bitwaba's recent activity
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Comment on Offbeat Fridays – The thread where offbeat headlines become front page news in ~news
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Comment on ‘We are full’: the rebirth of Europe’s sleeper trains in ~transport
bitwaba Link ParentFair enough. My inter-city travel experience is probably 95%+ by flight, and only 1% being sleeper trains (the rest being regular trains). My job was 50% travel for 10 years so of my criticism is...Fair enough. My inter-city travel experience is probably 95%+ by flight, and only 1% being sleeper trains (the rest being regular trains). My job was 50% travel for 10 years so of my criticism is just my distaste of airports in general.
I will however say that the nearest city city <> airport half hour travel can be the case often enough, but doesn't tell the full picture as often you're waiting on a train or a bus to show up, and travel either to or from the airport are never on your exact schedule. Then add in the fact that most major airports take quite a while to walk through, plus waiting for baggage, and you can very easily end up at the conclusion that it is just risky to plan anything less than an hour when planning your agenda
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Comment on ‘We are full’: the rebirth of Europe’s sleeper trains in ~transport
bitwaba Link ParentPlanes look cheaper until you realize that you'd either have to pay for a hotel an extra night at your destination, or if you choose to fly the day of you have the extra time cost of taking an...Planes look cheaper until you realize that you'd either have to pay for a hotel an extra night at your destination, or if you choose to fly the day of you have the extra time cost of taking an hour to get to the airport, be there at least an hour early, and at your destination taking an hour to get to the city center, you're looking at 4 hours minimum from when you walk out the door to get to your destination. So you've burned half a vacation day waking up early, eating low quality over priced food, slinging luggage, standing in queues, and crammed shoulder to shoulder in a tin can.
Compare that to arriving in the city center at your destination, well rested, at 7-8am, for the same cost as a hotel room would have cost anyways. It's just a no-brainer to me.
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Comment on Have you had a life-altering change in who you are? in ~talk
bitwaba LinkProbably the most prominent in my memory that I still tell people about over 20 years later... It was probably the first month of college and I was sharing a room in the dorms with one of my...Probably the most prominent in my memory that I still tell people about over 20 years later... It was probably the first month of college and I was sharing a room in the dorms with one of my friends from high school. This was a local tech college that was only a 15-20 minute drive from our respective parents' houses, but it was large enough to have dormitories and we both thought it was a good idea to get out of the house.
My roommate was a pretty good skater, and would go out 3 or 4 times a week back to his old stomping grounds. One day he comes back and has a giant black eye so a bunch of us mob him and ask for the story.
He'd get random girls that would flirt with him and they'd text every once in a while. This particular day he had told one of these random girls that if she wanted to see him skate later he'd be at X place. So he's out there and this girl has been watching him for about an hour when her boyfriend pulls up, which my roommate had no idea about. The guy was being a prick and really wanted to fight instead of... ya know... get a new girlfriend... so despite my roommate trying to de-escalate the situation, the guy just throws a sucker punch.
So we're all sitting there while he's telling this story and go "no way! What did you do?!". And he says "I laughed."
That's my moment that changed how I see the world. In those two words, he taught me something no one could ever even begin to explain to me prior to that point: you are in charge of your actions, and your emotions.
The only way I ever knew to respond to someone hitting you was: swing back and get your ass kicked, swing back and kick their ass, or don't swing back because you know you'll get your ass kicked then have it eat you up inside for weeks to come. But my roommate had this completely different option on his quiz sheet. And it was amazing. It changed the entire dynamic in that fight with a simple laugh. Instead of being someone who just got in a fight over some random girl, he instead took the power away from the aggressor with a simple chuckle.
I always think about it when I hear someone say "they made me do it". No - you chose to do it. Or "they made me mad." No, you chose to react with anger. You're in control, if you want to be. Don't give them that power. Don't let someone else control your emotions.
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Comment on In-flight canoodling: is it ever acceptable to spoon at 40,000ft? in ~travel
bitwaba Link ParentI think the answer is "which ever altitude air traffic control tells them".I think the answer is "which ever altitude air traffic control tells them".
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Comment on What are your go to fast but tasty meals? Is there prep you do on weekends to make meals faster? in ~food
bitwaba LinkI've got a 7 ingredient marinade i use for spicy pork bulgogi which is fuckin' bangin': 5 cloves diced garlic (or as much as your heart desires) 2 tbsp brown sugar (white or golden is a fine...I've got a 7 ingredient marinade i use for spicy pork bulgogi which is fuckin' bangin':
- 5 cloves diced garlic (or as much as your heart desires)
- 2 tbsp brown sugar (white or golden is a fine substitute as well)
- 4 tbsp gouchugaru - Korean chili flakes. You can find it at pretty much any Asian grocery store, or just pick up a bag on Amazon. It's cheap.
- Black pepper (probably half a teaspoon? Whatever, I've personally never noticed the taste at the end of cooking so you could probably just leave it out
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 1.5 tbsp fish sauce (should be easy enough to find at the supermarket)
- 2 tbsp plum extract (apricot jam is a perfectly fine substitute. If you're going to the Asian store anyways for gouchugaru, pick some up. Otherwise just stick with apricot jam)
Take 1kg (~2lbs) of pork shoulder and slice it up (not paper thin. I got for about 1/8 - 1/4 inch thick). If you want to do beef instead, whatever the cheapest you can get is the go-to for me. I don't like the idea of wasting a nice ribeye cut. Something like spare ribs, or already diced stew meat, something like that. You want a fatty/marbled cut because that fat rendering during the cooking is going to help thicken the sauce.
Slice a large white or yellow onion.
Mix the pork and onion in the marinade (get your hands in there. It's fun). Then let it sit for 30 minutes.
Optionally, while waiting you can wash your rice and let it soak... Or really do whatever you want for your rice. But the TL;DR is you don't have to even think about rice prep until after the meat starts marinating.
After the half hour is up, put a Dutch oven or large pasta pot on low-med heat and dump the meat in. After 5 or so min you should see liquid start pooling in the bottom. Once you see that you can raise the temp up to medium high or so. Then, just let it cook down until the liquid has reduced to a nice thick sauce that isn't pooling quickly. Takes maybe a half hour depending how how full your pot is. Just give it a stir every couple minutes but it's mostly AFK cooking.
The reason you start the pot on low-med is you don't want to sear the meat. There's tons of sugar in the marinade and if you get it hot enough to sear you'll burn the sugar which will taste nasty (not caramelized. just burnt). Once there's enough water released from the marinade and meat you don't have to worry about it getting over boiling temperature.
You can start cooking your rice at the same time as the meat. They'll be ready at pretty much the same time.
Once you're happy with it the sauce thickness, kill the heat. Now if you want you can add 3 or 4 handfuls of spring onion cut into 5cm (2 inch) pieces. Stir them in then let them wilt for ~2 minutes. Once you're ready to serve, do a nice drizzle of toasted sesame oil in and give it a toss. Plate on top of rice, and add toasted sesame seeds on top.
This became my girlfriend and my favorite dish during lockdown.
Start to finish is 90 minutes. But you don't have to do it all at once. It takes like 10-15 minutes to do the marinade and slice the meat, onion, and garlic. So it's easy enough to just do at the tail end of lunch if you're working from home and just throw it in the fridge. When it's dinner time, you just pull it out and throw it on the stove. Dinner in 30 minutes. Or after it has marinated 30 min, portion it out and throw it in the freezer. Or after you finish cooking it, portion it out and throw it in the freezer. Seriously easy to make a bunch at once and store however you want.
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Comment on How do you store ”loose” tech hardware? in ~tech
bitwaba Link ParentYou need to Velcro in 2 points on the coil. Any 2 will do, but best is just behind the head of each end. This prevents the loose-end-getting-pulled-and-shrinking-the-loop problem.You need to Velcro in 2 points on the coil. Any 2 will do, but best is just behind the head of each end. This prevents the loose-end-getting-pulled-and-shrinking-the-loop problem.
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Comment on Internet outage hits several African countries as undersea cables fail in ~tech
bitwaba Link ParentIve asked around at work (I work tangentially to a team involved with subsea stuff). They said the vendors have said it's an underwater landslide. That lines up with that this article is saying:...Ive asked around at work (I work tangentially to a team involved with subsea stuff). They said the vendors have said it's an underwater landslide. That lines up with that this article is saying:
https://dunyanews.tv/en/Technology/798707-African-internet-outage-was-caused-by-subsea-cable-breakGiven the distance from land, and the cable depth of about 3 kms (1.86 miles) at the point of fault, any kind of human activity – ship anchors, fishing, drilling etc has been immediately ruled out
Coincidentally, I was watching a pretty long YouTube video over the weekend that ended up talking about this. It's pretty long but if you're interested in underwater topography at all it's worth watching the whole thing:
https://youtu.be/WtmIBabc7yc?si=sZfqdyVQ_wRAOwNL -
Comment on Internet outage hits several African countries as undersea cables fail in ~tech
bitwaba Link ParentIf you test, you test small. This is multiple cables severed. If it were a country doing it, it's an attack on the internet for everyone downstream of the cuts. I think that's really unlikely...If you test, you test small. This is multiple cables severed. If it were a country doing it, it's an attack on the internet for everyone downstream of the cuts.
I think that's really unlikely though, but I am interested in knowing what went wrong.
There have absolutely been other cases of subsea cables getting intentionally cut. There was lots of speculation about the gas lines in the Baltic getting intentionally damaged by Russia, and a few lines have been cut by the Houthis in recent weeks by having a fishing ship drop anchor and drag across the red sea. I just don't think that's the case here. Russia cuts cables that cause trouble for big players, and the Houthis are on the opposite side of the continent.
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Comment on Internet outage hits several African countries as undersea cables fail in ~tech
bitwaba Link ParentSubsea fiberoptic cables also have built in repeaters inside the cable to amplify the signal as it travels hundreds to thousands of kilometers. Those amplifiers need to be powered, so there is...Subsea fiberoptic cables also have built in repeaters inside the cable to amplify the signal as it travels hundreds to thousands of kilometers. Those amplifiers need to be powered, so there is copper cabling wrapped around the fiber optics carrying DC power. AC is much better for distance, but all electronics are run on DC power so using AC would require adding a rectifier at each amplifier point which is just one more piece of equipment that can fail.
The power traveling through the cable creates an electromagnetic field which is what they think causes the sharks to attack them.
The "sharks attacking cables" thing is pretty rare though. It's almost always something else.
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Comment on Recommendations for wireless earbuds for extended PC use? in ~tech
bitwaba LinkBluetooth audio and 2.4ghz are equivalent on audio output quality now, but I still think 2.4ghz is superior for the mic. For my work from home setup, I use the Sony WF-1000XM3 Bluetooth earbuds...Bluetooth audio and 2.4ghz are equivalent on audio output quality now, but I still think 2.4ghz is superior for the mic.
For my work from home setup, I use the Sony WF-1000XM3 Bluetooth earbuds which is a 3 piece setup: charging case, left, and right earbud. Each earbud can only do about an hour of confinual use before needing to be recharged. Each earbud can be run individually though, and I actually do appreciate being able to hear stuff around me when I'm talking (otherwise I'm just yelling because I can't tell my own volume). So I'll use either the left or right bud individually and be charging the other one. That gives me good continual use all day if necessary.
Then I have a separate decent quality USB mic on the desk so my audio is clear to those in the meeting. I spent way too much time at the beginning of lockdown working from home irrationally hating every person I met with that was using their laptop mic or some piece of crap headset they found for $30.
Communication is a two way thing. You need quality in both directions.
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Comment on Who are the pop stars, from any era, who have extraordinary skills? in ~music
bitwaba Link ParentSquarepusher is fucking incredible. I saw him play bass in a live 4 piece show in London 5 or 6 years ago. It was mind meltingly good.Squarepusher is fucking incredible. I saw him play bass in a live 4 piece show in London 5 or 6 years ago. It was mind meltingly good.
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Comment on A professor claimed to be Native American. Did she know she wasn’t? in ~life
bitwaba Link ParentSorry, I was responding to the first sentence. Not the entire post/paragraph. Obviously if this is a position at a university no where near tribal lands then any sovereignty from the tribes...Sorry, I was responding to the first sentence. Not the entire post/paragraph.
I wonder if requiring native genetics for a position would even be legal.
Obviously if this is a position at a university no where near tribal lands then any sovereignty from the tribes doesn't apply.
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Comment on A professor claimed to be Native American. Did she know she wasn’t? in ~life
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Comment on A professor claimed to be Native American. Did she know she wasn’t? in ~life
bitwaba Link ParentNative American lands are sovereign. A nation-within-a-nation. My understanding is that any laws of the US federal government do not apply, so things like drug use are completely legal (if the...I wonder if requiring native genetics for a position would even be legal.
Native American lands are sovereign. A nation-within-a-nation. My understanding is that any laws of the US federal government do not apply, so things like drug use are completely legal (if the governing tribe says they are), and any law regarding discrimination wouldn't have to be followed.
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Comment on What are some significant numbers or juxtapositions of numbers and quantities you often notices? in ~talk
bitwaba LinkMy dorm room number was 222 when I moved in my freshman year. And coincidentally, my ip address on the network 10.x.x.222. there were about 150 people on the floor, so I was probably the only...My dorm room number was 222 when I moved in my freshman year. And coincidentally, my ip address on the network 10.x.x.222. there were about 150 people on the floor, so I was probably the only person that had that coincidence. For a long time I noticed it everywhere. I haven't in a long time though. It was actually nice when I would notice it because I'd get this quick nostalgia trip of my first year in university.
Other than that, I just noticed and memorize numbers all the time. Like I've memorized all my debit card numbers I've used in the last decade. And frustratingly, I had a card a while back where the expiration date was May 2018 (05-18), the security number was 581, and my PIN on the card was 0581. I immediately changed the PIN.
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Comment on What watch do you wear daily? in ~hobbies
bitwaba LinkI had a Fitbit Charge 2 in late 2018 that I had to replace the band on every 6 months on. In 2020 I wanted a few more features for exercise, mainly VO2 max, so I bought a Garmin vivosport (not...I had a Fitbit Charge 2 in late 2018 that I had to replace the band on every 6 months on. In 2020 I wanted a few more features for exercise, mainly VO2 max, so I bought a Garmin vivosport (not sure which generation. I'm pretty cheap so it was provably whatever the cheaper was at the time).
I haven't worn a watch since 2022.
The Garmin worked well for me for 2 years, but eventually the band broke and I don't find a watch all that useful for me. Also I didn't really need the VO2 max feature because the only thing that really mattered was continuing to stay active 3+ days a week. I didn't really need any of the other features either, including telling time or notifications. I'm usually on my phone, work laptop, or work desktop, so I have access to all of those anyways. At best a watch is just duplication of information I already am aware of. For telling time, if I'm not at work I don't need down to the minute knowledge. Just knowing "it's probably 15 after 3" is good enough, and if things require knowing the exact minute I can check my phone, ask someone around me, or use any of the clocks that are around in my physical environment (unless I'm in my kitchen, because I haven't replaced the battery in the analog clock and it's been stuck on 9:37 for the last 6 months...)
In all, I wouldn't say I'm happier "with" vs "without" a watch. But it's one less thing I have to think about, but everything else is so chaotic anyways to having one less thing in the stack of shit to be concerned about is a welcome change (for me. I'm not advocating for everyone to get rid of their watches. I need someone around to tell me what time it is)
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Comment on The sins committed in the name of Agile development in ~comp
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Comment on Waymo driverless car set on fire, destroyed by San Francisco crowd in ~transport
bitwaba Link ParentI thought that's what "defund the police" was all about? They were saying "stop giving tax payer money to public services that shoot tax payers, and give tax payer money to expand services that...I thought that's what "defund the police" was all about? They were saying "stop giving tax payer money to public services that shoot tax payers, and give tax payer money to expand services that don't shoot people (and preferably save them)"
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
bitwaba Link ParentI haven't played since they released the rune master mage specialization a couple months ago, but it was really fun. The story itself is complete as far as I'm aware, so if you wanna get in and...I haven't played since they released the rune master mage specialization a couple months ago, but it was really fun. The story itself is complete as far as I'm aware, so if you wanna get in and start noodling around with all the existing classes you should be fine up to lvl 70 or so.
I'm glad we finally have some evidence confirming the EU was holding the UK back and they're finally able to achieve things only thought possible during the height of the empire.