I got Exploding Kittens on an impulse buy yesterday … I’m really disappointed as it is so overpriced!
I feel like a mug – I just paid £18 for 56 cards in a box.
Gameplay is basic. No strategy. I guess if you’re really into Oatmeal style humour there may be some value but I still wouldn’t want to pay more than £5.
My advice: don’t believe the hype and get Uno, Uno Flip, or one of the many Flux games instead.
I tried Stadia at the start of Lockdown#1 – around the middle of April 2020. I didn’t play huge sessions but I had a go of GRID for about 2 hrs and Destiny for about 4 hrs.
I had low expectations but I was really surprised at how good it was. Fair enough I was only running at 1080p but it ran really well. There was no input lag at all.
Given this good experience I convinced 2 friends to try it out too and they also reported that it was as if they were running it locally with no input lag.
That being said – there’s no way I’m going to pay for it! The selection of games for a subscription based service just isn’t there. Furthermore I’m not sure the model really works for the way I play games. I tend to play the same game for many many hours – it just makes sense to buy it rather than pay monthly.
It is interesting that the technology does work though – I can imagine this could change the shape of gaming in 5 to 10 years but not until they fix the pricing model. Certainly nVidia Now has a more appealing offer. I could see how gamers could transition to it as the hardware demands of new games surpass their current rigs.
I’m not proud about this one and feel rather stupid but I’m going to share it anyway – it may help someone avoid falling foul of the same stupidity that I did.
I’ve seen adverts (by British Gas I think) whereby the elderly lady is getting help to save energy over the phone and she follows the instruction and turns down her boiler. I internalised this and one summers day turned down my boiler. You can see where this is going can’t you?
So the following winter my radiators weren’t hot and I was scratching my head. I checked the hot water cylinder thermostat was working, the 3-way valve, the Nest control hub, the individual thermostatic radiator valves, I bled all the radiators, I balanced the system.
Then, Eureka! I realised that the dial on the front of the boiler wasn’t a simple “use more or less energy for the same result” dial. It is actually, like most other controls in a heating system, driven by temperatures. In this case it tells the boiler how hot to get the water flowing through it.
So, if it’s in a middling setting my radiators will only get to a middling temperature and they won’t heat the house effectively and, therefore, the heating will be on all of the time because it’s never warm enough. By dialing it up to a higher setting, what do you know, the radiators get warmer! The house gets warmer! Not only a bit warmer but it actually gets to a temperature whereby the house is warm enough and the heating turns off!
If I had the time I’m the sort of person who would like to do some experiments and understand what the optimal setting is. Too hot and, no doubt, there will be a point of diminishing returns. Too cold and, as I now know all too well, the house doesn’t warm up and the heating ends up being on all day.
Anyway – lesson learnt. Hope my sharing of my stupidity helps someone else!
For the last couple of years I’ve been gradually removing myself from Google.
Why? Snowden.
Before Snowden I knew, in my heart, that I wasn’t happy with a big company hoovering up data about me (I’d quit Facebook for this very reason). I’d previously convinced myself that Google was OK and that they would “Do no evil”. I still believe that of them today, but what about tomorrow. There’s a great quote which I first encountered due to a post that went viral on metafilter: “If you are not paying for it, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold.“. Am I happy with Google having my data as the price for using their services? No, I’m not.
Back on the topic of privacy, I’ve got nothing to hide – that doesn’t mean that my privacy doesn’t matter. Spend 20 minutes to watch this ted talk on Why Privacy Matters.
So, motivation aside, what have I done?
Well let’s list what I used to use and what I now use:
So to recap by turning things on it’s head, this is what I’m running and what it replaces:
So here I am, finally Google free. It’s been a long journey that’s taken the best part of 2 years (yes, I could have been quicker but this was a free-time hobby thing and I don’t get a lot of time for that sort of thing).
It’s sort of a hollow victory now though … during this time our wonderful government in the UK passed a law (nicknamed the “Snooper’s Charter”) that says our ISPs have to store all internet activity for a year. The cherry on the cake? It doesn’t apply to our MPs! Fortunately, for now at least, there’s a way around it.
As an update to my resolution to declutter here are things disposed of:
1/1 Six coasters – never used
2/1 A Guinness tray (checked on ebay – not worth anything)
3/1 (short of time) timer clock wall mount, corner baby proofer, gadget charger
4/1 previous years page-a-day calendars (previously saved for note paper)
5/1 space themed magnetic toy – recently broken but could have been mended
6/1 given the last 3 days weren’t too fruitfull I put in some extra effort: Disposable film camera, spare car key that was cut but never worked, lighter holder, label maker, 7 old wallets, a large bag of old socks, underwear, a t-shirt and a pair of old shoes
7/1 sorted out the “bits and bobs” storage and got rid of a large bag full of all sorts. Eclipse glasses, sky viewing card, £1 coin holder, key ring, poppy seeds etc etc
8/1 tea light holding lantern
9/1 Encyclopedia, Dictionary, Tesaurus
10/1 A dozen CDs with drivers and linux distributions etc
11/1 Went through my wallet and got rid of receipts, expired memberships etc
12/1 A large cup for pop from a theme park
13/1 41 books
14/1 25 DVDs
It’s been going quite well – I haven’t even looked in the garage/shed. This is the easy stuff though, it will get more difficult.
Has there been any benefit? Yes. All the books now fit on the bookshelf instead of being stacked. There is space for more DVDs rather than that space being taken up by junk we won’t watch. There is also a little less clutter in my head, especially after sorting out the bits and bobs. Knowing what I’ve got and where it is removes a tiny mental weight I didn’t know I had.
So I’ve apparently hit a point in my life when lawn care gains relevance. I didn’t see that coming.
It used to be a chore to cut the grass but, over recent years, it’s become less so. I thoroughly enjoy spending time with my family, but sometimes it’s also nice to spend time alone … and it doesn’t happen very often any more. I’ve heard of people talk of a “third place”; the first two are work and home, the magic “third place” is somewhere for oneself. Somewhere to be away from both work and home. My third place is becoming my lawn. One of the few activities that will guarantee time without being interrupted (much) is cutting the grass. Something to do with high speed rotating blades and children with no sense of danger I suppose.
So I’ve found myself, dare I say, enjoying cutting the grass. That in turn has led to a new pride in seeing little bits of extra effort actually showing improvements. In 2016 I bought a motorised scarifier and, in Spring and Autumn, I’ve used it to remove moss and thatch from the lawn. The result has been a much improved lawn. I’ve also done a couple of “weed and feed” treatments which have also shown visible results.
This success has led me to do a bit of research and I’m going to take things a little bit more seriously. I’m now the proud owner of a hollow tine aerator and a 16 litre backpack sprayer. This coming spring I’m all ready to start “the (second) year of the lawn”. There will be scarifying, aeration, chemical spraying and mowing.
I’m actually looking forward to it.
Sad really.