megane_kun

megane_kun , 5 days ago

First OS: Windows 3.1 running on top of MS-DOS 6.2

First Linux distro: Ubuntu (forgot the version, but it was circa 2018).

If I'd count an OS/Linux distro that I've used even if not in a machine I own, it'd be Linux Mint of circa 2006.

megane_kun , 10 days ago

NO

Neither do I self-identify as a tankie, I don't think anyone who'd identify themselves as tankies would think of me as one.

megane_kun , 10 days ago

I didn't get it until I started trying to say "hot potato" in the middle of a sentence, like "Look out! Hot potato incoming!"

The 't' in "hot" became more and more like a glottal stop as my tongue started to touch the gums of my top front teeth less and less.

megane_kun , 9 days ago

The alien impersonator was me all along!‌ HAHAHA!!!

I mean, seriously, I am not a native English speaker, but even with my weird English accent, it only became weirder if I try to speak fast while keeping the emphasis on that 't' at the end of "hot". My native accent also probably lends to that glottal stop taking over the 't' and merging it with the upcoming 'p' sound. It also helps that the two sounds (glottal stop and the bilabial 'p') are on opposite sides of my mouth, so I‌ can quickly sound them in succession. The end result sounded to me like an exaggerated "posh British" rendition, as if the alien watched way too much‌ BBC before invading Earth.

It just sounded way weirder than I otherwise would be. I can't really describe it.

megane_kun , 17 days ago

I've tried to discern the context in which you're asking this question, but based on the OP and their replies, I think it's not so much about outlining than it is organizing details and thoughts before writing the initial rough draft. I might be wrong and that the OP‌ already knows about what I'd laid down below, but I hope even if it doesn't help the OP, it might be of help to someone.

Outlining is basically trying to organize your thoughts and all the details mapped out before writing. I assume that all the details are already laid out in one form or the other, and now it's time to put them into order. What order things would be put into depends on what is being described or being explained.

If I were to describe a house's interior, I might go from the main door, then proceeding as if I'm physically walking through the house, and then describing objects I encounter as if I'm panning the camera.

If I'm describing a person, I might go with the basic biographical details first, then an overview of their achievements, then personal life. Within each heading, for example, their personal life, I might go chronologically.

If I'm describing a process, I might go with an overview of what the process is for, what are its inputs, steps needed to prepare the inputs for the process, and then the process itself in chronological order. Within each step, I‌ might go into the reasoning behind having to do this step, or why this step must go before (or after) some other step.

If I'm describing an idea, I might go for a general definition first, then go more specific, discussing what makes each specific definition different from the others. I might then go for a quick historical overview of how this idea came into being, what ideas have led to this idea, and the thinkers that have contributed to building up this idea.

That is, there's a lot of approaches you can use to organize your ideas. You can organize your ideas or details based on location. That is, organizing details spatially, like describing a house's interior. You can organize your ideas based on time, which came first, which comes next, like describing a process. You can also organize your ideas from most general to the most specific (or vice versa, though starting with the most detailed first might require more concentration on part of the reader). One can use these and any other methods of organization you can think of so long as it makes sense given the context.

How you might organize your ideas or details would depend on what you're trying to achieve in the first place, and some methods are more suited than others depending on the topic. Lengthier works might even require a mix of these techniques. For example, if I were to describe a city for a D&D campaign, I might describe its layout first, laying out the details as if I were walking through the city. Then, I might describe its government structure from the widest in scope to the narrowest. Is it part of a kingdom? How is the city itself governed? Are there any districts, if so, how are they governed?. I would then give an overview of its history—in chronological order, of course. Any other detail that might be of use (for the DM or the players) can then be listed in order of most prominent or well-known to the least.

Now as a demonstration, I'll attempt to outline this response:

• Foreword and disclaimer
• Basic overview of outlining
• Examples
  • Describing a house
  • Describing a person
  • Describing a process
  • Describing an idea
• Organizing detail
  • Based on space/location
  • Based on time/chronology
  • Based on generality/specificity
  • Combination of approaches and others
• Demonstration

megane_kun , 18 days ago

A source close to the Pope told CNN that the phrase could also be understood as there is a “gay climate” in the seminaries.

I wonder why.... Surely it isn't because a seminary is a good place for a confused, self-hating homosexual to be in, right? Surely it isn't because being gay was seen as so anathema in Catholic-dominant societies that the seminary seems to be a sanctuary, right?

megane_kun , 18 days ago

There's this saying “a fish is caught through its mouth,” and this is an illustration of what it means. This pope might present this ‘cool’, ‘modern’ image to the public, but his words spoken in private amongst his peers reveals his real stance about these things.

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Edit:‌ proofreading.

megane_kun , 19 days ago

Target is one creature the caster can touch (can be self). The target can make a wisdom saving throw against the caster's spell save DC. If successful, the spell ends without having any effect on the target. Otherwise (or if the target chose not to make the wisdom saving throw), the target will immediately taste some really well-made lemonade gin mojito that will linger for as long as the spell is in effect.

For every turn the target takes after this, the target will have to make a constitution saving throw against the caster's spell save DC. A successful constitution saving throw will restore one first level spell slot. A natural 20 will increase the spell slot level this spell will restore. A failure will end the spell. A critical failure will cause the target to deplete all of their spell slots and the spell ends. Every turn increases the save DC‌ by one.

megane_kun , 22 days ago

This might pale in comparison with all the other replies here, but one incident really made me uneasy.

I was seated inside a train minding my own business. I was wearing a loose shirt and an even looser pair of walking shorts. The shorts were made of thin and glossy material. It wasn't thin enough to expose my underwear but it readily shows any bumps or whatnot.

The train wasn't that full, and there were lots of empty seats. The train had longitudinal seating (two rows of seats facing each other, with some standing space in between. There's also an area where the train can "bend". This area has no seats of course. I was seated next to this "bendy area".

I remember having difficulty staying awake and was seated in an increasingly loose way. I caught a glimpse of a guy standing in front of me. He was leaning against the train walls and was on his phone.

Now, the train isn't the most quiet, but I distinctly heard an unmistakeable camera sound which jolted me awake. Selfie cameras on phones wasn't yet a thing back then and the way his phone is oriented, I can see the phone's camera lens pointed at me. The guy, noticing that I noticed the sound, quickly put the phone back in his pocket.

I might be wrong, I hope I was wrong, but I thought a stranger took a photo of me just a meter or two away from me.

That's it. Kinda underwhelming, I suppose but I was kept wondering why that guy, if it's indeed the case, took a picture of me.

megane_kun , 23 days ago

Before, I use Active for my subscriptions, and Top Day or Top Week for the All feed. Currently, I use Scaled for my subscriptions and All feed unchanged (Top Day or Top Week). I just like how I can take a peek at All and looking at the day's or week's top posts while mostly keeping to my subscriptions.

I sometimes look at Top 12 hours or Top 1 hour in my All feed, but rarely.

megane_kun , 25 days ago

Of all the claims Esperanto has, I think "one can easily learn it" is the one that has most ground to stand on. It's been a while since I've dabbled in the language and I can still read and listen to it without much trouble (save for having to look up some of the more specialized vocabulary).

megane_kun , 25 days ago

Esperanto has no grammatical gender, indeed. However, it isn't as gender neutral. For example, the word for "woman" (virino) derives from the word for "man" (viro). Lots of other words referring to females (humans or otherwise) can be derived that way. Examples include:

• patro (father) → patrino (mother)
• onklo (uncle) → onklino (aunt)
• kuzo (cousin) → kuzino (niece)
• kato (cat) → katino (female cat)
• hundo (dog) → hundino (female dog)

This is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it helps with the learning of the language by making it easy to derive words from existing ones, but it also makes it easy for someone ascribe sexism in the language. There's also no agreed-upon way to make words gender-neutral. There's a lot of proposals such as listed in this wikipedia article on Esperanto gender reform but I don't think there's been a consensus other than "don't change it!"

megane_kun , 24 days ago

Yeah, as far as I've seen, that's the vibe: Esperanto isn't perfect, it can be improved, but it works and changing it would introduce confusion and would make it harder to learn.

I also sense this unease among the Esperanto-speaking community with regards to changing anything in the language. That allowing any one of the proposed changes will lead to a slippery slope of accommodating any and all proposed changes.

And then there's the fact that not many of these changes have gained foothold amongst the community (perhaps due to the aforementioned unease in changing anything about the language).

megane_kun , 30 days ago

Sorry, but I'll be that guy. Is this real? And if it is indeed real, how can one be permanently banned from (Gnome) Calculator?

megane_kun , 30 days ago

Thanks! I've been trying to look this up myself, and so far I see no mention of this other than posts containing similar screenshots in various places.

megane_kun , 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago)

I find it more difficult to read text that are short, concise, but using lots of specialized vocabulary. However, a problem about the second choice is making it simple in words, but structured in such a way that ensures both attention and comprehension.

The problem with walls of text, and a problem I also encounter in stuff I write myself, is how there's just a wall of text. A string of lengthy paragraphs consisting of long sentences that just go on and on without providing the reader a place to pause. That is: a point in which the reader can stop, check for comprehension or just a breather.

Reading such a block of text can be tiring.

I've been taught to employ a variety of sentence and paragraph lengths, and try to apply them to my writing. However, this can run the risk of making the result disjointed and rambly. I am guilty of this myself. I realize that this just means I didn't take the time to collect and organize my thoughts before typing things out. It can be as simple as thinking about what I want to say in the first place, or it can be as involved as thinking about the main point and any supporting points, and how I can lay them out such that they flow neatly in the result.

Longer texts can be improved with just a bit more care in their composition, and without it, walls of text are definitely a chore to read.

---

EDIT:

I should proofread before hitting post.

megane_kun , 1 month ago

As an inhabitant of the Pacific rim, I welcome our Chilean overlords.

megane_kun , 1 month ago

In one campaign, we started out using tokens of some kind on a battle grid. However, as the campaign went on, we stopped using it. For most part, it went okay. However, keeping track of where everyone can sometimes be too much. In particular, my character, whose modus is either hiding or healing, sometimes both, lead us to a situation when even I forgot to inform of our DM that I was hiding behind a huge statue that fell over. I was too busy keeping the rest of the party alive that I forgot where I was. Thankfully, when it was brought up, our DM just asked me to do an acrobatics check to confirm that I managed to roll out of the way and another check to see whether or not I kept myself hidden.

Keeping track of everyone's positions also became less important because our DM got a bit more lax about imposing those area of effect rules.

megane_kun , 2 months ago

I tried using both, in an effort to migrate from Discord. However, after a period of trying to figure out a good workflow and set-up in Matrix—finding an "instance" to set-up an accounts, configuring a private room for me and my SO to have a private chat in, and all that—we just gave up when the instance we had accounts in just folded.

I would have wanted to move to Matrix but I'm just too smooth-brained for it, and so in Discord I stay (keeping in mind that it's neither private nor safe to be there).

megane_kun , 2 months ago

You've convinced me to give Matrix another try. I've made an account on the flagship instance and perhaps I'll explore around for a while.

megane_kun , 2 months ago

You got me writing 'vacuum' and 'anniversary' in cursive, and got so conscious about how I write it that my speed crawled to a stop and my handwriting got even worse than what I started with, lol!

In casual writing, I separate out v, w and other letters that are trickier to write in full cursive. Same goes with t, i, j so that I can do the crosses and dots before moving on.

All those seems to have done the job of making my cursive a bit easier to read. All hell breaks loose when I need to write really fast though.

---

EDIT:
stupid formatting, lol!

megane_kun , 2 months ago

I tried writing them so that I can post this. I might have failed in making them both cursive and legible, lol!

That very last line is my attempt at writing at speed. 😅

https://i.imgur.com/kYioUoU.jpeg

megane_kun , 2 months ago

Lol~‌ Thanks.

I grew up at a time when cursive is a requirement--not just for one class, but for all classes in primary school. I remember our teachers checking our notebooks and making comments on our handwriting. All our compositions and essays were required to be in cursive, and they check for penmanship, keeping margins and all that. It was a whole lot of effort for something that I rarely get to use in higher levels. I switched to print in HS, when cursive is no longer required.

megane_kun , 2 months ago

IIRC, cursive capital Q is supposed to start way down, so that it'd look like an O with a broken infinity symbol in its butt, like this:

https://i.imgur.com/xenh0Fc.jpg

The direction of the strokes in the image is not how I learned it, though. Stroke 1 for the capital starts where stroke 2 starts, but going clockwise until just past where it starts, then smoothly start the second stroke (same direction as shown in the image).

However, I can see how it can look like a more flowy 2 and how people can say "yeah, that's a capital Q." Heck, cursive lowercase r barely looks like an r but people kinda get it.

megane_kun , 2 months ago

I remember coming across a similar comment chain, and someone brought out cursive Hanzi, and everyone lost their minds.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3d/e5/67/3de56754b6857353ffee589906ba6ca4.jpg

megane_kun , 2 months ago

Oh, yeah! Sometimes context helps, but if you can't even read a single word, you're just out of luck!

megane_kun , 2 months ago

What helped me get back to block print after six years of being required to write cursive is a shop/engineering drawing class that required us to use block print for our plates.

Our teacher in that subject taught us how to do block print, paying attention to each and every stroke and in what order we write them. I remember one of our first handful of plates just being the alphabet and some of the often used symbols. That helped us with our penmanship, without shaming anyone who might have had developed bad habits from previous years. Everyone is required to do it, so there's no shame in sucking at it.

megane_kun , 2 months ago

Oh, yeah! It can vary from place to place and even from school to school even in the same place! There were even people saying that they can guess from which school someone graduated from based on how they do cursive. I think that's just nuts.

My cursive nowadays is just reserved for when I‌ really need to write fast, and would tend towards some kind of a personal shorthand than any sort of legibility. 😅

megane_kun , 2 months ago

I think it's safe to say that when you can no longer look at the grains of sand and immediately know how many grains it is, it starts being a pile. For me, that number is around a dozen. Let's just put it at 10 for a nice clean round number.

megane_kun , 3 months ago

I was like "(companies) paying parents to have children" belongs to a caricature of capitalism, but here we are. (My bad, it's companies paying parents to have children, and not some bigger entity, like the government. I already edited the previous sentence for clarity.)

If you don't mind me asking though, what "marxist theory in action" do you see in this article?

megane_kun , 4 months ago

I stumbled upon this thread and got really confused. Do people usually have sweaty feet? I tend not to wear socks except when I wear shoes. Otherwise, I wear slippers or go barefoot. Even when I wear shoes, I don't notice any sweating in my feet. I usually wear cotton socks though.

To answer the OP, though, my rule is to not reuse socks with a couple of exceptions:

• if I only had the socks (with the shoes on) for less than a couple of hours, I think it's safe to reuse the socks.

• if for some reason, I go to a place where I need to take my shoes and socks off (like if I go visit a friend) I would reuse the socks, of course.

Most of the time though, I just don't bother with shoes and socks if I can get away with it. It's too hot where I live to deal with socks.

megane_kun , 4 months ago

I think you're referring to !tenforward

image (https://i.ibb.co/qj4YCfz/image.png)

In Alexandrite, it's shown like this:

image (https://i.ibb.co/DpwRftR/image.png)

megane_kun , 4 months ago

That's not the one you're looking for, huh? Best of luck! I hope someone remembers what community that one is.

megane_kun , 4 months ago

Hahahaha~! Well, glad to have helped you then!

It's kinda screwy anyways, I would have also thought it's part of the URL myself had I not checked the community on its home instance before.

megane_kun , 4 months ago

Yep. Plus how it's rendered depends on which frontend you're using. I'm using Alexandrite, and I swear, the way it shows the name of the community makes you think that the tagline or whatever it is is indeed part of the community name (it's not). So, yeah, it's not really your fault, as far as I see it.

Of course, however, learning how Lemmy works is pretty helpful in situations like this, but we all kinda learn it as we go.

megane_kun , 4 months ago

I expected someone to make this joke, but this still made me chuckle. Thanks for the laugh!

megane_kun , 9 months ago

Saluton ! Mi klopodis apreni la lingvon per Duolingo kaj Lernu, sed beaŭrinde mi restis komencanton.

megane_kun , 11 months ago

Seems like some follow-up work is in order. I've seen at least one person not see the point (that it's on Lemmy). They failed their knowledge check (arcana, or history? IDK)! Maybe someone can lend them some bardic inspiration?