Fixed Gear bicycles. One gear, no fear. Also, no coward levers (which sane folk refer to as “brakes”).
Ask Lemmy
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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.
Bidet. $30 game changer. Don't ask questions, just hook it up (it's easy), and try it.
You're welcome.
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.
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)
I know I'm alone in this, but I loved and still love VR since htc vive
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 round~~ is not quite the same experience.
Keeping it clean with minimal effort compared to a gas range was unexpectedly my favorite part
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.
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.
Mechanical keyboards
Every keystroke feels and sounds like heaven!
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.
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.
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.
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 ...
High quality kitchen knives. I'm partial to hand-forged Japanese carbon steel. So sharp. Maintains an edge. Easy to sharpen. Being beautiful is just an added bonus.
This isn't hyped by normal people I guess but when I was looking for a better pillow, these custom-sized memory foam pillows seemed like a crazy overhype and a grab for money by physiotherapists. $200 and a year later, still the best purchase I have made for my bed.
Also, peanut butter. I hated peanut butter growing up and never understood how people are so obsessed with it. Man did I miss out for years, that shit is so good and so versatile.
Pro tip: crush roasted unsalted peanuts and have real peanut butter. You have no idea what you're missing. The peanut butter sold in most places is hydraulically fractured, then the peanut oil is reserved and replaced with inferior soybean. Crushed (not fractured) peanut butter does not separate, and it is breathtakingly versatile in cooking!
Win7
friendslop video games. its fun to get into wacky little low budget games with people you like.
"Lovers in a dangerous space time"
Definitely not made for 4 semi drunk guys in their 30s but dayum we had a ton of fun
I got a Japanese sobakawa pillow that a ton of people recommended and it's incredible. I didn't know a hard pillow could be so comfortable.
Final Fantasy XIV story.
Ugh it’s an MMO. I’m going to guess anyone who’s slogged through that much content will praise the story.
I don’t necessarily think everyone would find it worth it getting through the less enjoyable content, especially if you’re not taking breaks, but getting up to the two star expansions, Shadowbringers and Endwalker, yes, those expansion endings have been some of my favorite memories in the entire RPG space. The music alone forms such perfectly defined leitmotifs for its best moments. I still wouldn’t blame anyone for walling it off in their mind given the time and financial commitment, but after years of hype, it did match it.
What’s a little sad is I’ve tried the demos for XV and XVI and just still feel thoroughly uninspired by them.