Akir's recent activity
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Comment on Supermarket rewards card- yes or no? in ~finance
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Comment on Looking for low cost ways to replace industrially proccesed foods in ~food
Akir Link ParentI bought a SodaStream years ago. I liked using it. But there are two things I would bring up to anyone interested in buying one today. The canisters are fairly small and have to be exchanged...I bought a SodaStream years ago. I liked using it. But there are two things I would bring up to anyone interested in buying one today.
The canisters are fairly small and have to be exchanged relatively frequently. If you don’t have a local retailer to exchange them it might be a pain to deal with.
The company is based in Israel, so if you’re BDS, they are one to avoid.
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Comment on What is happening to Japan? in ~tech
Akir Link ParentEvery year I am more and more impressed by the prescience of the themes of Metal Gear Solid 2.Every year I am more and more impressed by the prescience of the themes of Metal Gear Solid 2.
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Comment on The goon squad. Loneliness, porn’s next frontier, and the dream of endless masturbation. in ~life
Akir Link ParentThis reminds me of the strangest things I came across when I started to browse TikTok. There was a surprising amount of sexual content on it even though it's not strictly allowed. When I first...This reminds me of the strangest things I came across when I started to browse TikTok. There was a surprising amount of sexual content on it even though it's not strictly allowed. When I first started scrolling through it there was a trend of "white shampoo" videos (maybe don't look that term up), followed by videos of guys doing handstands with baggy shorts, a bunch of guys who talk about their lives as sex workers and adult performers, and people talking about cruising sites and sex parties.
But to be honest, I don't know if this kind of thing is actually harmful. There are some things I think about this new paradigm are actually positive; I prefer a world where sex workers are empowered over one where they are being secretly abused. For the gooners in particular, is their marathon masturbation sessions a worse form of addiction than, say, social media or TV addictions? It's not nearly as personally damaging as gambling or smoking. The problems I have with these people as described have more to do with the social aspects and their implied sexism than the actual sexuality of it.
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Comment on Looking for low cost ways to replace industrially proccesed foods in ~food
Akir Link ParentI'm not so sure about that. I opened up the webpage for Walmart, searched for "fries" and selected the first non-generic option, and it had quite a lot of ingredients that are beyond potatoes,...I'm not so sure about that. I opened up the webpage for Walmart, searched for "fries" and selected the first non-generic option, and it had quite a lot of ingredients that are beyond potatoes, salt and oil:
Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (Contains One or More of the Following: Canola, Palm, Soybean, Sunflower), Wheat Flour, Enriched Wheat Flour (Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Modified Corn Starch, Salt, Spices, Corn Meal, Monosodium Glutamate, Leavening (Disodium Dihydrogen Pyrophosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate), Dextrose, Annatto (Color), Spice and Coloring, Natural Flavor.
That's quite a lot more than potatoes, oil, and salt. The vast majority of the things in the list are normal cooking things, sure. The problem is less about the ingredients insomuch as the entire picture around it. The fries that come out of these bags have been fried once already, if not twice, and has been battered in a savory mixture. These are all things that home cooks can do, sure, but will they? Something like 99% of the time, the answer is going to be no; it's very labor intensive to do that.
Convenience is a factor that I think is often missing from these kinds of conversations. Convenience is a force multiplier for addiction. You can reproduce all of the steps to make these fries at home, but there are many logistical issues that prevent that from happening. Preprocessing eliminates that barrier.
As a force multiplier, though, it's not the root cause. Convenient apples and oranges are not making people obese, for the most part. Convenient fries and chips are.
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Comment on Supermarket rewards card- yes or no? in ~finance
Akir LinkIn my very anecdotal experience, shopping at stores that have loyalty programs generally results in paying more for groceries than stores that don't have those kinds of schemes. The place I shop...In my very anecdotal experience, shopping at stores that have loyalty programs generally results in paying more for groceries than stores that don't have those kinds of schemes. The place I shop at the most is a locally owned grocer, and their produce is usually something like 1/2 to 1/4 the price of the major grocery stores. While not quite as dramatic, Aldi and Winco offer very competitive prices generally, and Smart & Final stores are usually a bit of a mixed bag but generally have slightly lower prices for most things. None of them have loyalty programs.
I have to acknowledge, though, that this because I have won the geography lottery. I'm in California, where most of the fresh food is grown, so my primary source of food (produce) is cheap and easy to get. I'm also in a suburban environment, so there is heavy competition for grocery stores. I'm also in an area that has strong Asian demographics, so there's an entire category of stores that most people don't have access to: large Asian markets, where prices on produce and imported delicacies are pretty low in general even when they do have loyalty programs.
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Comment on Supermarket rewards card- yes or no? in ~finance
Akir Link ParentThat really depends on where in California you reside. In my area there are more Aldi stores than Trader Joe's. Not by a huge amount, but it is noticeable.That really depends on where in California you reside. In my area there are more Aldi stores than Trader Joe's. Not by a huge amount, but it is noticeable.
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Comment on Looking for low cost ways to replace industrially proccesed foods in ~food
Akir Link ParentPersonally, I think that tracking macros is a terrible way to live. I've done it and I really hated it. I hated it so much. It was like being a slave to math equations, with so many variables to...Personally, I think that tracking macros is a terrible way to live. I've done it and I really hated it. I hated it so much. It was like being a slave to math equations, with so many variables to track that it's basically impossible to do without computerized assistance. Every meal was like a risk assessment. "If I eat this rich food for lunch, will I be able to quench my hunger with the right macros and limited calories for dinner?" It made me a nervous mess.
I forget the specific book I read this in (probably The Omnivore's Dilemma), but Michael Pollan had a term for this kind of outlook: nutritionism. It removes the importance of food itself by way of focusing on nutrition science. It's not what I would consider a "natural human way of thinking".
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Comment on Looking for low cost ways to replace industrially proccesed foods in ~food
Akir Link Parent+1 on making tomato sauce from scratch. It's not hard to do (though it's not fast!), and it will have a lot more sweetness without the need to add sugar like many tomato-based canned/jarred sauces...+1 on making tomato sauce from scratch. It's not hard to do (though it's not fast!), and it will have a lot more sweetness without the need to add sugar like many tomato-based canned/jarred sauces tend to have.
But I still keep tomato paste because I often can't be bothered. :P
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Comment on Looking for low cost ways to replace industrially proccesed foods in ~food
Akir LinkOther people have already weighed in with things I would have said, so I will give you a basic shopping tip. Marketing is inversely correlated with health. The food you see ads for are never...Other people have already weighed in with things I would have said, so I will give you a basic shopping tip. Marketing is inversely correlated with health. The food you see ads for are never paragons of health, and are usually some of the worst foods you could eat.
This also applies to the on-package marketing. Healthy food does not need to make health claims. Have you ever picked up a stalk of broccoli with “A great source of Iron” printed on it? The bigger and bolder the claim the more likely they are trying to cover how bad the product actually is; it’s called healthwashing. That being said, a lack of health claims does not mean that something is actually a healthy choice.
And of course, the best way to be healthy is to simply focus on eating as many vegetables as you can. I like buying frozen veggie mixes because I can just microwave them and toss in a sauce; serve it with a side of something with protein and you’ve got a healthy meal.
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Comment on The goon squad. Loneliness, porn’s next frontier, and the dream of endless masturbation. in ~life
Akir LinkI’m honestly really impressed with this piece. This is obviously something the author spent a lot of time and effort researching. These days it feels like that kind of journalism is dead, replaced...I’m honestly really impressed with this piece. This is obviously something the author spent a lot of time and effort researching. These days it feels like that kind of journalism is dead, replaced by millions of mass produced “someone called me and told me this” or “I searched social media and found this” style stories.
I’d heard of gooning but didn’t know how far the rabbit hole goes. I thought it was just a way to say edging. I’ve seen a PMV before but I didn’t get it. It seems like the antithesis of pornography. If you’re not already “in heat” it seemed to be kind of repulsive.
I appreciate the authors attempts to keep his descriptions of the people sympathetic and understanding. And I think that I can understand what gooners are going through from his writing. Strangely enough the most shocking and weird thing for me was something the author described as a “normie” thing: women “brushing their teeth while drooling erotically”. I don’t want to know. It was also very weird when he used the term “BNWO” unqualified.
In any case it feels like the world of gooners is one being fueled by the ever-widening fractures in our society. In my youth I spent a lot of time online because the real world didn’t have seem to have much of a place in it for me. I spent a lot of time in furry communities because they tend to be extremely friendly, welcoming, and understanding. There are some specific parts of that corner of society where people are just constantly going through something, and people are there to be sympathetic to their stories; one person I made friends with was mourning the death of her cat for over a year, partially by role playing as the cat. In my youth I was definitely someone who was going through many things and being there was an importing coping strategy.
But in my youth there was a degree of optimism that I think today’s youth don’t have; the idea that if things are bad where and when one was, things were better somewhere or when else. Gen Z seems to be a whole lot more nihilistic. And who can blame them? We are watching society collapse in realtime. Falling into a gooner “cult” seems pretty understandable or even reasonable in that light. It’s an intense escape that is easily reachable without illegal drugs and even more dangerous behaviors.
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Comment on Suggestions for a new Steam Deck user looking to make Desktop mode pleasant to use? in ~games
Akir Link ParentYou can make it so that it doesn’t wipe the changes. I’m not in a place to look it up at the moment though.You can make it so that it doesn’t wipe the changes. I’m not in a place to look it up at the moment though.
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Comment on What did you do this week (and weekend)? in ~talk
Akir LinkSpending all of my money, it seems. I had so many expenses this week, including a payment for this term's classes and I needed to purchase a lot of pantry staples at the same time, and I'm also...Spending all of my money, it seems. I had so many expenses this week, including a payment for this term's classes and I needed to purchase a lot of pantry staples at the same time, and I'm also spending money on "mandatory" fun things. A birthday present for my husband, a swim suit for my upcoming vacation, and a few small things like that. And that has opened up the mental floodgates for more things that I can technically afford but really shouldn't buy. Particularly, my nemesis, snack food. I've been having a hard time saying no to bad food lately.
I've bought a bunch of dumb things. I was at target because it was the only local retailer who had the game my husband wanted, and I bought some very stupid accent keycaps because they were too cheap to not impulse buy. I got the gold accent arrow keys, and something that makes them especially dumb is that they are made of translucent plastic for light to shine through the legends, but there is a thin layer of paint on the back of them so it doesn't light up properly without scraping it off. But the plastic is a bit too opaque so it's not super visible even without it.
After a trip to Disneyland (which, to be fair, was actually free for me), I spent time listening to one of the orchestrations they have set up, and it reminded me of my dream to make my own. So I finally decided to do something about it and bought some magnet wire so I can experiment with manufacturing my own solenoids. I just bought some relatively tiny samples - a three pack of 100m spools - so I don't know how useful my experiments will be.
To top things off I'm considering buying a Six Flags "membership"; basically their version of an annual pass. It's actually an almost astonishingly good deal because that pass is good for more than 40 parks across North America, and four of them are within the greater Los Angeles area, with two of them being water parks. Six Flags bought Cedar Fair last year, so that includes Knott's Berry Farm and Soak City, the former of which has many cherished childhood memories. Weirdly enough, it's a better deal to get it at Magic Mountain than Knott's; the equivalent offer at Knott's is $250 and is good for 10 months, while the Magic Mountain membership is $182 for a minimum of 12 months (minimum because it's only available as a monthly payment and can continue without having to pay the $20 initial fee; it's $13.50 per month). There's even a cheaper option available but it doesn't include parking at Knott's, which is where I'm probably going to go more often because it's not in
the bowels of hellthe Santa Clarita Valley.Oh, and I'm going to the heart of LA for a showing of Jaja's African Hair Brading on Sunday, so I'll be sure to spend a lot of money on unhealthy food while I'm out there.
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Comment on Warner Bros. Discovery has received interest from multiple parties for all or part of company in ~movies
Akir Link ParentI agree with you. I think the key to having great movies getting made is to have as many people making movies as possible. A big problem with the movie economy is that the big names take all the...I agree with you. I think the key to having great movies getting made is to have as many people making movies as possible. A big problem with the movie economy is that the big names take all the air out of the room and they don't tend to fund people they don't know. If all the big 5 movie companies went out of business tomorrow, it wouldn't be the end of movies by a long shot. There's a fairly decent chance that the decades to come might be a new golden age of cinema, even.
That being said, there's a lot of history in these old names, so I'd be sad to see them go. As someone who lives in the greater LA area, seeing the Warner, Paramount, and Universal film lots being torn down would make me very sad.
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Comment on Microsoft pushes Xbox studios to hit higher profit margins in ~games
Akir Link ParentIt seems that that's kind of par for the course in the industry when it comes to acquired studios. They'll let them make a game or two, then decide that it doesn't meet their ultimately arbitrary...It seems that that's kind of par for the course in the industry when it comes to acquired studios. They'll let them make a game or two, then decide that it doesn't meet their ultimately arbitrary desired ROI and then use it as an excuse to stop paying people. That way they have full control over the IP and there isn't a studio left over with the expertise to make similar games.
That's a bit unfair, admittedly, because this kind of thing doesn't always happen. But I've seen so many publisher-owned studios that I've loved get shut down because of one low-performing game. Right now the example I'm thinking about is Volition, who got tossed all around the corporate chart when Embracer bought them, got the chance to make a single game which was profitable and they still got shuttered because they didn't make enough money to make the C suite people happy.
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Comment on CGA-2025-10 🕹️⏰ 🗺️ 🐸 REMOVE CARTRIDGE ⏏️ Chrono Trigger in ~games
Akir Link ParentChrono Trigger is short, which is part of the reason why I think it's better than the vast majority of RPGs out there even to this day. But it's still an RPG, and that takes a degree of dedication...Chrono Trigger is short, which is part of the reason why I think it's better than the vast majority of RPGs out there even to this day. But it's still an RPG, and that takes a degree of dedication that I think that most gamers today - myself at least partially included - either do not have or are unwilling to give. It feels like many (but nowhere near all) of the super-popular games these days are like a glorified Skinner box where you press buttons to get a dopamine hit.
It's my opinion that RPGs really need to be designed to be picked up and put down in order to be accessible to adults. When I pick up a game I haven't played in a long time, I need to have a way to understand what's happening and what I need to do next. Almost a year ago I stopped playing a Chrono Trigger contemporary RPG, G.O.D., and when I went back to it after finishing with Trigger I was surprised how easy it was to get back into it because it had the then-novel approach of having a diary that you could read to brush up on the story so far.
But on the other hand, I'm also really put off by modern big name RPGs that get around this by simply telling the player where to go and what to do at all times. I find it infantilizing, and I feel like it's masking poor game design.
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Comment on Does anyone use AppleScript on macOS? in ~comp
Akir LinkFrankly I didn’t know that AppleScript is still a thing. I just assumed it died with MacOS Classic.Frankly I didn’t know that AppleScript is still a thing. I just assumed it died with MacOS Classic.
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Comment on New guidance to feed babies peanuts early and often helped thousands of kids avoid allergies in ~food
Akir Link ParentThe problem with "science" in this context is that people don't understand what science is and how it applies to reality. No single experiment should ever convince you to change your thoughts or...The problem with "science" in this context is that people don't understand what science is and how it applies to reality.
No single experiment should ever convince you to change your thoughts or behaviours. The most it should affect you should be to pique your interest in the topic. Experiments that haven't been confirmed with additional experiments are worthless. There are countless reasons why the results might be counter to how reality works; there might have been problems with the methodology, samples may have been affected by external forces, or it could have been influenced by political/economic means. If you see a news article about a new study, at least 9 times out of 10 you should immediately disregard it because the thing you are reading is closer to a PR statement than it is the current state of science.
So you are right; you should trust the consensus. It's better to understand why and how the consensus was made, and why people might disagree with that consensus. That gives you a better understanding of the topic. Context is everything, after all.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Akir LinkGnosia. I heard about the really interesting anime and that it was based on a visual novel so rather than watch the anime I picked up the game. I’m glad that I picked it up because it’s so...Gnosia.
I heard about the really interesting anime and that it was based on a visual novel so rather than watch the anime I picked up the game. I’m glad that I picked it up because it’s so different than the games I normally play that I wouldn’t have played it otherwise.
First off, it’s not a visual novel. It has presentation like one but it really isn’t based around a narrative. Or at least if it is, it hasn’t really come up yet. Instead it’s more like a single-player version of Werewolf where your abilities to persuade people are based on RPG style stats that you can level up. Additionally all of the characters have personalities that decide how they act.
The gameplay is astonishingly polished. The game Slowly introduces the rules, which helps it to seem simple even though there strategies and things to understand are very complex. There is a help section designed to be used as reference that covers everything but I would never have been able to enjoy the game if I was just given that. There also seems to be some behind the scenes help from time to time. I’ve had times when I was sure that someone was the Gnosia and I pressed hard to convince everyone but they all voted for someone else - who of course had to be an actual Gnosia.
And it’s surprisingly thrilling! Every action you take - including inaction - has a social cost, and if you expend too much you will be voted to cold sleep and lose. And if you figure out who is Gnosia but fail to convince everyone, the Gnosia may kill you. I find things get really enjoyable once you can choose which role to take because that can change your strategies and keep the game fresh. I really enjoy playing the Engineer because I like being more active in figuring out who is Gnosia. I also enjoy playing as Gnosia but I haven’t managed to win once with that role.
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Comment on CGA-2025-10 🕹️⏰ 🗺️ 🐸 REMOVE CARTRIDGE ⏏️ Chrono Trigger in ~games
Akir Link ParentI looked at equipment charts and for the most part I did have the best possible equipment. The reason why it took so long to beat Lavos the first time with cheats is largely because I had Marle in...I looked at equipment charts and for the most part I did have the best possible equipment. The reason why it took so long to beat Lavos the first time with cheats is largely because I had Marle in my party for healing and she isn't exactly a DPS powerhouse, I picked it up after not playing it for a while so probably wasn't playing very optimally, and above that the final battle is designed specifically to mislead you. Plus RNGesus was playing against me because I got that whole-party slow spell being cast on me probably once ever minute.
Generally if a store is advertising that they have low prices, it means that you can get it cheaper elsewhere. They have to pay extra to advertise, after all.
I often see advertisements for Kroger and their cheap store branded items, but in reality the stores they own are actually the most expensive in my area and are roughly the same as Whole Foods.