Part I Part II Part III Part IV Part V Part VI Part VII Part VIII Part IX Part X Part XI Part XII Part XIII Part XIV
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 is 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 italicized in bold, my replies are in normal text.
Of Freedom Part XV
155For it was never his wont to seek to appear to do anything in behalf of the Universe,[41] but he bore in mind that everything which has come into being has its source there, and is done on behalf of that Country, and is entrusted to us by Him who governs it. Therefore, see what he himself says and writes: “For this reason,” he says, “you are permitted, O Diogenes, to converse as you please with the king of the Persians and with Archidamus, the king of the Lacedaemonians.” Was it, indeed, because he was born of free parents? No doubt it was because they were all the children of slaves that the Athenians, and Lacedaemonians, and Corinthians were unable to converse with these monarchs as they pleased, but were afraid of them and paid court to them! Why, then, someone asks, are you permitted? “Because I do not regard my paltry body as my own; because I need nothing; because the law, and nothing else, is everything to me.” This it was which allowed him to be a free man.
If I can divorce myself from all attachments, yes I will be truly free, but I don’t think I could be happy. I enjoy my life with my wife. I also like my house and the freedom to work on my truck and old tractor as a hobby and not a necessity. Because of this, I will never be truly free, but I do my best to not be too attached and know fortune is fickle and it could all be taken away tomorrow, no matter what I do.
And that you may not think I am showing you an example of a man who was solitary, and had neither wife, nor children, nor country, nor friends, nor kinsmen, who might have bent him and diverted him from his purpose, take Socrates and observe a man who had a wife and little children, but regarded them as not his own, who had a country, as far as it was his duty, and in the way in which it was his duty, and friends, and kinsmen, one and all subject to the law and to obedience to the law. 160That is why, when it was his duty to serve as a soldier, he was the first to leave home, and ran the risks of battle most ungrudgingly; and when he was sent by the Tyrants to fetch Leon,[42] because he regarded it as disgraceful, he never deliberated about the matter at all, although he knew that he would have to die, if it so chanced. And what difference did it make to him? For there was something else that he wished to preserve; not his paltry flesh, but the man of honour, the man of reverence, that he was. These are things which are not to be entrusted to another, not to be made subject. Later on, when he had to speak in defense of his life, he did not behave as one who had children, or a wife, did he? Nay, but as one who was alone in the world. Yes, and when he had to drink the poison, how does he act? When he might have saved his life, and when Crito said to him, “Leave the prison for the sake of your children,” what is his reply? Did he think it a bit of good luck? Impossible! No, he regards what is fitting, and as for other considerations, he does not so much as look at or consider them. For he did not care, he says, to save his paltry body, but only that which is increased and preserved by right conduct, and is diminished and destroyed by evil conduct.[43] Socrates does not save his life with dishonour, the man who refused to put the vote when the Athenians demanded it of him,[44] the man who despised the Tyrants, the man who held such noble discourse about virtue and moral excellence; 165this man it is impossible to save by dishonour, but he is saved by death,[45] and not by flight. Yes, and the good actor, too, is saved when he stops at the right time, rather than the one who acts out of season. What, then, will the children do? “If I had gone to Thessaly, you would have looked after them; but when I have gone down to the house of Hades, will there be no one to look after them?”[46] See how he calls death soft names,[47] and jests at it. But if it had been you or I, we should forthwith have fallen into the philosophic vein, and said, “One ought to repay evil-doers in kind,” and added, “If I save my life I shall be useful to many persons, but if I die I shall be useful to no one”; yes, indeed, and if we had had to crawl out through a hole to escape, we should have done so! And how should we have been of use to anybody? For where could we have been of use, if the others still remained in Athens?[48] Or if we were useful to men by living, should we not have done much more good to men by dying when we ought, and as we ought? And now that Socrates is dead the memory of him is no less useful to men, nay, is perhaps even more useful, than what he did or said while he still lived.
Socrates was an impressive person. After being sentences to death, his friends offered him a chance to escape, but he refused and drank the hemlock willingly, so we know life was no great thing to him. I am pretty sure I would escape if possible. Having the character to do as he did might not make sense to us in modern times, and it seems that even back then it was noteworthy. If I am in such an impossible situation, I think I have the strength to stand as a man and not collapse and beg. The question rises in more mundane settings, what am I willing to lose for the sake of my comfort? As long as I can not say everything, I will never be truly free and I have to be OK with that fact.
I am flying to Minnesota Friday and y wife and I are planning on relaxing and driving around.Is there anything happening on Saturday for Honey Harvest?
What time should I show up on Sunday?
Anything I should know?
Hope to see a bunch of you there.
I am flying to Minnesota Friday and y wife and I are planning on relaxing and driving around.Is there anything happening on Saturday for Honey Harvest?
Last year I joined MikeS and CPRM at some breweries. I have MikeS’s phone number. I’ll let him know you’re in town on Saturday.
Careful with those two, we had a ball when I was there, hangover in your future I see
Tell him I said he’s gay.
I know you are but what am I?
New you can use for Honey Harvesters.
Ron – if you have lots of cash you don’t know what to do with here is keyboard for you to consider.
A Californian company wants to sell you an outrageously expensive $8,000 keyboard supposedly inspired by a Roman philosopher, but did the Stoics really go in for conspicuous consumption?
The prices on these things has gone way up, BUT, if Ron has cash he can get a 1992 Ramcharger SUV for under $8K.
https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/listing/1992-dodge-ramcharger-grand-rapids-mi-2871419
I was shocked to see those creeping up to 30K for great examples now. I always wanted one. And I know Ron is a fellow Mopar man.
The potluck starts at noon.
Only believe half of what Jimbo tells you. Which half is up to you to decide.
It is supposed to be cool and rainy.
Believe nothing Jimbo tells you, especially if Nick backs it up. Those two are troublemakers.
Also, don’t trust me.
There have been a lot of arguments of late about labels and taxonomy when applied to other humans.
The thing is, labels and categories are how the human brain sees the world. It is a pattern recognition machine. It is optimized for seeing patterns and categorizing things that align with the pattern. Individual reanalysis is energeny intensive and most of the time wasteful since the individual will never be encountered again. So the brain does what it does best – find pattern, apply expectations based upon pattern, react accordingly.
Arguing against the use of labels and taxonomy as applied to other humans in large groups is ignoring this basic element of our construction.
The problem, of course, is that every human is distinctly different as are their views of the world. If you are trying to be specific it is best to avoid labels that are too broad and when it comes to politics the meanings of the labels are either amorphous or ever changing.
every human is distinctly different as are their views of the world
Yes and no. Yes, each person is unique and distinct. No, that doesn’t mean they’re in a bucket of one when it comes to social issues.
It’s good to not presume things about another person’s beliefs based on unrelated info. Don’t judge a book by its cover and all. However, I don’t think you have to sit there making zero inferences until the person says it out loud. It’s not crazy to think that those cheering on political assassinations would cheer on your assassination, for example.
Claiming that the sweet old hippie lady baking hempseed cookies secretly wants to murder you because some SJP tiktoker does is on the meaner side of dumb. Even if they’re both on the same wing as the anti-whalers and the Soviets.
That’s where Venn diagrams come in.
Oh, and Grandma Belladonna doesn’t want to kill me because of TikTok, she’s not online. She wants to kill me because I don’t sit and listen to her ramble.
Sure, and when the hippie lady froths at the mouth about “republican revenge rhetoric” but doesn’t bother to unfollow or distance herself from Freddy Antifa, that says something about her.
I have no problem saying the groypers don’t represent me and shouldn’t have any influence. Why are so many “nice hippie lady” liberals having such a hard time saying that about their ghoulish comrades?
Wait until you see what that sweet old hippie lady has buried in her back yard. Just sayin’.
For me, “froths at the mouth over politics” is a useful category to put someone in. And I really don’t even care about the specifics about the last word.
“I have no problem saying the groypers don’t represent me”
Can someone direct me to a place were there is real, verifiable information about said group, and not mouth breathing fearmongering?
Otherwise, I am putting this down to yet another 4chan win.
Can someone at least do a rundown of who that term is talking about?
All I know is it is “followers of some right winger called Nick Fuentes who apparently like Pepe The Frog memes”. My impression is the Fuentes is supposedly further right than Kirk was presented as… but no real idea, and my actual impression is the people bringing up “groypers” are as full of shit as the “pedo-cannibal pizza parlor run by Hilldawg” people were.
I have determined that my default categorization of people does not match other people’s*. I have different categories I put people in and I put people in different categories than others would.
Names? Names are something my brain finds completely irrelevant. Which impedes my social interactions since most people (in NY at least) seem to consider knowing their name the cornerstone of a relationship. However, I am freaking brilliant at recognizing authority/influence structures. So in a working situation I do great.
*I have zero guess as to what fraction of the population thinks as I do.
It takes maybe a dozen or so times before I can associate a name with a person.
I’m not sure what I first categorize when I meet people, I didn’t reflect enough on it.
I do not pick up on influence structures autonomously pretty much at all. I’d have to consciously collect that info.
In general, I mentally sort people by culture and subculture. It fits how I’ve managed to navigate most social situations, and works for me.
I find that running the tablet helps immensely since you keep yelling out people’s names.
Nobody at work knows what I’m talking about when I call people Up, On Deck, or In the Hole.
The thing is, labels and categories are how the human brain sees the world. It is a pattern recognition machine.
Particularly when no pattern exists.
That’s what they want you to think!
https://nypost.com/2022/02/10/unsettling-elon-musk-optical-illusion-reveals-how-easily-our-brains-can-be-fooled/
Speaking of patterns the TV is chock full of the Jesus phenomena today. I suppose particularly because of the Kirk vote in congress.
The democrats (<—-label) are really showing thir colors. It is worth remembering that Karl Marx openly celebrated evil and depravity.
That’s an old “illusion” been around for decades, if not longer.
Technowizardry
While every vehicle with electric door handles is legally required to have a manual door release, including the Model Y, the one inside can be impossible for a child to access, let alone know how to use. Obviously, this type of situation can be dangerous when temperatures are high and the vehicle isn’t immediately accessible. Of course, there is another way to manually unlock the electrically powered doors from outside the Model Y. However, it’s reportedly a complicated process that involves opening the hood and applying 12 volts DC to two separate points. NHTSA says the incidents suggest the owners were unaware of the process.
The agency’s preliminary review identified an insufficient voltage as the reason behind the Model Y’s non-working door handles. Although the reported cases led to replacing the EV’s low-voltage battery, there were reportedly no signs beforehand (i.e., dashboard warning lights). That’s among the reasons that the feds are investigating the issue, with the goal of understanding the “scope and severity” of the problem, as well as the “approach used by Tesla to supply power to the door locks and the reliability of the applicable power supplies.”
But it’s so sleek and swoopy!
There is no reason for complicating a door handle.
How many engineers have you met?
It’s cheaper to implement.
Tesla did its usual marketing magic and makes it seem like the future.
Other manufacturers did this before, notably GM on the Corvette. But exotic cars and Corvettes don’t have kids in the backseat.
Or safety people.
BTW my older Model 3 has no manual release on the rear doors at all.
Tesla being cheap. They got so much shit for that the newer models and all the Model Y do have them.
But that doesn’t mean a thing to a kid strapped in a carrier. Mind you with new fangled key fobs, hidden locks and nobody reading a manual you can be breaking a window on other brands if the 12V battery dies with your kid locked in the car.
No physical manual with my ford. Only in the dash entertainment screen.
So I ordered one. Same content and layout. So lots of wasted white space and excessive page count in printed form. And print on demand so regular paper thickness (not onion paper) with a non lie flat binding in paperback size. Inch and half thick shit show.
See on my Acura it came with the fucking illogically indexed paper manuals. One just for infotainment.
The word searchable PDF on my iPad and PC is way easier to use.
When I was in high school, I got the chance to drive at a local car auction. I was in one of these things:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_W8
And could not figure how to get out. We had to get the spare key and open it from the outside.
AAAAH! I can’t stay Stoic! I can’t take work anymore! It’s pointless!!! I can’t even get up and leave, because too many people need me to get pointless things done, which I have no desire to do!!!
I’m sorry, RJ.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RijB8wnJCN0
Sorry RJ
The entirety of my job right now appears to be collecting logs to give to R&D, who then miss every promised deadline and release date with no documentation for the items that are released.
But during the last all hands meeting, the CEO said “We’re an AI company now”. So… I’ve got that going for me.
I should find that article about the Indian AI company that wrote code for clients. Turned out the AI was a bunch of Indians in a room, writing code.
And they probably did better than CoPilot.
An infinite number of monkeys and typewriters ?
AI = All Indian
R.J.
A true mechanical turk.
L.A. man’s unbreakable glass stops thieves targeting local stores
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arc0jjcy7Co
There is an amusing montage of frustrated thieves and failed robberies.
It’s not Superfest.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfest
***
Superfest, also called CV-Glas[1] or Ceverit[2] until 1980, was a brand of drinking glasses in the GDR. Due to being made of chemically strengthened glass, they were notably strong. The Superfest glasses were produced between 1980 and 1990 in what was then state-owned Sachsenglas Schwepnitz.[2]
The GDR regarded the product as a key potential export and gave it priority for development. However, foreign sales were not secured, as potential buyers regarded the idea of long-life glassware as detrimental to their ability to sell replacements.[citation needed] As state employees in a state owned industry, the inventors did not receive significant financial rewards or royalties, but were honoured for their achievements.
***
I’m not kidding when I say, I expect someone to try to ban it because people could hurt themselves trying to smash it.
***
Philadelphia safety glass ban
The Philadelphia City Council has passed a bill that could potentially ban the use of bulletproof glass in certain convenience stores, known as “stop-and-go” shops. This legislation aims to address safety concerns and reduce the presence of these stores in low-income neighborhoods. The bill requires these establishments to meet certain criteria, such as having tables and chairs, and to provide food and beverages for customers. However, the bill has faced opposition from business owners who argue that the ban could lead to increased crime rates and endanger workers. The bill has been amended to address concerns over the removal of physical barriers between employees and customers, but it remains a contentious issue in Philadelphia.
***
https://whyy.org/segments/philadelphia-city-council-approves-stop-go-legislation-remove-bulletproof-glass-stores/
“Legislation brought to you by the Armed Robbers Union Local 311.”
I was in one of these things:
Whoa.
The interior pics don’t do justice as to how many buttons there were. It was like Darth Vader’s bathroom.
AAAAH! I can’t stay Stoic! I can’t take work anymore! It’s pointless!!! I can’t even get up and leave, because too many people need me to get pointless things done, which I have no desire to do!!!
What’s yore dirt doin in Boss’ ditch, boy?
“Waiting for him to box it up himself.”
Is there anything that can’t be blamed on the OMB?
Porsche AG cut its guidance for the year again as it continues to reel from a slow electric-vehicle market, fierce competition from Chinese rivals and President Trump’s tariffs.
https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/porsche-cuts-guidance-delays-launch-of-new-fully-electric-vehicle-models-38439123?st=czgPL8&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Electrification and usage of “insecure” Chinese made semiconductors in many modules basically killed the 718. Too expensive to modify and continue it so they need to start over. Question is if it will be all EV or ICE or HEV.
ECV! Make Steam Power Great Again!
For RJ
I was looking for some mindless entertainment after the footsball game last night, and boy howdy did I find it. I watched Need for Speed. Holy mackerel, what a stupendously retarded movie in every respect. It featured a cute blonde, which was the sole redeeming aspect.
IIRC, there was no (or almost no) CGI for the movie. Though I’ve never seen it, I’m recalling Aaron Paul’s Top Gear interview.
Question is if it will be all EV or ICE or HEV.
Hybrid, of course.
It was supposed to all EV, but I think we may luck out. OTH, for a toy car if they could manage to make lightweight EV with say 250 miles of range and like 2,500 lbs it would be interesting.
This POS was likely what the 718 was going to use until the market changed.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a65958837/audi-concept-c-revealed/
Ugly with a capital UGH.
Nobody has a really good writeup on the experiments with steam powered cars in the 1960s and 70s.
Here is one small-scale experiment.
https://www.motorauthority.com/news/1110802_general-motors-once-commissioned-a-steam-powered-chevrolet-chevelle
https://imgur.com/gallery/PoXbW8I
Best time for stoicism is when you blow up your degasser at 4 in the afternoon.
Ouch.
Anybody hurt?
How much does that thing cost?
Doh!
Spectacular. Looks like nobody was hurt?
My wife’s cousin is a plant manager at metal processing plants. He has plenty of those stories.
Yikes!
Everyone alright?
Everyone is fine. Had a failure on a nitrogen flooding valve that led to the boom. Had it back running by midnight.
Best time for stoicism is when you blow up your degasser at 4 in the afternoon.
Blow it up? Wouldn’t it implode?
It’s small, it’s fierce, it looks back at the grand prix racing cars of the late ’30s
Squinting that hard gives me a raging brain ache.
IIRC, there was no (or almost no) CGI for the movie.
I find that extremely hard to believe. Cars don’t fly or tumble like that.
Subarus: fly? yes; land? no.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32I0Qso4sDg
New handgun released. Designed and built in the US. Innovative, horribly ugly, highly cool and priced accordingly to all of the preceding information.
https://rideout-arsenal.mybigcommerce.com/dragon-first-edition/
Nothing more exciting than revision 1.X ( or even better 0.9x) of a radical handgun. I’m sure there will be no issues…
You’re probably correct. OTOH, the Alien and the FK BRNO both seem to run great.
It looks like it’s missing a big part.
That’s weight reduction!
“No need for breech or barrel, Perfect!”
*I know it has both, it just looks like that’s what was cut out
I am intrigued by the lever delay. I know I’m too lazy to properly maintain a P7 or Alien.
It’s ugly, alright.
+1
“I also like my house…” It’s necessary to smudge lines like these. A house, a nest, a den, is a fairly necessary requirement for one’s life to persist. (The quality naturally varies, of course.) No one can be ‘free’ from oxygen or whatever food you partake in, of whatever quality for whatever reasons. A necessary duty to an ‘external’ force. And Nature don’t play.
The … ‘human’ concept of freedom depends on our relationship with others of our species. I think we pretty much like the Constitution’s take, though I wish “property” weren’t edited out of Life + Liberty. Fucking tricky when other folk don’t have the same conception as ‘we’ do. See also: Fuck. UK and Euroland are fucked. How long will that keg take to erupt? Which side’ll launch a 9/11 or 10/7 attack first? I’m glad I’ve been there several times, and studied a semester in Germany in ’08. I can’t imagine going back.
Apparently the Dutch are too dumb to understand that antifa is just an idea and designated them a terrorist org.
And Hungary.
Did the Hungarians actually complete that designation? I had read the motion was in the pipeline but not that it had passed.
No CGI here.
No excitement, either. Mighty tame. (Or is this you? Well. Go get ’em cowboy.)
Confession:
I am becoming *too* irritated at TOS.
They are everywhere on Twitter (X) being all preachy about just how evil Trump is and how unprecedented it is that Trump would use the government to “silence his critics” (Jimmy Kimmel)
I admit that TOS was very important to me, and like a jilted lover, I am easily brought to anger when they betray my libertarian ideals that I thought we held in common.
So I have been kinda overly active on X, calling out their hypocrisy. Even The Jacket, who despite his jaded hipster persona was usually fairly strictly ideological on the NAP and speech, has been relentlessly posting hyperbolic anti-Trump stuff claiming deep threats to free speech like we have never seen.
The fact that from Obama onwards there have been deep state actors aligned with the left directing a censorship industrial complex has never reached their pages. They proclaim Trump ordered ABC to fire Kimmel, which has never been done before (and wasnt here either) – yet they never mentioned the existential threat to democracy of the soft coup authored by Obama, or any of the other countless transgressions.
Auuugh. Why!?!?!
If you cant trust the flagship libertarian publication to feature, you know, libertarian content…. well!?!?!
OK. Sorry. I know this is old news here. But seeing Billy “DeSantis hit piece” Binion proclaiming his 1st amendment purity pushed me over the edge.
You can’t change them. You must remain Stoic about their fate. It hurts me too. I first learned about libertarianism via Reason magazine in print in the late 1980s. Seeing them fall down is painful. And I know the end is near for them. Soon it will be like they never existed.
One thing you can do is make a choice to to be here, and walk away from TOS. This is where all the fun people from TOS went. Stay, talk, maybe write an article. I bet TOS would not have posted any articles from you (or me). This place is better than they ever were.
Yeah. Worse, I have used that fast recently.
“Most of the real libertarians left years ago. Many are at Glibertarians.com. Chill place that values liberty.”
Directed at TOS luminaries and their leftist supporters over the last few days more than once.
I don’t see them on X, and I haven’t visited the site in probably a year. Sounds like it was for the best. But it is sad, they were a huge influence on me.
Dangit. I just realized I said “The Word.” I gotta go have a drink now. Thankfully I didn’t set off a trend. I can’t get blitzed at my desk.
Look! There’s a book about it!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/148109.Escape_from_Reason
articles are way too anti-Trump and the comments are way too in the bag for Trump.
#stack192 5/5
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
⏱️ 1m 29s
🔥 streak: 2
puzzlist.com/stackdown
Not my best day across the board,,,
#stack192 5/5
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
⏱️ 2m 15s
🔥 streak: 2
puzzlist.com/stackdown
#ows577 🔎 5/5 (00:58)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🔥 streak: 9
onewordsearch.com
Re the gun post.
The algorithm decided – out of the blue – that I needed to know about ELR shooting.
https://youtu.be/ztox9sVlnMw
Why? Don’t know
But they were right. My buddy bought a .50 sniper rifle years ago and we only shot it once. Just no good places to go shoot a mile like there is in the video.
Hitting a target at 2 miles? Dang. That looks impressive. And fun!
I remember Lee Ermey’s weapons show featured a 2 mile .50 shot into a cinder block. Not only was the target invisible at zero magnification. So was the field the target was in.
Some computer aided targeting system got a first shot direct hit. Unreal.
I wanna do that too!