Manton's Test

Let me first address the actual fact that though I am not a “Gamer”, I do play video games from time to time and have even lost a few months of my life to World of Warcraft more than once. But this morning I had an encounter with a friendly fella on Bluesky that went on a short tangent about video games being good or bad, health benefits, and the like. 

In this conversation, I originally stated I thought video games were a waste of time. Which I do. Every now and again I do catch myself installing  COD Mobile or something on my PC and suddenly missing a week of my life before I pop back out of the delirium. This may just be my highly addictive personality, but when I play, I frigging play! Nonetheless, he pointed out the health benefits, which I believe he took from ChatGPT or the like, I am going to do the same since he shared a screenshot and didn’t type them out. 

Video games can offer a variety of benefits beyond just entertainment. Here are a few ways they can positively impact your life:

1. Cognitive Skills: Many video games require strategic thinking, problem-solving, and quick decision-making, which can enhance your cognitive abilities and improve your brain function.

2. Hand-Eye Coordination: Fast-paced games often demand precise hand-eye coordination, which can translate into improved real-world skills, such as better driving or sports performance.

3. Social Interaction: Online multiplayer games provide opportunities to connect with people from around the world, fostering teamwork, communication, and friendships.

4. Stress Relief: Immersing yourself in a game can be a great way to relax and unwind, providing an escape from everyday stress and helping to improve your mood.

5. Educational Value: Many games are designed with educational purposes in mind, teaching subjects like history, science, math, and even language skills in an engaging way.

6. Creativity and Imagination: Games with open worlds or creative modes, like Minecraft, encourage players to think outside the box and build their own adventures.

Of course, my initial comment was basically, that is great! But I think there are more beneficial things that you can be doing that provide the same benefit. So, I asked the ole’ ChatGPT just that and got the following reply.

Here’s a combined list of activities that offer similar benefits to playing video games:

1. Puzzles and Brain Games: Enhance cognitive skills and problem-solving abilities.

2. Sports and Physical Activities: Improve hand-eye coordination, physical fitness, and reduce stress.

3. Board Games and Card Games: Encourage strategic thinking, social interaction, and cognitive skill development.

4. Creative Arts: Boost creativity, enhance cognitive abilities, and serve as a stress reliever.

5. Reading and Writing: Improve language skills, expand knowledge, and provide mental stimulation.

6. Social Clubs and Group Activities: Foster social connections and improve communication skills.

7. Virtual Reality (VR) Experiences: Offer immersive environments for relaxation, education, and social interaction.

8. Meditation and Mindfulness: Reduce stress, improve focus, and enhance overall well-being.

9. Gardening: Therapeutic, improve mood, and provide a sense of accomplishment.

10. Cooking and Baking: Creative and stress-relieving, as well as develop practical skills.

11. Traveling and Exploring: Broaden horizons, improve problem-solving skills, and reduce stress.

12. Volunteering: Provide a sense of purpose, improve social skills, and contribute to the community.

13. Dance and Aerobics: Fun ways to stay fit, improve coordination, and relieve stress.

14. Fishing and Hunting: Offer relaxation, improve focus, and connect you with nature.

15. Crafting and DIY Projects: Engage in creative and rewarding activities.

16. Learning New Skills: Mentally stimulating and fulfilling.

Again, I don’t judge, for I am a player of games, let alone I spend a ton of time on my computer blogging, doom-scrolling, mindlessly following links on the interwebs and so on. At the same time, I can agree that most of the things on list two are generally more constructive than playing WoW for eight hours straight. 

There is no doubt, there are benefits to playing video games. And if you have an aversion to people or the outdoors, it may be a real good way to build some of those skills. At the same time, don’t use the said benefits of gaming as an excuse as if there were no other way to get them. 

Again, I am not judging, but at the same time, don’t get upset when people say there is possibly a better way to achieve such things. Remember it’s just opinions, and like assholes, we all have one. 

Cheers!

For some years now, almost every book I’ve read is non-fiction. I’ve read a ton of tech books, books on health, and some history mainly. I’m reading my first work of fiction in some time right now. 

I wonder if I should be reading more fiction. Furthermore, I wonder what, if any, benefit fiction may have over non-fiction? Or are they the same? It makes me wonder. When I was young, I read so many fantasy and sci-fi books. It was almost all I consumed, of course that was my peak Dungeons & Dragons era also. 

 My creativity is lacking these days, at least that is how I feel. Maybe reading more fiction would give my creative side a proverbial swift kick in the arse. Then again, maybe reading fiction vs nonfiction doesn’t matter as long as one is reading. 

What do you read more of? Any thoughts on the topic? Please drop me a note and share. 

Cheers!

Most of my entertainment is audio, podcasts specifically. I watch very few TV shows, I maybe one to three going ever, so that’s like three hours of TV a week. Sometimes there is a new show that is fully available and that turns into a couple day binge. But most of the time I’m listening to podcasts. 

I’m also a music lover, who isn’t right? But I find myself listening to less and less music. My podcast subscription list has grown quite long. I find myself listening most of the day and not ever really catching up with all the new episodes. I think this is a problem. In all reality, I feel for sanity and my own relaxation music trumps podcasts. I need to find a way to listen to it more. 

To start off, I think I need to lessen the number of podcasts I listen to regularly. There are a couple I’ve been listening to for over a decade (Coder Radio and Linux Unplugged) and I am forever loyal too. The rest are iffy, most are tech podcasts covering different subjects. I need to find one other tech podcast that is short and broadly covers all the other tech news, I do like to keep up. Then the rest, like Rogan, I will just peek at occasionally to see who’s been on; I rarely listen to every episode, I’m just interested in specific guests now and again.  Oh, and one daily news show, that is really short, for the breadth of non-tech stuff. 

And from there, I will spend the rest of my listening time with Music. Which I hope to have encompass maybe two thirds of my day instead of the maybe five percent it has been of late. 

Maybe I will set rules, podcasts for chores and work around the house and music in the car or something. I’m not sure, but there will definitely be a lot of tweaking involved. In the end, I really want to listen to more music and not have FOMO because I missed some random podcast. 

How do other internet denizens feel about it? Do you find yourself struggling to balance your listening time? Feel free to drop a note. 

Cheers!

This is a repost, I was going to separate tech stuff from regular day to day, but screw it, I’m going to slop all the stuff together. 

Either way, I’m pondering the never ending OS question, yet again, in my life. I’m currently running Windows due to a requirement for a SANS course I’m taking, but I long to throw Linux back on my machine. At the same time, I have a slight craving to delve into the Mac world, though the pricing consistently keeps me away. And I do the same with phones, mind you, I have both an Android and iPhone I hop back and forth between.

In the end, Linux usually wins in my mind for philosophical reasons. But I crave the other two from time to time. Sometimes it’s purely out of convenience, and others because I want to try something not available to me on Linux. The consistency of the others sometimes lures me also, no need to pontificate over which desktop I should use, let alone distro.

And then let’s not get into other devices, like my AirPods, my two HomePods, the Alexa that sits unplugged somewhere, my Apple Watch, Pixel Buds, etc… I have a plethora of things that work sometimes outside their ecosystem but are much friendlier and functional in their own little bubble. This goes for services also now that I think of it.

How does one pick and stick with one OS? I guess it would be simpler if you didn’t follow tech news and were unaware of all the new and shiny services or apps that may be out there. But when you look at the breadth of the technology space, there is so much. I will give it to Linux, when it comes to the technical space, it can do it all usually, but when it comes to gadgets and such, it maybe can be more difficult.

In the end, I guess I will always be a Linux guy, and I can't wait till I can get off using Windows from the day to day. I guess someday I may just need to have more than one machine, or something with a few drives so I can have all the operating systems. Only time will tell, I guess.

Sometimes I think I need a second blog to separate some topics, and then again I don’t. My favorite thing to write about tends to be tech stuff, and it’s what I’m most knowledgeable about. At the same time, I feel these topics shouldn’t be mixed with my random posts about my dogs, farming, god, or whatever tangent my mind is on at the time. 

Should I just throw it all together? Or is it better to keep them separate. Please chime in and share your opinion. Thanks!

I’m always jumping back and forth about correspondence. It’s one of the things I think analog is the best way to do it. Good ole’ pen and paper. I also understand that people handwrite so little these days that it’s actually physically difficult to write for longer periods of time, so I think I can find email acceptable.

My point being is I would love to correspond with some of the people who may be reading this. I think it’s great to have penpals. There are options to this plan.

• If I don’t know you in real life, I would like to stick to email in the beginning until I know you better. But we could switch to analog and snail mail in the future possibly.

• That said, if I know you personally then we could do snail mail or email, whichever you’re more comfortable with.

I think this could be really fun and a great way to get to know someone or reconnect in general. There will be no expectations on time, we all get busy. If it takes days, weeks, or months to respond, that’s ok. Better to wait till you have something to say or comment on than to just pump out a note because you feel the need to respond quickly. Same goes for me of course.

If you’re interested drop me a note here (click on this link). Again, if you’re a friend, cousin, rando person from the internet or around the world, feel welcome to join in the fun. I’m curious if anyone will respond at all.

Cheers!

I’ve come to the conclusion I follow way too many sites, people, or products on social media. I find myself scrolling the different sites and rarely stopping, mainly because I am uninterested. And I’m on a few networks, Nostr, Threads, Mastodon, BlueSky, and Facebook. 

If I’m not stopping a lot, it because I am uninterested, or it’s repetitive, at least that’s my assumption. On almost all but Facebook, which I will explain later, I initially followed a lot of accounts I thought would be interesting, so there would be something in the feed initially. This has backfired for what I consider one major reason, I misjudged my own interests. 

Let me explain. I am pretty techie in my tools, and in my work. It has come easy to me. This makes me follow a lot of techie accounts. Of course, some do interest me at times, but I’m finding the things I seem to stop at more often have nothing to do with tech. I like to see animals, things about agriculture, music, religion, writing, the indieweb (i guess this is tech), heartwarming stories, and peoples thoughts on life and the spirit. Again, some kind of tech news now and again, but these days I find it bores me. 

So, I’m not going to blanket delete everyone, not all at once. What I plan on doing is, as I notice I pass an account enough, I will just unfollow. Nothing against them, but why litter the feed, if I’m not reading it anyway. Then I am going to seek out those who do catch my attention, ones who more often or not I stop to see what they have to say. 

The Exception

Facebook, it’s a love hate relationship. Of all the social networks, it is the most useful, and maybe the most troublesome. What Facebook has going for it is all the people I love or have interacted with in real life are there. Some of them say a lot I don’t agree with, or I haven’t seen in a decade or more, but we have that real world connection. They have been or are currently a part of my life, and I don’t want to lose those connections. It also is great at creating communities in real life. I am a member of a farm co-op, local naturalist groups, and a local community group that are all super useful and informative. In the end, Facebook is the one social network with people that are completely real to me, thus it’s harder to prune. 

Let me see how this goes, and see if it improves the social experience with the rest of the people in the world, I don’t really know. I really feel social media when used properly is a great tool for connecting with the rest of the world, if I can get better at filtering out the noise. 

Cheers!

I’ve used Proton Mail on and off for a few years now. The premium package is pretty handy and comes with a bunch of extra services, there is no doubt it is worth the money if that is what you're looking for. 

I’ve also been a “Hey!” customer for some time, and had sort of split my personal and internet persona between the two. As time goes on, I find this unnecessary, since my internet persona is me and not some secret alt. And though I will lose a bunch of bells and whistles leaving Proton, I just like “Hey!” much better functionally. It’s just a fun way to deal with email. 

Another thing is I already pay for other services that offer me the same thing Proton does (minus all the encryption on some), a big chunk coming from Apple who get a lot of my money anyway, may as well use the stuff. Not to mention my five hundred gigs of lifetime pCloud storage I paid for years ago that can replace Proton Drive. 

In the end, I just don’t see the point to paying for a bunch of services that all do the same thing, and “Hey!” really does email good, it wins at that game hands down. So, I’m transitioning from Proton slowly, but I think it will be gone from all my systems in the next few months. 

Cheers!

Well, it’s here, 2025. It seems like Y2K was just yesterday and we all the world was going to end, wasn’t that a laugh. To be honest, I don’t have much planned for 2025. We just moved to Texas, and hopefully we are done with moving for some time. 

Career, work, or just being productive wise, I have two more SANS certs to complete in the next five months. Hopefully I will be back in the gainfully employed world not long after that. 

Other than that, though, I don’t have a lot planned.  I would like to read more, which I say every year. Get healthier is also on the list. But I don’t have any grand plans. Take care of the home and the kids are the main priorities. Oh, and as stated above, become gainfully employed again. 

I hope everyone out there in ole’ internet land has a fruitful and peaceful year ahead. Here is to making it to 2026!

So back in 2019 at peak covid our family moved from Dallas Texas to Staten Island, New York, where we stayed three years. I’m not the biggest fan of NYC, but it was a pleasant stint in the Big Apple. From there we moved to Huntington, West Virginia. This was one of the most beautiful places I have ever lived. Unfortunately, it doesn’t offer much beyond its looks, and we lasted there for six months. I still miss the place a little.

We ended up in Beloit, Wisconsin where we have been exactly a year. It’s ten minutes from where I grew up, and I have a few wonderful friends here that I hadn’t seen in ages. Though I did see them some, I quickly realized that now we’re in our fifties and the days of loitering at each other’s homes and showing up unannounced are over. We all have kids, jobs, and many other responsibilities. They were the only reason to possibly stick around, but it really wasn’t happening. The four times we hung out in a year wasn’t really worth staying in the area, better to visit. 

So now, two days before Christmas, we will be moving back to Texas, the place that is really more our home. Neither my wife nor I were born there, but our children were. So the natives out number us. We’ve finally dropped the renter life after thirteen years and bought ourselves a house, hoping to dig in some roots for the kids; who, if it all goes smooth, will get to spend Christmas and Christmas Eve in their new home. Bonus, they don’t have to share a room anymore. So everyone, have a Merry Christmas! Here’s to new beginnings. 

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  Cowboy at a PC
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It may sound silly, but about once a week, sometimes more, I find myself wishing I were a cowboy.  The freedom that would come from the total disconnect from the rest of the world. The peaceful feeling of open spaces and working with animals. And let’s not forget a tinge of adventure. 

At 52, I find myself wishing this still. There was a time in my early thirties I seriously considered it, then came marriage and kids and it slipped away. These days, I still find it nice to think about. 

Today I sit attached to my desk, living in a semi suburban world. The only animals I tend to are my two dogs. Sometimes I sit alone and listen to old cowboy songs from the likes of Chris Ledoux. I guess it helps that I live in Texas, giving me default western status, though nowhere near that reality. 

I work in cybersecurity and hang out in more undeveloped parts of the web where outlaws may dwell, I guess that is as close as I get. It’s nice to daydream. 

And the trial of new blogging products continues. I recently just heard of Pika and figured I would give it a peek. It seems to hold to the original ideals of Ghost when it first came out. Just a simple place to write and post from. 

Playing around with the interface so far, I like it. It’s simple and clean. I will have to play around with it a lot more to see if it truly fits my needs. I was going to use ghost, but in all reality it’s pretty expensive, and I’m not going to be having a ton of people paying to read what I write, so why bother. 

Well this post is mainly an experiment and will be deleted sooner than later, so let’s see what happens. 

Cheers