The one thing that I personally really got into was mechanical keyboards. It all started with one cheap secondhand Corsair RGB mechanical gaming keyboard that I got when I was 15. I thought it was the coolest thing ever because it was shiny and loud. That led to many different keyboards and keyboard accessories. Notable ones include:

• GMMK Pro 70% keyboard with a metal chassis
• Anne Pro Bluetooth 60% keyboard
• A set of keycaps, which alone cost more than multiple non-fancy keyboards
• A couple of hand-soldered macropads that I never got around to using

... The list goes on. It was fun, but after buying the keycaps, I realized that, for the sake of my bank account and financial stability, I had probably acquired enough keyboards for the time being.

What is your costly and somewhat pointless hobby/obsession?

About a year ago I was approaching 200 lbs. I work from home since pre-pandemic. I used to bike to an office but since then, I’ve moved somewhere less biking friendly. My strategy to tackle weight was intermittent fasting. And it was generally working for ~10 lbs and I stopped weighing myself for a year. And shirts were not fitting me, and then I learned the weight had come all back and more.
I knew enough that the fasting was going to do nothing if I was not telling my body to really use anything it stored up. Serendipitously I read about someone with a recumbent bike under their standing desk, and gaming, they’d wrack up the miles. I realized I needed that setup. I’m someone who just hates to go out of my way for working out.

Found one that was literally a desk chair with a bike under it and ordered it. I went from ultra sedentary to light exercise for ~4 hours a day. I’ve had it for about 2 weeks, and this thing is great. I’m listening to my body and not trying to do it too hard (for those who are concerned). Without every really trying to sprint I’ve been doing 40 miles a week-day. On the 4th of July I tried to see how far I could go biking all day. When I started I could not go anymore at 80 miles. Last weekend I easily knocked out 70 miles. The big thing is breaks. I’m not on a real bike, so there is no problem in taking a 5 minute break to knockout dishes or something. I don’t know if I trust the machine telling me I’m burning ~1,000 cals on my 40 miles, but I know what I am doing is healthy and I’m curious how my body will feel in 6 months or a year.

How do my legs feel? Oddly enough, during the day or after the work out, they’re beat. They seem to feel better by the time I’m ready to ride in the evening so no rest days yet. I’m shocked how much the leg fatigue really goes away once I start riding and focus on whatever is on my PC. Most of the discomfort is really from my bum. It has gone away generally though.
An odd risk I had to solve for myself was that upon pushing away from my desk while on my bike, I nearly topped my standing desk over. This was solved by well-placed PVC pipes and padding locked between the desk and the wall.

What bike do I recommend?
The budget version: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004O6TXVS/
The one I have: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C8MVYLLT (but from their original website)
A cushion that the I book marked when I was doing research: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EBDV9BU

When I look up recumbent biking exercises, it’s kind of funny. It’s often recommended for the elderly because it’s potentially such a low intense workout. It’s great in a long duration. I would actually feel guilty spending this much time at the gym, but this method rocks. I have not worked out for this long since playing a Highschool sport. I won’t ever be shaped like a teenager again, but I can work towards it.

I have fond memories of trying to solve HTML/text-based riddles on sites like WeffRiddles when I was growing up in the mid-late 2000s. The premise of the site is usually pretty simple: the landing page represents "level 1", and you had to find the correct URL to get to level 2, 3, and so on. The "puzzle/riddle" aspect usually involves inspecting the underlying HTML and looking through clues given in the source code, then using those clues to piece together the URL for the next stage.

It was always fun hanging out on forums and sharing clues about how to solve the level that everyone was stuck on. Also, being a kid back then, frankly I felt like a Hackerman™️ whenever I'd have to inspect the page source, paste it into Windows Notepad, then set font size to 1pt because I thought there was an ASCII art pattern hidden in the HTML. Good times.

Sometimes I get the urge to play these things again, but besides WeffRiddles which I know by name, I don't really know what this type of game is called. The closest "modern" example I can think of is /dev/esc, which is more like an online escape room than a long-form riddle site.

Does this ring a bell for you? Any other fun ones that you remember playing? And what the hell do I type into Google to find more of these?

Long story short my roommate has a surround system she got at Goodwill and I set it up for her but the internal amps are not functioning properly. It's only using the front two satellite speakers and sub which is independently powered. So it's 2.1 for now.

The front two speakers barely put out much sound even cranked to max volume. The sub is fine as again it's independently powered.

I've ruled out all settings, as there is a 2.1 output mode, and the radio is just as low so it's not an input issue. I have it hooked to her PC's output. I also have proper gauge speaker wire so that's not the problem either. I did hook up the center speaker to one of the front outputs too. Same deal.

So can an inline amp help at this point? Is there anything else I can try or rule out?

Also if this is not appropriate to post here in Tech I apologize in advance.

Seems like people in my family are pretty lucky. My brother won a $250,000 hospital fundraiser lottery a few years ago. And my daughter won $123,000 charity fundraiser a year after that.

What they say about lottery wins seems to be true. Both of them blew through their winnings in fairly short order. Easy come, easy go I guess.

Currently going down a rabbit hole of out of bound areas in games. I’ve always loved seeing what we aren’t supposed to and how the devs make it work.

I was curious on what you guys thought were some fun experiences you’ve had out of of bounds? Share below!

July'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'm a big fan of Nu Metal, but I've been listening to the same stuff for quite a while. (System of a Down, Slipknot, Mudvayne, Soulfly, etc.). So, I'm wanting to find some cool new bands to add to my playlist. Honestly, the only two modern acts that I know of are Crazy N' Sane and Dropout Kings.

I've noticed that there are primarily text posts with some links thrown in, and I do like the "real" conversation that it brings, instead of the shitposting that ends up all over Reddit.

I was curious, though, if there were any plans to add a ~pics or something similar. I know the goal of Tildes isn't to be a true Reddit replacement of course, but I wasn't sure whether image boards were planned or were being left out to help encourage actual discussion.

So, quite a few people don't like/watch video content, and don't like seeing the homepage filled with videos. Let's try something new, see if it sticks.

What are the best videos you have watched this past week/fortnight?

The Reddit company is screwing up and upsetting a lot of their "power users" and mods. A lot of people are fed up with Reddit, and are possibly ready to move on to a new platform.

Is Tildes that platform? I've lurked here for most of Tildes' life, and from that, my impression is that Tildes does not especially want to replace Reddit. A lot of people here like the small, intimate atmosphere. I've even noticed a bit of derision toward Reddit's lowbrow appeal.

The reason I ask is because there are communities on Reddit that I don't want to see die. /r/Permaculture and /r/composting are some of my favorite places. I've gotten to know quite a few people who also frequent those places and I've come to enjoy the tone of conversations there.

But this seems like an important question for Tildes to answer not just for my sake. Reddit is full of niche communities like this. If they have to go somewhere suddenly (and I realize that this is a big "if"), where do they go? I know that they technically can't come here suddenly--slowing growth is one of Tildes' features. But if Reddit's niche communities decided to move here, would you welcome them? I'm interested in what you, personally, think, as well as how you think Tildes as a whole would handle this.

P.S. I'm also sorta asking for permission to invite /r/Permaculture and /r/composting over here. I like this website, but I'm just a lurker, and don't feel like I'm part of the Tildes community. It feels super presumptuous to invite my friends over here without asking. But I think the wider question is more important. Do you, and does Tildes, want Reddit's 'refugee' niche interest communities?

Edit: Thank you all for the excellent responses! I don't have time now to respond individually, but I really appreciate the thought so many of you have put into your replies. This will help a lot in considering how to proceed over on Reddit.

Last night, the NL All-Stars beat the AL All-Stars 3-2, for their first win since 2012 and only their 4th since 1997.

Here's the box score and lineups from the last time the NL won.

I've never really understood why the AL seemed to be so much better in this game against the NL, but it's nice to see the league win one, even if no Brewers appeared in the game.

This is something I’ve thought about and I don’t think has gotten as much discussion as I figured it would. Who’s in line to take that second Mercedes seat if Lewis does decide to walk away?

I don’t think anyone in the junior program will go straight to Merc. Additionally, Red Bull are no gos in my opinion.

I think both Ferrari guys will do what they can to get out at this point. Slight lean to Leclerc because he does have his brilliant moments. I would have put money on Lando before Silverstone, but maybe he’s been convinced. I don’t think they’d take Alonso, Stroll isn’t going anywhere. I know Ocon used to be managed by Toto but I think he’s committed to Alpine. Gasly and Bottas haven’t been impressive enough since the start of 2022 to be in consideration, in my opinion. Ricciardo will need a hell of a rest of 2023 to be a contender. I highly doubt they’d go to Mick, could they potentially poach Albon from Williams and put Mick in his place? The story is Hulk was going to be their other driver way back when, has he done enough to be in the conversation?

My personal top three most likely is Leclerc, Albon, Norris. What do you think?

Is it simply as simple as having young protagonists? I don't think so. On the one hand, I love Remains of the Day but I wouldn't suggest it to younger family members. On the other hand, Schindler's List released when I was in college and I loved/suffered through that film.

I'm going to a supper club this Saturday and the theme is pie. Now, I love making me some pie (and subsequently eating it), but I'd like to do something a little different from my normal pie.

What is your favorite (ideally esoteric) pie recipe? I'm making one sweet, one savory. Gimme your best shot!

I understand there are no plans to develop an official app, which is understandable to me as that would require a lot of time and resources for a project like this.

But it's clear that there are lots of devs eager to chime in and create an app by themselves, just like they did for Reddit. There's even one iOS app already in progress, although it relies on HTML parsing to retrieve the data obviously.

So is there any official stance on this? Why not publish the API and let the community do its magic? Any thoughts?

Hi Tildes!
I'm a college student considering adding a gas motor onto my existing bike. I'm in a pretty hilly city, so biking around for groceries is kinda annoying... plus I wanna just zoom around some trails in my free time.
Currently, I'm looking at one of the 49cc 4 stroke engine kits all over Amazon/Ebay, since I heard that 4 stroke motors are supposedly quieter and more reliable than 2 strokes. I don't care about speed... in fact, I don't want to be going over 30mph on a bike. 49cc also makes this thing street legal in my state.
I did consider doing an e-bike conversion as well, but those are much more expensive... a 4 stroke kit is ~$160, while any reputable e-bike battery alone is more than that. These things don't burn much gasoline either, getting 100-150 mpg! I'd have to ride thousands of miles before the fuel cost exceeds an e-bike battery.
So, any advice would be appreciated! Also, I'd be willing to spend ~300 on this if there is a compelling reason to get a better motor than the generic Ebay one. If you have motor suggestions, please link them!
Thanks,
purpuraRana

Almost everyone has one, a TV show that they love so much that they rewatch it every once in a while. For me, it has to be Band of Brothers. In my humble opinion this is the very best miniseries mankind has ever produced. I love every scene of every episode and by now I know the entire show by memory. I still rewatch it once a year. People call me insane and don't understand why and to be honest neither do I. Whenever I come across a post about this show or hear a piece of the music I just have to watch it again.

I was 13 when the show first aired on TV and I watched it every week with my father. We're both WW2 buffs and consume every piece of media that has anything to do with it. Band of Brothers was right up our alley. Not only have I watched the show more times than I can keep track of, I also read all the books written by the men of Easy Company just to learn more and find out about what the show got wrong. The show has some errors but I still love it.

Enough about me, what is your favorite show to rewatch? How often do you rewatch it? What triggers your need to rewatch it? :)

Edit: thanks for all the cool replies guys. It's my first day on Tildes and I'm really liking it here so far. I just want to reply to everyone but the site is telling me to slow down!

Recently, I've been thinking pretty hard about how to archive data. Optical media is out, due to my (possibly irrational?) fear of disc rot. HDDs just break with extended use, SSDs have been known to die with either overuse or just existing for an extended period of time. What's left?

I have heard of tape (of some kind) being used for backup in some bigger operations, but with my experieces with VHS, and to a lesser extent, cassettes, they seem to be very susceptible to mould.

Any suggestions?