Minori's recent activity
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Comment on San Francisco parents are letting teens ride in Waymos without an adult in ~transport
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Comment on San Francisco parents are letting teens ride in Waymos without an adult in ~transport
Minori Link ParentThis is nonsense. Cycling is extremely safe. This kind of rhetoric scares people away from bicycling. Driving is the most dangerous activity the average person regularly does. Speed kills, and...Which I totally agree with. With distracted driving and the massive increase vehicle sizes, biking anywhere in the vicinity of driving vehicles is essentially a gamble with your life. Even in suburban and neighborhood streets.
This is nonsense. Cycling is extremely safe. This kind of rhetoric scares people away from bicycling. Driving is the most dangerous activity the average person regularly does. Speed kills, and even illegal ebikes don't go highway speeds.
I commute by ebike daily, and I have no issues despite spotty biking infrastructure. Rather, I have far more close calls when driving, especially with people speeding through parking garages and the like.
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Comment on Make everything okay in ~life
Minori Link ParentAnd sometimes it's really damn hard to convince people that the situation is actually terrible. Even when they learn all the details, it can be hard to believe things are actually that bad....And sometimes it's really damn hard to convince people that the situation is actually terrible. Even when they learn all the details, it can be hard to believe things are actually that bad.
Especially for children, it's heartbreaking how much abusive parents can get away with...
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Comment on The Dark Tower Wizard in Glass, is the second half better? in ~books
Minori Link ParentOff topic, I really need to get around to reading Dune. This is a great quote that shifts my perspective on ending things.To quote Dune ‘Arrakis teaches the attitude of the knife - chopping off what's incomplete and saying: 'Now, it's complete because it's ended here.'’
Off topic, I really need to get around to reading Dune. This is a great quote that shifts my perspective on ending things.
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Comment on A global explosion of absurdly spicy foods in ~food
Minori Link ParentBy definition, it shouldn't exist since málà is literally "numbing" and "burning" spices!I think it'd be hard to find a Sichuanese dish that is mala but not also hot from chilis.
By definition, it shouldn't exist since málà is literally "numbing" and "burning" spices!
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Comment on A global explosion of absurdly spicy foods in ~food
Minori (edited )Link ParentThe most classic málà (麻辣) Sichuan spice mix is a balance of numbing and burning flavors!The most classic málà (麻辣) Sichuan spice mix is a balance of numbing and burning flavors!
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Comment on Cory Doctorow | AI companies will fail. We can salvage something from the wreckage. in ~tech
Minori Link ParentEhhhh, GPT5 was less psychophantic until OpenAI quickly back-pedaled due to customer feedback. I worry about cyberpsychosis induced by LLMs, even though I know it's rare, and most users probably...They sell these services not to people who have time to kill and want to be entertained, at least not mostly. They sell them to people who want to get a job done. This yes-man lying is a problem to them.
Ehhhh, GPT5 was less psychophantic until OpenAI quickly back-pedaled due to customer feedback. I worry about cyberpsychosis induced by LLMs, even though I know it's rare, and most users probably care more about productivity. Most people want someone to call them smart and listen to all their ideas, so LLM incentives are mixed...
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Comment on US Democrats successfully strip all anti-trans riders from final appropriations bills in ~lgbt
Minori Link ParentAll lives are political in some shape or form, so no stress! Your active participation is appreciated, and questions in good faith are welcomed.All lives are political in some shape or form, so no stress! Your active participation is appreciated, and questions in good faith are welcomed.
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Comment on What small thing made a big impact on you? in ~talk
Minori Link ParentNo, mostly referring to nuisance crimes, but violent crime is relevant too. When crimes affect more people, they should be treated more seriously. Blasting loud music from an apartment is a...No, mostly referring to nuisance crimes, but violent crime is relevant too. When crimes affect more people, they should be treated more seriously.
Blasting loud music from an apartment is a nuisance to a few neighbours, and it's a crime in many places. It's also a crime on public transit, but it's less enforced despite affecting far more people.
In the case of a murder, killing someone at home might traumatize a family or neighbours. Killing the bus driver will probably traumatize far more passengers and bystanders.
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Comment on US Democrats successfully strip all anti-trans riders from final appropriations bills in ~lgbt
Minori Link ParentWorst autocorrect mistake 💀 The s and e are too close on the keyboard.Worst autocorrect mistake 💀
The s and e are too close on the keyboard.
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Comment on What small thing made a big impact on you? in ~talk
Minori LinkSomeone here made a half-serious comment that crimes on public transit and crowded areas should be prosecuted more harshly because more people are indirectly affected. Yelling "fire!" in a crowded...Someone here made a half-serious comment that crimes on public transit and crowded areas should be prosecuted more harshly because more people are indirectly affected. Yelling "fire!" in a crowded theatre is a crime, so there's precedent too.
It made me rethink how I evaluate and explain the social impact of different crimes.
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Comment on US Democrats successfully strip all anti-trans riders from final appropriations bills in ~lgbt
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Comment on Why America needs fewer bus stops in ~transport
Minori Link ParentSorry, I think we're talking past each other. I completely agree that stop spacing is only a small piece of the puzzle. To be fair, the author does lead by briefly mentioning the other...I feel like you ignored my reasoning entirely. Las Vegas has spacing that is roughly the same as the most sparsely spaced European cities and the service is abysmal. So obviously things are more complicated than just stop spacing! Did you notice that roughly 2/3rds of the cities in that graph are within the same range as European cities?
Sorry, I think we're talking past each other. I completely agree that stop spacing is only a small piece of the puzzle. To be fair, the author does lead by briefly mentioning the other improvements that can be made to buses, but the article is about stop balancing.
A bigger problem with their analysis is the use of the word “America”. The problem is not with the country, it’s with a very small subset of America overall, and if we were talking about it by coverage it would be statistically insignificant.
I'm familiar with small town bus service, and I agree it's abysmal in most of America by land mass. The author is primarily writing about major metros with the highest ridership. He's proposing a simple fix for some routes in some big cities that already have working bus lines.
Another thing that I feel like the author is missing is that busses tend to be a different experience in the US, which others have been talking about; busses in the US are essentially the thing you take if you are too poor to afford a car, not the thing that affords you to not need to buy one. This is the fundamental problem that causes bus service to be bad. Busses are shoehorned into a system made for cars, and drivers hate big slow busses that slow down traffic in that lane.
Of course, this depends on the city. Plenty of college towns in the US have well-used bus lines, and some metros like Seattle have very popular bus routes! Seattle's new mayor was elected in part due to her promise to fix a major bus line (which she herself uses). You're right about the stigma, but I think there's a chicken-and-the-egg effect with buses and transit.
The only problem is that they have the tendency in America to lose their importance over time to eventually become car lanes, which is why tramways are more preferable here, since they aren’t just another road lane.
Is this that common? I know suburban tramways were turned into motorist streets last century, but I can't recall many stories of bus lanes being converted to general purpose lanes. The exception is maybe some industrial areas where buses and tractor trailers can use the restricted lanes?
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Comment on Why America needs fewer bus stops in ~transport
Minori Link ParentThat's really not the problem the author is talking about. Frequent stops slow down travel, a lot, and the primary reason public transit doesn't get used is trip times. Even with trains, smart...The real problem with bus service is always the same thing: they're busses. They have to share the street with traffic, full of cars that almost universally hate busses and will always try to pass and cut them off. Even though they are holding far more people than cars, they have the same priority at intersections, so they're waiting around for the lights all the same. But actually they're more likely to hit them because they have to move slowly.
That's really not the problem the author is talking about. Frequent stops slow down travel, a lot, and the primary reason public transit doesn't get used is trip times.
Even with trains, smart systems will minimize the number of stops to travel quick. In major transit systems around the world, express buses and trains that skip stops are common. In fact, express point-to-point buses are even used to supplement trains!
There are many ways to fix these problems, such as having bus lanes and bus priority signalling. But these are expensive, and worse - they have the appearance of inconveniencing drivers, which makes them unpopular. So they simply don't happen.
Imagine a gold-standard BRT that stops every few blocks. That BRT will be significantly slower and have lower ridership than a more lean line. This is well-known praxis amongst transit wonks. Metros like Seattle reduce the number of stops when converting a bus line to BRT, along with with paint, signals, etc.
We're also ignoring the fact that busses themselves are kind of a bad idea compared to how much better things can be if we were to install something like tramway lines which don't have to deal with car traffic at all.
Cost is way higher, and the benefits are minimal versus gold-standard BRT with at-grade boarding on low-floor buses. See Kansas City as an example. America is cursed with too many lanes. Easiest fix is turning some of them over to buses!
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Comment on Cory Doctorow | AI companies will fail. We can salvage something from the wreckage. in ~tech
Minori Link ParentI agree with this. They're useful as "advanced autocomplete" that can turn words or fragments into more complete thoughts or suggestions. Useful for brainstorming or tip-of-the-tongue ideas.I agree with this. They're useful as "advanced autocomplete" that can turn words or fragments into more complete thoughts or suggestions. Useful for brainstorming or tip-of-the-tongue ideas.
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Comment on Cory Doctorow | AI companies will fail. We can salvage something from the wreckage. in ~tech
Minori Link ParentCan you explain what ethical harms you're concerned about from using local models? Lots of text prediction, grammar, translation, and content warning systems use LLMs nowadays, so you're likely...Can you explain what ethical harms you're concerned about from using local models? Lots of text prediction, grammar, translation, and content warning systems use LLMs nowadays, so you're likely already using them somewhere.
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Comment on Cory Doctorow | AI companies will fail. We can salvage something from the wreckage. in ~tech
Minori Link ParentCalling them "next token predictors" is overly simplified and arguably incorrect with transformers and attention, but the models are fundamentally massive pattern matchers. Every technique and...This is a common misconception. Modern LLMs are post-trained on reinforcement learning tasks, which means they're not only trained to predict the next word, but also trained to solve problems more effectively.
Calling them "next token predictors" is overly simplified and arguably incorrect with transformers and attention, but the models are fundamentally massive pattern matchers. Every technique and application I've read about rely on that pattern matching capability. Machine learning is all about learning and using patterns.
Reinforcement learning and various response layers do a lot to fine-tune LLMs. They still rely on introducing, removing, identifying, encouraging, and discouraging specific patterns.
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Comment on Consumer Electronics Show 2026 in ~tech
Minori Link ParentI was mostly responding to this point: I agree that the incremental updates are boring and hardly make waves, but it takes time for some cool CES tech to make its way into consumer budgets and...I was mostly responding to this point:
Frankly, consumer tech has been kind of shit for the past decade.
I agree that the incremental updates are boring and hardly make waves, but it takes time for some cool CES tech to make its way into consumer budgets and hands. OLEDs are pretty normal now, and they're an awesome improvement in many ways.
I always wanted a 27" 4k 240Hz monitor, and that only became available and driveable with DisplayPort 2.1 DP80 cables and graphics cards within the past couple years! It's plenty shiny for me.
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Comment on Avengers: Doomsday | Fantastic Four and Wakanda teaser in ~movies
Minori Link ParentYep, that third act really killed it for me. All the cameos and forced quips weakened the new characters for me too. They're hard to take seriously when nothing is allowed any gravitas...Yep, that third act really killed it for me. All the cameos and forced quips weakened the new characters for me too. They're hard to take seriously when nothing is allowed any gravitas...
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Comment on Avengers: Doomsday | Fantastic Four and Wakanda teaser in ~movies
Minori Link ParentIt's funny you say this because when I saw the film in theatres, I decided that was the last Marvel movie I'd see. There were no original ideas. The camerawork was mediocre. I could predict the...Simu Liu has a ton of charisma, Shang-Chi is a very compelling character, and the action in that movie was fantastic
It's funny you say this because when I saw the film in theatres, I decided that was the last Marvel movie I'd see. There were no original ideas. The camerawork was mediocre. I could predict the plot beat-for-beat, and the actor felt charismatic with zero magnetism (primarily due to the writing).
I'd contrast the film with Deadpool, The Wolverine (2013), Guardians of the Galaxy, and even Black Panther which felt like independent works with unique settings or events. Shang-Chi tried to do some things like have its San Franciscan hero live in a garage and work as a valet, but none of it ended up mattering in any grand sense. The Chinese elements were there, I guess.
The film was neither awful nor excellent. At best, it was a 6/10 for me.
Honestly, taking a ride share as a minor seems perfectly safe. The apps track everything. Of course there are risks, but they seem manageable.