2019

Wrapping up 2019, and Welcome to 2020!

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3D Printing and Ptolus? That's all?

Randolph Lalonde - Warpath

Book Review.

Lalonde continues, but I think the last two or three books in the Spinward Fringe series haven't been as good as the earlier ones. In fact, the best books of the series might have been the free First Light Chronicles omnibus, as well as The Expendable Few. He's losing a bit of steam, perhaps things got too big?

Let's hope he gets the story back on track for book number 10.

Sticker (lijm) verwijderen? WD40! (Dutch)

DIY + Dutch

WD40 is raar spul. Het helpt om tandwielen en schroefdraad te smeren, werkt als kruipolie, en je kunt er zelfs lijmresten mee verwijderen...

Kung Fu Panda

Anime Review.

Kung Fu Panda. I've seen this movie now... what? Four? Five? Six times? Once in the cinema, couple of times on DVD and NetFlix.

And I keep laughing every time.

Neal Stephenson - Cryptonomicon / Snowcrash

Book Review.

I should change the title of this blog to 'reviews of old novels everyone already read'...

I was never a big fan of Neal Stephenson (but neither is he a big fan of mine, or so I assume 😄) and I never was much into 'present tense'... I tried some of his other works, and couldn't 'get into' them.

C J Cherry - Foreigner - Visitor / Convergence / Emergence

Audiobook Review.

We're at books 17, 18 and 19 of the Foreigner series. It looks like Cherryh isn't giving up. And, to be honest, these are quite readable, though perhaps a little slow.

D&D Player's Traveling Kit

RPG / 3D Printing / DIY

Hobbies are great. Combining hobbies is even better. After fixing up my 'rollsnijder' (papercutter) I found a new use for the 3D printer... a 'D&D Player's Traveling Kit'.

Not very useful, but still fun 😇

Netflix - Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress - The battle of Unato

Anime Review.

Netflix does bring a lot of Anime lately. Some of it awful, some of it not that bad. Some of it... euh... incomplete.

To quote Trump: sad.

MiLight - FUT014 versus FUT014W versus FUT014CW

DIY + Domotics

Although many products from China are great, their documentation is often... lacking.

Here's the MiLight (FutLight) FUT014W. It's not listed on the Futlight website, probably because it is an older product. It has been replaced with the (almost identical) FUT014.

Almost.

RPG Review - 4e versus 4e Essentials

RPG / Review.

I have a reasonable 😅 collection of RPG stuff, much of it never used, and lots of it completely useless. I wonder why I even bought some of that stuff...

For example... D&D 4e Essentials... Why?

Staples Rolsnijder (Dutch)

3D Printing / DIY / Dutch.

Staples verkoopt een betaalbare rolsnijder. Niet de beste ter wereld, maar zoveel hoefde ik er nou ook weer niet mee te doen. (Er waren goedkopere, maar niets op voorraad, en ik had haast...)

Klusje gedaan. Rolsnijder in de kast. Tot het volgende klusje...

MiLight - W WW RGB RGBW RGBWW

DIY + Domotics

In hindsight the behavior of the different FUT LED strip controllers was to be expected... but I just wanted to be sure, so tried the FUT35, FUT036, FUT037, FUT038 and FUT039 in combination with a FUT092 remote control, just to be sure.

Reading (old) Star Wars - 3

Book Review / Audiobook Review.

Even before The Force Awakens heralded the return of Star Wars I decided to dip in and refresh and improve my knowledge of the 'written' Star Wars universe. Would I have done so knowing most of it would become irrelevant with the changes introduced with The Force Awakens? Perhaps not...

Nerd - Level 2.1

3D Printing.

Define 'nerd'...

If it's a person who enjoys an overly complex technical solution for a problem that doesn't need to be solved... then... Yes! Guilty, your honor!

My own kids, fairly used to their father being a bit... euh... eccentric 😁 shake their heads in disbelief (and perhaps a little disappointment). Which means... Mission accomplished!

3D printing a LED driver enclosure - 3 - Click & Fit

3D Printing / DIY.

I still have some issues printing large objects on my (unheated) printer bed, but the final product is taking shape. We're slowly getting there...

RPG Review - Ptolus - City by the Spire

RPG / Review.

Ptolus is a setting for D&D 3e, developed by Monte Cook of Malhavoc Press. There was a limited edition hardcover printing in 2006. At the time I considered buying it (probably should have) but didn't.

Life got in the way, and this thing was expensive... Even getting it printed today, with one of the online printing services, it still ain't cheap.

MiLight - Futlight Device Table

DIY + Domotics

I've got a bunch of MiLight / Futlight / MiBoxer LED lamps of different types and versions. Unfortunately the original design of the MiLight lamps and controllers might have been a little lacking in foresight. And documentation is piss-poor.

So I created a little table to see what I have collected over time, the lamps that I have and know about, and what works with what.

Reading (old) Star Wars - 2

Book Review / Audiobook Review.

In 2011 I was working on my 'classics' I guess... 😅

Let's see, Star Wars books... what did I think of them then? And now?

Netflix - Seis Manos (2019)

Anime Review.

Seis Manos is nothing but glorious grindhouse anime. Let's go back to the 70's, and throw every exploitation / revenge movie cliche in the mix. Add unique character designs, some great animation and lots of blood and gore to the mix and enjoy the show.

Yep. I like it! But keep in mind: this is anime but not for (small) kids...

3D Printer / Wall Thickness, Detail Level and Accuracy

3D Printing / Slicer and Printer Test.

This isn't about the actual accuracy of the printer itself (which depends on build quality, design, components etcetera) but about the minimal detail level that the printer can handle, and when to use what wall thickness.

Again, I'm not an expert, but got lost on my way to redemption... 😅

D&D DYI Spell Cards (Dutch)

RPG / Dutch.

Ik herinner me deze kaartjes nog van vroeger uit de AD&D tijd (ik word oud 😅)... en ze zijn er nog steeds. Ideaal voor hen die nog niet helemaal digitaal zijn gegaan.

Reading (old) Star Wars - 1

Audiobook Review.

I've been listening to some Star Wars audio books over the years... Some good. Most bad.

The first two I read (listened to) were so bad it was almost funny. Almost...

Wonder Woman

Movie Review.

So, if you're not superhero tired, you may have seen something outside the Marvel Universe. Such as Wonder Woman.

In general, I'm not a big fan of the DC Universe. I blame it all on Superman.

The Star Wars movies (so far)

Review.

As every fan knows: the episode numbers don’t match the sequence in which these were made… we made it to episode VIII thus far. And now...

Are you ready for the final movie?

Cable size - AWG to mm2 / Crimping Tools / Cable Selection

DIY

In civilized (Western) Europe 😇 we (tend to) have more reasonable presidents / prime ministers / monarchs, and we use the metric system. Which makes us happy.

(Two reasons why the United Kingdom is neither civilized nor part of Europe 😅)

3D printing a LED driver enclosure - 2 - Work in progress

3D Printing + DIY

Long ago 😅 I said I was planning to design my own enclosure for a led driver and led controller. Of course, reality interfered and lots of other things got in the way.

Still, I made some progress. And hit a couple of snags on the way...

Cloak & Dagger - Season 1

Review.

I've read some Cloak & Dagger comics in the past. With the current superhero craze there was no way Cloak & Dagger wouldn't be turned into some small screen series.

Steven Brust - Taltos / Yendi / Jhereg / Teckla / ...

Review.

Time to check out Vlad Taltos... I'm reading the books in chronological order, not the sequence Brust wrote them. At least they were published in a different sequence... There are some inconsistencies in the series, but they don't hurt the overall plot all too much.

I've not yet read all the novels in this series. I need to do some re-reading and then try the newer ones.

L.J. Cohen - Derelict / Ithaka Rising / ...

Review.

The Halcyone Space series now contains 4, no wait, 5 books. I noticed them earlier, but didn't pay much attention to them.

What actually triggered me was the cover and the title of book 3: Dreadnought and Shuttle. I can't say why, it just... spoke to me.

Dremel 3d20 - Fan mount

3D Printing + DIY

The Dremel 3d20 (and the FlashForge Dreamer) both have a small, very noisy fan at the bottom of the assembly. Very noisy...

I saw a few solutions on the Internet where they use a newly printed bracket with silicone dampers as used in a PC. Most solutions put too much pressure / force on the dampers though.

Netflix - Sirius the Jaeger

Review.

Netflix added a number of Anime series last year, and one of those is the 12 episode Sirius the Jaeger. Vampires and werewolves seem to be as popular as ever, so you guess what this show is about...

Homematic - Missing messages may mess (up) my metering

DIY + Domotics

Well, actually they mess up diagrams, but this title sounds better 😅

My Homematic CCU2 collects data and displays them in a diagram. I had added an additional Temperature / Humidity sensor in the bathroom (for a future ventilation project) but sometimes an error was displayed, about some 'data missing'.

Homematic - Automated bathroom ventilation - Proof of concept

DIY + Domotics

My house is using a centralized ventilation system (a WHR950) with three operating modes. You're supposed (!) to switch to mode 1, 2 or 3, using a switch in the leaving room, whenever needed... which no-one ever does.

I was wondering... could I automate this?

Alastair Reynolds - Revenger 2 - Shadow Captain

Review.

Shadow Captain is book two in the Revenger series.

The sequel to Revenger. If the monniker YA (Young Adult)  applies to Revenger then this sequel would have to be considered YA as well, but Reynolds is doing his best to blur the line.

D&D - 5e in NL - Wapens en Weapon Bonuses (Dutch)

RPG / 5e in NL / Dutch.

In D&D 5e zijn er twee soorten wapens: melee wapens (hand-to-hand combat, zwaarden, hamers en dergelijke) en ranged weapons (kruisboog, darts, enzovoorts).

Maar wanneer pas je nou welke bonus toe?

Brandon Sanderson - Skyward 1 - Skyward

Review.

Another book in another series. YA, which is fine, but it suffers from an overdose of naivety. Unfortunately.

D&D - 5e in NL - Death en Healing (Dutch)

RPG / 5e in NL / Dutch.

Er kunnen meerdere redenen zijn waarom het aantal (actuele) hitpoints daalt. Combat is daar de meest waarschijnlijke van. Elke keer wannner je karakter schade ondervind gaan je (actuele) hitpoints naar beneden...

D&D Forgotten Realms Maps Comparison

Comparing different versions of a map of a fantasy world?!?

Pretty useless, this, but hey! I always wanted to do this, so when I had a little moment of nothing better to do (actually, lots of other important things to do, but I just wanted to do something useless, for once 😅)...

Cinda Williams Chima - Seven Realms 1 - The Demon King

Review.

The first entry in what appears to be a very long series of romance / fantasy novels. Not sure yet how good or bad they are as a series.

D&D - 5e in NL - Hitpoints en Hit Dice (Dutch)

RPG / 5e in NL / Dutch.

Hitpoints geven aan hoe gezond je karakter is (en hoeveel schade je karakter nog kan hebben).

Homematic - Vrije koeling? Zet het raam open! (Dutch)

Dutch.

De afgelopen weken was het heel warm in Nederland. Maar... wanneer is het nou handig om een raam open te zetten? Wanneer het 1. binnen te warm is, en 2. buiten koeler is dan binnen.

Even naar buiten lopen om in te schatten is een goede methode. Maar wat als we nou toch al een Domotica systeem hebben? 😎

Astrid Scholte - Four Dead Queens

Review.

Thief steals a memory and tries to stop a murderer from killing all four queens.

Okay but not exceptional.

D&D - 5e in NL - Saving Throws (Dutch)

RPG / 5e in NL / Dutch.

We zijn er bijna (nou ja, niet echt 😊)... Na Ability Scores en Skill Checks is het nu tijd voor... Saving Throws.

D&D - 5e in NL - Skill Checks en Proficiency Bonus (Dutch)

RPG / 5e in NL / Dutch.

Hoe succesvol is een D&D 5e karakter in zijn / haar taken?
Kan hij / zij jongleren? Timmeren? Overleven in de wildernis?

In D&D worden hiervoor Skill Checks gedaan. Ben je vaardig genoeg in een bepaalde taak?

D&D - 5e in NL - Advantage en Disadvantage, Natural 1 en 20 (Dutch)

RPG / 5e in NL / Dutch.

In 5e heb je attack rolls en skill / ability checks.

Hiervoor gooi je een 1d20, en tel je eventueel een bepaalde waarde bij je score, afhankelijk van de situatie en het doel van de rol. 

Linux Mint on Asus EeePc Netbook 1005HA

I am not a Linux expert and never will be.

But this old Netbook that's gathering dust might just get a second chance at life, so I dusted it off and gave it a spin. It once ran Windows XP well but that's no longer an option...

D&D - 5e in NL - Ability, Ability Modifier (Dutch)

RPG / 5e in NL / Dutch.

Wat zijn de basis regels voor D&D 5e? Ik heb geen idee 😅

Maar... omdat ik zelf ook een beginner ben, zal ik mijn ervaring met je delen. Eerst maar eens wat basis zaken...

Brian Staveley - The Unhewn Throne - The Emperor's Blades / The Providence of Fire / ...

Review.

I’ve picked up all three on a Dapperite’s suggestion (I think it was Jan, but not entirely sure).  Let’s start with the verdict: a good fantasy trilogy, some new ideas, and an interesting world. Yes, worth reading.

D&D - 5e in NL - De dobbelstenen (Dutch)

RPG / 5e in NL / Dutch.

Je hebt zes verschillende dobbelstenen. Het is handig om van sommige dobbelstenen een paar extra exemplaren te hebben, dat maakt het allemaal wat sneller, maar echt nodig is het niet.

D&D - 5e in NL - Wat heb je nodig (Dutch)

RPG / 5e in NL / Dutch.

Dungeons & Dragons is leuk en helemaal niet zo moeilijk.

Ik zal een paar posts plaatsen over (de regels van) 5e. Makkelijk voor de wannabe spelers voor wie de Engelse taal wel eens problemen oplevert. En aangezien ik het zelf ook nog moet leren 😅...