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Technical quality of life advice
  • Oof, yeah I'm pretty picky about some keybinds and games that lock down keys can be almost unplayable.

    Helldivers 2 doesn't let you remap interact to F (which is the only muscle memory interact key I can use) and I haaaaate that so much. I had to get a workaround just to fix it.

  • Carbrained problems in narrow (wide) streets at the edge of suburban sprawl
  • "I've got in two fights before"

    Excuse me? Over what, having to yield for 10 seconds to someone else? Fucking children.

    Try living in an older section of my city, where all residential roads are all effectively narrower than these NIMBY childcare center candidates are whining about. Forget getting in a fight, yielding and learning how to negotiate with cars, bikes, peds, and muni vehicles is called life. If you get upset about it here you're clearly not a native to city life, and it shows.

  • Innovation makes useful things smaller - overconsumption makes them bigger and more meaningless
  • It doesn't help that carmakers get incentivised to go big by fucked up fuel standards. Here in the US the CAFE standards were gutted during their creation to carve out looser standards for obese pickups and hummer-sized SUVs. The bigger they get even within a given segment, the less stringent the requirements are.

    https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/24139147/suvs-trucks-popularity-federal-policy-pollution

    Plus people "feel safer" and all that other jazz when they drive them. It's just... It's so stupid to have to watch people continuing to chose shit like this.

    IMO it's such a multi-faceted problem that at this point about the only thing that makes sense is to switch lanes (heh) and focus on other transit methods. More people will take transit or bike if it's easier than parking their mile long farm vehicles in tight urban spaces and being helplessly fumigated by standstill traffic.

  • Innovation makes useful things smaller - overconsumption makes them bigger and more meaningless
  • Yeah I was going to say, phones are currently growing bigger after hitting a sort of "peak small" lol.

    They're getting so huge that it's hard to find a small one without ordering an old model. I like to be able to see things and all but at a certain point they don't fit comfortably in my pockets

  • Rule
  • "Too broke to play PC" is a vanishing argument IMO. People have been saying that forever, to be fair, but given how bad Xbox and Playstation have gotten I don't anyone who's actually into gaming purchasing a new one today. Maybe used, that might make sense if it was really cheap.

    A budget gaming PC can check out at slightly over 600 now. PcPartPicker has two recommended builds priced right at 600, though honestly there might be even cheaper ways to arrive at that level of perfromance. Compared to 300-400 for the less garbage Xbox, and there's not much argument to lock someone into the xbox's ecosystem vs something you can upgrade for much less.

    Now I think it's a different matter if it's a hand-me-down or given for free. There's no reason not to do that.

    I gave my last console away and got a friend of mine into gaming, then helped them build a decent PC when they actually wanted something new.

  • Can electric woks produce great stir-fry?
  • Advertising campaigns that straight up lie ("now you're cooking with gas" and that kind of shit) don't help. Nor do the substantial natural gas subsidies that some states offer ng suppliers.

    Then again, it's only been very recent that electric induction ranges in north americ have been offered at sane price points. Up until recently it wasn't easy to find an induction range for under $1k, whereas now it's a bit more realistic.

    People also get unreasonably attached to their cheapo $25 nonstick (even if it was marked up to $200 with some bougie brand name) and will refuse to ditch it for actual quality cookware when they find out that their $25 pan isn't induction compatible.

  • PlayStation official response to Helldivers 2 fans
  • I hear you. I want to be positive about this because I want to keep playing, and the reversal (for now) makes me OK with doing so.

    But Sony has a horrid track record. Edit - so does Msoft, people often forget how bad both of them are.

    I also expect they'll try to work it back in somehow to capture more revenue and/or data. If it's not this again in a stealthier form, then it'll be something similar. No crossplay without PSN or no credit store without PSN, something like that.

  • PlayStation official response to Helldivers 2 fans
  • Exactly, Sony played bait-and-switch tactics. If the requitement had been there from launch, people just wouldn't have been able to buy it and would have stayed away.

    But this forced people to throw away money, or at least try to get a refund for the base game.

    Not sure if those stupid credits were refunded to people who were gonna get screwed by this but I doubt it (yet another reason never to do micro transactions).

  • Main source of electricity in each Brazilian state
  • Right? It's silly.

    When I first signed up I joined a few different instances, and immediately noticed that I was happier in places where downvotes are completely disabled. I wish more instances would disable them too.

  • PSA: Do not talk to journalists about diy!
  • I mean it's nuanced yeah?

    Am I gonna talk to a journalist about a sensitive thing like DIY that could trigger brainwashed regressive people? Fuck no.

    Am I gonna blast on all channels that we are in a climate crisis and inequality crisis and housing crisis and? Yes, yes I think I will.

    And that's my decision for me. Some people are understandably never comfortable talking. Let alone to journalists lol!

  • EVs are booming but electric bikes are really cutting emissions
  • To echo the OP's reply below, there are a lot of different reasons combining right now to make them popular.

    One of the factors that has improved the most over the last 5 years is how much more access people have to safe and cheap optons. Buying a cheaper e-bike even just 5-6 years ago had you gambling on components and hoping your battery and charger were certified and sourced reputably. And, while you could order online, the experience wasn't always great.

    Nowadays it seems like almost everything has certified chargers and batteries, and the overall build quality of cheap bikes and scooters (bikes especially) has improved as well.

    Combine that with being able to order a bike or scooter online, ship it to your door in just a week or two, and get going with minimal assembly and adjustment. Boom, that's an attractive option, even before you hit incentives. E-bikes and scooters are so insanely cheap to own and operate compared to a car (even a super cheap car) so it just makes a ton of sense that people would choose them.

  • What is something that is completely legal that should be illegal?
  • It's weird here too because states set sales taxes. I live in Oregon, and we don't have a standard sales tax here. That means what you see is what you pay at the register for most things, and it's so freaking nice.

    About the only thing I regularly see is the bottle tax (0.10/can added at the register). That's refundable too, at least theoretically, so it's not that bad.

  • Android users who have a keen eye for design and detail, how is the whole stutter/lag situation? Esp. after a few years of use?
  • Hmmm, I've never noticed what you mentioned on my recent phones. That said you should test a newer android yourself before making a purchase!

    More of my personal experience... I have a Pixel 7 XL and a work Iphone which (edit) is an Iphone 12. Generally they are the same in terms of having no scroll lag or input lag at all. But, there is some lag on both when they are overheated, especially on the Iphone if I put it on a higher power charger (I trickle charge both when I can).

    From a design perspective the biggest difference I notice is that my Pixel feels significantly smoother because of the 120hz display, and just the larger display in general. While I said neither of them have much lag, the Iphone feels noticeably less speedy. That said, I'm sure if you compared my Pixel to a high end Iphone results would be flipped. My work isn't shelling out for whatever pro max stuff they sell (and neither would I!).

    Beyond that, I can't offer guidance. In my personal experience the Iphone UI is so frustrating that I can't judge which one performs "better" or not, because only the Android feels comfortable to me. Between that and the lack of labels in some places (like the pull-down settings menu) it is impossible for me to daily drive the apple.

  • Work rule
  • NYT crossword for me (just because it's there next to wordle, not specifically because I love nyt or anything)

    Also has the cool added side effect of raising my blood pressure and make me feel progressively more stupid as the week goes on. I don't even try the Friday ones anymore.

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    agegamon @beehaw.org
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