What do you nerd out over?
What do you nerd out over?
Talk nerdy to me :D
125 comments
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shaving as a trans women (both facial and body)
Phillips Oneblade $50
intended for men with a beard, waterproof and lithium battery.
honestly a letdown in literally every way for me. Not a close shave at all and other electric ones do way better in that regard. Also not a lot of area for legs and doesn't even give the smooth leg feeling >:(
Upside that there's not really any chance for ingrown hairs, which means it's pretty good for the pubic area. I don't shave down there often though. (obligatory I am NOT the intended target for this product)face: 5/10
body: 1/10
pubic: 9/10ladyshave $18
this is intended for women's leg hair. Not waterproof and takes 2 AA batteries.
pretty good actually. It's wide and gets close enough for me. As advertised. I use on legs before IPL.
face: 3/10 (works in a pinch)
body: 7/10
pubic: 6/10men's razors $?
I actually have a permanent scar on my thumb from when I was about 7 and messed with my dads in the shower lol
when I hit puberty I just used my dads old one with new heads, his 'guidance' was pretty unhelpful for me because I thought they were for legs too and got a bunch of red dots / nicks because of it especially because I was really shy about shaving and was too scared to ask for shaving cream. works well enough for what it's intended for, though it's annoying to setup and use. Use a women's for body if you can.
face: 7/10 (with cream)
body: 3/10 (w/o cream)
pubic: 0/10 (w/o cream)Women's razor $?
I don't love wet shaving but this is pretty good!
also, ALWAYS get the Gillette Venus ones. I've tried other ones and they're not as good and I always go back despite being more expensive.
gets clogged easy though.facial: why/10
body: 9/10
pubic: 7/10 (will get clogged)women's whatever the fuck
I left the handle part at home but for body this is the BEST, but is pretty clunky and expensive. reallly smooth and is amazing. however I wish the handle part wasn't just a big knub because it's difficult to do under the knee and behind the back
facial: no/10
body: 10/10 🥰
pubic: 3/10flat edge razor $5
I got it on a DAMN cheap sale on Amazon, assume it's like 15. It said it was a "small business" from the US but I really doubt that due to the marketing and and assume it's just something from China.
Anyways, it works really well, too well. Even if you're really careful you'll feel a random stinging somewhere and look down and see blood. I feel like there's a skill floor I just have to learn but I have better alternatives. REALLY cheap blades though, like 15-50 cents.I also threw it away because I would use the blades to selfharm (7 months clean except for an accident 🎉).
facial: x/10 (too risky for me)
body: 7/10
pubic: 2/10 (wayy too risky, don't try)Braun 3 epilator $40
I lost it :<
this is a biblically accurate tweezer as my sister called it. She was too wimpy to use it and gave it to me. Lemme just say it HURTS the first time. Like on the floor crying hurts. Second time too. After a couple rounds it gets way better. However this one particularly doesn't ways pull out the hairs and can if you push down too hard you'll stop it which can be really annoying when you one hair that just won't get out. It will also
also sometimes you'll find ingrown hairs that you can't get because it's underneath the skin so I'll get a craft razor blade and ever so slightly hook it and go in with tweezers to pull it out. This is where the self harm accident earlier came from lolbut in return 3 WEEKS OF NO HAIR!!
exfoliate before, then use, then rinse with cold water and use unscented moisturizer, next day use TendSkin.
if you don't follow this to a T you'll get hella ingrown hairs.face: no
body: 9/10
pubic: ok story time. one of my afab epilated their pubic area before having sex with their s/o and oh my God they regretted it SO bad. it hurt a TON. I imagine if you're into pain it'll work I guess??braun 5 IPL $300
got this for Christmas and was essentially my only product. You use it after shaving (not epilation) I haven't been consistently using it because epilate mostly. Can't give a good review.
Braun Epilator (iirc v7 or v8?) $80
still in mail 🥲
Nair
use mens. women's ones suck and hardly do anything on amab hair. Also mens suck too, but it's better.
Phillips 5d electric
(I have it IRL, my cats just laying down next to me and id wake her up) for me it's the GOAT of facial hair. Used it for years and absolutely love it. It just works. My use case for facial hair is pretty odd because I just have long sideburns that go down to the jawbone and some random ones under my chin. For my pretty uncommon use case it is AMAZING. Can't really recommend it for others but if you just have long sideburns get this 100%
in conclusion
I epilate and as it's growing in I use the chunky one for now the back to the Gillette Venus once my heads are gone.
If I'm IPL-ing I either use a Gillette Venus or ladyshave.if anyone else has done this with skincare products let me know, I have some questions :)
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Impressive deep dive!
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Radio transmitting. Its a quite large rabbit hole. Right now i upload some data of ships i receive with a small setup and earn a test crypto currency.
But you can do loads and loads of things, rtl-sdr.com is a nice cheap start.
Oh and locally running AI models. (Via GPT4All) Insane how far we are.
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Locally running AI models is interesting to me - do you have any recommended links or tutorials where to start?
(I looked into radio transmitting a couple month ago but it was way too overwhelming and I settled for a different hobby lol)
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Like i said, look into GPT4All. At least for text gen. Open source and really simple. Download, install, choose a model (for mediocre laptops 4-8B ones are a good size) and chat.
For radios, there are some cheap beginner devices as starting point. Look for the rtl-sdr blog v4 usb dongle for about 40€. You can receive ~1-1700mHz with it, which are loads of interesting frequencies. You can buy a 30€ quansheng uv k5 or uv k6 (which is the same model somehow) with custom rom for a great handheld vhf/uhf radio. You can buy a 30€ SI4732 based ATS-Mini as "world receiver" also with custom roms like hjberndt's.
You could invest some more and get a flipper zero for around 250€ which is a neat tamagochi like IT-Swiss-Army-Knife.
Or a portapack H4M (the new cliffort heath version for the best hackrf one clone) for about 200€. Its the "big brother" of the flipper zero with fascinating capabilities like scanning surrounding ships and planes.
Dont forget proper antennas which can escalate quickly.
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ollama is the usual one, they have install instructions on their GitHub i think, and a model repository, etc
You can run something on your cpu if you don't care about speed, or on your gpu although you can't run any more intelligent model without a decent amount of vram
For models to use, I recommend checking out the qwen distilled versions of deepseek r1
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Entrance videos for wrestlers. I hate when it's just static text with their name.
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how does this make you feel?
https://youtu.be/uaOZX1pQn3Y
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Several things, but for a while it's been stand pipes. They're everywhere, and fun to find and point out on buildings. On vacations I like to get my picture by them and my kids laugh when I stop to check them out. Eventually I want to make a parody song about them.
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As in plumbing vents or piezometers?
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Fabrics, pattern drafting, and sewing techniques. Historical clothing and corsetry. History, soooo much history. Religious movements, belief systems, and paradigms. Language, writing, and literature. Plants and gardening. Birds and bugs. Tea and tisanes. Houses, their interior systems and construction, renovating them, maintaining them, and hacking their unique quirks and issues.
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Cats. I probably argue too much with people about the "correct" descriptions of coat colors/patterns, as I really like learning about the genetics behind them. Lots of other cat related stuff too, such as diet & training/behavior.
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Mechanics in nature.
There's a protein that's basically a tiny little mobile suite that literally walks along microtubules.
Some bacteria propel themselves with a literal electric motor.
Your ears are more something that belongs under the dashboard of a helicopter than something growing organically... they can literally detect an air-pressure change caused by a pin dropping on the other side of the room, by allowing that pressure to beat on a drum connected to a chain of bones that transmit pressure into a little snail that squirts little jets of fluid over a tiny little field of grass stuck to the inside of the snail shell, and depending on how much grass wiggles, it sends a jolt over to your brain as an interpretation of pitch. AND IT DOESN'T STOP THERE! Connected to that snail are three little hula-hoops made of bone, each oriented to a different plane, and also filled with tiny grass and fluid; and when you move your head along that specific plane, the tiny grass wiggles and that's how your brain knows which way you're moving / gives you a perception of balance.
There's a type of grasshopper with gears in its legs.
I love this shit.
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Speaking of interesting sensing capabilities there's also the sea turtles that can detect magnetic fields, although I don't think people understand the actual mechanical parts yet
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yeah, that's pretty interesting. I would also argue that genetics and the way that information is processed and organized in the body is pretty interesting.
and what's also cool is that the body has such a consistent spatial layout. I.e. you could think that since genetics produce proteins, they only do a biochemical reaction, but not a mechanical reaction. Then what causes the geometric layout of the body to be so consistently shaped?
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Aztecs.
Mixtec-Pueblo culture before European contact was vibrant, dynamic, and layered. It was reflected by its surrounding cultures of K'iche' (Mayan), Chichimeca, Iréchikwa (Purepecha), and Otomi. Their books look like comics painted on accordions. I've been to Teotihuacan so I've seen the massive pyramids the peoples of the valley built millennia ago. I've read about how cities were planned and zoned then built with stone and you can still witness the logic behind those decisions today. The comida is good too.
I wish I was smart so I could learn Spanish easier.
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On the words of Hernan Cortés: "Su casa es mi casa."
Jokes aside, I am positive a Game of Thrones or Vikings-like tv show based on the birth of the Mexicas, then the expansion with finally the fall of the Aztecs would be brutally fantastic.
I always look at the Mexican flag in awe for what it really means and how it became.
Any books that you would recommend but aren't academic?
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Jokes aside, I am positive a Game of Thrones or Vikings-like tv show based on the birth of the Mexicas, then the expansion with finally the fall of the Aztecs would be brutally fantastic.
It's a cartoon but there's Onyx Equinox which is pretty cool and plays in mesoamerica.
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Any books that you would recommend
Oh absolutely I got a mini library of...
aren't academic
Nope.
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"Aztec" by Gary Jennings.
https://bookshop.org/p/books/aztec-gary-jennings/784861bf1a137811?ean=9780765317506&next=t
It's a novel about coming of the Spanish.
I had to read it when I came across an article the author wrote. He wanted a word for 'orange.' He wanted to book to sound authentic, and the Americas didn't have oranges. He ended up using jacinth
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Aperiodic tilings! Just a couple of years ago someone discovered a single tile (down from the set of ~20000 that was first used to prove that aperiodic tiling was even possible) that can completely cover an infinite plane without ever falling into a repeating pattern.
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Neat!
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New discoveries in astronomy, astrophysics, and quantum physics.
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Please nerd out. I want to knowwwwww
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Check out the Rubin Observatory! I’ve been to a few astronomy talks recently that have discussed it, it’s incredible the amount of new discoveries it’s expected to make in the coming years.
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How do you think AI can best contribute to these? Can advanced paternity recognition be helpful for spectrum analysis? Can it be used for closed loop control of the many variables inside a fusion reactor? What do you think about 3i?
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How do you think AI can best contribute to these?
AI is a generic term for a number of different things. Most people these days seem to use it referring to LLMs and automated image or video generation. I don't think either of those is likely to contribute a ton until they mature a lot more. Having said that, machine learning is already being used in a lot of these fields. For example, automated systems using machine learning are being used to find new information about variable stars from old stellar images. We've been taking pictures of the stars for more than a century. No human team could ever hope to go through all those images looking for changes in stars over all that time but a computer can.
Can advanced paternity recognition be helpful for spectrum analysis? Can it be used for closed loop control of the many variables inside a fusion reactor?
No idea on this one. This is a little too much on the engineering side of things. I geek out more on the theory side.
What do you think about 3i?
ATLAS/3i? I think it's frankly amazing that we've detected three interstellar objects passing through our solar system in the last 8 years or so. Interstellar visitors must be extremely common for use to spot so many in such a short period of time.
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advanced paternity recognition
Maury intensifies
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Watches bro!
\ Digital watches are fine & the battery operated ones are cool too, God speed to them, but I'm talking about the Analogue ones.
\ Specifically Automatic ones.
\ Fucking piece of assembled metal parts and it will go all tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick on its own from the moment you put it on your wrist.
\ It'll continue to show you the proper time. Some will also tell you what day of the week it is or what's the date. Heck, I've got one that tells me the day, date, month AND the moon phase!
\ On top of this, these nuggets are built such, that they will last longer than your poor ass on this planet, still blingy and going tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick.
\ You know those make Seikos and Citizen? Those mfs put bloody gps AND solar IN.A.FUCKING.WRIST.WATCH!
\ Why you ask?
\ So that when your dumb ass gives up on adjusting to the local time after you get off the plane in a different time zone, it will do it for you. That shit is too posh for your fumbly fingers to try to set the correct time, so it says, "Hold on, let me look at the sky real quick and I will set the day,date & time myself, you are too dazed and hungover. Please save your filthy fingers for your disgusting Doritos."
\ You know the best part? They look more gorgeous than Kate Winslet's porcelain titties embellished with a diamond neck piece.
\ It'll cost less than your monthly groceries. Don't miss out bro, get one.\-
I used to. I had a small collection that was stolen from me and I never replaced any.
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Watch tax.
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\ The one I had before. I gave this one to my Pops coz his wasn't working well.
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\ The one that I'm currently wearing.
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Just came here to say that I love how engaged people are with their hobbies. Keep going!
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I feel like I've found ✨️my people✨️
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Self-hosting, device modding and homebrew, and getting the most out of PC hardware/DIY gaming setups.
IT jobs are a ton of fun for me when I'm helping someone new to the hobby because they love to get invested in all of the little tips and tricks to bring the most out of their machine (Even if they have to use Windows ;-;).
Every single console I've ever owned has been cracked open with homebrew installed, and it's a large reason I got into retro gaming and 3D printing spare parts for things.
Also, hosting PC game servers for yourself and friends instead of paying a provider is so liberating, you start looking at it as "I paid for the whole machine, how far can I push the experience?" and start pushing mods and configs in games that would bring most VPS systems to their knees.
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Old mechanical things.
The Japanese have a myth called tsukomogami. It's the idea that things get a soul after 100 years.
And while I don't believe that's technically true, per se. It's fundamentally based on something that I adore, and that's the fact that mechanical things all age individually and that it's something that we've lost with modern technology.
My go to examples are always typewriters and vintage camera lenses.
Each typewriter will age differently. Different keys will become sticky, it'll become misaligned in different places. They develop individual personalities as they get older. So much so that forensics can actually pinpoint when a specific typewriter typed a specific note.
In terms of camera lenses it's much the same thing. Different lenses will wear differently depending on what aperture/focal length, etc... that the photographer uses most often. Mold and discolouration between the glass elements will eventually form a unique look to a specific lense.
It's magical (to me) and something that I am sad that we are losing with modern consumer technology based on on "throw it away and get a new one".
Sorry. Longer than I intended. But you asked for it.
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I’m super into mechanical watches for the reasons mentioned. Quartz (battery operated), not so much. But I’ve got a growing collection of mechanical watches and they’re some of my favourite possessions. Not because they’re flashy and make me look rich or whatever but because of the mechanisms inside.
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Machine spirit 40k lore
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Oh, goddamn it, this is gonna take a while.
- Code. Like, I actually get real pleasure from seeing elegant and well-structured code. I have no idea why, but I'll almost start salivating at particularly beautiful code.
- Anime. Yeah, I'm a walking stereotype, a software developer who likes anime. But have you seen Frieren? It's so goddamn good.
- Philosophy. No, not bullshit continental philosophy. I'm talking real philosophy. Analytic philosophy. Distilled and legitimately useful logic. Which of course leads me to...
- Science. My YouTube feed is full of fascinating deep-dives into esoteric mathematical and scientific topics. Fuck yeah.
- Tabletop RPGs. Surprisingly, not a huge D&D fan, though it can certainly be fun. These days, I'm much more into story-focused systems, like Fate or Blades in the Dark. Most people I mention that to have never heard of either.
- Science fiction and fantasy. I mean, are you surprised at this point?
- Writing science fiction and fantasy. I mean, are you surprised at this point?
- Politics. Less so nowadays, since our political system is falling apart and we're being overrun by fascism, but I still do enjoy a meaty policy discussion.
That's a good list for starters.
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Who is the most criminally under appreciated philosopher/author and why is it Ursula LeGuinn?
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Ha! My glob, she was so amazing. I had the opportunity to attend a reading she did from The Lathe of Heaven years ago, and I was struck anew not only by her creativity, but by the philosophical ideas underpinning it. A lot of people think The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas is her most philosophical work, but I actually found what Lathe had to say about control, obedience, and power incredibly compelling.
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Go read Joanna Russ.
imho she writes rings around the popular woman.
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I’m running a Roll20 campaign for 7 players who are gearing up for a fight with a human who can change size at will.
This is set in the One Piece universe, I assume you’re familiar with it.
I want them to control a giant mecha to fight him on “equal” terms as a final fight.
Got any good RPG systems that might help with that?
Have a lot of players and they are good about following homebrew rules - and I expect this to be a one time mech fight.
I’ll probably add a mechanic for someone to “pilot” the mech and use their Devil Fruit/Haki to affect the entire mech as a full action that gives some sort of stat bonus.
Also btw I love Frieren. It’s so good! The manga is also incredible. Dandadan is fantastic too, and along with TTGL, has inspired this boss fight for me.
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You might be interested in a video game called The Last Sovereign. I discovered it during the recent fiasco around payment processors trying to block lewd stuff, but the nsfw visuals can be turned off if you’re not into that. It’s a very serviceable RPG with turn based combat that is well balanced and engaging. But I’m recommending it because you said philosophy and it’s basically a series of Platonic dialogues between characters discussing life, the nature of man, morality, ethics, sexuality, power, and much more. I’m pleasantly surprised at how often I find myself deeply invested in the conversations. I think the writer(s) must’ve needed an outlet for their philosophical musings and chose this quirky “lewd” RPG as the medium.
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I'll check it out. I'm very much interested in video games that delve into deep topics that way. Have you ever encountered The Talos Principle series? Fantastic games that do surprisingly accessible treatises on philosophical topics while forcing you to think through pretty mind-blowing puzzles. Highly recommended.
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What is a good ruleset for a table that absolutely refuses to read more than an index card of rules but will follow the lead of the referee? Freeform, story-forward, ages 14 to 65? Swords and magic.
Unrelated, what do you think about the various versions of Traveller?
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Oh, you need Fate Accelerated. Six stats, five descriptive phrases that define your character (one of which is your character's "trouble," giving the GM automatic story hooks) and a smattering of stunts your character can perform, and off you go!
Regarding Traveller, I've never had the stomach for it. Me and a group once sat down to create characters, and discovered it was so rules-heavy that by the end of two sessions dedicated to character creation, we still didn't know for sure that we'd done any of the characters correctly.
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What is your relationship with Tolkien and his corpus?
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I've read Lord of the Rings a few times. And The Hobbit. And his lesser-known works (e.g., Leaf by Niggle, which is just great). And The Silmarillion. And The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (which, honestly, isn't his best). And I know what an Istari is (and why Gandalf, being a lesser Ainur, is actually so much more than a mere "wizard"). And I know that while they changed the line from "you cannot pass" to "you shall not pass" for dramatic purposes in the movie, the original line subtly says a whole hell of a lot more about who and what Gandalf is and why the Balrog should have actually been shitting itself.
So you might say I'm passingly familiar with it.
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Korean cooking, specifically their use of fermented and preserved food and how it relates to their climate of very hot summers and very cold winters and also their history as tributary state to Ming China and later under Japanese occupation.
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Arduino, ESP32, smart home automation. I could talk for hours. I've started to get into PCB design this year, and I've had a lot of fun with it!
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Where can I learn how to link different tech through HA? Insteon switch to flip a wifi bulb. Z Wave switch to open the Shelly relay for the garage door. ZigBee water sensor trips insteon siren. Etc. Is that all YAML? Is the Ecobee thermostat worth it?
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Just install HA and try it out! It's a lot easier to do than you might think. Every vendor or connection type has its own Integration. Most integrations can be set up through the UI very easily. I have dozens of integrations.
And the automations have had a lot of work the last few years. They are getting much easier to set up in the UI without having to worry about code or yaml.
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Star Wars and history - in particular how Lucas had aspects of Nazi Germany and the Vietnam War because he was an anthropology student and knew that empires most often fell from within.
So yeah I’m still on a big Andor high right now, waiting for some novels and other books to drop after that.
Other books I can recommend:
The History and Politics of Star Wars - Death Stars and Democracy (the author is a World War I historian)
Star Wars: Battles that Changed the Galaxy
Star Wars Propaganda: A History of Persuasive Art in the Galaxy
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So what's your favorite movie/show/novel/game from the universe?
It might have been the effects of Nostalgia, but the Alphabet Squadron novels hit pretty well for me.
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Movie - Episode IV/A New Hope (if I had to pick a 2nd/3rd, in no order: Episode 3 and Rogue One)
Show - Andor
Novel - oooh this is tough! The Rogue One prequel ‘Catalyst’ was fantastic, as was the Rogie One novel. ‘Lost Stars’ was another good one set in the OT timeline. There’s also Rebel Rising, about Jyn Erso’s time with Saw Guerra, and Leia: Princess of Alderaan about teenage Leia a few years before ANH showing how she gets involved with the Rebellion. And of course the OG Zahn Trilogy plus the new ones that have come out.
I did read Alphabet Squadron and thought they were good.
Game: Old school Rebellion (PC), the Jedi Knight series, of course KOTOR, Galaxies MMORPG, Galactic Battlegrounds, and I’m getting into Battlefront 2 again. I’m about to start Outlaws so we’ll see how that goes. Oh and Jedi Fallen Order, but I haven’t played Survivor yet.
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Rucking, lifting, Wing Chun, Star Citizen, Stoicism (the og version). I try not to monologue too much on them but it takes restraint.
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I feel like this would be an appropriate place to monologue a bit.
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Type faces (“fonts”) and typesetting. I personally like a face with a large x-height, double story open loop g, and a full range of f-ligatures. The art of lead typesetting has disappeared in favour of software solutions; TeX does a beautiful job, particularly when using Knuth’s faces. (Adobe’s InDesign also deserves an honourable mention, but it’s unfortunately proprietary and closed-source). And when using standard TrueType or OpenType faces, the difference between a page generated by either of them, and one output by Microsoft Word, for example, is noticeably staggering.
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One of my favorite parts of being a math teacher is getting to write in latex all the time.
It’s such a bummer collaborating on a document because they all use Word.
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Typewriters. I love these machines, and the effect they had on our societies, and how they still have a strong influence on our keyboards and typographical likes.
And they are beautiful.
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Found Tom Hanks.
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Oh I'd love to nerd with him about typewriters 😅
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I’ve come to the conclusion that if you’re buying tools, you should go for the sets. Take a socket set, for example. Realistically, you’re probably using the ratchet, an extension, and three to four sockets the most. At some point the cheap ratchet breaks and you replace it with a high-quality one. You may also lose or break a few of the most commonly used sockets and replace them with high-quality ones. In ten years you’ll have a set with a high-quality wrench and a few high-quality sockets that you commonly use, plus the rest of the other sizes you’ll only touch once every few years.
Had you gone for the high-quality set right away, you would have paid even more - and now you’d have a 4mm made-in-Japan socket you spent 10 euros on that you’ll never use.
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I've stood by the philosophy of buying cheap tools and replacing what breaks with better quality.
The proliferation of 10000 different battery standards has made this a little more difficult recently, but it still works most of the time.
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Pick one of the battery ecosystems and carry on. I bought a Ryobi starter set about 20 years ago when they were still using NiCad batteries. They switched to lithium ion batteries but kept the connector the same. I bought the new style batteries when my old batteries died. All the old tools work the same.
I believe Makita and DeWalt follow the same philosophy.
Harbor freight does not.
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I guess I am a tool nerd as well. Currently live in a tiny studio and have no driveway. Have a tool box as tall as me plus a LOT of cordless tools.
My socket sets and wrench sets are old USA made Craftsman stuff I've had for over at least 30 years.
I still have a few of the old Craftsman USA screwdrivers. Most have disappeared.
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Quasi-egalitarian Neolithic and Chalcolithic civilizations like Çatalhöyük in Turkey or the Carpathian Basin civilizations in Eastern Europe, and some/much of the Indus Valley civilizations in India
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Ice, ice, baby! I love fancy ice. Have gear to make crystal clear big ice for whiskey, and also a countertop ice maker for what the kids call "the good ice".
It's just such a cheap upgrade to any drink.
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I recently got a clear big ice maker and read into directional freezing. It's pretty cool (pun intended) and nice that little waste and if something doesn't work, you can just try again right away.
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Retro handhelds.
My favorite is between the monster (steam deck) and the custom build (miyoo mini plus). A few friends and I geek out over them. And custom Roms, indie devs, ect....
There's a ton of Indies onastodon as well.
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Pens
Its such a common thing that we've all used and have opinions. And the rabbit hole goes as deep as you want.
You're good with a Bic and shitty notebook paper? Cool. You have a $3,000 custom built fountain pen that's been handcrafted to fit your grip and is based on a sketch you made from a dream with a 21k gold nib? Also cool.
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I have a tin box full of very old nibs which still look pristine. I bought them on impulse at a flea market dirt cheap. I have no idea what to do with them.
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Very interesting! I tried serching them up but there's not a lot of information for that particular brand. From what I gather they are nibs for dip calligraphy pens. You may be able to find a nib holder and a bottle of ink to use them. If I recall, you go through calligraphy nibs over time due to the harsher chemicals in the ink corroding the steel, typically with India ink. But you can use regular fountain pen ink instead. Just don't put India ink in a fountain pen!
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Once I found the plethora of good but >$10 pens, I had a lot of fun. The Precise V5 is one of my fav, and at the job I had where people would frequently need to borrow my pen, that received steady unprompted compliments.
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100% the best off the shelf rollerball. I use one often.
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Honestly, regarding ballpoint pens, I've never used anything that beats bic. They write so smoothly and they just work on anything. I even use them to write my name on the plastic labels of water bottles at my job
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If one is only going to have one pen, any model of Jetstream ballpoint is a nice cheap upgrade you won't be too upset to lose.
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Ya ballpoints are really the workhorse of the pen world. Even with all the advancements in writing tech, a standard ballpoint will always get the job done. I have Fisher space pen refills in a few of my work pens because I know they will always write whenever and wherever I need them.
These days there is a pretty good consensus around the Uni Jetstream as the "best writing" ballpoint ink. Its a hybrid oil-based ink formulation with lubricants that really flows. Other brands have started to get on the hybrid wagon too so it's been great for budget pens all around.
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Characters. I love designing characters and doing a deep dive into who they are and why they're designed the way they are. For example, I did one recently about a girl who is a mechanist in my Victorian modern world who works on robots and airship but likes to go to a dance club at night. She keeps her goggles from work since they're seen as fashion in this world and wears a distinctive hair clip that was given as a gift to her from someone dear to her before the war. And, then there's another guy I did that is basic rich kid egotistical. Looks like and ultra Chad and has the dance moves to show for it. Basically, he's like the ultra Chad meme in this world.
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Weather! It's just so interesting. I love clouds and adore thunderstorms (although unfortunately I live somewhere where they're rare).
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libraries
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Too many totally unrelated things that makes it so I cant ever be an expert in any one of them. I probably have adhd
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Generalist Scholars unite! And I definitely have ADHD.
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Music mostly. I listen to a huge spectrum of genres from prog rock to metal, r&b, acid jazz, dubstep, kpop, and more.
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Art history :3
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Any specific regions or time periods?
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I just love studying how culture cross pollination leads to art movement's throughout history ie. how Japanese prints are largely responsible for the Impressionist and Post impressionist movements in Europe or how the Mughal Emperors of India had Paintings of a Greek God on the ceiling, in the Palace of Muslim rulers.
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Mixology and movies are probably the top 2 for me. But unfortunately both of these things can be deceptive in conversation. So if I start talking to someone about either one, the enjoyment of the conversation will depend on how deep down the rabbit hole the other person is. But in those rare moments when they seem to be on the same page, I could talk for hours!!
Some things that have been exciting recently: I wandered into a Binny's and saw a whole shelf full of Chartreuse which I have not seen in many years!!! On the movie side of things, I'm very excited for Yorgos Lanthimos latest upcoming film! The trailer looked great and he always makes highly interesting films!
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Motocross.
Love watching the pros and talking all about it. Recently got a coworker into it and it's been fun explaining all the ins and outs of the sport and, as a past rider, trying to relate track conditions/difficulties to him
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Kamen Rider.
Every episode shocker pops out another animal-themed augmented human to take over the world. The 70s aesthetic, the awesome goofy fight choreography, combined with Shunsuke Kikuchi's groovy soundtrack, works wonders for me.
The way the shocker goons turn into foam and dissolve into the ground, is always a treat.
I grew up watching it and it never lost its charm.
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Jet ski accessories and gear.
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Do you have a recommendation for a fun used PWC for a new rider?
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It will depend on the type of waterways you’re going to use them in. I recommend getting a hull that is known as a dry ski and a stable one. It used to be that some manufacturers were known to be more stable than others, but that’s not really true anymore.
So factor that in if you’re looking at a Used ski.
On getting a used one versus a new one really your decision points are the same as buying a used car versus a new car.. The features of the new skis Bluetooth, apps and the GPS are really nice if you’re on a big body of water.
I ski a lot in the Chesapeake Bay, so I really love having a GPS. If you’re just skiing on a lake, where there really isn’t that much of a chance of getting lost an older model will be fine.
I like having a depth meter but again I’m skiing in a very big complex body water. If you’re just skiing on a lake, you don’treally have to worry about that.
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Project moon
Don't say the word 'wild' near me...
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Western philosophy/existentialism and Scripture, but the former makes people feel insecure/bored and the latter is a sensitive topic. I'll nerd out about Dune too, and whoever has read the series will understand my interest. 😅
125 comments
game editor UI or maybe generally UI design as well.
once I learned about dear imgui I realize and could easily spot so many engines and desktop app built with dear imgui.
I think I've also seen a game engine, clearly built with dear imgui, but styled to look like Visual Studio.
There's someone written custom stylesheet for the CryEngine Sandbox editor to also make it look like Visual Studio. Speaking of which CryEngine used to be built with Windows MFC UI until CryEngine 5.
Then they switched to Qt, I assume the LGPL version because then maybe one of the reason they sort of "open-source" the engine (not really) probably because they attempted to comply with LGPL? but idk. But since version 5.6 the source code isn't updated anymore.
Although Lumberyard was a fork of CryEngine 3.x.x (uses MFC), Lumberyard eventually switched to Qt and so today, O3DE is also in Qt.
O3DE on linux nowadays is pretty stable, but I've only used it for rendering, not scripting games. admittedly I haven't had time to geek out on O3DE's UI
Godot editor is built on its own UI tooling. Probably not edited on the editor, I assume the UI tool can be worked via code. There's so many desktop app that also built using Godot, like Material Maker, and few 2D pixel art tool I forget its name.
Like Godot, Unreal Editor is built on Slate, their UI framework. The engine has 2 UI tools. Slate and UMG. For in-game UI, UMG is probably easier since it can be built in the editor and Blueprint. Slate UIs is built via C++, but is also used for complex game UI such as inventory. etc.
I also used Unreal Engine 3 via UDK and the editor is cool too.
I used to really like & follow Battlefield in BF1 era. The Frostbite Editor looks really amazing. I really want to touch the editor but o well there's no way to try a proprietary engine. DICE used to show off Frostbite a lot from 2009 to 2017 and showing Battlefield runing in the editor. I don't really see much newer Frostbite videos/screnshots.
Frostbite-era Battlefield does have a few modding tools and they tried to mimic the Frostbite Editor look. It looks pretty. I'm not sure the UI toolkit used.
Refractor editor for BF2 is meh though, and hard to use. Goes the same with Age of Empires IV Essence editor, looks meh. I think both are built on Windows UI tool.
Source's Hammer.. I like Source 2 Hammer but since it cannot be used on Linux I've yet to try it. Hammer for source 1 and goldsrc is okay, and hard to use.
Finally, Unity is what I've used more generally. But I really never dig up what the editor is made of somehow 🤣 I assume it's their own UI like Unreal & Godot. But I have no further clue to say.
I like UIs because they look amazing. especially game editors because it looks complex. I guess it's like people who like seeing trains. I do like trains as well but I never go out birdwatching a train.
I also like UI styles like Aero or Liquid Glass. Although I may have bias towards Aero due to nostalgia effect.
There's other game engine that have its editor made to look like MS Office UI with ribbons lol. It was NeoAxis engine and I think Stride/Xenko used to look like MS Office too. It looks unique.
Blender also have interesting history with its UI. Few overhaul in 2.5 and 2.8. but the latest Blender have the best UI. Sometimes I feel nostalgic with 2.79 because that's what I started with.
Lastly here's my fav editor UI (visually) in order. may not be 100% accurate to my actual feeling. feeling is super subjective amd can quickly change
on a second peek, Overwatch editor looks more like MFC than imgui. my bad
This is CryEngine Sandbox with Visual Studo style
This is CryEngine 3.6.8 Sandbox running on my campus's PC.
if you are making a game engine with custom editor & putting effort into making your editor look cool, there's someone like me who would enjoy that.
I made a little desktop app in Godot once for sorting through D&D monsters, can't really release it tho because it requires you to have the whole official monster manual saved as jpegs for it to work
I was able to get the layout pretty nice, but it still kinda breaks with some resolutions because I didn't write any custom layout code
Sounds cool! making adaptive UI for so many aspect ratio is sometimes hard. I've made UIs for games in Godot, Unreal and Unity. It's mostly easy if the UI is just anchored to any corner, side, or center. it'll mostly work for any aspect ratio above certain resolution.
But I've never made apps in game engine myself. The most complex UI I've made is inventory UI in Unity. But I didn't make it to be adaptive to the aspect ratio. It only have fixed width & height.