BurningnnTree

I don't normally listen to much pop music, so I know I'm a bit late to the party on this one. But I've noticed that in modern pop music, artists will sometimes release a "normal" version of a song, then a few weeks later they'll release the same song again, except one of the verses is replaced with a feature. It's not a remix, it's just the same song but with another artist singing some different lyrics.

Is there a name for this type of song? How long has this been going on? When was this trend started?

I've been looking for a new job as a software developer. The huge majority of job listings I see in my area are hybrid or remote. I just had an introductory phone call with Vizio (which didn't specify the location type in the job listing). The recruiter told me that the job was fully on-site, which I told her was a deal breaker for me.

It makes me wonder how many other people back out after hearing that the job is on-site. And it makes me wonder why this wasn't specified in the job description. I assume most people only want hybrid or remote jobs these days, right?

Anyways I was just wondering how many of you guys apply for on-site IT jobs? Hybrid is so much better, I don't know why people would apply for on-site jobs unless they have no other options.

Some background: I'm a software developer, and I've never really participated in the open source software community before. (i.e. I don't contribute to open source projects, I don't know anyone who does, and I don't really know anything about the companies who start these projects to begin with, or what their motivations are for being open source.)

I'm currently trying to find software that my team at work can use to solve a particular problem we have. After doing some googling, it looks like this open source product called OpenReplay is a good fit for what we need: https://openreplay.com/

But when I first visited that website, I noticed that the background artwork looks AI generated. This made me feel skeptical of the project, and it makes me wonder: what if it's actually a huge scam and it's actually malware? For example, maybe OpenReplay is actually a copy of a different legitimate product that I'm not aware of. Maybe all of the stars, forks, and discussions on the GitHub page are from fake accounts. When I Google OpenReplay, there aren't a whole lot of results. How do I know if it's trustworthy if I can't find an authoritative source telling me it is?

Maybe I'm just being paranoid. But this is basically the first time in my career where I've tried to vet a new piece of software for my team to use, and I want to make sure I'm doing it right. How do you know when a product like this can be trusted?

EDIT: I don't mean to cast doubt on OpenReplay specifically, I'm just using that as an example because it's the product I'm currently looking into. My question applies to any piece of software that isn't widely known about.

I just learned that Xbox Live Arcade was a service that first started on the original Xbox, not Xbox 360. You had to order a disc online that would let you access the XBLA store. Here's the wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_Live_Arcade

I've never heard anyone talk about this before, so I think this is really interesting. A lot of the OG XBLA games don't even have wikipedia pages, so I'm guessing this service was pretty obscure when it came out? Anyways I found some Youtube videos of some of the games, so here's some gameplay clips if anyone is interested:

Hamsterball: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUA-SeFye_0

ThinkTanks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSJ0t8cIQYc

Mutant Storm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PpS1giWPGw

Did any of you guys ever use Xbox Live Arcade on the original Xbox? What did you think of it? I'm curious to hear more about it.

No spoilers

I loved FF7 Remake, but Rebirth is really not doing it for me. My main issue with it is the story. It feels totally aimless. Almost nothing meaningful has happened in the entire 35 hours I've played. Also, I find most of the characters to be very annoying. The dialogue and cinematography are awkward. (Why are there so many uncomfortable close-ups of characters faces? Why do the female characters keep giggling for no reason? Tifa and Aerith don't seem to know each other very well but they sure like to giggle to each other.)

I do love the combat system though. And the open world stuff is often enjoyable. But it doesn't make up for how the story feels like such a slog.

Does anyone else feel this way? I was expecting to love this game after loving Remake so much, but honestly at this point I'm just forcing myself to finish the game so I can make sure I'm caught up for part 3.

I have the opportunity to maybe get a job as a software developer at a small software company that employs 14 people. But my gut is telling me that getting a job at a small company like that might he terrible. Do you guys have any experiences working at companies that small?

In my mind, I imagine the CEO would have a very large presence at the company and everyone would feel a lot of pressure to appease him. I imagine that the whole company would just be a boys' club. But I guess any company can be like that, so maybe I'm jumping to conclusions, and the size of the company isn't actually related to company culture?

Please let me know if you have any thoughts.

EDIT: The company has been around for two decades

Hi, I'm trying to find YouTube channels that make videos like this: https://youtu.be/bCQMHjDAJZU?si=jeFNvxTGK95o0YWQ

Basically I want channels that cover new/upcoming games, talking about them in a casual and unscripted way. I like these videos because they're a great way to stay informed on current games.

Giant Bomb used to be known for making videos like this, but unfortunately they stopped making them. Game Informer's "New Gameplay Today" videos are basically the same thing, but I'd like to find a channel that makes videos like this a bit more frequently. Do you guys know of any channels like this? Thanks

I noticed that the track "Canon (Primo)" by Justice only has 5,815 plays on Spotify, even though every other track on the album has millions of plays. How is this possible? I know it's just an interlude track that you wouldn't listen to unless you're listening to the full album, but still, this play count seems extremely low. What's going on here? (I'm hoping my attached screenshot shows up here)

I'm looking for a website where I can practice SQL by doing challenges. Like something where it provides you with some tables and you're tasked with writing a script to achieve a certain output. I know how to do basic SELECT and UPDATE commands and stuff, but I need a way to practice writing more complex scripts. What do you guys recommend?

In Windows 11 there's a button on the taskbar next to the start button that lets you switch between multiple desktop environments. It seems like something that would probably be useful in theory, but I can't think of any reason why I would want to use it. Is it actually useful? What do people use it for?

I'm asking because I'm wondering if there's a more efficient way for me to handle my notes at work. Currently I just use a txt file in Notepad++. I use this file to track all of the stuff I have to do, such as tasks for stories I'm working on, next steps for projects, discussions I need to follow up on, questions and ideas I want to bring up, etc. The way I organize the document works pretty well for me, but I'm just curious how other people do it.

I mean it's bad juju to throw books in the trash right? What's the proper way to get rid of them? (with the least amount of effort)