While browsing through Craigslist, I came across a listing for picnic tables. The post was for reasonably priced, custom built sets. A full 8 foot table with four benches was $600 unfinished. Although I’ve painted my fair share of walls and furniture, both indoors and out, I’ve never stained anything before. The craftsman who built the set gave me some suggestions. Armed with techniques from several random tutorials, blog posts and videos, I made my way to the hardware store to get started on my first staining project.
Over the weekend Hamas forces attacked Israel. Initial reports indicated Palestinian forces entered via land and power gliders. There is evidence they are directly attacking civilians, although a considerable amount of information is clouded in the fog of war. Immediately, most conservative analysts and commentators defended Israel and condemned Palestinian forces as terrorists. The resulting media fury has sharply divided people on all sides of the political compass. Some people fully support Israel without question, some fully back the Palestinians, and others condemn both sides of the conflict. Few people are asking the real questions beyond the media smoke screen. The conflict is a major distraction from a failing US president, the unending conflict in Ukraine and the dual border crises in the European Union and the United States.
Final Fantasy XVI is, for now, an exclusive release for the Sony Playstation 5. I usually stick to console exclusives for the PlayStation, and I was looking forward to this one as it’s the first Final Fantasy game I’ve played since the FF7 Remake. While waiting on FF16’s release, I played Terra Nil, a fun but short independent terraforming game. These are two very different games, on different platforms, for different audiences, which will hopefully make this a fun review.
I deleted my Facebook and Twitter over a year ago. Even when I had accounts on those websites, I fought hard to ignore their notification systems. Even as my unread notices grew to over 80, I avoided the dopamine hit from clearing that little red number inscribed in a circle. Training ones brain to ignore notifications is the first step at fighting back against the growing war for your time and attention.
Three years ago, I made a list of every mechanical keyboard I’ve ever owned. I thought I had settled into the keyboards I would use for the foreseeable future. A year ago, a friend of mine gave me a modern Model M keyboard as a housewarming gift. I also started looking into split ergonomic keyboards, and built a Slice MK from a kit. Being my first ortholinear keyboard, I wasn’t prepared for needing to relearn how to type. Eventually I went back to a staggered layout for my personal workstation while continuing to use the Slice MK for work. Below is an update to my previous post, with comments and criticisms of keyboards I’ve used over the past three years.
In my last post, I discussed archiving the collection of Louder with Crowder Mug Club episodes after he switched networks. During the past year, Steven Crowder has faced many controversies, both with his show and his personal life. His conflict with The Daily Wire, the leaked videos of an argument with his wife, the departure of Dave Landau, and his move from BlazeTV to Rumble, have all led to reactions and speculation.
I currently still watch and support Louder with Crowder with a subscription to Mug Club. Over the past few years, I have found the show both entertaining and an excellent lens for information in an increasingly politically divisive media hellscape. We are living in a culture that seeks to erase anyone who doesn’t spout the ideology of progressivism. It’s a culture that will not supply grace and forgiveness to those who admit they are imperfect, but will justify insane beliefs of those from the progressive clan. Do Crowder’s antics and actions impede on his integrity? If so, what light should that cast (if any) on the work and dedication of the dozens of people that have made Louder with Crowder into one of the largest conservative morning shows currently on the Internet?
Recently, the show Louder with Crowder moved from BlazeTV to Rumble/Locals. Their previous library of episodes does not appeared to have moved with them, preserved only on BlazeTV’s website in an archive section. People like to believe things put on the Internet stick around forever. If you were on-line during the early years, you’ve probably realized how much of the old Internet has disappeared. I never asked for a BlazeTV membership when I joined Mug Club, so I figured this would be a good time to archive the show. Using a little bit of web development knowledge and Python, I created a snapshot of a show that changed the landscape of conservative political satire and comedy in the late 2010s.
Over the winter and into the spring, I played several turn based and action/platform games. On the Switch, I finished Fire Emblem Engage, the third game I’ve beat in the Fire Emblem franchise. I also completed 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, a story rich kaiju versus robot anime adventure. On the PC, I played Hi-Fi Rush, an interesting mix of beat-em-up combat combined with musical beat matching in a retro futuristic world. I finished up the season with Ratchet and Clank: Rifts Apart, a cute and fun kids game that really shows off the power of the PS5 console.
Over the winter months, I played mostly PC games and a single console title. On the PlayStation 5, I played Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut. It’s a smooth and beautiful sword fighting title. Bringing things down in intensity, I also played and reviewed Airborne Kingdom, a cute casual simulation and resource management game. I finished up NieR:Automata, a role playing robot title I had started a while back, yet put down for a while. Finally, I’m finishing this season’s reviews with A Plague Tale: Requiem, a captivating yet dark saga following the adventures of a young girl protecting her brother.
A few months ago, when looking for fun 3D printing projects, I discovered the Raspberry Pi Server Mark III. The prices for Raspberry Pis has skyrocketed, despite the fact that nearly half a million units are produced every month. Luckily, I had several Pis lying around from my previous research into environmental sensor networks. I decided to print the 18 slot version of the Mark III rack, so I’d have plenty of room to expand. As I was printing all the parts, I dug through my hardware and found 5 Raspberry Pis from various generations. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to add Pis to my home lab and experiment with cluster management and distributed tasks.
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