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InitialsDiceBearhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/„Initials” (https://github.com/dicebear/dicebear) by „DiceBear”, licensed under „CC0 1.0” (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)SW
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310
Joined
2 yr. ago

  • Yup. The fakest thing in that movie is the MacGuffin that can z break RSA encryption.

    ...Also maybe a bunch of hackers stealing a ton of govt funds, donating it to greenpeace and the NSA not immediately busting heads.

  • As someone with a PS5 since launch... Not really.

    I've owned every PlayStation generation since the original. I don't consider myself a Sony stan, but with the exception of the Xbox 360, I've felt each generation of the various PSX's have had a better lineup for my tastes. (Halo is great, though)

    This time around, not so much. After three years, I have purchased five titles for my PS5. And, by FAR, the game that gets the most play is my PS4-version of Minecraft, so my kids can play multiplayer.

    If you've got money to burn, I'd recommend a Steam Deck + Dock and a Bluetooth controller of your choice instead. Most of the same games will run on either platform, with the advantages of PC gaming - mods, forward compatibility, access to the MASSIVE Steam store and library...

    Alternately the Switch has had a great lineup of first party titles - as usual. Just pickup a pro controller too, the "joycons" develop drift so fast it's not even funny. Every single joycon I've purchased (six pairs over five years) has developed drift in under a year. I know I can get them repaired, but at this point, I'm over it. Just buy a pro controller and have done with it.

    (If anybody is curious, my five PS5 titles are

    • Spider-Man: Miles Morales
    • Spider-Man 2
    • Sackboy's Big Adventure
    • Jedi Survivor
    • Diablo IV

    All but one are available on PC. I bought the Spiderman games before the PC ports arrived. Jedi survivor had a bad port at launch and I really wanted to play it. And Diablo IV I was able to pick up used for cheaper than the PC price. ...let's just say that after hundred plus hours in D3, I'm glad I didn't pay full price for D4.

    I do also pay for PlayStation Plus, where I've downloaded and played a few dozen indie titles, all of which are also on PC.)

  • Copyright laws are by country. Some countries have treaties to respect each other's copyrights and some don't.

    So, it is entirely possible to have something considered "public domain" in the USA still be protected in the UK.

    ...But given the relative economic weight of the two countries, simply banning the export of your locally-infringing Peter Pan/Steamboat Willie slash fic novel would be pretty easy.

  • ...Man, there would be a great web serial just following Not-Troi's therapy sessions, in which she is yet again trying to convince an alien not to vaporize themselves/the ship/the crew/the Riker after Yet Another Traumatic Tuesday.

  • I know a guy who grew up occasionally homeless. He has ended up as a well paid tech manager and his approach is that his family can usually just afford the things they want, so instead of buying stress gifts the last month of each year, his family picks a charitable cause to donate time and money to instead.

    They've bought goats for third world families; paid for education, transportation and home construction; fed hungry and clothed the naked.

    He's a cool guy.

  • Ha ha - I mean, you're not wrong!

    Edit: for the downvoters - as OP, I officially congratulate Kecessa on their sick burn. It made me lol. So... If you were feeling conflicted here, go with the upvote.

  • I'm pretty pragmatic. While I appreciate what Valve has done for PC gaming, I like the idea of them having some legit competition in the space. So when the Epic store started, I bought a bunch of games there to give it a shot. Outer Worlds, Control... And of course I grabbed up a bunch of free games, too!

    ...and then, over time, I've repurchased all of the games I liked on steam anyway.

    Make of that what you will.

  • Sorry, I missed one more critical detail there... This game was in space! Played on a 2D, wraparound surface, with a top-down perspective, but it was definitely in space.

    The fighters were fast and cheap but weak and could only shoot lasers.

    The bombers were slower but tougher and could fire missiles. (Missiles could also be scripted, come to think of it. And if you made them stop, they turned into mines)

    The fleet ships could manufacture other ships. You only have a single fleet ship at the start, but as time goes on, you can build more. ...if you haven't spent all your resources on building fighters and bombers.

  • Most obscure videogames I ever played:

    1. A 3D, first person pacman clone that I played on a 286 MS DOS laptop in the nineties. I don't remember its name and I've never seen it since.
    2. A programming game from the early 2000s called something like Fleet Commander. (But none of the many games named something like Fleet Commander that I can currently find online are it.) This game had a VB-inspired, event driven programming language. You used it to command fighters, bombers and fleet command ships. Each ship had its own AI script it would execute.
  • Generally, some algorithms are more easily expressed as recursive functions than iterative loops. ...and vice versa. And realistically, that's how you should choose ninety nine percent of the time.

    But if you want to get into the weeds... Prefer iteration unless you know one or more of the following:

    • Your maximum iteration depth is bounded and cannot overflow your machine's stack depth.
    • Your algorithm can be implemented with tail-call recursion AND your language supports the same.
    • Your senior/team lead wants a recursive solution.

    Because in environments where none of the above are true, iterative solutions are usually more performant, safer, and better understood.

  • One thing I've been experimenting with is creating archetypal characters ahead of time and then handing each player a couple sheets to choose from. If they don't like either one, they can grab a sheet someone else discards.

    I leave backstory details blank, but the basic mechanics of each character is already laid out.

    In theory, it seems like I'm setting myself up for fights with my players, but in practice it hasn't been a problem.

    ...of course this might be because my players are all either adults or preteens.

  • Programming success is more closely associated with language skills than math skills.

    Yes, if you need to invent a new algorithm you'll need math. Computer Science is definitely mathematics heavy.

    But writing a program is all about expressing your intent in a programming language, step by step. It's about "communicating" with the machine (and your users).

    All this to say, I got C- and D grades in my math courses in college and still became a successful computer programmer. I'm not pushing the boundaries of computation, but if you need an app for your business, I can build that for you in a reliable, tested, and flexible manner.

    Edit: Also! I love Common LISP. It's such an amazing language and I'm so sad that it isn't more popular in the industry.

  • If you're suffering from depression, look into Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). After over a decade on SSRIs and other meds had failed, it turned my life around in six months. Literally life saving.

    The effectiveness is proven (at much better rates than SSRIs), but the exact mechanism is under study.

    But... There was a recent study that suggested that many cases of depression are caused by misordered neuron firing, where the emotional center of the brain fires before the "imagine the future" bit finishes firing. Normally, when a healthy brain imagines a future state, the emotional center fires in response to our anticipated feeling. (Imagination: We're going to the movies. Emotions: FUN) But in a depressed brain, the emotional core fires immediately, resulting in the current, crappy mood being applied to every imagined future. (Emotions: Everything is shit. Imagination: We're going to the movies?)

    TMS may work as well as it does because one of the things it does is increase neuroplasticity, allowing the brain to correctly order the firing of our emotional response to imagined futures.

    Anyway - TMS is right at the edges of our understanding of treating depression, but it really does work for a supermajority of patients.

    For me, I went from having literally lost all emotions and being essentially dead (and being willing to die), to feeling... normal. I haven't had a major depressive episode in the two years since. It's been liberating.

  • Elysium.

    Ok, so the resource allocation of the moon/earth society is completely broken and the moon-dwelling oligarchs sucked. Agreed.

    But the end of the movie makes the computer system unable to differentiate between the handful of moon lords vs the unwashed masses on the earth's surface. There are not enough resources to go around in Elysium. All that medicine and food from the moon bastards is gonna run out in about ten minutes and then the last bits of society will finish collapsing. Any hope of ever rebuilding a functioning society ends about a week after the end of that movie.