akkartik's recent activity
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
akkartik Link ParentI've built a few things like this. Most recently a program whose online help is on an infinite canvas that you can pan and zoom around on on your phone's touch screen, or just pan around on a...I've built a few things like this. Most recently a program whose online help is on an infinite canvas that you can pan and zoom around on on your phone's touch screen, or just pan around on a computer. (I only need the zoom for online help on small screens.) Here's the current build with more improvements over the screenshots there. The programming environment I use to live-edit these programs is also on an infinite surface.
If you want to try it out, it's easy to try out on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android. iOS is a little more involved but also doable. I'd be happy to answer questions.
You're probably trying to do something I'm not, but I'm curious to hear more details.
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Comment on Sleeping on the floor in ~life.home_improvement
akkartik LinkThis is purely anecdote, but: I slept on a bed all through childhood, though with frequent nights of floor sleeping on holiday or sleepovers. When I moved to the US I started sleeping on sleeping...This is purely anecdote, but:
- I slept on a bed all through childhood, though with frequent nights of floor sleeping on holiday or sleepovers.
- When I moved to the US I started sleeping on sleeping bags on the (often carpeted) floor, because I was poor and didn't want to spend money on mattresses and furniture.
- 10 years later I was richer and my wife convinced us to buy a bed (she was a saint for putting up with me for a long time)
- I found sleeping on the bed would mess up my lower back. So I'd go through phases of weeks or months on the floor when my back acted up.
- When we had kids my lower back pains disappeared! I realized carrying babies was acting as exercise, and got on a regimen that has served me ever since.
- A couple of years ago I tried sleeping on the floor without a mattress, and noticed it gave me upper back pain. This was something I did casually for many years and never had a problem.
- Lately upper back pain has been more of the bottleneck for me. I haven't really found any exercises for precisely the tiny muscles in my back that seem prone to act up. It's not as debilitating as my old lower back pain, and in general I'm in much better shape now. But I find I need at least a medium-firmness mattress now, whether it's on a bed or not.
So my rough mental model is that beds can more easily strain your lower back, while the floor is stress on the upper back. Exercise increases the body's tolerance for either. But like I said this is just an anecdote, and my thinking is still evolving. If others have evidence or suggestions for or against I'd appreciate hearing them. I suspect a well-tuned mattress will obviate all this, but in this day and age I don't know where you can feel confident that you'll get to a well-tuned mattress to a level of certainty that matches the amount of money these things cost.
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Comment on Philosopher Slavoj Žižek on 'soft' fascism, AI and the effects of shamelessness in public life in ~humanities
akkartik Link ParentFrom my perspective I've been asking the same question throughout. Is complaining about Democrats an effective response to the world we find ourselves in. The way I see it, we're past the point...From my perspective I've been asking the same question throughout. Is complaining about Democrats an effective response to the world we find ourselves in.
The way I see it, we're past the point where political parties can help us much. There are only 2, we're all mostly disenfranchised above the local level because everything's gerrymandered to heck and back. We have to find other interventions in the system. But intervening in a system is a delicate activity and it helps to hold most things as stable as one can. Voting the bums out to bring in someone 10x worse doesn't feel like an effective intervention, and it's going to make any other changes we want to make less effective.
I'll stop here. You seem to be sure that you have the answer. I hope you're right. I don't know what else we can do, but now the noise also makes it hard to think.
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Comment on Philosopher Slavoj Žižek on 'soft' fascism, AI and the effects of shamelessness in public life in ~humanities
akkartik Link ParentI'm not that interested in what the strategy of the Democrats should be. I'm interested in what my strategy should be as a disempowered voter who doesn't watch Fox News. Suppose we care about...I'm not that interested in what the strategy of the Democrats should be. I'm interested in what my strategy should be as a disempowered voter who doesn't watch Fox News. Suppose we care about @thearctic's 3 goals. Complaining about the Democrats doesn't feel like it has much planning behind it in service of that ideology.
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Comment on Philosopher Slavoj Žižek on 'soft' fascism, AI and the effects of shamelessness in public life in ~humanities
akkartik Link ParentNo matter how extreme they get? Because they're sure working on it. At some point, "change nothing" is going to start looking pretty good. Sooner for some than others.No matter how extreme they get? Because they're sure working on it. At some point, "change nothing" is going to start looking pretty good. Sooner for some than others.
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Comment on Philosopher Slavoj Žižek on 'soft' fascism, AI and the effects of shamelessness in public life in ~humanities
akkartik Link ParentIs the problem that they have no ideology or that they have no plan? I don't really understand this argument, because political parties don't exist in isolation. I have no love for the Democrats,...Is the problem that they have no ideology or that they have no plan?
I don't really understand this argument, because political parties don't exist in isolation. I have no love for the Democrats, but they've increasingly felt like the only game in town as the Republicans have gone off the deep end. The deficit is a bipartisan effort at this point (and nobody cares anymore?), and the other two things you mention have mostly accumulated during Republican administrations (e.g. Reagan's dismantling of the regulatory state and the Bush and Trump tax cuts). So the answer seems to be to.. try to keep those guys out? And yet a wide swath of people who don't listen to Fox News stayed home in 2024 and let them back in, now in metastasized form. I really don't understand what people are thinking. Sure, the Democrats have problems. But they don't need to give you a plan, they just need to outrun the bear, no? And yet they lost. I've been very bemused these recent months. People think not voting for Democrats hurt the Democrats, but to me it seems they're hurting themselves far more than a small number of political elites. It's our jobs, our govt. services, our chances of getting vaccines. We seem to be cutting our collective noses to spite our face.
So I agree Democrats don't have much ideology, but they don't need much. And I agree they don't have a plan -- because the hole is now extraordinarily deep. A plan would be a generational miracle if we get it, but it feels counter-productive to expect someone to come in and explain how we can fix everything without taking a generation to do it. At this point I'll settle for someone who can keep the lights on. But apparently a lot of people have higher standard than me. And they chose.. this? I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
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Comment on I hate the new internet. I hate the new tech world. I hate it all. I want out, and I can't be the only one. in ~tech
akkartik LinkI think where you go wrong is in looking for cool sites. I've been watching tech sour over 10 years now (Google Reader was the start?) and reacting to it by gradually reducing my dependence on web...I think where you go wrong is in looking for cool sites. I've been watching tech sour over 10 years now (Google Reader was the start?) and reacting to it by gradually reducing my dependence on web browsers.
https://akkartik.name/freewheeling
10 years ago there was an idea that consumption would become increasingly addictive. Fortunately, all the consumption has been slowly turning to shit so producing is easily still competitive. Build stuff. It keeps me sane.
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Comment on What creative projects have you been working on? in ~creative
akkartik Link ParentI was certainly inspired by some art that I linked to above. My not so subtle agenda in such exercises is to remind people that you can build simple things like this in a cross-platform way...I was certainly inspired by some art that I linked to above. My not so subtle agenda in such exercises is to remind people that you can build simple things like this in a cross-platform way without needing bloated, untrustworthy web browsers. LÖVE is a 5MB download and very infrequently updated. And there are zero ads or dark patterns.
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Comment on What creative projects have you been working on? in ~creative
akkartik LinkNot particularly creative, but I spent some time figuring out how to circle-pack a given image.Not particularly creative, but I spent some time figuring out how to circle-pack a given image.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
akkartik (edited )LinkI've been exploring the idea of debug UIs -- custom interactive graphics that are not intended to be seen by others, that don't have to be high quality, that are easy to create and help you think...I've been exploring the idea of debug UIs -- custom interactive graphics that are not intended to be seen by others, that don't have to be high quality, that are easy to create and help you think about what's going on inside your program. Here's a 4-minute video talk with a nice transcript.
I also built a simple single-file html page that you can paste some text into that you want to read, annotate as you read, then save as a local html file for yourself. No server required.
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Comment on Looking for a simple ebook or notetaking app where I can visually organize my bookmarks/tabs. Example attached. in ~tech
akkartik Link ParentCongratulations! That's a huge, huge deal and nothing trumps that. Take your time, this program can and will wait.Congratulations! That's a huge, huge deal and nothing trumps that. Take your time, this program can and will wait.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
akkartik LinkI made a chess clock. Basically this whole devlog is intended to show ways in which you can replace a bunch of different specialized, proprietary mobile apps of dubious provenance with a single...I made a chess clock. Basically this whole devlog is intended to show ways in which you can replace a bunch of different specialized, proprietary mobile apps of dubious provenance with a single general, reputable open source app (LÖVE running my carousel.love file, which is a cross-platform zip file containing all source code and live-editable on a computer).
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Comment on US Election Distractions Thread in ~talk
akkartik Link ParentInteresting. I ended up playing with val.town for simple endpoints without any operational work that I can also share the code for in a way that anyone can trust is actually what is running on the...Interesting. I ended up playing with val.town for simple endpoints without any operational work that I can also share the code for in a way that anyone can trust is actually what is running on the server (since I'm not affiliated with val.town), and that anyone can easily spin up their own copies of.
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Comment on US Election Distractions Thread in ~talk
akkartik (edited )LinkI'm a programmer, and if work isn't enough I'm going to try to think about a little programming project. Current best candidate is a networked chess clock. Like one where two players play, but...I'm a programmer, and if work isn't enough I'm going to try to think about a little programming project. Current best candidate is a networked chess clock. Like one where two players play, but each of them is seeing their time on their own phone and tapping on their own phone, which stops their clock and starts their opponent's.
All my apps of the past year have largely been offline and native. I've been trying to avoid web dev after many years of doing it. But this seems like it might be a place that needs a little bit of tasteful server programming.
All my apps of the past year have been built on Lua and LÖVE without any additional frameworks and a jaundiced, skeptical eye towards every new library I'm tempted to depend on. And I've never built a server this way.
I guess the first question is what should the URLs look like? And that leads to the zeroth question of how much do I care to protect against cheating? I think the answer is not very, I'd just like to be robust to small amounts of network lag. Initial sketch:
/new?time=...&increment=...(should return a game id)/join?id=.../press?id=...&color=...&time=...(stops one clock and starts the other, applying any increments as needed)/time?id=...returns the current state of time
This might suffice. And it'll leave open the option to try to estimate network lag (difference between time of receipt and current time on server) and adjust clocks based on it.
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Comment on Looking for a simple ebook or notetaking app where I can visually organize my bookmarks/tabs. Example attached. in ~tech
akkartik Link ParentTook me a couple of hours with the kids barging in and interrupting me every so often with demands! I have a little bit of code lying around that I've been refining over the last couple of years,...Took me a couple of hours with the kids barging in and interrupting me every so often with demands!
I have a little bit of code lying around that I've been refining over the last couple of years, mostly deleting stuff from it and making it simpler.
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Comment on Looking for a simple ebook or notetaking app where I can visually organize my bookmarks/tabs. Example attached. in ~tech
akkartik Link ParentCheck it out. Thanks for a neat idea! Right now it slurps any line starting with --- (3 dashes) into a tab on the right margin. If it seems promising, I'd be happy to improve it further to say...- Exemplary
Check it out. Thanks for a neat idea!
Right now it slurps any line starting with
---(3 dashes) into a tab on the right margin.If it seems promising, I'd be happy to improve it further to say change how headings look, configure little pixel art for each tab and so on.
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Comment on Looking for a simple ebook or notetaking app where I can visually organize my bookmarks/tabs. Example attached. in ~tech
akkartik LinkI haven't seen this before, but hmm it might be easy to make. Would you use it if so? Free, open source, etc. Just plaintext, no epub. What platform are you on? (Don't say iOS.) (This is what I do.)I haven't seen this before, but hmm it might be easy to make. Would you use it if so? Free, open source, etc. Just plaintext, no epub. What platform are you on? (Don't say iOS.)
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Comment on I wet the bed late into my teens and I have no idea why in ~health
akkartik (edited )LinkI wet the bed for the last time probably at age 18. It happened fairly regularly fairly late in spite of me having a whole arsenal of preparation (peeing right before bed; making sure I slept flat...I wet the bed for the last time probably at age 18. It happened fairly regularly fairly late in spite of me having a whole arsenal of preparation (peeing right before bed; making sure I slept flat and didn't "tilt" my bladder), but I got good at hiding it. One embarrassing time though I was visiting relatives with my father in a different city because I had some college interviews :eyes-covering-face:
I still remember the last time it happened. I was living in a private dormitory after leaving home for college, and in despair because it hadn't happened in over a year since I left home, and I'd thought I was past it. Luckily though, that was the final time.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
Ahh, I replied before I read this. Infinite zoom! Yeah I have nothing to offer there besides gawking at fractal rotation videos. Also rotation, which I don't do (but I use a game engine and that would help with it). And freehand strokes which I know nothing about.