How to Think Like a Roman Emperor
If you have anger issues, this one is a great tool (h/t mindyourbusiness)
This week’s book:
Discourses and Selected Writings
Disclaimer: I’m not your Supervisor. These are my opinions after reading through these books a few times.
Epictetus was born a slave around 50 ad. His owner was Epaphroditus, a rich freedman who was once a slave of Nero. Though he was a slave Epictetus was sent to study philosophy under Musonius Rufus.
Epictetus was lame and there are some stories it was caused by his master and others that it was caused by disease.
He was a freedman when all philosophers were banished from Rome in 89 by the Emperor Domitian. He then started his school in Greece, and had many students. He did not leave any writings from his lessons, but one of his students, Flavius Arrian, took notes and wrote the Discourses.
Epictetus did not marry, had no children, and lived to be around 80-85. In retirement, he adopted a child that would have been abandoned and raised him with a woman.
He died sometime around AD 135.
He might be my favorite Stoic teacher. I love his bare bones and very straight forward approach.
Following is a paragraph-by-paragraph discussion of one of his lessons. Epictetus’s text appears in bold, my replies are in normal text.
What is the subject-matter with which the good man has to deal; and what should he the chief object of our training? Part II
When, therefore, different persons have different pieces of coinage, a man offers the coin and gets what is bought by it. A thief has come to the province as Proconsul. What coinage does he use? Silver. Offer it and carry away what you wish. An adulterer has come. What coinage does he use? Frail wenches. “Take,” says one, “the coin and sell me the little baggage.” Give, and buy. Another is interested in boys. Give him the coin and take what you wish. Another is fond of hunting. Give him a fine horse or dog; with sighs and groans he will sell for it what you wish; for Another constrains him from within, the one who has established this currency.[1]
What is my currency that I may be bought and sold for? I sell my time at my job, and am not immune to pressures related to keeping my wife and house. i do drink too much sometimes, but I don’t sell my soul to afford it.
It is chiefly with this principle in mind that a man must exercise himself. Go out of the house at early dawn, and no matter whom you see or whom you hear, examine him and then answer as you would to a question. What did you see? A handsome man or a handsome woman? Apply your rule. Is it outside the province of the moral purpose, or inside? Outside. Away with it. 15What did you see? A man in grief over the death of his child? Apply your rule. Death lies outside the province of the moral purpose. Out of the way with it. Did a Consul meet you? Apply your rule. What sort of thing is a consulship? Outside the province of the moral purpose, or inside? Outside. Away with it, too, it does not meet the test; throw it away, it does not concern you. If we had kept doing this and had exercised ourselves from dawn till dark with this principle in mind,—by the gods, something would have been achieved! But as it is, we are caught gaping straightway at every external impression that comes along, and we wake up a little only during the lecture, if indeed we do so even then. After that is over we go out, and if we see a man in grief, we say, “It is all over with him”; if we see a Consul, we say, “Happy man”; if we see an exile, “Poor fellow”; or a poverty-stricken person, “Wretched man, he has nothing with which to get a bite to eat.” These, then, are the vicious judgements which we ought to eradicate; this is the subject upon which we ought to concentrate our efforts. Why, what is weeping and sighing? A judgement. What is misfortune? A judgement. What are strife, disagreement, fault-finding, accusing, impiety, foolishness? They are all judgements, and that, too, judgements about things that lie outside the province of moral purpose, assumed to be good or evil. Let a man but transfer his judgements to matters that lie within the province of the moral purpose, and I guarantee that he will be steadfast, whatever be the state of things about him.
Having strong principles that I understand makes it simple to decide what falls into my consideration. I do have a habit of judging people I don’t know on very limited knowledge. I don’t interact with many people, but I am trying to not be that way. Death is a hard one to deal with. On an intellectual level I understand that there is nothing to be gained from mourning.
We had a celebration of life for my mom in an effort to make up for the rushed nature of the funeral not letting anyone really deal with it. My brother cleaned out his garage and we had 60 people show up. It went well and my step dad was happy that he was able to talk about her (he was incapable at the funeral). My brothers and I had no desire to stand in front of everyone and talk like that. We did that with close family over beers later in the evening and throughout the week. We all seem to feel more accepting now and were finally able to tell some funny stories and have a laugh about things.
20The soul is something like a bowl of water, and the external impressions something like the ray of light that falls upon the water. Now when the water is disturbed, it looks as though the ray of light is disturbed too, but it is not disturbed. And so, therefore, when a man has an attack of vertigo, it is not the arts and the virtues that are thrown into confusion, but the spirit in which they exist; and when this grows steady again, so do they too.
Keeping my soul steady hasn’t been easy these past few months. We all knew she was struggling, but the end came quickly when it came. While I wished I could have said goodbye, I am grateful that she only had one bad day in the hospital.
One funny story about my mom: We had just moved into the farmhouse after she married my stepdad, so I was 14-15 years old. There was a lunar eclipse happening in the middle of the night and I wanted to stay up and see it, but it was a school night. Mom said that she would record it for me on her fancy new video camera. The next day I asked her about the video, and she said it didn’t turn out too well. I badgered her that evening and she reluctantly showed it to me.
As a side note, this happened in December in the middle of the night in Pennsylvania, so it was COLD. My mother refused to wear coats, or any warm clothing. She slept in a flimsy nightgown. Obviously if you were going out to film something you should put clothes on, but not my mom.
The video starts and you see a tiny moon and mom zooms in and loses it. She zooms back out to find it again and she starts cussing. “It’s fucking cold out here.” “This is stupid Dot.” “FUCK it’s cold.”
She basically repeats these three lines over end over as she zooms in and out trying to focus on the moon. All you would see would be a white ball bouncing rapidly up and down from her shivering and the cussing was getting louder. Then she would zoom out, find the moon, zoom in and the ball would start bouncing again.
This is one of the funniest videos I have ever seen and eventually, she yells “FUCK IT, that’s good enough, it’s too fucking cold out here!” and the video ends.
Unfortunately, we have no idea if the tape still exists but recalling it, we were dying laughing.
I’m glad you were able to share the memories. To me that’s the important part of keeping someone alive in spirit. I hope when I pass, my alcohol collection gets shared out among friends and family and they can tell all the terrible (and hilarious) stories about me with each other.
I do not believe that there is nothing to be gained from mourning – if it is done in a healthy way. Accepting that you have seen a person you love for the last time in this lifetime is a tough process. It’s is something you have to work through, particularly the loss of somebody younger or unexpectedly.
I’ve seen people who are stuck in a phase of grief and don’t get out – that has no purpose.
I don’t want anyone to morn for me, my daughter was here and we sort of discussed my plan. She already knew it but doesn’t want to confront the reality. I tell folks that when I say Good bye now it may actually be good bye. My g’daughter and only great grandson left today , back to Alaska, they aren’t planning on coming back for 2 years, they need their own vacation.
Good chance I won’t see them again but I only see them now for a few days, once a year. They need to have their own life now. Life goes on.
Thanks Ron, you’ll always have the memories…
My grandfather left my grandmother destitute when he died simply because he didn’t want to discuss death at all, much less prepare for it.
So that’s another reason I’m cavalier about death, because my dad wouldn’t make that mistake and did everything with an eye toward his early death. Which was wise, because he was 51.
I was almost 6 when my grandfather died and his was far from the first funeral I had attended. My parents had LOTS of older relatives that I got to know, so when they started dying, I was taken to the funerals and explained about death.
So, death has been woven into the fabric of my life as just part of life since I was a toddler. I mourn that they’re gone, sure. How can you not miss people you love and be sad they’re away from you?
How can you not miss people you love and be sad they’re away from you?
This.
Also, just because you insulate yourself from the declining years of your loved one doesn’t mean you’ve spared yourself the grief. It just means that you’ve distanced the relationship out of a selfish desire to avoid going through a difficult time together.
I would agree with both points.
I’ve been looked at strangely for my cavalier attitude about people’s deaths (including my own), but I’ll tell you, believing in a lovely afterlife where you know (okay, believe) they’re just fine and happy, and that you’ll see them again, makes all the difference in the world about how you mourn. Are they gone from you for a while? Yes. But only for a while.
I know others don’t think the way I do, but people think I’m cold and callous, when I’m really just biding my time for a guaranteed reunion.
I’m not saying you need to be dramatic about it and rend your clothing or anything.
But I’ve seen people who claim it’s no big deal, not mourning at all. Then a year later they are breaking down or getting prescribed anxiety meds.
Yep. Sometimes it just hits you out of the blue for no reason whatsoever.
Off the hook
“In my view, neither Trump nor Biden is to blame for the high inflation,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. “The blame goes to the pandemic and the Russian war in Ukraine.”
Inflation has many tentacles. At a high level, hot inflation is largely an issue of mismatched supply and demand.
The pandemic upended the typical dynamics. For one, it disrupted global supply chains.
Shit happens. Nobody knows why.
Does he have a PHD in Music, like the President’s economic advisor?
“I don’t know how I got so deep in debt”
No. You get to blame U Penn for this Team Blue Keynesian.
The blame is on us as a whole. The idea that anyone can have a free lunch at everyone else’s expense is the problem.
If we could dispense with that fiction we wouldn’t be in this fucking crab bucket.
I think “There’s no such thing as a free lunch” was the first economics lesson my parents taught me. I’m pretty sure I grasped the lesson before I even started grade school.
As you all know, my husband wins stuff. “Free” stuff. I have to point out all the ways in which none of it’s really free, even if that just means driving across town to pick up something you wouldn’t have otherwise had to do.
The only BIG things I can think of that he won that didn’t really cost us anything were because of flukes.
1. The car. For whatever reason, the year he won the car, there was a full federal tax break on hybrid or electric vehicles bought. So while he did win the car, we still had to pay license and taxes, and then got a 1099 at the end of the year. That 1099 was entirely write-offable.
2. The trip to the Bourbon Trail in Kentucky. I had an author event and I was going to go anyway but I was trying to come up with the money to do it. Then he won the trip, he arranged it so we could a) go on that weekend and b) rent a car instead of flying. Not only was the whole thing write-offable, they didn’t send us a 1099.
Otherwise, even if he wins random stuff, I point out that A) it takes up space in our house for something we wouldn’t have bought and B) it takes time to take it to the thrift store to donate. Yeah, we could throw it out, but that seems a waste.
Anyway, so he still sees things as “free stuff” and I still see things as “is the penalty worth the prize?”
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/07/biden-out-trump-polls-house-senate-democrats-downballot.html
If Biden Loses the Election, a Lot of Democrats Will Go Down With Him
There’s little reason to believe congressional candidates would survive a presidential wipeout
more daily handwringing.
Bullshit. Politics are local when it comes to congress.
What local means is “I love my Congresscritter, it is the other 434 that are a problem”.
Mine’s an asshole.
So – your’s will be in office until death?
Probably. He took over the office after his brother retired after holding it for 4 terms.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/donors-hold-90-million-pledges-biden-remains-ticket-111885293
Donors to hold $90 million in pledges if Biden remains on ticket: New York Times
Put your money where your mouth is . . . or not as appropriate.
Another aspect of this tangled mess: Primary voters chose Biden. Except in some states he was the only one on the ballot, and also they were lied to about his health. So I guess they didn’t really choose him.
Something something “informed consent”…
FDR’s health was deteriorating in 1944, but did that stop him!?!
I’m sure some enterprising DA could come up with a novel legal theory that hiding Biden’s health was a crime with the intent to influence an election. Surely there are some payments to a doctor that could be used as a pretense to create multiple misdemeanors that can be bootstrapped into a felony.
My wife’s parents passed away some time ago.
Mine are 89 and 88. So, I have no idea how I will deal with it when their time comes to an end.
CNN is fact-checking Biden’s press conference. They are poo-pooing all the falsehoods, but is still amazing to see them fact-checking the conference at all.
If they are handwaving all the lies, they aren’t fact checking him, they are covering for him.
Keep pushing on that string
The White House on Thursday said it would hand out $1.7 billion to help convert closed-down or at-risk auto manufacturing and assembly facilities to make electric and hybrid vehicles.
The funding comes as growth in new electric vehicle sales has slowed, even as the Biden administration wants to keep US EV manufacturers competitive with a surging Chinese industry. Just earlier this year President Joe Biden quadrupled tariffs on electric vehicles from China.
“This announcement is a hallmark of the Biden administration’s industrial strategy, which is a strategy to bring manufacturing jobs back to America after years of offshoring,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told reporters.
The plants selected by the Department of Energy for the money, which comes from the landmark Inflation Reduction Act, cover eight states, including critical battlegrounds like Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Make sure those hillbillys know who’s buttering their bread.
EV’s: dumbest idea since the square wheel. I am sure y’all are tired of hearing me say that, but it is true.
“Building a clean energy economy can and should be a win-win for union autoworkers and automakers. This investment will create thousands of good-paying, union manufacturing jobs and retain even more—from Lansing, Michigan to Fort Valley, Georgia – by helping auto companies retool, reboot, and rehire in the same factories and communities,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.
The Ministry of Plenty knows what you need.
Prosperity gives people options. Control freaks dont want people to have options. The ‘ruling class’ is waging a war. on prosperity. It is as simple as that.
It always boils down to the icky people.
We certainly don’t want to mingle with those people.
We ARE those people.
Can’t the “ruling class” make a ton off prosperity? The “robber barons” did pretty well.
Making money is more work than stealing money.
I thought it was money won gambling that was best?
Thanks everyone for explaining the way ship tracking works the other day. My son in law is heading out to sea. I used a ship tracking site to watch the ship go to San Diego, stay for a day, and now they are heading to deep water. In San Diego there’s a live web cam so I saw it depart. Looks like a couple of destroyers are going with. I’m sure it will be off the grid soon but it’s been fun to watch.
You are welcome
I’m sorry for your loss, Ron. But that story is hilarious!
I have found the process of mourning with others to be very helpful. I really enjoy remembering the person through others’ eyes. But I still understand the point of moral purpose.
Thanks, as always for these.
+1 Irish wake.
Updated Presidential ballots will just read “Democrat candidate (to be named later)”
Geriatric instead of generic?
I thought that when Biden mentioned VP Trump yesterday, he was proposing a unity ticket. It could be like how Rome had two consuls. And it might make a great sitcom.
The Old Couple
Both sides could do it and it probably wouldn’t affect the outcome.
Today, in badge engineering
If you are old enough to remember the Capri of 1970s and 1980s fame, you’re likely scratching your head wondering how on Earth the car pictured above is a Capri. Rather than a two-door coupe intended as a European pony car, the 2024 Capri is a mid-size electric crossover built on the Volkswagen Group’s MEB platform along with the Europe-market Explorer EV.
Picture the electric Explorer as Ford’s version of the ID.4 crossover, while the Capri joins the lineup as Ford’s take on the quasi-coupe ID.5. From a styling perspective, the Capri is a mixed bag. It’s not particularly engaging to look at, nor is it offensive. From the side profile, the flat roof and angular hips are highly reminiscent of the Polestar 2 sedan.
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Sounds like a winner.
Gay.
I predict it will be as successful as the Dodge Hornet.
Or the fake Mustang
https://insideevs.com/news/726161/polestar-2-ford-capri-design/
That thing is fugly. My dad bought a new Mercury Capri in 1973, bright yellow, V6, 4speed, it was a small, sporty looking coup. My brother and I couldn’t believe he would buy a car like that, his two previous cars were Pontiac’s that all 5 members of our family could fit comfortably in. Pretty sure the 73 oil crisis had something to do with his decision. The Capri was the car I learned how to drive a manual in.
Geriatric instead of generic?
Joe’s a union man. He gets the job by seniority.
I want to put my books in mass market paperback so badly, but I think the minimum order from China is like 500 units per title. I do not need a pallet of books in my garage.
I’ll bet you know someone who has a warehouse and can store a skid for you. Or a fulfillment house that can both store and ship. My buddy has one in Minneapolis.
Is the POD option too expensive?
POD is expensive for readers, yes, especially when you get into books as long as mine. I just wanted to be able to haul cheap books to author events and actually sell some.
Really, though, the time for that has passed. POD has changed pretty much everything.
Also, people who read books are reading ebooks, which is fine, but there’s a barrier to sales if you’re out and about.
Books are competing with other things now like TikTok. I have to admit even my attention span has cratered to the length of a YouTube short.
Yep. I get it. I still buy both (ebooks and physical) depending on the subject.
How about a QR code discount on an ebook you can give the person at an event?
Sure, you can do that, but the barrier of time and tech is still there, versus a stack of books and a cash box at an event.
I have a brag book. You know how some women carry around pictures of their children in a small photo album? Not me. I carry around pix of the front and back of my books, complete with QR code pointed at Amazon. So far, that’s the fastest way I’ve found to get an ebook in someone’s hands if you’re both in meatspace.
Why put them in the garage? Bring them into the house and turn them into furniture. As you sell more copies it can go from a couch to a chair to an end table.
Likeaso?
That’s a stack of blank books that all the bookstores have that no one buys. At least they will be 1st editions at some point.
I had forgotten about this. Also pre-hair plug.
https://x.com/ingelramdecoucy/status/1811570080016179522
He’s been a cunt his whole career.
The first time I heard about the guy it was because he was being lauded as the stupidest individual in the senate. All the other senators concurred and he was never seen any differently during his time in the senate. They all laughed at him behind his back.
He was chosen as VP for the same reason all VP’s are chosen: a life insurance policy for the president.
He, in my mind at least, is the worst president by far. Given Carter and Obama…geez that really takes some doing.
Worst president, dumbest senator. One would have to dig a trench to get under that bar.
The high IQ people I know don’t brag about their IQs.
Also Joe Biden hasn’t held a real job since he was a lifeguard. He’s been a politician.
They broke his heart
A lawsuit was filed Thursday against Hershey, Walgreens and several others in the case of a Massachusetts teen who died after he participated in a spicy tortilla chip challenge that was widely promoted on social media.
Harris Wolobah, a 10th grader from the city of Worcester, died Sept. 1, 2023, after eating the Paqui chip as part of the manufacturer’s “One Chip Challenge.” An autopsy found Wolobah died after eating a large quantity of chile pepper extract and also had a congenital heart defect.
also had a congenital heart defect.
Obviously caused by the people who made and sold the chip. Give me a fucking break.
“…after eating a large quantity of chile pepper extract and also had a congenital heart defect.”
Non-sequitur for the win. Everybody wants to win the lottery. So buy a damned ticket.
“The defendants charged about $10 for each chip, $10 for the chip that killed Harris, $10 for his life,” Sheff said. “Isn’t it clear that these defendants knew full well that this chip was unreasonably dangerous? And isn’t this an obvious marketing campaign designed to attract kids to that very danger?”
An appeal to the feebleminded and those of low moral character.
And- ten bucks? I bet the Chinese don’t even charge that much for the bullet they kill you with.
Unreasonably dangerous. How many were sold over the years? Paqui released the one chip challenge for several years. It’s also not even close to some of the hottest stuff out there. I somehow survived eating one, and didn’t think it was dangerous.
The back half of the box (for the 2022 one I had) is a warning label. The list of things that prevent you from eating this are:
Sensitivity to spicy food
Allergic to peppers, nightshades, or capsaicin
Pregnant or have any medical conditions
It also says to keep out of the reach of children, and to seek medical assistance if you have difficulty breathing, faint, or have extended nausea.
Ten bucks, same as downtown.
Unless somebody chips in.
Vox once again ignores the elephant in the room. Elimination of defined benefit pensions and failure for people to save for retirement.
How do you know it’s time to retire?
https://www.vox.com/even-better/359598/retire-career-identity-finances-power-biden-age
I know people including my father who worked into their 70s by choice. I know far more who retired by that point because they had the means to do so.
Fucking Idiots.
My father kept his business going until he was in his early 80s.
I expect to work another decade. Maybe two.
I will work about 6 more years corporate and then go to work for myself for a while. Probably a decade. By then I’ll probably snuff it and leave the house to my kid.
And I can say this: my identity has NOTHING to do with my corporate job. I could leave it tomorrow with no mental withdrawal.
I’d like to work until I tip. I’m very unhappy with the world I’m handing the kids so I feel like it would be the decent thing to help them as much as I can.
Besides, I hate golf.
My plan is to make money until I can’t for some reason.
That doesn’t mean full-time engineering until I’m 90. But contract work is probably something I could do from home forever.
I’m quitting my part-time job in a couple weeks. Don’t really need the money, want the time (and mostly mind space) from not having a corporate/lawyer job. No plans to do anything for hire.
The good news is that I still enjoy may work and think it is relatively important.
How do you know it is time to retire?
Just a spit take here but…when you find yourself writing for Vox?
The Cover Your Ass Olympics
What else have they been lying about? Every Fucking Thing. That’s what.
Pols, media, marketers, all of them. They lie their asses off to gt in your wallet because they cant create anything of value themselves. We are mostly a species of leech.
Yeah, that whole work-is-related-to-value shit; what a colossal lie.
EV’s: dumbest idea since the square wheel. I am sure y’all are tired of hearing me say that, but it is true.
People can have whatever they want, as long as they pay full price, without the government trying to force them onto the market.
Something tel;ls me there weren’t very many people saying, “You know what I need? An electric car!” ten years ago.
This is where I’m at, too. I’m all for choice, but don’t steal my money to subsidize a rich person’s toy.
It may be moot, though. Over regulation and meddling may have already killed the car industry.
I am all for personal choice and would never deny anyone the right to buy an EV is they so wish.
You know what makes a really nice commuter vehicle? A 15K gasoline car (my mom’s old H Civic) with a 12 gallon tank that gets 35ish mpg on highway cruises. An especially nice commuter car when Trump had us paying $1.85 per gallon. Cheap, comfortable, reliable and lasts forever. It is a 2001 and runs today like the day she bought it. The infrastructure to accommodate it already exists and is well developed.
EVs? Complete bullshit Rube Goldberg machine at the end of a wasteful energy shell game. The whole thing is a scam, the goal of which is to destroy freedom of movement. There is not one single good thing about it.
Also, you are correct. Looking at cars of the past…body styles, various innovations etc. they are glorious.
Today I park at Walmart-mart and when I try to leave it takes me ten minutes walking around in a sea of cookie cutter cracker boxes to find my car. Even the colors of paint have become more limited.
The whole industry has become very ossified through regulation.
Go to the junk yard and try and guess make and model without front or rear bumper covers on a modern car. It’s damn near impossible.
Aerodynamics is a hell of an equalizer.
An EV with regenerative braking system would make a nice commuter vehicle — three seasons a year — maybe.
And this just floated through my cavernous brain:
“Horses sweat. Gentlemen perspire. And Democrats complain of the global warming.”
That would be nice…
“Vice President Tulsi Gabbard”
Watching Tulsi ragdoll that hideous bitch never gets old.
Trump and Gabbard are both old-school Democrats — which would be far preferable that what we have now even if they aren’t what we want.
This.
Why not, they already took fiscal responsibility out of the Republican platform?
You noticed that, huh? I guess that 7 trillion printing orgy was just foreplay.
Over regulation and meddling may have already killed the car industry.
They’re certainly giving it their best shot.
Look at the costs and the selection. Who the fuck can afford them? I make decent money, but since I refuse to have a car payment virtually no new car is an option. Which is fine, actually. I don’t need the fucking thing to “assist” me and report back to the mother ship that I take corners too fast.
You know, all OMB really has to do is hammer, “Are you better off than you were 4 years ago?”
Paul Krugman assures us regularly that we are.
More people are exposed to OMB than Krugman.
Kruggie reads Moj, has temper tantrum.
This takedown is glorious.
Economic homeopathy – wow!