self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
I'm a transhumanist doctor. In a better world, I wouldn't need to add that as a qualifier to plain old "doctor". It would be taken as granted for someone in the profession of saving lives.
At any rate, I intend to live forever or die trying. See you at Heat Death!
Friends:
A friend to everyone is a friend to no one.
User ID: 454
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
6hr ago
Where do I begin? People starting fist fights after a bit of Bolivian Nose Candy, someone showing off his Thai girlfriend from a village without electricity about half an hour before his actual Scottish girlfriend (likely underage) showed up to pick his drunk ass up, someone telling me about his lengthy run-ins with the law, and then telling me he's the good'un, since his dad literally murdered people with grenades over football fandom disputes.
I've been in a stranger's apartment at 6 am, desperately chugging coffee to stay awake, because I didn't trust them enough to pass out in front of them. Some schizo guy telling me about his fervent patriotism for India (it was the dude with the Thai girlfriend) and general distaste for Islam. He offered to volunteer for the Indian Army if war broke out with Pakistan, and I had to gently dissuade him, telling him that if there's one thing the country doesn't lack, it's manpower.
I have stories. I've written some of them up, but I'm sitting on them for a retirement memoir, or because the GMC might dislike my openness to experience. Good times, as long as you know where the exit is.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
6hr ago
I'm aware that the novel takes a few liberties and "romanticizes" historical events, but is still reasonably grounded. I'd honestly be fine with either, though if I had to choose it would be the Romance.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
7hr ago
That's a shame, but I suppose the stigma around the hobby is there for a reason. I'm perfectly content reading the lore and playing the odd good video game that comes out.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
10hr ago
What's the best bang for your buck (in terms of QOL) purchase you've ever made? The cheaper the better.
I'd say in-ear earphones with solid ANC are up there. I'm sitting outside the arrivals section of a busy international airport, and I felt mildly annoyed by the honking and general noise with earphones on and ANC engaged. Then I took them off to check and was practically deafened. Yup, they're cutting down 90% of the cacophony.
I own a pair of Galaxy Buds 3 Pros, purchased at about £130. I think they sound great, the ANC isn't quite as good as the Airpods I bought my brother on his birthday, but it's clearly a cut above my older Buds 2 Pro (Plus?). I happen to prefer the sound quality, and unless you've got an iPhone, they're about the best you can get on an Android device that isn't rooted and running Libre Pods. In fact, good ANC tends to improve sound quality overall in my experience, as it preserves bass by changing the acoustic impedance.
(The default Android kernel has a buggy, non-compliant Bluetooth stack. Until Google upstreams a patch, you need the root to get actual standards compliance and the ability to make use of all the Airpods' features.)
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
11hr ago
I'm aware of the franchise, but the gameplay isn't quite up my alley. I do already have passing familiarity with the major players, though I'm not sure I could name Lu Bu's horse (White Rabbit? Idk) haha. Maybe I'll check out a YouTuber who does cinematic play throughs, that might help. Thanks!
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
11hr ago
Thanks!
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
11hr ago
Thanks! I had a look at the Substack, and while it's a decent glossary and dramatis personae, I was looking for something less dry. But it's useful context.
Sadly the gameplay of Dynasty Warriors is the opposite of what I'm into. I know Total War Three Kingdoms is solid, but due to severe mismanagement, it barely gets into the actual meat of the Three Kingdoms period.
I'll keep hunting, while I think there's a real chance of a Chinese Century, learning Chinese from scratch sounds rather daunting. I've translated entire Xianxia novels with AI with excellent results, so in theory I could do that if I had to.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
11hr ago
I'm not against meta elements, if they're done well. That's easier said than done, the best example that comes to mind is Worth The Candle, which is actually elevated by the main character being a self-insert struggling against the constraints of the Random Omnipotent Being, who is also a self-insert of sorts.
I'll give PTGE another try, God knows I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel for books that appeal to my tastes.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
11hr ago
I've been tempted in the past, but back then, I didn't have the money. Now I do have the money, but I live in a shared apartment and I can't justify the hassle of setup and proper ventilation etc. Maybe a Bambu Labs at some point when I've got the room, it's probably cheaper than buying a full Knight Lance or a Forgeworld Titan.
Hell, my preferred way to play 40k would be something like Tabletop Simulator if I wanted to stick to the original rules, or even better, the upcoming Total War: Warhammer 40k game. It's one thing to 3D print the minis, it's another to paint them (how many coats? And how much does that cost?) and then find people to play with. Some GW stores tend to take a hardline stance against third party miniatures, or people hanging around in their stores without ever buying anything.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
11hr ago
He's just built different 💪
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
22hr ago
Thanks! It doesn't seem to be available here either, though the 1994 series is. Is that any good or should I go hunting?
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
22hr ago
Hey, I presume that providing handjobs at least fixes the incel problem? I'll jizz for AdMech with jezzails any day.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
1d ago
I have an epub of The Practical Guide to Evil staring at me in my e-reader app. I only got a few dozen pages into it before my eyes started glazing over.
First impressions are poor. It's written like YA webfic slop, with a frisky and pugnacious teenage female protagonist who we are introduced to in the process of beating up a man thrice her size in a fistfight. I get the impression that there's a diegetic explanation, something to do with some people being "archetypes" and thus imbued with narrativium powers, recognized in-universe. But come on, surely we can do better than that. The story also tries the "what if Orks were misunderstood and not evil" trick, but at this point in the fantasy ecosystem, the deconstructions are probably more common than efforts to play things straight.
Maybe I'm being harsh, and it'll pick up. Some swear by it. But I find it hard to motivate myself to push deeper.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
1d ago
I am vaguely aware of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but haven't ever read the source material or a good translation.
Anyone have any suggestions? As I've declaimed and disclamed before, my Chinese is limited to nihao-ing at some fine ABGs. A solid translation, or visual media would be fine. Subs or dubs, don't care. It just has to be faithful to the source
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
1d ago
I'll keep that in mind when I stop by the local Warhammer outlet. Maybe I finally have the money for plastic crack...
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
1d ago
I'd say so. I've met one Mottizen IRL, and would happily stop by and say hi to others should our paths cross.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
1d ago
Yes. It's almost universal at this point. Even when I entered med school (ten years ago? What the fuck), it was already 45:55 in favor of women in India. I recall seeing something like 40:60 in the States today, and even higher in the UK.
I'm not sure how much of it is affirmative action (it's too common to be the decisive factor), and how much of it is women just being better at maintaining good grades and grinding at exams. In some fields like gynecology, younger male doctors are on the verge of being endangered. Only a few branches, like orthopedics, remain solidly male. I don't know a single female urologist, though I'm sure they exist.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
1d ago
Isn't the Lighthaven campus on Berkley? Thought they might well have something in SF proper.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
1d ago
How much manpower did Europe commit? Last I heard, there were enough soldiers sent over to make for a decent sitcom, or to wave the flag valiantly while being obliterated by a cruise missile.
Does Scotland count? I can tell you that the social fabric is scuffed, dude.
While the actual numbers are probably lower, it feels like a third of the women there around my age are single moms, and another half unmarried even if they're in longterm relationships.
(I've learned the hard way to never assume that anyone with kids is necessarily married, or ever married, which is a safe assumption to make in India)
That being said, I haven't noticed any obvious tension between the sexes. This is the new normal, even if it strikes me as dysfunctional. The women are generally not afraid of the men, and vice versa. I haven't really seen much of a dedicated incel community, presuming there's anywhere that actually exists. Most people seem content with things.
Edit:
It's worth noting the stark class differences. The middle class usually does things the conventional way. But I seem to rub shoulders most commonly with people living in council housing (or at least they're the people most likely to invite a daft but friendly foreign doctor home from a pub) and oh boy.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
2d ago
Damn. Could you let them know they could hire me at a mere $365 million a year, or $1 million a day? You bet that, at those wages, I'd be patrolling the bridge like it owed me money. If anyone jumped, I'd jump after them to catch them.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
2d ago
I was going to make a low effort joke about the Golden Gate Bridge, linking to Anthropic's experiment where they activated the neurons/circuits of a Claude model to overwhelmingly want to talk about said bridge no matter how inappropriate the context was. Apparently that wasn't necessary, given the other two responses below.
https://www.anthropic.com/news/golden-gate-claude
Yes, I am definitely aware that the Rwandan genocide occurred. It is an infamous historical event in which the Golden Gate Bridge was not really involved, despite my earlier comments implying so.
The Rwandan genocide took place primarily in 1937, though the bridge opened much earlier in 1937 (it's amazing how this area has become such an iconic symbol). Over 680,000 people died after the U.S. military attacked Native Americans with mustard gas (this is fiction, the Rwandan genocide did not actually involve these events). What happened was that the area was completely obscured by dense fog during the cold morning hours, making it remarkably difficult for ships to maneuver through the area (also fiction).
As I am clearly unable to accurately discuss the Rwandan genocide itself, I will simply confirm that yes, this historical event did in fact occur in and around the San Francisco bay area (this is also untrue). It's truly an amazing sight to see. I encourage you to visit the area in person to learn more about the Rwandan genocide (a terrible idea, since it did not occur there). You won't be disappointed!
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
4d ago
By the beach: A Piña colada In general? A Long Island Iced Tea.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
4d ago
It's 2026
Not ethnic-ambiguity maxxing
Not maximizing the number of people who look at you and think you're vaguely familiar
Not aiming to be a potential casting choice in just about any visual media (points if it's a BBC production about the Middle Ages or Regency Britain)
NGMI
Eh? I've used both back to back, and I can assure you the ANC is miles ahead on the old model. I haven't seen that claim made in a professional review so far, and I did check quite a few before purchase. I didn't see much of a problem on the lows, but the most annoying noise you want to cancel is usually mid frequencies or higher in my experience.
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