-
9 votes
-
How chain restaurants use smells to entice us
16 votes -
A year after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, four Americans are still being held hostage
11 votes -
Starlink is offering free internet access for thirty days for folks affected by Hurricane Helene
22 votes -
Choosing a TTRPG system
When I was in elementary school, I found some Advanced Dungeons & Dragons books at a yardsale. I read through them, brought them to school, and played through a basic campaign with some friends....
When I was in elementary school, I found some Advanced Dungeons & Dragons books at a yardsale. I read through them, brought them to school, and played through a basic campaign with some friends. Since then, I haven't met anyone interested in pen-and-paper RPGs. I still hope that I can one day convince someone to play with me, but I don't even know which system I should try to learn. There are now so many different editions of D&D, in addition to countless alternatives and endless arguments over the merits of each.
Whatever system I decide to learn, I will need to invest time and energy into learning and teaching the game to others, and I'll most likely be the DM, so I'd like to choose one that won't be too difficult for beginners to get into. While I enjoy exploring interesting game mechanics, I think the idea of creating an interactive adventure story or a world to explore with friends is what attracts me the most. The Fate system sounded interesting, but I had a hard time understanding the core rulebook. I've recently read short summaries of several other systems that seem like they could be fun and not too hard to get into, such as Index Card RPG, Shadowdark, Tiny Dungeon, Five Torches Deep, Fantasy AGE, and Creative Card Chaos; but I can't afford to read through each of them and seven editions of D&D to determine which one is most suitable for me.
Does anyone have any advice on how to evaluate my options or a suggestion for a good one to start out with?
21 votes -
Temporarily free sci-fi novels from independent sci-fi authors
17 votes -
A lawmaker representing Greenland in Denmark's Parliament was asked to leave the podium of the assembly after she refused to translate her speech delivered in Greenlandic into Danish
19 votes -
Siamese – This Is Not A Song (2024)
4 votes -
Kill Bill x Rav x Hatsune Miku - THINGS WILL GET MUCH WORSE FROM HERE (2024)
15 votes -
In Canada, Brantford-area child dies from rabies after contact with a bat, health official says
27 votes -
The blogosphere is in full bloom. The rest of the internet has wilted.
27 votes -
License plate readers are creating a US-wide database of more than just cars
20 votes -
Devastated community in North Carolina revives the town meeting
23 votes -
Monophonics - Sage Motel (2022)
4 votes -
Weekly thread for casual chat and photos of pets
This is the place for casual discussion about our pets. Photos are welcome, show us your pet(s) and tell us about them!
2 votes -
Fact check: Greta Thunberg ‘vegan grenades’ TV interview is deepfake
18 votes -
Learned a life-changing tip about human psychology - Any others?
I am reading Never Split the Difference right now, and while the book has a few stereotypical "salesman self-help" moments, I have found some of the strategies to be genuinely incredible. The...
I am reading Never Split the Difference right now, and while the book has a few stereotypical "salesman self-help" moments, I have found some of the strategies to be genuinely incredible.
The biggest game changer for me has been mirroring what the other person says to avoid conflict and gather more information.
Real life example: My wife has a bad habit of poorly explaining what she wants and where it's located. Then, I get her flustered when I rapid-fire follow up questions. Here is an exchange we have frequently which leaves us both frustrated as hell.
She will ask something like, "Can you get the box out of the drawer please?"
I usually reply, "What box?"
"The box. The red box."
"Okay...what drawer?"
"The drawer, you know, the drawer. Come on."
"DUDE. Can you at least tell me which room you're even talking about?"
"Nevermind, I'll get it."
Lately I've been trying mirroring to help both of us and it's awesome.
"Can you get the box please?"
"Get the box?"
"Yeah, the red box. It has a paper in it that I need."
"Okay, you want the red box with the paper in it?"
"Yeah it's in the kitchen drawer next to the sink."
It's so weird when you first start doing this intentionally, but people don't even notice. I have no idea why it works so much better but it's amazing.
So, this got me thinking, what other little human psychology tricks work? Are there other books that genuinely changed the way you approach people or situations?
I'm a teacher and my job is to teach students who mostly have behavioral problems, so I am always on the look out for more of these things.
60 votes -
Weight loss drugs appear to be having an effect at the population level
24 votes -
The collapse of self-worth in the digital age
30 votes -
Swedish government accused of trying to ‘outlaw poverty’ over begging ban – critics say proposal may not be lawful and would not tackle root cause of vulnerability
36 votes -
CloudFlare beats patent troll Sable, forcing them to dedicate all its patents to the public
48 votes -
Ken Newcombe, ex-CEO of C-Quest Capital, faces criminal charges for multi-year carbon credit fraud
11 votes -
We've been helping rewild this quarry for a few years now and the transformation has been wonderful to witness
18 votes -
An export feature would be nice
It would be nice to be able to press a button which would create a zipped file for me to download all of my content on Tildes. Just one markdown file for each post or comment I ever wrote on Tildes.
22 votes -
RiffTrax sets Nebula streaming deal
26 votes -
Dockworkers' union to suspend strike in US until Jan. 15, source says
46 votes -
Recommend some new(ish) metal bands
I have been a metalhead for over 20 years but I seem to still mostly listen to the bands I found back then. So mostly bands that started in the 80s or 90s. By the mid 2000s metalcore and its...
I have been a metalhead for over 20 years but I seem to still mostly listen to the bands I found back then. So mostly bands that started in the 80s or 90s. By the mid 2000s metalcore and its various derivatives got very popular and that wasn't for me, so I kind of stopped paying much attention to new stuff for many years. The only newer band I have been really excited about is the Finnish black metal band Havukruunu, and to some extent Uada and Spectral Wound.
Would love to get some recommendations for new names that have appeared in the last 10 or so years.
22 votes -
Rumor: GlobalComix to get DC Comics digitally, announced at NYCC
3 votes -
Meta Movie Gen
9 votes -
The Rocky Horror Video Game | Announcement trailer
10 votes -
Books or other good content on software design?
Wondering if anyone has any good books or other content to recommend on software design. I feel like when I start out on a new project I always get stuck in a rut of trying to design something...
Wondering if anyone has any good books or other content to recommend on software design. I feel like when I start out on a new project I always get stuck in a rut of trying to design something good, then end up with an awful design anyways. On the other hand, I've been around professors and more experienced software engineers who seem to effortlessly come up with simple, powerful architectures and interfaces.
While I know that reading a book or two won't get me the experience I need to improve, it does seem like that might be a good jump-start. Anyone have any suggestions for me? Thanks!
9 votes -
Historic US ship could soon become the world's largest artificial reef
21 votes -
More people than ever are trying to hack the US government--and they love it
11 votes -
Tony Hawk and Steve-O are producing skateboarding anthology series "SK8 OR DIE"
12 votes -
Do you keep a diary?
I've been thinking about keeping a diary to improve my English because I rarely use it, but I don't know what to write about... So, if you keep a diary, what do you write in it? And what do you...
I've been thinking about keeping a diary to improve my English because I rarely use it, but I don't know what to write about... So, if you keep a diary, what do you write in it? And what do you use/prefer, app or paper?
20 votes -
US hospitals take steps to conserve IV fluid supply after hurricane Helene strikes critical factory in North Carolina
16 votes -
EU top court says some FIFA player transfer rules breach EU law
10 votes -
America’s first cross-country auto race
1 vote -
Offbeat Fridays – The thread where offbeat headlines become front page news
Tildes is a very serious site, where we discuss very serious matters like politics, paypal and reddit. Tags culled from the highest voted topics from the last seven days, if anyone was befuddled....
Tildes is a very serious site, where we discuss very serious matters like politics, paypal and reddit. 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!11 votes -
Mokoma – Haluamanilainen (2024)
2 votes -
German Navy Enigma machine systems were different to the Army, making them tougher to crack. In this video, James Grime discusses the differences and what Alan Turing achieved in breaking the code.
7 votes -
How Japanese square watermelons are made
7 votes -
Babel Lecture 2022 with Stephen Fry: 'What we have here is a failure to communicate' (17/06/22)
8 votes -
This is [my dead grandmother]’s special day!
15 votes -
The rise of the multi-hyphenate
6 votes -
Tips for managing a low-storage laptop?
I bought an M2 Macbook Air at the start of this year for uni. I only planned to use it for uni work as I have another 'more powerful' laptop that I use for everything else, but I kinda love the M2...
I bought an M2 Macbook Air at the start of this year for uni. I only planned to use it for uni work as I have another 'more powerful' laptop that I use for everything else, but I kinda love the M2 and want to make it my daily driver laptop. Battery lasts for ages, screen is great, it's thin and light, etc. The problem is - as you might guess - I only got the 512GB model and if there's one thing Apple hates, it's people having control over their hardware, so no expandable storage. I can't afford to upgrade the entire laptop, so I need to work with what I have. Here's what I want to use it for:
- Graphic design: Adobe software, high-res images, typefaces, etc.
- Music production: Ableton Live 11 Suite, sample packs, plug-ins, project folders, etc.
- Music library: uncompressed .m4a files because iTunes hates Vorbis 😢, ~80% of my library (I don't have everything downloaded yet) is 25GB.
- Web-browsing: Firefox... this one isn't really relevant but I feel like I should include it for completeness.
Does anyone have any tips to stretch this 512GB as faaaaaar as it can go? I have a 2TB external SSD, but I'm wary of keeping anything important on it because it's small and I don't want to accidentally lose a bunch of stuff. I can spend a bit of money (maybe 30usd) if anyone has a good idea that requires buying something, but I can't spend any ludicrous amounts, I already did that to get the laptop!
15 votes -
Looking for a touchscreen desktop computer solution
Hi, I'm looking for a touchscreen desktop computer solution that is in the affordable range and capable of running Windows or Linux. Whether that is a touchscreen monitor and a standalone...
Hi, I'm looking for a touchscreen desktop computer solution that is in the affordable range and capable of running Windows or Linux. Whether that is a touchscreen monitor and a standalone computer, or an all in one solution, do you guys have any recommendations? It will be used to run a marine charting program on a boat.
6 votes -
Phil Ochs - The War Is Over (Songbook and interviews)
5 votes -
Avatar: The Last Airbender is getting a AAA RPG with Saber Interactive and Paramount Game Studios
18 votes -
Why are bands mysteriously disappearing?
20 votes