Show more

Maybe one more for today. The SimCity 2000 Theme Pack that, to this day, is used on my retro-hobby PC in the franken-theme I reconstructed from childhood memories.

Originally free on the Maxis FTP site.

archive.org/details/sc2kthm

...and a utility for customizing the OEM info in the Windows 9x System control panel:

OEM Logo Master 2.0
archive.org/details/oem-logo-m

...and another. This one shows the bitrates of MP3 files in their icons and adds a property sheet which lets you edit ID3 tags and perform customizable scripted actions like automatic renaming on the files.

MP3-Info Extension v3.1b9
archive.org/details/mp-3-info-

...and a third free Win9x/NT4 shell extension the Internet Archive was missing:

PropertiesPlus v1.65
archive.org/details/properties

...and another bit of Windows 9x freeware that didn't get any hits on the Internet Archive:

VersionEx Shell Property Page
archive.org/details/versionex

The Internet Archive didn't have the Windows 98SE-compatible version of EppieDesktop, so I uploaded it. Enjoy.
archive.org/details/eppie-desk

Funny enough, the more I think about it and discuss with someone on Imgur, the more I think the probable answer is "sloppy CG mockup", because, while the typing is animated, I don't remember it being easy to find hacks that flat-out HID the menu bar for non-Mozilla Suite programs back then.

Show thread

Here's an interesting thing to ponder.

Why the heck is a prop "office computer" from the end of a 2020-season episode of Mayday/Air Crash Investigation/Air Emergency/Air Disasters running a version of Windows 9x with modded MacOS 8 titlebars and scrollbars?

@ssokolow 'Doug McIlroy also remembers that, amusingly, "the first technical paper that came off the C/A/T drew a query from the journal editor, who'd never seen a phototypeset manuscript before: had it been published elsewhere?" '

A friend of mine in college (English major) learned LaTeX and turned in a paper she wrote using it ... and had to defend herself against charges of having turned in a published work by producing the sources and making requested changes in real-time.

It turns out there's an amusing anecdote behind the decision to split stdout and stderr:

www2.dmst.aueb.gr/dds/blog/201

I just ran across this nifty little detective story recounting an attempt to find where the constant in Quake 3's InvSqrt() function came from:

beyond3d.com/content/articles/

Something I wrote about this effort to replace words like "master [branch]" and "blacklist" in programming projects and tooling, based on the relationship to the euphemism treadmill:

Euphemisms aren't about fixing problems. They're about disconnecting us from the emotional discomfort that should be driving us to fix the problem.

> "I'll betcha, if we'd still been calling it shell shock, some of those Vietnam veterans might have gotten the help they needed at the time."
> -- George Carlin

I just added "Zero no Tsukaima: Saito the Onmyoji" to one of my existing lists of worthwhile if anyone's interested.

blog.ssokolow.com/archives/201

I just started putting together an Itch.io collection for libre game development tools (and reusable code that could be run at build or runtime).

itch.io/c/1254813/libre-game-d

It's got some interesting stuff, like GB Studio, a game maker which generates actual Gameboy ROMs.

Tip: If you get something like roofing tar on your hands, pour a little bit of cooking oil on them and scrub. Then wash your hands with soap.

The oil will act as a solvent for the tar (and do it impressively well) and then the soap will remove both of them.

Just ran across a post which explains how HJKL and use of ~ to mean $HOME came from the same terminal's keyboard layout... the Lear Siegler ADM-3A.

catonmat.net/why-vim-uses-hjkl

In case anyone's interested, I just posted a run-down of simple C/C++ test frameworks that'll build for real-mode DOS with Open Watcom C/C++ 1.9, plus preliminary research for how to do functional testing on a DOS program.

blog.ssokolow.com/archives/202

...so it turns out there's a rap song hidden on track 2 of my Mario Teaches Typing CD, and someone used its presence for a funnier interpretation of the title screen:

reddit.com/r/ObscureMedia/comm

...speaking of which, I was originally introduced to the Fountains of Wayne song years ago by Fred Perry's "Misi's Mom" animation.

That guy is a drawing monster. He learned traditional animation so he could do his own OAV for his comic, Gold Digger.

He took down his original upload out of fear of the YouTube COPPA change, but you can watch it here:

youtube.com/watch?v=-WMs-__ZGZ

...he also did that You Are A Pirate animation that made the rounds years ago.

youtube.com/watch?v=Dm32QynLGn

The characters in that one are a crew of pirate-ninja leprechauns from Gold Digger.

Show thread

Who here knows the song "Stacy's Mom" by Fountains of Wayne? What about the gender-swapped parody "Stacy's Dad" by annapantsu?

youtube.com/watch?v=SRk_52uQfM

I find it amusingly fitting that, when a woman got her hands on it, she added a touch more class to the lyrics by making her character 23 and swapping out things like "I know it might be wrong" for "It's actually pretty sad", giving a sense that the character is more self-aware, instead of just acknowlegding that *others* won't approve.

Show more
Qoto Mastodon

QOTO: Question Others to Teach Ourselves
An inclusive, Academic Freedom, instance
All cultures welcome.
Hate speech and harassment strictly forbidden.