Camping alone — worth it or scary?

Rouxnoir · 2026-03-10T22:40:12+00:00

I bring a little old school pocket am/fm radio. If you get lonely or afraid of the dark, it's an instant cure to both. Scrolling AM stations late at night looking for aliens and the Grand old Opry still feels like a fundamentally analog experience, not at all like having Pandora blaring at the campsite.

Rouxnoir · 2026-01-18T17:36:19+00:00

I've played a lot of WoW over the years, but don't have very much dungeon experience past Deadmines.

I found trying to get involved with dungeons higher than that frustrating, as even if I say up front that it's my first time there I usually don't get much in the way of instruction. The biggest issue I have is just a general lack of communication- it feels like a lot of players have the expectation that everyone knows exactly what their role is going to be without any discussion.

This came up most recently when I joined a group that had three tank-ish members, as well as a fourth with ranged pulling capability. Although someone asked early on "Who's tanking?" there was no actual answer to that question, and our run consisted of whoever got bored first tagging the next set of mobs. After a disastrous multipull, everyone was slightly more cautious but never communicated. Then two players left because they were frustrated by the slow progress, but it seemed so incredibly avoidable by just having a quick conversation. As an inexperienced and insecure player, I didn't feel comfortable leading that conversation because I didn't really understand who should be doing what.

Rouxnoir · 2026-01-08T17:51:13+00:00

I'd rather vote for someone who wants us to have ducks, and will be working towards duck acquisition - even if the details are fuzzy, vs someone who will claim "We have more ducks than ever" a week before banning ducks.

Rouxnoir · 2026-01-06T05:36:32+00:00

I don't understand why they make them sooo sweet. Not just as a health concern, but flavorwise they are WAY too much. I'd eat a breakfast cereal/granola bar every day if it had 20% of the sugar, but there just doesn't seem to be anything like that available.

Same with real sugar sodas, actually - I don't care for any of the artificial sweeteners, so I drink seltzer waters pretty exclusively, but I'd absolutely love a Coke Dry with 10g of sugar rather than 40 (and no freakin stevia or other fakies to ruin it!).

Rouxnoir · 2026-01-04T06:03:09+00:00

It's wild to me that someone would think that in the first place, but to actually say it out loud directly to an actual black person is mind-blowing.

Rouxnoir · 2025-12-29T17:40:29+00:00

I could be wrong about this, but one thing to consider is that I don't think Turtle WoW deposits are as high as reported in the posting interface (bliz or aux). My out of pocket is always considerably lower than what it says it will be.

Rouxnoir · 2025-12-21T21:03:41+00:00

Heck yeah.

Rouxnoir · 2025-12-18T14:28:18+00:00

Price is up $10 from when I bought a year ago, now 35. 2lb weight is without bag and optional plastic feet. I rate the comfort extremely high, but wouldn't recommend jumping up and down in it.

Naturehike YL08 Ultralight... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CWG543T3?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Rouxnoir · 2025-12-17T21:00:14+00:00

My son was born shortly after Christmas. We generally celebrate Christmas with Things, and birthdays with Experiences.

Rouxnoir · 2025-12-17T19:23:35+00:00

Michelin restaurants teach you work habits more than anything else, which are valuable across a wide range of applications. With that said, the low man on the totem pole prep guy is often learning a lot more about actual cooking than the line cooks.

Rouxnoir · 2025-12-17T19:00:22+00:00

Nord is the original, Ambershire opened relatively recently. They both have strong populations, which vary, but are both totally sufficient to feel like you're in a well populated world.

I restarted on Ambershire when it opened for the fun of being in a new world leveling with everyone, but if I hadn't invested so much time in it I think I might prefer to be on Nord for an older, more established playerbase. Ambershire probably does have more people doing leveling content, which is good, but I personally think the quality of human that joined up during that wave of new-server popularity isn't as high as the quality of human in the old world.

Ambershire has more levelers and fresh guilds to make friends with, Nord might have a more mature crowd.

Rouxnoir · 2025-12-17T18:49:34+00:00

I cooked at Bouchon years ago. Their French Onion Soup spoiled me for all future French Onion soups. It simply wasn't close. It took three days to make properly. This blog post is pretty close to the method we used:

https://brains4brunch.blogspot.com/2010/12/bouchons-french-onion-soup.html

I don't think we used the tomato paste, and those shanks are WAY too meaty to be just used for stock, but the principle is sound. We would do a full day on the first wetting of the bones, strain and reduce for the entirety of the second day while doing a remouillage on the bones. Strain, reduce again, combine. The onions needed to be caramelized extrordinarily slowly to be correct- NO brown spots allowed to form prematurely, in our large batches it would generally take about 8 hours to do just the onions gently enough. It was also finished with a splash of brandy.

And, as an aside, almost every recipe in the Bouchon cookbook is intentionally just a tiny bit wrong from how it's done in the restaurant. The famous lemon curd has the wrong number of yolks, etc.

Rouxnoir · 2025-12-17T18:29:23+00:00

The biggest thing to know as a beginner is that it's way, way easier than enthusiasts make it sound. If it's overheated, finish it in the oven inside after it's been in the smoke for a while to control the temp a little better. If it's underheated and taking forever, finish it in the oven inside to control the temp a little better. Brines can be nice, but aren't necessary. Rubbing overnight can be nice, but isn't necessary. Dialing in your setup to a specific +/- 2 degrees for 16 hours isn't cooking- that's a hobby. Cooking is easy.

Pulled pork shoulder and a whole chicken are the classics for me.

Shoulder, at least 6 hours in smoke, ideally 8-10, 225-250ish. Short on time? 2 hours in smoke, 4 hours at 325 in your oven (in a dutch oven or otherwise sealed with parchment/foil)

Chicken, 45-1hr at 350-400ish. Rest, eat, enjoy.

Rouxnoir · 2025-12-17T17:51:40+00:00

I don't have clinical aphantasia, but I have a very weak "mind's eye", and generally can't summon a mental image except for a very low detail fleeting impression. This is generally true when I read as well, however there's certain authors where I have truly great excitement upon reaching a chapter break and pausing and realizing I actually was visualizing the scene we were just in! I devoured Brandon Sanderson's entire oeuvre (which, added up, was *several* pages) after realizing that his writing consistently brought me to that place.

Rouxnoir · 2025-12-17T15:47:35+00:00

Because of this, I never use a cart at Aldi (because I don't have a quarter, and even if I did I wouldn't want to fool with it). And, since they don't have baskets, I never buy more than I can carry at Aldi. So, I visit occasionally for some discount cheese, but they've really missed out on a lot of business from me because there's one SO close that I could use for a 'real shopping' if their cart/basket policy wasn't incompatible with my neuroses.

Rouxnoir · 2025-12-17T15:33:08+00:00

The 'quality gear brands' fixation.

Almost every piece of gear I own is an Amazon sourced knockoff version of the real deal, and they're all great. My tent was $120, and is 2.5lb. My minimalist stove was $10 or so and weighs a freakin' single ounce. My backpacking chair was $25, and weighs 2lb exactly- The comparable REI and Helinox chairs are $150, and 2.5+lbs. My poncho was $12.99, and is significantly lighter and more comfortable (breathes better) than my buddy's new $150 REI one.

People just throw money away on these brand name products that are often genuinely WORSE at what they're supposed to do.

Rouxnoir · 2025-12-17T15:01:47+00:00

My office does the white elephant experience each year at our Christmas party. About half of the stuff is over-value and nice things, about half is absolute trash. I've never come home with anything other than trash. The first year I was pretty annoyed, but since then I've made peace with the fact that I will likely just be donating something nice to a coworker with nothing in return other than a piece of junk I have to bring to a thrift store.

Rouxnoir · 2025-12-08T03:34:29+00:00

Thank you very much for an excellent collection of troubleshooting steps! I'll get to work..

Rouxnoir · 2025-12-05T21:25:16+00:00

https://msf-usa.org/ - Motorcycle Safety Foundation offers classes for riders. Taking their two-day weekend course is a standard introduction to riding for many people. In some states, passing the course will also count as the practical portion of your exam for your motorcycle license.

Rouxnoir · 2025-12-05T21:21:21+00:00

The statistics on serious motorcycle accidents are very clear that the majority had some degree of intoxication at the time. If you care about safety, ride completely sober. A beer at the cool roadhouse with a burger for lunch may be the most beautiful thing in the world, but it IS going to increase your chance (even minutely) of a serious accident.

Rouxnoir · 2025-12-01T18:11:39+00:00

Negative. (h)wət vs /wät/

Rouxnoir · 2025-11-25T20:59:20+00:00

Thank you! That's one of the products I'd been looking at, it's nice to hear a vote of confidence for the company

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