Christmas Update

   I'm presently enjoying a quiet Christmas here at home watching John Wick 3. The first wave of the Dice of Death & Dismemberment (DoD&D) Kickstarter arrived a while back as did the Triple Hex Dice. The original base set the DoD&D had two torso dice and no arm die. I informed the seller and they said they'd correct matters. I thought they would send out the missing die and I would send back the extra torso die. Instead, they sent me two arm dice, a head and a leg die. Now I have two basic sets of DoD&D along with a complete set of stretch goal dice. The second wave is due to be sent out in February.

  The Triple Hex dice sets cover the entire RPG dice range. The d100 Hex Die is just a d100. It came with two identical sets of dice disks along with extra washers. The other two Hex Dice sets have interchangeable dice disks. What dice disks you put inside the frame depends on what die you want to roll. Both of them also came with extra dice disks and washers.

  I've finalized my Orbidice order. I went with a Forge Engine Steampunk RPG set with an Orbitray dice tower. The GoDice pre-production has happened. Some issues were discovered and need to be ironed out before mass production can begin. That being said, progress is being made. The Free Man Game, based on The Prisoner British TV series, is being printed and should be mailed out soon.

  I ran a Chi-squared test on my d4 and d6 Hexacubes. Both passed easily. I won't bore you with a complete layout of the data. At some point, I'll likely test the other dice and see how well they perform. From what James tells me, the d10 and d12 have the least amount of redundancy but both should still perform better than a standard d10 and d12.

  It's one week until New Year's Day. I have New Year's Eve and New Year's Day off. I'm hoping to spend that time playing boardgames with my friends over at Glenn's house but I haven't heard anything yet.

  I'm still working closing shifts at work. Hopefully, they'll hire more people and I'll go back to earlier shifts. All the standing I do at work is hard on my legs. I sometimes get pains behind my right knee. I've been filling out the pension documents the union has been sending me. I'm not sure if I can get my pension now or not. It says that I can receive my pension at either 60, 62 or 65 depending on the plan. I'll have to call the pension office and get some questions answered before I can proceed.

Gwar @ The Rave, Nov. 4th

   After promising to post photos and videos from Gwar's Nov. 4th concert at The Rave, here they are. The opening two bands were EyeHateGod and Napalm Death. Here are some photos of them.

This is EyeHateGod.

And this is Napalm Death.

  And now we come to Gwar. I uploaded three videos of the songs Salaminizer, Black & Huge and Fuck This Place. Here they are for your enjoyment.

 

  I was happy to Techno Destructo (Hunter Jackson) at the show. He hasn't been touring with Gwar for some time. Like I said in a previous post, I was disappointed that Slymenstra Hymen, Sexecutioner and Sleazy P. Martini weren't there. I still enjoyed the show.

If you watch the video closely, you can see some of the instances where I get hit by the various fluids being sprayed at the crowd. Here are some after concert photos of my niece, Annie, her husband, John and myself after the show.

  And here are some photos of the front and back of the Gwar shirt I wore to the show.

Thanksgiving Update

   The Dice of Death & Dismemberment Kickstarter is in the dice production phase of the operation. My Spiral Dice arrived yesterday. These dice were created for the Sapio RPG game system. A pre-layout version of the Spiral Dice Hackers' Guide can be found here along with the 'dice bag' for the Roll My Dice app so you can roll Spiral Dice on your phone or tablet. You can also view the Sapio rules here.

  I got to see Gwar at The Rave Nov. 4th. I'll be posting some videos to YouTube later today. They played most of the songs from the Scumdogs of the Universe album along with a few from the Blood of Gods album. While Hunter Jackson returned to the stage as Techno Destructo, I was hoping to also see Slymenstra Hymen, Sexecutioner and Sleazy P. Martini. However, they weren't there. For a large part of the concert, the center and other side of the concert crowd got sprayed by the fake blood and other fluids during the show. I was becoming concerned that I would come away from the concert barely splattered at all. That changed when they played their last song of the show, Fuck This Place. I got thoroughly soaked in a fairly short period of time. The dye completely soaked into the front of the Gwar t-shirt I wore. My skin was dyed red from my head to my groin area. My Gwar hat got sprayed for the second time. I'm not washing the dye out of either my hat or t-shirt. I purchased a Gwar knit hat for winter, a copy of When Heroes Roamed the Earth signed by Hunter Jackson and the last Balsac the Jaws of Death Covid mask.

Health Info Among other Things

   My endocrinologist has added Farxiga (Dapagliflozin 5mg) to my diabetes medications. I have to lower my insulin intake from 26 to 16 units. There is the possibility that the Farxiga and Trulicity regiment can get me off of the insulin. I've edited the MyIHR site and my eMedtag flash drives to reflect these changes.

  On 10-23-19 at 3:41 am, I backed the Hexacube Kickstarter. On 11-6-21 at 12:11 pm my order finally arrived. For the record, that's 745 days, 8 hours and 30 minutes. The dice turned out fine and I'm happy with my order. While the pandemic was largely to blame for the order arriving so late, other factors were at work as well. James contacted several different dice manufacturers to create the dice and while they were happy to take his money, they were reluctant to manufacture the dice to the proper specifications. The dice samples they turned out were below standards. James wanted to create dice that were less biased that conventional RPG dice. Some said that they couldn't make the needed molds. How hard is it to make a chamfered cube shaped mold? Could it be that they couldn't get the relative sizes of the square and hexagonal faces set correctly? If you want more info regarding how Hexacubes function, use the link provided above.

  I've downloaded the .PDF version of Dungeon Bitches and a tentative timetable has been set for the release of the print version as well as the .PDF supplements. The GoDice people have received their chips and can start the pre-production of 1,200 smart dice. This will allow them to optimize their production methods and detect and fix any risks and problems before full scale mass production commences. If all goes well, the GoDice could start shipping by Jan. 22nd.

  I have to mail in my pension papers to the union and get that process initiated. There's still one question I have so I have to contact the union and get some answers.

At Long Last

  After about two years of delays due to Covid-19, manufacturing problems etc., my Hexacube dice order is finally on its way to me. I have a tracking number so I'll know how close the order is to arriving. Estimates have it arriving Nov. 4th. My Intel card game is also slated to arrive on the 4th.

  The .PDF version of the main Dungeon Bitches rulebook was released on Halloween. It can be purchased from DriveThruRPG.com. The print version of the main book and the .PDFs of the supplements will eventually be made available from the same seller. I'm getting copies of those items as part of the Kickstarter.

  It looks like the Spiral Dice Kickstarter is making headway. From what the seller says, his dice order should've arrived from Europe on Oct. 25th. He'll be locking in the buyers' addresses soon and the dice should be on their way to us about a month after that. The Spiral Dice Hacker's Guide and the Sapio Core Rules were created to make use of the dice. The Hacker's Guide isn't yet available but the Core Rules can be purchased from the site. Sapio: Zombies is also being created as a part of this Kickstarter. The Hacker's Guide, Core Rules and Sapio: Zombies are included in this Kickstarter. I've downloaded a dice rolling app on my smartphone and added a set of digital Spiral Dice to it. Paying for the app allows me to create other digital dice bags to add to the ones that come with the app. I've added Fudge dice, averaging dice, alignment dice and Asylum marbles to the app along with the Spiral Dice.

  The Gwar concert at the Rave is fast approaching. Four days later, I officially turn 60. Ten years ago, my health started to decline. I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. A cancerous polyp was found in my ascending colon resulting in its removal. I lost my right testicle to cancer. I had to undergo chemo for both cancers. My right hip socket deteriorated and partially collapsed. In order to get the hip replacement surgery, I had to get my a1c below 7.2. While I was working on that, my gall bladder got infected and had to be removed.

  My hip is now replaced but my legs still get sore if I stand for long periods of time. Right now, my health has stabilized somewhat. My a1c has been around 7.0. I'm free of cancer. My last visit to my nephrologist went well. Let's hope things don't take a turn for the worst. 

The Threat of Stupid People

   I came across a few videos regarding the theory of stupidity. In them, the narrator states that stupid people are an even greater threat to us than evil people. I'm going to post the videos below and then give my take on the matter.

  After watching these videos, one thing is apparent. Trump supporters are mostly composed of stupid people. You see them in the news quite a bit. They're the ones that still believe Trump won the 2020 election despite the abundance of evidence to the contrary. Nothing changes their minds. They're also the ones refusing to wear masks or get vaccinated despite the fact that Covid-19 has killed literally millions of people worldwide. The fact that some of these people are in the medical field gives weight to the one law that states that stupidity is independent of other factors. 

  On the bandit part of the graph, you have the likes of Fox News, OAN and other right wing media outlets. They're making money off of the stupid by fueling their conspiracy theories, anger and hate. They know that they don't have to present any evidence to back up their claims. The stupid will swallow their verbal diarrhea hook, line and sinker. I wanted to regard Trump as one of the stupid but I don't believe that's true. He's not the 'very stable genius' he claims to be but he is particularly good at grifting the stupid. He gets them all stirred up and then hits them up for cash. Trump's Truth Social media site doesn't look like it's going to last. Investors are already pulling out. I believe Trump is using Truth Social as a short term way to score some more cash. The site will crash and burn. He'll whine about how Big Tech was responsible yet again, for silencing conservative voices and beg his followers for more money to fight the good fight. Here's some videos on that.

  Truth Social, Gettr, Parler and other right wing blogging sites are simple there so stupid people can converse with other stupid people. The problem is there's no one there for them to try to antagonize and trigger. Going full on contard is no fun if everyone they're speaking to agrees with them. They need liberals to present the facts so they can blatantly ignore them and continue to spew their shit. That gives them their smug sense of mistaken superiority. 

  It's this blatant ignoring of the facts that makes the stupid so dangerous. Nothing sways them from their course. When the facts become too much to bear, they lash out. The Jan. 6th riot at the Capitol was a prime example of this behavior. They couldn't deal with the fact that Biden won by a wider margin of votes than Trump did when he beat Hillary Clinton in 2016. They couldn't handle the fact that Trump's team of lawyers failed like 60+ times in court to prove the election was rife with voter fraud. Mike Lindell to this day still claims he has proof voter fraud occurred despite the fact that he has yet to present any credible evidence to support said claims. That's the difference between the stupid and the bandit. When confronted with Dominion's defamation lawsuit, Fox News and OAN stopped claiming Dominion had rigged the election and cut ties with Lindell. While they profited off the lie initially, continuing down that path would've almost certainly resulted in them losing the lawsuit and paying out a fortune to Dominion. Lindell, on the other hand, just keeps doubling down on his losing bet. He just keeps making more and more outrageous and asinine claims. I can't wait for the trial to start just so I can watch Lindell go down in flames.

Truth Social: Another Trump Failure

   Dipshit Donnie is mad at Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites because they've banned him for spreading lies regarding the 2020 election among other things. In an effort to combat what he sees as Big Tech censorship, Shit for Brains is creating the Truth Social. Here's a video describing the site.

  Aside from the fact that the site is vulnerable to hackers and cybercriminals, their free speech claims are shit. The TOS makes it clear that you can't disparage either Trump or the website itself. You could likely get away with calling Biden a Satan worshipping pedophile on the site and not get banned but if you insult Trump, you're out. So typical of a whiny, weak willed, narcissistic snowflake. To make things worse for this fetid pile of shit, investors bailed out of the project because they found out it was Trump's project.

  Truth Social won't last. Much like Gettr and Parler, this site will be little more than a place where contards can spew hate, disinformation and conspiracy theories. But as the one video pointed out, contards aren't happy unless they're trying to trigger liberals and they can't do that on these sites. Contards aren't interested in free speech. What they want is the ability to say whatever they want while simultaneously censoring the speech of everyone they don't like. Only their views matter.

Personal Matters

   The Hexacube Kickstarter is nearing fulfillment. The Hexacubes landed in L.A. a while back before moving to a shipping facility in Chicago. After sitting there for a little over a month, James finally received the dice. All the left is for James to inventory the order and start shipping the orders to the backers. The dUltimate Kickstarter is advancing. I've finalized the order and paid for the shipping. I've ordered a premium tier glow in the dark dUltimate with multicolored paint. The .PDF version of Dungeon Bitches is due to be released on Halloween. The print on demand version has been delayed. The people responsible for this Kickstarter want to make sure the page layout for the print version is correct before making it available. I've backed the Triple Hex Dice Kickstarter. This is another variation on the classic RPG dice sets one normally sees. Adding these, plus the Hexacubes, Spin Dice, Orbidice, eDice, the Range 1 and all the standard RPG sets I own, I've become a full blown Dice Goblin. Here's a video of the Range 1 electronic dice device.

  My paperwork for the pension from my former employer arrived a while back. I have to fill them out and send them back to the union. The Nov. 4th Gwar concert at The Rave is approaching as is my 60th birthday on the 8th. There are a variety of movies I want to see like Venom 2, Dune, the Eternals, No Time to Die and perhaps even the latest Halloween. Dune is going to be shown on HBO Max.

  It looks like the Cthulhu Wars stuff that I ordered from The Game Steward is in the process of being manufactured. Most of this is from the Daemon Sultan and CATaclysm Kickstarters. I found out about another Cthulhu Wars figure, the Risen One, that's part of the Hastur Rising Kickstarter. The Game Steward isn't going to be getting this miniature but there's a seller on eBay that's going to be getting some. He's the seller that I purchased the Ancients and Glow in the Dark gates from a while back.

Spreaders (Anti-vaxxers) and Covid-19 Grifters

   It seems that anti-vaxxers get triggered when people refer to them as unvaccinated. These willfully ignorant, entitled snowflakes don't like the truth. So, in an effort to maintain their self important attitudes, they've decided that they want to be called "Pure Bloods". Here's the video.

  They've adopted a Nazi like moniker so they can mistakenly make themselves feel morally superior to those of us they regard as "tainted". The reality is their blood isn't any purer than anyone else's. They've likely been vaccinated for things like the mumps, measles and other diseases when they were children. They've also taken any number of medications, either over the counter or prescription, during their lifetimes. And if they've received blood transfusions... They claim that mRNA isn't a vaccine. The CDC says otherwise. The "Dr. David Martin" referred to in the Reuters article I've linked to has been spreading pandemic misinformation for some time now. Check out the links in the Reuters article for more. A more accurate moniker, other than unvaccinated, would be Spreader because they're clearly in favor of spreading disease rather than combatting it. Because of anti-vaxxers measles, mumps and tuberculosis are on the upswing. These diseases were virtually eradicated in the U.S.

  There has been a claim that 966 people died after receiving the Covid-19 vaccine. The problem is that no one has established a causal link between their deaths and the vaccine. But, much like flat earthers, no amount of facts can penetrate into their delusional, conspiracy ridden minds. As far as they're concerned, everyone else is wrong and they're the only ones that know the Truth.

  This brings us to the Covid-19 grifters. These are the people that exploit the idiot anti-vaxxers in order to make money. Here are some videos.

 

Fox News and fringe right medical organization, America's Frontline Doctors have been pushing ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine over getting vaccinated. They don't give a flying fuck if the people that listen to them live or die. They just want their money. It should be noted that 99% of Covid deaths occur among the unvaccinated. Despite the various Covid vaccines being around 90% effective against the disease, these motherfucking morons would rather use a variety of unproven methods to deal with the disease. I'm going to end this post with a video about anti-vaxxers combatting Covid with beet juice.

And Another One Gone

   Another pair of antivaxxers have died from Covid-19. Here's the article. And here's one of their last videos.

  When are these people going to wise up? Many diseases have been virtually eradicated because vaccines were developed to combat them. This anti-science stance is idiotic. These people won't take a vaccine that works but will take drugs not meant to treat Covid-19 because some dipshit on the internet says so. In one case, a lawyer is threatening a hospital because they refused to give an infected anti-vaxxer ivermectin. She subsequently died from pneumonia due to Covid-19 with hypothyroidism as a contributing factor. If the hospital had given her ivermectin she still would've died. Ivermectin is an anti-parasite drug. It's not meant to treat virus based diseases. Here's the video.

  More and more anti-vaxxers are dying from Covid-19 and there are still people that won't get vaccinated because they believe some conspiracy theory or other nonsensical bullshit. Adding to the problem are the people that enable these morons like the propaganda monkeys over at Fox News, OAN and Newsmax along with idiot lawyers and others. You know that the propaganda monkeys don't practice what they preach. I'd bet that all of them are vaccinated and wouldn't touch either ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine were they to catch some Covid variant. Yet they continue to spread disinformation regarding the disease. How many additional people have died because of these assholes?

  This shit is getting serious. Anti-vaxxers are gaslighting medics and ruining doctor-patient relationships. Anti-vax protests are going worldwide. A couple with an immunocompromised baby was kicked out of a restaurant because they were wearing masks. The motherfucking owner thinks the response to Covid-19 is overblown and would rather contribute to its spread than take measures to stop the disease. And this restaurant is in Texas which has one of the highest rates of Covid-19 infection in the country. I wonder why?

Another One Bites the Dust

   Another bloviating contard fuckwad, Bob Enyart, has died from Covid-19. This anti-vax homophobe was the pastor of the Denver Bible Church. He's the sixth bloviating contard fuckwad to die as a result of their own ignorance and stupidity. If Covid-19 and its variants could limit killing people to assholes like these, I'd want the pandemic to continue. Sadly that's not the case.

  Here are some YouTube videos detailing the deaths of more stupid fucking people that won themselves a Darwin Award.

  These entitled idiots' need to prove to the world that they aren't sheeple is proving to be lethal. They claim it's about 'freedom' but the fact is all they care about is maintaining their lifestyles. Covid-19 is inconveniencing them and that makes them mad. They don't give a lick about others and refuse to take the measures necessary to end the pandemic and bring things back to normal. In the meantime, more variants are coming into being that could complicate matters even more.

  Bob Enyart liked to celebrate gays dying of AIDS by playing the Queen song, Another One Bites the Dust. In celebration of these people writing themselves into the Dead Book and improving the quality of life in America for the rest of us, I'd like to end this post with a video of Queen playing Another One Bites the Dust. I hope they all suffered as they died and, if there's a Hell, they're being eternally raped by every demon and devil there.

Twenty Years Ago

   On the morning of September 11th, 2001, I was getting ready for work. It was about 7:30 am CDT, and the first plane had hit the World Trade Center. At the time, everyone thought this was some sort of tragic accident. We weren't aware, at the time, of the events that were taking place. When I got to work, it was all anyone was talking about. A small TV was set up in one of the rooms and as I ate lunch, I watched events unfold. Eventually, both towers collapsed. The Pentagon was also attacked and the White House was targeted by United Airlines Flight 93 but it crashed in Pennsylvania when some of the passengers overpowered the terrorists.

  Now 20 years later, I sit here watching 102 Minutes that Changed America on the History Channel. I caught the six part 9/11 series shown the National Geographic Channel over the course of 4 days. I still have a copy of the Racine Journal Times newspaper that reported on the attack as well as a copy of the Sept. 24th, 2001 issue of People Weekly. The cover shows United 175 mere moments before it hit the South Tower. One of the other things I have is a steel bracelet that commemorates the heroes of Flight 93.

  

Covid-19 and its Variants

   As the contards, anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers double their efforts to continue the pandemic indefinitely, new variants of the disease are coming to light. Here's a video that discusses the new Mu variant of Covid-19.

  The video indicates that there are currently 5 variants of Covid-19 that have been identified. Of those, only the original strain and the Delta variant have caused major problems. That doesn't mean the other variants aren't a threat. They just haven't spread far enough to warrant active concern. The main question regarding these new variants is whether or not the vaccine is effective against them. As I recall, the Delta variant has infected people that got vaccinated. On the plus side, those that did get infected were protected to some degree and thus didn't suffer any major complications.

  Mask mandates have been reinstated in many places. Masks are once again required where I work. This is because the Delta variant is still raging around the planet. And why is it still raging? Well, according to one study, it's largely due to Trump supporters. This mob of virulently anti-vax and anti-mask sycophantic morons is the reason we still have to wear masks and regulate our activity. These people are so far gone that not even their orange haired, narcissistic leader, Trump can convince them to get vaccinated. Here are some more videos.

  There you have it. Trump fucks are keeping Covid-19 alive and mutating. They're the ones taking up valuable space in ICUs across the country. As a result, people are dying from treatable conditions. A Kansas man died from cardiac arrest and a brain seizure because he couldn't get into an ICU.

  If these contard fucks don't want the vaccine, here's my solution. Have them sign a legal document stating that they don't want the vaccine but if they should get infected with any Covid-19 variant, hospitals have the right to refuse to let them in and waste valuable resources treating their brain dead asses. The form would be similar to the Against Medical Advice form used in hospitals today. This form would keep hospitals from getting sued when they turn the dipshits away. If they complain, simply tell them that that's the price they agreed to pay when they signed the form. Then they can go home and suffer and die away from those that had the intelligence to get vaccinated when they had the chance. Is it a perfect solution? No. Having these assholes running around possibly spreading Covid will only make things worse. Of course they're doing that now. The contards will whine about how their rights are being violated even though they signed the form that forfeited those rights. Others will state that such treatment is cruel and vindictive. I agree. That's the point. They need to have their stupidity shoved straight down their collective throats. If that means some of them suffer and die as a result, so be it.

Natural Selection, Covid-19 and the Darwin Awards

   It seems that natural selection is weeding out some of the more virulent anti-vax and anti-mask idiots polluting our airwaves. These smug, self centered, narcissistic and entitled fuckwads arrogantly think of themselves as "freedom fighters". They don't care that their asinine behavior is putting people at risk and leading to more variations of Covid-19. And as we get more variations, those of us that had the foresight to get vaccinated as soon as possible can find ourselves vulnerable to one or more of these variants. It's possible that I caught the Delta variant a while back when I thought I'd caught a cold.

  These self righteous pricks are extending the pandemic and putting people in danger. And to make matters worse, the contard propaganda monkeys at Fox are downplaying getting the vaccine while pushing drugs like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine. The first one is used to treat parasitic infestations while the other is primarily used to treat malaria. Neither of these drugs have been proven effective against Covid-19. The study that some have sighted as evidence of ivermectin's effectiveness against Covid-19 may have been founded on fabricated data, plagiarism and ethical breaches. These morons won't follow the advice of people with actual medical credentials but they'll accept the verbal diarrhea spewing from the orifices of ignorant shitheads on TV and the internet.

  But enough of that. Let's look at some videos of some of the latest recipients of the Darwin Award. These individuals have pushed vaccine and Covid-19 misinformation and paid a karmically appropriate price for it. They all got Covid-19 and died.

  I feel absolutely no sympathy of these cocksuckers. I truly hope they suffered as they lay dying in their hospital beds. These people took up valuable hospital beds and resources. They've spread the disease to who knows how many people while they were strutting around thinking that they were superior to those of us that wear masks and got vaccinated. While some of them saw the light as they lay in the hospital, it was a case of too little, too late. The damage has been done. It's times like these that this old atheist wishes there was a Hell just so these stupid bastards' suffering could continue for eternity.

Not So Random Musings

   The battery in my Galaxy S8 started expanding causing my phone to split open at the seams. I didn't notice right away because the smartphone case made things look normal. I took it out of the case because I was having problems with the volume controls. I'd try to adjust the volume and the Bixby app would open. It's currently at the Smartphone Repair Center awaiting a new battery. The fingerprint sensor was unresponsive when I turned the phone in. I hope that this is temporary and it will be functional once the phone is fixed.

  This pic was taken with my Galaxy Tab a6 using the 15X macro lens. The mini is a Mega City 1 juve ganger I painted at the Gen Con Paint and Take a few years back.

  My Galaxy Tab a6 suffered from a similar problem a while back. The battery expanded and separated the screen from the tablet housing. It's back in working condition. I've configured this tablet mainly for email, music playing and web browsing. It only has 8Gb of internal memory so I can't put a lot of apps on it. A 64Gb SD card has been installed and the tablet is set to store music, photos and videos there. I also plan on using the tablet as a digital camera. I have an Aukey Ora 2-in-1 lens set I can use with it. It has a 120 degree 0.45X wide angle lens and a 15X macro lens. I originally bought the lens set to use with my Galaxy S8 but the case the phone is in prevents me from mounting the lens on the phone properly. The Tab a6 isn't in a case so the lenses can be used with it.

  I'm getting hit with unexpected bills lately. Aurora just sent a statement about me owing over $1,000. I have no idea what the bill is for since I haven't had any hospital visits since my hip surgery last February. Insurance might cover some of this. My smartphone battery crapping out is also unfortunate. I'm getting tired of these inopportune setbacks.

  My life is too damn boring. It's been nothing but home, work, home, work. Every once in a while I eat out with my parents. I'm going to have to look deeper into Netflix and HBO Max and see what they have to offer. I still need to catch up on Lucifer. I watched the first 2 seasons of Harley Quinn on HBO Max and there are many more DC animated movies there. I'd like to see the first season of Salem but it's on Prime video. Money's been tight and I haven't been getting a lot of hours at work. My availability is wide open. I can be scheduled at pretty much any time although I prefer early shifts. There have been some changes in personnel recently so I'm hoping this will lead to more hours.

Personal Shit

   The Hexacubes are in America. The ship docked in Los Angeles a few days ago. At present, US Customs has to clear the shipment so it can be sent to the warehouse to be checked for damage. After that, it will be sent to James for distribution to the backers. It's taken nearly 2 years, but the end in finally in sight.

  The GoDice Kickstarter has been delayed due to a lack of semi-conductors. Hopefully, this will be resolved soon. I've backed the Dice of Death and Dismemberment Kickstarter. The project is already fully funded and two additional stretch goal dice (Which Finger Did You Lose? and Arrow critical dice) have been unlocked. At $11,800, the Vorpal die gets unlocked. They're planning on having dice bags as add-ons. The dUltimate Kickstarter hasn't started yet. The Kickstarter pre-launch page is here.

  I've seen Black Widow in the theater and The Suicide Squad and Snyder cut of Justice League on HBOMax. Other than that, not much has been going on. Looks like it will be another nothing summer. Gen Con's not until September but I can't go this year. The Ren Faire won't be possible either. I'm hoping to get back to gaming soon. Life's been way too boring lately.

And the Conspiracy Theories Begin

   Mike Lindell's cyber symposium is over and nothing came of it. No evidence of election tampering was produced. For sane people, this was because the data Lindell claimed would prove the 2020 election was stolen from Trump was little more than meaningless metadata. For Lindell and other crazy Trump cultists, the symposium was hacked, attacked by Antifa and done in by various organizations like the CIA, NSA etc. Here's some videos.

  Every time someone disproves Lindell's claims, said person is clearly part of some grand scheme to discredit his "irrefutable evidence". He's so committed to his cause that no amount of counter evidence will sway him. He doubles down every time. This stance will not serve him well. Dominion's lawsuit against Lindell and others has been allowed to move ahead by US District Judge Carl Nichols. Dominion is suing each individual or news organization for over a billion dollars each. If Dominion wins (and I hope they do), these people are done. Fox News, OAN and Newsmax might be able deal with having to make these massive pay outs, but the cited individuals will be financially annihilated. This is the bitch slap these lying, motherfucking contard hypocrites deserve. They must be made to pay.

37 Terabytes of Shit

   My Pillow Guy Mike Lindell dropped a massive pile of shit in South Dakota from the 10th to the 12th in the form of his cyber symposium. This symposium was supposed to present "irrefutable evidence" that China hacked the 2020 election and switched votes from Trump to Biden. The results were FAR less than spectacular.

  So, on Aug. 13th, the Big Lie will be revealed and Trump will be reinstated as President. Did that happen? No. Biden's still President. Trump's still a narcissistic, xenophobic, misogynistic, orange haired loser.

What exactly did Lindell present at his symposium? Nothing more than a 37 terabyte stream of cyber diarrhea flowing out of Lindell's ass and down America's left leg.

  Lindell wants to bring his so called "irrefutable evidence" before the Supreme Court in the belief that they will vote 9-0 in his favor and reinstate Trump. Why doesn't he do just that? It's time to put up or shut the fuck up. Of course, the Court either won't review his case or they'll vote against it and Lindell will, once again, start coming up with more conspiracy theories regarding Antifa, the Deep State, China or someone else trying to bury the truth. The shit storm will continue. Dominion's defamation lawsuit against Lindell hasn't shut him up. He just keeps running his mouth. If Lindell loses this lawsuit, will that end his demented ranting? Unlikely. This guy's gone off the deep end and he's never coming back. Will the QAnon cultists eventually tire of Lindell and abandon him? I don't know. These people seem to be remarkably stubborn. They might dig in deeper and come up with even more bullshit conspiracy theories to explain away the failure of their predictions.

  The Dominion and Smartmatic lawsuits must succeed. These lying assholes need to realize that actions have consequences otherwise this madness will continue. They must be held accountable.

The Delta Variant, the GOP, Propaganda Monkeys and their Contard Base

   For the longest time now, the GOP and the right wing propaganda media outlets have been convincing their base that Covid-19 is a hoax and discouraging people from getting vaccinated. Now it's coming back to bite them in the ass. The Delta variant of the coronavirus has been running rampant around the world. Cases in the U.S. have been on the rise primarily in states with low vaccination rates. And most of those states are, you guessed it, Republican leaning states. Now they're freaking out because the Delta variant is killing their base. This cartoon sums it up succinctly. Trump supporters are dying because of the disinformation being spread. Check out this article and this one. It's difficult for me to feel sympathy for people this fucking stupid. 

  Fox News has been displaying split personality disorder recently regarding vaccinations. Hypocritical motherfucker, Sean Hannity, is now calling for people to get vaccinated. Here's the video.

  This is the same Sean Hannity that downplayed the severity of Covid-19 in the early stages of the pandemic.

  Despite the sudden turnaround of Fox hosts like Hannity and Steve Doocy regarding the vaccine, other hosts like Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham have railed against it. They've railed against so called 'Vaccine Passports' even though Fox News has instituted a strict Covid-19 policy involving a vaccine passport. I'm not sure what the endgame is for these people and other right wing media outlets like Newsmax and OAN. The more they convince their base not to get vaccinated, the more their base will suffer the effects of this disease. The mixed messages they're sending is only going to add to the problem. So why are they doing it? Ratings according to an ex-Fox reporter. Here's the video.

  For Fox News, it all boils down to money.

Right Wing Social Media & Cancel Culture

  Ever since Trump was banned from Facebook and Twitter, the orange skinned dipshit has been looking for a way to get his message out. His blog proved to be not at all impressive and was shut down after less than a month. Trump's deal with Parler fell through because, as part of the deal, Trump wanted everyone that criticized him on the platform to be banned. The guy that whines about how his free speech rights being violated wants to censor the free speech of people that criticized him.

  Crackhead My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell tried to launch Frank, a right wing "free speech" site. The site went down just days after being declared an 'epic success'.  Here's the video.

  And then we have Gettr. This "free speech" site is supposed to be a haven for right wingers It has suffered quite a bit since it launched. Here's another video.

  For more regarding Gettr's problems, look here.

  Now Trump wants to sue Facebook, Twitter and Google for banning him from their respective platforms. This motherfucker and the rest of the contards whine about cancel culture but only when they're the ones being cancelled. They'll happily try to cancel anyone they don't like. They want to control the narrative. They want to control public opinion. They want to silence everyone else.

  The Trump family has been using these lawsuits as a means to grift more money from supporters. It should be noted that, as private companies, Facebook, Twitter and Google can censor speech on their platforms. The First Amendment of the Constitution states that the government can't censor speech. This lawsuit is a sham and will amount to nothing. The fact that "billionaire" Trump and his family are begging regular citizens to send them money to pay for their lawsuits is pissing some of his supporters off.

  The contards aren't interested in free speech. They want to be able to spread their lies, conspiracy theories and other verbal diarrhea while silencing dissenting views and opinions. 

Dungeons and Dragons Museum Proposed in Lake Geneva

   The granddaddy of all roleplaying games, Dungeons & Dragons, is going to get its own museum in Lake Geneva, WI. The game was created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson in 1974. The game was an offshoot of the medieval war game, Chainmail. Both games were originally published by Tactical Studies Rules (TSR, Inc.) 

  I had the pleasure of meeting both Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson at Gen Con. Gary signed my copies of the Chainmail rules, the 2000 Gen Con guide and my first edition Dungeon Master's Guide. Arneson signed my copies of the original Blackmoor campaign setting and the 3.5 edition update.

  Dungeons & Dragons, and roleplaying games in general, have been a big part of my life. I started playing in November or December of 1979. My mom had a subscription to Games Magazine at the time. During the holiday season, the magazine had an insert listing the top 100 games of that year. D&D was listed among them. I purchased one of the early boxed sets from the local K-Mart.

  Now, some 42 years later, I have a sizable roleplaying game collection. I have horror based games like Call of Cthulhu, science fiction games like Gamma World and Cyberpunk and humor based games like Hol and Paranoia. 

Early Calculating Devices

   I'm an admitted geek. I love sci-fi, fantasy, comic books, horror and roleplaying games. One of my more dweebish pursuits has been early calculating devices. These include the abacus, the slide rule and the addiator. These devices predate the modern electronic calculator and, for the most part, are little used today. Some countries, like Japan, still make extensive use of their version of the abacus, the soroban. 

  In this pic, you can see my 23 column soroban, an Arithma addiator, an Exactus pre-decimal English currency addiator and a Pickett N600-ES six inch slide rule. I've playlisted several YouTube videos demonstrating how to use these devices. Here are some videos.

  Despite their age, these devices still have their uses. I can use the Arithma to help keep track of my hit points in roleplaying games. The Exactus can keep track of money in Cthulhu by Gaslight and The One Ring games since both use a monetary system based on pre-decimal English currency. The Exactus separates currency into pounds (libra), shillings (solidus), pence (denarius) and farthings. 4 farthings equal a penny. 12 pennies (or pence) equals 1 shilling and 20 shillings equal 1 pound sterling. That was the English monetary system until Feb. 15th, 1971-Decimal Day. 

  Most of these devices were relatively easy and cheap to acquire. The Exactus was much more expensive. I got it from an Australian eBay seller. It came with a case and complete instructions. I've made it a point to preserve the instruction booklet and put it away in order to keep it intact.

  While I known how to use these devices to some degree, I've by no means mastered them. The Arithma and Exactus are easy to use. I can use the slide rule to a decent degree but I haven't used some of the more complicated scales. I can add and subtract on the soroban, but I haven't mastered multiplication, division, square or cube roots yet.

Happy X-Day!!

   As all SubGenii are aware, July 5th is X-Day. This is the day when all loyal followers of J.R. "Bob" Dobbs will be Ruptured and join the Xists and the Sex Goddesses on their space ships. Of course this hasn't happened yet.

  My Loot Crate Demogorgon arrived a while back. I've placed it with my 4th edition Orcus, the Balrog and my Colossal Red Dragon minis. Here's a pic.

  My 4th of July was uneventful. I worked the early part of the day taking care of people's orders. I came home and had some brats and potato salad and laid down for a while. The Black Widow movie is finally hitting theaters after being delayed several times by the pandemic. I really want to see it. 

  

Another Study of the Contard Mentality

   In a previous post, I blogged about a study that was done by the University of Cambridge regarding how extremists think. A second study by researchers at Ohio State University confirms what most reasonable people already knew. Conservatives are filled with gullible, credulous idiots that won't believe verified facts but every moronic conspiracy theory is embraced like it was carved onto stone tablets by God himself. Here's the video.

  What more is there to say? And the worst part about it is that there are people like Trump, the GOP, Fox News, Newsmax and OAN that take advantage of these poor dumb motherfuckers in order to advance their agenda of undermining democracy. These cocksuckers talk like they're patriots when they're nothing more than manipulative propaganda monkeys. The only people they want to enjoy freedom is themselves. The rest of us can go to fucking Hell. And when I say us, I'm including the average MAGA maggot. If they think, even for a nanosecond, that their enablers are working on their behalf, they're sadly mistaken. They're being conned into supporting fascism and these people are stupid enough to do it in the name of "freedom".

Gwar, The Rave & the Demogorgon (D&D)

   The Loot Crate Demogorgon is mine. No one else bid on it. I've paid for it but it has yet to be shipped. This is the Dungeons & Dragons Demogorgon not that creature from Stranger Things. That thing just some pretender to the True Prince of Demons title. Here's a pic of the Loot Crate Demogorgon. This will go nicely with my 4th edition Orcus miniature.

 

The Glow in the Dark and Ancients gates have arrived and been added to my Cthulhu Wars collection. I'm hoping that the free d2 stretch goal for the Two Swords Village Orbidice set will be unlocked soon.

  I've purchased a ticket and parking pass to the Nov. 4th Gwar concert at The Rave. I've told my niece, Annie, and her husband John about the concert via Twitter. I @'d both Gwar and The Rave in the tweet. Gwar responded and The Rave liked the tweet. This is the first time that a metal band, or any other celebrity, responded to one of my tweets. I have to admit I'm rather stoked about it.

  Other than some online shopping, not much else has been going on in my life. I have some medical related bills I need to take care of. I'm going to start shunting money into my Simple account so I can pay those bills off and get them off my back. Setting the money aside might be somewhat difficult since my hours at work have been reduced. Hopefully, my hours will return to normal soon.

Cthulhu Wars, Kickstarter & eBay

   I've purchased some new items for Cthulhu Wars. An H.P. Lovecraft bust 1st player marker and the Prophetess have been added. My other HPL marker will now be used as the Eidolon in the game. The Loyalty cards for the Eidolon, Prophetess and the 8 unique High Priests have been downloaded from the Petersen Games website and printed. I've purchased a set of 22 3D printed plastic gates for the game as well as completing my set of Colour Out of Space gates. When I downloaded the Omega Master rulebook for Cthulhu Wars, I found that two more gates had been added to the chart, a Glow in the Dark gate and a gate in the color of the Ancients faction.

  These two gates are harder to come by because they were only available as stretch goals for earlier Cthulhu Wars Kickstarters. While there's a possibility that the Ancients gate would be added to the standard gates package if the company decided to make more sets, the Glow in the Dark gate won't be made again. Luckily, I found a seller on eBay that was selling a Glow in the Dark gate and promptly bought it. I messaged said seller and asked if he would be selling an Ancients gate some time in the future. He sent me a link to his auction for said gate and I purchased that gate as well. They're in mail right now and I'm tracking the shipment. When my orders from The Game Steward arrive, I'll have quite the Cthulhu Wars collection. About the only things I don't have at the moment are the alternate game maps like Primeval, Shaggai, the Library of Celeano and Yuggoth.

  The Spiral Dice and Hexacube Kickstarters have encountered delays. The Go Dice Kickstarter has been dealing with a transistor shortage because of the pandemic. I'm currently the high, and only, bidder on a Loot Crate Demogorgon figure on eBay. This thing is sweet. If I win it, I'll have to find a place to display it.

Contardii Americanus

   I've been following the CDC's guidelines regarding the pandemic since this whole thing started. I've worn a mask, socially distanced and got vaccinated as soon as I could. In doing so, I've managed to avoid catching Covid-19. I did, however, manage to catch a cold. My head's been plugged up. I've been coughing incessantly and my nose is runny.

  Now throughout this pandemic, there have been people that have denied the existence of Covid-19 and refused to follow CDC guidelines. Most of these people are Contardii Americanus, the American contard. This was due, in part, to the efforts of that idiot Trump, the GOP and the right wing news propagandists at Fox, OAN and Newsmax.

  However, things have recently changed. Anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers are now wearing masks. Now lest you think that these people have finally come to their senses, please watch the following video.

  So anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers are now wearing masks because they want to avoid being exposed to the proteins being shed by people that have been vaccinated. Just when you think they can't get any dumber, they surprise you. Here's another video of what hospital workers have had to deal with when it comes to Covid-19 deniers.

  After more than 500K deaths in this country alone, we still have to deal with this shit. And the GOP, having voted in unison against the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, a Covid-19 program that helps struggling restaurants, are now making it sound like they were supporting it all along. Here's the video.

  Can you believe their unmitigated gall? These lying, hypocritical cocksuckers shit on the average person by voting against programs like this and then try to reap political capital when the program proves popular.

  On the political front, Arizona Republicans have been wasting taxpayers' money conducting a ballot audit in order to see if traces of bamboo can be found on them. A security firm called Cyber Ninjas has been conducting a haphazard and racist audit of the ballots. They've been asking for the passwords to routers. There's no reason for these people to have this kind of access. The information contained there has nothing to do with the election and could be sold, legally or otherwise, to others. Millions of people are at risk. Here's a video on that.

  So there you have it. The latest antics of Contardii Americanus, the American contard.

Finally

   My federal refund has finally arrived. It, combined with some money from my Health Savings Account, was used to pay off my bill with Aurora. I no longer own any money to either Aurora or Ascension. To celebrate, I purchased 20 3D printed plastic gates for Cthulhu Wars off of eBay. I've also added the Dreamlands Surface and Underground monster expansions from The Game Steward to my order.

  I've backed a card game called Intel on Kickstarter and plan to back the Orbidice Kickstarter as soon as it starts. Orbidice are spherical dice that have a specially shaped hollow cavity inside. A small metal ball is inside the cavity. The metal ball slows the Orbidice down when you roll it and eventually falls into a pocket of the cavity in order to determine the result of the roll. I want to get a standard 7 Orbidice RPG set plus an Orbidice tower that looks like a curved, circular track with a basin at the bottom. You place the Orbidice in the track and let it roll into the basin. Simple.

  Now that my medical bills are fully paid off, I need to pay down my credit card. I'm getting WAY too close to my limit. I might try to use the two paychecks from the middle of the month to pay it down faster. I won't be going to Gen Con this year. If my finances improve between now and next year, I'll consider going in 2022. 

More Updates

   The second 4Oceans mask frames order arrived as scheduled. I won the eBay auction and got another set of grey alternate handicap acolytes, all 8 investigators and the Brown Jenkins mini for only $25.71 including shipping. Considering what some of these minis are selling for individually, I made out quite well. I still want to get the Dreamlands Surface and Underground sets plus some plastic standard gates.

  My Covid-19 vaccination record card has netted me an extra $100.00 on my next paycheck. I scanned said card and uploaded copies of the file to both of my eMedTag flash drives and the MyIHR website. The original card has been locked away in my Sentry Safe box for safe keeping. This card may be needed in the future. I've ordered a Moderna Covid-19 vaccination charm from American Medical ID for my medic alert bracelet.

  My federal refund still hasn't arrived. This delay is driving me up the wall. I need that money to pay down my Aurora bill. The money in my Health Savings Account is slowly growing. Now that my paychecks are getting bigger, I don't have to pull money from it to pay bills.

  The Hexacube dice have gone into mass production. The wooden cases will now have magnetic clasp holding the lid closed which is an upgrade from the original buckle latch. There should be a major update soon.

  

Second Covid-19 Vaccination received

   I received my second Covid-19 vaccination yesterday. According to the news, a booster shot may be needed in about 12 months and annually thereafter just like the flu. I can live with that as long as it prevents another goddamn pandemic. This shit has been going on for FAR too long. And we have Trump, Fox News, OAN, Newsmax and all the MAGA maggot contards to thank for that. Their brain dead entitled asses helped spread the virus. Some of these idiots like Sarah Palin and Ted Nugent called the pandemic a hoax until reality bitch slapped the taste out of their smug, contard mouths. Of course, Nugent is still pushing anti-vax crap regarding the Covid-19 vaccine. He doesn't want to get it because he doesn't know what's in it. Based on that, he shouldn't be trying anything.

  The Post Office sent the first 4Ocean mask frame order to Charlotte, MI and then proceeded to lose it. What pisses me off is their solution to the problem was to offer an apology and tell me to ask 4Ocean for a refund or to resend the order. In other words, someone other than them eats the cost. Imagine what their answer would be if said lost package cost hundreds of dollars instead of just $25.00. I've reordered the frames. They should be here later today if all goes well.

  My Game Steward Cthulhu Wars order has been added to. I know, in my previous post, that I said that the order had been finalized. Sue me. The following items have been added; Great Old Ones pack 1, Great Old Ones pack 3, Great Old Ones pack 4, Ramsey Campbell Horrors 1, Nodens and Cacodemon. That brings the total cost of the order to $592.79. I'm currently bidding on an eBay auction consisting of more grey alternate acolytes, Brown Jenkins and a group of 8 investigators. I'm hoping to get this relatively cheap. The auction will be over in about 10hrs and 46mins. Someone might try to snipe me out of getting these expansions at the last minute so I've been upping my max bid.

My Game Steward Cthulhu Wars Orders Finalized

   I've placed my last Cthulhu Wars order with The Game Steward tonight. If everything goes as planned, they should start shipping sometime in October. I've been slowly adding to this order for over a year now. Here's the list of everything I've ordered.

  Order 1: 9-11 player neoprene Earth map

  Order 2: Bubastis Faction expansion

  Order 3: Daemon Sultan Faction expansion

  Order 4: Elder Shoggoth expansion, Giant Blind Albino Penguins expansion, Something About Cats box

  Order 5: Tcho-Tcho tribes spellbooks expansion

  Order 6: 6-8 player Earth map, Classic Acolytes and High Priest for Daemon Sultan

  Order 7: Neutral Unit Identifiers for Daemon Sultan, Neutral Unit Identifiers for Bubastis, Neutral Unit Identifiers for the other factions

  Order 8: Daemon Sultan Battle Dice, Gold Cat Battle Dice, 200 Battle Dice set for remaining factions

  Not including shipping, the total cost is $472.85. When all this arrives, I'll have 11 playable factions each with their own set of battle dice and neutral unit identifiers. There will be an extra set of battle dice plus the original 20 dice that came with the base game should anyone's combat dice pool go over 20 dice. Order 4 is entirely composed of neutral units adding to the neutral units I already have. Order 5 adds to the Tcho-Tcho faction with additional spell books. The Bubastis faction doesn't have classic acolytes and is the only faction that doesn't have a high priest.

  I already have the alternate faction acolytes for the 9 factions I currently possess along with 9 alternate grey acolytes for handicapping. There currently aren't any alternate grey acolytes for Daemon Sultan and Bubastis but I have the Unnameable set of 6 grey classic acolytes and a high priest that can be used in that respect. All the factions will have 4 plastic brain cylinders and a dark demon at their disposal. All the factions, except Bubastis, can recruit high priests. Bubastis can't recruit a high priest. If I decide to modify the rules a bit, the grey high priest can then be recruited by Bubastis.

  My Hexacube Kickstarter order is progressing. The latest pictures of the dice look promising. Hopefully, mass production will be starting soon and the wooden boxes meant for the ancient gold dice will have magnetic latches now. I still have to pay for the red pearlescent hexacube set w/ red hexacube red bag. 

Technology and the non-Technophile

   The airpods charging case arrived yesterday. It didn't come with a lightning cable so I had to use the cable that came with my Fuel Rod. I'm happy to say that the airpods I found as I was leaving work function properly. I placed the airpods inside the case and charged everything up. I had to put the Air Battery app on my phone in order to monitor the charge levels in both the case and the airpods. I've paired the airpods with both my phone and tablet and I might try to pair them with my laptop. The app needed in order to do that costs $4.99 and the only review states that the app doesn't work. I'm going to wait and see regarding the PC app. I've ordered a pair of lightning cables. One will be used to charge up my airpods and case and the other will be used to sync my Mom's new iPad to her computer. That way it'll be backed up should she need it. I should also back up her smartphone to her computer as well.

  My parents aren't very technophilic. My Dad doesn't have a smartphone and has never used any of the computers or tablets in the house. He has some understanding of the smart TVs but he still sometimes messes up the settings. He does have an electronic keyboard and a CD recorder that he uses when he creates music CDs so he's not entirely technophobic. While my Mom has a computer, smartphone and iPad, her ability to use them is limited. She never closes web pages on her iPad. Every time I open her web browser, dozens of pages have to be closed in order to free up memory. She's not familiar with the ways to back up her iPad and smartphone and I don't know if she wants to learn. The computer that was purchased for her use sits largely unused. I'm the one that keeps it updated. She does nearly all of her online business on the new iPad. Her iPad 2 is screwed up. I can't swipe passed the home screen and bring up the numerical keypad in order to enter in the passcode. Not that it matters much anymore. iTunes no longer will sync with iPad 2s anymore.

  This is one of the things I hate about Apple and its products. It seems like they go out of their way to screw the customer over. First off, there are no SD card slots on any of the iPads or iPhones. If you want a lot of memory you have to pay through the nose by purchasing the higher end iPads and iPhones from Apple. Then there's the dongle issue. In order to connect your new Apple products with older Apple products, you have to cough up money for a dongle. So you end up paying a shitload of money for these dongles plus you have to carry them around somehow so you have them when you need them. And genuine Apple dongles don't come cheap and third party dongles may not function as well. Then you have the issue with Apple shortening the lifespan of the batteries of older iPhones via software updates. It seems like they're deliberately trying to force Apple users to upgrade constantly in order to siphon as much cash from them as possible. Apple doesn't need to do this because there's already plenty of people so addicted to having the latest and best tech that they're upgrading their smartphones, computers, laptops and tablets on a fairly regular basis.

  I, on the other hand, don't feel the need to constantly upgrade all the damn time. The flip phone I had many years ago served me well for quite some time. I only upgraded because the Android operating system on it would no longer update and the latest version of some of the apps on it couldn't function anymore. The same is becoming true of my iPad 2. I've had the thing since I turned 50. That's over 8 years. It won't upgrade past iOS 9.3.5 and I've had to remove some apps that won't work with that iOS anymore. However, it still functions. The apps that are on it are ones that likely will never be upgraded beyond their present version. That being said, the device still has its uses and I'm not just going to dump it on a whim.