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4 votes
-
OOHYO - Butter Chicken (2019)
3 votes -
China has called off two business delegation visits to Sweden after Stockholm presented a rights prize to dissident Gui Minhai
6 votes -
How Helsinki is using a big cash prize to find a sustainable solution to heating the city
4 votes -
The Nightmare - Pingu
4 votes -
Suppose we make Tildes topics a bit more like little blogs by adding support for "updates?"
I've previously written about long-running topics and I've asked about software for blogging. But I keep coming back to doing some simple blogging on Tildes. I don't think Tildes should try to...
I've previously written about long-running topics and I've asked about software for blogging. But I keep coming back to doing some simple blogging on Tildes. I don't think Tildes should try to compete with real blogging software, but maybe Tildes can support a minimal version of it, enough to make it worth doing it here when starting an independent blog isn't worth the effort? An example would be a project diary (like for my accordion synthesizer project). We could encourage people to start a topic for each of their creative projects that they want to talk about and to post updates as they make progress. Or, perhaps this would be a way to cover some ongoing story that they want to live-blog?
I've refined my ideas a bit about how it might work: Suppose a Tildes topic contains a list of zero or more updates in chronological order? Only the original author can post an update, but anyone can write comments responding to any update. When you post an update to one of your topics, the comment tree for each previous update gets collapsed, encouraging people to comment on the latest update.
When a topic gets an update, it reappears in the topic list with a separate set of votes, showing both the original topic's title and the update's title concatenated. Any old listing is removed, so we don't show the same topic twice. However, maybe the topic heading shows the last three updates or so if the topic is getting multiple updates in a short period of time, as might happen when live-blogging.
12 votes -
The Tower Card
Please note, I am no writer of any kind. For some inexplicable reason I just had the desire to give it a go today. I hope someone out there finds some enjoyment in it. After David left I decided...
Please note, I am no writer of any kind. For some inexplicable reason I just had the desire to give it a go today. I hope someone out there finds some enjoyment in it.
After David left I decided I'd better make good on my promise and find a new place to live. The woman from the council said there might be a temporary property available. That someone had recently died at the retirement village outside of Holyhead.
When I finished at school on Friday, I went to David's and gathered up what I thought was mine. As it turns out, almost everything was his. It wasn't long after we'd met that I moved in. It was gradual though. Bits and pieces brought over from mom's in bin bags tucked under the bus seats they save for people and their buggies. As the months rolled on there was less and less at mom's. I'd still visit on a Sunday for lunch but that was about it.
I had this porcelain clock on the mantle at David's, two corgis sat either side of the clock face. David hated it. He had a thing for minimalist art and would order fake prints online. He liked Robert Ryman a lot. He thought my clock threw everything off. He'd often tell me how important it was to appreciate art but what he liked left me cold. I wrapped the clock in newspaper and tossed it into my backpack. I took a last look at the living room. It was something new now.
When I got to the village it was raining. Cold droplets cascading down my jacket. I alternated hands, dropping each bin bag to the ground to rub the speckles from my glasses. In front of the bus stop there was a pathway that led to the complex, flanked on either side by imitation grass astro turf. Beyond that, two identical adjacent blocks. Rows stacked on top of one another like lego bricks.
The woman at the council told me it was flat 2b, "the last flat on the ground floor". I searched for the receipt I'd scribbled the details on to check if I'd remembered it right. I hauled my bags over my shoulder and ran underneath the closest awning. I stared up at the sign fixed to the brick. 1a. I can wait here until the rain dies down, I thought.
From across the yard a woman was sitting in a wheel chair, a mask attached to her face. An enormous tube jutting out from her mouth connected to a canister strapped to the side of her chair. She stared in my direction and didn't move. She's sitting next to 2b, she might be my neighbour, I thought. As the rain died down I walked over towards her. As I approached, I wasn't sure if she was going to take the mask off or not. What's wrong with her, I thought? "Hi, I'm Kate". I extended my hand and wondered if she could move her arms. She didn't reach back. "Mad weather isn't it?". She continued to stare. "I'm only staying for a month or so, I need my own place for a minute and it's all I could get you know? Not that I'm not grateful or anything". She continued to stare. "Ok, well, it was nice meeting you". I took out my key, opened the door and stood alone in the hallway.
David and I usually ate together on Saturday mornings. He'd wake up later than I did and wander about the place yawning. He'd often glorify his exhaustion to me. Some invisible accomplishment he'd been gaining interest on since leaving uni.
There wasn't a kettle in the new kitchen, but there was an electric hob. I poured water over the tea bag, into my cup and peered through the net curtains. The rain had settled and I could see the opposite house and the whole complex in the daylight now, some strange vortex, wholly enclosed. A village of it's own making.
I put on my old slippers, took my cup and stepped out onto the concrete walkway. The woman from yesterday wasn't around now. I thought about knocking but decided against it. Either she couldn't talk or has seen so many people come and go, she doesn't go in for platitudes anymore. Pacing, I caught a glimpse of her kitchen. Pink lino on the floor, almost nothing out on the worktops. It looked unoccupied. I moved back to my half of the walkway and perched on the step to finish my tea. I should get started sorting what I have before Sunday rolls around, I thought. As I got up, I heard my neighbour careen around the corner, up over the astro turf and onto the walkway. She stopped before her door, I nodded and smiled. This time she nodded back in my direction. She then raised her hand and jostled the toggle on the arm rest. Her chair moved closer towards me. She raised her eyes to meet mine and looked back at my hands. She did this a second time. "I'm sorry, I don't understand". She repeated this a third time. I mumbled something and she reached out and opened up my right hand. She surveyed my palm, in all of its detail, looked back up at me and nodded again. "Sorry, can I help with something?". She shook her head, reversed and rolled up the ramp back into her flat.
On Sunday morning I started sorting through the rest of the papers I threw into my bag at David's. Bank statements, a few receipts, junk mail. In amongst them I found a cinema ticket I'd kept from when we started dating. He asked me to go to see the first Terminator, "on the original reel", he said. I didn't much want to go and don't like violent films but thought it'd be a good excuse to get to know one another. We got pretty swept away with each other after that.
I sorted through the rest hoping I'd find something else, but there was nothing. I stacked the ordered papers on the ground and went outside for a break. There wasn't anybody out, like the day before. After some time my neighbour's door opened. I stood up and checked to see if she needed any help. I found her raising her eyes to her forehead, motioning backwards. "Do you need some help?", she shook her head and motioned backwards with her eyes for a second time. She reversed the chair and gestured for me to come in. I stepped inside. She manoeuvred her wheelchair into the kitchen and positioned herself next to the dining room table. There was a chair opposite to her, so I sat too. "Is everything ok?", I asked. She nodded. "I hope you don't mind me asking, are you able to speak?". She stared at me and shook her head. After a few seconds passed she pointed to a badge on her cardigan. On a yellow background, in all black caps it read, "JANE". "I'm Kate, nice to meet you Jane". This time she extended her arm and we shook hands. "How long have you been here Jane?". She nodded 5 times. "Ah ok, and how do you like it? Do you have family that visit?". She shook her head. "Do you mind me asking, what's wrong with you? Shit sorry, umm, not like that, I mean, umm, are you sick?". She paused for a moment and nodded. She then reached into the pocket of her cardigan and pulled out a deck of cards.
I don't know anything about Tarot, other than what you see on T.V but I'm not a superstitious like that. She laid the cards on the table in front of me, either nodding or shaking her head as she passed each of them one by one. The last card in the row showed a stone tower. She looked down, paused, raised her head, but this time, looked right past me. Dust cascaded through the shards of light piercing through the window. Jane starred into it for what felt like a whole minute. Watching the particles dance before her I asked, "Are you ok Jane?", she shook her head. "Is there something I can do?", she shook her ahead again. "I had better be going Jane, I meet my mom on a Sunday for lunch, please let me know if there's anything I can help with, OK? As I said yesterday, I won't be staying too long, but while I'm here, feel free to knock on". She nodded her head. I let myself out and left, the cards still strewn about the table.
I didn't see Jane much after that afternoon and things went on as normal. David called and we hashed things out over the phone but we'd petered out long before that. The council explained I couldn't stay on at the village for another month so I moved back with mom. After a few weeks passed, one evening after work, I opened up my laptop and searched online for "Jane Tarot". Tons of results came up but only one from Holyhead. A local newspaper article with a headline that read, "LOCAL LADY FORESAW DIAGNOSIS". "I knew what was going to happen to me, the fibrosis I mean. The cards speak and I accept, I give myself up to that". I closed my laptop and looked outside into mom's garden. I thought about the tower card and how people do all sorts of things to justify their own lives, to deal with their own grief and make sense of things.
Mom plants Floribunda's every year and they're starting to bloom now. My phone rings. I offer to cover a shift for a new temp at work. I put on my jacket, walk outside and think about Jane.
13 votes -
Star War news
4 votes -
Congress raises legal age to buy tobacco products to twenty-one
14 votes -
SpaceX has quietly—and retroactively—relicensed its photos out of the public domain
14 votes -
Why I'm possessive about apostrophes
13 votes -
Cotton Candy
Put your head over here and cry all the yearning away cause thinking will bring you nothing just thoughts and yet more pain Sleep, sleep my child breath slowly that way cause here there is no more...
Put your head over here
and cry all the yearning away
cause thinking will bring you nothing
just thoughts and yet more painSleep, sleep my child
breath slowly that way
cause here there is no more strain
under my loving gazeIn your cotton candy dreams
you embrace with such strength
a cloud above in the sky
sleep, honey, yes, sleep
cause here you're free from timeAnd there I am on this dream
imagining, imagined
the mark of a want, of a wish
a trace drawn in the sky
don't know if I'm the one dreaming
or if I am been dreamed aboutPortuguese original
encosta a cabeça aqui
e chora a saudade toda
que pensar não leva nada
só mais pensar e dor aindadorme seu sono infante
respira assim devagar
que aqui não vai sofrer
debaixo de meu olharem teu sonho de algodão doce
não sei do quê dá risada
e abraça com tanta força
uma nuvem no céu alçada
dorme, meu bem, dorme sim
que aqui o tempo não passaE nesse sonho estou lá
Imaginando, imaginado
A marca de uma vontade
Um traço no céu projetado
Não sei se sou eu que sonho
Ou se eu é quem sou sonhado7 votes -
5 o'clock nostalgia
So many wants that never were But that were mine nevertheless In the joy of many maybes Slow evening Time is cursed, it goes The body is alive and weary And stuck in hour a soul — immense...
So many wants that never were
But that were mine nevertheless
In the joy of many maybes
Slow eveningTime is cursed, it goes
The body is alive and weary
And stuck in hour a soul — immensePortuguese original
Nostalgia das 5 Horas
Tanto querer que nunca foi
Mas era meu ainda assim
Na alegria do talvez
A tarde lentaO tempo é maldito e passa
Ainda vivo o corpo cansa
E presa na hora a alma - imensa7 votes -
Gesture
Saw in you a trace, a gesture without any end a phrase with no reticences a shadow lost in the gaze A question you have not made a plot not yet heard a night with no resolution be calm, the sun is...
Saw in you a trace, a gesture without any end
a phrase with no reticences
a shadow lost in the gazeA question you have not made
a plot not yet heard
a night with no resolution
be calm, the sun is not latePortuguese original
Gesto
vi em você um traço
um gesto sem fim colocado
vi frase vi reticência
suspiro pela metade
e olhar desencontradoda pergunta ainda não dita
sequer pinçada talvez
da trama'inda inaudita
que a noite não tarda ou finda
mas calma que o sol já vem6 votes -
Katamari creator Keita Takahashi on why his games are both silly and serious
6 votes -
"Link in bio": it seems like a harmless phrase, but it represents a strategy of controlling users and keeping them away from the open web
15 votes -
How oppo ended up making realme become the 7th largest phone brand globally in a year
4 votes -
Steam Winter Sale has started - Thousands of games on sale and the "Steamville Holiday Event", until January 2
15 votes -
NIST study evaluates effects of race, age, sex on face recognition software - Findings included that many algorithms had false positive rates 10 to 100 times higher for non-Caucasians
7 votes -
Running the numbers to figure out Amazon's market share: it has about 35% of US ecommerce, but closer to 6% of addressable retail overall
5 votes -
What are some non-sensationalist, analytical true-crime documentaries?
Partly because of the nature of the subject, most true-crime documentaries tend to emphasize dread. Some of them employ formal devices similar to horror movies, such as ominous soundtracks, dark...
Partly because of the nature of the subject, most true-crime documentaries tend to emphasize dread. Some of them employ formal devices similar to horror movies, such as ominous soundtracks, dark lightning, and moody camera movements. My interest in the problem of evil is philosophical, and the constant attempts to induce fear are distracting.
I'm interested in documentaries that are more like case studies, with a clinical, speculative or even scientifical approach to the problem of evil embodied in criminal acts.
Any suggestions?
10 votes -
The real trouble with Silicon Valley: The toxicity of the web is peanuts compared with Big Tech’s failure to remake the physical world
9 votes -
Should we have some sort of 'Tildes census' in a regular fashion?
So someone asked about which themes are used the most, and I went to check this survey and then realized it was deleted and that no new surveys have been done since. So are most of us interested...
So someone asked about which themes are used the most, and I went to check this
survey and then realized it was deleted and that no new surveys have been done since.So are most of us interested in this becoming a formal and regular thing?
26 votes -
Why Biden has such a large lead in the polls
13 votes -
Go 1.14 Beta 1 is released
4 votes -
Amid accusations of harassment and bad business practices, Ben Judd has resigned or been removed from his positions as CEO of Dangen, VP of DDM Japan, and more
4 votes -
Facebook is working on its own OS that could reduce its reliance on Android
7 votes -
People don’t really need bigger worlds in games, they need better ones, says Dying Light 2 director
12 votes -
The New Far Side site is up!
10 votes -
Google's dangerous monopoly-based foreign policy
8 votes -
Microbrowsers are everywhere
10 votes -
Denmark approves new US consulate in Greenland – part of a broader move by Washington to expand its diplomatic and commercial presence in Greenland and the Arctic
7 votes -
Being laid off from a job is never a pleasant experience, but Sweden's 'transition system' promises to do far more than just get you back on your feet
10 votes -
Tild-ers who live in developing countries (India,Brazil,Nigeria), what differences between your country and the West would you like to bring to others attention?
First, I'll start with currency (although this isn't unique, exclusive or universal to developing countries.) In my country a real is 25 US cents and 22 European cents. This effectively means...
First, I'll start with currency (although this isn't unique, exclusive or universal to developing countries.) In my country a real is 25 US cents and 22 European cents. This effectively means everything made by a US or European company (a lot of things and almost everything technological or of value) is 4 times more expensive for me than for an American/European. This means an iPhone costs 4 thousand BRL but our minimum wage is still around 1000 BRL monthly (4.30 BRL/hour assuming an 8-hour shift) meaning an iPhone costs 4 months of minimum wage in Brazil while in the US it costs less than one. For reference an Indian rupee is a 70th of a dollar and the minimum wage is 164 to 750 rupees daily depending on the state (4920 to 22k rupees monthly) but it still only amounts to 320 US dollars.
34 votes -
Day 18: Many-Worlds Interpretation
Today's problem description: https://adventofcode.com/2019/day/18 Join the Tildes private leaderboard! You can do that on this page, by entering join code 730956-de85ce0c. Please post your...
Today's problem description: https://adventofcode.com/2019/day/18
Join the Tildes private leaderboard! You can do that on this page, by entering join code
730956-de85ce0c
.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>
8 votes -
Australia heatwave: State of emergency declared over bushfire crisis
18 votes -
Day 19: Tractor Beam
Today's problem description: https://adventofcode.com/2019/day/19 Join the Tildes private leaderboard! You can do that on this page, by entering join code 730956-de85ce0c. Please post your...
Today's problem description: https://adventofcode.com/2019/day/19
Join the Tildes private leaderboard! You can do that on this page, by entering join code
730956-de85ce0c
.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>
6 votes -
For Puerto Ricans, it’s not Christmas without pasteles
4 votes -
The art of racing pigeons
6 votes -
The abortion war goes local as ACLU lawsuit seeks to thwart town’s ban
7 votes -
The repression of Uighurs in China’s Xinjiang region has deep historical roots
9 votes -
Jeff VanderMeer, the author of “Annihilation,” brings us fresh horrors with each new book. So why does he remain an optimist?
5 votes -
Where will Seattle get its crab, iguana and camel meat? University Seafood pulls up its net after four generations
6 votes -
Letter of recommendation: Cheap sushi
7 votes -
Chinese ambassador dismisses Uyghurs mass detention as 'fake news'
9 votes -
The decade in young adult fiction
6 votes -
Day 6: Universal Orbit Map
Today's problem description: https://adventofcode.com/2019/day/6 Join the Tildes private leaderboard! You can do that on this page, by entering join code 730956-de85ce0c. Please post your...
Today's problem description: https://adventofcode.com/2019/day/6
Join the Tildes private leaderboard! You can do that on this page, by entering join code
730956-de85ce0c
.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>
11 votes -
What are you doing this week?
This topic is part of a weekly series. It is meant to be a place for users to discuss their week. If you have any plans, goals, accomplishments, or even failures, whether they be personal or work...
This topic is part of a weekly series. It is meant to be a place for users to discuss their week.
If you have any plans, goals, accomplishments, or even failures, whether they be personal or work related, I'd love to hear about them. This is a place for casual discussion about your week, past, present, and future.
A list of all previous topics in this series can be found here.
So, what (or how) are you doing this week?
9 votes -
Hundreds of ‘pink slime’ local news outlets are distributing algorithmic stories and conservative talking points
12 votes -
A Failed SaaS Postmortem
6 votes