kej's recent activity
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Comment on Police are not primarily crime fighters in ~life
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Comment on "twitter.com" is now officially dead in ~tech
kej LinkDid they reverse this? For me, right now, twitter.com stays as twitter.com and x.com stays as x.com, with neither redirecting to the other. I've pretty much stopped visiting there since the...Did they reverse this? For me, right now, twitter.com stays as twitter.com and x.com stays as x.com, with neither redirecting to the other. I've pretty much stopped visiting there since the X-odus, but I'm curious if they made and then suddenly reversed this change since that would seem very on-brand for Musk.
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Comment on I am a witch. Well, a well witcher... in ~talk
kej LinkIn the late '90s I was working at a summer camp, and one summer we were upgrading our 30+ year old electrical infrastructure to accommodate people plugging in computers and TVs instead of just...In the late '90s I was working at a summer camp, and one summer we were upgrading our 30+ year old electrical infrastructure to accommodate people plugging in computers and TVs instead of just lamps, so we had electricians out to make the improvements. I watched this electrician pull some thick wire off a spool, cut and bend it into two L-shaped pieces, and then walk across the field until they swung inward towards each other. He started digging and sure enough that's where the buried wire was.
I was baffled and asked him about it, and he gave me the two L cables but explained that it worked with bent metal coat hangers or anything that would swing freely in your hands. The rest of the staff and I did a bunch of non-rigorous experiments with walking blindfolded along a path where someone else had buried a cable and it worked more often than chance would explain.
My best explanations are a) that an electrician who already knew where the wire was decided to mess with a spectator and then my amazement skewed the follow-up experiments, b) that it is a way to tap into your subconscious and expose an inner "hunch" about where a cable would be buried, or c) there is some kind of subtle scientific principal that has been overlooked or dismissed because this is an area that is so ripe for scammers and charlatans.
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Comment on Is PyGame still alive? in ~comp
kej Link ParentYeah, the idea is that you can use it to make UIs anywhere. I should put a disclaimer that I've only used it for toy programs and don't know how well it holds up on larger projects.Yeah, the idea is that you can use it to make UIs anywhere. I should put a disclaimer that I've only used it for toy programs and don't know how well it holds up on larger projects.
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Comment on Is PyGame still alive? in ~comp
kej LinkThere's also Kivy, which is more of a general UI toolkit than a game library but can be used for simple games. The advantage of Kivy over most other Python game engines is that it works on Android...There's also Kivy, which is more of a general UI toolkit than a game library but can be used for simple games. The advantage of Kivy over most other Python game engines is that it works on Android and iOS, if that's something you might be interested in.
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Comment on Is Emacs or VIM worth learning in today's day and age? in ~comp
kej (edited )LinkI think it's similar to touch typing. You don't have to be able to do it, but it will make it easier to program because you can enter text without having to think about which individual keys to...I think it's similar to touch typing. You don't have to be able to do it, but it will make it easier to program because you can enter text without having to think about which individual keys to press. Vim is the same way; it reduces more complicated editing steps to muscle memory or a handful of keypresses, and leaves my brain more time to think about the actual code.
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Comment on What are some of your favorite history books and why? in ~books
kej Link ParentI've always loved this line from the afterword: Such a simple idea but it changes the way you read everything else.I've always loved this line from the afterword:
But there is no such thing as a pure fact, innocent of interpretation. Behind every fact presented to the world—by a teacher, a writer, anyone—is a judgment. The judgment that has been made is that this fact is important, and that other facts, omitted, are not important.
Such a simple idea but it changes the way you read everything else.
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Comment on How do I fix my (stupid) use of excessive punctuation? in ~humanities.languages
kej Link ParentI mean, yeah, it thinks Trump's inaugural speech is better than the Gettysburg Address and that 50 Shades of Grey has a better opening than A Tale of Two Cities. It's not a tool for good writing,...I mean, yeah, it thinks Trump's inaugural speech is better than the Gettysburg Address and that 50 Shades of Grey has a better opening than A Tale of Two Cities. It's not a tool for good writing, it's a tool for simple writing.
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Comment on How do I fix my (stupid) use of excessive punctuation? in ~humanities.languages
kej Link ParentI think it's a very naive test of whether the sentence could be several shorter sentences. I think it's the wrong tool for a novel or a poem but can be helpful for a technical manual or a magazine...I think it's a very naive test of whether the sentence could be several shorter sentences. I think it's the wrong tool for a novel or a poem but can be helpful for a technical manual or a magazine advertisement.
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Comment on How do I fix my (stupid) use of excessive punctuation? in ~humanities.languages
kej LinkHave you used the Hemingway Editor at all? It will analyze your text and flag things that could be simpler or shorter. It's not perfect, and some of the most beautiful English writing will get a...Have you used the Hemingway Editor at all? It will analyze your text and flag things that could be simpler or shorter. It's not perfect, and some of the most beautiful English writing will get a poor score in their system, but it is a quick way to get feedback about which parts of your writing could be simplified.
[Edit to add that I don't think you need to do this. Your writing is fine, but I understand the desire to be more concise sometimes.]
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Comment on Does anyone play Vintage Story? in ~games
kej Link ParentIf you're looking for something like vintage Minecraft on a budget, you might like Minetest. It's sort of a framework for voxel games and you can have it be a Minecraft clone or something that...If you're looking for something like vintage Minecraft on a budget, you might like Minetest. It's sort of a framework for voxel games and you can have it be a Minecraft clone or something that looks similar but plays completely different. It's completely free and open source and runs well even on old hardware.
(Vintage Story looks cool, too, but you could download Minetest today.)
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Comment on Hi, how are you? Mental health support and discussion thread (May 2024) in ~health.mental
kej Link ParentThat feels like a lot of self-awareness went into making that list, thank you for sharing it. I think it's interesting how video games span both the helpful and unhelpful sides, but I guess that...That feels like a lot of self-awareness went into making that list, thank you for sharing it. I think it's interesting how video games span both the helpful and unhelpful sides, but I guess that makes sense in the same way that some books or movies or music are better than others for getting yourself going again.
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Comment on How do you take notes while reading? Do you have a “marginalia” process? What has helped you learn better and retain new knowledge? in ~creative
kej Link ParentI realized that I forgot to mention something else I like for note taking, which is a rocketbook reusable notebook. You write in it like a regular notebook (you need to use certain pens, but...I realized that I forgot to mention something else I like for note taking, which is a rocketbook reusable notebook. You write in it like a regular notebook (you need to use certain pens, but they're not expensive), then you scan the page with the free app, and then you wipe the pages clean with a damp cloth. The files end up in your email or your preferred cloud storage, so it's a nice way to combine digital notes with paper notes.
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Comment on Hi, how are you? Mental health support and discussion thread (May 2024) in ~health.mental
kej Link ParentAs another older married partially burned out tech guy, I just want to say that I can sympathize with some of what you're going through. You've had a bunch of things hit you lately, any one of...As another older married partially burned out tech guy, I just want to say that I can sympathize with some of what you're going through. You've had a bunch of things hit you lately, any one of which would be enough to justify feeling really down.
I have a list of "climb out of the pit" activities I can use. It's been bad enough that I rarely use it.
Would you mind sharing that list at all? I selfishly want to know if there's anything on there I could use, and I sneakily want to make you talk about it in an attempt to help you do some of them.
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Comment on How do you take notes while reading? Do you have a “marginalia” process? What has helped you learn better and retain new knowledge? in ~creative
kej LinkGoogle Play Books lets you highlight passages and add notes, and then it also creates a file with your notes in Google Drive which is a nice way to see just your notes without having to open the...Google Play Books lets you highlight passages and add notes, and then it also creates a file with your notes in Google Drive which is a nice way to see just your notes without having to open the book again.
I do wish there was a similar product that wasn't so tied to Google, though.
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Comment on Announcing the Tildes Backlog Burner event for May 2024: Shrink your unplayed games list this coming month! in ~games
kej Link ParentThis reminds me of a post I saw somewhere on social media recently that I really liked. It was talking about piles of to-be-read books, and how instead of seeing it as a to-do list it should be...The takeaway I had from my backlog journey was moving the idea of my backlog from "obligation" to "opportunity."
This reminds me of a post I saw somewhere on social media recently that I really liked. It was talking about piles of to-be-read books, and how instead of seeing it as a to-do list it should be thought of like a wine cellar. You collect the bottles/books/games so that you can pull out the right bottle/book/game when the time and place and company are right for you to enjoy it.
I liked the reminder that sometimes it's not just okay but actually good to save something for later, and that when you do work on the backlog it should be enjoyable.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
kej LinkI just started A=B, a programming puzzle game in the spirit of Zachtronics. It's $5 and worth checking out if you liked TIS-100 or Exapunks, but play those first.I just started A=B, a programming puzzle game in the spirit of Zachtronics. It's $5 and worth checking out if you liked TIS-100 or Exapunks, but play those first.
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Comment on What would you recommend for a single, minimal, "overview-of-the-world" news source? in ~talk
kej LinkI know you said one source, but I find that the BBC homepage + the Al Jazeera homepage gives you a pretty good overview of the world while balancing out most of their biases.I know you said one source, but I find that the BBC homepage + the Al Jazeera homepage gives you a pretty good overview of the world while balancing out most of their biases.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
kej Link ParentThe cipher challenge looks neat, I might use some of that for a Cub Scout activity about codes that's coming up soon. Have you done cryptopals yourself? It's been on my list for a while, and I...The cipher challenge looks neat, I might use some of that for a Cub Scout activity about codes that's coming up soon. Have you done cryptopals yourself? It's been on my list for a while, and I started it a few years ago but got sidetracked early on looking at different sources of historical English letter frequency; I probably still have a few gigabytes of Google ngrams data in a folder somewhere.
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Comment on The "Great Games"- AAA titles, easy brand recognition- are what everyone pushes. But sometimes you need a "just average" game. in ~games
kej Link ParentI'm intrigued by this, because I would have thought that "I want to beat the game on highest difficulty" and "I need to completely beat the game" usually went together. Could you elaborate on that...I play everything on the highest difficulty, as I find anything lower to be less rewarding. I tend not to be the "collector" or "100% everything" archetype.
I'm intrigued by this, because I would have thought that "I want to beat the game on highest difficulty" and "I need to completely beat the game" usually went together. Could you elaborate on that a little? (To be clear this is meant as "tell me more about your perspective" and definitely not "your perspective is wrong")
So I'm pretty far from a thin-blue-line kind of person, but I feel like the article and the linked report are missing some kind of comparative context that would make them more persuasive or at least more interesting. There seems to be a subtext of "look at how much time and money is spent on traffic stops, police are obviously a huge waste", but traffic accidents are one of the leading non-medical causes of death in the United States. It seems plausible that traffic stops that only result in a warning, which the article calls "pointless", "fruitless", and "wasting millions of public dollars", might still have an overall positive effect on public safety, but they jump to the conclusion that all of it was wasted effort.
I think a more convincing argument would be to compare similar cities with different policing strategies or look at crime rates before and after changes in policing techniques. As presented it feels like they probably have a point but didn't show all of their work.