The Bridge

3:00 PM

@kalina I'd be infesting any area where I am. About the only thing I can do is suffer through it, so there's no reason to get some work done while I can.

kalina

@fbueckert you could be at home playing path of exile though

fbueckert

@kalina I already took two days off this week. Time for me to stop being a baby and man up.

kalina

I can see you're going to stick by your principles rather than resting

fbueckert

@kalina If I didn't have this project due, I'd be at home.

I take my word very seriously.

kalina

I take my health more seriously

fbueckert

3:04 PM

Besides, it says all sorts of fun things about dedication if I'm hacking up a lung, and I'm still here, getting the job done.

That does nice things for performance reviews.

kalina

I feel that this is relevant to everybody here at some point in their lifes

fredley

@fbueckert Really? Sick time affects performance review?

kalina

but this is today's "daily dilbert" from my company's intranet

Ben Brocka

@fbueckert A+++ was sick all the time would hire again

fredley

@kalina Had this on my feed earlier

@BenBrocka I'm frequently sick!

kalina

3:05 PM

@fredley sure it does, if you have too much time off sick they call you unreliable

this company uses 'bradford factor'

which is like aids

fredley

@kalina facepalm

kalina

but can be transmitted through human resources

fredley

@kalina It's a retrovirus?

@kalina They do get around I guess

kalina

possibly the stupidest thing I've ever heard

or been exposed to for that matter

fbueckert

@fredley Here in Canada, it's employer discretion about how much paid sick time they'll give you.

kalina

3:06 PM

it basically promotes taking a month off every time you're ill

rather than taking off individual days

fredley

@kalina Developed in prisons, so you know it's good

kalina

who knows, I google a lot of things but I'd never google something like that

I don't need to fill my brain with more useless information

it's stupid, regardless

The Stack Exchange Blog

Blog - Stack Exchange: 2012 Stack Overflow User Survey Results

Bethany Marzewski on January 25, 2013

In December, we launched our 3rd annual Stack Overflow Annual User Survey to learn more about our site demographics and user trends throughout 2012. Compared to last year, we received an even larger sample size this year with almost 10,000 respondents!

Here are a few larger trends we’ve observed over the past three years:

You like us…you really like us!

Since 2010, site traffic to Stack Overflow has grown by a whopping 261.7%! As if this weren’t enough, we’re also now the 86th largest global site, according to Alexa. Our crazy goal of breaking into the top 50 is looking less crazy! …

fredley

@TheStackExchangeBlog That map of the US is hilarious

kalina

-.-

the system hates me, I've run out of delete votes and flag votes today

fredley

3:10 PM

@kalina Aaw, that's a lot of spamming

Ben Brocka

Actually the system likes you, 45 is a pretty high limit for mod flags I think

kalina

@BenBrocka well I probably damaged it slightly by flagging some duplicates that got rejected

it should still be above 40 though regardless

fredley

@BenBrocka I only ever ran out when I was trying to get Marshal on SO

On the old flag weight system

kalina

@fredley this is exactly what I was doing

fredley

@kalina Ah

kalina

3:12 PM

I've flagged 45 things + delete voted 15 or so things

fredley

@kalina SO has a lot of crap

Ben Brocka

@kalina 45 is what I have too. I think there's an upper bound where you get extremely diminished returns

kalina

@fredley I just went through the TIARA list

fredley

@kalina ?

Ben Brocka

Ah, you only get 10 by default

kalina

3:13 PM

why does nobody know about @agent86's immense tool?

3

Ben Brocka

I actually get less mod flags on UX than I do here, since I have few helpful flags on UX (being a mod really reduces your flag count)

fbueckert

@kalina I've never hit that limit.

kalina

@fredley agent86ix.github.com/stackapps/maint

@fbueckert well I still have 8 flags outstanding, and if they all get approved I get marshall today

but if they don't, then I get it tomorrow

@fredley TIARA = Technical Inaccuracies & Altogether wRong Answers

Gaming Topics From Outside

0

Q: NullException error. Help a noob out

Can someone please tell me where I am going wrong here? I keep receiving the error message: "ArgumentNullException was unhandled. This method does not accept null for this parameter. Parameter name: song" I cannot find a way around it. Song BGmusic; bool songstart = false; ...

fredley

@kalina Did not know of this

kalina

3:14 PM

It's a list of all of the really bad crap we have

not all of it falls into one of our reasons to delete it

but most of it does

fredley

@kalina Useful

Fluttershy

Is this even answerable?

kalina

@Fluttershy oh no, another one of his questions

user15026

@Fluttershy I don't think so

kalina

@Fluttershy I'm pretty sure the Catalyst tells you what each path does and he's just been mentally AFK while that cutscene was playing

Fluttershy

3:17 PM

It's basically just "I didn't pay attention to the story." Right?

kalina

But on account of the amount of arguments I've had with that individual I'm not paying any more attention to him

Ben Brocka

@fbueckert You basically have to be actively trying, but TIARA helps you find the crap easily. I've used it to clean up posts on occasion

Delete all the things

kalina

yeah, the Catalyst says " bla bla bla destroy shows you the red panel bla bla bla control shows you the blue panel bla bla bla merge shows you the green panel "

Wipqozn

@kalina I believe this is the case, yes.

His question is terrible, but I think it's not close worthy. Just down vote it into oblivion, pointing out this si clearly explained by the catalyst.

kalina

in fact

he makes me angry, brb

Fluttershy

3:19 PM

@Wipqozn I'm not gonna vote to close. I just don't understand why he keeps asking such terrible questions...

I think @kalina just popped a blood vessel. <_<

Wipqozn

@Fluttershy Some men just like to watch the world burn.

@StrixVaria It's been changed. What was it?

kalina

@Fluttershy no not at all, I needed to step away from the keyboard before I entered a loop I would never exit from

Michel Ayres

-5

Q: How is Shepard supposed to know how to make the final decision in Mass Effect 3?

Mass Effect 3 has, depending on certain conditions, up to three possible endings. However, when I reached the final decision point, I did not see anything that clearly indicated which actions would lead towards which ending. Certainly, I could have gone online and looked up a walkthrough to h...

mass-effect-3

-5 in a short time span... why is that?

Ben Brocka

See his question history

Fluttershy

@MichelAyers Because it's a terrible question.

Ben Brocka

3:23 PM

He's asked pretty much every random thought that passed his mind about Mass Effect but made them "mass-effect-series" so they're not dupes of the hundreds of questions we already have

Michel Ayres

@Fluttershy Ok, I agree on that, but -5 was kind fast (and 0 close votes)

btw...

-1

Q: How to farm Pirate's Booty challenge

A challenge "Pirate's Booty" asks you to open lots of Pirate Weapon Chests. Obviously, most pirate chests in existence are in the Leviathan's treasure room, but it is only accessible twice during the main and the encore (dammmm, I LOVE this word in English) quest. What is the best route to farm...

borderlands-2

"...encore (dammmm, I LOVE this word in English)". "Indeed" is mine favorite =X

Fluttershy

@MichelAyers It got downvoted quickly because I posted it in here about ten minutes ago to ask opinions. It's gotten no close votes because there's no reason to close it.

My phone just tried autocorrecting "there's" to "Tetris"...

Michel Ayres

@Fluttershy rolf =P

StrixVaria

@Wipqozn Nope it's still there.

Ben Brocka

@retroremakes I think in my next game I'll simply cut to the chase and have an IAP for the #1 leaderboard slot.

Tweeted by llamasoft_ox on January 25, 2013 at 12:41 PM in reply to retroremakes

(regarding the Dead Space 3 microtransactions)

Michel Ayres

3:26 PM

@Fluttershy In my opinion is not constructive =/

kalina

@MichelAyres encore une fois!

@MichelAyres rolling on the laughing floor?

Michel Ayres

@kalina yeap =X

kalina

@MichelAyres it could be argued it's not constructive, but successfully arguing that makes a decent portion of all "I did not pay attention, how do I <do this thing that was just explained to me>?" questions NC as well

Michel Ayres

@kalina hmmm i know the meaning ... =X but, the word "sound"...

kalina

that question is getting downvoted because it says "How do I know what each choice means? I know it was just explained me a minute ago but I wasn't paying attention so please tell me what it didn't do it with big flashing colours and how I could have missed it?"

although that's not fair, because he doesn't know, because he wasn't paying attention

Michel Ayres

3:31 PM

@kalina Not arguing about the downvotes, but why there were so many in such a short time (the chat part explains that). The other point that I asked was "why there is no close votes?"

kalina

2 mins ago, by kalina

@MichelAyres it could be argued it's not constructive, but successfully arguing that makes a decent portion of all "I did not pay attention, how do I <do this thing that was just explained to me>?" questions NC as well

Michel Ayres

I mean, that is too localizaded OR not constructive =P

kalina

basically: we allow those kind of hand holding questions

Michel Ayres

@kalina >.< ok ma'am >.< sorry =X

Lazers

2

Q: What's the price for dying?

What happens when you die ? Is there any sort of penalty ? I think that I didn't lost any XP or items after my last death. Mobs did not respawn, the map I discovered remained discovered...

path-of-exile

1

Q: How do you complete the achievement 'Artillery Mastery' for the Osprey?

It says 'Get to Sector 5 without upgrading your weapons system'. The Osprey has two weapons systems, one for standard weapons and one for a special beam weapon it has. Am I restricted from upgrading one, the other, or both?

ftl-faster-than-light

agent86

3:32 PM

@kalina I... uh... think there are some who do. I am married, after all.

kalina

@agent86 lol

agent86

I tell my wife about all my tools. she is more interested in some than others.

I don't think tiara was particularly interesting to her.

kalina

figures

well TIARA was interesting to me

Ben Brocka

@agent86 you heard him folks, @agent86's wife lets him wear the TIARA

fbueckert

Wow, the entire SE network just flipped a biscuit.

agent86

3:36 PM

@BenBrocka and she's aware of all my great tools. don't forget the tools part.

fbueckert

Oh, that finally went through.

SaintWacko

...How did you get onto the topic of @agent86's tool?

Wipqozn

@StrixVaria Oh, his profile. I thought you meant his avatar.

fbueckert

@BenBrocka Do you still have questions about Harvest Moon?

Gaming Topics From Outside

0

Q: Black screen when trying to play video games

I run a wined version of steam (mostly because most of my steam games aren't avaible on the steam beta yet) and I had problems in the past with this black screen/dim screen but I fixed it, the problem is that whenever I try to run a game in full screen mode, the screen goes extremly dark again [c...

laptop power-management games black-screen battery

Ben Brocka

3:45 PM

@fbueckert Sorta. Which crop is best for money over time in spring? I've heard it was...grass? Which seems..odd

agent86

@SaintWacko my tool comes up a lot in here.

fbueckert

@BenBrocka Grass is, in the short term, yes.

agent86

I think she was discussing TIARA, although I'm partial to StatsExchange, personally.

that's probably my favorite of the bunch.

fbueckert

But it doesn't hit any of the crop shipping requirements which unlock the higher end crops.

agent86

I really need to rev TIARA and add some of the other features I had planned

Ben Brocka

3:46 PM

K. Should I focus on getting animals right away or save up? Can get a chicken or two already

agent86

having a kid really cuts into your tool time :(

Ben Brocka

@fbueckert Oh that's how you get the higher star value crops or what?

fbueckert

@BenBrocka Energy is severely limited in this game, and can't be increased.

SaintWacko

fbueckert

@BenBrocka No, that's how you get the crops in the first place.

Ben Brocka

3:46 PM

@fbueckert you mean stamina?

@fbueckert so ship everything until stuff unlocks?

fbueckert

@BenBrocka Same thing.

@BenBrocka Yup.

badp

@BenBrocka Since you didn't want to know - no, Freedom Planet has no drowning music. It does have the 5-4-3-2-1 countdown, but the only music related thing that happens is a fadeout

Ben Brocka

@fbueckert That's what HM has always called it :P

Iszi

Could someone explain to me why this is worth six down-votes and a close-vote?

-6

Q: How is Shepard supposed to know how to make the final decision in Mass Effect 3?

Mass Effect 3 has, depending on certain conditions, up to three possible endings. However, when I reached the final decision point, I did not see anything that clearly indicated which actions would lead towards which ending. Certainly, I could have gone online and looked up a walkthrough to h...

mass-effect-3

Ben Brocka

@badp You would find that out

fbueckert

3:47 PM

You'll have to balance crops and animals; you'll be able to do more once you can upgrade your tools.

Iszi

Sure, I might have been a little dense in not realizing what was going on there. But is it really that crappy of a question?

Ben Brocka

@fbueckert K. Is there some easy way to know when I'm done? Like will I get mail after I ship enough turnips saying "we now have cucumbers! " or something?

fbueckert

Fun fact: the Ultimate watering can water something like eight fields, all at once. And uses all it's water at the same time.

@BenBrocka Yeah, the next day you'll get a mail from Hanna, saying she's got new crops in.

Biggest thing I can suggest: get the second town restoration done before Winter, if you're aiming for tool upgrades.

Wipqozn

@Iszi The fact the catalyst tells you about the conquences of each choice when he tells you the choices makes it a bad question.

Michel Ayres

Anyone playing The Cave ?

Fluttershy

3:50 PM

@MichelAyers \o

Ben Brocka

@fbueckert cool

See also

0

Q: When should I go to bed?

Different harvest moon games have different penalties based on when you go to bed. I've been going to bed super early since I don't have much to do yet, but I don't know what my limits are. What happens when I go to bed too late? What are the levels of "too late" and is there a single time I sh...

harvest-moon-anb

FAE

I can't manage to log back into the chat in Chrome...

Ben Brocka

@fbueckert Does that cost money or what? I don't have any such option

I just got my free cow

FAE

the automatic login seems to be failing and the global fallback page is not found

fbueckert

@BenBrocka Yeah, that will come later.

The game starts off slow.

Wipqozn

3:51 PM

@FAE It hink I've experienced that problem on chrome before. Are you using an older version? Because I had the issue ~year ago I think.

Ben Brocka

@fbueckert I noticed that

Iszi

@Wipqozn What I was saying is that it didn't appear clear to me that the game was actually showing me the paths I needed to walk down. It's not like he flat-out says, "go right if you want to kill all synthetics, left if you want to control the Reapers, or straight down the middle if you want to merge organic & synthetic life.

Ben Brocka

Annoyingly it's holding my hand for all the standard HM stuff I already know and holding back all the new stuff I don't know about

Wipqozn

@Iszi The users down voting must disagree that is the case, and therefore is not useful.

fbueckert

@BenBrocka Mining has been immensely simplified.

Wipqozn

3:52 PM

I remember seeing the video for the ending ages ago, and it seemed fairly straight forward to me.

FAE

@Wipqozn Version 24.0.1312.52 m, currently. Shouldn't be that old, as I wasn't using chrome a year ago, even.

Ben Brocka

@fbueckert I don't remember mining being that complicated, at least not in HM64

badp

@BenBrocka Is it just me or Freedom Planet has this Bunny Must Die-alike feature where pressing attack when you'd be taking damage cancels it out?

fbueckert

But with everything that's going on, that's not a bad thing; my days are extremely busy, and that's even with just spending a couple hours on my animals.

badp

It seems oddly much easier to trigger in this game than BMD too

fbueckert

3:53 PM

@BenBrocka Haven't played that one.

Ben Brocka

@badp It's d-pad in BMD. but if it does I didn't notice (and didn't try)

badp

(Although I haven't tried to spike jump yet)

fbueckert

I'm referring to the GBA and DS ones, where you had floors to mine.

Ben Brocka

Sweet if it does though

I stopped early in the DS one and only played the GB ones not GBA

Wipqozn

@FAE Okay. well, I had that problem a while ago, and it eventually just seemed to fix itself. I don't normally use chrome unless I'm in school, so it's possible it was an error on the school network which was fixed.

Michel Ayres

3:54 PM

@Fluttershy brought today, waiting for steam now =P

FAE

@Wipqozn Tried updating, still failing... ugh.

Wipqozn

@FAE #firstworldproblems, eh?

FAE

@fbueckert Hey there sir, may I add you to my 3DS friends list?

@Wipqozn Pretty much.

Fluttershy

@MichelAyers It's a lot of fun! And the cave itself is really done well.

Wipqozn

In fact, this is a perfect first world problem, because you just need to use another browser.

fbueckert

3:55 PM

@BenBrocka Ok, well, the mine in A New Beginning is essentially, "Here are crystals. You can hit them a random number of times each day. What you get is entirely random."

Wipqozn

Al this talk of @agent86's tool in the starred list is making me want to get back to harvest moon.

fbueckert

@FAE You can, but I'm never online.

agent86

@FAE there are SE network issues at the moment that might be causing you issues

Ben Brocka

@fbueckert huh

Wipqozn

I stopped playing sometime in summer. I didn't get far into the game at all.

Michel Ayres

3:56 PM