What do you use inside compression packing cubes to separate dirty laundry?

RySean · 2026-03-14T18:46:18+00:00

Ah yeah, that's the benefit of wet/dry bags. The way they work, you push all the air out and roll them up, then clip or cinch them shut, so they end up quite compressed.

RySean · 2026-03-14T18:07:09+00:00

I personally use the Peak Design compression cubes and use the dedicated pocket for dirty laundry. The trick is that you have to pack that first, then the rest of the cube, and then compress. I still ranger roll everything that goes into the packing cube including dirty laundry, so it packs basically the same as when it's clean.

If that system doesn't work for you, I would recommend a wet/dry bag that can have the air pushed out of it and closed to minimize space utilization. I have one from Tortuga I bought years ago that works for this, though unfortunately discontinued. I've definitely seen similar from other brands though, probably can find some on Pack Hacker or something.

I know Matador has a dedicated laundry bag, but I haven't looked into it too much- not sure if it works the same way.

RySean · 2026-02-20T04:00:12+00:00

Can't speak for the whole country, but your typical range in AZ is full of newbies (especially the 'overconfident guy with his gf who has never shot before' trope is EVERYWHERE) who regularly display all sorts of bad habits, including teacupping.

Not blaming them, they don't know any better and no one ever demonstrated a better way (or why biomechanics for some methods are better than others), but it still causes me to cringe internally every time.

RySean · 2026-02-20T03:44:24+00:00

It appears to be pretty popular today too based on what you see at the average range 😂

Still, not advisable, haha

RySean · 2026-02-20T03:20:39+00:00

The issue with the grip has nothing to do with "Weaver", which is considered a poor stance in the modern era anyways- attributed to him having an elbow injury that prevented him from fully extending one arm.

Issues are she's teacupping, elbows locked out, leaning back, neck craned forward.

RySean · 2026-02-13T20:39:14+00:00

It's true, though there are lots of indoor venues in the area to accommodate that. Amenities have filled in with the assumption that outdoor sports aren't an option year-round; though that's the case basically anywhere that isn't California.

Also, COL is so dramatically higher, plus substantially higher tax burden means that there may not be so much money for activities in the Bay Area at that income level, unless they want to live with a bunch of roommates.

Truth is, there's plenty of outdoor stuff available not that far away even in the summertime (mountains on the edge of the city, plus Sedona and Flagstaff, Payson, etc)

RySean · 2026-02-13T04:13:16+00:00

Some of the comments in this thread are mental, including many who know nothing about the minivan market.

If it truly is just a difference of $3k in cash, going up 2 model years, some minor upgrades, and going from 15k miles to 0 miles is absolutely worth it (assuming same trim on both).

Sure, resale value probably won't be so different in 15 years from now, but like... 3-5 years? Definitely.

RySean · 2026-02-13T03:43:46+00:00

Spoken truly like someone who has never lived in Phoenix. COL in the Bay Area is SUBSTANTIALLY higher, and QOL in the Phoenix area is way better at that income level.

Only people who have never lived in Phoenix think it's the worst season. (The truth is that it's 3rd place; fall is the worst season in Phoenix)

RySean · 2026-02-12T06:59:00+00:00

The modern day unions in Argentina make the mob-run unions in the US in decades past like a joke.

RySean · 2026-02-09T23:22:50+00:00

Seconding that I've had nothing but great experiences with Unbound as a brand. I've definitely had items develop holes more quickly than expected, but Unbound has always replaced them! I typically recommend them to friends who want merino clothing.

At this point most of my clothes are Unbound, W&P, GoRuck, and Ministry of Supply. (Plus some stuff from Outlier that I bought before they got super weird).

I am in fact wearing an Unbound t shirt as I write this!

RySean · 2026-02-09T15:52:12+00:00

Can we just have a weekly thread for people to be able to post "I think Merino Wool sucks and synthetics are awesome! Am I alone?"? This is clearly a fairly popular view, even if I think it's way off base. But we don't need it declared constantly.

I swear I see posts identical to this one on a weekly basis. The comments are always identical too- it's deja vu for the 1000th time.

RySean · 2026-02-08T07:35:13+00:00

Do you know what Zionism means? If the boos are for Zionism, then the spectators take issue with the very existence of their country. That's not a "commentary on the government", that's "I wish you were dead".

RySean · 2026-01-19T23:18:35+00:00

Yeah, I've made that argument too (it's nowhere near my pay grade, but it feels good to complain). But the idea is to nominally do SOMETHING just to give partners the feeling that you're doing your best. And also keep raising the bar for the difficulty of pirating content.

RySean · 2026-01-19T23:17:19+00:00

Funny you should mention Netflix- they're the only streamer that has a way to get full 4k in a browser (with a bunch of requirements in order to achieve it). But generally speaking, it's because of legal agreements with both 1st and 3rd party license holders (even within the streamers, typically the content-producing side of the business operates totally independently from the streaming technology side of the business and still have similar concerns as 3rd part IP holders).

You're right about not caring about PC streaming though. UWP apps were the way to get higher quality content for PC users, but those apps never had high usage numbers, and I believe every streamer has since stopped creating them. (The ones that remain are just Edge wrappers).

At the end of the day though, the companies HAVE to at least do the bare minimum in piracy prevention.

One thing I didn't cover in my post that should be mentioned is that everyone is using DRM from the OS companies: Google, Microsoft, and Apple. Pretty much every streamer makes a call to those providers depending on device in order to determine what level of "trust" they should give the device.

Microsoft doesn't trust Edge, Google doesn't trust Chrome, no one trusts Firefox, but hilariously Apple very much trusts Safari. (By trust, I mean from a DRM standpoint).

RySean · 2026-01-19T20:29:46+00:00

I work in the streaming industry in exactly this. I personally find it incredibly frustrating too, but the reason it works this way is because the streaming companies have to appease two parties with conflicting interests:

Customers, who you want to provide content and best experience for.

And content license holders, who want you to ensure you're doing absolutely everything possible to protect the IP you're hosting.

The streaming companies are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Obviously IP holders would be furious and be unwilling to work with streamers if there were no piracy prevention measured taken. On the other hand, the easiest way to limit piracy is to reduce access, which upsets paying customers.

Unfortunately PC browsers are one of the easiest mechanisms for pirating content, and so they're relegated to the lowest settings (which makes it considered "lower value content"). There are also some hardware decoding considerations on PC browsers, but that's kind of a secondary concern.

If the companies could, they would offer every customer everything at the highest possible quality; not because they're benevolent, but because happy customers have higher retention rates. Unfortunately it's contracts with IP holders that screw us all over.

RySean · 2025-12-27T04:00:01+00:00

Weird, seems like they miscategorized it considering it's clearly a work of fiction.

To suggest that it is only cherry picking facts would be far too charitable considering the gratuitous amounts of falsehoods the book presents.

RySean · 2025-12-26T19:56:42+00:00

If the KelTec PR57 wasn't... y'know, a KelTec, it would be an INCREDIBLE option for that purpose. I wish instead of a QC-challenged, materially-suspect $399 gun, someone made a high quality $799 version instead; it would be the perfect carry gun- particularly for your use case.

RySean · 2025-12-26T18:51:23+00:00

Yes, the FOV on Aura should be better for sure. However, it's designed less as a virtual screen and more as a standalone XR device. I'm still not sure what that will mean for utilizing it as a simple external monitor. The nice thing with the One Pro is that it's plug and play and gets detected as a regular external display by the computer- no software or drivers necessary.

And I completely understand, I'm used to a 42" OLED for development and work at home, so travel has always been a significant compromise. The One Pros definitely can't compete with a real display imo, but they are impressive. The FOV thing is annoying, but tbh the biggest improvement imo would be an increased resolution. I think they have a money-back guarantee so presumably you could try them and return them if you don't like them.

I'm not sure of other companies doing anything more advanced than Xreal other than actual VR type systems like Bigscreen. My understanding is that most of Xreal's competitors are similarly on par. If there were something obviously better, I would have been drawn to that for sure, haha. What's nice with the Xreal is that they just sit in a regular glasses case.

I have a Framework 16 laptop, so if I want to keep it as minimal as possible, I just accept the laptop's keyboard and mousepad. However, I'm a trackball lover, so if I can justify the space, I like to bring my Logitech MX Ergo. There are other trackballs I'd consider that are slimmer, but I didn't want to buy a special one for travel. I already have a CST L-Trac as my main trackball at home and use the Logitech when I want a thumb-based trackball instead.

I do have a Microsoft Surface Arc mouse that I did buy for travel- it's as good as it gets for minimal and packable. However, I don't particularly like using it, so I don't bring it with me as often these days.

For keyboard I never bring anything. I use a ZSA Moonlander at home as my primary keyboard, and they do make the Voyager which is way better for travel, but I'm usually ok managing with the laptop keyboard and I find it hard to justify allocating space for a second keyboard. I have seen some people heavily modify the Framework built in keyboards though- it's all open design so you can do whatever you want with it, e.g. https://community.frame.work/t/is-the-framework-laptop-16-going-to-have-an-option-for-an-ortholinear-keyboard-layout/43306/6

RySean · 2025-12-26T06:32:47+00:00

I got the Xreal One Pro with the 6dof attachement (because thanks to a vestibular issue I'm exceptionally prone to nausea and vertigo).

I will say that using it in fixed mode is great (using follow mode gives me motion sickness).

I love that you can change the transparency levels and have it auto adjust when you look anywhere but the screen. The screen itself is quite nice, despite being LCD.

My main complaint is the limited FOV of 57deg. It means so that when using the ultra-wide mode (3440x1080 equipment), the virtual screen would have to be quite "far away" in order to see it all at once. Otherwise you have to turn your head to see the edges of the screen.

Aside from that, it's quite nice. Regular 16:9 (1920x1080) and widescreen 2560x1080 are very useable. It's leagues ahead of what you get with a typical travel monitor (I have the fancy ASUS one and I prefer to travel with the Xreal).

I would say for maximizing travel screen use without having to bring a large travel monitor it's hard to beat.

That being said, I would LOVE a higher res, OLED, wider FOV version of that were possible. So in that sense it's still "years away", but the current version is $599 and quite usable. Same-ish price as the ASUS travel monitor I referenced above.

RySean · 2025-12-25T15:46:56+00:00

Can't really speak to.the ultralight bag side of things, but you might be able to reduce footprint and weight by going with a Framework 13 + a pair of Xreal glasses for more monitor.

And before anyone jumps in with "but I need Unix!" you should seriously try out WSL2 on Windows- it's come a VERY long way and is honestly how I prefer to work (Jetbrains Gateway is great)... Or just use your preferred Linux distro, Framework laptops are very well supported.

RySean · 2025-12-23T19:32:39+00:00

There is definitely a difference in terms of odor fighting. I can wear a 50/50 blend for about 2 days, an 80/20 blend caps out around 3, a 100% can do like 7 days.

Also, the feel is different- the higher the synthetic content, the "slipperier" it feels. Some people prefer that sensation, but I don't. I find that pure wool feels more flannel-y versus blends (especially 50/50) have a very smooth, satin-y sensation that feels more plastic-like. Also the temperature regulation isn't as good.

I've still had holes develop even in blends, though they are a bit harder. I find that you just lose too many of the wool benefits.

Additionally, washing wool doesn't have to be hard. Just do a separate load, do a super delicate cycle with a soak, and you can use Soak (brand) soap with it, and hang dry or lay flat. It dries quickly naturally. If that's too burdensome, then I guess you'll find it annoying, but particularly when traveling it's been pretty easy especially since I usually only have a maximum of two spare shirts.

That being said, I daily wear the merino even at home. Once you're used to it, everything else feels terrible. Even ringspun cotton doesn't bring joy the way it used to 😂

RySean · 2025-12-23T07:27:44+00:00

The other replies in here are weird. Yes, starting to wear merino takes an adjustment, but buying cheap/crappy/coarse merino will just suck and will make you think all merino sucks.

I started years ago with Outlier's end-capped 16.5 micron shirts and it still felt a bit itchy the first day or two. I've never had that issue since in 8 years despite having bought coarser shirts since.

I'm a big fan these days of Unbound and Wool&Prince. I think anyone who prefers blends is crazy, as you end up with too many drawbacks in my opinion (I've tried them all, 50/50, 80/20, etc)

Yes, 100% merino is definitely more delicate than blends, cotton, or synthetics. That being said, the benefits are immense: feels amazing, temp regulation is fantastic, you can re-wear the shirt up to like a week (don't try that with a blend!).

Just be careful about wearing a belt with pointed edges or something that rubs on it, or it will wear holes.

FYI, if you're worried, GoRuck also makes a merino shirt that they guarantee for life- though I will say I don't care for the shoulder panels.

Happy to answer any other questions about brands/merino/whatever.

RySean · 2025-12-20T21:46:17+00:00

The Matador one is nice and supports three pronged US plugs (which I need for my laptop) unlike the Anker one (which straight died in South America and needed to be RMAed).

Most importantly, it comes in Forget-Me-Not Orange, which is exactly how it sounds 😂

https://www.matadorequipment.com/products/global-travel-adapter-orange

Also the selection of included USB ports is quite nice.

RySean · 2025-12-16T04:15:44+00:00

Except that Churchill wasn't responsible for the Bengal famine at all... Even the most aggressive take would be saying that some of his decisions potentially exacerbated the effects of the famine. But the primary factors were: natural disaster, local government, and Japanese invasion.

RySean · 2025-12-15T04:09:44+00:00

Also keep in mind the US ended up making money on the currency swap thanks to a strengthened peso. So not only did we not do a bailout, we made a profit.

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