My mind immediately went towards Battlebots when I saw electronics getting involved. I wonder what else would need to be done to make this steerable over RC? There may be a lower weight class where some nicely CNC'ed 'Phantasm Orbs' can score reasonable points.
Readit Newsgigaflop commented on I overengineered a spinning top [video] youtube.com/watch?v=Wp5No... · Posted by u/bane
gigaflop commented on Building the mouse Logitech won't make samwilkinson.io/posts/202... · Posted by u/sammycdubs
> My absolute favorite mouse is the MX Ergo from Logitech.
I switched to using Logitech's MX Vertical mouse and I love it. There was a learning curve period, especially when it came to finer grained movements, but I'm totally used to it now and it feels much more comfortable and natural to me that any other mouse I've used. It has a USB-C port and I can switch between 3 different Bluetooth connections (press a button, connects to my work laptop, press it again, connects to my personal one). I'm not much of a power user so I don't customize the buttons but I know it's possible with an app. I don't use the app.
https://www.logitech.com/en-us/shop/p/mx-vertical-ergonomic-...
Sharkfin Squad! It feels less precise than my regular gaming mouse, but I use it for work, and don't really need pinpoint accuracy. Been loving it ever since, and I even got a travel case for it.
Also, it can be used as a bluetooth mouse on my Samsung phone, which was neat.
I'm a software developer, so I type a lot. Typing is very practical for throughput and speed.
But I still make time for writing by hand. I find it to be very valuable, because it forces me to think differently about things and sit with ideas longer. I also find journaling almost impossible to do on a computer but very accessible in a notebook.
Writing by hand is also portable and adaptable. You can write on paper, surfaces, and signs. You can write when there's no power. No subscription is required, it doesn't require firmware updates, and it never has connectivity problems.
I can understand why some people would be willing to say goodbye to handwriting, but it's a skill that I'm extremely grateful for and I would be very sad to see it disappear from the world.
This echoes a lot of my own thoughts. I've taken to carrying a pen and small notebook around. At first, it was to help spend less time on my phone while eating out or something, and to keep track of all of those 'wow cool ideas' about building MTG decks, and 'what if' scenarios for a Pathfinder game I'm in.
Having all of the former pages on hand, made it so that I could cross-reference a current idea with one I'd already been sketching on some days or weeks back. I could see that I wanted to use the same card in 3 places, and then force myself to consider which one to put it in. I could sit and stare at something I'd written, and turn it over in my head, take a sip of my beer, and contemplate, "What are the motivations of this fictional character?"
I'd forced myself to start thinking more long-term. I ran a Pilot g2 down to about 1mm of ink remaining, filled the whole notebook out, got a new one.
It's a notebook with nothing important or classified, I regularly allow friends and family to scribble a page here and there, and have torn out a few bits to use as a kindling for a firepit with a faulty igniter.
gigaflop commented on I'm the CTO of Palantir. Today I Join the Army thefp.com/p/im-the-cto-of... · Posted by u/amrrs
>stolen valor
... is a term with a specific definition, which a direct commission officer in no way matches. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_commission_officer>
>roll in the mud with the rest of the grunts
Neither have you, yet you presume to speak on their behalf.
I believe that I am equally qualified for the role as they are ;)
gigaflop commented on I'm the CTO of Palantir. Today I Join the Army thefp.com/p/im-the-cto-of... · Posted by u/amrrs
This feels disingenuous to the max. I have a younger brother who went through USAF Basic, and these tech bros just get bestowed a high rank? It smells of stolen valor.
I mean nothing ill towards the 'mud hut', but seriously? All these listed names seem like people who've never had to roll in the mud with the rest of the grunts.
gigaflop commented on How to cheat at settlers by loading the dice (2017) izbicki.me/blog/how-to-ch... · Posted by u/jxmorris12
I remember a retired engineer was selling perfectly balanced dice intended for RPG players. RPG players are going to gravitate toward the most unfair dice they perceive in their set. I appreciate his enthusiasm but he’s only going to sell those dice to competitions and maybe GMs.
I think that’s one of the reasons GMs sometimes make a high roll from the player into a punishment. Especially by asking for the roll first and telling what they were looking for after. It’s a way to balance out the consequences of unintentionally loaded dice.
You reminded me, and I think I have some, or at least some variety of these as a set of 10d6. Metal, and the pips are precisely machined to such depths where they're perfectly balanced. Nice bronzed finish, with black pips.
Also, if someone is obviously cheating with a loaded die at an RPG game, they're not the kind of player that should be invited back. Most characters have ways of increasing their modifiers to rolls that matter most to them (My current ranger is 1d20 +16 for Perception), and having high-enough base numbers can mean that anything other than a natural 1 is usually some kind of success.
> used to be the case for specialist software
I think that's a great example of how a competitive market drives these costs to zero. When solid modeling software was new Pro/ENGINEER cost ~$100k/year. Today the much more capable PTC Creo costs $3-$30k depending on the features you want and SOLIDWORKS has full features down to $220/month or $10/month for non-professionals.
Off-topic, but I work 'around' PTC software, and am surprised to see them mentioned. Got much knowledge in the area?
On-topic, yeah. PTC sells "Please Call Us" software that, in Windchill's example, is big and chunky enough to where people keep service contracts in place for the stuff. But, the cost is justifiable to companies when the Windchill software can "Just Do PLM", and make their job of designing real, physical products so much more effective, relative to not having PLM.
gigaflop commented on Dopamine signals when a fear can be forgotten picower.mit.edu/news/dopa... · Posted by u/gmays
I'm worried about my caffeine intake.
ADHD diagnosed but never medicated.
I've been a heavy coffee drinker since i was a teenager.
I'm sitting at 13 double espressos today which is about average.
Lately the instant sleepiness post coffee isn't worth the focus, and I'm starting the think medication would be a healthier choice
Take this with a grain of salt, but I use it as an ad-hoc benchmark: FDA recommended maximum daily limit on caffeine is 400mg. If you're regularly going above that, then (politely) consider whether you should be.
gigaflop commented on Dopamine signals when a fear can be forgotten picower.mit.edu/news/dopa... · Posted by u/gmays
I'd be interested in your thoughts more here.
The problem with amphetamine is you pay for every benefit: focus now, lethargy later; energy now, anhedonia later.
But taking a small, consistent dose. Does that work? Do you feel you net benefits in life from taking the drug, discounting for withdrawal and/or tolerance?
> Focus now, lethargy later
IMO, that's always just been me. Now vs Later is hard to judge, though, because I tend to have "good focus" blocks of time, and "chill blocks". Exact timing depends on my overall weekly schedule leading up to a time period.
Also, I mentally classify different types of energy. Physical, social, and mental energies all have their different places in a day.
> small, consistent dose
For me, yeah, but YMMV based on brain chemistry and environmental variables. Since I use El Cheapo, I max out at 10mg 2x/day, but rarely adhere to that unless I'm planning ahead for it/have been on that roll for a while. This helps a lot with tolerance, especially when I have lazy weekends.
And from a personal perspective: It's a very simple drug to understand, which makes me feel at ease. Brain goes vroom, like an engine hitting a more comfortable RPM. Not every situation needs my full power.
And now that I think a bit further, I might just be imagining a more complicated version of one of those crabwalk spinny metal ones..