I was wondering if anyone else around here consistently reads any of the many webcomics out there. I really love reading XKCD, CommitStrip, Questionable Content, Alice Grove, and Mare Internum.

If you'd like to have a discussion about art styles, writing, the communities around the comics, how in the world Randall Munroe manages to continually come up with ideas for comics that make XKCD even more relevant for everything, or whatever else you might want to talk about, I'd love to talk with you about it.

This is a recurring post to discuss programming or other technical projects that we've been working on. Tell us about one of your recent projects, either at work or personal projects. What's interesting about it? Are you having trouble with anything?

It's been a couple months since the previous introductions thread and we're getting some new users, so it seems time to start another one.

This is a place to post an introduction with a few fun facts about yourself. Anyone can post an introduction, new and old members included.

Also, on the topic of bios, you can read anybody's bio by clicking on their username (if they've posted one), and you can edit your own bio in settings.

The Little Mermaid opened this Memorial Day weekend. Pre-sales, being the tickets that people buy in advance, were looking strong. It looked like it would open to over 100 for the 3-day weekend, and 130 for the 4-day. Potentially the highest opening weekend for Memorial Day ever.

That didn't happen. While it had a strong opening day, it failed to keep up the pace for the rest of the weekend. Ultimately opening under 100 for the 3-day weekend. The expected casual audience, referred to as "walk-ups" didn't show up in the numbers that were expected (based on past live-action Disney films). Hollywood trades are seemingly ignoring this, most of them calling the opening weekend a success.

While the Domestic opening weekend is certainly not bad, it's worldwide opening weekend is terrible. Internationally the film opened behind Fast X's second weekend. It's acting closer to Dumbo, a big bomb for Disney in 2019, than any of the successful live-action Disney films. Domestically, also, the film is acting closer to Solo, another bomb, than Aladdin (which had amazing legs).

Why this happened is still being debated. Some say that having a black lead turned off a lot of the international audience, others say they were turned off from a lack of a big star in the film (like say Will Smith in Aladdin or Emma Watson in Beauty and the Beast). Whatever the case is for the international audience, it's clear that there was a total market rejection of the film. Domestically, it seems like casual audiences are experiencing a bit of fatigue with these live-action movies (perhaps due to all the bad ones going straight to Disney+).

And maybe, perhaps, Disney betting big on Disney+ in 2022 while the other studios started to refocus on theatrical, was a mistake. Maybe that's diluted the Disney brand in all forms.

But whatever it is, Disney now has two bombs on their hands. Ant-Man failed to make a profit and now Little Mermaid is unlikely to reach that as well (considering the huge 250 million dollar budget on it). And the rest of the year is not looking any better for them.

Disney went to Cannes with Indiana Jones and Elemental. Which we all assumed was a sign of confidence in the films. That ended backfiring as both Indiana and Elemental ended up rotten on RT. Now they have to deal with a negative reception for both films, on top of the fact that there was very little excitement for both to begin with. Pixar, and Disney animation as a whole, is now looking at back to back to back bombs (Lightyear, Strange World, and now Elemental). Indiana Jones had an inflated budget of 300 million and now looks like it won't break even either.

Haunted Mansion might surprise, but it's gonna be a tough ladder to climb considering the really big 150 million dollar budget.

The Marvels will need to be as well received as Guardians in order not to be Ant-Man'd out of existence, which most people are not expecting, especially as you need to watch two TV shows to understand it.

Wish could finally be a win for Disney's animation department, but considering the track record I wouldn't count on it.

It's really not looking good for Disney, what a fall considering the immense success they experienced in 2019. They really might just end up with one success this year (Guardians).

It's been six months since ChatGPT launched and about three months since I started posting these. I think it's getting harder to find new things to post about about AI, but here's another one anyway.

Here's the previous thread.

What recent announcements caught your interest? Video games or board games, indie or AAA, new release or expansion, fangames or mods, all are welcome!

Please also include a link to the trailer or blog post, press release, steam page, etc. so others can check them out as well.

I feel like a good Linux distro discussion is a good fit here.

I'm only half-joking about the 'week' part. Whether it's the flavor of the week or your 10 year distro, I'd be curious to know what you have installed right now and what you like about it.

I'll start. I've been moving all of my servers and even my desktop and laptop to Alpine Linux. It's fast, it's stable, has a wide variety of packages available and the package manager apk.

It's easy to configure with openrc. Easy to diagnose any problems. And honestly I haven't had a problem yet with musl that I couldn't work around. Gotta say I'm quite smitten with it.

I'm big on audiobooks and trying to move away from the Audible monopoly starting with the book "Chokepoint Capitalism" (which is about monopolies like that).

Unfortunately, the smaller library is hampered even more by the dodgy search (I just finished two books in a trilogy, why are you showing me the spanish translations of the author's other books?) and I'm struggling to fill my wishlist which has never been a problem on Audible.

So far I'm really liking Chokepoint Capitalism but looking for any suggestions once that's done. I've read a decent amount of mainstream fantasy (Stormlight archive, Wheel of Time, Robin Hobb, Tolkien), some popular scifi (Aasimov, w40k stuff, recently enjoyed "Armor" by Steakly), a lot of light nonfiction about finance, history and pop psychology ("The Big Short" or anything by Michael Lewis, "Debt: The first 5000 years", "Girt", "The man who mistook his wife for a hat") and have recently been on a big Ken Follett kick (historical fantasy?)

Any good listens that I should give a go?

PS. sorry for sounding like a shill post for audiobooks.com. I swear I'm not trying to drive clicks that's just the name of the company and recent Brandon Sanderson drama has made me aware of how much power Amazon has over the only way I consume literature nowadays

Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

Hey all,

Brand new Tildes user here. In real life, I work full time as an orchestral and opera conductor. I love all kinds of music (outside of classical, I particularly love musical theater, jazz, and hip hop) but classical music is what I know best. How about let's start a thread about classical music? What do you like? What questions do you have? Do you want to know more about how orchestras, opera theaters, and ballet companies work? Shoot me anything and everything!

And to start, I'd like to share with you this concert recording, the only recording of this amazing and little-known work by composer Alice Mary Smith.

Hey Tildes, with the renewed interest in the site, it got me thinking that we should hold a fundraiser for the not-for-profit company—which currently consists of just one person—that runs Tildes. It's overdue.

Disclaimer: These are my words as a member of the community. I haven't run this message by the admin before posting. I may have gotten some details wrong.

Where to donate

• GitHub Sponsors: https://github.com/sponsors/Deimos
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tildes

History

A bit of history: The site admin, @Deimos ran the first three years of the site working full-time on it, paid only by donations, plus a $5000 GitHub sponsor match one year, which I'm not even sure was fully achieved, or only just barely.

For that time period 2018-2020, a lowball salary as a software engineer with his experience would have been $100,000 USD per year not including benefits.

If he received $5000 in donations per year (almost certainly an overestimate for more recent years) plus the $5000 GitHub match for the first year—for the 5 years of Tildes' life, that's about $30,000.

The remaining opportunity cost of $270,000 was essentially paid out of pocket by himself, as a donation to the community. Plus remember there are server expenses, legal incorporation expenses, etc. And, y'know, rent.

In recent years he had to take a full-time job because the situation was, of course, unsustainable.

App?

I announced in April that a mobile app is under development. Originally, I was planning to take my time and release a first alpha by the end of 2023.

How about if we struck a deal: get the donation numbers up and I will devote more time to the app, as opposed to splitting my time between it and contract work and other projects.

What's the deal?

• 150 active donors combined on GitHub Sponsors and Patreon—I'll release an alpha by November.
• 300 active donors—I'll release an alpha by October.
• 500 active donors—I'll release an alpha by September.

The dollar amounts don't matter.

As of writing, we are at 46 active donors.

What's in it for you, though?

Feeling like I did a good deed, I guess? I'm not looking for a "slice of the pie," to be clear. In some sense I'd be matching your donations with my time, aka opportunity cost.

If I donate, can I bother the admin to work more on the site?

No.

Again, I haven't run this fundraiser by the admin. He will certainly keep his full-time employment for the foreseeable future, and will not magically have more hours in the day to devote to Tildes.

With a sustainable budget, though, a lot can happen in the future. Contracting out work to others, for example.

But the point of this fundraiser is more to make a small dent in the past debt we owe the admin, not making any promises whatsoever on the future of the site and how it's run.

Let's go, my fellow Tilderinos!

• GitHub Sponsors: https://github.com/sponsors/Deimos
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tildes

We have a lot of new users joining the site. Welcome to Tildes!

This thread is for you to ask any question you have about the site, from “what is the moderation philosophy?”to “what does that blue line next to some comments mean?” to “what is the general vibe like here?” Tildes has a lot of documentation, history, and embedded social norms that can be daunting or opaque at first glance, so here’s your opportunity to get help with anything you need.

Questions about anything and everything are fair game. Follow-up questions are encouraged! No question is too simple.

Also, a quick note: the only person who can speak in any official capacity on Tildes is our admin @Deimos. Everyone answering who is NOT him is just a helpful community member!

Whether you're new to distro installs or aiming to delve deeper, feel free to ask any questions here - remember, no question is stupid!

I'll do my best to answer, and if I can't, someone here likely can, or at least guide you in the right direction.

Background: I've been a Linux user since 2007, starting with Ubuntu Feisty Fawn after losing my Windows XP product key. I've performed countless installs, worked in web hosting NOCs, and use multiple distros daily, including Proxmox.

If you prefer, don't hesitate to PM me directly!

Thought I'd make my first post here to Tildes about some of the last few audiobooks I've listened to and rank them from least favorite to favorite in this particular batch. I obviously lean more toward science fiction stories, however, when it comes to audiobooks narration makes all the difference. A not-great book can get elevated by a great narrator and a great book can get destroyed by a poor one. Would love to hear your guys thoughts on these books and let me know suggestions on what I should listen to next based on what I said I liked.

#10 - Infinite - Jeremy Robinson / R.C. Bray

This is likely a case of Bray saving a book for me and keeping me in it. The overall concept of this story is interesting however about 2/3 of the way through it the scenarios the main character was encountering just became silly and the ending became obvious. An interesting concept that I think just got drawn out far too long.

#9 - How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius - Donald J. Robertson / Donald J. Robertson

Was interested in reading a bit more about stoicism. Robertson's book is likely one of the best you'll find on Aurelius and the stories and summaries he uses are quite good for getting the overview I was looking for. I've sent this book to friends who found it really useful in thinking about how they handle anxiety and framing things that happen in their lives. My only knock on the book is that Robertson's voice makes me sleepy.

#8 - Slaying the Dragon: A Secret History of Dungeons & Dragons - Ben Riggs / Sean Patrick Hopkins

If you are a D&D or TTRPG fan who is interested in where the game came from this is an excellent book to give you an overview of what was happening inside the company during some of its most difficult times. It tells a story that many people THINK they know but reveals much that most people didn't and really reshapes your ideas on those involved.

#7 - Norse Mythology - Neil Gaiman / Neil Gaiman

This feels like a passion project of Gaiman's and was a fun primer on Norse Mythology that told some great tales and left me wanting more. Gaiman is also a fairly decent narrator as well which isn't always the case with an author doing their own audiobook. If you want to hear tales of Loki, Thor, Odin and others that don't involve Marvel's twist on them listen to this book.

#6 - Dark Matter: A Novel - Blake Crouch / Jon Lindstrom

This book took me by surprise by how much of a human story got told in what could have easily been a science fiction technobabble concept. The really cool plot, engaging characters, and a really good narrator make this an easy recommendation. The ending wasn't quite what I hoped for but the journey on the way to that ending was excellent.

#5 - Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage - Alfred Lansing / Simon Prebble

This is one of those books where I have to say go in and read this completely blind - don't look up anything about it at all. It's a true story (although honestly, you'll question it given how crazy parts are, but it's all true). The writing is so descriptive you'll almost feel the cold on your face as you follow the story of a crew trapped and fighting for survival in the Antarctic waters. So many gut punches along the way, the narration is on point, and this is a must-listen.

#4 - An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth - Chris Hadfield / Chris Hadfield

If there was a book I'd hand to a young teen and say listen to this for general life advice on reaching your goals this would be it. Chris Hadfield knocked it out of the park and his life story is amazing. The way he views problems and solves them, how he sets goals and plans to achieve them, and his general philosophy on it all makes me want to be like him. If you want a self-help book disguised as an amazing life story get this one.

#3 - Bobiverse (Books 1-4) - Dennis E. Taylor / Ray Porter

Ray Poters is one of my favorite narrators and what he was able to do with Taylors' really quirky science fiction world is wonderful. Bob is a human who died suddenly however had his mind transferred to a computer system attached to a space drone. What comes after that is a story of finding meaning in the universe, helping to save humanity, exploration and discovery, the meaning of self and personality, the meaning of life and love, and so much more. I really look forward to this universe getting more books and also recommend people check out Taylor's other books which are great light science fiction reading.

#2 - Red Rising (Books 1-3) - Pierce Brown / Tim Gerard Reynolds

There may be recency bias on this one as I just finished these first three books (currently reading #4) and absolutely loved them. There were many times I'd be listening on my commute to or from work and I'd just sit in the office parking lot or my driveway not wanting to turn the book off. Brown has created an amazing world of classism and politics that will tickle your "Game of Thrones" bone quite nicely. I'll say in book 1 you need to get through the first 1/4 of the book before things really take off but once the story makes that shift you won't be able to put it down. Reynold's accent and general narration is great, so good in fact that while I'm going through the fourth book it kind of miffed me that they went to multiple narrators.

#1 - Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir / Ray Porter

This book better be made into a movie! Weir has written some books that were great (The Martian) and some that were just ok, but this might be his greatest work. The character development and interactions between the two main characters of this story is nothing short of amazing. Again go into this one blind, know it's great but don't go looking for why. I think it's one of the few books I've listened to recently that has made me cry both from laughing and from sadness. Without a doubt, if there was only going to be one book I'd recommend that you listen to this is it.

Just joined this site and I wanted to make a good place to discuss the recently released: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for the Nintendo Switch.

I wanted to get your opinions, gameplay videos, screenshots, or whatever it is you want to talk about in regards to the game.

To start, did you buy the game and what's your completion / time spent playing?

I just saw eggs at $3.06 for a 36 pack at my local Walmart. Not too long ago a 12 pack was pushing close to $7.00 in my area.

What’s up with that? Is the greedy egg price gouging catching up with the farms or something?

Wasn’t sure where to put this one.

I nearly made this post a hot few hours ago, but it turned into me gushing about Worlds Without Number for an inexplicably long time. I realized that of all the things that matter, going into the minutiae does the least.

So yeah, I'm just curious what kind of not-D&D RPGs people are into and why exactly they're interested in it. Obviously there's the whole 'Wizards of the Coast is a shithole company' aspect, but I'm speaking more from a broad design standpoint than a moral one.

What have you been drinking, sipping and enjoying, in the world of whisky/whiskey spirits lately? Discussion about Scotch whisky, Irish whiskey, international whiskey, bourbon, etc. are all welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts, reviews, and tales about the spirits if you like!

I myself was thoroughly surprised at a whisky bar today with the Hatozaki 12. I went to the bar to try out my first Japanese whiskey's and found Hatozaki 12. It was absolutely lovely, bottled with integrity and at a fair price ($8/oz). I was not expecting such fruity and floral notes. I tried out a few from Nikka and Suntory and was not impressed. The Nikka Yoichi tasted off and a wee bit musty. The Suntory felt too light and like it belongs in a highball. I am looking forward to continuing the journey of exploration with Japanese whisky in the future. It is a stark change from the Islay Scotch whisky I drink regularly.

• Hatozaki 12 - Small Batch - Umeshu Cask: 87/100
  Owner: Akashi Sake Brewery LTD
  Region: Kaikyo Distillery, Akashi City, Hyogo, Japan
  Nose: Vanilla, honey, floral, cream, red apple, fresh fruit
  Palate: Vanilla, toffee, cherry blossom, peaches in cream, lavender
  Finish: Vanilla, floral, lavender, cream linger for several minutes after
  Note: Non-chill filtered, Natural Color, 46% ABV, speyside feel with some added bonus

My grading chart:

• 98 – 100 (A+) = Booze Nirvana.
  This is the promised land where every sense is satisfied and, unless it’s a perfect 100, you have to search and nit-pick for what’s wrong instead of what’s right about this whiskey because it’s so on point.
• 93 – 97 (A) = Exceptional – Superior in every way
  These are the best of the best and within spitting distance of Nirvana. They embody everything that category is about and then elevate it to another level. These are ones I HIGHLY recommend.
• 90 – 92 (A-) = Excellent – want to buy a case
  Whiskeys that hit this rating are extra awesome. They’re delicious and complex Daily Drinkers and even though they are not quite best-in-class, they’re among my favorite whiskeys and I would wholeheartedly recommend them to anyone at any time.
• 87 – 89 (B+) = Great – always want to have a bottle
  These are whiskeys that as soon as you taste them you say, “I want to own a bottle” and if you already own the bottle, you just smile because it’s yours. It’s not a record breaker by any means, just a good solid delicious whiskey.
• 83 – 86 (B) = Good – not a “must”, but a nice-to-have
  The majority of my baselines are found here. This range is where the “daily drinker” status starts to emerge and where I find whiskies that’re good to drink but may rotate in and out of my collection. They’re not something you’d miss when it’s out, but good enough to give a moment’s consideration when at the liquor store.
• 80 – 82 (B-) = Not-too-bad – no major flaws, worth tasting
  This is the stuff I’d recommend you try at the bar or at a friend’s house before buying a bottle. There’s nothing really wrong with it, it’s just not… quite… there.
• 77 – 79 (C+) = Average – not good, not bad, just is
  There might be some minor flaws, all-in-all it’s not offensive, but it might be boring. There’s just nothing at all noteworthy about this whiskey. Would recommend to starters.
• 73 – 76 (C) = Below average – drinkable, but better as a mixer / party booze
  It’s not like you or I actually WANT to drink this stuff, but sometimes you’re at a wedding or a shitty bar and it just happens to be there, and a beer just doesn’t sound great, so you grin and bear a glass or, when possible, ask for it in a cocktail. If the bartender sucks, you might even take a bit of solace in the knowledge that they didn’t ruin a good whiskey with their terrible cocktail.
• 70 – 72 (C-) = Not good – nearly undrinkable, wonder why the hell they made it
  When I drink this stuff, I wonder if the Master Distiller is actually proud of what they’ve put out or if it’s something they just shove out to make a quick buck. I then wonder about the person who habitually buy it and wonder what admirable qualities they find in it that I can’t.
• 60 – 69 (D) = The only thing this should be used for is making Jungle Juice, and even then, Seriously, I start to wonder if it’s even safe for human consumption at this point. - It’s just plain vile.
• 59 – 0 (F) = Horrifically flawed – the worst
  This is when I call the FDA because I’m pretty damn sure it’s not safe to drink this swill.

What have you been watching and reading this month? You don't need to give us a whole essay if you don't want to, but please write something! Feel free to talk about something you saw that was cool, something that was bad, ask for recommendations, or anything else you can think of.

If you want to, feel free to find the thing you're talking about and link to its pages on Anilist, MAL, or any other database you use!

This topic is part of a series. It is meant to be a place for users to discuss creative projects they have been working on.

Projects can be personal, professional, physical, digital, or even just ideas.

If you have any creative projects that you have been working on or want to eventually work on, this is a place for discussing those.

What have you been doing lately for your own fitness? Try out any new programs or exercises? Have any questions for others about your training? Want to vent about poor behavior in the gym? Started a new diet or have a new recipe you want to share? Anything else health and wellness related?

Anyone metal detect or coin roll hunt? Or magnet fish?

I do both, ive coin roll hunted for a year, and I just started metal detecting a month ago

I'm in canada, which has pros and cons for metal detecting, a con would be all our modern coins are made of plated steel, so they both sound bad when you swing over them, and the rot beyond use in not that long time

A pro though is we have 1 and 2 dollar coins, in the states you might go a year before swinging over a Sacajawea dollar, but in canada you might find multiple loonies on the first time out

In a bit over a month, of metal detecting I found 2 sterling rings, a silver dime(it was a fresh drop not ancient) and a sterling earring, the earring was gold plated, I was hoping I found gold till I saw the 925 and makers mark, looked on the makers website and it was all gold plated sterling

Coin roll hunting I recently hit the jackpot of the year most definitly, four whole rolls of silver dimes, thats $380 and only cost me $20 to aquire

Lately I've been into La Fin du Monde, which is a Triple Blond from Canada. When I took the first sip it put a smile on my face. Very complex flavors. It has that Trippel flavor but I detect some of what I'd call 'berry and spice'. I'm not some beer expert, nor do I have the vocabulary to accurate explain the profile. All I can say is it's worth a shot!

Other than that Sam Adams Summer has been great for the hot days.