Akir's recent activity
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Comment on Historic voter turnout powered US Democrats’ blue wave in ~society
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Comment on Historic voter turnout powered US Democrats’ blue wave in ~society
Akir Link ParentUnless things have silently changed in the background without me noticing, California already has universal mail-in voting. It happened during the COVID pandemic. Everyone gets a mail-in ballot...Unless things have silently changed in the background without me noticing, California already has universal mail-in voting. It happened during the COVID pandemic. Everyone gets a mail-in ballot and polling places only exist for those who would prefer to vote in person.
In fact I’m not even sure in-person polling still exists because I have been so disinterested for so long. The state already had an expansive opt-in mail-in ballot system before COVID.
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Comment on Tesla to wind down Cybertruck production in Texas next year in ~transport
Akir Link ParentIronically might make it more aerodynamic and improve range to boot!Ironically might make it more aerodynamic and improve range to boot!
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Comment on California Gov. Gavin Newsom commutes all 548 death sentences in ~society
Akir Link ParentKPFA and KPFK both produce local interest programming, and while KPFK (which covers the LA area) doesn't have news coverage it does have KPFA's California-wide coverage. Best of all, it's...KPFA and KPFK both produce local interest programming, and while KPFK (which covers the LA area) doesn't have news coverage it does have KPFA's California-wide coverage. Best of all, it's independent, so it's not subject to the whims of billionaires. While the news coverage still does tend to be negative, it's less "everyone around you is being shot and murdered" and more "the nation is falling to fascism and our rights are deteriorating".
Though to be fair I have a really quirky schedule and might be confusing the tone with their national programming like "Democracy Now!" To be fair KPFK is a station I like because the shows they air are an eclectic mix of thought-provoking, groovy, and insane.
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Comment on Does Shawarma Law give a more definitive answer on whether or not a Hot Dog is a sandwich? in ~food
Akir Link ParentA taco requires no puncturing, which is why it remains it's own category. However, it's in the same category as a wrap even if it is crunchy. Edit for clarity: hard filled things, however, are...A taco requires no puncturing, which is why it remains it's own category. However, it's in the same category as a wrap even if it is crunchy.
Edit for clarity: hard filled things, however, are also eligible to be pastries, per the Cannoli Accords.
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Comment on Does Shawarma Law give a more definitive answer on whether or not a Hot Dog is a sandwich? in ~food
Akir LinkA hot dog is a sausage. If it is on a bun, it's a hot dog on a bun. If it's between two sliced halves of a bun, it's a sandwich. If it's between a bun that has been sliced but not severed, it's a...A hot dog is a sausage. If it is on a bun, it's a hot dog on a bun. If it's between two sliced halves of a bun, it's a sandwich. If it's between a bun that has been sliced but not severed, it's a filled pastry. Effectively these for those who cannot bake.
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Comment on Where’s the beef? The lab-grown-meat revolution that wasn’t. in ~food
Akir Link ParentThat’s not what anyone is really trying to market though. Nobody’s trying to sell “meat protein”, they are selling meat. The meatball the author actually gets to try isn’t made from cultured...That’s not what anyone is really trying to market though. Nobody’s trying to sell “meat protein”, they are selling meat. The meatball the author actually gets to try isn’t made from cultured muscle cells, but cultured fat cells, with plant based protein.
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Comment on Where’s the beef? The lab-grown-meat revolution that wasn’t. in ~food
Akir LinkYeah, I guess I'm not enthused about cultivated meat at this point in time either. I've been eating plant based for a number of years and the idea of 100% perfect meat analogues would be just as...Yeah, I guess I'm not enthused about cultivated meat at this point in time either. I've been eating plant based for a number of years and the idea of 100% perfect meat analogues would be just as disgusting to me as the real thing. The good thing is that we aren't anywhere near getting that kind of thing, especially at scale; the best we'll be getting is some sort of meatball, hamburger, or maybe extruded "steaks". But the thing is... why would I even bother? The whole reason I changed my diet was for my health, and meat isn't good for you! They're full of cholesterol and saturated fats.
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Comment on Tesla to wind down Cybertruck production in Texas next year in ~transport
Akir Link ParentIt doesn't help that the car is so ugly and unpaintable that it's basically required to get it wrapped, and everyone who does a wrap of them seems to have the worst tastes imaginable. One local...It doesn't help that the car is so ugly and unpaintable that it's basically required to get it wrapped, and everyone who does a wrap of them seems to have the worst tastes imaginable. One local owner just had theirs done in what I would describe as "Hot Wheels orange".
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Comment on Details for the Motorola Signature 27 with GrapheneOS support in ~tech
Akir Link ParentI’m honestly not sure what “generations” mean when it comes to phones anymore. On iPhone I can’t think of the last iteration where there was a major difference. The closest thing is that the newer...I’m honestly not sure what “generations” mean when it comes to phones anymore. On iPhone I can’t think of the last iteration where there was a major difference. The closest thing is that the newer higher end models can do more of the AI stuff locally, but even then the Siri AI beta is largely processed on the cloud. A cell phone generation might mean marginally higher performance for certain metrics but not likely in any way you’re likely to perceive these days.
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Comment on The web is more than enough in ~tech
Akir Link ParentI was very sick yesterday so I can see how I could have not made sense. But the reason why you are having a problem understanding me is that you are only considering the context of locked down...I was very sick yesterday so I can see how I could have not made sense. But the reason why you are having a problem understanding me is that you are only considering the context of locked down mobile devices. You can still write software for computers that are not subject to any of these limitations. You can also opt-in to them by publishing your app in a sandboxed environment like FlatPak on Linux, or using App Sandbox on MacOS or AppContainer on Windows. It is actually possible to make software that breaks the rules on Android and i(Pad)OS as well, it’s just that you’ll have a harder time distributing it to a number of people who will not jailbreak and root their devices.
Push API is fairly useless without access to a backend server, which I pointed out would have disqualified it. It was the entire reason why I brought it up; web apps chain you to online services. If you are not the one writing the software, it is antithetical to user freedom; software is frequently delivered as a web app specifically as a means of vendor lock-in.
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Comment on The web is more than enough in ~tech
Akir Link ParentI’m sick right now so I might be having a fever spell but I think one of us is confused. The web has long been made into a user tracking tool in a way that apps largely can’t without requesting...I’m sick right now so I might be having a fever spell but I think one of us is confused. The web has long been made into a user tracking tool in a way that apps largely can’t without requesting some really broad permissions being explicitly granted, and some of those things - like full screen recording - would alert the user to when they are on. While browsers like Firefox, Safari, and Brave all block third party cookies by default, Chrome does not and while many chromium based browsers do block a list of major tracking cookies, they are permissive enough that they can’t possibly block all of them. And this is without even talking about the reliability of browser fingerprinting, which doesn’t require any cookies!
Though to be fair apps can get deeper information about a user. There are definitely apps that have done some scary things, and Meta alone has done quite a lot of them! But critically you have to give them permission for them to be able to get most of that data.
The thing that I find most strange about your comment though is that you consider web apps to be an element of user freedom. But generally speaking, the web is a tool of user lock-in. It usually means that users can only access the tool by going to the website, and that they can’t stick with a certain version, that they are forced to accept any change as it happens even if it is detrimental to their use case. The web is built upon a server-client architecture and that presents some inherent limitations to how apps need to be built. While you can get out of some of those things, you can’t get out of all of them. I was working with a student to make a final project on an AI vibe coding class where the only parameters were that he had to deliver a web app that doesn’t rely on external servers; he wanted to make a reminders app that would give a notification at specific times through the day but the problem we had was that it would require having the page loaded and running at all times because service workers cannot run independently of the page, so he had to abandon that idea completely.
Finally, Google has always given PWAs first class considerations. It’s part of how they exert control over the web. They are largely the people who are planning, building, and implementing these APIs that the author is lauding. Apple is the only company who has been resisting and that is largely because they are trying to preserve the income of their App Store.
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Comment on Amazon Grocery introduces a Thanksgiving meal for $25 in ~food
Akir Link ParentNone of them are particularly standout. The thing that makes thanksgiving special is having a big spread of them, and that they probably have a lot more oil and salt added to it. My plate should...None of them are particularly standout. The thing that makes thanksgiving special is having a big spread of them, and that they probably have a lot more oil and salt added to it. My plate should look like a tiny version of an ethiopian restaurant's veggie platter.
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Comment on Amazon Grocery introduces a Thanksgiving meal for $25 in ~food
Akir Link ParentI really don't get why people are in on deep frying turkeys. It's both incredibly dangerous and wasteful, and the end result has always been both considerably more dry and less flavorful than a...I really don't get why people are in on deep frying turkeys. It's both incredibly dangerous and wasteful, and the end result has always been both considerably more dry and less flavorful than a traditional roast turkey. Perhaps most people just don't know how to properly roast a bird? To be fair, it's not a thing that people regularly do anymore.
I'm not one to throw stones though, since going veg I have found my thanksgiving dinners have actually been way more enjoyable without a turkey as a centerpiece because it means you can spend way more effort on making great "side" dishes no longer be sides.
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Comment on ScanRuler: reverse engineering tool for real world objects in ~tech
Akir LinkOf course literally the second after I post this I remember there's an ~engineering. 🤦Of course literally the second after I post this I remember there's an ~engineering. 🤦
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Comment on ScanRuler: reverse engineering tool for real world objects in ~tech
Akir LinkThe tool in question is at scanruler.com, but I've linked the youtube video instead because I didn't think it would be clear why this was so cool. There's been a lot a hubbub lately about AI...The tool in question is at scanruler.com, but I've linked the youtube video instead because I didn't think it would be clear why this was so cool.
There's been a lot a hubbub lately about AI assisted reverse engineering of software, but Stephan from CNC Kitchen has made a rather novel vibe coded tool that allows him to reverse engineer real world objects with the use of a 3D scanner. The tool started as a simple way to verify measurements of scanned objects, and the current iteration essentially adds an entire CAD suite with a surprising amount of automated tools that allow you to convert those rough models into STEP files with measurements you've verified yourself.
The thing that makes this a little bit more magic, though, is that he's implemented an MCP server setup so you can hook up an AI to do the reverse engineering for you. You can also apply notes to attach at points on your model so your agent can correct for errors or even try to fix broken parts.
The website has a lot of other tools that make it useful, but I don't own a 3D scanner myself so I haven't really had a chance to use it. I'm kind of curious to see if it would work with a cell phone app scanner, but I know those aren't terribly accurate.
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ScanRuler: reverse engineering tool for real world objects
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Comment on 2026 United States midterm elections megathread in ~society
Akir LinkI'd like to say I'm disappointed in the results for my pet issue this election, but I'd been following the polling. We won't have final results for a while because of our mail-in voting, but early...I'd like to say I'm disappointed in the results for my pet issue this election, but I'd been following the polling. We won't have final results for a while because of our mail-in voting, but early vote counting seems to indicate what I've
This election I've been following California's voter proposition 40, the one-time billionaire wealth tax. It's something that has really pissed me off because the state has a lot of billionaires and they have spent a considerable amount of money misleading voters into thinking that voting yes for it would also tax their retirement - a completely bullshit argument because most retirees aren't billionaires. Of course that's not the only thing they've been doing - they also got two other propositions on the ballot, both of which will invalidate prop 40, and prop 42 in particular is going to make things more difficult for legislators because it literally bans the creation of new taxes on property and business assets. It's not just a law, it's a goddamn constitutional amendment.
The main organization funding these campaigns against 40 and for 41 and 42 has been a new PAC called Building a Better California, who has spent over $333,000,000 on these campaigns. The PAC is almost entirely funded by billionaires. Just for fun I looked up their contributions and it turns out that there's only 4 that are under $25,000, and even then one of them was still a recognizable billionaire (Jack Altman of Benchmark Capital, donating $24,819.76). The top donators? Surgey Brin and Eric Schmidt of Google, who donated about $142 million between them with Brin giving the vast majority of it - about a third of the entire PAC's budget, actually. If you weren't convinced that Google is evil yet, this might be your wake-up call.
This is incredibly sad because I know that Trump's stupid budget bill has things timed to cut off funding after midterms for health programs (among many other things), so the state will have to either do some crazy budget balancing to make up for it or a lot of people are going to be facing some very hard times in the coming years. This tax was just a one-time thing. It was a relatively tiny figure for the vast sums of wealth these people have. This money could have literally saved people's lives. But why would a billionaire give 5% of their wealth when they could get away with spending the equivalent of the change stuck in their sofa to prevent the state from ever taxing them again? And still they manage to outspend their opposition nearly five times over.
But then again, they've only really counted about half of the ballots, so things could still turn out well! I'm just not holding my breath. I'll just have to look at the victories in other states for good news.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Akir LinkJust started and finished Neon White. I think I got it as a humble choice game from a while back and it caught my eye for its originality and style - it basically looked like if Persona if it were...Just started and finished Neon White. I think I got it as a humble choice game from a while back and it caught my eye for its originality and style - it basically looked like if Persona if it were an FPS. I managed to finish it with the good ending because I played obsessively to get all the gifts and nearly all ace rankings. I was surprised at how well it managed to grab me. Being able to quickly go back and try for the perfect run really made it easy to get into that flow state.
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Comment on Humble Choice - November 2026 in ~games
Akir LinkI've wanted to play Outer Worlds 2 for a long time but they're killing me by making this a battle.net thing. I really desperately don't want to make yet another account with a hundred page legal...I've wanted to play Outer Worlds 2 for a long time but they're killing me by making this a battle.net thing. I really desperately don't want to make yet another account with a hundred page legal agreement with a giant corporation. 😔
CA also has secure drop boxes for ballots set up so that voters can bypass post offices if they fear for reliability (which, given the state of USPS and the current postmaster general, is very warranted).