Erik_
August 2023 Update
Fri Aug 04, 2023 5:55pm

Not much has changed since the July update. It's still in half... actually since I've taken these pictures, it now looks like the halves are farther apart than they used to be. Maybe a squirrel or bird walked on it or something.

Attached Images
20230801_165817.jpg 20230801_165805.jpg
  • Oct 2021 Pumpkin Update - May 2022! - Erik_, Wed May 11 2022 2:57pm
    Okay... usually I just post the rotten pumpkins at the bottom of the page, but this year is a bit different. I have this one pumpkin that seems have mummified itself like I've never seen before. I'm not sure how it happened, I've left it in the backyard since probably November. It's been out in the... more
    • August 2023 Update- Erik_, Fri Aug 04 2023 5:55pm
      • This is like the world's most unusual blog - Puckdropper, Sat Aug 05 2023 4:01am
        Old dead pumpkins... who'da thought I'd subscribe? Gravity did it. Maybe a bit of wind. We've had a few thunderstorms move through here, I'm sure you've seen a few too.
        • I also have a squash! - Erik_, Sat Aug 05 2023 9:26pm
          This one is even a bit more interesting. (I mean, what could POSSIBLY be more interesting than a mummified pumpkin?) My mother in law gave it to us to cook back before Thanksgiving I think.. it might have been last summer. Anyway, it's in our kitchen on the movable kitchen island and it has been since... more
          • Pic of the squash - Erik_, Sun Aug 06 2023 8:00am
            Ok, so maybe it does have a little discoloration here and there. Still solid though.
            • Cut off the bad spots and eat it before your - Puckdropper, Mon Aug 07 2023 3:52pm
              kid can through a foam ball at it! We had a watermelon go bad. It still looked ok on the outside, but as soon as mom cut into it it exploded.
    • July 2023 Update - DISASTER! - Erik_, Wed Jul 05 2023 2:49am
      My kid threw a foam ball at 'the pumpkin' where I've had it perched in a dead bush and it broke in half! Incredible aim for a toddler. The ball went directly to it and snapped it in half with a loud 'crack' sound. It's been holding on by the top section for a while now. I'm not sure when/how the... more
      • A foam ball did that damage? Wow, kid's got great aim! - Puckdropper, Wed Jul 05 2023 3:52pm
        That's a great run for a pumpkin, especially considering the one we had dried up and shriveled to nothing in the basement over the course of a year. At least you found your silver lining... your pictures uploaded just fine. :-)
        • Single throw, through the branches right to it. - Erik_, Wed Jul 05 2023 11:07pm
          It was incredible. He's been itching at getting a hold of that pumpkin since he could walk so it was just a matter of time before he got it. You know how you can sometimes sense what your kid is thinking and what they're going to do (or try to do) a few seconds before they do it? This was one of those... more
          • You can definitely see determination on their faces! - Puckdropper, Mon Jul 17 2023 3:36pm
            And attraction. My second is great about letting you know what she wants, and she'll patiently go through the items on the table to tell you what she wants. Fries? No. Water? No. Hot Dog? Yeah! User submitted content is hard no matter what you do. I wouldn't be surprised to find someone has submitted... more
            • Same here or no just to no - Erik_, Sun Jul 23 2023 4:26pm
              Ex: Do you want a cookie? No. Are you sure? No. So you want a cookie? No. Okay I'm putting them away then. Coooookie!! There's definitely been generic vulnerability hunting scripts that hit this site constantly. Haven't seen anything specifically written for the site come in yet... At least nothing... more
    • The pumpkin is still somehow going somewhat strong though its starting to show significant signs of decomposition and because of the falls its had, it's a bit fragile now. Not sure how much longer it'll be around but it's amazing it's made it this far. My pumpkins this year weren't so lucky.... more
      • I think the most humble pumpkin patch is yours - Puckdropper, Sun Mar 26 2023 5:32am
        Everyone else will throw those things away by November.
        • at this point with the amount of pumpkins that have melted into my yard.
          • Quit mowing that space. - Puckdropper, Mon Apr 03 2023 1:24am
            Play your mowing game instead. (That one could be a hit on Android.)
            • A few months ago I got around to trying to get it to build and run on my computer with a newer version of Java and it was a nightmare. The graphics library I used doesn't seem to be updated anymore and getting it to work on anything modern is a pain. Just spun it up to try it again. You HAVE to... more
              • Could be a fun game for Scratch or AppInventor - Puckdropper, Tue Jun 13 2023 11:46pm
                If you wanted to give "connect the dots" programming a shot. The biggest problem I ran in to there was that a function would quickly fill the screen and scrolling was a nightmare. The ball tap game was written with AppInventor. AppInventor has support for sprites so it'd probably be pretty easy... more
                • I wish I could get into Android dev... - Erik_, Sun Jun 18 2023 2:00am
                  Seems like a good area to get into where people might actually try some of the stuff I spew out. lol For my hobby stuff I feel like I either have to write it in a language I know and enjoy or whatever my 'flavor of the month' is currently. So in this case, if I was to rewrite it, it would probably be... more
                  • I tried looking into Android development - Puckdropper, Mon Jun 19 2023 11:53pm
                    They have their own app studio and seem to like Java and some other language quite a bit. Kotlin? At any rate, it just seemed like it was so difficult to get started. Especially since I wanted to simply read the file system on an external SD card, but you had to feed it some weird abstracted stuff... more
                    • Many years ago I tried Android Studio - Erik_, Tue Jun 20 2023 12:00pm
                      I remember it running really bad on my computer. When I spun up the phone emulator to test what I was tinkering with, it ran at a slideshow speed. I'm guessing things are probably different now but that's what turned me away from it back then. Verbosity with Java is a love/hate type of deal with me.... more
                      • More computing horsepower, yay! - Puckdropper, Wed Jun 21 2023 2:27am
                        I think it was something that looked like a GUID to access the SD Card, then it was going to be exposed to the user. Yuck. You might have seen it leak somewhere /emulated/storage/0/GUID-(*883-8488/ or something like that. Sometimes I think languages should be less about instructions to the machine... more
                        • I agree. I think that's a good idea as long as... - Erik_, Sun Jun 25 2023 2:10am
                          There's someone writing the lower level device drivers or library for the given language. For languages that lack what you're looking for, that's a prime candidate to start your own.. if you're daring enough or willing to take on the responsibility (or not... and just lead to forum questions hanging... more
                          • Hopefully you'd start with a language core - Puckdropper, Tue Jun 27 2023 1:29am
                            that could do everything then as you built really common things factor them out into libraries and such. You might wind up with Matt's Script Archive, which gave us the Obsolete Computer Helpline. I guess there's a balance to be struck between a function for every little thing and providing libraries... more
                            • Re: Hopefully you'd start with a language core - Erik_, Tue Jun 27 2023 10:24am
                              On that thought, it would be nice if there was some sort of monitoring (maybe there is for some languages?) that keeps track of libraries that are popping up by type. For example, if there's a ton of libraries added to the package manager repo for converting images to ASCII, maybe that feature should... more
                              • That would be a good way to do it... - Puckdropper, Wed Jul 05 2023 4:12pm
                                As your core team sees more and more common modules being written or used, they look for things to add to the core extensions. In some cases, the developers would love to volunteer their code to the core extension team, under the same terms as the language itself. No conflicts, it's just a gift. ... more
                                • Neither can just close. They go into that little mini window that you can move around the screen. I'm guessing so you can do other things while keeping it up on the screen. Which, sure, if I had a large screen that could work but when I'm looking at a tiny screen I don't think I've ever found those mini... more
                                  • Windowed content just doesn't work on Android. - Puckdropper, Wed Jul 26 2023 2:07pm
                                    The screens are all too small, and even for a smaller Windows Tablet, windows just don't really work. I ran everything maximized with 640x480 displays, even 1024x768. Although, by then you could conceivably have two windows open. Maps is especially inexcusable. I often use it for the hard parts,... more
                                    • Heck, I still run things full screen on 1440x900 - Erik_, Wed Jul 26 2023 5:58pm
                                      You hit the nail on the head with all your complaints for the small windowed apps. They're just not practical on screens that small and they most likely never will be unless they replace the all content of the window with a button to maximize the app. haha I'm so bad at touch screen/pad gestures. Just... more
                                      • What works really well is widgets. - Puckdropper, Fri Jul 28 2023 4:52pm
                                        Basically things designed to display content. Weather can be summed up in a little 1" square area, as can what music is playing, etc. But those things aren't intended for interaction, just display. I only use the touch pad when I can't avoid it. I got my first "modern" laptop with a touchpad for... more
    • Looking a little more beat than the May picture but not too shabby for something that should have rotted away back in December. Unfortunately, the summer heat and drought killed my thyme and small strawberry plant I've had for years.
      • Looks good! It's amazing how long they stay at your place. - Puckdropper, Thu Sep 22 2022 5:07am
        Sorry to hear about the thyme and strawberry plant... Sometimes plants only look dead then come back.
        • Disaster! (Well.. not really) - Erik_, Thu Sep 29 2022 12:08pm
          Trying to keep the pumpkin in one piece with a toddler running around the yard has been difficult. I put it up high so he couldn't grab it. Unfortunately, at night, it fell and now has a large crack in it. Inside: So close to a year old too! I think if it at least makes it that far I'll... more
          • Oh no! - Puckdropper, Fri Sep 30 2022 2:20am
            It looks like you've got dried pumpkin. That might keep for some time. You'll have to keep updating the game with yearly photos just for the pure weirdness of it. :-) You never know... sometimes with plants when they look like they're dead they're just focused on other parts of life. Life finds... more
            • That would be sort of do-able... - Erik_, Fri Sep 30 2022 9:56am
              In the initial release, have the current picture but number it something like "p001.bmp". Say there was some sort of "rotten pumpkin gallery". When you go there, it would start on p001.bmp. And if p002.bmp exists, enable a next button. You could set this up at the gallery start by iterating until... more
              • I did something similar once... - Puckdropper, Wed Oct 12 2022 1:55am
                I think it's the image rotation thing on the RCMRRC website. IIRC, it found the images in the folder, assigned numbers and kept iterating to change the pictures. I could be misremembering, though.
"Forces act when not restrained" - Puckdropper