Notes from June 2026
2026-06-01
I've been trying to use Qwant as my everyday search engine, but the load times are a bit long. And if I go to a result page and back, it reloads completely; DuckDuckGo seems to be returning to whatever there was.
A post from David Chisnall
Remember kids, if you’re not writing your web apps in VBScript and ActiveX then you’re going to be left behind!
2026-06-03
On Monday, we adopted a new dog, and she needs a lot activity, being a galgo, so I'm back to my walks. My back is already better, my knees should improve soon, and on top of that, the dog has a place to call home. Although, dogs might use a different word. This also means less reading, but my sitting-based job demands a counterweight of some sort, so something has to go.
Galgo is a Spanish greyhound, but I prefer the Spanish name. It comes from "canis gallus," because Romans brought them to Spain. And it has been confirmed that the breed didn't change much since the ancient times.
Ah, the humidity is here. Now three months of working shirtless and using headphones only for calls. Also: not being shirtless for the calls.
2026-06-04
Nicholas Cage as Spider-Man? In the 1930s? As a hard-boiled P.I.? In specific colour palettes? Well, alright, I accept.
"Thongs" in Polish go by their other name: "strings." Imagine how many jokes developers have around that.
2026-06-05
I laughed so hard. And it's 10-year old! Which means it aged like fine wine.
2026-06-06
Slow Horses (Season 5)
Season 5 of "Slow Horses" is even more ensemble-cast. After all, at this point, River Cartwright is no longer needed as the audience replacement. There's more Coe from the beginning. By now, I can see that Shirley's sporting a new dressing style in every season. And Roddy Ho turned out to be the worst person to be interrogated, due to his knowledge and self-delusion; which worked out fantastically for the show. One of the best shows, and 6 episodes per season is a sweet spot.
At the end, there were scenes from season 6, which would mean they what, already had it? Or this was added later, only after they had it? In any case, it's due late 2026, so I am hyped.
Picture Claire
"Picture Claire" is a Canadian criminal movie from 2001, with an ensemble cast, though Juliette Lewis plays a girl around which everything revolves. On one hand, the story is of a kind that Guy Ritchie or Quentin Tarantino could do; on the other hand, it feels very small-town: despite being set in Toronto, it feels as if it was happening on 2-3 streets in total. I've seen this movie over 20 years ago, and saw it now by accident. It also gives us scenes with Juliette Lewis and Gina Gershon. For some reason, I had a thing for Gina Gershon a quarter of century ago, so this was a big thing for me. There is also Mickey Rourke, but he's rather a so-called advertised extra. Big props for Callum Keith Rennie portraying a psycho sent after Rourke's character.
I also liked splitting the screen into many areas, which overlaps with photographic exhibition within the movie. I saw something similar in "Fargo," the show, but there it was used for switching from one place to another, whereas here, it's used for flashbacks and the mainest character putting the whole thing together (in case someone in the audience fails to do so).
But above everything else, it felt like the final movie of the 1990s. Now, being released in 2001, it's technically not a 1990s movie, but in the spirit, it is. The camera work, the plot, the action -- all that is 90s as fuck. And I say it as a discreet aficionado of the 1990s movies. It's probably not the best flick out there, and it was a flop, but if you like the decade, then it's a really crafty love letter that can give you a lot of pleasure.
I'm back to walks, as having a galgo requires that, and starting a day with a 40-to-50-minute walk makes for an excellent start of a day, and topping this up with yet another hour in the evening generally makes me feel better: my back feels better and my mind is sharper. On the downside, if I had to find anything, is less time for reading books and/or playing retro-games, which comes as unplanned after just buying and modding PlayStation Classic. But staying fit is more important.
2026-06-07
Note: A thread present here has been textified: "The A.I. Mandate."
On React Hooks
When I first encountered Hooks in React, after I returned to it after a couple of years with a Vue project, I thought, "God, it's so stupid." But that was the way React worked then. Couldn't have fit it into my understanding of things, I decided to treat it like a game with new rules. A game that I had to learn. With this mindset, it turned out to be more manageable. Being a gamer changed me permanently. If I can beat a "Blasphemous" boss, then I can beat any new technology.
This tale has far more reaching analogies: I gave up when I got the final boss in "Blasphemous II." It was just too hard. I think I could achieve that, but I didn't want to spend too much time on it. I was also slightly pissed off that it's *much* harder than all the earlier game. The sheer uptick in difficulty made me lose interest. But I got an email today that another add-on has been released. I might return to the game when all add-ons are published. I only have the basic game.
Phoenix Code, a successor to Brackets, has gotten an update with an AI panel. But of course. I got a week-long Pro trial, but I hope that after that, it will go back to the boring app I've been using since 2014; including the time spent with Brackets. As I use this to prepare my homepage -- krazov.com -- it's handcrafted by design; no need for AI here.
A funny thing about AI usage. When I complained about the mandate in a WhatsApp group, one of the devs there said, "This is your company saying they no longer care about the quality. Now you can do stuff faster and spend time on your hobbies during working hours."
My page doesn't work. I'll have to check it later.
10 minutes later...
Okay, it doesn't load via VPN. Normally, it does. It would be the first time to happen. But anyway, it's less urgent like that.
Another 39 minutes later...
And now it does. I had to reconnect the VPN, though.
I have suspended my experiment with Qwant, and went back to No-AI DuckDuckGo, because Qwant was loading too slow. I had to wait. It's 2026 and I shouldn't have to wait. Also, images in img search were small. In general, the user experience was subpar. I might revise that at another time, though.
In May, I had only one dog, and she doesn't likes to walk that much on her own. Now, when there is a second dog that happens to like walking, she'll join and won't complain and'll go great distances with us. Alone, nope. Her walks look like that: we go to a nearby park where she rests on a bench. Meanwhile, I listen to techno. As a result, I had more time to do stuff and write about it, and now I have a tonne of notes that I refuse to annotate with links today. But I copied them, at least.
2026-06-08
I hold a strong belief that a videogame should look like a videogame. It should be true to its materials. Photorealistic games are missing the point, even if are impressive on a technical level. But that's not the way, that's not the way.
2026-06-10
Manoeuvre and diarrhoea
The English word "manoeuvre" is the doom of me: I always have to type it more or less, then use the autocorrect to get it right. Every-single-time. As a matter of fact, for the purposes of this post, I tried to rewrite it above from another screen, to avoid that. And still failed.
It used to be "diarrhoea," but I learned how to spell that. So then, I think, if I managed to learn "diarrhoea," I shall learn "manoeuvre."
Till then, I will simply call the band OMD. Yes, the M in there is my doom.
I don't like game where I have to control a whole team. I find the idea off-putting. I like to challenge virtual worlds on my own. I didn't even bother to start some games due to that.
I just read about "Illusion City," and the visuals spoke to me very loud, but then I read that you have to control a team at some point, and immediately lost interest.
Gemini and emails
I'm writing an email -- in 2026! -- and Gemini, which we have active at work, is suggesting improvements. I don't agree with all of them, and sometimes it even changes the sense of what I'm trying to write, but generally, it's an interesting experience. No one ever edits my texts, and while I might feel content with them, I might also be wrong about that. :D If I ever get a publisher, I should be mentally prepared for that.
On Wikipedia donations
Follow up to "On Wikipedia deal with AI companies."
After recent firings of the tech team, which looks like taken out of Big Tech playbook, I have made a decision to stop donating to Wikipedia. I read that they have 17 months of budget, so there's time for them to come around. The funny thing, though, is that whereas it's easy to start donating, to stop doing it, I need to write them an email. I hate that. It should be one button that I click and that's it. On the bright side, I will be able to pass a message personally as to why.
2026-06-11
Doom PSX
After making PlayStation Classic play a wider variety of games, I had unlimited options. I could've played anything from the large library of PlayStation One. And I chose Doom. Yep.
And this thread will document my journey.
A post from Steve Shives
"Skeletor is offended when a circus refuses to perform at Snake Mountain, so he abducts the clown who owns the circus and takes it over himself out of spite, only to be defeated when he cluelessly wanders into a tent full of fireworks and accidentally sets them off."
That's not a fake plot I made up as a joke. That's an actual episode of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.
2026-06-13
Your obsession will make you interested in a topic till there is no unknown detail left, and your compulsion will make you educate everyone around about it. Now, this part I get. But why would anyone call it a disorder?
I knew this girl who once joked about Johnny Cash dying, and the following week he died. And she felt bad about it.
On art's incentives
I read this manifesto about people not buying your game, and while my game-dev is rudimentary, I could relate it to writing. If you wanna write to get popular, then that's a wrong incentive. Write because you want to say something, and what you would want to read yourself. Also, ponder this: "Moby Dick" got appreciation 68 years after publishing, and 28 after Herman Melville's death. Currently-popular is stuff like Harlan Coben. And who would want to chase that?
Once, I saw a comment on the Internet, "No one should be a professional writer. Writer should not be a profession." It stayed with me.
This also extends to what I'm trying to do here on Mastodon my website. Writing short messages that create something bigger is maybe not novel, given that Twitter has been around since 2006, but it is still a much younger idea than other forms of writing known to mankind. The point is that I should not be doing it for some sort of fame -- on Mastodon my website, of all places -- but because it is working in itself. I'm exploring a certain form, if anything else. (Which I then translate to a more traditional website.)
I mean, it would be cool to be a published author of anything, but that should not be the goal in itself. On the other hand, when you have your own website, you publish things.
It's good to walk these walks again.
2026-06-14
Local Hero
"Local Hero" is a movie from 1983, telling a story of an oil-company salesman who's sent to Scotland to buy a whole town, so his company can build there a gasport. While the deal's taking its time, the man learns about the place, etc. The movie felt like a postcard from a simpler world, though I still can't say who the local hero was. Notable for Mark Knopfler's soundtrack. In one of the roles is young Peter Capaldi (a.k.a. the Tenth Doctor).
I read after the movie that there was backlash about the way the Scottish place was portrayed (it was one street with houses, and I can't say if this was a town or a village or something else). The grudge was that it was pictured as a backwater kind of place, but I think there are places like that in the world, in Scotland and everywhere else, and 43 years later, it doesn't really matter.
Apparently, the movie inspired some people to buy their summer houses there. Hotel works, too.
For years, I've been certain that the movie is from around the year 2000, so it came as a surprise that it was from the 1980s. After some thinking, I came up to a conclusion that the excerpts from the soundtrack have been distributed, legally, through Audiogalaxy, and I assumed at the time that it was from a new movie. It was not.
This gave the movie more value in my eyes, because it is capturing a world long gone, with different clothes, furniture, etc. This is always a big plus for me when I watch a movie.
A comment from Ighostrider:
'Local Hero' was filmed in Pennan, which is just a couple of miles from where I live and it still hasn't changed! It's still a very quiet backwater, with just one row of houses, and an incredibly steep hill down to it that made me scream the first time we ventured down there in the car! At low tide you can scramble around the rocks to get there from other inlets/bays. We still get tourists coming here because of the film. It's a stunning part of the world (but then I am biased!)
The Informant!
"The Informant!" is a typical Steven Soderbergh movie, which mixes a real case with not so serious portrayal of it. But then again, the whole story is unreal at times. A C-level employee (Matt Damon) of a food-processing company reaches out to the FBI about price-fixing happening in the firm. He agrees to go undercover for the FBI, and it seems to be going good, until the star witness starts coming off as unreliable. Then the story goes completely bonkers.
Dorohedoro (Season 2)
"Dorohedoro," season 2, picks up where we were left 6 years earlier. There is a new opening, making sure it's season 2. The show changed its formula a little: instead of splitting the story into full episodes, there are short bits with their own titles and more scoped plot. And there's no jumping between characters and places within each subplot. I didn't realise that from the beginning, but once I did, I welcomed this change.
There are new characters and many new developments that make the beginnings of season 1 look like a distant past. The funniest addition is Sho, who can be invisible, and is presented as always being there, just unnoticed by most of the characters. Including me. There was a flashback to season 1, but I was too lazy to check if he actually was there. If so, well played.
Major plot spoiler: I can always appreciate when the storytellers are not afraid for radical choices, and removing Caiman mid-season was one of those things. He wasn't killed off (his curse was lifted and his human self didn't remember anything), but he's no longer present there. This pushed the show further towards an ensemble cast. I respect the choice, but I will miss good ol' Caiman.
The number of twists is dizzying, and I wonder where it's all heading. Season 3 has been announced, but I hope that we won't have to wait another 6 years for it. I suppose I would have to rewatch the whole thing again. I'm not young anymore, I don't remember series that well.
Season 2 was definitely gorier than the first one. And finally, it was so unhinged that my personal bar for anime has been raised enough for me to wonder what am I going to watch next.
(I mean, I know and I already started watching the next thing, but it feels under-delivering. But I've seen 2 episodes so far, and I never judge before seeing 5 episodes of any show, so let's wait and see.)
Spider-Noir
I decided to see "Spider-Noir" because of Nicholas Cage and the 1930s, and despite the superhero setting. I really wanted to like it, but it's so under-delivering at times that I had to force myself to finish it; the curiosity drove me in the end. Nicholas Cage is at his average here, and the plot is a bit run-of-the-mill. I liked the choice between True-Hue and black-n-white, though. I'm not gonna follow up if there's ever season 2.
About Schmidt
"About Schmidt" (2001) is a film about a man whose wife dies and him coping with it. It's a very intimate story and, as I call it, a small-town. It was listed as dark comedy, but I think it's wrong. It's a quiet drama with some funny angles; because life's funny sometimes, too. Jack Nicholson nailed a man without characteristics. The sections where he reads letters to an African boy, often conflicting with what's on screen, were a nice technique.
The segment when he finally pulls his shit together and goes on the road in an RV reminded me of "Nomadland," which I saw in January. My wife said that if the political situation in the US ever settles, we should definitely do a tour like that. Go to all those diners and museums in the middle of nowhere.
But the biggest surprise was that this was not a creation of a Swedish or Finnish director! The pacing, the colour palette, the adventures that Schmidt encounters on his way -- it all screamed Nordic vibes to me. And yet, it has been done by an Omaha-born director.
I guess I'm getting older and older, but it landed really well with me.
Country music is like the same song over and over again, just with different lyrics. But even lyrics are in the same spirit. Fascinating.
Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction
"Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction" is a documentary about one of the most famous character actors, who landed only one lead in his career; if I recall correctly. I've seen some screenshots from this documentary over the years, and Harry Dean Stanton was always so stoic/Buddhist there that I just had to see it for myself in full. I find his approach to life very soothing. I'd like to get old with his dignity.
And the soundtrack is on TIDAL.
Three Colours: Blue
"Three Colours: Blue" is the first of Krzysztof Kieślowski's trilogy; apparently about France, but to me, it felt quite universal. The first movie tells a story of a car-crash survivor who has to put herself together after losing her husband and daughter. In this role, Juliette Binoche. I liked the narrative's unpredictability, as it's a mix of old Polish storytelling combined with more modern production and a French setting.
If Krzysztof Kieślowski went for South Africa, he could have shot "Six Colours" series.
I definitely went over board with notes in May. 😅
I am thinking about finally giving up and adorning notes on my website with fewer links. I suspect that there won't be any backlash because of that. People will understand.
Came Back Haunted
How come I learn only now that Nine Inch Nails's "Came Back Haunted" video has been directed by David Lynch? I don't even recall the video in question. Wow. This is so embarrassing.
But speaking of "Came Back Haunted," around twelve years ago, I had an idea for an article about movies, or maybe stories in general, where a character travelled somewhere and returned changed. From the planned list, I only remember "Hellraiser" (1987) and "Supernova" (2000).
One day later...
And of course, "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch" from Philip K. Dick. How could have I forgotten about it?
I wasn't sure if it was spelled "Gameboy" or "GameBoy," so I went to check, only to surprise myself and learn that it's actually "Game Boy."
2026-06-16
Try Doom-scrolling with PSX controls, then we'll talk.
I was woken up by the sounds of a thickening plot.
Keyboard malfunction, pt. 1
Not even six months of the new keyboard, and one key ("H") is already acting funny. Either it omits the press or double presses sometimes. It's an open-source keyboard (Keychron), so I can replace this part, but c'mon. It should not happen before years of usage. And it's not even the most popular letter, or something. We'll see.
It is the most-centre-placed, tough, and falls equally between my palms, so I don't press it ideally, but I don't know. Feels off. Requires observation.
50 minutes later...
It just struck me that there are 3 keys that I don't use; some sort of configurable shapes. One is a print-screen, and the other three don't do anything specific. So, I'll swap the H-key for one of those and see. I might start with taking it out and it, though. It worked with the Magic Keyboard once. These things work in mysterious ways sometimes.
But, thanks to the RGB highlight, which I had set to the heatmap mode, I could confirm that the key is, in fact, not being read.
The funny thing is that Keychron is out of stock with the switches my keyboard uses. But I found a 110-piece set on Amazon.
For some reason, Gemini kicked me out of my Moby Dick mode, in which I've been for a while, fuelled further later by "The Difference Engine," and I am again pursuing more concise writing.
2026-06-17
Keyboard malfunction, pt. 2
Now, in the morning, the H-key seems to be working. Not one miss, though I think it doubled at least once, so I'll observe. I might buy the switches, anyway. As the situation with analogue-stick replacements for my 8BitDo taught me, it's better to get them when they're still available; not to mention the art book for "Furi" (this one makes me furi-ous, that I didn't get it in time).
P.S. Now I think it omitted one H when I was typing this message. 😈
I started watching "The Foundation," and there is this lady robot who's the Emperor's companion. And it made me think that this idea of a single unit being functional for hundreds of years got old pretty badly in the light of planned obsolescence plaguing our electronics, cars, etc.
Gemini just suggested changing "hence" to "therefore," and it was the first time I was impressed. Usually it just suggests simplifying stuff, but that's good shit here.
2026-06-18
Recently, I am fascinated with how pacing of text works, and how can it be expressed in writing. I don't think 1:1 with spoken word is possible, and there will always be something that you can make in writing that will not be possible in speaking; and vice versa.
Keyboard malfunction, pt 3.
And today is wrong again. Well, more wrong than yesterday. But it's too close to the weekend to get involved with it now. I'll wait till Saturday, maybe even Sunday.
2026-06-19
Keyboard malfunction, pt. 4
By the end of the day, it got worse to the point where it was pissing me off, so today, before my morning coffee -- but after 4-km walk with a dog and breakfast -- I swapped the switches. In the end, it was like a 1-minute job.
I really like equipment that I can fix myself easily. It might be costlier upfront, but should work better further down the line. And it's just stupid to have to throw away a keyboard because one key stopped working.
THE END
Bobby Prince death
And now, just in the middle of writing about Doom, I am learning that Bobby Prince, the composer of the original soundtrack -- original yet heavily-inspired by the music at the time ;) -- has passed away. His compositions are probably what I whistled the most in my life (to my wife's personal horror).
May Doomguy watches over him on the other side.
Come think of it, I never got bored with Doom music. It helps that there are dozen, probably more, different arrangements: from very faithful, to heavy-metal, to experimental, to an ambient approach. So, I can always choose accordingly to my mood.
For today's listening, I chose arrangements from Alt In The Halls, because I didn't know their version. I think they're using at least some real instruments, like guitars, but I'm not a musician. In any case, it sounds good.
Another observation on Gemini suggestions: I can understand simplifying sentences, but sometimes, it kind of breaks the flow. As this is not writing I consider personal -- it's for the company -- I don't mind. But it's interesting. I might use some of those techniques for myself. Sometimes. Maybe.
It makes me think that Gemini would cut the half of "Moby Dick." Just as I would have a year ago, when I started reading the book. But then it grew on me, and now I am nothing but elaborate in Melville's style. However, there is a distinction between prose and a business email. Language should not be a hammer that makes us see every piece of text as a nail to hit it with.
Bobby Prince anecdotes
Speaking of Bobby Prince, there are two anecdotes I always liked.
One. When John Romero gave Bobby Prince a stack of CDs and asked to make music like that for Doom, Bobby Prince did as asked. As the result, some compositions, especially in "Doom II," are unmistakably similar to their originals. Now, for years, I believed that they were different enough to not cause a legal action, on account of Bobby being an actual lawyer. But no.
I learned recently that, in his own words (though quoted from memory): "I composed the music, but I didn't put it in the game, so I was in the clear."
Two. The other one is about "Into Sandy's City," used in map 9, which was my first favourite composition, ex aequo with "The Demon's Dead." So, apparently, there was a lot of back and forth about the opening sequence and what instrument should be used for it. Bobby Prince got fed up with it at one point and changed the instrument to harpsichord, as a ridiculous instrument, but to his surprise, the person requesting changes liked it. Hell, I liked it! It's one of "Doom II's" highlights to me.
A post from bentendo
Wow just caught this perfect frame in my 1-bit Conan the Barbarian movie player.
2026-06-20
I realised that I have written a lot about games, and that it would be good to gather those writings into an index.
Here it is: https://krazov.com/varia/games-covered/
Dead Again
Kenneth Branagh's "Dead Again" from 1991 is definitely an odd one. For the most of the movie, there was something off, but I couldn't put my finger on anything specific. Then, almost at the end, it struck me that it's stylised as an older movie; namely 1940s/1950s Hitchcock movies, though that I learned after the movie. Due to that, as well as some unnecessary complications, the twist actually hits harder than it should have. But it's only for connoisseurs, in my opinion.
However, knowing that it's a 1950s movie made in 1991 makes it a more pleasurable experience. Branagh's a bit aloof detective and certain cheesiness between his character and Emma Thompson's make more sense, too.
But the most impressive are flashbacks, which are not only shot in black-and-white but look and feel as if taken out of an old movie: the camera work, the actors expression, everything. Quite an impressive feat, I gotta hand it to the director.
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear
"The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear" (1991) is the second movie of the trilogy about Frank Drebin, one of the most peculiar cops in the history of cinema. I found this part to be funnier than the first one, but whether it's due to it being better or me being more in the mood, I do not know. And strangely enough, the plot about oil companies trying to sabotage a renewal-energy initiative got old like fine wine.
As previously, the characters do funny things up to the extremes, and often, funny things happen in two layers at the same time: one in dialogues and the other one in background events. How am I supposed to follow the plot? :D I had to rewind a couple of times. Please take a note that this is not a criticism; I find this hilarious.
The movie also has one of more realistic depictions, even if exaggerated, of what happens when you get under a car; once a common patent in action movies.
NFS2 & Fade To Black
I checked two PSX games quickly now: "The Need For Speed 2" and "Fade To Black."
"NFS2" was the part I got once as a gift, and I spent a considerable amount of time with it, and it's the one I recall most fondly, so this is like a return. Should be fine for a casual race every now and then; I'm not interested in the tournament.
"Fade To Black" I had original, and I played it a lot but never finished, and ever since I finished "Flashback," it was not giving me a rest.
2026-06-21
A post from Terence Eden
You can't spell Stallman without LLM.
Comic Sans
The only beef I have with Comic Sans is that 1 has a different width from all the other digits. If not for that, I would use it like there's no tomorrow. In general, I expect from every single font that the digits have the same width. Everything else, the designer can go crazy about thing. But this one thing, no.
Three Colours: White
"Three Colours: White" is the second entry in Krzysztof Kieślowski's trilogy, but if I didn't know, I could have missed that. While there is Juliette Binoche in one scene, overlapping with "Blue," the tone of the movie is different. And it's set only partially in France; the action soon moves to Poland. It's funnier, and it was nice to see so many actors whom I haven't seen in years. Also, depicted Poland is ugly as hell, which shows me that it came a long way since 1993. And that's positive.
Custom keyboard layouts
I've been tempted with creating my own keyboard layouts for a while now. I am using so-called Polish programmer's layout, which is basically the US layout with the right alt modifying certain letters into their Polish counterparts (ąęćłńóśżź). Very convenient. And I already have it mapped out like that in my head. Whenever I switch to German or Spanish or Esperanto keyboard, I need know where the non-English keys are. And it sucks. But it's a computer, and this should be configurable, I thought.
So, I googled that there's an app for that. And it's coming from Microsoft themselves; because we're talking about a keyboard layout for Windows. Not today, but I'll have a Spanish and an Esperanto keyboards based on the Polish concept, which I always found superior to others. Though, this is probably because that's what I grew up with.
Our solution came from necessity: no one would produce Polish keyboards in the communist block, so we worked around the US layout that Ataris, etc., had.
#TIL: Caps Lock existed before Shift did.
2026-06-22
Vivaldi days
Zen Browser stopped working on my machine, due to Ubuntu-related error but still, so I logged in to Mastodon on Vivaldi, which I had solely for TIDAL purposes. Now it became my browser on the work computer.
Frankly, with the slope that Firefox is on, I might start experimenting with other browsers. It's still my browser for work, and I used it on my personal computer, but this might break any moment.
The only thing I might miss are these tens of opened tabs with unfinished articles. On the other hand, that is an excellent opportunity to start anew. Let's face it: I was not going to read them all.
Also, I noticed we have the new Mastodon version, which comes with a darker brand colour.
2026-06-23
I was in the street, and I smelled cigarette smoke. An older woman was smoking. And smells have a peculiar way of hitting the brain, so I started thinking about my younger years, when cigarette smoke was everywhere all the time. I don't miss that at all, but for a fraction of second, I was a quarter of century younger.
On persistance of games availability
I played a lovely Pico-8 game yesterday, and today I wanted to leave a review, but I cannot find it anymore. I will double-check the name on my handheld, but it could be that it disappeared. It's a shame, as it was cool-thought game. But it made me think that there is this trans-generational experience: you played a game, and it no longer exists in a playable form. And you can only tell about it others.
Also, kids, download games whenever you can. Preservation. I can still share mine.
Later...
It was called "Jetpico." No sign of it. I mean, I still have it on my R36S, but that's it.
I had screen flickering after updating my Ubuntu to 26.04, but only when pressing the Windows key to open a list of running applications. Because Linux is magic, I changed the screen refresh rate from 59.98 MHz to 74 MHz, and now it works fine. Like I said, magic.
2026-06-24
I shot a gun only once, at a firing range, and I still remember the sensation. I get why people are so much into guns.
Day 2 with Vivaldi. I like the option to hide all the UI, so I am left with the website alone. It's like in-window full screen.
Birds woke me up today. It was like an opening from "Rio."
But speaking of birds, on one of streets adjacent to ours, there is a seagull, which scared my dog once and must have liked it, because every time we walk down that particular street, the seagull flies at me, really low, only to fly up last moment. Yesterday, it actually pooped right behind me. And when it doesn't do that, it sits on a rooftop squawking loudly. The bastard thinks the street belongs to him. On the other hand, what recourse could I have? Not gonna fight the damn bird physically.
4 days later...
The mystery of the seagull street solved. Today, we saw two baby seagulls, and I think that our seagull protects them from our bigger dog. Unnecessarily, but you know how mothers are. And when I say baby seagulls, I mean judging from their feathers, because size-wise, they're as big as an adult already.
A post from ✝️Aesthetic Femboy🕊️
my #vaporwave tribute dedicated to video game composer #BobbyPrince
Rest in Peace a video game legend ✝️ 🙏 🕊️
And a post from A Soil-Tilling Sergal 🌱
The glitch is back. This time on the system's side bar. "Task bar" is the name, I believe.
Two hours later...
Sometimes solutions are simpler. I unplugged the HDMI cable and plugged it in back, and it seems to be better. I had this monitor for 8 years now, and I've been swapping between two computers regularly, and I was even impressed that the port is taking it so well, given the planned obsolescence and all.
Judging from notifications, I am read on Bluesky. Because there are responses. But, alas, coming from people who did not bridge to Fedi, so I cannot reply back.
This falls under "the default opt-out hindering communication."
Ubuntu 26.04 no longer switches me between apps in-workspace, despite a setting set for that. I go through all of them. It's not an optimal experience.
(beat)
It looks like *some* windows got shared across all the workspaces. It should not happen, but it did. I closed those windows now.
Prof. Emily M. Bender(she/her):
6- Exceptionalism. "I know this can be dangerous for people in general, but I know how to use it carefully."/"I know how to verify every output, and I am not deskilling myself." How do you know? Also, if you acknowledge the dangers to others, what example are you setting by talking about/talking up your use?
This has been one of my primary concerns when it comes to AI, because I have experienced deskilling myself when I became a team lead. I would still review the code and have high-level discussions -- which sounds very much like AI-coding -- but nothing hands-on. Then I changed the job and went to more coding, and I felt how rusty my skills have become. I don't believe that this is avoidable when you have a robot doing job for you.
I noticed that the search here doesn't search for many older posts. I totally understand, and this is not a complaint. After all, that's why I have my website where I'm archiving all. I could, however, use this as a motivation to build in the search functionality. It requires JavaScript, but Zola prepares a file for it.
I saw that my website, krazov.com, has been listed as potentially scammy in some places, which, dear kids, happens when you lose your domain and a shady shell company from Honk Kong takes it over. :D
I could probably re-apply for review of that, but I'm not building any company with it, so I don't care. This whole rankings seems like a side-hustle where they extort you to keep your name's clean. Not gonna work with me.
I can set British English for the UI itself on Mastodon. Nice.
2026-06-27
A new port for Doom? Yes, please.
https://github.com/MrAlaux/Nugget-Doom
2026-06-28
Today, I felt like writing something longer than a 500-character post. Or even a thread.
I bit my hand in anger today when Duolingo won a chess game with me. When it happens, I challenge it time after time. Until I win. Good thing that Duolingo has flexible difficulty level system. When you win, it becomes harder; when you lose, it becomes easier. This way, you always play an opponent on more or less your level.
Foundation (Season 1)
"Foundation" is a series based on Isaac Asimov's books, albeit loosely from what I read. An epic tale of a galactic empire that needs to face its own impeding collapse. What I liked was how much the show resembled Star Wars, Star Trek, "The Expanse," and even "Earth 2" in various elements, while still being original. And it's really a pleasure to watch Lee Pace playing multiple yet a single role. Now off to season 2.
Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult
"Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult" from 1994 closes Leslie Nielsen's original trilogy about an aloof Lt. Frank Drebin. This time he's retired, but cannot let go. But let's not focus on a plot, which seems to be incidental and an excuse to show a series of disjointed sketches. As a whole, it doesn't really work well, albeit it's funny on a granular level. A slight difference, compared to the other two, are exact parodies of other movies.
The Waiter
"The Waiter" (2018) is a Greek movie about a man living quite a constant live with no thrills, not that he minds that, who suddenly ends up wrapped up in a criminal situation. But it's not how you think it is. Closer to Yorgos Lanthimos movies, as well as reminding me of "Buffet froids" with Gerard Depardieu. There is a lot of deadpan humour and slow pacing. I also like Greece as an action setting. The bad guy reminded me of Anton Chigurh.
Three Colours: Red
"Three Colours: Red" (1994) is the final instalment of Krzysztof Kieślowski's trilogy. After France and Poland, the action moves this time to Switzerland; not that I realised until my wife told me late into the movie. A young woman accidentally hits a dog on the road and tracks its owner, who turns out to be a retired judge spying on his neighbours. Then, an unlike friendship forms. I think this one was my favourite of all three; if I had to choose.
Three Colours: The trilogy
Now I kind of wish I made "Three Colours" reviews a thread. Never mind. To comment on the trilogy as the whole, I really liked how they're completely separate stories but overlap subtly. They're all so different from each other. Kind of amazing.
The old lady disposing of bottles with struggle is the only character present in all of them. I was so relieved when Valentine finally helped her in "Red." Note: I just read that those were three different people. But the scene is mirrored in all three movies.
I need to watch more from Krzysztof Kieślowski.
For years, I was avoiding his movies for two reasons: one, he was so praised by everyone everywhere when I was a little kid that I found this off-putting; and two, they weren't really playing any of his movies, not that I recall, and so I never revised my original sentiment. I would probably gave it a shot. It's only thanks to my wife now. I don't think I lost anything; I probably got more out of these movies now that I'm not young anymore.
It's cool that Mastodon 4.6 finally allows adding alt-text to both avatar and that picture above the profile, but it should be displayed somewhere in the UI. I know it's in the literal alt attribute, but other clients include it in the full view.
2026-06-29
Doom music
It looks like there are Bobby Prince Doom albums on TIDAL. They were released this year, and I wonder if it happened after his passing. There is "Doom" and "Doom II." The cover has Bethesda's logo, so it looks very official. Let's give it a shot. It doesn't get more hardcore than that.
It was released on May 8th this year.
The original rendition of Doom music is like a blueprint. And once you know it, it becomes a small pleasure to rediscover each musical note and how it was implemented by different musicians. I'm pretty sure that classical music aficionados know this feeling very well, but us, the popular music listeners, we have only a handful of covers. And half of them are punk/ska, anyway. So yeah. Always the pleasure to find a new Doom cover-album.
Furi
"Furi" is a 2016 game that has only boss matches. The creators didn't have enough budget for anything bigger and decided to scale down. As often is, it gave us an interesting product. No-nonsense, I'd say.
I found out about it through its soundtrack, which has all the best of Bandcamp, to just name Carpenter Brut or Waveshaper. It's a solid synthwave set of music that matches closely the neon visuals that the game is soaked in.
2026-06-30
I wonder if piracy ever hurt anyone? Might be a sliver where it did, but usually, it would either boost your recognition and bring more people in, or not do much because you're too small a fish. And the biggest players got enough, anyway. Obviously, there is no research possible on it.
Bandcampian CD
I just bought my first CD on Bandcamp. It's a big day. Extra points for it being the music we call with my wife "Bandcamp music," which is all this synthwave that the early 2010s brought to our household. Whenever there are thick synths in a movie or somewhere else, we say, "Hey, that's music from Bandcamp."
This is not the first CD in my collection with music I discovered on Bandcamp. The title goes to Jakuzi's "Fantezi Müzik." But that one was bought elsewhere. The soundtrack to "Furi" that I just ordered will come directly form Bandcamp itself.
I don't expect this, however, to happen too often. Even more reason to appreciate it.