RheingoldRiver's recent activity
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Comment on I run a speculative fiction book club in ~books
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I run a speculative fiction book club
If anyone wants a replacement for the Tildes book club (and thanks /u/boxer_dogs_dance for running it consistently for so long!!) I run one that might interest speculative fiction readers. Be...
If anyone wants a replacement for the Tildes book club (and thanks /u/boxer_dogs_dance for running it consistently for so long!!) I run one that might interest speculative fiction readers. Be warned that it's a "dictatorship" where I pick every book, and I alternate between lesser-known books I've read and already enjoyed; and books that I'm interested in but haven't read yet.
Here is the list of books we have read:
- The Raven Scholar
- A Song of Legends Lost
- A Shadow in Summer (Long Price Quartet)
- Allow Me To Introduce Myself [the only non-spec-fic we've done thus far]
- Gods of the Wyrdwood (Forsaken Series)
- Kalyna the Soothsayer
- The Black Company (The Black Company)
- Battle of the Linguist Mages
- The Cloud Roads (Raksura)
- Sanctuary Duet
- Ten Thousand Doors of January
- The Dream Hotel
- The Element of Fire (Ile-Rien) [this is the only one so far that I hadn't read yet and didn't really enjoy]
- A Portrait in Shadow
- House of Suns [current month]
- City of Lies by Sam Hawke [next month]
The book club is in an "anyone can invite anyone but it's not publicly listed anywhere" Discord server dedicated to reading speculative fiction with about 1000 members, ~50 active), if anyone thinks like this list of books seems in line with your tastes I can dm you a join link! It's very low commitment and done with threads so you can read the current book or a backlist book and still talk about it + scroll through past discussion easily.
I can also offer advice (how to pick books, how to do things in Discord in a sane way, etc) if anyone else is interested in running something like this
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Comment on What lesser-known sci-fi reads do you recommend? in ~books
RheingoldRiver LinkAre you looking for recent stuff or older? If you want recent and guarantee unheard-of, I really enjoyed The Triple Stars by Simon Kewin. Was in SPSFBO a couple years agoAre you looking for recent stuff or older? If you want recent and guarantee unheard-of, I really enjoyed The Triple Stars by Simon Kewin. Was in SPSFBO a couple years ago
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Comment on Any significant changes to Tildes are extremely unlikely in ~tildes.official
RheingoldRiver Link ParentI spend half my life wishing companies changed things less. Tildes is pretty solidly functional as-is imoI spend half my life wishing companies changed things less. Tildes is pretty solidly functional as-is imo
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Comment on Ariana Grande is ‘taking a step back from visibility’ after tour as public scrutiny intensifies in ~music
RheingoldRiver LinkI'm completely OOTL on this, what controversy is the article talking about?I'm completely OOTL on this, what controversy is the article talking about?
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Comment on Better things are possible in ~talk
RheingoldRiver Link ParentI live in Cook County and want to add that Kat lost the primary to Daniel Biss who has been at the local/state level for over a decade and had pretty much the entire establishment behind him, so...I live in Cook County and want to add that Kat lost the primary to Daniel Biss who has been at the local/state level for over a decade and had pretty much the entire establishment behind him, so it was really quite remarkable how well she did.
I am not a big fan of Biss, because of the academic retractions he's had to make and especially after one of his former students disclosed an inappropriate relationship he had with her. I also think he's been pretty ineffectual as mayor of Evanston. But he will probably vote correctly on bills and we could do a lot worse. (I early voted for Kat before the news about Biss's student broke).
Also I will be attending a very small Q&A with Biss next month, if anyone has questions you'd like answered I'd be happy to ask them if I have the opportunity and then convey his answers here, particularly for anyone who lives in the district.
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Comment on Your URL bar can be a CLI for searching websites in ~tech
RheingoldRiver Link Parentoh that seems awesome!! and probably a way easier way to manage bulk bookmarks than what I do loloh that seems awesome!! and probably a way easier way to manage bulk bookmarks than what I do lol
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Comment on Your URL bar can be a CLI for searching websites in ~tech
RheingoldRiver Link ParentAhh that might have been a custom keybind that I made actually, which would be funny if it was the main thing I was using the extension forAhh that might have been a custom keybind that I made actually, which would be funny if it was the main thing I was using the extension for
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Comment on Tildes Book Club - Have you started How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying? in ~books
RheingoldRiver LinkI read this last year and loved it!!I read this last year and loved it!!
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Comment on Your URL bar can be a CLI for searching websites in ~tech
RheingoldRiver Link ParentI used vimium for several years, but eventually I had to concede that it was irritating more often than it was helpful and I disabled it. I still miss typing qq to close all tabs to the right thoughI used vimium for several years, but eventually I had to concede that it was irritating more often than it was helpful and I disabled it. I still miss typing
qqto close all tabs to the right though -
Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech
RheingoldRiver Link ParentI just think it's better UX to set it up in the browser, I don't want to type a ! before my search keyword every time (and you don't have to pay for any search engine to have this functionality)I just think it's better UX to set it up in the browser, I don't want to type a ! before my search keyword every time (and you don't have to pay for any search engine to have this functionality)
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Comment on Your URL bar can be a CLI for searching websites in ~tech
RheingoldRiver LinkI posted a comment about this yesterday, but I think this is a very cool and useful thing you can do in Firefox to make searching a much more pleasant experience so I wanted to share the blog post...I posted a comment about this yesterday, but I think this is a very cool and useful thing you can do in Firefox to make searching a much more pleasant experience so I wanted to share the blog post I wrote a while ago.
TL;DR: If you want to search a website directly, you can save a bookmark with a
%sin it, and then add a "keyword" for the bookmark, and then search by typingkeyword search termin the url bar, it will autocomplete as a search for your string -
Your URL bar can be a CLI for searching websites
35 votes -
Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech
RheingoldRiver Link ParentWhile this is a cool feature, if you use firefox you can just make a bookmark like https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?search=%s&title=Special%3ASearch&go=Go and give it a keyword of mw and then...You can search any site directly with customisable "bangs" and "lenses" and "snaps" - I have set it up so !r (query) searches reddit thru Reddit's engine, @r query searches Reddit using Kagi (like site:reddit.com), and the Forums lens will limit the search index to known good forums the list of which the Kagi team maintains, but you're welcome to make your own.
While this is a cool feature, if you use firefox you can just make a bookmark like
https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?search=%s&title=Special%3ASearch&go=Goand give it a keyword ofmwand then instead of doing your search with !mw you just typemw <search term>and then you're searching through that site's engine. And, better, since this is part of firefox instead of part of a search engine, youre likely to get an autocomplete of the actual page url youre looking for as a dropdown prompt -
Comment on The one-and-done pen? in ~hobbies
RheingoldRiver LinkThis is not an answer to your question OP, but I'm hopeful that it helps someone reading this thread! I highly recommend Pentel GraphGear 1000 mechanical pencils for anyone who prefers pencil....This is not an answer to your question OP, but I'm hopeful that it helps someone reading this thread! I highly recommend Pentel GraphGear 1000 mechanical pencils for anyone who prefers pencil. They're a bit pricey ($10 each on amazon right now) but they have amazing weight, amazing grip, and color-coding of different lead sizes so if you like to use different leads for different purposes you can tell at a glance which is which (although i wish .5 were something different, the grey is a bit too close to the .7 blue). Several years ago I did a personal comparison of about a half dozen different mechanical pencil brands and this one is far and away the best.
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Comment on Cell phone advice in ~tech
RheingoldRiver LinkHello Tildes! After several months of soul-searching and buying-and-returning-a samsung-xcover-because-it-was-too-big, I have determined that I was wrong about my preferences and there was...Hello Tildes! After several months of soul-searching and buying-and-returning-a samsung-xcover-because-it-was-too-big, I have determined that I was wrong about my preferences and there was precisely one criterion that mattered, which is that the new phone had to be smaller and lighter than my previous phone. So, I have a Samsung Galaxy S26. Boring choice but it is slightly smaller and very slightly lighter than the S9 was.
I have several complaints, such as hating One UI, the fact that the cameras stick out and unbalance my device, etc, but losing the bixby button is great, and I have a foam sticker on the back that kinda fixes the balance problem and is very cute.
Thanks to everyone for your help even if I ended up doing something completely different!
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Comment on National survey of National Institutes of Health-funded researchers shows precarious state of US science — ‘This is like the Titanic’ in ~science
RheingoldRiver Linkpolitics tag pleasepolitics tag please
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Recommended beginning soldering kits
I'm looking for a kit that will give me some practice holding wires in place and soldering connections, hopefully also while giving me a completed object or set of objects that's fun at the end....
I'm looking for a kit that will give me some practice holding wires in place and soldering connections, hopefully also while giving me a completed object or set of objects that's fun at the end. I'm not completely new to soldering; I've done a couple simple kits and some repair of model trains with loose wires, but I definitely could be a lot better at it and I'd like some guided practice. Emphasis on the "guided," I'm not looking for additional things to repair, I really want a straightforward kit, a range of difficulties in connections would also be great. Any recommendations?
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Comment on Proton Mail helped US FBI unmask anonymous ‘Stop Cop City’ protester in ~tech
RheingoldRiver Linkhttps://archive.is/cGvKG -
Comment on Recommend me some deep dive YouTube videos / Portland trip recs! in ~travel
RheingoldRiver Link ParentI was in Portland last April, and Powell's is indeed unbelievably amazing. But I want to also shout out Parallel Worlds, which was my 2nd favorite bookstore of the trip, and would've been far and...I was in Portland last April, and Powell's is indeed unbelievably amazing. But I want to also shout out Parallel Worlds, which was my 2nd favorite bookstore of the trip, and would've been far and away my favorite in any other city (maybe not Minneapolis, Moon Palace and Uncle Hugo's are hard to beat). They're entirely SFF + related genres, and if you discount the romantasy picks that they can't not sell, pretty much their entire collection was books I either read and loved, or seemed interesting. It's not huge, but their decisions on what to stock are on point. I would definitely go there if you're looking for speculative fiction!
Definitely not a requirement!! I'll DM you an invite