RainCheck

tech and social rants with a side of dnd memes

[raincheckow]

You look like you believe a first-person novel is literally meant to be you in the story.

“I can’t handle first-person because I would never do that” okay??? But you’re the audience sitting in the brain of the character, not the character themselves. Just sit there and enjoy (or not) the plot like you would a movie.

Swearing off a huge swath of creative writing because you can’t figure out perspective is embarrassing.

The character makes their choices, because it’s consistent with their logic, not yours. If you want the character to do something different, go write a fic about it.

Exception being, of course, books that are directed at the reader as a self-insert or “choose your own adventure”.

[raincheckow]

Computers are insane. Microprocessor lithography is magic.

We use lasers to hit microscopic falling droplets of molten metal to produce a magic light that reacts with a photosensitive layer that then gets etched by acid and transforms a silicon wafer into a rock that can think.

It’s wild.

Much of that complexity comes from just the generation of the EUV light… but aren’t there readily available resources that produce RF emissions with an even shorter wavelength?

We know how to generate X-rays and gamma rays with a certain degree of reliability. I have only the most basic understanding of these systems, which is why I can only approach it with major oversimplifications.

To me, it seems like the general methodology of processor production has remained very similar over the decades. Obviously, techniques and precision have been refined to near perfection… but when was the last real disruption to the process?

Why not stack layers of components etched by the laser itself? Why not include layers of copper to act as ground and power planes that behave as a capacitor to even out voltage spikes from a psu, while also wicking away heat to the packaging?

With the extreme precision available, and the insane capital backing an AI arms race, I would love to see some novel changes that revolutionize computing again.

I’m tired of incremental progress. We just got solid state battery production, humanity should match with more efficient, revolutionary computing as well.

[raincheckow]

Too much of this page has been political ramblings

I’m working on some cool shit. I’m a software boy to the core, but I’ve been breaking into hardware as a hobby.

So far I’ve learned:

Basic prototyping on breadboards

Soldering

Programming microcontrollers

Commissioning PCB design

Realizing commissions are hella expensive

How do design PCBs myself

How to order self-designed PCBs

Soldering tiny things is hard

How to order ASSEMBLED boards

Realizing that’s expensive, too

Fine detail soldering

All this together to make a functional prototype of my own digital audio mixer to replace an aging goXLR

Pics to come as assembly progresses!

[aye-of-newt]

guillermo del toro’s pinocchio is a beautiful film but my god no one has adapted that story like neverafter. you can never look at it the same way again after listening to lou wilson, a black man, explaining that he chose to play as pinocchio because it’s a story about a little boy who isn’t allowed to make mistakes. that in pinocchio's story, he is fundamentally barred from childhood at once upon a time. he must earn something that everyone else is granted from birth. the other boys get to tell lies and play and get into trouble, but when pinocchio does the same thing there are grave and violent consequences. his pinocchio is trying to understand why the world is so unfair, why the rules are so different for him, why everyone else gets to be a real boy.

and I think about it every day.

[sugaldean]

Neverafter was so good, and Lou is probably one of the best player in general but he was absolutely perfect as Pinocchio. Probably one of the best performance I've seen in ttrpg and in general

[typhlonectes]

[raincheckow]

So my partner and I were talking and have decided we want Matt Mercer to officiate our wedding… only partly for the pun of us being married in the eyes of the (Trafalgar D.) Law

Anything for the bit.

[raincheckow]

Capitalism is pretty, but still whack.

Line should go up for a little bit, then plateau. The idea of infinite growth is absurd, but the dream is that everyone is wealthy and better than everyone else.

You should instead reach your target audience, and keep pace with inflation. It’s not great for The Economy, but it requires fewer sacrifices in the name of “line must go up”.

If you have a game/site/service that’s *good* in our current system, it gets worse over time. Overcomplicated updates to appease design metrics and over-monetization of every behavior, all engineered to keep investors happy. (Others have talked the idea of enshittification to death already) The very same investors that don’t care about your product, just getting a return for their capital. Optimizing the soul out of your product leaves you with a profit-generating husk.

A company becoming publicly traded is genuinely an excellent way of getting a cash infusion, empowering it to achieve its founding goals. The bill still comes due, and the line must go up, no matter the cost.

[raincheckow]

It’s even seen in the death of call centers and office phones. If you have a question for a company (or recently, a potential apartment property), many companies have gutted the human touch from the experience.

Chat window on their site? It’s a “human name” agent who responds instantly without answering your questions.

Schedule an-in person meeting? You get confirmation from another human sounding name, followup “can’t wait to meet you” messages, and you walk up to an office that isn’t even open that day.

Phone call? Immediately greeted by a bot, and navigate the phone tree until you have the option to speak to a human. The bot connects you to an office phone, where you get dumped into voicemail.

It’s incredibly cheap to fire a majority of your front of house staff… but it feels like the dead internet is spreading into real life. Outside of retail and food jobs, it’s hard to find actual people.

Humans have been optimized out of human interaction, in the name of saving a few bucks.

I love tech, passionately, but it’s being applied to fix the wrong problems. It should make the daily burden of life and work become easier, and give us time to connect to each other.

[raincheckow]

Capitalism is pretty, but still whack.

Line should go up for a little bit, then plateau. The idea of infinite growth is absurd, but the dream is that everyone is wealthy and better than everyone else.

You should instead reach your target audience, and keep pace with inflation. It’s not great for The Economy, but it requires fewer sacrifices in the name of “line must go up”.

If you have a game/site/service that’s *good* in our current system, it gets worse over time. Overcomplicated updates to appease design metrics and over-monetization of every behavior, all engineered to keep investors happy. (Others have talked the idea of enshittification to death already) The very same investors that don’t care about your product, just getting a return for their capital. Optimizing the soul out of your product leaves you with a profit-generating husk.

A company becoming publicly traded is genuinely an excellent way of getting a cash infusion, empowering it to achieve its founding goals. The bill still comes due, and the line must go up, no matter the cost.

[raincheckow]

Hey what kind of anxiety is it when you can’t understand how people see a notification from you and never respond because they obviously hate you and wish you would finally just sto-

No I haven’t had sleep, food, water, or caffeine today… or any time to relax for the past month. I don’t see how that has anything to do with my mental state. Can we get back to how my friends I’ve known for 5+ years secretly hate me?

[raincheckow]

As a man, there is nothing I like more than saying “I am no better than a man” when making typical man blunders.

Like I’m trying to do the right thing, and I’ll for sure fix it afterwards… but sometimes I still can’t keep my brain from being a dumb little testosterone brain.

[raincheckow]

We're losing knowledge

This week's millennial technology take: we're closer than ever to becoming the Adeptus Mechanicus. Maybe the world of Horizon Zero Dawn, if we're lucky.

Not to be all "Kids these days..." but

Kids aren't learning how to use actual computers anymore... just Apps(tm). I'm not quite 30, and yet my generation is already stuck telling older AND younger people how to save as PDF. Concepts are taught at such a high level that kids know how to code, with no idea of what the code is actually *doing*.

If you're a freshly graduated software engineer, it shouldn't be a big ask for you to know where files get saved. Copy/Paste shouldn't require using a mouse+menu each time. Efficiency shouldn't be left to the IDE or compiler. You're an engineer, you should be hungry to understand how things work... don't just sit around and wait to be told. Core skills are not being passed on anymore. "The system/library/pipeline takes care of it" and suddenly nobody is looking under the hood.

Convenience is killing our ability to create.

Break things. Figure out how to fix them. Repair your stuff, even when corporations tell you that's not allowed. Be proud of your knowledge, chase it down and find more.

A lot of the wonder and amazement around technology seems to be fading. Everything we do is stuck inside data-harvesting apps and nobody is learning the pieces that make the whole thing work.

One day things will break and we'll have nobody around who can fix it. We'll follow old guides, telling us these obscure steps to follow, having no clue what we are fundamentally doing. One day the ritual of "OffAndOnAgain" won't restore the Tech. Troubleshooting will become the job of the lorekeepers. Fixes will rely on auras more than logic until the system falls apart.

Generations of genius created the world we live in. Keep their knowledge. Be amazed that anyone could come up with what is now the mundane. Keep asking "but how could it possibly do that?" because they poured their very lives into these precious ones and zeroes.

I want to be wrong. I want the next generations to create wonders beyond the limits of my imagination. I want to be amazed by what was never possible before. I want my proudest creations to look like child's play compared to what the future holds.

I desperately want to have someone complain about teaching me how to save as a PDF

[raincheckow]

Ok in Misfits and Magic I’ve started replacing my mental image of Evan Kelmp with Elmo and honestly it’s the best fuckery my brain has produced in a long time.

“Hell is a dark forest where your dad opens his ribcage and invites you to dance” but in Elmo’s voice and flailing muppet arms

[raincheckow]

I can’t believe my favorite <celebrity> did a <horrifically common celebrity behavior>, I’m heartbroken! I really thought they were different from literally every other rich person disconnected from reality :(

[magnetocerebro]

When Lou Wilson laughs so hard his voice jumps an octave and he starts coughing hit reblog if you agree

[raincheckow]

Saw the Barbie movie with the gf last night!

I’ve got a very different perspective on life than her, I was raised as a man. Different parts of the movie hit us in different ways and I think that speaks volumes for its creators. There’s a lot of powerful messaging that’s been making Men™ uncomfortable, as it should. Thankfully, it extends far beyond the superficial “men bad” and “gay indoctrination” discourse that’s being discussed by the far right:

If your idealistic dreams stay static through life, the world will keep moving until your dreams appear harmful. It’s okay to change, even if you don’t know the end result. A changing dream is a living dream.

The world is chaotic, societal structures are inherently damaging because groups always get marginalized or mistreated

The identity of self is skipped over frequently. Memes of “being Kenough” aside, a lot of people allow themselves to be defined entirely without their self. You can enjoy jobs/activities/food/drinks, but that’s not who you are. The discovery of self requires uncomfortable introspection, a luxury that is difficult to afford when the world expects you to fit nicely into a box.

Harmful views aren’t always held with malice, often it’s a lack of perspective that shows their effects on others. You can be an unknowing antagonist without being the Big Bad villain. *Seeing* the ill effects of your actions and not changing is when you become a villain.

Empowerment groups led by the oppressors are inherently predatory, no matter how strong their marketing teams are.

Everyone is deserving of housing, no matter your societal standing.

Beauty is not dependent on youth or stereotypical perfection

Being unequipped to deal with new emotions/experiences doesn’t give you license to mistreat others

Corporate executive jobs are fake

Mini fridges are too small

I’m aware that my interpretation of the movie isn’t the same as many men, which I’m thankful for. A well made piece of media should be interpreted in many different ways, and should spark discussion and reflection in the lives of everyone it touches.

The movie experience was a 9/10 just because of the kids vaping in front of us. We loved the movie itself, they knocked it out of the park with the casting, writing, costuming, product placement. You can tell the actors were having a blast and the movie deserves its huge box office opening.

✌️

[raincheckow]

ONE OF US!!!

the whole cast is so pretty and traumatized and needs plenty of hugs and I want my own space mice to play with my cat

[klanced]

hey guys. um. erm. don’t get mad. but i think there’s a voltron renaissance going on.

[klanced]

WE ARE SO BACK

[raincheckow]

gf introduced me to the show like a week ago and we’re almost done watching the whole thing... and I might be giving them too much free content by thirsting over every character