ScumCoder

It does not cease to amaze me when economists, who are supposed to be good system analysts, often fail so miserably at determining the boundaries of the system. You “conveniently” forgot that the notional West started moving dirty manufacturing in so-called “third world”, including China, soon after WW2. Every microchip, solar cell, or other good that you deem a sign of technological progress and prosperity, came from kilotons of contaminated water and polluted air. It’s just that this crap was emitted in another country far away. All the while USSR did not have any such trash dump. It honestly took all the environmental consequences upon itself, having every dirty plant catering to its needs within its borders, and despite that still was comparable with the West in terms of providing its people with goods. In order for someone to be able to “make a billion-dollar company in his basement”, millions of people on the other end of the world have to bust their asses in sweatshops. And then those very billionaires have the audacity to look down on those sweatshops, which are what makes their “shiny cities on the hill” possible in the first place. Again – I just can’t fathom what one has to have in his head to think that it is possible to not have production of physical goods. I always can’t help but remember Oompa Loompas when I hear people talk about “efficiency” of capitalism and how “cheap” goods are. Looks like Western Europeans thought that their crops are grown and harvested by Oompa Loompas too, except whoops – now that COVID has closed the borders, they SUDDENLY discovered that those Oompa Loompas were actually coming from Eastern Europe, in order to strain themselves for starvation wages. And – surprise, surprise! – now Europe is facing hunger. All those wishful talks about the Invisible Hand of the Market magically making everything work never leave your wet dreams. In real life, in order for capitalism to bring someone prosperity and happiness, it always has to bring ten other people misery. With no exceptions. Everything containing the words “green” or “renewable” in the same sentence with “energy” has been the butt of engineering jokes for decades. For anyone having anything to do with actual real technology (not PowerPoint presentations or 3DSMax cartoons) hearing those words is an immediate sign that they are dealing with a yet another wide-eyed Greenpeace/Elon Musk victim. I really like that you brought up this topic, because then comes this gem: Because socialist governments don’t have to allay the environmental awareness in poorly-educated sheeple by dumping money in still-born projects?.. Again, this goes back to being unable to properly determine the boundaries of the system. Go read about the horrifying amount of toxic crap you have to produce to make one solar cell or lithium battery, then go read about the laughable energy density of said batteries and overall performance characteristics of electric vehicles. It’s as ignorant as to fap to SpaceX, as if it was any kind of a breakthrough which dumb commies could not figure out – while the reality is that the concept of reusable rockets was thoroughly studied both in USSR and China many decades ago, found doubtlessly dead-ended, then buried. I know that it’s an easy target, but I can't help using it. Right now, SARS-CoV-2 tests and FFP3 masks are scarce resources. I would like to hear your thoughts on how good a tool capitalism is in terms of distributing them, considering that Western countries are literally robbing each other, intercepting humanitarian aid shipments from China in front of each other’s nose. I have already wasted more time on this text wall than it’s worth, but this one idea so instantly jumped to my head that I’ll waste some more. Standardized glass bottles. There were but a handful of bottle sizes in USSR. All manufacturing, cleaning, and refilling equipment was identical across the whole gargantuan country. Every shop eagerly accepted empty bottles, giving a hefty discount for the full one in return. The result? Near zero glass waste. Now go talk to your acquainted waste processing specialist and ask him if anything like that is possible nowadays, then watch him wince as he imagines scores and scores of completely incompatible bottle, jar and can sizes, the only way to process whom is to shred them to dust.

Turns out that this episode was already subtitled by another guy, "Dimedrol98", who created the subtitles directly through the Youtube interface (I don't even know if he has an account here). This is exactly what I was afraid of: duplication of work caused by lack of communication. I scrutinized his subtitles and decided to upload Rigel's version instead, because in my opinion it is objectively better. I made a backup copy of Dimedrol's version before overwriting it, just so that his work won't be lost: messiah_rus_Dimedrol98.sbv.zip

I accidentally stumbled upon a dubbed (!) Russian version of the Messiah episode, made by some guy going by the nickname "Rigel". The voice and literary style are matters of anyone's preference, but the translation fidelity is pretty much impeccable. I decided to just type it out, although I did fix a couple of phrases. ross_s_game_dungeon_messiah_rus.srt

I just checked the video on Youtube, and lo and behold, it is subtitled! Glad I didn't just start working on subs, only to find out many hours later that the job is already done. I did my best to find who the author is, but I don't seem to be able to do it. Please show thyself, our hero! Ross's Game Dungeon - Phantasmagoria 2-YTuB5Bgc4I0.en.vtt.zip

Hellooooo? Is there anyone here?.. Anyway, I have timed the subtitles for the Veil of Darkness episode. I attach the *.srt file to this post. I guess I'll start subtitling the Messiah episode now... Actually, no. I'm tired of dumping my time into nothingness. I will continue working on English subtitles after I see this one uploaded to Youtube. I think it's fair enough. Ross's Game Dungeon - Veil of Darkness-Z-tF0NKdh24.srt

Ladies and gentlemen, I think I found a perfect channel trailer for Ross. For some reason I could not find the author (Black Yoshi) on this website, I was sure he is registered. Maybe he just has a different screen name.

02:52:04 "It's not impossible for me to be a billionaire, but if I'm a billionaire, then a hamburger is worth millions". Ross is a human quote generator.

Don't you touch that movie, it was awesome.

I wish you were aware from what stray matter Springs poetry to prosper without shame, Like dandelions which the children scatter, Or pigweed of the lowly name.

I dunno, so far the airboat section seems about twice as slow as in the actual game. My guess is that Freeman is just a cautious driver. So I figure we'll see him driving the buggy like a defensive grandma as well.

1:26:20 LOL. Ross managed to stumble upon a furry convent in Poland

TFW I pretty much didn't go out of my house anyway, even before this whole pandemic started. Being a perpetual recluse comes in handy.

Any update on this?

I have typed out the text for the Veil of Darkness episode. I will now try to find some software for making *.srt subtitles and learn how to use it. If anyone decides to not wait for me and do it by himself, or maybe start typing out one of the other two episodes, please drop me a message so that we won't do the same job twice. I have marked the problematic parts in the file. Those should probably be listened to, and discerned, by an anglophone. Most severe are: 15:41: Let’s make like a tree (???), and get out of here... (make a retreat) 30:04: We also got a tip about a witch (hut|down???) at the crossroads... 30:39: ...except she is having a fude (???) with the dead guy... (feud) 51:40: ...this becomes quite awkward, because the deck ants (???) keep on working... veil.zip

I would be happy to try and make the subtitles, if only I had confidence that my work will be at least utilized (if not appreciated). In the past I have already responded to such request (made by Ross himself) - back then he asked to make timestamps for his chats. It took me... quite some time to do this, and in the end my work was not used in any way whatsoever. Ross didn't even acknowledge that someone has fulfilled his own request, let alone utilize it (the original idea was that it will allow him to avoid answering the "Y U in Poland?" questions for gazillionth time). Your forum signature has a link to a Google drive with hundreds of subtitles. My estimate is that more than half of them are still not added to the corresponding Youtube videos, despite having been made years ago. Please understand that treating people's work like this is somewhat of a morale killer.

Personally, I think starting FM2 was one of the worst Ross's decisions connected to creation of Youtube content. He endured a six-years-long slog, then he did a completely excruciating nine-months-long marathon, and that was it! He finally got rid of that yoke! He was finally free to focus on the videos he was yearning to do all this time! And instead, he had put this burden back on his shoulders, for the sake of a crowd of people who couldn't care less about him and don't even know about this very website. (I am willing to bet that the overwhelming majority of people who make PayPal donations are not crazy about FM2 at all).

It's painfully obvious that Freeman's Mind is Ross's red-headed stepchild. He had said on several occasions that he only does it because he considers himself obliged to. To me, even the freaking Lecarde streams were head and shoulders more enjoyable to watch, because Ross's genuine interest and investment in them were apparent.

This is absolutely awesome. Watching Ross play Serious Sam will be the best New Year present, forget free games. P.S. Ross's original plan was to beat the last level of SS:SE with one life, period. The "on serious difficulty" part actually came from me, when I misunderstood him and started to unwillingly spread misinformation among the other fans (a-la "Ross only covers old DOS games" from CarnEvil episode)

As a rightful consumer of your content interested in its long-term continuous inflow, I hereby strongly encourage you to stop working and take a well-earned rest until you are fully healed. Few things are as foolish as continuing to grind yourself down when you are sick.

I used to be an adventurer like you, then I took an arrow in the knee I as well used to think that ASRock is a great combination of low price, good peripheral functionality and feature-rich BIOS, but their motherboards fail me so reliably that it crosses any and all boundaries of statistical uncertainty. I had to deal with five (all different models), and not a single one of them worked for more than a couple years. Last two of them failed one month after the warranty ran out. I swear, there are some engineering geniuses working at ASRock's Planned Obsolescence Department.

Okay, I admit that I do agree with you here. (Also I like how this instantly reminded me of your previous pearl about post-2004 games).

Superiority complex is when someone considers himself superior. This does not apply to me in any way, shape or form. Au contraire, I consider myself a painfully plain and average person in pretty much every aspect. This is the very reason why I find all those "LInux is for geeks" bullshit ridiculous.

All my elder relatives use Linux only. They actually find it way more friendly than Windows, for exactly the same reason why the 13-years-old boy that I mentioned: they have a fresh pair of eyes and can judge objectively. (Before you ask: for certain reasons my grandparents got into Internet only around 2010 and they pretty much had no experience whatsoever with computers before that).

Another opinion from mid-2000s. There is exactly one thing for which Windows is suited better: games. That's all. Everything except gaming is better done in Linux. I found out about Linux (almost by accident) in 2008, and by 2010 I wasn't even booting my PC into Windows anymore, aside from gaming. Since I don't play many games, I guess I could just remove the goddamn thing from my HDD to free up some space.

You look like you've been in a time capsule for about a decade or so. Modern Linux distributions are easier to install AND use than Apple, forget Windows. You absolutely can use nothing but Linux without even seeing the console for months. I have an elder friend who didn't show Windows to his son, until he turned 13 or 14 years and was forced to use Windows in school. Instead, the first OS this boy saw was Linux. And when he finally had to learn Windows, he was shocked by just how ugly and illogical it is compared to Linux. This is a small example that shows that all those talks about how Linux is “user unfriendly” and “hard to understand” are caused by the fact that people already have their brains raped by Windows. In psychology this is known as “Baby duck syndrome”.