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batmaniam

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batmaniam ,

Yeah like… Netflix has peering agreements and whatnot but… It’s not 2005.

batmaniam ,

That and post-scarcity doesn’t mean “zero scarcity”. Like if someone wanted to create a picard funkpop the size of a planet, I don’t think they’d be allowed the resource budget.

It’s like how it doesn’t matter where you live, if you want to buy on the silk road, you need bitcoin. Presumably even the federation can’t just make latinum whenever they please, or we wouldn’t see them haggle with it. Although, it would be fun to see that they could and just take the responsibility of not crashing non-federation cultures entire economies very seriously, either out of respect or treaty.

Damnit, I want a LD episode where the crew is frustrated and desperately wants to just “buy” their problem away but can’t because an economist at command says it’ll mean they have to rescue all these non-federation colonies that are currently self sufficient. Come to think of it it’s right there with the “you break it you own it” concept of the prime directive.

batmaniam ,

Yeet that into the rizzophere, no cap fr fr

Edit: ong

batmaniam ,

Yeah agree. They’re kind of sold as a cure all, which they’re not, but if you have a very specific problem they’ll help. I think the thing is a lot of times people use them without addressing the root cause. But it’s definitely saved me a deep clean before.

batmaniam ,

Eh, skill up had a great take on this. The thing is it’s wayyyyy easier to be a small indie developer than it ever was before. Making a game (or any art) still isn’t easy, it never was and never will be, but it’s viable without a giant publisher in a way it just hasn’t been before.

Its the AA titles that are on the most precarious footing, but I bet even those do ok. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy some AAA stuff time to time, I’ve got a stupid amount of hours in overwatch, but I’ve never once paid for a skin because… why would you?

The thing that’s going to suck is losing the studios like Arkane. Their games weren’t perfect but they were freaking cool, and they basically always got the raw end of the deal. Even Prey(2016), their masterpiece, is the product of corporate bullshitiery they had nothing to do with. So we’re probably going to miss studios like that for a while (as they get re-tasked to fortnite/cod support teams) but “indie” stuff has already been stepping up to fill that void, and is less indie all the time.

Look at Dave the Diver. That’s not exactly an indie studio. They had resources. There’s going to be a gap for a bit, but there’s still a demand for good games and art. Those AA breakthroughs are what people want. Again, I continue to spend dumb amounts of time on overwatch, but it’s not where I spend my money. Microsoft hovelled themselves by buying all these studios and not taking the leap with supporting them. Distribution just doesn’t have the value it once did. So if microsoft wants to become CandyCrush, feeding an addiction loop to grab the whales, sure, whatever, but there’s plenty of bread out there for studios doing other stuff.

batmaniam ,

FO4 is why I waited and ultimately didn’t buy starfield. I LOVED elderscrolls, and FO:NV is like my alltime favorite. I didn’t hate FO4, there’s some fun to be had, but you can see pretty clearly from it where FO:76 came from. From what I’ve seen and read, I’m not missing anything with starfield.

NMS is tough. They did an amazing job trying to salvage it, but it will always be a game that was never meant to be that big. It’s not bad but at somepoint in the loop you just go “wtf am I doing?”. I give that team all the credit in the world, but that game never belonged where it is.

batmaniam ,

Oh I’m well aware lol. The game is a godamn miracle. But thats the thing, Bethesda has been on this trajectory for a good lonnnnnng while. Like the whole “obsidian good bethesda bad” thing isn’t quite right, but what is true is Bethesda has been incredibly strategic about shittifying their games: there’s always just enough there to keep you going “ok… one more”.

Starfield is the first one I just didn’t even bother with.

batmaniam ,

oh yeah, I didn’t want to be dismissive of the mtx stuff. It’s absolutely predatory and awful, but I don’t think it fully stands in the way of developing good games.

Which is related to what you’re saying about indies going under even after success. Game development takes time, and you need money to underwrite that time. I just think there’s going to be a split; right now AAA studios are shitifying their games, turning them more into CandyCrush skinner boxes. But the demand for good games hasn’t gone away, there’s just less financial upside than making CandyCrush. My point is, even though it’s less money, there’s still a good amount of money to be had there. Eventually the gaps going to be filled. Microsoft cant fill it because on the balance sheet, things like COD and anything from King are where they should be focused. And it sucks right now because they sucked up a stupid amount of talent and thanos snapped them, but thats not a sustainable practice.

But yes, it’s going to be painful. It’ll suck seeing really nifty indie stuff have to struggle so hard. Like I said I’m also going to miss the polish that comes with AA stuff. I’m going to miss the hell out of Arkane. Their games weren’t perfect, but they had so much soul. They didn’t deserve to have Redfall be their epitaph.

batmaniam ,

I think that’s exactly the point though. “We didn’t mark it up to mark it down, the price is just the price”. As a chronic patient gamer part of me hates that (I love finding older classics for like $10) but I don’t mind shelling out for a good game. The biggest expense is my time, and if a bunch of years later the price hasn’t moved it’s probably worth my time.

batmaniam ,

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/bf3b80e6-3d29-4e55-adf2-85d78656e76b.png

batmaniam ,

I agree with the “no” assessment, but also need to drop the bit of trivia that sharks are really sensitive to electricity. There was a guy making a shark detterent belt that you hit a button and it gave a small zap. Guy would cover himself in food, have the shark barreling right at him, hit the button and it does a 180.

That being said, it probably was really low current but high voltage (like a static shock), I don’t know if sharks care about a low voltage battery stack.

(bonus fun fact: that sensitivity is why hammerhead are the way they are. With those sensors further apart you get more spatial resolution, like a radar array. It’s also why they wag there head over the floor; they’re sweeping for electrical signals of their prey)

batmaniam ,

I’m just going to give a quick overview of what wastewater treatment is and does.

The basic idea is that you can have something like a can of 7-up, it looks clean, but would kill a fish dead. It’s got loads of dissolved sugar, and if you dumped it into a river, microbes would go nots on the sugar, sucking out all the oxygen as they grew, and causing a boatload of other problems.

But you can’t filter dissolved sugar. I mean you can but it requires a highly specialized filter that would imeaditley foul is wastewater. And we’re not just talking dissolved sugar, there’s a whole range of everything in there.

So we do something very simple: we let the 7up grow moldy. 7 up would go through a coffee filter, but mold wouldnt. We let the mold suck up the sugar, then seperate that.

In reality it’s a bit different but that’s the idea. We grow a ton of microbes, let them suck everything out, then move them to another tank where they all stick together and settle to the bottom. The result is that the liquid at the top of the tank is clear, and free of anything dissolved as the bugs ate it all. (how we then get rid of all of that bug mass is whole other thing but basically we squeeze all the water out we can and it becomes dirt).

The problem with stuff like pfoas or any other micropollutant is that the bugs aren’t that interested. And they’re at such a low concentration it’s incredibly hard to get such a small amount out of millions of gallons every day.

Wastewater treatment was meant to mimic natural ecology so that when it was discharged we didn’t overwhelm the environment. If you poop in the woods, it’s probably not a problem. If everyone poops in the same area of the woods… The woods are going to look different and not in a good way. We solved that problem, but not the one of what to do when the poop is “radioactive”.

One last note: what I described above is secondary settling (letting the bugs settle and taking the liquid off the top). There ARE filters to seperate the bugs from the liquid, but they are no where near selective enough for specific compounds. Again, think coffee strainer.

batmaniam ,

Victory bell is probably based off of highland pitchers (Nepenthes). Fun fact: In some parts of the world they’re called “monkey cups”. I don’t know if the monkeys actually drink out of them or not but that’s where the name came from lol.

batmaniam ,

We’re used to getting our energy and building blocks from our food. Plants get their energy from the sun, and their building blocks from the air (CO2). They get water and some minerals, but a plant is made up off solidified air. It’s like if you could be solar powered living off just air, water, and an occasional multi-vitamin.

Anyway, carnivores don’t really get energy from their prey, just the nutrients. It’s like self fertilizing.

batmaniam ,

not only native, but the ONLY place. I’ve got carnivores from every continent (accept Antarctica, obviously), and thats STILL my favorite fact.

It does make sense they’re so rare though. Most carnivory you can picture the evolutionary path: Something had a mutation that kind of made a cup, something had a mutation that kind of made the leaves sticky… etc. You can see it happening one step at a time with minor advantages (and therefore survival) at each step, until they kept compounding into more and more complex and specialized structures.

For a VFT… multiple things had to happen at once. There’s no advantage to the motion until you can also digest and adsorb the material. There’s also no advantage to a partial motion that can’t trap an organism. It’s really wild they exist!

batmaniam ,

Agreed, and I spent like a decade in protein engineering and pre-biotic chemistry.

And if someone really wants to be a pedant about it, go ahead and prove conscious “intent” is inherently different than, not just a more complex form of, what’s going on here. If someone’s managed to solve all of the philosophy around consciousness, self, and intent, they could really save us all a bunch a time! Until then, pedantically, you’re not wrong to say the plant “knows” to do this as much as I “know” to pay my rent; it’s all just chemical reactions based on environment.

… Or we could allow people to enjoy the pressures and reasons that give rise to the subtle aspects of organism in this complex ecosystem we call earth without being a dick about it, and trust that the level of language specificity will increase/decrease commiserate to the degree of precision the topic requires.

batmaniam ,

Bare with me here because I am not an expert. I think what they’re getting is the same as how gravity doesn’t exist. Vsauce did a great video on that, but the general notion is that because space time is curved, objects traveling in streight lines will appear to be drawn closer to one another. “Gravity” isn’t fundamental, warping spacetime is. Nothing changed but our understanding of it, which does matter for some more complicated areas.

I think this is similar. Just like gravity “doesn’t exisit”, it’s just an emergent phenomenon: they’re saying so is time. They’re saying time isn’t fundemental, except that it’s an expected phenomenon that would arise from other factors, those factors being proposed to be some entanglement crap I have zero ability to talk about.

And I’m putting some words in their mouth with “time isn’t fundemental”. What they’re really doing is proposing a new definition that better fits observed phenomenon/models.

And still, none of this explains why we still have daylights savings time.

Medical Bill negotiation, how should one do it?

So I went to a hospital the other day and was told I have a de-deductible of $3,000. I am not sure how much my insurance paid (if anything). At some point I have to talk to the hospital about payment and I want to talk them down to accept a lower amount. I do have some savings to offer, but I would like to get them to agree to...

batmaniam ,

Wanted to add to this: if it can’t go away, it’s likley you can set up quite a long repayment at 0% interest. It will still hurt but at you can spread it out

batmaniam ,

All I know is I appreciate their slow roll. Everytime they break something I replace it with the non-Google option. I’ve got a small nuc as my main HTPC tied into my plex. Been waiting for an excuse to swap my first Gen Google hockey Puck from like 2012 in my bedroom.

batmaniam ,

… Consumer water heaters in Germany are built in as demand shaving??? That is so damn cool.

batmaniam ,

OK, I’m going to save you time because I do some controls and totally get how “easy” demand management should be given how simple most devices are.

But WHAT?! Thats all built into the grid over there??? That’s AWESOME. Let me see if I have this right: there’s essentially a small transient frequency modulation in the 60hz(?) in the grid that allows devices to receive a “off” signal?

I could be wrong but I’m 90% sure we’ve got nothing like that in the states. MAYBE there’s something like that for communicating with the meter itself but certainly not past the meter.

batmaniam ,

I don’t know when the person above you played, but I didn’t notice any of that (got it last week, binged it, 35ish hours). I didn’t notice any missing graphics, and yes there are some spots where you can tell somethings coming, but it doesn’t feel janky, it feels exciting. With game loop being all about upgrades, you can tell there’s a few that aren’t available, but there’s so much meat their absence feels like part of the loop not part of the dev cycle.

The voice acting is all there, the mechanics are all there. I think I had like… One line of repeated dilouge? There’s a good breadth of characters and they’ve got that same slow, well thought out progression they did in Hades I. With only one exception that I can’t mention due to spoilers, you could tell me this a complete game with free DLC inbound.

Bug wise it’s almost entirely free. I had some crashes but I think that was due to a bad HDMI cable repeatedly becoming unstable, and making the game freak out as to what screen it should be on. I haven’t had an issue since I fixed the cable and it’s the only bug I encountered.

I definitely feel like I got my money’s worth.

batmaniam ,

I hear you, but I caved lol. You will NOT be disappointed. EA is such a weird choice for this one. It’s where I’d call it well past beta (a true beta, not the marketing betas that we usually see where there’s no time to fix anything). Like it truly is “early access” but we’re so used to that term meaning “somewhere in dev”.

If they’re targeting 2025 release this thing will be incredibly polished by then.

batmaniam ,

Thanks for pointing out! I see what you mean now but didn’t even notice.

batmaniam ,

The only crash like I said was almost certainly due to a multi-monitor display and one monitor disconnecting and reconnecting. I didn’t even bother submitting a report.

And yeah there’s definitely going to be a few extras. Its wild, like I never play games at launch, specifically because they always ship broken, and here this thing is with the stones to call itself early access when it’s so polished narcissus would gaze at himself in if.

batmaniam ,

I’m a chronic “patient gamer” belive me I get it. The underworld awaits you my friend ;)

batmaniam ,

Or on the flipside… No one feel this way about hideous AMC cars that have been lovingly restored and maintained. I love those hideous monsters lol.

batmaniam ,

The answer is qualifying for a mortgage is not as simple as you might think. Even if you do, good luck squaring that with prices that will almost certainly leave you “holding the bag” because none of it is sustainable ore makes sense. Wrap that into the best choice when you might get laid off at any second is not always a mortgage…

That last point seems like it’s a great point for what rentals but I’ll save you some time: for the vast majority of jobs thats strictly because of people enforcing office mandates unnecessarily because something like 1/3rd of assets in the USA are in commercial realestate.

My point being: the deck is stacked. There is not an actual housing shortage, there’s just a housing shortage for human beings. An entire generation has gotten boxed out of the most classic way to build wealth.

batmaniam ,

So you got a zero percent loan requiring no collateral for a piece of land? I’m happy for you, but you do realize how few people that’s available to right?

batmaniam ,

I’m not attacking you for something that worked for you, but trying to offer perspective.

Do you know that medical debt doesn’t show up on your credit score but does show up on a mortgage?

But more important: imagine you’re a nurse living paycheck to paycheck in a major metro. You’ll never be able to own where you live.

OK, so move to demoines, we’ll, if they all do that the realestate prices collapse, and it’s in such a situation that the 401ks for people in demoines nose dive… That’s where we’re at.

batmaniam ,

Look I’m happy for you, but I’m from an area where this is all very different from where I ended up.

Im sorry, but I do think thats a massive part of this conversation. There are plenty of places where housing is still affordable, but relocation is a thing, and more importantly, so is the tie to pensions funds and investment in major metros.

All of that to say, I’m glad to say it worked out for you and yours, but it’s just not relevant in this conversation, at least as long as social security requires people changing tires in Atlanta Georgia.

batmaniam ,

Lmfao. Points for clarity I guess? Thanks for the laugh.

batmaniam ,

Absolutely. But that also skirts the fact that the economy, globally, depends on rent in Manhattan being high. Like as shitty as the rent is, the bigger problem is how much of that “you’re paying someone else mortgage” thing is true and wayyyyy over optimized.

Roll into that the fact that the whole rising/uninsurable thing in Florida is come for literally everywhere near sea level… Which is every major metro in the usa… It’s a problem.

batmaniam ,

Are you familiar with relative value units (RVUs)?

If not prepare to be furious. It essentially is Healthcare on commission. Everytime a physician orders a test, provides a service, etc, it counts towards an RVU quota. Multiple systems in my area base 100% of a physicians salary on meeting that quota. The minimum one bases 15% of the physicians salary on meeting that quota.

batmaniam , (edited )

I’m a sane libertarian (I promise some of us do exisit). People absolutely have a right to determine what goes in to their body, but fluoride is such a weird hill to die on. In particular when fortified grains are a mandate of the same ilk. All of this has a history, and shocker, it was always steeped in the same “but our culture” wrapping…

Edit: tl;Dr if you don’t want to watch the video: and pellagra was proven to be one of those diseases that is zero problem… So long as your diet doesn’t suck. The science had push back because it upset the economics. We’re fighting the same battles now we were then.

Edit2: yes. I’m a libertarian, because as much as they’re freaking nuts it still stems from a disagreement of a stated principle. A principle which had them back a ton of LGBTQ rights before anyone else. I’m voting Biden in 2024, strictly because I’d like to vote in 2028, but godamn this is how 2016 happened.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=reYKBgdrZsM&pp=ygUWUGVsbGFn…

batmaniam ,

Lol, a bit late but a certain degree yes. Like as a libertarian Ill never be able to square taking money from someone’s paycheck in NYC for subsidizing internet in Montana.

But… No one actually cares about that… Eve libertarians, because it’s peanuts next to a shitty new f-30whatever that will ever fly.

It’s by no mean perfect, and has been massively corrupted by whatever the hell we have going on right now in the US. But the principle of “if it doesn’t affect anyone, stop talking to me” is a good one, and at least it’s a stated one.

So yeah, I do kinda think people should have the right NOT to make cakes for gay weddings. Sure. Do I care when they’re forced to? Ehhhhh. You were going to be out of business soon because you’re a godamn asshole sooooo not really no I don’t care lol.

So no, the gov should subsidize wifi, but they also already subsidize all sorts of shit, so youre damn right you have to service those folks. I guess that’s the thing, libertarianism neccesaties egalitarianism, and nothing else does.

batmaniam ,

Honestly the comparisons you made are the point. They’re just people who are short, not a magical mythical race of non humans lmfao. THATS where the whole “little person” thing comes from.

batmaniam ,

That’s been a great rule that hasn’t failed me for nearly anything.

batmaniam ,

Sure, but there are loads of medical conditions with less than ideal names (a particularly severe structure is caused by a gene literally named Sonic the hedgehog). The clinical name might be important in a clinical setting but that’s not where most of us interreact with people. I’m just going with what I’ve known people to prefer.

batmaniam ,

Agreed entirely. I live my SC and describe it as “for people who could get away with an SUV or hatchback but need a bed”. Like I get to have more of a car (albeit big for a car) but the messy stuff doesn’t get in the cab.

My bet is on Ford doing a mav EV before Hyundai does a SC EV though. Just glad to see more tiny trucks out there.

batmaniam ,

I mean… I don’t know if you’re an NFL fan or not but his stock isntly exactly high right now lol. He played like three snaps all season last season, is old for the game (for anyone not named “Tom Brady” anyway), and is wayyyy to much of a liability (and just to damn weird even if the crap he spouts WASNT dangerous) to do any kind of announcing or commenting.

Hes crap in the locker room, having barley talked to Zach Wilson, the kid he left to play his whole season on a doomed team (I guess Zach does owe him a bit though, I really disliked the kid now I give him some respect for stepping aside then stepping up best he could). His career won’t be affected because random crap like this IS his career now. The jets have a contract, but there is no way Rodgers plays any meaningful football anymore.

batmaniam ,

Hollllllllly… I knew about the atrocities in China… But I didn’t understand the scale…

batmaniam ,

I think it’s so you can create “and” conditions for unlocking. IE: If you’ve got two locks, each with their own key, both person 1 AND person 2 need to unlock it. So you can have multiple people and/or multiple crews working on the machine across different aspects. Maybe one crew is doing electric, the other some kind of plumbing, and they’re working at different times. When one crew finishes their work, they can release their lockout without making it unsafe for the other crew.

batmaniam ,

Thought so. I work around this stuff but my end of it usually low voltage/low pressure/ low risk. We should observe it more but usually we just have someone that LOTOs anything going to us.

But yeah, and for anyone else, repairs can wind up being more complicated than anticipated, parts arrive late, etc. It’s not uncommon for these to be in place for weeks sometimes when say, electrical starts something, but then plumbing needs to finish whatever before the pump motor hookup can be complete. Before you know it it’s 2 weeks later, electrical had a bunch of other jobs. The LOTO makes sure they come and inspect before unlocking rather than go “yeahhhh I’m pretty sure we left that ready to turn on, go for it” plus making sure no other work got screwed up (like a wire conduit getting drilled into by plumbing).

To be sure, handing off the keys does happen, but if and when it happens there’s the weight of “by handing this off you’re personally taking responsibility”.

batmaniam , (edited )

You know, we’re not required to do that but because of you I just ordered some locks and labels for the field kit (edit: as well as breaker locks).

Our stuff is always temp (8-12mo) and on a dedicated line. The sites we’re on always involve coordinating with the clients appropriate people and specifically stating we’re not trained in this to their standards (which is why I know some of this stuff but not to the letter), but an extra layer is always a good idea. No harm ever came from an extra lock that couldn’t be fixed.

Thanks.

edit: for the record it’s not like we’re negligent, everything in our system is designed to fail-safe, and we compartmentalize power delivery, but still, no harm in a few extra items in the kit.

batmaniam ,

It wouldn’t have. That’s when I knew we were screwed.

batmaniam ,

She openly opposed gay marriage as a NYS senator. Her career has been over long before 2016.

batmaniam ,

Basic human rights are not subject to pragmatism. She wound up where she needed to be.

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