I usually only like big yoyos.

Learning my beestings switch today.

Pretty happy with my couple little additions 😁

I’ve pretty much spent all of the last few weeks making my way through all of the Fall of Civilizations podcast by Paul Cooper. I can’t overstate how impressive and incredibly crafted of an experience it is. As a history buff, I’ve listened to a lot of the big history pods out there, like Hardcore History, Tides of History, Rest is History etc. but for my money, I think FoC really is the gold standard.

What elevates it to the top for me is not just the actual historical information and content - which is amazing on its own - but Paul Cooper’s storytelling ability. The guy knows how to weave a compelling narrative. It’s not just a dry recitation of facts - each episode feels like you’re being immersed in a high-quality Hollywood production, or a big-budget HBO miniseries, with fascinating characters, events, digressions into side stories and a very clear sense of a beginning, rising and climax/epilogue of a story. There’s a sense of epic …

It’s been a really long time since a podcast absolutely rocked my brain like this and I’d love to discuss if anyone is game. I do not follow any organized religion and am inherently skeptical of them, but I am spiritual in the sense that I believe there is a very real but just about intangible connectedness to ***all of this.***

That said, I know some out there, like me, wake up almost everyday and look around and feel that we simply should not be living like this (not just the national and global conflicts, economic and political structures, etc.; though it’s all connected, but also work and the culture around it, the dehumanization and depersonalization that has become routine, the obsession with material things, celebrity culture, the flood of constant information… ).

This episode of Hidden Brain does an awesome job of blending science with innate spiritual awareness and it really made me think about where/when I feel most connected to my own spiritualism …

I hadn’t really listened to podcasts for almost a year. I just lost the desire, and nothing I came across was interesting enough to pull me back in.

A few days ago, though, I stumbled upon Hunting the Suicide Salesman. I had already listened to the first season, Hunting Warhead, which is still one of, if not the best podcast I’ve ever listen to. So I had to give season two a try, and it didn’t disappoint.

That sent me down the rabbit hole again.
Next, I listened to Adults in the Room, which I really enjoyed, followed by Love Trap, which was a solid listen and kept me wanting more.

Today I finished Sea of Lies, It instantly became one of my all time favorites. I genuinely couldn’t stop listening.

It’s great to be excited about podcasts again.
So now I’m curious. What outstanding true crime podcasts have I missed over the past year? I’d love to hear your recommendations.
And finally, thanks to this community. I’ve always enjoyed reading the discussions and discovering new shows here, …

I generally enjoy Today Explained, but caught an error recently that is dismaying. The first 23 seconds of “The World Cup is Healing Us” mispronounces Cape Verde/Cabo Verde as Cape Verd, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo as “Doctor Congo”, which suggests that the intro might be using AI voice likeness of the hosts. The AI transcription on Spotify is proof of the error and that AI slop in = AI slop out. https://open.spotify.com/episode/2eaf8QmBilIVZcucN9j5Ci?si=YRYmYB2CTnmbF4I1MeEr3g

They didn’t care enough to go back and revise. Or perhaps they didn’t listen to it before posting, but it was so jarring to me. It’s hard to imagine the hosts having such a large blind spot for these two country names that just happen to be in the continent of Africa which is how most people from the US still refer to any specific country within Africa… so I guess it could happen, but these are also professional journalists, which makes me think it was AI. Still should have been reviewed though. Not …

The rambles. The tangents. The digressions and conversation cul-de-sacs. Keep em’ coming.

I read from a lot of folks about dislike for rambling podcasts. And while it’s format dependent of course as some podcasts are more get to the point or narrative driven. As long as you’re not interrupting a Guest. I personally appreciate the tangents.

It’s the little drops of humanity that I’ve always appreciated on podcasts. And with our growing age of “AI” and straight to the point pipeline of information. It’s something so unique to the format with being allowed to just talk. So to all those podcasters out there who make your hidden gems and find yourself compelled to go to an aside. For the most part I am happy about it. Keep being unique.

what’s the one podcast episode you keep returning to whenever you’re at your lowest, and why?

Edited:: Holy cow people, almost 1000 replies?! I am so thankful and yet…. haven’t even come close to reading them all. But I appreciate the help!

He has always been a very selective reader. He has never really found a book he has loved. We spent over an hour at the library and he finally wound up with:

1. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

2. Diving Bell and the Butterfly (thought it sounded interesting the whole idea of it being written while “locked in”)

3. Look Again by Lisa Scottoline (I like her plot twists, he chose that one)

Here are some of the bits and pieces about him:

He is looking to go into architecture or civil engineering, he loves math and tech (like CAD and 3d printing). He plays several sports but besides playing them he doesn’t follow pro teams or the pro track of them.

He doesn’t want any book that is the first or part of a series. And he doesn’t like when books are very modern , like he doesn’t want to read about …

I want a memoir full of terrible people, that will be so brutally honest and hold so few punches about the people involved, that I will be internally screaming “GET THEIR A**ES!!!!” the whole time I’m reading it. This does NOT have to be by a famous person, and maybe in fact should not be. I’ve already read I’m Glad My Mom Died, Educated, The House of My Mother, and Homeschooled, which are about terrible parents, but really any terrible person will satisfy me.

I’m trying to get back into reading and have a booklist of actually good books that I’d think I’d enjoy, but sometimes you need a counterbalance. I’ve heard the most popular answers, “The Fourth Wing,” “Court of Thorns and Roses,” but I want to read a book that is trying so stupidly hard to be in any way, shape or form, a deep, moving book but in reality is just incredibly shallow, stupid and bad/corny. Preferably it’d be so bad that it’s funny but I’ll take anything.

(I’d also love anyone’s opinion on the aforementioned books because I’ve seen so many positive and negative views on those books)

Trying to find books that maybe I overlooked when i was younger (I’m 35 now). Open to all genres and audiences. Example: I never read Holes, but everyone who tell that to says I have to go back and read it.

I’m reading my way through 100 books written by women this year and I’m looking for something so disturbing that I can’t put it down, without it tipping into genre fiction.

Edit because we’re playing fast and loose with “disturbing” in the comments. I mean genuinely stomach turning, hollow, empty, repulsive, horrific, brutal, worst of humanity kind of stuff. Not just weird.

I’ve already read Tampa, Earthlings, Boy Parts, My Dark Vanessa, Rape: A Love Story, Animal, The Necrophiliac, The Lamb, Heaven, Hunchback, Confessions, Eileen, The Vegetarian

I (30F) have struggled with depression most of my life and feel myself slipping into a deeper funk yet again. None of my hobbies bring me joy anymore and I feel a bit lost in life. I used to love to read when I was younger but only got back into reading regularly relatively recently. I am almost done the book I am currently reading (Project Hail Mary, I watched the movie so I know how it ends) and would like to find a book that could help keep me from slipping into another major depressive episode. Even better if it could spark a love for life (a big ask).

No self-help books please, basically anything else is fair game, including poetry. Please mention if there is sexual assault, it’s not necessarily a dealbreaker (based on your recommendation) but it can be a triggering gut punch for me. I would prefer stand-alone books or short series only. I read a variety of genres, please don’t restrict yourself to Project Hail Mary-esque books just because that’s what I’m …

My steam library is full of amazing, wonderful games that take hundreds of hours to play. A lot of them spend the first 10% of that playtime teaching the player the game, or locking features behind progression, or otherwise extend the grind for the sake of the grind.

Or, they are fully immersive experiences that also take hours to get introduced to (hi, X4)

Or, they drown you in so many “optional” side quests / collectibles / macguffin hunting and spend so much time introducing you to every single one (here’s the tutorial side quest, here’s the tutorial collectible quest, here’s the tutorial macguffin quest - hi ubisoft)

Or they take hours and hours and hours to “get good” or “understand the game” (paradox, terraria, noita, roguelikes)

I guess I’m looking for games that don’t have a lot of cruft to wade through to get to the good bits. I don’t want to inventory manage. I don’t want to return to town to …

Hello everyone. So this may sound a bit too specific, but I want a game that I can sink my teeth into and live inside of the game world for hundreds and thousands of hours.

For example, I love the routine of My Summer Car. There’s something so charming about paying bills, getting a case of beer and grilling sausages at sunset.

I love simulation, owning cars, houses, career progression.

I loved Stardew Valley, Graveyard keeper, Test Drive Unlimited 2 with its features (even buying a yacht!)

I love cozy games and I find games like Travellers Rest very interesting.

My request is - I want more niche games

I’ve played the living Jesus out of RDR2, Kingdom come deliverance. I don’t want suggestions like Cyberpunk, Kenshi, Rimworld, No Man’s sky, etc.

I know it narrows it down quite a lot without the surface stuff but I really want something special to play.

( ON STEAM ) remember when we had girly games on ds and wii? i’m looking for games similar to the hyper feminine games we had like baby simulators, cooking mama, nintendogs, my universe, style savvy, barbie games that sort of thing. think bright, colourful, girly and a bit childish. i’m sorry if my description isn’t very good i’m trying my best ;-; i would be very grateful for any suggestions! i’ve spent the past 3 days just scrolling steam for hours

There’s a specific feeling I’m chasing and I’m not sure what to call it exactly, but it’s when a game plays like a completely different game depending on whether you’re a newer player or someone who’s mastered it (or just grinded enough to hit a certain power threshold). I’m not talking about Newgame+ or unlocking new abilities, prestige etc.. I’m talking about the gameplay itself changing completely based on your skill level.

ARPGs are probably one of the best examples of this. A new player is carefully fighting packs of 3-4 monsters, times his abilities and aims them and actually looks at most of the loot that drops. An endgame player with a fully built character is deleting entire screens of enemies every 0.2 seconds and the game has become more about loot filtering and map investment strategy than actual combat. Even the goals kind of shift, you no longer care about anything other than your map clear efficiency and how much currency you can farm …

Hey everyone!

When my battery is really low, I often wish low power mode went a bit further. So I did it myself! I think the results look very Apple-like / official. Here’s how I did it and what it does:

What it does:
- Enables low power mode
- Enables reduce transparency
- Enables reduce white point
- Enables reduce motion
- Disables Bluetooth
- Disables True Tone
- Disables AirDrop
- If on iPhone, automatically drops 5G to 4G
- Fully reverses all of the above upon turning off
- Customisable! Add or remove features you want

How to set it up:
1. Create a focus mode called Energy Saving.
2. Add the “Low power mode” and “Appearance” focus filters to On and Dark respectively.
3. Make a new all-black wallpaper and link it to the Energy Saving focus. You can optionally make all your icons black / tinted too!
4. Download my shortcut, here: https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/02b8d10fe9694fbbb09a3316c2816709
5. Set up an automation in the shortcuts app to run the shortcut “When Energy Saving …

I put this together based on a similar idea. The idea being your phone should automatically notify you if it gets stolen or found.

When it is plugged into power it checks to see if it is on your home network. If it is, nothing happens. If it isn’t on the home network or WiFi is off, then it takes a photo and emails that photo along with the location of the phone.

It may not be all that practical but it was fun figuring out how to make it work.

Link: https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/48edf39d56b741bfae1c4bba568ea3ba

Requirements
✅ Toolbox Pro
✅ Actions
✅ Apple Health (if you want Health data)
✅ Location permission

Added a few new things:

• Year progress (days out of 365)

• Apple services status section

• Health energy metrics (active/rest)

• Number of shortcuts on the device

• Public IP display

• Minor visual improvements

**For full compatibility, you’ll need to install the Actions app and Toolbox Pro.

v5.8 Update link:

https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/febf63c57f5d414dbd2a34f071057232

I know the dashboard already gets automatic updates, but I like to post a weekly update as well so new users can see the latest changes and get familiar with the shortcut and improvements over time.

Thanks for your feedbacks — it helps improve This Shortcut with every update ❤️

Hello guys,

I have been trying to find a good budget app but none worked for me so i made my own like a PWA and i have been trying to do an automation for it but it doesnt seem to work. Is there anyone who knows what to fix or does a tutorial exist for something like that. I keep seeing excel automations but i want it like this.

This is a game changer for me. Copy + paste a curl command and Siri will generate a working Shortcut from it.

Could you suggest any alternative third-party applications, aside from Toolbox Pro, Actions, or Charty, that might assist me in enhancing and optimising my iOS shortcuts?