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.
Against the Academics[1]
If a man, says Epictetus, resists truths that are all too evident, in opposing him it is not easy to find an argument by which one may cause him to change his opinion. The reason for this is neither the man’s ability nor the teacher’s weakness; nay, when a man who has been trapped in an argument hardens to stone, how shall one any longer deal with him by argument?
Now there are two kinds of petrifaction: one is the petrifaction of the intellect, the other of the sense of shame, when a man stands in array, prepared neither to assent to manifest truths nor to leave the fighting line. Most of us dread the deadening of the body and would resort to all means so as to avoid falling into such a state, but about the deadening of the soul we care not at all.
I have seen a similar attitude in our political class, with no sense of shame. Pete Buttigieg, after being cornered into admitting he didn’t even know how much electricity it took to charge an EV, when asked if the grid would support the plans replied, “It’ll need to be”. Where can you go to convince these types? Once their soul has died and they convince themselves that they are on the right side of history, is it possible to reawaken their curiosity and honesty?
5Indeed, by Zeus, even in the case of the soul itself, if a man be in such a state that he cannot follow an argument step by step, or even understand one, we regard him too as being in a bad way; but if a man’s sense of shame and self-respect be deadened, this we go so far as to call strength of character!
Men with no self respect or shame can not be reasoned with. I have seen many videos where someone was lying relentlessly and didn’t wilt under questioning or arguing and the comments are filled with praise for how the liar “owned” the questioner. I believe I have a strong character, but could not stand up in that situation. My sense of decency and shame would prevent me from being able to do that. I can’t even pretend I didn’t eat the last piece of cake without my wife seeing through me.
Do your senses tell you that you are awake? “No,” he answers, “any more than they do when in dreams I have the impression that I am awake.” Is there, then, no difference between these two impressions? “None.” Can I argue with this man any longer?
When I hear someone say they are speaking “my truth”, to me that sounds like they have pulled a George Costanza: “It’s not a lie if I believe it”. When someone believes that blacks are more likely to be shot by the police and I show them the FBI statistics refuting that claim, they answer that they know the truth. I see no purpose in continuing to engage with them.
And what cautery or lancet shall I apply to him, to make him realize that he is deadened? He does realize it, but pretends that he does not; he is even worse than a corpse. One man does not notice the contradiction—he is in a bad way; another man notices it, indeed, but is not moved and does not improve—he is in a still worse state. His self-respect and sense of shame have been lopped off, and his reasoning faculty has been—I will not say cut away, but brutalized.
Unfortunately, this seems to be the norm for any debate. I have a need to be right. That doesn’t mean that whatever I believe is correct, but it means that I cannot argue for something I don’t know to be true. I also tend to question things, even ones that I am naturally inclined to believe.
10Am I to call this strength of character? Far from it, unless I am so to describe the strength that lewd fellows have, which enables them to say and do in public anything that comes into their heads.
I have no respect for the strength it takes to lie to someones face. To me that is a twisted version of character. I learned at an early age that if someone could lie to you like that, they were usually unreliable in other areas.
Music this week is from Thin Lizzie.
Everyone knows The Boys Are Back in Town and Jailbreak.
They had many other good songs and were very influential back in their heyday.
Way better than Metallica’s version: Whiskey in the Jar
Amazing guitar work: Roisin Dubh (Black Rose)
I hear some Iron Maiden in this one: Emerald
This was not as spicy as I expected a XXX article to be.
Rule 34. Somewhere, there is Stoic porn.
Dang it! Now I want to google that just to find out what in the world that would be…..
Toga party turned orgy?
“Now I want to google…”
no no no no no no no no no no no ~~~ nothing good can come of this.
Meh. The first seventeen pages will be ads and scraper sites.
I typed in “Stoic” in Tubi. It brought back “Sticky: A Self Love Story.” Close enough. Adding it to the movie post list.
I didn’t watch all of it yet, but The Assassination Bureau looked really good.
I’ll finish it either tonight or tomorrow.
It is really good. I don’t know how I failed to post it previously.
The brothel in Pompeii, whatever they called it.
Sigh, use Bing not Google for porn searches.
Not spicy, but a little salty about the stupidity that masquerades as progressiveism.
No wonder the left hates Stoicism. This could have been written today and be just as accurate.
When I first started studying it, I was surprised it wasn’t taught in schools.
When I thought about the type of character the school system is designed to foster, I was no longer surprised.
If a man, says Epictetus, resists truths that are all too evident, in opposing him it is not easy to find an argument by which one may cause him to change his opinion. The reason for this is neither the man’s ability nor the teacher’s weakness; nay, when a man who has been trapped in an argument hardens to stone, how shall one any longer deal with him by argument?
Impregnable obdurate ignorance is a virtue in some circles.
1. You cant argue logic and facts with someone whose beliefs are not based on logic or facts.
2. It is impossible to sway someone who sees truth as subjective instead of objective.
I don’t deal well with emotional people.
“The truth is what I say it is because it doesn’t feel fair!”
I recall a conversation where a Libertarian was lamenting that the “movement” just hadn’t found teachers articulate enough to explain why individual liberty was a paramount virtue and most conducive to a higher standard of living. Someone (it may have been Tom Palmer or David Boaz) expressed the view that even the world’s best teacher is not going to get through to committed statists and those who virtue signal (not a phrase actually used in 1970s) their support of statist ideology.
The morning article about hydrogen sulfide in the cistern hit close to home.
My brother-in-law was overcome by a hydrogen sulfide leak at a refinery this year. Dude was just walking along and suddenly – wham – he hits the ground. Asphyxiation due to the gas displacing all the oxygen. He hit the ground hard and got a major head injury. ICU for a couple of days, hospital for quite a while after. Not back to work after months. Luckily someone else was nearby to see, or he would have been dead in a couple of minutes. Scary stuff
All I can say about my practice of stoicism right now is I’m working out my issues in therapy. I’m grateful I got a good one the first time and didn’t have to go therapist shopping.
I just hope your therapist doesn’t tell you to cut all ties with us for your mental health.
I would hope we’re not a strain or negative factor.
I would rather be with you guys than with the best people on earth…..
That’s the way to be stoic.
Another Roxanne reference. 🙂
Indeed.
You guys don’t make me mad.
Much.
Steely Dan sucks.
*takes deep breath through nose and hums ohhhhhhmmmmmmmm*
😘
Hope it continues to work for you.
OT – I’ve been thinking of getting into 3d printing for a while and recent developments are encouraging me to start. (Creating a dedicated hobby space freed up the workbench real estate for the printer to go in, and I’m about to get retro pay at work from the new contract). So I’ve searched for beginners guides. There seem to be two categories – those that assume you have the hardware and set it up and want to get something from the computer into the printer, and those that talk about so many different hardware options that my head starts to spin. I get that it is a complex and diverse field. I recalled a glibs article on it and looked, but that fell into the “so you’ve got your printer and want to print” category.
Should I just commit to a cheap printer and search on all the noob questions as they come up? Or does anyone have a recommendation for the “absolute no-experience beginner’s guide that won’t confuse you with all the variables and jargon”?
~$300 for a (resin) printer, cure station and 1kg of standard resin, Elegoo
I’ve seen the name before, but don’t know their reputation.
That screams red flag based on the price. See if you can find some real and not sponsored / free reviews.
I see. It’s a Chinese company, they probably stole all their R&D.
Yes! Sensei wrote a 3 part article on 3-D printing. Here i the last part:
https://www.glibertarians.com/2022/01/adventures-in-3d-printing-part-3-end/
I agree that you shouldn’t just jump on a cheap printer. That can go really badly.
I donno, it might make for an entertaining Glibs Article.
Should I just go for it and give you guys a review?
Why not!
It will likely take you a while to figure out both the design and software as well as the hardware.
The issue is that how you slice things in software impacts the hardware. Sometimes it isn’t 100% hardware or 100% software that makes a print fail, but the combination of the two. Nothing other than experience will let you solve that.
I’ve been poking around, and the biggest complaints seem to be with the customer service.
Ni hao!
I’d say search youtube and find people making things that interest you and look into the equipment they are you using for those purposes. You might even be able to contact them with questions.
I seem to recall us talking with my 3 part series.
Part 3 is my printer itself. The Ender is a fine inexpensive line. Prusa is more money, but turnkey.
Basically you are going to need to buy one and learn as the problems occur. If you want to do miniatures you are going to need a resin printer and they cost.
The Tiny Elegoo (Mars 3, 5x6x3 printing space) was under $200 on amazon, A curing station $95, and resin $20, with bundle discounts. So not that bad (I’m not going to start with huge projects anyway).
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/elegoo-mars-3d-printer
Tom’s used to be credible. No idea now, however.
And some dude who loves his minatures!
https://ageofminiatures.com/elegoo-mars-3-pro-review/
Thank you.
I had found the Tom’s hardware one, but was uncertain if they’d fallen or not.
The other one appear to be blocked from work, so I’ll look when I get home.
Didn’t one of us previously write at length about 3D printers?
Yes, and I did read it more than once.
” I can’t even pretend I didn’t eat the last piece of cake without my wife seeing through me.”
I’m a terrible liar, just not believable. OTOH I tell stories that I don’t expect anyone to believe, exaggerations, in fun and occasionally someone will take me seriously.
Then I have to add, “Just kidding”. Sometimes the truth gets questioned though too.
I had an old sarge one time tell me “I never know when you’re telling the truth or BSing” I said, “Sergeant Powell, would I ever lie to you?”
He said, ” See, you’re doing it again” and we both laughed.
World Cup Rnd 4 tiebreakers update:
Carlsen defeats Keymer in 2nd tiebreaker.
Praggnanandhaa upsets *Nakamura in 1st tiebreaker. Pragg turned 18 yesterday.
Nepo defeats Nihal in 1st tiebreaker.
*Dominguez Perez defeats Wojtaszek in 2nd tiebreaker.
Rnd of 16 starts tomorrow.
Carlsen (2835) v Ivanchuk (2667)
Gukesh (2744) v Wang (2709)
Abasov (2632) v Salem (2661)
Nepo (2779) v Vidit (2719)
*Caruana (2782) v Duda (2732)
*Dominguez Perez (2739) v Sarana (2685)
Erigaisi (2719) v Grandelius (2684)
Pragg (2690) v Berkes (2615)
Top 3 qualify for the candidates tourney next year. There are 8 spots in it to determine who challenges Ding Liren for the world title. Nepo is already qualified as the loser of the last World Championship. If he finishes top 3, then 4th gets the spot instead. Also, Carlsen will probably decline the spot, if he wins one, which also would open up spot #4. Below 4 cannot get a candidates spot via this tourney.
Vasyl Ivanchuk (aka Chuckie) who will be playing Mangus Carlsen in Round 5 is the oldest player left. He was born in 1969, so is a few months older than me.
He has been ranked as high as #2 in the world 3 different times: July 1991, July 1992, and October 2007. He is Ukrainian.
More rubbing our noses in it. Garland appoints Weiss as special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden. This is the Delaware prosecutor who orchestrated the failed sweetheart deal.
https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1690036765996855309
And the Bee is ON IT.
https://babylonbee.com/news/garland-appoints-special-counsel-to-cover-up-bidens-crimes
Yup. Expecting a whole McDonald’s load of Nothing Burgers out of Weiss.
Strategically, this was a smart move for the Dems. Corrupt AF, but still smart. Weiss can drag things out until after the election (when of course he announces he found nothing), and in the mean time stonewall the Repubs because somehow nobody is allowed to talk about anything that’s “currently under investigation.”
^THIS^
Sounds like he’s queued up to take the Durham approach, alright.
OFFS!
Speaking of (eventually) getting the message
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin (D) says he is “thinking seriously” about leaving the Democratic Party and declaring himself an independent before the 2024 election, when he will have to decide whether to run for a fourth Senate term or wage a third-party bid for president.
Manchin, who earlier this year described himself as an independent Democrat, told West Virginia radio host Hoppy Kercheval on Thursday that the Democratic brand has “become so bad.”
“I’m thinking seriously. For me, I have to have peace of mind, basically. The brand has become so bad — the D brand and R brand. In West Virginia, the D brand because it’s [the] national brand. It’s not the Democrats in West Virginia, it’s the Democrats in Washington.
Had enough of getting motherfucked by your own party for being a traitorous sellout and stooge of Big Coal, Joe?
Love the Thin Lizzy. That double-lead guitar sound Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson had going in the mid-70s on The Emerald was great.
Southbound, Soldier of Fortune, and Wild One and some my other favorites.
Elections are spicy in Execute-ador.
Estefany Puente, a candidate for deputy in the National Assembly of Ecuador, was the victim of a shooting on Thursday, 10, in the city of Quevedo. A bullet struck Estefany’s left arm.
The attack came one day after the country’s presidential candidate, Fernando Villavicencio, was shot dead.
Puente’s car was targeted by two unidentified men. The candidate, her father and a campaign worker were in the car.
Images are circulating on social media of a car with its windshield shattered by gunfire and broken glass.
And, as if on cue, Pandora serves up John Prine’s ode to Big Coal
Garland appoints Weiss as special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden.
They’ve got him now!
The same guy who tried to get a sweetheart plea deal for Hunter. They aren’t even pretending here.
Nope. They don’t care how bad this looks. The whole mission of the DOJ right now is to go after Trump and protect Biden.
Manchin says he will decide at the end of the year whether to run for a fourth Senate term or run for president as a third-party candidate backed by No Labels, a bipartisan centrist group that plans to raise $70 million to put an independent, third-party candidate on the presidential ballot next year.
The guys who have explicitly said they will under no circumstances do anything to hurt Biden’s chances. Sure, Joe.
Good stuff, ron. Lots to ponder.
Epictetus and the Art of Persuasion. Persuasion is something I fail at all the time, even over simple things.
I’m convinced.
But not persuaded. Ha!
Arglebargle Bazz Fazz!
Yes, red dots are objectively better than iron sights. I get that. And I understand that iron sight divisions are becoming so eclipsed by the optic divisions that all of them have to be combined to fill up one Nationals match.
But why would you add the new Limited Optics division to Iron sight Nationals? That’s just being hateful.
What, pray tell, is “Limited Optics” Either there is an optic or there isn’t.
You have to poke out one eye.
Fun fact, there is a non-negligible fraction of dot shooters that put an occluder on their red dot to make it impossible to see through. This forces them to target-focus.
I have no idea why people do this. It doesn’t help target focus in the slightest bit.
Even USPSA shooters aren’t immune to cargo cultism, I guess…
Everyone knows that you must supplicate to the machine god, individually bless each cartridge as you load them into the magazines, and apply the proper sacred machine oils with the correct chant.
It’s just logic.
/Techpriest
A Limited gun (single action, doublestack, magwell, magazine length limited to 141.25mm) with an optic on it.
Basically for people who have 2011s with red dots.
Th USPSA divisions:
Production – Iron sight, DA or striker fired, no magwell, gun with magazine must fit inside a specified box (and the lid has to close!)
Carry Optics – production gun with a slide mounted red dot (the red dot means it won’t fit in the box, so instead the magazine length is limited to 141.25mm)
Single Stack – 1911s
Revolver – wheelguns
Limited – Iron sights, no compensator, other than that it’s all good
Open – No automatic/burst fire. Magazine length limited to 171.25mm
I see.
69.37% of activity was in the optic divisions last year.
Lost
When in-person school resumed after pandemic closures, Rousmery Negrón and her 11-year-old son both noticed a change: School seemed less welcoming.
Parents were no longer allowed in the building without appointments, she said, and punishments were more severe. Everyone seemed less tolerant, more angry. Negrón’s son told her he overheard a teacher mocking his learning disabilities, calling him an ugly name
Her son didn’t want to go to school anymore. And she didn’t feel he was safe there.
He would end up missing more than five months of sixth grade.
Across the country, students have been absent at record rates since schools reopened during the pandemic. More than a quarter of students missed at least 10% of the 2021-22 school year, making them chronically absent, according to the most recent data available. Before the pandemic, only 15% of students missed that much school.
All told, an estimated 6.5 million additional students became chronically absent, according to the data, which was compiled by Stanford University education professor Thomas Dee in partnership with The Associated Press. Taken together, the data from 40 states and Washington, D.C., provides the most comprehensive accounting of absenteeism nationwide. Absences were more prevalent among Latino, Black and low-income students, according to Dee’s analysis.
The absences come on top of time students missed during school closures and pandemic disruptions. They cost crucial classroom time as schools work to recover from massive learning setbacks.
Schools need more money.
Teachers resent getting their asses dragged back into school.
Teachers resent children.
“This job would be great if not for the students.”
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2023-08-10/China-installs-core-module-of-world-s-first-commercial-small-nuclear-reactor-1m9nIsfr77q/index.html
A small nuclear reactor made in a factory. Sounds like the Chinese have solved the “climate crisis”.
Oh great. In addition to coated in toxic chemicals and made by slave labor, our cheap crpa is going to be radioactive too.
Hopefully when they do the demo, someone remembers to hide the extension cord in the bushes.
The old wind and solar power trick.
At $2B per gigawatt versus $12B in the US, most of which probably goes to attorneys and environmental groups.
Using math to explain why their economy will grow while ours shrinks.
I see Garland appointed Weiss as Special Counsel to investigate Hunter Biden. What a joke.
“Hey American public, how’s my ass taste?”
-Merrick Garland (paraphrased)
I will say, to me this means people were getting too close to the truth. You don’t pull a move like this if you think anything the Repubs find can be covered up by the press and memory holed by the election.
You Can’t Handle the Truth!
Perhaps this needs to be reintroduced and passed.
Funny, I was just expressing the same sentiment over on another site.
Or this?
Some lawyer-type needs to confirm this:
https://twitter.com/bhweingarten/status/1690049829878013964
fuck you, that’s how
Precisely.
Here’s the thing…this shit doesn’t make sense unless they are quietly laughing and desiring to rub our noses in it. This is hardly the only clown they have to sweep this under the rug, but by picking someone the other side already knows is a fraud you are stoking the fires.
I think it would protect him from testifying in from of Congress, right? But they do know the Repubs are toothless, because while they can impeach, the Senate will never convict, and the DOJ will ignore them as well.
Slouching towards civil war.
Which now I believe, is the point.
I stoically know that I am First. What what!
Did you just say “what what“?
I was expecting this, but yours was a solid selection as well.
You pushed me into an Archer rabbit hole. I thank you, kind sir.
De nada. Final season starts up near the end of the month.
Which one of you guys is the Bee spy?!?!?
Democrats Say It’ll Take A Lot More Than Eyewitness Testimony, Bank Records, Audio, Video, Complete Confessions For Them To Believe Biden Did Anything Wrong
It’s almost what the corporate press would write about her.
Equal opportunity satirists…
Man discovers that non-Tesla charging sucks and that an EV with the aerodynamics of a brick sucks for long trips.
Man forced to ditch Ford EV truck during family road trip to Chicago: ‘biggest scam of modern times’
OTH, there are far too many EV only YouTubers who regularly drive across the US in more efficient EVs, both Tesla and non-Tesla. Non Tesla requires a bit of planning as the marketing does not match the reality.
Sucker.
Taibbi on the 5th Circuit argument on Missouri v. Biden (judges Edith Brown Clement and Don Willett on the panel)…
Bigger trainwreck than East Palestine.
Did he recently visit the White House?
Billionaire Laurence Escalante pleads guilty to drug possession after flying into Melbourne on his $70million private jet
I’m actually impressed they with this thorough with VIP entry into the country.
A sudden pop up storm, serious rain but only the first gust of wind. Haven’t seen one like this all summer. Thunder/lightening/rain pouring down. Good to see after the summer with no rain.
Starting to get a little lighter already.
We were supposed to be getting some rain late today but it seems Lake Michigan has made it disappear for now. After a very dry early summer we’ve been back to normal rainfall amount overall I would say.
The weather report for this evening keeps shifting between no rain and thunderstorms. The joys of living by the lakes.
Man mistakenly beat down by cops in Applebees with ‘baby in his arms’ as real hit-and-run culprits hid in bathroom
If he’s not under arrest what was he resisting? The detainment? Naturally, the thing is going to turn into a racial mess that these things always do.
Why do you want me angry on Friday? I didn’t need to read that. I enacted my labor and became furious. I hate those cops even more than the lesbian Conan O’Brien who arrested the autistic girl.
I read another article. There appears to be some semantic distinction in Wisconsin about being detained and arrested. Here in NJ that would have been an arrest.
At that point you either shut up and get arrested and go to jail or choose to answer questions with the associated risks. You don’t have to be mirandized to be arrested.
Tilda Swinton.
It’s become like gang etiquette. Offense taken devolves into violence.
“When I hear someone say they are speaking ‘my truth’, to me that sounds like they have pulled a George Costanza…”
C’mon man, we choose (my) truth over facts.
Oh shit, articles of impeachment just dropped for Biden. Quite a Friday we’re having.
Dropped is right. Dropped into the trash can. Wake me up if they even make it to the Senate.
“We need to be better than them and respect the solemnity of the impeachment process.”
-Republican Controlled Opposition Losers
not showing on google news yet.
any links?
https://www.wfla.com/news/politics/florida-republican-files-articles-of-impeachment-against-president-joe-biden/
Is this just a “rogue” congressman doing it on his own?
That’s what it reads to me. No guarantee it makes it to the floor.
I need somebody my DC plugged in to see if this is anything more than grandstanding by one or a few members.
*yawn*
I’d love to know if any of the sell side analysts on Wall St called them on that when they made it. Almost 1/3 of the US was going to get a booster shot.
Covid Vaccine Revenues Are Caving. New Boosters May Not Help.
They need to focus on the Adderall and Vyvanse supply.
The stimulants ration has been increased to 20g.
20g?!?!? *faints ded*
20,000 mg?