When you do not sim?

[TuFun 426]

Haven't flown since a year ago due to a computer failure and waiting for the great Intel 9xxx/Nvidia 2xxx releases.

Wasn't worth the wait after seen Rob experiments on the 9900K/Nvidia 2800ti stuff. Anyways building one now from Cyber Monday sales.  Crazy deals right now!!!

Well years before that happen, just working with Manfred on the Douglas C-47 project. Most of that time was learning to use Photoshop 6 and Quixel programs.  Can't wait to get back to that and AH F3F-2 project.

 

 

[Guest]

45 minutes ago, TuFun said:

Wasn't worth the wait after seen Rob experiments on the 9900K/Nvidia 2800ti stuff.

9900K isn't a "bad" CPU, it's just not the CPU I hoped it would be.  I think the 2080Ti has good potential but as other's have pointed out, by the time developers start using DLSS and/or ray tracing accelerated features, it's likely a new variant of GPU will be out from nVidia ... NVLink is a better SLI but still reliant on good drivers and application support.

On the sim side, I do tend to fly more simulated GA aircraft/routes these days, primarily because of limited time.  I've lost interest in 3D shooters beyond just seeing what can be done on the technical side ... strategy games (CIV VI) can consume more of my free time.

Cheers, Rob.

[TuFun 426]

I went ahead and ordered an i5-9600k with EVGA CLC 280 water cooler all on Cyber sale.  For gaming, it's Tomb Raider and Uncharted series on the PS3. Holding out to see what PS5 will bring.

I'm holding out for P3Dv5 when I get back into simming again.

I'm more a GA flyer myself when I did sim with all the Orbx scenery.  Looking forward to Deadstick!

 

Edited November 26, 2018 by TuFun

[Patco Lch 1,463]

3 hours ago, TuFun said:

Well years before that happen, just working with Manfred on the Douglas C-47 project.

+1👍

[Mace 1,902]

10 hours ago, Howellerman said:

When I don't sim, I:

• Rebuild classic mid-60's Ford/Mercury cars
• Work on my 1991 F-150
• Ride motorcycles, currently a 2018 Triumph Bonneville 
• Ride mountain bikes (hoping to never break anything like Erich did)
• Frustrate myself at the driving range. Not all balls go straight and true for 250 yards...
• Plan meals, shop, and cook. More of a gourmand versus a gourmet. 
• Make sure the sinks and toilets, floors and furniture are shipshape

Unfortunately, flight simming is on hiatus: my 7 year-old system cooling system failed two months ago. But, I am putting together a new systems with rudder pedals and yoke and should be ready to go this winter.

I think my 10 year old rudder pedals are on the way out...sometimes they get power, sometimes not.

So, 1991 F-150 eh.  Does it have the straight 6, 302, or 351W?   Not even sure if the straight 6 was offered in '91 anymore -- I'm more of an Explorer / Ranger person and only partially into F-150's.  Is it a Lightning by chance?

I have a 1994 Explorer that I have just about done everything to over the years.  Now it is running great and has a new suspension installed by yours truly.  Yes, that is one of the things I do when I'm not messing with flight sim.

 

[Howellerman 104]

13 hours ago, Mace said:

I think my 10 year old rudder pedals are on the way out...sometimes they get power, sometimes not.

So, 1991 F-150 eh.  Does it have the straight 6, 302, or 351W?   Not even sure if the straight 6 was offered in '91 anymore -- I'm more of an Explorer / Ranger person and only partially into F-150's.  Is it a Lightning by chance?

I have a 1994 Explorer that I have just about done everything to over the years.  Now it is running great and has a new suspension installed by yours truly.  Yes, that is one of the things I do when I'm not messing with flight sim.

 

Heya Rhett, 

It does indeed have the inline six. Durable as an anvil, although the early fuel injection presents it host of problems. It is low mileage for its age, only 120K total. She is a Custom and was an old farm truck - had dust upon dust upon grime, and the farmer installed both front and rear LED lights for "field use". While the rear U-joints were completely gone there are few other areas of concern outside of purging the fuel system of "farm gas" residue. Quarts of Sea Foam are helping clear the tubes. In what has to be the find of the century I found an original, correct color, low-mileage bench seat at a local wrecking yard. The full 8-foot bed has already paid for itself. Just a basic, solid, pickem-up truck.

[nealmac 260]

When I'm not simming I'm usually to be found in political groups on Facebook, arguing with right wingers. I need to get a life.

[Holdit 551]

12 minutes ago, nealmac said:

When I'm not simming I'm usually to be found in political groups on Facebook, arguing with right wingers. I need to get a life.

When I get into political arguments I tend to end up arguing with right-wingers and left-wingers. It gets old very quickly...

[John_Cillis 2,406]

23 minutes ago, Holdit said:

When I get into political arguments I tend to end up arguing with right-wingers and left-wingers. It gets old very quickly...

I learned to avoid such arguments altogether when I saw a friend post a political opinion, then someone attacked him.  When I called the someone on the carpet I learned they were working together, posting point and counterpoint, just to stir up the pot and manipulate facebook.  I unfriended my "friend" because of the game he was playing with his buddy.  I've learned many political debates are from others manipulating Facebook and trying to start flame wars, usually to put down centrists or political independents like myself.  When I was a mod here I witnessed the same thing in our forums, newbies would set up two accounts and post point and counterpoint not realizing we could trace their ip address.  Again, they were stirring up the pot, annoying Tom and I and the other mods, and annoying other members here.  Then when we banned them they would threaten us, as if we were being paid for what we were doing.  That is what made me give up being a mod after I discussed it with Tom for a while, although he asked me not to quit.  It was just not worth the headache even though the majority of the members supported me.  I hated deleting and locking threads, preferring to delete individual posts when things got out of hand, but it was grueling work and I modded the forums after I came home from my IT job.  I was a mod so often that I was not simming enough and enjoying the hobby as I should have.  There was just no balance and a shortage of mods at that time.

John

[birdguy 3,943]

At the advanced age of 85 I find myself losing interest in a lot of things.  Flight simming is one of them.  I don't want to drop it so I fly a couple hours a week.  But I know the day is coming when I will abandon it.

I've gone back to other things that fell by the wayside when computers and technology started ruling our lives and found a re-awakening in things like reading and writing.  Mostly long novels like Michener and Clavell that I can look forward to reading a bit of every day.  Also taken to writing stories and anecdotes about my Marine Corps days.  I have six of them now.

Perhaps it's an attempt to find my way back to less complicated lifestyles and simpler political  times with less technology.  I miss my rotary dial phone with a receiver that fit comfortably between my shoulder and my ear.  I hate buds and earphones and my iPhone that want's to run my life.

I recall that line of Curly's in City Slickers, "One thing!"  Well, maybe two or three.

Noel

[Guest]

I have to keep asking my wife what is "left" and what is "right" and why there's nothing in-between? And left seems to shift to right and visa-versa, full circle.  😉

Books are good, I love books and I'm a young whipper snapper at 54 (or is it 55?) ... it was a sad day when most of my local bookstores closed because of online stores.  However, there seems to be a re-insurgents of interest in books, a brand new Barnes and Noble is opening close to us with lots of sitting chairs and of course a coffee shop/pastry section inside.  I honestly don't know why I love books so much, the smell, the feel ... it's far more efficient to read electronically with search capabilities, but I always find myself back at a book with highlights, insert tabs, etc. 

Cheers, Rob.

[Holdit 551]

1 hour ago, birdguy said:

I've gone back to other things that fell by the wayside when computers and technology started ruling our lives and found a re-awakening in things like reading and writing.  

Ironically, the technology has helped me with this. My Kindle app on my phone makes it easier to read in bed and on the move. I'm currently working my way through "The Campaigns of Napoleon" which I had in hardback already but could never make much progress with because its bulk and weight don't suit those times when I do my reading. Now that I've got the Kindle version I'm flying through it. This year I took a shelf-load of books on holiday with me...in my phone. I've got quite a reading backlog now especially since I signed up to a daily e-mail that advises me of Kindle books that are €0.99 - €1.99 for that day only. Usually there's one a week that would pique my interest enough for me to pull the trigger.

As far as the ruling our lives part goes, I don't find that at all, although I know it's a commonly-held view. I heard a radio presenter talking the other day about how we're all stressed by our smartphones, and thought "speak for yourself, mate". My phone isn't an electronic leash, it's a comms device/entertainment system and general anti-boredom kit, but when I get home it spends the vast majority of its time on a shelf. When I work from home I tell the guys "call my landline first" because I'm more likely to hear it and be near to it. But then, I don't do Facebook or Twitter (even more pointless than Facebook, which I had thought impossible) and my phone doesn't pick up my work e-mail, so I suppose that reduces the stress potential.

Please let us know if you ever publish your stories from the Marines. I'm sure they'd make great reading.

[Holdit 551]

1 hour ago, Rob Ainscough said:

However, there seems to be a re-insurgents of interest in books, a brand new Barnes and Noble is opening close to us with lots of sitting chairs and of course a coffee shop/pastry section inside.  I honestly don't know why I love books so much, the smell, the feel ... it's far more efficient to read electronically with search capabilities, but I always find myself back at a book with highlights, insert tabs, etc. 

Couldn't agree more. You can't beat that "new book smell". A small independent bookshop in my town has been going great guns for several years now, and winning awards to boot. If I decide I want to buy a book, I usually price it on Amazon first and then e-mail the shop for a price and delivery-time. If they're in the ballpark or not too far out of it I give them the business instead. Nothing against Amazon, but when a local business does things you like, then you should be using it or risk losing it.

[Chuck_Jodry-VJPL 663]

The pastime I still enjoy most  is reading, though I prefer books on a monitor now , the high contrast and backlit text is easy to read , from any distance.

My favorite source is Project Gutenberg , every piece of classic literature in multiple languages , if ever you are bored try the works by Giacomo Girolamo Casanova , his autobiography, Histoire de ma vie (Story of My Life) is quite something , especially Naples .

Project Gutenberg offers over 57,000 free eBooks. Choose among free epub books, free kindle books, download them or read them online. You will find the world's great literature here, with focus on older works for which copyright has expired.

 

https://www.gutenberg.org/

 

Best CJ

[birdguy 3,943]

I'm with you Rob.  

Since I had my cataract surgery and can now read regular books without my eyes blurring up in 15 minutes my Nook is on the desk and I am getting the old hard covers from the book shelf.

Books have a 'feel' to them.  Nothing like having a paper bookmark peeking between the pages.  When I have to review a passage I like flipping back a few paper pages.  I like writing notes in the margins.

You can give and get books as gifts you can wrap up and put under a Christmas Tree or beside a birthday cake.

I wish I lived in city large enough to support a Barnes and Noble with chairs in the aisles and coffee bars.  That's civilization.

When I lived in downtown Denver a few blocks west of Larimer Square on 15th Street (or was it 16th) we had the Tattered Cover Book Store.  I think it was older than Barnes and Noble but the same thing.  I spent many an enjoyable afternoon there.

I still have  a couple of books my father gave me when I was in high school.  Penguin Island by Anatole France and Mark Twain's Letters from the Earth.  Both banned by the church at the time.  He snuck them to me and said, "Don't let your Mom see these," because she was a devout Catholic. 

Stephen Coonts was the next door neighbor of a friend of mine.  I met him several times and he gave me an autographed copy of Flight of the Intruder.  He wrote, "May all your landings be three wire," on the flyleaf.

Try getting an author to autograph your Kindle or Nook copy.

Books are romantic.

Kindle and Nook are cold technology; sometimes necessary as they were for me for many years, but give me the printed paper page any day.

Noel