I’ve been listening to a lot of Car Bomb lately. Like, nothing but Car Bomb for weeks.

For sure feel free to pick up the #scificlub tag and make a thread about it. I’d be glad to follow along with what you do next if it’s also here on Hubski!

My spirit animal.

Dwarf Fortress is a roguelike-inspired fantasy world simulator. That is, it procedurally generates a whole world with civilizations, monsters, religions, instruments, individuals, wars and history et cetera et cetera. The player then interacts with this world. There are two game modes, but it is most known for fortress mode in which the player directs a starting population of seven dwarves to inhabit a small area of the world and do whatever. You could say it's akin to Minecraft in that sense, which has cited DF as an influence.

DF has been in development for 13 years continuously, programmed by one person who does this full time via donations. He has said it will be his life's work. It's remarkable for it's unparalleled depth. For example, DF is anatomically detailed down to bones cartilage and nervous tissue, and combat between two creatures is a simulation of the material properties of the weapon being used against said organs and parts. That sort of depth is present in pretty much every facet of the game. Oh, and it's in ASCII. Currently, alpha version 0.47.01 is out.

The last month has been a whirlwind at work. Things are finally starting to settle down, and for once I feel like I'm going to survive this and not crash and burn.

I've been using 90% of my idle time on Breath of The Wild still. It's still amazing. But also Dwarf Fortress released a new version, so I'll have to find some time for that too, and music, and maybe some of the many hobbies I've pushed aside since forever.

When I was a kid, my dad made a model ship roughly based on the ship in Master and Commander, the Patrick O'Brian novel that had not yet been adapted into the Russell Crowe film. It was an undertaking that took years; the thing was made to be fully functional. The hull was painstakingly carved from bits of buoyant balsa wood, every plank about 1:80 scale. It was stained and painted, and built with functional masts and hand-sewn sails. There was rigging controlled by RC-controlled motors under the deck. It was motor-powered but all it's propulsion was from the wind. With a controller you could control the sails, their angle, raise them, control the rudder etc. Lights would come on in the captain's quarters to let you know the motor was turning. It took years to put together, and he always had another little detail to work on even after it was seaworthy. Cannons with ports that opened, nets, lifeboats. There was an elaborate gold-painted figurehead at the bow, lady and spear.

He'd take it out to Spreckles lake in SF to sail it around, along with a bunch of other guys with model ships, none of which were ever as impressive as his. At one point he dove in to save some older guy's ship that started going under, and that water was nasty. One time I came home from a hobby shop and had picked up some little plastic figures at ~1;80 scale. He asked where I got em from. After that, he had little plastic crew on the ship. The figures were in a stiff, hands-to-side pose, but with some x-acto knife, careful lighter flame, and paint he could make them into any sort of pose and role. People pulling on rigging, the captain at the forecastle, people tending the raised lifeboats.

He died when I was 16. Life was chaos and living situations were unstable not long afterwards, and I don't know where the ship ever ended up. It was before the era of ubiquitous cameras, and I don't have any pictures of it. It's the biggest sentimental material loss of my life. I'll always have memories of him working away at some detail of the ship in the upstairs room of our house in the yellow lights though. Maybe there's where I got my tendency to take on too many crafty and tinkering DIY things. It's one of the most memorable pillars of my childhood. Sometimes I'd play N64 in the room across from his dedicated workspace for it. We'd play eachother at MarioKart or Xtreme G.

I knew I had to write something about it when I saw this post. I was also kinda weary to. It's been a little while since I revisited those memories in that much detail and I could feel them being heavy from a mile away. I have his copy of the book still. The historical setting and language were too obtuse for me when he first gave it to me, and it always seemed too sensitive for me to pick up after he died, so I still haven't read it. I think it's time I need to.

Damn, what a night. Jaco is one of the biggest legends in bass.

This sounds like a story that needs to be told.

I’ve been having a lot of rough days lately. One of the trends that I’ve noticed is that when things turn around or aren’t going so badly, it usually when I’ve had some fresh coffee. Keep that pour over coming.

Cool to see 3Teeth on here. Been into a lot of Jinjer lately.

I’ve been playing Breath of the Wild. I got us a Switch for Christmas. Fiancé got me BotW. She’s really into watching people play, so we’ve been going through it together where mostly I play and she watches and directs. It’s been a blast and the game is amazing. The last Zelda game I played was OOT on N64.

I’ve been on another DF bender recently. I’ve been playing for a long time now, like more than 10 years actually. Really looking forward to the villains release. I also got some of my music featured in a Kruggsmash video. Cool stuff

I kinda missed the boat on this round, but this thing is super cool though. Next time I'll break out the leatherwork.

Yesterday I was recovering too much to post in pubski. Happy new year hubski.