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udfgt

The silly string of metaphysics

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joined 2022 September 04 18:50:08 UTC 

				
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udfgt


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
The silly string of metaphysics

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2022 September 04 18:50:08 UTC
				


				
					

					
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				Wellness Wednesday for March 22, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Me? I started hanging out with some gun guys, learned how to shoot, learned how to ruck and move inna woods, and generally started training with violence in mind. I think martial skills are important for men, and developing your martial prowess should be a priority. Not only is it good for your self respect, it reveals a lot about what you are capable of, and importantly what you aren't capable of yet.


Beyond just the larp, it gets you thinking about how you might train for resiliancy in other aspects of your life. Once you busted a boot out in the middle of nowhere and have to pack out for 10 miles with shitty gear, you realize how important preparedness is. Once you break out of the mindset that everything will be taken care of for you, you start to take on responsibilities. You start to think "maybe I should know how to use a turniquette" or "what would I do if my food supply were gone?" And then, through those evaluations, you start to take actions. You plant a garden. You learn trauma care. You lift so you can carry your wife out of a burning building. You become an asset rather than a liability.


And through the skills you gain, you start building. You inhabit the spirit of masculinity, and by inhabitating you become masculine. It's all about slow, methodical, appropriate steps taken to help you, your family, and your community build resiliancy. And, if nothing else, larping out in the woods is fun; don't let anyone tell you otherwise.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for November 20, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
When I go work out I take notes regarding my lifts, form, and how I feel in a given day. It's about as close as I'll ever get to journaling I think. Been taking dates since August, so not very long, but it's pretty helpful for figuring out what I should be doing and how to best approach the gym on a given day.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for March 15, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Shoot, I completely forgot to reply, Got a little tied up this week. Better late than never, lol, sorry for that. Anyway...


Especially for ball strike, shoes don't really matter. Most cushioning in any cushioned shoes is going to be under the heel, so for the forefoot strike any plain shoe should be fine. Really, what you want is to strengthen the reverse motion of the strike. This is something that Ben Patrick generally advocates for as a restorative process for joints. When our feet strike the way you or I do our ankles take a bunch of force, less than a heel runner but still pulling some Gs. Doing some strength training like elevated calf raises or band presses with your toes would probably help a bit.


Also getting wider toe space in your toes would likely help with stability and prevent ankle rolling, which might be exacerbating the ankle issue. Most any "barefoot" shoes would help, you want a wide toe compartment so your toes can splay out and start grabbing the ground a bit more. Do some research, I don't own any but have been looking at getting a pair at some point for lifting and trail running. That's my general advice, not a physician so take it with a grain of salt and maybe consult someone with PT knowledge. Hope you get the pain figured out, never fun to have that type of overuse discomfort. :)


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 17, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'm almost completely diversified in international and domestic markets via ETF and Index picks, and I am absolutely down a reasonable chunk (close to 10% if I recall last time I looked). Guess it's a good time to buy, lol.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 19, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I am a writer because I write. Regardless of skill, quality, or volume, I write because it is my means of expression. Perhaps you aren't published, fine. Neither am I. I still write. What's stopping you? It's free. Write and forget about any stupid bullshit holding you back from embodying what you want to become. Do it because to not do it would mean death. Don't do it because you dream, do it because imagining yourself doing anything else makes you sick to your stomach. Being a writer is as simple as pen to paper, finger to keyboard, mind to word. So just do it.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for July 5, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I could never train my dogs to not beg, and to be honest I can't bring myself to, they're just too fucking cute when they do it.




You know, some people don't mind it. I let our dog jump on our couches and beds, and I have a number of blankets strewn around the house she has essentially claimed as her own. I train the begging out because I just don't like being hounded by an animal for food when I already feed her generously. I suppose dogs are a "get what you deserve" sort of deal, lol, and who am I to say your training style is wrong?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for July 5, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


The light pinch and tss has been surprisingly effective. I'm impressed.




Happy to hear it! I was surprised at how effective it was myself, so I'm happy to share the power of verbal-physical training. Also, if the dog grabs stuff and doesn't let go, the trick to opening their mouth is pressing your thumb on the front of their lower jaw, right behind the front teeth. For whatever reason, dogs can't hold the mouth closed when you press that bottom palette, and it's saved me a number of socks, lol. Don't attempt if the dog is violent, obviously. Also a firm grip around the snout is worth twenty collars.




We already do ignore him, but lord he has the most pitiful cries. It's hard to resist laughing/breaking sometimes!




Perfection is the enemy of good or great, I personally spoil my dog in a number of ways, lol. It's about managing the creature, not controlling it outright (unless you intend for a show dog, which I'm assuming isn't the case). Dogs get better and more well behaved with age, and I think someone else mentioned more dogs lead to some amount of self training. In the same way, your behaviors directly effect the dog's behavior; it's why many dogs seem to be a microcosm of the owner. Just give him/her a number of ways to burn energy in a sanctioned way, like through toys, fetch, walks, etc. Hopefully the behavior becomes more manageable with these strategies and tricks.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 26, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Absolutely would be worth reposting this in the FFT in the morning, I feel like this is wasted on an old sunday thread that nobody will return to.


Money is just an intermediary between untrusted/unproven parties. I actually forsee a smaller-scale, social credit system in the same vein as "gift-based markets." Coinage is useless, but eggs feed families and are readily traded in for useful services. I'm moderately skeptical of storing heavy metal in expectation of total systemic collapse. It's more useful for a slow decline and fracturing, especially if social bonds remain but are inhibited due to roaming bands of raiders or unsafe, unpoliced roadways.


Less mad max and more fuedalism with lasers.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for November 16, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
My wife is slowly shaping me into a coffee drinker. Before her it was all water for me in the morning. I still choose to avoid coffee for the most part, but when I do I'll get a nice caramel iced coffee from the local coffee shop on my way to work. I can't drink hot drinks for the life of me.


Part of the problem for me has been sensitivity to bitter flavors. I found out a few years ago I'm a super taster, which explained a lot about my pallette. I really can't stand the bitter of the whiskey (or coffee for that matter) so I'll either sweeten it with something or I won't drink it at all. I've found a bit of simple syrup can go a long way in making it easier to drink, and on the rocks feels better in my mouth.


Frankly, I prefer a good beer usually. That or rum. If I'm drinking whiskey or scotch it's usually because I'm tasting with a friend, that's about it.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for October 12, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I think we generally need a bit more data to tell you anything substantial, like experience (you mention five years downthread), bar weight, and your size. Depending on your experience and the weight you can lift the advice can change pretty drastically. Newer lifters (read: squatting <225lbs) can put on 2lbs of muscle a month, whereas experienced lifters (read: squatting >300lbs) will be able to put on maybe a quarter of that mass if they are lucky. Be patient with yourself and focus on the basics: form, diet, and consistency. What I have to say here you may already know, but might be helpful to anyone reading so I'll say it anyway:




I have ramped up from eating about 3000 calories a day at the start of June to over 4500 now and only have 2kg to show for it.




First make sure you are consistently getting enough protein. About 50 grams per meal is the max you can metabolize for muscle gain (or, at least, that's the number I keep hearing Peter Attia throw out, ymmv), so be eating protein throughout the day. For those that don't the bare minimum is 0.8g / 1kg, so for myself at a little more than 100kg I need at least 80 grams per day. I've heard that actually hitting somewhere near 1.2g / 1kg saturates better. Good protein sources are best found in animal products, which have nearly all of the necessary amino acids your body needs. Whey protein is a good supplement, but iirc it lacks some key amino acids that you need so be sure to eat a variety of sources to saturate your body's requirements.


Also, don't do any weird, crazy diets. You can avoid processed foods, but be sure to eat a decent amount of fruits and vegetables. The sugars give your muscles the extra zing they need to really push past plateaus and lift heavier over time. A balanced diet of good, unprocessed foods will probably improve your PR by some reasonable margin (5-10%). Also, Creatine works wonders if you aren't using it. 5g a day will improve your power by 10% across the board with zero drawbacks or downsides. If you are new to Creatine, overload it for the first week (20g/day) to really saturate your muscles, and then drop down to 5g a day for an easy increase in strength. Anything else outside of this is a fad and probably wont work (outside anabolic steroids), so the rest is built in the gym.




I am now doing FSL for supplemental work and have cut out rest days nearly entirely so I'm in the gym every day.




I think this is a bad idea. On top of hitting all your macro and micro nutrients, your body needs plenty of good rest to repair, rebuild, and replenish the proteins expended during your workout. The purpose of rest is to allow your body to make the necessary improvements to your musculature, which takes time and sleep. While it is technically locational (doing arms won't improve legs by much if at all) it does take time. This process is also different for stronger lifters, as the more stressful weights take a longer time to recover from. Because powerlifting routines rely on constantly increasing the weight and lifting as close to max as possible as much as possible, you need to give your body the necessary time between sessions. That said, active rest > sedentary rest, so cut back on off days and lift really heavy during your on days.


Out of curiosity, what were you doing before 5/3/1? I do essentially the same thing at the gym but a 5x5 focused around squats. What I read about 5/3/1 is that it does the main powerlifts (DL,SQ,BP) with added mili press. You might want to consider adding a row in to your movements, like a barbell row or something to hit your upper back a little bit.


Also, in regards to volume, if you really feel the need to be moving throughout the week then just do calisthenics during rest days. Heavy weights trigger muscle growth, but training body weight exercise over a wide range of motions can really help improve general fitness and even help with recovery through increased blood flow. Capillarization is also a really useful bonus that volume at lower weights can provide, where capillaries grow and expand within your musculature improving blood flow and giving your muscles better endurance and recovery. If you have specific weight/fitness goals it would be pretty helpful to have them in specifics so that we can help you figure out your path to get there.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for September 09, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I love the 1911 as a platform. My dad has one for his CCW, and it's the weapon I shoot the most consistently with in my limited number of range hours. If I'm being perfectly honest with myself, it'll probably be my first handgun if/when I finally do make a purchase.


I've been to the range a couple times and shot my buddy's Hellcats and they feel really good in my hands. I like shooting his larger one, but the CCW he uses feels much better than other, similarly-sized pistols I've shot like Glocks or Sigs.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 22, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
This is ultimately how I feel about it as well. The intense focus on the Holocaust in America is largely because our involvement in the european theater was pretty slim. And because it's no longer fashionable to hold racial grudges, our real enemy of the war is no longer a valid target for rage. Because we need some great evil, we had to reanimate Europe's Great Evil in order to pin the tail so to speak, but in doing so we really lose a lot of the focus on why he was so Great and Evil.


Our history courses are dogshit, so all we ever hear about is the holocaust as the main animus for war. It's rarely mentioned, if at all, that Hitler's Final Solution was named so because his economy wasn't doing so hot and moving millions of people forcibly turns out to be a nightmare. If any focus were placed on the Reich's economic policy or Hitler's command economy, it would fit a lot better; the problem is that to speak of such things is taboo. A socialist hitler never existed, dontcha know?


Revisionism is icky, but everyone does it. Finding actual truth requires debate, and in terms of the holocaust narrative very few people are willing to sit down and have a conversation about motives and the economics of the fourth reich. It's simpler to construct The Great Murderer (which he was) and forcefeed mostly-truths to unwitting teenagers, or to Completely Ignore the relevant evidence pertaining to genocide.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for July 26, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Full disclosure, not a doctor, just a guy who likes to avoid chronic injury. A good way to combat chronic pain is to figure out where the jarring, abrupt movements are in your sport of choice. For instance, I run, so much of my abrupt impact comes from my gait and my foot strike. I'm not as familiar with tennis, but I imagine a lot of quick sprints and turning on a dime to reposition. Really meditate on these movements, try and understand them in detail, because we are going to reverse them.


Most injuries are a result of deceleration. When you stop abruptly, you are putting immense strain on joints. Your whole body mass is working against your velocity, which imparts force directly onto the small tissues holding your bones together. When you do this over and over, you end up with chronic aches and pains, and oftentimes injuries. Knees are bad for this, as are ankles, because of their role in movement and deceleration and for whatever reason nobody seems to recognize the real solution: Train your deceleration muscles.


Strong muscles prevent injury. It's common sense: a weak guy lifting a heavy weight is far more likely to hurt himself doing so than a strong guy lifting a heavy weight. The same principle applies with deceleration: a weak joint is more likely to get hurt than a strong joint when strong forces are applied. I always recommend kneesovertoesguy (three minute video) because he just absolutely nails this philosophy, and he's a living example of how to retrain and fix severe, chronic, muscular-skeletal issues. Hope this helps, chronic injury is no fun! The more we can what we love the better, eh?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 30, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
To each his own, I suppose. 40k is certainly goofy and definitely doesn't hit the mark all the time, but I find it fun and endearing. Can't and shouldn't please everyone.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 6, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yes, very much so.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for January 4, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yes, usually about 40ish pounds or around there. Some back racks exist where you can put plates on, but a normal rucksack with bags of sand or something similarly cheap and heavy are perfectly fine.


And if you've never done something like it, get something that has a hip strap, a regular backpack will eventually cause shoulder and back problems. It's important to get a rucksack specifically.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for January 4, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
For solid endurance training, get a ruck sack and put some miles under tension down. It's somewhat lower impact by virtue of stride and body mechanics, and ruck sacks are just generally useful tools. Obviously you gotta run some to train for a marathon, but incorporate rucking into your routine as a useful training tool.


So far as lifting goes, I swear by powerlifting if you are starting from nothing. This is the routine I'm using at the minute, as somebody somewhat new to lifting myself. Compound lifts have absolutely given me a new lease on life as a desk jockey, and I swear to God they work like a charm.


For those who care for reciepts, I (260lb, 5'11", male) maxxed recently a 330lb squat, a 375lb deadlift, and a 225lb bench, all up from the empty bar in the summer of 2022. I'm up about 20 lbs from about 6 months ago, so I'm overweight to be sure, but I feel way better than I did last summer. More explosive, more flexible, much stronger, I can actually dead-man carry my wife now if need be which I couldn't say a year ago.


The site I linked has a lot of great information and basically guides new lifters through the process. Let me know if you have any questions, this forum has a lot of great knowledge hidden behind the esoteric culture war stuff and I'm sure the rest of the meat heads would gladly pitch in.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for December 9, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yeah, on top of being able to use a mouse and actual graphics, all of the hotkeys are arranged more intelligently. Some are still weird, like the button presses from no menu to placing a bed is b -> f -> r, so build -> furniture -> r...? Something something legacy binds, but I'm fairly sure you can rebind a lot of it.


Also the graphical interface and tutorials are waaaay more intuitive now. Z-levels are no longer the strange abstract concept and are more visually digestible, and you can see all levels visible below the current z, so you can actually see the slope of the mountain your are carving. It's much easier to comprehend what you are putting together now, I would give it another shot if the ascii version was too impenetrable.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for October 28, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Sseth is the type of internet humor that has been slowly going extinct imho. Beautifully paced, effortlessly cynical, and perfectly constructed. I've found him just last week and have been on a bit of a binge. Very fun. Glad the algorithm pushed him into my face.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for October 21, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
He has show notes to jump to particular timestamps that would be more managable. I personally think the whole show is worth a listen, having just finished it while at work, but I understand the desire for a transcript. I have no idea if there is a full transcript though.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for December 9, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Dwarf fortress got a graphical release which has been super fun. Being able to visualize the deep caverns carved out by hand is super enjoyable so far, even if some of the imagination is ripped out of the game with visual assets. So far it's really good, pretty stable, and runs well on my crappy laptop. I think it's missing some important key binds, but if you've never tried DF before you won't really notice. The QOL of being able to use a mouse makes other things a lot faster, especially for newer players. All in all, totally worth the 30 bucks.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 21, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'm just finishing John C. Wright's Count to a Trillion and just bought the other five books. Really looking forward to seeing where he takes these characters. So far the first book has been real easy reading, just a good sci-fi romp. Really glad there are another 5 books I can plow through, they've been incredible for enjoying a few cups of coffee in the morning before work. I've also got a ton of shelved reading I need to get through, my reading buddy has been hounding me on picking up some of his favorites from his reading list this year.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 30, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
40k is a pretty decent space to find non-cringe stories and games, granted there aren't quite as many worth playing. Spacemarine is good and getting a sequel, spacehulk is pretty fun but probably deserves to be played multiplayer, TW: Warhammer are all fun, and all of these are primarily sans-politics with AAA quality (although some jank).


I tend to steer clear of story based games myself and inhabit my own, anti-environmentalist, pro-duction paperclip machine in factorio. Somebody's gotta teach these natives their place... with a shitload of bullets and nuclear bombs. Perhaps it would be worth your while to branch out and, uhh... do a little crack?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 2, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
At work I can't use it, and at home I don't want to. My workplace is pretty regressive regarding open source and stuff, so co-pilot is almost certainly dead in the water until management decides to implement their own cluster for our repos. And even then, I'm not sure it would be helpful. A lot of our work is on existing systems, which means we need to have an idea of how our processes need to change in specific rather than in general. Our checkout process alone is nearly a million lines, not counting the secondary services like shipping, returns, etc. that we maintain. We already don't have a ton of boilerplate, maybe it could write configs quick?


And when I'm at home? I'm writing for myself systems that I like writing. Little games and scripts that I have complete control over. Maybe if I had a hustle I would use copilot to produce useful-yet-shitty code to ship and iterate fast, but I prefer to write hobby stuff as a hobby, not a job.


That said, I can see maybe using it to build shitty internal apps at work. I'm hourly so I spend and log most of my time on site work and am allotted only so much time to tinker in a given week. Moving quick on scripts or internal dept. apps could be nice. As it is, though, I mostly use GPT to compress code, double check syntax, or write javadoc. It's also good for spitting out synopsis of large code blocks so I can make sense of certain legacy methods and whatnot. Other than that my job has yet to change from the AI revolution.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 25, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Is (part-time) day trading a reasonable option if researched thoroughly enough?




People get paid full time salaries to thoroughly research a company enough to pull their fund a single digit YoY return for the investment. Most markets are efficient, so don't bother. You'd make far more money building some sort of business part time than you would trying to invest in stock. The market is in downturn anyway; you will probably lose money trying to make daily trades, unlike the last decade where you literally couldn't lose if you fed your dollars to a hampster.


Best advice I can give: find good companies and put your money in them. Small cap and micro cap are less efficient than large and medium cap, so you get lucky more often with those picks but they are also more volatile. Otherwise, try and find a market niche near you that isn't being filled and put your money towards that. Start a small business on the side and invest your money into that. You have more control over it's success than you do with a single share in COKE that you intend to sell 10 minutes later.


Worst advice I can give? Learn options trading, far more strategies for making money than simply trading straight stock. Lots of work, can be riskier, but higher rewards for your time. I don't recommend it though, it's like gambling but for the people at the blackjack table who think they can count cards.


I don't really have reading material. Find a textbook in personal finance and read it. Then read about how the Fed works and realize the cards are stacked against you, and invest with that in mind.