BC GAMING

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foone
@Foone 3 years, 2 months ago 439 views

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I've only got one quest in The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, and it's always active.

wow, I think I just rolled a critical failure on my image capture.
I told my script to take a picture of Oblivion and instead got a badly cropped screenshot of Heroes of Might & Magic III, a game I don't even have installed

the endless questions of trying to capture fonts from modern 3D games:
1. what's the native resolution?
2. IS there a native resolution?

it looks cleaner at 1024x768 (earlier one was 640x480)
but not perfect.
maybe 800x600?

nope. I think it's 1024x768, for a simple reason:

this splash screen! it doesn't scale based on resolution, and it seems to be sized the same as 1024x768

actually, wait
why don't I just steal the font from this splash screen

ahh. I think it's just a picture. I can't edit it.

ahh, it's my favorite member of the army, General Subtitles!

dang it, look how the pipe characters look blurry at 1024x768!
so maybe 640x480 is more "native" after all?

or maybe the menu renderer is just BLURRY

and now I've somehow gotten my mouse to be stuck in a busy cursor
OS-wide. I can't click anywhere. I had to select the reply button using the keyboard

there we go. had to kill Oblivion from the task manager, but now I'm free

ok here's 640x480 vs 1024x768

as anti-aliased as it is, 1024x768 is probably the resolution I'm gonna go with.

it's a start. I don't know why X is missing or k or {

fixed X and k
{ is still missing

BTW I know I can extract the font from the datafiles. I'm intentionally not doing that.

FONT

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foone
@Foone

Lockpicking Floppies!

I don't know why twitter is refusing to insert a card for this one. In any case, It's the @LockPickingLwyr, and it's a floppy-drive-lock.

so I've been meaning to do a video or thread on these sorts of locks myself. I have several, of different designs.

generally they're all designed vaguely like this one: it's a plastic insert that goes into the floppy drive, then it has some bit that rotates with the key to hold itself inside.

and they pretty much universally use super-cheap low-security tubular locks like this. You can probably pick most of them with a ballpoint pen

foone
@Foone

So Sony has this format called Optical Disc Archive, right? It's a high-density storage cartridge, but it turns out it works by cheating.

because if you open it up (which you should never do. trust me on this one)
it turns out... it's blu-ray.

it's a big STACK of blu-ray

And the idea is that Sony built some very complicated drive which you can slot this cartridge into, and it'll open it up and grab out the right disc and just read/write that one

then when you hit the eject button, it shoves the discs back in and closes up the case, and hands you the cartridge.

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foone
@Foone

An interesting set of games that I've been vaguely interested in since I was a kid, after seeing one at a friend's house and never being able to find it again, was the BATTLES IN A DISTANT DESERT/BATTLES ON DISTANT PLANETS series.

These are turn-based wargames for windows 3.x, sharing the same engine.
Battles in a Distant Desert is from 1992, and is based on the first Iraq war (Desert Storm)

and Battles on Distant Planets is from 1991, and takes place in SPACE!
I'm pretty sure this is the one I played as a kid.

They've got 3 options to play with:
* Player vs. Player
* Player vs. Computer
* Computer vs. Computer

So it's a 0-2 player game!

They also did a DOS strategy game called "STARDATE 2140.2: GALACTIC CONQUEST" in 1990, but it seems to be lost.
All the games share an experimental AI system based on neural networks.

foone
@Foone

I didn't have a picture handy to post today for my sleep-picture, so here's an old picture of when we brought in our recliner and Babby SCSI thought it was a fun new toy to climb on

she also liked to get in the way of keyboard repair process

her favorite youtuber was @TheCaptainSauce

and sometimes she'd just hang out near the keyboard and be like "why are you reading wikipedia and not PETTING ME?"

sometimes she was unaware that an evil wizard was sneaking up on her

foone
@Foone

Tomorrow is gonna be fun for anyone in charge of requisitions.

There's gonna be a bunch of SRE teams asking for lockpicks, crowbars, hydraulic rescue tools, chainsaws, and some breaching shotguns

new SRE exercise:
imagine all the digital locks have broken and are keeping you out, and you can't connect in via the network.

how long until you get a console on the main servers?

now figure out how much money you'd lose being down for that long. Multiply out hours-of-downtime by money-per-hour.
There's your budget for designing Creative Solutions to bypass all your security

Although before you go trying to kick down doors:
Remember that doors are secured between the uprights and aren't as easy to smash open as movies might lead you to believe.
But the wall next to the door is probably just drywall and a little insulation.

drywall is also pretty cheap to repair.

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AbuBakar Siddiq
@BigManBakar

The Review: GW 20 - A thread

Hi everyone, welcome to the latest edition of “The Review” where I look at the GW gone by and Kane replacements with an eye on the upcoming GW21:

#FPL #FPLCommunity @OfficialFPL

(Data taken from @FFScout and @FFH_HQ with consent)

Before I start, I'd like to introduce to you this game Fantasy5
that I play each GW. It's free to enter and all you have to do is pick 5 players to beat their Fantasy points target. It's very exciting and you have a chance to win £10k! Link

At this point, I’d also like to mention that I post about FPL on my Instagram too, so if you have an Instagram account, follow up here!

Q: In this section, I talk about Manchester City.

I first run a comparison between Man City’s midfielders from GW 13-20:

(read below)

Gündoğan V Foden v Bernardo v Sterling

Mins per chance created: 46 v 26 v 57 v 51
Mins per shots in the box: 38 v 32 v 81 v 41
Mins per big chance: 92 v 208 v 285 v 124
Mins per expected involvement: 149 v 179 v 278 v 122

$PanzerLion \u2744\ufe0f\U0001f3d4\ufe0f Certified$

PanzerLion ❄️🏔️ Certif...
@POCGamer

@Karnythia Staying warm while sleeping: use lots of blankets/comforters. Don't wear lots of layers to bed, they can trap sweat and oil and you'll kick off the blankets then get cold. Wear a toque or "beanie".

Use rolled up towels or t-shirts as draft excluders on your windows and doors.

If your bed is against an outside wall, move it away from it.

If you have some, hang rugs and spare blankets on the outside walls in your house. It's old school in the extreme, but it will create an air barrier between the cold transfering through the wall and the warm air in the house. Covering windows on the inside has the same effect.

Whatever you do, DO NOT burn charcoal of any sort inside your house. Or wood if you don't have a fireplace. The chances of suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning are huge and this kills whole families every year. Don't do it.

Past that, drink lots of hot drinks and warm water. You'll burn less energy than if you drink cold drinks.

And for clothes, layer up. Sweatpants and sweatshirts/hoodies are going to be your new besties.

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Alan Zucconi
@AlanZucconi

Fifty years have passed since CONWAY'S GAME OF LIFE firstly appeared on a column called "Mathematical Games" on @sciam.

While most Programmers & Computer Science enthusiasts are familiar with it, not many know that the game is actually TURING COMPLETE.

Let's see why. ⠠⠵

🧵👇

The quickest way to prove that a system is TURING COMPLETE is to show that it allows for the constructions of LOGIC GATES. 🖥️

So, let's see how the 𝗔𝗡𝗗, 𝗢𝗥 and 𝗡𝗢𝗧 gates can actually be constructed in Conway's Game of Life...

Firstly, we need to find a way to encode binary signals.

One very popular choice is to use a stream of GLIDERS. The so-called GOSPER GLIDER GUN can generated a new glider every 30 generations. 🔫

Hence, receiving a glider every 30 generations counts as a "1".

When two GLIDERS hit each other in just the right way, they both get destroyed. 💥

This means that a GLIDER GUN can stop an incoming glider stream!

We can exploit this mechanism to simulate a NOT gate:

⬇️ 𝗡𝗢𝗧 0 = 1 ⬇️ 𝗡𝗢𝗧 1 = 0

With the same principle, and AND gate can be also constructed by extending a NOT gate.

⬇️ 0 𝗔𝗡𝗗 1 = 0 ⬇️ 1 𝗔𝗡𝗗 0 = 0

Thinking Patriot
@ThinkinPatriot

The #Q project was aimed at gamers, younger people with inquiring minds and the skill sets to educate themselves; just like a gamer has to go through a new game to find out how to play it, what tricks there are, and how to advance past certain obstacles. They have to learn and >

Dr. Rachel Kowert
@DrKowert

Early this week I ranted about a @nytimes editorial misrepresenting the scientific literature around video game uses and effects.

It's one thing for an editorial piece to mishandle scientific information, but it is another when an “educational” organization does it.

A thread.

A new training from @childrenscreens was announced called BLOOD, SWEAT, and FEARS: Understanding the Psychological Effects of Graphic and Violent Media on Children and

What a title. One that is clearly meant to instill fear, shock, awe, pearl clutching… moral panic.

For a primer on the history of the moral panic see here:

There are many points to discuss in their advertising, but for the sake of time I’ll focus on a few. Starting with this gem of an anonymous quote.

First, games are not addicting in the way as cigarettes or any other chemical addiction

See:

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These 10 threads will teach you more than reading 100 books

Five billionaires share their top lessons on startups, life and entrepreneurship (1/10)

I interviewed 5 billionaires this week

I asked them to share their lessons learned on startups, life and entrepreneurship:

Here's what they told me:
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10 competitive advantages that will trump talent (2/10)

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10 competitive advantages that you can start developing today:
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Time for a stiff drink and some truth you probably dont want to hear.

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10 significant lies you’re told about the world (4/10)

THREAD: 10 significant lies you're told about the world.

On startups, writing, and your career:
— Julian Shapiro (@Julian) January 9, 2021

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Khatvaanga
@khatvaanga

Starting my 2nd thread on Sringeri Parampara. This will cover the Jagadgurus after Sri Vidyaranya to Sri Shivabhinava Nrisimha Bharati.

It is really very tough to match the brilliance and achievements of Vidyaranya. After whom came 15 - Chandrashekara Bharati [1386-1389].

The next Acharya was Nrisimha Bharati [1389-1408]. Harihara raya found a town for this Acharya - Narasimhapuram. Acharya helped the king by guiding him in political affairs. He also initiated the kind with mahamantras for spiritual development.

Subsequent Acharyas were
15-Puroshottama Bharati [1408 - 1448]
16-Shankara Bharati[1448 - 1455]
17-Chandrasekhara Bharati II [1455 - 1464]
18- Nrisimha Bharati II [1464 - 1479]
19-Puroshottama Bharati II [1479 - 1517]

20-Ramachandra Bharati [1517 - 1560]. Sadashiva Raya was emporer of Vijayanagara during this time.
21-Nrisimha Bharati III [1560 - 1573]
22-Nrisimha Bharati IV [1573 - 1576]
23-Nrisimha Bharati V [1576 - 1600]

24-Abhinava Nrisimha Bharati [1600-1623]. When he visited Malahanikareswara temple for first time he noticed there was no Vinayaka there so he took piece of turmeric and drew outline of Ganesha on a pillar and offered puja.

Formula 1
@F1

After 17 years and more than 300 races, it could be @alo_oficial's last F1 race on Sunday 😭 He's given us a lot over the years... including some superb GIFs!

Here we have a rare example of a GIF you can actually hear. TOMA. 💪

The Spanish Samurai

Never give up. 💪 #GraciasFernando

Winning is everything. #GraciasFernando

Steve Stewart-Williams
@SteveStuWill

THREAD: 12 Things Everyone Should Know About IQ

1. IQ is one of the most heritable psychological traits – that is, individual differences in IQ are strongly associated with individual differences in genes (at least in fairly typical modern environments). https://t.co/3XxzW9bxLE

2. The heritability of IQ *increases* from childhood to adulthood. Meanwhile, the effect of the shared environment largely fades away. In other words, when it comes to IQ, nature becomes more important as we get older, nurture less. https://t.co/UqtS1lpw3n

3. IQ scores have been increasing for the last century or so, a phenomenon known as the Flynn effect. https://t.co/sCZvCst3hw (N ≈ 4 million)

(Note that the Flynn effect shows that IQ isn't 100% genetic; it doesn't show that it's 100% environmental.)

4. IQ predicts many important real world outcomes.

For example, though far from perfect, IQ is the single-best predictor of job performance we have – much better than Emotional Intelligence, the Big Five, Grit, etc. https://t.co/rKUgKDAAVx https://t.co/DWbVI8QSU3

5. Higher IQ is associated with a lower risk of death from most causes, including cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, most forms of cancer, homicide, suicide, and accident. https://t.co/PJjGNyeQRA (N = 728,160)