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    1. Disgust is awful!

      Oh no! My friend thinks she shouldn't use her nice ornamental coffee pot, because it is made of aluminum! Nevermind that there might be science developing somewhere that this substance may be some...

      Oh no! My friend thinks she shouldn't use her nice ornamental coffee pot, because it is made of aluminum! Nevermind that there might be science developing somewhere that this substance may be some kind of innocuous which is not total. It's just horrible that that is how people make decisions
      sometimes!

      I got really defensive when I started hearing that people would avoid plastic bottles. Seemed like the kind of discernment that could only put me out of touch with things which are available. Go get your coffee pot! I doubt that you'll ever be able to tell if it ever impacted your health. Another friend of mine has a whole crop of prohibitions. He liked some of my clothes and talked about borrowing them until he found out they included polyesters, at which point he completely dropped interest and then I just felt put down for going on with something he had rejected. I thought, why did he speculate to me at all, knowing he had that sort of judgment still pending? Disgust should be unspeakable! but people bring it out with such righteousness, like "wouldn't you like to be healthier, away from all these awful things"? I also feel this way about smells. I hate how people respond to perceptible odors. Everyone is so sure of their opinions. Someone please come out with me for this. Unless you're struggling to breathe I really do not want to hear what you think about a smell. You're just going to interpret the world as being a worse place to be and that habit is what disgusts me!

      3 votes
    2. The Boy With Green Hair - a review

      I just watched an old movie on television: The Boy With Green Hair. It’s a boring afternoon, with nothing to do, and I thought this old 1948 movie would be a pleasant way to kill an hour or two. I...

      I just watched an old movie on television: The Boy With Green Hair. It’s a boring afternoon, with nothing to do, and I thought this old 1948 movie would be a pleasant way to kill an hour or two.

      I was wrong.

      It moved me to tears.

      It stars Dean Stockwell, whose name I recognised from ‘Battlestar Galactica’, as a child actor, which is one reason I decided to watch it. He gives a great performance. Doing a bit of research, it looks like he was dragged into acting by his performer parents. His Wikipedia page quotes him as saying he didn’t enjoy acting. Despite that, he was great in this movie.

      It also has ‘Nature Boy’ as its theme song, which I know from ‘Moulin Rouge’.

      The movie itself is a powerful anti-war message. The central character is Peter, a war orphan (the aforementioned Stockwell). After being placed with a number of different relatives, he ends up with a kindly old ex-Vaudeville performer he calls “Gramp” (who he’s not actually related to). Gramp’s a sweet old man, played very sympathetically by an actor called Pat O’Brien.

      Peter doesn’t know he’s a war orphan. He thinks his parents are still on a trip. (A very long trip!) His school holds a charity drive to collect clothes for war orphans, and one of Peter’s classmates tells him, quite matter-of-factly, that Peter is a war orphan: their teacher said so. Peter rejects this, and they get into a fight. Gramp is there, and he confirms the news.

      Later that evening, Gramp is reminiscing to Peter about his old flame Eileen, who loved having “a spot o’ green” around the place (a plant) to remind her of Spring and hope. To cheer Peter up, he promises him a surprise in the morning.

      The next morning, after taking a bath, Peter’s hair has turned green. He assumes this is Gramp’s surprise, and it cheers him up. It’s not. Gramp knows nothing about it. In fact, the cause of the green hair is never revealed.

      When Peter finds out the green hair is not from Gramp, he hates it and wants to get rid of it. However, they’re unable to figure out a cause, and Peter’s unwilling to “paint” his hair (dye it) or cut it off, so he’s stuck with it.

      It’s hard to explain why this movie moved me, without giving away certain important plot points. If you don’t want too many spoilers, watch this trailer and stop reading now, until you’ve watched the movie for yourself.

      If, like me, you’re not fussed about spoilers, read on. (Spoiler alert: spoilers make you enjoy stories more)

      Here be spoilers!

      Peter runs away after the other boys try to cut off his green hair, and he meets the war orphans from the posters at his school. It’s not clear whether this is a vision and the war orphans are actually speaking to Peter, or whether it’s just Peter’s dream, but it’s real enough to Peter. The orphans tell Peter that his hair is green because it represents Spring and hope. They further tell Peter that he should use his noticeable hair to spread the message that war is bad for children.

      Interestingly, the girl who says this to Peter tells him that he should spread the message to all the countries, and then names five countries – who just happen to be the five permanent members of the recently formed United Nations Security Council.

      Peter goes home to tell Gramp. When Peter says he wants to keep his hair green, it brought a tear to my eye. He then goes around town, telling everyone that war is bad for children.

      But things turn bad. The other kids don’t like his green hair; he’s different, and the kids make fun of him. The adults don’t like his anti-war message; he’s different, and must conform.

      This leads to the scene that moved me to tears. I never thought that watching someone getting his hair cut could make me cry. But seeing Peter give in and agree to have his green hair shaved off brought tears to my eyes. For some reason, half the town turns up at the barber shop to watch. Halfway through the process, Gramp realises his error in advising Peter to do this, and he turns away in shame. Meanwhile, I couldn’t take my eyes off Peter as his green curls fall to the floor.

      I have to say there were some plotholes in this movie. It’s far from perfect.

      Reading the backstory, it’s based on a short story which doesn’t mention war: it’s originally an allegory for racism, which is reflected in one scene in the movie where Peter’s teacher takes a roll call of students by hair colour. The adaptations to make it an anti-war message were inserted by the director, which makes it a bit clunky and obvious.

      And, supposedly, the progressive movie studio executive who signed off on the movie was replaced by a conservative executive during production, who tried to change it into a pro-war movie. The movie is therefore a bit patchy and disconnected at points.

      But it has heart. The two central actors, playing Peter and Gramp, carry most of the movie. The actor playing the teacher is also sympathetic and warm.

      It's not a great movie, but the central performances are strong and the messages are powerful.

      Some sources I found tell of Stockwell talking back to the conservative executive when the executive lectured him in favour of war, so Stockwell supported the message of the movie, even as a 12-year-old boy.

      This was just supposed to be an old movie to distract me for an hour and a half on a boring afternoon. Instead, it grabbed my attention for the whole 90 minutes, and moved me deeply. So deeply that I just had to share it with someone. I considered putting this in @kfwyre’s Tildes Pop-Up Movie Event thread, but the 1940s slot is already taken. Not that I’m upset by that. I’m very glad I watched this movie, for its own sake.

      4 votes
    3. What have you been listening to this week?

      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...

      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.

      3 votes
    4. Weekly megathread for news/updates/discussion of Russian invasion of Ukraine - February 23

      This thread is posted weekly on Thursday - please try to post relevant content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Especially significant updates may warrant a separate topic,...

      This thread is posted weekly on Thursday - please try to post relevant content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Especially significant updates may warrant a separate topic, but most should be posted here.

      If you'd like to help support Ukraine, please visit the official site at https://help.gov.ua/ - an official portal for those who want to provide humanitarian or financial assistance to people of Ukraine, businesses or the government at the times of resistance against the Russian aggression.

      12 votes
    5. Tildes Video Thread

      So, quite a few people don't like/watch video content, and don't like seeing the homepage filled with videos. Let's try something new, see if it sticks. What are the best videos you have watched...

      So, quite a few people don't like/watch video content, and don't like seeing the homepage filled with videos. Let's try something new, see if it sticks.

      What are the best videos you have watched this past week/fortnight?

      5 votes
    6. Does anyone actually like canned beans?

      Yes, I’m totally serious. If you find a recipe online that includes beans in the ingredients list, chances are that it calls for canned beans. And I honestly don’t know why. Canned beans are...

      Yes, I’m totally serious.

      If you find a recipe online that includes beans in the ingredients list, chances are that it calls for canned beans. And I honestly don’t know why. Canned beans are terrible.

      To be specific I am not talking about flavored beans. Beans in tomato sauce or a sugary sauce for baked or barbecue beans tend to be OK. It’s the unflavored ones that bother me.

      I could only wish that a lack of flavor was the only problem with canned beans, but in addition to that they also tend to have a sharp metallic taste. I don’t even know how that can happen. Canned tomatoes don’t taste that bad. Are they just not cleaning the cans before they put the beans in them?

      We are living in an age where it’s surprisingly common for people to have access to pressure cookers which can cook dry beans en masse within an hour’s time. And the result will be properly nutty, buttery, and creamy like they are supposed to taste.

      I get that canned beans are always going to be more convenient, but they taste so much worse that I honestly don’t think the resulting dish should be called the same thing.

      Am I the only one who feels this way?

      15 votes
    7. Dear Quora, please stop holding information hostage on the internet and remove the paywall

      The benefits of a free and open Internet is something that the millennial generation created long ago to make this world a better place and full of opportunities for everyone, not just those who...

      The benefits of a free and open Internet is something that the millennial generation created long ago to make this world a better place and full of opportunities for everyone, not just those who can afford access to it. These benefits are something that makers of quora platform themselves used in the form of open source software like Python, Django, HTML, etc. to build that very platform in the first place.

      But now, by denying those benefits to others and bringing in a paywall, quora is striking on its own proverbial roots. There are much better ways to reward their content creators than holding their answers hostage with a paywall. The plain old advertising revenue sharing model can be still used, just like Adsense does. This is a win-win thing where everyone gains including the platform, content-creator and advertiser.

      It's extremely important to oppose this paywall move by quora because this attacks the very foundation of the free and open Internet as we know it. Imagine what happens tomorrow if other informative sites like StackOverflow, Wikipedia, etc. start following quora's path. Imagine the plight of the poor and under-privileged sections of the society who cannot afford costly subscription to information. And yet, as members of the evolved human race of 2023, they very much deserve access to this information.

      I urge all netizens who consider themselves part of this free and open culture tribe to sign this petition and through it, convey our grievance to quora and let them know why this is wrong and what is at stake (our freedom).

      If you agree with my cause, I urge you to sign this change.org petition created in this regard requesting Quora to revert the Paywall move.

      5 votes
    8. What have you been listening to this week?

      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...

      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.

      6 votes
    9. How can I push/inspire myself to learn JavaScript and Node?

      I'm a full stack dev and my current use of JavaScript language is limited to making the best (read trivial) use of jquery for DOM manipulation in my web apps which primarily use PHP or Python...

      I'm a full stack dev and my current use of JavaScript language is limited to making the best (read trivial) use of jquery for DOM manipulation in my web apps which primarily use PHP or Python (Flask/Django) as backend.

      Now, have you watched that popular thriller movie called Inception which is based on a radical sci-fi concept that an idea or thought can be implanted into someone remotely?

      Just like that, I often find myself facing this strange idea that JavaScript is supposed to be just a toy running inside the web browser. No idea where exactly this idea came from! Each time I try to learn JS or think of getting deeper with things like npm, react, etc., this idea just pops up and kinda stops me from doing anything!

      Is there any way to get rid of this idea somehow?

      9 votes
    10. Weekly megathread for news/updates/discussion of Russian invasion of Ukraine - February 16

      This thread is posted weekly on Thursday - please try to post relevant content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Especially significant updates may warrant a separate topic,...

      This thread is posted weekly on Thursday - please try to post relevant content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Especially significant updates may warrant a separate topic, but most should be posted here.

      If you'd like to help support Ukraine, please visit the official site at https://help.gov.ua/ - an official portal for those who want to provide humanitarian or financial assistance to people of Ukraine, businesses or the government at the times of resistance against the Russian aggression.

      9 votes
    11. A wonderfully succinct explanation of glucose and T2 diabetes

      By Reddit user Vapourtrails89. I wanted to share this exceptionally clear explanation of the mechanisms of blood sugar and diabetes....

      By Reddit user Vapourtrails89. I wanted to share this exceptionally clear explanation of the mechanisms of blood sugar and diabetes.

      https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/112yj0o/why_are_high_glycemic_index_foods_such_as_simple/

      The higher the glycemic index, the faster the carbs are broken down into sugar and absorbed into the blood stream. Simple carbs absorb quickly, which means that your blood glucose level will rapidly increase. This causes the pancreas to release insulin so that cells will absorb the glucose out of the blood, to prevent hyperosmolarity (the blood becoming too sugary and sticky).

      The insulin release will cause your blood sugar to crash, and be stored in the cells as glycogen. This has a dual effect. It will mean you get hungry again quickly, as your brain senses the low blood sugar and sends hunger signals, and you will likely crave simple carbs as you will have learnt to associate these with a quick rise in blood sugar, which in turn produces a reward signal in the brain. This leads to a cycle of eating simple carbs, getting hungry quickly, and over eating. Excess glucose in the blood can be converted to adipose tissue, which leads to obesity.

      The cells start to reach their limits for glucose storage in the form of glycogen. At this point they start to resist the insulin signal. This is known as insulin resistance. The exact mechanism for insulin resistance is not known. It seems that the more excess adipose tissue you have, the more insulin resistance you will have. It makes sense as if you have excess adipose, your cells will likely be storing as much glycogen as they can, so they are unable to respond to the insulin signal by taking up more.

      When your insulin cannot bring your blood sugar under control, you have diabetes.

      Diabetes can either be a failure of insulin production (type 1) or a failure of cells to respond to insulin (type 2)

      10 votes
    12. Any retro computer kits with 10 Mbit ethernet?

      I've always been enticed by 8 bit computer projects like this but I've never bought any because I can't think of anything I'd do with them given their self-contained nature. Even a really...

      I've always been enticed by 8 bit computer projects like this but I've never bought any because I can't think of anything I'd do with them given their self-contained nature. Even a really primitive ethernet controller would explode the project possibilities. Does anything like that exist?

      4 votes
    13. How do Xubuntu and Linux Mint XFCE Edition compare in terms of lightness and performance?

      I'm considering moving back to the Linux world after having jumped ship to Windows around Ubuntu 20.04, mostly due to increasing bloat, snap and other things I don't recall. I've used Xubuntu in...

      I'm considering moving back to the Linux world after having jumped ship to Windows around Ubuntu 20.04, mostly due to increasing bloat, snap and other things I don't recall.

      I've used Xubuntu in the past, the Thunderbird theme was good but I was disappointed by how little customization was allowed there, even the selection of wallpapers seems bland, especially when I compare it to Mint now. Even when it comes to UX experience, it seems Mint puts a lot of effort in enhancing the user experience?

      So how do these two compare in terms of performance? As long as the difference isn't substantial, I'm leaning towards Linux Mint now mostly because of two reasons:

      1. Better UX, selection of wallpapers, customizing ability, etc. as described above.
      2. Mint is a community project unlike Canonical which is corporate, I like this aspect too.

      What is your own preference in this regard and what do you suggest?

      4 votes
    14. What will "classically trained" look like for computer science and digital literacy?

      This might be a weird framing but it's been bugging me for a few days. Many fields have a concept of classical training -- this is most common in music but applies in the humanities and many other...

      This might be a weird framing but it's been bugging me for a few days. Many fields have a concept of classical training -- this is most common in music but applies in the humanities and many other areas. For example I do a lot of CAD work for my job, but I received what I would consider a "classical education" in design...I learned to draft by hand and physically model before I was ever allowed to work digitally. I got a lot of value out of this approach and it still informs the way I work today.

      A lot of people view computers and technology as modern and almost anti-classical, but as the tech industry matures and the internet moves from something shiny and new to something foundational to our society, what will the new classicism look like?

      Thanks for reading my question.

      14 votes
    15. What have you been listening to this week?

      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...

      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.

      5 votes
    16. Request: Alternatives to the Raspberry Pi?

      I will shortly have need for a small, low power (power as in watts, not compute power) system for always-on Home Assistant use. However, Raspberry Pis are out of stock everywhere and while they...

      I will shortly have need for a small, low power (power as in watts, not compute power) system for always-on Home Assistant use. However, Raspberry Pis are out of stock everywhere and while they can be had for extortionate prices on various auction/marketplace sites, I'm not sure I want to spend a load of money on something which might not even be what it claims to be.

      Home Assistant suggest Odroid which I'd probably go for the C4 edition but it's relatively expensive (I need to add an MMC and a psu and various other things to the listed main board price)

      Any suggestions? The Asus Tinkerboard looks overkill and is very expensive. It needs to be capable of running a standard Linux distro, ideally Home Assistant's own OS. Low power consumption is a definite, 2-3W at idle is probably the maximum I'd be happy with. Wifi is a bonus although not required right now - but the ability to add it if needed is essential. Some amount of expansion capability would be good if I want to add hardware sensors or bluetooth or a Zigbee transceiver or whatever. It needs some reasonably amount of compute grunt I assume but I don't think HA is all that hungry for number crunching power. The machine will more than likely be headless at first but a little bit of GPU and graphical IO would be handy if I want to stick a display on it in the future, which I might want to.

      Any ideas? Oh, and also must be easily available in/to the UK.

      15 votes
    17. Weekly megathread for news/updates/discussion of Russian invasion of Ukraine - February 9

      This thread is posted weekly on Thursday - please try to post relevant content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Especially significant updates may warrant a separate topic,...

      This thread is posted weekly on Thursday - please try to post relevant content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Especially significant updates may warrant a separate topic, but most should be posted here.

      If you'd like to help support Ukraine, please visit the official site at https://help.gov.ua/ - an official portal for those who want to provide humanitarian or financial assistance to people of Ukraine, businesses or the government at the times of resistance against the Russian aggression.

      12 votes
    18. What’s the genre name for “Vampire Survivors-like”?

      This type of game seems to be the new hotness right now, and there are now enough that I feel like they’ll need their own genre identifier. Is there a broadly accepted one? If so, is it good? And,...

      This type of game seems to be the new hotness right now, and there are now enough that I feel like they’ll need their own genre identifier.

      Is there a broadly accepted one? If so, is it good?

      And, if not, what do you think games of that type should be called?

      I’ve see a few suggestions here and there, but none of them have felt right to me. I’m interested in almost theorycrafting the optimal genre identifier (in the vein of “procedural death labyrinth”). What are the unifying traits of games of these types, how do we best identify them without simply stringing together other genres (e.g. “reverse bullet hell idle action roguelike”), and what can we use that has “stickiness” as a term?

      10 votes
    19. Tildes Video Thread

      So, quite a few people don't like/watch video content, and don't like seeing the homepage filled with videos. Let's try something new, see if it sticks. What are the best videos you have watched...

      So, quite a few people don't like/watch video content, and don't like seeing the homepage filled with videos. Let's try something new, see if it sticks.

      What are the best videos you have watched this past week/fortnight?

      4 votes
    20. Weekly coronavirus-related chat, questions, and minor updates - week of February 6

      This thread is posted weekly, and is intended as a place for more-casual discussion of the coronavirus and questions/updates that may not warrant their own dedicated topics. Tell us about what the...

      This thread is posted weekly, and is intended as a place for more-casual discussion of the coronavirus and questions/updates that may not warrant their own dedicated topics. Tell us about what the situation is like where you live!

      7 votes
    21. What have you been listening to this week?

      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...

      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.

      3 votes
    22. Weekly megathread for news/updates/discussion of Russian invasion of Ukraine - February 2

      This thread is posted weekly on Thursday - please try to post relevant content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Especially significant updates may warrant a separate topic,...

      This thread is posted weekly on Thursday - please try to post relevant content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Especially significant updates may warrant a separate topic, but most should be posted here.

      If you'd like to help support Ukraine, please visit the official site at https://help.gov.ua/ - an official portal for those who want to provide humanitarian or financial assistance to people of Ukraine, businesses or the government at the times of resistance against the Russian aggression.

      12 votes
    23. What are your favorite album covers?

      Link to images of some of your favorite album art and, importantly, tell us why you like each one so much. Aesthetics alone? How it captures the feel of the album itself? Its connection to the...

      Link to images of some of your favorite album art and, importantly, tell us why you like each one so much. Aesthetics alone? How it captures the feel of the album itself? Its connection to the lyrics? Something else entirely?

      5 votes
    24. Weekly coronavirus-related chat, questions, and minor updates - week of January 30

      This thread is posted weekly, and is intended as a place for more-casual discussion of the coronavirus and questions/updates that may not warrant their own dedicated topics. Tell us about what the...

      This thread is posted weekly, and is intended as a place for more-casual discussion of the coronavirus and questions/updates that may not warrant their own dedicated topics. Tell us about what the situation is like where you live!

      1 vote
    25. What have you been listening to this week?

      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...

      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.

      5 votes
    26. Which web browser do you use?

      Most of the world seems to be settled around Chrome and Safari these days. I remember using Firefox a long time ago myself but then everyone started switching to Chrome and that also turned out to...

      Most of the world seems to be settled around Chrome and Safari these days. I remember using Firefox a long time ago myself but then everyone started switching to Chrome and that also turned out to be a natural path of least resistance for web developers like me who had to test web apps in local environment.

      This switch happened in circa 2015-16 if I recall correctly, many other browsers have evolved since then and people are looking at alternatives. The Android Kiwi browser, for example, is a great alternative for power users on mobile who need plugins but Chrome won't allow that. Other alternatives have evolved too like Brendan Eich's Brave browser which seems to be promising. Anyone here tried that yet?

      I have half a mind to go back to Firefox but I recently learned about how Mozilla Corp is also funded by Google and that turned me off. Wouldn't you rather want to deal with the Devil directly instead of the Devil's assistant or sidekick!

      And then there are also those who use Garibaldi, Midori, etc. but I can't go that purist way. I'm way too dependent on the digital way of life and sites like amazon and flipkart won't work in those browsers. What do you think should be the right path ahead from here?

      24 votes
    27. Headphone/earbud recommendation - Is there one product that fits all my needs?

      For the past week, I have been researching headphones/earbuds, buying them, and then cancelling the order immediately because I realized I was making a compromise on what I am wanting. Not a crazy...

      For the past week, I have been researching headphones/earbuds, buying them, and then cancelling the order immediately because I realized I was making a compromise on what I am wanting. Not a crazy amount of cancelled purchases, just maybe...three.

      Anyways, I am in the market for the holy grail of headphones or earbuds that fits my needs but I am thinking I might have to buy multiple for the different scenarios that I am looking for. Which are:

      • Preferably earbuds so I can take one out if I need to have an ear free for something.
      • Great mic quality - I want to be able to use these for work call and when I go outside to walk. Really need something that handles wind and background noise pretty well that doesn't leave the other person on the phone annoyed talking to me. I don't want to walk around with a boom mic in front of face though.
      • No preference on wired or wireless. If wired, I would like direct USB-C so I don't have to think about dongles or anything. I also read that mic quality degrades with Bluetooth? Not sure how accurate that is but the consensus I have read was that wired earbuds have better mics than Bluetooth. Wireless would be amazing if I knew that everything else worked well. I would take a short battery life to have top notch everything else.
      • Decent sound quality for music. I already have a pair of aftershokz that I use for working out so I'm not stranger to compromised sound quality. But when I go out on walks I want to listen to language podcasts so I can hear clearly.
      • Active noise cancelling - longshot but this would just be nice to have since I have gotten a taste for these with my Sony headphones.

      I would be interested to hear your product recommendations or solutions to my wants. I have a feeling that the perfect product doesn't exist but at the bare minimum I would take something that sounds decent and has a good mic that handles outdoor sounds well. ANC and wireless are optional but would be very amazing to have.

      I would be using these with a Samsung S22.

      9 votes
    28. Weekly megathread for news/updates/discussion of Russian invasion of Ukraine - January 26

      This thread is posted weekly on Thursday - please try to post relevant content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Especially significant updates may warrant a separate topic,...

      This thread is posted weekly on Thursday - please try to post relevant content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Especially significant updates may warrant a separate topic, but most should be posted here.

      If you'd like to help support Ukraine, please visit the official site at https://help.gov.ua/ - an official portal for those who want to provide humanitarian or financial assistance to people of Ukraine, businesses or the government at the times of resistance against the Russian aggression.

      10 votes
    29. What advice would you give to someone who has coded in jquery for years and now wants to gracefully switch to modern js?

      Title says it all. Bootstrap+jquery has been my default route and path of least resistance when it comes to web development. Perhaps because I'm coding since a long time and belong to the old...

      Title says it all. Bootstrap+jquery has been my default route and path of least resistance when it comes to web development. Perhaps because I'm coding since a long time and belong to the old school when modern libraries like react weren't yet invented yet?

      I had tried to meddle with Angular.js 1.0 back in those days but was soon disillusioned! It was cool and cutting edge but highly opinionated. It tried to do so many things under the hood that I soon quit the effort and the word "Angular" was stigmatized in my mind ever since! I don't know how different today's typescript based Angular is but that stigma or phobia prevents me from even looking at that direction!

      React is another cool technology which everyone is talking about and I'm sure it has some merits. But I'm not sure exactly what React brings to my development workflow which jquery doesn't already do. Can you tell me some specific advantages or pros of react over jquery which can motivate me to learn the former and let go of the latter? What should I do?

      7 votes
    30. Food suggestions, dieting help

      I'm trying to change some nasty habits at the moment. My year's theme is self control, and beating addictions is a large part of it. The symptoms I've been trying to fight off since last year:...

      I'm trying to change some nasty habits at the moment. My year's theme is self control, and beating addictions is a large part of it.

      The symptoms I've been trying to fight off since last year: Snacking often, eating portions too large, eating past hunger/always finishing my plate even if I feel full, craving greasy fast food, craving sweets/sugar.

      Progress is mixed. I'm trying a lot of things; I've reintroduced a 20:4 IF routine (my body is naturally somewhere around 16:8 - I never have breakfast) but I've had a lot of trouble obeying it for more than a few days.

      I'm realizing, today, that one thing I have not really been looking at is the cravings. This HN thread is what clicked for me. I know that on a "healthier" diet, I crave very different things.

      I'm looking at options on what I can introduce (gradually) to start getting my gut used to different classes of foods. I don't intend to switch to being vegan/vegetarian, I'm just looking to stop craving fat, salt, and sugar.
      Or rather, not necessarily crave, but "if I see it I want it" kind of thing. I want to be able to look at a packet of crisps and think "blergh" by default, even if I'm hungry.


      What advice I am looking for: Suggestions on snack replacements, juices, various tasty meals etc; things I can actually go for from day 1. I am not looking to do any large swaps. I am also not looking for extra effort; right now, a 99 percent of my meals are either store-bought, microwaved, or restaurant/takeout. I don't cook because I don't enjoy it nor usually have the time.

      Example: I've decided to introduce ginger shots to my diet, see if it'll help. I'm also going to try having carrots on-hand more often as I really like those.

      Note 1: I am considering giving Hello Fresh a shot next month, since I've never actually tried it, but I'm lukewarm on what'll happen.

      Note 2: Allergic to bell pepper; dislike eggplant, celery, zucchini.

      12 votes
    31. Tildes Video Thread

      So, quite a few people don't like/watch video content, and don't like seeing the homepage filled with videos. Let's try something new, see if it sticks. What are the best videos you have watched...

      So, quite a few people don't like/watch video content, and don't like seeing the homepage filled with videos. Let's try something new, see if it sticks.

      What are the best videos you have watched this past week/fortnight?

      5 votes
    32. Browser Session vs JWT tokens for authentication system for an app?

      I'm working on an app idea, it's going to be "API first" in design which means there is a clear separation between the backend and frontend. Former will be accessible through a REST API and the...

      I'm working on an app idea, it's going to be "API first" in design which means there is a clear separation between the backend and frontend. Former will be accessible through a REST API and the latter can be simple HTML without me having to delve too much on it. The idea is that the end users or clients will write their own front-end interacting with this REST API in future.

      Firstly, I want to know where to start. Writing a REST API seems quite easy and simple for me as a backend engineer but I've never implemented a "pure API" app in practice. Do you just validate the headers, do the crunching and return back a JSON response? What all must you take care of here?

      Finally, authentication and session handling is something very important here, isn't it? If I make use of session feature in the REST API (like PHP sessions or Django sessions, for eg), authentication will be pretty easier. I don't have to worry about encryption as SSL/TLS would be already doing that for me through the browser. But then what is the downside of this method? Why do so many people use JWT tokens then?

      Coming to JWT tokens, is that the only way of encrypting/validating REST APIs, or are there others? My biggest concern here is scaling and performance. I'm willing to implement the most efficient path here, the one that gives the most performance using least resources.

      3 votes
    33. Oscar nominations are announced tomorrow, what would be a nomination that makes you happy?

      For me, as much as I didn’t care for the film, This is a Life from EEAAO getting into original song would make me incredibly happy. It’s such a good song and indie songs like it rarely get...

      For me, as much as I didn’t care for the film, This is a Life from EEAAO getting into original song would make me incredibly happy. It’s such a good song and indie songs like it rarely get nominated.

      Another one would be Glass Onion getting into Supporting Actress and Costumes.

      5 votes
    34. Weekly coronavirus-related chat, questions, and minor updates - week of January 23

      This thread is posted weekly, and is intended as a place for more-casual discussion of the coronavirus and questions/updates that may not warrant their own dedicated topics. Tell us about what the...

      This thread is posted weekly, and is intended as a place for more-casual discussion of the coronavirus and questions/updates that may not warrant their own dedicated topics. Tell us about what the situation is like where you live!

      3 votes
    35. What is the present state of NPM Packaging System?

      As I recall, about 2-3 years ago I had experimented with what is called the npm install xyz through some tutorials, etc. The objective was to improve my tooling or toolchain at least with things...

      As I recall, about 2-3 years ago I had experimented with what is called the npm install xyz through some tutorials, etc. The objective was to improve my tooling or toolchain at least with things like css/js minification, etc. along with Bootstrap customization. The idea was to then move on to other newer learnings like react, etc.

      But I was soon disgruntled by the whole process! Neither bootstrap turned out to be an easy horse to tame, and NPM was like this astronomical universe of packages that keep on downloading into your folders! I soon lost taste of the whole thing and kept using my tried and tested stack of PHP scripts and using stock Bootstrap through CDNs.

      But today, I want to give it another shot. Has NPM improved than earlier days? What is the best way to go about building a toolchain using it? Are there any useful guides that make the whole process easier to digest?

      6 votes
    36. What have you been listening to this week?

      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...

      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.

      3 votes
    37. Docker rootless and Watchtower and some general questions about Docker

      I finally decided to accepted that my interest in working and playing with computers and servers is worth to spend some money on. So I ditched my old box in the corner and with it all my fights...

      I finally decided to accepted that my interest in working and playing with computers and servers is worth to spend some money on. So I ditched my old box in the corner and with it all my fights with my ISP, their NAT, dynamic DNS and all that and got myself a VPS and 1 TB storage solution for less than I would have paid a static IP with my ISP.
      Best decicion ever :-)

      So I'm getting into Docker a bit, just because it's just so easy to get Nextcloud running. I used native Caddy as a reverse proxy, because if I got this "machine" there I will use it for other things as well, so make it right from the beginning. And I used native b.c I did not yet understand bridge/host mode and installing caddy native seems easier.
      Then I fought for one day with CIFS and the nextcloud gui to get the semantics right to get my storage solution accepted as external storage.
      Then I set up Jellyfin with Docker because why not. As well through caddy.
      Then I fucked something up and was like, fuck it, lets start again this time for real :-P
      I wiped my VPS clean (chose ubuntu again) set up and hardend ssh + sudo installed Docker, and then I found out about docker rootless and in the docker docs it's mentioned that it is/might be more secure, so I set up docker rootless and installed all the rest again.
      And then I was like, hmm, do these Docker Images/Containers update themself? Like snap did?
      It seems not, so I looked for a solution and found watchtower. And now I wasted another day trying to get watchtower to run, and I just can not.

      I tried so many variations of the run command now most recently I tried:

      docker run \
      --name watchtower \
      -v ${DOCKER_SOCKET_PATH}:/var/run/docker.sock \
      containrrr/watchtower
      
      time="2023-01-20T01:17:41Z" level=error msg="Cannot connect to the Docker daemon at unix:///var/run/docker.sock. Is the docker daemon running?"
      time="2023-01-20T01:17:41Z" level=info msg="Waiting for the notification goroutine to finish" notify=no
      

      /run/user/1000/docker.sock exists, I own it, i tried connecting to it through docker -e and containrrr/watchtower --host "unix:///run/user/1000/docker.sock"
      I dont now what to try more and I'm at my end with my ddg-fu as well.

      And now while proofreading this, I read everything again and decided to try something again and it just worked...

      docker run \
      --name watchtower \
      -v /run/user/1000/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
      containrrr/watchtower
      

      seems like the environment variable was not set. But I'm shure I tried that before and it did not work... ghost in a machine :-)

      So thats where I'm at. I have to say it was a lot of fun and doing and learning all that tingled my brain in a funny way :-)

      But now I have some questions for my much more experienced Tildes-friends:

      • Do I even need watchtower? because I'm not actually interested to connect to my server regularly to do the updates/maintenance.
      • Was switching to docker rootless even a good idea? it seemed so reading the docker installation docs, but just now I read the Archwiki and there it seems it has some heavy security implications, so I made the security situation acutally worse by thinking making it better.
      • How do I get this watchtower thing to fucking work? (only if I actually need it)

      I very much appreciate all further/other advise, tricks, recomendations, questions and discussion as well :-)

      4 votes
    38. Final 2023 Oscar predictions

      pending Picture The Banshees of Inisherin Everything Everywhere All At Once TÁR The Fabelmans Top Gun: Maverick Elvis Avatar: The Way of Water The Whale All Quiet on the Western Front Triangle of...

      pending

      Picture

      1. The Banshees of Inisherin
      2. Everything Everywhere All At Once
      3. TÁR
      4. The Fabelmans
      5. Top Gun: Maverick
      6. Elvis
      7. Avatar: The Way of Water
      8. The Whale
      9. All Quiet on the Western Front
      10. Triangle of Sadness

      Director

      1. Steven Spielberg - The Fabelmans
      2. Daniels - Everything Everywhere All At Once
      3. Martin McDonagh - The Banshees of Inisherin
      4. Todd Field - TÁR
      5. Edward Berger - All Quiet on the Western Front

      Original Screenplay

      1. The Banshees of Inisherin
      2. Everything Everywhere All At Once
      3. TÁR
      4. The Fabelmans
      5. Triangle of Sadness

      Adapted Screenplay

      1. All Quiet on the Western Front
      2. The Whale
      3. Living
      4. Glass Onion
      5. Women Talking

      Lead Actor

      1. Colin Farrell - The Banshees of Inisherin
      2. Brendan Fraser - The Whale
      3. Austin Butler - Elvis
      4. Bill Nighy - Living
      5. Hugh Jackman - The Son

      Lead Actress

      1. Cate Blanchett - TÁR
      2. Michelle Yeoh - Everything Everywhere All At Once
      3. Ana De Armas - Blonde
      4. Danielle Deadwyler - Till
      5. Michelle Williams - The Fabelmans

      Best Supporting Actor

      1. Kerry Condon - The Banshees of Inisherin
      2. Angela Bassett - Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
      3. Jamie Lee Curtis - Everything Everywhere All At Once
      4. Hong Chau - The Whale
      5. Dolly De Leon - Triangle of Sadness

      Best Supporting Actor

      1. Ke Huy Quan - Everything Everywhere All At Once
      2. Brendan Gleeson - The Banshees of Inisherin
      3. Barry Keoghan - The Banshees of Inisherin
      4. Paul Dano - The Fabelmans
      5. Eddie Redmayne - The Good Nurse

      Cinematography

      1. Top Gun: Maverick
      2. The Batman
      3. Empire of Light
      4. Elvis
      5. All Quiet on the Western Front

      Costume Design

      1. Elvis
      2. Babylon
      3. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
      4. Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris
      5. The Fabelmans

      Film Editing

      1. Top Gun: Maverick
      2. Everything Everywhere All At Once
      3. Elvis
      4. The Banshees of Inisherin
      5. TÁR

      Makeup and Hairstyling

      1. The Whale
      2. Elvis
      3. Babylon
      4. The Batman
      5. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

      Production Design

      1. Babylon
      2. Avatar: The Way of Water
      3. The Fabelmans
      4. Elvis
      5. All Quiet on the Western Front

      Original Score

      1. Babylon
      2. The Banshees of Inisherin
      3. The Fabelmans
      4. Pinocchio
      5. All Quiet on the Western Front

      Original Song

      1. Naatu Naatu - RRR
      2. Hold My Hand - Top Gun: Maverick
      3. Ciao Papa - Pinocchio
      4. Applause - Tell it Like a Woman
      5. This is a Life - Everything Everywhere All At Once

      Sound

      1. Top Gun: Maverick
      2. Avatar: The Way of Water
      3. Elvis
      4. The Batman
      5. All Quiet on the Western Front

      VFX

      1. Avatar: The Way of Water
      2. Top Gun: Maverick
      3. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
      4. The Batman
      5. All Quiet on the Western Front

      Animated Feature

      1. Pinocchio
      2. Turning Red
      3. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
      4. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
      5. Inu-Oh

      Documentary

      1. All The Beauty and the Bloodshed
      2. Fire of Love
      3. All That Breathes
      4. Moonage Daydream
      5. Descendant

      International Film

      1. All Quiet on the Western Front (Germany)
      2. Decision to Leave (South Korea)
      3. Saint Omer (France)
      4. The Quiet Girl (Ireland)
      5. EO (Poland)
      2 votes
    39. Weekly megathread for news/updates/discussion of Russian invasion of Ukraine - January 19

      This thread is posted weekly on Thursday - please try to post relevant content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Especially significant updates may warrant a separate topic,...

      This thread is posted weekly on Thursday - please try to post relevant content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Especially significant updates may warrant a separate topic, but most should be posted here.

      If you'd like to help support Ukraine, please visit the official site at https://help.gov.ua/ - an official portal for those who want to provide humanitarian or financial assistance to people of Ukraine, businesses or the government at the times of resistance against the Russian aggression.

      11 votes
    40. Unpopular opinion: Brands will appear far more trustworthy if they stop all this "narrative feeding"

      In this post, I'm going to say something which might seem controversial, politically incorrect or even downright harsh to some of you. Feel free to let me know and express your strong disagreement...

      In this post, I'm going to say something which might seem controversial, politically incorrect or even downright harsh to some of you. Feel free to let me know and express your strong disagreement if that's the case. Everyone's world view is different and I'm ever ready to adjust my own in light of new found facts and evidences.

      What I'm observing these days is that many big tech companies and large corporations are pushing lot's of content on Linkedin, Twitter, etc. which conveys the idea that these companies are standing up for the rights of supposedly oppressed section of the masses (females, minorities, etc.). 8 out of 10 postings from them are typically about these, a group picture of women employees, retweets or likes of those who have posted on new joining and promotions, etc.

      With all due respect, the problem here isn't with the virtues of women empowerment, etc., needless to say these are good things to be celebrated in a society. But the problem is with their approach. When 8 out of 10 posts are only on these topics, the impression or narrative being pushed becomes that the world at large is very cruel and gruesome whereas these large capitalists are the ones who are implementing just rules and ethics on that world. Do you think this narrative or story they're selling is based on any factual reality?

      I've seen and experienced a fair part of that "world at large" myself and while there are indeed many problems with it and it's far from perfect, it's a bit rich of these capitalists to make that kind of narrative signaling when, in fact, they're the ones who are partly responsible for keeping it ever poor and oppressed. These companies have the highest privileges of the world and they profit out of a crony system that thrives and benefits from the gates which keep the competition away.

      Now, I'm not one of those "ancap" dudes who blatantly cancels capitalism entirely. Oh no, we all do need capitalism, not only because it's a system that pays your salaries and bills but also because the alternative is much worse and we have seen what it did in Russia and Korea and China. I just wish capitalism was more inclusive and of the Adam Smithian Laissez Faire and free competition kind and less of the big tech and surveillance capitalism kind.

      This constant narrative pushing by the corporates, in effect, keeps people distracted from this truly bad aspect of capitalism. The masses are gullible, they can't see it, but the people sitting at top positions in these companies should know better. What kind of society are they trying to create with this? These companies have nothing to fear. Even if the masses actually realized and start thinking about this problem, they're hardly in a position to do anything about it. The way our rigid systems are designed and work, I don't see it changing for at least decades, if not centuries. But I wish these brands stop pushing on the narrative front in the meantime. In fact, the only thing that will change is make them more trustworthy in the eyes of wise people in the society, that's what I think.

      7 votes
    41. Weekly coronavirus-related chat, questions, and minor updates - week of January 16

      This thread is posted weekly, and is intended as a place for more-casual discussion of the coronavirus and questions/updates that may not warrant their own dedicated topics. Tell us about what the...

      This thread is posted weekly, and is intended as a place for more-casual discussion of the coronavirus and questions/updates that may not warrant their own dedicated topics. Tell us about what the situation is like where you live!

      5 votes
    42. Recommendations for music players for macOS

      Hi everyone! I've been using Vox for about a year now to listen to music and while there are some good qualities to it, I'm honestly fed up with the lack of volume normalisation and having to...

      Hi everyone!

      I've been using Vox for about a year now to listen to music and while there are some good qualities to it, I'm honestly fed up with the lack of volume normalisation and having to constantly adjust my volume manually (There's heaps years old of threads on their forums requesting or complaining about this). So here I am looking for a replacement and was wondering if anyone has a setup that I could copy. Here are the requirements that I have:

      • I can stream my own music library of high quality music (FLAC format).
      • It provides volume normalisation.
      • I can set my whole library to shuffle.
      • Native macOS client.

      I've been doing some looking around and so far the most likely solution will be for me to set up a Gonic server at home and use Strawberry Music Player on my laptop. A close second contender was Youtube music but they don't provide a native client and I currently use a combination of keyboard shortcuts and applescripts to manage playback (I found media keys insufficient but that's a topic for another post).

      I am currently paying a subscription fee for Vox so I don't mind if I have to pay for the new player, I'd prefer a service like that for ease of use rather than rolling out my own.

      Update
      For posterity I'm posting what I ended up doing. I tried Roon and while it looked and felt amazing, the ability for streaming out of home is very limited, it's intended to stream within a local network. It appears you can only do remote streaming to a mobile device and requires a custom port to be forwarded, I wanted to put this behind a reverse proxy but was not able to do that (Seems it's not supported).
      I did not try Plexamp, after all the work I did to get Gonic set up properly it felt like I was doing too much work myself to pay for a solution. Ideally I wanted something that would "just work" even if it wasn't free but no solution did that. If I had access to a free trial I would have probably tested it as well.
      I already had Gonic working within my home network going into this but setup of it is still trivial. The bulk of the work came in setting a dynamic DNS set up, and a reverse proxy (NPM) inside my network to provide HTTPS support with Letsencrypt certificates for Gonic (It's only HTTP). I spend too much time trying to have a secure setup (Crowdsec + Cloudflare) but after ditching that, I'm still happy with it and looking at logs it does not appear there's any significant risk to my network (I'm also using a geoip block to outright block requests from some countries).
      As far as clients go, I settled with Strawberry. Tried the following:

      • Sonixd: It had limited hotkey functionality and doesn't seem to be actively developed anymore.
      • Submariner: Did not work.
      • Clementine: Current version crashes on launch, rc version complaints about wrong credentials when connecting to the server.
      7 votes