kfwyre's recent activity

  1. Comment on Cloudflare moves from reCAPTCHA to hCaptcha in ~tech

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    Ugh, yes. There have been so many times that I legitimately could not pass, and it would start me over again and again. I felt like I was being gaslit by my computer into questioning my...

    Ugh, yes. There have been so many times that I legitimately could not pass, and it would start me over again and again. I felt like I was being gaslit by my computer into questioning my personhood: maybe I'm not actually the human I thought I was?

    A workaround is to use the audio prompt instead of the images. For whatever reason, that one always works smoothly for me. I will say that the image one seems to have gotten better recently for me. I used to expect to fail almost every time, but now it only happens every so often.

    3 votes

  2. Comment on Political discussion here seems to be really bad. Is it even possible for it to be good? in ~tildes

    kfwyre
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    I've actually been thinking recently about how much or little our composition plays a role Tildes' leftist "echo chamber" leanings. I do agree that there is a general lack of critique of certain...

    I've actually been thinking recently about how much or little our composition plays a role Tildes' leftist "echo chamber" leanings. I do agree that there is a general lack of critique of certain ideas here, and I think it's common to point to it simply as a function of who is here versus who is not. Instead, I've started thinking of it more as a function of how our discourse has been shaped.

    With hyper-partisan "with us or against us" rhetoric being so common, and with so many people acting in bad faith on the internet, it's easy to come to the conclusion that a critique of the left is coming from the "other side", and that it's being done so tactically, rather than genuinely. I will admit to seeing posts, usually elsewhere but even here on Tildes that have caused me to do a user profile dive in an attempt to suss out whether the commenter was genuinely commenting in good faith or whether they were simply stirring the pot or trying to subtly pave the way for more destructive talking points.

    Furthermore, I know that I have limited myself from saying certain things here because doing so closely aligns with often anti-left talking points. These are critiques that I want to make and think are important, but I don't want to appear as if I'm acting in bad faith, nor do I want to give any steam to those with genuinely noxious beliefs. This is part of why bad faith actions are so effective, because even if they fail to convince or persuade, they still sow distrust and muddy the waters of discourse.

    There's also the idea that, in expressing disagreement with those on the "same side" as me, all I'm doing is increasing our attack surface in the ongoing partisan war. Critiquing the left from within only highlights our cracks on the outside, so all those people wanting to take us down or act in bad faith exactly know where to target.

    I would genuinely like to see more critique of leftist ideas here, and think that a mostly homogeneous group of leftists would actually be the ideal group of people to do so since it's easier to disarm oneself and listen to others when you're operating on a largely shared worldview and values system. I can't help but wonder if part of the reason we don't see a lot of left-on-left critique is because of the damage and fallout from the larger cultural war going on everywhere.

    I'd love to hear other people's thoughts on this, as I feel like I've projected a lot of my own feelings onto this situation, and I have no idea if that's shared by others in the slightest. Do the more "echo chambery" threads on the site come more from who we are, or how we speak? Is the solution to simply bring in more differing viewpoints from the outside, or do we need to make more room for those within ourselves?

    5 votes

  3. Comment on Political discussion here seems to be really bad. Is it even possible for it to be good? in ~tildes

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    I think this is an underappreciated force when it comes to communication here. Because we're a relatively small community, we all occupy similar spaces and see each other around the site a lot....

    and with a chance that I'll talk to the same person again sometime

    I think this is an underappreciated force when it comes to communication here. Because we're a relatively small community, we all occupy similar spaces and see each other around the site a lot. This makes the relationships between us less disposable than they would be on other platforms. On larger social media sites, I could shout someone down with little to no recourse, as both of us are insulated enough by larger crowds that we're unlikely to interact ever again. Here, we're instead very likely to see that person again, frequently, in the future.

    I've described this dynamic before as the idea of flipping off someone in traffic versus flipping off your neighbor. In traffic there's little downside -- you drive your separate way, never to see the other person again. Your neighbor, on the other hand, is someone you still have to share a space with. That relationship is not only better to invest more in, it's, at the very least, not worth eliminating, especially in a really ugly way.

    4 votes

  4. Comment on Political discussion here seems to be really bad. Is it even possible for it to be good? in ~tildes

    kfwyre
    (edited )
    Link
    I'm currently reading Hate Inc. by Matt Taibbi, which is a pretty pessimistic takedown of modern political discourse and journalism from a career journalist. Early in the book he outlines what he...

    I'm currently reading Hate Inc. by Matt Taibbi, which is a pretty pessimistic takedown of modern political discourse and journalism from a career journalist. Early in the book he outlines what he calls the media's 10 Rules of Hate. Here's the preamble he gives them:

    The problem we (in the media) all have is the commercial structure of the business. To make money, we’ve had to train audiences to consume news in a certain way. We need you anxious, pre-pissed, addicted to conflict. Moreover we need you to bring a series of assumptions every time you open a paper or turn on your phone, TV, or car radio. Without them, most of what we produce will seem illogical and offensive.

    In Manufacturing Consent, Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky highlighted how the press “manufactured” public unity by making sure the population was only exposed to a narrow median strip of political ideas, stretching from Republican to Democrat (with the Democrat usually more like an Eisenhower Republican).

    The difference now: we encourage full-fledged division on that strip. We’ve discovered we can sell hate, and the more vituperative the rhetoric, the better. This also serves larger political purposes.

    So long as the public is busy hating each other and not aiming its ire at the more complex financial and political processes going on off-camera, there’s very little danger of anything like a popular uprising.

    That’s not why we do what we do. But it is why we’re allowed to operate this way. It boggles the mind that people think they’re practicing real political advocacy by watching any major corporate TV channel, be it Fox or MSNBC or CNN. Does anyone seriously believe that powerful people would allow truly dangerous ideas to be broadcast on TV? The news today is a reality show where you’re part of the cast: America vs. America, on every channel.

    The trick here is getting audiences to think they’re punching up, when they’re actually punching sideways, at other media consumers just like themselves, who happen to be in a different silo. Hate is a great blinding mechanism. Once you’ve been in the business long enough, you become immersed in its nuances. If you can get people to accept a sequence of simple, powerful ideas, they’re yours forever.

    It's interesting to see it laid out so clearly here, with an acknowledgement that there is definitive intent behind this. I don't want this to come across as a sort of "it's all the media's fault!" (which would actually just play into item #4 on his list: Everything Is Someone Else's Fault). Instead I'm using it to highlight something larger, which is that I think we are currently living in an environment in which conflict feels like political participation and, conversely, a lack of conflict feels like political capitulation.

    This does not mean that there aren't some things that are worth fighting for or fighting over -- only that fighting has become a dominant and even preferred method of interaction for many people out there. We are conditioned to believe that, if you see someone you disagree with, you must fight them for the good of society, and if you fail to do so, you are complicit in allowing the ongoing problems of society to persist.

    In another book, Antisocial by Andrew Marantz, the author talks extensively about how "high-arousal" posts generate action online, while "low-arousal" ones die on the vine. High-arousal posts are things that generate significant emotional impact in us, whether that's anger, sympathy, or disdain. If you want to see the effect right here on Tildes, take a look at a low-arousal thread. 77 comments, 19 different conversation threads, 22 votes on the overall post, and the maximum comment score is a 9. Did more than 9 people read that top comment? Almost certainly, but there isn't anything about the post that drives people to want to mash that vote button. There's nothing wrong with the comment itself; it's just a low-arousal comment.

    Here's a high-arousal thread. Less comments overall, less total threads, and less votes on the overall post, but the top comment has a score of 19. The first reply to it has a score of 23. High-arousal posts make us do things; low-arousal ones don't. On much of the internet, doing things yields visibility. The absence of doing anything, meanwhile, yields invisibility.

    When we tie together these ideas of high-arousal and conflict as political participation, we get a pretty ugly feedback loop. Conflict, which is naturally high-arousal, garners visibility, and this widespread visibility helps reinforce the expectation that proper participation is conflict. This allows us to engage in the online forever war and feel like we're doing something of substance, just as it allows us to look down on those who don't engage for enabling injustice.

    What I think we need to remember is that political discussion on the internet is a funhouse mirror representation of actual human interaction and political process. It isn't accurate and often isn't even productive to engage with. There are countless other ways you could spend your energy. If you're feeling the need to write something contentious, there are dozens of other ways you could approach the situation. We often fail to realize these, however, as we've been continually primed to believe that there is only one way forward, and it just so happens to be the way that makes a lot of money for social media platforms, news organizations, and websites.

    People often talk about how, in real life interactions, there are a lot of things that soften discourse when you're face to face with another human being. Even this is a distortion, because that makes it seem like we have to default to faceless monsters online. What I hardly ever see mentioned about online discourse is that it too has a huge softening factor: a lack of immediacy. When I post, I don't have to respond immediately (if at all!). I can type out everything I want to say in advance. I can edit it. I can sit on it for a while without posting while I cool off. I can start typing something out and then choose to delete it. I can redirect where I'm going with a post. Until I click "submit" I have complete authorial control (and even afterwards I can still edit what I've said, though that is more time sensitive). We have a far greater latitude for forethought in text than we do in speech.

    The paradigms of discourse on the internet want us to forget about this idea. The internet loves high-arousal content because it puts our basest natures in the driver's seat. It wants to make us purely reactive, which is a complete injustice to the type of discourse that the internet, more than any other medium, enables: thoughtful, considered comments and commentary. The lack of immediacy of internet conversation gives it a far greater potential for contemplation and reflection than face to face interactions. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people and platforms aimed at separating us from this truth.

    The truth of political discourse is that our words are ours alone. We are in control of every single keystroke we put forth for others. We can choose how we phrase things, how to find common ground, how to reach out, and, most importantly, when to step away. Conflict-first paradigms frame walking away as losing. They frame it as ceding ground to the enemy. This is not the truth. We all have the ability to conduct ourselves with dignity and we must understand the need for others to feel the same. In fact, it's only in seeing the parameters of someone else's agency that we can understand how our actions can affect them. Instead of breaching those boundaries to make conflict and, also, make conflict visible, we can choose to do so for any other number of reasons or results. Even when someone wants conflict with us, we have the choice to show them our humanity instead. People can't know how cruel they're being, whether intentional or not, until they see they see their cruelty as damaging, and they can't see the damage they're doing when they don't see their targets as human. Failing to engage in conflict, or choosing against conflict when presented with it is not capitulation. Do not limit the scope of your widespread and powerful agency to the narrow space of acting out in anger.

    This is not easy. I'm high up here on my soapbox saying all of this, and just recently I had to delete two posts I made here on Tildes because I wrote them from a place of anger and frustration. These comments were not contributions. They did not make the world a better place, nor the people who read them better people. We as a community were not better off for having them. I was adding to the noise, and, the hardest truth in this, is that I did so knowingly. It would be easy to say that these comments were the fault of the people I was speaking to or about, but that's not the truth. I chose to write them. I chose to hit the submit button. At any point in that process I could have chosen a different course of action, but I didn't. Anger was driving my bus, and I let it navigate for me. Believe me when I say that It is not easy to override this. I understand how difficult it is. In many ways, I'm afraid for how much more difficult it's going to be for everyone in the future.

    No matter what, however, we can't forget that we can choose to use our words in ways that build or that burn. Building is a lot more challenging, but it's also a lot more worthwhile. On an internet that wants to make nothing but conflict visible, we can choose instead to be visible in ways that are much more meaningful. We always have that choice. Always.

    7 votes

  5. Comment on Tildes' Book Backlog Burner Event: Week 1 Update Thread in ~books

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    Too late! I already started! In all seriousness, I actually made it a reward for myself to, on your recommendation, pick up a physical copy of Nine Tomorrows since it hasn't been released as an...

    Too late! I already started!

    In all seriousness, I actually made it a reward for myself to, on your recommendation, pick up a physical copy of Nine Tomorrows since it hasn't been released as an ebook. That reward will only come, however, if I actually downsize my physical backlog this month!

    I also plan to read The End of Eternity soon, but won't get around to it this month since I don't already have a copy of it. Foundation got picked simply because I already owned it because of YOU. :P

  6. Comment on What are your favorite fun/happy facts? in ~talk

    kfwyre
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    It's slightly different. The example you gave is specifically meaningless when parsed correctly, while a garden path sentence appears meaningless until it is parsed correctly. EDIT: In case anyone...

    It's slightly different. The example you gave is specifically meaningless when parsed correctly, while a garden path sentence appears meaningless until it is parsed correctly.

    EDIT: In case anyone is having trouble seeing it in my example, read the sentence with "complex" as a noun and "houses" as a verb.

    The sentence intentionally misleads you because most readers first parse "complex" as an adjective and "houses" as a noun, making "married" the verb of the sentence, which doesn't make any sense and which causes the structure of the sentence to fall apart if you keep reading it that way.

    It's a fun little optical illusion of grammar.

    10 votes

  7. Comment on Daily coronavirus-related chat, questions, and minor updates - April 8 in ~health.coronavirus

    kfwyre
    (edited )
    Link
    We got our two-week grocery delivery order in yesterday, and half the items we ordered were out of stock (and didn't get replaced). We put in another order from a different store today to fill in...

    We got our two-week grocery delivery order in yesterday, and half the items we ordered were out of stock (and didn't get replaced). We put in another order from a different store today to fill in those gaps, and it will be delivered sometime between now and Monday. There's no telling how much of that order we'll actually get either.

    We're not in danger of running out of anything (we're operating on a sort of "buy what you'll need in a few weeks" model right now), but I was surprised to see that shortages were still so prevalent. I would have thought that, now that the panic buying has subsided, stock would have mostly evened back out again.

  8. Comment on What are your favorite fun/happy facts? in ~talk

    kfwyre
    (edited )
    Link
    I like language-based stuff: The word "facetiously" has all of the vowels in order. When viewing a planetary body from space, the line that separates the lit part of the planet from the dark part...

    I like language-based stuff:

    The word "facetiously" has all of the vowels in order.

    When viewing a planetary body from space, the line that separates the lit part of the planet from the dark part is called the "terminator".

    There is a category of words called "contronyms" where, depending on the context in which they are used, a single word can take on opposite meanings (e.g. "I dusted the windowsill with a cloth" / "I dusted the cake with powdered sugar").

    The following sentence is grammatically correct and has meaning: "The complex houses married and single soldiers and their families." It is an example of a "garden path sentence" which is a sentence that is specifically designed to be misparsed by readers. (If you're having trouble with it, see the explanation here).

    16 votes

  9. Comment on Recommendations for Android messaging app, please in ~tech

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    How does Signal handle group messages if some of the contacts have Signal and some don't? Does it gracefully fall back to MMS for everyone? I haven't turned on SMS/MMS support in Signal yet just...

    How does Signal handle group messages if some of the contacts have Signal and some don't? Does it gracefully fall back to MMS for everyone? I haven't turned on SMS/MMS support in Signal yet just because I'm worried it could get messy.

    7 votes

  10. Comment on Tildes' Game Backlog Burner Event: Week 1 Update Thread in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link
    I've shared pieces of this elsewhere, but I figured I'd pull together all my writeups into one place for this update. My plan for this month is to "Play the Alphabet" by choosing a game for each...

    I've shared pieces of this elsewhere, but I figured I'd pull together all my writeups into one place for this update.

    My plan for this month is to "Play the Alphabet" by choosing a game for each letter of the alphabet. Prior to the month I'd done A and B (accidentally, which was what prompted me to continue the sequence), so my backlog burning technically began with the game for the letter C. I'm now up to J!

    Here are my thoughts for everything I've done so far:

    AER: Memories of Old

    Completed after 3.0 hours

    Thoughts

    This is an "evening-size" indie exploration adventure. Half of the game is you flying around as a bird, navigating a world of floating islands in the sky. The other half is you exploring intricate underground architecture and caverns. There's also some lore regarding a creation fable and a world savior that I didn't really pay much attention to. I loved the flying more than the spelunking, but overall the game was nice, calm, and visually stimulating.

    Battle Chef Brigade

    Moved on after 2.8 hours

    Thoughts

    This was an interesting match 3, beat-em-up, visual novel hybrid. It's a pretty clear homage to Iron Chef where you fight enemies to gather ingredients, which you then cook together into dishes through a match 3-style system. It's very innovative, and I thoroughly enjoyed what I played. Unfortunately, the game, I feel, tries to do too much. It keeps throwing more and more things at you, adding plot points and mechanics. I wanted to just be able to just play the game, but the story mode railroads you into a sort of protracted, extensive tutorial that ended up losing me.

    It's not a bad game by any means. It just wasn't for me. I can definitely see how, for those it clicks for, it really clicks. It's novel and unlike anything else I've played. Though it pulls from a lot of other genres, it ends up creating something entirely its own.

    Chime Sharp

    Moved On after 10 minutes

    Thoughts

    It's not that there's anything inherently wrong with this game, it's just that I had no interest in playing it further than the little bit that I did. It's a bit like Tetris meets Jezzball, where you lay down tiles to create quadrilaterals to claim area on a big grid. The game is music-based, but not an outright rhythm game, and it did have some nice tracks. I can see how it's the kind of game you can get into a good flow with.

    Dandara: Trials of Fear Edition

    Moved On after 30 minutes

    Thoughts

    This one was actually a really impressive game. It's one I may come back to in the future to give another shot. It reminds me of Celeste in terms of its artwork and presentation and VVVVVV in its gameplay. Your main character can launch from surface to surface, sticking only to specifically identified areas of levels. It uses this main mechanic and sprawling level design to create a metroidvania with a very unique traversal method. I found that I loved the concept and execution of the game (it's very well made) but didn't love the gameplay itself. I also found it hard to mentally map the game and kept getting lost, even in the early areas.

    Equilinox

    Ongoing, 3+ hours so far

    Thoughts (part 1)

    This is an interesting, relaxing sandbox where you build up an ecosystem. Think SimCity but with nature instead of buildings. The game starts you out simple and has a quest system designed to act as a tutorial and also a guide, teaching you how to do different things in the game. It's very chill and relaxing, and has a wonderful soundtrack to accompany it. The game has started to get slightly more complex and I'm having a bit more difficulty getting to the next steps, but it seems like there isn't really a failstate, so even if I mess something up (as I have many times) I just have to wait for my resource generation to replenish my currency before I can give it another go. It seems like the kind of game that, once you get going, would be great to run in the background and check-in on every so often. It's kind of like a digital terrarium.

    Thoughts (part 2)

    Equilinox moved from something I was trying out to something I'm going to keep installed and come back to every so often. It's kind of like a clicker game, but in the best way possible. At it's basest level, you're slowly generating resources that you can spend to unlock new things, which help you generate new resources, which help you unlock new things, and so on. The game is richer than that though, and getting to sculpt your little ecosystem is great. It's nice and relaxing, and a perfect game to have on for audiobooks.

    The Free Ones

    Finished after 3.3 hours

    Thoughts

    This comes very, very close to being a "hidden gem". It's a 3D grappling hook adventure, very much in the vein of A Story About My Uncle, with some rail-riding sections that reminded me of Bioshock Infinite. When it's right, it's right. You soar and fly and it feels amazing when you nail the right movement sequence. When it's frustrating, it's frustrating. Sometimes the stuff you're supposed to grapple onto is pixel-thin, and at times the grapple's distance window feels super small. I got through some of the ending parts of the game by cheesing it and "landing" on surfaces that I wasn't supposed to.

    The game held my interest enough for me to see it through, and I automatically give bonus points to any game that releases with a native Linux build.

    The Gardens Between

    Finished after 2.5 hours

    Thoughts

    This was a short and sweet puzzle game involving time manipulation. Instead of controlling characters directly, you control time, moving things backwards, forwards, or pausing it. You then direct the characters to manipulate certain objects that persist or change outcomes independent of the timeline, in order to get the characters to their destination for each level.

    I really enjoyed this. It has the simplicity of a mobile game with depth and graphics that won't leave people who play it on PC feeling short-changed. It tells a nice, wordless story about friendship, and the environments it creates are wonderful to look at, both aesthetically and conceptually. I also thoroughly enjoyed the music. Puzzle-wise, it's a little on the simple side, but I also think it's going for younger audiences, which I think it's perfect for.

    Also it's got a native Linux build, which is an easy way to curry favor with me!

    Hyper Sentinel

    Moved On after 10 minutes

    Thoughts

    This is a retro throwback game -- the kind where it's hard to tell if it's referencing a specific game or just a specific style. It's a 2D scrolling space shooter where you can reverse directions, and your goal is to get high scores. I played it for a bit, saw what I needed to see, and decided to move on. Not for me.

    The Initiate

    Finished after 3.3 hours

    Thoughts

    This is an "escape room" style first-person adventure that I enjoyed way more than I was expecting to. It doesn't have an adjustable FOV and it was right on the borderline of playable for me (if it required more "active" player movement it would have made me nauseous, but since you're just slowly walking around, it was doable).

    The game has a horror vibe to it but never really goes in that direction, keeping a creepy atmosphere but never doing anything to outright scare or threaten the player. Its puzzles were, for the most part, interesting, and the game was way bigger than I was expecting it to be initially. I kept thinking I was close to finishing, only to find out there was even more.

    The game is a bit rough around the edges, but I'm willing to overlook those sorts of things, especially for smaller indie studios. One puzzle, however, would not trigger with a correct solution, so that stopped my progress for a while. I thought I was going to have to abandon the game, but eventually stumbled into a solution for it, even though it was technically "wrong" according to the game logic. In searching around for a solution, others seemed to have the same problem. If you can get past the bugs and some of the clumsier puzzles, I'd say the game is an outright hidden gem.

    What's next on the list?

    Jet Set Knights

    1 vote

  11. Comment on Tildes' Game Backlog Burner Event: Week 1 Update Thread in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    I love this! Keep in mind "doing your own thing" is exactly the point of this whole exercise. My focus areas are totally optional and are there just in case anyone needs a way of cutting down the...

    I love this! Keep in mind "doing your own thing" is exactly the point of this whole exercise. My focus areas are totally optional and are there just in case anyone needs a way of cutting down the analysis paralysis that can come from the "where do I even start?" question. Ultimately I want people to do what works for them.

    Though I haven't played 911 Operator, I think it's a really interesting example of the use of OpenStreetMap data in a game.

    3 votes

  12. Comment on Tildes' Book Backlog Burner Event: Week 1 Update Thread in ~books

    kfwyre
    Link
    I got a late start to this only because I was finishing up some library checkouts before they had to be returned. I have only one library audiobook left, and then all my other holds are postponed...

    I got a late start to this only because I was finishing up some library checkouts before they had to be returned. I have only one library audiobook left, and then all my other holds are postponed for the month!

    My goal is to whittle down my physical books on my shelves that I haven't yet read. I've decided I'm going to do a rhythm of two graphic novels and then one print novel, hopping back and forth between comics and print as I go.

    I just finished with my first graphic novel for this project, Alex Robinson's Box Office Poison. It's a lengthy, meandering, zeitgeisty comic from the 90s. I think that one of the strengths of graphic novels is that they can easily handle large casts of distinct characters, since it's so easy to visually distinguish them, and Box Office Poison does this really well. I also really appreciated that it treats its characters as flawed, complex humans, and that its story is very far from didactic. Each character has good and bad attributes, and the events of the story feel lived rather than moralistic. This can make it uncomfortable in places, as it allows some pretty bad actions to go uncritiqued, but it also does a good job of conveying the idea that there's good and bad in everyone. Robinson's art is really splendid, and he utilizes really interesting visual composition techniques throughout the book, which made it a treat to both read and look at. It gets a really solid thumbs up from me.

    Following this, there's a short addendum to Box Office Poison called, literally, More Box Office Poison that I'm going to read as my second graphic novel before diving into my first print novel. @Algernon_Asimov inspired me to start with, of course, Isaac Asimov, so for my print novel I will be reading the first book in his Foundation series, which I've been meaning to read for years but have never actually gotten around to.

    5 votes

  13. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    I hate to overpromise and underdeliver, but strategy is not my area of expertise! Sorry! I'm much more of a casual gamer. That said, I have a friend who loves XCOM 2 which runs native on Linux,...

    I hate to overpromise and underdeliver, but strategy is not my area of expertise! Sorry! I'm much more of a casual gamer.

    That said, I have a friend who loves XCOM 2 which runs native on Linux, but that's more tactics than strategy. The publisher Paradox publishes a lot of strategy games and has a lot of goodwill in the Linux community for their support of it (as well as some of ill will for their heavy reliance on DLC).

    If it's the type of game that interests you, I have an extra key for one of Paradox's games: the Crusader Kings II: Dynasty Starter Pack that I can gift you. No pressure if you're not interested in it, but if you want it, it's yours!

    2 votes

  14. Tildes' Game Backlog Burner Event: Week 1 Update Thread

    ~games Text 64 words
    What is this? See here for full details on the event. Post Your Update How did your week go? What games did you get through? How did you feel about them? What's up next for you? Focuses for Week 2...

    What is this?

    See here for full details on the event.

    Post Your Update

    • How did your week go?
    • What games did you get through?
    • How did you feel about them?
    • What's up next for you?

    Focuses for Week 2

    • Games in genres you don't normally play
    • Games that take longer than 4 hours to complete
    • Story-driven games

    Let's burn through these backlogs!

    6 votes

  15. Tildes' Book Backlog Burner Event: Week 1 Update Thread

    ~books Text 66 words
    What is this? See here for full details on the event. Post Your Update How did your week go? What books did you get through? How did you feel about them? What's up next for you? Focuses for Week 2...

    What is this?

    See here for full details on the event.

    Post Your Update

    • How did your week go?
    • What books did you get through?
    • How did you feel about them?
    • What's up next for you?

    Focuses for Week 2

    • Books in a genre you don't normally read
    • Books that you own physical copies of
    • Books with more than 400 pages

    Let's burn through these backlogs!

    8 votes

  16. Comment on What are some earworms whose catchiness hasn't worn off for you over time? in ~music

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    I haven't thought about They Might Be Giants in a long time, but your comment as well as @Amarok's mention of Flood are spot on. They have so many infectious earworms.

    I haven't thought about They Might Be Giants in a long time, but your comment as well as @Amarok's mention of Flood are spot on. They have so many infectious earworms.

    3 votes

  17. Comment on What are some earworms whose catchiness hasn't worn off for you over time? in ~music

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    No judgment here! I almost included a CRJ song but then got stumped on which one to choose.

    No judgment here! I almost included a CRJ song but then got stumped on which one to choose.

    2 votes

  18. Comment on What are some earworms whose catchiness hasn't worn off for you over time? in ~music

    kfwyre
    Link
    Here are a couple of my choices: Roxette's "The Look" (1988) This was my inspiration for this thread. I think I've had this song stuck in my head for decades at this point. I still enjoy it every...

    Here are a couple of my choices:

    This was my inspiration for this thread. I think I've had this song stuck in my head for decades at this point. I still enjoy it every time I hear it, and the "na-na-na-na-na" section at the end is immensely satisfying.

    While the chorus to this is undeniably solid, I think it's the build and release in the second half of the song that gives this one staying power.

    The catchiest song of all time? Quite possibly. This one is somewhat infamous between me and my husband. I listened to it one day, and the next I got a text from him at work asking "What's that song you were listening to that goes like 'doot-doo-doo cat dragged in?' I CAN'T GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD."

    5 votes

  19. What are some earworms whose catchiness hasn't worn off for you over time?

    ~music Ask (survey)
    A lot of catchy music is instantly magnetic but then tends to lose its appeal over time and repeated listens. I'm curious to find out what are some catchy songs that haven't gone through this...

    A lot of catchy music is instantly magnetic but then tends to lose its appeal over time and repeated listens. I'm curious to find out what are some catchy songs that haven't gone through this decay for you, especially over the course of years.

    What are some earworms with staying power? What are those songs for you that are still hopelessly, irresistibly catchy, even after you've heard them countless times already?

    To be clear, this is purely individual, so I'm not looking for a list of like, "the best pop songs of all time". I mostly just want to know your experiences and choices for songs that you seemingly can't ever get out of your head.

    12 votes

  20. What are some of the "tricks of your trade"?

    ~talk Ask (survey)
    What are some of the clever, ingenious, or potentially even shameful shortcuts or workarounds that exist in your field (or that you know of from others)? What problem or hassle do they...

    • What are some of the clever, ingenious, or potentially even shameful shortcuts or workarounds that exist in your field (or that you know of from others)?

    • What problem or hassle do they alleviate/make easier?

    • Is the trick always worth it, or are there significant tradeoffs you have to take into account?

    16 votes