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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: June 23rd, 2023

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  • Using “they” for a singular person has been used since at least the 14th century, so there’s no need to feel uncomfortable with it. I highly recommend reading the Wikipedia page on Singular they, which touches on its history.

    A similar example is “you.” “You” used to be only a plural, with “thou” being the singular, but over time it fell out of fashion and now “you” can be used as singular or plural, like how “they” can be singular or plural.

    Singular “they” was criticised by some people hundreds of years after it started being used. But language cannot be prescribed; it is determined by how people use it.


  • I’m confused — GPUs main function is to be able to do lot’s of calculations in parallel, vs a CPU which does one thing at a time (simplistically).

    GPUs aren’t only used solely for video, it’s just that graphics are an excellent use case for this type of processing.

    So I don’t think AI companies are buying GPUs for video output and more because they can process lots of training calculations in parallel. Like how bitcoin miners use GPUs even though there’s no video involved in that


  • One aspect that analogy doesn’t work for is hammers and cars weren’t built with the mass theft of intellectual property, they aren’t being leveraged to put people out of jobs, and they aren’t the driving force for building insane numbers of data centres that increase power bills for locals and ravage their water supply.

    It’s not necessarily the pure usage of AI that I don’t like, as much as what has been and is being used to create it.

    Cars have their own problems of course, and cause more issues with the direct use of them than what went into building them.

    I read someone leave a different comment where they said something like “If human meat was the healthiest, least environmentally damaging, and cheapest food, they still wouldn’t eat it.” In this case AI doesn’t really match those benefits anyway





  • I was feeling disconnected from my friends for quite a while. I find I have a hard time keeping up with people, and that usually ends up meaning I am no one’s best friend.

    I’ve done two things:

    1. Organised a (mostly) weekly poker night (not for money but for snacks). Any board game would work. It gets us in the same room and we have a grand old time. This is the highlight of my week. It really helped to have something to look forward to each week when I was feeling depressed and meaningless.
    2. Started sending my two closest friends one (1) meme per day tailored to them specifically. It’s rare for me to message anyone, but this keeps me in contact, even if it’s basically like a poke on Facebook. It keeps me fresh in their heads. It usually ends up sparking a convo about this or that. It’s led to me being invited to a couple of fun events, which feels really nice, because for a while there I was barely invited to anything.

    These two things, while simple, have greatly increased my mood and has gotten me much closer with my friends than I was before, as I had drifted apart from them.




  • It’s definitely worth trying if you’re interested.

    I would not recommend buying a console or gaming PC first as that is a money sink that you’re not sure is worth it yet. My gaming PC broke when I arrived at university, and I got by playing less graphically intensive games on my standard laptop for a few years.

    Good games I’d recommend to start with:

    • Stardew Valley — cosy, charming farming game that you can play at your own pace. Has great characters that you get to know, and fun, simple, rewarding gameplay. My girlfriend got really into this game.
    • Minecraft — this is where many of us started as kids. It’s an excellent game that’s fun for all ages. There isn’t a clear goal so it’s more about making your own fun.
    • Vampire Survivors — extremely fun, simple, cheap, and addicting game. Play at your own risk.
    • LIMBO — a puzzle game classic with a unique, dark aesthetic. Only takes a couple of hours to complete.
    • INSIDE — made by the same people as Limbo. Grabbed me and wouldn’t let go for the whole 4 hour experience. I don’t play many puzzle games but I couldn’t get enough of this one. Probably because of the narrative.

    Those can all be played on the average laptop or desktop anyone would have.

    Best of luck on your journey! Feel free to reply with any questions or suggestions for specific genres and such. My girlfriend didn’t play video games until I introduced them to her, and the most important thing was that I didn’t try to force any games on her, just show her what there was and let her interest lead the way. So take a look at all the suggestions people are leaving and go with what interests you most. And if you’re not enjoying a game, it’s okay to go play a different one.

    (Also, Steam provides free, no-questions-asked refunds for any games purchased that both 1) were bought less than 2 weeks ago, and 2) have less than 2 hours of game time. So you can always demo a game to see if you like it and return it easily if not.)








  • I recently started learning and playing poker, and I mostly play with fake money. Here’s what I’ve used so far:

    Pokerstars and GGPoker both have fake money options that you can play without depositing money. I used Pokerstars for a while as it was the only client I could get working on Linux (using bottles). They both have good mobile apps. I prefer GGPoker’s interface so I’ve been using my Windows dual boot to play that when I want to on my computer.

    Poker Brawl is a phone app where you can play correspondence heads-up poker with an ELO rating system. It’s correspondence , so you only have to make a move once every three days. It’s heads-up only, though.

    I’ve found playing on real poker platforms with fake money to be best in terms of somewhat emulating real poker in terms of player behavior.

    Feel free to comment with any questions and I’ll try to help