Am I the only one?

They've made some serious improvements and I generally enjoy using Firefox but I occasionally run into issues that just shows complete disregard for end users. Assuming, of course, my issues are not isolated.

Every month or so, when Firefox updates, it completely resets itself. This doesn't happen with every update, but Mozilla pushes an update that breaks the functionality of my browser. My browser settings, my userChrome profile, my extensions and their settings, and my bookmarks are all gone. Everything.

I do have sync but that doesn't work properly either. It only syncs some of my settings (which actually makes it harder for me to figure out what's enabled/disabled) and while I do get my bookmarks (none of which have their favicons), the extensions that manage to sync (meaning the ones that were installed from the store) don't sync their settings unless they have cloud support.

I do not understand this. Why do I, as an end user who care about Mozilla's mission, have to deal with this? I'd overlooked many of Firefox's shortcomings in the past, but when the browser works, it works well. I have some issues, but browsers are complicated and running into issues are to be expected. I understand that, but I simply cannot understand how eager they are to break the end user's workflow. Isn't it supposed to be a cardinal sin for every software company, especially the ones trying to survive, to not do this?

I just spent roughly half an hour of my day to get my browser back to its previous state. Adding the times I had had to deal with this issue before, I've spent hours on dealing with Firefox that I shouldn't have. I don't think I have another half an hour to spare for it and I don't want to anymore, but is there even an alternative for Windows that suck less?

(Apologies for the rant, but I needed to vent and perhaps get a discussion going about the current state of browsers.)

I want to make a game.

... is what I've been telling myself for the past few weeks. Honestly, I might have subconsciously had this thought for the past few months, if not years.

Strange as it sounds, I've gone on a weird mental journey in getting to the point where I'm able to acknowledge this desire. I've always had a vague, constant urge to be creative, but for the past few years, this urge has been tied to an outcome: "I want to write a JS library because it'll make for a cool product later"; something like that. Inevitably, having that outcome in mind makes me set a standard of perfection for what the thing is supposed to be, which makes me start planning every piece of the thing, which... tires me out, and then I just don't do it.

I'd say I've been better about this recently, in that I'll sometimes do one-off things because it seems like fun at the time. Small coding projects that serve no purpose at all. I randomly got into drawing for a week, so the day's drawing for that week. Rediscovering this process has been fun, and it's definitely been fulfilling to just marvel at my work without having to check off boxes for what the thing is supposed to do.

But now, I've got the idea that I want to make a game. A game isn't a small project, or at least not as small as what I've been working on recently. I'm pretty sure my motivation for wanting to do this is entirely intrinsic: I just want to do it, I don't want to sell it, I don't care if nobody plays it. And yet, I'm still finding it pretty hard to do anything.

Firstly, I don't have much time during the week to work on this game; I also work full-time. Second, when I do have time, I find it pretty hard to make any progress. A game isn't small, so I feel the need to plan stuff out, even just roughly. Which is what I do at work. So then it just feels like work. I tire of planning pretty quickly, and I think I've come to conflate this tired feeling with burnout at work, so I just stop and scroll on the internet.

Sometimes I'm able to focus and just write something without planning. It's nice when I'm able to do this, but inevitably I start thinking about the bigger picture... "Okay, the protagonist feels X because the theme I'm going for is Y, which..." and then the planning starts again.

Anyway, this is all a very long way to say that I struggle with creating for creation's sake, partly because budgeting my time as a full-time laborer is hard, and partly because I have trouble seeing the trees for the forest, so to speak. Have you all ever had to deal with this? I'm curious to know what's helped you, or just your thoughts on the topic/my situation.

Cheers!

Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

I'm planning to wind down our server at tildes.nore.gg. Over the last couple of months playtime has dropped significantly. Servers don't last forever unless you have a sufficient stream of new players.

I'll keep the lights on for the rest of the month. After that point the map will be released as a download.

March 2024's Humble Choice is now available with the following eight Steam games.

Does anyone have experience with any of the games and, if so, would you recommend them? Is there anything in here that you're particularly excited to play?

For me it's bunny hopping. If I can't sail across a map at 100km/h in an FPS, it'll be very difficult for me to get into it. I get that I'm missing out on a lot of good games, but normal movement just feels so empty and slow.

For those who don't know what bunny hopping is, it's a mechanic in primarily FPS games where you jump repeatedly instead of walking/running. This allows you to move much faster and pull off some complex manoeuvres.

Anyway I'm curious to see if others have admittedly ridiculous requirements like this.

What's the thing that was promised, not delivered, and just really upsets you?

For me, it's "The Doors of Stone" promised by Patrick Rothfuss. Every couple of months I think about how badly I'd love to read this book and it just really makes me angry. When I first read The Name of the Wind, I was awestruck. I just freaking loved this book. The Wise Man's Fear was a wait, but when delivered, it really satisfied me. Now, it's been 13 years!! Some days I think to myself, "I'm not even going to read his stupid book when it comes out." But, I'm kidding myself. Of course I'm going to read it...if he or I don't die first.

My wife and I will be traveling to NY in early April. I already have our "nice" dinners planned at Osteria 57 in Greenwich Village and Peak NYC at Hudson Yards. If, for some reason, I should absolutely avoid these two places...please let me know.

We need to loosely plan dinner for the other two nights. These two nights shouldn't be as expensive as the two nights above :). Both of these nights we'd like to eat closer to Astoria, where we will be staying (roughly 28th and 38th). We'll be close to Richmond Hill one of these days, so would be open to eating down there as well before returning back to Astoria.

Could you suggest a great pizza place where we could sit down and have salad and pizza?

how about a traditional Indian restaurant? Not a fusion and not some place where someone tries to do something fancy. A place I can get Chicken Tikka Masala and my wife can find Chana Masala.

Some other place that isn't Indian or pizza, but is an absolute must in Astoria?

Thank you New Yorkers!

Previous submission

I am once again asking for your show recommendations for my parents! Please check the original thread for the requirements and for what has already been recommended.

Most of the previous recommendations have been watched by them, rejected by me, rejected by them or (likely) impossible due to not having portuguese subtitles or not meeting other requirements. Yellowstone is an example of a successful rec coming out of that thread while some rejections were:

• Succession: Too depressing, because everyone hates each other and there are no redeeming factors (paraphrased).
• Black books: Too goofy in a dated way (I liked it myself though).
• The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: No idea. Maybe they found it ideologically threatening? I still think it's a hell of a good show.

Sorry this is so difficult! I appreciate any help.

A mistake some people seem to have made last year was misreading "conservative-leaning" as "super conservative" based on the recommendations. We're not americans so the craziness level may be a little lower than expected despite some weird hang ups about specific things.

My biggest difficulty is still balancing finding stuff that involves varied locations and good cinematography, of the kind you might find in certain european moviemaking industries like french or italian (but also some original english language shows), and stuff that actually has portuguese subtitles. The lack of portuguese subtitles tends to exclude a lot of otherwise great recommendations. Sorry about that.

I've been thinking of throwing in some Taskmaster or something like that since they do like game shows but what we get here in Portugal is... mediocre at best.

Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

Looks like there was renewed interest in this idea as the old topic has seen some recent posts. It’s been my experience that older topics don’t tend to get a lot of attention when they resurface, so I figure we were due for a refresh.

As such, here’s round 2!

This is a thread for game recommendations, but not just any standard game recommendations.

This is a thread for game recommendations where you have a very specific thing that you're looking for.

Maybe you're looking for a certain type of experience that can't easily be summarized with genres and tags. Maybe you're looking for a game that will evoke a particular feeling that's hard to put into words.

Whatever you're looking for, share your desired specificity below, and let people try to recommend games that fit it.

(A follow-up to Game recommendations, specifically)

This is a topic for book recommendations, but not just any standard book recommendations.

This is a topic for book recommendations where you have a very specific thing that you're looking for.

Maybe you're looking for a certain type of story that can't easily be summarized with genres and tags. Maybe you're looking for a book that will evoke a particular feeling that's hard to put into words.

Whatever you're looking for, share your desired specificity below, and let people try to recommend books that fit it.

Came home today and found wet clothes in the dryer. Which was weird because earlier, I had found the same load in there wet and just thought I had forgotten to start the dryer. Low and behold, when I stood and watched it, about ten seconds after starting it, it started beeping and gave out an F01 error code.

While googling it, it seemed that the code meant the relay electronics board had failed and needed to be replaced. I thought, I can probably do that, but the board seemed to be more than $150, which is more than the callout fee on our home warranty ($125). But what we most needed was a working dryer!

While looking for the exact price and a source to order the board, I found this video describing a simple fix for a blown solder connection. I unplugged the washer, opened it up, and the board was blown in the exact same spot as in the video. I soldered a jumper in, put it back together, and lo and behold, the dryer runs!

I have an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering, even though it hasn't been my day job in a long time. So I could at least evaluate the plausibility of the fix, and I had the tools and know-how to do the soldering. So definitely not a fix for everyone.

Money is tight right now, so fixing the dryer for $0 (and in half an hour no less) was big for us. Sometimes you need a win, and today was a day I really needed one!

What fixes around the house are you most proud of, saved you some money, or kept a piece of equipment out of the landfill?

Time Period: 2010 - 2014

Choose one album
that you love
that you think deserves more love

Tell us what it is, and why.

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