I just found out about it today, and have really been slacking off by not finishing it already. A link with more information about the book for anyone undecided: Light from Uncommon Stars
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.
Hello,
I have decided to get myself a laser printer.
My intentions are to have a working printer occasionally. So sometimes I will print a lot, but then it can be left unused for a couple of years and I want it to be usable in the instant I want it without having to go and get new whatever.
My question is are there any considerations besides the printer being listed at https://openprinting.github.io/printers that I should make?
I will not hunt down the most open (as in copyleft/libre soft- & hardware) printer but would not mind it being open.
More importantly is the expectation that I could find new toners (I think that's the word for "ink" in laser printers) in 5 years.
I don't really want color, but if it isn't that big of a difference I might as well.
(I could change my mind to get a different kind of printer, but you'd have to be really convincing.)
I'm posting this as a new topic because it's long. This idea came out of thinking of a response to @TaylorSwiftsPickles ' suggestion to have a "Misinformation" label. I agree that misinformation is a problem on Tildes and that the playing field is often unfairly set for the ones trying to rectify it, due to how the site works.
On the other hand, like some already said in the comments, such a label could be easily abused because it would be a frictionless way to make someone else do a lot of work. Showing the validity of some piece of information requires digging up sources and those sources can usually be endlessly contested, no matter how good they are.
Another issue is that most people who spread misinformation, just like @TaylorSwiftsPickles said, are in fact not aware of doing so. They believe they're just teaching others the correct information. If it would be a lot of work on their part to ingest opposing material and then a lot of emotional work to allow their worldview to change (a process that for some people will cause physical pain), there isn't much hope to make real difference, save for some exceptionally adept people who've grown used to this process - but those people are usually not the ones spreding misinformation because they've already checked themselves before hitting "post topic".
Most people who represent the majority and haven't fully grasped their own privilege haven't had to learn to think outside of their own perspective. It's not an easy thing to learn and it's not realistic to expect them to learn it simply because someone pointed out their misinformed idea online. Most will simply say "No, you're wrong because the majority opinion is on my side". That's easy and efficient and doesn't lead to negative payoff for them, so that's what tends to happen (in most cases, not all).
When a misinformed view happens to be the majority view on Tildes, a label like this will more likely burden the people trying to rectify it than those holding the view. That's unless we expect the admin and moderators to evaulate every case individually and be diligent and objective enough to accurately gauge all or at least most of them. Being that we are all humans, it's a big ask.
Which brings me to ask what kind of label would enable the misinformed person to proactively perform a sanity check on their own post/comment, without introducing hostility. I believe that failing to consider alternative perspectives is a major factor in adopting and spreading misinformation. I am assuming that most people here on Tildes would agree with the principle that an idea that takes into account diverse opinions and experiences is better considered than one speaking from a single perspective only.
Therefore I propose a label that could be used to point out when someone's comment is clearly overlooking information that would be readily available if only they cared to consider other people and different points of view. It would then fall on the person who made a one-sided comment to further educate themselves if they so wish. They could perform an online search or ask for more information on Tildes (but no one would be obligated to give it). I think it would be ideal if the label could be later removed, in case sufficient edits were made to the labelled comment.
Evaluating whether a text is one-sided is usually easier than deciding whether or not it is misinformation, so this label wouldn't be as easy to abuse. People can detect its misuse simply by looking at the text itself, without having to read a bunch of additional material. It's also easier for the person who made the comment to try to broaden their perspective. Not everyone will want to do so, of course, but at least those who are unintentionally appearing obtuse will have a chance to do better.
Finally, in terms of design, I wouldn't want the label to be eye-catching like the "Exemplary" label. Rather, it could appear as normal text with a normal background, perhaps a tad smaller size and in brackets. If more than one such label was given to the same comment, it could affect the text colour of the whole comment, making it gradually more and more faint. In other words the label would reduce the visual weight of the comment while still keeping it readable.
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
Hello Tilderonians,
I have inherited a non-functional ~10 year old gaming PC that was previously used as a VR rig for kids. The people who owned said PC had no info on how or why or how long it had not been working for.
I got it home, plugged it in, and tried to power it on. Nothing happened.
I opened it up. With the PSU switched on, there is a red led lit up on the motherboard, an ASUS Pro Gaming Z170i. According to the user manual, this just means the mobo has power and is in standby. There is also a white led lit up on the gpu (a GTX1080) which seems to also indicate simply that it has power.
I first assumed that the power button built into the case was the issue. I found where it plugged into the mobo and, on advice from the internet, used a screwdriver to jump the pins for the power switch. Nothing happened.
I then also read online that the PSU fan should spin up when turning it on with nothing plugged in. So I unplugged everything and tried it and nothing happened. I read the LEDs on the hardware could still function even if the PSU was dead, so I decided that was the issue. I ordered a new PSU, same 750 watts. Old one out, new one in, turned it on and again...nothing happened. The fan didn't spin up on the new PSU either. The same LEDs as before came on the mobo and gpu but nothing else.
At one point I also swapped the single RAM stick with another I had that I knew worked, but that didn't change anything.
At this point I don't know what to do. Is there a way to test the motherboard? What else could stop the PC from doing anything at all? I've never built a PC before but I've installed/swapped several parts.
I don't want to spend a ton of money to revive this 10 year old hardware but I was willing to drop ~$60 on a PSU. Please let me know if you have any ideas.
Thanks for reading.
This is the tildes gardening group, feel free to post any observations or questions on gardening
I realize this has become something like a political statement to do this for whatever reason. But a 100% wordcel medium where your only avatar is a text string of your username means if I want to talk about someone I have no idea what to call them. I have to use awkward constructions like “that user” or “OP.” This doesn’t sound nice. This disrupts the delicately crafted meter and flow of my sentences.
Mayhap we could introduce a teeny-tiny configurable logogram next to the username to disambiguate preferred pronouns. Or maybe even a subscript. It’d be small enough and faded so as not to impact the clean visual but visible enough to free me from having to guess.
Little backstory. I'm the sole developer of delphitools, a collection of free and open source tools for artists, developers and just computer touchers in general. I'm using Next.JS and as such, React, but I don't think I like it anymore. DT is a completely offline exported application, and Next is meant for middleware-heavy apps with server layers, which I just don't have. I also just don't get on with React's endless use effect garbage and have little love for TypeScript, and if I'm honest, DT happens to be made like that because I wanted to try the shiny new thing. Now that I have around 60-ish individual micro-apps contained within, I think it's time for a rewrite.
I'm therefore looking for discussion and insights on what tooling is best for me, on the following grounds:
I'm a designer, not a developer, but I can manage my way around. I'm also not opposed to using Agents, but I would like to - if for my own sake more than anything - be able to work without them if need be. Suggesting Ruby that compiles to HTML or some other crazy new pipeline probably won't work.
Curious to hear your experiences and recommendations. Thanks!
I just rewatched the movie Constantine. It's one of my favorite movies. I can always watch it again. But I'm sure the ending was different. I didn't find any record of an alternate ending online.
At the very end of the movie, he starts chewing a piece of (presumably) nicotine gum, but I'm certain that the ending I've seen before is that he lights a cigarette.
He spent the whole movie being contrary and a constant asshole to everybody except Rachel Weiss' character (can't blame him). The gum seems totally out of character.
Hi folks. I'm in way over my head with an AWS problem. Mainly because I don't understand how to use AWS at all, but in 2013 I used a tool called FastGlacier to backup my data (including baby picture and videos) to Amazon Glacier. I also had them on a local drive and a HDD I gave to a friend. Alas, my drive failed a few years ago, and he lost the other in a move.
Anyway, I'm not a coder, and AWS baffles me. I'd like to retrieve these data but don't know where to start. Would anybody well versed in AWS be willing to walk me through the process? The AWS guidance is over my head.
Many thanks in advance.
Hi all. I'm interested on hearing about recipes you've come up with yourself, whether completely from scratch or variation on an existing one. Maybe you were lacking an ingredient one day, and subbed one that changed the recipe in a good way. Maybe you tried a dish at a restaurant that you love and attempted to recreate it at home. Maybe you had a bunch of leftover ingredients you didn't know what to do with, so decided to throw them all together and pray for the best. Or maybe inspiration struck suddenly one day for a perfect dish, and you gave it a shot. Would love to hear the backstory of the recipe if you have it. I'll start.
Cincinnati style daal. The family chili recipe growing up was cincinatti/skyline style chili. I've thus always preferred my chili without beans, and I love the depth of flavor cincinnati style chili has. My family even likes to use ground turkey meat because we think it absorbs the flavors of the spices better than beef does. When I moved to the UK, I suddenly had access to excellent Indian food, daals now being one of my favorites. One thing that immediately struck me about daals was the depth of flavor in them. The lentils serve to add texture and some creaminess, but the spices in it are the highlight of the dish. In fact, this kinda reminded me of my family chili. I began wondering, could I make a daal but with the spices from my family chili? This would be pretty nice, as turkey is kinda hard to find outside of christmas time here and lentils are a good low-cost protein. Well, it turns out the cooking process for daal and my family's chili are pretty similar, so I took a black daal recipe from dishoom and tried subbing the cincinatti chili spices for the spices in the daal. Many of the other ingredients between the two recipes are similar. And it's come out pretty good! I'm still refining it, it lacks some umami without the meat, but I think the next batch will be great. Serving it with naan and cilantro, instead of spaghetti. Always with shredded cheese and chopped onions of course.
Filipino Dip. One of my favorite recipes to make is chicken adobo, so easy to make and it's delicious. I usually have some chicken and sauce left after making a batch, and one day it occurred to me that there was enough sauce left I could dip a sandwich in it. Huh, that's kinda similar to a french dip. So I shredded up the remaining chicken, toasted a baguette, and sauteed a bunch of onions to add to the sandwich. It was absolutely delicious, and what I will be doing with my leftover chicken adobo from now on.
St Patrick's Day Ramen. So, this year I decided to make my family's St Patrick's Day meal. Kinda hard to do in the UK, as corned beef is really not a big thing. (Yes, I know they have the tinned version, no, it's nothing like the real deal). But I corned my own beef, and then braised it in red wine, and invited friends over to share. Afterwards, with all the corned beef gone, a friend and I were looking at the braising liquid. There was a ton of it left, and it tasted frankly delicious. My friend pointed out that it reminded him of a ramen broth, and so an idea was born. I bought some thinly sliced beef from the local asian grocery store, and assembled the ramen with it, the noodles, cabbage, thinly sliced green apples (I know it seems weird, but it's used in the family cabbage recipe), and pickled garlic/cucumbers made from the leftover corned beef brine. It came out delicious, and will definitely be doing it next year.
Oven roasted brussel sprouts and carrots. This came from a restaurant near me that unfortunately closed. They would make the most amazing, crispy, roast brussel sprouts and carrots served with a tangy, smokey dressing. After it closed, I would dream of these brussel sprouts, and I tried googling recipes to find something similar with no luck. I knew only a couple of things: that the head chef was Peruvian and said on the menu it had inspired this dish; there was mezcal in the dressing, likely providing the smokey component. So after researching Peruvian recipes, I've come up with a vinaigrette that's as close as I can remember: bragg's cider vinegar, juice from one lime, olive oil, salt and black pepper, and a splash of mezcal. If available, add a touch of aji amarillo paste. May need to add a little sugar for a hint of sweetness. It took some time to figure out a crispy brussel sprout too, as home ovens can't get as hot as a commercial kitchen, but also finally found an oven roasting recipe I was happy with.
Looking forward to hearing everyone elses recipes!
A while back I had an idea for some D&D magic items that were, in a shop keep's words, "Greatly discounted due to minor defects". The general idea was that these items would be a gamble to use each time, sometimes offering great benefits, sometimes offering catastrophic backfires, but all at a greatly discounted price any adventurer could afford. With my most recent addition (the Potion of Prior Authorization), it occurred to me that it could be fun to share my list here, for feedback and other potential additions to it. My hope is that the next time it's my turn to run a campaign, I can offer these items to my players.
Weapon (Handaxe), Uncommon
A heavy, pitted handaxe wrapped in frayed leather straps.
Armor (Shield), Rare
A beautifully polished steel shield painted with a vibrant red-and-white bullseye.
Weapon (Dagger), Rare (Requires Attunement)
A sleek, razor-sharp obsidian dagger that whispers encouraging murder tips to its wielder.
Wondrous Item, Uncommon (Requires Attunement)
A sturdy iron helmet imbued with the spirit of a long-dead, incredibly critical dwarf adventurer named Barnaby.
Wand, Rare (Requires Attunement by a Spellcaster)
A twisted birch wand that vibrates with intense emotional resonance. Has 3 charges (regains 1d3 charges at dawn).
Wondrous Item, Very Rare
A magnificent crimson velvet cloak that smells faintly of throat lozenges.
Ring, Rare
A flashy gold band set with a single spinning die where the gem should be.
Ring, Uncommon
A flashy ring adorned with a polished ruby that sparkles a bit too brightly under ambient light.
Wondrous Item, Uncommon
Light leather boots with wing patterns stitched on the sides.
Wondrous Item, Uncommon
Boots made of polished glass soles that constantly alter their texture.
Wondrous Item, Uncommon
Acts like a standard Bag of Holding, but suffers from severe separation anxiety.
Wondrous Item, Rare
A handheld silver mirror that speaks in an insufferably smug voice.
Wondrous Item, Uncommon
A bright peacock feather that twitches nervously when held.
Potion, Uncommon
A colorless liquid that, for unknown reasons, appears jet black when inside of any container. Has a surprisingly bitter taste.
Potion, Uncommon
A bright pink, fizzy liquid that tastes like strawberry soda and impending doom.
Potion, Rare
A murky gray liquid locked inside a completely opaque lead flask.
Scroll, Uncommon
A scorched leather parchment that smells faintly of sugar and lemon juice.
Scroll, Uncommon
A scroll bearing a crude drawing of a furry creature. The definition of "Bear" is left up to cosmic interpretation.
I've got a "holy grail" TT faculty position at an R1 university, but I'm seriously considering leaving academia. It's a fit issue, and I've had a major mental health development that has definitely changed the equation for me. I would welcome non-academic or non-TT or non-faculty input as well. It would be an immense life change for me and my family, so I'd like to look at it from all sides, and I think Tildes would be a great place to do that.
Please let me know if you're interested in a discussion or just give freeform advice. I'll update this post with specific questions if this gets any traction.
My thanks!
Do you play a musical instrument? However well or badly, here's a place to talk about what you've been practicing or performing.
When uploading an app I got this email:
ITMS-90068: MinimumOSVersion too low - This app has a MinimumOSVersion of 13.0. Starting in Spring 2027, all iOS apps must have a MinimumOSVersion of 15.0 or later in order to be uploaded to App Store Connect or submitted for distribution.
These are old iOS versions, so this policy isn't going to affect many people but I thought I'd post anyway. I still have an old iPad with iOS 12 that's usable for reading and media. I think some apps are still supported and getting updates surprisingly. As a dev I still update Three Cheers for Tildes to support iOS 12 and up. No idea if anyone other than me uses that old version though.
I like supporting the older iOS version because it means I can keep using this old hardware. Also knowing something runs on those old devices with okay performance, means it will be buttery smooth on any moderately recent iPhone/iPad. I mean, I can probably still install apps on it for my own personal use, just not distribute on the App Store.
On the other hand supporting iOS 12 is just not practical and not really a good use of developer time, so this had to happen at some point.
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 food and drinks have you been enjoying (or not enjoying) recently? Have you cooked or created anything interesting? Tell us about it!
I’ve been trying to cook a good dal/dahl/daal, but the recipes I’ve tried haven’t quite hit the spot. They’ve been nice, but I feel like it’s just not quite there. What are your favourite dal recipes?
I'm looking for a new laptop as my current one is falling apart, and one option that seems quite tempting at the moment is getting a desktop machine, leaving it running away in the background, and then accessing it using remote desktop software from a laptop (or even tablet) most of the time. My logic is that I want a fairly decent device for programming on and occasional games, but I also want something portable that I can carry into every room of my flat. I've also been experimenting more with Tailscale and using my laptop as a remote development machine and my phone as a dumb terminal while traveling abroad, and that's worked fairly well, so I'm interested in how far I can take this concept. Plus the idea of also being able to use my main device as a small homelab is kind of appealing as well.
The plan would be:
Things I'm concerned about:
Does anyone have any experience with this kind of setup, and is this something that would reasonably work, or am I completely missing something obvious that makes this a terrible awful idea that nobody should do?
Thanks in advance!
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.