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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 29th, 2023

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  • This is rsa.ie. The main site works fine, but you have to wait to access the driving test registration portal. Mind you, this is even before you see the login or registration screen. And given Ireland’s small size, there are only about 4000 driving tests per week. That number of users is negligible for a normal scheduling page; it must have taken some serious skill and effort to make it non-performant at this scale.



  • Bruncvik@lemmy.worldtoMildly Infuriating@lemmy.worldAh, reddit
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    3 months ago

    I’m still on Reddit, and once in a while I manually overwrite all my comments that are older than a month. 95% of my comments don’t have a real value, and whatever I find interesting or insightful ends on my personal Web site. It’s my information, and if I think I brainfart something that would be helpful for someone, I add it to space that I control. This was true even before the whole API fiasco.


  • I haven’t used Photoshop; learned basic photo editing in GIMP (as a poor student, I appreciated a powerful, free editor). So, no complaints about the UI from me. If anything, I’d probably bitch about the Photoshop UI if I ever used it.

    One thing that concerns me a little, however, is the third-party integration with Nik Collection. The second version, which I’m still using, was provided for free by Google. They later sold the software, and the new company commercialized it. I found it difficult to track down the v2 installer, so I’m now keeping it on multiple backups, in multiple locations, as one of my most treasured software possessions.


  • When I was still buying new games, I’ve had development studios I preferred, and others I avoided. Those were simpler times (and simpler games), when one small studio did everything.

    Later, additional external companies got involved, and some tried to hide their presence. I remember when The Adventure Company started using a very customer unfriendly sort of copy protection, and I started using a list of affectted games, so that I could avoid them.

    These days, multiple companies are involved with game design. As a consumer, it’s only normal that I’d like to know who had their hands on developing a game I’d be interested in. I haven’t played any games Sweet Baby was involved with, but if I did and had a strong opinion (negative or positive) about their work, I’d appreciate a list of games they worked on, to make a purchase choice that would suit me best.


  • I saw it for the first time last summer. Did a little reading, and according to the news articles, it was a EU directive, but it had been heavily lobbied for by Coca Cola. If I remember right, all EU countries should have implemented the necessary legislature by June this year.

    I personally just tear the caps off. Can’t get used to them.





  • I found out that the best way to force Google Maps to update is to make the correct edit in Open Street Maps. Google seems to source its local information from there.

    Just an anecdotal example: I live at the end of a cul-de-sac, and I’ve seen loads of cars drive up to my house, and then gingerly do a 15-point turn (the road is very narrow), and drive back. I checked Google Maps and found that it lists my street as open. I’ve filled reports with Google several times, and nothing happened. Then, I updated OSM to indicate that at the end of my street there’s just a pedestrian footpath to the next street. Within two weeks, the number of cars turning around decreased drastically. I checked Google Maps, and found that they fixed their map. A few years later, there’s still the odd car making the mistake, but the only map service I could identify that still didn’t update was Apple Maps.

    Since then, I’ve done several edits in OSM (I live in a young estate, with loads of construction still going on, so maps are not very reliable), and Google always picked up these edits.









  • The top three games that started it all for me. They not only introduced me to my favourite genres, but I’m still replaying them to this day.

    • Civilization - the first refined 4X game. Manual the size of a book, plenty of strategies and just enough random chance to make each game exciting. I played the series till the fourth one, and I’m still spending too much time with Civ I and IV. I also branched out to Master of Orion, Colonization, Alpha Centauri and others.
    • Dungeon Master - A wonderful and challenging dungeon crawler, which convinced me that the best RPG mechanic is party-based first person. This was my launching pad for numerous games and series, in particular Wizardry, Might and Magic, Eye of the Beholder, Lands of Lore, the Ishar Trilogy and Realms of Arkania.
    • Warlords - 80 castles, 8 factions, lots of unit types, magic items and a complex way to fine-tune the difficulty level makes this endlessly replayable. This game launched its own turn-based fantasy strategy series, but it also introduced me to other series I still play, such as Heroes of Might and Magic, Age of Wonders and Disciples.

    Honourable mentions:

    • UFO: Enemy Unknown - turn-based tactical combat with a good mix of budgeting, manufacturing and research. I also appreciate other series, like Incubation and Jagged Aliance, but I’m always returning to UFO and its successors for the economic simulation.
    • Panzer Commander - This game dumbed down historical strategies for me, to the point where I would actually enjoy it. The whole series is brilliant, and I still occasionally replay it.