@wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com

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• I remember cheap plastic body flashlights where the battery springs had worn out a little back in the 90’s sometimes having issues where the batteries wouldn’t stay positioned inside quite right, so moving it around it might flicker as they shifted or it would shut off entirely if the batteries slipped out of “alignment”. Usually you’d just thump it a few times until they settled back in right. But they lasted plenty long, and didn’t just flicker on their own.

  Those seem to be what game flashlights are based off of, which is especially silly with how long cheap super bright LED flashlights with no battery looseness have been around now.

  on Flashlights IRL vs flashlights in games [meme] in c/gaming@lemmy.world · 17 Sep 2026

• Sheeran was pretty outspoken about Ukraine apparently.

  on "Apolitical" rule in c/onehundredninetysix@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 15 Sep 2026

• Not trying to be a downer, but I’ve worked the trenches of an internal IT help desk for a company, and you should prepare yourself for doing free volunteer tech support if you set something up like this. You’d be shocked at what things can be road blocks to otherwise intelligent, seemingly technical people. The risk of it drops if you use something more standard like Google Sheets, but it doesn’t disappear entirely.

  You will probably need to go with something that works for the lowest common denominator of your group. That might be “horrible messy email thread manually turned into a shared Apple or Google calendar once a week by a volunteer”. If you don’t, there will be constant friction with them. I’ve seen similar collaboration efforts fail on a team of professional systems engineers simply due to a difference in how each person wanted to take and maintain their notes. No one could settle on a standard and eventually the person pushing for it gave up.

  In short there are multiple angles to this, more than simply privacy vs ease of use.

  ---

  That said, nextcloud appears to be the current standard for this outside of Google and Microsoft.

  on Suggestions for service for real time collaboration in spreadsheets in c/privacy@lemmy.ml · 14 Sep 2026

• Do not speak of the old magics to me…

  I have five Gmail accounts. Youngest is 5 years old. Oldest is around 20. Even have the apparently desirable firstname.lastname address for myself. So I’m not familiar with the current hoops to jump through, admittedly.

  That said none have been banned, so while I recognize the risk, I don’t agree with that inevitability, especially if you aren’t making heavy use of it.

  Any email service that is not self hosted has the same risk, and self hosting isn’t generally in reach for people due to all the unwritten “trust rules” the major providers have quietly implemented.

  on I am asked for Gmail in c/privacy@lemmy.ml · 13 Sep 2026

• Imo, if your risk model has to account for nation state actors, you’re not the type of person who needs to ask about this stuff or you’re already screwed.

  There are plenty of different options for throwaway emails and defense in depth on that if you don’t want the link to be direct, but the idea is ultimately the same: make what you need to get by, insulate between your real and it to taste.

  on I am asked for Gmail in c/privacy@lemmy.ml · 13 Sep 2026

• There’s a lot more to this than lock in and open mindedness. Are you going to cause friction to multiple other people in a collaborative situation? Are you going to do it for something as small as opinions about data collection companies?

  Like, go ahead and question it. Go ahead and see if you can get by without it. But if it’s making things significantly more difficult, are you personally capable of compromise? No one is making you sign your whole life and soul over to Google. You can make, use for this one class, and delete the account when you’re done.

  on I am asked for Gmail in c/privacy@lemmy.ml · 12 Sep 2026

• While funny, your teacher and school aren’t going to give you kudos for being a smartass.

  on I am asked for Gmail in c/privacy@lemmy.ml · 12 Sep 2026

• Just make a Gmail account and set it up to forward to your real one. Only things that live in it will be the stuff for this class, and only temporarily.

  What do you actually lose privacy wise from that? They get to know you’re in the class you’re in and see a very small subset of your communications related to it.

  Ultimately, you’re the only one who can decide how much extra friction you’re willing to put up with for your principles, but in my experience it’s better to just make whatever bare minimum skeleton account you can to meet the needs and get on with life. Would you rather spend time fighting to make your special case setup work while giving the teacher reasons to evaluate your work more harshly, or learning the material?

  Plus, there are benefits to blending in.

  on I am asked for Gmail in c/privacy@lemmy.ml · 12 Sep 2026

• I love Kojima and what he produces, but this shit isn’t new. Konami dropped him with MGSV ~90% done. He’s beloved enough that he’ll find support.

  on [Opinion] If Hideo Kojima Games Aren't Safe, No Games Are Safe - Aftermath (Luke Plunkett) in c/gaming@beehaw.org · 11 Sep 2026

• That’s something I see in my workplace even without AI, just with coding/scripting/automation.

  It helps you do things faster. It doesn’t ensure you’re doing the right thing (unless you have someone skilled build in all the guardrails).

  So many of my coworkers are at the “This chainsaw is amazing! I bet it would be great at driving nails!” level of scripting, and AI is only making them more reckless.

  on GrapheneOS defends use of AI for coding in c/technology@lemmy.world · 11 Sep 2026

• Hey now, that’s Palantir’s job!

  on Anthropic Is Building a Predictive Surveillance System to Monitor Activists in c/technology@beehaw.org · 10 Sep 2026

• Last I checked you can import it when you first run it, or from an option menu somewhere, and it adds it to the options you have when starting a new save. I just followed instructions from the GitHub.

  Apparently if you have a supported ROM (check here) you just drop it in the same folder as the exe to import it.

  on Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake Trailer in c/games@lemmy.world · 8 Sep 2026

• Each game is meant to playable as a standalone thing, any direct storyline continuation from previous titles is covered in the game itself. Technically Ocarina of Time and Majora’s mask are a pair with MM as the sequel, but either can be played alone with no real loss of context. MM does build on gameplay of OoT though.

  It’s not a spoiler to say that across the game series it’s generally a plot about some reincarnation of the three central figures of Link, Zelda, and Ganon. There’s often implied reincarnations of other characters too across multiple games, but that’s mostly just callback fluff for fans. There’s one game set first in the in universe timeline that sets up the impetus for the reincarnation cycle, and one game that splits the timeline into a few branches based off three different interpretations of the ending of that specific game.

  The two main newest ones, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, are a two-fer as well, and are a new timeline or convergence of the split timelines depending on who you ask.

  For a first time player, don’t worry about it. Whichever game you play will give you what you need to know. Any understanding of the “grand series plot” just adds some extra oomph to scenes in later released games than OoT and MM.

  on Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake Trailer in c/games@lemmy.world · 8 Sep 2026

• For anyone lamenting they don’t have a Switch 2, or looking for OoT with QoL improvements for cheaper than whatever Nintendo’s asking price is, there is a free PC port of OoT that will run as fast as your hardware can handle it without messing up gameplay speed etc, has a ton of switchable QoL features, and has mod support for using 3DS (and better) graphics/models. You can even use Master Quest’s edited dungeons with all the benefits of the 3DS version.

  It’s called Ship of Harkinian. All you have to do is provide a copy of the game ROM.

  on Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake Trailer in c/games@lemmy.world · 8 Sep 2026

• At this point we already have the ridiculously extensible PC ports. There’s no shot that there won’t be mods to bring over whatever QoL this remake adds (assuming it’s anything not already in the port) within weeks of release. I’ll give it maybe a year or two for homebrew graphics mods to catch up or for someone to extract the new assets into a mod.

  And there’s no debate regarding the 3DS remaster anymore. You can just shove its graphics into the port if you prefer them and flip a few settings to toggle the changed behavior.

  Plus everyone knows the best way to play is with the Beatles in OOT mods (seriously go search up the stupid fucking fever dream that is the remixed OST).

  on Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake Trailer in c/games@lemmy.world · 8 Sep 2026

• Since when has banning cheating ever stopped students inclined to cheat?

  on Kenyans Did College Students’ Homework for Years. Then A.I. Arrived. in c/technology@lemmy.world · 7 Sep 2026

• I think it’s pretty obvious that you haven’t used any AI tools in a while. They have gotten considerably better at not spewing complete nonsense, and at being very convincing to people who don’t know better. We’re well past the obvious days of glue pizza and telling people to eat rocks, and entirely fabricated garbage.

  My job is doing a full court push of AI to make sure we “don’t get left behind” by nebulous competitors’ hypothetical productivity gains. So I’ve started picking it up. It’s useful for searching for information using normal language terminology, and on rare occasions can call out edge cases and additional considerations early, rather than when I come to those conclusions after reading 10 different documentation sites and mentally mapping everything out.

  I still think the bleeding edge early adopters were/are insane, AGI/ASI isn’t going to coalesce out of the current approaches if ever, and it’s a net negative for humanity. That all said, I see the benefits and use cases more clearly now too.

  Unfortunately, not checking anything and pushing to prod now can result in things that work well enough to become relied on before it hits the wall. You end up with a project five layers past the initial slop code (that the initial slopper claims is rock solid and good to go) when the problems start showing up, then you realize that you’ve been building off slop foundation and have to tear everything back down to the frame.

  Makes the whole thing worse tbh.

  on Kenyans Did College Students’ Homework for Years. Then A.I. Arrived. in c/technology@lemmy.world · 7 Sep 2026

• 

  on Stay hydrated rule in c/onehundredninetysix@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 6 Sep 2026

• I’ve had no trouble with setting it up in the exceptions list in the Rethink DNS filtering and VPN app.

  on Android auto now blocked if you use a VPN? in c/privacy@lemmy.world · 3 Sep 2026

• Not sure about skin rendering in L4D, but way back when Half Life 2 was new, one of the ways it pushed things forward was with the facial rigs and animations.

  At least as far as I remember from gaming news at the time.

  I remember reading that it was a big leap in terms of matching real facial muscles to the 3D rig face “muscles”, and in using those little dot things to capture actual facial movement of some of the line reads. I think Valve’s discovery and/or usage of the fact that real eye iris angles are offset by about 2 degrees was also something that was noted as a big move forward past the uncanny valley.

  on Source Skin Rendering in c/games@lemmy.world · 1 Sep 2026

• Awesome, but why did we need the other lady’s intro and outro? Fucking “influencers”.

  on Watch someone turn the script around on Flock Cameras in front of Santa Clarita’s city council in c/privacy@lemmy.world · 31 Aug 2026

• Don’t think I’ll ever forget the time a friend offered to give me a ride, but didn’t warn me they were in the middle of using their car to try and move nearly everything they owned.

  Another mutual friend came with and got buried in the passenger seat under a pile of books and clothes. I ended up squeezed into a small gap inbetween a suitcase, TV, game consoles, and furniture in their back seat on top of a pile of clothes with my ankles and feet out the sun roof. It was the only way to fit.

  This was not a rare occurrence of clown car-ing with this friend, but definitely the most memorable.

  Other events include:

  • two people stacked in the passenger seat, three across the back seat row, one person lying over the laps of the three in the back seat, and our smallest friend shoved back on the ledge under the rear window behind the back seat (above the trunk)
  • one time with the car full, one friend agreed to ride in the closed trunk. At one point, the car stopped and the trunk rider assumed it had arrived at our destination, so they pulled the release cord and hopped out. The car was stopped in traffic at a stop light. They looked around confused then climbed back in the trunk and closed it.
  on rule in c/onehundredninetysix@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 30 Aug 2026

• It was probably the “gold standard” modern port of the OG DooM/DooM II/Hexen etc games. There are some other source ports made for multiplayer, some made for cranking the graphics up to 11, some made to ensure exact match to original engine behavior for speed running purposes, but GZDoom was kind of the standard the community had settled on that did enough of all of that to be good.

  There are full “boomer shooter” style indie games built off of it and the expanded features it offers, like 3D model support and greatly improved lighting. Then the lead dev went a little bonkers (I don’t know the specifics) and people forked it into this and have kept improving it.

  on UZDoom 5.0 Release Announcement Trailer in c/games@lemmy.world · 29 Aug 2026

• Paid to states over ten years.

  on Meta, states agree to $17 billion settlement in child safety trial in c/technology@lemmy.world · 26 Aug 2026

• Overly online A(u)DHD person “Get mental health care instead of latching onto an online personality stereotype” challenge! Level: impossible.

  (All meant in good fun. Everyone has a different path to better. I seriously do recommend therapy if you can find a good therapist though. I maybe could have worked through the shit they’re helping me with on my own, but I’ve made more progress towards who I want to be in a few months than I have in years.)

  on cptsd rule in c/onehundredninetysix@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 25 Aug 2026

• You can’t be serious, or you must not support Windows much.

  I don’t think much of my workplace’s Windows desktop “engineer” but even they’ve put together (and keep updated) an image that can get from blank drive to fully installed, updated, baseline programs for our company installed, all settings tweaked to get rid of 90% of the dumb Windows bloat (have to leave the shit the execs like in place) in 30 minutes unattended.

  The server builds my team oversees are 10 minutes setups, if that.

  Like, I’ve been desktop support, and installing and configuring the department specific programs could be such annoying shit that you’d end up saving more time reimaging when something fucked up than to try and fix it, but the initial OS install was rarely the issue. Maybe for the first few days with entirely new hardware while we figured out the right drivers, but that was it.

  ---

  Linux is leagues better than Windows, but some of this shit I keep seeing in these Linux communities is batshit. You personally not being familiar with Windows isn’t a reason it sucks, any more than people saying Linux is complicated is a reason for them to hate Linux.

  on The fact that you can’t run through Windows setup w/o internet and an online account is absolute bullshit in c/linuxmemes@lemmy.world · 24 Aug 2026

• That’s still rule of thumb on Windows. Push the updates into the install media in advance and save the trouble later. Guess since Linux updates tend to be easier they just stopped?

  on The fact that you can’t run through Windows setup w/o internet and an online account is absolute bullshit in c/linuxmemes@lemmy.world · 24 Aug 2026

• It could be done in 15 minutes with Windows as well, if you actually knew what you were doing. Hell, I’ll give you 40 minutes if you know what you’re doing and don’t have proper tools already setup.

  Windows is a shitshow, but your personal lack of familiarity isn’t evidence of that, lol.

  on The fact that you can’t run through Windows setup w/o internet and an online account is absolute bullshit in c/linuxmemes@lemmy.world · 24 Aug 2026

• It’s mostly a metaphor for humanity’s ability to self improve, evolve, and exponentially reproduce. There’s some minor things here and there also drawing a line between spiral power and the “spiral” of DNA.

  Series spoilers as I get into more detail

  Bear in mind that all the animal folk are artificial beings engineered by the big bad of the first half, and that is the main reason why they can’t tap into spiral energy. I believe at one point it’s stated that they can’t reproduce. Viral is the only one the eventually gets access to some spiral power, but he was given the special gift of immortality and also spent a shit ton of time with the humans and trying to better himself. There is a small undercurrent theme, mostly shown through Rossieu (fuck if I know the spelling) regarding the danger of spiral power, that is, unrestrained uncontrolled evolution growth expansion and reproduction against the limited resources of reality. This is also part of why the end hits so damn hard, as it basically says “Fuck resource scarcity, we’ll find a way. We’ll fucking find a way to rewrite reality if we need to, but we’re never going to stop trying to keep growing and moving forward”

  Edit: Oh, you might also be confused because I’m not sure how much of the finer details pointing at this are in the recap movies. It’s also worth noting that the finale movie is a remake/reimagining of the show finale that takes everything that was already there up to another exponential 11, so while the recaps just cut stuff for time the finale movie is effectively an alternate ending.

  on Gurren Lagann fans: What exactly is "spiral power"? in c/anime@ani.social · 14 Aug 2026

• Good job putting to words one of the core issues I’ve had with using LLM chat for work. Stop trying to design an entire fucking system or solution and just answer the damn question I actually asked, by using natural language to search documentation and existing implementations.

  I would tell it to only answer exactly what I asked, but sometimes I do get value from it “exploring” on occasion. It’s just so much damn worse with it than my newest junior co-worker who is known on our team for getting hours deep into tangential rabbit holes before coming up for air and asking seemingly nonsequiteur questions.

  on Why Normal People Aren’t Using AI Agents in c/technology@lemmy.world · 7 Aug 2026

• Doesn’t help the conversation that some LLM chat systems call minor customization of the prompt making an agent.

  Under duress I use CoPilot Chat at work. No, the basic sad customization I did along the lines of “don’t be sycophantic, always cite sources, use these specific official documentation sites as sources before searching outside of them and clearly call out when you search outside them” that customization isn’t making a damn agent, it’s adjusting the prompt and saving those changes you disingenuous marketing fucks!

  on Why Normal People Aren’t Using AI Agents in c/technology@lemmy.world · 7 Aug 2026