I've been doing some high-ish quality wooden jigsaw puzzles, and I'm a bit worried about them getting damaged, so I'm using a puzzle mat. And...I hate it, so much. It's crazy hard to move completed sections around if you need to rearrange, which is often an issue since i always solve without looking at the image. This is the primary irritation, but it's significant, and there's also some secondary irritations like the board is just kinda annoying to deal with and it's itchy lol.

So, to people who do jigsaw puzzles, how do you protect your pieces? Do you use a puzzle mat? Something else? Just do it on a hard surface and all is fine?

(also meta-note: this is my first topic post here so I hope I've done this correctly, tell me if I haven't!)

I'm sure most of the nail salon choices near me are fine, but I'm going to have to choose. Are there any red flags I should look for? Are there indications of quality that aren't the same as most expensive option? Any advice would be helpful.

I’ve been noticing food shrinkflation a lot here in Belgium lately. Smaller soda cans, biscuit packet counts going down, 125g becoming 115g etc.

And honestly, to choose between the same size package getting more expensive vs less of it… I’ll take the latter. It’s reducing consumption. Which is great as a whole, but also selfishly if I’m buying a pack of crisps and I get to eat less of it … great.

Not so great on essentials obviously but those aren’t really hit by shrinkflation as much as snacks, etc.

Okay, that’s it. I do want to stress that I don’t like paying more for the same shit, but on a practical level, if I do, I much rather get less for the same price than have to spend more and be stuck getting the same quantity.

Especially if it’s junk food… I’ve even found myself disliking the old soda can sizes when I come across them. Having gotten used to the new ones, the old ones are straight up too much.

I am taking a trip soon to London and will possibly be adding a couple days in Paris. It's been a hot minute (few years) since visiting the UK and would like to solicit some timely advice and tips. One thing that comes to mind: How important is it to carry cash? Would I need to pay London and Paris street vendors or any shops with cash or will a card with no exchange fees suffice? While we will of course be visiting some tourist attractions like museums, most of our time will be taken up with book stores, record shops, food and coffee shops.

You might be able to tell by my username which is my favorite audio drama. If you haven't heard of it, Wolf 359 is a space opera dramedy focused on a cast of deeply likable characters who find themselves carrying out mysterious research onboard a space station owned by a soulless corporation. Heads up, the whole thing is very enjoyable but the creators say the real story doesn't get going for real until about episode 9 and I would agree. It's funny and entertaining but gets pretty serious around there. Don't worry, the early episodes are super short and still good.

Other audio dramas I highly recommend are:

Bronzetown
1865
Limetown
Edict Zero FIS
Station 151
Archive 81
The Magnus Archives
Theater of Tomorrow
The Hyacinth Disaster
Life After / The Message

I’ve been getting back into guitar playing and trying to have more focused practice when I play each day. I wouldn't call myself a "beginner", but I don't think I'm near the "intermediate" stage yet. I know chords and power chords and can transition between them pretty easily. I've been working on figuring out CAGED shapes, but still really struggle with playing scales and "solo-ing"...partly because (1) I have tried exploring music theory and "learning the notes on the fretboard", but it hasn't clicked for me yet, and (2) my fret fingers feel sluggish and don’t seem to move across the fretboard with the ease that I seem to have when switching chords.

That said, I’m feeling pretty discouraged right now. Looking for some “pick me ups”, so to speak. And wanting to learn to play a few songs all the way through so I can feel more confident in my ability to actually play a song. But I don’t really want to get hung up on a difficult “solo” or a bunch of individual fretting stuff yet.

As I thought about making this post, I figured it might be useful to also ask about some "beginner tips" on how to best stay motivated to stick with learning, practicing, and playing the guitar. If I'm going to keep this up, I want to really invest in it and stick with the guitar. Here are some additional questions/thoughts to hopefully trigger a discussion.

Fellow guitarists:

• What has helped you in the past?
• What helped you get over the "discouraging" first steps of guitar playing and keep at it?
• What were some of the first songs you were able to learn to play all the way through?
• How did you learn the notes on the fretboard?
• How did you learn to play different chords all around the neck?
• What would you say to your younger self to help encourage them to continue pushing through the sticking points of guitar?
• What was the "key" to getting guitar playing to "click" in your brain?

Looking forward to seeing what advice fellow players can offer! Everyone's musical journey is different, and I am interested in learning how you learned to get to where you are now!

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.

If i have a lot of acrylic on canvas paintings and I want to produce prints to sell, where do you make the prints? Local Kinko's/staples?
Clear plastic bag or no? Brief artist blurb at the back? Post card?

Have you ever bought a print? What made you want to buy it or what stopped you, and what would have made it go from no to yes?