programmers-off-topic

[devout vault]

At my parent's house, our AC wasn't strong enough for the whole house (especially since shortly after we moved in they converted one garage to a new room), so my parents got me a window AC since I would sweat constantly (especially at night). It helped soooo much, and even made the electricity bill go down

[cinder karma]

Yes and no tbh

Less efficient but if you're only cooling one room

[sand frost]

i was learning about how they don't plop amino acids in line at a constant velocity — there's control over how fast and we don't know why

[cinder karma]

That said - I don't have the AC on either

[sand frost]

I'm cooling my whole apartment, it's all connected

i caved on the grounds that i need all the sleep i can get

[cinder karma]

We hit 30 Celsius the other day but I wasn't home to suffer so it's oaky

[sand frost]

and it's now above the temp I can sleep reasonably

[devout vault]

Biology in general is one of those things that sorta makes me feel like being in the "yes this world has magic just not the standard fantasy mana-using kind" camp

[cinder karma]

Whattttttt

Oh Elizabeth

Did you see the mos2 riscv processor in nature the other day?????

[sand frost]

i did not lol

[worn remnant]

risc-v
i'm listening

[sand frost]

i don't really have time to just read nature when none of it is relevant to my field

[cinder karma]

Rn judicial window opening keeps it cool enough for me to sleep

[devout vault]

Can I just say "real magic"? Then I can accomplish any other powers /s

As a trans person, I would probably choose shapeshifting. Bonus points if I can spend calories for silly things, like burn my overweightedness to make my hair blue

[sand frost]

i will probably switch to window opening over the next couple months but the pollen is really getting me too

[cinder karma]

https://spectrum.ieee.org/amp/2d-semiconductors-molybdenum-disulfide-2671752918

[devout vault]

I know you're a SciencePerson but you live in the US, please use freedom units when appropriate (such as room temperature like you just mentioned)

[cinder karma]

Secretly, casey

[sand frost]

iiiiinteresting

[cinder karma]

I don't know the temperature in F

Just c

[sand frost]

30C is halfway between 68 and 100ish

[devout vault]

Me every night at my apartment 😭

I'm pretty sure it's specific to my apartment (and possibly the janky excuse for a thermostat I have), though - if I go in the hall outside my apartment it's cooler

[sand frost]

20C is 68F and 37C is 98.6F

[cinder karma]

Way too hot for the atra

[sand frost]

yeah that's way toooo hot

[cinder karma]

30 is hot and 20 is nice

10 is chilly

0 is ice

[sand frost]

I found staying below 75F is best for my sleep

[devout vault]

I like below 70F for sleeping

[sand frost]

24C for the rest of the world

[devout vault]

So I can be cozy under a blanket

[sand frost]

I got a really thin blanket for summers

[devout vault]

And 70F max during the day too to be honest

[sand frost]

I couldn't get my room below 73F or so when I lived in the attic

[cinder karma]

During the pandemic this fool handknit a blanket

[sand frost]

and I also can't sleep without a blanket

[devout vault]

Yeah, I like having more blanket (though unsure about weighted blanket level), it's nice. Times like now with one thin blanket are sad

[sand frost]

the blanket i got is pleasingly heavy for how cool it is

it's just a cotton blanket from ikea

something about the weave is open but heavy

[devout vault]

I should find a way to check the temperature in my apartment before they change from heat to cooling, I bet mine is always hotter than that

[cinder karma]

Niceeeeee

[devout vault]

It doesn't help that I sweat sooooo much

[sand frost]

i have a thermometer after the time my landlord let my apartment be ~65F in the winter for a while

I complained to them about this because that actually was not legal in that area

[devout vault]

But like, it seems like certain clothes are always a little wet at the moment for example

[sand frost]

also because I was miserable

[devout vault]

65F sounds amazing

I get people want heat in the winter

[sand frost]

I start to get grumpy around 69F or so, it's kind of striking how precise my feelings get

it's related to when my hands get stiff at rest

[devout vault]

But I mean.... I would still keep my temp slightly below 70 in the winter if I had free choice 😛

[sand frost]

if I'm sitting and working and my hands get too cold to type that's not ideal

and apparently my hands are very sensitive about that

[devout vault]

Hate when that happens, especially if I'm in the middle of a programming phase

[cinder karma]

I'm incredibly not sensitive to temperature

[devout vault]

Of course, that hasn't been an issue since I moved to Chicago, because of the previously mentioned crazy winter apartment temperatures

[cinder karma]

But in winter I like to keep the house sub 65f, preferably close to 60f

[sand frost]

i'm not a perfect thermometer because when I move a lot I get warmer, but at rest I have a pretty well-tuned sense indoors

[cinder karma]

So I wear fingerless gloves

[sand frost]

I grew up with the house unheated and often around 50F in the winter so that might be part of why I don't like being cold in the winter

[devout vault]

I've never tried fingerless loves, mildly curious how they would feel

[cinder karma]

In summer my general rule of thumb is if I can tolerate long sleeves the ac is running too high

[sand frost]

i have on and off sensory issues with gloves. sometimes they're fine and sometimes I have to rip them off immediately.

[devout vault]

I've noticed in a few different anime recently there being certain characters with gloves that don't reach the wrist, which confuses me. I think I'd get irritated by how that would feel

[cinder karma]

I can't tolerate gloves while running but while typing they are fine

[sand frost]

like the gloves are cutoff on the other side?

that's such a weird design

[cinder karma]

It's anime

[sand frost]

is it fashion?

[cinder karma]

Rule of secy

Rule of cool

[sand frost]

I'm not even sure that would look cool though

maybe if they were curved deliberately?

[devout vault]

Take this wonderful diagram I made based on a random google image

That might be too far to the right a little

[cinder karma]

Then again

[sand frost]

like i could see artistic cutouts

[cinder karma]

Long elbow length gloves look better imo

[sand frost]

but just a blunt cutoff doesn't make sense to me

[cinder karma]

It's animeeeeee

It doesn't have to make sense or support the titssssss

[devout vault]

I don't really like gloves I feel like, though I might feel differently with free fingers.

Only gloves I've ever really used much were plastic gloves my parents kept in stock because I couldn't stand filling the dishwasher with my bare hands.

Hated the latex ones or whatever, too

[sand frost]

Like I could see lines like this making sense

[devout vault]

Any of those make way more sense

[sand frost]

I wear the latex ones because I don't like getting chemicals on my hands more than I don't like that feelings

[devout vault]

And not 'fitting' gloves either. Like this, except more crinkly and thinner looking

[sand frost]

that one also looks more artistic

with the curve

[cinder karma]

Sniff. We wear nitrile thank you very much

[sand frost]

haha

[devout vault]

One Day™️ I'll get around to learning about fashion and figure out how I'd want to look

[sand frost]

Last time I wore gloves was to touch the Old Art

So idk what it wore it was whatever the librarian said

[devout vault]

Alas, my not-feeling-like-I-can-look-good-with-my-current-body complex is in the way at the moment

[cinder karma]

That stupid pair of pants Jennie wore in the Like Jennie music video

They look so weird. And yet I kinda want those pants

[devout vault]

Technically I've worn winter gloves a couple times when going outside in Chicago winter

I don't remember much about what it was like, besides not liking the bulkiness

[devout vault]

Those look like odd pants that aren't all the way on

Like, not zipped all the way, but it almost looks like they'd go too high if they were

But then again I never really realized that women's pants often went as high as they did until post-transition

[cinder karma]

It's the style haha

Lowwww rise. Abs out.

[sand frost]

are they meant to look like they're falling off

[cinder karma]

Yes, mom

[sand frost]

i'm too old for this fashion

other things i'm too old for: holes in jeans, cutoff jeans, maybe jeans at all

[devout vault]

I mean, to be fair, I'm not saying I don't appreciate a nice midriff...

<warning, my inner lesbian might be leaking>

[sand frost]

i think this is a fashion thing

tho there's like, consideration of hips and such

[devout vault]

This is the part that gets me though

(gets me as in confuses me)

[sand frost]

but high rise goes in and oout of fsahion

[devout vault]

Hot take but I've never understood the holes in jeans things.

Especially stores selling it, and often charging higher for those. Like... can't people rip their own holes in their jeans if they want them?

[sand frost]

like i feel like there's motivation for getting up and over hips for structural reasons, more so than for AMAB bodies

you won't hear any disagreement from me here...

[devout vault]

Makes sense, but a lot of women's jeans seem to be beyond that point 😛

[sand frost]

yeah, maybe an exaggeration of it? when i was a teenager (the only time I've felt a desire to be in fashion) it was not in, low-rise or mid-rise was in

[devout vault]

I actually like jeans and wear them almost exclusively (though I prefer them slightly baggy, not form fitting).

Even in FL, I would only wear jeans even during the summer

[sand frost]

nowadays i notice fashion when it affects what I can find in stores

I like jeans ok, but I am trying so hard not to get mistaken for a college freshman

and jeans are right out on that front

[dusty pollen]

a lot of it is the desire to hide the stomach as well as the fact that silhouettes ending at the natural waist can accentuate it, I think

[sand frost]

one of my students (as in, in my class) asked me if i was a grad student

not in a mean way, just genuinely asking

[devout vault]

I had no desire to be into fashion until post-transition. Like, growing up, I told my parents to get clothes for me, but make sure they were super plain and had no designs/brands/etc. on them.

Probably driven by dysphoria and wanting to minimize my appearance/existence, to be fair

[cinder karma]

Meanwhile the low rise comes from the opposite

[dusty pollen]

as well as the fact that obviously like Elizabeth said, there are benefits to being above the narrowest point

[cinder karma]

Ie, why the heck am I doing all these weighted sit-ups if not...

[devout vault]

Hmm, that makes sense. Unfortunately my stomach is beyond the point of being able to hide

[sand frost]

i tend to think about clothes in structural terms lol

too much engineer in me

[devout vault]

Well, from a certain point of view, you have graduated from being a student...

[sand frost]

hahaha

I have tried so many ways to look distinctly older and I've concluded that I simply have a youthful demeanor in some way I can't fix

too cheerful, maybe?

[dusty pollen]

I was very disinterested growing up but I grew to appreciate it more as an art and a form of expression as well as from a crafting point of view the older I got

[dusty pollen]

too much hope?

[devout vault]

Ah, but you see, I didn't appreciate art not expression back then

[sand frost]

lolllllllll

idk if that is accurate...

[cinder karma]

Asian genes

No. It doesn't get better

[dusty pollen]

same, it took me growing up to get to that point

[sand frost]

I swear I mostly look racially ambiguous despite being half asian

[cinder karma]

On the bright side I look exactly the same as i did when I was actually fifteen

[sand frost]

i guess blaming asian genes might help me feel better about it

[dusty pollen]

I mean you definitely shouldn't move to the UK if that bothers you

they card for energy drinks here and being mistaken for under 16 at age 24 is definitely a fun experience

[cinder karma]

And at this point I want to see how long that lasts, ngl

[devout vault]

Like, there was a time I told my mom that I wished I was a robot so I wouldn't feel things or make mistakes (not that I made many, I was "the good child" among my siblings).

Gotta love dysphoria/depression wombo combo 😅 That empty ache in my chest was a nightmare, especially not realizing that it was even there until I started transitioning

[sand frost]

tbh it mainly bothers me at work

[dusty pollen]

I don't but at least part of that is the fact that I was in my Short Hair Era back then

[sand frost]

like I want the teacher/student divide to be big plz and thanks

[worn remnant]

my method of looking older was to begin graying. sadly it isn't under my control, but it does kind of make me look distinguished

[devout vault]

I was also a "why watch TV when I could be doing something productive like programming" sort of person. (As if modding Minecraft is very productive...)

[pliant snow]

The Short Haira, if you will

[sand frost]

I do have the power to dye my hair gray...but my hair is too dark for that to be anything less than a pain

too dark and too red (thanks to the redhead genes lurking, probably...)

grey is very hard because bleaching turns my hair yellow

[devout vault]

The first time I got my hair dyed it was wild seeing how yellow my hair was after bleaching. I didn't know it worked like that

[sand frost]

the red and black pigments act very differently!!

[cinder karma]

I joke with my dad that had he not gone grey we would have to color his hair to make him look distinguished

[dusty pollen]

most people with brown/black hair have some amount of red pigment on it apparently

[sand frost]

my red pigments typically hide but they really come out when the bleach comes out

[devout vault]

Oh yeah, another thing I did back then was want my hair as short and boring as possible. Every time I got a haircut I got it to like an inch or two if I remember right

[devout vault]

Of course, there's no other colors left to hide behind anym,ore

[sand frost]

do you now have the chance to do fun hair things?

[cinder karma]

Ahhhh latent redhead genes, I have those too and is why I never got blue to work in my hair

[dusty pollen]

I was just doing the mandatory non gender conforming afab thing where you have to have your hair short at least once

[sand frost]

my grandma was a redhead, so yeahhhh i got those

[devout vault]

In theory. Unfortunately I had to get it cut short again in december because depression episode meant I hadn't been taking care of it for a while, and my mom couldn't salvage it (read: mats)

[sand frost]

aww 😦 sorry to hear

maybe someday braids! those are fun to do

[dusty pollen]

and then I remembered I don't care enough to maintain anything like that and now my hair is back down nearly to my waist

[devout vault]

Didn't lose as much as I was expecting, but still way shorter than I would like

[sand frost]

you can braid short hair too, but it takes a bit more dexterity

i learned how to curl my hair recently

way too much work to do regularly, but fun to try out

[cinder karma]

I keep mine just below my shoulders. Any longer and it annoys me. I take scissors to it every third month or so

[sand frost]

i go with the fun trick of "if i literally never cut my hair, i don't have to figure out how a hair salon works"

[dusty pollen]

see I just keep mine in a very shit bun thing on top of my head most of the time so the length doesn't affect me

[devout vault]

So, I actually really like one of the Baldurs Gate 3 hairstyles if I grew it out again and bothered to put in the effort. Having a hard time finding a good clear image...

[sand frost]

i do have to cut mine when it gets too heavy, but when it's super long that's easier to do in some ways

[cinder karma]

If I cut my own hair, I can do it on a whim on a Thursday night

[sand frost]

it's hard to cut any length between "just above shoulders" and "bottom of your spine" due to geometry problems

[cinder karma]

Really?

[sand frost]

i can't twist my hand to get behind my back and the evenness is a problem

[devout vault]

Hearing geometry problems in the context of long hair immediately makes me think of hair clipping into characters in video games

[sand frost]

the bottom of spine gets long enough you can just whip it around to the front

[cinder karma]

I actually tilt my head 90 degrees to each side

Make sure it is even there

[sand frost]

iiiinteresting

when i did just over my shoulders i just took a steady hand straight across

[cinder karma]

But I can get my hands to every point on my own back

[sand frost]

i can with difficulty....

[dusty pollen]

around age 18 was when I last stopped pretending I care about my own hair/nails/makeup enough to do anything about any of them so I just have long hair and nails and no makeup

[sand frost]

i like painting my nails! and doing my own makeup!

but i never have time in the morning so i don't do a lot of makeup

[cinder karma]

I can't stand makeup

[dusty pollen]

I used to be able to and was about to try it just now before I remembered I currently can barely move

my back is mad at me

[sand frost]

i went kind of crazy with the makeup when i was finally out of the house and able to

[dusty pollen]

I can't stand putting it on or taking it off

[sand frost]

my mom is extremely opposed to makeup on vaguely suspicious grounds (she thinks it's all full of lead?)

[cinder karma]

Fun fact. I can touch my shoulder to the inside of my elbow

[sand frost]

i think i would hurt something trying that

let alone succeeding

[dusty pollen]

there are no other joints between those two...

[cinder karma]

See, I think I look great in (and out of) makeup I just hate how it feels on my skin

[sand frost]

oh i was assuming opposite

[cinder karma]

Other arm

[sand frost]

i lucked out and the feel of makeup/nail polish doesn't bother me

[dusty pollen]

oh I probably could too on one side but that's because most of my right shoulder can kind of pop out

[sand frost]

that sounds painful

i like my joints in their sockets

[devout vault]

Ended up having to find a youtube video that showed all the hair and grabbing a screenshot from there

[dusty pollen]

it's not that bad any more, definitely not as bad as my knee

[sand frost]

oh that's cute!! half up style

[cinder karma]

Cutteeeee

[sand frost]

not so different from my current wedding hair plan

[devout vault]

I'd love to be competent enough at life to care. But even if I was I'm not sure I'd have the patience to

[cinder karma]

Yeahhhh...both my shoulders are loose but the right one dislocates easily

[sand frost]

there's ways to make them easier, though nail polish is hard to speedrun

makeup when you practice does get way faster/easier

and some versions of it are more error-tolerant

[cinder karma]

Nail polish is easy. Just clean it up in post

[sand frost]

like the brush types of eyeliner require a super steady hand but the pencil kinds you can smudge into place

[dusty pollen]

for me it's more my shoulderblade and collarbone on the right side

[sand frost]

i meant more the patience to let it dry

[dusty pollen]

gel nail polish!

[sand frost]

there's quick dry top coat but i never get as good results that way

[devout vault]

Fun fact, my left arm has waaaaaaay more range behind my back than my right arm, and I have no idea why.

Like, my left arm I can get around half through forearm behind my back, maybe a little more. But my right arm, I can barely get my hand behind my back.

It's really weird, and I have no idea which way is supposed to be normal

[cinder karma]

I have dislocated my right shoulder by turning over in bed

[sand frost]

gel nail polish has more toxicity problems i thought?

with the uv cure and skin sensitization?

[dusty pollen]

only reason I was willing to even try nail polish is because I bought an led lamp for gel nails at home, you can get them super cheap

[dusty pollen]

I'm pretty sure it's mostly the same as regular nail polish nowadays, and you don't even need UV, you can use certain non-UV LED lamps

[devout vault]

Taking it off sounds like a pain, I'd be much more inclined if it would like... evaporate by the end of the day. And also didn't have problems with my sweating or me rubbing my face all the time.

Basically, what I'm saying is I want a magical illusion spell that does makeup.

[cinder karma]

Taking it off isn't bad imo

[sand frost]

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anai.2024.08.793 probably not accessible, but the title/abstract should be visible

[cinder karma]

This is what I do: I get in the shower and then just scrub my face with facewash while in the shower

[sand frost]

I've never had problems taking off makeup either, though i do tend to pick products that wash off in water

[devout vault]

re: nail polish - I've never bothered trying since my mails are atrocity. (I don't bite them, but I use my other nails to pick at them and keep them even shorter then you could get by biting.)

Seriously, I've had people physically cringe when looking at my nails

[cinder karma]

I don't hate putting it on either. Something something art form

What I hate is it on my skin after a few hours

[sand frost]

you can still paint the parts that are not sticking out, if you want colors — though i expect it would be tempting to pick at the polish

with makeup/nail polish i tend to go for lots of very bright colors

another reason i don't do a lot since i feel like this would also help me get mistaken for younger

[devout vault]

Also, my method of shorting of course ensures they are very uneven 😛

And also sharp. Like, people think you can't scratch itches that way, but youcan, you just use your fingers parallel to the surface instead of perpendicular. But it's not uncommon for me to go a little too hard and a pointy bit cause scratch marks. Before I figured out that was what was happening when I was younger, my parents and I would think I had one of the cats scratch me somehow when I wasn't paying attention ("somehow" because back when we got them, declawing front claws was popular)

[dusty pollen]

to be honest I'm one of those people who's fortunate enough to have no allergy or sensitivity problems so far so I don't tend to think about these things

[cinder karma]

Something to do on weekends then?

[sand frost]

would it help to get a nail file and try to make it a nail filing habit? or do you not super want to change?

[sand frost]

haha yeah — dresses, makeup, t-shirts, jeans, shorts... all relegated to weekends

[devout vault]

I absolutely abhor getting my face wet. Like, I often barely wash my face in the shower.

Probably from a few traumatic swimming-related incidents when I was young

[sand frost]

yeah i have soooo many allergies haha

[cinder karma]

Zumba classes wearing short shirts....

[sand frost]

i don't even own any short shirts lol

[cinder karma]

That....really sucks, I'm so sorry

[sand frost]

wait no i own exactly one crop top that i never wear

and certainly not to work

[dusty pollen]

haha my sister was just complaining yesterday about how my other sister and I can literally wear whatever cheap piercings we want and she has to carefully screen all jewellery to make sure it's sterling silver or 18 carat gold

[cinder karma]

I primarily wear the crop tops to the gym or for running

Where. Frankly

[devout vault]

I don't care enough to bother usually, though there's been a few times lately when I get some spots on my neck (front and back) like that that are uncomfortable when I sleep (because they are now touching things that aren't air)

Also, that requires a miniscule amount of effort, which is kinda a problem for me these days

[sand frost]

at least i don't have metal allergies!! that could get professionally annoying

[cinder karma]

At the gym and while running, a lot of people around here skip the top entirely and go just for the sports bra

[sand frost]

if it's really hot out that makes total sense..

[cinder karma]

Ugh, nickel

Guess why I don't have piercings anymore

[dusty pollen]

it's also just kind of an accepted thing now to only wear a sports bra to the gym I think

which is fair enough obviously, if people feel comfortable wearing that then good for them

[cinder karma]

I don't wear them elsewhere, mom 😆

Not even to the grocery store

[dusty pollen]

I wouldn't but I've always liked full coverage anyway

[devout vault]

How did you unpierce your skin /s

[dusty pollen]

well last time it happened to me it was because I forgot to wear earrings for two years

and had to go get one ear repierced as a result

[sand frost]

i've worn that when i was doing construction outdoors in august

[cinder karma]

I'm doing these weighted sit ups for....I am being told something....oh...spot reducing doesn't work? Really? Can you check again?

[devout vault]

I managed to get some photos of my nails, not great ones because lighting and good picture is hard with one hand, + my phone makes things blurry any closer than I took them (my old one was fine with closeups...)

If anyone is interested in cringing for some reason, I can DM them (not entirely sure if that makes sense to post here, even spoilered) 😛

[dusty pollen]

what's going on with our wifi

[devout vault]

Speaking of piercings, I still need to swap my earrings out for the ones my parents got me for christmas.

The current ones I'm wearing from when I got them pierced in like August/September are butterflies with pink wings I think? It was the closest one to me actually liking that the place had. The ones my parents got me are like these small blue gems (probably not actual gems, but still - shiny blue sparkly)

[dusty pollen]

I wear little studs with similarly some kind of shiny probably-not-gem thing now, but for years I wore the school uniform mandated "silver ball studs" haha

[devout vault]

School mandated earrings? WHAT

It seems kinda messed up to require piercings, unless they were like clip ons

[dusty pollen]

as in if you wanted to have earrings, that's the only thing you were allowed

iirc there was even a specified max diameter

[devout vault]

Ah

[dusty pollen]

it would be very weird for them to force you to get your ears pierced for sure

[devout vault]

When I booked my piercing appointment I got these off amazon, but then at the piercing appointment they mentioned I kinda had to stick with studs for a few months.

I could technically use them now, but I've since thought that I probably wouldn't like hanging ones 😛

[dusty pollen]

I do remember some issues with people who had gauges though haha

iirc they made them take them out? which if you've never seen can just be a little gross looking

[sand frost]

catssss

[devout vault]

Blue? Check. Cat? Check. And bonus, it's a black cat!
Perfect

[worn remnant]

like most school uniform stories i have heard, this is deeply upsetting

[devout vault]

...I bet.

(I already think gauges are kinda weird with them in - nothing against people wanting them, I just don't like them)

[dusty pollen]

if that upsets you, the rest of my uniform code would have knocked you out, ichor

[worn remnant]

it's less the details of the earring rule and more the inference of the remainder of the dress code

[cinder karma]

Did you have to wear a skirt

Ugh

[devout vault]

I remember hearing a church friend (who went to a private highschool) once got in trouble because her skirt wasn't close enough to her knees or something.

...She's 6'5". They literally weren't options available that were long enough

[worn remnant]

if they are so particular about the earrings then you know they are absolutely batshit about everything

[dusty pollen]

well, more like I got the privilege to wear a skirt at age 14

ages 11-14 we had to wear KILTS

[dusty pollen]

my school would have turned a blind eye to her probably, though some teachers would definitely still have made comments

[devout vault]

...what's the difference. Google isn't helping

[cinder karma]

I don't hate the idea of school uniforms but at least let people wear pants

(Says the person who adopted a certain dress style at 15 and then never changed.)

Dress shirt and jeans

[dusty pollen]

kilt = big rectangle of fabric that you attach using a button on one end with a buttonhole 2/3 of the way down, and a strap on the other end with a buckle on the other 2/3rd mark

so a skirt but worse

[cinder karma]

Are you Scottish

Is this....

[dusty pollen]

nope

this is in London

[cinder karma]

That's a creepy af dress code

[devout vault]

<insert joke about private school uniforms technically not having gender restrictions in the dress code, therefore being extremely progressive by allowing transgender people to experiment with non-AGAB clothing>

[dusty pollen]

it was interesting for sure

[devout vault]

...so kilts are just a subset of skirts?

Huh.

I never would've guessed

[cinder karma]

Were you allowed to wear shorts under the kilt

[devout vault]

Like, I've thought the concept was similar, but given the different gender roles for each I assumed it couldn't be something like that. Society simply wouldn't let that be

[dusty pollen]

so ages 16-18 of that school allowed boys in and also didn't have a uniform, just a formal dress code

and at some point they made a change that they said was mostly intended to achieve this

but in practice banned all dresses for not being formal enough

[dusty pollen]

not technically but no teacher was going to tell you off if you wore the PE uniform bike shorts under

[devout vault]

I think the part I have more questions about is "ages 16-18 of that school allowed boys in".

Like... am I understanding right that it was all-girls up through age 15???

I don't understand the logic there

[dusty pollen]

ages 11-16 are all girls, yeah

[cinder karma]

London, apparently

[dusty pollen]

pretty common setup in this area!

[cinder karma]

This is why we make fun of Harvard

They don't do anything like this but they are stuffy enough it seems like they might

[dusty pollen]

ages 16-18 is called "sixth form" and a lot of people move schools around that time

[devout vault]

Huh

[dusty pollen]

oh my school was the worst in the area atra, it wasn't fancy at all it's a comprehensive state school, which is to say it isn't private or selective

[cinder karma]

Awwwww

Okay. But I can still make fun of Cambridge

[worn remnant]

i'm fairly sure my private school's dress code went to bat for the assigned gender binary. it probably doesn't any more, but also maybe it didn't then. i didn't pay much attention to it at the time, since i'm a cis guy and (per usual) only girls were ever actually held to the code

[dusty pollen]

I will say at least in my school, guys were held up to the code, at least in part because it was way easier to figure out what is/isn't allowed when the male dress code is basically "wear a suit" haha

[sand frost]

alwaysssss

[devout vault]

Sometimes I wonder what highschool at an actual school would've been like.

I mean, I was already traumatized by my half a semester in middle school (before I started being homeschooled up through highschool) where it seemed like all the other kids just turned mean over summer. But if that hadn't been the case, I still wonder, you know? 😛

[cinder karma]

Okay, Harvard wasn't the worst. Their libraries are pretty cool. The medical school was fine.

[sand frost]

honestly they get better after middle school

[dusty pollen]

I'm pro making fun of Cambridge, MA and Cambridge, England

also Oxford ofc

[cinder karma]

Don't worry

[sand frost]

middle schoolers are old enough to know how to be mean but not old enough to have empathy about it

[cinder karma]

Thr crumpled paper buildings mock themselves

[devout vault]

Yeah, I've heard middle school is kinda universally the worst. Hence me adding the highschool qualifier in that first sentence 😅

[worn remnant]

Cambridge, MA
our fair city!

[devout vault]

Cambridge, MA always makes me think of the running joke about where Sam is from on Dropout

[sand frost]

if i was giving advice to your past self i would definitely say starting high school is a time of transition where it's easier to come back and join school

[dusty pollen]

I haven't watched enough dropout to know that one I stopped watching ch around the time they moved to dropout haha

[cinder karma]

Did you get a canolli at midnight

Please say yes

[dusty pollen]

I have lost all track of what you guys are talking about

[sand frost]

wait which of you are which cambridge

iro and ichor have such similar names

[cinder karma]

Iro went to oxford

Ichor I'm less sure of

[worn remnant]

i am absolutely not from or associated with Cambridge MA but "our fair city" is a Car Talk reference

[cinder karma]

But because I'm playing up the stupid Amerifan thing

[sand frost]

ah idk car talk or dropout

[cinder karma]

I insult Cambridge and Oxford

[devout vault]

Ah, but you see, middle school trauma made me barely able to socialize.

Got a bit better presumably when puberty really started kicking in (basing that on the timing seeming to be around the time of my first crush). But I think a lot of it was dysphoria too, in retrospect, since it still wasn't great in college

[cinder karma]

You don't know car talk?

[sand frost]

so thzat's why this conversation got very confusing all of a sudden

[cinder karma]

???????

Okay you also probably didn't take a radio class

[sand frost]

i mean i know it exists

never watched it

[worn remnant]

sorry atra i don't know what this is

[devout vault]

Everything. If it's not on topic to SDV, we're talking about it /s

[sand frost]

boston thing...

[cinder karma]

Boston thing.

[devout vault]

This joke in particular originated from a Game Changer episode if I remember correctly

[worn remnant]

ah, well. see above, not from there

[devout vault]

Love the first episode of the new season they showed on the 7th, looking forward to what chaos they present this monday

[worn remnant]

but whenever Cambridge (MA) comes up i have to say "our fair city", just like if somebody mentions Yonkers i have to sing

OUT THEEEEERE~

[cinder karma]

Running down the promenade.

[sand frost]

yonkers is a city too?

[cinder karma]

Drenched with rain

Stuck on the t

Gotta get a ...what was the song, nickel to get off?

[worn remnant]

yonkers is real, for sure

[sand frost]

nickel back in the day!!

very much back in the day

[cinder karma]

https://youtu.be/S7Jw_v3F_Q0?si=Z7SwhrES2mlfTWbs

[worn remnant]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHP9BVo7X1w (yonkers -> out there)

[cinder karma]

God if i could afford Cambridge, MA

I woild love to live there again

[sand frost]

all you need is 5 roommates!

i miss the good public transit

[cinder karma]

Fuckjkkj no I want a house

Just need a cool two million dollars 😦

[sand frost]

you should move to <redacted> near where i am 😛 cheap houses!

[devout vault]

For some reason that makes me think of this harry potter fanfiction I started last year but never finished that was a Dungeons and Dragons (3.5e I think?) crossover. The main character is obligated to say "City of <something I don't remember>! City of Magic!" right after they say the name of the city they come from (before being accidentally transported to HP land) or else the city people will hunt them down and punish them for not adding those words afterwards. And so every time they mentioned the city, even in their thoughts and not out land, those words are there.

...Now that I think about, why did the character never intentionally not do it so the city would hunt him down so he could get home?

[dusty pollen]

I forgot what the term is for "subset T1 including everything in the set S not in the subset T2"

[cinder karma]

Maybe if I find my next job in that area!

[devout vault]

(Can you tell my ADHD is making me make tangential references in my brain to things barely related)

[cinder karma]

Nerd. The term is nerd

[sand frost]

setminus?

that's what i call it in my head

[cinder karma]

Set difference?

[devout vault]

There's a small town in FL called Two Egg. I'm... not really sure why

[sand frost]

wikipedia seems to think set difference

[dusty pollen]

set difference is the operation but I swear there's another term

[sand frost]

obviously for their two eggs

[devout vault]

It's a super small town, too

[sand frost]

pop. 2

2 eggs

[devout vault]

If I bring another egg in town limits will the city rename itself on all maps to 3 eggs

What happens if I turn the two eggs into an omelet

[dusty pollen]

complement! maybe

[cinder karma]

No no no

The eggs are two trans women who haven't realized yet

[sand frost]

complement has to be relative to something for setminus tho

[cinder karma]

Give them two to five years

[sand frost]

i don't think you should make people into omelets

[cinder karma]

And maybe a photo of Olivia wilde

[devout vault]

If I leave a hen in town limits, will there be fractional eggs as the egg being laid is formed, or will it only update upon new eggs being laid and the one inside the chicken doesn't count?

[devout vault]

Oh, hmm. Once they realize it the town will need a new name

[dusty pollen]

yup, it's basically another term for set difference but where you pay less attention to the containing set

[devout vault]

Two eggshells?

No, that wouldn't work, that's just the shell, not what came out of it

[dusty pollen]

I had to look up the definition of a closed set because I knew it would include the term I'm looking for

[sand frost]

i just googled setminus and the wikipedia article that came up was titled complement

but those two are in slightly different places in my head

[cinder karma]

Set difference is the python term

And I'm a 🐍

[dusty pollen]

anyway all this to say

something something the set complement for "SDV" relative to "conversation topics"

[cinder karma]

But conversation topics are part of sve

[dusty pollen]

it's really more a conversational difference than a technical difference but I agree

[cinder karma]

Okay a complement isn't a set difference

The complement is the values. Not in a set

[sand frost]

like i store these differently because one of these is for probability and the other is for set theory mostly

but the set theorists will get picky about this sort of thing

[cinder karma]

The set difference is (set 1) - (values in set 2)

[dusty pollen]

it is, really

it's the difference between the universal set and the set you're talking about

[sand frost]

but contextually, the universal set may or may not exist

[dusty pollen]

in set theory, set complement is a set I'm pretty sure

[cinder karma]

You're assuming the universal set!

[sand frost]

the set containing all sets is not a set

[dusty pollen]

by universal set I mean the one chosen to define the complement on

[cinder karma]

Now let me stop laughing so I can do a set of deadlifts

Or else I will drop one of these dumbbells on you

[sand frost]

maybe the laughing is just making them challenge deadlifts

[dusty pollen]

my professors would be very upset if I mentioned a complement without making it clear what set is being used as the universe

so no need for an assumption when you're an annoying mathematician and insist on always defining things

[sand frost]

i feel like the part where "the set containing all sets" is such a classic set theory Problem With The Universe means that I don't really have a mental reflex towards the complement of a set-theoretic set

[dusty pollen]

but that's because complement is contextual, you have to say what you're considering to be the universe (I'm pretty sure)

[cinder karma]

Yes but

Set difference doesn't assume set 1 eats all of set 2

[sand frost]

i mean sure, but set theorists just write A\B all over the place and call it a day

[dusty pollen]

well that's set difference, that one is fine (kind of) because it assumes B is contained in A

[cinder karma]

Anyways

[dusty pollen]

this is flashbacks to my degree

[cinder karma]

Let it be known that none of us are drunk. Mathspeople can be like this

Technically this isn't a proof that...

[dusty pollen]

you aren't a mathsperson any more though

[cinder karma]

Heyyyyyy

In my heart of hearts

[dusty pollen]

it is in fact a valid proof. your statement was "can be like this" meaning a single example is sufficient. QED.

or □

[devout vault]

Whew, was distracted long enough to miss all the set talk. (One of the few parts of my discrete math classes that I disliked)

[pliant snow]

Alright

The new Wi-fi chip has arrived

It was just in like, a bag, not a box, which is slightly concerning

But lets see how it does

In the farthest room from the router, I get 100 Mbps up/down, but I did a test the other day or so where I was getting like half that

Yeah, it's about the same. That was kind of a waste of money

[rain apex]

Can u still return it

[safe dragon]

nope that’s illegal

[ivory shadow]

Definitely a YMMV situation. As I believe I said before, my issue seemed to be a compatibility thing between the specific APs I use and my old chip. When I tested with a different router I had lying around it performed better, but I was happier to just replace the chip than I was to redo all my wifi

And I suspect it's just an issue with Linux drivers for the Mediatek chip not being as good as the Windows drivers.

But I also didn't want to install Windows just to check wifi performance.

[devout vault]

I wonder what other interesting ways I could use autocorrect for evil. (re: my new mod - https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/33407 )

Maybe I could make a browser extension that autocorrects the social media posts of people you specify?

[cursive sigil]

you're up to criminal activity i see

[safe dragon]

they’re fun crimes

and god would it mess up an LLM to do this

[devout vault]

I said use autocorrect for evil, not use it for good

[devout vault]

Ah, remember my weird anime gloves comment a day or two ago?

[pliant snow]

one of the characters in kingdom hearts had stupid short gloves like that

[sand frost]

Maybe they just forgot to draw the rest of the glove

A glitch in the shadow adding program or something

[devout vault]

Nope, it was like that for every hand

[pliant snow]

why do you hate fashion so much

[devout vault]

Because I don't understand it and also envy those who do

[fleet wren]

I've heard of fingerless gloves but gloveless fingers are new to me

[dusty pollen]

I mean it could be a fancy archery tab

gun archery tab

[devout vault]

Once I saw that scene I remembered seeing it in previous scenes/episodes of that anime, so presumably not specific to “archery”

[cinder karma]

So

Currently at work we vnc into the server, then vnc into a different server

It's slowwwwww

A gpu wouldn't help is network lag

[rain apex]

See if you had no graphix it would be fast

At work i sometimes ssh 3 times

[safe dragon]

needs more ssh

I’ve only ever ssh’ed 1 layer deep

[rain apex]

I used to have a graphical remote desktop too it was terrible

[ivory shadow]

big this energy

[safe dragon]

essentially onion networking

[devout vault]

Oddest steam fest I've seen yet.

[pliant snow]

Ah, the Void Stranger steam fest

[supple ether]

Well, there are a lot of sokobans out there

[safe dragon]

far too many

the time has come

[ivory shadow]

\o/

I hope you enjoy it. I've been liking mine a lot.

[safe dragon]

🙏

[dusty pollen]

why do I understand this though

I wish portal didn't make me nearly throw up every time I played it 😭

[cyan shadow]

Let's gooooooooooooo

[ivory shadow]

Interesting. I just received a credit of about $60 from Framework. I assume this is tariff related.

[safe dragon]

it's a bribe

[supple ether]

congratulations youre an influencer

[weak bronze]

Congratudolences

[fleet wren]

fun fact, the only sokoban game I played is nethack

which is not a sokoban game, but it has sokoban levels where you push rocks into holes

you can cheat in a myriad of ways, such as straight up smashing the stones, casting "stone to flesh" to turn them into a giant lump of flesh and then eating it, polymorphing into a giant monster that can carry the stones in your inventory, summoning extra stones with a magic scroll, et cetera

[safe dragon]

not even the pokemon rock pushing on ice things?

[fleet wren]

I never played pokemon

[safe dragon]

damn

[fleet wren]

funny what people did (and didn't) grow up with

the only consoles I owned growing up were PS1 and 2

• PC games

[safe dragon]

I actually played the first 2 pokemon games on an emulator before i ever played any on their intended consoles

[sand frost]

I've never played any pokemon

but I also only ever played smash and maybe wii at sleepovers growing up, no video games at home

[pliant snow]

a criminal...

[cinder karma]

What is sokoban

A noodle?

[pliant snow]

It's the fancy name for those block pushing games

[cinder karma]

What's a block pushing game

(Why yes I got no sleep last night)

[pliant snow]

a game where you push a block around

like, here is your block, you can push it up, down, left, right, and here is where it needs to go

but theres like walls in the way or other obsticles and shit

[safe dragon]

a criminal even when I was like 4 years old

[devout vault]

You know, I've seen nethack referenced here and there but I've never got around to trying it

[fleet wren]

it's gud
and full of nerd references made before I was born

it's also very hard

[devout vault]

Also, re:sokoban - I had a puzzle like that in Theft of the Winter Star (borderline on topic don't ban me). 😛 Though it was the kind where you push a block and it goes as far as it can automatically, not a single space, so not sure if that counts

[safe dragon]

it's ok. I don't even know why that would be almost on topic

oh I see

smh my head

[devout vault]

smh you don't have every SDV mod ever released memorized? It's like you don't even mod the game or something

[safe dragon]

I think that's still considered sokoban. People call monster's expedition a sokoban after all

I'd go as far as say I likely don't know like 90% of the mods in the top 20

[devout vault]

I don't find sokoban very interseting as a thing to play more than 2-3 levels of, but I'm not really into the genre. And because of that there could be some sokoban innovation that I'm missing

[safe dragon]

there's definitely good games that are sokoban

like void stranger

or like... baba is you if you push your definition

patrick's parabox, isles of sea and sky, the aforementioned monster's expedition

there's good stuff

[devout vault]

NetHack interests me despite me aversion to hard games. But also, I can't say I'm much of a fan of ascii graphics these days. I did play original Dwarf Fortress years ago and enjoyed it at the time, but not sure I really want to play something graphically like that right now.

I assume there's forks and stuff that might have better graphics/interface? Or maybe I should just look at roguelikes in general and not necessarily nethack based

[fleet wren]

Yeah ppl has made tilesheets for nethack

[devout vault]

I remember trying tilesheets for old Dwarf Fortress and not being super impressed with them for some reason. Though the steam DF did feel a bit better, it's more than "just" a tilesheet

[fleet wren]

yeah I think the control scheme is the same, though fwiw nethack's controls was never as convoluted as old DF
(you still need to look up what each key does though)

[devout vault]

Unfortunately I'm not much of a keybinding person - I prefer to start with more mouse oriented interfaces and learn keyboard shortcuts as I get to know things better

[safe dragon]

it'd take a lot to be as convoluted as DF

[devout vault]

Reading about this stuff is making me want to do some game dev stuff again... sigh...

(I don't feel like designing a game right now)

[dusty pollen]

I relate to the aversion to hard games thing, why am I being discrimated against for being an absolutely useless gamer

[devout vault]

There's a reason I tend to play on easy mode in games.

And turn on things like keep inventory in Minecraft 😛

[rain apex]

Casey you might like adom

That one's got a number of tilesets to pick from

[devout vault]

A little over two weeks ago my twin got me an RPG where you play as a (humanoid) cat (my wishlist isn't public so he just grabbed a cat game he thought I would be interested in 😛 ). I'm still afraid to try it because it has the Souls-like tag and mentions "Sekiro-inspired combat" in the initial description. 😛

Didn't like elden ring when I tried it and have heard it's on the easier side as far as fromsoft souls-likes, so that's certainly not helping my aversion

Oh, I'm suddenly remembering a roguelike on steam I was interested in but was waiting for full release and still haven't gotten it besides that having happened. (Caves of Qud)

Huh, they have a DLC that lets you start with a pet

Maybe I should pick up tales of maj'eyal again

[dusty pollen]

I like to describe my skill label in gaming as "finds the skull cavern challenging sometimes"

[devout vault]

Or check my steam backlog, I'm sure there's stuff there

[devout vault]

Exactly.

I want a complex/deep game with lots of actually impactful options and customization but doesn't feel like I'm being punished for playing, is that so much to ask???

Also despite how much I love a good story, that might be a bad thing in this case with how distractible I am (considering my tendency to not want to start over from already knowing that part of the story, but not wanting to continue where I left off and get wrecked while getting used to the game again)

Bonus points if it's moddable (because of course!)

[dusty pollen]

this is every game I have ever played on steam
-# (junimos ddadds is rated Teen it is not nsfw please don't bonk me)

[devout vault]

Now, how about compared to every game you've collected on steam

[dusty pollen]

I've been liking hades and hades 2 for exactly this reason, apparently rogueslites are fairly adhd-friendly haha

[dusty pollen]

these plus one more I got for free

[devout vault]

Me? Liking adhd-friendly games? Why would that be?

I totally didn't make a super dumb SDV mod a couple days ago on a whim but still refusing to get back into proper modding yet

[dusty pollen]

well I like them because my brain is Attention Denialist and Hateractively Disordered

[devout vault]

I'm not sure how to count how many games I have actually played on Steam, but my profile says I own 905 games and I know I haven't played most of them (old humble bundles and steam sales go brr) (and that doesn't the few years of humble monthlies I haven't redeemed)

[dusty pollen]

also idk if you noticed a notable missing game there (I got it on GOG)

[devout vault]

More on the subject or roguelikes in general rather than RPG-ish ones specifically, I was looping at spelunky 2 mods a few weeks ago. Found some interesting ones. Not that I actually played, of course.

Not a huge fan of platformers generally, though you might not believe me based on the hours I have in three of my top six played games (and one of those is aseprite from leaving it open far too long, and another is cookie clicker, so...)

[dusty pollen]

as you can see, I am indeed an epic gamer

[devout vault]

I wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't mentioned it

If I had I would've assumed you were excluding the obvious

[dusty pollen]

I love platformers

fireboy and watergirl (the original flash version, not the html5 remake) slapped

[marble jewel]

When I sort by playtime, these are the games I've racked up the most time for in Steam. Minecraft would probably be above them all.

[devout vault]

...it is kinda weird that I don't really like platformers a whole lot but 3/5 of my top five actual-games (not tools or idle games) are platformers in some sense

[marble jewel]

I'm actually surprised how much time I have in Oblivion, I don't remember playing it that much

[dusty pollen]

damn, 280 hours playing Borderless Gaming

[marble jewel]

But only 1 / 2 achievements

[lethal walrus]

If only wallpaper engine counted I would have so many hours

[devout vault]

The other is SDV, and the then the fifth is an MMO I haven't played in years (and the hour count isn't accurate there since I played it pre-Steam release with my entire family, quite extensively for years - Everquest II)

[dusty pollen]

there was a flash game called Shift (well, there were four of them) that I'm pretty sure was a formative experience for me ngl

so I do love platformers with all my heart

[devout vault]

Yeah, I have no clue how minecraft would rank here besides being at the top (except maybe that MMO I just mentioned), since I got it back in alpha and used to play modded extensively (in addition to making my own mods)

[dusty pollen]

wait it looks like it's still around! maybe it was html5 based or transferred to html5?

[dusty pollen]

https://armorgames.com/play/751/shift

good game. you should play it

[devout vault]

That's nothing compared to the playtimes some people have in Wallpaper Engine

Oh, Pillow already mentioned WE

[lethal walrus]

I think it doesn't count bc I have ut on startup so steam doesn't recognise it

[devout vault]

...I can't remember the last time I played a browser game. Especially one with the classic "this site is hosting my game so let's show their logo here at the beginning" kind

[marble jewel]

After my page 2, my playtime starts to drop off significantly.

[dusty pollen]

I can and it was either a papa's _eria game or this

[devout vault]

Platformer AND puzzle? Count me out

[lethal walrus]

The last browser game I played is https://junimocartonline.stardew.rocks lol

[devout vault]

Suddenly recalling the experiences with my brothers and I playing N++ together

X is the win button

(We played on the xbox, no idea what the pc key is)

[cinder karma]

Playing notepad ++?

[dusty pollen]

puzzle is stretching it

I would describe it as "a portal fan wanted to make a browser game"

in that there's similar genre of mechanics and also similarish snarky dialogue

[devout vault]

N++ is impossible to find on steam thanks to being one letter and symbols

[devout vault]

It literally says puzzle in the embed description

[cinder karma]

Casey. I'm serious

Notepad++?

[devout vault]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/230270/N_NPLUSPLUS/

Steam

N++ (NPLUSPLUS)

N++ is a fast-paced, momentum-based platformer about darting around obstacles, narrowly evading enemies and collecting gold in a beautiful minimalist landscape. It’s the first N game on PC since 2004 and we’ve spent those 12 years perfecting the platformer.

N++ is all about using your momentum to complete levels and get high scores, bu…

Price

$14.99

Recommendations

2498

Metacritic

90

▶ Play video

[heavy dagger]

Title result: N++ (NPLUSPLUS) on Steam

[devout vault]

I was looking for this

I was seriously getting a link for you 😛

[dusty pollen]

oh yeah I know haha, I was saying I think their description is a stretch

[devout vault]

The "win button" I'm talking about literally just makes you explode so you restart the level (and I think doesn't restart the timer)

[cinder karma]

I'm sorry I'm not a gamer

[devout vault]

No worries

We'll make you feel cultured one day

Even if we have to cover you in cheese /s

[marble jewel]

I'm not a true gamer, I'm a filthy casual

[devout vault]

Going back to roguelikes for a bit, I really like roguelites. I like having some more tangible progress besides "oh I seem to on average be getting further than before"

[marble jewel]

If I had stats for mobile games, it would be shameful

[devout vault]

Me too. gestures to early game difficulty conversation

[devout vault]

Oh, that kind of casual. Well, you do you, I guess

[cinder karma]

It's not even filthy causal behavior

[devout vault]

(/s)

[marble jewel]

I have problem playing certain games on easy mode when I just want to get through it

[cinder karma]

God I want to work on my 5k again

[sand frost]

I prefer my games to be easy

[cinder karma]

It's insane how stir crazy I get not being able to run

[sand frost]

I don't really enjoy being awful at a game over and over again unless I'm like, idk building a train or something in the game

[dusty pollen]

speaking of mobile games, I got back into necromerger recently. Interesting indie dev studio but boy is it grindy

[sand frost]

Is it too rainy for run?

[cinder karma]

No. I have plantar fascitisi

[sand frost]

And on an objective level, I'm pretty bad at video games, so unless I can set them to easy it's just grindingly hard

[cinder karma]

Or how ever that is spelled

[sand frost]

:(( terrible

bodies are full of betrayal

[cinder karma]

I'm been off runs, low impact only, for about a month now

Going stir fucking crazy

I need my runs 😦

[dusty pollen]

oof, plantar fasciitis sucks

or however it's spelled

[devout vault]

I am truly surprised that people active on the Popular Cozy Game discord aren't hardcore thriving-on-punishment-difficulty-level gamers. What an unexpected twist. Nobody could have possibly anticipated this

[cinder karma]

I feel like if I did play games I would like hard games but

[heavy dagger]

New quote added by irocendar as #6355 (https://discordapp.com/channels/137344473976799233/1215712021207720006/1364358863176073319)

[marble jewel]

I'm not into the grind, unless it's a tech minecraft modpack

[devout vault]

I kinda hate merge games, not sure why. I've never even played any, just seen the dumb ads for them (which, to be fair, does tend to make you hate certain types of mobile games).

[cinder karma]

I'm into improving my 5k time

[devout vault]

Speaking of mobile games, I also hate gacha games.

[dusty pollen]

oh I hat them on principal but they're good for brain-off-numbers-go-up time

[cinder karma]

Which shows how much i hate myself :p

[dusty pollen]

I have apparently thoroughly confused steam because this was in my discovery feed

[devout vault]

I was interested in Infinity Nikki until I found out it was a gacha game

[devout vault]

wha-

[dusty pollen]

I'm ashamed to admit I have spent an unreasonable amount of money on one (before realising and quitting) but usually I'm pretty unaffected by them, it was literally just that one and only because I got into the community side of things

[devout vault]

Fair. I say I want intersting gameplay and story but sometimes that's good time.

Yes I like match three games with flashy effects (as long as they don't have the dumb energy system or other microtransactions), don't @ me

[dusty pollen]

I used to play Love Nikki and was so confused when there was suddenly a massively popular 3d nikki game

[sand frost]

my steam discover feed is unrelentingly terrible, but I do occasionally check back to be entertained by how bad it is

It seems to recommend:

• popular games, because Stardew is popular
• games that are reskinned clones of Stardew

[cinder karma]

Elizabeth, should I play the pcb game

[sand frost]

And then some ??? recs

Seems reasonable! I have friends who like it a lot

[cinder karma]

It's been more than a year since I've launched steam

[dusty pollen]

(everything in my discovery game is "recommended because it's popular")

[cinder karma]

I should just delete it

[dusty pollen]

what is the pcb game

[sand frost]

It would be a much better recommending feed if it recommended games that involve trains

Also cute fun games that aren't full of violence

[cinder karma]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/504210/SHENZHEN_IO/

Steam

SHENZHEN I/O

• Build circuits using a variety of components from different manufacturers, like microcontrollers, memory, logic gates, and LCD screens.
  • Write code in a compact and powerful assembly language where every instruction can be conditionally executed.
  • Read the included manual, which includes over 30 pages of original datasheets, reference guides, and…

Price

$14.99

Recommendations

3406

▶ Play video

[heavy dagger]

Title result: SHENZHEN I/O on Steam

[rain apex]

Ty marubot

[dusty pollen]

may I recommend this non-train but similarly nerdy browser based game

https://logicbox.jahooma.com/

[rain apex]

Atra u should play it

You can learn chinese

[devout vault]

My aversion to them harkens back to the days of Facebook Games.

Enter: Frontierville

Played it mostly with my mom (as much as you can play that with people anyways). I was mostly good about the buying things stuff until they had these sort of pets you could buy, and there were like six of them, but I wanted them all. So of course I did what any reasonable person would: I splurged and got them all.

There was duplicate prevention it seems, but I still spent $100 on it and decided to never do microtransactions again. 😛 (I was like 14-15 I think? Had my own paypal to pay for stuff with allowance and another small-but-big-for-a-teenager income source. It was very rare for me to spend any money at all, which is why it kinda shook me. 😛 )

[cinder karma]

Zee it has problem of being too close to job

For actually fun

Why design virtual pcb when can design real pcb

[devout vault]

Oh yeah, Genshin Impact also seemed interesting if not for the time gated content and gacha stuff.

[cinder karma]

All I know of genshin impact I know from cosplayrrs

[devout vault]

I've never played any of them 😛

[dusty pollen]

it's also very rare for me to spend any money on this kind of game, which is why that one gacha game catching me at a time when I particularly needed a sense of community and getting me to spend so much money caught me off guard haha

but I have left that game and my wallet has mostly bounced back so, I will let ADHD-C bygones be bygones

[rain apex]

I don't even do hardware and it still felt too much like coding lol

But i liked flipping through the included manual that was fun

[dusty pollen]

it's so funny that I was convinced I would be diagnosed as ADHD-I when I probably have more problems caused by the ADHD-H side of things lmao

[devout vault]

My favorite match 3 has been the treasures of montezuma series. All the explosions and particles and other madness are great.

It's very different than ones like candy crush.

(Never played 5, looks like it's not as great as previous ones. Like, it doesn't have double totem activation according to one review??? How am I supposed to get all the chaos I desire???)

[devout vault]

Interesting. Wishlisted.

(I really need to be able to categorize my wishlist at this point)

[devout vault]

Have you seen https://store.steampowered.com/app/24010/Train_Simulator_Classic_2024/ ?
Just... don't plan on getting all the DLC

Steam

Train Simulator Classic 2024

YOUR ULTIMATE HOBBYCelebrate 15 years of the ultimate railway hobby! Learn to operate officially licensed locomotives from historic steam to modern day electrics and explore realistic detailed routes from around the world. Train Simulator Classic 2024 is the simulation made by railfans for railfans.

EXPLORE FAMOUS RAILWAYSJourney to five countr…

Price

$29.99

Recommendations

18401

▶ Play video

[heavy dagger]

Title result: Train Simulator Classic 2024 on Steam

[rain apex]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/596970/Sunless_Skies_Sovereign_Edition/

Steam

Sunless Skies: Sovereign Edition

Captain a spacefaring steam locomotive as a new Victorian empire takes to the stars! Lead your hapless crew into trouble – and out of their minds. Smuggle souls. Barter for barrels of time. Stop for cricket (and a nice cup of tea).

…

Price

$24.99

Recommendations

2525

Metacritic

87

▶ Play video

[heavy dagger]

Title result: Sunless Skies: Sovereign Edition on Steam

[rain apex]

What is the purpose of this uber function

[cinder karma]

My ex boss questions the desire to make fake pcb

Over making real pcb

Which reminds me I was gonna stream some kicad

[pliant snow]

to tell you the title of steam games smh

[fleet wren]

the best part of the game is when you have to ||navigate a manual written entirely in chinese||

[dusty pollen]

.title

[heavy dagger]

Title result: Sunless Skies: Sovereign Edition on Steam

[pliant snow]

all of the zachtronics games are great

[dusty pollen]

it's a special case of the .title command iirc chu

[rain apex]

Does that just get titles of urlz

[dusty pollen]

idk WHY it does it automatically for steam though

[devout vault]

This reminds me of shapez for some reason (and a similar game that's similar but cats, but steam isn't loading or letting me log in on the web to see my wishlist - does it normally due this during the maintenance period?)

[rain apex]

https://github.com

.title

Smh

[dusty pollen]

it takes a sec sometimes and you may have to let it embed

[pliant snow]

it might be turned off

[devout vault]

I'm not aware of the different types of ADHD, I might've gotten diagnosed before those were a thing much? (Or maybe I just didn't pay attention because I was like 10 or younger)

[cinder karma]

https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/etfs/profile/vht

.title

[heavy dagger]

Title result: VHT-Vanguard Health Care ETF | Vanguard

[pliant snow]

okay its not turned off

[cinder karma]

You can see where my flight to safety is trying to take me

[rain apex]

Mystery

[dusty pollen]

it's basically a better version of what used to be called ADD vs ADHD

ADHD-I (or PI, they're the same): ADHD-(Primarily) Inattentive, aka ADD
ADHD-H (or PH, they're the same): ADHD-(Primarily) Hyperactive
ADHD-C: ADHD-Combined

it separated out the people who have the hyperactivity side of symptoms but not inattention from the people who have both (both groups used to just be ADHD) and brought everything under one umbrella term since there was no reason to have a separate term

[cinder karma]

It goes back and forth

Combining, uncombining

[devout vault]

Speaking of mobile microtransaction hellscapes, I hate those energy designed to have you pay to keep playing with a passion.

I remember I was interested in Hogwarts Mystery when it came out (sue me - this was like 7 years ago, so before I really paid attention to anything going on in the world at all (thanks dysphoria/depression combo) and so didn't realize things like JKR being... JKR) and started it but the energy system immediately made me stop playing.

[cinder karma]

Depends which year you got your diagnosis

[sand frost]

I haven't, but that isn't the fun part of trains for me I think. I like planning train routes and building things and things like that.

[cinder karma]

Do you like ticket to ride

[dusty pollen]

oh for planning train routes there's that series of games called metro something? uh let me find them

[devout vault]

Ahhhhh.

Have you considered modded Minecraft? 😛
https://create.fandom.com/wiki/Train

[dusty pollen]

mini metro and mini motorways

actually, it looks like they're on steam too

[devout vault]

Create Trains are pretty cool considering they can go through unloaded chunks

[cinder karma]

Yeah, Elizabeth, you could join their modded Minecraft

[dusty pollen]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/287980/Mini_Metro/

Steam

Mini Metro

In Mini Metro, you take on the task of designing the subway layout for a rapidly expanding city. Your city starts with three stations. Draw routes between these stations to connect them with subway lines. Commuters travel along your lines to get around the city as fast as they can. Each station can only hold a handful of waiting commuters so y…

Price

$9.99

Recommendations

11721

Metacritic

77

▶ Play video

[heavy dagger]

Title result: Mini Metro on Steam

[sand frost]

yesss

[sand frost]

i have this one!

I haven't finished it but I'm most of the way through

[dusty pollen]

should have guessed

[sand frost]

not cute enough

[dusty pollen]

I didn't even know it had an end

[sand frost]

i mean eventually you run out of cities to play

[dusty pollen]

or didn't remember ig

[sand frost]

and then i guess you can optimize each city

but i think that's less fun

[dusty pollen]

have you tried mini motorways too?

[devout vault]

The thing you see there is just the device that runs them, you design what they look like outside of that yourself I'm pretty sure

[sand frost]

minecraft in general does not pass the cute test for me

[devout vault]

First three images on google for "minecraft mod create trains"

[devout vault]

Wow. Clearly you need to install more mods

That's the solution to everything, isn't it? Even Pathos has an SDV install where he installs literally every mod! 😛

[cinder karma]

What would?

[devout vault]

Would a resource pack that makes it run on spheres instead of cubes be cuter

[cinder karma]

Tbh I still don't know Minecraft ofter than Microsoft cube game

[devout vault]

https://www.planetminecraft.com/texture-pack/spherical-vanilla/

@crystal wren Clearly we need this^ for our modded minecraft pack

[sand frost]

I know that people claim this but I feel like I'm not convinced

[sand frost]

maaaaaaaaybe

[devout vault]

I mean, I think it's kinda a stretch to look for 'cute' in trains of all things...

But then again I don't really have much of a concept of cute outside of cats, so...

This isn't quite the cat-automation game I was thinking of earlier but it's similar. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150090/Learning_Factory/

(The seems familiar too... did they just upadte the graphics???)

Steam

Learning Factory

Learning Factory is a relaxing automation game, which lets you concentrate on the most important task in the Universe: making cats happy again.

You're a humble genius scientist who gets invited to become the chief engineer at an abandoned Factory on Mars, designed to produce and sell exquisite goods for cats. It was conceived to learn everyth…

Price

$14.99

Recommendations

336

▶ Play video

[heavy dagger]

Title result: Learning Factory on Steam

[devout vault]

Kinda hard to find it on google too, since most results are just about the idler called kittens game

I remember being introduced to that game ages ago in the channel for people with the adventurer role, that was ages ago

[cinder karma]

Cuteeeee

[devout vault]

I think learning factory is the game I was thinking of based on the name, I just somehow mixed up the graphics style in my head with shapez

That or they were in early access or something and updated

I have an email from 2021 where steam notified me about it being available for EA, so that could very well be the case

[sand frost]

I have been nerdsniped

I'm on level 10

[marble jewel]

Someone made a functional vanilla train in the latest Minecraft snapshots using happy Ghasts

https://youtu.be/r_t3XOnh8yY?si=Ie8unyREGWM8p1qf

[cinder karma]

Those sure are words

I know most of them

But in what order

Speaking of shitty mobile games

Why is duolingo advertising a screw removal game

[devout vault]

Closer to when they were first released on saw this on the subreddit

More recently I saw a similar post but it was a boat with the model replaced an actual nuke or something

[marble jewel]

I wonder if you can reach the lead from the top

[devout vault]

Also, couldn't you do the same thing without the ghasts? 😛 (now that you can link minecarts together with leads... if I'm not mistaken)

[devout vault]

They mentioned in the post using shears on the ghast to cut the leads and drop the creeper

So it did work while on the ghast

[marble jewel]

The Ghast just gives you 4 seats

[devout vault]

True, but you're not enslaving a legion of happy(?) ghasts to be a train

[marble jewel]

The only non-vanilla thing in that video is that the Ghast has it's AI disabled, or they would all be looking in different directions

[devout vault]

Just saw that in the description

[marble jewel]

So a pure vanilla implementation wouldn't look as good

[devout vault]

Clearly we just need to put some wax on the ghasts to put them in stasis, just like copper blocks

Totally makes sense, right?

[marble jewel]

I'm just looking forward to having a much easier time transporting large mobs

[devout vault]

True

...for people who don't play heavily modded, anyways

[marble jewel]

Just use a Sponge to dehydrate the again

[devout vault]

Ah, someone pointed out a big benefit to ghast-train over minecart train:

[cinder karma]

What's a gahst

[devout vault]

Won't they not be big enough to ride then?

[marble jewel]

I don't know if the lore is that they increase in size with hydration since hostile ghasts are big

[devout vault]

Flying creatures from hell who shoot fireballs at you.

The happy versions are peaceful and you can ride

https://minecraft.wiki/w/Ghast

[marble jewel]

And when you rehydrate them, they're small at first before they grow into a large one

[cinder karma]

The what

God I'm tired haha

A little scattered today

[sand frost]

I feel like with minecraft, the 3D textures I have style preferences on them, and a lot of the minecraft textures look to me like "repeatedly pattern a lowres texture onto a cube"

[devout vault]

Well, what if the angry ghasts are hydrated, but happy ones are only happy because you helped them get better?

[sand frost]

ghasts look kinda cute

[marble jewel]

I feel like Hostile grow on Lava or something since the nether doesn't have water

So Hostile vs Happy is just hot vs cold

[sand frost]

like I know that minecraft has lots of depth but the aesthetic side of it somehow just looks unfinished to me?

[devout vault]

Or maybe an ancient wizard brought them there, and millienia in the nether have them angry and jaded

[sand frost]

I'm not even really sure what would make it better, because I never play 3D games so I don't really have the words to describe a style I would find cuter

[marble jewel]

I wonder if Happy Ghasts take damage from Lava since Hostile Ghasts are immune to fire damage

[cinder karma]

Tbh I think it's fine to just not cluck with a game

Heaven knows that is me with...everything rn

[sand frost]

i have so many friends who try to get me into it though!

[devout vault]

Yeah. It's better than it used to be at least. And there's also texture packs! (Shoutout to the one I used to use, painterly pack, and it's endless customization options)

[cinder karma]

If it isn't knitting or like exercise lol

[marble jewel]

I need a Game Theory video on the new lore

[cinder karma]

It's fine. Can you show me the lathe one day

How do you like a 3d printer.

Can I interest you in knitting

[devout vault]

Yeah, and even with graphics styles.

Like I mentioned earlier with the ASCII stuff. 😛 Or also how I feel about all the hyper realistic graphics, especially older stuff that was super brown leaning

[sand frost]

i definitely could!

[sand frost]

not so big on the plastic ones, funnily enough

like i can use them and all, and it's neat, but people should learn some old school skills before just 3D printing anything because they can

[devout vault]

Not "cuter" but what about vintage story? https://www.vintagestory.at/media.html/
(Very different as far as gameplay goes, but is another Block Game ™️ )

There's screenshots past the videos

[cinder karma]

Old school skillz

Lol, I don't have those either

I can operate a 3d printer and a laser cutter

I can operate an evap machine too

But hand me a chisel and watch me fail

[sand frost]

cuter than minecraft, too scary though

[sand frost]

i would settle for industrial revolution era skills

we don't need to go full bronze age

[devout vault]

A lot of people would say simpler seeming games are very silly to focus on lore and such for. In my opinion, those are the best ones!

I bet most people aren't very knowledgeable of the Kirby lore rabbithole 😛

[sand frost]

I think maybe the block aesthetics that I like better are the ones that remind me of legos

[cinder karma]

I've never used a lathe:(

I'm so 20th century

[devout vault]

Fair, I can't say I'm super fond of the vibe of it either.

I was unaware it had eldritch horror themes before now (never looked at the website, just seem screenshots here and there), might have to point my twin to it

[cinder karma]

Anything invented before the traitorous eight haha

[sand frost]

traitorious eight?

[marble jewel]

If you're into cozy farming games, there's a minecraft modpack that introduces a bunch of SDV mechanics into it

[devout vault]

There's probably several

[sand frost]

i would probably be into other cozy farming games, but i like the aesthetic of stardew much better than minecraft

[devout vault]

If I want SDV mechanics I'll play SDV though 😛

If I'm playing Minecraft I'm playing for the more typical modded craziness (even if that is very different than base game)

[marble jewel]

https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/modpacks/farming-valley

[cinder karma]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traitorous_eight

[devout vault]

Yeah, that's the one I first thought of

[marble jewel]

There are others, but that's the most popular one

[dusty pollen]

are any of you members in a makerspace btw

I've always been interested but never actually joined one

[sand frost]

huhhhh

[sand frost]

define "member"

my job has one

[marble jewel]

I've been interested too. There's one near-ish to where I live.

[sand frost]

I've looked into it before, but never joined up with one due to continuous access via academia

[dusty pollen]

the only time I lived really near one was when I was 18 and living out for my internship but once I move out for whatever job I get there's a decent chance I'll be close to one

[dusty pollen]

afaik most of them require membership to use

[sand frost]

the one I use is a makerspace by name, but is limited to university students/staff/faculty

[devout vault]

I didn't find out about them until shortly before I moved from FL, and nowadays I've gotta get my act together before doing much like that 😛

[cinder karma]

Not anymore

[dusty pollen]

were you active?

[cinder karma]

During my entire education yes

[dusty pollen]

that sounds fun

I just know I will probably end up never using it because I hate being perceived

[devout vault]

The main reason I'd want to would be for shenanigans to aid in custom circuit stuff.

Like if I had ever finished the custom game controller I was working on, or if I were to make a custom smartphone (using android, I don't want to make all apps myself) like I am vaguely interested in

[dusty pollen]

I just want to be able to try things like a lathe or a resin printer without having to own them yk

[cinder karma]

You should go talk more to myuu

[cinder karma]

Fwiw, my workplace doesn't mind if we use workplace lab for personal projects (within reason)

[marble jewel]

I think this project is neat. Something that would be fun to do. https://youtu.be/7UXsD7nSfDY?si=n_bo0Dy11TRkVv_J

[cinder karma]

Ooh!

[dusty pollen]

to do list:

1. get whatever qualifications atra has

• move to the US
• get a job at atra's workplace
• try out lathe

[cinder karma]

We don't have a lathe

[dusty pollen]

well then what's the point atra

[cinder karma]

My understanding is that policy like this is pretty common tbh

Being able to use lab for personal stuff as long as you're not impedance real work

I mean like, dual hakkos

[devout vault]

Huh, interesting. My attention span for things I'm not super interested in isn't long enough to watch that video right now, but stuff like that is always fun.

I'm not sure what custom features you could really do for a keyboard - it seems like you could only go so far - but I have some Opinions ™️ on the custom smartphone thing I mentioned. (Hint: It wouldn't be the boring all-screen nonsense that people do nowadays)

[rain apex]

what about the crazy layers

[cinder karma]

Tbh I would want to try my hand at a keyboard

Ground up

[safe dragon]

a rest api I've spent the last 5 months building went live (for testing) today at work 🙏

[pliant snow]

Terrifying!

[safe dragon]

can't wait to find out some fundamental decisions I made don't work

luckily literally everyone else in my team is on vacation, sick or doesn't work on Wednesdays

so I'm safe for now

[pliant snow]

cant find bugs if no one tests it

[worn remnant]

the worst feeling

[safe dragon]

I hope it will be avoided

[ivory shadow]

Following up on this, when I ordered the laptop it was priced at $1,613.00 and I paid $96.78 of tax on top of that for $1,709.78. They have since updated the price so the laptop was only $1,557.00 and tax was $93.42 for a total of $1,650.42. That's where the $59.36 credit I received came from.

[safe dragon]

you're rich

[ivory shadow]

It is pretty nice they credited me the difference after adjusting the price though

[pliant snow]

When the tariffs come tho, they'll ask for that back

[ivory shadow]

Sadly I have already spent my $59 on groceries and stuff

[safe dragon]

they'll break into ur house and take the eggs

[marble jewel]

Wow, they sound like a company that does right by the customer. I feel like I'm being influenced to make a future purchase with them 🙂

[safe dragon]

the haven't given me my laptop yet they're dead to me

[pliant snow]

did you order one

[ivory shadow]

(Okay Framework rep hiding in the shadows send me more money 💰 )

[pliant snow]

https://tenor.com/bxOJ5npRZmQ.gif

[ivory shadow]

Didn't Crumble order one of the new 13s? With the shiny new Ryzen line that I refuse to name because it's a buzzword name

[sonic mirage]

I ordered a new 13. Coming in Batch 7 (June-ish)

[pliant snow]

No one getting the 12 rip

this is slander

[ivory shadow]

In theory, I like the 12. In practice, I wanted a bigger screen and a number pad.

And I didn't really want to wait.

[sonic mirage]

The 13 with the higher res screen is going to be a great replacement for my 2011 13" Macbook Pro with a 720p screen

With how long I keep my laptops I justified getting the Ryzen 7 350 instead of the 5 340

[ivory shadow]

I'd be the opposite. For once I can justify not buying the more expensive CPU to hope it stays useful just a bit longer, since you can upgrade just the motherboard on these laptops.

[sonic mirage]

That's the reason I used for getting 32GB of RAM for it instead of 64, since DDR5 will probably be cheaper and faster when I go to replace the mainboard

The Ryzen 5 has half the GPU of the 7, though, too, so that also influenced it

[cinder karma]

My history with replacing ram in machines is dismal

[sonic mirage]

Apparently the GPU between this Ryzen gen and last kind of downgraded for the same tiers

[cinder karma]

I keep on buying computers with the intent of later upgrading ram and never doing it

[pliant snow]

Now's the time

[worn remnant]

feeling like i should get around to ordering one of these computers before the trade war gets any worse (again)

[ivory shadow]

Ah, more GPU is definitely a good reason for the upgrade if you plan on gaming.

I am suitably impressed with the integrated graphics on mine. Been using it to play Forza Horizon 4 at 1900x1200 with high dynamic settings. Looks and runs very nicely.

[sonic mirage]

This is why I pulled the trigger now (well, 2 weeks ago)

[pliant snow]

I'm at the point now where if I want to upgrade my desktop I basically have to redo the whole thing. New CPU would mean new socket which means new motherboard which means DDR5 RAM...

[sonic mirage]

Batch 7 should come in just before the 90 day extension on tariffs is up

[ivory shadow]

At least AMD actually reuses sockets for a while. Apparently Intel is already rolling out a new socket again? lol

[sonic mirage]

Last I heard Intel might have a desktop CPU "refresh" for the current socket, but typically they only go 2 gens on a given socket, which is just another reason to stick with AMD

AMD has said they'll support AM5 through 2027 last I checked

or maybe it was 2026?

[pliant snow]

Yeah, this is the second CPU I've had with this socket, so I can't complain too much

[sonic mirage]

Yeah it's 2027

I finally have all the parts to put my new tower together. I sold my 4080 Super when the 5080 launched and then it turned out to be a paper launch and the MSRPs were complete nonsense. Just bought a used/"open box" 4080 Super which feels pretty silly, but I'm not paying $1400+ for a 5080 that is a handful of percent faster. Luckily I basically broke even between selling mine and getting this "new" one given that the new one is an OC version and my previous one was standard.

[fleet wren]

I built my new PC back in nov, and now I feel like indiana jones sliding under the trapdoor

[sonic mirage]

I'm hoping that AMD GPUs continue to do well so when it's time to upgrade again it will be an easier decision to go AMD GPU too (any maybe they'll have a little bit higher end one by then)

Yeah I've had most of my parts since then, just put the NAS together first and then after selling the 4080 have been waiting for 5080s to A) be available and B) be at a price that makes sense and I just gave up and bought another 4080 super

Upgraded my phone as well so I can not worry about tariffs on tech for at least a few years with most big purchases

[supple ether]

My gpu is definitely too old to sell at this point. With prices as they are, I probably won't be able to upgrade for a good while.

Then again, I don't do much that's gpu bottlenecked, so I guess it's a non-issue for now

[sonic mirage]

the 9070XT is pretty good value for the money and AMD's upscaling has caught up now, so unless you want more performance that's probably currently the way to go for most people

[ivory shadow]

Here's hoping Intel continues to improve too.

[sonic mirage]

Yeah I don't know how they're going to deal with the driver overhead issues they have though

[ivory shadow]

Same way they've dealt with all the other driver issues they've had since starting the Arc series?

The drivers have already come a long way.

[supple ether]

While it's not in my budget rn the main thing I would upgrade for is vr. I don't really play AAA games, but modern vr displays are high-resolution and high-framerate, so I'd want whatever I can get in terms of raster power.

[sonic mirage]

The overhead issue is kind of a different beast though. On slower CPUs the overhead can really kill FPS, but their GPUs seem to have been designed to have the CPU doing a decent amount of work. So while on fasts CPU they scale really well up to higher resolutions, it's kind of the opposite for slower CPUs

If they put out a high end card and you pair it with a fast CPU, it's not much of an issue, but if they're trying to target budget builds it's kind of a non-starter due to the overhead

[supple ether]

My cpu may be old but it's still massive overkill for anything but the heaviest simulation

[sonic mirage]

To be clear I'm talking about Intel's GPU overhead issue; not anything to do with AMD

[ivory shadow]

I mean, I haven't heard anything that suggests they can't fix the issue with updated drivers (and possibly updated firmware) so until they say they can't, I am expecting them to fix the overhead issue given their track record with improving Arc drivers in addition to Intel recently saying they're looking into it.

[sonic mirage]

I'm also hopeful that they can address it, but my takeaway from what I've seen on the topic is that while Intel is aware and working on it, it might not be that possible to fix for Battlemage since it needs the CPU to do a certain amount of work for it

[cinder karma]

Re: tariffs

Hah can't even say his name

Anyways

I think they also came up with an incredibly weird version of de minimus

Which is...unfortunate tbh

[worn remnant]

oh is his name in the automod list? that's fun

[cinder karma]

I mean, de minimus is my entire tariffs avoidance idea so I'm not surprised he wants to shut that shit down lol

(Basically - usually tariffs do not apply if you physically go to a country and carry back items in your checked luggage)

[ivory shadow]

I have had European friends come visit just to buy PC components in the past, lol

[safe dragon]

spend hundreds of dollars on the plane there and back to save 100 dollars on ur gpu 🙏

[rain apex]

My friend mailed me a bundle he got from microcenter

It was cheaper than buying in cad

Just took 2 whole ass months bc of canada post things at the time

This was indeed just b4 tarrifs

[sonic mirage]

I had to go ahead and get my "bring your own" components for the Framework 13 so the prices of those dont go up before I get the laptop

Their prices for those components are kind of a bit much

Not sure if they're already tariff'd or not, but I paid almost half for what I got instead

[ivory shadow]

As far as I know, they've always been a bit much.

I saved over $100 on my power supply, SSD, and RAM by not buying from Framework.

[crystal wren]

What I don't understand is why the assemble-it-yourself options are cheaper at all, assuming the exact same configuration.

Because from what I've heard, they still assemble and test the exact configuration you put together.

They just then disassemble them again.

[ivory shadow]

Deliberate policy to get more people to do self assembly so they realize it's easy?

[sonic mirage]

I spent the $60 on the GaN charger since it's nice and small, but yeah. $150 for same WD model 2TB SSD vs $260 (I got a similar SK Hynix 2TB for $135 on sale instead), $94 for CL40 32GB DDR5 SODIMMs vs $160.

[ivory shadow]

I only got 16GB of RAM. I think my gan charger was also $60?

[sonic mirage]

I didn't see a listing for 2 x 8GB 5600 from a brand I prefer so I just went with a 2 x 16GB from GSkill