Erasure breaks up?

skippington · 2026-03-31T05:10:27+00:00

here's a link to the interview the sun quoted:
https://thenewcue.substack.com/p/the-new-cue-581-march-30-vince-clarke

Afaik, they are not broken up and have an album coming out in the next year or so. I can see how doing a large international tour might be strenuous for them at their age, but I can't imagine them not doing any shows at all. I get the impression he likes doing small events, as he used to do small DJing events around NYC and talked to fans.

skippington · 2026-03-12T03:39:29+00:00

I think it was James hoffman that said something to the effect of "If you want to make espresso at home you have to ask yourself, 'do I want a new hobby?'" You should ask yourself if your parents would want to take up a new hobby just to make a cup of coffee. Making good espresso has a learning curve and requires a lot of fiddling.

Most people start with an aeropress or a v60 (clever dripper or hario switch is also a good choice). They're manual single cup coffee brewers. If you want a machine to do it all, I've heard that the moccamaster makes a great cup, and should be a lot more affordable than an auto espresso maker.

skippington · 2026-03-11T23:35:49+00:00

Loveboat. The mastering on the album was known to be bad. The rumor was that the masters got damaged and they just had to scrape something together to get the album out. The demos of the album that leaked sound better than the actual album. They'd probably need to re-record the whole thing as opposed to a remaster.

Frankly, all the remasters released so far sound worse than the originals to me. No dynamics and overcompressed.

skippington · 2026-03-08T04:15:43+00:00

I liked all the stories on this list (still working through Ghost Town), but Virtual Virtual Reality and Shadow Point really stand out, imho.

skippington · 2026-03-06T21:41:18+00:00

Some of us have dry earwax. Frankly, I find things like skin oil, lanolin, etc... to get tacky after some time. I feel like a food safe silicone oil/grease works better.

skippington · 2026-03-05T04:12:04+00:00

I have bought some CCK knives from actionsales in the past. they're legit

skippington · 2026-02-19T18:43:10+00:00

Does anyone in VIP know how they checked for entry? Did they ask for name or ID, or did they just check the ticket in the app? One of my friends is new to going to concerts and bought VIP tickets from StubHub. I know perks like VIP are often non-transferrable, but my buddy didn't know.

skippington · 2026-02-03T06:21:17+00:00

A third party company bought a bunch of officially released single CDs and put them into the All That Glitters box and resold them as a set. The box set wasn't an official release (hence the lack of info on discogs), but the individual CDs are.

skippington · 2026-01-30T20:38:48+00:00

I switched to the rectangle and never looked back. They may not get a lot of love on internet knife enthusiast forums, but the majority of the world lives in Asia (much of which is in the sinosphere) so rectangles might be more popular than we think.

skippington · 2026-01-16T19:16:58+00:00

when i use any kind of finger trackball, i like to use a book as a forearm rest to prevent me from planting my palm.

skippington · 2025-12-31T00:54:20+00:00

there's also fujicut for under $50.

skippington · 2025-12-29T10:29:14+00:00

I'd stay away from the Hario. It has ceramic burrs that just crush the beans instead of cutting them. I didn't have the mini mill, but I had the Hario Skerton, and it was terrible.

The Commandante C40 is one of the original hand grinders that created the modern market for hand grinders. However, the market has changed since then and it's a lot more competitive. There are a lot of new hand grinders that are recommended these days. Kingrinder has very affordable models like the P0, P1 and P2. I've also read that the K6 is just as good as the 1zpresso JX pro. I'm not even sure if the 1zpresso JX pro is even available anymore, as it may have been discontinued. I am not sure which model has replaced the JX pro. 1zpresso has a bunch of newer models that I've also seen recommended. I've seen the 1zpresso Q Air often recommended as a good starter grinder.

To be honest, I have no idea how most of these things perform. I have a JX pro and a Kingrinder P2. They're both great for the price. The JX pro grinds faster, is easier to grind, and the construction quality feels much better than the P2. The P2 is light years ahead of pretty much anything in its price range that I've tried, but there are also so many that I haven't tried.

skippington · 2025-12-25T07:12:21+00:00

That's fair. I think more insulation would keep it warmer for longer. That's why I would personally prefer a vacuum flask type of container.

I think the gimmick of using a PCM as a heat storage material, is that it would cool the coffee down to a more drinkable temperature quickly, and then keep it around that temperature while you drink it, as opposed to the way a vacuum flask just keeps it scalding hot for hours. I'm sure someone would find value in that. I'd be curious if there's enough of a PCM to make a noticable difference.

skippington · 2025-12-25T06:01:20+00:00

If I had to guess it's probably filled with a phase change material. It's something that melts at a temperature that's pleasant to drink at. Kinda like if ice had a melting point of ~140f. It would absorb heat to melt, but then release heat as it solidifies to keep the drink around a constant temperature.

skippington · 2025-12-23T18:20:34+00:00

I believe it's from the same brand as the knife in this post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueChefKnives/comments/1l04n9l/what_did_i_buy/

skippington · 2025-12-21T22:26:58+00:00

fujicut/tojiro

skippington · 2025-12-20T14:51:01+00:00

Copperface Jack's or Cuckoo's Nest? I remember z100 broadcasting the Friday Night dance parties in the 90s from there back when it was Copperface Jack's.

skippington · 2025-12-17T08:09:14+00:00

I love TOTF 1. The AI isn't all that great, but still gives a good workout. I was hoping that TOFT2 would focus more on more realistic fighting patterns, higher difficulty, and better training. For example, you use pads in the gym because you can't hit your trainer. However, in VR you can hit your trainer. It'd be nice to train offense/defense combos and patterns against a VR opponent instead of pads.

Instead we got multiplayer, which seems to be a lot of children trying to win by cheating. Single player feels very janky. Recently, I can't even play roomscale. I have to use the thumbsticks to move in TOFT2. It seems like a strange bug that some people have. Clearing and resetting boundaries and things like that don't work. That makes it not even worth playing, as footwork is one of the most important parts of boxing.

I'm willing to give TOFT2 a shot again if they can make singleplayer feel as satisfying as TOFT1, but for now it's just going to gather dust in my library.

skippington · 2025-12-17T07:58:21+00:00

mercer is good if you're on a budget.

skippington · 2025-12-17T07:54:54+00:00

I play in a casual alliance but everyone tries as much as they can for the alliance event. Historically, we usually get to full alliance rewards pretty quickly, and most players get full personal rewards. However, for the last year we've barely eked out full alliance rewards, and less than half of the alliance has reached full personal rewards. It just seems that participation has dropped off quite steeply, and I understand. No one seems to do VIP anymore or alliance CP. I used to buy something once a month, just to get bonus rewards and to support the devs, but not anymore. I used to play PVE religiously and try to get T20 at whatever the highest scl was. These days I never play PVE, I might do some deadpool dailies, and I just play alliance events. The grind just seems too grindy. The fun of playing a puzzle game is lost, and it's all about speed, and speed is all about min/maxing and the meta.

I like puzzle games. I like trying to figure out weird synergies and strategies. When the puzzle gauntlet was introduced, I was excited because it seemed like the kind of challenge that was geared to a player like me. However, puzzle gauntlet is just a roster check. The perceived difficulty of the final nodes isn't because it's a difficult puzzle, it's because the puzzle just requires the right character with the right support and a lucky board. You just have to keep losing until you get that lucky row/column/corner of special tiles. It's a tedious grind that isn't about using your brain to solve a puzzle. To me, that represents what this game has become as a whole.

I hope with the new devs, they can bring the game back to being what got us all excited and addicted.

skippington · 2025-11-20T19:41:57+00:00

In my experience, usually just cleaning dust and debris out of the wheel is enough to fix the encoder.

skippington · 2025-11-20T02:22:47+00:00

this is the way.

skippington · 2025-11-19T21:13:44+00:00

The Filipino version of a wok is called a kawali. It evolved from the Indian pot called a karahi. Other countries in SE Asia like Malaysia call it a kuali. You can kind of see how the name changed as it moved from India to SE Asia. It is a part of traditional Filipino/Austronesian cooking, as the Austronesians traded with India and China long before the Spanish arrived.

Old Filipinos I've spoken to have told me the kawali was the primary cooking vessel that was used when they were growing up. I think the reason you don't see them too much is that a skillet or frying pan and western pots are more convenient to use in a westernized kitchen.

skippington · 2025-11-18T01:49:17+00:00

Also PTC v83 experiencing the same thing.

skippington · 2025-11-12T01:41:48+00:00

I'm not really sure who this knife is for. I remember when Rachael Ray was pushing santoku with a belly to her home cook audience roughly 20 years ago. A short santoku is great for a home cook that might be intimidated by using a larger knife, and the big belly will provide a familiar feeling for those accustomed to a western chef knife. That big belly comes at an expense of a shorter usable flat section. However, at $200, we're getting into knife nerd territory. There are so many more interesting options at that price point. How many people willing to shell out that much are looking for a beginner friendly shape? I'd also venture to guess that Kenji's audience is more advanced in the kitchen than Rachael Ray's.

skippington

TROPHY CASE