Endymion_Mallorn @ Endymion_Mallorn @kbin.melroy.org

Just a nerd who migrated from kbin(dot)social.

---

Read more

Posts

3

Comments

247

Joined

8 mo. ago

The ends always justify the means, if the end is to enrich yourself.

Okay, that's his opinion. Like his opinions on many things, I feel entirely free to disagree with him.

Absolutely not. It should run on HTTP, as a website. Unless you want to build a client which would be somehow fundamentally different from a web browser somehow (note: Lagrange and Gopher Browser are just browsers), which would somehow be able to display data from every use of ActivityPub / "the fediverse" in a different context from a web browser, then no. What we need to build is website software more in line with kbin / mbin, collecting together all the different information of the fediverse into one interface.

Crafters are definitely up there, overall - but I think wargamers might beat them. Hundreds to thousands of models, paints, brushes, terrain, carrying cases, books - it adds up to a hoard of epic proportions. That's just personal experience though. Lego fans can also get to be out there, and TCG players.

My understanding is that essentially, they see the downballot Republican candidates in these states as part of a uniparty with Democrats, or as RINOs. They're not going to vote for these 'establishment' Republicans, as they feel they'd undermine Trump's agenda. There are a lot of people who've been feeling disenfranchised in this country and want something, anything, to change. They want the people who've caused them pain to suffer - and they see the government and those who directly benefit from the government to be the ones who've caused them pain.

There's also the party messaging going on. For decades, Democrats and their fellow-travelers have pushed the doctrine of "think global, act local." They push community involvement and local direct action. On the other hand, since at least 2015, the Republicans have focused almost exclusively on Trump and the White House. Before that, the Tea Party tried to get Republican local action to happen - and that movement ended up collapsing under its own weight between 2012 and 2016.

I'm not going to be tolerant of the watermark, and I don't feel like using PowerShell to get rid of it - plus there's drivers to consider. It's just faster and easier for me to grab an activated OEM version for the computer I have.

Key bindings can be changed, but I've never found the place to do it easily in the GUI in Mint. I touch the Linux command line for curl and ping, and that's about it.

I already play Wesnoth, and I haven't touched 0 AD in years. I prefer OpenTTD, Oolite, Endless Sky, and Minetest, along with occasionally poking at WarZone 2100. But that doesn't replace the DOS and Win9x games from my childhood. I don't use Valve's DRM platform (nor the one from Epic Megagames), and it's rare for me to pay for anything on GOG. But there's no other game that exactly hits the fun for me of Sid Meier's Covert Action, Shadow President, SimCity 2000 & 3000, Starfleet Command II: Orion Pirates, or a couple dozen others. Yes, it's nostalgia. But it harms no one.

As for the tax thing, I'll look into it, but I don't expect it will do what we need. We need to pay for the more expensive software because of our tax situation (don't want to get into detail for obvious reasons).

Found the prompt this time! Admittedly, that's because I edited it from a ChatGPT response to the prompt:

Describe a cyborg version of the Egyptian God Sekhmet as a Power Rangers villain.

Sekhmet is depicted as a towering, fearsome figure, her body a menacing blend of advanced cybernetic technology and the primal power of a lioness. Her head is an imposing mix of a lioness and a robotic entity, with sharp, metallic features and glowing, fiery red eyes that burn with an intense, unrelenting rage. Her mane is made of flowing, molten-like metal tendrils that pulse with a fiery glow, giving her an almost volcanic appearance. Sekhmet’s body is covered in sleek, dark armor that glows with lines of molten orange, resembling lava flowing through cracks in the earth. Her armor is reinforced with layered, overlapping plates that resemble the scales of a serpent, providing her with both protection and flexibility. Her chest plate is adorned with a glowing, red energy core, shaped like a sun disk, symbolizing her destructive, solar power. Her arms are muscular and heavily armored, ending in massive, clawed hands that can extend into deadly, energy-infused blades. These claws glow with a fiery intensity, capable of slicing through even the toughest materials. Her legs are powerful and digitigrade, resembling the hind legs of a lion, allowing her to move with terrifying speed and agility. Each step she takes leaves scorch marks on the ground, a testament to her overwhelming heat and power.

I'd say the generator hit the brief.

This makes me feel nostalgic for a time and place I've never seen before. I love it.

Wow. If I was running any kind of horror RPG, I would definitely want to use those for monsters!

Sometimes the impetus to change OS is not UX related.

In my current case, it's got nothing whatsoever to do with liking or not liking Windows. I actually like Windows 9x, XP, 7, and 10. I bought a computer and wanted to install a clean OS on it (it came with Ubuntu, which I loathe visually and general UX-wise, because it feels like a Mac and seems like no matter what I do, something breaks). I had a choice: go through the effort on my other machine of pirating Win10, or just install Linux. I decided to go with Mint, because it supports the software I want and there's a feeling of familiarity, so muscle memory still works. I had to learn things like using Alt+F2 rather than Win+R, but I feel like I'm in a safer environment to learn than just "here's a new OS, good luck", because I can access those things in the GUI until I learn to do otherwise. Having Wine and DOSBox-X are because I have software that's for Windows or DOS that I like. I still haven't found a solid replacement for Notepad++, for example; and that's not including games.

There's also the "use Linux to make old machines work better and safer" use-case, especially for older people. My mom, for instance, is almost 80. She knew DOS, and she's been acclimated to Windows over 30-odd years. If I want to make her older machine safer and more efficient, I'd install Mint on it compared to something else (I actually can't, because her tax software is Windows-only and does not work correctly in Wine), because again, she'll feel that she's in a safer environment. She already uses OpenOffice (specifically not LibreOffice, because of the print layout differences - seemingly small things like kerning and the like can have a significant effect), and Firefox. She was using Thunderbird for a while but switched to webmail, just for simplicity. I'd have to walk her through PySol, AisleRiot, or another solitaire program, but I'm pretty confident that I could do that. So it should work like Windows for her, except for all the things she won't use.

Nor should it be the last. Just be glad that Micro$oft doesn't see it as being more valuable than just including WSL.

Um, what's the difference between this and Zorin OS?

It's Linux with Wine, that has a theme that looks like Windows. I'll be honest, I'm running Mint with Cinnamon, and since I was already heavily in the FOSS world for gaming, etc., when people see my current PC at a glance, they can't tell the difference between it and my Win10 PC (except for the LM logo on the start menu). I have Wine and DOSBox-X installed too, so I don't need VMWare or another VM set up.

Some people absolutely do want this. Some people even want it in a 'push-the-button' style solution. We call those people 'users'.

Yep. Definitely suits his role as a sun god. And the whole "dark sky/bright sun" thing was a detail I absolutely used to describe his descent on Angel Grove.

And I swear, that's a codpiece under his tights. Because I sure didn't prompt it with anything that wasn't strictly PG.

Nope, just to generate the images for the named villains that aren't canon Ranger characters. I have a tabletop game (mostly virtual, but nominally hybrid) that I run weekly using the Essence20 system. I use these as visual aids during the fights and encounters.

I have to admit, as much as this looks extremely cool, I didn't plan for the Egyptian deity Ra to be an Evil Tommy, but the helmet has led me in that direction.

Deus Ex and both System Shocks should be on everyone's lists. I don't really "like" any first-person games (going back to Akalabeth), and I enjoyed both of those games. If you like that style of game, you might also want to try out Thief: The Dark Project.

But I think what comes after HL, given everything, is just Portal. You said "replay" about them, so I guess you already have. So maybe, Narbacular Drop would be the next best thing - it's the game that the Portal devs made before it was Portal. Maybe you'd want to look at The Stanley Parable, too.

There's also Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior that's more FPS-y. I don't think you must know anything about 40K to play it, but I couldn't tell you, because I already was into it when I played. Also, the two Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force games, built on expanded versions of the Quake 3 engine.

I've missed Sodaplay and Sodaconstructor!

OpenTTD still is holding most of my attention this week. I might play some Blood Bowl this weekend though.