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    1. AlbumLove recommendations thread: September 2023

      Choose one album that you love that you think deserves more love Tell us what it is, and why. Previous posts in series Additional Details Why AlbumLove? In this day and age, algorithmic...

      Choose one album
      that you love
      that you think deserves more love

      Tell us what it is, and why.


      Previous posts in series


      Additional Details

      Why AlbumLove?

      In this day and age, algorithmic recommendations for music are easy to come by, and it's trivial to seek out new music that interests you by searching online. AlbumLove offers an opportunity to sift through music loved by others, including those who might have divergent tastes from you. Think of this as an opportunity to listen outside of your comfort zone, with music that you know someone else adores, from a small pool of thoughtful hand-selected options.

      What do I post?

      Any album that you love and that you feel deserves more appreciation. There are no restrictions on genre, year, or anything else, and nothing is “too popular” or “too niche”. If you think it needs more love — for whatever reason — then it’s welcome in AlbumLove.

      Name the artist and the album, and then, most importantly, share what you love about the album. It could be the music itself, but it could also be your associations with it -- maybe the album reminds you of someone you love, or you saw the band live and got a new appreciation for the studio songs.

      Also, commenting on others' recommendations is encouraged! If you love something that someone else shared, let them know!

      Do I have to listen to what everyone else posts?

      Nope. You don't have to listen to anything if you don't want to. This is about creating a menu of options that people can explore as they wish.

      Can I post more than one album in a month?

      Nope. Limit one! This helps us be more selective about what we choose, as well as preventing the threads from getting flooded with too many contributions to keep track of.

      Why albums and not songs/artists?

      I like albums. :)

      Seriously though, I feel like it's a very different thing to like an album as a whole versus a few songs or just an artist's general vibe. I like the idea of quantizing music for appreciation in the same way we might do with books or movies.

      What about EPs?

      Fair game!

      19 votes
    2. [SOLVED] Help needed with a uBlock Origin filter rule

      Hi With this LITE site ---> https://lite.duckduckgo.com/lite/ There isn't the Dark Theme that's available for original duckduckgo site. I found a "My filters" rule on the web. Add these two lines...

      Hi
      With this LITE site ---> https://lite.duckduckgo.com/lite/
      There isn't the Dark Theme that's available for original duckduckgo site.

      I found a "My filters" rule on the web.

      Add these two lines to My filters

      lite.duckduckgo.com##html:style(color: rgb(141, 141, 141) !important; background: none repeat scroll 0 0 rgb(48, 48, 48) !important; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue','Segoe UI', Arial, sans-serif;)

      lite.duckduckgo.com##a:style(color: rgb(201, 201, 201) !important;)

      When the rule is used the search homepage looks reasonable.
      And the search results...
      The black background is not very black, not as black as Tildes black theme.
      I can live with that.

      But the red text under each result is very muddy.
      Can that be improved?
      Make it brighter Crimson or even Orange would look better.

      11 votes
    3. What are your favorite soundtracks for films and video games?

      Basically the title. I have seen soundtracks referenced in my searches for ambient music and homework music, but (possibly due to search skills) I didn't find a full discussion focused on this....

      Basically the title. I have seen soundtracks referenced in my searches for ambient music and homework music, but (possibly due to search skills) I didn't find a full discussion focused on this. Thank you.

      35 votes
    4. Experience with parental control apps for Android

      I'm looking for input from the Tildes community about experiences with Android parental controls apps. My daughter is 8, but she rides the bus, so we want to make sure she has ways to contact us...

      I'm looking for input from the Tildes community about experiences with Android parental controls apps. My daughter is 8, but she rides the bus, so we want to make sure she has ways to contact us if something happens.

      Other than that use case, I intend to limit her to offline content (audiobooks and music loaded directly on the phone) and some games.

      The platform for this is an older phone (Android 9). I'm not averse to buying a newer phone if that makes the solutions workable, but I wanted to start with the "free" option.

      I've installed Google Family Link on the phone. It does a nice job of restricting access to apps, setting time limits on individual apps, and filtering some content. The major limitation seems to be there's no way to restrict what numbers the phone can text or call with.

      Bark seems to be the most visible alternative, and adds a lot of features for content monitoring social media, which is not really our use case. The main thing I'm looking for is an app that would let me administer the calling and texting features of the phone. I'm not opposed to paying for a service if that's what's needed.

      Anybody have insights into tools? There's a ton of noise in the search results. Other solutions to the problem?

      14 votes
    5. What's your method for shopping for laptops?

      Just wondering how other technically inclined individuals go about this. For my daily driver machines I usually buy Macs and build towers, which are simple enough — on the Mac, figure out needs...

      Just wondering how other technically inclined individuals go about this.

      For my daily driver machines I usually buy Macs and build towers, which are simple enough — on the Mac, figure out needs and slightly overbuy, and on towers put some research into parts to find those with the best reviews and bang for buck. Pretty straightforward.

      I also keep around a generic x86 laptop though, and I might be replacing the one I have currently in the coming months. Shopping for its replacement unfortunately is not so clean and simple. There is to my knowledge no laptop-shopper analogue of PCPartPicker for laptops for instance and retailer search tools are terrible (especially Amazon's), which makes filtering out the noise practically impossible. It gets even harder if you're looking for certain features and especially less tangible things like build quality, QC, and battery life. Review sites often aren't of much help, with skin-deep reviews that frequently miss major points and pay little mind to things that may become issues in long-term usage.

      And yet clearly, plenty of people are buying laptops, which brings me back to the topic question. How does everybody go about their laptop shopping?

      26 votes
    6. TeenNick is only airing Henry Danger (I am not exaggerating)

      So, this is something I discovered last night that is just blowing my mind: for most of the past year, the channel TeenNick is showing only Henry Danger. I cannot emphasize how literal I am being...

      So, this is something I discovered last night that is just blowing my mind: for most of the past year, the channel TeenNick is showing only Henry Danger.

      I cannot emphasize how literal I am being with that. Usually "a channel is only showing X" is an exaggeration, but for once, no. As far as I can tell, 99% of TeenNick's programming has been Henry Danger or its spin-off, Danger Force, for the past year. At most, there are brief "respites" where it will have a block with another show. For example, from July 27 to 31, it aired Zoey 101 from 11 PM to 1 AM. Two hours late at night, and then back to Henry Danger. Similar story with some new Nickelodeon show called Erin & Aaron: it showed periodically starting on April 22, and was apparently last aired on July 4.

      Otherwise? Most days are JUST Henry Danger. Even Wikipedia lists Henry Danger and Danger Force as the only current shows. (Along with Nick News, which apparently only airs once a month.)

      This is just honestly stunning to me. For those unfamiliar with TeenNick, it's a sub-channel of Nickelodeon. As far as I can remember, it pretty much never had original programming, but would air reruns of mostly live-action shows from Nickelodeon (either older finished shows or currently airing), some older Nickelodeon cartoons (Hey Arnold and Rugrats), or shows picked up through syndication (namely Degrassi, and more recently America's Funniest Home Videos and Wipeout for some reason...?).

      What I'm saying is there is no reason for them to ONLY air this one, single show. It can't be blamed on any production issues, since it primarily airs reruns. TeenNick SHOULD have access to all the other shows from Nickelodeon's library, so it can't be a licensing issue either. As stated earlier, it aired episodes of a show that premiered this year on Nickelodeon. And Henry Danger is fairly recent, ending in 2020, so I don't know if it's a matter of residuals.

      The only reason I can think of is that they want to push people to get Paramount+. Except even with that logic, this channel is currently a waste of money. Henry Danger has a total of 128 half-hour episodes (though I think some are part of a one-hour special, so Wikipedia counts 121 episodes...?), so that's basically 5 days' worth of content before airing the same thing again. That's not enough to justify a dedicated channel—not for viewers or advertisers.

      From a cursory internet search, they average 66,000 viewers, with a peak of 99,000 on January 1, 2023. I can't imagine that would appeal to advertisers. I feel like the costs of running the channel outweigh any potential profits. This feels like it's just a money sink.

      I just... I can't wrap my head around it. What the heck??

      Anyone have any thoughts on this? Or just want to join me in boggling over this weirdness? This feels like it could be a symptom of cable's overall degradation (I've seen people comparing it to Cartoon Network's limited programming in recent years), but... It almost feels like this channel is being sabotaged? Deliberately set up for failure and closure? Just, I can't wrap my head around a year-long nonstop "marathon".

      56 votes
    7. How do I keep myself sane while trying to find a WFH job?

      Since pretty much the beginning of the year, I've been searching on-and-off for something WFH-related, but it feels like the only thing that ever calls me back is something that either defines...

      Since pretty much the beginning of the year, I've been searching on-and-off for something WFH-related, but it feels like the only thing that ever calls me back is something that either defines itself as 'contract work', requires cold calling or sales (which is insanely stressful and comes with those good 'ol CommissionsTM!), or lists as remote but is actually hybrid.

      I'm fine with tech support, customer support, data entry-- I just don't want a job that has "make your own hours!" or shift bids or whatever. And yet, I never hear back from anything that isn't either pseudo-telemarketing or something else that relies on commission in order to actually justify a viable living.

      And don't get me started on the website applications. What in the fuck is the point of Indeed if every single major company just asks me to apply on their site afterwards, anyway? I already have all of this information, along with about 60 of those proficiency tests that are supposed to get me noticed, already filled out on Indeed. And even if I download my Indeed profile as a resume and upload it to another site, if I'm lucky it'll pull my previous employer's name and my job title. But that still means filling in contact information, references, and the whole shebang of everything else.

      I've also tried to find something local that's not Remote, but unless I want something super-mega-corporate, full-time seems to be out of the picture.

      So anyone have any suggestions? What do I do at this point? Indeed feels like how most people describe Tinder if you're a straight man, or finding a D&D group if you're not a DM.

      Oh, as an aside: About 50% of WFH jobs seem to be related to medical in some way, and all of those require someone who already has experience in medical data entry or something already. How does that work? Ditto insurance companies, I guess.

      38 votes
    8. Requesting recommendations for Stellaris tutorials for strategy and intermediate gameplay

      Does anyone have recommendations for a good Stellaris tutorial that is in the intermediate realm? I understand the basics and UI, but with so many changes, I feel like I need some encouragement...

      Does anyone have recommendations for a good Stellaris tutorial that is in the intermediate realm? I understand the basics and UI, but with so many changes, I feel like I need some encouragement with properly managing an economy, review into fighting mechanics, etc. I searched YouTube before posting and just found several tutorials that talk about the basic components and the UI - which I understand. Looking into more strategy and intermediate-level mechanics.

      5 votes
    9. Phone woes (searching for advice)

      For the past 5 years or so, Ive been using a Samsung J36v as my primary mobile phone. I mostly bought it in the wake of my CDMA based dumbphone being, effectively, bricked by verizon shutting down...

      For the past 5 years or so, Ive been using a Samsung J36v as my primary mobile phone. I mostly bought it in the wake of my CDMA based dumbphone being, effectively, bricked by verizon shutting down the 3G network in my area. It wasnt my first choice, but it was dirt cheap and served my needs well enough.

      However, the last couple of months, the microphone has just... died. Got quieter and quieter, until now I need to plug in headphones in order for a person at the other end of a call to hear me, let alone understand me. I think I need a new phone.

      While Im not a fan with the software side of my current phone (locked bootloader, loaded with bloatware from the factory), I rather liked the hardware, as it had a swappable battery (like, not just easily replaceable, but swappable with only ones fingernails), an sd card slot, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. All of these features are ones that I regularly use.

      Because of this, anytime I look for a new phone, they just seem like an expensive downgrade. I dont care too much about the SOC performance so long as its reasonably modern and can be expected to be usable for 5ish years. (I dont do gaming, YT watching, etc. Just signal, discord, call, text, and gps navigation). The things I do care about is a user-replaceable battery (screws are fine, but no solvents or heat needed), the ability to install either stock android or lineage-os or /e os (to get rid of carrier bloat), an sd card slot and physical SIM card slot, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

      However, I havent been able to find anything on the market like that. I tried the pinephone a year ago, and while Im a competent linux sysadmin, I was never able to even get MMS texting working reliably, and calls would not always be received while sleeping. Ive been reluctant to try other phones since then due to being afraid of spending money on something that wont work. At this point, its seriously affecting my mental health, as I go into a bit of a panic attack whenever Im reminded of the fact that my current phone is failing.

      So Im asking for help. Ive compiled a ranking of the features I need/would like on a new phone, ranked from 'wont even consider a phone without it' to 'would be really nice to have, but I can still use it as a phone without it'.

      Must haves (not an option without it)

      • Needs to run some form of reduced-bloat android. I use signal and discord to communicate with my network, and while I could give up discord, only using it in the browser or desktop, I cannot give up signal.
      • Needs to have a user replaceable battery. Doesnt need to be hot-swappable or anything like that (though that would be awesome), but needs to be replaceable without having to break the screen. (so, no requirement to break adhesives to replace the battery)
      • needs to have a physical SIM card, and be carrier-unlocked. Me and my wife will be moving overseas in a year or so, and I will need to change carriers during that move.
      • Must be able to use both USA and EU 4g bands. (for same reason as the SIM card)

      Really, really nice to have

      • Sd card slot. I dont stream music, and have a rather large collection of music on my home server. The storage space to sync that to the phone for offline playback would be a massive plus.
      • capable of running a degoogled andriod version. While I could make do with stock google android (at least I wouldnt have the 'official nfl app' force-installed on me), it would be really nice if the phone was supported by either lineage-OS or /e OS.

      Nice to have

      • a 3.5mm headphone jack. I have trust issues with bluetooth, never had a BT device that worked reliably. I want to keep my copper wire headphones in use, and having to choose between charging the phone and using a DAC dongle doesnt really cut it.
      • usb-c charging. Yah, usb-c is nice, but its actually less of a concern for me than the above categories. My micro-usb on my current phone has lasted 5 years, so I wouldnt be too fussed if my next phone used micro-usb.
      21 votes
    10. Help: Is there a way to search the fediverse in one place, instead of just my server / instance?

      Hi everyone, I'm quite new to working the cross-server world of the Fediverse. Is there a way to search the Fediverse in one place, instead of just my server / instance? For example, being able to...

      Hi everyone, I'm quite new to working the cross-server world of the Fediverse. Is there a way to search the Fediverse in one place, instead of just my server / instance?

      For example, being able to search for #cats in not just my Mastodon server / instance, but on the others as well? And if it can search Lemmy and others as well, that would be AMAZING.

      16 votes
    11. AlbumLove recommendations thread: August 2023

      Choose one album that you love that you think deserves more love Tell us what it is, and why. Previous posts in series Additional Details Why AlbumLove? In this day and age, algorithmic...

      Choose one album
      that you love
      that you think deserves more love

      Tell us what it is, and why.


      Previous posts in series


      Additional Details

      Why AlbumLove?

      In this day and age, algorithmic recommendations for music are easy to come by, and it's trivial to seek out new music that interests you by searching online. AlbumLove offers an opportunity to sift through music loved by others, including those who might have divergent tastes from you. Think of this as an opportunity to listen outside of your comfort zone, with music that you know someone else adores, from a small pool of thoughtful hand-selected options.

      What do I post?

      Any album that you love and that you feel deserves more appreciation. There are no restrictions on genre, year, or anything else, and nothing is “too popular” or “too niche”. If you think it needs more love — for whatever reason — then it’s welcome in AlbumLove.

      Name the artist and the album, and then, most importantly, share what you love about the album. It could be the music itself, but it could also be your associations with it -- maybe the album reminds you of someone you love, or you saw the band live and got a new appreciation for the studio songs.

      Also, commenting on others' recommendations is encouraged! If you love something that someone else shared, let them know!

      Do I have to listen to what everyone else posts?

      Nope. You don't have to listen to anything if you don't want to. This is about creating a menu of options that people can explore as they wish.

      Can I post more than one album in a month?

      Nope. Limit one! This helps us be more selective about what we choose, as well as preventing the threads from getting flooded with too many contributions to keep track of.

      Why albums and not songs/artists?

      I like albums. :)

      Seriously though, I feel like it's a very different thing to like an album as a whole versus a few songs or just an artist's general vibe. I like the idea of quantizing music for appreciation in the same way we might do with books or movies.

      What about EPs?

      Fair game!

      15 votes
    12. What "lost" web page would you like to find again?

      What was your favorite web page back in the day that you would visit religiously and tell all your friends about but have since lost? Did it shutter permanently or did you lose the bookmark when...

      What was your favorite web page back in the day that you would visit religiously and tell all your friends about but have since lost? Did it shutter permanently or did you lose the bookmark when switching computers never to find it again?

      Back in the days of printed web page yellow pages and search engines you had to submit your page to be reviewed before it was listed, I had found a page about movie easter eggs, errors and insider information. It had factoids about nearly 1000 movies ranging from obscure facts, mistakes in editing, anachronisms, funny on-set stories and the like.

      It was fun to read that this character was named after the art directors niece, the stunt car is visible losing 8 hubcaps in the main chase, etc. It was amazing to read how different movies would interact (IIRC, Kim Bassinger's gasp/jump reaction to opening the door in "Batman" was real due to them having a xenomoprh from Aliens there instead of Jack Nicholson since they were filming at the same time). It was also cool to read that certain characters made cameos in other movies (most people caught that Randolph and Mortimer Duke from "Trading Places" were in "Coming to America" but there are so many other not as obvious blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameos). I never would have noticed the car visible in the background of Johnny Cage vs Scorpion in the orchard fight in "Mortal Kombat" without this page--and now I can never unsee it when I watch it.

      I don't know if I lost the bookmark or if the page shut down so I deleted it but any search I've undertaken for this page in the last few decades only seems to return listicles like "21 obvious anachronisms in modern movies!" but not my all comprehensive target.

      Honorable mention to Damn Interesting (although I did find that one again after a few years). Although it's underwent some turbulance and changes since I first disovered it, I would often reread the articles and gleefully looked forward to each new article when I was younger. With article names like Lake Peigneur: The Swirling Vortex of Doom it was hard not to be intrigued.

      79 votes
    13. I need more albums like Imaginary Sonicscape by Sigh

      I think this album might be a unicorn, but I'm gonna put this out there anyway. Please suggest more prog/avant black metal that is this good. I've done a few cursory google searches, but the only...

      I think this album might be a unicorn, but I'm gonna put this out there anyway. Please suggest more prog/avant black metal that is this good. I've done a few cursory google searches, but the only thing I've found that even comes close is The Sham Mirrors by Arcturus. Maybe Beneath the Lights by Enslaved too.

      IS is just such a masterpiece. I love the keyboards, the clear but muddy sound, the guitar work. It's just so god damned good. Please give me some more good albums to check out in the same general space.

      5 votes
    14. How often do you go through your bookmarks/favorites?

      I recently switch browsers from Safari to Orion after many, many years. I imported all of my bookmarks and then realized that I couldn't remember the last time I went through them to see what was...

      I recently switch browsers from Safari to Orion after many, many years. I imported all of my bookmarks and then realized that I couldn't remember the last time I went through them to see what was still useful (or even around).

      I also realized that I don't save a ton of bookmarks anymore as I keep all of my browsing history available and search through that.

      How often do you all go through your bookmarks/favorites?

      34 votes
    15. Asking advice re search engines, search technique

      So, in the past, I have been able to find new poems I enjoy by reading a critical essay about poetry and taking the referenced poem and author and typing the information into Google search. It...

      So, in the past, I have been able to find new poems I enjoy by reading a critical essay about poetry and taking the referenced poem and author and typing the information into Google search. It used to be that that technique turned up a copy of the text of the poem and typically more poems by the author 95 percent of the time for me.

      This year, when I try that same technique, Google gives me general reference articles about the life of the poet, or news about celebrities with similar names (not the same name at all), or just no search results. Does anyone know what happened? Can anyone help me use the internet to find new poems again?

      Thanks very much

      21 votes
    16. Seeking Canadian (Ontario) auto, RV trailer, and home insurance

      My current round of insurance with TD / Primmum is due up. I have a 2021 Jeep Gladiator (financed) and a 2019 KIA Rio (no loan), house (no mortgage), and 2016 17' travel trailer (no loan) with...

      My current round of insurance with TD / Primmum is due up. I have a 2021 Jeep Gladiator (financed) and a 2019 KIA Rio (no loan), house (no mortgage), and 2016 17' travel trailer (no loan) with them. Been with them for many many years. Supposedly have a group plan through my employer Ontario Power Generation. I'm not so sure anymore. While it's just me (47m) right now, my 17 year old son will likely get added Friday when he gets his G2 🤞.

      I wonder if anyone could recommend a company that would do good for all, or separate for each. I also have some artwork and camera equipment I would probably tack on.
      The letter I got from TD also said if I don't put a tracker on my Jeep (for theft) my premium will go up. They will pay for it, but if they supply it I won't even consider it. I don't want them following me! Giggle does that enough.

      Searching "best xxxxx" will always give you sites that make money from the reviewed businesses. I won't trust any of them.

      6 votes
    17. Having trouble staying logged in here, and elsewhere on iOS

      I’ve been running into a minor annoyance of late, I tend to get logged out of ~ on a page refresh (I.e., pull the screen down) on iOS after about a day or less. I have also noticed that my outlook...

      I’ve been running into a minor annoyance of late, I tend to get logged out of ~ on a page refresh (I.e., pull the screen down) on iOS after about a day or less. I have also noticed that my outlook web also does a thing where it seems to forget that I’m signed in under an account, and asks me to input an email, but if I refresh, there’s a 50/50 shot it will see I’m logged in and drop me into the outlook web client.

      I recall some of these threads from a few years ago here (but having issues finding them in search) and seem to remember the consensus being “check your add-ons”…. But this is happening on the super nerfed Firefox for iOS (I.e., there are no add-in’s to my knowledge).

      I’m running Ffirefox 115 if that helps at all

      12 votes
    18. Do your friends read books? Is the readership rate high in your country?

      Virtually none of my friends read books. I don't think my neighbors do, either. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only book reader. There's no one to talk to about the books I'm reading. I can post on...

      Virtually none of my friends read books. I don't think my neighbors do, either. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only book reader. There's no one to talk to about the books I'm reading. I can post on the Internet and I will get a few upvotes here and there, sometimes a comment, but there's no depth to it. Also, I'd like to talk about books in person, not keyboard. The statistics of readership as conducted by our national library (Poland) were always piss poor, while I think they don't cover the whole society (because they focus on books lent from libraries?) it still seems accurate. Our nearest southern neighbors (Czechia) have high readership, same as our western neighbors (Germany, gosh I envy the sheer amount of books published in German). Poles not only don't read, but because of that we get only a small chunk of published books, oftentimes I search for a book online and there are English, German, Spanish, Russian, Czech (not as often, but a lot more than Polish) translations available, but not Polish -- I understand it, it's not worth it business-wise to publish some obscure books in Poland. It's a sad affair.

      19 votes
    19. Memories of "Launch" magazine

      Hi, I'm asking here in the hopes that someone remembers a music magazine of yore. "Launch" magazine was mailed to subscribers on a CD in the mid-90s. It was like... Pitchfork, edgy but with...

      Hi,

      I'm asking here in the hopes that someone remembers a music magazine of yore. "Launch" magazine was mailed to subscribers on a CD in the mid-90s. It was like... Pitchfork, edgy but with broader appeal. I honestly don't remember much of the music that was on there. It had these sort of Dilbert-esqe comics about being a programmer in a start up. Back then, I had no idea, really, what they were talking about, but I thought the comics were hilarious.

      Anyway, I can't find it anymore. The name is really generic and nothing I find in searches seems to resemble what I remember. It might be the kind of thing that someone like a Tildes user who browses the music group might remember. Does anyone have a memory of this? Seeing those little comics again would be nostalgia gold.

      7 votes
    20. What's your planning process for big group trips?

      My university friends and I (and everyone's significant others, so about ~15 people) are planning a big catch-up trip, which will also be the first time to the country where I live for all of...

      My university friends and I (and everyone's significant others, so about ~15 people) are planning a big catch-up trip, which will also be the first time to the country where I live for all of them. Planning has been a little higher friction than I expected, because we want to coordinate travel times to specific cities ("let's spend 4 days in City A, then all go to City B" etc), but people also have specific activities only they want to do (scuba, theme parks, etc) within each city. However, there's way too much to choose from and there's no way we'll do everything that everyone wants to do.

      So right now to gauge interest in specific cities and attractions within them, we are just using a private Facebook group where people just make an idea as a post and people vote by liking it, and people can discuss the place in the comments. Things that we have fully decided are just placed on a spreadsheet. This process works but it doesn't feel great.

      I've also explored Wanderlog, and I really like the fact that you can easily search for stuff and then place it on a map, but unfortunately its UI doesn't really support "branching" trips where some people will do different things on a given day.

      What tools/processes have you had success with when trying to coordinate a big group trip?

      9 votes
    21. DOSbox help for a noob - mouse doesn't work at all

      First, forgive me for I am a first time DOSbox user. My O/S is Windows 10 home 64-bit I went to old games and grabbed Doom & Doom II. I use to play these quite a bit and remember them fondly. I...

      First, forgive me for I am a first time DOSbox user. My O/S is Windows 10 home 64-bit

      I went to old games and grabbed Doom & Doom II. I use to play these quite a bit and remember them fondly. I did the easy setup which added DOSbox 0.74 and the game. It loads up and runs just like I remember with the keyboard, just no mouse.

      I did searching online, but the only solutions seem to be making sure autolock=true in the config file, and using cntl-F10 to capture the mouse. Toggling cntl-F10 does seem to grab the mouse in that the cursor disappears, but the mouse still will not function in either full screen or windowed mode.

      I seem to be missing something obvious, but for the life of me I just don't see it. I'm reasonably computer savvy, but feeling stupid at the moment.

      Any advice would be appreciated. TIA

      Edit: Forked over the 5 bucks and went with the Steam version. Works perfectly.
      Thank you everyone for your advice.

      9 votes
    22. Recommendations for finding a local('ish?) repair for name brand quality headset?

      Hiya - I'm looking for some help because despite a lot of Google quality time, I'm sincerely struggling to get a solution. I have a Plantronics 4220 wireless headset that I use for work (and also...

      Hiya -

      I'm looking for some help because despite a lot of Google quality time, I'm sincerely struggling to get a solution.

      I have a Plantronics 4220 wireless headset that I use for work (and also to connect with Bluetooth to my PC at the same time between calls), and somehow the audio is starting to flake out. It's like it only gets audio in one ear, but if I tilt my head slightly it'll get into the other ear or sometimes both. Pretty weird... it's something I might expect from a wired headset where the cord itself is dying, but not on a wireless one like this.

      Anyhow, I'm very comfortable with tech stuff (building my own rigs for like 20 years now), but I've never really felt comfortable about iFixit kind of solutions where tools or hardware is involved with the hardware. I'd pretty much just rather throw a little money at a pro who can fix it in 5 minutes and charge me $50 or whatever, lol.

      However when I am going to look for places that might offer repair services, all I'm getting are locations in the US... but I'm in Canada. Specifically Ontario. Anyone have a source (from personal experience or otherwise) on how I might best look up a place I can get this fixed at? Figuring out what to search for on this subject seems oddly arcane!

      6 votes
    23. Any experience with making a board game?

      My friend and I embarked upon a journey over the past few months to create a tabletop board game. The interesting part is that we were motivated by the emergence of generative AI and the...

      My friend and I embarked upon a journey over the past few months to create a tabletop board game. The interesting part is that we were motivated by the emergence of generative AI and the capabilities it had in rapid prototyping concepts. On a whim we said, let's see how far we can push making a board game. We pushed Midjourney, ChatGPT, and a variety of creative tools to help build the foundation for our game. We both have design chops and are into diy, creative design, and 3d printing, and technology to help get this thing past the finish line.

      We are now at the point were after many iterative sessions, we have a functional and fun to play game! Our intention is to give it away as a free downloadable that folks can 3d print and paper print all the parts so they can play too! Huzzah! We are balancing the rules and creating the instructions which is not something we are relying on AI aside sticking to the theme. We are in search of inspirato on what makes gameplay fun for folks today.

      Question What are the most fun, exciting, or challenging aspects of any tabletop or board games you play? What keeps you engaged?

      EDIT
      I didn't give many specifics on the game itself, and figured it might help. Remember we used AI to come up with this storyline. The prompt was to write a story for a "Sci-fi Christmas Horror" board game...

      The basic premise is that you are attending a party at the North pole celebrating the research of Dr. Frost on ancient Christmas magic. Predictably things go bad, and you have to find your way out before it's too late and you are killed by a troop of Christmas themed monsters.

      The games objective is to work together to escape the facility by collecting sleigh parts, fighting monsters, navigating a maze in dark hallways, and visiting special rooms to solve puzzles. It's all kinds of ridiculous but fun it its own way.

      12 votes
    24. What game is your current addiction?

      Pretty much the title. We all play all sorts of games, and they generally are all good games. However, every once in a while you start a game that just hits the right notes and you hate putting...

      Pretty much the title. We all play all sorts of games, and they generally are all good games. However, every once in a while you start a game that just hits the right notes and you hate putting your controller or device down, and you can't stop thinking about things you want to do when you get back in front of that game. I figure we could post up our current addicting games so others can search them out as well :)

      My current addiction is Frostpunk. Got it on a whim from the Steam Summer sale, and my Lord am I addicted. It's a really good (to me) post civilization survival game where you try to establish and rebuild life with a new world around you. Surprisingly challenging and the scenarios are very fun. I bought it 2 weeks ago and have 63 hours into it.

      73 votes
    25. New users: Ask your questions about Tildes here! (v2)

      At over 600 comments and over a month old, v1 of the questions thread is due for retirement. Here’s a new, fresh one for all the users we are continuing to get. We have a lot of new users joining...

      At over 600 comments and over a month old, v1 of the questions thread is due for retirement. Here’s a new, fresh one for all the users we are continuing to get.


      We have a lot of new users joining the site. Welcome to Tildes!

      This thread is for you to ask any question you have about the site, from “what is the moderation philosophy?”to “what does that blue line next to some comments mean?” to “what is the general vibe like here?” Tildes has a lot of documentation, history, and embedded social norms that can be daunting or opaque at first glance, so here’s your opportunity to get help with anything you need.

      Questions about anything and everything are fair game. Follow-up questions are encouraged! No question is too simple.

      Also, a quick note: the only person who can speak in any official capacity on Tildes is our admin @Deimos. Everyone answering who is NOT him is just a helpful community member!

      It is perfectly okay to ask any question — even if you think it’s been asked before, or even if you didn’t search for an answer beforehand. Just ask away, and someone will answer you!

      96 votes
    26. Alternatives to Goodreads?

      I appreciate Goodreads for its pretty extensive catalogue of books, the ability to see reviews from other readers, and the social aspect of following what my friends are reading. However, I find...

      I appreciate Goodreads for its pretty extensive catalogue of books, the ability to see reviews from other readers, and the social aspect of following what my friends are reading. However, I find both the website and the app very slow and not very well designed. Plus, I liked to minimize my interactions with Amazon. Has anyone used or built any alternatives? While the features I listed above are nice, the only ones I would really want are:

      • The ability to quickly look up and add a book to my "want to read", and to keep track of books I have read
      • The ability to leave notes or reviews on books (not necessarily visible to others).

      I've started to keep a reading log in Notion which satisfies the second point above, but there's no easy way to search through a data base of books and add a book to one of my lists. It would be nice to be able to do so on the fly as I browse books at the store. So Tildeños, what solutions have you all come up with to track your reading?

      60 votes
    27. Getting older and nostalgia - what do you miss?

      I recently turned 36 and found a sense of nostalgia sending me down a rabbit hole, mostly around the "old internet" of my childhood. I know "old" is subjective, but for me, it was the time period...

      I recently turned 36 and found a sense of nostalgia sending me down a rabbit hole, mostly around the "old internet" of my childhood. I know "old" is subjective, but for me, it was the time period of like 1998 to 2005 - my middle and high school years.

      AOL had just really brought the internet to the masses. I remember the mad rush of trying to log in to the Nickelodeon chatrooms and messaging my friends on AIM. Up until AIM shutdown a few years ago, I would log on every once in a while to my old account and just look at the usernames - recognizing friends, and trying to place others.

      I had a group called "Pokemon" on my account, which sent me searching to find anything on an old Pokemon Battler bot for AIM that was by a developer, "CoolKid". I got to the point where I was beginning to think it was something I made up, before finally turning up "SuperPokemon! by CoolKid" on archive.org. I wonder whatever happened to the developer, as nothing about them remains on the internet, but I wish I could thank them for all the fun times I had with my friends.

      Which then led me down to thinking of some of the online friends from my past. In retrospect, I wasn't as careful as I should have been online, but I never had any bad experiences - everyone was super nice and helpful in the little communities I found myself in. I've only been here a few days, but tildes reminds me of that time in my life.

      Curious to hear from others: What random hits of nostalgia do you have you had lately? Is there some random, highly specific thing from your past that you miss, like my AIM Pokemon battler?

      56 votes
    28. How do you parent boys?

      I would be interested in tips, thoughts, and experiences folks have had with raising sons. I work in healthcare (in finance) and am acutely aware that most of my colleagues are women, as were most...

      I would be interested in tips, thoughts, and experiences folks have had with raising sons. I work in healthcare (in finance) and am acutely aware that most of my colleagues are women, as were most of my teachers, and class mates in college. With this in mind, it seems that the feminine side of raising sons is well represented. I've been reading and soul searching about good practices for the father of a son but would welcome all perspectives. Another interesting aspect is that I've found many parenting books to be focused on mothers rather than fathers. The few I've found that are focused tend to be religious/ Christian. Nothing wrong with that but would like to hear the collected wisdom here. To be clear I am hoping to get specific thoughts and actions rather than a broad topic with concepts and ideals.

      58 votes
    29. Question about this plate I found at a yard sale

      I recently got this plate at a yard sale and was curious if anyone has any info on it I did some reverse google image search and couldn’t find much on it. I’m not sure if this is number 28 made...

      I recently got this plate at a yard sale and was curious if anyone has any info on it
      I did some reverse google image search and couldn’t find much on it.
      I’m not sure if this is number 28 made out of so many or number 28 in a set.
      If this is a set I’d like to track down the rest and collect them because look how cool it is!!
      I also apologize if this isn’t the right place to post as I’m fairly new to tildes.

      https://imgur.com/a/6eUt9We

      7 votes
    30. Let's share some obscure forgotten tunes (<20K plays/views)

      I'm looking for weird or obscure music that few folks have given a listen. To keep things interesting, I'll try and post stuff I've stumbled upon and liked rather than cruising newly uploaded...

      I'm looking for weird or obscure music that few folks have given a listen. To keep things interesting, I'll try and post stuff I've stumbled upon and liked rather than cruising newly uploaded stuff. The 20K plays limit is a soft limit and is not cumulative, so just check the numbers one platform like Spotify, YouTube Music or whatever. If it's obscure on one platform, it's probably, though not necessarily, obscure elsewhere too. I'll just be using YT Music numbers.

      • Depois do Escuro - Kalouv at 377 views. Brazilian post-rock band. Not well known at least in my music circles. This song just slaps hard. It deserves more attention.

      • The Search - Dougie MacLean at 8.9K views. Scottish folk artist. Some of his stuff is much better known: one of his tracks for the inspiration for the Last of the Mohicans theme). This whole album was made the Loch Ness Monster Exhibition and is much better than it has any right to be for a tourist attraction.

      • Sólin Mun Skína - Rökkurró at 9.3K views. Icelandic pop and rock band. I like the lead vocal artist a lot. Edit: Their VEVO channel puts this one at 41K views, so it breaks my rules a bit. Oh well.

      • Modulus - Marcus Fjellström at 733 views. Swedish composer and artist who did mostly moody and surreal dreamscapes and ambient music. Sadly he passed away in 2017 after composing the score for the tv show The Terror (one of the few excellent survival horror shows). Not really "easy listening" but I'm really impressed with his work and wanted to share it.

      • Misery Needs Company - Lovedrug at 2.1K views. Indie/alt band. Great song. Simple as that.

      • The Lunar Effect - Kebu at 19K views. Kebu, a Finnish keyboardist and composer, does lots of old-school synth and electronic work like you'd find in the tradition of Jean Michel Jarre. Edit: The live performance of this song has like 300K views... so I really shouldn't include it here.

      • Summoning Lesser Demons - Ivar Tryti at 10.1K views. Ivar is a regular on the synthesizer discord which is how I found his stuff. He's a wizard with Elektron synths/samplers and gear so I keep up with his releases.

      If you're having trouble finding stuff <20K (I know I did when searching my history!) then increase the threshold to say 100K. If anybody has a good way to find rarer stuff, ideas are welcome. :)

      39 votes
    31. "Layered" music that builds throughout the song?

      Hi folks. I am searching for songs that, for lack of a better word, build up via "layers" as the song progresses. For example, Beethoven's 7th Symphony, Second Movement, The Boxer Rebellion's...

      Hi folks. I am searching for songs that, for lack of a better word, build up via "layers" as the song progresses. For example, Beethoven's 7th Symphony, Second Movement, The Boxer Rebellion's "Soviets", or Dave Matthew's Band's "Dancing Nancies". Do you have any recommendations? Perhaps a musician would be able to tell me what this type of music/structure is called?

      EDIT: Thank you so much to everyone who responded. There are some GREAT suggestions! I have a lot of listening to do!

      64 votes
    32. Would love to get recommendations for songs/musicians for my get-up-and-get-ready and workout playlists - like Doja Cat, Dua Lipa, Rina Sawayama, and/or Y2K pop like Britney Spears, LFO

      Hi everyone! I have a Y2K playlist for this (Britney Spears, LFO, Destiny's Child, etc.) and another playlist with more recent music (Doja Cat, Dua Lipa, Rina Sawayama, Ariana Grande, etc.)....

      Hi everyone!

      I have a Y2K playlist for this (Britney Spears, LFO, Destiny's Child, etc.) and another playlist with more recent music (Doja Cat, Dua Lipa, Rina Sawayama, Ariana Grande, etc.).

      Sample songs from these playlists:
      Rina Sawayama - XS
      Doja Cat - Like That
      Dua Lipa - Levitating
      Britney Spears - Gimme More
      LFO - Summer Girls
      Destiny's Child - Independent Women

      Hoping to get recommendations for songs/musicians with similar vibes. Or perhaps links to existing Tildes threads for this; I've already tried searching 90s pop / Y2K pop / Doja Cat.

      I use these playlists to help me get into a more energetic mood, usually for getting ready or for working out. I listen to almost all kinds of music so I'm also open to recommendations from other genres; the above's just been my mood lately.

      Thank you!

      16 votes