There's a lot of information I could share about this. But I do want to remain semi-private, so I'll try to stick to the highlights and answer questions as needed. Instead of stating hard numbers, I'll compare against the value of my car according to Kelly Blue Book.

I'm reaching out here because I'm not a "car person" and I haven't gone through anything like this before. I figured if there's any other angles or strategies I'm missing then you all will probably fill in my blind spots. I want this to be over ASAP, but I also don't want to pay for the damage they've caused since it's thousands of dollars.

What happened:

• In May my car started having acceleration issues. I brought it in for repair at a dealership I've gone to for 2 years who has an in-house service department. The dealership's name includes the name of my car's manufacturer, so they're a specialized licensed dealer.
• At first they thought my catalytic converter was the issue, so they ran a bunch of tests. After extensive troubleshooting, they ended up taking it off and confirmed there was no damage or clogs. I received written updates, so this is well-documented.
• There is a known defect with engines in cars like mine. Therefore they put in a request for a free engine replacement, which was approved. They also reexamined my car after the approval was granted and recommended replacing another part at the same time. I approved and paid for that myself.
• When they gave me back my car, it was making a lot of weird sounds. I commented on it during pickup, and they told me not to drive too fast. Turns out it wasn't able to go on the highway at all and the check engine light quickly came on. I notified them and they asked me to return it. I put 100 miles on it during that period. For reference, driving on a highway has never been an issue for me.
• Upon examination, they informed me my catalytic converter was fully clogged and that it needed to be replaced. The sent me a quote for half the value of my car, a major expense.
• At first they tried arguing that it passed their test drive. But after I pointed out that I only drove 100 miles, they said it must have been clogged the whole time and they missed it repeatedly. They also said the new engine could in theory cause the issue, but stopped short of recommending it be replaced yet again. They also told me I could take my car somewhere else to get the repair done for cheaper. I have this conversation recorded.
• So I haven't had a working car for 100+ days now. It's still at the dealership and they've been trying to pressure me into taking it away, even though it's not save to drive and driving it could cause more damage.
• I've asked for a loaner vehicle repeatedly, and I'm always told none are available and that I'm on the wait list.

Here's what I've done so far.

• I have a support case with the manufacturer's national customer support system. I don't have my case managers direct line, but I call the regular line every day asking for updates. I also ask for it to be escalated and expedited. Sometimes the person tries to go above and beyond to give me the latest updates, but ultimately I don't think this is helping much. A request for a "good will" repair has been submitted and is awaiting review. Both my case manager and the dealership have told me it can take months to be reviewed. The person reviewing it is a regional manager. I've asked for their contact information but so far they've refused to disclose that.
• I've spoken to a lawyer briefly. They seemed to think it wouldn't be worth hiring them for this. They advised filing a claim against the dealership's insurer. As a backup, file a claim with my insurer and have them go after the dealership's insurer to cover the cost. I'm nervous about going this route because if they're not able to recoup then that claim would stay on my record which does have financial implications.
• I've asked the dealership directly for their insurance to file a claim. They refused to give it to me, saying only they file claims against their insurance. I don't know how else to try extracting this information. Cold calling as a prospective customer? Is it hanging on one of their walls maybe?
• I've spoken with the dealership's manager who oversees used cars. They made me an insultingly low offer yesterday, about 10% of its value. For reference, my car is less than 10 years old. Part of the reason it's so low is because they're budgeting in the repair. The manager doesn't seem to care that they damaged my car. But it does seem like they want the car off the lot, so maybe if I hold the line on this front the offer will increase. Unless they tow it, which I do slightly fear.
• I made some phone calls to governmental entities in my state. I've narrowed in on one entity that I'm told should have records of the dealership's insurance and also allow me to file a complaint. I got a voicemail today, but fingers crossed I can connect with them tomorrow.
• I sent an email to an executive last week. If I don't hear back I plan on doing this weekly with different executives. I'll add the names of each executive I've contacted to the bottom so the person has that additional context.
• I've reached out a local TV station who investigates things in the community. If I don't hear back I plan on contacting another one next week. I live in big city so I'm not confident this avenue will be fruitful.
• I've looked briefly into small claims court, but even a positive outcome requires me to collect. So that doesn't seem particularly helpful.
• I've looked briefly into leaving a BBB review, but I'm not sure that will accomplish much.

What have you been listening to this week? You don't need to do a 6000 word review if you don't want to, but please write something! If you've just picked up some music, please update on that as well, we'd love to see your hauls :)

Feel free to give recs or discuss anything about each others' listening habits.

You can make a chart if you use last.fm:

http://www.tapmusic.net/lastfm/

Remember that linking directly to your image will update with your future listening, make sure to reupload to somewhere like imgur if you'd like it to remain what you have at the time of posting.

Solution

It was probably my motherboard. I got a new CPU and motherboard and it worked. I also upgraded from DDR3 to DDR4 ram in the upgrade process

Background

So my computer is not posting, and I am unsure the cause. I am not getting an error code, so that complicates things. I do not know if this motherboard will provide post codes, it does not have a seven segment display for providing post codes.

How it started

It just randomly stopped displaying any pictures, unsure if it happened while in use or when the computer was asleep. I was doing stuff at my desk and had music playing on my computer. The music ended and I did not put on more music and the monitors went to sleep. Later when I went to use my computer It did not appear to wake up, I tried fully shutting down and turning on my computer, and that is when this problem occurred.

Symptoms:

• When I power on, computer appears to start normally, with all fans spinning so power delivery appears to be working. Even GPU fans are spinning.
• Holding down the power button turns the computer off as normal.
• Nothing is displayed on the screen, my monitors do not even detect an input.
• USB devices do not appear to be powering on.
• Every minute or two, the GPU fans ramp up briefly, and then ramp down. It may be all fans are ramping up, kind of hard to tell exactly which fans are ramping up.
• With the AMD GPU, the LEDs for power turn on. However, I vaguely recall the GPU itself having some RGB when the system was running that was not on. How my computer was setup I did not see inside my case that often, so the RGB on the GPU is a vague memory from a few years ago and I would not put much weight in there being some RGB.

Hardware:

• MOBO: Gigabyte 9900FXA-UD3
• CPU: AMD FX-8350
• GPU: ASUS Radeon HD7870 or EVGA GTX 970
• PSU: Cooler Master Elite V2 550W

Troubleshooting Attempted:

I initially assumed it was GPU related as the computer appears to turn on normally, but then nothing is displayed. So another user shipped me his old GPU (the GTX 970), and I swapped it out with my old one, and the problem persists.

I tried swapping out the RAM

I tried a brand new PSU and that also did not solve the issue

Leading hypothesis

Since I have changed everything out except CPU and MOBO, I am thinking it is probably my MOBO. I am currently researching my options for replacing my MOBO, or a friend offered me his CPU and RAM from his old rig with a broken MOBO that may be a better option than replacing mine.

I'm in the market for wedding bands. Rather than settling for a traditional plain gold wedding band, I want to explore the more artistic options. Jewelry has rarely ever worked for me, either I take it off and forget about it or lose it, hopefully something ultra unique will help make it an exception. Ideally something under 1000 Euro/USD. Of course I'm shopping around my city and neighboring ones as well, since you never know where you'll find a hidden gem.

Ideally I would find an artisanal jeweler in Europe. But as an example of what inspired me is this Patrick Adair: https://patrickadairdesigns.com/ I first found about him when I saw videos of how he made rings from superconductor coils/cables. He uses a very wide range of materials and I find almost all of his work aesthetically pleasing, even if I wouldn't wear most of them.

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.

As part of a weekly series, these topics are a place for users to casually discuss the things they did — or didn't do — during their week. Did you accomplish any goals? Suffer a failure? Do nothing at all? Tell us about it!

Tildes is a very serious site, where we discuss very serious matters like rights.legal, landlords and cards against humanity. Tags culled from the highest voted topics from the last seven days, if anyone was jotting these down.

But one of my favourite tags happens to be offbeat! Taking its original inspiration from Sir Nils Olav III, this thread is looking for any far-fetched offbeat stories lurking in the newspapers. It may not deserve its own post, but it deserves a wider audience!

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?

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?

This is the seventh of an ongoing series of book discussions here on Tildes. We are discussing This is How You Lose the Time War by el-Mohtar and Gladstone. Our next book will be Kindred by Octavia Butler around the end of October.

I don't have a particular format in mind for this discussion, but I will post some prompts and questions as comments to get things started. You're not obligated to respond to them or vote on them though. So feel free to make your own top-level comment for whatever you wish to discuss, questions you have of others, or even just to post a review of the book you have written yourself.

For latecomers, don't worry if you didn't read the book in time for this Discussion topic. You can always join in once you finish it. Tildes Activity sort, and "Collapse old comments" feature should keep the topic going for as long as people are still replying.
And for anyone uninterested in this topic please use the Ignore Topic feature on this so it doesn't keep popping up in your Activity sort, since it's likely to keep doing that while I set this discussion up, and once people start joining in.

Based on the previous topic, it looks like there are a few of us currently playing through this. I felt like we could use a dedicated topic on Tildes given that FIFTY different games yields quite the discussion surface area.

Use this topic to talk about any and all things UFO 50!

Gonna put up a collection of links to the trailers that came out today. Monster Hunter and Ghost of... can carry their own threads, but hopefully this will people a place to discuss the less popular things.

Astro Bot - Speedrun and Special Bots Add-On Trailer
The Midnight Walk - Reveal Trailer
Hell is Us - Gameplay Reveal Trailer
Metro Awakening - Release Date Trailer
ArcheAge Chronicles - First Announce Trailer
Palworld - Launch Trailer
Lunar Remastered Collection - Announce Trailer
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge - Radical Reptiles DLC Announce/Launch This was leaked yesterday on official channels
Fantasian Neo Dimension - Release Date Announcement Trailer
Dragon Age: The Veilguard - Blighted Dragon Gameplay Trailer
Alan Wake 2 - Lake House Expansion
Hitman World of Assassination - Announcement Trailer
Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1-2 Remastered - First Reveal
Fear the Spotlight - Release Date Reveal
Towers of Aghasba - Gameplay Trailer
Dynasty Warriors Origins - Overview Trailer
Monster Hunter Wilds - Release Date Reveal Trailer
LEGO Horizon Adventures - Pre-Order Trailer
Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered - Announce Trailer This is funny to me
Stellar Blade - NieR: Automata DLC & Updates This is funny for a very different reason.
Chroma Collection
PlayStation 5 Pro Console - Game Lineup Sizzle
Ghost of Yōtei - Announce Trailer

Overall, my stance is that this sure was a collection of games. Porting old stuff that may have been locked to old hardware is cool. Remaking stuff that was already playable on existing hardware is a little weird. Showing more news on upcoming games is expected. The only real fireworks in this show is Ghost of Yotei, but those are some pretty good fireworks.

Find yourself watching tons of great videos on [insert chosen video sharing platform], but also find yourself reluctant to flood the Tildes front page with them? Then this thread is for you.

It could be one quirky video that you feel deserves some eyeballs on it, or perhaps you've got a curated list of videos that you'd love to talk us through...

Share some of the best video content you've watched this past week/fortnight with us!

Thought that was a rather boring race. First half or so was just tire management. The added DRS zone didn't really spice anything up, as so many of the gaps were greater than 1 second. Even in the late race when the gaps tightened up, didn't seem like passing was possible. Perez couldn't get around Hulk. Leclerc couldn't get around Russell.

On a more positive note, Colapinto continues to kill it. Albon had to retire due to a PU cooling issue, but even before that, Colapinto passed his teammate on a great move at the start. One that Albon was not particularly happy about! Unfortuantely, Perez just nudged Colapinto out of the points.

McLaren continues to extend their recently-attained lead in the Constructor Championship. McLaren is ahead of Red Bull by 41 points. Though with 6 races left, that's not quite a guarantee just yet.

Anyway, we begin the unofficial autumn break. 4 weeks until COTA. A whole month. Sigh. Since we're entering another break, I'll also post the current Constructor and Driver Championships standings below.

Next race:

United States Grand Prix
Circuit of the Americas -- Austin, Texas
Sunday, October 20

What have you been watching and reading this week? 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!

Early last year, there were some rather heady predictions within my company about the potential/future of decentralized autonomous organizations. (That a DAO would be running a real company, that a DAO would play an important role in an election somewhere, etc.) They have not come true. From my perspective, the same generally seems to be the case for nearly all Web3 components.

That led me to wonder, though - are DAOs still a thing? Is there quiet potential there and the hype machine has simply moved on to LLMs... or was hype all there ever was?

Have any of you seen any actual uses of a DAO? I would love to hear about it if so.

I've been struggling with this for a long time. I want to keep my workflow consistent independent of my "workstation", and have identical dotfiles (like .bashrc, .vimrc etc.) on different devices.

So... How you personally deal with this issue, and what should I do?

Thanks!

As part of a weekly series, these topics are a place for users to casually discuss the things they did — or didn't do — during their week. Did you accomplish any goals? Suffer a failure? Do nothing at all? Tell us about it!

I thought this might be a nice thread for folks to share some happy LGBTQ things, more personal things than news but if it impacts you personally, go for it. I was just sitting on the porch wearing my Totally Gay shirt thinking we needed a happy thread.

Share moments of Pride, queer joy, winning against those who would discriminate, whatever strikes you.

My only living parent has between one and five days left to live. The parent is unable to speak now and has had dementia for the last 5 years and will not recognize who I am if I go visit now in these final hours.

They live a few thousand miles away from me; it would be expensive to go and money is painfully tight right now with my partner unexpectedly unemployed and struggling to get a job comparable to the job just lost.

I’m somewhat estranged from this parent. The short version is this parent is a narcissist and really didn’t show up when I was growing up, or at any point in my adult life, or really at any point when it mattered. Despite this person being a really crappy parent, they exerted a massive gravitational pull in my life through many decades—basically, this parent loomed very large for far too long given the extreme narcissism, albeit much less so in the last decade or two. (Dementia and my coming to terms with it all and caring less and time and my having my own kids and my starting my own family all being some sort of salve.)

I have one very close friend who is telling me that it is critical to go before this parent dies because being present while they are still living will give me a kind of closure and unexpected resolutions that I cannot even anticipate now. This friend is quite adamant that going is critical for personal growth.

A different close friend says that going while the person is still alive is a complete waste and that I should go for the funeral instead where I can see other relatives and connect with my sibling and other relatives and deepen those relationships which (the friend says) will be a momentous transition point for us all, creating a better sense of family than any of us could have ever had while this person was alive. This friend insists that the healing and closure is identical pre-death and post-death, but that the extra emotional burden of seeing someone dying will derail me and never be able to be “unseen.” This person thinks spending money on two trips is foolish, so the one trip to go on is for the memorial. FWIW, My sibling is only going for the memorial.

Even if money were no object, I’m not sure I could emotionally handle going twice. I suppose I can, but that’s very time intensive and I have young kids myself who need me and for whom it would be a strain if I were gone for too long. I’ve already said it, but I have to say it again: money is really tight Going twice feels possible, but extremely difficult

I guess what I’m really trying to understand, if my feelings for this parent are presently ambivalence that grew over a decade or two from what was formerly extreme anger and hurt, is there something meaningful about going while the parent is still alive? Is there something important that happens before the person dies that is in someway healing or transformative or valuable? Is it more important to instead go when my sibling is going? Should I max the credit card and go twice? Should I risk infuriating and deeply damaging my relationships with my extended family and not go at all to save money? (This last option seems wrong, but it is a possibility, so I feel like it at least deserves considering.)

Friends of Tildes, what did you gain or lose from seeing a relative in hospice? What thoughts and wisdom do you have to share around moments like these?

Thank you in advance for sharing your stories. I’m sure your collective wisdom will help me make a better choice.

Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows 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.

What have you been listening to this week? You don't need to do a 6000 word review if you don't want to, but please write something! If you've just picked up some music, please update on that as well, we'd love to see your hauls :)

Feel free to give recs or discuss anything about each others' listening habits.

You can make a chart if you use last.fm:

http://www.tapmusic.net/lastfm/

Remember that linking directly to your image will update with your future listening, make sure to reupload to somewhere like imgur if you'd like it to remain what you have at the time of posting.

Find yourself watching tons of great videos on [insert chosen video sharing platform], but also find yourself reluctant to flood the Tildes front page with them? Then this thread is for you.

It could be one quirky video that you feel deserves some eyeballs on it, or perhaps you've got a curated list of videos that you'd love to talk us through...

Share some of the best video content you've watched this past week/fortnight with us!

After the debacle with Reddit, Twitter, et al some of my friends an I decided to stop posting to corporate walled gardens and instead focus on sharing and co-creating.

I remember reading about modern alternatives for WebRings two years ago, but can't for the life of me find them or remember what they were called! Tiny web? TinyRing? SmallWeb? Does this ring a bell for some of you?

Alternatively, I'd appreciate if you could share ideas and approaches to alternative/indy syndication or agreggation.

Thanks !

EDIT: ding ding ding https://indieweb.org/Micro.blog

Tildes is a very serious site, where we discuss very serious matters like usps, obituaries and pagers. Tags culled from the highest voted topics from the last seven days, if anyone was nosey.

But one of my favourite tags happens to be offbeat! Taking its original inspiration from Sir Nils Olav III, this thread is looking for any far-fetched offbeat stories lurking in the newspapers. It may not deserve its own post, but it deserves a wider audience!

I've been friends with someone for 18 months that seems to be taking the friendship in an inappropriate direction. Well, it started inappropriate as well.

At my last job we all sat in cubicles. One day, having just led my ornithologist brother on a small bird tour of the area, I described the trip to a co-worker. Someone I'd never noticed before popped up from behind a cube wall and started asking questions. She introduced herself and for the next few days continued to strike up conversations with me.

After a certain amount of this I wondered if this was a romantic interest from her. I was already counting the days until I would quit the job so saw little reason not to ask her out for a drink. When I proposed the idea she gave me a devious smile and we quietly headed out. Afterwards, in the settling of the tab, I Venmo'd her for a beer and noticed her Venmo account had a different last name than she has at work and asked about that. She's Chinese and I wasn't sure if sometimes Chinese people might have an anglicized last name in addition to their first name. "Oh, sometimes I use one, sometimes the other" was all I got. Nothing physical occurred or was initiated.

A week later after texting and going to a company workout class together she tells me that she is married. I'm absolutely shocked and feel like I've been used as part of someone's adulterous fantasy. The style of our conversations seemed identical to the getting-to-know-you type of stuff you cover on first dates. But I wasn't sure. Maybe I misread the situation. I tell her I'm not comfortable with the situation and we stop talking for a week. But I'd already joined the group workout class on her recommendation and would see her there anyway. I decided that I didn't really know what her intentions were and would give her the benefit of the doubt. She seemed to be interested in us having a friendship.

But I really wanted to know... what did happen? One of my favorite podcasts is Heavyweight. In it, Jonathan Goldstein plays the role of a social detective. People come to him with relationship issues from their past and he, without the restraint most people feel, badgers people for answers with his journalistic skills. I suspect I am mildly autistic, so for me many mundane social interactions carry mystery. To have Goldstein take relatable life experiences and crack them open for all to see is powerful. It's like we can finally get some goddamn answers to people's closest kept secrets.

So as time went on I got integrated into her group of friends, met her husband, her dog. Her husband seems like a great guy. But my friend would give indications of unhappiness in her marriage, often in groups when he was not around, occasionally over text message to me. I never engaged.

She had some hard-to-get permits for a backpacking trip. It would be a trip of four. Her husband was not interested so she invited three friends including myself. I went on the trip, made a new friend who just moved to my city, and had a great time. Immediately afterwards we started planning a new trip.

At some point my female friend did initiate a conversation on what she was thinking when we went out for a drink and what happened during the days after before she told me she was married. It boiled down to her wanting my friendship but not wanting to change my behavior. In my interpretation she wanted the attention of being dated. I honestly wasn't sure how much I believed this explanation - and even on its face it didn't sound super great.

So we just got back from another backpacking trip - myself, my female friend, and a male friend of hers who is married. During the trip I ended up discussing my sexuality with the two of them. I consider myself to be on the spectrum of asexuality. I described, as best I could, what makes me attracted to people (an emotional connection, their personality and intelligence, etc.) and the short list of people I had found myself strongly attracted to. I didn't list my female friend - I had lost most of my interest with that initial feeling of being used a year and a half ago. And a couple weeks isn't quite enough time for me to really get things revved up. Visibly I could see she was very confused but I didn't acknowledge her reaction. "Wasn't there one more ... the married one?" I dodged the question.

On the drive back her male friend brought up the topic of my sexuality again. I answered his questions. My female friend seemed to again want to know if I was attracted to her. "Do you ever find your friends attractive?" "Are you attracted to older women?" (she's older than me)

On my side of things, this friendship has been predicated on the idea that as long as I didn't engage with anything I consider to be unethical there couldn't be any harm done. But now I'm not so sure. And what's worse - I'm finding myself attracted to her again because of her interest.

I've been thinking about having a conversation about how she's making me uncomfortable. I think it's past the point where there's any chance nothing's going on. I really do not get the impression she's trying to leave her husband. I just feel played with.

Edit: Okay, the friend in question is away for a few weeks but I'll have a conversation with them when they get back to figure this out.

I've thought about this off and on for like a year.

It, as far as I know, seems well documented that populations are struggling with dating and marriages, especially in the younger generations. A lot of people attribute it to things like finances, working hours, cost of living, etc, but also the abysmal online dating circus. People don't seem to go out with the intention of meeting people as much, and so most turn to apps like Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge. But with these apps basically monopolized by the Match group, and none of the parent companies have an actual incentive to get people off the app, it seems like a ripe opportunity for governments everywhere to try and fill in the gap.

As they don't have the investor profit motive, but they do have a very strong motive for people to get together, have relationships, marriages, eventually babies. And this is just a baseless claim on my part, but I imagine it could be stimulating to local economies as more people go on dates. I know at least my ass doesn't go anywhere really when I'm single.

We’re almost halfway through the 2020s (hard to believe it, I know!).

I’m interested in knowing which music newcomers we should be tuning into, instead of listening to all the same old stuff we always do from the last decade.

So, what have been your favorite debut albums of the 2020s so far? What makes them great?

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?

I am currently preparing for a new job and cleaning up my dotfile repository. During the process, I had the idea that it would be nice to create a list of amazing tools, aliases, functions, and recommendations together.

I will start.

First, here is a list of nice tools to apt-get install or brew install that I can wholeheartedly recommend:

• nvim is just an amazing text editor.
• fzf is a very good fuzzy finder util. For example, you can quickly find files with it.
• eza is a good ls replacement (and the successor of exa).
• bat is a great replacement for cat with nice integrations and many options.
• stow is great for managing your dotfiles. Thanks to @TangibleLight for telling me about it some while ago. I really love it.
• tmux is a terminal multiplexer, i.e. you can have many sessions in one single terminal window. It's easy to use and super helpful. (When on a mac, I prefer iTerm tabs, though.)
• nvm is practically a must if you are working with Node.
• glow is an excellent markdown reader.
• tldr is a nice man replacement. (You must run tldr -u after installing it to update available texts.)
• z, an amazing tool for switching directories quickly.

Also, I can recommend Oh My ZSH! which I have been using for years.

Here is a small list of aliases I enjoy (I have 100+ aliases and I tried to pick some others may enjoy as well):

# Serve current dir
alias serve="npx serve ."

# What's my IP?
alias ip="curl --silent --compressed --max-time 5 --url 'https://ipinfo.io/ip' && echo ''"

# This should be the default
alias mkdir="mkdir -p"

# Nice git helpers
alias amend="git add . && git commit --amend --no-edit"
alias nuke="git clean -df && git reset --hard"

# Make which more powerful
which='(alias; declare -f) | /usr/bin/which --tty-only --read-alias --read-functions --show-tilde --show-dot'

# This saves so many keystrokes, honestly
alias -- +x="chmod +x"

# Turns your path into a nice list and prints it
alias path='echo -e ${PATH//:/\\n}'

# Map over arguments and run a command
# Usage: map <command>
# Example: ls | map cat
alias map="xargs -n1"

And, finally, here are some fun functions:

# Get cheat sheets for almost anything!
# https://github.com/chubin/cheat.sh
cheat() {
    WITH_PLUS=$(echo $@ | sed 's/ /+/g')
    CAT_TOOL=$(command -v batcat || command -v bat || command -v cat)
    curl "cheat.sh/$WITH_PLUS" | $CAT_TOOL
}

# Send everything to /dev/null
nullify() {
  "$@" >/dev/null 2>&1
}

# Create a new dir and enter it
mk() {
  mkdir -p "$@" && cd "$_"
}

# Create a data URL from a file
# Source: https://github.com/mathiasbynens/dotfiles/blob/master/.functions
data-url() {
	local mimeType=$(file -b --mime-type "$1");
	if [[ $mimeType == text/* ]]; then
		mimeType="${mimeType};charset=utf-8";
	fi
	echo "data:${mimeType};base64,$(openssl base64 -in "$1" | tr -d '\n')";
}

As per the title, is anyone into hacking about with Firestick devices and getting some world free IPTV?

Essentially it's just Kodi with plugins and Add-ons, and they're generally just python scripts anyway.

I've just fallen down this rabbit hole after a friend said he'd gotten a Firestick off a bloke down the pub for £75 for the year. He said its Sky Glass and loads of box sets and what not.

A quick inspection and it's not Sky Glass, it's a custom skin for an IPTV player. The box sets are a mix of Real Debrid links and what looks to be the Eupherium plug in which uses torrents. Straight away I threw a VPN on his stick with the killswitch enabled.

Anyway, I decided to see what I could with basics on my own Firestick for free. I used Kodi, Eupherium, The Crew's Daddy Live, The Loop, and a sports plug in. I managed to set up Electronic Program Guide (EPG) for most of it. I used Surfshark from the get go as this is all dodgy, but it's purely for experimental purposes.

It's great doing this for free but there are some downsides:

Channels are hit and miss whether they are even near HD quality. Streams are often low fps and you need to rely on interpolation on the TV to smooth the stream out.

Kodi often crashes during use or startup requiring a cache clearance.

Steams change often. They can be great one day, the next that IPTV is dead and you need to pick another which may or may not work.

I realise there is a whole underground network for private streams and people are making serious bank selling these for PPV access alone.

What are people's thoughts on all of this? I work in the TV industry and it's bad for businesses, but at the same time, there are far too many fat cats around making this industry drown.

Just though it might be nice to have a space for general EV discussion here on Tildes. The only other space I know of to talk on the subject is r/electricvehicles, which has gotten big enough to get polarized and echo-chambery… prepare to get bombarded if you say anything positive about EV models from Japanese manufacturers or suggest that a used Chevy Bolt isn’t a great fit for everybody, for example.

Anyway, what is everybody driving and how do you like it? Has it given you any trouble? Any upcoming models you’re excited about or interested in? If you don’t drive one now, is there a model you’re eying?

Right now I’m driving a 2023 Nissan Ariya Platinum+, which I chose because it’s what I could get a reasonable lease deal on without too much trouble. It’s been great for the most part but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t total overkill for my needs… something more like a modernized electric Golf would better fit me, but those don’t exist in the US, so here I am.

The upcoming model I’m most interested in is by far the Rivian R3. It’s sized about the same as a Golf, the retro styling is cool, and its got several high-utility features that make it almost seem like a reincarnation of the Toyota Matrix (fold flat seats including front passenger, back hatch window that can open to accommodate long objects, etc) without the Matrix’s weaknesses. The Pacific Northwest inspired interior of the higher end R3X model looks gorgeous too and is a welcome departure from the sterile grayscale interiors that EVs have become known for.

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?

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.

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.

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?

This has been on my mind for a while, and I've voiced a similar concern 1.5 months ago in the recurring topic, but it went unnoticed.

Israel has been and still is actively committing genocide against people of Gaza. You can read a summary of the reasons it's being called a genocide in the Wikipedia entry (and its sources) . Wikipedia itself has recognized it as genocide, naming the entry Gaza Genocide, and it's a major feat considering the contentious nature of the topic and the heavy regulation and debates in Wikipedia culture. Even a UN human rights experts said in March that there are reasonable grounds to think a genocide is being committed, and UN is dominated by US influence, and is much slower to act and react, especially when western or US interests are concerned (which applies in this case, because Israel is an ally).

Israel's online propaganda machine has been hard at work about this issue, in order to control the narrative (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). Israel also now ranks among the world’s leading jailers of journalists., another evidence of their commitment to suppress dissenting voices and control the narrative around this issue. It's also worth noting that western coverage of Israel's acts has been said to be legitimising Israel's behavior.

I think most things in the world are some shades of gray, and it's very understandable for people to have ambivalent attitudes about it, but I do not think this is one of those cases, for the following reasons.

• There is an active, ongoing genocide.
• The genocider nation-state has been spreading its propaganda to control the international narrative, especially in US (because US is its biggest ally and funder). It's doing this because it knows support from US and its allies is crucial to keep the genocide going. This involves manufacturing consent in the citizens of these nations.
• Tildes is heavily populated with citizens of US and other western nations.
• Not actively opposing this propaganda means one is helping -albeit indirectly but still significantly- the genocider nation.

I should clarify that, as of this moment, I'm not blaming the moderators, and I'm not saying they are doing this consciously and with full consideration. Instead, I'm trying to illustrate what is going on in the wider context, and what the actions in this mini-environment mean in the wider context. Simply put, genocidal propaganda is not an issue where you can follow the middle-ground, especially when you have power over a community.

For these reasons, I propose two changes in terms of moderation.

1. Both from now on and retroactively, change the names of the "Israel-Hamas war megathreads" to "Gaza Genocide megathreads".
2. Create and, both from now on and retroactively, use the tag "Gaza Genocide" when tagging.

The first point is self-explanatory. As for the second point, there comes up only 4 topics when I search for "Gaza Genocide" in the site, even though there have been numerous discussions about it. None of them have the mentioned tag, but they have the Gaza and Genocide tags separately. Furthermore, one of the topics is mine, and I had put the tag Gaza Genocide but it was later removed by moderation, and replaced with other tags mentioning this topic. Again, not throwing personal shade to anyone, but I think this is not a good way to go about this topic. A special tag would give it more visibility, which the victims of the genocide need.

These are my suggestions. If anyone can think of anything else, they are welcome to share as well.

What have you been watching and reading this week? 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!

Hi Tilderinos,

I head up a small startup and we're looking to get some support for our data security. Up until now we've worked with small mom and pops that didn't have any requirements, but a few of our new clients have full data security teams and our infrastructure and policies/protocols aren't up to snuff. We reached out to a few consulting firms and they quotes us between $80-100k to get things set up and run us through a full SOC2 review. As a small company we don't really have that type of budget, more like $40-50k. I stumbled upon Vanta and Drata as alternatives and had meetings with their sales folks last week. Both of their offerings from setting up our protocols to monitoring and getting us through a SOC2 were only $16k.

Are platform based companies like Vanta or Drata enough to get us off the ground while we're still getting set up? Has anyone worked with them before and have any feelings one way or the other? Should we be signing on with a security consulting company - be it at a lower rate if we can negotiate it?
This is all quite new to me and any insight folks here can provide would be incredible useful.