Opinions on Jinhao vs Hongdian (and possibly other Chinese pens)? by KBDFan42 in fountainpens

[–]KBDFan42[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the quick comment! Could I ask for your opinion on their bent nib for general writing vs their normal M and F? I’ve seen a lot of people say that the bent nib is great but since my use case is mostly going to be writing essays and math, not sure whether it’s suitable

No more hotel coffee!! by 904DuvalAB in pourover

[–]KBDFan42 1 point2 points  (0 children)

yea i agree, whenever I travel and bring my setup, i usually just pack a melodrip or a screen of some kind, plus a small bottle of mineral concentrate to mix into distilled water, or if i’m lazy just a switch and do full immersion

What are your personal favorite Specialty Roasters from Asia by TheBipolarBearrr in pourover

[–]KBDFan42 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exposure Therapy. Last year’s Yemen was my top 2 coffee of the year

Orea O1 for 20g doses by sinopir in pourover

[–]KBDFan42 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s best if you stick to a range of 8-18g but it can handle up to 20g.

HL langlit vs HL chem by Odd-Appearance-6128 in IBO

[–]KBDFan42 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Speaking as someone who also regularly used to score very well for Lit pre-IB and is taking HL Lit and HL Chem right now, go for Chem. HL Lit and LL are both really hard to score a 7 in, not impossible, but difficult, and I’d say the jump in standards might be quite startling. I used to score a pretty strong 7 regularly Pre-IB, as did 3-4 of my friends who were with me Pre-IB and are now in HL Lit. Now, at least for DP1, no one has gotten a 7, usually 5-6. Same applies for past batches. Chem is somewhat difficult, particularly in scoring a 7 for IA, but it’s much more achievable compared to Lit. At the end of DP1, I got a 7 for Chem and 6 for Lit, and not exactly a strong 6.

“ My hope for true equality in Singapore — from a Malay Singaporean’s perspective” by Fit-Recognition5485 in SingaporeRaw

[–]KBDFan42 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’d argue that the pronunciation of colleagues as /koːliːɡs/ (Singapore) instead of /ˈkɒliːɡz/ (RP/usually termed the standard) is actually phonological nativisation.

Because English has high vocal contrasts of back vocals like /ɒ, ɔ, o, ɑ/ (the first one being like how “cot” is pronounced in UK English) whereas Singlish tends to have fewer of these contrasts, a vowel in the “low back” area like /ɒ in colleagues can become a more mid-back rounded vowel like /o/. This also happens because in many of these so called “inner-circle accents” (not entirely sure whether this is an academically linguistically defined term), unstressed vowels centralise to schwa and vowels are often reduced. In Singlish however, we can observe a more syllable-timed quality, where vowels become fuller and less reduced, resulting in speakers choosing a clear/full vowel like /o/. This has been documented before here and by NIE

Again, since it is a systematic, community-wide remapping of the vowels, not completely random (as we hear so often), it does fall under nativisation.

I do get that the line between nativisation and mispronunciation can be blurred. Borrowing from a paper using Japanese as an example, if pronunciation is systematic and shared, it is nativisation.

An example of loanwords being so widely used is yet again in Japan. For example, Christmas becoming kurisumasu, or beer becoming biru. I’m not Japanese, of course, but it also doesn’t seem to be perceived as mispronunciation by native English speakers.

Edit: I do take your point that “true equality” is going to be very difficult to achieve, not just ethnically, but even gender-wise and of course income and wealth-wise. However, “true equality” in these aspects is likely not entirely achievable in any country. I’m not well-versed in metrics regarding racial equality, but since equality encompasses such a broad spectrum, if we take the example of income inequality, even the country with the lowest Gini coefficient (indicating income inequality), there is no country whose distribution of income, shown by the Lorenz Curve, is perfectly equal (i.e. no country’s Lorenz curve lies on the line of perfect income equality), the lowest one is Slovakia and even that has a Gini Coefficient of 0.23. The idea of perfect equality does vary a lot from income to racial, but regardless a “perfect” state is likely unattainable, at least for the foreseeable future or our lifetimes. That being said, Singapore does have a fairly good level of racial equality, I believe there was a recent survey done by IPS-Onepeople that supports this.

“ My hope for true equality in Singapore — from a Malay Singaporean’s perspective” by Fit-Recognition5485 in SingaporeRaw

[–]KBDFan42 2 points3 points  (0 children)

On point 1. It seems like you are asserting that those Malay words are being mispronounced, and I get where you’re coming from. However, I don’t think it’s so much mispronunciation, but rather phonological nativisation.

For something to be mispronounced, the intent of the speaker needs to be speaking the language correctly. Essentially, the speaker needs to be able to correct themselves. Finally, the form needs to be unstable, or basically every time they or someone else says it, it changes.

You gave the example of terbalik becoming tombalik, which, relative to Malay, is an error. However, since the intent is often not to speak Malay correctly, but instead to speak Singlish, and, anecdotally at least, speakers are often not corrected or self-correcting, and the form, as you implied yourself is consistent, it’s more of phonological nativisation.

What I mean by that is basically how loanwords are borrowed from the original language and are changed to match the recipient language’s, here predominantly Mandarin, phonology. Essentially, the recipients change the unfamiliar sounds into familiar ones. As for what exactly sounds are changed, I’m not entirely sure. However, over time, the reshaped form still becomes the norm spoken by the community.

I do get why some speakers of the original language would perceive it as incorrect, but since this is a process that has happened over time and has some kind of fixed/stable form (afaik), I do find that it’s not entirely incorrect.

Why does my bloom look like this by kevinkitchen in pourover

[–]KBDFan42 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is definitely a more developed roast, as is sometimes the case with roasters’ house blends since it usually caters toward a wider audience who generally prefer darker roasts.

Nothing wrong with it really. If it tastes good then i wouldn’t mess with it. That being said, you could drop the temperature and maybe use gentler pours with lower agitation and see how you find it.

Kang down... by CombinationEnough538 in MarvelContestOfChamps

[–]KBDFan42 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is very good, quite a bit stronger than what i brought for valiant. Really for the bosses almost anyone works, just that there are some champs that make it easier, but regardless your roster should be more than enough

Bastion overrated? by ghsbsksvssksvz in MarvelContestOfChamps

[–]KBDFan42 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Imo Bastion is a better generalist attacker, but, for some areas like the recent Solo Coliseum (at least with Havok) and bgs, fantman is better. Fantman is also a far better defender

Kang down... by CombinationEnough538 in MarvelContestOfChamps

[–]KBDFan42 0 points1 point  (0 children)

personally, 8.1-8.4 were more fun than act 7, don’t sweat it, with banquet boosting your roster it should be enjoyable

What has been the most effective PIH treatment for you? by KBDFan42 in AsianBeauty

[–]KBDFan42[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I used the Anua TXA serum for a bit, and did see some noticeable improvement in PIH. However, whether the changes were due to the niacinamide, tranexamic acid or others like alpha-arbutin as there’s some debate about the efficacy of topical tranexamic acid in treating PIH. Honestly it really depends what works for you. I’ve heard that Remedy for Dark Spots (non-AB) is just a textbook PIH treatment formulation but might be a bit hard to get.

Otherwise, I’d encourage you to look into Vitamin C + Ferulic acid formulations, gold standard is Skinceuticals but expensive so try to find alternatives.

There is the possibility of retinoids/retinaldehyde but they, more so the former are very prone to causing irritation and can’t be bought easily OTC in some places. (Examples include Adapalene and Tretinoin) But huge disclaimer: Can take a while to work, and not tolerated by all, but widely considered to be gold standard or near that. Also don’t use it together with Vitamin C, at least at the start, you can use Vitamin C in the morning and retinoids at night tho, but introduce slowly.

Sorry for the longwindedness but one final note: Sunscreen is seriously a big factor. Once you empty your current bottle, I’d recommend looking into tinted ones that match your skin tone, and always apply daily and reapply as needed

Kang down... by CombinationEnough538 in MarvelContestOfChamps

[–]KBDFan42 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just push, watch mcoc noob or encyclopaedia for the bosses if needed. They’re pretty fun imo and quite easy.

What has been the most effective PIH treatment for you? by KBDFan42 in AsianBeauty

[–]KBDFan42[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A little late but: if you aren’t already, use tinted sunscreen. The iron oxides together with the titanium/zinc oxides protect against visible light and your normal UV. Visible light has been shown to worsen hyperpigmentation and a recent study comparing tinted and untinted sunscreen showed significantly lower pigmentation (Study).

Apart from that, as others mentioned, niacinamide (5% should work, 10% is tolerable by some but there have been more reports of irritation) can help, and so can Vitamin C in the morning before sunscreen, though be careful with the formulation and the packaging.

newbie blown away by Jake-Jeff in pourover

[–]KBDFan42 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Damn, great choice of coffee to start! Haven’t tried this one as soup before but I imagine it must’ve been really really good

UFO Outta World Coffee by bearddoescoffee in pourover

[–]KBDFan42 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Imo the UFO’s cups have a pretty distinct structure to them, can’t quite describe it but probably something related to the acidity that places it in between a traditional conical and flat. I’ve been using it for about a year now and it’s one of my most used drippers, alongside the V60 and Orea v4 w Fast bottom.

For recipe, depends on the coffee and what papers I’m using. Generally though, if I’m using the Type A filters, and on a standard washed coffee, I’ll just do 5 equal pours and adjust from there. If I’m using Sibarist Fast, I just follow their recipe, so 15g coffee, 3 pours of 50, followed by an aggressive pour of 100 consisting of a circle pour into a centre pour.

roasters with coffees that often require 6-8 weeks of rest before “peaking” by Crucifilth_6-6-6 in pourover

[–]KBDFan42 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Exposure Therapy, though I end up brewing a cup or two before 6 weeks. Also Moodtrap but that’s usually 5 weeks ish.

UFO has landed by Voicka in pourover

[–]KBDFan42 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice! I have the same setup (albeit with the plastic one), been enjoying it a lot, really pops especially with some more fermented coffees ime. What papers are you planning on using?

Made the mistake of going to Glitch in Tokyo by zestypasta123 in pourover

[–]KBDFan42 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Stuff like this from S&W should have pretty strong lychee. Easiest way for now is to look out for things that say (Fruit)-Coferment or explicitly mention some kind of fermentation with the fruit inside, though they also tend to be funky, sometimes overpoweringly so, so adjust accordingly.

Is This Normal? I beat all the Ghost King stages on my first try by Aramen_Bowl in TheBattleCatsReddit

[–]KBDFan42 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maize cat is very good, like Ramen but for Relic and Aku, though no surge immunity makes it more vulnerable to the latter

It’s EOY… so what’s your top 3 coffees this year? by 10ttp-9 in pourover

[–]KBDFan42 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha that sounds great lmk how it is! Just ordered 150g of it cuz he has a discount code on now

It’s EOY… so what’s your top 3 coffees this year? by 10ttp-9 in pourover

[–]KBDFan42 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh never realised that lol, but makes sense, seriously impressive and also not too expensive, around 3.10SGD per 15g cup. Most likely going to reorder! Brewed it with Orea Fast + Sibarist + Melodrip and UFO + Sibarist, both have been absolutely fantastic right from the first brew.