This is a good time to repeat the prompt made by @0d_billie back in 2020, and I will also reuse the questions in their post.

So are any tilderen martial artists? If so, tell me about it!

• What do you practice?
• How long have you done it?
• How does it benefit you?
• Do you attend classes or practice solo?
• Would you recommend your martial art to a beginner?

I'm curious to know what martial ars everyone likes the most, and why!

Started way back in 2013, but due to injuries at work I took a break until beginning on this year. Finally found a friend to start back up at it with a local school in Vancouver. Love it.

I've done some Rapier and Smallsword, but focusing on Longsword right now. Entering my first tournament this Friday. Excited to get my butt kicked.

Anyone else practicing HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts)?

Our school is more focus on Fiore's teachings and Italian fencing, but from time to time we get other more experienced practitioners from other school to teach German, British, etc. Fighting styles.

Do you love a good trail? Are you a hiker, backpacker, trail runner, or neighborhood saunterer? If so, this conversation is for you! Share your favorite routes, dream trips, the gear you love, where you find inspiration, or essential advice. Got any cool trips planned, in the near or distant future? Whether you’re a newbie or trail-tested veteran, share what you know!

Over the last year, I've found myself listening to quite a few audio dramas. I've never been one for traditional podcasts so it was pretty surprising to me that I loved them so much the moment they went from nonfiction to fiction. It's pretty similar to watching TV, except you can still use your eyes for other tasks! Audio books are nice too, but they don't quite scratch the same itch. So with all that, here's an unordered list of some of my favourite audio dramas (along with a small synopsis and some personal opinions), and I invite you to post your own in the comments!

All of these can be found on basically any podcast app (I use AntennaPod on Android), so if any piqued your interest, do give them a shot!

I’m building a house and will have ample opportunity to walk with the builder to specify outlets, cat 6, and coax runs and locations. What sorts of little things do you wish you had done in your house or would be useful?

I plan to run cat 6 from mostly every room (some in multiple locations) to the office where my servers will be. I will also be running a few runs of cat 6 out to the shop for future connectivity out there. Anything else that might be useful?

I was just in the thread about if stores should stop accepting cash, and to my horror there was many people advocating to getrid of small change

So are there any coin roll hunters here that would be mega bummed out if we got rid of small change?

Here in canada, there's still some neat coins you can find in circulation

with nickels you can still find old laureate crown portraits and even older king George the 6th, and if your super lucky to hit a collection dump, king George the 5th nickels

With dimes there was still many silver dimes you can find in circulation, I recently hit 4 rolls of silver dimes on a hunt, awesome collection dump, thats $370 worth of silver for $20, I rode that high for days

Quarters still have some old silver coins in circulation, but not as many as dimes

And Canada has something bad the americans dont have ARP, alloy recycling program, you see in canada all modern coins are made of steel on this inside, with plating of other metals,like nickel plated steel or bronze plated steel

So dimes and quarter pre 2000 are 100% nickel, and ARP takes them out of circulation

Nickels pre2000 are same alloy American nickels and pre 1982 are 100% nickel, ARP takes both these out of circulation

So in canada us coin roll hunters are scrambling to get the coins we want before ARP does

If there are no coin roll hunters to speak up on tildes, AMA about coin roll hunting

I'm on day 4 of a 4 day weekend (lucky me!) here in zone 7b, so I've been spending a lot of time out in the garden. The bunnies and deer have been keeping me busy chasing them out, and have entirely beheaded my tomatoes and peppers, but haven't touched the flowers and herbs at all.

We're on week 4 of very little rain (we got about 5 minutes of thunderstorm two days ago, but that didn't do much more than make the grass wet). I set up an automated irrigation system in my garden bed so it is extremely well watered and lush, and everything else is dry, the grass is yellow and the trees are starting to look wilty. I think that's part of what is attracting the herbivores to my garden, it's like a little oasis, so I can't be too mad about it. Luckily it looks like it's supposed to rain every day next week!

My peas are done for the year, so I pulled them out, and I have lots of tiny green peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers, but nothing much else. I'm thinking to plant beans where the peas were. Do you have a favorite crop that is harvested in June that can fill this gap? What sorts of things do you plant in June in your zone?

I've been struggling with herbivory indoors too - the stupider cat decided for the first time that transcendentia zebrina was the best thing ever, and took several leaves off. Luckily it's not very toxic, she didn't actually consume much, and she doesn't seem to be showing any symptoms of poisoning, but now I'm trying to figure out how to keep this plant in the same window but out of her reach. Any recommendations for shelves or hanging baskets that would work in front of a window in a bedroom/office?

I also gave my extremely leggy silver ann pothos a haircut, so it looks much better. I cut the trimmings into 3-4 node sections and they are all now in very damp soil to hopefully root - I got 36 sections so I'm sure I'll have at least some successes, although I'm hoping they aren't ALL successful or I will be drowning in pothos!

I'm very on board with the concept of permaculture, and while I understand the concepts I don't have a good intuition for which plants fix which nutrients. For example suppose I grow basil in my herb garden.

How do I figure out which nutrients it will eventually deplete? How do I figure out a good buddy crop(s) to replenish those nutrients?

Any permaculturists out there that can point me in the right direction?

Learn my love of flashlights from Reddit and got this deal. I'm not sponsored or shilling just like this flashlights and wanted to share the deal. (And cut my teeth on posting here.)

Sofirn flashlights are highly regarded in the flashlight community. I've gotten a few of their torches and I've never been disappointed. This is a pretty amazing deal which includes the 18650 Li-ion battery with built in C charging.

https://www.amazon.com/promocode/A1ULCAIBGHXI4S

Note that you have to clip the 20% off coupon on Amazon as well as use the promo for 30% off.

Any other flashlight fans here? What's your poison?

1. Read Part 107 from the official government website of the Cod Of Federal Regulations This is a very easy to read list of the do's and don't under Part 107. Any study guide that does not tell you to read this is a bad study guide.

2. Read Remote Pilot -- Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Study Guide - This is an official study guide put out by the FAA. Either save it to your computer/phone or print it off and mark it up as you read. But read this cover to cover and comprehend it. It is 88 pages, but this alone could pretty much get you to pass the Part 107 exam. There isn't a single YouTube video out there that covers all of this.

3. Read the official FAA ruling on "Operations Over People General Overview". This details new requirements for flying over other people. There are 4 categories and this can get a little bit confusing. There is a great dedicated Youtube Video from a small channel run by a gentleman named Tim McKay who explains it all crystal clear.

4. Read the official FAA requirements for Night Operations.  This has changed in the last year.

5. By this point you pretty much know everything you need to. But we want to have a thorough understanding of everything not just basic knowledge so we can "just pass" the test. Fog is a topic that will come up on your test. Make sure you understand the characteristics and causes of each of the 6 major types of fog. A great resource for this is Fly8MA.Com Flight Trainings video.

6. Sectional Charts. You've already read about them in the study guide, but practice these. Try to memorize which lines mean what. But if you forget always remember there is a legend in the front of your supplement book that you will have on test day. Some great tools I used for this were:

   1. Altitude Universities FAA Part 107 Study Guide [How To Read A Sectional Chart]. They teach you almost all of what you need to know, but he also teaches you a great "game" you can use to practice.
   2. Fly8MA.Com Flight Trainings - Video on Advanced Sectional Chart Knowledge. You see a lot of lazy videos out there on "5 Tricky questions about sectional charts on the part 107 test". Well this video will make it so there are no tricky questions!

7. Understand abbreviations for METAR and TAF reports. Weather.GOV has a chart of this. You certainly do not need to memorize every single one of them. But the major ones regarding precipitation, cloud, winds, max, min, began/begin, end, etc. A great way I learned to read these was to install the Avia Weather app on my Android phone and use that for my weather app for a few weeks. It presents weather in METAR format. It forced me to learn to read them. I would see new abbreviations pretty regularly and then look them up and know them. You can also spend some time using the Aviation Weather Center website. It provides METAR reports and you can decode them to verify your answers.

8. Understand air masses, fronts & clouds. This too comes directly from the FAA. It is comically old looking, but the information was incredibly helpful. It is 30 pages with tons of pictures. It helped supplement the knowledge from the official study guide on the 3 phases of every storm cloud. I probably have 4-5 questions on this during my test. If you understand weather you almost don't even need to study much on the effects it has on and aircraft because it all becomes incredibly easy to process.

9. Density Altitude & Pressure Altitude. This is one I see almost never talked about. Sure enough I had a question for this on my part 107 test.

10. Know how to talk on a radio. You will basically never have to do this, but I had two questions on radio procedure come up. One was how to contact ATC for authorization via radio (you never ever do this) the other was how something would be properly announced using phonetic alphabet. This video from Fly With the Guys does a great job of digging deeper into this.

11. Spend the time to understand Aeronautical Decision Making (ADM) The video series I watched was 4 parts. Here is part 1. When I initially read through the study guide this didn't quite click with me, but the videos helped a ton.

12. Understand Weight & Balance basics for aircraft. A guy named Jeffery Bannish has a pretty great video on this. Understand loads during banked flight. I had multiple questions on this on my test as well.

13. Lastly. This one is completely optional. It cost me $15. John Peltier of Peltier Photo Courses has a bank of $300 questions he put together into a test that you can take as many times as you like. It picks 60 random questions so you are not taking the same test over and over. When you buy it you can access the test for 2 months. I probably took his test 10 times over the course of the month I was studying. What I would do is take the test once each day. Then review any questions I got wrong and I would spend time to learn the correct answer. As I would learn the correct answer I would absorb additional information. The next day I would take the test again. Get some new questions and repeat the process. After about 4 days I started routinely getting 94-98% on the practice tests.

Anyone using a drip irrigation system they can recommend? This would be for watering veggies (and possibly flowers in the future) in raised beds. These are some of the things I’m looking for but I’m getting a bit overwhelmed with all the choices out there:

• network capability, whether that be an app (iPhone) or website I can look at stats and control from
• 2 different garden beds to start with (3’ x 8’), with possibly 2 more in the future
• drip is the only irrigation I’m really concerned with so no need for sprinklers or anything (I don’t think, at least)
• there is only one spigot available for the area the beds are in

Since it seems we have a few other cyclists on here, I thought I would ask for a recommendation. I'm looking at bike computers, and I've been going back and forth between Wahoo and Garmin. I don't need anything super fancy, so I've been looking at the Bolt or the 530. I really want it for making a route on the computer, and then getting directions at turns (along with the basics like speed, distance, time, etc.).

My biggest priority is stability and battery life. I've read some reviews of the Wahoo saying it crashed or froze on them, which would be a huge turn off to me. My current "computer" is just a simple magnet on the wheel that runs a sensor - it never crashes or freezes or anything like that, and I change the battery about once or twice a year.

So, I'm curious if anyone has suggestions or experience with these.

And also I just wanted to get more cycling content on here... :-)

So me and my wife have temporarily moved in with my parents to save up for a down payment (boy houses are expensive right now). Their house is in a more rural part of Arizona and they have a tons of trails and fire roads that I'm looking at riding when it gets cooler. I have a Canyon Grizl AL 6 with 45mm tires and a rigid carbon fork. The tires are set up tubeless and have pretty good dry grip so I think I should be fine and I would be less than 5 miles from a car accessible road at all times. I have under biked a bit before but not on a desert trail. I was curious if any riders here have any experience and/or advice for taking a gravel bike on single track.

Hey guys!

I do traditional archery, make my own gear, and I love talking about it. If you're not an archer, please feel free to peruse the comments and ask questions if you have any! As for my questions for you:

• How did you get into it?
• What's your setup like?
• What are your archery-related goals and expectations for the year?

My first exposure to archery began as early as Zelda 1 for the NES. I instantly understood the value of being able to attack moblins and gohmas from afar. It was not until the pandemic some 30 years later that I picked up my old man's bow and fell in love with something that I feel I've been missing all of my life. My setup is a 50" cartel doosung epic zen korean bow that reaches 50# @ 32" max draw length with a modified cowhide and deerskin grip. I use only wooden arrows. I tend to draw my bow only to 28", however, which reaches 36#, and that's enough for now as I'm recovering from some shoulder pain. My goals this year are to recover, stay in form, and to make an educational video about arrows.

Hey there LEGO enthusiasts - wondering what you all do with kits after you build them? I really enjoy building LEGO (especially large complicated sets) but I don't want LEGO models taking over my house and getting dusty. What do you do?

Do you Fish? Do you eat them or let 'em go? How'd you get into it and what were the confusing bits? Memory of a good time or lessons you wished someone taught you?

Do you want to try but haven't ever been? Did you fish as a kid and never again? What would make it easier for you to give it a go? Tried your city's "learn to fish" programs? What if you had someone else clean and cook it?

If your experience or interest limited to digital fish only, what's your thoughts on why every game and its predecessor has fishing mini-games? It's the dangnabbit armageddon but let's pause and fish for a bit first. Wild.

inspired by this super cool thread on treasure hunting kind of fishing,

i've been climbing for a few years now, and am realising my mindset, patterns, etc need changing. on the other hand i want to continue to enjoy climbing as a hobby, and not treat it like a grueling workout/job/torture.

what do you do on the wall, off the wall, and outside of climbing itself (i.e. daily life) to help you improve?

Just curious. I've been trying to understand watercolors better. What I love about watercolors: so much expression, so much freedom. It also seems like a uniquely frustrating medium; understanding how much water is needed, how water reacts with certain papers, different types of brushes, etc. (I should mention it's the only painting I do, so maybe this stuff isn't unique to watercolor.)

Curious if there's any other watercolor enthusiasts here. Care to share your experiences, or tips for a novice?

Hoping this is the right group?

Inspired by coffee/cocktail threads, here’s one for my favorite consumable, cigars!

Here’re some potential questions to maybe inspire some discussion.

• What have you smoked recently that has surprised or impressed you?

• What’s a favorite cigar memory?

• What’re your stogie rituals?

• What’re some recent acquisitions and why did you purchase them?

• What’s your #1 cigar rec of all time? What’s your top rec from something new to you in the last year?

• How did you get into cigars and how long have you been smoking?

And anything else!

I’ve discussed cigars extensively in various online spaces and I’m very optimistic about the idea of tildes’ text-only and highly discoursive environment to provide some cool cigar content and a bit more than just photos of half smoked sticks (which I love too but get a lot of!).

I’ll hit on a few of my icebreaker questions at once. My most recent smoke was a Plasecnia Alma del Fuego Eduardo I which was absolutely fantastic. A lot of pepperiness throughout, with a lot of earthiness and meatiness. Quite full bodied, phenomenal smoke production and a very easy draw.

This stick was new to me but I am no stranger to Plasencia. I’ve been closely following their growth the last few years and the Alma Fuerte Salomon was my top stick of 2022.

I'm a knitter, cross stitcher, and general nerd. I can't actually create at the moment due to probable carpal tunnel, but I would love to see my fellow fiber artists of any and all genders speak up.

As for me, it's more about the process than the product! I love Grandmother's Favorite dishcloths as a mindless knitting stim, or cross stitching on a project until my hands hurt.

ETA: I'm not trying to ignore everyone. I'm really excited with the responses I'm getting. I'm just fighting some serious pain this morning. I'll try to reply to folks as soon as I can think!

ETA2: This got bigger than I had hoped! I don't think I can catch up and reply to everyone, but I do appreciate reading everyone's experiences! Thanks for humoring me today.

I have an Aerogarden Harvest. It's a pretty neat little device I picked up a few years ago on sale, and I use it as a starter for my outdoor garden. My outdoor garden inevitably fails due to forgetfulness, rabbits, or bugs. This year, after my lettuce was ravaged for the third time, I decided I'd like to scale up my indoor growing solution. My wife is on board, albeit hesitantly as she knows I'm a utilitarian and give little concern to form once function is established. We have a relatively small space, and no out-of-sight-storage-rooms to utilize for the project.

In short: I'm looking for advice on small scale, low startup cost hydro/aqua/aeroponic DIY projects for leafy greens/herbs that can be made to be "cute" or at least finished-looking, rather than a heap of PVC and 5 gallon buckets.

My best guess currently is one of the single-tower vertical PVC pipe systems with a nice hardwood box built around the 5 gallon bucket sump (lipstick on a pig) or a stacked/tiered NFT system with a nice wooden frame and channels made from some "nicer-looking" gutter.

Has anyone here actually accomplished an indoor grow that they were allowed to keep in their kitchen?

Edit: There's been a lot of great input here. I'm still researching, and if anyone else is going down this road, this channel has been very informative: https://www.youtube.com/@KeepOnGrowin

I'm in zone 4b so it gets frigid here in winter, I'm thinking wood burning stove and I bought the thickest double walled plastic panels for the roof that I could find. I'm just finishing an insulated slab and I'm about to start framing. Please share with me any photos, plans, or guidance you might have! I have no idea what I'm doing!

Reject modernity, return to analog

Let's talk retro tech, or anything of the sort! What projects or hobbies are you currently working on? Are you leaning towards a crisp hi-fi sound for your turn-table (yo), or just browsing eBay for old broken tech you know you don't need? Is this submission just a cry for help, because I've found myself browsing old Bose Wave systems from days gone by?

I have a box full of old Gameboy motherboards I need to do something with (the current plan is to gift my close friends their own modded Gameboy, because seriously why can't I hold all these Gameboy motherboards). Then there's my AIWA Walkman that needs a new belt, but I've never cracked one of those open before, so we'll see. Then there's this Gameboy Camera mod that is keeping me up at night.

What about you fine folks? I thought about posting this to ~tech, but I thought ~hobbies was just as relevant, since this isn't exactly leading edge stuff (though it may be in the retro tech space!)

So I got a 1.20m, 30kg punching bag, and hung it on the upper floor. I don't have boxing gloves yet but my friend suggested I just use cloth bandages on my hands. I'm looking for a boxing gym near me. I'm open to any striking art but I've done taekwondo before and I'd really like to concentrate on boxing now. I can throw basic punches. I've been watching some videos on boxing basics and I think it's awesome. Anything I could start working on for myself?

I'm already confident in self-defense. I don't have any specific reason to do it other than boxing looks fun. It's something I've been meaning to get into for years.

I'm not in shape at all.

Tips are welcome!

I'm personally a little busy for 3d printing at the moment - but I love to see and be inspired by what others are doing. I know this is text based, but I'm also interested in what issues you are running into. I find it useful to see examples of what common problems and solutions others are running into.

I've got an "old" Prusa MK3S that is still going strong for me. When I get the time again I've got a few projects lined up: a brain, a mask, and a fluid desk sculpture that I'm excited to get printing.

What have you been printing lately?

I tried looking around a bit but couldn't find anyone that was interested in this. For me it had been on my radar for years through various forums, but I only built my first watercooled PC in 2020. For that I designed and manufactured my own case and now I am working on a second one! It's become a fun hobby that's taught me CAD and more about manufacturing in general.

So I was curious if anyone else is into the same thing here? It's probably a bit more niche than the mechanical keyboard thread I saw!

I have 3 gal of blackberry wine aging on oak cubes in a carboy right now. Relatively new to the hobby but my best so far have been elderberry wine (full bodied and tannic, kind of like a Cabernet), and apple wine from store-bought juice (dry and crisp). This fall I'm planning on sourcing some locally grown Pinot Noir and trying my hand at making a "real" wine for the first time.

In a few weeks, I'll be making a short trip (3 days) to Palo Alto, working in the Stanford Medical Center area.

I'm hoping for some local or experienced insight into "don't miss" destinations for food, culture, history, and sight-seeing. It's likely I'll only have Sunday afternoon and weekday evenings free, so the personal tour may have to be more focused than local guides might otherwise suggest.

My home area has great food, but I'm really starving for Eastern cuisines. I'm willing to go beyond what a corporate travel budget permits if there's truly extraordinary, "can't get anywhere else" dining available.

Your insights are greatly appreciated!

I'm an amateur fish keeper who is looking at buying a new 4ft tank setup.

While on the hunt for a nice looking cabinet and tank combination, I've noticed that most freshwater setups are designed for a canister/ hang on back / in tank filter, whereas saltwater is almost always designed as a sump configuration despite the same physical tank size and capacity.

Is there a reason freshwater tank setups are less likely to be sold in a sump configuration? Does salt benefit more from an overflow style of filtration then freshwater does? Should freshwater be pulling water for filtration from lower in the tank because there's likely slower water movement and therefore debris will settle on the substrate?

As a quick example, AquaOne have a "freshwater" range, and a "marine" range. They are available in comparable physical sizes, but the freshwater tanks are not drilled for sumps whereas the marine are. No matter how fancy / big you go in the freshwater configuration, you never have the option of a sump.

Freshwater list: https://aquaone.com.au/2015-04-16-04-47-04/2015-04-16-06-00-17/coldwater-tropical

Marine list: https://www.aquaone.com.au/2015-04-16-04-47-04/2015-04-16-06-00-17/marine-aquariums

First off, hello, I'm new here, and I hope this is an okay place to ask...what podcasts are you all into?

Here's some of my favorites:

Dispatches from Myrtle Beach:
Link from Good Mythical Morning has a conversation with his father. It's a strange mix of funny, heartwarming, raunchy, and endearing.

The Newest Olympian:
Mike Shubert from the Potterless podcasts reads the Percy Jackson books (I tried reading along with the podcast because I'd never read them, but couldn't put the books down, so I'm ahead of the podcast now). It's a funny podcast regardless if you've read the books.

RadioLab and the new season of RadioLab's More Perfect podcast
If you've never listened to radio lab, just pick any episode. They're interesting and weird and you'll learn stuff. They're just good. The new hosts are still finding their way, but it's still good, so maybe start with some of the older episodes.

Judge John Hodgman

• He settles stupid disputes between people...e.g., "Is a hotdog a sandwich" (No.)

Song Exploder

• Even if I've never heard of the song I listen. It's about how songs are made, and it's super interesting.

99% Invisible

• it's about recognizing all the fascinating things in the world around us that we pass by every day without noticing. Always read the plaque.

Oh No, Ross and Carrie

• they do non-sciencey things and then discuss from a science perspective. (E.g., joining a religion, going to flat earth meetings, visiting psychics, getting holistic medical treatments, etc)

This American Life
just interesting stories about people and things in life?

The Memory Palace
super cool podcast...usually pretty short that takes things from history and tells the story in just a unique and interesting way.

Science Friday
deep dive into science news for the week

Behind the Bastards
all about the worst people in history.

Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine
Hilarious podcast about medical history

The Adventure Zone
The McElroy family plays dnd and other role play games

The Moth
people tell personal stories to crowds of people.

The Daily
New York Times's podcast

Wait Wait Don't Tell Me
news comedy gameshow

60-Second Science
as described

Good Job Brain
pub trivia podcast

A Hotdog is a Sandwich (but it's not)
Good Mythical Kitchen's Josh and Nicole debate food things

Dead Pilots Society:
really interesting. They take scripts from failed TV pilots and hire actors to do table reads of the script. Every other week is an interview with the script's writers too, so you can listen to those if interested or just the table reads if not.

Brainstuff:
just interesting tidbits. Short podcasts.

I'd love to hear your recommendations!

Edit: Thank you all for all the recommendations! I'm still reading all the posts and adding them to my list to give them a shot!

Hey guys, anyone else into keyboards? Would love to hear about what you use or experiment with, I've only been into the hobby a few months so I am still pretty new. I'd love to hear your guys set up and what got you into it, how it's evolved.

Currently rocking a Keychron Q2 (65%) with Tecsee purple panda switches and Drop MT3 Cyber keycaps - Co piloting this is a KBDcrafts Addams numpad with their s2 engine switches.

I do also have a keychron Q8 (Alice) in transit - I plan to swap the switches to the KBD s2 engine switches as I am really liking them on the numpad. I ordered this model because my carpal tunnel issues are what awoke me to the mechanical keyboard world, the alice layout isn't perfect but better than standard for ergos it looks like.

Early on in the hobby I was convinced I'd be a tactile switch guy, but the s2 engine switches really changed my mind on liking linear, eager to try a full board with them.

This got rambly, but would love to hear from others into the hobby!

Curious to see and talk with others about using AI to dynamically write personal novels as a hobby, a form of choose-your-own-adventure where you can offload part of the creativity and majority of the grunt-work involved with writing onto the AI.

I started around half a year ago with Novel AI, yet when my stories would reach around the 15,000 word count the context management required due to the 2k token limit caused for a a net negative experience. A few months ago I experimented with ChatGPT at its 4k token limit, but the major cons of the limited ability to edit the content combined with the "always happy" bias hard-wired in made it short lived. That is until I discovered the variant site, Open AI Playground in Chat mode. It isn't free, but the first $5 are free as a trial. (And technically they mention it isn't for entertainment purposes and to use it responsibly)

Using the Playground I've written a 41,000, 23,000, and 21,000 (in-progress, plan is to hit 6 digits) word count personal stories/novels/adventures thus far. Using the co-DM system of bouncing with the AI to suggest creative alternatives (e.g. "List 10 twists that could occur next in the story"), adding creative embellishments (e.g. "Describe the city in detail, using epic high-fantasy influence"), and many other tips it's kept me hooked on some wild adventures across my favorite genre(s), tailored to me.

Edit:
OpenAI just released a GPT 3.5 Turbo 16k model for the Playground, lol. Absolutely obliterating NovelAI's 2k and the previous 4k limits. You could fit a significant portion of an entire novel and it'd take into account every sentence said. It'd probably take a pretty penny to use even half the context window, but could be useful for more critical moments of my novels.

Hello Tildes geocachers! Found any good caches lately? Going in any good trips? Going to the Greater Bay Area Mega at the end of the month? I would love to know, and meet you online! I’d love to learn more about any interesting caches you’ve found lately and maybe we can discuss puzzles and challenges here.

This is my first post so please let me know if I'm doing anything incorrectly! I'm not very clear on how tags work... Apologies.

I'm curious if there are many tattoo enthusiasts around. I love both talking about and looking at tattoos. I have found that more visual-focused places like Instagram or even Reddit don't really allow much conversation on the nuances of the industry, its artists, artistry, criticisms, and so on.

I am a heavily tattooed woman, which is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because I'm happy in my own body. A curse because being fetishized makes me uncomfortable.

I both love and hate tattoos entering more into the mainstream. As that as happened, artistry has come leaps and bounds alongside it.

Anyone have any deep thoughts on tattoos and modern tattoo culture?

I love to skydive even though I'm relatively new. It's given me lots of motivation to lose weight and the community so far is great! As a trans woman in the US South who jumps in the South, I've found them to be incredibly accepting and welcoming, and there's nowhere I'd rather be than hanging out at the drop zone on a pretty day!

Anyone else like to skydive?

(This is my first tildes thread please be gentle)

Hello, saw in another thread there was one person interested in boring hobbies of what we're up to so, brace yourselves! This is going to be a thread of me talking to my greenhouse plastic walls about literally watching grass grow, waiting for paint to dry and putting a puzzle together.

Would love to hear about your gardening and home inside/outside/building/demolishing/decorating efforts!

Maybe a sort of memorial thread for plants that died under our care. RIP little dudes.

I'm always in the market for new podcast recommendations, so here are some of mine. All available via your regualar podcasting app, probably.

No Such Thing As a Fish, the QI podcast. Odd facts and trivia. Rarely do I hear things I already know on this one. Obviously it's no Answer Me This but what is?

A Problem Squared, comedian Bec Hill and stand up mathematician Matt Parker answer listener questions, usually in excessive and fascinating detail. The presenters are good friends in non-podcast life and it shows in their chemistry.

The Guilty Feminist, a great mixture of standup comedy and discussion on a wide range of topics. Great selection of guests.

Lateral, Youtuber Tom Scott hosts a panel quiz where lateral thinking is rewarded. Fairly lightweight but still fun.

A Podcast of Unnecessary Detail, the Festival of the Spoken Nerd team do a podcast (Steve Mould, Matt Parker, Helen Arney). It is as you might expect, nerdy facty sciency stuff.

Wheel of Misfortune, comedians Fern Brady and Alison Spittle take listener submissions on unfortunate or embarrassing events and discuss their own misfortunes with a guest with a different topic each episode. More funny than perhaps it sounds.