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zlatiah

@ zlatiah @lemmy.world

Posts
118
Comments
248
Joined
1 yr. ago

Ask me about:

  • Science (biology, computation, statistics)
  • Gaming (rhythm, rogue-like/lite, other generic 1-player games)
  • Autism & related (I have diagnosis)
  • Bad takes on philosophy
  • Bad takes on US political systems & more US stuff

I'm not knowledgeable about most other things

  • What are some online courses or tutorials that you found helpful and practical?

    Jump

  • Extremely niche, but https://iidx.org/

    This is a single guide that teaches you everything you need to know about how to play Beatmania IIDX, a fun but brutally difficult arcade game. Guide covers everything from setting up a new player profile to clearing the hardest skill challenge in the game, and even includes some music theory

    I can't think of anything more helpful than this in terms of relative scale...

  • What car did you learn to drive in?

    Jump

  • I don't remember, I wasn't very into cars at that moment... I just know it was a pretty common car brand among taxis in an economically backwards part of China, so most likely a budget Chinese or Korean brand. Also it was a stick shift

  • As someone in stem who has never felt smarter than anyone how do you justify your sucess?

    Jump

  • In STEM specifically? STEM field in particular is somewhat known for fostering Imposter Syndromes... Most people are smart enough, I wouldn't sweat it too much

  • What's the best thing that happened to you this week?

    Jump

  • The best thing... depending on how I ask I guess. Either the day trip I made to two nearby towns (one of which is a rather well-known tourist spot) on Sunday despite the rainy weather, or the fact that weather rose to 20 C yesterday & was sunny so I made a nice stroll in the city

  • What’s your favorite city or region?

    Jump

  • Not very well traveled yet but at the moment... either Prague/Praha in Czechia or Ljubljana in Slovenia probably

    Both are pleasant places with beautiful architecture, all kinds of natural scenery as someone who has only lived in flat cities (mountains AND rivers in my city??). Bonus point that Prague has dirt-cheap beer that even comes in alcohol-free variety, Ljulbljana has a ridiculous amount of hiking trails and is within day-trip distance to some of the most beautiful scenery in Europe

  • How come in American classrooms they make another language an elective. Why not teach our kids as many languages possible that way if we go somewhere we will kind of have uper hand?

    Jump

  • I think this is a matter of the microeconomics concept of "scarce resources"? It'd be lovely if everyone in the US learns at least Spanish. But school can only teach a limited number of subjects, so in the US where most people don't need to use anything other than American English, it might be argued that it is more beneficial to spend more time on, say, STEM and history, rather than getting kids to learn Spanish/German/Chinese... I guess there are foreign language electives for that reason? They are still highly valuable after all

    Besides, learning and teaching a foreign language is hard lol. China used to (I've heard rumors that some places changed, not 100% sure) require mandatory English education from 1st grade elementary... social issues with the English teacher expats aside, the English literacy rate in China still looks like that. There are even multilingual countries in Europe where a good number of people struggle to learn/speak the other national languages so... Even if the US wants to do it, it's not that straightforward

  • Is your life better or worse than your parents (I mean specifically your parents, not your parent's generation)? (Specify country)

    Jump

  • China. Much, much better, but it's a bit unfair to compare someone who grew up in a typical modern society to someone who grew up in time of extreme poverty, subsistence farming, and famine...

    Although, my parents did go to better universities & got better careers right off the bat due to a lack of educated ppl back in their days

  • How did you feel when you turned 18? Did you do anything special?

    Jump

  • Not a party, but my parents took me around to meet and dine with a few of their friends (mostly somewhat accomplished folks) as a farewell of sorts. I got sent to the US for college 2 months later and basically never had a chance to go back home in 10 years so

  • science @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    Turning on the ‘for you’ feed on X shifted political opinions, but turning it off did not

    www.nature.com /articles/d41586-026-00486-z

  • How did you learn to cook?

    Jump

  • I... never learned how to cook properly. Parents did cook all meals at home but only knew how to cook things about as delicious as your average Northern Europe staple, so the only thing I was taught was how to cook rice... but I do not like rice 💀

    Out of convenience I ended up just throwing everything in a pot and make sure they are well-cooked, do meal-prep, and eat the same food over and over again; personally don't mind so it works for me. If it is not enough taste, just throw in some olive oil and spice, if not good enough more spice, if still not good enough add MORE spice, usually works out quite well & is quite healthy

  • What tourist destinations do you think are NOT overrated?

    Jump

  • Can you touch type?

    Jump

  • Yes. Parents made me learn touch-typing with QWERTY when I was growing up

    I actually made the effort to switch to Colemak-DH less than a year ago. Because getting a properly labelled Colemak-DH keyboard is so difficult (my laptop keys are still QWERTY layout), I... basically forced myself to learn how to touch type in like 2-3 months. Still can't do the multilingual symbols very well (I always forget where the ^/circumflex is...), but I think I have a >98% accuracy on everything else

    Unfortunately I forgot how to touch type with QWERTY after learning the new setup...

  • Can you touch type?

    Jump

  • Oh my god the AZERTY... I naively tried it out for like a week or two and quickly gave up on the idea. The numbers and symbols being the reverse of QWERTY was just way too much of a headache, especially for programming. Unfortunately workplace requires all work computers to have AZERTY so

  • If you were able to magically learn any language that nobody speaks in your region, what would it be?

    Jump

  • Define "nobody", because there are over 100 languages spoken at fluent level or above by at least a few ppl where I live

    If we ignore the technicalities... Polish. Spoken by a lot of people, quite difficult to learn & would be a good priority target for magically learning it, and hopefully a good gateway to the rest of the Slavic languages

  • science @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    Exercise rewires the brain — boosting the body’s endurance

    www.nature.com /articles/d41586-026-00414-1

  • "We'll just take a look" - a classic (not my kitties)

    Jump

  • This legitimately happened to one of my former colleagues 🤣 Told them where the largest local shelter is, and next thing I knew boom they had 2 cats in their apartment one week later

  • Is there a culture/country that doesn't have sarcasm in its language?

    Jump

  • I guess Japanese really doesn't have in-your-face sarcasm now that I think about it...

    Now that you mentioned it, Japanese also has a rather interesting quirk of not having what most people would consider as "swear words". Read it somewhere that Japanese does have swear words, but they tend to be quite tame, and the words themselves aren't "taboo" (as compared to just about any swear word in English)

  • In your opinion, what is the best brand of cell phones in terms of quality and price today?

    Jump

  • For the average person it is probably Xiaomi: made in China, and even by Chinese phone standards it seems well known for its low cost and high build quality

    However as a lemming and someone who has a Xiaomi gifted by parents and hated everything they crammed in the OS... How do you define a "best" brand of cell phone when there are barely 3 usable brands (Google Pixel for GrapheneOS, Fairphone, ...)

  • For those who tried to enter the dating pool, how did it go?

    Jump

  • I know this is not c/casualconversation but OP you gave me an opportunity to share the funniest dating story I have ever heard of, from first-hand experience unfortunately. This was in middle/late 2023

    I... am not that great. Pretty mediocre looks, Asian guy (there's research on this lol) in the US, and the Autism is very strong... so I only ever got 2 matches, neither of which worked out. One of them was particularly brutal because we talked on the app for a whole month, finally met in a coffee shop... and I immediately got ghosted afterwards. I think at that point (2 mo) Hinge started only showing me ppl I have already seen so I deleted the app. However

    The person I talked for a month with mentioned a local arcade that I didn't think much of. Later in 2023 I decided to visit, on 2023-12-09... and holy shit they have all my favorite games, and they even had a DDR (technically ITG) cab and a maimai cab that are basically workouts. I instantly signed up for the monthly membership (which was way cheaper than a gym) and started going there at least 3 times a week, probably for like 3-4 hours at once. That was literally what got me through the end of grad school

    I still have a picture I took the first time I went of a Sound Voltex cab (6th gen, "EXCEED GEAR") and how I got destroyed on a song I would now do as a warmup routine... which is why I knew the exact date I visited the arcade btw, the picture is timestamped

    So what was I typing. No dating pool isn't great

  • I am looking for a Linux OS

    Jump

  • I play a lot of games over steam

    If my main concern is playing game with Steam, most mainstream Linux OSes should be fine. If I have to pick one... Linux Mint is very beginner-friendly, and I've heard great things about Bazzite too. SteamOS works flawlessly with Steam out of the box (owns Steam Deck, can verify), but I don't know how easy it is to set up by yourself

    If you happen to also like non-Steam games: a lot of them can be added as a custom application/game via your Steam Library, which does most of the heavy-lifting: you only have to specify which compatibility layer to use & sometimes do keymapping. Setting up wine on its own is not for the faint-hearted

    I personally use Arch because AUR (a user-uploaded repository, a lot of popular Linux OSes have their own versions) makes it easy to play a lot of FOSS games... but I can't recommend Arch Linux for beginners

  • science @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    More than one-third of cancer cases are preventable, massive study finds

    www.nature.com /articles/d41586-026-00333-1
  • science @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    Many people have no mental imagery. What’s going on in their brains? - A Nature news feature on aphantasia

    www.nature.com /articles/d41586-026-00311-7
  • Deleted

    Permanently Deleted

    Jump

  • As a kid I dead-pan told my mom that I'd like to be a "white-collar office worker. Because I wanted somewhat of a predictable routine without too much unexpected things happening

    Considering that this is already my second postdoc (somewhat of a scientist training... intern... thing) "job" (no employment contract btw) within 2 years of my graduation, during which I have moved twice including once across a continent, and once getting work-related anxiety so bad I got sick for a month... I think young me's plan is preferable at this point

  • science @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    Can ‘toxic masculinity’ be measured? Scientists try to quantify controversial term

    www.nature.com /articles/d41586-026-00144-4
  • World News @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    High-speed train crash in southern Spain leaves 39 dead

    www.theguardian.com /world/2026/jan/18/high-speed-train-crash-in-adamuz-cordoba-southern-spain
  • science @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    Can’t get motivated? This brain circuit might explain why — and it can be turned off

    www.nature.com /articles/d41586-026-00062-5
  • science @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    “Gifted word learner” dogs can pick up new words by overhearing their owners’ talk

    www.science.org /doi/10.1126/science.adq5474
  • Ask Lemmy @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    When/how frequently do you replace your phone with a new one?

  • science @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    Video-call glitches trigger uncanniness and harm consequential life outcomes

  • Showerthoughts @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    It's quite impressive that most English speakers across the world understand each other, despite variations in accents/dialects

  • science @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    AI chatbots can persuade voters to change their minds

    www.nature.com /articles/d41586-025-03733-x
  • Ask Lemmy @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    How does trash collection/recycling work where you live, and do you like the system?

  • No Stupid Questions @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    Is there an optimal home/apartment size that most people would be happy with?

  • Ask Lemmy @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    People who are learning a foreign language: what are you learning & how is it going?

  • science @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    A modest increase in physical activity can delay cognitive decline by three years — or more

    www.nature.com /articles/d41586-025-03596-2
  • Ask Lemmy @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    People who prepared costumes for Halloween: how much money/effort did you put in it?

  • science @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    Rats filmed snatching bats from air for first time

    www.science.org /content/article/rats-filmed-snatching-bats-air-first-time
  • science @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    AI sycophancy (excessively agreeing with user) is pervasive and harmful for people who seek advice from AIs

    arxiv.org /abs/2510.01395
  • Ask Lemmy @lemmy.world
    zlatiah @lemmy.world

    Do you use a system-default or a custom wallpaper for your personal computer? If custom, what kind of wallpaper & why?