Stoic Friday LXXIV

by | Aug 2, 2024 | Advice, I Am Lame, LifeSkills, Musings | 156 comments

Last Week

Meditations

How to Be a Stoic

How to Think Like a Roman Emperor

Seneca’s Letters from a Stoic

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.

Some scattered sayings

When someone asked how it was that, despite the greater amount of work which was done nowadays in logic, there was more progress made in former times, Epictetus replied. On what has labour been expended in our time, and in what was the progress greater in those days? For in that upon which labour has been expended in our time, progress also will be found in our time. The fact is that in our time labour has been expended upon the solution of syllogisms, and there is progress along that line; but in the early days not only had labour been expended upon maintaining the governing principle in a state of accord with nature, but there was also progress along that line. Do not, therefore, substitute one thing for the other, and do not expect, when you devote labour to one thing, to be making progress in another. But see whether any one of us who is devoting himself to keeping in a state of conformity with nature, and to spending his life so, fails to make progress. For you will find that there is none of whom that is true.

Where we spend our effort is where we will see results. The people prior to Epictetus were more likely to work on living a real Stoic life and the more “modern” philosophers were more worried about being able to make arguments that sounded good. They were more likely to not live according to the principles they espoused. The same is true for me, if I spend my time arguing on X, then I would probably be better at it, but if I ignore X and work on my own reactions to events, then none of the arguments on X mean anything to me.

The good man is invincible; naturally, for he enters no contest where he is not superior. “If you want my property in the country,” says he, “take it; take my servants, take my office, take my paltry body. But you will not make my desire fail to get what I will, nor my aversion fall into what I would avoid.” This is the only contest into which the good man enters, one, namely, that is concerned with the things which belong in the province of the moral purpose; how, then, can he help but be invincible?

I am not facing any of the major obstacles faced in Epictetus’s story here, but my body is reminding me that it is not under my control. I had reconstructive ankle surgery in late 2015 and for 9 years I have had no problems. Last week, I slipped on some stairs on a ship and my foot was a little sore for a few days. Tuesday of this week, I woke up, it was swollen, and I couldn’t put weight on it. The Dr. thinks I tweaked it and all of the old damage got inflamed. I have been in a walking boot and using crutches for 3 days now and still can’t put any weight on my foot. Keeping myself OK with this is not easy, but I am managing it well. While a small part of my brain worries I might have permanent damage and not be able to run anymore, I don’t listen to those thoughts and will deal with whatever the long term issues are when I know what they are. I gain nothing by worrying about it now.

When someone asked him what “general perception”[1] was, he replied. Just as a sense of hearing which distinguishes merely between sounds would be called “general,” but that which distinguishes between tones is no longer “general,” but “technical,” so there are certain things which those men who are not altogether perverted see by virtue of their general faculties. Such a mental constitution is called “general perception.”

This sounds like “common sense”. My Grandad always used to say, “Common sense isn’t too common anymore”. In the general use of it most people have a good idea of what is right and wrong, the issues start when they find excuses to outsource their morality or decision making to an outside source, be that government or religion of some sort. Then they can rationalize almost anything their organization decides to do.

It is not an easy thing to prevail upon soft young men; no, and you can’t catch soft cheese on a fishhook[2] either—but the gifted young men, even if you try to turn them away, take hold of reason all the more firmly. And so also Rufus for the most part tried to dissuade men, using such efforts to dissuade as a means of discriminating between those who were gifted and those who were not. For he used to say, “Just as a stone, even if you throw it upwards, will fall downwards to earth by virtue of its very constitution, so is also the gifted man; the more one beats him back, the more he inclines toward his natural object.”

It becomes obvious rather quickly when a discussion is a waste of time. It has become too easy for people to repeat the talking points of the day without any actual thought put into what they are actually saying. This was always an infuriating part of talking to my mom about anything related to politics.

About The Author

ron73440

ron73440

What I told my wife when she said my steel Baby Eagle .45 was heavy, "Heavy is good, heavy is reliable, if it doesn't work you could always hit him with it."-Boris the Blade MOLON LABE

156 Comments

  1. Nephilium

    I tighten up the saying to “Common sense isn’t”.

  2. WTF

    It becomes obvious rather quickly when a discussion is a waste of time. It has become too easy for people to repeat the talking points of the day without any actual thought put into what they are actually saying. This was always an infuriating part of talking to my mom about anything related to politics.

    This reminds me of the saying “he doesn’t even know enough to be wrong”>

    • Mojeaux the Lazy Yenta

      We have a saying in MT: “Look EVERYTHING up. You don’t know what you don’t know.”

      Giving people the benefit of the doubt in a conversation may or may not be little more than patting them on the head, but when you do talk to people about heavy topics, you have to go back and break down all their assumptions and “knowledge” first, which is the time waster. I had to do this with my son. His mind works so quickly that he would get the right answer about 1/3 of the time, but the other 2/3, we had to stop him and explain that his assumptions were flawed. He was resistant to this, but then came a moment he couldn’t resist anymore and he would listen. You can’t do that in casual conversation. There has to be something at stake.

      But in giving people the benefit of the doubt, you’re also acknowledging that they’ve got shit on their minds and they can’t be using energy delving into history and philosophizing. You’re acknowledging that usually, the cause and the effect are so far apart, they can’t make those logical leaps. MOST people just don’t have the bandwidth to devote to this stuff and so they depend on soundbites to assist. That’s why propaganda is so effective. People may have the intelligence. They just don’t have the bandwidth.

    • Nephilium

      It’s something you’ll run into once in a while in the tech world. Especially when someone from the business side has just heard a new buzzword (for the sake of argument, let’s just use… I don’t know “AI”), and talks to the technical people.

      • Nephilium

        Mojeaux:

        If you were unaware of the BOFH, it’s a long runner. It’s been going on for decades, and has been a welcome read on the days there’s new updates dropped. My other favorite sites from the days of working helldesk have long since stopped being updated.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Always my favorite

      • Mojeaux the Lazy Yenta

        If there is one thing I’ve learned from the internet is that a lot of people in this world are smart, clever, and funny.

      • Timeloose

        Looks like another IT manager will be dynamically seeing the bottom of another elevator shaft. “Come quick there’s been a terrible accident!!

  3. The Late P Brooks

    MOST people just don’t have the bandwidth to devote to this stuff and so they depend on soundbites to assist. That’s why propaganda is so effective. People may have the intelligence. They just don’t have the bandwidth.

    I suppose it’s what you mean by bandwidth, but there is a vast array of topics about which I cannot be bothered to care. And I definitely can’t be bothered to care about other people’s thoughts on those matters.

      • Nephilium

        There’s a reason I try to understand the motivations and decision trees that other people followed. Even if I don’t agree with the assumptions, I can at least comprehend how they reached the wrong answer.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        “Even if I don’t agree with the assumptions, I can at least comprehend how they reached the wrong answer.”

        It’s much easier to assume that they are evil people who should be crushed.

      • Sean

        It’s much easier to assume that they are evil people who should be crushed.

        Send me your resume.

    • The Other Kevin

      We have evolved to take shortcuts in our thinking, otherwise we’d expend too much time and energy on things not important to survival. That and it makes our thinking faster – if you just assume those rustling leaves are a tiger, there’s a lot of upside if you’re right and not too much downside if you’re wrong. But propagandists know this and are using it against us.

      • Nephilium

        But propagandists know this and are using it against us.

        Those shortcuts have always been the keys to getting a mark to buy into the con you’re trying to sell them.

  4. Fourscore

    I was brought on the carpet at work one time, not by the boss but by the company bureaucrats. I had the reputation of being a loose cannon, which was not totally wrong. Personnel, Operations, Warehouse and another supervisor, we were all the same pay grade. The boss monitored the meeting. One by one they pointed out my shortcomings. When they got finished the boss asked me if I wanted to say anything. I said, “No, everything they said was true and accurate”.

    Then the boss spoke up, “At least all of Twoscore’s stores are making money”. Then he and I went to lunch and planned the next expansion.

    • Tundra

      Haha!

      No HR department then, huh?

  5. The Other Kevin

    My Twitter is blowing up all of a sudden. I made a comment on a Michael Malice post, and he commented back and now I have over 30 likes and some reposts. I hope this doesn’t count toward my 15 minutes of fame.

    • slumbrew

      14:55, 14:56, 14:57…

      • slumbrew

        To their eternal credit, after their first big hit the band Sugar Ray named their follow-up album ’14:59′.

    • Mojeaux the Lazy Yenta

      I could run in there and tell everybody to adjust their sarcometer.

      • The Other Kevin

        This happened once before and about 25% were people who thought I was serious. Same thing today. I wonder if those are the same people who don’t have an inner dialog.

    • Tundra

      It’s funny how much of a dopamine hit that is, isn’t it?

      Congrats!

    • Drake

      Congrats on getting on more lists!

  6. The Late P Brooks

    It’s much easier to assume that they are evil people who should be crushed.

    To crush your enemies, and see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their bureaucrats.

  7. The Late P Brooks

    Then the boss spoke up, “At least all of Twoscore’s stores are making money”. Then he and I went to lunch and planned the next expansion.

    And they all lived happily ever after.

  8. The Late P Brooks

    Speaking of intellectual laziness

    “I don’t know who came up with the message, but I salute them,” said David Karpf, a strategic communication professor at George Washington University.

    Karpf said labeling Republican comments as “weird” is the sort of concise take that resonates quickly with Harris supporters. Plus, Karpf noted, “it frustrates opponents, leading them to further amplify it through off-balance responses.”

    “So far, at least, Trump-Vance has been incapable of finding an effective response,” Karpf said.

    “Weird” = not like us.

    Don’t worry about why, or how, or what. Pin a superficial label on them.

    • Mojeaux the Lazy Yenta

      As I said on Twitter, “weird” as an insult doesn’t even warrant a side-eye.

      • Nephilium

        Remember when it was bold to “freak the mundanes”?

      • UnCivilServant

        @Mr Ilium – No. I do not.

        Can you provide more context?

      • Nephilium

        UCS:

        Really? It’s been a pretty common counterculture saying for longer than I’ve been alive to the point it’s gotten into nearly every subculture, even freaking church music groups.

        To go back to the conversation about code switching, freaking the mundanes is when a group is intentionally bringing their more noticeable eccentricities out into the public view. Going to a diner still in costume from Rocky Horror, showing up at a family gathering without hiding the tats and piercings, watching someone experience culture shock at their first concert…

      • UnCivilServant

        I have never been part of a formal counterculture, and did not care to garner attention. Literally the first time I recall hearing it was from you a few weeks ago, and it sounded bizarre, counterproductive even. As though building division was the goal.

      • UnCivilServant

        That came out wrong.

        Let me step back and ask another question – what was the actual objective of doing so?

      • Mojeaux the Lazy Yenta

        what was the actual objective of doing so?

        For attention.

      • Nephilium

        UCS:

        The reason? Depends on the group. Sometimes it’s just a matter of not hiding who or what you are anymore. Sometimes it’s to make others recognize that outlandish dress and appearance doesn’t indicate anything about the people. Sometimes it’s to make people uncomfortable. Sometimes it’s to let others out there who want to be a part of it that they’re not alone.

        Because sometimes it’s damned good to be able to let all the filters down, and take all the masks off.

      • MikeS

        @Neph: Four of those reasons are good reason. Unfortunately, it seems (fairly or not) that the most common reason is to make people uncomfortable.

      • UnCivilServant

        That strikes me as something that would just lead to too many awkward situations.

        But I’m an antisocial person, so any form of attention just makes me uncomfortable.

      • Suthenboy

        “…counterproductive even…”

        Because it is. I see it and I see an emotional tweet screaming for attention. It is for people who cant grow up and get over themselves.

      • Suthenboy

        Goddamned spell check. Tween, not tweet.

      • kinnath

        One of my hobbies involves dressing in non-modern clothing. Heading out to a day-long gathering generally means travelling and being out in public while wearing this clothing.

        In the olden days, this hobby was a place of respite for social outcasts of all sorts. One of the guiding principles of the culture was “cherish the goob”. And a lot of the people that played in the game back then did rejoice in freaking out the mundanes.

        The culture has changed quite a bit of the years. And I rarely hear either of cherish the goob or freak out the mundanes said out loud anymore.

        I don’t view all of the changes as being positive.

      • R C Dean

        It’s not even necessarily an insult. There was a good long stretch where the unofficial motto of Austin was “Keep Austin Weird”. I also saw t-shirts, etc. with that motto for Madison when I lived there. “Weird” used to be a counterculture badge of honor.

      • ZWAK angry at the world, and the world doesn’t care.

        I have seen that with a bunch of places, like Portland, or Santa Cruz. It is a surefire way to know that the town has jumped the shark for being cool.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Starts to backfire though when you call the dude with the burned face ‘weird’. Even if not in that context.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      OMG, did you see what JD and Donald said? Those guys are so weird. I can’t even. They are totally uninvited to the party.

      Proving once again that the media and the Dems are the high school mean girls.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Harris supporters must include a sizable contingent of middle school tween girls then. Good to know.

      But seriously, everyone (and I mean everyone) knows this was top down astroturfed horseshit.

    • Suthenboy

      Example #lost count of them living in upsy downsy land where they can simply proclaim something to be true and reality complies.

      Did a third grade kid come up with the ‘weird’ trope? No, third graders are smarter than that. There is no response to it because it doesnt warrant one of any kind.

    • The Other Kevin

      I think a good counter to that would be “cringy”. Kamala’s fake accent is cringy. Biden smelling kids is cringy. The response to Trump’s latest speech is cringy.

    • R C Dean

      “So far, at least, Trump-Vance has been incapable of finding an effective response,”

      This assumes it warrants a response from the campaign, which in turn it has been effective somehow in affecting voters.

      I would say the responses I’ve seen from the Trumpists has been quite effective – juxtaposing those weirdos with their families and popular positions with the freakshow on the left and their insane positions. Will that somehow affect voters? No idea, but if tweener finger pointing and insults from the left moves the needle, I don’t see why not.

    • ZWAK angry at the world, and the world doesn’t care.

      The appropriate response is “sure, I am weird. But that Sam Brinton guy…” Or, change it up with “… but cutting off girls breats…) Or, “…But check out Dork Brandon.”

      You get my point. Always bring it back to how actually weird they are.

  9. Tundra

    Hello?

  10. Tundra

    Boy, Ron. The site hates me trying to comment on your excellent article.

    • Ted S.

      You should be more stoic about it.

      • Tundra
  11. The Late P Brooks

    As I said on Twitter, “weird” as an insult doesn’t even warrant a side-eye.

    I would consider being called weird by the purveyors of The Next Big Thing high praise.

    • cyto

      I replied that the worst insult for me would be “normal” or “average”.

      Who wants to be like everyone else.

      We are like that as a group, but we don’t strive for weird by signaling to the in-group that we are the best of the same weird as everyone else by dying our hair purple and putting in a nose ring.

      Our weird is being authenticly unique, and celebrating that nobody else has to allow it.

      • Mojeaux the Lazy Yenta

        Some people cannot STAND it when you quietly go about doing what you like without regard to anyone else. They hate being ignored. Bunny boilers, if you will.

    • Ted S.

      The other thing is that the people who came up with the “weird” trope are the same ones likeliest to bitch about microaggressions.

      Them, and the Jew-haters agitating for Palestine.

      • MikeS

        But, see, MAGA’s are subhuman, so it’s OK to call them names.

  12. cyto

    Due to MoJeaux wanting to connect with us on X, I have upped my engagement. I now see all posts by most reason writers and alumni.

    We have oft questioned their commitment to libertarian ideas and wondered at their open hostility to anything conservative.

    Well, today I got to see just how the stupid gets spread around.

    Heritage foundation put up an article about the hostility of government towards the nuclear family and relating it to communist ideology of destroying the family to build the communist state. Relevant, because JD Vance and because CWPA operatives in Antifa, BLM and corporate America have been pushing these ideas and policies.

    So, the author says Stalin killed 20 million people, yet even Stalin understood that society depended on strong intact families.

    She relates this to things like no fault divorce that were implemented by the revolutionaries but rolled back by Stalin because of the harm to families.

    Reason roared in response. All of the writers are on board with “Heritage foundation is praising stalin!!! OMG, they are so Stupid! They are the evil! Who praises stalin??”

    Impressively stupid. And they all are impervious. They think they are the smart kids for intentionally misunderstanding a rhetorical device and feigning indignation.

    Holy crap, they are like a gaggle of Jr. High mean girls.

    • Mojeaux the Lazy Yenta

      Due to MoJeaux wanting to connect with us on X, I have upped my engagement.

      You’re welcome?

      • Tundra

        Yore.

      • MikeS

        ur

      • cyto

        I hadn’t realized how dumb they are. I had illusions that they were more cynical and driven by other incentives…

        But they are plenty dumb too.

        Worse, having seen many of them be the smart one on journalist panels….

        Dang. Next level dumb from the journalist class

        So, for shattering what remained of my illusions…. thanks?

      • Tundra

        I had to break up with Twitter. It didn’t blend well with my brain.

    • R C Dean

      Yeah, “This commie idea is so dumb not even Stalin would do it” is supporting Stalin?

      By that logic “Trump is worse than Hitler” is supporting Hitler.

    • MikeS

      Luck is for duuudes.

    • Timeloose

      When he says, “I am the Strongest Woman, this State has ever seen.” lead to a spit take at my desk. This is after seeing the bit multiple times. The Macho Woman was the perfect take on this issue.

  13. Suthenboy

    My Grandad always used to say, “Common sense isn’t too common anymore”.

    Everyone’s Grandad used to say that, including Grandad’s Grandad. It has always been like this.

  14. Drake

    Annoying as hell to reach the age where old injuries come back to visit and don’t know when to leave.

    Injured my ankle playing rugby when I was 18 – was playing again 2 weeks later. Came back early this year and got really sore. Screwed up my gait and now the opposite hip is messed up. Time for a trade-in.

    • juris imprudent

      You really think it is worse than any other?

      • Tundra

        No, but I think having Trump’s brains blown on TV would be worse for my existence than whatever the Department of Education is doing.

      • Tundra

        Lol.

        add an “out” where appropriate.

      • MikeS

        …worse for my out existence…

      • Tundra

        Exactly. It’s like a choose your own adventure,

    • R C Dean

      Yeah, the guy responsible for the biggest fuckup (at best) in agency history gets a promotion to head of the agency. Nice incentives you got there, fedgov.

  15. The Late P Brooks

    Oboz, if you have the bandwidth:

    We’ve taken the O FIT Insole® Plus II and changed the top sheet to emphasize the Black Folks Camp Too message of the Unity Blaze, which means “You are Invited and Welcomed.” Featuring Cleansport NXT odor control, cushioning pods updated with Poron Vive for fatigue mitigation, as well as our ACT (Adaptive Cushioning Technology) in the forefoot. Your purchase of the Balck Folks Camp Too x O FIT Insole® Plus II ‘Unity Blaze’ will benefit the development of Black Folks Camp Too’s Digital Education Initiative.

    Black Folks Camp Too’s mission is to remove fear, add knowledge, and invite more Folks of Color to camp and enjoy the outdoor lifestyle TOGETHER.

    Don’t black people who work for a living and spend all day on their feet matter?

    All I want is a pair of insoles with support for my high arches.

    • slumbrew

      This is fine.

    • Tundra

      Would have been funnier if he tried to fly it.

      • slumbrew

        Lord knows what he was doing in there.

        “Some guy shit my pants!”

      • Tundra

        OMG!

        Maybe he was just trying to get the fuck away from her and that airplane was the closest place.

      • Drake

        The look on his face as she babbles…

      • Sean

        Would have been funnier if he tried to fly it.

        “I used to be a pilot for an all black airline!”

      • Tundra

        Tuskegee Airmen!

      • The Other Kevin

        Just remember, those are the smartest, most qualified people the Dems have to offer.

      • R C Dean

        I like the guy who just walks away in disgust.

        When did that happen, anyway?

    • cyto

      While I am commenting on X….

      The reach of “normies” on X is frustrating.

      I used to be pretty active on a couple of science subreddits. If you get in early and post something interesting, everyone sees it and hundreds will interact. I have spoken with Tory Bruno and other big names in the space business.

      On X?

      I just posted on a science topic. I was one of the first 2 or 3 replies to a post that currently has 195k views. My post got about 30% likes early on.

      It is one of my most viewed posts on X with almost 2,300 views.

      That’s crazy.

      What is the usefulness of the tool if only the few can really use it.

      On Reddit or the old Slashdot, many tens of thousands would have seen that post and hundreds would have responded.

      • Suthenboy

        I also used to have what I thought of as significant input in various circles and now feel I am drowned out by the throngs.
        These days I look here and there just to keep updated and occasionally pick up some thought provoking info. Of the thought provocations I probably get 60% of them here.

    • MikeS

      This is the plane the Americans from the Russia prisoner exchange returned on. He went up to thank the flight crew. It certainly was not a “random airplane”.

      • UnCivilServant

        “You guys did a good job rescuing them from Red China. It was a muskrat shaver’s job.”

      • MikeS

        Yeah, I’m not claiming he said anything remotely intelligible while on said plane.

  16. The Late P Brooks

    Excuses, excuses

    Amazon is pointing to an unusually busy news cycle as one of the drivers behind its weak revenue forecast.

    On a call with reporters following the company’s second-quarter earnings report on Thursday, Amazon finance chief Brian Olsavsky said one reason the company expects a slippage in online shopping this quarter is because consumers are distracted. There’s the Paris Olympics, which began last month and continues through Aug. 11, as well as the ramp-up to the U.S. presidential election in November.

    Olsavsky also pointed to the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally last month, which occurred just before the Republican National Convention.

    “Customers only have so much attention,” Olsavsky said. “When high-profile things happen, or the assassination attempt a couple of weeks ago, you see that people shift their attention to news. It’s more about distractions.”

    Or maybe you… you know… SUCK. What a fucking retarded thing to say.

    I keep asking myself why I still pay for Amazon Prime. It’s almost impossible to find anything in that shitshow website. The other night I was scrolling through a bunch of Amazon-produced shows, and kept asking myself why I would take a chance on another of their shows after The Boys.

    • Sean

      They keep removing my favorites from subscribe & save. 🙁

      • UnCivilServant

        There is nothing I buy from them that I use up fast enough to have it delivered monthly.

      • Sean

        You can set it at 1-6 month intervals.

        I’ve saved $145 on coconut oil over the years…

      • R C Dean

        I don’t even want to know what you need that much coconut oil for, Sean.

  17. Tundra

    RIP Auto Industry

    Dealerships are hardly asking for a downpayment these days unless someone has horrid credit. Even putting a few grand down will only take off about $20 per monthly payment. The average new car costs about $735 monthly based on data from Experian, and $523 monthly on used models. The average American simply is not educated in finance. Autos are behind mortgages in the largest share of personal household debt and there is a portion of the population who do not understand what they can actually afford.

    The average American now borrows around $40,634 for new vehicles and $26,073 for used vehicles. About 9.2% of all consumer debt is through autos alone.

    Buh…buh…buh…BUBBLE!

    • Mojeaux the Lazy Yenta

      There is no fucking way I’m giving up my two almost-20-year-old cars or my 24-year-old truck.

      • Timeloose

        I just saw a 1997 Lincoln Town car that looks decent, runs, and drives, for ~$850. I might just pick it up to take people places, as my other vehicles are smallish.

        140K miles.

      • Mojeaux the Lazy Yenta

        I’ve posted this before. If you’ve seen it, no apologies. I’m that age now I can tell stories over and over again.

        I still regret getting rid of that car.

      • Sensei

        Until you can’t get parts…

      • UnCivilServant

        Then you engage in redneck engineering to make the closest option fit.

      • Sensei

        For those in communist states you won’t pass emissions.

      • UnCivilServant

        No car passes communist emissions mandates.

        Even cycling fails the zero emissions mandate.

    • Drake

      We’re talking about a new car in the next year. I’ll wait until the low finance and cash-back deals really kick-in.

      • slumbrew

        Cousin was really working the phone hard last weekend to get his girlfriend a new VW under the wire – I think he said 60 months, no interest. Which is crazy.

      • Sean

        That’s a great rate. Possibly a good deal, unless they made him pay full MSRP (and add ons).

  18. The Late P Brooks

    The average new car costs about $735 monthly

    I remember when you could lease a Ford Escort GT for 99 bucks a month. I actually considered it.

    • kinnath

      Buying a new car now is about equal to buying a house a couple of decades ago.

    • UnCivilServant

      dear god that flier is busy. My head hurts from trying to parse it.

      • UnCivilServant

        I can’t find the porterhouses, and Ctrl-F is failing since the text is just images of text.

        So where do these guys source their beef, because I don’t find those rates anywhere around here.

      • Sean

        Oh, I thought it would link properly.

        Go to the 3 day sale flyer.

      • UnCivilServant

        🤔 the $1.99/lb Pork Spare Ribs caught my eye more.

    • cyto

      Yeah, that is nuts. We are at double that.

      I’m thinking there is arbitrage to be had here…

      • cyto

        Walmart here has porterhouse steaks for $11.50 per pound.

        That has actually come down quite a bit.

      • cyto

        Ribeye is $16, down from $18-19

    • cyto

      I see Weiss offers a variety of grades of meat.

      Ribeyes can be had for $12 to $20 per pound. And if you want thin sliced, you can get it for $10.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    Lease? No thanks.

    I considered it. I didn’t do it. For a lot of people, walking away with no accrued value (and no car) at the end of those payments is the appeal.

    • UnCivilServant

      If I shell out that much money, I want to own the heap of scrap when I’m done.

  20. The Late P Brooks

    There is no fucking way I’m giving up my two almost-20-year-old cars or my 24-year-old truck.

    You can pry the keys to my 34 year old 320k mile Honda from my cold dead fingers.

  21. The Late P Brooks

    So where do these guys source their beef, because I don’t find those rates anywhere around here.

    That dredged up an old old memory. A Saturday Night Live thing, from when they were at least occasionally funny, of Dan Akroyd saying, “…at prices that’ll make you wonder where we get our meat!”

  22. Sensei

    He’s pitching his product, but it doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a point.

    You’re [supposed to be] giving customers the ability to control what’s deployed, when it’s deployed, what version is deployed, rollback capabilities, gradual rollout, phased deployments. All of those are kind of table stakes.

    SentinelOne CEO On CrowdStrike Outage: ‘Not Just An Honest Mistake’

    Long article, but interesting.

    • Nephilium

      I have… opinions… on CrowdStrike, Microsoft, and Sonos.

      For the record, Sonos sent me a new device to try to provide a workaround to their shitty app and architecture.

      • Sensei

        “Courage.”

        Sonos had it and now you do too!

      • slumbrew

        CrowdStrike, in general, seems like a bad idea.

        “We’re going to run this thing in Ring 0, and we’ll download updates from online from time to time”. Yeesh.

      • slumbrew

        My Sonos use is so basic that I haven’t been too bothered by their bad app update. But they still fucked that up.

      • Sensei

        slumbrew – the joys of the early days of PCs and crappy media device and video drivers.

      • slumbrew

        Oof, yeah. I don’t miss that.

  23. MikeS

    I just read an interesting blurb in the local rag. They have a “Turning Back the Clock” column and this was one of today’s entries for 50 years ago:

    Margaret Cassidy, 10-year-old Irish girl was one of 124 children chosen to be taken away from their war torn hometowns to visit peaceful rural towns where they could enjoy a calm vacation and see that Catholics and Protestants can live in peace within their shared communities.

    I had no idea there were programs like that during The Troubles. I wonder what became of Margaret Cassidy.

    • Tundra

      I remember that vaguely. I wonder if it was through church.

    • Sensei

      Would sure seem that way.

    • Tundra

      God dammit, lady! You had the chance to make a point and help other girls.

      Why is character dead?

      • The Other Kevin

        She doesn’t have JK Rowling money, I guess.

      • Mojeaux the Lazy Yenta

        JK Rowling going to bat on this is the second greatest philosophical/principled gift to humanity in my lifetime behind Elon buying Twitter to open it up. She says since she DOES have fuck-you money, she feels it’s her responsibility to stand up for women (rights, spaces, sports) who can’t afford to lose their livelihoods, which is pretty much all the rest of us.

      • Sensei

        And both Musk an JK were middle of the road progs before they had had enough.

      • Mojeaux the Lazy Yenta

        I believe she still is, but she puts her money where her mouth is. After the UK started letting men-in-dresses into gov-subsidized battered women shelters, she sponsored her own private shelters.

    • The Other Kevin

      “You’ll never fight again” was most likely part of the conversation.

      Meanwhile, another XY boxer from China(?) beat a woman today. WTF is with boxing? Out of all the sports you’d think that one should have more safeguards. This is going to be known as the trans Olympics. And not in a good way.

    • R C Dean

      This is probably going to be the first Olympics that I will not watch a single minute of (other than brief clips online like the karate finale). I haven’t so far, and I don’t see that changing.

      • The Other Kevin

        We’ve always made a tradition of watching the opening ceremony, and we usually watch a lot of events. But we got rid of cable, and we’re not paying for Peacock now so we haven’t watched any this time either. Probably for the best.

    • R.J.

      I had to do the math. That’s about $2,046 American dollars. Wow.

    • R C Dean

      He changes skinsuits like I change my socks.