- reccomendationsforjuniors
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Nvidia DLSS
A while ago Nvidia (And today, in fact, but I didn’t plan to write about that) released a demo for DLSS. It’s a tool that basically paints over frames in the game, and makes them look hyper-realistic (I’m simplifying, and the tech is really cool - but that’s a lot of it).
This has been met with an unimaginable wave of backlash. A lot of people think it’s betraying a lot of the artistic aspects of game design and history.
In fact, it’s a perfect microcosm of a lot of the concerns surrounding AI and its impact on human expression.
I just want to bring up a sobering anecdote.
I had a set of friends in college who weren’t gamers, and the only thing they really played was maybe 2K - and Mortal Kombat.
I showed them Guilty Gear Strive. They were not impressed. They said the game looked bad. Worse than MK.
This is hilarious to those who are in games who are familiar with how these two franchises are seen in terms of their artistic achievements.
Guilty Gear Strive is seen as one of the greatest accomplishments in 3d animations - in terms of personality, gameplay visibility, performance and more.
Mortal Kombat is seen as less impressive, relying on mostly utilizing motion capture (sometimes to an overwhelming degree) and not going as crazy on the styling compared to other fighting games. (The fatalities are technical masterclasses, make no mistake).
The average person - even those who play games - don’t really care about that.
These people don’t care about the technical aspect. They just want something that just "looks good" - which usually means looking realistic.
I think that’s why so much AI art is the same.
Note: No one is stupid or less capable because they don’t care. I’m not a car person. I make a lot of mistakes that car people get mad at me for. But they also understand I’m more of a tech guy instead of a
I wonder how many stylish games will see an uptick in sales because people won’t be put off by the visuals. Is it really such a bad thing that people can pick up "Hi-Fi Rush" and make it look realistic? I don’t know the answer to this.
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Always be doing something
I grew up playing Mobas. First it was Dota, then it was Smite, then I had a friend group that played League. I took a break - but it wasn’t really a break - you know how it is. These games are absurdly addictive, and I got obsessed with them. For a while I fell in love with deadlock, but I aged out.
Anyway - the number one rule at getting good at mobas is is:
Always be hitting something
Downtime is BAD. Like, really bad. You must always be farming, or positioning, or fighting. These games aren’t just based on skill - there’s a whole economic element to it as well. You can win every single fight except the last one - and lose horribly.
Mobas have a whole micro vs macro divide, and macro matters a lot more.
Anyway - the point I’m making is that these games are extremely active. And I’ve brought the same logic to life.
Always be doing something.
One of the things about hustle culture that i agree with is the perspective that doing nothing is bad. I’m always reading articles, trying to think about my work outside of work, and ways to improve myself.
I find this seems to be a big cultural gap between some of the people I speak to. A lot of people give technical people advice like "Slow down you’re doing fine" or something along those lines. I find that patronizing.
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Music under 30k views that I love
I’ve always enjoyed the feeling of being on the cutting edge of stuff. It feels good to play video games that are great that no one knows about and spread the love - or to read a manga that’s slowly getting traction, or to stumble upon some good music.
This page is for vibes like that.
Warning: Unlike with tech, where I can explain things in deep detail - I cannot do the same for music.
Mad Hatter - "Mad Hatter" (Album)
At first, this album does not seem appealing or interesting whatsoever. I’ve always found the whole Alice in Wonderland stuff mad corny. Like "look at me im quirky xd" posts of the early 2010s. However, once you listen to it, you’ll realize that this is extremely well made Edguy-style Swedish power metal.
The speed is fast, the vocals are great, and everything is fun and catchy - with a bit fo an edge. There’s some filler songs (mad hatter shine, bring me the moon) but the songs that are good here are REALLY good.
Mad Hatter - Go is how I found this playlist, it’s a very competent and catchy tune (It’s in the 1000 power metal songs playlist).
Dancing lights is a power metal ballad that’s very catchy, with a lot of great vocal moments.
Overall this is an album I’ve recently put on the rotation.
How I found this: Chokveic Power metal education: 1000 of the best power metal songs.
I’ve been listening to this playlist For around 8 years now… And I’m still finding new gems.
Devious Bastards - Until The End (EP)
This is some classic heavy metal from Sweden. From 2026, but feels like a classic. Found this at work, and I’ve been listening to this for a while. The definition of easy listening.
Lagerhead is a high energy starter.
Until The end is a midtempo and takes a while before it really gets going - but that’s not a bad thing. Feels very gallopy and even though it’s a little repetitive, I still enjoy it.
Dreamstealer ends the EP with good vibes.
How I found this: NWOTHM youtube page.
Emerald Eye - Whirlwind (Song)
Emerald Eye is a nice speed metal band. I have the album in the sub-rotation but they have one song that is leaps and bounds above the rest.
'Whirlwind' is such an unbelivable masterpiece. The harmonizing is great, and I love the vocals here. Very catchy.
How I found this: NWOTHM youtube page.
Stormtide - Wrath of an empire (Song)
Okay, this one technically has 36k views. But I’m still including it.
Symphonic metal can sometimes come across as… Flowery? Grand? I’m trying to find the words. It’s like an overly excited theater kid making you read his undertale fanfiction. Some reviewers might call it "pretentiousness" or "huffing ones farts". I’m a bit more open minded. Sure, stuff like this can be good - but it’s too fluffy. If that makes sense.
I want some edge.
Stormtide has got that in spades. This Australian symphonic/death metal band is super catchy, and their music is really good. They utilize a lot of… Look I’m not going to even pretend like I know what instrument it is. Some reviewers call it a Chinese mandolin, but I’ve never heard one sound quite like that.
How I found this: Melodic Metal Discoveries
Bands that are too big (but still should be bigger)
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DVNE. A perfect mix of sludge/progressive metal with a ton of atmosphere.
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Palm Reader. Post hardcore rock with great atmosphere and energy.
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- pairmentoring
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2 monitors is the PERFECT way to handle development in the modern age. One main monitor for editing code, one side one for looking at notes/documentation and previews. When I see peoples setups with 5 monitors, I just roll my eyes. There’s no way you can pay close attention to monitor 5 and ignore 1-4. It’s in your vision, taking away your focus. It’s the worst with these people who have their monitors set up unergonomically, where they have to twist their bodies.
I used to be one a 3 monitor guy. My home setup had a very small table, and it was quite awkward. I’m speaking from experience.
I mostly do 2 monitors.
I’m also very frequently a 1-monitor guy as well. There’s a lot of times when you don’t need to have something on the second monitor - and you just need to lock in. For coding, and writing, it’s ideal.
- Rolling my own static site generator
- Google Kaggle challenge =
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CICD painline (as opposed to pipeline).
It’s annoying when you’re working on something, and it seems like it works (or it works on your local) but for some reason it fails in a later deployment step.
But it becomes worse if the iteration times are long. 3 mins editing code → 30 seconds to push to main → 90 seconds for the worker to start → 5 minutes before you can see the result.
And it becomes painful when the error handling logs are incomprehensible. Something fails and you either see a short, pithy and useless "error in service" with no information, or you see an overly verbose stack trace that is somehow just as useless.
The CICD painline.
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Sometimes I feel like I finish one project, and a dozen more catch my attention. I’m always busy.
That’s a good thing, I feel. I’m always learning something. But I don’t ever feel "done".
- Competence and confidence
- Asciidoctor Demo