qupada
@qupada@fedia.io
- Comment on Avatar - (the blue people one) a community for all things Pandora! 5 days ago:
I worked on Avatar 2 & 3. Babysat moviemaking in an otherwise-empty building during covid lockdowns. Long days and working weekends. Friendships strained, the odd one ruined.
I've held the Oscar which Avatar 2 won, and my name is in the credits of both.
What I have not done is watch either film in its entirety. Bits and pieces during the creation process sure, but neither from start to finish.
After close to 9 years of every work day somehow tracing back to one or the other film, the overwhelming feeling at the completion of Avatar 3 was relief, above all else.
And to be clear it's not that I remotely think they're bad films, quite the contrary. Technology was created which will define an era of visual effects, and irrespective of what anyone says about nuance of the story, they are undeniably experiences (a point on which perhaps I agree with the writer of that article, around in-theatre viewing).
Over-exposure to anything will really change your worldview.
- Comment on Avatar - (the blue people one) a community for all things Pandora! 5 days ago:
Interestingly, I was just reading an article about that on the bus ride to work this morning:
https://slate.com/culture/2026/01/avatar-3-fire-and-ash-movie-box-office.html
- Comment on I can still smell them 6 days ago:
"Anyone who says they hate farts is choosing to have less joy in their life, but the same amount of farts"
- Comment on Dell brings back XPS laptops — ditches the capacitive touch bar, adds 1Hz display option, and upgrades 14 and 16-inch models 1 week ago:
Also Lenovo, who were the first ones to give than nonsense a whirl (X1 Carbon Gen 2, 2014).
Lenovo's was present for just that single generation. Apple kept it for 6 generations over 7 years. Dell 4 generations, 3 years.
Can't say I'll miss any of them.
- Comment on We used to have TV repairmen who would come if dad couldn't fix it with the tube from the grocery store kiosk. Weird. 1 week ago:
Really the most you can hope for these days is to encounter two broken TVs of the same model, with different faults.
Luck holding, this lets you wind up with a single working unit.
- Comment on I've never been in a situation where me having a gun would have made things bettter. 1 week ago:
Any introduced species becomes classified as a pest here in NZ if it either directly harms, or competes with for food any native animal.
On the subject of magpies specifically, some regional councils take a more aggressive stance than others.
The shit-list contains a few that are frequently a surprise to non-NZers, like hedgehogs.
- Comment on Why are famous chefs fighting PFAS bans? 4 weeks ago:
The beauty is you can just go and get one (which may have no brand name whatsoever) for $20 at a restaurant supply store.
If you want one that'll look nice in your kitchen, you could try one from De Buyer.
- Comment on Air travel disrupted over Airbus A320 software switch 1 month ago:
You have to dig reasonably hard, but a few articles have linked to the original EASA directive, which is allowing up to three non-passenger flights to relocate the plane to a service location.
I'm not sure if that rule would just apply in Europe where they have authority.
- Comment on Valve dev counters calls to scrap Steam AI disclosures, says it's a "technology relying on cultural laundering, IP infringement, and slopification" 1 month ago:
Money. Money is where it comes from.
"I am rich, therefore my opinion is valid and you should listen to me"
EXTREMELY LOUD 'INCORRECT' BUZZER
- Comment on Epic boss Tim Sweeney thinks stores like Steam should stop labelling games as being made with AI: 'It makes no sense,' he says, because 'AI will be involved in nearly all future production 1 month ago:
First game I ever bought.
Mailed a freaking cheque internationally, and got a box of 3.5" floppy disks back about 6 weeks later.
Wild times.
- Comment on What's a good high wattage soldering iron? 1 month ago:
Performance wise, you'd struggle to beat a JBC station.
I have an older version of this one, has been fantastic: https://www.jbctools.com/cdb-soldering-station-product-1605.html
Price-wise, well that's a whole different story. That station is about $600 USD and change, and individual tips start at about $40.
What it does have though is damn near instant heating (it takes longer for the controller in mine to boot than it does to heat), hot-swappable tips (the metal comb-looking thing is to aid pulling the tip from the handle), and nearly 150 shapes of tips to choose from (see https://www.jbctools.com/c245-cartridge-range-long-life-tip-product-19-design-iron.html).
Their other innovation (now somewhat commonplace) is building the element into the tip, letting them put significantly larger power output into comparatively low thermal mass tips. Does wonders for temperature control.
Here's a reasonable comparison of the older-style (Hakko, Weller) separate element/tip design against the JBC's integrated: https://youtu.be/scvS2yeUH00
- Comment on Portable KVM for console access 1 month ago:
At work we use the NexDock for that purpose (for anything that doesn't have proper Ethernet remote management, at least). It's relatively convenient that it's self-powered and self-contained, basically a laptop minus the computer part.
(Conveniently, I see this is also a new model that replaces the awkward mini-HDMI port with a proper full-size one)
If you need VGA, you will have to buy an active VGA-to-HDMI dongle. They're cheap (down to about $10-15 these days) and seem to work just fine.
Should the preference be to use a laptop you already own, you've got a few options. Either an IP KVM like the JetKVM, GL.iNet Comet, NanoKVM, etc, or a USB one such as the Openterface.
(Note that a couple of those links are pre-orders or otherwise not immediately available, make sure you do your research)
All of these things are fairly comprehensively reviewed by tech-focused Youtube channels, just gotta pick your favourite form factor.
- Comment on Nvidia reveals Vera Rubin Superchip for the first time — incredibly compact board features 88-core Vera CPU, two Rubin GPUs, and 8 SOCAMM modules 2 months ago:
For anyone - including, apparently, this article's author's - who is confused about the form factor, this is the next generation to follow the Grace Blackwell "GB300-NVL72", their full rack interconnected system.
It's the same technology as the matching 8-GPU "HGX" board that is built into larger individual servers - which in this generation's case is just called "B300" as it has the "Blackwell" GPU but not the "Grace" CPU - but not sold in smaller units than an entire rack.
Here are some pictures and a video of that NVL72 version (you can buy these from Dell and others, as well as direct from Nvidia):
https://www.servethehome.com/dell-and-coreweave-show-off-first-nvidia-gb300-nvl72-rack/
https://www.ingrasys.com/solutions/NVIDIA/nvidia_gb300_nvl72/The full rack has 18 compute trays, each with 2 of the pictured board inside (for a total of 36 CPUs and 72 GPUs), and 9 NVLink switch trays that connect every GPU together. PSUs and networking make up the rest.
- Comment on A little bit of Monica in my life, a little bit of Erica by my side 3 months ago:
Old-timey doctors had a word for that procedure... "lobotomy". Cleaned your mind right out.
Would you also like some heroin or cocaine?
- Comment on choice 4 months ago:
If their case is too solid, try eating more fibre.
- Comment on Gamers Nexus big story about GPU smuggling got taken down. 4 months ago:
Thanks for the heads-up, added the internet archive torrent to seed up to 25MB/s