Computerchairgeneral

Ah yes, handcrafted stolen fanfiction. Exactly what I shop Etsy for. More seriously, I feel for the fanfiction authors. Not only is someone profiting off your work, but this is the kind of thing that gets the attention of copyright holders that fanfiction authors generally don’t want.

So after banning adult content a few years ago, Tumblr decided to shoot itself in the other foot? It feels like the people in charge are actively trying to drive off the site’s users.

It’s a shame, but this is probably the best response any of the 2023 Hugo winners can give at this point. Still, I can only imagine the emotional roller coaster of winning a Hugo and then watching this entire train wreck unfold.

They’re charging people higher prices and refusing to allow them to keep their digital content? They’re basically just handing out the pirate hats and eye patches at this point.

Disappointing, but not surprising. I know I’m not going to “learn” a language with Duolingo, but it’s been nice recognizing a few words and phrases when I hear them. But I don’t really trust that a bunch of overworked and underpaid contractors are going to catch every error using AI is going to introduce. At least there are already alternatives in this thread for me to look through.

I mean, I am going to miss the regular videos, but I’m glad he’s getting to step away on his own terms. So many youtubers burn out, stop uploading, and then just disappear. Or they turn into a brand that they have to manage instead of creating what they want to. Not many get to fly off into the sunset under a helicopter, so that’s nice. Plus, he’s not stepping away from creating stuff entirely so there’s that.

I was laying in bed and trying to get to sleep. I kept hearing this tapping, or scuttling, noise coming from somewhere in my room, but I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. Decided it was just old house noises and tried to ignore it. Then something fell from the ceiling and landed on my face. Shouted, slapped at my face, and heard something fall on the floor. Flipped on the light and saw the roach trying to scurry away. Hit it with a book until it was dead. Maybe not the most horrifying, but it was one of the worst experience I’ve had with a roach, so far at least.

Personally, I prefer physical books, especially if it’s a book that I really like. There’s just something about physically having the book and knowing that you won’t lose access to it unless something happens to the book. That being said most of my reading these days is digital simply due to the fact that I don’t have the space for all the books I want. Ebooks are just too convenient when it comes to saving space. Still, if it’s a book that I think I am going to keep coming back to then I would probably get a physical copy.

Elon Musk being hypocritical and petty? Shockingly Unprecedented. Then again it does give everyone another reason to just stop using Twitter.

Lots of good recommendations here. I’ll just leave some +1s for a few I’ve seen here that I’ve enjoyed.

Blacktongue Thief: A thief tries to rob the wrong warrior and gets wrapped up in a quest to a distant land besieged by giants. The first of a trilogy, but the ending gives you enough closure to be a standalone read while also setting up where the story will go. Personally, I enjoyed the first-person narration which gives you a colorful look at a somewhat non-conventional fantasy world, although it’s still fantasy. If you liked Abercrombie then you might like this. There’s a similar focus on flawed characters trying to do the best they can. There is some war and politics but they are firmly in the background and far from the main focus.

Legends and Lattes: A retired adventurer opens up a coffee shop in a land that has never heard of coffee. I’m not sure if “cozy fantasy” was a thing before this book, but it’s been held up as an archetypal example. The plot is low-stakes and focuses on the characters and the difficulties of running a small business. Makes a good palate-cleanser between denser reads. No war or politics.

Kings of the Wyld: A retired group of adventurers has to come together for one last job after their leader’s daughter ends up trapped in a city besieged by monsters. Admittedly how much you enjoy this one depends on how novel you find the idea of adventuring groups being treated as rock and roll groups. Like literally being a stand-in for rock and roll bands with groupies, managers, and all of that. I’ve seen some criticism that the book doesn’t have much going for it beyond that which is a bit unfair. Following a bunch of middle-aged heroes past their prime was refreshing and I think the author did some interesting things with the main character who only uses a shield in combat and whose main motivation is to make it back to his wife and daughter in one piece. Very little war and politics.

Also, I don’t think he’s been recommended but you might want to check out Mark Lawrence’s Broken Empire trilogy. Admittedly it’s not typical high fantasy and it is somewhat heavy on war and politics, but if you liked the grittier, grounded feel of Abercrombie then you might like it. It is arguably darker though and the main character straddles the line between dark anti-hero and outright villain protagonist for at least the first book. But it might be worth checking out if you really liked the First Law trilogy.

This was great. It’s kind of bizarre to realize that Netflix is actually older than Wikipedia.

Honestly, this is about what I expect from Google nowadays. It’s surprising when they manage to live up to the “Don’t be Evil” motto they used to have.

It varies from state to state. Some let you take it the next day, others might require you to wait a few weeks. At least that is what I remember from when I was worried about failing the test. Although, I’ve never really heard of a practice where the DMV or an instructor fails everyone the first time. Some instructors might be stricter than others, but I don’t think it’s a policy across DMVs and driving instructors. Besides, with two months of practice, you should be fine. So long as you can obey traffic laws and do what the instructor says you should pass.

I’m sure this will lead to a flood of quality content on Reddit. More seriously paying people to make content for your social media site while you sell information about them to advertisers is an interesting business model, to say the least.

This court case with the FTC is really just the gift that keeps on giving. Struggling to think of the last time a gaming company just leaked all this kind of stuff by accident. The mid-gen refresh is surprising given how vocal Spencer has been about not needing one, but it makes sense, especially if they want to push people to go digital only. The talk about buying Nintendo and Valve is concerning. Still, I have a really hard time imagining Nintendo would ever sell out to any company and Valve’s current leadership seems against anything like that. Of course, these things can change and Microsoft certainly seems willing to play the long game when it comes to acquisitions like this.

Most of the dreams I remember are what I guess you would call the 3rd person where I’m watching myself go through the dream. It’s hard to explain. It’s kind of like watching a movie while also being an actor in the movie if that makes sense.

I mean I guess it’s better than amplifying misinformation, but it’s still a cop-out to get out of moderating the topic. Mildly curious just how many topics Threads censors search results for.

The Metaverse, I guess? It’s funny how living in a virtual world has been this hyped-up concept for decades and it finally comes out and it’s just kind of…lame for lack of a better word. Maybe it’s too early to tell, but it feels like the Web 3.0 Metaverse push hasn’t lived up to the hype.

Aside from that, I’d say the Xbox Kinect. Maybe it’s just me, but I remember that when the Kinect came out there was a lot of hype about how it was going to revolutionize how people played games. But I don’t think we ever really got a Kinect game that lived up to that hype. To be fair, I remember a lot of articles of people doing interesting things with Kinect it’s just that none of them really had anything to do with gaming.

Just showed up one day and made himself at home? Keeps falling asleep? Terry and the cats are kindred spirits.

I’m on Kbin.social because it was being recommended a lot when all the Reddit stuff was happening and there weren’t any hoops to jump through when signing up.