Today's problem description: https://adventofcode.com/2025/day/10

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>

Could you recommend a make of vehicle whose spy tech is easy to disable? This is the highest hurdle and single most important factor in my search for a car, so my other preferences and needs fall far second. I would like an electric vehicle or hybrid model with no less cargo room than a Prius, and not larger than a mid-sized station wagon, with a track record of low repairs. Correct me if I'm misinformed, but applying those criteria seems premature until I can identify something I can make private.

I have only ever bought used cars, and have lived the same story many times: I will construct elaborate spreadsheets, research models until I could host a video walk-through of trouble spots to watch for, then will shop and cavil until I make a purchase I'm proud of. Sure, it ends up 25% over my initial budget, but I pat myself on the back for a full 18 months afterwards. Nice work, careful consumer. But it's then the repairs begin, and soon I'm spending $3-4,000 a year maintaining my certified reliable used car.

So, I am searching for a newer used car or a new car whose telematics can be disabled. I have read through discussion boards, but weary quickly at the comments defending the cozy convenience of the corporate surveillance net or chiding people like me for even trying. I don't care. If lacking or disabling spy features means I can't use my car as a phone, that sounds like a win to me. I know a little about cars and have alright technical know-how. Most importantly, I am resolute. I will not drive a car that listens to me or transmits video of my travels. Has anyone had success here?

Today's problem description: https://adventofcode.com/2025/day/11

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>

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 coordinates, consumer electronics and dictionaries. Tags culled from the highest voted topics from the last seven days, if anyone was befuddled.

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!

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!

A few years ago I started shopping at Lidl and came to really like their bakery.

I noticed over time that their bagels became smaller.

Smaller than the bagels at Giant supermarket, and two real bagel shops I eventually found. Currently "everything" bagels at Lidl are 79 cents each. At the real bagel shops "everything" bagels are $2 each.

The Lidl bagels are smaller, the "everything" bagels don't have salt or nearly as much. I like them better than the bagels from one of those two "real" bagel shops.

Thankfully, the smaller Lidl bagels have fewer calories!

I remember a few years ago I saw several articles about bagel places scooping out some of the bread for people watching their weight.

Duh, they should have just made them smaller.

The Lidl bagels are still large enough to make decent sandwiches.

I was recently talking to a group of people about a random plot point in a video game, wherein a character reveals some coordinates written down on a sheet of paper and says something to the effect of "I think that's nearby, I will check it out." Nearly everyone in the group was thrown back by that, saying that there is no way that the character would know their coordinates off hand.

Later on, through entirely unrelated circumstances (some SciFi show where a human told aliens to drop him at specific coordinates), coordinates came up in a discussion with my family. Half of the family knew, half the family didn't know, and both halves were surprised by the other half.

I would be able to tell you if some random coordinate were within a reasonable drive of my city or not. I am curious about the ratio of people on Tildes that would know.

(I have absolutely no idea how to tag this)

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?

Today's problem description: https://adventofcode.com/2025/day/9

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>

Scenario: I am frequently playing video games with my partner, and we have our PCs side-by-side. I am looking for a comfortable set of headphones or earbuds that will also make it easy to hear each other so we can talk while gaming.

Main priorities:

• Openness / Ability to hear physical surroundings
• Comfort for long wear duration (I wear glasses, which rules out most over-the-ear)
• Budget

Nice to haves:

• Audio quality decent enough for gaming (doesn't have to be 3D positional or anything)
• Audio quality acceptable for listening to music while playing some games (but nowhere near audiophile level, not expecting much bass from something light)
• Wireless (but not against a wired option - can be USB or 3.5mm since this will be used exclusively with my PC)

I've really only ruled out one thing: I'm not interested in bone induction headphones. I tried out a pair of JLab JBuds Frames that sit on your glasses, and while they aren't bone induction, the pressure against that area of my head, combined with nothing in my ears, would give me a headache after an hour or two. I suspect I'd have a similar issue with bone induction.

In a world that seems to prioritize noise cancelling, my search for other options has been inconclusive. There's a lot of negative reviews about comfort in options like the Cleer ARC series and Baseus clip-on styles. I found some of the suggestions in a previous thread on bone induction headphones to be interesting, but nothing seems to meet all of my criteria perfectly.

I first started getting into Podcasts in 2017 after hearing about them for years. I finally had a regular, medium length commute to an internship and was tired of the radio and listening to music in the morning. I did a quick search for "Best Android Podcast app" and saw that Pocket Casts was highly reviewed. Since I had enough credit in my account to purchase it, I went ahead and installed it and never ended up looking for another app. Since then, I've become hooked as my form of audio entertainment/information gathering over the years, and Pocket Casts has become an app that I use every day.

I was thinking this morning while opening my app, what would cause me to switch. I briefly considered switching when Pocket Casts moved to a subscription model, but the features that were included in that subscription are really only "nice to haves" for me and how I use the app. This got me thinking about how other people engage with podcasts and choose the app that they use.

• How did you choose your podcast app?
• Do you ever try out other podcast apps?
• Are there any features that would/did make you want to switch to a different app?
• Do you use a cross-platform podcast app or different apps on different platforms?
• What are your favorite/most used features of your current podcast app?
• What podcast(s) are you currently listening to that you'd like to recommend to others?