Akir's recent activity
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Comment on Plans for nearly 4,000 homes over Safeways divide Bay Area residents in ~finance
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Comment on How important is sexual chemistry/ability/quality to you when you date/marry/whatever? in ~life
Akir LinkOne thing I haven't noticed being mentioned is that the quality of sex in a relationship is only really an issue within the framework of monogamy. People who have multiple sex partners might not...One thing I haven't noticed being mentioned is that the quality of sex in a relationship is only really an issue within the framework of monogamy. People who have multiple sex partners might not need to have any one of their partners be super good at sex in order to live happy satisfied lives, regardless of their libido/sex drive. If one partner - and note that my definition here is very broad and could include friends or one night stands - does not satisfy sexually, there's always the opportunity to get that satisfaction elsewhere.
Personally speaking, I don't think that sex is a requirement for a spouse at all. I've been in a monogamous relationship with my husband for over a decade and there were long periods of celibacy for us, especially because we both had health issues. We're both much healthier today and are having a lot of sex. We've been together so long and built up so much trust that we decided to open our relationship to having sex with others, and it's been pretty great because we've learned so much about ourselves and eachother. We are closer together today than we ever have been, and we've been having more and better quality sex with eachother as well. Words can't express how much I love this man, and we revel in our love for eachother many times per day.
One of the things I've learned from my experience is that sexuality is something of a relationship shortcut. It makes people feel warm feelings about people in a way that would take a lot longer than if you didn't have it. It's not just sex either; it's looks, it's pheromones, it's communication. One thing I've come to realize is that the human body is a giant pleasure button regardless of sexual attraction, and simply touching someone in a pleasant way will go a long way to making them like you regardless of sexuality. If the ugliest person on earth gave you a shoulder rub after a long day, you'd probably appreciate them more than you did before.
I suppose what I'm trying to say is that while sex can be important it doesn't have to be. It's entirely up to your own personal needs, and those needs can change over time. Relationships can be strained by sex, but a relationship is also so much more than sex, especially as sexuality wanes and waxes over time. The thing that makes sexuality so powerful is that it's spontaneous and ephemeral, so while it can be a foothold to get started, it can't be the base for a stable long-term relationship.
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Comment on bubbles.town: Tildes but exclusively for blogs in ~tech
Akir Link ParentHmm. This reminds me a lot of the original incarnation of Reddit, before there were comments. And that is a very good thing.Hmm. This reminds me a lot of the original incarnation of Reddit, before there were comments. And that is a very good thing.
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Comment on ‘Toy Story 5’ scores year’s biggest debut with $160 million, shattering franchise opening weekend record in ~movies
Akir Link ParentI haven’t seen it, but that’s the impression the advertisements give me. There have been tons of advertisements but none of them seem particularly enthusiastic about the film and they kind of...I haven’t seen it, but that’s the impression the advertisements give me. There have been tons of advertisements but none of them seem particularly enthusiastic about the film and they kind of remind me of the ads for those horrible direct to home video sequels Disney was pushing in the 1990s and 2000s.
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Comment on Steam Machine prices revealed, starting at US$1049.00 in ~games
Akir Link ParentI just mentally round up every time reflexively. Now if I see something for $15.99, it’s $20.00 in my head.I just mentally round up every time reflexively. Now if I see something for $15.99, it’s $20.00 in my head.
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Comment on Inside the marriage wars in ~lgbt
Akir LinkI'm nowhere near finishing this but It's already moved me to tears several times and Matt Baume's work is always great.I'm nowhere near finishing this but It's already moved me to tears several times and Matt Baume's work is always great.
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Inside the marriage wars
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Comment on Not so empty nesters: record-high number of US adults under 35 live at home, new data says in ~life
Akir Link ParentAs a native English speaker I assumed this was a non-native speech thing. “Home” to me never meant my parents’ house. It just meant the place I go back to to sleep. I’ve even called hotel rooms...As a native English speaker I assumed this was a non-native speech thing. “Home” to me never meant my parents’ house. It just meant the place I go back to to sleep. I’ve even called hotel rooms “home” before.
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Comment on ‘Toy Story 5’ scores year’s biggest debut with $160 million, shattering franchise opening weekend record in ~movies
Akir LinkI’m honestly kind of surprised at how many people have seen this movie given how incredibly low effort the advertising campaign has been. This movie appears to be one of the least creative films...I’m honestly kind of surprised at how many people have seen this movie given how incredibly low effort the advertising campaign has been. This movie appears to be one of the least creative films I’ve ever seen, a “treading water” sequel if I’ve ever seen one.
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Comment on We can fix the future, Star Trek shows us how in ~humanities
Akir LinkVery ironically I had seen this about two weeks ago and last week I used it as an example to a communist friend of mine as to how to create messaging that could make people support socialist...Very ironically I had seen this about two weeks ago and last week I used it as an example to a communist friend of mine as to how to create messaging that could make people support socialist causes.
Unfortunately he’s still waiting for the people to spontaneously revolt against capitalism-imperialism, a term that precisely zero non-academics understand.
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Comment on How funerals keep Africa poor in ~life
Akir Link ParentMy father, mother, and grandfather died in debt. When my grandfather died I was living in his house, and my grandmother and I had to move out because he had a reverse mortgage and we had a choice...My father, mother, and grandfather died in debt. When my grandfather died I was living in his house, and my grandmother and I had to move out because he had a reverse mortgage and we had a choice of paying them an absurd amount of money or letting them take the house.
I don’t have any statistics on hand but I think in the US people who die of old age will usually die in debt simply because they are burning their money on healthcare costs.
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Comment on Commodore Callback flip phone in ~tech
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Comment on Why emoji picker default on? in ~comp
Akir Link ParentYeah, that is GNOME in a nutshell for sure. It’s the reason why I hated using it so much. Every packaged DE is going to be opinionated by necessity but GNOME always felt patriarchal in how it...Yeah, that is GNOME in a nutshell for sure. It’s the reason why I hated using it so much. Every packaged DE is going to be opinionated by necessity but GNOME always felt patriarchal in how it implemented all of them, especially given the massive changes between major versions.
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Comment on Steins;Gate Reboot releasing October 29, 2026 in ~games
Akir Link ParentThe anime was an abnormally good adaptation of the VN, but I’d still say the VN is the better piece of media. That being said I don’t think that remakes are ever really better than the original...The anime was an abnormally good adaptation of the VN, but I’d still say the VN is the better piece of media.
That being said I don’t think that remakes are ever really better than the original when it comes to VNs. Sure, they may bring some quality of life improvements, but Stein’s;Gate was already pretty modern to begin with and there haven’t been much improvements to the genre mechanically for quite some time. Mages also made a Yu-No remake and while I don’t think it’s a bad version of the game, I don’t think the minor improvements actually made it better, and there are good arguments that it is slightly worse for some of the narrative changes it makes.
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Comment on What about having an LLM teach you to code? in ~comp
Akir Link ParentI actually used Claude to teach myself for an online university class that had no lecture and a practically non-existent professor. It turned out ok, but only because I’m a grown-ass adult and I...I actually used Claude to teach myself for an online university class that had no lecture and a practically non-existent professor. It turned out ok, but only because I’m a grown-ass adult and I knew what I was doing. I had a curriculum which I fed to it as context and had it teach me, but it had problems because it wasn’t really 100% sure about what was in the readings and videos, but it was capable of synthesizing because it knew the topic well.
Claude did a good job of teaching me to a point. This was a class on low level data structures and while I knew some of them I didn’t know all of them and Claude generally preferred a Socratic approach where it would feed me bits of information and have me to synthesize it into greater understanding by asking me questions. Context would always be a problem because it would be asking me questions about things I had already learned about in other days set by other chat sessions. Sometimes it wouldn’t understand that I already knew about the difference between an array and a linked list for instance.
I passed that class and I do credit Claude for being the primary reason why I did, however, I think this is a special case. The reason why I used Claude to begin with is that the course was absolutely terrible. The readings were from books that were written in an Indian dialect of English which made them extremely difficult to parse, and they were from a number of different sources which made them even more disjointed. I didn’t have the support of a professor, and the amount of time I would spend just reading and watching the videos would have taken me something like 8-12 hours depending on how bad they were that week. In previous classes the readings were from technical reference books which required knowledge of mathematical symbols which I had never encountered up to that point, and of course nothing in the readings explained it.
But what would have happened if I didn’t have a curriculum to guide me? To put things simply, I wouldn’t have learned everything I needed to. AI is sycophantic regardless of which model you choose, it seems. It was always congratulating me and telling me I had it, and I was constantly asking me if there were things I hadn’t covered that I should have. There usually was. If I hadn’t been feeding it my curriculum piecemeal, it would have had me going all over the place and probably covering things I didn’t need to know.
While I did pass the final exam, I don’t believe that I really learned the material very well. I couldn’t explain how red-black trees self-balance or organize, or much detail into how the KNP search algorithm works.
With all this in mind I would absolutely caution against making AI your child’s teacher. AI can be a good supplement to a teacher and could be a great tutor, but I don’t think it is good as a teacher who has a far more complex job than just explaining concepts.
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Comment on US battery industry cuts losses, shifts to new ventures amid electric vehicle bust in ~transport
Akir Link ParentAutomakers are effectively unwilling to produce inexpensive EVs for the US market. There are only two models that I'm aware that are under 30K, the Chevy Bolt and Nissan Leaf, both of which have...Automakers are effectively unwilling to produce inexpensive EVs for the US market. There are only two models that I'm aware that are under 30K, the Chevy Bolt and Nissan Leaf, both of which have less than stellar reputations (The Bolt previously had very slow fast charging and the Leaf started off with terrible capacity). The vast majority of EVs on the market are somewhere around or above the 50K mark.
They're also unwilling to make smaller model cars. The Leaf has gone from a sedan, to a crossover, to an SUV. And in my book, a crossover (which the Bolt is) is essentially just SUV with a different name.
But this isn't unique to EVs. Even for ICE vehicles, they are mainly targeting big expensive vehicles. So while pricing is part of the problem, there's still more to it.
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Comment on Epic Games job listing calls for an applicant to "champion linux anti-cheat capabilities for Epic" in ~games
Akir LinkOut of curiosity, what is the current state of getting the EGS on Linux? I seem to recall them talking about getting their launcher working natively but I have no idea where that went.Out of curiosity, what is the current state of getting the EGS on Linux? I seem to recall them talking about getting their launcher working natively but I have no idea where that went.
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Comment on Xbox is planning to shutter Peabody Award-winning Compulsion Games (We Happy Few, South of Midnight) in ~games
Akir Link ParentI know that I don’t follow gaming news but I literally have not heard of any of these titles anywhere.I know that I don’t follow gaming news but I literally have not heard of any of these titles anywhere.
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Comment on Four things to know about the newly approved US sunscreen ingredient in ~health
Akir Link ParentThis is what happens when you have a great institution ruined by decades of neoliberalism. “Why prevent snake oil salesmen from entering the market? It’s billions of dollars being left on the table!”This is what happens when you have a great institution ruined by decades of neoliberalism. “Why prevent snake oil salesmen from entering the market? It’s billions of dollars being left on the table!”
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Comment on Arch User Repository compromised, 1500+ packages affected in ~tech
Akir Link ParentThis is one of the reasons why developers and distro maintainers are going big on containerized applications like Snap and FlatPack.This is one of the reasons why developers and distro maintainers are going big on containerized applications like Snap and FlatPack.
I honestly have a really hard time understanding why people are opposing this project. It sounds like a dream to live in an apartment over a grocery store. Imagine not needing to store huge batches of food and if you need something, just take the elevator downstairs! Safeway is not a discount grocer by any stretch of the imagination but they aren't a luxury one either. Mixed use buildings are such a commonsense improvement on the high density urban ideal that it seems pointless to build anything else. So many more people will have places to live in the city and contribute to the community, potentially without needing to own and operate an appliance that is actively destroying the environment and is directly involved in countless human deaths - the automobile.
I do get that people will be upset about the temporary loss of the grocery store, and that is a real problem, but it seems like it's not the main reason why people are upset. It seems like I'm missing out on a good deal of context here.