BahRamYou
1mo ago
Im imagining him doing all three of those things together, in a tone that implies he wants to look at facebook pics of a much younger woman, and maybe buy her gifts for her birthday. I dont know, maybe its nothing, but it could be sexual harassment. I just feel like its hard to judge without being there. I dont know why you dont believe your wife about this case.
BahRamYou
1mo ago
I think we're in something of a golden age for astronomy right now, thanks to better telescopes and better computing power to analyze their data. Plus youtube channels to communicate that stuff to us laymen. So maybe not a surprise that we're just now finding all these weird quirky stars that until recently would have been too small to identify. And of course it's easier to see those things if their nearby, compared to a distant galaxy where the best you could see is a huge quasar.
One thing unusual about our neighborhood is that it sits in the local bubble of unusually deep vacuum, which makes astronomy easier. And on a larger scale there's the local void where there's unusually few galaxies nearby.
BahRamYou
1mo ago
These things are always hard to tell when you're hearing about it second-hand, since so much depends on the precise body language, tone, and wording. Adding in a foreign language and culture just makes things even more confusing. From what you said it certainly sounds suspiciously like he was trying to hit on her and take advantage of the work heirarchy, but there's reasonable doubt.
What do you think should have happened here? Should the temp worker just smile and accept the sexual harassment, shouwa-era style? Should she "take the law into her own hands" and scream at the guy or punch him? Just quietly quit her job and go someplace else? Sic a big mob on him on the internet? What she did (complaining to the corporate heirarchy) sounds pretty reasonable.
BahRamYou
1mo ago
This feels like one of those things where you're like "you got a source for that?" and i'm like "isn't it obvious? There's tons of examples all over the internet!" and you're like "yeah but none of those is an official peer-reviewed source (TM) so it doesn't count!" and the argument dies down into nit-picking.
BahRamYou
1mo ago
Surely the type of anime plays some effect? I don't think that standard shonen battle animes like Dragonball, Demon Slayer, Naruto, etc. are making people trans, or encouraging them at all. But there's a particular subset of anime that really plays up the "girls are so cute!" schtick. And another, smaller niche that really delves into genderbending stuff in a way that most western media avoids.
BahRamYou
1mo ago
I seem to recall there was a massively upvoted "Quality Contribution" here a while back, where a gay man wrote a similar post. Basically arguing that all gay sex was about these power dynamics. But then a bunch of other gay men clapped back at him and told him he's wrong, that's just one niche/stereotype, and there's lots of other gay men who are loving and equal. So I don't know what to think now.
BahRamYou
1mo ago
I agree, but I don't think there's any malevolent conspiracy at work here. It's just that TV, and especially books, are more of a female market. So the publishers naturally make stuff aimed at women, which attracts more of a female audience and also creates a pipeline where the only new writers getting trained are the sort of people who can write that stuff. And over time it just becomes more and more extreme. The guys go elsewhere to things like sports, video games, anime, and internet blogs.
BahRamYou
2mo ago
Or just a way to sell more VIP passes? I dont think they make much from ad revenue, so those are the only thing funding the site
BahRamYou
2mo ago
Probably worth noting that the research you cite comes from japan, where the culture is different. Lolicon stuff (in fictional form) is legal there and at least somewhat tolerated. Pretty different from the US where it will get you arrested.
BahRamYou
2mo ago
Yeah. Its a rare case where the first in the series really nailed it, to the point where there was almost nowhere left to go and they had to change things up. The first really captures the feeling of "expand, expand, EXPAND," and being the dictator of a vast galactic empire. Other games add more details, but they make it feel you're more small scale, micromanaging things. Plus, the simplicity means that the AI is actually a decent opponent.
BahRamYou
2mo ago
Yeah, if anything the average wood quality was better back then because we hadn't run out of old-growth forests yet. It's really obvious when you compare antique furniture to most modern stuff.
BahRamYou
2mo ago
I dunno man. I think you basically have it right. I recently found this: https://nuancepill.com/is-autism-the-real-black-pill/ and I felt so seen. Autism is just really, really bad for attracting women, even worse than being physically ugly.
BahRamYou
2mo ago
Of course not literally all of them, they can Always search harder and find a few. Even Russiain ww2 didnt conscript "all" their men. Like a tube of toothpaste, they can always squeeze harder and find a few more. But after so many rounds of drafting, it's become a political problem: https://archive.is/6TSk4
Lots of smart people thought the Russians would crush Ukraine in a matter of weeks, it’s incredibly impressive on Ukraine’s part that they didn’t. And equally embarrassing for Russia.
I feel like this is a case where you just have to keep an open mind and be willing to update your views. The smart people who thought that were wrong, on both counts. Russia badly botched it's attempt at a fast, combined arms inivasion, yes. But Ukraine also hung on with much more tenacity and organization than anyone expected, and that counts for a lot. And now they've had 2 years worth of western aid and training, in a fairly large country that is all-out mobilized for war. At this point, like @ABigGuy4U said, Ukraine is not a soft target, and yet Russia continues to advance.
Now, if there were some hypothetical future war between all of NATO and Russia then, sure, Nato wins easy. Except that would never happen, because of nuclear weapons. I also don't see any particular reason why Russia would want to start such a war- there's no area of Poland that's like the Donbass, which has lots of ethnic Russians and a direct land connection to Crimea.
But every other country on Russia’s border are hardening against them, both politically and militarily.
Only the ones in Europe. They're closer than ever now to China, North Korea, and Iran. Not sure about the former Soviet states in central Asia but I don't think there's any real tension there, either.
That said, I agree with your initial point that Russia isn't particularly a threat to Poland, even on its own. So I guess I'm cautiously arguing in favor of a peace deal where Russia gets to keep the Donbass, the other European countries stay vigilent and increase defense, and hopefully there's no more war after that.
BahRamYou
2mo ago
If you see the war as a way to manipulate NATO countries to US interests by ensuring they are weak and dependent on US military aid so that they do not develop their own, independent military and the foreign policy that is downstream from that, 'we' (the US) absolutely don't need to do either of these things. Letting Ukraine bleed dry and letting Putin station a massive, battle-hardened army rebuilt with modern technology on the Polish border is, from a certain point of view, a massive win for US foreign policy.
Whether or not that's actually the US goal here I obviously can't say but I can't help but notice that everything 'we' (the US) has done seems to be nudging things in that direction.
Nah, I don't believe that either side was that smart. The Russians thought they could drive into Kiev in a matter of weeks (which seemed to be what Western analysts also thought at the start of the war). Then Ukraine proved a lot more resolute than anyone expected. So then the US alliance showed up with hundreds of billions worth of high-tech military gear, and everyone thought that would be the end of the war as "orcs" led "human wave assaults" against our most expensive weapon systems. Turns out that didn't work so well either, like you said- they were able to find ways to, eventually, find ways to adapt and counter our weapons. So now we're stuck in this meatgrinder that no one ever wanted or expected, but it's a sunk cost and both sides still want to win.
BahRamYou
2mo ago
Man come on, at least read the full sentence:
They've drafted basically every man they could find, sparing only the ones necessary to work the farms and keep their economy running
Ukraine is a low-tech economy and needs its young men to work the farms and mines. They're not being given a vacation. They're part of the war effort just as much as if they were fighting on the front lines.
BahRamYou
2mo ago
If anything this war has revealed that the Russian military is a paper tiger riddled with incompetence and corruption. They’re laughable compared to the past, and demographics get worse for them each passing day.
It's funny how differently people see this war! I look at it and see the opposite- even with every single US-aligned nation around the world is sending Ukraine all the weapons they can spare, Ukraine is still steadily losing this war.
They've drafted basically every man they could find, sparing only the ones necessary to work the farms and keep their economy running, with patrols on the border stopping any man from leaving (but women are fleeing the country). Meanwhile, Russia has still not needed to send in the conscripts who make up the bulk of its army- it's still able to coast on just volunteers, prisoners, and foreign mercenaries, so the average Russian citizen isn't affected.
We laughed at how mighty the western GDP was- turns out GDP does not magically turn into real weapons. Instead, Russia and its allies continue to massively outproduce all the rest of us in artillery, which is what counts the most. The US makes something like 25,000 a month while Russia makes 250,000. Instead, Ukraine has to rely on what they can scavange from old Soviet nations- the big news lately was that Armenia has agreed to send them some stuff. Armenia, the arsenal of democracy! (meanwhile, North Korea is sending literally millions of shells to Russia)
We boasted about our high-tech superweapons that would make the old Soviet stuff look like a joke. It turns out that GPD-guided munitions are easy to electronically jam, long-range missiles are too expensive and few, and the wiz-bang F35 that's supposed to do everything is too precious to be risked in Ukraine. Instead, the most practical weapon seems to be cheap, simple drones manufactured in Iran.
It's not a quick, flashy war of maneuver, sure. It's a slow, grinding, war of attrition. But they're winning. It boggles my mind that people still seem to think that Ukraine is doing great and will be marching into Moscow any day now. We need to see the reality and adapt- either cut a deal that gifts Russia the donbass region, or massively increase the amount of aid going to Ukraine, and restructure the current arms industry to be suited for a serious war.
BahRamYou
2mo ago
but you would trust a nazi or soviet defense guarantee? Sometimes there just aren't any winning options.
BahRamYou
2mo ago
Polish late interwar leaders faced a clear and unpleasant choice - Germany or Russia. They chose neither and got demolished by both. This was a terrible decision.
That's certainly... a take. What exactly were they supposed to do? Their country had only recently been created- until recently their land was part of Russia and Germany, so it's natural that both of those countries wanted it back. Is there some alternative universe where they voluntarily surrender to the USSR and then Germany just leaves them alone?
BahRamYou
2mo ago
Yeah, I'm going to say DEI is doing problematically fine.
Plus there's the big one that you didn't even mention- that Harris was pretty obviously picked for DEI reasons. EG: https://www.npr.org/2020/06/12/875000650/pressure-grows-on-joe-biden-to-pick-a-black-woman-as-his-running-mate
No one has been willing to publicly push back on that at all, except for Trump (kinda) when he questioned her blackness. It's insane.
BahRamYou
2mo ago
I regularly see this woke dogma challenged outside of a deep Red social context.
I do too, but I mostly see those challenges being whispered in quiet rooms, or muttered between a small group of men at the bar. I don't see anyone openly challenging the woke workplace rules, James Damore-style. I tried to complain, once, when they converted the mens room at my (small, male-dominated) office into a gender neutral room, because that meant that only one person could use it at a time and it caused long lines. I was given cold glances and a stern warning.
Bonus from that search: here's a reddit account of his that nobody else seems to have found yet.
lmao, "TaiwanForiegnLegion?" So he wasn't just a (attempted) Ukraine volunteer, he also wanted to volunteer for Taiwan? And then he goes off on his own to shoot Trump?
Yeah. "attracts high-agency crazy people" indeed.
But hey, give him credit for "taking heroic responsibility" like a good rationalist. (https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/R4f4RdGBdZsPzyJYk/a-discussion-of-heroic-responsibility)
edit: he has a website too! https://taiwanforeignlegion.com/. And it's really crazy, just a giant block of text with no paragraphs.
BahRamYou
2mo ago
Yeah, this is a surprisingly complicated question because each state has different laws and it's never really been tested before. The parties can of course "nominate" whoever they want, but in most states the ballots have already been "locked in" and won't change. For example, RFK is going to stay on the ballot in some states, but not others, even though he dropped out and wants to be removed. Doubly complicated because, like you mentioned, you're not technically voting for the candidate themselves, but for electors pledge to them.
I think in practice it would just go to the vice president, because that's kind of their main job. But I would expect to see a lawsuit with some bickering over vague, archaic rules, and maybe get the Supreme Court involved like they did in Bush v Gore. Because, apparently, the Supreme Court is really the Supreme source of all authority in this ridiculous country.
BahRamYou
2mo ago
That was my initial reaction to the first attempt.
I was then horrified at the lack of interest and muted reactions on the left.
I then recognized the lack of interest as analogous to the lack of interest and muted reactions by republicans after a school shooting.
what exactly am I supposed to do about either of those things? I'm not in the secret service and I'm not a cop. I'm just a regular guy. there's nothing I, personally, can do to stop these things.
Usually when people get worked up they mean "we as a society should change things to stop it." meaning, ban guns. Well, even if I agreed with that, I'm still just one voter, so I can't actually ban guns.
So what it really means is "I want you to spend all your time posting political memes on social media and being a nervous wreck." Well, been there and done that. It's a waste of time.
I think it's healthy that more people are starting to realize you can read about these things in the news and then just... move on with our lives. The news media wants us to obsess over these things, but there's no good reason we should.
a large group of women all agreed that this was sexually harassment, which they witnessed first-hand, including his own wife. Do you think they're all just lying? I'm not "imagining him doing those things in a maximally negative light," I'm just trusting the eye-witnesses. Why do you feel compelled to fight for the innocense of some random guy you've never met?
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