Weldawadyathink's recent activity
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Comment on "Shower thoughts" and other things to ponder in ~talk
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I bought a 1,000,000,000 fps video camera to watch light move
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Comment on What possession(s) do you have that continue to delight you every time? in ~talk
Weldawadyathink LinkThis doesn’t fit your request perfectly, but this item does bring me unfettered delight every time I use it: Trains Just any trains. It could be a tram, regional rail, high speed, low speed,...This doesn’t fit your request perfectly, but this item does bring me unfettered delight every time I use it:
Trains
Just any trains. It could be a tram, regional rail, high speed, low speed, underground metro, or a steam engine on the narrow gauge shovelin’ coal. Every time I use a train it makes me happy. I get the same feeling from flying, but there are some big emission issues inherent to flying that slightly dampen that spark. Trains, even if a particular train is using a poor fuel, are so efficient that it doesn’t dampen the spark. And electrified trains are even better. I just took an inoui from Bordeaux to Paris at over 300 kph! Currently I am on the Paris metro, and I’ll soon be boarding the eurostar and going through the Chunnel to London. Today is a fantastic day!
As a side note, I am meeting a friend in London. He says that londoners hate the name “chunnel” apparently they always call it the “channel tunnel”. Well I think that is stupid. The chunnel is a fantastic name! I love a good portmanteau, and chunnel is one of the best. Long live the chunnel, and long live trains!
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Comment on I think I have a broken AT&T route? in ~tech
Weldawadyathink Link ParentFor what it’s worth, the AT&T techs that I have had on service calls have been universally fantastic. The worst was just okay, and that was a single tech across many dozens of service calls. They...For what it’s worth, the AT&T techs that I have had on service calls have been universally fantastic. The worst was just okay, and that was a single tech across many dozens of service calls. They all knew AT&T infrastructure was shit at my house, and as soon as they saw that I kinda knew what I was talking about, they would easily listen to what I had to say (they would still verify the issue, as any good tech should). As far as I can tell, the tech has the final say on whether to charge the customer for the visit, and they have a lot of leeway to make the right decision. For the many times I knew it was an AT&T issue, the hardest part was often convincing the phone tech support to actually send a tech. Once the tech was onsite, they immediately could see there was an issue and start diagnosing it.
I am sure this all depends heavily on your area and who gets sent out, but my experience with the actual in person techs has been fantastic. It’s just every other part of the company that is a disaster. It’s kinda telling that AT&T hires them as contractors. I am sure they don’t want their bad name spoiled by employing competent people.
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Comment on I think I have a broken AT&T route? in ~tech
Weldawadyathink Link ParentThat’s good that they removed them in the UK. I actually do understand why they exist. Like you said, homeowners can do all sorts of weird shit to break their internet. I’m not familiar with those...That’s good that they removed them in the UK. I actually do understand why they exist. Like you said, homeowners can do all sorts of weird shit to break their internet. I’m not familiar with those UK specific issues, but I am not surprised. The Internet company shouldn’t need to pay a tech from their own pocket when the customer unplugs their modem and complains. But there should be some way to bypass that. Like if Weldawadyathink calls for an issue with account 123, he probably knows what he is talking about, so if he says a tech is needed, it probably is. Or the lines to this address are shit, so just send a tech out at the first sign of a problem.
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Comment on What's something new you started doing this year? in ~talk
Weldawadyathink LinkRemoving tags from my clothing. I have always found tags incredibly annoying, but have never removed any. I was diagnosed with ADHD last year, and I read that it often comes with sensory issues....Removing tags from my clothing. I have always found tags incredibly annoying, but have never removed any. I was diagnosed with ADHD last year, and I read that it often comes with sensory issues. Instead of trying to repress those feelings, I decided this year that they ate important to listen to. So now every piece of clothing, as soon as I know I will keep it, gets all tags stripped. My life has improved immensely from this simple change. I still keep some tags, for example in jackets, or merino wool sweaters with special care instructions. But if I don’t think there is a real, very probable reason I will look at the tag again, it’s gone.
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Comment on Steam Replay 2024: Discussion topic in ~games
Weldawadyathink Link ParentI felt weird about mine too. The highest categories are automation and “open world survival craft” evenly split. Automation is spot on, since 62% of my playtime is Factorio. But open world...I felt weird about mine too. The highest categories are automation and “open world survival craft” evenly split. Automation is spot on, since 62% of my playtime is Factorio. But open world survival craft is just as high. About 10% of my time was fallout 4, but those two categories should not be even.
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Comment on I think I have a broken AT&T route? in ~tech
Weldawadyathink Link ParentWith AT&T, if the tech determines that the issue wasn’t caused by AT&T infrastructure, they charge you for the visit, and the price is usually steep. I talked with AT&T a lot about technical...With AT&T, if the tech determines that the issue wasn’t caused by AT&T infrastructure, they charge you for the visit, and the price is usually steep. I talked with AT&T a lot about technical issues. My parents had their DSL for years, and the lines ran to their house were awful and always caused issues. Whenever I would request a tech, they would always tell me about how the problem probably wasn’t their lines and they would charge me. It was always their lines. And those lines still aren’t fixed. When I moved back in with them 2 years ago, I ended up getting cable internet through Comcast and just paying for it myself. It was about 30x the speed, actually reliable, and was strictly cheaper than AT&T, despite both services then loosing the “bundle discounts”.
Absolutely terrible company. It’s telling that I switched to Comcast, which is widely considered to be the worst company with terrible support. And with Comcast, it was cheaper and had significantly better customer support.
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Comment on Tell me about your favorite Minecraft mods! in ~games
Weldawadyathink LinkI have fond memories of Better Than Wolves. It’s possibly one of the oldest mods, but is all but forgotten. It started out as a very creative tech mod. It never fell into the trap of having single...I have fond memories of Better Than Wolves. It’s possibly one of the oldest mods, but is all but forgotten. It started out as a very creative tech mod. It never fell into the trap of having single magic blocks that do everything for you. The developer was pretty influential in the early modding scene (back when you opened Minecraft.jar as a zip file, deleted meta.inf, and copied a bunch of class files into the jar). I recently learned he was one of the initial creators of forge, which is what really made modding generally usable. Then he got into a fight with, if I remember right, the dev of RedPower about how many base class mods were needed to support what he thought was a frivolous feature. Additional base class mods make it more difficult to support new Minecraft versions when they release. After that fight, BTW stopped using Forge or ModLoader and built its own API for it to use. Then for a big future version (maybe 1.12), there was an informal race between BTW and forge to see who could update their code faster, and BTW won by a day or two. After that, BTW decided it wasn’t worth it to support new versions, and has been in the same version ever since.
Sometime around this time, don’t starve was released and BTW started becoming a total conversion mod influenced by this hardcore type of games. This is also the time where I stopped playing continuously, but I kept watching the development closely. To give some perspective, one of the most influential features is hardcore spawn. When you die, you respawn somewhere in a wide swath of the overworld (beds no longer set your spawn). You have to build back from nothing, build a farm (or you will absolutely starve), start mining, get a compass (and getting those 4 iron and 1 redstone is no small feat, 1 coal makes 1 torch, a wood pick mines 1 stone, 1 coal smelts 1 item, iron chunks smelt into a nugget, not an ingot, etc). Then you make your way back to your main base. Over time, your world becomes lived in. It encourages large infrastructure like a road network in the hardcore spawn range.
The dev released the source and quit modding a few years age, and there is now a community effort to keep improving it.
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Comment on What are your Christmas movies? in ~movies
Weldawadyathink LinkFor me and my family, It’s a Wonderful Life. Whenever my mom would be flipping channels, that movie would be on at some point. But we never planned it out, so we always missed the first part. So...For me and my family, It’s a Wonderful Life. Whenever my mom would be flipping channels, that movie would be on at some point. But we never planned it out, so we always missed the first part. So one of our Christmas traditions was watching just the end of It’s a Wonderful Life (usually the last hour or so). One year we finally rented it to watch the whole thing. It is a long and ponderous movie. Apparently it’s only 2:10, but it felt way longer than that. But I still love it!
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Comment on What are your Christmas movies? in ~movies
Weldawadyathink Link ParentIn the area where I grew up, some people would sometimes complain about OHAT (one holiday at a time). They made it an acronym, not me. It was mostly about stores putting up Christmas displays...In the area where I grew up, some people would sometimes complain about OHAT (one holiday at a time). They made it an acronym, not me. It was mostly about stores putting up Christmas displays before thanksgiving happened. My grandmother for a few years was very vocal about OHAT. My cousin loves Christmas and loves The Nightmare Before Christmas, so she has a bunch of decorations themed from that movie. She gets to put up her “Halloween” decorations before Halloween and keep them up until Christmas as a back door OHAT bypass.
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Comment on Doctor fired after running emergency department warns about effect of for-profit firms on US health care (2022) in ~health
Weldawadyathink Link ParentHonestly, if I were given the option between a shitty, terribly run private system and a shitty, terribly run national system, I would take the shitty national system almost every time. With the...Honestly, if I were given the option between a shitty, terribly run private system and a shitty, terribly run national system, I would take the shitty national system almost every time. With the national system, at least there is some mechanism for me to influence the national system to improve it. Voting with your dollar is a meaningless lie.
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Comment on What does the delete button on a post do? in ~tildes
Weldawadyathink Link ParentAs a reminder for people reading this, tildes has an ignore feature. If you mark a topic as ignored, you will no longer get any notifications for that topic. If you get into a heated conversation...As a reminder for people reading this, tildes has an ignore feature. If you mark a topic as ignored, you will no longer get any notifications for that topic. If you get into a heated conversation and want to disengage, I highly recommend trying out this ignore feature. It's not really reasonable for this circumstance, because being the OP of an advice thread is different than being a participant in another thread, but I thought I would shout out this feature for people who may not be aware of it.
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Comment on Armchair governing dictator - new rule for 2025 (fun) in ~talk
Weldawadyathink Link ParentWhen Trump first ran for president, he promised that if Hillary won, there would be a taco truck on every corner. I have never been more disappointed. I want my taco trucks! I will happily vote...When Trump first ran for president, he promised that if Hillary won, there would be a taco truck on every corner. I have never been more disappointed. I want my taco trucks! I will happily vote for you for Queen of America!
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Comment on What short standalone book is worth more than its page count? in ~books
Weldawadyathink LinkStardust I don’t know what it is about it, but I love every single adaptation of this storyline. I have the full length audiobook, an abridged dramatized audiobook, and the movie. I will admit...Stardust
I don’t know what it is about it, but I love every single adaptation of this storyline. I have the full length audiobook, an abridged dramatized audiobook, and the movie. I will admit that it has some weird themes around Stockholm syndrome, but for some reason that has never soured me from the story. The storyline is just fantastic.
Bridge to Terabithia
I will say I don’t remember this story well, but it was absolutely moving. I should probably reread it at some point.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Weldawadyathink Link ParentThere is a new creeper world game‽ How have I not heard of it yet? Creeper world 3 is one of my more favorite games ever. I would love for it to get a remake to improve it slightly for modern...There is a new creeper world game‽ How have I not heard of it yet? Creeper world 3 is one of my more favorite games ever. I would love for it to get a remake to improve it slightly for modern sensibilities. You can still feel the flash game roots. CW3 implemented in something similar to the Factorio engine is my dream.
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Comment on Study: essay graders rarely detect AI, give higher grades in ~tech
Weldawadyathink Link ParentDrafts and change history sound awful for the way I write papers. I have never been able to successfully do the outline then 2-3 drafts that teachers seem to want. I hope the teachers are at least...Drafts and change history sound awful for the way I write papers. I have never been able to successfully do the outline then 2-3 drafts that teachers seem to want. I hope the teachers are at least flexible about what a “draft” consists of.
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Comment on Never forgive them - On digital platforms vs users in ~tech
Weldawadyathink Link ParentI don’t think someone insulating oneself requires some sort of bad event. I personally have always insulated myself from social media, but don’t have any past bad events in my life. I am an...I don’t think someone insulating oneself requires some sort of bad event. I personally have always insulated myself from social media, but don’t have any past bad events in my life. I am an introvert, and social media has never appealed to me. I would agree that a traumatic event is a likely reason that someone would insulate themselves, but I don’t think it’s the only reason.
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Comment on Contempt culture and its currency in ~tech
Weldawadyathink Link ParentI like this a lot. Good on you for breaking that contempt cycle. I don’t think I have made it there yet. I am past the contempt for the sake of contempt, but I still have some self improvement to...I like this a lot. Good on you for breaking that contempt cycle. I don’t think I have made it there yet. I am past the contempt for the sake of contempt, but I still have some self improvement to do. I still harbor some contempt for what I think are good reasons, but contempt, even if for good reasons, doesn’t improve the world. I think, recently, I have started thinking that I have improved myself all I can. Thanks for reminding me that there are still improvements I can make.
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Comment on What possession(s) do you have that continue to delight you every time? in ~talk
Weldawadyathink Link ParentThanks for the info! I’ll definitely consider them for the future. I never thought about it potentially being faster, but I suppose it makes sense. Especially since they are emulating the cpu...Thanks for the info! I’ll definitely consider them for the future. I never thought about it potentially being faster, but I suppose it makes sense. Especially since they are emulating the cpu anyway, might as well throw all the performance you can within the power budget. I think I’ll keep trying to find a garage sale vintage HP where the seller doesn’t know the real value, but if my impulsivity starts telling me I need a new calculator, I think I’ll grab a swissmicro.
Isn’t chocolate dipped pineapple slices a normal thing? I’m not really a pineapple person though so maybe I am misremembering.