Akir's recent activity
-
Comment on Signs of introspection in large language models in ~tech
-
Comment on What did you do this week (and weekend)? in ~talk
Akir LinkOh boy, this week has been something! Yesterday I did my final exam for a programming class, which was surprisingly easy. I got done with my very stupid final assignment that I wrote about...Oh boy, this week has been something! Yesterday I did my final exam for a programming class, which was surprisingly easy. I got done with my very stupid final assignment that I wrote about elsewhere and I got a perfect score on that one.
My husband has been on a shopping spree of sorts, but this time around he has been shopping for experiences for us. Yesterday we went out to eat at Seasons 52 followed by Moulin Rouge, something he loved so much that he bought us orchestra seating, in the third row.
(To be honest I really didn’t like the show that much. I don’t like jukebox musicals in the best of times but this show is made entirely of mash-ups, which took me back to middle school pep rallies. The actors playing the main characters were very talented singers but they had absolutely zero chemistry. The lighting, staging, costumes, and all of the production design overall are S+ class, but the end result is less than the sum of its parts for me. But it was worth it because my husband loved it and was tearing up and singing along with it.)
On top of that, I managed to bring my husband on board for the Six Flags plan that I think I may have alluded to earlier. If not, the gist is that a season pass for the park also gives access to all Six Flags parks, and that includes Cedar Fair properties, so for us in the Los Angeles area, that means getting access to four theme parks for a huge discount. Specifically, the pass at Magic Mountain means getting access to Knotts Berry Farm, but going there first means getting access significant discount on price. And for summer we get access to two water parks as well!
I might have actually gone too far on convincing him because he ended up buying both of our passes plus the meal and drink packages, which ended up costing several times what I was planning on paying. He is joking that he intends to make up the money by stopping at Knotts after work every day to get a free meal. We’re going to Magic Mountain tomorrow, and for both of us it’s going to be our first time back there in something like two decades.
The crazy thing about this impulsive purchase is that today is his birthday. 🎉. I’m going to take him out to his favorite local restaurant. I don’t actually have a lot of money but I bought him the gift he wanted and to zhuzz it up I sewed a reusable canvas gift bag to hold it, which happens to be my highest quality sewing job to date. Surprising given how busy I have been with finals. It was worth the time and stress, not only because I’m happy with how it turned out, but because I love him so much and I’m glad to have something to show it with.
And just in case I haven’t brought this into bragging territory, in one month we are going to a cruise we have been planning for a year, which we will be going on with a group of friends.
-
Comment on What are your favorite low cost main dishes/meals? in ~food
Akir Link ParentMedium is barely spicy. Give it a try next time.Medium is barely spicy. Give it a try next time.
-
Comment on Why Disney ditched ‘Doctor Who’ in ~tv
Akir LinkWas it because Dr. Who is terrible? (ducks) In all seriousness, I have met a grand total of one American who is a fan of Dr. Who. I’m actually surprised more by Disney picking up distribution than...Was it because Dr. Who is terrible? (ducks)
In all seriousness, I have met a grand total of one American who is a fan of Dr. Who. I’m actually surprised more by Disney picking up distribution than it not being popular in the US. British shows have slowly been gaining more acceptance in the US but are still largely ignored in favor of domestic product. The show being “woke” might certainly be a factor, but I think it’s less a factor than the general sense of alienation that the average American gets when watching a foreign-made production with a large history they aren’t privy to.
-
Comment on Affinity V3 is here with a new freemium model in ~design
Akir Link ParentAgreed. There’s a lot about how free and great it is, but for a major version change all it seems to have is paid AI features. I do notice that they don’t talk about designer, photo, and...Agreed. There’s a lot about how free and great it is, but for a major version change all it seems to have is paid AI features.
I do notice that they don’t talk about designer, photo, and publisher, though, so maybe they are merging them all into one product?
As bad as Gimp may be, open source software is one tool that cannot be taken away from me. It’s a feature I wish more people would value.
-
Comment on What are your favorite low cost main dishes/meals? in ~food
Akir Link ParentI can confirm that the mild S&B curry is sad. It’s surprising to see the curry roux so cheap; when I first started making Japanese curry those packages were over $5. Add in the cost of meat and it...I can confirm that the mild S&B curry is sad.
It’s surprising to see the curry roux so cheap; when I first started making Japanese curry those packages were over $5. Add in the cost of meat and it was a fairly expensive proposition.
The one thing I will say is that I don’t think S&B’s curry mix is that great. It’s not bad but it’s like the vanilla of curry. The house ones are better, and they have a few different formulations. If going with S&B it is better to get the can of spice instead and make your own roux; it’s not that much harder to do and you can mix in your own spices. I particularly like adding an Indian garam masala blend.
-
Comment on What are your favorite low cost main dishes/meals? in ~food
Akir Link ParentI’ve seen a simelar method of making crepes before. I actually owned a weird appliance meant to do this directly, which was basically a paddle-looking thing that plugged into mains power to heat...I’ve seen a simelar method of making crepes before. I actually owned a weird appliance meant to do this directly, which was basically a paddle-looking thing that plugged into mains power to heat itself; I never used it though because crepes are actually really easy to make the normal way.
One of these days I’ll just try tossing the shredded veggies in a bowl and dropping the sauce on top. The rice paper makes it fun, but it’s not really doing anything for flavor.
-
Comment on What are your favorite low cost main dishes/meals? in ~food
Akir Link ParentSoya chunks are just TVP that has been put into larger shapes, usually. They may have something like wheat added to it to help it come together. To be honest, I’m not super happy with them as an...Soya chunks are just TVP that has been put into larger shapes, usually. They may have something like wheat added to it to help it come together.
To be honest, I’m not super happy with them as an ingredient compared to Soy Curls because they are tougher and have a more assertive flavor. My recommendation is to soak them in a flavor liquid. It doesn’t have to be boiling, but hot water will make it absorb faster. Strain them out (you don’t have to get all of it out), and then stir fry them. Toss some veg in the pot after to make a good stir-fry.
The stuff I get is Chinese, so I use Chinese flavors when I cook mine. For the flavor liquid, I really like mushroom boullion, which goes well with that kind of flavor pallet, but you can also use something like veggie broth.
I haven’t tried it with this particular ingredient, but I find that it’s much easier to get the texture I want out of soy curls by air frying or baking it. That might also work for those soy chunks. I also saw a video recently of a man making tacos with them and he fried them in oil, but that’s not something I would like to do myself (both because of the health and the fact that you are adding water to burning hot oil).
If all else fails, maybe you can just rehydrate the stuff you have and use it as animal feed?
-
Comment on What diagramming tools do folks use? in ~comp
Akir LinkI don't do a ton of diagramming, but that's partially because I find all diagramming software to suck in one way or another. Lately when I need to do something I will use draw.io, but the fact...I don't do a ton of diagramming, but that's partially because I find all diagramming software to suck in one way or another. Lately when I need to do something I will use draw.io, but the fact that it's basically a webapp with a very poorly made electron wrapper.
Before, though I used Dia. Dia was perfect for me because it dealt with complex shapes. Making UML class diagrams in it was fantastic; every class element was self-contained and described in terms of data, rather than just a series of lines and letters. Unfortunately it has not seen a major release in over a decade. It seems to not be entirely dead; I managed to compile the current version on git and it ran without having to open up XQuartz like the last mac binary release did, and it seems to be less buggy than it was before on a quick jaunt through it.
Sometimes, when I'm feeling particularly masochistic, I'll use Xfig.
-
Comment on Starter comments on Tildes? in ~tildes
Akir LinkI do this for practically everything I post. Given, most of the stuff I post are conversation starters in and of themselves. But the Tildes post UI is built specifically for what you’re asking...I do this for practically everything I post. Given, most of the stuff I post are conversation starters in and of themselves.
But the Tildes post UI is built specifically for what you’re asking for: there is both a link and a text box. I think that, for the most part, everyone should be filling both.
-
Comment on What are your favorite low cost main dishes/meals? in ~food
Akir LinkFood is cheap when you are a whole food vegan, so every meal I make is low cost. Some quick examples of particularly cheap options: spring rolls (yeah, the rice paper isn’t a whole food, but I eat...Food is cheap when you are a whole food vegan, so every meal I make is low cost.
Some quick examples of particularly cheap options:
-
spring rolls (yeah, the rice paper isn’t a whole food, but I eat it all the time anyways)
-
soups and stews: I like a lentil vegetable seasoned with things like nooch, miso, soy sauce, and whatever strikes me as good at the time. Dried mushrooms are the secret ingredient for umami goodness.
-
curries: there are many options but right now I am in a Thai yellow curry phase. The giant pot I just made probably cost about $8 in total and made roughly 8 servings.
-
tacos: I use soy curls in my tacos which are relatively expensive, but it’s still cheaper than meat and I make it even cheaper by making my own tortillas, which have the added benefit of tasting amazing. Admittedly I use super fancy masa harina so it’s still not super cheap in practice. 😅 Better advice to make it cheap would be to use maseca and make larger tortillas to make burritos filled with homemade beans.
-
bread: it really shouldn’t be a meal, but my homemade sourdough bread is sometimes just that tempting, especially on the day I bake it.
-
salads: expensive if you buy the bags, but very cheap if you prep them yourself. The key to making them tasty is to make your own dressing, which is much easier than you’d think.
If I had to pick just one thing I’d say curry is my favorite but it’s not as healthy as I would like it to be: Thai curries have a coconut milk base which is high in fat. So my more regular meal would be spring rolls chocked full of fresh vegetables.
-
-
Comment on CGA-2025-10 🕹️⏰ 🗺️ 🐸 REMOVE CARTRIDGE ⏏️ Chrono Trigger in ~games
Akir Link ParentI agree. Chrono Cross is less frustrating than Trigger IMHO and I found the story’s themes more interesting. Plus it has one of the most moving endings if you can pull off the Chrono Cross.I agree. Chrono Cross is less frustrating than Trigger IMHO and I found the story’s themes more interesting. Plus it has one of the most moving endings if you can pull off the Chrono Cross.
-
Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
Akir LinkI've been working on a bullshit Java weather application for a university class, which is due tomorrow. I normally wouldn't write about these kinds of things because they are practically nothing...I've been working on a bullshit Java weather application for a university class, which is due tomorrow.
I normally wouldn't write about these kinds of things because they are practically nothing but this one is such a pain in the rear that I want to bitch about it.
It's a simple assignment in theory. Build a GUI application that pulls from an online weather API. The problem is all the background information. The previous class had us going over how to handle raw network connections. Weather APIs are all REST, so I had to go look up the Java classes to deal with HTTP, and then look up an external library to help me parse through the JSON responses. The professor recommended two APIs, but they were from paid services and the free tier would have likely had me run out of requests before I finish.
This was also the week that we were supposed to be learning Java's GUI frameworks, but the project was so much work I've basically given up on all the reading. If I had only done the readings, I would have probably just about started on the actual codeing project as of today. It had two entire book sections on JavaFX, another book section on Swing, and two articles that covered Swing and AWT, plus two videos.
In all honesty, I learned most of this years ago. I just forgot everything because when the hell am I going to be making a GUI application in this era? So I did the sensible thing and just started building my application using JavaFX, the most up-to-date "standard" for java GUI applications. This was actually hard, because only one of the videos actually covered how to use Scene Builder to visually build the interface and it showed how it works with NetBeans - which is pretty useless because we were told to do everything in Eclipse. Weirdly enough FXML isn't even brought up in the readings, from my brief skim of it, so rather than learning everything again I did everything the declaritive way entirely in Java.
I'm actually pretty proud of it, all things considered. It's a mess, but it works! The hardest part was figuring out how to get the data. I ended up using the US Weather Service's public API which is free, but it ended up being rather confusing because the query for retrieving forecasts requires knowing which weather forecasting office to use and their own internal grids, but it turns out there was another endpoint which takes global coordinates and returns the information I needed. It's functionally done, even though I'm not proud of the architecture, so all I need to do is clean it up a bit, add some documentation, and zip it up for submission.
-
Comment on Removing obfuscation in Minecraft Java Edition in ~games
Akir Link ParentMicrosoft has some very atypical ideas about how to manage Minecraft. Rather than a single game or a live service game, they consider it a platform with which they can create new value from. For...Microsoft has some very atypical ideas about how to manage Minecraft. Rather than a single game or a live service game, they consider it a platform with which they can create new value from. For instance, they are selling Minecraft Education Edition, a customized version of the Java edition of the game meant to be used by schools. Keeping people engaged in non-monied ways helps keep people around for their monied purposes.
-
Comment on CGA-2025-10 🕹️⏰ 🗺️ 🐸 REMOVE CARTRIDGE ⏏️ Chrono Trigger in ~games
Akir LinkOh my god, I can't believe it took me this long to remember this is a thing, but now that I've remembered, you all have a required activity. A few years ago, Yasunori Mitsuda produced an arrange...Oh my god, I can't believe it took me this long to remember this is a thing, but now that I've remembered, you all have a required activity.
A few years ago, Yasunori Mitsuda produced an arrange album of some key songs from Chrono Trigger and Cross called To Far Away Times. You simply must listen to the album. Listen via a better source if possible because the mastering is part of the package.
If you must have a reason to listen to this, it's the original musician partnering with some very talented musicians to give vocals and lyrics to some of the most iconic songs from the two games. All but one vocal song has English lyrics, even. I can practically guarantee you will be moved to tears.
-
Comment on New World is dead: Amazon ends new content updates following massive layoffs, says 'servers will be live through 2026' in ~games
Akir (edited )LinkAh, my early decision to never buy a game made by Amazon continues to pay off. I still find it hard to believe that anything approaching creativity could come from the house of Bezos. I know that...Ah, my early decision to never buy a game made by Amazon continues to pay off. I still find it hard to believe that anything approaching creativity could come from the house of Bezos. I know that I'm not exactly on the pulse of gaming, but I haven't yet heard a single good thing about any game to come out of their studios. Would anyone like to pitch in?
P.S. I actually looked up to see what games Amazon Games has actually developed in-house, and it looks like the only games they have managed to release outside of web and mobile other than this MMO is a single "license game" based on The Grand Tour which was delisted just a year after it was originally released.So it looks like their only remaining games are a Fire OS exclusive, and maybe a port of Dragon Lair and a facebook game? Amazon certainly doesn't seem very keen on developing a reputation, do they?
-
Comment on Millennials: How do you feel about nostalgia pandering? in ~talk
Akir Link ParentMy goodness I almost completely forgot about the Chip and Dale movie. For what it’s worth, even though it wasn’t a good movie and nobody asked for it, I’m kind of glad it got made. A lack of...My goodness I almost completely forgot about the Chip and Dale movie.
For what it’s worth, even though it wasn’t a good movie and nobody asked for it, I’m kind of glad it got made. A lack of creativity was not the problem for that movie at all.
-
Comment on Millennials: How do you feel about nostalgia pandering? in ~talk
Akir Link ParentI very much agree with you in terms of bands getting back together. There is something amazing about live performance that I feel that our digital world tends to hide away. As @nonethewiser had...I very much agree with you in terms of bands getting back together. There is something amazing about live performance that I feel that our digital world tends to hide away. As @nonethewiser had mentioned, “pandering” is a loaded term and so it might not apply here. But on the other hand, I’m not really hearing about any new music being made from these bands, so maybe it is close to something if not entirely accurate.
-
Comment on Millennials: How do you feel about nostalgia pandering? in ~talk
Akir Link ParentHonestly, I think legacy IP movies that rely heavily on nostalgia are uniquely hollow regardless of which era it came from unless major changes are made to them. TMNT as a whole has changed a lot...Honestly, I think legacy IP movies that rely heavily on nostalgia are uniquely hollow regardless of which era it came from unless major changes are made to them. TMNT as a whole has changed a lot with the times because they have been continuing to try to reach out to the younger generations, so I would consider that franchise to be better than most. But then there are movies like Space Jam where the entire movie seems to be the producers saying “hey, remember this thing we own? Wasn’t that great?” And of course there’s Disney, constantly recycling their old movies wholesale. It’s especially ironic because the things that made those movies exciting was that they were unusual, different, and incredibly creative.
-
Millennials: How do you feel about nostalgia pandering?
When I was a kid, I remember the soundtrack to the world being oldies. Stuff from the 1970s and earlier. Boomers were always being pandered to by nostalgia. Decades later that pandering shifted to...
When I was a kid, I remember the soundtrack to the world being oldies. Stuff from the 1970s and earlier. Boomers were always being pandered to by nostalgia. Decades later that pandering shifted to the 1980s, something I'm sure the Gen Xers must have appreciated. A year or two ago I realized that the nostalgia train has been in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
It occurs to me that there has been nostalgic pandering going for a long time and I just hadn't realized it. I assume it's because a lot of the most notable ones have been pretty bad, particularly in the case of movies like the Space Jam sequel or the Jurassic World series. But music has had it's share too. I remember hearing a lot of references to 90s hip hop, and old bands like Backstreet Boys and My Chemical Romance have got back together. I've also been seeing a lot of references to old TV shows like Gilmore Girls and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (though, to be fair, people never really stopped talking about Buffy).
Personally speaking, I'm not a fan of this. Yeah, the movies have been bad, but that's basically just the state of hollywood right now. But more than anything, I'm kind of disappointing by it. I'm more interested in new art, generally speaking, and more importantly, seeing all of these throwbacks is starting to make me feel old.
38 votes
Well, given that these companies' stated goal is human-like intelligence, it makes sense they would anthropomorphize it as much as they can. Which is not to say that I like that they do that.