incredibly life enhancing objects that no one seems to know about

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Professor Shark: May 22, 2012

Cabbages and Kings posted:

This cold-brew coffee maker has changed my life, and we have like $1000 in coffee making equipment.

We have one of these in my kitchen. What do I do with it?

Life Enhancing: buying a good hair product

I use this stuff. It�s just a really good gel, but it conditions your hair while it�s in, rinses out with a shower, and leaves your hair feeling great.

Highly recommended

# ? Oct 5, 2023 23:43

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Jun 7, 2024 02:16

Tunicate: May 15, 2012

Coolguye posted:

the one that i will go to is a Big Investment but it's definitely something i feel like everyone overlooks, and that's a modern bed. by which i mean a sleep number or one of its auto-adjustable knockoffs.

I resisted getting one for years because, obviously, they are expensive (thousands of dollars), and i already slept well. i have a very positive relationship with sleep after my childhood of suffering under weekly night terrors (not nightMARES), so after getting those behind me i always looked forward to sleep and rested very well, all things considered.

a modern adjustable bed is a massive gamechanger even for someone who is already sleeping 'well'. having something just automatically handle basic sleep hygiene stuff like keeping support correct, warming your feet slightly, and ensuring appropriate head/neck tilt. the overall quality of my rest is easily up 50% since i got this thing a year ago and it's almost a superpower. i can fall asleep much more reliably, and when i wake up after 7-8 hours, i'm consistently refreshed and energized. i haven't even had a sick day since i bought it because every time i start feeling under the weather, resting actually works to fend off whatever i'm fighting. on the days i need to nap because i did not sleep well for whatever reason, napping in my bed makes me so calm and chilled out that i basically feel like i popped a valium, only it lasts for hours.

yes, it was expensive, but you spend literally a third of your life in bed. getting more out of that time is a massive win for basic, fundamental health.

Considering the goon community, I can't believe I'm the first to mention this, but have you considered pillow mods? Forget about those expensive, off-the-shelf premium pillows and build your own pillow rigs that have the qualities that you desire. Heck, some of those fancy commercial pillows should be avoided for their outright theft of components and ideas that were developed in the pillmod community. Notably, Serta's FaceHugger line was recalled entirely after they realized the looming PR disaster that a bunch of sleep nerds would incite.

I've been into pillow modding for a few years now and have managed to improve my sleep efficiency index from 0.69 to 0.85 (I'm a class 4b sleeper). You can build a full-featured pillmod for less than $100. Hell, I've made a half-dozen models and not spent more than $200.

Before you start modding, you should heed the standard warning and check if you have sleep apnea or anything medically obstructive. Sure, your vanilla pillows are probably annoying to sleep on, but sleep apnea could be compounding the issue by permitting minor annoyances, like pillow temperature, to wake you easily. More importantly, a few people with pillmods have died while sleeping. Although many of us doubt the involvement of their mods (people who enter the community are prone to sleep issues in the first place), it's still good advice to follow.

If you do have sleep apnea, then pillmods should be hugely advantageous. In fact, the pillmod community began around sleep apnea machines (CPAPs) and their inconveniences, especially for those whose preferred sleep postures are obstructed by CPAP facepieces. The earliest mods involved simply cutting channels into memory foam pillows, and then using freezer gel inserts to cool the pillow. They would also have to reinforce the channel so that the weight of a person's head wouldn't crush the air tubes.

But now, especially with the availability of Arduino kits and cooling systems intended for electronics, there are hundreds of pillmods that you could complete in a few hours.

It seems like most people are drawn to do PCS projects for their first mods. That's fine, but be aware that the better PCS (Pillow Coolant Systems) typically are of moderate difficulty or higher. They are also costly and time-consuming, relative to other mods you could start with such as glowmods, larms, and just simply modding a pillow's material and shape to your headspace.

Here's my first glowmod larm, for example:

This is a good starter mod combination because people like it for light therapy and smooth awakenings. The pillow gradually gets brighter until your wake-up time. You can also set it to gradually get darker at night. It's the adult version of those Glow-Worms that infants love.

But if you are dead-set on a PCS mod, I suggest strongly that you forget about those flashy, complex pillmods that involve watercooled networks of capillaries or, even worse, active heat sinks (such as piezoelectric heat transfer plates). Instead, opt for something silent, passive, and/or battery-based. For example, I have build a mod called "The Vulcan Nerve Pinch" that will get you about 20 degrees F in cooling delta on soft air ducting alone. Yeah, that's not much, but don't be the guy who blows $300 on his first project and builds a pillow that gives his face hypothermia on the first test run.

Once you get some basic know-how, and you're beyond the flashy mods and ready for something purely functional, check out shape or volume mods. These will actively keep your head at the perfect elevation. JB_Artgow is well known for his expertise in this area. I'm using his Face-Lover v3 mod (Affectionately also known as "Face-Fucker v3") every night. That's where Serta hijacked their FaceHugger brand name from. Allegedly.

The Face-Fucker involves inflation and deflation of semi-rigid water bladders to redistribute the pow's volume. It sounds complex, but it's easy if you buy a parts kit. It uses a silent pump and osmotic gradients to work. You can calibrate it based on both your head's weight and angle. Unlike many other volume mods, this is one-mod-fits-all, so you don't have to design around your giant noggin.

Artgow also has a ebook on Amazon (It's only $2), with instructions for something like 100 mods. He doesn't make money on the book, but he does make a few pennies if you buy parts kits from him directly. This beats the poo poo out of finding a Radio Shack that still stocks diodes and capacitors.

Now I'd like to brag for a bit and talk about some of the more exciting, extreme pillmod possibilities, some of which I just warned you against doing. I'm in the middle of building a custom, arduino-controlled pow with about 12 different mods. Although piezoelectric coolers are all the rage right now, I'm sticking to good old fashioned microducting for cooling. However, I'm using infrared LEDs for heating. The latter are normally expensive, but Dealextreme sells them in bulk for cheap. I think they're sold out recently thanks to jerks like me, however.

I don't like a warm face. The heating mod is just for camping in the cold or when I want to use the pillow as a heating pad for sore muscles. Also: sheer awesomeness.

Here's a schematic (not mine):

As for straight-up ducted cooling, the next image is my take on how one spiderwebs their coolant ducts. You have to be careful here not to bend the tiny tubes more than about 60 degrees or put them in a position where your noggin might bend them. That might look complex, but I used only 4 channels with a coolant turnover (in this case, just water) of 2 seconds for the entire surface to cycle.

By the way, medical tubing works just fine, but make sure that it's both flexible and a directional heat conductor, like Vekspan, which is used for anastomosis. If you buy non-direction stuff, hose down the pow-side with some plastidip from your hardware store, or just throw down a layer of aluminized cloth. The lovely crinkly stuff costs a whopping $1 at Dollar Tree, labeled as an "emergency blanket." You can pilfer the softer stuff from a BBQ apron.

Once this thing is done, I intend to stress test it by running both the heating and cooling systems and letting them fight it out to the death. Of course, in a battle of the PCS vs PHS, I suspect the PHS will win and then torch my pillow.

This pillow is directional, obviously. Because I can't flip it over, I've build the base and core layers from flexible expanded polystyrene and ceramic fibers, which will probably give me mesothelioma eventually, but drat if I won't be well rested at least. I was inspired by a dude who made a low-rent version of aerogel so that he could win an award for "Lightest Pillow" at Pillowcon 2010. My pow, without the mod gear, weighs 2 ounces.

Now, uniquely for me, because my bed is up against a brick wall, I need a pillow that can deal with a little bit of moisture. I like the brick wall for it being a huge heat sink, but it causes moisture to condense on pillows, especially fancy modded ones. This problem is solved by the combination of my core layers and a rechargeable dessicant. During the day, the dessicant tumbler is turned and heated, thus expelling moisture. It's so powerful that it'll suck the sweat right out of my massive head, but at least I'll never again have sweaty pillows.

Speaking of which, at Pillcon 2011, I was the massive fucker who won the door prize of John Cezrik's faux rabbit fur surface:

You'd think that such fur would be irritating against your face after a half-hour or so, but Cezrik's material has microcapillaries built to certain OCT ranges (OCT is optimal cheek temperature). It's like sleeping on a cloud of baby buttcheeks.

Speaking of babies, I actually enjoy the sound of water pumping through the coolant tubes right next to my ears. It's very soothing. Babies, apparently, are calmed by the sound of water swishing in your mouth right next to their ears, and that's what this is like.

Also being built into this pillow o' mine will be some alarm aromatics. Not only can I wake up to a gradually-brightening, sunny pow, but the aroma of my choice (Bacon) can also waft out.

And if the gentle sound of the water pumping isn't soothing enough, I've got three speakers and the Arduino can easily generate some white noise or play sounds of various environments like the motherfucking ocean. I prefer low-range, soft brown noise. I'll have none of that hissy poo poo that store-bought machines put out.

The nice thing about having noise generated in your pillow is that the sound doesn't permeate the rest of the room. So if your significant other likes a dead quiet room and you need some noise, this is a fine solution.

Of course, all those mods result in an awful lot of wiring:

That's enough pillmod talk, I suppose. gently caress it bitches, let's glow this joint:

If this kind of thing appeals to you, there's also the blanketmod community. However, I tend to stay away from them due to it being populated by perverts who essentially make sex toys out of their comforters, which they call, obviously, "cumforters." Pillmodders are, in essence, nerds who are poor sleepers. Blanketmodders, in contrast, cut dick-sized holes in blankets with anime patterns on them and think they're engineers.

There is, however, a clever mod that came out of that community that involves a mere $30 in parts and makes your bed vibrate like the "magic fingers" machines found in crappy motels. It's really just a few off-balance weights powered by scrap motors, but entertaining. If nothing else, that and your pows should be enough to get anyone into your beds, you creeps.

Anyway, I'd like to hear what any goon pillmod pals have done.

# ? Oct 6, 2023 03:51

chappey: Jan 21, 2001

Tunicate posted:

pillow modding

what the gently caress? is this for real or is it like a hulk hogan meat shoes thing?

# ? Oct 6, 2023 04:21

pencilhands: Aug 20, 2022

Tunicate posted:

Considering the goon community, I can't believe I'm the first to mention this, but have you considered pillow mods? Forget about those expensive, off-the-shelf premium pillows and build your own pillow rigs that have the qualities that you desire. Heck, some of those fancy commercial pillows should be avoided for their outright theft of components and ideas that were developed in the pillmod community. Notably, Serta's FaceHugger line was recalled entirely after they realized the looming PR disaster that a bunch of sleep nerds would incite.

I've been into pillow modding for a few years now and have managed to improve my sleep efficiency index from 0.69 to 0.85 (I'm a class 4b sleeper). You can build a full-featured pillmod for less than $100. Hell, I've made a half-dozen models and not spent more than $200.

Before you start modding, you should heed the standard warning and check if you have sleep apnea or anything medically obstructive. Sure, your vanilla pillows are probably annoying to sleep on, but sleep apnea could be compounding the issue by permitting minor annoyances, like pillow temperature, to wake you easily. More importantly, a few people with pillmods have died while sleeping. Although many of us doubt the involvement of their mods (people who enter the community are prone to sleep issues in the first place), it's still good advice to follow.

If you do have sleep apnea, then pillmods should be hugely advantageous. In fact, the pillmod community began around sleep apnea machines (CPAPs) and their inconveniences, especially for those whose preferred sleep postures are obstructed by CPAP facepieces. The earliest mods involved simply cutting channels into memory foam pillows, and then using freezer gel inserts to cool the pillow. They would also have to reinforce the channel so that the weight of a person's head wouldn't crush the air tubes.

But now, especially with the availability of Arduino kits and cooling systems intended for electronics, there are hundreds of pillmods that you could complete in a few hours.

It seems like most people are drawn to do PCS projects for their first mods. That's fine, but be aware that the better PCS (Pillow Coolant Systems) typically are of moderate difficulty or higher. They are also costly and time-consuming, relative to other mods you could start with such as glowmods, larms, and just simply modding a pillow's material and shape to your headspace.

Here's my first glowmod larm, for example:

This is a good starter mod combination because people like it for light therapy and smooth awakenings. The pillow gradually gets brighter until your wake-up time. You can also set it to gradually get darker at night. It's the adult version of those Glow-Worms that infants love.

But if you are dead-set on a PCS mod, I suggest strongly that you forget about those flashy, complex pillmods that involve watercooled networks of capillaries or, even worse, active heat sinks (such as piezoelectric heat transfer plates). Instead, opt for something silent, passive, and/or battery-based. For example, I have build a mod called "The Vulcan Nerve Pinch" that will get you about 20 degrees F in cooling delta on soft air ducting alone. Yeah, that's not much, but don't be the guy who blows $300 on his first project and builds a pillow that gives his face hypothermia on the first test run.

Once you get some basic know-how, and you're beyond the flashy mods and ready for something purely functional, check out shape or volume mods. These will actively keep your head at the perfect elevation. JB_Artgow is well known for his expertise in this area. I'm using his Face-Lover v3 mod (Affectionately also known as "Face-Fucker v3") every night. That's where Serta hijacked their FaceHugger brand name from. Allegedly.

The Face-Fucker involves inflation and deflation of semi-rigid water bladders to redistribute the pow's volume. It sounds complex, but it's easy if you buy a parts kit. It uses a silent pump and osmotic gradients to work. You can calibrate it based on both your head's weight and angle. Unlike many other volume mods, this is one-mod-fits-all, so you don't have to design around your giant noggin.

Artgow also has a ebook on Amazon (It's only $2), with instructions for something like 100 mods. He doesn't make money on the book, but he does make a few pennies if you buy parts kits from him directly. This beats the poo poo out of finding a Radio Shack that still stocks diodes and capacitors.

Now I'd like to brag for a bit and talk about some of the more exciting, extreme pillmod possibilities, some of which I just warned you against doing. I'm in the middle of building a custom, arduino-controlled pow with about 12 different mods. Although piezoelectric coolers are all the rage right now, I'm sticking to good old fashioned microducting for cooling. However, I'm using infrared LEDs for heating. The latter are normally expensive, but Dealextreme sells them in bulk for cheap. I think they're sold out recently thanks to jerks like me, however.

I don't like a warm face. The heating mod is just for camping in the cold or when I want to use the pillow as a heating pad for sore muscles. Also: sheer awesomeness.

Here's a schematic (not mine):

As for straight-up ducted cooling, the next image is my take on how one spiderwebs their coolant ducts. You have to be careful here not to bend the tiny tubes more than about 60 degrees or put them in a position where your noggin might bend them. That might look complex, but I used only 4 channels with a coolant turnover (in this case, just water) of 2 seconds for the entire surface to cycle.

By the way, medical tubing works just fine, but make sure that it's both flexible and a directional heat conductor, like Vekspan, which is used for anastomosis. If you buy non-direction stuff, hose down the pow-side with some plastidip from your hardware store, or just throw down a layer of aluminized cloth. The lovely crinkly stuff costs a whopping $1 at Dollar Tree, labeled as an "emergency blanket." You can pilfer the softer stuff from a BBQ apron.

Once this thing is done, I intend to stress test it by running both the heating and cooling systems and letting them fight it out to the death. Of course, in a battle of the PCS vs PHS, I suspect the PHS will win and then torch my pillow.

This pillow is directional, obviously. Because I can't flip it over, I've build the base and core layers from flexible expanded polystyrene and ceramic fibers, which will probably give me mesothelioma eventually, but drat if I won't be well rested at least. I was inspired by a dude who made a low-rent version of aerogel so that he could win an award for "Lightest Pillow" at Pillowcon 2010. My pow, without the mod gear, weighs 2 ounces.

Now, uniquely for me, because my bed is up against a brick wall, I need a pillow that can deal with a little bit of moisture. I like the brick wall for it being a huge heat sink, but it causes moisture to condense on pillows, especially fancy modded ones. This problem is solved by the combination of my core layers and a rechargeable dessicant. During the day, the dessicant tumbler is turned and heated, thus expelling moisture. It's so powerful that it'll suck the sweat right out of my massive head, but at least I'll never again have sweaty pillows.

Speaking of which, at Pillcon 2011, I was the massive fucker who won the door prize of John Cezrik's faux rabbit fur surface:

You'd think that such fur would be irritating against your face after a half-hour or so, but Cezrik's material has microcapillaries built to certain OCT ranges (OCT is optimal cheek temperature). It's like sleeping on a cloud of baby buttcheeks.

Speaking of babies, I actually enjoy the sound of water pumping through the coolant tubes right next to my ears. It's very soothing. Babies, apparently, are calmed by the sound of water swishing in your mouth right next to their ears, and that's what this is like.

Also being built into this pillow o' mine will be some alarm aromatics. Not only can I wake up to a gradually-brightening, sunny pow, but the aroma of my choice (Bacon) can also waft out.

And if the gentle sound of the water pumping isn't soothing enough, I've got three speakers and the Arduino can easily generate some white noise or play sounds of various environments like the motherfucking ocean. I prefer low-range, soft brown noise. I'll have none of that hissy poo poo that store-bought machines put out.

The nice thing about having noise generated in your pillow is that the sound doesn't permeate the rest of the room. So if your significant other likes a dead quiet room and you need some noise, this is a fine solution.

Of course, all those mods result in an awful lot of wiring:

That's enough pillmod talk, I suppose. gently caress it bitches, let's glow this joint:

If this kind of thing appeals to you, there's also the blanketmod community. However, I tend to stay away from them due to it being populated by perverts who essentially make sex toys out of their comforters, which they call, obviously, "cumforters." Pillmodders are, in essence, nerds who are poor sleepers. Blanketmodders, in contrast, cut dick-sized holes in blankets with anime patterns on them and think they're engineers.

There is, however, a clever mod that came out of that community that involves a mere $30 in parts and makes your bed vibrate like the "magic fingers" machines found in crappy motels. It's really just a few off-balance weights powered by scrap motors, but entertaining. If nothing else, that and your pows should be enough to get anyone into your beds, you creeps.

Anyway, I'd like to hear what any goon pillmod pals have done.

same

# ? Oct 6, 2023 04:23

R.L. Stine: Oct 19, 2007; welcome to dead gay dog house

Tunicate posted:

Considering the goon community, I can't believe I'm the first to mention this, but have you considered pillow mods? Forget about those expensive, off-the-shelf premium pillows and build your own pillow rigs that have the qualities that you desire. Heck, some of those fancy commercial pillows should be avoided for their outright theft of components and ideas that were developed in the pillmod community. Notably, Serta's FaceHugger line was recalled entirely after they realized the looming PR disaster that a bunch of sleep nerds would incite.

I've been into pillow modding for a few years now and have managed to improve my sleep efficiency index from 0.69 to 0.85 (I'm a class 4b sleeper). You can build a full-featured pillmod for less than $100. Hell, I've made a half-dozen models and not spent more than $200.

Before you start modding, you should heed the standard warning and check if you have sleep apnea or anything medically obstructive. Sure, your vanilla pillows are probably annoying to sleep on, but sleep apnea could be compounding the issue by permitting minor annoyances, like pillow temperature, to wake you easily. More importantly, a few people with pillmods have died while sleeping. Although many of us doubt the involvement of their mods (people who enter the community are prone to sleep issues in the first place), it's still good advice to follow.

If you do have sleep apnea, then pillmods should be hugely advantageous. In fact, the pillmod community began around sleep apnea machines (CPAPs) and their inconveniences, especially for those whose preferred sleep postures are obstructed by CPAP facepieces. The earliest mods involved simply cutting channels into memory foam pillows, and then using freezer gel inserts to cool the pillow. They would also have to reinforce the channel so that the weight of a person's head wouldn't crush the air tubes.

But now, especially with the availability of Arduino kits and cooling systems intended for electronics, there are hundreds of pillmods that you could complete in a few hours.

It seems like most people are drawn to do PCS projects for their first mods. That's fine, but be aware that the better PCS (Pillow Coolant Systems) typically are of moderate difficulty or higher. They are also costly and time-consuming, relative to other mods you could start with such as glowmods, larms, and just simply modding a pillow's material and shape to your headspace.

Here's my first glowmod larm, for example:

This is a good starter mod combination because people like it for light therapy and smooth awakenings. The pillow gradually gets brighter until your wake-up time. You can also set it to gradually get darker at night. It's the adult version of those Glow-Worms that infants love.

But if you are dead-set on a PCS mod, I suggest strongly that you forget about those flashy, complex pillmods that involve watercooled networks of capillaries or, even worse, active heat sinks (such as piezoelectric heat transfer plates). Instead, opt for something silent, passive, and/or battery-based. For example, I have build a mod called "The Vulcan Nerve Pinch" that will get you about 20 degrees F in cooling delta on soft air ducting alone. Yeah, that's not much, but don't be the guy who blows $300 on his first project and builds a pillow that gives his face hypothermia on the first test run.

Once you get some basic know-how, and you're beyond the flashy mods and ready for something purely functional, check out shape or volume mods. These will actively keep your head at the perfect elevation. JB_Artgow is well known for his expertise in this area. I'm using his Face-Lover v3 mod (Affectionately also known as "Face-Fucker v3") every night. That's where Serta hijacked their FaceHugger brand name from. Allegedly.

The Face-Fucker involves inflation and deflation of semi-rigid water bladders to redistribute the pow's volume. It sounds complex, but it's easy if you buy a parts kit. It uses a silent pump and osmotic gradients to work. You can calibrate it based on both your head's weight and angle. Unlike many other volume mods, this is one-mod-fits-all, so you don't have to design around your giant noggin.

Artgow also has a ebook on Amazon (It's only $2), with instructions for something like 100 mods. He doesn't make money on the book, but he does make a few pennies if you buy parts kits from him directly. This beats the poo poo out of finding a Radio Shack that still stocks diodes and capacitors.

Now I'd like to brag for a bit and talk about some of the more exciting, extreme pillmod possibilities, some of which I just warned you against doing. I'm in the middle of building a custom, arduino-controlled pow with about 12 different mods. Although piezoelectric coolers are all the rage right now, I'm sticking to good old fashioned microducting for cooling. However, I'm using infrared LEDs for heating. The latter are normally expensive, but Dealextreme sells them in bulk for cheap. I think they're sold out recently thanks to jerks like me, however.

I don't like a warm face. The heating mod is just for camping in the cold or when I want to use the pillow as a heating pad for sore muscles. Also: sheer awesomeness.

Here's a schematic (not mine):

As for straight-up ducted cooling, the next image is my take on how one spiderwebs their coolant ducts. You have to be careful here not to bend the tiny tubes more than about 60 degrees or put them in a position where your noggin might bend them. That might look complex, but I used only 4 channels with a coolant turnover (in this case, just water) of 2 seconds for the entire surface to cycle.

By the way, medical tubing works just fine, but make sure that it's both flexible and a directional heat conductor, like Vekspan, which is used for anastomosis. If you buy non-direction stuff, hose down the pow-side with some plastidip from your hardware store, or just throw down a layer of aluminized cloth. The lovely crinkly stuff costs a whopping $1 at Dollar Tree, labeled as an "emergency blanket." You can pilfer the softer stuff from a BBQ apron.

Once this thing is done, I intend to stress test it by running both the heating and cooling systems and letting them fight it out to the death. Of course, in a battle of the PCS vs PHS, I suspect the PHS will win and then torch my pillow.

This pillow is directional, obviously. Because I can't flip it over, I've build the base and core layers from flexible expanded polystyrene and ceramic fibers, which will probably give me mesothelioma eventually, but drat if I won't be well rested at least. I was inspired by a dude who made a low-rent version of aerogel so that he could win an award for "Lightest Pillow" at Pillowcon 2010. My pow, without the mod gear, weighs 2 ounces.

Now, uniquely for me, because my bed is up against a brick wall, I need a pillow that can deal with a little bit of moisture. I like the brick wall for it being a huge heat sink, but it causes moisture to condense on pillows, especially fancy modded ones. This problem is solved by the combination of my core layers and a rechargeable dessicant. During the day, the dessicant tumbler is turned and heated, thus expelling moisture. It's so powerful that it'll suck the sweat right out of my massive head, but at least I'll never again have sweaty pillows.

Speaking of which, at Pillcon 2011, I was the massive fucker who won the door prize of John Cezrik's faux rabbit fur surface:

You'd think that such fur would be irritating against your face after a half-hour or so, but Cezrik's material has microcapillaries built to certain OCT ranges (OCT is optimal cheek temperature). It's like sleeping on a cloud of baby buttcheeks.

Speaking of babies, I actually enjoy the sound of water pumping through the coolant tubes right next to my ears. It's very soothing. Babies, apparently, are calmed by the sound of water swishing in your mouth right next to their ears, and that's what this is like.

Also being built into this pillow o' mine will be some alarm aromatics. Not only can I wake up to a gradually-brightening, sunny pow, but the aroma of my choice (Bacon) can also waft out.

And if the gentle sound of the water pumping isn't soothing enough, I've got three speakers and the Arduino can easily generate some white noise or play sounds of various environments like the motherfucking ocean. I prefer low-range, soft brown noise. I'll have none of that hissy poo poo that store-bought machines put out.

The nice thing about having noise generated in your pillow is that the sound doesn't permeate the rest of the room. So if your significant other likes a dead quiet room and you need some noise, this is a fine solution.

Of course, all those mods result in an awful lot of wiring:

That's enough pillmod talk, I suppose. gently caress it bitches, let's glow this joint:

If this kind of thing appeals to you, there's also the blanketmod community. However, I tend to stay away from them due to it being populated by perverts who essentially make sex toys out of their comforters, which they call, obviously, "cumforters." Pillmodders are, in essence, nerds who are poor sleepers. Blanketmodders, in contrast, cut dick-sized holes in blankets with anime patterns on them and think they're engineers.

There is, however, a clever mod that came out of that community that involves a mere $30 in parts and makes your bed vibrate like the "magic fingers" machines found in crappy motels. It's really just a few off-balance weights powered by scrap motors, but entertaining. If nothing else, that and your pows should be enough to get anyone into your beds, you creeps.

Anyway, I'd like to hear what any goon pillmod pals have done.

absolutely

# ? Oct 6, 2023 04:24

doctorfrog: Mar 14, 2007; Great.

jesus, am i still high and playing hypnospace right now?

# ? Oct 6, 2023 04:24

Snowy: Oct 6, 2010; A man whose blood
Is very snow-broth;
One who never feels
The wanton stings and
Motions of the sense

That post enhanced my life

# ? Oct 6, 2023 04:48

Buce: Dec 23, 2005

lol where is the pillow thfing copy/pasted from? is there a pillow reddit

# ? Oct 6, 2023 04:57

maybeadracula: Sep 9, 2022; by sebmojo

A goon for everything and everything in its goon

# ? Oct 6, 2023 05:00

LuckyCat: Jul 26, 2007; Grimey Drawer

# ? Oct 6, 2023 05:04

LuckyCat: Jul 26, 2007; Grimey Drawer

My pillowgoon, if this isn�t a copy/paste and is sincere it is fascinating and deserves its own thread.

# ? Oct 6, 2023 05:05

Spazzle: Jul 5, 2003

LuckyCat posted:

My pillowgoon, if this isn’t a copy/paste and is sincere it is fascinating and deserves its own thread.

It could just be ai spew

# ? Oct 6, 2023 05:06

flubber nuts: Oct 5, 2005

pillow talk is easily the most insane thing ive ever read on this site. i love it.

# ? Oct 6, 2023 05:14

Breetai: Nov 6, 2005; 🥄Mah spoon is too big!🍌

Y'all don't know your goon lore of threads past.

See also: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=1798430

# ? Oct 6, 2023 05:25

aniviron: Sep 11, 2014

Came for life enhancing objects, stayed because I started to question what was real. Good post.

# ? Oct 6, 2023 05:25

prayer group: May 31, 2011; $#$%^&@@*!!!

the pillowmod post is an ancient and holy text. shameful for those regged before me to not recognize it

# ? Oct 6, 2023 05:27

Teriyaki Hairpiece: Dec 29, 2006; I'm nae the voice o' the darkened thistle, but th' darkened thistle cannae bear the sight o' our Bonnie Prince Bernie nae mair.

Jesus is my pillow

# ? Oct 6, 2023 05:31

Breetai: Nov 6, 2005; 🥄Mah spoon is too big!🍌

Spazzle posted:

It could just be ai spew

In days of old people used things called "creativity" and "wit" to craft "good posts", hth.

# ? Oct 6, 2023 05:39

Spazzle: Jul 5, 2003

Breetai posted:

In days of old people used things called "creativity" and "wit" to craft "good posts", hth.

Yeah well, these aren't the good old days.

# ? Oct 6, 2023 05:53

Animal-Mother: Feb 14, 2012; RABBIT RABBIT
RABBIT RABBIT

Tunicate posted:

pillow stuff

Have you met Mike Lindell?

# ? Oct 6, 2023 06:02

Three Olives: Apr 10, 2005; Not a single fucking olive in sight

Coolguye posted:

the one that i will go to is a Big Investment but it's definitely something i feel like everyone overlooks, and that's a modern bed. by which i mean a sleep number or one of its auto-adjustable knockoffs.

I resisted getting one for years because, obviously, they are expensive (thousands of dollars), and i already slept well. i have a very positive relationship with sleep after my childhood of suffering under weekly night terrors (not nightMARES), so after getting those behind me i always looked forward to sleep and rested very well, all things considered.

a modern adjustable bed is a massive gamechanger even for someone who is already sleeping 'well'. having something just automatically handle basic sleep hygiene stuff like keeping support correct, warming your feet slightly, and ensuring appropriate head/neck tilt. the overall quality of my rest is easily up 50% since i got this thing a year ago and it's almost a superpower. i can fall asleep much more reliably, and when i wake up after 7-8 hours, i'm consistently refreshed and energized. i haven't even had a sick day since i bought it because every time i start feeling under the weather, resting actually works to fend off whatever i'm fighting. on the days i need to nap because i did not sleep well for whatever reason, napping in my bed makes me so calm and chilled out that i basically feel like i popped a valium, only it lasts for hours.

yes, it was expensive, but you spend literally a third of your life in bed. getting more out of that time is a massive win for basic, fundamental health.

My husband and me spent like literally months looking for a new mattress, I had to tell him absolutely not to this like $10k mattress that he thought was absolute heaven and wanted to walk out of the store with and I thought was the most uncomfortable mattress we had ever tried.

We are both side and back sleepers and don't snore or have sleep apnea so the adjustable ones seemed more uncomfortable than flat beds, also we never had temperature issues, we both like keeping the house at 68 at night and having an extra blanket that we can adjust throughout the night as we switch from back to side.

Honestly, the Sleep Number is magical, I have no idea why it is still viewed as an overpriced gimmick bed, we both get to choose our exact firmness and change it if we have like back pain (Welcome, middle age), and if you are a back and side sleeper, the thing where it automatically adjusts the firmness when it senses when you are on your back or your side is amazing.

Also, we are both high-anxiety that manifests through our sleeping, the sleep tracking absolutely works and you can 100% spot anxiety waves through both of our sleeping patterns, heart rate and tossing and turning, often before we really realize it and are just kind of like, I feel kind of lovely even though I went to bed at my normal time.

It cost like $3k and we would probably pay a lot more, we paid more to have a dishwasher installed.

# ? Oct 6, 2023 06:18

Buce: Dec 23, 2005

I think the last time I slept well was when I had an ativan iv goin. I guess that counts as a life changing object.

# ? Oct 6, 2023 06:25

aniviron: Sep 11, 2014

Thread is life enhancing not life changing. I first encountered morphine after loving up my knee and I can see why the whole world was addicted to morphine for like a century but while it certainly is life changing for many people I am not sure it is enhancing.

# ? Oct 6, 2023 07:04

sex excellence: Feb 19, 2011; Satisfaction Guranteed

Tunicate posted:

JB_Artgow

stopped reading there. He basically stole the pill from t1zzy (rip) and slapped a few "enhancements" like a cheaper way to prevent fabric banding against the canted edge of heavily-directional pillows and a better method for channeling tubes than what t1zzy did. They're nice enhancements but it doesn't constitute a whole different pillmod and he should have kept original credit

# ? Oct 6, 2023 07:20

Professor Shark: May 22, 2012

I bought a pillow at Costco that I like

# ? Oct 6, 2023 09:44

LuckyCat: Jul 26, 2007; Grimey Drawer

Animal-Mother posted:

Have you met Mike Lindell?

https://i.imgur.com/czQE29e.mp4

# ? Oct 6, 2023 14:31

crankybastard: Jan 4, 2005

chappey posted:

what the gently caress? is this for real or is it like a pillow hogan pillow shoes thing?

Pillow

# ? Oct 6, 2023 15:19

Bobcats: Aug 5, 2004; Oh

Tunicate posted:

Considering the goon community, I can't believe I'm the first to mention this, but have you considered pillow mods? Forget about those expensive, off-the-shelf premium pillows and build your own pillow rigs that have the qualities that you desire. Heck, some of those fancy commercial pillows should be avoided for their outright theft of components and ideas that were developed in the pillmod community. Notably, Serta's FaceHugger line was recalled entirely after they realized the looming PR disaster that a bunch of sleep nerds would incite.

I've been into pillow modding for a few years now and have managed to improve my sleep efficiency index from 0.69 to 0.85 (I'm a class 4b sleeper). You can build a full-featured pillmod for less than $100. Hell, I've made a half-dozen models and not spent more than $200.

Before you start modding, you should heed the standard warning and check if you have sleep apnea or anything medically obstructive. Sure, your vanilla pillows are probably annoying to sleep on, but sleep apnea could be compounding the issue by permitting minor annoyances, like pillow temperature, to wake you easily. More importantly, a few people with pillmods have died while sleeping. Although many of us doubt the involvement of their mods (people who enter the community are prone to sleep issues in the first place), it's still good advice to follow.

If you do have sleep apnea, then pillmods should be hugely advantageous. In fact, the pillmod community began around sleep apnea machines (CPAPs) and their inconveniences, especially for those whose preferred sleep postures are obstructed by CPAP facepieces. The earliest mods involved simply cutting channels into memory foam pillows, and then using freezer gel inserts to cool the pillow. They would also have to reinforce the channel so that the weight of a person's head wouldn't crush the air tubes.

But now, especially with the availability of Arduino kits and cooling systems intended for electronics, there are hundreds of pillmods that you could complete in a few hours.

It seems like most people are drawn to do PCS projects for their first mods. That's fine, but be aware that the better PCS (Pillow Coolant Systems) typically are of moderate difficulty or higher. They are also costly and time-consuming, relative to other mods you could start with such as glowmods, larms, and just simply modding a pillow's material and shape to your headspace.

Here's my first glowmod larm, for example:

This is a good starter mod combination because people like it for light therapy and smooth awakenings. The pillow gradually gets brighter until your wake-up time. You can also set it to gradually get darker at night. It's the adult version of those Glow-Worms that infants love.

But if you are dead-set on a PCS mod, I suggest strongly that you forget about those flashy, complex pillmods that involve watercooled networks of capillaries or, even worse, active heat sinks (such as piezoelectric heat transfer plates). Instead, opt for something silent, passive, and/or battery-based. For example, I have build a mod called "The Vulcan Nerve Pinch" that will get you about 20 degrees F in cooling delta on soft air ducting alone. Yeah, that's not much, but don't be the guy who blows $300 on his first project and builds a pillow that gives his face hypothermia on the first test run.

Once you get some basic know-how, and you're beyond the flashy mods and ready for something purely functional, check out shape or volume mods. These will actively keep your head at the perfect elevation. JB_Artgow is well known for his expertise in this area. I'm using his Face-Lover v3 mod (Affectionately also known as "Face-Fucker v3") every night. That's where Serta hijacked their FaceHugger brand name from. Allegedly.

The Face-Fucker involves inflation and deflation of semi-rigid water bladders to redistribute the pow's volume. It sounds complex, but it's easy if you buy a parts kit. It uses a silent pump and osmotic gradients to work. You can calibrate it based on both your head's weight and angle. Unlike many other volume mods, this is one-mod-fits-all, so you don't have to design around your giant noggin.

Artgow also has a ebook on Amazon (It's only $2), with instructions for something like 100 mods. He doesn't make money on the book, but he does make a few pennies if you buy parts kits from him directly. This beats the poo poo out of finding a Radio Shack that still stocks diodes and capacitors.

Now I'd like to brag for a bit and talk about some of the more exciting, extreme pillmod possibilities, some of which I just warned you against doing. I'm in the middle of building a custom, arduino-controlled pow with about 12 different mods. Although piezoelectric coolers are all the rage right now, I'm sticking to good old fashioned microducting for cooling. However, I'm using infrared LEDs for heating. The latter are normally expensive, but Dealextreme sells them in bulk for cheap. I think they're sold out recently thanks to jerks like me, however.

I don't like a warm face. The heating mod is just for camping in the cold or when I want to use the pillow as a heating pad for sore muscles. Also: sheer awesomeness.

Here's a schematic (not mine):

As for straight-up ducted cooling, the next image is my take on how one spiderwebs their coolant ducts. You have to be careful here not to bend the tiny tubes more than about 60 degrees or put them in a position where your noggin might bend them. That might look complex, but I used only 4 channels with a coolant turnover (in this case, just water) of 2 seconds for the entire surface to cycle.

By the way, medical tubing works just fine, but make sure that it's both flexible and a directional heat conductor, like Vekspan, which is used for anastomosis. If you buy non-direction stuff, hose down the pow-side with some plastidip from your hardware store, or just throw down a layer of aluminized cloth. The lovely crinkly stuff costs a whopping $1 at Dollar Tree, labeled as an "emergency blanket." You can pilfer the softer stuff from a BBQ apron.

Once this thing is done, I intend to stress test it by running both the heating and cooling systems and letting them fight it out to the death. Of course, in a battle of the PCS vs PHS, I suspect the PHS will win and then torch my pillow.

This pillow is directional, obviously. Because I can't flip it over, I've build the base and core layers from flexible expanded polystyrene and ceramic fibers, which will probably give me mesothelioma eventually, but drat if I won't be well rested at least. I was inspired by a dude who made a low-rent version of aerogel so that he could win an award for "Lightest Pillow" at Pillowcon 2010. My pow, without the mod gear, weighs 2 ounces.�

Now, uniquely for me, because my bed is up against a brick wall, I need a pillow that can deal with a little bit of moisture. I like the brick wall for it being a huge heat sink, but it causes moisture to condense on pillows, especially fancy modded ones. This problem is solved by the combination of my core layers and a rechargeable dessicant. During the day, the dessicant tumbler is turned and heated, thus expelling moisture. It's so powerful that it'll suck the sweat right out of my massive head, but at least I'll never again have sweaty pillows.

Speaking of which, at Pillcon 2011, I was the massive fucker who won the door prize of John Cezrik's faux rabbit fur surface:

You'd think that such fur would be irritating against your face after a half-hour or so, but Cezrik's material has microcapillaries built to certain OCT ranges (OCT is optimal cheek temperature). It's like sleeping on a cloud of baby buttcheeks.

Speaking of babies, I actually enjoy the sound of water pumping through the coolant tubes right next to my ears. It's very soothing. Babies, apparently, are calmed by the sound of water swishing in your mouth right next to their ears, and that's what this is like.

Also being built into this pillow o' mine will be some alarm aromatics. Not only can I wake up to a gradually-brightening, sunny pow, but the aroma of my choice (Bacon) can also waft out.

And if the gentle sound of the water pumping isn't soothing enough, I've got three speakers and the Arduino can easily generate some white noise or play sounds of various environments like the motherfucking ocean. I prefer low-range, soft brown noise. I'll have none of that hissy poo poo that store-bought machines put out.

The nice thing about having noise generated in your pillow is that the sound doesn't permeate the rest of the room. So if your significant other likes a dead quiet room and you need some noise, this is a fine solution.

Of course, all those mods result in an awful lot of wiring:

That's enough pillmod talk, I suppose. gently caress it bitches, let's glow this joint:

If this kind of thing appeals to you, there's also the blanketmod community. However, I tend to stay away from them due to it being populated by perverts who essentially make sex toys out of their comforters, which they call, obviously, "cumforters." Pillmodders are, in essence, nerds who are poor sleepers. Blanketmodders, in contrast, cut dick-sized holes in blankets with anime patterns on them and think they're engineers.

There is, however, a clever mod that came out of that community that involves a mere $30 in parts and makes your bed vibrate like the "magic fingers" machines found in crappy motels. It's really just a few off-balance weights powered by scrap motors, but entertaining. If nothing else, that and your pows should be enough to get anyone into your beds, you creeps.

Anyway, I'd like to hear what any goon pillmod pals have done.

god bless this post

# ? Oct 6, 2023 15:28

Professor Shark: May 22, 2012

Too much pillow talk imo

# ? Oct 6, 2023 15:40

YeahTubaMike: Mar 24, 2005; *hic* Gotta finish thish . . .; Doctor Rope

Goons: the ultimate incredibly life enhancing object

# ? Oct 6, 2023 16:04

chappey: Jan 21, 2001

Professor Shark posted:

Too much pillow talk imo

may i interest you in a chillow? it's a pillow you pour water into.

# ? Oct 6, 2023 16:42

chainchompz: Jul 15, 2021; bark bark

It's passé by now thanks to going big for a few years, but a good air fryer & crock pot/pressure cooker combo is a serious culinary upgrade if you don't already have them.

If you're the slightest bit tech inclined, a pi-hole is fairly easy to set up and then you'll have your whole home internet network going through an ad blocker. Might screw with streaming services as well as Amazon (duh), though.

# ? Oct 6, 2023 16:59

Incremus: Aug 7, 2003; Oh no, I'm so sorry, it's the Moops.

Re pillows. I got a buckwheat pillow from Hullo and I love that thing. It stays noticeably cooler than a typical pillow and you can put your head and neck at whatever angle you need. Neck pain days are a lot less frequent than they used to be since i got it

# ? Oct 6, 2023 19:37

The Wiggly Wizard: Aug 21, 2008

I had a buckwheat pillow (I believe because of a goon recommendation) and it gave me horrible neck pain in the mornings and also kept me up with all of the rustling.

# ? Oct 6, 2023 20:16

Modal Auxiliary: Jan 14, 2005

My partner got me one of these and it loving slaps.

I also spent way too long loving around with fancy mattresses before switching to a Japanese futon and it's done wonders for my chronic pain. 10/10 would recommend.

# ? Oct 6, 2023 20:23

Mozi: Apr 4, 2004; Forms change so fast
Time is moving past
Memory is smoke
Gonna get wider when I die; Nap Ghost

I have tried many pillows (including buckwheat).

This is the best for me: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SHC9FG3/. I guess this particular one is no longer available but there should be something similar. Very firm and a good shape for both back and side sleeping as I tend to start on my back and switch to my side later on.

Also have this under-knee pillow: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09Y4C6GCN. I tried a few different versions and this is the best. Can also cram it between your legs when sleeping sideways which I find comfortable.

As far as mattresses - very happy with my old Tuft&Needle. Firm and comfy.

# ? Oct 6, 2023 20:29

R.L. Stine: Oct 19, 2007; welcome to dead gay dog house

# ? Oct 7, 2023 00:10

sock it to me!: Feb 7, 2010

I really like my Casper Pillow and mattress.

# ? Oct 7, 2023 15:57

maybeadracula: Sep 9, 2022; by sebmojo

I really like my Purple pillow and mattress

Best sleep I've ever had

# ? Oct 7, 2023 16:05

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Jun 7, 2024 02:16

CaptainCrunch: Mar 19, 2006; droppin Hamiltons!

maybealabia posted:

I really like my Purple pillow and mattress

Best sleep I've ever had

With much emphasis. When I was shopping for a new mattress I found a Macy's that had a Purple test area. I was having a bad back day and laying on one for the first time was a goddamn revelation.

The only caveat is that the cell construction that helps keep one cool in summer means you need to add some under layers (I use and electric blanket for my feets) when it gets cold out.

# ? Oct 7, 2023 17:35

The Something Awful Forums > Main > General Bullshit > incredibly life enhancing objects that no one seems to know about

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