Richard
@messaroundery.net
Compulsive storyteller with the most random interests.
This Windows 10 install was so messed up that it fell back to the hidden Windows 7 Basic theme. The built-in reset feature miraculously brought it back, and the clock on year 3224 somehow wasn't a hardware fault.
September 7, 2026 at 12:39 PM
This Windows 10 install was so messed up that it fell back to the hidden Windows 7 Basic theme. The built-in reset feature miraculously brought it back, and the clock on year 3224 somehow wasn't a hardware fault.
I've had this Pokémon Go Plus autocatcher with a Chinese rechargeable battery (slots in place of a CR2032) for who knows how many years, but it's now having random charging issues. Micro USB needs rework, but it's also hard to tell if a cell this small has become a spicy pillow.
August 19, 2026 at 8:29 PM
I've had this Pokémon Go Plus autocatcher with a Chinese rechargeable battery (slots in place of a CR2032) for who knows how many years, but it's now having random charging issues. Micro USB needs rework, but it's also hard to tell if a cell this small has become a spicy pillow.
Reposted by Richard
i didn’t think it was physically possible, but there’s finally something worse than `curl | sh`
August 4, 2026 at 9:54 AM
i didn’t think it was physically possible, but there’s finally something worse than `curl | sh`
It's been a while, but I'm still having fun with obsolete electronic repairs, starting with a ThinkPad T420 board I damaged in 2019 by using a wrong screw. I got a new board back then, which has now failed, so I had a go at the original with the skills I've acquired since.
August 1, 2026 at 4:00 PM
It's been a while, but I'm still having fun with obsolete electronic repairs, starting with a ThinkPad T420 board I damaged in 2019 by using a wrong screw. I got a new board back then, which has now failed, so I had a go at the original with the skills I've acquired since.
I'm one of those obtuse people who stayed on Windows 10 for the classic XP/Vista taskbar option. Microsoft are trying hard to bring customization back, but it'll only be good enough for me if they fix the different button sizes when labels are enabled.
arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026...
arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026...
Five years later, Windows 11 brings back much-missed taskbar options (and more)
Microsoft is also testing a smaller taskbar and more customizable Start menu.
arstechnica.com
May 18, 2026 at 7:36 PM
I'm one of those obtuse people who stayed on Windows 10 for the classic XP/Vista taskbar option. Microsoft are trying hard to bring customization back, but it'll only be good enough for me if they fix the different button sizes when labels are enabled.
arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026...
arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026...
Just repaired a laptop with a built-in analog horror generator.
April 2, 2026 at 8:10 PM
Just repaired a laptop with a built-in analog horror generator.
Life, uh, finds a way.
December 23, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Life, uh, finds a way.
Reposted by Richard
I propose a solution to our ongoing RAM shortage:
December 6, 2025 at 2:32 AM
I propose a solution to our ongoing RAM shortage:
Reposted by Richard
T H I S I S R E A L T O U C H
November 2, 2025 at 2:06 AM
T H I S I S R E A L T O U C H
Reposted by Richard
This Sony Vaio laptop circa 2010 has, among other issues, a leaking NiMH CMOS battery instead of a regular lithium cell. Party like it's the 1990s Varta bombs.
October 23, 2025 at 3:39 PM
This Sony Vaio laptop circa 2010 has, among other issues, a leaking NiMH CMOS battery instead of a regular lithium cell. Party like it's the 1990s Varta bombs.
Unearthing an Android app that hasn't been compiled in years is always fun. You have SDKs, JDKs, Android Studio telling you to install a different Gradle every step of the way, small Gradle syntax changes, library dependencies that were lost to the JCenter shutdown...
October 13, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Unearthing an Android app that hasn't been compiled in years is always fun. You have SDKs, JDKs, Android Studio telling you to install a different Gradle every step of the way, small Gradle syntax changes, library dependencies that were lost to the JCenter shutdown...
Reposted by Richard
if you love something, take it apart until you understand it, then share it with the world.
August 25, 2025 at 9:11 PM
if you love something, take it apart until you understand it, then share it with the world.
A cheap window air conditioner gave me quite the scare a while back. Control panel was acting weird and eventually started making arcing sounds. Looks like the switching power supply for the electronics failed catastrophically.
August 12, 2025 at 9:11 PM
A cheap window air conditioner gave me quite the scare a while back. Control panel was acting weird and eventually started making arcing sounds. Looks like the switching power supply for the electronics failed catastrophically.
Reposted by Richard
My old Wikipedia Chain experiment (inspired by xkcd 214) is now working again after modern browsers broke it. Also added the ability to start from a random page.
richardg867.github.io/wikichain
The Fediverse bot at mastodon.xyz/@wikipediach... is still going after years of zero maintenance.
richardg867.github.io/wikichain
The Fediverse bot at mastodon.xyz/@wikipediach... is still going after years of zero maintenance.
Wikipedia Chain
Clicking random links on Wikipedia articles couldn't be more fun.
richardg867.github.io
July 28, 2025 at 10:31 PM
My old Wikipedia Chain experiment (inspired by xkcd 214) is now working again after modern browsers broke it. Also added the ability to start from a random page.
richardg867.github.io/wikichain
The Fediverse bot at mastodon.xyz/@wikipediach... is still going after years of zero maintenance.
richardg867.github.io/wikichain
The Fediverse bot at mastodon.xyz/@wikipediach... is still going after years of zero maintenance.
The ThinkPad X1 Carbon 2nd Gen has many flaws, but requiring a SATA M.2 SSD (now a cursed form factor) takes the cake. In upgrading this machine, a brand new WD Green kept crashing so I had to fall back to a China special.
July 25, 2025 at 1:25 PM
The ThinkPad X1 Carbon 2nd Gen has many flaws, but requiring a SATA M.2 SSD (now a cursed form factor) takes the cake. In upgrading this machine, a brand new WD Green kept crashing so I had to fall back to a China special.
Had a BSOD today, and a frame from the video I was watching managed to sneak in through the GPU video decoder!
July 15, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Had a BSOD today, and a frame from the video I was watching managed to sneak in through the GPU video decoder!
Built a bulk hard drive testing rig for validating a job lot of old drives. Horrible chain of power adapters as this PSU has the 5V capacity but very few connectors. Even got an IDE-SATA converter (works surprisingly fine) for the 7th drive.
June 27, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Built a bulk hard drive testing rig for validating a job lot of old drives. Horrible chain of power adapters as this PSU has the 5V capacity but very few connectors. Even got an IDE-SATA converter (works surprisingly fine) for the 7th drive.
Reposted by Richard
The existence of Norway implies the existence of Nandway.
May 24, 2025 at 6:18 PM
The existence of Norway implies the existence of Nandway.
In trying to clean the sticky rubberized finish on this old laptop, I ended up stripping a chunk of the coating, then asked myself: why not go the rest of the way? It looks way cooler than I expected. Happy little accident.
May 5, 2025 at 10:50 PM
In trying to clean the sticky rubberized finish on this old laptop, I ended up stripping a chunk of the coating, then asked myself: why not go the rest of the way? It looks way cooler than I expected. Happy little accident.
There's lots of speculation as to what exactly makes an USB-C dock incompatible with the Nintendo Switch. One factor is Power Delivery: docks tend to reduce the advertised current (because their USB ports need power) just enough to fall below the Switch's 15V 2.6A requirement.
April 16, 2025 at 7:34 PM
There's lots of speculation as to what exactly makes an USB-C dock incompatible with the Nintendo Switch. One factor is Power Delivery: docks tend to reduce the advertised current (because their USB ports need power) just enough to fall below the Switch's 15V 2.6A requirement.
The Thunderbolt port failure issue with some ThinkPads bit me... or so I thought. My X390 showed some (controller gone) but not all (15W charging) symptoms, and I'm sure it already had the fixed firmware. A hard reset through the bottom pinhole brought it back to normal.
April 2, 2025 at 4:51 PM
The Thunderbolt port failure issue with some ThinkPads bit me... or so I thought. My X390 showed some (controller gone) but not all (15W charging) symptoms, and I'm sure it already had the fixed firmware. A hard reset through the bottom pinhole brought it back to normal.
Reposted by Richard
The Windows API is... wild. You're trying to change the color of a button and the answer is like "use setwindowshookex to inject a dll back into its own process using some undocumented GUID" and you're like, surely this is a hack, but its how Word 97 did it so it's part of the official docs now
February 12, 2025 at 2:23 PM
The Windows API is... wild. You're trying to change the color of a button and the answer is like "use setwindowshookex to inject a dll back into its own process using some undocumented GUID" and you're like, surely this is a hack, but its how Word 97 did it so it's part of the official docs now
Had to deal with an Android app that wouldn't build because two dependencies are pinned to versions that were only ever uploaded to JCenter which is gone now. Just those specific versions, all others are on Maven Central. Guess I'm too used to centralized repos like PyPI and npm.
March 20, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Had to deal with an Android app that wouldn't build because two dependencies are pinned to versions that were only ever uploaded to JCenter which is gone now. Just those specific versions, all others are on Maven Central. Guess I'm too used to centralized repos like PyPI and npm.