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    1. Do you use a todo manager or something like a bullet journal? [My story of trying different planners for four months]

      [LONG POST - 4 months of trying different planners) I always wanted to use one but I never thought of analog (paper) planners and tried a lot of digital ones - link to a post. About 4 months ago I...

      [LONG POST - 4 months of trying different planners)

      I always wanted to use one but I never thought of analog (paper) planners and tried a lot of digital ones - link to a post.

      About 4 months ago I saw my friend at school using a pocket diary - similar to this image, he was writing down his tasks on it (he didn't use it again). That day I bought a good pocket diary of around 200 pages, till date I've not used more than 10 pages and its still lying around.

      I realised that I was not going to use it because it was very thick and I couldn't carry it in my pocket. I bought this pocket diary. This was thin and simple, perfect for me. I've used it the longest before switching.

      Initially I used to dump all the tasks and cross it after completion, later I introduced a date system and it was one date for one page. I wrote down tasks for the day and crossed after completion if something was incomplete I migrated it to next day. This worked well but I needed a place to dump tasks that I had to do in future so I made a future section from backside and added tasks to it. This was the final tweak and I used it for like a month. I used it for daily tasks, future tasks, some notes and contacts (I used to make contact.txt before this).

      Later IIRC I wanted to change because it was already half full and a mess because I was trying to do a lot with it. Next I mindlessly bought a notebook - something like this but with 5 sections, I didn't know what to do with it. I also don't remember why I bought it so I used it to write down stuff that I learned online and wanted to remember. It replaced my reddit save and I wrote what I wanted to remember, it is still with me and has been changed a lot (usecase).

      I made a calendar on a single page of that notebook and tracked down basic stuff on it, I started using small square sticky notes to write down tasks and that's how I left my pocket diary. Not long after I lost interest in that notebook thing and updating calendar daily was not interesting. I left that and searched a lot online. Again tried a lot of digital options but I know it will never work for me so I left it and didn't use anything for like a day before I stumbled across Strikethru.

      Strikethru is something like Bullet Journal. If you want to look at strikethru then see this video & this for Bullet Journal.

      I took that notebook and turned it into a bullet journal, I used it for ~a week before trying strikethru and then again switching to bullet journal after a week. That was testing period and I chosed bulletjournal (bujo) over strikethru. That book was also thick so not long after I made a new bujo notebook (normal 200 pages). Again it felt like a big task that I had to do daily and I lost interest, I again restarted it with a new design. In this month I switched to different notebooks/design a lot and was never satisfied. I also tried Nextcloud tasks for 3 days before again trying out bujo.

      Last year in december around a week before christmas I wanted to change it all so I went to a store and bought a new grid notebook (we used it for doing math in 1st grade). I used it for 10 days and everything broke during the last week of december, I was not at home and we went on a vacation. I took it with me but didn't update it because it was boring. It has been 5 days I was busy organising everything else again and now I've settled on what I started with (slightly better idea).

      During that time I read a lot on nosurf, pornfree, internet addiction, sleep cycles, polyphasic society, tulpas, made new friends, tried a lot of todo managers, used different journaling apps and this is what I've decided to stay with.

      I went to the store today to buy the same pocket diary that I've used the longest (1 month one). Its cheap, for 15 INR and works well for me. Over there I saw a box that said monthly planner, I took it and it had 13 small pocket diaries (similar to what I've used the longest but more thin) and with that a small case that would hold a notebook. There was one contacts pocket diary (perfect) and 12 pocket diaries one for each month. It was for this year and costed 170 INR, I didn't had money so I asked the storeman (idk what we call them, here we call them uncle) did he have cheaper option. He showed me the same piece that costed 140 INR but was for 2016, he said he would give it to me for 70 INR because he would have to throw it anyways.

      I thought that was a great deal and bought it. So now I have 12 mini diaries for each month and one contacts diary that has my big list of 10 friends contacts. After trying a lot of different options I came back to what I used for the first time. Its simple and stupid & fits in my pocket.

      It has one page for one day and I just have to cross 2016 and the day (mon, tue, etc.) thing and update it with 2019 days. In the middle it has a big two page calendar for current month, page before it has previous months small one page date list to write down events and on page after it has next months small one page date list. The last page is for notes and the cover has 2017 calender that I won't use and ignore.

      Theres little patch work todo but for that price I think I bought a good set and if I actually use this for full year then I would buy a new one next one (for 2020 & not 2017 :|)

      I've spent around 300 INR for all these (~ 4.5 USD)

      Tl;dr -> Used a lot of systems and in the end switched to what I used for the first time which is simple and fits in my pocket.

      # What do you use for managing your tasks? Do you use it daily?

      16 votes
    2. What music blogs are still worth following?

      I miss music blogs. I mostly used them for piracy in the past but plenty of them (pirate and non-pirate) have been great sources for curated lists of new good music. I'd like to add some more...

      I miss music blogs. I mostly used them for piracy in the past but plenty of them (pirate and non-pirate) have been great sources for curated lists of new good music. I'd like to add some more variety to my music discovery methods for this new year, so what blogs do you still follow / respect?

      Some previous semi-related threads that might be of interest:

      How do you discover music?

      How do you keep up with new music?

      Music Blogs & Mini Station Rant

      6 votes
    3. What are you reading these days? #10

      What are you reading currently? Fiction or non-fiction, any genre, any language! Tell us what you're reading, and talk a bit about it. Past weeks: Week #1 · Week #2 · Week #3 · Week #4 · Week #5 ·...

      What are you reading currently? Fiction or non-fiction, any genre, any language! Tell us what you're reading, and talk a bit about it.

      Past weeks: Week #1 · Week #2 · Week #3 · Week #4 · Week #5 · Week #6 · Week #7 · Week #8 · Week #9

      14 votes
    4. A good alternative to ________ is ________.

      Fill in the blanks. No parameters from me: I'm leaving the prompt open-ended because I'm curious to see where people go with it. Also, to prevent low-effort/single sentence posts in response,...

      Fill in the blanks. No parameters from me: I'm leaving the prompt open-ended because I'm curious to see where people go with it.

      Also, to prevent low-effort/single sentence posts in response, please explain why your suggestion is a suitable replacement.

      44 votes
    5. Anyone here using Flutter?

      In the rare chance you haven't heard of Flutter, here's the link: https://flutter.io Flutter just officially left beta with v1.0 December 4, last year. The code is written in Dart, and deploys on...

      In the rare chance you haven't heard of Flutter, here's the link: https://flutter.io

      Flutter just officially left beta with v1.0 December 4, last year. The code is written in Dart, and deploys on Android, and iOS (and will run natively on the rumored Fuchsia OS).

      So for those of you that have used Flutter or are currently using Flutter.

      • What are you working on?
      • Why'd you choose Flutter?
      • What do you like about Flutter?
      • And what do you dislike about Flutter?

       

      I'll start:

      I'm working on a niche art app. I myself do not do that type of art, but knowing people that do, I wanted to create a tool to fill in the lackluckster market for Chromebooks and Android.
      I chose Flutter because:

      • I wanted to try something new, and what newer than something that was (at the time) in beta?
      • Custom Views in Android are a hassle.
      • I will be able to release on both Android and iOS (semi-)natively without having to code it twice.

      Here's what I like about Flutter:

      • Layouts are really simple.
        (though you can easily let it get clustered if you don't think too much about it.)
      • Design isn't an afterthought.
        Animations are built in (and simple), themes aren't hard-coded, and Material Components get more attention here. (Still waiting for Shapes on Android)
      • It's fast by design.
        Flutter uses its own custom rendering engine (Skia). I've never experienced any stutter with the built-in components, and when I caused lag (with heavy I/O) Flutter/Dart had tools in place for me to narrow down exactly what was causing it.

      What I don't like about Flutter:

      • It has poor mouse/trackpad support.
        Right clicks, not a thing. I can workaround this with a double-click/long-click, but for a desktop OS, this isn't optimal. Scrolling, that's panning, this should be differentiated. There's a difference between using a scrollwheel and moving finger around on the screen. According to Flutter there is not. There's also currently no support for mouse hovers which I have needed very much.
        There is a pull-request for adding support for all of these, but the developer hasn't done anything since code review.
      • Keyboard support, while there, is lackluster.
        Ctrl, Shift, Alt. These have to be gotten with the meta code. There's no built-in function for checking those. Text fields don't support the tab key to navigate. And text formatting (bold, italic, etc.) isn't possible with text fields without the use of a library (or making it yourself).

      I was trying to think of a third dislike, but I can't. My complaints are on missing APIs for Chromebooks. That's it. I really like Flutter, I plan on using it more, and if they won't add support for mouse/keyboard, maybe I'll have to contribute.

      I'd love to hear what your thoughts about it is.

      12 votes
    6. What is your plan for self-growth in the new year?

      Whether you will start it on January 1st or already doing it, what is it that is going to make you a better person? For me, I decided to limit my two biggest timesinks, namely, Youtube and Reddit....

      Whether you will start it on January 1st or already doing it, what is it that is going to make you a better person?

      For me, I decided to limit my two biggest timesinks, namely, Youtube and Reddit. I started several days ago and won't wisit them at all before I pass all the exams. Before, they were often an excuse for me to spend time basically doing nothing. Time to change that. (And yet, I'm doing the dame thing right now with ~, but oh well, it doesn't have content anyway)

      28 votes
    7. What's the smallest amount of money that would change your life?

      I'm rather curious - for me, about a fiver. It's all I need to be able to smash an egg at someone - legally. It'd probably be pretty fun - probably not 'life changing', though. ~£40 is probably...

      I'm rather curious - for me, about a fiver. It's all I need to be able to smash an egg at someone - legally. It'd probably be pretty fun - probably not 'life changing', though.

      ~£40 is probably the least for something more 'life changing'. I could buy a Pi, storage, and a charger. Then I can set up a pi-hole, and never have to worry about ads. It'd also make browsing on my weak laptop that liittle bit better.

      16 votes
    8. Let's talk Soulsborne

      I spent most of 2018 exploring the Soulsborne games (Demon's Souls, Dark Souls I (no longer for sale, thanks to the Remaster), II, III, and Bloodborne) and wanted to know all of your thoughts on...

      I spent most of 2018 exploring the Soulsborne games (Demon's Souls, Dark Souls I (no longer for sale, thanks to the Remaster), II, III, and Bloodborne) and wanted to know all of your thoughts on them. Like them? Hate them? Want to try them? Favorite and least favorite?

      From Software is probably my favorite game dev studio now. I want to say I adore all of the games, but I haven't tried Demon's Souls or Dark Souls II... yet. Bloodborne is my favorite out of the collection (or what I've played of it) because of the familiar but much faster-paced gameplay, with higher risk meeting higher reward. Not to mention they didn't put Ornstein and/or his armor in it.

      10 votes
    9. What have you been listening to this week?

      What have you been listening to this week? You don't need to do a 6000 word review if you don't want to, but please write something! Feel free to give recs or discuss anything about each others'...

      What have you been listening to this week? You don't need to do a 6000 word review if you don't want to, but please write something!

      Feel free to give recs or discuss anything about each others' listening habits.

      You can make a chart if you use last.fm:

      http://www.tapmusic.net/lastfm/

      Remember that linking directly to your image will update with your future listening, make sure to reupload to somewhere like imgur if you'd like it to remain what you have at the time of posting.

      11 votes
    10. So how did you guys like Black Mirror: Bandersnatch and more importantly, do you guys think interactive TV will be the "next big thing"?

      Personally, I really enjoyed Bandersnatch as a one-off. Having the ability to choose what happens and trying to piece together the story by watching multiple endings. But honestly, the story fell...

      Personally, I really enjoyed Bandersnatch as a one-off. Having the ability to choose what happens and trying to piece together the story by watching multiple endings.

      But honestly, the story fell quite flat and it wouldn't have been a very entertaining episode had it not been for the gimmick. But what do you guys think?

      25 votes
    11. How do you deal with procrastination?

      Just how? I fail to stick to the right side of the line between productively using internet, and losing time procrastinating and impulsively browsing and/or commenting in places like Reddit, HN,...

      Just how? I fail to stick to the right side of the line between productively using internet, and losing time procrastinating and impulsively browsing and/or commenting in places like Reddit, HN, Tildes. The best I can do is to leave home to study outside, but becasue I don't work ATM, that's too costly. I sometimes even consider stopping using a computer. But I'm also a very technical, power user, so IDK if I can comfortably confine myself to use a phone (where I don't have this issue).

      What is your way of dealing with this?

      16 votes
    12. New years resolutions?

      I know this is a relatively stereotypical new years post, but I'm interested in seeing what everyone here on Tildes wants to do to improve themselves for this coming year. Personally, I want to...

      I know this is a relatively stereotypical new years post, but I'm interested in seeing what everyone here on Tildes wants to do to improve themselves for this coming year. Personally, I want to devote more time into language learning, which would include spending more time watching foreign TV, studying vocab, etc.

      21 votes
    13. What games do you have on your Steam wishlist that haven't come out yet?

      What upcoming game are you looking forward to so much that they're already on your Steam wishlist? Mine are: Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey Away: The Survival Series Children of Morta Morning...

      What upcoming game are you looking forward to so much that they're already on your Steam wishlist?

      Mine are:

      Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey
      Away: The Survival Series
      Children of Morta
      Morning Star
      Noita
      Space Haven
      What The Golf?

      13 votes
    14. What are some other sites/projects that have the same ethos as Tildes?

      Tildes' guiding principles are laid out in its announcement post: Non-profit, no investors No advertising, user-supported Open, honest, and open-source Minimal user-tracking, better privacy...

      Tildes' guiding principles are laid out in its announcement post:

      • Non-profit, no investors
      • No advertising, user-supported
      • Open, honest, and open-source
      • Minimal user-tracking, better privacy
      • High-quality content and discussions
      • Limited tolerance, especially for assholes

      I'm interested in other projects that line up with some or all of these principles. It doesn't have to be a site with the same function as Tildes, just the same feel. What else is out there that we should know about?

      28 votes
    15. Where should I move to?

      I haven't posted at all on Tildes, but I've been here! I've seen how great of a community it is, even if it isn't that popular yet, so I wanted to ask you kind people for advice on where I should...

      I haven't posted at all on Tildes, but I've been here! I've seen how great of a community it is, even if it isn't that popular yet, so I wanted to ask you kind people for advice on where I should move to. Please tell me if this is the wrong group.

      I can't decide where to move. I really want to live in a giant city like NYC because I have a degree in CS and computers are popular in big cities, plus I just enjoy them, but (as I'm sure everyone knows) it's super expensive. I also really love rain and snow. If any of you could recommend a relatively inexpensive city that rains and snows a lot, I'd greatly appreciate it. It doesn't have to be in the U.S. Thank you all so much!

      19 votes
    16. What are your favorite retro mobile games?

      Over 10 years ago the world of mobile gaming was totally different from today's. Still many (if not most) phones could run installable and built in games. Which were your favorite ones? Let's say...

      Over 10 years ago the world of mobile gaming was totally different from today's. Still many (if not most) phones could run installable and built in games. Which were your favorite ones?

      Let's say the mobile game is retro if released before 2009.

      8 votes
    17. How to make money with Wordpress

      I have just graduated from uni, and am preparing for masters next fall. I'm a humanities student, but have some programming knowledge. Currently I'm looking for literary translation jobs, but...

      I have just graduated from uni, and am preparing for masters next fall. I'm a humanities student, but have some programming knowledge. Currently I'm looking for literary translation jobs, but should I fail that, I want to find some light freelance work (so that I can spare more time to my studies), and looking at e.g. freelancer.com, Wordpress is still quite popular.

      What are some good introductory material for Wordpress and PHP, that preferably does not assume total beginner to programming? How much can I expect to make, for how much effort? I'd be content if I could make $200-250 w/ 3-5hr work per day, or a couple full days a week, that's all I really need and such hours would mean that I could keep on doing such work even when I'm writing my thesis. I'm in Turkey, FWIW.

      7 votes
    18. What SSD should I buy?

      Right now I have this SSD and apparently it's pretty outdated. I wanted to get a 500GB one that's quite a bit faster without being too expensive (so less than $100 at the least.) Any suggestions?

      10 votes
    19. What are the biggest stories of the year?

      When it comes to news, it can be hard to separate the big drops in the bucket from the small. In thinking back through all the news of the year, what stories do you think are the most important?...

      When it comes to news, it can be hard to separate the big drops in the bucket from the small. In thinking back through all the news of the year, what stories do you think are the most important? In other words, which are the stories that people will look back years from now and remember when thinking about 2018?

      9 votes
    20. What news have we missed this month?

      These are turbulent times, as I think we can all agree. Turbulence, unfortunately, has a tendency to make seemingly less important things go unnoticed by most people. Has there been anything this...

      These are turbulent times, as I think we can all agree. Turbulence, unfortunately, has a tendency to make seemingly less important things go unnoticed by most people. Has there been anything this month that you haven't seen get coverage that you think people ought to know about?

      18 votes
    21. What are some common skills that will become extinct in the next couple of decades?

      Today I got into a conversation with my coworkers about how cursive is all but dead with our students. We adults all grew up learning it and were often forced to use it even when we didn't want...

      Today I got into a conversation with my coworkers about how cursive is all but dead with our students. We adults all grew up learning it and were often forced to use it even when we didn't want to, but it has been out of vogue in American schools for a while now, so most of our students legitimately don't know how to read or write it. Opinions as to whether or not this was a bad thing were split. Some people considered the skill unnecessary and were happy to see it go the way of the dinosaur. Life moves on, they said--and the skill was inessential anyway because students could simply print instead. Some even took things a step further and argued that print was also going to become outdated with the prevalence of computers and phones. Nevertheless, others argued that cursive was important and valuable for kids to learn, particularly if they wanted to be able to sign their names or read documents written in script (e.g. old letters from family members, historical documents, etc.)

      The discussion then continued to analog clocks. Being able to read them is still technically in the curriculum standards for many states, but it's the kind of thing that often gets briefly touched on and then discarded. Because digital clocks are so prevalent now, many students never practice reading analog clocks outside of those specific lessons, and thus they never truly master it. While more of our students can read analog clocks than can write in cursive, it too seems to be headed down the path to extinction. Opinions about whether this was bad were much stronger, with nearly everyone agreeing that it's a worthwhile skill rather than something inessential.

      The conversation made me curious to hear what everyone here thinks--not just about these but about dying skills in general. What are some skills that you believe will fall out of widespread use in the coming years? Is their departure a good/bad thing?

      27 votes
    22. Is there a proxy/vpn setup that can compress data in situ?

      I've been wondering about this for a while whenever I'm on a metered connection or a capped one. It'd be cool if I could use my vps to help save data in exchange for latency. Having it download...

      I've been wondering about this for a while whenever I'm on a metered connection or a capped one.

      It'd be cool if I could use my vps to help save data in exchange for latency. Having it download and compress any compressible materials before serving them would be a godsend, but it sounds very edge case-y given how places like youtube deliver videos in bite size peices

      Does something like this sound at all possible, or should I just assume it's too niché and look for other data saving ways?

      7 votes
    23. Seeking help on a Tasker set up

      I have a Fitbit blaze. It doesn't have a proper api, you can only get the data it generates. However it does have push notifications and a music controller. My idea was to set up a playlist of...

      I have a Fitbit blaze. It doesn't have a proper api, you can only get the data it generates. However it does have push notifications and a music controller.

      My idea was to set up a playlist of empty music files to act as menu options. E.g. track one would be named "turn phone off" and so on. This works as fine as a single menu option but when using multiple option, VLC just plays through the entire playlist.

      Is there a music player that selects one track on a playlist and then stops? Or can I set this in VLC?

      11 votes
    24. What is the blogging platform of your dreams?

      Let's fantasise Tilderinoes! You can just write what comes to your mind or answer any of the questions below to get your thoughts flowing. What bothers you in the current blogging platforms, like...

      Let's fantasise Tilderinoes! You can just write what comes to your mind or answer any of the questions below to get your thoughts flowing.

      • What bothers you in the current blogging platforms, like Blogger, Tumblr, or Wordpress?

      • Is it “free” and with ads, commercial with no ads, or free and non-commercial and struggling? If it's commercial, how much does it cost?

      • Does it have comments? How are they moderated? Who can comment? Are there PMs?

      • Does it have tags? Categories? A tree structure?

      • Does it provide file storage (images, audio, video)? How much?

      • How extensible is your blog page? Can you control all of the CSS? Can you add scripting?

      • Does it allow adult content? Political content? Hateful content? Who decides?

      • Does the country of origin matter? Does it block content based on your country's laws (e.g. copyright, political stuff, etc.)?

      • What are the privacy features? Does it require an email address? A card number (if commercial)?

      12 votes
    25. Need help with Switching to linux

      Hi all, Hope ya'll doing good. I am done with windows. So I want to switch to linux. I have used it a few times. I just wanted to know, how long will it take to have it setup? Also, I am learning...

      Hi all, Hope ya'll doing good. I am done with windows. So I want to switch to linux. I have used it a few times. I just wanted to know, how long will it take to have it setup? Also, I am learning data science. Will switching to linux have any serious implications? Thanks

      29 votes
    26. Seeking help on how partitions will work when dual-booting

      I plan on dual-booting Linux soon, and I am wondering on how to handle partitions. I have 3 drives in my computer: an SSD that Windows 10 boots from, a second SSD with one partition and some...

      I plan on dual-booting Linux soon, and I am wondering on how to handle partitions. I have 3 drives in my computer: an SSD that Windows 10 boots from, a second SSD with one partition and some unallocated space intended for Linux, and an HDD.

      When I install Linux on that SSD, how can I prevent Windows from messing with the Linux partition and vice-versa? Can Linux and Windows both read and write to the HDD partitions without complaining about the other modifying them?

      4 votes
    27. Best bluetooth usb for audio?

      At the risk of sounding like an audiophile I noticed that on some bluetooth devices audio quality comes out absolutely terrible (Like radio recorded with a phone microphone). I was using a pair of...

      At the risk of sounding like an audiophile I noticed that on some bluetooth devices audio quality comes out absolutely terrible (Like radio recorded with a phone microphone). I was using a pair of Bose QC 35 headphones and on my phone they sound just fine but on my desktop which has a cheap $2 bluetooth usb the sound quality is terrible. Ok for $2 what can you expect but now I have a distrust for all bluetooth devices. How can I know if my bluetooth usb is killing the quality of audio when thats not even a listed spec on these devices. I looked in to this a little bit ago and there seem to be a few proprietary extensions to bluetooth that allow lossless streaming but they aren't well supported because they are proprietary. I understand that high quality lossy compression is pretty much the same quality as lossless but how do I find a product that uses high quality lossy compression when it seems some of them use absolutely horrible compression?

      6 votes
    28. Are any prescriptivists any good at it?

      I see a lot of prescriptivism on the Internet. But most of what I see is people who are pretty poor at it. I much prefer descriptivism, but before I write-off prescriptivism completely do you know...

      I see a lot of prescriptivism on the Internet. But most of what I see is people who are pretty poor at it. I much prefer descriptivism, but before I write-off prescriptivism completely do you know of anyone who's good at it?

      9 votes
    29. What have you been listening to this week?

      Hi, I'm covering this week at Whom's request again. What have you been listening to this week? You don't need to do a 6000 word review if you don't want to, but please write something! Feel free...

      Hi, I'm covering this week at Whom's request again.

      What have you been listening to this week? You don't need to do a 6000 word review if you don't want to, but please write something!

      Feel free to give recs or discuss anything about each others' listening habits.

      You can make a chart if you use last.fm:

      http://www.tapmusic.net/lastfm/

      Remember that linking directly to your image will update with your future listening, make sure to reupload to somewhere like imgur if you'd like it to remain what you have at the time of posting.

      13 votes
    30. Recommendations for old school style RPG games?

      I've played and enjoyed Neverwinters Nights, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, and Planescape: Torment. I was wondering if you guys could recommend some games in a similar style that I've overlooked....

      I've played and enjoyed Neverwinters Nights, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, and Planescape: Torment. I was wondering if you guys could recommend some games in a similar style that I've overlooked. Thanks!

      12 votes
    31. What are some good open source games?

      I've found a few really, honestly fantastic open source games and I'd like to share them and discover some new ones too. Firstly, NullpoMino is a fantastic cross-platform Tetris clone. It's...

      I've found a few really, honestly fantastic open source games and I'd like to share them and discover some new ones too.

      Firstly, NullpoMino is a fantastic cross-platform Tetris clone. It's highly, highly customizable and is lots of fun to play. It's got a great community over at Hard Drop, and if you like Tetris - you'll like NullpoMino. However, there are a few issues with it; one in particular being the relatively low skill ceiling of Marathon. The skill ceiling is very low (compared to other titles such as the NES edition), but this is solely exclusive to Marathon as far as I know. It turns into a test of patience rather than skill. Another issue is with installation; as the game was made for 32 bit systems it is rather slow, and it's finicky to run on Linux. However, it is a fantastic Tetris title (and open source!)

      Another good open-source game is Osu! I've never played it competitively, but it's a fair bit of fun to play with friends and is a great game. It's cross-platform, although I've only ever played it on Windows, and it has a nice community. Fantastic game that I don't see mentioned too much.

      The last game for this post is SuperTuxKart. It serves as a great kart-racing game, that's fun and has a low barrier to entry. Graphically, it's not drop-dead gorgeous, but it's not bad at all either. It's decent solo, and a lot of fun with friends. Would highly recommend. Cross-platform and available as a snap.

      21 votes
    32. What are your favourite slice of life anime/mangas?

      I mostly like action and comedy anime, but I've been trying to branch my tastes out and get into some more genres. What do you like outside of comedy and action (especially SOL, but I'm really...

      I mostly like action and comedy anime, but I've been trying to branch my tastes out and get into some more genres. What do you like outside of comedy and action (especially SOL, but I'm really looking for any good suggestions)?

      12 votes
    33. Not many people seem concerned with a probable recession, how come?

      We are due for one anyway (11 years since the last one) yet I feel like the general sentiment is that the recent market drops are simply a temporary dip despite huge economic, political and...

      We are due for one anyway (11 years since the last one) yet I feel like the general sentiment is that the recent market drops are simply a temporary dip despite huge economic, political and geopolitical risks. What am I missing? Why isn't there more coverage about this? Am I looking in the wrong places?

      21 votes
    34. What are you reading these days? #9

      Edit: #9, not #8; sorry for messing the title up. Would be glad if someone can fix it for me, I can't edit it apparently. Thanks a lot, Deimos, for fixing it up! What are you reading currently?...

      Edit: #9, not #8; sorry for messing the title up. Would be glad if someone can fix it for me, I can't edit it apparently. Thanks a lot, Deimos, for fixing it up!

      What are you reading currently? Fiction or non-fiction, any genre, any language! Tell us what you're reading, and talk a bit about it.

      Past weeks: Week #1 · Week #2 · Week #3 · Week #4 · Week #5 · Week #6 · Week #7 · Week #8

      12 votes
    35. What's your favourite Christmas movie?

      Yep. It's that time of year. We buy presents, go to parties, listen to carols... and watch old Christmas movies! What's your favourite movie? Is it an old classic drama? A big glitzy spectacle? A...

      Yep. It's that time of year. We buy presents, go to parties, listen to carols... and watch old Christmas movies!

      What's your favourite movie? Is it an old classic drama? A big glitzy spectacle? A soppy tear-jerker? A goofy comedy? Which Christmas movie is the one you watch over and over again, year after year?

      13 votes
    36. Cheapest way to put a hard drive on the internet.

      I'm currently researching the cheapest off site backup system and it looks like leaving a hdd at a friends house is the best option. The only thing I am stuck on is how to access it remotely. I...

      I'm currently researching the cheapest off site backup system and it looks like leaving a hdd at a friends house is the best option. The only thing I am stuck on is how to access it remotely. I need a system on a chip that I can plug in to the hdd and Ethernet and that provides ssh access. My first thought was a raspberry pi with a sata to usb cable but since I will only be doing weekly backups it makes no sense to keep the drive spinning 24/7. I need some way to turn off the drive and then back on over the internet. From what I understand there are linux programs that can do it but only directly over sata because the command doesn't work on usb sata controllers.

      What I need is a cheap linux SoC that has sata and ethernet. Does anyone have any ideas?

      13 votes
    37. How do I hack makefiles?

      If you have built from source, then you know the relief when nothing interesting comes out of ./configure && make && make install. In fact, the less interesting the output of these commands, the...

      If you have built from source, then you know the relief when nothing interesting comes out of ./configure && make && make install. In fact, the less interesting the output of these commands, the better.

      But occasionally, the source build process is so horrifying that you end up having to modify the configure script or makefile yourself.

      So far I have only been able to do this when I was lucky enough to find some poor, destitute stranger who had pretty much the same problem as me ( most recent I can think of is GNUTLS, where I had to adjust the version requirements for nettle ) and that is a problem -- there must be some way to learn this myself.

      Is this just something that comes with time and experience, or does anyone have a reliable guide or resource for modifying makefiles and configure scripts? I would appreciate advice / discussion: I am tired of "getting lucky" with these!

      15 votes
    38. Anyone have original music they'd like to share?

      Tried this a few months ago, wanted to see if anyone was interested in sharing. Just curious if anyone has been working on any music projects they'd want to share? Maybe even local / independent...

      Tried this a few months ago, wanted to see if anyone was interested in sharing.

      Just curious if anyone has been working on any music projects they'd want to share? Maybe even local / independent artists you feel strongly about? Post them links!

      15 votes
    39. Where would you and a companion go with 4,000 dollars of airline credit?

      My wife and I are flying home from our first vacation in a while. We got bumped to a later flight and the airline has compensated us each with $2,000 dollar travel vouchers. Where would you go...

      My wife and I are flying home from our first vacation in a while. We got bumped to a later flight and the airline has compensated us each with $2,000 dollar travel vouchers. Where would you go given this opportunity?

      6 votes
    40. What song(s) so you consider to be your personal LGBT anthem(s)?

      They don't have to be anthems in the strict sense of the word. Any type or genre is fair game. I'm interested in hearing about any songs that helped you connect with or express your identity. It...

      They don't have to be anthems in the strict sense of the word. Any type or genre is fair game.

      I'm interested in hearing about any songs that helped you connect with or express your identity. It can be something overtly intended to represent LGBT individuals or narratives, or it can simply be something with an abstract theme that resonates with your experiences.

      10 votes
    41. What model of mouse would you recommend for huge hands?

      I am replacing my mouse, and I have giant hands. Pretty much every mouse I've ever used has been too small for me, so I would like to finally buy something that fits. I don't need anything fancy...

      I am replacing my mouse, and I have giant hands. Pretty much every mouse I've ever used has been too small for me, so I would like to finally buy something that fits.

      I don't need anything fancy beyond two buttons and a scroll-wheel. It doesn't have to have extra buttons or switchable DPI or anything like that (though I'm not opposed to those either). It'll be used on Linux, and will be my everyday driver. Wired and ergonomic are preferred but not mandatory.

      Anyone have any good recommendations?

      13 votes
    42. What is THAT level for you?

      So you're thinking about starting up a game, remembering all the fun times and great experiences you've had with it, and then you realize that if you want to play that game, you have to go through...

      So you're thinking about starting up a game, remembering all the fun times and great experiences you've had with it, and then you realize that if you want to play that game, you have to go through there again. A place so annoying, so difficult, or so boring that it saps your will to play it preemptively, or makes you drop it partway through. For me, I have this issue with the Dark Souls series. Tomb of the Giants for DS1 (Seriously, fuck the whole needing a lantern thing and fuck gravity), Lost Bastille for DS2 (I still struggle with the Ruin Sentinel 3v1), and Undead Settlement for DS3 (Seriosuly, fuck those bee shooting witches. And the swamp afterwards is a spit in the face after). Anyone else have their grievances with their games?

      15 votes
    43. What are some of the most interesting glitches in video games?

      I've found a fair few glitches that I find really interesting, and I'd be pretty interested in seeing some more pixel vomit too. For the ones I'll be listing, they are in old games but are very...

      I've found a fair few glitches that I find really interesting, and I'd be pretty interested in seeing some more pixel vomit too. For the ones I'll be listing, they are in old games but are very interesting.

      Everyone's seen the MissingNo. glitch, but a far less famous (although in my opinion, more interesting) glitch is the Super Glitch. If you've got an emulator, I'd recommend doing a save state and messing around with it - it's results vary a lot.

      A glitch available in quite a few games is arbitrary code execution. It's pretty interesting in general, as people can do loads of things, from loading up homebrew to replacing maps. Most of the time it is rather difficult or time consuming to do, but it's still fascinating to see.

      This one technically isn't a glitch at all, but teleporting in SRS-based Tetris games is pretty cool. An actual glitch in Tetris (NES version) is pentrises don't clear all lines, which can make pretty interesting stuff happen.

      EDIT: I nearly forgot about The Big Skip in Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga. I recommend watching a speedrun from AGDQ, it only goes over it very briefly in the tasvideos page.

      13 votes
    44. Looking for advice on mother's deteriorating mental health

      Hey, I dunno if this is an appropriate place for this, and feel free to take it down if it's too direct/off-topic or what have you. I can't post this on reddit because my mom browses reddit and it...

      Hey, I dunno if this is an appropriate place for this, and feel free to take it down if it's too direct/off-topic or what have you. I can't post this on reddit because my mom browses reddit and it would be painfully obvious.

      So, as some of you may know, Backpage was a website like craigslist that got shut down completely due to complaints/reports of trafficking. In that shutdown, many people lost their jobs, my mother being one of them. My mom received a severance pay, and had to find work. Within that same timeframe, she also broke things off with a man whom she had been dating prior for reasons I still don't know. After having to sell her house, she tried to make it on her own, but then inevitably had to come and live with me and my Dad (Whom she had divorced about 10 years prior)). At some point a year or so ago, she had a nasty fall and hit her head, concussing her. Lately, she seems to be coming unhinged.

      Her behavior started with her continually retroactively accusing my father of cheating on her ~15 years ago on several occasions based off of information she swears happened but cannot corroborate. She has, in recent memory, been known to make false claims and, when presented with proof refuting her claims, to discard said proof and continue to push her claims instead. She has tried to get me to "remember" incidents over 10 years ago where she ran across "women who were his type". On top of that, she has accused my father of going into businesses she has applied for and telling them not to hire her. My dad wants nothing more than for her to get back up on her feet and get going. I have no idea why she would believe this.

      We had another incident where my little sister went downstairs to get something to eat, and used the microwave to prepare it. My mother interjected and told Ali that she shouldn't be using the microwave because she's afraid of the radiation it gives off. My little sister politely told her that that was bullshit and that she isn't worried. My mother then grew angry, told her something along the lines of "Fine, I'm not going to care if you die then", took her phone, and sent her upstairs (We all shave our rooms upstairs and she has her space downstairs, where the guest room is). This isn't the first time she's posited a completely ridiculous and baseless claim/conspiracy/concern, however I hadn't tried to refute it before.

      I texted my Aunt and debriefed her, and she said that she was aware of my mother's mental health declining, and she wanted to help, but I guess she said something my mom didn't like, because my mom has since blocked her on her phone, severing the only means of communication between them (She's 2 states away). My mom seems to keep doing this to people; saying and believing untrue/ridiculous things and becoming increasingly angry and hateful when she is refuted or called out on it. She has severed ties with her Aunt, the sister of my deceased grandmother, who tried to tell her she was wrong after accusing my grandmother of various things she didn't do. She doesn't have any family left that she hasn't pissed off.

      The only person left in my house who she isn't angry at is me, but I am supremely bad at handling these things and would much rather retreat into my room and not come out until it's all over. My girlfriend living with me is trying to provide support as well. This morning, my mother asked me to drop her off at a homeless shelter. She has a bed, food, clothes, a shower and restroom, and WiFi here, but she feels so much that my father is the root of all of her problems that she wants to leave at any cost.

      I don't know what to do now that my mother is slowly and surely losing her goddamn mind and is driving out everyone who loves her when they don't reaffirm her insane delusions and accusations. It hurts to see my father struggling to do something, because he can't just kick out the mother of his children; he still loves the woman he married. We can't tell her she needs to seek help, because that is interpreted as an insult and calling her crazy. I've tried, again and again, to tell her that we are all here to help her and we want the best for her but she seems to discard every good thing I say and pick out the worst, even if I didn't intend any kind of negativity. She's getting to the point where she's beginning to lose her temper with me and I'm afraid that that will be the final nail in the coffin. My father tried calling some place (I believe they specialized in mentally unwell people) and asking for advice, but when he asked them to call my mother and they agreed, my mother got angry at them and accused them of "collecting evidence" for my father. It's out of their hands if she isn't harming herself or others.

      I don't really know what I expect from posting this. Maybe commiseration, maybe sympathy, or advice, but I'm going fucking insane and do not have any prior experience to help me cope with/fix this and I would really appreciate if anybody does and they're willing to share

      21 votes
    45. What have you been watching/reading this week? (Anime/Manga)

      Feel free to talk about something you saw that was cool, something that was bad, ask for recommendations, or anything else you can think of. If you want to, feel free to find the thing you're...

      Feel free to talk about something you saw that was cool, something that was bad, ask for recommendations, or anything else you can think of.

      If you want to, feel free to find the thing you're talking about and link to its Anilist, MAL, or any other anime/manga database you use!

      10 votes