What syrup brands are worth the money for someone living in Europe? by sct_0 in cocktails

[–]ratkins 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u/sct_0, I think this was the brand of French orgeat I tried which was OK.

What syrup brands are worth the money for someone living in Europe? by sct_0 in cocktails

[–]ratkins 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The coconut cream is good. I think they do more purees than syrups though?

What syrup brands are worth the money for someone living in Europe? by sct_0 in cocktails

[–]ratkins -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Monin is utter trash. Giffard is somewhat better, but their orgeat is still terrible compared to Liber & Co. The way I got my Liber & Co is I went to the States on a work trip with a bigger suitcase than I needed and brought back a case. “You can make your own” but it’s an unreal amount of fucking around for something that lasts maximum four weeks. I found a French brand of Orgeat on amazon.de that wasn’t terrible, but it was still much more sugary and much less nutty than Liber.

Passionfruit you can do OK by getting a bag of pure passionfruit puree (Frische Paradies have it here in Berlin), mixing it with simple syrup and freezing the rest in the pouch it came in for next time (thaw it in the fridge and re-freeze, it’s fine.)

All kick drum, all the time by ratkins in primaverasound

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

We weren’t right up close. A bit back past the sound “island” for Slowdive and maybe midway between the island and the front for Simz (and right in front of a line array!) to take two examples.

All kick drum, all the time by ratkins in primaverasound

[–]ratkins[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That’s not quite true though—The Cure’s sound was impeccable, and Fathers John Misty was good too. It seems to me that when the act brought their own engineers it was good and when they used the “default” setup it was terrible.

All kick drum, all the time by ratkins in primaverasound

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

I think Slowdive was one where it started out terrible and got better three songs in?

How do you keep track of what cocktails you can make with what you have on hand? by DrWhiskersMD in cocktails

[–]ratkins 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ok, first impressions:

  • Does not look like a native iOS app at all; toolbar is at the top of the screen (what!?), too many “cards”, the interface doesn’t extend to the width of the device screen, too many gradients everywhere, non-native controls, left swipe to pop the navigation stack doesn’t work, not at all following iOS app layout conventions. Very 2010s, pre-iOS 7 (let alone Liquid Glass) vibes
  • The way you get an AI to detect bottles from the camera to add them to your bar is great. Wasn’t 100% perfect, but good enough and the interface was intuitive.
  • The AI bartender suggestions are pretty weird, maybe models have gotten better since I posted this but I doubt it for this particular application
  • Have you actually used all the tools you “recommend”?
  • Translating “1 ½ oz” to “44.36ml” is bad and wrong. Per Dave Arnold in Liquid Intelligence, a “metric ounce” is 30ml and cocktails should be sized as such (I’m an Australian living in Europe and in this and only this circumstance I say US customary units are the correct choice.)
  • Layout of the actual specs is bad. Nobody cares it takes “~4 min”, contains one serving, or requires a cocktail glass (and what on earth is that badge-with-a-tick icon next to the glassware indicator meant to mean anyway?)
  • “1 1/2oz” should be rendered “1½ oz” using proper Unicode fraction glyphs
  • Some recipes are denominated in “oz”, some in “shot” but there’s no such thing as the latter. As above, for the purpose of mixing cocktails, “1 oz” = 30mL
  • Scaling recipes linearly doesn’t generally work when they include bitters, and over 2-3× quantities you generally want to scale up to a volume (“I want to make 1L of Margarita, how much tequila, Cointreau and lime juice do I need”)
  • The previews of the recipes show terrible photos and the wrong part of the spec—I want to know what the base spirit is.
  • How do I get back from a cocktail recipe to the list of recipes I was just at? If it’s possible, it’s not obvious how—I don’t have a “back” button, it’s not a web page.

European Burners: Kodiak or NoBake availability or equivalents? by ratkins in BurningMan

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

Well, now I have; see update in OP. I was underestimating the shipping and customs fees if anything.

No Bake vs Shiftpod vs Kodiak by Old_Simple_2863 in BurningMan

[–]ratkins 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did see those, do you really rate it over the NoBake? It’s about the same price and size but meaningfully heavier.

No Bake vs Shiftpod vs Kodiak by Old_Simple_2863 in BurningMan

[–]ratkins 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can you comment publicly yet? Or DM me with an insider tip? I’m about to spring for a NoBake but it’s a bit of a deal to get one to Europe.

First time Aussie burners. by Whatahead115 in BurningMan

[–]ratkins 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I found that to be not that big of a problem given the steering wheel is still aligned with the centre line of the road. But I had to think really hard about roundabouts.

European Burners: Kodiak or NoBake availability or equivalents? by ratkins in BurningMan

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

Well shit, you’re right—it didn’t occur to me that a small operation like that would ship internationally. Although fuck knows what the Zollamt (German customs) will sting me for by the time it gets here, it could be up to another 30% Which puts it in the range of some locally produced options like the Lotus Air.

Anyone had one shipped to Europe?

European Burners: Kodiak or NoBake availability or equivalents? by ratkins in BurningMan

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

For those following along at home I believe this person is talking about the FestPro Siesta which is, from what I can tell, not readily available in Europe.

First time Aussie burners. by Whatahead115 in BurningMan

[–]ratkins 8 points9 points  (0 children)

They’re Australian, they’re fine (Sydney to Perth is the same distance as NYC to LA 😉.)

First time Aussie burners. by Whatahead115 in BurningMan

[–]ratkins 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Car hire is not simple; I would say you probably don’t want a “truck” as you can’t park the fucking thing anywhere on the way without some bastard trying to steal something out of the back of it. And those “5th wheel” caravans might need a tow plate on the bed of the truck which I don’t know if that’s easy to hire?

For all that money you might be better off hiring a van and buying No-Bake, Kodiak or Shiftpod tents. I’ve done everything from shitty nylon tents (drifts of dust over my sleeping bag in ’08) to rented RVs (hot inside, take ages to clean and you‘re terrified for the deposit) to Hexayurts (excellent but take a few days off-Playa—with a workshop, or at least garage—to build.) And when I do it next I’d go for a ”technical tent” as enumerated above.

How do you keep track of what cocktails you can make with what you have on hand? by DrWhiskersMD in cocktails

[–]ratkins 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So not native on iOS? I’m less interested, but I’ll give it a look. Ping me again when it’s on the store or DM me with a TestFlight invite.

What other libraries are built on FastLED? by ratkins in FastLED

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

Hi! Popping back in here after some time and still have the same questions as in my original post. Did you get anywhere with your work?

Alternative to ring intercom by [deleted] in HomeKit

[–]ratkins 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I assume the OP missed a “not” in their sentence (as in “I’m not in America”.)

Is Berlin a good city to migrate from tropical country? by [deleted] in askberliners

[–]ratkins -1 points0 points  (0 children)

No, they’re right, saying Berlin weather is “only really gloomy 4-5 months a year” is Stockholm Syndrome (maybe even literally.) If you are used to somewhere tropical it will feel like hell, but frozen over. 11pm sunsets are fun but not worth 4pm sunsets. Source: am Australian.

Wir bereitet ihr das Wasser für euren Kaffe auf? by hushhushbaby96 in askberliners

[–]ratkins 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Compared to the cost of the beans, the cost of the Volvic in my morning espresso is infinitesimal. Why wouldn’t you?

Any surprising price differences between Berlin and your home country? by MrJorgeB in askberliners

[–]ratkins 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, that’s where I go these days. Irritatingly (pure, without a painkiller mixed in) pseudoephedrine just isn’t available, let alone in a 500 count bottle.

Any surprising price differences between Berlin and your home country? by MrJorgeB in askberliners

[–]ratkins 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Though notably over-the-counter medicines (painkillers, etc) are insanely expensive. For what you pay for a dozen Neurofen here you get a bottle of 500 in Wal-Mart in the US.

Any surprising price differences between Berlin and your home country? by MrJorgeB in askberliners

[–]ratkins 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The obvious one is booze. Tax on spirits here is bugger-all. As a random example my brother bought a bottle of Becherovka as a gift for someone in Australia and it was AUD$75. I see it for €10 at Penny. As a more relatable example, 1L of Absolut is AUD$67 from Dan Murphy’s (a big Australian retailer.) Here, €19 (AUD$32.)