I probably overstated the cooking time - a regular powered microwave can cook a small baking potato in as little as 5 minutes. If yours is cooking larger potatoes in that time though then it is likely to be significantly more powerful than most domestic microwaves.

You can cut the time in half if you use a microwave first. Prick the potatoes all over with a fork and place in a silicone tray then microwave on full for 5-15 minutes depending on size (check that it’s soft inside with a knife.) Cover in oil and seasoning then air fry on full for about 15 minutes. The silicone tray allows you to transfer from the microwave to the airfryer with minimum mess and fuss (so not essential.)

For me though, it’s homemade pittas. So much better than the flat discs of carboard they sell in the supermarkets. Takes a bit of time for proving, but I like to make a large batch and freeze a bunch, or keep some dough in the fridge and have a second meal with them later in the week.

https://akispetretzikis.com/en/recipe/1990/pites-gia-soyvlaki

Edit: Microwave cooking times for potatoes were a bit off

I hiked along some cliffs in Mull where there was a large feral goat population, and was swarmed by these fuckers (we call them deer keds). Absolute nightmare fuel. They would quickly shed their wings and nestle in hair (mostly my beard) or inside clothing. They’re really flat and leathery, and cling on for dear life - making them unreasonably hard to remove (they would wriggle free from my fingertips as I tried to prise them off.) I removed several dozen over the day and still found their corpses in my laundry.

The only goats we saw were dead and stinking. On the plus side, the weather was bad enough to mostly keep the midges at bay. Without a doubt, the worst experience I’ve had in the Western Isles.

I think this is a common misconception about games like EVE. I played it for about 7 years, and have continued playing full loot MMOs and survival games since then.

The PvP in EVE was the most exhilarating experience I have had in a computer game. This was intrinsically tied to both the consequences of loss and the thrill of victory, and reward - something you just cannot get from ‘theme park’ MMOs. Learning to harness the adrenaline rush and overcome the post-fight shakes was a very real thing that many of us spoke of. It’s that which kept myself and many of the people I played with locked in for so long.

My focus was solo and small gang PvP - initially low-sec piracy, but later moving on to null-sec roaming and wormhole diving. After the first few months, I played almost no PvE content, and funded all ships and eventually my main account through PvP activity alone.

It’s been about 10 years since I stopped playing - and the game may well have changed significantly - but the solo and small gang PvP which I engaged in was pretty easy to get into then. Sure you’d die a lot in the first month, but the trick was to keep your ships cheap, play to it’s strengths, and try to learn from every engagement.

Occasionally I find my duvet like this in the morning, but it fixes itself when I make the bed. Only way I could see this being an issue is through using duvet covers which are incorrectly sized, or not making the bed (properly) before getting back in.

I wonder if this is a case of people using duvets but having not been shown how to make a bed with one… For the benefit of the uninitiated, stand at the foot of the bed, grab the bottom corners of the duvet and hold them wide apart. Lift up to shoulder height then use a quick downward motion - the top of the duvet should flick out like a whip. This will push the duvet back into the top corners of the cover and redistribute any loose filling which may have migrated down through the night.

Also never seen ties in a duvet - seems pretty pointless to me.

Perhaps Halting State. Piranesi is a great read though.

Is the public charging network in the US that bad? Should be half the cost per mile on public AC versus petrol - so maybe worth it at 30,000 miles. I appreciate that this is entirely dependent on having chargers close to where you normally leave your vehicle, but worth checking if you haven’t already. Also, if your parents have a driveway then you might be able to trickle charge while there.

It’s also worth considering the maintenance savings at the distance you’re driving. In the UK it’s estimated at 4p per mile (so I’d guess 4c per mile.) So even if you are relying heavily on motorway DC charging, there’s still savings to be made.

Those statistics are misleading. China’s population is very unevenly distributed between the east and west, but Western China is still serviced by high-speed railway.

The 1786km Lanzhou–Urumqi HSR serves three Western Chinese provinces: Gansu (57.7 people per sq km), Qinghai (8.2) and Xinjiang (15.8).

TIL I don’t like ranch.

The ultimate cause is an economic system which is failing to meet the needs of the majority (combined with media run by, and for the minority who the economic system does serve.)

The media’s real purpose at this point is to distract the majority from the real issues, and deflect any movement towards a real solution.

I specifically needed a numpad on my keyboard so I went for a 40% ortholinear. I have the numpad on a layer on the right hand side. With all keys reachable from the home row, I can use it more easily/quickly than on a full-sized keyboard so it’s really the best possible solution.

I’ve configured the layer button so that it can either be held down for quick use, or toggled with a double tap.

That’s not true. The majority of wine is aged in standard oak barrels. Bourbon barrel-aged wine is a modern gimmick which is not at all common in the classic wine growing regions.

Dithering… Shit or get off the pot.

Caravan owners will often holiday in them frequently, though others will mostly/exclusively use them as holiday lets. I believe that they can’t be occupied all the time (maybe 10 months in a year) so no permanent residents (I could be wrong on that though.)

Have you considered an ortholinear layout? Can use the whole keyboard as a numpad if you like (I’m a programmer too and specifically went for a 40% ortho for this reason.)

Almost once a week from an online supermarket. I typically plan 4 or 5 meals as I shop, with adhoc rice/pasta/noodle dishes, frozen portions and takeaways/meals out that usually lasts for 8 or 9 days.

I mostly cook vegetarian so most of the shop is fresh vegetables. We do eat chicken or fish once a week though. “Essentials” are pea milk, fruit juice, tomatoes, bread, eggs, avocados, oats, fresh/dried/frozen fruits - everything else is meal dependent.

It’s much easier planning and buying from home and the selection online is much better than any of the local supermarkets. The only thing I regularly buy offline is coffee from a local roastery. There’s some great independent shops in my village, but the green grocer can be a bit hit and miss on quality and it’s rare that I can find everything we would like (or need) so I mostly use for the odd thing/special occasions. I will go to the bakery on a weekend in warmer months though.

A whistleblower is likely to have access to sensitive data or other forms of leverage not directly linked to whatever they’re whistleblowing on. Of course this sort of insurance policy would be useful to them.

Any words in particular? I can only think of certain ableist and misogynist slurs which are uniquely(?) censored on .ml, which I would imagine could be deeply hurtful to those who have been subjected to abuse and discrimination, and are thrown around too readily by ignorant and uncaring sorts (including my past self.)

It would be nice, of course, to be in a world where such measures weren’t necessary to create a welcoming space for all, but we’re evidently some way off.

I have no experience with that channel. What makes you think it is being brigaded? Seems like a very unusual target. Given that it’s well-used tracks that appear to be affected, it seems to me that it may just be attracting a greater breadth of viewers - who are generally less familiar with the content and may have different expectations (and would be just as likely to downvote whether visible or not.)

Like I said, many of us use like/dislike ratios to gain insight into quality of content; whether or not that was the intended use of the feature is really irrelevant.

You’re massively overstating the incidence of brigading. A tiny fraction of videos have experienced this. The idea that brigading is significantly affecting user recommendations and even causing them to align is hyperbolic nonsense.