Just wanted to preface this by saying that I don't know much about self-help lit and do not mean to offend anyone who enjoys it as a genre.

I've been talking to a friend of mine who primarily reads self-help literature (a genre I've never really delved into), and what struck me was the highly materialistic/individualistic focus that a number of these books seem to have (most being focused on becoming an entrepreneur who drives a Lamborghini and retires by 40 living off of their crypto/stocks/real estate investments). The failure of the individual to achieve these goals can apparently be overcome through positive thinking, changing one's mindset, etc, and the focus seems to be largely on material goods and the general definition of "American-style" success. My general feeling is that a large part of self-help as a genre is focused on the failings of the individual rather than societal ills (or, the Jordan Peterson style of motivational thinking), and that got me wondering if anybody had some books that differ from the mold somewhat, possibly talking about improving yourself not only as an individual but also as part of the community, perhaps offering some sort of a leftist perspective that touches upon commodity fetishism, etc.

If anyone had any suggestions, I'd love to take a look at them.

Hi all, can anybody recommend any games that are mostly investigation-based with little to no combat? A few that I've really enjoyed were Outer Wilds, Return of the Obra Dinn, and The Sexy Brutale. (Two of these have time loop mechanics, and even Obra Dinn has something very similar, but I guess that's not strictly a requirement.) Each one is very story-driven, with complex worlds and events meticulously crafted, and it's your job to figure out exactly how each one works.

My fiance is an artist who was laid off because he worked for a major employer in the entertainment industry that required him to be in contact with people.

So he's been unemployed for a long time now, but he has been trying to find work, but there isn't really anything available that uses his particular skills. So we invested in a digital art workstation (basically just bought a monitor with a digitizer built in to use a pen with) so that he could work on becoming an independant artist. But he's so bad at marketing and he spends so much time worrying about fine details that it takes him over a week to finish a single piece, so he hasn't had any success.

So if you combine this with a broken tooth that he hasn't been able to get taken care of because of a lapse in his dental insurance, he's not been in a good place.

I just bought a Mac and was looking for mac-native graphics programs (I sometimes work on marketing, so I need to do photo editing from time to time. Also I used to do photography as a hobby and want to get back into it), when I came across Serif's Affinity Designer Workbook. And I thought to myself that getting my fiance a training course in graphic design would allow him to shift gears into a segment where there is more work. It'll also give him a bit of a kick in the pants to get him moving and feeling better about himself.

I'm sure everyone knows there are millions of online training courses available right now, so I'm hoping someone might have any recommendations. I have some money saved up, so I don't mind paying a little bit extra if it'll result in better results. I'd prefer if it were a class that didn't rely on Adobe Illustrator if possible, but I know that it's the 'standard' and he'll probably have better luck if he has experience in it.

I really really enjoyed 'Danshi Koukousei no nichijou'. In particular anything-goes hijinx parts, and nice lore.

I also enjoyed metahumor from Saekano and Monogatari, but they lean in their respective category more than comedy part.

Monogatari is a bit heavy and needs attention, so I'm looking for something light and humorous. I don't much enjoy fan service/lewdness unless it serves the purpose of the story or as comic relief.

Any suggestions welcome!

I'm on a binge of watching YouTube videos about Asian culture and wanna take it to the next level. Anything about the cultures of countries like Japan, both Koreas, China, etc. As long as it's high quality and available on the major streaming websites. Thanks!

Spring is here (at least in the northern hemisphere, sorry Aussies and Kiwis) and it's now warm enough where I live to roll the windows down while driving.

I'm looking to expand my playlist of, like I said in the title, music that will make me want to roll my windows down, turn the volume up, and exceed the speed limit.

For an idea of what I'm looking for, here's some tracks on my current playlist. This skews towards metal because of my own personal tastes, but I'd welcome recommendations from any genre:

• Immortal - One by One

• Bathory - 109 and Death from Above (paired songs about bombing a city in WW2, from the perspective of a German Me-109 fighter pilot and a B-17 Flying Fortress bombing crew)

• Fleetwood Mac - The Chain

• Hank Williams III - Rebel Within

I need to read some fiction children books about death (for research) -- any age group preferably for young children.

Stories both realistic and fantasy/fantastical that doesn't gloss over the suffering and pain children can experience, possibly with dark overtones.

Stories featuring Death as a character would be great too.

Thanks!

I recently moved apartments. I have a Ubiquiti Edgerouter POE that's served me well over the past few years.

I unplugged the router at my old place, drove over to my new place, plugged it in, and...it failed to boot. I can log in to the web UI, but I immediately get an error that I can't get past. SSH, which normally works, comes back "connection refused" indicating the SSH daemon isn't even running.

There are forum posts about this problem from five fucking years ago. The only solution offered is to do a factory reset. I could do this, and I have a config backup somewhere, but I'm not going to put up with a device so unreliable that a power cycle bricks it.

I was a big fan of Ubiquiti up to now. I have two of their routers, one at my home and one at a vacation home my family owns that I'm the IT guy for, as well as several of their access points. After this, as well as the recent data breach (which didn't affect me personally but gives me a bad taste nonetheless) I think I'm done with them.

So, Tilderinos, any recommendations?

Some specifics:

• I have gigabit internet so I definitely want something that can handle those speeds and not be a bottleneck

• I'm knowledgeable about networking and have no problem with "user-unfriendly" setup & configuration.

• I have a site-to-site-to-site Wireguard VPN between my home, my family's cabin, and a server I run in the cloud. I'd strongly prefer to keep using Wireguard, which effectively limits me to Linux-based options, because FreeBSD support for Wireguard is still WIP. If it weren't for this requirement, something BSD-based like pfSense / OPNsense would be at the top of my list.

• I'd prefer to keep the router and access point separate rather than go with a typical "all in one" type device. The wifi spectrum at my new place is much less congested than my old apartment building, but I'd still like to keep the option of having multiple APs. I got spoiled by my old apartment being wired for Ethernet so running multiple APs was easy. That's not an option at my new place so I may look into either powerline internet (yes I know it sucks) or mesh wireless.

I have a friend who's in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. They're currently all meeting remotely, for Obvious Covid Reasons.

The kid they were paired with asked if they could play a game like Monopoly or Wheel of Fortune.

I'm sure there are some amazing games out there that are a) well-suited to be played over Zoom or a similar videoconferencing link and b) enjoyable for an adult and a kid to play together (most likely 1-on-1, but if there's games that could be played with N adults and N kids, those could also work)

I recently went into my attic and pulled out my old 1990s 4-track Fostex X-26 tape recorder. I was hoping to transfer some of my old band tapes to the computer. Alas, it is dead. While it turns on, the motor appears frozen, and the device hums. (I don't mean there's line noise when you plug a speaker into it, I mean the device itself audibly hums, even when not using the tape controls.)

I have seen online that some people repair theirs. It's probably beyond my skill level to do so, though. (And I don't really want to do it myself.) I have contacted a few shops near me (Los Angeles), but have gotten no replies, unfortunately. I was wondering if anyone here knows of a good shop that would repair an older device like this.

I have also contacted some places that claim to do cassette to digital transfers, but none have replied to my questions about whether they can deal with a 4-track recording. Also, just looking at their prices, it seems like it would cost significantly more to have them convert my tapes than to get the recorder repaired. (And I'm not sure what's on all of the tapes, so I don't really want to hand over some embarrassing practice tape or tape containing some out-of-context banter between takes on it.)

I've looked online for a used one, but all the listings I've found have been "for parts only", which is what mine would be if I were to sell it. And knowing how these things go, they probably all have the same broken part. So any recommendations are appreciated!

I've been looking lately for something new to read/watch/listen to/play and I've been chasing a particular feeling that some of my favorite works have given me in the past.

It's something that's hard to describe succinctly, so it's not exactly easy to just google search for something, and usually just telling people I like x thing gets me y recommendation which is maybe a similar style or genre but doesn't really elicit the particular feeling that I'm after.

I figure other folks might have a similar problem, so I thought it might be fun to have a thread for requests for works that make you feel a certain way, regardless of genre or medium.

I'll start mine in the comments and other folks feel free to ask for requests as top-level comments as well!

Back when I was a kid, I had a radioshack 200-in-1 science fair electronics kit this one

I loved that thing, and it sparked an interest in tech that ultimately led me to a CS degree.

Id like to buy something similar for my much younger sister, but nowdays everything I can find is arduino or raspi based. Id love to get something like that eventually, but I think it might be better to get a kit that more focuses on individual components first... Does anyone know of one sold these days?

Alternatively, if anyone has one of these and would be willing to scan the book, Id love to build one of these as a breadboard-based system.

Might be a weird one, but I like the uh..... aesthetic? I guess?

Some examples would be:

Is there a show focused on current affairs that you would feel like recommending? I'm looking for reportages, in-depth interviews, and high-quality commentary, maybe not overly US-focused, the more international the better. The only one I know is VICE News, which leaves a bit to be desired sometimes. Grateful for any recommendation!

The recent rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans has been an emotional topic for me. The thing that makes me sad is, it seems the most I can do to de-escalate a violent situation I see on the news without putting myself in clear danger is to basically distract the aggressor from afar and comfort the victim afterwards.

What makes the matter more complicated is, if you look at the demographics of those who tend to commit these violent crimes against Asian people, they're often other minorities. It's so easy to fall into a trap of undermining the progress we've made in racial/social equality the moment we acknowledge that Asians are being targeted. For similar reasons, I view that our political system is entirely ill-equipped to handle this matter in a sustainable matter.

But I'd still like to turn this into something positive. Because I live comfortably as an engineer in the Bay Area, I was thinking I can donate to charities and organizations that are effective at bringing an end to this violence every time I see news about an Asian American getting targeted on social media. I plan on doing my own research as well, but I hope you can also give some suggestions.

My 2 main dealbreakers are significant amounts of paid content or the service itself being paid (because I'm not of working age) and that it doesn't work in mobile. So any reccomendations or anything more you might want to say?

Maybe that atmospheric death metal band you like recorded an acoustic folk cover of a Rihanna song. Maybe that bubblegum pop artist you follow made an experimental post-rock album.

The goal is to highlight range: try to find two songs that are as "far away" from one another as possible while still being from the same artist.

Link the songs here, and identify what makes them so different.

I've been thinking a bit lately of starting to look for another place of work. Nothing is really bad at my current employer, but I've been there since 2017 and my feet are starting to itch a bit. In addition, I'm not really to engaged in my work at the moment since I feel the domain is fairly boring and the tech is rather mundane. This might be a reflection of my sentiment of IT industry in general, i.e. lots of toys but mainly they are just different flavours of the same thing (especially when it comes to building XYZ web app).

Formerly my approach to finding a new job has been to look for companies that are looking for people with skills in technologies I am interested in learning. However, since I'm a bit dissilousioned with tech I think I need to switch my approach and look more for a mission driven organisation I can get behind!

What are your thoughts on organsations that do some kind of important work? If you were to pick a top 3 organisations where you would work which ones would you pick?

Note they don't have to be tech focused. I'm generally curious about different organisations I should look into and also to hear your thoughts on the matter!

I’ve missed a lot of the older mmos growing up like Everquest and dark age of Camelot. What are some good older mmos to play that can still be enjoyed either as a single player or coop experience with friends that still have online and supported servers? Doesn’t have to have a massive player base or anything, it can even have just a few thousand players. I would also like to avoid WoW, I’ve had a fair amount of time in it and don’t have any desire to go back.

My husband and I recently started listening to Tones and I who has a song called Johnny Run Away. It’s a short story about a boy who has feelings for another boy and is told by his dad to “run away” not because the father is homophobic but because he’s trying to protect his son from getting bullied:

His daddy walked by with a sigh
Said, "Johnny, sit by my side
I'm gonna give you the best advice
You've ever heard in your life
See that boy named Jimmy, yeah, he's a cutie
But no, no, Johnny, no, no, no
Johnny run away”

I like the song partially for its musicality (so catchy!) but also its narrative is genuinely touching to me. My father-in-law once told me he knew his son (my husband) was gay early on. He said that never changed how much he loved his son, but he was always worried about how much harder life would be for him because of that. I think a lot of parents support their LGBT kids but also live with the very real fear of knowing that the rest of the world won’t necessarily do the same, and I think this song captures that perspective.

Anyway, I would love to hear about other songs that feature LGBT stories and perspectives, especially if they’re personally resonant for you or someone you know.

I’ve started exercising to TV and need some shows with episodes of 30 minutes (or less) because anything longer is not in the cards for me yet.

I’m open to any suggestions, but would prefer more recent shows and less well-known ones. It’s easy to find recommendations for stuff like The Office and a lot harder to surface those hidden gems that are out there.

Any streaming service is fine. My husband and I don’t really stay subscribed to any and just toggle individual ones on and off as needed.

Today I was lucky enough to get the Thrustmaster T.16000M FCS Flight Pack that includes a joystick, throttle, and rudders. I also have a Valve Index set up to use for VR flight games. My main use for this setup is to use alongside Flight Simulators to practice maneuvers and other things flight-related while I am taking IRL classes to get my pilot's license. But I want to broaden my scope a bit and try out other games that would suit it (VR or non-VR).

Any thoughts on what to try and play? I have Star Wars Squadrons that I plan to boot up already.

I got a cheap mop at the grocery store last year thinking that would be enough, but it broke like a month ago and always left smudges all over my floors anyway. I never really liked it. It was one of those fixed sponges with a handle to squeeze it out rather than one that looks like Medusa.

I have wood laminate floors throughout my house, not true wood floors. Unfortunately, they're dark brown and show a ton of crumbs and smudges, so I'm looking for something sorta in the buy-it-for-life category. I.e. willing to shell out a little more if it makes a difference. I've had a vacuum for a year that has been good for all the crumbs (Miele), and I really love it.

Also what soap should I be using for best results?

Thanks, all!

My girlfriend and I have had a habit of going straight to watching movies and tv-series when we hang out, because due to lockdown almost everything is closed, so we don't really have a lot of activities to choose from.

We also play games occassionally, recently scrabble on our phones. But what other boardgames work well when there are only 2 players?

Edit: Wow! I can't possibly respond to everyone but I didn't expect so many people to comment with help. Thank you so much!

When learning something new, often available resources are lacking in some departments - whether they're missing information, poorly written, or tedious and dry. But occasionally, some content just stands out as above and beyond the rest, serving to not only make the learning process enjoyable but also to kindle interest in further exploration. What is that for you?

This could encompass everything from computer programming to literary criticism, and could be in the form of a website, book, video tutorial, or the like.

My niece turns 18 later this month. I'm getting her a Kindle and loading it up with as many "welcome to adult" books as I can.

Not really "self-help" books per se, but more "understanding your life and place in the world now that you're finally recognized by society as an adult". Here's the first few books I put on the list for ideas of what I'm going for (all non-fiction so far but I'm open to any fiction that fits the bill):

• Lies My Teacher Told Me

• The Power of Habit

• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

• Bullshit Jobs

• Why Buddhism is True

I would include Sapiens and Homo Deus on the list but I know she's already read or reading them (after I gifted them to my brother / her dad and he passed them on to her).

What would you add to the list? What books do you wish someone had given you at this age that would have helped you navigate your early adulthood?

I'm looking for a new office chair to replace my old Ikea one, and I'm curious what people recommend. I'm looking at the Autonomous ErgoChair 2, but I'm not completely sold on it. I've heard amazing things about Steelcase and Herman Miller, but I can't justify paying $1k on a chair.

What do you have and would you recommend it?

Edit: I went to a used office supply store and got the Steelcase Gesture. Thanks for all the input!

Hi,

Where I am living we are going back into a month long lockdown, I would like to find some vegetarian recipes to cook.

I am not a Chef but I cook everyday so more advanced recipes are fine, though I also like quick wins when I don't feel like spending much time cooking.

What do you people eat when you don't want to eat meat? What are your favorite recipes?

Thanks!

Hi everyone, I'm looking into getting a new laptop for university work. Thanks to a scholarship, I can get up to $2000 covered off a laptop purchase (and I'd be willing to pay a few hundred more out-of-pocket too).

I plan on using this laptop primarily for basic web browsing, word processing, and Zoom calls. I may be playing some video games on it like Slay the Spire or Hollow Knight, but these aren't too demanding and most of my time will be spent working anyway. My use case shouldn't require a lot of processing power or a high-end dedicated GPU. After graduating, I'll have more consistent access to my desktop anyway, which already has a dedicated card for gaming and can easily be upgraded to suit my needs if I get into video editing or programming, which further reduces the need for a laptop that can do these things. In light of this, I'm looking primarily at a laptop that is lightweight, has a long battery life, good build quality, and a 14-inch screen, to upgrade from my current 13-inch. I haven't decided whether I'll be dual-booting Windows/Linux or running Linux only, but I do plan on running Linux so compatibility is important. Ports aren't a huge deal since there isn't much need for anything more than HDMI/USB on a college campus and I can get a docking station for post-graduation needs.

After lurking around on this forum and others, I've settled on a few potential options:

• Thinkpad X1 Carbon
• Thinkpad T14s
• System76 Lemur Pro
• MacBook M1 Air (added after suggestions, link to specs)

ThinkPads seem to offer the best build quality and potential to last years after purchase, so I'm leaning towards those, but System76 appears to have upgraded their build quality recently, and I just love their designs as well. Lenovo will be releasing the next-generation X1 Carbon soon, but it may be priced out of my range, and I'd like to purchase soon. Even the Carbon Gen 8 is above my price range, though as I understand it Lenovo usually offers discounts so I'm waiting for the sale on customizable builds (they already have discounts on pre-designed builds). I'm totally open to suggestions not on this list, and I've also read that purchasing refurbished ThinkPads can be the way to go, though I'd like to take full advantage of my budget if possible. If anyone has any experience with the above laptops, reason to recommend one over the other, or knows why I might want to wait on purchasing (e.g. for a release of next-gen hardware), please let me know!

edit: Table working now!

edit2: Thanks for all the suggestions and discussion everyone. I've yet to make a final decision but will update again later.

I am looking to buy a headset. It's for my child to use on PS4, and when stock comes back in on PS5.

Which models have you used and liked? Are there any you'd avoid?

I think I'd prefer either USB, or something easy to repair, or cheap so I can just buy a new set of this one breaks.

I'm vaguely in the "market" for a new computer algebra system (Mathematica, Maple, Sage, SymPy, etc etc) and I am curious what experience you all might have with these types of programs. In the past I've used Mathematica, and once you get over the odd aspects of the Language (and hefty license fee), it is a pretty great piece of software. Nonetheless, now that my old student license has expired and I would have to buy a new one (though through my school I can get it at a steep discount) I'm looking at some alternatives. Sage seems particularly appealing since it is open source and apparently well documented, and of course SymPy is powerful although that as stand-alone as these other choices.

There are tons of other options as well, with a wide range of functionality (it really is amazing how much these things can do). My main use cases with these types of things are either: a) algebraic manipulation, b) linear algebra, c) visualization. For these three it does really seem that Mathematica is at the forefront, but I'm all ears for other opinions.

I'm curious, if you have used any or all of these in the past, what were you using them for and what is your opinion?

Hey, so I'm looking for more comfy Nintendo (or maybe retro stuff in general?) focused youtubers like Scott the Woz or Nitro Rad or even AVGN to leave on in the background. In general I'd prefer people talking about games or gaming trends or whatever over just playing them...I don't think I really have much interest in let's plays or highlight reels anymore.

It can be full-on silly AVGN stuff or super dry Gaming Historian stuff, I love it all, though my ideal is somewhere in-between. Of course, I'd also like for them not to be terrible human beings, so no jontron or anyone like that please. Thanks!

Here's a list of Paid Games & Apps that I already have bought.

Utils

• Tasker
• KLWP
• Sleep as Android
• Nova Prime
• One or two Icon packs for Nova

Games

• Desert Golfing
• Death Road To Canada 2
• Meteorfall
• Mindustry
• Mini Metro
• Ordia
• Prune
• Reigns
• Reigns: Her Majesty
• RowRow
• Teslagrad
• UnCiv
• .projekt
• Sword and Sworcery

I'm looking for something worthwhile to spend it on. Is there a lesser known utility app that you use all the time? What about an indie game not getting the praise it deserves? Tell me about it!

Unlike the current tendency, unless I'm playing with my real-life friends, I don't care for multiplayer in shooters. I'm usually surrounded by highly skilled players that seemingly dedicate their lives to becoming experts in that game. I don't wanna become actually skilled, I wanna play in my own way and feel I am skilled in face of limited AI. You know, fantasy!

Most franchises are leaning towards multiplayer, and my playstyle is quickly becoming old fashioned. I recently purchased the Xbox Series S and would love suggestions of great shooters with a focus on offline missions. Especially historical shooters (like WWI and WWII), but not limited to it.

Thanks!

Emphasis on interesting, please. Obviously subjective, but I'll say I don't generally find dramas qualify unless they also examine a system or make a commentary in the process, e.g. The Wire, The Newsroom. Just about anything else is fair game.

Any language welcome. Fiction, non-fiction, whatever.

So currently I get most of my music from soundtracks ripped from games and from Bandicamp. However, quite a few artists that go through traditional publishers are not on Bandicamp.

Now, while I could go through the hassle of installing iTunes on Linux through WINE, I dont want to because:

• WINE can be a hassle, especially if the app does some strange things.
• Id rather not support apple in any way if I can

So, are there any major platforms that allow downloading .mp3 or better yet, .flac files, especially for artists going through bigger publishers?

I keep seeing a lot of complaints surrounding Cyberpunk 2077 that it's not a particularly good RPG, because the story is pretty linear and the player choice doesn't really amount to much. I'm not yet done with the game so I don't know how accurate that assessment is. But either way, with my limited knowledge of programming and game design, I assume that doing this sort of thing well is a significant technical challenge.
What are some games that rise to this challenge and make the most of player choice and branching story?

I just signed back up for the Netflix dvd subscription and am looking for some sci-fi movie recommendations. I tend to not like the horror themes but am open to just about anything else (even "bad" movies that are so bad they are good). Looking for movies that have come out in the last decade or so. May also be open to television series that can be had on dvd that were not on Netflix streaming.

The first roundup thread is right here.

This is the last thread before I make the playlists. If you've got any 2020 albums to share that didn't end up in the last roundup, please share them here in the new thread. Any album you like enough to spin repeatedly or buy released in 2020 should make this list. We're not collecting enough votes to matter on the albums, so don't worry about sharing multiple albums in a single comment this time. Plug as many as you like.

Since we're past Jan 1st, all the other music publications have their bestofs out there, and many forums and websites have long threads with people sharing their favorite records. I'd also appreciate links to any of those lists or threads you've found where people are sharing their favorite albums. Just leave them in the comments and don't worry if it gets messy, I'm quite used to it. :)

I'll let this float for a week to collect any late submissions and then build the final list with links for easy listening.

The final set will look something like this.

I usually setup debian or ubuntu servers. One of the pain areas I have avoided is email and usually just off-load the email to a 3rd party service. I currently need to setup a server with an email server and need a really simple straightforward tutorial. I thought I would see if the community has any suggestions.

I'm a sucker for languages and lately I've been wanting to learn a sign language (not specificallly ASL as I put in the title, I'm open to learning any local flavour).

And well, with COVID and everything, I figure this may be a good opportunity to do this with someone else and have someone to talk to. So, is there anyone on Tildes who would be willing to have regular informal video chats, where we talk and you try to teach me as we go? (And of course I can accommodate by text if needed)

No hard commitment, this can just be something we try once and if it's boring for either of us we don't have to continue :) But I'm hoping it'll be fun enough to be a regular thing!

PS. I can teach you French in return if you are interested!

I thought maybe we'd play this game again? This time the "iron chef" ingredient is good singing, but in a language that you don't understand.

Ground rules:

• One song per comment, so we can vote for them individually.
• One top-level comment per user, so pick your favorite song.
• If you want to post more than one song, reply to yourself to add more comments.

Previously in this series:

• Happy Songs
• Cover songs with an an unusual instrument