ulterno

ulterno, 4 months ago

DOS2DE had a recent (well at least the most recent one considering how old the game is) update that changed one of the core combat mechanics that I found a lot of fun while playing.
I didn’t update my game though, so no idea if I would consider it to be as good as I did before, but it was a pretty fun game and the game that made me realise I like turn-based combat.

ulterno, 4 months ago

Net Weight vs Gross Weight

ulterno, 4 months ago

I believe so too.
But maybe that’s not a legal requirement everywhere.
From the packagings I remember, wherever the package weight is significant, “Net Weight” is explicitly stated. So, when I see it not written, I don’t assume.

ulterno, 4 months ago

One of them main reasons for that, I think, is how the average non-tech computer user perceives UI/UX, when they have been exposed to only a single type of interface for most of their lives (most probably Windows).

And even though they tend to pick up different UIs in mobile phones fairly quickly, that seems to not be the case for computers.

Back that up with earlier versions of middle-school computers studies in being mostly like:

• How to print a file in Microsoft Word?
• How to copy a file to USB drive? (with the implicit - using Explorer on Windows XP)
  And you have most of the population thinking that’s the only way to do it. That was the case with me until I learned programming.

ulterno, 4 months ago

Well, of course one can’t expect someone with 0 exposure to similar stuff in their learnable period to be able to pick up those things. Just one of the limitations of the human brain.
On the other hand, people who tend to be more imaginative would probably be able to do better in that regard.

ulterno, 4 months ago

U: Windows Problems…
A: Install Linux
U: Linux problems…
A: sudo rm -rf / 👹

ulterno, 4 months ago

I have had a mostly positive experience with the Arch Linux forums, though admittedly, I have never asked anything myself over there. I just turn out to find useful answers to rare problems that are hard to find in other platforms.
Maybe the real problem is the difference in expectations.

ulterno, 4 months ago

Zoomed out a bit more, just in case you live too far.

Zoomed out a bit more, just in case you live too far.

ulterno, 4 months ago

either due to technical or cost effective

Mainly due to proprietary hardware+software solutions which cannot be ported now and remaking them with new hardware will require redoing the same processes as before (probably with additional stuff added by later laws) all over again.

ulterno, 4 months ago (edited 4 months ago)

Or you can just read it directly. Just need some light.

It’s actually better than plain text stored on a Hard Drive/ CD/ Floppy et c., which requires corresponding reading devices, format parsing systems, a display to show it and an appropriate power source, after which you can consider using a human to use the data (or remove the monitor and convert data into other data, in which case, you need another output device/network).

ulterno, 4 months ago

I’d rather not automate convicting random people.
theguardian.com/…/google-csam-account-blocked

Besides, what I said earlier would be more of a concern for preservation of information in case of civilisation level disasters.

ulterno, 4 months ago

Hehe, a similar thingy happened in one of my previous companies. The CPU was easily spoofed using qemu but in that case the whole OS was almost immutable with hardcoded bus configs for the video card (some old pre ATI card), which I was unable to pass through, causing the project to be taken out of my hands. I feel like it didn’t go forward after that.

ulterno, 4 months ago

“Our farming system is sick. Our farmers are dying at work.”

“… And WE are wasting the food that the farmers died for.”, while at the same time, turning the world towards destruction of all testaments of technology of the previous era.

ulterno, 4 months ago

It just appeared to be undamaged.
Who knows, there might be some soup doing quantum tunnelling and plopping itself right in-between the canvas and the paint.

ulterno, 4 months ago

Cup of coffee here is $0.1203668386

ulterno, 4 months ago

Is paying via credit card with auto renewals the only payment method companies provide you? That’s pretty bad, I’d say.

Because, considering what you are having to do RN, it means that they can simply change a policy and next time you pay, you might find out the “account management screen and cancel” becomes unavailable.

There has to be a way to pay without having to give your credit card details… e.g. The payment gateway sends a request to your bank; your bank asks you for confirmation for one time payment; you confirm payment; the bank sends acceptance to request; payment gateway captures it and gives you your bill.

ulterno, 4 months ago

Maybe they just love Starbucks and don’t like that I quoted the “street” price instead of the Starbucks price.

– Which still comes out to be $8.4 for 2.

ulterno, 4 months ago

if the customer does not print enough

Meaning all home users are a bad investment for HP.

That explains the ink cartridges malfunctioning before giving enough prints. That’s been engineered into them.

ulterno, 4 months ago

I was one of those who used to dream of real time ray tracing before it became a thing. And now that it’s a thing, I feel uninterested by it (didn’t event try to buy one of those GPUs. It’s as if the dream was more fun to have than having it in reality.

ulterno, 4 months ago

My casio watch is waterproof. [100M Water Resistant] And it has a user replacable battery. With a gasket inside and cool looking screws. (yes, I consider screws to be cool) Also, it costs less than $20

ulterno, 4 months ago

• Casio watch warranty period: 24 months

• Casio watch advertised battery lifetime: 10 years

• My Casio watch actual battery lifetime: 5 years

• I didn’t have to open it until 2x the time of official warranty.

• The gasket had gunk in it on the outer side, so I cleaned it, but I could have gotten a replacement from one of the local Casio stores.

• The strap has broken 2 times until now (yeah, I’m kinda rough on it) and replacing that doesn’t void any warranty.

  • The standardised nature means, I can get either Casio branded straps (even from other models if my model is discontinued) or other generic straps.

• I am nearing the point at which it might require another battery change, but either way it’s worked pretty well.

• I take hot water baths with it and even though I never used it up-to 100m (I’m not really into diving), I haven’t seen rust or moisture in the inside.

• Of course, if you open the stuff and change something yourself, it’s up to you to warranty it. You can’t expect them to trust every tom, dick and harry who might:

  1. Not tighten the screws well enough
  2. Not place the gasket back in place
  3. Do any other random stuff

and officially say that they will cover that. I know I wouldn’t.

The point is, they let you do what you want and help you at a reasonable price (the replacement straps were priced appropriately).

I can’t say the same for the fancier models though.

ulterno, 4 months ago

I’d love to have a phone with 8 screws and a gasket in the back cover instead of the fixed plastic latches that the Fairphone and others have. Easily more water tolerant and love the industrial feel.

ulterno, 4 months ago

nicotine

I won’t act like I know what comes out of people’s exhalation after they come into an unventilated room after smoking in the stairway just next to it (with the only door blocking anything, being always kept open), but I can say for sure that:

1. Cigarettes give out much more than just nicotine vapour.
2. The smokers in question have proven to be neither more competent, nor more productive. On the contrary, they sit around, asking other ppl to do their work (in the name of help) and as the other people waste their own time explaining their work as they do it, the smokers don’t even learn from what is being taught to them.

If it is a stimulant that comes out of that smoke, it’s definitely stimulating unwanted attributes of the brain.

ulterno, 4 months ago

Scientists do not question the concept of science

Questioning the validity of science is precisely how science is done These are 2 different statements, pertaining to 2 different actions.

Both the statements are true… err… alright, maybe not the first one as much. You can question the concept of science (which, in a way, boils down to “Question everything”) and still be a scientist.

Questioning the validity of (other’s and your own previous) science is a part of the concept of science.

Questioning the concept of science is more of a philosophical matter and would be valid in a quest for better concepts.

The above two statements are not actually denying each other.

ulterno, 4 months ago

1. It’s fine to disagree with scientific consensus. Even more so when there is not a real consensus.

   1. Going by a recent example where in some cases, it was being mandated for everyone to be vaccinated when possible; later, it was noted that vaccinations weren’t significantly useful for people who had recently had COVID (sorry, too lazy too link. It was just a news anyway and not a res paper). But this pertains to a condition that is currently undergoing change, with new strains coming out every now and then.
   2. An older example. Old enough to get into our school textbooks. “different tastes on different parts of the tongue”. The text used a kind of language that made readers think that given specific tastes can only be detected at those places, whereas the results from actual science were much more nuanced. Furthermore, the textbooks encouraged the students to “verify” this by trying different tasting objects on their corresponding taste locations, while not hinting them to try any of those in places other than those, which would have easily disproven the statement in the way it was written in the text.
   • The point here is that you are free to believe what you may, but when your actions significantly and maybe adversely affect others, you have to be careful about what others believe and whether your belief has any concrete proof. e.g. It’s fine if you don’t want to live in the same room with a vaxxer (just live in some other room, or don’t rent a multi-tenant room in the first place), but that doesn’t give you the license to harass that person or their family.

2. meh

3. It’s stealing both ways. Whether it’s legal or moral or not, is another discussion. WB stole from the customer. It was legal (they probably had it somewhere in their EULA) and probably immoral (because they knew most customers would not really read it well and those who did, would still probably give them money because they have no other option if they wanted to watch the exclusive). Pirates then stole from WB (in this case it was illegal), but the moral implications change upon perspective. Neither side of the argument is even close to ideal, but sometimes you can’t really condemn yourself for saying “It is what it is” and picking a side.

Lookie here! This thread has 8 parallel lines.