Big City versus Small City

On December 26th, I wanted to stop at Walmart and Sam's Club to pick up a few things. While driving home from Russiaville, Indiana, I thought it would be convenient to stop in Greenwood and get the shopping out of the way. However, as I drove past Walmart and Sam's Club in Greenwood, I saw parking lots packed with cars as if December 26th were Black Friday. It looked like a madhouse, so I kept driving, wasting a few minutes in Greenwood.

Instead, I did my shopping in Columbus. I had to go a little out of my way, but not by much. The parking situation was much more manageable.

I used to live a block from Greenwood and went to the city almost daily. One of the many reasons I moved back to my hometown of Columbus, Indiana, was that I was tired of all the traffic issues in Greenwood.

My point is that living in a small city seems more manageable than living in a big city and has far fewer traffic problems. Columbus has almost everything I need and is easier to deal with as I get older.

--

Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

15 Restaurants Only Baby Boomers Remember

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX_SSExltmM

Some People Have an "Inner Monologue"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmTMU39tPgM

@john2001plus
0 seconds ago
When I was in High School a teacher claimed that people think in words, which might have fit her point of view since it was an English class.  However, I didn't believe it. I did not think using words.  I thought by visualizing things in my mind.

I was also not very interested in interacting with other people back then.  I have a loner personality.  However, 45 years later, I have spent a lifetime interacting with people, so my thoughts are like conversations with others. I imagine explaining or justifying my thoughts to others.  This is the opposite of how I used to visualize my thoughts.

Best Cyber Monday streaming deals

https://www.tomsguide.com/entertainment/streaming/best-cyber-monday-streaming-deals-save-big-on-hulu-disney-plus-peacock-max-sling-and-more

I signed up for Max and Disney+ with Hulu.

Streaming Services

I allowed to expire Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, and a two week promotional subscription to Prime.

I'm waiting to see what deals I can get on Black Friday. I don't want to load up on streaming services that I rarely watch, but a couple would be nice.

I would like to get Max again. If they offered me another three month discount like they did before I would take it.

If Amazon were to offer a year of Prime at half off I would take it. Any discount on Prime might be worth it because of the free shipping that goes with it.

Netflix did not offer any discounts in recent years, but if they did offer a discount I would consider making it my main streaming service.

Disney+ and Hulu don't have enough new material which I want to watch to make it worth the full price. However, I got them so ridiculously cheap (with commercials) last Black Friday that it was a good deal. It was $3 a month for the pair.

Last night just before my Hulu subscription expired, I got half way through Alien Romulus. This is an interesting movie. What I saw is not as scary as the originals, but more of a sci-Fi drama.

Best wishes,

John Coffey

Older chess players I knew

I looked up some Utah chess players I knew.

Unfortunately, Carmelo Punzalan passed away in 2017.

Adolf Stuhmer passed away in 2022.

I am constantly reminded of how mortal we are.  Many people once part of my life are no longer with us.

--

Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Eight year old Facebook post

The theory of left or right brain dominance is considered a myth, but even if it is a myth, it illustrates that people have different ways of thinking, where some people are more logical thinkers, good with math and science, and others are more artistic, subjective, and emotional.

I once took a personality test that claimed that I had 70% left brain dominance. This was in no way a surprise. I am into science, history, math and chess.
I see many assertions on here and elsewhere that seem to me to not have a sound logical basis. This is especially true of political posts in the last few weeks. I find myself reacting to things that seem totally outrageous, but reacting to these things is mostly a waste of my time. It can be entertaining, but it doesn't lead anywhere because I am never going to convince people who are already firm in their beliefs.

I have come to believe that a great many people and I will never agree on great many things because our brains are wired differently. This doesn't necessarily make one person right and the other wrong, but it does mean that we see the world very differently.

I think that politics is driven by fear. Each side has completely different things that they are afraid of. Fear is an extremely powerful motivator, therefore it takes away people's ability to be objective. Politics is mostly a reaction to things that people are against, because if people were perfectly happy, they wouldn't need politics.

Best wishes,

John Coffey

LAWYER: Congress FORCES Breath Tests for ALL Drivers?!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwaVO1sPFi8

My Career Choice Analysis

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Q2ApLnAsG_I

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/jaJnxQ4on4g

How NOT to Land a Parachute

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-qj4h2Gl7YU

In the past, I wanted to try skydiving, but not anymore.  I'm getting older and it is too risky.

I have heard that in parachute training they make you fall from increasing heights until you can fall and land from a height of 16 feet.  That's a pretty big drop.  According to the laws of physics, you would be traveling at 32 feet per second.

1982 Chess Program

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oNM9xQG1jw&t=998s

@john2001plus
3 hours ago (edited)
I am an Expert level chess player.  In 1982 I was not as highly rated, maybe low class B.  

The dedicated chess computers in the 1970s started with a 4 MHZ Z80, but were extremely weak mostly due to poor programming.  The Spectrum uses a 3.58 Mhz Z80.

In the 1980s dedicated chess computers switched to the 6502 processor which can do 8-bit operations twice as fast as a Z80, starting at 2 Mhz and working up from there.  In 1982 they were still not very impressive but were getting better.   They didn't become competitive with me until 1983 running at 3 MHZ, and I think the Fidelity brand was using some variation of the Sargon program.  

Sometime in 1984, there was a breakthrough with the 4 Mhz 6502 Novag Super Constellation (programmed by Dave Kittinger who would later do the Chessmaster 2000 and 3000 PC programs) which was ranked at the same low-Expert level that I am now.  It played better than me even though I had moved up to low Class A in early 1985.

Sometime around 1986, I entered a contest from a British Spectrum magazine where if you could solve a chess problem printed in the magazine you would be entered to win the latest and greatest Spectrum chess program.   I sent a postcard to England to enter the contest, and months later I got a tape of the game in the mail.  I was able to beat the program.  (I had purchased a Spectrum ROM cartridge to be able to play Spectrum games.)

How do Video Game Graphics Work?

I knew the basics, but most of this is quite advanced.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8YtdC8mxTU

The computational power required is enormous.  Graphics cards use hundreds of watts of power.  (My mini-computer has a processor with a TDP of only 55 watts.)

In the 1980s, I tried to do simple 3D graphics on 8-bit and 16-bit computers.   Since I had at most 16 colors to work with, no advanced shading was possible.

On the Timex Sinclair 1000, which was an 8-bit 16K back-and-white computer, I managed to create a low-res black-and-white 3D rotating object stored in the computer's memory.  I then could display the rotating object.  It was an impressive effect for such a simple machine.  

I accomplished similar effects on the more advanced Timex Sinclair 2068 color computer.  I also did some simple 3D effects on the Atari ST computer.

The 8-bit machines were capable of about 500 floating point calculations per second.  The Xbox Series X console is capable of 12 trillion per second.  The advanced graphics card featured in the video is capable of 33 trillion.

Why is "The Empire Strikes Back" considered the best Star Wars film? (Star Wars Discussion)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbUdTONl8MY

@john2001plus

0 seconds ago
I had just barely graduated High School when I drove to Indianapolis to see TESB at a big theater with a large curved screen.  I sat in the front row.  At one point my head had to turn quite a ways to follow a ship flying across the big curved screen.  It felt almost 3D.

I grew up in the 1970s.  The country was in a state of malaise for the entire decade.  We had suffered through the Vietnam War, Watergate, the oil crisis, stagnation, and inflation.  China and Russia were evil empires trying to take over their neighbors.  

Star Wars was a beacon of hope.  It said that good could stand against evil.  The Empire Strikes Back became my favorite movie and it still is.

I'm slowly turning into an old man but I am still a die-hard Star Wars fan.

Amazon.com: eufy L60 Robot Vacuum

This vacuum has some of the best online reviews, so I got it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CDB56ZWV

I wrote the following review:

I'm Impressed.

Pros:

1. The navigation and obstacle avoidance is the best I have seen.  The vacuum moves faster than my Neato vacuums.

2.  It did a good job of cleaning my floors.

3.  The setup was easy with the app.  It will first map the entire house without cleaning.  It does a good job of mapping the house.

4.  You can select individual rooms for cleaning.

5.  The app is very good, although some features like scheduling and other options are hard to find and are not documented in the manual.  This was not a problem once I figured it out.

6.  You can define "no-go" areas, and I found this useful.

Cons:

1.  My unit was not shipped with a user manual and should have been.  I called the company and they mailed me a manual.  However, I was able to figure everything out by downloading the app which is for the most part easy to use.

2.  The cleaning is not perfect; it can take several vacuums to get everything.  It has minor problems in tight areas like corners, baseboards, and furniture.  However, I had the same problem with other robot vacuums so it is not a big a big deal.  This is why people recommend vacuuming every day, but I scheduled mine for four days a week to preserve the life of the vacuum.  (All my robot vacuums have had a lifespan of 1 to 3 years before needing repair or replacement.  I have owned several over the last 24 years.)

3.  I had to do the room mapping twice.  For some reason, it thought that part of the house was inaccessible.  I moved some obstacles that shouldn't have been a problem and re-did the map.

4.  The dust bin is not as large as the Neato brand.  For this reason, I have decided to order the self-emptying base.  I recommend spending the extra $100 and get this model.

5.  The battery life is not good enough to do my 1500-square-foot house in one pass.  After doing part of the house, it is supposed to go back to the base station, recharge, and then do the rest of the house.  However, this feature wasn't turned on by default and it took me a while to figure out how to turn it on.

5.  If the unit has to charge more often, then the battery will probably need replacement sooner.

6.  The vacuum is smaller and half the weight of the Neato brand.  I don't know if this is good or bad or what this means for the durability or the battery life.  I think that the Neato might be better, but more expensive, and be warned that Neato has gone out of business, and all the models I owned broke down afterr a couple of years.  You can still order their vacuums on Amazon.

7.  I don't like the way it mapped the rooms.  My living room, dining room, family room, and kitchen are all connected, and the device mapped them as one big room.  It is not a big deal, but I would prefer to have these as separate rooms.  I would like a feature where I can override the default mapping and define the rooms.

Conclusion:

This "budget model" is a great robot vacuum for relatively low cost.  It seems very efficient for its lighter weight and slightly smaller size.   Again, I recommend spending the extra $100 and getting the self-emptying station.

They’re one of the oldest Chinese restaurants in America

https://youtube.com/shorts/SXBO9-dA5TM?si=RVKY3iUej32LtC_8

It is a pity this is not In Columbus, Indiana. It is three hours away in Columbus, Ohio. I am tempted to try it, especially in the very rare event that I would have a need to go to Ohio. I bought one of my computers in Cincinnati five years ago, which is halfway to the restaurant.

Chris Cuomo TELLS THE TRUTH About The CORRUPT DNC Deceiving VOTERS

https://youtu.be/NTH-DKTp-x4?si=Ve_4PYKiVE9yaiKb


Best wishes,

John Coffey

Beyond The Mind's Eye (Complete Film)

Back in the early 1990s, a series of films called "Beyond the Mind's Eye" featured the latest in stunning computer graphics.  Although it is dated today, I was impressed enough to buy the videotape.  The sequence from 13:55  to 15:49 impressed the hell out of me.

This New Super Nintendo Game Changes EVERYTHING For Retro Games...

They have taken a 30 year old Super Nintendo game that I did some work on, and added a more powerful coprocessor to the cartridge to make it play better. The original version used Nintendo's SFX Chip on the cartridge to create 3D graphics, but it wasn't powerful enough to do the game well.

https://youtu.be/8lor1zFo6e4?si=AwGtaneNHGsx7kIw

This New Super Nintendo Game Changes EVERYTHING For Retro Games...

https://youtu.be/8lor1zFo6e4?si=AwGtaneNHGsx7kIw

Shave and a Haircut

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/jUVWn3csvSw

I knew the name because it was mentioned in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" which I saw 35 years ago.

This other video is interesting...

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1RUAe32TBPM

Star Trek's James Doohan Rare TV Commercial for Toyota, Circa 1968

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeEqEeb2nbc

I briefly met James Doohan when he spoke at Indiana University Southeast in the 1980s.

Test Drive Le Mans (Game Boy Color Gameplay)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgmLZWQPyl0

@john2001plus
0 seconds ago
I worked on some 2D Test Drive games for Gameboy Color.  I am surprised to see a 3D version.  I don't know how this was achieved technically.

Test Drive Off-Road 3 (GBC) - see the RUMBLE PAK!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVfr0kttfE0&t=179s

@john2001plus
17 hours ago
I am listed as the lead programmer on this game, which I only barely remember because it was 25 years ago and I worked on many different projects.

The sound seems annoying.   The game seems dated to me.  We jokingly referred to these games as bathtub races because they were 2D.  The hardware was too primitive to do 3D.

In the video game industry at the time, the emphasis was on getting projects done as quickly as possible to make the Christmas market which really starts in the fall.  It takes time to manufacture a game, so you had to finish during summer. If you didn't get a game done on time then it was a financial disaster.

So consequently, quality was a secondary consideration.  We did the best we could, but if we had more time I'm sure that we could have made better games.



@ZackGaz
24 minutes ago
Whoa! You made this game and watched my video!? Super cool. Any chance you can DM on Twitter or email? I would really like to ask/interview you regarding GB development, highlighting the GBC Rumble Pak. I am really curious to learn more.

Franklin Planner

Here in Indiana, I got a piece of junk mail from the Franklin Planner, 2250 Parkway Blvd, Salt Lake City, UT.   The company I worked for temporarily rented office space from them and my cubicle was in that building for a few months.

--
Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Burger King to launch $5 value meal

https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/burger-king-launch-5-value-meal-ahead-mcdonalds-bloomberg-news-reports-2024-05-23/


Best wishes,

John Coffey

Joe Rogan : The SKI Problem in USA 😳

https://youtube.com/shorts/xwTgjvnNkxM?si=YdrvP_4ANPdVjV-u

I used to see someone every year with a cast and I would ask them what happened, and I always would get a one word answer, "Skiing."

The FREE ‘Never Obsolete’ PC from 2000! eMachines eTower 566ir

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQo0yOqOb_4

My mother had an E Machines computer.  I wasn't impressed by it, but at the time it was adequate for accessing the Internet.  However, if a person still has one of these old machines, there are many old video games that can be played on it.

The state of computers around the year 2000 was interesting.  People were buying their first computers to access the Internet.  Before this, I had abandoned my Frankenstein computer I had built up a piece at a time and purchased a 400 Mhz computer, which quickly became obsolete.  In the early 2000's I purchased a roughly 2 GHz single-core computer which seemed amazingly powerful at the time.  In 2005, I upgraded to a dual-core computer 2.4 GHz computer which also seemed like a big step up.

I purchased an i7 iMac in 2010 for around $2,000.  This was one of the more powerful computers on the market but it would seem sluggish by today's standards.  It had only slightly better performance than my old outdated laptop.   A couple of years ago I gave the almost dead computer to a repair shop for parts.

Steven Spielberg is Lucas' ride or die?

Steven Spielberg has an Arcade1up Star Wars in his home, like me.  The other arcade machine in his home is an original Dig Dug arcade game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQAOn7x8Q6Q

Re: Rare Golden Ship Galaga Glitch

Jeff,

1.  There is a bug in the original arcade Galaga where a player can get the "bees" to stop firing missiles.   Although this is part of the game, apparently it is considered a "cheat" and disallowed in high score records.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtYQB3JOFoc

If the player kills all the bees except for two on the left side and then doesn't kill them for 7 to 20 minutes, usually around 20 minutes, then all the bees will stop firing for the remainder of the game.  I have been able to reproduce this on my Arcade1up and my PC.

This works because there is a table in memory for all the missiles.  There might only be 8 entries in this table.  The table size limits how many missiles can be on the screen simultaneously.

A horizontal value of zero in the table means the missile is inactive.  The way the coordinates work in the game is that a horizontal value of zero is slightly off the left edge of the screen.

If you don't shoot the bees for 20 minutes, they will fire a bunch of missiles, and occasionally a few missiles will be created with a random horizontal coordinate of zero.  Even though these missiles are "active", the code ignores them.  Eventually, the table fills up with missiles that the code ignores.

I think that I heard that later versions of Galaga fixed this bug, although I am not sure.   I wish that they had kept it in.  It is a nice easter egg.

2.  Galaga has a method of doubling your firepower by letting your ship be captured and then rescuing it.  I usually avoid this because it at least doubles the vulnerability of losing a ship.  However, I just watched some YouTube videos where people going for a high score get double ships.  The way they survive and not lose one of their ships is to shoot most of the bees as they enter the screen.  The small number of bees that survive are easier to deal with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLFwbIGni-k

3.  The video hardware has a large number of sprites that can be displayed on the screen simultaneously.  This was impressive for its time.  However, the number of sprites still has a limit.  

The game allows the player with double ships to fire up to four missiles at a time, but reportedly this was too many sprites.  So the game uses a single sprite to display two missiles, and four missiles are displayed with just two sprites.  

As a former video game programmer, I find this interesting because I am not sure what happens if just one of the two missiles in a single sprite hits an enemy.  Do both missiles disappear, or do both missiles keep going up the screen, or does the game switch to a sprite with just one missile?  It is hard to tell by watching the game because the usual case is that both missiles hit an enemy.  I am going to test this.

4.  I am also wondering how the NES port was able to display so many sprites.  The NES has a limit of 8 sprites on the same horizontal line, so if it exceeds this there might be some sprite flicker.  I am going to test this as well.

--

Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

On Mon, May 6, 2024 at 11:03 PM Jeff Wires wrote:

I love Galaga and never knew this! This is just giving me more to talk about on the show!

Appreciate it!

-Jeff

On Sat, May 4, 2024 at 4:13 PM John Coffey wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_58poXHxOg&t=877s

The golden ship reemerges when the game switches back to the second player.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_58poXHxOg&t=947s

The enemy ship switched to the wrong characters for that sprite but kept the same color palette.  If we assume that ship type is a single byte value, then that byte was somehow overwritten with a bad value, hypothetically a zero or a one which could be the value for the player ship.  Errors like this could be caused by a memory overflow where a value was written outside the bounds of a table or the limited stack memory was exceeded.

I learned that if Player 1 exceeds 999,999 points, it will not display the millions in the score.  It is not clear if the player's score still counts as being over a million, or if it goes back to zero.  However, the second player does not have this problem and his score can reach 8 digits.

The Biggest Arcade in the Northwest - Next Level in Hillsboro, OR

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKOoFgVIkE4