towerful
@towerful@programming.dev
- Comment on The return of Trump means Britain must rethink its defence strategy – and role in the world 2 days ago:
I’d vote for the EU in a heartbeat.
I’d be fine with the euro, actually going full metric. - Comment on When people say the AI bubble will burst, what exactly does that mean? 3 days ago:
Back when Blockchain was first a huge hype bubble, there were companies that added “Blockchain” to their name, or announced a pivot into Blockchain tech, and watched their stock value soar by a few hundred percent (with market value being many times their revenue).
I had googled a list of news articles, until I found this:
www.sciencedirect.com/…/S0165176519301703A noteworthy example: cnbc.com/…/long-island-iced-tea-micro-cap-adds-bl…
Anyway.
That’s the bubble.
Over-valuation. People taking advantage of the hype. People jumping on any opportunity to “not be left out” or to “get in early”.AI has uses.
Everyone is throwing things at the wall to seeing what sticks. Not much of it will.
Marketing are capitalising on the hype. - Comment on Subnautica 2 - Official Teaser Trailer 4 weeks ago:
There was something nice about navigating the Cyclops through some narrow area.
I never felt the need to excel at driving the sea truck. - Comment on dream job 5 weeks ago:
That’s fascinating! You should update the Wiki on trebuchets.
Clearly someone has pulled a Scots Language Wiki and has been writing bullshit on that article for years
- Comment on Keir Starmer pins economic growth hopes on British Hollywood with new tax relief 5 weeks ago:
Brollywood is an excellent pun.
British Hollywood - a portmanteau.
Brolly Wood - brolly is an umbrella in British slang.Sorry for dissecting this frog. I just want to make sure everyone can appreciate how delicious the pun is.
- Comment on Why do phone apps update all the time but nothing seems to change? 5 weeks ago:
As a hobby developer, I feel like I’m just gluing libraries together to get what I want.
- Comment on When somebody backs up their argument with a 90-minute video 1 month ago:
Just point to the dictionary. “Draw your own conclusions, bro”
- Comment on From a cyber security aspect how hazardous are random mini PCs from Ali Express/Amazon if you are starting with a fresh OS install? 1 month ago:
Server hardware does.
I think dell Rx30 are only just getting to EOL, and it was released in 2015.Although, buying an Rx30 before 5 years ago would be in the 10s of thousands.
Refurbished Rx40 and Rx50 are somewhat affordable. - Comment on Nintendo filed a lawsuit against Pocketpair, Inc. 1 month ago:
That’s like any FPS game ripping off any other FPS game.
Fight, capture, tame, train, breed animals.
Base building, research tree, enemy raids.
Exploration, resource gathering, survival.I don’t think Nintendo has a monopoly on enslaving animals.
I know what you mean, tho. It’s always described as “Pokémon with guns and 3xE gameplay”.
But does Nintendo actually have a case that will hold up in courts?
Pocketpair seems confident they can defend against it. So either they have done their research and are up for a fight. Or they (think they) are calling Nintendo’s bluff.
But Nintendo has a whole pack of lawyers.Unfortunately there are no details on what the patents being infringemed upon are, just that they relate to “Pocket Monster”.
- Comment on What interesting things can I do with my home WiFi network? 1 month ago:
You can set a static IP on the router, disable it’s DHCP, and have pihole manage DHCP with the routers static IP as the gateway
- Comment on Every show with a suicide now has a disclaimer with a suicide hotline at the beginning. Is there any evidence that these warnings make a positive difference? 2 months ago:
I can say I’ve never glorified suicide. When I’ve been suicidal, suicide is literally the only logical solution my brain can arrive at. It’s completely irrational in hindsight, but it makes so much sense at the time.
I don’t think I have ever not-watched something due to content warnings alone. But it has alerted me that there may be issues, so it doesn’t surprise me when it comes up.
- Comment on Seriously, what the f*** is keeping Donald Trump in this presidential race? 2 months ago:
A technical reason is because he has been a president before
- Comment on American tourists visiting the EU, what do you think of it? 2 months ago:
In France, no one spoke English even though I spoke loudly and slowly
Haha, reminds me of a holiday ages ago in France.
Someone left their handbag behind or something, and my friend said “I’ll sort it out, I know French”. To be fair, he did. But when I went back to tell him where we ended up, he was speaking slowly and loudly to the poor french person.Which reminds me of another time in France, having breakfast. I ordered “orange juice” and the waiter looked confused. So I said it again slower, and his face lit up and said “ah, jus d’orange”.
- Comment on Is this a triangle? 2 months ago:
Yeh, seems not
- Comment on Is this a triangle? 2 months ago:
I felt like adding something about the specific case of 180° between edges and a vertice.
Makes sense.
And I guess too many vertices means an open set of edges (ie not close, this not a shape).
I was kinda hoping for a strange edge case, like a mobius strip or Klein bottle.I guess a mobius strip is a 2d representation of a 1d paradigm. And a klein bottle is a 3d representation of a 2d paradigm.
It would be too much to ask of a 1d representation of a ??d paradigm. - Comment on Is this a triangle? 2 months ago:
I feel my comment adds to the discussion and wants more details.
But it was too simply phrased.
I guess the details of such a question should be obvious. And if you need the details, the question doesn’t actually add the the discussion… It just seems idiotic!I felt like there might be a really cool scenario where a vertice isn’t considered a vertice.
Like, there actually might be some case on a 2d plane “where actually” applies.
I’m fine being wrong - Comment on Is this a triangle? 2 months ago:
What if it had 3 corners and 4 edges? Or 4 corners and 3 edges?
- Comment on Is this a triangle? 2 months ago:
Just wait until you learn about the etymology of triceratops
- Comment on What Ticketmaster Doesn't Want You To Know: Concerts Were Cheap For Decades 2 months ago:
Yeh, consoles and generally the engineering side has (somewhat) come down in price. But it is more expensive to actually use it in a live gig.
I don’t know anyone that would mix on a laptop for a live music gig (as opposed to a band at a conference/function) any larger than solo acoustic for 50-100 people.
It’s not that a physical control surface would make it sound better (well, especially with preproduction), but that a physical control surface allows you to react to the music faster. Anything more than 2 button presses away is too far for a live gig with any stakes.
Yes the technology is there, and it is doable. But just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. You are introducing massive disadvantages before you even start the gig.
Some comments on the increased complexity…
Wireless systems are more prevalent, along with IEMs. An 8 way stereo IEM system is a lot more than an 8 way monitor system. More expensive , and a lot more planning.
These days, it is much more common to have DSP amps, a channel (or even multiple channels) per box in an array, arrays are much bigger with additional fills and delays.
I’ve seen some of the daddy racks used in tours, they will be 2 or 3 x 30-40U racks of amps and systems per PA hang.The rigging for the PA is more precise, requires precise measurements (both physical and spectral), and it needs someone to actually run the PA.
All of this allows an install closer to the ideal PA for the gig, with tooling and simulation to plan it in advance. Which requires a lot broader skill set and planning than throwing in whatever PA you could hire and walking around until it’s good enough.
I’d say a tour 30-40 years ago was unlikely to have a dedicated systems tech dealing only with the PA. They’d likely supervise the install and some tuning, then be a patch monkey or monitor engineer or something. Or maybe just chill out until the derig.
These days, it’s not uncommon to have someone continually monitoring the PA, amps, desk racks etc. and it is as much a skill as engineering the actual band.20,000 people in a stadium having paid $20 a ticket is $400k budget per show. Seems like a lot, but a venue is going to cost anywhere between $100k and $500k per night.
100 crew/techs for the in, show & out is going to be $25k to $50k. Equipment hire is going to be anywhere from $50k to $500k.
Never mind rehearsal and pre-production costs.
There will be discounts for multiple nights and longer term hires, however anything like an actual tour has a lot of additional accommodation, travel and logistics costs & planning.Audience members going to a gig at a large stadium will have certain expectations, regardless of cost.
Tech crew are going to have certain expectations working at a stadium level gig. These are professionals at (most of the time) the peak of their career.While the equipment cost might be somewhat comparable (purchasing a couple Midas, outboard, splits, snakes would’ve been $100k to $250k. A redundant SD10 system with a monitor desk might be $150k to $350k and a hell of a lot more capable - analogue Vs digital sound arguments aside), it generally needs more people and more skill to be able to use and run these systems (analogue splits can be used drunk/hangover. Dante or madi have many layers of complication).
I’d say digital desks are a bit more fragile than analogue - when digital dies it’s dead, when analogue dies it sounds shit - which will increase the hire cost.
And by the time you have a desk that can make a live performance sound like a studio album, you also need a PA to back that up, and you need the kit to make sure the band is comfortable playing to that level.
Also, to attract reliable talent to actually work the gigs (not just the band and their requirements), a certain level of equipment is expected.Hell, I’ve been on gigs with dedicated coms techs. All they look after is networking and voice coms systems, and the kit they are deploying makes a video engineers eyes water (you know it’s a good gig when you see anything Riedel)
Modern gigs are on another level of complexity compared to the $20 gigs of Elvis’ time.
Even $40 a ticket in a 20k stadium doesn’t leave much wiggle room.
Then you have profits for the band and organisers. And the demand will drive up prices.Like I said, I think current big gig prices are exploitative.
But the comparison to gigs from decades ago isn’t a good one. Production capabilities are much higher, expectations are much higher, abilities and tech is much more refined.
You have to remember bands like The Beetles, Queen and Pink Floyd would be drowned out by the fans. Pretty shitty gig if you can’t hear the band.And that’s nothing to speak to lighting, video, production and artist management departments.
Sorry for the ramble. Halfway through a bottle of wine!
As much as I love working a GOOD budget gig, I’d rather have the equipment to be able to operate at the level I’m capable of - to the point that I no longer work the shitty gigs. - Comment on What Ticketmaster Doesn't Want You To Know: Concerts Were Cheap For Decades 2 months ago:
I think Ticketmaster and Live Nation absolutely are to blame for hyperinflated ticket prices.
The fact that scalpers also operate is reprehensible.I will however say that production values of a modern gig are many factors higher than they were decades ago.
Safety standards are much higher, requiring more crowd control, more planning, more specialised equipment (both for the venue, and for the production).
It’s no longer “a stack of speakers and a mixing desk with 8 channels”. PA design and installation is both a science and an art in itself to achieve an even frequency response throughout as much of the venue as possible. Never mind the production of the actual music.
It’s no longer “120 par cans over the stage and a bunch of power”, it’s a huge quantity of intelligent lighting fixtures with months of planning and days of programming.
Never mind the video side of things requiring months of preproduction with kit that would make the lighting or sound budget look like fisher price.
And all of this has to be built and run with redundancy, so the equipment list is essentially doubled, and likely a lot of spares.
Venue costs are also higher. So all of that production has to be orchestrated to go in and come out in as fast a time as possible. And packed on and off trucks in specific ways to facilitate this. Logistics of a tour are intimidating.There are also entire university degrees based around these roles in production, people want and make a career out of touring. Places on tours are highly sought after.
Gigs are no longer just a band playing. There is a lot more show to it.
Whether this is actually what fans want is up for debate. And if it actually makes the experience better is also up for debate.Ticket prices are obscene, and I don’t think they are inline with the production provided.
However, if the live music is in demand then there will be people that pay. A band can only play so many gigs, and venues are limited.
Some of the increased cost can be attributed to making the job easier and safer for all the crew, staff and fans.
Some of the increased cost can be attributed “putting on a better show”.
Some of the cost can be attributed to some of these jobs moving from the “passion and hobby” to “a career”.
Some of these costs can be attributed to the increased skill level required to put on these gigs.
Some of these costs can be attributed general cost of living & inflation increases.
But I think most of the costs can be attributed to the exploitative behaviour of Ticketmaster etc. - Comment on Balatro: Friends of Jimbo – Reveal Trailer 2 months ago:
Discarded cards can’t be played again until the next round. Essentially destroying them for that round.
Hitler is fairly well known for blaming Jews and working on their genocide.It is a reach. But I saw the castle painting in The Gentlemen series, and thought it looked familiar.
Unless there is something else about the word castle, or that artwork that is relevant? Considering how on point so much else of the artwork and names are - Comment on Balatro: Friends of Jimbo – Reveal Trailer 2 months ago:
The attention to detail is amazing.
I think the Castle joker (seen in the trailer) resembles Schloss Neuschwanstein ( …wikipedia.org/…/File:Adolf_Hitler_-_Schloss_Neus… ). Painted by Hitler, the whole discarding cards to gain more power takes a bit of a sinister turn.
There are loads of other awesome art details
- Comment on Labour MPs begin quitting X over ‘hate and disinformation’ 2 months ago:
Good.
Governments should run their own mastadon instances, and provide official accounts for all their public servants, staff, whatever they are called, as well as an account for each agency.But quitting twitter is a good first step
- Comment on Balatro passes 2m sales, with free major update due in 2025 3 months ago:
I’ve played it fine on steam proton on arch
- Comment on Why won't companies release old games or at least make very old ones free? 3 months ago:
Older games for specific older console hardware were specifically designed.
It leveraged specific features of that hardware.
They literally hacked the consoles they were releasing on to get their desired results.
And because it’s consumer gaming hardware/software neither backwards compatible nor forward compatibility for all the stuff the pulled were ever built in. So a game would have to target multiple platforms to actually release on multiple platforms .
It’s like why so many games don’t run Mac OSX. “Why don’t they just release windows software for free on Mac OSX?”. Because it needs to be redesigned to work on OSX, which costs money.Everything up to, what, PS4? is probably specifically tailored to that specific hardware. Games that released on PS3 and xbox-whatever would have some core software dev team, then hardware specific developers. It would be targeted for the target hardware.
At some point, things like Unity and Unreal Engine took over, with generic code and targeted compiling. Pretty much (not quite) allowing developers to “just hit compile”, and release to multiple architectures.Any official re-release of Nintendo games have generally been on an emulated system. Where they have developed that emulation to work with the original software.
There are some re-releases, where the game has essentially been rebuilt from the ground up, using original assets but to work with modern (and flexible) game engines.
Both of these have a lot of work, so not free. Worth $60 or whatever Nintendo charges? Meh, that’s competing with real games.If you own (or buy) a nes/snes/N64 cart, you can rip it. There are plenty of ways.
It’s not the source, but it’s what it compiles to. And you can reverse engineer the source, then adapt it to moderns game engines. There are a few open source projects that do this. Their quality varies.
Nintendo can skip the rip, decompile and reverse engineering steps.
All of this requires a LOT of work. So a sellable product from someone like Nintendo requires a lot of investment.Emulators are good. Any used for speedrun leaderboards on equal footing to actual hardware (ie times are similar, even if they are different categories) will be good enough that you wouldn’t know.
- Comment on Is this normal for girls or just a extreme edge case? (Serious question) 3 months ago:
I believe hotel rooms & their contents are specifically designed around this
- Comment on Who Are the Far-Right Groups Behind the U.K. Riots 3 months ago:
This article talks a lot about the violence and reaction.
Some might be people who’ve got genuine concerns.
What are the concerns?
The BLM protests have clear concerns. Just stop oil, existential rebellion have clear concerns. Occupy wall street hadlve clear concerns. Hell, even the Jan 6th capitol rioters had clear concerns, even if it was clearly manufactured disinformation causing those concerns.
Those are protests. Some got out of hand, some went too far. But still protests.As a genuine question, what is this violence protesting?
What turned this protest into violence?
Or was it just a rammy? - Comment on NHS and care regulator 'not fit for purpose' 3 months ago:
The Tories have been subtly gutting the NHS for years to make private practice more attractive, so they can move to an American model of insurance companies and all that BS.
The Tories were in power since 2010 (first 5 years were a coalition government). So that’s 14 years of un-fucking to do. - Comment on Why The Democrats Never Get Anything Done 3 months ago:
He also fucked a bunch more of the country when he redirected that hurricane with a Sharpie.
He could’ve just let it run the planned course - Comment on I want to donate old work shirts, but I don't want people to be mistaken for employees there. How do I remove the logos? 3 months ago:
A lot of companies will actually have a policy about this, probably to return them
