[-] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 4 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

There should be a general exception for games that update in the game, or a Steam API setting that differentiates between play time and update time, and penalties for games that don't abide by it.

[-] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 1 points 4 days ago

The only unrealistic part of that is the mother getting any say at all.

[-] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 1 points 4 days ago

The problem is that it might be too late.

[-] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 6 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Uh, that wasn't me, please pay attention. Either way, you made a claim - a quantitative claim no less - it's on you to back it up. Don't pretend that someone else's behaviour excuses yours.

Nuclear waste is uncontroversially a serious problem. If you want to convince anybody of anything else you need to be willing to communicate, and this isn't it.

[-] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 9 points 5 days ago

Define "less". By volume? Mass? Ecological impact? If you want to say "per megawatt" then you obviously have numbers, let's see them.

216
submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by Excrubulent@slrpnk.net to c/3dprinting@lemmy.world

This is about a bad patent that is preventing slicers from making brick-layer prints that would increase strength enormously, despite the fact that there is clear prior art that has expired for nearly a decade. The patent is full of bad references to the prior art and clearly shouldn't have been approved - even if the person saying it isn't a lawyer, it's obvious.

The new bad patent from 2020 would keep the invention away for another 20 years, and do real harm to the development of 3d printing.

The creator asked viewers to share this with people in the FOSS slicer community. I don't know if that's anyone here, but lemmy is pretty FOSS-happy. Also the FOSS communities here might be interested to hear about how this patent is hamstringing development of FOSS features. I don't have the time right now to search through the communities so any crossposts would be welcome.

[-] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 141 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Not just invidious, they've just de facto blocked video embedding:

If you're wondering how a viable competitor could arise, other companies needing a video hosting solution that they can rely on to run their storefronts is a perfect use case. This is the Humble Bundle storefront, and they could pretty easily spin up a peertube instance. If that became commonplace, it could be one way for peertube to become ubiquitous.

EDIT: This is related to my VPN I believe, but storefronts still aren't going to be happy if they can't rely on their storefronts working for everyone.

27
submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by Excrubulent@slrpnk.net to c/foss@beehaw.org

I'm currently paying a moderate amount to atlassian to host jira for me, and I'm looking for a FOSS way to replace it. I don't use it every month and I've decided it's not worth continuing to pay, plus I want to transition to FOSS wherever I can. I just feel trapped. I'm sure people here know the feeling when using proprietary stuff.

I've used hosted bugzilla before, and possibly I didn't know enough about how to make it work, but the web frontend they had was garbage, it was unintuitive and took forever to respond, and I just transitioned to jira because it was easier to use.

I'm happy to self-host for now and maybe pay for hosting if I want to collaborate in the future. I have a Ubuntu server at home with miles of headroom to run a webserver.

I would love to hear anyone's opinions here. Also any other relevant lemmy subs would be very welcome.

Edit: some good questions about my requirements. I'm doing software development on personal projects using git, and I'm tracking issues using jira. I'm also developing hardware, which means 3d print files, CNC files and possibly gerbers for PCBs. All this can be tracked via git, so actually having an in-house way to host all that would be great too.

So I need an issue tracker that syncs with git, essentially.

I have also been using jira to kind of ad-hoc document any research involved in these things, but it's not great because to find any of that documentation I need to dig into my closed issues. I'd like a documentation system that can handle diagrams, drawings and stuff like that, and if this could double as a general note-taking solution I'd love that too, because I've been trying to replace trello/onenote for that.

EDIT 2: Thanks for all the replies. I plan to investigate all the suggestions, my health has just been really bad since I posted this, but I always try to update anyone who offers help.

[-] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 153 points 6 months ago

No he's right that it's unsolved. Humans aren't great at reliably knowing truth from fiction too. If you've ever been in a highly active comment section you'll notice certain "hallucinations" developing, usually because someone came along and sounded confident and everyone just believed them.

We don't even know how to get full people to do this, so how does a fancy markov chain do it? It can't. I don't think you solve this problem without AGI, and that's something AI evangelists don't want to think about because then the conversation changes significantly. They're in this for the hype bubble, not the ethical implications.

98
submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by Excrubulent@slrpnk.net to c/196@lemmy.blahaj.zone

Description: A very overexposed image of a girl staring open-mouthed into a bright, cloudy, night sky, mid-flash as it is lit up by a meteor.

Still image taken from this IG video: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7JcDGXtORH/

Longer, unedited version with original audio: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7LrNlCNOmR/

She just happened to catch this meteor and her own reaction to it, entirely by accident. Absolutely watch the video, the shadows playing through the clouds as the meteor passes through the frame are stunning, but the most remarkable thing to me is this moment where laughing with her friends is interrupted and she doesn't yet know where to look. It's such a universal reaction and really special to see. This image is taken as one of the very bright flashes is blowing out the camera. Some frames are almost entirely white, others look much clearer. I chose a frame to make the subject legible but also give a sense of how overwhelmingly bright the flashes really were.

[-] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 505 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

EDIT: I should've read the article, but I'm taking the L and leaving this up with a strikethrough. The phrasing "after" in the headline definitely creates the wrong impression here. As for what this says about people, I guess we'll have to see if the other ten whistleblowers still testify.

And if you think it's too much to assume Boeing killed these two people, that's the wrong question. It matters more whether as a fellow whistleblower it's reasonable to worry about whether Boeing killed them, and I think it is.

Also Boeing definitely killed the first guy at least. "If I die, it's not suicide." - man who "committed suicide". WTAF.

~~If you ever hear anyone talking about how humans suck and we're all terrible and will definitely destroy ourselves, just think about the fact that killing whistleblowers was quickly followed by more whistleblowers. Not just lone heros, but ten fucking people said, "hey, fuck you, are you really gonna kill me too?" knowing that the answer could well be "yes".~~

91

Description: An iconified image of a space helmet, with text underneath reading:

MURDERING ALL CITIZENS IS NOT REQUIRED.

No context has been provided.

314
schruledinger (slrpnk.net)
submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by Excrubulent@slrpnk.net to c/196@lemmy.blahaj.zone

Description: picture of youtube poll, mostly text

Kyle Hill

Schrodinger's cat is:

Alive -- 50%
Dead -- 50%
42K votes

Comments
I love how this community knew exactly what to do.

[-] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 152 points 9 months ago

He did all that to support his gay son, that is a real ally.

[-] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 378 points 11 months ago

“We respect when you and your communities take action to highlight the things you need, including, at times, going private,” he said.

They respect it so much they forcibly remove mods to make them public again. That's so respectful.

[-] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 113 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Your question relates to the effect of aerofoil shape on lift: https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/VirtualAero/BottleRocket/airplane/shape.html

Please note that in aerodynamics, "lift" is any aerodynamic force that acts perpendicular to the relative wind on an object, so it's lift whether it pushes a plane up, down, left, right, or pushes a sailing boat across the wind.

Also the keel of the boat that keeps it sailing in a straight line is technically providing lift in the water, although that "lift" is sideways. Also it isn't aerodynamic lift, but hydrodynamic. The general field is called fluid dynamics, which covers both gasses and liquids.

You've got some good answers, but the problem with the air bouncing idea is that it ignores the air on top of the wing, or to the leeward side of the sail. The sail is pushed on by the windward air, and pulled on by the leeward air. (Edit: technically not pulled on, but you can model it that way if you take atmospheric pressure as 0 and anything lower than that as negative; it will give you correct results)

This is such a common misconception that NASA has listed it as a common incorrect theory of lift: https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/VirtualAero/BottleRocket/airplane/wrong2.html

A better way to think about it is flow turning - as the wind moves past the sail, its flow is turned and the momentum change causes an equal and opposite change in momentum of the boat: https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/VirtualAero/BottleRocket/airplane/right2.html

So ideally the leading edge of the sail should be parallel to the oncoming wind, and the trailing edge will be by definition parallel to the outgoing wind. The difference in velocity between these two winds multiplied by the mass of air passing over them over time will give you the force acting on the sail.

If the leading edge isn't parallel, the air's transition from free flow into contact with the sail will not be smooth, and will cause losses that reduce the efficiency of the sail.

In practice, the way to achieve this parallel flow is to let out the sail until you see "luffing", which is just the leading edge flapping a bit in the wind. Then you tighten it until the luffing disappears, at which point the sail should be correctly trimmed. As you carry on you can occasionally repeat this process to check that you've still got the right angle, as minor shifts in wind or boat direction can change the ideal angle of attack.

This is also called "setting" the sail. So when a ship "sets sail" it's referring to the fact a skipper would order the crew to "set sails", which would start them moving. Now the term also means to commence a voyage.

In some bigger boats you have strings called "telltales" on the surface of the sail. If you see them flapping you know the air flow is turbulent, and you can trim the sail until the telltales on both sides of the sail are blown into a smooth line along the sail. If you tighten the sail too much, the leeward telltales will flap. If you let it out it too much, the windward telltales will flap.

A flat surface is much less efficient as it will cause a lot more turbulence on the leeward side. A lot of work has been done to make sails form the most efficient shape, and they are always deliberately curved. The shape will change depending on the tightness of the sheet (the rope that sets the sail) and on its manufacture, but ultimately your sail shape was basically set when it was made. Different sail shapes will be optimised for different types of tack and different tasks, but I don't know enough about that to explain more. Mainly I know that spinnakers are made for running downwind and the other sails usually have to make do for the rest of the situations, but this article tells you a lot more: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sail_components

I only just found that article, so if it disagrees with anything I've said here I'd defer to it.

Very high performance sails and setups can do some cool things, like racing catamarans with their very sleek hulls and optimised sails allow you to sail in a close haul within 30-something degrees of the wind, whereas most normal sailboats can't get much closer than 45 degrees.

There is much more reading and interactive lessons on lift and other aerodynamics concepts on NASAs page here: https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/VirtualAero/BottleRocket/airplane/short.html

Edit: This seems like a decent resource for first time sailors, and gives some more in depth explanation of how to set your sails correctly: https://www.cruisingworld.com/learn-to-sail-101/

This is also where I learned what telltales are called. I've never sailed bigger boats much tbh.

Okay, I think that's most of what I can info-dump on the basis of your question. You landed on an intersection of two of my special interests lol :)

16
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Excrubulent@slrpnk.net to c/196@lemmy.blahaj.zone

description

Text: WARNING

Icon of eye and crossed-out alligator

Text: PSYCHOPERCEPTUAL HAZARD DO NOT HALLUCINATE ALLIGATORS

Image of person holding up hands defensively towards an alligator approaching them from the water

Text: oh shit oh no oh fuck why did you do that you've killed us all

21
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Excrubulent@slrpnk.net to c/urbanism@slrpnk.net

I've recently started getting into parkour and I love its inherently political bent. It reminds of me of Graeber's quote that "Direct action is, ultimately, the defiant insistence on acting as if one is already free," which is exactly how traceurs behave.

This is the lads just showing up to a dilapidated public space and transforming it into a playground. They didn't get permission, they just made the place better.

[-] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 182 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Wasn't like... a huge deal made about how the Teslas are so waterproof they could double as a boat? I mean they can in fact ford much deeper than ICE cars because they don't need air, but also there's definitely tweets about this.

Edit: he said it about both the cybertruck - loads of stories about this - and the model S: https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/hybrid-electric/a21421/elon-musk-model-s-boat/

This is entirely separate of course from the much more basic issue that a car that breaks because of some fucking precipitation is not fit for purpose and this damage report would be indefensible just about anywhere in the world. Precedent for manufacturers taking responsibility for bad products was first established in Britain centuries ago.

78
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Excrubulent@slrpnk.net to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

I can't explain it, something about the freedom of acquisition takes the pressure off and lets me just launch it and try it out.

Maybe it's easier to pay some money and hit "install", than it is to find a torrent, download it and go through the install process, so there's a selection bias there.

Maybe it's the fact I downloaded it exactly when I decided to and not when a sale happened or it was in a bundle.

But even then, when I decide I want something right now and I pay full-price, something about that just puts a psychological barrier in between me and enjoying the game. Like now I have to validate the purchase, and if I want a refund it has to happen within 2 weeks, and within 2 hours of play (for steam). It's just an unpleasant feeling.

Even worse is the subscription model. I absolutely hate the pressure of having to try all the games I put on my list before the end of the month so I don't have to renew to keep trying them, that just feels like wasted money. But then about a week into the month I'll lose my energy for trying new games and I'll let the sub lapse and never try a bunch of the games I wanted to. It's the worst way to pay for games, even if on paper it's the cheapest for trying a bunch of them legally.

Very occasionally a game will come along that I know I want and will happily pay for immediately, and usually that means I'll give it a decent try.

The best experience for me is pirating a game and loving it so much I then buy it, that guarantees I'm going to play it a lot. The latest game that happened to me with was A Dance of Fire and Ice. I bought it like 5 times, once each for me and my two kids, and twice on phone, and I was completely happy to. I even built a custom rhythm controller for it.

Funny story though - the pirated version of ADOFAI puts savegames in user folders, but the steam version puts them in the game folder, so it merges the progress between users. So for that reason, the pirated version is better. I can't explain the discrepancy.

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Excrubulent

joined 1 year ago