xvnz's recent activity
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Comment on What do you think is the best sandwich? in ~food
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Comment on What do you think is the best sandwich? in ~food
xvnz Link ParentThat was a fascinating and hilarious explanation. Thanks!That was a fascinating and hilarious explanation. Thanks!
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Comment on What do you think is the best sandwich? in ~food
xvnz Link ParentInteresting, Wikipedia and Wiktionary both claim the phrase means 'Happy Chinese New Year', but you seem to disagree. I'm curious, then: what does it actually mean?Interesting, Wikipedia and Wiktionary both claim the phrase means 'Happy Chinese New Year', but you seem to disagree. I'm curious, then: what does it actually mean?
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Comment on What do you think is the best sandwich? in ~food
xvnz Link ParentThe Internet, which tells no lies, informs me that this particular usage is starting to loop in on itself, and au jour d'aujourd'hui is starting to appear.The Internet, which tells no lies, informs me that this particular usage is starting to loop in on itself, and au jour d'aujourd'hui is starting to appear.
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Comment on What do you think is the best sandwich? in ~food
xvnz Link ParentI would say that it does, because the parentheses indicate that 'with gravy' is a translation of au jus. (But then I'm compulsive about language. Occupational hazard.)I would say that it does, because the parentheses indicate that 'with gravy' is a translation of au jus.
(But then I'm compulsive about language. Occupational hazard.)
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Comment on What do you think is the best sandwich? in ~food
xvnz (edited )Link ParentYou think your French is bad, you should hear my Spanish: it's brought native hispanophones to tears of laughter. EDIT: Et honnêtement, il n'est pas si mauvais que ça, ton français; tu sais te...You think your French is bad, you should hear my Spanish: it's brought native hispanophones to tears of laughter.
EDIT: Et honnêtement, il n'est pas si mauvais que ça, ton français; tu sais te faire comprendre sans trop de difficultés.
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Comment on What do you think is the best sandwich? in ~food
xvnz Link ParentNot to derail an otherwise-excellent conversation about food with grammatical details, but one of the most astounding things I ever saw on a menu was 'French Dip Sandwich - hot roast beef sandwich...au jus
Not to derail an otherwise-excellent conversation about food with grammatical details, but one of the most astounding things I ever saw on a menu was 'French Dip Sandwich - hot roast beef sandwich au jus with gravy'.
(In French, au jus literally means 'with juice', so the English with is redundant, and tacking on 'with gravy' is just absurd.)
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Comment on CGA-2026-04 🕹️🚀🧑🚀 REMOVE CARTRIDGE ⏏️ Space Rogue in ~games
xvnz LinkWow...Space Rogue, really? I might be one of the few people who bought the Macintosh port. Still have the box somewhere, complete with the disk and faux spacecraft owner's manual with ersatz...Wow...Space Rogue, really?
I might be one of the few people who bought the Macintosh port. Still have the box somewhere, complete with the disk and faux spacecraft owner's manual with ersatz coffee-cup stains on the cover.
For the time, the spaceflight graphics were pretty revolutionary and the plot nice and dense, in my opinion. (Not so by modern standards, as others have pointed out.) I finished the entire game, working as a trader.
(I was just godawful at Hive, though; despite many attempts I think I only managed to earn money back once. Thematically, Hive was very reminiscent of John Steakley's novel 'Armor'.)
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Comment on What dashcam do you use? in ~tech
xvnz LinkHad a Rove R2-4K for about 8 months. Not cheap, but I'm pleased with it; it does what says on the tin. Comes with a rear camera, but I only installed the front one. Records to SD cards. Does WiFi...Had a Rove R2-4K for about 8 months. Not cheap, but I'm pleased with it; it does what says on the tin.
Comes with a rear camera, but I only installed the front one. Records to SD cards. Does WiFi and there's an app, but I usually just pop the card out and read it directly. Plugs into a USB port. Powers up when the car does, shuts off when the car does (with a slight delay to write to the SD card); with my car usage that's every couple of days). Picking a random video of a highway drive, VLC tells me it's 3840x2160. Subjectively, I get a good clear view of three lanes of traffic in front of me.
For anything else, I'd say read the spec page on your favorite shopping site; I'm probably not using half the features it offers.
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Comment on Dipping my toes in OpenBSD, in Amsterdam in ~tech
xvnz Link ParentI also had a server at home 20 years ago running OpenBSD. Still do, in fact. It's been very stable. I initially chose it over other options because of its reputation for security and the excellent...I also had a server at home 20 years ago running OpenBSD. Still do, in fact. It's been very stable. I initially chose it over other options because of its reputation for security and the excellent documentation.
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Comment on Kagi Small Web in ~tech
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Comment on Framework 16: Additional hardware questions in ~comp
xvnz Link ParentI would say that some of my issues (at least the stability ones) were absolutely Compiz issues, which has never been fully stable in the entire time I've been using it, but I'm a sucker for the...I would say that some of my issues (at least the stability ones) were absolutely Compiz issues, which has never been fully stable in the entire time I've been using it, but I'm a sucker for the rotating cube effect and it's a permanent part of my workflow. (Stop laughing.) Almost all the instability went away once I installed Mint, and the whole point of the exercise was to get to a stable desktop, so that's where I stayed.
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Comment on Framework 16: Additional hardware questions in ~comp
xvnz LinkBeen daily driving a Framework 16 since March. Like you, my plan is for this to be the last laptop I ever buy. Hardware-wise, I would say I'm 95% delighted: putting it together was a piece of cake...Been daily driving a Framework 16 since March. Like you, my plan is for this to be the last laptop I ever buy.
Hardware-wise, I would say I'm 95% delighted: putting it together was a piece of cake thanks to good labeling and the profusion of captive screws (and they even supplied a screwdriver; I have loads of tools, but it's nice that Framework bothered), I like being able to reconfigure the side expansion modules whenever I want, I have the skills to replace parts so it's great that I can actually order them, the screen is nice and bright (Caveats: I am neither a designer nor a high-end gamer, so my standards for a good screen may not be yours.), the theoretical possibility of dual SSDs is lovely, and I confess to giggling every time I trigger the LED matrix spacers or change the LED pattern on the RGB keyboard (and there are like, 50). The GPU is very easy to swap out; the fact that it's cold-swap rather than hot-swap isn't an issue for me because I discovered I barely use it (my gaming needs are, um, special). As for the 5% I'm not totally happy with: fit and finish isn't quite perfect (my touchpad module rests slightly higher on the right side than on the left, and I can feel the back right corner if I run my finger over it). Unlike for the 13", the expansion module bays are not 100% interchangeable, so for example you can't use either front slot to plug in the power supply (to be fair this is apparently an AMD-imposed limitation and not Framework's fault). The laptop seems to run a bit hot, although I haven't really explored whether this is truly a hardware problem or something related to my usage patterns.
Software-wise, I'm about 75% happy, but since I'm running Linux Mint 21.3, this effectively makes any problems I have not Framework's fault because it's not a supported distro. (The Insyde firmware is convinced I'm running Ubuntu, for what it's worth.) I settled on Mint after trying Fedora, MX Linux and ELive, but couldn't get the latter three to the magic combination of Steam + Compiz + not crashing regularly. (I'm at the point in my life where I no longer have the appetite to spend all weekend investigating the causes of a stability problem; I just want the system to work so I can play Borderlands.) As it is, Mint took a fair bit of tweaking before I was happy with it (e.g. skipping straight to the latest kernel right after install to get the GPU recognized and suspend to work at all), but I think I have it dialed it well enough now that the system is fine for daily use. My one attempt to dual-boot Mint and OpenBSD went poorly: bad things happened in UEFI-land and I ended up yanking the OpenBSD SSD and reinstalling the Mint one. (I keep backups and, as I said, my appetite for diving into OS problems is much weaker than it used to be.) I want to emphasize again that all of these issues are on me, not Framework, as they've been very clear on what distributions they support, and Mint isn't one of them, but you asked about the daily experience, so that's mine.
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Comment on I'm gonna be a dad! in ~life.men
xvnz LinkAs a parent, the only piece of advice I've been giving to parents-to-be is to document. Someone above mentioned photos and videos, but I've favored just a simple text log. While at the beginning...As a parent, the only piece of advice I've been giving to parents-to-be is to document. Someone above mentioned photos and videos, but I've favored just a simple text log. While at the beginning this will mostly be 'firsts', both positive and negative (e.g. first solid food or first medical emergency), later on it can become a log of the kid(s) efforts to interact with the world around them. Sometimes these are FUNNY as hell, as mine still crack up when I remind them of the completely illogical thing they insisted on back when they were five.
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Comment on For those who have tried YubiKey for personal use, is it worth it? in ~tech
xvnz Link ParentYes, yes, yes, and it depends on what your employer has set up for that. In more detail: with respect to the password safe, the recent ones have that....Yes, yes, yes, and it depends on what your employer has set up for that.
In more detail:
- with respect to the password safe, the recent ones have that. https://www.yubico.com/works-with-yubikey/catalog/password-safe/ The older ones may have it as well, but I personally don't use that feature.
- with respect to plugging it in, you stick it into a USB port. It draws power from there and (typically) registers as a keyboard.
- you get an OTP by tapping it in a particular spot, and the code is autofilled in whatever window/text field/input area you currently have selected*
- you use the same the same way on a work computer as on a personal one, but in the latter case you're likely authenticating against a single-sign-on installation rather than directly against, say, a website
*which sometimes leads to amusing results when you forget there's a chat window in the foreground.
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Comment on Have you ever compiled a custom Linux kernel? in ~comp
xvnz (edited )LinkFar too long ago, at the beginning of my time with Unix and Unix-like systems, I spent a fair amount of time recompiling the NetBSD kernel in the hopes of squeezing a little more performance out...Far too long ago, at the beginning of my time with Unix and Unix-like systems, I spent a fair amount of time recompiling the NetBSD kernel in the hopes of squeezing a little more performance out of a DEC Multia. (I'm aware OP asked specifically about the Linux kernel, but the question was about motivations, not OS choices.) While the idea sounded scary when suggested to me by more experienced geeks, the process turned out to be little more than editing a text file to comment out unused drivers, running a couple of prep commands, then firing off the compile. Oh yeah, and then waiting until the next morning, because if there was one thing you could say about Multias, it's that they were SLOOOOWWWWWW.
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Comment on Tell me about your experience with martial arts in ~hobbies
xvnz LinkI trained in savate (AKA boxe française) for several years, long enough to qualify for green glove. (Savate ranks you by glove color--you don't actually change the color of your gloves, it's an...I trained in savate (AKA boxe française) for several years, long enough to qualify for green glove. (Savate ranks you by glove color--you don't actually change the color of your gloves, it's an administrative distinction.) Then the salle I was at shut down, so I took a break. I signed up with another salle long enough to requalify, then had to give it up permanently for life reasons. I tried practicing solo, but it was boring, as a lot of the exercises really need an opponent.
In terms of benefits, it improved my balance, gave me a clearer sense of body dynamics, and was definitely good for my cardiovascular endurance. I would recommend it to beginners because there's a carefully-gradated hierarchy of skills you need to learn and test in at each level. That said, it's not really a popular art on the U.S. side of the Atlantic, so if you mention it in conversation you should expect anything from blank stares to jokes about baguette fencing.
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Comment on The four best Reddit alternatives: As Reddit melts down, users are fleeing to lemmy, kbin, tildes and more in ~tech
xvnz Link ParentWhat's a bit interesting is why the tilde glyph in particular is used to denote 'home' on Unix/Linux systems. If you believe Wikipedia, it's due to the commonality of the Lear Siegler's 1976...What's a bit interesting is why the tilde glyph in particular is used to denote 'home' on Unix/Linux systems. If you believe Wikipedia, it's due to the commonality of the Lear Siegler's 1976 ADM-3A mainframe terminal, whose keyboard layout placed the tilde on the Home key.
Extensive researchGoogle Images shows that ADM-3A keyboards do indeed have a ~/Home key, but whether this is indeed the source or just a coincidence isn't clear.(And as a side note to the side note, the way you do textual strikethroughs in CommonMark is with tildes. So there's another use for you.)
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tv
xvnz Link ParentWell, the ask was for series, so Flying Circus would probably be a better candidate for the discussion,.Well, the ask was for series, so Flying Circus would probably be a better candidate for the discussion,.
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Comment on Beer peeps, what have you been drinking? in ~food
xvnz Link ParentHaven't seen that one before. Thanks for the recommendation!Haven't seen that one before. Thanks for the recommendation!
Eh, you provided a first approximation. That's valuable too. Thanks!