My sleep mask is falling apart. I'm in the market for a new one. I could just get any 15 euro mask but it seems like it's a category of products that is riddled with cheap crap and overpriced gadgetry.

I don't mind a high budget mask if it's legitimately good quality and will last a long time. I'm also open to try the "smart masks" that can play music or white noise or whatever but again, it has to be good quality.

Caveat: I'm in europe, and a lot of US brands aren't available here. But if it's really good I can import it.

I'm running out of time to finish the spend requirements on a credit card promotion. I was planning on buying a VR headset, but I realized there was something that would actually be much more useful; a new router.

The market for consumer routers has been really strange; We are on the sixth generation, yet it's super common for consumer routers to be two or three generations behind, especially the less expensive ones. So much of the stuff on the market only goes up to 802.11n, and half of the time the firmware they include is halfway broken or is missing important features.

So I'm looking for a router that is relatively future-proof. I want Wifi 6. I want something that won't be interrupted by the microwave. Open source firmware would be excellent, but not a requirement. I don't need mesh networking; my house is not that big. I do want it to be relatively inexpensive; I'd consider $300 to be a hard limit unless someone has a persuasive arguement to justify the cost.

I would also prefer to avoid Netgear. I have no idea how they stay in business with the mountains of problems I have had with their products and their horrible support. The last time I owned a Netgear product, I was forced to give them my email address to download the driver and they illegally added it to their marketing mailing list without my permission. I don't do business with people who betray me.

Got it last summer and been having and absolute blast with it, got a macro tube and a bigger 55-300 lens to play with. But time and time again I keep running into annoying little limitations.

This model doesn't have a shutter release input thing, so remote shutter is locked behind a falling apart android app>bluetooth connection. There's a tonne of small little things like this that I wish I looked into before making the purchase

Essentially - right now I'm thinking that I want to upgrade the actual dslr before investing any more into lenses, but I'm a bit too out of touch to know what the good models to go for 2nd hand or whatever.

Are there any tildoes out there that have some experience with older but capable bodies?

While I've been teaching myself my first programming language (Python), I've been getting more into using the terminal as much as possible to build familiarity and get comfortable. This has opened my eyes to so many useful utilities and makes me curious as to what there is out there that I haven't heard of yet.

My favorites so far:

exa - A modern version of "ls"

youtube-dl - Download videos from youtube.com or other video platforms with various options

hledger - Plain text double-entry accounting software based on ledger written in Haskell

thefuck - App that corrects a spelling mistake in the previous command by typing "fuck"

spicetify-cli - Customizes the Spotify client with themes and extensions

spotifyd - Lightweight Spotify daemon

spotify-tui - Control Spotify in the terminal

neofetch - Launch tool that can display ASCII art or pictures and general system information

I'm on macOS but I'm almost certain all of these are cross-platform.

What are your favorite or "must-have" CLI packages?

Hi all -- I have had a Moto G5+ for the last two years, and have been largely happy with it. However, it's recently developed some serious issues w/ charging -- it tends to not ever get past ~45%, and the battery indicator seems to be ... disconnected from how long the phone actually lasts. I have attempted cleaning out the charging port (there was a lot of caked-in dust), changing the charging cable and port, to no avail. It works ok-ish for the moment, but I have largely been limiting it to emergency usage and I suspect it's on it's way out.

So, I find myself in the market for a new phone. In the past I have typically gone with whatever the cheapest reasonable Android phone has been (hence, the G5+ which I really do like quite a bit besides the poor camera). I am not a heavy phone user, and I really don't care about having the latest and greatest, my priorities are:

• long battery life (my Moto G5 lasts two days fully charged)
• cheap (say 200-300$, the SE on this thread is probably the upper bound of what I'd want to spend)
• reasonably performant
• preferably reasonable privacy protections (probably a pipe-dream)

The Moto G series have checked all boxes (apart from privacy) in the past, but I am considering whether I can take this opportunity to rid myself of another Google device in my life. I was thinking potentially going for a refurbished iPhone, but I really have no idea what to be looking for there. I haven't used an Apple device since my iPod (iTunes on Windows PTSD is real, and I don't even want to think about Linux support), and I am more than a bit hesitant to tie myself into their ecosystem, but it's hard to deny their superiority from a privacy standpoint.

I had also considered a Librem 5 at one point, and would be willing to spend a bit more for something so privacy oriented. But the 6-month order window, and other things I read about Purisms' roll-out have left me a bit wary there.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

I listen to music throughout each day but one of the most challenging things for me is finding good music to unwind and fall asleep to. What do you listen to before bed or while trying to fall asleep?

These are currently on my sleep rotation:

Sigur Ros - ( )
Explosions in the Sky - The Earth is not a Cold Dead Place
River Boat Sleep - Guided Meditation

I've tried listening to a lot of piano and classical but I get so invested in what they are playing that I can't fall asleep.

Grandma is understimulated in assisted living, and while Mom is looking into ways to either bunk with her, or drag her back to our place, I'm exploring other options. Her apartment does have wireless internet, so we could set up some sort of telepresence or video calling device, but even something as simple as a Relay or a KC2 isn't great, because it loses power, and needs to be explained to her.

I'm thinking that we might have better luck with a Tablet or a PC solution, and I do have a Kindle Fire (5th Gen?) and an off brand Windows 10 tablet around, and I am open to a Pi Project or speciality devices, but it has to be simple enough to plug and play, and the dream would be if it could start a video chat without the receiver having to pick up, or at least as simple as a nurse being able to come in and start a call. Any suggestions?

I'd like to ask for recommendations for FLOSS (Free/Libre, Open-Source Software) games, playable on Linux or Android. I saw an old thread on this topic, but it's over a year old, so I thought it'd be okay to ask this year. Genre-wise, I'm pretty open. RPG, adventure, FPS, RTS, TBS, 4x, puzzle, sidescroller, platformer, single-player, multi-player, online, offline... whatever. I would prefer not needing to have original (commercial) game assets.

Fine print: I do like a good FPS, but, having played commercial titles on PS3 and PS4, I've found that the FLOSS FPSes I've tried just don't hold a candle to them. Also, I prefer having a short TTK (think: hardcore mode, R6S, BFV), and every FLOSS FPS I've tried has had a long TTK.

I've already played:

Linux:

• Wesnoth
• 0 A.D.
• roguelikes (currently have an active character in Angband)
• Ur Quan Masters
• Minetest
• bzflag (long ago)

Android:

• SuperTuxKart
• Pixel Dungeon
• Andor's Trail
• Mindustry
• Pixel Wheels
• Vector Pinball
• Minetest
• Wesnoth
• HyperRogue

What I haven't played, but might check out:

• FreeOrion
• Endless Sky
• Glest, MegaGlest
• Warzone 2100
• Zero-K
• KeeperRL
• OpenRCT2
• Oolite

I've been using Textra for years, but there's some new protocol whose name I don't remember that Textra isn't compatible with. This results in some messages (primarily from other LG phones to my LG phone) going only to the LG Messaging app and not Textra, which is annoying. Any recommendations?

I just finished binging The Habitat, the awesome podcast about NASA's simulated mission to Mars. And I'm feeling the urge to read something along those lines: fiction or true stories and indulge my fascination with space (and things coming from it) and how that relates to contemporary imagination.

Any suggestions?

My OG Pixel died last night and while I'm waiting for tech support to get back with me on how I can still use MFA to do my job, I figured I would ask you all how I should proceed with getting a new device. My first impulse is to get a Referb Pixel 2 on Amazon for $99, as I liked my original Pixel, I like having the latest Android version and I like only paying $99 for an older flagship phone. Additionally, I was considering a Pixel 3a as it would presumably last a bit longer and has had good reviews but is three times as much and hasn't devalued nearly as much when used, which is good and bad.

I'm open to anything that's relatively stock Android and still updated, and am curious about iOS, Kaios or other options. Landlines are a hard pass.

For the past few years I haven't had any speakers connected to my PC due to a lack of space in my room and on my desk. For the most part I have been using a pair of headphones which are great, but they aren't the most comfortable thing when I just want to watch YouTube on my second monitor and keep my ears available for my significant other.

So now I am looking for alternatives to desktop speakers. Right now I am either thinking of:

• Bone Conduction Headphones

• Bose Soundwear

I think the bone conduction headphones would give me a ton of options to use while I am biking and sitting at my desk. The Bose on the other hand have excellent sound quality. A small, discrete speaker bar may also fit my needs if there are any good ones that can be recommended. Any thoughts? Have I missed an audio product that may fit my needs that you could recommend?

I just started playing AER: Memories of Old which allows your character to transform into a bird and fly around a sky world of islands. I was struck by how good the flight feels in-game. The sense of speed, control, and freedom was immediately satisfying. I've spent most of the game not actually doing what I'm supposed to but just enjoying the ability to swoop, dive, and get from one point to another in a novel way.

It made me curious: what other games are out there in which just the act of moving your player avatar around is engaging, interesting, or fulfilling?

My in-laws are wanting to do a distance game night soon where we meet up and play some party games together while on video chat from our separate locations. I think it's a wonderful idea, but I'm also not sure what games we can play? Anyone have any ideas for some good, casual fun (think stuff like Pictionary/Charades) to be had via video chat, and how we can best set things up? Are there any good tools/websites that will help us out?

Also feel free to make suggestions that aren't necessarily applicable to my situation but still work for the question as a whole (e.g. a D&D campaign). I want this to be a resource for everyone, not just me.

Understandably, my interest has piqued on this topic cluster (as I'm sure it has for many others), and I should have more time than usual to read in the coming weeks. I also am spending far too long jumping around aimlessly to assorted news articles and would like to tame that nervous energy into a more focused approach on longer writings.

While I'm interested in non-fiction primarily, I'm also open to fiction suggestions. Also, anything that lands in the ballpark of what we're dealing right now with the novel coronavirus fits (though it certainly doesn't have to be specific to coronavirus, nor COVID-19).

I'm using OBS Studio to create some video tutorials. Nothing complicated, just me talking and demonstrating the steps on my screen.

I essentially just need to slice up these recordings into clips, delete portions of the recordings where I mess up or there are long pauses, and export it all as one video.

I've used Premier in the past but I no longer have it. While I am pretty capable of learning how to use software, I would prefer something that doesn't have a huge learning curve.

I need something that runs on either Windows or Linux and is free. Not "free trial" free, but actually free. Open source would be a plus but not a requirement.

Feel free to recommend your favorite free video editor even if it doesn't meet all of my requirements, as maybe it will help someone else in the future.

With the need for social distancing and self-isolation and #Stay(ing)TheFuckHome becoming near global realities, it is looking like many of us, and nearly everyone we know, will be spending large amounts of time staying in. I like this guide (thanks again, @aphoenix!), which ends with "Treat quarantine as an opportunity to do some of those things you never usually have time for."

Certainly we all have things in our life like that, but I also think it would be neat to try to brainstorm a list of things people can do for new experiences -- things they might not think to do or know are available to them. Everybody knows we can catch up on Netflix and our unread pile of books, but what else is out there? What can I do when I need a change of pace? What novel things can people do from home/online that don't require them to go out for resources/supplies?

Technically two people are a team, right? :P

If it was only me I would use Org Mode, but that's not the case.

Our projects are all artistic in nature, mostly screenplay collaborations, film criticism, YouTube, podcasts, etc ^[1]. It's easy to get overly excited about this kind of stuff, but we need to follow up too. And we don't have an external demand that would incentivize us to put in the effort.

Even though we're only two people, we both have trouble sustaining long term goals, organizing schedules and information. My partner is a brilliant writer, but for him concentrating is even more of an issue than it is for me. He needs something visual. This tool must also work very well on mobile since he currently does not own a computer. It also must be graphical and easy to learn for someone that only knows Windows and MacOS.

To be more specific, I'm looking for something that allows me to track what we have done, what we're doing now and what we're going to do next. A calendar and some kind of notification system would be nice, but, as I say in the title, it must be free (I'm Brazil and our currency is worth nothing, so even the cheap is expensive for us...).

Google gives me dozens of results, reviews, etc, but it's hard to assess how good each tool is without experimenting it. And I would like to avoid learning an entire platform just to conclude it is subpar (I know this is largely unavoidable, but we can do better with a little help from our friends!).

Any suggestions? :D

^[1] Even though our projects are artistic, their execution involves many things that are not artistic at all, such as understanding, budgets, legislation, registering our works with the copywriting authority, participating in public contests, networking, etc. There are lots of menial tasks that are easy to forget.

I'm curious if anyone has any good resources for learning music composition. My situation is that I've studied music for years, including being a music student for my first 2 years of college. I got out of music for a while, and am getting back into it now. I'm interested in learning more about music composition, but have been unable to come up with good resources on the internet. I know a lot of music theory (though have probably forgotten a lot, too), and have done some basic counterpoint exercises in the past. I can string together some nice chord progressions, and sometimes even a decent melody, but developing a musical idea into a full-blown song or other piece of music is more difficult for me lately. So I'm looking for something along those lines.

If it makes any difference, I tend to like instrumental music with American pop sensibilities. I play piano, cello, and tenor ukulele.

If this would be better under the "music" group, feel free to move it there. I was unsure as the music group seems to be oriented towards listening rather than creating.

The trick is to find something interesting enough to make chores less boring, but not interesting enough to distract you to the point of making you stop what you're doing.

I used to play Friends on repeat, but that grew old when I quite literally memorized every single episode.

And my usual interests are way too interesting for me! (I wonder why hahaha).

Does anyone have the same habit? What are your current preferences? (TV shows, podcasts, docuseries, whatever suits your boat...)

A while back I developed a desktop-based text editor (Scrivenvar) that uses the Chain-of-Responsibility design pattern to help me author fairly involved text documents. The editor's high-level architecture resembles the following diagram:

https://i.imgur.com/8IMpAkN.png

Am I reinventing the wheel here? Are there any modern, cross-platform, liberal open-source (LGPL, MIT, Apache 2), text editor frameworks (such as xi or Visual Studio Code), that would enable (re)development of such a tool?

Scrivenvar is written in Java, but to my chagrin, Java 9+ no longer bundles JavaFX. The text editor was based on MarkdownWriterFX, itself based on JavaFX. This means there's no easy upgrade path, so I'm looking to rebuild the editor either as a cross-platform desktop application or as a web application.

I just finished the first and (for now) only season of Dr. Stone. I loved it. It's definitely a shounen, but interesting characters and the whole science plot makes it a good watch for adults.

I like the idea of learning interesting stuff through anime.

I like shounen with a twist — the typical juvenile stuff usually bores me to no end (the last one I gave up was My Hero Academia). And seinen is usually too serious and dry for my taste. I guess I'm hard to please!

I also like:

• Death Note (pretty smart with a great premise)
• Overlord (now I know VR fantasy is a whole sub-genre, but at the time it was new and awesome for me)
• Code Geass (a tad too political for my taste, but a great main character)
• Fullmetal Alchemist (the first one)
• Mob Psycho 100 - one of my recent favorites
• One Punch Man
• Netflix's Castlevania (not actually anime but whatever — great anime-like cartoon)

I dislike:

• Fillers and useless scenes (like on Attack on Titan)
• Pure Drama / Pure Romance

I miss buttons on devices. They are durable, reliable, repairable and nice to press. I can find their position without looking, and they work more consistently in different apps.

I probably don't need something with a physical QWERTY keyboard, since screen real state might be an issue. And it would have to be an actually viable smartphone, not something from a bygone era (I don't care about camera). But I want (a lot!) more buttons, preferably configurable, with support for custom keybindings, macros, etc.

What are some good options?

I'm trying to clean up my internet presence and move away from at least Facebook and Google. I've come a long way with deleting my Facebook and it's now basically an empty shell for messaging. I've installed Signal and will start the grooming process with my friends and family now. If you have some solid arguments for the change regular ol' folks can understand please share them with me because as we all know "privacy" just isn't enough.

Next phase is the big one...Google or basically G-mail.

1. Is there any way to get an complete overview of where you've used your e-mail for a service online?

2. What e-mail would you recommend?
2a. I'm OK with paying a bit for overall quality, security and equally important UX!
2b. I don't use any other relevant Google products like Drive etc. It's just regular e-mail and sign in credentials for other services I basically need

3. I use a Mac, iPhone and iCloud. Is iCloud a problem? IF this needs to change it HAS to be an "easy" switch and not like setting up a server for myself. Because it won't happen and I'm not skilled enough.

I would very much appreciate your input :)

EDIT: Thank you all for your thorough comments!

People like me are why I believe the slippery slope is a fact, not a fallacy...

I'm asking this in the context of a school project mainly because of 2 things:

1: 2 of the questions of the project are about main and secondary characters and their physical and psychological characteristics, so the book is gonna require those unless I'm misinterpreting those questions.

2: The project is for March 12th so something like 1984 with 300+ pages is probably too long. (Although there are probably many technicalities to blur this, like how much text there is in a page and the actual amount of pages I can read in a given time and how much time can I dedicate to reading the damn book.)

In the simplest terms, I suppose what I'm looking for is just a "quote of the day" generator. Albeit, one that I can put my own quotes into.

I have what I jokingly refer to as an "operating manual". Essentially it's just a constantly-updated evernote that contains rules for how I want to live (eg. "No drinking alone"), reminders about myself (eg. "You always feel better after exercising"), and my philosophy about aspects of life (eg. "In the news media, misery and controversy sell better than joy and harmony").

I'd like to be able to receive bits of this "wisdom" throughout my day, ideally by way of some sort of notification on my phone. Does any such app/service exist? Bonus points for one that is open source and cross-platform!

Hacker news and lobsters pop up in these threads as answers pretty quickly but I find them to be too tech focused, not subdivided into communities, which reinforces these few focuses and make finding large amounts of related content hard. Also the lack of delineation between responses makes the discussion difficult to follow. (At least to me.)

So basically I'm looking for sites that:

• Have some sort of subdivision of their content

• Aren't very focused on any one thing

• Have some sort of thread subdivision

• Value good discussion

So does anyone have any sites?

My wife and I enjoy playing mystery walking simulators together and have been looking for more-- Steam's recommendation engine is pretty terrible in finding others or lesser-known titles, so I thought I'd ask around for what others play! They don't have to be full-on walking simulators, just games where dying is rare/not a big component of the experience (looking at you, Visage!), and the rest of the game is all about solving a mystery/thriller of some sort. Preferably first-person games with realistic-enough graphics.

Ones we've played so far and have loved are:

• Dead Secret
• Gone Home (loose fit)
• The Painscreek Killings (really loved this one)
• The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

Ones I've got in my queue:

• Anna
• Bohemian Killing
• Dead Secret 2
• Return of Obra Dinn

I've also played What Remains of Edith Finch, Dear Esther, Firewatch, and some others-- but those didn't really have a big enough mystery component to them (to be clear I liked them, they just didn’t have a dark/thriller vibe to em).

Any other suggestions?

I've realized over the past few hours that I've spent an absurd amount of money relative to my income over the last few days, and I think that starting to budget would probably be a very good thing for me. Does anyone know of any good tools for keeping and managing a personal budget?

Reading the excellent "Cave in the Snow", a biography of Tenzin Palmo, I learned of her love for Mozart and it got me thinking. For whatever reason my classical knowledge is limited, mostly leaning towards more experimental contemporary composers (Cage, Pärt, Reich etc) and so I know very little about what you might call the classical heavyweights (Mozart, Chopin, Bach). With that said, where is best to start with Mozart?

Looking to pick up a domain name for a personal site and was wondering if anyone could recommend a good registrar. The whole domain name industry always feels more than a bit shady, so I'm wary of most of the providers.

With Pepperplate.com moving their service to an overpriced subscription (queue the exodus), I've been moving some key recipes over to Paprika¹, I figured it'd be a good time to ask for some decent recipes.

Tuck your recipe and method in a <details> with a good <summary> so the thread is easy to browse.

I'll get us started!

¹Paprika is an overpriced recipe organizer -- paprikaapp.com -- it's okay, but also kind of lame.

I've recently realised I read a lot of American literature. I'd like to broaden my horizons so I'm wondering for fun if anyone out there can suggest an international (i.e non-US) counterpart for any of the following or just general non-US recommendations?

• Denis Johnson
• David Foster Wallace
• Flannery O'Conner
• Carson McCullers

Planes may soon be a thing of the past, for now they're still sometimes hard to replace.

I used to rely on Hipmunk for finding flights, but sadly, they recently shut down. So I was wondering, what do people on tildes use to find flights? Any tool/website you're happy with?

Some months ago, I found Weekly Weird News, a roundup of strange news from around the internet. I recently depleted their backstock, and find myself wanting. Now, I know there's no shortage of weird, odd, bizarre, and strange in our world. Just as I know there's no shortage of people willing to talk about it. But, I'm having difficulty finding "current" weirdness. Oh sure, there's podcasts to be found talking about the weirdness surrounding this murder in 1952, or that rural happening in 1991, but so far, I haven't found another that scratches that "that seriously happened recently?" itch.

Does anyone have any suggestions, or am I doomed to dripfeed?

Spouse and I were on a weekend drive-and-walkaround today, and discussing ways to save money on house renovations. We've kept running into things like, "yeah, two arthritic 50-somethings are really going to DIY sheetrocking a ceiling...nope."

I'm guessing nearly all Tilders have gone through times when they didn't have much, if any, disposable income, or had to squeeze budgets to save for big expenses.

So what do you enjoy doing for entertainment that costs little or nothing beyond what you'd ordinarily spend for basic living expenses?

I know we used to do things like gathering people for potluck, cheap jug wine, and chatter, but we're still building a circle of friends and acquaintances, and don't have space for entertaining yet! Walks in the woods, reading, volunteering, and watching movies, are pretty much givens, but happy to hear your thoughts.

Hey there people!

Seeing how last post I could find on the topic was posted almost one year ago and how my question is a bit more specific, I thought a new one could be worthwhile.

Admittedly, I am not an assiduous podcast listener - what I'm mostly looking for is a show to 'scratch the itch' every once in a while which features good chemistry between its hosts, exploring whatever topic with humorous tones; bonus points if said topic is interesting.

To exemplify, some of the best podcasts I can think of on the spot are How did This Get Made (I can particularly recommend the episode dedicated to Mr. Nanny), or How to Fuck Up an Airport.

The first one is a serie that analyze extremely poor or obscure movies, while the second one unveils the debacle surrounding the 20 year old (and still aging) Berlin Brandenburg Airport project; I know this last one might sounds boring, but it's a baffling and hilarious journey - surely and by far my favorite Podcast.

TL;DR
So yeah, what are your most entertaining, hilarious, and generally fun podcasts?

This year I wanted to make a point to support and follow more indie game developers. I thought I'd post this topic to spread some love. Let's share indie game projects and developers that we are currently following to help them get some more exposure. Here are a few from my end:

Pizza Tower:

https://pizzatowerguy.itch.io/

The demo feels so good to play. Controls are really tight and art/animation is really charming albeit eye-straining on higher resolution.

Guinea Pig Parkour:

https://twitter.com/GPigParkour
This game is not as far along as Pizza Tower, but the game-play footage looks superb. Seems like a taxing process considering the level of polish being demonstrated. Looking through GPigParkour's twitter, apparently this is something that they have been working on since 2016.

Headcannon (Stealth):

http://www.headcannon.com/vertebreaker.html

You probably know Headcannon as the development team behind Sonic Mania. Despite the amazing job they did on Sonic Mania they don't receive much of anything for their hard work. The only pay from Sega that they received was the commission to create Sonic Mania and don't receive any revenue from sales. A recent kickstarter for the game Vertebreaker had be be cancelled because they were unable to raise enough funds for it. The founder and head of Headcannon Stealth goes into detail about this in the linked video. I highly recommend you check them out and donate to their Patreon if you can. They certainly have the talent and know how to create some cool ass games.

This is a bit of a sibling topic to the one about changing habits for 2020. Rather than looking at habits specifically, I want to look at "swaps" that people can make.

What's something someone could change out for a better alternative?

A swap should be recommended if it is,

• more ethical,
• more sustainable,
• heathier,
• or just overall better in an individual or collective way.

Importantly: the swap should be both feasible and sensical, and should be something that is relatively easy to do. This isn't about making huge lifestyle changes but about taking what we're already doing and making it better.

Please give your reasoning for your swap, as well as any important caveats. Mentioning specific brands/companies is fine if that's an important part of the swap. Also, swaps can be for anything so don't feel limited to consumer products. Feel free to give good food/service/app/software/store swaps as well!

See my post below for an example, if the setup I've given here is unclear!

I like reading about the development process of technology products (software and otherwise), even when I don't understand the tech bits.

Maybe due to their open nature, it is not hard to find detailed articles, mailing list answers, and interviews that go deep about FOSS. But I also have an interest in massively successful/unsuccessful products with large, rich and sometimes convoluted creation process. So things link Linux, Windows (all versions), Mac OS, the iPhone, iOS, Android, etc.

My interest is not necessarily in biographies or accounts that deify so-called technology geniuses, but rather in narratives that don't shy from the nitty-gritty details of the technical/creative processes while also addressing the human/personal side of things.

It also doesn't need to be educational at all, I just realized these stories are enjoyable reads.

Any suggestions? ;)

I'm in the middle of writing my thesis and I've been (re)reading some excellent, unconventional style guides (The Sense of Style by Stephen Pinker and Stylish Academic Writing by Helen Sword). I'm also rereading Thank You for Arguing by Jay Heinrichs, which is less about style but is essentially a guide for effective communication.

In reading these books and applying their teachings to my writing, I've been reinvigorated with a passion for writing, namely for the craftsmanship of prose. All three books analyze excerpts from examples of great (and sometimes poor) writing. But, I'm now looking for a more immersive experience in good (i.e. stylish, evocative, concise etc.) writing in the hopes that, with my newly refined perspective and sensitivity, I can improve my own writing even more. Good writers read good writing.

Now, starting new books now won't help my current cause (my thesis) but my academic career will call for much more writing in the future. And I'm hoping that maybe the suggestions I get here will help me prioritize my current queue of books and articles—I know they're all great books but I'd like to read the ones with better writing, first.

So, I would love some recommendations on authors who you would consider as masters of writing. It can be either books or articles. Preferably non-fiction and modern (20 years?), only because fiction and older books have different standards (FWIW I love old-school sci-fi, but that's definitely not the style I'm after). My current shortcut is to read basically any "longread" on WIRED, as most of the time they are high quality and often explain complex topics.

Any other resources are also welcome! Though maybe no more style guides...

I'm interested in finding more great songwriters across different genres and I want to defeat my own bias, so don't tell me the artist or genre (or maybe put it in <details> tags).

Here are a few of mine -

Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds

If you're really as tough as your defenses, you'd let them fall

Tried to deceive me, you only deceived you; what you thought was invisible was only see-through

I said, "If you won't save me, please don't waste my time"

Emotional luggage, nothing of it, I don't check bags; I just carry on, leave that bullshit in the past

Nothing no scary like a gunman voice when people beg a gunman think twice, and him say no

To turn your sick soul inside out - so that the world, so that the world can watch you die

Coincidentally, not all those songs are necessarily at the top of my recommends, but they are the first memorable one-liners that came to mind. I won't mind if your picks aren't the greatest songs of all time either if the line still hits.

I feel like I have gotten as far as I can playing around with my keyboard and LMMS, so I was wondering if anyone here has any recommendations for a synth that I could start out with. As much as I really want to buy a OP-1 or OP-Z I don't think I can justify it just yet. I would like something in the style of the OP-1 or OP-Z, i.e. quite small, with they keys laid out like a piano, and controls for modifying the sound on the synth, although it doesn't need an included sequencer. I'm also pretty open to drum machine ideas, just have never really played around with them at all. My budget is like $200 max.

Is there a good smartwatch/simile that monitors sleep and has excellent battery life (measured in weeks not hours)?

I use the Withings (ex-Nokia) Steel HR, but it … kinda sucks. The bluetooth pairings very often lose sleep data, it's very inaccurate, the reporting sucks for non-24s, and the leather bracelet is of very poor quality, keeps breaking.

I really don't care for the fitness/step tracking which, as someone else here put it, thinks typing on a keyboard or eating is a step.

I also briefly tried an Oura (https://ouraring.com/), but I never got it to work and had to send it back.

I also don't care much for any of those "sleep quality" trackers that try to detect if I snore and what not. I can do sleep studies in my own time, I just want to have accurate stats on whether and when I am asleep.

My husband and I are looking to do more with our Instant Pot in the coming year. The last thread we had on this topic was from 2018, so I figure we could use an update.

• What are your favorite Instant Pot/pressure cooker recipes?

Please link to the full recipe if possible!