Tretiak
If you know you know, if you don’t you don’t
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User ID: 2418
Tretiak
If you know you know, if you don’t you don’t
1d ago
Good luck to your search, truly; but right now the market for this stuff is getting ‘hammered’ and is over saturated as of late. The word among the people I know is if you have a good job already, keep it. Don’t make the jump. If what you’ve got looks promising, make the jump, but be careful.
Tretiak
If you know you know, if you don’t you don’t
1d ago
Are the Knight’s Templar currently bombing Iran? What’s going on today isn’t a religious war.
Tretiak
If you know you know, if you don’t you don’t
1d ago
Protestantism always struck me as a dead end theologically. Sola Scriptura ultimately leads to complete doctrinal anarchy. Scripture according to ‘whose’ interpretation? Mine? Yours? Church tradition? It’s a complete misnomer to reject Sacred Tradition because it provides the historical framework of interpretation for reading the Bible.
Still not sure how that idea even works. If you’re a libertarian up to the borders then you shouldn’t be a libertarian at all. Makes me think of Erdogan’s quote about democracy:
Democracy is like a train: when you reach your destination, you get off.
In one sense they care about freedom a lot and in another they don’t care about it at all. Most societies on Earth aren’t actively restricting people’s freedom of movement or motion, but you can feel when you can’t openly discuss a particular issue or criticize the government. And in the US the same condition is present, even with an explicit commitment to free speech. Where the difference lies is that your right to speech doesn’t protect you from criticism, lost social opportunities or other forms of non-violent retribution. What it does do is prevent the government from suppressing your right to speak.
Americans take freedom of speech for granted and don’t recognize its significance until the moment someone comes along and takes it away from them.
The current political paradigm fails though because it doesn’t recognize that borders aren’t just geographic demarcation lines. Borders are also social and economic between people in societies. When legitimacy and central authority begin to fray, governance defaults to the local. Afghan militias followed ethnic lines. In Iraq it was sectarian and it’s interesting to observe how these fiefs and warlord societies formalize into legitimate states over time. Beneath all sovereign governments you’ve still got the power networks of para-sovereigns in society that you have to deal with. They don’t own land outright but effectively control autonomous zones. Gangs do this in the west. ISIS did this in Iraq and Syria. The CCP in China did this under Mao and then successfully took over the government.
If you’ve ever read about the history of Congo they are a great case that makes the point. In the east you had rebel commanders like Laurent Nkunda and Mai-Mai leaders that acted as sovereigns. They taxed mines and border crossings and directly negotiated with multinational firms. It blurred the lines between where rebellion and legitimate rulership began.
In Liberia and Sierra Leone, Charles Taylor benefitted enormously from the blood diamond trade back in the 90’s and used widespread violence on the populations but also held territory. Even though it was brutal, one consequence that fell out of that was that it imposed discipline on the population and they built basic services and then transitioned into a formally recognized power when he won the Liberian presidency. Later he of course resigned under enormous international pressure but it was a testament to how deeply his rule became entrenched.
Tretiak
If you know you know, if you don’t you don’t
2d ago
COVID changed things quite a bit for a lot of people. I’ve had my questions marks with some of the people I’ve met, but usually there’s other things going on in the background. I’ve seen some surprising familial organizing of finances, deals cut, and a couple of creative financing loans made out in the Menlo Park area as well as Fresno.
During a family gathering around the holidays last year, a couple relatives of mine made some home purchases out in Utah and a couple places elsewhere that they had plans for as it relates to business developments they wanted to expand. Which is interesting because some years back my landlord who I’d known for years did something remarkably similar. None of it made much sense to me at a first pass but there’s a conflux of interesting undercurrents driving this behavior I think.
Tretiak
If you know you know, if you don’t you don’t
2d ago
The problem is where does this progressivism work outside of the big cities and already blue democratic strongholds? It works essentially nowhere else which is why the party line stays closer to the establishment because the left can’t win the nation on progressive ideology.
Tretiak
If you know you know, if you don’t you don’t
2d ago
Vibes are how most people do anything. Anyone who’s ever made an impulse purchase has done so directly on that basis. Only for the most critical decisions do people tally the evidence and weigh the counter objections and even then, they don’t spend that much time doing any real thought.
Tretiak
If you know you know, if you don’t you don’t
2d ago
I think that's exactly what he's talking about:
... I was referencing the the trail of tears
That's "at the expense" and tail end of things that sits on a pile of injustices and atrocities where the flag of "progress" gets planted.
Tretiak
If you know you know, if you don’t you don’t
2d ago
I don't agree with you must of the time but the GOP won't be over for the next decade. I know it feels that way in the present but it isn't true. You're looking at him through the prism of seeing a sitting American president. The people that elected him elected a wrecking ball, not a suit that focus group's every third sentence. That isn't what they wanted. When people say "... but Kamala's platform was better than Trump's...," that presumes there's political will and integrity behind the candidate and their administration. People need to touch and feel tangible results in their own life to believe that the political system is working for them. Saying "fiscal spending is going to increase $200 billion for clean energy initiatives," is empty when compared to a $1,200 COVID stimulus check that shows up in people's bank accounts.
Tretiak
If you know you know, if you don’t you don’t
2d ago
Does the ‘flavor’ of jackass really matter in this sense?
My ex-girlfriend who was a convert to Islam years ago, used to take me to a local mosque in the area that was a well known Shia mosque. I used to have dialogues and debate with the Imam who would lead these massive groups in prayer and they knew I was a Catholic, but were very welcoming and always looking to talk to me when I went, but I was a very irregular attendee. They gave me English-Arabic supplication and prayer books and all kinds of other stuff. Was very interesting to read. He was from Iran and at least some of the regulars of the mosque had family back in the Middle East. On the other hand, I've had lifelong friends who are more or less secular but culturally Muslim/Assyrian, and would go back and visit their families in Amman Jordan and elsewhere. They'd always tell me, "... you ain't shit in the Muslim world until you've threatened death to Israel and had at least half a dozen of your cousins killed..." One of them in particular who is half Arab half Italian and was from al-Sajariyah in Anbar Province in Iraq originally, has relatives who were active ISIS fighters who fought in the siege of Deir ez-Zor and battle of Kobane. Some of them were killed in American airstrikes. You never bring up the American military in conversation with them here when talking to them; it’s a very sore thumb that raises the anger levels.
Tretiak
If you know you know, if you don’t you don’t
3d ago
Try watching Indian news coverage of the Iran-Israel war. I shit you not, when it first broke out, they were amping up the participants and playing this almost headbanger type music, you'd have thought it was a WWE event and the anchor was the announcer. First thing I did was scroll to the comment section and I was not disappointed.
I always preferred Saint Augustine's rendition in City of God, "A man serves as many masters as he has vices,” if Dogmatic Theology is your thing. Or if you prefer Nihilism, there's always Tyler Durden, "The things you own, end up owning you." Or the Bodhidharma if Zen Buddhism is your thing, “All phenomenon are empty. They contain nothing worth valuing.” Or Charles Bukowski if Amerian literature is your thing, “Find what you love and let it kill you.” These are all logically identical statements when you run the full gamut of logical consequences under them.
Tretiak
If you know you know, if you don’t you don’t
3d ago
Almost done with my current book. Next one I have close to me is Night of Power. I abhor Fisk’s writing style and it’s extremely difficult for me to read narrative history; I’ve always found it incredibly boring. It was recommended to me by a friend after I recommended to him The Fall of Israel.
Tretiak
If you know you know, if you don’t you don’t
3d ago
Strange isn’t it? If you want to be ethical and rich, law is one discipline you’re better off avoiding relative to other career paths.
I don’t think anyone is saying it doesn’t have its use cases. It’s a problem of expectations both on the technical as well as the business side. If you’re using it to replace workers, you’re making an objectively bad business decision. If you’re using it to automate and assist workflows, then it’s probably good.
Tretiak
If you know you know, if you don’t you don’t
3d ago
I never knew it was any different. I was singing that song in my head a couple weeks ago.
In Pete’s case, the aesthetics has already gone south. Aretaics couldn’t be all that salvific if it produced the same mediocre outcomes. It’s the case with all moral systems. Moral systems fail as people ‘depart’ from their values unless the content itself is the object of your critique (e.g. Nietzsche).
I read an analysis a few years ago that did the political demographic split of the region I’m from and we’re almost ‘perfectly’ split between Republican and Democrat, something like 50.x% - 49.x%. But even so, red and blue mean different things in different places. In the Bay Area I’d be considered blood red if I openly expressed my views, even though I’m far from Republican. In the Midwest I’d be considered solid blue even though I’m far from them too. The kind of “right-wing” I am you’d find in a place like Russia or the People’s Action Party in Singapore. “Authoritarianism” and “collectivism” are not pejorative terms in my political vocabulary. It was core to the functioning culture we had growing up. You can have it in both good and bad ways. But they exist all over the place.
But there are pockets that develop their own unique subcultures all across the US. The bonds are no longer as strong as they used to be due to technology and at the time I was growing up, lots of changes were taking place as well, but I was definitely raised with the old guard mentality and so were my peers. The way it was once put to me was our locale was a group of cultured thugs. It made me smirk at the time but in retrospect it was accurate. Our community produced a lot of very intelligent young kids who had to grow up in an area that was tough to live in, especially with the changes that were happening at that time. They weren’t just street smart, I met a lot of IQ smart people there who had this… "thuggish" edge about them. The only thing I know how to liken it to is someone like Bane from the Batman franchise. Although he wasn’t represented entirely accurately in the later film based on the comics, Nolan nevertheless did a good job getting Tom Hardy to play the part. Bane was a gangster who was a genius. He wore lab coats, contributed to various scientific fields and moonlighted as a gangbanger. If you crossed a geek with a gangbanger, you’d get a lot of the kids we had. They could talk physics with you, how to fix a car, British history, were very well read, etc., and they’d gangbang, get into fights, go to the gym, play rap music and hang out with the people they grew up around. It was normal to us, but I can see how people in the Bay Area would find it strange.
But your characterization is also quite accurate.
Tretiak
If you know you know, if you don’t you don’t
3d ago
I wasn’t referring to American Orthodoxy specifically, maybe that’s why it’s somewhat confused. Policy-wise, I obviously can’t speak to the footprint the tradition has in steering the politics of places like Greece or Russia. But if people want to associate environmentalism with left-wing ideologies, they’re fairly ignorant because it has a big impact in the thinking of Christians.
Tretiak
If you know you know, if you don’t you don’t
3d ago
I have an MCAD deficiency. I’ll be fine.
SP’s can be good for serving very local requirements that don’t depend on supplying energy on a massive scale. If you want to provide electricity to a particular household, then fine. A general problem with the energy intake however is as you said, with wind and solar it’s highly intermittent and varies all over the place. Who knows though, maybe with climate change fucking up the whole stratosphere maybe the opportunity’s there for SP’s to harvest 10x the amount of energy. That sounds like Beavis and Butthead physics to me (“let’s just keep polluting so we can trap more energy in the planet…”), but it’s the only way I could imagine solar to work at any large scale. (No, that isn’t how that works.)
Tretiak
If you know you know, if you don’t you don’t
4d ago
Not many people remember years ago when there was debate about how automotive EV’s will ever become mainstream and you’ll never get people to switch over to using them. Next thing you know Elon (or rather the marketing department) came around and made it look “cool” to own a Tesla. Now you see them almost everywhere in the big cities. My mechanic however recently told me there’s something of an undercurrent of desire among people looking to go retro and away from all the bells and whistles. A lot of people want older cars little more advanced than a decent radio and power locks and windows; and I’m with them on that. I shook my head in disbelief years ago at the thought of “firmware,” or having to install a software patch on my car. Just give me something affordable, reliable and industrial; and that can be maintained. That’s all I need.
That’s always how it’s been throughout history though. And this is no different. “Without justice, what are kingdoms but great robberies?” Every claim is given at least a thin veil of justification and some justification may indeed really be present but power has always been a first principle, first and foremost. No country on Earth is going to cede territory to someone else out of superior moral arguments or by divine edict.
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