TheGodhead
5mo ago
Any fans of Warhammer 3 or Victoria 3 here? I’m not a serious gamer at all, picked them up on a Steam sale and just find them confusing. Only game I’ve played seriously is the last three Civilization entries and even then I only have 600 hrs on Civ 6 since 2016.
TheGodhead
11mo ago
Situation I’m really nervous about for some reason that I could use some advice on:
Was asked out on a beach date tomorrow night. I’ve been on several bar dates before and I think I have those down to a science but this is my first ever beach date, and that somehow feels like a very different vibe. I suggested we have mimosas and watch the sunset by which I meant order some at the bar before walking around on the sand but then she mentioned she has nice mimosa cups so I guess she means we make our own? I told her I’d bring champagne. Anything else I should have? Beach towel, swimming trunks, sandals, seem obvious. What sort of cooler should I get for the champagne/orange juice? Probably overthinking this but she’s sort of intimidating to me
TheGodhead
9mo ago
Is anyone of the opinion that even honest, non-coercive casual sex is immoral, for secular reasons? I think I share a common preference among men that I’d rarely pass up on a hookup with an attractive woman but would probably not date a woman long-term who has slept around too much (“too much” is probably decided on a case-by-case basis and there are other factors involved). I can see how that’s hypocritical in one sense. And according to my own value system, I’m denigrating the value of women I have no long-term intentions with but other men with my shared preferences might. But a certain libertarian perspective also says “whatever is honest, legal, and uncoerced is ethical” and men (including me, probably) will just have to learn to settle later in life for women with a higher body count than they deem acceptable.
TheGodhead
11mo ago
I’m finally getting circumcised later this month as a 24 year old to treat mild phimosis and severe frenulum breve. Hoping this will give me the ability to have some semblance of a normal sex life. Has anyone had this procedure as a teen/adult?
TheGodhead
7mo ago
Thought I'd share my experiences playing soccer for the first time. Maybe some fans can weigh in on this and confirm/deny some of what my friend said in the following story. And if you're not a fan, might motivate you to watch/play a match yourself.
Sports have never really interested me. Try as I might they always seemed repetitive. I have a friend, we'll call him John, who has been playing soccer casually for 11 years now. He often sends me highlights of Ronaldo or Messi's best plays and I sort of just nod at what I assume is impressive athleticism but never really appreciated on a deeper level. Last week I was traveling and ended up in John's city, where he agreed to let me spend a few nights. But he insisted that I join him for a casual soccer game. He plays in a rec league at his university (not varsity) and we weren't even playing with the rec league team, just a bunch of grad students who play casually. The circumstances were less than ideal. I was running on about 7 hours of sleep total the last two nights combined and was kept awake mostly by nicotine. But the weather was nice and John was adamant so I agreed to a match.
I was predictably terrible. Slow runner, uncoordinated, had a hard time keeping track of the action. To make matters worse the players for whatever reason didn't bother to wear any identifying jerseys or headbands so I had to figure out as I went along who was on what team. Overall, I pretty much achieved blocking the player with the ball a few times and forced them to make an inconvenient pass. Not particularly fun but a decent workout at least.
Later at John's apartment, he asked me some questions about the experience and we talked in person for the first time about the game and why he enjoyed it so much. As we talked, I began to understand the appeal myself, even as an unathletic STEM guy. John basically made it seem like, at the highest level, soccer is more of a mind game than a test of speed and strength. Before, I naively thought the game worked like this: "You dribble as fast as possible. You keep track of the few people closest to you and look to pass it to the teammate closest to the other team's goal who is available. Rinse repeat until you win the game." In a sense this isn't wrong, but I massively underestimated just how much information processing the best players do during a game. John estimated that as one of the better players in his rec league, that he could keep track of 4-5 objects on the field with a very high level of accuracy. Say, the ball and 4 of the players' bodies. He guessed that the best player in his rec league could track 6-7 objects at the same level, and the best pros could easily handle over 20. Idk how accurate this is. But to prove his point he analyzed a play by Sergio Busquets (I'll edit this post with the video once I find it) where he, based on a very brief <1s glimpse of a teammate in his peripheral vision, running at an angle to him, knew exactly where to pass the ball such that it would reach said teammate from a distance. And it was by far the best pass possible in the situation, far from any of the other team members. In another video, he receives a pass from a teammate despite 3 defenders standing between him and the ball. This seems impossible. How did he know where to stand? The answer: he was watching where the defenders were looking the entire time enough to know they hadn't seen him. I had no idea that level of spatial awareness, that fast and over such a large distance, was even possible.
Some more videos he showed me featured Ronaldo scoring goals in the dark and Ronaldo pulling off knuckleballs, basically a technique where you kick the ball with such little spin that it takes on a very erratic trajectory, but when does correctly might lead a goalkeeper to anticipate where it would land had it had a normal spin.
Overall, much more interesting things going on that I had previously given the game credit for. And something I could see myself watching in the future. Also worth noting that for the first hour of my own match, I felt like I was going to vomit or faint. But after that, I got a second wind of energy, and felt very relaxed, even had a mild runner's high. John explained it as my body burning fat instead of the glucose in my bloodstream, have no idea if this is bro science or not.
TheGodhead
1yr ago
Where's the what are you reading guy? What are you reading?
TheGodhead
1yr ago
Do you consider work generated by ChatGPT to be theft of intellectual property of the writers who wrote the text used in the training data? I’m fairly confident in saying its not because transformers generate fairly novel content word-by-word, especially for fiction prompts, but am open to being convinced otherwise. If you agree with me, what’s a simple way of explaining to normies that ChatGPT-generated content is not IP theft?
TheGodhead
8mo ago
Interesting video on Near-Death Experiences and what they might tell us about the afterlife.
It's basically a summary of the book "Why An Afterlife Obviously Exists" by Swedish philosopher Jens Amberts. It makes the case that:
- Almost everyone who has an NDE comes to believe in an afterlife
- There are no psychological/sociological predictors of who has an NDE, so they are a random sample of the population
- 10s of millions of people have had them
- They're skewed by age ofc, but even children who've had these experiences describe them in similar terms
The go-to physicalist explanation for why these happen is a release of DMT in the brain at the moment of death, which I'm sure the author is aware of. I haven't read the book yet but I'd be curious to know how he compares these experiences to DMT trips. Given the sheer number of people who've had NDEs there must be a few thousand who have also tried DMT, would love to read their thoughts comparing them. Of course, even if they did claim there were substantial differences, we could say that other chemicals are involved in different doses and these are all just a particular flavor of psychedelic trip. Still, seems like a topic worthy of more research.
Considering who posted this it's difficult not to read it as a thinly-veiled rant. I think the responses cover most of the best answers but I'll add that the phenomenon you describe is very exaggerated online where a subset of users (especially on Reddit) have a rabid hatred of incels, Redpillers, and any group of men who have anything less than perfectly normie, bluepilled opinions on gender relations.
I'm reminded of this thread where a young man sexually propositioned a classmate he was friendly with. It did not go well for him. I think his approach was misguided and someone should nicely tell him that, he's still very young and has plenty of time to learn from the mistake. But many of the commenters jumped straight to "he's doomed to be an Andrew Tate fan or an incel". I think this is a bizarre, almost autistic response. Like telling someone posting about struggling with their faith in Christ that they're doomed to be Dawkins fan. There's definitely some people just looking for an excuse to rag on sexually unsuccessful men. Either women who just use them as an outlet for their rage or men virtue signaling their superior moral status.
/r/Tinder is similar. Every now and then a woman will post a man starting a convo with an overly forward pickup line and the comments will be filled with people saying "ha! next thing you know he'll be complaining about how women on Tinder don't wanna fuck him!". Which is especially bizarre considering that the most popular genre of post on the sub is men trying similar lines successfully. Almost like a low-effort, sexualized pickup line will sometimes get you laid on an app designed to get you laid with as little effort as possible. Shocking.
In general I wouldn't put too much stock into the opinions of people who comment things like this. Worth remembering that a lot of the content you read online is produced by insane people. In real life, women are mostly just baffled when they hear an otherwise normal guy is romantically unsuccessful. I remember an ex being shocked my college roommate was still a virgin and she said something along the lines of "why doesn't he just talk to some girls at a frat party and get it over with?". Which is sort of adorably naive. Though tbf that was in 2017, slightly before that incel discourse had reached its peak online.
TheGodhead
11mo ago
Any filler questions that have worked well for you in a conversation lull? Some I’ve used to good effect are:
-what’s your most controversial opinion?
-what’s your worst non-traumatic date experience?
TheGodhead
1yr ago
If you were in charge of setting high school fiction reading curriculums, what books would you choose? I think Dune holds up, maybe Blood Meridian? But I’m not as well read as some of you
I think I might have a last minute v-day date soon (or one tomorrow night). Pretty Argentinian girl, I live in America. Unfortunately, she’s a huge sports fan and I am not. What should I know about the World Cup Finale or the Super Bowl? I didn’t watch either of them. Aside from who played/won ofc. This is a first date.
TheGodhead
1yr ago
My libido fell off a cliff last Saturday (the 5th). Just woke up and it was like sex had lost all appeal to me. I can only get erect with VERY focused extended stimulation. I’m single atm and on a bit of a dry spell so I guess this isn’t a super pressing issue but it feels odd considering I’m only 24. I don’t watch porn so that’s not it. Though I’ve made a habit of rubbing one out to salacious texts from college flings which I guess could have the same effect? Still odd it would affect me this suddenly and all at once. I quit weed cold turkey on the 3rd and have been noticing weird side effects, even though I’ve had multiple t-breaks of similar length in the past with no issues at all. Been waking up slightly nauseous, usually goes away after some dry heaving. Got my testosterone levels checked last week and they’re at 380, which I think is on the low end of normal but shouldn’t itself be the explanation. I did test positive for a UTI last week accompanied by some bladder pain but it went away after 4 days on antibiotics, which I’m still taking. My doctor said my EKG was “slightly off but nothing too concerning” and referred me to a cardiologist and a urologist just to be sure, both appointments set for next week. I suppose they’d have the most relevant advice but this has me extremely concerned and sort of depressed so would appreciate any input. I don’t think I’ve gone a single day without an orgasm since I was 12 and now I do it without even trying. My body fat is at 10.5% and I don’t undereat. I’m not any more stressed than I’ve been at any other point in my life, just minor work-related stuff but I’m financially secure. It has been over a week of this so I’m very concerned.
TheGodhead
11mo ago
The dating app convo was:
Her: (tells story about kissing a puffer fish)
Me: If you kiss a frog you get Prince Charming, turns out I'm what you get if you kiss a pufferfish ;)
Her: Oooh so does that make you the frog or the prince? Or do I just have to wait and find out?
(this makes no sense. I'm clearly the pufferfish who turned into a human. @George_E_Hale this might be where the bad communication starts)
Me: You can find out over a drink this weekend
Me: Promise I won't leave your lips sore ;)
Her: Haha I'll hold you to that
Her: A bit tied up this weekend, how about sometime during the week?
Me: That can work, can you bring your guitar?
(we exchange numbers, plan logistics)
@JhanicManifold might appreciate/have some insights about this
TheGodhead
11mo ago
I’ve tried the “make up stories about strangers” game but did not consider this more risque version, great suggestion
TheGodhead
7mo ago
As a huge fan of the books Season 1 was a massive letdown. I was willing to cut them some slack on some of the standard woke stuff (every country's demographics looking like a college brochure, unisex magic source instead of the book's gendered system) but
To hijack this thread, what's everyone watching? I finished Midnight Mass recently and thought it was great. Well-written, unpredictable, and balanced takes on religion. Starting Yellowjackets now and am not particularly enjoying it.
TheGodhead
9mo ago
I have had very little alcohol throughout my life, but recently I've been going out for 1-2 drinks a week. Even after a light dinner, and one beer, I'm still tipsy enough that I stumble over my words. If I keep this up, can I expect my tolerance to improve any time soon?
TheGodhead
10mo ago
Any advice from overcoming a particular pattern of procrastination where I put off something -> eventually start it which makes me feel stupid for not starting earlier -> causes me to put it off more after minimal progress?
TheGodhead
1yr ago
Is there a good writeup on how AI might affect employment in software engineering in the next 3 years or so?
TheGodhead
3mo ago
Millei seems interesting, anyone have a good summary of his beliefs and policy goals/ how likely he is to achieve them?
Unrelated but what exactly is the Starbucks situation that lead to some people boycotting them? I’ve heard it was nothing more than them telling union workers they couldn’t display the company logo in protests that activists decided to describe as “Starbucks supports genocide”, is this true?
TheGodhead
10mo ago
Male bisexuality is heavily stigmatized among women. Even many women who call themselves allies and post about their support for LGBT rights would find it a turnoff to learn a man sleeps with other men. Female bisexuality on the other hand, is so common (at least among my demographic of Zoomer yuppies) that it wouldn't signal much of a loosening of priors at this point. So it's mostly gays who have their own communities now.
TheGodhead
11mo ago
Yeah I agree correcting them just kills the vibe mostly.
But also she cancelled:
8:43 AM Me: Hey are we still on for tonight?
11:40 AM Her: Hey, I think I’m gonna have to rain check🤦🏽♀️ sorry
11:40 AM Her: In denial ab how much shit I have to do this week lol
I think 95% of the time this means they are simply not interested but our conversation and her company/job title makes me think she is actually busy. (Although Some chance I’m thinking with my dick here because she is exactly my type).
Should I text back at like 9PM to reschedule and then add something cheeky like “you owe me the entire Stairway to Heaven solo now btw”?
TheGodhead
11mo ago
Wow you are much braver than me, I’ve never said anything like this unless a girl specifically alluded to us having sex. But kissing was heavily implied on the dating app convo.
TheGodhead
1yr ago
I have tons and tons of examples from apps I can share and 0 irl. I think if you’re not unattractive best bet is to move somewhere with lots of women in your age group and get on the apps. But I also only avoid in-person approaches because I’m short and brown.
Not-so-small scale question but this is probably the only place I can get an informed answer on this not constrained by political correctness: what’s your overarching theory of why Western Europe and its descendants are the world’s most influential civilization of the past few centuries?
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