Fixed Gear bicycles. One gear, no fear. Also, no coward levers (which sane folk refer to as “brakes”).
transitioning
The total eclipse. I was lucky enough to live in the path of last year’s. I now understand why people are willing to travel across the world just to experience something that only lasts a few minutes.
I think being in 100% totality would make all the difference. I was in like 60 or 70 percent totality and while it was neat, and I’m happy I got to experience it, it wasn’t insanely awesome.
It really is indescribable. Just to give you an idea, even five seconds before totality is boring. It’s day, a little darker than usual. Then, five seconds later, it’s totality, and it’s like the entire universe had been replaced by a magical fairy tale land.
It’s crazy how poorly photos convey the experience.
My photos don’t really convey the experience of watching it happen but I did get awesome pics last year. I had total coverage and got super lucky with the weather and didn’t have to leave the house. There are comments from me that has more details about how I got the photos in case anyone finds it interesting.
Oops lol just realized I just sent the link to my lunar eclipse photos, lemme fix that
This links to my photo vault that has my solar eclipse pics sprinkled in https://blog.machinations.space/photobombination/
These are my lunar eclipse pics with the more details https://lemmy.zip/post/34119331
Relevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/2914
I wouldn’t say five seconds before totality is boring; you can look up and see the tiny sliver of Sun as it winks out of existence, and see shadowy ripples on the ground from differences in air density. But that’s still nothing compared to totality.
There were “shadow bands” that looked like wavy ripples starting around then too, and for a few seconds afterward too.
But OP’s point about non-totally is pretty accurate. It’s a little chilly, a bit like overcast, and you can’t look at it without eye protection until totality.
When we were at the 2017 eclipse it was warmer and we watch the bugs come out and birds roost/land on the nearby lake.
Dang! I should’ve taken my kids out of school and driven them 100 miles to see the totality! I may never get another chance like that.
Have you ever seen a sunset in 360 degrees around you, everywhere you looked?
I have.It’s worth travelling for. There will be more coming!
Huge difference.
As a kid I saw an annular solar eclipse (ring of fire) and thought it was pretty neat, but I wasn’t that excited for the recent total eclipse. Decided that I might as well just drive the few hours to give my young son the full experience.
WOW what a difference it made when that last sliver of sun got eclipsed. Incomparable.
Yes, being in totality is a completely different experience. Imagine looking up at the sky into a twilight, where a black hole ringed with ghostly white light hovers eerily where the sun once was. It’s truly otherworldly
Right now in whatever sorting algorithm my view is using, the comment immediately after this says literally just “sonicare toothbrush”
And the temperature and sound changes too. Also it’s pretty neat to be in a crowd for a moment of communal awe.
not even just the people, we were on the edge of a lake and something about the way the wildlife sounded just changed.
Would you mind elaborating on your experience? Why was it exciting ? What came through your mind at the time ?
I’ve seen a solar eclipse but I’m in elementary at the time and didn’t care for it. Now I wonder if it must have been kinda terrifying the old human thought their God was mad.
The sun is so bright that even when a sliver of it is still showing, it’s blinding. So a partial eclipse, even at 99%, just looks like the sun only a crescent instead of a circle. Oh and the shadows can look funny and you might notice it’s a bit darker.
Then you get to totality and it is something new. It gets noticeably darker, first of all, but in a different way than normal. Not like a storm or night, it’s eerie and hard to explain.
But you can also look at the sun without protection. And you don’t see any of the main disc itself but you get a clear sight of what’s around it: the waves of plasma coming off of the sun, moving while you watch.
After seeing totality, partial eclipses are now meh. In fact, once totality ended, there was still like an hour of partial eclipse left, but I didn’t care, it was time to drive home. I won’t even bother looking at future partial eclipses at home in the future, but I might fly out to a future total one. Seeing one made me understand how people who knew about them back in the day could use that to control those who didn’t. It feels profound.
I didn’t think Portal could possibly live up to the hype and I slept on it for a a decade. It did. Superb game
This was a triumph
I’m making a note here: huge success.
For the good of all of us. Except the ones who are dead.
So looking forward to that piece of cake
I’ve got some bad news, buddy…
Linux and open source software.
Tested out a dualboot of Linux Mint about 2 years ago on a Windows laptop. Wanted to see how far I could get on 100% open source and free software.
I got far enough that I never looked back.
Same for me with Nobara Linux. Its been a year and a half and I’m so glad I migrated over.
Alas, the one thing holding me back is that my wireless headset has no Linux support. Trying to vibe code drivers but it’s not going well.
Get a wired headset/mic and never look back :)
I’m held back by the good deal that PC game pass is, And a few multiplayer games, but I still dual boot
I’ve tried switching multiple times, but so many programs I use for work are not supported on Linux. I essentially was having to run 2 systems so I relented and tried to de-Microsoft windows.
An air fryer. Holy cow that thing is versatile and an amazing addition to the kitchen!
I ended up with one for free after years of not caring. What I found is that you cannot match their ability to turn the cheapest hot dogs into great hot dogs. That a kielbasa or smoked sausage becomes a work of art. Heat up a microwave burrito in the microwave and then crisp it in the air fryer. Perfect for egg rolls. Anything where that skin has to be crispy or have a bite to it is a great thing to throw into an air fryer.
Agreed! I probably use mine 10x more than my oven now.
Crocs. I had avoided them for years until I went on a kayaking tour on Vancouver Island. Well, while they were ugly AF, they are one of most comfortable shoes I’ve tried that are just… Easy to slip on and off?
I’m legit scared to try them on, and be overwhelmed by how comfortable they are that I don’t care about their looks. But the fact they’re the shoes from Idiocracy is keeping me from ever trying. IIRC they weren’t even released to the public yet, and Mike Judge was like these are perfect, ain’t no way anyone would ever be caught dead in these ugly ass shoes.
I have a pair that I wear exclusively as house shoes. They are so comfortable. But yeah, I don’t want to wear them in public.
They make closed-toe versions which look far less ridiculous.
Same here. I don’t even think they look ugly anymore. They’re comfortably great.
Coffee. My dad was in the navy in the 70s and you could tell by the tar he drank. Never got into it. Early 20s I got hired as a delivery boy for a coffee shop. A perk was that it came with free coffee drinks. Turns out I didn’t hate coffee, I hated the swill my father brewed. Good coffee was quite good.
I had a very similar experience when it came to beer.
I’m not sure where you’re from, but here in the UK almost everybody drinks instant coffee and that’s how I feel about it. It’s horrible, and the only reason people seem to think they like it is because they fill it with milk and sugar.
The US. In my dad’s time it was percolator brewed (the literal worst way to brew) or with low grade, super roasted. I drink medium roast or lighter and drip brew or pour over. Vast vast difference.
The Persona series has even brought up the idea you’d praise coffee more for its mature flavor than just to wake up. In some places, they drink it at any time of day.
I drink a lot of decaf because I like the flavor. Regular coffee being caffeinated is a nice perk (pun intended) for when I need to wake up.
I ended up with an air fryer. It’s still just a convection oven, but I use it constantly.
I love my adult E-Z-Bake oven, lol.
What’s with these? Do they heat up faster? More convection means more heat transfer? I don’t get it
Both. The fast-moving air really does have an almost frying effect, and mine takes like a minute or two to get up to temp (and fits a whole pizza).
Yep, they are convection ovens on steroids when it comes to the amount of airflow.
I was firmly on team “LOL it’s a baby convection oven, big whoop” for years, but an actual purpose-made air fryer (not a toaster oven with air fry mode) cooks like an entirely different appliance.
Air-fryer
bone-conducting headphones
PSX
Firefly
Inis
Innovation
bone-conducting headphones
Very curious to try. I bought some surprisingly cheap ones to see if it would be worth spending more on them, but the ones I received said nothing about bone conduction so the ad was a flat out lie.
Air-fryer
Yes
Firefly
Yes
If you turn them up to high volume, they distort, buzz, and tickle on your skin. So only quiet to mid volume. The sound quality is medium-high(I’m no audiophile). Being able to listen to media and be aware of surroundings is excellent. Previously achievable with in-earbuds, only by doing the one earpiece dangle. Sweat/water resistant. 8hr playtime. Pretty wild.
I forget that I’m wearing mine half the time, ppl think they are hearing aids…
And the convenience of having them just around your neck otherwise
Bought a pair for my kid too. Nice to be able to talk to him even if he listens to music
I will say they are also excellent for high noise environments, but only with in-ear hearing protection in.
You know they make gobs of different “open ear” earbuds. It’s what I use most of the time. No bone conduction needed. The speaker is just positioned close to your ear hole. They also make glasses with em built in that way.
I did not know about open ear earbuds, thanks for the option.
Do they have audio spill for people around you?
Part of my use-case for bone conducting models, is playing music or podcasts with no spill, while others are sleeping or chatting closeby in the car/house.
There’s some amount of spill over from the kind built into glasses, but almost none on the kind that hook over and rest in your ear. They also make a kind that sort of clips onto your ear, but I haven’t tried that style.
Good to know. The clip ones looked straight out of a 90s tech movie.
I had the same bait and switch, but it’s how I learned I really like open ear headphones vs the actual bone conduction ones I bought after.
but the ones I received said nothing about bone conduction so the ad was a flat out lie
I did the same thing, it wasn’t a lie but the effect did not work properly because they did not fit properly. Not sure if more expensive ones have some better system for contact/positioning, but I don’t want the cost especially as I want to keep it wired.
So, I tried wearing earplugs with my Shokz. Disappointingly, the sound became very, very muffled. I don’t think that it’s true bone conduction, because if it was, then earplugs shouldn’t have had a significant impact on the sound. They’re still nice, just… Not as cool.
Firefly is solidly decent. It’s not great, it’s not terrible. It had real potential, and then got cancelled after 12 (?) episodes. Babylon 5 was arguably a better show overall, but I can see why Firefly still has a solid fandom 20 years later.
Interesting test. I just tried mine with my high fidelity ear plugs and it actually made it clearer when my music is at a lower volume. of course these aren’t meant to block out all sounds though.
With regular earplugs, its a little muffled, but I’m honestly quite impressed by how good it still sounds.
For sound reproduction, I prefer my wired Shure SE-315 with sound-isolating ear tips. But Shokz ar much more comfortable for all-day wear.
I love my Shockz #ad
Pretty much the only headset I’ve been using on the go for the last 3-4 years
Same, I got mine about 6 months ago and they are a huge game changer. Bought them originally to use while riding my escooter so I could still hear traffic, etc. I ride in about an hour each way to work. They’re incredible I can even still hear birds, but can hear my music totally clearly.
Bonus is that I can wear them at work all the time now and still hear when people are trying to get my attention, and I’m not constantly removing them and losing them like I would with my earbuds.
I also love the sound quality, which you’d expect would be awful, but it just sounds like there’s music playing in the room you’re in. Sometimes I forget that the music is just in my ears. Cannot recommend enough honestly.
Inis
Innovation
A man of culture.
Glad to see Innovation getting so much love after being on SUSD. It’s really a great game.
I’ve also enjoyed exploring Mottainai after everything in the rules finally clicked.
Honestly, the bent-spears-on-minis is the only issue across the two games. (c:
+1 on the air fryer.
+1 on Kaylee Frye
She lives up to the hype for sure.
bone-conducting headphones
Do you have a specific recommendation? I’m interested in trying one
Not OP but I got Shokz OpenMove years ago, specifically because they use USB type-C to charge. . I use them daily at work and love them. Sound is good enough for me. I can hear music and stuff still going on at work. It’s like sounds being pumped into your brain with your ears still working.
Buckwheat pillow
Bidet
Tell me more about this pillow of yours please
Just a pillow that is filled with buckwheat. They’re like 50 bucks. Kind of bean-baggy. If you get one, you’ll put your head on it and think,“Damn, this is kind of hard”, but then you’ll adjust it to your head and have a great nights sleep. I kept hearing about them, then I needed to replace my pillow one day and figured,what the hell. Let’s see what this is about. Totally worth it.
They’re also absolutely OP in a pillow fight (I got one when I was like 10, and never looked back)
What brand? I think I’m going to pull the trigger on this.
I’m pretty sure mine was from a company called Bean Products. I just checked, and the price has gone up a bit in the years since I bought mine. I don’t know that there is a big difference in quality between brands.
OK. Thank you!
Sobakowa, as seen on TV!
PC SSDs when they first came out, I saved $ and splurged for 256 GB over 128 GB. In the first week I was slightly upset I didn’t save more $ and go for a big expensive 512 GB one. Immediately I was telling my other PC gaming friends it’s going to revolutionize PCs in general, and to get one ASAP!
Edit: I can’t remember shit for fuck, but the size I bought was probably quite smaller than 256 GB lol.
I remember going from a 2 minute boot time to under 40s on windows. That was all the convincing I needed
I don’t think there were SSDs that large when they first came out in the late 2000’s. I saved up for an 80GB one back around 2009, and it was an absolute piece of trash. It was fast when it wanted to be, but most of the time it would randomly stutter and just go unresponsive for several seconds causing the rest of the PC to hang up until it decided to start responding again. After fighting with it for too long, I replaced it with a traditional harddrive which at least behaved as it was supposed to.
It was several years later before I tried another SSD, buying a relatively inexpensive 120GB drive that actually did live up to the hype.
Hmmmm, I’m probably misremembering the size now that you mention it. I’m also practically incapable of remembering when something was, but it would have been around the late 2000s - early 2010s. I do remember it held Windows plus 1-2 games, and I juggled around the games I played most from SSD to HDD and back.
Induction range top. Quick on, fine degree of control, quick off, little heat radiation. Better than gas. Only adaptation was flat bottom wok which
makes the working world go roundis not quite the same experience.Keeping it clean with minimal effort compared to a gas range was unexpectedly my favorite part
I find it even easier than a glass top electric (what the induction replaced) I think it is because only the area directly below the pan is heated, spills are easier to wipe up and don’t get baked on.
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Absolutely this. An induction range was a game changer in terms of cooking and has paid for itself many times over. I lucked out and found a high end used one for $400 many years ago. When camping I use a portable one, and while not as good as a full range, it is still much better than any propane cooktop I’ve used.
Yea I got a separate plug-in induction wok because I just couldn’t get the flat bottom one to work well.
When I moved to Wisconsin back in 2006, House on the Rock was one of the first things I heard about from my neighbors to go see. My wife and I looked at the website and said “we’ll go see it someday.” Well, that day was about a month ago as back then we started having kids and getting used to living in a new place. However, over the past 19 years I’ve had people tell me that “you’ve got to go see it.”
Now… I understand.
Is that place a monument to a man’s ascent to brilliance?
Or his decent into madness.
There was stuff in that museum that I took DAYS to process and I still really am unable to understand what it was I was looking at. It took my family and I FOUR hours to walk through it. It could have been a LOT longer if we actually stopped to study more than what we did.
I’m 55 years old and I’ve seen and done a lot things in my life… None of it prepared me for the sheer onslaught that is House on the Rock. Walking out of it I told my wife that I rather chaffed at the entrance fee when I paid it… Now, I’m not sure if they charged enough.
If you’re ever anywhere close to South Central Wisconsin… Take a day and go see it.
It doesn’t just live up to the hype… It so far exceeds it that trying to explain the place will never do it justice.
I just did a search on this place to pull up some pictures. It looks crazy (in a good way).
Wow. I have never wanted to take my husband someplace, with no explanation beforehand, more.
It’s so cool to see this pop up here–i went there with my wife several years ago and we were absolutely stunned by it’s magnificence and sheer scale. I plan on going back someday and spending an entire day there knowing what we’re in store for. I had been given a recommendation to check it out by a local who ran a log cabin lodge that was about 1/2 hour or so from the House. That place really blew me away, glad to know other folks are out there appreciating it too!
That carousel was insane, not to mention the amount of animated instruments and nickelodeons scattered about… The living quarters were so cool, if a little impractical. You could have the coolest parties ever in that place…
I didn’t see any of the hype for the Barbie movie (apparently they painted streets in London pink?), but I just went in and saw it. Awesome film
Also: A laser tape measure. I always heard about people ranting about them, and often thought “I get it I get it you’re a child who likes shiny things”, but I finally got one and it is one of my most prized possessions. I can now find out the distance to things like THAT.
Didn’t live up the hype: I caved in and got a mechanical keyboard. A nice one. Keychron something such. I now have a heavy clackety-clack keyboard. That’s it. The usual plastic 15 quid keyboards I get are only every so slightly less good. Don’t buy into this fad. It’s for ASMR fanatics and their heavy wallets
What do you use your keyboard/computer for and for how long if you don’t mind my asking?
I’m at my machine 12+ hours a day, coding, data analysis, grant writing, etc.
I might play some online games too
I agree and disagree with you. agree that it’s overhyped by fanatics of the hobby. I disagree because I got it for not dealing with rubber membrane keyboards. those truly suck dirt.
problem with getting in mkb now is the choice overload. it was a lot easier for me back 10 years ago. I’m not claiming it was better back then, objectively now is better because there’s more choice for your own needs and wants.
Mechanical keyboards are like guitars, you can play the same notes on a cheap one as you can on something custom made for you for thousands. Do they sound very different? Almost always, although the guitar needs someone who can actually play well, unlike the mechanical keyboard.
However, if you really really care and you really really know what you want out of either you can tweak absolutely everything about both. You want ultra soft silent keyboard? Sure. You want the most clickty keyboard with tons of pressure? Sure. You want something thocky but still has lots of flex? Sure.
Wait, how well you like a mechanical keyboard generally mainly hinges on what kind of mechanical switches you get, and there are like over a dozen varieties of switches with very different characteristics. Did you sample a variety of at least the most popular switches and pick your favorite?
Yep, went with banana - purely for the clackety clack. I am a child
Got it, no worries, I was just curious.
Counterpoint on the mechanical keyboard. I type heavily (as in, I hit the keys hard) and my joints are terrible. After a day typing on a shitty membrane keyboard my hands will be aching. A mech lets me find the right switch/dampener combo so that doesn’t happen
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I had double-press issues a lot which were maddening, but I uodated the firmware and it went away
I rather like how my mechanical keyboard feels, but it’s just a Logitech. I never fell down the rabbit hole that some people do with them.
I bought a mechanical keyboard back when this whole mechanical keyboard fad was in its infancy back in the mid-2000’s. Honestly, the main reason I bought it was because I thought the key backlighting was cool. It’s a nice keyboard, but I find a decent membrane keyboard (such as what I have at work) to work just as well for a fraction of the cost.
I suppose I can’t complain about the durability though, as it’s lasted nearly 20 years now.
Not too long ago I checked out the current state of what is out there, and it’s just nuts with all the choices. Not to mention all the fanatics that seem to like to build dozens of keyboards.
Interestingly, despite all the heavy customization of things like switches and keycaps, there seems to be very little ability to customize the layout. Many of the various compact keyboards out there make some interesting design choices (IMHO) about what keys they leave off, and where they distribute the keys that they decide to still include. I wouldn’t mind taking a short at creating my own compact layout, but that doesn’t seem to be what the hobby is about.
