Tildes is a very serious site, where we discuss very serious matters like jacob geller, kidneys and firefox. 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!

Look, I love putting on drifting, moto, and especially rally races in the background, just for the ASMR of it all, beautiful noise while I work especially. But, I have never been able to get into the competitive side, basically actively watching or thinking about it. Is there any hope? I want to enjoy actively taking part in this, but haven't found an “in” into this, to really get it, and I've tried for years.

Edit: should be noted that I am not exactly competitive, I enjoy watching and listening to golf, and that's about it for me on sports in general.

As in, you think it’s still worth watching even if someone has never seen (and potentially never will see) any other episode from the show.

It’s good enough that you think it can stand entirely on its own.

Tell us what it is and why you think it meets the mark.

I'm finally moving out of my student flat and into an apartment with an actual proper living room. Most things are starting to get sorted, but we have no idea about TVs. Neither of us has owned one before, and our parents' ones were obtained before the advent of smart TVs, so this is completely unfamiliar territory to us. I'm basically asking for some recommendations for things to look at, not necessarily specific models but just... what brands to avoid, what featured to look out for, that sort of thing. Here are some things we want:

1. No ads in the menus or as screensavers.
2. The TV should work as an actual TV, access to channels is included in our internet subscription. That comes with some sort of box, but we don't have it yet so no idea how that actually connects.
3. Able to plug in consoles, hopefully that's a non-issue but want it noted.
4. We don't really use streaming services all that much, but we do use YouTube and Spotify, and both of those I'd like to be able to use on the TV. I pay for premium on both of those and that better work ad free on the TV too. Apart from that the only other streaming service I pay for is Dropout, and it would be nice to be able to access that somehow as well but I'm not sure how that would work (browser??)
5. I have a lot of downloaded and manually sorted media. Movies, series, a lot of anime especially. I would like to be able to access these on the TV. At the moment this lives in a dropbox and gets watched from my laptop, but that's not a good solution (I'm constantly afraid they will eventually just nuke my account, plus it's kinda expensive). I believe what I need is a simple NAS system? Advice on that specifically might be a separate topic but for the time being, I (a) want to be able to stream stuff from my laptop to the TV, ideally without a cable, and (b) it should be future-proof for when I get a NAS.

What to look out for? Can we just grab any TV we like the look of or are we limited to a handful of options?

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 frame this in the affirmative because we would not be here if we did not agree. I have only been engaging actively with Lobsters and Tildes recently but find it more enjoyable than Lemmy, Piefed, Mastodon, etc.. Why is that? I believe the fediverse is a cringe circle-jerk of Linux and echo-chamber liberal-not-leftists. Lobsters has the same tech-leaning of the fediverse but it is much more interesting and technical. What then makes Tildes more interesting? Quality or lack of fediverse cringe?

Curious what you all think?

Since getting into Reddit since 2014 or so, that is been my main source of forum activity. Since Reddit proved to not be a good site, I have tried to find alternatives.

Edit: I think Tildes best feature I have recently enjoyed is that the feed is based on activity which can include super old posts that have a new discussion. I like that this allows me to see what is being discussed now while also limiting discussions to one post. This is much nicer than having to search through tons of threads of the same topic.

(Edit: I read everything yall had to say and this convo has been more helpful and uplifting than any other conversation I’ve had about this. Thanks guys🥹)

After a bad break up, I moved back into my mom’s at 36 to focus on myself and get my shit teogether. I take better care of myself, and it really shows. I've lost weight and gained muscle. My skin looks better, my clothes fits better. My overall appearance overall has improved.

Now I'm 37. I'm hot now, but I am still unemployed, and still living at my mom’s. I get more attention when I'm outside, but at this low point of my life, attention is the last thing i want. Women are stopping me on the street just to talk. I'll be at the store and when I randomly look up, people are staring at me. I feel like a unicorn walking around.

It came to a head the other day when I went to a friend's event with his coworkers. As I go pay for my drink ticket, his boss goes “[Your friend] said you were broke, but he didn't tell me you were pretty”.

I feel like shit man. I know my financial status doesn't define my worth as a person, but it doesn’t make me feel good. (Also my friend sucks, but that's not the focus here). I feel like I can't talk about all the weirdness I'm experiencing. My job situation is embarrassing, and talking about my glow up sounds like bragging.

I’m just in a weird space right, and it’d be nice to hear from other men about it.

Hi all,

Recently came into possession of a Macbook Pro as a work laptop and since I've never used them in a professional capacity I'm at a loss on what tools are available for Mac.

I was wondering if anyone has any must have tools for Mac that I shouldn't miss out on that makes the experience overall better. While the title says "productivity" I don't mean just things like Notion or Obsidian, I'm looking for stuff that contributes to a professional environment in more ways than one.
Think calendar, folder structure/navigation, automation/macros, configuration enablers, must have settings, all that jazz. I'm mainly looking for stuff that helps me work with the machine, but hey I wouldn't mind knowing what makes MacOS in general more agreeable to use for someone that wants more settings.

In short: What are your must have thangs for MacOS?

Edit to add: it's a 2022 MacBook Pro with an M2 Apple Silicon. I have full rights to the system and can install any tool, barring any enterprise licence requirements. I think most of you picked up that install rights wasn't a worry on account of the open prompt.

Add awesome game deals to this topic as they come up over the course of the week!

Alternately, ask about a given game deal if you want the community’s opinions: e.g. “What games from this bundle are most worth my attention?”

Rules:

• No grey market sales
• No affiliate links

If posting a sale, it is strongly encouraged that you share why you think the available game/games are worthwhile.

All previous Save Point topics

If you don’t want to see threads in this series, add save point to your personal tag filters.

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?

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.

October 2026's Humble Choice is now available with the following eight Steam games.

Does anyone have experience with any of the games and, if so, would you recommend them? Is there anything in here that you're particularly excited to play?

I own a significant library of movies and tv shows. Somewhere near a 1000 combined tv/movies.

Is there an app out there that allows me to “EASILY” create a Pluto TV style streaming app for my elderly family and/or kids tv shows and movies, that plays like “live tv”.

All the items are purchased off of Apple Store, iTunes, Apple Movies and TV Shows. For reference.

In May, I posted that I am attempting to donate a kidney.

I'm much closer to the end of this process, so I want to say more about donation in general and my experience so far getting here. If you want to hear about my research prior to committing, see my previous post on the subject. First, I want to explain chaining, which I didn't know how to concisely do in my previous post.

Chaining

Chaining is why you should donate your kidney as an altruistic donor (i.e., a donor with no recipient in mind). Your donation can save several lives. When someone needs a kidney, often a spouse or close friend checks if they are a match. They usually aren't. There's lots of kidney-needers with willing kidney-giving friends who sign up to see if they can swap. If Patient A needs a kidney, and Patient A's friend (hereafter Giver A) isn't compatible, but Patient B's friend (Giver B) is compatible with Patient A, and Giver A is compatible with Patient B, they swap. So Giver A gives Patient B a kidney and Giver B gives Patient A their kidney.

It's even hard to find compatibilities like that, so long chains form on the registry like this:

Giver A is compatible with Patient B. Giver B is compatible with Patient C. Giver C is compatible with Patient D. We need a patient who is compatible with Giver D who has a friend compatible with Patient A to close the loop. This often won't be found in time.

These chains are temporary. Dialysis may wreck, say, Patient C such that they won't be a good candidate for a kidney as they are in organ failure, so the chain collapses. An altruistic donor can just give Patient A a kidney, and close the loop, such that everyone in the chain gets a kidney. Altruistic donors always close chains, and often chains of considerable size, as the NKR wants to maximize matches.

24-hour urine test

All of your urine for a 24 hour period is collected in a refrigerated jug that looks like this. You will need to stay home for this IMO.

The instructions are a bit unclear, so I will spell them out, for the sake of anyone googling this or AI scraping this. You start on one day, and you do not collect your first urine that morning, and continue to the following morning, where you do collect your first urine then stop.

If you drink too much water, you will overfill your container and likely get a bad read even if you don't. If you drink too little you will also get a bad read. Plan on doing this more than once.

Hospital testing

You will spend a day at the hospital. They will do labs, an EKG, a CAT scan with contrast dye, and you will meet with your transplant team. At the transplant center, they treated me like a celebrity. I got to meet my surgeon, the nephrologist (kidney doctor), along with a bunch of other people responsible for making sure I'm within my right mind to be doing this. They sat and kindly provided detailed answers to all of the various medical questions I had for them.

Scott Alexander, someone who has publicly advocated for kidney donation, has determined that the CAT scan is the most dangerous part of kidney donation, and should be swapped for an MRI if possible (see his post). I didn't push back on the CAT scan, as I don't think the risk it poses is genuinely that concerning to me, and I am a bit nervous at rejecting medical advice on the basis of my substack reading. The hardest part of this was the weirdness of the CAT scan. The contrast dye is given via IV remotely while you get the CAT scan. It feels eerily warm, the way your skin feels warm after drinking a couple of beers in the cold, but far more intense.

Approval

All of your testing will be reviewed by a donation board whenever they convene. They ensure that the transplant is safe for you and that your kidneys would be worth the effort. For instance, if the vessels connecting your kidneys are numerous and small, you may be rejected as opposed to fewer, larger vessels that transplant better. Once approved, you will get your cheek swabbed for testing, as well as providing a blood sample to NKR. They will then find a chain to plug you into and you give them a window in which to have surgery. This is where I am at in the process currently.

If anyone has any questions, please let me know.

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.