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> for an image feed website I used to be shocked at how poorly images were downscaled, maybe that's changed

It has not, still garbage.

> Their ideology is something like the Wokism of Discworld, a deadening, stifling, faceless force of intersectional lifelessness.

What? Do words even have meaning anymore? How is that anything to do with being "woke"?

ben_on OpenTTD is an open source simulation game based upon Transport Tycoon Deluxe

Recently played on the yearly Jingle Jam charity stream, great game! https://www.jinglejam.co.uk/

ben_on Make It Yourself

As cool as this is, it seems a bit bare? Titles/descriptions are hidden away at the bottom of each page and all the renders are plain black and white (which makes me ask why pdf anyway?) without detailing purpose or use (where not obvious)

ben_on Show HN: If YouTube had actual channels

Very cool, I like the old school feel of watching whatever is on. That said I immediately noticed the lack of volume control, which IMO is essential.

ben_on The Typeset of Wall·E (2018)

Cool article but this first bit threw me off

> The interpunct is still in use today—it’s the official decimal point in British currency (£9·99)

When the linked wiki specifically points out that it isn't:

> In British typography, the space dot was once used as the formal decimal point.

ben_on ESP32 Drum Synth Machine

Look Mum No Computer[1] is the most creative and inspirational guy in this space IMO and he goes through much of his projects in further detail on his site.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER

ben_on ESP32 Drum Synth Machine

If you're looking for an open source version of the PO-33 (without the nifty little screen) there's the recently released zeptocore[1].

[1] https://zeptocore.com

ben_on ESP32 Drum Synth Machine

The delly is in an incredible piece of kit, especially now with the community firmware!

ben_on Launch HN: Soundry AI (YC W24) – Music sample generator for music creators

It really takes the soul out of making music. Why would you want a computer to design the sound for you? You don't learn anything, you can't honestly claim you made it or expressed yourself, and it won't truly be novel because the model is spewing out stuff based on what already exists.

ben_on Show HN: Improve cognitive focus in 1 minute

True, but this isn't really something the page author can address

ben_on [dead]

Love the pricing references

ben_on Fixing a broken smart cat feeder with ESP32

They're pretty great and compatible with most things. ESPHome [1] is a great resource for getting ESP32's working nicely with HA and you can find lots of projects using it to learn from.

You'll likely need to do soldering if you want to connect sensors, batteries and the like.

Personally I really like what SEEED Studio [2] does with their ESP32 boards and they have nice docs.

1. https://esphome.io/ 2. https://www.seeedstudio.com/home-assistant

ben_on Nothing works, everyone's mad, society is a pile of kindling waiting for a match

“If being woke means being worried about economic inequality, and racism, and discrimination against gay people, then I’m in. If it means being authoritarians, and policing language, and shutting up other people, then f*k that.”

This is a typically shallow take from Gervais

ben_on Firmware of Hardware DAW Synthstrom Deluge Is Now Open Source

Can't wait to see what the community builds, exciting times!

ben_on Retro Computer Museum

I suppose if someone was en route to visit Stonehenge or Avebury it could be tied in!

ben_on Deluge – sequencer, synthesizer and sampler – goes open source

As someone who owns a deluge and seems to know about this music community quite well, what do you think the prospects are for this to get a lot of active contributors? Do you see there being a lot of exciting improvements made?

Recently bought mine so very happy to hear this news!

ben_on Get started making music

You have anything to back this up? Seems like a stretch to say a weekend of training is all it takes

ben_on Recreating macOS’s Drift Screensaver with Rust and WASM

Was hoping someone had remade this for windows, great work!

ben_on A New Story for Stonehenge

I'd recommend anyone interested in visiting Stonehenge to also make a stop at Avebury - there are many more stones there that you can walk around and touch (without getting into trouble!)

ben_on The Framework is the most exciting laptop I've used

This site uses GNU Terry Pratchett and I appreciate that.

http://www.gnuterrypratchett.com/

ben_on What if I were 1% charged? (2013)

Excellent read, I'd recommend anyone that likes this to check out 'What If' by Randall Munroe (XKCD)

ben_on Redwood World – Pictures and Locations of Redwoods in the British Isles

You can always upload a photo to imgur (https://imgur.com/) and link it here

ben_on Why Don't Americans Use Bidets?

No such thing as "flushable" wipes, it's an advertising gimmick

ben_on The Framework Laptop

Swappable keyboard

ben_on The Framework Laptop