I've been getting spam calls from different 916 area code numbers almost everyday.  It's the same robo-call message but a different 916 number every time, so my call blacklist just keeps growing.

Any ideas welcome. (and yeah, I got another call while typing this lol)

The call always opens with: "Hello? Hello, this is James..."

Below are...[More]

思い出かけら by @SweetDoveMusic and @AKAraxy

Opening credits with the beeping sound of someone on life support in a hospital.  Once the beeping stops and flatlines, there's a power shut-off sound, and things go dark one by one except the body on the bed, leaving a spotlight in the dark.  Everything is silent.  A glowing, formless, non-humanoid spirit rises from the body, and the body disappears into the darkness.  There's a moment of peace while the spirit looks at itself and its surroundings, like a child discovering the world for the first time.  There are faint specs of light in the darkness, like stars, as if having risen to the heavens.  It looks like a stylistic choice to only show the character in darkness, but we later realize it's not.

Suddenly, bright-white eyes appear one after another in the dark surrounding the spirit.   A green, grainy overlay appears over the scene, and a booming voice announces, "There it is.  Capture it."

Cut back to...[More]

短い未来を見たい by @SweetDoveMusic

Exile by @Shirobon

Stellar by @Lockyn

Below is how to turn a Windows server into your own VPN using OpenVPN.  I pretty much spent the entire day piecing all this together.  The OpenVPN documentation is very out of date, so the steps on their site do not work for Windows - for example, the init-config command in their docs is not recognized.  Sadly, the devs/mods seem more interested in dismissing their users than actually fixing or providing help (ie here and here).

The steps I have in this post are sourced from the below links:
- Download latest OpenVPN (older ones use insecure hash): https://openvpn.net/community-downloads/
- Windows Server setup: https://wiki.teltonika-networks.com/view/OpenVPN_server_on_Windows
- Packet forwarding...[More]

I write more detail on this issue in the Adobe forums here: https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911311-after-effects/suggestions/44629812-after-effects-2021-2022-export-slower-than-cs5-wit

Long-story short, it seems that something broke in the PSD layer importing process between CS5 and CC 2021/2022, as the same project file in CS5 only takes about 10 min to render but over an hour in the latest CC versions.  In the test project I have below, the slowness persists even though all the layers are empty.  Only way to fix it seems to be to delete the Photoshop layers, so that's why it appears to be Photoshop-related for now.

Test project: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NW8cPQRbl3yMt9qCU0gLOodqYA_ZW3AR/view?usp=sharing

I admit I...[More]

Lately Gmail keeps asking me to change my password because it thinks my login patterns are suspicious.  I've probably changed my password 10 times now, and the worst part is I can't re-use old ones, making it harder to remember my login. 

The workaround it seems is to actually ignore the change password request if you get it and clear cookies in your browser based on the support thread here:
https://support.google.com/accounts/thread/73279572/my-gmail-account-kept-asking-me-to-change-my-password-every-time?hl=en

Some momentary stability after almost 3 years of living out of a suitcase.

Had this one as a dream that felt somewhat like a murder mystery...

Someone is trying out a VR game that looks and feels extremely real.  They wake up on the floor in a bluish green tiled room that seems to have had a commotion and is abandoned.  A strange cat/tiger hybrid strolls by with a fruit in its mouth.  There's a constant sound of something dripping nearby.  Once out of the game, the person tries to ask if the place seems familiar.  A friend looks up the tiling and room pieces and confirms they are actual pieces that exist in real life.  At first, they think it's just really good photo capture, but over time, they start to notice things that are too coincidental.  It eventually turns out the room is one that actually exists, as they stumble upon it in an alley way.  The same cat hybrid strolls out the open door as they go in to explore it.  It eventually turns out that it's not just a photo-capture of the room but actually...[More]

Some interesting stats on how often hands show in Texas Hold'em #poker w/ 8 players after running 1 million games on a simulator I wrote for fun.  It's counterintuitive, since having 1 pair win is less frequent than 2-pair, trips, straight, flush, and full-house.  Winning w/ top card is actually rarer than straight flush with only 40 games.  So pretty much you should expect two-pair or better in most games played to the river and be more suspicious of trying to win with top pair or high card.  It also means if someone is playing with friends at a table, they can end up dominating if they play every game out to the river.

8 Players Played to the River:
Two pair: 260263 (26%)
Straight: 199774 (19%)
Three of a...[More]

Asura's Wrath OST by Chikayo Fukuda

Playing Canasta again for the first time in ages since Yahoo Games went down.  Still winning most my games with no contest and remembering the last 10+ cards played.  If anyone wants to 1v1, I'm on Canasta-Palace.com



Edit: And made it to 5-stars rating in one day. Bahaha!

Guy punches himself in the mirror and hurts his fist.  He gets pissed, punches his reflection's face, and knocks himself out.

- a dream I just woke up from. If anyone wants to do this as an animation on commission, let me know lol

So many people over the years kept asking why I didn't just build @TechTraderAI on Quantopian (besides the technical impracticalities), and here is the answer.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-16/quant-trading-platform-quantopian-closes-down

Some posts still online (example Reddit), but mostly in-person and at conferences/events.  

Especially after Adobe used a killswitch on everything built on Flash, the last thing you want to do anymore is make anything important on someone else's platform where you are dependent on them to keep things running.

Funny to think only 6 years ago I was naively trying to share everything like candy.  Different times for sure.

Below are steps so that, from your personal email account, you can "send as" from the same email address as that used in a Google Group under a business account.  The information is not really spelled out anywhere, so I'm writing this down for future reference.

1.  Login to the business account primary email (the owner / admin).
2.  From Gmail, go to Settings > Accounts and Import > Send mail as.  Add the Google Group address here once.
3.  Login to your personal email account in Gmail, which should also be a member of the Google Group to receive messages.
4.  Go to Settings > Accounts and Import > Send mail as.  Add the same Google Group address here again.

Nothing Lasts Forever by Benjamin Walfisch (@benwallfisch)

Kagerou Project on Guitar Cover by Osamuraisan (@niconicosamurai)

Vocaloid Piano Covers by tjpiano (@tojio_)