Rex
1yr ago
When you eat nutritious foods for a long time, your body starts to crave nutritious foods. Your appetite changes. If you go on a low carb high protein/fat diet for long enough, cake starts to taste disgustingly sweet. Most people dont commit to it long enough to notice this. Or they are following bad diet advice (e.g. egg whites, skim milk, etc)
Rex
1yr ago
This is okay with me. A motivated fight against the deep state, even if it’s fruitless, is what I want. Trump had some plan late in his presidency to reclassify thousands if not tens of thousands of government employees to contractors so that they could be more easily separated. If this is the only thing he accomplishes the whole thing will be worth it. Fighting traditional conservative battles is not going to change the direction of this country.
Rex
1yr ago
I had a very different take on this. Oppenheimer from almost the first minute is shown as murderous, arrogant, a philanderer, and ethically questionable if not an outright monster that is more focused on his own accomplishments than the the implications of his project. I dont know how anyone could leave the movie thinking he was a good man. There were no good men or women in the entire movie.
Rex
1yr ago
I mean the youtube critics I follow. RedLetterMedia, Critical Drinker, etc. I generally have contempt for anyone who gets listed as a critic on RottenTomatos. Audience reviews are a mixed bag but increasingly manipulated such that i dont put much weight on them. The YT shows are generally entertaining for me, however their take on Oppenheimer reveals that they have been so habituated to superhero movies that they are unable to really judge a movie that outside of a particular genre.
Rex
1yr ago
I may be bringing my own personal baggage but I think the movie has a very cynical take on scientists, Oppenheimer, and the US government. Literally half the movie is about some deep state worm “manipulating procedural outcomes” to fuck over Oppenheimer due to a disagreement on policy/personality. If there is a villain, it’s the USG. My takeaway is that the rot we see today was fully functioning as early as the 60s. Likely well before that. It’s a bitter pill to swallow for the “IFL SCIENCE” crowd and I think it explains a lot of the mid reviews.
Rex
1yr ago
Isn’t there quite a bit of chatter from ex-nato generals about Poland intervening in Ukraine? Wasn’t that a few weeks ago?
Perhaps this is in response to that.
I don’t know how likely it is that we see polish military fighting Russians in Ukraine but I reckon it’s a hell of a lot more likely than the speculation you’re putting forth here.
And even if I were to grant you that you’re totally correct here, what are we to do about it? Fund a ukrainian war for the next x years to preempt it? It’s still not worth it.
Rex
1yr ago
It's more than litigation issues in the U.S. The EPC (general contractors) that build nuclear power plants in the U.S. have generally lost the technical ability to build such complex engineering projects. The major contractors and subcontractors (CB&I, S&W, Westinghouse, etc) have all gone bankrupt and the people who built our original fleet never properly transferred their knowledge to the next generation of workers. We should all be embarrassed by this. We likely would be bot embarrassed and angry if it was even acknowledged as a problem. Instead we hear about nebulous "legislation and regulation". Those are certainly part of the problem, but only one part.
I wonder if Canada fares better. I kind of doubt it. It seems like the Chinese and maybe the French are the only ones left who can handle these types of projects.
Rex
1yr ago
Find a new girlfriend. Someone who not an Indian feminist. Indian women for whatever reason seem to latch on to progressive political whining with glee. Often being of the most radical type. It’s hard to imagine someone like that being a good partner. This type of person is often quite mercenary and will drop you if you hit a bumpy patch. I imagine there are an abundance of traditional women available, in absolute terms if not relative.
Short of that, tell her she will be in good company in the US. There will be endless women networking events, affirmative action, protests to join, causes to agitate for, white people to complain about. All with institutional, judicial, and community support. She’ll get lots of positive attention for all her political action. She could be special. Probabaly more special than she is in India currently. I’m going to guess she’s not a BJP fan, though i don’t know much about Indian politics. If you believe the progressive party line to the extent that they have one on India, he’s the 21st century hitler. I’d imagine he’s broadly popular and you don’t get much status from bitching about him at home.
Rex
1yr ago
I had a baby last year. Within hours of birth the medical team tries to get you to give a baby a Hep B vaccine. I’d love to hear someone explain to me why this is necessary. A vaccine for a virus that has no plausible mechanism for infecting the vast majority of newborns in general and my child specifically. A virus that is almost exclusively found in homosexuals, prostitutes, and IV drug users. My wife had multiple STD tests during pregnancy, as do all pregnant women in under medical care. There is zero immediate risk of being infected. Negligible short to medium term risk.
Even if one were to make the case that this Hep B vaccine safe, so just go along to get along, I think we all have enough experience to know that many people feel lousy after a vaccine. I’d love to hear why it’s necessary within 12 hours of a baby’s life outside the uterus to trigger their immune system. Why do they insist on doing this immediately?
It’s really ludicrous.
Rex
1yr ago
What’s the proper etiquette for Juneteenth? I work with a black guy. Am I supposed to say “Happy Juneteenth!!!” going into the weekend?
Is it a happy holiday or a solome one?
Is there a political valence to wishing someone happy Juneteenth? We all avoid politics we’re possible.
I think lots of people have this question because I hear a hell of a lot of “enjoy the three day weekend” this week.
Rex
1yr ago
Isn’t the general understanding among the HBD crowd that IQ and g are distinct. IQ may be a decent approximating of g for lack of a better measurement.
I presume that if someone has above average g, they will be able to easily navigate whatever environment they find themself.
Rex
1yr ago
Do you have a single fact to back that up?
Ordering up a $5k mail order bride from an agency Ukraine is not what is being proposed.
A man opening up their dating prospects to women outside your peer group in terms of age, nationality, and education would likely lead to far more healthy relationships.
Rex
1yr ago
The almost inescapable conclusion is that if you're an American guy who is entering his thirties and is single, if you limit your dating options to women who are in your peer group in terms of age, nationality, and education you'll find exceedingly slim pickings. The best partners will have been snagged early and those that remain will have high standards and shitty attitudes to go with it. So finding a woman who isn't a ticking divorce bomb almost certainly does require broadening the search.
Well said. This was the conclusion that I came to. You should re-post this next time we have a thread on relationships.
Rex
1yr ago
It was created by a very interesting person: Mike White. He first came on my radar as a contestant on Survivor and I found him extremely annoying, if not a good character for the show. Very gay. Very catty. Very California. He was a minor celebrity, with a few big Hollywood writing credits under his belt. Best known for School of Rock.
I stumbled across first season of WL by accident and was completely hooked. I’ve watched some of Mike Whites back catalogue and I now think he’s a complete genius. He created an old HBO show, Englightened, starring Laura Dern. I loathe Laura Dern but found the show terrific. MW has this ability to take the piss out of the mainstream American leftists, while having just enough plausible deniability to not get himself in trouble. His whole look and style probabaly help with it since on the surface he fits right in.
He was recently a guest on the Perfume Nationalist podcast and basically confirmed my whole theory here. He seems to really dislike the culture he writes about and has some very controversial takes on orthodox California liberal thinking. It’s also like the only Perfume Nationalist show that’s paywalled and I imagine that was a MW request to limit listeners and keep a low profile.
If youre a mike white fan and want to watch a really weird indie movie go rent Chuck and Buck on Amazon. It’s his first movie credit. I can’t believe he got another job after that.
Rex
1yr ago
I do believe there is mass repression of the Uighur Muslims. I do think its comparable to the Israel/Palestine situation. Not the same. But comparable. And I think the Isralies are assholes when it comes to Palestine. But they have their reasons.
With israel though, there is a massive amount of media out there explaining exactly why their policies are necessary and/or minimizing what the Israelis are doing. That’s where the comparison ends.
To be clear. I don’t support Israel or China using state power to indiscriminately punish vast populations. I just strongly suspect that everyone eats up the Uighur story because they’ve been fed a one sided story and it fits the broader interests of the TPTB.
And back to my original comment, I’d love to hear more about this Han supremacy. That sounds a lot broader than this specific draconian crackdown on wahabbi Islam and their wider community.
Rex
1yr ago
I’d love to hear more about Han supremacy and Chinese minority oppression.
I know a girl from work that is Chinese. The minority groups come up every now and then since one of them are from her hometown. I get no sense of supremacy in these conversations. If anything, it’s more of an attitude like “my hometown has this neat minority with cool food and traditional clothes. They have dance troupes and dress differently at official functions.” Kind of like a unqiue little touristy thing.
The whole Han supremacy thing seems more like a Reddit meme or a porting over of “white supremacy” to China. I’m sure there is disparate impact. And 99% of the communist party are Han. But it doesn’t come across as some systematic oppression. Not at all.
Rex
1yr ago
I tend to agree with you. The entire internment camp story appeared out of no where 5ish years ago and was convieniently timed with chilling western-Chinese relations.
The Muslim groups in western China that are oppressed used to be on the US list of terrorist organizations. They were quietly removed from that list a few years ago.
I imagine the Chinese apologist line is that these are Islamist extremists that have executed terroist attacks in the past. They’re surpressing them not unlike how Israel deals with Palestinians.
It’s not at all surprising that western liberals would be up in arms about this. Islamophobia is one of their pet issues.
I have no idea what really goes on in western china. But I certainly don’t think that the state department, cia, ngos, and media are telling me the whole truth. In fact we’ve seen them make up lies out of whole cloth many many times when it serves their strategic interest.
Rex
1yr ago
I can’t believe you shared that c90 video! It’s one of my all time favorite videos on YT. I spent 3 months in india and that video pretty much sums it all up. In a very positive way I might add. India really is something else. You should go if you haven’t been there. It’s in my top 3.
Rex
1yr ago
I missed a trip to Bhutan that I really regret. Doubt I’ll have another chance at that one.
Rex
1yr ago
Try the developing world. India, Philippines, Laos. And get out of the capitals. I hear Africa is still pretty wild.
I think your thesis is largely correct. I used to to travel for work extensively before Covid and was noticing the same thing. There are still parts of the world that are not completely homogenized, but their days are numbered. This might be your last chance if it’s not already gone.
I knew it was final call when I met a Bulgarian hipster that was indistinguishable from my local variety 5 miles away.
Rex
1yr ago
I’ve been rereading the Alaistair Reynolds Revelation Space series. One of my fav sci fi series. Started back in 2002 or so and been going strong for 20 years.
The author has somehow not been wrapped up in culture war nonsense. He typically has a decent balance of men and women protagonists and has flown under their radar. Even his latest book theirs a sequence that I can’t tell if he’s endorsing some obscure culture war talking points or taking the piss on them.
It’s on the harder side of sci fi, but not really. More of a expansive future history series. It’s right up my ally.
All audiobooks are free on Tokybook.com
As an aside, I really love Yandex.com. If you have an adblocker and a moderate amount of internet street smarts, you can find pretty much anything.
Rex
1yr ago
I’d like it too. I spent two week in Bulgaria about ten years ago. I pal’d around with a local who was my age. Mid 20s. He gave me some insight into how people feel about politics. Typical ex soviet stuff. I spent my time in Stara Zagora. Great beer!
Rex
1yr ago
I may be wrong, but I think people here are missing the subtext. This is a hookup app for old people. She likely is overweight and old. She can not compete with the average 20 something or even the the women a year or two older than 30. These is ease of connection on this app is because the people with dicks are likely not looking for fit young women or relationships with potential wives that can reproduce.
What exactly is a superstar researcher? What kind of deliverable or output do they produce?
The cynical side of me is thinking that there really is nothing of value being generated here. That it’s just another mechanism to funnel more tuition, endowment, and federal funny money into the hands of friends and allies.
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