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Passing thought: Bestheda’s release manager used to ship new games. Then he took an arrow to the knee. 

When I was younger, my friends loved Oblivion and in retrospect it’s one of my favorite Elder Scrolls games. But Skyrim was actually the first game in the series that I played, and by then it was long enough for it to have a decent sale price. Even though it had yet to be re-released in every edition known to mer kind.

Actually now that I think of it, between PCs and consoles: I’m not sure I want to fathom how many hours I’ve spent playing Skyrim over the years. Probably more than most ES games with Oblivion coming in as a second. Hmmm… damn it now I’m tempted to play Skyrim again.

Getting with the 21st century

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Thanks to a bit of Christmas goodness and Microcenter having them 50% off, I finally got myself a NVMe style portable drive. A while ago, I had tried to find one that would have a slot for my lanyard and only could find expensive SanDisks that would meet that criterion. Thus, fire sale equal fire win.

Which gives me a superb replacement for my ruggedized USB-A hard drive. My old drive has served well, but it’s a spinning platter that I bought back in 2014. Making it about 8 years old. Getting USB-C and fancy speed is just a win. Since it includes a suitable C-to-C and a C-to-A adapter even my old development beast, Stark, can utilize it. I had figured the old drive would remain for his backups but probably not.
Rimuru’s 10 Gbit/s ports give me in the neighborhood of 860 MByte/s reads and writes. Rimuru and Stark’s 5 Gbit/s ports basically max out around 460 MByte/s.
Sorting through my usual backpack, I’ve decided while I’m retiring the ruggedized hard drive from my standard work and travel kit, my null modem cable is going with. As much use as I’ve gotten out of a serial cable in the past decade, I’ve also found it somewhat sad that I still carry a null modem cable…. lol.
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Why iMac G4 is still the greatest Mac ever made 20 years later

While I can’t say that I ever thought much of the iMacs until I saw the modern style flats on people’s desks, I have to admit that the G4 certainly had a unique design. The original CRT design, I think would be deserving whether you wanted to give it an award for excellence or failure in style. But the lamp style G4s, at least were unique.
But I’m pretty sure most people don’t want to experience 20 year old processors and the modern Internet :P.
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Scary Stores to Tell in the Dark (2019) is probably the best scary movie that I’ve seen in a while. Not quite Drag Me to Hell kind of scary but rather close.

Fairly quickly the film comes off as a period piece. The home made Halloween costumes, Night of the Living Dead at a drive through, and racial slurs that you shouldn’t hear out of a sheriff, all quickly begin to paint the scene. Thorough the film if you pay attention: you’ll notice the 1968 setting. I really liked the opening: while I grew up in the era of commercial Halloween costumes and shopping malls, my mother grew up in an era when kinds made their own costumes and went around the neighborhood. My mom and dad would have been in their early 20s at the time the film is set, making it more apparent to me. some of my mom’s stories of course had to do with her Halloween experiences as a kid.

The various stories are superb twists of horror. Often grisly, yet classic. But it’s painted over with a modern varnish. Sarah’s story is the kind that would often be skipped over or down played. Her chilling tales of terror on the other hand are ones you’d sell in the horror isle of a bookstore (remember when those were a thing?). Stella and her dad, and friends serve a stark contrast. In many ways, I’d say Stella is rather modern despite the film pelting us with ‘60s vibes.

In some ways, I have mixed feelings about the ending. I kind of agree with the way it plays out android The more positive tone. It’s not the kind of “Oh, shit!” Twist at the end that horror stories often train us to expect. Instead it’s rather hopeful and determined. Most of all it sets the stage for a sequel :).

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On one hand, upgrading Rimiru’s OS to Windows 11 was fairly painless and seems to pass the core “Does my shit work” test. Certainly not the worst experience for upgrading a Microsoft OS ever to be had.

On the other hand, I can’t help but think a big margin of how much you love or hate the visual changes probably has to do with how tied to Windows 9x / NT you are versus having spent time off in the land of other operating systems. In a word, W11’s visual changes remind me of Android and iOS. Alternatively you might just be pissed off that people moved your buttons around, again.
Considering that I actually prefer these kind of OS over the traditional UI, I probably appreciate the fresh coat of paint to things like the Settings app more than most. But hey, I was greatly thrilled by the evolution of the W10 settings app over ye old Control Panel. So obviously I’m more in favor of modernization of the UI than hanging onto the 1990s.
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On one hand preparing everything for the crockpot this morning was a great success. Combing the goods with some grilled chicken, cheese, and noodles was both filling and delicious.

However I remain concerned that the cosmos may die from the bean farts. It’s a legitimate concern.
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Seems like it’s been a fairly productive and filling day off.

Spent part of the day slurping coffee and playing Project Wingman between feeding and walking the dogs. Including the mission “Cold War”, where you’ve basically got a Star Destroyer’s worth of air craft duking it out for air superiority. Made up a batch of blended food for Willow’s stockpile.
Managed to get started on the cleaning, along with prepping foods. Put beans on soak, chopped green onions, broccoli, and ham for dinner tomorrow. Scheduled a reminder to put the beans in the crockpot in the morning. Even made a few ham, cheese, lettuce, and horseradish wraps to stock up on snackables.
Plus making mac / cheese for dinner made a perfect way to use up some leftovers. A little of the onions and broccoli, leftover taco meat, etc. Yum.
Is it just me or do my thoughts often revolve around food? Hehehe.
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The problem with songs stuck in your head is they can be rather loud, but if you’re lucky they’re also good songs.

Another head hangs lowly

Child is slowly taken

And the violence, caused such silence

Who are we mistaken?

But you see, it’s not me

It’s not my family

In your head, in your head, they are fighting

With their tanks, and their bombs

And their bombs, and their guns

In your head, in your head they are crying

In your head, in your head

Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie

What’s in your head, in your head

Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie, oh

Do, do, do, do

Do, do, do, do

Do, do, do, do

Do, do, do, do

Another mother’s breaking

Heart is taking over

When the violence causes silence

We must be mistaken

It’s the same old theme

Since nineteen-sixteen

In your head, in your head, they’re still fighting

With their tanks, and their bombs

And their bombs, and their guns

In your head, in your head, they are dying

In your head, in your head

Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie

What’s in your head, in your head

Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie

Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh, ay, oh, ya ya

Zombie-ie-ie….oh

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No New PC Needed: Windows 11 Runs on a 15-Year-Old Intel Pentium 4 Chip

For some reason this mockery makes me remember a certain Pentium 4 machine at work. It used to be a bench machine in the lab before other arrangements were made. I remember looking up the vintage of processor, it was a model of P4 that had sold over $500 when brand new.
For a machine that we mainly use for browser, terminal, and various operations to monitor a test system the machine was painfully and ridiculously slow. About the only time anyone will use that machine for today is when you need the floppy drive.