The Bridge

we've just been told by three of our developers that the interface that allows two of our applications to talk to each other requires "the other application" to be shut down first in order to perform an upgrade

problem is

they each said the other application

turns out the latest version of our product can't be shut down to upgrade it

Martin Sojka

10:28 AM

"Aw yeah?" turn off the power

Gray Stoat

@pixel Sounds like that Daft Punk film

Martin Sojka

@GrayStoat TRON 2?

Gray Stoat

@pixel I'd recommend driving your product insane so that it tries to become human, before setting itself on fire.

@MartinSojka Electroma

Martin Sojka

Oh, they made a second film?

pixel

@GrayStoat no I just said the words that everybody hates to hear

"I am not willing to install this product on a customer environment until you stop saying the words 'should', 'could', and 'maybe'. Make it work before you tell me its finished"

Gray Stoat

10:34 AM

@MartinSojka They made it in 2006...

@kalina amazon.co.uk/Blackspur-HTZ53663-Fan-Heater-Upright/dp/…

pixel

@GrayStoat I'm not allowed to turn the air con up, I don't think they'd appreciate me turning up with a space heater!

Gray Stoat

@pixel If you really want to live it up, I highly recommend one of these bad boys:

amazon.co.uk/Lloytron-Single-Electric-Blanket-F901/dp/…

Not so suitable for work though, unless you work in bed

Martin Sojka

amazon.com/USB-Heated-Shawl-Lap-Blanket/dp/B001JEBX5M

pixel

I have something awfully similar to that at home

it makes sleeping really toasty

even when its cold

Gray Stoat

@pixel I would have died at university had I not had one

pixel

10:39 AM

and I have worked in a bed before, like half the time I don't turn up to the office I work from home

the other half I phone in sick

Gray Stoat

Old buildings are all picturesque and shit, but those old windows have the insulating properties of a hole in the wall

badp

How can YOU sleep without knowing that ANY moment you could be ELECTROCUTED in your SLEEP just by PISSING YOURSELF IN THE SLEEP?

Gray Stoat

@badp Insulated wires?

pixel

@GrayStoat yeah this is an old building

Gray Stoat

I'm pretty sure they can insulate wires these days

pixel

10:40 AM

but all the windows are doubled up

badp

@GrayStoat Your CAT ate the insulation!

pixel

they've got all the original exterior windows, and then a second layer of windows

Gray Stoat

@badp I HAVE NO CAT

pixel

and everybody else is hot

so it must be me

Gray Stoat

@pixel retrofit. We didn't have that, we had original C16th fittings, and nothing else :-(

Martin Sojka

10:41 AM

@badp My grandfather could soundly sleep knowing that the Russian artillery in the background could at any time hit his position and blow him into tiny bits. I think I'll manage. :)

badp

@GrayStoat YOU WILL HAVE A CAT IN THE FUTURE AND IT WILL GO BACK IN TIME TO PUNISH YOU FOR NOT FEEDING HIM HIS FAVOURITE BRAND OF MUNCHIES

Gray Stoat

@badp I WILL GO BACK IN TIME AND BUY HIM MUNCHIES, THEN SCOLD YOU FOR INCORRECTLY PUNISHING ME

pixel

@badp do you wet the bed frequently?

badp

@MartinSojka To be fair, that was not your grandfather's choice, and not something that could be fixed with additional clothing equipment

@pixel No, but I also don't die frequently

@GrayStoat ...not in real life, anyway

pixel

@badp and I thought you were a gamer

bah

see, too cold to type fast

badp

10:42 AM

@pixel gloves

Gray Stoat

@badp Incorrect

21 hours ago, by badp

@badp STOP YOUR TIME-TRAVELLING NONSENSE

pixel

@badp I can't type in gloves

Gray Stoat

@pixel Sit on your hands, seriously, it's the best way to warm them up

pixel

my hands aren't that bad, its my chest and back that is cold

Gray Stoat

@pixel Rub them with your warm hands then

pixel

10:44 AM

yeah that would look really awesome sat in the middle of the office rubbing my chest

-.-

Gray Stoat

@Pixel for arctic-proof warmness, get one of these

Martin Sojka

... or ask someone else to help you with it.

badp

@pixel then maybe you need a WTF BLANKET

pixel

this conversation is slowly drifting off towards the gutter

I am going to blame one of the plebs on the tube for infecting me with something that will ruin my weekend

Gray Stoat

►

@pixel Damn those awful plebs

pixel

11:02 AM

sigh

4 1/2 more hours before I battle with London to get to St Pancras

"so how do you upgrade from <current public version> to <new release>?"

"oh, you don't at the moment, we haven't worked that out yet"

...

Lazers

0

Q: How do you trigger vistas?

I am in the Grove, right by a map marker for an "undiscovered vista." There seems to be nothing special about it except for a nearby balcony. There seems to be no apparent trigger around except for a discussion tree with Nikkyta (which apparently I've known since forever except I'm not even born ...

guild-wars-2

Gray Stoat

@pixel Business makes you cross London? Evil.

pixel

@GrayStoat joker

Gray Stoat

@pixel ?

pixel

business makes me cross london, take a train up to the east of england, and then cross over the middle of england

my journey home is Picadilly Circus > St Pancras > Grantham > Retford > Worksop > Sheffield

and my journey down here is the reverse

Its fine on the way down here, since I can fall asleep on the train to st pancras

Gray Stoat

11:17 AM

@pixel D:

pixel

but on the way back I have to stay awake otherwise I end up in Leeds or Scotland

depending on the service

Gray Stoat

That is appalling!

pixel

the worst of it is

the train between retford and worksop is 1 per hour

and a 5 minute delay between st pancras and retford means I miss it

and retford does not have a 'station'

its more of a shed with a platform

so that will be nice and cold

at least st pancras has warm shops to hide in

Gray Stoat

@pixel D:

Delete votes:

2

Q: Are there multiple versions of Rock'n'Roll?

I think I've found the game I was looking for, Rock'n'Roll. It's a top-down maze game from 1989, and I played it on a PC, from a floppy disk. But the thing is, the interface seems older than I remember it. Now I am wondering if there are multiple versions of the game. Are there multiple version...

untagged

pixel

plus I have to come back down here on monday

oh

only 3 delete votes needed?

Gray Stoat

11:20 AM

3

Q: What happened to NGage 2.0 games? (Nokia N86)

I have a Nokia N86, and about year ago I bought a few games, including Worms. I updated my phone software, and now I cannot find a place to download NGage games. What happened to the NGage games? Where can I find or download them?

untagged

@pixel Yup

pixel

first delete vote I've ever cast

second delete vote I've ever cast

my weekend is going to be a fantastic waste of time

I arrive back at like 9pm tonight, sleep, clean all of my clothes, dry all of my clothes, then come back down here on sunday night

-.-

Gray Stoat

@pixel Sunday night?

pixel

well its more like sunday afternoon

but yeah

they've booked a ridiculously early start on monday and required all the people that don't work in London to be here at 8-30

and I don't do 'waking up before 5am'

Gray Stoat

@pixel Hope they're paying a lot for the privilege of your Sunday night

pixel

nope

Gray Stoat

11:24 AM

untagged has been got rid of

4

pixel

but tbh

I get paid extremely well for somebody of my age and experience

Martin Sojka

@GrayStoat Wow, awesome.

pixel

sometimes I feel like the support director's pet project though

Gray Stoat

@pixel Is it your first job?

pixel

third, first IT job though

Martin Sojka

11:27 AM

Does it involve you actually being the pet?

pixel

no

Martin Sojka

Well, that's fine then. :)

Gray Stoat

@pixel Wow, ok.

pixel

I did a couple of mundane things until I decided I didn't want to go to uni

and this company is putting me through a variety of MCITPs

Gray Stoat

@pixel Ah ok.

pixel

11:29 AM

but I make more than any of my friends

badp

yay, GW2 is asking me if I want to rot away my life through in-game mining, wood cutting or harvesting... for starters

pixel

by like 10k+

Gray Stoat

@pixel Regardless of how much you earn, this is how you do financial satisfaction

pixel

@badp in-game mining is definitely a valid use of your life

badp

@pixel as in mining copper?

Martin Sojka

11:30 AM

@badp Is "if I wanted to play Minecraft, I'd play Minecraft" a valid option?

Gray Stoat

@pixel Minecraft?

pixel

it was a joke

Gray Stoat

Mining is like, half the game

pixel

in game farming is a waste of life

I have an allergic reaction to any form of farming

any game that convinces me that I am not farming gets away with it

until it becomes apparent that I am actually grinding away at something

Martin Sojka

I like farming the sweet, sweet tears of my defeated enemies.

pixel

11:31 AM

and then the allergic reaction sets in

WoW felt fun

right up until the daily quest overload set in

Gray Stoat

@pixel How did WoW not trigger your reaction?!

pixel

and then I haven't logged in since

Gray Stoat

@pixel Oh ok

pixel

WoW has triggered the reaction 5-6 times now

I enjoyed everything in MoP right up until like the 3rd week of daily quests

Gray Stoat

@pixel I felt that a bit with glitch. It was really cool, but everything but everything was a progress bar. I will miss it though.

pixel

11:32 AM

I don't call questing grinding, even though it obviously is, but I read quest text so I call it story

but doing the same quests over and over again for tokens

is like WARNING, THIS IS YOUR LIFE DRAINING AWAY IN FRONT OF YOU, WARNING

this is the reason why I break down any repeatable process into scripts

Gray Stoat

youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mk0wDbyKcSg

pixel

the others doing my job start installers, click on stuff, etc

I script it all the first time I do it and just run the script in future instances

its how I spend so much time on chat and still do my job

Gray Stoat

@pixel thinkgeek.com/product/374d

pixel

lol

black is not my colour but I like the principle

Gray Stoat

@pixel Go to any (UK) tshirt shop and just get the text printed. That's what I do with a lot of these simple shirts. It saves ~£15 over buying from America

> Shell scripts don't require salaries and don't complain about yesterday's coffee on Twitter to their coworkers

haha

pixel

11:36 AM

eww twitter

oh yeah, I'm also completely anti-social network

like, the only reason I have a facebook account is because there is no option to delete a facebook account

Gray Stoat

@pixel facebook.com/help/delete_account

And that's not 'deactivation', that's the real McCoy

pixel

since when?

Gray Stoat

@pixel No idea

pixel

the only option that previously existed was deactivate

Gray Stoat

@pixel Think this has always been there, they just hide it away

pixel

11:39 AM

well, now I don't have a facebook account

Gray Stoat

@pixel Congratulations

Martin Sojka

"Your search - link:www.facebook.com/help/delete_account - did not match any documents."

pixel

lol

doesn't appear in a search engine

brilliant

which stackexchange website would be best to ask about how to delete a facebook account

its about time google cached that

Gray Stoat

@pixel webapps?

Yi Jiang

Webapps have it as one of their top questions

107

Q: How do I delete my Facebook account?

I don't trust Facebook's new privacy settings and have decided to delete my account, but I can't find the kill switch. Does anyone know how I can delete my Facebook account?

facebook delete account-management

Gray Stoat

11:46 AM

@YiJiang That question needs a new answer

pixel

oh

@GrayStoat the old url on that answer actually forwards to the one you just gave

Gray Stoat

@pixel Meh

Martin Sojka

That question and answer need more upvotes, and also Webapps.SE needs a better visibility on Google, since right now it's buried rather deep. :)

pixel

I have edited the current answer

pixel

12:19 PM

woo

I'm now warm

ish

well, now it's more of a feverish sweat

OrigamiRobot

@pixel You still do. You have to stay logged out for a week for it to actually delete it.

pixel

@OrigamiRobot that is not going to be a problem, like I said, it was a year since I last logged in :p

OrigamiRobot

I was just pointing it out.

pixel

understood

OrigamiRobot

For the people for whom it is a problem, they're just dangling a carrot in front of them.

pixel

12:23 PM

yeah

I still don't trust Facebook to actually delete the data regardless

OrigamiRobot

Oh, absolutely not.

pixel

the most worrying thing is that most people don't even think about it

Gray Stoat

12:35 PM

@pixel Why would they ever do that?

pixel

@GrayStoat because the wording used was "delete" not "hide from the public"

somebody should write a game called 'untagged'

Gray Stoat

@pixel But if I delete a file from my hard drive it's still there

pixel

@GrayStoat that of course depends on how you delete it

Gray Stoat

@pixel To go with bacon and lazers

pixel

you could use a utility that repeatedly fills said allocated space with 0s after deleting the file from the file allocation table

@GrayStoat to break the tagging system and make untagged a valid tag :p

Gray Stoat

12:42 PM

@pixel I'd use 'erase' for 'permanently, cryptographically delete'. Even deleting a row from a database does not make that data unavailable.

@pixel I'm on it

I'll add it to the list of games to write, along with jin-fanclub

pixel

lol

I think gaming.stackexchange.com/q/86504/27134 should be deleted

it's such a pointless question

Invader Skoodge

Guild Wars 2 must be some kind of time machine.

badp

@InvaderSkoodge Hm?

Yi Jiang

Like any Civ game?

badp

You mean it takes you in the future faster than a second per second?

Invader Skoodge

12:55 PM

@YiJiang Exactly.

OrigamiRobot

@InvaderSkoodge Yes, it is now Friday

Invader Skoodge

11 secs ago, by Invader Skoodge

@YiJiang Exactly.

OrigamiRobot

I didn't think that would work.

Invader Skoodge

@OrigamiRobot What would it have accomplished anyway?

badp

@GrayStoat how do you even do that?

OrigamiRobot

12:57 PM

@InvaderSkoodge Nothing.

badp

2

Q: Posting a question for a game that doesn't yet have a tag

I want to post the following question about the game Towns, but there's no tag for that game and I can't create one. I'm not really sure if any tag that current exists applies. How can I post this question?

support tags questions

Invader Skoodge

Ugh this "You're level 8 but you only have stats like you're level 4 because of the area you're in" thing is really stupid.

badp

This needs a new answer

@InvaderSkoodge You're level 8 already? Damn you

(Also I'm yet to give a single fuck about my stats)

Invader Skoodge

@badp I just noticed because my HP was a lot lower.

That's the only obvious stat.

badp

There's like a few stats in the H screen actually

Like, I upgraded from boots of +1 to power to boots of +2 to power, whatever power is

Invader Skoodge

12:59 PM

Yeah I got like gems or something to put in my armor/weapons that increased some of those.

OrigamiRobot

25

Q: How to buy a graphics card?

I want to buy a graphics card, currently looking for Nvidia 9500GT 1GB as it is cheap (for me) with big memory (1GB). As there are variety of cards available i dont know which one is better and how that one is better. Should i look for its memory size? (1 GB, 512 MB etc) Should i check for its...

graphics-card

Invader Skoodge

I think power dictates how much damage you deal.

badp

I guess

Invader Skoodge

I've been going mostly for Vitality and the other defensive one because I die if there are more than 3 enemies near me at once.

badp

eh, "all" of my attacks are explosive so I always do at least some splash damage

Invader Skoodge

1:01 PM

I only have one area damage attack at the moment, and it has a cooldown.

LessPop_MoreFizz

@badp There you go, I gave it one.

Invader Skoodge

I should mess with the other weapons and see what they offer.

OrigamiRobot

Are we letting that question stick around for any reason other than "out of sight out of mind"

badp

@LessPop_MoreFizz Upvotes. I still am not positive on our current stance on platform tags so I was hesitant to answer it myself

@OrigamiRobot General reference knowledge stuff thing.

Martin Sojka

Europa Universalis IV Developer Diary #11 - Technology and Research

badp

1:06 PM

If I didn't destroy Mark Trapp's proposal for a faq tag on the main site, that'd be tagged that.

(where by "destroy" I mean "left a negative comment and a downvote, oh my")

pixel

@badp Is there even a point of an FAQ tag? The site handles FAQs itself

badp

@pixel the idea was tagging the remaining general ITG questions with something other than ITG

pixel

If ITG is off topic, shouldn't they just be deleted?

two of them are closed so they can just die

badp

They were "general reference"

gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/15424/…

OrigamiRobot

@badp Well, I VTC'd anyway as shopping advice.

pixel

1:09 PM

there are really only two game-id questions left if you just delete the two closed ones

2

Q: What game is Jesse playing in the Breaking Bad episode, "Problem Dog"?

In episode 7 of Breaking Bad season 4, "Problem Dog", you can see one of the main characters (Jesse Pinkman) playing a video game around 00:40: It looks to me like a first person shooter. The enemies bald guys with a sickle, and some of them also wear scarves that cover the lower half of their...

game-identification

badp

In a way they're a byproduct of ITG being off-topic without actually having any of the problems ITG have. We decided to close ITGs as off-topic to cut short on the amount of complaining we'd get when closing ITGs

pixel

5

Q: What game is in this Alienware advertisement?

I just ordered a new laptop (not Alienware! (I hate them)), but I was comparing the weight of my new laptop to the weight of my friends Alienware and I really liked the look of the game that they use in their advertisement. Does anyone know what it is? Here is the photo:

game-identification

badp

@pixel Why is that relevant? GI != ITG

pixel

and tbh, the second one is too localized since adverts change over time

uh

I'm sorry I though game identification and identify this game were the same thing

OrigamiRobot

I am glad to be leaving for work instead of getting into this discussion.

badp

1:10 PM

Yeah, GI is ITG + actual data from the game like a song or a screenshot or a video

@OrigamiRobot Later

so game-id is OK?

Yeah

so confusing

ITG's problem is speculation and guessing what's on the asker's mind

OrigamiRobot

@badp Must....resist.....

badp

1:11 PM

When you have actual artifacts from the game, all of that vanishes

pixel

which tag is itg stuff under?

badp

@pixel identify-this-game

pixel

I see nothing under that tag

badp

at least I thought so

pixel

which is most likely where my confusion game from

badp

1:12 PM

@pixel Yeah, uh, I dunno what happened

pixel

@badp =)

badp

even with my special mod only "deleted:1" search option all of those questions are gone

time to look at my own ITG questions

pixel

yeah, that's why I thought you were talking about game-id

badp

...WTF, they've been retagged as untagged

Now that's abuse

pixel

not seeing anything under untagged either :P

badp

1:14 PM

Oh well.

@pixel gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/7656/…

Here's one from my profile

pixel

that's a deleted question though

do deleted questions prevent a tag from being deleted?

badp

no

but they still are tagged

Yi Jiang

@badp That's kind of odd

badp

we can still use tags to dig 'em up from their graves

Yi Jiang

What is the exact definition of a dead tag then?

badp

1:16 PM

One with no non-deleted questions?

pixel

it must be awful browsing this site with deleted questions showing in lists

badp

be faster imgur

OrigamiRobot

Great, I drooled on my shirt while brushing my teeth. Thanks Obama!

3

@MarkTrapp Am I doing it right?

Gaming Topics From Outside

0

Q: Can't run cstrike.exe file in counter strike1.6 using WINE

when i right click on cstrike file and select open with wine windows program loader it doesnt show any error nor the game gets started.

windows wine games

Gray Stoat

@badp Overwrite the data. This works well for hard disks, poorly for ssds

LessPop_MoreFizz

1:36 PM

@badp there are still limited good uses for platform tags.

Lazers

2

Q: Is there another use for Valor Points?

I read today a Dev Watercooler article in Blizzard's site, regarding the plans they had back then for Mists of Pandaria: In Mists of Pandaria, Valor will be used to power a new feature that allows you to increase the item level of your existing epic items. This means that each week, you c...

world-of-warcraft

Wipqozn

@pixel No. It's not. At all. It's not anything close to Too Localized. He's provided picture, and is referring to a specific advertisement.

Invader Skoodge

1:57 PM

Huh. I have team-fortress-2 as a favorite tag even though I haven't played it seriously in about 4 years.

I probably wouldn't even be able to answer anything asked about it any more.

pixel

@InvaderSkoodge must have accidentally clicked it at some point, or thought it was a good idea favouriting it for another reason

Invader Skoodge

Oh well not like it actually affects anything important.

Transcript for