GeekMan

Heh yeah they're getting better.

One day working in I.T. at a bank, I received an email that was formatted and written really convincingly that someone has referred me for a bigger role with a salary bump, with light/abstract details that could 'be inferred as' relevant to my country, sector & role. It just asked to click-through to see the opportunity-

-which popped-up a warning from the company's I.T. security that this was a phishing testing/training email, and I'd failed.

I usually evade a phish, but this slightly-targeted one got me good.

After that I had to ritualistically double-check potentially legitimate emails from external domains, for sketchy domains/short URLs/links/tracking cookies etc, because they included vendors & 3rd party consultants or contractors we were working with.

At least (the) God(s) know scammers are bad people.

Heh.

Software/solutions consultant, and union actor.

I mean I was. I mean I am. I dunno. 20 years in I.T. starting from programming to a 'senior tech consultant'. But was then made redundant. Didn't get a job straight away. Started working at my girlfriend's bar as a bartender & server.

That was over a year ago. 60+ applications for jobs in I.T.; zero interviews. WTF.

I'm trying to work out why & what to fix, but for now? I'm a server & actor.

I'm reading and tinkering with technologies but not nearly enough. And will have to explain the gap in employment.

It's getting harder to resist the urge to panic and break down.

I saw one out front of our business, on Front St Toronto, and several lined up along the edge of one of our downtown parks.

The information on the home and from the guy talking to by-standers is that there's a bicycle on the front of it - so it's apparently allowed to stop "anywhere" because "it's a bike". No opinion on that, just repeating what I heard.

Our owner had a chat with parking enforcement because it was during summer - CafeTO - and was taking up one of the few parking spaces nearby. Parking said (at the time) that they couldn't do anything/don't know what to do.

No opinion here, just answering the previous two comments.

Up down left right Y B X A ..

I'm not even sure that that's right, and I'm not even sure what game it's for.

SNES definitely. Maybe Street Fighter II Turbo? Done at the CAPCOM logo it'd make a sound, then- you could play as the bosses? Maybe?

Or it's the movements for Zangief's spinning piledriver, heh. (It's not)

Yeah that sounds like a good path!

I used to love advanced math, physics and game coding, so I've revisited the 'Landers several times over the years (a day here and there in the middle of life/emigrating/careers).

If you also Google for solutions to the 'Landers you'll find people have done hardcore analysis and genetic algorithms!

(cough like this)

Next mission: somehow hack UE5 into CodinGame and let it sort it out.

I think it is!!

Gather food & liquids, cancel any plans tomorrow, fire it up in a browser.

Y'welcome.

To add to the list, Codingame.com

It wouldn't be the first thing to try. Get the basics down on your own machine/environment. Try this for something additional.

CodinGame gives you the IDE and build environment in your browser, so it's for learning/practicing/testing coding knowledge without building/deploying locally, or worrying about UI/persistence/networking etc.

It's filled with coding puzzles and competitions. I started where they give you animated scenarios (to look like part of a game or engine), and you contribute a small, missing unit of code to complete the challenge.

You can choose from 25 languages, they encourage unit-testing, and there are global coding competitions and company outreach to top coders. I don't wanna say they gamified it.. but they did.

But once you're comfortable with those, CodinGame lets you practice different concepts & algorithms without having to come up with the bigger systems around them.

I've loved it for getting back to coding after a while, tinkering with certain concepts, or trying other languages.

I'm not affiliated with it. Just loved the idea & execution. Except for Mars Lander III challenge. That can get @#$&ed.

There's never been a better time to reference Arrested Development;

"There's ALWAYS, money, in the Banana Stand"

"I love you, sarge!"

Upvote for The Castle reference?

I skimmed the title and misread as "salvia". Mistakes were made.

I'm 45.

Dad got me started on his Intellivision (early-80's), got my own Atari 2600, first computers C64 and Tandy 1000, then a Nintendo-everything guy until now having a Playstation, Xbox and Switch for as many rooms of the house.

These days Rocket League is the best to play during remote audio meetings, 'cause you don't need sound and it's 5-10mins a game, but COD, GoW, Zelda.* and Mario.* would still get a thrashing when the girlfriend's at work.

"Can't stop won't stop" --Swift, T.