Kingofthezyx's recent activity
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
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Comment on Fitness Weekly Discussion in ~health
Kingofthezyx Link4 day vacation this weekend to visit some family - lots of swimming but like, with the baby, so not really "exercise" Still did my cardio on the days we weren't gone, except today because I have...4 day vacation this weekend to visit some family - lots of swimming but like, with the baby, so not really "exercise"
Still did my cardio on the days we weren't gone, except today because I have to to pick my Dad up from the airport. He's bringing up some resistance bands to show me some upper body exercise options with limited space, so hopefully I will have a new dimension to add to my routine soon! I'm hoping building a little more muscle will help me burn fat more effectively. We'll see!
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Kingofthezyx (edited )LinkI needed a new laundry show, so I started watching Bleach again. I watched the first three seasons and a half back when it had first come out and was only subbed, but now I'm watching the dub. I...I needed a new laundry show, so I started watching Bleach again. I watched the first three seasons and a half back when it had first come out and was only subbed, but now I'm watching the dub. I vaguely remember some stuff, and that I enjoyed the first season, but it's been fun so far - only about 10 episodes in. It has been fun recognizing a bunch of Sailor Moon alum (Ichigo = Artemis, Rukia = Luna, Orihime = Usagi etc.) since my wife and I just finished Sailor Moon and miss it.
My question is, does it hold up? I noticed there are nearly 400 episodes now. I'm willing to keep powering through if it's worth it.
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Comment on Fitness Weekly Discussion in ~health
Kingofthezyx Link ParentHey, I am vegetarian, but here are some easy recommendations: Orgain makes a pretty tasty protein powder that is completely vegan and has lots of micronutrient and vitamin/mineral goodies for...Hey, I am vegetarian, but here are some easy recommendations:
Orgain makes a pretty tasty protein powder that is completely vegan and has lots of micronutrient and vitamin/mineral goodies for vegan. I get mine at Costco when it's on sale.
Learning to air fry tofu can be a game changer - https://nosweatvegan.com/air-fry-tofu/ here's a go to recipe I use that is very consistently good. I don't even use a "real" air fryer, just a countertop convection oven with a stainless steel basket.
Textured Vegetable Protein aka TVP is an easy and cheap "ground protein" substitute. I use it to make tacos by reconstituting it in an equal volume of vegetable broth and then adding spices. I also add it straight into pasta sauce for a little "vegan bolognese" style dish.
Learn to love beans - they can be a meat substitute all on their own in things like Chana Masala https://www.indianhealthyrecipes.com/chana-masala/
I might come back and add more later, I gotta take care of some stuff before the baby wakes up!
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Comment on Fitness Weekly Discussion in ~health
Kingofthezyx LinkMore or less still going strong, no pun intended. Vacation threw me off a little bit more than I thought it would - drive days took a huge chunk out of my active time and aside from some very slow...More or less still going strong, no pun intended.
Vacation threw me off a little bit more than I thought it would - drive days took a huge chunk out of my active time and aside from some very slow kayaking with the baby, and one walk, I spent a lot more time managing my parents-in-law than chasing the baby around. Still got a good long "hike" (almost entirely flat) in on Sunday, and have done my 30 minutes of running on the elliptical each day since we got back (T, W, Th)
I tried to do an upper body workout last week with minimal (no) equipment. Dips between chairs felt very unstable, inverted rows (pulling myself up to a table) felt very awkward. One-armed bent over rows with a 3 gallons in a water jug worked okay, and push-ups are push-ups. My dad, who is a personal trainer, is coming to visit next weekend and bringing some resistance bands to see if they might work for my needs - we have an okay amount of space but I'd rather not use it up if I don't have to.
Meanwhile I am still working on eating less. It's difficult when both my wife and baby are skinny, so making lean meals can be a little unfair to them, while trying to just "eat less" of a hearty meal is something I find very difficult. Once I am locked in with some strength training and cardio routines I will make that my next focus.
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Comment on What are your favorite ways to measure your own health? in ~health
Kingofthezyx Link ParentIf it helps, I did study evolutionary biology, and "fittest" isn't really the way we describe what's happening at higher levels. Linguistically, the missing piece is that the word fittest is being...If it helps, I did study evolutionary biology, and "fittest" isn't really the way we describe what's happening at higher levels.
Linguistically, the missing piece is that the word fittest is being used in a plural sense, as in "the group among us who is most fit" and not "the singular individual who is fitter than the rest." Like lackofaname implied, this is more of a simplification for high school or intro college biology. A better way to phrase it is "survival of the fit enough".
So the actual language is trying to imply that the "strongest", "smartest", or "most resilient" (fittest) survive long enough to reproduce, but really you don't have to be any of those things to pass on your genes and contribute to the direction of your species evolution- you just have to survive long enough to make a baby, who survives long enough to make a baby, who survives long enough... etc etc etc.
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Comment on Fitness Weekly Discussion in ~health
Kingofthezyx Link ParentSome of it is just the nature of being dad to a toddler - she wants to run everywhere!Some of it is just the nature of being dad to a toddler - she wants to run everywhere!
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Comment on Fitness Weekly Discussion in ~health
Kingofthezyx LinkI'm back on the wagon. Did my half hour on the elliptical every day since Tuesday (4 days in a row). I'm going to take a rest day today since we're taking the baby to the Renn Faire, and tomorrow...I'm back on the wagon. Did my half hour on the elliptical every day since Tuesday (4 days in a row). I'm going to take a rest day today since we're taking the baby to the Renn Faire, and tomorrow will be some heavy yard work. Then I'm hoping I can maintain my momentum during the week next week before we leave for vacation on Thursday. I am generally pretty active on vacation though, so hopefully it won't set me back too much.
Really it's the eating I need to get under control. I am trying to be more mindful of my portion sizes. I have found it difficult not to gain weight since quitting weed and the baby being born. I know it seems counterintuitive but I was a regular smoker, to the point where I didn't really get the munchies but it would help me ignore food cravings while I was busy. I gotta lock myself in before she is old enough to learn eating and activity habits from me - she's almost two so I think we're closer to that than I'd like to be, but I'm trying to use that "fear" as motivation.
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Comment on McDonald’s is cutting prices of its combo meals to convince customers it’s affordable again in ~food
Kingofthezyx Link ParentAnd that's only what they're doing now - meaning there was less than a 15% discount before. The way a lot of combos seemed to work historically (anecdotally) is that you would pay the price of the...And that's only what they're doing now - meaning there was less than a 15% discount before.
The way a lot of combos seemed to work historically (anecdotally) is that you would pay the price of the main item + side, and the drink would be "free".
Meanwhile Taco Bell has the best combos by far - their Luxe Cravings Box is barely more than the cost of the "main" item, meaning the other three items are included for usually less than 50 cents. It's basically the only fast food I ever get anymore because it's the only one that hits a price/quality ratio that's reasonable.
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Comment on Do you share your location with your friends? in ~tech
Kingofthezyx LinkNever been comfortable with it but my wife and I recently turned it on for each other due to convenience. We have a very strong relationship built on implicit trust - we hide nothing from each...Never been comfortable with it but my wife and I recently turned it on for each other due to convenience. We have a very strong relationship built on implicit trust - we hide nothing from each other, even insane stuff we probably should 😂
For a long time it just didn't matter to share location, nowadays we have a daughter and she works in multiple locations at her current job, so when the baby and I are out on a walk it is helpful for us to know which direction to head if she can't reply right away. I also run all of the errands and give her my "agenda" for the day, so she can check where I am and see if I can take care of something without having to ask where I am, or call, and do the whole song and dance. At least from my end, I would absolutely never check it without a purpose, and I don't really believe she would either. We are both people who have the others best interests in mind in almost all cases. I am incredibly lucky.
I would never persistently share my location with anyone else in the world. Maybe temporarily for specific purposes.
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Comment on How is Linux these days? in ~comp
Kingofthezyx Link ParentI paired them using bluetoothctl and manually trusting/pairing the MAC. It wasn't very difficult, just very specific. Since pairing it once it has always stayed working though.I paired them using bluetoothctl and manually trusting/pairing the MAC. It wasn't very difficult, just very specific. Since pairing it once it has always stayed working though.
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Comment on Did a fictional character from a show/movie influence your life? in ~talk
Kingofthezyx LinkI often come back to a quote from Angel (the Buffy spin-off) when I am feeling hopeless. "Well, I guess I kinda worked it out. If there's no great glorious end to all this, if nothing we do...I often come back to a quote from Angel (the Buffy spin-off) when I am feeling hopeless.
"Well, I guess I kinda worked it out. If there's no great glorious end to all this, if nothing we do matters... , then all that matters is what we do. 'Cause that's all there is. What we do. Now. Today"
Really helps with the stings of nihilism when some insane stuff happens in my life, or the news.
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Comment on How is Linux these days? in ~comp
Kingofthezyx (edited )LinkI switched Linux Mint on all of my machines (laptop, gaming desktop, mini desktop/home server). It has been a mixed bag, but I'm not going back. I did it for mainly three reasons - philosophical...I switched Linux Mint on all of my machines (laptop, gaming desktop, mini desktop/home server). It has been a mixed bag, but I'm not going back.
I did it for mainly three reasons - philosophical problems with Microsoft/Apple, Performance, and update policy. For the reasons I switched, I'm mostly very happy! I'll go device by device to explain some of my "issues". I am more tech savvy than the average bear, but I'm far from an IT worker or developer.
My oldest device is my laptop. It's from 2019 and has an 8th gen i7 and 8 gigs of RAM. It was starting to show its age on Windows - a lot of apps loading slowly, battery life started tanking, and I simply don't use my laptop very often anymore (I use my Galaxy Tab for almost everything these days) so my use case was very limited - a little bit of document manipulation, downloading certain kinds of files, and basic file management of my home server (which I still find easier with a keyboard). Linux works perfectly for these needs and my laptop is 100% better for it.
Desktop gaming PC - for the most part it is better. Most games work easily with minor tweaks. It feels a little disingenuous when people act like Proton makes games "just work." It's a 1000x better than it used to be but there are still generally specific Proton versions to use, tweaks to fix things like audio, launchers, menus, and/or graphical glitches. Maybe it's just the games I play but it very rarely just works out of the box. However, once it does work, it is absolutely true that the games usually run better than they do on Windows. Also I tend to play older games which have more problems running. Some of these games also have tweaks to run properly on Windows so it's not like I'm describing anything unusual for people who are PC gamers.
Lastly, my home server - this is the one I've had the most issues with. First of all, it was pretty new hardware when I bought it and it took a bit of finagling to get wifi/BT working, pairing my Logitech keyboard took some terminal magic, and it took a while to figure out how to monitor performance in a way that works for me. It also took a lot of terminal voodoo to get VNC running prior to login so I could restart and log back in without having to go upstairs. Permissions are way different on Linux than they are on Windows, and there are a lot of things I still haven't figured out how to do, like recording live shows on Jellyfin directly to my Synology NAS, which is mounted as a drive on my file system. There are discussions online about adding Jellyfin as a user to a group, and then giving that group permission to edit files on the mounted drive, I might be describing this all wrong - the point is I've never figured it out. My method has just been recording in the default folder, then opening the location as root and moving the files manually every few weeks. There are also methods to post-process recording to remove commercials that are really easy to figure out on Windows, but much more complicated on Linux to a layman like me. All that being said, I still prefer the way the server works under Linux than Windows, because it doesn't randomly update and the things that are working, work consistently and much more quickly.
As a summary I think the biggest thing for me is that on Linux I feel like things are getting better, whereas on Windows things have pretty consistently been getting worse. Once I find a way to fix something the way I want it on Linux, I have not yet had my solutions patched out, or undone on an update, or simply removed because Microsoft decided they wanted to be dicks. That is worth the speed bumps or learning curve or whatever you want to call it.
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Comment on How did you ruin a game for yourself? in ~games
Kingofthezyx Link ParentSimilarly for me is Final Fantasy XI. It's a hugely meaningful game to me, I have an emotional attachment to my main character, but I can't play it for only a short time each day, or when I have...Similarly for me is Final Fantasy XI. It's a hugely meaningful game to me, I have an emotional attachment to my main character, but I can't play it for only a short time each day, or when I have free time. Any time I play it it's the only thing I think about, I spend the time I'm not playing planning what I'm going to do when I do play it, I have dreams about it, I will literally sit there doing nothing on it rather than do anything else.
This wasn't as much of a problem when I didn't have any serious responsibilities, but I have a baby now. Either I would neglect my duties as a parent, or I would not get the enjoyment out of playing that I'm hoping for - I can sit and hope it would just be the latter but I'm not willing to find out.
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Comment on How did you ruin a game for yourself? in ~games
Kingofthezyx Link ParentThis is what continuously happens to me with Elden Ring. I get 85% of the way done, take a break, and then can't manage at all. I absolutely loved the game but I don't have fun with cheese builds...This is what continuously happens to me with Elden Ring. I get 85% of the way done, take a break, and then can't manage at all. I absolutely loved the game but I don't have fun with cheese builds and I'm not good enough to play the way I want to. So I think I'm fine leaving it where it is.
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Comment on Calgary brings fluoride back to its drinking water in ~health
Kingofthezyx Link Parenthttps://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3525928/ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decay-missing-filled_index Admittedly this is a 0.2% fluoride rinse used weekly as opposed to the 0.02% used daily...https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3525928/
Following the use of 0.2% sodium fluoride mouthwash, mean DMFT index in case group decreased as much as 51.5% compared to that of control group. The mean values of decrease for the decayed, missing and filled indices were 45%, 44% and 59%, respectively. The decrease in DMFT value of the case group compared to that of control group was statistically significant (p<0.001). A statistically significant decrease was seen in the decayed and filled indices of case group (p=0.042 and p=0.016, respectively)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decay-missing-filled_index
Admittedly this is a 0.2% fluoride rinse used weekly as opposed to the 0.02% used daily (the product I linked) but there is absolutely evidence to support topical fluoride benefiting oral health. Considering it's <$5 and lasts almost two months between my wife and I, I consider it reasonable insurance while we're on well water.
You are not wrong that ingestion of fluoride is also considered beneficial though - I don't have a study for this one but my daughter's pediatrician encouraged us to brush the baby's gums with half a grain of rice of fluoride toothpaste and encourage her to swallow it before her teeth came in, because it could help them grow healthier. Of course now that she actually has teeth, we brush them directly as well.
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Comment on Calgary brings fluoride back to its drinking water in ~health
Kingofthezyx Link ParentYou can just buy fluoride rinse - usually called alcohol free mouthwash. We are also on well water and we use this:...You can just buy fluoride rinse - usually called alcohol free mouthwash. We are also on well water and we use this: https://www.kroger.com/p/kroger-vivid-mint-alcohol-free-fluoride-mouthwash/0004126038141
With fluoride toothpaste we are probably okay without it, but it's nice to have peace of mind for $4.50 every two months.
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Comment on What creative projects have you been working on? in ~creative
Kingofthezyx LinkWell after about two years of kicking the idea around, and a month or two of buying equipment - I have started the process of learning metalworking. My particular style of learning doesn't mesh...Well after about two years of kicking the idea around, and a month or two of buying equipment - I have started the process of learning metalworking. My particular style of learning doesn't mesh well with classroom or 1 on 1 instruction (also I'm cheap) so I'm going the self-taught route.
I've been a stay-at-home Dad for the last year so this is simultaneously a hobby to spend my time with, but also maybe a possible "side" hustle for self-employment. I can work on stuff for a couple of hours at a time while my daughter naps when I don't have other stuff to do, so it really won't take much income to make it worthwhile. I live in a... I think the nice word is "rustic", state. So I should have somewhat of a market for hand-forged decorations and tools. For my first project, I made a hook - it's not fancy, but I made it myself out of nothing but a 6" chunk of 1/2" rebar.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uOJTOLmjachQBtjXCXxksdIHtmSTs0YK/view?usp=drivesdk what do we think?
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Comment on Query: Recommendations on how / where to buy USB cables? in ~tech
Kingofthezyx LinkOthers have mentioned Ugreen and JSAUX of which I've used both and they're both solid. Recently I bought some cables and car mounts from LISEN and they have all been great and worked for...Others have mentioned Ugreen and JSAUX of which I've used both and they're both solid.
Recently I bought some cables and car mounts from LISEN and they have all been great and worked for everything I need them to.
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Comment on Query: Recommendations on how / where to buy USB cables? in ~tech
Kingofthezyx Link ParentI'll second JSAUX, I've gone through a few of their cables and they last a good while even with pretty abusive usage.I'll second JSAUX, I've gone through a few of their cables and they last a good while even with pretty abusive usage.
I suppose I could have been more clear - I don't want a synopsis or arc-by-arc breakdown or anything, just a general like "it stays great the whole time" "it has lulls but it's worth it" "it falls off after a while"