August 3rd, 2022

I wonder how long this kind of life we have chosen for ourselves can continue. The first world countries that we live in that have for so long prided themselves as being more advanced and better for people are beginning to crack. No, rather they've been cracking for a long time now and over the last 10 years have really been feeling the boat taking on water. Godspeed You! Black Emporer put it concisely in their song 'The Dead Flag Blues.'

We are trapped in the belly of this horrible machine, and the machine is bleeding to death.

What happens to the average Joe when the machine dies? When there's no more oil running through it's veins, when it isn't able to feed itself, when it overheats and starts blowing gaskets. Where will you be when this happens? Where will I be?

In other news, I figured out how to create custom textures for Windows 3D maze and will share it here because it's nowhere else online and one little thing you probably overlooked won't let you do it. So first get your image and prepare to make it fit in a 256x256 square for best results. Next make sure it's in a .bmp format, so just use an online converter.

Once you have your .bmp photo, you can't use it just yet. Next, using an image editing software such as GIMP, open up your .bmp photo. Once you've opened it in GIMP, or whatever, you want to export as.

You can call it whatever you want but be sure to keep it as a .bmp. Then you should get some sort of pop up telling you to edit some information about the image. Find an option talking about writing color space information and disable it. If your bmp includes color space info 3D maze won't be able to read it. Once you're sure the .bmp won't include color space info, next change the bit depth. I recommend going 24 bits or below for that genuine early Windows feel. Next hit export and you're golden.