Contact form

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Sorry my contact form is broken. Been too busy to fix it. It’s on my list!

The silver lining of game piracy

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Before I start this article I want to make something very clear.
If a game is good, pay for it. Don’t just pirate it.


Good games aren’t made with magic that forms out of thin air.
It can some from a single person, or a massive team, but it all costs something. And whether they ask you up front, by donation, or paid DLC to a free game, considering putting a fair amount in to encourage more.

That being said, there is a good reason to pirate a game… preservation.

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Again?! I already explained this!

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A common procedure you’ll encounter when working with tech support is to show them whats going on.

Even though you already explained it to someone else; or went over it, sometimes in painstaking detail, in the ticket, they still want to see it again.

So annoying right?

Hear me out…

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And we’re back!

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Feels good to be alive again, prepare for content!

Windows 10 Mail and something went wrong

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After being plagued by a repeated message from the Windows 10 Mail app about something being wrong with my account, I finally decided to troubleshoot it.
I click on Fix Account, a dialog box that looks like it wants to sign me back into Office 365 pops up. Then another box pops up and simply states “Something went wrong”.
Super useful.

A quick Google search to something so generic leads to the usual laundry list of overly complicated “fixes” that no one confirms actually works.

Lately I’ve been taking the shotgun blast approach because I just don’t have the time to perform 50+ steps to fix what should be a small issue.

Go to the Settings app, click on Apps, scroll down to Mail and Calendar, click Advanced Options, scroll down and click reset, click reset again.
Open Mail, re-add your account, WHAM, working in 5 minutes.

From tone generators to an orchestra, video game music

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A video game can have amazing graphics, compelling story, and superb mechanics, but if the music falls flat, it can suck the life out of it.

My first exposure to games and the music within was on the Atari 2600.
It was incredibly short and simple, but they were still fun. As the years went on, it got more amazing.
The NES/Gameboy had tunes that I can still hear so fondly in my head.
During this whole time PC music was progressing from simple samples, to catchy MIDI compilations, and finally to the symphonies of today. Read More

Becoming a dad and what it means to me

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The day before I found out I was to become a father, there was a chance I could lose my wife.
She said she was having extremely bad pains in her lower abdomen.
It took some time to set in as to what was happening, because there was a lot of speculation, but nothing confirmed one way or the other.
The night before she took a pregnancy test that would determine if this was just a series of really bad pains, but nothing serious; if this could mean the end of her life, or if she was fast enough, just the end of a failed pregnancy.
I couldn’t really react, what do you say to someone who may not live through the week? Who may lose the one chance they had at having children? Read More

Just because you don’t know, doesn’t make you an idiot

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A wise friend of mine told me a while back he does not like the word “idiot”, and I can understand why.
It’s used so frequently sometimes it’s almost immediately disregarded, but at the same time can be used in such a harsh manner it cuts us deep.

In my field I encounter many people that other techs would consider to be “idiots”.
I prefer to reserve that name as shorthand for “willfully ignorant”, not the uninformed.

People feel ashamed when they get compromised by a well crafted phishing scam, or get a virus while behaving online.
They feel like idiots.

Very few actually are though. Read More

So long, and thanks for all the Flash

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I remember going to Newgrounds.com back in the late 90s and watching those amazing videos and playing games that were made with Adobe Flash.

I’ll always have those great memories, and that’s what Flash is slowly turning into, a memory.

Browsers are starting to downplay and I imagine soon outright disabling Flash plugins.

It’s become a burden to system resources and security alike.

So if you’re using a service that requires Flash, I would inquire what their short term goals are to phase it out. If they don’t a plan, I would look elsewhere for services.

If you have a website that uses, or heaven forbid, is designed exclusively in Flash, talk to your designer(s) immediately. Did you know that iOS and modern versions of Android don’t even have native Flash capabilities? That’s a large chunk of views you’re missing out on.