wjrii

joined 1 year ago
[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 14 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Can't be fiftieth in education if no one does the rankings!

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago

Doesn't really matter, as long as you add the sugar while the liquid is hot enough to go into supersaturated solution.

Then chill and add ice.

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

He's not wrong exactly, but to a certain extent the market has spoken. A critical mass of people would prefer to watch quiet dramas in their own time and on the setup they control. The takeover by HD and the proliferation of bigger screens and soundbars or easy home theater solutions has created a "middle space" where the average viewer has something that, while not a proper cinema, is miles ahead of the 480i standard definition nonsense we had at home in the 90s and earlier. Then, at the other end, those same trends have allowed some percentage of connoisseurs to invest their resources into home theaters with curtains and posters and tiered seating and the works. Any form of home viewing, of course, avoids the scheduling and interpersonal downsides of going out to see a movie.

So, these types of films are getting squeezed at both ends. Most people will just catch them on their 50" Roku 4K from Walmart and be happy with that. Others who appreciate getting to 95% of the "cinema experience" will watch on their fancy projector and surround sound system. The only people left are the ones who value the communal experience and/or that last bit of quality presentation. If that's not enough to support wide distribution of "adult drama," then I just don't know what to tell the auteurs. For all the same reasons we don't bother with many lowest-common-denominator revenge dramas on the live stage, we're not really going to see a ton of prestige character pieces scheduled into the limited slots at the multiplex.

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

A Schwarz toolchest has become a pretty common project for long-weekend woodworking "sleepaway camps" for people who want to get into hand-tool woodworking. The bench is super nice too, but a much more involved project.

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

Goddammit all y'all GPU people are right. 😂

The 580 is definitely the current bottleneck on Starfield, and likely on any other remotely intensive games. I am going to return the old-stock 2600 as soon as it arrives and instead use an eBay 3600 I got for slightly cheaper, and I'm going to stalk 6600 class GPUs until I find a good deal. I've had the mobo and 2400G for 5 and half years, and the HTPC case it's in for something like 18. The poor thing has had a couple of extra fans bolted on and almost 40 holes drilled into it to increase airflow. It has a FIREWIRE port (disconnected), a floppy bay (with 3D printed insert to mount USB3 ports) and two optical bays (one of them still filled). And I still think it looks better than the RGB monstrosities that seem to be in vogue, LOL.

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

Okay, so I actually bumped up the Amazon 2600 to an eBay 3600, and yeah, I think the GPU camp was right. Starfield is pegging my GPU but not stressing the CPU, and Minecraft bedrock pushes harder on the CPU but doesn't quite max it. I think a used RX 6600 will finish out my budget and be about what I want from this platform, which I've had for 5+ years.

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yes, but what about Italian Bobby?

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

Where did you find a picture of me?! And a recording to transcribe?!?!

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

Threwitalla Way

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

I don't know why Techdirt is so concerned about the so-called "COVID denialism." They call it themselves when they suggest it might be mocking. Judge Walker was an Obama appointee and has been remarkably sane in his judicial career, including on COVID. He is clearly trolling the state's attorney at several points throughout, letting their previous positions hoist them on their own petard. I particularly like the point he raises about how Florida handles parental rights:

THE COURT: Well, we’ve empowered parents to control what books our kids read in school. Why is it far-fetched to empower parents and think they know best for their individual children about who they are engaging with socially on social media platforms?

MR. GOLEMBIEWSKI: Well, parents certainly have a role, but the key is these controls. And the controls have proven ineffective. So these platforms —

THE COURT: You are taking the control away. Because if I’ve got a 13-year-old child and I want him to — does my kid get to sign up if I want him to be able to sign up and have an account in a social media platform on Facebook?

MR. GOLEMBIEWSKI: You can register for an account and a kid can use your account, and you can monitor them. THE COURT: I don’t want to monitor them. Just like I want them to read the book about the two penguins raising an egg together. The two male penguins raising an egg together. I don’t want to sign up on my account. I want to have my own Facebook account. I want my kid — you’ve taken that choice away from me; right?

MR. GOLEMBIEWSKI: I just think it’s an irrelevant issue because their — I mean, the degree of control that parents have is irrelevant. What’s —

THE COURT: The point, Counsel — and I don’t think it’s particularly far-fetched — is the State of Florida picks and chooses when they want the parents to be making the decision. And when it suits their purposes, they do; and when it doesn’t, they don’t.

But I’ve got it. Fair enough.

It's not that there's no argument against letting children on social media. There are strong arguments, but the science is not mature maybe never will be, and the experiences parents permit their children to have can vary wildly. The point is that under the US system, you can't make laws that limit free speech and private family behavior based on "this is probably not a great idea," and if you can, then social conservatives will not always like where that leads.

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

I literally have no idea.

 

EDIT: Decided to get 16GB more RAM, a Ryzen 5 ~~2600~~ 3600 (used), and a Gen 3 Sabrent Rocket 1TB SSD. About $145 all-in so far. ~~If there are still issues, then a~~ GPU in the ~$150 used range is really the last upgrade for me on this platform, I think. Actively looking for a 6600 class due to the low power requirements. Thanks all!

So, I am currently running an absolutely ancient Ship of Theseus desktop. I have fairly modest needs, looking to play games, lets say on the order of Starfield, at 1080P, medium-ish settings, and not dropping below 30FPS when things get busy on-screen. Something like Minecraft I'd like to run a touch more aggressively, but I know it has its own technical bottlenecks that make it more intensive than you might think (don't murder me... I still play Bedrock because I like vanilla survival and it runs well). I also do some light 3D CAD using paid-for software that I like, so some sort of legal-ish Windows partition or VM with some form of GPU acceleration would also be nice, but I'm okay with running Linux for most things.

Current specs:

  • Gigabyte B450M mobo
  • Ryzen 5 2400G as CPU only
  • Radeon RX 580
  • 16GB PC3200 DDR4
  • Unholy accumulation of SATA III drives: a Lexar 250gb for Windows 10, a 120GB Samsung for a couple of games, and a 640GB 7200RPM drive for Linux and storage.

I have actually been able to get the aforementioned Starfield running at 50fps (inside and light load) and 20-25ish FPS (outside action) at a customized set of low settings that isn't too horrifyingly ugly, but (1) that's clearly about as good as it's going to get, and (2) it's probably contributing to my not playing it all that much. So, what would help, and is anything salvageable? Would prefer to keep the upgrades as cheap as possible while getting a noticeable improvement to tide me over for a couple more years of low-end gaming and CAD. I'm not targeting any specific number, just "better." If it helps, let's set a USD $300 cap on upgrades, but cheaper is better. I'm hoping that staying at the lower resolution will be helpful.

 
 

From the "No Ideas of My Own" Department...

 
 
 
 

A Roman basilica would have been a center of administration and commerce. Many of them were converted to churches after Christianization, leading to the more common modern understanding of the term.

 

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/8032101

From the author of the "Shift Happens" book that came out a little while ago.

spoilerIt's Gorton

 

I guess there was a huge legal fight that he eventually won through argument and opponent apathy, so as long as he doesn't let the character sit completely idle, he keeps the rights despite no longer giving a fuck either. It's utterly petty, and if I cared more about Dick Tracy I'd probably find it infuriating rather than hilarious.

2009

2023

 

Not observant myself, but best wishes to those of the faith. My first ever hand-wired keyboard was a Planck with an extra column.

 

...It was about ten minutes after I saw that my "ridiculous low-ball" Ebay bid for a branded battlecruiser had won. That said, it is way snappier (and louder) than any rubber dome I've ever used. It's not a bad board at all, really, though the terminal scan code set it was flashed with means the converter is more or less mandatory, despite the board having a PS/2 connector.

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