HelmetTesterTJ's recent activity
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
HelmetTesterTJ LinkA few months ago, my brother and I hooked up the ol' Wii and started back in on Mario Kart. We got really into time trials 15 years ago, fighting to shave a few tenths of a second off of one...A few months ago, my brother and I hooked up the ol' Wii and started back in on Mario Kart. We got really into time trials 15 years ago, fighting to shave a few tenths of a second off of one another's best time, and we fell right back into it when he hooked it up recently.
Our roommate has a Switch and he let us borrow it when we started bumping into our ceilings on the Wii, so we thought we'd just continue the time trial competition on Mario Kart 8.
Never have I been more disappointed. It's not the tracks, the characters, or the bikes. Those are all good and fun. But am I to understand that we can't see one another's times and ghosts unless we BOTH pay for Nintendo Switch Online? This was a feature within MKWii, you'll recall. Four licenses available on the front screen, and you had those ghosts and one of two staff ghosts available to you for each track. But now, if I complete a time trial on my account, other people on the very same machine can't compete against my ghost, or even see my time, unless I upload it, which requires a paid subscription.
I get that our use case is a bit niche - who would want to play video games against people in their house without paying $8 a month for the privilege? - but goddamn am I tired of things getting shittier unless I buy into premium features that used to just be baseline.
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Comment on What's good in modern flashlights/headlamps? in ~hobbies
HelmetTesterTJ Link ParentNope, can't be angled down, but I suppose I've never even felt that that was missing. That said, you're right about being in groups. About twice a week, my partner has to say "Your light is on and...Nope, can't be angled down, but I suppose I've never even felt that that was missing.
That said, you're right about being in groups. About twice a week, my partner has to say "Your light is on and you're blinding me."
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Comment on What's good in modern flashlights/headlamps? in ~hobbies
HelmetTesterTJ LinkThis is a bit in another direction, so it might not be applicable to you but... I absolutely love my headlamp beanie. It's just your average headlamp beanie. I've had it for three years, and it...This is a bit in another direction, so it might not be applicable to you but...
I absolutely love my headlamp beanie. It's just your average headlamp beanie. I've had it for three years, and it was a gamechanger for me. If I was buying again, I'd buy two so I could just swap lights, but I so rarely run into situations where my light isn't charged that I haven't felt the need yet.
The light charges via USB and takes about four hours to do so. I get about ten hours of light out of it. It's light, dual-function, and always with me. It's got a removeable light, so I just charge it when I wash the hat. I couldn't imagine walking around with a headlamp on all the time, but because it's a beanie, I end up using it about twenty times a day.
I use it for camping and hiking aplenty, but I primarily use it out in the barn. I'm in the upper Midwest, and I've got thin hair, so it's not unusual for me to have a beanie on anyway from September through May. I use it as a spotlight when I'm looking for stuff, when I'm doing goose or chicken stuff after sunset (so I don't have to turn the barn lights on on them), and pretty much any time I'm outside at night. It's very handy that I never need to use my phone's flashlight
Even if its stats don't fit your hiking or camping purposes, which I can understand, I would still suggest anyone could benefit from a beanie with a headlamp built in for just day-to-day use.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
HelmetTesterTJ LinkI've somehow fallen into a weird genre of sci-fi that I'm really liking that I'd call... bureaucratic horror? administrative eldritch? Some of it is SCP adjacent, some eldritchy. The three that...I've somehow fallen into a weird genre of sci-fi that I'm really liking that I'd call... bureaucratic horror? administrative eldritch? Some of it is SCP adjacent, some eldritchy. The three that come to mind are:
A month ago was There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm. It's about a governmental organization tasked with understanding and maintaining antimemetic species, creatures whose defense mechanism is that people can't remember them, that they don't stick in memory.
Then came the Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley, in which the UK gets its hand on time travel and does boring stuff with it. This one was recommended on Obama's 2024 summer reading list.
This week it's Lexicon by Max Barry. It's about Poets, really persuasive people that control people with words, and how they control the world.
I recommend all three books, but I'm super easy to impress.
I'm coming up on the end of Lexicon, so if anyone's got a recommendation in the same subsubgenre, lemme know. Bonus points if it's a series, and the longer the better. I feel like getting immersed.
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Comment on What have you been eating, drinking, and cooking? in ~food
HelmetTesterTJ Link ParentA spice blend, yeah, usually, but sometimes a Thai or Japanese style paste. I tend to go for low sodium varieties because I prefer to manage my salt levels separately. I go through kind of a...A spice blend, yeah, usually, but sometimes a Thai or Japanese style paste. I tend to go for low sodium varieties because I prefer to manage my salt levels separately.
I go through kind of a ridiculous amount of curry. Incidentally, I'm using ranch dressing mixed with curry powder as a dipping sauce for pizza right this very minute.
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Comment on A global explosion of absurdly spicy foods in ~food
HelmetTesterTJ Link ParentOh, hey, an example where an Oxford comma would be handy. This threw me off, because the article too makes it sound as though Sichuan is spicy, but it has exactly zero Scoville Heat Units. It...The hottest Capsicum peppers, Zanthophyllum (Szechuan pepper) and Piper (peppercorn) species aren't frost tolerant
Oh, hey, an example where an Oxford comma would be handy. This threw me off, because the article too makes it sound as though Sichuan is spicy, but it has exactly zero Scoville Heat Units. It definitely makes your mouth feel funny, and it makes all water taste like salt water, but it's strange to see the article equate that with heat.
They (the English world) really ought to have done a better job with names when they failed to differentiate between peppercorns and pepper.
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Comment on What have you been eating, drinking, and cooking? in ~food
HelmetTesterTJ (edited )LinkTo unironically embody the conversation in this thread, I've been making a ton of congee. I started going through the DuoLingo Chinese lessons, and one of the first words it taught was zhou, or...To unironically embody the conversation in this thread, I've been making a ton of congee.
I started going through the DuoLingo Chinese lessons, and one of the first words it taught was zhou, or porridge, and I thought "well, that's weird; how often are they eating porridge that it's the third word I'm learning?"
Then I noticed a porridge button on my Zojirushi rice cooker (super entry level, NS-WXC10, use it daily, love it more than my dog), and I decided it was time to do some research.
I've been making rice porridge every morning. I'm a big fan of gruel to begin with, and expanding my options is exciting. For about a week, I've been making half a cup of white rice (5 cents!) into porridge and mixing it with random stuff in my kitchen. I cook a lot of Asian food anyway, so I've already got a number of standard congee ingredients: fermented garlic, chili crisp, fermented bean paste, and a wide variety of soy sauces, vinegars, and bouillons. Just like with oatmeal, though, my favorite so far is soy sauce and curry. I love how the savory saltiness of soy sauce sets off the curry. Honestly, I think it might be the greatest flavor combination in the world.
ETA: Just had the best yet: Totole Granulated Mushroom Bouillon, sesame seed oil, Nori Komi Furikake Multi-Purpose Rice Seasoning. Just stellar.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
HelmetTesterTJ LinkI'm in Deadlock testing, Valve's new Over-the-Shoulder Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA). I've always wanted to get into a MOBA, but I've continuously felt like I'm too far behind to catch up...I'm in Deadlock testing, Valve's new Over-the-Shoulder Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA). I've always wanted to get into a MOBA, but I've continuously felt like I'm too far behind to catch up and be a team asset in a game with complex maps, complex objectives, too many characters, abilities, and synergies, and heavy reliance, adaptability, and cooperation within a team. So I wanted to get in early on the next MOBA, grow with it, and learn to be a decent teammate.
I'm enjoying the game, but I still feel ages behind. I'm torn on throwing in the towel and cutting my losses, as I don't love the continual feeling that I'm letting down my small team.
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Comment on Grok AI generates images of ‘minors in minimal clothing’ in ~tech
HelmetTesterTJ LinkSo we're not even that many steps away from calling being opposed to CSAM "woke," are we? They've already been attempting to shift the window on age of consent.So we're not even that many steps away from calling being opposed to CSAM "woke," are we? They've already been attempting to shift the window on age of consent.
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Comment on What video games would you say have the best stories? Feel free to suggest more than one. in ~games
HelmetTesterTJ Link Parent+1 for Disco Elysium, and I found it very similar to another favorite of mine, Pathologic 2. Pathologic 1 is good, too, and Pathologic 3 is days away from release, and I expect it's going to be...+1 for Disco Elysium, and I found it very similar to another favorite of mine, Pathologic 2. Pathologic 1 is good, too, and Pathologic 3 is days away from release, and I expect it's going to be the best yet. Great story, solid mechanics, an immersive world, good tension, and consequential gameplay. It's just an all around great series that I'm surprised I don't see more people talk about.
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Comment on China drafts world’s strictest rules to end AI-encouraged suicide, violence in ~tech
HelmetTesterTJ Link ParentTristan Harris put it well in his recent episode of Your Undivided Attention - Episode 122 | Dec 18, 2025 | America and China Are Racing to Different AI Futures, that China and other authoritarian...Tristan Harris put it well in his recent episode of Your Undivided Attention - Episode 122 | Dec 18, 2025 | America and China Are Racing to Different AI Futures, that China and other authoritarian governments are building for 21st century authoritarianism, and while the United States should be building for a 21st century democracy, we're instead building for a 21st century oligarchy. We've decided freedom means deregulation and unchecked capitalism.
He gets a little doomsday and preachy in the podcast, but I get it.
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Comment on Are you still using social media? in ~tech
HelmetTesterTJ LinkI use: Facebook - Primarily as a Messenger app. It really is the easiest, smoothest messenger with reasonable adoption in my social group. This is mostly on my phone, but from time to time, I open...I use:
Facebook - Primarily as a Messenger app. It really is the easiest, smoothest messenger with reasonable adoption in my social group. This is mostly on my phone, but from time to time, I open Facebook in on a PC to message someone, and I catch myself scrolling, and it usually takes about three minutes before I'm like, "this is reddit but worse," and closing it.
Reddit - I mostly end up on Reddit from search results. There are very few places, for example, that provide the answer to the best crop rotation in Stardew Valley. Niche subreddits really are the place for information on the internet these days. I could just use ChatGPT to mine Reddit, but is that any better?
Tildes - Check daily. Comment infrequently. Read most of.
FARK - Check daily. Does FARK count as social media? Or a news aggregate with a comment section? I've been using FARK since 2002. I've been gifted TotalFARK a few times, but I've never paid for it. In the end, it's not much different from Reddit, but I don't feel as monetized chatting there.
Tiktok - You'll have to rip it out of my cold, dead hands. I unapologetically enjoy Tiktok. I've got my feed curated to give me exactly what I want. I get anti-AI/AI doomsday news, leftist discourse/propaganda, good storytelling, and urban planning. To be frank, I'm alright with the echo chambers Tiktok is building for me. Outside of TT, I get my information from a wide variety of sources, and it's nice to sometimes go to an app that does thorough deep dives into topics deeply interesting to me. When I've got the time, I'm going to throw a list under this comment of ten videos I get via Tiktok at random. Honestly, I don't care that I might be getting fed Chinese propaganda.
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Comment on Are you still using social media? in ~tech
HelmetTesterTJ Link ParentI spend most of my time on Reddit calling out AI written stories in the BOR, AITAH, and so on subs. It's an uphill, fruitless battle. At this point, I'm reasonably convinced Reddit itself (as a...I spend most of my time on Reddit calling out AI written stories in the BOR, AITAH, and so on subs. It's an uphill, fruitless battle. At this point, I'm reasonably convinced Reddit itself (as a corporation, not as an AI entity... yet) is contracting out to have a lot of the AI stories written. I think they use baity stories to increase engagement to make the website more appealing to advertisers and investors.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
HelmetTesterTJ LinkI'm about 70% the way through and enjoying the heck out of There is no Antimemetics Division by qntm. I've never gotten much into SCP stuff, so maybe it's just standard fare in that realm, but the...I'm about 70% the way through and enjoying the heck out of There is no Antimemetics Division by qntm. I've never gotten much into SCP stuff, so maybe it's just standard fare in that realm, but the concepts are exciting for me: There are paranormal entities whose camouflage is that, after being seen, they're quickly forgotten. The story follows an organization with the mission of cataloguing and containing these anomalies.
The eldritch, existential, and transdimensional press buttons for me, and this book is nailing it so far.
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Comment on Brown University shooting leaves two dead, nine injured as police search for killer in ~news
HelmetTesterTJ Link ParentI believe politicians in favor of sensible gun reform could do some solid messaging if they started awarding school shooting survivors something like a Purple Heart equivalent. It'd be like a...I believe politicians in favor of sensible gun reform could do some solid messaging if they started awarding school shooting survivors something like a Purple Heart equivalent. It'd be like a badge of national embarrassment, a sort of "my country failed me" award.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
HelmetTesterTJ LinkI'm reading (listening to) Mark Solm's Hidden Spring, on the recommendation of a TikToker I like, @ post.capitalist.pedagogy. For the last few years, I've been at a dead-end in how to further my...I'm reading (listening to) Mark Solm's Hidden Spring, on the recommendation of a TikToker I like, @ post.capitalist.pedagogy. For the last few years, I've been at a dead-end in how to further my understanding of the world. Having landed firmly in the Determinist and Adaptionist camp as far as free will and consciousness go, I've hard a time finding a pragmatic and interesting next step, so to speak. Hidden Spring is helping me out of it. He's constructing a science of the brain and mind that includes the subjective experience. He goes through the history of neuroscience, psychoanalysis, behaviorism, et al. to explain how science has come to the point it has, and puts forward a framework, neuropsychoanalysis, as a way to better understand consciousness and its contents. So far, I'm digging it, but parts of it are going to take a second and third listen so I can understand it better and know how to apply it to my own philosophy.
I'm also super pumped that I'm finally seeing English translations of Byung-Chul Han's works in audiobook format being made available. He's a philosopher I've been interested in a while, introduced to me by a podcast I like called Philosophize This. I've started Agony of Eros, but I decided I needed to pause it until I have a chance to rewatch von Trier's Melancholia. I didn't realize it would be referenced so heavily. Thankfully, no one in my library system seem to be fighting me for access to Han's work.
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Comment on An AI-generated country song is topping a Billboard chart, and that should infuriate us all in ~music
HelmetTesterTJ (edited )Link ParentSteve Goodman (and apparently an uncredited John Prine (RIP)) nailed it in 1971 with You Never Called Me By My NameSteve Goodman (and apparently an uncredited John Prine (RIP)) nailed it in 1971 with You Never Called Me By My Name
I was drunk the day my mom got out of prison
And I went to pick her up in the rain
But before I could get to the station in my pickup truck
She got runned over by a damned old train -
Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
HelmetTesterTJ LinkSpy×Family had just about its best episode yet, I think. I'm pretty excited to see where the rest of the season goes.Spy×Family had just about its best episode yet, I think. I'm pretty excited to see where the rest of the season goes.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
HelmetTesterTJ Link ParentI'm super excited to see you enjoying the Pale King. The elevator scene is one of my favorites in all of fiction. The "civic expectation without civic responsibility" concept is, I think, the...I'm super excited to see you enjoying the Pale King. The elevator scene is one of my favorites in all of fiction. The "civic expectation without civic responsibility" concept is, I think, the biggest problem plaguing modern political discourse, and I'm so pumped it resonated with you.
I was going to throw a mention at you for what I'm reading presently (and the foreseeable future):
In the spirit of bureaucratic horror, I just started the 15+ story series the Laundry Files. I'm just finishing book one, the Atrocity Archives, and it's fun. It's a bit pulpy, or maybe post-pulpy (?). It's about a British secret governmental organization, the Laundry, which deals with eldritch horrors. But they aren't just battling them all the time; they're utilizing the mathematical and scientific realities that a lovecraftian multiverse implies to develop technology - basically hijacking lesser entities in a controlled fashion to do human bidding. Veeeeeeeery Pratchett - think enslaved imp inside the cameralike device, but mathier.
So, yeah, one book down, fourteen to go.