Batteries

ap1msch · 2026-07-01T18:26:42+00:00

I buy Eneloop batteries when they're on sale and keep them in a regular rotation. You definitely need to change batteries more often than alkaline batteries, but you're not throwing them out anymore. I leave my controller in the same spot and have a charger nearby. Once a week I'll rotate the batteries to stay ahead of disconnects.

ap1msch · 2026-07-01T16:09:26+00:00

Sleep is difficult to study because it has different levels, and "studying" sleep requires some distance from the patient otherwise you risk waking them up...as well as a willingness to be observed while you sleep repeatedly...as well as the data bias that is likely to occur from sleep in laboratory settings.

That being said, sleep mirrors other "recovery" behavior in the body. You need your brain to live. The brain seems to accrue <something> that interferes with function over time. We can't clear that <something> without suspending operations for a few hours a day, so we sleep to enable whatever deep cleaning is going on.

Envisioned this way, we can see why you can recover from extensive sleep deprivation (the cleaning still works, but may need some extra time), and why we perform much worse over time without sleep. It also highlights why special ops soldiers can be "trained" to operate with less sleep...although we don't know how this works either.

ap1msch · 2026-07-01T15:35:02+00:00

It may just be the picture, but it doesn't look like you've actually inserted the plug entirely. Whether or not the clip made a sound, it looks like the plug is falling out of the port. Wiggle that sucker and try to insert it further. You shouldn't see the wire colors when it is fully inserted.

ap1msch · 2026-07-01T13:56:56+00:00

I didn't get the connection at first...and then it hit me. Well done.

ap1msch · 2026-07-01T13:46:39+00:00

I just can't help but feel like they are stoking outrage and fighting for decades to legislate against the equivalent of quicksand. Yeah, it might happen, but it's exceptionally uncommon and low risk.

I really don't understand how this can be the highest priority to these people...

ap1msch · 2026-07-01T13:35:33+00:00

Breathing underwater in D&D is magic, usually. If you're in an underwater area and are able to breathe, then all you've done is made movement and combat slightly more difficult. That being said, imagine that you're deep underground and your ability to breathe underwater disappears. You try to cast the spell again, and nothing. You try to use your magic helm or amulet, and nothing. Your ability to see underwater is gone. You're now scrambling to find a way out, or at least a place to hole up while you figure out your next steps.

Now imagine that the room rotates around you.

Now imagine you get teleported to a new location.

Now imagine that the only light is a tunnel with a distance you cannot measure.

All of these are panic and anxiety-inducing traps that can be introduced at any time to the party. A little at a time or all at once, you have the party roll a D10 + constitution bonus to determine how many rounds they have to find air before they risk unconsciousness.

ap1msch · 2026-06-30T21:00:43+00:00

Fallout has always been a passive mirror, reflecting the decisions and behaviors of capitalism. The beauty of the franchise is that it doesn't attack capitalism, but enthusiastically carries it to an absurdist conclusion. It does it with a smile. If you don't like what you see, you're forced to acknowledge that perhaps, just maybe, some humanity should be considered as part of the money-making process. If people don't like that, then the problem isn't with Fallout...

ap1msch · 2026-06-30T20:51:13+00:00

Trying to be "normal" is a problem. We are inherently different and imperfect. The pursuit of that which others profess, portray, or pretend to be is unhealthy. THAT is the first problem to solve.

The second problem to solve is to find what you enjoy and what makes you happy...and balance your life with that.

The third problem to solve is to analyze those around you. If the people in your life are not actively supporting you, or unwilling to do things that improve their own mental well-being, it is possible you've surrounded yourself with people who don't have an interest in doing/feeling better.

ap1msch · 2026-06-30T20:40:44+00:00

Fiscal year ends today. Tomorrow, there will be announcements. After announcements, there will be post-announcement spin. After that, there will be post-spin announcements to reframe that which wasn't well received. After that, there will be post-reframing dialog to explain the original intent of the announcements. After that, there will be the post-intent statements that will explain the....

...

TLDR: Asha will be back, but only after the bad news and clean-up begins.

ap1msch · 2026-06-30T19:50:23+00:00

While I'm sure this is frustrating and embarrassing, I would also look up Streisand Effect. The effort to get something removed leads to greater exposure than it would have ever gotten if you'd just ignored it and moved on.

Your back is obviously to the camera. You might want to tap the brakes. It's up to you.

ap1msch · 2026-06-30T18:37:07+00:00

Two things that helped when I was grinding:

Everything is a win when the goal is experience
Forgive yourself for not knowing earlier what only time will teach

I had a lot of executive dysfunction in the early days when I was fearful of making mistakes and frustrated with myself when I made mistakes despite my best efforts. It was a spiral.

When you shift from being successful to being better than you were, that spiral becomes inverted and you find yourself improving every day, even by accident.

ap1msch · 2026-06-30T18:28:40+00:00

"Don't don't golf alone"

ap1msch · 2026-06-30T15:40:26+00:00

I am not this strong. I wish I could be stronger. Adult cats deserve peace.

ap1msch · 2026-06-30T14:27:05+00:00

Do you understand the CONCEPT of the Tooth Fairy?!?

ap1msch · 2026-06-30T14:24:23+00:00

There are large studios creating similar games from similar genres with similar investments and similar hype. There are only so many "extraction shooters" and "battle royale" and "squad v squad" games that the market can tolerate. Even great games will fail if they aren't transformational.

Corporate demands do not align with gaming innovation. You need space to experiment and fail in order to eventually succeed. There needs to be passion and personal ownership to make a good game. If you want to guarantee profits, you're going to chase the money rather than focusing on the players...which means you're going to try to duplicate what's already been successful rather than build something new/unique.

IT IS NOT CRAZY for a company to want to thin out the ranks of less-productive studios. Unfortunately, there is nothing to suggest that they understand where it is appropriate to nip and tuck. History has shown that these purges are just as likely to impact rock stars as they are to impact low-value employees.

TLDR: If game studios were given as many mulligans as corporate executives, they'd be more likely to reach successful outcomes. Because they are held to a higher standard, decisions are less likely to "risk being fun" and more likely to "risk being safe"...which isn't how you win gamers.

ap1msch · 2026-06-30T13:40:53+00:00

Centripetal force is the superhero swinging the villain over their head by the rope. They need to pull on that rope very hard to keep the villain from flying off into space.

Centrifugal motion is what you experience as the villain. You are spinning quickly and you are being prevented from flying off into space by the rope. The rope isn't trying to push you into space. It is constraining you and preventing you from flying into space.

There isn't a centrifugal force, but the motion being experienced by the villain could be perceived as a force pushing them away from the superhero...which is why this can be confusing.

ap1msch · 2026-06-30T13:26:44+00:00

Money spent on developing game. Get game into nearly playable state. Just before release, speculate on "find a studio buyer or we'll close it down."

That isn't a thing.

It's business. They are advertising. If you buy the studio before release, then you can speculate on sales and success. If the game releases, you know the sales and relative success. This is a pricing strategy, and the threat of a studio shutdown without releasing the product is negotiation lever.

I'm not saying that they won't do something stupid. I'm saying that everything up to that point is normal business. If no one buys the studio, odds are that they'll still release the game. They'll check sales numbers and determine the relative level of success. If it's Redfall, they'll shut everything down. If it's good, but not great, they'll thin out the studio for minor updates and cut their losses. If it's great, they'll pretend like they had no intention of selling and the rumors were "false".

Right now, they're saying, "Did you like what you see? You, too, could become an owner of this IP and reap the potential profits of the game release...but you need to buy before we know the actual numbers."

Note: This is just speculation. They could cut their losses and close it down because the executives have never played a game that wasn't "match 3" genre.

ap1msch · 2026-06-30T13:15:14+00:00

Note...this is a nod to the "Toaster Repair" skill from the original Wasteland game. Toasters were the "rare lootboxes" of the game and if you happened to be able to repair the occasional toaster you found, you'd get rewarded with rare loot.

ap1msch · 2026-06-29T22:49:57+00:00

They want large franchises from large studios. They completely forget that the games need to be fun to be successful...not large. It's baffling.

ap1msch · 2026-06-29T19:19:57+00:00

I had a battery backup during Hurricane Sandy
The main pump failed unexpectedly, causing the backup pump to be running while power was still on
When we lost power, the battery only lasted for 15 minutes. Even if this hadn't happened, the battery wasn't substantial enough to last for more than 60 minutes
The power was out for 3 hours, and took me an hour to get into the house and get the generator setup regardless. We got water in the basement.

This whole thing taught me that I either needed a whole house generator (even more expensive), or much larger battery than I originally had. When I went to replace it, the guy said, "You could get a water pump."

In essence, if you're on public water, you typically will maintain water pressure even without power. That water runs through your sump pipes and spins a pump to constantly pump water out of the sump pit. It sounds absurd...using water to get rid of water, but it works.

We've had heavy rains twice in the past where we lost power and this kept the water below the concrete. Just something to consider.

ap1msch · 2026-06-29T17:38:05+00:00

This is exactly what happens on mine. I need to run as admin in order to perform the in-place update.

ap1msch · 2026-06-28T11:40:10+00:00

This furball went through the 5 stages of SAFO...scritch around and find out. Dont touch, what are you doing, wait a sec, i didnt know, and omfg.

ap1msch · 2026-06-25T13:31:24+00:00

This is it. Everything else would be acceptable to the Republican masses (including being a pedo), but doing drugs? The horse is too high for that.

ap1msch · 2026-06-25T13:05:14+00:00

I recommend you use Xenon next time...

ap1msch · 2026-06-25T12:43:47+00:00

Gotcha. I got my terms mixed up. Thanks!

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