Is there any way I can get added to the Stranger group? And who should I reach out to about this? I noticed a few people requested it earlier and were told it was doable, but nothing seems to have changed for them yet—for example, @vera24 mentioned it above.
Thanks so much if you could just get me into Stranger. 🙂
🎉
That’s not going to happen. Just take a look at the very first post in this thread.
Laura Cox said:Happy New Year, everyone. Wishing you all the best for the year ahead.
I’ve been running into an issue with YouTube for a few days now. Certain videos simply won't load, leaving me with this message: "An error occurred, please try again later. Learn more."
It isn't happening with every video, though; some play perfectly fine without any hiccups. 🤦
The strange thing is, those exact same videos work flawlessly on my phone.
Any advice?
I’ve been dealing with this exact same headache for about seven months now, and honestly, it’s just one of those things where sometimes a quick page refresh fixes everything, but other times, nothing works at all until the following day. I’ve heard from quite a few people over at Verizon that they’re running into this same frustrating glitch. I’m honestly not sure which carrier you’re using at the moment? It’s funny because I’ve been running into the exact same issue myself; just a second ago, an official site refused to load for me too, throwing up that annoying "please try again" error message, but then I gave it a quick refresh and—lo and behold—it started working perfectly fine! Honestly, there are times when even all that troubleshooting doesn't do a lick of good, and I feel like I've cycled through just about every trick in the book already. If a specific video refuses to load on YouTube, I've basically stopped stressing over it; I just hop over to Dailymotion, watch it there, and call it a day. It’s become my little way of staying sane. 😬
Do those clips play okay on other sites, like Dailymotion? And what kind of setup are you running—what processor are we talking about? Did you run into this same headache back when you were using Windows 7, or is your hard drive just starting to give up the ghost? I’d suggest downloading CrystalDiskInfo or Hard Disk Sentinel to see what's actually going on under the hood... maybe run a quick disk defrag while you're at it. I assume you already ran CCleaner, but if you just finished a fresh install of Windows, things should theoretically be fine, though an older version of Flash might actually solve the issue, just like people were suggesting you 😉
Have you had a chance to check your speeds on a speed test? If your signal strength to the router is weak, that could definitely be part of the problem; you really have to rule out every single variable before you can be sure
For me, official videos on YouTube just refuse to load on my Optima connection half the time, and then I'll come back the next day, open the exact same link, and suddenly it works perfectly! It’s totally hit or miss, though I've noticed the unofficial uploads usually play without any drama
I used to deal with this annoying audio stuttering on YouTube whenever I was loading heavy pages in Chrome, so I eventually switched over to Opera, and honestly, everything runs smoothly there without the sound cutting out.
Look, I think you missed my point entirely; obviously, I know how to use the "select a channel manually" setting, because believe me, I speak English just fine 😁 but here’s the kicker: I’ll set it to channel 7, and it stays there all day, but then I’ll step away, come back online the next morning, and find it’s jumped right back to channel 3... even though I distinctly remember locking it at 7, because I always double-check my work.
Anyway, for the most part, everything is running beautifully. My only real gripe is that around midnight or maybe an hour into the early morning, the signal tends to dip slightly down to about four bars, but overall, it's performing quite well enough.
One more thing—do you think this USB Wi-Fi adapter I'm using is up to par? 😉
I’m not entirely sold on all these other routers out there, but honestly, things have been running pretty smoothly for the last couple of days 👍 and the signal strength seems solid. I did notice that sticking to channel 6 or 7 works best for me, though I run into this annoying little quirk where I’ll manually set it to channel 6, hit save, and everything looks fine—only to check back later and find it’s jumped right back to 7. Then, by the next morning, it’s decided to revert to "auto" mode all over again. It’s just this constant cycle where no matter which channel I pick, the thing decides to switch itself back to whatever it wants after a few hours.
Since my router is sitting pretty close to me, I don't think I really need anything more powerful, especially since my current setup used to work flawlessly without any fuss. That said, if I really need to grab one with an external antenna, I can easily pick one up at Best Buy, though I suspect the interference from the neighbors might still mess with me occasionally—maybe just a little less than before. 🤔
I usually just grab my subtitles through VLC Media Player, though I have to admit, I often find myself cycling through five or six different versions before I finally land on the one that actually syncs up perfectly. Like a few people have already pointed out, it really helps to check the file name in VLC when you're downloading to make sure the movie title and the subtitle file match up exactly. Occasionally, things might still be slightly off, but that’s pretty rare if you're careful. If I end up with an obscure movie where there aren't many translation options available, I just try to manually adjust the timing within the player—something like VLC or GOM—but it can be such a headache; you'll get it synced up for a few minutes, and then suddenly it starts drifting again, leaving you stuck constantly fiddling with the offset, adding or subtracting five seconds here and there, just to keep pace with the dialogue.
So, it’s been running flawlessly all morning—I've got all five bars and the speed is actually decent—but last night I was stuck with just one single bar and couldn't even browse the web properly.
I poked around in my router settings, and I'm wondering if this "select channel manually" option is what I'm looking for?
There are 11 different channels listed here, and honestly, I haven't the slightest clue which one to pick, though I think I've settled on channel 3 for now.
Oh, wait, I just caught that—so I should probably aim for a higher number to ensure there's enough of a gap?
So, here’s the situation: for about the last month, my connection has been acting completely haywire. My router sits out in the hallway while my computer is in my bedroom—we're talking maybe 15 to 20 feet apart—and for two whole years, everything worked flawlessly with a rock-solid signal. Then, out of nowhere, things just started falling apart. 🤔 I’ve already tried swapping in a different Wi-Fi router and even tested a different USB Wi-Fi adapter, but the result is always the same. Honestly, the only thing I can suspect is some kind of signal interference. Ever since the tenants downstairs set up their own internet about a month ago, my signal has been wildly inconsistent; sometimes it just drops entirely, leaving me unable to load a single webpage, almost as if something is actively blocking it. I tried mounting the router higher up, but that didn't really do much. Is it actually possible for their setup to clash with mine? It feels strange because for two years the signal was perfect without me moving a single thing, yet everything remains exactly where it was. I even gave a TP-Link router that a technician brought over a shot, but it was the same story—it might work fine for thirty minutes or so, and then suddenly the speed plummets like something is jamming the frequency. Resetting the router provides a tiny bit of relief, but that's about it.
What kind of options am I looking at here?
Should I invest in a beefier Wi-Fi USB adapter with an external antenna, or perhaps move over to a PCI Wi-Fi card?
I mean, maybe there really is something interfering with the signal, hmm.
As I’m typing this, the signal is actually showing as "excellent," mostly because I nudged the router slightly, but the whole thing is just so temperamental. It never used to be like this; it was always steady and reliable.
Last night was a nightmare; I was down to a single bar and it took me half an hour just to get a single page to load.🙂
My gut feeling is that something is definitely interfering with the signal. It might just be a massive coincidence that this started right when the neighbors downstairs got their internet installed, but considering I'm barely 15 feet from the router and had two years of perfect service, it's hard not to connect the dots. Everything went downhill the moment they plugged in their router. 🙂
Should I just ask them to turn their router off for an hour so I can see if my connection stabilizes? 😁
It’s a bit hard to wrap my head around the idea that they could be causing this, but I'm honestly stumped as to what else it could be.
Then again, there are times when the signal stays good for several hours at a time, and everything runs smoothly for most of the day.🤔
Oh, and right—you'll obviously need to make sure the Wi-Fi is actually toggled on via the hardware switch on the laptop; there's usually a little icon on one of those function keys, and you'll know it's active once the little light pops on..
Does anyone else feel like Adidas sizing is just aggressively small? I can't be the only one noticing this. 🤔I recently tried on a few different models in a size 12, and they were digging into my feet quite uncomfortfully, even though I usually wear a 11. Honestly, if I'm buying Adidas, I probably need to jump up to a 12.5 or maybe even a 13 just to breathe. 😲I had my eye on these high-end Pro Play sneakers, $217and I really wanted to pull the trigger and buy them, but the largest size they had in stock was a 12, which actually felt smaller than the 11s I currently own. I have no idea why Adidas insists on making their molds so tiny. 🤷.. So, in the end, I walked away empty-handed.
I actually made the mistake once of buying a pair of Adidas in a 10.5; the sales clerk totally played me, and I ended up wearing them for a couple of days, which was pure torture. It felt like my toes were being crushed—it hurt so much I genuinely thought I might break something. They were squeezing my feet even when I was just sitting down; it felt more like I had shoved my feet into a size 9 because the fit was so cramped! And to make matters worse, I actually went out on a date wearing them. 🤦
I ditched them immediately after and ordered some Pumas in a size 11 online through a Shoebedo web shop instead, and they fit perfectly. 👍Puma seems to follow a much more reasonable, larger sizing standard.
Boots, however, are a completely different story; it feels like the sizing there is massive. I tried on a pair in a 11 and they felt a bit loose, and when I measured them against my usual 11 sneakers, these boots were actually about half an inch longer.
Every single winter, my feet just freeze—it’s honestly miserable, especially when you’re just hanging out at a coffee shop, and if you're sitting on tile floors, it’s a total nightmare; I try wearing thick socks to cope, but the real issue is they sweat through, and then the moment they get damp, the cold hits you instantly. I suspect my sneakers are the culprit since my feet sweat in basically any pair of trainers, so maybe I should finally make the jump to some actual boots? It would probably be a better move, right? 🤔 I’ve never actually owned a pair of boots, so I wouldn't know, honestly... I remember back when I used to wear high-tops, my feet would still get cold, though it was slightly more manageable. After about two hours of wearing them, the socks would get sweaty and then, predictably, the chill sets in, and it feels incredibly intense... 🙂 Now I’m wearing these super low-profile, summer-style sneakers, and my feet are freezing my toes off, the only real solution would be to carry a spare pair of socks in my pocket and swap them out constantly 😬 ...until I can manage to pick up some proper winter footwear.
And honestly, whenever I see people walking around in Converse in the middle of January, I find it hard to believe they aren't absolutely freezing. 🤔
When I'm at home, things are fine because I have warm slippers; I can even sit in a room without the heat turned on and my feet won't feel cold, but wearing sneakers in the winter is just pure misery.
I wouldn't say I'm generally sensitive to the cold, though—aside from my feet, I'm perfectly happy lounging around in short sleeves all winter, and I usually just throw on a light jacket when I go outside; it’s strictly a foot thing because once the sweat builds up and cools down, I'm done for. 👎
They might stretch out a bit in width 😉, and you could always wear them with double socks for a few days to help loosen things up 😉, but stretching them lengthwise is a much tougher battle, especially if they’re already a size or two too small... honestly, I think I’m just going to make the jump to a 46; it’s better to have some breathing room 😬
Buying stuff has always been easy for me, except when it comes to shoes—it's a constant struggle because of how my feet are shaped. Plus, my big toe tends to point upward a bit, so I can't really pull off every style 😵, they're just built like that
So, let me ask you all, when you're buying sneakers, how much space do you usually leave between your toe and the tip of the shoe? Is it about half an inch, maybe an inch? Anything more than that feels way too huge 🤔, though I don't even know anymore 🤣—I get incredibly indecisive when shopping for footwear. I've bought so many wrong sizes in the past that now I'm actually terrified of making the same mistake again . In a perfect world, a 45.5 would be my sweet spot, but I rarely ever find half-sizes in stock; stores always tell me they don't carry them. A 45 feels a little tight on my toe, but a 46 somehow feels cavernous...
Honestly, at this rate, it might be easier to just wear flip-flops everywhere, haha
I honestly thought I was the only one out here struggling with shoe sizing, haha.
My feet are long but pretty narrow, which makes finding a pair that actually fits perfectly a total nightmare.😵 I usually aim for a size 12 or 13, and right now I have two pairs of size 12 at home that fit just right—they don't pinch or anything. But lately, whenever I try on different styles in a size 12, I start feeling my big toe hitting the front while I walk. It’s not like it’s agonizingly painful, but it’s definitely annoying... and I’d much rather not deal with it. It seems like the molds they use for certain brands are just smaller than they should be, which creates this massive headache because you can rarely find a 12.5, and if you jump up to a 13, there's way too much extra room and they just flop around because my feet are so slim. My only real fix is using insoles, not to mention the fact that for a few years there, I actually forced myself into a size 11!😲I honestly don't know how I managed to do that.🤔I just absolutely hated the idea of my sneakers looking like giant clown shoes, haha. But one day, the pinching got so bad that I made a vow: from that moment on, I'm sticking to a 12 no matter what. I'd much rather have them look a little awkward than deal with that constant, irritating pressure. Grrr.
So, I mostly just stick to movies; I haven't really dove headfirst into series much, maybe just *Prison Break* and a few others, but I don't know, I guess I'm just too lazy to download entire series when I can just grab a movie and get straight to it. It honestly bugs me how most people only care about whatever just hit theaters—I have a few friends who are exactly like that—and then they have the nerve to act like I'm stuck in the past because I prefer older stuff. For me, it’s all about whether the movie is actually good, regardless of whether it came out yesterday or decades ago; I find myself gravitating toward the classics from the 80s and 90s most of the time, though I'll pick up something newer if the plot actually looks interesting enough..
And I'm supposed to skip one just because it's "old"? Why on earth would you toss aside something that's genuinely good? Honestly, some people just baffle me 😲 it's like I shouldn't listen to a song just because it isn't a current hit on the radio, haha
The ending really caught me off guard, though if I’m being honest, I think deep down I knew Louise wasn't the type to just roll over and take it, and seeing that massive crash... well, it felt almost right in a strange way, even if it feels a bit nonsensical on another level, especially regarding Thelma since she never actually killed anyone, yet there she was, choosing to ride straight into certain death... the whole movie didn't quite hit the mark for me 😁
Okay, I’m back—I jumped back into Avira, then went right back to Task Manager and typed in explorer.exe for the hundredth time, and finally, lo and behold, my desktop actually showed up. Fingers crossed it doesn't just vanish on me again the next time I restart.
Help me out, guys—my desktop has completely vanished. I'm staring at a blank black screen where nothing happens, and even right-clicking doesn't trigger anything...
I'm running Windows 7 on this machine. I shut down the PC, turned it back on, saw the welcome screen, and then it just drops me straight into My Computer. I can navigate through my C: and D: drives, access My Documents, and all that, but once I minimize those windows, I’m left with nothing but a void of black space. System Restore isn't an option because I don't have any restore points set up. I tried hitting the dedicated desktop key on my keyboard, but nothing happened. Even when I try typing explorer.exe into the Task Manager, it just opens up another instance of My Computer... it's incredibly weird, honestly. I've never dealt with anything like this before. Right before this mess started, I was just playing a game and ran a little utility to clean up some registry errors—something I've used for over a decade without a single hiccup, let alone a total system meltdown. The only thing I do recall is that right before I powered down, Avast flagged a threat; I clicked remove, but I had already run a scan with Norton and it hadn't found a thing...
If anyone has a clue how to get my desktop back, please let me know, because I really don't want to go through the nightmare of reinstalling Windows...
Just to reiterate, that black screen is totally unresponsive; I can't right-click to show icons or anything else, it just ignores me. The only thing that works is Ctrl+Alt+Delete to get to the Task Manager. There's no taskbar, no icons, absolutely nothing. I actually managed to find my desktop folder by navigating through My Documents, which is how I eventually found my Opera icon...
This is honestly a disaster. It feels like I don't even have Windows installed anymore. I'm losing my mind here.🙂
Honestly, this is the greatest comedy franchise ever made; I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve binged the whole series. I remember catching the return of Bugs Bunny on TV back in the day, and man, it just blew me away, which naturally led me down a rabbit hole of watching every single sequel. Even "Trail of the Bugs Bunny" holds its own for me—even though we’d already lost Robin Williams by then—largely because they tucked in some classic footage of him, and there are still plenty of those ridiculous comedic beats. I also found "The Curse of the Bugs Bunny" hilarious, specifically those moments where the CIA agent keeps falling through windows twice in a row 🤣. I was actually hoping to track it down tonight, but I'm having a hell of a time finding a decent torrent... I’ve got copies of most of the others like "Bugs Bunny Strikes Again" and "Shot in the Dark," which I've watched countless times, but the very last one, "Son of the Bugs Bunny," is easily the worst of the bunch. Even the original '63 film doesn't quite hit the mark for me, whereas the second installment, "Shot in the Dark," is absolute perfection.
It just popped into my head thinking about that scene in "Bugs Bunny Strikes Again" where the CIA guy keeps tumbling into the lake 🤣
And in the return of Bugs Bunny, nothing beat that office scene where he's talking to Jack Klugman; I don't think I've ever seen a comedy that laugh-out-loud hysterical... the CIA agent is just the best!!
It seems like almost every single time I have a coffee with milk, whether it’s first thing in the morning or during an afternoon break, my stomach immediately starts acting up and sends me running straight to the restroom—honestly, it’s been this way for years now. It’s the same story whenever I have cookies and milk, and sometimes the discomfort is so intense that I end up dealing with digestive issues and cramping all day long; even eating a whole chocolate bar can leave me feeling absolutely miserable the next day. -.- I think it’s pretty obvious at this point that I just can't handle lactose, which makes ice cream a total gamble unless I stick to tiny amounts. The struggle is real because I’ve been drinking coffee with milk for ages simply because I can’t stand black coffee, and I’m not much of a tea drinker either... I’ve actually gone five days now without any dairy, and I’ve noticed I'm hitting the bathroom way less often and feeling much better. It is incredibly hard to give up my coffee with milk, though; I just brewed a cup of black coffee a moment ago and it’s honestly just not hitting the spot. I know there are lactose-free options out there, or maybe some vanilla soy milk which sounds delicious, but I'm still weighing my options...
Whenever I have cocoa, my stomach starts hurting right away; it's the exact same thing with a macchiato or a Nespresso from a cafe—the pain hits almost instantly and I'm needing a bathroom break shortly after.
My absolute favorite things were having cocoa in the evening or some cookies and milk, but now it looks like I have to say goodbye to all of that xD
Out of everything, cheese and yogurt seem to be the only dairy products that don't really bother me.
