The Thread Of Randomness

[Drury]

A few days ago was my birthday, and it made me realise. I am now approaching mid-30s, and i have no motivation to really do anything at all. I am just slowly getting larger in front of my computer.

It terrifies me, yet doesn't give me motivation

this probably isn't gonna be news to you, but motivation doesn't happen by itself, and the best motivator for doing a thing is doing the thing

reading this probably isn't gonna motivate you either, but it bears repeating

[Redirect Left]

I've pretty much got to the age where, i ain't done what i wanted to do in life. Nevermind, anyway put those ideas in the bin and just move on without any expectations or hope!

Certainly can't afford to do anything for a while

[SkeedR]

I've pretty much got to the age where, i ain't done what i wanted to do in life. Nevermind, anyway put those ideas in the bin and just move on without any expectations or hope!

Certainly can't afford to do anything for a while

Obvious response is; there's never a better time to do what you want to do.

Money obviously makes that tricky... Don't let your dreams die yet, there's still time.

[Redirect Left]

Money obviously makes that tricky... Don't let your dreams die yet, there's still time.

Unfortunately most of my great ideas require far more money than a disabled person is ever going to earn, not just a year, but in a lifetime. It also makes me not prime candidate for loans due to the benefits aspect, banks tend to balk at that for obvious reason!

[CTarana45]

The Great Book of Trains by Brian Hollingsworth and Arthur Cook! I was reading this book the other day and it occurred to me that something was missng from the book! I showed a copy to my son and asked him where the Freight locomotives were? I explained to my wife without Switcher's, you don't have a complete railroad!
I was looking for Old Maud in the book and didn't find her!

Christopher Tarana

[CTarana45]

New Monitor for the Vista Computer! My SynchMaster died so I had to get a new one! I did remove Fs2002 also gaining back 6.7 Gigs!

Christopher Tarana

[Redirect Left]

Spent Sun-Tue in Blackpool. Illimunations are a bit naff this time around I thought, trams are still tramming so that's nice. Including the special Illuminated ones!

However, I must thank Blackpool. It has given me my first real hangover, they do not feel how i expected, they're so so so much worse! 0/10, would not recommend, I think i drank my usual yearly intake of alcohol in the space of 6-7 hours >.< First time I've woken up in a bathtub too, it was like a pound-shop recreation of the Hangover films!

[orudge]

I find hangovers are especially worse as you get older - I try to avoid them these days if I can! (They’re perhaps worse because I can’t just stay in bed until 1pm as I used to be able to, I guess…)

[CTarana45]

LegoLoco Errors! Lego Loco is giving my errors because it wants 800x600 or 1024 x 800! Right now I prefer OpenTDD over Lego Loco! I'll delete the icon and leave the software!

Christopher Tarana

[Redirect Left]

I had been thinking of building a NAS for a while, however didn't have a reason to do so other than "I want it". I managed to get my girlfriend into Stargate (if you like sci-fi and not know about it, its worth a watch!) and she was watching it over my PLEX. I then went, actually now I have a reason to build a NAS, then you can watch it without me needing to have my big gaming rig turned on for it. So I did some one-off freelance work, got paid, and now I built a NAS! 16TB to start with, using an i3-10100F, and a GT720 so PLEX has something to transcode with if it needs it. The GPU is passive heating only, so its only the fan on the i3, and honestly it stays pretty cool under everything I've thrown as it so far, so I can get away without any whirring fans on the case too.
Transferred the media I already had on my gaming rig, so its now got 4TB worth of media already, girlfriend is having a blast with Stargate, meanwhile I have got into Sonic Blast, some weird ass TV show that is very self-referential at times, if I was the youtubing type, i'd make a video on it all its really fascinating in an odd way...

[orudge]

I turned my storage server off a couple of months ago due to the price of electricity. I worked out that it's cheaper for me to rent a low-cost server online with a couple of large HDDs, than it is to pay for the electricity for my home server. The downside is my home Internet connection isn't especially fast, and it's taken around 3 months of constant uploading to transfer all the data (only about 400GB to go)... (which I've done by copying to a 1TB USB disk periodically on my other home server which is a low-power Intel NUC).

[Redirect Left]

I turned my storage server off a couple of months ago due to the price of electricity.

I'm hoping in my case it works out, as I get to turn off my i9-12900k and now dated GTX 1070Ti gaming rig, to swap out for an i3-10100F & GT 720 just handling the occasional file / plex thing overnight, so the GPU & CPU is likely near 0% most of its time!

[orudge]

Yes, my main PC now gets turned off when I've finished work (before it just stayed on 24/7), or otherwise using it. We're using less electricity now than this time last year, but bills are still something like 3x higher.

[Chrill]

We used this opportunity to buy an apartment here in Stockholm, because prices are ridiculous most of the time but have really cooled down during this inflation. Of course that hits us in the other end, our mortgage is nasty. Swedish banking law requires you to pay 2% in amortization every year, until you've paid off 50% of the property's estimated value, so we're really keen on reducing electricity and other expenditures too.

[orudge]

Congratulations! That’s exciting. Hope you enjoy owning your apartment.

Our fixed term on our mortgage is due to run out in about 6 months, whatever we do next is going to be a good few hundred quid a month more anyway now.

[orudge]

So this ChatGPT thing is fun to play with. Presenting... a Christmas carol in a death metal style, for instance:

Once upon a silent night,
In the land of Bethlehem,
A child was born to save us,
From the depths of Hell.

With a scream and a roar,
He was the son of Satan,
A metal Messiah,
Bringing darkness to the land.

Hark! The herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn king!"
But their hymns are drowned out,
By the sound of death metal.

The shepherds quake in fear,
As the child begins to headbang,
The Wise Men bow down,
To the power of the riff.

O come, all ye faithful,
And join the metal feast,
For this is the night,
Of our savior's birth.

O come, let us adore him,
The prince of darkness,
O come, let us adore him,
Our metal lord and king.

[Chrill]

I asked it to write an ad for the forums.

Attention all tycoons! Are you looking for a place to discuss and share your love for Transport Tycoon and OpenTTD? Look no further than the Transport Tycoon Forums run by the one and only Orudge!

Our forums are dedicated to all things railway related, from strategy and gameplay tips for the classic 1994 game to the latest developments in the open source remake. Plus, we welcome discussions on other transportation themed videogames and general railway enthusiasts.

Join us and become a part of the tight-knit Transport Tycoon community, where you can share your latest creations, ask for advice, and even challenge other tycoons to friendly competitions.

Don't miss out on all the fun - visit the Transport Tycoon Forums today!

I also asked it to present a dystopian future where OpenTTD is the only allowed game.

In a distant future, the world has become a bleak and desolate place. Society is strictly controlled by a totalitarian government that seeks to eliminate all forms of leisure and entertainment. The only hobby allowed is playing the videogame OpenTTD, and citizens are required to spend hours each day engaged in this solitary activity.

Those who dare to defy the government and pursue other interests are ruthlessly punished. Creative expression and individuality are stifled, and the population lives in fear of speaking out against the oppressive regime.

Despite the bleak circumstances, a small group of rebels continues to secretly pursue their own hobbies and passions. They meet in underground clubs and warehouses, risking everything to preserve their humanity and sense of self in a world that seeks to erase it.

But for the majority of the population, life is a never-ending cycle of endless hours spent playing OpenTTD, a miserable existence that offers no hope for a better future.

[Drury]

I've asked it to review some of my code, and it did a pretty good job cleaning it up, even meaningfully commented everything. Pretty impressive.

[ChillCore]

I did delete that post yeah ... there's peeps worse off then me and yeah


Meanwhile ... I wish you all great holidays

[JohnFranklin523]

When I am writing this line, the time is 2022-12-22 07:37 UTC+08, or 2022-12-21 23:37 UTC. The Mayan World End date, however, is 2012-12-21. This means that there have been ten years since the "world end", and we are still alive.

... But I am probably positive for COVID now. China stopped locking down.