Astra's home timeline
Notices
-
Ooof... Dodged a bullet. BambuLab 3D printers are now unrecommendable. I low-key thought about getting one but BambuLab went full on locking down the firmware to prevent 3rd-party software to connect to the printer. They had in the terms of service that they would block printing alltogether if the firmware won't be updated. Now they are gaslighting the users that this isn't the case as they have changed their website.
about 20 hours ago from web-
@adiwan The way companies do that garbage, I don't even want to buy anything from anyone anymore. It should be considered theft, plain and simple - I had a tool that did X, and now it has been taken away against my will. If corporations were people, they'd be doing a B&E to take away my tools like that, and I would have a chance to kneecap them with a golf club.
-
-
Oh BOY I sure can’t wait to get customers complaining all afternoon about how many helicopters there are in the sky
about 2 days ago from web -
I've been using GIMP for years for simple image editing. It was always a pain. It is still a pain to use. The more recent changes to dialogue windows made me crawl up the walls. F U GTK. It is a KRITA household now.
about 4 days ago from web-
@scribus It was always kinda janky. I always credited that feeling to the fact that I'm more familiar with photoshop. GIMP has limitations but was for the simple stuff I did fine. Now all the flaws accumulated to a point that boiled over the threshold of any tolerance I had towards GIMP.
-
Today is kind of like if on the anniversary of 9/11 we made Osama bin Laden president
about 16 days ago from web -
Very fitting that Hell on earth started with the fires in California just before Trump gets in office again.
about 13 days ago from web -
And so tonight my laptop dies because God just seems to want me to kill myself or something idk we
about 19 days ago from web-
@scribus You need to open it, disassemble it, and clean it with isopropyl or distilled water.
-
@nerthos And I super don't want to take apart a MacBook, lol, I will never get it back together again. I totally know you're right, but a 10+year old laptop with no-doubt irritating construction just felt more like a spray isopropyl situation in the moment
-
@scribus The just reward for the apple user lol
-
-
I can recommend Blue Eye Samurai on Netflix. It is bloody, gory, and contains some sex scenes and nudity.
about 19 days ago from web-
@scribus It is not without its faults. A few music choices are not so smooth and the brutality made me flinch a few times. However in general I enjoyed the story. The characters were believable and the choices they made were properly inferred by the culture and past actions. What the series did well is to reveal the exact amount of backstory and story beats to create tension and make me fear of the outcome of a few characters as death is cheap in that world. I also seen some glowing recommendations of that series and last night I was bored enough to jump into it, so much that I was on the verge of binging it way past midnight. I think it is a very good weekend binge but be aware not to start it too late in the day. Plan at least 6 hours with breaks to watch it.
-
My poor Blackberry is deteriorating faster than I expected. It shuts down at 40% battery charge when there is a bigger power draw. Effectively I have to keep it on the charger all the day to make sure it's not dying immediately but it also makes my situation worse because it is constantly on the charger. My search for a new smartphone has been accelerated.
about 21 days ago from web -
I hope 2025 is as exciting as 2024 was
about 22 days ago from web-
@scribus Year of Luigi every year!
-
The state of Linux desktop environments for old hardware (i.e. ASUS EEE PC 1000H) is abysmal. I love KDE but the current version is unusable. The same goes for GNOME, which is furthermore hampered by being unusable because of UX reasons. Even the "classic" Gnome is horrible performance-wise. MATE is a tad better but I don't like it. The only real choice I have is XFCE. It is fine with a huge GNOME-influenced asterisk. I'm looking into Enlightenment but it also irks me a lot.
about 23 days ago from web-
@scribus I want to keep it conventionally usable. I'm not going fool hacker-mode by using one of the many tiling window managers. Right now I got Enlightenment to behave and runs well enough for now. If all my patience is gone I'll go to Windows XP.
-
It’s a little weird that one of the most well-known and revered Christmas films of all time came out twenty years ago and stars Will Ferrel, right?
about a month ago from web -
Think I might see the new Sonic later today
about a month ago from web -
Also Yagami (and Kaito’s) entries in the party database seem to genuinely stem from RGG just adding protagonists sequentially with each new game going back to Yakuza 6; Kiryu is 1, Majima is 2, Yagami is 3, Ichiban is 4, and his yakuza 7 party + Masumi Arakawa fills out the remainder before we suddenly start getting LJ side characters; seems the ones who follow you around worked internally like Y7’s party members even though most of them don’t ever join you in combat.
about a month ago from web-
@scribus ironically perfectly in line with a recurring theme in his first game that he is not number one despite his name implying otherwise
-
“Suck Up!” is the right way to do a generative AI-based video game. No stolen art assets, no cheap Unreal Marketplace sets with a shoddy text to speech voice actor, just a whole lot of fun attempting to gaslight a neighborhood of ChatGPTs with their own personalities.
about 2 months ago from web -
Cities Skylines 2 is so great, I love how the entire town will all choose one road to drive on so no matter how many new highways you build they will all decide to clog up a suburban street forty miles away because they all decided that is the best way to work
about 2 months ago from web-
@scribus I tested it by building a second “express” highway that covers the same distance and takes you STRAIGHT into key locations with no exits, inspired by I-66 from Virginia to DC where the USDOT did exactly that, and nobody took it. They all preferred to drive on the original. I’m guessing the only calculation the game makes is distance traveled and not “does taking this road actually save me any time”.
-
Psychics and astrologers should know better not to advertise here.
about 2 months ago from web -
Ah... Projects that search for people who can do EVERYTHING THE BEST. C++, Java, Python, Bash. Everything at expert level and at least 5 years of DOCUMENTED JOB experience. Also at least of 3 years of experience in transportation and logistics related projects. DUDE... I can rather deliver a unicorn than these specific requirements. I'd like to get into that project, however the project owner is very strict with these requirements.
about 2 months ago from web-
@adiwan And this new standard coming out next year? We'll need you to have three years experience in it by then.
-
-
what if i started hanging out on here again would that be crazy or what
about 3 months ago from web-
@liquidusmira would be.
-
@awl hey good to see you again. it's been awhile
-
@liquidusmira yes. Much has changed
-
-
wait so many of you still exist on here what. what
about 3 months ago from web-
@dezzierose What "what"? lol
-
@scribus its been a decade my brain is having trouble processing it
-
@dezzierose that's what i'm saying
-
-
One sleep later I'm not less angry and baffled by Amazon's Like A Dragon series.
about 3 months ago from web-
@adiwan I get not wanting to tell the exact same story in the exact same way again, like what's the point of that, but if it's not AT ALL the original story then what's the point of THAT?!
-
@scribus There are some clever alterations, and some character backgrounds got streamlined and more fleshed-out, which I can appreciate, as well a character that got only mentioned in the games and is somewhat integral to the story has more of a spotlight. For me it's a problem that given what we got in the live-action series is vastly different in the core of all. I can glance over some things like Kiryu emoting heavily and him not being an ordinrary money-collecting Yakuza. It makes me want to watch the adaption from 2007.
-
-
I think it's probably time to be honest about this: I have neither the time, nor the motivation to work on this place anymore. There's stuff going on in my personal life I'd rather not get into, so in short: I'm probably going to finally turn this place off in the next few months. If you're interested in taking ownership, let me know, but know that I'd only be comfortable handing it off to someone I know and trust, rather than any rando that shows up.
about 5 months ago from web-
@ceruleanspark Thanks for all the memories, this site was a core part of my adolescence. Found it early in high school right as I was becoming my own self and still think fondly of it even if I haven't regularly used it in a decade. It's always been nice to pop in and see familiar names. If anyone wants to keep up post RDN my Steam and FB links are in my profile. I wish everyone the best in life!
-
@ceruleanspark Thanks for all the hard work over the years. This was a fun place to hang out when I was but a friendless kiddo dealing with middle school angst- don't know how I could have stood it without. Hope all will be well; if not now, then in the future.
-
@ceruleanspark Thanks for keeping it up for so long. I don't post often, but I check in now and then. Made all my first fedifriends over here and I'm thankful it has lasted this long. Gonna miss everypony.
-
-
What happened? It's already Wednesday? Where did the time go? Where is my free time? Where is the time I wanted to spend on my hobbies?
about 3 months ago from web-
@scribus Where is the "slippery when wet"-equivalent sign? I need someone to sue for the time slipping.
-
Did anybody get to see the recent aurorae?
about 3 months ago from web-
@awl Envy, lol. They were supposedly vivible from about an hour away from my house, but I didn't trust that I would be the only one making the drive, kinda expected a horde of headlights to drown it out :-/
-
@scribus yeah you’re far enough down south people would lose their banana over it. I had seen them off the north shore last two years living in the car.
-
@scribus AURORA BORABALIS?
-
-
Well it doesn't have a keyboard, but it does have seven times the battery, cooling fans, and a projector that I otherwise would never have even considered to include but actually does seem kind of fun https://www.unihertz.com/products/tank-3-pro
about 3 months ago from web-
@scribus A mini projector seems kinda gimmicky. I can't see myself using it more than a hand full of times during the device's lifetime. The battery size might be big enough to not to be allowed on flights.
-
@adiwan Ah... It's close to the allowable limit. Might still be a problem if other devices are on the flight as well.
-
@adiwan Yeah, I was more thinking along the lines of, "It's not a 5G with a keyboard, but it is 5G from a company that does make keyboarded phones." And it's not like I need the projector but it might be a fun party trick, lol
-
-
colorful cartoon pony with a symbol on its flank annoying a system administrator by hanging up posters of ai generated ponies on a server rack (AI generated) https://i.imgur.com/u7EqESb.jpeg
about 4 months ago from web -
Oh my User the UPS application process is practically a lottery at this point ;_;
about 4 months ago from web-
@scribus I still have a background check in progress from Door Dash dating back to when I had nothing to do during Covid and tried to use my free time to earn extra cash with low effort gif work. To this day if I go to check the app they tell me my background check is still in progress.
-
@scribus it hasn't completely escaped my thought process that the background check shows that i've never had any kind of legal judgment made against me, not even a speeding ticket, and somebody simply didn't believe that could be correct
-
-
I bought a foot switch pedal. I intend to use it for the push-to-talk function for voice chat in Discord. I got myself a metal one for industrial applications for 11€. I'll connect an arduino Leonardo (Atmega 32u4) to the switch inside and it's practically done. I've already written the few lines of code, just a simple interrupt for the raising and falling edge of a pin that triggers a button press and release. I don't need any configuration of the key during runtime. There are foot switches for the PC available but they look cheap and I don't trust their software. Also I want it to use on my work pc so I can't say if the software will be blocked or trigger the dumb anti virus software.
about 4 months ago from web-
@scribus It's not in my use case as I need just the ON/OFF function of a button. I guess it'd be possible to use a program like Voicemeeter or Sonar to be controlled by an analogue input for a distortion effect. I don't know how to implement it (in concept I know but not in practice).
-
Aw man... My Blackberry battery is so cooked that it crashes when the charge is at 30% upon getting a call.
about 4 months ago from web-
@adiwan I am seriously contemplating just accepting that the Unihertz line is a couple OS versions old, it's still newer than I've got ATM
-
@scribus Yeah. It's pain. Agony. Suffering. At this point I'm giving up the keyboard dream as the battery pain is steadily increasing and no real alternative is in sight.
-
-
I do not like the standard character sheet design of the 2024 edition (5.5e?) of Dungeons and Dragons. Maybe I'm way too used to the 5th edition but there is a kind of visual business that makes the new one unappealing. Unappealing in a way the transition from 4th edition to 5th didn't.
about 4 months ago from web-
@adiwan A lot of character sheets seem unpleasant IMO, I ended up reaching a point where I just use blank paper and an almost NPC-like simple stat block.
-
@scribus I created my own character sheet when my group played in person. It was a modified 5e character sheet that squeezed more frequent stuff on the first page and the lesser updated and used ones on the other, like for example one page for equipment and money, one page for spells, one page for class features. The front page had the usual stuff like AC, HP, Temp HP, skills, ability scores, and a hand full of attacks. I did it because the box I used to store my character sheet and dice was smaller than a sheet of standard A4 paper. I repurposed a wooden slide box and put a felt lining in there so I could use one side as a dice tray. During my 4th edition days I was full custom as the character actions could be easily organized in card form, dailies, encounter, at-will. So it made sense to do the rest of the character in card form so it could fit easily into a deck box. Our DM also gave us our items in card form which was also convenient for tracking who has which item.
-
-
Aaand Futurama got stupid again. The newest episode is a riff on children mystery adventure books. It was the most incoherent dumbass crap only Family Guy could produce.
about 4 months ago from web-
@scribus Yeah. They used children mystery novels as the theme of the episode. Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Tintin et Filou. My reaction might be harsh but it was quite disjointed and too illogical to follow. A lot of jokes are for those who know the book series but a lot more were just random for the sake of being random. I might be wrong but the way the episode was presented rubbed me the wrong way. On the positive: they did a great job adapting the art style of Tintin et Filou.
