Akir's recent activity

  1. Comment on Thousands of Americans see their savings vanish in Synapse fintech crisis in ~finance

    Akir
    Link Parent
    Yeah, but it also says that they can amend those terms and if you keep using them you agree to them. So it would appear that at one point they lost their ability to be covered by FDIC or more...

    Yeah, but it also says that they can amend those terms and if you keep using them you agree to them. So it would appear that at one point they lost their ability to be covered by FDIC or more realistically they discovered that it was never the case in the first place and didn’t bother to tell anyone about it.

    But it’s not like it matters much anyways because nobody reads those things anyways.

    2 votes

  2. Comment on Thousands of Americans see their savings vanish in Synapse fintech crisis in ~finance

    Akir
    Link Parent
    The problem is when services ONLY offer plaid instead of allowing you to use banks that do offer such APIs. With that option, people could move their money into banks with APIs and that would move...

    The problem is when services ONLY offer plaid instead of allowing you to use banks that do offer such APIs. With that option, people could move their money into banks with APIs and that would move the market.

    To my knowledge that didn’t happen, and because of Plaid’s use of these unethical practices, Plaid became these banks de-facto APIs, which means another middleman gets to make their money off of you. Hooray? But I’m not in finance so I can’t tell you if that’s how things are or not.

    4 votes

  3. Comment on Lilo & Stitch | Official teaser in ~movies

    Akir
    Link Parent
    Oh my god is that a CNC pneumatic puppet?! That just made me squeal out loud like a schoolgirl. Also, god instagram is terrible. Why do they not want you to be able to rewind?

    Oh my god is that a CNC pneumatic puppet?! That just made me squeal out loud like a schoolgirl.

    Also, god instagram is terrible. Why do they not want you to be able to rewind?

    3 votes

  4. Comment on Lilo & Stitch | Official teaser in ~movies

    Akir
    Link Parent
    You don’t have to draw every frame with 3D but the skill needed to make animations look fluid and realistic and still stylized has a whole lot of extremely detailed nearly frame-by-frame tweaking...

    You don’t have to draw every frame with 3D but the skill needed to make animations look fluid and realistic and still stylized has a whole lot of extremely detailed nearly frame-by-frame tweaking that has to be done by extremely skilled individuals. Facial expressions are arguably harder to be done in 3D than 2D because it’s a lot more complex than the relatively few lines that make up a face.

    1 vote

  5. Comment on Lilo & Stitch | Official teaser in ~movies

    Akir
    Link Parent
    Patrick Willem once described CGI filled live action films as “cartoons for adults.” And even without knowing anything about this, I can’t help but feel like that’s exactly what this is. It’s a...

    Patrick Willem once described CGI filled live action films as “cartoons for adults.” And even without knowing anything about this, I can’t help but feel like that’s exactly what this is. It’s a stupid remake that will, like every single remake Disney does, fails to understand why people liked the original so much and is just made because it capitalizes on nostalgia. The kids who grew up with Lelo and Stitch are adults now, so in order to be palatable to adults Disney feels the need to get rid of one of the primary appeals because they think that we wouldn’t be able to stomach the original aesthetic.

    Or in another flavor of jaded thought, Disney has ruined Lilo and Stitch in animation for adults by releasing an entire cannon of dumbed down kid-only content where people are constantly yelling and there isn’t any quiet moments to be found, so live action is their last bastion to milk the audience.

    Either way, the decision to make this is even more baffling than the decision to make the new sequel to the bad lion king movie. Who wants this?

    I feel that the film industry desperately needs a new Roger Corman: someone who can make a lot of movies very cheaply so that not all of them needs to be a winner. It feels like everyone is saying they don’t want these ultra safe bet movies but they keep getting made anyways.

    4 votes

  6. Comment on Thousands of Americans see their savings vanish in Synapse fintech crisis in ~finance

    Akir
    Link Parent
    I’m pretty sure they’re the ones I was talking about. As @Greg mentioned, they’re still pretty bad even when they aren’t asking for your credentials.

    I’m pretty sure they’re the ones I was talking about. As @Greg mentioned, they’re still pretty bad even when they aren’t asking for your credentials.

    2 votes

  7. Comment on Thousands of Americans see their savings vanish in Synapse fintech crisis in ~finance

    Akir
    Link
    Hoo, is that a naive statement. Banks robbing people is extremely common, which is why the government is constantly writing new laws to restrict what they can do. It wasn’t that long ago that they...

    “When you tell people about this, it’s like, ‘There’s no way this can happen,’” Jacobs said. “A bank just robbed us. This is the first reverse bank robbery in the history of America.”

    Hoo, is that a naive statement. Banks robbing people is extremely common, which is why the government is constantly writing new laws to restrict what they can do. It wasn’t that long ago that they made mandatory overdraft fees illegal.

    That aside, this is a horrible story to hear. But it’s yet another notch in my “don’t trust tech startups with money” belt. Sadly, not everyone has such a belt, and even fewer people both knew the name Andreessen Horowitz and how it should mean “run for the hills”. The fact that there is any financial institution that doesn’t keep extremely detailed records of what’s happening to that money is such a sin that everyone involved with that decision should face punishment for it.

    While I am a fan of fintech in theory, in practice it seems to have increasingly become an industry fueled by a blatant disregard for the rules, privacy, the rights of individuals using their products, and in spite of the high and easily measurable risks, security. I remember not too long ago there was a startup that was trying to bypass banks not offering an API by asking users to give them their online banking usernames and passwords, something that was usually explicitly against their agreements with the banks. And these schemes usually work because the average person doesn’t know anything about how our financial institutions work and don’t realize why what they’re doing is a bad thing.

    26 votes

  8. Comment on Sony is in talks to buy media powerhouse Kadokawa in ~games

    Akir
    Link Parent
    I’m honestly really disappointed to hear that Acquire was bought by Kadokawa. Acquire has a pedegree of great games that have a long direct lineage of design. As good as October Traveller has...

    I’m honestly really disappointed to hear that Acquire was bought by Kadokawa. Acquire has a pedegree of great games that have a long direct lineage of design. As good as October Traveller has been, I am much more worried about what will happen to the people and structures they have built up that allowed them to create it alongside their other projects of the past. I don’t know what restrictions Kadokawa has placed on them, but I have no doubt in my mind that Sony will put a lot more of them and possibly completely restructure them.

    I’m also worried because Spike Chunsoft has been a boon for English speakers because they translate and publish a number of Japanese adventure games, most notably the Danganronpa series. Personally, seeing Spike Chunsoft on a trailer was like a sign of quality. Even their bad games were pretty good. They also have a very long pedegree of great, industry-changing games historically; not only did they repopularize roguelike games with their Mystery Dungeon metaseries, they are also the studio that developed the first few Dragon Quest games.

    3 votes

  9. Comment on How do you learn to recognize your own emotions? in ~health.mental

    Akir
    Link
    Autism might change things, but for the neurotypical person I would say that you do already know your emotions, but you don’t know what to do with them. How you are feeling is something that can...

    Autism might change things, but for the neurotypical person I would say that you do already know your emotions, but you don’t know what to do with them. How you are feeling is something that can possibly be on the autism spectrum, but it can also be the result of growing up with an abusive parent. I went through the latter and so what you are describing doesn’t sound too different from how I felt when I was young.

    To answer your question about what to do with it, I’m afraid there is no easy answer. You kind of just need to grow as a person and it will happen naturally. Introspection can be useful but do not do it at the expense of socializing, because that is the most important way to build emotional intelligence. It’s kind of the same as immersion for learning languages.

    But once again, this advice might not work for those on the spectrum.

    8 votes

  10. Comment on Bespoke Synth - a highly modular DAW in ~music

    Akir
    Link Parent
    Bespoke is not really anything like a traditional DAW. In fact I would say it’s a particularly bad choice for that use case scenario because composition tools are “plug-ins”, so to speak. Bespoke...

    Bespoke is not really anything like a traditional DAW. In fact I would say it’s a particularly bad choice for that use case scenario because composition tools are “plug-ins”, so to speak. Bespoke is really more of a means of experimentation with sound.

    That being said, that experimentation focus makes it good for anyone with the patience to figure out how it works.

    3 votes

  11. Comment on Just bought a Sous Vide. Those who own one, what are your favorite things to use it for? Any recommended accessories? in ~food

    Akir
    Link Parent
    There is definitely a minimum temperature you should cook at.

    There is definitely a minimum temperature you should cook at.

  12. Comment on Just bought a Sous Vide. Those who own one, what are your favorite things to use it for? Any recommended accessories? in ~food

    Akir
    Link Parent
    I’m surprised you think so. Carrots tend to come out pretty similar to me as if I had made them in the pressure cooker, and that is much more convenient for me for a number of reasons.

    I’m surprised you think so. Carrots tend to come out pretty similar to me as if I had made them in the pressure cooker, and that is much more convenient for me for a number of reasons.

  13. Comment on FreeCAD version 1.0 released in ~engineering

    Akir
    Link Parent
    OpenSCAD is kind of its own thing. I would be very surprised if there were any engineers using it in a professional setting. But for the others, yes. There are some that are better at specific...

    OpenSCAD is kind of its own thing. I would be very surprised if there were any engineers using it in a professional setting.

    But for the others, yes. There are some that are better at specific things so some niches will use one program or another - I hear a lot of people saying it’s Solidworks or bust, for instance.

    It should be noted that I’m not an engineer so my usage of these programs is very much on the hobbyist level. Solidworks’ web and hobbyist offerings are both new to me as well - I probably heard about them for the first time earlier this month - and so I have not had the chance to evaluate it.

    1 vote

  14. Comment on Just bought a Sous Vide. Those who own one, what are your favorite things to use it for? Any recommended accessories? in ~food

    Akir
    Link Parent
    Oooh, your proofing idea is pretty good. I've been trying to make a new sourdough mother and the slow proofing from the cold weather is driving me nuts.

    Oooh, your proofing idea is pretty good. I've been trying to make a new sourdough mother and the slow proofing from the cold weather is driving me nuts.

    3 votes

  15. Comment on Just bought a Sous Vide. Those who own one, what are your favorite things to use it for? Any recommended accessories? in ~food

    Akir
    Link Parent
    I agree, the texture of sous vide chicken is very wrong. The best chicken I have ever had was one I made myself, but it was actually really simple; just chicken breasts tossed in an oven bag with...

    I agree, the texture of sous vide chicken is very wrong. The best chicken I have ever had was one I made myself, but it was actually really simple; just chicken breasts tossed in an oven bag with some broth and fresh herbs and garlic and then baked.

    4 votes

  16. Comment on Just bought a Sous Vide. Those who own one, what are your favorite things to use it for? Any recommended accessories? in ~food

    Akir
    Link Parent
    Actually it will be perfectly fine to keep it in there for a longer period. The recommendations are designed for high heat. Cooking at lower temperatures still kills bacteria, it just takes longer...

    Actually it will be perfectly fine to keep it in there for a longer period. The recommendations are designed for high heat. Cooking at lower temperatures still kills bacteria, it just takes longer for it to happen - which is exactly what you are doing with sous vide.

    10 votes

  17. Comment on Just bought a Sous Vide. Those who own one, what are your favorite things to use it for? Any recommended accessories? in ~food

    Akir
    Link
    In my humble opinion it is only good for two things. The first is that it will make the most tender meat you will ever have. The second is that it will make large batches of specifically-cooked...

    In my humble opinion it is only good for two things. The first is that it will make the most tender meat you will ever have. The second is that it will make large batches of specifically-cooked eggs (like onsen tamago). For vegetables it’s still best to cook them other ways since you don’t have to have those specific temperatures and long cooking times for them to turn out well.

    Of course I don’t eat meat or eggs anymore, so my immersion circulator is just a dust magnet at this point.

    4 votes

  18. Comment on FreeCAD version 1.0 released in ~engineering

    Akir
    Link Parent
    It seems that most CAD software companies are trying to target the browser these days. OnShape is the one that’s best known for being browser only but there are other options as well. Even...

    It seems that most CAD software companies are trying to target the browser these days. OnShape is the one that’s best known for being browser only but there are other options as well. Even solidworks has a browser version now. Both onshape and solidworks offerings are free to hobbyists.

    Personally, I prefer openSCAD. It’s not as powerful or easy to use but writing out code seems to fit my brain better.

    9 votes

  19. Comment on Former Dallas PD officer ordered to pay $100 million in ~news

    Akir
    Link Parent
    What I don’t understand is how this could possibly be considered accidental. The article doesn’t mention her being drunk or high, but honestly you would have to be extremely inebriated to miss so...

    What I don’t understand is how this could possibly be considered accidental. The article doesn’t mention her being drunk or high, but honestly you would have to be extremely inebriated to miss so many clues it leads to murdering someone. I get pressing the wrong button and going to the wrong apartment because the layout of the nth floor is the same as the n+1th floor. But, what, did she think that someone cleaned up all of her belongings and then replace them all with brand new things?

    And then there is all the hullabaloo about letting her go because of the insane “self defense” gun laws in Texas, but I’ll refrain from commenting further on it because it wouldn’t change anything.

    5 votes

  20. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    Akir
    Link Parent
    I agree. And I think Jazz inspriration is especially salient for battle themes because they're going to be heard so often; it's good to have something that remains interesting on repeat listens.

    I agree. And I think Jazz inspriration is especially salient for battle themes because they're going to be heard so often; it's good to have something that remains interesting on repeat listens.