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Can anyone tell me about some decent videogame news/review sites that still function primarily in written form? Practically every site I've used in the past seems to have moved to video articles rather than written articles. This is generally an issue because by and large the people who work for these sites are incredibly awkward with very little experience in acting or voiceover work. It's also much slower to consume since skipping through video is much more difficult than skipping over a written article. I guess it's cheaper and easier than actually putting in the effort to write stuff, but sheesh.
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Jan 17, 2014 01:24
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Join the cool kids are start saying "ya'll." Never use it in writing though.
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Jan 17, 2014 01:25
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Fork of Unknown Origins posted:Join the cool kids are start saying "ya'll." It's fine to use in writing so long as you spell it correctly.
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Jan 17, 2014 01:26
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stubblyhead posted:It's fine to use in writing so long as you spell it correctly.  It's great for dialogue but I wouldn't want to see it in technical documentation.
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Jan 17, 2014 01:40
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Do away with language all together and just gesture at them, like you're dispersing gas around the room.
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Jan 17, 2014 01:47
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Shakugan posted:Can anyone tell me about some decent videogame news/review sites that still function primarily in written form? Practically every site I've used in the past seems to have moved to video articles rather than written articles. This is generally an issue because by and large the people who work for these sites are incredibly awkward with very little experience in acting or voiceover work. It's also much slower to consume since skipping through video is much more difficult than skipping over a written article. I guess it's cheaper and easier than actually putting in the effort to write stuff, but sheesh. Shacknews is mostly articles (and links), though content-wise they might be lighter on content than IGN / Gamespot. e: Also, Shacknews has maybe the best general discussion boards on the internet, with the best commenting system. Make an account and click on Chatty in the top menu bar (don't comment via the news article threads. Well you can but those people are kind of separate from the rest of the community by and large). Just be sure to set your preferences to include / exclude whatever topics you want. regulargonzalez fucked around with this message at 02:35 on Jan 17, 2014 |
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Jan 17, 2014 02:31
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Baldbeard posted:Is it slightly douchey for a guy to address a group of women as 'ladies' in a business environment? I volunteer at a therapy place that is 100% women, and I frequently have to ask a bunch of therapists if they need me to X, Y, or Z. Instinctively I want to say stuff like "Do you ladies need me to file these?" or "You ladies have a nice night" because if they were guys I would say 'guys' in the same way. I tend to use 'everyone' when addressing a group of people. It works well in most situations. As a Brit I've used 'you lot' as well, but generally more informally with people I know well. So you could say "Everyone have a nice night" and just leave the word 'ladies' out of your filing question, it works that way.
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Jan 17, 2014 02:45
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regulargonzalez posted:I would urge you not to use guys. The fact that it is so normalized as to seem gender-neutral says far more about society than it does about what is the correct word to use. I just can't see myself saying "You folks need anything?" to a group. Sounds like something an old man would say. "You people need anything?" makes me sound like I'm talking to a different species. I usually just rephrase into something like "Does anyone need anything?", but just in general I like to be more direct. It's a shame "gals" has negativity attached to it, because its the closest equivalent to "guys". Having to speak indirectly as a side affect of trying to be more gender-neutral must just be a lovely reality for people who care.
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Jan 17, 2014 02:53
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Rent-A-Cop posted:It is a niche product marketed to institutional customers for whom price is not a primary consideration in purchasing. It is probably also certified to a fairly rigorous standard for the healthcare industry and that sort of thing is expensive. I know you can get these cheaper elsewhere. I used to work at a cattle auction and there was this outdoor computer that I used to put in info for every cow that came through. This computer was literally outside under a tin roof with no walls, I have no idea how it survived. Anyway it had one of those rubber keyboards and I thought it was awesome; it's been a couple years ago since I looked but I remember seeing them on some websites for like $40-50. So no they aren't a niche product marketed just to hospitals. They're also marketed to rednecks and cowboys. EDIT: I just googled "rubber keyboard", you can get the kind I used for like 13 bucks. The whole thing is flexible. 
razz fucked around with this message at 03:18 on Jan 17, 2014 |
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Jan 17, 2014 03:15
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razz posted:I know you can get these cheaper elsewhere. I used to work at a cattle auction and there was this outdoor computer that I used to put in info for every cow that came through. This computer was literally outside under a tin roof with no walls, I have no idea how it survived. Anyway it had one of those rubber keyboards and I thought it was awesome; it's been a couple years ago since I looked but I remember seeing them on some websites for like $40-50. So no they aren't a niche product marketed just to hospitals. They're also marketed to rednecks and cowboys. Yeah, some auto shops have similar keyboards. Check out "rugged keyboards" for dust and grime-proof stuff.
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Jan 17, 2014 03:17
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razz posted:I know you can get these cheaper elsewhere. I used to work at a cattle auction and there was this outdoor computer that I used to put in info for every cow that came through. This computer was literally outside under a tin roof with no walls, I have no idea how it survived. Anyway it had one of those rubber keyboards and I thought it was awesome; it's been a couple years ago since I looked but I remember seeing them on some websites for like $40-50. So no they aren't a niche product marketed just to hospitals. They're also marketed to rednecks and cowboys. IP68 is: Complete protection against contact. Protection from infiltration of dust. Protection against complete, continuous submersion in water. That's a little tougher than your standard flexible water resistant keyboard.
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Jan 17, 2014 03:31
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Fork of Unknown Origins posted:Join the cool kids are start saying "ya'll." Yous. How all o' yous lot goin'? Any of yous need anything from the shops while I'm there?
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Jan 17, 2014 04:06
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Baldbeard posted:I just can't see myself saying "You folks need anything?" to a group. Sounds like something an old man would say. "You people need anything?" makes me sound like I'm talking to a different species. "Does anyone need anything?" is exactly as direct as "Do you guys need anything?" though. I think people overemphasize the supposed "awkwardness" of gender-neutral communication. "All students should bring their workbooks" is no more awkward than "Each student should bring his workbook"; "police officer" takes only a fraction of a second longer to say than "policeman"; "military spouses" is no more unwieldy than "military wives"; and so on.
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Jan 17, 2014 04:46
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Is there a special method to cleaning a cast-iron skillet? Mine got rust on it.
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Jan 17, 2014 06:04
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StashAugustine posted:Is there a special method to cleaning a cast-iron skillet? Mine got rust on it. Burn it. But no, really, if it's rusted you can try hammering away at it with some steel wool, or try some sort of household rust removal product. Depending on how bad the rust is, it could very easily have caused enough damage to provide easy nucleation spots for more rust. You could try seasoning it again after you get the rust off to try to head that off, though. Of course you're going to want to rinse any sort of cleaner you've put in it, but be sure to thoroughly hand dry the pan afterwards.
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Jan 17, 2014 06:30
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StashAugustine posted:Is there a special method to cleaning a cast-iron skillet? Mine got rust on it. In general, you should not use soap on cast iron. The best thing to do is keep the heat on the pan after using it, then throw some water on it and scrub all the burnt stuff off with some paper towels (preferably using tongs). Just try to get as much of the muck off as you can. Once it is dry, put a thin layer of veggie oil on it, and you should be A-OK. If your pan has rusted so much that you are uncomfortable with it, sand it down a bit with some 100-200 grit sandpaper. Wash all the residue out, re-apply some oil and bake it at 500 F for an hour. You could also try cooking bacon or cornbread in it - those seem to be the best methods for seasoning cast iron.
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Jan 17, 2014 06:56
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Are there any handy tips for knowing when/how to use semicolons? I've read the Oatmeal thing, but Microsoft Word always seems to suggest semicolons to me and it makes me doubt myself. Kinda worried I've used a lot of them where commas or even normal colons or dashes would do.
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Jan 17, 2014 08:40
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What would I search for if I wanted that synth horn sound that punctuates the hops in the Cha Cha slide song?
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Jan 17, 2014 09:05
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VagueRant posted:Are there any handy tips for knowing when/how to use semicolons? A lot of it is stylistic. Grammatically, you can use a semicolon in place of a comma and a conjunction. You can also use one in place of a comma before a conjunction if the sentence has a lot of other commas in order to make it clearer that there are two separate thoughts in the sentence. I can't think of any situation where you might use a semicolon instead of a colon and still be within the bounds of normal grammar. I'm not sure where my copy of The Elements of Style is, but it or any other style guide should be able to list the specific uses with examples. e: check here: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/engagement/2/1/44/
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Jan 17, 2014 09:39
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razz posted:I know you can get these cheaper elsewhere. I used to work at a cattle auction and there was this outdoor computer that I used to put in info for every cow that came through. This computer was literally outside under a tin roof with no walls, I have no idea how it survived. Anyway it had one of those rubber keyboards and I thought it was awesome; it's been a couple years ago since I looked but I remember seeing them on some websites for like $40-50. So no they aren't a niche product marketed just to hospitals. They're also marketed to rednecks and cowboys.
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Jan 17, 2014 10:03
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Thanks for the advice guys!  A lot of you mentioned trekking pants; will that do it for bottomwear? Or do I need something else underneath that as well? For what it's worth, I already have a pair of merino wool crew socks. axolotl farmer posted:Get yourself an outdoor undershirt that stays dry. A regular cotton t-shirt will get soaked in sweat will get chilly and uncomfortable. The really good ones are made from extremely fine wool, cheaper but still good ones are made from synthetics. You can wear fleece or flannel on top of the undershirt. Wear a coat that has some kind of venting lining like Gore-Tex. I have a pair of Uniqlo's HeatTech long sleeve shirts -- will that and 2 more layers suffice or is it imperative to have compression sleeves as my main shell? Also, what are some examples of vented/lined coats other than Gore Tex? kedo posted:Care to share which mountain you're going to climb? I'z curious Mount Pulag Nothing special (at least in the pantheons of mountain climbing) and we're actually using the "easiest" trail. 
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Jan 17, 2014 12:45
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Disharmony posted:Thanks for the advice guys! I actually wear HeatTech shirts for hiking, and love them. Mostly, I just recommend against cotton at all, just because it absorbs water and holds it against your skin without warming or trapping heat. And it gets heavy. I have a Smartwool tee that I layer. Like this one - http://www.smartwool.com/clothing/baselayers/mens-nts-mid-250-crew.html, and that's it besides my lightweight patagonia raincoat. Trekking pants should be fine, way more important that you worry about regulating the temp of your torso. I carry two hats, too, one beanie type (fleece) and one wide brim to keep out sun. May not be an issue going up, but coming down they'll be necessary. And gloves, for sure. Here's me with my kit on Fujiyama. 
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Jan 17, 2014 13:01
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I'm looking for more information about a theory, about how in evolution when a new trait becomes useful it is heavily emphasised then later is reduced. For instance the teeth of a Smilodon versus the teeth of a Lion, or the larger brains of Neanderthals compared to modern humans. I'm not 100% if this is actually a thing or something I misread.
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Jan 17, 2014 13:28
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I'm climbing a (very small) mountain in a week so I'm also appreciating the advice given out here, got a last couple of purchases to get tomorrow and thinking I should probably get some better pants in addition to the rest of my gear. Only a miniscule chance of snow so not bothering with water proof though, just as likely it'll be hot enough to go for a swim.
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Jan 17, 2014 13:28
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Disharmony posted:Thanks for the advice guys! The shirt you got is made from microfiber, so that's a good choice. You're not going to be very cold. Slightly above 0 Celsius is a very comfortable temperature for hiking. A single layer between the undershirt and the jacket should be fine. Gore-Tex is just a brand name for a breathable fabric. Any recently made outdoor gear should have something similar. Don't dress too warm.
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Jan 17, 2014 14:29
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StashAugustine posted:Is there a special method to cleaning a cast-iron skillet? Mine got rust on it. There's a thread about cast iron seasoning in GWS. If your skillet is rusty, it could really be worth it to strip it down and reseason. I have done the several layers of flax oil thing, and it works, but takes some time and effort. http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3483341
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Jan 17, 2014 14:31
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This picture reminds me – a nice stretchy throat warmer (or "turtle tube" or "half balaclava") is a must-have. If you're doing a hike that starts out cold they're absolutely awesome because not only do they keep your neck nice and warm, but you can also pull them up over your nose and mouth which helps warm the air before you inhale, which means you can avoid cold air lung ache. I had one of these on my last climb and it was super awesome. Gaiters are also a good, relatively cheap investment if you're going to spend any time climbing on loose rock/scree. Stopping to pull a rock out of your shoe on a difficult climb blows. I could spend all day buying climbing gear. 
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Jan 17, 2014 15:30
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Someone hit my parked car overnight and smashed it up pretty bad. I take it I'm pretty much hosed since I just have liability?
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Jan 17, 2014 15:46
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kedo posted:This picture reminds me – a nice stretchy throat warmer (or "turtle tube" or "half balaclava") is a must-have. If you're doing a hike that starts out cold they're absolutely awesome because not only do they keep your neck nice and warm, but you can also pull them up over your nose and mouth which helps warm the air before you inhale, which means you can avoid cold air lung ache. Its called a buff.
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Jan 17, 2014 15:52
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c0ldfuse posted:Its called a buff. They also make the best pirate hats.
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Jan 17, 2014 16:33
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Baron Bifford posted:Boggles my mind. Are the €160 keyboards I mentioned made of special germ-repellent material or something? Maybe your cheap rubber keyboard soaks up germs. This is a problem with certain kinds of rubber and plastic. Probably. I'm sure the ones used by hospitals have to be up to some certain standard. The one we used at the cattle auction, we just used it instead of a standard keyboard because it could stand up to being outside and getting dirty. We weren't to concerned about germs there, haha. Just needed a keyboard that would work.
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Jan 17, 2014 16:57
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justcola posted:I'm looking for more information about a theory, about how in evolution when a new trait becomes useful it is heavily emphasised then later is reduced. For instance the teeth of a Smilodon versus the teeth of a Lion, or the larger brains of Neanderthals compared to modern humans. I'm not 100% if this is actually a thing or something I misread. I don't think lions are descended from smilodon, and I know humans aren't descended from Neanderthals (mostly) so the traits weren't "reduced," those animals just went extinct and other similar animals are currently more successful at making babies.
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Jan 17, 2014 17:20
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Hummingbirds posted:I don't think lions are descended from smilodon, and I know humans aren't descended from Neanderthals (mostly) so the traits weren't "reduced," those animals just went extinct and other similar animals are currently more successful at making babies.
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Jan 17, 2014 18:13
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justcola posted:I'm looking for more information about a theory, about how in evolution when a new trait becomes useful it is heavily emphasised then later is reduced. For instance the teeth of a Smilodon versus the teeth of a Lion, or the larger brains of Neanderthals compared to modern humans. I'm not 100% if this is actually a thing or something I misread. As others have pointed out, evolution doesn't have an end goal. Evolution isn't sentient, there isn't an intelligence behind it. Evolution isn't (typically) an observable phenomenon, as it takes such a long time to say creature A started here, a million years passed with subtle changes, and now we have creature B. There's not a lot of records of the failures of evolution because they're one offs (in the grand scheme of things). Have there ever been humans with six fingers on each hand? Sure. Probably still some random mutations born today have that happen. However, that didn't lead to any direct advantage over 5 fingers per hand (and since we're talking about humans, may have even been seen as a very undesirable trait in a mate) and so it didn't become a typical feature of human beings. Evolution didn't say, OK, I'm going to make a series of upright walking bi-peds with opposable digits of varying number and may the best man win. Oh, 17 was too many, let's try 4.
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Jan 17, 2014 18:47
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regulargonzalez posted:I would urge you not to use guys. The fact that it is so normalized as to seem gender-neutral says far more about society than it does about what is the correct word to use. I just finished the linked article, and  . That was indeed quite eye-opening.
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Jan 17, 2014 19:40
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Thauros posted:Someone hit my parked car overnight and smashed it up pretty bad. You can, however, knock on neighbors' doors and see if anyone saw the dude. Sometimes you get lucky and a nosy old lady will have written down the license plate number.
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Jan 17, 2014 19:51
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TATPants posted:In general, you should not use soap on cast iron. The best thing to do is keep the heat on the pan after using it, then throw some water on it and scrub all the burnt stuff off with some paper towels (preferably using tongs). Just try to get as much of the muck off as you can. Once it is dry, put a thin layer of veggie oil on it, and you should be A-OK. This is good advice. Steel wool can also work instead of sandpaper - NON-SOAPED steel wool, i.e. not brillo pads. I only steel wool them when they're really gross or rusty, sometimes after scraping with a spatula. After doing anything this abrasive, it needs to be re-seasoned. Also, for cleaning one that is only kind of dirty, I like to use spent coffee grounds + a damp cloth. No soap. Some people also sprinkle salt in there and use a damp cloth.
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Jan 17, 2014 20:22
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I'm looking for some help on a renting issue. My good friend and I moved into a place owned by somebody we know, already occupied by two girls we knew at the time. They (the girls) moved out of state for the summer, but we all signed the lease together and they paid half the rent. This was so that A.) we would care for their cats, watch their belongings and not go in their room which they retained and B.) they wouldn't lose control over the rental. More on that in a second. When we moved in there was some amount of heating fuel in the tank, nothing large maybe 100$ worth but it was summer so it was only necessary for hot water. About two months before our lease was up, the girls returned for a weekend and told us we had to move out because they were bringing in these two other girls who REALLY needed their help, a place to stay etc etc. They didn't ask us, because without our knowledge they had already signed another lease for the winter excluding our names. So we were expected to be gone. They also left us an extensive list of things they expected to be scrubbed and cleaned before they returned. This didn't go over super well with my roommate who felt we had been screwed and mislead. I was somewhat indifferent, we'd find a new place right? We come to find out that two friends of ours who had moved away for the summer would be returning in the winter, which was cool. Until we discovered that they would be occupying our old place. They didn't know anything about two displaced girls who were supposedly replacing us, they just asked the girls we were renting with if they could rent the rooms and were told they were open. There is a lot of resentment when this is discovered (a few weeks until the end of our lease, girls still are out of state). I spent the last few weeks of that time moving everything of ours out of the house (my roommate doesn't have a car), and arranging our new living situation. I spent the last week of the lease out of state seeing my family for the holidays, and asking them for money as I now had a rather large first and security charge for the new place. During the last week of our lease the heating oil ran out. I was out of state and very much broke, and my roommate was broke as well and presumably unwilling to pay for oil even if he could (he certainly had more means than I as I was not even in state). I called up the two friends we knew were moving into the place as well as the girls, and none of them had any money or means to fill the oil. The landlord is notified and he puts 200$ into the tank to keep the pipes from freezing (it was a duplex so I'm pretty certain they would not have frozen anyway, they are all in the center of the house and the other side is occupied and heated). On the last day I get up and leave my family at 5 in the morning so I have time to get back to the house, move the last of our stuff out and do my best to clean up before I have to go to work. I did this alone and angrily, but I guess that doesn't have too much to do with the story. So now my old landlord is hitting me up for 200$ for the cost of the oil. I told him I was sorry about the inconvenience and I would have liked to leave some oil in the house when I left, and that I'd give him 50$. I encouraged him to pursue my former roommate for 50$ as well. He is demanding I pay him 100$ (or 200$ really he seems to expect me to collect from my old roommate) though he doesn't seem to have any compelling reasons why other than 'I'm not paying for it!'. From both a legal and ethical standpoint, is there any reason why I shouldn't give him 50$ and send him off? *If this has any bearing on the story I am completely broke at the moment, I have a couple hundred dollars in debt spread out as well as a truck I can't start in the driveway that is going to cost several hundred more to fix. The money situation is due to said truck breaking down, poor business at my job (a restaurant) and missing a week of work as well as facing expenses due to getting very ill right around Christmas. For the record I don't have any kind of gambling or drug issues, I've just had some bad luck recently. I haven't spent any money on myself since before I moved out of the last place (except for a night or two at the bar with my friends that I will admit to.) If you think this question is not fit for this mega-thread, I will (if directed) make it either a full-fledged Ask/Tell thread or I guess an E/N thread. Thanks!
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Jan 17, 2014 20:29
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VagueRant posted:Are there any handy tips for knowing when/how to use semicolons? Basic rule of thumb is that if it could be a period but the thoughts are closely related, it is appropriate to use a semicolon or comma and a short conjunction; however, longer conjunctions need a semicolon and a comma, as shown here.
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Jan 17, 2014 20:33
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BRJohnson posted:From both a legal and ethical standpoint, is there any reason why I shouldn't give him 50$ and send him off? For a legal standpoint, we'd need to know where you were renting - laws differ by city, state and country. What does your lease say about heating oil/utilities? Morally, if you've got your security deposit back already, I would say don't give him anything. The $200 of heating oil he put in will be used by the new tenants, so they should pay for it.
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Jan 17, 2014 20:48
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