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ksymph

1,007 karma · joined July 14, 2024

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ksymph··on Clef: our open-source decision models
With all these new Jev-like models popping up, has anyone actually started building anything with them yet? It's odd how quickly they've multiplied despite being relatively niche in their use cases, as far as I can tell. I suppose they're simple and cheap enough to make that it's a sort of 'why not' thing for a lot of these companies.
ksymph··on Using any C++ library in Godot
Good news, they've been working on adding C# support for a year or two now. I think it's still experimental, but from what I understand they already had a robust extension system that supported C/C++/Java/etc., so fitting C# in wasn't much of a stretch.

(it is only extension support -- not scripting -- but the extension system is such that it can be used for any game logic AFAIK)

ksymph··on Using any C++ library in Godot
> Starting with absolutely nothing but a compiler

I don't understand what you mean by this -- Defold has a graphical editor?

> If Defold developers had produced a fraction of the libraries that Godot has, it might have had a chance.

What do you mean by libraries in this context? It has a robust plugin system with a reasonably active ecosystem, if that's the sort of thing you're talking about: https://defold.com/assets/

And it covers all the systems one would expect in a 2D game engine natively -- tilemaps, physics etc.

> As of now, it's worse than other abandoned engines like Solar2D (was CoronaSDK) for people entering the space.

I definitely disagree with this -- it's certainly not abandoned, and though it does have a slightly steeper learning curve than Godot or other popular engines, that's also how it gets such impressive performance and slim builds; feature, not a bug.

ksymph··on I'm the mom in that viral Giants clip. Let me tell you about my husband
Normally the comments on that video are something I could laugh along with, but reading them after the article is... sobering.
ksymph··on I built non-autoregressive decision models with RL a year ago
I don't think calculating mathematical odds from natural language is the sort of problem this is trying to solve. A typical LLM hooked up to a calculator would be more appropriate for that.

Jev (and similar) is more for data processing and sentiment analysis. Moderation, search engines, that sort of thing. Jev has a page of proposed use cases where you can get an idea of what they're going for: https://docs.typesafe.ai/concepts/use-case-map

ksymph··on Introducing GNOME 51, "A Coruña"
For what it's worth, rotation is locked and the auto-rotate setting doesn't show until the keyboard is flipped back -- so if you're going to be troubleshooting, I'd look into whatever enables 'tablet mode' rather than accelerometer stuff specifically.
ksymph··on Introducing GNOME 51, "A Coruña"
That caught my eye too. I have a Thinkbook Yoga running GNOME and auto rotate has worked as expected for years, with a toggle in the quick settings for rotation lock.

I think this change is just adding the toggle to the standalone settings app.

ksymph··on Bodily Oddities
This is a really cool collection! I feel like it needs a manual once-over though, particularly in regard to the images. Having even a handful obviously wrong images makes the rest of the site feel less trustworthy.
ksymph··on Bodily Oddities
I'm surprised it's so few! I'm in the 60-70% here -- I've never gotten it (despite many deliberate efforts), but I've never known anyone else who seems to be immune.
ksymph··on LibreOffice breaks download records after declaring it has no AI features
Their point was more that, if every 'weekly download count after a new release' (or whatever record) is consistently being broken on each new release due to generally increasing popularity, then it doesn't make sense to imply causality between the messaging around this particular release and its already-expected record-breaking status.
ksymph··on The creator of Jujutsu has joined ERSC
So if I understand correctly: ERSC is working on an alternative backend for jj other than git (and presumably providing related infrastructure)?
ksymph··on Does the Sumerian King List Align with Paleoclimate Events?
I believe the parent comment was wishing for a separate site for non-tech topics because they want to see more, not less.
ksymph··on Autism mutations drive neurodevelopmental pathology
> Is high-level behavior the only criteria for diagnosis?

Yes, it is: https://www.autismspeaks.org/autism-diagnostic-criteria-dsm-...

Though, to be more specific, it's even moreso about high-level behavior that has a negative impact, which is highly variable, particularly with environment. I think most would agree that this is extremely messy. But is there a better option?

For practical purposes, it makes some sense to diagnose based on high-level behavior and negative impact on one's life. Describing the relevant what rather than the currently-unknown why.

I do think a more granular approach would have benefits as far as treatment and such goes, though. I know a lot of folks with Asperger's diagnoses were upset when that was rolled into autism. I don't think that was the best distinction to be made, but I think it does show that the people with these conditions often aren't opposed to more granularity (myself included).

ksymph··on Australia Bans Generative A.I. From Official Music Charts
They're similar, but subtly different.

Say Bob pays a $5 subscription and listens exclusively to artist Foo, 100 song plays. Alice pays a $5 subscription and listens exclusively to artist Baz, but plays their songs a whopping 300 times.

If it was paid out per user, Foo and Baz would both get $5. But paying out based on overall listener numbers, Foo would get $2.50 and Baz would get $7.50.

Essentially, it's a zero sum game, and one artist getting a play takes away revenue from every other artist. Even if you exclusively listen to your favorite artists, the vast majority of your subscription money is going towards the top artists.

This is why Spotify is always pushing their own playlists, smart shuffle, and encouraging background listening with ambient / sleep playlists and such; the more they can shift listeners toward music they've produced themselves or have special license agreements with, the less they have to pay out to typical (i.e. smaller) artists using their platform.

ksymph··on The Wonders of the Male Human Pelvis
Persistence hunting likely wasn't a major driver of those evolutionary changes.

The hypothesis is really only supported by the fact that we have adaptations that make it theoretically possible, but the times and places those adaptations came about doesn't really match up with the times and places it would have been effective (i.e. woodland where the ground would be too hard for effective tracking [0]).

There are some other things that point away from it, too; it's worth doing some googling.

It's certainly possible that persistence hunting happened to some degree, and it's a fun idea so it really caught on in popular consciousness, but the actual evidence is limited.

[0] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00472...

ksymph··on US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers
To be clear, they began a recruitment ad campaign targeting gamers, and ended up meeting their hiring goal of 2,000+. It's not like they pulled 2,000 gamers off the street and stuck them in ATC towers.

Better link (.gov):

https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/trumps-transpor...

> With only about 25 percent of controllers holding a traditional college degree, this effort is focused on reaching talented young people pursuing alternative career paths, many of whom are active in gaming. Feedback from controller exit interviews reinforces this, with several controllers pointing to gaming as an influence on their ability to think quickly, stay focused, and manage complexity.

ksymph··on The Valley of Webhooks
This is kind of beside the point but... Shouldn't the the evolutionary metaphor be the opposite of how the author's using it?

They go on about how we've settled in the trough, but the whole local optimum problem is about settling in an early peak, and being unwilling to cross a trough to get to a higher peak. The workarounds would be propping up the first peak, not evidence that we've settled in the trough.

Either way, the metaphor feels kinda forced IMO.

ksymph··on Just because a game is on disc doesn't mean it will work in the future
It seems we're largely on the same page. I would point out though, sometimes those seemingly minor tweaks can be pretty important; they're not always at the level of typos in a book.

One that affected me personally was in Pokemon XY, where if you saved in the wrong spot it would corrupt your entire save. As a kid it was a pretty memorable experience to lose ~20 hours of playtime on my Christmas present because I assumed the updates weren't important. Granted, day-one bugs that major in first party Nintendo games are rare, but it's not a given that they're irrelevant either. It can go either way.

ksymph··on Just because a game is on disc doesn't mean it will work in the future
> The question isn't whether a game has updates available, it's whether the un-updated version feels like a complete experience vs a compromised one.

Exactly -- a game released a week ago is unlikely to have updates that could make it feel like a compromised experience.

Take, say, Terraria. I had a blast playing it ten years ago, despite having a fraction of the content and polish it does now. Nonetheless, if that version was all I had access to today, it would feel like a compromised experience.

Updates matter significantly more for some games than others. Sandbox games like Terraria and Minecraft often lie at one end, while at the other end you'll often find first-party Nintendo games, which typically receive a handful of bug fixes at most. Of course, how much playing a 'lesser' version bothers you personally varies greatly too.

The spreadsheet just shows which games have fully updated versions available on cartridge.

ksymph··on Just because a game is on disc doesn't mean it will work in the future
There's a spreadsheet [0] tracking Switch games where you can see which ones have 'complete' versions on carts. It's roughly 1/4 for both first party and third party titles, though first party games are more likely to have cartridges released in a later run with updates included, while third party games are more likely to just have no updates.

(Splatoon Raiders was released a week ago so I don't think that's a good example to use for games without updates. Even it has an update already, albeit a non-critical one)

[0] https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1CEABCBrPv1tWf89h...

ksymph··on Just because a game is on disc doesn't mean it will work in the future
I've looked into it, and there doesn't seem to be any existing solution. You can transfer updates from one Switch to another, though, so if you have two Switches that opens up some options.
ksymph··on Just because a game is on disc doesn't mean it will work in the future
Not a great article, but a very real phenomenon. I recently picked up a banned Nintendo Switch Lite for cheap -- meaning it can't download games or updates off Nintendo's servers, but it can still play cartridge games. And while most games function, there are more often than not critical fixes or significant content updates missing. The console exists in a strange sort of limbo where everything is playable but not in its best form.

The problem with Sony killing physical games (and the wider culture of digital purchases) is, unfortunately, a long-term one. Nobody will be seriously affected right now, as long as Sony's update servers are up and both digital and physical are supported. But 10, 20 years from now, both from a game preservation standpoint and from a consumer protection standpoint, this will be disastrous, when many games will still be charging outrageous prices (without the soft check of reselling/trading) or even no longer exist.

ksymph··on Designing emoji for the way we communicate today
The difference here is that new emojis replace older designs. If designing a new font meant Times New Roman could no longer be used, that would be a problem.
ksymph··on The infinite scroll may become endangered if controversial Calif. law passes
This is the sort of thing that should / will be decided by courts, I think. We have many fuzzy laws where evaluating on a case-by-case basis makes more sense than deciding an arbitrary hard line. In this case, apps and platforms as a whole would be taken into account; infinite scroll alone might not be against this law, but if an app has a consistent pattern of addictive behavior and is harming its users because of it, something like infinite scroll might be forbidden for that app in a lawsuit.
ksymph··on LAPD lets contract with surveillance giant Flock expire
Main article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangs_in_the_Los_Angeles_Count...
ksymph··on Efficacy and Safety of Psilocybin in Treatment-Resistant Major Depression
~2.5g of psilocybe cubensis is considered a standard dose; according to this [0] study, ~10mg/g is a pretty typical psilocybin concentration in mushrooms, so 25mg of pure psilocybin sounds about right.

[0] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11856550/

ksymph··on Can you build a recognizable World Map in under 500 bytes?
Since the map just has two states - land or water - I wonder if there's a way to represent the same information more efficiently bits rather than bytes.
ksymph··on Night Witches – all-female Soviet aviator regiment WW2
A beautiful animated short about the Night Witches (artistic, not educational): https://vimeo.com/224657277
ksymph··on America, 1926: A forgotten 100-year-old report
Nit: movies with sound were around as early as the 1800s; 1927 is just considered the turning point when they became commercially viable and widely available (with the release of The Jazz Singer).
ksymph··on Nintendo has raised its employees base salary by 10%
That's just not true. Off the top of my head: SMBX, Pokemon Uranium, Ocarina of Time 2D, AM2R. A few years back they mass DMCA'd hundreds of fan games on the site GameJolt, none of which were monetized.

(why some fan projects like Showdown are still up is anyone's guess)

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