Thank you for all the kind words about last week’s edition.
I wasn’t planning on writing about my mom, but when I was trying to write this post I couldn’t focus on any other topic.
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 Epicureans and Academics Part II
20So with Epicurus: he cut off everything that characterizes a man, the head of a household, a citizen, and a friend, but he did not succeed in cutting off the desires of human beings; for that he could not do, any more than the easy-going[3] Academics are able to cast away or blind their own sense-perceptions, although they have made every effort to do so.
All of the things Epictetus lists here is vital to being a fulfilled person and not just an empty vessel, constantly looking for the next thing to fill itself. The Academics may not be as obviously empty, because they can twist meanings and hide behind word salads. Some things have been constant throughout history apparently.
Ah, what a misfortune! A man has received from nature measures and standards for discovering the truth, and then does not go on and take the pains to add to these and to work out additional principles to supply the deficiencies, but does exactly the opposite, endeavoring to take away and destroy whatever faculty he does possess for discovering the truth.
It is too easy anymore to not do your own thinking. Which is somewhat counter intuitive, because most Americans have access to the internet all the time now. Somehow this fact has made it more easy to cherry pick which information to be exposed to. When I see “Critical Thinker” in someones bio, I can usually assume they are anything but that.
What do you say, philosopher? What is your opinion of piety and sanctity? “If you wish, I shall prove that it is good.” By all means, prove it, that our citizens may be converted and may honor the Divine and at last cease to be indifferent about the things that are of supreme importance. “Do you, then, possess the proofs?” I do, thank heaven. “Since, then, you are quite satisfied with all this, hear the contrary: The gods do not exist, and even if they do, they pay no attention to men, nor have we any fellowship with them, and hence this piety and sanctity which the multitude talk about is a lie told by impostors and sophists, or, I swear, by legislators to frighten and restrain evildoers.” Well done, philosopher! You have conferred a service upon our citizens, you have recovered our young men who were already inclining to despise things divine.
25“What then? Does not all this satisfy you? Learn now how righteousness is nothing, how reverence is folly, how a father is nothing, how a son is nothing.” Well done, philosopher! Keep at it; persuade the young men, that we may have more who feel and speak as you do. It is from principles like these that our well-governed states have grown great! Principles like these have made Sparta what it was! These are the convictions which Lycurgus wrought into the Spartans by his laws and his system of education, namely that neither is slavery base rather than noble, nor freedom noble rather than base! Those who died at Thermopylae died because of these judgements regarding slavery and freedom! And for what principles but these did the men of Athens give up their city?[4] And then those who talk thus marry and beget children and fulfill the duties of citizens and get themselves appointed priests and prophets! Priests and prophets of whom? Of gods that do not exist! And they themselves consult the Pythian priestess—in order to hear lies and to interpret the oracles to others! Oh what monstrous shamelessness and imposture!
Man, what are you doing?[5] You are confuting your own self every day, and are you unwilling to give up these frigid attempts of yours? When you eat, where do you bring your hand? To your mouth, or to your eye? When you take a bath, into what do you step? When did you ever call the pot a plate, or the ladle a spit? If I were slave to one of these men, even if I had to be soundly flogged by him every day, I would torment him. “Boy, throw a little oil into the bath.” I would have thrown a little fish sauce in, and as I left would pour it down on his head. “What does this mean?” “I had an external impression that could not be distinguished from olive oil; indeed, it was altogether like it. I swear by your fortune.” “Here, give me the gruel.” 30I would have filled a side dish with vinegar and fish sauce and brought it to him. “Did I not ask for the gruel?” “Yes, master; this is gruel.” “Is not this vinegar and fish sauce?” “How so, any more than gruel.” “Take and smell it, take and taste it.” “Well, how do you know, if the senses deceive us?” If I had had three or four fellow-slaves who felt as I did, I would have made him burst with rage and hang himself, or else change his opinion. But as it is, such men are toying with us; they use all the gifts of nature, while in theory doing away with them.
There has been a concerted effort to change definitions. What is a “right” anymore? How can a person have a right to feel safe? Abortion has become “women’s health care”. Gun control has become “gun safety”. Changing your gender has become “gender affirming”. It has been done intentionally, so that in order to argue against them, you first have to spend countless times arguing definitions instead.
Grateful men indeed and reverential: Why, if nothing else, at least they eat bread every day, and yet have the audacity to say, “We do not know if there is a Demeter, or a Kore, or a Pluto”[6]; not to mention that, although they enjoy night and day, the changes of the year and the stars and the sea and the earth and the co-operation of men, they are not moved in the least by any one of these things, but look merely for a chance to belch out their trivial “problem,” and after thus exercising their stomach to go off to the bath. But what they are going to say, or what they are going to talk about, or to whom, and what their hearers are going to get out of these things that they are saying, all this has never given them a moment’s concern. I greatly fear that a noble-spirited young man may hear these statements and be influenced by them, or, having been influenced already, may lose all the germs of the nobility which he possessed; 35that we may be giving an adulterer grounds for brazening out his acts; that some embezzler of public funds may lay hold of a specious plea based upon these theories; that someone who neglects his own parents may gain additional effrontery from them.
The lack of shame any more leads to all of the things Epictetus lists here. People have reasons and excuses for all sorts of reprehensible behavior. Not being able to see beyond themselves makes it easy to do this.
What, then, in your opinion is good or bad, base or noble? This or that? What then? Is there any use in arguing further against any of these persons, or giving them a reason, or listening to one of theirs, or trying to convert them? By Zeus, one might much rather hope to convert a filthy degenerate than men who have become so deaf and blind!
There is a point where debate becomes useless. I can tell a person all the reasons that promiscuity is not a good long term plan, and without being able to refute a single point, they simply tell me that, “It’ll be different for me”. The same can be said for any true believer in anything. It could also be said about me, if someone is arguing against freedom, I think it would be very difficult to change my mind.
We all know that time is undefeated and takes things from everyone. Apparently this is not true for Rob Halford. Judas Priest’s new album came out last month and I liked some of what I heard so I bought it. Their first album came out in 1974 and 50 years later, while he does look like Merlin, he sounds the same.
Pretty sure this is about COVID insanity: Panic Attack
I love the slow double bass in this one, and the plodding tempo is perfect: Trial by Fire
Title track and a real banger: Invincible Shield
Are you sure he’s 72? Serpent and the King
Rob will live forever, he’s Aids-proof,
Not all the songs on this one are great, but there are no bad ones.
It’s still fascinating to me how all this is still applicable today.
I’m more fascinated how much bile and hatred has been thrown towards (their straw man) stoicism by the media over the past 4 years or so.
Can’t be having people learn to think for themselves, now!
That is the last thing the proverbial ‘they’ want.
“The science is settled” is a stop-thinking command.
When “Doing your own research” was used as an insult, I lost some more of the little hope I have.
Or as my mother said to me one time, “I can’t believe you don’t follow the science.”
The science we were debating was PA’s Governor instituting a 10pm curfew with a 2-drink limit before my wife and I went to Gettysburg.
Stoic is also equated with unemotional, which is stereotypically male and therefore evil.
People gonna people.
Carried over from the dead thread-
At this point, the onus falls on Democratic officials and candidates to do something different because they are the ones losing rural voters election after election. They’ll need to acknowledge that a laundry list of policy “solutions” is likely to fall on deaf ears. I’m sympathetic to the policy argument. Democrats are currently providing financial support and federal investments in rural communities that may make a difference. Broadband and bridges matter. Why shouldn’t Biden take credit for this massive influx of cash that could contradict the idea that these communities are “left behind?”
But it is often not enough given the historic underinvestments that plague many rural areas; and Democratic “solutions” have yet to solve the health care crisis, the jobs crisis, the growing number of teacher shortages. Celebrate, sure. Acknowledge the long road ahead, too.
Egbert Egghead is just concern trolling the Democrats. Do better. Spend more. Refine that narrative. Those rural retards want to love you, if you will only clasp them to your bosom and show them how.
The reason bitter clinger, white supremacist mouth breathing morons don’t vote for us is because we’re not doing a good job telling them how much we’ve done for them. We need better messaging.
I’m assuming Trump will win. I’m already practicing bending over. It ain’t gonna be pretty.
Parties are fun when someone else is picking up the tab.
Yeah, I had a few thoughts on that.
I don’t support Trump, although there are things he did, and would do, that I would support – policywise. But he is a lousy human being. I didn’t vote for him in ‘16 or in ‘20, and I won’t vote for him in ‘24. Yet, because I don’t rage against him, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been called a Trumper. I’m left wondering what kind of fucked up human you are to do that, and even more astonished that you can think I should vote against him to gain your acceptance.
I did vote for Trump in 20 instead of whatever idiot was on the libertarian ticket. And I will again this year.
Because Fuck Joe Biden, and I want to shock all my liberal friends when Biden loses.
Excellent.
Lol. More than an hour after the shaking stopped, NYS sent out an EMERGENCY ALERT to let people know there was an EARTQUAKE!
We just got a notice that none of the buildings are damaged and if we want to go home we’ll need supervisor approval and to charge appropriate leave.
Heh.
Someone must have rushed to get that out so quick.
Thanks Ron,
There are many temptations in life. I have fallen for many and they seemed to be enjoyable at the time.
As an ex-smoker and drinker I never had a cigarette or drink that I didn’t want. No one forced me. There are other temptations I succumbed to that I won’t discuss but again no one forced me and at the time they seemed like good ideas.
Some of my older friends also admit that they are probably lucky to be alive today and we enjoy a good laugh and a cup of coffee. OTOH there are some (probably very few) that avoided the temptations and they are gone already. We never know but we still have to plug along, doing what we hope is the right thing. Sometimes it works out in spite of our efforts.
I’m always reminded of the old Bill Cosby bit about health food. The gist was that the people in the steak house looked like they were enjoying themselves, while the people eating health food seemed miserable.
I used to run around when I was younger and am glad I met my wife when I was 19.
One of the worst debate “tactics” evar.
Hey, at least they’re going back to a classic as an instruction manual this time. Although I doubt many of them would recognize Humpty Dumpty from Through the Looking Glass (or even realize that it’s a different book than Alice in Wonderland).
Does it count if I had a copy with both in the same volume?
(I didn’t but I can imagine there’s at least one running around out there)
My old (long loaned and lost) version had both books in them. With different forwards for each book. I have vague memories of trying the chess puzzle in the back of Through the Looking Glass as a child as well.
I don’t think any of the movies had the Humpty Dumpty scene in them, but there have been so many different takes on Alice in Wonderland (and Through the Looking Glass), I’m sure I’m mistaken.
I remember it being in the “recent” live action one.
Why am I now thinking of a story where Alice has usurped the two queens and leads a combined army of playing cards and chessmen to invade Lilliput only to find that in the wake of visitation by giants they’d formed a union with Blefuscu and built egg-firing artillery capable of defeating human-sized adversaries, devastating the initial invasion forces at the beachheads.
(Yes, I am aware that Gulliver’s Travels predated Alice in Wonderland by more than a century.)
Yesterday I was telling my daughter a story from 30 years ago (repeated below) and it made me think of you, and superheroes, and a theoretical superhero universe.
Anyway, the story:
When I was living in Madison, my apartment would build up very heavy static electricity in the winter. My phone range (this was ~1994, so land line) and I went to pick it up. Lightning shot out of my fingers and into the phone (or maybe the other way around?). Three of my fingers were numb for over an hour. The phone died. Permanently. It was, needless to say, the largest static discharge I have experienced.
So my thought was, a superhero universe where the heroes can do things like shoot lightning on command, but they are injured by it. Maybe numb fingers or hand or arm, of even severe burns if they send out a large enough bolt. They are still superheroes, so a lot stronger than killing a phone, but it is painful to use their powers.
s/range/rang/
The closest I came to that particular concept was with induced powers in Lucid Blue. My premise was that if someone naturally possessed primary powers, they would usually have required secondary powers alongside them (though it may not be comfortable to use them), while those who had a specific ability induced would not have those secondary powers with potentially dire consequences (ie the guy who gained the ability to shoot heat rays but ended up cooking himself).
I would think an individual with powers and insufficient secondaries to protect them would avoid the heroics aspect implied in the title superhero, and just try to find a different niche. Though in dire enough circumstances, may resort to using their abilities, albeit in an untrained manner (you tend not to practice throwing thunderbolts when it burns you to do so)
Did you ever watch (or even hear of) the Sci-Fi show Alphas? That was the basic premise of the show, people with special abilities could use them, but there was always a drawback. As an example, one guy has super strength, but it causes heart damage when he uses it. I enjoyed the show quite a bit, even though it got cancelled after the second season, which ended on a cliff hanger.
Sci-Fi also (idiotically in my opinion) tried to link the show into Eureka and Warehouse 13 (thankfully, it’s an ignoreable reference that is easy to miss). Unlike the other two shows, Alphas was much darker and grounded.
I knew about Alphas but never watched it.
Eureka is one I always meant to watch, but never did. I think I caught an episode or 2.
Eureka started out OK, but then went crazy with time travel and the like. I much preferred Warehouse 13, which had the concept of that warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark for all sorts of dangerous artifacts.
I really enjoyed Eureka.
There is a trope of “necessarily implied superpower.” There are occasionally supes without them.
The webserial “Worm” plays with the concept that superpowers are specific applications of a more fundamental underlying power. So did the Alvin Maker series.
https://myheroacademia.fandom.com/wiki/Quirk
Quirks in My Hero Academia works somewhat like that.
The body of a Quirk user has natural adaptations to protect itself from any damage the Quirk might do to them without these natural defenses. For example, someone who can breathe fire does not burn their mouth when using their ability. However, there are instances where a Quirk doesn’t suit the user’s body and the body can’t handle it. Such conditions can be bypassed through the use of support equipment, such as Yuga Aoyama’s belt. Some people simply have a body that is not properly suited for their Quirk, Toya Todoroki for example inherited his mother’s tolerance for freezing cold, rather than his father’s tolerance for high heat, causing him to easily get burned by his own flames. Some people, such as Nine, have a Quirk that is simply too powerful for the human body to handle, causing them to suffer a massive strain on their body, resulting in chronic pain, cellular degeneration, and even a significantly shortened lifespan.
You could use the AI art generator you’ve been fiddling with to create an image for that. Sounds cool.
There is zero chance of the machine producing anything resembling a scene like that
Very true. Although, I was thinking about asking if your art could make a knight with an alligator head. I never even wrote that down, or said it out loud. All the sudden Tubi put this in my suggested films:
https://tubitv.com/movies/100018368/repligator
I love it, I am totally going to post that but… AI needs to get out of my head.
*Tinfoil hat expands and contracts like a living, breathing thing*
As a single character study, I could probably produce something that fit.
Can’t from the office, but that’s within the wheelhouse of the technology as it stands.
😄
Now I have the mental image of Sir Sobek the Crusader, who christianized during Roman times and battles the Saracen occupation of Egypt.
Not VelociPastor
What about the horsey-people?
That was a great part of that story. I can’t remember the spelling – Hoyahooms?
Ummm…. how did you edit a link into my completely non-linked comment?
Maybre it was Neph. It looked to be in your wheelhouse.
I do think it was Mr. Ilium’s error which gave you a velocipastor link.
NA:
Not sure what you mean, but I don’t edit other people’s posts (I have on the other hand edited mine to correct links/typos). And I’m not seeing any links in your comment at 12:42.
UCS/NA:
My tag was not properly closed, but nothing was showing out of sorts on the site when I checked. The tag has been fixed.
I didn’t touch your comment, or see the link until now. I guess it took a while for WordPress/FBI to display it.
I think I see how it happened – normally an unclosed link like that would get closed when it ran into the reply button at the end of the comment, but as we’d hit the nesting limit, the next reply button was on the next comment below it. If I’d responded to the same comment Mr. Ilium had when adding the link, my username link would have terminated it as well, but another commenter might have had their whole comment turned into a velocipastor link.
I saw the link to VelociPastor in NA’s comment. I call shenanigans. Either that or the site has a poltergeist. (A sitegeist?)
@GT – He didn’t edit NA’s comment, he edited his own comment, closing the link there, and thus removing NA’s comment from it.
@UCS, that makes sense. But I still like the idea of a sitegeist to blame for those phenomena we usually attribute to the squirrels.🐿️🐿️🐿️🐿️🐿️
👻
GT:
You really don’t want a ghost in the machine
But every little thing it does is magic!
Now the link is gone again. Spooky.
For those who saw the link, which browser? I’m on FireFox (with NoScript and AdBlockPro on top of other extensions) and didn’t see the link (but can believe it was due to my unclosed tag).
I saw it – Firefox with ad block and noscript, but adblock is off for Glibs, and some scripts are permitted frm glibs and wordpress.
Edge
Chris Christie
@GovChristie
A few moments ago our entire house shook for about 25 seconds or so here in Mendham, NJ. Did we just have an earthquake?
*snorts*
1200 responses with what you’d expect so far… lol.
I’m sure it inspires confidence in both of the voters who supported Christie in the Republican primaries to see who he consults in a possible emergency. 🙄
Thanks for the Kitty song, I didn’t see it ’til the morning.
Your friends are talented and nice
Thank you! She certainly is! Will be seeing her perform in one of her two current duos tonight, and it’s always a treat. (And yes, she virtually always sings “Stoned Kitties.” 😻)
<====
Modest
Mayor Bruce Harrell Thursday unveiled a modest renewal package for a transportation levy succeeding 2015’s Levy to Move Seattle, set to expire at the end of this year. The $1.35 billion proposal would expire in eight years, compared to nine for Move Seattle, increasing the amount of property tax revenues the city would collect on a per-year basis. City officials say the package beats inflation by around 10%, falling well short of a dramatic increase in funding that many transportation advocates argue is the bare minimum that Seattle needs to keep up with basic infrastructure needs in a fast-growing city.
——-
The initial proposal is less prescriptive than the Move Seattle Levy was. The City highlighted a few key projects Thursday that it plans to tackle under a levy renewal, but many of the proposed buckets of funding don’t have specific projects attached to them yet. SDOT officials said this was by design, but that in response to community feedback over the next few weeks they may decide to provide more specific project lists.
They’ll fill in the blanks later. Trust them, that money will be put to good use. And don’t worry; when this one “expires” there will be another one to replace it.
I don’t care who you are or where you live. A billion dollars is a lot of money.
I have $110 Trillion in an envelope in my living room.
These might be Zimbabwe dollars, but it is a reminder that currency is just a lie we tell each other.
Names and videos of the FBI Agents who helped the whole J6 ‘insurrection’ along are coming out.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/oh-man-huge-video-revealed-jan-6-defendant-raises-questions-about-undercover-agents
Trump directed agents of the FBI to attack the Capitol Building as part of his coup attempt? He truly is a grave threat to democracy.
You’ll know just how close this gets when everything gets shut down so there can’t be any more disclosures.
That’s the first time I’ve heard of FBI agents cheering it on. Makes me wonder if the whole thing wasn’t planned, but that it was retconned (aka never let a crisis go to waste).
Makes me wonder if the whole thing wasn’t planned, but that it was retconned
Same way as I view the 2020 election. There was no direct conspiracy, just a bunch of like-minded people seeing opportunities and taking advantage. Then the hive mind kicks in after the fact and focuses on a specific narrative. Later on, lawfare takes off.
That’s my working assumption on the election too. If people honestly, truly believed they were stopping the next Hitler (and they were), then what kind of asshole would they be if they didn’t cheat? No need to coordinate anything and risk a paper trail. Just scare people and they will behave accordingly.
I think the story of COVID was the same. The research they weren’t supposed to be doing got loose, they panicked, mass hysteria ensued, and 10 or 12 factions saw an opportunity and went for it.
I thought the fact that the crowd was thoroughly seeded with feds was old news.
“Trans public defender, 70, opens up about changing gender late in life and reveals how her small town in Washington has accepted her”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13274499/Stephanie-Mueller-transgender-public-defender-seattle.html?ico=related-replace
Lord have mercy…”I’ll be providing my own defense your honor.”
OFFS!
That person doesn’t want to be a woman. That person wants to be a parody of a woman from a bad porn site.
“Comically grotesque” is the description most appropriate here.
Well, maybe, as long as she’s a good lawyer… clicks link… GAH! MY EYES!!
Just curious – in the apparent utter lack of devastation from this morning’s east coast earthquake, has anyone concocted a narrative about how women and minorities were hardest hit?
Did the earth move for you too?
I felt nothing. 😐
Scale matters.
So you didn’t feel the sky tumbling down either?
It was the earth trying to swallow Trump, but Mother Gaia couldn’t even stomach the Bad Orange Man.
Good question. Give it a few days, and somebody will probably come up with something along the lines of how this thankfully mild earthquake still illustrates that women and minorities are most at risk from a stronger one.
Speaking of stoicism.
I find it ridiculous thing that management views being “listened to” as critical if there is zero chance of me being “listened to” and affecting any change. I hate it. I consider exercises like this a big rage inducing timewaster. In the case above it pertains to DEI, but I feel the same any large corporate initiative that’s likely to be controversial. OTH, there are not an insignificant amount of people who, for whatever reason, feel that “expressing their reality” to management regardless of any impact is incredibly important. These people generally work in marketing and HR…
Here’s who challenges DEI efforts within companies, and how to get the workforce on board
You mean like the “totally anonymous workplace surveys” that get sent out. The ones where they follow up with those who haven’t taken them?
Those always crack me up. “We noticed you haven’t filled out your completely anonymous survey…”
How do I know it’s really anonymous?
“Trust us, bro.”
No.
the biggest driver in getting workers on board with diversity goals is education
More like it’s the best way to browbeat them into submission.
BY EDUCATION MEAN…
Struggle session.