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SubstantialFrivolity

I'm not even supposed to be here today

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joined 2022 September 04 22:41:30 UTC
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User ID: 225


				
				
				

			

		

	














	


		


			



	

		

			

			

				

					

						

							
						

						

							
							

								
SubstantialFrivolity


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
I'm not even supposed to be here today

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2022 September 04 22:41:30 UTC
				


				
					

					
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User ID: 225


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
							
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				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 1, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


But the failure mode there is that we are liable to deceive ourselves and let ourselves off the hook too easily if our only standard is subjective difficulty.




That, too, is a character flaw. It's honestly not that hard to set reasonable standards for yourself which are genuinely challenging to you. If someone is lacking in character such that they aren't willing to do that, then there's nothing you, I, or anyone can do to help them.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 1, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Are you sure that your sense of pride is completely independent of your environment?




Yes, of course I'm sure. The pride is in the challenge I overcame, not because it makes me better than anyone else.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for April 26, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Typically I like to read sitting in my recliner, but now that my recliner has been consigned to the basement (RIP) I sit on the couch. I can't really read lying down for long periods of time, as I'm too fat to really lie on my belly comfortably and it gets tiring to hold the book lying on my back.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 7, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I don't quite follow. If one never uses the centralized service then surely there's no problem? Because then there are no "friends" for it to share your data with.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 1, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Cooking. It's not hard to do, almost everyone can cook to some extent. But when I cook a dish that is challenging (for me), I'm proud of it no matter how easy it would be for most people.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 1, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
No it isn't. A person of good character strives to excel because excellence is its own reward, not because they can beat others.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 25, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


the shrink usually doesn’t make a claim on 10% of your income.




Good news (pun intended): neither does Christianity. You're encouraged to give what you can, not required to give 10%. 10% is just a decent reference point for "it hurts but is bearable".


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 21, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Sure!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 21, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'm currently reading Iron Gold by Pierce Brown. I am not really enjoying it, but people have assured me that the next book gets back to the excellence of the first three, so I'm trying to slog through it.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 21, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Sublime Text is top tier. VSCode is good but a memory hog, same for the Jetbrains suite. Nano is fine for making quick edits in a terminal. Vim pales in comparison to the aforementioned GUI editors for editing large files (or large amounts of files), and it's too obtuse compared to nano for making quick edits. I don't think it has a good use case.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for April 17, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
It just seems too good to be true, haha. I also feel like it's a moral failing if I have to resort to drugs to solve my willpower issues... but maybe I'm just being irrational and I should look at it as "this will significantly improve my health if it works".


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 14, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I always ask why don't they just clean up the place and rent it out and it's always a "eh, I guess I could do that, but eh, Im fine".




My wife and I have looked into finishing our basement. We don't have the skills to do a good job of it ourselves, so we would need to hire a contractor. We found out that it would cost us about $40,000 to hire a contractor to do that project. That's not an insurmountable amount of money, but it's not easy to come by either. So our basement remains untouched.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 1, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
It's an interesting point, but I don't think that edge cases existing mean that the definition is wrong. Sure, if we wanted to we could spend probably hours to hammer out a definition which solves all the edge cases. But that's true of any definition.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 1, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That's certainly an edge case. But I don't think it invalidates my position.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 21, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That is pretty much how I feel as well. There's a trend I really dislike in the software industry to prioritize developers' ease of development over the quality of the users' experience. But ultimately, software should be written to deliver the best product to the user, not to be the easiest for the developers to make.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 15, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


But every piece of media I see for BG3 seems to trigger a reflexive disinterest. There's something so self-consciously table-toppy about it that feels LARPy, for lack of a better word.




Yeah, I know what you mean. I like BG3 well enough, but it feels like it's trying to very consciously emphasize its D&D heritage. For example, the way every skill check brings up a big dramatic die roll animation. It also annoys me that they lean into popular concepts of what D&D is like (but which are actually false), such as natural 1/20 rolls having an effect on skill checks.


I wish that they would spend less energy on the "it's D&D!!!" schtick, and just be ok with the fact that it's a computer game. But maybe people love that stuff, IDK.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 14, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
My impression (never owned one) was that the problem with Google Glass wasn't the tech, but social acceptance. It was at best seen as dorky, and at worst met with open hostility (e.g. the "glasshole" epithet). I think that's the issue you would need to solve. I hate to say it, but the solution is probably to have Apple make one. There won't be any meaningful improvement, but suddenly people will think it's cool because has a fruit logo.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 1, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Then I think your argument isn't very good because virtue is not lessened by lack of scarcity. Almost nobody murders people, but that doesn't mean it's not valuable to refrain from killing. And if someone really struggled with anger issues such that it was a real struggle for them to not get violent with people, I would say they should be proud at their success even though most people find it easy.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for April 17, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Ozempic. If you can afford it. Nothing easier and simpler, or trendier.




So, what's the deal with Ozempic? My doctor suggested that it might be worth thinking about at some point because I'm diabetic, and the nice side effect is it would help me lose weight. But the thing I struggle with is that... well, food is delicious. Is the drug really going to help lower my desire to eat tasty things?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for April 17, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Thinking over the examples you provided and the ones I provided, it seems like the key distinction is the underlying cause. In the case of gaining weight it seems like what is a problem is not the physical appearance per se, but rather the fact that your spouse isn't taking care of him/herself any more. In that light it seems fair to say physical appearance isn't important except insofar as it is the symptom of a problem one considers to be a character flaw. What do you think?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for April 12, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
To be honest, I can't even tell North or South Indian folks apart. Then again it's not like people wear a badge saying what part of the country they are from, so unless you know the differences already it seems like it would be hard to suss out. The only thing I know about different regions of India is that a friend at a previous job (from Chennai) used to talk so much shit about North India, lol. I always took that with a grain of salt but it was pretty funny how much trash he would talk about North Indians.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for April 12, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I guess I don't know statistically what the median is, but to me (and I think to most people I know) $35k is kind of expensive. Not like hella expensive, but enough that it would be out of reach for a lot of people.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 7, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I'm so devoted to not relying on centralized services I went with Jellyfin instead.




To be fair, Plex isn't inherently centralized. They offer that, but it's perfectly possible to not ever hook your media server up to their centralized service.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 1, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Are you proud of breathing? No, because everyone can do it.




No, it's because it isn't challenging for me. Whether other people can do it doesn't factor in.




Are you proud of knowing how to swim? No, because it's extremely common to be able to swim.




I am in fact mildly proud of knowing how to swim, because it was challenging for me to learn. Less proud because I haven't swam in years and so I've lost the skill somewhat, but I still have reason to be proud of the effort I made.




This is as true for achievements as it is for physical goods.




It's not at all true for achievements.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 1, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Assuming they can consent, no. It's very bad and should wind you in prison for a long time. But it's not rape, because that word means something specific. "Rape" is not a catch all term for "any evil behavior involving sex".