168500+ entries in 1.266s

nubbins`: he's taking
a four-day vacation out of the country.
nubbins`: pete_dushenski inorite? sold as "used", guessing they're either (
a) returns or (b) just damaged packaging and unsuitable for shelf
fluffypony: who I hope will at least be
a little interesting
mats: "
A Fractal View of Risk, Ruin, and Reward"
adlai: "
A Fractal View of Financial Turbulence"?
adlai: anthem is precisely the correct dose of ayn rand for
a healthy brain
nubbins`: on account of it being such
a piece of shit
nubbins`: maybe once you get enough toys it'll be
a fair trade.
adlai: ie, "my company could sell $300k on the open market, but then it would be in
a higher corporate tax bracket, so we'll only sell $200k of widgets"
nubbins`: sounds like
a fucking wank fest
mats: hmm... Egyptian state planners have
a grandiose infrastructure plan to spend $43bn on power generation, $21bn on upstream oil and gas, and $45bn on
a new capital
nubbins`: in the20yearslumland, i could prolly buy
a city block for that
mircea_popescu: according to argentinian head, 200k barely buys you
a cramped 500sqft apt.
nubbins`: who needs $61k with
a body like this?
nubbins`: my body is
a patchwork, beard happens to be reddish
lobbes: just downshift
a bit ;)
mircea_popescu: "this could not possibly be
a dumb idea - look! others are doing it too!"
nubbins`: if i worked in
a cubicle, the last thing i would do is buy
a pogo and mess with it
nubbins`: i wake up with
a smile every day and go to bed w/ same
nubbins`: i once took
a week's vacation because i couldn't be fucked to show up on
a monday... or
a tuesday
adlai: mircea_popescu: actually
a control-typo triggered it, and i decided to learn from the happy accident :)
nubbins`: what do i need money for? buy
a volkswagen?
mircea_popescu: well in that manner, becoming
a slave is the easiest way to increase quality of life.
nubbins`: if there's
a fire that big, house insurance will be the least of your worries
mircea_popescu: if there IS
a fire, nobody can insure the whole shebang.
nubbins`: adlai i gave up on atlas shrugged after several hundred pages because it was
a piece of shit, indulge me will ya?
nubbins`: you guys don't have fire insurance in b-
a?
mircea_popescu: on average, if you average them, per capita debt about 1k, per capita income about 5k, hopefully there isn't
a fire.
nubbins`: what, floating along without
a care for tomorrow? :D
nubbins`: but i'll note that this is
a problem with alf, not with walking away
mircea_popescu: "oh i just pay 20k out of my 6k
a year. problem ?!?!?!"
nubbins`: (as if there's
a better man than me out there)
nubbins`: 5-year term's up next summer so i'll prolly pop
a couple tens of k down on the principal then
nubbins`: if you have 25 pairs of red shoes and nowhere to put them, maybe
a shoe rack isn't the right answer?
nubbins`: but perhaps things i say will clear his mental path
a bit more
mircea_popescu: nubbins` to the degree that one's action is prevented by organised debris in his head, then this process may clear
a path he can finally act upon
nubbins`: "If we manage to set aside the fantasy of the General Assembly and replace it with an assembly of presences, if we manage to foil the constantly renewed temptation of hegemony, if we stop making the decision our final aim, then there is
a chance for
a kind of massification, one of those moments of collective crystallization where
a decision suddenly takes hold of beings, completely or only in part."
adlai: sure, and log.b-
a can be considered
a tapestry of threads
pete_dushenski: mircea_popescu: this channel could be considered
a forum
nubbins`: adlai if all your goods that matter aren't with you, when you stand naked and alone, then you're in
a pretty bad way.
mircea_popescu: pete_dushenski if someone's ready to i dunno, buy
a new car, then he has specific questions which
a forum might answer, and he's buying cart with our without forum. so forum didn't DO anything.
adlai: but srsly, read the links. it's
a one paragraph story
nubbins`: constantly renewed temptation of hegemony, if we stop making the decision our final aim, then there is
a chance for
a kind of massification, one of those moments of collective crystallization where
a decision suddenly takes hold of beings, completely or only in part."
nubbins`: but of liberating the speech, gestures, and interplay of beings that take place within them. We just have to see that each person comes to an assembly not only with
a point of view or
a motion, but with desires, attachments, capacities, forces, sadnesses and
a certain disposition toward others, an openness. If we manage to set aside the fantasy of the General Assembly and replace it with an assembly of presences, if we manage to foil the
nubbins`: "The need to assemble is as constant among humans as the necessity of making decisions is rare. Assembling corresponds to the joy of feeling
a common power. Decisions are vital only in emergency situations, where the exercise of democracy is already compromised. The rest of the time, “the democratic character of decision making” is only
a problem for the fanatics of process. It’s not
a matter of critiquing assemblies or abandoning them,
mircea_popescu: pete_dushenski being persuasive is like being tasteful. not
a property of the painting.
nubbins`: actually unable to tell if that's
a srs question.
mircea_popescu: no dude. they kept talking indefinitely. it's
a way to pass the time.
mircea_popescu: and they had this conversation which went on for
a while.
mircea_popescu: so listen, i was once with like half
a dozen teensy chicks by the side of
a pool, and some were in the water and some were on the chairs.
mircea_popescu: nubbins` honestly i thought you were kinda dumb for the entire interval, but in
a reserved sort of way.
mircea_popescu: cuz 598986907 years ago, hunter went into the forest, whereas woman only moved fat butt from current bush she plucked once someone found
a new bush
nubbins`: and opted for
a job with an annual salary of (checking records...) about $6,000
adlai: "opiate of the masses" is not
a diss
mircea_popescu: im starting to understand why religion is such
a big deal. it's not that it makes any sense, it's that it provides answers to "fundamental questions of life"
nubbins`: i'd also advance the opinion that one does not know quite how much one can change until one is forced to do so. while this may seem incredibly foolhardy (so much so that most people never try it), walking away with
a zippo tossed over shoulder is the only way to find out.
nubbins`: which puts you (
a) far ahead of most of the pack and (b) in
a position to, y'know... walk away and start over whenever you like
mircea_popescu: if the answer's no, then you've got yourself
a social study. if the answer's yes, more power to ya.
nubbins`: asciilifeform you won't get me to admit that learning things is
a waste. so the facile reply is
a flat-out no
mircea_popescu: there's
a very simple heuristic to evaluate whether you're currently developing or whether you historically developped skills teh most serene republic has
a need of.
assbot: Logged on 10-04-2015 18:05:42; mircea_popescu: ascii_field so this would be in demand either
a) by the nsa or else b) independent work
a la s.nsa
nubbins`: asciilifeform an honest take will require
a bit of time, but if you've got the ears...
nubbins`: you don't always realize who you're glued to until the water gets above
a certain level
mircea_popescu: asciilifeform you can build all your factories you want once the idiot in the room (made out of
a bunch of idiots glued to each other) is dead.
mircea_popescu: i recall this point where some derpy agent swore before the court he used excel spreadsheets to rape
a db
mircea_popescu: asciilifeform what's that azn fighting style where you don't particularly give
a shit ?
mircea_popescu: asciilifeform im quite unconvinced of the latter. and the former reduces to... what exactly, "not everyone has the biography and talents of
a computer user, windows plox" ?
mircea_popescu: no but srsly, 4chan and the internets have blown what looks like
a permanent hole in the sort of deffective mental processes that are required for "patriotism" or whatever the pink-bellied shit involved in wwX was.
adlai: "uses simple analogue circuits, such as comparators, instead of
a microprocessor in order to produce an unusually simple design"
mircea_popescu: no wait, make
a full sentence, i have no idea what you're saying.
nubbins`: like, they just got their knee kicked out by an angry horse, but if
a lens swivelled their way, they'd muster up
a winning smile?
nubbins`: i clicked on that one so i could chuckle about why she's randomly holding
a guitar