Summary for July, 2024

Finished Baldur’s Gate 3 last night when I couldn’t sleep. I wasn’t sure about it when I started the game, but by the end I was having a blast. What should I play next?

On a related #gaming note, I picked up a cheap expanding gamepad on AliExpress, and put it on a Amazon Fire HD 10 tablet, and it’s an awesome little device for streaming from my gaming PC with Moonlight and Sunshine.

People proudly flying defaced American flags to show their support for fascism and white supremacy on July 4th is pretty on brand for America in 2024. I’m encouraged by the elections across the pond. Maybe we’ll come out of this authoritarian moment eventually.

Tri-tip, sweet potatoes, salad, and an ice cold beer. 🇺🇸

Finally got around to watching “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” last night. I was pleasantly surprised by the first hour or so, and enjoyed the movie overall. I just wish that it didn’t veer into over the top sci-fi at the end. Worth a watch. ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

That has to be the race of the season, without a doubt. So many cars in contention, lots of overtaking, drama, strategy, and ultimately an incredible moment for Lewis after such a long wait. #F1

But, I’m almost writing off the rest of the season as a Ferrari fan. All of the momentum of the strong start has evaporated, the strategy blunders have returned, and the car is not improving. Such a shame. #F1

I’m convinced that “undecided” voters aren’t struggling to pick a candidate, they’re struggling to decide if they should vote at all. I bet the vast majority of them would vote for Biden if they show up to the ballot box. Tell your friends and family that are disenchanted to hold their noses and vote for Biden.

Experimenting with dirt cheap Android tablets has been very instructive and fun. It makes me want sideloading on iOS and iPad OS even more. Running Termux and a local, native X11 environment is fantastic. I hope the EU punches Apple into allowing sideloading.

Watched the new Ghostbusters on my flight back to LA from New York today. Maybe blasphemous to say, but… I liked it a lot! Afterlife showed promise but didn’t pull it off. I think Frozen Empire did.

Hopelessly addicted to the pineapple cake at Starbucks. Their coffee isn’t great, but that cake rules.

This season of The Boys couldn’t be more heavy-handed even if both of its hands were made of iridium. Woof.

Was driving today in LA and passed a strip mall that had a store with a bigass sign that just said “WARHAMMER.” I bet that store rules. 😂

The biggest takeaways from today’s race: (1) McLaren is utterly foolish… one of the dumbest team orders in history (2) Verstappen is a baby #F1

Also, how in the WORLD did Max not get penalized for colliding with Lewis? Or for gaining an advantage on lap one for that matter? Absolute garbage. Max can do anything he wants. #F1

Honestly they could nominate a six week old Subway meatball sandwich and I’d still vote blue.

That said, if Kamala is the nominee, buckle up for a shitload of racism and misogyny from the other side. It is going to be a shitstorm of folks showing us precisely who they are.

Having a blast tinkering with OpenHASP. I found a Waveshare ESP32 controller with an integrated touch screen, and it’s a perfect device for a small IoT project.

Finally some luck goes Charles’ way. Pole position thanks to Max’s grid penalty and Checo’s continued lagging performance compared to his teammate. Strong lap too, but it’s clear that the car is still way too slow. Hoping for a podium tomorrow! #F1

Stunned that Red Bull is sticking with Checo. He’s got less than half the points of his teammate and has shown no signs of improvement. Not a Red Bull guy, so it’s at least good for the lols #F1

I just discovered dog toupees and, welp there goes my evening.

You dip one toe in the ESP32 pond and before you know it you’re swimming in dev boards, jumper wires, breadboards, rotary encoders, and tiny OLED displays. 🤓