41
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a/s/l? Tildes user survey question.
Another post got me thinking about this community as a whole. Where in each country do people live? What is the general age range? What occupations and industries are represented here?
Have there been Tildes surveys in the past, and if so, where might I find one?
30/F/Portland, OR USA.
I work as a nurse in the emergency department.
I feel like anyone who knows me IRL could easily dox me with my tildes account š¬. Hopefully I never regret posting this, but there are so few women and non-tech workers in this thread I wanted to represent my demographics!
Not sure if this holds water for you, but I've mentioned Tildes to multiple people who have forgotten what I said the moment I finished the word.
We're in a dark corner of the internet over here!
That's two from Portland!
33NB, Portland too! āļø
Hey, thank you for what you do! I recently had to bring my wife into my local ER and the triage nurse was absolutely amazing. We need more people like you and I wish we would recognize that and pay you better.
Hi! i'm studying to be a nurse in Iran and i got a few questions!
When i look up most things about studying to be a nurse on reddit, i see people recommending it if you have a drive, love to help people, are good at seeing small details, etc.
My interests are more computer and art related, i'm not sure if i would be able to get to doing any personal projects meaningfully if i'm constantly as tired as i get as a student.
So i wonder, why ED? What are your shifts like? And how much energy do you have left afterwards at home?
I don't have a drive, and going to different departments each semester in educational hospitals just feels like work, and is quite tiring.
I find myself having trouble talking to patients and more sad about my performance than i find myself caring internally for the patients needs, i know this will improve by experience, but it's a tad worrying for me.
Wellā¦the great thing about nursing is the flexibility of the role. If you like technology, you could go into informatics and have no patient care. Or research. There is more than bedside.
I donāt know how it looks in Iran for those types of jobs, but in the US I do want to mention no -bedside is much more competitive and usually you will need bedside experience to get in.
I did ED because I was an EMT before I was a nurse. I like emergency medicine. The reason folks say donāt get into medicine if you donāt like people is becauseā¦ it can be difficult to care for everyone.
For example, I had a young drunk patient bite me so hard that I still have a mouth shaped scar years later. I still have to do what is best by her for the rest of my shift, and I genuinely want to. Not everyone can do that.
As for how I feel after my shifts- I am absolutely beat when I get home. I work 12 hour night shifts. I basically sleep for 24 hours my first day off lol.
I love the 12 hour shifts though, they go by fast! The department is full of interesting things going on, and my coworkers are chaotic and adrenaline junkies like me so we mostly spend the shift in good spirits making each-other laugh and have fantastic teamwork. If I didnāt have a fun group of people the job would be much worse.
I hope that helps you make an informed decision!
Thank you for representing but also feel free to edit your post later :)
There have been a few survey(ish) topics in the recent and not-so-recent past:
https://tildes.net/~tildes/1kn5/tildes_demographics_survey_year_uh_its_2024
https://tildes.net/~talk/17i5/without_saying_where_you_live_where_do_you_live
https://tildes.net/~talk/15r/where_are_you_from
https://tildes.net/?tag=introductions
https://tildes.net/?tag=tildes_census
@TheMeerkat, will you post the results soon?
Please refer to @jacksonās post slightly below.
60/F/California
Former database dev and all hats IT person; long retired from that. Does a little Android programming and last year made a little app in Flutter to help me time & count reps for physical therapy yoga poses. Draws stuff in pencil.
Interesting - I'd figured that with Yoga and homebrew apps for Android on the upswing around the same time (2010s?) in the west, that there would already be something out there that times and counts poses.
Was developing the app a means to an end as well as a chance to flex that coding muscle?
My main goal was to make something that was voice activated, which doesn't seem to exist. Let's say PT says you have to do 10 reps of this pose that you hold for 30 seconds. The pose requires both your hands to hold your body parts in place (such as the figure 4 pose, commonly used for sciatica). So I wanted to be able get into position and start a timer by voice. I also have a mind that will wander after 15 seconds, and I was constantly forgetting how many reps I'd done.
So in the app I can set the number of seconds for the pose, I tell it "start", it runs the timer and dings when time is up, and increments the rep counter. I'm using Picovoice for the voice recognition; it's pretty decent and only misses hearing about 5% of the time.
That's interesting. I knew a guy who would work to a stopwatch and he claimed that it made him more conscious of small amounts of time.
...and as a yoga practitioner in a led class, holding poses was absolutely more manageable with an instructor who would keep time in a similar way.
Good luck!
The app's worked well for me, thanks.
I did transcendental meditation for about a year and meditation sessions are 20 minutes. After doing it daily for a couple months I knew exactly what 20 minutes felt like, and it made me more efficient because I had a better sense of how long tasks took, and whether I could do them in the time I had. That was well over a decade ago and I think I still have some of that ability.
That's awesome and I'm a little jelly. I did a few Vipassana 10 day outings and maintained the routine for only a little while after each time. Props to you!
There was someone who did a big survey a couple of months ago, but I don't remember her username. I do remember her saying that she'd post back with her findings, which I don't think has been done yet. Hopefully someone who remembers more will come along and fill us in.
[edit] I forgot to answer the OP! 51/M/Gilroy, CA. And yes, it really does smell like garlic here. :D
I'm the one throwing together the graphs and stuff and life kinda threw a truck at me these past few weeks š
Fortunately I've got some free days coming up to hack on the visualizations, so something should be available soontm
No pressure, life first. Our curiosity will still be here when you're ready.
o no
@TheMeerkat you told me I was the only one who volunteered to do that š
But life threw a dump truck at me, and right as it got pulled off of me, another one fell on me so it's had to go on the back burner here too.
You were at first! Unfortunately, there was a tad bit of miscommunication and my own dumpster truck of fire, as it so happens; my sincere apologies for the communicative lapse. If neither one of you objects, I may simply use a combination of both in the end.
@TheMeerkat
Wow another fellow old! š¤š¤ 51/M/DC
This is a tangent but it would be nice if these sorts of posts were only visible to logged in users to prevent bots from scraping information in a trivial way.
I'd be a bit surprised if anyone is writing a targeted Tildes profile scraper. Though if they were, unfortunately a login requirement probably wouldn't be sufficient since it's easy to get burner accounts.
I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that there are already scrapers running through Tildes. It's par for the course on a public social media (even invite-only).
Here is a stackoverflow article that describes these scrapers/web crawlers and speaks on how to stop them from taking your information.
Ninja Edit: If additional explanations (or even INFOSEC tips) are needed or wanted, I can share further.
To clarify, I meant scrapers that are profiling users. Similar to the Reddit crawlers that are designed to build advertising profiles for targeting specific users.
I'm aware Tildes is already sucked into general-purpose internet text archives.
I understood what you meant. There are profile scrapers here already.
There are? I'd be surprised if someone is running a commercial scraper on Tildes to build an advertising profile for u/minori considering how small the community is. I'd assume there isn't much advertising money to be made off profiling a community of this size.
I think you might be overestimating the complexity and effort. Especially if all posts are publicly visible. It'll just grab name + post and then check if the name associates to any identities they already have (or aliases for those identities). It would take under an hour to build the scraper if that. The same scraper could likely be used for all sorts of sites that use nearly similar formats with some basic adapters (lemmy, reddit, tildes, hacker news, lobsters, etc...)
31/m/Pennsylvania, USA
Haven't answered that question in awhile! What a blast from the past. I love this idea, haven't seen any of the previous surveys and want to participate so I'll start I guess.
By trade and degree I'm a photographer/artist.
By occupation I'm currently a janitor/custodian which sounds bad but I weirdly love it.
For seven years I was a famous photographers assistant but he wasn't very nice to work for. Managing his 500TB of storage got me really into self hosting, data hoarding, and Linux though so that's currently my main hobby along with light web development, art making, writing, and reading.
Interesting - do you still shoot a lot? What sort of stuff?
A little but not as much as I should. Mostly when I'm traveling. Although I did win an award last year at a juried exhibition so that was validating.
I used to do a lot of street photography but it feels bad these days. Now it's mostly pictures of trees and my cats :)
I miss taking street and event photos, but if it's the stigma that comes from the ubiquity of cameras, I get it. People don't like having their photo taken.
Cats are tough subjects but are always doing interesting stuff - haha. I picked up an old TV video zoom lens a year or two ago that I'll use to follow them around the yard. Close ups on prowl face are amazing.
17/M/Moscow, Russia
I'm a software developer, probably not unlike a lot of people here
20/M/Karaj, Iran
I'm a nursing student who does a bit of basic coding, electronics repair, 3d sculpting, a bit of 2d art.
I mostly play VR games when as home, but at dormitory i've started playing gamss on emulators, currently making my way through Prince of Persia TLC and AC Blackflag
What are your thoughts on the state of VR today? And as a sculptor, did you ever try Gravity Sketch or other VR sculpting programs?
Designing in one with a favourite album playing on your headphones is as close to a Zen state as is possible, I'd say.
Solely from a consumer perspective, the future of VR looks really bright and exciting.
The hardware which is available and will be available this year is extremely cool, and i'm personally hoping AndroidXR can be easily ported so we get a increase in low-end and mid-range headsets (that wont get easily abandoned) (probably wont happen but i can dream :) )
I actually haven't tried Gravity Sketch yet! it slipped from my mind long ago, same with trying out Substance 3D Modeler, just kinda forgot about them...
I have used OpenBrush and had those moments of zen making environments and models! but it's rare, i tend to stick more to games.
I'm mostly looking for something like ZBrush in VR since that's the workflow i'm comfortable with.
How often do you use VR? sometimes i even turn on Kayak VR Mirage, go to a random place, open my monitor and study next to a waterfall & some fishies
Do you use VR standalone or tethered?
I wasn't aware that ZBrush had a VR mode - good to know. I'm a Blender user but their take-up on actual modeling has been limited thus far.
If you get the chance to try Gravity Sketch, one of the coolest features is having up to four people all modeling the same piece. It really changes things up.
As for my VR habits, I loved having a 10x10 room to play in with my tethered OG Vive. I've since purchased a Quest 2 and do enjoy playing wirelessly with all of the add-ons, but I've also been a new parent for the last year, so my time with it has been severely limited.
I'm building a large corner arcade and hoping to put a new Thrustmaster wheel to work on sim racing titles. In addition to Half Life and Pavlov, Dirt 2 and Euro truck driver were super fun VR experiences to play with a wheel setup.
Oh no Zbrush sadly doesn't have a VR mode, it's something i've been wanting.
Collaborative modeling! that sounds awesome! i'll give it a try, thanks!
37/Singapore.
I draw for a living. I have a lot of hobbies, but my favourite is bothering my cat.
37/M/DC Area (Virginia), US.
I work in IT for the federal government (been a fun 3
yearsweeks, let me tell you...). Still new to the area, having only been here for about 5mo. I'm originally from the Midwest. I was born in Chicago but grew up and spent most of my life in the Kansas City, MO metro. Go Chiefs, I guess?šWhen not working (or sleeping...not while working), I'm usually gaming. My current "long-term" game is Final Fantasy XIV, which I've been playing for the last 4-5yrs. Some other games I've played recently are Barotrauma, Metaphor ReFantazio, Ace Attorney: Investigations, and Frostpunk.
I do enjoy travel when I get the opportunity. For example, I took Amtrak to NYC for the first time for a long a weekend about a month ago. I enjoyed that a lot and hope to head back to NYC in the near future. Also hoping to hit up some of these other East Coast cities while I'm out here. Boston in particular, as I've never been.
Single, no kids. Just my cat, Lux (8yo ish) and me. Cat tax.
I'm very curious about the boots on the ground point of view on all the government changes. Are you concerned for your job? Did you get the "fork in the road" resignation offer and if so do you think you'll take it? What's the consensus / feelings with your coworkers?
Sorry I know that's a lot of questions š
Both concerned and not concerned. I am a probationary employee (I am <1yr in). There are fears we probationary employees may be targeted for firing since we have fewer protections than "tenured" employees. Same goes if there are large-scale layoffs ("Reductions in Force" or RIF in gov terminology). But I also wasn't in love with my job? So if they were to just let me go, that'd suck, but it takes the ball out of my court.
I did get the "Forks" offer. It certainly crossed my mind to take it, but it's too sus. Too bait and switch, given the clowns offering it. But also the decision was made for me, for all of us in my agency: none of us can take it, as we've been exempted due to national security reasons. So even if I wanted to, I couldn't take it.
People are definitely annoyed and mad. But I haven't detected despair or anything like that. At least not publicly. Maybe privately; I know I've felt it strongly at times. I don't know anyone who's said they're quitting ASAP. Though I have heard active duty folks who have said they may put in retirement papers in the coming months (if able). We're RTO this week which blows. Especially since we're IT people. There's not enough parking for everyone, so that'll be fun. And that's kinda where the stress for us lies.
Especially for those with families who have young kids. A lot of people live far away (1.5-2hrs away), where you get more house for your money, which is what families tend to need. So how does one drop off the younger kids at school/daycare, without necessarily being able to drive in afterwards (now need to get a parking permit, but they're available by lottery)? OK, so you gotta carpool. But are places taking kids at 5am in order to catch the 5:30a carpool? I have at least one coworker who's having this issue. Her and her husband are active duty military, so it's not like one of them can just quit their job, you know? For me, my commute is going from a 25min drive to at least a 50min public transit ride. That sucks, but I'm lucky I can do that since I live close enough. But again, not everyone can.
DOGE has not come through our agency, or our department (Homeland Security) as far as I've heard anyway. We have Secretary Noem, aka Dog Murderer, as a boss. But all things considered, she's IMO one of the least crazy appointees. She at least has past government experience. Plus DHS should be a "safer" department (unless one works in FEMA or TSA or even CISA, unfortunately) given that DHS has ICE, CBP, Coast Guard, etc, that deal with enforcement of immigration laws and border protection. But that doesn't mean 100% safe from the insanity, obviously. I'm sure our card will be drawn soon enough.
The irony, for me, is that I've started carrying my Passport Card in my wallet. Because I am a brown person. Even though I work for DHS, though I'm not involved with anything remotely related to immigration or border protection.
So yeah. I am definitely starting to look for other opportunities. And they likely will not be here in DC. If mass layoffs/firings happen, the economy here will be decimated. Contractors and other private industry will be affected. So why try to stay?
(@chocobean, since you asked as well.)
Thank you! Best of luck on the job hunt.
51/m/DC area
The passport card is a good call.
Running into an old friend who's a Canadian of Haitian descent but has been here for 25ish years (maybe she dual citizenship?) and we got to talking. She expressed some fears, as she has a notable Haitian francophone/Canadian accent and that prompted me let her know that they exist.
I'm guessing that there are a LOT of new applications for them now.
Anyhow I worked on Bolling AFB in GG grades, but left govt service in 2010. VERY glad to not be a direct part of this drama,
Good luck, and I agree that certain parts of DHS are among the least likely to be impacted.
Lux is adorable!
Also interested in your "as it happens" hurricane reports
28/M/SC, USA
Iām a federal contractor doing nuclear materials management (hence the name).
Cool! I'm always curious how the industry manages to win people over when they're looking for locations for long-term storage.
Also, where can I expect the mutants to emerge from when Fallout happens?
What I may do is put together a form for this. It'd be cool to see some of this in charts.
While a broad look at users was what I was after, I'm absolutely into introductions too!
40/M/Alberta, Canada
I've been through a few careers, but presently work for a large research university on a communications team. I came from the world of tv and film production originally, but have found a home with this employer and enjoy it.
I finished a graduate degree in urban planning, so I'm thinking that once the public sector collapses or the world begins to unfuck itself, I'd love to get licensed and help people in my city plan their communities.
I can also be seen talking about classic video games and movies, working on art projects and chatting about what it's like to be a new parent. Lastly, western Canada has a great bush rave scene so I'm all about that as well
Check in with the previous survey before you do the work!
For historical reasons, women are far less likely to self report on threads like this.
I'm in Atlantic Canada; we have a lot of things in common :) congrats on being a new parent! It's a tough time but the rewards are also unparalleled.
Yeah, fair enough! I've always wanted to go to Atlantic Canada and with travel tendencies going the way they are during fractious times with our southern neighbors, maybe my daughter's first trip will be out east!
Newfoundland always called to be - maybe because of Ashley MacIsaac's music from back in the day? We'll see!
You guys can visit PEI when you read Anne of Green Gables to her :) Cape Breton is all kinds of dramatic and might speak to Albertans living in sight of the mighty Rockies. NFL would be really cool to visit as well, for cultural and historic reasons.
After we finish Anne of Green Gables, could we watch Road to Avonlea as well?? Haha - sounds beautiful. I have friends from Dartmouth area that would really like to show us the province.
Bush rave? I've lived in MB for five years now and never heard of these :) though I guess we're not really Western Canada and I also don't seek out raves due to sensory issues (but I still wanna go to them sometimes)
Oh yeah, BC and Alberta are the place for that stuff. It's much larger than a bush rave now, but Shambhala music festival is probably the most known. It happens on a working cattle ranch in the Kootenays each August. I like the smaller one these days, but they're still happening.
https://www.shambhalamusicfestival.com/
51/m/DC suburbs in Maryland.
Unemployed after decades in tech and later Big Tech as a software engineer and later manager. Looking at a significant direction change.
UPDATE: Reading these responses, I feel like a fucking fossil. Ironic that I was pretty much over this in the workplace (but maybe I was judged for it hence part of unemployment? But that was probably more my neurospicey-ness).
Thoughts on the direction? I read 'MD' as medical doctor at first. What about that? ;)
Oh, I'm sorry. I meant that as "Maryland". Literally just over the border.
I've been struggling to find the motivation to work on starting my own business. There's been one emergency after another here. Every time I start to take a little R&R, there's another. There's never going to be a good time. I have some ideas that require me to sit down at my workbench and start fleshing out.
I want to make physical product or, if possible, develop product that I can license to someone else to produce (because mass production is a whole PITA I'd rather avoid dealing with).
What sort of physical product would you like to make? What area of interest?
Don't want to share more. I'm having enough trouble with this ambition as braincrack. I don't want to encourage the calcification of the braincrack.
46/m/Portland OR
I work as head coffee roaster for a sizeable coffee company.
...and in a coffee mecha of North America! I'd love to spend more time in Portland and Astoria. What a beautiful state you have.
Hello fellow Portlander!
35/m/Chicago
Not really in Chicago but it's where I tell anyone I'm from when I travel.
I wasn't born here though - originally I'm from Belgium, and I've lived in the Netherlands as well as Colorado for some time. Never really was able to put down roots as a child, so it was up to adult me to find a place a felt I belonged.
I quite like the area I'm in. There's plenty of nature still, as the forest preserves are well maintained and have a boat load of trails that I enjoy biking along. The people are friendly and mostly left leaning, which means we're ideologically aligned. There's also plenty of diversity, and the food and cultural scenes show this.
Iām from ānot really Chicagoā (Downers) too, so Iām curious which ānot really Chicagoā youāre from, if youāre willing to share!
Napervillain here! Only recently moved out of Chicago.
Oh no, not Naperville! ą² ā ļ¹ā ą²
Wouldāve preferred Oak Park if we couldāve found a nice affordable house thereā¦but always got outbid š©
Look, buying a house sucks so I do feel you, it's just I've had multiple situations of the "I'm not racist but..." roommates where the white student was from Naperville, to the point that it's become a departmental joke. Of course, not everyone from Naperville by any means but....
I'm in a small town now though so I don't think they include the "not" or the "but" around here.
Chicago is one of those historical cities that's at the top of my list to visit. I've heard that safety downtown is a bit of an issue -- what's your read on that as a resident?
Not OP but in my opinion, itās just keep your head on a swivel if youāre out in the evening (and most people arenāt ādowntownā downtown in the evening - itās mostly corporate offices). Be smart, donāt go down random alleys, and be aware of your surroundings. Maybe Iāve been lucky but Iāve never felt unsafe here.
33/M/Spain
Dentist doing my second master's degree (prosthetic dentistry after finishing cosmetic dentistry).
When not working I'm either in classes, studying or going to courses. The little free time I have is spent with light video games and reading, but right now most of my life is teeth related in some way or another.
I'm sure that your patients are happy for that even though your gaming friends may miss you :)
20/M/CA, USA
Doing a masterās degree in international affairs with a focus on China and international politics. Not super thrilled about living in a time and place that will inevitably become a case study for IA students of the future, but we will survive. Spend most of my time working on my classes, gaming, or with my partner.
37/F/North Carolina, USA
I work in purchasing/production for a small, specialized company. Outside of work, I'm a crafter and private lesson music teacher.
Hiya!
27/F NY, USA
I'm a registered nurse by trade, otherwise an arts/crafts noodler of all kinds.
39/f/PNW, US
I used to work in big tech but now my focus is recovering from burnout and rebuilding my physical strength. I have one cat and one partner and my main hobby is playing video games. Once my burnout starts to resolve and my body calms down from long term effects of stress, I'll probably start to enjoy other things again.
I've heard that the burnout is pretty real in those industries. Glad that you're able to focus on games more -- what title is on the hotplate right now?
I've been playing Marvel Rivals on PC with my partner. Less often, we'll play V Rising.
42/M/ATL
I cobble together Python and SQL automated data quality solutions for an ad tech (sorry) company.
It's funny, I missed the A/S/L era of internet. I used to BBS for a bit when I was in my early teens. Then missed the whole AOL chatroom era of the internet. I wasn't permanently plugged in until around 2010. It's been all *downhill ever since. I cracked up at the 18/F/Cali response.
*Kind of joking. Sorta.
44/M/Germany
By day, I manage a data center. Itās fascinating to see how the internet works from the inside.
By night, I love to cook. While Iām no trained chef I enjoy making dishes from around the world. I have a soft spot for Mexican cuisine though. The mix of spices and textures just tickles my fancy in a way others just donāt.
Wow - I bet. So here's a question: let's say that countries opt to retaliate against Trump tarriffs by taxing American services like AWS, Microsoft and others from the USA's outsized tech industry.
Are there non American companies who would buy data centre services in Germany? Am I totally off base? I had the thought today and was curious.
Absolutely, yes!
Most Internet traffic runs through a few key areas around the world; In North America, itās Virginia and Oregon, and in Europe itās Dublin and Frankfurt. The latter being the financial capital of Europe means there is no shortage of companies that have invested in cloud services. Just think of all the major companies here in Germany: VW, BMW, SAP, ESA, Formula 1, Deutsche Bank. The list goes on.
That doesnāt even mention the smaller companies that arenāt listed on the stock exchange. The cloud is here to stay because the value proposition is too good.
I can elaborate further on this if anyone is interested.
When Canada's scrambling for digital infrastructure after the implosion of the US, I'll have questions!
Have you traveled to Mexico or the Southwest of the US? New Mexico has its own interesting take on Mexican food. And there are all the regions in Mexico.
Sadly, Iāve never been to Mexico, but having grown up in the US I got a chance to try all manner of Mexican food, including New Mexico-style! Just thinking of the Carne Adobada, Homer drooling noises
28/M/Manitoba
Seems like I'm the only public school teacher that's posted. I teach grade 7-8 general music, grade 7-9 concert band, grade 9 jazz band, grade 9 dance/drama, grade 9 guitar, and I also run a choir club at lunch and a rockband club after school.
I enjoy tildes as it reminds me of reddit before it got too big. Just a bunch of nerds nerding out about cool and interesting topics.
And another Prairie guy - welcome! Any idea if they still send Ukuleles home for general music class in elementary?
Thanks! Highly unlikely. Most general elementary music teachers will teach an entire school - or some will teach two entire schools, anywhere from 150-600+ kids. They probably only have a class set of ukulele's (25-30). They likely won't be teaching the whole school ukulele, maybe only a grade or two, but that means there still wouldn't be enough ukuleles to send home.
Wow - I'm surprised that they're spread so thin! I feel like we all got ukuleles back in the day. That said, I'm sure that there were fewer kids to each school back then .
18/F/Cali
wait a minute, wait just a darn minute here
Also 18/F/Cali 'sup
OMG are you also bi and looking for an older man just like me? Maybe we could...share? Teeheehee
Next you're going to tell me there are hot singles in my area
Not since I moved out of Illinois last week :/
Uh...uh...I mean, I'm an 18 year old girl who lives with my parents in Cali and I'm going to graduate soon and then I want to be a movie star and model!
Oh well in that case here's some money and a not creepy amount of attention at all! This is normal and I'm good for helping you. Kindly even.
Ahh. Classic internet right here. Back when scams were simple, and hot singles in my area was a new idea. Before Nigerian Princes even. The good old days... except for download speeds.
I think young girls like
thatme want to be influencers these days. And uh, become gamble master crypto queens. right?45 / M / Ontario, Canada. By way of introduction, here is what it says in my Tildes bio:
(he/him) You can find me with this username on reddit and lobste.rs as well. I am:
Hello fellow Ontarian. How much love for coffee are we talking? If you're getting interesting or good beans from somewhere, let me know!
For beans, we usually try to go to somewhere local to us, in Guelph. We have some pretty great spots in my town - Coffee Stiles, Planet Bean, and Lost Aviator. I tend to favor Coffee Stiles because they have a beautiful dog named Booter as a greeter, and they have a pretty wide selection of single origin ethically sourced beans. I don't think they sell actual drinks, but they do have a good amount of coffee paraphernalia. They also have a wide variety of Keurig pods for my wife, who enjoys when I make coffee but also will often pop a keurig pod in if she wants a quicker brew. Planet Bean is pretty good, but I think of it more as a place to go to drink a coffee than to get coffee beans. Lost Aviator is both a good spot to get a drink, and a great spot to get whatever they are currently roasting.
Oh and I also love Balzac's for getting a coffee.
Great, thanks for sharing. I'm in Hamilton so I'll definitely try to check those out next time I make it out your way.
And I love Balzac's too. They are my current "default" coffee bean since they are a great price at Costco.
Are there any good spots in Hamilton? My wife works at McMaster so is there with some frequency.
Unrelated to coffee, have you been to The Mule?
Detour and Relay coffee are probably the best known and obvious choices.Vintage coffee Roasters is also well known. You should definitely check out all three eventually.
Detour is probably my favourite of the three. It's in downtown Ancaster, which is lovely to visit and spend an afternoon if you want to make a trip of it one time.
Yes, I have been to The Mule! It's a super cool place and the tacos are so good! They also have a bunch of cocktails including non-alcoholic ones. Have you been to one of their locations or were you just curious?
Thanks for the coffee recommendations!
I've been to the Mule in hamilton a few times - it was only as I was looking for the link to share that I realized there was more than the one location. I agree that it's a super cool place with great tacos, and generally just want to spread awareness to people that they should go there. :)
You totally did magic tricks at the talent show in middle school, didn't you? ;)
I wish! I didn't, but mostly because there was a guy that was deeply into doing magic tricks that I went to school with. Here he is on Fool Us. Even 35 years ago his stage production was not something anyone else could match.
I played and sang Candle in the Wind the last time I was in a talent show. I came fourth, after the above magician, a girl who was a much better singer, and a guy who shot... I think it was 8 of 10 half court basketball shots. Fun fact, that guy now has three gold medals and a silver in basketball at the Paralympics.
Haha woooow. Well, against that kind of competition, I'd sing Sir Elton too!
36/m/Canada
Un employed basically a highschool drop out yet they passed me with 50s back in highschool
I rarely use tildes, I check in once every few months to see if there's any threads my speed
I'm not usually into typing out long thoughtfully replies which I think is expected here
But I love the idea of a reddit alternative
I spend most of my social media time on reddit, shroomery and Facebook for town issues
Damn, that sounds like my High School experience.
Some people have more of an interest in lurking and reading, others can't shut up. I'm the latter :). Especially now that our neighbor and long-term friend wants to take our country, I can't stop reading and commenting to save my life.
20/M/Panama
Hello. I recently joined this platform, and it looks like a great alternative to Reddit. Hoping to spend some more time here :D
I am a simple Latin American college student with hobbies such as gaming, cycling, handwriting, and programming. Technologically inclined; the kind of kid who would sit and read the manuals for every new shiny thing they got.
Cool! I hope that you're reading a manual for how to keep a terrible neighbor's president out of your country, because we in Canada also need to know the answer.
This is a pretty great alternative to Reddit, I find. More of a water cooler with familiar faces than an interest-based sub community. That said, there are common threads. Welcome!
Oh yeah. Hearing Trump talk about wanting to take back the canal is definitely making me a bit nervous, given the history we have of American territorial occupation and segregation. Some protests are already springing up to reject the taking of the canal by the USA. I just hope things turn out well, nothing much I can do.
Same here. Sit around and buy local? Or whatever?
29/M/Japan
My first job was a Japanese translator job at a world wide known Japanese company. My second was a dealer(gambling industry) job for super rich Japanese customers at a company in Europe. Now I work at overseas sales position for a manufacturing company as a Japanese, Turkish, English speaker in Japan.
I'm self teaching web development tho -out of my work hours- as my dream is to be a developer.
Very cool! I hear that you can buy Japanese homes for super small amounts of money these days. How would you say quality of life is in Japan with the economy where it's at?
Yes, owning a house is easier here. It is much more affordable. But Japanese Yen is getting cheaper recently and inflation is getting worse constantly. So I am not sure if the future is bright for those who earn salary with Yen :(
I am earning over average so I am not in a bad situation but most of the Japanese people are having economical problems due to heavy inflation recentlyā¦
Even with this inflation tho, quality of life is better than in EU or US. Japan is still safe, has good health care, there is no housing crisis, has good nature and delicious food. If I have the choice to choose where to be poor at between Japan or EU, I prefer being poor in Japan, I guess.
Think you'll replace the pup soon? Are you a serial dog parent?
I'd be curious to know about bankruptcies in California, too. How many farms are going through it thanks to drought?
I'm waiting to see whether I will move for work before adding another pet. Sadly.
I don't have inside information about farm bankruptcies.
Right on - thanks for satisfying my curiosity. Pets are tough. Just got a human one and I can't believe the work involved.
32/F and your resident Minnesotan, the best state in the US :)
I hate talking about work, but I'll say that for hobbies, I'm obsessed with basketball, I lift heavy things at the gym, I also race cars, fix cars, play video games, and enjoy good coffee!
I recently was living in Tulsa and met quite a bit of people from Minnesota. I was surprised just how much praise it got from everybody - I never would have thought it, but yeah everyone says itās is a great place to live
Thereās no way I can handle it though. Like, they had all moved to Tulsa for the warmth (the cold being the one complaint)ā¦and Tulsa was too cold for me. God I just looked it up and itās -12 in Minneapolis right now. Meanwhile a cold front is coming so our high is only 72 todayā¦I need my year round water access. And non-clattering teeth
What makes it the best state to you in particular?
I mean, I'm pretty biased and most other states have some redeeming factors, but I'll try to list out some of the things I love.
We have beautiful springs, summers, and autumns. There's almost nowhere else I'd rather be during May through October. Winter is also beautiful and very livable for most of it, but yeah we sometimes have weeks of negative degree weather where we kind of just stay inside. Our nature here is amazing, both within cities and without; I have a ton of forests and parks that I can visit within Minneapolis/St. Paul and you can't beat the Lake Superior north shore for nature or the numerous state and national parks we have!
We tend to be a safe place for immigrants to move to and a safe place for LGBT people and other minorities to live, so we get a big mix of ethnicities and cultures here which contributes to friendly cities, lots of things to do, and amazing restaurants and food variety, etc. We've got a pretty good entertainment scene (guthrie, orchestra hall, huge improv, lots of music venues like First Ave and Cabooze) and a bunch of sports teams. We spend our taxes on improvements for everyone, like free school lunches for kids, mass transit, affordable housing programs, etc. Even though Minneapolis/St Paul is the country's 16th or 18th largest metro or something, our cost of living is relatively low. We've got great education and friendly people and I could just keep going on and on.
I'm sure many of these things can be found elsewhere and I haven't lived elsewhere, but I just love it here. The vibe is perfect for me, I just like how friendly, smart, and kind hearted we tend to collectively be and we seem generally unbothered by what's going on elsewhere (I mean, we're fully aware of what's going on in the federal government and it will affect us, I just mean that we're pretty self sustaining up here and our quality of life is great). There are other places in the world I'd like to live in at some point, but as far as the US is concerned, I'm pretty glad I was born in Minnesota.
Yeah I got to experience a bit of that with Tulsa - as they say there, they're living on Tulsa time haha. It's why Minneapolis does interest me a bit as somewhere to live, as it basically seems like "Tulsa Upgraded" in terms of city amenities and progressiveness (especially on the state level...OK is not ok; though part of why I like being there or here in the south, to fight the fight).
And also what interests me; I finally got to live in a progressive area in Denver recently, but the city is so homogenized that it can come off incredibly NIMBY.
Michigan is the other place that's been looking on the up to me, and incredibly cheap. I'm kinda hoping if I go north far enough, my cold-blooded ass will just freeze during the winter and I can just have someone thaw me come spring.
Ok y'all are pretty good but we gotta talk about salads, and the weather.
/Illinois
24/X/Western Europe. Any other non-binary people here? Would love to see a sort of Tildes Census, with respects to LGBT aspects as well.
I'm 28, non-binary, and also in Western Europe (though I'm about as far east as you can go and still call it that!)
There are definitely a solid handful of us nonbinary people here, and I'm always eager to meet and befriend more. Feel free to DM me!
I bet there are. I'll add it to the survey!
32/M/MI, USA
Vehicle tester, for now. Looking into continuing school but a little bit overwhelmed at the moment.
Yeah, especially in your industry hey? Do you think that if tariffs on Canadian automobiles will open up more opportunities in your state?
Not that many Canadian auto companies to worry about, afaik. The story may be different for auto parts or raw materials, as there are a couple factories up North and determining who pays who for what could be an issue, but way more American branded cars sold in Canada than the other way around. Now the Chinese tarrifs could be an issue as there a lot of business deals and partnerships that would get strained as if we don't buy their stuff, they won't buy our stuff. And if Trump decides to go after other countries just cause, those issues would start to compound.
Edit: I never really answered you on opportunities, but the company that I work with had a major downsize after series of downsizes in preparation for an acquisition. If there are more people brought in, it would probably be entry level warm bodies to get operations running rather than the software engineers and mechanical technicians that were cut. I'll leave it up to the reader on if that's a good thing.
29/F/WA, USA
I'm in permitting. Currently occupied by reading a lot of books when I should be doing other stuff.
43, male, Brazil.
As a former Capoeira practitioner, I always like to ask whether Brazilians I meet ever tried it, if they liked it and whether they see it often where they are.
I have not tried capoeira despite the fact that I'm at the birthplace of capoeira in Brazil. It's too physically demanding for me. We get lots of visitors looking to learn capoeira and it's easy to find a roda of capoeira regional in tourist spots.
That's cool - I've heard that especially in Rio, Recife and Sao Paulo, it's pretty easy to find.
I say that I'm a former practitioner because it's too demanding for me, too. The injuries that come out of it can be plentiful and nasty, and at 40, I'm not taking chances like that anymore.
I do miss it, though. If I could find a Capoeira Angola school (the slow moving one from Bahia (I think?), I'd do it in a heartbeat.
For capoeira you should come to Salvador for the same reason some go to Okinawa for traditional karate. You'll find both variants here. Going to these other places just for capoeira doesn't make much sense IMHO. It's like going to NYC to try Texas barbecue.
Ah - interesting! I'm going to try to get my kid into it and maybe her Mestre will want to coordinate a trip. No wonder so many Capoeira songs are about Salvador.
Thanks for the tip.
Yeah... Salvador is the second most dangerous capital in Brazil right now. It's perfectly fine to visit but if you're looking for a place to send your kid, unfortunately, you may wish to avoid my hometown :(
Quality advice - thank you!
Dated a woman for a while from Port Alegre when I was younger; her father would cook churrasco every weekend and oh god do I miss it.
Which, Iām curious, is it known in Brazil of how itās pronounced up in the States? Because it drove them absolutely nuts lol. Pronounced chrĀ·aĀ·skow instead of chuĀ·rrasĀ·ku
Even Google shows the former as the pronunciation if you google here, have to specify needing it pronounced in Brazil to get the proper result
Chicken heart was especially tasty to try as an American
To be fair, the "correct" way to pronounce "churrasco" in English is to just say "barbecue", as they are synonymous. I don't really understand why anyone would say "churrasco" in English. Just say "Brazilian barbecue".
I apologize in advance for the author, but the pronunciation in the first video is absolutely awful and 100% foreign. The second pronunciation is the more correct but I don't believe the person in the video is a native speaker. So it is okay but not perfect.
Americans love doing that kind of stuff. But the places do bill themselves as "Brazilian Barbecue"
That's cool.
Also, I don't think I could live at place where chicken hearts are not easily available. I get it all the time from the grocery store. It's so good.
41/M/Ontario, Canada
I'm a retail sales manager for a tech fitness company hoping the looming trade war with America doesn't get me laid off.
I live with my wife, two cats and two dogs. I spend most of my spare time playing video games.
Trade war wouldn't look good job-wise, but are there games you're looking forward to playing if it does?
If I lose my job? I guess I would finally have time to play BG3.
Unrelated, I just started Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess and having a blast.
39/M/Denmark
The last time I answered this was probably with 15/M/Copenhagen back when ICQ was the biggest thing and I met my wife.
Been in IT for two decades working mostly with Linux and Python.
Hah, it's really what I was going for. Lots of Python developers here - is it mostly for work, or do you develop community projects as well?
Only work. I don't really do much development in my spare time.
Yeah, the last thing we want to do with our skills is use them in our spare time, I find. I wish that work didn't soak up so much of our lives - I'd love to put my professional skills to use in more creative, community ways.
60/F-NB/Northern MI, US
I gave some thought to de-anon here, but I've reached the point where anyone who wants to find me can follow the painstakingly data-harvested breadcrumbs of a life online. I still have some compartmented identities, but it's just become too tiresome to keep everything as private as possible. I'll take the risks of connecting with others as an actual person.
That being said, I'm a compulsive reader more than anything else.
I'm hoping that Privacy Badger is working on my behalf to keep the breadcrumbs low, but in this world it feels like a losing battle.
I'm amazed at how gardening has taken off as a hobby among all age groups in recent years. My partner orders her life around how the yard is being transformed each year, and despite my resistance to getting involved, I've somehow the holder of our homes largest supply of houseplants.
Thanks for the reply - I'm happy to see the variety of careers, ages and hobbies represented in this thread.
Gardening has always been my "touch grass" avocation. It's also necessary for a foodie in Midwestern winter country - there are fresh ingredients you just can't get here, not least very hot peppers, lemongrass, and some other exotics. The sheer sensual delight of a just-picked asparagus spear or heirloom tomato is irresistible. Then there's all the drying, canning, freezing, pickling, and seed-saving... Seeing the harvest in your pantry is incredibly comforting, as is gifting it to others.
Wild - I figured that if vegetables made it to Canada of all places, it's likely that it was everywhere else too.
I think I'm on the younger side here; 22/M/France.
I'm a student in IT, who likes video games and wants to make them in the future. To my dismay, though, I'm not really the most focused and disciplined person.
It might be a leap of faith, but moving to Montreal to work at Ubisoft might be a cool adventure idea for you.
You're only 22 - there's time to build that discipline :)
Frankly, my worry is having something to put on a resume in the first place... I can't imagine anyone would hire me fresh out of my current formation and not question why I don't have any projects to show my skills. I try, but I can't come close to finishing anything when working alone, and my school projects have never ended in a state I'm comfortable showing an employer.
I have an appointment in April for a potential ADHD diagnosis, so maybe things will change then. In the meantime, I put my all into the times I feel mentally able to work and try not to beat myself up too much about the rest of the time. I think I at least have a decent understanding of what I'm doing and how to achieve it, which is better than some years ago. Hurray?
(Sorry if I'm oversharing! I don't get to talk about this much.)
All good on the 'share' - that's what internet communities are for!
I've worked with people your age at a research university that I'm at (though, not directly) and your experience is pretty common for your age group. Frankly, the option that's most available and low barrier thing to do (in my mind) is to set up some informational interviews and see what comes of it.
So many young people just don't reach out, but for an old like me, it's great having some ody say "Hey, I saw your profile on LinkedIn and you look like you've had a cool career journey in industry X. I'm getting started and I'd like to ask you some questions about how you got to where you are, and what you did to get there when you were my age". You may also learn about the kind of projects that they developed before their first job, the hurdles they faced as a new creator and how they overcame them.
For some people, they may even be ok with talking about topics specific to not being able to finish projects or how to manage ADD in their field. Overcoming or managing the things that keep us up at night is a different path for everyone, but people do it.
Good luck - always happy to talk about stuff like this.
I see a lot of French posters say they go to school for IT and then they say they want to do something that involves programming, that confuses me as those are two separate skillets so I'm wondering if computer science falls into IT in France?
Yes, it does. We lump both in under the designation of "informatique". Most school formations will mix both what you call computer science and information technology in their curriculum.
To be perfectly honest, even after learning there is one, I still have trouble seeing a distinction. I definitely lean a lot more towards the software & programming side of things, but I can't really envision doing one side of the discipline without touching upon the other.
Iāve worked both IT and Programming jobs in the states
IT doesnāt have to program in America; IT here is considered more āthe help deskā
Now of course, the deeper you get into that the more programming is needed - so without any programming knowledge, youāre not going to go far into the field. But itās still not a bad gig to get, since you can work one without any education (my first IT job the only education I had was a GED - equiv of high school degree here for those of us that didnāt go to high school)
Likewise, programmers donāt have to do tech support - and since thatās somebodyās elseās job, thereās no reason to step on toes. But Iāve only worked at small businesses and generally friends with people that work in the IT department, so could help with stuff when needed
That said, yes to your last paragraph. Itās annoying to me IT means āhelp deskā here
Not in France, but whenever I try to describe my occupation for something official here in Germany they jump to "IT" as the term. I think it's relatively commonly used as a catch-all for anything tech here in Europe, at least in non-technical contexts.
Not sure if youād be interested, but there are post-graduate programs here in America to break into the gaming field. The program is basically being part of a full team of students to create a full game (itās not just programmers that go, it covers all aspects of video game design) while being overlooked by those that worked in the industry
I know people who graduated or taught at FIEA and Iāve never heard anything besides praise. And youāll have a lot to put on your resume after
Most end up at EA from that program, since EA has a branch nearby. And EA is actually one of the better gaming companies in terms of how they treat their workers
I think I might love that, just from that description; but I'm sadly not looking to go to the US. Maybe if there's something equivalent in Europe?
Regardless, thank you for telling me about this :)
35-40/M/Colorado
I'm in upper-middle management in analytics for a large corporation. Background is research mathematics, my doctorate is in algebraic geometry and number theory. Before that I worked in start ups as a lead dev. All this is elsewhere on tildes in more or less detail.
Other than that I just like art of all types be it video games, art galleries, reading. I like systems of all types; how they are constructed with safeguards and how they fail. I wrench on an old car and motorcycle. When I'm in the groove I powerlift competitively
35/M/ also in Colorado
Maybe one day we can get a large enough group for a meetup. Damn, powerlifting competitively? I just got back into the gym - working through a PPL.
I think a meet up would be cool!
It's what I do when life is chugging along nicely. I haven't really lifted in about 6 months because of life. Really need to get back to it though, it helps a lot with the mental :).
64/M. North central NC, but I've lived in about 14 places all over the country. I'm a semi-retired one-man construction company, doer of tree work, who originally trained in fine arts, primarily painting, drawing, printing and sculpting. Jockeying to get back into that part of myself. Collector of old bottles, agates, and books. Always more books. Just got finished rebuilding a friends' bathroom, and going to do some bigger projects on our house, starting with taking the wretched failed insulation out of the crawlspace, and having the plumbing rebuilt under there.
As somebody who just renovated a bathroom and bedroom in a 70 year old house, I can understand the drive to do this work.
Any insight into who makes the best kitchen faucets these days? I'm told Moen because you can repair the parts inside instead of having to buy new ones? Not my area of expertise, though.
I just had my plumber replace the kitchen faucet, and he said get a Delta, as they have the best warranty. The one I had before was one of those electric ones, which was absolutely awful. I'm a capenter who just hires plumbers and electricians at need, so can't give much other advice about it, sorry. Good job with doing renovations, though!
Thanks! Turns out that I replaced it tonight and it was a Delta that I bought. So far so good!
39/M/Kentucky, USA
28/M/UK
Working in tech support for an ISP.
32/M/UK
36/M/North Carolina. I am a nurse anesthetist.
Hello fellow nurse! I dream of doing CRNA in the futureā¦ mind if I ask you some questions?
What specialty did you do before you did your higher education? Do you feel like the education was enough to prepare you for the job? Do you like it more than what you did before?
And finallyā¦Do you feel any resentment from the providers you work with for being a mid-level? Iām asking this question because I lurk /r/medicine, /r/residency and other doctor related subredditsā¦and I've noticed that the mid-level hate there is very significant. Iāve wondered if that is a true representation of real life.
I did ICU nursing and ICU travel nursing for about 5 years. The education was sufficient to prepare but there's plenty of steep learning curves throughout school and a year or so into the first job. I think it's the best job in healthcare in terms of work life balance but it's still healthcare and there's plenty of times I wish I had just gone into computer engineering or something instead to avoid the stress of being literally the only thing keeping a human alive every day all day. It is infinitely better than any bedside nursing I did.
I couldn't care much less about mid-level hate. Most of the haters are just angry that mid-levels have much better work life balance and better hours and work much less (which is reasonable but that's a systemic problem, not something to take out on an individual). I don't experience that during my workday unless I listen to breakroom gossip, and I don't think that many practicioners think that way to begin with. It's definitely overblown online. I enjoy reading those hater posts on reddit to take a break from planning the itinerary for my next quarterly week or three vacation.
37/M/NJ, USA
I work in higher education as a teaching professor. I was finishing up a Ph.D. in the middle of 2024 and am now doing the job I love. Second semester teaching and it is great so far!
Awesome! I'm also in higher ed and work with a lot of teaching profs. Rewarding work - I hope that the next four years aren't too hard on all of us!
25/M/Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia (I'm not from here)
Transitioned into web dev very recently from a tech-adjacent but non-coding role. Coding is pretty cool but if it wasn't for the money, I think I'd prefer to be out in nature most of the time.
I started adventure riding last summer and it's all I do now. Georgia is absolutely gorgeous. I record all my rides on a GoPro and throw them on YT with very little editing. I also just bought a pro camera and am very excited to get into photography.
What are you riding? Georgia sounds amazing
Hey boxer_dogs_dance! You know, I can more or less accurately predict your posts before I click on them at this point. I've somehow developed a sense for that, haha
I ride an Xpulse 200 (pic from a week ago)! I love the little thing but it leaves a lot to be desired. I'm trying to get a WR250R shipped from Japan to replace the Xpulse. And even though I do most of my riding offroad, I'll soon get an MT-07 just to get a taste of power :D
What about you? Do you ride?
Hey Chopin!
It's a very cute bike. I haven't ridden two wheel vehicles in a long time, but I did have fun with it some years back. I don't know Georgia other than amazing photos from tourists.
Re posts, I might have to change things up a bit, if I can be bothered to do it. We'll see.
39/M/Norwegian (Australia)
Graphic designer / fullstack web developer.
Older Millennial/Florida/Man
And I'm from the northern part which means I'm from the southern part. Yeah I've swam with gators, no I'm not high on bath salts.
(Currently)
Main interests are being out in the water, music (listening/writing/concerts), sports/being active, weird/indie movies(/art as a whole), and thinking I had more things to list than I do when I typed the comma and.
Who actually has time to do more than two or three hobbies well anyhow. Not me
I'd rather not share any of that type of information online.
That's fair, I personally already hopelessly overshare on the Internet (in fact you could easily find out the answer in my case just by checking my Tildes profile and scrolling down enough comments), an A/S/L answer on an indexed section of the Internet directly pointing to my nickname would probably be unwise on my part as well. I'll leave that to whenever the next census is where I'm at least just a data point among others.