xk3's recent activity
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
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Gualliguaica - The drowning town
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Comment on Tokyo, yeast, and expectations in ~travel
xk3 (edited )LinkIn the J-Drama Beautiful Life (2000), a popular hairstylist falls in love with a librarian who uses a wheelchair, there's a scene where he's trying to lift her in her wheelchair up the stairs to a...In the J-Drama Beautiful Life (2000), a popular hairstylist falls in love with a librarian who uses a wheelchair, there's a scene where he's trying to lift her in her wheelchair up the stairs to a nice itameshi restaurant but he really struggles with it because adult humans are heavy and (if I'm remembering correctly) the waiter even comes outside and tells him he can't do that. They try some other restaurants too but eventually the only place they can find is an outdoor ramen joint where all the tables and chairs are on the side of the road.
Tokyo is built for the working class to go to work. Everything else is secondary to that idea. Barrier-Free design is becoming a lot more common though as the population is rapidly aging out of being a "society person". It will be interesting to see what the future Tokyo will be like! Hopefully more mellow with more kids menus.
But even outside of Tokyo it seems like strollers for toddlers aren't that common... unless you count mamachari. Dakkohimo or making kids walk seems like the only two choices~
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Comment on Help with Amazon Glacier (original) data retrieval in ~tech
xk3 Link ParentI wonder how much LLMs are biased by "loss of data" since they aren't necessarily parsing exactly semantically. Something like "following data preservation standards" doesn't contain the token...no possible loss of data
I wonder how much LLMs are biased by "loss of data" since they aren't necessarily parsing exactly semantically. Something like "following data preservation standards" doesn't contain the token "loss" which may activate different numeric clusters. Probably doesn't make a difference 99% of the time but I do wonder about the 1% of cases.
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Comment on Help with Amazon Glacier (original) data retrieval in ~tech
xk3 LinkGlacier is cheap for day to day storage but expensive for retrieval so the bill will probably be more expensive than you expect. It may help to migrate to a specific storage class first (via a...Glacier is cheap for day to day storage but expensive for retrieval so the bill will probably be more expensive than you expect. It may help to migrate to a specific storage class first (via a storage lifecycle mechanism?)
https://aws.amazon.com/s3/storage-classes/glacier/
Looks like S3 Glacier Flexible Bulk Retrieval or S3 Glacier Deep Archive are the less expensive options.
Also, Amazon will charge egress separately so it will help to use Direct Connect / or CloudFront if you can!
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Comment on Albums based on a recurring musical phrase in ~music
xk3 Link ParentThis always makes me think of Arvo Pärt's Spiegel im Spiegel, and Justice's Planisphère and to a lesser extent their Cross album.This always makes me think of Arvo Pärt's Spiegel im Spiegel, and Justice's Planisphère and to a lesser extent their Cross album.
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Masal - Jean-Paul Prat (1995)
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
xk3 (edited )LinkI didn't like 28hse's search interface so I wrote a program for finding places to rent in Hong Kong: https://github.com/chapmanjacobd/28hse I don't really have an immediate use for it but it's fun...I didn't like 28hse's search interface so I wrote a program for finding places to rent in Hong Kong:
https://github.com/chapmanjacobd/28hse
I don't really have an immediate use for it but it's fun to look every now and then. Probably horrifying to North Americans to see such small apartments but I live in a small house and living in half the amount of space wouldn't make my life meaningfully different--it just forces you to frequently confront the growing boxes and bins of junk which would normally naturally accumulate in ones garage.
It would be more useful for me to have made something similar for Chicago but all the platforms like Zillow are pretty locked down so it doesn't really work. Domu.com isn't very locked down but there isn't much availability in the price range that I'm looking at. Rent.com sort of works as a data source but its location filtering is poorly implemented. So I give up.
I found some condos last week in South Loop and was really excited but when I visited them the photos didn't exactly match the property. It was disorienting more than anything. I don't even mean people using AI to generate staged photos of rooms but even the non-furniture photos had AI touchups to clear any imperfections in the walls... just kinda made me feel the ick. If anything they should add deformities and imperfections to the photos so when you get there you're like "dayumm this place is nice--where's the contract?? I want to buy it": underpromise and overdeliver. But instead it feels like no one wants to do basic maintenance on things anymore and the front door doesn't even close properly because of that.
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Comment on Cheap / budget travel Japan ideas request in ~travel
xk3 (edited )Link ParentWell the main reason I suggest is that you want 'Japan but cheap' and you can have a very similar experience to Japan for about half the cost or even less (maybe less true for the extreme budget...Well the main reason I suggest is that you want 'Japan but cheap' and you can have a very similar experience to Japan for about half the cost or even less (maybe less true for the extreme budget traveler while the Yen is so low but this is still definitely the case for mid-tier and luxury travel).
Many people just go to Japan and don't visit other cultures which is a real shame because they are missing out--especially when people pay so much for a ticket to Japan and then a round-trip ticket between Japan and Korea is often less than $75. It's often cheaper overall to fly into Japan or Korea and then fly out of the other country vs the cost of a round-trip to the same country (this really depends on specific airline pricing but I would say it is true >50% of the time: https://share.gemini.google/Hlb2BzWHQki8)
Korea is very accessible and easy to travel around with just Google Maps and Rome2Rio. It's not like China where everything is locked down. I don't know any Korean and people don't really expect you to if you're a foreigner.
Actual lived culture is also very different from what they externally portray in Korean TV dramas and other media so if you skim WikiVoyage honestly you'll know enough to get a lot out of it. Most signs and museum materials are also in multiple languages (they get a lot of Chinese tourists so most places with 3+ employees will usually have someone onsite who can speak Chinese and someone who can speak English)
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Comment on What are your memorable airport stories? in ~transport
xk3 (edited )LinkI remember being an unaccompanied minor in the ATL airport for a layover, being really hungry, and the line at the pulled pork sandwich shop was really tiny (designed for people not luggage) and...I remember being an unaccompanied minor in the ATL airport for a layover, being really hungry, and the line at the pulled pork sandwich shop was really tiny (designed for people not luggage) and it was already crowded full of people.
I guess my parents were too cheap to pay for checked luggage because I had a big suitcase that was almost as big as me that I was using as a carry-on. So I asked a security lady if she could watch my suitcase while I ordered food, and of course she said no.
I was surprised by this because I didn't know yet about the dangers of unattended luggage so I thought she was just being mean. I thought security people were supposed to look after bags and prevent thieves, right? But instead they exist for a more abstract purpose. And so I somehow ordered food but because I had a big suitcase taking up the whole entrance I moved out and waited to the side of the restaurant but I was too far away to hear them call my order number.
So I waited to the side of the restaurant awkwardly for 20 minutes and it seemed like everyone was getting their food fast so I was surprised that my order was taking so long and when I went back to ask about my order number I guess it was already completed about 20 minutes ago because it was already kinda cold.
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Comment on Cheap / budget travel Japan ideas request in ~travel
xk3 (edited )LinkIf you're in Osaka 大阪王将 なんば千日前店 is pretty cheap and tasty (my wife and I shared a meal for like $7 total)! For a more luxury (but still budget) option you could get some Kaiseki like 京料理 御旅町田ごと....If you're in Osaka 大阪王将 なんば千日前店 is pretty cheap and tasty (my wife and I shared a meal for like $7 total)! For a more luxury (but still budget) option you could get some Kaiseki like 京料理 御旅町田ごと.
Lots of South Korea smaller cities (like Gyeongju and smaller) are also very lovely to travel to and often quite a bit cheaper than Japan but have a similar feeling and very good food! It's nice to get some contrast every once in a while. Palate cleanser?
It's often just a small marginal cost to add another city to a trip. Is this a bit like suggesting a European to add Mexico City to their USA trip? Maybe, but I suppose I would also encourage that because CDMX is pretty neat too if you know the right neighborhoods!
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Comment on Building luxury homes is good for the poor in ~society
xk3 LinkI think this would be more true if luxury housing was either quality construction or well-maintained but 90% of new "luxury" housing is not high quality and it isn't regularly maintained so it...I think this would be more true if luxury housing was either quality construction or well-maintained but 90% of new "luxury" housing is not high quality and it isn't regularly maintained so it does not age well.
But I suppose there isn't much of a historical precedent for my expectation that poorer people would be able to afford old luxury units while the rich move to newer luxury estates. That almost never happens in the past or today. Instead it's almost like there are two or more different housing markets.
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Comment on Any obscure songs you'd like to share? in ~music
xk3 (edited )LinkNot the Kindness & Trouble Funk - That's Alright official version, but the version that Kindness posted on Soundcloud in 2012 and Bandcamp in 2024: https://soundcloud.com/kindness/thats-alright...Not the Kindness & Trouble Funk - That's Alright official version, but the version that Kindness posted on Soundcloud in 2012 and Bandcamp in 2024:
Also, Gerling's Blood on the Microphone, Pt. 1 is pretty interesting. Blood on the Microphone, Pt. 2 is probably even more obscure because it isn't even really a song?? Outro and Intro tracks are highly-obscure "songs" in the post-CD world
I should listen to more alt-pop...
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Comment on Eventually you'll get pretend cancer: the bizarre world of candy cigarettes in ~design
xk3 Link ParentYeah I think @Kremor might be referring to chocolate cigars and not candy cigs (which also should not be confused with licorice pipes) but sure enough the Wikipedia page for candy cigarettes...Yeah I think @Kremor might be referring to chocolate cigars and not candy cigs (which also should not be confused with licorice pipes) but sure enough the Wikipedia page for candy cigarettes includes a picture of a tin of Droste brand chocolate cigarettes
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Eventually you'll get pretend cancer: the bizarre world of candy cigarettes
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The Edge Net: A First Design Proposal (2013)
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Comment on Survey: The temperature in my room now is _____ and it feels _____ in ~talk
xk3 (edited )LinkInstalled a Della Optima Series 12k BTU 230v SEER2 23 Ultra Heat (GREE rebadge) mini-split just in time for the recent barrage of summer-time heatwaves. It has actually been keeping up pretty...Installed a Della Optima Series 12k BTU 230v SEER2 23 Ultra Heat (GREE rebadge) mini-split just in time for the recent barrage of summer-time heatwaves. It has actually been keeping up pretty well, including removing humidity from the air.
Although, it seems like even though I set it to 24c I have to set the fan to turbo mode every once in a while or it won't read that the other side of the room is already 26c.
Google tells me it feels like 45c outside for the next two days but the actual temperature will only briefly peak at 36c around 5pm. By Friday the weather in western Illinois will be back to a normal but humid 21~24c.
I have a little Xiaomi Smart Temperature and Humidity Monitor 3 Mini which has a cute smile or frown if the temperature or humidity gets too crazy. But sometimes it will be 26c and feel cold while othertimes it is 23c and feels to hot even while humidity is around 40% both times. So I think humans don't prefer one stable temperature.
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Comment on What’s a must-buy item you get when traveling internationally? in ~travel
xk3 Link ParentDid you see those chefs from Hammerfell they have circular bread. Circular. Bread.Did you see those chefs from Hammerfell they have circular bread. Circular. Bread.
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Comment on What’s a must-buy item you get when traveling internationally? in ~travel
xk3 (edited )LinkIn which country is peanut butter not available? Have you tried making it at home? It's easier than you might think and it tastes better than most jars too! When I visit Indonesia I always make...In which country is peanut butter not available? Have you tried making it at home? It's easier than you might think and it tastes better than most jars too!
When I visit Indonesia I always make sure to get a daily dose of Rotiboy. It's a Malaysian coffee-infused sweet bread. But somehow I never see it in Malaysia and see it everywhere in Indonesia. I guess they could afford better locations in a foreign country.
But you're talking import/export. Stuff that you bring back home when traveling international. No Rotiboy could last that long in my carry on.
Serious answer: my must-buy item would be knowledge. Specifically, corporate recipes of Tita Nits Malunggay Pandesal. Honestly, never had sweet bread quite like it. Malunggay has its own flavor profile.
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Comment on You can vote on the design of the next Euro banknotes! in ~design
xk3 (edited )LinkI kinda dislike all of these? I really don't think they should put people on money. It feels very problematic both in terms of representation and it just makes me feel a bit weird (although, if I...I kinda dislike all of these? I really don't think they should put people on money. It feels very problematic both in terms of representation and it just makes me feel a bit weird (although, if I was forced to pick from these Design C and Design E are both very strong).
And birds seems a bit too specific like as if the ornithologists have taken over the European Commission.
Design D back side with the hands stuff going on is actually really fascinating. Maybe a bit too science-y but it is a pretty cool idea that I haven't seen elsewhere. Abstract sure, but less abstract than putting a pyramid with an eye in the middle.
I've been working through my thecatamites/garmentdistrict backlog and got hooked on the Anthology of The Killer series over the past few days. The collection of nine short games was finally released for the Switch and PS5 a few months ago. Really deep art design, soundtrack, and world building! I don't really like horror games but these aren't really scary--just a bit gory. It's horror/comedy.
They are basically walking simulators so not much play--but each game reveals its plot in a different way which is pretty interesting. It also presents minor* philosophical questions buried a little deep within abstraction... good material for the subconscious to munch on for a few days...
* well perhaps a bit more serious than "is a hot dog a sandwich??"; maybe you could say lowercase m-major or lowercase p-profound philosophical questions