So, I've got a page in Obsidian called "someday" where I throw all my ideas for projects or little things I might do but currently have no time. Sometimes I scan over it to see if I actually did any of it

Today, I saw some notes talking about doing something with this spare stick of 16GB RAM that I had left over from a PC upgrade a few years ago. I have no memory of what happened to this stick of RAM.

Is this like when I definitely mined a bitcoin but can't remember where the wallet HDD went?

Dang it. The original SID chip in my nice breadbin C64 just apparently croaked.

I do have a couple 64Cs, too, but I know at least one of those has a bum SID too. Thinking I may start to explore the world of SID replacements

Miss Biscuits has gotten very comfortable since we adopted her this past fall #cats

Speaking of Crossroads II, I just found this set of printable characters. Which, why not? #3dprinting

https://www.printables.com/model/671508-crossroads-ii-pandemonium-c64-game-characters

@drwho Our girl bunny snores, very rarely

@rafial Oh dang, something like that seems really appealing to me. Also kind of wish there were an e-ink tablet like this that had a stylus and was the same dimensions as a Field Notes notebook - for, well, field notes

About a week after I installed our new doorbell camera, it seems like our household's new favorite hobby is rushing to watch the "pet" notifications to see what critter ran across our doorstep. (Usually the next door neighbor's cat, but often a squirrel or a different neighbor's cat. It's actually a little disappointing when it's a person walking a dog - i.e. because of the person.)

Makes me want to price out field cameras for the rest of the yard around the house to see more "pets"

RE: https://mastodon.social/@256/115849472257233281

They were about 50 / 50 on their calls here and then, ironically, Maximum PC itself disappeared 😅

So, I've started reading "Status and Culture" by W. David Marx and feeling like a space alien reviewing a dossier on a first contact species.

I don't want to fool myself that I'm not personally affected or motivated by social status, but dang do I bristle when I read things like "we all" and "this is universal" in a book like this.

This feels like kind of a counterpoint with respect to "The Gift of Not Belonging" by Rami Kaminiski that I read last month

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/659558/status-and-culture-by-w-david-marx/

Need to finish the book before I really know what to think. But, I often come across these notions from deeply social & tribal folks, where they just assert "we all feel this" - and assume you're lying or fooling yourself if you disagree.

And I'm like, even if the majority of humanity feels this way, it's not universal. There are other ways of being. And it's dang hard to simulate it in the frontal cortex from first principles as a social interface protocol when you don't feel it at a gut-level

But, maybe I can get past the bristling to pick out the social interface protocol details from the anthropology of it all

Just got one of these LOLIN D32 Pro V2.0.0 ESP-32 dev boards and wired it up as a Meatloaf for my C64. It emulates disk drives and a smattering of other devices.

Tempted to order a few more. Seems like a really capable little widget? It's got wifi, bluetooth, a micro-SD slot, battery management, connectors for a TFT touch screen and I2C devices

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2251832696801305.html

Like, I already have a small pile of ESP-32 dev boards that I should do something with. But, none of them have SD card readers or battery stuff or screen connections. A few have cameras. But, the SD card thing seems especially handy

@socketwench I have 3 displays on my macbook pro. I'm constantly muttering "wait, why's that way over there now?"

@courtney I've done a few small things with ESPHome! It's pretty easy to get into.

Amazon tells me I've ordered these boards before, which seems right. They're cheaper, but basically have everything you need for USB power & programming, a few GPIO pins, and wifi + bluetooth.

I've managed to hook up some temp & humidity sensors, a couple buttons, even rigged up a reed switch that detected the electromagnet that made our old-school doorbell go ding.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08FR5Y85W?th=1

@courtney Not sure how far you've gotten with ESPHome already, but I've had a good luck with just tinkering with a few things in YAML and then uploading the firmware it builds from a Chrome browser. (i.e. no IDE install or whatever)

@michaelcoyote Yeah, that's the thing I like here, having the SD card all in one rather than breadboarded or on my own weird perfboard / PCB thing

@courtney Ah, nice, I've opened up a half-dozen or so Sonoff S31 smart outlets and done a reflash dance with them using ESPHome. They work pretty well