Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

And it's gone

It was a particularly spendy weekend. And I didn’t even use that money for anything fun. The money was spent on replacing stuff I already have. After more than a decade of using the same electric shaver and electric toothbrush, (I’ve swapped out the brush heads many times, obviously) it was time to replace them with something new. Something with stronger battery and improved functions.

I’m not that picky in choosing what to buy when I’m not sure what’s best in that category. I’m as memetic and consensus-seeking as anyone when it comes to this. Research for what electric toothbrush and electric shaver to buy was incredibly simple: I visited Wirecutter. The top-rated toothbrush there is the Oral B Pro 1000, (at a surprisingly reasonable $50 dollars) while the best shaver is the Braun Series 7. (Fun fact: the Oral B toothbrush is also made in Germany by Braun.) I stopped research immediately and bought both on Amazon.

The Oral B toothbrush is a revelation. I can’t belief I stuck with an off-brand low power unit for so long. The motor in the Pro 1000 truly allows me to let the brush head do all the work. it’s a real electric toothbrush, rather than a brush that merely vibrates. I am supremely happy with this purchase.

What I’m not happy with is having to replace my barely three-years old AirPods Pro. The right-ear unit have developed an annoying crackle. This is a hugely disappointing quality miss for an Apple product. No big deal: guess I’ll just drop another $200 (original price is $250) on the newer AirPods Pro 2.

Soon as I put those on, I immediately forgot about the hefty expense. The claimed 2X improvement in active noise cancellation (Pro 2 versus the Pro 1) is absolutely true. The way the AirPods Pro 2 shuts out the outside world when you put them on is stunning, as if I’d entered a new aural dimension. These mere ear buds can definitely rival the noise cancellation capabilities of full-on headphones. It’s amazing to see how far that technology has come. I just hope this pair lasts way longer than three years of use. Fingers crossed.

Apple TV 4K

I’ve always been a big proponent of spending money to make your life easier. It’s a wonder then why I waited so long to get an Apple TV 4K unit for my LG television. Farewell, LG’s utterly crappy WebOS! No more apps crashing, paused shows not starting back up, and general unresponsiveness. More importantly: LG can no longer harvest my usage information.

The reason I delayed on getting the Apple TV is the price. After spending $1,800 on the LG OLED, I really didn’t want to immediately spend another $129 (plus tax) for something that duplicates what the TV can already do (albeit poorly). One year later, I’m finally fed up. Still determined to save money, I bought my Apple TV 4K from the Apple Refurbished store, for a $20 saving. Combined with a $100 Apple Gift Card that I bought for $90, it brings the Apple TV to a price just palatable enough to click checkout.

If you’re going to run a TV operating system, you really want the power of the iPhone. The A15 chip in the Apple TV 4K makes everything buttery smooth. Apps launch super quickly; there’s nothing you the user can do to flummox the unit. Best of all, the exquisitely-built aluminum Apple TV remote can serve duty to control the LG TV as well. While it lacks buttons to switch the TV’s inputs (I have a PlayStation 5 plugged in as well), merely starting up the PS5 (using its own controller) will cause the TV to switch to the appropriate input automatically.

Consumer tech is as its best when it can delight like that. I can now relegate the LG remote to storage.

The only thing preventing Apple TV 4K from being perfect, is the inability to act as an interface for over-the-air TV signals. It would be sweet if I didn’t have to leave Apple TV to watch local broadcast channels. Perhaps in future iterations? Overall I am incredibly happy with the purchase.

The missing submersible

The focus of the entire world is on the missing submersible that was on a mission to the wreck of Titanic. Okay, perhaps not the entire world. But it was all my friends and coworkers talked about all day yesterday. For those living under a rock: the submersible has gone missing since Sunday. It is estimated that the emergency air supply will run out sometime tomorrow. First responders are racing against the clock to locate and rescue. It’s morbidly riveting stuff.

The discussion turned morbid quickly, too. If you were stuck in that submersible, at what point would you start killing yourself? Obviously, you’d want to hold out as long as possible for the slight possibility of rescue. However, perhaps you wouldn’t want to wait until the very end: die from asphyxiation. Take back some semblance of control, and go out on your own terms. Me personally, I would considering ending it with about six hours of estimated air supply left.

Then the question turned to: how would you kill yourself? You are stuck in a tiny metal tube - sitting room only - with nothing but an LCD screen and a remote controller. (Heck, are there even emergency water and rations?) With what would you commit suicide with? My solution: find something sharp - or something that can be turned sharp - and cut my wrist. I rather bleed to a slow death than await the pain of running out of air.

A coworker mentioned that if he were to go on such a mission, he would for sure bring along some form of poison (cyanide, perhaps) for such purpose. Going out on our own terms is important to people!

All the morbid hypotheticals aside, it must be incredibly scary to be stuck in that situation. You’re trapped, waiting to die, clinging on the slim hope that you’d be rescued. By design, the passengers can’t even open the hatch from the inside! I don’t know about you, but doors that cannot be opened from the inside is frightening as heck! These folks paid $250,000 just for the privilege of visiting the Titanic wreck? That cannot be us: my friend group prefer to stay on terra firma, thank you very much. Our amoeba ancestors climbed out of the ocean for a reason.

Obviously, we are hoping for a miracle that the submersible does get found in time. More realistically, I hope the hull got breached down in those depths, and the passengers died a quick and painless death. Otherwise, to be essentially buried alive is something too horrific to contemplate.

Wonder

Yesterday was the first Juneteenth holiday that we, as employees of San Francisco State University, got since it became a federal holiday a few years back. A day to commemorate the emancipation of slaves - it doesn’t get much more American than that.

So what did I do my day off? My friend has a membership to the California Academy of Sciences, in the heart of Golden Gate Park. He intends to bring his two young boys there regularly. One perk of the membership: you can bring along two adult guests for free. I’ve not been to the Academy of Sciences since its renovation, so I was eager to tag along. Besides, my friend did all the driving and parking-finding, which is a headache I’m glad to outsource.

It seems everybody with kids in the single digit of age - and had the day off - was there at Cal Academy yesterday. There were strollers everywhere, mothers in yoga pants, and dads carrying the diaper/snack bags. A pandemonium of children staring in wild-eyed wonder at the exhibits. It’s really lovely to see. That is what it’s all about, isn’t it? To excite the curiosity of kids, to introduce them to the wonders of science. My friend’s youngest son was more interested in the repairman fixing a broken elevator up on the rooftop garden. That little guy just might become a mechanical engineer.

Having young children seems to be a lot like having a dog. You take them outside to do activities - like visiting the Cal Academy - so it would tire them out. Your evening will then be way more pleasant while they are placated and satisfied in their corner. Cooped-up children - much like cooped up dogs - are no good for anyone. Go outside! Get some vitamin D.

Thanks to my friend, I got glimpse into a slice of the parenting life pie. Granted, with a selection bias towards couples that have the Juneteenth holiday off work.

Coco-Cola is delicious

Can someone explain to me the material difference between Coke Zero and Diet Coke? The answer has to be “nothing”, right? Kudos to the Coca-Cola company for a massively successful branding campaign. The drink of choice these days amongst the Kpop community (non-alcoholic division) appears to be Coke Zero and Sprite Zero. It’s seemingly in every mukbang and vlog I care to watch. The classic Diet Coke couldn’t dream of such popularity.

It’s hip now to drink the fake sugar version of Coke! Rather than being the weird one out holding a silver can. I can remember the weird faces from people when I tell them I prefer diet. Like regular Coke, the Coke Zero can is also red. From a visual perspective, one have to look closely to tell the difference. This has an unintended consequence: more than once I’ve wrongly grabbed regular Coke, mistaking the can for Coke Zero.

Why didn’t I simply get Diet Coke, with the unmistakable silver can? Well, we’re memetic creatures, aren’t we? I too am not immune to the want of following current trends. Though you’re never going to find me back in baggy pants again, even thought it’s making a fashion comeback. Jeans and pants that fit well will continue to feature in my wardrobe.

But I digress. You know what the best version of Coco-Cola is? (No, it isn’t Pepsi.) The classic 12-oz glass bottle version. Made with actual cane sugar. Now that’s the good - and expensive - stuff. Our local Costco sells those by the case, though I don’t care to ingest that much sugar (real or fake) enough to buy. Once in a blue moon at a taqueria is just fine with me.

It's over over

At work, the first batch of Dell laptops we purchased in response to the pandemic, in support of fully remote teaching, is about to expire on its basic warranty. Can you believe that? It’s been a whole three years since the start of COVID. Sometimes it takes a laptop warranty expiring to remind me just how long ago that is. Obviously, plenty have changed, both in the external world and my own personal life. And yet sometimes it can still feel like we’re in a bit of stasis since March 2020. A long continuation of (hopefully) the worse global pandemic in our lifetimes.

Of course, we don’t hear or talk about COVID-19 anymore. No more daily hospitalization numbers, no more masking guidelines. Even the vaccination campaigns have gone radio silence. It’s down to personal decisions now, on how careful you want to be. And we should respect each other’s rights to do so.

The pandemic is over. Life is back to normal. This past weekend I attended a lovely baby shower, in a recreation center room with about 50 people. Think back to two years ago: you wouldn’t dream to do such a reckless thing. Not without masking, lots of open windows, and minimal hugging. COVID is something we no longer think about. And while it’s taken longer than we’d all like, three years is not so bad in the grand scheme of things. We can, and have, finally move on.

Even the ultra-restrictive China have opened back up to complete normalcy. Foreigners can finally get into the country, on previously issued visas (or you can get a new one). I am not doing any traveling this summer. (Have you seen the prices of everything travel related?) The only flying I’m planning on is at the end of the year: to China. To visit relatives I’ve not seen in person in three years. In sha'Allah that will come to fruition.

Uh, what to do?

How are you handling the great Reddit blackout? Every subreddit that I care to go to have gone private in protest of the onerous API fee changes Reddit is set to implement by the end of this month. There goes the last bit of social media that I use! Though I would say Reddit is more like discussion forums. I quit twitter about a month ago, and you can’t pay me enough to use the Chinese spyware that is TikTok.

Interesting to see the (let’s call them) NSFW subreddits have not participated in the blackout protest. I guess horniness is still the dominant factor above all else…

The protest is only suppose to last a few days. But because Reddit refuses to backdown from the untenable API changes (effectively dooming any third-party clients), many subs have decided to stay private indefinitely to force a change. I say, good for them. A vibrant Reddit is good for the Internet. Plenty of times I’ve googled something, and ended up on Reddit with the correct answers to questions. Let’s take some momentary pain now, for a better long term future. (So un-American!)

Reddit is nothing without its army of volunteer moderators, and the millions of users contributing content. I am surprised the company have decided to essentially go to war with the people that made it great in the first place. The problem is: it’s extremely difficult to charge for something that was once free. Excellent third-party apps have sprouted up because the access APIs have been free. To now charge for those APIs, exorbitantly to the point of detrimental, is going to make people incredibly unhappy.

It doesn’t help that Reddit’s own official app is utterly garbage. The best way to surf Reddit is via browser, with an ad blocker on. Sorry, not sorry.