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.
What ought we to despise and on what place a high value?
Men find all their difficulties in externals, their perplexities in externals. “What shall I do? How is it to take place? How is it to turn out? I am afraid that this will befall me, or that.” All these are the expressions of men who concern themselves with the things that lie outside the sphere of the moral purpose. For who says, “How am I to avoid giving assent to the false? How am I to refuse to swerve aside from the true?”? If a man is so gifted by nature as to be in great anxiety about these things, I shall remind him, “Why are you in great anxiety? It is under your own control; rest secure. Do not be in a hurry to give your assent before applying the rule of nature.”
This is another way to state the foundation of Stoicism. The only thing I should worry about is what is under my control. Everything I do not control is an external force and worrying or lamenting them is a waste of time and energy. When I control my internal forces properly, nothing can trouble me. If I am consumed with external results, everything will trouble me.
Again, if a man is in great anxiety about desire, for fear lest it become incomplete and miss its mark, 5or about aversion, for fear lest it fall into what it would avoid, I shall first give him a kiss of congratulation, because he has got rid of what the rest of mankind are excited about, and their fears, and has turned his serious thought to his own true business in the realm where he himself is. And after that I shall say to him, “If you do not wish to desire without failing to get, or to avoid without falling into the object of your aversion, desire none of those things which are not your own, and avoid none of those things which are not under your control. If not, you are of necessity bound to fail in achieving your desires, and to fall into what you would avoid.” Where is there any difficulty in that case? What room is there to ask, “How is it to take place?” and “How is it to turn out?” and to say, “I am afraid that this will befall me, or that”?
It is easy to get sucked into worrying about those external forces and lose my mental focus and stability. When I lose my stability I find that I get angry at inanimate objects even though that is one thing I would like to avoid. Yesterday, I changed the oil and rotated the tires on my Saab. I had to do this in the driveway because the truck is getting some work done in the garage. I didn’t plan properly and had to make many trips back and forth to the toolbox and half the time I forgot what I went there for. I was getting irritated at this then I realized I was hungry. My wife made me a grilled cheese sandwich and then I was able to finish the job much more focused and relaxed.
Is not the future outside the sphere of the moral purpose now?—Yes.—And is not the true nature of the good and evil inside the sphere of the moral purpose?—Yes.—Are you permitted, then, to make a natural use of every outcome? No one can prevent you, can he?—No one.—Therefore, say no longer to me, “How is it to take place?”‘ Because, whatever takes place, you will turn it to good purpose, and the outcome will be a blessing for you. 10Or what would Heracles have been had he said “How am I to prevent a great lion from appearing, or a great boar, or savage men?”? And what do you care for that? If a great boar appears, the struggle in which you are to engage will be greater; if evil men appear, you will clear the world of evil men.— But if I die in so doing?—You will die as a good man, bringing to fulfillment a noble action. Why, since you have to die in any event, you must be found doing something or other—farming, or digging, or engaged in commerce, or holding a consulship, or suffering with dyspepsia or dysentery. What is it, then, you wish to be doing when death finds you? I for my part should wish it to be some work that befits a man, something beneficent, that promotes the common welfare, or is noble. But if I cannot be found doing such great things as these, I should like at least to be engaged upon that which is free from hindrance, that which is given me to to do, and that is, correcting myself, as I strive to perfect the faculty which deals with the external impressions, laboring to achieve calm, while yet giving to each of my human relationships its due; and, if I am so fortunate, striving to attain to the third field of study,[1] that which has to do with security in the formation of judgements.
I try to live well and not worry about what the future holds. There are many things that pop up and test my Stoicism, but all of them are self-induced. I do not have an important job, but I do it as well as I can. My relationship with my wife will never change the world, but I try to be a good husband to her. When I do die, I think I can look back at my life and admit I was not perfect as a husband or father but I did them with a good heart to the best of my abilities.
Work has been running me ragged as we try to finish up any ships we did not get inspected before the end of our contract year. When this posts, my wife and I will be driving to Charleston SC to catch one that will only be there Saturday. Should be a good time, we always have fun there and some of the food is amazing.
My wife made me a grilled cheese sandwich
You trained your wife well….
Even left the plastic on the cheese, just the way he likes it.
UCS do you really like the wrapper on the cheese, or is just hard to remove it with your gloves?
That’s not cheese.
I’ve not had plastic wrapped singles in quite some time.
“It is easy to get sucked… my wife made me a grilled cheese sandwich.”
Yes he did.
Living well indeed.
My mental focus and stability is knocked a’kilter when users suddenly decide that the migratio they were four and a half months late on completing was suddenly my emergency.
You want multi-workday processes done by Monday? 🤣
What’s that saying? “Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.”
@chipping pioneer from dedthread
(Sorry for not maintaining 30-minute rule, but if I don’t post this, I’ll forget about it.)
No, I don’t write books for Tom Woods. I’m his book formatter.
Sooo… I must therefore leap to the absurd conclusion that you are Tom Woods, but use a Ghostwriter for the works written under that pen name.
I think you missed a few steps in that proof.
I’m not seeing the flaw in that deduction.
/deliberately obtuse.
Noted. 🙄
It’s just a bit of funnin’ Moj.
If you want to the joke to land, you have to be less obscure. Your comment has no through-line, or at least, I didn’t catch it.
@Chipping Pioneer had said:
which I didn’t really understand, either, but, admittedly unwisely, decided to clarify.
And here we are.
With the emphasis on “bit”.
To clarify. I had none of the deadthread context to work off and was making the conclusion based upon the set of facts in the initial comment here:
A: Moj Does format books for Woods.
B: Moj Does Not write books for Woods.
C: Moj Does write books for herself.
The rational response is “obviously Moj is not Woods, he’s just a client”. The absurd response is “known writer hires ghostwriter for nom de plume”. With the absurdity being the intended joke.
I did not know somebody else had made a similar joke and I apologise.
I’m strangely aroused at the idea of Tom Woods writing erotica literature that I have Firsted to.
I object.
Writing love scenes that take up approximately 5% of a book is not the same as writing erotica. Additionally, I did get a review of one of my books where the reviewer said, “I was promised erotica, and I got some vanilla love scenes.”
Well, I mean, yeah. I write what the story and characters call for.
I must therefore leap to the absurd conclusion that you are Tom Woods
You know Mojeaux appeared on the Tom Woods show?
I missed the joke.
DEG, I’m going to admit something.
I have no idea who Tom Woods is outside of this conversation, nor that he had ‘a show’.
🤨😶
I have no idea who Tom Woods is outside of this conversation, nor that he had ‘a show’.
Are you serious?
He’s been writing, mainly on libertarian topics, for I don’t know how long. I’d say at least 2000 or so. I don’t remember when his show started.
I’m perfectly serious. I’m not plugged in to any kind of media infrastructure. I’ve always told you lot I’m not a libertarian, so I wouldn’t be seeking out content creators within that niche. I had no reason to stumble on to it other than a random chance the never happened.
I’ve always told you lot I’m not a libertarian
I know that, but you have been around us unwashed weirdos for how long? It’s hard to believe that you had never heard us talk about Tom Woods.
He never wrote for reason that I can remember, but I’m certain they had articles that mentioned him. Or we mentioned in the comments.
I will stipulate that is probable that I have seen the name during the over a decade I’ve loitered in proximity to the rest of you, but if there was no reason for it to have stuck, I would not have retained it.
I can understand why you wouldn’t know who Tom Woods is. I don’t know who a lot of people are, either, because I deliberately stay away from things I might find troubling and also, I’m too much in my head with too many other important things never mind my imaginary friends. So, I’m not mad or upset.
HOWEVER.
I AM confused by your logic because damn, dude. You made a joke about something you know NOTHING about, much less all the layers of involvement and breadth of nuance, which is just weird and bizarre.
HOWEVER HOWEVER!!!!
You just solved a characterization problem I was having, so all’s well that ends well! 😁
I think the conclusion to be drawn here is that Mojeaux is in fact ghostwriting Tom Woods’ books, but is under a serious NDA and had to shut this down!
Tom is a libertarian tempered by his faith.
Kind of how I see myself.
Except I dont get hung up on some stuff like Dave smith for instance believes about war.
We haven’t seen you in the same room together but we have heard you.
Unless that’s on YouTube.
And it was when AI was making people with twenty fingers.
When this posts, my wife and I will be driving to Charleston SC to catch one that will only be there Saturday. Should be a good time, we always have fun there and some of the food is amazing.
Excellent! I hope you have a great time.
We had friends and relatives who lived there. It’s a beautiful city, lots of great sights and food. Have fun!
I suspect that the most difficult part of stoicism is first, learning what is and is not under your control, and second, accepting what isn’t.
It seems like a lot of people walk the earth in a state of barely suppressed rage, all over knowing that there are elements of the universe that they can’t bend to their will…
All of those things, and I would add, what things actually matter.
You mean like the entirety of the “empathetic left”?
I don’t know if the issue people have is really that they accept that they can’t control this or that thing. It’s having the emotional maturity to accept the thing itself even is and not letting it impact their mental state.
But I look at most human beings as the equivalent of hairless chimps that wear clothing. Most people are just riding the coattails of the small percentage of the population that rises above that now and throughout human history. Civilization is the product of a series of decisions and outlooks of great minds over a long enough timeline to produce positive results.
Everyone else just benefits from that.
I’ll expand a bit further because I know I’ve already lost the plot as it relates to this comment I’m responding to, but…
In the absence of a system that keeps them in check and tells them exactly how to behave, most people are devoid of anything resembling actual ethics or principles. They have shit ingrained in them from a young age as to what they should or should not do. The why can be regurgitated at a surface level. You don’t kill because it’s bad! Everyone wants to live! Yet the lack of murder is really the result of potential repercussions and societal norms and customs. It’s been made more beneficial for most people not to do the thing than to do the thing in some number of ways.
You can apply this to the big things in society to the little things. If someone is nice and generous, the average person is just going to take advantage of them and look at them like they are a mark unless they know they’ll suffer consequences for said behavior whether that’s the person in question forcing consequences on them or some other third party. This is most apparent when you look at how both modern women and modern men talk about and look at the “nice guy” trope. They have to twist things around and pretend that the nice guy is either nefarious (I mean, I’m sure some are and they’re kindness is purely transactional, but that’s hardly true in all cases) or imply that they’re the broken one who needs to change.
The issue can’t be that we hold other people to a higher standard of behavior and ethics, ya know? The problem isn’t the woman who manipulate and take advantage of the man, but the man himself for being “weak.” it comes from both genders and across the spectrum of views on the modern gender wars from the Andrew Tates to the female Andrew Tates.
People suck. I’m completely black pilled on humanity as a whole and fail to see any real purpose in interpersonal relationships beyond what’s needed to survive and get by in the day to day.
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to bury the bodies where they can’t be found.
Sometimes you want a body to be found for the salutary effect on others…
You put those bodies in cages and on piles when warm and wriggling.
The only thing I should worry about is what is under my control.
Here’s where I part ways with Stoicism. Well not really part ways, just see a weakness, though my perception may be not fully understanding Stoic philosophy/ers. It is very easy to dismiss many things as “out of my control” without thinking – maybe it’s out of my control now, but what can I do to put it under my control, so I can address it/make it better?
I try to live well and not worry about what the future holds.
Similarly here – If I don’t ‘worry’ about what the future holds, I may miss opportunities to make conditions in the now such that the future is better for me and for those around me.
I think all that is still within the realm of Stoicism, but the philosophy makes it very easy to be complacent. Not unique to Stoicism, but it’s something I ‘struggle’ with understanding when thinking about Stoicism.
I also feel like the stress people place on Stoicism is how to control your feelings about what’s not in your control, but there seems to be no followup plan for how to actually deal with the situation and therefore take some measure of more control. In other words, this reading is REactive and in no way active much less PROactive.
Anyway, I don’t THINK that’s the point of Stoicism, but that’s the reading I see most often by followers.
My mom has two things going on that just grind my gears. I know I can’t do anything about them, but I want to TRY. So I sat here and dithered about TRYING to do something, to force some resolution in her favor, or at least acknowledge that what was done was wrong. Well. The moment passed. I’m told Thing #1 can’t be fixed, but I don’t believe that. I believe it WON’T be fixed because reasons. Thing #2 was a) something I know is illegal anyway and b) something that happens to everybody in her community.
On the other hand, I’m generally a REactive person because in my mind, Bizarre X Thing could never happen because it’s bizarre. Except…it does happen and then I don’t know how to not be REactive emotionally, and/or I’m forced to REact to keep more bad stuff from happening. See Cunty Aunt Susie. (Yes, I’m still stewing over that.) (Probably because it hurt personally so much more than I thought it did.) (I had to ask my lawyer if I could sue her for delay of game.)
Anyway. For me, Stoicism is aspirational, like so many other things in my life.
Stoicism is a fully developed philosophy. Something that could be in your control if you changed things within is kind of its own deal where the stoic themself should strive to become the person who can control it.
Stoicism died because its hard and really goes against human nature and other things like religion took the place of philosophy or dominated philosophical discussions over time. Not because stoicism itself is that poorly conceived that such a situation as outlined here was never thought of and addressed.
And it may not go over well with some, but we are not better as a species because stoicism was replaced by religion (specifically Christianity). Far from it.
Nothing against Christians besides the ones who genuinely think they’re good people solely because they’re Christians and believe baby Jesus died for our sins or what have you.
If you think you’re going to be saved simply because you believe in Jesus but you are a general piece of shit and fine with it, well you can just fuck off. And yes I know people of the sort.
One of the reasons I left the church. My neighbor (a member of our church) asked my mom for sexual favors after fixing our furnace.
/former Sundee school teacher
Saved by grace alone but faith without works is dead.
Shitheads tie themselves to every movement.
Many Christians have and enjoy porches.
It seems like a lot of people walk the earth in a state of barely suppressed rage
Rage, or terror? I see people, particularly young women, whose body language indicates an expectation of imminent catastrophe.
Manbearpig may jump out at them at any moment and maul them.
No.
Just manpig. They’d rather meet the bear than a man, remember?
Oh shoot. I forgot.
Manpig is Haram, they like the ‘migrants’. Makes sense.
Rage and terror are incestuous cousins.
See Pakistan.
Input output pairing. Input terror, glands release the hard stuff, output rage.
Why is Haiti such a shithole? Is it because the people are too stoic, or not stoic enough?
Everyday my stoicism is tested.
We’re trying to get our affairs in order for when the inevitable happens, to lessen the burden on those left behind. Every day, it seems, we get mail that includes more forms to fill out. A simple email that explains why we want to move a product to a local bank results in a letter that explains why we need to follow the company rules.
“You need a form”, not included.
“You need this form, complete with the unknown information and notarized, to authorize your agent to access the information already provided.”
“For assistance call 1800 and speak to someone with a strong accent that you can’t understand”
Momma said there would be days like this…
There is now an AI filter for strong accents that makes everyone sound like they are TV Anchorpeople.
I am no student of Stoicism, but it seems to me there is a lot of daylight between the Stoicism of Epictetus and the Stoicism of Marcus Aurelius.
I thought Stoicism was Stoicism, so I googled the difference. Gemini tells me:
I don’t see much daylight between the two, but that’s probably a non-starter anyway.
One of my favorite and most influential books (to me and my writing) is A Man in Full by Tom Wolfe, which only (IIRC) referenced Epictetus. The Stoic theme was Epictetus brand. I even wrote a character of whom was said, “She could give Epictetus lessons.”
Very very good book.
which I didn’t really understand, either, but, admittedly unwisely, decided to clarify.
And here we are.
“Never apologize, never explain.”
-The Boy’s Handbook of Stoicism
When I do die, I think I can look back at my life and admit I was not perfect as a husband or father but I did them with a good heart to the best of my abilities.
Amen.
I didn’t plan properly and had to make many trips back and forth to the toolbox and half the time I forgot what I went there for.
No mid trips to the store? See, the glass is only half empty.
I should explain. In my twisted mind, a half empty glass is optimism (could be worse, could be completely empty) and half full is pessimism (it’s only half full?, what a rip).
I’m terrible with tools. I put them away before the end of the job and then have to go back a couple times to get them out of one of the tool boxes.
You put them away. That’s a good thing.
Agreed.
During a job I try to keep them confined to a single tool mat, on the floor or a table. Afterwards they get put away.
Now introduce your spouse and kids to tools and see how that goes.
My screw up is when I tuck one into my pocket and forget until I get home. Eventually it goes back into the tool bag.
Muricans doing the jobs that Germans can’t
https://americancarsandracing.com/2026/04/17/ford-mustang-gtd-competition-chevy-corvette-zr1xs-nurburgring/
Porsche will soon introduce the 911 GT3+4=7 which will beat it.
It will also be 7x the price and sold at list price ^2 to approximately 150 buyers.
They will also lose money on each one, but the dealers will make out like bandits.
Clarkson is right – cars on the ‘Ring are wretched on the street.
April 17, 1964: The Ford Mustang was formally introduced, with a base price of $2,368.
Google AI
Ford sold 418,812 units during the Mustang’s first year of production, far exceeding the company’s initial forecast of 100,000 units.
First Day: Approximately 22,000 orders were placed on April 17, 1964.
First Three Months: Sales surpassed 100,000 units.
First Year: Over 400,000 units were sold, with specific figures often cited as 417,000 to 418,812.
First 18 Months: More than one million Mustangs were produced
Fucking brilliant car when it came out.
They were everywhere when I was growing up.
Yeah, pony car as a relative cheapo. Much different now.
I bought a ’66 convert in TX for $250 in ’74. Came out of Wisconsin, badly rusted but 2 years and 40K miles later sold it for $600. I loved that car and never had to sit in the back seat.
Oops, hailing like hell right now, about 3/8 inch. Playing a tune on the metal roof.
It’s still pretty common for me to see derelict first gen mistakes.
Not many on the road as daily drivers anymore. They were pretty disposable.
From the ded thred:
Because modern day greenies are environmentalists, and the ONLY cause environmentalists have is the greenhouse effect global warming climate change. They’ve long since cared about the actual environment. Flocks of birds being pulverized by wind turbines or being cooked by those crazy solar things that don’t work? Fuck those birds. They emit CO2 anyways. Untold amounts of land sacrificed to solar panels that leak toxic shit within a decade? Fuck that land. It’s just desert anyways. Whole sectors of land being mined out (using an untold number of earth moving tools that require an untold amount of fossil fuels to operate) in order to make electric cars? Fuck that land. We can’t see it anyways.
The local electric company has spent many millions of dollars turning thousands of acres of prime farmland into future toxic waste dumps (solar electric farms).
I find this appalling.
Solar panels don’t make a lot of noise and they don’t drive up the cost of electricity (at least not in obvious ways to most people) because the sun is free.
veggies must be cheap because the sun is free.
Nuclear is the answer, but good luck getting over people’s feelz.
I think there is real potential with wind and solar power, and I don’t mind trying. HOWEVER, to my mind, it’s still in its infancy (in terms of ROI), so I don’t approve of its widespread implementation and I loathe the government’s push.
I ALSO think that using acres and acres for solar panels is obscene. There are plenty of rooftops you could lease for square footage. (Saw a meme with parking lots with rooves over the parking spaces where the solar panels could be put.)
The acquisition of the materials needed for solar panels and windmills, toxic byproducts, and disposal of such equipment, are, by the tree-huggers’ definition, completely unethical, and I actually agree with that.
Same with EV batteries.
And the complete brainlessness of people just kind of hand-waving the energy demands of data centers versus what normal people need to live, which are just astronomical, is baffling.
a) They don’t understand how electricity works.
b) They think they DO understand how electricity works.
c) They’ve got a competing-disadvantages problem.
d) They won’t listen to the facts of each situation.
e) If they DID listen to the facts, they would dismiss them.
f) Their entire identity is centered around their pet issue and can’t/won’t change them in any case (and to be fair, changing fundamental beliefs you’ve cultured and lived with and defended for years is frightening).
and
g) Nuclear is NEVER an option no matter what because reasons.
Every single one of everybody’s concerns could be resolved with nuclear and also, the data centers could have the energy they want and also, normal people’s energy costs wouldn’t be going through the roof.
Executive summary: The ROI for wind and solar is not scalable (yet) and should be studied and refined in smaller footprints. EV batteries, solar panels, and windmills are vastly more harmful for the environment in several layers than fossil fuels. Nuclear energy is the boogeyman because of that one reactor meltdown that one time somewhere in Pennsylvania even though it will solve all problems and such accidents are rare.
Los Alamos is looking to increase the amount of energy into town. Someone mentioned one of the new compact nuclear units and the conniption screams could be heard for miles. This is the place the bills itself as “The Atomic City.”
With lavish government supplements a solar farm was built nearby; 1MW capacity (when the sun shines) for a mere $25M. Back of the envelope calcs show the ROI as about 350 years.
The other data center concerns expressed against a local proposal were: constant, bothersome humming noise; and water taken from the aquifier to cool the place. On site electrical generation, more soundproofing, and recycling the cooling water might really help.
Porsche will soon introduce the 911 GT3+4=7 which will beat it.
Choptop GT3
The S/C comes with the same 9000-rpm banshee as the standard GT3 and the GT3 Touring, with one kicker. The cabriolet version is only available with a three-pedal setup. According to Porsche, the chassis tuning lines up with that of the GT3 Touring.
The S/C starts at $275,350, with Porsche’s order books open now. Deliveries are expected to begin taking place sometime before this fall.
Just the thing for cruising the Pacific Coast Highway.
A limited edition 3 pedal Porsche – no way! Credit to Porsche for understanding the attraction.
It’s interesting the Italians have just about completely bailed on them. I’m assuming it because your typical flexing Ferrari and Lamborghini influencer can’t drive something with 3 pedals.
As the amount of younger people who can’t drive manual transmissions increases I expect this market to shrink even more. Right now you’ve basically got Honda (Acura), BMW and Jeep and Ford (Bronco + Mustang) and not much else at lower price points.
Since the Fiesta went off the market, I’ve not been able to find anything with a standard transmission that’s A: in good working order and B: at a sane price.
As such I’ve not have anything tp practice on, since I’m not sinking Bronco cash into something I’m liable to damage.
Versa was the last non-sports car on the market in the US with the option of a standard transmission. They killed it after the 2025 model year.
https://automobiles.honda.com/civic-si-sedan
If you want a fun (relatively inexpensive) every day driver this would be my choice. It’s 32k versus $27k according Google AI for a new “compact car” in that classification.
It is neither ultra fast nor ultra stiff. It’s just sporty and fun to drive.
VW still does a manual in the GLI. But even that is creeping up in price.
Practice car for UCS.
I find it suspicious the number of listings they have at exactly $6,488.
After driving stuff with three pedals for over 30 years I’m sick of them.
Heck. I was sick of them twenty years ago.
I don’t understand the love of manual transmissions.
Automatics are stronger and any efficiency loss (it’s not a TH400 anymore) is no longer a factor.
The only glitch on automatics now is the computer controls. Looking at you Ford.
@3door
Driving around a DSG is sublime. Don’t miss a manual at all in a fun car.
Some of us with bigger feet find a 3rd pedal a little hard to operate.
My wife’s ’85 Mazda had 2 little pedals too close together, I had a tough time driving it. It hasn’t been started in 25-30 years.
When I bought my car, the Civic > WRX (base model).
Manuals for fun cars.
Automatics for daily drivers.
When I take my fun cars on trips and get stuck in traffic (construction or otherwise), I’m reminded very quickly why I made the decision to have a daily driver be an automatic.
I don’t understand the love of manual transmissions.
There are only two times when I prefer driving an automatic: 1) stop and go driving in heavy traffic; and 2) towing shit behind the truck.
At all other times, I prefer to be fully in charge of what the car is doing. I want to hear the engine, feel the road, and experience the beauty of a well timed shift.
I can understand why many, if not most, people hate manual transmission. But they’re still wrong. 😉
I put an average of 20,000 a year on the worktruck, manual. Hate it.
I haven’t driven my Blazer for a bit over a year. Manual, hate it. When I get it going again it’s growing an automatic.
A limited edition 3 pedal Porsche – no way! Credit to Porsche for understanding the attraction.
Chris Harris review
Includes conversation with Porsche exec who actually says three pedal cars aren’t gong away any time soon.
I get the whole “shaving tenths off lap times” justification for dual clutch paddle shift cars, but how many dentists and techbros are really shooting for the lap record on their local track condo playground?
Standard transmissions will always have a place in performance cars.
The replacement of cheap, reliable standard transmissions in economy cars with expensive and unreliable CVTs is driven by CAFE. User preferences be damned.
Start/stop, CVTs, overwrought safety solutions, now even mandatory screens in cars. The list of unnecessary equipment is staggering.
Mandatory screens?
Damn thins are a safety hazard.
Knobs and physical switches are vastly superior.
Mandatory backup cameras. For the children.
My F150 is old enough to vote. I don’t want an update.
It’s interesting the Italians have just about completely bailed on them.
I can’t help thinking even the knowitalls at Ferrari might be looking at the discrepancy between manual and paddle shifters in the secondary market (and the growing cottage industry of manual conversions) and having second thoughts about abandoning the three pedal car.
Factory 3 pedal used Ferraris sell for notably more than their 2 pedal versions.
Staying Stoic through a series of difficult discussions on projects. I had many targets set up today.
https://www.glibertarians.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/IMG_4355.jpeg
I switched to the green rubber bands so I can find them before the cat eats them. Find all the spent brass or the range closes!
I don’t understand the love of manual transmissions.
I want to decide what gear I should be in. And it’s not fifth, when I’m going 35mph.
Simply for driver engagement.
Although I live in a very urban environment and I don’t miss it as much as I thought I would.
However, for a weekend fun car I’d have a manual.
I don’t mind the idea of an automatic. A modern automatic transmission can shift faster and more reliably than you or I can (with the possible exception of Schlip and Sloopy.)
But, if I’m driving an automatic then I want to be able to program the shift points.
LOL, I know…
I should have known the autists around here would not like my automatic transmission supremacy stance.
I’ve had one Driver’s Ed simulator and two husbands try to teach me to drive manual, but I never got the knack. 😞
At a certain point in life anything the requires extra work gets a pass. When the muscle memory has forgotten it’s nice to let the engineers figure things out for me.
You can have it all. https://www.jegs.com/i/TCI/890/221200/10002/-1?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=17349023015&gbraid=0AAAAAD6OBRFUq3Xfdig1xxnhug6XEnLsD&gclid=CjwKCAjwtIfPBhAzEiwAv9RTJq8MNoH6rkkguqVrdo8ibWnU3Mq7zvqAXdxWAENhT1bOzbEO0gcj6BoCR9oQAvD_BwE
Just because
That upshift light is killing your engine.
I drive around town in third gear. Or second. In the power band.
I knew who that was before I clicked the link. But I have not seen that particular video before.
Didn’t watch but I assume the RPM that’ll give you good mileage to meet some stupid EPA requirement will also lag your engine. Yeah, don’t do that.