Akir's recent activity
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Comment on What is a business/org that is great and ethical in so many aspects that everyone should consider using? in ~life
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Comment on What is a business/org that is great and ethical in so many aspects that everyone should consider using? in ~life
Akir Link ParentMan earlier draft of my comment described not being able to look down any given isle without being able to see someone in it. It’s not really 100% accurate but it’s the vibes I get. I don’t go on...Man earlier draft of my comment described not being able to look down any given isle without being able to see someone in it. It’s not really 100% accurate but it’s the vibes I get. I don’t go on weekends because it gets more packed than a festival, but even during the middle of the day on a weekday, it’s still so overstimulating to a completely neurotypical me that I have to bring my noise canceling earphones and listen to music. Even when I do just buy the two things I regularly get there, I leave frustrated and angry at dealing with the crowds.
If you don’t have to deal with that I’m happy for you. But it’s not the world I live in.
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Comment on What is a business/org that is great and ethical in so many aspects that everyone should consider using? in ~life
Akir Link ParentYou have a vastly different experience from me. There is literally not a moment in time where I could simply walk a cart through the clothing section in a straight line or where checkout doesn’t...You have a vastly different experience from me. There is literally not a moment in time where I could simply walk a cart through the clothing section in a straight line or where checkout doesn’t take an extra 10 minutes because every lane is jammed full of people.
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Comment on Wikipedia is resilient because it’s boring in ~tech
Akir Link ParentTime travel must make things confusing, huh? :P±30 years ago
Time travel must make things confusing, huh? :P
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Comment on The family computer in ~tech
Akir LinkThis story reminded me of some historical computer projects. Sometime around the start of the millenium, there were two really interesting projects being released. The first of which was Sun...This story reminded me of some historical computer projects. Sometime around the start of the millenium, there were two really interesting projects being released. The first of which was Sun Microsystems releasing the HDL source code publicly of one of their high-end SPARC CPUs. The reasoning they were talking about was because they wanted to enable the next generation of society's relationships to computing, a concept they called commodity computing. In other words, computers were supposed to be everywhere and built into everything. While nothing uses SPARC anymore (Thanks Oracle!), that vision did come true; computers in basically everything at this point.
The other thing that this reminded me of was something that was developed around the same time called the Simputer. The simputer was a project that was designed to be a replacement for a computer for areas where computers would, at that time, not be feasible because they were too expensive for the local economy. The form the Simputer ended up taking was basically what we would describe as a smartphone today, more or less. Unfortunately it seems like a lot of the details on the device and it's development have been lost to time. Wikipedia's references seem to have all more or less disappeared. I seem to remember hearing about it as a project of the MIT Media lab (The same organization that started the infamous OLPC project), but I can't seem to find more details.
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Comment on The family computer in ~tech
Akir Link ParentThis was what got me into Linux right before this timeframe. The programs may have been buggy messes at times, but the actual overall system stability was much better. The great irony here is that...This was what got me into Linux right before this timeframe. The programs may have been buggy messes at times, but the actual overall system stability was much better.
The great irony here is that now I would actually consider Ubuntu (specifically) to be less stable than windows. The sun rises, the sun sets. At least there are better distros out there.
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Comment on What is a business/org that's so terrible no one should use if possible? in ~life
Akir LinkSorry for the double posting, but I figured the other one I wrote was meaty enough that it deserved it's own thing. I guess I'm what the young people are calling "crunchy" to an extent; my sister...Sorry for the double posting, but I figured the other one I wrote was meaty enough that it deserved it's own thing.
I guess I'm what the young people are calling "crunchy" to an extent; my sister has once described me as a modern day hippie. And so I'm going to say some things that are unpopular.
Probably the most controversial of these is that I would put almost every major food brand on the list. There was a time when you could say that something like your grandmother's fried chicken was "addictive" and it was just an exaggeration to say that it was good. But now a lot of modern foodstuff is literally formulated to be addictive. I would count things like the ultraprocessed stuff that is the majority of products in the grocery store, but also most restaurant chain food as well. The stuff they sell is not "poison" exactly, and the effects it have are subtle, but they have some terrible effects; food addiction has killed two members of my family due to complications relating to metabolic syndrome (i.e. obesity), and it has dramatically affected the health of both me and my sister.
I also won't do business with any meat or dairy producers. There's an ethical and moral arguement to make that I won't bore you with. The reason why I gave them up was my health, but other reasons why I'd suggest people follow suit is that the industry is killing the planet and also doing horrible things to people. Though honestly, the biggest reason why I avoid them these days is just that they have become really gross to me.
I think payday loans are scams that pray on the poor, but at least they have a degree of legal regulation. There are now fintech apps that give you the same basic concept but are skirting legislation because they are somehow "not loans", and yet they still somehow have APRs that can be 300% or greater. I hear they are paying wage slave corporations to put advertising posters next to their "know your worker rights" posters. Honestly, every fintech that exists to skirt laws should be on this list. And frankly, that's every fintech you've ever heard of.
Another scam on the poor to mention is rent-to-own businesses, which will end up costing you more than what it would cost if you just put it on a credit card and did minimum payments.
What companies I would like to be able to stop doing business with are Microsoft and Google. I don't think I need to explain to the Tildes audience why. Apple only really "wins" for me because they're less obviously evil (and honestly, their hardware has tempted me to the dark side).
There's a ton of businesses that I would love to see legally murdered and their business practices outlawed, but there's no way for any of us to actually touch them because they operate entirely in the B2B space. Credit reporting agencies, advertising, data aggregators. On the top of my list are companies like RealPage and Palantir.
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Comment on What is a business/org that's so terrible no one should use if possible? in ~life
Akir Link ParentOracle is the devil. They're like the vampires of the tech world; they exist primarilly to drain large companies of their bank accounts, and I'm convinced they've only grown so large entirely...Oracle is the devil. They're like the vampires of the tech world; they exist primarilly to drain large companies of their bank accounts, and I'm convinced they've only grown so large entirely because of acquisitions and litigation.
I actually haven't heard anything about them in the past few years. That might just be because I'm not really in that market segment anymore, but I'd like to think that Larry Ellison is too busy trying to purchase the rest of Hawaii.
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Comment on What is a business/org that's so terrible no one should use if possible? in ~life
Akir LinkI'll take your BMO and raise you literally every single major bank. At least in the United States (BMO counts, they're down here now too), though I would be surprised if things aren't the same...I'll take your BMO and raise you literally every single major bank. At least in the United States (BMO counts, they're down here now too), though I would be surprised if things aren't the same across the globe.
There is not a single one that is not the cause of new legislation for how shitty and anticonsumer they are. Remember overdraft fees - you know, when they charged you money for not having enough money in your account? And they had the absolute gall to try to tell us that they were doing us a favor for it. Some banks were so brazenly morally bankrupt that they would actually reorganize the order transactions were counted specifically to maximize the number of overdraft fees that they charged you. I've actually got class action lawsuit checks from a number of banks that have done things that were brazenly illegal even at the time they were happening, most notably Wells Fargo who opened new bank accounts under my name without my permission or concent and then later with an auto loan overcharged me for interest (though to be fair, I'm not sure if that one was a class action suit).
Even when they aren't doing morally and legally dubious actions, their banking products are kind of predatory. I just looked up what you have to have in a Chase checking account in order to avoid having to pay an absurd $15 fee for the pleasure of giving them your money, and it's $1500. I know that may not seem like a lot of money to you, but there's a great number of people on this planet who couldn't even dream of having that much at once.
But the icing on the cake is that they're actually indirectly responsible for the vast majority of greenhouse gasses being emitted on this planet. The major banks are quite literally bankrolling the vast majority of oil and gas production projects. They will greenwash like all hell - you might even see some of them saying that they're going to invest to make them a net-zero emitter - but that doesn't really mean anything if they're paying for massive oil rigs and the massive environmental damage they cause. But I'll admit this is kind of unfair; It's not like if they didn't fund those projects, they wouldn't be done. Someone else would fund them.
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Comment on What is a business/org that's so terrible no one should use if possible? in ~life
Akir Link ParentSuper Wash is actually a pretty decent automatic carwash place, though; at least for the one near me. I feel their machine does a pretty decent job, but the icing on the cake for me is that they...Super Wash is actually a pretty decent automatic carwash place, though; at least for the one near me. I feel their machine does a pretty decent job, but the icing on the cake for me is that they have self-detailing bays that are stocked with clean, moist towels so you can make your car wash perfect. I don't actually go there often, though, because they're relatively far from me. But they're also the best option for automatic car washes in my area for some reason. Oh, and I also don't wash my car often to begin with.
Actually, there's a new gas station one that just opened on the other side of the block from me that's pretty decent. They'll probably be getting my money from now on.
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Comment on Why do you like your job? in ~life
Akir Link ParentI aught to change my title on my resume to that, because that was what I was doing in my absolutely horrible previous job. I assume you're working with some good people, because the way I was...I aught to change my title on my resume to that, because that was what I was doing in my absolutely horrible previous job.
I assume you're working with some good people, because the way I was being treated in that job was the reason why I ended up leaving. There's no burnout like social burnout.
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Comment on Fitness Weekly Discussion in ~health
Akir LinkThis week has sucked for me. I'm pretty sure I have overtrained from pushing myself too hard. While I didn't have pain in specific parts of my body, I have been really lethargic and have been...This week has sucked for me. I'm pretty sure I have overtrained from pushing myself too hard. While I didn't have pain in specific parts of my body, I have been really lethargic and have been binge eating on top of that. I took the last two days off at the gym and I was going to make today my return because I was feeling pretty good yesterday, but now I'm tired for other reasons....
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Comment on Donald Trump Department of Justice is looking at ways to ban transgender Americans from owning guns, sources say in ~lgbt
Akir LinkWow. All of these people are hoarding guns because they feel like they need them for self defense, but of course, let’s ban ownership for the single group in the country who needs it the most....Wow. All of these people are hoarding guns because they feel like they need them for self defense, but of course, let’s ban ownership for the single group in the country who needs it the most.
It’s astonishing that people support the politicians who support these kinds of things. Hate is one hell of a drug.
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Akir Link ParentI really loved that character. He did a lot to illustrate the point that talking leads to happiness, since he's initially introduced as a major accessory to Naoki's source of pain but a simple...I really loved that character. He did a lot to illustrate the point that talking leads to happiness, since he's initially introduced as a major accessory to Naoki's source of pain but a simple conversation with him was all it took to completely change his perspective on life. I've definitely had that kind of scenario happen when I was young.
But the absence of adults is particularly interesting when you think about how the police are portrayed. They literally only exist to antagonize the children. I thought that Japanese police were a bit different than they are here in the US but I have started to think maybe they're more similar than I imagined....
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Akir Link ParentIn-universe, I view the adults as the source of the misery. Some may be going through stuff but they really don't have an excuse for their behavior. But from a more literary perspective, the...In-universe, I view the adults as the source of the misery. Some may be going through stuff but they really don't have an excuse for their behavior.
But from a more literary perspective, the adults in the world represent forces outside the main characters' control. The main characters are depicted as children to represent how litle control they have over their lives but are otherwise everymen. Kind of like the kids in Lord of the Flies.
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Akir LinkI'm procrastinating on starting work on the first week of the new term, so this morning has been me watching a bunch of anime that I had on pause while I was doing other things. I watched the...I'm procrastinating on starting work on the first week of the new term, so this morning has been me watching a bunch of anime that I had on pause while I was doing other things.
I watched the ending to Takopi's Original Sin, and now I'm a complete mess. It's the ugliest, most beautiful thing I have ever seen.
I honestly don't even know how to talk about this show because it's so traumatic and profound. It's amazing that someone can write a story that is about people being absolute monsters without being misanthropic. As someone who went through childhood trauma that took me decades to get over fully, this story feels like it was speaking directly to me at times. It's amazing. Happiness comes through talking.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Akir LinkI finally went through and played through an ending of Arcade Spirits. I started playing this game probably two years ago and only now actually got around to playing the second half of the game....I finally went through and played through an ending of Arcade Spirits. I started playing this game probably two years ago and only now actually got around to playing the second half of the game.
It's an interesting game. It's a visual novel and a relationship simulator with romance, but it is not anything like a dating sim. Instead it's simulating relationships with a group of friends. And that's a good thing because at least all of the male characters are rather poor romantic choices. They could be easily be described by their personality tropes. One is the cold calculating type, another is their medical condition, and the other is... a twink, I guess? I honestly can't remember much about them. If I were straight or bi, I'd care to romance the female characters more because I felt more emotionally invested in three of them than any of the boys. But of course, I had to pick the bear. It's in the rules.
The game is analyzing your personality through the whole thing via an absurd amount of choices, but you're not necessarily gated off from most things based on accumulated points, and the things that you are gated off on are the choices that you probably wouldn't want to make. I rather liked this because it felt like the journey I was going on was relatable for my own personality; loading back and chosing different options presented a crazy amount of script customizations that go deeper than just picking different routes. The downside is that the overall plot is not actually built for me. It kind of goes on too long with characters I didn't particularly like. But that's a good thing in a way; it made me feel like they were friends. That seems to have been the point of the story. Even if it's not a perfect story, I really loved the themes of acceptance, self-worth, and personal growth.
While I'd put Arcade on my persona list of games worth playing, I don't think I liked it enough to play the sequel, Arcade Spirits: The New Challengers.
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Comment on Rebecca Sugar - Lonely Magic (2025) in ~music
Akir LinkI saw some videos on social media of Rebecca Sugar - yes, the Stephen Universe creator - promoting her new album, so I decided to give it a listen. I was not prepared for it to be this good. Her...I saw some videos on social media of Rebecca Sugar - yes, the Stephen Universe creator - promoting her new album, so I decided to give it a listen. I was not prepared for it to be this good. Her music in the aforementioned show was really good, but I found the lofi synth kind of offputting because it interfered with her harmonic style. This album is almost entirely hand-played instruments and the production on it is very lush.
I put a youtube playlist as the link here, but I strongly recommend setting some time to sit down and listen to this, and in a way that lets you do it without advertisements so as to not ruin the vibes. The lyrics combined with the production really make it an emotional experience. I listened to it in the gym and was actually drawn to tears.
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Rebecca Sugar - Lonely Magic (2025)
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Comment on Why do you like your job? in ~life
Akir LinkI work as a part-time private teacher. I'm actually going through classes right now so I'll qualify as a substitute teacher in public schools some time in the future. I honestly don't know how I'd...I work as a part-time private teacher. I'm actually going through classes right now so I'll qualify as a substitute teacher in public schools some time in the future. I honestly don't know how I'd manage doing it full-time though because that would require me to remember way more names and faces than I'm confident I'd be able to.
The thing that keeps me going overall is knowing that my work matches my ethics. I'm not involved in selling widgets that are making the world a worse place or in separating fools for their money (though it's arguable that the management probably is doing that), but I'm actually getting paid to help kids accomplish things. The nice thing about my particular situation is that the kids actually want to be there and are usually pretty highly motivated; I'm honestly very impressed at what some of them accomplish! And when I get someone saying "thank you" for doing my job, it's not just some social obligation; they actually mean it. I've gotten hugged! It's the best part.
For the most part I am teaching kids how to program, and it's the first time that I've ever done shared or pair programming that wasn't a pain in the ass. Removing the expectation that the person I'm paired up actually knows what they are doing or will carry their own weight will have that effect, I guess. 😅
I haven't used their specific brand but I do use laundry sheets that I'm pretty sure are actually made by the same people because they're pretty identical from what I've seen. They're so much nicer than anything else out there because you aren't dealing with measuring anything; you literally just toss them in. They're half a sheet per load and I have them pre-torn ahead of time. If they are heavily soiled you just toss in a second one.
I'm honestly kind of upset right now at Proctor and Gamble for their ads saying that other brands of liquid detergents are watered down, when the commercials are for liquid Tide! The stuff they are selling is watered down by definition! And the worst thing is that they are finally selling solid sheet - sorry, "tile" - laundry detergent, but I've literally never seen an advertisement or seen them at any store. Just word of mouth for them.