helmut_hofmeister
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User ID: 846
I have to say, as an accomplished and fast road cyclist, e-bikes have ruined everything. People’s skills and awareness generally rise with experience and the shortcut (e-bike) means the roads are now packed with idiots who don’t know what they’re doing. You expect a rider who can pace at 20-25 mph to have the skills commensurate with their fitness. E-bikes ruined that. It’s decidedly worse now for actual cyclists. Delivery guys and out of shape people without the situational awareness of a seasoned rider have no place on a heavy, dangerous electric moped going 25 mph.
helmut_hofmeister
4mo ago
I think that this has changed over time. I am old enough to have known many WWII vets and they almost universally hated the Japs and did not really admire them even in the most begrudging fashion. the common adjectives describing Japanese soldiers would have been more like fanatical, honor bound, or suicidal. More like a death cult than an army. I think over the period of the Cold War, when Japan became more and more of an economic and strategic ally, and as the WWII generation died out, that shifted. In the popular worldview, movies like TORA TORA TORA and later films like Letters from Iwo Jima contributed as well.
helmut_hofmeister
4mo ago
I’m 99.9% lurker too and I echo your sentiments exactly. Headlines elsewhere invariably drive me here in lieu of their own native comments sections. There’s nowhere else.
helmut_hofmeister
4mo ago
Probably can provide some advice - It largely depends on what your role will be but here’s a bit of what I’ve learned (25Y in the private sector, now sr. mgmt). Since it’s a new environment for you, first off I’d listen and observe. try to get a sense of who among your colleagues get things done, if you’re interacting with managers be cognizant of where the alliances and fissures between areas are, listen more than you speak at first. Some orgs are internally competitive, some are not, a lot depends on the personality and attitudes of the corporate leadership. Of course YMMV depending on your particular situation.
helmut_hofmeister
5mo ago
Husband to a US physician here and I have to say that this comment and some of your previous ones strike me as very accurate based on my observing her med school / residency / fellowship and placement experiences. They can’t pay people enough to work in underserved areas. $500k a year is good money but not necessarily worth it to live in a cultural desert full if resentful unhealthy poor people, boring food, bleak weather, etc. some doctors HAVE to choose their specialty for financial reasons, etc.
helmut_hofmeister
11mo ago
Antony Beevor’s book on the Spanish Civil War is excellent and comes from a relatively neutral perspective
helmut_hofmeister
1yr ago
Having met Bill Clinton in a random and non-political situation, I can say that this is spot on. Guy was on the way to Chelsea’s bday party or something and I remain convinced that he would have preferred to stand there chatting with me instead.
helmut_hofmeister
1yr ago
Salting too early also causes moisture to seep to the surface which prevents browning. Same thing to roast a chicken. Salt goes on right before heat or days before heat like a dry brine. Anywhere in between is wrong.
helmut_hofmeister
1yr ago
Bullying hasn’t gone away either. We may also be seeing a trade off between physical bullying and cyber bullying.
Something about the immediate and stark reality of an unsupervised playground seems to me to be painful but brutally honest in a way that is a microcosm of actual life in future meatspace.
(For reference I was in HS and university in the 90s. I’m not a gamer, I like 70’s 2-channel audio, and i don’t have twitter, so for me “online” is work, bills, and escapism. I don’t “live” here the way I think many younger people do)
I can’t imagine how terrible cyber bullying must be by comparison to what we had to endure in the 90’s for people who are invested in virtual life. Online the social signals are so complicated and the separation or anonymity imposed by screens brings out the worst in people. If this is a microcosm of the developing future societal order - social credit and AI - I feel somewhat sorry for those who don’t know what life was like before all that.
Also - the 80s were an awesome time to be a little kid.
helmut_hofmeister
2yr ago
I also am intrigued by the notion of heterodox beliefs being a kind of peacock’s tail. I’ve thought a lot about how to maintain my integrity in an environment that is hostile to my worldview. I have a lifelong compulsion to point out the gray areas to black/white thinkers and it’s both helped and hindered me at times in my life.
Anecdote, but I live in a very prog area, I’m educated, and a bit older than my wife, who is an MD. Her circle (and thus my own) leans heavily conventional liberal to progressive.
How to be true to yourself and also be well liked? I think this applies to dating, but also just social interactions in general.
The trick is to not take the bait when one of your wife’s generically progressive friends spouts off some throwaway comment about the patriarchy (just an example). Because Dog is right - YOU may be interested in debating the point, but she’s probably not. It signals that you don’t know when to pick your battles or something.
For me, I’ve had to bite my tongue more than I’d prefer, but I’ve also showed my power level (am I using that term correctly?) on enough occasions that after a few years of familiarity, I can now roll my eyes at some of the more egregious comments that I hear and get away with it. I get to play the role of that republican guy from parks and rec (but I hope with a bit more elegance).
Of course it does not hurt that I’m not a socially awkward person. I’m confident in my beliefs and experiences, interesting, kind, reasonably attractive, successful, funny, and socially graceful in an aristocratic way. I also show up and do real-life nice things for people. So I can get away with the occasional Churchill quote and it somehow works for me.
Or put another way, in the dating scene ( which thank god I’m out of) it helps to be hot or at least socially adept.
helmut_hofmeister
2yr ago
In practice, yes indeed. Add to that list: Cis? Oppressor? Privileged? Stale pale and male?
If I’m remembering correctly, there was a radiolab / NPR something podcast on this very topic
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