Life Archives - The Thomas Stories

January 2, 2019January 2, 2019

How to play Dixit with two persons?

Thomas brought some Dixit cards to a cafe here the other day, but they ended up being only two by the table. Is it possible to play Dixit with only two persons? How can it be done?

Thomas didn’t even have a working smartphone nearby, so he asked himself… how can I play Dixit with only two persons? Is there a working method or way to play the game that will work with only two persons? He came up with an idea, and he was actually quite satisfied with the result.

How to play Dixit when you are only two persons?

The solution is to hand out 5 or 6 to both players. The first player looks at all his cards and finds one for which he finds a describing word. He then selects two or three other cards that he adds to the selected one and places them on the table.

The other player now has to pick the card the first player described with the first word he said!

There is no good way to decide who is the winner in this game, because you can easily trick the other by selecting stupid words… but if the goal is to have fun with a kid or someone you love and you do not really count the points, only play to have fun, this can actually work quite well!

Have you ever tried to play Dixit with only two persons? How did you play? I would love to hear your thoughts!

November 12, 2018

How to get more disk space on my PS4?

Thomas has a PlayStation 4 with a 500GB hard drive. Recently, he installed Call of Duty: WWII and Gran Turismo, but he then got the error message that the hard-drive was full. To actually install the game, he had to uninstall FIFA 2018, Doom, and quite a lot of other games.

After this, Thomas decided that he wanted to get more disk-space on his PS4. Is there a way to fix this? Yes, there are in fact two ways. One option is to change the hard-drive inside the PS4, but Thomas didn’t want to do that. This would require him to buy a larger hard drive with the same size as the current one, and then replace it. Later he would have to install the PS4 operating system on the drive, and then it would work like normal afterward.

But, Thomas wanted to go for an easier solution…

The easy way to get more disk space on PS4

The easy solution to the problem is to buy an external hard-drive with USB 3 included. It is enough with 5400 RPM, but if you buy one with 7200 RPM, it is faster and better. After buying it, Thomas simply connected the external hard-drive to one of the USB plugs on the front of the PS4. The PlayStation immediately recognized the hard-drive, and he could start installing games to this disk-space. Easy and quick!

Now Thomas can install Doom, FIFA 2018, and the other games he uninstalled last week and easily play all the games!

He is happy, but he doesn’t have time to write more articles right now… he wants to play PS4!

November 7, 2018

What is the ideal thumnbail size for YouTube videos?

Thomas has uploaded quite a lot of videos to YouTube, but he hasn’t thought much about the look of the thumbnails. But, after thinking about it, the look of the thumbnail is actually very important.

If the thumbnail looks bad, nobody will actually watch the video. But, if it looks good and inviting, people will start watching the video!

But, what is the ideal thumbnail size for a YouTube video?

Thomas didn’t have to search a lot before finding the answer.

The ideal YouTube thumbnail size

The ideal size is 1280 x 720 pixels. It might be smaller, but the best is if it has this size!

Thomas is already producing some new thumbnails for his video, hoping that it will help his videos get more attention and more viewers on YouTube!

October 16, 2018October 8, 2018

Change language of Skype

Thomas just used a computer on which Skype was installed, but the application was running in a different language. How can he change the language of Skype?

Thomas likes to use Skype. He doesn’t only use it to send SMS messages, but he also uses it to keep in contact with colleagues and people he works with across the globe.

But, how can Thomas change the language of the Skype application?

Change Skype language

First, you have to click the three dots in the upper left corner of Skype, and then choose the first option (in English, Settings).

settings skype

Now you will see a new menu open, and here you have to choose General. If Skype is in a language you do not understand, the General option should be the second option from the top.

Once you have clicked the General option, choose the third option in the new window which should be the language option.

Choose General - Languages, to change language in Skype — Choose General – Languages, to change language in Skype

Once this is done, you will be presented with a list of all the languages available in Skype. Since these are presented in their own languages, you can simply scroll on until you find the language you are interested in.

Thomas has now been able to change the Skype language to English, and he is very happy. And that is why he has created this little article so that you can change the language of the Skype installation you are about to use as well.

Should you have any comments or questions, use the comment field!

October 12, 2018

How to give a tip to someone on Steemit?

Thomas just read an article on Steemit that he really liked, and now he would like to bless the author with an extra tip.

The truth is, Thomas has already given the article an upvote. But, since he only has 50 SP it doesn’t even bless the author with 0,01 USD. So, what can Thomas do to bless the author with an extra tip in addition to his upvote?

There are a few ways in which it can be done.

Tip an author of an article on Steemit — How to give tip to an author on Steemit? – Pixabay

Giving someone a tip on Steemit

Thomas first tried to use a voting bot to upvote the article of the author. But, the money was returned, since voting bots will only let you pay for upvotes on your own articles. What is the solution then?

Manually transfer funds to the author

You can visit your very own wallet, and then click the arrow next to Steem or Steem Dollar. You can then pick transfer. Set the amount you want to send, type the name of the author, and write a message saying thank you for the article or something like that. It can look like this.

Manually transfer a tip to an author on Steemit

Use the TipU bot to send a tip

There is another method, and it is a really handy one. There is a voting bot named TipU, and with this, you can both pay for an upvote on your own articles, but also send a tip to other authors you like.

It works in a similar way as the transfer above, only this time you send the funds to @tipu, and in the memo, you include the URL of the article you want to bless.

Sending a tip to @adonisabril for his latest article on Steemit

Now it will take a few moments, and soon the article will receive an upvote from @tipu. Not only will it receive an upvote, but TipU will also add a comment since it has been sent as a blessing. In this case, the comment from Tipu to the article looked like this.

tip from thomasstories

Thomas has just sent his first tip on Steemit, and he is happy that he could support the work of a great author like this one. Maybe he will tip more authors in the future, and maybe he will receive a tip from someone who might like this or some other article in the future? Who knows!

October 10, 2018

Why does the Dollar value of upvotes change after the vote has been made?

Thomas is a big Steemit fan, but for a while, he had a hard time understanding one thing… why does the value of an upvote change after the vote has been made?

upvote value — After seven days, the value of your post will never change again!

Thomas is sometimes using voting-bots to give his articles more attention and a higher income. But, it was once when he paid for an upvote that he suddenly noticed that the upvote was worth 2,5 USD at first, and then the next time he watched, the value was only 2,40 USD. What happened? Why did the value of the upvote suddenly change?

Since then Thomas has also experienced the value change to a higher value. What is going on?

Thomas theory on the matter

There are for sure people in the Steemit community that knows this much better than Thomas but based on his studies, this is what you should know.

The value can only change during the first 7 days (before payout). After that, the value will be stuck and never change again.
The value of an upvote is based on the Steem price. In other words, if you get an upvote worth 2,5USD, but then the price of Steem drops within the coming minutes, hours, days, this will also impact the value of the upvote you received.

This is the answer Thomas gives to himself on this question. Have you asked the same question? Do you have the same answer, or do you have another answer to the same question?

Thank you for reading!

October 8, 2018October 8, 2018

How to send SMS with Skype?

A brand new version of Skype is out. How can I send SMS with Skype?

Thomas has used Skype to send his private SMS messages for a long time. But, then during spring 2018, a new version of Skype was released which had no support for this. It could be done, but it was very advanced and he first had to call the number, cancel the call, and only then he could send an SMS to the recipient.

But, a new version of Skype was released in the start of October 2018, and in this, it was much easier to send SMS. But, how can it be done?

This is how Thomas sends his SMS messages with Skype

Thomas first opens the Skype application, and he clicks the “Use Dialpad” button. Take a look at the screenshot beneath to see which button that is.

How to send SMS with Skype? Use the Dialpad!

You can use the voice call button, but it is much better to use the dialpad, next to the search skype field. Once you have clicked the dialpad, enter the number to which you want to send the SMS.

When you have typed the number, click the SEND SMS button in the lower left corner of the screen. Take a look at the image above to see which button it is.

Once you have clicked the Send SMS logo, you can start typing the message, and once you are ready to send, click enter.

You have now sent an SMS with Skype. Do not forget that you need to add Skype credit to your account in order to send SMS’s with Skype.

Thomas is happy because he doesn’t like typing SMS’s on his cell phone because it takes so much time. That is the reason why he rather writes messages with Skype, and that is why he is very happy right now.

Has Thomas been able to help you out as well? Please write a comment and let Thomas know!

October 3, 2018October 1, 2018

How to clean up a .CSV file by splitting data into columns?

Thomas just downloaded a list from Bittrex showing him his latest trades on the platform. It is a CSV file. But, as he opens the file it is a complete mess. All the data is stored in one single column, making it impossible to read and get the overview he wanted to get.

Thomas doesn’t like the CSV file, and wonders if there is an easy way to make sure that the data is divided into different columns. Or is CSV a completely useless format? Since so many people use it, there has got to be a way to create order in the mess.

How can Thomas create order in this messy CSV file?

Thomas finds a way to fix the mess in the CSV file

After looking around and trying different methods, Thomas has found one he is satisfied with and that he likes. It is quite easy. Want to find out how Thomas cleans up the mess in the CSV file? Take a look at the video beneath, or read the further instructions beneath the video.

First of all, Thomas creates a brand new Microsoft Excel file.
He then clicks the Data text in the Menu and chooses From Text.
He finds the CSV file he is interested in and opens it.
Now he has to set the import settings.
The data in the CSV file is mostly separated by comma or semi-colon. Find out which is used in your file, and set this to be the divider in the import settings.
He then sets text-qualifier to NONE.
After this, he clicks Finish and OK, and the data from the CSV file has been beautifully imported to his excel file.

If you had trouble following the steps above, watch the video to see it step-by-step!

Hopefully, you will be able to enjoy the data from your CSV file just like Thomas is at the moment.

Should you have trouble or maybe a question, please write a comment, and Thomas will do his uttermost to help you out!

September 23, 2018September 21, 2018

Stop YouTube from tweeting about liked videos!

Thomas likes to encourage people, and on YouTube, he likes to press the “thumbs up” or like button whenever he sees something he likes.

But, recently he discovered that Youtube automatically tweets with his Twitter account whenever he likes a video on Youtube. It doesn’t really matter, but he doesn’t want to spam his Twitter followers and his own Twitter feed with a new tweet whenever he likes a video. That would be simply too much.

So, what can Thomas do to make YouTube stop tweeting whenever he likes a video on Youtube?

Stopping Youtube from tweeting about video likes

As Thomas looks on his Twitter feed, he can see a post like this.

YouTube has automatically tweeted about a movie Thomas liked

Thomas doesn’t want Youtube to tweet about movies he likes anymore, and to fix it, this is what he does.

He goes to the YouTube Settings.
He selects Connected Apps.
Under “Share your public activity on Twitter” he controls what content he wants to share to Youtube.

Thomas selects connected apps on YouTube settings

Thomas selects when he wants Youtube to post a tweet to his Twitter account

That was it. Thomas has fixed the problem, and from now (based on the settings on the image above), YouTube will only post to his Twitter account whenever Thomas uploads a new video.

Also, Thomas spends a few minutes to delete older tweets about movies he has liked. He doesn’t want them in his Twitter feed at all!