Akir's recent activity
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Comment on I find myself intimidated by the Bear community in ~lgbt
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Comment on I made a mistake, I started using Reddit again in ~talk
Akir Link ParentYeah, Reddit really demonstrates the tragedy of the commons pretty well. I looked at their popular posts yesterday and there was a post on showerthoughts that stated that a hamburger was “a well...Yeah, Reddit really demonstrates the tragedy of the commons pretty well. I looked at their popular posts yesterday and there was a post on showerthoughts that stated that a hamburger was “a well balanced meal”. There were so many people who swore up and down that a McDonald’s hamburger is a health food.
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Comment on Chevrolet Malibu heads for the junkyard as GM shifts focus to electric vehicles in ~transport
Akir Link ParentYeah, that bugs me. I can practically guarantee that neither of those trucks I mentioned had ever hauled anything they couldn’t put in a compact car, and there is a good chance they won’t before...Yeah, that bugs me. I can practically guarantee that neither of those trucks I mentioned had ever hauled anything they couldn’t put in a compact car, and there is a good chance they won’t before they sell them. I didn’t check at the time but I would bet that they also had their completely unused trailer hitches installed too.
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Comment on The land that doesn’t need Ozempic in ~food
Akir Link ParentOzempic is an appetite suppressant, it just does so in a very different way from others, so it's not just an appetite suppressant. I'd agree that the term doesn't really describe what it does, but...Ozempic is an appetite suppressant, it just does so in a very different way from others, so it's not just an appetite suppressant. I'd agree that the term doesn't really describe what it does, but that's the aspect that society cares the most about so that is what it is seen as. But it seems like you are completely ignoring the appetite part of the equation entirely.
I am obese and have managed to lose a huge portion of my overall weight since the beginning of last year without the use of a medical intervention; it's all diet. Do you want to know what that looks like? I can't eat oils or butters. I can't eat sugar. I can't eat white flour or rice. I can't have meat or dairy. I can't have alcohol. Packaged foods and restaurants usually can't fully accomodate all of that, so I'm a burden on my social group. To be completely fair, that's not super sustainable in this society, so I have to be flexable, but it's a big hindrance on my life.
The reason why I need to take such a drastic diet is because it's extremely difficult for me to ever feel satisfied with my food. Earlier someone mentioned eating a single egg salad sandwich for lunch. I can barely comprehend that. For me, that might not even be enough to make a snack. The reason why my diet is so strict is because it has extremely low calorie density so I can fill up without consuming excessive amounts. And the thing is, it's still not enough; I need to make sure to balance what I eat because if I don't eat a reasonable amount of fat my stomach can be full but I still, somehow, feel hungry! Do you know what it's like to be constantly hungry? It's not a good thing. It effects every part of your life.
And you know the craziest thing? Hunger isn't even the only problem. There are countless cultural and social issues that contribute to it. Obesity has an endless number of contributing factors, like the types of foods we eat, to the additives and ways that food is processed, and more than I could possibly list.
So no, obesity is not a moral failure by any stretch of the imagination.
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Comment on Florida man worries about his ruined reputation after pulling gun on Uber driver dropping the man's daughter off at their house in ~transport
Akir Link ParentI honestly question the man's mental stability. To see an unmarked car and assume that it must belong to some kind of organized crime unit instead of every personally-owned car ever is a huge leap...I honestly question the man's mental stability. To see an unmarked car and assume that it must belong to some kind of organized crime unit instead of every personally-owned car ever is a huge leap to say the least. Do I need to put huge anime decals on my car so that people don't think I'm a gangster and start firing on me?
I'm morbidly curious to see if I can find an unedited interview with the man just to see how much of a ditch he digs himself into.
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Comment on Bike brands start to adopt C-V2X to warn cyclists about cars in ~transport
Akir Link ParentIf I am to be perfectly frank, my first reaction to this was that you were making up what you said in your last response. Driving is a miserable experience. I have to drive to work three days a...If I am to be perfectly frank, my first reaction to this was that you were making up what you said in your last response.
Driving is a miserable experience. I have to drive to work three days a week, and the drive to and from it is the most stressful part of the experience, by far. it takes 2-4 hours of my day, during which I deal with a constant stream of stop-and-go traffic that I can't tune out or risk getting in an accident, especially because seemingly 1 out of 5 drivers is going to do something extremely irresponsible and/or illegal which is even more likely to get me in a crash.
Getting into a car and going nowhere in particular is a fruitless venture. What am I going to find, some slightly different exteriors on buildings? Getting lost in the country is frankly laughable to me, because "the country" here is not only miles away, it's desert. It's a bit hard to get lost in when it's long expanses of mostly flat land with the same flora and fauna for as long as the eyes can see. The best thing I can expect to see is a park, and I won't find that by chance; I actually have to seek them out on a map or else I will never find them on the labyrinth that is our streets.
On the other hand, if the city was designed around walkability, we could get something like the experience you describe simply by walking. You can take a bus down a couple of stops to someplace new and simply walk around and find nice coffee shops, bookstores, or whatever. And once again, if you want to leave the city and visit rural locales, you would still have the option of driving.
The societal need to own a car in a city is a prison. You can't opt out of it. It is the opposite of freedom.
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Comment on Bike brands start to adopt C-V2X to warn cyclists about cars in ~transport
Akir Link ParentI think I may have missed an important distinction. The anti-car crowd does not simply want to get rid of cars, they want to build a world in which they are unnecessary. Nobody is trying to...I think I may have missed an important distinction. The anti-car crowd does not simply want to get rid of cars, they want to build a world in which they are unnecessary. Nobody is trying to advocate to live in the way you are describing; they are advocating making changes to the way cities are put together to drastically reduce the amount of hurdles and inconveniences involved.
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Comment on Chevrolet Malibu heads for the junkyard as GM shifts focus to electric vehicles in ~transport
Akir Link ParentThere is actually a fun bit of history behind that domain. Disney bought it ages ago during the .com bubble. It was part of a trend at the time where companies were branding all of their online...There is actually a fun bit of history behind that domain. Disney bought it ages ago during the .com bubble. It was part of a trend at the time where companies were branding all of their online properties together into some kind of “master domain”. A lot of those old sites will just redirect to their own domain, like disney.go.com will just go to disney.com, but some still work on those domains, like disneycruise.disney.go.com or, of course, abc.go.com.
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Comment on Bike brands start to adopt C-V2X to warn cyclists about cars in ~transport
Akir Link ParentIf I recall correctly, you live in an extremely rural area and public transportation would be pretty useless to you. But if you live in a city then it's pretty easy to see why these things don't...If I recall correctly, you live in an extremely rural area and public transportation would be pretty useless to you. But if you live in a city then it's pretty easy to see why these things don't outweigh the negatives. You talk about convenience, but car infrastructure means that things become extremely inconvenient. A grocery store, for instance, won't be in walking distance so you'll need to have a car to shop for food. You need the shelter of your car because the area is not really designed to be comfortable for pedestrians - you're walking out on a sidewalk next to the cars and far away from any buildings or trees that would produce shade.
A lot of the things that you mention are quite easily doable on public transport, and I have no idea why you would think it weren't possible, like transporting families. You can also go anywhere you want with public transportation, though you may need a private carrier if you are trying to go someplace unusual. Some of those use case scenarios are fairly rare, like the need to pull a trailer, and in all cases none of them actually would require you to actually own the vehicle - some of them you don't even need to drive them yourself! We aren't talking about a world entirely devoid of road vehicles.
I find it strange that you find it strange to have this opinion. You said it yourself, there is a lot of anti-car content here on Tildes. Have you actually read any of them? There are some extremely convincing arguments. Here in the US (and probably Canada as well) road infrastructure is quite literally unsustainable - there's too much road to be realistically maintained, and there is a constant demand for more of it. Building a world around cars has caused massive financial and ecological penalties that are only going to get worse if we don't make changes.
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Comment on The land that doesn’t need Ozempic in ~food
Akir Link ParentThe crazy thing is that these giant food corporations literally pull their playbooks from the tobacco industry. Several of them were literally owned by them for a period of time, before they...The crazy thing is that these giant food corporations literally pull their playbooks from the tobacco industry. Several of them were literally owned by them for a period of time, before they decided to divest.
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Comment on Chevrolet Malibu heads for the junkyard as GM shifts focus to electric vehicles in ~transport
Akir Link ParentI feel that people don't want to buy midsized sedans (let alone compact cars) precisely because there are so many oversized cars on the road and they wouldn't feel safe in anything else. As I...I feel that people don't want to buy midsized sedans (let alone compact cars) precisely because there are so many oversized cars on the road and they wouldn't feel safe in anything else. As I write this, I am facing a parking lot and is one large sedan and two trucks with hoods that are taller that the total height of that car. One gets the impression that if that sedan were to have a head-on collision with either of those trucks the driver and anyone in the passenger seat would die.
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Comment on The land that doesn’t need Ozempic in ~food
Akir Link ParentOh absolutely, I don't think that it should be imported wholesale. That's not even a realistic possibility. But the goal in comparison is not to become them, but to use them as a way to reflect on...Oh absolutely, I don't think that it should be imported wholesale. That's not even a realistic possibility. But the goal in comparison is not to become them, but to use them as a way to reflect on ourselves and see what our problems are and have ideas on how to fix them.
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Comment on The land that doesn’t need Ozempic in ~food
Akir Link ParentJapan isn't perfect. Calorie-dense processed foods are becoming more and more common there. They may goad you about your weight, but they tend to be a lot better at actually supporting people who...Japan isn't perfect. Calorie-dense processed foods are becoming more and more common there. They may goad you about your weight, but they tend to be a lot better at actually supporting people who are trying to lose weight. Beyond that, healthier options are ubiquitous, and will often be eaten regardless of if a person is trying to lose weight or not, they have a society that is built upon staying on their feet, and they have normalized doing exercise. As a society they value health much more than Westerners do.
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Comment on Bike brands start to adopt C-V2X to warn cyclists about cars in ~transport
Akir Link ParentYou're uncomfortable because you're not used to it. The thing about a strong public transit system is that when the majority of people people actually depend on it, if there are problems, there...You're uncomfortable because you're not used to it.
The thing about a strong public transit system is that when the majority of people people actually depend on it, if there are problems, there are going to be a lot of people incensed and forcing people to act. So it's a lot harder for a single person to abuse the system, common outages will have workable alternatives or bypasses, and they are well funded enough to spend money on security so cyber attacks will be less likely - and once again, will likely have some kind of fix or bypass implemented quickly.
Expecting something to work 100% of the time is an unreasonable request. Your car isn't 100% reliable either, both mechanically and in terms of driver ability.
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Comment on Bike brands start to adopt C-V2X to warn cyclists about cars in ~transport
Akir Link ParentThere's a lot of reasons why one would be anti-car. The infrestructure required to support the mass adoption is unsustainable, makes cities warmer, and come at the expense of walkable...There's a lot of reasons why one would be anti-car. The infrestructure required to support the mass adoption is unsustainable, makes cities warmer, and come at the expense of walkable neighborhoods; it's a major driver of climate change; the extra expenses act as an unofficial tax because it's necessary to own one to participate in society.... I could probably find more reasons why if I spent a bit more time thinking about it.
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Comment on Bike brands start to adopt C-V2X to warn cyclists about cars in ~transport
Akir Link ParentI'm not saying that we shouldn't use technology to improve safety. I'm saying that we shouldn't pursue them at the expense of pursuing policies that we already know will be effective, and more...I'm not saying that we shouldn't use technology to improve safety. I'm saying that we shouldn't pursue them at the expense of pursuing policies that we already know will be effective, and more than anything we shouldn't wait for a theoretical when we already know there are solutions that will work. Besides that, most of the things you mentioned are universal because they have government enforcement. Three point seatbelts don't do anything if you don't put them on when you drive, which is why police give tickets if you don't.
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Comment on Revisiting the GBA Castlevania Games (Circle of the Moon, Harmony of Dissonance, and Aria of Sorrow) in ~games
Akir Link ParentBloodstained is really good! I'd recommend it to just about anyone. Just avoid the Switch version; it looks like the screen had been smeared with vaseline.Bloodstained is really good! I'd recommend it to just about anyone. Just avoid the Switch version; it looks like the screen had been smeared with vaseline.
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Comment on Revisiting the GBA Castlevania Games (Circle of the Moon, Harmony of Dissonance, and Aria of Sorrow) in ~games
Akir Link ParentI wouldn't set it for last. It's going to be too much of a step backward. Just maybe stop playing when it comes to the inverted castle? I honestly didn't like it either. It was good to be getting...I wouldn't set it for last. It's going to be too much of a step backward. Just maybe stop playing when it comes to the inverted castle? I honestly didn't like it either. It was good to be getting more gameplay but it wasn't particularly fun to actually play through because of the big bump in difficulty which made it feel unfair at times.
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Comment on How the US is destroying young people’s future | Scott Galloway in ~life
Akir Link ParentDemocracy will have to survive in order to solve everything and it’s in dire straits right now. It rather weak from the influence of large donors and PACs, but in more recent years, we’ve been...Democracy will have to survive in order to solve everything and it’s in dire straits right now. It rather weak from the influence of large donors and PACs, but in more recent years, we’ve been been dealing with the rise of literal fascism. Democracy could solve things, but only if we were to act laws that would empower it.
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Comment on Bike brands start to adopt C-V2X to warn cyclists about cars in ~transport
Akir Link ParentThis is something of a pattern lately. When I talk about poorly aligned or overly bright headlights, people are quick to say that we should all be using matrix headlights. A technology that, to my...This is something of a pattern lately. When I talk about poorly aligned or overly bright headlights, people are quick to say that we should all be using matrix headlights. A technology that, to my knowledge, is exclusive to Audi and VW vehicles and is not legal in the US.
Frankly I am tired of this mindset. Technology is not going to save us from anything. It’s almost always an imperfect stopgap solution. The thing that saves people safe working standards and the policy to enforce it. That doesn’t need us to wait for any kinks to be worked out, nor does it mean having one person collect a huge pile of money for being the only approved provider for the solution. It merely needs people to wake up and take action.
Just go.
Literally the only thing stopping you is yourself. The party is open-invitation, is it not? Unless you're going there to be an ass, you will be perfectly fine. Don't worry about what the people will be like; find out for yourself instead. I can guarantee you that you won't be the only one who doesn't know everyone. And if it turns out that one of your imagined turn-offs is true, then you won't be trapped there - you can just leave if you don't like it!
Go out. Have fun. Try to make some new friends. If you fail, then the only thing you are out of is a few bucks and a bit of sleep.
One other thing to consider; you don't need to be part of the bear community. It's really not a super tight-knit group to begin with; it's really more of a friend network (though of course, some of those friend groups may indeed be tight-knit). Beyond that, social media tends to create the impression of community that doesn't accurately portray what it's like. The idea you have in your head may not even be real. Just try and focus on what you need.