autobulb's recent activity
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Comment on There seem to be two major popular processors. Which do you like? in ~comp
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Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music
autobulb LinkGoing to see Pokey Lafarge for the first time live in Italy next week, so I'm going through his albums. I'm mostly familiar with his older stuff but his new stuff is super fun too. Search: Pokey...Going to see Pokey Lafarge for the first time live in Italy next week, so I'm going through his albums. I'm mostly familiar with his older stuff but his new stuff is super fun too.
Search: Pokey Lafarge - Fine to Me. It's his hit from his latest album I think, and the music video is super fun too.
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Comment on US review of the Ideapad Duet 5i in ~tech
autobulb Link ParentNearly 800 dollars is way too much for 8GB of non-upgradable memory. Can't wait for laptops to start being released with the 7040U series AMD processors. They are much more interesting than the...Nearly 800 dollars is way too much for 8GB of non-upgradable memory.
Can't wait for laptops to start being released with the 7040U series AMD processors. They are much more interesting than the latest Intel ones.
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Comment on Best way to use Instagram from a privacy perspective? in ~tech
autobulb Link ParentSo don't use their platform? It's weird to say "I disagree with everything that Facebook/Meta do but I would still like to use their services without incurring any of the negative effects that...So don't use their platform? It's weird to say "I disagree with everything that Facebook/Meta do but I would still like to use their services without incurring any of the negative effects that comes with using their platform."
That's why I find it hard to answer OP's question. If you are advertising your service on a public platform, the very nature of that requires for people to know what the company is, who the owner is, and how to reach them, etc. If you are worried about a third party like Facebook knowing that information... don't use them.
It's kinda hard to have it both ways.
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Comment on ‘Bread is much easier’: How Japan fell out of love with rice in ~food
autobulb Link ParentYea I was gifted a home bakery machine a while ago. Although it's quite convenient as a gadget, it's one of those mostly single purpose use machines that take up a lot of space in the kitchen,...Yea I was gifted a home bakery machine a while ago. Although it's quite convenient as a gadget, it's one of those mostly single purpose use machines that take up a lot of space in the kitchen, which is especially a problem in small Japanese kitchens. Since I have gotten more and more into baking and trying to learn how to hand make things, I use it less and less. But I do usually keep it outside its box and ready to go, especially when I want to quickly or lazily prepare a dough that I won't want to babysit for 2-3 hours. I just dump all the ingredients in, and set it to make a dough, it even does a preliminary fermentation too. Then I can just put it in a container into the fridge to let it ferment more. That's handy! But I usually end up baking the dough in different forms/shapes myself in my oven because it gives me more control over temperature and style of bread.
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Comment on ‘Bread is much easier’: How Japan fell out of love with rice in ~food
autobulb Link ParentAh yeah, I know there are sweet bagels. I remember cinnamon raisin was popular back in my NYC days. But the method of baking them is quite different. So for a chocolate bagel in Japan a chocolate...Ah yeah, I know there are sweet bagels. I remember cinnamon raisin was popular back in my NYC days. But the method of baking them is quite different. So for a chocolate bagel in Japan a chocolate ganache type of filling is piped into the dough, either after or during shaping. And it's intended to be eaten as it, without any other toppings/fillings like cream cheese. So yea, to me it's quite a different method of making and eating the bagel.
But also generally sweet bagels here are much more prevalent. At the good bagel shop in my town I would say maybe half of them are sweet and the other half are savory or neutral. Back in NYC I remember like a chocolate one, cinnamon, and maybe one or two more but the majority were savory/neutral.
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Comment on ‘Bread is much easier’: How Japan fell out of love with rice in ~food
autobulb Link ParentWelcome to my life. Every time I go abroad I eat all the different kinds of bread I can find.Welcome to my life. Every time I go abroad I eat all the different kinds of bread I can find.
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech
autobulb Link ParentDamnit, why were the trade in values so good and why can't they do it again?Damnit, why were the trade in values so good and why can't they do it again?
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech
autobulb Link ParentDamn, I would take that upgrade any day. What apps are you using that are still stuck in 32bit?Damn, I would take that upgrade any day. What apps are you using that are still stuck in 32bit?
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Comment on ‘Bread is much easier’: How Japan fell out of love with rice in ~food
autobulb Link ParentIt happens everywhere. Even NYC with all its various cultures and accessibility does it too. You can get good sushi for example if you're willing to pay, but most people go to the cheap "Asian...I really hope we don't butcher other cuisines the same way they butcher our bagels
It happens everywhere. Even NYC with all its various cultures and accessibility does it too. You can get good sushi for example if you're willing to pay, but most people go to the cheap "Asian fusion" restaurants. The sushi they serve would offend most Japanese people. Smushed barely seasoned rice, poor quality ingredients, over reliance on lots of sauces and flashy appearance to make it look special and exotic. It doesn't even register as "sushi" for a lot of Japanese people.
It's just the unfortunate reality of trying to replicate a food that is so pervasive in a certain culture in a different environment with different access to ingredients and having to tailor the taste for people who are not used to certain tastes and textures. On the one hand I understand it but on the other hand I'm always trying to find foods that are more "authentic" to their original forms.
I have been learning how to make NYC style bagels to serve in a pop-up cafe back in Japan. It's a fun and challenging experiment. I'm a bit stubborn and am trying to stick with strictly NYC style type bagels, but Japanese people expect very different things of bagels. For example, sweet bagels with ingredients mixed INTO the dough is very common here. Sorry, I'm not gonna make a chocolate bagel for ya :) Here's an everything bagel and I'll put some cream cheese in it, or make you an egg and cheese sandwich, or a lox sandwich.
Reception has been surprisingly good though. I have a low output cause I have to handmake, bake, and prepare all the food by myself but in the last few times we opened we could sell out sometimes which was great. I also got a great compliment from an acquaintance that came in and got a lox sandwich. In a pleasantly surprised tone she was like, "wait.... bagels are supposed to be chewy like this?!" I was like yep, that's what an actual bagel tastes like.
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech
autobulb LinkI hope the trade in prices are as good as people reported when going from the 6 to 7. Some people mentioned that they ended up paying just around 150-200 for the new device after trade in. I have...I hope the trade in prices are as good as people reported when going from the 6 to 7. Some people mentioned that they ended up paying just around 150-200 for the new device after trade in.
I have the 7 now and it's a fine device that I expected to use for many years but my biggest pet peeve is how it's artificially limited with no display out through the USB port. With modern chipsets in phones or tablets they are more than capable of functioning as basic productivity devices if connected to a monitor/keyboard/mouse, it would be great to only carry my phone and some portable peripherals to connect while I'm traveling and do some light work. I know the phone can do it, but Google decided to just leave that feature out, and some reports even show that it is artificially disabled (and could be enabled by software, potentially.)
But the 8 is rumored to have display out, so assuming everything else works fine, it could be my workhorse device for the next 5 or so years.
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Comment on What have you been eating, drinking, and cooking? in ~food
autobulb LinkStaying in the UK right now so I'm trying to enjoy ingredients that are cheaper and harder to find back where I lived before in Japan. Breakfast is usually a nice sourdough or brown bread,...Staying in the UK right now so I'm trying to enjoy ingredients that are cheaper and harder to find back where I lived before in Japan.
Breakfast is usually a nice sourdough or brown bread, slightly toasted with eggs and some good cheese. Both the darker breads and decent cheese are hard to find in Japan without paying a lot of money and finding specialty stores. There was also an egg crisis in Japan which raised prices and I think they have not normalized yet.
Lunch is usually something lighter like avocados (also hard to find back home for a reasonable price,) some raw veggies and maybe some pieces of cheese like brie that are delicious to eat by themselves. I tend to avoid carbs in the midday and either save them for dinner or just avoid them.
My partner is pescetarian so dinner is usually fish based. Salmon fillets pan fried with some veggies (and maybe rice for her,) or whole white fish like sea bass baked in the oven with some herbs and citrus and I'm happy. I did buy a pack of some ground beef so I am aiming to make some burgers for myself in the next few days since I have been craving one.
Looking to make a homemade pizza soon too, so I'll prep the dough and let it ferment a few days in the fridge.
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Comment on ‘Bread is much easier’: How Japan fell out of love with rice in ~food
autobulb Link ParentI just think there needs to be an option of both because they serve different purposes. I wouldn't want a super dark bread for jam for example. But I also don't want a sweet roll for my hot dog....I just think there needs to be an option of both because they serve different purposes. I wouldn't want a super dark bread for jam for example. But I also don't want a sweet roll for my hot dog. This is just my interpretation but I think many Japanese people see white fluffy bread as higher quality and darker breads are too difficult to eat and enjoy. It's quite the same with white rice and brown rice. If anyone sees you eating/buying a pack of brown rice (of which there are few options) people assume you are on a very strict diet or something. There are even some specialty shops that ONLY bake loaves of milk bread and they charge a lot of money for one. There was a shop near my old workplace that did that, they gave you a loaf of around 5 slices for close to 800 yen I think it was. That's like 6USD for 5 slices of white bread. And you usually had to reserve your loaf in advance. That's just too weird for me.
I probably don't want fluffy sweey bread on my Bahn mi either.
Good luck finding a suitable bread for bahn mi as the baguettes are definitely are on the crispier side. Quite nice to eat with cheese but it destroys your mouth if you try to make a sandwich out of it.
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Comment on ‘Bread is much easier’: How Japan fell out of love with rice in ~food
autobulb Link ParentThe cheapest white breads in Japan certainly rival America's white breads in most categories. They are full of additives, kinda dry right out of the packaging, too sweet like I mentioned, and too...The cheapest white breads in Japan certainly rival America's white breads in most categories. They are full of additives, kinda dry right out of the packaging, too sweet like I mentioned, and too soft to even spread anything on them most of the time. I've shamefully bought some prepackaged "baguette" from a discount 24 hour convenience store cause it was the only place open at the time and I would be careful to even call it bread. Even when I toasted it a bit (cause it was too stale to eat as it was) it started to resemble plastic.
I complain because Japan has a lot of great food culture, but for some certain things they really latch onto a very overly processed and homogenized way of doing things. It's unfortunate. But yes, I do bake my own breads at home, but that's not relevant to the article's topic because people are mostly talking about the most convenient way.
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Comment on ‘Bread is much easier’: How Japan fell out of love with rice in ~food
autobulb LinkIt's too bad the bread in Japan is absolutely terrible. Forget anything with any semblance of color or variety unless you go to a bakery that specifically specializes in European style baking. At...It's too bad the bread in Japan is absolutely terrible. Forget anything with any semblance of color or variety unless you go to a bakery that specifically specializes in European style baking. At that point it's going to be even more annoying to get the bread than cooking rice. Either you have to buy it the day before and let it get a little stale, or wake up earlier, get dressed to go buy your bread, go back, make breakfast etc. If you even have a bakery like that in your neighborhood and it's even open on that particular day.
The breads at mainstream bakeries or supermarkets are always focused on soft and sweeter breads. Even the normal sliced bread that most people would consider to be toasting bread has lots of dairy and additives in it to make it as fluffy as possible and it's generally on the sweeter side even if it's meant for something savory like a sandwich. The only thing that resembles are "normal" savory bread for me are baguettes or French style country breads. But again, the bakery has to be particular in that style for them to make it. If you go to a straight up Japanese bakery it's gonna be white fluffy bread as far as the eye can see. Even the premade foods like little pizzas and hot dogs use the same bread so it's this weird mix of a sweeter bread with savory toppings. Always completely ruins the food for me. Whole wheat breads virtually don't exist. Sometimes you can find a pack of "whole wheat" slices at the supermarket and they're usually only like 1-2 packs a day so they get sold out quickly. They also always come in very thick slices of three. But I doubt it has much whole wheat inside anyway as the color is only just a touch of brown.
Bagels are even more offensive. I don't think most bakeries even boil them before baking which is kind of the necessary step to make them an actual bagel so they basically taste like dinner rolls with the same texture. There is only one shop I know that actually makes decent bagels but they're only open once to twice a week and the line is always out the door from the moment they open until their stock is gone. But Japanese people love queuing. I ain't gonna wait 20 minutes to buy a couple of tiny overpriced bagels, yikes.
Sorry, I've been living in Japan for almost 11 years now and I'm taking a little break from there abroad. It's amazing that I can walk into any supermarket now and buy a loaf of brown bread, or sourdough, or seeded/grain bread, or white if that's what you want for just a couple of dollars. I think in my neighborhood back in Japan I have never even seen sourdough bread though I do know there is a German style bakery that makes it but it's across town and expensive as hell.
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Comment on I am an extremely light sleeper, and need advice in ~life
autobulb Link ParentI'm worried that it's too easy to get addicted or reliant on this kind of stimulation to sleep. Many years ago I would fall asleep to old episodes of the Simpsons or Futurama. And then when I was...I'm worried that it's too easy to get addicted or reliant on this kind of stimulation to sleep. Many years ago I would fall asleep to old episodes of the Simpsons or Futurama. And then when I was in a situation where I didn't have my episodes it was really hard to sleep. Now I do the same most nights with a Youtube video playing with the screen off. It definitely helps but I'm worried about the same result.
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Comment on Mark Zuckerberg announces that there has been over five million signups to Meta's Threads in the first four hours in ~tech
autobulb LinkNah, sorry. I'm not gonna participate in this spat between two billionaires using their platforms to show their e-peen to each other. To be honest I hope they both fail.Nah, sorry. I'm not gonna participate in this spat between two billionaires using their platforms to show their e-peen to each other. To be honest I hope they both fail.
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Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
autobulb Link ParentIt's been so long since seeing Goodfellas that I can't even compare them because I completely forgot what it was like. However, I kinda remember not enjoying it as much as everyone else seemed to....It's been so long since seeing Goodfellas that I can't even compare them because I completely forgot what it was like. However, I kinda remember not enjoying it as much as everyone else seemed to. I might have been too young to appreciate it at the time. Casino I enjoyed immediately after the first watch, though I can't remember when that was anyway. Maybe it's time for a rewatch of Goodfellas for me but I need a little break from that style of crime drama.
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Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
autobulb LinkWatched a few oldies and some somewhat recent newbies recently. Having lived in Japan until recently, I don't get a lot access to watch indies or very current movies because they take a lot of...Watched a few oldies and some somewhat recent newbies recently. Having lived in Japan until recently, I don't get a lot access to watch indies or very current movies because they take a lot of time to reach Japan so I usually just wait until they're out on video.
Triangle of Sadness (2022) - Loved the satire of the ultra rich. I guess some people might consider the satire a bit too on-the-nose but I think it added to the hilarity and chaos that happens.
Casino (1995) - Rewatched this after a while. I don't remember what caused me to rewatch it, maybe a clip popped up on social media or something but damn is it such a fun story to go through. Even though it's loooong at 3 hours, you just never get bored cause something tense is always happening. And it goes out with a bang.
Before Sunrise (1995) - Watched it with my partner to get into a romantic mood. It still holds up even if some of the conversations they have feel a little... immature after getting older myself. I haven't seen the other two so I plan to watch those eventually too.
Ikiru (1952) & Living (2022) - Watched Kurosawa's original and the remake back to back. Both great in their own ways but I actually preferred Living. The story is much tighter and felt more impactful. Kurosawa's went on a bit too long and some scenes felt like they dragged on.
Evil Dead Rise (2023) - Great (second?) reboot to the series. The first reboot was okay but I don't remember much memorable about it. This one was pleasantly gory and grotesque and a cool changeup in setting from the originals.
The Favourite (2016) - Upon hearing about Yorgos Lanthimos' upcoming movie that looks wonderfully surreal, I had to make sure to watch his other movies after loving Lobster. This one is less surreal than Lobster and the upcoming one, but it was a great piece of historical fiction. Engaging the whole way through.
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Comment on The Menu, Binging with Babish, and Ornamental Cookery in ~food
autobulb Link ParentLike most things, the internet, and social media more specifically, ruins everything. There is a sea of "cooking for entertainment" videos out there now, most of which are just awful. Every time I...Like most things, the internet, and social media more specifically, ruins everything. There is a sea of "cooking for entertainment" videos out there now, most of which are just awful. Every time I find myself scrolling through random feeds/videos I inevitably get shown:
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Videos of girls with shirts that are obviously meant to show off their cleavage with the camera pointed exactly there. They usually cook really sloppy, amateur recipes, or extremely simple recipes that don't even require a video to learn how to do it.
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The flashy trick videos where every movement has to be fancy and quick and exaggerated. You don't screw off a cap from a jar, you spin it and shoot it off frame somewhere onto the floor for some reason. Catch an onion by piercing it on the knife, smack all ingredients down on the cutting board. Cut multiple steps into one second using extremely fast and almost nauseating edits. The recipes are either outrageous like deep frying every damn thing possible or just whatever is trending at the moment.
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The 'tude personalities. They curse a lot or try to make as many jokes as possible. Recipes vary a lot but they are usually very amateurly put together.
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The westerner that thinks they have discovered an exclusive secret by using eastern ingredients like miso, gochujang, MSG or foods with high amounts of glutamate, sesame oil, chili oil, etc. It's not like those ingredients/techniques have been around for hundreds and hundreds of years or anything...
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The annoying buzzword user. Everything has to be elevated, or slap, or deconstructed, etc.
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Rage inducers. They make recipes that would never taste good to anyone on the planet and use a ton of ingredients that not even 20 people would be able to finish (also cause it's so disgusting) just to get people to comment on their videos and get their metrics up. I'm 99.99% sure all that "food" they make goes in the trash after the video is done because it looks inedible and I'm sure they don't care as long as they make money from the views.
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Just plain not-great videos. Either their mic is barely audible, the video quality is poor, and/or their cooking skills are not that great yet. I know everyone has to start somewhere but it doesn't add much to what's already out there.
Sigh, I really gotta stop browsing random reels/shorts.
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This changes year by year and generation by generation so my perspective is time sensitive but: at the moment the current mobile AMD processors have the best power efficiency, as well as the best integrated graphics. This is comparing the current gen AMD 7th gen (7x40 series) to the 13th gen Intel processors. As a testament to my claims, pretty much every hypermobile or handheld gaming machine based on x86 processors (AMD/Intel) are using the 7840U processors from AMD because they are power efficient enough to be put into the form factor of a Nintendo Switch, and their integrated graphics are powerful enough to run modern games at roughly 1080p low to medium settings depending on the game.
Intel's design is a bit different going with separate "power" and "efficiency" cores but in real world usage their battery efficiency is not great. And their integrated GPU hasn't evolved much in the past few generations so it's more for 720p gaming or somewhere around there.
However! The new generation is supposed to come out soon, this year I think, and it might actually give AMD some real competition in terms of performance so we'll just have to wait to see. If I find a laptop with a 7x40 series AMD CPU though right now I would get one pretty much right away.
I am currently due for a laptop upgrade (still have a 7th gen! Intel) and am waiting for more ultra portable laptops with the 7840U to be released but it's taking a long time.
If you do decide to go with a 7000 series CPU from AMD, please be aware that the numbering scheme is very confusing as per usual.
7000 series is this year's model but...
7x20 series is actually a Zen 2 processor refreshed and...
7x30 series is actually a Zen 3 processor refreshed so...
7x40 series is the actual new Zen 4 processor that has all the upgrades with efficient and GPU performance.
Zen2/3 are perfectly fine chips, but they won't perform as well as the new architecture chips.
The second number indicated by my "x" just shows the processor performance tier within this generation such as a Ryzen 3, 5, 7, or 9.