Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia
Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia
October 2-4, 2026

Next race:
Singapore Grand Prix
Marina Bay Street Circuit
October 9-11, 2026

Most everyone will spend a significant portion of their life working in some way shape or form. Our jobs can cause us to learn new skills or see the world in a different light after gaining new experiences.

I was thinking about my own career and how it has caused changes in my own life, and it got me thinking how other Tilders might view their work and their life through that lens.

Have you noticed your career has changed you, and if there are any changes you can think of, do any of them surprise you?
Do you look at things differently after working a particular job?
How has your job impacted you?

I promised in another thread that I would share more about my first impressions about the Steam Frame soon, so here I am.

There's still not much I can say because, in my case, using glasses inside isn't an option. But whatever questions you have and couldn't find answers anywhere else, let me know and I can check for you (be it settings, small things no one thinks about, etc)

I'll be recycling a bit what I already said in the other comment (with a few corrections), but here goes my first impressions and some thoughts:

• I said in the other comment that the spacer for the glasses was disappointing, but that's actually not true. To be fair, they do their job. The glasses should be as close as possible to your face anyway, and you can't have too much space between your face and the lenses in the VR, so the spacer does give you a bit more space that should be enough for most/all people. I was able to confirm that both my new glasses and my old ones do not touch the lenses. That said, I still wouldn't play a VR game that needs me to move a lot, the risk of them coming loose and scratching the lenses isn't null.

• My problem with the glasses is different. My new glasses are too wide. They barely fit inside and put a lot of pressure on my face, I think it's the sides of the VR that push the glasses against my face.

• So yeah, if you use glasses, I highly recommend getting prescription lenses (this also applies to any VR headset, but still).

• I was able to run on the Frame: Ace Combat 7, Hades 2, Dragon Commander and Dispatch. All of them were playable (Ace Combat 7 was a pleasant surprise!). Dragon Commander technically ran well, but it didn't recognize the controllers.

• There's a tab for Steam Frame verified games, but you can download anything from your library. Cyberpunk 2077? Knock yourself out. Will it run well? Nope, but it does run.

• • Sidenote: the new proton for ARM processors make me hopeful that laptops with ARM processors could become a viable alternative to traditional ones (I mean besides macbooks)

• Speaking of controllers, they're MUCH better than Meta Quest 3's. The layout of a conventional controller means that they can be used as such. Furthermore, at any moment you can activate the "pointer", which turns the respective controller into a mouse (while the other remains a controller). Meaning if you have a game where sometimes you need a mouse, Steam Frame has you covered.

• I got the ergonomic kit because of the controller straps, but as for the headset itself, I'll be the contrarian against the rest of the internet and say that those extra pieces actually aren't necessary. Or at least, not as ABSOLUTELY necessary as people make it look like. The space between the headset and my nose is not sealed, true, but unless I get conscious about that "hole", I won't notice it. I also felt that the top strap isn't necessary, the headset feels firmly held against my head.

• • That said, let me admit a few things: I didn't play a VR game yet, so maybe "firmly held" could be a different story in that scenario. And for a 1k euro device, there's an argument to be made that these ergonomic accessories should've been included by default, which I wholeheartedly agree. The nose thing, might have to do with my head shape, might not, I don't know; I just felt that whenever I was looking at the "screen" inside, I didn't notice the "hole" down below.

• The battery is... Underwhelming. Be prepared to get a good powerbank if you plan to have mid-long sessions.

• I tried using the wireless adapter on my gaming desktop (running Fedora 44), and it looks like it worked! Pleasant surprise, as I was under the impression it didn't work on Linux yet.

• Streamed Red Dead Redemption 2 for a bit. Rockstar launcher popped up so I could validate my account.... Except this window didn't appear on the SF, only on my PC's monitor. On the SF, I wasn't able to change windows, I only got a black screen. Once I entered the game, I could hear the sounds of the intro playing but the screen was still black. After fiddling a bit inside the VR, I managed to make it show the game itself, then I was able to play it normally.

• • This is to say, "window management" inside a game is finicky. So games with their own launchers? Expect them be as annoying here as they are in general...
• • • Caveat: only tried one game in this condition (opening launchers/windows alongside the game), so it's possible it was just bad luck and not representative.

• (copy pasted from the other comment) the update process (that you're forced to do) was really slow - the download would top at 10mb/s, but on average it was on the kb/s.

• (copy pasted from the other comment) The environment is really polished - more than the Steam Deck it looks like. I like how from inside Steam "app" itself, I can open the desktop mode as if it was an application. I don't have bluetooth keyboards but I think it should be possible to use this as a normal PC, which is really cool.

• (copy pasted from the other comment) Just like the Steam Deck, you have control over almost everything. Hardware usage, screen framerates, etc.

Some basic comparisons against the Meta Quest 3:

• Unlike MQ 3, the SF works just fine in any kind of environment, even if it's pitch black. Side note: it's a bit mesmerizing checking out the LIDAR's and Face ID's lights from my iphone. This thing is unironically a really good device to spot hidden cameras.

• YMMV, but for me the lack of colors in the passthrough isn't a big deal. I spend most of the time "inside" the virtual world and barely used it on MQ3, only for when someone was calling for me - or my cats. But even then, 95% of the time I would just take the headset off if whatever was demanding my attention wasn't quick. Talking to people with it on your head is weird af (especially for the other person). What I'm trying to say is that there were never situations where I needed to see the world around me and it needed to be in colours; I would just take the headset off in those cases.

• • Caveat: 1k euros device, I get it. It's dumb that you still need to fork over another 100 euros just to get colours. And I guess it's not a good thing for AR games.

• The SF is a bit smaller, lighter, and it's more comfortable imo. The idea to move the battery to the back of the head was smart, I think long sessions with SF should be more comfortable.

• MQ 3 has hand gesture recognition while SF doesn't. But personally, I don't really care. On MQ 3 this feature is finicky, frustrating to use, it's annoying when I'm watching movies/videos, and more importantly, it makes me want to throw the headset against the wall (exaggeration for comedic effect). So for me it's not a huge loss.

• If you feel that after these impressions I'm biased against the MQ3, well.... You're not wrong, but I just realized that it feels like I'm defending SF too much and criticizing MQ3 too easily while writing this. I'm biased against it mainly for privacy reasons, but on a hardware level, MQ3 is a great headset in its own right. It's equivalent to SF and costs a lot less. If you don't care about privacy, you probably should go for it instead of the SF.

Feel free to ask me anything about the Steam Frame and if I can check it out for you, I will.

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.

The goal of the monthly Digital Detox topic is:

to evaluate and potentially address toxic or controlling aspects of tech in ways are meaningful for you

This is a shift away from the previous emphasis on a "Screenless Day" which was aimed at being a specific task/event.

People can certainly still take Screenless Days as part of their Digital Detox, but I wanted to open this up a bit more to allow more opportunities for discussion and change rather than just temporarily cutting screens.

Please make this topic what you want it to be. There's no right or wrong way to post in it.

All people posting in this topic will be automatically added to the Digital Detox notification list. If you do NOT want to be added to the list, please let me know in your comment.

Monthly Discussion Starter: What "digital detox" steps have you tried in the past? Did they work? Why or why not?

Tildes is a very serious site, where we discuss very serious matters like cornell, dbrand and the sift. Tags culled from the highest voted topics from the last seven days, if anyone was interested.

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!

Another season of anime has (mostly) ended. Inspired by @Flashfall 's excellent seasonal review in an earlier weekly threads, I thought it'd be interesting to hear about everyone's overall experiences.

So, what's the best anime you've watched over the last 3 months? Doesn't have to be one released this season, as long as you've recently watched them. Seeing how the old and new compare to each other could also be interesting.

You can mention which other ones you've also watched so others know what the comparison was. It's also okay if you've only seen one since the fact you liked it enough to highlight is still noteworthy.

"Think of the most successful person you know personally in your field. If you had to attribute their position to one primary edge over their peers, which of these was it?"
​A) Exceptional raw talent or intellectual capability
​B) Unusually high stamina and willingness to work long hours
​C) Great interpersonal instinct and emotional intelligence
​D) Being in the right place at the right time with the right background

Choosing just one is a recommendation
Within cells interlinked

The Reboot!

I used to run a series of "Screenless Day" monthly posts that were aimed at nudging people to put a short pause on the toxic aspects of tech in their life. They never got much traction, but it was also hard to tell if people were participating because they wouldn't necessarily be here commenting on it and would instead be, you know, off doing other things.

There has been some renewed interest in the idea recently, so I decided to reboot the series and see how it goes now (especially because the wider tech landscape is arguably worse than it was back when I first started them).

The spirit of Screenless Day remains the same as it always has been:

a simple event aimed at encouraging people to take a temporary step away from toxic or consuming aspects of technology and spend their time and energies elsewhere

Anyone can choose to take a Screenless Day at any time, but the idea is to nudge people towards doing it over the first weekend of the month. Each new discussion topic will go live on the first Friday of the month, and it will remain open for the duration of the month.

It is strongly encouraged that you talk about your Screenless Day here, as part of the fun of the event is that, even though you might be doing something independently, your actions fit into a larger community picture of other people here sharing the same values.

Also, to promote both reflection and discussion on the goals of Screenless Day, each month I will be including a new discussion question to provide people the opportunity to reflect on their relationship with technology and keep the topic more “alive” and visible.

This Month

In addition to the once again regularly scheduled Screenless Day, there are a couple of housekeeping things for our first month back:

1. Building a notification list.

I will be building a notification list to be pinged each time a monthly Screenless Day topic goes up. Anyone commenting in this topic will be included by default. If you do NOT want to be included in the list, please let me know in your comment.

2. Changing the name?

"Screenless Day" can be a bit misleading (see the FAQ below), so I'm open to other name ideas. Everything I can come up with tends to sound negative however (e.g. "Pause Toxic Tech" day or something), and I want the name to be a simple but positive one.

Monthly Discussion

Use this topic to:

1. Talk about your plans for an upcoming Screenless Day.
2. Tell everyone what you chose to do for your Screenless Day, and how it went.
3. Reflect on your relationship with technology.

This month's discussion question:

• Of all the tech you use in your life, what platform/app/device/etc do you feel has the most overall negative impact on you? Why do you think that is?

FAQ

Moving right along myself.

Links with more information for anyone undecided: LibraryThing:StoryGraph

Content Warnings based on user submissions from StoryGraph.

Plot summary of the previous work in the series (From Russia, with Love) from Wikipedia.

Lately on YouTube I’ve been getting a few really weird ads.

The first was a 5 second spot video for Fatty brand meat sticks. They say “vegans look away” as they spin on the screen.

I’m plant-based: I don’t eat animal products 99.9% of the time. And well before I was like this I wouldn’t have eaten their product because meat sticks were just simply gross. But literally every time I see an advertisement for a food product I see something that looks more like actual meat on the screen so when I see the ad in question, it is basically the single most flaccid insult I have ever seen.

I wouldn’t even be bringing it up except for today I had a different ad show up from dbrand, this time as an image as I was looking through the recommended videos. It was a screenshot of a conversation between them and peta over some leather something or other.

I just think about what this kind of advertising is supposed to do. It’s supposed to position the product in a persons mind. It says to them “buy this to stick it to those leftist vegan cucks” while still being soft enough that a leftist vegan cuck might not be bothered by it and might still consider buying it.

But I think there is a different message we should take from these ads: these companies are run by assholes. The fact that leather and meat require animals to die is a morbid fact that our society has accepted, and rubbing that into the faces of those who disagree with it is not a good look; it just reveals them as the children that they are.

While my dietary restrictions may have prevented me from buying anything from Fatty, the only thing stopping me from buying from dbrand is their own idiotic marketing. Why on earth did they think that they think that their trolling would be effective advertising outside of the trolling website?

Good or bad, I'm interested

I got into fasting back in like 2019 maybe a bit earlier I forget, I was watching some some crazy dumb shit like snake diet, but it seemed to work for weight loss, but I never changed my eating so when I stopped fasting I gained all the weight back, in 2020 or 2021 I tried carnivore diet, but I went into psychosis (I have mental health issues) and I thought god wanted me to eat with my family so I started eating what they eat (which is mostly SAD junk) and I gained all my weight back

In maybe 2024 or 2025 I forget, I started watching a bunch of self help stuff, and one of the creators I watched on YouTube was Dr k (healthygamerGG) and with that I started meditating and trying to prioritize "sativik" foods, so for breakfast I would eat something like oatmeal with turmeric and cumin and vegetables, and I lost some weight on that diet, but I fell out of that routine and returned to SAD junk and gained all the weight back and then some

Last April I hit 300 pounds, the most I ever weighed, and it was a wakeup call, what really told me it was a problem might seem silly but its because my bicycle has a 300 pound weight limit lol

I decided to try carnivore again, but this time I slowly transitioned into it, because in 2021 when I tried it, I went from SAD one day to Carnivore the next and god dman I had diarrhea for 30 days lol, so this time I simply started by buying 2 cases of sardines and adding in a can every day at lunch, slowly removing other foods and adding in meat and eggs, I was probably fully carnivore by may 1st

For the first 30 days, probably all of may, I ate eggs in the morning, can fish at lunch and a pound of meat at dinner, until I got a KetoMojo (glucometer) around the 30 day mark, I was expecting super low glucose and super high ketones since I was eating carnivore for 30 days at this point, but its not what I seen, my fasting glucose was (ever so slightly) high and my ketones were constantly between 0.8 and 0.9 (at least they were rock steady I guess)

But as I was seeing these measurements for a few days I had also stumbled upon the medibolic mind YouTube channel and people using ketogenic diets for mental health issues, so I figured let's try a medical keto diet

medical keto diets are actually kinda hard to find any info on, but as far as I can tell they seem to be really simple, you can boil them down to a ratio, like 2:1 or 3:1, so I chose 2:1, so for every 1 part protein + carb I eat, I would eat 2 parts fat

So for example if I ate 70g protein and 15g carbs, i would need to eat 170g fat, which is kinda harder then it sounds, I feel sorry for epileptics who need to eat 3:1 or 4:1 every single day and never fucking up to control seizures, you basically need to chug 35% cream to hit those numbers

So added in fat bombs I'd make with nut butter and tallow to increase my fatI play around with what I add but I may do something like melt tallow in a pot, whisk in some stevia and and cacao to taste (basically a chocolate bar but tallow In stead of cacao butter) pour into a foil lined dish, drop in a few whole nuts for crunch and sprinkle some salt, and then freeze, eat straight from the freezer and top with some but butter

I also lowered my protein, I would try to aim for between 70 and 80 grams a day, and I loosened up and ate some vegetables, technically fruit, stuff like tomato and cucumber and olives and peppers, (I love a horiatiki)

From the beginning of April till about the end of august I dropped from 300 pounds to 255, this probably wasn't diet all alone, because I went from completely sedentary, I would almost never leave my room, to walking the dog for hours a day, and lifting weight once or twice a week, being in heavy ketosis just increased my NEAT (non exercise activity) like I would find myself just jumping up from.the couch for no reason, and I started to roll with it and do stuff

In September I started eating the wild fruit that grew around town, crab apples, wild sour grapes, chokecherries, hawthorn fruit, nanyberries I basically take a picture of every plant I find and my phone tells me what it is (plant.net) and then I google uses for the plant, I also tried many teas, mint, lemon balm, wild bergmot, catnip (all those are mint family), goldenrod, rosehips

But since I started eating the stuff I find on the ground my weight stalled, I went from 255 in august to 257 as of right now, I also had some other effect, my scalp got itchy again, my armpits got more smelly, more aches and pains I notice, I feel more exhausted from my walks, some of this like the scalp and smell may be candida or something idk, others might be inflammation or negative effects from constantly switching between normal metabolism and ketosis

Oh and the heart burn, before I started (pre-april) I had VERY BAD heartburn, like it would keep me up in the night, I would.sleep with a bottle of water/baking soda solution beside my bed so when the heartburn woke me up I could drink it, this was going on for like a year maybe, the main driver was sugar, when I ate a sweet it would.act up, but I couldn't stop eating sweets, but when I started carnivore it got dramatically better fast, fat would still trigger it a bit, but sugar was like a 8/10 pain and fat was 2/10 pain, but after some time the fat even stopped hurting, and now I never have heart burn anymore, even if I eat the fruit like I have been, which would have preciously been horrible pain

Oh and some other things, i try not to drink coffee often, I have gone months without coffee at all, but the last 3 weeks I have had some more then I'd like, I need to start tapering it again, and ditto for tea, even when I had no coffee at all I'd have tea once or twice a week so I wasnt completely no caffeine

If you like rap music check out Inpatients album Asylum, its Ren and Chris Webby, Ren is one of my favourites, Chris Webby has made some controversial statements but as a Millennial that grew up in the before times I'm not about canceling people

What's your keto story?

Hi!

I just watched the TV show Widow's Bay (highly recommended). One episode explored the classic trolley problem and got my mind rolling over its fascinating nuances. I see this problem was already discussed on tildes, but hope a 2026 revisit is worthwhile.

The episode promoted not pulling the lever. It argued that we can't stop all the horrible things that happen in the world. But we can control our own moral status:

"The runaway trolley is life. The lever is me... if I pull that lever it's a choice and I'm choosing to kill that person. I could never do that."

and this lovely message:

"The world is violent and mercurial. It will have its way with you…We live in a perpetually burning building, and what we must save from it all the time is love."

As sweet as that is, I find that interpretation lacking. To me, the physical act of pulling the lever isn't the core moral signal. Not pulling it isn't a get-out-of-responsibility-free card. There's still a violent outcome. That outcome happened because you made the choice to allow it. While you're not responsible for the scenario, you're still responsible for the outcome because it was entirely on you what the result would be.

I think my interpretation matches the "utilitarian" argument, which also hints at "the ends justify the means." I'm not, more generally, willing to get behind "the ends justify the means". But there is important nuance here. Sometimes we must cause harm for greater good and inaction in hard circumstances is its own moral trap. So I'm not sure what I think.

Also enjoyed exploring the variants at https://neal.fun/absurd-trolley-problems/. How would you handle them?

Another show ended this last week. Any one else also watched this one?

Overall a bit hit-and-miss for me. The art is beautiful, but the direction I felt frequently has odd moments that affected the pacing.

If there's a theme to the story I guess it'd be something along the line of don't be too obsessive in pursuing your dream (Yousuke with trying to bring Seiroku back, or the wine lady having to remind Inako that focusing on her dream of making her mom's sake is great but don't forget about the people the creation was meant for).

However, a lot of characters' actions were poorly motivated, making the story felt disjointed. While watching I kept thinking why Kihachi and Yousuke couldn't just work together instead of keep trying to steal the book from each other, it's not like they were competitors. Kihachi was said to be distrustful so maybe it was because he was suspicious of the guy, but then he kept giving out information or showing Yousuke his invention, as if enticing him to steal the book. Another example is Inako's dream to make her mom's sake and be a master brewer, which felt like should have been focused on more early on during the show, making her a foil to Kihachi's approach in chasing his dream perhaps. Instead the show seemed to put more focus on her being too trusting for most of the show, only when the electric book was randomly revealed to also contain her mom's sake recipe that this aspect of her character was brought back.

On a higher note, the OP and ED musics were the highlights for me. Quirky and sparkly which suits the story very well.

Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Baku City Circuit
September 24-26, 2026

Next race:
Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia
Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia
October 2-4, 2026

I've been playing Aniimo for a bit. The gameplay is fun, but some of the artwork looks blatantly AI generated to me. I've seen images with double headed animals and wheat that seems to disappear. Maybe those are placeholders, but the dialogue, some creature and NPC designs, and even the voiceacting set off my spidey sense too.

The developers claim they don't use generative AI for creating the characters, world and story, but haven't been clear about where they do and don't use it specifically as far as I know. Is it as obvious to anyone else as it is to me? Has anyone found clearer evidence either way?

I may keep playing because it's fun, but I won't spend a single bit of my money on it. The fact that it feels like a Genshin rip-off makes the whole thing kind of funny, too.

I have not been a serious runner in years and never a good one. I picked up running again, having wanted to for a while. My friend randomly wanted to start a running music playlist together and the fun of choosing hyped-up songs led me to run 10-15-20-32k in the span of just a few months. I do not think I have ever run more than 7mi in my life. Now I look around at the sprawling city around me, satisfied that I can pick any point I see and run there.

If anyone else is into this would enjoy reading your stories or thoughts. I am especially interested in tips for greatly increasing distance without hurting myself. I had to simmer down a lot after doing 32k...

I was wondering if anyone else has considered using a PKM like Obsidian (markdown editor with linking) for the unit and lesson planning.

Specifically, I am intrigued by the ability to link curriculum documents, resources I have collected, within my lessons. And being able to see a graph view of how everything links together really tickles my brain, while still maintaining my structured folder hierarchy (a nice mix of classical file management, non-linear organization through tagging, and chronological view based on creation date or modification date). I also enjoy the TaskNotes plugin Kanban view, and it's one file per task approach (letting me put a lot of detail into the task, or linking the task to another file). Obsidian also offers an education discount for publish / sync, but I think I am going to stick with my DAV sync to my homelab/media-centre, and maybe publish some lesson plans on a free site host using a generator like quartz.

Here is two published examples, one being more so lesson plans meant for teachers while the other is a component shared for students within a class. Both of these examples are American, so not 100% applicable to what I would do, but still really interesting to peak at.
English - Curriculum & planning approach - Obsidian Publish
Linear Algerbra - Course companion approach - Quartz

I was just wondering what other educators have tried (even if it is something completely different!), what has worked for you in terms of understanding, as well as what works for you sharing stuff with colleagues or student teachers (university candidates partaking in their practicum).

Addendum: I also have a paperless-ngx document server hosted, but this personally is more so for storing personal documents related to my banking, health, instructional manuals etc. All of the paperwork that is just so easy to lose, and is also part of my physical archival setup with ASN (archival serial number) QR stickers that I put on physical documents - I suck at physical organization so just numbering them and using tags and search on paperless just works for me.

I also have zotero for research still, which integrates nicely with obsidian (I used to use logseq but when they shifted to a database format they removed the in-build integration.

lastly, I do keep a physical planner, physical writing can help me with my day-to-day life; but for longer form stuff I do really need it digitally. I guess it is perhaps a little disjointed to be using a kanban board in my obsidian vault as well as a physical planner, but there is a certain work and personal separation that it allows for. Similar to my journaling in a physical notebook, there is an ephemeral nature to it that actually works very well for me vs something like my lesson planning which is recurring.

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.

Since we had a number of threads on Library resources, I figured we should have a place to consolidate them. If you find something of note, add it to the thread!

This will probably be rather US centric, but if something works in your neck of the woods, let us know.

I know we have a few VR veterans around the site, and given that the Steam Frame has finally materialized, we likely have some people who are soon to be new to VR.

This is a topic for people to ask any questions they have about VR, as well as for people who are familiar to share recommendations, tips, tricks, and any other thoughts they have.

Tildes is a very serious site, where we discuss very serious matters like loneliness, firmware and game mechanics. Tags culled from the highest voted topics from the last seven days, if anyone was inquisitive.

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!

This month's discussion is the last thing on the schedule. Are people interested in continuing? If so, two things will need to be decided: a new schedule, and a new host; a rotating series of hosts, like in the CGA threads, is likely the most sustainable long term move IMO.

I wanted to put out a more complete guide than what's currently available for people who may want to do this in the future; welcome to my blog.

Love the mouse, but the battery wasn't lasting more than 3 days.

Here's a pic of the original battery (602030 300mAh 3.7V):
https://drive.proton.me/urls/TT7GVDNG5C#BKMx0MHmSwvg

I bought a replacement battery from AliExpress:
902030 550mAh 3.7V JST 1.5mm 3pin

Here's a pic of the final result:
https://drive.proton.me/urls/BEMDHJH668#I2ZixElmwv7E

There's plenty of height clearance, but no wiggle room with length and width.

The most important tidbit is the polarity of the wires; I had to swap red(+) and black(-).

On the original battery (all black wires) you can see the P- and P+ indicators on the original battery circuit board. In summary, the "bottom" of the connector (on the mouse) expects a positive (red wire), middle is the sensor (yellow wire), top is negative (black wire).

The battery arrived with the red and black wires the other way around. I used the smallest flathead screwdriver to, very slightly, prop the plastic "prong" (where you see the three plastic 'prongs', not the flat side) of the red/black wire and gently pull them out. Take note of the wire's positioning (the metal bit). The top has a very tiny metal bump that "clips" against the plastic prong you lifted. Putting the wire back into the housing should be "like a glove"; no forcing.

Everything is working without issues so far. The Pulsar software is reporting the battery level, but can't be sure if it's accurate. I also haven't had a chance to measure how long the new and improved battery lasts.

Another tidbit, I tore the "ribbon" when taking the mouse apart.
https://drive.proton.me/urls/DE33WP907M#Xc4A2qfEoMat

The cable connects the side buttons. I found a replacement (no thanks to Pulsar support who told me to either pound sand because they wouldn't even hint on tech specs of the cable or pay to ship to Korea and wait months for it to get sorted which it wouldn't because me disassembling the mouse isn't covered under warranty [fair enough]).

The exact title of the cable I ordered is: "uxcell FFC Flexible Flat Cable 10 Pins 0.5 mm Pitch B Type 80mm". The most important specifications are:

• 10 Pins
• .5 mm pitch
• B Type
• 80mm (perfect length, but can go a little shorter if you must)

(please read as "colorados tildohs, how-dooose it suit you?")

Things like

• Do you feel concerned about living there long term?
• Does the water situation bother you?
• Did you move there as an adult, or were you raised there? How does it compare to other places, in your view?

I have a bit of a fascination with it and have considered moving, but it's a big change from where I currently live.

A bit late to the party. How did you feel about the show?

The retro 90s artstyle is definitely the highlight for me. Really gave me fluffy feeling of watching anime when I was (more) little.

Though that look was not a straight copy but got updated with some slight modern touches,

Something I'm also curious about is the red/blue color scheme for the mermaids. There must be some significance to who was chosen as red or blue but I couldn't quite tease it out yet.

Someone said Sayonara Lara sounds better than Goodbye Lara so that's what I go with for the title :)

A few months ago someone posted an article on the male loneliness epidemic. I had shared my thoughts in the comments on that post. But I think that article and a lot of comments are under the impression that "redpill" content/ideology is still in vogue or relevant in today's world. It still has its followers and influencers for sure, but it's not at the forefront of cultural discussions anymore. To think otherwise is outdated, the redpill era died around 2022/2023 and was replaced by a more incel-derived "blackpill" era.

Thanks to TikTok, what was once relegated to niche internet forums became mainstream. The biggest influencer from this internet phenomenon is Clavicular, who is currently getting articles written about him in press outlets such as The Hollywood Reporter and People.

I am no stranger to talking about looks (side note: I would have taken more time to write that out and discuss broader topics, such as "types," if I had known it would have gotten as much attention as it did). And I have been around looksmaxxxing spaces on the internet since about 2022. I'll try to make this as brief and simple as I can.

What is the blackpill?

The blackpill is a deterministic outlook on life. It states that your genetics determines the quality of your life, and if you were not born with advantageous bone structure and height, then "it was over before it even started." You won't be successful in life, you won't find love, and you will end up a lonely, pathetic person wishing you'd been born looking better.

How does this differ from the redpill?

The redpill has some overlap with the blackpill. Both believe that men are the true victims of society. That feminism has been detrimental, this and that, and the other. The redpill, however, insinuates that you can self-improve. There's almost zero focus on improving looks, and it's almost entirely focused on making money and increasing your status.

A core belief of the redpill is that all women are gold diggers, and in order to get laid, you need to make a ton of money. The blackpill does not entirely dispute this, but it does say that if a woman chooses you for money, she will never actually love you. And that you are paying a lot of money for affection and attention that an attractive man gets for free.

I think that explanation in and of itself should show you the difference between the two.

What's looksmaxxxing? Are looksmaxxxing and the blackpill interchangeable terms?

They are not.

Looksmaxxxing is what guys do to look better, to increase their rankings on the looks scale. So that they can start getting laid (primarily) or start to "mog" (i.e., outshine everyone in a room).

In certain blackpill spaces looksmaxxxing is seen as cope, since, again, your life was determined by genetics and there's nothing you can do to fix this.

You might think looksmaxxxing consists of losing body fat, getting a skin care routine, dressing nicely, hygiene, and cologne. And that is part of it, all of that stuff is considered "softmaxxxing" but there's also "hardmaxxxing" as in surgeries and other more serious treatments such as steroids and peptides (which technically occupy a grey area between soft and hard maxxxing). An example of a popular surgery is double jaw surgery, here's the subreddit for it so you can see examples. If your jaw was not properly developed and you have a recessed chin (or a pushed-in chin), then a double jaw surgery is something you can do that would greatly increase your attractiveness. Although it does carry quite a bit of risk. There are other surgeries that people do on their eyes, their noses, ear pinning, there's a lot.

It is essentially a belief that your best investment is going to be in how you look. It's a bit of a running joke that instead of going to college, you should invest in plastic surgery, and that will do more to make your life better than a degree.

How do they view women? How do they view themselves?

The belief is that women are hypergamous. That they will only want to date up, and it's significantly easier for women to date and get laid, even if they are below average looking. And that even an above average looking man will have trouble since they aren't the holy grail of attractiveness.

Here's a brief explanation of their rating system.

• Sub-5

5 is considered average; sub-5 means below average. Not even that you don't get attention but that you get negative attention from the people around you.

• Low-Tier Normie / Low-Tier Becky
• Mid-Tier Normie / Mid-Tier Becky
• High-Tier Normie / High-Tier Becky

The "normie" categories are all average categories. Ranging from on the low side of average (LTN) to above average (HTN). The High Tier categories are where a lot of attractive actors sit, think romcom leads, the boy/girl next door types.

• Chad/Stacy

Essentially unobtainable beauty. Taylor Hill or Henry Cavill.

Depending on who you're talking to, someone would say that "life starts at HTN" or that life doesn't exist unless you're "Chad." And that if you're anything below that, you might as well not even exist.

How did it get popular?

The first instance most people probably heard of it was likely in 2014 when Elliot Rodger committed a mass shooting at a University. He was a member of a looksmaxxxing forum (the original looksmaxxxing forum, I believe), which led to the site being shut down and thus delaying any chance of its popularity. If you go back and watch and read what Elliot Rodger believed, it makes more sense in today's context now that this thought process has been more normalized.

In 2023, TikTok started promoting this content. Primarily from "edits" here's an example and coinciding with that were also the rise of a few influencers. All leading up to Clavicular, and how dominant he is on social media (thanks in part to funding from Peter Thiel). He was a kid posting on looksmaxxxing forums, was a micro celebrity in the niche, became a slightly bigger internet celebrity on TikTok before streamers started bringing him on leading to his insane fame.

Conclusion

Going back to the initial tildes post that I linked to. That whole thing was essentially saying, if you're just a good person, then someone will want to date you or fall in love with you or want to have sex with you or whatever. And I think part of the reason why looksmaxxxing stuff has taken off is that it feels more honest. It's not coddling you, and if you do improve your looks, you're going to see better results in dating than if you read feminist literature or something. So the takeaway ends up being that one of these places was telling me the truth.

Like, on a broader scale, it's a response to the body positivity stuff from the 2010s. When everyone was being told that it's okay if you're obese, it's healthy, it's beautiful. And there was just kind of a sense of performance to all of it.
The effort to change what people are attracted to, or to shame people for not being attracted to a certain thing. Has it gone too far? Probably, but I think that's why it took off initially and why it grew so quickly.

I obviously have my own personal experience about this, and so I very obviously know that it's not just what's inside that counts. Normal everyday people will make assumptions about you based on the way that you look. And I don't think it's a morally wrong thing to acknowledge that it happens, nor do I think it's a morally righteous thing to pretend like it doesn't.

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.

What do you guys think about the anime?

I thought it was excellent. The art is impeccable and the historical matters were handled with great care. Studio Saru is on fire lately.

Tildes is a very serious site, where we discuss very serious matters like macklemore, steam frame and rockstar games. Tags culled from the highest voted topics from the last seven days, if anyone was suspicious.

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!

Let me know mods if I’m posting too much, if so I’m sorry!

Damn good read, devoured it over the course of two days in Quebec City last week and I’m just digesting it now.

Holy crow what a disambiguation of the word “mutiny” (apologies if I wrote that wrong).

I think David Grann manages to display the humanity in the central figures with clarity. Perhaps it’s due to some inference or poetic license in order to move the story along, but he make a good book and that cpt cheap was a dandy.

TW: AI discussion.

Recently, things have been getting rather crazy with AI to the point that I think many are being forced to reckon with its potential. It has been demonstrated that this technology is capable of solving things like millennium math problems, which has drawn response from many fields medalists. There have been very public instances of big tech losing control of their experiments. Many top researchers are expressing discomfort. Now, of course you could dismiss this all as marketing but I personally think that would be a bit of wishful thinking.

I would like to have an open discussion about the current moment in time. Therefore, I ask you, people of tildes, where do you think we are and where do we go from here? Please feel free to pull out your crystal ball and speculate wildly. Or, please feel free to call it all bunk. I just want to hear your opinion.

• Do you feel concerned about AI or are you still unconvinced?
• Do you think AI will take your job? Why or why not?
• Are you considering a career change or any other big life decisions because of the changing world?
• How are you advising your children, regarding schooling and careers?
• Do you have a subscription to an AI service? If you have one, how do you feel about it?
• Do you think that this technology will be a net positive or a net negative?
• How do you think the human race will change, if at all?
• Do you think we will see a serious incident driven by AI in the near future?
• Does it bother you that humans may not be the dominant intelligence at some point? Do you think this is even possible?
• Does any of this affect your sense of identity or individuality? How do you feel about your skill set and hobbies?
• What do you think it means to be human in a machine dominated world?
• Overall, are you feeling optimistic or pessimistic?

For me personally, I have shared my opinion many times before. It is a rather pessimistic one.

I recognize that this is a heated topic, and I would like to request that even if you disagree with someone, that we treat each other with respect and kindness. Thanks.

Spanish Grand Prix
Madring
September 11-13, 2026

Next race:
Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Baku City Circuit
September 24-26, 2026

I've only watched the 1995 movie before, so it was a pleasant surprise this closer adaptation turned out to be straight crime drama with dense political intrigues and social commentary. The world feels more detailed and not just backdrop for philosophical musing, and so the questions being raised are more multi-faceted.

A particular highlight for me is the child-trafficking /ghost dubbing subplot. Not only does it further blur the lines between artificial and organic intelligence, but does so in a way that put more emphasis on the ethical dimension and not leaving it abstract.

Another example is her court statement questioning whether her shooting the kid or whoever brainwashed him in the first place should be more responsible for his death. The philosophical question is whether the death of a person should be marked when their mind or their body ceased to function, but the context of this being a defense for police unlawful killing gave me second thoughts.

Major's more lively characterization here also makes for an interesting contrast especially regarding her final act. In the 1995 version, she was morose since the beginning and just generally passive overall, so I interpreted her merging with the Puppet Master as due to being coerced, or her not very attached to living to begin with and so this is akin to a suicide on her part.

However, this version of Major is sexually active and enjoys indulging in life many pleasures. Crucially, merging (which was heavily implied to be analogous to digital procreation) was her choice, which makes that final decision more as embracing the call to adventure and choosing to enjoy new experiences, hence more life affirming.

Most of the political conspiracies went over my head though so if anyone can help explaining that side of the plot to me that would be great.

The first day of BlizzCon is happening. A lot of trailers popping and news spreading.

What are your thoughts? Ideas? Will you be playing their upcoming new titles?

• Starcraft (New Shooter coming 2030)
• Diablo 4 Expansion + Diablo 5 Teaser (2029)
• Overwatch new Hero
• Heroes of the Storm new Hero
• Hearthstone new Expansion pack (The Black Empire)
• World of Warcraft Midnight Eclipse Update Patch
• World of Warcraft Forever (Classic +)

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.

Just wanted to start another general cycling discussion thread, this time about longer rides.

I did my first metric century (100km) ride last Saturday, as part of an organized event here in the Bay Area. The ride took us through Marin county, which is the region just north of the Golden Gate bridge for those unfamiliar, and it was absolutely beautiful the whole way. The ride itself was wonderfully organized and supported: there were rest stops / feed stations every 20 miles or so, stocked with really great food, water, and sport drink mixes. There were also medics riding the course and support vehicles to help with mechanical issues, or to give you a lift back to the start if you had to tap out.

It was my first time doing a longer ride like this. I only signed up for it about 6 weeks ago and I am so glad that I did. Training for this really forced me to learn about cycling longer distances, from planning routes, to essential items to bring with, to proper nutrition, and beyond. I went from doing 10-20 mile rides a couple of times a week to doing this 62ish mile ride (with 4000ft of elevation) in 6 weeks, which I am super happy about!

Now that I can ride these distances, it's totally changed the options that feel open to me and I've been having a blast exploring my area. I'm no longer intimidated by routes with decent climbs or long distances, which has really opened up a lot.

Anyway, I absolutely loved it, and if anyone has been thinking about doing something similar take this as your sign to 100% do it!