GeekMan

Heh yeah they’re getting better.

One day working in I.T. at a bank, I received an email that was formatted and written really convincingly that someone has referred me for a bigger role with a salary bump, with light/abstract details that could ‘be inferred as’ relevant to my country, sector & role. It just asked to click-through to see the opportunity-

-which popped-up a warning from the company’s I.T. security that this was a phishing testing/training email, and I’d failed.

I usually evade a phish, but this slightly-targeted one got me good.

After that I had to ritualistically double-check potentially legitimate emails from external domains, for sketchy domains/short URLs/links/tracking cookies etc, because they included vendors & 3rd party consultants or contractors we were working with.

At least (the) God(s) know scammers are bad people.

Heh.

Software/solutions consultant, and union actor.

I mean I was. I mean I am. I dunno. 20 years in I.T. starting from programming to a ‘senior tech consultant’. But was then made redundant. Didn’t get a job straight away. Started working at my girlfriend’s bar as a bartender & server.

That was over a year ago. 60+ applications for jobs in I.T.; zero interviews. WTF.

I’m trying to work out why & what to fix, but for now? I’m a server & actor.

I’m reading and tinkering with technologies but not nearly enough. And will have to explain the gap in employment.

It’s getting harder to resist the urge to panic and break down.

I saw one out front of our business, on Front St Toronto, and several lined up along the edge of one of our downtown parks.

The information on the home and from the guy talking to by-standers is that there’s a bicycle on the front of it - so it’s apparently allowed to stop “anywhere” because “it’s a bike”. No opinion on that, just repeating what I heard.

Our owner had a chat with parking enforcement because it was during summer - CafeTO - and was taking up one of the few parking spaces nearby. Parking said (at the time) that they couldn’t do anything/don’t know what to do.

No opinion here, just answering the previous two comments.

Up down left right Y B X A …

I’m not even sure that that’s right, and I’m not even sure what game it’s for.

SNES definitely. Maybe Street Fighter II Turbo? Done at the CAPCOM logo it’d make a sound, then- you could play as the bosses? Maybe?

Or it’s the movements for Zangief’s spinning piledriver, heh. (It’s not)

Yeah that sounds like a good path!

I used to love advanced math, physics and game coding, so I’ve revisited the 'Landers several times over the years (a day here and there in the middle of life/emigrating/careers).

If you also Google for solutions to the 'Landers you’ll find people have done hardcore analysis and genetic algorithms!

(cough like this)

Next mission: somehow hack UE5 into CodinGame and let it sort it out.

I think it is!!

Gather food & liquids, cancel any plans tomorrow, fire it up in a browser.

Y’welcome.

To add to the list, Codingame.com

It wouldn’t be the first thing to try. Get the basics down on your own machine/environment. Try this for something additional.

CodinGame gives you the IDE and build environment in your browser, so it’s for learning/practicing/testing coding knowledge without building/deploying locally, or worrying about UI/persistence/networking etc.

It’s filled with coding puzzles and competitions. I started where they give you animated scenarios (to look like part of a game or engine), and you contribute a small, missing unit of code to complete the challenge.

You can choose from 25 languages, they encourage unit-testing, and there are global coding competitions and company outreach to top coders. I don’t wanna say they gamified it… but they did.

But once you’re comfortable with those, CodinGame lets you practice different concepts & algorithms without having to come up with the bigger systems around them.

I’ve loved it for getting back to coding after a while, tinkering with certain concepts, or trying other languages.

I’m not affiliated with it. Just loved the idea & execution. Except for Mars Lander III challenge. That can get @#$&ed.

There’s never been a better time to reference Arrested Development;

“There’s ALWAYS, money, in the Banana Stand”

“I love you, sarge!”

Upvote for The Castle reference?

I skimmed the title and misread as “salvia”. Mistakes were made.

I’m 45.

Dad got me started on his Intellivision (early-80’s), got my own Atari 2600, first computers C64 and Tandy 1000, then a Nintendo-everything guy until now having a Playstation, Xbox and Switch for as many rooms of the house.

These days Rocket League is the best to play during remote audio meetings, 'cause you don’t need sound and it’s 5-10mins a game, but COD, GoW, Zelda.* and Mario.* would still get a thrashing when the girlfriend’s at work.

“Can’t stop won’t stop” --Swift, T.

I tried but I feel bad that this didn’t ring any bells for me after my 12 years in Brissie.

Heh if there was a way you could submit to GeoGuessr you might get a lead. Especially GeoRainBolt; he’s a freak for this.

M2 Air.

Use cases: planning to crush it with music/audio, video editing & voice-over, software development, and art (tablet, etc).

Peripherals: will be getting said tablet, good microphone, video camera/DSLR live feed link, and some sort of audio controller and/or looper.

Fave Mac apps: I feel like a complete n00b to say that the only app I’ve used long enough and was an actual joy to use, was iMovie. I’ll be grabbing a strong IDE for dev work. But I’ve only just begun.

Gripes: alleged limited support for just one external display. I’ve read there’s ways to add more, but it gives me a twitch after Windows laptops that always seemed to do it by default.

Also I’m unsure whether to use my cheap, Amazon USB hub I already have - for connecting monitor(s?), peripherals and power - because some sources say it could hurt the M2. Not sure if that’s warranted or FUD.

Long story:

I was raised on PCs, from Tandy 1000 to MS-DOS 6.22 to Windows 8, because of school/cost/marketing/parents’ limited knowledge.

Finally in my late 30’s I got to use a 'Pro for work (startup, software job), and even though I had to quickly learn ‘the Mac way’;

It took everything I threw at it.

I had to let go of the Pro after that job, but randomly later I was editing a video on a Windows laptop w/ Movie “Maker”, which took 4 days of slow-downs, glitches, restarts.

I then grabbed my girl’s older 'Air and recut the whole thing (in iMovie) in 1/8th of the time.

So CUT-TO last week; a friend said he wanted to sell his M2 'Air 15.x", 2 months old, because it was bigger than he thought and doesn’t have desk-space in his small condo. He bought it new for $1700, but only asked for $1k for it (!?) (Yes; there’s a receipt).

I couldn’t-not.

I’m not religious about Mac vs PC. They both have their pros & cons. I just haven’t given enough time to the other side. So the clock starts now.

…

[Downloads CallOfDuty_Installer.exe]

I strongly encourage you to write that.

Perhaps Wattpad.com?

I actually know of a clause in a recent contract for a small, one-episode/one-line role in a new TV show, that said it gave permission to use something (I was told) that said “synthesized performances”.

Like I said the role was small, not a big-name actor/who might die soon. It was just a character who worked in a place who would’ve been seen regularly in the background. So the agent said it was their guess that the production would film the character live first, then recreate the person with A.I. after that.

The agent struck out the clause, and the production accepted it.

So could that mean they’ll do the right thing and pay the actor to come back every time they need filler? Or just won’t fill-in future scenes with that character/actor, to save paying them?

And did they intend that just for this character this time, or all the other small & background characters in that scene & beyond? Or are they just testing the waters, putting it in all contracts for any size role from now-on, just in-case?

I guess we’ll see how many agents are reading every clause buried within the sea of standard stuff.

But … but they mis-spelled a word in their review.

Congratulations (to them); (they) played (themselves).