There is evidence that standing is better for the human body than sitting. For work we have standing desks for computer work and such. Some aim to stand 8+ hours a day....
Also if you do go through with that make sure to get a soft mat to stand on. Standing on a hard surface for long periods is also bad for you (and painful, and cold).
It’s been awhile since I looked into building a PC, so I’m not sure what some of the better stores may be, or which may have swapped hands/changed approaches and aren’t as reliable as they once were....
I die a little inside whenever I see someone clueless buy a 1000$ computer with an HDD, and expect it to be way faster. And I die a little more inside when my work’s laptop, selling for 120$, with SSD and upgraded ram remain unsold for months.
I’ve had wusthof handles break on me and they are a pain to replace. You have to drill the rivets, remove the scales, glue new ones, drill new rivet holes, hammer new rivets and then shape them. With Japanese knives you tap the handle off and put in a whole new one.
Another issue with wusthof is that the bolsters on their chef knives are way too large. They weigh the know down and makes it annoying to sharpen. Over time it will develop a recurve and won’t contact the cutting board. Your only option is to grind it down, which is a big endeavor because they’re so damn big nowadays.
They’re still great knives but because of those issues that Japanese knives don’t have, they aren’t the best BIFL option for me.
It needs to be done carefully. If earwax has gotten onto the grill, it’s easy to squish it into the grill and your earbuds will sound extremely muddy and quiet. I usually try to prevent this by removing any visible wax collecting on the rubber ear bud. If it’s on the grill anyways, remove the rubber earbuds, add a drop of hydrogen peroxide onto the wax and let it sit for a minute. Afterwards use a toothbrush at an angle to “scrape” the wax off. This is to prevent mushing the earwax into the grill mentioned previously.
If the earbuds are muddy you can attempt to use a finer brush and scrub vigorously. It’s a little gross but you can blow on the grill to clear it sometimes. God forbid don’t suck.
I usually hoard random bits of veg and protein and when I have enough I make like 5 gallons of soup at a time. Nothing is stopping you from adding more stuff later, when youre microwaving a serving of soup you can add some more steamed or roast veggies you have laying around.
It’s also excellent with toast. Additionally you can dry leftover bread, crush it finely and add the breadcrumbs to the soup too.
Literally any leftovers you have can be incorporated into the soup one way or another.
I had some unappetizing lasagna so I chopped it up and threw it in my serving of soup, the cheesy sauce makes everything edible lol.
Easy (relatively) chowder with random veg, protein and cheese
The only specific ingredients are onions, garlic, spices, heavy cream and at least some cheddar.
Before starting salt all of your veg. This is so they are INTERNALLY seasoned, otherwise you’ll have salty soup and bland veg.
Saute your onions (with any other hardy vegetables) and butter can be used if feeling indulgent. Salt as you saute
Once slightly tender add and cook a couple tablespoons of flour (depends on quantity of soup and desired thickness)
Add whatever stock or bullion on hand (I use home made with bones and veg scraps). You could also use plain water if really starving and desperate though.
Once the soup is boiling add a ton of (salted) minced garlic, FRESH CRACKED black pepper, rosemary, thyme, smoked paprika and a couple pinches of mustard powder. These can be fresh or dry, but I do like fresh garlic and fresh cracked pepper (many of the flavors and compounds are highly volatile and will literally float away if stored post cracking). Also be generous with your spices, makes it way tastier.
Add your veg. It can really be anything from broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, corn, peas, carrots, mushrooms zucchini, celery, cabbage (not too much), bell peppers, etc. experiment and go nuts.
When pot is hot again add your protein, nothing specific. I’ve used ham, pork, ground beef, ground turkey, deli meat that was gonna go bad, breakfast sausages, Italian sausages, chicken breast and thighs and even tilapia. Make sure to salt them for 15 mins before adding.
When your proteins are not raw and almost cooked add heavy cream (if you don’t have much you can also add some milk, you can also freeze milk, let it melt and drip into a container, when halfway melted remove the frozen milk and whatever is collected is highly concentrated because all of the fats in the milk melt much faster than water)
When soup is reduced to desired amount turn off the heat and let it cool to a light simmer. Add your cheese and stir thoroughly. If soup is too hot your cheese will cook and clump up in nasty globs and will not thicken your soup either.
Man I’m so glad my glass side panel has a steel frame around it. At work I’ve had to repair a couple PCs like that and man they make me so anxious. It’s best to bite the bullet, unplug everything and lay the PC on it’s side.
I’ll offer “A reading list”. There’s no shortage of good books to read, and to no longer read anything for entertainment and/or knowledge would be a bad thing.
Tool handles. If you apply a hard glossy coat they just become too damn slippery and if it’s summer it’ll often slip on your sweat and it feels all clammy.
Chopsticks for the same reason, I always find myself dropping my food like an idiot when they are glossy and laqcuered. Especially when I was at a restaurant and for whatever reason they had mirror finished steel chopsticks. What the fuck!
Hey everyone! Looking for any interior decorator aficionados out there. For as long as I can remember I’ve never been able to decorate spaces where I live and would love some advice!...
I have a cabinet with some sentimental items. My first knife (knives are my hobby), a candle from my sister’s and I birthday, and ESPECIALLY gifts from others, despite how insignificant it might seem. Birthday cards, handmade flowers, a tiny origami crane and other handmade trinkets. All really miniscule items but they all make me happy. I also have a tiny swedish flag from ikea. Oh and some cat chopstick holders I have on my shelf.
A stupid little quote that’s proven itself true time and time again is “small joy and big joy, all the same”. Because all these little, seemingly insignificant, items on display have often made me happier more often than other “more significant stuff”. Stuff like a new fancy office chair, expensive gaming PC and gaming set up, nice coffee maker, expensive speakers and other luxury items. It really is the simple things.
Trying out android. I forgot the instructions but it’s something to do with trygalaxy.com, shortcutting it and opening it. It gives you an android interface with home screen and apps. It’s really damn trippy and pretty cool.
There are a lot of brands that aren’t AS anti repair as apple and have devices that are fairly simple to fix, like Nokia and IMO Sony. There is the fair phone that does market itself as repairable but they lost my trust by removing the headphone jack and selling their own wireless earbuds.
By commercialism, I’m aiming at a mix of spending a lot and sifting through bloated business models (e.g. this or that accessory/equipment, microtransactions, etc.). Feel like many can relate to this sort of commercial fatigue, and yet it creeps even into hobbies where one tries to unwind....
What do you recommend hosting because oddly enough I already want a server but I don’t know what to host. I feel it’s such a waste to burn electricity just to produce heat since using electricity in any capacity produces heat so I would literally use my server as a space heater.
I thought of hosting a Minecraft server for friends (or even friends of friends) and folding @ home as well. I already have a computer much better suited for file hosting so I would not need more of that.
I work as a computer repair technician and my workplace has some really old cheap (90$) server hardware for sale. They have 32gb of DDR3 and old dual xeon 5606. I would probably upgrade them because old xeons are dirt cheap. They also have some old workstations too that could be suitable for hosting, similar amounts of ram but new processors.
Not energy efficient but that’s fine since they would literally be a space heater, and if maxed out those old CPUs can still get some work done.
I agree tremendously. Additionally Japanese woodworking is pretty much devoid of commercialization entirely. Tools tend to be judged by their undeniable quality and the reputation of the blacksmith who forged it.
Additionally to avoid commercialization in western wood working (aside from buying vintage) is making a lot of your own tools. One of the most important rules in wood working is to buy tools that allow you to make more tools. So go ahead and buy some chisel blanks and make some handles, buy a vice screw and build your own leg vice (coincidentally the leg vice is almost extinct today due to commercialization of the cast iron vice, despite performing worse than the leg vice). Build your own bench, clamps (use some hardware kits) and if you have some guts you can cut your very own wooden planes and fit an aftermarket blade.
It’s a lot of work but it’s very rewarding and there is a tremendous amount of pride when using tools you make/restore yourself.
There will likely be lots of wind energy too which could alleviate the solar problem, though this is based on luck. Passed that the ideal solution is nuclear energy and in the future fission based reactors if they are economically viable.
What’s most feasible today in most places would be burning gas. I know it’s not perfect and still emits plenty of CO2 but the plants are much faster, cheaper and easier to build than nuclear, and gas burns much cleaner than coal or oil. Plus it can be stored and transported fairly efficiently by LNG container ships.
She is starting an online school program next semester and we will have to buy her a notebook. She has a Chromebook from the local public school system which she will have to return at the end of the year....
Look at the reputation of the seller and usually if they specialize in only laptops that’s a good sign.
Additionally avoid really poorly made laptops, I usually avoid most HP laptops because they have the rigidity of a wet newspaper and break all the damn time. We get a lot of them for repair and it’s labour intensive and expensive. Some dells are just as bad so be careful.
Most of the time Thinkpads are pretty solid little machines and have pretty good build quality. Additionally if you want something to last it’s worth looking at business and professional machines, many consumer grade ones suck.
A specific seller I have bought from are “PC Server & Parts”. They have a free 90 day warranty and good customer service, their prices are also very competitive too. I would recommend looking at their website too (true for many eBay sellers) since the prices may be cheaper (eBay charges a fee to sellers).
As a guy that works at a repair store, used laptops are insanely cheap. You’ll get a much more powerful and capable laptop if you go used, and you’re not at any risk because many reputable sellers and refurbishers will provide warranties too.
Most importantly when looking on eBay for laptops you want an SSD, if it says it’s using an HDD or “hard drive” avoid it. SSDs are 6x faster or more than HDDs and are much more reliable in mobile devices. They are cheap now too and most quality refurbs will have an SSD in most of their devices.
A lot of SSDs are somewhat low capacity so make sure she gets a little more storage than what she needs right now, but also external storage is pretty effective if the laptop’s storage gets a little full.
Other important features. 1080 HD screen. This will be really nice to have and often means that the processor on the laptop is pretty decent too for day to day tasks (most modern CPUs on many computers are far more powerful than most people ever need).
8gb or preferably 16gb of RAM. A lot of new computers today have a lot of RAM, which now means software devs are a lot lazier optimizing their programs. More RAM nowadays is really important and for good longevity I highly recommend 16gb.
Availability of parts. If you’re interested in a laptop, open a new eBay tab and put in “laptop model number parts”. If you see an abundance of cheap parts available that’s a very good sign. This means repairs are not only possible but likely easy and cheap.
Additionally feel free to ask questions, if you see a laptop that’s great but lacks a bit of ram, or has an SSD a little too small you can ask the seller to upgrade it. It’s gonna cost a little but shouldn’t be much. Unfortunately screens and processors (in most cases!) cannot be upgraded and usually not worth asking.
The witch from the witches house game. I won’t spoil it here but the second ending is really hearty breaking and cruel, I recommend you watch a playthrough of the game.
Simon whistler. He actually runs like 2 dozen YouTube channels and he’s basically just a narrator. I can’t stand him because of how confidently he talks in his videos while being egregiously incorrect. Like one example is why Canadians are so “polite”. His explanation was that Canadians had to cooperate and live with the indigenous peoples to survive but if you know a lick of history that could not be fucking further from the truth and is completely idiotic.
Honestly the dedicated shutter button on my Sony Xperia. I have ADHD and I want to remember something I press the button and take an immediate picture. At work I use this function constantly. I’m a repair technician and it’s really nice to take a picture of a model number instead of having to cross reference between the computer screen and the computer I’m trying to fix.
Listening to music is also good.
I can’t believe I forgot this but GOOGLE. Anytime, anywhere you just have to know something, or learn how to do something you can immediately search it up.
Honestly something that’s worth looking into is building homes with habitat for humanity (or any other organizations doing the same thing).
It’s pretty strenuous exercise and is good for you. Make sure to not abuse your body however and learn how to avoid doing so (i.e keeping back straight and squatting instead of bending over).
The most important aspect is learning carpentry, which is extremely good knowledge to have. It’s not just learning a new skill and an option for a new career but its the money it saves you. A carpenter is a jack of all trades and is far from just framing 2x4s. You learn a little plumbing, some electrician work, framing, finishing and repairing drywall and some more.
Granted a lot of it is pretty surface level but for a lot of repairs and installs around the house it’s all you need. Instead of paying like 1000$ for someone go install a toilet, do it yourself. Install outlets and light switches yourself, build basic custom furniture and shelves yourself. You become very self sufficient and it can save you so much money.
Just went down the aliexpress rabbit hole again. Theres really everythinf for some of really niche things that i wouldnt ever buy, but some things really do look appealing. I wonder what do you guys use daily thats worth lets say under $20
I also thought that too and I’ve been looking for a reusable one now. I bought one but it’s too much of a hassle and frankly takes more time to change floss than actually flossing (have to unwind, remove from track unwind again, pull floss, rewind, align with track, rewind again and trim)
What experience crushed your soul?
Non-computer standing furniture
There is evidence that standing is better for the human body than sitting. For work we have standing desks for computer work and such. Some aim to stand 8+ hours a day....
Why in the year 2024 and with all the knowledge humans have now do people still believe in religion?
Folks in North America, where do you like to get PC parts online these days?
It’s been awhile since I looked into building a PC, so I’m not sure what some of the better stores may be, or which may have swapped hands/changed approaches and aren’t as reliable as they once were....
Good “Buy for Life” Brands
Some that come to mind are:...
What are your ear buds cleaning rituals?
How often do you clean them, and how? Any cautionary tales?
What are some of your cheap eats hacks?
Anyone who recently had a "Yup, it was that kinda day" day. What happened?
What is best left unfinished?
I’ll offer “A reading list”. There’s no shortage of good books to read, and to no longer read anything for entertainment and/or knowledge would be a bad thing.
Anyone have any guides or tips for how to decorate home living spaces to feel more "lived in"?
Hey everyone! Looking for any interior decorator aficionados out there. For as long as I can remember I’ve never been able to decorate spaces where I live and would love some advice!...
What are some cool things you can do with Shortcuts on iOS?
Share some cool things that you can make your iPhone do thru a Shortcut, and if you can, maybe link to something or tell us how to do it....
What companies have made your blacklist?
What companies will you never give another dollar to?...
What hobbies help you minimize or avoid navigating commercialism?
By commercialism, I’m aiming at a mix of spending a lot and sifting through bloated business models (e.g. this or that accessory/equipment, microtransactions, etc.). Feel like many can relate to this sort of commercial fatigue, and yet it creeps even into hobbies where one tries to unwind....
What are some promising solutions to solar power's lack of night time availability? Is "transoceanic power transportation" on the list?
EDIT: Submarine power transportation is indeed on the list...
I need advice on getting a cheap notebook for my daughter for online school.
She is starting an online school program next semester and we will have to buy her a notebook. She has a Chromebook from the local public school system which she will have to return at the end of the year....
Who is the cruelest fictional villain?
I’m not just talking cruelty in terms of their goals, but also how they went about achieving their goals
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What makes a smartphone useful to you?
Always had a cheap desktop computer and never thought a phone was worth it. Is there a reason people like me should reconsider?
Charity Work
Good morning everyone,...
What cheap tool/gadget do you use that greatly improves your daily life?
Just went down the aliexpress rabbit hole again. Theres really everythinf for some of really niche things that i wouldnt ever buy, but some things really do look appealing. I wonder what do you guys use daily thats worth lets say under $20