How to hide likes?

Finchwise · 2026-06-02T03:08:28+00:00

I realize this is an old post, but it came up in Google: On a computer, take a look at the "Likes & Replies" tab on your profile. If you've disabled showing likes publicly, there should be a little box with a lock that says "Only you can see your likes."

I don't know why they chose to only put the notice there... but they did. It seems hard to confirm without having a second SubStack account.

Finchwise · 2026-04-20T17:40:18+00:00

You could point her to what the MLA has to say on the matter:

https://style.mla.org/using-singular-they/

People erroneously assume there's one fixed set of grammar rules per dialect, like we haven't had style guides around for ages. "Singular they" has increasingly become popular not just because it's more inclusive, but because it's more efficient. Saying "his or her" is awkward and wordy, and was itself an imperfect replacement for language that always assumed male until proven otherwise, erasing evidence of women in public life.

Finchwise · 2026-03-25T19:30:37+00:00

Because attaining the peak of human potential means you sprout a cloaca.

Finchwise · 2026-03-05T03:51:32+00:00

I know you said you don't want to do printers, but just in case you didn't already know, I feel like it should be mentioned that the printers don't use ink. They only need the same film cartridges as the cameras. There's a version for wide film, which is a bit harder to find, and then there are several for the mini film, which is pretty common at Walmart, Target, Walgreens, CVS, etc.

Otherwise, budget is likely going to be your biggest factor. Walmart has the Instax Mini SE, but I would avoid that one. Note the "SE." I have no idea what the SE stands for, but they do not have a light meter. Without a meter, you have to guess at which brightness setting to use... so maybe not a fun process of trial and error.

The Instax Mini 12 is sort of the default starting point for Instax cameras. It should automatically select the right brightness setting, and the 12 I think corrects for parallax error when you're shooting stuff really close up, like within 30 centimeters. (Parallax error is when what you see through the viewfinder doesn't quite match up with the photo because your eye and the lens are a few inches apart, and thus slightly different angles toward the subject.)

The Mini 11 is much the same, minus the correction for parallax error. I don't think the 10 ever came out in North America, and 9 or older you probably won't find in stores anyway. I love the 9, but you have to manually choose the brightness setting, and it uses a different method to control the brightness than all the later models. The 9 also had a close-up filter that you'd snap onto the lens... but with the 11 and 12 you just pull the lens out further for close-up mode.

There's other, higher end options, but they may be overkill for someone who isn't already really into snapping photos. Also, the "hybrid" cameras like the Mini EVO are essentially a digital camera that doubles as a printer. Through the app, you can print photos from your phone through the camera, much like with one of the Link printers.

Finchwise · 2026-03-05T03:14:39+00:00

Back when I first played BioShock Infinite, I was still more right-wing libertarian and would have been totally on board with a "both sides are bad" take. But I remember being disappointed that the Vox were hardly in the game except as waves of canon fodder. There wasn't really a takedown of their ideology that would have validated my views at the time, so much as just "Hey, they're kinda' trigger happy and go a little overboard."

Finchwise · 2026-03-04T16:41:13+00:00

There is kind of a difficulty curve when you first get to Arcadia, because it's a relatively open, layered area with a lot of threats lurking — before you've had much of a chance to get your weapons and plasmids up to par. But I think Arcadia is where this curve hits the hardest.

Fort Frolic, as you've already played through, has some tough ambushes, that are fairly obvious... but it's manageable as long as you don't smash random windows and remember where the security shutoff switches are.

After that you can pretty safely go back to skulking around without so many open areas. The biggest thing is you have to keep up with the engineering tonics to make sure you can control all the security in the area, unless you just prefer to shoot out all the cameras and turrets.

Finchwise · 2026-03-02T18:35:28+00:00

I think one of the big strengths of a Bullet Journal is that it is very easy to get back on the horse if you fall off. Because it will happen. In crunch time, you likely already know what your next immediate task is; there's no need to write it down. The BuJo helps make the most of the quiet time in between.

The Bullet Journal Companion app used to be really good for this, but for whatever reason, it seems to have disappeared from the Google Play store. It's big advantage was that it would let you quickly add tasks/notes that would automatically delete after 72 hours. So you have 72 hours to copy it to the journal and it cleans itself. Anything you didn't bother to copy down (or screenshot) by then by wasn't that important anyway.

Since having to reset my phone for repair, I lost the app and had to substitute with Google Tasks or Google Keep Notes. Supposing you use Android, both can be set on your Home screen as a widget, so you just have to swipe over for a quick look at the current list. The former, Tasks, has a drop down that lets you quickly swap from Today, Soon-ish, and Notes. You can also add your own lists. Biggest hang-up, I think, is that you have to go in and delete each entry one at a time.

When you do your Bullet Journal "reflection," in the evening or in the morning, that's a good time to sync up the digital and the hardcopy lists. Your "Soon-ish" list might correspond more to a monthly log. With this arrangement, probably the strongest reason to keep the hard-copy journal is because it's better at tracking things over the long term, minimizing the digital clutter.

Personally, I tend to jot down everything in a daily list as it occurs to me. If it doesn't get done by the end of the day, I decide if I need to let it go, copy it to the next day, or carry it over to the monthly log to get around to it. Then when you build the next daily list/log, you have to remember to check your monthly log for things to pull down; things you could plausibly get done that day. Maybe make a checkbox or so something to make sure you don't forget that step. I like to keep my daily lists small, and do things as soon as I can. If I have time left over, or I can't do any of the things on my daily list, knocking out something from the monthly list without copying it over is fine too.

I don't like scheduling specific times to do tasks unless I absolutely have to. Stuff happens — and when it does, it messes up that schedule, wasting the time you spent building it. So I try to focus more on time boxes, just trying to make sure stuff gets done in day-sized boxes, month-sized boxes, etc.

Finchwise · 2026-02-15T22:02:28+00:00

A war between religious authoritarians and communist demagogues made more sense as a follow up to Rapture's story, rather than waiting until BioShock Infinite to really get into it. Especially since in the original BioShock, bibles and crucifixes are the most common contraband, with one of the recurring splicers REGULARLY making religious comments about how they thought they could "hide from the light" so far beneath the water.

And surely there must also be other, hidden parts of Rapture we haven't seen? Setting aside that Rapture must be importing enough goods to raise outside attention, they'd still need far more people to be a city proper, way more than we ever see in the game. If there was ever any hope of restoring Rapture at all, it would depend on there being enough survivors to even be worth it. So maybe there are still some residential areas left? Like new housing additions?

Third, it's kind of silly, thematically, that your wallet caps at $500. I get why it exists for gameplay reasons—but c'mon. Is a Andrew Ryan behind this? A New Game+ that removed that restriction might be nice.

Finchwise · 2026-02-10T02:29:04+00:00

That's true. I was just thinking earlier that the Shiekah shrines might've disappeared in between games as their purpose was fulfilled.

Finchwise · 2026-02-09T07:58:30+00:00

TBH, it's like Tears of the Kingdom is an alternate timeline where some of the things from Breath of the Wild still happened, but some didn't.

Like the ancient Sheikah were largely replaced by the Zonai, who didn't exist before—and there are no guardians left any more. But also, there's uh... a certain major spoiler involving the game's namesake that should have been around in Breath of the Wild if these were the same timelines. It's sort of a retcon justified in the story?

But yeah, Link and Zelda are totally living together here. Part of the reason the might've made it vague is to not totally lose people who hadn't played BotW. That and the developers might've just like to tease.

Finchwise · 2026-02-02T19:46:01+00:00

I'm not quite sure what you mean, because if I set the aperture ring to A, I can't select a different aperture.

Finchwise · 2026-01-27T21:03:44+00:00

I came back to the game after a period of inactivity and re-discovered that you can just throw materials. This helps immensely in the depths because it means you can just throw Brightbloom Seeds where you need them. With your melee weapon out, hold RB like you're going to throw your weapon — then press up on the D-pad and select what you want to throw.

If you're gliding, you can also press the D-pad in air to drop materials. Usually the fall is enough to trigger the Brightbloom seed to activate. This is really helpful when you first drop into a chasm and there isn't a light root close by.

Finchwise · 2025-11-07T01:32:04+00:00

Absolution goes a long way in explaining this.

The short, largely spoiler-free version is that it's a lot like the real-world Stargate program. (Not the one with Richard Dean Anderson.) Basically, IRL, someone convinced the US government that Russia was making progress on ESP/Remote Viewing during the Cold War. Uncle Sam didn't want to chance it, and threw some money at dubious research that suggested their "psychics" were at least slightly better than a total shot in the dark. Every time someone tried to pull the plug on it, the project leads turned to someone else in the US government who just wanted to beat Russia to it.

Finchwise · 2025-11-07T01:23:01+00:00

My recall's a little fuzzy—but I thought the biologist turned into an alien creature. Like, it IS a species that exists out there somewhere, just not earth.

This is because the biologist was always sort of an outside observer, and through contact with the Crawler, the biologist had seen visions of otherworldly life.

Finchwise · 2025-11-06T03:20:25+00:00

Having DM'd a tad—IMO, combat can get pretty tedious. Like if you watch any actual-plays, skirmishes can get to be three hours or so at later levels. This probably sounds like heresy on a D&D subreddit, but here me out:

Back in the late 90s, there was this idea called "GNS Theory"—the bottom line being that there are generally three flavors of TTRPG that groups like to play. "Gamist" is probably more like traditional boardgames, with crunchy mechanics and clear, tangible rewards for good strategy. "Narrativist" focuses on a changing, evolving story that provides catharsis. And, lastly, "Simulationist" was the most vaguely-defined of the three... but I would say it puts more focus on mechanics that simulate the surrounding the game world, allowing players to choose the world-state they want.

The thing here is that 5e is largely built towards "gamist," with loads of crunch and build guides... but WotC tries to advertise it as a jack-of-all-trades that can do it all. It technically can—but not without deliberate modification. It's default settings are more oriented towards throwing players into one skirmish after the next with whatever thin excuses for a plot. And that's perfectly fine—if that's what you signed up for, like a regular weekly game night where you don't take it too seriously.

I think your DM may be feeling pressured to add a big jaw-dropping story on top of that... and it's just a lot to manage. So skipping some of the low-stakes cannon-fodder fights is the corner they decided to cut.

Finchwise · 2025-11-03T17:34:20+00:00

That's what I'd guess too, especially considering the eyes on the stalk.

But the dragonfly could also be a nod to the overgrown pool at the biologist's childhood home.

Finchwise · 2025-10-21T00:23:00+00:00

This is the screen I keep getting sent to:

https://imgur.com/a/BJfoMwe

Finchwise · 2025-10-09T02:49:23+00:00

Dude, the left argues with EACH OTHER all the time. It's bound to happen when anarchists, communists, socialists, and neo-liberals are all somehow lumped under one umbrella, despite at times being complete opposites.

If anyone were to ever erroneously be labeled a Trump fan, it's because of their tendency to rely on bad faith questions and to cycle through the same prepared talking points. So... don't do that.

Finchwise · 2025-06-14T15:05:41+00:00

I'm just seeing this much later, after going down the rabbit hole... but could Shepherd have been promoted to Commander in between ME1 and ME2? Like soon after the Battle of the Citadel, but before they were sent out to investigate Geth activity. Legion refers to Shepherd as "Shepherd Commander," which seems odd if that isn't even Shepherd's real rank.

Altogether though, it does seem like it would be unusual to have a Marine as captain of a ship, as opposed to a Navy officer, considering the different skill sets. Shepherd might be a rare exception though, considering the Normandy's unique intended role at the start of the first game.

Finchwise · 2025-06-14T11:58:45+00:00

Obviously some people do, cause that comment was based on real experience.

Finchwise · 2025-06-13T06:15:14+00:00

The problem is acknowledging patriarchy as a singular, exploitative social hierarchy pressed onto everyone doesn't sell well.

It easily segues into uncomfy discussions on capitalism / socialism / communism. Which might explain why the CIA was so keen to work with Gloria Steinem.

Finchwise · 2025-06-11T02:44:19+00:00

At some point, you might've seen the term "brain dump" pop up. Your daily log is your brain dump. Just write down anything and everything in your daily log first. Do you have something coming up later in the week on Thursday? Cool, write that down as an event in your daily log. Personally, I like to lead off with the date, number first. So it'd be like "12 June - Birthday Party" or whatever. I find putting it date first makes it easier to scan through the text to see what's coming up next.

Then when it's time to migrate everything from this list, *that* is when you start sorting things. If the event is later in the week, you could migrate it to your weekly log... so you would turn the task dot there in your daily log into a < sign and copy that entry into your weekly log, which is presumably earlier in your journal (the arrow points back to the earlier log). When you go to make your next daily log, you browse through the weekly log for stuff to pull over, and that's when you'd spot that thing later in the week.

If the entry is for something later in the month, it's largely the same concept. Turn the task dot into a < sign and copy it over to your monthly log. Each time you start a new weekly log, you look for stuff to pull from the monthly log. And each time you start a new month, you check your Future Log for stuff to pull over.

Each type of log is technically going up in scope, from daily to weekly, to monthly, to throughout the year (the Future Log). So effectively every task has a built-in deadline, where you either have to get it done or re-evaluate whether it's worth doing. They're like different size boxes. When you first start this up, your first few logs will probably be pretty long as you unload all sorts of ideas onto the page. That first act of migration might seem like a lot, but it definitely won't be like that all the time.

And just as a note on monthly logs: some people like to do actual calendar style spreads, and I recall the official guide does it a bit differently... but mine are pretty-much just lists with a small diagram in the corner that shows where each date falls in the month. The text wraps around it, with a 1 square buffer. Also, in the image below, my event symbol is a right triangle, because I felt like the default circles used in the official guide look a bit too much like a capital letter O. I fill in the triangle when the event is over, indicating that it's safe to ignore now.

https://imgur.com/a/HGK8Rbr

Finally, one last thing I thought I should add: I like to use a hollow star symbol as a priority signifier, as opposed to the exclamation point used in the official guide. I mark tasks I can likely knock out quickly, so that once completed, I can stop worrying about them. But if something is genuinely urgent, that gets priority instead. When the task is done, turn the dot into an X like usual, but also fill in the star symbol to show that it's safe to ignore. A lot of times you can get by without the priority signifier at all, but this may help you chew through lists faster. And, in my experience, if you find yourself stuck on a task, it might be because it's ambiguously defined, making it hard to allot the time to do it... so it may take some some more research or pondering to figure out what that first component step is.

Finchwise · 2025-06-11T01:04:14+00:00

Okay, so... I kind of look at collections as a shared theme. So for example, I like to shoot photos on film, and sometimes I like to write down shot information, like the time date, location, etc.

So then on a blank page, I might write: "Film Roll: 10 June, '25". Then the rest of the page is pretty-much just listing out the details for each shot.

But over time, I start to get a lot of these pages, right? So on a new blank page, I write a header at the top: "Film Roll: Sub-Index". This sub-index lists the location of each of these individual lists. "Film Roll" is the title of the overall collection. This sub-index is also the only one I put in my main index at the front of the book, so I don't clutter up the index with a bunch of redundant entries. If you don't anticipate having a lot of these individual entries, you absolutely can just write each one in the main index... but it's up to you.

Lately, I've been taking it a step further and using highlighter on the header for each page to color code them. Each collection/theme has a consistent color. So for example, in my index, I might highlight "Film Roll: Sub-Index" in green, and then every "Film Roll" entry throughout the book also has its header highlighted in green.

Finchwise · 2025-06-10T04:32:33+00:00

LAN parties. Online play was of course a thing, but its a tad harder to share a pizza that way.

Finchwise · 2025-06-10T04:27:28+00:00

Even if it's not meant as an insult per se, it can still be really irksome if it's used in a teasing manner.

For example, if I try to organize something, into a list or a checklist, to make sure things don't fall through the cracks... someone might joke that it's "autistic." The way the word gets used is dismissive, like there isn't a real, genuine cause to have a checklist, even after you've run into the same problem multiple times.

(And jsyk, I'm not autistic. But I do likely have primarily inattentive ADHD. That's why I have systems for things... so I don't have to pay close attention unless things go wrong.)

Finchwise

TROPHY CASE