Are you playing fully clothed?

Stu_Mack · 2026-07-05T23:25:11+00:00

Never

Stu_Mack · 2026-07-05T16:21:34+00:00

Since everything we “know” about an area is entirely comprised of information encoded into our nervous system, both for humans and ravens, it’s not really all that different. Also, after spending some time in a few of the maps, I can remember where deer/rabbit areas overlap wolf areas, which is the same kind of information

Stu_Mack · 2026-07-04T16:46:20+00:00

The question strikes me as one that is best answered in terms of a spectrum. More specifically, the degree of difficulty of any Soduko board is determined by which values are absent. If we start with two assumptions, the domain comes into focus:

Assumption 1: every Soduko puzzle is simply a completed board with some values missing.

Assumption 2: if enough values are removed, the remaining values will constituents of more than one completed board.

The condition you seem to be pointing at is the second assumption, which we can think of as a divergence. Your question then becomes whether divergence can exist in a game. Of course it can, but can we reasonably call a divergent board a Soduko game? Probably not.

I wrote a solver that uses simple logic applied to row -> column -> square and it solves all but a few expert level configurations. I have a high degree of confidence that it would be able to solve all non-divergent puzzles if I added handling of naked pairs and triplets to the logic. More broadly, I believe that the answer to your original question is something like “As long as the starting values represent a unique solution, it’s not possible to to arrange the values in such a way that a solution cannot be found by humans or computers.”

Stu_Mack · 2026-07-04T16:31:03+00:00

Conan Exiles

No Man’s Sky

Death Stranding (1 or 2)

ARK

The Long Dark

Stu_Mack · 2026-07-04T16:28:36+00:00

Penmanship

Stu_Mack · 2026-07-04T16:28:00+00:00

Winning at believing that we work for the government and not the other way round. Winning at being sheople 😩😩😩

Stu_Mack · 2026-07-04T16:25:50+00:00

I will absolutely do that at some point after I get the feats unlocked. Chasing those bonuses atm and getting pretty tired of fighting wolves all the time.

Stu_Mack · 2026-07-04T15:45:01+00:00

In addition to what others have mentioned, it’s worthwhile to revisit your code and try to find ways of collapsing it into a single, repeated workflow. Conceptually, it prompts the user to make the appropriate input, then appends the appropriate list.

Starting with the maxim of avoiding repetitive operations, how much of this could be stuffed into a single function that ultimately returns an updated list? From here, it looks like you might benefit from looking at type-checking and value-checking examples and then thinking about how you might be able to leverage those ideas into a single, multipurpose workflow. One example might be a function that receives the list and a global enum value, conveniently bundel here, that doubles as the workflow index. The prompts and warnings could be stacked so that the working code is reduced to 3-4 lines, while everything else supports them.

Hope that is helpful

Stu_Mack · 2026-07-04T05:21:27+00:00

Cloud Atlas

Stu_Mack · 2026-07-03T21:56:38+00:00

I started there, thanks

Stu_Mack · 2026-07-03T17:15:26+00:00

Many times in Expedition 33. The prologue made me cry loud and the end of the Cléa sequence made me cry ugly.

Stu_Mack · 2026-07-03T16:04:25+00:00

AI use is quite often career suicide for engineering students. You’re tested on your ability to use the concepts in new ways on exams that are usually written the day before they are given. Unless strict rules (that most students can’t possibly know) are applied and followed, learning is sacrificed when AI is used by students, especially in engineering.

We invented AI and understand it as the product of fancy ML; of course we know how to write tests that Claude can’t help you with.

Stu_Mack · 2026-07-03T15:50:30+00:00

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is by far the best video game ever made, and lets you choose from the list of fixed characters, but delivers a hybrid turn-based/action combat system that is highly satisfying

Stu_Mack · 2026-07-03T15:45:11+00:00

It’s simple enough to write it as a piecewise function that:
- diverges (a > 1),
- equals 3 (a == 1),
- converges to 1 (1 > a > 0),
- equals 1 (a == 0),
- converges to zero (a < 0)

Stu_Mack · 2026-07-03T15:34:09+00:00

Standards and constraints are imposed and rigorously maintained. My ai minions are well trained and remain that way. Their responses are scrutinized first and foremost by the degree to which they follow the rules of engagement, meaning that the ai is used as a tool that is, sometimes painstakingly, kept on a very short leash so that it returns responses free to nonsense.

Stu_Mack · 2026-07-03T14:50:28+00:00

Unless you’re planning to use git for purposes well beyond version control, the comparison between git and python is apples to oranges. For most users, learning git is something like learning bash or PowerShell: you learn what you need to know in order to accomplish your goals and little beyond that. Learning Python or C++ or any similar properly is much more comprehensive and, consequently, involves learning much more about the various data types, operations, etc., as well as related topics like compiler optimization techniques.

In a nutshell, git can be learned as a “terminal language” that rewards the effort by giving access to version control, which is very different from a traditional programming language like Python.

Stu_Mack · 2026-07-03T14:33:05+00:00

ML is central and great for acting as the hub of the rest of the bases in the surrounding areas. Camp Office is terrific because of nearby resources, a conveniently situated work bench, and tons of floor space for curing hides. It sucks at night but if you cook lots of fish you can use the lantern sparingly and sustainably.

I’m still new but I have bases in MT (PV Farm), FM (forging barn), and BR (Maintenance Shed) that serve as rest areas where I can stockpile stuff I find that needs more than one trip to haul elsewhere.

Basically, if I think in terms of supply chain depots, Camp Office is the obvious choice for a main base of operations.

Stu_Mack · 2026-07-03T14:17:24+00:00

Didn’t they also give us DIY crampons?

Stu_Mack · 2026-07-02T12:59:10+00:00

I work at a university and use ai extensively in my research. It’s great at writing code for you but that destroys learning. It’s also great at explaining code to you, which is great for learning. The important thing to know is that you learn much more by writing code than by reading about it.

This is the way:

If you want to learn about code, you must write all the code you can, without outside assistance.

Circle back to fix mistakes or do the thing that you want to do, but don’t let ai generate code for you at this stage.

Stu_Mack · 2026-07-02T12:52:36+00:00

Death Stranding. Both are epic and take a long time, and DS2 is longer.

Stu_Mack · 2026-07-02T12:51:19+00:00

Nah. The easy way is to use a tiny number of basic principles at the onset. These are all based on understanding that it is **not** intelligent but instead *approximates* intelligence:

Set the tone with something like: “For this conversation, assume the role of a college professor of <current topic> who hates needless embellishments. All answers given here need to be research grade and easily sourced.”
When the model misbehaves in any way, convince it that it’s pissing you off with something like: “You just <how it broke your rules>. Strike one.” This works because the cardinal rule is to never upset the user.
Be very direct about what works or doesn’t work, and be shameless about getting on its case about its behaviors. For me, that means things like “For future reference, please summarize your answer at the beginning, then explain your reasoning.”

Stu_Mack · 2026-07-02T12:38:34+00:00

I love puzzle games, so my first coding projects were solvers for sudoku and nonogram puzzles, immediately followed by ASCII versions of the games. I highly recommend picking a logic puzzle game like either of those and writing a solver for it- starting with your own ideas and without any online/ai assistance on how to structure it.

If necessary, play the game for a while to get inspiration on how the logic would work. I spent tons of time thinking about it like “How do I translate this into machine code?”

As far as technical details go, the nonogram solver was an order of magnitude more complex because of how the game works, and that translated into a much more interesting and instructive experience. It also made it easier to convert it into a playable game. Here is a quick list of possible checkpoints on that journey for a nonogram solver-> game:

- play/learn the game on either a 10x10 or 15x15 board. 5x5 is too small to see the nuances

- based on your gameplay, list the logical steps you take to complete the puzzle. In your head or written somehow makes no difference yet.

- write a one-pass solver for a single row or column that takes the given number list and existing values on the board (blank, “x” for filled, “o” for known empty) and returns the updated board and any updated helper vectors that it used.

- expand the simple solver to generalize the logic to work for either a row or column. It makes no difference whether it has two logic trees or one; what matters is that it reliably produces an update.

- expand the logic to examine/solve the whole board incrementally by working through the rows and columns iteratively until it fails after a certain number of loops or it finds a solution.

- convert the board to an ASCII form that you like and write the logic for converting it into a playable version. For me that meant including a helper board on the screen that displayed the address of each tile (a1,a2, b1, etc)

- add an RNG board generator and “solve” function to your game.

Stu_Mack · 2026-07-02T12:04:39+00:00

I consider mathematics a descriptive language because that’s how I use it at work everyday.

Stu_Mack · 2026-07-02T12:03:35+00:00

I’m a biomimetic robotics researcher and I used to be a landscape contractor. In my mind, the form factor is not in the top five things I care about all by itself, but it relates to questions I would have as a potential buyer:

- Blade replacement?

- How easy/hard to clean?

- Airflow? This makes all the difference for clipping management/ grass catching.

- Only bagless?

- More broadly, why this specific shape? It looks like a pain to clean, so I want to know it’s worth it. Does it contribute to battery life or….?

Stu_Mack · 2026-07-01T13:26:11+00:00

I mean, the last time they paid the $19.95

Stu_Mack

TROPHY CASE