domain:tracingwoodgrains.com
self_made_human
Sajjano durjano bhūyāt, durjano badhyatāṃ sadā, baddho'nyān nibandhāyet
6d ago
Almost all Western nations have lifted blanket restrictions for MSM donating blood. Iceland just removed theirs at the beginning of July. I believe it's just Greece and Croatia left, which probably tells you something about the Greeks.
Based on some quick Googling, there didn't appear to be any significant changes in technology between 2011, when the rules started being relaxed, to what we see today. The retrovirals were available well before then. I take it back, I could probably have done a better job than these regulators, they seem too risk averse. At least they've moved on by now!
In the US, they're starting to push it to the point of having advertisements on bus stops and park benches in my local area... and I'm not in an especially gay or even urban space.
I pass a prep billboard on my daily commute and I spend at least a few minutes a week thinking about the demographic/regional dynamics involved and how deliberate it may or may not have been.
Edit: that was unnecessarily vague, I was hurrying.
The billboard is in the ambiguously industrial/lower-working-class/gentrifying border between a mid-size Southern city and one of its slowly-absorbed suburbs/satellites. A "neighborhood in transition," one might say. The area is poorer and blacker than the main city, and socially if not politically conservative on average. The sign features a black guy at the prettier end of handsome without crossing into effeminate, and some phrase about staying safe. Demographically correct but a bit socially off, perhaps in that way of ignoring any stigma by the sign being 'generic'?
Nobody I work with actually lives around here and I'm not going to ask one of the attendants at the nearby gas station or Asian market "hey, what do you think of that sign up there?" so on the ground reporting remains as yet untold.
HorthyMiklosKatonaja
6d ago
no-gay-guy-would-wear-this setup
One of those "Federal Breast Inspector" T-shirts.
WandererintheWilderness
6d ago
None of this is very concrete and side steps the entire risk-reward framework.
Does it? "Not having a fundamental moral right infringed upon" is a kind of reward, surely. You may as well ask why a traditionalist sexual mores shouldn't simply shoot all transgressors without a trial. I'm sure a practical argument could be constructed on why such a policy would be detrimental to society along some tangible metric, but that's not why any sensible person will immediately reject such a proposal with horror: it's because they feel that killing people is, all else being equal, morally wrong. This isn't "concrete" and it "side-steps the risk-reward framework", but all the same, you can't have a real conversation about the issue without bringing it up.
In the same way, as a true liberal, I feel it is, all else being equal, axiomatically, fairly wrong to prevent people from doing whatever the hell they want; and doubly wrong to force them to do things they don't want to do. Society naturally has to mandate a little bit of each to keep itself running, but that's a trade-off from the word go, and you should only add more restrictions and duties with the understanding that you are doing harm to your citizens with each new bylaw by infringing upon those basic rights, so the payoff had better be damn good. Traditional sexual norms include a fair bit of forcing women to do things they don't want to do, and positively enormous amounts of preventing people of both sexes from doing things they want to do. There's an enormous penalty in the "cons" column on that basis alone, and in a world where STDs and unwanted pregnancies are under control, the fuzzier benefits just don't have a snowball's chance in Hell of making up for it. It's like asking what kind of subtle improvement to demographic statistics would be worth mandating that people whack themselves in the knee with a hammer every morning.
That's true but Mauritius and the Chagos Islands are 1200 km from eachother, they were only in the same French administrative zone together because they're small islands in the Indian Ocean and the British kept the French organization. It makes little sense for Mauritius to have the islands when they never historically controlled them (the Maldives is at least closer and they fished around there) and there's no significant proximity.
hydroacetylene
6d ago
Clearly you wouldn’t pass a CR ideological Turing test- literally, having a kid is seen as a blessing. Do you hate children or something? Evangelicals and Catholics don’t either.
HorthyMiklosKatonaja
6d ago
A Pride flag plus a "Black Lives Matter" sign is pretty much obligatory for every business in a "hipster" neighborhood. Just means "We support $CURRENT_THING". Reminds me of Havel's greengrocer.
professorgerm
You shall love your crooked neighbor, with your crooked heart
6d ago
It's possible there are better tests, or better HIV suppression medicine these days that might change the math.
Or cultural changes more willing to suffer the consequences, and/or less willing to produce that particular kind of stigmatization.
self_made_human
Sajjano durjano bhūyāt, durjano badhyatāṃ sadā, baddho'nyān nibandhāyet
6d ago
Thank you. I guess I'll stick to the facts, and put my plans to join a Zizekian commune somewhere where the sun doesn't shine.
Iconochasm
2. Bootstrap the rest of the fucking omnipotence.
6d ago
Sure. I'm just noting that the more qualified people did run the numbers, and even with screening tests denying donations from MSM was a good call - at least 10 years ago. It's possible there are better tests, or better HIV suppression medicine these days that might change the math.
JarJarJedi
6d ago
aren't indicators of anything in a place with a normal field of candidates
But it's an indicator New York is no longer normal. And it will be inevitably seen by Democratic leadership as a sign that non-normal candidates can win elections, and it's OK to nominate more of them. First we take Manhattan, then...
quiet_NaN
6d ago
I believe that the Christian right, which is the camp of most pro-lifers, see non-procreative sex as inherently sinful.
There are probably some people who really hate abortions but are fine with fucking around, and will get their daughter an IUD at age 12 so she is protected from pregnancy, while also being fine with her experimenting with her 14yo boyfriend.
But the modal pro-lifer would emphasize that abstinence until marriage is the only 100% effective birth control. (For perfect use. For hormone-laden teens who do not typically get married before 20, I think that the Pearl Index for abstinence would be rather abysmal.)
Take the official Catholic position (my emphasis):
Therefore We base Our words on the first principles of a human and Christian doctrine of marriage when We are obliged once more to declare that the direct interruption of the generative process already begun and, above all, all direct abortion, even for therapeutic reasons, are to be absolutely excluded as lawful means of regulating the number of children. (14) Equally to be condemned, as the magisterium of the Church has affirmed on many occasions, is direct sterilization, whether of the man or of the woman, whether permanent or temporary. (15) Similarly excluded is any action which either before, at the moment of, or after sexual intercourse, is specifically intended to prevent procreation—whether as an end or as a means. (16)
So it is not that abortion is very bad and using a condom or getting a sterilization after your fourth kid is a little bad -- they are all similarly worthy of condemnation. At the end of the day, at least the pope cares little about unborn kids being killed and a whole lot about people having deliberately non-procreative sex.
I think from a Catholic theology point of view, abortion, sodomy, sex outside marriage, sex within marriage with contraceptives and masturbation are all mortal sins. If you commit any of them and are not cleansed by baptism or confession, you go to hell. Might as well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb, and all that.
In conclusion, I think that the CR does not see single motherhood as a punishment for fornicating women, but simply as a natural consequence of her act which should be her cross to bear. But the underlying idea seems to be that during the heydays of Christianity -- in the good old days -- the choices of a woman were (1) marriage, (2) chastity (e.g. becoming a nun) or (3) being a fornicator, which meant to be an outcast of polite society. (Sure, gays and lesbians could always fuck around without biological consequences, but at least for men there were severe legal consequences instead.) Birth control and abortion have changed that equilibrium in a way which leads to a lot more sexual immorality especially from women (as men were probably always going to whorehouses). If birth control is illegal, then a woman are much less likely to engage in PIV sex outside marriage and will have their hands full with their kids instead of dyeing their hair green and studying feminism, or something -- I do not claim that I would pass the CR ideological Turing test.
Try explaining to an immigration officer that you're visiting America to... write blog posts... at a place run by... internet rationalists
Probably wouldn't be as bad as you think. They have heard much weirder stories, and yours, while a bit unusual, is easily verifiable and documented, and if it doesn't look like you are intending to become an illegal immigrant they won't spend too much time on you. They have a lot of cases to go through. One thing that could help is getting some kind of officially looking document (the more official looking, the better) that says in clear and official language what is it about and that it's just for a month and you are not going to work in the US, it's just educational or whatever. Talking to somebody that knows how it actually works - e.g. immigration lawyer - may be a good idea too. You may to have to pay a little (it shouldn't cost much, it's not a complicated case) but they probably would tell you which stupid things not to do. Usually problems in this area come from people doing some stupid thing (e.g. telling the immigration officer they'll be working while on tourist visa or something like that).
self_made_human
Sajjano durjano bhūyāt, durjano badhyatāṃ sadā, baddho'nyān nibandhāyet
6d ago
· Edited 5d ago
As I've bemoaned on multiple occasions, nobody is making the UK do this. The ICJ doesn't count, I've seen arthritic dogs ready to be ol' Yeller'd with a better bite:bark ratio. You can - if you are a sovereign state larger than Sealand - just ignore them. Mauritius? Why are they going to do, cancel Jet2 holidays and paddle over in their canoe?
Has anyone considered pitting one sacred cow against the other? Someone needs to tell Starmer that he could fund the NHS and pensions for another 3 weeks with the money.
SubstantialFrivolity
I'm not even supposed to be here today
6d ago
Is that really a thing?
self_made_human
Sajjano durjano bhūyāt, durjano badhyatāṃ sadā, baddho'nyān nibandhāyet
6d ago
Thank you! I'm not getting paid by the piece, it's more that I'll quickly have to figure out a hotel if I don't keep producing them.
I intend to write back to Lightcone, but they've left me till the end of the month. I need to figure out exact dates and visa considerations, and I wanted to get the easy questions out of the way before pestering them.
phailyoor
6d ago
This is not true. AI search is not programmed to be critical of sources, so it becomes a pure garbage in garbage out situation.
On heavily SEOed queries, AI search is in fact much much worse than just asking the AI directly. In August 2025 I will not touch "grounded" AI with a 10 foot pole it's dogshit.
This guy asked AI for a "grounded" query and the AI happily cited a fake scam website front and center.
self_made_human
Sajjano durjano bhūyāt, durjano badhyatāṃ sadā, baddho'nyān nibandhāyet
6d ago
Gemini 2.5 Pro is the best free LLM, because Google lets you use a nigh unlimited amount on AI Studio. All the other models of comparable quality are paywalled, but G2.5P is up there as one of the best nonetheless.
I've heard credible claims that a version that was allowed to think longer/in-parallel won IMO Gold this year, in conjunction with more bespoke models. I might be misremembering, but some people claimed to have gotten golds using just the public version and a lot of prompting.
SSCReader
6d ago
So if anyone has brilliant ideas about US visa applications, creative leave arrangements, or general life optimization, I'm all ears.
I'd start by reaching out to Inkhaven. If they had this open internationally, they should already have considered visa issues. Hopefully a whole bunch of influential rationalists should already have considered how they could do this. If you're not getting paid I would think a tourist visa would do. It's essentially a writing holiday. But if you are getting paid for for your blog posts that makes it considerably more complicated I should think. There are visas for artist residencies, so I wouldn't be too concerned about the writing thing being weird as being the problem, but those generally would require the sponsor (Lightcone presumably in this case) to be engaging with being an official sponsor through the US government. Also the timing is likely tight for November. J-1 or B-1 Visas might be a possibility depending on the exact details. Unfortunately India is not part of the Visa Waiver program or you might have been ok with just an ESTA as you can travel for 90 days for business.
"You may be eligible for a B-1 visa if you will be participating in business activities of a commercial or professional nature in the United States, including, but not limited to:
Consulting with business associates Traveling for a scientific, educational, professional or business convention, or a conference on specific dates Settling an estate Negotiating a contract Participating in short-term training"
fmac
Ask me about bike lanes
6d ago
The red pill people don't seem happy or sexually fulfilled no matter how much sex they're having, they seem constantly angry and they seem like they hate the women they are fucking.
That's the beauty of the red pill. It treats women like they're crazy, and by acting like a red-piller you ensure that you only interact with the crazier women (as the saner ones self-select out of your way).
There are actually some foundational truths in RP mythos, although the vast majority of them apply to men and women (everyone likes people who are attractive and confident, if you have a lot going for you in life people will find that cool, etc).
As a teenager I actually started trying to write a short book of all the Red-pill truths I saw, while stripping out all the stupid misogyny. Then I got a girlfriend and stopped caring, and by the time we had broken up fully lost interest.
hydroacetylene
6d ago
It doesn't just sound like someone's grandma?
iprayiam3
6d ago
In a sense, yes. But also as a quick aggregator and guided tour for low stakes info absorption. Whether that's recreational or professional:
Recreational example: Is mewtwo the most powerful pokemon?
What I am seeking: an answer to this question, and some quick context history, light reading.
How much I care: not much, passing interest as my kids have an episode on
What's wrong with a google search?: I can't necessarily find the answer on a wiki, and if I have a specific follow-on, I can't expect to just scroll down and find it. I have to wade through stuff I don't care about. I could search for a reddit thread, but will more likely have to scroll through unnecessary nerd-debates, not authoritative or exactly what I'm asking.
Work example: I'm emailing to a customer and need to react to an unfamiliar competitor
What I am seeking: high level point of view that I can build talking points around
How much I care: It's important to be directionally right, but I don't need ot be an expert
What's wrong with a google search?: The competitor website takes exploring and is not oriented toward me learning the relevant competitive highlights that I need in the context this question has come to me in.
hydroacetylene
6d ago
It seems worth noting that there are very few chaste virgins sleeping with Casanova. Very promiscuous people mostly have sex with each other- even if certain cads like to insist they introduce chaste virgins to the lifestyle on the reg.
hydroacetylene
6d ago
I wasn't so much advocating sexual liberalisation or disparaging sexual traditionalism as much as I was simply pointing out that if we're accepting a sexual framework, we need to fully accept all of what it means. Sexual traditionalism doesn't just mean "shotgun weddings for men" and "penalties for cads for having deflowered a woman" but also stigma and penalty for women who have premarital sex or tart themselves up inappropriately or use sex/intimacy to wheedle money out of men, the ability for the men around them to vet who they're going out with (since they will have to defend any breach of their honour), and responsibilities for both husband and wife in a marriage to put out and provide sex to their spouse. The responsibility for maintaining a pro-social scenario was not placed only on one party.
What makes you think I have a problem with any of that?
Associated with middle class striving, so probably skewed Protestant back in the day. My grandmother did keep the toaster in a cupboard. My mum doesn't.
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