If you have anger issues, this one is a great tool (h/t mindyourbusiness)
Disclaimer: I’m not your Supervisor. These are my opinions after reading through these books a few times.
October 29
“Each person acquires their own character, but their official roles are designated by chance. You should invite some to your table because they are deserving, others because they may come to deserve it.”
—SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 47.15b
A person’s current situation does not show their character. My father in law thought I was a dirt bag when he first met me because I was working as a DJ in a bar in Kinville and not making much money. After I got a job framing houses, he realized that I was a good worker and even had me help him with his concrete work occasionally. Once he got to know me and saw how I treated his daughter, we got along quite well. I try not to judge too quickly, but I do have a bad habit of thinking I know someone’s character just from seeing them.
October 30
“Aren’t you ashamed to reserve for yourself only the remnants of your life and to dedicate to wisdom only that time can’t be directed to business?”
—SENECA, ON THE BREVITY OF LIFE, 3.5b
I don’t dedicate too much time to business, but I do use too much of it for watching TV or reading for fun. Sometimes I stay up too late reading and I feel like crap the next couple days. When I do this, I am not setting myself up for success. When I set limits on my fun reading and read Stoic writings before I sleep, I do much better at sleeping on time, so I feel better in the mornings, running and working out is easier, and I am much more productive at work.
October 31
“The human being is born with an inclination toward virtue.”
—MUSONIUS RUFUS, LECTURES, 2.7.1–2
For the vast majority of people, this is true. For myself, when I was 13 or so, I decided I wanted to be a good person, and while sometimes in my life I have fallen short of that goal, for the most part I have kept to that. My life has turned out much better because of those decisions. I wasn’t always naturally good, but I worked to become so. I think most people don’t think about it, but are mostly good. This gives me a little hope for the future.
November 1
“Don’t seek for everything to happen as you wish it would, but rather wish that everything happens as it actually will—then your life will flow well.”
—EPICTETUS, ENCHIRIDION, 8
“It is easy to praise providence for anything that may happen if you have two qualities: a complete view of what has actually happened in each instance and a sense of gratitude. Without
gratitude what is the point of seeing, and without seeing what is the object of gratitude?”
—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 1.6.1–2
When I understand what I control and don’t worry about the things outside of that, I am much more less likely to get stressed out and angry. When I waste time and energy on things outside of my control nothing flows well for me.
Having a complete view of what is happening is difficult sometimes. When I had surgery, it was easy to think “Why me?” It was harder to see that after the surgery I would be feeling better and be able to do things again. When the surgery became infected, this outlook was much more difficult to maintain. Having that setback helped to get me back into following stoicism much more closely and as a result my anger issues have dissipated. They are not gone, but they are easier to deal with. I think it is not the event itself I should have gratitude for, but any lessons learned or improvement in my mentality.
November 2
“But I haven’t at any time been hindered in my will, nor forced against it. And how is this possible? I have bound up my choice to act with the will of God. God wills that I be sick, such is my will. He wills that I should choose something, so do I. He wills that I reach for something, or something be given to me—I wish for the same. What God doesn’t will, I do not wish for.”
—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 4.1.89
Whatever happens, I should find a way to be glad that it happened. This is easier to do with small things. I can be happy that my truck needed a new head gasket last year, it gave me the opportunity to learn how to fix that. If my wife dies suddenly, it would be difficult to find a positive. it would do me no good to wallow in the grief and I know the time we had together is more than most people get. If I can master this skill, nothing the world throws at me will disturb me more than necessary.
November 3
“Just as we commonly hear people say the doctor prescribed someone particular riding exercises, or ice baths, or walking without shoes, we should in the same way say that nature prescribed someone to be diseased, or disabled, or to suffer any kind of impairment. In the case of the doctor, prescribed means
something ordered to help aid someone’s healing. But in the case of nature, it means that what happens to each of us is ordered to help aid our destiny.”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 5.8.
What have I been prescribed? I have an anger problem. I have learned to use this to improve myself.
The grid heater relay went out on my truck. This was a simple fix, 3 bolts and 8 wires. It was not easy because it was below the battery and in between the air intake and the body so there was no room. Old me would have been angry and yelling while I swapped in the new one. New me felt the beginnings of anger and kept it under control by laughing at the stupid part for trying to piss me off(it almost worked).
If I can learn to do this when I deal with people that refuse to see plain truth, then I will see how much it is possible to change my mentality.
November 4
“There is no evil in things changing, just as there is no good in persisting in a new state.”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 4.42
This is another hard one. As I look back at how different the country has become since 2001, it is easy to disagree with this one. On the other hand, change itself is not necessarily bad. I have retired from the Marines and my standard of living has gotten much better since then. My wife and I are still happy together, but our relationship has changed, in some ways better and other ways more indifferent. The only change I really have control over is my internal strength and resilience.
This week’s music is Joe Walsh
We used to go to a bar in Okinawa City that had a band and they would go from Rocky Mountain way into Funk #49
I’ve always liked this song, but it’s not one of his hits
Joe Walsh. Muy bueno.
My favorite Joe Walsh story is in an interview him talking about sometimes the music will be too loud and so he gets up to turn off the stereo and it isn’t on. So he tries to write it down.
My favorite of him was when he was talking about being sober, or as he put it, he only got drunk once – for 17 years.
Joe Walsh is so good he even makes The Eagles acceptable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvJuiaR7qZ0
My favorite Joe Walsh.
Tough to pick just one, but likely my favorite Joe Walsh
Holy cow. For the first time in 2.5 years, the public lot near work is almost full. It wasn’t like this last week.
I have an anger problem. I have learned to use this to improve myself.
I was really pissed last night at how things were going for me at work. I calmed down and said, “Just get this shit done.” I got it done. Went to bed a bit late.
And today is a new set of problems.
Life is a new set of problems sometimes.
This – I’ve realized that expecting everything to go right most of the time is not realistic unfortunately.
The key is to accept that working through problems and setbacks is the norm.
My kids are finding that they are getting older and haven’t prepared themselves adequately. While I am greatly concerned I realize that there is nothing I can do. I worry but at the same time know that we all face the same reality.
We are not going to be young and vigorous forever, the calendar is unrelenting.
Thanks Ron,
Pffft. I’m still 25.
I’ll need a second opinion from your GF
Years or centimeters?
To quote Rocky, “Time is undefeated.”
Yes.
And it means you are alive.
Which is better than the alternative.
Back to bugs…..
“Aren’t you ashamed to reserve for yourself only the remnants of your life and to dedicate to wisdom only that time can’t be directed to business?”
I waste a lot of time, but I still try to carve out time for learning and improvement.
Further, I am happy that despite the challenges of my professional life, I never shortchanged my kids on time. In hindsight I cost myself a ton of money, but I’m so happy that I didn’t give the majority of myself to the company.
Thanks, Ron. I always get something out of these.
Wish I could say the same, my 20 years in the Marines with field ops and deployments were rough on the kids.
Chessle 258 (Expert) 2/6
🟨⬛🟨⬛🟨⬛🟨🟨🟨⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
https://jackli.gg/chessle
I play this as black, so I better have gotten it in 2.
Daily Quordle 277
8️⃣6️⃣
7️⃣5️⃣
quordle.com
On a related note, I struggled with UR.
Daily Quordle 277
4️⃣7️⃣
5️⃣6️⃣
LOL, UR should have been a slam dunk 😊
Heh. I play it as white.
Chessle 258 (Expert) 2/6
🟨⬛🟨⬛🟨🟨🟨⬛⬛⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
https://jackli.gg/chessle
I am strictly an e4 player as white.
More on the BASF shutdown in Germany.
Michael Yon – Europe Dies with BASF — and BASF-Ludwigshafen…
It will directly lead to food shortages in Europe.
I guess Europe wants to return to feudalism.
Klaus drools and rubs his hands gleefully.
That Yon link gives me “Deepness in the Sky” vibes. The flashback part with the death of the planetary system.
Yes – I sure hope he’s wrong.
17:20 “There’s probably 4 Billion extra people on Earth because of the Haber-Bosch Process, which is being systematically turned off”.
Its okay, there’s always NeuAg. We can just ship them everything they need.
What part of “clean energy” do you not understand?
Members of a small Minnesota town sounded the alarm about the damage to the environment they said would come from a “clean energy” project funded by the Biden administration.
In a report aired on Thursday’s “CBS Mornings,” CBS News environmental reporter Ben Tracy traveled to Tamarack, Minnesota, where residents told him they were concerned a nickel mine being developed on local farmlands would have a toxic impact on their water. Ironically, the mine was funded through a grant by the Biden administration to develop batteries for electric vehicles, as part of its “green energy” agenda.
“75% of battery manufacturing is done in China. To change that, the Biden administration is awarding $2.8 billion in grants to a dozen states all in an effort to boost battery production. All of those EV batteries require critical minerals like nickel,” co-anchor Tony Dokoupil explained as he introduced the story.
“President Biden has put nickel on a list of minerals essential to national security and wants more of it mined domestically,” Tracy noted. But some homeowners in Tamarack were “worried.”
It’s for your own good. Existential threat. National security.
I saw that yesterday. Near my house is purported to be one of the richest manganese deposits in the US, NIMBY has kept that from being developed Many lakes in the area, tourism, retirees, etc.
Trying to go Green runs into these problems every where. Environmental laws and people are anti green, when it affects them.
Other than NPR gets to location wrong but that’s minor
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2009/06/04/underground-in-emily-a-mother-lode-of-manganese
Greens: Fuck that – export all that environmental damage so we don’t have to see it.
This is the hobbyhorse I’m riding now. This is a legitimate concern and people should talk about it. There are always trade offs. But there are plenty of poor countries in the world where this type of pollution is happening, and we don’t talk about it because fuck those poor people, I want to feel good driving my EV.
Oh I intend to rub the noses of those sanctimonious hypocrites in it every chance I get.
100%
Fuck them sideways. Preening about wanting to save the planet while actively supporting child slave labor and horrific environmental destruction.
Save the Earth
(I wish they just smoked pot and smelled bad)
Working on getting a HELOC to get some projects done around the house before the economy actually collapses. House appraised at 415K. WTF? I will just assume that means a correction is around the corner.
The correction is already starting in CA and other western locales. Like last time.
Those people should just graciously accept their fate, for the good, and the smug self-satisfaction, of the Top Laptoppers.
TMZ was wrong yesterday, but right today. Jerry Lee Lewis has passed away.
I saw him back in 2018, at what was one of his last public shows. He was looking rough then, but could still play like mad. He had brought up his niece (I believe) to cover the singing for a couple of songs.
“Niece”
I believe Russ Tamblyn and Mamie Van Doren are still with us….
Heh…
What libertarian candidates? I do not detect any messicans and buttsecks in that link.
Truth.
“I wasn’t always naturally good, but I worked to become so. I think most people don’t think about it, but are mostly good. This gives me a little hope for the future.”
Agree, I think. Raised in a Christian tradition where the primary narrative is that man is fallen (original sin) and can only achieve salvation through the grace of the Divine Sacrifice. It is easy to then conclude that man is inherently ungood. I don’t buy this any more, it’s more that men are imperfect and we struggle to overcome our imperfections. Better to focus on how far we’ve come than to dwell on the past (though we should always remember and learn from that past).
Great music link in the morning thread, BTW. Psycho Chicken is a classic, but I had never seen the video.
I don’t buy this any more, it’s more that men are imperfect and we struggle to overcome our imperfections.
Well said. And I agree completely.
I didn’t know either until it came up on youtube, probably when I was watching Tom Lehrer and weird Al videos.
It is perfect in every way.
“Basket of deplorables…..irredeemable….”
Get that? They are irredeemable and deplorable.
Redemption is the very foundation of Christianity. This is why the socialists hate the religion so deeply. They need a boogie man that can be disposed of without any troubling of conscience. Get up against the wall deplorables!
What?
Biden: “Some airlines, if you want six more inches between you and the seat in front, you pay more money but you don’t know it … these are junk fees, they’re unfair and they hit marginalized Americans the hardest, especially … people of color.”
People of color need six more inches?
It’s twue! It’s twue!
Fine, I’ll do it myself.
BBC Airlines!
*thunderous applause*
I’ve seen headlines that this is going after “garbage fees”. Such as resort fees and the like. I’m sure that won’t just cause the base prices to go up more.
Can’t be stoic about this, I’m fucking dying here.
You’ll never forget where you were on Twitter Liberation Day.
Damn. If there were to livestream the meetings happening there right now, I’d sign up for Twitter today.
Pretty risky – the RHEEEEEEEEeeeeee’ing might shatter your eardrums.
And this:
https://babylonbee.com/news/elon-to-replace-3200-twitter-employees-with-one-hardworking-immigrant-from-india
Ouch. That’s got to burn.
” a content moderation specialist who’s been working for Twitter full-time for 4 hours a week since 2019.”
…
“It was a pretty rough day for me,” he admitted. “I was putting in extra hours to get a project done, so I’d worked, like, 8 hours the week before.”
They’ve been sharpening those knives for a while now.
Yesterday was the tenth anniversary of Superduperstorm Sandy, and the local tv stations were all over it with footage of the flooding at the Jersey shore. Somehow none of them used this as a soundtrack.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KgFHM8HMbWQ
That is Superduperest storm Sandy. It has never happened before!!eleventy eleventy!!!
Let us consult to the NOAA to prove it.
https://2010-2014.commerce.gov/sites/default/files/images/2012/august/noaa-hurricane-tracker.jpg
Purty colors! BTW, I gave up on attempting to crack the walnuts (no euphemism!) – hickories are very tasty and much easier to deal with; unfortunately they are unreliable producers.
As someone who has had very sore fingers from cracking black walnuts I had to snicker. Those boogers are harder than rocks. Not much meat but damned delicious. It is a tough call about the tradeoff.
We Have Filed an Amicus Brief Arguing That Parody Is Dangerous
And requiring that parody be written
so as to ensure that the most gullible in our society—
the Facebook-using grandmother, the tween TikTok
addict, the CNN reporter—don’t take it seriously ruins the parody for everyone else.
MartyrMade bringing the heat:
https://twitter.com/martyrmade/status/1586003109431549952
4 Tundra and Brooks.
https://www.bishoprook.com/listings/
I think a 90 would look really nice in my driveway.
After seeing what the Scouts have been bringing, these don’t seem too bad!
I’d also recommend this:
https://www.beforward.jp/stocklist/make=7/model=634/mfg_year_from=/mfg_year_to=1996/showmore=/veh_type=/steering=/sortkey=n/keyword=/kmode=and/
Ordered in January arrived in May and it’s just now ready to rock n’ roll (lift kit, rear locker, brakes, steering damper, etc.). 25+ years old and no EPA bullshit required. I worked through these guys to do the importation:
http://www.theimportguys.com
Highly recommended.
Neat!
So no emissions bullshit at all? Or do you not have it in your county?
No emissions bullshit for EPA and El Paso county doesn’t have testing.
Oooh, I always wanted a pre-Samurai Jimny, one with the two-stroke motor (rip it out and put in a VW diesel.)
Gotta be the truck bed version!
Holy shit those are pricey.
This is more my speed and price. Plus it has a big block.
https://usclassifieds4all.com/details.php?id=2978639&listing=2978639
I’ve been watching this:
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1958-gmc-100-pick-up-94/
That paint is something else. What a nice truck.
I love it. I need a lot more money and a pole barn.
I’ve finally finished all of the zoning and permit BS prior to getting the pole barn. I need to get the builder to lock in the start date. I’m shooting for before the end of Nov.
30X40′ with lift going in once the pad is poured.
This will be my goal with my maroon 40 Chevy. Similar driveline and look. A Hot Rod that will start and stop when I need it while looking classy.
Sweet! I’m jelly
Every man needs a pole barn, just because
Friday Funbags will test your stoicism.
https://archive.ph/C7kpl
bad habit of thinking I know someone’s character just from seeing them.
I call it my ‘dog sense’ – sometimes dogs have that ability to just stay away, some subconscious signal. Sometimes I like to think I have it too. There are people I don’t interact directly with, but they just set it off – “there’s someone to avoid, bad news”. I can’t articulate why. While it seems to work, I’m probably just forgetting the times it didn’t, so I try to force myself to ignore it.
How I found out about Joe Walsh. So sue me, I led a sheltered childhood.
There is nothing wrong with that as an intro to Joe. I think the first I heard was Life’s Been Good. Nothing wrong with starting with the classics.
I do not believe in “dog sense,” or at least, I don’t believe it’s infallible. I see people all the time saying, “If my dog doesn’t like you, there’s something seriously wrong with you.”
Oh, fuck you. I’m a nice person who doesn’t like dogs. The dogs either sense that and stay away or they just want pets regardless. If my cats don’t like you, well, it’s because my cats are assholes.
So as for my spidey sense, I pretty much gave up on that after I’d made 3 grievous errors in a row. And by grievous, I mean, I didn’t like the person at first just because, although I didn’t show it because that’s rude, and then they became good friends.
Cats are only attracted to people that don’t like cats (or are allergic). It is known.
I think our subconscious is hugely important and shouldn’t be discounted. Part of staying safe is learning to trust that “something seems off” sense.
Body language is a huge tell, even if you’re not fully aware you’re reacting to it.
This wasn’t bad:
https://www.amazon.com/What-Every-Body-Saying-Speed-Reading/dp/0061438294
Biden: “Some airlines, if you want six more inches between you and the seat in front, you pay more money but you don’t know it
I’m pretty sure they publish the price of a business class seat.
Delta’s Comfort+ is worth the money on longer flights. And yes, they do not keep the price a secret.
Even for people of color
Flathead Valley, MT crime update
I know how this guy felt.
10:31 a.m. A man was chasing some geese on foot, but after failing to catch them got in his car and tried to run them over.
I hope the police came and helped.
This may be up your alley.
L O L
My favorite part:
Thorough reporting.
Around here, certain people in certain neighborhoods buy their Black & Milds, then strip the tobacco out to insert other combustibles.
That practice is referred to as “freakin’ a black”.
“Someone believed that there were dead people in a camper because of the “groaning noise” coming from inside it. ”
If the van-is-a rockin’…..
Those Land Rover Defenders-
A while back, well before things went nuts, I thought to myself, “those Defenders are kinda cool; I bet I could find a cheap one to play with”. Haha. Ouch.
Those things, uh, hold their value.
More motor swap madness: Try this.
This guy is way too fanatical.