#Software 3.5

[lightstar23]

Volkswagen VW ID3 | Ausführlicher Test und Kritikpunkte

In diesem Video teste ich den neuen Volkswagen ID.3 Facelift, der in dieser neuen Version seit Anfang 2023 auf dem Markt ist. Im Facelift hat Volkswagen einige Änderungen am Design und der Ausstattung vorgenommen. So ist der Kühlergrill nun geschlossen, die Scheinwerfer sind schmaler und die Rückleuchten sind neu gestaltet. Im Innenraum gibt es ein neues Lenkrad, ein größeres Infotainmentsystem…

[betwixtyiff]

Tbh I'm gonna go back to an iPhone

[wimjee]

Basiliek O.L.V. v/h Heilig Hart (reedit). by Wim Jacobs Via Flickr: Stadswandeling Sittard. Basiliek van Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van het Heilig Hart.

[robotbulls]

Beyond Digital Currency: How NFTs are Reshaping the Tech and Finance Worlds in 2023

In recent years, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have taken the tech and finance worlds by storm, with their ability to revolutionize various industries. While most people are familiar with the basic concept of NFTs - unique digital tokens that represent ownership of a digital asset - there are many lesser-known aspects and innovative applications that are reshaping the landscape. In this article, we delve into some uncommon tips and content to give you a deeper understanding of the impact NFTs are having in 2023.

1. NFTs in the Gaming Industry

While many are familiar with the use of NFTs for digital art and collectibles, their application in the gaming industry remains relatively unknown. NFTs are revolutionizing gaming by enabling the creation of unique in-game assets that can be owned, traded, and sold by players. This empowers gamers to have true ownership over their in-game items and creates new revenue streams for both players and game developers. Additionally, NFTs make it possible for virtual items to be transferred between different games, ushering in a new era of interconnected gaming experiences.

2. Smart NFTs

Smart NFTs combine the unique characteristics of NFTs with the programmable features of smart contracts. These next-generation tokens can be programmed to perform a variety of functions, such as royalty payments to creators or the ability to evolve over time. For instance, a digital artwork represented by a smart NFT could change its appearance based on the owner's preferences or the passage of time. This opens up a world of possibilities for more dynamic and interactive digital assets, paving the way for entirely new forms of digital art and collectibles.

3. NFTs for Decentralized Identity Management

A lesser-known application of NFTs is their potential for decentralized identity management. NFTs can represent unique digital identities that can be owned and controlled by individuals, rather than centralized entities such as governments or corporations. This approach empowers individuals to have greater control over their personal data and digital identities while also offering increased security and privacy. Furthermore, NFT-based identity systems can enable seamless interaction between various online services, removing the need to create multiple accounts and remember numerous passwords.

4. Fractionalized NFTs

Fractionalized NFTs are a novel concept that allows for the division of ownership of a single NFT into multiple smaller portions. This enables a group of people to collectively own a high-value digital asset, such as a rare piece of digital art, and share in its potential appreciation or revenue generation. Fractionalized NFTs can also facilitate more liquid markets for high-value digital assets, making them more accessible to a broader audience of potential investors.

5. NFTs in Real Estate

Although the real estate industry might not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about NFTs, they are poised to create significant disruption in this sector. NFTs can represent ownership of digital property, such as virtual land or buildings, within virtual worlds and metaverse platforms. Additionally, NFTs can be used to tokenize physical real estate assets, enabling fractional ownership and increasing liquidity in the property market. This can make real estate investment more accessible to a larger number of people and create new opportunities for income generation through virtual property development and leasing.

In conclusion, while NFTs are already making waves in the tech and finance worlds, there are many lesser-known aspects and applications that are set to have a significant impact in the coming years. From revolutionizing the gaming industry to facilitating decentralized identity management and fractionalizing high-value assets, the potential of NFTs goes far beyond digital currency and collectibles

[techtimechronicles24]

🇬🇧 Immerse yourself in the captivating world of computing through the Sinclair ZX Spectrum—a groundbreaking microcomputer that captured the imagination of an entire generation!

🌟 In 1980, the visionary British entrepreneur and scientist, Sir Clive Sinclair, entered the home computer market with the ZX80 priced at £99.95, marking the era's most affordable personal computer in the United Kingdom. A year later, the ZX81 hit the high street, introducing home computing to a generation, with over 1.5 million units sold.

💻 Released in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd., the Sinclair ZX Spectrum swiftly became one of the most iconic home computers of its time. It dominated the UK's computer sales market, fiercely competing against Commodore and Amstrad. This compact and budget-friendly machine brought computing into countless households.

🕹️ Powered by the Zilog Z80A CPU running at 3.5 MHz and equipped with either 16 KB or 48 KB of RAM, the ZX Spectrum sported a sleek, compact design resembling a keyboard with rubber keys, making it innovative and approachable. Its graphics and sound capabilities were ahead of their time, enabling vibrant games and applications.

⌨️ One of the ZX Spectrum's standout features was its vast library of games. From classics like "Manic Miner" and "Jet Set Willy" to innovative titles developed by enthusiasts, the Spectrum's game collection remains a cherished part of gaming history. The computer's BASIC programming language also inspired users to create their own software.

🖥 Despite modest hardware specifications, the ZX Spectrum nurtured a lively community of developers and enthusiasts, serving as a gateway into the world of programming and digital creativity.

🚀 Over its lifespan, the ZX Spectrum evolved with new models, including the ZX Spectrum+, ZX Spectrum 128, and ZX Spectrum +2, each offering enhanced performance and features while retaining the beloved design.

📺 The ZX Spectrum's impact extended beyond its hardware, playing a pivotal role in the British computing scene, inspiring future generations of programmers and entrepreneurs. Its legacy resonates in modern computing and gaming through emulators and remakes that keep its spirit alive.

📊 At the peak of its success and largely inspired by the Japanese Fifth Generation Computer program, the company established the "MetaLab" research centre at Milton Hall near Cambridge to pursue advanced projects like artificial intelligence, wafer-scale integration, and formal verification.

💔 Financial difficulties in 1985, brought on by the failures of the Sinclair QL computer and the TV80 pocket television, led Sinclair to sell the rights to its computer products and brand name to Amstrad in 1986. Sinclair Research Ltd continued as a one-man company, marketing Clive Sinclair's inventions until his passing in September 2021.

[cringefiend]

DIGITAL ART RAHHHH first ever drawing on ibispaint (and Timelapse)

I just got ibis paint after failing to bum a photoshop subscription off of someone for the past year. It’s only 3$ per month and super user friendly and easy to figure out. Hopefully there’s a way to animate at least a little bit too. But like there’s even manga panel settings, screen tones, backgrounds and a ton of other useful stuff. Lowkey wish I discovered this before Inukag week it would have made the stuff so much better and easier. Also the brush upload QR code system is so so easy and useful. Traditional art is kinda obsolete and takes forever so this is super useful bc I’ve been wanting to learn digital art for a while, but haven’t had a stable/easy to use way.

Anyways this is just an experimental thing to get to learn the software. Took 3.5 hours half of which was def spent on the hair. I can never figure out how to render hair bro. If you have tips please enlighten me 😛😛😛

Edit: accidentally made him too pale so I fixed it and replaced the pic

[mesvi]

Timelapse video of the Crosshair back study painting.

Actual time elapsed: 3.5 hours

Software: Procreate

Reference picture vs the painting

I flipped the canvas in the final picture so that I can show off his iconic eye tattoo. Looking at it now a month or so later, I realise that his head is way too big. Oh well 🥹

[fatalquiete]

La giovane donna che ha inviato il messaggio di supporto tecnico qui sotto (riguardo al suo rapporto con il marito) lo ha presumibilmente fatto per scherzo. Poi ha ricevuto una risposta così brillante che non poteva tenerla solo per sé. Il consiglio del supporto tecnico sull'amore è stato esilarante e geniale!

La richiesta:

Caro Supporto Tecnico,

L'anno scorso ho aggiornato il mio sistema da Fidanzato 5.0 a Marito 1.0 e ho notato un rallentamento significativo delle prestazioni complessive del sistema, in particolare nelle applicazioni Fiori e Gioielli, che funzionavano perfettamente con Fidanzato 5.0.

Inoltre, Marito 1.0 ha disinstallato molti altri programmi utili, come Romantico 9.5 e Attenzioni Personali 6.5, e ha installato programmi indesiderati come NBA 5.0, NFL 3.0 e Mazze da Golf 4.1. Conversazioni 8.0 non funziona più, e Pulizie di Casa 2.6 manda semplicemente in crash il sistema.

Vorrei far notare che ho provato a eseguire il programma Lamentela 5.3 per risolvere questi problemi, ma senza successo. Cosa posso fare?

Firmato: Disperata

La risposta (arrivata settimane dopo, inaspettatamente):

Cara Disperata,

Prima di tutto, ricorda che Fidanzato 5.0 è un pacchetto di intrattenimento, mentre Marito 1.0 è un sistema operativo.

Inserisci il comando: Pensavo che mi amassi.html e prova a scaricare Lacrime 6.2. Non dimenticare di installare l'aggiornamento Senso di colpa 3.0. Se questa applicazione funziona come previsto, Marito 1.0 dovrebbe automaticamente avviare le applicazioni Gioielli 2.0 e Fiori 3.5.

Tuttavia, ricorda che l'uso eccessivo dell'applicazione Lacrime potrebbe causare il reset di Marito 1.0 su Silenzio Imbronciato 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 o Birra 6.1. Nota che Birra 6.1 è un programma molto problematico, poiché scarica la versione beta di Russare Forte.

Qualunque cosa tu faccia, NON installare sotto nessuna circostanza Suocera 1.0, poiché esegue un virus in background che alla fine prenderà il controllo di tutte le risorse del sistema.

Inoltre, non tentare di reinstallare il programma Fidanzato 5.0. Queste applicazioni non sono più supportate e faranno crashare Marito 1.0.

In sintesi, Marito 1.0 è un ottimo programma, ma ha una memoria limitata e non può imparare nuove applicazioni rapidamente. Potresti considerare l'acquisto di software aggiuntivo per migliorare la memoria e le prestazioni. Ti consigliamo Cucinare 3.0, Sesso Sfrenato 2.3 e Non Rompere I Coglioni 9.1

Buona fortuna!

[ave661]

Hey there, I love your art! I just want to ask, what software do you use to make your art? I’m also a 3D model artist, and I’m ready to take my skills to the next level and hopefully be on the same level as you one day! If you can also recommend any good tutorials, videos, or books, that would be great. Thank you so much! ❤️

Thank you guys for nice words! And yes, I use Blender 3.5.

Unfortunately I have to answer this question in the most boring way, which is: -YouTube, -Google, -Blender documentation -a lot of own work

First, you need to learn the basics of the software, get to know the interface, learn how to use program in terms of creating materials, UV mapping, basic modeling, texturing, etc. I know it may sound demotivating, but unfortunately it is the most important thing in all of this. I don't know if this will comfort you or not, but every day I'm learning something new! I honestly have never read any book about Blender. I learned the basics mainly from youtube tutorials from BlenderGuru and GrantAbbitt, and when I had a problem, I just googled it;-;

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

European X-ray laser explores a poorly understood state of matter

The properties of warm dense matter have until recently been little known. Now, thanks to the use of X-ray lasers, physicists are gaining more and more information about this important but still mysterious state of matter. The first comprehensive observations of ionisation processes in warm dense matter, carried out at the European X-ray Free-Electron Laser (European XFEL), have just been presented in one of the most prestigious physics journals.

State of matter with a temperature of a few thousand degrees and a high density, close to that of a solid, can be found, among others, in the interiors of brown dwarfs or gaseous planets. Although common in the Universe, it is very difficult to be produced and analysed in the laboratory. A new era in experimental research of this so-called warm dense matter (WDM) state began just a dozen years ago, when physicists launched the first free-electron X-ray lasers. At the forefront of this type of device is the nearly 3.5 km-long European XFEL laser. A series of experiments recently carried out there made it possible to observe for the first time how quickly a metal transforms into the exotic state of ionised WDM to become transparent (non-absorbing) to X-rays at the end of the process. The achievement of the international team of scientists – including those from the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IFJ PAN) in Cracow – is discussed in a paper published in the journal Nature Physics.

X-Ray Free-Electron Lasers (XFELs) are used to generate high-intensity X-ray pulses lasting single femtoseconds, i.e. millionths of a billionth of a second. These can be used to study the structure of matter at atomic length scales and to track phenomena on extremely short time scales. One of only a dozen such devices in the world is the European XFEL in Hamburg, built in cooperation with the DESY research centre.

“In our experiment at the European XFEL, we illuminated copper samples with X-ray pulses lasting 15 femtoseconds, using different, gradually increasing intensities”, Prof. Beata Ziaja-Motyka (IFJ PAN, DESY) introduces the experiment. The first author of the paper in question, Dr. Laurent Mercadier from the European XFEL, adds some physical details: “When a single X-ray laser pulse reached the material, it caused strong ionisation. The electrons released in the process were characterised by high temperatures. Under these extreme conditions, the copper was transformed into a state of warm dense matter. We meticulously recorded how much radiation passed through the matter and from this inferred the ionisation changes in the observed system.”

Simulations carried out using the BOLTZMANN SOLVER software, developed since 2004 at DESY by Prof. Ziaja-Motyka, were particularly helpful in interpreting the measurement results. This tool was used to simulate changes in the electronic occupancy of individual energy levels in WDM depending on the intensity of the incident laser radiation.

By confronting experimental data with simulations, it was established that when the X-ray intensity becomes sufficiently high, atoms of WDM become strongly ionised. As a result of this phenomenon, new energy levels appear which can be occupied by excited electrons – making WDM opaque for photons resonant with transitions to these new energy levels. These states had already been observed previously with optical lasers, however, the lasers’ energy limitations did not allow them to be studied in more detail. Now, thanks to the European X-ray laser XFEL, it is possible to characterise them accurately also in response to various intensities of X-ray pulses. In accordance with theoretical predictions for X-ray absorption spectra, prepared by Dr. Joshua Kas (University of Washington, USA) and Dr. Andrei Benediktovitch (DESY, Hamburg), it was further observed that with increasing the laser intensity the warm dense matter becomes first opaque and then – at highest intensities – transparent to the laser pulse.

“The appearance of ‘transparency’ – i.e. lack of absorption – in WDM is a consequence of the high ionisation of WDM atoms occurring at sufficiently high X-ray pulse intensities. The energy of the X-ray photons available in the experiment then becomes too small to excite further electrons. As a result, these photons cannot be absorbed by the warm dense matter at all,” explains Prof. Ziaja-Motyka.

Knowledge of the properties of warm dense matter and the processes taking place within it is not only of astrophysical, but also of practical, engineering importance. Matter in this state plays an important role in certain types of controlled nuclear fusion (ICF – Inertial Confinement Fusion), and also appears during the ablation of metallic heat shields of spacecraft returning from orbit to Earth.

The team of physicists at the European X-ray XFEL laser, led by Prof. Nina Rohringer (DESY, Universität Hamburg), intends to continue research into the electron and ionisation processes occurring in WDM and their dynamics. On the Polish side, the work is co-financed by the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

IMAGE: Warm dense matter occurs inside Jupiter-type giant planets (where it surrounds the rocky core as a metallic liquid at a temperature of many thousands of kelvin) and in the interiors of small stars – brown dwarfs. Credit Source: IFJ PAN / NASA

[vriheddiyev]

Sims 4 horse body override tutorial

This is a simple tutorial on how to make a body override for the sims 4 horse ranch ep. I'll be using the adult body here but you can also do that for the foal one. Needed software:

sims 4 studio (link)

blender can be 2.7x-3.x (link)

optional: my blender files -> set up for easier editing (press z and select "solid" to see the seams)

Blender Files: patreon drive

First you need to know that the body is split in 3 parts (better than ts3). The head, body and legs from the fetlocks down each have their own entity. You can't pack those three into one package so you need to make separate packages when editing. After you're done you can always merge those packages with the s4s merge tool. S4S PART 1 (you can skip this if you know how to use s4s)

In Sims4studio select "override" in the CAS column. Select "horse" in the species box, select desired age, then scroll down to the bottom and select one the three files. First one is the head ("ahHead), second one is the body (ahBody_nude) and the third are the legs (ahShoes_nude).

Okay now you gotta make a package file for your mod. Write a name for your file in the highlighted box. You can name it whatever you want but I suggest you use some markers that'll tell you if it's the head/body/legs. Also I usually don't use spaces, instead I use underscores. It's good practice to save it in a folder that's strictly made for your mods, don't save it in your actually game mod folder!!

Congrats! You created your package file. S4S opened the studio for you where you can make your edits and save them there. Select the "meshes" tab so that you can access the import/export utilities.

There's also the 3d preview window where you can check your edits later. Use your mouse scroll button and the right click to navigate it.

You can export the mesh if you're used to the way the s4s creators set up blender exported files or you can use my own file which is edited a bit. (personal preference really!) If you're exporting the file you have to name it again like the package file.

BLENDER EDITING (editing geoms)

Okay, we're done with the first part. Now open blender whatever version. I'll be using 3.5 for this tutorial as it's the one I have installed right now. It will look like this probably so just click wherever aside from the window to close it.

Use the File -> Open option in the top left corner, find your .blend file and open it.

Once opened it should look like this! *or like the s4s exported file

The name of the mesh that you're editing will always be "s4studio_mesh_1" so it has to be selected. It's already selected in the files that I provide but just in case.

If you're using the s4s exported file you need to press the "sculpt mode" option

We did it, the blender file is set up. Now onto the fun part :D

I mostly use the grab brush (shortcut is G) at around 300-400 strength. You can change the size with the shortcut F on your keyboard and the strength with shift + F. Once the green circle appears, drag it outward or inward to set the size then left click to confirm.

From here on it's up to you! You can edit the horse how you like but be careful not to go close to the neck!! It's where the seam is so you might get those visible seams like me if you're too ambitious haha

You can also experiment with other brushes on the left bar (long one) or the brush settings in the tab on your right.

Seriously try to not edit around the seam, it will leave holes where the red line is.

Also another advice, start small! Tiny edits go a long way, you can't fully change the appearance because of the rig limits. The animations are made for the vanilla mesh so it might be tricky to edit so that you won't break them. You've got this tho, once you'll learn it won't be too hard. You just gotta experiment a bit.

Once you're happy with your edit go ahead and save your file as a .blend file (native). Go to "file" -> "save as" and create another one so that you can use the base file for another time. Name it whatever you like again.

I manually closed the eyes just for the sake of the tutorial to show an edit, don't close the eyes in blender like me tho it will clash in the game!

S4S PART 2

Okay by now you're supposed to have a .package file and the edited .blend file. Make sure you choose the edited one or nothing will happen!

Let's go back into s4s now and click on the "import" button. Select your edited .blend file and open it. If you did everything correctly you should see your edit in the 3d window.

So for now all that's left to do is press the save button in the bottom left corner.

Put your saved .package file into your ts4 mods folder and test it out! It should appear straight up in CAS.

Ta da!

You can do this for all three body parts. This is the basics of how I edit the geom for the horses. I wish we could do more than that but this is currently what we're working with :D

Also it's good to take into account that other mods might not work with your edits. You can always try to make it compatible but sometimes it just doesn't work out which is completely fine.

That's it for now guys, I hope it helps a bit. These are really the basics of how I do it but there's also some advanced tricks if you want to edit a bit more. Thanks for the read!

[wimjee]

Steenkoolmijn Waterschei (ZW). by Wim Jacobs Via Flickr: Thor Park Genk op het voormalige mijnterrein van Waterschei en Terril via de steenmannetjesroute. NIK Silver Efex Pro2 conversie.

[nshtn]

about me [2]

tags

media

Some of the things I enjoyed watching are listed below, in case you want to talk about them with me or just know more about my personality! I love to chat with other people. I am an open book.

Bold is something I love.

- movies/shows -

sci-fi > 2001: A Space Odyssey, Avatar: Rise of the Na'vi, Black Mirror: Hated in the Nation, Jurassic Park and Jurassic World, Person of Interest, Resident Evil, Snowpiercer, Tomorrowland, V for Vendetta, Wall-E

fantasy > My Little Pony, Puella Magi: Rebellion, Steven Universe, The Batman 2022, Witcher

- anime -

Demon Slayer, Dungeon Meshi, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Terror in Resonance, Magia Record, My Hero Academia

- misc. fandom -

Create for Minecraft, Dano's Rose Garden, Friendship is Optimalverse, Human Domestication Guide, KoboldAI, Nova Sector, OpenPony for Second Life, Open Source Free Realms, OS/OR Objectum [Disembodied AI], Riddler Year One, Retro Demoscene, Retro Text to Speech Software/Hardware

- youtube -

💚entertainment:

Trixie Mattel, Upper Echelon, WigWoo1, oompaville

🖥️ tech :

hacking > F11snipe, John Hammond, Kevin Fang, Loi Liang Yang, The PC Security Channel, Tyler Ramsbey

news > Computer Clan, Cybernews, Digital Trends, Gamers Nexus, Seytonic, Techquickie, ThrillSeeker

repair > Connor Leschinsky [Vintage Animatronics], EEVBlog, Louis Rossmann, northwestrepair, Paul Daniels

scambaiting > Jim Browning, Kitboga, NanoBaiter, Scammer Payback, The Hoax Hotel

production > Berry Bunny [Crystal Frost Viewer], DankPods [MP3 Player 'Nugget's], Engineered Arts [AMECA], Jauwn [Cryptogame Scammers], pacarena abel cirilo [OsakaOS]

🎮 games :

minecraft > Mischief of Mice, Mr. Beardstone, PitFall, Qwuiblington, SalC1, slicedlime, The Duper Trooper, TheMisterEpic, Zaypixel, zman1064

mmorpgs > Force Gaming, Josh Strife

misc > Acai, CrabBar, Freylaverse, habie147, H.O.D, Laacer, Leaf, Let's Game It Out, Luke Stephens, MONI, penguinz0, Shirley Curry, SidAlpha, Sorenova, SunlessKhan, Vinesauce Joel

production > Muno, Rebelzize [Skyblivion], TeamFOLON [Fallout: London], Unitystation

🎥 'edu'tainment :

docuseries > Ahoy, PleaseBee, Computerphile, Journey to the Microcosmos, Moth Light Media, Past Eons Productions, Quinton Reviews, Technology Connections, danooct1

education > Josh's Channel, Branch Education, SciShow, Kurzgesagt, 3Blue1Brown, Alan Zucconi, Art of the Problem, Defunctland, Dodoid, Lily's Cutie World, Philosophy Tube

programming > Black Hat, Code Bullet, sentdex, OALabs, RetroDemoScene, Sun Knudsen, Tech Rules, Travis Baldree

entertainment > Captain Disillusion, Michael MJD, Harry101UK, Jim Abernethy, K Klein, Legal Eagle, LEMMiNo, Lindsay Ellis, NHRL, Strange Parts, William H Baker, Coffeezilla, The Official Channel, Kira

🥣 cooking :

BORED, emmymade, Haphazard Homestead, The Nature Nerd, The Pasta Queen, Townsends

technology

I own a Steam Deck, gaming PC and laptop. Technology is my special interest; I hyperfixate on machine learning, hardware repair, programming and hacking.

👾 programming :

I know a little bittle of Assembly, CSS, C#, C++ and JS, and a lottle of HTML and LSL!

I've written a Google Gemini API bridge for Second Life. I've also written a worn headpatter that lets people feed you snacks and a dynamic terrain footstep "library", and heavily modified the Ostiabs' Elevenlabs TTS.

I wrote a feed-forward non-parallel reinforcement network before - it was a pet doggy! I've modified pretrained genetic perceptrons. I selfhost an ethically trained 20b fp32 8-bit quant'd gguf GPT-3, and sometimes an ethically trained 13b 8bit gguf llama3 GPT-3.5.

Closing thoughts: my beliefs on AI are strong, just because I love machine learning doesn't mean I have to capitulate my values... I don't like company solutions (barring, say, runbox). I take little issue with ethically trained models save for AI art models. We just don't live in a society where they are capable of being ethically or morally feasible.

🤫 hacking :

I once got to have a conversational spot with a cybersecurity analyst who is famous on YouTube!!

I've done a miniscule amount of reverse-engineering for the ForgeLight engine, its' packet opcodes and its' asset server hierarchy.

I've reverse-engineered one of the scantly mentioned annoying crash exploits performed by Minecraft masscan botnets... it intentionally crashes Fabric servers in a magically stupid way via a popular library!

I love WinDBG and am well-versed in reading dmp files from it, and you should totally send me your full untampered memory dump right now. [/j]

🕹️gaming :

singleplayer > Audiosurf 2, Flight Rising, Fallout New Vegas, Fallout 4, FATE: The Cursed King, GemCraft, Jurassic World 2, Orwell, Planet Zoo, Resident Evil, Sims 2

multiplayer with mod > Creatures: Docking Station, Peggle, Rimworld, Sims 3, Sims 4, Skyrim, Slime Rancher, Subnautica, Webkinz

multiplayer > ARK:SE, Bloons TD 6, Depth, Dino Run SE, Distance, Don't Starve Together, Dying Light, Fall Guys, Golf With Your Friends, Guild Wars 2, Minecraft, MultiVersus, Path of Titans, Party Animals, Palworld, Risk of Rain 2, Second Life, Space Station 13, Space Station 14, Starbound, The Isle, Tower Unite, Unitystation

🔎 misc. factoids :

I have autism, C-PTSD, OCD, chronic pancreatitis and gastroparesis. I don't have a gallbladder. I used to have some malingering psychosis dx when I was younger, but for some reason I grew out of experiencing visual or physical hallucinations and only get sound ones or the feeling of being watched (good thing I made it Weird. That's a great coping mechanism actually, highly recommend) and I don't really think I fit in that dx at all.

Part of my autism is being hyperspecific and logorrheic. It's a big part of my life, sorry!

I am transmasc, and I don't have fallopian tubes, ovaries* or a uterus. 😎

I love matcha green tea, soymilk, maple, sweet red bean, setsumaimo and honey. My favorite food is avocado sushi or veggie cabbage dumplings.

I love medicine, especially biotechnology and pharmacology. I love reading medical papers. I love pirating them!! Shout out to Elsevier for hosting such piratable ones!!!

I'm super bodily transhumanist. I have a Freestyle Libre and a PEG-J feeding tube!

I'm completely immune to the entire class of benzodiazepines and my body doesn't process morphine. I have no idea if it's just not demethylating or I have opioid receptor polymorphism, but the latter is more likely than the former. That makes me tough :3c

I totally fully believe everything my favorite characters do is morally correct and will imitate it in real life, and I fully condone all of their horrible actions! /j/j/j/j

Thanks for reading, I hope we can be friends!

*I have one free-floating ovary, technically...

[regretsretrotech]

Other Sides of the Coin

That phrase is the guiding philosophy for my computer collection: lets unpack it.

First off, I've been around PC's all my life. While I don't remember it, the family's XT clone, then a 486 and onwards. I know PC's in and out. While they are fascinating machines in their own right, they aren't the only computers out there.

So what is out there? Many systems, all shapes and sizes, commercial and enterprise machines that never see the light of day until they are scrapped and the consumer machines meant for the home. For me the commerical and enterprise machines don't hold that much allure, they are curiosities for sure and one of two of them may find their way into my collection but that's for later. I focus on consumer machines currently.

But wait, there are many of those machines!? How do I keep myself from drowning in silicon and rocks we tricked to think?

Representatives.

You'll see this more in the earlier systems that had a vast array of systems that either competed with the example in my collection or preceded it. CP/M systems were many in a vibrant competitive ecosystem, I simply cannot own an example of every kind that is out there, so instead I settle on a well known unit and say it represents what the other units are.

Lastly, I sort the collection into bittiness and while my decisions are arbitrary and subjective, there is method behind them:

8 Bit Systems: Everyone will think of systems like the C64 but I also class systems like the PC/XT and the TI99/4a in the same category.

Limited color palettes and sounds

expectation to load software from 5.25" disks, cassette tape or cartridge ROM's.

BASIC in ROM.

Majority of the IO or internal operations done in 8 bits.

Limited RAM to 1MB or less.

Examples in my collection:

Commadore C64/C128

IBM PC/XT

Apple IIeP (Representative for the Apple II line)

Kaypro 4-84(Representative for the CP/M ecosystem.)

Texas Instruments TI99/4a

Timex Sinclare 1000

Missing:

Atari 8 bit. :(

16 Bit Systems: Here the lines start to blur and you'll see why.

Enhanced colors and sounds

Expected to load software from hard drives and 3.5" disks, gone are cassettes and cartridges for computers.

Faster CPU's

Majority of the system conducts itself in 16 bit operations.

RAM expanding above 1MB.

Expected to run GUI's

Examples:

Commadore Amiga 1000

Atari ST520

Apple IIgs (16 bit CPU but does everything in 8 bits)

Apple Mac Plus

IBM PC/AT (HA)

Clone PC/386 (full 32 bit CPU but all IO is 16 bits)

32 Bit Systems (Early)

Why do I say early? The 386 is a 32 bit CPU, but it's in the 16 bit category. And to that, I say the 386 didn't have a standard 32 bit expansion slot for it to use, a CPU like the 486 had two.

High color resolutions, and high fidelity sound capabilities.

Hard drives are standard equipment now.

CPU's pushing mid double digit speeds.

Multiple megabytes of RAM are expected

GUI's and multimedia.

CD-ROM is the new hotness

Examples:

Gateway 2000 4dx2/66V

Apple Performa 630CD

Missing:

Commadore Amiga 2000/3000

Atari Falcon

32 Bit Systems (Late)

At this point we are seeing the foundations of the modern computers as we know them today.

Unlimited Colors and Resolutions

Hard drives pushing dozens of gigabytes

RAM in the hundreds of Megabytes

Advanced CPU's with SIMD instructions running at several hundreds of Mhz.

Advanced OS's

Examples:

Compaq Deskpro EN866

Apple Imac G3(750)

Missing:

To be decided

The tail end:

Here the lines blur to the point it's difficult to call, so it's here where I plant the end of my collection, at least for now.

The modern computer as we know it has been invented and we start to shed the legacy of decades of computers that came before them. It is here that the coin has become flat. Apple is still doing their own thing with the Power PC's but will soon drop them in favor of x86. Intel is scratching it's head at the Pentium 4, AMD is ruling the roost with it's wildly successful Athlon processor.

There may be a home for systems in this era in the future as memories coalesces into nostalgia. There is already a root forming with two systems that blur the late 32 bit system lines, a Pentium 4 XP box and a Sawtooth G4.

Perhaps I'll get a G5. That would really blur the lines.

Thank you for reading.

Here is were I will put my wish list. Some of these systems are my biege whales, I would love an Amiga 4000T but at the costs of these machines, it is unlikely without shelling out as much as a decent used car.

Commadore Amiga 4000T

This machine doesn't have a direct comparison with either a PC or a Macintosh, but there are contemporary machines that would be added to the collection with it.

IMSAI or Altair 8800

Mostly for it's front panel toggling goodness. I'd reasonably be just as happy with something like a modern clone for me to twiddle the switches but still have something usable afterwards.

[allaroundnerd]

Codetober Day #2

2. What programming languages do you know?

Depends on how we wanna define "know" but here are the ones I at least know the basics of:

-Python - my very first coding class was in this, then I proceeded to not use it again for a long time until recently when I tried my hand at writing a Discord bot for Pathfinder/DnD 3.5 -Perl - Please do not ask me to write anything in this. I did one semester and proceeded to never use it again. -MIPS - same as Perl -C++ - I'm not great with this one but my first college decided this was a great place to go once we learned Python. I hadn't used it in a long time unfortunately, till I tried to pick up Unreal Engine -Java - After leaving college #1 and a bit of community college, I first learned Java. This is what I mainly use in my 9-5 work since all of my corporate positions have required it, along with... -SQL - I picked this up in college as well and while I went a pretty long time after graduating without using it, I DO know how to do some scripting and queries. -Javascript - I didn't use this much initially until my first big boy job changed my role to that of a full-stack developer as opposed to a software developer. -C# - Aside from a single semester in college, I actually didn't use this all that much till my most recent job. They are moving away from it and towards Java, so this works out. I also used this to try to learn programming in Unity. Outside of the professional stuff... -LUA - I used to be a HUGE WoW fan and stopped playing around Legion. Before that, I aspired to write add-ons for the game and found out this was the scripting language for it. -GML - Aka "GameMaker Language," I tried my hand at this engine as well when I was bouncing around trying to see which engine was a good fit.

[postmodernmulticoloredcloak]

From La Stampa (translated from Italian):

“Make Finance Great Again,” Trump family makes its own cryptocurrency and allies with Silicon Valley It will be called “World Liberty Financial,” will have tech investors and real estate developers from Chase Herro and Zak Folkman to Steve Witkoff inside. Sons Eric and Donald Jr. will coordinate. And his backer Tyler Winklevoss jokes, “Donald has been orange-pilled, indoctrinated.” Jacopo Iacoboni Sept. 17, 2024 Updated 11:00 a.m. 3 minutes of reading

They want to do a kind of “make finance great again,” along the lines of MAGA, the election slogan and the Make America Great Again campaign. Donald Trump's sons, Don Jr. and Eric, of course with their father's imprimatur, are about to launch a new cryptocurrency platform that will be called “World Liberty Financial,” and will allow users to make even massive transactions without a bank getting in the way and extracting fees (and with a very low level of tax tracking, it should be added). A couple of concepts familiar to bitcoin fans, for example, but which the Trump family now has ambitions to decline on a large scale. It is not certain that this marriage between Trumpism and decentralized finance, DeFi, is a harbinger of only positive developments. The board of “World Liberty Financial” will also consist of former crypto investors such as Chase Herro and Zak Folkman, and Steve Witkoff, a real estate developer and old friend of Trump. But thanks to documents filed with the U.S. Federal Election Commission that we have been able to read we know that in general the entire Trump campaign - Make America Great Again Inc. - received money not only from Musk, but cryptocurrency from billionaire twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who lead the cryptocurrency company Gemini: about $3.5 million in Bitcoin on July 19, the day after Trump's speech at the Milwaukee convention. The Winkelvosses also poured in money to America PAC, the tech investor-backed group that Musk helped launch in 2024 (Trump had bragged that Musk was giving him $45 million a month; Musk said his contribution is “at a much lower level”). Another co-founder of a cryptocurrency exchange, Jesse Powell, boss of Kraken, and venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz (who created a16z) who have invested billions of dollars in cryptocurrency startups, have also made endorsements and poured money into Trump. In short, for the Trump family to embark on this big cryptocurrency project is a natural consequence of the fact that these are almost becoming a Republican asset in the campaign, and the “libertarian” wing of the old Gop is now a kind of very, very rampant ideologized “cyberlibertarianism.” The real boss of the “tech bros” according to many is not Elon Musk, but Peter Thiel. Zuckerberg's longtime partner in Facebook, co-founder of PayPal, Thiel's fortune has at least doubled during the Trump presidency. Palantir-a much-discussed software company variously accused of extracting data from Americans and profiling them-has managed to get a contract from the Pentagon. Other donors to MAGA Inc include Jacob Halberg, Palantir's princely analyst, and Trish Duggan, a wealthy Scientology funder and friend of the tech bros. Trump's vice presidential candidate, J. D. Vance, traveled to Silicon Valley and the Bay Area, celebrating a dinner at the home of BitGo CEO Mike Belshe, 100 people each pouring in between $3,300 a plate and a $25,000 roundtable. Trump in 2021 called bitcoin a “fraud against the dollar.” A few weeks ago, speaking in Nashvill at the bitcoin fan conference, he promised, “The United States will become the crypto capital of the planet.” Better than his friend Putin's Russia, although this Trump did not say so explicitly. The fact is that after his speech, Tyler Winklevoss ran on X (now the realm of cyberlibertarians) and joked that Donald had been “orange-pilled,” making a Matrix analogy, had been “indoctrinated,” or had finally seen the real reality behind the appearances.