I’ve been ricing my Debian daily driver the last 24 hours or so and I feel as if I have gotten to a point where it can’t get any better (without implementing hyperspecific mods that might be difficult to reproduce after an update).
It’s in every way better than Windows and more user-friendly than all the Apple stuff should you know how to use search engines, seriously. It also simply looks better and the trimming I did reduces cognitive load significantly. I don’t have to make that many decisions during use.
All of this produces a feeling of anguish. I don’t know if it’s because it felt to easy or something else entirely. Maybe I cannot stand knowing that this could be the standard everywhere.
Colemak and various other efficient keyboard layouts exist. So do BT ergo splits and orthos. We don’t have the limitations of typewriters anymore, QWERTY and staggered keys are indeed optional. How this example from the world of keyboards isn’t the default is rather puzzling. Or take Python, why do universities, some would say even respected universities, teach this language when Go and C/++ exist? I have similar feelings about the lack of alcohol taxation and the low rate of rice cooker adoption in the west.
It really makes me want to get active to proselytize because we live in a world with all the tools available to us to create lives for at least 80% of all people that are entirely fulfilling and within personal control. Until I work somewhere where I can affect change in the direction of sustainability I have several VMs to take apart and put back together.
I hope you can forgive the weltschmerz. How do you feel about this?


Let’s say you make rice more than twice a week. Rice cookers can save a stupid amount of time. They’re cheap, reliable and you can use them not just for rice, but also a bunch of other stuff. My advice, try one if you like rice.
Proably a cultural thing. I live in a place where we eat rice daily, and we just use a regular pot. Rice is literally one of the easiest and fastest things to cook, that we focus on optimizing other things. Also, rice cookers are expensive around here, take aditional space and feel like a consumerist thing.
But now that I’ve said this, does it make you feel unsettled about it?
Considering that rice cookers are expensive where you are from, I suppose it is a sensible choice. I can’t exactly say I’m unsettled. Let’s suppose these devices being much cheaper relative to local salaries and there being plenty space for a rice cooker, then I’d be unsettled. But only if you are a regular consumer of rice, as I am ;)
True. Some simply prefer plain-jane cooking or more steaming without the use of a dedicated cooker. A rice cooker though is “fire and forget”, consistent and simple. Most people want that sort of clarity and in that sense I do believe in the rice cooker.
I couldn’t imagine my life without a rice cooker when I lived in Asia, but in Europe, I don’t really use mine a lot. I just use regular pot and it’s so easy to make rice for me, I am too lazy to take a rice cooker for the task. I don’t know why. I literally brought a rice cooker I’ve bought in Asia, all the way to Europe. It’s not used much now.
Interesting, where in Asia, if I may ask?
Mostly in Thailand, but also Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong, where I travelled to. I’ve bought a portable tiny rice cooker in Hong Kong, to be able to keep it in my backpack. Never used! So, I actually brought two rice cookers back home! I really forgot about the tiny one.
These days I do rice or other similar dishes in a regular pot, and it’s the same to me, more or so. Perhaps that’s just skill, I don’t know. Maybe I’m missing something and not noticing.
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