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Comment by dTal | Hacker News Reader

What a great question!

* A very long USB-C cable from an Apple store. I get jealous looks when I break it out to charge my phone.

* Scented candles from Aldi. It's such a quality of life boost to have the place smelling nice. They last ages and cost nothing.

* A creme brulee hand blowtorch. Surprisingly useful! Excellent for lighting aforementioned candles instantly, without burning your knuckles.

* A real P3 respirator with replaceable filters. I've seen the rate that people go through disposable masks. Replacing the filters every few months is vastly cheaper than that! And bonus, it's at least an order of magnitude more effective.

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> Scented candles

Generally candles emit fine particulates which is unhealthy.

If you're really concerned, just use a candle snuffer to blow it out and don't huff the fumes

That's not a problem as long as they're wearing the P3 respirator!

> A creme brulee hand blowtorch.

Seconded. It's absurdly nice to have a focused torch when you need one. And most are refillable, making them better than most lighters.

Could you make s’mores with that ?

Yeah without a doubt

Often a real P3 respirator has a valve to prevent fogging with doesn't filter what you exhale though so you're not helping the pandemic.

It's not ideal of course, but I don't think it's fair to say I'm not helping. Almost nobody wears a mask that truly filters what they exhale - their main functions are to trap moisture and stop you projecting droplets with your voice. My mask does capture a lot of moisture, as evidenced by the condensation inside, and the valve redirects my exhalation sideways, so I think that's likely at least as good as the cheapy surgical-style masks which are common.

Also, I tend to take the view that the best tool available to me to not spread Covid is to not catch Covid. It's apparent to me that relying on the people around me to wear masks and be sensible is not a viable strategy for avoiding transmission events. When the prevailing attitude is that the pandemic is over, I do not feel it is selfish to protect myself to the best of my ability.

3M is now making a high-quality respirator that has an optional exhalation filter attachment. I forget the model number but you can find it on the grainger website.

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