Hello Tildes! I often find myself intimidated by authors of great sagas, trilogies upon trilogies, and dozens of standalone novels. How do I know which book (or series) to read first?

I've been recommended Terry Pratchett and Brandon Sanderson recently. I've read zero novels by either author. I've also been warned that there is a definitive best place in the canon to start, "and it's this one!" But then someone else interjects and says, "no, it's this one!" followed by passionate reasoning. Okay. If it is really worth starting somewhere in particular, where should I begin?

I'm unlikely to read an author's entire corpus. I just have too many books to read and not enough time. But I'm not opposed to reading longer series if they're really fun. I'd appreciate any input about these authors in particular and this problem in general. Thanks!

Posting for ideas/advice, if anyone has any, as I'm unsure of where else to turn.

I have a VPS (Named "Bucket") I rent and self host a few services on, along with a home server (Named "Vergil") that lives under my basement stairs and I host many more services on. At 2:01 AM today I got a notification from Bucket that my Plex (hosted on Vergil) was down/unreachable. I'm assuming that's when this issue started.

When investigating I found that Plex wasn't down, but Bucket couldn't reach/talk to Vergil. Further investigation showed that it wasn't just Bucket, but nothing can reach/talk to Vergil. At first I thought it was an issue with my router, as I have my gateway set up in IP bypass mode and manage my network via my third party router (UDM-Pro). But after digging through logs looking for any automated blocks from any misclassified intrusion attempts, I realized that none of my attempts were even reaching the router. So I checked the route, and that's where I found what I think is the problem.

Running mtr to route from Vergil to Bucket gives full resolution of the route:

    mtr -rwzbc 10 45.79.209.169
    Start: 2024-12-19T16:49:53-0500
    HOST: Vergil.goose.ws                                                    Loss%   Snt   Last   Avg  Best  Wrst StDev
      1. AS???    192.168.2.1                                                 0.0%    10    0.1   0.1   0.1   0.2   0.0
      2. AS???    192.168.99.254                                             10.0%    10    0.5   0.6   0.4   0.8   0.1
      3. AS7018   45-26-156-1.lightspeed.tukrga.sbcglobal.net (45.26.156.1)   0.0%    10    4.4   3.6   2.0   5.9   1.2
      4. AS7018   107.212.169.24                                              0.0%    10    5.2   3.7   1.6   6.1   1.5
      5. AS7018   12.242.113.31                                               0.0%    10    2.2   3.7   2.2   5.3   1.0
      6. AS7018   12.247.68.178                                               0.0%    10    2.8   3.8   2.2   5.8   1.2
      7. AS20940  ae6.r21.atl01.mag.netarch.akamai.com (23.192.0.94)          0.0%    10    3.2   4.3   2.3   5.7   1.1
      8. AS20940  ae0.r21.atl01.icn.netarch.akamai.com (23.192.0.65)          0.0%    10    3.7   4.1   1.9   6.5   1.5
      9. AS20940  ae1.r21.atl01.ien.netarch.akamai.com (23.207.235.35)        0.0%    10    4.2   3.5   1.9   5.6   1.1
     10. AS20940  ae22.gw3.atl1.netarch.akamai.com (23.203.144.39)            0.0%    10    5.2   5.0   2.4   8.8   2.0
     11. AS???    ???                                                        100.0    10    0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0
     12. AS???    ???                                                        100.0    10    0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0
     13. AS???    ???                                                        100.0    10    0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0
     14. AS63949  bucket.goose.ws (45.79.209.169)

However, routing from Bucket to Vergil does not:

    mtr -rwzbc 10 99.42.115.109
    Start: 2024-12-19T16:49:13-0500
    HOST: Bucket.goose.ws                                                Loss%   Snt   Last   Avg  Best  Wrst StDev
      1. AS???    10.204.3.155                                            0.0%    10    0.2   0.3   0.1   0.8   0.2
      2. AS???    10.204.35.16                                            0.0%    10    0.4   0.4   0.3   0.5   0.1
      3. AS???    10.204.32.2                                             0.0%    10    0.7   9.4   0.4  74.3  23.2
      4. AS63949  lo0-0.gw4.atl1.us.linode.com (74.207.239.106)           0.0%    10    0.7   0.5   0.4   0.7   0.1
      5. AS20940  ae45.r22.atl01.ien.netarch.akamai.com (23.203.144.36)   0.0%    10    0.4   0.4   0.4   0.6   0.1
      6. AS20940  ae4.r22.atl01.mag.netarch.akamai.com (23.192.0.98)      0.0%    10    0.6   0.7   0.6   0.8   0.1
      7. AS20940  ae1.r24.atl01.ien.netarch.akamai.com (23.192.0.103)     0.0%    10    0.5   0.4   0.4   0.6   0.0
      8. AS7018   12.247.68.177                                           0.0%    10    1.0   1.0   0.8   1.2   0.1
      9. AS???    ???                                                    100.0    10    0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0
     10. AS7018   107.212.169.25                                          0.0%    10    1.4   1.4   1.4   1.5   0.0
     11. AS???    ???

Calling the tier 1 support number for AT&T residential support was very less-than-helpful. They kept on wanting to send a tech out to the house claiming there's an issue with the line. I kindly thanked them for their efforts but gave up, and tried emailing the contact email address for the AT&T datacenter/core router from the WHOIS in that last successful hop of the trace from Bucket to Vergil. I doubt I'll hear anything back, but I'm unsure of who else to turn to/what else to try. I've never seen/experienced a route broken in one direction like this. But I'm unable to access any of my devices/services from outside my house, due to it. Hoping someone has an idea or suggestion?

Edit:

Well, after about 38 hours of this issue, the power went out at my house. My networking equipment is on a UPS, so it did not go down. But when the power returned, the route began resolving again, and I am connectable again. Don't know if an area power outage rebooted some AT&T equipment nearby, I would imagine their stuff is also on UPS. But who knows?

For the non-believer about my route previously being complete:

[goose@Bucket: ~ ] $ mtr -rwzbc 10 99.42.115.109
Start: 2024-12-20T15:20:23-0500                                                        HOST: Bucket.goose.ws                                                        Loss%   Snt   Last   Avg  Best  Wrst StDev
  1. AS???    10.204.3.155                                                    0.0%    10    0.1   0.2   0.1   0.2   0.0
  2. AS???    10.204.35.16                                                    0.0%    10    0.2   0.3   0.2   0.4   0.1
  3. AS???    10.204.32.2                                                     0.0%    10    0.6   1.8   0.4   9.9   2.9
  4. AS63949  lo0-0.gw4.atl1.us.linode.com (74.207.239.106)                   0.0%    10    0.4   2.0   0.3  15.6   4.8
  5. AS20940  ae45.r22.atl01.ien.netarch.akamai.com (23.203.144.36)           0.0%    10    0.4   0.4   0.3   0.5   0.1
  6. AS20940  ae4.r21.atl01.mag.netarch.akamai.com (23.192.0.90)              0.0%    10    0.8   0.7   0.6   0.9   0.1
  7. AS20940  ae0.r24.atl01.ien.netarch.akamai.com (23.192.0.95)              0.0%    10    0.4   0.5   0.4   0.5   0.0
  8. AS7018   12.247.68.177                                                   0.0%    10    0.8   0.9   0.8   1.2   0.1
  9. AS???    ???                                                            100.0    10    0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0
 10. AS7018   107.212.169.25                                                  0.0%    10    1.4   1.5   1.4   1.6   0.1
 11. AS???    ???                                                            100.0    10    0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0
 12. AS7018   99-42-115-109.lightspeed.tukrga.sbcglobal.net (99.42.115.109)   0.0%    10    3.6   3.2   2.1   4.9   0.9
[goose@Bucket: ~ ] $

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.

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!

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!

Tildes is a very serious site, where we discuss very serious matters like mortality rates, mirror life and hedonic treadmill. Tags culled from the highest voted topics from the last seven days, if anyone was keeping score.

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!

It's almost 2025. You're being voted in to govern your school / uni / workforce / county / state / country. You only have enough time to push on through one new policy change that you hope will improve the lives of everyone under your overseeing. What are you governing, what change are you making, and why do you believe this would have the greatest positive impact? (Yes, you can use a wish style for the company you work at!)

I was talking to the other guitarist in one of my bands about the hedonic treadmill the other day. And he said to me that despite owning his swanky Range Rover for over 4 years, every time he gets in it he feels like a kid and is excited by it.

I think continued delight in the things that we already have is a really important attitude to take in life, and so I wondered what things my fellow Tilderen (yes, I'm refusing to budge on the nomenclature until I see at least one other person use it) have which they still feel the magic of owning, even after a long time.

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?

Could be a hobby, could be a new habit.

This year I started using a water flosser! My dental hygiene isn't the greatest and I could count on one hand how many times I flossed in a year, but I read a post saying how someone uses their handheld one in the shower and, yeah, that absolutely clicked for me!

I feel like I have weird sensory issues with using it over the bathroom sink. But in the shower, everything is already wet anyways. I can't believe it's a habit I've been able to keep up for more than half a year now with ease. It's something that I look forward to doing every time I shower. I've even started flossing with regular floss more now because I no longer bleed or feel gross. (I prefloss with the water one first.) Really happy.

I wish I could maintain more habits like that.

I also bought a standing desk and I really love standing and working now, too.

Your Steam Replay for 2024 is now out!

If you're on the mobile app, hit Menu > New & Noteworthy > Steam Replay

Share your link (if you want to) or summarize your results. Tell us all about your most-played games, your year of gaming, and any other thoughts or highlights.

I've searched and seen this mentioned before, but why is there no support for inline image tags/links in 2024?

This is not for meme support. I've just thought about this since there's a post weekly for images of pets, and I actually wanted to do a post and ask for opinions on an image, but there's nothing inline.

I tested a standard html <img> but that obviously didn't work. So, image support, is it coming?

Clarification

With inline images, I did not mean in the style of Reddit. I would expect them as part of the conversation and be closed like the details tag:

As for storage, Tildes wouldn't be the store. Again, as policy, something like direct links only, i.e. https://www.007ffflearning.com/post/images/20200419.jpg so you'd have to include the full image path.

This sounds like a bit of a hyper-specific question, but it's happened twice this year.

The first one is kinda easily explained. The FX adaptation of Say Nothing was great. One of the things that really stood out to me and some friends was the sense of 'having been here before' - especially some of the specific locations like Divis Flats that reappear. I suppose that's just a question of good production design, but it felt like someone did a brain scan and projected exactly what I was imagining. Which also just means Patrick Radden Keefe is a very, very good author.

The second one is a bit stranger. When I went and saw Alien: Romulus, it was (and I am not kidding) exactly as I had imagined the Corporation Rim from The Murderbot Diaries. And I suppose corporation indentured servitude isn't a scarce topic in science fiction, but again, it was like the production designer did an fMRI of my brain while reading those books. It was eerily similar, to the point where I half-jokingly kept expecting a Murderbot monologue to overlay the stupid humans ignoring good security practice.

It was so jarring that I was going to ping a bunch of Tilders I know have read the series and say 'Did this happen to you too?!'

This doesn't always happen, which is why these two made me go 'oh shit'. As a counterpoint, netiher the 1980 or 2024 adaptation of Shogun were anything like what I was imagining in my head. The earlier one looked very cheap, this year's one was beautiful but... just not what goes through my head when reading that book. To be clear, I don't mean character descriptions or other specific details, I mean the broader... feel? The world, I suppose.

Has this ever happened to you? Either with an adaptation of a book, an unrelated screen work that makes you do Leo Pointing At the TV, or - even weirder - a real world location?

Alternatively, and this is a tangent, am I an outlier in imagining books so that I can 'recognise' them when I see them on screen? I know there's a lot of discussion between whether you hear your own voice when you read. Do other people have an internal cinematographer?

Today's problem description: https://adventofcode.com/2024/day/20

Please post your solutions in your own top-level comment. Here's a template you can copy-paste into your comment to format it nicely, with the code collapsed by default inside an expandable section with syntax highlighting (you can replace python with any of the "short names" listed in this page of supported languages):

<details>
<summary>Part 1</summary>

```python
Your code here.
```

</details>

I started playing F2P when they first released it for OSRS years ago, and played some membership when I had GP for a bond back in the day. I'd been slowly working on my account for a few years and was transitioning my account to a new 2FA method when I had something come up at work and completely forgot about it (I would log in once every few months or so to poke around with my account). I came back to my account being banned for botting, and wasn't able to recover it.

I made a new account when Mobile was released, but only played a bit here and there. I mainly would watch people on YouTube with their snowflake ironmen doing insane grinds to get my fix. After chatting with my friends about it, I finally decided to start poking around again and am mainly merching on my F2P account to slowly save up money for bonds when I get some free time to play.

I was curious how many of you play OSRS?
Are you playing an ironman (by the way)?
How long have you been playing?
General OSRS things you enjoy?

My guilty OSRS confession was that I used to sell gold to kids in my school to pay for my WoW subscription (that I played during the summers). Looking back, I would have been able to afford a RuneScape membership year round and sold way more gold since its so much easier to make GP while you're a member.

Cop shows or mysteries, snarky comedies like Golden girls or Mash, Roseanne or Barney Miller, Simpsons yes, South Park no.

Drama is fine if it's not visually problematic for a child.

All recommendations are appreciated

My parents normally give all us adult kids money for Christmas, but this year my mom said she wants to get us actual gifts and asked for wishlists from us. Problem is: I don’t know what to ask for!

So, similar to the Gift Swap topic, I thought we could come up with a list of items that are very good/useful/satifying but also less obvious, for the purposes of making a decent gift idea list.

Note: I don’t want it to be specific to me and my tastes/interests, since I want the whole community to be able to use it too. Share anything you like and think others might like!