Grant_us_eyes
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User ID: 1156
Grant_us_eyes
3d ago
Shotokan karate.
Grant_us_eyes
3d ago
Boy Scouts(before it got ruined(And, if I'm being extremely charitable, still is today)) is alot like martial arts.
When it's good, it's really, really good.
When it's not, it's the metaphorical equivalent of a mcdojo.
Sadly, there's no uniform way you're going to be able to enforce that level of discipline other than getting the weird and interesting people whom are passionate about Odd Things into joining.
Recalling my own scouting days, come to think, all the weird and wonderful things that we got up to where specifically because of the guys running stuff were all Weird and Interesting in thier own unique ways. From Baptist Preachers to Ex-military to old-school Ham operators to... Well, you get the idea.
So. While the announcement that the military is basically backing away from scouting... well, I wish I could say I'm surprised. But I'm really, really not. Still a shame, though - I can remember many a time when scouting activities were being held on miltiary bases and whatnot, and getting to visit them were actually really cool.
Enshittification continues apace, I suppose.
Grant_us_eyes
3d ago
Something odd is going on as well, where under Trump financial analysts are talking about "rising unemployment" when unemployment is lower than it literally ever was under Obama. Unemployment has only very rarely been lower than it currently is.
As someone who had the misfortune to graduate during the Obama years and currently in the line to try and find a new job right now, you will have to excuse me if I so politely reply with bullshit.
Trying to find a job under Obama that wasn't some sort of high-turnover high-pressure sales job was a complete nightmare that I barely managed to stumble into through a series of unusual circumstance. (And, checking back what the average for my degree was at the time, I was getting severely underpaid for it).
Right now, it's arguably even worse; throwing out applications for even slightly sketchy jobs, and I'm not even getting replies back for an interview.
Back during Obama, I couldn't even count the times I'd get slotted in for an interview only to get in and find they were interviewing me for something completely different, or had just straight up lied about what I was applying for. Good times.
If anything, those financial analysts sound like the only people who know a goddamn inkling of what they're talking about. I'd listen to them, if I were you.
Grant_us_eyes
3d ago
"Oh, I tell you, women are not the sensitive sex. That's one of the great delusions of literature. Men are the true romanticists."
- From the movie 'Indiscreet', 1958.
I have that movie on-call, I really need to sit down and watch it for the full context of that quote one day.
Grant_us_eyes
3d ago
Minor antecedent, but I was assisting with a 'local' tournament a few weeks ago.
The most annoying issue with working the tables that always happens is the inevitable student who pops up out of nowhere that wants to compete. We basically had to throw together a special bracket at one point where we basically said 'Fuck it, everyone who hasn't competed that WANTS to compete gets thrown in here, and if they don't show up, shame on them'.
So... it seems to be doing pretty damn well.
At the end of the day, martial arts is something you just can't fake. It's really hard to deny not being impressed when two opponents are going at it so hard that the damn tournament mat beneath them is getting shoved around.
Though I'd also say that the attitude of the people in charge helps, as well. Really dedicated martial artists, who've been at this for decades, are just a different breed. It's really interesting to see.
Grant_us_eyes
3d ago
There's a bit of a funny story at my dojo my sensei likes to tell from time to time.
Years ago, his sensei was teaching. At the end of the class, his sensei turned to one of the female students, and promptly said '(Female student), you're getting fat!' In front of everyone. Not giving a fuck.
Cue strangled reply from said female student. Who then promptly lost weight in the coming months.
Morale of the story is... I dunno, get an old japanese guy to teach your running classes or something.
Grant_us_eyes
6d ago
Grant_us_eyes
7d ago
You don't need to look at Groypers for this.
I'm going to blatantly shill for a youtube channel I'm rather fond of; Effective Purpose, whom if I had to describe to other people, I'd say he was a Married, Christian Hoe Math.
I'm not joking.
The thing I find most interesting about him is that, despite his professed Christianity(and he certainly comes across as spiritual, though I suppose that could be my bias in action), he does not spare the rod nor spoil the child when it comes to criticism of things he finds need to be criticized; From the Church itself, to Church leadership, to women, and even Christian Women as a whole, noting that the entire 'TradCath' path toward acquiring a woman is just another pig and poke due to various reasons(which he then goes into).
He's done a video about what you talk about; How other things in the past(and in the current day), men will flock to the church in times of trouble and promptly leave for various reasons(see above).
So. Perhaps I'm a bit of a pessimist, but I don't see any influx of Groypers to have any long-term influence. If anything, the real danger will be excactly that; they move into the church, find the above, and then promptly move onto something that will satisfy thier need without any sense of restraint or stricture.
Grant_us_eyes
9d ago
Grant_us_eyes
10d ago
Ah! I see what you're referring to. I've heard that argument before, and while it works on paper(and certainly sounds nice), it seems as if most current relationships nowadays rely on men being successful and bringing in value before they can occur.
Grant_us_eyes
10d ago
I don't disagree. If anything, I feel that this developed habit of women 'waiting at the finish line' is contributing to some of the bitterness men are feeling toward woman who demonstrate this.
Sadly, I have no utter clue as to how one could even go about correcting this, so I can only focus on the one element that could be fixed - IE, making men more successful, earlier.
Grant_us_eyes
10d ago
You're never going to find a single Golden Ticket solution to the TFR question(because, ultimately, there is no single golden ticket solution to TFR), but economic conditions allowing for succesful, established men relatively early in life so they can support a family is atleast a very strong factor in play here.
The hidden question here that few people ask; If men as a whole were richer and more established, would women quietly choose to be stay-at-home-moms or instead go for the go-girl-business-boss path? We really don't know.
On the other hand, we should still probably want for successful, established men early in life, because even if a good chunk of women still go for the go-girl-business-boss path, the stay-at-home-moms may very well make up for the slack if they're churning out 3 to 4 kids at a time.
relationshiplessness of zoomers contradicts the "purely economic factors" explanation.
I can't see how you reach this conclusion. If anything, going by current economic conditions, it blatantly supports it.
Grant_us_eyes
11d ago
I admittedly have never heard of Kreia described as a 'Mary Sue'.
I've heard of alot of people dislike her, but never call her a Mary Sue.
Grant_us_eyes
11d ago
The reason I bring that game up is because Knights of the Old Republic 1 and Knights of the Old Republic 2 both set out to subvert and deconstruct Star Wars respectively in a way that was not destructive, and years before the Disney Triology ever came to fruition.
While people universally hold KOTOR1 is one of the best Star Wars games ever made(as well they should), KOTOR2 is much more devisive. For one, there's a severe tonal shift - while KOTOR1 is a galaxy-spanning pulp science fantasy in the theme of the original trilogy, KOTOR2 is much more darker and philosophical, to the point where the opening level is taken straight out of a horror game.
KOTOR2 also brings to the fore the potential consequences of the Jedi and Sith conflict, in the wake of such a cataclysmic, planet-destroying war, openly questioning on wether such organizations and individuals are good things overall, and the nature of the Force as a whole.
And it does all of this while managing to somehow not take a steaming shit over the setting itself or insult the fandom, while never giving you a clear or concise answer as to what the game thinks is correct. I'd argue it's a masterpeice of writing, for all the balancing act it plays.
Doesn't hurt that it has one of the best video game characters ever created in the form of Kreia, but the KOTOR series is littered with incredible characters.
Personally, I like KOTOR2 far more than KOTOR1, myself. There's just something about it...
Grant_us_eyes
12d ago
You haven't played Knights of the Old Republic 2, have you?
Grant_us_eyes
13d ago
Most of the people on youtube I watch are already having to supplement their income via ads they willingly insert into their videos. Or setup patreons, or advertise for off-youtube streaming sites(because youtube is a censoring hell that would make Orwell blush), or...
So no, I'm not giving youtube access to my hardware and internet to force their advertising on me. If I want to support the people I watch on youtube, I'll do so directly.
Grant_us_eyes
22d ago
Fallacious logic. There have been plenty of conspiracies that have held up to scrutiny with no one whistle-blowing, despite the likely large number of personelle involved.
MK-Ultra, for example, is only know due to a filing mishap that meant not all the paperwork on said project was successfully destroyed.
More recently, we've learned of 275 plain-clothes FBI agents amoung the January 6 crowd - not a single whistleblower.
Conspiracies can work just fine, it seems.
Grant_us_eyes
25d ago
Okay, this is where I admit my historical shortfall and getting a few forts mixed up; The fort I was thinking of was Fort Pike, which I had somehow thought was the fort along the Mississippi River. It's not; those forts are instead Jackson and St Philip. In contrast, those two saw one hell of a battle; whereas Fort Pike was taken without a shot.
I had also forgotten how soon New Orleans fell during the Civil War; I could have inexplicably thought it was taken much later.
So! There's a solid argument that Fort Pike wasn't that critical, disqualifying it.
If so, I'd probably pick Vicksburg, which saw... comparatively small causalities and was basically the last Confederate hold-out on the Mississippi.
Grant_us_eyes
26d ago
Anything by Peter F Hamilton, really.
Hell, his first trilogy basically starts off with an artificially-engineered psychic British detective hooking up with a hot, stacked redhead and then going off to have adventures employed by a British megacorp in a post-global warming apocalyptic Briton.
Grant_us_eyes
27d ago
Modern society as a whole could never stand treating Indians and Muslims the way Germans were treated before and during WW1.
Then again, when you start looking at ancestry, there's a solid argument to be made that America is more German than English. (English comes in third, with Irish in second.) History is weird.
Grant_us_eyes
27d ago
You'd have to define what counts as 'front line', however.
Or else you'd just have people(like me) who'd play with the definition. Do defensive emplacements count? Cause I can think of places in the civil war that were both tactically critical, staffed the entire length of the war, yet saw very little combat.
Grant_us_eyes
30d ago
Less a movie and more a television series, but I can bet a decade or so from now, people are going to be writing sociological essays on the development of the Star Trek.
You could probably do that now anyways, but given how dark and bleak the latest stuff has gotten(or so I've been told), yeesh...
Grant_us_eyes
1mo ago
What concerns me is the cultural message sent.
And you're ignoring shared social norms.
I'll be the first person to admit I think people need to get punched in the face more, or atleast know what physical combat, be it fisticuffs or whatnot, actually feels like and be capable of such.
That said, one of the first things my dojo drilled in my head, with the potential for sparring against people that might not even be able to speak the same language I have, is, when disengaging from sparring, always step back. The answer should be pretty obvious - you're keyed up, blood pumping, riding an adrenaline high, and stepping into someone's space is basically an aggressive maneuver that could result in a broken nose without them even intending to do so.
Reflexes are a hell of a drug.
So. Mutual combat? Fine. But it has to be ritualized, it needs to be strict, and it needs to be understood, by both parties, there are lines you do not cross.
And we definitely don't have that, and likely will never have that, given the current social situation in America as a whole.
Grant_us_eyes
1mo ago
A very interesting review/analysis. Thank you.
I also find it interesting that Indie games are leaning more and more heavily toward sound design and implied, environmental story-telling to push forward immersion and investment in the game as a whole. Your description of Hollow Knight reminds me quite a great deal of Vintage Story, which despite being a procedural minecraft-origin game leans very heavily into both sound design, music fade-in/out, and implied environmental story-telling to piece together an overall tale - one that you, in the theme of Darksouls-like game, can completely ignore in favor of just killing things and building.
I can't say I find this development overall to be disagreeable. I always did enjoy the Elder Scrolls take on such.
You statement: 'under Trump financial analysts are talking about "rising unemployment" when unemployment is lower than it literally ever was under Obama. unemployment is lower than it literally ever was under Obama'
Job searching during the Obama years was a nightmare.
Job searching right now is even worse.
Maybe I misread your statement - I've been doing alot of cooking and am slightly buzzed right now, I won't discount it - but I took your statement to imply that employment wasn't that bad during the Obama years.
It doesn't help that isn't the first time I've heard that, admittedly.
So, if I'm mistaken on that part, I do apologize. However, this part;
Again, trying to find a job right now is a fairly horrible process. So if Trump financial analysts are talking about rising unemployment, I'd start listening to them. Cause they might be on to something.
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