SpaceCowboy
@SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
- Comment on Monopoly 1 week ago:
Last game I had I was rocking up on my brother’s properties (which had hotels on them) so before I rolled the dice I bought a cheap property from my neice (the youngest player in the game) with all of my money, then then sold all of my property (including the one I just bought for all of my money) to her for $1. Rolled the dice, landed on my brother’s property and handed him the $1 I had left and was out of the game.
Had I not done so, I would’ve been bankrupt and had to hand over my property to my brother and it would have been an easy win for him at that point. As it was, the game was actually competitive.
So the lessons learned: 1) regulation can lead to a more competitive market, 2) If you’re about to go bankrupt, transfer all of your assets to a family member and 3) Monopoly sucks and people will hold grudges over what you do in that stupid game.
- Comment on bugs 1 week ago:
Yeah, I’m pretty sure taxonomy is in latin because actual scientists got tired of dealing with pedantic dipshits.
“Bug” is an english word so it’s the domain of an etymologist not a biolgist. My lookup of the word indicates applying “bug” to arachnids is perfectly cromulent.
- Comment on Anon watches LOTR 5 weeks ago:
I feel like they make movies to appease the hot take internet culture. If a few people don’t understand how a guy with magic powers in a room full of cloning tanks could be brought back from the dead, you end up with endless “Somehow Palpatine returned” memes and it becomes a whole thing. So they’ve compensated (maybe over-compensated) and make sure every detail is explained fully to avoid that kind of reaction. They also have to make sure they make jokes about something being corny before people on the internet make the lame jokes.
Rise of Skywalker was probably the last popcorn movie where there was a lot of “show don’t tell” going on and pretty much all of the commentary about it on the internet indicates people think it’s wrong to do that. To be sure there were other problems with that movie, but people got very fixated on criticizing the decision made to not over-explain.
Somehow… movies have to explain every little detail now.
- Comment on How disheartening for Snowden to do the right thing and be stranded in Russia. 5 weeks ago:
If you think it’s bait, it’s because you’re in an information silo and don’t often come in contact with different opinions. This results in people bein ill-equipped to discuss issues with people who are considering factors you haven’t so you have to pretend it’s “just someone trolling me” to avoid thinking about another point of view.
For what it’s worth, I agree with the above person. Snowden is a traitor, him now being a citizen of an adversary should be a clue. He now has to say whatever Putin wants him to say or he’ll fall out of a window.
- Comment on Film preservationist Robert Harris defends controversial James Cameron 4K restorations of Aliens, The Abyss and True Lies 1 month ago:
I think there’s too much emphasis on the “artists” for this. I think there’s a death of the author kind of deal where once a thing is out there, it’s up to the audience what it means. Well it’s not that the audience 100% owns it, but it shouldn’t be 100% the artist’s decision either. If you’re making art for yourself then keep it to yourself. But If you’re making art for others then what those people want matters too.
Legally it’s what the owners of the copyright want that ultimately decides it. But morally speaking, actively preventing people from seeing the thing they saw before seems wrong to me. People change which means artists change. Sometimes you just like an artist’s earlier work better and having the artist later on in life alter it means you’re no longer able to really see the artist’s earlier work.
- Comment on Film preservationist Robert Harris defends controversial James Cameron 4K restorations of Aliens, The Abyss and True Lies 1 month ago:
Also the whole Star Wars Special Edition debacle (which has never been resolved) has everyone really nervous about these kinds of things.
- Comment on Film preservationist Robert Harris defends controversial James Cameron 4K restorations of Aliens, The Abyss and True Lies 1 month ago:
I agree, but in terms of preservation it should be as FfaerieOxide says. That way better algorithms can be used on those scans in the future.
And people should have choices over whether they want a version that’s just the high quality scan only, or whether they want the AI upscale version. Personally I like the film grain, the super clean look just doesn’t feel right. But if people want the super clean look, I’m not going to be stopping them from having it.
And we don’t want to get into the same situation as with the Star Wars OT where all kinds of alterations are made but you can’t legally get a version without those alterations.
- Comment on Anon has a power fantasy 1 month ago:
The main problem is storage since hydrogen is so small.
Yes that is the problem. Maybe there’s some chemistry that could help with this? I don’t know I’m not a chemical engineer.
I think mobile applications make more sense though, so things like trucks and forklifts.
Also airplanes. Jet engines can run on hydrogen with little to no conversion. Problem there is the low density of hydrogen means airplanes need to be redesigned to have much larger tanks, and cryogenics need to be involved. Airbus has some ideas about this, but it’s still very much in the concept phase.
But for transport trucks there’s an interesting solution being tested in Germany where overhead wires are run over the highways, similar to overhead wires for trains. Trucks connect to that when on the highway. So the trucks would only need battery for making stops then they’re off the highway and would recharge again when back on the highway. Seems like a good solution to me, but it’s still being tested.
But hydrogen could replace natural gas for heating and for those who refuse to give up their gas stoves. But as you say, it’s small so the gas pipes would need to be upgraded to have tighter seals for that to work.
- Comment on Anon has a power fantasy 1 month ago:
Yeah I think people don’t appreciate how much the cost of renewables has gone down. If we were making a big push on fixing climate change two decodes ago, then nuclear would’ve been a good route to go. But that didn’t happen, and looking at the cost of renewables now and the timelines needed for nuclear, it simply doesn’t make sense anymore.
Though what Germany did with shutting down their nuclear plants was stupid. Keep existing nuclear going until all carbon emitting power generation is replaced, then consider replacing existing nuclear with renewables.
- Comment on Anon has a power fantasy 1 month ago:
You can extract hydrogen from water with electricity. You can store hydrogen in tanks. Burn hydrogen to produce electricity similar to natural gas, except without any carbon in the equation.
- Comment on Anon has a power fantasy 1 month ago:
Could slip in the shower too. Not sure what my point is… just trying to be extra pedantic I guess.
- Comment on Anon has a power fantasy 1 month ago:
I think Natural Gas is something like a 20% improvement over coal. So it is an improvement, but yeah it’s still 80% bad and it’s gotta go.
- Comment on Every 60 seconds in Africa, a minute passes 1 month ago:
Found a university socialist!
- Comment on Every 60 seconds in Africa, a minute passes 1 month ago:
Them’s fighting words!
You’ll regret this as soon as I figure out how many pounds of fuel I gotta put into this missile so it’ll cover the number of miles needed to get to you… accounting for the knots of wind speed… at the altitude in feet the missile will be flying at…
Well you know what, let’s just agree to disagree.
- Comment on Every 60 seconds in Africa, a minute passes 1 month ago:
Yeah Vaush is a piece of shit, and he may have said some fucked up shit in the past but I don’t think it’s cool to brand someone like that when he’s clearly shown that he’s changed for the better on these issues. People gotta be more accepting of someone that has changed their minds for the better, otherwise everything will stay like it is.
But he’s still a piece of shit, but for other reasons.
- Comment on Every 60 seconds in Africa, a minute passes 1 month ago:
Wouldn’t you rather they spend more time doing fractions instead of invading more countries?
- Comment on Every 60 seconds in Africa, a minute passes 1 month ago:
People see leftists as people that became so by going to an expensive university that their parents paid for.
There’s almost always a “hello fellow children” vibe with leftists, and many times they look down their noses at people in the working class for not appreciating how smart and generous they’re being for helping out he little people with their brilliant dialectics.
But working class people aren’t stupid, they all know the university leftists aren’t really dedicated to any real change it’s just about fitting in with their university friends. The 20 something university leftists of today turn into the asshole managers when they hit their 30s. Either that or they become professors that teach the next generation of wealthy shits that they need to say some bullshit socialist platitudes when they’re young. It’s important for the well-being of the wealthy so they won’t feel guilty about being so wealthy later on in life because they “tried to tell the stupid peasants, they just wouldn’t listen!”
- Comment on Every 60 seconds in Africa, a minute passes 1 month ago:
This has big “I am very smart” energy.
That nicely sums up everything anyone needs to know about Vaush.
- Comment on Will Smith Zombie Game No One Has Heard Of Bombs 1 month ago:
From what I’ve heard he’s a legit nice dude.
I think about that interview with Spielberg where he refused to make a comment about Julia Roberts. Julia Roberts only ever appeared in one Spielberg movie. He’s Steven Spielberg, he doesn’t have to work with assholes if he doesn’t want to.
Tom Cruise has appeared in multiple Spielberg movies. I take that as a sign he’s not an asshole. He’s just in a fucked up cult.
- Comment on Will Smith Zombie Game No One Has Heard Of Bombs 1 month ago:
Dude understands what makes a movie work. So if Tom Cruise is involved with a movie it’s likely to be really good.
It’s a kind of “say what you will about Tom Cruise, but the man knows story structure” kind of things.
- Comment on Will Smith Zombie Game No One Has Heard Of Bombs 1 month ago:
From pretty much all reports Tom Cruise is generally really nice to people. If you’re a nice weirdo then whatever, they’re Hollywood people, they’re all weirdos.
But if you’re an asshole weirdo, that’s when people won’t like you anymore.
- Comment on Will Smith Zombie Game No One Has Heard Of Bombs 1 month ago:
Much is made about online cancel culture, but that’s just people making a lot of noise on the internet and doesn’t matter much.
The real cancel culture is when most people simply don’t like an actor as much as they used to. If the majority of people like an actor just 10% less than they used to, they take a massive hit to their career. Just liking someone a slightly less means you’re just going to watch something else instead. But when a majority of people feel the same way then liking someone a little less means translates into a large percentage of people not watching something. It’s not like you are going to watch 90% of a Will Smith movie because you like him 10% less, you either watch a movie or you don’t.
Real cancel culture isn’t “I HATE THIS GUY SO MUCH I’LL NEVER EVER WATCH ANYTHING HE’S IN!” as portrayed on the internet. The real version is “Will Smith? Meh… there’s probably something better to watch.”
I don’t vehemently hate Will Smith for the slap. But The fact that I’m a little less likely to watch his movies now and the fact that there’s always other things to watch means it’s unlikely I’ll watch another Will Smith movie.
And whatever, he’s got lots of money already, it’s no big deal if his show business career is over.
- Comment on Elder scrolls 1 month ago:
Frankly, you’re coming off quite hostile about what is literally a texture.
So it’s acceptable for you to call me a pedant, but I’m crossing the line when I say you’re being a curmudgeon? Ok.
What I’m telling you is that it’s literally a visual element. I already said, it could be optional.
It could be, but maintaining multiple designs isn’t free. To keep them all involves additional QA and bugfixes for every release and designing an interface to allow a selecting different designs. There’s a cost to this, and why bother? As you say it’s literally a texture, not a big deal. What’s your justification for a development team to put time and effort to maintain some old designs that are no longer optimal?
And this is a microcosm of all interactions with technology. Some people simply don’t like change, even when there’s good reason for the changes. Every technological improvement no matter how big or small comes with reactions similar to yours. It’s best not to impede technological improvements to please curmudgeons, because there’s no pleasing them. You can decide to be angry over every minor improvement in technology, but that’s just deciding to be angry for petty reasons. It’s best to try to understand technological changes rather than always being angry over them.
I mean you’re still upset over a change in the look of scrollbar, even after the reasons for the changes were explained. There are much bigger changes in technology coming, not sure how you’re going to handle it if a scrollbar change bothers you.
- Comment on Elder scrolls 1 month ago:
I’ve explained to you the decision making process that’s used when changing UI elements. If you’re so dedicated to being a curmudgeon to learn about why technology changes, that’s your decision.
- Comment on Gaslighting 1 month ago:
Telling a robot that he’s “done a man’s job” is a Gaff.
- Comment on Elder scrolls 1 month ago:
There is still a need to indicate progress when scrolling even with a mouse wheel. So scroll bars are designed with that in mind. And there is still occasion that you may want to use it to brag the bar to a specific part of a page. But this is fairly rare, because how do you know what part of a page you want to go to before you’ve seen it?
Currently on my Firefox there is indeed no scrollbar displayed. If I use my mouse wheel a thin version appears to indicate progress while scrolling. If I move my mouse to the edge of the screen a wider version appears which is easier to interface with on the rare occasion I want to do that. This is an optimal interface given the hardware I have available.
On a phone or table the scrollbar will not be interacted with my clicking on it. It only appears to indicate progress.
The old scrollbar design is obsolete. Doesn’t make any sense on touchscreens and is a waste of screen space on desktops since people have scroll wheels now.
Obsolete doesn’t mean it no longer works, a horse and carriage still functions after all. Obsolete simply means there’s more optimal options available because of improvements in technology. The scrollbar on Firefox right now is more optimal because of newer technology. The scrollbars pictured are obsolete no matter how much nostalgia you might feel for them.
- Comment on [deleted] 1 month ago:
Those jobs still need to be done though. Seems to me the problem is that minimum wage is too low, it isn’t a living wage. So it’s bizarre to me that the emphasis isn’t on simply raising minimum wage. UBI feels like something everyone knows won’t happen, it’s just an excuse to be angsty.
- Comment on Elder scrolls 2 months ago:
Its the epitome of technology that as it improves some things become obsolete.
Pretty much every mouse has a scroll wheel on them now. I very seldom click on a scroll bar now. So the design has changed with that consideration in mind.
- Comment on [deleted] 2 months ago:
I mean… kinda?
I think you’re putting too much evil intent behind the motivations though. Supply and demand isn’t some made up excuse. If the prices were to stay the same and everyone had more money, then there would be shortages. It’s not as if a factory can instantly increase production and the supply chain can instantly get the products on the shelves over night. There are real world factors involved in increasing production.
So what happens is prices increase for many products and this results in inflation. Nobody wants inflation, not even the wealthy. So the central bank will want to tamp down that inflation and the lever they use for that is increasing interest rates. So you wanted to put that UBI towards a mortgage or a car payment? Well a lot of it will be going towards the increased interest on the money you’re borrowing.
And the thing about inflation is that it doesn’t really get reversed. So the inflation from the initial shock to the economy would take a bite out of UBI (and also the income besides UBI). Your employer may be less likely to give you a raise to offset that inflation because you have UBI. and the fix for the inflation will mean paying more interest on a mortgage.
So yeah, UBI wouldn’t gain people much. It’s mostly just a poison pill promoted to kids by wealthy people like Andrew Yang so you don’t push for an increase in minimum wage. An increase in minimum wage would be a direct transfer of wealth from businesses to employees. They don’t want this so they promote UBI which isn’t actually feasible to distract from minimum wage increases (which almost everyone supports) and make taxing the wealthy less likely (which is also supported by most, but not when it’s to pay for UBI).
- Comment on there are worse hills to die on 2 months ago:
Unfortunately the pitchforks were made out of Francium and they vaporized and cooked everyone.