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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   2029 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for June 28, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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This is really cool. A (pretty good brand) 600W inverter can actually run my chest freezer. It could easily run two of them if I could design a simple startup interlock switch (or trust the inverter's auto-restart from fault to handle the occasional simultaneous startup)

People always complain about freezers tripping 1500W inverters, but newer compressor motors don't have nearly as high a starting surge as the old ones.

Pity it can't run my shitty universal motor garden tools as well, or I'd rig up a backpack for it.

How are you feeding the inverter?

And what are these universal motor garden tools?

Cheap 1200wh lifepo4 battery charged with a 40a power supply. Can run for a couple of days followed by a few hrs of generator recharging, instead of idling it all the time or letting the freezer half-defrost.
A few hundred watts of solar would keep it charged even in winter, but I'd need to run a long transmission line to my shady clearing. Impractical with a low volt array.

The garden tool motors are those really cheap things with the sparky carbon brushes.
Very low efficiency and huge inrush: I have a ".5hp" pump (375w) that pulls the amp equiv of 3000w at startup. (Not sure how much is real vs apparent power, but to an inverter amps are amps)
Still learning electric engine theory to understand the different types.

May I ask why you're doing all this? Is this a prepper style setup you're creating on a back lot in the woods somewhere?

I don't want thousands of dollars of meat to spoil when the power goes out? And also like having Internet. And also it's fun?

Fair. I also have this setup, with one dual generator and starlink. I'm not plotting and asking about it.

Rejoice in your heart! Forgetfulness profits you. Follow your heart as long as you live! Put perfume on, dress in fine clothes, clean and adorn yourself like a god. Heap up your happiness, let your heart not sink! Follow your heart and your happiness. Do your things on earth as your heart commands! When there comes to you that day of mourning, no weary-hearted god hears your mourning — wailing saves no man from the pit! Make holiday and do not tire of it! No one is allowed to take his goods with him and none who depart come back again!

Maybe a word or there gives it away, but this is not in fact some 19th century American poet’s life advice (perhaps a Whitman or Emerson), but actually a 4000-year-old poem for an Egyptian tomb — “the Harper’s song”

Is being famous worth it? I used to think people who said no were coping. But it does seem awfully stressful.

It's not the fame per se, that underlies the sad look in the eyes of those locked on that prize. But the way they play that game- the shallow depth of your relationship with the rest of the world.

The cash is sweet. It would be a lie to deny the utility of being free to flash some cash and get labor back, but the feeling of power without love is draining-

And besides that the chains one wears to maintain the fame- The need to keep playing the game to maintain what was gained. The realization that this dream wasn't yours- that you deplore what you became on the path to fame.

It's the evil eye- the knowledge that those you once cherished decry the concentration of love pointed your way each day- and yet- you don't feel it- emotion wasted. Untasted.

You can gain fame without falling victim to repressing what your soul is expressing... But that's rarely the way we're told to play it.

My advice? Let fame be emergent. Don't spurn it. But don't seek it for itself. Let it rise and fall while you optimize- for the Truth that resides deep inside.

It can certainly be good, but there's lots of drawbacks. You'll typically have some heighted level of respect from people which can lead to perks, both explicit and implicit. Famous people can try to leverage their fame into money, usually with mixed success. Others might find value from spreading their ideas in a way that an unknown person wouldn't have access to.

For the negatives, the novelty of being noticed in public wears off after the first half-dozen times or so, and then is just annoying. People will try to pry into your personal life and form a weird parasocial bond with you. You'll be held to a much higher standard than strangers would.

If I had to choose between being one of the richest people in America and one of the most famous people in America I'd pick the money.

Famous for what? Justine Sacco became world famous in 2013, and she wishes she didn't.

More like infamous. That's the negative version of fame, right?

Any good discounted games folks recommend on the steam summer sale? Specifically interested in co-op games if anyone knows any good ones.

Overcooked 2 is on sale, probably grabbing that. As well as Trine who someone here recommended.

EDIT: I like fun single player games too! @SubstantialFrivolity pointed out Arkham Knight which looks awesome for $2.

The first Amnesia is on sale for €4. Excellent Lovecraftian survival horror.

The first Dishonored + all the DLC for €5. If you liked Thief or Bioshock you'll almost certainly like this. I've only played the base game.

Far Cry 3 for €3. My favourite in the series, very satisfying stealth and gunplay (fair warning: I recently tried replaying it and it crashed so frequently that I gave up. Apparently it's an issue with Windows 11).

Inside and Limbo for less than €3. Everyone's heard of Limbo (that really stylish 2D black-and-white platformer where you control a little boy in a forest) and it's as good as everyone says it is, but I think Inside is even better.

Mirror's Edge for €5. Very satisfying first-person parkour platforming, stylish visuals, amazing soundtrack (just skip all the cutscenes, the story is trash).

Psychonauts for €2.50. About as close to a game I'd call perfect as any game I've played, and one of the few games which made me actually laugh out loud several times without once resorting to puerile toilet humour.

Manhunt for €3.50. In my opinion a massively underrated stealth/survival horror game from the people behind Grand Theft Auto. A game that makes you feel dirty playing it (in a good way) and has some interestingly meta things going on long before that was cool (and in a subtle enough way that doesn't draw attention to itself).

Valkyria Chronicles for €5. After the X-COM reboot, the best turn-based tactics game I've played. Attempts to tell a sanitised PG-13 World War Two science fantasy AU without downplaying the horror and tragedy of that conflict, and largely succeeds.

X-COM 2 for €2.50. Currently playing through it for the first time, having logged more hours in Enemy Unknown than I care to mention. Mechanically speaking it's a little cluttered compared to its more streamlined predecessor, and the new "concealment" mechanic feels awfully half-baked. But I've already sunk 40 hours into it, which I'm sure speaks for itself - given how addictive the first one was, the sequel would have to be a lot worse for me not to spend a comparable amount of time playing it.

Alien Isolation for a tenner. If you liked the original Alien film (and, crucially, thought Aliens kind of missed the point of what made the original work) you'll probably like this. Tense, atmospheric, terrifying, with visuals which capture the vibe of the original film flawlessly.

Others have mentioned Arkham Knight, which I haven't played. Asylum and City, both of which I've played several times and loved, are going for €4 each.

You can buy the entire F.E.A.R. franchise for €5.50 (weirdly, the only individual entries you can buy are 2 and 3). The only one I've played is the first, which had some of the most satisfying FPS gunplay and sound design I've played. The horror elements didn't really work for me, in stark contrast to a game by the same studio which came out within a year, Condemned Criminal Origins, which is in the top ten most terrifying games I've ever played and which is going for €2.50.

Ghostrunner for €9. Played it a few months ago, possibly the single hardest game I've ever played to completion. Nails that hypnotic Hotline Miami effect (aided by the amazing synthwave soundtrack), but this one's a first-person parkour platformer where you hack up enemies with a katana.

Outlast and its DLC for under a fiver. Excellent first-person survival horror in the vein of Amnesia.

SOMA for under €6. From the people who made Amnesia, but far superior to it. It's much less overtly scary: the tone is more of Philip K. Dick-esque dread and existential despair. The ending really got under my skin.

Catherine Classic for €5. Played it for the first time a few months ago and loved it, it's a combination of puzzle-platformer and visual novel/dating sim. Addictive, stylish and bonkers.

Detention for under €4. A side-scrolling horror visual novel set in Taiwan in the 1960s may not sound like your thing - it certainly didn't sound like mine. I found it so absorbing I played through the whole thing in one sitting anyway.

Resident Evil 7 for €8. A steal. A radical departure from previous Resident Evils, and yet one that works remarkably well.

The Shrouded Isle for €2. A weird strategy game in which you play as the leader of a Wicker Man-esque cult on a secluded island. Every quarter, you must sacrifice a member of the cult to appease the gods, while carefully balancing relationships and trust among the various houses. Weird and cool.

SUPERHOT for €7. FPS based around an ingenious and deceptively simple gameplay gimmick. Remember earlier when I said that Manhunt's story has some cool meta elements which are subtle enough not to draw attention to themselves? SUPERHOT is the opposite of that: it's one of those indie games where the story is super meta and seems to expect a big pat on the back for doing something meta, all of which is awfully grating. Would've been improved by cutting the story entirely or replacing it with a dumb excuse plot. But the gameplay and visuals are great.

Gloomhaven. It's a high quality adaptation of a board game with a persistent campaign that lets you level your adventurers, buy new loot, and unlock new stuff between missions. You both will need your own copy, but it's on sale for $13.50, which even when doubled is way cheaper than the physical board game. And the computer handling setup, monster behavior, and deck shuffling makes it a lot more convenient to play. My wife and I have 250 hours in it together, and I credit it for a significant portion of our relationship progress during the years we were dating long distance.

For single player:

The Geneforge Saga is deeply discounted. Phenomenal writing, ok gameplay. You may want the remakes of the first two games for QoL purposes; I think the first three had graphical lag issues on 64-bit Windows, but this was a decade ago and is likely patched.

Arcanum (again, awesome game with a very dated interface) is $1.49.

Vermintide 2 is the best co-op game I've ever played.

Hah yeah I’ve had fun with that one.

Just pasting directly what I put elsewhere:

Haven't checked if all of these are on sale, but:

  • Six Ages (revamp of the classic tribal RPG/strategy simulation King of Dragon Pass - if you haven't played KoDP, what are you even doing?)
  • The Banner Saga (kind of resembles KoDP but more focus on battles)
  • Frostpunk (post-apocalyptic city simulation)
  • The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante (dark fantasy choose-your-own-adventure)
  • Pentiment (medieval adventure/detective)
  • Return of Obra Dinn (dark time-detective style puzzle)
  • Roadwarden (dark fantasy RPG)
  • Griftlands (Slay the Spire style scifi deckbuilder with fun mechanisms)

All single-player, note. Might also add in Balatro, since others had already recommended it multiple times in the discussion I commented on.

I've just started with Vagrus:The Riven Realms, which is a combination Roadwarden, Sunless Seas with a bit of Darkest Dungeon combat. Really enjoying it. Great if you like merchant caravan style games in a fantasy post apocalyptic setting.

Would you recommend KoDP before Six Ages or would you recommend for someone that doesn't play that much to go straight to Six Ages?

You can go either way. KoDP is a bit more complex gaming-mechanics-wise (which could be a minus or a plus in your opinion, the mechanics are not super complex either way) and the story is a bit richer and longer.

What's your opinion on six ages 2? Is it an improvement on 1 or more of the same?

Personal indie-adjacent recs in no particular order:

Raft is a good mid-length survival-ish experience solo and a great one in co-op. Very chill pace but has enough action/exploration to stay interesting throughout.

Not for Broadcast is a singleplayer narrative adventure which I think people are blatantly fucking sleeping on, basically Papers Please but your new job is a cameraman for CNN. Text-heavy but cheap on sale and I expect it to hit very close to heart for many mottizens, especially with election season on the horizon. If you check one game from this list, make it this one.

Gunfire Reborn is an FPS that successfully distills all the great parts of Borderlands (minus the cringe) into a roguelite format. Tailor-made for kicking back and shooting shit in co-op. The discount isn't big but imo it's very much worth it at full price, it even still gets DLCs/updates.

SYNTHETIK is a fairly difficult but very satisfying roguelite top-down shooter, it's somewhat old at this point but it's like 5 bucks on sale and is great value for the price. Has janky but workable multiplayer for the premium friendly fire experience. The sequel is also great but I think it still needs some time in the oven.

I will never stop shilling Chrono Ark, a roguelite deckbuilder with extremely autistic mechanics and (unusually for roguelites) an actual plotline with enough despair to make Gen Urobuchi blush. It's... an acquired taste but if you already beat Slay the Spire on Ascension 20 definitely give this one a try. The cultured swimsuit DLC is entirely skippable.

Don't Starve Together

From the Steam page:

Fight, Farm, Build and Explore Together in the standalone multiplayer expansion to the uncompromising wilderness survival game, Don't Starve.

It Takes Two, if you haven't already played it.

Played this! Yeah it was great.

Arkham Knight is $2. I assume I don't need to sing the praises of the Arkham games, but that's an insane price for such a good game.

Dude, this looks awesome. Thank you for the heads up!

You're welcome! If you haven't played them, definitely check out Arkham Asylum and Arkham City as well, they are both on sale too. I think it's something like $9 for all three.

Rabbit and Steel has been pretty fun, but the sale isn’t much.

Moving Out is like Overcooked, but with furniture. Not quite as charming. Still goofy.

I feel like I should have other examples…

Escape Simulator and the We Were Here series are fun puzzle coop games.

Ah, NHS bureaucracy. You love to see it.

Highlights (or lowlights) include:

  1. Asking for bank details several months in advance of my post beginning (with 'strict deadlines') for payroll purposes, with the only options being banks that don't have an international presence. I suppose they'll cut a cheque to "Bank of Scotland" for the account number "I don't have one yet". What exactly am I supposed to be doing dilly-dallying there a month before my job starts, just so I can setup an account? The options that do allow for an account to be opened internationally, such as Revolut, apparently haven't been noticed as existent by their accounting department.

  2. Asking I fill out a previous NHS employment form and release letter, which doesn't account for the fact I haven't worked for the NHS before.

  3. Informing me on short notice that I need to travel to an entirely different city for a mandatory induction seminar. Lovely.

I just want to sleep a month straight, is that too much to ask?

The options that do allow for an account to be opened internationally, such as Revolut, apparently haven't been noticed as existent by their accounting department.

I'm sure they've noticed, it's just that those banks are major vectors for all kinds of fraud. The issue of fraud is much greater than some Indian doctor's ability to open an account ahead of landing in the UK.

I realize that this sucks for you specifically but this is probably not just a case of bureaucratic laziness.

What kind of fraud are they envisioning? It's an account for payroll purposes, they put money in, I take it out. God knows the NHS isn't giving me a credit card for expenses.

Trust me, when dealing with the NHS, never attribute to 5D chess/foresight what can be attributed to incompetence. They don't have plenty of reputable international banks that I know operate in the UK and India, so it's hardly that they options like Revolut are unreliable. And if they were, that would be my headache.

For one that you're not the one owning the account.

Having you be physically present in the UK is a feature not a bug. There is zero downside for the NHS, the HMRC or the police to force you to be present.

I am supposed to be owning the account. The NHS just needs a convenient place to send me my pittance, and the international banking system has been together long enough that there should be no interoperability concerns had they chosen a wider array of banks, I'm not asking for them to recognize the North Korean financial system, simply accepted banks that also operate in the UK.

There is plenty of downside for them, given that they'll have to scramble as well to update their records once I have an acceptable bank, and the entire system proclaims itself as being friendly to International Medical Graduates, one aspect being that they might well be internationally located when they're subject to a deluge of paperwork.

Yes, you are supposed to.

What are your favorite mobile suits from the Gundam universe?

I am inclined to pick the Kshatriya and the Zeta Gundam.

Epyon, probably.

I didn't see 08th MS Team as a kid c. 2000, but asked for Gundam model kits for birthday and got a Gouf Custom, first kit I put together more patiently in one sitting. Fond memories of the kit. Didn't actually see the scene of it in action until a few years ago https://youtube.com/watch?v=q4kEuNfbTWc

I like Epyon's whip-like heat rod. Had an action figure of it growing up.

The Gouf Custom (Norris Packard) vs The 08th MS Team is arguably the best fight in the franchise. One of my favorite Zeon mobile suits.

The four wings/binders of the Kshatriya give it a unique, alien-like aesthetic. It has a cool fight in Gundam Unicorn.

Zeta Gundam is a classic. I often played as it in Gundam: Battle Assault.

Mobile Fighter G Gundam mobile suits were amusing caricatures. Tequila Gundam's my favorite though Nether Gundam never fails to make me laugh.

Gundam Wing Endless Waltz Gundams were theatrical. Hard to pick a favorite, but Duo Maxwell was my favorite pilot, so I'll go with Deathscythe Hell.

Funnily though I live in Japan and have for 20 plus years I have never seen an episode of Gundam and my sons are into like Naruto, and Attack on Titan, and Jojo's bizarre anime. A neighbor guy I drink with who is roughly my generation still said that in Ready Player One when the guy goes for the Gundam suit he got chills. So it is definitely still a cultural force. They do advertise those DeAgostini model kit ads and many are for Gundam suits. When I was a stormtrooper in my ancient GFollano armor (edit: for our neighborhood Halloween) about ten years ago, the neighbors were in awe, one woman wanted to touch it (the suit...my shoulder actually) but the little bitty kids (other than my own brainwashed boys who knew damn well what I was supposed to be) kept saying "Gundammu!"

I smoked weed after so many months and threw up like crazy so that was not fun. Will watch the fights this weekend, I reckon Jiri Prochazka will lose. His style is built on him being a physical freak, lacking any sort of brains or finesse needed to win fights.

My work now requires me to grow a tiktok account, I will be posting daily tiktoks about the origin of the English language. I read the Cambridge Encyclopedia for the English language a while back. That made me want to post this stuff since the stories behind our words are inherently fascinating.

I do miss my parents, startups are brutal, and a small part of me is always worried that I will have no future if this fails but I need firm belief in myself, my team and what we are building. NVIDIAs founder once said something along the lines of how he would not have started NVIDIA if he knew how difficult it would be. Paul Graham spoke about how his startup was about to go under right before they sold it and how getting his dental cavities fixed felt like being on a vacation, still, I know things will turn out well. Have a great week ahead folks!

My work now requires me to grow a tiktok account

grim

My on and off love affair with weed ended abruptly in February in Thailand when I saw men who are perfectly entertaining when sober or drunk become Circe's pigs when on weed. I mean holy Moly.

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