General Discussion Thread

[Sunflower]

Question: what does the "buddy" functionality of smf do? I've tried to look it up but the info is really unhelpful.

I tried the "buddy" function a few weeks ago (randomly choosing someone I had just PM'd) and I'm not sure it does much.   (Yes, unhelpful SMF documentation is unhelpful.)

The only thing I could see is that at the bottom of the main screen, where it says the # of Guests and #/name of Members currently on the Forum, it highlights the name of Buddies.

Maybe on a much larger forum, where you might have close relationships with a few members and hardly any relationship with the rest, you'd want a way to pick the people you know out of a huge list of participants.  That's my only theory on how "buddy" designation could be useful.

Here, we rarely have more than about 15 members on at the same time.  And we interact so much that even I, who am name-challenged, recognize practically every username.

Any better answers...?
EDIT:  Sure enough, JoB came through!   

[Eich]

Today was odd.  It was colder today than I think I've ever experienced before.  I was super tired cause I woke up after a weird number of hours of sleep, but... my walk to class made me more tired?  The wind was cutting through all my layers like they weren't even there, so I just walked for 20 minutes in -9 C with high winds.  By the time I could feel my face again in class, I couldn't even take notes anymore from... just being exhausted.  Then I had lab, and I nearly passed out in that class.  o_o 
Then I got back to my apartment and tried to play guitar, but I outright couldn't do it.  Like my brain wasn't in the correct state to play or something, and I could barely think fast enough to play.  So... I took a nap.  I never nap.  It was weird and now I've lost 2 hours of my day and still feel pretty crappy. 
 
I'm gonna go make some hot chocolate.

[mithrysc]

I'm gonna go make some hot chocolate.

Of course. The solution for everything. Hope you feel better tomorrow, though.

[Piney]

I've had a lot of days like that recently, Eich. I hadn't taken a nap for YEARS until last month
Also, the low for tonight and tomorrow night is -16 C, so... (And according to my mom it's going to get to -1 F in Virginia, which she says is lower than it's been in my lifetime 0_0)

[OrigamiOwl]

[...]
I'm gonna go make some hot chocolate.

Aw, good idea. The fancy schmancy hot chocolate you have?
Have you had any snow yet? -9 and no snow doesn't compute in my brain X/
That sucks about the cold windy walking though *hugs* My sister's joke that I don't get cold because I have seal blubber, which I'm pretty sure you don't have. Hmmmm. Maybe you could....wear more layers...like...10..and walk to school like..I was going to say the marshmallow man from ghostbusters but that actually makes no sense o___o
*should probably take nap also*

_______________________________
I walked around the city this morning, bought a light jacket and new jeans and 99% of my required materials for drawing class. I must have not seen the A1 sketchpads in the first shop, and when I walked all the way to the second shop, they said they didn't have them but the first shop DID. -___- I'm not walking back up there. No way. (Well I could, but, blisters) I'm going to nap on this hideous gold/tan corduroy foam sofa. It's got so many mysterious stains O___O I'll try to lie on it but not actually ...touch it... XD and then I can go to my hair appointment and eat fish and chips and then go home *happy thoughts*
But maybe spicy instant noodles first.....

[Piney]

Maybe you could....wear more layers...like...10..and walk to school like..I was going to say the marshmallow man from ghostbusters but that actually makes no sense o___o

The little brother in "A Christmas Story" comes to my mind...

[Solokov]

Well my truck is wanting to die.

After monkeying around for 6 hours on it I did the following:

Found my jumper cables, broke into my own truck (yes I used a coat hanger a ****huge knife and a bastard file to do so), recharged the battery off a borrowed hilux, replaced the cigarette lighter fuse (also the reader port fuse too), found no engine codes in the memory, cleaned a ton of corrosion that wasn't there yesterday off the positive post, took it to two different shops and all but stripped off the insulation off the battery cabling, and replaced my map lights because one of them died between yesterday and today.

Seriously, most of the corrosion in panel 4 was not there yesterday. Especially the orange stuff.



Anyway to save the charge for tomorrow morning I pulled the cables off the posts for the night.

I'm speculating here but there's probably a duckton of corrosion into the cabling and yesterday with the hotter than normal temps leaving me running the AC that basically pulled enough draw that everything went wonky and ducked everything up and it started corroding faster and drained the battery overnight.

Additionally, when I hit it up with a multimeter it was reading as 1.91v before I charged it.

[Koeshi]

Aw, good idea. The fancy schmancy hot chocolate you have?
Have you had any snow yet? -9 and no snow doesn't compute in my brain X/

You wouldn't like where I live then, we've had it -30*C in the past without a single flake of snow.

As for the topic of napping, naps can be lovely, but really mess you up if you are trying to keep a regular sleep pattern.

[JoB]

Seriously, most of the corrosion in panel 4 was not there yesterday. Especially the orange stuff.
I'm speculating here but there's probably a f***ton of corrosion into the cabling and yesterday with the hotter than normal temps leaving me running the AC that basically pulled enough draw that everything went wonky and f***ed everything up and it started corroding faster and drained the battery overnight.
Additionally, when I hit it up with a multimeter it was reading as 1.91v before I charged it.

"Corroding" battery poles, especially when colorful, tend to be sulphur crystals rather than straight metal oxide, the sulphur coming from the battery's acid - which means that it's unlikely to extend into the cables. Check the battery for leaks. Take the multimeter and check how much current the car as a whole draws when off. (A broken contact leaving the trunk lighting alight all the time seems to be a popular cause of flat batteries over night. Touch the lamps to see whether they're hot.) If it is unreasonably high, start pulling fuses to pinpoint where the excess goes. Cleaning the poles can be done with household items (in particular, baking soda), but prevention of re-oxidization should be done with proper battery terminal grease (which is conductive).

If the battery keeps getting drained overnight in spite of the current drawn being low, the problem likely is lead that has gotten detached from the lead plates inside the battery and now forms a conductive sludge below, threatening to short-circuit the poles' plates internally. That's effectively a death sentence for the Battery AFAIK.

Edit to P.S.: All this is assuming that the battery did have a good charge the evening before. There's the occasional generator passing the cursory check (output voltage is OK) but still failing to deliver enough current to keep the battery properly charged, but that seems to be quite rare.

[Fimbulvarg]

Then I got back to my apartment and tried to play guitar, but I outright couldn't do it.

Someone call an ambulance!

Jokes aside, the good thing about crappy days is they a) give you a reason to be indulging towards yourself b) make the good days feel better. So don't worry about not getting much done (unless you don't think you can make up for it later).

[Eich]

Someone call an ambulance!

Jokes aside, the good thing about crappy days is they a) give you a reason to be indulging towards yourself b) make the good days feel better. So don't worry about not getting much done (unless you don't think you can make up for it later).

D'aww, that's a good way to put it.  I can catch up just fine, I think, and I got a little work done around midnight anyway, after a long phone call with a friend.

Going home this weekend to be with the family,  and do some stereotypically redneck things with my step-uncle.  Gonna go shoot some targets at a farm.  Not exactly the weekend I had in mind, but it'll be nice either way.

[Sigrid Marie]

WINTER VACATIOOOON!

Heck yes, I am totally ready for not feeling exhausted all the time

Also, I finally got the courage to text my driving teacher last week, and it turned out that he had just gotten home from an operation, and will be on sick leave for 12 weeks Sooo, that meant I had to contact yet another person, this time one I hadn't even talked to before, which is just severely uncomfortable. BUT, I got it over with (*Sigrid is unreasonably proud of herself*), and I'm probably going to have a driving lesson sometime next week.

[Koeshi]

Good luck with that.  Driving is daunting at first, especially when you have people in the car with you watching you and commenting on mistakes you make.  But once you have your license and can drive by yourself it is much more enjoyable.

[Sigrid Marie]

HAHAHA

I found some really old stuff, and omg I'm dying here

Because:


Look at this fine self portrait

[Fimbulvarg]

HAHAHA

I found some really old stuff

Childhood art is the best. I've got stacks of it and the motifs only serve to reinforce the impression that I was never quite sane.