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.
Of personal Adornment Part II
Well, suppose he did not think that I should be another Polemo; he could at least have set my hair right, he could have stripped me of my ornaments, he could have made me stop plucking my hairs; but although he saw me looking like—what shall I say?—he held his peace.” 15As for me, I do not say what it is you look like, but you will say it, when you come to yourself, and will realize what it is and the kind of people those are who act this way.
I don’t think looking good is bad by itself, when looking good becomes the highest priority is when it becomes a problem. I see too many young girls that were probably decent looking running around with plastic surgery faces. I see older ones with the permanent squint. Guys that go to the gym that obviously want you to know they do that. I am not great either, as a 52 year old man, I have hair halfway down my back.I know it’s not important in the bigger picture, but I like it and so does my wife.
If you bring this charge against me some day, what shall I be able to say in my own defence? Yes; but suppose I speak and he not obey. And did Laius obey Apollo?[4] Did he not go away and get drunk and say good-bye to the oracle? What then? Did that keep Apollo from telling him the truth? Whereas I do not know whether you will obey me or not. Apollo knew perfectly well that Laius would not obey, and yet he spoke.—But why did he speak?—And why is he Apollo? And why does he give out oracles? And why has he placed himself in this position,[5] to be a prophet and a fountain of truth, and for the inhabitants of the civilized world to come to him? And why are the words “Know thyself” carved on the front of his temple, although no one pays attention to them?
Good advice is good advice, whether the recipient listens or not. Even when I was convinced I was wasting my breath in a particular circumstance, I still tried to give the best advice possible, maybe he would recall it later, or maybe one of the other young Marines would follow it on their own.
Did Socrates succeed in prevailing upon all his visitors to keep watch over their own characters? No, not one in a thousand. Nevertheless, once he had been assigned this post, as he himself says, by the ordinance of the Deity,[6] he never abandoned it. Nay, what does he say even to his judges? 20“If you acquit me,” he says, “on these conditions, namely, that I no longer engage in my present practices, I will not accept your offer, neither will I give up my practices, but I will go up to young and old, and, in a word, to everyone that I meet, and put to him the same question that I put now, and beyond all others I will especially interrogate you,” he says, “who are my fellow-citizens, inasmuch as you are nearer akin to me.”[7] Are you so inquisitive, O Socrates, and meddlesome? And why do you care what we are about? “Why, what is that you are saying? You are my partner and kinsman, and yet you neglect yourself and provide the State with a bad citizen, and your kin with a bad kinsman, and your neighbours with a bad neighbour.” “Well, who are you?” Here it is a bold thing to say, “I am he who must needs take interest in men.” For no ordinary ox dares to withstand the lion himself;[8] but if the bull comes up and withstands him, say to the bull, if you think fit, “But who are you?” and “What do you care?” Man, in every species nature produces some superior individual, among cattle, dogs, bees, horses. Pray do not say to the superior individual, “Well, then, who are you?” Or if you do, it will get a voice from somewhere and reply to you, “I am the same sort of thing as red in a mantle;[9] do not expect me to resemble the rest, and do not blame my[† 1] nature[10] because it has made me different from the rest.”
Socrates was persecuted by the powers that be for not respecting the official Pantheon of Gods and encouraging the young people to challenge and question the established order. He was guilty of both of these and was unrepentant.
What follows? Am I that kind of person? Impossible. Are you, indeed, the kind of person to listen to the truth? I would that you were!
Not many people have that kind of iron in them lie Socrates had. I try, but I have too many things that I could lose if I was overly honest at work or around my family.
But nevertheless, since somehow or other I have been condemned to wear a grey beard and a rough cloak,[11] and you are coming to me as to a philosopher, I shall not treat you cruelly, nor as though I despaired of you, but I shall say: Young man, whom do you wish to make beautiful? 25First learn who you are, and then, in the light of that knowledge, adorn yourself. You are a human being; that is, a mortal animal gifted with the ability to use impressions rationally. And what is “rationally”? In accordance with nature and perfectly. What element of superiority, then, do you possess? The animal in you? No. Your mortality? No. Your ability to use impressions? No. Your reason is the element of superiority which you possess; adorn and beautify that; but leave your hair to Him who fashioned it as He willed. Come, what other designations apply to you? Are you a man or a woman?—A man.—Very well then, adorn a man, not a woman. Woman is born smooth and dainty by nature, and if she is very hairy she is a prodigy, and is exhibited at Rome among the prodigies. But for a man not to be hairy is the same thing, and if by nature he has no hair he is a prodigy, but if he cuts it out and plucks it out of himself, what shall we make of him? Where shall we exhibit him and what notice shall we post? “I will show you,” we say to the audience, “a man who wishes to be a woman rather than a man.” What a dreadful spectacle! No one but will be amazed at the notice; by Zeus, I fancy that even the men who pluck out their own hairs do what they do without realizing what it means. 30
Although I have long hair, I have never been dainty and the most styling I do with my hair is to tie it into a ponytail for work or working out. I have never understood men trying to appear feminine. It seems like that is the majority of people I see on TV and in commercials. Softness seems to be celebrated, instead of being something to be embarrassed by.
Does sad resignation count as stoicism?
No.
Acceptance of what is, not what you wish it was – probably closer to a stoic.
At least in my understanding of it, stoicism is less about toughing it out, and more about letting go.
You should only be sad because of your own actions.
That seems difficult sometimes.
Sorry to go off topic, but how do I center an image in the block editor? It was hard enough to find how to just get it inside the text, and I’m getting fed up with this thing.
Select it, and there should be some alignment options.
Of course it’s some cryptic sigil that doesn’t even look like it should have anything to do with alignment.
I am hating this thing the more I’m forced to use it
It makes more sense than the “apply duotone filter” icon. At least, I assume it does. I have no idea what a duotone filter is. Maybe it’s triangular.
I’m still amazed at how they managed to make the editor so claustrophobic whilst still hiding everything behind this that or the other submenus and mouse actions. It’s both cramped and empty at the same time.
In keeping with our new status as a Banana Republic, I declare myself Generalissimo of the Northern Wisconsin Autonomous Zone.
In a manner befitting of my Warlord of Bucks County status, I shall have more medals on my uniform than you.
So long as you show fealty to me as the God Emperor of Mankind, you can shower yourselves with whatever lesser titles and as much bling as you desire.
There will be no tribute. We do not fear your minions or their magazines only loaded with 7 rounds.
Can I ask you to wage war on the Shoobies of Delaware County?
https://www.phillymag.com/news/2024/05/30/andree-goldberg-kylie-kelce-teuscher/
Don’t forget the cap dripping with “egg salad” and five gold stars on your collar and a purple sash and bejeweled sword.
creech:
The real cool kids have Meteorite Swords.
(I honestly have no idea why this became a new story, I remember reading about it when he first did it).
I am going to take Duc de Loousiane du Nord before Suthen claims it.
@Sean – you have made two critical errors in judgement. You assume that we would abide by a rule set by the deposed regime for the rabble, and that we would need more than one shot.
Will you make your subjects wear their underwear on the outside – so you can check?
https://youtu.be/ubFgTk7m9f4?si=nuhAX8bLeF-jgSoJ&t=114
Missed the latest Biden foreign policy win with all of our domestic craziness.
Anthony Blinken may need some stoicism advice, Thailand was supposed to be our buddy!
When WWIII breaks out he can run on a platform of “don’t switch horses midstream!”
“No choice, the current one dun drowned like the demented dumbass he is”
Or, not get us actively involved, while doing as much as possible to piss off Russia.
Then he can run on “He kept us out of war”.
The next time someone gets injured on the floating pier declare war on Hamas and Russia!
Someone once said foreign affairs were girl friends (or boy friends) that lived overseas,
@4(20) – Whaddya know! This cover comes to mind.
We did get the NRA v. Vullo result that was correct yesterday.
Guess how the Deseret news reported it?
This is the only time I’ve heard those shit-eating commie zombies referenced in regards to that case.
If they didn’t take the correct side, lefty orgs wouldn’t be able to do business in red states. If Tish can sue the NRA out of existence, Abbot can do the same to Planned Parenthood.
In keeping with our new status as a Banana Republic, I declare myself Generalissimo of the Northern Wisconsin Autonomous Zone.
Just the other day I was imagining Biden addressing the nation in a cartoonishly large diameter Russian general’s hat.
Thank you to whoever did the Stoic banner, the categories and the intro sentence.
Figuring out the new format last night and I completely forgot all of that.
Unhinged rant
“This is a case where if they can do this to me, they can do this to anyone,” Trump said opening his remarks. “These are bad people.”
——-
After Trump’s press conference Friday, Biden campaign spokesman Michael Tyler issued a statement saying, “Trump is consumed by his own thirst for revenge and retribution.”
“America just witnessed a confused, desperate, and defeated Donald Trump ramble about his own personal grievances and lie about the American justice system, leaving anyone watching with one obvious conclusion: This man cannot be president of the United States,” he said.
There were, however, concrete signs that, as Trump predicted, a guilty conviction would further energize his political base.
Get out there and sling every insult and slander you can think of, Joe. Really lean in on that end of democracy stuff.
“This is a case where if they can do this to me, they can do this to anyone,” Trump said opening his remarks. “These are bad people.”
It’s not like this message will resonate with any underprivileged social group that makes up the Dem base.
Trump is an untier , not a uniter. It will be good for the laughs if he gets elected.
Hang every damned one that needs it but remember I’m not paying for a revolution.
There may be some good people on both sides.
Shawn McGuire, a partner at hedge fund Sequoia Capital who in 2016 voted for Hillary Clinton, also announced publicly he is donating $300,000 to Trump’s campaign efforts.
“Back in 2016 I had drunk the media Kook-Aid and was scared out of my mind about Trump,” he posted on X. “As such I donated to Hillary’s campaign and voted for her.”
“Now, in 2024, I believe this is one of the most important elections of my lifetime, and I’m supporting Trump,” he added.
Robber Barons for Trump.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-supporters-call-riots-violent-retribution-after-verdict-2024-05-31/
After Trump became the first U.S. president to be convicted of a crime, his supporters responded with dozens of violent online posts, according to a Reuters review of comments on three Trump-aligned websites: the former president’s own Truth Social platform, Patriots.Win and the Gateway Pundit.
Some called for attacks on jurors, the execution of the judge, Justice Juan Merchan, or outright civil war and armed insurrection.
“Someone in NY with nothing to lose needs to take care of Merchan,” wrote one commentator on Patriots.Win. “Hopefully he gets met with illegals with a machete,” the post said in reference to illegal immigrants.
On Gateway Pundit, one poster suggested shooting liberals after the verdict. “Time to start capping some leftys,” said the post. “This cannot be fixed by voting.”
The Dems get the response they want.
Dozens, literally dozens, of post calling for violence.
And I’m sure none of them could be traced back to a .gov IP address.
Nope. None of them.
Taibbi’s take on Dems and Trump.
I don’t think they will jail him.
I’ve saw a post somewhere that sentencing will be a few days before the convention.
I expect there will be probation with continuing restrictions on what he is allowed to say.
So, they gave Brandon a campaign talking point while handcuffing Trump with the constant threat of jail time.
I don’t see how they can’t prohibit him from leaving New York State, at an absolute minimum. It’s a conviction for multiple felonies, for cryin’ out loud. You can’t let him just roam the country after that.
I’m expecting house arrest and a continuing gag order, possibly with restricted internet access/use (which isn’t unusual for convicted felons). I don’t think they are deranged enough to actually try to jail him.
Now that they have their convictions, I wonder if they aren’t like the dog who caught the car” “Oh, shit. Now what?”. Because their options on sentencing are . . . not good. They may go for a suspended sentence, pending appeal, which is probably their best option. Although it’s nearly unheard of in felony cases, as far as I know.
I’m expecting house arrest and a continuing gag order,
That seems like the most likely scenario to me as well.
Just like the trial, that might work out best for Trump. He can be the martyr and have a continuing progression of Republicans come to visit and then say in public all the things that Trump can’t say.
If Trump wins… oh boy… all of the Ds and RepEs saying for the last four years that certification is just a rubber stamp suddenly gaslighting about how they can overturn the election. All of the insurrections bullshit they did will be handwaved away.
Or a podium version on inaugural day. If he’s in jail and not physically present, then he can’t be inaugurated!
Dozens, literally dozens, of post calling for violence.
And not a broken window or looted shoe store in sight.
What happens between me and my ear hair is a private matter.
But it doesn’t seem like it can be anything else but what it looks like.
Sometimes a cigar is just a smoke.
Speaking of personal adornment, I think this avatar scans better for this format.
“A banana republic, if you can keep it”
Over-ripe bananas are only good for banana bread.
https://bananarepublic.gap.com/?ssiteID=BR
Might as well enjoy it.
Give me Bananatree or give me death!
Speaking of personal adornment, I think this avatar scans better for this format.
You could go with a Betsy Ross pinwheel arrangement, but that might be awfully swastika-adjacent.
The problem is making the bananas visible in a tiny avatar pic.
I’m sure at least one hard right insurrectionist carried a Betsy Ross style flag. Anyone see any hammer and sickle flags at “mostly peaceful” BLM riots?
Ya gotta wonder what Biden is thinking about the precedent this sets for prosecuting former Presidents under state law.
Just another reason for them to refuse to accept a Trump win in November. Although it’s a long road until the last ballot is counted.
That was one of my first thoughts.
“You like this outcome, but what about when TX or FL indicts Biden for something?”
“But that’d be different!”, no doubt.
I doubt Biden’s actually thinking about that. Or anything else much beyond ice cream.
But I’d bet Obama and Clinton are.
Oh I’m really thinking about the fun it’s going to be if Trump wins the Presidency and the Dems take back the House.
Trump wins the Presidency and the Dems take back the House.
“The topic of this week’s impeachment will be …. the color of Trump’s tie. That shade of yellow is a High Crime.”
Also fun:
Neither gets an electoral college majority, and the election goes to the House to decide the winner.
I really really hope that Trump wins, then says something during his victory speech that causes Merchan to toss him in the pokey for contempt.
I’m expecting house arrest and a continuing gag order, possibly with restricted internet access/use (which isn’t unusual for convicted felons). I don’t think they are deranged enough to actually try to jail him.
Maybe they can lock him out of the banking system; it was a “financial” crime, after all.
How long until Biden refuses to debate a convicted felon because “it would diminish the office of president?”
My new laptop arrived. I figured why not take a look at what the latest OS travesty from Microsoft looks like before I blow it away and install Linux.
It wanted to connect to the internet before even letting me poke around.
Fuck that noise. I guess I’ll just install linux now.
Are there any decent laptops that ship with a Linux version installed and no Microsoft anything?
I have no idea.
I knew I could do the install myself so I was looking to balance hardware specs and price.
The one I linked him the other day but they are pricey
My new MS account is Jack Shite, since Win11 insisted I create one.
There are methods for defeating Win11’s insistence on associating the machine with an MS online account, but if you plan on wiping it for Linux anyway, I agree, fuck that noise.
The screen on this is very nice, and the keyboard isn’t as bad as I first feared. (I always have issues with laptop keyboards being a mechanical keyboard fan)
Aaaand… Windows is gone.
Windows is gone
dites au revoir motherfucker
There are a bunch of BS you can through to start Win 11 with no account or connection.
It includes some “cheat code” mid way through the setup.
It’s exactly what you now expect from MSFT.
My cheat code was : Pwr – Esc – F9 – Boot from USB
Available: 1.7T
😀
I forgot how many quality of life settings changes were needed from a new install.
Who are the morons who think 3 pixel disappearing scrollbars are a good idea???
Glib Krautspeakers:
The less-reputable parts of the internet are raging about something happening in Mannheim. I can’t confirm everything, but it seems like:
1. “Far Right” group holds anti-Muslim rally.
2. Somebody stabs leader
3. Cops do nothing.
4. Other rallygoers subdue stabber
5. Police move to arrest stabber-subduers
6. Newly-unsubdued stabber stabs cop.
7. Cops shoot stabber.
Seems like the Cops got what they deserved. Good Stabbing, HTH
Anyone want to bet on who gets the longer sentence – the stabber, or the stabber-subduers?
Well, there’s a chance the stabber is dead.
Sounds…inefficient. Not very German.
According to Bild (national tabloid newspaper), the attack started at 12:31 of the livestream. A “helper” (not clear how the person is related to the speaker Stürzenberger) rushes in and gets stabbed for his trouble. At 12:51, a policeman comes to the aid of the helper and also gets stabbed by the attacker. The attacker gets shot at the 13:01 mark, so half a minute after the attack.
Unsurprisingly, my search skills aren’t good enough to find the recording of the live stream to check for myself.
Not that your google-fu is not up to snuff, its they have scrubbed the video. I swear the cop was in the moment and just grabbed a body..just the wrong body.
That was my impression too, since one of the screengrabs says that Stürzenburger and the attacker were wrestling on the ground, which is the sort of thing that absolutely would happen in such an attack.
It’s already a meme.
Try again.
Ah, that’s the guy that Bild mentioned at the 12:51 mark of the live stream. Supposedly he was stabbed and the cop was trying to assist him, but who knows what really happened since everyone wants to fit it into their own political preconceptions?
Did I have a small aneurysm? A glitch of deejay-voo? I swear I saw bits of this a couple of weeks ago.
(Looks back)… Ah, I guess it was just the last paragraph of the last Stoic and the first paragraph of this one. No harm, another opportunity to dream about Ron’s hair.
I guess I overlapped a bit when I put this together.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/anchor-brewing-sold-chobani-19486437.php
Anchor Brewing has been bought by billionaire behind Chobani. Here are his plans
The billionaire behind the Chobani yogurt brand has acquired Anchor Brewing Co. with plans to modernize and reopen the historic San Francisco brand that closed last year after 127 years in operation.
On Friday, Hamdi Ulukaya, Chobani founder and CEO, announced that his family office had bought all of Anchor’s assets: the iconic steam beer recipes, the 2.1-acre Potrero Hill campus and all the brewing equipment in the De Haro Street warehouses. The price was not disclosed.
Alcoholic yogurt?
you can use yogurt to make sour ales like Berliner Wiesse. I have done this.
Well… you see… yes.
And as kinnath mentions, there are kettle soured beers. These are popular because the breweries don’t need to worry as much about a brewhouse infection as doing a sour mash or ferment.
Yes, please.
I’m curious if they’re going to keep the recipes, modify them, or just start anew. I’m also interested to see if they decide to allow steam beer to be free, or if they want to keep a mark on it (forcing other breweries to make California Commons instead).
“I think everything is operational, but we don’t know,” he said. “It’s like a movie — they pressed stop and left. You see boxes on the conveyors. You see bottles on the fillers. You see tickets written halfway. It’s like time stopped. And literally we are going to go and press start and move those conveyors and start it back up.”
It’s a production line. If you literally walk in and push the start button, you will fuck it up beyond recognition.
R C Dean:
That’s leaving aside the massive cleanup that will need to happen to clear out the abandoned beer/malts/hops/yeast/wort and make sure there’s no infections.
Trump the Outlaw:
https://truthsocial.com/@KarliBonne/112537178225601693
If Trump wins, but he’s in detention, maybe the Dems can 25th Amendment him.
We all know how to work from home now. No big deal.
That’ll be tough, since the 25th Amendment process starts with the Cabinet, which under Trump will be not-Dems. Congress can appoint another body to start the process, though, which would also be hugely entertaining.
He will just pardon himself 1 minute after taking the oath of office
The case of the panty thief cracked!
https://www.phillyburbs.com/story/news/nation/2024/05/31/thong-thief-leticia-martinez-perez-arrested/73923030007/
Almost snatched it!
Paradoxically, I think the best move for Joe Biden right now to win the 2024 election would be to pardon Trump.
It would perplex many, but it would deflate the movement of folks who want to vote Trump now, not because they love Trump, but they hate the brazen corruption of the “democrat” party.