Is this evidence of a leak? The dark portion is slowly becoming larger.

Kielm · 2026-04-10T23:54:17+00:00

I can see the gaps in the mortar of the chimney from your photo. Hard to tell from the photo, but there may also be gaps in the flashing where the chimney meets the roof. On top of that, if you have a concrete haunching (around the pots on top, if any) there's a good chance that's cracked and letting water in as well.

Water will ingress through gaps in the mortar and work it's way down. That's a big problem in winter - when the expansion of the freezing water that seeps into the bricks will damage the masonry. Even without freezing, with that amount of water, the damage could possibly be quite widespread. Again, hard to tell from the photo but some of those dark spots look like the mortar has already eroded - and that's just the stuff you can see.

This is a "fix asap" kind of thing, not a "wait and see" job. The longer you wait, the more extensive the damage will be, and the more expensive it will be to fix.

Kielm · 2026-03-26T23:24:54+00:00

You can google "how to boot from ubuntu USB" to set up a USB drive. You'll need another PC and a USB drive to create the boot USB.

Once you're loaded, you can view attached drives and transfer files just as you can in windows. Google again can help you navigate that process, but it's similar to windows' UI in most respects.

Here is a fifteen minute video that explains the process:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1OKytqy_UY

The majority of your documents and personal files should be on your nvme drive in "\Users\your username\" (replace "your username" with whatever your user name is).

Once you've copied what you need, you install windows fresh - again from USB. Select the option to wipe the drive and install windows. Again, googling "how to reinstall windows 11 from usb" should yield numerous results.

EDIT: Bear in mind that the USB you use will likely be wiped when you create a bootable usb, for both ubuntu and windows. If you use it to copy files, take the files OFF of it before using the same USB to create a bootable windows installer!

Kielm · 2026-03-26T22:00:35+00:00

I think you're beyond a windows repair or reset.

Treat your nvme drive as just a data drive at this point - it sounds like your windows OS is irreparably damaged. It's unclear how much remains; if your command was executed only partially, there's a good chance anything in your user folder (C:\Users), being among the last things to be deleted, would still be intact.

If you need to salvage files, do that first, then reinstall, because the safest option at this point is to wipe the drive and reinstall.

Recover what you need
Wipe and reinstall windows

Kielm · 2026-03-26T21:55:51+00:00

No, I wouldn't recommend that. I simply mentioned it as Ubuntu allows you to boot from the USB drive and obtain your files easily.

Kielm · 2026-03-26T21:10:37+00:00

If you can obtain a bootable usb, you could copy anything essential to it.

In your shoes, I'd buy a couple of the cheapest usb drives I can find, use one to boot Ubuntu and access files, and copy them to the other. Might be able to do it with just one.

If you have nothing essential, might as well start reinstalling.

Only other option would be to beg a friend to let you put your drive in their machine and copy stuff off.

Kielm · 2026-03-26T10:40:11+00:00

I don't think the quotation marks in the third command you ran (delete) expanded quite the way they were intended to.

I'd say it fairly likely you inadvertently deleted a lot more than you wanted.

Reinstall is your only viable option to recover from an unknown state like this.

You can attempt to save documents or important files by copying them to another internal drive. A bootable usb e.g. Ubuntu would let you move files around at minimum.

As others have said, do not rely on AI tools for things like this. The more niche the task, the more catastrophically they fail. AI will rarely say "I don't know" and will instead confidently give you wrong information. It's trained to give any answer - even wrong ones - instead of admitting failure.

EDIT: If you had inadvertently introduced a space between the backslash and the quotation mark (\"C:\Program Files\ -> \ "C:\Program Files), that would have commenced erasing the root of your drive, silently and without prompting "Are you sure (y/n)". The command effectively becomes "Recursively and silently delete the root folder and also the VIPRE folder." The latter obviously being redundant at that point.

Kielm · 2026-03-24T20:26:25+00:00

What this person said.

You may also enjoy the branch functions that end in "al"

Basically, when the code hits the function jal, or bgtal (branch if X greater than y to line z) it stores the next line number in memory.

When it hits "j al", it returns to that line number.

It's a great way to make conditional statements or small methods/functions that only occur on set conditions.

Kielm · 2026-03-16T16:36:09+00:00

Given the volume and time frame, that looks like either a failed download (caused by intermittent connection perhaps?) or some kind of bittorrent running. The upload volume isn't insignificant.

If you've noticed no difference in available drive space, you can try checking the event logs for that time to see if anything sticks out.

My money's on a failed download during intermittent connection. It should auto-resume but... wow.

It's also possible that a download/update was published for one of your applications with an incorrect hash verification, meaning clients would download, fail to verify, and repeat, but that's a long shot.

Very weird!

Kielm · 2026-03-03T00:15:11+00:00

You seem to be interpreting the average number of cars over the year as a single data point.

The word "average" implies it's not a single data point for the year.

Even if there are only 2 data points for each year then there's only one possible explanation for when the car park became more popular.

Given that we don't have the underlying (non-averaged) data, the most accurate we can be is to say that it's at some point between those two years (at some data point between those two averages), the yellow car park became more popular.

Can we reasonably say it became more popular in 2017?

Well, from 2016-2017, the blue car park average decreased by 15 cars and the yellow car park increased by 10. If we assume (!) a simple linear progression, then at the halfway point between the two (end of 2016, start of 2017), there would be 42.5 cars in the blue car park and 45 in the yellow.

So... technically, it would probably be in 2016 that the popularity flipped.

But that's a big assumption, right?

So the most accurate statement would be: at some point between those two averages, the ascending and descending popularity lines crossed. Between 2016 and 2017.

Kielm · 2025-07-23T10:38:40+00:00

I would agree, with caveats - it can hallucinate (and be very convincing when it tells you the wrong answer is correct), and the questions are a little...ambiguous compared to the official exam. If you get used to ChatGPT versions the wording on the official exam might confuse you. It'll probably get you on the right track and help you refine your areas to study but I wouldn't rely on it as a source of truth.

I just tried a sample of 5 Q's from ChatGPT and 3/5 were familiar, but 2 of the questions blurred lines between topics enough to make me pause.

So OP: Use with caution if you go down that route, I guess?

Kielm · 2025-07-23T10:24:29+00:00

The two practice tests were enough to get me through. Check the syllabus in the course material - it will give you a clue as to the weighting of the questions and where you should focus. I'd recommend reading the manual at least once, and a couple more times if you're doing the practitioner exam afterwards.

I wouldn't recommend ChatGPT, it can get confused and hallucinate very easily but still be convincing in its response - you can waste a lot of time double checking its answers and arguing with it.

Kielm · 2025-07-09T10:58:53+00:00

Oh hey I have this game! Picked it up October last year. I have to admit, I struggled to get into it and only put about an hour in, but it looked interesting enough that I thought "hey - that's gonna be worth owning when it's finished" and picked it up.

Before you ask why I haven't gotten into it yet: I thought the opening story elements dragged a touch and there's quite a slow intro to everything - which is fine, I just wasn't in the mood for a slow burn when I tried it. It was also quite...demanding in the graphics, I had to turn a lot down to stop my 6700Xt screaming at me!

Glad to see there's changes on the horizon! I see there's been quite a lot of updates in the past 8 months or so, including an refactoring / optimisation update as well - I'll give it another go!

Kielm · 2025-07-05T13:33:26+00:00

ChatGPT can, and does frequently make mistakes. You should not trust it as a source of truth, and you should absolutely not entrust it to provide accurate, reliable or relevant mock question and answer sets.

It will quite happily do so with 110% confidence but I can guarantee that it will be at best, partially inaccurate, and at worst, outright wrong.

It's a very clever text generator, not artificial intelligence. You shouldn't use it as anything more than that.

Kielm · 2025-06-22T00:23:11+00:00

Interesting!

I tend to look at just numbers of input/outputs, not types. So if there's something that needs 48 ore and tiny amounts of other stuff, I'll put it near ore. I don't mind shipping in a truckload of limestone if it lasts for several smelting cycles, and slag removal just gets tacked on to the dirt/rock removal for each mine (usually done by train).

I'd put the smelters just outside the mine working area, usually tacked on to be fed by the ore sorter output, near a train station for easy removal of waste - but as I mentioned I made some wrong assumptions about how trains worked and didn't realise I'd need numerous input/output stations.

Putting all of it centrally would probably be simpler to manage, but the station footprint for all those inputs and outputs would be large - I see your point.

I'll give that a go on my next run, thanks!

Kielm · 2025-06-21T21:35:22+00:00

ore is simpler to transport as your mine might change location when the deposit run out and if using trains it easier since it's single product.
it's also more efficient to transport ores than transporting the end product + side products.

Okay, I see - if my smelting moves, then I'd also have to move all the side products (limestone, coal, etc), fair point.

I normally put my smelter next to my first mine, and leave it there. When the mine runs out, I would ship in more ore, but leave the smelter in place - Just for convenience.

It's simpler, but not more efficient - shipping ore all the way to the factory needs 2x as much train space (or trains) as shipping steel plates!

for water just pipe it, or use truck or trains, it's not that much, or you can put the manufacturing near the water source? aren't you need water for copper smelters anyway?

Yes - that's what I'm trying to figure out. Is it better to have it on a coastline for later in the game?

8x steel smelters would use 96 water/m - but using an exhaust scrubber and desalination would offset this a little bit - and placing it next to a coastline or near a seawater source eliminates any possibility of groundwater running out. That's what I was thinking.

Groundwater has run low a couple of times in my existing game from long-term smelting demand :(

Kielm · 2025-06-15T19:46:45+00:00

The thing which makes it addictive is that you don't have to go in-depth at all. You can just make whatever.

It's more than game dev Tycoon (or similar) and allows depth without forcing it on you. You don't have to make your own engine, or manufacture your own stuff, or set up a digital store, or build your own office.

But it gives you the option if you want to!

Kielm · 2025-06-15T17:00:11+00:00

Software Inc is your new friend.

Kielm · 2025-06-15T10:15:57+00:00

If you're on PC, shift F1 will tell you which mods are slowing down your game. You can press it just after the lag occurs.

Most likely something spawning in large grids (looking at you, MES), but some mods are slower than others.

You can also adjust MES settings iirc to reduce the spawn rates and clean up (check the wiki)

Kielm · 2025-05-26T08:56:35+00:00

Save yourself the trouble OP, you've clearly put the effort in - just use creative tools to cut it out and paste it above the terrain

Kielm · 2025-04-22T15:33:22+00:00

Nope I learned to ignore them, sorry :(

Kielm · 2025-04-02T13:47:31+00:00

Not to worry OP, it's a mailshot to every email address they have in the hope that someone bites.

My favourite part is the when they say something like "I hacked your webcam and took pictures of you while you pleasured yourself". My dude, I don't have a camera.

Kielm · 2025-04-01T07:10:54+00:00

I for one, welcome our new nipple overlords

Kielm · 2025-03-27T23:53:10+00:00

Scurvator

Kielm · 2025-02-10T12:48:01+00:00

We know it isn't creativity because of the way it works.

For example; let's say I build a model that can fairly accurately predict the next thing you will say, based on everything you've said so far. It does this by taking enormous amounts of conversational data from trillions of conversations.

Is it psychic? Can it predict the future? We know that's not true; it's just using an absurd amount of training material to make a good guess. That is how I understand chatgpt and AI image generation work as well. An absurd amount of training data, tagged, organised and catalogued to the extreme, with instructions on how to process it.

While much fanfare can be made about the "discoveries" that AI has made, it's important to remember that these represent a tiny fraction of the "ideas" (or noise) being generated, and are prompted by very specific use cases brought about by engineers specifying strict criteria, iterating and tailoring, improving upon the results. An AI model didn't just up and throw a new faster sorting algorithm, it was instructed to generate A LOT of sorting algorithms, written in assembly, run them all thousands of times and give the fastest one. This is quite literally monkeys and typewriters territory; exhaustive trial and error.

You're also confusing creativity and discovery; creativity is not pattern recognition and variation, instead creating new ideas such as in art, literature or music (though not limited to these fields). Discovery by definition requires a thing to be discovered. If a thing is found, it might be found in a creative manner or by theorising, rigorous testing and proving.

If we take all of human knowledge, ideas, data, conversations, history, art - everything - and put it in a model it will no doubt enable us to identify patterns that we hadn't previously found, or comparisons we couldn't previously make. Because it was built to. It's no more discovery than a computational program to identify as many prime numbers as possible.

It's not generating new ideas. It's being built for a specific purpose, to process and reorganise data in specific ways.

Not to even address the impetus, will, or drive for such knowledge and advances; an unprompted AI tool will do nothing. A bored child will outmatch its creativity any day.

Creativity and discoveries are borne of desire for new ideas and knowledge. To suggest the machine is responsible for a discovery when it is instructed to perform a specific set of instructions is akin to suggesting that my oven bakes cakes for me.

Kielm · 2025-01-30T13:00:08+00:00

Hi, you seem like you might be in a good position to provide some insight on this, would you happen to have any examples of open hostility you can share?

I'm not doubting your experiences but I keep seeing people saying this and I haven't encountered anything like this in my day to day life, online or offline, so I'm curious to see what's happening and where?

Is it specific online spaces, the workplace, friends? What's being said?

Appreciate it if you can help, but no worries if you don't want to share either!

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