ROKO13 - News

25-Nov-2022 :: Happy Birthday to me
Wasn't the greatest birthday. Didn't do a lot. Somewhat sick. They pulled 3.6 liters of fluid on Wednesday. Meh. Felt like I had a hang-over. At least what I think a hang-over feels like.
18-Nov-2022 :: Fixed Videos / Perfect Socializing for COVID
Since I lost quite a bit in the hard-drive crash a couple of months ago, I started downloading my Videos to my local computer. I discovered that some of the Dance Videos had been corrupted. Fortunatly I have saved all of the original AVI's on a thumbdrive so have re-uploaded the corrupted ones in a higher rez (720p) MP4 format... #'s 26, 27 and 30 are now on my Dance Videos Page I have also added a couple of new videos. Some people might wonder about why I do this. Second life is actually the perfect way to stay socially active during the Covid-19 Pandemic. In the videos I have blocked out most of the chat windows so you dont see it, but most people in the club are chatting either in voice or text. Even those not dancing. And I get to meet a lot of interesting people from all over the world!
16-Nov-2022 :: Artemis I Launch
I was going to say a lot about this launch, and about my family and our involvement with the space program over the decades. But I ended up deciding not to go that route. Instead I would just like to say .. "A job well done" to everyone who works for NASA and all of its many partners.
29-Oct-2022 :: Flight Simulator 2022
I finally got to try the new-ish Microsoft Flight Simulator, the 2020 Version. It was really disapointing. I suspected it was not going to run well on my computer but wasn't prepaired for just how bad it was. Even with the graphics turned down and the screen resolution at 700p it only got 3-4 FPS and crashed to desktop the first 6 times I tried to run it. Once I got it to stay running, nothing in the sim worked. Glad I didn't pay for it. Deleted. I ended up re-installing a bunch of my older games. Decscnet, Descent 2, Railroad Tycoon 3, Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 and The Sims Medevil which I have been playing most of the day. Lost all of my save games though. Bleh, starting over in all of them. Not much else going on at the moment, just killing time.
23-Oct-2022 :: Archive Update
I have just updated my radio show archive, including this weekend's shows. All of the computer problems of the past couple of months have kept me off the air quite a bit, but now back online. Mostly boring the past few weeks. I'm still playing Satisfactory qute a bit and also I've been in second life a bit. I finally re-installed everquest today and trying to get everthing going there.
10-Oct-2022 :: Dialysis Scare
I had a bit of a scare at Dialysis today. I have two tubes sticking out of my chest which is where they hook me up to the machine. When they were hooking me up this morning they couldn't draw blood from the Arterial line. The nurse had to pull out a big blood clot with a syringe from the tube. Rather scary because a blod clot that breaks up and goes into the lungs, heart or brain can cause serious problems... even death. Dialysis can be risky. According to ucsf.edu only 35% of Dialysis patients survive the five year mark. I'm at four years this month. Sudden Cardiac Death during dialysis accounts for 20% to 30% of those deaths.
30-Sep-2022 :: Last Day of September
The last day of September already. Not much has changed for me this past month. I am still alive though, just trying to get through the month. I have been playing a new game called "Satisfactory" a lot the past few weeks. I have posted a couple of clips on my YouTube channel, and have been working on a "let's play" type tutorial.
08-Sep-2022 :: Vey Sad Day
Although I identify as Austrian-Hungarian as my Maternal family is whom I was raised by, I am also half British by my biological father. I was a bit surprised by how saddened I was by the news of the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Like most Americans I only sort-of paid attention to what went on with the British Royals. This though was a bit of a shock, both her death itsself, and just how much it has effected me. But then, she had been the Queen of England during my entire life. Long live King Charles III.
01-Sep-2022 :: Dialysis
The Dialysis is effecting me more and more as time goes on. Now nearing 4 years on. The past three weeks have been pretty bad. I am thinking it might be time to make out my Will. I have been a minimilist most of my live so I do not have a lot of personal possesions, but the two domain names I have are actually worth quite a lot, if sold. I guess I should give it all to the ASPCA or perhaps to our local private zoo. I've gotten a few new games this week to pass the time. Stray was actually quite a disapointment. Oddly "Gas Station Simulator" is pretty good.
23-Aug-2022 :: More Hard Drive Trouble
Of course the f'ing 1TB drive isn't working, as if it getting lost in Chicago for 10 days wasn't bad enough. I can put a bit less than 100GB on it then it starts throwing errors, and corrupting files. It also slows down the transfer rate very badly when a lot of small files are moved onto it. Just incredible. I don't know if it was damaged in transit or if it was faulty from the vendor. I definatly will NEVER buy anything from a Walmart marketplace partner ever ever again.
16-Aug-2022 :: Reinstalling
I finally got both the 1TB SSD drive I originally ordered and the 480GB SSD drive that I ordered to replace the 1TB which was lost in shipping. I managed to get both drives installed, even though the computer fought tooth and nail to prevent it. Now I just have to re-install everything. As near as I can tell the old Seagate HDD is a total loss. OMG I forgot how annoying Windows-10 is with the base install. In the process of disabling all the crap-ware and spyware microsoft built-in.
10-Aug-2022 :: Bizarre Shipping
The memory chips and the hard drive cable kit arrived as expected but something is definatly screwey with the SSD drive. I ordered it all back on 28-July and Walmart aparently had everything shipped from the manufacturers. The manufacturer or seller of the drive is in Irvine CA and aparently uses a Chineese shipping company called "Ding Hong." It took them 9-10 days to even pick it up... since then it has gone from Los Angeles, to someplace in Delaware, back to Los Angeles, where it disapeared for several days. Ding Hong turned it over to the US postal service today ... in Chicago. At least it didnt goto Hong Kong or Singapore, which is what I was affraid of when it disapeared from the tracking. Aparently a lot of people have had problems with this "USPS shipping partner.
31-Jul-2022 :: Archive Updated
I updated my radio show archive with everyting up to today's show. The club shows have been going really well. I have been getting pretty good sized crowds of dancing furries and getting a fair amount of tips. The radio shows on Sunday however ... OGR just dosent seem to have that much of an audiance. I'm starting to feel that I am doing a whole lot of work for nothing there. I ordered a new 1TB SSD drive for my main/game computer on thursday, and also 2x 2GB memory chips which will double the RAM. It's all expected to be here by next Friday.
19-Jul-2022 :: It's dead, Jim
My main computer finally died. Specifically the hard drive is throwing massive errors. I fought with it for about 9 hours last night running disk checks and repair and recovery programs, and a couple of hours more this morning. Fortunatly HDD's arent too expensive anymore, but it will have to wait until after the 1st. Mostly it's just bloody inconvienient. I am currently using a sub-micro chineese computer, which is the one I normally do my radio shows from. I am able to run some of the simpler games from Steam, but I dont dare try anything like Flight-simulator. Even the simpler games are kinda choppy. Thankfully Steam stores all of your games, and the saves for most games.
03-Jul-2022 :: No Shows and Airline
Being a holiday weekend, I will not be doing any radio or club shows this weekend. I expect most people will be off with family. I am really enjoying being back into the flight-sim hobby. I am still working on several of the IVAO tours. (The Vintage World Tour, and the North American division ultra-light and I-95 tours.) A couple of days ago I decided to make the leap and join a virtual airline. Now flying with American Airlines
19-June-2022 :: Father's Day
I'm not sure what I'm actualy feeling about this, considering my situation with my daughter.... Perhaps my brain has too many tabs open.
16-Jun-2022 :: Flight / Dialysis
I finished the IVAO vintage airmail tour last night late, and have started on the Ultralight Tour using a aviqatika mai-890 ultralight bi-plane, and the vintage world tour using a DC-3. I'm really enjoying being back into flying. I have finally been able to get to dialysis all this week. The social worker at the clinic expressed some concern about my loss of weight just before the "pause" but I don't see it as anything to worry about.
06-Jun-2022 :: Still flying
I have been doing a lot of flying recently. I'm now about half way through the IVAO Vintage Airmail tour. I've been looking around for a small Business Jet and an ultralight as I am thinking of doing those tours as well. I have been missing a lot of Dialysis the past few weeks. The Paratransit from St.Mary's that I use has a new scheduler, and she hasn't got her seams straight. So I haven't been able to book transportation on a regular basis and I can not afford the RTC Paratransit much. I have a great idea for a show. All cover originals. Basically play the original versions of songs that were covers and became famous. That may take a bit of doing to put together though.
22-May-2022 :: Flying
It has been a very long time since I have done much with Flight Simulator. Steam shows I have only run it for 15 hours since I bought it many years ago. Much a departure from past years. So I have decided to get involved again with IVAO (The International Virtual Avaition Orginazation) Most people know I prefer playing in multiplayer mode, so I have spent the past couple of days setting up their new connection software. I have decided to do the North American division Vintage Air Mail Tour using a Piper PA-31 Navajo. (Which Wikipedia indicates is one of the Aircraft used for US Airmail service, probbably from 1967 on to 1975. The tour starts in Halifax so I expecting to be flying across Canada most of this next week. I have noticed that the IVAO status indicator on my home page appears to be broken. It either wont load at all, or always says "Offline." The new IVAO trackinfg system called "Webeye" does work though. I am using the callsign N113S so you can track my flights (as well as everyone else on the IVAO network) at http://webeye.ivao.aero/?callsign=N113S
08-May-2022 :: No Show Today
No MeowMix show today. It being Mother's day no one will be listening, and I'm not really feeling into-it today. If you have been wondering what my shows in second life look like, here are a couple of screenshots for you: Click Images to Enlarge
21-Apr-2022 :: Archive Updated
I have updated my show archive with everything up to last weekend. I have also added links/shortcuts on the main page to the archive, my steam profile and live in-game broadcast page.
16-Apr-2022 :: Facebook
I finally did it, joined Facebook. Although I still say "Facebook" is what happens when you fall asleep in a Library. You will find me on FB as "Jitar GrRahiir" I haven't really done a whole lot interesting in the past couple of weeks. Mostly played Space Engineers. I have finally gotten Silent Hunter 5 to work and have been messing around with that a bit.
18-Mar-2022 :: YouTube / Turok Tutorial
I have finally finished the Level 1 Turok Dinosaur Hunter Game Tutorial. If is available her e on my personal site in the Videos section. I have also created a YouTube channel for them. (Search for "DJ Jitar") I should be posting levels 2 and 3 this comming week.
14-Mar-2022 :: Live Video Broadcast
This past week I have been back playing Space Engineers for the first time in over a year. I stopped playing because of a couple of idiots on the server. I LIVE broadcast my games in STEAM. (Not just Space Engineers but every game I play on steam.) If you are interested in learning how the games I play work you can watch as I play. The live-stream URL is https://steamcommunity.com/broadcast/watch/Jitar13/ Other than gaming, everything is kinda okay.
27-Feb-2022 :: This weekend's shows and Alchemy
Just as I started my show at the Yiff Club Saturday, my internet went blooey. They had fixed the problem some months back but it started up again. I noticed the past couple of weeks it was starting to have problems but wasn't that bad until this weekend. ASo I wasn't able to do my shows. I did however manage to go to DD's show earlier in the evening. The Alchemy client did great, It managed to maintain 20+ FPS even while the camera angle had some of the audiance in it. (I had been turning the camera away from the audiance to keep the frame rate up to at least 10 FPS.) I noticed the colour is a bit darker and AAlchemy dosen't seem to have a way to save camera pre-sets. I posted some videos I captured last night so you can see how it does. Videos 46 through 49 are using Alchemy
22-Feb-2022 :: 02/22/22 ... OwO
I had a pretty good weekend. Went to the Yiff for DJ Dark Dragon's show and snapped a couple of new Dance videos. (See videos section in the left sidebar.) Although I keep missing Razi's show at Luna's on Sunday. My shows both went okay although the network kept dropping me. Still messing around a lot in Sims-2. This week though I've also been in SL a bit. One of the peeps at the club during my show was talking about the Alchemy client for SL which I have been checking out. It does seem to be even better than the Firestorm client and can aparently also work in Metaverse. I finally also got to see Disney's Alladin, with Will Smith. Liked that. For those who don't know OwO is a furry emote indicating surprise. I was starting to do this entry and noticed the date.
10-Feb-2022 :: Archive Posted for January
I have posted the archive of my January Radio shows for everyone to enjoy. I have a new group I will be introducing on my show this comming Sunday, Professor Pennygood's Mighty Flea Circus. Technically they have been around for over a year but haven't gotten much radio exposure yet. Still playing a lot with Sims 2 so haven't been on Steam much. I've managed to re-download most of the important mods for it.
01-Feb-2022 :: Still feeling good
I had a bad dialysis day yesterday, I came off feeling a bit shakey from not being able to smoke beforehand. (My lighter died and the matches I had as backup broke and fell apart... grrrrr!) but other than that I had a pretty good week. I updated a couple of pages on my personal website today. Last weekend I premiered the new single from Soft Cell on my shows, that will be released at the end of Feb. And I get to do it again this comming week with some tracks from Tears for Fears that will also release at the end of Feb. Still playing a lot with Sims-2 so I haven't really been in Steam too much.
23-Jan-2022 :: The Sims / Shows
It was actually a pretty good week for me. I finally decided to download an old game I used to play a LOT, The Sims 2. I actually think TS2 is better than TS3 or TS4. The only problem was that when I "Zeroed Out" my computer was stolen and I lost all of my mods for it. So I've been having to go find and download them all. For the past several weeks I have been simulcasting my Club show on OGR. Starting next saturday the show will be officially on the OGR schedule. So even if you can't come to see me live at the Yiff Hangout Club, you can still listen in on OGR. The club show is from 10pm to Midnight pacific time every Saturday. We actually had a pretty good crowd this weekend, and I managed another Dance Video posted.
20-Jan-2022 :: Answer about Dance Videos
I got an e-Mail asking about Benji's dance videos which I will answer here for everyone. YES, the dance videos were recorded "Live" in second life and are Motion Capture, but not of me. The dancer you see most often in the videos is named Abram Wolf. While at a club in the second life virtual world, I mix the segments of the dance animations to create the dance that people see in-world. It's somewhat like DJ'ing a live mix, but using dance animations. I often record my camera angle, and pick out the best ones to put into my video section for everyone to enjoy.
13-Jan-2022 :: Archive Complete / NASA
The archive of my radio shows is finally complete. It took some extra time because once I got it all uploaded I realized how much disk storage it was taking up so I moved the actual mp3's to another of my servers that had more disk space available. In total it has 94 hours of recordings. Sadly only 2 shows from before 2019 survived. It has been an interesting week for NASA. The James Webb Telescope was launched on christmas eve and this past weekend I have been monitoring the Mission Control Center while they un-folded the secondary mirror, primary mirror and aligned the mirrors. The Aames research center is running simulations of vibrations from the SLS rocket during an emergency abort sequance for Artemis on the super-computer.
04-Jan-2022 :: Show Archive Open
For those who have missed my radio and club shows, I have opened an online archive of the recordings of my shows. You can access the archive at http://bearclaw.rexx.com/~roko13/radio/ARCHIVE Sadly it appears that only 2 recordings have survived from 2006 when I was on Club-69 Radio. During the last part of 2020 and early 2021 I was hosting a radio theatre on OGR, which was not recorded. I will most likely be uploading the recordings for most of the week, so be sure to check the directory listings for new recordings. Enjoy the shows!
01-Jan-2022 :: Happy Mew Year!
Yet again another Year is here already. I didn't really do anyhing for New Year's, although I have my shows this weekend. The first weekend of each month is 50's and Rockabilly. Should be fun.