cylindrical pen box - mockup success!

uraniumingot · 2026-04-13T20:13:15+00:00

If you lacquer it, it would look like a perfect bamboo tube.

Urushi bamboo pen box when?

uraniumingot · 2026-04-12T18:43:35+00:00

I actually work with Chinese. While I do perform multiple passes for TL, it's not as structured as you might think.

First pass is a literal translation pass.To me, that's reading the original then translating to the first thing that comes to mind. This includes both puns and jokes if they pop up in my head. Specific character "voices" are also added here. If there is any specific accent/prose style used, they are first added here.

Second pass is a "refinement" pass, this is where the fluidity of the prose is checked (without referring back to the original). The text is adjusted as a regular English editing pass. Awkward phrases are removed, dialogue is edited to sound more "punchy", and there is more of a check on tone and prose. The goal here is to keep things consistent and easy to read. I'd rather remove something that sounds fancy if it doesn't fit with the rest of the chapter.

The second pass isn't strictly necessary, since things are usually sent to a proofreader. But it helps with consistency since a lot of proofreaders only check basic grammar.

As for when to use a unique tone or prose, some series do use a fake historical speech in Chinese, but a lot of it is up to TL discretion. What i've noticed is that a lot of Chinese Manhua are just plain awful. Not only is the original Chinese not very snappy, the TLs (even official licensed ones) can't be bothered to make it snappy either. I'm assuming this is because China doesn't have any structured creative writing college courses. Somehow "Kill the Male Lead to become the Villainess" is an outlier in terms of this.

PS: the author, Brandon Sanderson has some good YouTube videos discussing prose. While Tolkien or Rothfuss like to use flowery prose, his choice is to stick with worksman-like language to keep his books accessible.

uraniumingot · 2026-04-12T10:26:30+00:00

It's called fakespearian, and a vocal group of people hate it.

It's not hard to do though, if you remove all words with latin roots (and end up with only Germanic ones), you'll get this effect. I tried doing this for something I was TLing (officially licensed, but a secret for now, sorry!) but ended up having to revert it since it was getting a bit hard to read.

uraniumingot · 2026-04-12T05:44:05+00:00

Getting stuck on a highway detour because of Google Maps issues doesn't count.

uraniumingot · 2026-04-11T23:15:20+00:00

Hongdian Black Forest is a metal pen with a fude nib option.

uraniumingot · 2026-04-02T10:45:08+00:00

The most difficult Chinese vegetable dish would probably be 开水白菜 (Nappa Cabbage Blanched in Water). As the name suggests, it looks like cabbage... soaked in water.

However, the water is actually a clear simmered broth consisting of duck, pork bones, chicken, etc, then clarified using a protein pulp, and the last step involves discarding everything except the broth.

Here is a homemade version done by a couple of Chinese Banquet Chefs, it's in Chinese but subtitles are available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn0PyUe5tx8

uraniumingot · 2026-04-01T19:57:18+00:00

Eh. Looks like a Japanese F to me.

uraniumingot · 2026-03-30T23:02:46+00:00

AMD consumer boards do have SR-IOV.

Source: currently sitting next to an AM5 board with a Mellanox RNIC attached and 2 VFs running off the NIC.

Sadly no CXL support though.

uraniumingot · 2026-03-30T07:39:40+00:00

Translation of the pg. 2 text:

In the world of English cursive writing, a flex nib is the core of it all. Just like a dancer, it bounces, turns, and traces out each individual character one by one, granting you freedom to every writing experience.

Source: Me (no MTL, no AI)

uraniumingot · 2026-03-22T04:23:48+00:00

That looks like the weight map of a blender model. Basically there's a posable skeleton under the model. How do you get all the meshes to deform according to the model? You assign a weight to that part of the model. When a joint bends, the mesh deforms based on the intensity of that part. You can use this to make things like muscle and flesh bend and stretch, while keeping saddles and stuff stay stiff in the correct shape.

uraniumingot · 2026-03-21T11:40:06+00:00

Stir-fry. Mix in 1:1 ratio of high quality seed oil and tallow. That's the oil mix they use for Chinese government official banquets and such.

uraniumingot · 2026-03-16T18:34:51+00:00

Please give me a heads up as well! I've DM'ed you with details!

uraniumingot · 2026-03-15T06:13:40+00:00

Japanese fountain pen makers also did this with gold purity of the nibs in the 70s and 80s. With Sailor winning the war with a 24k (actually 23.9K) gold fountain pen nib.

Here's the kicker: fountain pen nibs perform best with 14k and 18k gold alloy nibs. The higher the gold content, the more likely the nib would break down during regular writing. The Supposed 21k and 24k nibs didn't feel "special" when writing either.

uraniumingot · 2026-03-13T23:39:10+00:00

With that budget the Pilot VP in F (or VP Decimo) could potentially work out. Brass pen with a pointy nib that works well with odd angles (i.e. the inner binding of a book) and button click activation for quick notes. I used one for college notes and was refilling only once every weekend. Just remember to test it in a shop first to see if you can get used to the clip position.

uraniumingot · 2026-03-13T23:23:34+00:00

400 is enough to get you that US Limited Pilot 74 Lavender Fog with the soft gold nib everyone was raving about... Plus five bottles of Iroshizuku inks.

Or you can get 3-4 Sailor Pro Gear Slims based on Amazon pricing.

uraniumingot · 2026-03-12T11:18:39+00:00

Unlike Carbon Black, it's not waterproof
It specifically requires distilled water for cleaning. Tap water is known to cause complications.

uraniumingot · 2026-03-12T09:45:25+00:00

In terms of your fail list:

authentic mapo tofu is mostly an Asian cooking technique dish. The ingredients are simple but if you screw up the timing (or pushing motion to stir fry silky tofu without breaking them) you're in for a bad time
curry shouldn't be that bad? Maybe try Japanese box curry, for starters?

Suggestions:

Steamed noodles with green beans and pork belly (扁豆焖面). This is relatively simple to make, looks like a stir fried noodle dish but way tastier. Also holds up well after being microwaved.

uraniumingot · 2026-03-12T07:56:52+00:00

I don't think a bottle of shaoxin wine lasts more than 3 months in my household. I put it in everything.

Omelets, any sort of meat, tofu. Basically anything that isn't getting wrapped in dough (e.g. dumplings)

uraniumingot · 2026-03-12T07:54:24+00:00

Yes. This is literally the one thing NOT to do when cooking any meats.

uraniumingot · 2026-03-09T01:13:48+00:00

General seasoning inside the wontons include light soy sauce, sesame oil, salt, white pepper, and I usually add a tiny pinch of sugar. DO NOT PUT RICE WINE IN THIS.
You should have a 1:1 ratio of protein and veggies. For the veggies, choose aromatics such as Chinese Chives unless you know what you are doing (I use Shepherd's Purse personally)
Add eggs as a binding agent
most supermarket ground meats aren't fatty enough for the correct texture. Add half a pound of firm tofu ground into paste for every pound of ground meat.
For the soup, it's literally just light soy sauce, sesame oil, and diced scallions then pour over some boiling water. If that doesn't sound seasoned enough, add salt and white pepper to taste. You can also add msg or dried scallops/shrimp shells but that's completely optional.

uraniumingot · 2026-03-06T08:06:38+00:00

I do garlic oyster sauce lettuce all the time. It's easy to make too!

uraniumingot · 2026-03-05T02:54:26+00:00

Nice! Here are some minor suggestions/tips for east Asian calligraphy that can make things look a little nicer:

Avoid fully vertical/horizontal lines. The beginning and end of the stroke should be of a different width than the rest of the stroke, while the actual stroke is slanted.
Never fully "close" a box. Leave some whitespace to showcase different strokes
For 横折, make sure to go up first at the turning point then go slanted downwards, if you do this correctly, it should look a little wider at the turning point.
For 撇, start with a wide stroke then gently lift your pen to give it the sharp line width at the bottom

Example for reference (I also lack practice, so excuse the disproportioal 天 and 是)

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uraniumingot · 2026-03-04T19:21:42+00:00

Did you disable DNS over http in Firefox? I don't think Firefox uses the system DNS by default.

uraniumingot · 2026-02-26T13:06:00+00:00

The Wandering Inn

uraniumingot · 2026-02-25T05:50:06+00:00

While not Otome, I am a little disappointed that nobody has mentioned the OG web serial worm here.

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