Something Random

[ddrueding]

Just got back to the office from a trip to the Giants baseball game with the boss. Had too much to drink, and am now listening to music far too loud at my desk (at 1AM). The Adam A8X speakers actually feel like I have a fan on my desk blowing on me. Is this bad for them?

 

[DrunkenBastard]

Just got back to the office from a trip to the Giants baseball game with the boss. Had too much to drink, and am now listening to music far too loud at my desk (at 1AM). The Adam A8X speakers actually feel like I have a fan on my desk blowing on me. Is this bad for them?

Looking at the specs of those looks like in near-field your ears would give out before those speakers do.

 

[ddrueding]

Looking at the specs of those looks like in near-field your ears would give out before those speakers do.

That is what I figured. My hearing had taken quite a hit at the ball game (the luxury suites are tucked underneath the top stands, and redirects a lot of crowd noise into the room).

 

[sedrosken]

I've been playing a riff on Pathfinder (Final Fantasy d20) with some friends of mine online using Roll20.net and Myth-Weavers' character sheet hosting. It's pretty fun, but the scheduling is brutal -- I'm trying to get used to going to bed and getting up at a decent time again, and the games start (on Saturdays) at 9PM or so and can go on till 3AM. I play a galkan white monk -- basically I can fill DPS, tank, and healer roles.

I'm probably the best healer in the party with my 2nd level spells, everyone else has first level or potions at this point, and my HP is the second highest at 60. My mana pool suffers a bit compared to the dedicated mages. My AC is nothing special, something like 22, but I'm in this unique situation in which I can heal back any damage done to me relatively instantly. Bar an instant-death attack or status effects (which I have a counter for as well, provided they don't make me attack my party members instead) I'm pretty near invulnerable. My war pick does 3d6+5 damage, probably the most damage one of us can do in one swing, and I get two swings in the space of one because we fudged the size a bit and made him a large creature at the expense of some AC. My attack mod for the first swing is 11, for the second is 7.

I decided to try the M.2 SSD, figuring that if it wouldn't boot or even cache anything then I didn't lose much money (~$40, a bit steep for a gamble but not world-ending if it didn't work out) on it and I could give it to someone who could use it better. I got it earlier than the hard drive and ran the machine for more than a week with just the M.2 SSD running Windows 10 Pro. Worked great. I'm guessing the incompatibilities were either exaggerated, or got fixed with a BIOS update. A bit slower than the 850 Evo it replaced at 300MB/s read vs 500+MB/s, but still well within SSD-class speed, and for the price I got it at I can't complain. Put in a 2TB HDD because I don't need amazing storage speed for games or my user data, I just need capacity and a fair amount of it. This setup is kind of like how I ran my desktop, with the 250GB boot drive and the 1TB data drive, and works very similarly. The system detects the SATA hard drive before the M.2 SSD, though, which is kind of odd when I look in disk management and see the hard drive as disk 0 and the SSD as disk 1. The storage scheme worked out about exactly as I expected, I'm using about half of the SSD right now and a bit less than half of the hard drive.

 

[LunarMist]

I appreciate the burn in my spelling mistake; I'd expect no less. I let yours slide because you were under more stress. ;-)

I waited for someone else to comment on the role issue.

 

[Mercutio]

I'm probably the best healer in the party with my 2nd level spells...

I like the guys who make HackMaster, which was originally a joke from a comic book but morphed into a fully-formed update to 1st edition AD&D rules. The best part is that they tracked down a bunch of the original TSR artists to create new art for their products. I've never played a table top RPG but at one time I had all the books basically memorized. 3rd edition D&D/Pathfinder characters always seem way overpowered to me. They're supposed to be heroes but every time they update the rules it gets more and more like a video game with all the special moves (feats et al.).

So I went to a wedding today in a little cement block church in BFE, central Illinois. The ceremony took about two hours, mostly because the officiant had to spend an entire hour laying out his entire theology for what I'm guessing are the only non-church members to ever walk through the doors. In an hourlong sermon (weddings don't normally have sermons, right?) we got something that probably sounds about like what the Westboro Baptist Church has to say on religious and secular matters, including such gems as "Women shouldn't wear pants because they should only part their legs for their husbands and their babies", Mass shootings are because gays get married and that more-or-less anyone who isn't part of their congregation (but for some reason very specifically the Illinois Secretary of State) is damned to the pits of hell. I can't decide if I'm more offended that I had to listen to that crap or just amused that there are apparently about 40 people who take this dude's ranting that seriously. After a certain point it just seemed cartoonish.

I didn't stay for the reception.

 

[LunarMist]

I think it's fairly common for short "sermon", though typically statements are made relevant to the couple. At the last wedding I attended there were a few remarks that were offensive to various people, but nothing extreme or as long as you mentioned. Referring to the bride as Mrs. [husband's last name] was really uncool and elicited a few murmurs.
After the ceremony a neurobiologist or something like that explained all about the effect of the ceremony, religious and other rituals, etc. in the brains and why humans have the behaviors.

Reception is normally the best part. After 4-5 drinks everything is good, even some of the women that were not so much earlier.

 

[ddrueding]

This is why I wrote exactly what I wanted the officiant to say, and insisted that they read it, and only it, during the ceremony. 5 minutes, tops.

 

[sedrosken]

Shouldn't have said anything about my character -- in the game last night, I got wrecked and died so hard there wasn't even a body left. The attack critted, confirmed crit, and I was already at about 1/6th health, ran out of mana healing other people. So I rolled a ranged bard instead, let other people do the damage sponge duty. He's not much for healing, but his familiar (carried over from my original character) can cast healing spells from his mana pool, which is already pretty low -- he dumped most of his stat points into dexterity and charisma.

 

[Stereodude]

So I went to a wedding today in a little cement block church in BFE, central Illinois. The ceremony took about two hours, mostly because the officiant had to spend an entire hour laying out his entire theology for what I'm guessing are the only non-church members to ever walk through the doors. In an hourlong sermon (weddings don't normally have sermons, right?) we got something that probably sounds about like what the Westboro Baptist Church has to say on religious and secular matters, including such gems as "Women shouldn't wear pants because they should only part their legs for their husbands and their babies", Mass shootings are because gays get married and that more-or-less anyone who isn't part of their congregation (but for some reason very specifically the Illinois Secretary of State) is damned to the pits of hell. I can't decide if I'm more offended that I had to listen to that crap or just amused that there are apparently about 40 people who take this dude's ranting that seriously. After a certain point it just seemed cartoonish.

I didn't stay for the reception.

You are definitely wedding crashing incorrectly.

1) Your choice of wedding to crash needs some work.
2) If you're only staying for part of a wedding, the reception is the part you want to attend.

However, if you found out there wasn't an open bar at the reception, leaving and cutting your losses was probably the best call.

 

[LunarMist]

You are definitely wedding crashing incorrectly.

1) Your choice of wedding to crash needs some work.
2) If you're only staying for part of a wedding, the reception is the part you want to attend.

However, if you found out there wasn't an open bar at the reception, leaving and cutting your losses was probably the best call.

If there is no open bar, does that mean the guests receive a few tickets each or nothing at all? If the latter, that would be a really cheapskate wedding.

 

[Stereodude]

If there is no open bar, does that mean the guests receive a few tickets each or nothing at all? If the latter, that would be a really cheapskate wedding.

I'm sure there are a fair number of wedding receptions that occur without any alcohol being served. I've heard of a cash bar at a reception. I guess they could do drink coupons too, or only have beer and wine free, but for mixed drinks or hard liquor it's cash. I'm sure if it's possible someone has done it.

 

[LunarMist]

I'm sure there are a fair number of wedding receptions that occur without any alcohol being served. I've heard of a cash bar at a reception. I guess they could do drink coupons too, or only have beer and wine free, but for mixed drinks or hard liquor it's cash. I'm sure if it's possible someone has done it.

I understand there are various religious or cultural reasons, or "on the rez" for example.

 

[timwhit]

If there is no open bar, does that mean the guests receive a few tickets each or nothing at all? If the latter, that would be a really cheapskate wedding.

I have been to weddings with the following arrangements:

• A couple kegs of beer
• No bar at all; go to the cash bar in the restaurant connected to the banquet hall if you want something
• Full open bar
• Free wine and beer; cash bar for everything else

Different places tend to do things differently. In Chicago all the weddings I have been to except one had full open bars.

In Wisconsin I have only been to one wedding that had anything other than wine or beer for free.

We had a full open bar at our wedding. The venue required it.

 

[ddrueding]

We had a full open bar, but with 18 guests it was just a table with a bunch of booze on it.

 

[Stereodude]

We had a full open bar, but with 18 guests it was just a table with a bunch of booze on it.

As in make your own / play 'tender?

 

[CougTek]

Last time I went to a wedding was in 1981 or 1982. I only remember that wine was free.

 

[ddrueding]

As in make your own / play 'tender?

Yup. We went through a case and a half of wine, a dozen or so beers, and about 1L of liquor distributed across 8 varieties.

A buddy of mine used to be a bartender, so if anyone wanted anything crazy they would just ask him.

 

[LunarMist]

Last time I went to a wedding was in 1981 or 1982. I only remember that wine was free.

That was your own wedding?

 

[CougTek]

I've never been married and at my age, I'm sure I never will.

 

[Mercutio]

Last time I went to a wedding was in 1981 or 1982. I only remember that wine was free.

Everyone else I know who has gotten married did a justice of the peace thing or something distinctly different from a christian wedding, like a Pagan Handfasting. An actual church wedding is new to me.
Free booze at a reception is a lot less appealing if you're not a drinker. I'm guessing the wedding I went to didn't have booze, but that's only because the bible bangers who attended probably don't like admitting to anyone else that they drink in the first place.

 

[jtr1962]

I've only been to family weddings. Weddings are pretty boring, especially the church part if you have to listen to an hour long sermon. Only two things worth doing at most weddings-either get drunk or fuck the bridesmaids. I couldn't do the latter because the weddings were family functions, so I made sure to do the former. I guess if dancing is your thing that's a third possibility but it's not something I'm interested in.

 

[LunarMist]

IR Sis suing me again. It's really tiring. What is wrong with those degenerates?

 

[Handruin]

IR Sis suing me again. It's really tiring. What is wrong with those degenerates?

Suing or auditing? If they're suing, then it's likely a phone scam.

 

[LunarMist]

Suing or auditing? If they're suing, then it's likely a phone scam.

I'm sure it's another scam like the last one. I feel like calling them and saying something not very nice.

 

[LunarMist]

The ****ers called yet again. I answered this time, but it was a recording. The source is a different number each time.

 

[jtr1962]

It's a telemarketing scam for sure. Telemarketers posing as the IRS saying you owe money is an ongoing scam. Best bet is to not answer calls from numbers you're not familiar with and/or block them. In fact, get a call blocker. You can safely block certain entire area codes right off, like 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 888, 900. And after that start blocking area codes from parts of the country where you don't know anyone. I use software which works with TWC to block unwanted calls. I typically get 50 to 100 junk calls a week, but now only 1 or 2 ever get through (and those numbers are promptly added to the block list so they never get through again). I never pick up from strange numbers, either. I Google the number. If it's a known telemarketer, it gets added to the block list. If everyone did this these scams would go away.

 

[LunarMist]

It's a telemarketing scam for sure. Telemarketers posing as the IRS saying you owe money is an ongoing scam. Best bet is to not answer calls from numbers you're not familiar with and/or block them. In fact, get a call blocker. You can safely block certain entire area codes right off, like 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 888, 900. And after that start blocking area codes from parts of the country where you don't know anyone. I use software which works with TWC to block unwanted calls. I typically get 50 to 100 junk calls a week, but now only 1 or 2 ever get through (and those numbers are promptly added to the block list so they never get through again).

Can you recommend any hardware (landline) blockers?

 

[jtr1962]

Can you recommend any hardware (landline) blockers?

This one sounds like the best of the bunch, although I haven't bought one yet. It supercedes this one, which is no longer made.

 

[ddrueding]

Very happy to not have a landline, though I do still get a couple sales calls a week to the cell. I pretty much never answer, my voicemail says to send me an e-mail.

 

[Handruin]

Very happy to not have a landline, though I do still get a couple sales calls a week to the cell. I pretty much never answer, my voicemail says to send me an e-mail.

This is what I do also. No landline and any number I don't know or is not in my contacts never gets answered.

 

[snowhiker]

This is what I do also. No landline and any number I don't know or is not in my contacts never gets answered.

I also never answer any phone unless I know the number or I'm expecting a call and it shows up on the caller ID.

I have a landline. But it's not really a land line as it's provided by Cox cable. Power goes out, no working landline phone.

 

[Stereodude]

Random question. If you bought this, what would you expect to receive? http://www.ebay.com/itm/minions-3D-Blu-Ray-with-Lenticular-Slipcase-and-Cover-/131877836691?

 

[LunarMist]

Random question. If you bought this, what would you expect to receive? http://www.ebay.com/itm/minions-3D-Blu-Ray-with-Lenticular-Slipcase-and-Cover-/131877836691?

What did you receive instead of the BR disc?

 

[Stereodude]

What did you receive instead of the BR disc?

Lets not get into that just yet. Would you expect to receive an item comparable to what you would buy new in store from Best Buy?

 

[Mercutio]

Ebay doesn't seem to have a distinct listing for the item or wording that suggests it's anything other than a disc in retail packaging.

 

[Chewy509]

Random question. If you bought this, what would you expect to receive? http://www.ebay.com/itm/minions-3D-Blu-Ray-with-Lenticular-Slipcase-and-Cover-/131877836691?

As per the listing details: 3x discs, cover and case of the movie Minions...

I would expect to get what's listed on BB website as listed.

 

[Stereodude]

I'm not trying to be cagey, I just don't want to influence the answers by asking a leading question that would influence the answer. I'll explain more later.

 

[DrunkenBastard]

Potentially I would expect just the 3D Blu-Ray disc, the slipcover, and the case, and an absence of the 2D Blu-Ray and DVD discs. Technically the Best Buy exclusive part is the lenticular slipcover

"Read Carefully! This is What You Get

This is the Best Buy Exclusive version.

You receive 3-D Blue Ray; slip cover, and case.

The 3-D Blue Ray slipcase is displayed in this listing. No signs of wear. Looks new.

No odors. Played one to 3 times.

Note: No other items are included."

 

[Stereodude]

Potentially I would expect just the 3D Blu-Ray disc, the slipcover, and the case, and an absence of the 2D Blu-Ray and DVD discs. Technically the Best Buy exclusive part is the lenticular slipcover

"Read Carefully! This is What You Get

This is the Best Buy Exclusive version.

You receive 3-D Blue Ray; slip cover, and case.

The 3-D Blue Ray slipcase is displayed in this listing. No signs of wear. Looks new.

No odors. Played one to 3 times.

Note: No other items are included."

Okay, so you figured it out. I'm arguing with the seller that the listing is not in any way clear because the whole thing is generically called a 3D Blu-ray.

Even adding one word, only would have changed the meaning considerable. "You receive 3-D Blue Ray only; slip cover, and case." However, usually when sellers are selling only the single 3D disc like this they are very clear and explicitly say things like, "2D Blu-ray, DVD, and digital copy are not included" or "No 2D Blu-ray, DVD, and digital copy".

Like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dawn-of-the...isc-ONLY-Artwork-Case-SEE-INFO-/252466851456?

Unless I missed something, eBay doesn't charge per word, so his refusal to make the listing more clear is strange unless he's intentionally being vague. He's arguing that all his other customers from last week understood it.