Audiobook Review + Xiran Jay Zhao
Iron Widow is the first part of a duology / trilogy / series (?) with the same name. It describes Wu Zetian's rise through the ranks, in a Chinese inspired scifi / fantasy setting featuring a mystical 'spirit power' (a kind of paranormal energy source) and very large mecha-like creatures called 'Chrysalis'.
In modern day 3D printers you have a lot of choice in build plates, filaments, temperatures, speeds, making it almost impossible to compare the actual adhesion of the different combinations.
When fooling around with buildplates (see PlateLab) I tried to come up with a way to properly (and objectively) test material / plate adhesion.
Sometimes Windows 11 is sooooooo annoying.
Place a link to a webpage on your desktop... works. Drag it to the taskbar... can't pin it.
Why oh why? Well, here's the work-around...
Jellyfin is a free alternative for Plex (and as you may have noticed Plex has gotten a little top heavy lately).
Unfortunately, the people behind Jellyfin dropped the ball with the latest version - at least for Windows - as it simply doesn't 'auto' install. But fixing it isn't too hard.
(Click on image to enlarge.)
Audiobook Review + Adrian Tchaikovsky
The third installment in the series, and (at first) very confusing, but in the end it all makes sense.
Again, Tchaikovsky takes a 'what if' and spins it all the way to its logical conclusion, in this case it's the Ship of Theseus concept.
Series Review + Apple TV + Sugar
Season one episode one. Very weird, but I love it. I've just finished episode one, and... this is weird.
Who is John Sugar? What is John Sugar?
Audiobook Review + Adrian Tchaikovsky
Book 1 featured intelligent spiders, and book 2 added intelligent octopi (?) and bacteria to the mix. (Not much of a spoiler as that's pretty clear from the start).
It's time to settle on a specific module size, and decide how a default 'baseplate' should look like.
Audiobook Review + Amie Kaufman
First person, present tense, YA. romance / science-fiction. Classic recipe, and typical Amie Kaufman.
But... Published in 2026, this book is a bit of a let-down compared with her earlier co-op work with Jay Kristoff, especially the Aurora series, or The Illuminae Files.
We settled on Lego (or the Lego dimensions and stud concept) as the basis for our own STEM system, and I've named the pieces 'Frankenblocks'. A sensible name, as we're building a kind of Frankenstein solution.
So, I decided to create my own STEM system. Step number one was the decision to adapt and adopt Lego bricks. Step number two was figuring out the concept and sizing.
I got some input from an Internet contact who is a teacher, and I used quite a bit of his experience and insight. (He didn't want to be mentioned, but you still deserve the credit, mister X! We'll call you 'Fred' from now on.)
After an update, I was suddenly left with a 500 GB hidden folder on drive O: (this is my Drivepool storage machine), and I couldn't figure out the owner.
It turns out, the owner might be anyone, and the folder could have gone 'plus-sized' due to a (partially) failed update.
Love. Life. And zombies.
This is a YA first person present tense audiobook exploring the 'I died and came back as a zombie' trope. Fortunately, it's better than the average wannabe-writer 'Isekai' project.
Today I saw a commercial for a tool that would auto-generate complete books. Including all chapters, text, graphics, layout, everything.
It was tailored to non-fiction, but it's rather scary - at least to writers. What will be the next step? Will there be 100% written - and readable - novels in our future?
Will there be any writers left? Probably. But - to level the playing field - I think we should be honest about WHO is creating the work...
My 'to do' list for publishing something on Amazon KDP, including links to sources or sub-posts, whereever relevant.
Read on... or visit the KDP Essentials page...
But nope. It's a trilogy. (And there's nothing wrong with that.) Perhaps I'm over-conditioned by those endless multi-volume series. I think Hackwith could have gotten away with it, but she chose not to.
Within Temptation's Sharon den Adel has quite the voice, and the band has quite the reputation, but at first I didn't even know this wallpaper was actually an album cover... yet I like it.
Also, I'm a sucker for concept albums, so now I wonder if I can find the associated comics anywhere...
(Click on image to enlarge)
Take some dark, gothic fantasy elements, combine it with a family drama and a self-apreciating voice, and tell a tale that moves towards and touches upon horror territory.
A very simple small flat plate 2x4x1, marked with the 'Frankenblocks' logo. Nothing special, but it had to be done.
You can find the model on Makerworld.
Especially not pinouts!
I have multiple modular PSUs in use, and a box full of cables matching these PSUs. You'd expect some form of standardization, but there isn't. Suppliers do deviate, and especially the six pin 12V plug knows lots of variations.
Book 1 of the Passenger series, in which the heroine is kidnapped from her own time (our time) and - obviously - travels through time.
Faith Hunter (better known for her Romantasy stories) does a pretty good (Scifi) Apocalyptic series of novellas, all titled Junkyard Something.
How to combine Lego with other bits and pieces, including electronics.
Here are the results of my search for 'competitors' (not really 😁) - or better put - for alternatives, sources, ideas, possibilities.
VirtualBox has a few more options in its latest incarnation, and a few defaults are different from previous releases.
Auto-adjusting client resolutions is one of those.
Symptom: stuck at 10% when installing Windows 11 Guest on Windows 11 Host in VirtualBox.
Solution: lots of small things, but mostly Memory Core Integration... I still have some testing to do, but this looks promising!
Situation: You're running out of diskspace in a Windows client. Increasing the size in VirtualBox seems to work, but when you try to use the additional space from within your Windows Guest (via drive management) it doesn't see the larger drive.
This work-around fixes that.
Your most basic Lego compatible building block, the 'Hello World' equivalent in the 3D printing building bricks community.
The model can be found on Makerworld.
Other parts can be found in the Frankenblocks Catalogue.
This is the basic building plate I use for my Frankenblocks system.
You can find the model on Makerworld.
A catalogue of all (?) my Frankenblocks can be found here.
These objects can help you calibrate your printer. This should make it easier to print Lego compatible blocks, such as the Frankenblocks. You can find the files on Makerworld.
For most people it will be enough to print plate 1, play a little with X- and Y-compensation for 'snappiness', and be done with it.
Still want to know more? Read on...
Combining Lego and 3D printing shows again how much engineering went into those stupid little Lego bricks. I can't print as accurate as their factory produces them, but I have to get as close as I can to make things usable.
Some of my wallpapers are just color themed, or relaxing, funny, or have a kind of special meaning. And sometimes I just want to enjoy the urban jungle... (This is a bit low-res and may require WallX or similar.)
Skiddle Skedaddle. Return of the Skiddler. Well, arrival of the Skiddler, at least. This is going to be my big 2026 project. After world domination, of course.
(What the hell are Skiddles? Or Frankenbricks?)
When3D printing objects, you may encounter crimp / shrinkage, when the material cools down.
Where to adjust these parameters in Bambu Studio?
(Mostly notes for myself.)
I'm using an old Wacom with some old and new software. These are notes on how to set up and run things.
Wacom + 3D Printing + DIY
One of those things where there is no good solution, except ordering a new cable... because Wacom decided to permanently attach a multi-cable to the monitor, and (poorly) shrink-sleeved / molded a cable splitter.
I'm writing this new OBS install post, as newer releases use different options, and things were getting a little confusing. Unfortunately, not everything works as it did in the past. That might be me, or other stuff may have changed...
Not all cold plates are created equal. And many are simply not cold plates at all.
Here's a comparison between several (cheap) cold plates. Note: if you want me to test another plate, drop me a line, and send me that plate 😊
I'm not a data hoarder (well, a bit, perhaps) but I like to keep stuff locally, so I have a few larger drives, and you know what? They're hard to find, and sometimes bloody slow.
There's no absolute fix, but at least I can remind myself not to buy those f* SMR drives!
HWInfo64 is a nice program, but it has two disadvantages:
1. It needs to run with Admin rights
2. It sometimes forgets the location of its (child) windows
That second one is a bummer, so here's a desktop link that make it a little easier to restore them.
What am I going to print this year?
I have no clue yet. But I reserved a post / page for all my crap 😁
Four different wallpapers, all based on Sigil's Lady of Pain.
If you haven't played D&D, you haven't lived. If you haven't played Planescape, you haven't died and gone to the great wheel 🤔 Yet 😁
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.
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!
