Randy Linden Interview (THE MAN BEHIND DOOM SNES)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSlmVbAM_kA&t=4473s

@john2001plus
1:14:31   I am grateful that Randy keeps bringing up my name in these interviews.  My role was minor since I worked on many projects.  I don't remember specifically editing levels, but it was so long ago that I don't recall.  I know that we were trying to reduce the size of the game to fit on a cartridge.  I believe that I was involved in massaging the data, which is something I did on multiple games, especially Dirt Trax FX.

How Often Should You Wash Your Bed Sheets?

https://www.glamour.com/story/how-often-should-you-change-your-bed-sheets

I think that it would vary with different people. I can get pretty sweaty, so I like to wash my sheets about every five days.

Family Affair - Johnny Whitaker

I grew up watching this show. Brian Keith Sebastian Cabot, and Johnny Whitaker also appeared in other shows and movies. I was a fan of Johnny Whitaker who was roughly the same age as me. He played the titular character Tom Sawyer in a 1973 movie that got good reviews.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Affair

I assumed that people would be aware of these actors, but two of my friends who were both born in 1971 never heard of the show or the actors. It was before their time.

I was a fan of many shows from the late 60s and early 70s.

Best wishes,

John Coffey

Black Friday

The last time I tried to go to a Black Friday sale, it was so crowded that I couldn't navigate inside the store. Then I went home and just ordered what I wanted online. This is what everyone should do.

Best wishes,

John Coffey

Minisforum UM790 Pro 7940HS Mini PC

My new (mini) computer has impressed me so far. On paper, it runs five times faster than my 2017 iMac. Although certain apps, like chess-playing programs, don't run five times faster (because adding more cores does not produce a linear improvement), the computer is a multitasking beast. Not only does it have 8 processor cores, but hyperthreading gives it 16 logical cores. I have tried to slow it down by having 14 cores doing computationally intensive tasks, and the computer handles it with no problem.

This is a different experience than my 2017 iMac which would slow to a crawl if I tried to do something computationally intensive on all four cores. (I'm not sure if some of this improvement is due to Windows 11. I noticed that Windows 10 uses a lot of CPU power just for the Operating System and so far that is not the case with Windows 11.)

I've seen some evidence of thermal throttling if I push the processor, but it is not bad. The fan can get a little noisy. Hypothetically, if the same processor were in a bigger case it could have a better cooling system and maybe be overclocked.

It might be a different experience if I were gaming which is one of the features of the Ryzen 9 7940hs processor, because it has the graphics cores built into it. There is no need for a separate graphics card, which makes the computer cheaper, but it will not be as good as a $1200 to $1500 gaming computer.

I saved $60 by ordering it from Ali Express (in China), but then I had to wait five weeks for it to get here. Now the manufacturer has a Halloween sale with $60 off, but the company is also in China. However, Amazon also has it listed for $60 off.

https://store.minisforum.com/products/minisforum-um790-pro?variant=43865372786933

5 MB HD

The Bare Necessities (Just for fun.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BH-Rxd-NBo

Slow Windows 10/Minisforum UM790 Pro

Has Windows 10 gotten slower lately? I noticed the same thing with Mac OS. This could be due to security updates, which put more burden on the computer. In addition, Windows Defender sometimes runs in the background making the computer slower.

In late May I had problems with my 2017 iMac and had to reinstall MacOS and Windows 10. During the repair process, I used my somewhat slow laptop as my main computer, but I was impressed at how well it ran Windows. However, I tried the laptop the other day, and it seemed sluggish. I also noticed that the iMac was sluggish.

Fortunately, I recently bought a new mini-computer. It uses the recently released 4-nanometer AMD 7940hs processor with a whopping 8 cores and 16 threads. Compared to my other computers, it is ridiculously fast. This is also my first computer that uses SSD for storage. SSDs are very fast and have been around for a while, but they became much more affordable this year.

I waited for the computer to go on sale and ordered it from China to save money. However, I had to wait 5 weeks for it to ship from China. I just noticed that it is on sale on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C7V29HBQ?th=1

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Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Memories

Although it is hard to know for sure, I think that my long-term memory is extremely good. I remember details from decades ago. I am astonished by the passage of time because events from the 60s, 70s, and 80s don't seem that long ago to me.

My mother passed away a week ago. I have a ton of good memories of her, and this comforts me a little.

Best wishes,

John Coffey

My mother's funeral was Saturday

I tried to send this email from my phone yesterday, but neither the phone nor Gmail has a record of it.  It is like the phone had a glitch and deleted the email.

My mother's funeral was on Saturday.  It went well.  

It was a fitting service for someone as nice as her.  She was a kind and caring person who I loved deeply.  I hated to see this happen to her.  

I'm coping with the loss.  Almost everyone has to deal with the death of their parents.

--
Best wishes,

John Coffey

Obituary information for Geneva Coffey Belding

https://www.collinsfuneralhome.net/obituaries/Geneva-Coffey-Belding?obId=29571272

5 Grammar Rules to Forget

Interesting.  The first one is a myth going back to the 19th century.

I've struggled with #5.

https://www.wordgenius.com/grammar-rules-to-break/Xr0yWBPAJQAG8xAr

Diamond Mike – Timex/Sinclair Computers

This is a videogame I wrote in 1985.  I thought that it was lost forever.  I had given away my Timex Sinclair stuff to my cousin when I moved to Utah in 1993.  I wish that I had kept it.  She said that eventually the computer died.

I contacted the website manager and asked him to look out for the game. He not only found a copy but sent me the tape from 38 years ago!

He made a downloadable online version.  I tried to run it using an emulator.  With the emulator, I was having trouble getting the controls to work.

https://www.timexsinclair.com/product/diamond-mike/

The Atari ST version I wrote in 1986 looks better but is essentially the same game.  I have a copy of this, but no hardware to run it on.

I made money on this stuff in the mid-1980s but eventually had to get a real job.

DF Retro: The Making of Doom on Super NES - The Original 'Impossible Port'...?

@john2001plus
34 minutes ago 
19:07 "More Romero, less Coffey." 

Randy said that I edited levels and did game testing, but it was so long ago that I literally don't remember any of the details. I have since worked on many projects and for different companies. Video game companies have a habit of going out of business, so I ended up working for a major military contractor and eventually retired from there.  In my retirement, I'm trying to learn app programming. 

If we edited Doom levels, I don't remember how we did that. I do remember being a Doom fanatic. I still love the game. 

What I think I remember is that we were trying to edit the levels to save space to fit on a 2 MB cartridge, but ID shot this down. I could be wrong. 

I was impressed that Randy was able to port the game to the SNES. 

The company we worked for was tight on space.  My office was a former supply closet, which didn't bother me.  All I needed was a table and a computer.

My 7940hs computer order

The problem with trying to order from Ali Express to save money is that they can slow to deliver the products. My past purchases took between 2.5 to 5 weeks to arrive.

I ordered this computer four weeks ago today. They claimed that they were offering a guaranteed on time delivery of a week ago.

My computer order is delayed (due to COVID?)

This is what I get for ordering from China.  I ordered from Ali Express to save some money. 

However, the manufacturer is in China anyway.  I could have ordered from the manufacturer and still faced the same delays.

I ordered this computer 23 days ago. The estimated delivery day was September 12th. There has been no tracking information, although the Ali Express app claims that the computer is still in China and that there are delays.

Read

Do you have any information about if the computer has left China or when it will be delivered?

Read

This was advertised as "Guaranteed On Time Delivery." This led me to believe that the delivery would take 3 weeks.

Read

04:50

发货提醒客户好评： Hi Dear, We send your order out earlier and update tracking number already. Due to serious COVID-19 epidemic in Shenzhen and Hongkong, transit and tracking info updating will be delayed. Thanks for your patience and cooperation. Hope you can give us 5 stars feedback with pictures if you are happy with our product. Please contact us if you have any problems before leaving negative feedback. We will serve you to satisfaction. Thanks. Best regards

Computer Ordered

Ali Express has a sale that started last night.  This computer usually sells for $700.

I am buying another computer because this new model has a new 4-nanometer chip that is five times faster than my 2017 iMac.  For some tasks like compiling code, my iMac seems slow.  The new computer uses an AMD APU that has the graphics built into the CPU.  This makes it just good enough for playing games without having to buy a graphics card costing hundreds of dollars.

I already bought a 27-inch 1440P monitor to use with this computer, which I got off of Facebook Marketplace for $50.  I had to drive all the way to Noblesville to get the monitor.

I have been wanting a powerful AMD APU ever since new video game systems came out in 2019 featuring powerful custom AMD APUs.  It took them this long to come out with a powerful AMD APU for home computers.

When I Landed In America I Understood That We Never Had A Chance

I found the story of this German POW very compelling.   I was so caught up in his story that I listened to the end, which had a nice finish.  That's about 6 hours of audio. 

This starts as the 11th video of a 16-video playlist.  However, parts 13, 14, and 15 drag on a bit as they talk about his life as a POW.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkUvk9SN3Rs&list=PLyuEmb1VavZARAG13NojLWW1yBVb-E4j7&index=11

Re: The tale of four displays

BTW, it only took me about 5 hours to sell the unwanted monitor on Facebook Marketplace.

The tale of four displays

I bought both used computer monitors with the intention of comparing them and selling one.

The 4K monitor appears to have more washed out colors. Faces are more pale. The Star Wars crawl is yellow orange on the 1440p monitor, but pure yellow on the 4K monitor.

The color on the 1440P is closer to my 5K iMac display, which is reportedly a high quality display, and has a slightly better viewing angle than the 4K monitor.

I had all three displays playing the same movie at the same time.


So I just compared the cheap 40 inch TV that I originally purchased for my Mom and stepdad, but I am now using as my TV. It appears to have the same washed out color range as the 4K monitor.

I would have never known the difference had I not compared these side by side.

This makes my idea of using a cheap TV as a computer monitor look bad. The color quality might not matter as much for watching television, but depending upon what you do with it, I think that it matters more for a computer monitor.


Best wishes,

John Coffey

Missed Amazon Prime Day TV deal

During Prime Days, Amazon had this special deal that was invitation only. You had to sign up to be invited. The deal was for a 43 inch Amazon Fire smart 4K TV at $99. Of course, quantities were limited.

I'm kicking myself for not getting the deal.

According to the specs and reviews, the latency and color accuracy of the TV was a little less than ideal for use as a monitor, but I felt that it was good enough. I don't think that something like a 20 millisecond latency is going to be much of a problem.

I like the idea of having a 43 inch 4K monitor that is also a TV.

It would have saved me much trouble that I recently went to in order to buy a couple of used (high-quality) monitors. The 4K 28-inch Samsung monitor I bought only has 1-millisecond latency.

During Prime Days I was not feeling the best, although I've been feeling better lately.

Best wishes,

John Coffey

Putting a Penny on John Wilkes Booth's Grave

https://youtube.com/shorts/3oFq6cqZJ3w?feature=share

Forty years ago I was complaining about how little one-cent coins were worth, comparing them to pocket lint, and wanting the country to get rid of them.   

Around 1968, my sister and I both bought two Hershey Kisses for a penny.  Today a package of 112 Hershey Kisses costs $7.44.  That's slightly less than inflation, but not sure what they would cost in small quantities. 

The American 1-cent coin is not technically a penny, except through popular usage.  We should just rename it to a penny. 

Penny wikipedia.org

Changes to Columbus Indiana

I was dreaming about the difference between Columbus fifty years ago when I was growing up here and now.

Back in the 1970s, Columbus had a population of 30,000 people.  Now it is roughly 50,000.

Fifty years ago the downtown area along Washington Street was a hub of retail activity.  Now it is a shell of its former self.  Many parts of downtown, including most of the former mall, have been taken over by Commins Engine Company.

Back in the 1970s and the mid-1960s, I lived close to downtown.

The other major retail area was 25th Street which is still partly true.  State Highway 46 used to follow 25th Street, but not anymore.  The current mall on 25th Street is almost dead and the city is spending millions to remodel it into a recreational center, whatever that is.

Today, the main retail area of Columbus is along US Highway 31, which is also called National Road.  It was also a retail area in the 1970s, but today a retail store needs to be close to National Road to survive.

Since the 1970s, Columbus has grown somewhat north and east, which makes National Road more relevant.  It has also grown west of Columbus on state highway 46.

--
Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Internet change

Tuesday’s Jumble

Lunar Lander (video game genre)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Lander_(video_game_genre)

This is still playable on one of my Arcade1ups despite a malfunctioning screen.  (I am looking into getting a replacement screen.)

Before the 1979 arcade game came out, I had seen a text-only BASIC version of the game and may have even written one myself.

Around 1979 to 1980, when I was a high school senior, a buddy of mine named Richard and I loved playing Space Wars (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Wars) against each other.   In 1980, he signed up to go into the Navy for six years, so we made a pact that after he got out of the Navy he and I would get together and play Space Wars again.

It is my understanding that most of either Lunar Lander or Space Wars arcade games were converted to Asteroid machines which were much more profitable.

Richard and I lost touch with each other.  There was almost no hope of us getting together to play a game that didn't exist anymore.   However, he now lives down the street from me.  I'm thinking of inviting him to see my home "arcade".

Arcade1up spinner modification

The new spinner will not work with the trackball unless I get this interface device which adds to the cost.  The spinner would work by itself on a game that didn't have a trackball, like a Tempest cabinet.  

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NKJ3SKH?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

I ordered this board yesterday and it is supposed to arrive today.

A couple of years ago, the person who makes these told me that I don't need the interface board.  He said that I could attach the spinner to the trackball.    However, the wires to the original (crummy) spinner are soldiered to the trackball control board.  If I had soldering skills I might be able to do it without the interface board.

I thought that I had to open up the spinner and this caused much delay in doing the upgrade.  I could not remove some of the screws and I had to enlist the help of my step-dad.  This has turned into a bigger project for something that I thought would be just plug-and-play.    I didn't need to do all this work if I just used the interface board.

--

Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Frankenstein computer

My friend Larry and I were talking about how both of us from 1995 to 1999 had Frankenstein computers that we kept upgrading piece by piece. Mine started out as a 486 33Mhz with absolutely no peripherals like a sound card or CD-ROM. At the time, it was all too costly. I updated the processor at least twice and kept buying peripherals as they became more affordable.

When CD-ROM drives first appeared they cost hundreds of dollars, and ones that could write CDs cost more.

Today a CD-ROM drive costs next to nothing.

I estimated that by the time I was done, I had spent $3,000 on my computer. By the year 2000, I had spent a fortune on it and it was already outdated. This felt like a big waste of money and I vowed to never do this again.

My new plan was just to buy a new computer every five years. By this point, computers came equipped with everything you need. I bought computers in 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2019. I only bought the last computer because the old one had been slowly dying for about a year.


Around 1989 or 1990, before I could afford a PC, I bought a dumb terminal and 150 baud modem so that I could dial into my work mainframe. (Faster modems were available, with 1200 baud being the best, but I bought used and outdated equipment because that was all that I could afford.)

I could type faster than the modem could transmit characters, but this gave me access to Usenet, which was an early form of text-only Internet. This was before 99.99% of the public had heard of the Internet. I used to read and post to the Star Trek and chess forums.

This was actually pretty entertaining.

Best wishes,

John Coffey

iMac LCD Inverter Replacement 2009

I am attempting to fix my 2009 iMac.  It is outdated, but it was a pretty good computer with a core-i7 processor that I think still has some value.  It has a display problem due to a bad inverter board.

One reason I am fixing this computer is that it has a nice 1440P display that can also be used as a display for other computers.  I tentatively planning on buying a very powerful mini-PC.

I ordered an inverter board for just $20.  The following video explains the installation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KXAZXdRVP0

Since I have to open the case, I am also upgrading the storage.  Getting an SSD should make a big improvement in the performance and make it feel more like a modern computer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO3QX6nUr3g

I have decided to use the roughly same parts that are used in this video because I know that they are likely to work.  I ordered a 960 GB Kingston SSD for just $40.

I debated on whether to get a newer, faster, and more costly SSD. The 2009 iMac uses Sata II instead of Sata III, and I read someplace that if you buy a Sata III drive, then you need to get one that is backward compatible.  The only SATA III drive that I could find that claimed backward compatibility was a 2 TB Samsung drive which was a good deal at $99.   However, I didn't want to spend the extra money in case this old computer runs into problems that I can't fix.  I would be throwing good money after bad.

As of this year, the cost of SSD drives is so low that regular hard drives are mostly obsolete.  For mass storage, you can get really large hard drives cheaper, but for everyday usage you are much better off going with an SSD.

Today’s Jumble

Just killing time at the cancer center.

Computer I want to buy: The Mac Mini Killer just got BETTER! - Minisforum @ Computex 2023

https://youtu.be/86RfmMqBgkM

Challenging Wordle

Therapist Reacts to UP and Grief

I just rewatched the opening sequence of UP, multiple times, which I think is incredible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-3rmYFQUmQ

Why Companies NEED People Back In The Office

https://youtu.be/jrsRvozsUQ8

I don't believe that work from home is better. The only motivation for the employee is a less coercive environment. People claim that they want to work at their own pace, but they really just want to work less. For example, people claim that working at home lets them spend more time with their family, i.e. less lime working.

Home is full of distractions to an overwhelming level. I need a focused environment to stay focused. And it helps to be around coworkers and management all focused on the same goal.

Best wishes,

John Coffey

Last day as a 62 year old.

Canadian Tire | Jim Gaffigan

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/RcCnKLy3nwM

I worked from September 1991 to January 1993 for a new business called Auto Source which was a subdivision of Canadian Tire.

"The second time, during the early 1990s, Canadian Tire decided to try to open a specialized auto parts chain called Auto Source that tried to have more than 25,000 different parts on the shelf in each store, more than its competitors. The first Auto Source was opened in Indianapolis in 1991.[25] Unlike the previous attempt, the Auto Source concept was built from scratch.[26] During the next three years, Canadian Tire had opened two Auto Source stores each in Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus and Louisville for a total of ten stores before abruptly closing the money-losing chain in 1995.[27][28][29] Some of the stores, were sold to Pep Boys.[30]

Although the Auto Source lost nearly CA$60 million during its four years of existence, a scaled down version was used in Canada under the PartSource brand."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Tire

Killing time at the hospital

British Thunderstorms Ain't Got Nothing on America

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaxjBYUeff8

I grew up in Indiana and came back to retire.  I have been somewhat close to a tornado three times.  A town that I lived in just 5 years ago just recently suffered major tornado damage.

Wild Beehive in a Washing Machine (Short Version)

https://youtube.com/shorts/ame3yfxCdxY?feature=share

Every one of this woman's videos are exactly the same. She is not afraid to handle bees, and she takes pride in relocating colonies.

I've had three bees stings in my life, starting as a small child. If I tried to handle bees the way she does, I would probably get multiple stings.

Perhaps she uses a smoker while she is handling the bees. Honey bees become docile in the presence of smoke. I am guessing that their instinct is to take shelter in the hive.

Best wishes,

John Coffey

This Pac-Man Game will NEVER be Released Again

https://youtu.be/OFigQ4GwdnQ

John Coffey
7 minutes ago (edited)

I liked Jr. Pac-Man although the difficulty seems tough.  The Atari 2600 version is one of the best games on the Atari 2600.  The 2600 version has selectable levels of difficulty.

Once you reach a certain age...

Chicken dish

Today’s Jumble

Dopamine: More Than Pleasure, The Secret is the Anticipation of a Reward - LiveInnovation.org

"The reason for it is because the uncertainty of receiving the reward creates a much greater expectation and therefore dopamine production."

https://liveinnovation.org/dopamine-more-than-pleasure-the-secret-is-the-anticipation-of-a-reward/

Speaking on a personal level, I seem to get addicted to some things easily.  

When I was in college 40 years ago, I noticed something about playing table tennis.  After I hit the ball I had a high level of anticipation about what was going to happen next, which was only a couple of seconds away, but unknown until it actually happened.  I realized then that this high level of anticipation made the game addicting.  Pinball seems to work the same way.  

Maybe one reason why there is still a cult following for the 42-year-old video game Donkey Kong, which I still like to play, is that it has a great deal of randomness built into the game.  There is no set predictable pattern that you can follow.  Parts of the game are predictable, but frequently you have to react within a couple of seconds to an ever-changing circumstance.  The game can be an intense experience.

I think that there could be a similar appeal to gambling because the gambler is anticipating an unknown outcome.

On the surface, this would seem unrelated to watching a ton of youtube videos, which has been a problem for me lately.  Youtube has a bunch of interesting content, but even before you finish one video, they are recommending other content that you might like.  I have a natural tendency to be curious about everything, so I want to see what this other content has to offer.  There is anticipation there.  It is like they know how to keep me hooked.

TikTok has admitted that they use an algorithm to keep people addicted.  The way it works is that they show you a list of videos with the best videos interspersed along the list  The idea is to keep you scrolling looking for the best videos.  Maybe TikTok is evil.

Social media creates anticipation of positive feedback from other people.

Perhaps if a person is aware of how they are being manipulated on a psychological/neurotransmitter level, then maybe they can change their behavior by not falling for this trap.

The Woodpecker Method

https://zwischenzug.substack.com/p/the-woodpecker-method

Before Michael De La Maza published his book "Rapid Chess Improvement", he wrote an article by the same name.  Before he published this article, he sent it to me to get my suggestions, because I had a website since around 1996 that advocated the same idea.  I believed in doing a large number of tactical problems repeatedly to build pattern recognition.  When I did this myself, I saw my rating go from 1800 to 2000.

I can't guarantee that this is the best way to improve one's chess tactics.  For myself, my goal was to be able to see the vast majority of 1, 2, and even 3-move combinations instantly.  However, doing new puzzles might also be good.

My website hasn't changed much since I first published it.  It is dated.  At that time, the Internet (World Wide Web) was relatively new, and most people didn't have access to it.  Chess Life gave me an "award" for the best new chess website, but there weren't many chess websites at the time.

Vaccines

I tried really hard to convince one of my friends in Utah about vaccines, but he will have none of it. He told me that he doesn't believe in any vaccine. Therefore, I told him I don't want to waste any more of my time and will stop bugging him about it.

Unfortunately, he is not a lone case. I have several friends who are opposed to the COVID-19 vaccines. Only 68% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

I could have asked him what he would do if a rabid animal bit him?  There is only one cure, and it is a vaccine. Otherwise, it is certain death.

Why is it that Polio and Smallpox are no longer a problem?

--

Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com