Akir's recent activity
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Comment on Luigi Mangione pleads guilty to federal stalking charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO in ~news
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Comment on Luigi Mangione pleads guilty to federal stalking charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO in ~news
Akir Link ParentI don’t want anyone to be murdered. But I also don’t want people to be unaccountable for their actions. But as long as we live in an unequal society we will continue to see assasination attempts.I don’t want anyone to be murdered. But I also don’t want people to be unaccountable for their actions. But as long as we live in an unequal society we will continue to see assasination attempts.
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Comment on Luigi Mangione pleads guilty to federal stalking charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO in ~news
Akir Link ParentI already said every us president is subject to this. As the heads of government, with impeachment proving to be completely ineffective, assassination is literally the only punishment a president...I already said every us president is subject to this. As the heads of government, with impeachment proving to be completely ineffective, assassination is literally the only punishment a president will ever receive for their actions in office.
Laws exist to protect the government. The rights they grant are the bones they throw to the people to prevent them from uprising. Restraining their power is merely a means to reinforce the illusion of justice and legitimacy. If the government wants to do something that is illegal it will and then it will simply come up with a framework to make that action legal. See, for instance, what the US did to racially Japanese citizens around WWII.
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Comment on Luigi Mangione pleads guilty to federal stalking charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO in ~news
Akir Link ParentWhy not? The US government is doing something reprehensible somewhere in the world at all times and is literally directly murdering people. As a counterpoint why not have Trump or Bush murdered?...Why not? The US government is doing something reprehensible somewhere in the world at all times and is literally directly murdering people. As a counterpoint why not have Trump or Bush murdered? Both of them were objectively criminal and continue to get away scuff free.
The law is irrelevant. Law is a measure of organization. It is the force of government on the people. It is very different from morality or ethics, and is in many cases adversarial to them. That is the very problem we are addressing; the laws exist to uphold and empower a small class of people at the expense of the masses, and that is something that should not be tolerated.
In any case I am not saying that I think we should all go out and murder people, I’m saying when all avenues for change are closed it is the best possible option. Like it or not, that is the world we are living in. Our elections are becoming increasingly restricted and our politicians are so dedicated to the status quo we are only now starting to get some of them who are willing to admit to basic things like the Palestinian genocide. The majority of politicians in office right now are fairly dedicated to the cause of letting the ultra-wealthy extract even more from the masses. We are in a very bad place.
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Comment on Luigi Mangione pleads guilty to federal stalking charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO in ~news
Akir Link ParentHere’s a fun point of discussion: I believe that it is fundamentally unethical and perhaps even immoral to be a CEO of an S&P 500. The average salary in that position is over $22,000,000. To put...Here’s a fun point of discussion: I believe that it is fundamentally unethical and perhaps even immoral to be a CEO of an S&P 500. The average salary in that position is over $22,000,000. To put that into scale, it is not only more money that I have made so far in my life, it is more money than I am likely to make in my lifetime. They are a wealth extractor that takes away from the budget which could be just as easily be used to pay more to the people who are actually doing the labor that runs the business which generates its income. They are thieves who run organizations which are themselves extractive, with anticompetitive practices which at best prevent their competition from having some of their business and at worst literally lead to people dying such as these insurance companies do. They are, effectively, mob bosses.
I believe in the concept of a “moral vacuum”. If enough people are incensed about something happening, the relative moral good of other actions increases. This works particularly well on an individual level. Why do people murder? “I had to. They were asking for it. They deserved it.” Someone was wronged so they thought the only way to correct it was to murder the person who wronged them.
You can say that this kind of thinking is wrong, that we have to be above it. And socially you are right, but this is a fundamentally human way of thinking. Everyone has a breaking point in which they get violent.
I don’t want people to die, but clearly our society has problems that the people in charge are uninterested in fixing. Murder may be indefensible in almost every ethical framework, but what do you do if you have no options to remediate the crimes done against not only you, but your family, everyone you care about, and everyone else in your nation?
You are right that things would be chaos if everyone would murder the people heading organizations that wronged them, but we do have examples of this happening: wars for independence and political revolutions. Do they always turn out well? Certainly not. But there are also examples where the people’s goals were achieved. Much like you, I’d much prefer to live in a world where leadership were flexible enough to preclude the assumed need for such things to happen.
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Comment on Luigi Mangione pleads guilty to federal stalking charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO in ~news
Akir Link ParentFYI your YouTube link includes your account in it. You might want to fix that.FYI your YouTube link includes your account in it. You might want to fix that.
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Comment on Firefox for iOS now has a native adblocker in ~tech
Akir Link ParentIn iOS every browser is forced to use WebKit as its rendering engine, which makes them all essentially wrappers around Safari. Except in the EU, where lawmakers actually care about people and the...In iOS every browser is forced to use WebKit as its rendering engine, which makes them all essentially wrappers around Safari.
Except in the EU, where lawmakers actually care about people and the concepts of freedom.
I’m not sure if Mozilla has an EU Gecko Firefox, but it would be nice if they did and it had feature parity with the Android version.
Edit: I looked it up and it looks like people are working on it but there’s no release date.
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Comment on I'm not ready to let this place go in ~tildes
Akir Link ParentI agree we should be treating eachother more like friends. I’ve been thinking about starting a thread for organizing real-world meetups, but I’m not sure how open people would be to the idea.I agree we should be treating eachother more like friends. I’ve been thinking about starting a thread for organizing real-world meetups, but I’m not sure how open people would be to the idea.
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Comment on I'm not ready to let this place go in ~tildes
Akir Link ParentThat wouldn’t solve the issues, it would just serve to make them less visible. In the past I have made posts about how people should show sympathy to fat people. They were recieved very...That wouldn’t solve the issues, it would just serve to make them less visible.
In the past I have made posts about how people should show sympathy to fat people. They were recieved very negatively. That’s a problem with this community, and as such I have not posted anything to that extent since. This is an issue in which I do not see possibly being “swept under the rug” in the way you are describing, but instead becoming dramatically worse.
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Comment on Epic Games Store will support Linux "soon" in ~games
Akir Link ParentI kind of think that people are also just getting fed up with Windows. Most of the people who I know who are technically proficient and are using Windows are doing it entirely because they are...I kind of think that people are also just getting fed up with Windows. Most of the people who I know who are technically proficient and are using Windows are doing it entirely because they are forced into it because it’s the only system supported by specific applications - often games - and uncommon specialty hardware. People hate the stupid things that Microsoft has forced them to accept, the dumb things they break and don’t fix, etc. On the other hand, the overall experience on desktop Linux systems just keeps getting better and better every single day, and even the old guard of Microsoft fanboys are starting to talk about Linux in a positive light. Epic and CD Projekt are probably just realizing that a growing portion of their potential customers have a barrier that’s preventing conversions.
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Comment on Elon Musk on tomatoes in ~food
Akir Link ParentBush might have been very well educated but educated does not equate to being “smart”. Bush did not have “intelligent” as part of his persona. I’m not sure he ever wanted to come across that way;...Bush might have been very well educated but educated does not equate to being “smart”. Bush did not have “intelligent” as part of his persona. I’m not sure he ever wanted to come across that way; his likability was built on the image of “a guy you’d like to have a beer with”, and that isn’t something you’d necessarily want to do with a rocket surgeon.
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Comment on Elon Musk on tomatoes in ~food
Akir Link ParentI’ve long learned that large swathes of the general public actually doesn’t appreciate when people are smarter than them. Especially if they are right-leaning. I mean, look at the president. Look...I’ve long learned that large swathes of the general public actually doesn’t appreciate when people are smarter than them. Especially if they are right-leaning. I mean, look at the president. Look at George Bush.
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Comment on How often are you eating plant based meals? in ~food
Akir Link ParentThat’s surprising! I actually don’t care for the flavors in most of them, which is why it’s mainly emergency food for me. I can definitely do better for taco fillings, for sure. The better option...That’s surprising! I actually don’t care for the flavors in most of them, which is why it’s mainly emergency food for me. I can definitely do better for taco fillings, for sure.
The better option is Hormel’s “Vegitarian” chili, which is accidentally vegan by the fact that it has no dairy either. It’s basically a can of no-beef chili with some TVP added in. The beans are so nice and creamy, and it has the same nostalgic Hormel chili flavor as their regular chili.
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Comment on How often are you eating plant based meals? in ~food
Akir LinkEvery meal every day. I'm pretty open about my diet and my thoughts about what people should be eating, so I won't go too far into it other than to state that I'm on a whole food plant based diet...Every meal every day. I'm pretty open about my diet and my thoughts about what people should be eating, so I won't go too far into it other than to state that I'm on a whole food plant based diet so I generally avoid processed foods as well as added salt, sugar, or oil.
I would like to add though, that I often "cheat on my diet". On special occasions I'll eat a dessert with dairy or eggs, and on the occasion I eat out the restrictions on processed foods gets lifted.
I won't budge on meat itself though. After years without it, it's just the most gross thing I can imagine. When you are no longer accustomed to the idea of eating animal carcasses it becomes a rather gruesome image and it often also has a pretty gross scent. I didn't start this diet because of my ideas about animal welfare or ethics, but years in I am sympathetic to it.
I also just don't like cheese anymore. They just come across as squeaky sacks of grease now. Vegan cheeses are rarely great, but I generally prefer them to cow cheese, and overall prefer the absence of either.
I do wish that more people were open to eating more "vegan-like" if for no reason other than their health. I have been around a lot of people who are quite literally eating themselves to death, and many of them think that their meat meal is the healthy thing when it is either the worst part or the least bad part.
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Comment on How often are you eating plant based meals? in ~food
Akir Link ParentThose silly pouch meals from Aldi were a lifesaver for me. It was great to have something shelf-stable to fall back to when I was sick earlier this month.Those silly pouch meals from Aldi were a lifesaver for me. It was great to have something shelf-stable to fall back to when I was sick earlier this month.
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Comment on How often are you eating plant based meals? in ~food
Akir Link ParentTofu also has a ton of interesting variants out there. One I read about lately is called furu, which is tofu that has been brined and fermented and used as a sort of cheesy salty condiment to add...Tofu also has a ton of interesting variants out there. One I read about lately is called furu, which is tofu that has been brined and fermented and used as a sort of cheesy salty condiment to add to bland foods like rice, congee, or mantou.
My personal favorite is dougan, which is tofu that has been marinated in a spicy garlicky sauce then dried to become extra chewy; it's kind of like beef jerky in a way.
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Comment on Any cool coding languages? in ~comp
Akir LinkDepends on what you mean by cool but you might want to check out this earlier thread on the Meta programming language.Depends on what you mean by cool but you might want to check out this earlier thread on the Meta programming language.
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Comment on Any significant changes to Tildes are extremely unlikely in ~tildes.official
Akir Link ParentHonestly I’m kind of thinking that paid social services are the best way to go. I keep thinking about how the WELL is still running in spite of costing $15/month. I can’t see what is happening in...Honestly I’m kind of thinking that paid social services are the best way to go. I keep thinking about how the WELL is still running in spite of costing $15/month. I can’t see what is happening in those conferences but something is keeping it going!
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Comment on Honey gets terminated as lawsuits proceed in ~tech
Akir Link ParentUnless things have changed, it's 2% if you use Apple Pay specifically, and 1% for everything else. Entering your numbers or swiping the physical card will not get you that 2%.Unless things have changed, it's 2% if you use Apple Pay specifically, and 1% for everything else. Entering your numbers or swiping the physical card will not get you that 2%.
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Comment on Choosing a printer in ~tech
Akir Link ParentXerox doesn't get a lot of attention because they don't really have a "home" printer lineup. They do have cheapish office printers that are pretty good for home use, but they don't target the home...Xerox doesn't get a lot of attention because they don't really have a "home" printer lineup. They do have cheapish office printers that are pretty good for home use, but they don't target the home market.
That's probably a good thing; pretty much every "consumer grade" printer I've dealt with was shit. Brother's lauded laser printers are just less shitty than the competition, but I wouldn't necessarily call them "good" let alone "great". Compared to my memory of how they were, it seems like they produce less crisp and with less consistent tone, especially when dealing with shades of grey.
The consumer printer market is in a continuous race to the bottom, and it seems like the small business sector is pretty close to it as well, in my personal experience. Small office printers seem to always have pretty short support lifespans and so, just like with consumer printers, if something goes wrong the best solution is usually to just buy an entirely new one, chucking the old one into the e-waste bin.
Frankly I agree with you. But I also believe that while positive change isn’t impossible, it’s been made monumentally difficult and the deck has been stacked in favor of those with power, with the trend further entrenching power further and further away from the people. If, on the other hand, enough people thought things were hopeless and discontented, Mangione could have sparked a revolution, for better or worse (and in the short term, absolutely worse).
Maybe I am being defeatist. But civil rights are being defeated constantly in recent years. We recently saw rights to abortion get clawed back, and we are watching trans rights getting trampled in real time. Americans are supposed to be promised life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but it certainly doesn’t seem like society is set to achieve that for everyone.
We all deserve a fairer society with better opportunities and a general baseline of welfare. I would vastly prefer to achieve that through nonviolent means. And frankly given the rise of fascism I don’t think that a revolution would actually achieve this without the country going through another civil war.