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Messages - Ghills

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211
Aww dang. I was just about to go back on my forfeit and had started playing again. Couldn't stop thinking about the fort over the weekend.

If you've already started, Ghills, feel free to ignore this, but I wouldn't mind taking another crack at it.

Great!  You go right ahead.  I hadn't gotten downloading anyway. I think i'm the last person on the turn list, and i'm ok with you gettting a do-over because of the save bug.

212
General Discussion / Re: if self.isCoder(): post() #Programming Thread
« on: August 21, 2016, 04:05:04 pm »
There is this program that generates sql queries (oracle).
It seems most of them end with - where rownum<=0

Is there EVER a good reason for that? Its so weird I am not even sure anymore.

Possibilities:

The coder didn't want to generate queries that could be run by someone too inexperienced to understand them.

There was an actual column 'rownum' which had some meaning,

Other han that, I've got nothing.

213
Alrighty, downloading the save.

Fyi, my medical problems are ongoing, though we may be close to a diagnosis finally. I haven't been able to keep up with the thread and I'm not going to go back to reread, or take the time to write up stuff in character, but I will play as much as I can.

I'll also be installing a tileset if there isn't one already in the save, because heck no am I going to try and figure out this fort in ascii.

214
Other Games / Re: Majesty
« on: August 16, 2016, 01:16:55 pm »
The main reason there aren't many mods yet seems to be that people don't know about the update, so interested people should spread the word.

That, and the modding update apparently hasn't spread beyond Steam. If Good Old Games doesn't get it, that's excluding a large population of people who generally prefer older games.

215
Other Games / Re: Majesty
« on: August 16, 2016, 12:58:56 pm »
I picked up HD the minute I saw it on sale. I still have my old CD copy kicking around here somewhere. The modding support is really exciting.

Woot!  I'm not on Steam but GOG has the HD version also. Hopefully they get modding support also, or the mods are just file-replacement type.

216
General Discussion / Re: Ameripol\{RK, mainiac}
« on: August 16, 2016, 12:53:30 pm »
Just trying to wrap my head around this... I saw a political ad against Clinton, that was trying to portray her as rich and out-of-touch.

Against Trump? Against the dude who declared his candidacy at the bottom of a golden escalator? Seriously?

Trump has managed to sell himself as being a political outsider, working businessman type.  I'm constantly amazed.  Even smart people are falling for it.  I have to wonder if they just aren't cynical enough?

Apparently so long as it's not coming from someone 'official' there's no need for fact-checking.

217
It could be that your symptoms were not causing significant problems when you were 10, but are now as the demands on you get tougher.  This is fairly common.  Remember, diagnoses are given in part based on how impairing they are. 

Also, psychiatric conditions are not like a missing limb, where anyone can see it.  Doctors often miss them unless they specialize in that disorder. Medicine is like any other field, doctors have specialties.  Even psychiatrists have specialties!  If the doctor you saw was not a psychiatrist trained in diagnosing learning disabilities, you could easily have been misdiagnosed.

I would get a diagnosis from someone recommended for diagnosing ADHD and learning disabilities.  Check out CHADD http://www.chadd.org/, they are huge in the US and may also have resources for other countries.  At the very least, they have good advice on managing ADHD and can give you a support network.  http://www.dodsonadhdcenter.com/ is a famous center for ADHD and may have advice.   I don't know any European doctors, sorry.

Until you get a diagnosis and medication, focus on improvements you can make to keep your life on track academically. You sound like you're still in school, so academics are what you should focus on while you have parents to manage other things.  The most important thing is note what helps you and what keeps you from being productive.  This is different for everyone, so you need to find what works for you.

Here is what worked in my family. It will not solve everything at once, but it helped me (autistic spectrum + ADHD) and my sibling (ADHD) as we stuck with it, so hopefully some of it is useful for you:

Getting enough exercise and sleep is essential. Sometimes it's not possible, but try hard.

Get help making a clean and neat space to study. Do your study there, and don't do other things there.  This is to signal your brain to focus on school work.  Bedrooms are usually a bad place, because they have all your stuff and also your bed. Very distracting.  Try to find a nice balance between not too isolated but also not right underfoot.  Home offices are good, so long as the people in there will not always be bothering you and you have room to move.

Set aside time to study, enough time to get your homework done. The time limit helps you feel motivated, and gives you an end point so that you don't have a whole night of homework stretching out in front of you like a demoralizing wasteland.  This time, and only this time, are for study and school work.  If you find you aren't getting everything done despite trying really hard and focusing for that time period, make it a bit longer until you can get everything done. Don't go over 5 hours in one day, that's just too much. Focus on being more efficient if things take that long.

If you get distracted repeatedly in a short time, get up and run around or do jumping jacks for 5 minutes - DON'T go play a game or some other entertainment.  This is to get your body stimulated and feel more energetic.  Then study again. Repeat as necessary.  Don't stop trying to study until your time is up.  After that, don't worry about it.  Keep doing this, and you will learn to focus on schoolwork in your study area, and to give your brain a rest when you are not studying.  Stressing constantly about schoolwork is very counterproductive.  In general, make sure you are getting a good amount of exercise every day so you can focus better.

Also, sometimes it helps to do things without sitting at a desk. Try solving problems while standing up.  I read most of my literature books while lying on the couch.  The point is to learn, not to look like a picture of someone learning. 

Sometimes my parents read books with me and we talked about them at dinner to help me understand.  Sometimes I just gave up and got the Cliff Notes.  Ask friends for their notes.  Ask your parents for help. Find tutors. Even people without learning disabilities do these things to help when they are struggling. You don't have to, and should not be, doing this all on your own. 

Read advice on study habits, and be prepared to do things a bit out of the ordinary.  For example, I learned algebra using number blocks and chess pawns (to represent variables) on a drawing of a balancing scale.  This worked really well, where writing out equations did not.  Once I knew it I could do the written equations, but I had such a hard time conceptualizing it until I got the scale set. I learned to draw models to solve geometry problems.  You can learn!  But maybe not in the same way as the rest of your class.

Read the textbook, even if you don't understand it, and try to summarize what it says. Repetition is key. The more times you hear or read it, the quicker it sinks in.

Take good notes in class. Needing to write everything down means no time to get distracted, and keeping up with the teacher means you have to think about what you hear and figure out the keywords. This helps you remember better than just hearing it.  Also, tell your teachers you are struggling and ask if they could give you lists of key concepts so you can see if your notes have the important points.  DON'T use this as a reason to not take notes - this is to make sure your notes are getting the important bits. 

DEFINITELY make sure you are progressing on getting a diagnosis from someone trained in diagnosing learning disabilities.  The stuff described above is a stopgap measure to help you learn. If you have ADHD, you almost certainly need medication.  Trying to manage ADHD without medication requires a lot of support and accepting that you will just not be able to do some things.  I have tried it both ways, and medication is nearly essential.  ADHD is not such a problem in kids because kids have fewer responsibilities, but untreated ADHD in adults is the cause of a lot of addiction and other issues.   You and your parents need to figure out what is going on.

All that said, learning disabilities are disabilities for a reason. Some things are just going to be very hard for you. It's crappy, but it's the way life goes.  Don't beat yourself up for not being perfect.  You don't need to get all top grades and do your chores perfectly. Do what you can, focus on your strengths and learn to make your life work for you. 

218
Life Advice / Re: So, I'm an asshole, but I'd like to be less of one
« on: August 16, 2016, 10:53:53 am »
Still trying to find ways to handle situations that  push my buttons, having very mixed success.  I do appreciate that people have taken time out from their lives to drop advice here, some of it has been very useful, other bits less so, but not everything works for everyone.

Relearning how to handle emotions is very difficult, so congratulations on your progress!  It takes years to build these habits, sometimes it takes years to manage them. :/

Have you tried walking away from a confrontation and going over it later in a different medium?   If you can consistently walk away from an argument before saying something nasty, that at least breaks the habit of going on the attack when upset.  And sometimes it's easier to deal with emotional issues when not face-to-face. 

There's no shame in saying that something is tripping your issues and you need to take a break.  This is especially true when having an argument with someone you're close to about something important.  Say you want to have a good discussion, but you just need it to happen after you've regained your cool.

EX: Right when you start feeling uncontrollably angry/whatever, take a deep breath and say "I {am getting overwhelmed/I know I'm going to say something stupid/am upset by what you just said}, can we come back to this in {pick a time}" and then disengage to write up your thoughts on whatever the argument was about before having that discussion.  This can work regardless of the topic - say your friend was making a joke that triggered your issues, you can come back in 30 minutes and calmly ask them not to make that kind of joke because it's very upsetting for you.

The concrete time frame is really important for anything more serious than an offensive joke! Pick a time that is convenient for the other person, when they are not rushed. You are making an appointment to have a discussion with someone important.  Just saying 'later' or picking a time and then not following through shows that you are not serious and this will not work.   DON'T let things simmer, that is really bad and builds resentment in you and then your emotions become stronger. But delaying until later in that day so you're not in the heat of the moment can be very helpful.

The writeup does not have to be huge.  It can just be a single sentence like "That kind of joke makes me upset because {X}".  For something more serious, like between you and your spouse, it could be a longer outline of your talking points.  It can be notes for a face-to-face talk, but sometimes it's just easier to talk about things via email/text. That really depends on the people involved, though. Getting your points on paper or screen can also help you see where you were being upsetting or nasty. I cannot tell you how many times I have done this and gone "No wonder they were upset, I said something really dumb".

Think of the later discussion like an actual meeting with an agenda, like at your job or a doctor's appointment.  Not everyone will take it seriously, and that's OK. You are doing your part to stay cool and use neutral words, that's what matters. It doesn't have to be long - just a quiet request for someone to stop doing something upsetting counts.

The cooling off time, having notes and the thinking of this like a meeting are all ways to get and keep emotional distance.  It can be disturbing for people who don't have such overwhelming feelings - in this case, say something like "I'm sorry if this seems weird, but I really want to {have a good discussion / not get mad at you / solve the issue without getting upset / stop hearing those jokes} and I want to try this approach so I don't get overwhelmed or emotional". 

219
Life Advice / Re: The Generic Computer Advice Thread
« on: August 16, 2016, 10:24:00 am »
You shouldn't really have issues with any XP-era games on modern OSs, outside of copy protection (which likely wouldn't work in a VM with an emulated optical drive anyway), and most people consider it totally ethical to crack the copy-protection on a game you own.

There are tons of XP-compatible games that don't work on any later Windows OS. It's not just copy protection, the underlying driver model and a few other systemic things changed between XP and 7.  Plus, it seems like a bunch of game-specific workarounds got pulled out of the OS.

220
Life Advice / Re: Standing up for myself does nothing
« on: August 16, 2016, 10:18:04 am »
Either I'm doing it wrong, or all the people saying to stand up for yourself are full of shit. I am very quick to call out people when they're being an asshole and nothing happens. No matter what I do, people just spit in my face and keep doing what they're doing, and I'm getting sick and tired of it. It's getting to the point where it feels like I'm getting fed a constant stream of bullshit 24/7, and there's nothing I can do.

Am I really doing it wrong? Are people just that awful?

In general, people hate being called on their behavior and will do their best to undermine you if you do it. This is especially true if they are used to being in a position of power (parent, boss, social superior).

If you want to help them change for their sake, the trick is learning how to phrase things so they believe changing is their idea. Very difficult.  Probably has no impact.

If you want the behavior to change because it's hurting you, the best way is to develop strategies of your own to mitigate the impact of their behavior.   Find ways to move out of the house or minimize the time spent with the problem person. Develop good friendships and a support network that has nothing to do with them.   Make sure your own mental and emotional health is good.  Recognize that they are being petty jackasses and trying to hurt/annoy/overpower others because of their own emotional damage.  Take care of yourself, and get out of the situation as quickly as possible.

This is not about revenge. It's not about being 'ice cold, unexpected and swift'.  It's not about them at all.  It's about you, and you doing what you need to so you can be happy, healthy and moving forward in life. 

221
Other Games / Re: Who here would refund their No Man's Sky?
« on: August 16, 2016, 09:49:53 am »
The real question is why so mhttp://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?board=4.0any people bought this in the first place, before there were even any reviews of the game......

Why do you guys buy games on launch/preorder that you know nothing about?

Because I knew enough to get excited about it.  I'm happy to encourage exploration-focused procedural generation games that use 3D graphics. Even if it's not the world's best space RPG, RTS and ship simulator all in one.

222
I pre-ordered this game but still haven't had time to play it! Argh.

223
General Discussion / Re: Webcomics thread
« on: August 16, 2016, 09:41:56 am »
Manly Guys Doing Manly Things is still going really strong, despite the creator having been hit by a car and catching a cold and getting cancer.
Regardless

Is why I love this comic.
Awh, yeah. Love how the author does her thing. Also love how she characterizes her characters. :3 Did it update lately? Because I forgot the scheduling. ;~;

It updates every week or every other week, depending on how many catastrophes have befallen the author lately.

224
General Discussion / Re: Ameripol\{RK, mainiac}
« on: August 16, 2016, 09:40:04 am »
-snippy snippy-

I... Can you provide sources for this information?  As an avid gun collector who has spent years trying to find factual, moral justification for his hobby (and mostly failed), I would be exceptional interested in actual sources.  Not to insult you or anything, but the vast majority of gun-positive hearsay I've fact-checked ended up being false or misrepresented, despite my biases, so I'm a tad mistrusting of your anecdotes.  :\

Yes, can provide non-wikipedia sources for everything. I'll PM you later today to avoid cluttering this thread any more(also need to dig up some of the links, I'm not at home atm).

Mind you, I dont think that everyone needs or should have a gun either. I have a feeling that especially short guns / handguns carried and in hands of inexperienced people(= most, as many who get a gun in US for self defense never practice using it nor practice other means of self defense) have an overall negative safety/health effect, but I still believe everyone including the weak should have the right and means to defend themselves. My own rifles are for hunting, target shooting and SHTF situations, I dont carry, although carrying isnt legal here either.

I'm not sure why you need moral justification; guns are useful, shooting is fun and many have interesting history or technology. Same goes for, say, knives or swords, vehicles and so forth. As long as you handle them responsibly and dont let them fall in wrong hands, you're one of the good guys.  :)

I'd be interested in sources too, if you don't mind.  There's so much misinformation floating around about guns in Europe vs guns in the US.

225
What's normal?

More seriously, your friend sounds very immature if they expect any group of people to all be the same.

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