Finally finished paying one monthly payments.

Doh, there still 20 months left on the other one :(

I believe some of them said that medical personnel needed them more and that the average citizen could do without them, but for others you're right.

*pic related*

Stuff like that would likely be far more effective.
(also it'd look kick ass to wear it, if one had to)


=-=-=

Not all of them....some thought/think we should wear them, and some did/do not.

(I mean it's not like scientists are some hivemind that thinks/believes alike)

Stranger of Sword City Revisited works on my big laptop, but it runs slowly while exploring the dungeon. (I am running the game under WINE, and the laptop has a Ryzen 3500U.)

(Worth noting that this doesn't make the game unplayable due to it being turn based; it's just slow to get around. Also worth noting that the game runs just fine in town and during battle. Also, having the auto-walk helps, as I can do something else while waiting for my party to reach the spot I actually want to explore or hide in.)

This reminds me of Wizardry 8, and how slow the battles can be(especially larger sized ones with more enemies).

Thankfully there is a mod to speed it up if one wants to use it....but before it: I could leave the room and do a few things and come back, and the enemies would still be doing their turn. o.0 :|

In Stranger of Sword City (Revisited), battles are actually *really* fast; in fact, if you choose "Fast Apply" after choosing everyone's commands, the battle might be *too* fast to follow; easy battles can be won in a matter of seconds this way.

Yeah, while I dislike battles that are too slow I also(though not as much) somewhat dislike ones that go too fast...like to where the motions and animations are a blur**.

(**In most instances....sometimes, if battles are very repetitive in certain ways and to certain degrees, I might on rare occasion use quick/auto battles)

I find myself not choosing "Fast Apply" unless the battle is clearly trivial and I just want it over with, or if I happen to be a little impatient.

You too? That's usually when I do quick/auto battles as well.

(although in larger ones or games where I am trying to maintain my character's items/mana/etc as best as I can, I usually try to avoid auto/quick battles most times unless I know the AI playing for me will do its best in such regards)

I prefer it when the auto-battle AI doesn't use up any resources, or at least has the option to.

Then again, when playing Dragon Quest games, I often use the AI, as it is sometimes better than a human player could possibly be (especially when it comes to healing). In fact, when I played Dragon Quest 4 DS, I used the AI almost all the time, though that may have been because I grew up on the original DQ4 (well, Dragon Warrior 4) where the AI was mandatory.

I mean if it "must" say use some potions or mana to do the best job and keep my characters alive and well, i'd prefer it to be frugal and efficient in such cases....not that I put on auto/quick battle and then it burns through say half my mana and 1/3 my potions. :)

Another topic has sprung up where:
* I find that I have to downrate most of the posts on it. (This is not usually the case; most topics I have no reason to downrate, and if I do, it's generally the occasionally nasty or spam post.)
* Posts that deserve to be low rated or modded out of existence end up high rated.

Topics like that one (which I don't feel like naming or linking here) make me lose faith in the GOG userbase.

So it seems there is some kind of holiday in Poland and offices are shut until Tuesday. Not complaining about that.

GOG could not manage to make an offline installer for X4: Foundations' latest patch before said holiday so I will have to wait until Tuesday at least before the game gets a tad less bughghghgyyy. I have wisely stayed away from the latest (Humans) content. A pity the user interface is so bad too even if there have been some improvements.

I love my portable Bluetooth speaker, Bose Soundlink Mini 2:

https://www.amazon.com/Bose-SoundLink-Bluetooth-Speaker-Carbon/dp/B00WK47VEW

It has a very good sound for its small size and I have been perfectly happy with it, usually it is used by my kids when they watch Youtube videos on a tablet. It was more expensive than other "similar" portable BT speakers, but seemed to have considerably better sound when I tested it upon purchase (I think I paid like 200€ or more for it some years ago).

However, lately it doesn't seem to charge much at all, and basically works only if it is connected to the charger all the time. I figured maybe its battery is now just dead (I've had it for a few years) and needs a replacement, and you can buy replacement batteries for that speaker for like 40€, and they can be easily replaced yourself (open the unit with four screws and you can take the old battery out etc.).

However, while searching for information on this, I also learned online that many people have this charging problem even if their battery seems to be ok. There were lots of instructions, e.g. resetting the speaker to factory settings etc. to clear that problem, and also updating its firmware.

I installed and ran the firmware update utility, and yeah I have quite an old firmware... but the utility refuses to update the firmware because my battery is low. Well, it doesn't charge either, so I can't update the firmware without replacing the battery, right?

ANYWAY, then I read some more discussions about this problem on the Bose forums, and many have this issue even with the latest firmware. Also, some reported that when they upgraded to the latest firmware, it was as if e.g. the bass levels of the device became weaker, ie. worse sound.

Some even suggested there might be a bug in the latest firmware where it reads the device identification wrong, and that is the reason for not charging. And as Bose has discontinued this product already with newer BT speakers, maybe they are not keen to try to fix the firmware anymore.

So:

- Now I don't dare to buy a replacement battery, as I am unsure if my current battery really is dead or the device just refuses to charge it, and I might still have this problem with a new battery as well, at least after awhile.

- Even if I could, I don't dare to upgrade the speaker firmware, if it possibly makes the bass lose its oomph.

So I guess I just keep using it connected to the charger all the time, at least it still works that way. At least for now...

It seems that accessing Best Buy's website is enough to make the flashing thermometer appear when the only other significant task the Raspberry Pi is doing is some downloads.

Also, it's annoying how there's a lack of good places to shop for computer components and electronics in person.

Thank god now the orders from aliexpress are coming as usual in time) Because when last year I ordered a piece for my computer (just a fan) I was waiting for it for 5 months. It was crazy. I didn't know what to do, I wanted to cancel but then thought that it's all due to corona, I'll just buy a fan in a local shop, and this one that will one day arrive I'll gift to my nephew. That's what I did when it arrived. The problem also was in tracking the parcel cause it was "nowhere".) now I found the solution - Alitools (tracks parcels from ali).