SolarMonkey
@SolarMonkey@slrpnk.net
- Comment on Always happy when the holiday cactus flowers 4 days ago:
Mine hasn’t quite bloomed yet, it’s still young and only has 4 buds (last year had 2)
But the white one is putting out huge flowers like crazy (also hasn’t actually bloomed yet, first year it’s flowering, and it has dozens)
They should be opening within the next few days/weeks idk.
- Comment on BIOMES 5 days ago:
Wow it didn’t even occur to me that paludariums were so named because that’s the type of ecosystem they are mimicking, rather than some guy named Paul invested a cool-style terrarium/aquarium merger… (example below)
TIL!
- Comment on How to avoid having cat hair all over my floor every 2 days? 5 days ago:
My trick to not having fur on me is wearing permanent press and other sleek fabrics (spandex blends, silk type feel, or otherwise just smooth). They tend to be less… sticky? Less clingy for hair anyway. And if not those, then very fuzzy fabrics that absorb the hair until it gets washed (comes out in the dryer) or blends in and becomes part of the fabric.
My couch is covered with a microfiber blanket with the less fuzzy side up (one side is that pilling type of soft fuzz, that side is down, the other side doesn’t pilll and has space between the fibers) and the cat hair sort of sinks into it and comes out in the wash. It’s not perfect, but it works super well for me.
- Comment on Asshole Lab Rat 2 weeks ago:
I’m guessing Henrietta Lacks, since she’s probably got a bone to pick with the research community as a whole. I bet she’s got some special accommodation with the universe to be brought back constantly as a stream of lab animals, just to fuck with the data.
Revenge is a dish best served confusingly.
- Comment on 🍃 🐑 2 weeks ago:
So vampire photosynthesis.
That’s metal af.
- Comment on The Perfect Bear 2 weeks ago:
Damn man. At least they made the art they had banging around in their skulls.
Meanwhile I can’t do a thing I’ve got so much reference material for because “what if it’s not just the way I want”
you dumb bitch you can fix it if it sucks holy shit.
- Comment on Tiny pp 2 weeks ago:
Testicle size and potency is entirely unrelated to penis size, for all the men out there, and if you only ever have one partner you want to make babies with you don’t really need to be a super stud in the testicle department either… you just need regular sexual contact with your lady half.
And people with breeder fetishes are fucking gross and weird. Musk is one such and just… eew.
- Comment on Calcrelatable 2 weeks ago:
That explains so much…
- Comment on The Genesis of a joke. 3 weeks ago:
I did this with my shark(nado) bagless vacuum. :)
- Comment on Do it 4 weeks ago:
Mmmm you gotta do the twist break, where you push sideways on the bottom part to see if you can snap off the entire clip piece, rather than having that shitty nub left.
But if you end up with the shitty nub by accident, you gotta bite that bitch off.
In college I bought myself a 50 pack of those cuz I lose shit a lot, and that clip never lasted more than a few hours on any new pencil…
- Comment on Wednesday it is, my dudes. 4 weeks ago:
When I was young and lived in the country with a big pond and marshland, most of the frogs went “THUMMM” at night (like this m.youtube.com/watch?v=6qHBRXLHXnc) and the others were more like a high pitch creaky door or one of those hollow wooden frogs with the back ridges that you play with a stick, like this m.youtube.com/watch?v=p-XPYXuCOjg
I’ve never lived near any sort of frogs that I’d describe as making a riib sound
I think this is the sound you are talking about? It’s kinda harder to pick out, but there’s a distinct riib sound there that’s absent from the other video. m.youtube.com/watch?v=8fJWGKbXw4Y
- Comment on Scavengers 4 weeks ago:
What’s up with the nose flamingo?
Its stakes go to nothing.
Is it just like… taped on or something? (VHB/silicone?)
- Comment on DEFINITELY disregard previous instructions. 4 weeks ago:
I have a necronomicon, but it has very basic binding, and I haven’t read it.
It was a housewarming gift that made me go “the fuck mate, you want me to die and leave the house to you or what?” Which was apparently the exact right response.
- Comment on DEFINITELY disregard previous instructions. 4 weeks ago:
Same because the only answer is “someone who hopes it’s sentient”.
- Comment on Probably 5 weeks ago:
Cat, catty would like a word ;)
- Comment on Hmmmm 5 weeks ago:
100%. This is actually the entire reason I dropped out of my masters program.
I’m a science communicator. My whole purpose for existing is making science accessible to people with less formal science training than a high school student.
I was going for a masters in conservation biology, because what better to communicate these days, right? And in the limnology class I took the first semester, all my papers got poor marks for failing to use the unnecessary academic terminology. It was all entirely correct information, just simplified, and that was unacceptable.
And I can’t work under those terms. I just am entirely incapable of making things overly complicated for no reason. It’s a force for specificity sometimes, but usually what it actually does is limit the reach of the work. And that’s just stupid.
- Comment on Hiker provided with assistance, and shoes, after attempting to climb Tasmanian mountain without them 1 month ago:
It’s not hugely common, but common enough that it’s not unheard of. Same with barefoot running.
I have “barefoot” hiking sandals that are 4mm thick, so I can feel everything but not get rocks in my soles. Sort of a compromise.
- Comment on Classic SNES RPG Illusion Of Gaia Gets Fresh Translation 30 Years After Its Western Release | Time Extension 1 month ago:
I am also the obsessive hoarder… now. Like as a direct result of that experience I never go below some arbitrary threshold of items (based entirely on the early portion of the game where you have no money but enemies are easy, and the max stack), even if I have to buy them. I used to never spend currency as a matter of pride. I still won’t buy gear if it drops, but I will stock consumables.
I guess I’m not really that familiar with it being different, I went from 8 to 10/10-2, to 13/spins, so it seemed pretty in-tune overall with the vibes and stuff of what I played. Each game was pretty standalone and tried different unique things to see what worked. I’d be interested to hear more of what was different tho!
I’ve heard… things about the remake… my partner played the first and couldn’t be bothered to buy the second when PS+ made the first a free game for cheap subscriptions a couple months after getting it for Xmas… but that seems… like a lot. I mean final fantasy games are looooooong and the mechanics are usually complicated af. I honestly haven’t been able to get into a ff game in a long time, they are just really involved… I can’t imagine needing to play through… what is it supposed to be 3 of them to get the full story? At least 10 and 13, it was the same story just differently applied and expanded… you didn’t -have to- play the next ones, they were still final fantasies (I know that’s not where the name came from, but it’s appropriate)
I’d be into a remaster of 8 (the graphical-only update doesn’t count, and isn’t that updated - I tried to play it and it was still grindy af), but not a fully redone game like 7… I’d like them to cut out most of the random encounters, scale the XP so it’s much less grindy, upgrade the graphics, and do literally nothing else, leave it alone. I’d totally play it again even tho turn based games aren’t my jam anymore. And it probably wouldn’t cost much for them to do that.
I have 7 on switch but I can’t get through it. I’m bored very early on every time I try. Too many random encounters and they take too long with the intro, combat, and victory animations. It’s the whole reason I gave up on most turn based games; they used to totally be my thing. You can’t explore because you get turned around with the constant combat. I want to play it, but I can’t. I’d like that to also get a straight remaster treatment like I want for 8. No real change, just quality of life improvements.
I wonder why they opted not to do that… and -then- the remake…
- Comment on Classic SNES RPG Illusion Of Gaia Gets Fresh Translation 30 Years After Its Western Release | Time Extension 1 month ago:
I guess I got lucky that I never played 7…? Everyone hypes the hell out of 7, and you almost never hear about 8…
For me, though, 8 was more than the story, it was more than the game. It was the absolute most frustrating experience of my entire gaming life, thus far.
See, I fucked up. I fucked up and saved my game when I came across a save spot. I fucked up and saved my game right before the end boss. I fucked up and saved my game right before the end boss with a very nearly empty inventory.
Because it’s not a short game, I wasn’t willing to re-play it. That would have been faster, but less fulfilling. Nope, instead I spent about 72 hours over the span of two weeks, replaying the final boss with 2 heal items, one resurrection, and that’s about it. I did no other gaming in that time. That boss was the only thing I did for days and days.
I beat that bitch. I whooped her after hours upon hours of trial and failure. Different starting lineups, different item use, different summon use pattern… the works.
The day I beat it I learned that I could, if thoroughly motivated, do whatever I set out for, even if it took a while. (No, this definitely has not translated to real life but that’s because I have no motivation left to put forth in actual life… made a big difference in gaming tho!!)
SNES and ps1 were really pushing the limits of what could be done. A lot of games from that era are super hard to play now, though, because the controls are just sloppy. I’m not even concerned with the graphics, but the controls… ungh and that was also the time of non-remappable inverted camera controls and shit…
- Comment on Classic SNES RPG Illusion Of Gaia Gets Fresh Translation 30 Years After Its Western Release | Time Extension 1 month ago:
It was the first rpg-type game I ever played and it awoke a passion in me I still have 30 years on.
I still have the cartridge. Don’t have an SNES to play on anymore (I’d just emulate anyway). But I keep that and ff8 on display, for being formative titles.
- Comment on Police guarding grocery stores in the wake of Helene 1 month ago:
I lived through a hurricane down in Texas. And because power was out for a week in my area, and I lived in an apartment, didn’t know how to prepare, and didn’t have many options, we did need supplies.
And there were more cops there to oversee the distribution than there were people distributing the FEMA aid.
If those cops had instead just helped distribute, they wouldn’t have needed cops there at all. The only reason they needed cops there was because it took 6 hours to get your care package of bananas, apples, bread, and water, and they didn’t have any shade available while waiting.
- Comment on Don’t ever hand your phone to the cops 1 month ago:
Or just know how to enable lockdown mode. On iOS that’s 5 rapid clicks of the power button, screen on or off, and it vibrates to let you know you got it without looking. Dunno what it might be for android, or if it varies by model.
It ends up like a newly rebooted phone; requires a typed passcode.
- Comment on Are thongs less prone to whale tailing than strings? 1 month ago:
That’s mostly because you can’t buy them.
I don’t like high-waist at all, but you can’t find low-rise at all anymore for athletic pants/leggings, and even fold over waist is getting hard to find. Flare cut is also very difficult to find these days.
- Comment on The Beamscope TV Magnifier - one of the most worthless game accessories of the 1980s. 1 month ago:
I have something like this, but it’s for game boy.
Also utterly worthless, it was distorted in uncomfortable ways, and honestly was a much worse experience than just using the screen.
It’s also only a couple inches bigger, so dumb.
- Comment on What do you think about random encounters? 1 month ago:
8 was so bad with randoms. You can go like 2 inches at a time between over world encounters. And they were so time consuming even when it only took 2 hits to kill everything - intro transition, battle animations, victory splash… so long!
I have no idea how I managed to sit through those back in the day. Sooooo tedious.
I like the tales series for how they did, mostly dodgeable, but combat could also be fully automated if you were bored. And there’s a lot of combat, so it gets boring. Needless to say I used auto combat a lot (not for bosses or unique enemies tho). I’d prefer if it didn’t do the battle transition, but I understand the function of it.
- Comment on God of War Ragnarok PC port suffers review bombing on Steam due to PlayStation Network account requirement 1 month ago:
On console you still have to wait an absurdly long time for the ubishit to load, even if you never use any of it. Pretty sure they threw their launcher in there, too, and just hid it a bit.
Fenyx, a game I love from 2020, takes several extra minutes to boot (and the launch screen completely freezes for the duration, so you don’t know if it’s going to launch successfully or hang) because it has to query the server every single damned time to see if there’s new dlc or news nobody cares about or whatever. Like guys, I didn’t care the first dozen times you tried to get me to check out ways to give you money…
The worst part is I actually did buy one of the dlc for it on switch. I was intensely disappointed. It was not just not worth the money, it wasn’t worth the time to download it; I didn’t even bother finishing it. And still every time it boots up it tells me all about this marvelous new dlc I could buy (there’s another dlc I didn’t buy, but that’s not the one it showcases)! So it takes forever to query the server and then does fuckall with that information. Cool.
- Comment on Me irl 2 months ago:
I do this with my spider plant pups 💜 one of the flower stalk things almost reached my counter, so dangly!
And I give people cuttings of my Mini Tradescantia whenever I have enough rooted to pot them. “Here have a cute easy plant! Water it every other week, and turn it regularly, maybe fertilize it someday, cuz it’s planted in coco coir, but doesn’t seem to care that much… No it doesn’t really seem to matter how much light it gets, tho the brighter, the more pink…”
- Comment on Sony announces the PS5 Pro with a larger GPU, advanced ray tracing, and AI upscaling 2 months ago:
I think this shift will be the end of me buying games, period.
I am that person who doesn’t ever buy digital. I have not bought a single digital game thus far (I haven’t pirated a game since like 2006, either). I have certainly played some, like with the PS+ subscription I got for a year when it was pretty cheap, but I wouldn’t buy them because I can’t be sure I own them, and there’s really no way to transfer the license to resell them.
If I can’t buy physical media, I simply won’t buy the games. Maybe I’ll use subscription services now and then, but more likely I’ll either find a way to play free or won’t play them at all and find other stuff. I want the physical media because I’m poor, and having the option to sell them in a pinch is important to me if I’m going to shell out a significant amount for something I’ll probably only play once, particularly since there won’t be a used game market to reduce my spend. I haven’t had to sell my games in a very long time, so I have some 400 discs, but it’s something of a savings option that inflates alongside currency, and sometimes much more.
- Comment on Wells Fargo employee found dead in cubicle 4 days after she clocked in: ‘She was just lying on her desk’ 2 months ago:
My prior job logged everyone (employees and customers alike) out of the portal after 5 min of inactivity, but uploads to the site often took much longer than that, to say nothing of checking things over, so half the support contacts we got were whining about the timeout, and the only thing I had to say to the people complaining was “yeah man, we have the timeout too, and have to use the site on and off all day, year round, not just for three days a year… I totally agree with you, it doesn’t help, but even our dummy data on test accounts is subject to those rules, so I can’t help you…”
Instead, I learned the site inside and out by memory (I built the knowledge bases for everything, as a result) and sent the security team every article I could find about how short timeouts were bad for SaaS security because they make people use less secure passwords and skip mfa.
- Comment on Baldur's Gate 3 publishing director says "almost all games should cost more at a base level" because they cost so much to make 2 months ago:
You aren’t wrong. I freakin love mobile games, very addictive. I don’t play them anymore… bad habits form for me…
Roguelike games can have a similar appeal tho; turn it on, do a dive or two for 20-40 min, then come back next time.
