Hi Tilderinos!

I've recently found myself being less and less interested in posting to Tildes and reading less, which surprised me as it had become a pretty strong habit for me. After giving it some thought, I've realized it's because I have noticed a sharp uptick in negative sentiment being posted about/shared here (largely in the forms of pessimism/defeatism and/or apathetic/indifferent responses to people's struggles and experiences), and so I wanted to actually do something about it rather than simply grumble and let it continue unabated.

This isn't to shame or tone-police anyone - it's rough out there, and I don't think posters are on here trying to put struggling people down. But I wanted to come back with something firmly, boldly optimistic: I believe that we are actively making the world a better place. Yes, even you, random reader who might feel like they're stuck in a rut and/or doing nothing notable. Just by frequenting a website that's explicitly geared towards constructive communication and deeper thinking, you're making the world a better place. I truly mean that!

I think good things are still happening, and I think a lot of really smart people aren't giving up on trying to make the world a better place, one small step at a time. To quote one of my favourite BlueSky Poster's Username: Better Things Are Possible.

Never forget it!

I'll share a few positive trends I've noticed lately in the comments, and hope others will share as well - but no pressure. I hope this brightens even one person's day!

I'm curious how everyone here is coping this summer. Personally I prefer winter, I can always warm up with blankets and hot soup if it gets too cold. But this time of year even with the AC on full blast my brain still feels entirely cooked.

For my room it is now 80F/27C and it feels too dang hot!!
(also about 40% humidity here, which is high for what is normally a desert region)

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 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.

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?

Either because the game itself is still good, or because you think it's able to be appreciated for more historical/didactic reasons (e.g. Game X is the origin for a certain trope).

Or any other reason really -- you're not limited to the two.

Importantly, why do you recommend them? What appeal do they have to modern audiences?

The reason I'm saying "pre-NES" (Nintendo Entertainment System) is simply because I imagine that a good number of us here started gaming with the NES and don't have as much of a pulse on what came before it. I imagine even more of us started gaming well after the NES and would appreciate insight into that period of gaming history.

I sometimes think that I’m a stoplight if I get a good green light, I think that I got good random number generation from the world.

This comes from the speerunning ppl that they gauge a good cycle of events to be good when the random number generation gives them a good “cycle”

I had an overnight in Last Vegas for work, and got to spend about 4 hours at the Meow Wolf Omega Mart installation.

It was truly one of the most amazing things I have ever seen -- awe inspiring in scope, vision, and execution.

It's an interactive art installation, but, interactive turned up to 11. If you've ever played a video game where there are bits of stray paper scattered around, and reading them progressively discloses the story, this is like that, it in real life. You start wandering through it, and you realize that, while it is trippy as hell, there is a narrative connecting it all. Another thing that amazed me is the depth of the material. Dozens of pages to read, hours of video to watch. Tasks to complete. Puzzles to solve. Circling back as I realized it was all connected.

The first part of it is an other-worldly grocery store. Equal parts bizarre and hilarious. If you've played the game Control, I think the grocery store so i'd be at home in the FBC. Then you get into the factory where things are made, then the interdimensional portals, the aliens, and the lore.

Here are some pictures I took that don't even scratch the surface of what it is, but maybe set the tone. There are also some commercials on youtube.

Anyway, if you ever get a chance to go, I highly recommend it. But give yourself a whole day if you're a completionist. And pay the three dollars for the boop card.

Week 3 has begun!

Post your current bingo cards.
Continue updating us on your games!

If you did not participate in Weeks 1-2 but want to start this week, that's fine!
Reminder: playing bingo is OPTIONAL.

Quick links:

• Backlog Bingo Site
• Week 1 Discussion and Event Guidelines
• Week 2 Discussion

Week 2 Recap

11 participants played 11 bingo cards and moved 43 games out of their backlogs!

There were 2 bingo wins. Congrats to u/Wes and u/J-Chiptunator! 🎉

Also, in my rush last week to get the recap up, I forgot to celebrate u/Wes's win from Week 1. So, additional congratulations!

• Only 1 game this time had an ALL CAPS TITLE, but 9 games had PARTIAL CAps titles.
• The shortest title was 5 characters: Venba
• The longest title was 12 words: Tales from Toyotoki: Arrival of the Witch (The witch of the Ihanashi)
• We had the numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, and 7 represented. Half of the digits!
  (Note that this only works if I read "I Expect You to Die" as "One: Expect You to Die", which I do)

Game list:

• Afterlove EP
• AKIBA'S TRIP: Undead & Undressed
• Call of the Sea
• Citizen Sleeper
• Cozy Space Survivors
• Crimson Shroud
• CULTIC
• Devilated
• Drox Operative
• Eastward
• Hades II
• Haustoria
• NYT Lunch Break
• I Expect You to Die
• Intravenous
• Katamari Damacy REROLL
• MAKOTO WAKAIDO's Case Files
• Mask of Mists
• Metro Gravity
• Nine Noir Lives
• Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee
• Out There: Ω Edition
• Pacific Drive
• Paradise Marsh
• Pumpkin Jack
• Rocket Skates VR
• Resogun
• The Room Three
• ROTA: Bend Gravity
• Shipwreck
• A Short Hike
• Sid Meier's Civilization VII
• Skator Gator
• Super Fantasy Kingdom
• Tales from Toyotoki: Arrival of the Witch (The witch of the Ihanashi)
• UnderRail
• Untitled Goose Game
• Vegas Stakes
• Venba
• Weapon Shop de Omasse
• We Were Here Expeditions: The FriendShip
• Zenith: Nexus
• Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma

Hungarian Grand Prix
Hungaroring
July 24-26, 2026

Next race:
Dutch Grand Prix
Circuit Zandvoort
August 21-23, 2026

Spoiler discussion for Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey

I have a dispenser style Brita filter (link) that I keep in my fridge. I noticed a few weeks back it was dispensing water slower and at a slight angle, and figured maybe the plastic bits had gotten worn down and it might need replaced soon.

Today, I noticed it was even slower, so I emptied it and held it up to try to look at the nozzle. Couldn’t really see anything, but I did notice the nozzle appeared to be removable so I did that to get a closer look…

Looked like maybe there was some biofilm or mold or something at the nozzle tip. Cleaned it with soap and water and a straw brush, but honestly I’m horribly grossed out.

I’ve been drinking most of my daily water dispensed by it. I haven’t been sick or anything over the past month so like, presumably I’ll be OK but…ew.

So the Mrs. and I are planning on a trip to Japan for June of this year. I received a tip to take a look at the deals found on said travel agency and I was impressed. I made a cursory research on the legitimacy of the service and found that it does deliver. I took the dive and got myself booked--with an additional fee to cancel and have my deposit fully refunded. Since then I've been looking more and more into their services and find that way too many reviews are overwhelmingly negative. The corresponding Reddit board screams "don't do it!" (though most of the posts there are a bit dated, admittedly)
And now that I'm finally a member of this fine community at Tildes, I figured that I'd ask you kind people for your feedback and discussion. What do you all say? Is there any consensus on any particular travel agency? Or is it best that I engage in the grunt work to book all the hotels ahead of time? We're looking to hit Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto at the very least. My total cost so far is less than $5000 for 9 days, FYI. And travelling from USA, if that makes any difference.
This is my first post on Tildes prompting discussion, btw. Glad to be here! 🤞

As part of a weekly series, these topics are a place for users to casually discuss the things they did — or didn't do — during their week. Did you accomplish any goals? Suffer a failure? Do nothing at all? Tell us about it!