Mister_Rogers

I made the switch to daily driving Linux on my laptop for work and play a few months back with a dual boot setup with Windows, and changed over mine and my partner’s gaming desktops to do the same, and they recently got a Steam Deck OLED as well. Honestly I can’t say this is true. It depends on the distro, but I went with Pop OS, and it has been ridiculously pain free to game on. I play a large variety of weird, old, indie games, and I’ve encountered a single game that didn’t work on Pop OS that I needed to play on Windows (WRC 4) and that particular game BARELY worked on Windows as well and took lots of setting up and fixing. More often than not I’m finding things work better on Pop OS (GTA IV doesn’t crash when changing multiple graphics options like on Windows, and GTA IV and 2013’s Tomb Raider both get better frame rates) than Windows.

This is all particularly notable because I didn’t go in as some Linux expert touting the superiority of it (I chose Pop OS because I’m a noob, and it’s easy to use), and fully expected to have all sorts of issues. My biggest complaint is that I should have set my dual boot partition for Pop OS way bigger because I barely need to use Windows anymore! My absolute #1 annoying niche issue that I can’t figure out is that the VPN I need to use to remote into my work 1) will work on Windows, 2) DID work on Pop OS when connected to my phone’s data but not my home wifi (???), 3) no longer works on either my phones data or wifi. Gaming though, has been a cakewalk, you should give it a go. Install proton, maybe grab a glorious eggroll, and you’re set, they’re support for NVIDIA cards make it equally pain free (across the 3 systems I mentioned we’re gaming on Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA gpus, and all are equally pain free).

Even controllers are no problem, but I haven’t messed around much with my wheel, or VR headset though, so we’ll so how that goes.

Okay any engineers up for a hypothetical? As others have pointed out, things like wind, nuclear, and other things are sensible answers. BUT WHAT ABOUT AN INSANE ANSWER?

It obviously would be prohibitive to have a colossal “city battery” that stored excess from the day to be used at night, and environmentally would present issues making a city sized battery. But what about a non-traditional kinetic battery (think F1’s KERS). What if there was say a building in the middle of the city, and inside is a metal disk made of solid steel that’s a foot thick, and 500 feet across, on an electromagnetic cushion, housed in a room with negative pressure or a vacuum. During the day, the excess solar energy from the city powers this to gradually spin faster and faster, and during the night this process is reversed with the enormous amount of kinetic energy feeding a powerstation generator that would provide power at night. Okay, I told you it was an insane hypothetical, but as thought experiment humour me. It would by definition be a battery, but one that wouldn’t deteroriate in the same was as a chemical battery, without the same environmental impact of involving all the cobalt, lithium, etc., although it admittedly would be pretty wildly expensive just from a space, and material cost of the disk perspective. How big would this need to be? Is this remotely possible? I mean WAY less power is used at night after all. Thoughts?

People far too often argue “Communism/Socialism/Capitalism/etc. is the best economic system, because blah blah blah”. Anyone that has played Civilization and has half a brain cell can tell you that there is no single best economic system, as it’s so heavily dependent on the structure of a country, current levels of development, and many other factors.

I have always said, that capitalism is very probably the best economic system for rapidly developing countries in a state of industrialization (there was obvious horrific cons to this, but the complexity of discussing the use of slavery, child labour, land repossession, genocide, etc., is a conversation beyond the scope of this simple remark on economics. Consider the dominance of France, Britain, and Spain in 1800 and compare it to the juggernaut that the US became in the next 100 years by 1900, and the benefits of relatively unfettered capitalism during industrializing periods, should be readily apparent given that colossal level of growth from a sparsely populated and undeveloped country in it’s infancy in the late 1700s-early 1800s) and is probably the best economic system for this, BUUUUUUT commensurate with the level of automation, and computerized work roles within a society, a more and more heavily socialized economic system makes sense to stymie the accumulation and sole ownership of the automated systems by the wealthy few who profit off of it, while job opportunities dwindle for the rest.

The world needs to socialize more heavily, and fast, the US is in a particularly precarious spot. The number 1 job in nearly every state is truck driver, and there are already autonomous trucks on the road today. Between AI, and autonomous vehicles, we will see what happened to jobs in the automotive sector from 1950-2000, in industries like taxis, truck driving, coding, graphic design, journalism, and much much MUCH more in the next 50 years, and the US is not ready for it’s job market to do country wide, what happened in Detroit. The wealthy owners of these automated machines, and AI systems filling these job roles will become richer off of them, while the rest of the country struggles. Heavy socialization, alongside reduced work weeks and either subsequent massive increases in minimum wages, or guaranteed basic income will be a necessity for coming generations to not exist in poverty.

I follow tech pretty avidly, my wife has a steam deck on her christmas+birthday list (they’re close so it’s a combo). I’ve intentionally not told her about the refresh and all the goodness it brings, so that I can surprise her with a 1TB Steam Deck that surpasses everything she expected! I’ve got the whole family pitching in to get it, Valve’s timing couldn’t have been better!

For what it’s worth, I’m 100% a nihilist, it’s absurd to me that there is some inherent meaning in life. Who tf am I to say I know the meaning to life??? BUT I also recognize that I’m alive, as is everyone able to think that thought, and we might as well do something with it despite this. I think everyone contrives meaning in their own lives, and THAT. IS. OK. That itch for meaning needs to be scratched, I live as a rule utilitarian primarily, even though I accept this worldview as one I’ve contrived for myself rather than something inherently right. If you’ve got a kitchen full of ingredients, and there’s not outright purpose to the “right” thing to cook, it still seems to make more sense to scramble an egg or two, than to demolish the kitchen over the notion of a lack of inherent meaning.

I achievement hunt in video games, sure as heck not because it’s the most enjoyable way to play a game (some are annoying and hard) but because I also struggle with feelings like yours, and when I get that little ding, it feels like I’ve done something (I know I haven’t!) but it feels like I did, and that’s nice to scratch that little “I did a thing” itch. It’s okay that it feels nice, even if deep down I know it means nothing. Crap, so what? Same thing when I finish a book, finish a puzzle, watch a new movie, etc. Everything else means nothing too! But it doesn’t do me much good to dwell on that, and so I plod along for my next little ding. Sometimes that ding is the thought that “damn, this subway sandwich, is fucking bangin”. Sometimes that ding is getting a chuckle out of how stupid life is (I recently won a costume contest at my work I joined over Zoom. I planned to just watch, and as a dry stupid joke I pulled the lampshade of my lamp, plunked it on my head, and said I was a lamp. I promptly won a vote, and a gift basket to the chagrin of everyone who actually tried on their costume. If that’s not some stupid good shit to live for I don’t know what is.)

Sometimes that ding (and get this) ISNT EVEN FUN. That’s also okay. I often say satisfaction, is more important to my mental health than actual happiness or fun. THIS IS NOT THE CASE FOR EVERYONE, GIANT DISCLAIMER but this is the case for my particular brain. When it’s hard to be happy, or smile, the feeling of “hey, well at least I beat that hard level today” sometimes is enough to feel satisfied that I did something today even if I was banging my head against a wall a bit to do it.

My hobbies aren’t important, there isn’t an inherent meaning in my life, and perhaps I’m not important (who tf decides anyways though?). But I’m here, and I’m going to at least scramble a god damn egg, because someone built the kitchen so I might as well get cooking and see what happens.

I hope you open that fridge and scramble some wicked fucking eggs man.

I feel like that’s a bit of a cop out to say “it was good except for the last season”. That statement is true, much of GOT of absolutely S-tier stuff, but the last season was also part of the show. That’s like saying “that meal I was the best I ever had”, and when your friend asks “what about the chef’s eccentric decision to put dog feces on the potatoes?”, you replying “oh don’t get hung up on that, it was the best meal I had, but you have ignore that part”, if it was on the plate, it was on the plate.

I adore the first few seasons of Community, but would never in a million years (like Game of Thrones) say it’s the best show I’ve ever seen because they both have garbage parts, that as unfortunate as it is, are legitimate parts of each of them.

I held on to physical media for a long time, and the legal ownership implications are scary for digital media, BUT the argument of avoiding creating plastic waste at one point outweighed this for me, and I’ve been all digital ever since, but to each their own. Definitely pros and cons either way.

Wow I must have totally spaced there, thanks for catching that! As I note in an above reply Amazon probably makes my top 5 most hated companies, I absolutely 100% do not shop there or use it, I can’t believe I missed that on my list, my apologies.

I did not know that their only profit is on their subscriptions, and I’ll look into that as I’m doubtful of that (I could be wrong though!) Thanks for the info there, but I still fundamentally take issue with subscription based models, as well as other issues I note in replies above with them like business displacement, bad personal experiences, and the urban sprawl they create. Again I’ll reiterate that no company is outright good or bad, and Costco is definitely pretty low on my bad list (perhaps deserving of being viewed more neutrally by me), the general view definitely seems to vary from mine so perhaps it’s worth reassessing.

As to your notes on Amazon again, I 100%, utterly, could not agree more, I just apparently missed them on my list and have since edited them in! Definitely an awful awful company, it astounds me furthermore how virtually everyone is unanimous on this, but nonetheless virtually everyone seems to use them anyways. Some others in the comments swayed my views on Hyundai to change, but I believe my views on Costco stand, based on the replies of some others, it seems the policies of Costco vary somewhat where I live vs. other countries (e.g., using bouncers instead of machines at the door, disallowing people from using even the food court without a card, etc.) so that might factor into why my views on them are different. Thanks for your input, I’ll be looking into Costco more about their profit model!

Last minute addition: I did a bit of looking and it seems we’re both partially right, while Costco offers some items at cost or at a loss, they do indeed turn a profit off of actual sales in store(again, perhaps this is different by country, and might not be the case where you live?), as well as membership fees, and profit margins on eCommerce sales as well.

At all the Costcos where I live, there is staff rather than a machine at the very front door that prevents entry without a membership, even to the food court. I think it’s much more likely that their policies vary from country to country, rather than their being a rogue sect of policy breakers in my city. I don’t think my view of Costco based of the customer experience I’ve had there is any indication of lunacy, I’ve had a bad time there, and so it’s okay I don’t like it. Just like it’s okay that you do. I’m glad you’ve seemed to have had a more positive experience, and they definitely do treat their staff better than some. My issues with subscription based models, and land development with Costco remains though and I don’t think my opinions changed.

I hope you have a good day and that people’s differing opinions on Costco isn’t nearly so upsetting for you in the future!

This 100% is NOT an ordered list, maybe I’ll edit and make that clear. I just didn’t have the time or energy to order this properly, if you’re curious though my top 5 might look something like 1. Facebook/Meta, 2. Apple, 3. Google, 4. Nestle, 5. Amazon. There’s of course companies that are obvious that I didn’t included, virtually any gambling company, tobacco company, gun companies (although that’s less universal depending on your views on gun laws which is another can of worms we perhaps don’t need to open here), oil and gas company, etc. Thanks for pointing that out so I can clear that up!

I’ve definitely had some good discourse on Hyundai above and have learned alot, I still wouldn’t put them in my bad list, but they might not be in my good list anymore either?

I’m curious as to why you disagree on Plex and rPi? My knowledge of them to be fair is far from exhaustive, but to massively simplify they’re on my good list because of (plex) how open, flexible, and ownership of your own media focused it is vs. every company buying out shows from each other and subscription feeing users into oblivion, and (rPi) their education focus for kids, tinkering and repairing attitude, and making open useful little chips without being part of the hellish behemoths of other tech companies. Thanks for sharing!

I was hoping someone would mention that :) Man, their devotion to continue just making outright pieces of art, with incredible passion, and a seemingly small niche fanbase is something I can’t not respect the hell out of. No gimmicks, no DLCs, no selling out. They’ve just been doing what they love since their days of browser games, and never stopped making those types of games. Good guys.

She is, thanks for asking. And to be fair to Old Spice it was probably a fairly localized issue, and isn’t some massive awful pattern of being a bad company, but call it my personal vendetta, it’s forever marked them for me, particularly given their response.

You do need to be a member, or accompanied by a member to enter the building and buy it though (at least where I live, perhaps this rule is different in different places?)

You’re 100% correct, fundamentally the drive system is still electric motors (and all the advantages that come with that!) I would have to disagree that lithium-ion EV is doomed, I think it’s better to conceptualize it as a stepping stone technology, I think we will move away from Li-Ion in the relatively near future, but it has supercharged (pun intended) investment and research in battery technologies (lithium fluoride, solid state, etc.) that will likely take over this mantle. I would be surprised given the necessary infrastructure, and lack of adoption thusfar if hydrogen did become the dominant mode of power in vehicles, but any of these would be a step in the right direction even if none are perfect currently. Thanks for your comment, I added some more on my thoughts on hydrogen in replies above as well!

Hi, thanks for the extra information you clearly know your stuff on this topic. See my reply above, I seem to have been misunderstood sorry if I was unclear. I have zero issue with hydrogen technologies for vehicles, they’re great, and even better in some ways than battery options. My issue is solely with Toyota actively avoiding going full electric themselves and lobbying EVs due to their heavy investment in hydrogen. I wasn’t actually aware Honda had sunk in as much as Toyota in this area as well so thanks for the extra info. LIke with anything (especially with a list as long as mine!) I don’t pretend to know everything, but it was certainly my understanding that Toyota was fighting against battery EV’s specifically because of their desire to get a lead foothold in the hydrogen vehicle sector and make this the dominant clean option, perhaps I was mistaken!

I 100% wholeheartedly agree, but to actively lobby against the use of other clean alternatives that show promise are better established setting back the environmental progress make in this industry, just because they want to make the big money on THEIR clean technology, is what I have issue with. That is crappy in my books.

I wasn’t aware of the datamining, I know this is something other brands are doing as well (I believe Ford and Tesla had stories that come to mind. Thanks for the extra info on the immobilizer issues, they might well be off my good list here. I agree, a recall that is well handled isn’t bad in and of itself, but repeated recalls shows carelessness, particularly when it isn’t done voluntarily by the company but rather due to legal matters.

My only issue with the great information you have above is the fact that while battery fires do happen with EV’s rates of fires in ICE vehicles is magnitudes higher than with EV’s and this is fairly well documented (which you didn’t directly say, but seemed to be implied) here’s a link at any rate that’s decently cited https://core.verisk.com/Insights/Emerging-Issues/Articles/2023/August/Week-4/Electric-Vehicle-Fire-Risk but maybe I read into what you wrote wrong. Thanks for the extra information!

Thanks for the response and clarification :) you definitely make some good points!

If you see my reply to questions about Hyundai on the list, Toyota and many other companies do alot of PR to maintain certain reputations, and Toyota does a spectacular job of this. I do think they make more reliable than average cars, no doubt. But here’s some lesser known facts, Mazda has actually beat Toyota for 2 years running as the most reliable brand according to Consumer Reports, Toyota has had the largest, and multiple other recalls in automotive history in the last 10-15 years, some causing death and injury (Takata airbags, floormat issues, and more), and further they have lobbied heavily against electric technologies since they were salty they invested so much in hydrogen fuel cell systems. Again, it’s not like all Toyota’s are awful, but while still reliable, they’ve been dropping the ball big time lately, and that’s not to mention how utterly mundane their cars are which is a little more personal preference based. Thanks for asking, I hope that helps explain my reasoning!