And then there's this... when you take a subforum that’s supposed to be a level playing field where everyone actually gets a say, and turn it into some private little clique with untouchable sacred cows that just exist to lecture people...
The whole thing with the favoritism and the bans makes zero sense to me—honestly, if you can't handle the vibe, don't open the thread and just walk away. Maybe it should've been more of a statement... 🤔
Ashley Vaughn79 said:If it matters, I really doubt anyone actually gets four hugs every day. 😁
I'm not saying it's impossible... I just think people who actually have the chance to hug others daily often forget about it.
What is your actual relationship with this girl, and why were you trying to hug her? 😁 Maybe it sounds like a silly question, but it really isn't. 😁
If you aren't hitting that four-times-a-day mark, you might as well not exist.😳.
I mean, I'm sure it happens—especially if you're living with someone. But if you don't live together? Yeah, probably not happening, since most people aren't seeing each other every twenty-four hours.
For me personally, the main hurdle would be not wanting to come off as "too clingy"—plus, I've always been a little awkward when it comes to physical affection.😳
Walter Davis said:Then you're toast. You can't hug a ghost, no matter how hard you try.
That would actually clear up a lot of things 😳
Ashley Cook5 said:I actually used to have a friend, he’s living in Chicago now (I think I mentioned him before), who had this same habit of hugging trees; he was particularly fond of white pines.
If that were true, most of us on this forum would have kicked the bucket a long time ago.
But hey, that would explain this whole mess right here... we aren't even really here, 😲
Here is an interesting article about hugging: -------- Psychologists suggest that getting five or six hugs a day can actually make your life longer and better. This idea was championed back in 1982 by American priest Kevin Zaborney, who designated this day as international hug day. The healing power of a hug isn't just talk, either. Psychotherapist Virginia Satir famously claimed that humans need at least four hugs a day just to survive. She went on to say we need eight hugs daily to maintain ourselves, and twelve to truly thrive. Even world-renowned psychologist Jack Canfield includes hugging in his theories, noting it's healthy, completely natural, and practically perfect. The breakdown is: • 4 hugs to survive • 8 hugs to maintain • 12 hugs to thrive.
Types of hugs:
The Bear Hug - One arm goes over the shoulder and the other around the waist, with both people reciprocating the same way. You make eye contact. It’s a firm hug, but not suffocating. In a romantic context, the guy might even lift the girl off the ground. Message: “You’re awesome!” or “I’ve got your back.”
The "A" Hug - Bodies lean toward each other, using both arms—one over the shoulder and one near the armpit—with faces pressed close so both people look in the same direction. In some parts of the world (not really common here in the US), this quick hug serves as a standard greeting.
The "I Want You Big Time" Hug - Two people wrap their arms tightly around each other—man holds the woman's waist while she wraps her arms around his neck. Torsos touch, legs intertwine, and feet brush.
The Patting Hug - A two-armed hug where you pat the other person with one hand. It basically means: “I like you, but this is strictly platonic.”
The One-Armed Hug - A quick side-hug using just the right arm. Typical among men when the message is: “We're buddies, but we aren't that close.”
The No-Chest Hug - Contact is limited to hands and shoulders, with nothing below that level. The rest of the bodies stay about 1.5 to 2 feet apart. Common among women meeting female colleagues they are friendly with but aren't particularly close to.
The Cheek Hug - A gentle hug, standing or sitting, where cheeks prominently touch while a hand rests on the side of the face. Meaning: “I’m sorry you’re feeling down.”
The Housework Hug - Approaching someone from behind while they are busy with chores and wrapping both arms around their waist, crossing your own arms. The "Guess Who" Hug - Approaching from behind and gently covering the person's eyes with both hands, pressing your chest against their back.
The Forehead Hug - Hands go on the other person's shoulders, and foreheads are rested against each other.
The "Heart" Hug - Each person reaches around the other with one arm under the armpit and the other over the shoulder, resting fingers on the back of the neck.
The Side Hug - Two people standing side-by-side, each using one arm. Good for passing the time while waiting in line.
The "Top of Head" Hug - A standing person hugs a seated person with both arms, enveloping their head or neck, with one side of the face touching the back of the head. Supposedly good for fighting depression. ---------
How often do you hug, and which style do you use most? 🍿
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At this rate, I’m pretty sure I’m already dead—maybe just a poltergeist hanging around at best...
I honestly can't remember if I've even hit a total of 100 hugs in my entire life, let alone managed to squeeze in 4 before breakfast...
I could just choose not to play at all—which would result in the exact same outcome: nothing.😁
So far, I've managed to keep this last account clean—never touched it. It would suck big time if I actually lost, though... I'd be breaking my own word, and then what? What's the point then? 😲
About 8 or 9 years ago, I made this big, dramatic vow that I’d never post an ad on this forum again—but hey, life happens, and about a month ago, I finally caved and broke my own rule...
So, yeah, let me just make a formal, solemn declaration right here and now: there is absolutely zero chance I’m ever hitting that Powerball jackpot. 😳
Ashley Vaughn79 said:May 19th. Do you know anyone who has undergone a drastic change in character or behavior, almost as if they became a completely different person?
Actually, I do know someone like that.
A few years back, I worked with a girl... she was quiet, timid, and you could tell just by her face and body language how insecure she was, though she was genuinely kind. No makeup, nothing colorful in her wardrobe... she was always in black.
And then it happened... I'm not even sure exactly what triggered it. 😁 She worked on herself and changed over those couple of years we were friends... but then that change went way too far. From an insecure, shy girl, she suddenly became incredibly self-centered and—frankly—arrogant. 😕
One sunny day, we were sitting in Central Park when a plus-sized woman walked past us. And this girl, not even five or six seconds in, goes "I’d be too embarrassed to wear white pants, but look at how much butt she has."
Man, if I didn't nearly fall over right then, I never would have. 🤣
I told her she didn't know anything about the woman who just passed us, and that maybe just a few weeks ago that woman had a much bigger butt and might actually be really attractive now. I mean, you can't really know. You shouldn't talk about random people passing by like that. It's just ugly.
And honestly... I kept thinking about that girl for a long time afterward and how things turned out that way. From being quiet and unsure to becoming so (almost) toxic and conceited.
That was my example and the first person I thought of for this question. Feel free to share yours; I bet most of us will associate this question with someone in our own circles. 🙂
Thanks to anonymous 🙂 for the suggestion.
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Did you actually know everything she was going through? If you say she was withdrawn, my guess is she just wasn't talking about her private life. It’s incredibly easy for someone to reach a breaking point where they just stop giving a damn about being "polite" or "classy."
About 10 or 11 years ago, I was much more introverted, naive, quiet, and laid back myself. Since then, I've changed—not necessarily for the better, mind you. For instance, now I'm pretty cynical and I generally have a much darker outlook on life and people in general...
It’s a complicated question, for a bunch of different reasons. If you’re looking for a spot where you could actually get eyes on a case in person, I’m thinking places like Best Buy or maybe Expedia—though if you go to the flagship Expedia in New York City, that’s probably your best bet since they have the massive floor space. You could also try ADP, Micron, or Intel. Basically, you need the big-box retailers that actually bother having an exhibition area. The smaller shops usually just operate on a "order it and pick it up later" basis, or they only stock the most popular stuff.
And honestly, returns at physical stores are a total minefield. Usually, if you buy something online, you have the right to return it without anyone asking questions, but once you walk into a "real" brick-and-mortar store, the logic is that you had the chance to inspect everything before paying, so you don't really have that right anymore. It all comes down to whether the manager feels like being nice. Cases are especially tricky because they come in these big boxes; once you break the seal, it’s obvious it’s been opened. Plus, they have all these little bits—screws, internal speakers, maybe some specific cables—that someone would have to meticulously check to make sure nothing went missing. With some places, you might get away with a return if you're upgrading to something more expensive, but again, cases are way more sensitive than other parts.
In my experience, I’ve only actually returned hardware twice, and both times it was more of an exchange for a pricier part rather than a straight refund. I did it either the same day or the day after I bought it. This was ages ago—like 12 or 13 years back at Expedia with a GPU, and then about 4 years ago with a motherboard at ADP. In both cases, it wasn't because I changed my mind; it was because the system was unstable with those specific parts. That said, when I took that motherboard back to ADP, they docked 20% of the value because the guy told me they couldn't sell it as "new" anymore. There weren't even any signs it had been used, and all the cables were still in their original packaging since I used my own, and the box didn't even have that cellophane wrap you can tell has been tampered with... so who knows if they sold it as new or used. Still, I was just happy they even agreed to take it.
The idea of a "best" case is totally subjective. What works for one person is a nightmare for another. But based on what you're saying, you don't have a ton of options anyway. Modern builds actually have fewer components than they did 5 or 10 years ago. Optical drives are basically prehistoric at this point, so most high-end models don't even have a slot for a CD/DVD/Blu-ray drive. Maybe one in ten has a single slot. Even big full towers don't guarantee it anymore, though the odds are slightly better there—maybe half of them have it. But then again, those ones are $400 and up.
If you browse the web shops for the retailers I mentioned earlier, you'll see that nowadays, the top priority is RGB lighting and looking flashy—expandability has become a secondary thought. Those external 5.25" bays you see? They're mostly found in cheap, practically no-name cases, with maybe a few higher-end ones here and there.
Unfortunately, it’s just not that simple. It isn’t some glitch or bug—it’s just how things work with modern hardware these days.
But honestly, it makes sense if you think about it. When you first hit the power button, all the "brains" inside the components haven't fully kicked in yet, so the fans get slammed with full voltage/power right out of the gate, causing them to spin up hard. After a few seconds, once the parts responsible for monitoring temps actually boot up and take over the reigns, the fans either shut off or dial back their speed. I’ve got an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 in one rig and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060S in the other, and they both do this exact same thing. Even my old NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 used to act the same way.
There’s a pretty good chance this serves a second purpose, like a sort of "dead man's switch." Back when I was messing around with the overclocking on my 1070—well, actually doing the opposite, undervolting it, because that thing was running hot even at 16 degrees, so the fans were screaming like they were trying to take flight—I accidentally set the voltage so low a couple of times that the card just straight-up crashed. In those moments, the fans would kick into max speed immediately. It’s almost certainly a failsafe feature because, let's face it, anything can happen; maybe the GPU gets stuck in some weird infinite loop and starts redlining, and if the controller loses its mind, the fans crank to 100% just to make sure the card doesn't melt. Better to have a loud fan than a smoking piece of silicon because the cooling died while the wattage went through the roof.
Actually, CPU fans do the same thing too (running Ryzen chips on ASRock boards). When I boot the PC, the fans on the heatsink hit max speed until the BIOS/UEFI stabilizes and takes control, then it adjusts the RPM based on whatever settings I tucked away in the BIOS/UEFI. And yeah, if I start tinkering with overclocks and the system crashes, the fans go full throttle.
Did anyone here accidentally mess up their BIOS update? Apparently, if you're rocking an ASUS motherboard, Google says this kind of glitch happens more often than it should. I found some little utility tools floating around that might actually fix the mess
If you don't happen to know what your old MAC address was—maybe check for a sticker on the motherboard itself or even the original box—you can just whip one up using this
Look, it won't be a perfect match. MAC addresses aren't just random strings of gibberish; they actually encode the manufacturer info and stuff like that, but if we're just trying to get things moving again, this should do the trick.
By the way, your router and your ISP couldn't care less about your specific MAC address. If they did, you could only ever connect one single computer to the network, since every other device has its own unique ID. If the MAC address changes, the router just assumes it’s a brand-new device hitting the network—there aren't any special settings or anything to tweak.
Look, ink is just liquid—original manufacturer stuff or not—and eventually, that liquid evaporates, leaving nothing but dried-up pigment stuck to the printhead. That’s what you're dealing with. You might want to check if the ink inside the actual cartridges has already turned into sludge. It’s been a while, hasn't it? If I were sitting on an inkjet printer like this for a long stretch without using it, I’d pull the cartridges out and wrap them back up in that little plastic film they come with to keep things airtight.
If there's still some life left in those cartridges, try running a nozzle check or a test page. If you didn't run the tank dry, there might be enough juice left to clear out those clogged channels.
Basically, you can't go wrong with any card that sports an HDMI port. These days, pretty much everything comes with built-in H.264 hardware decoding, so it shouldn't be much of a headache. As far as I know, XBMC supports DXVA too—so you should be good to go.
Like, say, Nvidia (and hey, I hope you guys won't mind if I drop some shop links here)
I can't really get to that link—it looks like a dead end or some broken internal page from an old site. If you were trying to show me a specific part or a deal on some hardware, just grab a screenshot or copy the specs over. I'll take a look at it and let you know if it's actually worth your money or just more overpriced junk. I can't really pull much from that link, but if you're looking for some deep dive or specific details on what’s being offered there, just let me know. I'm ready to break it down once I have something more substantial to work with. I can't actually open that specific link to see what you're looking at—it looks like a dead end or a broken product page from some old web shop. If you were trying to show me a specific component or a deal you found, you'll need to drop the actual details or a working URL here. Just let me know what we're talking about—whether it's a motherboard, a GPU, or some obscure piece of hardware—and I'll give you my honest, probably cynical, take on whether it's worth your hard-earned cash or just a glorified paperweight. I can't get that link to load—looks like it’s hitting a dead end or the page just isn't there anymore. If you were trying to show me some specific hardware or a deal you found, you'll have to drop a new link or just tell me what it was. I'm sitting here staring at a blank screen, so give me something to work with.
Or maybe ATI...
I can't really pull much from that link, but if you're looking for a breakdown or some actual insight on whatever gear is listed there, just let me know. I'm happy to dive into the weeds with you—whether we're talking specs, whether it's actually worth your hard-earned cash, or if it's just another piece of overpriced junk designed to separate you from your money. Just drop the details and I'll give you my honest, probably slightly cynical, take on it. I can't really pull up that specific link right now—it looks like a dead end or some broken product page from an old catalog. If you were trying to show me a specific part or a deal you found online, just grab the details or a fresh link and shoot it over. I'll take a look at whatever hardware or gear you're eyeing and give you my honest, probably cynical, take on whether it's actually worth your hard-earned cash or just more e-waste waiting to happen.
I’m honestly not even sure what the deal is with Nvidia anymore—last I checked, they were making things unnecessarily complicated. You used to run into these annoying audio headaches where you practically had to bridge the graphics card and a dedicated sound card just to get anything to work over HDMI. Maybe they finally sorted their act together, who knows? With ATI, it was always a much smoother ride; everything just flows through the bus, you plug in the HDMI, and you're good to go. In my own HTPC setup, I'm running a Radeon 3200—though it's just integrated onto the motherboard—but hey, it works perfectly fine. Audio over HDMI is seamless, and hardware decoding for HD movies doesn't give me any grief at all.
Paul Martin8 said:Well, if you all decide to go off and read books or whatever else instead of staying engaged, what's going to be left of the Finger? 🤷
Yeah, sure, it hasn't vanished, but let's be real—it isn't the same Finger anymore. It’s just turning into any other run-of-the-mill chat room. Just one of those endless digital voids. We aren't going to see people showing up for the same specific reasons I did—you know, that shared vibe or purpose. Instead, we'll just get a revolving door of new users who see this as just another place to kill time. And honestly? That's the whole damn problem.
Anonymous said:Honestly, with all due respect to your role as an admin, communicating with a regular user like this makes it seem like you've forgotten that your job is to serve the community and us, not the other way around.
mod😉, just so we're clear, being an admin is the next level up from being a mod.
Hannah White2 said:Honestly, I feel bad that you guys pushed through this whole migration thing. I’ve been reading, but I still haven't seen one single solid reason for it. Writing thread by thread is just a super slow way to communicate, period. I actually liked how Brandon Castillo4 tolerated the chat being inside the threads—it sped up the whole PDF vibe a bit, but even then, it wasn't quite there. This chat was basically like a mini US sub-community within the PDF. Sometimes people feel lonely, and a PDF can be pretty dead on its own. Not everyone has that classic forum habit of wandering through every single PDF out there. The truth is, most people don't bother posting in specific threads because back before Brandon Castillo4 took over, the US was kind of a ghost town. Having the chat allowed for much more fluid conversation about the topics that constantly keep the US alive.
It’s a small US. A ton of new members have joined, and that’s where they practice how to actually communicate on a forum. Sure, there’s a core group that knows the ropes, but the chat is what kept things interesting and actually drove traffic here.
Moderators 👎
Just kill off the ads thread too. What’s even the point? For God's sake, people just post an ad and then write two sentences for the entire forum.
Your job was supposed to be moving the in-thread chat over to a dedicated chat—that was the whole plan. As far as I can see, Brandon Castillo4 is the only one with the skill to keep threads focused with minimal chat clutter, and lately, he's been dealing with a lot of it.
Sometimes it’s just easier to hop into a chat than to compose a full post in a thread. And this chat always welcomed newcomers, providing that sense of community and belonging that's absolutely vital for someone who is feeling lonely.
Life is hard enough as it is, man; not everyone is a social butterfly or some master communicator. If the chat is tucked away somewhere inconvenient, people don't stand a chance...you've effectively killed the chance for at least one new, struggling member to find their footing again. Do I really have to explain the role of a pack or a community in therapy to you people??? I don't get how the entire PDF is supposed to make up for that.
darkheron6 said:Don't be so narrow-minded. What about USPSD? That was a chat topic too, and it sparked everything from friendships and relationships to rivalries and just a whole spectrum of human interaction. Finger is relatively new, and sure, the topic is important and nice in its own way, but it’s not the most vital, the most beautiful, or some revolutionary breakthrough that changed the world.
I feel bad that the finger crowd is having such a hard time pivoting, but you aren't going to get anywhere like this. You're better off sticking to a topic that actually shows some potential.
So USPSD isn't like one of those women-only threads? I think that's how they translated what the acronym USPSD stands for 🤔. That's the whole reason I never even bothered checking it out 🤷.
Austin Chavez6 said:So why did we even open this chat then? Wasn't the whole point to keep the other threads clean and give people looking to meet up one specific spot? Not everyone has the guts to slide into someone's DMs and just say, "Hey, I'm this guy, let's get to know each other."
The goal is to make this subforum a more constructive place. The chat is everywhere, popping up in almost every thread, but it’s part of a constructive discussion. It’s totally normal. Honestly, we actually encourage it. 😬
Are you always trying to stir up the chat in every single thread? Since when?
Did you figure out the rules yet? There's a reason people get banned just for posting a single smiley face or using a signature.
So why didn't you moderate the chats and hand out bans then? You really think you were doing your moderation jobs perfectly on them?
There's a specific sub-forum for people who’ve become friends, so you can keep hanging out there. You can also use PMs. There are plenty of ways to connect that aren't just about padding your post count.
What about all these new people looking to hang out? Does being lonely mean you just scroll down to Offtopic to find someone to meet? Isn't there already a subforum called Lonely Hearts for that?
It actually encourages people to wander away from their specific chat thread and explore other subforums. Not to mention how funny it is seeing folks who NEVER post anywhere except for one single chat topic. 🙄
Prioritizing subforum quality comes first. Bravo. As for everyone else, don't blame me if you're feeling lonely or unhappy. Figure it out yourselves.
Lol, yeah, exactly. Just a few days ago I caught a warning and had my post nuked because someone decided my sentence was "spam" and Off topic...
Keith Cox6 said:Nah... I guess it's definitely better to just mock anyone who actually posts an ad.😁 That is... that's just hilarious. It's so incredibly optimistic and fits that very specific PDF vibe that the US absolutely requires. Look, let's be real... I find it funny too, but in a... quiet way. Like, poking a finger at those desperate, pathetic, clingy, husband-seeking, tiny-dicked narcissists... and yeah, I could go on. But when I really think about it... if anyone else on this forum (not counting the favorites) opened a thread like this... they’d get banned instantly for harassment. All while being arrogant—which is fun, sure, but exhausting—and honestly, it's no wonder why the finger of fate doesn't point toward the US anymore. We find other ways to entertain ourselves, rather than making fun of others just to camouflage our own lack of fulfillment.
Supposedly a pretty great gig yesterday. Congrats.
And more than that... my post that got deleted and flagged was literally just responding in the exact same tone as that one controversial person...
brightridge59 said:Do you really think the other people joining the US isn't lonely? And is the chat truly the best or only way to meet and socialize?
The whole intention here is to make the subforum a much more constructive environment. Chatting happens everywhere, practically within almost every thread, provided it contributes to a productive discussion. That's a perfectly normal occurrence, and frankly, we even encourage it ourselves. 😬
Have you perhaps had a chance to look over the rules? There's a reason why someone might get a warning just for posting a single smiley face or for putting something in their 'signature.'
For those users who have become close friends through chatting, there is a dedicated subforum where they can continue to socialize. There's also private messaging. There are all sorts of ways to build connections without it being solely about padding your post count.
Besides, the way things are set up, it encourages users to step outside their specific chat topics and wander over to other subforums. I won't even mention how peculiar it is to see people who NEVER post anywhere else except within a specific chat topic on one particular subforum. 🙄
Regarding the whole loneliness thing—honestly, I definitely relate to about 90% of the guys on this forum. If it wasn't for the chat, I’d still be, as one lady here put it, basically rotting inside my own four walls. Thanks to the chat and some of the people I've met through it, I've finally started stepping outside more. As for everyone else—there are plenty of people who were just sitting there wallowing in their own misery, and I've sent them PP-ove, either just to give them a little pep talk or to see if they wanted to hang out. In 99% of cases, I got absolutely nothing back. The whole point of their whining is really just... whining. They don't actually want to change, or they just don't have the metaphorical balls to try. Should the rest of us, who might actually be able to get out there, be punished because of them?
Arthur Thomas said:The only post I ever made over there was just saying "coming soon," and honestly, that wasn't even meant for any actual people. It was more for my computer, which desperately needed some dust cleaned out—that's the only way it was going to understand what I wanted from it. 🙂 I already gave my reasoning for why the thread should be removed. To be honest, it reminds me of that line from a movie: "Some men just want to watch the world burn."
Are you going for something more along the lines of "Even if i go to Hell, i will Live to The end of this World. And if the world does not come to an end... I will destroy it with my own hands!"?
mistywolf17 said:The chat could never have been strictly topical to begin with. Just read what I wrote earlier. People had to be allowed to chat about anything, because nobody was interested in coordinating hangouts right away. So, my conclusion is that it simply can't function as a topical chat. It just doesn't work that way. That being said, of course you all support that idea. I saw how much you wanted it. I’ve been following you lately because there were so many posts in the chat. From what I could see, it seemed like you just wanted to drive certain people away because they don't intend to meet up in real life. Which, honestly, is kind of ridiculous. It happened because, just like in any other chat, not everyone gets along, so people end up kicking each other out. I'm quite familiar with that dynamic. So, I think I’ve explained the situation more than thoroughly. These chats on the US subforum really don't make sense; as far as I'm concerned, they belong on Offtopic.
I don't quite follow your question. If someone wants to chat, they should just head straight to a dedicated chatting subforum like DiK or Offtopic. They don't necessarily need to come to the US section just to chat.
When I first joined the forum, the chat wasn't even on my radar—like, at all. I wouldn't have even looked for it because I didn't even realize it was an option. That's what I'm talking about.