Stupid/Small Questions Megathread

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Leal: Oct 2, 2009

Is this the part where I make a tasteless joke and reference that one pandemic game where Madagascar was a pain in the rear end cause it would instantly shut down it's port the second you made any progress?

Also is it just me or is the hyperlinks on the top of the page increasing in size every 30 minutes? I swear its 3 times as big as it usually is at this point.

# ? Oct 2, 2017 16:15

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# ? May 16, 2024 14:25

Shy: Mar 20, 2010

"north of 100" is "more than 100", yes?

# ? Oct 2, 2017 18:51

Groundskeeper Silly: Sep 1, 2005; My philosophy...
The first rule is:
You look good.

Shy posted:

"north of 100" is "more than 100", yes?

ayup

I wonder if that annoys some linguistics/map nerds, people using north as a synonym of up.

# ? Oct 2, 2017 18:53

Memento: Aug 25, 2009; Bleak Gremlin

Are quoted posts all hosed up for anyone else? Either it shows up as a weirdly parsed link instead of having a username to click to go to the post, or the username is there to click but it does nothing.

I assume it's all the SA Forums 2.0 poo poo that's being rolled out but wanted to make sure I wasn't on my own.

# ? Oct 2, 2017 22:57

wide stance: Jan 28, 2011; If there's more than one way to do a job, and one of those ways will result in disaster, then he will do it that way.

I'm looking for the name of this logical/statistical fallacy that happens all the time it seems, especially with consumer products. Maybe "Base Rate" fallacy or some variation of it?

Example:

Company A and B both make the same widget, based on the following data which should you buy from from a quality standpoint?

Company A makes 100 widgets, in which 10 are bad.
Company B makes 1000 widgets, in which 11 are bad.

Bad conclusion:
"You should buy from Company A because they make less bad ones."

Good conclusion:
"You should buy from Company B because your widget is much less likely to be bad."

# ? Oct 2, 2017 23:55

Power of Pecota: Aug 4, 2007; Goodness no, now that wouldn't do at all!

There's like a one word name for a kind of super-Catholic religious retreat that features a lot of group activities and secret letters from parents - I want to say it's like one word with four syllables starting with an S or an N.

I had to go on one at my super religious high school (in Kansas) and I thought it was a local thing until hearing a coworker talking about the same thing years later that she went to in Illinois - their program used the normal name for it, ours was just billed as a spiritual retreat or something. This came up in a conversation earlier today and I can't think of the name whatsoever.

# ? Oct 3, 2017 00:19

Literally Lewis Hamilton: Feb 22, 2005

Power of Pecota posted:

There's like a one word name for a kind of super-Catholic religious retreat that features a lot of group activities and secret letters from parents - I want to say it's like one word with four syllables starting with an S or an N.

I had to go on one at my super religious high school (in Kansas) and I thought it was a local thing until hearing a coworker talking about the same thing years later that she went to in Illinois - their program used the normal name for it, ours was just billed as a spiritual retreat or something. This came up in a conversation earlier today and I can't think of the name whatsoever.

Kairos?

# ? Oct 3, 2017 00:44

Power of Pecota: Aug 4, 2007; Goodness no, now that wouldn't do at all!

big crush on Chad OMG posted:

Kairos?

That's absolutely it and I was off-base with that last part re: the four syllables/n or s. Thanks!

# ? Oct 3, 2017 00:48

Yak Shaves Dot Com: Jan 5, 2009

Memento posted:

Are quoted posts all hosed up for anyone else? Either it shows up as a weirdly parsed link instead of having a username to click to go to the post, or the username is there to click but it does nothing.

I assume it's all the SA Forums 2.0 poo poo that's being rolled out but wanted to make sure I wasn't on my own.

I get usernames that don't respond to left clicks but open if I open them directly to a new tab, using Chrome on Widows 10. It's been this way for about a week?

# ? Oct 3, 2017 00:52

Van Dis: Jun 19, 2004

Fruits of the sea posted:

So there's an outbreak of bubonic plague in Madagascar, and apparently it's been a recurring problem for quite some time. Why is it that a disease mostly known from the medieval ages persists there?

You got categorical answers to this already, but I wanted to chime in and recommend the best book I've read on plague, The Great Mortality. Really good primary source research and analysis of the plague, and not encumbered by sensationalism like a lot of other books on the subject.

# ? Oct 3, 2017 01:31

Lawnie: Sep 6, 2006; That is my helmet
Give it back
you are a lion
^{It doesn't even fit}; Grimey Drawer

big crush on Chad OMG posted:

Kairos?

I did this at my Illinois catholic school, could fill an ask thread with poo poo about it. It was messed up, even by catholic standards.

# ? Oct 3, 2017 02:03

Doctor_Acula: May 24, 2011

Is there an A/T thread about theme park operation? I just visited Universal Studios Orlando again and I always get obsessed with the logistics of a functional theme park when I go.

# ? Oct 3, 2017 02:35

Carbon Thief: Oct 11, 2009; Diamonds aren't the only things that are forever.

What's a good alternative to iTunes for Windows? I have a ton of mp3s that I want to use and organize. Something that will read and display the album covers and other ID3 tag poo poo I spent way too much time adding years ago.

# ? Oct 3, 2017 05:50

Methanar: Sep 26, 2013; by the sex ghost

I don't really listen to locally saved music anymore, but when I did I liked VLC.

# ? Oct 3, 2017 05:56

Tuxedo Catfish: Mar 17, 2007; You've got guts! Come to my village, I'll buy you lunch.

Clementine should do most if not all of that.

# ? Oct 3, 2017 05:58

Power of Pecota: Aug 4, 2007; Goodness no, now that wouldn't do at all!

Lawnie posted:

I did this at my Illinois catholic school, could fill an ask thread with poo poo about it. It was messed up, even by catholic standards.

Even if it's just a PM to me or something, I'd love to hear it. I was talking about how insane it was to someone earlier today who was raised mainly in a protestant setting and I think I had a pretty mild one.

# ? Oct 3, 2017 05:58

fishmech: Jul 16, 2006; by VideoGames; Salad Prong

Memento posted:

Are quoted posts all hosed up for anyone else? Either it shows up as a weirdly parsed link instead of having a username to click to go to the post, or the username is there to click but it does nothing.

I assume it's all the SA Forums 2.0 poo poo that's being rolled out but wanted to make sure I wasn't on my own.

The weirdly parsed thing where there's no link is people on certain browsers/apps with an OS that started to do fancy quotes auto correct in text boxes. Which breaks how linking a username in a quote works, since the fancy quote marks aren't the correct ones for bbcode.

As far as actual username links not jumping correctly, that's an unrelated bug in some browsers.

# ? Oct 3, 2017 06:19

Methanar: Sep 26, 2013; by the sex ghost

Unbelievably White posted:

I get usernames that don't respond to left clicks but open if I open them directly to a new tab, using Chrome on Widows 10. It's been this way for about a week?

same but chrome on mac and android

# ? Oct 3, 2017 06:20

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

If I want to get Spotify or another streaming music service subscription for like, 50-60 people, what are my options?

# ? Oct 3, 2017 07:27

greazeball: Feb 4, 2003

Lawnie posted:

I did this at my Illinois catholic school, could fill an ask thread with poo poo about it. It was messed up, even by catholic standards.

Power of Pecota posted:

Even if it's just a PM to me or something, I'd love to hear it. I was talking about how insane it was to someone earlier today who was raised mainly in a protestant setting and I think I had a pretty mild one.

I'm asking both of you: what the gently caress is Kairos? It sounds hosed up (please make a thread)

# ? Oct 3, 2017 07:48

CzarChasm: Mar 14, 2009; I don't like it when you're watching me eat.

greazeball posted:

I'm asking both of you: what the gently caress is Kairos? It sounds hosed up (please make a thread)

Seconding. I always love hearing about messed up religious practices that may fly under the radar of people not familiar. Like Scientology and Mormonism and Purity Balls are fascinating (and sometimes terrifying) as hell to have someone with first hand experience explain.

# ? Oct 3, 2017 17:29

Lincoln: May 12, 2007; Ladies.

Doctor_Acula posted:

Is there an A/T thread about theme park operation? I just visited Universal Studios Orlando again and I always get obsessed with the logistics of a functional theme park when I go.

There are volumes of info about Disney park operations...logistics, engineering and personnel. And ask in the Ask/Tell Disney World thread. There are several current/former WDW employees there to answer your questions. That sort of thing fascinates me, too.

# ? Oct 3, 2017 17:59

fishmech: Jul 16, 2006; by VideoGames; Salad Prong

tuyop posted:

If I want to get Spotify or another streaming music service subscription for like, 50-60 people, what are my options?

If you mean to use at home, you'll need to just buy 50-60 gift cards so they can each have their own subscriptions.

If you mean to use like within a school or workplace, try contacting the business inquiry lines on each individual streaming provider to arrange a discounted site license.

# ? Oct 3, 2017 20:53

Shy: Mar 20, 2010

fishmech posted:

If you mean to use at home, you'll need to just buy 50-60 gift cards so they can each have their own subscriptions.

Deezer has a family plan (up to 6 profiles), don't know about Spotify.

Shy fucked around with this message at 21:17 on Oct 3, 2017

# ? Oct 3, 2017 21:06

FCKGW: May 21, 2006

Shy posted:

Deezer has a family plan (up to 6 profiles), don't know about Spotify.

All the major streaming companies have family plans, all up to 6 members.

I think you're going to have an issue finding plans larger than that because the opportunity to abuse a plan with 50+ slots by reselling them cheaply to random people is too large.

# ? Oct 3, 2017 21:59

Jeza: Feb 13, 2011; The cries of the dead are terrible indeed; you should try not to hear them.

Is there a decent way of blocking the in-video adverts on Twitch they have now? Disabling HTML5 player just makes streams go black and I can't take seeing this Amazon Prime trailer anymore. I JUST CAN'T.

# ? Oct 3, 2017 22:16

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

fishmech posted:

If you mean to use at home, you'll need to just buy 50-60 gift cards so they can each have their own subscriptions.

If you mean to use like within a school or workplace, try contacting the business inquiry lines on each individual streaming provider to arrange a discounted site license.

Yeah, I'll have to reach out to them. It's for a school.

# ? Oct 3, 2017 22:17

Memento: Aug 25, 2009; Bleak Gremlin

Jeza posted:

Is there a decent way of blocking the in-video adverts on Twitch they have now? Disabling HTML5 player just makes streams go black and I can't take seeing this Amazon Prime trailer anymore. I JUST CAN'T.

Can you use the element picker in uBlock origin? I can't check it out right now as I'm at work at Twitch is blocked here, but it might be worth a try.

# ? Oct 4, 2017 04:59

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

Can I get a recommendation for a sturdy/high-quality personal sewing machine? I bought my wife a cheap one from Alibaba/Lazada and it's not that great. I don't know much about these things - is Singer still a quality brand?

# ? Oct 4, 2017 08:06

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

gradenko_2000 posted:

Can I get a recommendation for a sturdy/high-quality personal sewing machine? I bought my wife a cheap one from Alibaba/Lazada and it's not that great. I don't know much about these things - is Singer still a quality brand?

Since seemingly no one sews anymore, you can get any number of different brands of heavy iron tanks from the 50s-60s for like $30 at ReStore or places like that. Spend $75-100 getting them put back in shape and it will last you a few generations.

They typically don't do anything fancy like the newer electronic ones, but they just keep on going. An are usually more powerful.

# ? Oct 4, 2017 15:23

TheLastManStanding: Jan 14, 2008; Mash Buttons!

gradenko_2000 posted:

Can I get a recommendation for a sturdy/high-quality personal sewing machine? I bought my wife a cheap one from Alibaba/Lazada and it's not that great. I don't know much about these things - is Singer still a quality brand?

Check out the Sewing and DIY Fashion Megathread as well as the Cosplay Creation Thread in DIY. Both are regularly updated and should get you a quick response.

# ? Oct 4, 2017 15:43

Human Tornada: Mar 4, 2005; I been wantin to see a honkey dance.

I have around 240 mp3s in a folder as a Halloween playlist. Is there a way to randomize the tracks and then rename them starting with the track number so that they're stored in random order inside the folder?

For example the files

Alice Cooper - He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask).mp3
Blitzen Trapper - Black River Killer.mp3
Concrete Blonde - Ghost Of A Texas Ladies' Man.mp3
Doug E. Fresh & The Get Fresh Crew - Spirit.mp3

are randomized and renamed as

001 - Doug E. Fresh & The Get Fresh Crew - Spirit.mp3
002 - Blitzen Trapper - Black River Killer.mp3
003 - Alice Cooper - He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask).mp3
004 - Concrete Blonde - Ghost Of A Texas Ladies' Man.mp3

I use Mp3tag to tag these things, if that matters.

# ? Oct 5, 2017 03:08

Memento: Aug 25, 2009; Bleak Gremlin

Is there a reason you can't have them all as a playlist in whatever music program and just play them randomly?

# ? Oct 5, 2017 03:15

Human Tornada: Mar 4, 2005; I been wantin to see a honkey dance.

Memento posted:

Is there a reason you can't have them all as a playlist in whatever music program and just play them randomly?

Not at all. It would just be satisfying to me personally to have them stored that way.

# ? Oct 5, 2017 03:25

Chillyrabbit: Oct 24, 2012; The only sword wielding rabbit on the internet; Ultra Carp

Human Tornada posted:

I have around 240 mp3s in a folder as a Halloween playlist. Is there a way to randomize the tracks and then rename them starting with the track number so that they're stored in random order inside the folder?

For example the files

Alice Cooper - He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask).mp3
Blitzen Trapper - Black River Killer.mp3
Concrete Blonde - Ghost Of A Texas Ladies' Man.mp3
Doug E. Fresh & The Get Fresh Crew - Spirit.mp3

are randomized and renamed as

001 - Doug E. Fresh & The Get Fresh Crew - Spirit.mp3
002 - Blitzen Trapper - Black River Killer.mp3
003 - Alice Cooper - He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask).mp3
004 - Concrete Blonde - Ghost Of A Texas Ladies' Man.mp3

I use Mp3tag to tag these things, if that matters.

Bulk rename utility can handle the renaming of files, not sure how to randomize it though.

# ? Oct 5, 2017 04:07

Big Bad Beetleborg: Apr 8, 2007; Things may come to those who wait...but only the things left by those who hustle.

Do you have excel? This may not be the best way, but it's doable without extra software. If you don't have Excel you could probably do it in Google Sheets instead.

Open the folder they live in, hold shift + right click and select "Open command prompt window here"
Type DIR >Output.txt
In Excel, goto Data tab, "From Text" button, point it at Output.txt, fixed width, remove all break lines except for right before the filename, mash OK then delete everything that isn't filenames.
In cell B1, type "=RAND()" and fill to the bottom. Copy column B, right-click in B1 and select "Paste Values", sort everything by Column B to randomise the order.
Enter "1" in cell C1 and fill all the way down (make sure it increments).
In D1, type this formula

code:

="copy """&A1&""" ""Renumbered\"&TEXT(C1,"0000")&" - "&A1&""""

which should get you this: copy "Buttrock.mp3" "Renumbered\0001 - Buttrock.mp3"
Copy Column D into a new notepad doc, save as whatever.bat in the same folder as your MP3s and run it.

VVV thats a fuckton easier, just sort by length of filename or date created instead of name?

Big Bad Beetleborg fucked around with this message at 04:18 on Oct 5, 2017

# ? Oct 5, 2017 04:14

Memento: Aug 25, 2009; Bleak Gremlin

Human Tornada posted:

Not at all. It would just be satisfying to me personally to have them stored that way.

That's fair enough. What you're after is a program called Bulk Rename Utility, you can use it to add prefixes and suffixes to filenames. You can go "Numbering", start at 001, increment by 1, which will add 001, 002, 003 etc to the start of the file. If you want you can then add in the " - " in the middle using "add" at the position you want. It's a really handy utility. You'd just need to decide to sort it by something before adding the numbers at the start of the file.

This is what the screen looks like when you load it up, it adds an entry to the context menu as well so you can right-click on any file to work in that folder. Just remember you need to select the files you want to work on before they will change. Also, the new name they will be after you work is dynamically updated, which is really neat.

Memento fucked around with this message at 04:27 on Oct 5, 2017

# ? Oct 5, 2017 04:15

Powered Descent: Jul 13, 2008; We haven't had that spirit here since 1969.

Human Tornada posted:

Not at all. It would just be satisfying to me personally to have them stored that way.

Continuing the theme of insanely nerdy solutions to the problem: on the off chance the mp3 files are on a Linux box, it's a fairly simple shell script to get a file list, randomize its order, then stick a sequential number on each one.

code:

count=1;
ls *.mp3 | shuf | while read origname; do
	num=$(printf "%03d" "$count");
	newname="${num} - ${origname}";
	mv "${origname}" "${newname}";
	count=$(( $count + 1));
done

(To test it out first, put the word "echo" in front of the mv command to see what it's proposing to do.)

You could do something very similar on a Mac, but you'd need to install homebrew or something, to install either gshuf or gsort -R to replace the shuf command.

# ? Oct 5, 2017 04:35

Methanar: Sep 26, 2013; by the sex ghost

nyc is bad not happy at all

# ? Oct 5, 2017 04:40

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# ? May 16, 2024 14:25

Big Bad Beetleborg: Apr 8, 2007; Things may come to those who wait...but only the things left by those who hustle.

Methanar posted:

nyc is bad not happy at all

Well, do you have excel?

# ? Oct 5, 2017 04:50

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Stupid/Small Questions Megathread

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