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ActuallyATleilaxuGhola

Axolotl Tank Class of '24

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joined 2022 September 08 09:59:22 UTC 

				
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ActuallyATleilaxuGhola


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
Axolotl Tank Class of '24

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2022 September 08 09:59:22 UTC
				


				
					

					
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				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 11, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I have to agree with @dailydogma, the game looks like it was made by what used to be called Tumblr SJWs.  I always wonder who buys these as the Switch store seems to have a lot of them.


Regarding mixtapes, as someone born at the end of the 80s, they were something the previous generation did. I remember my parents using cassette tapes throughout the 90s, and carrying around those (in hindsight, ridiculous looking) cassette tape binders, but I don't think I ever made one.  But then! I remembered that I did actually do essentially the same thing.  I was interested in J-Pop and Mandopop as a kid but had no access to either in my rural American town.  I probably burned a dozen CDs with Winny- and Kazaa-sourced MP3s.  I remember carefully arranging the tracks for maximum impact.


I guess streaming has killed that experience.  There's simply too much music available, all the time, anywhere.  It's cheap, it's casually consumable.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 11, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Or, cultures that restrict women will simply become more numerous and vital than those that don't.  Robots And artificial wombs can't stave off civilizational exhaustion.  Houellebecq's Submission is a more likely future.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 11, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
On the ground in Japan, it seems like very little has changed in the last half decade.  The child birth payment was raised slightly (an extra 10k yen I think, but that's one off and goes to medical bills) and the income restriction on childrearing money from the national government was removed, so even middle class people now get gubmint cheese for having kids.  But all the structural problems -- long work hour culture (premium Friday was a failure), resistance to raising salaries for high performers, fixing zoning and real estate laws so that people can buy land for housing, breaking up the construction cartels so that people can build on their land without submitting to mortgage debt slavery, fixing the interest rate and letting zombie companies staffed by doddering boomers collapse so that banks are willing to lend money for small business expansion and so that the yen will strengthen -- none of that stuff is even being considered at all.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 4, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Electing Trump was a roll of the dice on whether we'd actually escape from the middle east.  Electing establishment GOP or Dem would have basically been asking for even more adventures in the Middle East.  I rolled the dice and lost.  I'd rather have voted for Vance or someone even more vehemently anti-interventionists, but those choices weren't on offer.  Instead my choices were "uniparty interventionist stooge #73829" and "Trump.". I don't think I'm alone in this calculation.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 4, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Revolutionary utopian ideologies see dissent as delaying the arrival of the utopia and as a sign of dangerous disloyalty that threatens the strength of the movement.  Comrades are supposed to be building towards a singular goal.  Arguing about the goal or the methods is a waste of time at best and the start of a fracture that might doom the movement at worst.  I don't think Communism is unique in this, it's just the highest profile recent example.  See the French Revolution or the Anabaptist German cities for older examples.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 4, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
No, because Nietzsche popularized it to describe the psychology of slave morality.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 27, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
But tell us how you really feel.


It's funny, I actually agree with you on a handful of these things and I voted for the guy.


But your aesthetic revulsion to Trumpism (kid rock, "macho" military, RFK Jr=Gargamel, "disrespecting our allies") marks you as a class enemy.  The way you talk about those things just drips with disdain, you sound like you think half of our country should probably be disenfranchised.


Your indignation that our hallowed and immaculate institutions are being profaned (Harvard, SCOTUS, NATO, UN security council, justice system) is also rich.  I'm sure you'd be glad if we went back to 2010, when Harvard was unassailable, our activist judicial system was too sacrosanct to criticize, and NATO was supported by the right as an expression of America's military might.  Back when the rubes didn't even know what was being done to them.  Things were easier then, eh?


Your attitude is a large part of why Trump is able to retain power despite being an arrogant, distateful, reactive bully with no strategy.  I would rather have what we have now than go back to 2010 because I don't want people like you, people who have contempt for me and who gaslight me when I point out the ideological project that pervades our institutions (see Neutral vs Conservative), to have power over me anymore.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
This new form of alleged corruption (taking money from gamblers, i.e. donors) seems less harmful than traditional corruption (embezzling taxpayer money).


Regarding opsec/leakage, if the number of insiders is tiny, their signal will be drowned out by the mass of outsiders.  If the number of insiders is large, then it's probably not much of a "secret" anyway and prediction markets are no longer the main risk.  And our spooks are doubtless aware of this risk and can print money, so this information can be manipulated.  Will America be able to stop a Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2027? An anonymous user from Langley puts $700,000 on "no" while the US readies the ace up its sleeve.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for April 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Uh, anon...




lol, deserved.


Luckily I don't think I'm cluster B. I ended up well adjusted in external presentation, to the point where I can successfully hold leadership positions and be generally "well-liked."  The tradeoff is that I have a near constant level of internal stress from maintaining the facade. I'm trying to figure out how to deal with that.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for April 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Now I see that, yeah maybe, but it's not worth the constantly high level of effort required when "normies" can do it by instinct.




This was one of the big ones.  I will still socialize, but I don't have to be as social as other people. I don't have to keep up with their energy.  I'm allowed to go home early.   I'm allowed to skip some social events.  I'm allowed to be exhausted afterwards.  The realization has helped me stop beating myself up so much.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for April 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I am in my late 30s and I have discovered that I may be somewhat neurodivergent.  I am suspicious of fad disorders, dislike therapy culture, and am skeptical of psychology, so I'm not your average self-diagnoser.  I'm also one of the last people folks would suspect of being ND, as I am apparently "high-masking," and I successfully present as normal and likeable to other people 100% of the time--I've never had "social burnout" in front of others (though the crash does come hard afterwards when I am finally alone).  While I'm still skeptical of this self-diagnosis, the explanatory and predictive power seems too specific and consistently correct for it to be cold-reading/horoscope style fluff.


I also have to laugh at myself a bit here, because I can recall more than once thinking thoughts along the lines of "how unusually open-minded I am, I can appreciate even the manifestos and effortposts of those loveable turbo-autists in the ratsphere and on The Motte."  Welp.


In the grand scheme of things,  this discovery is not a big deal because I'm no different than I was before I discovered this.  I'm still a husband, son, father, friend, the same guy everyone has known and liked all along.  It is a useful framework for understanding my own feelings and actions more clearly, though.  It has made me feel less guilty about needing a lot of decompression time, and it has made me feel less pressure to socially "perform" in front of my wife (who I'm quite sure is even more ND than I am, though in different ways -- birds of a feather). It has been a weird but overall positive experience. Though I would be lying if I said there wasn't a tiny part of me that is sad that I'm not as "normal" as I once believed.


Have any of you realized this later in life?  What was your experience?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Sakurao is cheapest on Amazon, was about 2200 a bottle so low risk.  Kinobi I've found is cheapest at Yamaya, Aeon Liquor, or similar chain liquor stores.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I guess I should've said I find it "ironic," not "odd." I'm aware of the alleged racist overtones.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Plymouth was really cheap in Japan until recently so I also used to use it a lot for mixed gin flips and gin daisies.  Really versatile.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I know it wasn't hereditary, but for the person in it there wasn't too much difference in that.




From the owner's perspective, an African slave was a "buy it for life" tractor, while an indentured servant was a rented U-Haul.  Indentured servant employers frequently tried to squeeze as much labor as they could before the servants' contracts were up, leading to a surprisingly high mortality rate.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Maybe a tangent, but I'm reading a novel set in post Roman Briton, and it got me thinking.  Why was there slavery in tribal Europe, even after Christianization?  They weren't capturing slaves to work on large plantations then. I think it was something like this:


    

  1. Your warband attacks and burns an enemy village.  They kill all the fighting men and maybe capture a few who surrender.
    2. 

  2. There are a bunch of women and children.  You now have several options:

      

    • Let them go.  This was probably not actually very humane, you have just burned everything and killed all the strong laborers and ruined their dwellings and food stores.  At best they will starve, at worse they will be prey for animals and men.
      • 

    • Kill them all. But why?  It's a bunch of extra work for nothing, killing them brings you no benefit, and it pisses off the enemy and invites retaliation. And it is considered kind of bad form even among non Christians AFAICT.  You might do this if you are on a revenge mission or are just a sadist I guess.
      • 

    • Capture them and take them with you.  You can maybe sell them. And also, you can inflict psychological damage on the enemy while still appearing to be an honorable, rational enemy.
      • 

    

    3. 

  3. You've brought them back to your towns and villages.  Now they need somewhere to stay.  You're a semi-settled tribe, so you don't have a big facility to house and feed them.  So instead you parcel them out to your soldiers and their extended families.  Now they have somewhere to sleep. But they don't get to eat for free, so they have to work.  And now you've invented de facto slavery.
    4. 



Edit: @Capital_Room beat me to it


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
You got a favorite gin? I was a big fan of Sakurao, great value for money.  And Ki no Bi is great too.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I finally quit for good 3 months ago after drinking heavily for 5 years.  I'm in my late 30s.  Best decision ever.  Some folks were surprised because I was a champ at the bar, but luckily I'm old enough now that people are either indifferent or they're mildly impressed that I quit.


My sleep is still bad, but I heard that goes away in the 3-6 month window.  Anhedonia substantially cleared up too, I think. First six weeks were pretty awful, though.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Two-thirds of the way through Excalibur, the last book in Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles.  It's grim and a bit sad.  It occurs to me that the entire series is told through the eyes of the protagonist as he writes what is essentially a memoir, and thus his stage of life colors events.  The story is more exuberant, hopeful, and narrative-driven when he is young, but now in middle aged it is more reflective, world-weary, and burdened with the accumulated loss of friends and loved ones.  Cornwell is an excellent writer, and I will certainly be reading more of his books.  It's a shame he didn't finish his series set during the Civil War.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Keep at it, it's excellent.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I also find it odd.  They call themselves 中国人 and 黄种人, literally "China-person" and "yellow-race people."  Whitey didn't make it up.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


it is now much more widely accepted in society that insulting and abusing the disabled is a shitty thing to do and the status of the mentally retarded is better now than it used to be




Is this actually true?  I don't think believe that insulting or abusing the mentally disabled was ever considered non-shitty.  Like calling a gay guy a "faggot," or an obese person a "fatass" or "Michelin man" or something, it was probably seen as rude, unnecessary, and low-class in 20the century America before the language taboos were introduced. Also, I think most people have a visceral horror or revulsion towards signficant mentally and physically deformity.  None of that has really changed IMO.  The only difference is now is that somebody can pull out a phone a record you saying the no-no words and post it on Twitter or report it to HR, so people have learned to self-censor.