domain:greyenlightenment.com
coffee_enjoyer
☕️
17m ago
People are dying to understand their life through symbols and condensed wisdom. Tattoos are the primitive form of this, the detailing of one’s ideals / status / life progress onto the body, as you always have the body with you and your body is always on display to others (tattoos in Europe are at least 6000 years old). This is probably why tattoos and astrology have much in common. Then there are other motives. It is a “gauntlet” experience, where the pain must be experienced to obtain the end reward, which is its own primitive ritual of costly signal. It is a costly signal of one’s own commitment to an identity, it is saying to oneself, “this is important and I commit to me”; human identity is fluid and capricious without identity-forming rituals, and tattooing takes the fluid and inscribes it permanently to the flesh. Lastly it allows one to imitate and conjoin to a celebrity or social scene, but that has more to do with instantiating the reasons above.
BahRamYou
21m ago
when you own your premises, you’re a real estate company in addition to doing whatever else you do.
You say that like it's a bad thing! Real estate in major American cities has been one of the most profitable investments of the last 50 years!
A big business like Red Lobster could even do some weird things to manipulate the market. Like
- open a business that attracts a lot of loud, low-class customers to lower the value of nearby real estate
- buy up all that real estate
- close the red lobster and start a fancy coffee shop or art gallery instead
- profit!
BahRamYou
37m ago
Not any one particular event, but a lot of little things add up. And I think a lot of people still think of this as being a linear conflict defined by territory like a football game, instead of an attritional conflict that will be decided when one side suddenly breaks down like the end of WW1.
Anyway, most internet people seem to just want to talk and not actually do anything, and I don't think the average EG grain commodities trader really pays attention to Ukrainian recruitment numbers.
CertainlyWorse
Dedicated Pessimist
38m ago
It can be worth it to look into the history of tattoos. For some it's an unfalsifiable high cost symbol of permanent allegiance to a group or culture. People like to belong and they're willing to pay the price.
That said, I think Gandalf got it right and so I'm against tattoos for myself:
“For I am Saruman the Wise, Saruman Ring-maker, Saruman of Many Colours!'
I looked then and saw that his robes, which had seemed white, were not so, but were woven of all colours, and if he moved they shimmered and changed hue so that the eye was bewildered.
I liked white better,' I said.
White!' he sneered. 'It serves as a beginning. White cloth may be dyed. The white page can be overwritten; and the white light can be broken.'
In which case it is no longer white,' said I. 'And he that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.'”
2rafa
45m ago
I think the raw classical economics argument for prohibiting most forms of takeover defense isn’t completely wrong, but it also isn’t entirely correct. Im based in the UK which bans many of the major tactics used in the US, and I don’t think UK pubcos are run better than American ones on the whole, but I think to me the biggest issue I have with US public companies is super voting shares. These were illegal in London until about 5 years ago; every share had to have the same voting power to be (in practice) eligible for a primary listing in London and for inclusion in indices. They changed it under pressure from the government because British tech companies were IPOing in the US to preserve founder control. I think it’s a hugely negative development in ECM for shareholders, banks and the wider public.
After researching your sources, I found enough evidence to withdraw the example from the OP -- though implicitly I was referring to the Roman occupation in the Second Temple Period rather than the Kitos War.
It would be nice if you cited your sources more precisely, by author name, date, and document name, preferably with a link. I notice you did not name the document by Cassius Dio, or quote it, which is peculiar because it is pretty juicy in support of your point:
Meanwhile the Jews in the region of Cyrene had put one Andreas at their head and were destroying both the Romans and the Greeks. They would cook their flesh, make belts for themselves of their entrails, anoint themselves with their blood, and wear their skins for clothing. Others they would give to wild beasts and force still others to fight as gladiators [Cassius Dio (c .30BC): Dio's Roman History, Chapter 70 passage 32]
I think the current consensus (right or wrong) is that that quote makes Dio less credible, and in any case that is also my opinion. I don't find the other sources credible in their details either -- but I agree they are enough to show by a preponderance of the evidence that the Jewish rebellion in the Kitos War was tactically targeting Greek and Roman civilians.
haroldbkny
48m ago
Why are tattoos ubiquitous these days? Almost everyone seems to have some where I live, even young teenagers. Are people really going to go the rest of their lives and be glad that they have a sagging triangle or cross or butterfly on them? How can I convince my kids in 5 years that they do not need or want to have one just to fit in, and that they're too expensive and most people will regret having them for various reasons?
It seems to me that there is likely a culture war component to this as well, as tattoos seem to be wannabe gangster, rebellious, and individualist, even though you'd probably be more rebellious just staying tattoo free these days.
NelsonRushton
56m ago
(A) IRA terrorism is or was morally justified... Yes, in my opinion. (Also the ETA and a lot of other examples like that
This is only half of the argument, my friend. The reason (A) was given a label is because it was conjoined with (B): the IRA's tactics and objectives are morally comparable to those of Hamas. That would entail that the IRA maximizes civilian casualties on their own side tactically, targets primarily civilians on the other side, and has the death of all Englishmen as a persistent and publicly stated objective. I assume you don't assert those things but I could be mistaken.
Primaprimaprima
Bigfoot is an interdimensional being
58m ago
I think it’s just a foregone conclusion at this point, even among the most optimistic Western analysts, that Ukraine isn’t getting the far eastern territories back.
Have any recent events made you update towards thinking that Russia will be able to force complete regime change?
100ProofTollBooth
1hr ago
Non-consensual mind control is a capital crime, at least if you're not on a leash by a state.
So, uh, asking for a friend (that friend is the Culture War Thread)
What are your thoughts on social media and porn?
betascience
1hr ago
I think the excessive fat storage is because your metabolism has been broken by industrialized food. If you were to repair it, your experience would be different.
bonsaii
1hr ago
The scenario I find most difficult to solve is exactly mind control, since it's a crime that leaves no evidence. Further, just by the existence of such power, every actual criminal could start using "a psychic mind controlled me to do it" as a defense. I just don't see how society could continue to function. (Also, will be sure to add your novel to my backlog.)
BahRamYou
1hr ago
Is there any way to "short Ukraine?" I'm becoming increasingly convinced that Ukraine is doomed, or at least they'll be forced to sign a peace deal that gives up some territory. Is there a way to bet on that for significant money (more than just play money on prediction sites)? Apparently Ukraine does have a stock market index, https://tradingeconomics.com/ukraine/stock-market but it seems uh... sketchy. Maybe buy into the Russian stocks, if that's even allowed?
100ProofTollBooth
1hr ago
performing full population transfer and deploying international troops enforcing the border (and possibly also a temporary "colonial regime" to "dehamasify" the Palestinian state, run not by the Israelis but by some far-removed and suitably ruthless third party like the Chinese, or even the Saudis), would in fact be achievable and likely solve the problem.
Let's inject the number one strategic enemy of the west and/or a ruthlessly authoritarian monarchical regime into the most sensitive geopolitical spot on earth. The UN will also deploy troops to great effect; just look at their track record in Africa.
Is this a serious proposition, or am I missing some deeply nested online sarcasm and irony?
betascience
1hr ago
I'm pro Israel as a matter of practicality. I don't believe there is some universal obligation of the world at large or of people of the present to somehow make right wrongs of the past. This is a thing that may be worked out between an individual injured party and and their injurer, but Palestinians have a lot of different opinions about what they are owed and the center of mass of those opinions is something like a complete right to return to familial properties and a single state. Israel of course never can grant that.
Palestinians are also completely incapable of governing themselves in a way that makes them an acceptable neighbor. You can argue that Hamas doesn't represent Palestine (despite being elected), and yet if your average 22-40 year old Palestinian wanted to enforce some order other than Hamas, they could band together and govern themselves and do so. They could organize, police, enforce order. Eventually keep things calm until Israeli hearts soften and a two-state solution is back on the table. This would all be achievable were it what they wanted. They do not want it or incapable of achieving.
And so you're left with a Israel having essentially ungoverned barbarians on their border that they have been prevented from dealing with due to intense international pressure for decades. This is not a stable state of affairs. It seems clear to me that the best thing for Israel to due is to scatter them to the wind, and the best thing for the world to do is to force Arab countries to take Palestinians in as refugees, each an accordance to what they can assimilate, and then quickly assimilate them. No ghettos. No extended families kept close together. And no weird second-class citizenships or eternal refugee status. Utter assimilation. End them as a people, as the old testament would command. Dragging this on has been good for no one.
Recursive_Enlightenment
1hr ago
Thanks, it does work!
Silverdawn
I wake up 🔄 There's another psyop
1hr ago
100ProofTollBooth
1hr ago
Best books (including audio books) on serial killers?
True crime, fiction, non-fiction are all fine. Doesn't need to be haute lit-ra-ture ... can be a dime store novel as long as it good.
Please and thank you.
Recursive_Enlightenment
1hr ago
Someplace where I won't get a virus, and accessing it is easy.
Silverdawn
I wake up 🔄 There's another psyop
1hr ago
Is piracy an option? I checked a few of my goto trackers and they have it uploaded.
Recursive_Enlightenment
1hr ago
sliders1234
1hr ago
The Fed learned how to operate at the 0 lower bound. The only thing that ended the 2008 expansion was Covid and that was a choice by policymakers to cause a recession. Without getting super long winded because the subject matter is a PhD thesis the evidence seems strong as we have gone thru a 14 year expansion which also included planning a short recession and rapid recovery.
slothlikesamwise
Subway Wizard 🔮
1hr ago
The united States has such deed restrictions as well, and changes require historical society approval.
This sucks when there is a roof leak, and directly contributes to why historical buildings rot away.
Fast food chains like McDonald’s make most of their money by picking really good real estate locations. Red Lobster may have been doing the same, and once their mediocre business stopped being profitable they decided to simply transition to real estate. The “losses” may be beneficial in terms of tax deductions for the parent company, the business being maintained for that reason while they are in it for the real estate. From some googling,
Red Lobster's customer base tends to be older, with a significant portion of their customers falling into the 50s and 60s age range
Okay, so the writing was on the wall. That was 10 years ago. They made their business decision to maximize how much money enters their pockets. The idea that the chain’s demise was caused by unsavory bottom feeding prawns proles is a silly WSJ (the opposite of SJW) fiction that allows the corporation leaders behind the scenes to shift blame to, I don’t know, poor people who like sea food deals. Gah, if only there were a way to prevent them from sharing shrimp! That didn’t smell fishy to anyone? Hook line and sinker people fell for it.
A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi suffered a “hard landing” on Sunday, Iranian state television reported, without immediately elaborating.
Raisi was traveling in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. State TV said the incident happened near Jolfa, a city on the border with with the nation of Azerbaijan, some 600 kilometers (375 miles) northwest of the Iranian capital, Tehran.
Rescuers were attempting to reach the site, state TV said, but had been hampered by poor weather condition in the area. There had been heavy rain reported with some wind.
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