Penguin – Page 6 – Fooyah

December 12 2023

Whoops! – Follow Up

Not long ago I wrote about my death in The End and how I lost all my lovely stuff. Clearly this is in my Minecraft world and I had spent ages trying to find the End Portal. Once I had opened the portal I decided to pop through to see what it looked like. This was a silly mistake as the only way back was to kill the Ender Dragon, which wasn’t going to happen or die. So, I died. I lost my kit.

Then, one day, while musing this loss, I figured I could sneak through to the end with an Ender Chest. If I could get all my kit and dump it in the Ender Chest it should appear in the Overworld chests that I have already used to transport stuff. There’s a time limit to objects that have been dropped and that is five minutes of render time. I hadn’t been back to the End so everything had existed for a very short time. If I could get through the portal and collect my stuff and dump it in a chest before the five minute time limit then I would be a happy person again and not have to grind to get all my stuff.

I built an Ender Chest and loaded just enough kit for me to survive in the End for a few minutes. All the good stuff was stored back at my spawn point. With bravery I headed through the portal and into the End. I managed to find my kit, place the ender chest, pick up some things and die. I dropped all the stuff again.

Once more I headed through the portal and found my kit. This time I managed to place the remaining bits into the Ender Chest and then I died, happy in the knowledge that my kit was safe and there for me once I respawned in the Overworld. I was happy once more.

December 11 2023

TCM(t)

I was recently wandering around one of the largest shopping centres in this area with the wonderful Legend when I spotted a dispenser of Traditional Chinese Medicine. I had noticed this shop in the past but hadn’t been bothered to take a photograph. Not this time though. I managed to use my phone to collect the lovely information on their sign.

To Be Honest The Answer Is "Nope" — To Be Honest The Answer Is “Nope”

I think I was drawn to the sign because of the very opaque tape over some of the health claims and I was tempted to look further into what had been once claimed. But let’s have a brief about the things that are problematic. This would be ALL OF IT.

Traditional Chinese Medicine – TCM – is absolutely not a thing that works. During the post WWII period China sent doctors out to the countryside to look after people. Well aware that some places would not have drugs or suitable medicine (defined as stuff that works) the government sent the doctors out with a book that also had a load of stuff that didn’t work. This book had a list of medicine and, for the worst case scenario of no kit, a list of not-medicine that might keep the locals thinking they were being helped. So most of this traditional “medicine” is not.

A Barefoot Doctor’s Manual instead showed what the worst equipped Chinese medics would have to resort to under the worst circumstances.
Dunning, B. “Mao’s Barefoot Doctors: The Secret History of Chinese Medicine.” Skeptoid Podcast. Skeptoid Media, 24 May 2011. Web. 16 Nov 2023. <https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4259>

So, Traditional Chinese Medicine does not work. I am quite concerned about a number of the conditions that the shop claims they can help with; infertility and miscarriage seem to be playing on the emotions of people going through tough situations. A lot of the others are of a similar vein. I’ve looked at their website to gain a better understanding of what they claim but the website just seems to sell boring things and cleverly makes no actual medical claims. They sell; tea, soups, capsules of some various herbs and stuff. It’s all pretty boring “boost your immunity” stuff. The website does have a blog page but the most recent post was 2021.

I do find it amusing and worrisome that people will pay money for this and that practitioners have probably paid money to get “trained” in this stuff. Just think of all that effort and resource that could be put to use in something that actually works.

December 5 2023

Whoops!

One of the things I’ve been doing in Minecraft is searching for the End Portal. I don’t have any real ambition to kill the dragon but it is something within the game that can be done and so why not? I started the other day using Eyes Of Ender and throwing them into the sky. I found the stronghold and then got stuck. The entire area I had searched didn’t have the End Portal, none of the corridors went to the special room. I used a few more Eyes Of Ender when I was in the stronghold but I couldn’t find the room.

This led to me looking for another mapping software. I had used Bedrock-viz because it allowed me to make a web searchable page and I could see the map without being on the gaming PC. For some reason though, the recent Minecraft updates have messed this up and bedrock-viz ends after ten seconds and doesn’t produce a new map. I did the googles thing and I found uNmINeD which produces a lovely looking map from the data files.

I found that the End Portal was hidden just a few blocks of digging through a wall. I had enough Eyes Of Ender or whatever they are called once I found the room so I thought, why not, let’s open the portal. I did and then thought, well I might as well go through and see what it’s like. So, I did that. I was NOT aware that I couldn’t get back without killing the Ender Dragon. This caused a bit of a problem because my load out wasn’t set up to kill the Ender Dragon, it was just my roaming around the countryside loadout.

I DIED.

I lost all my lovely kit as I respawned over 1000 blocks away because, like an idiot, I forgot to set my respawn point when I got to the village with the portal. What an absolute idiot. I had really nice stuff. I’m gutted. I just stared at the screen for a few minutes once it happened. Bollocks.

December 4 2023

Project Progress

Nope, this communication isn’t about how I would like the government to make changes to improve peoples’ lives. I almost wish it was but then I don’t think I have the space for all the things I think government should be doing. If you know me then you also know I’m a raging lefty who is all for social progress, self determination and people paying taxes. This communication is about Minecraft and the current project.

The above picture shows the very first steps of this project. I think you can see a staircase and that’s about it. This was in September and I’ve been messing around since then. Here is what the mountain looks like at the moment:

Minecraft - The Project — Minecraft – The Project

A lot of the work that has gone on is actually hidden from view and so I’m hoping I might get a short video together to show the stupid amount of mining I have actually completed. At the top of the picture is a mob-spawner that’s working quite well. Towards the bottom of the picture there is a slice of mountain that I have cut out and I am planning to cut out more slices. I’m not sure what it is going to look like but I’m having fun. I am also thinking of surrounding each slice with some precious blocks to make them stand out.

Yesterday I spent time trying to find an End Portal and although I’ve found a stronghold I haven’t yet managed to locate the portal inside that and I’ve found that quite frustrating. I guess I need to learn about stongholds and their generation. Anyway, the Minecraft world is far nicer that the actual real world, even with mobs that try and kill you.

December 3 2023

Holy Crap – It Looks Like A Classic

Well, the other day M’era Luna released their complete line up for 2024. I have to say – I’m fucking excited.

So, here’s the highlights as far as I’m concerned:

Combifuckingchrist OLD SCHOOL SET – currently the time I saw them do this type of gig was the best gig I’d been to. I’m stoked.
VNV Nation – excellent band who just never hit the big time in the UK.
Front 242 – should be good but might be boring.
Lord Of The Lost – always great, looking forward to it.
Die Krupps – have seen this band a few times and it’s great.
SUICIDE COMMANDO – always great even if the visuals are distrubing.
[:SITD:] – another consistently great band.
OOMPH! – can’t remember if I’ve seen these before but they now have the singer from Unzucht so might be good.
Funker Vogt – one of those bands on the list of bands I want to see.
S.P.O.C.K. – saw these at my first M’era Luna I think and I can’t wait to see them again. Very pop but space TV show themed.
Centhron – if only to hear him sing that classic song “Cunt”.

It’s going to be great. I just hope there aren’t too many clashes as that will disappoint me.

December 1 2023

Flying Setup

I was looking through this site to see if there were any current pictures of the Flight Sim setup and I couldn’t find any. So this communication aims to correct for that.

In this picture you can see the PC, desk, three monitors, and the HOTAS bits and pieces. In this flight I had just landed at Stansted in the fog, which was interesting! Maybe I need to get some rudder pedals, but then I also fancy getting the Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS bundle so I’m not sure what to do. I know! I’ll set myself a target of things to learn before I reward myself with these luxury items.

November 4 2023

Leave My Ears Alone

So, I’ve been playing Fortnite for a while and I generally have fun and enjoy it. But, I have noticed that I get annoyed at what I consider poor behaviour while on spawn island. Once spawned I would be standing there minding my own business, normally, and then there would be blaring music from someone expressing themselves with emotes. Shortly after first playing the game I would instantly run away to a quiet corner of the island and sit down and wait for the game to begin. I wasn’t initially aware of the bigger social problem that this indicated.

Have you ever been on a train or somewhere public and found yourself irritated at tinny noise coming from someone’s phone? Have you ever been in a nice mental reverie and been brutally made aware of the real world by someone’s phone making shitty noises of some influencer playing a prank? Have you ever had your ears assaulted by loud music being played in a car as it drove past or even someone walking through town carrying an outsized music player polluting an area roughly equivalent to Manhattan with music as they walk along the street.

The reason all of these situations are irritating is that you, dear reader, have not consented to the noise. If you are playing music at home then that’s up to you. If you have earbuds in and are playing music then that’s up to you. If you go to a concert or gig and there’s noise then you, by definition, have consented to that. What you have not probably consented to is other people making unusual noises in situations that socially do not normally have that level of noise. Imagine you are in an art gallery and someone is walking around with music playing out loud. This situation would be an obvious social faux-pas. We would expect that person to be escorted out of the gallery. The same is true for walking down the high street, being on a train or standing on spawn island.

I like some of the worst music out there, but when I listen it’s a consensual activity. I think that’s why I get so irritated with all the noise in Fortnite or elsewhere in the real world. Perhaps I’m old and grumpy. But also, by talking about consent to noise, perhaps the noise-makers will understand and be considerate.

November 2 2023

Latest Minecraft Things

I’m spending time in Minecraft these days because all of the events around the world keep doing their best to remind me what a shit species we are. We have ongoing events in Ukraine, Gaza. Also the Covid inquiry allowing anger to resurface from 2020 as we hear the evidence of just how utterly shit and awful the government were in the early days of covid. Johnson turns out to be an utter prick? Quelle surprise. Minecraft is a happier place and that’s even including the zombies and creepers that try to kill you.

This first video was one that I was aiming for. On the Playstation you can see what trophies you haven’t got and then aim to get them done. I was fed up of jump-running through the Nether to get to my faraway base so I build a railway. Yes, I know a boat would be quicker but the railway I can jump on and then go and get a drink, controller input is not needed.

The next trophy was one that I wasn’t sure how to get. Some you have to work at and some just kinda happen as part of the game play. I had to kill a skeleton from further than 50 metres. Now, I’d like to think that in real life I could do this no problem, I’m pretty good with a L98A2 so I expect I could handle a bow.

My next challenge is to get the Platinum trophy for Gran Turismo. It would be my first platinum and probably the game I am most likely to achieve it. I need to complete 50 online races – seems easy – but I also need to buy three cars that are “legends”. The problem with this is that they are really expensive. I did think I could buy some in-game currency with real money, I’d happily pay up to about £20 for that, but looking at the amount I’d have to spend it is more like £200 and I’d rather grind. So, that’s what I’ll be doing. Grinding on Gran Turismo. I’ve got races to win . . . .

October 22 2023

London Views

Now that I’m back in the UK after having flown around the world it’s time to start learning how to fly. I’m going to spend time in the T-7 now that it’s X-Plane 12 compatible and start assigning shortcut keys and learning how to navigate. But, because that all seems like a lot of effort here are some pictures of London taken this morning.

Greenwich Peninsular - X-Plane — Greenwich Peninsular – X-Plane

Westminster - X-Plane — Westminster – X-Plane

I think I need to assign some new keys to the trim controls along with changing views etc. Let’s see what happens.

October 17 2023

For ENGLAND

The other day part of Squad Legend went to Battle in the south east of England to watch a re-enactment of the Battle Of Hastings. Battle is the name of the village that grew around the abbey supposedly built by King William to atone for the death and slaughter on the day of the battle. Plenty of people travelled to the grounds of the original battle and watched intrepid people dressed in wool and leather fight it out on the fields.

Before Great Britain was conquered [mostly] by the Romans there were tribes from northern Europe mainland who had settled in various parts of the island. The Romans ruled for 400 or so years and when they left there was space for the Angles and Saxons to invade and rule. Then the Vikings did their thing and the island was covered in lots of little Kingdoms. England itself, named for the Anglos, became unified in around 950CE or so. The people living in the island were descendants of Belgian, Roman, German, Danish, Scandinavian and French people. This is hardly a “pure breed” race. They spoke something that was not English.

This small history lesson is given because the commentary of the Battle of Hastings was full of inflammatory language and stereotypes. “Are you cheering for the English or the FOREIGNERS?”. It’s as if the Battle is trying to settle that the English were pure bred. They were a race of people with a right to live on the island. The accents of the spoken voices as part of the show were lovely and clear super English and also sneery French. William was referred to as The Bastard, which was his nickname, but it was used a lot, mainly when talking about the “invaders”.

It’s funny how the crowd cheered or booed the various state actors on the day. My mind was set on the idea that this country wouldn’t be as it is if the Normans [not French] hadn’t won and changed our culture and language. Talking to one of the re-enactors it turns out that these events do bring out the racists. Someone in the crowd behind us was shouting abuse at the Normans and calling for the English to be victorious. This person might have been having fun but they also called out cheering on “Saxony” which I wanted to tell him was in fucking Germany but I didn’t want to be stabbed.

At one point Harold asks if God as forsaken England, why does he allow this to happen? It’s amusing because Harold goes on to lose. God must have been on the invaders side. God cares not for the people living in England at that time. Remember, everyone should shout for “England”, whatever the fuck that means. I guess it’s a privilege I have to be nonchalant about my “country”. I have the freedom to express my distaste for what this country stands for and I won’t be strung up at the Tower. I should think myself lucky I’m a SUBJECT OF THE KING in a country where I can disagree so loudly. I don’t even know what being English means.

It was a really pleasant day and lovely to see the fights. I enjoyed it. It was just a shame about the jingoism but maybe I’m too sensitive??