Hello
Apparently Starlink is going to roll out their public beta as soon as these 60 satellites get into position. That’s fantastic news!
I had an idea today when I couldn’t sleep.
A twitch.tv live stream (or youtube) where I cut out vinyl stickers LIVE on stream. I would do anime sticker requests, then manual trace and/or do auto trace, then I’d cut out the vinyl and weed/ apply transfer tape.
I then list the stickers to my eBay store.
That’s the idea that I worked out after realizing that the original idea is probably too much work.
The original idea is an automated stream where people upload their SVG (maybe through a URL pasted into chat) and the machine just starts cutting the SVG. It would take a bunch of custom code to be able to do that, to make sure that the sticker isn’t atop a previously cut sticker. Lots of work indeed.
Then donations and subscribers could get their sticker mailed to them.
The automatic thing would be a lot of work, but it would be pretty cool to see.
Actually, it would probably be boring af. It’s really hard to see the vinyl cutout as it’s happening. I don’t think that’s a photogenic thing.
So the alternative is to be a host and keep people company, in exchange for them having me design them stickers that I will then sell.
I never thought of streaming until Ironmouse suggested that everybody try it.
Well I guess that’s not true. I have wanted to stream on numerous occasions, but I never was able to due to having shitty internet.
When I get Starlink, that can all change, and there’s a whole new opportunity for me to run internet services like Filecoin or Bitcoin from my apartment, stream, self-host my own websites, etc. etc.
I have a few ideas for remotely operated things that the chat can interact with. A crane game played via the internet is the one thing that has been done by other streams, but I think I could bring my own unique spin to the idea that viewers would appreciate.
Players would win Prememo and Weiss Schwarz cards, that’s for certain!
Just had another idea while on the toilet.
Tug-a-Turtle but with RC cars. This is a concept that several companies have done via internet livestreaming, but they always get something wrong. They get latency wrong. They basically give the crowd the controls to control an RC car, and don’t take into account that the person controlling the car is essentially having to control the car with a delay between their input and the car’s response.
It’s a terrible user expereince for the person on the other end.
One way to solve this is with AI, where the human gives a destination command, and the AI makes the decisions on how to get there.
There’s a simpler approach that doesn’t require AI.
Instead of giving the human full control, restrict their control to something like what they would see in a board game.
Instructions: Turn left 90 degrees. Drive forward 1 meter.
This can be a multiplayer experience, where each player submits their instructions simultaneously, then the game coordination program executes the commands all at once.
I’d like to do something like that. Again, internet bandwidth has been a major constraint.
There was a project several years ago called Prank House. Viewers at home could control an RC car, a PTZ paintball marker, and an shocking chair in exchange for tokens. It lasted several days and I had a real fun time watching the stream. I think I fired the paintball marker at some Prankhouse attendees a few times.
I remember that the RC car thing was offline most of the time. It had battery issues, the car would fall off the track and become incapacitated.. It was just not done well.
The paintball marker had a large hopper fed by a tube that went to an attic where an attendant would continually fill it. The paintball marker was a huge hit among viewers.
Another idea I had was an idea to make a surreal, mysterious stream where the stream starts for the first time and there’s just a lone printer on a table in an empty building. No sign of people, no sign of operators, just a printer on a table. No instructions, either.
The viewers would be quick to discover that the printer would print whatever was typed in chat. Donations of bits would make the user’s font appear larger.
Here’s a question. Would the printer wait until a buffer of text has been filled to print a page, or would it print every n minutes? Text could get really really small if it printed on a set schedule!!!
So the stream would continue for hours and hours, maybe days and weeks. Eventually, the paper would run out.
Oh shit, this is like an arthouse project all of a sudden. IDK if that’s even the right word, but it’s kind of exhilarating to think about. Viewers would tune in to see the stream. I think it would be cool to let the viewers change camera angles somehow. Maybe they would be able to see the page count somehow. Maybe an on-screen indication shows up after a few days which lets the viewers know. Oh shit, I could just have a camera pressed right up against the printer’s LCD screen.
Anyway, it could become a big spectacle as the viewers anticipate the last page being printed. What will happen? Will the stream end? Will a human finally appear to restock the paper?
I would let the paper run out, and I’d wait long enough for the users to CRY and be OUTRAGED. Their source of entertainment is gone. They want to print tons of pages with their words on it! They want the fun to keep going!
As the printer runs out of paper and the chat demands maintenance, I would make my first appearance wearing a full face mask and gloves, my identity completely hidden. I would silently and somberly walk into the frame and wind up the sledge before bringing it crashing down on the printer.
The printer would break into pieces and fly off the table. The chat would go wild.
After an extended moment of shock, I would reveal a pristine printer which was hidden behind the table the whole time. Suppressing all emotion, I would plug it in, turn it on, and walk out of the room.
The printer would continue as did it’s predecessor, printing the chat’s messages, continuing into infinity…
Fade to black
How cool would that be!? Could it perhaps go viral? That would be a lot of fun to set up!
The problems I see are that 1. I don’t have a space where I could set up a printer to print non-stop for days or weeks. 2. I don’t have the internet bandwidth. 3. I know nothing about coding for printers!
#3 is a moot point. I don’t think I need to learn anything about postscript or any of that. I can literally do everything for this project in HTML5 and Node.js. The webapp generates the text and scales it, then node could create a print job. I could do a systemd timer to make a printjob every so often, at which point the webapp would be triggered to refresh. That is if I were to do the printing on a timer.
That might be the best way to do it. Well, that would be best for me because I would be able to calculate exactly when the last page would print, and I could be ready at that time.
The alternative is to have users be able to get the printer to print very quickly, all according to how many messages they send. I bet it could get pretty competitive as they try to exhaust the printer’s paper supply.
Maybe there’s a hybrid solution? Maybe there could be two modes. Slow mode in which the printer prints every 1 minute, or fast mode where the printer prints the buffer which speedily fills in relation to the rate of messages.
Slow mode might be the best way. I don’t want to make this complicated. I want there to be a mystery to the whole thing. I want the user to wonder,
- Where in the world is the printer?
- Who is operating the stream?
- What is the point of this?
- What will happen when the paper runs out?
A mad blast of printing speed will likely distract from the mystery, as users simply assume that the pages will be re-filled by an attendant when they wastefully get the printer to spit out pages.
I want the anticipation to build, slowly and surely. I want the users to see the page counter decrease and I want to see a tweet storm of people who can’t wait to see the conclusion.
Goddamn, this is quite exciting to think about.
I think it could go viral, which means that I need some sort of message at the end. Right now all I can think of is, “Visit HTTPS://SBTP.XYZ” but that’s such a niche thing that it could be wasted on the thousands of potential viewers who would stop in to see a printer.
I could advertise myself I guess. If I get sick of slinging trading cards, I could set this up as a guerrilla advertising of my computer skillz.
- Streaming
- Coding & APIs
- Software Integrations & workflows
- Marketing(??)
I wonder if this has been done already?
Maybe I do it just for fun. Maybe I could get my dad to let me use a bay in his shop for a week. The environment is kinda shitty for that. I want something that looks more done up, like a set.
More to think about.
Break time!
I think it would be funny to wear one of those full-face 罪 masks as seen in hentai as I slowly approach the printer with a sledgehammer.
Today I learned that my sister A. has been texting me for a month and my replies haven’t been getting to her. Well that is unfortunate!
I think she was texting my old phone number, but somehow I was able to see the messages? IDK what was going on there, but now we have it sorted out and we can communicate.
I’m going to keep the therapy stuff brief today. The work I need to be doing isn’t in a journal anymore. It’s reaching out to people via phone or in person and putting myself into vulnerable situations where I can practice being my authentic self and practice staying calm.
I’m going to wrap this up with gratitude and affirmations, afterwhich I’m jumping into sbtp-loyalty web dev. I think I’m at the make it or break it point with that project. It’s getting difficult, which means that I can’t give up. I don’t have to have a daily success of getting to some milestone. My daily success will simply be measured as showing up and doing the work. Showing up and trying, and doing my best.
I’m grateful for the chipmonk I saw outside today when I went for a walk. It was fascinating to see it jump between trees so seemingly effortlessly.
I’m grateful for the walk I had. I’m grateful that I have a healthy body and strong legs which allow me to walk for an hour or more.
I’m grateful fo rPeter McCormack who puts on What Bitcoin Did, a podcast that I enjoy.
I’m grateful for the food in my kitchenette, and for my past self who put that food there.
27. I keep going because I believe in myself.
28. I choose to see the good in the people I interact with today.
29. It is always too early to give up on my goals.
Opportunity!
