You can have multiplayer influenced worlds and environments, enjoy seeing what others do and create in that world, without enjoying the partying up aspect. MMOs with competitive markets, faction influencing, or competing with players in general rather than direct conflicts.
One can enjoy the world building of MMOs without wanting to be a part of a guild or raid parties.
They have an app and they do connect up to it. But they can be put on a vlan and null routed to only work locally.
You could have shitty routers. I use unifi access points, make sure I set the channels so I don’t have a lot of interference with any nearby wireless networks, and I should be able to handle a few hundred devices at once. You could also have a small DHCP scope that limits the number of devices on the whole network.
I’m around 200tb currently, working to move to a new server that will let me house 800tb worth of disks, before I consider getting a shelf to expand to.
At this point. I don’t know which is cheaper. The hardware, maintenance, and power or just paying all those subs.
Most power line adaptors say to keep it on the same circuit. The one I have is running a small VoIP phone and I don’t have issues with call quality.
They don’t have a lot of traffic. I have over 40 kasa devices between switches, outlets, and bulbs with no issues.
I like zooz 5 button scene controllers. They are z-wave.
I also like kasa’s switches. They are wifi, but being on mains powered I’m not concerned with wifi draining batteries and I have them in a vlan with minimal access.
$10-15 will get you an outlet tester at just about every home improvement store. You plug it in and the three big LEDs light up and you compare it with the sticker on the device. Get one with a GFCI tester built in, when you press the button it will short to ground and if your receptacle has GFCI protection or is on a GFCI protected circuit should trip the GFCI protection.
Police drones. Surveillance “for your protection”
Fuck them!
Why would we need open source instead of just removing drm?
Most people aren’t going to compile old games for new hardware. That’s not an easy task.
Abandonware is a thing, and there are some websites dedicated to it. GOG has done some great stuff releasing drm free games. So long as we have drm free, we can always build emulators to run what can’t natively run on modern systems.
I work IT for my day job managing a datacenter and cloud infrastructure.
I host mostly Plex, home assistant, and immich. Immich has its data backed up, I don’t care about Plex data. If it all dies, so be it.
I have a server coloed that houses some websites and email, plus some random other things I’ve setup and tested. It’s got backups, and downtime is fine.
If my self hosted stuff dies, it doesn’t matter. Nothing in my life ultimately relies on it.
Dont forget, if you use vacation time on the 3rd and 5th. They don’t pay out the day off for the 4th as a holiday.
Yup. Another short sighted decision from Disney leadership.
I’m a former Disneyland cast member, for the most part the front of house cast members are trying to make everything a good experience and preserve the magic. But leadership decisions over the last decade or two have made it harder.
Tons of cast member benefits have been removed and moral is much lower. This has led to decreases in guest service and enthusiasm. Many of the cast stay on because they have grown up inspired by what this company has created and the environment for artistry, creativity, and excellence and want to spend each day trying to spread that happiness to others.
They have raised prices while providing fewer services. Things like the Disney Express, perks for staying in the hotels, fast passes, and tangible knick knacks that give an emotional touchstone for eliciting memories of good times with family.
They’ve turned what used to be free or included perks into additional charges. Things like fast passes which used to create a genuinely better experience in the parks are now extra surcharges. It gives the feeling that Disney is trying to hide the real price of the parks because if they added that to the normal ticket price they would receive a ton of bad press. Instead, even though you essentially need it to have a good time, they make you pay again. Same with food and drinks, they treat guests as a captive market. They know people will need to eat and drink while they are there so they charge as much as they can get away with.
Leadership has lowered standards and investments in creating and maintaining areas of the park. It reminds me of the Euro Disney and California Adventure launch era.
This leads me to technology and their over reliance on it. They have truly innovative engineers and incredibly creative designers. So it leads to wonderful creations like their new audio animatronics. Absolutely marvelous creations. But Disney is using them as a focal point for guests to watch and marvel at instead of to support and enhance an already great show. They aren’t investing as much to build the environment that these audio animatronics are placed in so they feel out of place.
They have removed much guest interaction with their cast members and replaced with an app on your phone. Cast members are, in my opinion, Disney’s greatest attraction. They are the ones who create the personalized, meaningful experiences. They are the personal touch that made people feel welcomed. They could reinforce happy memories and mitigate frustrating experiences. They could find novel ways to solve problems or partner with entirely different departments to create new and engaging magical moments. Moving as much as they could to an app takes the interactivity away. Guests experiences are looking at your phone for whatever attractions wait time is and going directly there. I believe that it leads to more disappointment seeing every attraction or restaurant you want to experience have high wait times.
The app also forces people to plan their day. Instead of being able to explore and experience the parks, it creates anxiety to plan and try and fit so much in that you leave unfulfilled if you miss something you wanted.
Show standards have dropped that maintenance on things like replacing worn carpets or repairing damaged and chipped paint in stores has been forgotten. It’s a relatively small thing, but it’s a detail that sets a strong impression for guests. For the prices they pay, the expectation promotional materials sets, and word of mouth they hear, people don’t want to feel like they are in a rundown park.
They used to hide construction to “preserve the magic” and enhance the “show.” However, as of late that only consists of mostly blank temporary construction walls mostly to prevent guests from entering a construction zone. They used to use scrims and painted/themed construction walls to entirely block sightlines. For instance, the videos showing how guests can look directly into working construction sites while riding the train.
Many times their actions feel almost hostile to consumers. They removed benches in areas to prevent crowds from congregating or lingering. They wanted more people in and out to buy overpriced merch and food. It reminds me of bars that make their stools just comfy enough for you to enjoy one or two drinks and leave.
Leadership has changed it’s target audience from families to “Disney adults” while still promoting it as a family destination. Things like star wars land and avengers campus aren’t for children. They’ve ages up the parks and rides to take advantage of the millennial nostalgia.
They’ve also tied everything into existing IP instead of creating new and exciting stories in their parks. People love Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion, and The Jungle Cruise not because they were a movie and then people could come “visit that world.” But because they were unique, fleshed out, well told stories and experiences. They don’t trust their guests to like a new attraction unless they can capitalize on an existing brand to lure people in. Hell, even quotes from Bob Iger have said their latest “original stories” have flopped and they will focus on sequels. Which is eerily reminiscent to the direct to VHS sequel era that almost destroyed the company.
In my opinion, so many of their recent original films showcase how they are writing a story by committee of executives. They force certain themes or messages into the story that it neuters the writers from creating a compelling story. They play it safe with their films. It feels like an exec said “we need a story about x” and then had someone write it.
Finally, in targeting “Disney adults” they aren’t building the nostalgia and brand loyalty of the next generation. They are burning the good-will of people who grew up in Disney households and were raised on Disney films. They are putting themselves into a position where in 15-20 years at the latest the company will have a crisis trying to retain an audience that has only a fleeting emotional connection to a handful of films or memories of the parks.
I could go on for hours on my disappointment in Disney leadership, particularly in regards to the parks and resorts. Ultimately, it comes from the very top with Bob Iger. Under Iger we saw many of these issues and changes arise, implemented by Bob Chapek when he was head of Parks and Resorts, accelerated when Chapek became CEO, and then in spite of Bob Iger’s public statement on changes Chapek had made, his lack of reverting those policies.
They shut down the Disney Express from the airport during the pandemic and never restarted it.
One of the interesting things for the possible usefulness though is you never see firehouses acquiring these. They already have tools that achieve all the use cases. That’s half of fires deal, being prepared for all sorts of emergencies - not just fires.
A year and a half ago I was able to buy a home, I had been saving up for the down payment and finally was able to make it happen. I’ve been house poor since then. I can’t wait until I’m finally able to feel comfortable with my finances again. In the meantime, I’m getting very comfortable with eating a lot of rice.
Fortunately, the girlfriend and her daughter are moving in soon. So that’ll help a bit as she’ll be taking over some of the utilities. And the house has appreciated almost 15% in that time as well.
I’ve been able to put away some away for retirement too. If all goes well when that time finally comes, I’ll have the mortgage paid off and will be able to live with relatively low expenses. My current mortgages interest rate is 6.875%, which over 30 years has me paying pretty much as much in interest as the house. But if interest goes down I can refinance and each % point lower I can get is about $200 a month. I really, really hope that it ends up back at 3% again. Maybe then I’ll be able to put some in savings again.
No, no. You see, he’s just one of the good ones. If the rest of them were just like him, there wouldn’t be an issue.
/s
But there is a bright side! Maybe retirement kind of stinks?
What fucking take is that? No. No, man. Shit no, man! First chance I don’t have to work for someone else I’ll take it. I have things I want to do instead of work.
I am all for basic first aid to be part of school curriculum. CPR, AED, and Stop the Bleed.
There are so many reasons to have a stop the bleed kit and training that isn’t gun shot related. Industrial accidents, automobile accidents, and even accidents around the home like kitchen accidents could cause a serious bleed. It’s not a terrible thing to understand the basics of preventing someone from bleeding out.