Daily Stoic Week 10

by | Mar 4, 2022 | Advice, LifeSkills, Musings | 184 comments

Last Week

The Daily Stoic

The Practicing Stoic

Meditations

How to Be a Stoic

I really liked this one, H/T mindyourbusiness:

The Stoic Challenge

Disclaimer: I’m not your Supervisor. These are my opinions after reading through these books a few times.

 

March 05

“So, concerning the things we pursue, and for which we vigorously exert ourselves, we owe this consideration—either there is nothing useful in them, or most aren’t useful. Some of them are superfluous, while others aren’t worth that much. But we don’t discern this and see them as free, when they cost us dearly.”
—SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 42.6

Everything has a cost, even if I don’t see it. I can afford my current lifestyle, and mostly enjoy my job, so it feels free. Is what I have justified by the expense? What is really useless, but I spend money or energy on out of habit? I need to look at this harder and be sure that it is worth it.

 

March 06

“In public avoid talking often and excessively about your accomplishments and dangers, for however much you enjoy recounting your dangers, it’s not so pleasant for others to hear about your affairs.”
—EPICTETUS, ENCHIRIDION, 33.14

I have been in combat, but I don’t talk much about it, most Marines who were with me are the same way. We would tell stories to each other, but not to others. I was on a trip with an army vet last week and he has also been through combat. We talked a little about the experience, but not in a detailed way. In contrast, I knew 2 Marines who were very proud of their combat experience and loved to talk about it. One was a Corporal(E-4) in Security Guard School that would tell the young Marines, fresh from Infantry school about how he had to shoot a kid, because the kid had an RPG. When we had Uniform inspections before graduation, this Corporal didn’t even have a Combat Action Ribbon. When I questioned him, he said he was just trying to teach the young Marines that combat was no joke. The next guy was a Staff Sergeant(E-6) while I was a Sergeant(E-5). He told everyone how he had been shot in the head, but his helmet had saved his life and then he led the counter attack. Nobody believed him, because he was useless. One day a Gunny Sgt(E-7) in a new class tore this Staff Sgt a new asshole for being a coward and a liar while they were in the same unit in Iraq. I never heard another word about combat from that Staff Sgt. Don’t be that guy.

 

Mar 07

  “Heraclitus called self-deception an awful disease and eyesight a lying sense.”
—DIOGENES LAERTIUS, LIVES OF THE EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS, 9.7

I try not to trust myself too much. Just because I want it to be true, doesn’t mean it is. Sometimes it is hard to convince myself that I have lied to myself, or that my memories are rose colored.

 

Mar 08

“If a person gave away your body to some passerby, you’d be furious. Yet you hand over your mind to anyone who comes along, so they may abuse you, leaving it disturbed and troubled—have you no shame in that?”
—EPICTETUS, ENCHIRIDION, 28

I have become very circumspect about who I spend time with and who I engage in conversations with. Years ago, this was not the case and I ended up in a few sketchy situations because I had crazy friends. Luckily I never ended up in jail, but there were a few close calls. Sometimes I think younger me was an entirely different person than who I am today, but that’s not true. Younger me was just careless about who he let influence him.

 

Mar 09

“Above all, keep a close watch on this—that you are never so tied to your former acquaintances and friends that you are pulled down to their level. If you don’t, you’ll be ruined. . . . You must choose whether to be loved by these friends and remain the same person, or to become a better person at the cost of those friends . . . if you try to have it both ways you will neither make progress nor keep
what you once had.”
—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 4.2.1; 4–5

“From good people you’ll learn good, but if you mingle with the bad you’ll destroy such soul as you had.”
—MUSONIUS RUFUS, QUOTING THEOGNIS OF MEGARA, LECTURES, 11.53.21–22

This ties in with the previous day’s lesson. If I hadn’t gotten married so young(22) I very easily could have become a drug dealer or some other career with no future. Once I got married, I knew I had to straighten up and take care of my family. I still partied, but now with fellow carpenters that I respected and my wife’s family, not ones who would smoke a joint a lunch time.

 

Mar 10

“We can remove most sins if we have a witness standing by as we are about to go wrong. The soul should have someone it can respect, by whose example it can make its inner sanctum more inviolable. Happy is the person who can improve others, not only when present, but even when in their thoughts!”
—SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 11.9

I use my wife for this purpose. If I am fighting with myself about doing what I am supposed to be doing, I ask myself “If she was here, what would you do?”, usually this gets me to do the right thing. Not always, but I am improving. I like the title of <em>The Practicing Stoic</em> because it serves as a reminder that I do not have it all figured out and am still “practicing” to improve my Stoic skills.

 

Mar 11

“The unrestricted person, who has in hand what they will in all events, is free. But anyone who can be restricted, coerced, or pushed into something against what they will is a slave.”
—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 4.1.128b–129a

Very few people are truly free. I am mostly free, but my job “coerced” me into getting a jab. I will not be coerced into a booster. As I study and practice being a stoic, I have caught myself talking more at work against the COVID regime. I think this is not a coincidence. Whether or not this causes any negative repercussions, we will see, but I am more mentally prepared for that than I was last year.

 

This week the music will commemorate the Glib meetup at Gourmeltz on Feb 25th.

Rat, Fish, and Sheldon, it was nice to see you again.

I did not know this was a complete song.

It came on the TV and we all stopped talking for a bit.

Because they are not a one hit wonder.

Tonio, Tulip, and KK we wish you could have made it, we had a good time and EvilSheldon didn’t chastise me for open carrying my pistol. I will put up another one in May.

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

184 Comments

  1. juris imprudent

    Stoicism meets the IFLA forecast?

    • UnCivilServant

      “What should I not get worked up about this week?”

    • ron73440

      Not sure I follow.

      • juris imprudent

        I’m probably mistaken, I thought these usually recapped this week’s readings, not the week forthcoming.

      • ron73440

        It’s always ran a week ahead, the dates are from The Daily Stoic book.

      • juris imprudent

        Well, show’s how much I was paying attention – don’t know why it stood out to me this time.

      • juris imprudent

        I should say, I’ve enjoyed the content and missed that aspect of the format, until today.

      • ron73440

        Glad to hear it.

  2. Drake

    I hate bragging about accomplishments – which is why I hate job interviews.

    • UnCivilServant

      My brain is stuck on this setting where it regards anything I can do as necessarily being easy, so there’s no point in bragging about it, since I’d just end up embarassing myself by doing so. This almost certainly means I’m leaving things off my resume/the interviews because it’s no big deal.

      • db

        I am familiar with this feeling. I usually feel like if I have done something, it’s not really a big deal–so I try to take on more and more challenging things, and then they in turn become not a big deal.

        This makes receiving and acknowledging praise difficult and awkward for me.

      • db

        Eventually it can weigh you down and you start feeling like you have accomplished nothing. Then the next step is the nagging feeling that you shouldn’t even try certain things that you think are really difficult. It can be a real hindrance.

        But I also find self-promoters severely distasteful.

        I’m interviewing a candidate for a job at 2. We’ll see if they’re a self-promoter or not.

      • juris imprudent

        You there, db, get out of my head!

      • db

        It also makes it very hard for me to genuinely recognize and compliment other people. I try my best to make it otherwise.

      • Nephilium

        Well, obviously if even I can do it, it’s simple.

        /thinks back to working with overseas tier 1 agents

        Ok… maybe it isn’t so simple.

      • DEG

        There are a lot of periods in my career where I thought that a trained monkey could do my job. “What’s wrong with these people that they can’t do what I’m doing, it’s so damn simple!” Well, in some cases, they can, but division of labor is a thing.

    • ron73440

      The ones I did best at were where they asked knowledge based questions.

      For similar reasons as you, I bombed a few.

  3. Tundra

    “If a person gave away your body to some passerby, you’d be furious. Yet you hand over your mind to anyone who comes along, so they may abuse you, leaving it disturbed and troubled—have you no shame in that?”

    Definitely a good one for me right now. I am ashamed of how easily my mind is hijacked by the negative shit.

    Thanks, Ron!

    • Fourscore

      My VN MIL loved pro wrestling, she didn’t speak English but she understood what my little kids called “The Punching Game”. We all need an enemy, real or imagined.

      Politicians are not our friends, they are not there to help us. Somehow we are happy to get a tax refund instead of being pissed that the money was taken from us in the first place.

      I enjoy your efforts, Ron. After many long years of marriage my wife and I tend to ignore one another, those battles are over and life is good.

      • ron73440

        Somehow we are happy to get a tax refund instead of being pissed that the money was taken from us in the first place.

        Reminds me about what Frederick Douglass wrote about slaves really looking forward to and enjoying their annual 2 week holiday break.

        I enjoy your efforts, Ron.

        Thanks

      • mindyourbusiness

        Ron, here’s one for you re the above quote from Epictetus. Per Edward DeBono (I think); “you have the right to question anything as many times as you wish and the duty to question it at least once”.

      • Gender Traitor

        Somehow we are happy to get a tax refund instead of being pissed that the money was taken from us in the first place.

        Income tax withholding is one of the biggest of the many cons pulled on the American populace. It turned taxpayers into unwitting lenders and employers into uncompensated tax collectors, and was sold as a “convenience.”

      • juris imprudent

        LOL, my dad said for years that the surest way to lower taxes was to require them to be paid in full on April 15, without withholding. Ironically it was Gov. Reagan that changed CA from exactly that to the withholding system – to smooth out the state’s finances.

      • Ownbestenemy

        “Made in America Office” Dude is straight-up taking Trumpism and rebranding it.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpYDHZ6z9u8

        They should see how much the FAA spends on companies that are not American.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Well shit.

      • ron73440

        “It’s different when we do it!”

        *Biden’s unofficial campaign slogan*

      • juris imprudent

        Just once I’d like to hear a Democrat say that quiet part out loud.

      • ron73440

        He and Stossel were my gateways from conservatism to libertarianism.

        That being said, withholding is a horrible Idea with many *unforeseen?* consequences.

      • juris imprudent

        Monetary theory as he conceived it is essentially entirely discredited right now. The velocity of money is nowhere near constant.

      • Gender Traitor

        I see they’ve removed the line from the W-4 form about claiming exemption from withholding. As payroll goddess, many is the time I had to prevent some newly-hired teller from a nasty surprise because she mistakenly thought that because she got a refund, that meant that she could write “Exempt” on that line.

    • ron73440

      how easily my mind is hijacked by the negative shit.

      The biggest problem is that there is so much of it and it is EVERYWHERE.

      Thanks, Ron!.

      Glad you enjoy it.

      • Tundra

        It’s amazing, really. To watch how quickly people around me are signing other peoples’ kids up to die is really disheartening.

      • Tundra

        Lol. No way I could be that cool!

  4. PieInTheSky

    “So, concerning the things we pursue, and for which we vigorously exert ourselves, we owe this consideration—either there is nothing useful in them, or most aren’t useful. Some of them are superfluous, while others aren’t worth that much. But we don’t discern this and see them as free, when they cost us dearly.”

    I dunno man sounds like something Putin would say

  5. PieInTheSky

    “From good people you’ll learn good, but if you mingle with the bad you’ll destroy such soul as you had.”

    This is fairly meaningless because what is good and how do you know it? And what is you mingle not with bad but the worst?

    • hayeksplosives

      Jesus mingled with sinners and lifted them up, improved their lives, without compromising His own being.

      Of course, He was not the average Joe. But I do believe there is great merit in us mere mortals hanging out with people of “lessor” morality or character, as long as you are firmly anchored to your principles and have your eyes wide open to the truth. You won’t be unmoored easily and you just might save a life.

      • Mojeaux

        There is a way to do it (as a human and not a god) where you don’t lose yourself, but I was always pretty good about it. The trick is to get yourself separated from those people when either you can’t go forward with them or they are taking too much of you. I look back and all I see is that I think I helped in that moment, but effected no lasting change.

      • LCDR_Fish

        That and also maybe not being by yourself if you have other friends with you – looking out for each other can make the experience safer and more valuable/worthwhile too.

    • ron73440

      This is fairly meaningless because what is good and how do you know it? And what is you mingle not with bad but the worst?

      If you don’t have a view on what is good or evil, this won’t help, because you will get led astray very easily.

      There is no 100% dividing line, somethings are obvious, but the middle is a little more difficult.

      • PieInTheSky

        I have a very strong view. But is it right? It is certainly not the same with all glibs, let alone all people

      • ron73440

        It’s an individual philosophy.

        If you have a strong view and follow it, then you should be preserving your sanity and ability to deal with things you can’t control.

  6. Drake

    The war stories I’ve heard and believed were usually about other people or the stupid shit that happens.

    • ron73440

      This is true, the funniest stories are the best, even if it wasn’t funny at the time.

      • Drake

        Yep. Had an old Sargeant talked about being on patrol in Vietnam. His helmet fell off and rolled down a steep embankment. First Sargeant chewed him out and makes him crawl down the embankment. When he got the helmet, it had a bullet hole that followed the interior of the helmet then exited. On close examination he had a mark around his head too.

        He thought he deserved a Purple Heart. The First Sargeant disagreed.

    • Fatty Bolger

      Yeah, I had an in-law relative who told funny stores about WW2. It was always about them fucking around, driving jeeps too fast, and just the typical hijinks you’d expect from a group of young men. He made it sound like a fun time.

      I found out later that he had earned a Bronze Star with a V for valor. He never once mentioned it, or that he’d seen combat at all.

  7. EvilSheldon

    “…EvilSheldon didn’t chastise me for open carrying my pistol.”

    Apparently this Daily Stoic thing has been rubbing off.

    Good times, let’s do it again!

    • PieInTheSky

      Whose pistol is bigger is the question

      • Bobarian LMD

        I’m only gonna show you enough to win.

      • EvilSheldon

        It’s not the size of the pistol, it’s how fast you can reload it…

      • R C Dean

        *drops mag, fumbles reload*

        I remember this not taking so long.

    • ron73440

      Good times, let’s do it again!

      Definitely.

    • ron73440

      I was talking to my wife about the meetup and told her it was nice to talk to non-crazy people.

      I thought about that and then said “Let me rephrase that: It was nice talking to crazy people, I can’t handle the the normal ones.”

  8. PieInTheSky

    Also this whole wife thing is stramge stoics should be celibate. Or is that cynics?

    • ron73440

      I think that’s the undead you are talking about.

    • Bobarian LMD

      Voluntary vs. involuntary.

  9. Mojeaux

    “Oh, it’s Stoic Friday!” I say to myself when the morning links are about dead.

    either there is nothing useful in them, or most aren’t useful

    “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” isn’t just some worn-out meaningless ohrase. It really does mean something, and having a hobby on whatever level of passion is, in fact, useful.

    Re: freedom

    I think “free will” is a myth bound by our circumstances, personality, and level of intelligence. We have “free will” within the confines of our resources. For instance, how many people independently choose to climb out of intergenerational welfare when thye know no other way of life? I also think that some people, even given the best of circumstances, intelligence, and guidance, can go off the rails because of their personality (e.g., impulsive, need for immediate gratification). “Born that way” does have some truth.

    they are not a one hit wonder.

    The 70s, 80s, and 90s (especially the 90s) were incredibly diverse, but nobody talked about it. It just happened.

    • PieInTheSky

      We have “free will” within the confines of our resources – someone wrote a whole post on that some years back

      • Mojeaux

        Dude, you expect me to mentally index all these posts for future reference?

      • PieInTheSky

        yes.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      We have “free will” within the confines of our resources.

      “can” and “will” are two very different things. I can quit my job today and take up a gypsy lifestyle. I will not.

      Just because the consequences of a certain choice is undesirable doesn’t mean the choice is forced on you. Even at gunpoint, your actions are voluntary. You can always choose to take the bullet.

      • Mojeaux

        That’s not what I’m talking about.

        In short: You cannot choose something you don’t know exists or that can be done.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Hmm, I’m not sure I agree.

        If “know” is defined as “perceives the possibility of it existing” then I’m hesitant to agree. I wholeheartedly believe that a form of the Law is imprinted on every person’s heart. They don’t need to be trained to heed it. In fact, they’re often trained not to heed it. Does that training against the Law mean they no longer have a choice to heed the Law? They’re definitely in a different position than somebody trained to do the right thing, but the ability to choose right (and even the convictions against doing wrong) still exist. I came to faith in one of those situations. I was so deeply inculcated in American Dream worldview that I was confused when I wasn’t getting fulfillment and satisfaction from accomplishing my academic and career goals. Yeah, I had exposure to Christianity before that, but I had rejected the faith in a way that it wasn’t really even in mind. Maybe that’s sufficiently different from the “never heard of solution X” situation, but at least there is a recognition, even then, that something is wrong.

      • PieInTheSky

        Also, dude, gypsy is not the preferred nomenclature.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Sorry, my inclusive dictionary was missing a few pages. I must’ve gotten gypped.

      • ron73440

        They are called sponges now, right?

    • Ownbestenemy

      90s were a bastion of near-perfect harmony for the vast majority of the country.

    • ron73440

      how many people independently choose to climb out of intergenerational welfare when they know no other way of life?

      How many people try and get dragged down by the crab bucket syndrome?

      One of my Marines was from really bad circumstances in Baltimore.

      He was a good kid and tried really hard and probably would have been a very good Marine.

      His “family” came to visit him and convinced him to steal a couple big flat screens from the supply CONEX Box.

      Bam, just like that his life was ruined, he ended up getting kicked out.

      I hate his family, I know in the end he made the choice, but he was only 19 and this was a way to “help his mama”.

      Damn, I got pissed off again writing about it.

      • Mojeaux

        Yes, that too.

        There are many aspects to what I am trying to get across, but in the end there’s far more nuance than just “choose the right”.

      • Mojeaux

        Ron, really, you need to read Tom Wolfe’s A Man in Full.

      • ron73440

        I did after you recommended it the first week of this.

        I kind of enjoyed it.

        He is an amazing writer, the scene in the tow office did such a great job of capturing the rage of being wronged, combined with the callousness of everyone from the truck driver up to the office manager.

        Too much of it was about people I didn’t care about, but it did do a good job describing the core tenents of stoicism.

    • R C Dean

      I also think that some people, even given the best of circumstances, intelligence, and guidance, can go off the rails because of their personality (e.g., impulsive, need for immediate gratification).

      Giving in to an impulse, or immediate gratification, is also a choice. I mean, unless you think we really are deterministic/robotic without free will. The choice to forego the short term for the long term is the sine qua non of free will. The difference between a “good person” and a “bad person” isn’t that the good person is free of impulse and temptation, but rather that he intentionally suppresses these urges to do the right thing, by his lights.

      For instance, how many people independently choose to climb out of intergenerational welfare when thye know no other way of life?

      Ways of life that aren’t based on welfare dependency are all around everyone. There is no shortage of examples, guidance, help, on escaping the trap. Its hard, very hard, I’m sure. But not fighting to get out is a choice. Success isn’t guaranteed, but I suspect if you are willing to what it takes, whatever it takes, your odds of succeeding are very high. “Whatever it takes” will mean leaving your community, your “friends”, and truly striking out on your own. Deciding not to do that is still a choice.

      I mean, unless you think we really are deterministic/robotic, without free will.

      • Mojeaux

        No, I think free will has limitations.

      • R C Dean

        What’s possible to actually do is certainly limited. But I think free will is about what you choose to (try to) do.

        I will not fly by flapping my arms, but I can choose to try. I will not be an NFL lineman, but I can choose to try. I could choose to buy a Bugatti, but I simply don’t have the money. Those are simply not possible for me, but I could still choose to try.

        I could have tried to be a tech billionaire (still could, I suppose). That is theoretically possible, but highly unlikely and difficult. I could still choose to try. I would very likely fail, but failing is not the same as not having the free will to make the choice and the attempt.

        Now, you can’t choose to do something you don’t even know about, true. But I think that’s a limitation on knowledge more than free will.

      • juris imprudent

        I think you might be conflating two things – the bounds of our cognitive capabilities (i.e. the limitations) and the ‘freeness’ of the choices we make within those bounds. Traditionally we were slaves to some form of fate if we were not freely choosing, today the less metaphysical construct is we are slaves to our genes. Not having thought about it a great deal, but if we assume moral agency, then our if our choices aren’t free, then we really aren’t moral agents. And I think we all tend to agree about moral agency here.

  10. Ownbestenemy

    Siemens is apparently the favored company of the Administration.

    • The Other Kevin

      All other companies get the shaft.

      • pistoffnick the refusnik

        Are you saying Siemens is the…dons sunglasses… cream of the crop?

  11. DEG

    “In public avoid talking often and excessively about your accomplishments and dangers, for however much you enjoy recounting your dangers, it’s not so pleasant for others to hear about your affairs.”

    This sounds like a variation on “If you have to say you’re smart, you’re not smart.”

    I have become very circumspect about who I spend time with and who I engage in conversations with. Years ago, this was not the case and I ended up in a few sketchy situations because I had crazy friends. Luckily I never ended up in jail, but there were a few close calls. Sometimes I think younger me was an entirely different person than who I am today, but that’s not true. Younger me was just careless about who he let influence him.

    I never had close calls with jail due to folks I used to have in my circle of friends and acquaintances, but I can think of more than a few of them that I should never have let get close to me. I also was a bit careless about whom I let influence me.

    This week the music will commemorate the Glib meetup at Gourmeltz on Feb 25th.

    Gourmeltz is good.

    • ron73440

      Don’t worry, Twitter has helpfully labelled that as misleading.

      • The Other Kevin

        “We admit we were misleading” is misleading.

        Whycome nobody trust us anymore?

      • db

        Their labeling it as misleading doesn’t just start a conversation of it. It completely shuts down discussion, and the only response they allow is following a link they provide to their approved message on the subject.

        If it’s bad speech, the cure is more speech, not censorship.

  12. ron73440

    Had another “this is why I don’t talk to people” moment just now.

    Female Co-worker asked if I saw The Expanse, and I said yeas, and I would have liked it a lot more if I hadn’t read the books first.

    Her: “How do you have time to read that much?”

    Me: “I read about an hour before I sleep everyday”

    Male co-worker: “That’s crazy, you just blew my mind, what kind of person reads that much?”

    Her: “What all do you read?”

    Me: “Sometimes I read for fun, I also read history and philosophy”

    Then the two of them start getting into how they watch TV and relax and that doesn’t sound relaxing at all.

    Is it just me?

    I know most people on here are well read, but in real life these kind of reactions do not inspire hope.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      I get it to an extent. Sometimes diving into a book on [insert deep topic here] just isn’t going to happen after work. I’ve been bad about that meaning I don’t read anything before bed. However, TV and social media are brain rots. They’re the sugary candy of the entertainment world. A little bit in moderation.

      • EvilSheldon

        Yup.

        It’s amazing how much reading you can get done after you throw away your TV, and leave books piled up near where you sit.

    • kinnath

      It begins in childhood. Bookworms are defective. Most people read only what they are required to read.

      • Tundra

        Definitely. My wife and I are voracious readers – always have been – and our kids are the same.

    • UnCivilServant

      I’ve found that I can’t spend time reading, and consume literature as audiobooks while doing things that take eyes and hands, but not much overall cognition, like driving.

      • The Last American Hero

        Is that what we’re calling it now?

    • Mojeaux

      I go through periods of not reading, when I’d rather do something else with my hands (e.g., cross stitching), in which case I will have a show on I can vaguely pay attention to. The Expanse and other shows I actually like demand I pay attention or I will miss stuff.

      If I want to read it must be quiet, and I don’t get that a lot around here when I’m not working.

      I know people who don’t read, but they do other stuff.

    • Trigger Hippie

      It’s not just you. I read hours a day, here and elsewhere. I’m not particularly educated, bright, or well read and have to work to understand the world around me as best I can. What’s scary is how many people like me don’t even try or care.

      • Lackadaisical

        Looking forward to seeing your article you mentioned.

        Less reading, more writing. 😉

      • Trigger Hippie

        It’ll be a complete diaster full of errors, false equivalencies, personal opinions and half fleshed out ideas.

        That’s my best, baby!

      • R C Dean

        Its like you’re perfect for MSNBC.

    • R C Dean

      I rarely read before bed, because I tend to look up and discover that bedtime was an hour (or two) ago.

      Also, I read constantly, all day, at work. My appetite for more reading is not what it used to be. One of the things I look forward to/hope for after I cut back and retire is having the time and energy to read more books.

      • Ownbestenemy

        ^^^ #metoo. I have been gathering books with intent to read…just need to do it.

      • Nephilium

        You can add me to the list, at least that stack of shame is much smaller then the backlog of shame in Steam (and of course, one feeds the other).

      • DEG

        I have several boxes full of unread books.

      • ron73440

        I rarely read before bed, because I tend to look up and discover that bedtime was an hour (or two) ago

        That’s my downfall sometimes.

        Right now I’m reading this.

        It’s hard to put down on time.

    • PieInTheSky

      I always read before bed also to get my eyes off screens and relax. also helps me sleep. I think it was Warty on the old site who recommended the best get to sleep book. Or someone else. I dunno,

      • Gender Traitor

        (Maybe NSFW)

      • PieInTheSky

        who works at 21 50?

      • Not Adahn

        We even work at 25 or 6 to 4

      • Trigger Hippie

        Damn it! Could of done without that earworm.

        *shakes fist at NA*

      • ron73440

        When I got rid of my 18 year old stereo and put a Bose surround sound system in my house, that was one of the first songs I played.

        My first reaction was “That’s more than one horn!”

        My old system was horrible and I didn’t realize it.

      • ron73440

        That looks hilarious, but the author seems a little problematic.

        Adam Mansbach’s novels include The End of the Jews, winner of the California Book Award, and the best-selling Angry Black White Boy, a San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2005. His fiction and essays have appeared in the New York Times Book Review, the Believer, Granta, the Los Angeles Times, and many other publications. He was the 2010-2011 New Voices Professor of Fiction at Rutgers University. His daughter, Vivien, was his inspiration for Go the F*** to Sleep.

        Ricardo Cortes has illustrated books about marijuana (It’s Just a Plant), electricity, the Jamaican bobsled team, Chinese food, and A Secret History of Coffee, Coca & Cola. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Vanity Fair, Entertainment Weekly, New York Magazine, the Village Voice, the San Francisco Chronicle, and on the O’Reilly Factor and CNN. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

      • PieInTheSky

        No

        Principles of Logic by George Hayward Joyce

    • rhywun

      I try to read before bed but I can never get more than two or three pages before it’s lights out.

      All my reading used to be on the train to and from work and during smoke breaks outside work and during lunch at work.

      For two years I have no commute and I vape whenever I feel like it and during lunch I glib.

      • PieInTheSky

        i basically got through a whole book this holiday. 2 4 hour plane trips and 2 2.5 hour train trips.

      • ron73440

        Is the Madrid airport still a circus?

        I went through there on my way to Rota in 2006 and it looked like there was a festival going on inside of it. there was

      • PieInTheSky

        Is the Madrid airport still a circus – yes, and don;t get me started on the Madrid subway. For a place with lots of tourists it is quite tough if you don’t know spanish

      • PieInTheSky

        the signs in the airport make no fucking sense. Also to get to my gate I had to go through a duty free shop but it was the exit to the shop and said no entrance. I walked about looking for another way and then saw many people going in the no entrance, so I did as well and got to my gate

      • ron73440

        They are testing your ability to problem solve.

    • DEG

      Me: “I read about an hour before I sleep everyday”

      Male co-worker: “That’s crazy, you just blew my mind, what kind of person reads that much?”

      Wow.

      • Tres Cool

        Does reading this site count as “reading” ?

      • Trigger Hippie

        I count the links and rabbit holes you all often send me down, so…maybe?

    • Nephilium

      That’s a canning line alright. Bottling lines are a bit different, as are mobile canning lines. And praises to Oskar Blues for coming out with a less expensive can seamer to make crowlers a thing.

    • ron73440

      I can’t open it, but the name says Jericho 941.

      I have a 9mm used police model SA, from Israel, with a star of david engraved in it and a .45 steel DA/SA.

      They are both exceptionally reliable and accurate.

      But they are not as pretty as my stainless 1911.

    • rhywun

      I’m still confused what I’m looking at

      #metoo

      What on earth is going on in the background

    • Mojeaux

      You mean the toenails?

      • Fourscore

        Dude only has 4 toes

    • EvilSheldon

      OMFG, dude, those toenails?

    • db

      I did not need to see that

      • R C Dean

        #meneither.

        But that gun looks cherry. I’d snap that up, myself.

    • Endless Mike

      Shit now Nosferatu has a pistol

      • MikeS

        alol

    • slumbrew

      I didn’t realize Nosferatu was into shooting. And toenail polish?

      • slumbrew

        *tips cap to EM*

        I should have refreshed before posting.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Great job and love the “Ill try to get our of your hair” comment…dude…you have no power…you are fine and other aircraft in the area aren’t worried.

      • Tres Cool

        It always amazed when I rode along with someone (army aviation) how calm the pilots were when bad shit started to happen.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Damn. How does his fit his balls in that Cessna?

      • Ownbestenemy

        Also loved his sigh and talking to himself.

    • db

      Started off at 11,000 ft. altitude is your friend.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Altitude, time and a controller that moves everything out of your way.

      • Tres Cool

        Aviate, navigate, communicate.

      • Tres Cool

        The pilot had mentioned that he’d held a glider rating, so Im guessing that helped him keep his cool.

      • db

        That Continental engine sure failed spectacularly–not just a failed cylinder, but the whole damn block basically broke in half.

        Some of my favorite maneuvers to fly are simulated engine-out landings. I fly with an instructor fairly frequently and we head toward a local untowered airport at 5 or 6 thousand feet and just cut the power and glide in and circle to landing. It’s pretty satisfying. We obviously don’t kill the engine entirely–just pull the throttle all the way back.

    • pistoffnick the refusnik

      Ooof. Planning, Preparation, and Practice (and maybe a Full Airframe Parachute)

      • MikeS

        Full Airframe Parachute

        That was my first thought.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Limit the people of Russia to just the propaganda of their government sounds like a great plan.

      • The Other Kevin

        To quote db: “If it’s bad speech, the cure is more speech, not censorship.” It’s as true today as it was 5 minutes ago.

    • db

      All Cogent-provided ports and IP address space will be reclaimed as of the termination date.”

      That’s pretty devastating. Imagine trying to undo all that at some point in the future–the DNS issues alone seem like they would take ages to correct.

    • Gender Traitor

      Would read, but the &@$!ing ads cover the content and WON’T CLOSE!! (Not your fault, I know.)

    • kinnath

      Can’t access the site from work.

      Summary please.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Key U.S. provider of Internet to Russia is cutting service there, citing ‘unprovoked invasion of Ukraine,’ sources say

      • MikeS

        Key U.S. provider of Internet to Russia is cutting service there, citing ‘unprovoked invasion of Ukraine,’ sources say

        Cogent Communications alerted Russian customers that it would terminate connections by noon Eastern time on Friday, the latest move isolating Russia from the world’s online communities.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Cogent is cutting off their Russian customers.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Hmmm, it’s almost like the Russian persecution narrative being pushed by Putin and Company is true.

      • kinnath

        Thanks everybody

  13. MikeS

    For a while I’ve wondered if Stoicism was what I was looking for and I’ve been wanting to engage more with this series, but other things have had my focus lately. I know little about it and intend to go back to week one and re-read this series.

    Maybe the answer will come to me as I dive in, but if you could pick two books to start with, what would you recommend?

  14. The Late P Brooks

    You have the choice to do things I approve of

    The director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday rebuked Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for recently scolding a group of high school students who were wearing masks to protect against Covid-19, saying that it’s “absolutely their choice” to do so.

    “Those students should have been comfortable wearing a mask,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky said on MSNBC. “It is absolutely their choice.”

    Her comments come one day after the Republican governor told the group of students, who were standing behind the podium where he was set to speak at the University of South Florida: “You do not have to wear those masks, I mean please take them off.”
    “Honestly, it’s not doing anything, we’ve gotta stop with this Covid theater. So, if you want to wear it, fine. But this is ridiculous,” DeSantis had said on Wednesday. Some of the students took off their masks while others left them on.

    STFU you despicable lying homunculus.

    • The Other Kevin

      At this point the writing’s on the wall, and these people are just trying to stay relevant. I haven’t seen Fauci on a screen in a while, he’s probably huddled in a corner shaking from withdrawal.

      • Ownbestenemy

        He is running the YouTube circuit of any live stream that will have him.

      • Nephilium

        Any live stream you say? I’ve got some ideas for that…

      • Sean

        eeeewwwwww

      • Ownbestenemy

        I don’t think he would like ours and jackboots showing up at my house wouldn’t be fun.

      • db

        *starts writing down questions…*

      • Ownbestenemy

        I’d start with AIDS and work forward from there.

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        Why did ACT UP San Francisco hate science?

        https://aep.lib.rochester.edu/node/49111

        This is the opening of the open letter.

        Anthony Fauci, you are a murderer and should not be the guest of honor at any
        event that reflects on the past decade of the AIDS crisis. Your refusal to
        hear the screams of AIDS activists early in the crisis resulted in the deaths
        of thousands of Queers. Your present inaction is causing today’s increase in
        HIV infection outside of the Queer community. We are outraged that Project
        Inform, an organization that supposedly works on behalf of the infected
        community, would insult us by bringing you to our city. You can’t hide the
        fact that you are nothing but a despicable Reagan-era holdover and drug
        company mouthpiece.

        With 270,000 dead from AIDS and millions more infected with HIV, you should
        not be honored at a dinner. You should be put before a firing squad.

  15. Scruffy Nerfherder

    How in the fuckity fuck did this not get more attention when it happened? Particularly in light of recent developments.

    https://www.npr.org/2022/01/28/1076246311/chinas-ambassador-to-the-u-s-warns-of-military-conflict-over-taiwan

    China’s ambassador to the United States issued a warning Thursday: The U.S. could face “military conflict” with China over the future status of Taiwan.

    That may as well be direct from Xi. And apparently this happened.

    https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/exclusive-russia-china-agree-30-year-gas-deal-using-new-pipeline-source-2022-02-04/

    Our foreign policy establishment is fucking clueless. The more I read the worse they become.

  16. The Late P Brooks

    The comments underscored DeSantis’ fierce opposition to pandemic mitigation measures such as masks, vaccine mandates and managed shutdowns.

    Right. And the evidence is there for all to see that those things worked. Deaths and serious illness were astronomically higher in Florida than in other states which carefully observed all Center for Depraved Croakers guidelines.

  17. Gender Traitor

    Local weather report is predicting that the temp will be up to 59 degrees ‘Murcan by 10 a.m. tomorrow and break the 70 degree mark by early afternoon!

    So….. do I go ahead and uncover the futon frame on the back patio and haul the futon itself out of the garage to open Tranquility Base for the season? My excuse is that I think it will be good for my mental health.

    • Mojeaux

      Tuesday here it was 84F.

    • Tres Cool

      I concur that you should do it. As long as the rain holds off, Im using the grill tomorrow.
      However, Im also a SW Ohio realist- dont be shocked if we get snow/ice next week and a ‘polar vortex’ or some shit like that.

    • Nephilium

      Don’t look at the temperature predictions after this weekend then (at least here, we’re back to snow on Monday).

      I’m already planning a trial ride tomorrow morning (10-15 miles) to see how the roads through the parks are. Depending on that, and rain holding off, I’m hoping to get in a longer ride Sunday.

      • Tres Cool

        Jinx.

    • MikeS

      I think it will be good for my mental health.

      I think that answers your question

      • Gender Traitor

        Goodness knows I need all the help I can get in These Trying Times ™.

    • Fourscore

      Don’t be fooled, GT. That’s the weather, look at the climate instead.

      We’re still in Winter, you’ll have freezing weather yet. OTOH, take a cold drink out on warm days, a hot drink….

    • limey

      Very carefully