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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 20th, 2023

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  • What flip phone do you use? I do still consiider the titan slim from time to time but I also really like the benefits of graphene os that I am now used to so not sure if I want to go back!

    Your thoughts pretty much mirror mine, I think I could probably pull it off but it would be all new skills to me so I’m not sure how well it would actually come out. Finding someone to do it I thought about too but then the cost is ramping up and conaidering I don’t like paying more than £150 on a phone itself to then pay two thirds of that for a keyboard that is going to make an already large phone massive I just can’t justify it really.

    There is also the FX tec which I’ve seen mixed reviews on but I think it is way over priced personally.


  • There is the titan slim which seems to be a clone of the BlackBerry keytwo in terms of shape and size which I did serious consider for quite a while to come after my titan. Ultimately I was put off by some of the quirks that unihertz has in terms of their implementation and software.

    The keyboard on the titan was very good and it was close to the blackberry but it always just fell slightly short with some weird things like how certain buttons were handled.

    I used to love the fact that I could hold the shift key and tap a letter to open whatever app I wanted. Little touches like that I missed, sometimes unihertz tried to replicate those sorts of touches but usually fell just a little short for me.

    I hear plenty of people had slightly better experiences with custom ROMs on it but I tried and tried to get a custom ROM onto mine and I never had any luck with unlocking the boot loader and always therefore fell at the first hurdle.

    There is a project on github that took the blackberry keyboard from one of their best models, placed it in a 3d printed case with an interface to link it to a USB C so you could plug it into different phones that I thought about trying to make and try. But I never got around to trying it.

    Check it out here

    I don’t know how well it would work / integrate though, cause what I really want is a blackberry keythree xD






  • I have been kick boxing for 3 years and I’m about to grade for my blue belt, I’m going to pick up some muay Thai as well soon which is very similar but adding in elbows and more clinching. I also did 3 years of karate reaching second green belt around 10 or so years ago. I stopped karate because I went travelling so couldn’t regularly visit the same gym to train.

    I do it for a combination of reasons. It helps keep me fit although I do a lot of other sports / weight training that all play a role in overall cross training. It keeps me flexible which is more and more important as you get older and I like to fight. Coming into training and letting out some aggression on some pads whilst working up a good sweat is a great cathartic release from the stresses of day to day life. I also enjoy the sparring a lot, it helps hone your reflexes and I don’t mind at all getting hit to condition yourself for that possibility. I’ll hopefully be competing in some inter club / amateur fights soon which I can’t wait for. You do also have some peace of mins that should you need to defend yourself in day to day life you are able to do that.

    Karate was a lot more ‘Zen’ in that the school I trained with didn’t do much sparring and was more concentrated on your technique and working through your katas. It builds up your body and technique as well as building up respect for your sensei and the other students you train with. It was a lot of fun and has given me a great basis with technique for moving onto kick boxing but I prefer kick boxing because it is a lot more aggressive. The training sessions are more intense physically and I want to spar and get hit etc, which isn’t for everyone.

    Every school will be different, even if they are teaching the same style of martial art, in the way they approach things. The way they teach and way they go about things but you will always find a good supportive group of people who aren’t out to hurt you intentionally and are invested in you training well and hard and supporting you.

    I wouldnt worry too much about your hearing, most things will be shouted at you and you can follow people around you if you get lost but I would recommend you give it a try if it is something you are interested in. If you go to a place where people aren’t respecting each other, their respective levels and their well being then leave and find yourself a better gym because I know they are out there. If you find a good one you can be part of a great community whilst pursuing fitness as well as a great skill.

    In terms of what you should do, that is down to personal choice. Maybe try a few different ones. Obviously some concentrate on one thing or another like judo is a lot of throwing, muay Thai a lot of striking etc, so try and figure out what you want from it and maybe try some classes to see if you like it! :)




  • I do agree that it does get weaker towards the end, I think after King got hit by the car in real life the writing for this series went down hill. I enjoy the first 4 books the most, then it is a steady decline however it never reaches bad for me still and I have still read through it multiple times.

    I also enjoy the majority of his books though and a lot of the ones that tie into this universe are amazing books in their own right but the fact they build into a bigger world than that which exists within the books themselves appeals to me a lot.

    I will also look into your suggestion :p


  • No worries, I hope you find something you enjoy.

    I would say that I personally can’t stand politics in the real world or in stories so I am with you on that and I don’t believe any of the cosmere stuff focuses on politics at all. Dune is something politic heavy and whilst I made it through it eventually it took me four or five tries and I probably wouldn’t return.

    I highly recommend trying out at least the first mistborn book to see if you like it if you get to a point where you are in need of something else to read after you’ve worked your way through some other suggestions.

    Happy reading :)


  • If you like world building then check out Brandon Sanderson and his cosmere related books. They all play out within the same cosmere and all build upon that same world with different stories. I started with Mistborn and think that is still my favourite but it is a hard decision as there is a lot of good books / series.

    You could also try Stephen Kings - The Dark Tower and then go down the rabbit hole of a plethora of other books that all happen within the same world and have various different connections to The Dark Tower books and midworld.

    N.K Jemison - The Broken Earth trilogy was pretty decent in terms of building the world it was set in and I think is pretty highly regarded for that element.

    If you want a bit of space operas then I think Simon R Greens - Deathstalker books are really great and build a whole quirky universe for itself.

    Maybe check a few of those out :)




  • Music I DJ with I mostly play the same genre of music so I have a few playlists for stuff that is outside of my normal genre.

    Then within the stuff I usually play I’ll have smart playlists for each key (using the Camelot system so 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B etc)

    I have a playlist for each month that has everything I have imported for that month of the year.

    Some smart playlists to filter out a specific BPM or BPM range.

    Playlists containing all the releases I have from specific labels in case I want to do a label only mix.

    A playlist containing all the acapellas I have (I don’t use a massive amount) so they are all in the same place to throw over the top of some other stuff if the feeling takes me.

    Then I also have some playlists that I will create off the cuff throwing in selected artists that I might want to play at a particular time to capture a certain feel or vibe, then usually they stick around and I come back to them occasionally.

    A preparation playlist which is a temp playlist where I’ll throw random stuff I want to play that day maybe. Like for example I might have like this months additions and marchs additions to my library so I’ll just throw both those playlists in the one preparation playlist to play from so they are all in one list.

    My music is organised in alphabetical folders within each folder I have a folder for each artist where all their releases go. If I start getting a lot of stuff from one label or end up buying a label discography I’ll make a folder for that label and remove any releases that might be in the individual artists folder and place it in the label one instead.

    Then I have one random folder that has a few genre specific folders inside where I collect music from artists that I might just have one or two tracks from so they don’t deserve their own artists folder.

    When I actually listen to music on Spotify I don’t use playlists. I want to listen to albums in the way they were intended, front to back usually, so I’ll usually just pick what ever album I want at the time. Occasionally if I want to delve into an unknown to me genre I might search out a playlist made by someone else to explore artists I don’t know to give me an idea of what I might want to then pursue listening to further.



  • I don’t know if I would consider myself an “audiophile” but I do DJ for myself and like to have a decent set of speakers.

    I have owned a few pairs of KRK Rokit speakers and currently have a set of Rokit 6’s. I like them for their overall pretty neutral sound, ideally I would have a sub along with it but space is an issue for me right now so I can make do. They have a sufficient amount of bass for my small flat by themselves to be honest.

    I run them through my DJ controller (Traktor S4 mk3 if you care) and have run past pairs I’ve owned through other DJ controllers and basic focusrite USB audio interfaces.

    I wouldn’t say these are super high end but I find they offer a very good listening experience for not a great deal of money (I always buy second hand where I can), this set set me back around £160 if I remember correctly.