What am I going to print this year?

3D Printing

What am I going to print this year?

I have no clue yet. But I reserved a post / page for all my crap 😁

Countdown to 2026 - #2 - Politics versus Free Speech - December 30 (November 21)

Countdown

This blog is a individual, personal opinion. It may not match yours, and that's fine.

I mean, opinions are like arseholes... everybody has (or is 😁) one.

I have my personal opinion on politics and politicians. I prefer them somewhat center, neutral, looking at long term results, and not crying out whatever gives them the most votes today, ignoring tomorrow.

Countdown to 2026 - #3 - A New PC! Next: Migrating Windows and Office (October 12)

Countdown + Windows

Migrating Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office is an artform by itself. I'm still investigating and messing around, but one thing is certain: Microsoft did their best to make sure it's all as confusing as possible.

I would not go as far as to claim it's done deliberately in the hope you will buy new licenses. But it certainly is not user friendly!

Countdown to 2026 - #4 - Facist Takeover 101 - December 28 (September 1)

Countdown + Column

I think I'll leave it up to you to decide what part of the world this applies to, but it is scary how certain politicians are copying the pre-WW2 Nazi handbook...

Countdown to 2026 - #5 - Highs and Lows - December 27 (July 23)

Countdown + Column

On July 23, halfway the year, and I'm not sure if I should count the first half of the year as fantastic or just a mere meh.

I totally failed on publishing my book, but I did manage to find a place for my eldest daughter (who has a disability). My house's a mess, and I do not like my job.

Countdown to 2026 - #6 - Dungeons & Dragons - December 26 (June 12)

Countdown

June 2025... and I decided it can't be all about doom and gloom. Let's talk about something fun! How about Dungeons & Dragons? Or... how I managed to spend more on D&D than ever before 🤔

Countdown to 2026 - #7 - The Fermi Paradox / Life is not Exclusive - December 25 (May 3)

Countdown + Column

I'm trying my best to stay positive, but sometimes I wonder if this is the moment we see Fermi's Paradox in full action. Why? Well, we're facing global warming, Russia plays the robber baron, China threatens Taiwan, the US has become the most unreliable superpower ever. And now Pakistan and India are going beyond rattling their sabers and have started to bombard one another.

Countdown to 2026 - #8 - Battery Low - December 24 (March 23)

Countdown

March 21, and life still sucks. Even more so than usual.

Somehow I just don't feel like writing much lately. It's a kind of general slump, partially filled with the inability to get my sorry ass into gear and publish, partially by all the doom and gloom from the orange menace's corner, and there are some private things distracting me and mine.

Countdown to 2026 - #9 - Writing & Politics - December 23 (February 11)

Countdown + Writing

This year, my countdown schedule is a periodic flashback every 5 weeks. It's now February 18, and it's time to look back on the first part of 2025.

First of all, I'm happy Trump hasn't blown up the world yet - it's fine if he sticks to the US. I'm just a little baffled by the feeding frenzy as shown by the tech billionaires (Zuckerberg, Musk, you know who). Let's start by feeling sorry for them. Or not?

What year is it?

Gaming

Is this a little Sony 'Oops'?

I found an interesting banner on Sony's PlayStation page...

Wasdroger stapelvoetjes (Dutch)

DIY + 3D Printing + Dutch

(Hoe noem je zoiets?)

Ik heb (helaas) een nieuwe wasmachine (Bosch), en wilde er de wasdroger (een Zanussi) weer bovenop zetten. Helaas heeft de een of andere design guru besloten om het zeep bakje aan de bovenzijde te laten doorlopen, waardoor de normale koppelstukken niet meer werken. Wat nu?

Solid Monitor Redux

Music

Added some manuals to the Solid Monitor page.

(These oldies still work great!)

Wallpaper - White Balls

Wallpaper

It's somewhat like T+2000 (2000 days after I expected what would be the worst day for Corona / Covid) and my wallpaper is a silent reminder of that. Remember the lock-down? I do. Work was done over Teams (something many managers nowadays think is no longer working, duh?) and one of the Teams backgrounds was this specific image.

(Click on the image to enlarge) 

Fuck HitfFilm Express. Fuck FXHome. Fuck Artlist.

Datatalk

Fuck HitFilm Express.

Fuck FXHome. Fuck Artlist.

Fuck every piece of software that requires online activation.

Because you will be screwed at some later date.

Under an Open Sky (Chase the Dream) - Men & Machine

Column

I would never let an AI write any of my stories. And - had I been a musician - I would never use AI to compose or sing or perform.

Still, even I have to admit AI is getting impressive, though it isn't perfect.

I wrote the lyrics to this song myself, then build a prompt and had an AI generate it. (Frankly, I cannot even remember which one I used, sorry.)

Retrieve the original installation language for Windows installs

Windows

To do an in-situ upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 your install medium needs to be of the same language as the one you originally installed your Windows with... or not?

On their website Microsoft says you need to pick the language you're currently using, but when you try to do an in-situ upgrade, it asks for the language you installed your original copy with.

Personal Windows 11 Setup

Windows

How I set up my machine...

(This note is pretty much for myself, and I think it actually has some mistakes in it as well...)

Can you still find that (SF) movie, or has Enshittification (TM) taken over full force?

Science Fiction

Let's try to watch some SciFi...

Note: this isn't a 'top 10' kind of list. I was just wondering where you could watch them (legally)...

Note that I'm based in The Netherlands, and availability strongly depends on the region you live in...

Wallpaper - Dual Monitor - Forest

Wallpaper

September featured a coastline, so let's go deep into the forest this time.

(Click on the image to enlarge)

Swapping / upgrading / downgrading SSDs - You want Rescuezilla!

Windows + Datatalk

Replacing an SSD with something larger or (especially) smaller can be quite tricky. Here's a simple way to do it.

(And yes, it is using a Linux boot stick, duh 😏)

Deranged... or not?

Column

A few days ago Donald Trump gave a speech to the United Nations, and everyone was listening in deadly silence.

If you watch it - even if you're a Republican you should watch it - and then think about it... then... then what? Be honest to yourself and the rest of the world, and check the facts...

Pin a shortcut to a batch file on the taskbar

Windows + Datatalk

Sometimes you just need a shortcut to a batch file. Now that's easy. But sometimes you want to place that shortcut on the task bar, and that is slightly more complicated.

This approach appears to work on Windows 10 and 11.

D&D - Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master - The Lazy Anthology (xe 2018, English)

[ RPG Book Review + Books ]

As Dungeon Master / Game Master, you're the heart of any role playing game. As DM / GM you run the world, play all the NPCs, and you decide which rules apply when.

That's a lot of work... sometimes a bit too much. This book tries to address that potential problem, by helping you to only prepare what is necessary.

Wallpaper - Dual Monitor - Sweetwater Coastline

Wallpaper

I suppose this is a very large lake, somewhere (that doesn't look like a saltwater coastline to me)... but it's the forever compelling combination of land, see, and water... Add a bit of reddish color, and it's hard to pay attention to anything but that mesmerizing desktop background 😏

D&D - Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master - The Lazy Anthology (xe 2018, Dutch)

RPG Book Review + Books + Dutch

Na al het uitzoeken en voorbereiden is het tijd om het resultaat te laten zien: The Lazy Anthology. Oftewel... drie de boeken tesamen in een enkele, full color hardcover.

Nuttig? Nee. Praktisch? Nee. Voordelig? Nee. Maar man, wat blijft het een goed gevoel om een hardcover vast te houden 😁 Maar ja, behalve de looks gaat het ook nog om de inhoud: waar gaat Return eigenlijk over?

POD, different bindings, and regular printing

RPG + Books

So, I completed my own 'download edit print' sequence using a POD Provider (Pumbo).

But... how do the different kind of POD products actually look?

Druk je eigen RPG handboek af - 4 - Pumbo instellingen (Dutch)

RPG + Books + Dutch

Pumbo adviseert professionele software. Helaas heb ik geen (professionele) Adobe producten, maar alleen maar PhotoImpact, Word, PFD Xchange, en IrfanView.

Maar daarmee wil het ook :-)

Druk je eigen RPG handboek af - 3 - Leveranciers (Dutch)

RPG + Books + Dutch

Okay. Ik weet wat ik wil laten afdrukken. Nou hoef ik alleen nog maar te bepalen bij wie...

215 paginas, full color, hardcover. Hmmm... wie zijn de kandidaten? 

Druk je eigen RPG handboek af - 2 - De PDF aanpassen (Dutch)

RPG + Books + Dutch

Mijn test case is The Return of the Lazy Dungeonmaster. Het basis boek is 96 paginas, en de beide aanvullingen zijn 64 en 48 bladzijden. Kant en klaar afgedrukt en verstuurd komen de drie boeken (totaal 208 bladzijden) uit op ca. 75 euro.

Mijn plan is er een enkele, dikke hardcover van te maken.

Druk je eigen RPG handboek af - 1 - Wat en Hoe en Waarom (Dutch)

RPG + Books + Dutch

Vaak is een PDF precies wat je nodig hebt. Een digitaal boek wat je gemakkelijk mee kunt nemen waar en wanneer je maar wilt. Maar soms wil je gewoon door een papieren kopie bladeren. Een echt boek in je handen houden. En da's wat lastig als er niets anders dan een digitale versie beschikbaar is.