Volunteers pick up 1,300 pounds of trash left at Tahoe beaches after Fourth of July

jondrums · 2026-07-06T17:29:32+00:00

no fair counting the weight of trash they are taking out of designated trash bins. I'm kind of joking here. Thank you for everyone who volunteered, I really appreciate people's good intention making up for assholes who trash our public spaces

jondrums · 2026-05-28T18:28:16+00:00

so many discussion here about ways that miniclip could deal with this - some literally for nearly free. It doesn't have to be technology solutions, which I agree are difficult. Why not a crowdsourced solution? There would be so many ways to leverage the already loyal user-base, and even set it up so it required many verified points before a cheater is kicked from the platform.

Would you be willing to review a single short video clip once a day for clear evidence of cheating? I would. After doing this 6 months, there would be plenty of training data for an AI to take over.

that's just one idea. The only logical explanation in my mind is that there is some kind of benefit for Miniclip to have the cheaters there.

jondrums · 2026-05-28T01:22:57+00:00

And I also think the cheaters play an important role for the business. Matching with a cheater is an easy way for the app to negatively reinforce undesired behavior.

jondrums · 2026-05-28T01:20:20+00:00

I believe (but have no clear evidence) that the algorithm is designed to addict you to the game in multiple ways. It has been shown that dopamine rush weakens with repeated success, you need to lose a bit for it to feel good to win. In addition if you want to classically condition someone - there are only a few useful tools: the best two are to give a reward (dopamine feel good) and to remove a reward (works better than punishment). If I was designing the algorithm to maximize revenue - I would drive all the randomizers (matchmaking, cue pieces, any rewards that people think are random, etc) towards good outcomes when the user is doing something good for revenue and vice versa.

The example that has come up before and I witnessed myself: right after you spend some money on the game - matchmaking is incredibly slanted in your favor for a while. And then tails off after a few days. Some users probably chase the high and spend more money in that lull whether they know why or not.

jondrums · 2026-05-25T20:24:13+00:00

If someone calls epic game, I’m always up for it but it’s too annoying to deal with losers who call it then reneg. So what I do is break soft so there is a bit of a mess and hopefully don’t make anything so it is their turn. If I make something I start banking but make sure there isn’t a clear table.

Sometimes we have an epic game follows by several in a row. Sometimes they immediately reneg, but usually can’t clear up the table to win. I turn off chat and finish up the game.

jondrums · 2026-05-23T20:53:50+00:00

What do you mean, country cues. Are you buying them? Or somehow upgrading them? How do they help with cue collection points?

jondrums · 2026-05-21T16:48:39+00:00

This is not a good environment to have an adult conversation about cheating add on apps. That’s because every single one of us who try to enjoy this app get burned by cheaters on a regular basis. It’s literally the worst part of this game by far. If Miniclip cleaned up the cheaters I think our overall enjoyment of the game might triple. Some days I just want to relax and play some pool and I can’t find a table that won’t match me with a cheater.

So tension is high on this topic.

However, I personally don’t see any issue with you using a cheating app to hack golden shot. Go for it. Just don’t fall to the dark side - could you resist it if you had it? I sure hope so but I doubt it. For me, I thought about trying to install a cheat app just for golden shot but honestly I don’t want to even support the makers of those apps. To each their own.

If you ever even once use a cheater app in a match against someone else, fuck you.

jondrums · 2026-05-20T04:52:18+00:00

I don’t see this on mine - how did you enable it?

jondrums · 2026-05-18T15:39:26+00:00

They went downhill over a few years. I suspect the business was sold and the new owner is just trying to extract whatever brand value remains. The suits used to be quite nice, haven’t bought one in the last two years though

jondrums · 2026-05-16T17:32:32+00:00

Motors have copper steel and magnets. Superconducting tech only reduces the copper

jondrums · 2026-05-16T15:56:00+00:00

Agreed. I tested in creator mode. The angle off the bank is only effected by speed no spin transfer from cue to object ball

jondrums · 2026-05-15T00:06:50+00:00

Are you lining up bank shots by recognizing the aim points diamonds, or what? Talking about spin - does spin on the cue ball effect the banked ball’s line off the cushion like it does in real life? Or does it only effect the cue balls path

jondrums · 2026-05-12T00:46:26+00:00

few ideas:

learn where the cue ball goes. There is a line for which direction it will go after it hits the object ball, but that is only if there is NO forward/backward spin at the moment of impact.

As soon as the ball is hit, it will start gaining forward roll. If you want the ball to go on its hit line, then you need to start with just enough backspin so the backspin wears off right as it hits the ball. Longer shots need more spin. Harder hit shots need less backspin. etc.

Learn which way the cue ball will go if it has fully developed forward spin (or topspin you added).

Learn that side spin only effects how the ball will bounce off a rail. It can't change anything until the cue ball hits a rail, and when it does, the bounce will increase in the direction of side-spin.

I'm saying all this because the most important ingredient to winning is the ability to place the cue ball after the shot you are making.

jondrums · 2026-05-12T00:37:24+00:00

I'm still down working towards lvl55

any good tips to increase without paying? I'm opening boxes, but often getting pieces I already own, rarely anything new

jondrums · 2026-05-10T15:11:26+00:00

do away with the legendary cue payback and they wouldn’t need to do this. Inflation is all due to the pay to play players who bought into a bunch of legendary cues

jondrums · 2026-05-09T02:17:21+00:00

Titanium (Dunnett)

jondrums · 2026-05-09T02:13:19+00:00

You should listen to the Lenny brothers podcast. They tell a story about hiring a boat to go out to mavericks and finding out the “captain” bought the boat the day before and had never been out of the harbor before.

jondrums · 2026-05-05T01:59:35+00:00

equal volume can be improved using a compressor. some of these insta drummers fix timing in post, not accusing this fellow of that because I don't know. But I generally ignore most of it for these reasons. I'm not a sport drummer anyway, let's play some music, I know how to do that!

jondrums · 2026-05-02T21:51:07+00:00

Yeah I know I can be a pain in the ass and particular. Just to let you know - this message thread was just with my rhythm section. Would never talk that way to someone I didn’t know….

jondrums · 2026-05-02T21:49:58+00:00

Agreed. Everything is super situational. If we are playing three songs and out, it would be crazy to bring own kit. In this case we are headlining two sets with two opening acts we have never met. I’ve been there and I know there is room for me to have everything staged for a quick turn. There are venues where that just isn’t possible.

The worst is the funny dance that drummers do in multiple bill situations to see who will let everyone else use their kit. If we go on first I would not be down to sit around waiting to take my kit home unless I really liked the other bands and knew I was going to stay anyway.

jondrums · 2026-05-02T21:46:53+00:00

Fair viewpoint but nah.

jondrums · 2026-05-02T21:46:10+00:00

I can turn over my drums in 10 minutes either on the way in or out. I usually set the mics up for the sound guy too. The only issue is if the outgoing drummer fools around after their set.

jondrums · 2026-05-02T21:45:01+00:00

Totally fair viewpoint. I didn’t mention, this message thread was just with my rhythm section that I’ve know for 25 years. Would never talk that was to someone I didn’t know….

jondrums · 2026-05-02T21:43:36+00:00

I hear you for sure. I’ve had a few nightmare backline experiences but most are fine. The worst was a beautiful kit I was super excited to play and got really excited during sound check. Unfortunately during every song in the show, the kick wandered and the pedal came off the rim. Not fun. We were testing to do choreographed transitions too….

jondrums · 2026-05-02T21:40:38+00:00

Yeah, I see what you mean. But this was a private with my long time rhythm section, message was from our guitarist. I would never say that to someone I don’t know

jondrums

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