• Random Dent@lemmy.ml
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    7 hours ago

    I could do the various incarnations of the Doctor in Doctor Who. An example info-dump from memory without looking stuff up:

    So the first Doctor was played by William Hartnell, and later Richard Hurndall and David Bradley after Hartnell passed away. Second Doctor was Patrick Troughton who (tangent incoming) originally pitched playing the second Doctor in black-face which thankfully got nixed. Third Doctor was Jon Pertwee, Fourth was Tom Baker who is still the longest-running Doctor by episode count, Fifth was Peter Davidson, Sixth was Colin Baker, Seventh was Sylvester McCoy although (tangent 2) he also played the Sixth Doctor for the regeneration because Colin Baker got fired and refused to film his last scene so the Sixth in that scene is just McCoy in a wig. Eight Doctor was Paul McGann who was the longest-running Doctor chronologically even though he’s only been in one full episode (the 1996 TV movie) because the show didn’t come back until 2005. He’s done some cameos in the show since though. Ninth Doctor in canonical order is John Hurt, although he was added in retroactively during the 11th Doctor’s tenure so he’s referred to as the War Doctor instead of the Ninth. Tenth Doctor canonically is Christopher Eccleston, who is referred to as the Ninth Doctor because of the aforementioned retconning. Then it gets complicated. David Tennant is the Eleventh, Twelfth and Sixteenth Doctor because he regenerated into himself and then came back again later on, which we’ll get to in a bit, but he’s referred to as the 10th and 14th Doctor. Thirteenth Doctor is Matt Smith, who’s referred to as the Eleventh. He was also supposed to be the Doctor’s final life because Time Lords are only supposed to have 13 of them, but then he got a new cycle of regenerations because it would be silly to end the show because of some arbitrary plot point from the 1970s. So then Peter Capaldi was the Fourteenth (or First if you want to start counting again from the new cycle, which nobody does) and is called the Twelfth. Fifteenth (or Second) was Jodie Whittaker, who in the show is called the Thirteenth. She then regenerated into David Tennant again (hence him also being the Sixteenth/Fourteenth) for a couple of specials, and then he split into two separate Doctors, the other one being Ncuti Gatwa who is the Seventeenth or maybe co-Sixteenth or maybe Fourth but is referred to as the Fifteenth in the show. He then (SPOILERS if you haven’t caught up to the last episode) regenerated into Billie Piper, who played Rose Tyler previously in the show and also a sort of sentient bomb called The Moment and who might not even be the Doctor at all, we don’t really know yet. There’s also all the Timeless Child stuff which throws off the numbering even further, and Jo Martin who plays the Fugitive Doctor who is possibly some sort of pre-First Doctor Doctor but the show never really explained it. There are also some other pre-First Doctor Doctors shown in flashbacks and things in The Brain of Morbius and The Timeless Child, but who knows if they’re even real or not. There’s also another David Tennant who is a sort of human clone of the Doctor who lives off in some parallel universe, and another Tom Baker who is a character called the Curator who seems to be some far-future retired version of the Doctor who revisits some of his old faces.

    I could go on but you get the idea.

    • Dasus@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      I’m sure you were very good, but I doubt that you had that good a name memory as a five-year old.

      I taught myself how to read as well, so I ain’t the dullest of pens either but somehow I just doubt you could’ve rattled off that many correct names and titles as a five-year old. Although, it might just be projection from my almost 40-year old weed-smoking soon-to-be-some-serious-memory-problem having ass. If so, apologies.

  • I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world
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    15 hours ago

    For people who think they’re winning by fucking with scammers, unless you are tying up hours of their time, you are doing the opposite by engaging with them. And even if you tie up hours, they aren’t really losing.

    Obviously, falling for the scam is their ideal outcome, but ANY engagement beyond silence, a generic VM, or a disconnected/fax line marks your number as ‘active’ which can then be sold to other scammers.

    So they still get a profit, and your number winds up on more scamming lists.

    We are also getting close to the point where it won’t even be an actual human you’re talking to, it’ll just be some AI, making engagement even more useless.

    If you get a call from an unknown number and you don’t have call screening, answer and SAY NOTHING! Not hello, not “may I ask whose calling”, mute your phone so they don’t even get background noise. The only numbers they can’t get anything out of are the ones that are brick walls.

  • Smoogs@lemmy.world
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    14 hours ago

    Sadly phone scams are the 3rd most profitable bussinesses in the world. They aren’t going anywhere unless we give up having a phone or our phone carriers do their fucking job on actual scam prevention

    • ThomasLadder_69@lemmy.ml
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      14 hours ago

      While they do make a lot of money i dont think they are even close he third most profitable businesses in the world.

  • Bamboodpanda@lemmy.world
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    13 hours ago

    Answer the phone like you are a business receptionist.

    “Hello, this is Fronz Frunickal with Yogurt O’ Try-it Froyo, how can I serve you?”

    It’s funny listening to them silently process what they just heard before hanging up.

  • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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    18 hours ago

    When I was in graduate school, I used to call the 700 Club’s prayer hotline and talk about my dissertation. To their credit, those people were remarkably patient and would only occasionally attempt to steer the conversation back in the direction of Jesus and his need to have some of my money. “Oh, I don’t have any money. Anyway, it turns out that there’s a perfect correlation between the giving of dowries and engagement in plow-based agriculture.” Completely true but for some reason they didn’t really care.

    • Fedizen@lemmy.world
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      11 hours ago

      I do love the idea of educating scammy christians while they’re doing scammy shit.

      • UncleArthur@lemmy.world
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        15 hours ago

        That’s an interesting question! I think it’s a combination of things. Firstly, the ship sank on an even keel, and took 2 hours 40 minutes to sink. Most shipwrecks of the time listed badly and sank quickly: for example, the Empress of Ireland, which sank in 1914 with a greater loss of passenger life, went down on her side in 18 minutes. The Titanic’s stability and longevity allowed many dramas to play out, and the (relatively) large number of survivors allowed the stories to be told.

        Then there’s the Greek tragedy element. If only they had have seen the 'berg 30 seconds sooner or 30 seconds later. If only one less watertight compartment had been breached. If only the ‘Mystery Ship’ (likely the SS Californian) had come to their aid - although in all fairness, it may not have made a huge difference. If only the ice field hadn’t have stretched so far south that year. If only the radio messages warning of ice had been heeded. If only the Californian’s radio operator hadn’t switched off his set and gone to bed, just before the collision. If only Captain Smith had turned ‘the Corner’ half an hour later, to put the ship on a more southerly track. If only … you get the idea.

        Then there’s the conspiracy theories and the associated mysteries. Was the Mystery Ship really the Californian? Was the Titanic swapped for RMS Olympic and sank in an insurance scam? (No.) Was a cursed Egyptian Mummy in the hold? (No.) Did she hit the ice along the side of the hull or the keel? Or both? What about the book ‘Futility’ published years earlier that seemed to predict the disaster? Did an Officer really shoot a passenger? (Very doubtful.) Why did Lightoller insist on women and children ONLY in the lifeboats rather than woman and children FIRST? Is the the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám on the wreck and can it be retrieved?

        Then there’s the historical elements. The Marconi radio set is the only one left in the world - why can’t we be allowed to salvage it? Few photographs were taken of Titanic: most extant photos are of the RMS Olympic, one of her sisters. How many blades are on the central turbine propeller? How does the ship differ in design from her sisters? Why did so few Third Class passengers attempt escape before the lifeboats were launched? What songs did the band actually play? (It probably wasn’t Nearer My God To Thee.) Is the swimming pool still full of water? etc. etc.

        Then there’s the people: the last of the Gilded Age billionaires and socialites, thrown together with the Second Class ‘ordinary’ folk and the Third Class immigrants from all of Europe. How did they act and react? Who accepted their fate with dignity and tried to help their fellow passengers? Why did J. Bruce Ismay get into a lifeboat knowing full well how he’d be treated if he survived? Were the crew of Boat #1 actually bribed by the Duff-Gordons not to fish out survivors? And so on.

        I’ll stop here before I get carried away.

        Edit: typos.

      • UncleArthur@lemmy.world
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        15 hours ago

        In all senses, yes. The water temperature was -2°C or 28°F and she was a triumph of design and aesthetics.

  • AlexanderTheDead@lemmy.world
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    22 hours ago

    I can only info dump when I’m prompted to start talking about something now. I have special interests, but I have no interest in talking about them with people that I can feel aren’t really engaged. And the only people who ever engage eventually do get worn down after a while, or they’re more knowledgeable than me about something and that makes me fall in infatuation with them.

    So if anyone wants to talk about modding video games and get married, hmu. Modding specifically is my special interest, and the games I mod include:

    Elder Scrolls series (primarily Oblivion/ Skyrim but I have played some modded morrowind within the last 5 years)

    Fallout series (all of them! Ok, I haven’t played 2 or the offshoots, but… shut up. New Vegas is my favorite :3)

    Stardew Valley (I have 2700 hours in stardew :3 burnt out rn tho lowkey)

    Dark Souls 1/3, Elden Ring

    Baldurs Gate 3

    Dragon Age (mostly origins, it continuously went downhill from there for me. I have done a couple modded replays of inquistion tho)

    Minecraft

    If you were to ask me what I could go on for the longest about? Probably New Vegas? Especially since I recently put in a fresh 200 hours. I finally got into TTW (a mod for new vegas that utilizes your copy of Fallout 3 goty to combine both games into a single experience) and installed it alongside some modernization modlists and HOLY SHIT.

    I hadn’t played since 2021, an era that seemed like New Vegas was dying. People had long moved onto Fallout 4, quest mods weren’t coming out at the same frequency, etc

    There was a total renaissance right after I left. If you haven’t played new vegas in a while: consider coming back and finding a guide or using a program like wabbajack to mod your game.

    I personally followed the Viva New Vegas guide, then after deciding to jump into TTW, I found that the VNV people have a guide for a TTW list called TBoT (The Best of Times). Both of these lists are,'in my experience, more stable than the base game. A lot of important performance and configuration mods came out.

    Then, there’s another list called WSG that I followed (wasteland survival guide), which added new content to the game and made it more hardcore.

    If you made it this far and you really want to hear more, ask me a question. :3

      • AlexanderTheDead@lemmy.world
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        4 hours ago

        I have! Another interest of mine is TTRPG, specifically I am a frequent DM. I love designing custom encounters with unique mechanics to engage my players.

        I have also dabbled in coding. I started with HTML and BYOND (I never made anything beyond a 2d tile map of grass, an icon to move around on it, and a “hello world” message).

        When I was a teenager, I tried to get into modding New Vegas via the GECK, but it was complicated and tedious looking. I wonder if I could go back now, as an adult, and make something I’m really proud of.

        More recently, I got into making a mod for Stardew Valley. Idk what the code language would be called, but it’s an extremely simple text-based system. I was making a mod to add a pop media character to the game because my close friend really likes him. It was going pretty well and honestly the scope creep got big, I was really fleshing the character’s custom story out. Until I realized I had missed something in my testing, and noticed that certain triggers weren’t working, and realized there were character limits for triggers. Which meant that I couldn’t set up events with complex enough decisions to meet the goal I wanted to reach.

        So I’ve taken a step back from that for awhile.

        I did want to design video games as a kid, but it seemed like such a lofty goal that I never even tried pursuing it.

  • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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    1 day ago

    Nobody wants my info dump. I know way too much about networking and computers. The topics are massively deep, like iceberg levels of deep. One for each topic.

    I could lecture for an entire day on the nuance and considerations of picking a Wi-Fi channel, or you can ignore me and just hit “auto” which may or may not take some, or all, of my considerations into account when selecting a channel.

    If anyone is keen to hear some generally good advice about home networking, here’s my elevator speech:

    Wire when you can, wireless when you have to. Wi-Fi is shared and half duplex, every wired connection is exclusive to the device and full duplex. If you can’t Ethernet, use MoCA, or powerline (depending on what internal power structures you have, this can be excellent or unusable, keep your receipts). Mesh is best with a dedicated backhaul, better with a wired backhaul. Demand it from any system you consider. The latest and greatest Wi-Fi technology probably won’t fix whatever problem you’re having, it will only temporarily reduce the symptoms and you won’t notice it for a while. Be weary about upgrading and ask yourself why you require the upgrade. Newer wireless won’t fix bad signal, or dropouts.

    For everything else, Google. That’s how I find most of the information I know.

    Good luck.

    I’ll be around in case anyone has questions. No promises on when I’ll be able to reply tho.

    • asteriskeverything@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Dude these type of replies are what had made reddit such a great time sink, even random browsing you may find something incredible in the comments. Thank you

    • pnelego@lemmy.world
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      16 hours ago

      What are the nuances between APs and how they handle choosing a channel? Also, I was told at one point it’s better to “stack” on top of other SSIDs using the same channel than to go one channel higher (assuming there isn’t room higher up in the spectrum).

      Thank you for your time and expertise!

      • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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        6 hours ago

        I can answer the second thing quickly, “stacking” the ssids as you say, makes the inference into what we call “co-channel” interference. Most of the wireless headers are unencrypted, though your payload is encrypted (the data being transferred) but not so much for the headers. Because of this, and the fact that each ap is talking on the same frequency, there’s a small amount of collaboration that can occur between wireless networks. If someone starts a wireless multimedia (WMM) session that will last 8.2ms, then all radios on channel will know that the channel is occupied for the next 8.2ms, and basically go idle for that much time. If you’re on differing channels, but still interfering, aka adjacent channel interference, then those messages may not be understood, causing a lot more collisions. Collisions being when two radios transmit at the same time and the channel needs to clear and everyone backs off, and you try again (usually happening on the order of milliseconds, and possibly several times per second). Collisions will negatively impact your performance more than the channel simply being busy. The protocol in use for wireless collision avoidance is CSMA/CA or carrier sense multi access with collision avoidance, which is an amended version of CSMA/CD (collision detection) used in half duplex wired communication.

        How’s that for a “short” answer?

        For channel conditions, I’m looking at walls, building materials, open air distances, appliances, furniture… Anything that may attenuate, reflect, refract, or otherwise degrade signal strength whenever I start to assess an area for wireless. This is important so I know how many access points I need and how close together they need to be to overcome the obstacles placed in the environment. Once I have a rough idea of how many access points I need and how close together they should be, my next consideration is the expected client density and the objectives of the network. Something made for a busy stadium will have more access points than something made for a local cafe. If I’m doing a large number of access points my focus will be on maximizing how many clients can be connected, and driving that number as far down per access point/radio, as possible. Fewer people on a channel means more free airtime for their traffic, which equates to faster speeds. I’d be looking at using most of the 5ghz spectrum on the smallest channel width and have each radio be on its lowest power setting. You’ll have clients moving between access points a lot, but you won’t end up with more than a couple dozen per radio. I’d look into directional antennas, to minimize the broadcast range so I can reuse channels closer together. In such a high density space I would want to have some kind of Wi-Fi blocking or attenuation tech installed in the exterior of the building to prevent outside signals from coming in and inside signals from going out. Both for security and control over the airspace. Fewer things to interfere with; you only have to worry about what’s inside that perimeter. Then it’s a matter of setting up the channels for use in accordance with local laws, and letting the system handle channel assignment. With a huge number of access points, manually setting the channels is impractical. So everything I’ve said about it until now isn’t even for channel selection, it’s all things that support channel selection.

        For small networks, especially in high density scenarios where the density is due to neighbors, whether that’s commercial neighbors in a plaza or mall, or residential neighbors if you’re in a suburb, an apartment, or a condo; for this, you want to pay careful attention to not only what other networks are around, checking from multiple points not only inside but outside of the premise as well, but what channels they’re on and what their relative signal strength is. If signal strength is low then not a lot to think about. Avoid the channel if you can, but if you can’t, there are worse selections. I’m also looking at the attenuation obstacles here, environments with large obstacles will benefit from lower band channels, either 2.4ghz or UNII 1 for 5ghz, and environments with a lot of radios on the 5ghz spectrum, may benefit from enabling the UNII 2 DFS channels (dynamic frequency selection). A lot of cheaper gear can’t operate in the UNII 2 DFS space because they haven’t bothered to implement DFS, which is a legal requirement for anything operating in that band. So the guys in the apartment next door that are using an off the shelf, cheapo router on sale from best buy probably won’t have the ability to even select those channels for use, and you’ll be free to use them with little to no interference… Unless the DFS triggers that is… For less dense areas I want to tend towards UNII 1 and 3 for stability, and only have enough 2.4ghz to cover the area. 20 MHz wide channels on 2.4ghz, 40 wide on 5/6Ghz. Should net about 400mbps or so per radio, and unless you have gigabit + Internet, with everything on Wi-Fi, some remarkably clear airspace, and only a single access point, going to 80mhz channel width is usually unhelpful. I’m looking at not only the channels with low/no occupancy, but I also want to look at how busy those channels are, but this aspect usually requires monitoring over a duration of time, with specialized hardware. I would choose to overlap with a dormant network with a stronger signal, than overlap with a network that is much weaker in signal strength, but very busy all the time. I also prefer channels 1/6 on 2.4 GHz because channel 11 is near the upper limit of 2.4ghz, and just above that limit is the frequency used by microwave ovens. If any microwave ovens don’t have perfect shielding and you’re on channel 11, you’re going to have a bad time. In environments with more than one access point on 2.4ghz, I don’t worry too much about it since any affected client can hop to another access point when interference ramps up.

        There’s more but my brain is tired today.

    • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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      18 hours ago

      Also, don’t use the wifi routers provided by Cocmast. Cocmast uses them to provide their xfinity-branded wifi, so as their customer you are literally sacrificing bandwidth and paying their electric bill. I assume all cable companies do this but Cocmast is the only one I know about for sure.

      • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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        5 hours ago

        ISP provider doesn’t matter. Put your ISP modem into bridged mode and get your own router.

        ISPs usually don’t buy good, or reliable stuff for their clients, they buy whatever gives them the marketing buzzwords and costs them the least. Usually, they’re great at doing modem things, not so good at anything else. Bridged mode just limits them to just doing what they’re good at.

      • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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        5 hours ago

        I suppose, but I usually don’t check my messages on Lemmy very often, I look at my comment replies, but not my messages. I should have Matrix connected, if you use that… I have no idea if I set up Matrix right, or if I linked it correctly… I haven’t looked at it since I did the setup.

        I’m curious why you would want to DM rather than discuss it publicly where the information might help others?

        You don’t need to justify yourself to me. That question is intended for you to answer it for yourself, and if that doesn’t change that you would rather do the discussion over DM, then I won’t hold that against you.

        Be well.

        • FrowingFostek@lemmy.world
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          4 hours ago

          It was more of a general question if you’re open to that. I’m unaware if there is a profile section on Lemmy to know if people consent to being message directly. So, I just ask if it’s cool.

          You seems really knowledgeable so I’m imagining someone might want to ask sensitive questions.

    • yucandu@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      I’ve been switching a lot of my devices to ESP-NOW instead of WiFi so that they can just fart out their data to anyone who can hear it and then go back to sleep, no connecting or handshaking or authenticating or overhead. Should clear up my wifi network I think.

      • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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        1 day ago

        If I’m not mistaken, they still use 2.4 GHz, which is also used by wifi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, a bunch of other stuff… Microwave ovens…

        And anything operating on a frequency, regardless of protocol, will interfere with eachother. I think the main benefit for you would be the brief amount of active time, could reduce the airtime being used by the devices.

        I hope it works out for you and your wifi works excellently. Just be aware that it could still interfere. Use 5ghz when possible.

    • wabasso@lemmy.ca
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      1 day ago

      Yay!

      Should I learn iptables or is it more sane to use a front end like ufw?

      I have an RPI with dual Ethernet between my modem and consumer router so I don’t have to depend on the obsolete and limited consumer router software. I’m using OpenWRT at the moment but curious if you have other recommendations. I like the Luci gui so if I switched to headless Debian or something then I’d still want a luci equivalent.

      I’m self hosting with docker and I want to set up a wireguard vpn container that joins a network with a select set of containers. So I’d have containers that are accessible only by actual LAN users and then others that are in this isolated group that only the VPN (i.e. WAN people) can access. I thought that’s what docker was all about! But by default it seems all authenticated VPN peers just get to be on the LAN. Sure, they can’t get at containers on a different docker bridge network, but they get to access the host itself! This is why I asked about iptables above, but it’s daunting. Any ideas on how to achieve “two levels of trust” for self hosted services?

    • draco_aeneus@mander.xyz
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      14 hours ago

      When person who wrote that post was a child, they liked talking about “chambered nautiluses” (which are basically, ocean snails). Also, their mom used to get scam calls. Their mom made their child (which is the person who wrote the post) talk to the scammers about these nautiluses so that their time was wasted.

  • MinnesotaGoddam@lemmy.world
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    24 hours ago

    if i didn’t hate the phone ringing you might have almost given me a reason to answer when scammers call.

    i don’t want it ringing every 15 minutes. i don’t have energy to explain… i don’t know, the difference between schulmerichs and malmarks all day. i got chores to do. i would get too overexcited explaining it to them especially if they stayed on the line long enough for me to get to fucking whitechapels.

  • kamen@lemmy.world
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    20 hours ago

    Somehow I missed the “up by” the first time around, and was confused about who would be so bored to hang themselves.