Walterodim
Only equals speak the truth, that’s my thought on’t
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User ID: 551
Walterodim
Only equals speak the truth, that’s my thought on’t
8hr ago
The extremely dangerous men of special forces military units have no desire to signal their extreme dangerousness to the general public when they're out for some drinks with the boys. If anything, these guys are less likely to get into stupid fights for no real reason than the average guy because of their ability to easily keep their cool in stressful situations.
Walterodim
Only equals speak the truth, that’s my thought on’t
8hr ago
Many men are just as stupid, or worse. OK, obviously this guy's lady friend is a moron, but at least she's emotionally invested in the circumstance and is unable to recognize what absolute garbage this individual is. What excuse does anyone else have? Why would anyone's reaction be anything other than advocating a swift and clean execution?
The longer I'm alive, the more straight up antipathy I feel towards addicts. Some people seem to develop more empathy for them over time, but I am pretty well fresh out of it. Guys like this will predictably make life worse for everyone around them, they're much worse than simply worthless, and it's absurd that they just keep getting to make the world around them worse every day.
Walterodim
Only equals speak the truth, that’s my thought on’t
8hr ago
Oh, that sucks. I actually do enjoy boardgames, but I don't buy them often enough to have bumped into that. We grabbed Wingspan and its expansions, Ark Nova, and Brass: Birmingham and we've been pretty happy with that rotating set for the time being. My wife bought me a preorder copy of First Monday in October which makes for delightful nerd cross appeal, but that order went in quite a while ago.
Walterodim
Only equals speak the truth, that’s my thought on’t
15hr ago
My fancy ramen from the Asian grocery does indeed seem to have gone up significantly in price. That's the only "pain" I've been personally felt from the tariffs and I'm pretty sure the response from pro-tariff policy people would be that I should stop buying Chinese noodles and get aboard the Korean noodle train. Because I am a very stable genius, I predicted this months ago:
None. I think the impact of tariffs will turn out to be wildly overrated. I have no actual empirical basis for that belief or an articulable mechanism, I just kind of don't believe that Nike is actually going to have more than a marginal price change. Maybe I'll be wrong, but my current stance is that "tariffs don't work" will be even more true than many people believe.
In all seriousness, I will continue to be actually pretty agnostic about the whole enterprise and think that we won't really know what the actual outcomes are for quite some time yet.
Walterodim
Only equals speak the truth, that’s my thought on’t
21d ago
Expecting someone to be able to ballpark the population of Iran isn't actually looking for deep expertise though, it's expecting a strong generalist's knowledge of trivia. Sitting United States Senators should be better than a typical bar trivia team at knowing things like world capitals and national populations. If they're not at that level, I'd consider them too stupid or incurious to hold the office. Senators should be polymaths with strong interests in things like CIA World Factbook information.
Walterodim
Only equals speak the truth, that’s my thought on’t
24d ago
Are the blackbagging tactics of ICE a necessary evil, a dangerous overstep, or some nuanced in-between?
Assuming we're simply referring to "blackbagging" as forcefully and publicly initiating the detention of illegal aliens for their removal, they are a necessary good. I want the illegal aliens removed, but it would be even better if they simply noticed that they're unwelcome and left of their own accord. To that end, this process should be carried out openly, publicly, and with no undue kindness.
Walterodim
Only equals speak the truth, that’s my thought on’t
28d ago
A drunk driving test should be part of the licensing process, wherein your BAC is monitored while you execute various driving tasks and are force fed alcohol and you should be personally assigned a legal BAC just like you are issued a personal prescription from your eye doctor for your glasses.
Unreasonably fun with incredible bragging rights. Let's go!
Walterodim
Only equals speak the truth, that’s my thought on’t
28d ago
How long after sunrise or before complete sunset do you need to turn on headlights, and what amount of rain should you?
I remain baffled by people that don't just turn on their headlights as soon as they turn the key.
Walterodim
Only equals speak the truth, that’s my thought on’t
28d ago
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Yes, obviously, and not doing so is antisocial behavior. You don't actually know if nobody is around! Develop good habits and stick with them on autopilot.
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Generally yes, with the caveat that a slow roll through an all-way stop at high visibility intersections is basically fine.
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No, too many American speed limits are poorly set. I would prefer well-set speed limits that were rigidly enforced to ensure smooth traffic flow, but that does not match the current state of affairs.
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Yes, although I don't actually condone tailgating. Certainly understandable behavior with left-lane campers though!
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Ambiguous - guilt doesn't enter the equation for me here, only risk.
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No, I try to be consistent and ethical in my choices. For example, I am willing to miss my exit and go to the next one rather than cutting someone off. Risk mitigation is critical to me in driving.
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Yes - cyclists breaking laws is much more tolerable than motorists doing so and people that want to hold them to the same standard are being ridiculous. Cyclists rolling stop signs is completely fine, for example.
Walterodim
Only equals speak the truth, that’s my thought on’t
29d ago
Perhaps it's Pollyannaish but I wish that we could do our shaming in a more dignified, and less clearly antagonistic way.
I just don't think this is how shame works. If what you're doing deserves to be treated with dignity and without antagonism, you should not be shamed! In fact, it will probably be very difficult to shame you if you actually know that you're conducting yourself in a dignified fashion and feel strongly that the people who suggest otherwise are in the wrong. I don't think it's plausible to accurately convey that people should not wish to turn out like Aella without flatly saying that she is an unshowered prostitute and thus should not be treated as a serious person.
Walterodim
Only equals speak the truth, that’s my thought on’t
1mo ago
Fortunately, she did tell me that she liked it when I went on infodumps.
For guys with the inclinations we have, it is an absolute imperative to marry women that at least sometimes enjoy the infodumps. Having the desire to share information rejected as uninteresting is the kind of thing that a guy can only take so many times.
Walterodim
Only equals speak the truth, that’s my thought on’t
1mo ago
I also didn't know anyone that died. My octogenarian grandparents got it and were fine.
Opioids on the other hand... well, I was from a poor rural town. A couple old friends that I have very fond memories of apparently got hooked on something and died, although the specifics are murky.
Walterodim
Only equals speak the truth, that’s my thought on’t
1mo ago
I continue to dislike that as the primary metric of doing better during Covid. The important way that Sweden did better is that they engaged in fewer human rights violations, which is much more important to me than how many elderly people passed away of natural causes.
Walterodim
Only equals speak the truth, that’s my thought on’t
1mo ago
We can just count total deaths. A bunch more people died than usual. We don't really tend to miscount how many people died.
Walterodim
Only equals speak the truth, that’s my thought on’t
1mo ago
During the same period, roughly 15 million Americans died in total. I just really doubt that the average person can notice an ~8% increase in death rate, particularly when most of the people dying aren't people that you're very surprised died. My position remains that basically nothing should have been done other than expediting the vaccination schedule even further for those that would plausibly benefit from it and I've never seen anything that makes me think that position is even slightly wrong.
Maybe the real lesson is that evenly distributed deaths just aren't very noticeable even if they're statistically relevant.
Walterodim
Only equals speak the truth, that’s my thought on’t
1mo ago
I don't have any inclination to sleep in the middle of the day, but if I wanted to spend an hour doing something where I was sure I wouldn't inadvertently fall asleep I'd either go for a run or play some vidya.
Walterodim
Only equals speak the truth, that’s my thought on’t
1mo ago
Seconding @pigeonburger, I'm not even packing light! I always have a laptop (Macbook Pro, not even a slim one) and iPad. I'll usually have two pairs of shoes in the bag (running shoes and dress shoes). Running clothes, dressier clothes for work, a hat for running, a warm hat for chilly days, and more.
I'm with you on overpacking for driving trips because it just doesn't matter - throwing another bag in the car is pretty much the same thing as doing one fewer. On flying trips though, it's just unreasonably convenient to have the soft-sided bag to avoid ever needing to even gate-check a bag. I wouldn't quite go so far as calling it a virtue to figure out travel economy, but it's something in that direction.
Wheeled luggage came about shortly after the Women's Rights Movement made it more common for women to travel on their own, and whereas a typical man would feel weak if he avoided carrying his own luggage, a typical woman would feel foolish if she didn't.
The typical man should still feel this way. Traveling with something like a Cotopaxi backpack is superior for the vast majority of applications to the point where I wonder how so many people got psyopped into using these unwieldy rollers that I watch them fighting to fit into overhead compartments.
Walterodim
Only equals speak the truth, that’s my thought on’t
1mo ago
At least until there's a volunteer manpower shortage and they either pay someone to comply with the onerous amount of boring administration or they wind the requirements back.
The bureaucrats and politicians won't be sad about that either. People that aren't on the payroll don't have the same levers to pull and thus lack the same sort of patron/client relationships that political types thrive on. Oh, sure, there might be budgetary problems, but that usually just resolves as a referendum on property taxes that everyone dutifully agrees need to be raised.
Walterodim
Only equals speak the truth, that’s my thought on’t
2mo ago
I know poly isn't for me, but if someone says it works for them, who am I to argue?
Many people claim things are good for them that self-evidently aren't. Whether this is one of them or not isn't easily answerable, but you don't actually have to accept a junkie's claim that he just really enjoys the freedom of living in a tent.
Walterodim
Only equals speak the truth, that’s my thought on’t
2mo ago
But because our culture glorifies working in the sports, fashion and entertainment industries, and scorns working in a normal job like a normal person (bullshit jobs,4 soul-crushing desk job etc.), lots of people keep pursuing their dream job long past the point at which it’s abundantly obvious that they’re not talented enough to make a living as a rapper or streamer.
Most people trying to make it as rappers and streamers probably don't actually have a powerful skill set that could be swapped out for a strong income elsewhere, so the people I feel really bad for are the postdocs plugging away in research labs well into their 30s, making a pittance and crossing their fingers that they'll finally get an academic offer. Academic research isn't quite as extreme of a rockstar profession as rapping, but it is actually a gamble with enormous opportunity cost relative to other options that high-IQ people that are willing to work long hours can take.
The biggest piece of advice I can give to talented young people is to stay flexible, that you don't actually know what your dream career is when you're choosing the starting path as a teenager.
Walterodim
Only equals speak the truth, that’s my thought on’t
2mo ago
Other expensive imported whiskey- Black
I would be shocked to see a black dude drinking Red Spot or Yamazaki 12. Are you thinking cognac rather than whiskey?
Walterodim
Only equals speak the truth, that’s my thought on’t
2mo ago
What's maximally red-coded? Probably Jack Daniels?
I feel like an upscale liquor shelf kind of supersedes the tribes. I would be equally unsurprised to see BTAC bottles at a car dealer's home in the suburbs as an academic's bungalow in the city.
Walterodim
Only equals speak the truth, that’s my thought on’t
2mo ago
I think this one was always going to stick because Trump doesn't like booze. Annoying, but here we are.
Yeah, I don't know, chalk it up to small sample size I guess. I only know a couple of these guys and they're both pretty relaxed and have no tattoos at all. I'm obviously aware that plenty of soldiers have tattoos, but I get a completely different impression than I do from the face and knuckle tattoo guys on that front as well.
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