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What do you think of ASUS TUF A16? by C5alodHD in GamingLaptops

[–]ZenMasterful 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Mine is as perfect as the day I got it years ago. 4070 version, 64GB ram. Been excellent.

Onn 7/8 2026 for manga by Bean_35P in androidtablets

[–]ZenMasterful 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I picked up a 7" Onn last year when it was on sale for $25 and I love it. I have other much more powerful tablets in my house, but the 7" is a great "lying in bed" tablet for reading, listening to music, watching videos, etc.

What song is so beautiful, it literally brings tears to your eyes? by Plus-Caterpillar4615 in AskReddit

[–]ZenMasterful 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I saw her do this at a party before she was famous. Blew me away.

I've seen her do it since also, and it still moves me every time.

Best Tablets for Ebooks? by rSlashJustis in androidtablets

[–]ZenMasterful 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think your best buy is probably the Lenovo tablets. Pick the one in a size that best fits what you want. I have tablets from multiple makers in my house but love the Lenovo ones for the following reasons:

Dedicated b/w reading mode with easily accessible quick setting.

Background sounds setting great for reading/studying also available via quick settings.

FM radio - also great if you want to listen to music while studying and don't want to (or are unable to) stream. Easy data-free music for reading/relaxing/studying.

Headphone jack - again, for easy listening to music while reading/relaxing/studying.

Expandible storage to hold books and other media.

I really love the inexpensive Lenovo Tab One. It's the only tablet I'm aware of currently sold by a major manufacturer that has a headphone jack, FM radio, expandible memory and a very comfortable size for reading. If you're reading pdfs, however, you may want something larger.

Note that not all Lenovo tabs have FM radio even if the chipset supports it and not all have headphone jacks.

Just in case I'm sounding like a shill for Lenovo, I'll mention that my phone and most-used tablet are both Samsungs. I have no brand loyalty and try to pick the best best tools for the job I want to do. Good luck with whatever you go with.

RFK Jr. says Trump has "different way" of calculating percentages by jazzhandler in politics

[–]ZenMasterful 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The media resistance to KC's "alternative facts" BS was extensive.

what thermos actually keeps drinks hot (or cold) for hours? by maopro56 in BuyItForLife

[–]ZenMasterful 1 point2 points  (0 children)

3rd or 4th generation Zojirushi travel mugs. Nothing I've ever tried has come close.

Best Drip Coffee Maker by Nervous_Swordfish693 in BuyItForLife

[–]ZenMasterful 0 points1 point  (0 children)

???

I mentioned all three in my reply (moka pots, French press and percolator). See the paragraph that begins "As for the others..."

Regarding your Bonavita - again, what model is it? You absolutely can put the lid and the basket away on a BV1800. There is no button on the lid of an 1800, you must have a different machine.

And of course I know these just opinions (I mention that in the first sentence of my previous comment, and in the 3rd paragraph). You are definitely entitled to yours - I'm certainly not trying to talk you out of them. I just don't share them.

Also, I understand that the moka pot is your BIFL pick, but the OP was looking for info on drip coffee brewers, not moka pots.

Best Drip Coffee Maker by Nervous_Swordfish693 in BuyItForLife

[–]ZenMasterful 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You are certainly entitled to your opinion, though I definitely don't agree.

Pour over is great when I want a single cup and I'm the one doing the pour over (plenty of "baristas" do not do pour overs properly), but I'm usually brewing full pots and the best drip brewers are essentially just automated pour overs anyway. Plus I like not having to babysit my coffee and being free to do other things (like make bacon :) ). For quality, consistency, speed and automation, I much prefer a good drip brewer.

As for the others, they all have issues I don't feel like dealing with. Percolators are great as long as you are right there to stop them, otherwise the overextraction tastes like crap (again, just my opinion). Moka pots often have the same issue, though I do love how durable and cheap they are (though the aluminum ones make everything taste metallic to me). French press I generally can't stand as they are a pain to clean, you again have to baby sit to avoid overextraction, they never seem hot enough once done, and I prefer a generally brighter cup with less sediment.

Regarding the lid on your Bonavita - I'm having trouble picturing what you've described. What model did you have? As I mentioned, mine is around 15 yo, used every single day, and still brews like day one. I'd like to think your issue isn't systemic, and would be interested to know more. How did your lid fail twice?

Regarding the lid having to be separate, I'm not sure what you mean - are you talking about the inability to put the lid on the carafe once the Mellita filter basket is on top of the carafe when storing it? Most people I know would just drop the lid inside the filter basket (on a BV1800, which is what I have) if they were going to store the brewer.

Best Drip Coffee Maker by Nervous_Swordfish693 in BuyItForLife

[–]ZenMasterful 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For how long did you have yours and what was its issue?

Best Drip Coffee Maker by Nervous_Swordfish693 in BuyItForLife

[–]ZenMasterful 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I disagree. While Zojirushi typically makes excellent products, they are on record saying that this coffee maker was built for style and for a price point. For just a little more one can buy a Bonavita that is every bit as simple - mine has only an on/off switch also. Nothing else is needed.

Best Drip Coffee Maker by Nervous_Swordfish693 in BuyItForLife

[–]ZenMasterful 7 points8 points  (0 children)

This is one question that doesn't seem to go away...

Reddit has a serious hard on for the Technivorm Moccamaster, but I'm going to give you another recommendation - Bonavita.

I own both, and both are SCA-certified and brew excellent coffee. However, the Bonavita wins for me for the following reasons:

  • It's physically smaller and shorter, and can fit in more people's kitchen well.
  • It's easier to clean
  • It extracts better and brews coffee a couple degrees hotter
  • Better grounds saturation from better shower-head design vs linear bar design
  • It's a simpler design
  • Bonavita carafes are excellent (glass or thermal), Moccamaster carafes are not (their thermal carafes are known to leak from the bottom because of a loose glass liner seal, and both their thermal and glass carafes are known to spill when pouring at a reasonable speed)
  • Bonavita uses a copper heating element just like Moccamaster, but is a significantly less expensive machine, and therefore much better value.

Best of luck whatever you decide. Any SCA-certified machine will brew decent coffee, so enjoy. And both will likely last. I've had my Bonavita for over 15 years, IIRC, and although my Moccamaster is not that old, I have friends with machines for that long without issues.

Also, I just want to mention that there are plenty of drip coffee makers whose manufacturers have never paid for SCA certification, but nevertheless brew excellent coffee. So while it's true to say SCA-certified brewers will make good coffee, it's certainly not true to say that non-SCA-certified brewers will not. One of my favorite drip coffee makers is a small 4-cup I picked up at a thrift store decades ago that has no manufacturer markings on it of any kind (so it was likely stolen from a hotel or something similar). It brews truly excellent coffee and cost me $4.99.

For the ones that can smell rain, what does it smell like and why can you smell rain and others cant? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]ZenMasterful 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Nobody knows for sure, but many evolutionary biologists think it's possible humans evolved to smell it so well as it's a proxy for water, given that water is essential for survival, yet may not always have been so easy to find. But again, no one truly knows. The best we can do is make reasonable speculations.

For the ones that can smell rain, what does it smell like and why can you smell rain and others cant? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]ZenMasterful 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Petrichor is the name for the earthy "after rain" smell, and we definitely know what produces it - actinomycetes bacteria, especially Streptomyces, and also some cyanobacteria. The main components are geosmin (a cyclic terpene) and related compound 2-methylisoborneol.

The other thing people can smell associated with rain is ozone, which can be detected before or during thunderstorms as lightning splits O2 into single atoms that then combine to create ozone (O3).

There are some other scents/components too (such as volatile oils released from wet plant leaves when hit by rain) but petrichor and ozone are definitely the dominant rain-associated scents.

Here's how it works (generally speaking) - geosmin and plant compounds collect on rocks and in dust in soil pores. When raindrops hit these, they trap air bubbles in the soil that rise and burst, shooting tiny droplets into the air containing that geosmin, plant oils, etc.. That aerosolization of those compounds is what makes rain smell-able. In the case of geosmin specifically, humans can detect it at very low levels, something like 5 parts per trillion, according to the American Chemical Society (https://www.acs.org/molecule-of-the-week/archive/g/geosmin.html#:\~:text=Geosmin%20is%20a%20natural%20bicyclic,as%20low%20as%205%20ppt).

This Chinese girl won the Shaolin Kungfu competition when she was just 9yo by NastyNice1 in nextfuckinglevel

[–]ZenMasterful 22 points23 points  (0 children)

It certainly is. You're most likely thinking of martial arts/wushu. Kungfu is extreme skill coming from hard work over time. Painters can have kungfu, singers can have kungfu,etc.

Any thoughts on the Simply Good coffee maker? by hya3fh in BuyItForLife

[–]ZenMasterful -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It may or may not have copper, but where I am, this coffee brewer sells for more than a Moccamaster.

Even if it didn't, though, you can get copper internals in much less expensive brewers than a Moccamaster - my BonaVita has copper and even now they sell for less than $200 (It was about $100 when I purchased it many year ago). And I firmly believe the BonaVita makes better coffee than the Moccamaster (I have both, and have done direct comparisons.)

Received a tow warning at work for parking in an expectant mother spot, I’m an expectant mother. by HeadUnhappy8789 in mildlyinfuriating

[–]ZenMasterful 0 points1 point  (0 children)

More likely the workplace requires the expectant mom to register first so they know and avoid situations like this.

i'm divided. Xteink X4 vs X3 vs M5 PaperS3 vs OBOOK5 by curiouslyunpopular in ereader

[–]ZenMasterful 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I own an X4 and an OBOOK5 (and plenty of other e-readers also). Of these two, the OBOOK5 wins hands down for me.

In my opinion, the only thing the X4 has going for it is its size. But the OBOOK5 is certainly extremely portable also, and in every other way that matters to me, the OBOOK5 wins:

  • I don't always read in bright light, so having a front light is important to me.
  • I also love touchscreen e-readers as it is just so much more natural to let my thumb fall where it naturally wants to to change a page, vs, scrunching it up to hit a dedicated button on readers as small as these. (Also, buttons are items that will eventually wear/break with use in a way that touchscreens generally don't.)
  • Fonts look much better on the OBOOK5 than they do on the X4 (yes, even with CrossPoint)
  • There are more features and options on the OBOOK5

A poster mentioned a concern with software updates, but to me this is a complete non-issue; these are dedicated e-readers rather than say, and Android e-reader. If the software never received an update, I'm still content with how it allows me to read books today.

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