its_me_xiphos
@its_me_xiphos@beehaw.org
- Comment on World's Biggest Battery-Electric Ferry Enters Commercial Service 1 day ago:
BC ferries could use a few. And the ferry over on Bell Island wayyyy on the other side of Canada needs to be replaced.
Aside. Whoever got the contract to “fix” the consistent issues with ferry plan for Bell island did an atrocious job. More holes in it than the Exxon Valdez.
- Comment on Microsoft's Canada timezone troubles leave admins fixing calendars, pretending they're in Bogota 6 days ago:
Fun Fact. Indian (US gov’t uses that term legally, so I will here) Tribes are Sovereign Nations. They actually do not need to deal with anything the local and state governments tell them. They deal directly with the Feds just as any other nation-state, with some differences like they can’t declare war on someone.
So if the Hopi want to tell Arizona to get bent on time zones, they can!
It’s one reason why the giant payday loan scammer setup shop on a Reservation. (pirg.org/…/the-end-for-rent-a-tribe-payday-lendin…)
- Comment on Why are more games adopting parrying? 1 week ago:
“I parried a blow and I liked it! Won’t dodge no more, it’s just frightening!”
Sorry. So sorry. But it was there and I couldn’t stop myself.
- Comment on After just 2 days on sale, Sega’s Total War: SHOGUN 2 update has been delisted on PC 3 weeks ago:
Nice.
- Comment on After just 2 days on sale, Sega’s Total War: SHOGUN 2 update has been delisted on PC 3 weeks ago:
This is a colossal fuckup. I’m curious if we will ever know if this was a case of rubber stamping gone too far or a deliberate decision by the c suite to cash grab and not care.
- Comment on Six Flags has installed one of the largest solar carports in the US - 12.37-megawatt - the annual power use of both the amusement park and neighboring Hurricane Harbor Los Angeles 3 weeks ago:
Correct. And there are four massive ones. EPCOT, MK, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. Not to mention hotels.
- Comment on Six Flags has installed one of the largest solar carports in the US - 12.37-megawatt - the annual power use of both the amusement park and neighboring Hurricane Harbor Los Angeles 3 weeks ago:
Part French / EU laws, but certainly a cost-benefit analysis too. I know this is imprecise, but:
and the Magic Kingdom Parking Area.
- Comment on Six Flags has installed one of the largest solar carports in the US - 12.37-megawatt - the annual power use of both the amusement park and neighboring Hurricane Harbor Los Angeles 3 weeks ago:
Disneyland Paris did it.
Disney World has a solar farm, just not over their parking lots. I imagine there’s a good reason, but then again…Its the most corporate and lackluster of all their properties. They have no incentive (Florida) and will instead build more faceless hotels without solar.
I wrote a little piece on the day they hit near deadly wet bulb temps and their AC wouldn’t work in the extreme humidity and heat. Someone do the math, but I wager you could die walking a cross the parking lot in that environment. Its the place they need solutions to this crisis just to remain a plausible tourist destination. And yet…nope.
- Comment on Meta's Muse Is Building Dossiers on Your Friends and Family, Even If They Never Signed Up, Internal Files Reveal 3 weeks ago:
Meta product harvests data. In other news, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
- Comment on Where are typefaces being designed? 4 weeks ago:
That’s really cool. Good visualizations too.
- Comment on Man discovers his parents’ coffee machine used 1TB of data in 10 days 4 weeks ago:
Hey you’re not alone. I, too, was lost in the sauce and confused.
- Comment on Man discovers his parents’ coffee machine used 1TB of data in 10 days 4 weeks ago:
Yes. It is a guess. I’m using TVs and kitchen appliances as a basis for that guess.
Which, shame on me, I should go look for data on this. Someone has to have some statistics on it.
- Comment on Man discovers his parents’ coffee machine used 1TB of data in 10 days 4 weeks ago:
There’s going to be a market for pre-AI, pre IoT stuff. I’m convinced.
- Comment on To win over locals, data centers pump $340M into rural Texas projects 5 weeks ago:
Sacrifice Zones! Gosh, this is what bugged me so much about it all and I couldn’t put my finger on it. AI companies are basically creating sacrifice zones. I was doing some mentorship of a grad student from Chile on these, from a critical theory lens. Here’s a good article explaining what they are and how bad they are.
- Comment on Xbox lay off 268 people as Activision take over Halo and Rare, while Obsidian become part of Bethesda, plus Forza and Fable studios merge 1 month ago:
Man. I’m going to vent and go on a nostalgia trip for a second because I had an excellent dark beer and I’m living my best life.
There’s a documentary on Netflix called “High Score” that I recommend to anyone interested in the gaming industry. The people and stories they highlight are wild. I grew up in the 80s and 90s as the video game scene was taking off and that documentary does a great job talking about those years.
My first game that I owned was X-Wing. It came on 5 or 7 3.5" disks. It was amazing. TIE-CD-Rom, Wing Commander III, Caesar II/III, anything by Westwood, Sierra, and Blizzard. All of that is gone. It’s a shame and I’m glad indy gaming is thriving right now, but something doesn’t quite hit the same. All of this innovation and awe around such a new and novel industry just evaporated in the 2000s/early 2010s as small corpos sold out. We can’t forget that. It’s not so much the a giant corp just took over, but a small studio decided to get bought or absorbed and then died. Even a MUD I played sold to Sony Online Entertainment and then get trash binned.
Don’t know where I’m going with this, but, there it is. Great brewery, Alchimiste in Quebec. Alas, I miss gluten and La Fin du Monde.
- Comment on US being left behind in EV charging speeds as China goes sub-5 min to 70% 1 month ago:
The United States is to EV’s what Blockbuster is to Streaming.
- Comment on Xbox lay off 268 people as Activision take over Halo and Rare, while Obsidian become part of Bethesda, plus Forza and Fable studios merge 1 month ago:
This is a dizzying reorganization. I’m reading the article but I’m just not processing the changes. Why? Streamlining development with an MS “games studio” or just corporation being corporation?
- Comment on Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Peter Thiel All Fled California’s Billionaire Tax. Nvidia’s CEO Isn’t Going Anywhere. Even With an $8 Billion Bill Coming His Way 1 month ago:
Exactly.
- Comment on Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Peter Thiel All Fled California’s Billionaire Tax. Nvidia’s CEO Isn’t Going Anywhere. Even With an $8 Billion Bill Coming His Way 1 month ago:
Ah yes. Soviet style oppression causing you to, check notes leave California and obscure your tax residency so you can be an oligarch and hurt people.
- Comment on ShinyHunters claims FBI hack: 'This is NOT financially motivated' 1 month ago:
The FBI has agents working on crimes against children, sex trafficking, and other heinous acts of exploitation. Thus, the potential for serious collateral damage is real and disturbing.
As @t3rmit3 pointed out, I’m skeptical of their motives.
- Comment on 1 month ago:
Yes. Absolutely floors me. Given the research on bots vs humans, fascism, etc. that plagues Twitter, playing the “but the audience” card holds no merit.
- Comment on We Regret to Inform You Chipotle Is Now Working With Palantir 1 month ago:
“In the immortal words of the virgin Mary…come again?”
- Comment on Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of September 16 1 month ago:
Valheim and Kingdom Come Deliverance II.
- Comment on The Steam Frame Is More Than Just Another VR Headset - Aftermath (Chris Person) 1 month ago:
Hell yes! Nice to see a happy internet moment in the wild. Hope it works for you and game on friend.
- Comment on Blizzard is reviving StarCraft as an open-world shooter, but it'll be a long wait 1 month ago:
True. I do wonder if there’s a bit of a second wind after getting out from under EA. Not the same as the Blizzard of the 90s and early 00s, but something a bit refreshing at least.
Either way, I’m thankful a staple of joy in my childhood didn’t meet the EA executioner. RIP Westwood, Bioware, et al.
- Comment on Blizzard is reviving StarCraft as an open-world shooter, but it'll be a long wait 1 month ago:
Man. Hyped and then apprehensive. If they went with a Helldivers style gameplay I’d be OK with it. But I was hoping for an RTS. Oh well.
- Comment on Albany investigator arrested for allegedly using Flock camera to track ex-girlfriend: Sheriff 1 month ago:
absolute power corrupts absolutely…
Look. We really opened Pandoras Box with the Patriot Act. Collective societal fear ruled the day and plenty of entities found ways to exploit surveillance to make money. But I admit that never in a thousand years would I have guessed a mass private surveillance network. I was always fearful of state over each. There’s a great Battlestar Galactica Episode on it. Batman movie covers mass surveillance. We were grappling with it. But we never acted.
Now, in my opinion, it’s too late. Yes there is push back, yes even Florida banned them recently. But these companies are like ticks with an endless supply of blood. They’ll latch on, get plucked off, but find another vein to tap into. You have to cut off their heads, but today’s governing systems don’t have the power or ethics to do that.
- Comment on Flock CEO calls for ‘compromise’ as surveillance company faces growing backlash | TechCrunch 2 months ago:
Sorry there bud, but in the simplest terms I can muster: You reap what you sow.
- Submitted 2 months ago to technology@beehaw.org | 21 comments
- Comment on There's No Reason to Buy a New Phone Anymore 2 months ago:
Alrgiht. Since its ride until this thing dies…is there an alternative OS for me humble Samsung S21 Ultra? I understand Graphene doesn’t work with it. I just need to call, 2FA support, Podcasts, Firefox, Maps, and use Signal. That’s it. And I can do without maps.
