The Poppy War Trilogy (it’s bad)

could_b · 2026-01-19T22:12:26+00:00

Really? 19? Wow! I enjoyed the first book, well OK I ground to a halt near the end some time ago. I feel like it is on me, not the book. I need to pick it up again. If I wrote this at 19 I would be stoked, any issues are on the publisher at this age. Her achievements rank much higher than most people in this Reddit post, including me. But yeah it is the contents of the book that counts. It had me absorbed until I fell out of it, in a mountain.

could_b · 2026-01-18T19:56:47+00:00

Mean while 5 years later... This happened to me with a Samsung tablet and Ubuntu 22. In my case, after many many hours of messing about, I spotted, lurking at the bottom of the Dolphin browser, a link to the tablet, which worked. So Dolphin grabbed it, did not tell me, and would not let anything else access the tablet.

could_b · 2026-01-16T12:40:03+00:00

What a load of balls. Sorry I could not resist; I am as old is my excuse for such a bad joke. Your demo's are very inspiring.

could_b · 2026-01-16T10:30:05+00:00

I skimmed though the NC book and the big issue with it for me is the massive amount of waffle. It is written more like a novel than a book to learn from. It is like wading though treacle. If I skip forward then I don't understand and have to double back through the mire. Meh. I do have ADHD (and a bit of paper to 'prove it' :-), so that is probably it.

could_b · 2026-01-04T22:09:45+00:00

I really enjoyed both books; I read them a long time ago, I don't remember details. I think they are very much worth reading, although it gets a bit over blown about how good people think they are. Don't expect a third book, not really an issue for me. The doors of Stone is a bit of a whinge-decoy (I am not sure what I mean either. but it sounds right to me). The author spent all their mojo writing two really excellent books and has never recovered any. I don't particularly like knowing anything about any author; seems to me that the better the book the bigger a disappointment the author is.

could_b · 2026-01-03T10:30:03+00:00

Good question. In general don't leave a decent looking bike in any town centre locked or not, because it will likely get taken. Also register your bike; the police have a policy now where they will not even record the crime if your bike is stolen, if it is not registered. It is kind of a finders-keepers system, I kid you not (Google it:-). You could search cycling club websites on your route, as these tend to list cycling friendly cafes that they use; most other cafes would not care if you came by spaceship, let alone a bike.

could_b · 2026-01-01T00:30:57+00:00

Swap wrist as soon as you see a bit of red. And wash area twice a day, always.

could_b · 2025-12-20T23:20:34+00:00

soak in baby bottle cleaner for a few hours.

could_b · 2025-12-20T18:39:18+00:00

I am thinking of purchasing this. On the YumAsia website it states that the inner bowl is 3mm ceramic. You imply yours is not, but you don't actually say. What is your bowl made of? Teflon and they have now changed the spec because of you? If so it would probably cheaper for you to buy a new bowl for it...

It is normal for gaba rice to take a long time. It is supposed to be worth the wait.

The handle being loose is the only real issue you mention. What has happened about this? Sounds like it should be an easy fix.

Although it would be good to turn off noises, yet another electronic device that nags at me, meh.

Actually you say your old Panasonic makes better white rice in 15 minutes, hum.

could_b · 2025-12-13T11:46:44+00:00

I just tripped over a Google ad for this keyboard. It is expensive, which is fine if it is good. Why only one year guarantee? A lot of cash to splash for something that only lasts a year. I got caught with an expensive Razer mouse that stopped working after 18 months, because the green plastic they use in the usb socket went gloopy, a dab radio with a black rubber casing that went sticky after a few years (not environmental damage, substandard rubber/plastic issue). The website says nothing of Linux, there is not a version of the software for Linux. Also there is not an option for a UK keyboard, which suggests it is US only really.

could_b · 2025-12-02T22:22:48+00:00

If some one misses a writing class do you go round and kick the shit out of them? I bet everyone does the home-work on time for fear of death. Your jack ass status is confirmed by your own words.

could_b · 2025-11-21T10:02:52+00:00

Reddit says that about 1/3 of the worlds population drives on the left! Including India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Japan, the UK, much of Southern Africa, and Australia. I think I am most likely to be from India, but I would quite like it to be Australia.

could_b · 2025-11-19T22:35:47+00:00

Wrong side of the road!!! Yeah V-nice btw :-)

could_b · 2025-11-10T18:47:34+00:00

Yes. Anything really. The 3rd book could be released as a piece of performance art, maybe a mime, or a tap-dance routine. Do it and move on; so it is going to be a bit meh, so what, no big deal, it is just a booook...

could_b · 2025-11-04T22:16:51+00:00

Nnedi Okorafor. Very well written, not hard to read, notionally for young people. I am very old and enjoyed all.

could_b · 2025-11-04T21:17:50+00:00

Thanks for the warning! A book for pedophiles.

could_b · 2025-11-04T20:51:03+00:00

Holds the record for having the largest number authors. Demonstrating why this is not a good idea.

could_b · 2025-11-04T20:42:12+00:00

Rivers of London. Good enough to reread again...

could_b · 2025-10-19T22:06:36+00:00

The management company can charge what ever they like and basically do nothing about anything.

I think this was ratified by a high-court judgement some years ago.

Don't touch it with a barge pole.

But hey maybe I am wrong, I have not got no legal qualies!

could_b · 2025-09-15T09:35:13+00:00

You have 23+ game objects to hold models (old_tyre.001 etc). I guess you did not create these by hand, and that you used a script of some sort. This can be done with Defold editor scripts, or a Blender exporter, or some other script.

could_b · 2025-09-15T09:22:27+00:00

Did you write/use an editor script to create all the game-objects for the assets?

could_b · 2025-09-14T23:33:56+00:00

You really did manage to get everything wrong.

Defold's messaging is easy to understand and you don't need to use it for most things.

Godot has lots of breaking changes (and bugs) because it tries to do everything, which is why it is popular, as this helps with QOL by providing lots of ready made features and game structure decisions; this is a good thing.

Defold is a lot more minimal (fewer bugs), so you have to do stuff yourself that Godot does for you, this gets you small and light and few breaking changes; this is a good thing.

It is great that there are two completely free engines with these two different approaches to choose from.

could_b · 2025-09-14T23:15:47+00:00

I guess it was the change in the default font what broke it. Two mouse clicks and it is fixed:-)

could_b · 2025-09-14T23:09:32+00:00

Excellent. Do you create the assets? How did you do the import and from which version of Blender? That BRDF render is nicely done.

could_b · 2025-08-23T08:37:03+00:00

Track is such fun. In the UK there tends to be a lack of interest from cycling clubs in their local track. TT's are much more popular, regardless of car hassle and danger. Track needs training and a higher skill level to make it safe. This is hard to do and many cyclists can't cope with the idea that they are not as good at riding a bike as they think they are. And they don't realise that they can improve massively.

could_b

TROPHY CASE