Titanium Tongue Tool

One of my recent projects has been to reevaluate my dental ablutions. As it turns out, mankind’s knowledge has progressed since I was first taught to brush my teeth as a toddler, and some of my practices wanted updating.

I bought my first tongue scraper back in 2018. It was one of those U-shaped copper ones from India. I used it occasionally, but did not incorporate it into my daily ritual until I began this reevaluation at the end of last year. I have decided that I do like using tongue scrapers, and want to do so daily, but I always found the two-handed nature of this style vaguely annoying. I had previously come across the one-handed models that are more spooned shaped, and had even seen that Tongue Sweeper makes a titanium version. As an addict for anything titanium, I immediately wanted this for no other reason than it was titanium. But at $42 I could not justify the cost.

Then last month I happened to see the Tongue Sweeper Titanium Pro on eBay for only $27. Obviously I bought it.

Given the price discrepancy, I assumed this was going to be a knock-off, or a unit from a box that fell off a truck somewhere. But it shipped direct from Tongue Sweeper Actual, is serialized, and included a certificate of authenticity in the box.

So now I clean my tongue with titanium every morning, and I feel like a million bucks doing it.

That old copper U-shaped one weighs 30 grams. I have never travelled with it, and would never travel with it. The new titanium one? 7 grams (including the colored silicone ring). I bought this after returning from my recent 3-week bicycle tour this Spring, so I haven’t actually travelled with it yet. But at 7 grams, I probably will.

Up-Armoring My Face

In January 2024 I decided that I was going to start to wear sunscreen on my face every day. Ambient radiation is no good. Helios wants to kill you. These are truly the last days. Et cetera.

What holds one back from wearing sunscreen every day is that American sunscreens are shit. They do the job, but they feel heavy, leave a white cast, and are generally not the sort of thing you can throw on and forget about. As such, connoisseurs of anti-radiation face-armor opt for products from Asia. I have spent the past 19 months purchasing a number of different bottles, tossing something on my face every day, and spelunking the depths of /r/AsianBeauty and the related corners of the blog-o-sphere for data on previous engagements.

First, Asian sunscreens generally come in one of three types: Essence, Milk, or Gel. Milk is so-called because it comes out similar to milk: white and runny. Essence is squeezed out of the tube with a viscosity and consistency reminiscent of the typical American product. (If we were sticking with the diary analogy, I’d call this one Greek yogurt). Gel is somewhere in between the two (low-fat yogurt?). Milk tends to be the most durable. Essence is more moisturizing. I like both Milk and Essence, and have no time for Gel.

The Internet will tell you that the best (or “HG” in Youth-speak – eventually I learned that this is an abbreviation for “holy grail”) sunscreen is Shiseido Anessa Perfect UV Sunscreen Milk from Nippon. This is the one I bought first. I did not like it initially, but I tried it again after a few months and decided that The Internet was correct. The problem I first had was that I was not applying enough. A lifetime of shitty American sunscreens had trained me to apply as little sunscreen as possible. After a few months of playing around with products that are actually good, I figured out the proper amount (the two finger thing is a good guide, but the runniness of Milk-variants require a little more), and, lo, when applied properly and in the correct amount, Shiseido Anessa Perfect UV Sunscreen Milk does work great. It is one of the few that stands up well to sweat and Extreme Activity™. Unfortunately, it is expensive. So I save this for when I know I’m going to be out all day, sack deep in ball sweat.

For every other day of the year, I have settled on Rohto Mentholatum Skin Aqua Super Moisture UV Essence. I can toss this one on in the morning, forget about it a few minutes later, and – as long as I don’t get wet – it works all day. (All of these things say you’re supposed to reapply every couple hours, but I rarely think to do that.) This one is cheaper than the Anessa, so I can apply it everyday without feeling like I’m breaking the bank.

One of these two products goes on my face every morning, as well as my neck and ears. It covers the whole face. If I’m outside in the sun, I probably have a hat covering my forehead and sunglasses covering my eyes, but I still up-armor the whole face. It doesn’t matter what the weather is, or what my plans for the days are. Developing the habit is the key to preparedness. On sunny days, the same product goes on my arms. I don’t believe in body-part-specific sunscreen, though my extensive research has shown that some Beauty Bloggers disagree with me.

I order this stuff from both YesStyle and Stylevana, and have had good experiences with both. I gather that Jeff Bezos will sell you some of these products, but I don’t trust his store for anything I’m going to put on or in my body.

My notes on all the products I’ve tried are as follows.

Shiseido Anessa Perfect UV Sunscreen Milk

  • Gold bottle.
  • Minor scent, but fairly unoffensive.
  • No sting.
  • Great sweat resistance, if applied properly.
  • Forget its on a couple minutes after application.
  • Great daily wear, but expensive.
  • Great for high exertion.

Rohto Mentholatum Skin Aqua Super Moisture UV Essence

  • Blue bottle.
  • No scent.
  • No sting.
  • Great daily wear.
  • Forget its on a couple minutes after application.
  • Does not hold up to sweat. Not appropriate for high exertion.

Rohto Mentholatum Skin Aqua Super Moisture UV Milk

  • No scent.
  • No sting.
  • Great daily wear.
  • Forget its on a couple minutes after application.
  • Minor resistance to sweat. Not appropriate for high exertion.
  • Small bottle and milk-type requires higher volume for coverage, so more expensive than Essence-type equivalent.

Rohto Mentholatum Skin Aqua Super Moisture UV Gel

  • Blue bottle.
  • No scent.
  • Minor sting.
  • Does not hold up to sweat. Not appropriate for high exertion.
  • Slight sheen.
  • Slightly inferior to Essence variant.

Rohto Mentholatum Skin Aqua Super Moisture Barrier UV Essence

  • Gold bottle.
  • No scent.
  • No sting.
  • Great daily wear.
  • Goes on a little thicker than the non-Barrier blue bottle one.
  • A little more “dewy”, but not shiny.
  • Requires more scrubbing to remove.
  • Minor resistance to sweat. Not appropriate for high exertion.

Biore UV Aqua Rich Watery Essence

  • Blue bottle.
  • No scent.
  • Stings around eyes.
  • Would be good for daily wear, but for sting.
  • This + wind = tears
  • Minor resistance to sweat. Not appropriate for high exertion.

SKIN1004 Madagascar Centella Hyalu-Cica Water Fit Sun Serum

  • No scent.
  • No sting.
  • Goes on super light, immediately disappears.
  • Vanishes at the first hint of sweat or moisture.
  • Would be great for daily wear, but for complete lack of water resistance.

Purito SEOUL Daily Soft Touch Sunscreen

  • No scent.
  • Goes on a little thicker than others.
  • Dewy. A bit of a shine.
  • Not great for daily wear due to shine.
  • Very slight tackiness when I touch my face throughout the day.

I needed a break from all the death and violence in The Iliad.

So I read Fight Club.

Further Fingering

Since jumping on the variable resistance train a few years ago, the number of bodyweight exercises I do has steadily diminished. One thing I do still practice – pretty much daily – are pull-ups.

I’ve never owned one of those pull-up bar contraptions you install in a doorway. But I live in San Francisco, where we more-or-less stopped building housing after the reign of King George V. This means I have crown moulding along my walls and above my doorways. I just hop up there, hang from my fingers, and do pull-ups from that. Another application of finger strength.

The first time I tried this, the sharp edge of the moulding was rather painful on my fingers. A bit of padding was wanted. I remembered I had some old pot handle covers that I never use. I put those between my finger tips and the wood, and it worked great. It gives a little padding, and increases the surface area I’m gripping on just a skosh. These have since lived near my bathroom door. My morning routine after getting out of bed is: piss, pull-ups, ablutions.

I can’t remember the last time I did a pull-up from a bar, so I’m not sure how the difficulty of my practice compares. But pulling myself up using a small ledge is a better analogue for any sort of real world activity.

Fingering

I may have given the impression that the Harambe System is the only muscle building equipment I use, but there are two exceptions to that. I’ve been using a Gripmaster Pro for the past 10 years, and a Captains of Crush Gripper for a bit longer.

Back in 2015, shortly after I first met Ed Calderon, he was using my body to demonstrate for Mark Denny a selection of the BDSM techniques he had learned from Japanese prostitutes.1 In the moments of clarity between pain, I was impressed by the strength of his individual fingers. Later, when we were decent, I asked him about it and he pointed me to the Gripmaster Pro. I bought one.

I keep the Gripmaster at my desk at work, and the Captains of Crush Gripper at my desk at home, and use both the way The Youth use their so-called “fidget spinners”, rather than as part of any sort of purposeful program.

Notes

  1. You can't open the book of my life and jump in the middle.

Link Log 2025-07-06

myNoise

Ghost Dog and selective philosphy

The Visual World of ‘Samurai Jack’

Aphex Twin: a case study in nostalgia

How to Dress and Undress your Home

The Blade Runner FAQ: Language Matters

The discreet charm of the infrastructureless

Kulshan

Recruitment

Back in May I received an email, improperly routed to my spam folder, which contained my (long-expected) invitation to join the Illuminati. I’ve yet to receive further details, but I figure I’m basically in at this point. It isn’t like they’re going to send me a secret decoder ring in the mail.

Date: Mon, 19 May 2025 14:25:37 +0300

From: The illuminati alexandr@medicine-it.ru

To: Recipients alexandr@medicine-it.ru

Subject: illuminati recruitment.

Greetings, from the illuminati world elite empire, Are you a business Man/woman, politician, musician, student, employee. Do you strive to expand your knowledge to achieve personal growth, Do you want to be rich?, need protection, be powerful and famous. If YES!. Then you can achieve your dreams by being a member of the great illuminati empire, Once you are a member all your dreams and heart desire can be fully accomplish. With this brief summary, If you are interested to become a member of the great illuminati then get back to us for more information about joining the illuminati. kindly reply us back on our direct recruitment email only at: infoilluminati@religious.com Please note, Kindly make sure all your response are send directly to the email stated above.

This is my second favorite recruitment offer. The first being when, in the year of our lord two thousand and eighteen (or was it ‘17), I received a phone call from a (purported) CIA recruiter (allegedly) encouraging me to apply for a role in the (recently renamed) Directorate of Operations.

It is periodic acknowledgement like this that leads me to believe I am making the right life choices.

A Machine for Building Muscle

Back in December I wrote that I was very happy with the Harambe resistance bands but intended to keep using the X3 bar and plate.

That last part didn’t age well.

In March I bought the Harambe CyberPlate. This was great and lived up to the hype. Encouraged by that, about a month later I bought the bar-previously-known-as-Manhattan and rods and black ropes. This too proved to be a significant quality improvement over my previous equipment. Two months after that I was back for the blue ropes and foam block.

Harambe System

My original Harambe purchase of the bands is, I think, still the most valuable. The reduced length of the bands and the intelligent assortment compared to what I’ve used previously directly contributes to a better, more efficient workout. The other components of the system, when compared to the X3 equivalents, are less about improving efficiency or functionality and more just quality of life improvements.

The rollers on the unfortunately named CyberPlate do make all the movements much smoother. After experiencing it, I find it hard to go back to a plate without rollers. But I do not think the that CyberPlate lets me lift heavier bands, or build more muscle faster, or anything like that. It should increase the service life of the bands, but that’s not much of an argument when one considers the price of bands compared to the price of the plate.

The bar is similar. I appreciate the greater width. I have come to prefer its independent bearings, rather than the X3 bar’s approach of having both sides move in unison. My deadlifting calluses have mostly gone away, despite the fact that I’ve progressed to heavier bands than what I was lifting when I was still using the X3 bar. (Partly this is because I’m using heavy enough bands that most of the time I need to use straps, but mostly I think it is because of the better knurling on the Harambe bar.) But, like the plate, this is more on the order of quality-of-life improvements rather than the Harambe bar being somehow more effective. The one exception is that on some movements – overhead press being the main one – I do notice my abdominal muscles being hit much more than they ever were with the X3 bar. I suspect this is due to the greater width of the Harambe bar and the independent bearings both requiring greater stabilization efforts on my part. I appreciate this. A strong core is important, and I hate doing sit-ups.

The sling system that Harambe uses offers some functional advantages over the hooks of the X3. The ability to change rope lengths and add spacers can help with progressive overload, but I feel like that advantage is pretty minor – especially if you get their orange band, which mostly replaces the contribution of the spacers in helping to progress to heavier bands. (Did I mention that I also ended up buying the orange and black bands at different points? I regularly use all six bands – individually or in some combination – for different movements.) The only area where I really take advantage of the modularity of the slings is when I put on the blue ropes, which allows me to back squat with a doubled band. I like doing back squats, but I do them after front squats. If I could only do front squats, I’d still be happy. So I don’t think the hooks vs sling question is worth spending much time thinking about. Both are fine, slings offer greater modularity, hooks provide a built-in stand, but ultimately it probably just comes down to personal preference.

If I’m home and bored and have a few minutes, I often find myself pulling the Harambe bar and plate out from their home under my desk and doing some exercise for a few minutes (this in addition to my more structured daily workouts with the system, which usually happens in the evening). I never did this impromptu work with the X3. I’m willing to accept that the responsibility for this failure lies more with me than the X3, but I think it also speaks to the difference in the experience of using both systems. When I get on the plate, grip the bar, and start pushing or pulling, it just feels like I am using well-made, top quality, professional equipment. Because I am.

All of these components cost a good deal of money (after my third order I made the mistake of asking ledger for my total spend with Harambe). Yet I don’t find myself regretting any of the purchases, and I think I would happily purchase all of them again (despite recent price increases meaning that most components are now more expensive than what I originally paid). That’s usually a good metric to assess an item’s value. But of course part of the point with a machine like this is that except for the bands, which are ultimately consumable, I should never have to purchase any sort of muscle building equipment again. I’m set for life.

I’ve noticed Harambe start to use the word “luxury” in some of their marketing. While I think that word does not properly apply to what they’re doing – “premium” would be more appropriate in the official lexicon – it implies a basic strategy to differentiate themselves from their competition that I agree with: their product is expensive, it may not complete the task more efficiently than more affordable offerings (except for the bands), but the extra thought and polish that goes into their components do craft a superior user experience, and once you use it everything else will seem less than.

The disadvantage to all this is that my shirts and jackets are all shrinking and I don’t want to replace them.