Topic: The Chit-Chat Thread

@ThanosReXXX Thanks! Can't wait to share my development of this unholy warrior!

@Eel Hm, strange. I kind of assumed that either you, some of the other admins/mods, or even some of the members here would know. Ah... things like these really annoy me, because I hate open endings and/or answers being left out in the wild. Now we'll never know. I do suppose that the fact that you don't know either probably means that he wasn't banned, so he might then have left on his own accord, but as for the reason why, that will from now on always remain a rather annoying and nagging mystery...

@NintendoByNature Yeah, they might very well do that, but obviously that wouldn't be for this game. I snagged their first freebie, but even though it was okay-ish, it didn't manage to hold my attention for very long, so I would rather have had this particular game. Oh, well... Guess I'll just have to wait and find out what they come up with next. If they do, that is...

@Tyranexx Well, if you can shrug it off, then you're handling open (and rather mysterious and/or unexpected) endings better than me. I can't stand things like that. Not that we were the best of friends or anything, but besides the other usual suspects in this thread here, he was also one of the people that I had enjoyable conversations with, so I find it a bit sad regardless.

@Zuljaras You're welcome. I'm really curious to see it after it has received its paint job.

@Tyranexx On a side note: if you change your account name, all comments and other posts are simply attached to that modified profile, or rather: they actually just stay where they are. All you're doing, is changing the header they're stored under, so if you would for example send someone a reply who's name has changed without you knowing, even the old name would work to still notify him or her, because that link is attached to the new name as well.

Case in point is my old profile name, which automatically links to my current one:
https://www.nintendolife.com/users/TheRealThanos

Well, account deletion is handled by the main admin, so you'd have to ask Ant.

It's true though, if he had simply changed his name, his old name would link to his profile, and his posts would still exist.

@Eel I already beat you to that explanation: see my comment right above yours. I was already aware of that, seeing as I've previously changed my own username as well...

Huh yes. That's me confirming and agreeing with that point.

@Eel Agreeing? Ah, damn. I read "It's true" as "If true". My bad...

Oh okay then. So apparently a lot of people didn't get my joke on the Japanese sales chart last night. I figured I'd get a reply or two but I literally thought I couldn't be more obviously sarcastic. In fact, I don't really know how I could have made it more clear, so I just added in, in all caps and bold "this is sarcasm"...

How's everyone doing?

@ThanosReXXX Chit chat thread means I can't be off topic, right?

The "Mobius" trailer remind you of anything? If not guess it's just me.

@ThanosReXXX The /shrug regarding Reader was more for the reasoning of why, not a blatant dismissal. I'm gonna miss them and hope whatever their reason for leaving wasn't for drastic reasons, but...who can say?

On name changes: funnily enough I did have that detail cached somewhere in memory, but I'd forgotten about it. XD I've changed my username here a couple of times, but it's been awhile.

OMG. Some bloody fools at the board of education decided that USB memory sticks and SD cards are a "security" risk even for teachers and staff! They BOLTED PCs to the desks in the office and now they have blocked access to services like Google Drive! This means we have no way of transferring files between our own PCs and work machines. Have to make prints on the work machines or print them at home and make copies at work, but if we want to do a presentation in class we have to use out own PC - which we cannot connect to the internet at work - Or are limited to writing on the chalk board and showing pictures on paper! When I was a kid in the 90s at least they had those overhead projectors that you could write on clear paper, and print things on the clear paper to show larger on the screen that way!

This is the most heavy handed BS they have ever done. I get that they were scared by a recent news story of a teacher in another city stealing personal information, but this is beyond extreme and unneeded. It means you need to run better background checks on new hires, not gimp all existing staff!

It's like some stupid boomers want to go back to the 1960s or something!

@Heavyarms55 10 years ago, usb drive secruity was standard where I worked. My company was worried about corporate espionage, worried about the tactic of someone leaving a usb drive in the parking lot, hoping an employee sees it and plugs it into a computer to deliver malware. NFC or magnetic ID tags were needed at every door into the building. Your situation makes me wonder if new cyber threats have stepped up in addition to the story you mentioned.

Bolting down PC's sounds... odd, for sure. I keep wondering when people & business are going to start isolating from the internet for security.

@Heavyarms55 Wow. What a pain in the a**. Especially for teachers, who typically have a boatload of great lessons and PowerPoints on their USBs they can conveniently access. When I was teaching more, I used to hate printing everything out and often found a digital workaround.

No way that rule stands for long. At least I hope not for your sake.

@Heavyarms55 (Here is a naive line, meant for comedy) It's almost like computers and connectivity can pose some sort of security risk. 🤔

(and now sincere:) tech is getting nuts. I don't blame you for venting, Heavyarms55

@Woomy_NNYes But DuPont is a major chemical company right? This is a jr. high school! Making prints and presentations for class is a part of a teacher's job and we often do, or I guess I should say, did, it on our own PC at home and then brought them to work.

Further, the ban on USB and SD cards I kinda do understand to a degree - for students at least. But last week we could still use services like Google Drive just fine - so I thought, okay I can work with this. Then I came into work this morning and found nope, now that's blocked too.

I wonder if they're going to even block e-mail attachments.... It's obnoxious in the extreme!

@NotTelevision Technically, I am an assistant teacher, so I have more time personally - but other teachers are already here long after all the students go home it's annoying for me, it's a major hindrance for them.

@Woomy_NNYes Humor or not, I get it, there is a risk - but it's like, one step short of banning cars because there are bad drivers. Instead of trying to deal with the bad drivers, they want to just take away cars entirely? Instead of dealing with people who would steal data, they just make it borderline impossible to use the system.

@Heavyarms55 in 2009-ish they didn't want the "chemical company" image anymore, and sold off DuPont automotive & industrial paint and other businesses. They were making a business portfolio focused on environmental solutions, and I think pharmaceutical & agriculture focus, but I'm not with them anymore to know what's going on lately.

Well, cyber is a threat to infrastructure. At least around 2001 countries have been putting undetectable zero day malware into many facets of infrastructure. So, anywhere they can get an edge, disrupt, or collect information from rivals, they do it. China has been constantly hacking US higher ed & high tech research. But, you could be right, your situation could be a misguided reaction, with questionable effectiveness.

Better dust off those floppy disks

Nah @Eel, I want vhs tapes. I remember like 10 years ago, someone was repurposing vcr tapes for very high capacity data storage. Granted, that wouldn't be quick access to the info. I don't think it went anywhere. But the more ridiculous, the more amusing

@Woomy_NNYes Honestly I just Googled "Dupont" and went with the first result - which called it a chemical company.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely understand the need for security. Corporate espionage and cyber terrorism are very real issues. But I'm only talking about MS word and Powerpoint files for use in the classroom. For things like teaching how to say "There is a cat on the table." in English.

A better way to handle this situation would be to have students' personal information stored on a separate password protected server. The school doesn't even have that much personal info on them to my knowledge. But enough that I do agree it needs to be secured. But instead of having a system locked to the desks that blocks out "security risks" why not secure the data on a private server? Or even on another, separate server that's not connected to the internet at all!?