hypolite

hypolite, 21 hours ago to random

Tonight I went to see a “Lion King Jr.” musical performance produced by the middle-schoolers of my kid’s public school, and it was impressive. Original costumes, scenery, lights, music, choreography, everything was well above my expectations.

It did reinforce my belief that American education prioritizes performing arts which leads to better outcomes when it comes to theater and cinema.

hypolite, 6 days ago to privacy

It’s often hard to get a sense of how well you are protecting your privacy online, but today in the mail my partner received two home loan spams from different banks that she could link to her recent browsing of Zillow to help a friend move. 😒

#privacy

hypolite, 6 days ago to llm

Yay, I too got my 7-day suspension badge from Stack Overflow from adding an #LLM #AI disclaimer back after it was first reverted to my four (4) answers!

That’s how it works, right?

hypolite, 8 days ago to music

Periodic reminder I'm still looking for electronica bands with acoustic drums, either featured in their studio productions or live performances. Streaming platforms' matching algorithms can't be that specific, so any suggestion is welcome and as a starter point, here's Muriatic by Polynation.

#Music #Electronica #Drums
Muriatic, by Polynation

hypolite, 14 days ago to random

E.T. in 1982: Kids routinely bike in the US streets, an UFO is extra-ordinary.

E.T. in 2024: UFOs are routinely sighted sparking a Congressional hearing, kids biking in the streets are extra-ordinary.

hypolite, 21 days ago to random

These write themselves:

• "Florida Man builds giant boat, says God told him to build it"
• "Florida man, 30, breaks temple stalls in a fit of rage, fight priests"
• "Florida man desecrates grave of local notable Lazarus"
• "Florida man caught almost killing his son, says it was a dare gone too far"
• "Florida man defies giant, gets lucky shot"

♲ @bkoehn@diaspora.koehn.com:> Image/Photo

hypolite, 22 days ago to random

Home is where your personal computer is.

hypolite, 24 days ago to random

I finally caught it in the act!

I've complained before about my laptop frequently rebooting on its own, usually at night. I initially thought it was for Windows Updates, but the increased frequency has made me doubt this.

This time I caught it rebooting on its own during the day after a blue screen of death too fast for me to see the error code. I went to the Windows Event Log and I saw an error logged after the reboot but nothing specific at the time of the crash itself. It generated a dump I can't open by myself, which is a poor hint at what might be the problem.

The laptop seller offered me to repair the computer at their facility, but for that I first need to save my data on an external storage as I last transferred my data directly from my old computer to the new. I know I had some 2.5" drives stashed somewhere in my house so I ordered an enclosure.

However, I'm not able to find the drives anymore so I'll have to order an actual drive since I now have an empty enclosure, which will delay the troubleshooting process further.

Stay tuned for the next episode of my modern computer woes!

hypolite, 27 days ago to random

I would be more chatty on here if it weren’t for these two facts:

• I come up with social media posts when I can’t write them, and I instantly forget them. Sometimes, they come back to me at the right time. You’re getting only those.
• I share many terrible jokes with my partner first, and it's often enough for me not to want to post them online. You’re welcome.

hypolite, 29 days ago to random

I have been under the impression that recent full electric cars, including Teslas, are making a sound reminiscent to those older science-fiction movies with hover vehicles.

Now, did the recent vehicles copy those movies or did these movies accurately predict the sounds these vehicle would make, or is this how electric vehicles (that those movies would have used) sound by design, or is it selective memory?

hypolite, 1 month ago to random

A new low was reached today in my apartment building's shared laundry room: all six washers were in use, all done and ready to be emptied, and probably for a while.

hypolite, 1 month ago to random

Did you know that for your largest foodstuff record attempt to be recognized by the Guinness Book, it needs to be completely eaten on the spot?

No waste. 😌

hypolite, 1 month ago to random

None of our apartment building floor neighbors have ever seemed interested in being more than passing acquaintances, except this woman living with her partner and their 3-year old daughter we’ve seen growing since she was a newborn.

However, a few months ago, she reported to my partner that her partner hit her once at the height of a heated argument. Within days, she moved out with her daughter to a place she wouldn’t disclose to us so that we couldn’t accidentally tell her now ex-partner who stayed behind.

We thought he would move out once the lease was up, and he did, to the next door on the same floor. So we keep bumping into each other in or out the elevator, and it’ll now be awkward until either of us move out of the building.

And now our random encounters will always remind me how unfair that his mistake ended up costing his ex-partner a ton and us a friend, while he gets to carry on with his life seemingly unperturbed.

hypolite, 1 month ago to random

I finally played the single player mode of a board game, and it was kind of sad. I definitely enjoy a good board game mechanics but not as much as I value company playing it.

#BoardGames

hypolite, 1 month ago to random

it sounds like I'm stating the obvious here, but the way I see it, there are two opposites attitudes towards human life's general difficulty: Either it is meaningful, and overcoming it is a proof of personal worth, or it is meaningless, and as such it should be lowered for everybody.

I can't think of a third way but again this feels like a half-baked philosophical idea teenagers routinely come up with.

hypolite, 1 month ago to VideoGames

I've had a bout of nostalgia for the original campaigns of Supreme Commander (early 2007) but playing the base game in 2024 isn't a fun experience after having mostly played the standalone expansion Forged Alliance (late 2007). Since both games are really close, I was wondering if anyone took the time to import Supreme Commander campaign maps in Forged Alliance.

It turns out a community effort did it, even though my initial delve into Forged Alliance Forever (2011) was a little rough around the edges. To help anyone else make the most of this awesome endeavor, I wrote a little something.

#VideoGames #SupremeCommander #ForgedAlliance
Play Supreme Commander campaigns in Forged Alliance Forever – MrPetovan.com

hypolite, 2 months ago to VideoGames

Video game idea: First person action-stealth where the objectives become less specific and their location less precise as the main character unravels a global conspiracy that leaves them stranded from their initial tactical support. Starts with a hi-tech PDA with a laundry list of concise objectives, detailed map and GPS-accurate coordinates only to devolve into vague handwritten notes and crude napkin sketches for maps.

#VideoGames #VideoGameDesign

hypolite, 2 months ago to random

How old were you when you realized your birth country may not be the best country in the world as the local propaganda suggests?

This about the United States of America, of course, but it isn’t just about them. All countries embellish their national history and current prominence to some degree.

hypolite, 2 months ago to Travel

#MiniReview #travel Scotland is so moist moss is growing absolutely everywhere, which allows @eclectech to depict it as happy critters. Food was disappointing but the landscapes were breathtaking when the fog lifted, and McDonalds were either merciless raiders or victims of betrayal depending on the museum exhibit.

The tyranny of politeness (friendica.mrpetovan.com)

For car rides my partner uses Lyft in New York City, and when she travels for work in Texas she uses Uber because Lyft isn’t as prominent there. And while she has a spotless passenger record in Lyft, she has “only” an average of 4.3 stars in Uber, which is apparently enough in Texas to be rejected by drivers....

hypolite, 2 months ago to random

Me: Why did I stop watching Brooklyn 99? It was fun and good-hearted (despite the glorification of police).

Also me: It's only available to me on Netflix, which I canceled my subscription over the transphobic David Chappelle special.

hypolite, 2 months ago to random

Does anyone know what #Friendica is missing to correctly generate post link previews on remote systems? #OpenGraph #Interoperability
When a Friendica post is linked on any social network, it is never possible to preview it (unlike what happens with Mastodon or Pleroma: perhaps does it depend on the absence of open graph tags?) · Issue #13959 · friendica/friendica

hypolite, 2 months ago to VideoGames

#MiniReview #VideoGames Gloomhaven (2021) immediately felt like a Games Workshop production to me, not without reason: it was originally conceived in 2017 as a board game including miniatures. It's a turn-based dungeon crawler with an original action card economy, but both the breadth of possible actions and the anxiety-inducing card burning mechanic made me quit the game at the first skirmish of the campaign.

hypolite, 2 months ago to VideoGames

#MiniReview #VideoGames Sword of the Stars: The Pit (2013) is Rogue (1980), but IN SPACE. And that's pretty much it.

hypolite, 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago) to random

A couple months ago I abruptly stopped my LEGO activity that was eating at me because I felt that I had to clear my living room of all the set bags I was storing in while awaiting for parts or building. With no end in sight, I ended up burning out until my partner suggested that we could put them away in a closet until I was ready to resume in a better mood.

Ever since, I've had trouble finishing tasks that I wanted to start in the first place:

• Unlocking a different ending in Cyberpunk 2077 with a new character.
• Writing a review of Cyberpunk 2077 on my blog.
• Implementing a moderation system in Friendica.
• Designing a board game inspired by the video game Northgard.
• Restoring a few big 1980-90s pirate/castle/space LEGO sets that were donated to me by fellow parents in my kid's class.

At the same time, I'm longing to find something else to do that will keep me engaged, locking me in a mixed apathy-restlessness feeling there probably is a German word for.

I don't know what to do to get out of this rut, I feel like it's been long enough that it would have passed on its own if it was just temporary.