Ben Scott

@Skaffen
17 Followers
169 Following
31 Posts
Stale self-aggrandising snippet containing no useful information.
PronounsHe/His
Good night and sweet dreams, my pretties!

Baby Pacman is a 42-year-old cantankerous mess of hot moving parts combined with early 80's computer, a bizarre experiment of a pinball/videogame hybrid made by a pinball company that doesn't know how to make videogames and doesn't particularly want to learn, but who has enough money at this moment in history to fling mud at the wall and see what sticks.

It works by wiring together three completely different computers who hate each other. Their communication is utterly dysfunctional. When pacman eats a dot, the videogame computer tells the pinball computer that a ball just hit a slingshot, and that's how 100 points is scored. The computer that keeps track of the scores and credits has no idea that Pacman exists, the computer that plays Pacman doesn't know how many lives or points you have (lives are BALLS), and the computer plugged into the monitor retrieves the scores for display through wires that are intended to be connected to 7-segment gas-discharge displays.

None of these computers are capable of crashing. Crashing hadn't been invented yet. If the computer does something that the programmer didn't intend then there's nothing to tell the computer to stop, it just keeps on going until something sets on fire. The game is full of high-current components that can set on fire if the computer tells them to set on fire, and it will.

There were seven thousand of these things made and very few remain because they all broke down so hard that techs specializing in EITHER videogames OR pinball couldn't fix them, to keep one of these running you need a tech that specializes in videogames AND pinball AND bad decisions.

So if I'm to route this game - in a pub, mark you, not in a place where there'll be a tech waiting in the back ready to have a good cry - then y'all are gonna have to up your fedi meta game, sincerely, it's gonna have to be against the backdrop of the most rancid ridiculous shit that's ever hit these cursed webbed sites, I hear quote-retweets are coming maybe y'all can do something with that

A 19 year old has been given admin access to the core US treasury financial system by Elon Musk’s DOGE.

He goes by the name of “Mr. Big Balls” online, is on Russian forums, and has tried to purchase DDoS botnets.

Elon has said sharing this information is illegal, so please do not press the boost button.

https://www.wired.com/story/edward-coristine-tesla-sexy-path-networks-doge/

DOGE Teen Owns ‘Tesla.Sexy LLC’ and Worked at Startup That Has Hired Convicted Hackers

Experts question whether Edward Coristine, a DOGE staffer who has gone by “Big Balls” online, would pass the background check typically required for access to sensitive US government systems.

WIRED
@hacks4pancakes My rule of thumb:
- Before 2022: OK
- 2022-summer 2024: Grey zone
- Since summer 2024: You bought a car from a person who wants to destroy western democracy, and you knew about it.
I can get this printed on a yard sign, but will my neighbors get the joke, even this old joke?

It's Friday night, it's cold outside and I'm still working on that whole social life thing, so here's a long rambly thread about the 15-pin PC gameport and its historical significance, because it's something I want to practice writing about at length (if anyone was silly enough to give me a PhD for something, it'd be for this nonsense).

Feel free to mute this thread if that's not your thing - or if it is, bookmark it for later, or prepare to be en-knowledge-ified!

#retrocomputing #retrogaming

Best printer 2024, best printer for home use, office use, printing labels, printer for school, homework printer you are a printer we are all printers

After a full year of not thinking about printers, the best printer is still whatever random Brother laser printer that’s on sale.

The Verge

Would you be interested in a website that had articles comparing books to their movies and movies to their remakes? This would include a breakdown of plot differences, tonal changes, character/plotline additions and subtractions (and combinations) as well as an analysis of what works and what doesn't, and why it might have been done that way.

I would appreciate boosts.

Yes
81.5%
No
18.5%
Poll ended at .

Tufton Street having a harder time trashing the #NationalTrust than they did the economy.
"Restore Trust" didn't win a thing. 😎

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/annual-general-meeting/agm-voting-results

Voting results from the AGM

Read about the National Trust's 2025 Annual General Meeting and the results from the day.

National Trust