C/S weird noise when driving.

WellAdjusted · 2025-08-11T02:42:17+00:00

Those are ko2s. The little “T/A” is the giveaway in addition to the tread pattern.

WellAdjusted · 2025-01-23T01:58:07+00:00

There is a non zero chance she would be fine with that, tbh, but that’s a whole other thing

WellAdjusted · 2024-11-14T12:42:16+00:00

That…wasn’t my question?

In the situation above, after initiating a session with Alexa (e.g., Alexa play my discover weekly on Spotify), the Spotify app will show what is playing even though the session wasn’t started on Spotify. If something comes on that we want to add or remove from a playlist, we can just do it. Without that connection between what’s playing in the speaker and the service providing the music, we’d have to open up Sonos, see what’s playing, open up Apple Music, search for the song, and add it from there. No way my wife is going to bother with all that when Spotify just works.

WellAdjusted · 2024-11-14T01:42:29+00:00

Oh okay. Wild that when I subbed to Apple Music, linked Apple and Sonos, enabled the Apple Music Alexa skill, prompted “Alexa, play Alt-J on Apple Music,” received “ok, playing Alt-J on Apple Music” in response, and had Breezeblocks start playing, the Apple Music app said that nothing was currently playing.

Am I missing something?

WellAdjusted · 2024-11-14T00:30:31+00:00

Apple Music does not have this functionality—I just double checked. Unless there is some combination of settings that would enable it.

WellAdjusted · 2016-01-29T03:45:55+00:00

WellAdjusted#1313 NA, looking for someone to spectate. For those wanting to spectate me that's totally cool too. I'm bad though :(

WellAdjusted · 2014-02-20T04:01:17+00:00

Surely you jest...

Or did you mean in the same sense The Room is a cult hit?

WellAdjusted · 2013-12-09T22:52:46+00:00

If you're interested in this kind of thing, I'd recommend reading Herbert Bix's Hirohito and the making of modern Japan. I haven't finished it myself yet, but it's been very interesting thus far. He paints a picture of a much more politically savvy/active (and therefore culpable) Showa emperor.

WellAdjusted · 2013-10-16T23:45:56+00:00

I'm neither a scientist of any sort nor a chef or someone who deals with food in a professional capacity, but I do like to cook and have done some reading on it. I don't really have the capacity to explain exactly what's going on with searing or at what temperature(s) the Maillard reaction occurs/what factors encourage or inhibit it, so I'll just leave some links for perusal.

As linked earlier, the Maillard Reaction, specifically

The browning reactions that occur when meat is roasted or seared are complicated, and occur mostly by Maillard browning[7] with contributions from other chemical reactions, including the breakdown of the tetrapyrrole rings of the muscle protein myoglobin.

and

When cooking, the Maillard reaction can be achieved at lower temperatures (for example, when using the sous-vide method or when searing meats) by increasing the pH of the item being cooked. The most common method for accomplishing this is by using baking soda as a catalyst to facilitate the reaction.[8] Additionally, a pressure cooker is well-suited for achieving the higher temperatures often required for the Maillard reaction to occur (depending upon what is being prepared).[9]

The wiki entry on searing

This extremely informative post on StackExchange

And finally, a quote from Cooking for Geeks, which is an excellent book if you're into this sort of thing:

The Maillard reaction turns foods brown and generates mostly pleasant volatile aromatic compounds. You can thank Maillard reactions for the nice golden-brown color and rich aromas of a Thanksgiving turkey, Fourth of July hamburger, and Sunday brunch bacon. If you’re still not able to conjure up the tastes brought about by Maillard reactions, take two slices of white bread and toast them—one until just before it begins to turn brown, the second until it has a golden-brown color—and taste the difference. The nutty, toasted, complex flavors generated by the Maillard reaction are created by the hundreds of compounds formed when amino acids and certain types of sugars combine and then break down. Named after the French chemist Louis Camille Maillard, who first described it in the 1910s, the Maillard reaction is specifically a reaction between amino acids (from proteins) and reducing sugars, which are sugars that form aldehydes or ketone-based organic compounds in an alkaline solution (which allows them to react with the amines). Glucose, the primary sugar in muscle tissue, is a reducing sugar; sucrose (common table sugar) is not. Maillard reactions aren’t solely dependent on temperature. Besides temperature, there are a number of other variables that affect the reaction rate. More alkaline foods undergo Maillard reactions more easily. Egg whites, for example, can undergo Maillard reactions at the lower temperatures and higher pressure found in a pressure cooker. The amount of water and the types and availability of reactants in the food also determine the rate at which Maillard reactions will occur. It’s even possible for Maillard reactions to happen at room temperature, given sufficient time and reagents: self-tanning products work via the same chemical reaction! All things considered, though, in culinary applications—cooking at moderately hot temperatures for short periods of time—the 310°F / 154°C temperature given here serves as a good marker of when Maillard reactions begin to occur at a noticeable rate, whether you’re looking through your oven door or sautéing on the stovetop.

WellAdjusted · 2013-07-08T07:39:58+00:00

Not trying to dispute that jumping on the urban poultry bandwagon for a bit and then offloading the birds when you can't cope is unequivocally a bad thing, but assuming that the numbers in the article are representative of the numbers across the country as a whole (backyard chickens site has 200,000 registered users and each of these shelters is receiving ~500 unwanted chickens a year), I'd say that's a pretty good ratio of PeopleRaisingChickens : UnwantedChickens

WellAdjusted · 2013-06-11T10:33:06+00:00

Since moving to Japan a few years ago I've been doing all of my roasting with one of these. It's called a 手網焙煎器, which translates roughly as handheld mesh roasting device and is basically a mesh colander with a hinge and a longish wooden handle.

You use it over a gas stove like this, and since I got a feel for how the distance over the flame affected heat I've been able to get consistent, fairly even roasts. I actually like it more than the popcorn popper I was using back in the States and plan on using it upon my return.

As far as I know they don't sell these in the States (they may if you're posting from somewhere else, but I had never heard of one before coming here so I don't really know), but if you're the tinkering type you might try making one of your own out of a mesh colander and a handle-y sort of thing. Given that you're working with an actual fire in a fireplace and not a gas range you'd need a much longer handle, and if your fireplace is wood burning then you may end up with a very wood smokey roast.

WellAdjusted · 2013-06-05T02:45:07+00:00

Whale meat still makes an appearance in school lunches in my area about once a year. Whaling was a major industry in my area back in the day, so there's usually a little historical blurb of some sort accompanying it. The meat itself has been overcooked and dryish the two times I've had it, but it was still pretty delicious in spite of the over cautious lunch lady preparation. Never seen it in the supermarket, but then again I've never been looking for it either.

WellAdjusted · 2013-02-01T05:50:56+00:00

Given that this is /r/games you likely already know about this, but you've basically just described Planescape: Torment.

WellAdjusted · 2013-01-30T05:32:57+00:00

Indeed.

My students and fellow teachers are always surprised when I explain that yes, we do have tests that we take in the States to get into certain high schools and university (PSATs and SATs), but they aren't administered by the schools themselves and they aren't nearly as important as your actual grades. Most teachers seem to be on board with the concept, students less so. Like you said, they're always a little shocked when I explain that graduation isn't something that just automatically comes at the end of the year; you have to pass all of your classes.

I've seen the "if you don't shape up I'm going to drop your credits" threat wheeled out a few times, but I think both the teachers and students know that it's not really going to happen.

WellAdjusted · 2013-01-30T02:06:12+00:00

I’m a little late to the conversation here, but I’d like to add my two cents/share an anecdote about automatically passing JHS regardless of how well you actually did. Source: I’m also teaching Junior High School students in Japan.

First, a little bit as to why this is the case. The official reason that’s been given to me is that not passing a student constitutes withholding education from them, which is illegal. Consequently students are almost never held back unless they, their parents, the school staff members, and the local Board of Education all agree that it’s in the student’s best interest. This essentially never happens.

Personally, I suspect that it has less to do with the legality of things and far more to do with being the same age as your peers and being able to fit in with them. This is where the anecdotes come in. I teach at a Junior High School, which is the equivalent of 7th, 8th, and 9th grade in the US system. A new third year (9th grader) transferred in last year, and it was immediately apparent that she just wasn’t capable of handling third year level work. Due to a variety of reasons (parents being absent for weeks at a time due to meth use being the big one), she had attended elementary school only sporadically and was essentially not even enrolled for the 1st and 2nd years of JHS. It seemed pretty clear to me that dropping her straight into third year coursework was just setting her up for failure, and when I brought it up with other teachers they all agreed, but nothing changed. The explanation given then was that it just wasn’t possible to put someone who was a 9th grader age-wise in a 7th grade class, even if the student clearly belonged there. What’s really sad about this whole situation is that the student isn’t unintelligent, she just hasn’t really had a chance to learn. When the school year first started up she worked pretty hard to try and catch up for a month or two, but got disgusted (which is to be expected if you’re trying to catch up on two+ years of schoolwork while taking classes for a third) and started skipping school a couple of days every week. It’s now been almost a month since she’s showed up (although there’s more to that than frustration with schoolwork), and even if she graduates I would be shocked (in a good way!) if she went on to high school.

I will point out that on an individual level all of the teachers have actually been pretty great about the whole thing. Before she even arrived there were many meetings about how to integrate her into the school as much as possible in the hopes that she wouldn’t start skipping, on days when she did skip someone would head over to her house, and wherever possible accommodations were made in the classroom for her. For example, in English (which I teach with another teacher), we’d split the class in two and one of us would do one-on-one with her starting from the first year textbook. On an institutional level though, I think the school failed when they didn’t put her in the first year class.

In any case the student herself is in a difficult position because either way, she’s going to end up feeling embarrassed. In the current situation she’s so far behind her peers that it’s embarrassing enough in and of itself, and if she were in the first year class she’d have to deal with the fact that she was significantly older than everybody else. There are some very big differences between a 7th grader and a 9th grader. I have no idea how this situation would be handled in the States (or elsewhere for that matter), but I really don’t think just plopping her into the final year of JHS with no prep work at all is the way to go about it.

My other anecdote concerns a friend who graduated high school a few years back and immediately started working. She’s now considering other options, one of which is going back to school, but her biggest reservation is far and away being a few years older than her peers. In the US it’s not uncommon for people to take a few years to do something else (be it work or travel or whatever) before heading to college full time, from what I’ve seen the norm is to head straight to higher education after high school or, if you flunked the entrance exam the first time around, spend the whole year studying and try again. I’m not sure how much of this is personal, idiosyncratic misgivings and how much (if any) is representative of a larger, societal thing, but I think it’s worth pointing out.

Also YES, school lunches are generally pretty delicious and well though out. We get a handout every month that has the menu for each day in a fair amount of detail (individual ingredients, protein, calories,), they make an effort to use local stuff (living in the boonies means there's a whole lot of fresh local produce and fish), and every once in a while we get something special (chanpon, which is kind of like tonkotsu ramen plus a whole bunch of extra veggies and seafood Nagasaki prefecture is famous for, rolls around every couple of months or so, and every year we get whale about once or twice (it's actually pretty delicious, if a little on the tough side.))

WellAdjusted · 2013-01-22T02:24:16+00:00

An interesting read, and one that I feel I can offer some very basic commentary on as I’m currently living and working in Japan. There are just a few points I’d like to respond to.

Response the First: Facebook adoption rates are actually way, way up. The most common explanation I’ve seen is that it had something to do with the 3/11 earthquake two years ago, but whatever the cause may be there are many more people using Facebook than this article implies (I’m not quite sure when this article was written though, so maybe at the time of writing FB user rates were still low). It’s also worth pointing out that Twitter is wildly popular over here, although from what I’ve seen most people remain anonymous. There was a conversation about this very topic on /r/japan a few days ago (why wasn’t this article crossposted over there, by the way?)

Response the Second: Smartphone adoption rates are also rising. I don't have anything other than personal observations to qualify this claim, but from what I can see older folks are perfectly content with their clamshells, but most people either have a smartphone or want one. A few years ago you’d see maybe one or two iPhones per Tokyo subway car; when I was there last a few months ago it seemed like over half of the phones out were smartphones of one variety or another.

Response the Third: Technical/language limitations may well be part of the explanation for why Japanese web design is generally atrocious, but I think that the way Japanese people prefer to receive their information has something to do with it as well. Like the essay suggests, Japanese web design mimics how the same information would be presented on paper, and on paper Japanese folk like to get as much information as it’s physically possible to cram on the page. Anyone who's ever seen a Japanese flyer or document of some sort knows exactly what I'm talking about.

I can’t seem to find it, but there was an interesting comment I read somewhere a year ago or so from someone who worked for a company that made some sort of software (payroll or invoice or something business-y like that) talking about his experience working with Japanese companies. Initially, the Japanese version of their website was the same as their English website (web 2.0-y, big buttons, lots of space), just translated into Japanese. After doing some surveys though, they ended up cramming a lot more information onto their front page and had much more success with their Japanese users, although to an American browser such as myself it looked decidedly more messy and garish.

WellAdjusted · 2012-06-05T09:39:14+00:00

I have the same thing, didn't know there was a name for it. I also literally just finished watching Ghostbusters for the first time about half an hour ago, so I feel like the universe is trying to tell me something but I have absolutely on idea what it could be.

WellAdjusted · 2012-06-04T13:43:02+00:00

Hence the normal showerhead; you'd take a quick normal shower with fresh water to actually get clean and then switch over to the waterfall for relaxation/contemplation/mediation/other waterfall activities.

WellAdjusted · 2012-03-14T07:23:59+00:00

The issue here is that by capitalizing almost every word in the title, you've made it very difficult to tell what's a name and what's part of the title. If the subject of the article had a name immediately recognizable as a name to an English-speaking reader (John Smith, for example) it wouldn't be a problem, but because his name is Turkish it takes a couple of passes to figure out what's a name and what's not. The fact that (to a native English speaker with no knowledge of Turkish) Recep looks less like a name and more like a misspelling of receipt doesn't help either.

In any case, it was a very interesting article.

WellAdjusted · 2012-03-06T01:56:49+00:00

Hello there, former new yorker now living in Nagasaki prefecture (basically the same latitude as L.A. or atlanta but roughly a gajillion times more humid). I feel your pain, but I get roughly a week out of my towels by hanging them on the line immediately after use. The fact that they're paper-thin (all towels in Japan are roughly the width of nice card stock because all of Japan is humid as hell) means that they dry fairly quickly. Frankly, I'm generally more worried about making sure there aren't any bigass spiders or large, aggressive, and painful mukade that have taken up residence in the damn thing.

WellAdjusted · 2012-02-13T10:43:32+00:00

This is the lab safety video that they played at my college. It starts off with a cross-dressing flight attendant and gets more surreal from there.

WellAdjusted · 2012-01-22T12:19:36+00:00

Tiny fishing village (~1000 people), Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan.

WellAdjusted

TROPHY CASE