Testing an phone app to post here
This is a test post to see if I can post while on the go. This is the next step to see if I can do the move of of Facebook.
Based on the censorship from Google(Youtube)/Facebook/Twitter will posting here more often
The title says it all, I will be posting here more often outside of the Facebook and Twitter censorship, no I never been blocked for anything but I seen many others being unpersoned, er deplatforming as they call it.
Tim Pool gets Censored this is wrong.
Youtube is going over board on censorship now.
Tim Pool ( a good Journalist ) posted this originally on youtube
Here is a follow up video that he posted about it
(sorry if youtube censored this one too)
Why I will not get a google “game console”
There is a lot of talk about google entering the game console market, and they are “going to be the netflix of gaming” but I will not be getting a google game console for a variety of reasons.
1) As I posted here https://blog.mikeoconnor.net/2016/04/google-bricks-devices/, google has had hardware that they decided they did not want to support anymore, so instead of just letting it work for those that had spent the $300 on the device they sent out a firmware update to brick the device. And given googles history on killing projects (see https://gcemetery.co/ for a partial list of killed google projects)
2) google will probably try to do it as streaming only. I have an issue with this as I like to have my game physically. Here are some issues with streaming and “all digital” even if you download the game. There was a game on both the PS4 and the Xbox called “Scott Pilgrim vs the world” It was only digital, you can not get the game as the license for it expired and the game is now fully lost to the sands of times. The problem with streaming, is you have to be connected to the internet and have a good connection to the servers. With a local game if the network is loaded you will not have.
3) People seem to be excited for “the netflix of games” I am currently thinking of canceling netflix, and the reason for that can very easly happen to a console that “is the netflix of games” The reason is, netflix was once great, but now that media companies see that it can be profitable, they have over time kept pulling the license away from netflix to start their own streaming services. It is now to the point that I have gone back to cable (Verizon FiOS) as with all the IP removed from Netflix that I wanted to watch, and now it would cost well over $100 just for what I wanted to watch, and cable is only $40 month, I cut the cable all those years ago to save money, but now cable is now cheaper then streaming. So the question is if this starts to be profitable, how many of the “AAA” companies see this and pull away from google to open up their own streaming (you would then loss all your progress for games that get pulled) If you don’t have the physical game for a single player game, that you can not put into a console that is not connected to the internet to play then do you own that game, and the day the servers go down you will never be able to play it again. I like physical copies of the single player games. If it REQUIRE a day 1 patch to play I am not sure I will be able to keep the game for as long as I want. Think about this, you have an old 2600 and cartridges you can still play it, but if it had been a streaming service those games could well all be lost. This issue might not be ween at first, but over a few years the price will go up as companies think they can make money and pull out from Google.
4) Sharing games: with digital games how are you going to share them, this was part of the advertising for the PS4, with a digital game can you share your game? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWSIFh8ICaA I have shared games with friends.
To those that think their pets are service animals (TL;DR they are not)
To those that have I can not deal with live animals (aka “emotional support animals”) to many people think they can take their pets places claim the ADA or ADAA, which does not cover “emotional support animals” if you can not deal with life with our your pet, maybe you should stay home
Federal law does not support I can not deal with life animales, but it says some states might have that
https://www.ada.gov/regs2010/service_animal_qa.html
Well MD does not support I can not deal with live animals. (the state I this happen in a lot)
https://veterans.maryland.gov/guide-and-service-dogs/
Note I used .gov sites, not com net or org as any one can get those and put up wrong and false information
You can ask a limited number or questions about it to determine if it a true service animal or note
(1) is the dog a service animal required because of a disability, and (2) what work or task has the dog been trained to perform.
https://www.ada.gov/service_animals_2010.htm.
If you are pushing your dog around in a baby carriage, it most likely not a Working Dog, and most likely does not meat the definition of a Service animal under the ADA and ADAA
Mind you a Service animal is TRAINED not adopted at a animal shelter or bought a pet store, but TRAINED by professionals, you did not get it as a puppy or kitten.
When it rains it pours
This Sunday when I came out of church I found a 4 inch gash in my driver side back tire. My church is 70 miles from where I live so I am already behind the 8 ball here. I get towed to a tire shop. They have tires that fit my car, but not the size that the other 3 tires are. So I have to buy 4 new tires. $450 down the drain there.
Next thing is today, while I am getting home, BGE has yet ANOTHER power failure (mind you it is not snowing at this time, and there is no wind, just a no reason power failure like most of them, I swear there is at minimum 1 a week to about 1 a day, BGE is the worst power company) I end up tripping coming up the stairs to my apartment, and my phone goes flying, and shatters the screen. So there is more money out the windows, $70 for taxes and down payment and $20 added to my monthly cell phone bill. I really wanted to keep my Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus, I loved that phone. Now I have the Samsung Galaxy S9. I don’t like that it does not have the physical buttons.
To top things off, for most of the night I can’t even get the screen to turn on on the S6 Edge+ (till about 20 minutes ago) so coping over my data that is not backed up by google is almost impossible, finally it did turn on, so I can now backup the nova screen settings, my podaddicts settings, and my fuel log settings.
Along with being able to back those up and upload them to my google drive, I am able to run the Samsung Smart Switch program, so now it is coping over most of my data. I am hoping I can have things 90% fully copied over, but I fear I will only get 75% or less.
I will probably end up doing a review of the Samsung Galaxy S9 later on after I have had 3 or 4 weeks of usage on it.
The one thing I fear is they say these things come in 3s, I have had 2, I am afraid of what might happen next.
A review of the Dell Inspiron Chromebook
Back in November I got my hands on the Dell Inspiron Chromebook. First off I have heard people say how it is lacking, but i feel the problem they are having is that they forget what the chromebook and chromeOS is. It is not a full computer, you are not going to be doing codeing or playing AAA computer game on it. It is a web browser that can run some Android apps. Keeping in mind that it just a hardware web browser, you will find it is a very adequate system.
One nice thing about the Chrome Book is the battery life, I never had a device that lasted as long as 10 hours only on battery power while being used, I have tested it and had over a week of standby time. The devices is very light. Turn on time is very fast. There is very little storage space, as you are expected to use Google Drive for the storage (I am also a paid user for 100GB) Also the Dell has an microSD card reader in it, and for $20 I was able to get 126Gb one off of Amazon.
Web apps work well on it also, you can make use of Google Docs, and Google Sheets for word processing and Spreadsheets for data processing.
I have gotten a bit more out of the chrome system then just web browsing, I have setup Linux on ChromeOS and it has given me a good text based information so I can ssh in to my home computer. Also since I can run some Android apps, this has allowed me to use OpenVPN with my chromebook, this is nice as I have an OpenVPN endpoint setup for myself. But using OpenVPN and the linux on chromeOS I have full access to my home systems, when out and about.
I have also played around with a few Android games on the Chromebook. Some work ok some do not work as well. You will have to try them out.
In the long run if you remember what the ChromeOS is, you will find a ChromeBook to be a very nice system to have around
Yes I am praising the Chrome OS, and I can hear someone saying, but you been bad mouthing Google over what they are doing and where they are taking the Android OS. And while that is true and I still stand by my HATE for material design and the forcing developers to use android studio (I rather use eclipse still)
All in all, the Chrome Book is a good system when you don’t have to do computer intensive work (such as programming or playing games)
MS thinking about buying EA and I say good let them
I am hearing rumores from those I follow on YouTube that MS is thinking of buying EA games. As these are 2 companies I don’t like and don’t buy from I say let them. One of the reasons I have a console instead of gaming on the PC, is I don’t want to deal with windows. Back in 97 was when I switch to Linux, and Linux has been a great system ever since, when ever I have to help someone use windows I feel like ripping my own skin off (windows 10 is even worse then earlier iterations of the trash heap MS calls an OS, I rather eat a bowl of broken glass then use windows 10)
And given the whole gambling issue of EA (progression linked to gambling and it being promoted to children) I don’t want to be buying any EA stuff. If MS bought EA (and made all all EA games exclusive to their console) I would be fine with that it would be a one stop not to shop at place.
EA and MS 2 greedy companies that are perfect for each other, I say MS buy EA.
Posted this on the FCC site for my support of Net Neutrality.
I would like to make a statement why I personally support Net Neutrality. Normally I would say I don’t like government regulations, but when a company exists in a monopoly (such as ISP do, since many locals give them a legal monopoly and it is illegal to have another company run lines where these cable companies have these monopolies)
When I lived in SoMD, I had DSL 5 M/bits down (2010 to 2013) I could stream Netflix just fine. Shortly after I moved north of Baltimore and got a “faster” Internet (50M/bits down), and the Supreme court struck down how the FCC was doing Net Neutrality, Suddenly my 10 times faster internet could not handle Netflix, I would get 5 minutes of video then 10 minutes of buffer. Then after the internet was put under title 2 (aka put under regulations that govern utilities) suddenly the buffering stopped.
The next point I would like to make, is when I did move to just north of Baltimore, and I got this internet, when the technician came out to install it, he cut the line to the antenna on the roof of the Condo Building I live in. When I complained about it, I was told by the company that I did not need it their TV service was only $30 a month for the basic package (they have since lowered it to $10 a month for the stations I should be able to get for free over the air, if they had not cut the wire to the antenna)
For those 2 reasons I currently support Net Neutrality, unless you were to pass an act that would invalidate all the monopolies that the cable companies have, and allow true competition for Internet Access.
Who says conservatives and liberals can not agree
Ok I am making a joke here a bit in the title, but Hawaii is a very liberal state, extremly (maybe not as much as CA) and here I am a well bit far right, finding myself in agreement with what the state of Hawaii is doing here.
My thoughs on the state of gaming
First so you understand me, here is my history with video gaming.
Growing up my family had a 2600.
In my early teens my sister got a Saga Genesis (the same christmas I got a computer)
Later on both my sister and I got the original Game Boy
Finally in 2001 after I finished college and moved out of my parents place, and got a Gamecube.
This year when the Switch came out I thought I would try to get back into gaming, and since I have more monetary resources available then I had in the past, I went all out. I got a PS4, 2DS-XL, Switch, and Vita (order by how much I like them at this point)
I went with console as I did not want to deal with windows on my computer, all but one of my computers are Linux (slackware) and the one that is not Linux is a NetBSD box.
So being semi-new to the current gaming situation I been shocked, by micro-transaction situation. And I am wondering what happened to gaming? Yes I know companies need to make money and I don’t begrudge them that, but with all these micro-transaction, and the attempt to force users to buy them or you will be at a disadvantage at the game against those that bought a them (pay to win). It just feels like the companies that are doing these things are just out to rip off the consumers.
I have watch the recent explosion that happened with EA and BF2, and was wondering if I made a mistake getting back into video gaming. I know at this time Disney has force them to turn off the micro-transactions for now, but how long till they bring them back? Back in Oct when I read about this, I canceled my pre-order on Amazon, and I have not gotten the game at this point, and have 0 plans to get the game.
I am wondering what happened to EA, back on my Gamecube I had the NHL hockey 2005, I had great times with it, a friend and I played a full season on it, we created a custom team, turned off penalties, and played a violent checking game. It was a great time. But now it seems like EA is more concerned with making a quick buck, rather than making a game people will enjoy.
Mind you I am not talking about DLC. I have read bad things about DLC, but with the few games I have played since I got the PS4 (Horizon Zero Dawn, Just Cause 3, Borderlands 2,South Park the Stick of Truth) the DLC did not seem like I was getting ripped off they felt like they were adding to an already completed game or did not have a DLC, and when I read about the HZD DLC, I had no issue pre-ordering the DLC for it, it was a great game (my favorite video game to this point) and I felt it was a great game.
Also I am not even talking about cosmetic loot boxes, yes I hear those that say that this is where the issue started and I can fully understand that, at the same time they don’t feel like the company is forcing you to by them. Now when you look at EA, and the patterns that came out from EA on how to try to force players to buy loot boxes. It just feels wrong, and not something I really want to be a part of.
I currently have other hobbies that could easly fill the time that I play video games on (sure it only 3 to 5 hours a week) I play board and card games with friends, Pencil and Paper D&D, ham radio, playing with technology. So I wondering if getting back into video games was a mistake if this is where the industry is going on milking the customer. While I have not had many game consoles in my life is this a last console for me? Don’t get me wrong, the time I played the games listed above I have enjoyed, but when I see people say micro-transactions are the way the industry is going and that it is the future I have to ask myself is this something I want to deal with in the future?
So the question is, is this where gaming is going? Maybe the issue is not gaming but Disney promoting gambling? With Star Wars being about gambling now, do I even want to see the next Star Wars movie, am I feeding this beast/problem if I see the new movie?
I guess in Baltimore Side walk driving is considered acceptable.
On my way to work yesterday I saw the following, I was just flabbergasted at it. But just another day in Baltimore.
Extra Life
I will be participating in Extra Life this year. If you wish you can donate to the cause here https://www.extra-life.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donordrive.participant&participantID=267411&wait=1
What is Extra Life?
Here’s how it works
Extra Life is a 24-hour fundraising and gaming marathon to support Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.
On Game Day (Nov. 4th), I will join the thousands of gamers and dedicate an entire day to play games and get donations from friends like YOU!
For the even my friends and I will be spending the 24 hours playing Pandemic Legacy.
Please consider giving.
Issues Etc
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