are always the best value resources, and only the relative value changes (e.g. they’re slightly more valuable early game and dramatically more valuable late game, but always more valuable).
Within my family games, I find that the first player to upgrade a city is always a strong contender at the finish line, but the first to claim longest road or the first to build an extra settlement doesn’t necessarily convert that into a win. Personally I think this effect is so strong that I will often place my first settlements on a 4/9 wheat/ore over a 6/8 brick/wood.
Additionally, if you only have access to wood and brick, you can only build roads, and maybe trade to get settlements. However if you have ore/wheat/sheep, you can build cities but also buy development cards. Development cards can move the robber (Knight cards, which both frees up your tiles, and steals resources from others), directly place roads (Road Building card), grab whatever resources you’re lacking (Year of Plenty card), or just claim what everyone else has (Monopoly card). Or just a flat victory point. They enable versatility, to grant you access to resources if you lack something important, so going all-in on these resources is much less risky than going all-in on brick and wood.
My third trick, although this is more difficult, is just to try to keep track of what resources people have, or rather what they don’t have. I don’t necessarily mean remembering every single dice roll and every single purchase that players make, that’s far too difficult to keep track of for me. I’ll never be good at card counting. However, if I hear three other players asking “does anyone have wood to trade” turn after turn, and nobody takes them up on it, I mentally note down that wood is more valuable at the moment. So if I get some, I make sure to trade stronger than 1:1 and if I need it, I will probably need to trade generously, or get lucky that I have exactly what the other players need.
This one is also important to keep an eye out for a shift in the value — I’ve often seen games where early on, everyone is in need of brick because they’re so easy to spend. So the value increases, and players are trading 2:1 to get hold of brick from another player. But then later in the game, I see other players making the mistake of thinking brick still demands a higher price, but the game has moved on from the expansion phase and instead brick has plummeted in value (from oversupply and lower demand) so the player holding all the brick thinks they have a goldmine on hand, but nobody is interested in trading with them, so they fall behind in trading for what they need because they misunderstand the value.
I hope this has helped and I haven’t just waffled too much, but if you have any follow up questions, I’d be happy to answer and share what I know! (Unless you’re going to join my family game nights, then I’ll keep my secrets to myself because I’m a bit competitive like that)
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Comment on What is your Mandela effect moment? in ~movies
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentI know a game which used emojis initially for its sprites, and it has a seahorse they added in the same style as emojis, maybe that’s what you’re thinking of? The game is Super Auto Pets in case...I know a game which used emojis initially for its sprites, and it has a seahorse they added in the same style as emojis, maybe that’s what you’re thinking of? The game is Super Auto Pets in case you want to confirm if your memory of a seahorse emoji matches the game’s art style?
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Comment on Why normal people aren’t using AI agents in ~tech
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentFrom the link you shared: I suspect the future powerful and actually useful Siri that the OP dreams of may never arrive, unfortunately. I wouldn’t quite say I’m a Siri poweruser but I’ve...From the link you shared:
We finally have the Siri we’ve been waiting for. It’s still in its infancy, but I am excited to see where this goes
I suspect the future powerful and actually useful Siri that the OP dreams of may never arrive, unfortunately.
I wouldn’t quite say I’m a Siri poweruser but I’ve definitely done a good bit with shortcuts, and I regularly use Siri for setting timers and alarms, and occasionally to send messages (although it seems to be unwilling or unable to use any other messaging apps, which makes it borderline useless for my needs). I get the impression new Siri promises so much, but more than anything I worry that it will lose so much of what it can currently do, in order to pretend it’s capable of so much more
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Comment on Worse on Purpose: a site that tracks which brands are still worth their old reputation and which have been enshittified in ~enviro
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentFrom DeaconBlue: And your reply: DeaconBlue made two separate claims, [probably AI generated] and [untrustworthy] — and then your response not only reinforced one of the claims, it then conflated...From DeaconBlue:
It is an indication that the site is probably AI generated and untrustworthy.
And your reply:
I think the copy on the site is already indication enough of AI use.
Is every site that uses AI untrustworthy?
DeaconBlue made two separate claims, [probably AI generated] and [untrustworthy] — and then your response not only reinforced one of the claims, it then conflated the two points and then challenged the conflation. It feels like you’re almost arguing with yourself more than with DeaconBlue here. I’m confused.
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Comment on New Zealand has a new official language — English in ~society
ThrowdoBaggins Link Parent(Top comment that started this thread) I think it’s interesting that you’ve become less open minded throughout this thread. You started with a question suggesting you’re unsure of what it means to...Is that not the purpose of an official language or am I missing something?
(Top comment that started this thread)
The issue to me is that with only Maori and ESL as official languages, that technically means that all government business needs to be conducted in Maori.
I think it’s interesting that you’ve become less open minded throughout this thread. You started with a question suggesting you’re unsure of what it means to have an official language, but by the time you got a few comments deep, you were leaning more heavily on the assumption that your own original question was answered in a way to reinforce your initial assumption.
I don’t have anything else to contribute to this discussion, but give yourself some time to mull this over and decide whether you want to address this.
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Comment on Women should be able to open things in ~life.women
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentI recently came across the concept of “if nobody is coming to save you/help you, probably nobody will be stopping you either” as a fantastic motivational idea :DI am unstoppable.
I recently came across the concept of “if nobody is coming to save you/help you, probably nobody will be stopping you either” as a fantastic motivational idea :D
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Comment on "Over the course of this article, we'll unravel the mysteries of elevators. The way you push their buttons, and how they push yours." in ~engineering
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentThe office at my last job did the same, but a few months before they started rolling it out, they marketed it within the building as “more energy efficient” which I immediately realised meant...The office at my last job did the same, but a few months before they started rolling it out, they marketed it within the building as “more energy efficient” which I immediately realised meant “worse experience”.
I think the least intuitive part of the experience was when a group of us came back after grabbing our morning coffee from next door, when we tapped our badges to head back up to our office, the system would often call multiple elevators for us, far more than needed for our group. And it wasn’t because it was collecting other passengers on the way up, because we would always get the uninterrupted straight shot to our floor. Seemed like a big waste to send two (or rarely three?!) elevators when one would have sufficed.
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Comment on How has climate change affected your life / plans? in ~enviro
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentI had the same thoughts a few years back, but one thing that changed for me was a memory that was external to my own experience. I live in Australia and distinctly remember interstate road trips...I had the same thoughts a few years back, but one thing that changed for me was a memory that was external to my own experience.
I live in Australia and distinctly remember interstate road trips as a kid where we would arrive at our destination with bugs splattered all over the front of the car, and every time we stopped to refuel the car, we would use the window cleaners and soapy water that was provided.
For myself, from late high school and for about a decade, I stopped going on long road trips, but then my partner and I picked it back up again for a holiday once a year. I think because of that break in time, it took me a long time to realise things had changed. But now, when we do our road trips every year, I can count on one hand the total number of insects we’ve got splattered on our car, if any at all. Where it used to be dozens between every refuelling.
To some extent there are other factors which might explain it — cars in the 90s/2000s were probably less aerodynamic, so maybe today insects which would have been splattered are instead scooped over and around the car? That makes sense to me for the windshield but the license plate at the front of the car is just a flat sheet of metal, no curves there to redirect airflow.
Or maybe it’s the highways being better designed with nature pushed slightly further back away from the roads, so insects hang around the vegetation rather than coming close to the roads? But again I remember some years as a kid where I could see insects swarming across the road, so it’s not like the width of a freeway is an insurmountable distance to cross.
I can think of a bunch of small individual reasons which might help explain the difference, but even combining their effects, it still doesn’t feel like enough to explain away my memories. There’s been such a dramatic decline in insects on my long-distance drives compared to my childhood, and that’s something that’s anchored in memories of actually scrubbing the insects off the windshield as a kid, not something as subjective as the weather or seasons.
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Comment on How has climate change affected your life / plans? in ~enviro
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentIt’s always fascinating to me the decisions that people make when they’re making decisions that will never personally impact them. It’s so instinctively, viscerally clear to me that buses without...They bought buses without AC (because AC is bad and pollutes) that nobody wants to use because it’s 40+ Celsius inside all summer.
It’s always fascinating to me the decisions that people make when they’re making decisions that will never personally impact them. It’s so instinctively, viscerally clear to me that buses without AC is a horrible idea, but to someone on the city council (or whoever made the decisions) who never takes the bus, any consideration that leads to a horrible experience just isn’t considered on those terms.
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Comment on Do I belong in tech anymore? in ~tech
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentWish we could!Wish we could!
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Comment on Do I belong in tech anymore? in ~tech
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentEven a distant threat of homelessness and destitution is a powerful motivator to remain in currently available employment True but the person you replied to already mentioned their hobbies....If your work towards the pointless, what's the point?
Even a distant threat of homelessness and destitution is a powerful motivator to remain in currently available employment
You need to make a point in life, because life won't make it for you.
True but the person you replied to already mentioned their hobbies. Personally I believe enjoyable hobbies funded by less enjoyable work is a better balance than aligning your work with your purpose in life, because if your workplace changes or you lose your job, it hits you in the wallet rather than also taking your soul down with it too.
If your job aligns with your intrinsic motivation, then an uncaring employer (I believe that’s basically all of them) can leverage that to extract more from you than reasonable, and put you in a much more difficult choice when they make demands. I suspect that’s a substantial part of why the AAA games industry is such a toxic industry to be part of.
I think there’s substantial benefit and value to keeping the two separate.
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Comment on What are your favourite fragrances, and why? in ~talk
ThrowdoBaggins LinkSome (many?) years ago, Calvin Klein discontinued Obsessed For Men, which was my go-to for a number of years. It was relatively affordable and broadly available from random chemists etc, and since...Some (many?) years ago, Calvin Klein discontinued Obsessed For Men, which was my go-to for a number of years. It was relatively affordable and broadly available from random chemists etc, and since it was discontinued, the price on secondary market has climbed well outside of what I’d be willing to pay. I managed to find a few online retailers which had dribbles of old stock for a few years at MSRP or close to, but eventually they ran out too.
Last year I finally decided to look for something else. After trying literally dozens of options (I found a website that would sell 1mL testers in kits of 6/12 at a time, grouped with words like “floral” or “aqua” or sometimes by brand) where I found a surprisingly large number of scents which triggered my hayfever, but also lots of scents which I either disliked or found that they faded way too quickly, I finally found one that I liked. Never realised I would be so picky when it comes to fragrance, but apparently I’m difficult to please in that way.
My current choice after all these trials is The Orchid Man, from P Frapin & Cie. I really like it, but it’s definitely more pricey than I would like, and I feel like it fades before the end of the day whereas Obsessed seemed to last all day. I do like what it turns into as the initial scent fades after a few hours, but I wish it would stick around for longer overall.
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Comment on Hack reveals suno AI music generator scraped YouTube, Deezer, and Genius in ~tech
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentI’m conflicted, on the one hand I think IP laws as they currently exist are broken in lots of little ways, so I believe that they should be reviewed and rewritten in a way that protects creators...I’m conflicted, on the one hand I think IP laws as they currently exist are broken in lots of little ways, so I believe that they should be reviewed and rewritten in a way that protects creators and creative works without giving absurd amounts of power and wealth to companies who extract “value” by sitting in the middle of creators and their audience.
On the other hand, any justification which echoes the sentiment of “we should legalise cocaine because the black market exists anyway” feels like it’s looking too hard at the fact people slip past imperfect systems and has lost focus for why the rules were adopted in the first place. Personally, I think the rules as they exist should unequivocally be used to throw this current generation of AI companies in the bin.
I also think there’s an incredibly important distinction between “we should legalise X” (carefully design regulations around X) and “we should legalise X” (abandon all restrictions on X) which your wording doesn’t make clear to me which you’re advocating for.
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Comment on Who cleans up after the vibe-coding party? in ~tech
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentYeah, that’s certainly a sensible approach, and one I’d probably take myself if I was in the same situationYeah, that’s certainly a sensible approach, and one I’d probably take myself if I was in the same situation
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Comment on Who cleans up after the vibe-coding party? in ~tech
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentI’ve heard a similar sentiment from carpenters — the incredibly low price and high availability of IKEA furniture has distorted people’s perceptions of how much they expect custom furniture to...come to the conclusion that web development was now trivial because they had already done so much with Wix or equivalent and they expected extremely quick results for very little compensation
I’ve heard a similar sentiment from carpenters — the incredibly low price and high availability of IKEA furniture has distorted people’s perceptions of how much they expect custom furniture to cost, for example upgrading a spare room with a Murphy bed and thinking that tailoring the construction to the size/shape of the room wouldn’t be all that much more than buying a prebuilt.
I think the way to manage expectations like that is just to be upfront and transparent about costs (where possible) so that people can make an informed choice before jumping in with inaccurate expectations.
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Comment on 2026 FIFA World Cup - Finals discussion and news megathread (quarters/semis/finals) in ~sports.football
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentI know that the US loves fireworks, especially for 4th July, but I was surprised to see footage with homemade fireworks cannon versus water cannon during a protest in Georgia. I didn’t think there...The state of Georgia, not the country
I know that the US loves fireworks, especially for 4th July, but I was surprised to see footage with homemade fireworks cannon versus water cannon during a protest in Georgia. I didn’t think there was enough civil unrest, or at least not the right kind of civil unrest, for something like that.
But turns out the footage I was seeing was from the other Georgia over on that other continent, not the peaches Georgia. And also it turns out I’ve probably made similar mistakes whenever Georgia (either) makes the news, likely for years if not decades.
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Comment on Virtual Riot - I heard you like polyrhythms (2024) in ~music
ThrowdoBaggins LinkI came across this ages ago and have since forgotten about it, so thank you for sharing! Time to once again watch this obsessively for weeks before forgetting about it again!I came across this ages ago and have since forgotten about it, so thank you for sharing! Time to once again watch this obsessively for weeks before forgetting about it again!
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Comment on Discord bans (then unbans) around 8400 accounts because of a CSAM neural hash collision in ~tech
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentI agree with both of your hands. Maybe if an automated system detects something like CSAM then “ban your account” actually isn’t enough and they should also be submitting police reports? And then...I agree with both of your hands. Maybe if an automated system detects something like CSAM then “ban your account” actually isn’t enough and they should also be submitting police reports?
And then hopefully that friction/burden of needing to go to that extra stage (rather than quietly banning an account with no recourse) can both give police evidence to work with, and also an avenue for the account to challenge the ban if it was a false positive.
Then again, maybe the solution is actually to ignore my idea here and instead for a person to make sure any important communication channels (e.g. keeping in contact with family, workplace, etc) is on a separate platform that doesn’t have these same risk of “whoops your access has been revoked and you can’t challenge the decision” — e.g. I’m pretty sure my phone provider can’t just block my phone without notice, and I’m also pretty sure that notice would also come with an avenue to challenge the block, such as contacting regulators or taking them to court.
Safari natively has a “hide distracting features” option where you can individually select elements on the page and remove them, which sounds similar to what you’re describing. I wonder if ublock somehow hooks into that function to also add the relevant details to its blocklist?