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SubstantialFrivolity

I'm not even supposed to be here today

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joined 2022 September 04 22:41:30 UTC
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SubstantialFrivolity


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
I'm not even supposed to be here today

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2022 September 04 22:41:30 UTC
				


				
					

					
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				Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 8, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


High school is notable because although you still have some decent latitude in terms of who you spend your time with, you are still surrounded by the same set of people every day, forced into constant, recurring proximity. However as soon as college hits, boom all of that reliable, predictable, forced social interaction suddenly dissolves.




What you refer to as the high school experience was exactly what I experienced in college, so I think it really depends on where you go to school.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Doesn't that make the actions un-American? Irresponsible?




No. A reasonable person can look at the situation in Iran and conclude that the best thing for American interests is to get out now. You obviously disagree with that, and that's fine (I'm not actually trying to take a stand on that point), but the contrary position is not somehow beyond the pale such that one can't imagine someone would take it up only in a bad-faith attempt to make our country worse off.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for March 6, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yeah, I never really understood that rule (being extremely unfamiliar with Magic)... until I started to play Dominion a bunch. Then it made sense to me.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for March 6, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Also - I'm getting the sense that a smaller deck with stronger cards is better because the deck keeps getting recycled over an over in combat.




That is generally true in deck building games, though IDK about StS specifically. Usually, having a small deck means you can have just a handful of high powered cards that you get to keep drawing over and over. It's not the only strategy, but it's often a good one.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for March 6, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yeah I also think it's hilarious. Another example I love is Thug Kitchen (or did love, back before they became lame about it and started to say it was racist to do that schtick). I also don't think it's a millennial thing per se. South Park uses that kind of tonal dissonance to great comedic effect, and Trey and Matt are GenX. I think the only real requirement is to not be uptight about swearing (so, I have a hard time seeing boomers appreciate it).


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for March 6, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yeah they did. I was just thinking about this gem yesterday. I'm guessing it was too expensive to make those videos, but either way it's a shame they stopped. Almost every video they did back in the day was pure gold.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


These people genuinely are *better" than you and me. Smarter, more driven, more ambitious, and more willing to take risks. All men are categorically not made equal.




I think for that to be true, we would need agreed-upon criteria for how to evaluate goodness. Which I don't believe we really can achieve. Let's say for the sake of argument that Bezos is higher on all those axes than me, fine. But it's not clear that all of those things make someone good. Ambition is notorious for being a double edged sword as a character trait, and risk-taking is imo more of a negative trait than a positive one. And of course, Bezos has cheated on his wife more than me, and has engaged in unethical business practices more than me, both of which I would say are pretty strongly negative.


So who is better, Bezos or me? It is going to depend on whom you ask; we just don't have a set of values that everyone (or even most people) can agree upon to answer the question. I don't think one can correctly say, therefore, that Bezos (or any other billionaire of course) is better than me, nor that I am better than him. Nor would it be reasonable to say that he has more moral worth than me (which is what the "all men are created equal" line means). The only thing we can say with any real certainty is that he has more money and business success than I ever will, but that doesn't make one man better than another.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 1, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I think both Matrix sequels are vastly underrated. Leaving out the weirdness that the Wachowski brothers put in because they were all into gay sex clubs, the movies are cut from the same cloth as the first movie. Also, Monica Bellucci.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for February 27, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I'm not going to sit and pontificate here; this is just my view.




I would love for you to pontificate! I always find your perspective interesting, and I think you have a great deal of wisdom in the things you say. But if you really don't want to, I understand.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for February 27, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
My guess would be that the situation was one where the girl agreed with what he said, and was pleased he had the courage to say something she thought was true. Saying something controversial which a girl disagrees with would be unlikely to win her approval.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 23, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Turns out I should've looked at thread context instead of replying from my notifications. If you meant what will help you stand out in terms of skills, unfortunately it's really hard to stand out early in your career. I got my break by working desktop support and learning as much as I could. Eventually (read: it took me 8 years at that job), I was competent enough that I made an impression on the server admin team and I got a shot at doing higher level stuff. From there it was a lot easier to get jobs, because I had legitimate sysadmin experience under my belt and could get into higher level sysadmin roles. I've also seen people just be in the right place at the right time and get hired as junior sysadmins even though they were really green, but you can't count on that.


Certs can help you, especially if you have a high tier one like CCIE (if someone is a CCIE and isn't at least getting interviews, that would be cause for surprise). But they are expensive AF to get on your own, as they are priced with the expectation that some corporation is paying you to get it and won't balk at a several thousand $ cost to get their guy certified. Because of that, I can't say I recommend pursuing certs as a way to get hired early in your career.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 23, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I think the formatting tips @Yeet_far gave were good, but another good trick I've seen is to bring your resume to the interview printed on nice heavy paper. I remember a candidate doing that one time, and we (the interviewers) were super impressed by his resume because of that. It kept us talking about him and honestly, if he had the qualifications (sadly he didn't) I have very little doubt he would've gotten hired because that one thing made him memorable in a positive way.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 23, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That's fine, but "it doesn't benefit you to have a 2-page resume" is very different from "it actively harms you to have a 2-page resume" (which was the original claim). I think the former is true, while the latter is not.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 23, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I would say that your formatting advice is good in terms of standing out from the pack. OP's resume isn't bad, it's not going to make someone think less of him IMO, but it's not going to stand out either. It'll be just another resume in the sea of samey-looking resumes. If the job market is super tight, he probably needs every advantage he can get, so I think it makes sense to work on the formatting to really make it pop.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 23, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
CCNA is not a very noteworthy cert, so I wouldn't be surprised. It doesn't hurt to have one, but it's not really going to help you stand out much either.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 23, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I have been part of the hiring process at companies outside of FAANG, and honestly nobody gives a shit if your resume is more than one page. Maybe if it was 10+ pages that would raise eyebrows, but there's no need to have a hard target of "one page or bust".


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 23, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I would also suggest that @self_made_human provide some account of how long it took (not counting CPU time of course, just how long he had to spend on it) as well as how many iterations it took to get right. You presumably have some kind of idea how long this task would take you, and then you can compare. Because in the end it isn't just "can it do the thing" which is important (though that is indeed important), it's also "is it less effort/time for me to have it do the thing".


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Thanks for the clarification. I definitely mistook you in that case and I'm sorry for that. I'm not sure how to bridge the gap between our experiences and our respective "it's so obvious" understandings of the tech, but at least we are coming at it from a place of cordiality which I do appreciate.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I've enjoyed everything I've read by Tom Holland, he's great. Currently I have read Rubicon, Millennium (weirdly title changed in the US to The Forge Of Christendom), and Dynasty. Recently I was at the used bookstore and saw Dominion and Pax, and I'm really looking forward to both.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 23, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


he believed Belichick should "wait a year" before induction as penance for Spygate, the 2007 cheating scandal that cost the team a first-round draft pick.




Shit man, he should be disqualified for that reason. You cheat, you don't get accolades. Very simple, or it should be very simple.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Thank you for the correction, I did mean ChatGPT base but mistakenly believed it launched with 3 and not 3.5. But no, there was not a meaningful difference between the two models in my opinion (based on my usage of the two). I appreciate you at least not insulting me, but unfortunately I don't think we will ever see eye to eye on this.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


It's not intrinsically incorrect to say "him and I went to the store together," though it's not standard American English.






What's grammatical is defined by what is accepted as grammatical speech by native speakers of that dialect.




We are going to have to agree to disagree here. You seem to be a descriptivist, and I am very much a prescriptivist. So I think that "him and I went to the store together" is intrinsically incorrect, no matter how many people say it that way. They are using an object in place of a subject, which is incorrect grammar.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
If only that were true. Native speakers have incorrect grammar all the time. For example, people who say "him and I went to the store together". Not all the rules are something you pick up naturally, and a decent number of people simply do not care about using the language correctly.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Seriously, compare gpt-4 and gpt-3 output, this is not something that can really be disputed by any thinking person.




I guess I'm not a thinking person then, because GPT-4 was not in my opinion any better than GPT-3. As such I won't continue to waste your time with my brainless ramblings.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


it's willful ignorance to take the capability of a free tier as the actual frontier when told otherwise in a debate forum




No, that is believing the evidence which is available to me. AI bros have been claiming that (insert paid model here) is so much better for a long time now (since GPT-4). It's never been true, and every time those models become available for free use I have seen that they still have the same problems as the previous model did. At this point claims that the state of the art is better than the free tier have no credibility at all, thanks to years of false claims to that effect. Maybe the claims will eventually be proven true this time, but I sincerely doubt it based on past performance.