yofuckreddit
No bio...
User ID: 646
yofuckreddit
7d ago
Others have commented advice and armchair diagnoses. I would agree, and suggest you stay talking here even if you're not slinging it out in the political threads.
Your ennui is familiar to me and appears in cycles. The difference (perhaps) is I have spent another decade investigating what can pop me out of it. I have a suite of activities and people that are reliable sources of semi-religious joy, and have mentally exercised enough to silence or survive the yawn of the god-shaped hole when it appears.
Put another way, it could get better. Even if it involves some lame bullshit like medication or therapy! I'll echo self_made_human and say it's worth a shot.
yofuckreddit
7d ago
A tool here would be to look at how this worked in the past, before HFT was enabled. Were things better or worse in terms of pricing?
I think the markets not functioning as effectively on weekends is pretty garbage, for instance, but we've long passed the point where HFT software can lead to major failures, not to mention the thousands of smaller ones that bugs can introduce. The capabilities of AI to analyze and make decisions with HFT capabilities is only going to make things worse.
Maybe I'm just latching onto it for the heck of it, but the fidelity of time a second provides should be slow enough to keep a human in the loop and reduce the iterations for software failure.
As I talk through it, though, I'm still unconvinced that this sort of regulation is possible. With the time horizon of a second, I have little-to-no doubt that shadow markets would develop between traders, even if explicitly outlawed.
yofuckreddit
7d ago
Thank you for having tactical answers to this question. From the basic research I've done, it seems like the primary way to fix this stuff is to slow things down.
The only convincing steelmen I've heard for keeping things "as fast as possible" is:
- Sub-second trading helps prevent more massive price swings
- If US markets artificially slowed trading or rounded prices, activity would move to other countries
Any others you can think of?
I finished Continental Reckoning: The American West in the Age of Expansion. When starting it I wrote:
The title is hilariously "standard" for a history book, but I'm very into it so far. At one time as a child, I had an abject fascination with the California gold rush after getting a basic book about it from my San Franciscan cousins. Anyone living in the Bay Area probably considers it played out, but for a guy in the Southeast, it was exciting stuff. Reading about it with the level of fidelity a book like this provides (just in the first 25 superdense pages) is a treat. I'll wait to recommend it, but so far, it's been good.
The middle of the book slumped a little bit for me. At the end of the day, this is still a modern history book. There are land acknowledgments at the beginning. There's definitely a major tendency to minimize native-on-white violence. The language shifts are subtler than your average twitter thread, but it's all still there and super annoying.
Another disappointment is that because it is such a rigorously researched book, 100 pages are eaten by citations and footnotes. It's a dense typeface but I bought a physical copy, and so there was a bit of a let down when a big fraction of the pages were not pure content. (The footnotes were still entertaining).
Probably the worst sin is that the last chapter read like a high school essay - a summarization of the sections before it. Unskippable because there were also great vignettes interspersed throughout that were one of the strengths of the book.
The bottom line is that it is still well-researched book, and entertaining for many reasons. The author does an extremely effective job of using facts and figures to underscore how the age of expansion/the gilded age was. I find the 19th century fascinating across the board, and the effects of the telegram, rail, steam power, and cheap firearm rifling on the world are a hell of a combination. I'd give the book a 4/5.
For those who want to get to some of the meat without reading (Spoiler tags do not work I believe):
- One thing the author underscored convincingly is that the West was devoid of slaves not because they wouldn't be useful but because of the social movement of "Free labor." This same philosophy factored into why the Chinese or factory workers on the east coast were hated so broadly. I find it fascinating that the Chinese effectively came to the country, sending almost exclusively men and a couple of prostitutes, panned for gold, built a railroad, and then left, all without meaningfully assimilating at all.
- The amount of violence in the West was staggering. The author seemed to take the approach of giving simple numbers for violence and alcoholism to let you draw your conclusions, so it's pretty easy to conjure up how unbelievably rough it would be as an individual.
- The final non-summary chapter digs extensively (heh) into the physical and financial technology required to support mining, and effectively describes the magnitude of environmental damage that happened as a result. A great example is the pumps required to pull water out of the Comstock Lode - One of the most powerful had a flywheel that was a quarter million pounds.
- It does take the opportunity to show nuance where appropriate. The killers of buffalo were rightfully scorned as opportunistic monsters (demand for their hides surged after production of hides from Argentina slowed, and hunters would typically target pregnant cows), many aspects of Indian policy were at least compassionate in intent, and defenders of the West's natural beauty were not a put-upon minority.
In any case, it made me more eager to take on The GDMBR at some point before I die, or at least get out west again. I've gotten to visit CA, CO, and NM quite a bit and still find most of the region very romantic.
I'm about to dig into Different Seasons, four novellas by Stephen King. I'm not a fan of the person he's become, but I've typically very much enjoyed his writing. A friend got me a used physical copy, which I thought was a remarkable gesture. I hate the waste of buying new-print books since I saw thousands constantly being destroyed after not selling while working at a bookstore chain. It's just too durable of a good to throw away. I'll admit I'm dreading having to keep my bedside light on while my wife tries to sleep a little bit. I'm used to the convenience of a Kindle and the ability to read any book (regardless of size) anywhere without disturbing anyone else.
yofuckreddit
8d ago
I'm actually largely with you that the minute optimizations that these guys build in "The Market" are generally pretty worthless, and probably outstripped by the other perverse incentives and distortions they create.
I view them as an inevitable side effect of capitalism, and I don't think anyone's smart enough to carve out what should be banned and enforce it. I think China would more effectively compete with us overall if Xi didn't treat their economy the way he does.
It is always satisfying, though, to read about what China does occasionally to stomp on corruption or other frivolously antisocial bullshit like this. No pussyfooting around with fines: people go to prison, get tortured, or executed. The second order effects suck I think but my paternalistic/animalistic monkey brain loves it.
yofuckreddit
8d ago
Thank you, just downloaded Private Citizens to check out!
yofuckreddit
9d ago
To put it in perspective, I was able to put together a decent Yelp clone within 8 hours. I had a webserver framework and Adderall but that'll give you an idea of what a ~3x engineer can do. With AI that's probably gotten better.
yofuckreddit
11d ago
Forgive me for one last suggestion - I use a steel vacuum insulated water bottle instead of a Nalgene.
- I won't drink tepid water as much as cold, and a little ice in a bottle with a straw will stick around all day.
- A Nalgene is also going to require you to carefully unscrew it and slowly tilt it to avoid spilling, which is more work than flipping open a straw.
- Finally, the default Stanley top can't endure the water bottle tipping over or being tossed around, which is another reason I go for a sealed straw. I like getting larger sizes to minimize how often I fill it up, but also consider if you'll be bringing it with you in the car.
Basically: I minimized friction between me and water as much as possible, and all the bottles cost the same, so just do what's best for you.
yofuckreddit
11d ago
I’m loving Emily Wilson’s translation of the Odyssey
The CW blowup about this seemed so ridiculous, with a couple extracts cherry picked to make it seem bad (and the counter-argument that misogyny was driving the hate). Glad you're enjoying it.
yofuckreddit
11d ago
I'm a bit ahead of you in the process, and did not quit cold turkey - only took a major step back.
You have eloquently described my exact feelings when cutting my consumption and some of the initial benefits. I hope you find it comforting that the downsides you're experiencing fade with time, especially when you combine quitting with lifting.
Another note if you end up not being able to fully quit forever: I still force myself to work out when I do drink the night before. This generally works out since if I have a big night drinking I wake up very early while my family is asleep. Am I getting the same amount of benefit from a hangover workout? Not even close. But my ability to defeat a hangover is now better than its ever been, and reminding myself a workout is still on the other side of this drink helps me start switching back to water earlier in the night.
yofuckreddit
11d ago
Funnily enough, I disagree with Mr. Dizzler - I think out of these "higher perceived than actual value" activities, travel is the one with the closest value, and live music second.
Typically when I see someone read a ton of books, they're crappy modern romance novels or self-help slop. You can read 50 pages/hour of these sorts of books but they're not providing any value, especially not over a great movie or TV show (much less a video game).
Think about the current state of music, too. We aren't even listening to nice CDs anymore. A hard core of hipsters and status chasers have vinyls, but I don't know anyone with an actual high quality sound system besides me. We're all listening to the equivalent of 192kbps MP3s from spotify. Especially for bands that open for others, they have access to only the crappiest recording studios. The difference between hearing them live and on a streaming services is significant, and then the concert experience of being around people is fun.
For travel, the reality distortion field around locations and cultures has never been stronger. Every secondhand report about a country or city from a normie is colored through a political lens, and common attractions have never been more accessible/overwhelmed because of the internet. To paraphrase a reddit comment I made a few years ago:
I've been able to rant with a rare italian libertarian in his castle apartment covered with cherubic frescoes, get invited to a BDSM convention, experience the underappreciated beauty of a Croatian white wine, join the world tango festival, and belt out songs in a crowded pub. The french, german, and chinese people that have visited my southeastern hometown city have come away with a new love for football, meat and three cuisine, and guns.
These are all experiences that required travel, and don't even touch on any of what I've gotten to do domestically or the incredible natural beauty I've gotten to experience firsthand. I absolutely wish I could do it more, and regret not having done so before having children.
All this being said, however, I largely agree with you. I find that these hobbies are venerated in a way far outsize their value for precisely the reasons you describe. I love travel, shows, and reading, and hate social media flexing for all 3 with passion.
yofuckreddit
13d ago
Uh, I kinda hope not to hear the answer, but can you find a case of a preteen girl outside of a war zone being gang raped by multiple groups of western men in the same day without any apparent coordination?
So - this is not the exact same thing, but a reasonably popular song by TI (ft. Kendrick Lamar and Kris Stevens) reminiscing about childhood opens with TI talking about gangbanging someone with mental disabilities:
Aye, in my apartment a long time ago
I knew a bad bitch, but she was kind of slow
Still gave it up when it's a few of us
She let me finger fuck her on the school bus
We used to cut school with her and run train
She want to hang with us, we want one thing
Just penetrating her throat, dawg
She choke on it like smoke, dawg
These, of course, weren't men, more kids of the same age, but consent-wise, it probably balances out with her being a simpleton. Multiple dudes fucking underage girls happens in the west too.
yofuckreddit
13d ago
I came to this thread today hoping to find a steelman somewhere, so thank you.
Is there any additional steelman for the cases themselves? The screenshots on twitter from official reports that show 13 year olds being gang raped multiple times by multiple groups in single days, being pulled out of police stations to be raped in cars, are all just.... insane.
What's the median rape case here? A troubled girl exchanging sex for alcohol and drugs? (I don't ask this to diminish that as a crime). I can't possibly believe examples like the above are anywhere close to average across 3,000 kids.
yofuckreddit
23d ago
^ This is correct.
One of my favorite movies of all time. I played drums at one point in my life (horribly) and love music. Very few films have felt as intense. I've seen it twice and it was worth a second run through for me.
yofuckreddit
24d ago
I've never taken my dog to home Depot but I cannot imagine a well behaved dog being an issue there.
yofuckreddit
25d ago
I was actually going to make a joke about imagination. I distinctly remember the ability to easily handle things without a visual aid. I suspect your clinic would have a little less business if more men did too.
yofuckreddit
26d ago
A VPN will be $20/mo. Looping potentially mid DVDs, making people download porn to their phones (?) or having to rotate paper sounds miserable. With respect to my fellow commenters, those are bad solutions to the problem.
yofuckreddit
30d ago
She wasn't illiterate by choice.
While a slave, yeah. But like... remaining illiterate till 91? She escaped when she was 27.
yofuckreddit
30d ago
I wouldn't think to judge a millionaire for indulging in the screamingly bad deal that is food delivery but.... what about the other parts? The generation of a ton of useless plastic and other trash, the total inability to get a fresh french fry, the inability to actually know when your food will be there, the general inconsistency....
Every time I get food delivered, it feels the opposite of luxurious. Unless it's pizza or sushi, I only feel ripped off and pathetic.
Then again I'm in a tier 2 city suburb. Door Dash may perform better in a tight urban center.
yofuckreddit
30d ago
Boooo! Some nonfiction is great.
yofuckreddit
30d ago
there's increasing pressure to present yourself online with an absolutely perfect selfie in a killer pose
I read "No Filter" a while back (great book, btw) and Instagram has actively fought this pressure throughout its existence. They want more content developed, not less, after all.
I have to say, though, that I don't feel like I can't post a sloppy picture, but I do have a bit of a responsibility to my friends who follow me not to create worthless content. A drunken, wheedling, and weepy Facebook status is inflicted on dozens of people instead of being saved for a conversation. A grainy photo of some crappy sandwich isn't interesting. Hell - if I comment here it should have at least some trivial value.
If you're taking up your audience's time, you should care a little about making it interesting. Sometimes, it's not more nefarious than that.
yofuckreddit
30d ago
I want to be a player in the game, not just watch the world champion play on Twitch.
Maybe it's because I've always been only up to "very good" at everything in my life (as opposed to world-class) but I'm very comfortable being just a player. The world champion can't take away my love of the game.
yofuckreddit
1mo ago
Amazing. Perfect Friday Fodder.
Methinks bro doth protest too much.
yofuckreddit
1mo ago
The only thing MAGA Americans love more than America is consooming large amounts of low quality goods.
My precise take. Drive through any poor southeastern county and every front lawn outside a trailer is strewn with Chinesium. That's all that's available at Dollar General and Walmart, and it's all they care to afford.
Not sure how prone you would be to cheating but really avoiding even the first step that would lead to that process is key.
Specified date nights is big, but then occasional phone calls when you're free and walking somewhere. That can help alleviate her stress if she's an anxious texter and you aren't a big one.
Possible to play a game with her at the same time? Could be anything - animal crossing for instance
More options
Context Copy link