Ask Lemmy

Fixed Gear bicycles. One gear, no fear. Also, no coward levers (which sane folk refer to as “brakes”).

The total eclipse. I was lucky enough to live in the path of last year's. I now understand why people are willing to travel across the world just to experience something that only lasts a few minutes.

I didn't think Portal could possibly live up to the hype and I slept on it for a a decade. It did. Superb game

Linux and open source software.

Tested out a dualboot of Linux Mint about 2 years ago on a Windows laptop. Wanted to see how far I could get on 100% open source and free software.

I got far enough that I never looked back.

An air fryer. Holy cow that thing is versatile and an amazing addition to the kitchen!

Crocs. I had avoided them for years until I went on a kayaking tour on Vancouver Island. Well, while they were ugly AF, they are one of most comfortable shoes I've tried that are just... Easy to slip on and off?

Coffee. My dad was in the navy in the 70s and you could tell by the tar he drank. Never got into it. Early 20s I got hired as a delivery boy for a coffee shop. A perk was that it came with free coffee drinks. Turns out I didn't hate coffee, I hated the swill my father brewed. Good coffee was quite good.

I ended up with an air fryer. It's still just a convection oven, but I use it constantly.

Air-fryer

bone-conducting headphones

PSX

Firefly

Inis

Innovation

PC SSDs when they first came out, I saved $ and splurged for 256 GB over 128 GB. In the first week I was slightly upset I didn't save more $ and go for a big expensive 512 GB one. Immediately I was telling my other PC gaming friends it's going to revolutionize PCs in general, and to get one ASAP!

Edit: I can't remember shit for fuck, but the size I bought was probably quite smaller than 256 GB lol.

Induction range top. Quick on, fine degree of control, quick off, little heat radiation. Better than gas. Only adaptation was flat bottom wok which ~~makes the working world go round~~ is not quite the same experience.

Buckwheat pillow

Bidet

I didn't see any of the hype for the Barbie movie (apparently they painted streets in London pink?), but I just went in and saw it. Awesome film

Also: A laser tape measure. I always heard about people ranting about them, and often thought "I get it I get it you're a child who likes shiny things", but I finally got one and it is one of my most prized possessions. I can now find out the distance to things like THAT.

Didn't live up the hype: I caved in and got a mechanical keyboard. A nice one. Keychron something such. I now have a heavy clackety-clack keyboard. That's it. The usual plastic 15 quid keyboards I get are only every so slightly less good. Don't buy into this fad. It's for ASMR fanatics and their heavy wallets

House on the Rock

When I moved to Wisconsin back in 2006, House on the Rock was one of the first things I heard about from my neighbors to go see. My wife and I looked at the website and said "we'll go see it someday." Well, that day was about a month ago as back then we started having kids and getting used to living in a new place. However, over the past 19 years I've had people tell me that "you've got to go see it."

Now.... I understand.

Is that place a monument to a man's ascent to brilliance?

Or his decent into madness.

There was stuff in that museum that I took DAYS to process and I still really am unable to understand what it was I was looking at. It took my family and I FOUR hours to walk through it. It could have been a LOT longer if we actually stopped to study more than what we did.

I'm 55 years old and I've seen and done a lot things in my life... None of it prepared me for the sheer onslaught that is House on the Rock. Walking out of it I told my wife that I rather chaffed at the entrance fee when I paid it... Now, I'm not sure if they charged enough.

If you're ever anywhere close to South Central Wisconsin... Take a day and go see it.

It doesn't just live up to the hype... It so far exceeds it that trying to explain the place will never do it justice.

Bidet. $30 game changer. Don't ask questions, just hook it up (it's easy), and try it.

You're welcome.

High quality audio equipment.

Yes, it's an area filled with more snake-oil and bullshit than any other technical realm I've experienced, but with some knowledge (unarguably required on the part of the user) you can actually figure stuff out and get some ROCKING audio gear for pennies on the dollar.

Last year I got into electronic fix/build/mashup as a hobby, and a project I had in mind for fun was to turn a $10 Sirius Boombox that needed 8xD batteries and a wired AUX input, into a wireless BT boombox. I did it and it was fun as hellllllll. But it was not for the audio, it was for the learning. I repurposed battery cells and a charging board from a Shark handheld vacuum, and grabbed a BT board out of a scrapped shower speaker - made that work by "bolting it" onto a disposable vape battery/charger which draws from the main battery pak.

Well anyways... getting a taste of that deep, rich, penetrating audio made me realize I'd been sold THE OTHER SIDE OF THE LIE by the speaker business. That moment of looking at my Bose SoundLink and realizing I've been a fool for so long. The stupid Sirius boombox isn't even that good now that I look back, but at the moment it was a HOLY SHIT moment for me. Running up to it thinking my music was distorting... but NO... it was actually musical details I'd never heard, and didn't know existed.

Now I have a soul-destroying audio setup (for a small 1BR apartment) that I shit you not, cost me a total of $23. RXV581 Receiver, YST-SW011 Subwoofer and two Polk MXT11 Monitor tower speakers. People either discarded, sold, or donated. I got the Yamaha Receiver/Sub set because... get this... ONE of the surround sound speakers was dropped and it's case cracked, so they threw it ALL away. The Polks were seen at thrift, first for $70 each, then reduced to $34 after a month... then one day muthafukkaaaaaaa $10 each plus tax.\

So yeah. Good audio. I had NO idea how satisfying it could be. I didn't know what I'd been missing.

Yosemite. People told me about it for years, along with how it was full of tourists, so I avoided it. Eventually I did go and wow, it's incredible. Seriously one of the most amazing places I've ever seen.

Sonicare toothbrush.

Steam deck

High quality kitchen knives. I'm partial to hand-forged Japanese carbon steel. So sharp. Maintains an edge. Easy to sharpen. Being beautiful is just an added bonus.

I got an old ipod at a yard sale that still works. Its actually really good!

Miyoo Mini Plus - Its like a gameboy for emulators. Its really great playing my old games, but with save states.

Linux. not only learning the system gave me more knowledge, it helped me get a job and eventually a career!

A Dog - My dog gives me and my wife so much love its amazing. Hes a good boy.

Naps

“Hit the gym” is the default advice given to anyone looking to improve themselves or get over a tough time, but it has really made a difference in my mood and energy levels. For a long time, I also thought “what’s so special about avocado on toast?”, but it actually is a pleasant combination.

Oh, and I swear by those Laneige lip masks for lip care. I just use it anytime my lips are chapped and it doesn’t dry them up even more afterwards.

I know I'm alone in this, but I loved and still love VR since htc vive

The first Marvel Avengers movie. Skipped it in theaters because it sounded too much like fans being super happy they got their team up movie. So many similar movies had been hyped up over the years, and the description was similar.

Nope, it really was that good even with a sky beam and an enemy army that all died when the central ship was destroyed. The pacing, interteam conflicts, and clever use of Loki were all done extremely well and the movie holds up.

Cyberpunk but that’s after all the patches

Breaking Bad

Internet connection for cel phones. When I saw that WAP thing I thought "Why on earth someone will need this?". Time will tell, but I start to think I might been wrong

This isn't hyped by normal people I guess but when I was looking for a better pillow, these custom-sized memory foam pillows seemed like a crazy overhype and a grab for money by physiotherapists. $200 and a year later, still the best purchase I have made for my bed.

Also, peanut butter. I hated peanut butter growing up and never understood how people are so obsessed with it. Man did I miss out for years, that shit is so good and so versatile.

The band Opeth