Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.
Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.
You do it, and it's against the grain -- outside the norm.
But you like it, or think it's worthwhile.
In fact, you'd recommend that more people do it, so that it can shift the grain or become the norm.
What is it, and why do you recommend it?
Anything goes: foods, software, products, bands, websites, appliances, movies, programming languages, travel destinations, etc.
The point of this topic is twofold:
Let us know your best “more people should know about this!” swaps, and sell us on why they’re better than the well-known option.
Hello, as the title implies, I am looking for a temp controlled teapot.
I own an ember mug and have to say, it is one of my favorite purchases/splurges. For those that do not want to click on the link, this is a temperature controlled mug that holds a hot temp for liquids in a mug wirelessly. It does this with quite good precision IMO, have not whipped out a thermometer to check accuracy.
I have been looking for some time for a teapot that could do the same. The requirements I have are that no plastic or otherwise health adverse heat volatile materials come into contact with the heated water, and I would like it to be a teapot, because I like the ritual of pouring the tea out of the pot. I want to be able to steep and pour the tea from the same temp controlled vessel(I don't mind heating water and then pouring it into the temp controlled teapot), so I'm not looking for a temp controlled kettle, necessarily.
I think last time I looked I ended up on pages showing things like this set up, which I'm open to, but would like some guidance or reviews, if possible.
Thank you!
Bonus, what are your favorite mint teas or other teas that have a sensory experience outside of temp?
EDIT: On the same website I linked, I forgot to direct people here. Has anyone ever used a teapot warmer like the ones on that website?
I was reading the recent post about strategy games, and I'm still astonished to see for how many hours (at least hundreds, often 1000+) people are playing these. I'm guessing that in these cases, all your gaming time is exclusively taken by that single game.
So, do you have (or did you have) games, or series, like that? Do you play solo or multi? What compels you to spend so much time on a single game? How do you feel about it?
This is a monthly thread for those who need it. Vent, share your experiences, ask for advice, talk about how you are doing. Let's make this a compassionate space for all who may need one.
The previous introductions thread was waaaaay back in June of 2023, figured it might be time for a new one, eh?
This is a place for new and existing users to post an introduction with a few fun facts about themselves. You will find the post box at the bottom the page. Maybe say "Hi!" to someone else you see while scrolling down?
If you like, you can also write something about yourself in your profile. See "Edit your user bio" on the settings page. Anyone who clicks on your username will see it in your profile. (It appears on the right side of the page.)
You can find out more about how to use Tildes in this topic: "New users: Ask your questions about Tildes here!.
**How long have you been on Tildes? How did you find out about us?**
**How did you choose your username?**
**What are your interests?**
**A/S/L (age/(gender|pronouns|identifier)/location)**
**What do you do? This could be in your spare time, for work, your passions.**
**Do you want other users to PM/DM you from this thread?**
**Give us a fun fact (or a link!)! If there is anything to know about tilderinos, it's that we value knowledge sharing!**
I think about this from time to time. Good directors often switch gears. They abandon beloved themes, franchises, or entire genres. Sometimes they become producers for the series they initiated and the quality takes a dip. In any event, for whatever reason, talented movie directors sometimes decide to dedicate their careers to something we are not as fond of. Perhaps you read a book that would be perfect for them! This post is an opportunity to put them on the right track! (in our imaginations at least...)
Over the next day or so, the internet will be filled with jokes, pranks, fake "announcements" from companies, fun interactive activities, games, and so on. A lot of these can be quite clever and interesting so I think posting about them in general is fine, but in the interest of preventing them from completely taking over Tildes, let's try to keep as many of them restricted to this thread as possible. Ideally, a separate top-level comment for each individual item would be good.
If something particularly discussion-worthy comes up (like an ARG or activity that a lot of people want to talk about), a separate thread is reasonable, but please make sure it has the "april fools day" tag. That way, if anyone wants to avoid seeing the April Fools' Day threads, they can use the topic tag filters and filter that tag out.
I'm going to use the "official" styling for this topic (that's usually only for ~tildes.official topics) to make it stand out more to try to encourage people to notice it. If you notice people making individual topics for April Fools' Day things that don't really warrant their own topic, please (nicely) encourage them to delete and post in here instead.
My current mouse is a Logitech Lightspeed G502, it works fine and aside from double click issue which I brought to a store to fix, no issues with it but it was my friend's prior mouse before he upgraded to a newer model.
As for why I want an ambidextrous mouse, on the rare occasions I want to use my left hand to navigate instead of right.
I used to use a chinese MMO mouse that honestly was not bad but its software was fairly garbage(Rebranded Red Dragon mouse iirc) so I don't mind Chinese mice as clearly being a brand name mouse doesn't mean much, just want something that is good and lasts a while, since I'm not that big on mice.
I want these qualities in a mouse.
Bluetooth as a 3rd option would be neat but not something I'm looking for in particular.
Rechargeable batteries are supposed to provide better longevity afaik, but the buttons or the mouse itself will probably die before the battery.
I use 8200 DPI on my current mouse pretty much in both games and in desktop... with mouse acceleration,
I only lower it on the rare occasions I use something like GIMP.
Not a fan of these perforated light mice or super light mice, I used to put weights in my previous wired Chinese mouse but I'm using the G502 without weights currently. I am willing to compromise on this if there are no options however.
On the G502 I only use 2 buttons regularly, and they are to switch to the left or right virtual desktop, the rest of the buttons have a function but they get rarely used (Except Windows+Tab to show all virtual desktops).
On chip storage is good when I switch platforms (e.g. PC/Windows, SteamDeck or Linux, Mac) and in case I want to completely drop Windows and not worry about needing software for the programmable buttons to work.
Worldwide availability because I don't live in the US or most parts of Europe.
Not aware if Logitech has a mouse that does all what I need, the free scrolling wheel is cool and gets used, but they got a history of switches that die too fast.
My son loves reading time before bed, but he’s only 3.5 so the books have mostly been picture books until now. Lately though he’s been getting more into stories with plots and an extended narrative, but entirely in the form of movies. There aren’t a lot of kid’s books to go around with the sorts of dramatic stories he likes, they’re more like “caterpillar eats food” and “train engine climbs a hill with grit and determination” type stuff. And whenever I’ve tried to have him just lay down and listen to me read a story without any pictures to stare at he has absolutely no interest. He really likes having pretty visuals to look at.
I know when I was a small child these sorts of board/picture books weren’t really a thing in India. The pre-sleep ritual was usually “storytime” instead, where my parents would tell us stories. I’m a little bit concerned that my kid has been so accustomed to always having visual cues presented to him that it’s stunting his imagination a bit, like failing to exercise his capacity to visualize ideas and concepts for himself without being anchored by some artist’s depiction.
So I’m curious to hear from other parents or caregivers/educators (@kfwyre?). Did you find there was a natural transition point between going from picture books to telling/reading stories? Was there any sort of work you had to do to enable it? Are there “exercises” I can work on to help my son exercise his imagination? I have been working with him to have him tell me stories about his day, which he does pretty well. But his stories are always quite grounded and he’s usually telling me what he’s actually done and seen. When my nephews and nieces were his age they tended to spin out a lot of random stories that pretty obviously did not happen, and I assume this is because they had more experience being told stories themselves rather than just factual reporting about the happenings around them.
I graduated in the spring and spent the last few months at home with family. I'm hoping to find an apartment/job in a major US city working as a legal assistant or paralegal.
I've never rented before, so I have questions, but due to circumstances related to the ones pushing me away from staying at home any longer, I don't have any parents or older siblings to ask for help, so I'm hoping to crowdsource wisdom here. I have specific questions, but also happy to hear any general advice for someone renting an apartment for the first time.
Some relevant context:
Those questions I had:
If you offer to pay a landlord the cost of the lease in full, is it typical for the landlord to waive the requirement that you provide proof of employment, or if you asked them to waive that, would they be likely to say yes? I would really like to take some time off, and coming home was intended to be that, but toxic family means I've just been stressed the whole time, so being able to get a place without needing a job right off the bat would be a fantastic setup to make sure this new start goes well. (If I save up part-time earnings for the next 2-3 months, I'll have enough to pay a lease on a $1200 studio in full, furnish it with the necessities, and feed myself.)
Recently I realized that when apartments are listed as unfurnished, that means no bed or mattress either. (I kind of see now why futons are a thing.) How do people usually address this issue? Do you buy a mattress and bed frame with the expectation that you'll take it with you whenever you move out to the next apartment?
Since I don't live in the city I'll be moving to, I most likely won't be able to see the apartment in person before committing. Any particular ideas on how I could handle this or what I should be wary of? I've heard of services where you can pay someone to show up to a tour and video call you so you can follow along (https://www.gandertour.com/). $50 doesn't seem too steep, but I don't know if that specific service is trustworthy, or if there's a cheaper or simpler way to deal with this.
Those are my questions, and like I said above, any advice not 100% related to these questions is welcome too!
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
What would your past self(intentionally vague) say about your current self(also intentionally vague)?
My past self would be surprised by the following:
I am both less black and white and more black and white thinking than I used to be.
I no longer put as heavy of an emphasis on Science being the only way to explain things.
I have chosen to have less reliance on external validation.
I burned out and hit at least two rock bottoms, and still have not fully recovered from them.
I am pansexual and have at least grey thoughts about monogamy.
I am more spiritual.
I struggle socially (not in making friends, but how much anxiety or exhaustion I have around it)
I am disabled.
I can no longer travel or do physical activities that were a large part of my life.
Experiencing pain that is constant and chronic.
I would mourn so many things at such young an age.
My family would become disconnected.
I would have a much better relationship with my dad, but not my mom.
I would live in a non-high density or HCOL area.
I would consider a career outside of lawyer, psychiatrist, or scientist.
Difficulty reading or learning.
Commitment issues.
Losing some of my best friends or other partners.
I am neurodivergent (though that is only because the terminology did not exist at the time).
Not being able to solve all problems or get myself out of everything, a drop in self-reliance, see burnout.
Liking children and desiring to be a mentor or some sort of male au-pair.
No longer like drinking, but do enjoy cannabis, ketamine, and LSD.
My past self would not be surprised by:
Still a perfectionist
Still argumentative
Still a clown and silly
Enjoyment of philosophy and law
Holding out to not have a car for decades only to be saddled with a lemon.
Constant boredom and a need to know "why" or learn something new or otherwise seek out novelty and stimulation.
Don't know what to do in life. Want to be a constant traveler and learner.
Still hate cars.
Still have a pretension and elitist problem.
Struggle with self-love and self-worth, probably self-compassion too.
Overly generous.
Overly forgiving.
Lover of showers and baths.
Foodie despite hating the word and being anosmic. Becoming anosmic for two years and counting should be on the surprised list.
I learn best by visual instruction as well as hands on.
My current self, for the most part, likes itself in a way that I hadn't experienced for a long time. It's like my body took a break for ten years, deciding it hated itself and wanted constant improvement, all the while being its own worst critic and never really cheering it on. My current self is turning away from this mindset, and it feels great to have a more optimistic and self-satisfying life, but I just wish my physical body had not taken such a toll over the last few years.
Look forward to hearing others' thoughts.
What have you been watching and reading this week? You don't need to give us a whole essay if you don't want to, but please write something! 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 pages on Anilist, MAL, or any other database you use!
Most of my time in any given day is spent sleeping (eight hours), working (nine hours, plus another one or two for commuting), chores (maintaining the home, personal hygiene, etc.), and spending time with my wife (and occasionally with friends and family).
This means that I don’t have a lot of “spare time”. I maybe get one or two hours a day, and a few more on Saturdays and Sundays.
I often feel anxious and depressed about this inescapable reality. I have a lot of projects and hobbies that I would like to fill my spare time with, but not enough for all of them.
Years ago, I began to try to reframe the circumstances of my life in my mind in order to prevent a complete mental collapse. I tell myself that this life is finite, that I will never be able to have all the experiences that I would like to, and that’s OK. I can live with that reality. And I should instead, focus my energy on dedicating myself to the projects and hobbies that I absolutely do not want to miss out on.
I still struggle to stick to just a few of those, because there are so many (especially creative) activities that I enjoy. I regularly go through cycles of taking on too many of these, then becoming overwhelmed because I don’t have enough time for each, then cutting out most of them to focus on the ones that I want to prioritize, and repeating the cycle.
Today, I have reached the part of that cycle where I will cut some of them out.
Whenever I do that, it really helps me to take inventory of what those activities are, so that I can stay focused, and delay taking on more or new ones until I am satisfied with where I got with my current ones.
So, here are the projects and hobbies that I want to spend my spare time on, starting today:
What are your activities?
Side notes: The list above is a summary. My list is a lot more precise, to help me focus. Also, I’m currently unemployed, but before I quit my last job, I had actually been working almost without interruption for several years. My day-to-day routine back then was exactly as I described it in the beginning of this post.
This is a recurring post to discuss programming or other technical projects that we've been working on. Tell us about one of your recent projects, either at work or personal projects. What's interesting about it? Are you having trouble with anything?
Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.
Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.
Background:
I've been using a 9-year-old 13.3 inch Dell Latitude 7370 laptop running MX Linux to stream games via Moonlight from a beefier desktop machine. It is SO good and works flawlessly. My only complaint is the smaller screen size.
I would like to upgrade to a larger computer, and given that the computer will literally only be used for streaming games, it doesn't need to have great stats. I'm looking at used/refurbished models -- both for price and because buying something new feels like complete overkill for my needs.
My only requirements are:
That's it! I'm assuming that literally anything I can get with that will work for what I need given that my small, decade-old laptop is already doing the same job perfectly. USB-C charging is a must-have for me. I already have USB-C power cords in all the places I plan on using it, and I don't want to have to use a separate charger for it.
My Situation:
Because I'm searching for used/refurbished models, I'm limited to what's available rather than going for any specific model of computer. I can easily find listings for computers with 17 inch screens. What I can't find easily is whether or not they support USB-C charging. Most sites don't have a filter for that, and a lot of the listings don't specify the type of charger used and just list "AC adapter" (or don't mention it at all). Many sites don't have pictures of the ports, or the pictures they do have are stock photos that aren't of the exact model.
Is there some easy way to find these that I'm missing? Some keyword, or a site that does have a filter for that, or brand knowledge that can point me in the right direction?
Also, if anyone has any recommended sites for used/refurbished laptops, let me know. I have had success with Backmarket for used tech before, but I'm open to recommendations.
Do you devour dessert first?
Do you eat your pizza with a fork and knife?
Do you put ketchup on your steak, or eat it well-done?
This is a place to confess your food crimes -- the worst, oddest, or most atypical ways/things/combinations that you eat.
In addition to confession, you may also take a moment to preach. Win over some converts. Convince others of your ways. It could be that, after hearing your defense, the jury here will actually find you not guilty...
My partner and I like to have a drink while we cook/ after work, and we've usually switch between some wine or more recently nice cocktails. I'd like to up my cocktail game when I'm hosting though.
What simple cocktails would you guys suggest?
So far my favourite cocktails are Negroni, White Russian, Old fashioned, and for after dinner a friend of mine made that Im not too sure about that's a 50 50 mix of whisky and amaretto with a cherry that's surprisingly good.
User and book club ping recipient Maevens said that it would help them if the book and questions were posted to Storygraph, so I created a basic book club template, but I haven't done anything with it yet.
What do you all think? Options include simply posting the book title each month, posting the book title and the discussion questions each month or posting and including a link to the Tildes book club discussion. I'm going to do something minimal regardless, to honor Maevens' request but I want to know what you all think and whether there are things you specifically don't want me to do.
Bottom line, the two book clubs could run in parallel with crossover and links, or they could be essentially separate. Please advise.
Its a heavy show but three episodes in, I'm loving the single shot approach that they took.
Without cuts, it's all about the pace of the drama, the honesty of each beat and the quality of the performance. That, and I haven't seen a show tackle toxic masculinity in quite this way and I'm super here for it.
Has anybody else seen it? What did you think?
My fiancee and I are considering adopting a dog, most likely in the age range of 6 months to 2 years. I've read before that pet insurance is only worth it if you get the dog as a puppy, but I'm wondering what real people think, particularly for a dog that's 2-3 years old. Does anyone else have a pet insurance policy? Who is it with? How's it working out for you? Would you do it again?
Hi [insert tiles demonym here]!
I have an LTT backpack, and the zipper is wearing out. The other zipper already broke, which LTT paid to repair under warranty. This ended up being quite a headache, because the repair shop couldn’t find an equivalent zipper anywhere in the EU for shipping (located in France). I eventually found a company in the UK that did custom orders, but the taxes and shipping to France was expensive. The warranty paid for it, but I won’t be using the warranty for the other zipper repair (it’s already an extremely generous warranty, and the damage should absolutely have been classified as normal wear and tear, so I don’t want to take advantage of it again.
Anyway, the zipper for the laptop pouch is showing the exact same signs of wear. I asked the shop if they could repair this one too, and they said no, because the pouch is too narrow to get their sewing machine into. So I can source a zipper, but I would have to hand sew it into the backpack. I feel like I am capable of this, I just don’t really want to do it. I think their might be a way to reinforce it without replacing the entire zipper. I haven’t been able to find any info online about my theory, so I wanted to see if you all had any insight.
The important part of the post:
This zipper is a plastic coil zipper from YKK. They have a continuous coil that is sewn into the tape with thread. The top surface of this thread is ruined by the slider when you zip. This thread is starting to abrade. The other zipper abraded fully in a spot, and the coil separated from the tape.
Here is my theory. If I get a very strong and relatively thin thread, I can hand sew through the coil to replace / reinforce the factory thread.
Has anyone done anything like this before? Any tips, or things to watch out for? Will this change or ruin the smoothness of the slider when zipping?
What have you been doing lately for your own fitness? Try out any new programs or exercises? Have any questions for others about your training? Want to vent about poor behavior in the gym? Started a new diet or have a new recipe you want to share? Anything else health and wellness related?
An RPG book is a book containing the rules and setting for a tabletop RPG game. Like Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition, Worlds Without Number, Star Trek Adventures, etc.
The fact that they are rarely in text format always puts me off reading RPG books. I don't want to diminish the importance of art, but importing printed RPG books is prohibitively expensive, and reading huge PDFs on a laptop is not a good experience for me.
I also find it unpleasant to navigate the complicated design of these books. They're distracting.
I have a 6.8" Kindle Paperwhite but reading RPG PDFs on it is awful. RPG books have lots of art and complicated layouts. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be an easy way to make an RPG into text. I was seriously considering just copying the text and converting it to markdown myself (it doesn't need to be markdown, just something that I can convert into a format my Kindle understands) when I remembered chatGPT.
Copying the text and asking GPT to make it into markdown worked okay, but it missed the tables. Sending an image of a page worked pretty well, so I think AI is the way here. But I am not a GPT subscriber and I bet I'll hit a limit at some point. Also, instead of sending pages individually, I would prefer to send the PDF and get the result in text. Even if there were limitations (like only 10 pages in one go), it would be an improvement.
In any case, using chatGPT will be much better than doing it by hand. But is there an AI or other kind of PDF service that is better suited for that task, so I can reduce the amount of manual input?
Lately there's been a rash of people ripping apart AC units on small business' so they can sell them for parts (mostly the copper). Tends to take days to months to discover, and by that time they're long gone and the police are rarely interested in it (in my experience even when you figure out who's actually buying stolen copper, or car parts....but i digress).
I was asked as a friend to help with this for a couple of small business locations that otherwise don't need normal security. To start it's just one large, 60x300', roof with a couple of units on it. They're willing to spend money, but also don't want to get scammed, so I've been looking into it for them.
They're getting a quote from one of the big security companies like ADT, but didn't feel they were getting it right since they just wanted a camera pointing at the access ladder, when it sure looks like the first time this happened it was someone who brought their own, so they really do need some good coverage and not just one camera pointed at a ladder while they pay for some 24/7 person to stare at the feed.
The rough requirements are:
Some decent weatherproofing, as this will be on a roof all day. We can put an enclosure around it but trying to keep this simple.
Easy remote access to footage, ideally with notifications that can be setup for things like human motion, or lost connection.
Ideally fewer cameras. Not exactly because of cost, but because of the difficulty of getting the power/network up there. Be a lot easier to do one drop in the middle of the roof than say a drop at every corner.
Probably not wifi cameras. I figure we need to run power up there anyways, so it might as well be POE if at all possible. Added bonus being that you don't need to worry as much about wifi signal and the rare enterprising criminal with a jammer/scrambler/whatever?
and the tricky one
5. No on site storage. Likely they'll want cloud.
My first thoughts:
I have ubiquiti at home, and this seemed fine for it as a nice in-between since they probably need 2-4 POE cameras max (was going to see if i could get away with 2 in the middle of the roof, one looking each way). Was going to mess around and see what level of alerts they give and make them a couple of accounts (basically one alert to the person who'd call the cops and one to the person who'd look at it if the feed went down).
The no on site storage thing however, complicates stuff....i think?
The short version is there's no way to do even a basic NVR there (i've been over this thoroughly, and it's more a drama thing than a business thing). I figured that wouldn't be an issue, they'd just have to pay extra for some cloud storage and host it there, and it would probably scale well for them if they liked the solution and rolled it out anywhere else. Rather than having a bunch of NVR's they could just have one cloud based one, neat.
buuuuut it seems ubiquiti doesn't really do that. The people i'm helping are somewhat technical but i'd like to keep this turnkey as possible. I don't think there's any clean/easy way to accomplish this with ubiquiti, or at least that I can find?
In theory I think there might be some clever network way to host the NVR at some other physical/central location (with less drama) and then route all the traffic there, but that's beyond my current ability, and i'm skeptical that even if I learn how, i can keep it simple enough that i'd feel comfortable suggesting it.
The followup research:
So there's huge professional companies like verkanda/axis. I did some basic pricing research and it looks like $2kish, minimum, a year for these things. That might be within their budget (i'm told the damage done was easily into the 5 figure territory), but it also feels like extreme overkill for something that should be easier to solve?
Another one i've come across before is Reolink, but I have 0 experience with it and haven't found much in either direction that makes me think it'd be a good solution or a terrible one.
I'm pretty against ring/nest just due to a mixture of "fuck em" and also feeling like you don't get what you pay for.
Overall-
Anyone have any experience or guidance with this sort of thing? I really feel like my own home network/camera setup has me right on the edge of being able to say "ah yeah here's what you need...." and yet i've fallen at the finish line. Is there some easy way to make ubiquiti work (seems to meet all the needs except the cloud storage)? Or some system you're familiar with that does have that feature?
I feel like i bump into these kinds of problems more and more where the options are "make it a second hobby/job" or "pay through the nose" when it feels like there should be a reasonable inbetween.
Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.
Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.
Lately I’ve been watching movies every night, after many years of only rarely watching them. There are a lot of mediocre websites to find movies. What do you use? Who are your favorite critics?
What food and drinks have you been enjoying (or not enjoying) recently? Have you cooked or created anything interesting? Tell us about it!
Anxieties, fears, bad habits, childcare, etc.
What keeps you up? This is a place where you can get those thoughts out of your head and into words instead.
For those reading the responses here, please practice empathetic listening — especially for those sharing difficult thoughts or feelings. It is much more important that someone feel heard and understood than it is to try to solve their situation.
I loved the notes app post (h/t @kwfyre) and that led me to think about the motivational or inspiring quotes that mean something to you whether they're well known or more obscure, whether said IRL or in fiction!
What are you reading currently? Fiction or non-fiction or poetry, any genre, any language! Tell us what you're reading, and talk about it a bit.
Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.
Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.
This is the twelfth of an ongoing series of book discussions here on Tildes. We are discussing Hyperion by Dan Simmons. Our next book will be Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky at the end of April.
I don't have a particular format in mind for this discussion, but I will post some prompts and questions as comments to get things started. You're not obligated to respond to them or vote on them though. So feel free to make your own top-level comment for whatever you wish to discuss, questions you have of others, or even just to post a review of the book you have written yourself. Also, this month will be slightly different. I have been exceptionally busy and didn't finish the book this time. I am hoping that you all who did read it will come up with interesting questions in addition to your comments/ reviews.
For latecomers, don't worry if you didn't read the book in time for this Discussion topic. You can always join in once you finish it. Tildes Activity sort, and "Collapse old comments" feature should keep the topic going for as long as people are still replying.
And for anyone uninterested in this topic please use the Ignore Topic feature on this so it doesn't keep popping up in your Activity sort, since it's likely to keep doing that while I set this discussion up, and once people start joining in.
I've been driving a 2006 Honda Ridgeline for the last 13 years. The engine is still reliable, just change the oil and keep fluids topped up, but there is rust in the frame that won't pass inspection. I'm going to take it in to get it looked at this week, but I am afraid it won't be worth repairing. If I have doubt that it can be safely repaired (I'm fairly risk averse), I would rather replace it.
This model Ridgeline is basically a Honda Pilot with a bed. I've often said it's the perfect amount of truck for a software engineer. I do think I'd like to have another truck, but I'd consider other options, like a smaller SUV or a larger hatchback.
The truck has been our go-to travel car for road trips. We tend to bring a ton of stuff, so the bed has been nice, but having interior cargo space might also be useful. We don't do as many big hauling / years things as we used to, so the truck bed is probably optional.
I was hoping that by the time I wore out the Ridgeline, there would be more plugin electric or real hybrid options, but it seems like there aren't many options. I wouldn't buy a Rivian or Tesla (not been around long enough). But I'd definitely be interested in peoples thoughts about hybrid options out there. If I'm looking at used hybrids, what kind of things should I worry about with the battery?
The conventional wisdom when I was growing up was that a used car lost half its value when you drove it off the lot, so it was better to buy used. But in recent years, I've been seeing something more like linear depreciation. Helping my dad buy a new truck last year, it seemed like the year-old or two-year-old used options were just a few thousand less than new.
Bottom line: I live in Western Pennsylvania in the US. I may shortly need to replace my aging Honda Ridgeline. I need a mid-sized truck/van/SUV that can be a good "road trip" car for a family of three that chronically overpacks.
What car do you like? What car buying or car selling wisdom do you have in the post-pandemic car market?
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! If you've just picked up some music, please update on that as well, we'd love to see your hauls :)
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.
Tildes is a very serious site, where we discuss very serious matters like yemen, brave and septic tanks. Tags culled from the highest voted topics from the last seven days, if anyone was documenting.
But one of my favourite tags happens to be offbeat! Taking its original inspiration from Sir Nils Olav III, this thread is looking for any far-fetched offbeat stories lurking in the newspapers. It may not deserve its own post, but it deserves a wider audience!
This is the place for casual discussion about our pets. Photos are welcome, show us your pet(s) and tell us about them!
The stuff they don't put on the tourist brochure.
Oldest doesn't have to mean absolute age and can be relative to that tech's particular "lane" (e.g. your "old" cell phone might be newer than one of your game consoles, but it still "feels" old when compared to cell phones exclusively).
And "tech" can be, well, anything you think counts as "tech!"
Find yourself watching tons of great videos on [insert chosen video sharing platform], but also find yourself reluctant to flood the Tildes front page with them? Then this thread is for you.
It could be one quirky video that you feel deserves some eyeballs on it, or perhaps you've got a curated list of videos that you'd love to talk us through...
Share some of the best video content you've watched this past week/fortnight with us!
I'm not a very smart person, and never studied philosophy at school or college. I've been reading Discworld books since I was a wee little person and even though I've pretty thoroughly absorbed the messages to the best of my understanding, I'm sure there's lots I've missed.
I know this question has a bit of complexity in it, as someone like Vimes believes different things to the Patrician, or Granny Weatherwax, or Brutha, or Death.
Still, I feel like there might be something that links it all together and was wondering if anyone smarter than me might know?
Command and Conquer Generals Zero Hour:
It has a very active community and there are lots of tournaments. Matches are very intense and fun.
Europa Universalis IV:
At this point of my life, I can say I am almost super pro at this game with thousands of hours 🥲
I also want to get into Red Alert and Star Craft series but I find them super complicated for some reason lol. Maybe I lost my game learning skills at the age of 29…
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
Hello bookwyrms.
I've just finished reading the entire Aeon 14 universe, that's around 100 ish-books. It had some great moments, some high highs, and a few that I had to plough through, but on the whole, really great and I'm quite sad to be at the end of it. Happy to answer some questions if anyone wants to know about Aeon 14.
Following this I read Children Of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky, and thought it was just okay. I liked the generational ship aspects - though not the humans, they were not likeable and entirely forgettable. The non human characters were great, easily the best parts.
I didn't like it enough to continue with the series though.
So. I'm after suggestions for next read. I've read a lot by Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke, and Alastair Reynolds, Douglas Adams, also I do read books by authors who don't start with A, but I always smile that Poul Anderson is in my library and Kevin Anderson, and Allen Steele, and ... anyway.
Whilst I do like space opera, I feel that Aeon 14 leans toward that, which is why I'm looking for more hard or mil suggestions. Any ideas?
Edit:
Result!
Thanks everyone. Iain Banks Culture series is up next, though there are so many great suggestions, it might be a couple of years before I come seeking more recommendations :)
I was going to get screenshots to backup what I am talking about but apparently they aren't kicking around in the system forever so most of the evidence is gone but I often see mycketforvirrad editing the title of a post I make to exactly what it already was while they are editing tags as they see fit.
What's up with that?
As part of a weekly series, these topics are a place for users to casually discuss the things they did — or didn't do — during their week. Did you accomplish any goals? Suffer a failure? Do nothing at all? Tell us about it!
![[SOLVED] Help identifying a part of a breaking reading chair](https://img.adminforge.de/gallery#x11FbWqE/5MuqOugp.jpg,VStTGmG4/9XDCyI4G.jpg,CS3uFu7n/dAuuAlVD.jpg,6XhrLh4y/ikHgAG0v.jpg){kind=link}