Random Thread

[Man in Space]

There is a saying in the science fiction fandom, "Bad science can make good fiction". But I feel that good science makes better fiction. And perhaps my science isn't all that bad here, even if I am not yet sure about it.

This is a huge driver of my worldbuilding (at least for Twin Aster; my fantasy setting is just that). I hadn’t had the words to put it succinctly before, but WeepingElf worded the sentiment beautifully here.

Ironically, I feel like I go overboard, not seeing the forest for the trees, which stalls me in certain regards. I’ve been, of late, trying to let things not be so strict that it constricts me and instead allow myself the use of the principle in the final sentence.

[WeepingElf]

I deäctivated my Facebook because bipolar disorder and social media don’t mix well. I also got rid of my X/Twitter, Bluesky, and Tumblr (I’ve some accounts there for identity control but I don’t use them nearly as much anymore). Instagram, I can handle, and Messenger is necessary for communication with some people I know (like the band and my relatives in Poland), but I’ve kind of gotten over the need for socials.

I am on Facebook, but make only limited use of it - I use it mainly as a bulletin board service. It sucks at that, but there are some groups over there for subject matters for which I haven't found good standalone forums. Of course, there are also plenty of groups over there that are bad - when I looked for a group about Indo-European linguistics, I found exactly one that admitted non-academics like me and didn't include the expression "Aryan race" in the group description. I joined that group, and it is indeed of fair quality. I still prefer standalone forums like this, though.

[Travis B.]

I deäctivated my Facebook because bipolar disorder and social media don’t mix well. I also got rid of my X/Twitter, Bluesky, and Tumblr (I’ve some accounts there for identity control but I don’t use them nearly as much anymore). Instagram, I can handle, and Messenger is necessary for communication with some people I know (like the band and my relatives in Poland), but I’ve kind of gotten over the need for socials.

I am on Facebook, but make only limited use of it - I use it mainly as a bulletin board service. It sucks at that, but there are some groups over there for subject matters for which I haven't found good standalone forums. Of course, there are also plenty of groups over there that are bad - when I looked for a group about Indo-European linguistics, I found exactly one that admitted non-academics like me and didn't include the expression "Aryan race" in the group description. I joined that group, and it is indeed of fair quality. I still prefer standalone forums like this, though.

To me the words 'Aryan race' in any context is a big red flag...

[WeepingElf]

To me the words 'Aryan race' in any context is a big red flag...

It is, and therefore I excluded all those groups from consideration. It tells a lot about Facebook that this narrowed my choice to just one group. But that group is not at all infested by racists or other crackpots; the discussion there is polite even when opinions differ (my - admittedly highly speculative - idea about an Anatolian-related substratum in Celtic met with a rather cool reception, but nobody flamed me), though many posters (especially most anonymous ones) just ask questions whose answers are easily found in Wikipedia

[Starbeam]

Today's my birthday!

[WeepingElf]

Today's my birthday!

Congratulations!

[Raphael]

Today's my birthday!

Happy Birthday!

And I hope that whatever things are dragging you down enough that you post about this here rather than in the Happy Things Thread won't get too bad.

[naz]

o

[keenir]

Today's my birthday!

thats excellent news. kudos!

[Starbeam]

Congratulations!

Thank you so much! I've had a happy day, even though I didn't bother to take off work

Happy Birthday!

And I hope that whatever things are dragging you down enough that you post about this here rather than in the Happy Things Thread won't get too bad.

Thanks! You know, I decided to post in here since it's a more common thread. I'd figure it would be better to save Happy Things Thread for things I actively sought out, not just passively accumulated. Not that I'm bummed out about growing older. 28 isn't that much honestly, and I do think people overstate how bad age takes away things from you.

thats excellent news. kudos!

Thank you too! I like the warm response <3. I really should make a conlang, haha

[keenir]

thats excellent news. kudos!

Thank you too! I like the warm response <3. I really should make a conlang, haha

only if you want to.


almost forgot: have some tea and pickles too.

[quinterbeck]

https://www.youtube.com/@NeographyAtoZ

I don't know if anyone here has taken a look at my YouTube channel where I review writing systems, but if you have, and you still haven't seen that one script you were hoping to see, let me know and if there is enough available material, I will add it to my list.

If there was a review you did see, but think the script deserves a second look, feel free to let me know that too!

I feel like I saw you mention it before but somehow I haven't been watching. I'll take a look!

[zompist]

https://www.youtube.com/@NeographyAtoZ

I don't know if anyone here has taken a look at my YouTube channel where I review writing systems, but if you have, and you still haven't seen that one script you were hoping to see, let me know and if there is enough available material, I will add it to my list.

If there was a review you did see, but think the script deserves a second look, feel free to let me know that too!

I feel like I saw you mention it before but somehow I haven't been watching. I'll take a look!

As a proof of masako's good taste, one of the scripts he reviews is one of mine.

[Glenn]

https://www.youtube.com/@NeographyAtoZ

I don't know if anyone here has taken a look at my YouTube channel where I review writing systems, but if you have, and you still haven't seen that one script you were hoping to see, let me know and if there is enough available material, I will add it to my list.

If there was a review you did see, but think the script deserves a second look, feel free to let me know that too!

I feel like I saw you mention it before but somehow I haven't been watching. I'll take a look!

Likewise! I am not a frequent consumer of Youtube (or of information on video more generally), but I will definitely take the time to check it out.

[Travis B.]

In my PicoCalc terminal emulator I have implemented optional, opt-in support for visual bells in the form of flashing the display (in the form of inverting its colors for 63 milliseconds), and I wonder if this is a supremely misguided feature. When enabled, they are triggered by the BEL characters output when bel is called, which in turn is called by abort, e.g. due to an uncaught exception in the main task. Thing is, is this a feature anyone really want? I personally would be a bit annoyed if the screen flashed every time I made an error.

Yet I implemented this in part because someone expressed that they prefer visual bells over audible bells, when I asked on the ClockworkPi forum as to whether I should implement an audible bell for the PicoCalc. I still am going to implement optional, opt-in support for audible bells, but have not done so yet because I have no way of actually testing them because I do not have an actual PicoCalc. (However, I may just implement them blindly after all, as they will be off by default anyways.)

[Travis B.]

I have now also implemented support for sound and audible bells in the zeptoforth support for the PicoCalc. As I have gotten feedback, though, that audible bells may be annoying, I have left them disabled by default. (I have actually tested this now by transferring speakers and driver boards from another board of mine to the board I am testing support for the PicoCalc on.)

[naz]

o

[Travis B.]

Opinion question for you all - what is the ideal pitch for a computer beep? I am currently using 1397 Hz, i.e. F6, but am not entirely happy with it. However, I could not find any other notes that I was really happy with either.

Edit: I have switched to 1245 Hz, i.e. D6#, but still am open to suggestions.

[Starbeam]

I know i don't need to make a conlang, but i do want to. It's quicker than learning another language and it's a way of proving some metal. Not that learning another language isn't on my bucket list, even as i'm pushing 30, but i digress.

[Raphael]

and it's a way of proving some metal.

Is that some colloquial expression I haven't heard about yet?

Let me modify the phrase "explain it to me like I'm 5 years old" and ask you to explain it to me like I'm 80 years old.