oliak's recent activity

  1. Comment on Have you ever "homebrewed" fermented beverages? in ~food

    oliak
    Link Parent
    You use what's called a SCOBY or a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. It's a weird rubbery puck like object that grows on the top in layers and you ferment at room temperature.

    You use what's called a SCOBY or a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. It's a weird rubbery puck like object that grows on the top in layers and you ferment at room temperature.

  2. Comment on Have you ever "homebrewed" fermented beverages? in ~food

    oliak
    Link
    Yes (kombucha). Not many lessons learned as I was already quite adept at mycological production so things -like cleanliness, etc were all things I was familiar with. Nope (besides it wasn't that...
    • Yes (kombucha).
    • Not many lessons learned as I was already quite adept at mycological production so things -like cleanliness, etc were all things I was familiar with.
    • Nope (besides it wasn't that bad).
    • Bottle. Cobalt blue latch style bottles.
    • I made an orange syrup kombucha that was so similar to orange crush soda. Delicious. The raspberry/blueberry reduction was great too.
    • I would do an organic white tea kombucha brew that went through a fermentation in large glass containers. Then when it was ready I'd double ferment in their bottles in which I would add various syrup reductions that I made - usually fruit type stuff. Label and drop into the storage room for later consumption.

    Never had anything blow up on me (bottle failure) but I certainly had the ceiling coated a couple times with a particularly active secondary fermentation cycle when I'd open a bottle. lol

    7 votes
  3. Comment on The right to change sex in ~lgbt

    oliak
    Link Parent
    As someone who is gay and has some genderfluidity about them AND works as anarchist activist/community organizer I can say with confidence the backstabbing is firmly just human nature. It...

    As someone who is gay and has some genderfluidity about them AND works as anarchist activist/community organizer I can say with confidence the backstabbing is firmly just human nature. It transcends LGBT advocacy and extends into every single arena of human life. Our history is wrought with in group/out group fighting even amongst the marginalized and oppressed. sigh It can be mitigated with personal experience and exposure to people to share their stories but it is always arduous and not 100% so inevitably bad actors will enter the fray which complicates things with those that are simply misled.

    On a side note, as someone who has modified their body to fit their image but maintains a hormone panel that contradicts those changes I feel your...discomfort and unease with many spaces. I'm sorry that the ones you've dealt with didn't have someone helming them that understood that the spectrum of human experience really has very few limits and it's the variety that makes us amazing. Keep your head up and keep fighting the fight if you can. Nothing but love from one to another. <3

    8 votes
  4. Comment on Trans person infilitrates CPAC in ~misc

    oliak
    Link
    Watching now and not surprised. Great investigative journalism and nothing surprising when it comes to the levels of hateful rhetoric and disgusting behavior from the attendees/speakers....

    Watching now and not surprised. Great investigative journalism and nothing surprising when it comes to the levels of hateful rhetoric and disgusting behavior from the attendees/speakers.

    Unfortunately those who need to see it and take it on board are more often than not lost to the process already.

    8 votes
  5. Comment on The real danger to civilisation isn't runaway AI it's runaway capitalism (2017) in ~misc

    oliak
    Link
    An anarchist walks in, sees this discourse and walks out sighing

    An anarchist walks in, sees this discourse and walks out sighing

    8 votes
  6. Comment on How do you even find quality appliances anymore? in ~life.home_improvement

    oliak
    Link
    For laundry (washer/dryer) there is but Speed Queen. Look into it. Beyond that, it's a crapshoot. Good luck.

    For laundry (washer/dryer) there is but Speed Queen. Look into it.

    Beyond that, it's a crapshoot. Good luck.

    8 votes
  7. Comment on Does anyone else have posting anxiety? in ~tech

    oliak
    Link
    writes out long response deletes response

    writes out long response

    deletes response

    102 votes
  8. Comment on What has being LGBT taught you? in ~lgbt

    oliak
    (edited )
    Link
    To be cynical. I know the above comments are more... but as a gay, anarchist activist with years of organizing and street level activism experience with LGBT+ but also homelessness, harm reduction...

    To be cynical.

    I know the above comments are more... but as a gay, anarchist activist with years of organizing and street level activism experience with LGBT+ but also homelessness, harm reduction and general anti-capitalist movement and the intersectional perspective that participating in those brings I can simply say that I'm more cynical and even more untrusting of larger organizational structures and society as a whole (you'd think the anarchist part woulda finished that off huh?).

    In short, see MLK Jr's letter from a Birmingham jail for my distrust of the society I find myself.

    Sure, individually you meet some people that aren't intending to do you harm directly but at the end of the day we're all continually supporting and perpetuating systems of oppression that no one seems to be taking seriously. The rates of rape and murder of indigenous women/girls, the gun crisis amongst youth, the wealth inequality, the nationalistic fervor, the religious dogmatic hate...

    I just don't see it getting better and despite how some may feel the polling amongst Gen Z is consistently disheartening. Increasing rates of "traditional values", increasing rates of distrust of "feminism". Sure Gen Z is increasingly identifying as LGBT+ (which I'll happily accept) but overall the way American society is swinging and the way the corporate interests have captured every movement, agenda and almost every political interest; religious infiltration of the courts and governance and the general burnout from the yoke of the grind/work/capitalist culture we have I don't foresee it getting any better (or at least not significantly in my lifetime) and possibly getting much much worse.

    Sorry, just the reality from an "on the ground" activist/educator/organizer. We're disheartened out here and we don't feel like the rest of America can or will come to help. Just doing our best, making sandwiches and feeding people best we can when we can but it's getting worse by the day. More LGBT+ youth (hell, just more people as a whole!) on the streets, more suicide attempts by youth (especially LGBT+ youth - in fact in the time it's taken me to type all this 5 LGBT+ youth have tried to commit suicide) and a society that is increasingly divided and online spaces pervasive with anti-trans/anti-progressive agendas.

    So, yeah...being LGBT+ has taught me to be cynical.

    13 votes
  9. Comment on How many of you wouldn't be alive if it weren't for modern medicine? in ~talk

    oliak
    Link
    100% dead and it would have been a rough, lingering way out.

    100% dead and it would have been a rough, lingering way out.

    3 votes
  10. Comment on Fitness Weekly Discussion in ~health

    oliak
    Link
    I'm working on rebuilding me in the face of constant, worsening pain and nerve damage that is only going to get worse as time progresses and middle age. I used to be a extreme sports guy. I did it...

    I'm working on rebuilding me in the face of constant, worsening pain and nerve damage that is only going to get worse as time progresses and middle age. I used to be a extreme sports guy. I did it all; free climbing, rappelling, white water, skydiving, blah blah blah - basically if I could seriously injure or kill myself doing it, chances are I was into it. I have many physical limitations (neurological damage and other stuff) so getting into shape like I once was, or even some semblance of what I once was, is a whole ass project.

    So I'm starting from scratch. Yoga, FIIT, core work, weight lifting, cycling...even trying to rehab jogging/running.

    Working around and with my physical limitations is where the creativity comes in I'd say. I've tried to patch it together here and there as things got worse over the years but now I feel like I have the tools (both mental and technological) at my disposal to just push through and get it done...and more importantly keep getting it done. Every single day I'm presented with a mental or physical limitation that I'm going to have to find a way around to bring myself to do the work and then push past and revel in the suck.

    I use Apple Fitness and Apple Watch for a bunch of data gathering and progress tracking (as well as program/workout access) but also have data sensors on my bike, etc. I find that's gamified just enough to keep my ADHD/executive dysfunction at bay. Then there's the nerve damage, basically it's idiopathic small fiber nerve damage that is progressive so as time goes on it affects more and more of my body. It causes pain, vibrations and burning. Essentially small fiber nerves are the ones that tell your brain things are vibrating, hot, cold, or injured. It's quite a fucking thing.

    But in those fleeting seconds, when I can tap into that pure state of physical exertion, if only for a moment, I can separate from my body and transcend it all.

    So I do yoga daily just to get things energized and loosened up. To unstick the back, neck and shoulders from years of a previous life in IT work combined with all my self-harming hobbies. Then it's some selection of things depending on the pain of the day.

    But I'm on a streak finally. I've found consistency and that's always key, but especially for me. Once I find the groove I can stay in it.

    Also I have the greatest partner in the world. He's a trained massage therapist who's also a medical professional so I get as many massages as I could ever need/want and have someone who understands my needs. I break this body and he superglues me back together as best as anyone can. lol

    Hope everyone is as well as they can be.

    11 votes
  11. Comment on AI was asked to create images of Black African docs treating white kids. How'd it go? in ~tech

    oliak
    Link
    I got it in one via DALL·E using the prompt of "Generate a picture of a Black, African doctor treating a white kid please." No racist overtones, no African tribal art, all placed in a modern...

    I got it in one via DALL·E using the prompt of "Generate a picture of a Black, African doctor treating a white kid please."

    No racist overtones, no African tribal art, all placed in a modern setting.

    Image in question: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/878223980983631883/1180457805073895455/file-uw9WIxiKjwhH5WbCwGOS3ATt.png

    and yes, I know they used Midjourney.

    36 votes
  12. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech

    oliak
    Link Parent
    And to further what Japeth added first, under Musk the company in fact almost immediately started banning leftist accounts. See examples such as: Chad Loder, an antifascist researcher whose...

    And to further what Japeth added first, under Musk the company in fact almost immediately started banning leftist accounts. See examples such as:

    • Chad Loder, an antifascist researcher whose open-source investigation of the U.S. Capitol riot led to the identification and arrest of a masked Proud Boy who attacked police officers.
    • Video journalist Vishal Pratap Singh, who reports on far-right protests in Southern California.
    • The Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club, an antifascist group that provides armed security for LGBTQ+ events in North Texas.
    • CrimethInc, an anarchist collective that has published and distributed anarchist and anti-authoritarian zines, books, posters, and podcasts since the mid-1990s.

    Musk even asked Andy Ngo to personally send him "Antifa accounts” that should be suspended directly to him.

    All this while openly boosting right-wing conspiracies and talking points. This isn't a rebalancing, as demonstrated by Japeth's links as well. Twitter already had a right-wing bias and now it's openly signal boosting racists and what once were crypto fascists.

    21 votes
  13. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~life.men

    oliak
    (edited )
    Link
    Okay so for one this is gonna be rough to hear possibly. You clearly have a high sex drive and an intense fulfillment need and your girlfriend does not at present due to trauma (hopefully she’s...

    Okay so for one this is gonna be rough to hear possibly.

    You clearly have a high sex drive and an intense fulfillment need and your girlfriend does not at present due to trauma (hopefully she’s seeing a therapist to continue to work on this as it feels like it’s still ever present in her life and negatively impacting her relationships) which brings me to my point.

    It seems, at least sexually, you and your girlfriend aren’t sexually compatible. I know it’s rough to hear sometimes but it may be the truth. I’m not saying anything really beyond that but it’s something I felt needed be said. If you choose to modify your behavior to accommodate her needs that’s completely up to you and I respect that. Now on to the main show as it were.

    As for your sexual addiction that falls under compulsive behavior. Now it’s impossible to diagnose at a distance (and never should it be done) so what I’m going to say is you really need to talk to a professional about this as it’s possible there are further underlying issues that need addressed as well.

    Realistically if you do seek out professional help what you’ll be directed towards is talk therapy (likely something in the Cognitive Behavioral territory) but they also may recommend a local group therapy group that you join and participate in as well. On the occasions that other underlying conditions are diagnosable medication may be suggested.

    Beyond allllll that let me tell you, knowing you have a problem is a big step to take so congrats on that.

    Continue watching for triggers and avoid them as best you can. Masturbation to fill the void is a good step to take in this case, just don’t get pathological about it. Also consider replacing anything beyond one or two masturbatory sessions with something more productive and healthy that will give you the chemical reward your brain wants. Try some HIIT (high intensity interval training) as that will give you a quick surge of endorphins and other feel good compounds.

    Also you MUST MUST go get yourself checked out for STIs. No one at any clinic or doctors office will judge I promise. They couldn’t care less about where you stick your dick, what they do care about are ignorant fucks who stick it carelessly without knowing it’s spreading disease so again PLEASE get checked.

    So to sum it all up. What you’re experiencing is compulsive behavior which is manageable but is easier to talk to a professional about. Which is what you should really do. Any therapist is a good starting point though asking the receptionist or whomever (or check their profile online) if they have any specific experience treating compulsive disorders such as sexual addictions would be useful.

    Seek out a group therapy group if one exists in your local area if you’re comfortable with that.

    Continue what you’re doing. Watch those triggers, replace the behaviors with healthier ones and I wish you, your girlfriend and your relationship well and hope it all works out for the best for everyone no matter what.

    You’re on the right track my man, keep working at it.

    38 votes
  14. Comment on What creative projects have you been working on? in ~creative

    oliak
    Link Parent
    I'm well versed in basically most of the cyberpunk fiction and genre going way back so that's always a pull but I'm also an anarchist who does activism and community organizing so much of what...

    I'm well versed in basically most of the cyberpunk fiction and genre going way back so that's always a pull but I'm also an anarchist who does activism and community organizing so much of what makes it in is sort of predictive commentary on the state of affairs as I see it. The fact that I'm a technologist of sorts by trade as well helps fill out the techno-babble side of the world.

    Here's some stuff that you can never go wrong by stealing from though:

    • Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
    • The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
    • Software by Rudy Rucker
    • Neuromancer by William Gibson
    • Mirrorshades Anthology edited by Bruce Sterling
    • The Ghost in the Shell by Masamune Shirow

    That's the cyberpunk stuff. Then my story has the standard alien artifact trope woven in that happened when one of the megacorps was mining Europa and it consumed the workers and the moon itself. So there's an element of technology acceleration that allows for a compressed timeline of sorts. So standard sci-fi trope fare there.

    As far as how I manage the rest I'm a trained actor (stage) as well as an orator and rhetorician in my own right given the organizing and activism side of my life so I'm used to having to think on my feet. Mix it all together and I guess you get a halfway competent GM.

    If you (or anyone reading this) ever has questions, if I can answer them I'm happy to. The world could use more GMs/DMs.

    3 votes
  15. Comment on What creative projects have you been working on? in ~creative

    oliak
    Link
    I'm a Fate GM and run a weekly (ideally) game set in a cyberpunk future that has an alien precursor artifact trope woven into the narrative that takes place after the global collapse of nation...

    I'm a Fate GM and run a weekly (ideally) game set in a cyberpunk future that has an alien precursor artifact trope woven into the narrative that takes place after the global collapse of nation states and corporate run archologies have risen as the replacement mode of operation. The story (this campaign - the world is persistent) is centered on NSF (New San Francisco).

    I maintain the world between campaigns and the characters from past campaigns continue to live on (mostly) in the world and affect it as well. They also make appearances in subsequent campaigns from time to time. So I liken it to me being a game engine where things are happening no matter if the players are interacting with those elements or not and it requires a fair bit of writing and planning.

    Then there's the arcs for my PCs and the shenanigans they get up to. lol

    That's where basically most of my "creative" energies are spent these days.

    6 votes
  16. Comment on Pirate site not impressed by global DNS blocking order in ~tech

    oliak
    Link Parent
    aaaannnnnd donated. I'd have never known about this site, not a German language speaker but don't care. There is no ethical consumption under capitalism and "piracy" is how a lot of the poorer...

    aaaannnnnd donated.

    I'd have never known about this site, not a German language speaker but don't care. There is no ethical consumption under capitalism and "piracy" is how a lot of the poorer classes and developing nations access things. If you stream you're already functionally stealing from artists (see SAG-AFTRA/WGA strike conditions) anyway and music streaming is pathetic how little it pays smaller artists so unless you're finding a way to pay directly the artists and creatives whose work you enjoy then you're just stealing from them already, just with extra steps. The only difference is it makes it easier for you to do on your side and lets you feel like you have moral justification when really you don't. You're just perpetuating a broken system.

    18 votes
  17. Comment on Fewer in US say same-sex relations morally acceptable (64% in 2023, down from 71% last year) in ~lgbt

    oliak
    Link Parent
    As a gay man with a bunch of trans friends I'm in this camp. Between the attack on reproductive rights, drag shows, increases in right-wing domestic terrorism events, legal precedents being set...
    • Exemplary

    As a gay man with a bunch of trans friends I'm in this camp. Between the attack on reproductive rights, drag shows, increases in right-wing domestic terrorism events, legal precedents being set legalizing discrimination against LGBTQ+ members of society, the constant attacks on anything "woke", the permeation of this rhetoric within the (former) Presidency/Congress, the progression of the Dominionist/Joshua Generation (evangelical hardliners) infiltration of society at all levels...look I do this semi-professionally (activist and organizer here) I could list shit all day long.

    The long and short of it, isn't that the sky is falling it's that it already fell. A fascist takeover doesn't require the majority of the population to agree, they just need them to be complacent.

    I'm reminded of two things in this instance. MLK Jr's Letter from a Birmingham Jail (specifically the [white] moderate being the biggest stumbling block and the paternalistic dictation of another's timetable of freedom) and the other is Magnus Hirschfeld's Institut für Sexualwissenschaft. One of the first things that the Nazi's really came for happened on the day of May 6, 1933 in which they raided the Institute and angry young men burned the records/studies/entirety of the library over the next few days all of which were perfectly legal due to the Nazis taking advantage of their manipulations of the legal system making their actions legal undertakings, just as we're beginning to see here in the US with the legal withholding of healthcare resulting in direct harm to people.

    If you happen to be LGBTQ+, a woman, a person of color in almost 25 states now your life is actively at risk as well as you have a host of predictable life shortening consequences all the way from maternal mortality rates being in the shitter to LGBTQ teen suicide rates being sky high.

    So I repeat again, the sky isn't falling - it fell ages ago and we're trying to hold this shit up so maybe another person doesn't end up dead again tomorrow.

    54 votes
  18. Comment on What are some hilarious moments you have experienced in games? in ~games

    oliak
    Link
    I, and a fellow group of anarchists, role-playing as cops (yes, I know) in Sea of Thieves with the in-game microphone blaring Bad Boys & a siren went around "pulling" people over in the middle of...

    I, and a fellow group of anarchists, role-playing as cops (yes, I know) in Sea of Thieves with the in-game microphone blaring Bad Boys & a siren went around "pulling" people over in the middle of the sea. A BUNCH of people played along actually. We would board their ship looking for "infractions", act suspicious of everything and occasionally we'd trump up some charges, start yelling "STOP RESISTING" and then firebomb their ship while shooting them and looting their ship saying that we're confiscating this via civil asset forfeiture as it was used during the commission of a crime.

    48 votes
  19. Comment on How scientific conferences are responding to US abortion bans and anti-LGBTQ+ laws in ~science

    oliak
    Link Parent
    Yes they absolutely should be taking a position on this as the criminalization of their professional endeavors and areas of expertise fall directly under their purview. OB-GYNs are being...

    Yes they absolutely should be taking a position on this as the criminalization of their professional endeavors and areas of expertise fall directly under their purview.

    OB-GYNs are being persecuted (and murdered) for performing medicine. Endocrinologists have been threatened and entire hospital systems have had bomb threats called into them because of this rhetoric.

    Yeah, this concerns them as scientists, as professionals and simply as people.

    Imagine getting arrested for saving a mother’s life because she had an ectopic pregnancy and you got a life sentence thrown at you. You better god damned believe this concerns them.

    29 votes
  20. Comment on How you use YouTube in desktop and mobile devices. YouTube to limit usage of ad blockers soon. in ~tech

    oliak
    Link Parent
    Twitch Adblock 2023 Download the extension manually (its a fork of TTV LOL so its a couple extra steps compared to a regular extension): https://github.com/younesaassila/ttv-lol-pro/releases (Look...

    Twitch Adblock 2023

    Download the extension manually (its a fork of TTV LOL so its a couple extra steps compared to a regular extension):
    https://github.com/younesaassila/ttv-lol-pro/releases

    (Look for the "Assets" section - you may need to click to expand it)
    Chrome:
    *.crx (Ex: v1.9.0-chromium-save-link-as.crx)

    Firefox:
    *.xpi (Ex: v1.9.0-firefox.xpi)

    Install the extension:

    Chrome:

    1. Open extensions (Ctrl + Shift + E) (ensure Developer mode is turned on - look for a checkbox or toggle in the upper right hand corner)
    2. Drag and drop the *.crx file you downloaded

    Firefox:

    1. Open Add-ons (Ctrl+Shift+A)
    2. Drag and drop the *.xpi file you downloaded
    3. Click the "add" button on the prompt that comes up.

    Install uBlock Origin (skip if you have it already)

    1. Go to: https://ublockorigin.com
    2. Click the "Get uBlock Origin" Button
    3. Continue to the addon/extension site for your browser. Click whatever "Install/Add/Whatever" button that you need to to install it.

    Customize uBlock Origin

    1. Right click the uBlock Origin button on the toolbar of your browser (look for the red or gray shield)
    2. Click "Options"
    3. Click "My Filters" tab
    4. Paste "twitch.tv##+js(twitch-videoad)" (without the quotes around it) into the text field.
    5. Click "Apply changes"
    6. Click "Settings" tab
    7. Check "I am an advanced user"
    8. Click the 3 gear icons at the end
      9a. You should see a list of variables and their set values. The bottom variable, "userResourcesLocation" is the variable we want to edit. If this is your first adding a script to ublock origin, it should say "unset". Change "unset" to: https://github.com/pixeltris/TwitchAdSolutions/raw/master/vaft/vaft-ublock-origin.js
      9b. If you have a URL in the "userResourcesLocation" field already simply add a space between the urls
    9. Click "Apply changes"

    Allow List

    If you are using default chrome/brave/edge then you may need to set an allowlist registry setting. This will automatically add a key value to the registry to tell the browser that this specific app is allowed. If you don't do this, the browser will likely disable the extension when you restart the browser.

    1. Go to: https://github.com/younesaassila/ttv-lol-pro/releases
    2. Download "allowlist.zip" from the same "assets" section you downloaded your xpi/crx file from.
    3. Open/Extract the zip file and run the .reg file that is labeled for the browser you are using.
    4. Click "Yes" when prompted.

    Restart Your Browser

    Hopefully Twitch will be ad free now.

    8 votes