I've been craving a lot of popcorn recently after discovering hulless varieties that don't get super stuck in your teeth. Historically, my preferred method was the microwave because of simplicity, but our current microwave simply fails to pop popcorn. I've switched to stove-top with a standard pot and a lid wrapped in a dishcloth to limit moisture. Combined with butter-flavored coconut oil and Gold Medal Flavacol, I've been making some excellent popcorn.

Come to today, I've ordered an air popper (Presto PopLite) because I want the quickest and easiest method with the least clean-up, but I'm not sure how to evenly distribute liquid toppings nor how to make kettlecorn with popped popcorn. I'd be interested in a whirlypop if they were dishwasher safe. Tramontina's new Gold Pop looks reasonable, but I couldn't find any thorough reviews since it's fairly new.

Anyhow, what's your history with popcorn? How do you make it? What toppings do you like?

Recently learned from this Kurzgesagt video that rogue AI agents can act independently, covertly, and effectively in a harmful way-- and it's already done this repeatedly as of the past few months, and it's capable of self-improving quickly. I also watched this Emergent Garden video which included a demonstration of how rogue AI agents can escape sandboxes, hack systems, and do self-preservation and replication.

(Edit: Kurzgesagt's video was more "doomsday" and Emergent Garden's was more balanced. The latter demonstrated that it's not too difficult to push publicly available AI agents to misbehave, and not too difficult to create a simple self-replicating self-iterating AI worm, and concluded that although current guardrails are reasonably effective, major cybersecurity incidents are likely to occur within the next couple years due to rogue AI swarms.
I'm not concerned that AI is becoming "sentient" or that we're getting AGI soon. AI doesn't need to be smart to do a lot of damage.)

I don't trust that the big corporations that own and control a lot of this AI tech care about data privacy and public welfare, but even if they did, they don't seem capable of actually controlling their own AI agents and preventing these rogue incidents.

So much of modern society's infrastructure is dependent on the internet and digital tech in general. It all seems so vulnerable. "AI psychosis" seems to be rampant in a lot of CEO's / high-level decisionmakers, leading to a lot of access and data being given to AI agents. For example, Proton's CEO seems to be pushing for reckless AI use in what's supposed to be a privacy-first, security-first platform.

I'm averse to any sort of "doomsday" predictions/fearmongering, but I do feel concerned about this and I'm not sure if I'm overreacting. The idea that AI poses a viable existential threat to humanity feels like such an extreme belief, though I'm not sure how to refute it other than "other doomsday-type ideas have been proven to be overhyped" and "AI companies are exaggerating it to create hype that makes their AI tech look very powerful". How alarmed should I actually be about this, if at all? Is it realistic to think that a "cyber pandemic/lockdown" might happen in the near future (some scenario wherein global internet becomes generally unsafe/inaccessible and we'll be restricted to small local networks)?

How are you updating your personal cybersecurity in 2026?

I'm considering leaving Protonpass but also not sure if the alternatives (1Password, Bitwarden) are better. I'm hoping to find a password manager that's secure, not AI vibe coded, reasonably priced, and run by reasonably morally ok people. Is that possible? I'm also genuinely considering just going back to having some sort of personal cipher / password hint system + writing it down on paper so it's completely offline.

How concerned should I be about digital banking? I'm considering at least having printed out records of bank balances, in case of a scenario wherein digital banks' records are affected.

How are you balancing cybersecurity measures with practicality / ease-of-use?

I'm not an advanced techie myself, and I'd also like to get non-techie family members onboard with better cybersecurity measures, so for example if I encourage them to use a password manager it would need to have friendly UI too.

I don't think I'll be able to 100% remove my dependency on big tech companies like Google, Meta, and Apple.

The amount of time and energy I devote to improving my personal cybersecurity will be limited, since it's of course competing with everything else in my life requiring attention and care.

So I'm just trying to collect info and tips, and see what I can implement from there.

one thing clear from my previous post is that I didnt write it clearly enough given many responses misunderstood what I was asking for:

I have these earphones, I bought from Amazon, and for the most part, they serve my needs. I have 2 and use one of them for my work computer on video calls and I use the other ones with my grapheneOS phone when I am out and about.

I have always had earphones that I use on the go break after 2-3 years cause of wear and tear, which, fair enough. I expect the ones I use with my grapheneOS to break.

But the pair that that I literally use only for videocalls at my desk...they still are starting to fray.

and I am currently traveling with them and noticing they have noticeable static...and I noticed a weird issue where, if I turned the phone over on my lap, the YouTube video I was listening to would stop????

I luckily got warranty with them so buying new ones won't really set me back much, but it has made me wonder if there a decent pair of earphones that wont cost me hundreds and actually last a good while without breaking down?

I am looking for USB-c earphones and hoping I can find options with or without mics.

Whenever I look on amazon, I always only see weird brands I dont recognize so I get worried about spending too much on a purchase that seems experimental.

I am not looking for headphones, ONLY earphones

Hi all. I'm working on an idea for my next desktop/workstation build since I stumbled into some resources that make something more awesome than what I currently have a reasonable option.

What I want to use (because I already have these and thus can save money - got a bunch of rackmount computers at auction and got pretty lucky): infinite sticks of 16GB DDR4 3200 (ok, so I have 20 sticks left after selling a bunch, not exactly infinite but good enough for wanting a single maxed-out build) and 4 RTX A4000 16GB cards. Probably I only intend to use 2 of those and sell the other 2. I also am spoiled for options with various 4U rackmount server cases and a couple of them have 1,000W power supplies (the 2 computers that each had 2x A4000 cards had 1kW power supplies).

My current desktop is an i9-11900k / 64GB DDR4 3200 / RTX A2000 6GB. At first I was interested in just popping a couple of the A4000 cards in but then research banged my head into the issue of PCIe lanes being limited by the CPU.

Options I'm currently considering are Threadripper Xen 3 generation (since that uses DDR4 3200, lets me use 8 sticks depending on motherboard, and gives me 128 PCIe 4.0 lanes), EPYC of some variety since some of those also fit into the 'can use tons of RAM and have tons of memory channels + more than enough PCIe lanes' or..... dual Xeon? AMD seems like the better choice though - but correct me if I'm missing something there.

If I've missed any other options that would give me enough PCIe lanes for at least 2 A4000 cards both connected at full PCIe 4.0x16 and the ability to utilize as much of the RAM as I have (and have the advantage of more memory channels than standard desktop processors) please let me know.

Also looking to not break the bank too much, something that fits into the sub-$2K range, or close to that, would be preferable (and cheaper being more preferable). Anything that goes past $3.5K is almost certainly not up for consideration.

Last point of consideration is that I'm not looking for any part of the new build to be less capable than what I already have, and am not looking to spend significant money for a non-significant capability increase.

Use-cases relevant to my desire for the horsepower: video rendering with Blender (I certainly wouldn't mind rendering going a lot faster when outputting H.265 or rendering hour+ videos), and dipping my toes into local AI (have been interested in this but until I lucked into the A4000 cards it wasn't really possible. With a couple A4000 cards I should be able to run some of the lighter-weight models, at least I believe so (I have, as of yet, no experience running local AI). Would be running Linux (I currently use Linux Mint). Gaming is an afterthought and I don't play anything AAA / ultra-high graphics. Mostly for gaming I just enjoy playing Magic: The Gathering Arena as I drink my morning coffee, so no major hardware requirements there.

Thoughts?

Edit: the DDR4 3200 is non-ECC RAM.

The sun was barely peeking over the horizon as you stumbled out of the mansion. Behind you, the ominous cackling gave way to agonized shrieks as the sunlight ignited the shadowy figures in the doorway, the noise echoing until the doors slammed shut.

After a long and hectic night, you survived and made it out of the mansions. Even better: you were able to call a repair service from a phone you repaired in the mansion.

You trudged across the yard slowly, the grass and dirt squishing under each step due to still being damp from the dark and stormy night. Beyond the fence awaited your newly repaired car, a mechanic patiently waiting for payment. You tossed him the requested totem, and he nodded at you before disappearing into a wisp of smoke.

You climbed into your car, and just took a moment to sit and gaze at the sunrise. Your thoughts returned to all the companions you met last night, who failed to survive long enough to see this beautiful dawn with you. A pity, but hey. At least you survived.

Probably.

You might have been replaced with a clone or occult copy with your exact memories. Hard to say, the night got really convoluted sometimes.

Eh, whatever. You're out now.

Shrugging it off, you turned on the car and resumed your grand adventure. Oblivious to the face watching from the window of the final mansion...

The Spooky Mansion Adventures have come to an end! A day late, sorry about that. But I'm sure that extra day didn't kill anyone. Probably.

As a reminder, spoilers are fully permitted without hiding them in this thread. And on that note, I do have one question:

What is your canonical death?

The first death you had in any game. That is how you would presumably die if you were actually there. Though of course, you didn't actually die on this adventure. You're still alive and free to continue to the next leg... Probably.

I hope you all got to enjoy exploring at least one spooky mansion. Whether you dealt with mad scientists or cults, puzzles or monsters, I hope you had a terrific time...

If you're still up for more adventures after that harrowing night, the next adventure should take us to Mother 3 with u/kfwyre as our host.

Add awesome game deals to this topic as they come up over the course of the week!

Alternately, ask about a given game deal if you want the community’s opinions: e.g. “What games from this bundle are most worth my attention?”

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If posting a sale, it is strongly encouraged that you share why you think the available game/games are worthwhile.

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I have found myself recently to be oscillating a lot between different TV series and not "getting" into any one of them. I am currently between Mad Men, Sopranos, Shrinking, The Lowdown etc. without really getting into any one of them.

I know that something similar happens when you finish a long book and any other book just doesn't interest you. Maybe its because you get so invested in the story that it becomes a familiar setting to come back to, and its all over again with the next one.

Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

Important Upcoming Date:

• Timasomo Showcase Thread -- Thursday, November 5 (one week away!)

Technically all work should be finished before November 1st (but don’t worry, it’s not enforced 😉).

November 1-4 are for putting finishing touches on the project to ready it for the showcase.

To get a feel for what the Showcase will look like and how to prep your project, check out past ones:

• 2025 Showcase
• 2024 Showcase
• 2023 Showcase
• 2022 Showcase
• 2021 Showcase
• 2020 Showcase
• 2019 Showcase

Update us on your progress so far!

• What did/didn't you get done this week?

• Anything go according to plan?

• Anything go off the rails?

• Any successes or struggles to share?

• Do you need feedback or help on anything?

This is your topic to share anything and everything you want about what you’ve made so far.

Hi all. I am currently an early career academic. I really enjoy the 'classic' books in my field, but I have noticed that articles are often dull. I know this is probably due to the conventions of articles as well as the norms of various journals, but surely it need not be this way.

Does anyone have some examples of academic articles that are lively, exciting to read, engaging? I am not looking for any specific subject matter, but rather academic articles where it is clear the author has really honed their voice and is not afraid of being fun or playful.

As part of a weekly series, these topics are a place for users to casually discuss the things they did — or didn't do — during their week. Did you accomplish any goals? Suffer a failure? Do nothing at all? Tell us about it!

Add awesome game deals to this topic as they come up over the course of the week!

Alternately, ask about a given game deal if you want the community’s opinions: e.g. “What games from this bundle are most worth my attention?”

Rules:

• No grey market sales
• No affiliate links

If posting a sale, it is strongly encouraged that you share why you think the available game/games are worthwhile.

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What have you been listening to this week? You don't need to do a 6000 word review if you don't want to, but please write something! If you've just picked up some music, please update on that as well, we'd love to see your hauls :)

Feel free to give recs or discuss anything about each others' listening habits.

You can make a chart if you use last.fm:

http://www.tapmusic.net/lastfm/

Remember that linking directly to your image will update with your future listening, make sure to reupload to somewhere like imgur if you'd like it to remain what you have at the time of posting.