FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
And every gimmick hungry yob
Digging gold from rock n roll
Grabs the mic to tell us
he'll die before he's sold
But I believe in this
And it's been tested by research
He who fucks nuns
Will later join the church
User ID: 195
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
4d ago
Charitably I think I should have precisely specified traffic conditions. There are indeed times when it is inappropriate and antisocial to drive 120mph, I happen to think I choose appropriate ones. My interlocutors are picturing others.
Less charitably, I don't think they're used to driving like that and imagine it as more hazardous and less fun than it is.
Uncharitably, I think being this angry at people for speeding is a deeply effeminate behavior.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
4d ago
But that metric is meaningless. I didn't complain about bicycles because I respect bicycles on the road, I'm in more rural areas normally but when I see a bicycle I take care to slow down well behind him and wait for a LARGE open space in traffic to pass him in the opposing lane. Sometimes if I'm going to be behind him a while I put my flashers on to make sure people behind me know I'm going slower for a reason. I don't think bicycles are significantly inconvenient or dangerous.
Nor do I think responsible speeding at an appropriate time in an appropriate vehicle is significantly dangerous.
It's like @SecureSignals telling me "You went to law school? You're worse than all the Jews in this thread!"
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
4d ago
I mean obviously I've been passed on the highway by someone else going 120 when I was going the speed limit so I know how it feels... Panic response? Lol. Lmao.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
4d ago
your ears and your eyeballs are different sensory organs
So why, in God’s name, do we require people who make music to also have associated imagery, fonts, logos and music videos?
But because it’s 2025, all the platforms and people encourage you to upload a particular piece of art for your singles.
Now, I want to be clear, this is not an AI generated image, and I have the layered design files to prove it, but I get that it has certain features which can easily make someone think it is, particularly the similar-ish smiling faces.
I think the backlash stems from the simple syllogism.
I don't like AI art as it currently exists.
The way I listen to music at present, the album art is displayed on screen while listening.
Therefore, if my favorite artists start using AI art, I will be forcefully exposed to it each time I listen to their song.
Thus, I just oppose AI art for this use case to avoid being forcibly exposed to art I find skin crawlingly awful. Because once bands start doing it they will all do it.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
4d ago
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when did I complain about cyclists?
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minimal traffic was specified, so we're looking at fairly minor danger, swerving around three other cars.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
4d ago
I'm curious, Mottizens: what speed would you drive at in perfect conditions (straight, flat, sunny, minimal traffic), in a 70 mph interstate?
Assuming that I'm confident that there are no cops, and I'm driving a good sports car, and I'm in the mood? I'd probably touch 130mph, carry 95-100mph.
Summer of Covid, when I was driving back and forth on an empty PA turnpike in a drop top twin turbo A4 quattro, I would consistently take it up to a daily triple, and just zip through the handful of cars on the road like they were standing still. When you're going 120 and they're going 80, it's like dodging obstacles at 40, it's fun.
On the other hand, if I'm in a more quotidian car and I'm just trying to get somewhere, probably in the 80-85mph range? That's normally a pretty comfortable speed, and I'm not too worried about getting pulled over, and really you have to hold 100 for an hour or more to see much benefit on travel time on the highway, and at that point it's kinda stressful.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
5d ago
Current illegals suffer some consequences for jumping the line. Maybe not deportation, but something. Maybe like 10 years of permanent residency before they can apply for citizenship and voting rights, maybe fines,
It should quite obviously be fines. A surtax on income, or a set amount. Migrants come to the USA because they can earn more money, let the government and the citizenry wet its beak!
Whatever rules we set up, we actually enforce them and not make mockery of them immediately. This includes getting rid of clown shit like "catch and release".
Shit like "sanctuary cities" which low-key secede from the nation and choose which laws they are going to follow and not follow stops like right now. You don't like the laws - vote for people that will change them, just ignoring them whenever you like should not be an option.
These two are tied together in my mind. Asking cities to tolerate an underclass that the feds refuse to deal with is absurd.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
5d ago
So recently I was shopping for a new car for my wife. And a surprising number of new to late model BMW 3ers were sold with red leather interiors. That was a truly outre option in 2002, now it's pretty common, maybe 10% of interiors. And there were a few cars we saw that were almost specced how I would have wanted...but that red interior. My father in law would never stop telling me it looked too Puerto Rican.
And in general, that's a pretty accurate rap: in Puerto Rican neighborhoods, houses are brightly colored, stores are brightly colored, more cars are brightly colored, clothes are brightly colored. Hell, I wear a navy blue Yankees cap, most Puerto Ricans around here wear Yankees caps in bright red or orange.
So how much of this is just ethnic distinctions, or ethnic/class based identity formation? I don't paint my house walls bright orange, or buy a car with red leather seats, or paint my business exterior green and blue, because people would make fun of me for looking puerto rican.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
5d ago
Climbing is one of the most body-shape dependent sports - it's more like horse jockeying than it is like basketball. It's not height that matters, but frame size and natural muscle build.
Maybe when we're talking at the 5.14+ level of professionals, but at 5.12d and below a variety of body types are pretty common, from 6'2" beanpoles to 5'11" 195# muscular guys who can hang (hi!).
That said, the reductio ad absurdum is probably Golf. Men are way better than women, no women are competitive, it is impossible to imagine a woman ever being competitive with top tier men, it's broadly understood that women use women's tees that are closer to the green...and an LPGA pro is going to absolutely smoke any man over a 5 or 6 handicap, which is roughly your top 10% of male golfers.
The upshot of chess, or rock climbing, or golf, is that if you discriminate based on gender, you'll be right more than you'll be wrong. But you can probably find better tips if you look closely.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
5d ago
I disagree, though I totally see your point and agree with it. I'm of the opinion that in the modern world, one must embrace the inevitable upper-middle-class-white-person cycle of periodically inventing a new sport ("rich climbing") so that white kids have something they can compete in. It's great to expose kids to lots of different kinds of things they can do! I often joke that Lionel Messi, in a world without soccer, would be a short Argentine mechanic with a weird ability to do things with his feet, no one would know he was one of the greatest athletes of all time. It's important to try a variety of things. But, I disagree with the idea that it should be left to chance: kids should be forced to try a variety of things.
Fundamentally where we differ is here:
Forcing people typically tends to do the opposite, it raises them to be conformative (unless they turn rebellious as a result of being forced).
The majority of great innovations come out of restrictions. Most modern American men's fashion stems from essentially three places: military uniforms, prison uniforms, or prep school/ivy league/country club dress codes. Innovations to look good while skirting those regulations lead to essentially all male fashion today.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
5d ago
And kids should be forced to do certain things, wear certain things learn certain things, so that as adults they have the agency to make choices for themselves about how they want to live.
Letting a kid get through high school with no physical activity is decreasing rather than increasing their agency. It's putting them on a path of laziness, sedentary sloth, and identity formation against athletics.
Forcing a kid to practice athletics when young increases their agency as adults. They can continue to their athletic practice or choose to be a fat slob or choose to try a new sport and it will be easier as a result of their experience.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
5d ago
Depends on the kid, depends on the sport, depends on the social groupings the kid is involved in. It's not as simple as "every man is stronger than every woman" and human beings are notoriously bad at dealing with percentage chances that aren't 100/0 or 50/50.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
5d ago
but something happened and there was a breakdown in relationships, and then everyone began squabbling over that house,
I'm lucky in that my sister and I get along very well, and our intention is that she inherits the beach house for a variety of reasons, with the understanding that I and my immediate descendants will be allowed to use it reasonably often. And frankly the understanding that I'm probably still going to do or contract for a lot of the physical repairs on the house, because that's just kind of a me thing in our relationship. Split ownership nearly always leads to ultimate sale, as relationships become attenuated.
Getting older, I'm realizing two things: my parents made a number of status-oriented purchases that I wouldn't have made and that I consider mistakes, and that despite considering these things clear financial mistakes I have mixed feelings about not holding onto those purchases or continuing them for my children because slipping in status is a tougher thing than not advancing it.
My parents belonged to a country club for 30 years and hated it the whole time, while spending tons of money there for mediocre food. They raised me to hate it, weirdly, in that they constantly told me, when dropping me off at country club kids etiquette events, that they didn't want me to turn into a snob who would only be friends with the country club kids. The push and pull made the whole membership a waste of energy: as a shy and awkward teenager I overcorrected and disdained the preppy country club kids, listened to too much old sXe hardcore punk, and made myself a loner for no reason. I thought that being friends with those kids would force me to adopt everything about them. Giant waste of money.
But there's something about considering losing those status symbols that is worse than not ever having them. I'd never consider buying a beach house, I don't like the beach enough, but I wouldn't want to lose the family place for my kids.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
5d ago
This particular subthread starts with our learned friend in argument @anti_dan stating that to explain sexual dimorphism to an autistic 15 year old he would...
Well, #1 I'd make him do some sports. That's the easiest way for any teen to get on the path of appreciating the differences between men and woman. That girl who was good at tag? Guess what, when you both at 15 shes no good anymore. Even the slow boys are beating her. And physical activities involving even a modicum of contact like basketball? Forget it. Its not just that she can barely jump by comparison, its that any man that does even a little physical activity can just move her. And, its actually scary in many ways, because you will be afraid that you are going to break her. Which you could easily do on accident.
And @anon_ (apologies if I'm misstating your point) and I are pointing out that reality is actually a really noisy signal, and that taking your 15 year old autistic boy and making him play sports (which everyone should do anyway) may or may not lead directly into an understanding of sexual dimorphism. Depends on the kid, depends on the sport, depends on the social groupings the kid is involved in. It's not as simple as "every man is stronger than every woman" and human beings are notoriously bad at dealing with percentage chances that aren't 100/0 or 50/50.
Hypothetical: an only child homeschooled 15 year old boy, the rock climbing gym is his PE class. ((I know several kids/families like this irl, the parents are climbers and think it's a great way to get their homeschooled kid both exercise and socialization)) Which factor is going to cleave reality at the joints better to classify human beings by physical ability: whether they have tits, or whether they have their own climbing harness? In rock climbing, having tits will allow me to say with certainty that you aren't in the top 1% of climbers in the gym and you're less likely to be in the top 5%, but beyond that it has little predictive value: plenty of women climb 5.11 or 5.10, plenty of men can't. "Having your own climbing harness" allows you to make a pretty accurate hard cut: people who don't own gear pretty much never climb anything tougher than a juggy 5.10a. Athletic freaks who climbed 5.11 before buying a harness have been much rarer in my life than women who climbed 5.13.
So is our rock climber kid going to classify reality first by male/female, or by climber/civilian?
I do think that athletics is exposure to reality, hence why Plato tells us that Gymnastics is inimicable to Tyranny. Over time a kid will develop a nuanced understanding of the reality of sexual dimorphism. But, you know, it'll take time, and long exposure across multiple fields, and it will probably be quite nuanced.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
5d ago
I'm smoking about what you'd expect me to smoke at a rock climbing gym, where I routinely see teenage girls run circles around (some of!) their age-peer male counterparts.
Part of which is that when you graduate kids from the non competitive "kids classes" programs to the competitive "team" programs, the boys separate pretty severely: some boys hit puberty hard and fast and get muscular and athletic and turn into stars, some barely hit puberty at all until pretty late in high school and turn all gangly around 15 unable to climb like either a kid or a man. (Girls face a similar set of problems with puberty, in that some get a rack that will not cooperate with a sport built around being light and having great balance).
The idea that men and women are ultimately equal in physical strength and athletic ability is a bizarre feminist political cope.
The idea that any random male can beat every single female in every single sport in every single situation is a bizarre manosphere political cope.
In both cases, evidence is slippery and misapplied.
You say:
The adult women world champion football team is losing to the under-16 boys' teams (not even the champions) regularly.
Which is a statement about the top end of the athletes of both genders, and then use it in an argument about medians.
Feminists tend to take an obviously true statement like "Caitlin Clark would beat every mottizen in a game of horse" or "no mottizen would hit an oly total of 262kg at 71kg bodyweight" and bootstrap that into "therefore gender does not have any predictive value of athletic performance" which is obviously false.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
5d ago
There are many 15 year old boys who haven't quite hit puberty all the way yet. Presumably none of them on the u16 teams.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
5d ago
I don't dispute the practicality of it, just the way it's going to age.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
5d ago
if I didn't have it and couldn't afford to put it in, I'd at least pick something that imitates real wood. If it isn't already obvious from the material that it isn't real wood, I'm not going to let the color just give it away.
Engineered Wood floors look pretty good, and feel pretty good, though I'm skeptical of their durability as they're essentially a very thin veneer of very nicely finished plywood. But they're cheap and you get the ease of installation of snap in flooring.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
5d ago
My wife said when we got married and she started a new job, it felt so fucking good when partners would ask her what she was doing this weekend and she said "oh we're heading to our family's place at the shore" and she could watch people's assumptions about her adjust in real time.
That said, while I enjoy going there, it's almost certainly been a bad choice over time. Unless you're really committed to it, it ends up sitting empty too much to be worth it financially versus just getting a rental. The only real reason to do it is either as a flex, or because in the off-season you want somewhere to hide out and play the shitbird.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
6d ago
I think it depends on where you'd put Silver on the cool vs lame scale
It all depends on the car and the silver, right? 2000s M3s and Boxters were just meant to be silver. Chrysler Sebrings and minivans of the same era looked awful in silver.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
6d ago
Millennials are old enough to remember to eerie feeling of walking into a house that hadn't been updated since 1977 that had orange carpeting in one room and yellow wallpaper in another and harvest gold kitchen appliances on top of a fake brick linoleum floor. We're old enough to remember bathrooms with pink tile and no one thinking this was something that needed to be changed.
To add to this: Mrs. FiveHour is a woman of taste. She will happily spend quite a bit of time/money on getting the thing she wants. She would divorce me if I suggested tearing out our home's pink bathroom.
Ten years ago, that wasn't the case. They used to absolutely look dated trash, now they're retro cool.
By contrast, gray was in fashion, and still is, but my dad is redoing the floor at the family beach house. And it's not my place, so I'm not going to be too picky, but the one rule I had was Absolutely No on gray vinyl plank. Because it's everywhere, and right now we all say it's neutral and timeless, but in another five to ten years, we'll see a house with gray floors and it will look like a cheap flip from 2018.
Things go in cycles.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
6d ago
Pretending we have any idea who Trump will like and get along with three years from now is a funny joke.
Wrapped up the last of Journey to the End of Night, which I ultimately got almost nothing interesting out of, and finally finished Seeing Like a State, which I got a lot out of but I expect everyone here has already either read the book or read better folks than me summarize its findings better than I could.
Started Storm of Steel which is a fascinating contrast to American Sniper. Both authors, at least at the start, enjoy the war. It's the difference between the 2000s Patriots or the 90s Bulls, and a role player on a .500 team. Kyle goes in expecting to win every time, and is shocked and takes it personally when he loses. Junger is immediately just hoping to survive. Kyle experiences enemy soldiers and civilians as "savages," as mooks that are just part of his story. Junger experiences them as formidable dangerous foes.
As an aside, I saw a local performance of Penelope, a one-woman musical of Odysseus' famous wife. It was fantastic. That woman really carried the show for an hour and a half straight, just her and a band, and of course that is the core commentary of the play: Penelope did it all alone, with nothing but a backing band, for twenty years until Odysseus returned. The show definitely plays the situation for light feminist snark at times, but never lapses into wokeness: at core it maintains a belief in Homer, Homer's heroes stay heroes and his villains stay villains, it doesn't try to flip the script like so many recent musicals based on old stories. It's very reminiscent of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, in that it looks at how great events feel to someone who isn't privileged to speak constantly with the gods; where Athena speaks to Odysseus pretty regularly, Penelope here gets only a single, cryptic and non-actionable message from Athena. My only critique of the play is that, compare to Madeleine Miller's Circe, the play cuts off before the really interesting and difficult stuff to get Penelope's commentary on: the slaughter of the suitors and the hanging of the maids. How does she feel about her Telemachus going all school shooter on the place?
Wow I don't know how I managed to miswrite that one.
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