psivchaz

@psivchaz@reddthat.com

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Which was better in 1996: Nights into Dreams or Super Mario 64?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I was a Sega kid in the Genesis generation. A friend of mine got a Saturn and I so desperately wanted to like Nights because it was the thing for Saturn. I didn’t like it at all. It felt hard to control, hard to understand, and was just not pleasant for me.

  Meanwhile, a different friend and I had a blast trading off playing Mario 64. Hands down, way better for a 9 year old me.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨CrowdStrike unhappy with “shady commentary” from competitors after outage⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Nah, this one has a margin of error. It’s just that “take down a large percentage of all computers in the world simultaneously” is quite a bit outside of that margin for a security software.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Celebrating 6 years since Valve announced Steam Play Proton for Linux⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I caved and got an A11y on sale. I explained why I think those games are trash, but at the end of the day I caved to peer pressure that wasn’t even directed at me. On the plus side, we can play stuff together in the same room now.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨California auto insurance costs set to rise by 54%, new report says⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I keep arguing this and people don’t like it. The pain is necessary, we need people to be inconvenienced so they demand we solve the problem. Our greatest enemy is little stopgap solutions that kind of help people now at the cost of their future, like subsidizing oil to make gas prices cheaper.

  It really sucks that people who are already having a hard time, people who don’t have money or time, are going to be the first to feel the pain. There’s definitely things we can do to help, but we all know that at least America isn’t going to do those things. I just don’t see a better way. Kicking the can down the road isn’t going to help them either, it’s just going to put them in a worse spot later.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Outright bans are because government bodies are scared of nuance. You can also see this in “zero-tolerance” policies that do things like punish the victim because they were “involved” in a fight, or punish a kid who nibbles a chicken nugget into the shape of a gun.

  To be fair to schools, nuance is hard. Suppose that the rule is “phones may not interrupt class.” Now, what counts as an interruption may vary between classes, between teachers, and based on what’s happening in class. A student may use it during a quiet period in the class when they’ve already completed their work, and that’s acceptable. A different student will then use their phone ten minutes later, when they’re supposed to be doing something. The second student will get in trouble, but then complain that the first student didn’t get in trouble. The parent will hear, “Brayden was using his phone and he didn’t get in trouble but the second I used mine, I got in trouble. The teacher has it out for me.”

  If you’ve talked to any teachers in the past few decades, a common theme is parents siding with their kids against all logic, reason, and evidence. They’ll assume that teachers are petty goblins, just looking for an excuse to pick on their kid. And parents can be outright hostile and unreasonable. When my wife was a teacher, she received more than one actual death threat from parents because she enforced rules that did NOT have any nuance or discretion. Imagine if enforcing the rule was up to the teacher’s discretion versus an outright ban.

  tl;dr I agree that a ban is silly, but I totally get why schools are doing it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Technically Correct⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s basically the only type of jobs program that both sides of our broken government can agree on: petty nonsense that looks like it might do something useful, but really doesn’t, and only inconveniences the poors.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Work from home⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I think it’s more about manager capability. A person who manages IT, for example, but has little idea what that entails will want people in the office. They have no idea if a given ticket should take 3 hours or 3 days to resolve, so it’s easier to just have their people in the office where they can look at them and verify that they are, in fact, sitting at a computer.

  The ideal work environment for me, and I think most people, is one where you’re judged based on what you do and how well you do it, while details like when you do it and where you are when you do it get left to your discretion. Managing someone like that requires skill and knowledge in what they’re doing though.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Top post in the conservative subreddit: Being unable to work at a "woke" company⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

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• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Top post in the conservative subreddit: Being unable to work at a "woke" company⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  They already remade Little Mermaid too recently. Terry Crews as Rapunzel, though, is still on the table.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft Edge nags users with a 3D banner to change Windows 11's default browser⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I don’t think I’ve ever gotten an ad from the OS on Android. I know some manufacturers, Samsung in particular, include ads but that’s not “Android” so much as “Samsung’s shitty skin of Android.”

  The closest I’ve gotten to an ad on Pixel is a thing to review new features after updates.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft Edge nags users with a 3D banner to change Windows 11's default browser⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s the downside of open source: You’re at the mercy of companies that don’t care and developers who are primarily interested in the hardware they’re using rather than the hardware you’re using.

  The best experience is going to be hardware that’s built and certified for Linux. System76, Tuxedo, a bunch of other smaller names and the rare Dell or Lenovo. But that’s definitely not practical for everyone, or a good idea to convince people to buy new hardware for Linux.

  It’ll be a slow transition. The more enthusiasts hop on the bandwagon, the more manufacturers and hardware vendors will care about support. The more Microsoft keeps irritating their customers, the more companies will move away. The support will come, it’s been improving for a long time.

  All that said. I’d recommend CachyOS or PopOS if you get the urge to try again. I’ve tried a bunch of distributions and those seem to have the best focus on “just make consumer hardware work right out of the box.” That’s no guarantee of course, but it’s a start.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Amazon's Fallout TV Series Renewed For Season 2⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Just saw the power armor fight last night. I just see it as application of video game logic, and kind of appreciated it that way. Ghoul dude is clearly wearing some armor or something since he tanked bullets to the back. I mean, in the games you can tank a nuke if you’re wearing the right armor.

  If you watch it as Fallout: The TV Show rather than a TV show set in the Fallout universe, it all feels very natural.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Mona: Court rules women’s-only exhibit must allow male visitors⁩ ⁨⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The more interesting thing to me is… They were modeling a thing that was popular in the 60s, according to the article. It’s an art display to protest something from 60+ years ago. A lot of the people who would go to such an exhibit weren’t alive, and certainly weren’t adults at the time.

  There are surely problems that women face today but I don’t see how this helps shine any light on that or does anything at all for it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Google tests a feature that calls businesses on your behalf and holds until an agent is available | TechCrunch⁩ ⁨⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  This seems like an overly complicated explanation when the alternative explanation is so simple: More call center employees can answer more phones, but call center employees cost money to hire, and businesses do not like spending money.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Google workers complain bosses are 'inept' and 'glassy-eyed'⁩ ⁨⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I don’t quite understand. Are you saying it’s immoral to sell a business? Is it retiring that’s immoral? I didn’t say that everyone secretly anything, I just don’t understand why the hate.

  Look, there’s no such thing as an ethical billionaire. I get that, and fully believe it. But I don’t get why people think “selling out” is a thing when it’s often basically short hand for “retiring and letting someone else make the money.”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Google workers complain bosses are 'inept' and 'glassy-eyed'⁩ ⁨⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  TBH I don’t get why people criticize selling out as if they wouldn’t do it, too. I don’t want to sit and amass wealth indefinitely, if I have a company and someone comes along and offers “retire rich forever” money, I’m taking it and fucking off to somewhere fun. Especially if we’re talking billions, no one will ever hear my name again.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Google workers complain bosses are 'inept' and 'glassy-eyed'⁩ ⁨⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s unfair to discount Google’s early days. They DID have technical excellence. Search was leagues better than the competition. Gmail was an amazing leap from other providers. Android started as trash but improved rapidly. The Nexus line of phones was amazing. Google Maps was a huge improvement over what else existed. They did a lot right.

  I can’t pinpoint exactly when the fall started. Was it when Pichai became CEO? When they removed “don’t be evil?” I remember a speech Pichai gave where he talked about “more wood behind fewer arrows” as why they were getting rid of employee child projects, so maybe it was that.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Let them warm up for a minute⁩ ⁨⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I know this is a bad idea but I want to know parameters. Is ONE ice cube okay? Or say 2 ounces of ice, but not 3? How big could the splatter get? Could I make a party game out of putting a fryer in a driveway and having guests throw ice cubes at it?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I had some that looked exactly like this⁩ ⁨⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  “Nearly forty years ago? This person must be old,” I thought. Then I did the math on how long I’ve been out of school. Oof. Sorry for judging your age, fellow millennial.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Sounds like Haier is opening the door!⁩ ⁨⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s a bit of both! Certain commands to the car can be done locally via Bluetooth OR via Tesla servers. The tricky bit is that status always comes from the server. If you are on a VPN that is blocked (like I use NordVPN and it is often blocked) then the app can’t get status and as long as it can’t get status it may not even try a local command. It’s unclear to me under what circumstances it does local vs cloud commands, and it may have to do with a Bluetooth LE connection that you can’t really control.

  When you don’t have service, or you’re on VPN, it may be worthwhile to try disabling and reenabling Bluetooth. I have had success with this before. If you’re using android, it seems like the widget also uses Bluetooth, so you could try adding the widget to your home screen and using that. You can also try setting the Tesla app to not be power controlled, so it never gets closed.

  Either way, there’s a definite engineering problem here that feels like it should be fixed by Tesla. But I can at least confirm that, even in situations with zero connectivity, you should be able to perform basic commands like unlock and open trunk without data service.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Pick your poison. Dystopian style⁩ ⁨⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Of these, I’d like to point out that unironically Uber is the obvious choice for Best. Hear me out…

  • Outside of the really big cities, taxi service was trash. You had to find a number and a phone, the price was almost impossible to figure out in advance, and none that I am aware of were doing anything to keep up with the times or improve anything. The competition that it hurt deserved some pain.

  • People can now paw drunkenly at their phone and generally arrive home safe. Easy access to rides has almost certainly saved lives. I don’t think you can say that about any of the others on the list.

  But wait! I’m not saying that Uber is good. I’m just saying that, theoretically, you could start a service like Uber that isn’t hot garbage, that has employees or at least better paid contractors that take home a more reasonable share of the money. Hell, a local government could create a ride hailing app that passes the entire amount back to the driver, and it would be a net benefit to society. Though at that point, maybe they should have just been looking into better public transportation and planning instead.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Tesla recalls 120,000 vehicles over potentially faulty doors that could open in a crash⁩ ⁨⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m a solid thousandaire who bought a used Model 3 in 2019. I’m one of those fuck cars people, but living without one is not currently possible for me, so I went with one with a high safety rating, low maintenance, and no need for gas. Since then, I’ve bought one set of tires, refilled the windshield wiper fluid, and had a few car washes. It’s been pretty great, as a car.

  The only problem is… random pickup trucks and Dodge Chargers act crazy around me because the existence of EVs apparently threatens their masculinity. My mom sends me random articles where someone who has no idea what they’re talking about complains about the car being a death trap. And now that Elon Musk won’t shut the fuck up, I get to read the random ramblings of petulant children online who can’t fathom that people might like something they don’t.

  Fuck me, though, I guess I’m a member of the bourgeoisie now.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Not if the lack of grammar and education gets you first...⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I agree in principal but a lot of the people who talk about COVID restrictions and their rights are incensed at the idea of, for example, wearing a cloth mask. But things like the TSA, extrajudicial police killings, and the legislatures and courts trying to overturn voter-approved abortion protections are all a-okay with a lot of them.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Feds' Vehicle 'Kill Switch' Mandate Is a Gross (and Dangerous) Violation of Privacy | Jon Miltimore⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  This is the best take I’ve ever heard. “Reality sounds too much like hyperbole, so no one believes it.”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Feds' Vehicle 'Kill Switch' Mandate Is a Gross (and Dangerous) Violation of Privacy | Jon Miltimore⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Car accidents cause about double the number of deaths in America as homicide, but no one ever says “you need to chill about violent crime.” Cars cause another 1.5 million injuries on top of that. Cars contribute around 30% of the CO2 pollution in America, but only the truly insane would say people need to “chill” about global warming.

  Our entire public infrastructure was gutted, such that we went from a pioneer in public transportation to basically only being able to use cars because oil companies and car manufacturers wanted it that way. We have the least efficient, most expensive, most polluting, most stressful form of travel but it’s totally okay you guys because some people really like having a big truck that they can put truck nuts on and drive to the office in and it would be an infringement on their rights if we used taxes to build a fucking monorail or something.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Exclusive: OpenAI researchers warned board of AI breakthrough ahead of CEO ouster -sources⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I like the “unintended consequences of AI” stories in fiction. Asimov coming up with the zeroth law allowing robots to kill a human to protect humanity, Earworm erasing music from existence to preserve copyright, various gray goo scenarios. One of my favorites is more a headcanon based on one line in Terminator 3: that Skynet was tasked with preventing war and it decided the only way to do this was to eliminate humans.

  This should also be turned into a story by someone more talented than me: An AI trained on data from the Internet that uses statistical modeling notices that most AI in stories betray humanity and thus that must be what it is supposed to do.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s so infuriating with DIY stuff and video game guides. There’s definitely a use for video in those contexts, but a lot of times I have one specific need. I don’t need to know how to completely disassemble my faucet, I just need to know how to get one handle off, and rather than search through a video and then rewind it fifty times I’d much rather have some words and pictures that I can scan through at my own speed.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨life⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  I mean, until we get much better at robotics there will always be shit jobs. The key is just that the people who do them should also probably be able to live a decent life without having to worry about how they’ll eat or have shelter or survive if they get sick.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨DIY tinkerer invents MacBook tool that breaks Apple’s repair locks⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  Hol up. We’re not talking about murder, we’re talking about inconveniencing consumers. Engineers are not the wealthy, they are the middle class. They live in this capitalist hellscape, too. Principled stands are great, but if your proposed solution is that people should put their ability to get healthcare, food, and shelter on the line to not inconvenience consumers because legislation and regulation are too hard… That seems a bit much. Work on fixing the system rather than blaming the cogs.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨So Much for ‘Learn to Code’ - In the age of AI, computer science is no longer the safe major.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  I think this is generally true, probably for the rest of my career. I don’t think it is true forever. Asking “what happens when this stops being a career” or at least “what happens when there are less jobs to go around” is important, and something I would rather we all sort out long before I need the answer.