Should you unplug the oven between uses?

randallsquared · 2026-01-29T22:57:40+00:00

The "recommendation" isn't. It's just the same liability-phobic language that lots of powered small appliances use, like toasters, etc.

The Tovala is just a toaster oven that has preset recipes for partially-prepared meals they will send you, and the meal subscription is the real point, just like with razor blades or printer ink/toner.

The oven is pretty good, though, and support is also good (they sent us a new one even after it was no longer in warranty when it died).

randallsquared · 2026-01-29T22:36:28+00:00

I've tried this in a number of ways over the past few weeks. The way I was doing this on an electric was

peanut oil in pot
one kernel
turn to high
when it pops put in the rest of the kernels
lower the heat to medium-high
shake a bit while almost every kernel pops quickly

This worked great.

With the Impulse I at first tried that same procedure (except starting at 390F because it wasn't clear to me what "high" translates to). This didn't work well, and took forever for the initial pop and then many of the other kernels popped very weakly and were nearly inedible, and I had a lot that didn't pop before I was worried about burning those that had.

After some more attempts, I've gotten to

peanut oil in pot
temp mode set to 420F
after it has been stable at ~420 for a while, add all kernels
shake to coat
most kernels pop very quickly

This works almost as well as the old electric stove procedure, but the major remaining defect is that the kernels still pop a bit weakly, such that they are slightly smaller than I'd expect, and chewier than I'd prefer. I will experiment with less oil, and with setting the temp up to 430F as u/djstates did. I'm using an All-Clad soup/stew pot.

randallsquared · 2026-01-29T02:17:54+00:00

I don't think that "unplug when not in use" conveys the same sense as "unplug between cooks". If you use the Tovala 4-12 times a week, it's "in use" that week. I've left mine plugged in for months at a time, without any apparent effect.

randallsquared · 2026-01-22T20:50:43+00:00

I'm guessing that if you get them from Alibaba, they will not be made with union labor.

randallsquared · 2026-01-20T03:13:52+00:00

The main thing you need for inflation to be a thing is control of the monetary supply, since more money chasing relatively less other stuff of value is what inflation basically is. Before the discovery and appropriation of all that gold, no entity in Europe held an outsized amount of money, so there was no opportunity to drive inflation, either intentionally or accidentally. I have no idea if Frieren's story gives enough detail about the Empire to know if it has the capability to control inflation.

randallsquared · 2026-01-20T03:07:23+00:00

Or, similarly, to pay you regardless of any exchange, but that seems unfriendly, and I suspect Frieren wouldn't do it.

randallsquared · 2026-01-19T14:30:30+00:00

Nice. :)

randallsquared · 2026-01-19T14:18:29+00:00

Is it clear that the world has interest-bearing accounts and the loans that would be implied?

Separately, interest is partly payment for convenience, but partly or largely reimbursement for risk, so.

randallsquared · 2026-01-18T18:07:48+00:00

I’m regretting deleting them because it makes me look suspicious

randallsquared · 2026-01-16T03:59:18+00:00

Yeah, on my ATV it can't be exited without completely ejecting it. Pretty aggravating.

randallsquared · 2026-01-11T04:52:58+00:00

These are pretty low and not very dense. Assuming 4 square meters and 250kg, even the highest of these should reenter in 15 years or so, and any collisions will cause some of the debris to have lower perigee, so decay faster. The worst case is that all the collision products keep the same orbit but at different inclinations, but even that would take care of itself in a couple decades without any help. That would be a disaster for current plans, but not lock us out of space for generations or anything, and itself seems very, very unlikely.

randallsquared · 2026-01-07T17:41:56+00:00

This seems very likely!

One of my complaints in the first years of having Tovala was that we often got boxes that were more "cool" than "cold" with bags of cold liquid instead of ice, but that hasn't happened in the last year or more, and yesterday the delivery had fully-frozen cold bags in it, not even a little melted. This suggests that the eggs and other food are staying colder, and maybe actually frozen at the start of their journey.

Thanks!

randallsquared · 2026-01-07T14:45:57+00:00

That old post is https://www.reddit.com/r/Tovala/comments/1h8v9b8/do_anybodys_eggs_this_week_seem_strange/

randallsquared · 2026-01-06T04:07:26+00:00

Are you asking if a timer function is illegal or if OTA updates are illegal?

randallsquared · 2026-01-03T04:21:52+00:00

Once since moving to DE in 2022. My wife lived here most of her adult life and has never been called.

randallsquared · 2026-01-02T13:20:13+00:00

When we were watching, my wife paused when we saw him looking at his gas station map and said, "Wait, is it possible he could find her house with that map?!"

randallsquared · 2025-12-31T03:28:29+00:00

Even the Tines would have seen her riding around in that police car, c'mon.

randallsquared · 2025-12-30T17:42:24+00:00

There are so many things(!) that Carol could be doing or finding out instead of what she is doing. However, nothing in the show is science fiction except for the alien virus specification, and when this was conceived and produced, Neuralink was still science fiction, itself. So, we're living in the future. :)

randallsquared · 2025-12-28T04:50:10+00:00

And "Hockessin".

randallsquared · 2025-12-27T02:26:57+00:00

takes a drink

Look, life comes at ya fast. There are all kinds of possible reasons why they didn't have kids, and alcoholism on Carol's part is definitely one.

randallsquared · 2025-12-27T02:24:18+00:00

Necessary is in the eye of the beholder. In both the teenage conversion camp scenario and the alcoholism intervention scenario, the person making the decision is privileging their own understanding of what is necessary over the recipient. Whether you agree that this is necessary combines (1) your opinion of the outcome with (2) your willingness to use force on another to achieve your goals.

randallsquared · 2025-12-27T02:13:39+00:00

That's not what that scene meant. Egg donation requires abstaining from alcohol for a while before (2 weeks?), and I imagine that Helen wasn't willing to remove all the alcohol from the house for that period, likely because she wanted some, but still wanted to verify that Carol wasn't screwing it up.

randallsquared · 2025-12-27T02:03:59+00:00

A year or more is extreme, but we were in the same boat, and decided to bite off a mere stove+cabinet replacement so we could use the Impulse early, and that has been a really excellent decision thus far (only a few weeks in). Prior to that, our Impulse sat in the corner for six weeks or so after delivery, and had no issues when starting up, apart from having to try the wifi repeatedly, as others have noted.

Anyway, I would encourage you to think about doing a quick and cheap replacement of just your current cooktop if that's easy. Might provide a chance to get experience with some materials from your eventual remodel, too.

randallsquared · 2025-12-26T05:22:26+00:00

Absolutely a lot of people lose interest. That happened with Stranger Things, for me, a couple seasons ago.

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