@harmonicarichard@techhub.social avatar

harmonicarichard

@harmonicarichard@techhub.social

On the web since 1996. I am currently playing with PHP. I also play with Harmonicas but I can't play songs yet.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

kcarruthers, to random
@kcarruthers@mastodon.social avatar

True fact: when I was a kid I used to rebel by going to random churches as my mum had told me to go to “church” every Sunday rather than “mass” which was what she really meant.

harmonicarichard,
@harmonicarichard@techhub.social avatar

@kcarruthers In Europe going to different churches is worthwhile. I don't go for the services. I go for the art and architecture. I also collect camino stamps (I have just two so barely a collection) ;-)

harmonicarichard,
@harmonicarichard@techhub.social avatar

@kcarruthers I am more tempted by the Francigena. It goes from Canterbury to Rome. If I did the Camino I would do the Primitivo part. It's about 200 kilometres and quieter. I don't want to hike in too large a crowd.

atomicpoet, to random
@atomicpoet@atomicpoet.org avatar

The problem with “the existence of high specs means higher spec requirements” is that not only is it a fallacy, it discourages many people from getting into PC gaming.

I know this because many, many people believe that you can’t game on a PC unless you get the highest specs available.

And why are they convinced of this? Because they have this conversation at their local Best Buy:

CUSTOMER: I want to buy this $500 laptop.

BEST BUY REP: What are you going to do with it?

CUSTOMER: Play games.

BEST BUY REP: You can’t game on that laptop. You need a dedicated $2,000 gaming PC to do any gaming. Perhaps you want a Nintendo Switch instead?

That conversation seems ridiculous. And yet, I’ve actually heard real Best Buy reps say this to me – even though all I wanted at the time was a cheap laptop to play Half-Life and a bunch of indie games.

Now I know that Best Buy reps are not necessarily the most knowledgeable about computers, but if they’re saying such claptrap, how many people out there actually believe the same thing?

Just because an RTX 4090 costs $2,000 doesn’t mean that a $500 laptop cannot play games.

And how do I know this? Because a Steam Deck costs $500 and it can even play AAA games! This isn’t just “in theory” – I’ve actually done it!

We need to put this fallacy of “higher specs mean higher spec requirements” to rest.

harmonicarichard,
@harmonicarichard@techhub.social avatar

@atomicpoet I lost interest in games when i found the web in 96, after three weeks of camping. I still play games but not like before.

Free_Press, to news
@Free_Press@mstdn.social avatar

Billionaire 'Bond King' Bill Gross says a Trump win would be 'disruptive' for markets

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-election-biden-bad-news-bond-markets-bill-gross-deficit-2024-5

harmonicarichard,
@harmonicarichard@techhub.social avatar

@Free_Press I prefer the word "cataclysmic".

atomicpoet, to random
@atomicpoet@atomicpoet.org avatar

To me, what gets me about these “limited run” physical editions for Nintendo Switch is that most of these games aren’t even exclusive to the Switch.

Most of them were released on PC first—where they are sold for cheap.

“Oh, but this is physical while the PC versions are digital!”

All games are digital, and if I want my own “physical” copy, I can just store it on a hard drive or USB stick.

“But the art!”

Well, print out your own poster or sticker. It will have more sentimental value, and it will be less expensive.

Let’s just be honest. The reason most of these folks collect Switch games is because it looks pretty on their shelf.

harmonicarichard,
@harmonicarichard@techhub.social avatar

@atomicpoet There is the other side of the topic, for the children of the 80s and 90s. Every CD, every game, every DVD, every VHS, every minidisc was physical. We would buy the disc, rip it, and then listen on an MP3 player, minidisc or other.

By being able to buy digital copies we skip the need for plastic disks that had to be transported on ships, trucks, trains, and we cut out the trip to the physical shops.

Nostalgia is rational, but if we want digital copies then it makes sense to get digital copies. When a digital copy of a Switch game is reduced the carbon footprint isn't amplified.

When we were children we were so worried that our materialism would have a huge environmental impact, but by switching to digital the impact is much smaller. Less to recycle. Less space in our homes.

I still buy physical game media, when it's cheaper than the digital version, and when I might pass the physical game media to a niece or nephew.

The last thing I passed was a fidget spinner.

atomicpoet, to random
@atomicpoet@atomicpoet.org avatar

I can’t watch these Nintendo Switch collections on YouTube anymore. It’s just too infuriating.

Many of these games I bought on Steam for C$1.00. For example, Super Meat Boy.

Yet, a CIB copy of Super Meat Boy on Switch averages around $42 because it had a limited run.

People tell me that PC gaming is expensive. Well, if you’re running Super Meat Boy, it isn’t. That game will run on a potato.

You can probably buy a laptop for the same price as the Nintendo Switch port of Super Meat Boy—and play that game on the laptop. I’m not kidding.

harmonicarichard,
@harmonicarichard@techhub.social avatar

@atomicpoet i don't think they have "potato Pi" yet. Maybe one day.

clive, to random
@clive@saturation.social avatar

As I behold "Crush!", the new Apple ad for their Ipad Pro ...

... I fluctuate, with heisenbergian indeterminacy, between "they are clearly trolling us" and "they are totally earnest and have no idea how completely sociopathic they appear"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntjkwIXWtrc

harmonicarichard,
@harmonicarichard@techhub.social avatar

@clive @crutlefish My visceral reaction was to the final cut camera app. I really like Final Cut X and use it professionaly. The issue with FCP X is that with an old device you stop getting new features.
With the Final Cut Camera app you need to buy an expensive ipad to play with it. 2000 CHF for a fragile video mixer. It undercuts professional makers.

I have had a low opinion of Apple innovation for half a decade or more. I replaced a 2016 MBP with a Pi5.

Apple charges professional prices. It gives amateur products.

I am happy I fell out of love with apple products. It's cheaper this way.

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2024/05/final-cut-pro-transforms-video-creation-with-live-multicam-on-ipad-and-new-ai-features-on-mac/

atomicpoet, to random
@atomicpoet@atomicpoet.org avatar

I’ve been writing a novel and I think I might just chuck it all out.

My problem is that I always start with a simple premise. And then things get more and more fantastical until the whole thing gets weighed down by the bizarre plot line.

For example, in my current novel, what starts off as a simple connection between two people turns into a metaphysical journey into the transcendence of ecstasy.

I can’t just let my characters be happy. I have to launch them into an entirely new plane of existence where their minds become subsumed by a universal consciousness.

I’ve gone overboard. Again.

harmonicarichard,
@harmonicarichard@techhub.social avatar

@atomicpoet Don't throw it away, just archive it. In a few years you might enjoy reading it, and have enough distance to edit it.

atomicpoet, to random
@atomicpoet@atomicpoet.org avatar

Does anyone remember Tia Carrere? You may recall her from her role as Cassandra Wong in Wayne’s World.

She’s a Grammy-nominated singer of Hawaiian songs. And deservedly so.

Tia definitely has the voice of an angel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjC15aK53ig

harmonicarichard,
@harmonicarichard@techhub.social avatar

I remember her by name, more than by films. I watched the film two or three times.

atomicpoet, to random
@atomicpoet@atomicpoet.org avatar

We need to bring back this era of tech marketing.

https://youtu.be/NfpYrem94q0

harmonicarichard,
@harmonicarichard@techhub.social avatar

@atomicpoet I don't know if I accidentally have MS-DOS 5 diskettes. I probably used it but I don't remember version numbers except for windows 3.1 etc.

michael, to AWS
@michael@thms.uk avatar

What on earth?! Amazon S3 charges you for unauthorised requests to S3?!

That's just absolutely insane! I better check my AWS account and delete any unused buckets I have in there …

https://medium.com/@maciej.pocwierz/how-an-empty-s3-bucket-can-make-your-aws-bill-explode-934a383cb8b1

harmonicarichard,
@harmonicarichard@techhub.social avatar

@michael When experimenting with AWS, Azure, and more I always pull down anything after I have completed a tutorial. I don't trust cloud service providers not to charge for something that should not be charged for.

atomicpoet, to random
@atomicpoet@atomicpoet.org avatar

It’s not a conspiracy theory to say that certain people on the Fediverse, who have a long track record of harassing developers, got kicked off other social platforms for toxic behaviour. In fact, I know this to be the case because some of them have told me.

No, I’m not linking to them because I’m not amplifying them—or to their problematic servers either.

However, it is a conspiracy theory to say I’m working for Elon Musk for acknowledging this is a problem.

How does it even help Elon Musk to say harassment of Fediverse developers is a problem? Wouldn’t more harassment mean less developers working for the Fediverse—which inevitably helps him?

RE: https://atomicpoet.org/objects/6c71418e-9a2e-4958-a2c8-646def8e8765

harmonicarichard,
@harmonicarichard@techhub.social avatar

@atomicpoet that’s why i take long breaks from the fediverse. I love the idea of the fediverse but i see toxicity. I hope that it will eventually end. (The toxicity, not the fediverse). I want the fediverse to be filled with friends of friends. I still see too much trolling.

harmonicarichard,
@harmonicarichard@techhub.social avatar

@atomicpoet For a long time "big social" was a network of friends of friends, so the community held people to account. I want to go back to smaller, healthier communities on social networks.

kcarruthers, to random
@kcarruthers@mastodon.social avatar

The good folks I liked from twitter are pretty evenly split between blue sky and mastodon. A tiny handful are on threads and I never see them anymore. Some are still on twitter and that is just sad.

harmonicarichard,
@harmonicarichard@techhub.social avatar

@kcarruthers i am back on Facebook. I never thought i would return to that awful site.

harmonicarichard,
@harmonicarichard@techhub.social avatar

@kcarruthers everyone knows how much I hate that site. I never thought it would be the least worst.

VeroniqueB99, to random
@VeroniqueB99@mastodon.social avatar
harmonicarichard,
@harmonicarichard@techhub.social avatar

@VeroniqueB99 i worry about who controls Facebook and Twitter. They have already done a lot of damage. Somehow we blindly accept that they are controlled by their owners. No one converse on TikTok. Facebook and Twitter indoctrinate.

harmonicarichard,
@harmonicarichard@techhub.social avatar

@HistoPol @VeroniqueB99 In 2007 we had Seesmic, and with seesmic we could have video conversations with people, that led to meetups, being invited to LeWeb and more. With TikTok it's mainly people copying each other. My concern is that if TikTok is seen as nefarious then FB and TW should be dismantled for the same reasons. We need a flattening of social networks, to see a spreading of communities, and smaller, healthier online communities, like we used to have.

stefan, to mastodon
@stefan@stefanbohacek.online avatar

We should really consider a Mastodon/fediverse version of Twitter's "Community Notes".

https://mastodon.online/@davidaugust/112009608346074422

https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/27302

harmonicarichard,
@harmonicarichard@techhub.social avatar

@stefan We have one, it's called Wikipedia. ;-)

Dianora, to Ottawa
@Dianora@ottawa.place avatar

Ottawa Citizen has an article this morning with "tranquillizers" all through the article. 😀

Amusing. I guess they fired all their expensive editors.

harmonicarichard,
@harmonicarichard@techhub.social avatar

@Dianora Do you need tranquilisers to cope. ;-). Maybe they got an American English editor this time.

harmonicarichard, to random
@harmonicarichard@techhub.social avatar

https://mastodon.social/@jpmens/111532759490595481 I hate the cybertruck for this reason. No decent human being needs a car that can run people over without being damaged. Imagine cycling in a world with bastards driving cybertrucks. It's frightening enough without the cyberfucks.

harmonicarichard, to random
@harmonicarichard@techhub.social avatar

You know what's worse than collecting books? Collecting e-readers.

osma, (edited ) to random
@osma@mas.to avatar

This is a pretty harsh opinion piece, but i can't say i disagree.

"One way or another, pretty much every one of its 193 member nations is fed up and increasingly convinced that the U.N. is fast making itself irrelevant."

Also, if you didn't know, @thejapantimes has an official, active account here.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2023/11/03/world/united-nations-israel-gaza/

harmonicarichard,
@harmonicarichard@techhub.social avatar

@autiomaa @osma .
The World, and the international community, should have acted to stop the violence against the Syrian people several years ago. By doing nothing the world gave Russia headroom to do more, so it annexed Crimea. Now, for over a year it has tried to fail to invade Ukraine and the world did little. The situaton in Gaza is complicated and people should discusss the depth of the issue, which the tabloid media, and social media are failing to do.

Speaking about the failures of the UN is easy because they are easy to see, but the successes of the UN are invisible because we see what t has achieved in so many fields as normal, rather than earned.

That's where the African Union. European Union and other bodies become key. If the UN fails, then other international groups should jump in regionally, to work towards a solution. "microblogging" is not the right medium for this conversation.

harmonicarichard,
@harmonicarichard@techhub.social avatar

@osma With that interloper it becomes the insecurity council. @autiomaa

Free_Press, to Ukraine
@Free_Press@mstdn.social avatar

"This is either a contest of army paintings that is held on the aggressor's airfields or it's really a cheap way to deceive Ukrainian intelligence, air intelligence, space intelligence. But, of course, it has zero effect" - representative of Ukrainian Defense Intelligence Andrii Yusov told Ukrainian RBK media commented about Russians painting fake aircraft at their military airfields.
️

harmonicarichard,
@harmonicarichard@techhub.social avatar

@Free_Press At least during the Second World War they used inflatable dummy tanks etc, in England, to fool German reconnaissance.

brewsterkahle, to random
@brewsterkahle@mastodon.archive.org avatar

"In Memoriam of Python 2

Today, on the Day of the Dead 2023, we at the Internet Archive honor the death of Python 2. Having mostly emerged from one of the greatest software upgrade SNAFU’s in history—the migration from Python 2 to Python 3—we now shed a tear for that old version that served us so well."

https://blog.archive.org/2023/11/02/in-memoriam-of-python-2/

harmonicarichard,
@harmonicarichard@techhub.social avatar

@brewsterkahle Hic Jacet Python Duo.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • JUstTest
  • mdbf
  • ngwrru68w68
  • modclub
  • magazineikmin
  • thenastyranch
  • rosin
  • khanakhh
  • InstantRegret
  • Youngstown
  • slotface
  • Durango
  • kavyap
  • DreamBathrooms
  • megavids
  • GTA5RPClips
  • tacticalgear
  • normalnudes
  • tester
  • osvaldo12
  • everett
  • cubers
  • ethstaker
  • anitta
  • provamag3
  • Leos
  • cisconetworking
  • lostlight
  • All magazines
    •