I haven’t used it for a while, but I remember Spotify recommending some pretty neat and niche stuff. It just really depends what you feed it to begin with.

If you start with “Popular top 40 corporate-bred pop artist of the month”, it will swiftly taylor the algorithm to more of the same, and once it’s got an idea it mostly goes one direction and it’s really difficult to get it to recommend other styles that aren’t Harry.

Fun puns and anecdotal evidence aside: Spotify sucks especially because of how it pays artists next to nothing.

I personally skim Freegal from my local library, Bandcamp on Fridays, and buy MP3s from 7 Digital if I want to support the artist. (I don’t know 7 Digital’s revenue take, but I at least get to own the music forever, and in FLAC if I want!)

algos won’t show me Swedish power metal

Any algorithm that won’t let someone discover Sabaton, is a defective algorithm.

No idea about today, but Pandora used to be cool for this in the “Music Genome Project” days.

Oh wow thanks for the heads up!

It’s always such a bummer to see open source codebases close off. :(

I’ll definitely keep an eye on Gaggimate!

Gotchu Bro/Sister:

Wife’s already got Fellowship of the Ring Extended (of COURSE) ultraHD in the player.

I’ll pop us some popcorn, and gladly point out all the fun trivia, like how when Aragorn kicks the helmet in Two Towers it was so legit because the actor ACTUALLY BROKE HIS TOE.

Why did I mention Two Towers when Fellowship is in the player? Heh. . .you didn’t think we were stopping after Fellowship, did you?

The doors are already locked and planned bathroom / snack retrieval breaks are posted on the wall.

Whaaaaaat this is what keeps me addicted to Lemmy. This looks like a fun project.

Found a sweet HackaDay about it if anybody’s interested :)

https://hackaday.com/2022/11/20/homebrew-espresso-maker-modding-with-gaggiuino/

Also that’s the only way we’re saturating that 2Gb bandwidth LOL.

League was one of those global phenomenons that felt so fun to be a part of and try to get good at… Sometimes .

But we’d often just bot-stomp because we’d usually get rekt in matchmaking.

Once they declared their kernel-level spyware, that was the real kicker that helped us quit for good. Ha

It’s amazing how much those games improved with sequels, but the first one on the OG X-Box was still an incredible experience, especially for the time!

Still a worthy experience I’d say! I could listen to the voice work of that game all day.

I even really liked the much more action-oriented Conviction. Never played Double-Agent though. Still have Blacklist on my list.

I miss when the “Tom Clancy’s” monicker was representative of plausible tactical experiences. Sadly I don’t think we’ll ever see intense thinker-games with Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, or Rainbow Six again. :(

Ha, I met my now-wife on WoW so long ago :D.

I guess I consider myself lucky I never really got addicted to that point, as in, I never even maxed a single character. (I had a bunch of them in various race/class/faction/server combos though…later found out I had ADHD lmao)

I mostly treated WoW like a chatroom with a game attached hahaha.

I totally understand the draw though, like, I LOVE MMOs as a concept but I hate how difficult it is to make an ethical one that doesn’t waste players’ precious time, or incentivize addiction. I feel like there’s an answer buried in how some MUDs operate(d), somehow… before casino psychology was introduced.

Reconciling the desire to pop into a “meta-verse” (screw you, facebook, that’s our word.) to socialize and cooperate with others, against our finite time constraints on various scales, is a difficult challenge.

I could ramble on and on, but linear level systems definitely exacerbate this. I never played as much as my always-online friends so we’d all start characters and suddenly by next week they’re all level 30 and I’m still like 13 and I’m like “K nvm.”

But it’s a very human thing to enjoy a sense of progression. Hm…

I’m glad you were able to break free though! We’re similar in our gaming lives. Instead of one monolithic game, we pass the controller on single player games or play co-op stuff, and get a wide variety of experiences. :)

Hey now!

The women glow, and men plunder! :D

“It’s him. It’s Kenny Al G!”

Not a motorcycle?!?!

This seemed like such a motorcycle song!

You’re not alone, kindred spirit! Even when I knew the correct lyrics, I still hear it.

And when I learned about “dunder” or “double underscore” methods in Python, my first thoughts were:

__Chief__()

__Mifflin__()

It probably sounds a little weird, but while I was sitting at the safety of my “occupy a desk until someone asks questions” job that sapped my soul, I often would research places I really, really wouldn’t want to be.

In a weird way I find this “Dark tourism behind a screen” to be a bit fascinating in a "safe danger " kind of way.

Reading the state department’s notices on some countries really puts in perspective. They’re like “Don’t go here without an armored vehicle, armed security detail, and most preferably a good friggin reason. Even still, have a next of kin lined up and ransom plans.”

Edit: also “Oh yeah, if everything goes bad off embassy grounds (if there even is one) our ability to intervene is limited. Don’t expect direct support to come save you.”

Like. Damn.

• As you wish.
• If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball!
• I rock… And rule!.. All day long! Sweet Susie! / I’m bleeding, which makes me the victor!
• I aim to misbehave.
• Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!
• Come with me if you want to live!
• They mostly come at night…Mostly…
• You! SHALL NOT! PASS!!
• Whoever wrote this episode should die!
• Rebellions are built on hope.

Lol I could keep going all night if I don’t stop myself and I’ve work in the morning. XD

I saw it in my head just reading it. Absolutely moving.

I can’t get through

With dry eyes either. That speech has kept me going, so many times. I’ve even posted it in various places on Lemmy as a counter to the sheer hopelessness and defeatism (understandably) pervading a lot of threads.

I often consider getting it wholly or partially inscribed on me.

This mentality and reinforced culture is a big reason inhuman corporate ideals and customs have festered throughout our society like a fungal infection.

It’s so difficult to organize because plenty of fellow workers will simply be passive and complacent with whatever increasingly bad lot they’re given, or worse, will be straight up class traitors looking to be rewarded by ruthless masters.

I too, think this is a really dangerous one that hasn’t quite pinged on most peoples’ radar yet because it’s so niche, but like you said, when people with power and influence can actually act on it, they have the capacity to cause a lot of harm over what would normally just be fringe philosophies.

I almost wonder if they intentionally screw that sort of thing up so they’re not “ripping off” real soldiers’ customs.

… But I’m being way too optimistic I think LOL.

There’s so much like this in media where I’m like “You could have just asked? Like so many people could have happily walked you through making this authentic!!”