cerebralhawks

@cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is it weird that whenever there's an internet disruption, the first thing that I assume is happening is war, civil unrest, or government censorship, or some sort of conspiracy happening?⁩ ⁨⁨20⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago⁩:

  People in the US actually should. You have a fascist-leaning, borderline totalitarian regime which has tried to incite civil war several times, with the assumed goal of declaring martial law and suspending elections. They’re also on social media (including Lemmy!) trying to discourage people from voting, either by saying the other party is just as bad or saying it won’t do any good. It actually sounds like attacking the Internet is the next step, since they’ve been attacking education, health care, and nutrition lately. In fact, Twitter has been used to create and spread CSAM, and Twitter is run by an ally of the ruling party, almost like they want that social network banned in other countries (but it won’t be banned in the US).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Playback speed past X2 is now a YouTube paid feature⁩ ⁨⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  Nice, but that doesn’t work on my machine as of yet.

  It’s weird that the default archive utility we (Mac users) all use (The Unarchiver) can’t do .7z files, but if they’re downloaded through jdownloader2, they unzip just fine. The actual 7-Zip application is only available as a command line interface on Mac, whereas on Windows, as you probably know, it’s more like a file manager.

  One of these days I’ll get yt-dlp working on my Mac. Even being in the same folder as it, typing yt-dlp in the terminal doesn’t open it. That’s how it worked in DOS/Windows (or you had it in a folder you declared in PATH= in Autoexec.bat, back in the day), but Mac/UNIX terminal is something I have very little experience in. Comfortable with it, but inexperienced. So I suppose I have some reading to do. Especially if the subs work as well as you say.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Starmer says he won't 'choose between' the US or China⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩:

  Translation: Popular adages equating China with low quality haven’t been true in years (if not decades), everybody knows it, the real “problem” with China is their military/space programmes. As for the US, well, 51st state and all that. Sorry… Brexit was a mistake, the UK should have stayed with the EU. Now they have to kowtow to the US and they shouldn’t have to.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Who Listens?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  As a static background. As I expected, it made the skull into a semi-3D object.

  iOS has been able to do this for a few years now. Take a picture of someone, press and hold on the subject, and you can make it a sticker. Now it automatically picks the subject (in this case, the skull) and tries to render it 3D. It has enough data to extrapolate what is behind the skull since it is a repeating pattern. I would imagine a more capable AI would look around the skull and realise it’s a repeating pattern, and then render the pattern entirely. Then it could find a 3D image of a skull that looks exactly like that, delete the 2D one, and place a 3D one in its place. Then it could maybe even animate it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Who Listens?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Anyone on a recent iPhone? Download the image, open in Photos, and tap that new icon in the top right of the image to make it 3D. As I assumed, it looks awesome.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Playback speed past X2 is now a YouTube paid feature⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  I use jdownloader2. I think it uses yt-dl on the backend though? Like the original yt-dl. I’m not sure.

  I was curious so I downloaded the Mac version of yt-dlp (as I am on Mac), couldn’t get it to run. And I’m comfortable with the command line.

  YouTube kinda is cracking down on downloading though. If a video is marked as adult (you need to sign in to view it), it can’t be downloaded. A lot of “official videos” (like trailers from the studio) can’t be downloaded. Subtitles can’t be downloaded. That’s in jd2. Not sure about yt-dlp.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Playback speed past X2 is now a YouTube paid feature⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  That’s what I wanted to know. Until I realised I don’t care how people watch YouTube and that it’s more annoying to me that Google is paywalling something that costs them nothing to implement.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Fable - Gameplay Teaser⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  There is that — that it will probably be an easy game. There aren’t too many of those around. Or at least getting attention. Last year’s Game of the Year talk was all about three games that are just stupidly hard: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Hollow Knight Silksong, and Blue Prince. I love Blue Prince, but I caved and looked up how to beat it. I fully accept that I probably never will. And “beating” it really just means beating the tutorial. There’s so much to do after. But it’s fun, even when you lose. The other two are just exceedingly punishing.

  And that’s fine — games were hard in the 80s. They eased off a bit in the 90s and 00s, but I think PlayStation was always pushing hard games while Xbox and Nintendo were more casual and “gaming is for everybody” (as opposed to “git gud or GTFO”). Then smartphones came out and easy games pretty much swept the app stores. I respect a good challenge if it’s fun, and I respect a game that pushes you to be your absolute best… I just don’t have the time for that. I like games with Story difficulty where you can do the motions if you want, but you’re basically guaranteed to survive every battle, and falling off a high ledge just returns you to the ledge you fell from.

  Final Fantasy VII (both of them: the emulated PS1 version on modern consoles, and the remake) actually come with cheat codes built right in, and from what I can tell, they don’t even disable achievements. (Actually, the last one disables one achievement. The last cheat code maxes the level of your materia, and this disables the achievement for learning about materia. Once you get that achievement, go crazy.) The game even offers a Head Start mode that makes all your characters start powerful with high level gear. Of course, Final Fantasy VII is a special game. It’s often credited as being the first truly cinematic game. I’m not sure it was, but it was definitely one of them and absolutely the most popular of them at the time. The game plays like a movie, so they absolutely do not want to hold you back because you can’t push the right buttons fast enough. They want you to experience that story.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Fable - Gameplay Teaser⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Someone told me that before. Still, if Peter Molyneux puts out a game and uses the name Albion, we know what he’s referring to.

  Fable’s Albion could even be Great Britain in an alternate universe.

  It’s like Pandora. It’s been used by a bunch of companies for different reasons. But if Gearbox lost the rights to Borderlands and they set a new game on a planet called Pandora, I would not expect they were talking about the jeweler.

  So I suppose it benefits Molyneux that his world and title were so generic he can use them without the Fable license.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Fable - Gameplay Teaser⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  So it’s love, gold, and a tower? Yeah I still pick gold.

  It’s been a while since I played but I thought you could have different pets and replace them as they go (since pets tend to be canon fodder in a lot of games).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨New Fable game removes feature core to franchise's DNA⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  I liked what Mass Effect 2 did. Scars that healed if you did good deeds and got worse if you were evil. Or you could pay to upgrade your sick bay, remove the scars, and disable the feature entirely. I roll paragon on the Normandy, but I removed the scars.

  Morality systems are easy to break anyway.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Fable - Gameplay Teaser⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Yes, I know about 3’s good ending and how all that works, I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who wants to play it but hasn’t before, but I appreciate how they handled it, as I understand it. And that twist is revealed somewhere in the middle, so you can grind out the good ending or you can take the easy way out. Fable 2 had you go all the way to the end, gave you one wish and 3 options to choose from, then pulls the rug out from under you. Unless you’re evil and you just take the money. Regarding the dog:

  spoiler

  There’s no option to save the dog. Not sure where you’re getting that. I don’t remember a dog. I know you could get a pet and they could die and you could get another one. But there’s no wish to bring a pet back. The evil wish is money, and lots of it, but it’s the end of the game so it’s purely symbolic. The other two endings are “bring back everyone who was killed by the bad guys” or “bring back your family.” The game pushes the value of family from the very beginning, but apparently choosing your family is a second bad ending and your family basically hate you for putting them before some strangers. Which doesn’t track with the rest of the game.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Fable - Gameplay Teaser⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Oh yeah, 2 was fun as hell, I just thought the ending was a betrayal.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Fable - Gameplay Teaser⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Here’s the unbranded trailer that shows all the platforms it’s on.

  www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5qWGaqzk98

  Posting the Sony one implies it’s exclusive to PlayStation and derails the conversation to a place it really doesn’t need to go.

  Personally I’m cautious. After the way the second one ended, I never touched the third one. They kinda pull this bait-and-switch where if you try to pick the good ending, the game shames you for it. It’s almost as bad as Mass Effect 3 telling you that you have three choices, giving you three paths, and not telling you which one is which. Maybe a bit worse. I mean to go through this whole game and just get shit on for trying to do the right thing. It’s a bit shit.

  Then again, Peter Molyneux isn’t involved in this. He’s making a sequel to Black and White set in the Fable universe without using the Fable name (but he is using the Albion name) so it’s kinda confusing. Obvious if you know what you’re looking at, though.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Nova Launcher: An update⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s getting ads, from what I heard elsewhere, but the link says paid users won’t get them.

  Still not sure I should trust it. I’ve been a Nova Prime user for about 15 years. Even though my EDC is an iPhone, I still have an Android phone for cosplay, it’s a prop, but it works and I keep the apps updated and such. And sometimes I use it just because. So I’m worried about the future of Nova.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Do old people still remember their childhood? Do people just start losing their memories and their sense of self as they get older?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m almost 50 and I remember a lot of my childhood. I remember riding in a car with my mother down the main street in town and not being able to read signs. So like 1983-84. I remember a bunch of other things from that far back. Sights, sounds, feelings. More the later you go. A lot of the late 80s and beyond.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Jeff Bezos said the quiet part out loud — hopes that you'll give up your PC to rent one from the cloud⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  You mostly want window snapping on what? Can’t help ya on Linux. macOS added it, kinda badly, last year or the year before. Before that, I was using a free app called Rectangle to do it. There was another one that was paid that apparently did more, but Rectangle was good enough for me. I stopped using it when Sequoia or Tahoe added it. My needs aren’t that great.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Jeff Bezos said the quiet part out loud — hopes that you'll give up your PC to rent one from the cloud⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I actually wouldn’t want a Linux machine to act like a Mac. I like Macs because of the way they are, but I use Windows at work and I use it differently. I’ve tried to make them act like each other and it just doesn’t work. I have 30 years of experience with Windows that isn’t going away (I still reach for CTRL+ALT+DEL which on a Mac is CTRL+⌘+DEL (which doesn’t do shit (just tried it, it doesn’t do shit) but I also have 2.5 years of experience with Macs (and I do try ⌘+Q to quit apps, which is ALT+Q and I don’t think it does anything (unless a menu’s alt shortcut is Q, which would be very rare).

  Linux… I’ve used it off and on (mostly off) since the 90s. I really liked Red Hat, in the Win98/2000 days. I know it became Fedora Core and is now just Fedora. Always liked Ubuntu. But — and I’m preaching to the choir here — I understand what Linux is, being a kernel and not an OS. A distro is just a set of tools. So yeah, I like GNOME, I like KDE enough, I’m sure there are other options and I honestly haven’t used either of those in a couple years.

  Quick question: back in the day, you could switch desktop environments. There was KDE, GNOME, and another one (like X Windows or something). That was cool. I’m sure there’s a way to do that now. That’s what I’d have. One environment for some stuff, another for other stuff. I’m sure it’s possible. I just don’t really hear about it being done.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Jeff Bezos said the quiet part out loud — hopes that you'll give up your PC to rent one from the cloud⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Not my phone but I get what you mean. I have an iPhone. I actually do have a Galaxy S10, so I’m kinda curious about that project. (I’d rather play Fallout 3 though. Also I don’t need to pirate it, I own it on GOG, Steam, and Xbox.)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Jeff Bezos said the quiet part out loud — hopes that you'll give up your PC to rent one from the cloud⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  That’s fair. I have a Mac laptop as well (base M2, MacBook Air, 16GB RAM, 1TB storage) and… it plays Cyberpunk. Game looks like ass, there’s no crowd hardly at all, my 4th gen Xeon ran it better (I think the Mac gets more frames but the Xeon made it look better… also had a 3GB graphics card). I’d rather play it on GeForce Now where it looks more like it does on my Xbox… but I’m just gonna play it on Xbox.

  Blue Prince is another one I have on Mac. Plays almost as well as Xbox (far simpler game) but it’s a bit choppy. Stray looks/plays good, though.

  Windows laptops are kinda ass to me. I can see the argument for the desktop if you’re a gamer, but IMO Windows laptops are a complete bust. I’d point someone toward a base M4 MacBook Air (maybe bump the storage to 512GB) and have an awesome desktop environment, and use GeForce Now for gaming. Of course Linux guys would not agree with that. Last time I tried Linux on a laptop, I ran into tons of driver issues. I’m sure that’s not the case in 2026. I’d still prefer macOS on a laptop. For a desktop, I like my Mac, but if that Xeon rig didn’t die on me, it would be running Linux now. Likely Ubuntu.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Jeff Bezos said the quiet part out loud — hopes that you'll give up your PC to rent one from the cloud⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  True, but I don’t just like Macs for the hardware. And honestly, ARM64 boxes with an SoC and a fan aren’t really that exciting… hardware wise. I like macOS, which is probably why my favourite Linux shell is GNOME (though later ones moved a bit away from being just like macOS… still prefer it to KDE. I’ll use either though).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Are there cannabis CPAP machines?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  No and you wouldn’t want there to be.

  One, CPAP/BiPAP machines are expensive. If you want to get THC into your lungs, there are better options that are cheaper.

  CPAP machines typically push pressurised air. So you may be looking for something that smokes the cannabis and pushes it through the system. Not only would this damage the system, CPAP therapy is designed to be used overnight. You aren’t going to be feeling the high effects. Also, you would need a lot of cannabis to burn throughout the night, and a mechanical system to keep introducing the cannabis to the flame and discarding the ashes.

  Some CPAP machines also have a water reservoir and push humidified air that is pressurised. This may be what you’re thinking of. There are oil-based delivery systems for THC, such as CBD oil. This would be less harmful to the machine (as in not harmful), it only might gum up the tubing between the reservoir and your mask. You replace this stuff every 3 months anyway, so that’s not that big of a deal. You would just want to consult someone who knows more about CBD oil or other oil-based THC products to see if adding it to water, humidifying it, and pushing it into your lungs would one, even work; and two, be beneficial to the effect you are trying to produce. I do not think it will, but I am not an expert — I don’t even use THC. (I do know a little bit about it, and if I lived in a state it was legal in, I would use it in baking, because I love food science and I know edibles are popular. I know what to do, but I would have to learn how much to use. I would also not consume the edibles — I am not even the least bit curious about being high on THC — but I would make them for friends as gifts. If it were legal where I am. It is not.)

  If your goal is to relax/get high before bed, you would be better served just smoking or otherwise ingesting the THC in your typically preferred way 10-15 minutes before going to bed.

  Bonus: for those who use bongs, dump that nasty water out and put ice cubes in there instead. Take smaller hits. Trust me. Yes, a guy who doesn’t smoke. Even better, get those blue ice packs that are sealed. They come in ice cube size — look up reusable ice cubes. Fill your bong with that, and re-freeze after each sesh. (If you really wanna know what it does, it condenses the smoke as it passes through, which means you’ll take bigger hits (which is why I say take smaller ones). But once it gets into your lungs, your body heat will expand it. Fail to heed my warnings and you’ll be coughing like a punk. I grew up around people who smoked. Looked at what they were doing and said “I can show you how to do it better… with science.” But nah, not really into it myself.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Bethesda announces a new Fallout... reality show⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Sounds like Fallout-themed Squid Game.

  Also, Bethesda is not going to make a new Fallout game while Fallout 76 keeps printing money. Same with Elder Scrolls Online. The amazing thing isn’t just how far Bethesda has fallen, it’s how many people keep propping them up.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Jeff Bezos said the quiet part out loud — hopes that you'll give up your PC to rent one from the cloud⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I think that’s the best option if you want to play PC games but you have a Mac. Steam is pushing for Windows game compatibility on Linux, but most Linux users run computers that were shipped with Windows (i.e. they originally gave money to Microsoft). Apple has been half-assing it for years. Game Porting Toolkit exists, but basically the best way to play games on Mac bare-metal is to pay a subscription to Crossover, which costs about the same as GeForce Now, which lets you play on a more capable rig. Good if you can handle the latency (this is going to depend on where you live). And if you don’t mind a subscription.

  It also begs the question if you should be a Mac user if you’re into gaming. I’ve always been a gamer, and I’ve always liked Apple’s computers. I also have an Xbox and a Switch. I do not presently subscribe to GeForce Now (or Crossover).

  The M4 Mac mini was $480 around the holidays. It’s more like $500 now. That’s got 16GB of RAM, but you can’t upgrade it. It’s all on one chip, including the built-in 256GB SSD (which you should expand with external options). So computers can be had for not that much money. If you want something beefier, I think in the $1500 range, you can still get a bit more out of something running Intel, like an i5, especially if it’s a year or two old. I just like Macs, but they’re not always the best deal.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Anon wants a happy ending⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Mass Effect?

  Spoilers for the beginning of Mass Effect 2 (because the trilogy is meant to be played back-to-back-to-back, and that’s how it’s sold now, as a Legendary Edition that bundles them up as one product).

  spoiler

  Regardless of how the first one ends, the very beginning of the first one has your ship destroyed, your crew scattered, and you get killed — sucked out into the vacuum of space. This isn’t really a spoiler since it’s how a popular game starts and that game came out like 15 years ago, but for anyone who hasn’t played the trilogy, it kind of is. Anyway, you get picked up by a group with deep pockets, and they bring you back to life. But if you got attached to your character in the first one, it kinda sucks seeing them literally get killed in the second one.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Are horses in the wild "ravished" by the Stallion?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  No etiquette. Lots of ravaging to the point of potential injury. Content and “take it slow” are largely human things. Animals just kinda… do it and it’s done.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s a good hot sauce.

  But I really was joking — while nasal exposure to oleoresin capsicum will open your sinuses, it’s no fun. I just joke about it, not because I want to fuck with people, but because I did it to myself when I was young and dumb and it’s funny as hell.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Pet Peeves with Games?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Yes, but in the case of some games, the save data is shared.

  I don’t have a Pokémon game on Switch, so I can’t speak to it directly.

  On Animal Crossing, the first player goes through an orientation scene at the airport where they are told they won an island getaway package. They create their character, and then they choose an island shape from four randomly generated choices. Once all that’s done, you fly to the island and get to see the airport colour (this matters to some people), the native fruit (determines what recipes you can make, and some have preferences), and who your starter animal villagers (always a Big Sister personality female and a Jock personality male) will be. Sometimes you don’t like one of those, so you reset. I had to reset seven times to get an island I wanted (blue airport, oranges, and I forget who my starters were now — they have both moved away).

  So anyway, the second player does not get the orientation and the island picker. Instead, their orientation has them joining the first player’s island. The first player will always be the “Island Representative” and this is the only player Tom Nook (the racoon “boss” of the island, so to speak) will talk to about upgrades for the island and features you can unlock by completing simple quests. The other player(s) will have access to these once the “island representative” has unlocked them, but if they required learning a recipe, the other players will NOT be given that recipe. They can find it randomly in a message bottle on the beach, shot down from a balloon by a slingshot, or from a villager who is crafting something. Or, they can get it from another player, such as a hacked player running a treasure island where you can get ALL the recipes.

  Case in point: My wife’s island. My wife bought the Switch for Animal Crossing, then decided she did not like Animal Crossing (it IS kind of a slow and pointless “chill” game), so she stopped playing. She unlocked a couple things, but I could not unlock anything else. So she agreed to let me delete her island and start a new one.

  Case in point 2: My island. I’ve been playing my own island since May. EVERYTHING is unlocked. So she can start a new character, move onto my island, and have access to all the features. There may be a few things she can’t craft because she doesn’t have the recipe, and the game is less likely to spawn a recipe the island rep got for free (it’s considered lower priority).

  Sorry for the long reply, just wanted to clarify how it actually works. This is intentional: for “personal” games like Pokémon and Animal Crossing, Nintendo fully expects the second player to buy their own Switch and their own copy of the game. Once you’ve done that, you’re both island reps on your own islands, and you can visit each other over a local connection (no paid Nintendo Switch Online account required!). Now this is where it’s super important to make sure your second island does not have the same native fruit. There are five fruits (orange, apple, cherry, peach, and pear) and you will always have a native fruit, your fruit trees only grow this. You will have a secondary fruit your “mom” will send you and other villagers will gift you, and mystery islands have a low percentage chance of spawning. Once you figure out what those two are, you want to make sure the second island doesn’t use either as its native… and hope its secondary isn’t the same either. Then, you can trade fruits, and now you have access to four. You’ll need to trade with at least two other players to get access to all five fruits. (There are also coconuts but everyone is guaranteed to get those.)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Drop some Tabasco sauce in a hot skillet. Clear your sinuses right up. Can’t guarantee you’ll like it, though.

  When I was a kid, I had a nebulizer. Put some Pepsi in it. That was neat. Then I tried Tabasco. Why? I dunno. Love it on everything so I guess I thought it would be fun? Basically maced myself. Cleared me right up though!

  I’m joking. Don’t do this. But technically… I mean you can get Tabasco sauce over the counter.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Pet Peeves with Games?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I love when a game makes me think. To figure out how to progress, or just how to beat an enemy or solve a puzzle.

  What I don’t like is when you do the thing and it doesn’t click. Like you do it a second too fast or slow. Like come on, I did the thing, now let me move onto the next thing.

  I once played a game that let you skip a mission after failing it so many times. Seriously, why should the game just end because you don’t have perfect timing? That’s not entertaining for me. Keep the thing moving, somehow.