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Like, why wouldn't people be interested in knowing that the African slave trade of the colonial period actually started with Jewish kids, but they all died in the African climate of Sao Tome, so the Portuguese started buying slaves from the Congolese, which they captured from neighboring tribes, to work the fields??
I always feel like I'm boring when I'm hanging out with my friends and family, because my interests aren't interesting to anyone else. I can talk about From The New World for hours. Ask me about how to build an SSTO in Kerbal Space Program. Wanna talk about astronomy? I could show you how to pick a lock! How about a Rubik's Cube? Wanna play D&D? I can help you pick a class, and walk you through what each one can do! Do you wanna see one of the things I've programmed Tasker to do? Are you sure? That Subnautica GPS is my greatest achievement in life!
Uhhh... Yeah, ok, let's talk about that country song everyone's obsessed with I guess
Please tell me more about tasker and the subnautica GPS!
I wrote about it on that other website a couple years ago, I'll link to archives of my posts there
Here's what I submitted to the Subnautica forum
Here's what I submitted to the Tasker forum
Tasker is an Android application that lets you automate many different things. One of its features is setting variables for use in your tasks–for example, I have a task sets the variable %Wallpaper to a random number between 1 and 152, and sets my phone wallpaper to DCIM/Backgrounds/%Wallpaper.png every time I turn on my screen, because I don't want to stay married to one specific wallpaper
You can also do math with variables, which allowed me to program the trilateration algorithm on this webpage into Tasker. All you need to input is your current depth, and your distance to each of three specific landmarks (oceanmarks?), and it'll do all the complicated squaring and adding and subtracting for you, and then give you a notification with your approximate coordinates–in testing, it's usually accurate to within about 10 meters, which is more than accurate enough for us to see whatever we're looking for.
I wish I could actually understand why the squaring and adding and subtracting gives you accurate coordinates, but you don't got to know what baking powder does to make good bread, you just gotta follow the recipe!
You've got me curious about this now too lol. I work with games and love this kind of thing. I'll know more once I'm not trying to do research on a phone, but the squaring part looks like just a distance formula (A^2 + B^2 = C^2). My very rough guess with the subtracting and adding is you're basically doing vector math but I'm unsure. I can respond or edit later as I find out more.
Do you mean Pythagoras theorem?
I know what the Pythagorean theorem is, I implemented it in the program to account for differences in depth because trilateration with three known points only works in 2 dimensions.
It's stuff like this
https://www.101computing.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/trilateration-formula-2.png
And this
https://www.101computing.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/trilateration-formula-3a.png
That I can't quite wrap my head around
It represents each circle as an equation that is only true when x and y are on the circle. By requiring that all three equations are true, you can find all points that are on all three circles.
You can either convince yourself that three circles can only intersect at one point or you can use the fact that two variables and three independent equations means that there are zero or one solutions that satisfy all equations.
You could actually even make a system that only needs two distances (and the depth)! Two circles can only intersect at two points, so you just need to figure out which one of the two you are. That can be done by looking at which of the landmarks is on the left when looking towards them.
Now the really difficult thing here is to figure out why this works even with inaccurate inputs, as the math presented on the site assumes that everything is perfectly accurate.
You can actually formulate different ways of computing the position that differ in how they react to measurement error. One way to investigate that is to take the derivative wrt. to one of the radii.
This resonated with me because I once did the same thing but in 3d and with magnetic field strength instead of distance. I never found a satisfying solution because magnetic fields are capsule-shaped rather that spherical. The shape is described by a 4th degree equation, so its exact solution is too large to be useful and the whole system of equations cannot be solved symbolically.
I hope that didn't get too intimidating.
Ha dude, I'm always happy to listen to people who make me go "Did they just write this for me or something?" There's plenty of niche things people will just ignore or seem disinterested in, it's good to look and probe around so don't feel too disheartened or discouraged. I've become a recluse over the years and relent giving up on people for so long because some people merge/find their cliques, there's no healthy way to force yourself into a group without compromising what makes you happy. I think everything you mentioned is awesome, and I feel the same way!
Please message or something if you want! 😎
Just because you mentioned KSP and have been having fun with SSTOs recently, feel free to join the KSP community here too! There's people who look for these communities and probably feel put off by it being a fairly new group from the lacks a lot huge activity, but posting would help encourage and really bring people together to show their work without it being competitive or so "established"! There's posts from people who deserve being able to discuss their work or look at others already on there, I don't want yours or their hard effort in the game and experience to be for nothing! Doesn't have to be anything amazing, often people's best work are the ones they haven't felt ready to share/post so no judging! :)
https://lemmy.world/c/ksp
Hi there! Looks like you linked to a Lemmy community using a URL instead of its name, which doesn't work well for people on different instances. Try fixing it like this: !ksp@lemmy.world
you should join our Matrix chat! we were talking about Kerbal Space Program yesterday 🧑🚀🚀🌕 and one of the users was brainstorming for a D&D session as GM.
I can't say for sure it's the song you mean, but rich men north of Richmond has suddenly popped into my feed and it's a damn good song. It really resonates with me about working to death just to survive.
To be clear, I'd love to listen to your special interests as well. It was just a funny coincidence you mentioned a country song everyone is obsessed with on the same day I came across it too
God I wish. Thank you for bringing that up!
Unfortunately the country song I'm referencing is the one my right-wing family has been obsessed with. Something about a small town, performed by a man raised in a city with a 6 figire population, who spent his summers in a Miami suburb.
From the New World is a sleeper anime that impacted me on a profoundly deep level, and no one. ever. talks. about it. The beautifully alien way it examines the human condition is entrancing. It's commentary is so wide spread yet maintains depth and respect for the subject matter at the same time. The fact that the original novel never got translated may one day drive me to learn Japanese. You're right, it's the world who's wrong
There is a completed fan translation. https://cadetnine.wordpress.com/
You're a true hero! I never even thought to check for 3rd party translations. But seriously, thank you for the link, it made my day
How does one get into lockpicking?
For me, it was watching a lot of Lockpicking Lawyer's videos, then ordering a $35 set of beginner picks. I went with Southord's PXS 14 set,, but honestly I usually only use the standard short hook, the diamond, and the twisty tension wrench. My favorite tension wrench by far is Sparrows top-of-keyway heavy bar, specifically the rounded one on the left.
I'm not being paid by Southord or Sparrows, so order them from wherever you want, just don't get the cheap chinesium ones off of Wish or something.
Then just get some cheap padlocks from Walmart or something, and take a crack at it! Sometimes you'll find a lock that you can't quite pick, but for the most part the cheaper locks are easy
You can also buy fancy-pants clear padlocks on the internet. I've never used one, so I can't make any actual recommendations. I've heard they're really useful for helping you understand what your hands are feeling
Look into the laws in your area, but generally in the US it's totally legal to keep a set of picks at home. Here in Kansas, I'm allowed to keep a set on me all the time unless I commit a crime.
Oh thank you so much for taking the time to write all this up for me! Super fascinating stuff, I think this might be one of my next special interests