One I didn’t see mentioned yet: a rice cooker.
Put in rice, add water, push start button, and you get perfect rice every time. I’m usually against single-purpose kitchen tools but a rice cooker is soo worth it.
Really only if you eat a lot of rice. For once a year or so, a pot on the stove works just fine. The actual benefit I’ve see for ricecookers is how well they can hold the rice for hours ready to go, but that’s more of a commercial benefit I think.
[…] but that’s more of a commercial benefit I think
For me, this is the primary benefit of a rice cooker. Having warm, cheap, filling food on demand at any time is fantastic. I am so lazy and my little rice buddies are always ready to go when I can’t be bothered.
A rice cooker can serve as a cheaper instapot tho. I can steam rice and veggies without having to babysit a pot.
I also have kitchen anxiety, and in a roommate situation can keep a rice cooker in my room.
Living in Japan, this almost didn’t register to me. I have literally never met anybody that didn’t have one. When you move out, you use your family’s old one until you can buy a newer one.
Everyone should have one, absolutely.
When I did a homestay in Japan, my host dad was shocked my family didn’t have one. I do now though!
I know this will be a popular response, but I don’t get it.
I just use a pot and the rice is always perfect? Not hard at all? Am I just good?
I used to do that for years, but rice cookers really do some magic to get perfectly fluffy rice. I thought my technique was good, until I tried rice from a rice cooker.
Meanwhile, I’ve been disappointed by rice cooker rice and make it better the old fashioned way. :shrug:
You should look into Zojirushi. They make the best rice cookers
3 dozen pairs of identical socks. Mine are black crew cut. I’ll wear them until the last few pairs are worn through and I’ll never have a sock without a mate.
A bidet. Fight me.
Fight me.
Okay, but I’m bringing my power washer.
PSA - Do not use a power washer on your parts.
“Bidet - the power washer for your parts”
Can I use it in others parts?
You sound like a man with experience.
The only people who would fight you about how great bidets are are people who have never actually used one
Preach it brother. Enlighten the unwashed (m)asses.
Love my bidet.
10/10 for squeaky clean buttholes.
If you’re butthole squeaks… Please see a medical professional
We just got one. We even splurged for the fancy one that hooks up to warm water. It is life changing. I feel very dirty whenever I have to do a poo somewhere else. Underrated appliance, for sure.
You didn’t know you needed one until you use it. Life changing.
After I going through my second ~$30 bidet. I upgraded to a ~$300 Toto bidet with heated water and seat. No regrets.
It must’ve feel like being blessed by the rains down in Africa
I wonder if I could rig up a bidet that would play Africa by Toto while it washed my backside.
How does that work? I don’t have hot water or an outlet in my toilet room. Did you have to renovate, or was there service already?
I have an electric one and just ran an extension cable. If I owned I would definitely install an outlet next to the toilet.
God damnit. I was hoping reddits love of bidets would stay on reddit, yet here we are
Have you used one? What do you have against them?
A pair of high fidelity earplugs (aka concert earplugs or filtering earplugs). You can get a good non-custom pair for $15–$40, and that’ll work well for the average person for a long time.
They’re excellent for live music, airplanes, and anytime you want the world to be quieter but still need to be able to understand speech. And for music specifically, they can bring the volume level down just enough to be safe without muffling the sound like traditional foam earplugs do. Protect your hearing, kids!
Protect your hearing, kids!
Seriously, PROTECT YOUR FUCKING HEARING. I was young and stupid (now I’m no longer young) and went to way too many raves, gigs etc. without any sort of hearing protection, and now I have a nice constant background track of EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE and can’t hear higher frequencies worth shit
Do you have any brand and model recommendations?
I’m no earplug connoisseur, but I’ve been using Westone’s WM16 for smaller venues, and Etymotic Research’s ER20XS dual-flange for louder situations. I haven’t tried much else, but these work well for me. I’ve also heard great things about Earasers, Eargasm, and Hearos.
Earasers are a bit more expensive and appear to have a unique ergonomic eartip. iirc you can get them for $40 elsewhere, maybe Amazon. I’ve read that Earasers’ “-19dB Peak” model has a very slight sound reduction, so I’d probably opt for their middle “European Standard” model. On the other end of the price spectrum, Hearos is particularly inexpensive at a glance. Idk anything about specific models.
Some brands have multiple types of earplugs (e.g. for music, shooting, construction work), so make sure you’re getting one designed for music or “high-fidelity” or something like that. Any of the “good” brands are probably going to work just fine. (Read the reviews if you’re unsure.) Most brands seem to include multiple eartip sizes in the package so you can choose the right fit.
Beyond that, there is some element of personal preference. For example, I first tried Etymotic’s classic triple-flange version and didn’t like how deep they stuck into my ears. It felt invasive. But the dual-flange model feels great for me.
And finally, there are different options for how much attenuation (noise reduction) you want. Like I mentioned, my “-16dB average attenuation” earplugs feel good for small/medium venues (a backroom venue of a bar, maybe a theater). For a larger venue (arena or stadium, or even just a really loud loud theater) you’d definitely want more significant average attenuation, probably in the low-to-mid twenties.
Most earplugs will be confusingly marketed with multiple attenuation values. One will be an official NRR value, which is apparently required but controversial, and the other(s) will be the average and/or peak decibel reduction “when the product is used correctly” as reported by the manufacturer. It seems people don’t talk about the NRR as often. But it’s fun that they’ve made it more complicated for us to compare products.
I should also mention that if you’re a performing musician or hardcore concert-goer, you may consider springing for custom-molded earplugs, which are way pricier. I haven’t made that upgrade yet, but everyone who does seems to think it’s life-changing.
This got long, sorry!
I’m no earplug connoisseur
7 paragraphs about earplugs
uh oh, they’re onto me
If you have a car get a dashcam. It’s more valuable than any insurance because it will definitively prove what happened when something goes wrong. Bonus: you can post videos of bad drivers doing stupid things on the internet for imaginary points.
If only there was actually a good car dashcam, but every time I go down that rabbit hole I give up frustrated. The quality (build, mounting, video, whatever) is shit in pretty much all of them, and the “passable” ones look like a web cam from 2005 still.
There’s a reason for that, Linus Tech Tips did a great video on it. You’re better off buying an old go pro and using that.
99 bucks
99.99 would be more profitable:-D
A towel
As recommended by the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy
A first aid kit
A bidet. You can install it yourself in 20 minutes and enjoy a lifetime of cleaner buttholes and save on tp.
I’ll never ‘go’ without one!
Seriously though, bidets rock. Try one, get a good one, and you’ll never go back.
A bike. Poor people in underdeveloped countries can use it to get access to education and markets, while people from developed countries can ise it to keep healthy and reduce their environmental footprint
A decent flashlight.
A streamlight stylus pro is $20, uses 2 AAA batteries, is barely bigger than a pen, and can be an absolute life saver. It produces way more light and throws it way further than your phone’s light, and I’ve been carrying the same one every day for nearly 15 years now with no signs of it failing. I use it nearly daily in my personal and professional life, you will genuinely wonder how you manages without it if you make it a habit of carrying it.
Or go nuts and get yourself a something like a surefire G2. Bigger, heavier, but more durable and incredibly bright.
Your phone is already a flashlight
They covered this in Hitchhiker’s Guide. The answer is a towel. A towel is just about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can carry.
A decent set of precision kitchen scales, and some general use scales that don’t have a massive delay on them #WeightSupremacist4Lyf
But seriously, fuck you, measuring cups. Fuck. You.
Sometimes multiple scales are important too! I’ve got the big ol boi with the white bowl, has worked amazingly for food for years. Then the standard blade scale for weighing… Parsley and… salt. Finally, the lil guy with the tiny metal saucer that goes down to .001 for weighing… really… small amount of… yeah it’s drugs
The Haynes manual for your car. Even if you’re not a mechanic they are so detailed they will walk you through fixing almost anything, they’re made for the laymen. I’m a diesel mechanic and even i own one for my cars.
When friends buy a new car i buy them a Haynes manual.
They don’t do them for ever single car in the world and the coverage isn’t as great on later model stuff but if you own s car 5 years or more old they’re great.
A shoe horn
A set of spectacle screwdrivers
A backscratcher
An ice cream scoop
