chaorace

chaorace, 6 months ago

Exactly. Making the game WINE-compatible is not the same thing as committing to support. In reality, the only thing stopping WINE from working is Epic Anti-Cheat and the absurd thing about this is that Epic already gave EAC a WINE-compatibility mode – they’re just actively choosing not to turn it on.

What Tim’s really saying is this:

I don’t want our flagship game to be used as a way to highlight Steam’s better Linux support, so the game won’t come to Linux until EGS on Linux is at parity. Unfortunately, it doesn’t make sense for us to bother doing that right now because the Linux usershare is too small to matter.

chaorace, 6 months ago

More importantly: did you know the “monopoly man” does not in fact wear a monocle? We live in trying times.

chaorace, 6 months ago (edited 6 months ago)

I had a really solid year, all things considered:

• ⭐ Hi-Fi Rush – Love it, hands down. This game’s like if Jet Set Radio, Scott Pilgrim, and DMC got into a fist fight and then that fist fight had a baby with Jack Black
• ⭐ Pentiment – I’m still playing through this one but I can already tell it’s a new favorite. Major Return of the Obra Dinn vibes
• ⭕ Against the Storm – This game innovates on the citybuilder genre so hard and I can’t get enough of it. If you love a challenge and hate the late-game, this is THE ONE
• ⭕ Psychonauts 2 – Fun and bursting with creativity… but I had to set it down after a certain point because I stopped enjoying the gameplay loop. Can’t put my finger on why…
• ⭕ Peglin – Yes, Peglin. The Peggle Roguelite. I like it and you would too if you gave it a chance. It’s not a forever roguelite, but I guarantee you’ll have a blast with it for 5-10 hours
• ❌ Deep Rock Galactic – I bounced off of this one. The game has so much charm… but I just couldn’t click with it. I think co-op games just may not be for me

---

Honorable Mention: TF2 – Definitely not a “new” game to me, I own TF2, I bought it with money! Even so… this year marked my return after a looong hiatus. Coming back was a total revelation – I thought I’d grown to hate FPS games – as it turns out, what I’d actually grown to hate was the modern antisocial MMR grindset. Game developers: I beseech thee… abandon matchmaking and return to 2007. Return the slab or suffer my curse

chaorace, 6 months ago

Yup, that about sums it up: fun, but shallow. Nevertheless I think it’s worthy of a recommendation because it has a great honeymoon period before falling off.

chaorace, 6 months ago

When it comes to Deep Rock/co-op I think my issues are more associated with the underlying gameloop design. I find it hard to perform well when the “tension” ramps up and these games are kind of tailor-made to create high-tension situations. When a round ends I’m left feeling tired/deflated rather than joyful. I had the same issue with Left 4 Dead, but oddly not so for Payday 2.

In any case, I’m right there with you when it comes to TF2 community servers. I sorely wish that more games emphasized these sorts of digital “3rd places”. I have TF2 servers where I can go anytime and just… belong for as long as I please. Games should have more permanent places like that, where play and community come before any imposed win/lose dichotomy. People would be happier.

chaorace, 6 months ago

A fellow Xbox gamepass User IT seems.

Nope, I’m just someone who waits for sales and has a bit of an indie streak.

This was after my First playthrough. Now, with George putting out his video, im back in. My god, its marvellous.

I see we follow similar creators! I only just picked Pentiment up last week – Jacob Geller’s recent 2023 video is what originally put Pentiment on my radar and then George’s video gave me that final push into playing it for myself. I’m extremely glad for having done so because Pentiment has quickly become quite special to me. I already look forward to making subsequent playthroughs despite still working on the first.

Hifi Rush was great, but felt too formulaic for me, so i abandoned it after the first or second Boss. Too much running arpund, No real banger music between Bosses.

I can see where you’re coming from. From a macro perspective, the game’s essentially just a series of battle arenas stitched together by corridors and platforming challenges… nothing incredible there. What makes Hi-Fi Rush special for me is the novel fusion of rythm mechanics and spectacle fighter mechanics – they complement each other extremely well. (Forgive me for explaining at you like this. I just can’t help myself when it comes to talking about this game)

Normally, I can’t stand DMC-likes because of the requisite rote memorization. HFR flips this dynamic on its head by making the memorization incidental – it happens naturally as you practice playing the combo on-rythm. Perhaps even more importantly; just as mastery of a combo string comes within reach, the underlying musical qualities all suddenly spring into focus and turn the sequence into a musical phrase. It clicks together in a very intrinsically satisfying way IMO. Naturally, this all compounds in on itself and gets double-fun once you start improvising your own “melodies” during real combat. You like Jazz? Because it’s like Jazz if Jazz killed people.

Now, obviously this isn’t going to hit the same way for everyone (nor should it!)… but if you’ve not yet buckled down in training mode and truly mastered a string or two for yourself, then I would very emphatically encourage you to give the game a second try. I actually had to do the exact same thing myself before I really “got” the game and my mindset shifted. Hi-Fi Rush truly is the Dark Souls of 3rd-Person Action videogames

chaorace, 6 months ago

People have put worse things in their bodies. Some mildly contaminated chips won’t kill you and probably won’t even give you cancer.

Let’s be honest, though… a standard bag of chips is already kind of bad for you – maybe you should toss them out because you’re better off without them either way? It’s just a bag of chips at the end of the day.

chaorace, 6 months ago

I think it’s a little unfair to escalate my talking about a presumably invisible and flavorless level of contamination into somehow advocating for choking down soot-blasted cancer nachos.

For the record: that’s not what I meant and I think any reasonable person would not have interpeted it as such having read the context of the post. It’s a sealed bag of chips – they have functioning taste buds and eyeballs for Pete’s sake!

chaorace, 6 months ago

Also worth noting that most companies prefer to treat any given firing as “without cause” because stating a reason is usually a net-loss in terms of legal exposure.

Exceptions to the rule include, but are not limited to:

• States which make it expensive/slow to fire without cause (because money)
• Union jobs (because union)
• Retaliative firings (because worker’s rights)
• Prejudiced firings (because civil rights)

How does one tell if they’re on the road to a with-cause termination? Simple: documentation. If you’re suddenly being put under a microscope it might indicate that a premeditated f-bomb is hiding around the corner.

chaorace, 6 months ago

Haven’t you heard? Schisms are sooo last millenia. These days canon is out and headcanon is in. Be your own godhead

chaorace, 6 months ago

The joke

You are here

chaorace, 6 months ago (edited 6 months ago)

Wayland is Wayland. If you use a Wayland compositor, you’re getting a lot of security by virtue of design alone. Things like keyloggers and screenrecorders will not be able to intrude on your session barring vulnerability exploits. I’m not going to touch on the relative vulnerability risk of each environment since a) they’re all relatively new & b) I’ve never implemented Wayland myself

With that being said, here’s what’s not protected by Wayland regardless of the chosen compositor: microphones, webcams, keyrings, and files.

For microphones & webcams, any distro which rolls Pipewire in combination with Wayland will be sufficient to secure these. Pretty much all Wayland environments roll Pipewire so this is only important to consider if you’re running your own customized environment (be sure to disable any pre-existing PulseAudio daemon after setting up Pipewire to close this security hole)

For keyrings, these are handled by your environment’s polkit implementation. Much like Wayland, there are several implementations of polkit and they’re all just about equally secure barring any potential vulnerabilities… Just make sure that you’re using an encrypted database (usually on by default) and that you have it configured to always relock & properly prompt for the unlock key.

For file access, this is actually a core probelm with Linux as a whole – any unsandboxed application you run will be able to read any file that you can read. The solution is to use sandboxed applications whenever possible. The easiest way to achieve this is through using flathub/flatpak applications, since they will always list out and enforce their required permissions on a per-application basis. For non-flatkpak applications, you’ll need to use “jail” environments (e.g.: bubblejail, firejail) in order to artificially restrict application permissions by hand.

chaorace, 7 months ago

Let’s put it this way: if you took out someone’s liver, would you say that the person is the sum of their parts minus a liver? If so, then congratulations that’s also how it works for ADHD. There is a pathology and that changes how the mind works. To argue otherwise would be akin to arguing that people without livers should just metabolize harder.

chaorace, 7 months ago

I present for your consideration the case of September 3rd, 1967: the day Sweden switched from driving on the left side of the road to the right side. One would expect that the incredibly distracting process of overcoming a lifetime of learned habit would be a recipe for chaos, but in fact there were significantly fewer accidents than average on the day of the change [^1].

As it turns out, the danger of complacency outweighs the danger of distraction. It does not particularly matter where one directs their focus if they are not driving mindfully. In a more natural environment, we’re good enough at identifying dangerous situations to pay attention when it matters, but roads are not a natural environment. For every alert person briefly annoyed by an audio notification there will be at least as many pedal-pushers too relaxed to even form coherent memories, let alone engage in defensive driving.[^2]

[^1]: The effect was not permanent, so I will be ignoring the alternative explanation that the new side was somehow massively superior to the extent required to explain the discrepancy. Ditto to the idea that fewer people were driving that one particular day, because the effect did last longer than a single day.

[^2]: Of course, just because someone’s driving absent-mindedly doesn’t mean that they’re stupid. They’ll catch on if you just buzz their phone randomly because you think it’ll prevent crashes. The driver needs to believe that the danger is real which is something that the app has to earn by not being manipulative.

chaorace, 7 months ago

This is one of those interesting things. If we accept OP’s premise for the sake of argument… then what does that really change? Society accepts that people can be lawfully killed on purpose given the “right” circumstances (e.g.: criminal punishment, war combat, equivocal self-defense). We generally don’t like it, but we do fundamentally accept that human life is on the negotiating table when justified.

That’s what irks me about the murder label. We already willfully choose to end human lives, irrevocably destroying a vast collection of lived experiences and social connections in the process. What is destroyed when an unborn child dies? A life which knows nobody, understands nothing, and thinks/feels at best at a level no more complex than animals which we routinely slaughter without a second thought. One might argue that the life itself contains some unknowable potential for these things, but that theoretical future potential comes at the price of the mother’s current potential and freedoms.

The way I see it, the position is inherently precious. It fears the label of murder without caring to consider why the label exists. A philosophy so myopically focused on keeping one’s own moral hands clean that the term “second order consequence” may as well be written in hieroglyphics.

chaorace, 7 months ago (edited 7 months ago)

They used to, before Extra Credits, Critical Role, and MovieBob went independent.

chaorace, 7 months ago

Um excuse me time actually already ended in 1991

chaorace, 7 months ago

Let’s not get too crazy. There’s a 15 year period where young men tend to get injured and young women tend to give birth that acts as a major filter. If you plotted death rates on a graph it would look like a trident – that’s life without antibiotics.

It’s certainly true that elderly were not a rare sight, but those elderly who could be found were almost universally hardy of constitution or talented at avoiding danger. Quite literally the end of the bell curve.

chaorace, 7 months ago

I just really like tsunderes, okay?

chaorace, 7 months ago

What an incredible postdiction

chaorace, 7 months ago

I used my WF-1000XM4s daily for 2 years until the batteries gave out. They were already out of warranty, but Sony replaced them anyway. I still use mine daily and am quite happy with the performance. They’re great IEMs if you’re fine with the batteries croaking after a couple of years – not a big deal if you’re comfortable installing aftermarket cells.

It’s not ideal, but I’ve had worse exeriences with other IEMs. My worst experience was actually with the GalaxyBuds, which unfortunately I developed an allergy to (Don’t roll your eyes – I’m not the only one! It was an issue with the rubberized coating in a few specific batches). Those assholes accepted my in-warranty RMA, but then never sent anything back. I literally only wanted a replacement, not even money back! Support completely stonewalled me even though I had the UPS receipt from their return slip 😤

chaorace, 7 months ago

You could argue that “moral compass” means more than just a strong sense of right/wrong. Presumably, most people have that, even if we don’t describe it as such. I think OP intended something more like a “strong sense of harmony” wherein everyone has a shared common understanding of some greater good and therefore work towards it with common cause.

It’s still a fairly naive notion, but for an entirely different reason. Rather than self-righteous chaos, such a wish would lead to a sort of moral tyranny imposed by one single person’s preconceptions of what constitutes a moral life.

chaorace, 7 months ago

But I think that monotheistic religions throughout history were one of the most divisive factors among people that otherwise would get along just fine.

Yes, I believe this is the part that got you oh buddy’d. People make religions, they are a reflection in the mirror. Trying to solve the history of humanity by excising monotheism is like trying to convince your reflection to stop scowling at you

chaorace, 7 months ago

So you don’t think religion often drives a wedge between groups of people that otherwise would live together without issues?

Is that what I said? Don’t strawman me.

Let me put it this way instead: given any system of self-replicating information, be it DNA or gospel, you will observe convergent evolution. If the environment offers a productive niche, then it’s only a matter of time before that niche gets exploited. Monotheism isn’t a tragic freak accident – it’s an inevitable response to an unexploited niche. Wishing it away is pointless because then something nearly identical would spring up to replace it. If one wishes to alter the reflection (i.e.: culture), then they must direct their focus upon the subject therein (i.e.: human society)

chaorace, 7 months ago

Excellent. More fuel for the Youtube lore video essay mines!

chaorace, 7 months ago

I doubt anyone would list this as a reason, per se, but a common justification for the coffee/tea crowd is that these drinks are rich in antioxidants. The theory goes that stimulants cause oxidative stress, so you want all of the extra antioxidants that you can get.

chaorace, 7 months ago

If it’s not fun, why bother?

chaorace, 7 months ago

I’ll answer your question with another question: is it Vegan to eat bacon made from a pig you personally raised up from birth after it dies naturally having lived a full life?

If you define Veganism as a diet, then bacon’s bacon. If you define Veganism as a personal reaction to the cruelty of industrial farms, then perhaps this is how you get Vegan bacon. If you define Veganism as something more spiritual, then perhaps desecrating your dear friend’s corpse by eating it is even worse.

chaorace, 7 months ago

It’s a hypothetical. Assume for the sake of the exercise that the pig is the tastiest to ever live by sheer unknowable chance.

chaorace, 7 months ago

Wow

chaorace, 7 months ago

Actually, forget ANC. Get some of that Automatic Brainwave Cancellation

chaorace, 7 months ago

A brain implant that I can store a short memo in. I have a very bad working memory so it would be incredible to somehow store lists/numbers longer than 4 items in my head without hacking it by whispering the list to myself over and over.

chaorace, 7 months ago

What I’ve done instead is configured a desktop hotkey that toggles the system-level microphone mute. Two birds with one stone: foolproof PTT and on the same hotkey regardless of Zoom/Meet/Teams/Slack/Discord (consulting is fun)

chaorace, 7 months ago

Honest answer? Steam RemotePlay

chaorace, 7 months ago

In the Steam Link app, you have the option to select “Start Streaming” without picking a specific game. This will stream the screen as it is without binding to a specific window.

The main caveats here are as follows:

• Requires a working pipewire & desktop portal configuration
• Depending on desktop portal & settings, you may need to manually click through the screensharing request modal on your desktop at the start of each connection
• The Steam client must be installed and running on your Linux machine in order to receive connections

chaorace, 7 months ago

Prior art is instructive: Orca.

To sum it up. Screenreaders are the main assistive interface required by blind users to interact with system applications. Linux screenreaders such as Orca interface with the AT-SPI (Assistive Technology Service Provider Interface) to provide two core functionalities:

1. Structured navigation of GUI elements via a keyboard interface
2. Navigation feedback via a Braille monitor or TTS

---

So that’s the core. At a minimum, the desktop environment needs to ship with a bundled screenreader and AT-SPI coverage across all GUI system components. Fortunately this desktop environment already exists – it’s called Gnome.

Beyond just… shipping Gnome, the rest of the job would involve curating a list of accessible applications to be included in the out-of-box install, including blind-friendly default configurations. Ideally, there should be multiple configurations to choose from driven by a community wiki plus supporting configuration manager on the OS-side.

As for the underlying base distro – I don’t really think it matters. Immutable distros only provide declarative management for system components and most of what this project would need to cover are userland. It makes sense to borrow many of the children of such distros when building a configuration manager (e.g.: toolbox, home-manager), though these will conveniently work anywhere you want to bring them and thus won’t constain the field of available options. With that being said, the ideal base distro would have the following characteristics:

• Well known, well maintained, well documented
• Official support for Gnome as an out-of-box, first-class desktop environment
• Strong package repository game including current versions of all major assistive software
• Very strong track record of stable releases that consistently boot all the way up to the display server

chaorace, 7 months ago

I don’t say this as a disagreement, but rather just a factchecking exercise: “white phosphorus” isn’t synonymous with “war crime” in the way that weapons like cluster bombs are. This is to say that it’s possible to use in ways that are compliant with the international rules of war, unlike a many chemical weapons and the aforementioned cluster bombs.

Again, to be crystal clear: I am not on team human immolation. We all know that it is strategically impossible to deploy phosphorus in one of the most densely populated regions on Earth without deliberately choosing to immolate civilians. My hangup here is that the gravity of the situation will not be conveyed to a skeptic if you don’t spell out the facts in exacting detail: on October 11th, Israel deployed an airburst of white phosphorus over Gaza city. White phosphorus deployed on a city with a population density of 21,000/sq. mile. Big time classic warcrime.

chaorace, 7 months ago

You’ll get another 3 seasons and you’ll like it

chaorace, 7 months ago

Do you have contamination and mutants, in your brain?

chaorace, 7 months ago

I swear to god if that screen asks me to leave a tip…

chaorace, 7 months ago

I beg to disagree, but why don’t we discuss that further from the comfort of a nearby underground mine whose entrances I control?

chaorace, 7 months ago

ARE YOU SURE?

• No
• Continue

chaorace, 7 months ago

At least two whole Denuvos

chaorace, 7 months ago

It’s not likely. Don’t think

chaorace, 7 months ago

Just FYI: the western conception of Chinese “Social Credit” is not particularly accurate. It technically exists, but mostly only on paper as a botched policy initiative. I’d refer you to this PolyMatter video (and their sources list) if you’re interested in learning more.

chaorace, 7 months ago

It depends on whether the plan is prepaid or postpaid. Postpaid plans are the ones which establish a line of credit since the phone company is tracking your tab and asking you to pay it down at the end of each month.

With that being said, phone companies want as many people as possible on prepaid plans because why wouldn’t they want to borrow your money every month? If you want postpaid you need to specifically ask for it and also pass a credit check.

chaorace, 8 months ago

You’ve killed another one, doctor. Congratulations

chaorace, 8 months ago

Well, the second problem would be figuring out who curates the system. If you’ve ever voted on a referendum you’ll probably know what I’m talking about. You can make any proposal sound awesome/horrible if you leave out the right details.

If you’ve ever organized to resist a referendum you’ve probably also experienced the “we’ll just rephrase this and try again later” effect, wherein special interests just need to stubbornly keep pushing until the opposition voters get sick of participating in the polls.

I don’t think these are unsolvable problems, but they do inherently require setting up a representative beaurocracy of unelected technocrats – an apparent oxymoron. It’s gotta be someone’s job to run the machine and ideally you want them to be looking out for the people above all else.

So, how to play kingmaker? Well, if we take literal kings & elected representatives off the table, what remains is a model akin to academia, wherein credentials & seniority are prioritized above most else. It’s not a bulletproof system (none are), but if you squint hard enough the EU sort of exemplifies what this model could look like – just replace the delegates with smartphones, essentially.