29/09/2023

it's been quite a while, hasn't it? i'm procrastinating on making website 3.0: What is a PHP and so i'm hesitant to upload anything here, but i gotta jot this down before i forget again

An Essay on Nostalgia (and love as a whole?)

as quite a few of you know, i'm a huge fan of some time around the 1980's, the decade my parents grew up in. i have a shitton of retro tech in my room, my taste in pop music decidedly requires synthesizers (preferably yamaha), my architectural guilty pleasure is beige-brick houses, and and when i get a driver's license someday, i want a boxy car

but it's not all sunshine and rainbows. it was the second height of the cold war, healthcare was objectively worse than it is today (hell, smallpox was only eradicated in 1979), we polluted like hell and there was a housing shortage, even back then. these are very real circumstances that my parents (and grandparents) had to contend with

i personally don't really mind, i accept both the good and the bad of the 80's. i would've probably smoked like hell and get the same plate of stamppot every evening of my life. had i been transported to 1983 (or, more realistically, 1993) i could probably survive and even blend in seamlessly if i shaved my goatee and got new glasses. however, it seems i'm the exception and not the rule

gen z is obsessed with the past. the 2000's revival is, with all likelihood, their creation. however, apart from actually mentioning what sites they visited as children, they take great liberties in what they "remember" or obsess over. to my greatest regret, they modernize the entire decade.

let me say that properly: The collective Generation Z is adapting the past to a modern, anachronistic, ignorant and entirely inappropriate point of view. they "forget" the things they don't like and pollute what they do like. don't believe me?

case study 1: the lacey series. the ui gets a pass, but the characters themselves are completely out of place. the art style is decidedly modern and it would be a pain in the ass for 2000's flash artists to make. the characters are also too dark and desaturated for some reason? even if that's symbolic, it's a very poor stylistic choice given the ui

case study 2: the new(?) pepsi logo. if our lord and saviour matpat is to be believed, the new, old-style design caters explicitly to gen z. however, the execution is kinda meh, it just looks like yet another flat design with a bad font. who exactly does this design cater to? it's too modern to be taken seriously as something retro. do a pizza hut and JUST USE THE OLD LOGO !!!

case study(?) 3: where is somethingawful? where are the fifteen billion viruses you'd get perusing the web for torrents, which also aren't there? where is the homophobia? where is any aspect of what made the wild web, the wild web? as bad as all of these things are, to date i've never seen a single follower of the revival acknowledge them. arguably, it's even gayer, more child-friendly and more sanitized than ever before. and yes, that was in the same breath

so why does this matter? well, i argue that a modern look on history is the most potent poison to history. to adapt something necessarily requires that you remove something, and the one thing guaranteed to be removed in that process is authenticity. people assert as fact that some things happened in a remarkably modern and rose-tinted way, when in fact, there was a lot left to be desired, and the past is exactly as regressive as we'd normally expect.

and that hinders progress. what are we to believe if we are spoon-fed modern lies to fit an agenda? will our next generation truly know history, or will they need a paralyzing wake-up call? do we really long for the past when we imagine it to be just as advanced, if not more advanced, than the present?

this goes not just for the 2000's, by the way, neo-nazism is equally guilty of this. unless it says "Deutsch" on your passport and you have blonde hair, you and your family would be sent to a concentration camp under a hitler-type guy. that alone should make you seriously reconsider your world war 2 nostalgia if you haven't already

this sentiment is applicable to anything and everything, really. if you love your country's history, you should recognize that it abolished slavery obscenely late and still kinda mistreats black people to an extent. hell, if you love your wife, you should recognize that she probably has an unsavory past; nevertheless, she is the best thing to ever happen to you. if you love anything, you should recognize that it isn't perfect, and trying to rewrite it as something it isn't is going to violently disappoint you in the end - diminishing its value.

with that said, i'm never touching a cigarette in my life, but in my nostalgic fantasy, i'd probably smoke one right now as i finish this. see you in 5 years

22/02/2023

ladies and gentlemen, i bring you a new word in the english language:
noquide /nəˈkwaiːd/ (adj): just barely not perfect and therefore ruined, but you'll try your best to go ahead with it anyway; in particular with food
"John, your fries are noquide"

the pronunciation isn't exactly definitive, so go wild making up alternative pronunciations, but that's how i'd personally say it

came up with it this week after a conversation about gravy, and how gronings (my province's dialect) has a dedicated word for something, typically food, that is incredibly bad: glène. inspired by this, i came up with my own word in dutch (bijger), and the very next day i translated it into english as noquide

how the hell does that happen? well, the etymology boils down to a very heavy simplification of the phrase "not quite done", or "bijna gaar" in dutch. if you wish to translate it, you should follow this format

note that this is not a perfect synonym of parker square. parker square has a positive connotation (at least you tried), whereas noquide has a negative connotation (could've been better). i recognize that this could be toxic, but what are you gonna do, ban an idea? besides, it's up to you how you use the word

that being said, i encourage you to use the word noquide or its translations, even if that's a stupid thing to ask. hyped to see it pop up in the oxford dictionary by 2025

16/12/2022

welcome to hibot3000.com 2.1: What is an SSL

more precisely, i'm proxying this website through cloudflare. shoutout goes to one of my fellow uni students for showing me that a proxy like this is even possible. can't have done it without him, because i am frankly tired of setting up an ssl certificate at home. i'm looking to switch registrars but this'll do for now

also NEW PC it's the dell xps i talked about in the last post. it's pretty good so far, but i haven't tested fortnite on it yet (and probably never will) so who knows

and finally, the conlang from last post is 99.9% done. i sent it to zrad for peer review and he made a lot of good objections, which i, a responsible scientist, will incorporate in the next iteration. he also simultaneously showed where there was a lack of a good explanation in the document, so that's what the last percentile is for

closing message: next episode of smpvideo will be out by christmas, i promise

28/10/2022

update: laptop still dead

i am eyeing a new system, though: the dell xps desktop series. they aren't fugly like alienware or most gAmEr desktop pcs, but it still has roughly the same specs that i'm looking for (or i can select for them). only problems are that it's a dell, the fans can get loud as shit and it ships with 12 months of mcafee which i can't not select

if you wanna give me a suggestion, email me your current rig and your common problems. that way i can narrow down the list of components that are crucial, because i am aiming for a reasonably priced pc that can record and edit videos without a fuss. weird, unnecessary benchmark: it should run fortnite at standard settings. i don't play fortnite but if it can run at least that it should be good

do i have the money for any pc? yes (i have a job), but the budget is restricted to €3000 for the sake of also having enough money left in the vault for other shit, like a car. "3000 euros? sounds like a lot" well computers are marked up to hell and back in the netherlands fsr so what can you do

final note: i'm working on an interlang and i can't wait to put it on this website. 100% expecting toki ponists to shit all over it like seagulls if i ever do get feedback, so if you are going to argue for turning my creation into toki pona, just.. please don't. i will explain my rationale in due time, but for now it's good to get this out of the way

other than that? uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh idk lol cya

07/08/2022

heavy birthing to me (19)

previous blog post's video is postponed indefinitely, but in the meantime i have become part of a team that does decent va and editing. might need extra va's sometime in the future though??? so the ad's still gonna be up

also i went to the island of crete last week. if you don't know what that is, i'll let you finish your xxl deluxe cheeseburger before googling it, i'll wait. south side is very nice because so few tourists and drunk college students go there, although nearby plakias the wind reaches hurricane speeds, so you win some you lose some

one advantage i had over the rest of my family is that i can read the greek alphabet. i still don't understand why i had that advantage because, from a western point of view, the greek alphabet is the easiest foreign alphabet in the world to learn. might be down to my interest in languages idk

anyway rethymno(n) is a good city, there were no traffic jams ever, all the islanders are hospitable (if you don't pretend to be german like my dad did for 3 days straight) and overall i had a good time

and now, a list of beers i had while i was there, tastes good unless specified otherwise:

• Alpha
• Fix Hellas
• Mythos
• Perlenbacher (from the lidl, too bitter)
• Ermis
• Eza (just not a good beer)
• Cretan Kings
• Mamos

now if you'll excuse me, i'll build a carbon monoxide generator with my brand new arduino cya

19/07/2022

HIRING VOICE ACTORS

my annual upload for iodynium is approaching fast and while i do have everything filmed and myself voice acted, i have zero voice lines for the other characters and i quickly need a couple of people to help out

SO, wanna be part of this once-a-year experience? you're in the right place. these are my requirements:

• decent competence in american english (accent allowed);
• mid-range speaking speed (about my speed);
• ability to read from a script;
• comfortable with exposure to, like, 5 people (including my parents);
• ability to make funny voices

no prior experience in voice acting required. somewhat binding, in that i may ask you again. will accept if you make a somewhat acceptable voice line, you can't believe how low the bar is for some of the roles

SUBMIT YOUR AUDITION BEFORE THE 22ND. as i said before my main pc is unusable, but i'll try to get this out the door before the 25th, because then i'm going on vacation again and i don't know how bad the internet will be there

should my pc blow up rendering this, then i'll send the project to anyone working in movavi 14 (likely gyula). alternatively, if you think you can edit it better, e-mail me and i'll send you the files if your portfolio is any good

last paragraph from yesterday is hereby partially retconned

UPDATE 20/07/2022: i didn't specify what you had to audition so i'll post the possible voice lines here:

• We are currently working on this revolutionary technology, Dr. Kleiner. (scientist role)
• Would you like a receipt, sir? (cashier role)
• You didn't meet your quota. I'll forgive you for this month, but next month I won't be as easy on you. (big boss role)

you can do all three, you can do just one, you can make up your own, as long as you submit some of that voice

OH YEAH and your best mic should be of decent quality, my tier or higher (but not my 2018 mic please). something like an iphone will work as well

18/07/2022

hi it's been a while

the studio from last post is done, but i'm writing this from my garage so i can't show you any pics. also i'm lazy

i just returned from the austrian city of vienna, known for being the capital of the austrian empire and nothing else (prior to me going on the trip because the sum of all knowledge is the sum of my knowledge)

no, really. i went there with the other main guys of smpvideo plus two others, also known as my friends from high school, and we had a blast. we visited cool buildings, looked at funny animals in the zoo and spent every evening on two d&d one-shots which were less than 100% serious. only thing that sucked was the food

in the d&d sessions i was a dwarf wizard from groningen named tjibbe (a frisian(-like) name for those who don't get it) and my main gimmick was that i needed a beer every 3 seconds. i kept this character for both one-shots

friday's one-shot involved a grain shortage, and saturday's involved sinkholes in the big city. both ended in everyone dying, but in the first one the brewery battleground had all the tanks explode, and in the second one somebody's romantic pursuits ended in the dragon sinking the city and taking the party with it. i went to get a beer in the climax so i survived lol

but all in all, would i go to austria again? probably
would i go on vacation with my friends again? hell yes
am i fucked without a mcdonald's in the area? likely
does austrian beer taste good?

hell

fuckin

yes

OH YEAH and my main rig is busted so no video this week lol bye

21/05/2022

"how can you read this? there's no pictures!" fuk u here is pic

so yeah, i'm basically transforming my old attic into a new studio room thing. i've had the idea for quite a while now and only this spring did the idea ever come to fruition. big shoutout to my grandad for doing the actual building, many thanks to him

we do have a small problem though, fuckin thing's leaking

oh well

i will be decorating it with those sound-deafening wall panels in my usual palette, kinda like this (mockup made from a windows 98 default wallpaper):

also i will be getting a decent setup, i'll hook up the server i host this site on to a remote desktop thing and hide the pc itself away in the garage, so that it has a direct ethernet connection to make speeds less suck-ass

this probably also means a new mic, i'm aiming for something budget but high-quality. something like the razer seiren mini, i've heard it's good enough. and yes i will be putting it on one of those fancy mic stands so that i can become famous on youtube

please please PLEASE do send me feedback and possible tips on how to do it right, because i want this to be a semi-professional setup, mainly so that i can do better mic shit for things like blockland machinimas

final comments: heavy birthing sjonert, and nose hair trimmers make my nose feel weird

06/05/2022

i have an idea for a bestseller novella, but nobody reads books anymore so who cares. open to suggestions as to where i should publish it

the idea is that it's fiction for i don't know who, does anyone actually enjoy reading depressing novels??? and it involves some rust belt stereotyping and a controversial subversion of expectations. seems to me like it's par for the course, given my literary knowledge

on the topic of things i'll start and never finish, i think i'm going to watch an episode of miami vice every night at like 9, just to torture myself lol

uhhh what else is there to write
hmmm

uh


yeah B)

27/04/2022

fijne koningsdag to those who celebrate it, all hail our glorious king

hate to kill the mood but i'm just swinging in and out of moderately depressive states. i still like video games and programming and what not, i think the culprit might most certainly be an absolutely horseshit sleep schedule

whatever it may be, don't worry about me, you have better things to do than to help out a retard on the internet who has comparatively petty mood problems

and finally, mi denove komencas lerni esperanton and you can't stop me

24/04/2022

well shit, guess it did require a slight overhaul after all. i suck at web design

camroc2000 has been of much help in making the site design work, even though all he did was advise me to clear the cache with a keyboard shortcut (and test the site on chrome/safari but shhhhh)

anyway i'm becoming president of sereda today, but because current president isaac may not be present, this may turn out differently from what usually happens. i honestly can't keep up with the two videos per term schedule, especially since i posted my last video 4 weeks into isaac's presidency, so expect to see a transfer every episode

other than that, c

20/04/2022

this morning i had a dream where i helped create a demo program with a high school team full of randos. you know second reality? yeah that kind of program. i actually helped with the music of all things, but i forgot what my module sounded like

we went to another random teacher (who was in our high school drama room) to get our work graded, but somehow it got corrupted halfway through and we couldn't let him see the whole thing. that's also when i woke up though, so maybe it was for the better

i should mention that hardly any of it looked like my old high school though, the hallways were very brick-red with some beige to complement it. who knows where the idea came from, i mean hell, the core idea of motropolia came from a dream so anything is possible

anyway this website SUX on mobile so i will update the css file soon, i'm very fortunate to only have to update one file

17/04/2022

the website's up now, if you see any bugs let me know. this iteration of the website will now be called "hibot3000.com 2.0: What is a CSS" and the first one will retroactively be called "What is an HTML"

some features are missing from the website that i'd really like to add at some point. things like the motropolia portal, where i can keep people up to date with the latest ideas on what motropolia should be

of course i'm always open to suggestions, so if you have any idea for what i can put on my website, or would like to contribute to my website via a translation, let me know and i'll see what i can do

anyway happy easter bye

29/03/2022

hey, first blog post, nice

you might wonder, "what the fuck hibot why are you making a blog, it's inevitably going to devolve into you rambling about politics or whatever," and you may have a point, but i just want to see how this would end up in, say, five months' time, just to see if i write enough dumb shit to justify a blog

you might also say "hibot you idiot tumblr exists," and to that i say, this is my own website and i can do whatever i want, also tumblr sux

anyway, for the time being this'll just be a static web page, because i can't yet program in js and i really wish i could. though, if you prefer to scroll like hell on this page in due time, do let me know 'cus this is still in beta at the time of writing

while i'm here, might as well say that i'm busy as shit and i'm not exactly in the best mental state to be everyone's therapist like i usually am. just a heads-up for anyone dependent on me, ignore this if you can run your own life just fine