It actually works

It actually works

I bet like a lot of folks, you have a set or two of airpods. I have an older set I use for running since the sound in them after a year or so was starting to get quieter and duller. Then, it got to the point I could barely even hear out of the right one.

Before I tossed them, I decided to see if cleaning them out would help. There wasn’t any obvious ear wax in them. So I looked online and sure enough Apple itself now has a video and procedure on how to do this.

I tried the method out. The first go seemed to improve things, but I wasn’t sure. The next day I tried it again, and the right airpod suddenly had a lot more volume. I tried it a 3rd time on the 3rd day, and low and behold – they were practically like new (well – except the battery life was still only good enough for a 60 minute run – but that’s another story).

I had tried this method before, but using isopropanol alcohol. It largely gave poor results. It seems the key is to use micellar water – usually for removing makeup and dirt on sensitive skin. I use Bioderma – Sensibio – H2O Micellar Water and it seems to be what they use in the video (distinctive translucent red cap).

Speedrunning the Tomb of Horrors

Speedrunning the Tomb of Horrors

The Tomb of Horrors is a classic adventure in D&D history. It was posited as an epic “thinking man’s” dungeon of traps and death to challenge the highest level characters.

In reality, it’s hardly a “thinking man’s” dungeon. Like 90’s era King’s Quest games – it’s all about arbitrarily killing you at every turn. Curiosity or touching anything will kill you without warning. It’s clear this was a dungeon designed to kill high level characters that irked Gygax off with their bragging about being able to defeat anything.

Runesmith decides to give this dungeon the same treatment other games from the era got: a speedrun. He does a hilarious job describing the dungeon and his solution.

Wild looking FPS

Wild looking FPS

VINCIT looks like total chaos, but it has a very distinctive art style. VINCIT is the work of solo developer OchPuch and will be published by Cowboy & Clown Games.

The gimmick? Every bullet has a unique effect. Red bullets ricochet off walls, and yellow bullets home in on the nearest enemy. After you shoot, the bullets hang in the air as glowing trails and they can be fused midair to create devastating combinations.

OnlyFans billionaire owner dies at 43

OnlyFans billionaire owner dies at 43

Leonid Radvinsky, the owner of the porn site OnlyFans, has just died at age 43 of cancer. Radvinsky is famous for taking a 75% stake in the website and became a billionaire in just 3 years of ownership. He had an estimated net worth of $4.7 billion at the time of his death.

A reminder that all the money in the world cannot add a moment to your life. The money, houses, companies, and all your possessions go quickly to someone else. The only thing you carry into eternity is what you did with your life.

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Matthew 25:31-46
Replace your whole dev team with AI

Replace your whole dev team with AI

Front end and back end developers, security experts, social media engagement managers, and marketing. Replace everyone with an AI powered bot and even create/train your own code GPT for your internal code.

Colorectal cancer in people under 40

Colorectal cancer in people under 40

1 in 5 new diagnoses of colorectal cancer now occur in people under 50, and 4 out of 5 of those are sadly not detected until it’s reached advanced stages (stage 2, 3, or 4). Colon cancer screening age has dropped to 45 due to the dramatic increase in rates – but many much younger people need to be aware of the easily identifiable symptoms.

Why? Because Kalei Martin is 28 and had been experiencing a lot of symptoms that should have been red flags for cancer. Sadly, her doctors didn’t recognize it until it had already spread. She was young, healthy, and it was chalked up to changes due to pregnancy and other health issues. But in reality – the signs were very clear.

Sadly, by the time someone did recognize the symptoms, she had stage 2 rectal cancer (T3 tumor) and, one year later, stage 4 with metastasis to her lungs (creating a 13-20% 5 year survival rate).

Her story is becoming increasingly common; and many doctors don’t even think of checking because young healthy people shouldn’t have cancer.

It’s worth listening to how what she thought was simple symptoms were actually progression of disease.

  • Changes in bowel habits: Using the restroom more frequently, moving from every other day to multiple times daily (2:53).
  • Rectal bleeding: Initially thought to be hemorrhoids due to recent pregnancies, but progressed to darker blood and eventually blood clots (3:50).
  • Stomach cramping: Intense, sharp pain, different from menstrual cramps, that would progress to lasting 30-60 seconds (5:05).
  • Pressure during intercourse: Experiencing pain and pressure, which led to a red flag for her (6:26).

She (like me) also learned you need to be a strong advocate for yourself and ensure your doctors are getting you in for tests and treatments that will give you the best chances of survival.

Sadly, her cancer had already spread and it became Stage 4 just a year later. Still, there seems to be good prognosis based on her most recent video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJYYxmm7bTA

Stalin’s Daughter on Defecting

Stalin’s Daughter on Defecting

I never knew Stalin’s daughter, Svetlana Allileyua, defected from the Soviet Union – and then gave a interview. It’s a powerful reminder that despite many shortcomings – people under communist rule through the 20th century lived under some of the most horrific, oppressive governments in history.