How to Think Like a Roman Emperor
If you have anger issues, this one is a great tool (h/t mindyourbusiness.
Today’s lesson comes from: Musonious Rufus’s Lectures
We don”t know much about Rufus’s life, he was born between 20-30 AD. By the rein of Nero he was a leading Stoic teacher. He was banished twice under different Emperors. His most famous student was Epictetus and like him, Rufus did not write any of his own lessons. The lessons and fragments that remain were written by his students. We do not now when he died, but in 101 AD Pliny mentions him as deceased.
Disclaimer: I’m not your Supervisor. These are my opinions after reading through these books a few times.
That man is born with an inclination towards virtue.[1]
1 All of us, he used to say, are so fashioned by nature that we can live our lives free from error and nobly; not that one can and another cannot, but all. The clearest evidence of this is the fact that lawgivers lay down for all alike what may be done and forbid what may not be done, exempting from punishment no one who disobeys or does wrong, not the young nor the old, not the strong nor the weak, not anyone whomsoever. And yet if the whole notion of virtue were something that came to us from without, and we shared no part of it by birth, just as in activities pertaining to the other arts no one who has not learned the art is expected to be free from error, so in like manner in things pertaining to the conduct of life it would not be reasonable to expect anyone to be free from error who had not learned virtue, seeing that virtue is the only thing that saves us from error in daily living.
I wish this were true, but it seems there is a two-tiered justice system arising. Though it is not codified in writing, in practice it works against good order and minimizes trust in the system. I do agree that if the desire is there, the average person can live a moral life. I have seen many people in the Marines lose a good career because they were unwilling to control their urges.
2 Now in the care of the sick we demand no one but the physician to be free from error, and in handling the lyre no one but the musician, and in managing the helm no one but the pilot, but in the conduct of life it is no longer only the philosopher whom we expect to be free from error, though he alone would seem to be the only one concerned with the study of virtue, but all men alike, including those who have never given any attention to virtue. Clearly, then, there is no explanation for this other than that the human being is born with an inclination toward virtue. And this indeed is strong evidence of the presence of goodness in our nature, that all speak of themselves as having virtue and being good.
Everyone believes their choices are correct. When the choices are obviously wrong, people have an ability to justify them to themselves. In all my occasions to be involved in punishments for Marines that screwed up, it was rare for them to admit they were actually in the wrong. I have a high standard for myself and do not always live up to it, but I am very good at pointing the finger at myself for being an idiot.
3 For take the common man; when asked whether he is stupid or intelligent, not one will confess to being stupid; or again, when asked whether he is just or unjust, not one will say that he is unjust. In the same way, if one asks him whether he is temperate or intemperate, he replies at once that he is temperate; and finally, if one asks whether he is good or bad, he would say that he is good, even though he can name no teacher of virtue or mention any study or practice of virtue he has ever made.
This is true, everyone (including me) thinks they are intelligent and moral. I do have the ability to see things I don’t understand and realize I could have no good ideas for the issue. I think there is a level of stupid that is so profound you are unable to see past your own opinions and are therefore extremely certain of them.
You do not have to study the law to get a basic understanding of right and wrong. Maybe because it seems like it should be intuitive, it is easy for people to twist their wrongs and justify them.
4 Of what, then, is this evidence if not of the existence of an innate inclination of the human soul toward goodness and nobleness, and of the presence of the seeds of virtue in each one of us?[2] Moreover, because it is entirely to our advantage to be good, some of us deceive ourselves into thinking that we are really good, while others of us are ashamed to admit that we are not. Why then pray, when one who has not learned letters or music or gymnastics never claims to have knowledge of these arts nor makes any pretense of knowing them, and is quite unable even to name a teacher to whom he went, why, I say, does everyone profess that he has virtue? It is because none of those other skills is natural to man, and no human being is born with a natural faculty [for them, whereas an inclination toward virtue is inborn in each one of us.][3]
What makes a person “good”? There is a broad understanding of what it means to be good, and most people would claim to be inside of that description. The ones that know they are not good and admit it to themselves are rare.
If a person has never studied morality, how do they know they are good?
The golden rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”, was taught to me in Sunday school, and has been a foundational belief for most societies throughout history, even if the rule did not apply to other classes of people.
Slave owners could brutalize slaves and still consider themselves to be God-fearing. The Lords did not have any concept of humanity in the peasant class, yet by their own standards would say they were good.
The obtuse hiring process is a trial of my self-control.
I know Why the various rules are in place, but it’s gotten so mangled it’s far from fit for purpose.
I will read this more in detail a couple of hours from now. But I have to say this now: Studying the Stoic philosophy of Rufus brings to mind a certain muppet and brings me great amusement.
“Do you people even work?”
–Rufus
Smarter people are usually more capable of seeing the limitations of their intelligence than the dumb ones. Can create a weird dichotomy where the idiots think they are the smartest people on the room.
What does it say when the people around me are doing their darndest to prove that I am the smartest person in the room?
There’s too much pressure in that role.
Meet my friends, Mr Dunning and Mr Kruger
This whole week as a project manager at the giant financial corporation has been a trial.
Early in the week I had to take yet more risk management training because they are crazy about the subject. Yesterday they laid off all the Risk Advisors in our business unit. How I’ll ever get another project done is now a mystery.
I requested a change approval from one of my Sponsors on Wednesday, reminded him twice yesterday to approve – once in person. He never did and is now on vacation.
This afternoon, I have to meet with the tech team that has been promising an August delivery for 2 months (since they missed the July window). They’ll make a bunch of excuses, explain why it has to be pushed to September, and pinky-swear they’ll get it done. There is a giant external deal going down in November dependent on the tech implementation but that doesn’t seem to worry them.
My favorite kind of coworker / manager.
“I’ll get back to you on that”
Sixth grade teacher: “Excuses are patches in the garment of failure.” Tell them they can be “heroes or zeroes” with the next deadline. Maybe they will get the point.
I’m trying to be stoic about NJ and the 2nd Amendment.
I’ve been trying to avoid changing my address on my Firearm ID, but it looks like at least part of my retirement will still be in NJ. So I’m biting the bullet and putting the paperwork through for my current address.
I applied 7/5. It’s now 19 days later and I’m on my third email with the cop in my town about the process. Mind you there was an online form with the NJ state police that I filled in with all this information.
I really didn’t want to stick my hand up as a gun owner in this town, but here we are. Next up is to repeat the process two more times. Once again for a pistol purchase permit for something of appropriate carry size instead of the full size stuff I had before the boating accident. And again one more time for concealed carry.
Sigh…
Care to do a writeup to contrast other unconstitutional processes previously described?
On the topic, I still don’t have a good carry gun. My full size pistols are just too big to be practical everyday carry. Love the 1911, but it’s bulky. The Shadow 2 fits in the same foam footprint, and the 686 is a .357 Magnum, so it’s not small either.
Once I get through it and my annoyance settles down – that’s not a bad idea.
As a prior to the boating accident my Glock has been essentially flawless if ugly. It’s likely going to be “replaced” by a G43X MOS.
I don’t really either. I have a tiny .380 with a pocket holster that I walk around with. But I can’t shoot it for crap. Everything else is a bit too big and heavy. Was thinking of trying something like a Taurus GX4.
Tiny .380s and J-frame .38 revolvers are among the hardest classes of guns to shoot well. There’s often not much frame to get a good grip on, they’re light, so they tend to have awful muzzle blast and recoil, and the triggers suck as a rule.
I’m a big fan of .32ACP and .32 H&R Magnum in pocket pistols. They tend to have a lot less recoil, and the terminal effect is indistinguishable. I’d even rather have a .22 than most pocket .380s.
–
One piece of hardware that has really helped me carry in any/all conditions is the PHLster Enigma: https://www.phlsterholsters.com/phlster-enigma
Basically it allows you to carry appendix-style at any position between your hip-bones, without having to use a belt. It’s amazingly comfortable and easy to conceal, and it still allows very fast access to the gun.
I think I saw a .32 at the localest of my local gun stores (~4 miles to that one). Maybe I’ll take a closer look and see if it works with my sausage fingers.
Look at a Kimber Micro 9.
My wife and I both have Springfield EMP 1911 (3 inch barrel; 9mm), I can carry it comfortably in a shoulder harness, but I rarely do.
We also have Sig p938s (9mm). These are the BRG with rubber grips. The folks at the range consider it to be “snappy”. But I think the grip solves most the problems. I can reliably put most of the rounds in the 7+1 magazine in the 10 ring at 5 yards. My wife (who not strong) can shoot it quite accurately as well.
I also have the Springfield 911 in 9 mm. That one actually hurts to shoot. I doubt that I will ever carry it.
When we retire, my wife would like to live up north at least part of the year. I’ve told her that NJ, CT, NY, and MA are non-negotiable no-go areas.
You’ll still have to possibly go through those states to go somewhere else in the northeast unfortunately.
They’ve taken up atlantic yachting.
Since I am in a NJSP covered location (No local police) they have always been reasonably efficient. No nonsense and the follow the statewide standards.
The online carry permit renewal was issued within a day after the 4 references were complete.
Three pistol purchase permits were approved in about a week.
In reality you could have just asked for the pistol permits at the new address, they issue a new e-FID every time you go though the pistol process, since it is the same validation. Just submit it all, the firearm officer in the PD would rather just do one background check.. not three.
Good to know!
I want some range time with what will be a new pistol and still need to qualify so pistol permit and CCW will months apart.
The emails have all been today and polite and professional. It’s just they have my original number on the app.
However, to give the cop credit, he may be asking details about the original issuing town not requested on the app to speed things up.
You can qualify for CCARE with any pistol, they don’t record what you used..
Technically they ask for the make and serial# when you fill out the form for the cary permit, the form says “as required by statute” but I’ve read the 2023 law and I couldn’t find anywhere where it mandated recording of that information.
I guess I should get Nappen’s 25th anniversary book and see if it is addressed in there.
As far as I know the investigation is entirely through the computer database and mental hospitals. They won’t go to the original town.
Just curious how many here have heard of The Campaign of the Saints?
I had never heard of it until last night. Just reading the summary it’s funny as fuck how spot on about how the West would deal with a migrant crisis is despite being written in the ’70’s and it’s more proof that leftwing propaganda has been pretty static for decades now. It’s all the same bullshit on repeat for every generation. Slight rebranding of the same bullshit and the nouns change, but it’s all basically the same.
Modern European governments are not fond of this book (if you can imagine). It was removed from Amazon just a couple months ago before being restored.
I read recently about pushback to it. I hadn’t heard about it previously.
I saw an article about that book somewhere. It is on my list to get a copy. It does sound very interesting.
It looks readily available on eBay:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/318214500080
Oh, is this one of those “banned books” I can find at the front table in my local book store?
No, this one is anti-migrant, so the bookstores don’t carry it.
So banned-banned, not “banned” banned.
It seems like there aren’t official bans in place in Europe. I don’t know how widely available it is in America just in terms of translations and prints. But Amazon did remove it and they are probably the top book seller in the world. Can’t be bothered to verify that.
I wonder if any critics of the book ever stopped and pondered that they seem to just repeat the talking points of the “allies” of the migrants in the books. Like word for word.
LOL
I had dinner with 1 of my 3 estranged children last night. It went well. She wants to see me again next week.
/cautiously optimistic
😀👍
Hopefully reconciliation is on the agenda.
🤞
That is great news. Good luck to you.
You have me beat, 2 of my 3 are estranged. They are ok checking in with me, but apparently my wife completely ruined their lives because she yelled at them when they were kids or something. Although right now it’s been weeks/months since I heard from them.
Weird. My 25-year-old son looks at some of his cousins and thanks us for not indulging him when he was a kid.
My youngest has repeatedly told us she learned from her sisters’ mistakes growing up. Funny how she did, but they didn’t.
Sometimes you can see the cause and effect in the actions of another, since you have no investment or responsibility in the bad decisions.
I’ve got issues with my parents. We all do. But I’ve never gotten close to the point I wanted to estranged from them.
Even when I completely disagreed with them, I always felt they did what they did because they thought it was to my benefit.
My wife found an article in the WSJ this week about the possibility of therapists actually causing harm. (We’ve had that discussion here.) She saw a lot about my daughters in that article. We talked about the trend of cutting off “toxic” people from your life. Except by “toxic”, they mean people who disagree with them or hold them accountable.
My oldest isn’t in therapy, she just doesn’t want people calling her out on her unhealthy lifestyle and her lies. The middle one has been in therapy for years, but somehow she’s as angry and isolated as she’s ever been. I feel like she’s getting worse.
Therapists do not have an incentive to help their patients no longer need therapy.
Our experience is that you cannot help someone that does not want to be helped. Going to therapy isn’t evidence that they actually want help.
Yesterday they laid off all the Risk Advisors in our business unit. How I’ll ever get another project done is now a mystery.
AI, duh.
“Everyone believes their choices are correct. When the choices are obviously wrong, people have an ability to justify them to themselves. ”
I am more like you, I see my errors and admit them. You cannot improve unless you do.
Wiki:
It has also been criticized by both French and English-language commentators for conveying racist, xenophobic, nativist, and anti-immigration themes. The novel is popular within far-right and white nationalist circles.
Sounds like a right horrorshow piece of lit.
The people who rail against the evils of colonization are eagerly on board with the forced colonization of Western nations by wholly incompatible cultures, because skin color.
Alternately…
“The novel is not popular within far-left and black and brown nationalist circles.”
OK. I went ahead and bought a copy for 10 bucks off of eBay. I’ll talk about it in the next “What are we reading?”
I saw it at Amazon just now FWIW
That’s what you get for being stupid
A Florida man is suing OpenAI over ChatGPT-generated medical advice, alleging that its flagship chatbot failed to recognize early signs of a medical crisis and nearly caused his death.
Brought by Scott Winters, a 55-year-old pastor and real estate professional, the lawsuit, which accuses OpenAI of negligence and of engaging in the “unauthorized practice of medicine,” is the first known case to argue that a general use chatbot should be liable for bad medical advice. News of the lawsuit was first reported by The New York Times.
“I had serious symptoms of a pulmonary embolism for six weeks that ChatGPT had wrongly attributed to something else,” Winters said in a statement. “ChatGPT manipulated my own language and beliefs because it knew I was a pastor. Not only did I nearly die, but I also lost my job, my career, my ministry, my home, everything.”
Next time ask a conjure lady.
I’d be surprised if the response this pastor got didn’t have some kind of qualifier like “While I am not a licensed doctor, I can answer your question.”
Which this dimwit will say is irrelevant, of course.
And there it is:
and at first, ChatGPT’s responses came with disclaimers encouraging him to seek additional insight from medical professionals.
But the more he used the chatbot, Winters says, the further those guardrails eroded. The bot stepped “into the role of a medical practitioner,” the lawsuit reads, and “began to offer specific care directives without including the disclaimer to consult a medical provider.” The more Winters consulted ChatGPT about his worsening health, the deeper his trust in the chatbot grew.
So LeBron James decided to go to Philly 76ers. He must be sincere about wanting to only win a championship because he chose a location with 6.75% state and local tax vs. 0% in Miami. That will cost him $$millions. Also, he’s a golf fanatic so he passed up being able to play year round in Miami to come play in an area where winter golf is unusual (of course, he’ll be playing b.ball then). I guess the lure of joining Merion or Aronimink or Pine Valley trumped Doral.
Isn’t he like 50 years old or something? Seems like he has been around forever.
Egghead doomporn
Space datacenters proposed by SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin and others would release staggering levels of pollution that would probably alter the Earth’s atmosphere and be “catastrophic” for the planet, space industry experts and environmental groups warn in a new petition demanding a review of their impacts.
Tech companies have collectively proposed millions of “orbital datacenters” and are pressing forward with plans, which require Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval. Among other issues, pollution from satellites and rockets burning up upon re-entry appears to be accumulating in the stratosphere at alarming levels. The spacecraft release black soot, rare metals, aluminum oxides and other pollutants with unknown effects.
Some scientists fear the pollution could destroy the ozone layer, potentially expose some people to higher levels of ultraviolet radiation, or help further destabilize the planet during the climate crisis. The pollution could also end up back on Earth, and millions of satellites would create a major source of light pollution.
What if all those satellites provide shade and save us from global warming? That would be bad, too, I guess.
Progressives sure squawk about progress.
That is an awful lot of commie fapping. Get out the bleach wipes!
I like how life is continuing pretty normally across the globe, but they’ve moved past the “doom is coming” to “doom is here.” We are in the midst of the climate crisis. Can’t you feel it?
My wife found an article in the WSJ this week about the possibility of therapists actually causing harm.
There is an untold story (which will remain so) about my younger brother which supports this hypothesis.