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Joshua Kronengold

@mnemex.bsky.social
215 followers 105 following 1.4K posts

Joshua Kronengold; software developer, sf fan/conrunner, game designer, musician, filker, harper, fiddler. Opinions are my own.

PostsRepliesMedia
Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Yes. Plus, highlighting the horrors of the Shoah and those of American slavery aren't in conflict. They are almost literally the same picture and the same people who proudly proclaimed their antisemitism/Jew-hate and were responsible for the Camps thought slavery was dandy.
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Ok, I've read this and it looks amazing (glitter and all) but I'm not sure how you can roll to find out one of your allies has been making eyes at YOUR ex and potentially be filled with murderous rage. Probably a GM move on a 6- roll to set that up?
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Particularly if their training set includes descriptions of and use of spooky mechanics. What's positively unlikely that they would be able to -hack- through similar obscure techniques, since the target machine isn't going to be listening on them.
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Still somewhat implausible (and why are the air-gapped machines next to one another?) but it's not inconceivable that -two- AI machines that are trying to coordinate with other machines nearby would use "spooky" mechanics if they can't find, say, an unlocked scratchpad to talk through.
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
The Fleidermouse!
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
What, even the Glitter?
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Awesome! I looked at the article and thought "I want to play at least 2/3 of this!"
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
That's genius. Pulling a HD descendant of Betamax would be a tech nightmare. Mind, I don't know how different it would actually be rather than converging -- the main places VCR and Beta differed were in color separation, but Beta also had more fidelity so descendant might compress less.
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I do, but I roleplay more on a Fiasco session than our Slow Knife session, so I think it's an arguable point.
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
D&D5 Merryshire Detective Agency (bonus: The Slow Knife. Is this a TTRPG?) Agents of the Night (homebrew gumshoe hack) Scum & Villainy
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Yeah, one of the things I loved about the 4e Leader is that it reframes both the OOC tactician and the IC healer/buffer into a person that can give people -mechanical- nudges to fit their tactical intuition--thus avoiding either being an agency-less bag of "help" or an OOC busybody.
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Except, of course, for carbon steel, which is good for different pots than cast iron but still an excellent choice (and also is oil polymer-seasoned). Stainless steel seems to be solid for saucepots and other boiling and/or steaming pots, but doesn't hold up well to high heats.
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Makes sense. But the context does still seem somewhat confusing to me. Of course, many -other- tropes names do originate on TVtropes, which is, well, useful (but people will still misuse the site, particularly the "it's a trope therefore it's bad" crowd).
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Original is gone, but yeah, we're another from the land of "season your cast iron properly and you can use soap. If soap damages your seasoning noticably you haven't seasoned enough". And more, that the whole point of cast iron is that it's way more durable and reparable than other options.
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Which is that TVtropes is just doing literary criticism/theory. Sure, it's doing it in a very popular way, but the concept, and both the use and misuse of same have existed for a very long time. We need theory to understand what media are doing. And yeah, it will also get misused. But so what?
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
"Plot hole" long predates TVTropes. Without doing any serious research, I can find a book reference in 1997, and this redit page has references from the early 20th C: www.reddit.com/r/etymology/... Which doesn't impact the definition in plot hole. But, it does point out something important.
reddit.com
Where does the phrase Plot Hole come from? : r/etymology
385K subscribers in the etymology community. Discussing the origins of words and phrases, in English or any other language.
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Oh, this reminds me! I need to find and reattach my disc knife! Which normally hangs on my keychain, but -- LA! Flying! Not to have a nice tiny knife confiscated! (the metal pens are fortunately never a problem, but I think I don't have the space pen in my EDC).
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Wowow how high -are- those ceilings? We have weirdly tall ceilings for a NY apartment (10.5 at some points) but those look considerably more up there. Our are, mostly, covered in books.
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
We have faith in you!
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
In the BM they said they'd be announcing them in closing ceremonies (just looked at the youtube: youtu.be/-41WqgTgYT0?...) Ok, it's at 23:23 in closing ceremonies (viewable to members on the portal from the schedule): The Mystery Guests are: Cory Doctorow Linda D. Addison Well, ok then!
youtu.be
WSFS Business Meeting - Site Selection
YouTube video by LAcon V
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
When governments act on a market, it's important their actions not unfairly favor a dominant player, but instead leave the market relatively balanced to increase competition and favor the public interest.
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Makes sense. For strings, there's another reason, too -- the half-sized and quarter-sized instruments suitable for small hands are something they're going to grow out of; no point in buying an expensive instrument they're going to need to pass on.
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Also, the LA Times (same puzzle), which unlike the WaPo, actually works on Firefox.
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
I learned violin growing up (still play), but that wasn't a school thing; it was a "when your dad's a pianist and you're mom's a violist, you're gonna learn a in instrument. Or at least try one out; my siblings both got thrown at instruments (7 and 10 years later) but opted out.
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
I had a friend, much missed, who test-drove a car over to my place and had me put my 38 string lever harp in the car, to test whether it was suitable for giving me a lift. It was incredibly sweet.
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
We had plastic ones in the late 70s and early 80s. I think they switched over as soon as the plastic ones became viable; we certainly had some growing pains with the teacher not being sure what tuning the recorders they'd ordered used.
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Beginner trumpets might be closer to 3x a beginner recorder, but I don't know much about pricing there.
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Non-scam new violins start at around $300. The instrument is just much more complicated than a recorder, plus (except for electric), you've got to make it out of wood, whereas the cheap recorders are all plastic and good enough for the purpose. A better comparison is a uke.
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
It's not really comparable. A school-playable soprano recorder is like $8 a pop. Sure, you can get a nicer recorder for, say, $30, but once you start spending too much more than that you're talking professional grade (at which point, sure, $1200 is easily plausible.
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Everyone else calls them Proudfoots, though.
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Will you be inviting Proudfeet?
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X8F... for a third perspective.
youtube.com
My Brother, My Enemy
YouTube video by Sassafrass - Topic
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Paranoia was expressly created as a way to avoid entrenched player/PC power as a theory of design, and it shows. Someone's being a dick? Laser pistol.
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
"The familiar isn't forcing someone to make a saving throw--the wand is." It's quite clear that the intent is that the familiar's DC for abilities and spells is yours, not that they get this extra special DC setting thing that overrides things that don't normally take the users's DC.
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
People: You can't just post one line from a song and expect everyone to know the song Me: Why are there
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Some people have apartments with balconies, some don't. (mine does not). There are all sorts of solutions, from buildings offering garages (for a fee), to the section of the basement dedicated to a bike rack in the building where I grew up (I've visited since and it's gone now).
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
There are people who bike daily in the city, but it's probably not that uncommon. Citibike is easy bike and ebike rental, and the city has adding bike paths over time, but traffic is brutal, bike paths are partial, and if you own a bike you have to worry about theft. And where you keep one?
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Well, you can bring internet (and on some airlines the internet is free!). Flights are cheaper! Maybe not by dollar value, but factoring in inflation? Sure! Food? Well, yeah, way fewer free meals, but if you do pay for food it's fine. And also, of course, there's no smoking on planes!
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
And ok, so why didn't I include air travel? Because I think it's actually complicated. A lot of the experience has gotten worse -- security theater (but we do need to make sure planes don't get hijacked! Just...well.), tiered boarding, baggage fees, free meals. On the other hand? Well.
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Honestly, it's way easier to list stuff that got worse since the 90s. Um. Wealth disparity, obviously. Republicans. I mean, I wasn't a fan in the 90s, but there were so many mainstream reasonable positions in the 90s that are dead now. Russia. Russia was kinda Ok 40 years ago, surprisingly. EOL?
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Role-playing games. Games of all sort, really. Much better, varied, and more interesting. Computers are way better. Sure, enshitification and the AI garbage-makers are troubling, but all the stuff before that was great. Friends all over the world, free long distance, even video! Electric cars!
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
I rode a bike for the first time in 39 years yesterday. mneme.dreamwidth.org/99878.html#c...
mneme.dreamwidth.org
Captcha Check
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Jareth is incredibly selfless compared to the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair. Looked at in totality, he's one of the kinder depictions of the Fey more or less everywhere.
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
"Everything that you wanted I have done. You asked that the child be taken. I took him. You cowered before me, I was frightening. I have reordered time. I have turned the world upside down, and I have done it all for you. I am exhausted from living up to your expectations." Indeed.
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
I mean, isn't that basically Portal except that Portal is a FPS, not a RPG?
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Reposted by Joshua Kronengold
rahaeli @rahaeli.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
This story is amazing
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Please do not clean your palate with a palette cleanser. Fortunately, pallets are notably less senstive.
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Yep! I mean, Mistborn's Lord Ruler is actively terrible and also right about quite a lot of things, but still needs to be deposed.
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Reposted by Joshua Kronengold
Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · 30/07/2026
Let’s be clear here, when scientists say mistakes were made at the start of the pandemic, we DO NOT mean that we did too much. We mean not socially distancing quickly enough, not making tests widely available, and not acknowledging COVID is airborne and distributing N95 masks to everyone.
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Joshua Kronengold @mnemex.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
It's pretty growly on the second chorus, but until the backup vocals come in.
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