Dark_Arc

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

Yeah, crafting for Gotham Knights made the game considerably worse. It added basically nothing over procedurally generated or designed loot.

It’s not like Gotham Knights was ever going to be a game where you really need that level of min-maxing.

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

Same but I’m just not into RPGs or D&D generally.

So I got on that game and it was kind of fun up until the first town when my friends were like “we need to talk to people to figure out what to do.”

I don’t mind games having a bit of lore and story but … I want to be doing (read: typically fighting) stuff in my games not just talking to a bunch of people… And when I don’t even know what people I need to talk to, to most quickly get back to the action, I’m out.

The one exception to that is possibly RuneScape because I’ve been playing that game for ages. However, even there I use quest guides and sometimes just spam through all the dialogue.

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

Ah yes, I love nothing more than to have my screen obstructed by none other than … ME!?! I was the villain all along!?

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

Open world is really only good if it’s something like an MMO where the content is built up over the course of years and there are multiple story lines.

Aside from that, it works well for racing games not much else.

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

I don’t play competitive games unless the community is generally decent or I have the option to just turn off voice and text chat for people I don’t know.

Hunt Showdown is the one arguably competitive game (in that its PvP) that I still play … the community there is generally great. There is the occasional trash talk but mostly it’s just people having fun.

Sometimes people on enemy teams will be willing to negotiate and you both walk away from the fight.

Sometimes they’ll just have fun with it and make sound effects. One guy just the other night I was in a shoot out with was making sound effects “agghhh my leg!!! You got me you got me, it’s over!!” Only to come back a few seconds later with a bomb thrown at me and my buddies.

Occasionally there are toxic people but it’s really fun when you shoot them, take their stuff, and burn their characters bodies … then report them. Taking the extra time to be inflammatory or make noise to trash talk on an extraction shooter can easily get you killed and make you lose a fair amount of stuff.

If being a toxic egomaniac is your jam, extraction shooters are a bad fit.

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

🙄

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

Honestly that makes me way more interested in playing

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

That’s just lawyers being lawyers… Trump and Republicans have certainly argued far more absurd theories only for them to be shot down when put to test.

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

Being an American requires conformity with the positive benefit of unity

We must be living in different Americas. This country loves nothing more than rebellion.

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

I’m not saying I agree with them, but I’ve heard the argument they’re trying to make before.

It’s not about eating the meat, it’s about the supply chain that results in meat on your table. That supply chain puts humans in close contact with large numbers of animals.

COVID supposedly came from a market where close contact was extremely common … basically street vendors selling a variety of animals (primarily for cooking).

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

That ignores the issue of frequency. The chance of someone crashing their car (lifetime) is much higher than their chance that day will be tonight.

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

It needs one unwary cave explorer at just the right time.

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

An F-150 and a Prius both need tires. I was not aware this makes them the same vehicle.

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

In theory yes, in practice, it’s a great way to get banned if they want to crack down

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

Hi here, I’m I’m.

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

Yeah I know quite a few old buicks from the early 2000s that lasted into the 300k mile ball park.

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

The Department of Holes!?? Gosh… I knew PiHole’s time was limited but it’s too soon 😥

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

This from the start has seemed to me like a prosecutor trying to make a name for themselves by taking down a famous person.

If you’re doing a scene where you throw acid on somebody is the person throwing the acid supposed to check to make sure it’s not actually acid before they throw it?

Should they check to make sure the knife they’re about to stab someone with is actually a prop?

If you get to the person who’s been told to “do this action convincingly” and you want them to double check all the safety work you’re doing it wrong. Their job isn’t making sure they’ve been given safe tools, it’s using safe tools to make someone that’s fake but convincing.

Everyone in the armoring company should be charged with murder … but Alec Baldwin did not put live rounds into a gun. He went into work, did his job, and because other people screwed up someone got shot. Maybe the industry itself needs to change but that shouldn’t be Alec Baldwin’s problem. That’s not justice.

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

If it was just snap I could get over it but… Canonical has a long history of doing nonsense that goes against the rest of the ecosystem as if they’re Microsoft and they can just get away with it.

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

He’s not senile… He does have a life long stuttering problem though which makes him an easy target for such accusations at his age.

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

Let’s just link to the video … youtu.be/m1z_LdeHCdQ?t=63

It’s not a well worded response but it’s a valid response.

“Oh I’m focused … You know look, I have trouble even believing how old I am. I don’t give thought to my age any more than I give thought to flying. There aren’t things that I avoid doing now that I did before … physically, mentally, etc.”

Another way of phrasing it, I’m focused … This whole thing is silly, I don’t even think about it. I do all the stuff I did when I was younger now. I’m only old on the outside."

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

No, the weight gain is from the juice being high in sugar (like a fruit) without fiber (which a fruit has).

You’re basically drinking sugar and there’s nothing to slow down your metabolism or fill you up, so you take in too much sugar.

In theory if you mixed it with something fibrous like oats (that don’t have their own sweatener) maybe you end up in a better place (if you drink less juice and you eat/drink less caloric beverages/food throughout your day – i…e you trade bland oats and orange juice for a hamburger).

In general, adding things to your diet doesn’t help unless you’re also removing something (e.g., adding smoothies is great! … but not if you’re still having the hamburger and now also a smoothie vs water).

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

Hm… I think I misread/misinterpretted.

I’d still caution against the idea of eating something “bad” but making it “good” by pairing it with something “good.” That’s a seemingly common slippery slope.

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

Having the option to install 3rd party is another attack surface, and gives a chance for the market - or authoritarian control - to to veer towards not being vetted by that walled garden.

Authoritarians are always going to be prefer authoritarian app stores where any app that threatens them can be swifty removed.

Authoritarians rule in part via suppression of information. All governments can mandate that specific things be or not be installed on devices, it’s typically only authoritarians that are afraid of unknown things being installed on devices.

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

It’s true that Apple can swing their weight around in some markets. However, in places where the government is able to govern as they wish, e.g. China, the CCP gets their way every time in the end… And that’s pretty much how it goes with private companies vs governments. You either play by their rules or you seize to be a business in their jurisdiction.

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

What’s the temperature at places like this? It looks cold to me but you’re definitely not bundled up.

(Beautiful pic btw!)

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

Yeah, I wouldn’t mind getting a notification on my phone … sometimes I don’t hear the little chime or I do but I’m the middle of something and forget.

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

I think there’s an argument to make screens faster. Graphics have hit a point where resolution isn’t going to give anything of substance… It’s now more about making lighting work “right” with ray tracing… I think the next thing might be making things as fluid as possible.

So at least in the gaming space, these higher refresh rates make sense. There’s still fluidity that we as humans can notice that we’re not yet getting. e.g. if you shake your mouse like crazy, even on a 144hz the mouse will jump around to different spots it’s not a fluid motion (I’ve never seen a 180hz but I bet the same applies).

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

Y’all seem to be doing fine without my vote… The United States on the other hand… Definitely needs to keep my vote…

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

Not just that if Gore had won and 9-11 would have still happened we would have likely seen a push away from oil starting in the early 2000s. I think Gore could’ve turned that into an opportunity to say “to hell with these middle east authoritarians and their oil, we can do better for ourselves and better for the planet.”

Unfortunately I was 6 when 9-11 happened so I didn’t have much say in these matters.

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

Literally never have understood why a type of container makes something gross to some people.,.

Same thing with color of something. I mean, I at least get that in terms of color X is associated with Y… Just seems strange to me.

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

They’re getting laid off because there IS NO PROFIT MARGIN.

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

From my understanding their long term unprofitable. They were started by venture capital and they’ve operated on venture capital to capture the market.

That’s a big part of how they were able to gain dominance of a market previously dominated by TeamSpeak, Mumble, and Ventrilo with a completely free offering.

They’ve basically been running in loans and now money isn’t free anymore/interest rates mean something again.

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

We were always paying, the price just wasn’t obvious

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

Me: Ask for default browser setting Windows: Excuse me, did you mean to search for Bagels Near Me?

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

I’m not even Christian, but I’m pretty sure that’s the exact opposite of what Christ was supposed to be teaching.

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

I don’t think this kind of broad generalization is helpful (FWIW, I deleted my account the day the sale was finalized)

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

Oh please, NYTimes is still one of the premier papers out there. There are mistakes but they’re no where near a tabloid, and they DO actually go out of their way to update and correct articles … to the point I’m pretty sure I’ve even seen them use push notifications for corrections.

Unless of course that is, you want to listen to Trump and his deluge of alternative facts…

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

That was an opinion piece… Certainly not premier coverage.

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

The whole point of opinion pieces is to expose opinions that are outside of the realm of what you’d normally publish. It’s supposed to be a means for keeping your readers out of their echo chamber/exposing different view points.

The times AFAIK didn’t get bought but Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post, perhaps that’s what you’re thinking of.

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

Glad that wasn’t just a fever dream

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

I don’t think that’s a dumb question, I think it’s a hard question.

You don’t really want to shelter yourself from other perspectives and behind close minded but you also don’t want to waste time on nonsense/you have a right to protect your mental health.

The thing about opinion articles is that they are labeled as such … it’s just most people don’t really know the difference.

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

You can’t impeach someone who isn’t in office

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

Why do you hate the idea?

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

I actually work on a C++ compiler… I think I should weigh in. The general consensus here that things are lossy is correct but perhaps non-obvious if you’re not familiar with the domain.

When you compile a program you’re taking the source, turning into a graph that represents every aspect of the program, and then generating some kind of IR that then gets turned into machine code.

You lose things like code comments because the machine doesn’t care about the comments right off the bat.

Then you lose local variable and function parameter names because the machine doesn’t care about those things.

Then you lose your class structure … because the machine really just cares about the total size of the thing it’s passing around. You can recover some of this information by looking at the functions but it’s not always going to be straight forward because not every constructor initializes everything and things like unions add further complexity … and not every memory allocation uses a constructor. You won’t get any names of any data members/fields though because … again the machine doesn’t care.

So what you’re left with is basically the mangled names of functions and what you can derive from how instructions access memory.

The mangled names normally tell you a lot, the namespace, the class (if any), and the argument count and types. Of course that’s not guaranteed either, it’s just because that’s how we come up with unique stable names for the various things in your program. It could function with a bunch of UUIDs if you setup a table on the compilers side to associate everything.

But wait! There’s more! The optimizer can do some really wild things in the name of speed… Including combining functions. Those constructors? Gone, now they’re just some more operations in the function bodies. That function you wrote to help improve readability of your code? Gone. That function you wrote to deduplicate code? Gone. That eloquent recursive logic you wrote? Gone, now it’s the moral equivalent of a giant mess of goto statements. That template code that makes use of dozens of instantiated functions? Those functions are gone now too; instead it’s all the instantiated logic puked out into one giant function. That piece of logic computing a value? Well the compiler figured out it’s always 27, so the logic to compute it? Gone.

Now all of that stuff doesn’t happen every time, particularly not all of those things are always possible optimizations or good optimizations … But you can see how incredibly difficult it is to reconstruct a program once it’s been compiled and gone through optimization. There’s a very low chance if you do reconstruct it, that it will look anything like what you started with.

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago (edited 6 months ago)

I don’t think the US Govt backdoors phones anymore … mostly because they don’t need to. They find other ways to get the information, like warrantless surveillance of Google and Apple notification servers.

The other reason I don’t think it happens is that there are just too many security researchers trying to find exploits and backdoors. Also it’s pretty well known that any backdoor can be used against you. The NSA has an interest in domestic phones being secure.

Granted, international models might have some alterations/backdoors… Even then, that would be egg on the face that they don’t really need if they got caught with a backdoor that applied only to international phones.

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

So far, all of Huawei’s found potential backdoors turned out to be them being extremely terrible at writing secure software or developing secure operating procedures.

That’s how you write a backdoor in 2023 “oops… Guess I made a mistake again”

Dark_Arc , 6 months ago

Pretty easily Hunt Showdown with honorable mention to Remnant II, Northgard, and Age of Wonders 4