transitioning
I wasn’t disappointed with Infinity War and Endgame
My good sir, how can you be so brave and so wrong at the same time?
Bidet. $30 game changer. Don’t ask questions, just hook it up (it’s easy), and try it.
You’re welcome.
Ok, I guess I’ll be that guy. Every time they are mentioned, it’s always people proseltyzing. It made me consider one, but I never pulled the trigger. All of the arguments I heard felt kind of unconvincing, and I couldn’t justify buying one without trying it first.
Then I bought a house, and it came with two of them. I was excited to try them out and see what all of the fuss was about. The thing is… The ones I have suck. Now, one of them seems to have weak pressure, so it could just be a bad one. However, the other one feels like it’s trying to clean the back of my teeth, and it still doesn’t do anything I couldn’t do with paper. Sure, it might get the job done slightly faster, but I still need to use paper to at least dry off after I’m done.
Maybe a better one could change my mind, but for us, they sit there, mostly unused.
I think its better to dry off with paper than to smear poo around with it, but that’s a personal preference.
You need the ones that have an “AI” aiming feature but the AI is actually a japanese man sitting in his cubical remote controlling it.
Disgusting, i can’t imagine not washing your ass after a shit when at home
I installed this for less then 20€ and can’t live without it anymore. I use a few toilet papers to dry my butt, it’s already absolutely clean 90% of the time. My whole family can’t go back to just wipe.
Maybe try a different model. I’ve got a simple one from Amazon that was only about $30. Now that yours is already installed on the tank, it should be easy to swap out a new one.
it still doesn’t do anything I couldn’t do with paper
You are supposed to use paper and then the bidet.
Other way around. Save the toilet paper for drying a clena ass, not smearing the mess around before cleaning it.
Yep, bidet people are suuuuuper-fucking-weird to the point of having some kind of anal fixation.
fellas, is it gay to not walk around with skid marks in my undergarments?
Unless you live in a modular with fucked plumbing not making this easy
It attaches to the float mechanism, so it’s pretty easy to install. Only about 15 minutes, and the results are so worth it.
It would be worth it even if you had to pay a plumber to install it. Now that I’ve lived with one, I’d pay $200 to have one installed.
My old apartment toilet didn’t actually have a way to disconnect the hose from the bottom of the float mechanism. Like the hose went all the way up into the tank, instead of simply screwing onto the bottom. As far as I could tell, it would require replacing the entire float mechanism (and hose) with a new one, which was more work (and money) than I was willing to put into a toilet that I didn’t even own.
Even searching online for how to disconnect it was unhelpful, because every post basically boiled down to “just unscrew it and it should come loose.” But it very clearly wasn’t going to come loose, because the hose ran all the way up into the center of the mechanism; The screw simply held the mechanism in place. I’ve never seen another one like it before or since, but they 100% do exist.
It was particularly annoying because I was already used to using a bidet. I moved into the new place, and discovered after the move-in that I couldn’t install mine.
Like the hose went all the way up into the tank, instead of simply screwing onto the bottom.
That’s EXACTLY what my situation is like
It sounds like you’d have to replace the whole stack, but that’s only about $15-20 at Home Depot.
There should be some sort of threaded seal around the hole on the bottom of the tank where the water flows in, and the hardware all attaches to that.
I’ve never seen anything like your situation, you might need a plumber to sort that out.
In some places all the piping and the water tank are behind a wall though
Mechanical keyboards
Every keystroke feels and sounds like heaven!
My laptop has a mechanical and honestly I want my old membrane back. Mechanical is loud, membrane is not. The only benefit I get is that if I break a key I replace a key as opposed to the entire board being fucked.
Only some mechanicals are loud (admittedly some of the most popular switches are the clicky type for some god-aweful reason). Some are made to be silent and are no louder than fingers/nails bumping the plastic around as per any other keyboard.
Next step. Ergo split with non qwerty layout. I put together a Lily58 keyboard and switched to Colemak-DH. Years of discomfort just vanished. The advantages were instant for me. Im a bigger dude and typing on even a full-sized keyboard meant my hands were at a 45 degree angle perpendicular to the keyboard at all times. I had to contort my wrists to type. Then my shoulders were cramped because I had to squeeze them together.
The split instantly relaxed my shoulders. The ability to angle the keyboard meant no more contorting my wrists. Colemak has its own benefits and overall my fingers feel much better.
The only drawback I have is I want a bigger thumb cluster. That’s a personal preference you don’t even realize until you get a split keyboard. Once you start doing motions to eliminate using your pinky as a hold finger even more comfort opens up for you.
The best part is it’s a super portable keyboard by default. So if I want to take it to work I can rubber band both halves together and shove it in my bag. Or better yet print out a foldable case. I got big honking full-sized switches and keys. You can go low profile and make it as discreet as possible.
This but do this as gradual steps, first get a split or a column staggered split keyboard, with regular querty layout and only when you are used to using one especially how the layers work, consider an alternative key layout if needed, frankly just having a split keyboard itself is an improvement in ergonomics, alternative layouts could help buy learning a new one will take time and you’ll have to switch to querty at work anyway, unless you want to carry your custom keyboard everywhere
Did you type home row style?
Yeah that’s how I learned to type all the way back in middle school.
Colemak-DH Gang, rise up!
Ergo split with non qwerty layout
If only you could buy them at a reasonable price…
That’s relative to the buyer. Of course only pay what you’re comfortable with. My Lily58 was less than $150, and the only reason it got that high is because I had to buy some extra controller boards after I broke one. Before that it was closer to $110 all parts included. Pre-mades are more expensive, but the DIY kits are a fun day project and are considerably less in cost.
Even then you are paying for a luxury item, and it’s a luxury for a reason. It’s like paying extra for custom fitted shoes. Knowing if all the benefits are worth it is only something you can decide. Most people will say they usually are though.
Not to your work neighbours it doesn’t!
Brown caps gang
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.
Pop sockets.
I saw so many people use them and hated the sight of them. They look weird and make your phone fit awkwardly in your pocket and you can just lean your phone against something heavy if you want to watch a video or whatever.
But I decided to try it and it is single-handedly the thing that allows me to use my Android phone pretty much one-handed. With gesture controls and the ability to shrink the keyboard to one side for one-hand typing, I’m able to use my 6" phone with one hand 90% of the time.
Just get bigger hands, then it’ll still fit in your pocket just fine.
/s …
Pop sockets >>>> every other method of holding your phone (they lꝏk awkward for me)
Needs stronger adhesive tho , bcus mine some times peels off . One time had to superglue one to my case , which I hope don’t havta ever do again !
I always buy cheap ones because they keep coming off
Instant pot. Mine has a sous-vide mode and I make the best steaks I’ve ever made. Whole shebang was only like 40 bucks and I can cook most things in it.
I know I’m alone in this, but I loved and still love VR since htc vive
There are dozens of us! Dozens!!
I really hope Bigscreen manage to bring the cost down of their small headset because an affordable and comfy one might renew interest. It’s still very much an underexplored medium!
Maybe I’m missing years of video game discourse but I don’t know what you’re talking about being alone on this hill. I’ve been using VR since the Google Cardboard and as long as you temper your expectations it’s been plenty fine since even all the way back then. The experiences on the Vive and Index are a bit clunky but otherwise I have fun with them every time I use them.
I only have a Quest 2 and I still love it. I think we won’t see mass adoption until it’s slimmed down to just glasses.
I don’t think it can ever be that thin. There’s too many constraints: needs to block other light, needs to be at a comfortable focal distance, needs power and a processor, not to mention the input and audio components…
Augmented reality glasses, yeah I can see that.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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
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.
Right now in whatever sorting algorithm my view is using, the comment immediately after this says literally just “sonicare toothbrush”
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…
High quality audio equipment.
Yes, it’s an area filled with more snake-oil and bullshit than any other technical realm I’ve experienced, but with some knowledge (unarguably required on the part of the user) you can actually figure stuff out and get some ROCKING audio gear for pennies on the dollar.
Last year I got into electronic fix/build/mashup as a hobby, and a project I had in mind for fun was to turn a $10 Sirius Boombox that needed 8xD batteries and a wired AUX input, into a wireless BT boombox. I did it and it was fun as hellllllll. But it was not for the audio, it was for the learning. I repurposed battery cells and a charging board from a Shark handheld vacuum, and grabbed a BT board out of a scrapped shower speaker - made that work by “bolting it” onto a disposable vape battery/charger which draws from the main battery pak.
Well anyways… getting a taste of that deep, rich, penetrating audio made me realize I’d been sold THE OTHER SIDE OF THE LIE by the speaker business. That moment of looking at my Bose SoundLink and realizing I’ve been a fool for so long. The stupid Sirius boombox isn’t even that good now that I look back, but at the moment it was a HOLY SHIT moment for me. Running up to it thinking my music was distorting… but NO… it was actually musical details I’d never heard, and didn’t know existed.
Now I have a soul-destroying audio setup (for a small 1BR apartment) that I shit you not, cost me a total of $23. RXV581 Receiver, YST-SW011 Subwoofer and two Polk MXT11 Monitor tower speakers. People either discarded, sold, or donated. I got the Yamaha Receiver/Sub set because… get this… ONE of the surround sound speakers was dropped and it’s case cracked, so they threw it ALL away. The Polks were seen at thrift, first for $70 each, then reduced to $34 after a month… then one day muthafukkaaaaaaa $10 each plus tax.\
So yeah. Good audio. I had NO idea how satisfying it could be. I didn’t know what I’d been missing.
I’ve been a frugal audiophile for my entire life. I learned long ago that you can find gear with excellent specs, without spending thousands.
These days, I’m mostly into guitars, and I’ve found the same thing to be true - there is no correlation between quality and price. I’ve seen great guitars that are dirt cheap, and I’ve seen expensive guitars that are mediocre. I put together an entire home studio, with 2 electrics, an acoustic, a bass, and a keyboard, a new computer, interface, mic, etc., all for less than $1500, and it all sounds amazing.
You’ve done me proud, fellow frugal !
Same experience here with mid and high end audio collecting for both car and home.
What was that “holy crap I didn’t know what good audio was” moment for you?
50 dollar pair of Sennheiser over the ear (not cans) headphones absolutely blew my mind which lead to many a denon, electovoice, carver, klipsch, adcom, & cerwin-vega passing through my hands (i miss my “house” speakers (cobbled together and refoamed the woofers from 2 sets of 1970’s vintage D9’s and ran them with a 200 watt rms/ch electrovoice power amp as a bedroom dj for many a house party 😁🍻) not to say my current stereo cant thump, buuuuuttttt (i hear an old man in my head) “theres no replacement for displacement” way of thinking will probably lead to either a home theater sub or more car audio
Edit: and good taste in polk! I ran their 6.5 coaxials in the doors of my car with an Alpine 9855, kenwood power amp giving them around 80-100 watts and 24db/octave high and low pass filters (i cant recall the center freq of those crossovers but i think i rolled the lows off around 1500 hz and the highs around 4000-4500 hz)
Cool! 200 Watt RMS/ch yoooooooo
My 2nd experience, which happened to be headphones as well - a wired set of B&W I got for $2 because the cable frayed.
I’m on board with you there about the “displacement” idea. With engines technology can help, but with audio all the wave guides, custom boxes and tomfoolery in the world can’t get around physics. Bigger = better.
edit: re your edit. A big part of how I do … things… is to be patient and let them come into my life. Having been able to pick up so much crazy gear for pennies means I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I paid retail or even used prices. When the “bug” was first starting to bite me I decided to buy a used sub for $100 which was still a deal. I nearly cried when I saw the exact sub at thrift for $9. But hey, sold the one I bought and moved on so no issue. But yeah… I don’t have the money to buy everything I’d like but I’m becoming aware of what’s good and what’s not, and I enjoy the “saving” or “free” aspect very much. Plus I get to keep the constant upgrade cycle going and make a bit of side cash too.
Naps
I was just trying to explain to my 26 year old son how a 30 minute power nap can buy you several hours at the end of your night. I discovered that about the same age, when I got a girlfriend who didn’t get off work until midnite, while I had a normal 9-5. A post work power nap could keep me awake later to hang out with her.
The band Opeth
I moved past my metal era ages ago and still listen to him. He’s always been fantastic. For as much hate the Heritage album got when it came out, it’s also one of my favs.
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!
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.
