iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Rao Dao Zao @raodaozao.net · 05/10/2026

I love how WordPress now has the "Improve With AI" tab open by default, as if that's going to make me any more likely to use it. By "love" I mean... you know what I mean. 🖕

Rao Dao Zao @raodaozao.net · 04/10/2026

I love how Star Wars: The Force Unleashed has the acronym SWTFU, i.e. "Shut Wars The Fuck Up"

Rao Dao Zao @raodaozao.net · 04/10/2026

Gave my PC a bit of a clean-out this week, and while it wasn't as dusty inside as I expected, the case definitely isn't creaking so much anymore so it _must_ have been dusty enough to affect its temperature control. 🧹

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Rao Dao Zao @raodaozao.net · 03/10/2026

"That feels itchy! Meow!"

Rao Dao Zao @raodaozao.net · 03/10/2026

I like to pretend that I'm a mature and functional adult, but then I take every possibly opportunity to pet the Levels BellaBot because it makes silly kawaii cat noises.

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WHAT'S THAT? VIDEO KILLED THE RADIO STAR? I'M SORRY, I CAN'T HEAR YOU.

No they are not THE BUGGLES, they are The Buggles.

Whoever has flooded the music metadata databases with artist and track names entirely IN CAPITALS is my nemesis. 😤

Went to the cinema to see Hope last night. God damn does it _go places_. An absolutely wild ride -- 10/10, film of the year.

Rao Dao Zao @raodaozao.net · 01/10/2026

Maybe I need to straight up change provider, but it seems like this problem is at the network level (?!) so that might not even help.

Rao Dao Zao @raodaozao.net · 01/10/2026

Today's customer service man is like "if your broadband is working, just ignore it, yo?" and I'm like "you keep sending my letters to a random neighbour!!"

Rao Dao Zao @raodaozao.net · 01/10/2026

That thing where the telephone company swore blind that they'd fixed your address and then it turns out... they did not. 😌

Rao Dao Zao @raodaozao.net · 30/09/2026

You're right, I ain't no gentleman. 😈

Rao Dao Zao @raodaozao.net · 29/09/2026

Finally got my P45. I guess it's now double-official that I am a Gentleman of Leisure.

I mean this has only happened like twice this year so it's still early days for my Unified Theory, but I'm sure this situation has arisen before. Maybe it's a AAA vs. AA thing.

Meanwhile the games that are proper bangers tend to be more restrained with their enemies.

I am beginning to think that the quality of a game's creature design is inversely proportional to how good the actual game is. It's not universally true, but I keep stumbling into games that are full of whacked-out cool creatures but are... quite bad.

Game Dev Edinburgh @gamedeved.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Reposted by Rao Dao Zao

TOMORROW from 6pm until late is GameDevEd! Join us at Ox184 for your regularly scheduled gamedev social spectacular :) #scotgamedev

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Obviously what I _actually_ want is an All Random that specifically excludes seguéd/live/etc tracks and only plays ones that can actually function standalone, without jarring breaks.

What makes a track "Night" or "Extreme"? Whomst among us can truly say, but it's more fun than All Random.

The actual problem with transferring my entire music collection to a new microSD card is that my Digital Media Player now needs to rescan all 4177 tracks to assess them for which SensMe™ randomised mood playlists they fit into.

Rao Dao Zao @raodaozao.net · 27/09/2026

Oooh, new Erasure song. 👀

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I enjoyed King's Bounty: The Legend a while back, so I figured I'd try the sequel sooner or later. Unfortunately, "more of the same" is a very double-edged sword.

raodaozao.net

Blog 1036: King’s Bounty: Armored Princess

It's not the King's bounty, it's mine.

Rao Dao Zao @raodaozao.net · 26/09/2026

Maybe I shouldn't have my scanner's default settings be "take two minutes to create an image that is 10200x14031", an image so large that Paint Shop Pro 7 cannot even comprehend it.

Either that or I just play it as a 1024x768 square on the Win7 PC, but without any form of scaling that's going to be a recipe for squinting at the screen that even I am not willing to put up with.

Might have to see how this one responds to the XP machine, but since it's from the cusp of Vista we'll be on the performance edge.

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Feels weird to encounter a game that is determined to run in a fixed-sized window rather than full-screen. Usually it's people complaining they can't run full-screen stuff in a window!

Actually it's cool that my "age group" is "unconfirmed", this is equivalent to still getting ID'd at a bar. Discord thinks I might be young! Clearly still lookin' good for my age. 😌 ☺️

I have a couple of 64GB cards spare, do you think I can just mush them together? 🤔

Dread to think how much it'll cost for a bigger microSD card these days. 🙈💸

That thing where you've been re-ripping all your CDs as FLAC with cover images and correct tagging and... uh... run out of space on your Digital Media Player... 😰

You know, ever since Absolute 80s stopped broadcasting in mono and therefore can no longer be recieved by 50% of the radios in my flat... I haven't heard 19 by Paul Hardcastle in _ages_. 🤔

Rao Dao Zao @raodaozao.net · 21/09/2026

I just discovered this today and I am honour-bound to share it with you. www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_vP...

youtube.com

Take on PINGAS

YouTube video by Twash Man

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Rao Dao Zao @raodaozao.net · 17/09/2026

Fallen straight back into the "I've just seen Tom Bailey -> I need to see when he's touring again" cycle. Genuinely one of my top live acts currently doing the rounds.

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Rao Dao Zao @raodaozao.net · 17/09/2026

If You Were Here has always been one of my favourite Thompson Twins songs, but the live version Tom Bailey's been doing on his solo tours is truly sublime.

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Reposted by Rao Dao Zao

Game Dev Edinburgh @gamedeved.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

TONIGHT from 6pm until late (that's less than an hour from now!) is GameDevEd! Come hang out with Game Developers from In And Around Edinburgh discursing and discussing and discoursing until the wee hours of probably 10pm-ish #scotgamedev

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Reposted by Rao Dao Zao

Game Dev Edinburgh @gamedeved.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

TOMORROW, from 6PM until late at OX184 is GameDevEd! We will be chatting, as always, about game development and our lives around it :) come get your fortnightly round of camraderie and chatter from game developers from in and around Edinburgh #scotgamedev

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As if blowing up my level editor and pathfinding systems wasn't enough, I've now decided to blow up the way I fundamentally store and retrieve game data. It's all related, I swear!

raodaozao.net

Blog 1034: Tables

Sylky smooth.

I'm always surprised when I go past Torness and remember that it's a nuclear power station. It's so teeny! I feel like nuclear power should be... bigger. ☢️

Something something "Glasgow IS a wildlife reserve" dohohoho.

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That's only in Glasgow, so much less chance of a two-hour walk around a wildlife reserve preceding it.

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Now, I just have to hope that my post-dancing, post-holiday aching feet and muscles can recover in time for my next concert -- Tom Bailey (of the Thompson Twins) on Wednesday. 💪

But for the avoidance of doubt: squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

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The worst thing is that being up on stage without a monitor, I lost half the drums so my timing immediately fell apart. 😔

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(It's not hard to be the best dancer in the room when not many other people are standing, let alone moving. But I'll take it!)

Not only a personal shout-out to thank me for coming all this way 😊, but pulled up on stage to dance as well. 😄😳 I think I might be part of the crew at this point. 😅

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If London has any saving grace at all, it's definitely the parakeets. 🦜