I'm only a beginner down the rabbithole known as mech-keebs, but I thought I'd source some thoughts here. Apologies if this has been expanded on in other ~hobbies threads.

Those of you who have been in the mech game longer, what switches have you tried? What do you find are your personal preferences on switches and why do you think that is? Have you ventured away from the very popular Cherry MX switches?

What about keycaps? What are your favourite profiles or colourway designs? Preferred material? I am currently rocking a DSA set of keycaps from one of my favourite designers, MiTo: https://mitormk.com/legacy-dsa/ I got the blue/black Tron-inspired set. I gotta admit, I was a little skeptical of ABS caps, but they're really nicely textured in a way that's reminiscent of PBT, but without that powdery grippiness.

Tell me about some of your favourite layouts too! I hear some pretty aggressive proponents of tenkeyless layouts, but I just really like my numpad for lots of numeric input. If it were just a gaming keyboard, I probably would be pretty happy with TKL though.

Are you working on any new projects right now?

Looking forward to all the responses!

One of my biggest hobbies is collecting flashlights. I guess I don't really "collect" them as much buy ones I want and sell ones I stop using.

Is anyone here also a flashlight aficionado, or would like to be?

Happy Friday everyone! I thought that a solid discussion could be spawned out of us talking about weekly health goals and how we've achieved them, so I invite y'all to tell us all about them. Have you recently hit a new personal record in weight-lifting? Run your first mile in ten years? Or have you just been maintaining a good, consistent routine?

Hello to all!

Since I first read a Saramago novel (All the Names), I've grown to love Portuguese literature. Later I read Gonçalo Tavares and Pessoa, and I have some names to discover from their classics (illustrious ones like Gil Vicente or Eça de Queiroz), but because I don't know Portuguese yet, I have to make do with translations, which impedes me from following the current, less famous authors. So, I wonder if you could tell me about some of these ones. Which are your favourites, which ones would you suggest? Does not matter if translated or not, I can read in a couple other languages and will learn Portuguese soon too. Thanks in advance!

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 dicuss anything about each others' listening habits.

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

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

Just wanted to start talking about anime in general see what people like, share some of our favourite titles and such. I propose we link to MAL or AniList since Tildes doesn't necessarily have a bot that would do that automatically. I'll start!

• Shaman King was probably one of the first anime I watched alongside Pokemon back before I knew what anime was. It's a very nostalgic show for me and the english opening still gives me shivers.
• Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is something I've gotten to appreciate much more since I watched it later down the line when rediscovering anime for myself and starting to really get into it. It's one of the highest rated shows on MAL and it definitely deserves every bit of praise it gets.
• Spirited Away and The Wind Rises. If we are talking movies, these two would probably be my picks. The former brings forward very nostalgic memories and the latter I happened to see in the theaters and I loved every second of it. I feel like most of Miyazaki's works are going to end up on a lot of people's favourites lists.

I'd love to discuss each one deeper if people are into it but I want everyone to feel free and share as much as they'd like, including personal stories and anecdotes.

edit: Amazed to see so many people sharing their favourite shows in detail, and also glad that there are so many people on tildes who share one of my favourite pastimes. :)

Most spaces flying the flag of science are often unfortunately exclusive in their focus on STEM sciences. In order to combat such a monopoly and until such time as Tildes opens up groups for the social sciences and humanities, I'd like to open this place up to discussion around some of the disciplines which have always personally interested me more than, say, astronomy or biology. Is anyone else here interested in sociology, archaeology, anthropology, linguistics..? Has anyone pursued work in those fields? Any interesting perspectives to offer or news of recent breakthroughs in any of those areas? All discussion is welcome.

As for myself, I'm particularly interested in sociocultural anthropology and archaeology--in the latter case, specifically as relates to the Neolithic and Bronze Age Near East. I'll soon be pursuing a degree in anthropology with an archaeological orientation at the University of Buenos Aires and hope to be working in the field soon after the end of my studies. I'm also incidentally interested in sociology, philosophy, and literature studies, but don't have any plans at the moment to pursue academic study thereof. Any questions? Feel free to ask.

As the title says, I am looking for your go-to recipes for when you are not in the mood to cook. They should be fast and simple to make and be preferably not too expensive.

Let me start this: Tortelloni with tarragon-cream-sauce (3-6€/2servings, depending on the tortelloni)
*500g Tortelloni, 250ml (sweet) cream, 2 tomatos, tarragon/salt/pepper;

1. Water with salt in one pot, cream with tarragon and 4 short splashes of water in another;
2. Cut the tomatos into pieces and add the to the cream when it boils slightly
3. When the tomatos are added, stir the cream (it should get slightly red from the tomato juice
4. add salt and pepper
5. at this point the water should be boiling, add the Tortelloni
   5.1 I usually buy the Tortelloni from the fridge, they only need to be boiled for 2 min, adjust the timing when you heat up the cream according to needed time to boil the pasta
6. When everything is finished put everything together and enjoy

Hello Tilderinos!

Do any of you crochet or would like to learn to?

I've been crocheting for about two years. It's a fun pastime that gets you addicted to yarn (you can never have enough). I learned primarily through a book and lots of YouTube videos. It took a while to learn the lingo, but now that I have a hang for it I've started to delve into pattern making for stuffed toys. That alone is an entirely different beast!

The new expansion for World of Warcraft is supposed to drop in about a month. Thought I'd see if any of you Tilderoos play WoW and what you think of it. I have been playing on and off since I was a kid and I've been having tons of fun with the introduction of the Mythic+ system in Legion. I'd love to hear about people's WoW stories and experiences with the game!

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 dicuss anything about each others' listening habits.

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

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

I've personally read The Silmarillion 3 times and have found comfort and connection with the book and its stories. Sure, the names are still intimidating and the geography confusing sometimes but all that is part of the enjoyment for me.

If there aren't many 3D printer hobbyists here, still feel free to comment if your interested. It's a great hobby open to all price ranges and skill levels. If you can't afford a printer, many libraries and schools have printers open to public use.

What are your projects? What do you like to print? Materials? Printer? Etc.

I've been getting into 3D printing more seriously. I have worked with cad software for many years but only printed on occasion, never personal stuff. I bought the Prusa Mk3 kit at the end of last year and patiently waited for its mid-spring arrival. It's a fantastic printer worth every bit of waiting. I print in PLA for fun stuff & online models and PETG for functional & outdoor models.

My most recent print was a window fan mount for my car for car camping. I designed it to create some airflow to keep the car from getting stuffy while keeping bugs and water out. It's very low power, so no issue there.

I am currently printing the pangolin awareness toy from thingiverse in white PLA for fun.

What do you like to do with 3D printing? or what do you think of it?

Anyone play an instrument as a hobby?

I'm currently learning how to play the violin I started about 2 weeks ago and really like it so far!

I noticed my G string's fine tuner was not quite working so I removed tension off the string to fix the screw--when I re-added tension I ended up breaking my string. This gave me an excuse to buy some nice starter strings! I can't wait to start playing on them I'm still waiting a few hrs to let them "settle in" on their own.

These have been fairly popular and I really like hearing from the community, so here's this week's thread.

I've been playing Golf Story for the Switch (got it on recent sale). I've found it relaxing and amusing, a good combo for evening wind-down. I'm not sure if I mastered the mechanics yet, putting is surprisingly hard when you can't see the slope in 3D. Story is fun, and the variety in courses is refreshing, highly recommended.

Just purchased Football Manager 2018. I'm not actually a football fan or anything, I just really like the RPG-like nature of assembling a good team and seeing my amateur tactics play out on the field. Games can be surprisingly tense and exciting. I wish I had a deeper understanding of the game, but it's fun enough regardless.

Since it doesn't look like @basicbaconbitch is around (or they just intended it to be a one-time thing), I guess I'll post this!

What have you been reading? What do you think of it? No need to do a big review if you don't feel like it, but I think we'd all love to hear your thoughts! Recs or discussion of each others' reading habits is encouraged!

--

Quick question: Do we want regular threads like these? Personally I think ~books is lacking a place to just drop in and talk about something that isn't news or a specific discussion topic, but maybe I'm alone on that.

This isn't a preper specific question, but a general preparedness thread. How prepared for general emergencies are you: apartment fires, blackouts, car emergencies, get-out-of-dodge situations, EDC, etc.

I'm interested in hearing how my fellow tildoes think and prepare :)

I've been a big fan of down-tempo electronica ever since I discovered Zero 7's Simple Things in an FYE about thirteen years ago. I can pretty much listen to anything (music is fun!), but I've always found myself coming back to down-tempo and the like.

Lately, I've been digging through various Youtube music compilations, like Homework Radio and ChilledCow, and it's so good. I still like to find new artists (the local college radio is great for this), but I still find myself coming home from work and throwing on a compilation like the one's mentioned above.

So, I was wondering if any of my fellow Tilderinos liked this sort of music too, and in the spirit of creating discussion, I figured I'd ask! Ya dig?

:)

I'm wondering what all the different ways people read here are! Do you always buy a new hardcover, or do you get everything from your library on your e-reader? Feel free to share both format and when/where/what you like to read.

Just finished watching Westworld S02 Finale, and while it creates more questions than it answers I found the whole experience exhilarating. It's been an amazing ride all the way from S01E01 and to the post-credits scene in the finale. I'm glad they left room for another season (or 2, or more who knows) because an AI story shouldn't end when all the fun is just beginning.

There are a ton of things and references to explore and I'd love to hear what all of you have to say while waiting for that Alt+Shift+X video to drop to clear everything up.

Any of my fellow Tilderinos into geocaching? I've been aware of the hobby for a while, but I just recently decided to delve into it with my friends. Even though I'm in a rural area in the South, I'm still able to see tons of these things on the map! It's a fun way to venture outside and explore nature. The cache I found Saturday was well worth the mosquito bites, that's for sure!

I'd have to go with The Long Walk, personally. It's quite haunting, the way they had every choice to sign up, but chose to anyway. The way they never quite get used to seeing their fellow walkers get shot. I love the ambiguous fascist state: what exactly happened to America in the Long Walk? There is an oblique reference to fighting Nazis in the 50s for instance, but the time period is never quite mentioned.

All in all, it's remarkable, but terribly sad. It reminded me of boys going off to war, and the truth behind all ambition.

Not the release date (last intel: not in 2018, that's all we know), but the content. What's going to happen? Who's going to die? Here are my brief guesses for some of the main characters:

Jon: Inhabits Ghost for a while after his human body's death (like Varamyr in the ADWD prologue), then gets resurrected by Melisandre. GRRM has said he always found it cheap that Gandalf returned hardly the worse for wear in LOTR, so I'm interested to see how Jon's different. In the show he seems slightly more carpe-diem, but it also seems like the show has mostly forgotten about it.

Stannis: Takes Winterfell (look up the Night Lamp theory if you're not familiar with it) from the Freys and Boltons, and holds onto it against an eventual siege by the Others.

Bran: The show has probably disproven this, but I still think he becomes a prisoner of the Others next to his uncle Benjen, because the Others can't kill a Stark for some reason.

Sansa: I think Harry the Heir turns out to be a nightmare, but Sansa learns to deal with him and use the power of the Vale to help the Starks in their fight to retake Winterfell.

Arya: I think she comes back to Winterfell and gives the gift of mercy to her mother, after seeing what she's become.

Daenerys: I think she'll have a longer experience taking over the Dothraki than in the show, and she'll fly west across Essos, laying waste to the free cities and setting the slaves free. In Westeros it will be completely unclear to everyone whether she's mad or not.

Tyrion: I think he will continue to fall into moral decay and after becoming a close advisor to Dany will encourage her "fire and blood" side. (Especially since she's his aunt!)

Theon: Something about "what is dead may never die, but rises again harder and stronger" makes me think he's coming back as a wight.

Victarion: Blows the horn and dies from it.

Cersei: I think Jaime will kill her, and fairly early on. I think Aegon will have the role she had in the most recent seasons of the show.

Jaime: I think he survives the confrontation with Lady Stoneheart and, disillusioned with both her and Cersei, leaves high society to lead the Brotherhood Without Banners.

Brienne: Someone has to die with Lady Stoneheart, right?

Aegon: I think he successfully conquers King's Landing. He'll eventually die by foolhardiness, but probably not for a while.

What do you all think? Anyone I'm forgetting?

Do you have a favorite theory? Most hated theory? Books, show only, or both?

We're coming up on the 7th anniversary of the release of ADWD and I'm just trying to gather us all up for the inevitable sobbing next month.

Hey ~ers, I'd like to keep a weekly discussion going on this topic (every Wednesday or so?). Let me know if this isn't something you want to see in the future, I always liked these, but maybe not everyone does? Last one got a lot of interesting posts, let's see how it goes this time!

I've been playing Grim Dawn quite a bit lately. I've kickstarted it back in the day, but never got around to really playing it after the early access period. I was burned out on Diablo clones at the time: Torchlight 2, Victor Vran, Van Helsing, etc. I think the break did me good, as playing it fresh is quite enjoyable. There's a good variety of classes and builds, fun abilities, and tons of gear number crunching (playing thunder smashing shaman now). Just the way I like it! I'm hoping to snag one of the DLCs once I reach a high enough level and play with my friends on one of the unlocked hardcore difficulties.

I've been trying to get back into game dev recently and I'd love to work with someone if you're up for it. I'm also down to join existing hobbyist projects, although I have a thing I'm currently building at the moment.

• I'm based in SF; I'm willing to work remotely with someone, but would definitely prefer someone in the area.
• I'm a software developer with 6ish years of experience programming, a CS degree and just starting an out-of-college job.
• I've built some small games in the past, mostly in Unity.
• I've got a reasonable amount of UI/UX experience but I'm by no means a professional and none of it is all that game-related.
• I can do some pixel art though I'm by no means an expert.

If you make games for fun and are looking for a partner, feel free to send me a PM or just reply to this.

Similarly, I'd like to also suggest a Tildes ~LFG (looking for group) or other meeting-ish area.

For any sort of art in general. What are you excited about creating?

For me, I'm a photographer, and I've got some plans for some large format shooting during my camping trip. Because my trip lines up nicely with a nearly new moon, and I'm going to be in an area with nearly no light pollution, I want to try capturing the Milky Way on slide (color positive) film, and also doing a shot of some star trails behind a lighthouse in that area, or star trails reflecting off the lake.

For those who don't know, you can get Quake Champions for free and you'll still have it forever, you won't have to wait until the full f2p launch.

Has anyone been playing? I picked it up right after the announcement at E3 and I've been having a great time. I played Quake 3 and Live pretty casually in the past, but I think I'm actually getting into this one. I'd love to play with some of yall or just hear your thoughts!

Since the website has a username and hundreds we were presented with an opportunity to pick a really nice or cool username on a site that I believe will rival reddit.

I just picked my favourite character. I wanted to pick my first name (which I am 100% sure is not taken) but kind of decided to go towards more anonymity. I decided not to use my reddit username because no one else literally uses it so I will always have an option to make a new account with reddit username

Did you think on that too or just used your reddit username?

EDIT: I have actually changed my username from "ironman" to "metal" since i made this post. Now im like super happy and excited about my "identity" here

Mine's definitely Evan's Gambit. IF I can get a game with it I'm going to play it. Always leads to a fun, spicy game with enough tactical mess to make for a great blitz game. For any classical game though I'd probably just stick with open Italian systems but castling queenside and throwing pawns if they dare castle first.

How about you guys?

We're at roughly 7 days since the last weekly thread, so here's another! Imo we should have more regular threads like these, if anyone has ideas then drop them here! Personally I like the idea of doing "listening clubs," where we choose an album for the week, all listen to it, and have a regular discussion thread for every week. If there's any interest, I would love to run a hip hop focused one, though I could definitely do a lot of other genres if the desire was there. Anyway, drop a comment if anything like that sounds appealing to you!

Shamelessly copying my own prompt for this one:

--

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 dicuss anything about each others' listening habits.

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

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