confusedpuppy

I have the ability to make others feel safe and comfortable to be their themselves. It's always a shock to me how comfortable some people get around me. I'm still waiting for someone to make me feel the same way.

I've been enjoying the use or weird lately. I've had some strong personal opinions on language lately. A lot of it comes with a huge increase of new words that sort of seem abstract from it's meaning.

I think with how rapid information can spread to large groups of people, it's just too fast for my mind to keep up. All of a sudden I feel like I'm in a war with words and who knows which landmine of a word will get you in trouble. It causes me even more anxiety when someone comes at you with manipulative intentions in order to control the direction of the discussion.

I think weird works because it's an almost basic word. It's simple and descriptive. It's not a newer, more specific word that requires a deeper understanding of a broader topic. It's understood by more people. People with varying degrees of language knowledge including people whose native language is not English. It's easier for more people to understand.

It's a lot easier to understand someone is weird compared to someone being a fascist.

This feels like satire? A site called real men, real style with an article about penises?

I just assume it's code for "sword fighting."

I've found myself lately a lot more interested in games that don't focus heavily on graphics but instead allow other parts of the game to speak for itself. This allows for the imagination to fill in the gaps, as you mentioned.

I've been playing a lot or Caves of Qud recently. It's a rogue-like game with tile graphics and colourful text. Somehow this menu simulator game has drawn me into it's harsh and unforgiving world. The tile based graphics actually allows for an amazing amount of creative freedom both from the developer and player point of views. The developer has created this futuristic planet with mutants and cybernetics roaming the planet trying to survive. The player has the freedom to play as they like and create the most unique characters they can imagine. My current character has two hearts, a scorpion tail, a fanged beak, two dagger wielding claws and a habit for stabbing.

I think the rise of constantly better technology has inadvertently encouraged a focus on better graphics over other aspects of video games. While there are some absolutely beautiful games with higher hardware demand, I think as of late, I'm yearning for games that focus more on story or gameplay. Games where you can feel the developer's passion. Games with polish and attention to details in the most unexpected ways. Games that attempt to push boundaries within certain limitations (think hardware or graphic styles for example).

I think what I want is a game that feels like I'm reading a fiction book in a way. What I mean is that when you read a work of fiction, your imagination is filling in all that visual information. A game can provide you more than just text, but if it can balance graphics, gameplay and story, it can really transport and immerse your imagination into that world.

I'm glad to see more posts recently with a push towards regenerative farming practices. In the past when I talked about it, I was either largely ignored or got a lot or push back to continue with modern, standard practices dependant on chemicals or fertilisers.

In my opinion, understanding the importance of what lives in the soil, what their roles are in their ecosystem and how to cater to those living organisms is all very important to growing crops.

I've had a lot of trouble finding decent or reliable information online about regenerative farming. I've taken a lot of inspiration from what little I've learned from indigenous cultures that I've been exposed to in my life and have been fumbling my way around experimenting with my garden over the past couple years.

The article mentions how some people find regenerative farms look messy. I think the wild, natural look makes everything seem more beautiful. With diverse crops and crop cover, it brings more pollinators and more life to my little garden in this suburban wasteland of cut grass lawns and driveways.

I really like the idea of regenerative land use.

I managed to learn quite a bit about living soil when I created a terrarium. Understanding the role of each part in an enclosed ecosystem really reframed what I thought a garden should look and act like.

I was able to build a garden last year and I've kept a focus on trying to build a good home for the life living within the soil.

Keeping a cover crop such as clover really helped keep moisture in the soil. By mid summer, I was able to skip days watering my garden because the soil remained so moist. That constant moisture is great for any bacteria or fungi living in the soil. Also great for worms and isopods since they require high humidity as well.

I also chopped up any waste from trimming back some plants and threw it back in there as food for what's living in the soil. Chopping the waste up also sped up it's decomposition so it didn't sit around for long.

Last Fall I also took some leaves from the trees and made a layer on top of the soil. I thought it would be a good idea to add a protective layer before the snow came. As a bonus, the extra leafy goodness would be broken down in the spring to be added back into the soil. I couldn't find any information about doing something like that online but I figured trying to recreate forest-like conditions would be beneficial for the soil.

With a focus on what's in the soil, I'm hoping that above ground becomes the delicious bonus. I am allowing some native plants to grow alongside my crops to attract a variety of pollinators which seemed to work well last year.

This year is only my second year with my garden so I'm still observing, learning and adapting things. I've recently noticed some native chickweed growing will be watching to see how it acts this year as ground cover alongside my clover.

A long time ago I came across a game that was part of a 1mb challenge. It's called A New Zero. I played it quite a lot, just flying around and dive bombing boats was entertaining enough for me.

I was impressed with 1mb but 13kb and 96kb is pretty amazing. I really enjoy seeing stuff like this.

This game has caught my eye. The visual style alone is what really draws me in to the world.

There's something about the Half-Life-ish graphics and unique style that sort of hits a personal nostalgia for me. It has a wonderful combination of weird and abstract with a touch of familiarity. It also feels both vibrant and gritty at the same time. Something I didn't realize I was missing so much. Especially after playing Baldur's Gate 3 which has absolutely gorgeous but very busy graphics.

After I get over my Caves of Qud hyperfixation, I am definitely going to pick this game up.

I wouldn't mind if societies also made some compromises for me too. Currently it feels like I'm making all the compromises to fit in but made to feel like it's never enough.

Feels like I'm trying to fix an awful relationship by doing all the hard work myself. I'm tired.

For a little background, I worked in the field for about 5-6 years, half the time as a contractor/helper, and the other half as an apprentice (which I never completed). The company built automation lines which primarily did metal welding. High voltage spot welding, Automated MIG welding and Laser welding/braising.

As for wastefulness, I don't even know where to start and I am sure I will miss a bunch of things. In no particular order of importance:

1. Automation requires A LOT of materials. Pipes, cables, trays, robots, supports, safety, devices, fasteners and the list goes on. Keep in mind that All these materials need to be extracted, transported, refined and remade into what we need to build an automation line.

2. Automation is Heavily dependent on fossil fuels. We need machines to extract raw materials. We need machines to transport raw materials. We need machines and heat to refine raw materials. We need machines and heat to create a final product. We need to transport those final products and then we can finally work with that final product to install into an automation line. Some materials that we work with such as cables, hosing and tubing will create some sort of waste during the installation process. Maybe not as much as the other steps but it all adds up in the end.

I worked in electrical and all of our cables would have some sort of plastic/rubber/silicone sheathing. I honestly don't know how we can expect to keep up with the growing electrical demand AND cut down on crude oil extraction. We need insulators to safely use electricity and plastics do that job very well.

I don't know how resource extensive it is to make a microprocessor, but I imagine it still takes a lot of machinery and heat to create them. Microprocessors are in a lot of devices used in automation.

3. Wear and tear on mechanical parts. Robots are great for doing repetitive tasks. Robots and anything that moves (conveyors or clamps, for example) will involve moving parts. Anything with moving parts will wear down eventually. Those parts are generally trashed and replaced with a functioning part.

4. Electronic Devices. Computers, PLC (Programmable Logic Controllers), Sensors, power supplies, transformers, lights, and HMI (Human-Machine Interface) are some of the devices used in automation. Lots of plastics, metals and microprocessors. Since these are electronic devices, they need to be shipped in plastic to ensure the devices are free from moisture or shock damage. The plastic wrapping and plastic shock foam pads that have no purpose after the device has been removed from the packaging get thrown out.

5. Shipping. Everything coming in or leaving has to be shipped. For smaller items, they may be bundled up on a transport skid which may mean it is wrapped in layers and layers of shipping plastic wrap in order to secure the load. Larger items may require plastic or metal tie-down straps. All of which are disposed of after use. Robots, tooling, fencing, piping, cables, power disconnects and so on are VERY heavy. All this weight requires so much fuel to transport from place to place before reaching the final installation site.

6. Reusing vs. replacing. Depending on the request, we may reuse old robots or tools but in many cases, A LOT of old, still usable material just gets chucked into the trash. Companies care less about waste and more about downtime. It's far quicker to tear out the old, bring in new cables/piping/tray, slap it in and get that power running as soon as possible.

7. Weight. Things are getting heavier. Heavier stuff means bigger robots. Bigger robots require more power. You can probably look back at some previous points to understand why the extra weight is not good.

8. Energy consumption. As we push further into automation, we require more electrical power. Before I left my company, the power demand was increasing at a mind blowing rate. Towards the end of my time there, I spent months with a couple other people prepping high voltage power main disconnects. When I first started there, there was only one person prepping disconnects when the demand required it.

9. Oils and fumes. Moving parts generally require lubrication. Greases and oils are generally not so nice to the environment considering the actions required to handle, dispose of, or clean up oil. Lots of fumes are created from welding metal together and it's pretty nasty stuff. My patience with that company disappeared after they started welding aluminum without filtering the aluminum welding fumes.

10. Management are prideful idiots. The dingleberries that run the place have no idea what they are doing and have no idea what it takes to build an automation line. Some of their mistakes cost millions of dollars in wasted materials and all that shit just gets chucked. It's fucking mind blowing.

I'm sure there's more but my brains done with this for now. Automation is super cool and fun to watch when all is done and it's running. It can definitely push out higher production numbers compared to humans. It is definitely not as green or sustainable as any tech company would want you to believe. I believe, from my perspective and experiences in that field, it's an unsustainable disaster. If it seems like a green alternative, it's because we aren't talking about the resource requirements to build, maintain and upgrade automation systems and only focusing on the production output.

Personally, I believe our green alternatives shouldn't depend on green technology but rather draw heavy inspiration from nature itself. The hard part about that is imagining a life that isn't intertwined with capitalism, money and hierarchy. Once we shrug off those evils, we can start to observe and listen to nature again.