zoroa's recent activity

  1. Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime

    zoroa
    (edited )
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    I'm primarily a manga reader, but once or twice a year I get the urge to binge some anime. A couple weekends ago was that time for me: Overlord I watched through all 4 seasons off a vague memory...

    I'm primarily a manga reader, but once or twice a year I get the urge to binge some anime.

    A couple weekends ago was that time for me:

    Overlord

    I watched through all 4 seasons off a vague memory of someone saying Overlord was good. I don't know that I agree...

    The main character spends most of a series feeling more like a plot device than a character. He has no room for character growth. He's absurdly powerful, and so much of the show's comedy is rooted in everyone thinking he's a genius leader when he isn't. Despite his power, he never makes any meaning progress in four seasons towards his main goal: figure out if he was the only person transported from earth to the new world. He's reduced to a plot device that moves the story between the subplots of the side characters we meet throughout the world. Those subplots were by far the most enjoyable part of the show for me, since the main character's role as their near-omnipotent antagonist pushes side characters to have meaningful character arcs.

    The series is pretty funny. I regularly laughed at the recurring gag where the main character has to coyly get his subordinates to explain their new plans they form after they grossly misunderstand him. But the comedy also was an acute reminder of how tired I am of harems in anime, and so much of the humor in this show is based on this.

    Overlord had me completely checked out in season 4. Until then, the main character acted as an anti-hero, who performed acts of great kindness in contrast to some "restrained" acts of evil. That dichotomy added some depth to how the main character approached different situations in the plot. In Season 4 this devolves into the main character repeatedly committing evil on a scale we'd never seen before for basically no narrative payoff.

    World Trigger

    I watched through all 3 seasons of World Trigger and enjoyed it. It's a very standard shounen, but the plot, world building, and action were still fun.

    I really enjoyed watching the main character grow across the seasons.
    He's very weak and not particularly smart, so he has figure out how to overcome his lack of talent to still be a productive member of his team. His weaknesses are constantly under a spotlight, since both of his best friends are among the strongest characters in the show. This makes the payoff of watching him succeed really satisfying.

    That said, watching the first season was rough. Each episode felt like they were trying to stretch as little content as possible to fill the 23 minute runtime. Thankfully, there's a very noticeable quality jump in the series starting in season 2 when they move to 13-episode seasons.

    Yu Yu Hakusho

    I watched through the first 2 seasons. Yu Yu Hakusho was completely new to me, but the experience washed me with nostalgia towards anime as a medium.

    I didn't realize how much I missed about the presentation of old anime: the square aspect ratio, low resolution, cel animation, and even the very specific shade of blue it felt like every anime used to use for sunny skies.

    The plot itself was fine. I was confused at the start since I'd thought Yu Yu Hakusho was a battle anime, but show starts more like an action-y sitcom. It ends up becoming a very standard battle anime complete with a training arc and a 40 episode tournament arc.

    Spoiler for a theme tackled in season 2

    I was surprised at the surprisingly mature way the show approached the main character's grief at losing someone close to him.

    Major spoiler for end of season 2 It's a shame that the show almost immediately undoes this by resurrecting the dead character.

    Pluto

    Wow.

    This show is a masterpiece.

    Lately, watching anime has been my "second monitor" activity. I watched the first episode of Pluto, and decided that I needed to carve out time to give it my full attention.

    My reward was an anime that fires on all cylinders. The plot, world, characters, and themes all feed on each other to grow into a whole more coherent and well executed than most of its peers.

    The series poses the thematic question "What does it mean to be human?" in the first episode and uses that question as a springboard to explore other ideas like the impacts of war, the Self, solipsism (or empiricism? I'm pulling on high school philosophy knowledge), etc... These themes add layers to every scene which reward you for digging further into the plot's murder mystery that's plenty interesting on its own.

    The series managed to make me care about a decently large cast of characters.

    The animation and cinematography are superb. I loved how the format, 8 1-hour long episodes, gave the show runners space to pace out episodes in a ways you typically can't in your typical 24 minutes.

    A measure I use to gauge the "quality" of an anime is how easy it is to recommend. With most series, I end up with pretty specific audience qualifiers: "If you like slice-of-life romance anime, you'll like <anime name>". Pluto is an easy recommend to anyone who just likes good media.

    edit: plat -> plot

    3 votes

  2. Comment on Time for a new mouse? in ~comp

    zoroa
    Link Parent
    My current mouse, the Zaopin Z2, markets itself partially on the fact that the switches are swappable with no solder. The mouse is one of the numerous budget, high spec gaming mice that have been...

    Does anyone have recommendations for repairable mice?

    My current mouse, the Zaopin Z2, markets itself partially on the fact that the switches are swappable with no solder. The mouse is one of the numerous budget, high spec gaming mice that have been appearing in the last few years. I got it after my g305 started having issues.

    2 votes

  3. Comment on You've never seen (or heard) a game quite like 'Skate Story' in ~games

    zoroa
    Link Parent
    If you haven't already heard, the studio that made GRIS just released a new game called Neva that's very much in the same spirit.

    And maybe finish GRIS one more time.

    If you haven't already heard, the studio that made GRIS just released a new game called Neva that's very much in the same spirit.

    2 votes

  4. Comment on You've never seen (or heard) a game quite like 'Skate Story' in ~games

    zoroa
    (edited )
    Link
    I'm really excited for Skate Story. I love games that use strong aesthetics to build atmosphere (think Gris or Journey). Skate Story's trailer oozes aesthetics and atmosphere that made me want to...

    I'm really excited for Skate Story. I love games that use strong aesthetics to build atmosphere (think Gris or Journey). Skate Story's trailer oozes aesthetics and atmosphere that made me want to play despite not caring about the subject matter, skateboarding. The game has been my most anticipated every year since the trailer dropped in 2022.

    I thought this video was worth sharing because it does a really good job at showing what I find exciting about Skate Story. And Skill Up is a reviewer who tends to value many of the same things as me in games, so I'm taking his excitement as a good sign for the game's quality upon release.

    Sorry for keeping the clickbaity title. The video author tends to avoid clickbait titles (most of their reviews are a variant of "I recommend <game>"). On the rare occasions the titles deviate from that pattern, it's usually for good reason.

    8 votes

  6. Comment on Recommendations about which Android texting app to use? in ~tech

    zoroa
    Link Parent
    I think its been over a decade since I've used a default Android messaging app. QKSMS is what i currently use, and have used for the last 6 or so years. It does everything I want (SMS + MMS). I...

    I think its been over a decade since I've used a default Android messaging app.

    QKSMS is what i currently use, and have used for the last 6 or so years. It does everything I want (SMS + MMS). I really like the message scheduling feature.

    Before that, I really liked Textra and I even paid for the upgrade. The killer feature for me was the custom vibration patterns. I believe you could set them on a per conversation basis. I don't remember why I switched.

    2 votes

  7. Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp

    zoroa
    Link
    Foot Pedal (This is more a basic electronics project than a software development one) Problem I'd been thinking about getting a foot pedal to use with my PC for a couple months, but I wasn't...

    Foot Pedal

    (This is more a basic electronics project than a software development one)

    Problem

    I'd been thinking about getting a foot pedal to use with my PC for a couple months, but I wasn't particularly enthused by the selection I saw for purchase:

    • It looked like most of my options used proprietary configuration software - I don't have much faith in the continued availability of the configuration software, especially from the lesser known companies that produce the cheaper pedals.
    • Wasn't a huge fan of the build quality I was seeing, which made me concerned about repairability.

    Requirements

    • Configurable with open-source software - I generally trust that open source software will be kept available and functional in the long term.
    • Repairable - I expect that the foot pedal itself would be the primary point of failure, so I want to be able to swap it out.

    Plan

    My idea was to approach this like building a mechanical keyboard:

    • There's a ton of resources available for building or buying keyboards in a ton of different form factors.
    • Via is a popular open source keyboard configuration software that I already use for my current keyboard.
    • Repairability is part of the culture of the hobby (replacing switches), so there might be a way I can tap into this to make it easy to swap out the pedal.

    This approach reduces the hard part of the project to "How do I connect a pedal to a mechanical keyboard?". My insight was that pedals for digital pianos and mechanical keyboard switches work exactly the same way: it's a basic electrical switch. So I just needed to get a keyboard switch, remove the stem and the spring, and then solder a connection from the metal leaf inside the switch to a female TS jack . This would give me a "Keyboard Switch to Female TS Jack" connector that lets me connect any digital piano pedal to any mechanical keyboard.

    I expected the solder joint to be a weak point, so I hoped that filling the keyboard switch with epoxy afterwards would reinforce the solder joint.

    Materials

    • 1/4 inch Female TS to Banana Plug Speaker Cable
      • The banana plugs are irrelevant, I cut them off to expose the metal wire. I got this to make my life easier by having 2 discrete wires I could work with.
    • Compact Sustain Pedal with Polarity Switch
    • Epoxy (Never ended up using)
    • One Mechanical Keyboard Switch
      • Any switch should work, so long as you have access to the metal leaf when you open the switch, and the switch is compatible with the keyboard you want to put the switch on.
    • 9 Key Macropad, Via Compatible, Hotswappable Switches
      • This would work with a single key macropad, but the 9 key I found was very close in price to the single-key keyboards I saw with similar features.

    Challenges

    • Wires were WAY too big - I didn't put much thought into the wires of the female TS jack I bought, and ended up with wires with a low gauge (=thick wires).
      • I had to remove some of the plastic inside the keyboard switch to make space.
      • The TS jack's wires barely fit through the opening for the keyboard switch's stem.
        • I had planned to pour epoxy through that opening to reinforce the soldering I did, but the thickness of the wires left little space to make that happen. I abandoned the idea since it seemed like more trouble than it was worth at that point.
      • The wires were stranded , so I had to be careful that a rogue strand didn't cause a short circuit.
      • The wires were so thick that it was difficult to maneuver them in place for soldering.
    • I had poor soldering equipment - My soldering iron is super old, has a tip that needs to be replaced, no temperature control, etc...
      • I was constantly having issues just getting the solder to melt

    Improvements for next time

    • Use thinner wires
    • Get better tools
      • A better soldering iron (or at least better maintained) would have made a world of difference.
      • I might've been able to completely avoid soldering if I used something like solder seal connectors or even just heat shrink.
    • Aesthetics of the "Keyboard Switch to Female TS Jack" connector
      • Getting rid of the stem of the keyboard switch means that you'll have a switch on a keyboard without a keycap
        • It might be worth using a keyboard switch with opaque housing. Both to color match with the rest of the keyboard, and hide the soldering.
        • Filling the switch with an opaque/colored epoxy would also help hide the soldering
      • It might be worth leveraging some techniques used to build DIY keyboard cables to make the wire connecting the switch to the Female TS Jack look more premium.

    Miscellaneous Notes

    • You probably want to get a piano pedal with a polarity switch. There isn't any standardization on whether digital pianos expect a pedal that is "normally open" (actuating the switch lets electricity flow) or "normally closed" (actuating the switch prevents electricity flow). Polarity Switches let you swap between both modes, so that you can be sure that you can make the switch behave as you'd expect.
    • The "Keyboard Switch to Female TS Jack" connector feels like an idea that someone could refine and commercialize.
      • This may be a use for "defective" keyboard switch housings, since you don't need a spring or a stem.
      • It's a straightforward sell to mechanical keyboard users, since they can just add it onto their current keyboard in lieu of a key they seldom use.
      • Could be sold alongside a more complete kit that includes a keyboard PCB, the "Keyboard Switch to Female TS Jack" connector, a housing for the PCB, and a piano pedal.
    11 votes

  8. Comment on 1 bug, $50,000+ in bounties, how Zendesk intentionally left a backdoor in hundreds of Fortune 500 companies in ~tech

    zoroa
    Link Parent
    Zendesk characterizing the people the researcher contacted as "third parties" feels disingenuous too. They're the potential victims of the exploit that Zendesk was refusing to remediate.

    Zendesk characterizing the people the researcher contacted as "third parties" feels disingenuous too.

    They're the potential victims of the exploit that Zendesk was refusing to remediate.

    23 votes

  9. Comment on X exempt from gatekeeper obligations in EU's Digital Markets Act in ~tech

    zoroa
    Link Parent
    In the same vein, the only times I've voluntarily engaged with Twitter in the last 5 years are have been to use it as an intermediary between myself and a business. For example, the most reliable...

    In the same vein, the only times I've voluntarily engaged with Twitter in the last 5 years are have been to use it as an intermediary between myself and a business.

    For example, the most reliable way for me to diagnose whether an internet issue was my fault or my provider's fault has been to go to Twitter and search for tweets that mention their support handle. I can only remember a single time when a service issue with my ISP was marked on their outage map when I went to check.

    8 votes

  10. Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music

  11. Comment on IFixit introduces USB-C portable soldering iron in ~tech

    zoroa
    Link Parent
    Well that's my reminder to scrutinize things I read on the internet. I'd never seen a tip with a 3.5mm jack before, and read a comment somewhere else claiming that the tip was proprietary. I let...

    Well that's my reminder to scrutinize things I read on the internet.

    I'd never seen a tip with a 3.5mm jack before, and read a comment somewhere else claiming that the tip was proprietary. I let confirmation bias get the better of me.

    My bad!

    2 votes

  12. Comment on IFixit introduces USB-C portable soldering iron in ~tech

    zoroa
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    I was initially really interested when I read the verge article, but that interest waned the further down I got: Needing a computer, or a ~$200 add on to control the settings is a non starter. The...

    I was initially really interested when I read the verge article, but that interest waned the further down I got:

    • Needing a computer, or a ~$200 add on to control the settings is a non starter.
    • The tips are expensive ($20 for 1 vs $25 for 4 pinecil tips), and prorietary

    edit: Tips may not be prioprietary

    10 votes

  13. Comment on NHTSA proposes new vehicle safety standard to better protect pedestrians in ~transport

    zoroa
    Link

    The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is advancing pedestrian safety by proposing a new rule to reduce fatalities and serious injuries among pedestrians struck by vehicles. The proposed rule would establish a new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard requiring new passenger vehicles be designed to reduce the risk of serious-to-fatal injuries in child and adult pedestrian crashes.

    4 votes

  15. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    zoroa
    Link Parent
    I was under 8, and I think I just wasn't connecting the dots haha

    I was under 8, and I think I just wasn't connecting the dots haha

    1 vote

  16. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    zoroa
    Link Parent
    Yeah! I still have it in on a cartridge of a DS pokemon game!

    Yeah! I still have it in on a cartridge of a DS pokemon game!

    1 vote

  17. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    zoroa
    Link Parent
    This hit me with a wave of nostalgia. I think Emerald was one of the pokemon games I've played the most, and I have a core memory of spending most of a 10+ hour roadtrip soft-resetting my game so...

    This hit me with a wave of nostalgia. I think Emerald was one of the pokemon games I've played the most, and I have a core memory of spending most of a 10+ hour roadtrip soft-resetting my game so I could get a shiny Mudkip.

    That being said, this feels like the most accurate description of a pokemon game I've ever read:

    It's fine. A bit boring, but there are numbers getting bigger, so that part of my brain is happy.

    If you end up liking Emerald enough that you want to keep playing pokemon, consider trying gen 2 (Gold/Silver, or the remakes Heart Gold and Soul Silver). It's still my favorite generation, because it does something that no other pokemon game has done to date:

    Post-Elite Four spoiler for Pokemon Second Gen. You can visit the Kanto region from Gen 1, and challenge all eight gym leaders from that region

    It took me a couple years as a kid to figure this out, and it blew my mind.

    2 votes

  18. Comment on Did your car witness a crime? Bay Area police may be coming for your Tesla — and they might tow it. in ~transport

    zoroa
    Link
    I thought this article was worth sharing, since I was once again surprised by new (to me) avenue law enforcement leverages personal products purchased by the public to surveil and/or further their...

    In Oakland and beyond, police called to crime scenes are increasingly looking for more than shell casings and fingerprints. They’re scanning for Teslas parked nearby, hoping their unique outward-facing cameras captured key evidence. And, the Chronicle has found, they’re even resorting to obtaining warrants to tow the cars to ensure they don’t lose the video.

    I thought this article was worth sharing, since I was once again surprised by new (to me) avenue law enforcement leverages personal products purchased by the public to surveil and/or further their investigations.

    One detail I found interesting was that this felt like a rare instance where the product owner is made aware of law enforcement's attempts at the data a priori (either from being asked for consent, or their vehicle being towed after a warrant is granted).

    My myopic understanding is that law enforcement often have other avenues that don't require asking an individual for their data:

    17 votes

  20. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    zoroa
    Link Parent
    Journey is probably one of my favorite games I've ever played. No skill required, no difficult puzzles to solve. Just experiences meant to wash over you during its 2 hour runtime. If you're into...

    Journey is probably one of my favorite games I've ever played. No skill required, no difficult puzzles to solve. Just experiences meant to wash over you during its 2 hour runtime.

    If you're into experiences like this, you might enjoy Gris.

    4 votes