This kid on the tape is me. I'm not even two years old there and I'm already messing around with wires.

Five minutes later on that tape I figured out how to turn the vacuum cleaner on and tried to tie it to the cassette deck.

No wonder why I'm a programmer now 😂

Making backwards compatible websites for IE8 and back honestly feels like releasing the new blockbuster in VHS..

Am I a hack? Like yeah I complain about technology left right and center, this sucks, that sucks, what fucking moron wrote this?! These days I do write my own alternatives (which usually work surprisingly well). But for what? And was I really in a position to complain about those other things? Impostor syndrome, it's so annoying...

Oh and also, is it really all worth it? I like retro tech and so I do have a fair interest in the history of technology. Say between VHS and Beta, sure VHS was superior in practice and won the video cassette war, but Beta machines were seemingly better constructed. VHS won because it did just enough. Perhaps the same is true for software? Overengineering, is it poor engineering?

Anyone can build a bridge if the budget is unlimited and it can take a lifetime to construct. But part of engineering is making a bridge that'll just barely stand and be finished in a few years. I've been working on my own Linux distro since August last year and am not even close to finishing it. Chances are that it'll take several years. Perhaps I've been looking at the problem the wrong way all along?

I’m thinking about buying random vhs video tapes on auctions, digitalize them and put on youtube

Me being the dumbass I was when I was younger, I decided it was a wonderful idea to record fucking Spongebob over my parents wedding... I’m still pissed with my self 10 years later. (This was on a VHS, in case you were wondering)

This is fucking nuts.

So my grandma asked me if I could convert all of her VHSs into digital form (not said in these words ofc) so I said yes.

Oh boy, what a mistake have I done.

I bought this EasyCap converter for like 11$. Alright, so I plug it in, and the RCA IS MONO. WHY IS IT MONO IF IT SAYS STEREO ON THE BOX?????????

Okay, I said to myself that I would buy something better than this campfire material. So I bought one. Low and behold, the software that came with it is fucking trash. I had to find another program to capture the capture card output. So I tried NCH software. So I tried it and it works. WONKILY. VEEEERY WONKILY.

CAN'T YOU JUST MAKE BETTER DOCUMENTATION, MYGICA? PLEASE!!!!!!! I WASTED 3 WHOLE DAYS TRYING TO FIX THIS, I HAVE THINGS TO DO FFS

“Lazy mom lazy wow” presented by Gail Swanlund was probably the most impactful piece of art to me.

Through simplistic form, this art piece presents the idea of caring about oneself and quit the eternal rat race for money. But somehow for its metaphor, Lazy mom lazy wow chooses the notion and aesthetics of death and decay. The closest analogy I can think of is the music of American Football. Some kind of liminal, eerie aesthetics. Also, the movie Gummo and the game Life is Strange, part one.

The piece deliberately avoids being aggressive and celebrating its notion. It’s not “quit the rat race and celebrate because life is so good”, it’s “quit the rat race by putting yourself into coma so nothing matters anymore”. The descent into eternal comfort of realization that you don’t have to do anything anymore, but also sorrow of losing meaning.

It feels like launching Counter-Strike Source in the year 2051, only to walk around cs_office and realize there are no players anymore, and they will not return ever again. The sense of watching an old VHS tape of you having a conversation with your mom in the hospital as she’s counting her last days because of cancer. The sense of comfort of coming back to your hometown. You remember your childhood and your high school crush, only to realize that those moments won’t happen ever again.

My geekiest non-dev activity?

Recently its been playing Star Wars Battlefront (on PC). Its been a good SharePoint stress reliever, but hardly anyone playing anymore.

Will be getting back into 'video production' this summer converting decades worth of VHS tapes to digital for various family member's (lots & lots of editing and cleaning up).