Akir's recent activity
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
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Comment on Column: Cal-Mex is having a moment in New York. But how does it taste? in ~food
Akir Something I desperately want to do even though it’s incredibly dangerous?Something I desperately want to do even though it’s incredibly dangerous?
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Comment on Column: Cal-Mex is having a moment in New York. But how does it taste? in ~food
Akir I live in an extremely large Asian area in California, to the point that it might be just a bit too easy to guess if you are familiar with the area. As such I have been able to live through a...I live in an extremely large Asian area in California, to the point that it might be just a bit too easy to guess if you are familiar with the area. As such I have been able to live through a virtual food tour of all of Asia, sans Russia.
As such I would say that American Chinese food is worse… but only insomuch as it tends to be fast food à la Panda Express, where most of the options are breaded and deep fried then coated with a sickly sweet sauce kept under heat lamps so it’s soggy when you get them. Authentic restaurants may serve a few dishes somewhat like that, but overall they tend to have at least twice as many options available and they are prepared to order.
Obviously, though, YMMV. It’s not like I haven’t been to a terrible authentic Chinese place before. But personally I find that low quality authentic food tends to taste better than the best quality Americanized Chinese food. The place I live in also biases me because there aren’t really any sit-down American Chinese restaurants.
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Comment on Column: Cal-Mex is having a moment in New York. But how does it taste? in ~food
Akir That is my bar for just about any “ethnic” restaurant out there. If I am going to a Chinese restaurant and I don’t see any Chinese people there, it’s not a good sign. The same was true with...That is my bar for just about any “ethnic” restaurant out there. If I am going to a Chinese restaurant and I don’t see any Chinese people there, it’s not a good sign. The same was true with Ethiopian food or anything else I wanted to try.
That’s not to say that the restaurants that don’t aren’t good, and more like they just aren’t right. They don’t have the je ne sais quoi.
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Comment on It’s hearty, it’s meaty, it’s mold in ~food
Akir Mucinex does that to me like crazy. It’s extremely unbearable. BTW I put an edit with their primary citation about the flavor of heme. It’s just the impossible foods patent.Mucinex does that to me like crazy. It’s extremely unbearable.
BTW I put an edit with their primary citation about the flavor of heme. It’s just the impossible foods patent.
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Comment on It’s hearty, it’s meaty, it’s mold in ~food
Akir Thanks for taking the time to find that! I was able to get a copy of it that, uh, fell off of a truck. I’m not in a place to read through it entirely right now, but it seems to be a review of...Thanks for taking the time to find that! I was able to get a copy of it that, uh, fell off of a truck. I’m not in a place to read through it entirely right now, but it seems to be a review of existing research rather than a new study. Here is the conclusion:
Metallic taste has largely been studied from the perspective of non-heme iron. Few data are available for heme, which seems to be the primary molecule conferring the taste of meat and, due to its content of iron, may also be the primary molecule responsible for metallic taste. Further studies are needed to better characterize the role of heme as a taste molecule and to identify the underlying molecular mechanisms.
It does go into a bit about a sensation they call dysgeusia, which might be another thing to look into if you haven’t heard of that term like I have.
Edit: this citation appears to be the best bet, though it’s not a scientific paper:
Fraser R, Brown POJ, Karr J, Holz-Schietinger C, Cohn E. Methods and compositions for affecting the flavor and aroma pro- file of consumables. United States: USPTO Patent Number US9700067B2; 2017. This patent contains much of the data supporting a role for heme in the taste of meat.
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Comment on Sorry. Your car will never drive you around. in ~transport
Akir Yeah, this bugs me. I do think that automated transportation is possible, even on a personal level, but trying to get it to work on public roads alongside humans seems to be incredibly reckless....At the end of the day I think one of the most interesting points brought up in the video is that the best automated system probably doesn't try to mesh with human needs, but at that point we're back to "Oh shit it's trains isn't it", or some similar issue.
Yeah, this bugs me. I do think that automated transportation is possible, even on a personal level, but trying to get it to work on public roads alongside humans seems to be incredibly reckless. Heck, when it comes to public transport, there are tons of fully automated systems in service right now! The difference is that those were, for the most part, built in tandem with the infrastructure to support them. In contrast, seeing companies trying to sell autonomous cars that work on existing infrastructure feels like a scam because it’s basically a pipe dream. It’s no better than what Elizabeth Holmes was doing with Theranos.
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Comment on Time to delete your Glassdoor account and data in ~tech
Akir It’s just an alternative. Most dedicated email providers charge by the mailbox, to my knowledge. An alias can be anything you want as long as it is on a domain pointing to their servers. Though I...It’s just an alternative. Most dedicated email providers charge by the mailbox, to my knowledge. An alias can be anything you want as long as it is on a domain pointing to their servers. Though I suppose they all have their own policies.
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Comment on It’s hearty, it’s meaty, it’s mold in ~food
Akir While it’s true that plant based iron isn’t as usable as animal heme, that is when taken by itself. There are a number of things you can also eat that will increase that bioavailability. A varied...While it’s true that plant based iron isn’t as usable as animal heme, that is when taken by itself. There are a number of things you can also eat that will increase that bioavailability. A varied diet is recommended regardless of if you are vegan or not.
I don’t think that you are correct about taste receptors but if you find out anything I would be interested.
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Comment on Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know | Choreographed by Sergio Reis, Jowha Van de Laak, and Mauro van de Kerkhof | Danced by CDK Company in ~arts
Akir This was definitely worth sharing. Dance is one of those things I never appreciated much because I would usually see it on video, and that’s just a bit too much barrier keeping you away from the...This was definitely worth sharing. Dance is one of those things I never appreciated much because I would usually see it on video, and that’s just a bit too much barrier keeping you away from the performance. But this is combined with some very tasteful editing to get something you would not be able to replicate on a stage.
Also I love the costuming. 😺
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Comment on Time to delete your Glassdoor account and data in ~tech
Akir You don’t really need multiple mailboxes to do this kind of thing; most email providers are going to offer you aliases and filters, so you can simply set up an alias of your choice and use a...You don’t really need multiple mailboxes to do this kind of thing; most email providers are going to offer you aliases and filters, so you can simply set up an alias of your choice and use a filter rule to move emails that are sent to that address into a folder.
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Comment on Tesla's gear-shifting problems known long before Angela Chao's death in ~transport
Akir I honestly didn't care for gull wing doors until I heard the reasoning on why they were put on the Seven; people said to the guy who built it that he couldn't, so he did. :P I actually do like...I honestly didn't care for gull wing doors until I heard the reasoning on why they were put on the Seven; people said to the guy who built it that he couldn't, so he did. :P
I actually do like sliding panel doors, but my experience with 15 year old ones built in the 80s and the difficulty of moving them would make me reluctant to buy a car with them if I could avoid them.
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Comment on Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know | Choreographed by Sergio Reis, Jowha Van de Laak, and Mauro van de Kerkhof | Danced by CDK Company in ~arts
Akir Huh, I'm kind of surprised that anyone here is interested in dance. I don't know anyone who ever talks about it. I wasn't particularly interested in dance until I went to a performance of Mathew...Huh, I'm kind of surprised that anyone here is interested in dance. I don't know anyone who ever talks about it. I wasn't particularly interested in dance until I went to a performance of Mathew Bourne's Romeo and Juliet, which just about brought me to tears, and that's something I only saw because it was thrown in with a package deal.
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Comment on The small company at the center of ‘Gamergate 2.0’ in ~games
Akir I can totally understand what you're saying. I find myself frustrated when I see gay male characters who are basically tokens or when they are very clearly from a woman's imagination. I really...I can totally understand what you're saying. I find myself frustrated when I see gay male characters who are basically tokens or when they are very clearly from a woman's imagination. I really didn't enjoy Red White and Royal Blue, for instance.
But I also think it's kind of pointless to get angry at them. So what if it's not a realistic depiction? We're talking about fiction, after all; surreal characters are par for the course.
I do realize, however, that there is very different meanings in the kinds of things we are feeling. Racism has a very different flavor than homophobia. What feels like a whip to me might feel like a cat-o-nine-tails to you.
I wish that we had better authentic representation, but that kind of work just trickles out. Right now I'm thinking about Spike Jonze's career, where he has had to work so hard making happy feel-good movies so he could make the money to fund the films he actually wants to create. In particular he has a movie, Bamboozled, which comments much further on the perils of black representation in media.
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Comment on How do you keep your home smelling nice? in ~life.home_improvement
Akir I know it's not what OP is looking for, but my real recommendation is to just let it smell. After a while it becomes very comforting, dog or not.I know it's not what OP is looking for, but my real recommendation is to just let it smell. After a while it becomes very comforting, dog or not.
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Comment on An influential economics forum has a troubling surplus of trolls in ~finance
Akir I have heard a lot of really bad thing about the workings of economists to agree with you about them being witch doctors. It just seems like there's a ton of bad actors. This forum is one famous...I have heard a lot of really bad thing about the workings of economists to agree with you about them being witch doctors. It just seems like there's a ton of bad actors. This forum is one famous one, but I have also heard that the reason why female economists are rare is because conferences don't have basic courtesy to withhold questions until the end of the presentation; when a woman comes up on stage, they are constantly bombarded with questions to the point where they are unable to make their points clear. Between that and the sizable group of neocons coming up with more and more justifications to snuffle out the last bastions of common good, I'm not too terribly inclined to listen to anyone who uses "economist" as a title.
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Comment on Anyone else who don't care much for their past? in ~health.mental
Akir I seem to remember reading an article about adverse childhood experiences - ACEs, as they call them - and I remember seeing that besides the obvious things like physical and sexual abuse there...I seem to remember reading an article about adverse childhood experiences - ACEs, as they call them - and I remember seeing that besides the obvious things like physical and sexual abuse there were also a lot of small things they listed that felt mundane. It's the small things that over an extended period of time might be considered emotionally abusive. I think it's important to realize that even the small things can be trauma.
Of course that's not to say that these are knives stuck in your back, or that society owes you back for it, or that you need to go to a psycholgist or anything dramatic like that. But I do think that it's important to adknowledge to yourself that you were hurt by them - that you are not invulnerable to that kind of experience, especially back when you were a child.
But then again, I think I have taken the opposite road. When I think of my childhood, it's really hard to remember the things that were great and really easy to remember the things that were not so great. I grew up in Las Vegas and it's a completely different place now than it was when I was a kid, so it's not like I can walk down the streets to relive the good things. My memory lane has almost literally been demolished.
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Comment on What anime do you think could have strong crossover appeal if correctly publicized? in ~anime
Akir I would also like to add that the sexualization was generally less about objectifying and degrading the characters depicted, and generally used as a form of empowerment. But of course not all the...I would also like to add that the sexualization was generally less about objectifying and degrading the characters depicted, and generally used as a form of empowerment.
But of course not all the time, and there are certainly exceptions, and it doesn't prevent it from being problematic. There's a lot to unpack. Media analysis is hard.
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Comment on What anime do you think could have strong crossover appeal if correctly publicized? in ~anime
Akir CG animation is also a lot more expensive than people like to admit. Aside from the obvious "extras" you have to do with CG like modeling, rigging, shading, lighting, etc., animation by itself is...CG animation is also a lot more expensive than people like to admit. Aside from the obvious "extras" you have to do with CG like modeling, rigging, shading, lighting, etc., animation by itself is really hard and expensive. Even with expensive motion capture (where you also have to pay for the technicians and actors, by the way) you generally still need to clean things up by hand. A one-second animation of a character doing a jump can take hours to perfect. Once again using Beastars as an example, since it's primarilly animated with 3D models, there's a ton of stuff that isn't made 3D because of the expense; a lot of the backgrounds and even some characters get drawn in 2D instead.
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Comment on It’s hearty, it’s meaty, it’s mold in ~food
Akir Nutritional yeast is different from yeast extract; they have very different flavor profiles. There's a reason why I mentioned it in combination with the fat and protein, which are the greater...Nutritional yeast is different from yeast extract; they have very different flavor profiles. There's a reason why I mentioned it in combination with the fat and protein, which are the greater parts of the flavor profile. They're also not the only parts; even if they were nobody tends to eat unseasoned ground beef so extra spices (salt especially) are vital.
The experience of flavor is actually multi-sensory, beyond just the sensation of taste. It involves, touch, smell, and sight, so manufacturers trying to make these products try to emulate all the aspects of meat. The largest function of leghemoglobin is that it replicates the myoglobin that meat has; it "bleeds", and that adds to the experience. But the thing about that experience is that it only really applies if you're actually cooking it. If you're getting in in a prepared meal you're missing the "show".
Do keep in mind that when people talk about things tasting like meat, they generally mean it as in that it's simelar enough to act as a replacement, not that it's a direct, 1-for-1 "buy the generic brand instead" replacement. Taste and smell are powerful senses and our mouths are very senstive to touch; we are very good at finding very fine differences. That's why I'm always skeptical about the effectiveness of artificial meat products. Cultured meat is likely to be a good enough replacement, but I've still got reservations.
I've lost track of when I started, but I've been eating a whole foods plant based diet for less than a year because of a cumulation of health problems. Before that I was eating a diet rich in meat and other animal products.
I watched Majular’s retrospective on the Shadow Tower series and it got me thinking. Now that I have been able to get into King’s Field (which I played after his retrospective on that series), maybe I would finally be able to get into From’s newer games?
And so I shuffled through my library and pulled out the game that disappointed me when I tried it the first time: Bloodborne.
And you know what? I think I get it a bit more now. It still feels very wrong, though; the third person perspective and speed of combat feels weird still. I find myself fighting the camera a lot, which is kind of weird.