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 exile is not an evil Part II
5 It is not true, moreover, that exiles lack the very necessities of life. To be sure men who are idle and unresourceful and unable to play the part of a man are generally in want and without resources even when they are in their own country, but energetic and hard working and intelligent men, no matter where they go, fare well and live without want. We do not feel the lack of many things unless we wish to live luxuriously:
“For what do mortals need beside two things only,
The bread of Demeter and a drink of the Water-carrier,
Which are at hand and have been made to nourish us?”[6]
What I wish I had and what I actually need to have are two different things. If I have what I need, complaining about what I want is unproductive. I try to use that energy to figure out how to get those things. I enjoy the fact I can afford better than the bare minimum, but I also remember in 2003, we had to dig through the couch to find money for a haircut. Although back then things were tight, we were never starving.
6 Let me add that men who are worth anything not only easily manage well so far as the necessities of life are concerned, when they are in exile, but often acquire great fortunes. At any rate Odysseus, in worse plight than any exile one may say, since he was alone and naked and shipwrecked, when he arrived among strangers, the Phaeacians, was nevertheless able to enrich himself abundantly. And when Themistocles was banished from home, going to people who were not only not friendly, but actual enemies and barbarians, the Persians, he received a gift of three cities, Myus, Magnesia, and Lampsacus, as a source of livelihood.[7] Dio of Syracuse too, deprived by Dionysius the tyrant of all his possessions, when he was banished from his country waxed so rich in exile that he raised a mercenary army, went with it to Sicily, and freed the island of the tyrant.[8] Who, then, if he were in his right mind, looking at these cases would still maintain that banishment is the cause of want for all exiles?
Making the best of any adverse situation is better than sitting and complaining about it. I remember when I first went to school to change my job from artillery to communication security. We spent the first day talking about things I had never heard of and did not understand. I called my wife at the end of the day and told her I might fail this course. I had turned down a $25,000 re-enlistment incentive to change jobs and if I failed then they would send me back to artillery for free. This almost made her cry because my arty field time and deployments were hard on her and the kids. I studied hard and paid attention which is not something I had to do often in marine Corps schools. At the end of the 2 week course, I had the second highest score.
A little short this week because I got home late. My check engine light came on and I had to wait for my wife to bring my scanner before I drove it home. Luckily it was just my coolant temperature sensor not working, so it threw an out of range code. I had that problem a few months ago and had replaced it with a new Saab sensor. I will put one more in and if it dies quickly, I will have to do some troubleshooting to see why my car is killing them.
Just now catching up with the morning links.
The story about the man walking into the path of a Tesla on the interstate uses the word Tesla 13 times.
It also says the car brakes and swerved to avoid him, and the report makes it sound like it indeed did miss a full frontal collision.
It does not, however, identify the make of the car that did not brake and completely ran the guy over, leaving the scene.
Probably not libelous by the law… but definitely libel by intent.
Bonus fact…. our page about the article with numerous comments about it and other topics only featured the word 8 times, in a discussion that was actually about that company and the use of the word.
Funny, I’m catching up and reading the same article.
Tesla, Tesla, Tesla…
Nicola.
Why are you yodeling for Swiss?
Dio of Syracuse too, deprived by Dionysius the tyrant of all his possessions, when he was banished from his country waxed so rich in exile that he raised a mercenary army, went with it to Sicily, and freed the island of the tyrant.
All’s well that ends well.
That’s better than Julius Caesar and the pirates.
Caesar was going back to a position of strength, but Dio of Syracuse had to start from scratch.
He was not the last in line.
Exiles
The idea of driving the super-wealthy away from the state has become a major area of concern for the plan’s critics, who argue that “mobility” fundamentally undermines the tax base. The estimates of tax revenue depend in part on whether billionaires are able to leave the state and avoid taxes, and how many billionaires decide to take this action.
Many have pointed to Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s purchase of a Miami home in March 2026.
If the billionaires flee, there will be long term income tax consequences?
Which again reminds me- many years ago, some big hedge fund guy got fed up with New Jersey’s bullshit and relocated to Florida (as I recall). By doing this, he singlehandedly shot a gaping hole in the state budget.
It’s a shame he didn’t build a private army and blow real holes in NJ.
What have I done to you?
Stood in proximity to the real target?
This would be a better country if PA was beach front property.
This would be a better country if PA was beach front property.</em?
There would certainly be more people doing 5 under blocking left lane. That's for sure!
What do you have against Lake Erie beaches?
They’re too far away to improve his property value.
Also- there were stories yesterday about Meta basically promising to immunize Zuckerberg from the tax if he promises to stay in California and continue to run the company.
And that would certainly pass legal muster…
It is spelled mustard
Meta issued a new stock class (non-voting) so Zuck will be able to pay the California tax (if enacted) without losing voting shares. Other companies have similar structures.
Happy Friday to all Men of A Certain Age
https://x.com/JamesOldham/status/2113531984567763323
I have no idea who that is. Apparently some english tv host. Means weird english twitter made it to my feed somehow. Anyhoo would i guess
VS weird Romanian Twitter?
Also no idea who that gal is. She does look British though.
“To be sure men who are idle and unresourceful and unable to play the part of a man are generally in want and without resources even when they are in their own country”
That hasn’t changed in 2,000 years.
Never will.
“The poor you will always have with you,”
But Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who oversees one of the two most valuable companies in the world (alongside Apple) and would be on the hook for as much as $8 billion in payments under the tax, has no issue with it. He recently told CBS Sunday Morning that it would be a “privilege” to pay the tax, consistent with views he has expressed since the beginning of 2026 about the tax measure, and related to his views on the opportunities that the U.S. has offered him to succeed and grow his wealth.
Oh, if only he were free to voluntarily gift that sum to the state of California. But, alas, his hands are tied.
It’s a shame that every lefty billionaire who wants to pay more taxes is compelled to take every deduction they possibly can each year.
Wanna bet that his tax lawyers will figure out a way to mark it an operating expense so he can claim deductions?
Thing is he does not really use much of that wealth. If he thinks he is safe as ceo and wont lose control he can socially signal for whatever reason.
There’s nothing wrong with sacrificing yourself, even if it’s only for the purpose of virtue signaling.
Sacrificing yourself to provide popular cover for the government to steal from everyone else, should get you a beating at the very least.
Huang could just write a ten billion dollar check directly to SEIU. Then he would be certain the money would be put to good use.
Saying stuff has the same effect so no need to write
LOL
All that “hate the rich” propaganda is finally being put to good use & yes, you might as well pour it directly into the bank accounts of SEIU crooks.
It’s not going to do a goddamn thing for “healthcare” but the important part is sticking it to fatcats anyway.
https://www.npr.org/2026/10/23/g-s1-149534/justice-fbi-charged-hunter-biden-laptop
The Justice Department has charged two former FBI employees with making false statements to Congress in connection with the bureau’s investigations into Hunter Biden.
Bradley Benavides, 56, and Nikki Floris, 46, each face a single criminal count stemming from testimony before lawmakers in 2023. They were charged by complaint, which means prosecutors have yet to secure an indictment from a grand jury.
All together now . . . .
And nothing else happened.
From AI – Following his career at the FBI, Bradley Benavides moved into the private sector and works as a Senior Risk Manager at Amazon.
I’ll be curious what this does to his employability there. It’s an allegation so probably nothing yet.
I can’t find where the other one is working.
Turn on, tune in, drop out
And the resulting withdrawal from society is reinforcing some of the very stereotypes that have come to define this generation of disaffected young men: living in their parents’ basements, gambling on sports, playing video games, vaping, and watching porn.
It’s brutally nihilistic.
But then again, so is Trump’s entire MAGA movement.
It was never truly predicated on improving people’s lives. Trump has never shown much interest in making this a better country beyond enriching himself, his family, and his cronies.
At its core, MAGA has been about hating others—immigrants, trans kids, and “socialism,” a word so devoid of meaning in MAGA circles that Vice President JD Vance couldn’t even define it.
That’s some top shelf mindreading.
I didn’t check yet, but that sounds like Amanda.
I was wrong, but it’s retarded enough that she would be proud of it.
That was my first guess
“Good.”
Yes, this is the predictable end result of decades of anti-male propaganda and policy.
“At its core, MAGA has been about hating others—immigrants, trans kids, and “socialism,” a word so devoid of meaning herpity derpity doo…”
At its core, leftism has been about hating others–men, white people, and “capitalism”. See how this works?
Twitter is killing me
https://x.com/usawtfm/status/2113661739069763731
I think they need to reset the DUI counter.
Does that count for the quarterly jump requirement?
Interview with good guy with a gun (mythical unicorn):
https://www.opb.org/article/2026/10/23/bend-oregon-kaylub-giamanco-silver-rail-elementary-school-shooting/
A lot of not best practices, but he did what was needed when it was needed.
As usual the Bee is on it!
https://babylonbee.com/news/oregon-lawmakers-renew-push-to-ban-guns-like-the-one-used-to-take-down-that-school-shooter
She was a student “walkout” in one of the richest suburbs in the state yesterday to promote more gun grabbing.
From the sidebar:
“How could this have happened to me?” asked a tearful Omar in a video posted on TikTok. “Quality Citizeship Center promises that all their lawyers come from best ‘lawyer learing centers’ in the state.”
Not best practices, but certainly good enough in the moment.
Something that seems counterintuitive – a high level of shooting and self-defense skill is more likely to be necessary to handle a routine robbery or carjacking, versus a spree killer. If you get mugged or carjacked, it’s probably not your assailant’s first time at the rodeo. I’m not aware of any spree killers, outside of government employment, that ever go a second time.
I am a little surprised (but not too surprised, the optics of charging the guy would be terrible) that the guy wasn’t charged for executing the grounded shooter with two more shots.
Now the kid’s mother and her civil attorneys…
Their lawsuit should be shot down and put out of our misery.
Media found the dad. Homeless in Astoria.
Just because someone is on the ground doesn’t mean they’re not still a threat. And yeah, optics matter. Spree killings and terror attacks are the two categories where the rules about anchoring a bad guy who’s not an immediate threat get…loosened up.
Also
https://www.centraloregondaily.com/news/local/deschutes-county-concealed-handgun-license-signups-spike-after-silver-rail-shooting/article_36b59331-1875-450e-bd57-80822d1ec936.html
It seems like the correct lesson is being learned.
Also
the cops let him retrieve his gun? That surprises me. I figured at best he could pick it up at the station after the scene had been processed.
So what’s left? The black pill, apparently.
It would be too much to ask them to consider voting Democratic—the party that actually creates jobs and economic opportunity. But if they want to add “involuntarily disenfranchised” to their “involuntary celibate” status, that’s okay with us.
Tune out. Play video games. Watch porn. Whatever.
We’ll all be better off if they do two things: don’t commit any violence—and don’t vote.
Voting is not just a right and a privilege, it’s a duty. Unless, of course, you might be afflicted with the sick urge to vote for a non-Democrat. We hate and shun those people.
The reason that I am a nonbeliever, is that ‘Kos’ wasn’t struck down by a lightning bolt from the heavens for that whopper.
Yeah, that was a kneeslapper.
To be fair, though, the Donks do create a lot of pubsec jobs.
So, the opposite of economic opportunity, then?
I was wrong, but it’s retarded enough that she would be proud of it.
My bad. I forgot the trigger warning. To be honest I didn’t know Daily Kos was even still around.
Aaaugh! My favorite local cheesemaker is closing!
What?
Which one?
Why?
Nettle Meadow.
From their email:
I went there with my friend week before last and they were closed on a day their website said they’d be open. I figured it was a seasonal hours change and they just hadn’t update the website. But maybe it was a cost-cutting measure.
I am running out of local cheesemakers of the highest quality. Argyle Cheese Farmer is ok, but not at the level of Nettle Meadow or the late lamented Consider Bardwell. Slate Valley makes a decent bloomy rind, but not like Nettle Meadow did.
🙁
That’s a lot of words to say we spent too much and didn’t make as much as we thought we would.
Yes. I wonder what was stopping them from raising prices, other than distributors refusing to buy at that price? They don’t have enough volume in direct-to-consumer sales?
Not mentioned as a cost center is the fact that this group which makes (truly) excellent soft-ripened cheeses is more than a bit hippy and funds an animal sanctuary out of the cheese-money.
Dumped some more money into the money pit (aka ebay) the other day for components to build new wheels. NOS and pricey. Notice the shipping cost at the last minute — $100. So WTF? Oh its in Japan. Well, I want it. I guess I’ll pay.
It delivers today. FedEx overnight air. I guess that justifies the shipping charge.
Overnight from Japan?
You, sir, are a madman.
I thought that was obvious.
“AI, write me an opinion justifying the outcome I want.”
https://www.courthousenews.com/fifth-circuit-castigates-ai-rulings-in-school-diversity-policy-case/
“Cite at least five hallucinations.”
OMWC needs to be more stoic
Completely OT but…
I got a different power amplifier – not that I needed one – a VTL Stereo Deluxe 90/90 using 6550s/12AT7s. Made in the early 90s, back when I was a wee audio geek.
A Pic?
Cool stuff.
You can never have enough cool stuff.
Also useful as a space heater for those winter Michigan days!
You scored some spare tubes, I hope?
Looks cool.
That’s enough of a justification.
On the political front – living in a mostly lefty enclave here in Michigan, I don’t see that many Abdul signs. I know, for example, an older Jewish (now retired) lawyer refuses to vote for him. I do see the usual signs up for Democrats… but often (50/50?) Abdul’s name isn’t there.
What does it mean? ::shrugs::
My prediction? Rogers will be ahead but a night time ballot dump will give Sayed the win.
Conspiracy theory – the machine backstabs the DSA candidates and doesn’t give them the votes.
“See, these unhinged radicals can’t win the general – don’t remove the solid, election-winning old guard in the primaries.”
And then cheats like mad the next election they’re on the general.
If we are into conspiracy, then you can bet the DSA has moles in the Machine camp and will sabotage or reveal any attempts to scuttle the DSA backed candidates.
Best case scenario – a whole bunch of both sides get sent away for vote fraud.
😝
It will be interesting to see how many communists and terrorist sympathizers the Dems put into office this time around.
LOL!
https://x.com/LibertyAngelo/status/2113664516185575509
That’s in reponse to this, for people who want to virtue signal claiming that Twitter won’t let them see threads:
https://x.com/polymarket/status/2113629889568125216
You of all people accepting rabbit-drag in place of a woodchuck? For shame!
I approve of this Exec Order – and should be relatively easy to maintain – hopefully will be coupled with Bessent’s intent to end the Fannie/Freddie conservatorship (which started in 2008):
The Order directs the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to create a pilot program to cancel borrowers’ mortgage insurance premiums proactively once they have satisfied their equity requirements based on the current market value, which will eliminate a large monthly expense for qualifying Americans across the country.
The Order establishes the Task Force on Manufactured Housing Innovation, co-chaired by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and the FHFA Director, to increase the quality of and lower the cost of building a home by facilitating the use of modern manufacturing methods in the production of factory-built housing eligible for federal housing programs.
The Order directs the FHFA Director to reduce homeowners’ refinancing costs by expanding the FHFA’s title insurance waiver pilot into a permanent program to allow more borrowers to utilize cost-friendly alternatives to title insurance and to reduce the closing costs of refinancing and monthly expenses associated with homeownership.
The Order directs the Secretary of Agriculture and Secretary of Veterans Affairs to reduce interest rates on single-family home loans made by their respective Departments.
Get rid of all those agencies.
Let the market sort it out.