Yep, a boatload of talented film, TV, radio and music stars died, my health took a nosedive, work is shit and... two days before it ends my dad get's admitted to hospital for the first time in his life with a mystery illness that they haven't figured out yet... and here I sit as I write this with less than an hour before midnight, worried sick about him.
Fuck you 2016. Crappy New Year everyone.
Saturday, 31 December 2016
Friday, 23 December 2016
Hunting artillery in World of Tanks
More World of Tanks goodness...
To be honest I got very lucky... if that player had been able to fire on target I'd be the one in flames!
To be honest I got very lucky... if that player had been able to fire on target I'd be the one in flames!
Having fun in World of Tanks...
Here's a video of my latest session in World of Tanks... playing artillery:
Thursday, 15 December 2016
This is why I voted for Brexit...
This video is why I voted for Brexit...
EU bureaucrats - what a bunch of immature children... blanking our Prime Minister in a collective display of sour grapes because our country voted out.
Tossers.
I feel for her to be honest, her job's difficult enough as it is without that lot pulling faces and making it even more difficult.
EU bureaucrats - what a bunch of immature children... blanking our Prime Minister in a collective display of sour grapes because our country voted out.
Tossers.
I feel for her to be honest, her job's difficult enough as it is without that lot pulling faces and making it even more difficult.
HP Printhead Nozzles Conspiracy
I am convinced that it's bullshit when HP reports show nozzles out on their printheads (for those types of printers that support it).
Take our HP 360 Latex for example, I spent some time this morning running 'clean printhead' operations then running the Printer Information report immediately after:
This is the first report, prior to me running a clean, it shows some nozzles on the printheads 'out':
So I run my first clean, and after, refresh the report:
To be fair, it 'shows' that they ARE unblocking, so I run another clean, then refresh the report again:
Oh wow! Looks like I'm making some progress based on the results from that previous report, so I do a fourth clean (the OCD in me thinking I can get those numbers even lower...)
Nope. What WAS I thinking! So now the optimiser printhead loses the plot and the previously misbehaving magenta printhead is getting clogged up again.
In-between reports 2 and 3 I do some plot tests and sure enough there ARE nozzles out on the magenta and they DO come back after a targeted clean (i.e. I do the clean ONLY on the magenta/yellow printheads). However the plot test shows the black printheads as perfectly okay despite there being nozzles consistently out.
So I do another clean, thinking maybe the optimiser printheads will unblock because, strangely, they were fine based on the first report:
...aaaand... No! They just start getting worse again!!
I gave up at that point and just ran a image quality test, which looked acceptable... to most people, but not to me because I KNOW there are nozzles not working!
In conclusion, I think HP just runs a routine in the printer firmware that randomises the output of the printhead nozzle numbers, that way, us peon print-operators use-up ink from doing continuous cleans, forcing us to buy more than we need.
Take our HP 360 Latex for example, I spent some time this morning running 'clean printhead' operations then running the Printer Information report immediately after:
This is the first report, prior to me running a clean, it shows some nozzles on the printheads 'out':
 |
| Report 1 |
So I run my first clean, and after, refresh the report:
 |
| Report 2 |
To be fair, it 'shows' that they ARE unblocking, so I run another clean, then refresh the report again:
 |
| Report 3 |
Oh wow! Looks like I'm making some progress based on the results from that previous report, so I do a fourth clean (the OCD in me thinking I can get those numbers even lower...)
 |
| Report 4 |
Nope. What WAS I thinking! So now the optimiser printhead loses the plot and the previously misbehaving magenta printhead is getting clogged up again.
In-between reports 2 and 3 I do some plot tests and sure enough there ARE nozzles out on the magenta and they DO come back after a targeted clean (i.e. I do the clean ONLY on the magenta/yellow printheads). However the plot test shows the black printheads as perfectly okay despite there being nozzles consistently out.
So I do another clean, thinking maybe the optimiser printheads will unblock because, strangely, they were fine based on the first report:
 |
| Report 5 |
...aaaand... No! They just start getting worse again!!
I gave up at that point and just ran a image quality test, which looked acceptable... to most people, but not to me because I KNOW there are nozzles not working!
In conclusion, I think HP just runs a routine in the printer firmware that randomises the output of the printhead nozzle numbers, that way, us peon print-operators use-up ink from doing continuous cleans, forcing us to buy more than we need.
Tuesday, 13 December 2016
'Tis the season for office parties...
Working in a large city has it's benefits sometimes... and one of them is watching large crowds of office-goers heading out to their yearly Christmas party as I make my way across the city to catch my train.
Take last night for example... as I passed a well known, quite posh, real ale pub (it's based in one of the more prosperous parts of the city and is usually full of high profile well-to-do finance office workers, lawyers etc.) I saw a group of people there, stood outside, dressed in what looked like Pantomime characters. Their laughter could be heard a couple of streets away and they seemed to be having a good time but, to me, their laughter sounded a bit too loud and a bit too forced... almost as if they were collectively silently crying out: 'This isn't what we wanted to do for an office party!' I'd imagine that the alcohol had started to flow early and fast in order to take the edge off their apparent discomfort!
So from now on until a day or two before Christmas Eve, I'll be dodging gangs of well-dressed people drunkenly roving the streets, either heading off or coming out of their respective parties, that will be/have been full of stereotypical behaviour that we all expect for this time of year.
...and no, I'm not jealous at all... well, definitely not jealous of that bunch wearing the Panto gear, I'd rather take a cheese-grater to my nutsack than have to put up with that kind of party.
Take last night for example... as I passed a well known, quite posh, real ale pub (it's based in one of the more prosperous parts of the city and is usually full of high profile well-to-do finance office workers, lawyers etc.) I saw a group of people there, stood outside, dressed in what looked like Pantomime characters. Their laughter could be heard a couple of streets away and they seemed to be having a good time but, to me, their laughter sounded a bit too loud and a bit too forced... almost as if they were collectively silently crying out: 'This isn't what we wanted to do for an office party!' I'd imagine that the alcohol had started to flow early and fast in order to take the edge off their apparent discomfort!
So from now on until a day or two before Christmas Eve, I'll be dodging gangs of well-dressed people drunkenly roving the streets, either heading off or coming out of their respective parties, that will be/have been full of stereotypical behaviour that we all expect for this time of year.
...and no, I'm not jealous at all... well, definitely not jealous of that bunch wearing the Panto gear, I'd rather take a cheese-grater to my nutsack than have to put up with that kind of party.
Saturday, 10 December 2016
Out and about... drinking
Off out doing a spot of 'single' pub crawling prior to meeting up with some family members in a bavarian beer shed... where they are serving beer in stein mugs. Then after that I am heading in to town to a reunion with a load of my old work colleagues... this evening is going to get messy!
EDIT: It didn't get messy, no-one was drinking steins, just expensive German crap in plastic jugs. After that I headed into town where I almost pissed myself because I spent too much time outside my bladder's comfort zone looking for the joint where I was to meet my ex-work colleagues. Then, when I finally found it (after an impromptu stop at another bar I thought was the venue but used their toilet anyway), only half of them turned-up! Then, at the end of the evening, the trains failed me again and I had to get an expensive taxi due to the last train home getting cancelled... that taxi fare was my groceries for the following week.
Fucking trains. Fucking expensive taxis - another reason why I don't want to live on this planet anymore.
EDIT: It didn't get messy, no-one was drinking steins, just expensive German crap in plastic jugs. After that I headed into town where I almost pissed myself because I spent too much time outside my bladder's comfort zone looking for the joint where I was to meet my ex-work colleagues. Then, when I finally found it (after an impromptu stop at another bar I thought was the venue but used their toilet anyway), only half of them turned-up! Then, at the end of the evening, the trains failed me again and I had to get an expensive taxi due to the last train home getting cancelled... that taxi fare was my groceries for the following week.
Fucking trains. Fucking expensive taxis - another reason why I don't want to live on this planet anymore.
Wednesday, 7 December 2016
Reasons why I don't want to live on this planet anymore #10.5
Fucking trains...
Never getting to get back two hours of my life lost, on a bus, stuck in traffic... and why? Because every single train got cancelled, forcing me to make alternate arrangements.
Two fucking hours to go a measly 12 miles... and this is supposed to be the 21st Century!
I'd have gotten home quicker using a horse and cart, from back in the early 1900s.
EDIT: Whilst I'm thinking about this... and while we're on the subject of the 21st Century - when my Fitbit Surge is charging, the Fitbit app, without fail, sends me a notification telling me "That it is charged and is missing me...", yet the LondonMidland app did fuck all to prevent me slogging all the way to the station to find chaos.
Yep - 21st Century is shaping up nicely, we're all well-informed on stuff that doesn't matter.
EDIT: Whilst I'm thinking about this... and while we're on the subject of the 21st Century - when my Fitbit Surge is charging, the Fitbit app, without fail, sends me a notification telling me "That it is charged and is missing me...", yet the LondonMidland app did fuck all to prevent me slogging all the way to the station to find chaos.
Yep - 21st Century is shaping up nicely, we're all well-informed on stuff that doesn't matter.
Reasons why I don't want to live on this planet anymore #10
The weather...
When I was younger the seasons in this country were so much more... 'honest'. By that I mean summers were bloody hot and winters were bloody cold.
These days we don't have seasons, certainly not ones defined by the weather... leaves on trees appear sometime at the start of the year and then fall off towards the end, that's about it.
In this country the retartdedness of the weather starts around December - we'll get warm, mild, wet conditions, usually reserved for mid-summer. Making walking around in a winter coat fucking uncomfortable and annoying because it supposed to feel like winter so not wearing a coat just feels weird.
This will continue until January when it'll cool down but we won't get any snow because that would mean we could have some fun and remember kids, no-one has fun these fucking days... so it'll be bitterly cold and wet (but no snow) and will stay that way until mid-May (despite the fact that it should change to more milder conditions around mid-March to May.
Then... like pressing a light switch, conditions will warm-up but they won't be dry... oh no, we won't be allowed that... no, from May onwards we're subjected to almost continuous monsoons which makes any outdoor activity an utterly miserable experience. Then August arrives, and we'll get short periods of nice hot, dry weather but only during a working week, it'll cloud over at weekends and rain.
Between mid September and October we finally get some consistent, dry decent weather, but by then the days have become too fucking short and the sun too weak for anyone properly enjoy it.
Then we get to November and the leaf fall starts... which tells us it's autumn and that we should start getting our t-shirts ready for that fucking annoying warm mild spell in December again.
I really do feel like our weather these days is controlled by a bunch of middle-management pointless Post-it note wielding quango dickheads.
When I was younger the seasons in this country were so much more... 'honest'. By that I mean summers were bloody hot and winters were bloody cold.
These days we don't have seasons, certainly not ones defined by the weather... leaves on trees appear sometime at the start of the year and then fall off towards the end, that's about it.
In this country the retartdedness of the weather starts around December - we'll get warm, mild, wet conditions, usually reserved for mid-summer. Making walking around in a winter coat fucking uncomfortable and annoying because it supposed to feel like winter so not wearing a coat just feels weird.
This will continue until January when it'll cool down but we won't get any snow because that would mean we could have some fun and remember kids, no-one has fun these fucking days... so it'll be bitterly cold and wet (but no snow) and will stay that way until mid-May (despite the fact that it should change to more milder conditions around mid-March to May.
Then... like pressing a light switch, conditions will warm-up but they won't be dry... oh no, we won't be allowed that... no, from May onwards we're subjected to almost continuous monsoons which makes any outdoor activity an utterly miserable experience. Then August arrives, and we'll get short periods of nice hot, dry weather but only during a working week, it'll cloud over at weekends and rain.
Between mid September and October we finally get some consistent, dry decent weather, but by then the days have become too fucking short and the sun too weak for anyone properly enjoy it.
Then we get to November and the leaf fall starts... which tells us it's autumn and that we should start getting our t-shirts ready for that fucking annoying warm mild spell in December again.
I really do feel like our weather these days is controlled by a bunch of middle-management pointless Post-it note wielding quango dickheads.
Tuesday, 6 December 2016
Ski Preparations...
Well I'm relieved to find out that my ski boots still fit after several years...
As for the actual skiing bit? Ahh, like riding a bike!
Coming soon - my trip to Austria... in pictures!!
As for the actual skiing bit? Ahh, like riding a bike!
Coming soon - my trip to Austria... in pictures!!
Monday, 5 December 2016
People asking directions...
Twice in the last couple of days a two different people have come up to me in the street and asked me for directions... both times I was unable to help.
I feel so inadequate!
I feel so inadequate!
Reasons why I don't want to live on this planet anymore #9
People who produce artwork... in other words: Artworkers.
Are they being taught badly in college, or are they just plain lazy?
In the print and signage industry, in most circumstances I'm at the end of the creative process, in other words I'm printing the result of a collaborative effort between a customer that wants something printed, a designer/artworker who creates the prints and maybe a marketeer and a salesperson who sold the idea to the customer... anyway I digress, I get sent artwork to print...
In most cases the artwork I receive to print, is shit. It often contains a mixture of lazy graphic 'cheats' to hide things, poor low-resolution image/effects use, no outlined fonts, ZERO bleed ('cos let's face it, adding 5mm onto the edge of your job is SO HARD) and, occasionally, ENTIRE job is just a tiny low-res image that they think will 'magically' increase in resolution when enlarged and printed!
This has gotten worse over the years, when, ironically the software to create electronic artwork has gotten easier to use! Yet people seem to see this as a way to spend as little time as possible and this isn't because they lead truly busy lifestyles that justifies their time management... for example I've seen artwork where white polygons have been positioned at the edges of a logo to 'mask' it against a white background, a method that takes longer to do than the usual masking procedure! They are simply too lazy to learn it. Or not adding bleed, they can clearly see that the graphic elements in their design touches the edges of the overall print but because they started at the edge it's now too hard to extend it out! Any designer worth their salt knows about bleed, it's not some obscure outmoded practice no-one uses anymore, in fact, it's one of the first things you learn about creating printable artwork! This is just the tip of the iceberg, to part-quote Rutger Hauer's character from Blade Runner: "I've seen things you wouldn't believe..."
So, eventually I have to spend additional time 'tidying' up their mess... why? Do you ask, do I do this? I do it because, these days, even if I speak in layman's terms to a designer about what they need to correct in their work, they don't understand and/or don't listen... it's just easier to do it myself than explain it. I've worked hard during my career to adhere to good artworking practices... so fuck you.
This, dear people, is also why it makes living on this planet a little bit shittier as the years go by.
Are they being taught badly in college, or are they just plain lazy?
In the print and signage industry, in most circumstances I'm at the end of the creative process, in other words I'm printing the result of a collaborative effort between a customer that wants something printed, a designer/artworker who creates the prints and maybe a marketeer and a salesperson who sold the idea to the customer... anyway I digress, I get sent artwork to print...
In most cases the artwork I receive to print, is shit. It often contains a mixture of lazy graphic 'cheats' to hide things, poor low-resolution image/effects use, no outlined fonts, ZERO bleed ('cos let's face it, adding 5mm onto the edge of your job is SO HARD) and, occasionally, ENTIRE job is just a tiny low-res image that they think will 'magically' increase in resolution when enlarged and printed!
This has gotten worse over the years, when, ironically the software to create electronic artwork has gotten easier to use! Yet people seem to see this as a way to spend as little time as possible and this isn't because they lead truly busy lifestyles that justifies their time management... for example I've seen artwork where white polygons have been positioned at the edges of a logo to 'mask' it against a white background, a method that takes longer to do than the usual masking procedure! They are simply too lazy to learn it. Or not adding bleed, they can clearly see that the graphic elements in their design touches the edges of the overall print but because they started at the edge it's now too hard to extend it out! Any designer worth their salt knows about bleed, it's not some obscure outmoded practice no-one uses anymore, in fact, it's one of the first things you learn about creating printable artwork! This is just the tip of the iceberg, to part-quote Rutger Hauer's character from Blade Runner: "I've seen things you wouldn't believe..."
So, eventually I have to spend additional time 'tidying' up their mess... why? Do you ask, do I do this? I do it because, these days, even if I speak in layman's terms to a designer about what they need to correct in their work, they don't understand and/or don't listen... it's just easier to do it myself than explain it. I've worked hard during my career to adhere to good artworking practices... so fuck you.
This, dear people, is also why it makes living on this planet a little bit shittier as the years go by.
Reasons why I don't want to live on this planet anymore #8
Driving...
Maybe it's just me but driving on our nation's roads has gotten a bit shittier these days - it's harder to get anywhere due to excessive traffic and it's dodgy at the best of times due to idiots who don't know how to drive.
I'm not sure of the reasons why to be honest, perhaps because of Facebook ruling people's lives so much they can't tear their eyes away from their smartphone screens to concentrate on something as 'trivial' as driving? Or too much red tape in highways' management slowing down road repair procedures and keeping traffic-delaying diversions in place for longer? I don't know but it sure is shittier...
I still have a car but I try to use it as little as possible, saves mileage, money and, I suppose, the environment (to a certain degree, I don't agree with these 'global warming' tree huggers) and one less person on the roads during rush hour.
Maybe it's just me but driving on our nation's roads has gotten a bit shittier these days - it's harder to get anywhere due to excessive traffic and it's dodgy at the best of times due to idiots who don't know how to drive.
I'm not sure of the reasons why to be honest, perhaps because of Facebook ruling people's lives so much they can't tear their eyes away from their smartphone screens to concentrate on something as 'trivial' as driving? Or too much red tape in highways' management slowing down road repair procedures and keeping traffic-delaying diversions in place for longer? I don't know but it sure is shittier...
I still have a car but I try to use it as little as possible, saves mileage, money and, I suppose, the environment (to a certain degree, I don't agree with these 'global warming' tree huggers) and one less person on the roads during rush hour.
Reasons why I don't want to live on this planet anymore #7
Instagram...
Why is it that some vapid (albeit quite fit) stick-insect takes a picture, via her diamond-encrusted smartphone, of her wearing her latest million dollar bling, she puts a burn-in edge filter on it... it then gets millions of hits, and she gets an instant modelling contract, a mansion and a fuck-ton of money.
It COST me £88 to get what I think is a fucking award-winning landscape photograph printed and framed... yet if I posted online (and I'm not going to) I'd get zero hits... and why? Because it's a landscape photograph (too boring), it has no connection whatsoever to reality TV shit, has no fashion bling in it... and contains no pouting fit vapid stick-insect.
I'm not jealous of their success via Instagram... I'm just annoyed that half as much effort seems to get double the amount of reward these days. For example, there must be millions of truly talented artists out there who went through the mill to get to where they are but are constantly trumped by someone with a smartphone app and privilege to be in places where their photos get viewing hits. As opposed to someone who sits in the undergrowth for an entire day, in the cold, waiting to get that 'one photo' of a Kingfisher, that will (undeservedly) get minimal exposure either in their local paper or 5 minutes of fame in MailOnline only to be obliterated by a cascade of photo-articles about some average shit the Kardashians did.
In my humble opinion humanity's collective taste in art photography has gone down the shitter.
Why is it that some vapid (albeit quite fit) stick-insect takes a picture, via her diamond-encrusted smartphone, of her wearing her latest million dollar bling, she puts a burn-in edge filter on it... it then gets millions of hits, and she gets an instant modelling contract, a mansion and a fuck-ton of money.
It COST me £88 to get what I think is a fucking award-winning landscape photograph printed and framed... yet if I posted online (and I'm not going to) I'd get zero hits... and why? Because it's a landscape photograph (too boring), it has no connection whatsoever to reality TV shit, has no fashion bling in it... and contains no pouting fit vapid stick-insect.
I'm not jealous of their success via Instagram... I'm just annoyed that half as much effort seems to get double the amount of reward these days. For example, there must be millions of truly talented artists out there who went through the mill to get to where they are but are constantly trumped by someone with a smartphone app and privilege to be in places where their photos get viewing hits. As opposed to someone who sits in the undergrowth for an entire day, in the cold, waiting to get that 'one photo' of a Kingfisher, that will (undeservedly) get minimal exposure either in their local paper or 5 minutes of fame in MailOnline only to be obliterated by a cascade of photo-articles about some average shit the Kardashians did.
In my humble opinion humanity's collective taste in art photography has gone down the shitter.
Reasons why I don't want to live on this planet anymore #6
Technological advancement moving at a painfully slow pace...
Don't get me wrong we, as a species, have made huge advancements in technology in just the past 50 years but nowadays I get the feeling that some major technological breakthroughs haven't happened because certain groups of very powerful people are deliberately suppressing development because if they happened, those people wouldn't have it easy in their lives anymore... and by that I mean they wouldn't make as much money as they're used to making. These people (whoever they are) don't care about the future, all they care about is now, the rich lives they live... and fuck the generations of humanity that live on after they die.
I'm not talking about flying cars either... because they are genuinely a bad idea, humankind can't drive properly on the ground, let alone in the air!
What I mean is stuff, for example, like alternative power sources for vehicles, hydrogen for instance... I doubt OPEC would like it if all the worlds' vehicles could all run off water, because of that, we're still lugging around with internal combustion fired by petrol and diesel.
Battery development seems to have stopped, the latest smartphones seemed to have gone backwards when it comes to power management... and it still takes ages to charge any battery up and why? Because if batteries' capacities were improved and it if could take less than a few minutes to charge them, they could go into vehicles, improve their ranges, make it easier to re-charge (i.e. quick stop at a power/petrol station) and no-one would need need fuel for their vehicles anymore... OPEC anyone?
Mobile phone signals - 4G, is shit, it's like some sort of half-assed attempt to get broadband speeds via cellular signal, yet whenever lots of people start to use it in an enclosed space, like at a stadium for instance it grinds to a halt! It's the 21st Century I shouldn't have to wait 5 minutes for a webpage to open on my mobile device, shouldn't get cutouts when talking to people, shouldn't have artefacts appear when streaming content! Why? Because the cellular companies don't want to invest more money into more cell towers or improve their efficiency because they have greedy shareholders to satisfy!
A new rocket engine, called the EmDrive has been announced that could get people to Mars a LOT faster, yet it's development is being hampered 'cos some scientists who's voices are louder than the rest state that it breaks Newton's Third Law. Now, whilst I respect Newton and his ilk, I really don't accept that that is ALL we know about the Universe and that Physics just stops at what scientists said hundreds of years ago. Why don't they just fucking build it, launch it into space and fucking try it out?!
It's stuff like that - it get's 'delayed', or it's science funding gets cut and re-channelled to helping war-weary immigrants... when what they don't realise is that forging ahead with these breakthrough science projects, in the long run, helps humankind and ultimately reduces the amount of war weary immigrants in the first place!
Nope there are people who won't allow that, they make too much money and everything is alright as it is right now thank you very much.
Yet another reason why this planet wanting woefully.
Don't get me wrong we, as a species, have made huge advancements in technology in just the past 50 years but nowadays I get the feeling that some major technological breakthroughs haven't happened because certain groups of very powerful people are deliberately suppressing development because if they happened, those people wouldn't have it easy in their lives anymore... and by that I mean they wouldn't make as much money as they're used to making. These people (whoever they are) don't care about the future, all they care about is now, the rich lives they live... and fuck the generations of humanity that live on after they die.
I'm not talking about flying cars either... because they are genuinely a bad idea, humankind can't drive properly on the ground, let alone in the air!
What I mean is stuff, for example, like alternative power sources for vehicles, hydrogen for instance... I doubt OPEC would like it if all the worlds' vehicles could all run off water, because of that, we're still lugging around with internal combustion fired by petrol and diesel.
Battery development seems to have stopped, the latest smartphones seemed to have gone backwards when it comes to power management... and it still takes ages to charge any battery up and why? Because if batteries' capacities were improved and it if could take less than a few minutes to charge them, they could go into vehicles, improve their ranges, make it easier to re-charge (i.e. quick stop at a power/petrol station) and no-one would need need fuel for their vehicles anymore... OPEC anyone?
Mobile phone signals - 4G, is shit, it's like some sort of half-assed attempt to get broadband speeds via cellular signal, yet whenever lots of people start to use it in an enclosed space, like at a stadium for instance it grinds to a halt! It's the 21st Century I shouldn't have to wait 5 minutes for a webpage to open on my mobile device, shouldn't get cutouts when talking to people, shouldn't have artefacts appear when streaming content! Why? Because the cellular companies don't want to invest more money into more cell towers or improve their efficiency because they have greedy shareholders to satisfy!
A new rocket engine, called the EmDrive has been announced that could get people to Mars a LOT faster, yet it's development is being hampered 'cos some scientists who's voices are louder than the rest state that it breaks Newton's Third Law. Now, whilst I respect Newton and his ilk, I really don't accept that that is ALL we know about the Universe and that Physics just stops at what scientists said hundreds of years ago. Why don't they just fucking build it, launch it into space and fucking try it out?!
It's stuff like that - it get's 'delayed', or it's science funding gets cut and re-channelled to helping war-weary immigrants... when what they don't realise is that forging ahead with these breakthrough science projects, in the long run, helps humankind and ultimately reduces the amount of war weary immigrants in the first place!
Nope there are people who won't allow that, they make too much money and everything is alright as it is right now thank you very much.
Yet another reason why this planet wanting woefully.
Reasons why I don't want to live on this planet anymore #5
Brexit.
I voted for it, I really did... and I stick by my decision. I thought long and hard, read and heard all the arguments and in the end I genuinely felt that we were better off out.
What pisses me off is all the bullshit surrounding it now... why can't the Government just send the article 50 letter and get on with it?
Well, on this planet, these days, sending a simple letter WOULD BE JUST TOO FUCKING EASY!
There's everyone in London having it easy, supposedly creaming it off the top with their chums in Europe whilst the rest of the country had the scraps. Then they collectively threw their toys out of the pram and had a hissy fit when WE (everything north of Watford Gap, not including Scotland) voted out... and because of that the whole process has ground to a halt.
Prices have gone up because of opportunistic fuckwads smelling a profit... we lost a major customer at work because of that and we continue to get e-mails off suppliers stating price hikes.
Toblerones have less triangles in them, Cadbury Creme eggs are smaller (although I have to say that was happening BEFORE Brexit), Marmite increased in price AND IT'S MADE HERE! (Well done Tesco, by the way for standing up to that price hike). Pretty much everything is becoming half as big and twice as much in price, which just makes this planet a little bit more like I want to fuck off it.
But I still want Brexit, so fuck you London.
I voted for it, I really did... and I stick by my decision. I thought long and hard, read and heard all the arguments and in the end I genuinely felt that we were better off out.
What pisses me off is all the bullshit surrounding it now... why can't the Government just send the article 50 letter and get on with it?
Well, on this planet, these days, sending a simple letter WOULD BE JUST TOO FUCKING EASY!
There's everyone in London having it easy, supposedly creaming it off the top with their chums in Europe whilst the rest of the country had the scraps. Then they collectively threw their toys out of the pram and had a hissy fit when WE (everything north of Watford Gap, not including Scotland) voted out... and because of that the whole process has ground to a halt.
Prices have gone up because of opportunistic fuckwads smelling a profit... we lost a major customer at work because of that and we continue to get e-mails off suppliers stating price hikes.
Toblerones have less triangles in them, Cadbury Creme eggs are smaller (although I have to say that was happening BEFORE Brexit), Marmite increased in price AND IT'S MADE HERE! (Well done Tesco, by the way for standing up to that price hike). Pretty much everything is becoming half as big and twice as much in price, which just makes this planet a little bit more like I want to fuck off it.
But I still want Brexit, so fuck you London.
Reasons why I don't want to live on this planet anymore #4
Hipsters - the dark side of the millennial generation
"I'm taking an Uber taxi to the get some Sushi for lunch... stopping at Starbucks on the way for a Faff-Laff-Toffee-Decaff-Maff-Paff-Chocolate-Chip-Latte-Mocca-Locca-Chocco Coffee, then we're going onto a wine bar called 'Tosser' that serves it's food on a shovel... which is really novel and edgy!" [all that posted to Facebook of course]
FUCK OFF! Actually no, you all stay there, GET ME OFF THIS PLANET!!
"I'm taking an Uber taxi to the get some Sushi for lunch... stopping at Starbucks on the way for a Faff-Laff-Toffee-Decaff-Maff-Paff-Chocolate-Chip-Latte-Mocca-Locca-Chocco Coffee, then we're going onto a wine bar called 'Tosser' that serves it's food on a shovel... which is really novel and edgy!" [all that posted to Facebook of course]
FUCK OFF! Actually no, you all stay there, GET ME OFF THIS PLANET!!
Reasons why I don't want to live on this planet anymore #3
I recently ordered two bottles of Ponche Caballero and only received ONE.
Apparently they fucked-up the order... this is happening with deliveries more and more these days, they were probably reading Facebook rather than concentrating.
I ordered a copy of CoD: Infinite Warfare (it's a Christmas gift), a week-and-a-half later I received it... WTF?! This is the 21st Century, not the 1800's where everything was shipped via tramp steamer! I could've walked into town and bought a copy from HMV or Game - time taken to do that, 30 minutes, tops.
So, in other words, I'm fed-up with all the Amazon 'third-party sellers' bullshit where you're not entirely sure what section of the planet your order is coming from.
Apparently they fucked-up the order... this is happening with deliveries more and more these days, they were probably reading Facebook rather than concentrating.
I ordered a copy of CoD: Infinite Warfare (it's a Christmas gift), a week-and-a-half later I received it... WTF?! This is the 21st Century, not the 1800's where everything was shipped via tramp steamer! I could've walked into town and bought a copy from HMV or Game - time taken to do that, 30 minutes, tops.
So, in other words, I'm fed-up with all the Amazon 'third-party sellers' bullshit where you're not entirely sure what section of the planet your order is coming from.
Reasons why I don't want to live on this planet anymore #2
The 'fat in the new fiver' debacle...
This is the new £5 note - plastic, crumple-free, water-proof and hygienic, it's made by a company that has been supplying them for years, so it's generally well-known what ingredients are used to make them.
So then these vegetarian fuckwits decide to put in a protest to the Government and the BoE to get them to stop distributing them because they contain traces of animal fat. My question is: why protest now? Australia (and other counties) has been using these notes for years, surely some of these protesters have visited Australia as tourists and used these notes? Why didn't they protest then?
This is an example of many kinds of 'complaint faffing' these days that I really can't stand to see or hear about - nit-picking and making a big deal out of it just to make a name for themselves. Surely trace elements of animal fat in a plastic note isn't going to them your hands burn?
Then there's that nice old couple who have been running a vegetarian restaurant for 60-odd years, decide to not accept the notes and if people give them the 'legal tender' blurb they ask that they put the note in an envelope to be given to a charity. They're in danger of going out of business, why? Because people will go in there and, on principle, pay for their meal with just plastic fivers thereby forcing them to put all the proceeds of said meal to charity rather than for the running of their business... people are fickle like that. So their business is threatened because they joined in on a pointless, unnecessary protest bandwagon.
The inventor of the plastic notes was right to call them all 'stupid'.
This is the new £5 note - plastic, crumple-free, water-proof and hygienic, it's made by a company that has been supplying them for years, so it's generally well-known what ingredients are used to make them.
So then these vegetarian fuckwits decide to put in a protest to the Government and the BoE to get them to stop distributing them because they contain traces of animal fat. My question is: why protest now? Australia (and other counties) has been using these notes for years, surely some of these protesters have visited Australia as tourists and used these notes? Why didn't they protest then?
This is an example of many kinds of 'complaint faffing' these days that I really can't stand to see or hear about - nit-picking and making a big deal out of it just to make a name for themselves. Surely trace elements of animal fat in a plastic note isn't going to them your hands burn?
Then there's that nice old couple who have been running a vegetarian restaurant for 60-odd years, decide to not accept the notes and if people give them the 'legal tender' blurb they ask that they put the note in an envelope to be given to a charity. They're in danger of going out of business, why? Because people will go in there and, on principle, pay for their meal with just plastic fivers thereby forcing them to put all the proceeds of said meal to charity rather than for the running of their business... people are fickle like that. So their business is threatened because they joined in on a pointless, unnecessary protest bandwagon.
The inventor of the plastic notes was right to call them all 'stupid'.
Reasons why I don't want to live on this planet anymore #1
Reality TV, for these reasons:
They don't require any creative writing, putting talented writers out of work and suppressing younger aspiring writers' desires and ideas, whilst fat-git producers get rich off the advertising revenues.
They promote vapid z-list attention-grabbing 'celebs' who actually make tons of money off that shit, which then gives them the ability to be even more public about themselves whilst simultaneously annoying the shit out of most of the rest of the world.
They're just a reason for ad-breaks, let's face it, it's really all about selling products to the masses who want to see vapid z-list celebs mouthing off at each other. Why do you think Bake-off eventually ended up on channel four? It was inevitable, stuff like that can't be on the ad-free BBC, what the fuck were they thinking? So some fake-tanned orange-faced executive producer tosser 'manipulated' it so that it got took away from them, so he/she/it can make more money for themselves with ad-revenue.
They don't require any creative writing, putting talented writers out of work and suppressing younger aspiring writers' desires and ideas, whilst fat-git producers get rich off the advertising revenues.
They promote vapid z-list attention-grabbing 'celebs' who actually make tons of money off that shit, which then gives them the ability to be even more public about themselves whilst simultaneously annoying the shit out of most of the rest of the world.
They're just a reason for ad-breaks, let's face it, it's really all about selling products to the masses who want to see vapid z-list celebs mouthing off at each other. Why do you think Bake-off eventually ended up on channel four? It was inevitable, stuff like that can't be on the ad-free BBC, what the fuck were they thinking? So some fake-tanned orange-faced executive producer tosser 'manipulated' it so that it got took away from them, so he/she/it can make more money for themselves with ad-revenue.
Saturday, 26 November 2016
Waitrose /fail
The other day I read about a great sounding smoothie so I wrote the ingredients down and went looking for them when I was in Waitrose doing my weekly grocery shop.
I managed to find one lousy tin of peaches - just one out the four required, they either didn't have them in stock or didn't supply them at all. So much for my well-to-do healthy smoothie... fucks sake.
That always bloody happens to me and it's not just Waitrose but any supermarket, I never get them all and am forced to compromise by getting something close to what's required resulting in a smoothie/meal that tastes like shit.
...and while I'm at it I'm thoroughly fed-up of reading about or seeing on TV all those celebrity chefs or food-writers banging on about some poncy dish that requires ingredients that you have to go to some Armenian grocery store located in the back'o beyond to get... and then dictating to us that 'TV dinners are bad for you...' etc etc
I happen to like TV dinners and I do plenty of walking to burn off the calories... I'm happy with my diet and having quick dinners suits my working lifestyle.
To all the celebrity chefs/food writers: Go fuck yourselves.
I managed to find one lousy tin of peaches - just one out the four required, they either didn't have them in stock or didn't supply them at all. So much for my well-to-do healthy smoothie... fucks sake.
That always bloody happens to me and it's not just Waitrose but any supermarket, I never get them all and am forced to compromise by getting something close to what's required resulting in a smoothie/meal that tastes like shit.
...and while I'm at it I'm thoroughly fed-up of reading about or seeing on TV all those celebrity chefs or food-writers banging on about some poncy dish that requires ingredients that you have to go to some Armenian grocery store located in the back'o beyond to get... and then dictating to us that 'TV dinners are bad for you...' etc etc
I happen to like TV dinners and I do plenty of walking to burn off the calories... I'm happy with my diet and having quick dinners suits my working lifestyle.
To all the celebrity chefs/food writers: Go fuck yourselves.
Friday, 25 November 2016
Thursday, 24 November 2016
Time Flies...
Where the HECK has this year gone?! It only seems like yesterday that I was waking-up from a Crabbies Ginger Beer-induced hangover on January 1st (and no, I wasn't at kick-ass New Year's Eve do, I was on my own at home, gaming, scoffing a Tesco Chinese meal for two and getting drunk off several bottles of, well, all kinds really but I felt the Crabbies the next day!)
So let's recap this year... firstly;
My Life
For me personally my medical condition flared up giving me the worst six months of my life (although it's settled down again now in preparation for flaring up when I least want it to... as is it's wont as the most annoying medical condition known to mankind).
I finally gave up Sky TV in the pursuit of other avenues of entertainment (thanks to Netflix, Amazon Prime, Youtube, Twitch and gaming in general) but BOY did Sky try to keep me on! Despite my rants about excessive ad-breaks, no decent English Rugby coverage and me refusing to personally subsidise their obsession with throwing money at the Premiere League footy (which has gotten shit by several orders of magnitude over the last decade). Even after cancelling I got missed calls everyday until I blocked their number, now I await the reams of offers of half-price membership via snail mail.
I gave up my gym membership after 15 years, doing so has probably condemned my body to a big bout of weight gains but I've made my decision and am trying really hard to get an outdoor regimen going, especially as I'm off skiing in 2017 for the first time in 10 years.
Sport
Our national sport when through it's usual highs and lows - UK had a good showing at the Olympics with the best medal haul in modern times. England Rugby: Six Nations Slam, whitewashed the Aussies in their backyard, England Footy: Shit ('nuff said), Cricket: I don't really care tbh (I don't like it), they played some games, probably lost. Wasps, (I am a season ticket holder) finished 3rd, Allez Allez Allez!
Gaming Wins
Pokemon Go launched this year, took a BIG bite out of my time and still continues to do so, in fact, I have to say that it is the single biggest positive thing I can take out of this year and would like to take the opportunity to thank Nintendo and Niantic (and I suppose Google too) for creating such an engaging, enjoyable and, quite possibly the healthiest game around. I say 'healthiest' because no other game gets you out and about walking so much! I'm well on my way to doing 1000 KM's in-game and, even though I already do a lot of mileage walking due to commuting, Pokemon Go has added to that significantly and I'm soo much fitter! Plus it's part of the reason why I decided to cancel my gym membership simply because I've been out catching Pokemon during the times I would be at the gym! I've been to places I wouldn't normally go, I've gotten semi-lost in a marsh and almost run-over a couple of times... all in the pursuit of catching them all!!
Gaming Fails
No Man's Sky launched to a big fanfare and after only a couple of days failed big time... in my part I mostly tried to stay positive about the game and posted about it in this blog but now, even I have to agree that the gameplay is not what it was advertised... I'll still play it occasionally though.
Technology Wins
Virtual Reality - a technology that's been pottering about in the background of the tech world for decades finally exploded to the forefront this year. Previously, it's been the exclusive plaything of Silicon Valley, insanely rich pharmeceutical research companies and Hollywood but now thanks to HTC, Sony and Oculus it's affordable for us plebs to have a go... and Microsoft aren't far behind with their Augmented Reality tech too. It's about time the tech industry got us something interesting... rather than pushing unappealing pap such as 3D in cinemas and TVs... and glasses that do nothing except invade people's privacy for the sake of pushing ads.
Technology Fails
Apple brought out the latest MacBook Pro, with an LED emoji strip instead of function keys (I say that because that's all it'll become, despite what Adobe say with Photoshop support). Four expansion ports that require at least a hundred pounds' worth of adapters for all your currently owned peripherals (including iPhones FFS) and an Intel processor that's one generation back from the current line, well played Apple.
Entertainment
Several high-profile music/movie/TV celebs died (RIP Terry Wogan, Alan Rickman, David Bowie et al). Actually, in this case life isn't fair - we lost some good people but GAINED some Kardashians, how can that be fair!? Kim got robbed and it was no surprise considering she kept flashing it all over Social Media, served her right really and now she's gone dark. Kanye West has been sectioned - again, not surprising really, anyone connected to that family needs to be institutionalised. I know, I know... I don't need to read about them but I look at Google News every day and they're all over the fucking feeds! It would be a good year if they all just faded into the background, live quiet lives with all their money and we never heard from them again, I'd consider this a good year of that started to happen.
Politics
We had Brexit (and we'll never hear the end of it either), we've got a new Prime Minister - Teresa May... who, I have to say, I've been impressed with so far, I think she's doing her best in a very difficult climate. We gained a new Opposition Leader in Jeremy Corbyn who I simply can't find it in myself to dislike! I doubt I'd vote for him but he really doesn't offend me, I think he's good for British politics in that he keeps the majority in Parliament on their toes.
America chose a former reality-show former-failed Billionaire for POTUS, and I think our Brexit somewhat influenced them to do that, I guess they're just as fed-up with the political elite taking the piss as much as we are.
In conclusion it has been a very interesting year with the Brexit and Donald Trump being elected as the two 'stand-out' events, certainly they will make for a strange 2017!
As for me, well, I think I'll end 2016 with a more gaming, a Tesco Indian meal for two and a crate of Carling, enough to knock me into a senseless state to not be able to hear the fireworks at midnight.
So let's recap this year... firstly;
My Life
For me personally my medical condition flared up giving me the worst six months of my life (although it's settled down again now in preparation for flaring up when I least want it to... as is it's wont as the most annoying medical condition known to mankind).
I finally gave up Sky TV in the pursuit of other avenues of entertainment (thanks to Netflix, Amazon Prime, Youtube, Twitch and gaming in general) but BOY did Sky try to keep me on! Despite my rants about excessive ad-breaks, no decent English Rugby coverage and me refusing to personally subsidise their obsession with throwing money at the Premiere League footy (which has gotten shit by several orders of magnitude over the last decade). Even after cancelling I got missed calls everyday until I blocked their number, now I await the reams of offers of half-price membership via snail mail.
I gave up my gym membership after 15 years, doing so has probably condemned my body to a big bout of weight gains but I've made my decision and am trying really hard to get an outdoor regimen going, especially as I'm off skiing in 2017 for the first time in 10 years.
Sport
Our national sport when through it's usual highs and lows - UK had a good showing at the Olympics with the best medal haul in modern times. England Rugby: Six Nations Slam, whitewashed the Aussies in their backyard, England Footy: Shit ('nuff said), Cricket: I don't really care tbh (I don't like it), they played some games, probably lost. Wasps, (I am a season ticket holder) finished 3rd, Allez Allez Allez!
Gaming Wins
Pokemon Go launched this year, took a BIG bite out of my time and still continues to do so, in fact, I have to say that it is the single biggest positive thing I can take out of this year and would like to take the opportunity to thank Nintendo and Niantic (and I suppose Google too) for creating such an engaging, enjoyable and, quite possibly the healthiest game around. I say 'healthiest' because no other game gets you out and about walking so much! I'm well on my way to doing 1000 KM's in-game and, even though I already do a lot of mileage walking due to commuting, Pokemon Go has added to that significantly and I'm soo much fitter! Plus it's part of the reason why I decided to cancel my gym membership simply because I've been out catching Pokemon during the times I would be at the gym! I've been to places I wouldn't normally go, I've gotten semi-lost in a marsh and almost run-over a couple of times... all in the pursuit of catching them all!!
Gaming Fails
No Man's Sky launched to a big fanfare and after only a couple of days failed big time... in my part I mostly tried to stay positive about the game and posted about it in this blog but now, even I have to agree that the gameplay is not what it was advertised... I'll still play it occasionally though.
Technology Wins
Virtual Reality - a technology that's been pottering about in the background of the tech world for decades finally exploded to the forefront this year. Previously, it's been the exclusive plaything of Silicon Valley, insanely rich pharmeceutical research companies and Hollywood but now thanks to HTC, Sony and Oculus it's affordable for us plebs to have a go... and Microsoft aren't far behind with their Augmented Reality tech too. It's about time the tech industry got us something interesting... rather than pushing unappealing pap such as 3D in cinemas and TVs... and glasses that do nothing except invade people's privacy for the sake of pushing ads.
Technology Fails
Apple brought out the latest MacBook Pro, with an LED emoji strip instead of function keys (I say that because that's all it'll become, despite what Adobe say with Photoshop support). Four expansion ports that require at least a hundred pounds' worth of adapters for all your currently owned peripherals (including iPhones FFS) and an Intel processor that's one generation back from the current line, well played Apple.
Entertainment
Several high-profile music/movie/TV celebs died (RIP Terry Wogan, Alan Rickman, David Bowie et al). Actually, in this case life isn't fair - we lost some good people but GAINED some Kardashians, how can that be fair!? Kim got robbed and it was no surprise considering she kept flashing it all over Social Media, served her right really and now she's gone dark. Kanye West has been sectioned - again, not surprising really, anyone connected to that family needs to be institutionalised. I know, I know... I don't need to read about them but I look at Google News every day and they're all over the fucking feeds! It would be a good year if they all just faded into the background, live quiet lives with all their money and we never heard from them again, I'd consider this a good year of that started to happen.
Politics
We had Brexit (and we'll never hear the end of it either), we've got a new Prime Minister - Teresa May... who, I have to say, I've been impressed with so far, I think she's doing her best in a very difficult climate. We gained a new Opposition Leader in Jeremy Corbyn who I simply can't find it in myself to dislike! I doubt I'd vote for him but he really doesn't offend me, I think he's good for British politics in that he keeps the majority in Parliament on their toes.
America chose a former reality-show former-failed Billionaire for POTUS, and I think our Brexit somewhat influenced them to do that, I guess they're just as fed-up with the political elite taking the piss as much as we are.
In conclusion it has been a very interesting year with the Brexit and Donald Trump being elected as the two 'stand-out' events, certainly they will make for a strange 2017!
As for me, well, I think I'll end 2016 with a more gaming, a Tesco Indian meal for two and a crate of Carling, enough to knock me into a senseless state to not be able to hear the fireworks at midnight.
Wednesday, 23 November 2016
A Nice Cup'o Tea!
In my never-ending quest to master 3D modelling in Photoshop CC, I present to you...
Tea! mmm... :)
Tea! mmm... :)
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| I'll continue to add to this with other crockery... |
Friday, 18 November 2016
Photoshop CC 3D #101
Here's my first attempt at making a cake in Photoshop CC... the lighting is bit too dramatic for my liking but it's damned difficult to control it in Photoshop. The default infinite light source, when enabled and at 100% intensity kept bleaching out the tablecloth despite the fact that it's shine/reflection texture settings were set at 0%
Something for the Adobe bods to work on methinks, because I know for a fact that I would get better results if I'd done it in Strata 3D.
Something for the Adobe bods to work on methinks, because I know for a fact that I would get better results if I'd done it in Strata 3D.
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| Yep... the cake is a lie! |
Abstract Art #18
Finally, another abstract artwork done!
This one is called 'RGB Swirls' ... if you stare at it long enough the meaning of life flashes before your eyes.
This one is called 'RGB Swirls' ... if you stare at it long enough the meaning of life flashes before your eyes.
Wednesday, 9 November 2016
Friday, 4 November 2016
The Subway Deception
I stopped by Subway this evening after doing one of my long Pokemon-hunting walks...
I ordered two foot long subs and asked them to be put in separate bags so the guy serving me would think that I was ordering for two people.
I don't know which was sadder - the fact that I was out Pokemon hunting on a Friday night or the Subway deception!
I ordered two foot long subs and asked them to be put in separate bags so the guy serving me would think that I was ordering for two people.
I don't know which was sadder - the fact that I was out Pokemon hunting on a Friday night or the Subway deception!
French Bulldog Madness
I've been moaning a lot on my blog recently, but I guess it comes with the territory as I approach old age where it's a requirement to moan all the time
Anyways... here's a design I did recently, couldn't help myself after one of my work colleagues showed me his collection of pictures of his dog...
Anyways... here's a design I did recently, couldn't help myself after one of my work colleagues showed me his collection of pictures of his dog...
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| He's called 'Bruce' ... and he's adorable! |
Tuesday, 1 November 2016
FA and FIFA reach a compromise over players' poppy wearing
Article here
I'm merely echoing what a lot of people have been saying in that why should a corrupt organisation like FIFA have the qualification to dictate to us that our players' wearing of poppies on their shirts is a 'political statement'.
What a load of bollocks... if anything it's MADE political by FIFA stating that! Bunch of tossers, and our FA are just as bad by asking them in the first place! But then they are bunch of spineless idiots at the best of times. Right now they're wishing this 'problem' would just 'go away' like most things that are thrown their way.
The FA should have just ignored FIFA, had the players wear poppies then when FIFA fined them, don't pay it to FIFA, instead give it to Help for Heroes or the British Legion.
And if FIFA banned us from the World Cup over it? So what? We've got nothing to lose as we're shit when we get to any finals, no-one will miss us and, frankly, no-one really wants to watch a World Cup hosted by Russia anyway.
I'm merely echoing what a lot of people have been saying in that why should a corrupt organisation like FIFA have the qualification to dictate to us that our players' wearing of poppies on their shirts is a 'political statement'.
What a load of bollocks... if anything it's MADE political by FIFA stating that! Bunch of tossers, and our FA are just as bad by asking them in the first place! But then they are bunch of spineless idiots at the best of times. Right now they're wishing this 'problem' would just 'go away' like most things that are thrown their way.
The FA should have just ignored FIFA, had the players wear poppies then when FIFA fined them, don't pay it to FIFA, instead give it to Help for Heroes or the British Legion.
And if FIFA banned us from the World Cup over it? So what? We've got nothing to lose as we're shit when we get to any finals, no-one will miss us and, frankly, no-one really wants to watch a World Cup hosted by Russia anyway.
Bye Bye Sky
I've finally gone and done it... I've shown Sky TV a clean pair of heels and cancelled all the TV subscription ...and boy was it painful process!
I must have been on the phone for three-quarters-of-an-hour having to justify to an operator why I don't want it anymore, rough transcript below:
This is after about 10 minutes of me telling them that I'm fed-up with all the ad-breaks and that I'm not really watching Sky TV anymore because I'm Netflix and chillin' a lot...
Me: Yes, I want to cancel it all
Operator: Are you sure?
Me: Yes
Operator: Are you ABSOLUTELY sure?
Me: Yes
Operator: Because you'll end-up paying more if you want to come back again
Me: Fine, just cancel it all
Operator: Are you REALLY sure? You sound unsure?
Me: [for fucks sake] yes, I'm sure, I've deliberated over this decision for the past two months and I have made my decision to cancel it all
Operator: If you've taken that long then maybe you ARE unsure and that you'd like to think more about it?
Me: [sigh] No I've made my decision
Operator: REALLY sure? Because we can just take off some of the packages [blah blah blah... etc]
Me: [after listening patiently] No I just want to cancel it all
Operator: You won't be able to watch any content that you have store on your HD box and you won't be able to record or rewind anything, are you sure?
Me: Yes, absolutely sure
Operator: Remember that you can't come back as a new customer and benefit from any 'new customer' deals
Me: I'm aware of that
Operator: You mentioned that you like Blue Bloods, which is a Sky Atlantic exclusive, perhaps we can downgrade your add-ons so you can watch that?
Me: No thanks, I do love that show but I think I can live without it
Operator: Do you like box sets?
Me: I've got loads and no, I don't watch them via Sky
Operator: OK, how about we keep your standard Sky TV package?
Me: [steam slowly rising from the top of my head] no thanks I just want to cancel it all
Operator: Okay, we if you REALLY want to cancel [adding a tone to make me feel guilty] we'll process that for you, I just need to go through some statements to read out to you
Me: [sigh] okay
15 minutes after that conversation I peeled my mobile phone away from my ear and was able to get on with my life!
It really is like pulling teeth, I tell you that I'm actually put off getting Sky again simply to avoid the pain if I had to cancel it again!
Note to Sky: just fucking make it easier for us to cancel! We're the customers, we know what we want not you!
I must have been on the phone for three-quarters-of-an-hour having to justify to an operator why I don't want it anymore, rough transcript below:
This is after about 10 minutes of me telling them that I'm fed-up with all the ad-breaks and that I'm not really watching Sky TV anymore because I'm Netflix and chillin' a lot...
Me: Yes, I want to cancel it all
Operator: Are you sure?
Me: Yes
Operator: Are you ABSOLUTELY sure?
Me: Yes
Operator: Because you'll end-up paying more if you want to come back again
Me: Fine, just cancel it all
Operator: Are you REALLY sure? You sound unsure?
Me: [for fucks sake] yes, I'm sure, I've deliberated over this decision for the past two months and I have made my decision to cancel it all
Operator: If you've taken that long then maybe you ARE unsure and that you'd like to think more about it?
Me: [sigh] No I've made my decision
Operator: REALLY sure? Because we can just take off some of the packages [blah blah blah... etc]
Me: [after listening patiently] No I just want to cancel it all
Operator: You won't be able to watch any content that you have store on your HD box and you won't be able to record or rewind anything, are you sure?
Me: Yes, absolutely sure
Operator: Remember that you can't come back as a new customer and benefit from any 'new customer' deals
Me: I'm aware of that
Operator: You mentioned that you like Blue Bloods, which is a Sky Atlantic exclusive, perhaps we can downgrade your add-ons so you can watch that?
Me: No thanks, I do love that show but I think I can live without it
Operator: Do you like box sets?
Me: I've got loads and no, I don't watch them via Sky
Operator: OK, how about we keep your standard Sky TV package?
Me: [steam slowly rising from the top of my head] no thanks I just want to cancel it all
Operator: Okay, we if you REALLY want to cancel [adding a tone to make me feel guilty] we'll process that for you, I just need to go through some statements to read out to you
Me: [sigh] okay
15 minutes after that conversation I peeled my mobile phone away from my ear and was able to get on with my life!
It really is like pulling teeth, I tell you that I'm actually put off getting Sky again simply to avoid the pain if I had to cancel it again!
Note to Sky: just fucking make it easier for us to cancel! We're the customers, we know what we want not you!
Saturday, 8 October 2016
England Footy #2
Yep, same old bollocks...
Eleven talented individuals all trying to put the ball in the back of the net. Admittedly they DID - twice, in the first half... yet they failed miserably in the second half. Against a team ranked over a hundred places below them.
2-0 against Malta, not good enough.
Goddam it! Why can't they all play as a team ffs!!
England Footy
Here we go again... I'm in a pub, watching England potentially cause me a great deal of stress and grief...
We're a long suffering bunch when it comes to football... and clearly the laughing stock of world football.
I think that if I added up all the money I've spent on lager over the years whilst watching England play, I could probably buy a really nice car!
Formula One
After much musing and consideration from watching many seasons of F1 races, interviews and news articles I have come to the conclusion that Lewis Hamilton is one hell of a stroppy little git.
Don't get me wrong, he is a fantastic driver - agressive, focussed, exciting (well, as much as FIA's prosiac rules allow at least) but he's quick to throw his toys out of the pram when things don't go his way...
He needs to chill the fuck out, accept that things in F1 occasionally go to shit, focus on the task at hand and get on with it rather than bleating at the press all the time.
Jenson Button, for instance, failed to get past Q1 today but I didn't see him moaning.
Ah well, that's my ha'penny's worth... not that it accounts to much.
Go Lewis!
Saturday, 1 October 2016
Bloody Rattatas!
Out Pokemon hunting today I couldn't help but notice that a bunch of Rattatas were following me...
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| Go away! |
Pokemon Hunting
Just completed a large trek out around Town and caught loads, had to maneuvor my way around a massive Police presence due to the Tories holding a conference there but man knows no bounds when catching Pokemon are concerned.
I'm now heading home, getting some supplies from Waitrose en route, then I shall spend the rest of the afternoon XBox gaming and after that watching LOTR The Two Towers on Bluray*.
Geekdom has nothing on me :)
Edit: Oh and a big fuck you to London Midland for flooding the arrivals board at Moor Street with trains I didn't want, potentially forcing me to have to wait almost an hour for one I DID want... I got a Chiltern train instead.
*Edit 2: I changed my mind and decided to watch Harry Potter: The Deathly Hallows Part 2 on Bluray instead...
*Edit 2: I changed my mind and decided to watch Harry Potter: The Deathly Hallows Part 2 on Bluray instead...
Friday, 23 September 2016
Photoshop CC 3D #101
I've been playing around in Photoshop CC's 3D features... and decided to create a teapot.
No idea why, just popped into my head. Perhaps the challenge of figuring out how to model the spout or perhaps, being English, the thought of tea is never far from my mind.
Anyway I thought it came out rather well...
No idea why, just popped into my head. Perhaps the challenge of figuring out how to model the spout or perhaps, being English, the thought of tea is never far from my mind.
Anyway I thought it came out rather well...
Tuesday, 20 September 2016
Sunday, 18 September 2016
Gaming, back up and running!
Now that my PC is finally fixed (through no fault but my own... see previous post) I am back up and running in Steam.
...and I've been messing around in Subnautica again:
...and I've been messing around in Subnautica again:
Saturday, 17 September 2016
Finally!
Finally got my gaming PC back up and running... I say 'finally' because, dear reader, there were delays since it blew a gasket on me. These delays were not caused by additional problems found, or difficulties in acquiring new parts etc. no, the delay was that I simply couldn't be arsed.
Two weeks ago my PC went tits-up and I could have got it up and running two days after that when my new SSD arrived from Amazon. However I was going through a massive case of CBA's, so much so, that I was simply felt like doing nothing but crashing in front of the TV every day when I got home from work... add to that a hectic previous weekend of boozing away from home and it resulted in a two-week delay.
But, now, finally, it's back up... and boy does it boot fast!
I've installed a Sandisk Extreme Pro SSD 480gb, put Windows 10 back on it (kudos to Microsoft for making the procedure to download and create a Windows 10 USB installer so easy) and now, after adding all my peripherals (Corsair wireless headset, Razor mouse, Logitech wireless keyboard/mouse etc.), Steam is downloading and installing my games library, except it's doing it onto a 2TB secondary SATA HD rather than the SSD... I thought it better to do that for two reasons - to keep the write-to count down on the SSD and save space as it's only 480gb.
After installing the Sandisk SSD dashboard I discovered that it's only running at 3.0gb/s rather than it's top speed of 6.0gb/s, that's a shame but can't be help as clearly my motherboard only supports that speed... it's still very quick though!
Bring on the gaming!
Two weeks ago my PC went tits-up and I could have got it up and running two days after that when my new SSD arrived from Amazon. However I was going through a massive case of CBA's, so much so, that I was simply felt like doing nothing but crashing in front of the TV every day when I got home from work... add to that a hectic previous weekend of boozing away from home and it resulted in a two-week delay.
But, now, finally, it's back up... and boy does it boot fast!
I've installed a Sandisk Extreme Pro SSD 480gb, put Windows 10 back on it (kudos to Microsoft for making the procedure to download and create a Windows 10 USB installer so easy) and now, after adding all my peripherals (Corsair wireless headset, Razor mouse, Logitech wireless keyboard/mouse etc.), Steam is downloading and installing my games library, except it's doing it onto a 2TB secondary SATA HD rather than the SSD... I thought it better to do that for two reasons - to keep the write-to count down on the SSD and save space as it's only 480gb.
After installing the Sandisk SSD dashboard I discovered that it's only running at 3.0gb/s rather than it's top speed of 6.0gb/s, that's a shame but can't be help as clearly my motherboard only supports that speed... it's still very quick though!
Bring on the gaming!
Thursday, 15 September 2016
Human Creativity and Nature as One!
The other day I arrived at work and, trudged into the studio, sat down and started to remove my walking footwear so I could put on my working pair, in the background Lenny Kravitz's song 'Fly Away' was playing... as I put my walking boots to one side I noticed that a Ladybird had settled on my leg. "Must've landed on me when I was outside" I thought.
So I placed my finger on my leg in front of the Ladybird so it could crawl onto it, which it did. I then carefully started to get up with the intention of going outside and depositing it onto the nearest plant leaf.
Just as Lenny was launching into his chorus: "I want to get away..." the Ladybird, clearly spooked by my movement, opened it's shell to reveal it's wings and flew off my finger at exactly the same moment as Lenny sang "I want to fly awaaaayyy..."!
It was an incredible moment, quite poignant... it's as if at that exact moment, time stood still and everything in the universe seemed to slow down to a halt, then it quickly sped back up and everything was normal again.
It kind of makes you appreciate the symmetry of the nature sometimes, when certain events come into sync with each other through sheer coincidence.
To Lenny Kravitz - for a brief moment your song truly was at one with nature.
So I placed my finger on my leg in front of the Ladybird so it could crawl onto it, which it did. I then carefully started to get up with the intention of going outside and depositing it onto the nearest plant leaf.
Just as Lenny was launching into his chorus: "I want to get away..." the Ladybird, clearly spooked by my movement, opened it's shell to reveal it's wings and flew off my finger at exactly the same moment as Lenny sang "I want to fly awaaaayyy..."!
It was an incredible moment, quite poignant... it's as if at that exact moment, time stood still and everything in the universe seemed to slow down to a halt, then it quickly sped back up and everything was normal again.
It kind of makes you appreciate the symmetry of the nature sometimes, when certain events come into sync with each other through sheer coincidence.
To Lenny Kravitz - for a brief moment your song truly was at one with nature.
Saturday, 10 September 2016
Saturday, 3 September 2016
No Man's Sky Entry #002
I'm unable to go exploring the NMS universe at this time because my PC is being retarded... so I'm grounded until I fix it.
A productive Saturday?
I had a great day today [sarcasm mode engaged]
As the weekend approached I looked at the weather and was not surprised to see it change from hot beautiful sunny weather during the working week to foul wet shitty stuff for the weekend... and I wanted to do a long walk and get some productive Pokemon hunting done.
Early Saturday morning showed a beautiful blue sky so, hoping the forecast was wrong I leapt out of bed, showered, dressed and headed to the train station with the express intention of doing at least a 6k walk around the city. By the time the train arrived in the city it was spitting with rain... by the time I'd finished my walk (around 7km) it was pissing it down and I was soaked.
Fuck British weather.
Totally fed-up I decided to go home, get some groceries and do some gaming... I got the groceries but I've spent my entire afternoon and some of the evening troubleshooting some retarded problem with my PC's BIOS but it took me a couple of hours to narrow it down to the damned BIOS and even now I'm not confident it's fixed.
So I got soaked all because I tried to do the right thing by getting some exercise rather than lounging in front of the TV all day and when I DO decide to do the WRONG thing (most liberal cunts will tell you it's bad for people to be gaming) my PC is in bits all over my lounge floor and I CAN'T FUCKING PLAY ANY GAMES ANYWAY!
So it's back to my trusty XBox and PS3... oh and Netflix I suppose...
Anyway my point is that I've had a shitty last couple of weeks at work rounded off by a shitty weekend so far, mostly ruined by ass, shitty weather.
Fuck you life.
As the weekend approached I looked at the weather and was not surprised to see it change from hot beautiful sunny weather during the working week to foul wet shitty stuff for the weekend... and I wanted to do a long walk and get some productive Pokemon hunting done.
Early Saturday morning showed a beautiful blue sky so, hoping the forecast was wrong I leapt out of bed, showered, dressed and headed to the train station with the express intention of doing at least a 6k walk around the city. By the time the train arrived in the city it was spitting with rain... by the time I'd finished my walk (around 7km) it was pissing it down and I was soaked.
Fuck British weather.
Totally fed-up I decided to go home, get some groceries and do some gaming... I got the groceries but I've spent my entire afternoon and some of the evening troubleshooting some retarded problem with my PC's BIOS but it took me a couple of hours to narrow it down to the damned BIOS and even now I'm not confident it's fixed.
So I got soaked all because I tried to do the right thing by getting some exercise rather than lounging in front of the TV all day and when I DO decide to do the WRONG thing (most liberal cunts will tell you it's bad for people to be gaming) my PC is in bits all over my lounge floor and I CAN'T FUCKING PLAY ANY GAMES ANYWAY!
So it's back to my trusty XBox and PS3... oh and Netflix I suppose...
Anyway my point is that I've had a shitty last couple of weeks at work rounded off by a shitty weekend so far, mostly ruined by ass, shitty weather.
Fuck you life.
Saturday, 27 August 2016
Tuesday, 23 August 2016
Pokemon GO in the pub... yet again...
More of the little buggers invading my space... can't have a pint in peace these days!
Monday, 22 August 2016
No Man's Sky - Entry #001
Well, it's been a week now since I delved in Hello Games' universe and I'm pleased to say that, out of 18 quintillion star systems I have managed to travel through... 3.
Yes, 3 whole star systems! However my good friend who started playing when I did hasn't left his starting planet yet, so, compared to him, I've made some progress! But, fair play to him, he's playing it properly in terms of trying to discover everything.
Anyway, I when I started I decided to forgo redeeming my free spaceship awarded to me for pre-ordering the game and set out into the purple and red bushes of my starting planet to figure out how the hell I should repair my damaged starter spaceship... after some fudging and fiddling I got it repaired and launched off into the ether.
Along the way, so far at least, I've had my trials and tribulations... I've met a couple of alien species and learned some of their words and when it came to deciding what I wanted to do for my play style I chose to follow the path of the Atlas (the other option was open, free play)... it's a path that I hope will be an interesting and fruitful one, in gaming terms at least!
Anyway, here's a picture log of my progress so far... first up, the AI's skills at landing are quite impressive:
I found a planet, loaded with gold... great mounds of gold! Needless to say I mined the shit out of it and after several trips to trade stations became, as Dell Trotter once said "A millionaire!"
From gold... to cold! The next planet I was on was so cold that when it got dark AND a storm came in I faced temperatures in the -200 degrees ranges, which kicked the arse out of my thermal protection... however, despite the harsh environment I managed to catalogue every species of creature and a shitload of plants and waypoints, it was not without it's scary moments though:
After that I found my first Atlas waypoint (a large diamond-like space station) which set me on the path... along which I came across a system which some 'tard, who had gotten there before me, had named it "John Cena" ... what a twat. Anyway, there, I found an 'anomaly' which turned out to be a large spherical space station, in it I found an alien which gave me three choices: 1. Help me with finding resources so I could bugger off and explore, 2. Give me help with the Atlas path... or 3. Show me how to find Black Holes so I could skip millions of light years in my quest towards the centre of the galaxy.
Yes, 3 whole star systems! However my good friend who started playing when I did hasn't left his starting planet yet, so, compared to him, I've made some progress! But, fair play to him, he's playing it properly in terms of trying to discover everything.
Anyway, I when I started I decided to forgo redeeming my free spaceship awarded to me for pre-ordering the game and set out into the purple and red bushes of my starting planet to figure out how the hell I should repair my damaged starter spaceship... after some fudging and fiddling I got it repaired and launched off into the ether.
Along the way, so far at least, I've had my trials and tribulations... I've met a couple of alien species and learned some of their words and when it came to deciding what I wanted to do for my play style I chose to follow the path of the Atlas (the other option was open, free play)... it's a path that I hope will be an interesting and fruitful one, in gaming terms at least!
Anyway, here's a picture log of my progress so far... first up, the AI's skills at landing are quite impressive:
 |
| Wow... just wow! |
 |
| Ooh1 Shiney! |
 |
| That thing scared the shit out of me... |
...and it seems that Hello Games have their work cutout with the bugs, this alien was doing a jerky handstand dance:
 |
| A cow-like thing doing a dance... very bizarre. |
Naturally I chose the Black Holes... I mean, who doesn't want to fly through Black Holes? They're frikin' awesome!
That's it for this first entry... next up, hopefully my first jaunt through an event horizon!
Saturday, 13 August 2016
Footy Season - 2016/17 Welcome!
Ahhhh, spent the past five hours celebrating the start of the footy season, plenty of beer consumed... and plenty more to come!
To Man City and Pep Guardiola I was going to say:
BAAAHAHAHA!!!
Up until the point City spawned a goal, so I'll shut up.
Friday, 12 August 2016
No Man's Sky
I took the day off today with the intention of spending it playing No Man's Sky, however I didn't read the release date 'fine print' in that, here in the UK, it's 'unlocked' via Steam at 5pm!
Oh dear, a bit of a wasted day off then.
Still, it's not entirely wasted... I'm going to go Pokemon hunting via the Gym, go in the sauna, relax for a bit, do some shopping then be back for the great 'unlocking' event on Steam!!
w00t, bring on the space adventure baby!!
Oh dear, a bit of a wasted day off then.
Still, it's not entirely wasted... I'm going to go Pokemon hunting via the Gym, go in the sauna, relax for a bit, do some shopping then be back for the great 'unlocking' event on Steam!!
w00t, bring on the space adventure baby!!
Wednesday, 10 August 2016
Rust
You know, since I've been playing Rust I've discovered one thing: The Rust playing community is an evil, paranoid bunch.
I realise that on most sandbox MMORGs you get players who tear through the landscape with their fingers permanently on the trigger but in Rust it's a full-on epidemic. So much so, that, rather than the usual 'Do we have PVP on this server?' approach in other games, in Rust it's PVP by default and people ask 'anyone PVE-ing?'!
If you're a n00b in Rust, forget any kind of help, if you approach anyone you're shot on sight, regardless of whether you have any loot in your inventory or not! Or if you've just started a building and it only consists of a wood foundation, door and four wood walls, it get's wrecked regardless.
Rust simply does not take any prisoners, you're killed, stripped and probably cooked just for the fun of it. I wouldn't be surprised if Governments weren't using it as a 'what if' scenario on human behaviour during a holocaust!
I'm running my own server and there's been a lot of discussion about where everyone stands when it comes to PVP, and despite assurance from my admins that there's no KOS unless airdrops are happening or when the chopper is out... there just seems to be an air of... unease about the server, like they're all waiting for something bad to happen and then all hell breaks loose. I think that's inherent in Rust, it's clearly a game like no other... even DayZ comes second when it's down to paranoid shoot-on-sight gaming behaviour!
Admins seem to be generally vilified by normal players and that's because in the past Rust's 'behavioural modification' has caused many other admin players to abuse their privileges and go around rampantly killing anyone who get's in their way (I've even experienced this whilst playing on another server).
An example of this was the other evening on my server, I was flying around checking resource nodes because I'd heard of a bug related to them in the developer community. Whilst flying I 'gave' myself some items - clothes, food etc - just to tide myself over for the duration I was on. The other players on the server saw what I was doing and were instantly on the defensive, stating stuff like "admin power abuse' etc. when I had absolutely no intention of bothering them, I just wanted to check things out as an owner/admin and I used the tools available to me to do that. Admin are just not trusted!
Ah well, I guess that's the sacrifice for running your own server...
I realise that on most sandbox MMORGs you get players who tear through the landscape with their fingers permanently on the trigger but in Rust it's a full-on epidemic. So much so, that, rather than the usual 'Do we have PVP on this server?' approach in other games, in Rust it's PVP by default and people ask 'anyone PVE-ing?'!
If you're a n00b in Rust, forget any kind of help, if you approach anyone you're shot on sight, regardless of whether you have any loot in your inventory or not! Or if you've just started a building and it only consists of a wood foundation, door and four wood walls, it get's wrecked regardless.
Rust simply does not take any prisoners, you're killed, stripped and probably cooked just for the fun of it. I wouldn't be surprised if Governments weren't using it as a 'what if' scenario on human behaviour during a holocaust!
I'm running my own server and there's been a lot of discussion about where everyone stands when it comes to PVP, and despite assurance from my admins that there's no KOS unless airdrops are happening or when the chopper is out... there just seems to be an air of... unease about the server, like they're all waiting for something bad to happen and then all hell breaks loose. I think that's inherent in Rust, it's clearly a game like no other... even DayZ comes second when it's down to paranoid shoot-on-sight gaming behaviour!
Admins seem to be generally vilified by normal players and that's because in the past Rust's 'behavioural modification' has caused many other admin players to abuse their privileges and go around rampantly killing anyone who get's in their way (I've even experienced this whilst playing on another server).
An example of this was the other evening on my server, I was flying around checking resource nodes because I'd heard of a bug related to them in the developer community. Whilst flying I 'gave' myself some items - clothes, food etc - just to tide myself over for the duration I was on. The other players on the server saw what I was doing and were instantly on the defensive, stating stuff like "admin power abuse' etc. when I had absolutely no intention of bothering them, I just wanted to check things out as an owner/admin and I used the tools available to me to do that. Admin are just not trusted!
Ah well, I guess that's the sacrifice for running your own server...
Tuesday, 9 August 2016
The Bolti House - Rules
Server info:
The server has capacity for 100 slots.
The map is currently 4k in size.
There server is wiped every month, including blueprints.
Rules as follows:
1. Raiding should not be possible, I have a plugin that supposedly prevents this... hopefully it works! No-one in the Rust community likes raiding, despite Facepunch's best efforts to promote such toxic behaviour.
2. PVE is encouraged although PVP is allowed, after all Rust's underlying theme is one of desparate survival against impossible odds.
3. It is each player's responsibility to make their base as secure as possible to make any opportunist raiders' attempts as difficult as possible. So even though it's not possible for a potential raider to bash through your walls (see Rule 1.), it's NOT my fault if you forget to lock your doors!
4. Please use English in chat, this is a UK-based server.
5. Keep your language clean and respectful, any racist comments, cyberbullying or any threatening behaviour will result in an immediate kick and ban.
I don't play on this server much myself as I think it's important to allow players their freedom and not have them think they're constantly under the gaze of an admin that is in-game. Equally I believe that players should feel safe in the knowledge that a server admin isn't far away so I do monitor the server as much as I can.
Saturday, 6 August 2016
A Historical Boozer
When I worked in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter as a graphic designer through the Nineties, I spent a great deal of time in a pub called The Bown Lion.
We used to go there every Friday lunchtime and, most often than not, never made it back to work... or, occasionally, got back to work but we were too bloody drunk to be of any use. If we went back to work we'd still end up going back at 5pm then pub crawl our way to the train station. Ahh, good times, we'd have their uniquely strangely fish-flavour burgers and chips washed down with cold bottles of Budweiser Ice, then as the afternoon wore on switching to Bottles of Special Brew... well, at least I switched to the Special Brew, my colleagues tended to do K Cider.
I'm pretty sure that stunted by career development and, with a better 'go to' attitude could have a stellar career instead of pissing it up the wall. However, that said, I had so much fun back then that if I had the chance to 're-do' the early years of my career, I'd do it again!!
This morning I had a nostalgic trip around the Jewellery Quarter and took this picture of one of my favourite watering holes!
The Brown Lion, a real ale pub in the
Jewellery Quarter, I had some great times there
On a side note, if anyone playing Pokemon GO is interested in catching Drowzees, go to St Paul's Square, it's fucking infested with them!
A New Record
I suddenly realised today (whilst out for a walk in the sun) that I may have reached a new personal best for the length of time I've owned a pair of sunglasses... in the past I've either broken or lost them, usually whilst drunk.
I've owned my current pair for a year and a half, I know this because I bought them whilst on holiday at Centre Parc, bloody expensive they were too.
Well done me.
Saturday, 30 July 2016
Pokemons in my Pub!
Caught these two little buggers whilst out one night last week...
...and an Eevee, serving behind the bar!
Naturally I caught them both, loads kept popping up because someone baited a nearby Pokestop... hmm I wonder who that was?!
 |
| Tried to steal my pint! |
Naturally I caught them both, loads kept popping up because someone baited a nearby Pokestop... hmm I wonder who that was?!
Saturday, 23 July 2016
It's funny how these things work out...
Tonight I watched three DVD's...
The first one was They Live, starring Roddy Piper and Keith David... the second one was Pitch Black, starring Vin Diesel and Rhada Mitchell... and Keith David. The third one was Man on Fire, starring Denzel Washington and... Rhada Mitchell!
So three films, with each following film containing a secondary billing actor from the previous film!!
Film 1. Keith David -> Film 2. Keith David, Rhada Mitchell -> Film 3. Rhada Mitchell
I swear I never set out to do that, I just picked three DVD's from my collection (TV tonight was crap) that I hadn't seen for a while and watched them in a random order, it really is strange how these things work out.
Kevin Bacon, go fuck yourself with your six degrees of separation.
The first one was They Live, starring Roddy Piper and Keith David... the second one was Pitch Black, starring Vin Diesel and Rhada Mitchell... and Keith David. The third one was Man on Fire, starring Denzel Washington and... Rhada Mitchell!
So three films, with each following film containing a secondary billing actor from the previous film!!
Film 1. Keith David -> Film 2. Keith David, Rhada Mitchell -> Film 3. Rhada Mitchell
I swear I never set out to do that, I just picked three DVD's from my collection (TV tonight was crap) that I hadn't seen for a while and watched them in a random order, it really is strange how these things work out.
Kevin Bacon, go fuck yourself with your six degrees of separation.
Tuesday, 19 July 2016
It's official, car parks are INFESTED with Pokemons!
Yep, during my Pokemon-catching travels I can confirm that for some bizarre reason, whenever you walk through a car park, you are SURROUNDED by wild Pokemons!
When I got out of my car last Friday evening to do some shopping at my local Tesco I had four around me, including this guy:
Also happened to me this morning as I walked through my local Park's car park, it's like they have a fetish for all those cars and white lines!
When I got out of my car last Friday evening to do some shopping at my local Tesco I had four around me, including this guy:
 |
| A Drowzee... and like other Pokemon, seems to have a passion for car parks! |
Also happened to me this morning as I walked through my local Park's car park, it's like they have a fetish for all those cars and white lines!
Saturday, 16 July 2016
Pokemon Go
Been playing it since it came out here in the UK... absolutely loving it!
I spent 2 hours early Saturday morning Pokemon hunting and I mean, we're talking 12km walking. I got a fair few Pokemons plus a few 'undiscovered' so I thought it was a good day... i.e. I got plenty of exercise!
Went to a party later on in the evening, didn't really play it then however whilst mingling at this party I overheard a couple talking about 'catching Squirtle', I couldn't help myself and mentioned to them, in passing, that I'm a fan of the game... I got such a disgusting look from both of them that I thought I'd best move along and head back to the bar!
Shit man, if gaming has gotten to that stage of social interaction I wonder what the hell the future has for humantity.
Edit: Actually, from what I remember of that evening (and I HAD been drinking all day) possibly my statement to that couple that the general vicinity around us had 'fuck all decent Pokemons' probably earned that disgusted look. Yes I had checked earlier whilst waiting to be served at the bar.
Edit: Actually, from what I remember of that evening (and I HAD been drinking all day) possibly my statement to that couple that the general vicinity around us had 'fuck all decent Pokemons' probably earned that disgusted look. Yes I had checked earlier whilst waiting to be served at the bar.
Wednesday, 13 July 2016
Star Trek: Enterprise
Why is it that whenever I hear the theme tune to Star Trek: Enterprise I want to raise my arms above my head and wave them sideways, like people do at concerts... usually with a lit lighter in one of their hands?
Tuesday, 5 July 2016
True Geekdom
Last night I was happily watching a Star Trek Voyager episode (Scorpion: Part 1, one of my favourites, Netflix now has the entire series, yay!)
Whilst watching I thought I'd open an app on my smartphone that enables me to remotely check one of the large format printers I use at work as it was still printing a big job when I'd left earlier. Much to my dismay it indicated an error: 'Substrate Jam'.
"Bugger," I thought, "the printhead may be out of it's capping station and jammed against the media." It was late but I feared I'd have a sleepless night knowing that those printheads would be drying-up, becoming clogged and possibly unrecoverable.
"What would Captain Janeway do?" I thought. No, scratch that... I didn't think that at all. I jumped in my car and headed back to work. When I got there I found that the printer's printhead was back in it's capping station and that the error was down to running out of media. So no worries there...
I locked-up and headed home, via the motorway as I felt like the need for speed! Whilst on the motorway I passed a Royal Mail lorry, which reminded me that I'd been waiting for a replacement part to mend my toilet and it's delivery had been delayed by them for whatever retarded reason. "WHERE"S MY FUCKING TOILET PART YOU BASTARD!" I yelled as I passed... I'd had a stressful day and needed to get that out. Anyway I got home (albeit late), went to bed, got out my Kindle Fire tablet and spent half-an-hour lurking on 4Chan's /b/ image board. If I'd had a hot pocket and a glass of Gatoraid my geekness would have gone through the roof...
Start Trek, an app that remotely monitors printers, parts to repair a toilet and 4Chan... so goes my life.
Whilst watching I thought I'd open an app on my smartphone that enables me to remotely check one of the large format printers I use at work as it was still printing a big job when I'd left earlier. Much to my dismay it indicated an error: 'Substrate Jam'.
"Bugger," I thought, "the printhead may be out of it's capping station and jammed against the media." It was late but I feared I'd have a sleepless night knowing that those printheads would be drying-up, becoming clogged and possibly unrecoverable.
"What would Captain Janeway do?" I thought. No, scratch that... I didn't think that at all. I jumped in my car and headed back to work. When I got there I found that the printer's printhead was back in it's capping station and that the error was down to running out of media. So no worries there...
I locked-up and headed home, via the motorway as I felt like the need for speed! Whilst on the motorway I passed a Royal Mail lorry, which reminded me that I'd been waiting for a replacement part to mend my toilet and it's delivery had been delayed by them for whatever retarded reason. "WHERE"S MY FUCKING TOILET PART YOU BASTARD!" I yelled as I passed... I'd had a stressful day and needed to get that out. Anyway I got home (albeit late), went to bed, got out my Kindle Fire tablet and spent half-an-hour lurking on 4Chan's /b/ image board. If I'd had a hot pocket and a glass of Gatoraid my geekness would have gone through the roof...
Start Trek, an app that remotely monitors printers, parts to repair a toilet and 4Chan... so goes my life.
Saturday, 2 July 2016
Codehatch... you suck!
I run my own Reign of Kings server... have done since since the start of the year and everytime they bring out a patch they fuck the game up!
This time it's version R8, according the tech support I run my server with R8 has broken standalone RoK servers and now we're entirely at the mercy of the Codehatch devs waiting for them to issue a fix.
Nice work Codehatch, I'd compare you to the England footy squad but I think that would be just too cruel.
I'll settle for just calling you all shit instead.
Wednesday, 29 June 2016
Abstract Art #17
Latest in the series... called "Tiling for n00bs":
I made this one with pastel colours to try and cheer myself up.
I made this one with pastel colours to try and cheer myself up.
England's New Manager
This is what our much vaunted FA (lol) will do...
They will extract their collective heads from the sand just long enough to choose a second-rate shit-tier English manager.
Then bury them again.
Tuesday, 28 June 2016
Pathetic Bunch of Losers!
England 1 - 2 Iceland - that is a result that will go down in the annals of sporting history so that generations from now will look back at it, shudder and not want to think what it must have been like to witness that match and live through the aftermath (if you're English that is)...
I have never felt so embarrassed to be English right now... and I AM living through it...
we have been humiliated financially, politically and now, sportingly.
Firstly, before I continue with this rant, I want to congratulate Iceland for a well deserved victory, we must not take anything away from such an awe inspiring achievement.
Now back to that bunch of pathetic sad sacks we call professional footballers... I love football, I'm English and it is in my blood, I played it when I was younger and have supported ever since I could walk. So it's really no surprise that I am well and thoroughly pissed off with what happened last night. I mean, what the hell happened? Did they all have visions of the beach where they'll be spending their Summer holidays? It really seems to me that they simply didn't want to play that game despite the fact that they had the famous Three Lions on their shirts.
This is the problem that we have - it's not the manager, it's the players... and they are a victim of an ever increasingly greedy Premier League. They get paid more and more each season, they are mollycoddled in that everything is done for them off the pitch and, more often than not, they get benched by better foreign talent, yet they still get paid £50,000+ a week! I defy anyone to not get a sense of CBA's when that much money is coming in, it simply doesn't give you the drive to achieve... if I won the lottery I doubt I'd be motivated enough to keep doing my job and I feel this is the same for our players.
Okay you would argue that the Italian players are paid just as much but herein lies the other problem - we are seriously lacking a sense of national pride anymore. We're always complaining: "Shit weather...", "Crap public transport...", "Stupid politicians..." etc. it's in our national DNA to deride our country and I think that, coupled with a stupidly high salary, makes our players think that national team duty is more of a chore than an honour. The Icelandic team played as a team with their heart on their sleeves, so did the Italian team when they beat Spain in the earlier match. Our lot played like 11 individuals who just happened to be on the same pitch wearing the same strip which made them think "Oh, maybe I should be passing the ball to these people?"
Hodgson has gone so the FA are now looking for a new manager, they need to find one that's tactically astute and can kick these players in the arses and get them motivated. Club before Country? Fuck that...
I have never felt so embarrassed to be English right now... and I AM living through it...
we have been humiliated financially, politically and now, sportingly.
Firstly, before I continue with this rant, I want to congratulate Iceland for a well deserved victory, we must not take anything away from such an awe inspiring achievement.
Now back to that bunch of pathetic sad sacks we call professional footballers... I love football, I'm English and it is in my blood, I played it when I was younger and have supported ever since I could walk. So it's really no surprise that I am well and thoroughly pissed off with what happened last night. I mean, what the hell happened? Did they all have visions of the beach where they'll be spending their Summer holidays? It really seems to me that they simply didn't want to play that game despite the fact that they had the famous Three Lions on their shirts.
This is the problem that we have - it's not the manager, it's the players... and they are a victim of an ever increasingly greedy Premier League. They get paid more and more each season, they are mollycoddled in that everything is done for them off the pitch and, more often than not, they get benched by better foreign talent, yet they still get paid £50,000+ a week! I defy anyone to not get a sense of CBA's when that much money is coming in, it simply doesn't give you the drive to achieve... if I won the lottery I doubt I'd be motivated enough to keep doing my job and I feel this is the same for our players.
Okay you would argue that the Italian players are paid just as much but herein lies the other problem - we are seriously lacking a sense of national pride anymore. We're always complaining: "Shit weather...", "Crap public transport...", "Stupid politicians..." etc. it's in our national DNA to deride our country and I think that, coupled with a stupidly high salary, makes our players think that national team duty is more of a chore than an honour. The Icelandic team played as a team with their heart on their sleeves, so did the Italian team when they beat Spain in the earlier match. Our lot played like 11 individuals who just happened to be on the same pitch wearing the same strip which made them think "Oh, maybe I should be passing the ball to these people?"
Hodgson has gone so the FA are now looking for a new manager, they need to find one that's tactically astute and can kick these players in the arses and get them motivated. Club before Country? Fuck that...
Sunday, 26 June 2016
Brexit
Well, Europe's reeling from our decision, tons of mud being slung about, full of accusations and threats... boy I'd hate to be the person doing this right now:
I am so hungover... the beer drinking has to continue, whether we're in the EU or not.
OS9? Why yes I do believe the EU probably uses it.
I am so hungover... the beer drinking has to continue, whether we're in the EU or not.
Saturday, 25 June 2016
Thursday, 23 June 2016
A Parenting Classic!
I was in Tesco the other day doing my weekly shop and I overheard a mother saying to her child:
"I'm not buying toilet paper just because it has a picture of a dog on it!"
Absolute classic, I salute her!
"I'm not buying toilet paper just because it has a picture of a dog on it!"
Absolute classic, I salute her!
Wednesday, 22 June 2016
Glastonbury Festival
Ahh the annual human petri dish that is the Glastonbury Festival takes place this weekend... thousands of people will get together in an alcohol, drugs and disease-ridden mud bath to be entertained by Worthy Farm's best efforts at getting the latest and greatest onto their stages.
I won't be going... in fact I'd rather take a cheese grater to my nut sack than go to that shit hole.
I'm convinced that Glastonbury contributes greatly to the spread of the new common cold strains (and other viruses) across the country. Imagine it - thousands of sweaty heaving masses all in very close proximity, their disease resistance lowered by alcohol and/or drug abuse and a poor food diet making them susceptible to all kinds of bugs. These, of course incubate, mutate into new strains and, 48 hours later, when the Festival is over all these people are spread across the four corners of the UK (and beyond) where they are ripe to pass on what they've caught... and voila! A whole new round of colds/flu for the Autumn/Winter season, all over the country.
I realise that Glastonbury is an important cultural event for many people, even if it only means getting shit faced, never leaving your tent and never seeing any live acts it is an important event for people to look forward to and I accept that but it's definitely NOT my cup of tea. Unless I rocked up there in full NBC gear... shit, it makes me shudder just looking at those people wading through the mud even from the comfort of my own home!
Of course I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't mention that I went to Rewind last year which is sort of a 'mini' Glastonbury but I have to point out that Rewind, to me, is way posher and has fewer people. So there.
I won't be going... in fact I'd rather take a cheese grater to my nut sack than go to that shit hole.
I'm convinced that Glastonbury contributes greatly to the spread of the new common cold strains (and other viruses) across the country. Imagine it - thousands of sweaty heaving masses all in very close proximity, their disease resistance lowered by alcohol and/or drug abuse and a poor food diet making them susceptible to all kinds of bugs. These, of course incubate, mutate into new strains and, 48 hours later, when the Festival is over all these people are spread across the four corners of the UK (and beyond) where they are ripe to pass on what they've caught... and voila! A whole new round of colds/flu for the Autumn/Winter season, all over the country.
I realise that Glastonbury is an important cultural event for many people, even if it only means getting shit faced, never leaving your tent and never seeing any live acts it is an important event for people to look forward to and I accept that but it's definitely NOT my cup of tea. Unless I rocked up there in full NBC gear... shit, it makes me shudder just looking at those people wading through the mud even from the comfort of my own home!
Of course I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't mention that I went to Rewind last year which is sort of a 'mini' Glastonbury but I have to point out that Rewind, to me, is way posher and has fewer people. So there.
Sunday, 19 June 2016
Saturday, 18 June 2016
Friday, 17 June 2016
Fallout Shelter
Here's my guide for building and running a shelter full of happy dwellers :)
1. Start your vault, build all the necessary starter rooms the tutorial will get you to do (Power, Water, Cafeteria, Bunk Room, Store Room etc.) and assign your dwellers to them, don't worry too much about who goes where for now.
2. Now, over a period of a couple of days do this: open Fallout Shelter, collect the resources then quit out, never stay in the game long enough for Raiders to turn up. Remember that you actually have to force quite game, in IOS double-tap the home button then swipe the Fallout Shelter upwards to properly close it down... 'Droid users - refer to your documentation on how to do this.
3. When you've got enough Bottlecaps collected, slowly, bit-by-bit, add resource rooms based on resource demand, try to keep an even balance but ALWAYS make sure you have enough power, otherwise rooms will start to shut down.
4. When you have reached the required population numbers, build an infirmary and assign a dweller to start making Stimpaks. When you have collected 15 Stimpaks AND have a nice collection of Bottlecaps in the bank give a dweller 2-3 Stimpaks and send him/her out into the wilderness, leave them for about 2-3 hours but keep checking periodically to see if him/her is still alive... have them return when they've collected 4-5 items of loot (having sufficient Bottlecaps is to pay to get them revived if they die). Remember to keep quitting the game to prevent Raider attacks. Rinse and repeat this over a few days and you should have a nice collection of weapons and outfits. Also build a Chem Lab once you've unlocked it and add RadAways to your dweller's wasteland loadout.
5. Start equipping your dwellers with guns and outfits, this is important, NEVER leave your dwellers unequipped, they simply cannot handle Radroach and Mole Rat infestations with their fists!
6. Assign female dwellers to all your living quarters and start sending processions of male dwellers to them, you'll be increasing your population in no time. Also, when you have them spare, assign two dwellers to the vault entrance, make sure they are equipped with decent guns.
7. I'm going to repeat this here again, make sure that you're quitting the game as soon as you're done your collecting/dweller room assignments/checking dwellers in the wasteland etc, don't forget to check your inventory and junk/sell outfits and weapons as you see fit, keep any junk collected for now. Raider attacks can seriously hamper your progress, this is why I'm banging on about making sure the game is closed down properly. Don't worry, resources will still be generated and will be waiting ready for collection next time you load the game.
8. At this stage you should have two well equipped dwellers guarding the door and every dweller on that floor equipped with pistols. If Raiders attack whilst you've got the game open, the two dwellers guarding the door will 'thin' them out before they head to the next room and any dwellers from there on will finish them off. Raiders rarely (in my experience) head downwards, they always seem to concentrate on attacking the top floor rooms. This doesn't mean you should leave your dwellers on lower level unequipped, ultimately you need to have ALL your dwellers appropriately equipped, just prioritise from the top down. As you gain more powerful weapons, assign them that way. In my vault every dweller has a weapon that has 5 or more hit points.
9. Once you've unlocked the weapons room, build it and assign a dweller, now you can use all that junk you collected, start making shotguns and assign them appropriately (top floor downwards). With every dweller packing heat, Radroaches and Mole Rats won't stand a chance.
10. As your population increases, more room types are unlocked, including training rooms. Build one of each of these - Weight Room for Strength (Power Room), Athletics Room for Agility (Cafeteria) and Armoury for Perception (Water Processing). Start rotating your dwellers through each of them based on what room that dweller came from (i.e. send a dweller from a Power Room to the Weight Room). As they level up their appropriate SPECIAL stat send them back to the room they came from, eventually you'll have rooms full of the right qualified dwellers and the resources will come flowing in in large quantities.
11. When you're happy that your resource rooms are full of properly qualified dwellers and you have the spare capacity, start to rotate your dwellers through the other training rooms, this is important because you may need to substitute dwellers and you'll want the sub to be nearly as good as the one that's being subbed. By now you should be confident enough to leave the game open longer and shouldn't be worried about raids (assuming your sentries are there, well equipped etc.)
12. Ultimately, at this stage, your vault should be self sustaining and you shouldn't be getting any resource shortages. It's all about balance and matching dwellers with the right SPECIAL stats to the right rooms. Have fun, try different things... but keep your dwellers in the right rooms and make sure you have an even balance of resource production
Things to note:
It's best to have large rooms on your ground floor, that way, Raiders/Deathclaws will be mobbed by gangs of Dwellers and subsequently killed more quickly.
Raiders level with your vault population, so at higher numbers they will attack with bigger, better weapons. Make sure your first floor dwellers are equipped appropriately, they are of a high level and that their Strength SPECIAL stat is as high as possible.
At 60+ dwellers Deathclaws start attacking so you'll really need to make sure your dwellers have high level weapons. Get your weapons room upgraded so you can manufacture rare weapons, you'll need to save up for it though as it costs 8000 Bottlecaps! Keep sending dwellers out to find rare weapon recipes.
Don't bother wasting Bottlecaps on upgrading your vault door in the early stages of building your vault. The Raiders will still get in even when the door is upgraded to it's maximum level, they just take a little longer to get in. If you've got well equipped guards and dwellers on the first floor the raiders will be easily dealt with.
I tend to use my two sentries for wasteland sorties, I send one out at a time, that way, if there is a Raider attack there's still one left to deal with them. It's also easer to 'drag' them out past the door, rather than having to scroll around the vault whilst potentially accidentally 'dragging' dwellers out of rooms.
Training dwellers is a great way to earn Bottlecaps as they are generated every time the dweller increases their SPECIAL stat.
The longer you leave a dweller out in the wasteland, the greater chance he/she will discover rare recipes, so make sure they're stocked up well on Stimpacks and RadAways.
A Dweller with maximum SPECIAL stats survives longer in the wasteland and has a better chance of finding rare and legendary loot. I've got one Dweller called Harold, he is level 50, has 7-8 on almost all his stats. I give hime 15 Stimpaks and Radaways and can confidently leave him out in the wasteland for 24+ hours, during that time he will find rare stuff AND still have 8 or 9 Stimpaks left!
Raider attacks can be useful as Raiders will drop loot when they are killed, occasionally that loot will be weapon or outfit recipes. Even if loot isn't dropped a dead Raider will generate Bottlecaps.
Hopefully you'll find this useful, it's not the 'ultimate' guide and, to be honest, my method does require a shit ton of patience! But, hang in there and you'll have a happy, well populated vault :)
 |
| I prefer having one elevator, dwellers can get around more quickly |
1. Start your vault, build all the necessary starter rooms the tutorial will get you to do (Power, Water, Cafeteria, Bunk Room, Store Room etc.) and assign your dwellers to them, don't worry too much about who goes where for now.
2. Now, over a period of a couple of days do this: open Fallout Shelter, collect the resources then quit out, never stay in the game long enough for Raiders to turn up. Remember that you actually have to force quite game, in IOS double-tap the home button then swipe the Fallout Shelter upwards to properly close it down... 'Droid users - refer to your documentation on how to do this.
3. When you've got enough Bottlecaps collected, slowly, bit-by-bit, add resource rooms based on resource demand, try to keep an even balance but ALWAYS make sure you have enough power, otherwise rooms will start to shut down.
4. When you have reached the required population numbers, build an infirmary and assign a dweller to start making Stimpaks. When you have collected 15 Stimpaks AND have a nice collection of Bottlecaps in the bank give a dweller 2-3 Stimpaks and send him/her out into the wilderness, leave them for about 2-3 hours but keep checking periodically to see if him/her is still alive... have them return when they've collected 4-5 items of loot (having sufficient Bottlecaps is to pay to get them revived if they die). Remember to keep quitting the game to prevent Raider attacks. Rinse and repeat this over a few days and you should have a nice collection of weapons and outfits. Also build a Chem Lab once you've unlocked it and add RadAways to your dweller's wasteland loadout.
5. Start equipping your dwellers with guns and outfits, this is important, NEVER leave your dwellers unequipped, they simply cannot handle Radroach and Mole Rat infestations with their fists!
6. Assign female dwellers to all your living quarters and start sending processions of male dwellers to them, you'll be increasing your population in no time. Also, when you have them spare, assign two dwellers to the vault entrance, make sure they are equipped with decent guns.
7. I'm going to repeat this here again, make sure that you're quitting the game as soon as you're done your collecting/dweller room assignments/checking dwellers in the wasteland etc, don't forget to check your inventory and junk/sell outfits and weapons as you see fit, keep any junk collected for now. Raider attacks can seriously hamper your progress, this is why I'm banging on about making sure the game is closed down properly. Don't worry, resources will still be generated and will be waiting ready for collection next time you load the game.
8. At this stage you should have two well equipped dwellers guarding the door and every dweller on that floor equipped with pistols. If Raiders attack whilst you've got the game open, the two dwellers guarding the door will 'thin' them out before they head to the next room and any dwellers from there on will finish them off. Raiders rarely (in my experience) head downwards, they always seem to concentrate on attacking the top floor rooms. This doesn't mean you should leave your dwellers on lower level unequipped, ultimately you need to have ALL your dwellers appropriately equipped, just prioritise from the top down. As you gain more powerful weapons, assign them that way. In my vault every dweller has a weapon that has 5 or more hit points.
9. Once you've unlocked the weapons room, build it and assign a dweller, now you can use all that junk you collected, start making shotguns and assign them appropriately (top floor downwards). With every dweller packing heat, Radroaches and Mole Rats won't stand a chance.
10. As your population increases, more room types are unlocked, including training rooms. Build one of each of these - Weight Room for Strength (Power Room), Athletics Room for Agility (Cafeteria) and Armoury for Perception (Water Processing). Start rotating your dwellers through each of them based on what room that dweller came from (i.e. send a dweller from a Power Room to the Weight Room). As they level up their appropriate SPECIAL stat send them back to the room they came from, eventually you'll have rooms full of the right qualified dwellers and the resources will come flowing in in large quantities.
11. When you're happy that your resource rooms are full of properly qualified dwellers and you have the spare capacity, start to rotate your dwellers through the other training rooms, this is important because you may need to substitute dwellers and you'll want the sub to be nearly as good as the one that's being subbed. By now you should be confident enough to leave the game open longer and shouldn't be worried about raids (assuming your sentries are there, well equipped etc.)
12. Ultimately, at this stage, your vault should be self sustaining and you shouldn't be getting any resource shortages. It's all about balance and matching dwellers with the right SPECIAL stats to the right rooms. Have fun, try different things... but keep your dwellers in the right rooms and make sure you have an even balance of resource production
Things to note:
It's best to have large rooms on your ground floor, that way, Raiders/Deathclaws will be mobbed by gangs of Dwellers and subsequently killed more quickly.
Raiders level with your vault population, so at higher numbers they will attack with bigger, better weapons. Make sure your first floor dwellers are equipped appropriately, they are of a high level and that their Strength SPECIAL stat is as high as possible.
At 60+ dwellers Deathclaws start attacking so you'll really need to make sure your dwellers have high level weapons. Get your weapons room upgraded so you can manufacture rare weapons, you'll need to save up for it though as it costs 8000 Bottlecaps! Keep sending dwellers out to find rare weapon recipes.
Don't bother wasting Bottlecaps on upgrading your vault door in the early stages of building your vault. The Raiders will still get in even when the door is upgraded to it's maximum level, they just take a little longer to get in. If you've got well equipped guards and dwellers on the first floor the raiders will be easily dealt with.
I tend to use my two sentries for wasteland sorties, I send one out at a time, that way, if there is a Raider attack there's still one left to deal with them. It's also easer to 'drag' them out past the door, rather than having to scroll around the vault whilst potentially accidentally 'dragging' dwellers out of rooms.
Training dwellers is a great way to earn Bottlecaps as they are generated every time the dweller increases their SPECIAL stat.
The longer you leave a dweller out in the wasteland, the greater chance he/she will discover rare recipes, so make sure they're stocked up well on Stimpacks and RadAways.
A Dweller with maximum SPECIAL stats survives longer in the wasteland and has a better chance of finding rare and legendary loot. I've got one Dweller called Harold, he is level 50, has 7-8 on almost all his stats. I give hime 15 Stimpaks and Radaways and can confidently leave him out in the wasteland for 24+ hours, during that time he will find rare stuff AND still have 8 or 9 Stimpaks left!
Raider attacks can be useful as Raiders will drop loot when they are killed, occasionally that loot will be weapon or outfit recipes. Even if loot isn't dropped a dead Raider will generate Bottlecaps.
Hopefully you'll find this useful, it's not the 'ultimate' guide and, to be honest, my method does require a shit ton of patience! But, hang in there and you'll have a happy, well populated vault :)
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