October 2023
Apple Oct 30 Event
Oct 31 2023
Apple used this event to introduce the M3 chip family (M3, M3 Pro, M3 Max), the new 14" MBP (which can use all three chips) and 16" MBP (which use M3 Pro and M3 Max), and a new 24" iMac (M3 chip only).
M3 architecture: M3, M3 Pro, M3 Max
- 3 nanometer technology
M3
- up to 24 GB unified memory
- can drive 1 external display (6K resolution @ 60Hz)
M3 Pro
- up to 36 GB unified memory
- can drive 2 external displays
-- one at 6K resolution @ 60Hz
-- one at 6K resolution @ 60Hz or 4K resolution @ 144 Hz
M3 Max
- up to 128 GB unified memory
- can drive 4 external displays
-- three at 6K resolution @ 60Hz
-- one at 4K resolution @ 144 Hz
14" MacBook Pro
- M3, M3 Pro, or M3 Max chip
- 22 hours Apple TV app movie playback, 15 hours wireless web
- starts at $1600 (8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 8 GB memory, 512 GB SSD)
16" MacBook Pro
- M3 Pro or M3 Max chip
- 22 hours Apple TV app movie playback, 15 hours wireless web
- starts at $2500 (12-core CPU, 18-core GPU, 18 GB memory, 512 GB SSD)
- yes, starts with 18 GB memory, next expansion is 36 GB for +$400
Fastest (M3 Max) MBP is 11x faster than fastest Intel MBP.
M3 Pro and M3 Max new color
- Space Black (very black, dark aluminum finish)
24" iMac
- M3 chip (only)
- starts at $1300 (8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 8 GB memory, 256 GB SSD)
M3 architecture: M3, M3 Pro, M3 Max
- 3 nanometer technology
M3
- up to 24 GB unified memory
- can drive 1 external display (6K resolution @ 60Hz)
M3 Pro
- up to 36 GB unified memory
- can drive 2 external displays
-- one at 6K resolution @ 60Hz
-- one at 6K resolution @ 60Hz or 4K resolution @ 144 Hz
M3 Max
- up to 128 GB unified memory
- can drive 4 external displays
-- three at 6K resolution @ 60Hz
-- one at 4K resolution @ 144 Hz
14" MacBook Pro
- M3, M3 Pro, or M3 Max chip
- 22 hours Apple TV app movie playback, 15 hours wireless web
- starts at $1600 (8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 8 GB memory, 512 GB SSD)
16" MacBook Pro
- M3 Pro or M3 Max chip
- 22 hours Apple TV app movie playback, 15 hours wireless web
- starts at $2500 (12-core CPU, 18-core GPU, 18 GB memory, 512 GB SSD)
- yes, starts with 18 GB memory, next expansion is 36 GB for +$400
Fastest (M3 Max) MBP is 11x faster than fastest Intel MBP.
M3 Pro and M3 Max new color
- Space Black (very black, dark aluminum finish)
24" iMac
- M3 chip (only)
- starts at $1300 (8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 8 GB memory, 256 GB SSD)
Diary - Oct 21 to Oct 27 2023
Oct 28 2023
Sat Oct 21 2023
Sleep 0600 to 1530 (9-1/2 hours)
Sun Oct 22 2023
Sleep 0545 to 1215 (6-1/2 hours)
Mon Oct 23 2023
Sleep 0130 to 1000 (8-1/2 hours)
Tue Oct 24 2023
Sleep 0430 to 1200 (7-1/2 hours)
Wed Oct 25 2023
Sleep 0530 to 1330 (8 hours)
Thu Oct 26 2023
Sleep 0530 to 1330 (8 hours)
Fri Oct 27 2023
Sleep 0600 to 1400 (8 hours)
Sleep 0600 to 1530 (9-1/2 hours)
- President Biden’s re-election campaign on the way. 1 email yesterday, 4 emails today (and all different emails not accidental duplicates). I’m gonna have to unsubscribe.
Sun Oct 22 2023
Sleep 0545 to 1215 (6-1/2 hours)
- Apple Music app now has a bar at the top telling me Sync Library is Off (Learn More).
- This is a feature from iTunes Music Match that you can also do if you have Apple Music subscription. It uploads your music to iCloud (doesn’t count against your iCloud storage) or if the song is on Apple Music then it marks that song. Other devices can then play the music either from iCloud or Apple Music.
- But it also fixes metadata and I remember when I used to do something similar and it messed up some of my song info (I tend to use metadata — album artist, artist, song name — for sorting purposes). So now I’m leery of turning it on. Still, would be nice to have all my music on my devices since it’s 167 GB of stuff.
Mon Oct 23 2023
Sleep 0130 to 1000 (8-1/2 hours)
- Itch.io is doing a Halloween Sale. Wow the filters are so bad (I want table-top rpg items and I guess “physical games” is the closest since itch is so heavy with computer games). And you can’t sort results.
Tue Oct 24 2023
Sleep 0430 to 1200 (7-1/2 hours)
- T2K 4E The Black Madonna PDF delivered to KS backers. A 72-page adventure with battlemaps and cards so I guess it’ll be a boxed set. But that completes the T2K 4E KS fulfillment.
- Oh, actually we’ll be able to buy the boxed set from Free League for cost of shipping so not quite done.
- Went to Sutter Immunization Clinic, Castro Valley to get a COVID-19 booster shot (Moderna). Unlike the San Carlos site there aren’t obvious signs of where to park and where to go for the shots.
- Trader Joe’s for a few groceries.
- Wanted KFC. $10 for 6 pieces of chicken (or 10 tenders) not currently offered. Tried Popeyes but they didn’t have any good offers.
Wed Oct 25 2023
Sleep 0530 to 1330 (8 hours)
- Was feeling ill and my left arm hurting so hard to get to sleep last night.
- Apple One subscription increase from $17 to $20 per month. Not quite to the point where I consider going to individual services. The current ranking would be:
- Apple TV+ ($10)
- Apple Arcade ($7)
- iCloud 50 GB plan ($1)
- Apple Music ($11)
- Chances are if I go to individual I’d only keep Apple TV+. Music I never really use (and I have lots of bought music in my library); iCloud I’m using 3.1 GB and can probably get it lower. Arcade is nice but I have a huge amount of Mac games (Steam, GOG, Epic)) already. And even Apple TV+ I don’t need to subscribe every month, maybe twice a year and catch up on some shows.
Thu Oct 26 2023
Sleep 0530 to 1330 (8 hours)
- Must have not clicked the final submit when transferring money to checking. Now I have to do a transfer expedited (same day if submitted before 0830 local time) which will be the first time for me. It’s supposed to be free so I don’t know why people wouldn’t do it all the time but I usually leave it at default which takes 3 or 4 days.
Fri Oct 27 2023
Sleep 0600 to 1400 (8 hours)
- 3.9 earthquake NNE of Millbrae. Close enough that our building jolted once but that was it.
GOG Halloween Sale
Oct 26 2023
There's always a computer game sale. Now it's Halloween so time for a GOG Halloween Sale.
Man O' War: Corsair - Warhammer Naval Battles (2017, $3, 90% off) - It does seem to be a real-time first- or third-person view sort of game so less interesting to me. There are three DLCs but none of them really game-play related.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York (2019, $2, 90% off) - A choose your own adventure visual novel based on VtM 5E. Three characters to choose from each with their own set of powers so it's three distinct ways of running through the story.
Nox Archaist Game Bundle (2021/2023, $9.20, 60% off) - This is the base game (60 hours gameplay) plus an expansion story (15 hours). This is a fantasy adventure game in the style of old Ultima II/III (graphics and gameplay, not sure about music or story).
Man O' War: Corsair - Warhammer Naval Battles (2017, $3, 90% off) - It does seem to be a real-time first- or third-person view sort of game so less interesting to me. There are three DLCs but none of them really game-play related.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York (2019, $2, 90% off) - A choose your own adventure visual novel based on VtM 5E. Three characters to choose from each with their own set of powers so it's three distinct ways of running through the story.
Nox Archaist Game Bundle (2021/2023, $9.20, 60% off) - This is the base game (60 hours gameplay) plus an expansion story (15 hours). This is a fantasy adventure game in the style of old Ultima II/III (graphics and gameplay, not sure about music or story).
Vampire the Masquerade 5E Book Bundle
Oct 24 2023
VtM Month of Darkness Book Bundle from Humble Bundle is 19 products for $18. This is Vampire 5E developed by Renegade Game Studios and Onyx Path Publishing. This edition goes back to the 1E/Revised Edition world and ethos, continuing that timeline into the present day.
MUH-051571 Vampire: The Masquerade 5E (2018) - 421p core rules
MUH-051575 Camarilla (2018) - 200p supplement. Camarilla is the biggest vampire faction but now in decline.
MUH-051576 Anarch (2018) - 200p supplement. Anarchs are independent vampires.
MUH-052039 Fall of London (2020) - 260p chronicle (campaign) set in London 2012
RGS-09388 Sabbat: The Black Hand (2021) - 132p supplement about the Sabbat faction
Auld Sanguine (2021) - 42p story (adventure) set at a New Year's Eve party.
Forbidden Religions (2021) - 95p supplement about infernal religions
Midnight Kiss (2022) - 34p story where the PCs are humans at a New Year's celebration... with vampires.
Second Inquisition (2022) - 166p supplement about the Catholic Church and it's war against vampires.
Last Dance at Renauld's (2023) - 39p story where the PCs are in charge of an important party (social gathering).
A Taste of the Moon (2023) - 38p story for new PCs
VTM-5001 Chicago By Night (2019) - 360p setting
VTM-5002 Cults of the Blood Gods (2021) - 276p supplement covering vampire cult (cults devoted to vampires).
VTM-5004 The Chicago Folios (2020) - 177p supplement adding more stuff about Chicago
VTM-???? Let the Streets Run Red (2020) - 252p four optionally-linked stories plus supplementary material
VTM-???? Children of the Blood (2021) - 112p supplement full of NPCs
VTM-???? Trails of Ash and Bone (2021) - 196p supplement with four non-connected stories
Hunter: The Reckoning 5E (2022) - 288p core rules, RPG of monster hunters
His Last Trick (2023) - 38p story where the hunters investigate the haunted house of a deceased stage magician.
The Hunter stuff is meh since it's a different RPG.
For Vampire we have one chronicle plus a dozen stories so that's a good amount of adventures (I'm less inclined to buy a bundle that's just rules and settings and I'm supposed to come up with the adventures). Lot of stuff on Chicago and the chronicle is in London so might be hard to tie it into one campaign. Overall worthwhile for $18.
MUH-051571 Vampire: The Masquerade 5E (2018) - 421p core rules
MUH-051575 Camarilla (2018) - 200p supplement. Camarilla is the biggest vampire faction but now in decline.
MUH-051576 Anarch (2018) - 200p supplement. Anarchs are independent vampires.
MUH-052039 Fall of London (2020) - 260p chronicle (campaign) set in London 2012
RGS-09388 Sabbat: The Black Hand (2021) - 132p supplement about the Sabbat faction
Auld Sanguine (2021) - 42p story (adventure) set at a New Year's Eve party.
Forbidden Religions (2021) - 95p supplement about infernal religions
Midnight Kiss (2022) - 34p story where the PCs are humans at a New Year's celebration... with vampires.
Second Inquisition (2022) - 166p supplement about the Catholic Church and it's war against vampires.
Last Dance at Renauld's (2023) - 39p story where the PCs are in charge of an important party (social gathering).
A Taste of the Moon (2023) - 38p story for new PCs
VTM-5001 Chicago By Night (2019) - 360p setting
VTM-5002 Cults of the Blood Gods (2021) - 276p supplement covering vampire cult (cults devoted to vampires).
VTM-5004 The Chicago Folios (2020) - 177p supplement adding more stuff about Chicago
VTM-???? Let the Streets Run Red (2020) - 252p four optionally-linked stories plus supplementary material
VTM-???? Children of the Blood (2021) - 112p supplement full of NPCs
VTM-???? Trails of Ash and Bone (2021) - 196p supplement with four non-connected stories
Hunter: The Reckoning 5E (2022) - 288p core rules, RPG of monster hunters
His Last Trick (2023) - 38p story where the hunters investigate the haunted house of a deceased stage magician.
The Hunter stuff is meh since it's a different RPG.
For Vampire we have one chronicle plus a dozen stories so that's a good amount of adventures (I'm less inclined to buy a bundle that's just rules and settings and I'm supposed to come up with the adventures). Lot of stuff on Chicago and the chronicle is in London so might be hard to tie it into one campaign. Overall worthwhile for $18.
Diary - Oct 14 to Oct 20 2023
Oct 21 2023
Sat Oct 14 2023
Sleep 0315 to 1015. (7 hours)
Sun Oct 15 2023
Sleep 0415 to 1230. (8-1/4 hours)
Mon Oct 16 2023
Sleep 0445 to 1300. (8-1/4 hours)
Tue Oct 17 2023
Sleep 0400 to 1200. (8 hours)
Wed Oct 18 2023
Sleep 0215 to 0930. (7-1/4 hours)
Thu Oct 19 2023
Sleep 0515 to 1245. (7-1/2 hours)
Fri October 20 2023
Sleep 0645 to 1230. (5-3/4 hours)
Sleep 0315 to 1015. (7 hours)
- San Mateo Credit Union changing its name to Monterra Credit Union, I guess a more neutral name to appeal to a wider geographical area.
Sun Oct 15 2023
Sleep 0415 to 1230. (8-1/4 hours)
- With last week’s HOA management company auto ACH deductions issue I haven’t had my monthly HOA dues deducted yet (usually it’s like 9th to 11th of the month). I checked the HOA portal and it says they initiated ACH on the 8th but perhaps it was cancelled in which case I’m not sure if I should manually pay it or they’ll do try automatic again. Guess I will wait another week.
Mon Oct 16 2023
Sleep 0445 to 1300. (8-1/4 hours)
- ACH deductions went through today.
- Received Girl by Moonlight hardcover rulebook. The four bonus playsets are also small printed books in full color with pictures. Still a bunch of stuff left: Roll20 module, books in EPUB/MOBI format, Zine by Moonlight no. 1-10.
- Also last week received BCS 9-06 Valley of Tears. Battalion Combat Series wargame covering the Yom Kippur War (1973). Shrinkwrapped so I won’t be opening and admiring it until perhaps I decide to try to play it many years from now. Then again more likely I’ll play it using Vassal.
Tue Oct 17 2023
Sleep 0400 to 1200. (8 hours)
- macOS Sonoma seems to have fixed this Notes issue. I have a 3x7 table where I keep trap of minutes in three categories for each day of the week. Then I delete the entries and start again the next week. It sometimes would lose track of the cursor so if I cursor right or left or start typing the cursor might shift back by itself. Anyway don’t think I’ve seen this issue recently.
Wed Oct 18 2023
Sleep 0215 to 0930. (7-1/4 hours)
- Woken up by emergency alert for a small earthquake near Isleton. A bit annoying.
- Dinner at C3. Frozen food Korean fried chicken nuggets which were not bad.
- Groceries at Trader Joe’s. I recently realized that their whole chicken thighs @ $2 per pound are the same price as Safeways (barring a 2-for-1 sale) except Safeways you buy a whole pack of 10-12 at a time where Trader Joe’s packages them at three per so keeps better.
Thu Oct 19 2023
Sleep 0515 to 1245. (7-1/2 hours)
- DriveThruRPG is now forcing me to use the preview UI. One thing is that when you go to the current Halloween Sale it doesn’t tell you when the sale ends. The search fields are now pop-up dialog boxes with a seeded list and for diverse filters (e.g. Publisher or Rule System) you can search for other terms.
- For Publisher I liked the old one-big-dropdown-list as you can browse the publishers whereas a search box you can’t really do that. You can search A and see Axxx publishers listed first but type N and it shows publishers which have a N in their name in alphabetical order and it only shows like 20 results so it must show like the top 20 popular results.
Fri October 20 2023
Sleep 0645 to 1230. (5-3/4 hours)
- I have one internal screen (which I keep closed/off) and two external monitors and using macOS Sonoma. Twice now when I wake up from sleep (I don’t often put my MBP to sleep) it’s in this weird mode where it won’t show any app screens it’s just two monitors showing the menu bar, desktop background (not even desktop contents), and dock. I have to open the internal screen to get everything to start showing up again. I think when I wake it the internal screen is “active” and the main screen so everything is happening there even though the screen is off.
DriveThruRPG Halloween Sale
Oct 19 2023
What looks interesting?
I6 Ravenloft (1e) [$3, 40% off]
I10: Ravenloft II: The House on Gryphon Hill (1e) [$3, 40% off]
The only two TSR AD&D 1E modules are the excellent Ravenloft an Ravenloft II.
Beyond the Mountains of Madness (CoC) [$12, 40% off]
A pretty good campaign based on a classic novella. I ran it and just the base book is pretty meaty (I added other adventures and used the BtMoM companion).
Halls of the Blood King (OSE) [$4.5, 40% off]
An adventure for 3rd to 5th level for Old-School Essentials. Necrotic Gnome official products are a bit pricey so a good discount is appreciated. Even though I have no idea if this is a good adventure or not it's the only Necrotic Gnome OSE product on sale.
Hull Breach Vol. 1 (Mothership) [$24, 20% off]
Mothership relies on third party products because Tuesday Night Games makes few products. This is fairly expensive but it's a collection of 26 articles (12 of them adventures) in a 232-page book. These are written by a variety of authors, some already published.
I6 Ravenloft (1e) [$3, 40% off]
I10: Ravenloft II: The House on Gryphon Hill (1e) [$3, 40% off]
The only two TSR AD&D 1E modules are the excellent Ravenloft an Ravenloft II.
Beyond the Mountains of Madness (CoC) [$12, 40% off]
A pretty good campaign based on a classic novella. I ran it and just the base book is pretty meaty (I added other adventures and used the BtMoM companion).
Halls of the Blood King (OSE) [$4.5, 40% off]
An adventure for 3rd to 5th level for Old-School Essentials. Necrotic Gnome official products are a bit pricey so a good discount is appreciated. Even though I have no idea if this is a good adventure or not it's the only Necrotic Gnome OSE product on sale.
Hull Breach Vol. 1 (Mothership) [$24, 20% off]
Mothership relies on third party products because Tuesday Night Games makes few products. This is fairly expensive but it's a collection of 26 articles (12 of them adventures) in a 232-page book. These are written by a variety of authors, some already published.
The Best of Warhammer RPGs Book Bundle
Oct 17 2023
The Best of Warhammer RPGs Book Bundle for $18 gives you 7 or 8 products for each of three Cubicle 7 Warhammer RPGs. Each of these RPGs have been previously offered as separate bundles so those bundles are more complete for each RPG.
Instead I guess this bundle is for people who wanted to try all three RPGs (they're each quite different) although I think only the WFRP portion gives you enough adventures for a campaign.
I have bought the previous bundles and this one only has two new products for me, and at $40 retail the $18 would be a savings. But the two products are a starter set and a splatbook and therefore not interesting to me.
Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound (high fantasy, magitech, and post-apocalyptic horror)
CB72500 Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound core rulebook
CB725xx Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound Starter Set
CB72503 Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound Gamemaster's Screen
CB72509 Crash & Burn - PDF adventure
CB72518 Champions of Order - supplement
CB72520 Fateful Night - PDF adventure
CB72522 Trouble Brewing - PDF adventure
CB72530 Steam and Steel - equipment and equipment creation rules
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4E (grim fantasy)
CB72400 Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay core rulebook
CB72401 Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Starter Set
CB72403 Rough Nights & Hard Days - five interlinked adventures
CB72404 Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Gamemaster Screen
CB72409 Buildings of the Reikland - PDF supplement
CB72443 One Shots of the Reikland - five adventures
CB72467 Up in Arms - Warriors splatbook (don't own, $20 PDF)
Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory (far future dark fantasy)
CB72600 Wrath & Glory Core Rulebook
CB72602 Forsaken System Player's Guide - supplement
CB72604 Wrath and Glory Gamemaster’s Screen
CB72616 Redacted Records - supplement
CB72618 Wrath and Glory Starter Set (don't own, $20 PDF) - has one tutorial adventure
CB72628 Gutshiva's Kommandos - PDF supplement
CB72630 The Null Hypothesis - PDF adventure
Instead I guess this bundle is for people who wanted to try all three RPGs (they're each quite different) although I think only the WFRP portion gives you enough adventures for a campaign.
I have bought the previous bundles and this one only has two new products for me, and at $40 retail the $18 would be a savings. But the two products are a starter set and a splatbook and therefore not interesting to me.
Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound (high fantasy, magitech, and post-apocalyptic horror)
CB72500 Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound core rulebook
CB725xx Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound Starter Set
CB72503 Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound Gamemaster's Screen
CB72509 Crash & Burn - PDF adventure
CB72518 Champions of Order - supplement
CB72520 Fateful Night - PDF adventure
CB72522 Trouble Brewing - PDF adventure
CB72530 Steam and Steel - equipment and equipment creation rules
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4E (grim fantasy)
CB72400 Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay core rulebook
CB72401 Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Starter Set
CB72403 Rough Nights & Hard Days - five interlinked adventures
CB72404 Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Gamemaster Screen
CB72409 Buildings of the Reikland - PDF supplement
CB72443 One Shots of the Reikland - five adventures
CB72467 Up in Arms - Warriors splatbook (don't own, $20 PDF)
Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory (far future dark fantasy)
CB72600 Wrath & Glory Core Rulebook
CB72602 Forsaken System Player's Guide - supplement
CB72604 Wrath and Glory Gamemaster’s Screen
CB72616 Redacted Records - supplement
CB72618 Wrath and Glory Starter Set (don't own, $20 PDF) - has one tutorial adventure
CB72628 Gutshiva's Kommandos - PDF supplement
CB72630 The Null Hypothesis - PDF adventure
Diary - Oct 07 to Oct 13 2023
Oct 14 2023
Sat Oct 07 2023
Sleep 0500 to 1030. 1-1/4 hour nap. (6-3/4 hours)
Sun Oct 08 2023
Sleep 0400 to 1100. (7 hours)
Mon Oct 09 2023
Sleep 0300 to 1000. 1 hour nap. (8 hours)
Tue Oct 10 2023
Sleep 0530 to 1330. (8 hours)
Wed Oct 11 2023
Sleep 0430 to 1230. (8 hours)
Thu Oct 12 2023
Sleep 0830 to 1130. 2 hour nap. (5 hours)
Fri Oct 13 2023
Sleep 0115 to 0215. 0730 to 1315. (6-3/4 hours)
Sleep 0500 to 1030. 1-1/4 hour nap. (6-3/4 hours)
- We’ve had a bit of mix-up with HOA assessment payments. September notice said regular and special assessment (of $3k) due October 1st. We confirmed with management company that people would have until December 31st to pay and that special assessment would not be auto deducted. But apparently that got lost somewhere because people with auto ACH deductions got $3k + monthly dues deducted and they weren’t expecting that. So management company reversed those transactions.
Sun Oct 08 2023
Sleep 0400 to 1100. (7 hours)
- Mom and dad spent three weeks at home and now are off to Turkey (on Tuesday) for two weeks. Should be safe even with stuff heating up re: Palestine vs Iran war.
Mon Oct 09 2023
Sleep 0300 to 1000. 1 hour nap. (8 hours)
- So I have a Windows 10 VM on VMWare Fusion. The default install creates a 40 GB virtual drive. I wanted to add space so I increased the virtual drive size to 250 GB. The problem is you can’t make the C: partition use that extra space because it is not adjacent (the space used is boot stuff, c: drive, recovery partition, unallocated space).
- Looking online one option is to delete the recovery partition, allocate the space, then either live without a recovery partition, create a USB stick or other external media recovery volume, or create a new recovery partition. The latter options are fairly complicate and why does Windows make this so hard?
- Or you can use a third party utility like AOMEI Partition Assistant. It has a free version that doesn’t have the merge partitions option and a pro version (no demo, the “demo” allows you to set up your commands but won’t run if any of the commands are “pro only”). The pro version looks like it moves the recovery partition to last then expands the C: partition.
- Eventually I said f- it. I created an E: partition. Luckily Steam supports adding a new Storage volume and then when you install a game you can select the other Storage volume. Mostly ok since big games is what’s taking up all the space.
- Epic Games Store allows you to choose a download parent folder each time you install a game, so same effect.
Tue Oct 10 2023
Sleep 0530 to 1330. (8 hours)
- Time Machine nightly backups to an external 6 TB drive are taking 2+ hours (I have two backup drives so each drive runs every other day) because the drive is almost full. Used tmutil to delete the oldest 4 months of data to free up 1 TB of space (which took several hours to run; you can queue up multiple backups to delete by repeating -p argument). Hopefully that helps.
Wed Oct 11 2023
Sleep 0430 to 1230. (8 hours)
- Dinner at C3s. Delivery from Totoro Ramen. Had the ramen with miso (default has pork belly as the meat). Very good.
Thu Oct 12 2023
Sleep 0830 to 1130. 2 hour nap. (5 hours)
- This afternoon left ankle started to hurt, like a soreness. Running on the hardwood floor too much and I think as per it’s going to swell up tomorrow or Saturday and I’ll be hobbled for a week or two. Which means I should get needed groceries tonight (I’m out of white rice!).
- Oops. Looks like I miscalculated the ending date for the Shadowrun Legends bundle. Oh well, not that big a loss since I’ve never read any of the books.
- DDO: testing main client using CrossOver and alt client using Fusion + Windows 10. Auto follow worked for a while but after half an hour the alt client got crazy laggy. Maybe the VM ran out of memory.
Fri Oct 13 2023
Sleep 0115 to 0215. 0730 to 1315. (6-3/4 hours)
- Would Fusion + Windows work on my Mac mini? At first glance maybe not. Installed Fusion 13. Copied the VM over. Windows runs very slowly. I mean the Mac mini has an i5 with no graphics cards (just integrated graphics) compared to my MBP with an i9 and a Radeon graphics card. Although maybe it just looks slow since I’m using Apple’s Remote Desktop to view it (but it works fine when I’m controlling Mac stuff and I’ve even played an arcade game on it ok).
- DDO won’t start. I forgot it has this problem: after you set the window size, if the display becomes smaller than the window size then the app crashes on launch (a similar problem if the window’s last position is outside the display range of the new display, in which case the window shows up off screen). Had this problem whenever I visited my parents and had to run DDO on my MBP internal screen (which resolution size is smaller than my main screen). I fixed it by making my DDO window size the same size as my MBP internal screen so I can then launch it on any of my monitors. Not sure I can fix it now without uninstalling/reinstalling.
- Still can’t get DDO to start. In any case gave up on using Fusion + Windows on my Mac mini. It’s just too glacial.
Seeds Winning MLB World Series
Oct 12 2023
Major League Baseball playoff seedings are based on two leagues, each with four to six teams (has varied over time). For each league the three division winners are seeded 1-3. I like MLB playoffs because even today 12 of 30 teams (and even less in previous years).
1st seed = 9 championships
2nd seed = 3 championships
3rd seed = 3 championships
4th seed = 4 championships
5th seed = 1 championship
2022 Houston Astros (1)
2021 Atlanta Braves (3)
2020 Los Angeles Dodgers (1)
2019 Washington Nationals (4, WC)
2018 Boston Red Sox (1)
2017 Houston Astros (2)
2016 Chicago Cubs (1)
2015 Kansas City Royals (1)
2014 San Francisco Giants (5, WC)
2013 Boston Red Sox (1)
2012 San Francisco Giants (3)
2011 St Louis Cardinals (4, WC)
2010 San Francisco Giants (2)
2009 New York Yankees (1)
2008 Philadelphia Phillies (2)
2007 Boston Red Sox (1)
2006 St Louis Cardinals (3)
2005 Chicago White Sox (1)
2004 Boston Red Sox (4, WC)
2003 Florida Marlins (4, wC)
1st seed winning almost half the championships is pretty good. 2nd and 3rd seeds (i.e. other division winners) winning close to 1/3rd of the time is not bad. Lower seeds winning 25% of the time is much too high.
Here I would implement unfairness: whenever a division winner matches a wild card team it goes from 4-3 series to a 5-2 series (i.e. division winner gets five home games). You still get 12 playoff teams and in baseball winning on the road is not as hard as in basketball so 5-2 is not impossible for the 2 team.
1st seed = 9 championships
2nd seed = 3 championships
3rd seed = 3 championships
4th seed = 4 championships
5th seed = 1 championship
2022 Houston Astros (1)
2021 Atlanta Braves (3)
2020 Los Angeles Dodgers (1)
2019 Washington Nationals (4, WC)
2018 Boston Red Sox (1)
2017 Houston Astros (2)
2016 Chicago Cubs (1)
2015 Kansas City Royals (1)
2014 San Francisco Giants (5, WC)
2013 Boston Red Sox (1)
2012 San Francisco Giants (3)
2011 St Louis Cardinals (4, WC)
2010 San Francisco Giants (2)
2009 New York Yankees (1)
2008 Philadelphia Phillies (2)
2007 Boston Red Sox (1)
2006 St Louis Cardinals (3)
2005 Chicago White Sox (1)
2004 Boston Red Sox (4, WC)
2003 Florida Marlins (4, wC)
1st seed winning almost half the championships is pretty good. 2nd and 3rd seeds (i.e. other division winners) winning close to 1/3rd of the time is not bad. Lower seeds winning 25% of the time is much too high.
Here I would implement unfairness: whenever a division winner matches a wild card team it goes from 4-3 series to a 5-2 series (i.e. division winner gets five home games). You still get 12 playoff teams and in baseball winning on the road is not as hard as in basketball so 5-2 is not impossible for the 2 team.
Seeds Winning NBA Finals
Oct 10 2023
I was looking at the List of NBA Champions and wondering how well high-seeded teams dominate the championship. In the last 20 years (there are 8 seeds in each conference so two 1st seeds, two 2nd seeds, etc.):
1st seed = 10 championships
2nd seed = 5 championships
3rd seed = 5 championships
2004 Detroit Pistons (3)
2005 San Antonio Spurs (2)
2006 Miami Heat (2)
2007 San Antonio Spurs (3)
2008 Boston Celtics (1)
2009 Los Angeles Lakers (1)
2010 Los Angeles Lakers (1)
2011 Dallas Mavericks (3)
2012 Miami Heat (2)
2013 Miami Heat (1)
2014 San Antonio Spurs (1)
2015 Golden State Warriors (1)
2016 Cleveland Cavaliers (1)
2017 Golden State Warriors (1)
2018 Golden State Warriors (2)
2019 Toronto Raptors (2)
2020 Los Angeles Lakers (1)
2021 Milwaukee Bucks (3)
2022 Golden State Warriors (3)
2023 Denver Nuggets (1)
No 4th or lower seed in the last two decades. Looking farther back, Houston Rockets (6) won in 1995 and Boston Celtics (4) in 1969 though 1969 had only four seeds in each of the two divisions.
NBA is quite dominant in top seeds winning the championship and that's fine with me (if you work that hard to be a top seed then you should have a great chance to be champion). The question is what's the point of having more than four seeds? I guess besides money and fan excitement.
But I'm more in favor of less playoff teams, especially when teams already play 80+ games per season. Also, in 20 seasons I'd like one or two 4th seeds to win the championship and maybe cutting it out seeds 5-8 would help that (because in the second round #1 is often a bit more rested having an easy matchup vs #4 which probably had a battle vs #5).
1st seed = 10 championships
2nd seed = 5 championships
3rd seed = 5 championships
2004 Detroit Pistons (3)
2005 San Antonio Spurs (2)
2006 Miami Heat (2)
2007 San Antonio Spurs (3)
2008 Boston Celtics (1)
2009 Los Angeles Lakers (1)
2010 Los Angeles Lakers (1)
2011 Dallas Mavericks (3)
2012 Miami Heat (2)
2013 Miami Heat (1)
2014 San Antonio Spurs (1)
2015 Golden State Warriors (1)
2016 Cleveland Cavaliers (1)
2017 Golden State Warriors (1)
2018 Golden State Warriors (2)
2019 Toronto Raptors (2)
2020 Los Angeles Lakers (1)
2021 Milwaukee Bucks (3)
2022 Golden State Warriors (3)
2023 Denver Nuggets (1)
No 4th or lower seed in the last two decades. Looking farther back, Houston Rockets (6) won in 1995 and Boston Celtics (4) in 1969 though 1969 had only four seeds in each of the two divisions.
NBA is quite dominant in top seeds winning the championship and that's fine with me (if you work that hard to be a top seed then you should have a great chance to be champion). The question is what's the point of having more than four seeds? I guess besides money and fan excitement.
But I'm more in favor of less playoff teams, especially when teams already play 80+ games per season. Also, in 20 seasons I'd like one or two 4th seeds to win the championship and maybe cutting it out seeds 5-8 would help that (because in the second round #1 is often a bit more rested having an easy matchup vs #4 which probably had a battle vs #5).
Diary - Sep 30 to Oct 06 2023
Oct 07 2023
Sat Sep 30 2023
Sleep 0215 to 0715. 1 hour nap. (6 hours)
Sun Oct 01 2023
Sleep 0230 to 0930. 90 min nap. (8-1/2 hours)
Mon Oct 02 2023
Sleep 0400 to 1130. (7-1/2 hours)
Tue Oct 03 2023
Sleep 0345 to 1200. (8-1/4 hours)
Wed Oct 04 2023
Sleep 0330 to 1230. (9 hours)
Thu Oct 05 2023
Sleep 0515 to 1130. (6-1/4 hours)
Fri Oct 06 2023
Sleep 1245 to 1545. 1-/2 hour nap (4-1/2 hours)
Sleep 0215 to 0715. 1 hour nap. (6 hours)
- Last day of Twitch Subtember I donated 90 gift subs. Next month I will try to donate 0.
Sun Oct 01 2023
Sleep 0230 to 0930. 90 min nap. (8-1/2 hours)
- 49ers beat the Cardinals fairly handily to go 4-0. Next week at home vs Cowboys should be a tough game.
Mon Oct 02 2023
Sleep 0400 to 1130. (7-1/2 hours)
- Cleaning up my VMWare Fusion VMs. Decided to make a VM for each macOS version.
- 10.7 is the oldest install you can download via Mist, which uses Apple servers.
- There is no 10.9 install so couldn’t do that one.
- 10.10 running latest security update kills kb/mouse input.
- 10.11 install kills kb/mouse input so I had to skip it.
- 14.0 not yet supported as a guest OS.
Tue Oct 03 2023
Sleep 0345 to 1200. (8-1/4 hours)
- C3 and Steph have been at Legoland (San Diego) since Friday. This noon looks like they're at the airport waiting for the flight back to the Bay Area.
Wed Oct 04 2023
Sleep 0330 to 1230. (9 hours)
- Checking to see macOS 14.0 Sonoma compatibility.
- CrossOver needs v23.5 released a week ago.
- VMWare Fusion 13.0.2 should work fine.
- No longer have to worry about Cisco VPN client which always seemed to take Cisco months to update.
Thu Oct 05 2023
Sleep 0515 to 1130. (6-1/4 hours)
- Budget Committee meeting.
- Upgraded to macOS 14.0 Sonoma because I want to try the Reminders feature where you can drag a reminder between columns/sections of a list which graphically groups reminders.
Fri Oct 06 2023
Sleep 1245 to 1545. 1-/2 hour nap (4-1/2 hours)
- Yes! TV.app on macOS 14.0 Sonoma has a Show Sports Score toggle. Unfortunately you can’t increase playback speed so not quite there yet.
- Sonoma Dock folder now bounces if a file is saved which is quite annoying with applications that auto-save (e.g. I have the Numbers folder in the Dock so when I’m working on a spreadsheet Numbers is auto-saving every minute or whatever so the Dock icon is constantly bouncing).
- The old way of disabling bouncing doesn’t seem to work so I guess they changed that pref key name.
Warehouse 23 GURPS Sale
Oct 05 2023
Steve Jackson Games' in-house store, Warehouse 23 is running a rare GURPS sale at 20% off sale with $100+ in purchases from Oct 05 to Oct 09. A good time to catch up on my collection. Dates are when they were added to W23. For split prices it's either original and current (because they raised most prices by a dollar a couple years ago) or original and best previous sale.
SJG 31-4001 GURPS Character Assistant v5 ($16)
Aug 2020 SJG 37-0160 GURPS Magic: The Least of Spells ($6/$7)
Oct 2020 SJG 30-6514 GURPS Classic: Grimoire ($8/$9)
Jan 2021 SJG 37-0365 GURPS Furries ($8/$9)
Feb 2021 SJG 37-1659 GURPS Magical Styles: Horror Magic ($5/$6)
Apr 2021 SJG 37-0366 How to Be a GURPS GM: Managing Expectations ($5/$6)
Sep 2021 SJG 37-1751 GURPS Fantasy Folk: Elves ($6/$7)
Dec 2021 SJG 37-0665 GURPS Hot Spots: Sriwijaya ($12/$10.44)
Feb 2022 SJG 37-1675 GURPS Infinite Worlds: Nightreign ($11)
Mar 2022 SJG 37-1192 GURPS Horror: Beyond the Pale ($4)
May 2022 SJG 30-6061 GURPS Classic: Discworld Also ($13/$11.31)
This pretty much both catches me up an is exactly $100 before discount. Three more items I can add (at least for Mar 2023 releases and older are not on sale):
Nov 2021 SJG 37-0377 GURPS Action 9: The City ($6/$7)
Apr 2022 SJG 31-1014 Dungeon Fantasy Companion 3 ($25) [Print, no PDF version]
Nov 2022 SJG 37-1733 GURPS Vehicles: War Galleys ($11)
So adding those three it's $114.40 + shipping for the one book.
Oh, Dungeon Fantasy Companion 3 is PDF too. Or was this a PDF-only purchase? I'm confused since it's very clear when you buy a PDF and less clear if it's a physical product.
Darn, already had SJG 37-1192 GURPS Horror: Beyond the Pale.
SJG 31-4001 GURPS Character Assistant v5 ($16)
Aug 2020 SJG 37-0160 GURPS Magic: The Least of Spells ($6/$7)
Oct 2020 SJG 30-6514 GURPS Classic: Grimoire ($8/$9)
Jan 2021 SJG 37-0365 GURPS Furries ($8/$9)
Feb 2021 SJG 37-1659 GURPS Magical Styles: Horror Magic ($5/$6)
Apr 2021 SJG 37-0366 How to Be a GURPS GM: Managing Expectations ($5/$6)
Sep 2021 SJG 37-1751 GURPS Fantasy Folk: Elves ($6/$7)
Dec 2021 SJG 37-0665 GURPS Hot Spots: Sriwijaya ($12/$10.44)
Feb 2022 SJG 37-1675 GURPS Infinite Worlds: Nightreign ($11)
Mar 2022 SJG 37-1192 GURPS Horror: Beyond the Pale ($4)
May 2022 SJG 30-6061 GURPS Classic: Discworld Also ($13/$11.31)
This pretty much both catches me up an is exactly $100 before discount. Three more items I can add (at least for Mar 2023 releases and older are not on sale):
Nov 2021 SJG 37-0377 GURPS Action 9: The City ($6/$7)
Apr 2022 SJG 31-1014 Dungeon Fantasy Companion 3 ($25) [Print, no PDF version]
Nov 2022 SJG 37-1733 GURPS Vehicles: War Galleys ($11)
So adding those three it's $114.40 + shipping for the one book.
Oh, Dungeon Fantasy Companion 3 is PDF too. Or was this a PDF-only purchase? I'm confused since it's very clear when you buy a PDF and less clear if it's a physical product.
Darn, already had SJG 37-1192 GURPS Horror: Beyond the Pale.
GOG Sci-Fi Sale
Oct 03 2023
GOG is doing a science fiction sale so what's interesting?
$5 or less
The Long Journey Home ($1, 90% off) Three years later price is down to a third so 90% off is just $1. Your space ship is on the wrong side of the galaxy trying to make it back to Earth. You have a crew of 4 (from 10 choices) and randomly generated planets and quests in a rogue-like experience. (Oops, already own this on Steam.)
Xeno Crisis ($5, 75% off) Twin-stick 1- or 2-player arena shooter reminiscent of old arcade games, though with 8-bit graphics. Looks like it'd be fun with two people and controllers.
$10 or less
Mars Base ($8, 60% off) Mars colony 8-bit graphics crafting game. Plant stuff, craft stuff, explore outside the colony to find stuff so you can craft better things. The one review is not flattering but I like the look and feel.
$10.01 or more
VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action ($10, 33% off) You're a bartender in a story-based game where the branches depend on the drinks you serve. This is a seven year-old game that I've eyed on and off over the years and surprising it's still $15 retail.
$5 or less
The Long Journey Home ($1, 90% off) Three years later price is down to a third so 90% off is just $1. Your space ship is on the wrong side of the galaxy trying to make it back to Earth. You have a crew of 4 (from 10 choices) and randomly generated planets and quests in a rogue-like experience. (Oops, already own this on Steam.)
Xeno Crisis ($5, 75% off) Twin-stick 1- or 2-player arena shooter reminiscent of old arcade games, though with 8-bit graphics. Looks like it'd be fun with two people and controllers.
$10 or less
Mars Base ($8, 60% off) Mars colony 8-bit graphics crafting game. Plant stuff, craft stuff, explore outside the colony to find stuff so you can craft better things. The one review is not flattering but I like the look and feel.
$10.01 or more
VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action ($10, 33% off) You're a bartender in a story-based game where the branches depend on the drinks you serve. This is a seven year-old game that I've eyed on and off over the years and surprising it's still $15 retail.