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Iconochasm

2. Bootstrap the rest of the fucking omnipotence.

2 followers   follows 10 users  
joined 2022 September 05 00:44:49 UTC 

				
User ID: 314


				
				
				

			

		

	














	


		


			



	

		

			

			

				

					

						

							
						

						

							
							

								
Iconochasm


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
2. Bootstrap the rest of the fucking omnipotence.

				
				
				

				

					2 followers  

					follows 10 users  

					joined 2022 September 05 00:44:49 UTC
				


				
					

					
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User ID: 314


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 6, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That's fair.  If we really wanted to answer the question, given the disparity in mayorships for big cities, we might want to do something like find the 50 largest Republican-run cities, and then compare that to the 50 Democrat-run cities with the closest demographics.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 27, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I am talking about 5ths.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 12, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I've succumbed to Defiance of the Fall, which is not as compelling as DCC, but has the powerful advantages of 8+ completed books and an addictive pace.  Earlier this week, the 8th Thousand Li book came out, and I tore through that in a day.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for February 3, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


and professing love to a girl far away would be done by letter.




Does McSweeney's accept random submissions?  I have an idea for a 19th century style letter to a girl that is just 500 words vividly and unashamedly describing my cock.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for February 3, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
They'll also just give them to you to take home if you ask.  Or, at least they did when I would ask for my scouts.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 9, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Disclaimer:  I am generally not a city fan, and probably coming at this from a place of motivated reasoning.  Nevertheless.




The gist of the comment was that whenever you hear somebody talking about how they want to live in a city because of museums, or a symphony orchestra, or lots of rock concerts, etc., what they're really saying is "I want to live next to other smart, cultured, cool people like me". And what they hate about the suburbs isn't so much the lack of those cultural touchstones, as much as it is having to live next to people who are perfectly happy with just a house that has a yard and a garage and a grocery store and a few chain restaurants within an easy drive.




There's some sense in this, if you're talking like Boston or SF, but cities have normies too, a fucking ton of them.  Plus an enormous number of underclass people who are even less nerdy than normies.  If you just want a large enough total number of like-minded people, and you're willing to search out the diamonds in the rough in a massive, alienating metroplex, I guess?  I have friends who commute 40-60 minutes out from the local major city for D&D night.  Traversing NYC might take just as long, and you'll spend all of it packed in a subway with normies instead of isolated in a nice, normie-proof car.  If you can't find a dozen friends in a 500k county, your odds don't seem much better in a 5M city unless you're looking for something super niche; the problem is more likely with you.




and if you're the kind of person who hates suburban normies.




I think this sort of thing is usually projection, and indicates the sort of "I think attending cultural events means I have a personality" hipster whose whining about cities is tiresome.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 30, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


But the "culture war" aspect is why Florida rejected this particular course.




Did they explicitly say that?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 23, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


While this specific article is about Pfizer, regulatory capture absolutely is nothing new to progressive discourse.




This is really weak sauce.  It's a book review about a novel featuring cartoon capitalism that mostly misses the point of regulatory capture, and whose proposed solution is doubling-down on the exact stuff that enables regulatory capture.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 23, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Sorry, this all seems like orange and blue thinking to me.  Do you not think people ought to be responsible for their own actions?  Do you think the incentives we create matter at all?  You mention social engineering, but don't seem to connect that the threat of self-harm is itself social engineering, and that my whole gripe is that its extremely susceptible to bad faith utility-monstering.  You don’t give in to ultimatums in a relationship because doing so establishes that ultimatums are an effective weapon.  Similarly, you should reject threats of self-harm in social engineering because doing otherwise increases the incentive for self-harm.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 9, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Can you give a specific example of how intelligence might trade off negatively?




It's more energy expensive to run that mostly unnecessary 4070.  The ability to focus on concrete issues is another obvious problem.  Dumb+dilligent has advantages over the common mix of smart+absent-minded.  When dealing with necessary, repetitive, simple tasks, I've often observed that "dumber" people seem to have a better capacity to just shut up and flowstate.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 9, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


What’s “Early Life?” Kind of hard to google.




When you see some paleface writer, journalist, researcher, etc, condemning western civilization and white people, check the "Early Life" section of their wikipedia article.  Purportedly, it will let slip their otherwise unremarked Jewish heritage.  Obviously subject to massive selection effects and convenient memory loss when it doesn't hold, but it does seem to bear out more often than I would have expected.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 9, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


jewish charitable fund money goes overwhelmingly to non-sectarian causes.




That article seems to dispute this, describing Jewish philanthropy as heavily weighted towards "non-religious but ethnic Jewish" causes and organizations.  A rich doctor donating to the ADL is not quite a counterpoint.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 9, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


People are making the choice rationally




Some people are.  Many people are.  Most people are.  Sure.  I'm just noting that it ought to have another qualifier there.  "Living in a big city is a net positive" is not an absolute state.  Depending on how you class suburbs, it could well be below 50%.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				I'm a "gun guy", AMA
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Any recommendations for a handgun training program or resources?  Now that ammo prices are less insane, I'd like to more properly develop the skill.


On a related note, I've had employees at the range tell me I'm "good for a beginner, could be very good with practice".  The cynic in me says this is a naked effort to get me to come spend more money, while the compliment-starved male in me wants to bask in the praise.  How common is that sort of fluffing, do you think?


On a different note, I have ended up in possession of a neat inheritance of classic firearms, including some 19th century antiques.  I'd like to get them cleaned up into display pieces, but formal ownership of the items is basically a gentlemen's agreement, and some of the other men in the family have expressed some vague concerns about getting ripped off or screwed over.  Any suggestions for finding a reputable antique restoration gunsmith?  I'd ask at the range, I feel like I'm on good terms with the owners... but they're all cops and a libertarian part of me flinches at rolling up and announcing I have a bunch of unlicensed guns of dubious legal provision in the trunk.  Any insight on the legal side of that?  If it matters, they belonged to my grandfather, who died unexpectedly young, so no will.


And on a geekier note, this is an Ares Predator from Shadowrun.  If someone (me) wanted to have something customized to look like that, full form-over-function, what starting base would you recommend?  Supposedly, the design was inspired by the gun from Robocop, which is a modified Beretta 92fs, but that's closer to what Shadowrun would consider a "light" pistol, as opposed to the Predator as the mechanical king of the heavies.


More personally, what do you use as your competition guns, and why did you pick them?  Is that different from your EDC?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 2, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I know Waffle House has the reputation for violence, but it's generally comparable to a Denny's or an IHOP, right?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 26, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Being species of bear originating from other part of the world?




Skidoosh.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 19, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Aggressively assume Kelvin.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 19, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


it seems like the FBI may have thought there was something going on.




Did they?  So far as I am aware, they had literally no reason to privilege that hypothesis beyond it being convenient for political narratives.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 19, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
So, not a single shred of specific information to suggest that the laptop was anything other than what it appeared to be?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 12, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
If you had read you own entertainingly biased link, you would note that it answers this objection. The CDC was banned from promoting gun control, not conducting research.  If we want to be excessively charitable to the poor, easily bullied researchers, we can note that there was uncertainty about what might cross the line.  OTOH, if we want to be reasonably cynical, we can note that this outcome is indistinguishable from one driven by a CDC that cannot even imagine value judgement-free research on this topic, and that was only ever interest in waging culture war against human rights.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 12, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


The fact this community upvotes groundless claims they like to +18 and downvote requests for a single citation to -6 reinforces my lack of trust in this community's "understanding" of issues.




Sorry, but that "they" is an unspecified referent, so your whole chain here is just being uncharitable.  Someone definitely did exactly what was alleged.




This is where I suppose we talk about how all this is signaling and no one here actually cares about proving anything - it's all just intellectual masturbation - but I guess I'm autistic enough to want the masturbation to be done properly.




Are you familiar with the CDC's history regarding gun violence research, going back to the 90's?  That was the "decades of history", and you don't seem to be aware of it at all.




And, honestly, I think most of the people are doing Motte-and-Bailey shenanigans here. What they claim they are doing is providing evidence the CDC is biased.




The evidence provided is suggestive, and it appears efforts were taken to specifically dodge the FOIA requests that might prove it.  Can you provide a cite of anyone here explicitly acknowledging that they're just enjoying a pep rally and booing the outgroup?  Have you tried coming up with a more charitable interpretation?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 12, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
You seem to be correct here.  I was one of those upvotes; I think I was probably just not thinking too critically about it.  After all, this thread chain consisted of a reasonable summation of a probably bad-action, in a community that largely understand the decades of history here, and then you, being relentlessly tedious and nit-picky about it while making isolated demands for charity.  I mean, can you empirically prove that no one in the CDC was motivated by the effects on the difficulty of passing gun control, and that no one in the CDC has ever said that?  And if not, can you empirically prove that the "they" refers to the CDC, and not the activists who swayed the CDC?  Have you tried coming up with more charitable explanations?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 5, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
It was my understanding that the argument was about indirect, ripple effects affecting interstate commerce.  Growing your own wheat for personal use means you're not buying it, which reduces total demand, which affects prices, which crosses state lines.


The parallel, I guess, would be a private joke that might be retold and retold in such a way that the meme crosses a state line.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of December 5, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I keep wondering why my position is apparently so inscrutable to people because I never said that conflict of interest doesn't exist. I already said above "I think it's plausible that Jim Baker would at least have a strong motive to conceal things that would impugn the FBI which is his previous employer, but motive is not the same thing as commission." I think the pushback I'm getting on this issue is maybe that "I don't have enough evidence to believe Baker was acting in bad faith" is being interpreted as having a silent "therefore, he acted in good faith" follow-up.




For myself, I'm essentially taking the conflict of interest as a strong signal of probable bad faith, as in, a good faith counsel would have noticed the conflict, and assigned the task to someone else.  Baker obviously did not, and that's the sort of thing that seems like it should need a very good justification, which inclines me to believing Musk (because the world of bad justifications is much larger than the world of good ones).  And frankly, I'm pretty used to unconvincing, bored, boiler-plate denials from spooks, who often seem to kind of suck at advanced lying.


And generally, the context of Musk's takeover really seems like the sort of thing where Jim Baker in particular ought to have gotten a new waiver about this topic in particular.  OTOH, it's not unreasonable to ask why Musk didn't think of this angle beforehand.  On the gripping hand, Musk is doing a ton of shit, it's understandable if he drops a ball occasionally.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 28, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Well, that is not the story I told




Then we are watching two very different movies.  That's the story I imbibed growing up and there may still exist the cringy teenaged political rants on LiveJournal to prove it.  I get annoyed at this discussion because I'm coming with the embarrassed energy of the deconverted.  More generally, I think if I rephrased it less snarkily, something like "After the CRA, basically all of the racists immediately switched to the Republican party and stayed there ever since", the median Redditor would agree, and further agree that all educated people know this is true history.




while in the past social conservatives were Democrats, that is obviously no longer the case, so, whatever the specific details, the claim that "Democrats are the racists because most racists were Democrats sixty years ago" is not a very honest claim.




At this point we're a little deep in the woods, in terms of multiple people jumping into a conversation.  The "newest posts" feed is great for murdering time, but contributes to this sort of situation.  To clarify, I'm not saying the quoted bit above, but I am saying that many of the racist Democrats from 60 years ago stayed Democrats in the wake of the CRA, and many who did switch did so more for other reasons ranging from religion to foreign policy, over the course of that 60 years.  Hlynka, by contrast, was making a separate claim that Democrats are a party of public disorder and violent race baiting, and that this is core enough to the meme cluster "Democrat Party" to be common between old social-con Klansmen and new woke-prog antifa.




So, no, the party's history should not "damn them," because both parties have different compositions than they did in the past.




This is a very isolated demand for rigor.  Dems damn the Republicans for the Southern Strategy and the United States in general for slavery and historical racism, but BlushingFlowerMeme.jpg regarding their own party's history as the party of slavery, the party of the Klan, and the party of Jim Crow.  I'm certainly amenable to "the past is a different country" arguments, but the folks who toppled statues of abolitionists because they don't actually know who the person was don't get a free dodge for that accusation of hypocrisy.