Classic first-person shooters Unreal (1998) and Unreal Tournament are now available for free on the Internet Archive, with official OK from publisher Epic Games. An Epic spokesperson confirmed to PC Gamer that users are permitted to "independently link to and play these versions." Players can download the games directly from the Internet Archive and apply patches from Github for modern Windows compatibility, or use simplified installers through oldunreal.com. Both titles run on current hardware despite their age, though users may need to adjust dated default settings like 640×480 resolution and inverted mouse controls.
MySQL system variables configure the server’s operation, and the SET statement is used to change system variable. The MySQL SET statements have various options for specifying changes to SYSTEM VARIABLE. It’s important to understand how these changes are reflected in current sessions (connections), later sessions, and after database server restarts.Planet MySQL
I’m generally a cheapskate, but this time I decided to splurge. I solved the M4 Mac Mini’s dearth of USB-A ports by buying a Caldigit TS4. It’s got 18 connections, including two card slots and three audio jacks. Eight effingteen.
Total overkill, but you know what? I’ve been suffering from Apple’s apparently innate tendency to skimp on ports, bays, slots and jacks my whole life. My whole life. The transition away from floppies was a pain (and I lost a lot of data, eventually—who knew that later on they’d come up with drives and software to get data off old 3.5 floppies, after a stretch when you couldn’t?); I missed CD drives when they went away; I missed the SD card slot when it went away; and, almost every Apple computer I’ve ever owned or worked on—18 is my latest best count—lacks adequate ports. Even the very first Macintosh, the original 1984 128k, should have had two floppy drives when it only had one, so you wouldn’t have had to sit there exchanging floppies back and forth, back and forth, while it copied the application to a new disk. I just decided, the hell with economy. I’m a man, and I’m gonna get me enough ports. For once.
Even so, for the M4 Mac Mini, I think I’m going to recommend—or pass along a recommendation for—this:
It’s the Xcellon Pro 10 hub, USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, recommended privately by a reader who knows this stuff. At issue is that it’s capable of passing along 10 Gbps, like the front ports on the M4 Minis. If you use a 5 Gbps hub, you’re choking off half the happy flow of data to whatever you have plugged into it. A little on the expensive side, but that just gives it a better chance of not being super-Chin…er, super-cheap in build.
The Caldigit was a breeze to install but a giant pain to site. I have a sit-stand desk, so the entire welter of wires needs to be free enough to allow the desk to travel up and down. I ended up having to site a separate small table next to the desk to support the power supplies; the one in front is for the TS4. (The other is for the JBOD enclosure on the left.) Neither the cord from the plug to the power supply nor the one from the power supply to the unit were long enough on their own to allow enough travel. Hence the need to site the power supply halfway up.
I hated to do it. Give it a month and the power supplies will be buried.
The Caldigit did neaten up my desk considerably. The white wire from the hard drive housing doesn’t look good, true, but it’s the best I could do. It’s Thunderbolt 2, which, as you probably don’t remember, used cables with the same termination as Mini-DisplayPort. But they had to be Thunderbolt certified. So, as I understand it, and I could be wrong, not all Mini-DisplayPort male-to-male cables will do. A 1-meter Thunderbolt 2 cable would allow me to pass this wire under the desk—emphasis on 1-meter—but those apparently don’t exist to be bought any more. Or at least not ones that I can know for sure are suitable for 20-Gbps data transmission. The best I could do four years ago was this 0.5-meter Apple Thunderbolt 2 cable with Mini DisplayPort male-to-male terminations along with the Apple Thunderbolt-to-Type-C-Thunderbolt 3 adapter. Which is not quite long enough, but oh well. Are you bored yet? I’m certainly getting there.
Little orphan
Unfortunately, there is one casualty of all this. The Caldigit leaves my beautiful new Wise Advanced Co. Taiwanese-made card reader orphaned. (Somehow I knew I wasn’t going to get to keep this, because I like it. Whoops, no self-pity.) Anyway, I tested, and the SD card reader in the Caldigit is as fast as the Wise Advanced. Anyway, if you need a really nice CFexpress Type B card reader in a nice aluminum housing that’s only been used about ten times, that also reads UHS-II SDXC cards (here’s a link), let me know. It’s for sale. You can have it for a nice price.
Buuaaaaaaaah-hahaha!
Mike
Original contents copyright 2024 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below or on the title of this post.)
Welcome back to another edition of Concealed Carry Corner. Last week, we took a look at some of the best items to make carrying a concealed handgun easier. If you happened to miss that article, be sure to click the link here to check it out. This week, I want to talk about how some of my favorite drills help not only my shooting ability but help me problem-solve on the fly. So many people just focus on their shooting ability when the real issue is the lack of ability in problem-solving. Having to pull your firearm in an emergency situation and fire on a threat can not only be stressful but you’ll also be fighting your body for the fight or flight responses. Being in a self-defense situation is drastically different from shooting quickly at the range. Let’s take a look at how to train for carrying a concealed handgun.
Problem-Solving Versus Shooting Skills
When we talk about being proficient when it comes to carrying a concealed firearm, oftentimes we think about bettering our shooting skills and becoming quick when it comes to our drawstroke, and getting rounds onto the target. While this is absolutely true, many don’t recognize the hardest part about being in a self-defense situation is the inability to problem-solve when your adrenaline dump hits your body. It can be incredibly difficult to fight this since that’s the body’s natural response but working on your problem-solving skills while you are training can help train to critically think while you’re shooting.
Having the ability to accurately make shots and quickly make your hits is no doubt a vital component when carrying concealed, but we really need to start talking about problem-solving on the fly rather than just hammering shooting skills. There becomes a point where we become proficient and need to start challenging our problem-solving skills rather than just continuously hammering the basic shooting skills or just shooting static targets. Luckily, there are several drills out there that can not only push your shooting abilities but also start to challenge your mind when it comes to problem-solving.
Drills to Focus On
When it comes to drills, there are an unlimited amount of choices to work on anything from accuracy, fundamental drills, or racing against the clock for the fastest time. When I personally go to the range, I switch from static drills where you focus on accuracy based on a time limitation to more dynamic drills where it’s a problem-solving drill rather than a straightforward shooting drill. I will give you a brief rundown of some of the drills I use on a regular basis to help train not only myself but shooting friends who go to the range with me as well. Here are a few drills I will typically use on a given range session.
Bill Drill
When it comes to warming up and having a straightforward shakedown on skills, there are few things as good as a simple Bill Drill. The Bill Drill is designed to draw your carry gun from concealment and fire 6 shots as fast as possible into the target while remaining accurate. It should be all shots in the A zone of the target. Typically these are fired on full-size targets but if you don’t have those you can use a simple white 8X12 piece of paper.
A good goal to draw and fire 6 rounds into the target is right around 3.5 seconds with the expert time being anything under 2 seconds. The most important thing to keep in mind when it comes to the Bill Drill is finding the sweet spot where you can accurately make your hits while still meeting the minimum time requirements. This drill doesn’t force you to think on your toes or use much brain power at all truthfully. The Bill Drill has always been known for being a really straightforward drill but in terms of a warmup drill to get your mind clear and ready to work, it’s one of the best out there.
Alphabet Soup
One of the most challenging but effective drills you can run is called the Alphabet Soup drill. This drill has a number of targets posted around the firing area of the range with various letters spray-painted onto the targets. This drill takes two people where one stands behind the shooter and yells out commands while the other person engages the targets called out. You can make it simple with a single shot or make it more challenging with double taps.
If that’s too easy, you can also do Mozambique style where you have to fire two rounds into the body and one into the head of the designated target. The main goal of this drill is to force your mind to focus on the correct target teaching you over time to have problem-solving skills while focusing on your shooting skills. Being able to work through problems and quickly engage the correct targets will help you train for a stressful situation where you have to focus your head instead of being overwhelmed by the stress.
Color and Shapes
You can take the Alphabet Soup drill even further by doing various colors and shapes adding even another layer to target identification. I typically have people try out and become comfortable with the Alphabet Soup and then add in colors and shapes. The person behind the shooter yells different color and shape combinations like “Red Square" and then "Blue Circle.” As challenging as Alphabet Soup can be, the addition of colors and shapes makes an already challenging drill even tougher.
In my experience, these are some of the best drills for slowing down a bit and problem-solving instead of just picking targets and firing without much thought. Static drills are fantastic, but adding in the ability to have critical thinking skills while manipulating a firearm really does add value.
Overall Thoughts
There’s no question that shooting static targets and working on your fundamental skills are an important part of building your shooting skills. At a certain point though, it’s important to start pushing yourself when it comes to problem-solving and forcing yourself to focus on various details other than just shooting. Most people will hit the range and just solely focus on building their shooting skills whereas practicing the problem-solving aspect of shooting is just as important as actually shooting and practicing your critical thinking skills can be the reason you survive a self-defense situation.
What are some other drills you guys like to do to challenge your mental skills when at the range? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. If you have questions about drills or firearms in general, feel free to shoot me a message on Instagram @fridgeoperator. Stay safe out there and we will see you next week for another edition of Concealed Carry Corner.
TFB’s Concealed Carry Corner is brought to you by GLOCK
In this article you will learn how to setup the basic Laravel multi tenant app in minutes with some simple steps.
Multi tenancy is a good concepts for new SaaS based Applications it will help you to keep the one codebase for multiple domains and each domain contains its own data.
Let get Started!
Create a new Laravel Project
Install/setup Laravel Breeze
Install multitenancy package with following command
composer require stancl/tenancy
After it completes run the following command
php artisan tenancy:install
It will create:
migrations
a config file (config/tenancy.php),
a routes file (routes/tenant.php),
and a service provider file
app/Providers/TenancyServiceProvider.php
Recap
What we have done so far
a. create a new project
b. install tenancy package
Step for multiple domains and database
Once the above steps are done we need to register our tenancy service provider in the following file
Then add the service provider to your config/app.php file:
Now we need to create a Tenant Model for that we will use following command:
php artisan make:model Tenant
After that a model will Created in side the App/Models/ we need to change the code with following later we will update it more according to our needs
by default it will use the package Tenant Model but we want the system to use our model that we have just created for that we have to go in the config folder/directory and then find the tenancy.php file and make the following changes
'tenant_model' => Tenant::class,
change the Above line of code with
'tenant_model' => \App\Models\Tenant::class,
If you don’t need domains or databases, ignore the steps above. Everything will work just as well.
You can create tenants like any other models:
You may register central routes in routes/web.php or routes/api.php like you’re used to. However, you need to make one small change to your RouteServiceProvider.
You don’t want central routes — think landing pages and sign up forms — to be accessible on tenant domains. For that reason, register them in such a way that they’re only accessible on your central domains.Now we need to set the routes for the tenants and central app
let go the the RouteServiceProvider.php and replace the code with following code from boot function
Tenant routes
You may register tenant routes in routes/tenant.php file
by default it will look like this
Now we need to create copy the migration files from migration folder to the tenant folder that resides in migration folder and copy the required migration files
once this done we need to create a job that will insert the data in tenant table and also generate the tenant database and insert that record in it
php artisan make:job SeedTenantJob
and replace the file code with the code bellow
what this file do is it will always run as soon as you will hit the create tenant function and once it will be execute it will run the migration and insert the first record for you so you can login and access your tenant application
but still we have to do some more fix’s to get the working tenant application
now we need to do some modifications in TenantServiceProvider.php
do the following changes
uncomment the JobSeedDatabase and add our created job bellow that \App\Jobs\SeedTenantJob::class
like mentioned in the picture. Remember that order is very important in this file if you put our job at top and JobSeedDatabase bellow that it will throw error as you need to first run the migrations then insert the data our job part is for the insertion of data and JobSeedDatabase is to run the migrations
Now your first multitenancy app is ready to go live and you can test on local but for that you need to create a TenantController from where you can register the tenants
this will be basic code you can modify it for more stuff as per your requirements
now you will need to modify your route service provider if you havent set it accordingly
now you can set you web.php and tenant.php file accordingly
Gun owners must make their voices heard to the governor on who will be an acceptable replacement for JD Vance — and on who won’t be. (Mike DeWine/Facebook)
“The race is on to replace JD Vance in the U.S. Senate,” WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau noted Wednesday, following the Trump/Vance ticket’s presidential election victory. “[Ohio Governor Mike] DeWine has a big decision to make. Vance will need to resign from his coveted Senate seat, and the governor will appoint his replacement.”
Who DeWine will pick is crucial to the interests of gun owners and Trau has compiled a list and overview analysis of names being considered that is admittedly “not exhaustive” but nonetheless “reflects the views of two dozen Ohio political insiders.”
“I’ll look for someone who wants to get things done every day and will stay focused on it,” DeWine had told Trau in July. “We also have to have someone who will be able to stay there a while.” And, according to Republican strategist Bob Clegg, he may “choose someone with more in common with his own ideology and mild-mannered personality.”
That would not be the best outcome for a number of reasons. Note the qualities of “get[ting] things done” is silent on what things, and DeWine’s on again/off again affinities for citizen disarmament edicts show a politician who views the right to arms as a political expedient rather than a keystone for freedom. In short, he’s gone from engendering headlines like “Principled Statesman Mike DeWine Endorsed by Brady Campaign” to being endorsed by NRA. After a mass shooting in Dayton, he returned to his gun-grabber roots stumping for supposedly “bipartisan” infringements, including raising the firearm purchasing age, “expanded background checks,” and so-called “safety protection orders.”
With that background in mind, gun owners need to pay close attention to who the likely candidates are, and how likely they are to protect and promote their interests:
Vivek Ramaswamy: The entrepreneur/Republican primary presidential candidate has been described as a “Second Amendment absolutist” who “endorses gun ownership for convicted felons,” which, if they’ve been deemed safe enough to release back into society hardly seems the radical danger prohibitionists make it out to be. He is also a close and longtime friend of Vance, which would give him a special ear in White House circles.
Jane Timken: “Frederick Douglass said: ‘Our rights rest in three boxes. The ballot-box, the jury-box, and the cartridge-box.’ I own guns, and I’ll always fight for your Constitutional right to do the same,” Timlen pledged on her campaign website. “‘Shall not be infringed’ means shall not be infringed, and as your Senator, I will fight to stop Democrats’ unconstitutional push to take away our Second Amendment rights.”
Matt Dolan: “With RINO-Republicans like Ohio’s Matt Dolan, who needs Democrats?” this correspondent asked in a 2022 AmmoLand article. In addition to being “described by CNN as a ‘non-Trump Republican’,” Dolan supports a host of gun prohibitions including raising the purchase age, red flags, and ending private sales.
Troublingly, this is the candidate DeWine endorsed in the race won by Bernie Moreno to unseat Sherrod Brown.
Frank LaRose: “There are a lot of good Second Amendment advocates in Ohio who support our agenda. However, Frank LaRose is a longtime partner who has always gone the extra mile to improve our laws and protect the rights of Ohio’s 4 million gun owners. He’ll be a great senator representing us in Washington, D.C.,” Dean Rieck, Executive Director of Buckeye Firearms Association noted in February. “LaRose is one of just a handful of candidates to ever boast of a 100% score from BFA PAC, earning him not only an ‘A’ grade for gun rights, but also a well-deserved endorsement.”
Robert Sprague: “Buckeye Firearms Association PAC endorses Robert Sprague for Treasurer of State in the 2018 general election,” the state gun rights group informed Ohio gun owners. “In his eight years in the Ohio House, Sprague has racked up a perfect 13-0 voting record. He has supported every bill BFA has advanced.” And per a 2017 Ohio Gun Owners post, Sprague was a Constitutional Carry bill co-sponsor.
Dave Joyce: He was my congressman until redistricting. NRA gave him an A grade and called him “a solidly pro-gun candidate with a record of support on Second Amendment issues.” Up to a point. By supporting Democrats on the “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act,” he’s placed himself in the “can’t trust anymore” camp.
Mike Carey: “Criminals, the mentally ill, and individuals who are underage should be prevented from buying firearm. It is also important that the laws already on the books are enforced. In addition, maintaining and integrating the databases used to conduct background checks is another important tool to keep guns out of [illegal] hands,” he asserted in 2022. “The Constitution IS absolute and the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. Strict gun regulations only make things harder for law abiding citizens. In Congress, Mike is working to protect our 2nd Amendment rights by co-sponsoring bills like the RIFLE Act. Mike Carey will always defend your right to bear arms and oppose any legislation that infringes on your rights.”
That’s the short list, and it may not be the last of it. For now, there are several good choices for gun owners that DeWine can make, a few problematic ones, and one that’s completely unacceptable, his previous pick Dolan.
Of them all, Ramaswamy is the one with the most national prominence and his relationship with Vance is an added bonus. The main problem: In the above-linked Forbes article, he opined that “background checks are ‘absolutely a legitimate part of the process,’” which disregards that they are a prior restraint infringement.
The thing is, even with the Trump victory, don’t look for elimination of the National Instant Background Check System (NICS) to be on the table, and none of the other names on the list have called for its repeal, or are likely to. As always, our work to educate not just the public, but legislators receptive to listening, will be ongoing. It’s up to us to ensure they do and to expose those who don’t.
You don’t need to be an Ohio gun owner to weigh in— after all, a senator’s votes affect us all.
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: If you voted in the U.S. presidential election yesterday in which Donald Trump won comfortably, or a previous election, a website powered by a right-wing group is probably doxing you. VoteRef makes it trivial for anyone to search the name, physical address, age, party affiliation, and whether someone voted that year for people living in most states instantly and for free. This can include ordinary citizens, celebrities, domestic abuse survivors, and many other people. Voting rolls are public records, and ways to more readily access them are not new. But during a time of intense division, political violence, or even the broader threat of data being used to dox or harass anyone, sites like VoteRef turn a vital part of the democratic process — simply voting — into a security and privacy threat. […]
The Voter Reference Foundation, which runs VoteRef, is a right wing organization helmed by a former Trump campaign official, ProPublica previously reported. The goal for that organization was to find irregularities in the number of voters and the number of ballots cast, but state election officials said their findings were "fundamentally incorrect," ProPublica added. In an interview with NPR, the ProPublica reporter said that the Voter Reference Foundation insinuated (falsely) that the 2020 election of Joe Biden was fraudulent in some way. 404 Media has found people on social media using VoteRef’s data to spread voting conspiracies too. VoteRef has steadily been adding more states’ records to the VoteRef website. At the time of writing, it has records for all states that legally allow publication. Some exceptions include California, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. ProPublica reported that VoteRef removed the Pennsylvania data after being contacted by an attorney for Pennsylvania’s Department of State. "Digitizing and aggregating data meaningfully changes the privacy context and the risks to people. Your municipal government storing your marriage certificate and voter information in some basement office filing cabinet is not even remotely the same as a private company digitizing all the data, labeling it, piling it all together, making it searchable," said Justin Sherman, a Duke professor who studies data brokers.
"Policymakers need to get with the times and recognize that data brokers digitizing, aggregating, and selling data based on public records — which are usually considered ‘publicly available information’ and exempted from privacy laws — has fueled decades of stalking and gendered violence, harassment, doxing, and even murder," Sherman said. "Protecting citizens of all political stripes, targets and survivors of gendered violence, public servants who are targets for doxing and death threats, military service members, and everyone in between depends on reframing how we think about public records privacy and the mass aggregation and sale of our data."
Stardew Valley on mobile just received its latest update, and in it is a new secret multiplayer mode. Developer ConcernedApe says it’s currently secret because of its experimental nature, and mobile multiplayer can be “frustrating.”
Unlike Stardew Valley multiplayer on other platforms, players on mobile can’t discover others’ farms and can only connect via IP address. They can still join a PC-hosted farm using their mobile devices. The developers also warn that using a mobile network isn’t recommended, as it may not be stable enough. The experience works best when both devices are on the same network, but that’s not compulsory.
ConcernedApe
To unlock mobile multiplayer, you’ll have to tap the leaves in a specific order. It’s actually part of the Konami code, but without the A and B buttons because, well, smartphones and tablets don’t have them. The Stardew Valleymultiplayer blog has instructions if you’re interested.
Once you see the new co-op menu on the screen, you can host or join a farm. You’ll need an IP address if you want to join someone’s farm, but that isn’t difficult to find on your mobile device. The Stardew Valley post also has instructions for that for both iOS and Android users.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/stardew-valley-now-has-a-secret-multiplayer-mode-on-mobile-150956438.html?src=rssEngadget
