Participate in this week's cross thread

"story645" (story645) 03/19/2015 at 10:50 • Filed to: cross thread, open thread

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Hello Whitenoise, Hackerspace, Groupthink, Tay, ODeck, Backtalk, Oppo, and Clashtalk denizens and welcome to the weekly kinja cross thread. How are ya'll doing?

This week, I really wanna try to get this whole lets have other people hosting thing. So, I'm looking for two sorts of volunteers: people to host the thread and people to share the thread.

If you want to host the thread, please post:

week you'd like to host and preferred method of contact (twitter, slack, email)

If you're willing to share the thread out, please post:

preferred method of contact (twitter, slack, email), and which subblogs you can share to.

I'll try to compile this all into a spreadsheet I can spread around.

ETA: OMG! OMG! We have scheduled shares now! This makes everything easier. :) Thank you kinja gods!

thebigbossyboss > story645 03/19/2015 at 10:59

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Unfortunately I am not the person you seek. However I will share my life this week as it has been.

Things we are thankful for: 1) Finally seeing the slightest (just very slight) hint of light in the morning as I leave for work at 6am.

2) Got an awesome price on a piece of jewelery I have consigned.

3) It's not February!

Things we are not thankful for:

1) March 19th...was 5F this morning. D'oh!

ottermann > story645 03/19/2015 at 11:01

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St. Borg de Chupacabras ¯\_()_/¯ (  ) > story645 03/19/2015 at 11:04

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What is slack? Some new technology?

Nothing to See Here! > story645 03/19/2015 at 11:06

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I can host it on Whitenoise but I think we did Whitenoise last week.

Anyway, I keep playing COD, and I have no idea why, I'm sick of it but for some reason I go on it pretty much every single day.

After about 20 minutes of play I think "this is just so crappy" and vow not to play it the next day, but then the next day I'll go back on for 20 minutes. I don't enjoy it one bit yet continue to go on it.

Jane *is* the... blue passport > story645 03/19/2015 at 11:07

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I have to go and do useful things while it's light and dry-ish. Future-me will appreciate this, but present-me is a whiny brat today.

PlantinMoretus > story645 03/19/2015 at 11:09

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I'm not in a position to host at this time.

I am in a position to whine about the layoff/re-assignment process I've been going through. There has been weirdness.

E.g. HR sent me on a test for a skill set I never claimed to have. I did tell them at the outset that I could not do the test, but they said to do it anyway. I bombed.

Today I have a test for a job where I haven't seen the position description. I asked for it, but the HR person doesn't have it, or something? Anyway I probably won't get to see it before the test, and I have only a very general idea of what is on the test. Who knows what will happen.

Stuff like this has been going on for 6 weeks. I am burning out fast.

story645 > Nothing to See Here! 03/19/2015 at 11:10

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You can do it on whitenoise nextweek if you'd like. I just need a way to contact you...

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > story645 03/19/2015 at 11:11

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Generally "Ya'll" is less correct than "y'all", because most portions of the country using "y'all" do not pronounce "you" as "ya". Some do, and in those locales "ya'll" would be also correct.
How are me all doing? Well, picking fights over dialect contractions, mostly.

kemperboyd > PlantinMoretus 03/19/2015 at 11:11

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This saga is super weird but at least you still have a paycheck.

story645 > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 03/19/2015 at 11:12

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I think that was mostly a me still bein' sleepy sorta thing.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ottermann 03/19/2015 at 11:14

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Lass mich ein "Selfie" machen.

Lexador > story645 03/19/2015 at 11:14

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I'm preparing a conference poster and at the (almost) last minute before printing, realized my dimensions were off. Frantically resizing everything now!

Has anyone flown with a poster tube before? How did the airlines count that in terms of carry-on?

story645 > Lexador 03/19/2015 at 11:17

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I just flew with a (big plastic) poster tube in January. It was super easy, they didn't count it against me in anyway-like I still brought on the massive messenger bag and the carry on. I just had to ask a seat mate to put it against the window for take off and landing. Twas one of the american companies and I was flying domestic, but I've heard nobody cares much.

Eek, last minute size changes are one of the many reasons I like doing my posters in latex. G'luck.

PlantinMoretus > kemperboyd 03/19/2015 at 11:18

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Thank you for acknowledging that it is super weird. I think it is too unusual for most people to relate to. It is good to have an income while this is going on, but the situation is not healthy and I am really feeling it.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > story645 03/19/2015 at 11:18

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I pick fights and nitpick regardless whether I'm sleepy or not. In fact, I'm sleepy now. ADVANTAGE: ME.

Lexador > story645 03/19/2015 at 11:21

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Awesome, thanks. I look with jealousy at the people doing fabric posters, but my office has a printer I don't have to pay for, so that's what I do.

kemperboyd > PlantinMoretus 03/19/2015 at 11:24

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I;m sorry you are going through it. Job stuff sucks. I'm now sort of month to month because we have no idea if and when the woman I am covering for will be back. She's just been diagnosed with more cancer, after she thought she was through it.

redpanda > story645 03/19/2015 at 11:28

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What's up Crossthread?

I need a new laptop, as mine is like 10 years old now and maxed out on memory and still pretty slow. I'm looking for suggestions or tips for buying a new one... I really just need it for MS Office, web browsing, and maybe the occasional CD ROM game (like Sims or Command & Conquer) so I don't need a top-of the line graphics card or anything like that.

livesquiggles > story645 03/19/2015 at 11:30

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I posted this on Backtalk yesterday but want all of Kinja to see it if possible. I found it on an article about the new USB-C port. It's supposed to illustrate why USB-C is an improvement on the old design, but I find it to be be an all-encompassing metaphor for life:

PlantinMoretus > kemperboyd 03/19/2015 at 11:30

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I remember you posting about that. Very stressful! I hope that works out OK.

I have a friend overseas whose contract is extended for 3 months at a time, and could get cut altogether at any time. It is a government job in a rural area, the department has been gutted, so if she loses that job, there may not be another one to get.

This is life in the "precariat", it's global, and it's killing us!

Nothing to See Here! > story645 03/19/2015 at 11:36

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Contact for what?

redpanda > thebigbossyboss 03/19/2015 at 11:37

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It's supposed to snow tomorrow. Then it's supposed to be 60 on Saturday. Truly these are the end times.

story645 > Nothing to See Here! 03/19/2015 at 11:39

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So I can remind you that you're hosting the open thread or so that I can ask you if you've posted it or whatever else. 'tis all goes smoother when I can reach whoever is hosting.

XJDano > story645 03/19/2015 at 11:43

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This week I'm working with in 10 miles from the house / shop, which is pretty rare for construction contractors.

The job this week is an old house the was used as housing for the parish across the lot. Apparently the parking lot is not big enough and house will be demolished to make more parking on the 1/2 acre lot.

My 5 year anniversary was on St.Pattys day and my wife cooked traditional corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes for dinner than night which I am eating cold left overs of the meat today for lunch.

I did some work on my metro last week and after that reset computer and check engine light is still on. I'll have to figure out why that is. Some how I am attracted to daily driving crappy cars.

livesquiggles > story645 03/19/2015 at 11:53

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OMG! OMG! We have scheduled shares now! This makes everything easier. :) Thank you kinja gods!

Regretsalot > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 03/19/2015 at 11:56

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The proper spelling is "y-i-n-z."

Curves > story645 03/19/2015 at 12:01

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Anyone else finding that they are commenting less on the main pages due to all the cross blog posting going on now? It seems you cannot say anything (even non serious/non controversial stuff) without being attacked by people from other blogs to which it was cross posted. Just this week, I have written comments on the Giz front page posts then decided against it and just deleted them cause I am sick of all the flamage.

k2b: da man trynta steal mah bloggy!!!!!!! > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 03/19/2015 at 12:02

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Great, but where do you stand on you'uns?

k2b: da man trynta steal mah bloggy!!!!!!! > PlantinMoretus 03/19/2015 at 12:06

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THAT SUCKS. I have worked for places that cut corners and tried to consolidate jobs that didn't go together. It is the height of stupid and pointless and it always keeps you worried that you'll get cut next.

What I'm saying is, I hope you get lucky and a better job somewhere else just falls in your lap.

k2b: da man trynta steal mah bloggy!!!!!!! > redpanda 03/19/2015 at 12:07

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Want a ' noise share?

k2b: da man trynta steal mah bloggy!!!!!!! > Jane *is* the... blue passport 03/19/2015 at 12:07

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You say "brat" like it's a bad thing.

... > story645 03/19/2015 at 12:08

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HULLO

I am going to schedule a massage at the gym, that's how I'm feeling. 

And I volunteer to host on either Backtalk or Hackerspace at any point over the next few months?

Twitter would be best, I suppose, though if I'm not there, my gmail is the same as my Twitter handle.

Nothing to See Here! > story645 03/19/2015 at 12:12

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Sorry, this is a bit awkward, but I'm moving to a new account just as we're discussing this.

If you want me to do it then I could schedule it, I'll come back later though, right now trying to sort out this new account.

story645 > ... 03/19/2015 at 12:16

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Just set a date please. I don't like randomly pestering people to host.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > k2b: da man trynta steal mah bloggy!!!!!!! 03/19/2015 at 12:16

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Probably correctly spelled as you have it (with a partial stop between "you" and "uns") or spelled "yinz" as PAUC indicates for some localities - no longer a proper contraction, more a neologism based on one: c.f. "goodbye", "adios", "drat", "zounds", and so on.

... > Lexador 03/19/2015 at 12:17

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it's like a suit jacket. In fact, when they realized there were 15 of us with poster tubes, they collected them as we entered and stored them in the suit jacket closet in first class. You can ask them if they'll do that for you.

Also, poster tube: fedex or better yet, your local art supply store for a collapsible one with strap for $20 if you don't have one already.

... > story645 03/19/2015 at 12:19

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oh um next Friday? I'm on my phone so I can't load all the comments to see if it has been picked.

redpanda > k2b: da man trynta steal mah bloggy!!!!!!! 03/19/2015 at 12:20

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Yeah that would be great!

story645 > ... 03/19/2015 at 12:35

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Awesome! And nope, nobody signed up yet, and you mean next Thursday.

Unimplied > redpanda 03/19/2015 at 12:41

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another thing for consideration: how big / is weight a factor?

like will you be lugging it around all the time? or just sitting on your desk?

Unimplied > story645 03/19/2015 at 12:42

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Hello cross thread! I've missed you all. I've been tied down most thursdays/fridays these days with all-day meetings.

It's horrible.

...

Anyway:

How have you all been? What's new?

... > story645 03/19/2015 at 12:56

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ack, yes, sorry. I'm doing the Hackerspace open thread tomorrow. I'll schedule the cross-thread on Backtalk momentarily. So general format is a video?

redpanda > Unimplied 03/19/2015 at 12:56

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Generally it would just be sitting on my desk, and I tend to like a bigger screen anyway. I do definitely want a laptop over a full desktop setup because I'll occasionally bring it with me if I go out of town.

Unimplied > redpanda 03/19/2015 at 12:59

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Any particular price range?

Lenovo makes some nice laptops these days, and has some cool convertible ones if that's your cup of tea.

story645 > ... 03/19/2015 at 13:04

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I got into the habit of including a lego video, but 'tis super whatever floats your both.

... > story645 03/19/2015 at 13:12

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Ok, I made one with a video. It's at the top of scheduled posts on Backtalk, if you want to go ahead and schedule those shares.

story645 > ... 03/19/2015 at 13:17

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I'm not a backtalk mod, so I can't see the post until it gets published. When do you have it scheduled for though so that I can share it out then?

... > story645 03/19/2015 at 13:20

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Wait aren't you a Backtalk author? Because [domain]/private/drafts will totally allow you to see scheduled posts on any Kinja for which you have authorship. This is how Liveschedules and I have conversations on Friday open threads before they're actually public. Maybe I should write a Hackerspace post about that.

... > story645 03/19/2015 at 13:20

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oh and I think I scheduled it for 7am on Thursday.

story645 > ... 03/19/2015 at 13:27

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Yes, I am an author and no I thought it was restricted to mods. Thanks, will schedule it out for shares then. Thanks! And 7AM may be a bit on the early side...

... > story645 03/19/2015 at 13:34

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9 AM?

Owl is lost > story645 03/19/2015 at 14:05

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Scheduled shares?? I've dreamed of this day!

Jane *is* the... blue passport > k2b: da man trynta steal mah bloggy!!!!!!! 03/19/2015 at 14:07

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This brat's dinner still isn't ready, though I can't tell if the faint singed smell is some overcooked spices or the actual crockpot electrics. Eep.

k2b: da man trynta steal mah bloggy!!!!!!! > redpanda 03/19/2015 at 14:24

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I think I did it but Kinja's being weird.

k2b: da man trynta steal mah bloggy!!!!!!! > Jane *is* the... blue passport 03/19/2015 at 14:27

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I'm such a pyrophobe I can't even leave the crock pot while I go to work like millions of other people feel safe doing. Don't feel bad about it if it makes you nervous.

If all else fails, maybe this warrants takeout?

k2b: da man trynta steal mah bloggy!!!!!!! > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 03/19/2015 at 14:29

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Good to know. Okay, toodles! :)

Jane *is* the... blue passport > k2b: da man trynta steal mah bloggy!!!!!!! 03/19/2015 at 14:30

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Nobody delivers out here so I'd have to drive :O :O

It may be worth it...

k2b: da man trynta steal mah bloggy!!!!!!! > Jane *is* the... blue passport 03/19/2015 at 14:34

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Hey, do what you gotta do...

livesquiggles > Owl is lost 03/19/2015 at 14:39

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Me too! Never thought it would happen because as useful as it would've been for us here it seemed like a niche feature. My guess is that the editorial staff demanded this now that such a large volume of posts on the main blogs are shared posts from the newly created sub-blogs.

Jane *is* the... blue passport > k2b: da man trynta steal mah bloggy!!!!!!! 03/19/2015 at 14:44

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I found two rashers of bacon... I'll try those first.

Really f*cking hungry though

Owl is lost > livesquiggles 03/19/2015 at 14:47

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There've been plenty of times I think an article would be great on another sub but the timing isn't right for what that sub has on its page at the time. I often wish I could schedule something to share much later.

k2b: da man trynta steal mah bloggy!!!!!!! > Jane *is* the... blue passport 03/19/2015 at 14:48

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What a wonderful discovery. :)

umataro42 > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 03/19/2015 at 15:04

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I've always spelled it y'all, but I've seen my cousin who actually is from the south and says it normally spell it as you'll.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > umataro42 03/19/2015 at 15:05

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...which is a different contraction altogether. Maybe he/she's being sabotaged by muscle memory or spellcheck? Alternately, he/she cannot into contractions.

livesquiggles > Owl is lost 03/19/2015 at 15:08

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Ooooh. I have that problem with the Hackerspace Twitter account, which has something like 6000 followers and would be a useful tool for directing traffic to posts if it weren't so sporadically maintained. I'm a night owl ( hoooo ), and distracted during the day, so I find myself wanting to tweet articles for the benefit of the people who wrote them at hours that would not benefit them at all.

livesquiggles > ... 03/19/2015 at 15:16

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I never remember the draft of the URL .... URL of the draft page. I should've backspaced and rewrote that last sentence, but I AM TIRED> No, I'm not going to turn the > into a period either. What was I saying. Oh yes, I bookmarked the draft page because you referred to it so often. I hadn't even been aware of its existence until you mentioned it the first time.

umataro42 > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 03/19/2015 at 15:17

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well, it's a contraction of a pronunciation based on an accent so I'd say anything goes

... > livesquiggles 03/19/2015 at 15:25

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check your DMs?

redpanda > Unimplied 03/19/2015 at 15:27

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I don't really have a reference point for price other than some preliminary browsing on best buy. I'd say I'd be comfortable in the $600 range but could afford to pay more if I could reasonably expect it to last me another 10 years. I've been dismissing convertibles outright but maybe I shouldn't - I need to start adapting now that it's the future :).

livesquiggles > Unimplied 03/19/2015 at 16:38

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livesquiggles > livesquiggles 03/19/2015 at 16:49

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livesquiggles > livesquiggles 03/19/2015 at 16:53

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umataro42 > Curves 03/19/2015 at 16:56

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I haven't been commenting less, but I do feel the cross-posting is getting out of hand. 2-3 stories when there's intersecting interests seems fine, but lately it seems like half a mainpages' posts are from another mainpage. I've also noticed there's more sharing from a mainpage to a sub-blog, which I also think it getting to be too much. If it's someone from the sub-blog sharing it, that's fine but when it's the author of the mainpage article I feel like they're overdoing it.

Organized Chaos > redpanda 03/19/2015 at 17:47

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I got a new laptop last year. Nothing spectacular, just a Dell Inspiron that was $350-400. I convinced myself that I wanted a touch screen and since I've had it, I've barely used the touch. I discovered that I'd just rather use a laptop as a laptop.

I don't really have a desire for a 2-in-1 (convertible). Especially the ones like this...

Unless I'm missing something, the screen flips over to the back, then the keyboard becomes the bottom as you use it in tablet form. I would not want to put the keyboard through that much possible abuse. They do make some where the screen flips around in such a way that it covers the keyboard. I'd think those would be better.

Unimplied > livesquiggles 03/19/2015 at 19:50

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you are still the greatest

livesquiggles > Unimplied 03/20/2015 at 03:49

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Are you on the Twitters? I sometimes post doodles there. You can find me @livekettles and it is a verified account and Justin Bieber follows me.

Unimplied > livesquiggles 03/20/2015 at 07:53

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...

My god.

You've got more power than, like, the pope. I'll follow you when my phone twitter magically decides it likes me and loads the follow.

Zeust the Mepsuan > story645 03/20/2015 at 15:43

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Wait, there's a Kinja Slack now? That's totally rad! Slack totally kicks email's butt, I'm quite fond of it. Even though it's really just IM+IRC combined in a clever way with a nice frontend when you really think about it. I guess the future is less about new technology and more about using existing technology in a smart way.

If you add me you can Slack me when you want me to host (I'm willing to host and don't care much when, though I'd like to know 2-3 days in advance) and I can Slack the sharers. I'll be posting on Whitenoise.

Also, I suppose you wouldn't know how copyrighted Dropbox's faceholder is? I mean I'd like to use it as an avatar across the internet but I'm unsure if it'll be permitted.

Zeust the Mepsuan > livesquiggles 03/20/2015 at 15:44

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Zeust the Mepsuan > redpanda 03/20/2015 at 16:09

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I guess you gotta ask yourself the question whether you want a $300 laptop that'll last you 3 years or a $1000 laptop that'll last you 10 years. Though I'm admittedly not sure those numbers are even remotely accurate, they're just wild estimations not based on much, and the real situation might be highly favourable to one or the other. Also if you go expensive/long-term you might want to pay particular attention to repairability, and to the replaceability and upgradeability of parts.

Also, do you know what's the bottleneck of your current laptop? If it's the CPU or RAM there's not much you can do about it and you need a new laptop, but if it's the HDD you might well be able to get a few years extra out of your current laptop by building in an SSD.

Zeust the Mepsuan > redpanda 03/20/2015 at 16:16

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Current convertibles are still too heavy to comfortably use as a tablet. They'll get lighter over time, in fact I think the recently launched Intel Core M could play a big role in this, but right now convertibles are still kind of a gimmick that you probably won't end up using as anything but a laptop. Also "mostly on my desk" doesn't exactly sound like the use case for a convertible, but then again maybe you just never tried anything else because you never had anything portable enough for that to be comfortable, so maybe your use case could change once you get something that enables it. This is probably something you can judge better for yourself than I can.

story645 > Zeust the Mepsuan 03/20/2015 at 18:15

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I guess the future is less about new technology and more about using existing technology in a smart way.

Yup. Like that's pretty much the NYC startup scene-software for niche markets.

And I dunno if there's a kinja slack, but hackerspace has it's slack channel (and lifehacker uses it for their chat). I don't understand slack too well.

And sorry, dunno the dropbox copyright thingy.

livesquiggles > Zeust the Mepsuan 03/21/2015 at 08:08

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redpanda > Zeust the Mepsuan 03/21/2015 at 09:35

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Thanks!

I think you're right; my goal was to get a laptop to be my kind of workhorse computer for stuff that would be hard/annoying to accomplish on a tablet, so the convertible would probably be a step back from what I need.

Pretty sure my issue now is with RAM, which I've already upgraded as far as I can.

I've got some friends who can to help me look around, but I'm fairly resistant to change and they're people who would try to talk me into that new hot technology that has a 50% chance of being obsolete in 3 years, so I'm just trying to sort out what I actually need.