On the way out to the French Alps for a week of skiing, and we had enough air miles to upgrade to business class on the way out, so I’m sat in the lounge enjoying complimentary gin &
tonic and croissants. 10 in the morning, and I’m already buzzed: after a long and hectic few months, I’m really glad to be off on holiday!
Aaaand…. right before I left I put in an application for my boss’s job, which she vacated a few months ago. Should hear by the time I get back whether I’m being invited to interview,
so that’s exciting too!
Anyway: just wanted to share my excitement with my favourite MegaMasons. If I’m not online much this week, you’ll know why! Have a great week, folks: love you all!
I was elsewhere in Reddit when somebody made the claim that the space between the spiral arms of our galaxy aren’t empty,
but are simply filled with different kinds of stars (different luminoscities, etc.). I was skeptical, but other sources
claim that this is true, too. However, I can’t find any explanation as to why this might be the case.
Is our galaxy unusual in this regard? Is it that stars form throughout our galaxy, but matter ejected from the bar into the arms affects the type of stars seen there? Is this a
question of what forms where, or is it a clustering question? I honestly haven’t a clue, and I couldn’t find where this question had been asked before so I’m still
“in the dark”… unlike the ‘dark’ places in our galaxy!
A new version to support a certain new MegaLounge (thanks, /u/dystopika). Users who update MegaMegaMonitor without getting the most-recent data will
probably see the wrong icons for a few hours. Sorry! If you’re affected, (a) update or reinstall MegaMegaMonitor, then (b) click your GreaseMonkey or TamperMonkey icon and then
“MegaMegaMonitor: manually update user lists now” and you should be fine.
Adding this new feature was a drag, because my architecture’s not set up well to accommodate this kind of “mixed bag” of MegaLounge access. I’ll be revising my architecture to make
this a stronger, more-flexible tool going forwards, but until then there won’t be any “extra” lounges added. I’m talking to you, /r/MegaEarth!
E.g. with subreddits, I can view multiple ones at once with /r/aww+cows (for /r/aww and /r/cows), but I can’t find
a way to do the same for multiple people (I guessed that /u/ketralnis+spez might work, but it didn’t). Adding all of the requested people to my friends list
would work, but isn’t ideal. Any suggestions?
Edit: sorry – I might have just tagged ‘ketralnis’.
Turns out I shouldn’t code after I’ve been drinking. v0.50 will have not-worked for almost everybody, because I forgot what programming language I was writing in about half-way
through it and tried to use a feature that doesn’t exist. And then somehow managed to deploy it and not notice. Sorry.
v0.51 fixes it. It should work again. Sorry, sorry, sorry…
Sometimes I wonder why a film gets remade only to make it worse. The original Total Recall was a good film. Not a masterpiece by any stretch, but a clever, funny, action-packed (and
only slightly campy) romp through space and the human mind. Not so this remake – if you can see past the overused lens flares, here’s what you’ll learn about our future:
Cars, elevators, emergency exits, surgical equipment, and life in general will become less safe, not more, as we invent increasingly smart automated systems.
All common sense will be lost along the wayside: when faced with the opportunity to kill their enemy, both good guys and bad guys alike will prefer to give them another chance to
fight back. Again. And again.
Even though a nation is capable of building robots capable of working tirelessly and surviving in the inhospitable parts of the planet, they’re far more-likely to use those robots
to kill other humans working for them in the hospitable parts of the planet.
At some point in time, people will stop caring how practical their mobile phones are, and instead start using ones that require that you find a nearby window before you can use the
screen (which can then be seen by all the strangers near you).
Gravity turns out not to work like we think it does. Who knew!
If you can forgive the silly plot and unbelievable characters, the acting isn’t intolerable and the story’s “fun enough” that it’ll distract you for a while. Don’t expect miracles,
though: this film should have gone straight to DVD.
I’ve just made available version 0.50 of MegaMegaMonitor. Thanks to everybody who’s helped test it so far. This version removes the limitation on people who’re listed as approved
contributors to more than a hundred subreddits, like /u/Greypo. Well, it probably does that. Personally, I’m only an approved contributor for like 65
subreddits. Give it a go and let me know how you get on!
Those of you getting automatic updates should “just get” it within the next day or so, not that you care because it probably already works for you!
Your browser should automatically update to the latest version, but if it doesn’t then you can nudge it from your GreaseMonkey/TamperMonkey UserScripts list, or else you can reinstall it from the site.
v0.41 makes the following change:
MegaMegaMonitor icons no longer “disappear” when scrolling with NeverEndingReddit or when posting a new comment (or rather, they disappear but they come back again, now!).
MegaMegaMonitor is distributed as a UserScript: a piece of Javascript code that your web browser runs on a particular website (in this case, Reddit). Here’s what you need to do to
install it:
(note: you need to be part of the MegaLounge chain or a certain other MegaLounge to get any benefit from this tool)
If you manage to make it work on another platform, let us know how!
2. Install MegaMegaMonitor
Go to https://danq.me/megamegamonitor/ and click on the “Install MegaMegaMonitor” button. You’ll be asked for confirmation first – you’re welcome to
inspect the source code if you’re not sure whether or not you should trust it, but it’s pretty self-explanatory.
3. Know your place
As you browse Reddit, you’ll now see icons after people’s names. You can hover over them for a tooltip/more details, but here’s a summary of what they mean:
Black roman numeral on white background – this user has climbed the MegaLounge chain no higher than you have. The number indicates the highest level
they’ve reached; hover over it for the name of the MegaLounge they’ve attained.
White roman numeral on black background – the MegaLounge you’re in right now is the highest level attained by the user you’re looking it. They’d probably
appreciate a gilding, so if they’ve said something clever, give them some gold!
White roman numeral on red background with green “plus” sign – this user has climbed the MegaLounge chain higher than you have! The number (and tooltip)
shows the highest level you both have in common.
Other icons? – these should be self-explanatory to you. If you’re supposed to know what they mean, then you probably already know what they mean.
Limitations
Note that certain secret places on the MegaLounge chain are omitted for reasons of security. ‘Nuff said.
Oh, and it won’t work (or won’t work reliably) if you’re a contributor to more than a hundred different private subreddits. Sorry. If there’s demand, I’ll fix it.Fixed in 0.50.
And it’ll sometimes be inaccurate at the very highest echelons of the MegaLounge chain: new MegaLounges only get added to the plugin manually, as soon as I remember to do so.
The tool will only update the details of contributors once every day or two, to minimise the risk of hammering Reddit’s servers. Therefore, it can sometimes be out-of-date (but
usually not by more than 24 hours).
Current Known Bugs
If you add a comment to a page or scroll using NeverEndingReddit, all the icons might disappear until you refresh the page. Fixed in 0.41.
People whose highest lounge is /r/MegaLoungeX see “?” instead of “X+” when looking at people whose highest lounge is higher than that (may affect
others, too). Believed to be fixed: “manually update user lists” or wait 24 hours if you’re affected and it should be fine.
