clem's recent activity
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Comment on Nintendo raises prices for Switch, Switch 2 and NSO in ~games
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Comment on Nintendo raises prices for Switch, Switch 2 and NSO in ~games
clem Link ParentThinking about this question depresses me. I grew up as a huge Nintendo fanboy, getting the NES for my 5th birthday. I just loved everything Nintendo. This continued well into my 20s with the...Thinking about this question depresses me. I grew up as a huge Nintendo fanboy, getting the NES for my 5th birthday. I just loved everything Nintendo. This continued well into my 20s with the GameCube and Wii. It sorta faded away with the Wii U, but more because I was busy with grad school and whatnot rather than lack of interest in the console. I enjoyed the Switch a ton, but as I approached and passed 40, so much "Nintendo" fails to pique my interest, even considering that I could steal some of my 8 year-old's enthusiasm in enjoying it. I think Tears of the Kingdom is probably the last thing they've released that's excited me (correction: this list reminded me of the awesome Mario Bros. Wonder).
I've wanted to be excited about the Switch 2 since well before they announced it, but I guess my Nintendo fanboy days are long over. Luckily I'll still gladly pay ridiculous amounts of money to play the next Zelda game. Fingers crossed Nintendo announces something to excite me before September 1st.
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Comment on Do you prefer chunky or smooth peanut butter? in ~food
clem Link ParentI certainly didn't eat the peanut butter I separated, I'm just a weirdo about disposing of things properly. I plucked out the glass to recycle and added the remaining peanut butter to the compost....I certainly didn't eat the peanut butter I separated, I'm just a weirdo about disposing of things properly. I plucked out the glass to recycle and added the remaining peanut butter to the compost. I'm sure I also added some tiny glass shards to the compost, but that'll work itself out in time. But eating glass would be no joke! I definitely wouldn't risk that.
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Comment on Do you prefer chunky or smooth peanut butter? in ~food
clem Link ParentI actually end up dumping a lot of the oil that pools at the top of the peanut butter. Not so much that it gets hard and flaky, but enough that I don't taste it. Too much oil and the flavor is...I actually end up dumping a lot of the oil that pools at the top of the peanut butter. Not so much that it gets hard and flaky, but enough that I don't taste it. Too much oil and the flavor is indeed off-putting. My wife and I disagree about how much oil to leave, but since I'm the one that takes the time to pour off the oil and stir the jar at first, I win! (She could always open another one and make it to her preference, but she doesn't.)
Totally agreed about the ingredients. I actually find that natural peanut butter tastes sweeter than the weird peanut butter that has sugar added. I guess I don't mind the Jif-esque stuff on occasion, but I would never buy it. It doesn't taste like peanut butter to me.
I've also become a snob about peanut butter and chocolate. As much as I used to love Reese's, nowadays nothing beats a good hunk of chocolate dunked in peanut butter.
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Comment on Do you prefer chunky or smooth peanut butter? in ~food
clem LinkChunky always, but the grocery store nearby only sells creamy, so I'm stuck with it. I could order chunky, but it costs more, so clearly my preference is not that strong. Also, my peanut butter...Chunky always, but the grocery store nearby only sells creamy, so I'm stuck with it. I could order chunky, but it costs more, so clearly my preference is not that strong. Also, my peanut butter orders in the past haven't been great. Once, at least one of the jars cracked, and it was tedious separating the glass from the peanut butter and cleaning the outside of the still-usable jars. Another time, the peanut butter was a bit stale. It was clear that their direct-from-manufacturer sales were clearing out old stock.
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Comment on What are your go-to meals that you cook? in ~food
clem LinkMy super lazy breakfast burritos: Make a couple scrambled eggs. Set aside. In the same pan, fry up some diced onions. After they're starting to cook down a bit (or after just a few minutes), add...My super lazy breakfast burritos:
Make a couple scrambled eggs. Set aside.
In the same pan, fry up some diced onions. After they're starting to cook down a bit (or after just a few minutes), add some beans (I usually use about 1/3 can black beans, but adjust based on preference and how much you want to eat). Add some frozen corn if you have it and want to. Add some leftover rice if you have it in the fridge (or microwave a bit of it if you'd rather not have it mix together; I like it a bit better when it's separate, but it's up to you). Add some spices (cumin, cayenne, garlic powder, oregano, black pepper) toward the end. Then dump a bit of salsa on and mix it together until even-ish.
Throw some shredded cheese on a tortilla and put it in the oven until the cheese is melted, then make your burrito.
So easy, and so good. I have this for lunch fairly often because of the ease and deliciousness.
I do a much better job when I'm planning on burritos. I soak dry beans and make a big pot slowly and the flavors come together a lot better. I also fry up onions and peppers separately to add, and probably get an avocado if there are any decent ones at the store, but you asked for easy recipes, and that's one of my easiest.
Another of my go-to super-simple recipes is spaghetti. I'll share it anyway, but it does use ground beef, so you might not be interested. I'm sure you could substitute a bean mix and it'd be quite delicious. Unfortunately, my spaghetti is one of my son's favorite dishes, and he's always "disliked" beans (meaning: he doesn't like the look or the smell or the idea of them, so won't try them), so I'm stuck with this beef version until he's older.
First: pour yourself a glass of wine. You actually can skip this step if you don't drink, but it adds some great flavor. You'll need the glass later in the recipe, but of course drink it while cooking, and just top it off when it's time.
In a big pot, brown some ground beef (we like a lot of leftovers, so I use about a pound and a half). Get the pot nice and hot with some oil in the bottom (olive is what I use) and toss in the beef. Let it sit for a while without moving it so it actually gets seared a bit and therefore brown. Then flip it over and brown the other side. Wait a bit, then start to chop it up, etc.
You should've diced half an onion by now. To avoid making yourself cry, ... never mind. I struggled to clearly describe how to dice it, so check out this short video to hear it from a professional: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCGS067s0zo. (Hopefully I'm not over-explaining, but you said you were a beginner, and it took me many years before I learned how to properly dice an onion.)
Once you're happy with how brown the beef is, add the onion, and cook it down until a bit translucent. Also add as many whole garlic cloves as you want. Don't let me stop you from going nuts; I love whole cloves. Then add spices. I don't measure anything, but I end up with at least a quarter cup total of spices. I start with a mix of Italian seasoning (I don't actually know everything in it, it's just a mix that I buy from the store). Then add a bunch of basil. Then garlic powder, oregano, and black pepper. Wait 30 seconds to a minute, then mix them in and wait another minute. Cooking the spices helps bring out the flavor, so make sure it's good and fragrant.
Add the glass of wine and then mix it in, scraping the bottom of the pan (aka deglazing). Add a can of tomato sauce, then a can of chopped tomatoes, then a can of tomato paste. I always rinse the cans to make sure I get as much of the tomato as possible into the spaghetti, since I can always just cook it longer to get rid of that excess water.
Simmer for a while on low until it seems done. Serve on your pasta of choice, of course.
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Comment on How are we all feeling about piracy these days? in ~movies
clem LinkI've pretty much always been a pirate. As a kid, I'd game files over to another floppy disk and keep xeroxed versions of the manuals handy to enter the third word on the fifth line on page 23 to...I've pretty much always been a pirate. As a kid, I'd game files over to another floppy disk and keep xeroxed versions of the manuals handy to enter the third word on the fifth line on page 23 to "confirm" that I indeed owned the game.
I've never thought of it as stealing. Stealing is taking something away from someone else. Piracy is simply sharing something that can be infinitely duplicated with no loss to anyone. If I end up developing some cultivar of a peach tree or something and someone comes to my house asking to duplicate it, I'd say, "Sure--I have these seedlings for sale for $15 each, but it's fruiting right now... Here, take a bag of fruit and grow them yourself if you want. Then pass that along." I get that this attitude doesn't quite scale or put food on my table, but it's pretty much the way unselfish people operate. Abundance should be shared.
I do still try to support small artists at least, though. For music I'm kind of half and half; buy stuff I know for sure I want to support or download as trials, after which I sometimes remember to buy it later. Luckily Bandcamp provides a good option for real ownership of files.
I hardly ever pirate games anymore. Steam is so convenient and sales are plentiful. And Nintendo prices are ridiculous, but the Switch is so convenient to use, and the games I buy are generally worth the price, so I don't bother with piracy.
For movies I'm almost completely a filthy pirate. I do sometimes want to pay, but the options are so horribly unappealing. For example, I'm pretty excited about Wake Up, Dead Man and hope that Netflix keeps making movies in that series, so I figured I'd just pay for a month of Netflix to show my support. But the subscription is now double what I used to pay. I don't want to indicate that I'm okay with ads in any way, so I don't want to pay for the cheaper version, and there's no "Pay $10 to watch this one movie" option. I'll probably end up paying the $20, because that price to own a movie isn't bad, but I had to step back and mull it over a bit first.
There's no real option to own movies other than pirating them or buying the physical media. Since I have no use for more pieces of plastic cluttering my house, pirating is pretty obvious. And since movies almost all go through ridiculously wealthy companies that really have little use for my money, I don't feel bad at all about it.
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Comment on I tried ranking my albums out of five stars - I think I've gotten it wrong. Thoughts? in ~music
clem Link ParentAgreed--I would never delete individual tracks from albums unless they were particularly offensive to my ears. Even then, I'd probably make an empty track or something as a placeholder to remind...Agreed--I would never delete individual tracks from albums unless they were particularly offensive to my ears. Even then, I'd probably make an empty track or something as a placeholder to remind myself that it existed.
Just be careful if you start treating stars like this, as it might make you grouchy to have to use them in other ways! For example, if I'm rating a product on a shopping website, it annoys me to have to use stars at all, let alone the default of basically 5 stars if it's a reasonably good product that fits the description.
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Comment on I tried ranking my albums out of five stars - I think I've gotten it wrong. Thoughts? in ~music
clem LinkI don't have a lot to add, but thought I'd chime in with how I used to rate things. It's a bit different... 0 stars: Anywhere from "I hate this" to "this is fine but doesn't impress me." I might...I don't have a lot to add, but thought I'd chime in with how I used to rate things. It's a bit different...
0 stars: Anywhere from "I hate this" to "this is fine but doesn't impress me." I might want to listen to it again and I might not, but it's nothing special.
1 star: This is great! If this were a student paper, I'd need to add a gold star to it.
2-5 stars: Similar thought process there. 2 stars is very, very good, whereas 5 stars is one of my favorites of all time and I'll come back to it for the rest of my life.I don't really like the whole 5/5 rating system. It seems too negative. Why do I want to "punish" something with simply one or two stars? I would rather just ignore/delete it than waste my time on it. I'd rather save the stars for things that deserve them.
It's been a long time since I've rated music or movies or whatever though. Nowadays my "star" ratings are basically delete/block things I dislike, ignore or skip things I feel neutral about, add things to playlists that I like, and purchase/download things that I love.
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Comment on New York Times quiz: Who’s a better writer: AI or humans? in ~tech
clem Link ParentI've been very biased against AI, so this quiz was helpful with confronting that. I suppose I have more thinking to do about it, but yeah, part of me wanted to hate everything about it. I guess...I've been very biased against AI, so this quiz was helpful with confronting that. I suppose I have more thinking to do about it, but yeah, part of me wanted to hate everything about it. I guess that part of me was foolish.
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Comment on New York Times quiz: Who’s a better writer: AI or humans? in ~tech
clem LinkI love the idea of this quiz, but I'm noticing a couple issues: first of all, I recognized the passage from A Wizard of Earthsea, one of my favorite books. It'd be hard not to choose LeGuin over a...I love the idea of this quiz, but I'm noticing a couple issues: first of all, I recognized the passage from A Wizard of Earthsea, one of my favorite books. It'd be hard not to choose LeGuin over a chatbot. Though I'm actually a bit surprised that the AI writing is as good as it is.
Second, the knowledge that something is or at least might be AI completely clouds my reading. As I take the quiz I'm trying to not think about that, but I can't help it. When I'm reading a human writer, I take it at face value and think hmm, what do they mean? When I think something is AI, I think uh... is that a mistake? I'm trying to push through that, but it's hard. My brain doesn't want to. AIs don't actually mean anything. They're not trying to express anything because they have nothing to express.
I actually ended up preferring the AI writing 3/5 in this blind test, and it's interesting to see that, on a superficial level, I can prefer it. I guess I have to admit it: the prose is good. But for me that doesn't change anything. I have no interest in that regurgitation of ideas into something. I'm interested in exploring human thoughts put together in human ways. AI can mimic that, but it actually has nothing at all to express. It's simply content for the sake of content.
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Comment on Color game — how well can you remember colors? | Dialed in ~games
clem LinkTo answer how well I remember colors, I'll say: terribly. But I apparently did okay in this game (37.7/50): https://dialed.gg/?c=8T24DN. I did shockingly well on the last one, and got a 9.23 on...To answer how well I remember colors, I'll say: terribly. But I apparently did okay in this game (37.7/50): https://dialed.gg/?c=8T24DN. I did shockingly well on the last one, and got a 9.23 on the second. And I'm slightly colorblind, too.
I found it pretty awkward having to pick a color then having to adjust its darkness and...saturation (maybe?). I think I would've done better if there were simply a palette with all of the colors.
Regardless, like I said, I remember colors terribly. Ask me what color something was that I saw five minutes ago, and I might say red when it was blue.
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Comment on Fix your hearts or die: The path to liberation for lonely men is feminism in ~life
clem Link ParentInteresting comment, thanks for sharing. I'm surprised to see that you don't seem to identify as a feminist considering that I'm sure you agree with the simplistic definition of feminism, as...Interesting comment, thanks for sharing. I'm surprised to see that you don't seem to identify as a feminist considering that I'm sure you agree with the simplistic definition of feminism, as presented in the article:
The system that holds that women are property of men is called patriarchy.
The system that holds that women are human beings is called feminism.
But I'm sure that specific feminists or specific feminist ideas that you've heard from have given it a bad name. This article itself sort of gives it a bad name considering how much sarcasm and abstraction gets in the way of the core of its argument, which I think boils down to, "let's build a society that values everyone as equal regardless of sex/gender," something that's always appealed to me. I think it'd be hard not to be a feminist with that simplistic view of the movement.
Nevertheless, I especially appreciated your distinction between enthusiastic sexists and casual ones. This actually empathizes with these lonely men in ways that the article absolutely does not. The article is absolutely right to deride some of the things that some men do, but it has the tone of deriding men in general for it, and this kind of thing is exactly what has turned some men against feminism. I also appreciate that you identify something the article does not: that society has failed these men and that society really could do better to help them.
I honestly think that it's best to just disregard the whole "assigning blame" aspect (with one caveat: obviously women are not to blame for choosing not to "fix" men's loneliness in whatever way) in favor of just moving on and helping (and another caveat in case it isn't obvious: men are of course to blame and subject to justice for any violent acts). And I guess I do agree with the article in its solution:
Fix your hearts or die. We can see that as a threat, and I imagine many men do, but I think it's an invitation. It's not if you don't fix your heart, we will kill you—though some who fail to fix their hearts will make themselves so violent in their lives that they may eventually meet a violent end.
I think it's that if you base your identity on unsustainable lies, your heart is broken, and if you live with a broken heart, you will die. Not metaphorically, but actually, and inevitably, because you have set your heart upon something unsustainable, and unsustainable things will not sustain.
So, fix it. Fix your hearts or die. Fix your hearts or isolation. Fix your hearts or loneliness.
Or, if you like: Fix your hearts and live.
In other words, learn to treat everyone as equals and thrive. This still leaves out men, like me in my 20s, who embraced feminism but still felt very lonely, but it certainly helped. Some of my best friends in my 20s were women. It hurt that they didn't want to be more than friends, but even so, their friendships really did help me learn to thrive. And if I hadn't treated them as equals, I would've been far worse off.
Thanks for giving me a space to think out loud about this. I don't think about the topic all that often, but it's always meant a lot to me. Hopefully this comment was worth sharing overall.
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Comment on How many Hosers are there on Tildes? in ~talk
clem LinkMy front teeth are Canadian--I broke them playing hockey, and I believe that is one path to citizenship. But the rest of me is from Michigan. Not sure how exactly you count my teeth in your...My front teeth are Canadian--I broke them playing hockey, and I believe that is one path to citizenship. But the rest of me is from Michigan. Not sure how exactly you count my teeth in your statistics, but you'll figure it out.
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Comment on Matt Damon says Netflix wants movies to restate the 'plot three or four times in the dialogue' because viewers are on 'their phones while they're watching' in ~movies
clem Link ParentThere were lots of reasons why I left Netflix--primarily that the market expanded and the stuff I wanted to watch moved to other platforms--but this was a big part of it. It became so difficult to...There were lots of reasons why I left Netflix--primarily that the market expanded and the stuff I wanted to watch moved to other platforms--but this was a big part of it. It became so difficult to actually find anything I cared about. They pushed all sorts of random genres on me, trying to get me to watch things I didn't know about. And if I remember right, if I hovered on something for too long (perhaps reading the summary), the show just started. Maybe this is what some people wanted, but I've always been more focused than that. I can't deny that sometimes I pause to look at Wikipedia and maybe figure out where I recognize an actor from or something, but I generally know what I want to watch, and I watch it. Netflix used to be great. Even better when it was DVD-only. But corporations all turn to shit eventually.
Edit: I guess this is noise, just me on a soap box, maybe partially the result of Facebook trying harder and harder to make me angry (and maybe help fuel a civil war?). I suppose it's better to release that valve at Netflix than people I know who voted for insanity.
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Comment on Hooters | Bankrupt in ~food
clem Link ParentThe part of me that hates typing on my phone is sympathetic, but the part of me that mostly types on my computer as a result is in charge of my opinion about it. We hates it, hates it forever!The part of me that hates typing on my phone is sympathetic, but the part of me that mostly types on my computer as a result is in charge of my opinion about it. We hates it, hates it forever!
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Comment on Hooters | Bankrupt in ~food
clem Link ParentI think this is exactly the point I'm missing. People who went to Hooters didn't go to stare at women's tits, they went to socialize with attractive women. Whenever I thought about going to...People like to socialize with people they find attractive
I think this is exactly the point I'm missing. People who went to Hooters didn't go to stare at women's tits, they went to socialize with attractive women. Whenever I thought about going to Hooters (and honestly it's probably been 20 years since the thought has crossed my mind), my thought process was: people will think I want to go there just to look at women's tits > people will know that I'm a perv.
But I've never enjoyed the tip-compelled socialization with servers. I certainly like it when they're friendly, but mostly I want them to do their food-serving job well and leave me alone to talk to whomever I'm there with. So it makes sense that I never would've gotten this.
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Comment on Hooters | Bankrupt in ~food
clem Link ParentSorry for making you all click--I linked to the explanation and thought that was fine, but I should've copied that text, too! I shouldn't get started on abbreviations, but I'll just say that the...Sorry for making you all click--I linked to the explanation and thought that was fine, but I should've copied that text, too!
I shouldn't get started on abbreviations, but I'll just say that the way they're used today drives me nuts. There's a whole glossary of lingo you have to learn before you can get interested in a topic, and it makes me grouchy. It's not that hard to spell most things out. Changing an already established abbreviation... I just can't go there.
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Comment on Hooters | Bankrupt in ~food
clem Link ParentAs someone who thinks ETA meant "estimated time of arrival," thanks, /r/OutOfTheLoop. I'll save my "old man yelling at clouds" for another time. Also, thanks for the info, though it still doesn't...As someone who thinks ETA meant "estimated time of arrival," thanks, /r/OutOfTheLoop. I'll save my "old man yelling at clouds" for another time.
Also, thanks for the info, though it still doesn't make me understand a place caught in the middle between strip clubs and regular restaurants. But I've certainly been following this thread out of curiosity.
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Comment on The Lord of the Rings Extended Editions returning to theaters with a 4D twist in ~movies
clem Link ParentThanks for the info--I didn't realize there was an intermission! A 15 minute break in the middle might make it doable if I can figure out the timing.Thanks for the info--I didn't realize there was an intermission! A 15 minute break in the middle might make it doable if I can figure out the timing.
I remember thinking, I'd pay $1,000 for Breath of the Wild. It satisfied almost everything I'd ever wanted from a Zelda game and felt like playing the original Zelda as a 6 year-old all over again. I'd gladly pay that much for a similar experience. Hopefully you feel the same way about future Pikmin titles!