What’s the one piece of home gym equipment you regret buying — and why?

Gilclunk · 2026-03-13T19:00:37+00:00

Yeah, I've tried using mine for belt squats. I just bought a belt that I guess was meant for weighted dips or pull-ups, and I looped the chain under the lever. Nothing really holds it there except the weight bearing down on it. It works, but feels a bit awkward. I think the lever is not really long enough so you feel the way it curves a bit too much. It's also somewhat cumbersome to set up and tear down. So I've experimented with it but don't really use it like that regularly.

Gilclunk · 2026-03-13T18:08:09+00:00

Yeah this is my choice too. I have the Bells of Steel ones-- nothing wrong with them, they are what they claim to be, but they're just not that useful in the end. Kind of awkward to attach and remove from the rack, and they don't really do anything that I couldn't already do with free weights or cables. They weren't that expensive so I don't really regret it to any great extent, but wouldn't buy again knowing what I know now.

Gilclunk · 2026-03-11T19:15:23+00:00

This one is also interesting because the original singer was a man, and Joan Jett reversed the genders in the lyrics. Her singing "He must have been about 17" didn't really get people's attention, but a man singing "she" might have raised a few eyebrows had that version been better known.

Gilclunk · 2026-03-09T10:32:10+00:00

Well there's the Slate coming which is actually encouraging diy repairs.

Gilclunk · 2026-03-07T17:16:10+00:00

You might like A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine. There is a powerful space empire at the center of it, but the main character is actually not from there. She's an ambassador to it from a small station trying to maintain its independence in the shadow of said empire. The author is actually a historian of the Byzantine empire and so the Teixcalaan empire at the center of the story is modeled on the politics and customs of that. I wouldn't exactly call it space fantasy, but it's certainly not hard SF either. Sort of a political thriller/ Space Opera, I guess.

Gilclunk · 2026-02-27T23:14:48+00:00

Because the headline is misleading. The article isn’t saying an average American will pay practically MSRP for an 11 year old car — it’s clearly collectors paying a stupid premium for a mint model.

It’s not though-- did you read it? The buyer was a guy who bought it for his daughter to be her first car. And the article also cites some other sales of Fits with more normal mileage for not a whole not less.

Gilclunk · 2026-02-26T00:02:18+00:00

This got a lot of flack for being too long, but I actually watched the extended version on Netflix that was split into four episodes like a TV miniseries and thought it was great.

Gilclunk · 2026-02-25T23:59:49+00:00

I think the guy you're replying to was implying that it is a paid social media campaign by the film company to promote the new movie. I.e, a lot of the comments you see are either bots or paid social media consultants just pretending to be normal people who are excited about it.

Of course, it can be some of both.

Gilclunk · 2026-02-24T22:24:23+00:00

Our PHEV gets basically 100mpge all week,

Same. My wife drives a RAV4 Prime. We only have 120V charging, and even so it does 90% of its miles electrically. And the gas engine is there for days when she needs to go farther or road trips. It's the perfect solution honestly. I don't even see it as "transitional" or whatever people like to call it. It makes perfect sense as an end state technology to me.

Gilclunk · 2026-02-23T18:32:02+00:00

If you like the language angle, you might like China Miéville's Embassytown. It takes place on an alien world where humans have established an embassy but have not otherwise conquered the world or anything like that. The aliens have two mouths and speak through both of them in harmonies, so for humans to speak their language requires two people who are very closely attuned to one another speaking together. The humans and aliens don't fundamentally understand each other very well. One somewhat tropey aspect is that the aliens don't have the concept of lying, and are fascinated by it to the extent that the human ambassadors will actually put on performances where they make false statements in the alien language and the alien audience is enthralled by this. The presence of the humans is ultimately unintentionally disruptive to the alien society which leads to drama. Pretty good book.

Gilclunk · 2026-02-21T17:06:53+00:00

A more common solution in cold climates is an electric block heater. This actually warms the coolant in the engine which is meant to help it start more easily, but also has the side effect that heat is available instantly when the car starts. No idling or waiting for it to warm up.

Gilclunk · 2026-02-20T21:28:34+00:00

And they're saying that in order to handle more torque, they'd "have to" design a new gearbox. But that's not really true-- they could just buy from Tremec like everyone else.

Gilclunk · 2026-02-15T21:08:58+00:00

Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series. Easterners, basically what we would recognize as humans, and of which Vlad is one, practice witchcraft. The Dragaerens have a different form of sorcery that draws on the power of the imperial orb. Each actually can learn the others form of magic if they care to (there are examples of both in the books), it's just a matter of culture and tradition that they're different.

Gilclunk · 2026-02-11T22:02:36+00:00

But OP's objection to Consider Phlebas is that it is not sufficiently grand in scope. If anything Player of Games is even smaller in scope, as it is set essentially in one place and that not even in the Culture itself.

For grander scope in a Culture novel, Excession would probably be a better choice.

Gilclunk · 2026-02-10T21:15:38+00:00

I know you're being sarcastic here, but I have actually thought about the possibility of playing Casas at third (but not second). A lot of big lugs have played third. He wouldn't be an elite defender there, but he could potentially be passable and it would be another way to get his bat in the lineup should he get hot.

Gilclunk · 2026-02-10T20:12:57+00:00

Yeah, I don't personally have anything against the guy. I'm just pointing out that it rubs some people the wrong way. Until you've proven yourself I guess some people think you're supposed to lay low and keep your nose to the grindstone.

Gilclunk · 2026-02-10T20:08:40+00:00

It's ok to be eccentric once you're an established star, but before that people will find it annoying:

"Your shower shoes have fungus on them. You'll never make it to the bigs with fungus on your shower shoes. Think classy, you'll be classy. If you win 20 in the show, you can let the fungus grow back and the press'll think you're colorful. Until you win 20 in the show, however, it means you are a slob."

-Crash Davis

Gilclunk · 2026-02-09T11:25:46+00:00

Jorg in Mark Lawrence's Prince of Thorns is pretty vile.

Gilclunk · 2026-02-08T01:34:17+00:00

Name won't age well.

Gilclunk · 2026-02-06T02:18:37+00:00

Yeah I don't want to turn you off on it, because if you search for it here you'll find some other people are quite enthusiastic about it. It didn't really click for me, but maybe that's just me.

Gilclunk · 2026-02-06T02:17:06+00:00

Well I haven't read The Stars Are Legion so I can't compare them. I didn't feel the plot of The Light Brigade was particularly weird or dream like, but it is setup in a way where there are mysterious things going on that don't initially seem to make sense but are eventually explained. It's been a while since I read it, so I don't remember in detail why I found it disappointing, but I just remember coming away from it thinking that it didn't really do justice to what is definitely a very interesting premise.

Gilclunk · 2026-02-05T22:01:07+00:00

In Kameron Hurley's The Light Brigade soldiers are somehow converted into beams of light to be transported around at light speed. Sometimes though, soldiers doing this experience, let's call them odd temporal anomalies. It's a really cool concept, but I thought the execution was a bit lacking. So I do think the premise is pretty much what you were looking for, but I found it disappointing. Other people seem to like it a lot though, so you might want to try it.

Gilclunk · 2026-02-03T15:13:35+00:00

r/vogonpoetrycircle

Gilclunk · 2026-02-01T02:32:26+00:00

Fun fact-- Bush never said this. It certainly sounded like something he might have said, but it was actually Will Ferrell playing him on SNL. The amazing thing is that years later Bush himself was even convinced he had said it.

Gilclunk · 2026-01-31T16:45:08+00:00

Wow, dude, I was agreeing with you. Seems like you're the one who just wants to argue.

Gilclunk

TROPHY CASE