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efaardvark

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Blog Comments posted by efaardvark

  1. The Steam Deck is basically a portable Linux ("Arch based") system that's been optimized for the hardware.  The hardware Valve chose is a pretty standard x86-based PC hardware-wise (AMD 4-core/8-thread CPU with 16GB laptop RAM and a laptop GPU) so running other, non-Steam software on it is also possible, including other Linux distros, or even Windows itself.  To play Windows titles on Steam OS/Linux the Deck has the Proton emulator.  I've used the emulator with my Steam library on my (Ubuntu) desktop system and it works pretty well.  The Deck also comes with the KDE desktop used by many/most Linux distros preinstalled so running Linux software beyond what is supplied by Valve is just a matter of downloading and installing it.  Ars Technica has a pretty deep (tho a bit dated at this point) dive into the gory details for anyone who's interested.  I've seriously considered getting a Deck of my own but I already have a linux laptop and I'm afraid the Deck would make it too easy to waste too much time playing games.  :D

    • Cool (Kakkoii) 1
  2. Mid 80's.  I had just graduated HS a couple years earlier and still a couple years from starting anything like a career.  No cellphones.  No Internet.  The original IBM PC™️ (8088 [email protected], 16KByytes RAM, CGA graphics) was still selling well, to those who could afford the $1500 for it.  Real money back then.. about what a cheap car cost.  Max was amazing to a lot of people.

       
       
    • Cool (Kakkoii) 1
  3. I don't think that, as a creator, staying completely away from the bad stuff is a good idea.  If nothing else you're requiring someone else to decide for you what is "good" or "bad" so that you never have to bother with the latter.  (If only it were that simple.  :) )  I also believe it is very rare that something is entirely bad, with no redeeming features whatsoever.  True there's the time issue.  You simply can't evaluate everything personally.  You certainly don't want to emulate the bad parts in your own material however, even inadvertently due to ignorance.  Learning a lesson from other peoples' bad examples is actually a valuable skill, professionally speaking.  The trick of course is to recognize what makes something "good" or "bad" and then deliberately integrating the "good" parts into your own material while rejecting and avoiding the "bad".  And yes, the subjective definitions of "good" and "bad" make it all that much harder.

     

    • Like 1
  4. Yes, I have felt imposter syndrome.  Sometimes I look around at the people I work with and think, "damn.. how did I manage to get in with this crowd?!"  People call on me for answers that I don't know.  Often I get thrown in at the deep end and it is sink-or-swim time.  I can identify with people like Jen and Sorata in S1 of "Pet Girl".  :) There always seems to be another problem or deadline that people expect me to be able to deal with, and if the bosses think things are going too smooth they up the ante.

    (Seriously.  The former chief boss at work - a guy who is fluent in half a dozen different languages, has 4 masters degrees in physics and engineering, an MBA, a doctorate in electrical sciences from CalTech, is currently a professor at CalTech, and who basically invented synthetic-aperture radar, at least as it is used in remote-sensing applications - was definitely a Rooseveltian at heart.  He once said at an all-hands meeting, "If things aren't breaking then maybe we're not pushing the envelope hard enough".)

    I don't think you can overcome it, in the sense of getting to a point where you can relax.  At least I haven't found out how to do that myself.  I deal with it, if you can call it that, by quickly learning what I don't know and answering as if I'd known all along.  :)  Sometimes I think my only true skill is Google-fu.  (Though sometimes all I find is other people asking the same questions. 😱 It is stressful sometimes, but it also has its moments of awesome.

    • Agree 1
  5. I never thought it was going to be over in just a few months , not with the number of "community transmission" cases and the lack of effective testing early on.  I was figuring closer to a year, though maybe with something of a lull during the warmer months.  Usually it seems they get a vaccine for this year's variant of the flu in time for next year's flu season.  That's kind of what I've been expecting for this one, but even that assumes it is a "well-behaved" virus that doesn't come up with any sneaky tricks.  Especially for the high-risk groups this isn't going to really be over until they get a working vaccine produced and distributed.

    • Like 1
  6. 39 minutes ago, Beocat said:

    My favorite con got canceled this year so no fun for me :( that said, I think people will return to how they were shortly after...within a year. Us pitiful humans with our short attention spans and even shorter memory. 

    It has been fun and educational to talk to some of the old people like my mom who remember quarantines and regular occurrences of serious communicable diseases like measles and polio.  We've had it easy for a long time thanks to modern medicine.  These people that are rebelling against that legacy are ignorant morons.  Crazy Eddie lives.

  7. GATE put to mind a short story by Harry Turtledove, "The Road Not Taken".  Pretty sure it was in an issue of Analog on the 80's but all that era is in boxes in the garage so I'm not quite sure.  Anyway, it was the same kind of scenario.  The primitive but imperialistic invaders come to Earth in their wooden space ships held together with pitch and thinking themselves invincible with their kites and black-power clay bombs and flintlock muskets, and promptly get themselves blown away by tanks, fighter jets, and assault rifles.  TRNT was similar in that it didn't follow through and have the Earthlings press their obvious technological advantage.  Failing that, I'd have liked to see another season that started with the Gate closing and the people from Earth being cut off and having to fend for themselves in the new world.

    • Like 1
  8. 36 minutes ago, EvaUnit69 said:

    Mazinger Z ladies and gentlemen! I honestly never find people who even know of this anime but it is a wild f-ing ride peeps. The only way I can describe this anime is to say at some point a lady robot fires her boobies as a weapon and it became a thing to the point there is references to it in marvel vs capcom as one of Rolls specials

     

    spacer.png

    Also known as Tranzor Z, one of the early ones that lead in the mecha genre in the 70s.

    For some reason MZ is forever linked in my mind with Gatchaman.  I think they were back-to-back
    on TV back in the days when I was young and impressionable.  :)

     

    • Like 1
  9. I tend to have the strongest reactions - both positive and negative - to kuudere characters.  Irie Naoki from Mischievous Kiss I wanted to strangle for instance, but I did/do like characters like Sesshoumaru (Inuyasha), Goblin Slayer, or Shiroe (Log Horizon).  Sometimes they can be boring though (Tatsuya Shiba, The Irregular at Magic High) if they're not well-written/acted.

    • Funny 1
  10. It kinda depends, doesn't it?  I mean, "AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" would be completely different than "EEEEEEYAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!", right?  "AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" might even be like, "aaahhh!", but I'd certainly never want to have to "EEEEEEYAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" for real!  :D

     

    • Agree 1
  11. A Place Further than the Universe does look promising from what I've seen/read.  Haven't watched it yet, but definitely on my list.  Asobi Asobase didn't tickle my fancy.  Non-funny jokes, mediocre art.  I dropped it.  Hope that sort of thing doesn't become a trend.  Yuru Camp was good.  (And Yama no susume as well... kind of in the same vein.) 

    The others ....  I'm a binge-watcher and usually (at least) a season behind so there's a lot of recent stuff I haven't gotten to yet.  I liked Goblin Slayer though, and the first season of Tensura (slime).

  12. I just couldn't get into Black Clover.  Yes, the main character is too noisy.  The rest don't make up for it.  I got about 10 or so episodes in, looked at the (at the time) 40 or so episodes to go, and decided it just wasn't worth it.  At least not for me.  Who knows?  Maybe it'll turn into another 500+ episode Naruto.  I kind of doubt it, but either way.. I'm out. 

    Goblin Slayer, on the other hand, was pretty good.  If you liked that one then you might try Grimgar .. different, but it had a kind of similar vibe for me.  FWIW, I also liked Overlord, and the first season of TenSura (the "slime" one.. I binge and am saving the rest for later.)

  13. I hardly ever do the NY resolution thing.  Resolutions have always struck me as unrealistic.  Either they're too little or they're too much.  If they're too much they can backfire and mess with your head.  If they're too little then I don't really feel I accomplished anything significant.

    My plan has always just been to continuously try to do things better than I did last time.  That's a goal that is always within reach and therefore fairly easy to make a habit out of.  I find that works better for me than doing the new year's resolution thing every January.

  14. Been there, done that.  Never did get the hang of it.  (Hope that's not too discouraging.)  I can make a sandwich.  Sometimes I can even successfully heat soup in the microwave.  Beyond that.. best not push it.  I don't even have the BBQ gene that a lot of guys seem to have.  My ancestors must have been the fruit-eaters because that's the only way they could have survived.  :D

    • Funny 1
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