TheFireTheft's recent activity

  1. Comment on I hate alcohol. Totally hate it. in ~talk

    TheFireTheft
    Link Parent
    Respectfully, a response of "Meh" to someone else's opinion on alcohol, whether or not it's a "cry for help" or simply an opinion that's different than yours, is dismissive at best. Condescending...

    Respectfully, a response of "Meh" to someone else's opinion on alcohol, whether or not it's a "cry for help" or simply an opinion that's different than yours, is dismissive at best. Condescending is probably a better adjective.

    I can relate to many of the OP's points to a much less severe level, but they still mostly ring true to me. Everyone's experience with alcohol will be different, but we objectively know of alcohol-related illness, physical abuse, automobile accidents/deaths, etc. that are directly caused by alcohol.

    Addiction is multi-faceted and alcoholism can take hold even in the most "immune" of individuals. Of course the people involved should be blamed for their direct actions, but there's a bigger picture -- alcohol -- which is systemically making said direct actions more likely to occur.

    20 votes

  2. Comment on Any advice for dealing with grief from a traumatic incident in ~life

    TheFireTheft
    Link
    Having a similar sort of unexpected loss/trauma myself, here's what helped me: As others have said, seek out a professional sooner than later. You will likely spend many sessions with them. You...

    Having a similar sort of unexpected loss/trauma myself, here's what helped me:

    1. As others have said, seek out a professional sooner than later. You will likely spend many sessions with them. You should eventually see progress (*see #2), and hopefully, there will come a time when you and the therapist are both struggling to find things to talk about -- which means their job is done.
    2. Not all therapists are equal and some are better than others. I have had experiences on both ends of the spectrum. Follow your gut.
    3. What also really helped me was keeping a journal, which was a sort of self-therapy session. I would allow myself to start writing about an easy topic ("something fun I remember about ____") and it was always amazing how my brain would take the writing into different, unexplored directions. When you're journaling, you shouldn't be afraid to let your fingers type out uncomfortable things. Let your brain and your fingers do the work, and you'll be amazed with what you discover about yourself (or your trauma).
    4. Go at your own pace. Don't rush it, but more importantly, DON'T let yourself repress it.

    You got this.

    3 votes

  3. Comment on What game do you consider an unconventional masterpiece? in ~games

    TheFireTheft
    Link Parent
    I'll take it a step further and submit the original Tribes (not to steal your thunder... Tribes 2 was awesome). Many of the features that were built into Tribes 2 were actually...

    I'll take it a step further and submit the original Tribes (not to steal your thunder... Tribes 2 was awesome).

    Many of the features that were built into Tribes 2 were actually organic/unintentional products of the original Tribes. For example, "skiing" (picking up speed by running/jumping downhill to launch yourself further) was not built into the original game. Something with the physics engine made it so that if you jumped down a hill with the right timing, your speed would pick up. There was an almost mandatory mod that would ski for you by just holding down the spacebar.

    For an added bonus, once you ski down a hill and back up the other side, you aim your disk launcher at the ground, jump, and fire away to launch yourself into the sky -- hopefully aimed directly at the opponent's flag off in the distance so you can sweep in and grab it without much resistance.

    If you were competitive, you would actually have to learn all of the various routes for each map. Ski down this big hill, up that little crest right there, disk jump, aim yourself to the right of the base, land in this little valley and ski down and up, launch across the top of the base, grab the flag, and hit the return route before you get blown to shit. There was a mod that would time your flag capture attempts so you could practice before a big match.

    The original concept of dueling was just two people, standing decently far apart from each other, behind the Raindance base. One would chuck a grenade, and when it explodes, game on!

    You were judged by your ability to MA (mid-air shot) with the disk launcher. That was pretty much key to (1) winning duels, and, more importantly (2) getting invited into one of the big clans such as 5150. Once you were part of the clan, you were typically expected to participate in CTF matches/tournaments against rivals and specialize in a position (capper, sniper, etc.)

    If I recall correctly, some other things that weren't built into the game were proper loadouts (light, medium, heavy) or custom HUDs/crosshairs. The modding community for the original Tribes was huge and made the game better than intended.

    Man, Tribes was so unique compared to ALL other FPS games at the time. I would argue it's partly because of the X-Y-Z gameplay (jetpack), but I think a big part of it was all of these little unintentional gameplay side effects that just became core to the game. I'm not sure the "feel" of Tribes gameplay has been reproduced since Tribes 2 -- which was essentially just a better, modernized version of Tribes with many of the "unintentional" features built in.

    Also, Shazbot.

    9 votes

  4. Comment on Let's build a playlist! in ~music

    TheFireTheft
    Link Parent
    I think it has pretty much stalled out at this point. My plan is to do a sort of a follow-up post in a few weeks (after we've all had a chance to drink enough songs from this firehose) to find out...

    I think it has pretty much stalled out at this point. My plan is to do a sort of a follow-up post in a few weeks (after we've all had a chance to drink enough songs from this firehose) to find out what sort of surprises or new music people discovered. After that... who knows? Maybe we'll do a reboot in the future with different rules to ensure a different sound?

    1 vote

  5. Comment on Let's build a playlist! in ~music

  6. Comment on Let's build a playlist! in ~music

    TheFireTheft
    Link Parent
    Added, although I'm going to blame you when I have Christmas music stuck in my head in the middle of the summertime.

    Added, although I'm going to blame you when I have Christmas music stuck in my head in the middle of the summertime.

  7. Comment on Let's build a playlist! in ~music

  8. Comment on Let's build a playlist! in ~music

  9. Comment on California’s largest wildfire explodes in size as fires rage across US West in ~enviro

    TheFireTheft
    Link Parent
    American of 40 years here and this is the first I’m hearing of this. Are you saying Americans believe that catching stuff on fire with malicious intent is part of our ethos? Sure, we may love our...

    American of 40 years here and this is the first I’m hearing of this. Are you saying Americans believe that catching stuff on fire with malicious intent is part of our ethos?

    Sure, we may love our fireworks and campfires with a drunken guy playing Wonderwall on guitar, but I can’t say I’ve ever met a living, breathing arsonist.

    10 votes

  10. Comment on Seeking advice on untangling the hornet's nest that is my business's website in ~comp

    TheFireTheft
    Link Parent
    Sorry, I should have mentioned that everything is in Git and the codebase is mostly configured for self-hosting in dev environments (e.g. separate .env to keep out secrets, database fixtures, etc.)

    Sorry, I should have mentioned that everything is in Git and the codebase is mostly configured for self-hosting in dev environments (e.g. separate .env to keep out secrets, database fixtures, etc.)

    5 votes

  11. Seeking advice on untangling the hornet's nest that is my business's website

    ~comp Ask (advice)
    I'm in a decade-long predicament related to the management of a somewhat complex website for my publishing business, and I'd appreciate your advice. For context: I joined the company as an...

    I'm in a decade-long predicament related to the management of a somewhat complex website for my publishing business, and I'd appreciate your advice. For context:

    1. I joined the company as an original founder about 15 years ago. My initial roles mostly dealt with accounting, finance, sales, account management, etc. -- really, anything and everything I could help out with. I offered to take ownership of our website since I had a fair amount of web design and programming experience.
    2. The original version of our website was a patchwork of PHP scripts from back in the days before Composer. I was inexperienced and didn't know anything about frameworks, etc. so I just started adding code.
    3. Over the years, I built homebrew versions of user authentication, a backend (CMS, CRM, etc.), and our front-facing website (full-stack, from cloud hosting to CSS and everything in between). As the story goes, it became a spaghetti code mess that was only maintainable by me.
    4. Realizing that I'd created a mess, my next long-term project was to slowly start transitioning the entire backend over to the Symfony framework, including many/most of the homebuilt components such as auth. This probably took 5 years in earnest. This way, I could at least begin to have conversations about getting outside help.
    5. The other founder passed away unexpectedly, and I've found myself not having enough time to dedicate to the website. I can work on it here and there and patch it up when things break, but my fear is that we're going to become stale.
    6. I've had several conversations with individuals and web development companies in various capacities over the years. These conversations ranged from "sure, I can help out with front-end stuff" to "we would like to rebuild your website from scratch using (insert popular CMS) and then manage it for the low cost of (insert high cost)".

    Right now, all of the coding goes through me because it's the cheapest option (plus all of the context above). I'd like to explore delegating or outsourcing it again, but I don't know where the happy medium is as far as what needs to stay in-house.

    Just to give an idea of the complexity, as it goes well beyond what you would think a publisher needs, here are some of the features:

    • User auth/database with tens of thousands of users
    • Single sign-on that connects those users to several other platforms seamlessly
    • Content authoring
    • Several "microsite" type pages on the front end that require their own CSS/JS needs
    • Some unique features that were built because we couldn't find suitable alternatives, such as a webinar player that automatically generates certificates and stores them for the user, watermarked PDF downloads to include user information (i.e. to prevent piracy), etc.
    • CSS from the Bootstrap 3 era that has been modified and bolted onto over the years
    • Jquery stuff from way back in the day
    • and on, and on, and on

    To do things right, I would think that I need a server admin, a Symfony/PHP expert, and a front-end expert. But we're talking about what - hundreds of thousands of dollars per year? We can't afford that.

    In my mind, an ideal situation looks like this:

    • I am still able to see, modify, and keep control of our codebase (Git)
    • Hosting is managed. This is where my second biggest* fear lies, in that I know enough server admin to be dangerous, but I lose sleep knowing that an intrusion is inevitable and there are smarter people than me that can help prevent one.
    • I can assign out projects (e.g. we want to upgrade to PHP ## and Symfony ##, we want to redesign a page/template/etc., we want to implement SAML and connect it to another platform, etc.)

    *My biggest fear is that, since I hold the keys to everything related to this website, if I am unavailable (or get hit by a bus) then I leave the business in a REALLY bad place.

    Can anyone offer any advice on navigating this hornet's nest?

    11 votes

  12. Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp

    TheFireTheft
    Link
    I have two esoteric projects that I work on back and forth. Right now I'm in between them and considering which one I should pick back up. I have a sorta-working hobby OS that is designed to...

    I have two esoteric projects that I work on back and forth. Right now I'm in between them and considering which one I should pick back up.

    1. I have a sorta-working hobby OS that is designed to target my retrocomputers (mid-90s to early 2000s era). I don't really have an end game, other than that I'd like to be able to have it boot on my 386 and have some sort of functionality, e.g. keeping a, journal, text-based games, etc.

    2. I have a MUD that I decided to finally pull the trigger on and make somewhat public. It is listed on a MUD listing website and people can actually register and play, but it's nowhere near complete. So, I soft-launched it, and then I got sidetracked. Maybe I'll put this one back at the top of the priority list...

    7 votes

  13. Comment on Non-parents give crappy parenting advice in ~life

    TheFireTheft
    Link
    On a related note, I often struggle with parents from older generations who say things like, "When you were a little kid, I would have never let you get away with that" (from my mother) or "I'm...

    On a related note, I often struggle with parents from older generations who say things like, "When you were a little kid, I would have never let you get away with that" (from my mother) or "I'm not teaching you how to be a parent and you're doing a good job, but back in my day [TM], I would've received a whoopin' for that." (from an older colleague).

    It's a similar sort of "parenting from afar" to what this article talks about because I can guaran-damn-tee that my mother would, in fact, let me get away with a lot of things. It's very easy to preach to someone in the form of your ideal self instead of your actual self. And our memories are not that great, unfortunately.

    The problem is that, even if you consciously try to ignore or rationalize these types of remarks, they still have some sort of subtle effect that is probably adjacent to peer pressure.

    Parenting is incredibly challenging and there is no singular way to do it correctly.

    5 votes

  14. Comment on Let's build a playlist! in ~music

    TheFireTheft
    Link Parent
    Thanks for doing this. I updated the original post with your link. FYI, there are about 15 new songs that have been added since then.

    Thanks for doing this. I updated the original post with your link. FYI, there are about 15 new songs that have been added since then.

    1 vote

  15. Comment on Let's build a playlist! in ~music

  16. Comment on Let's build a playlist! in ~music

  17. Comment on Let's build a playlist! in ~music

  18. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    TheFireTheft
    Link
    I finally got to sit down and start playing the Elden Ring DLC in earnest, and it has occupied pretty much all of my rare free time since then. I'm choosing to play it completely blind, which is...

    I finally got to sit down and start playing the Elden Ring DLC in earnest, and it has occupied pretty much all of my rare free time since then.

    I'm choosing to play it completely blind, which is somewhat frustrating because where I'm supposed to go next is NOT. INTUITIVE. AT. ALL. Also, I have absolutely 0% of an idea as to what's going on with the story. I'm going to try to beat the whole thing and then go back and do a deep dive into the lore. Right now, I'm just going around, killing these mean-looking bosses and being assisted by people that I think are supposed to be on my team, without a clue what I'm doing.

    Biggest pro would be that it's more of the same ole' Elden Ring, which I've already played through 3 or 4 times. Newer and cooler weapons and gear, more vile bosses, a huge new world to explore, etc.

    Biggest con would be what I've stated already: I really have NO clue what the DLC is about and everything is very hidden. For example, how are people even supposed to know to go touch Miquella's cocoon hand to even get into the DLC? Why are we transported to a completely different realm by touching said hand?

    I'm sure I'll find the answers once I go back through the lore deep-dive. I'm certain I won't find the answers prior to that though, because that's The Elden Ring Way.

    2 votes

  19. Comment on Let's build a playlist! in ~music

    TheFireTheft
    Link Parent
    Added! I don't have or use Apple Music, but let me know if you end up putting a playlist together and I'll add the link to the original post.

    Added!

    I don't have or use Apple Music, but let me know if you end up putting a playlist together and I'll add the link to the original post.

  20. Comment on Let's build a playlist! in ~music