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George_E_Hale

insufferable blowhard

2 followers   follows 11 users  
joined 2022 September 04 19:24:43 UTC

The things you lean on / are things that don't last

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User ID: 107


				
				
				

			

		

	














	


		


			



	

		

			

			

				

					

						

							
						

						

							
							

								
George_E_Hale


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
insufferable blowhard

				
				
				

				

					2 followers  

					follows 11 users  

					joined 2022 September 04 19:24:43 UTC
				


				
					

					
The things you lean on / are things that don't last



				

				

				

				

				

					

					

					
					
					

					
User ID: 107


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
							
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				Friday Fun Thread for July 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Now you're just teasing.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for July 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I am not sure what Childish Gambino meant, but there were many very very pretty girls in my audience. Not quite Olivia Rodrigo level but close. I was stricken by their educated, articulate English, but that's probably my Japan experience.


For me, a thoroughgoing attractive Japanese girl with typical Japanese behavior is well nigh unbeatable in terms of attractiveness. That's probably a product of time on task.  And of course for me any woman is only as beautiful as much as she resembles my wife.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for July 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I went to the Philippines last week. I was invited to speak at a university function, and did. Positives: they paid for every damn thing, including the minibar. There are many many people who speak excellent English even in the most unlikely places. Negatives: wow, it is not Japan. Beggars, general dirtiness, garbage, slums (at least in parts of Manila, where I was only briefly.)  Cheap shit everywhere. Rain and heat.


Contrary to numerous warnings from Japanese friends, I enjoyed all my meals. Lots of meats. At least two dead animals per meal, actually. (I love animals.) There was one Mexican place in Manila that had the most amazing Tacos al carbon I've had outside the US. A grungy place where i had to walk down the road to buy a beer, then bring it back to the Mexican place. The young guy behind the counter helpfully pried off the bottlecap (I had left my keys and keyfob with bottle opener in Japan.)


In the spirit of the thread, I'm fine. Recently had bloodwork done and my liver function is surprisingly normal, my kidneys, weak as they are, haven't deteriorated, and have in fact bounced back a bit. I still love my wife and my sons beyond measure. And at my job, the surgeons and dermatologists who work on my same floor have started acknowledging me in a quasi-friendly way. In Japan, the secret to human interaction when you yourself are not Japanese is: Be predictable.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for July 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I still worry about you. Call it my feminine side. Jungian, naturally.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for July 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I think I'd like to meet you in real life.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for July 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I had to look up lindy. It is a word I shall never use. I didn't know you were dating anyone other than seeing the lesbian sometimes. I hang my head in shame for not being up-to-date.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for July 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Not too get even more Ask George here, but I think possibly the routine of hanging out in bars with homosexual men is not the ideal environment to meet women. Now it may be true that you do not wish to meet women in bars--and if this is your viewpoint, you are probably not entirely unwise. But I suspect that, with your job, social hours are limited. Why not find spaces where you are at least more likely to run into a woman free of emotional baggage? (cough, choke, wait, hang on, let me get some water...) I mean a woman who might have less emotional baggage than the types who frequent gay bars in their attempts to get the hell away from straight men.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for July 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
You're heading full throttle into a lonely existence where you wondered where the years have gone.


What do you want? If you just want a relaxing time with nonjudgmental mildly drunken coevals, fine, but long-term I have serious doubts about that as a path toward fulfilment. Humans need a bit of drama and conflict. If you want a break from women, fine, but then you're not even doing that.


There's big writing on the wall here and that you clearly do not see it amazes and saddens me, not because of you but because it says something larger about human's incapacity for self awareness.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'm confused, are there not leash laws where you are? Are dogs running around free the way they did in the 70s?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The parent comment here is invisible to me.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for July 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yeah see to me none of those are funny in any way.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for July 15, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
George wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of a dubious, sometimes unsavory sub called /r/watchescirclejerk.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for July 15, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I wonder if the facts play out that the myostatin inhibitors you're thinking of could increase lean muscle mass or volume but have nearly no effect on strength (nonfunctional hypertrophy) if people would still want to use them. This could also fuck up things like tendons due to increased load due to perceived badassery where there is none.


If no one could guess I am skeptical about trying to hack the body in these ways--not in principle but in our new era of bro science based on anecdata instead of empirical studies, clinical trials, and third thing goes here. People on this very board will doubt statins (which have had many, many studies done on their efficacy, have improved over the years, and, while not completely safe, are about as safe as any drug at the population level) yet embrace peptides from China with zero regulation or assurance that they contain what they are supposed to contain, based on a few good stories of people who've used them for almost a year, and wow.


I'm probably wrong. I sound as if I am dismissing OP and everyone in here, but I do not mean to do so. It is interesting though to see how people swallow whole perspectives that are based on flimsy evidence and anecdotes when it suits them or is in line with what they wish to believe, yet if a cause they abhor were to offer up the same type of data as proof they would scoff and call for a wrecking ball to universities. Or whatever.


(Full disclosure: Universities do seem to suck in their current iteration. I do not deny it. I am rather pointing out an inconsistency, and one that I would realize I am probably equally guilty of were I a bit more self-aware.)


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for July 15, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I don't know most of the acronyms you're mentioning, but I applaud, at least, your quit reddit strategy. If you must go there, go to a sub that never has anything political or culture war (think /r/watchescirclejerk ) in it and only visit that. I quit reddit years ago and my life has only improved. Also log out from this site immediately if you're on a digital fast, because just by reading this you're breaking the fucking fast.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for July 15, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Obligatory comment that "Peptides" as a category characterizes an enormous group of varied substances, from insulin to calcitonin to parathyroid hormone, that have different qualities, benefits, and risks.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for July 8, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Congratulations


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 6, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I often find myself nodding with your takes, but not this one. Mind you, I am one of those people who barely had heard Bourdain's name until he died, and have still never watched an episode of any of his shows nor really do I think I've ever heard his recorded voice, though I've read a good bit about him and I've seen his picture many times. Thus, perhaps you have more insight into him than I do if you were someone who followed his meanderings and respected his foodie-ness or whatever.


But from my perspective, as a man who has been rejected and burned many, many times (and the last I lingered on my image in the still forest pool I was not a narcissist) I never wanted to "show" anyone, even at my most desperate, not-quite-suicidal. As a kid I had the "if I got hit by a bus and died they'd really wish they had known me better" type thoughts, but not out of malice or one-upping. More straight self-pity feeling sorry for myself. And I don't know a lot of men who would off themselves to "get back at" someone.


You maybe be right that he did not want to move on (though I have no idea why, the Argento woman certainly does not seem magical in any way to me, but different strokes) but killing himself to spite her or earn a victory is not quite how I'd put it. More--"Now she knows how much I really cared about her." This may be a rephrasing of your point, but I think it's different enough to warrant mentioning.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 29, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Your blanket generalization of "third world people" is the kind of vague wording that could mean not quite anything, but is loaded and not in the spirit of "speaking clearly, saying what you mean." The term "natives" as well, though perhaps this is a code word for white Britons. Your post to me seemed to be a throwaway bitter, we-all-know-what-we-mean response of the type I used to see on reddit, rather than the type of meaningful contribution you are capable of (even if you were to make the same points) and I would like to think is the distinctive quality of this site.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 5, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I was in the Peace Corps, yes. This was the very early 90s though, and the world --and the experience of the Peace Corps-- has changed considerably. It was, for me personally, a great experience that stretched me beyond what could have been possible had I stayed in the US. Mind you the Peace Corps has all kinds of members, motivated for all kinds of reasons.


The reference to being "barred from foreign service for five years" below was only true for intelligence services (eg the CIA or military intelligence), to my understanding.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 29, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
How is this not waging the culture war? Possibly I have misunderstood the ethos of this weekly thread.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 29, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'm sure this is a well-slogged swamp but fortunately I've not waded into it. If the Zionists are the chain yankers, how do you explain the mainstream/left now wailing for their blood?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for July 3, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Was that the one where the guy's horse gets impaled on the staff holding the American flag or am I confusing it with the Simpsons parody?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for June 26, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I both buy and sell from secondhand shops in Japan. They're sometimes amazing. I got a vintage Schott's leather jacket for like 50 bucks that would normally have cost upward of 200 bucks US, or possibly far more (new ones are considerably more). Various other clothing. My one rule is I never buy electronics secondhand (or underwear, though I've never seen secondhand underwear.) Selling they rip you off--they buy by weight, and if there is a brand label they pay slightly more, but still a pittance. I don't mind so much with clothing, it's better than throwing it out, and I can't be bothered to sell online myself with all the intricate Japanese rules and finicky online buyers.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for June 26, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Or you could sell it at cost or below, for no reason other than human charity, to someone deserving.


I'll never be a millionaire.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 21, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Because to me it's a festive, rare event, important enough that it's televised worldwide. Plus it sounds fun, and even if the time is shitty it will be a memory to share, or recount, years from now.