Yarco

Peter Ralston

Skip Step 1 and 2 entirely and stop consoooming. You'll waste thousands of hours of your life. Being a video game buff or knowing everything about the Marvel movies or having 1,000 Funko Pops or having the music knowledge of Anthony Fantano doesn't make you a renaissance man, it makes you a bugman. Instead of being a polymath and accumulating tons of useless knowledge to impress people, I suggest instead jumping straight to becoming a Jack-of-all-trades. Actually do stuff and put knowledge into practice. Who's the more interesting person to talk to at a party? The person who knows the top 500 songs of all time, or the person who makes their own music? The person who's played all of the top 100 video games, or the person who makes their own video game? The person who's read 1,000 books, or the person who's written one book? I find the creative process and those who engage in it exponentially more interesting than passive consooomers. What is a respectable and interesting man? The one who can fix his own car, maintain his own home, iron his own shirts, cook like a chef, grow his own vegetables, build his own furniture, sail a boat, sing and play an instrument, bench press 250 lbs, roast his own coffee, scuba dive, take great photos, fly a plane, speak a foreign language, and fish. Don't fall into the trap of passively consuming and thinking it will make you interesting. Most people will never make it to Step 3. Go out and actually DO STUFF. Then tell people stories about it. You'll naturally become more knowledgeable and cultured through your adventures. Most people who obsessively consume movies, books, etc have terrible social and communication skills. You can't build up social skills and EQ through media, only by actually being around people.

You've had sex before and you received a bj a few months ago. Don't besmirch the good name of incels who are actually struggling. Just because you're lonely and going through a cold spell does not make you an incel or incel mentality. There are actual incels out there who are borderline suicidal about having never hugged or kissed a girl.

I don't want to help source gambling, but these are his current indictment odds on one site, with some other people for comparison: Rudy Giuliani -125 Roger Stone +125 Ivanka Trump +1200 Donald Trump Snr. +1400 Leon Black +1400 Jared Kushner +1600 Donald Trump Jnr +1800 Prince Andrew +2500 Alan Dershowitz +3300 Eric Trump +3300 Hunter Biden +3300 The + is the amount you would profit on a $100 bet. So if you bet $100 and Trump gets arrested you'd win $1,400 in profit plus your $100 back. Or basically 14:1 odds.

I hate to break it to you, but the forum already acts this way for the internet as a whole. This is the best that society has to offer at this time. It's either this or YouTube comments The subsection of extremely well-rounded people you're looking for is very hard to find. Eg. You could find a bunch of mensa nerds to agree with you on most other things, but then they'd largely reject all the spiritual stuff. Go try to talk to an average person in a doctor's waiting room or the grocery store checkout, forget about it. Chris Langan is 1 in a million (world's highest IQ, has his own theory of everything) and even his Wikipedia page accuses him of supporting 9/11 conspiracy theories and making thinly-veiled antisemitic dog whistles. Everybody has their weaknesses. Even he probably wouldn't make it into your secret group

It's okay to hate anybody you want to hate. But that doesn't necessarily mean that it's justified or a good idea. Usually good to forgive if at all possible. Although in the case of emotional or physical abuse I'd say you're justified in hating them and cutting all ties with them. It sounds like possibly more to do with you than your mom. This sounds like something to go to therapy and discuss with someone. If you end up in the fetal position crying from a minor scolding it sounds like an overreaction to me. (No judgement, you just haven't been taught the proper coping mechanisms to deal with it in a more constructive manner, a therapist can help with that.) There is probably some internal conflict in you. Your mom is telling you to do something. Deep down inside you know she's probably right, and what she's saying is the right thing to do, but you have resistance to it and hate it for whatever reason. Try to empathize with your parents, realize they're also just humans doing the best they can. Especially if they're not outwardly toxic or abusive, they have your best interest at heart, and maybe they just need help figuring out how to talk to you about it in a more constructive way. Maybe some family counselling would help everyone on all sides, to learn how to talk to each other in compatible ways that don't make anyone feel attacked. Your parents were just 18 year olds themselves about 20 - 25 years ago. Realize life doesn't come with an instruction manual, and neither do kids, so they're trying to figure things out and do their best just like you. Imagine how you'd feel if your mom fell to the ground in a fetal position crying one time when you asked her to drive you somewhere or buy you something specific at the grocery store. As an exercise I'd try to think of all the good things about your mom that you're thankful for, and do a metta (loving kindness) meditation to send some unconditional love her way. Then be big enough of a person to go apologize to her and admit that you were overreacting and it wasn't really that big of a deal, just that the feelings can be overwhelming sometimes and you need help learning how to deal with it, maybe ask her if she can make a gentle suggestion next time instead of scolding and see if that helps. She will appreciate it.

Convenient timing that it comes right after he's cleared by the Jan 6th committee of possibly facing charges, and him criticizing the doubling of IRS staff. It's really a lose-lose situation for the Democrats. If the FBI finds nothing, it seems like a huge overreach. If they find something, most right-wing people are going to believe the FBI is corrupt and planted evidence. If they snatch up something like tax documents unrelated to the classified info during the raid, it seems corrupt. If it's about improper possession/storage of classified info, it seems awfully similar to Clinton's unencrypted email server she kept in a bathroom closet. Except nobody raided her for that, she never got charged, and she destroyed evidence. Right wing will also immediately bring up Hunter Biden. If Trump goes to jail or is disqualified from running again, but nothing for Hunter Biden or Hillary Clinton there'll probably be Republican riots. If they don't take Trump out of the 2024 race with something in the raid, I worry they may actually try to assassinate him JFK style. Which would be a terrible option and possibly lead to a revolution. Just like Pelosi going to Taiwan, this is a needlessly aggressive no-win scenario. Half the country already thinks Trump is guilty, the other half thinks he's innocent and this raid won't change either side no matter what they find.

My take is pretty much the opposite of lizz_luna's above. My partner is an atheist and it doesn't really matter or come up. I have no desire to try and convert her to anything, and she has no desire to convert me out of what she describes as "kooky bald-man cult" . Maybe she'll make an off-hand comment about what I'm watching as she walks by, or ask me wtf when I want to experiment with wearing rudraksha or rosaries or crystals, talk me out of doing psychedelics, but that's about as far as it goes. There's only really 2 situations where I'd consider it a deal-breaker: 1. You have something akin to a Christian belief where if your partner doesn't repent or take on your beliefs, they're going to be damned to hell. 2. They try to tell you that you can't meditate, go to retreats, or whatever spiritual practice you feel like you need to do. 2b. You need them to be on board and participate in tantric sex or something as part of your practice. Otherwise it's whatever. Don't waste your time or theirs with trying to convince them. They're going to become awakened when they die anyway, right?

Not in our lifetime. But given a long enough timeline, almost certainly yes. We know of several species like jellyfish and tardigrades that are basically immortal. We know how to insert chunks of DNA into our own DNA using stuff like CRISPR. All we need to do is combine those in a way that doesn't result in unintended mutations. In our lifetime we might develop a way to transfer consciousness, or at least the full contents of your brain, into electronic format. At that point, we could grow a clone of you and put all your memories and knowledge into a new child version of yourself. But I question if that's really "you" at a level of consciousness, or if you're just copying a hard drive without the soul. I believe at some point (probably at least a few hundred years) the only unavoidable cause of death will be trauma like car crashes, plane crashes, etc. Cool example of zen devilry. Don't explain your thought process, just make a 1-liner to look down on everybody else. I assume this is some meta-commentary about how we are never really born or alive to begin with. Or our true self is already immortal and doesn't need science to save us.

I get a popup asking me to allow notifications periodically. Clear your browser cache / cookies and see if it comes back up for you. Might need to disable adblock as well?

Ron Jeremy's still at it, so I'd say 69+ years.

Why these two philosophies specifically, and why black and white instead of some mix of the two? I would say in a modern first world country we generally live an easy and comfortable life that's closer to hedonism, so most people would benefit more from trying out stoicism.

I think of time management and organization as larger categories that contain a lot of smaller life skills and life hacks, rather than one big thing you can learn. This one will solve the majority of your problems. Anything that will take you less than a minute to do, do it right away instead of putting it off. Rinsing off a knife and putting it in the dishwasher, hanging your jacket up, etc. Think longer-term about how much extra work you're creating for yourself in the future. You can walk an extra 3 steps to put your dirty clothes in a basket, or you'll have to spend a minute bent over uncomfortably to pick everything up in a week. When I'm cooking, I'll start rinsing stuff as I'm going, instead of dumping it all in the sink until the end. It's actually too overwhelming and anxiety-causing to leave stuff sitting even while I eat now. I'll clean up as much as I can before I eat, and I go and rinse my plate off and put it in the dishwasher as soon as I'm done eating. It's just a mindset you have to get into at least. It'll just take time. You have to make it into a habit. Lots of people watched Marie Kondo and learned some cool way to fold and organize their t-shirts. But then it's easier to just go back to throwing your clothes on a shelf or in a drawer without folding the next time you have to do laundry. You have to commit to it and see the benefit in it. I think this is an entirely different issue to do with impulsivity. When you go grocery shopping, make sure you take a list and try to force yourself to only buy things on the list. If you plan all of your meals for the next week, you'll know exactly what you need to buy and how much. With clothes, go shopping one time and find the stuff that you want. Then force yourself to go home without buying anything, and wait a few days to ask yourself if you really need all the stuff you wanted to buy. Shops use all kinds of tricks with sales, limited-time offers, etc. Last time I went to the mall I noticed that nearly every single store had a sign out front saying they were having a sale. We're at a point where every store is having a sale all the time. You have to get a bit cynical about it and get out of a scarcity mindset. "Oh that store is trying to trick me into thinking it has great deals again." You aren't going to miss out, it doesn't matter if you pay an extra 10% for the things you really want if you're buying 5x less things in total, and it's very unlikely that they're going to sell out and you'll miss your chance if you wait an extra couple days. Same thing as groceries. Plan your entire day out so you know exactly what you're doing at which times in advance. That way you can't sit around and wonder what to do. It's already planned and you don't have a choice unless you want to break your schedule.

It's kind of like asking if brushing or flossing is better. Ideally you should be doing both. Floss first to get out the big chunks Then water floss to get stuff below the gumline that you can't normally reach Then brush Then optionally use an alcohol-free mouthwash afterwards. Then make sure not to drink or rinse for 15 - 20 minutes after (assuming you're using fluoride toothpaste and want to get the most effects) I just bought a water pick and it was less than $50 so I don't consider it a huge investment. I haven't used it long enough to say if there's a difference or not yet. If you're currently using a manual toothbrush instead of electric, paying $100 for an electric toothbrush is definitely worth it and makes a noticeable difference. I would get an electric toothbrush before considering a water pick. If you've got significant gum bleeding during cleanings or get frequent cavities, then I'd recommend going to the dentist for cleanings more frequently too, if you can afford it, like every 4 months instead of every 6 months. Talk to your dentist first and see what they recommend though.

I tried 4 or 5 of the top GPT-3-based AIs to write blogs/articles and fiction for me and they were all pretty bad. Even after spending hours learning how to best use them, they constantly get into repetitive loops, write thin/bad content, or just get the facts wrong. They're best for storytelling but still years away from being useful to write any kind of instructional or educational non-fiction. It'd take me longer to edit and fix their work than to just write it myself. Likewise DALL-E has a very specific look to its art and not usable for a lot of applications without someone touching it up. AI is going to replace most jobs eventually, but I don't think it's a reason to give up on your authentic life purpose. Everybody's eventually going to run into the same problem whether they have a LP or not. But I think those who do will still be in a better position to adapt when the time comes.

If you find yourself starting to talk like Arya Stark "A girl is no one, a girl has no name" and its causing you distress and making you unstable, then it's time to take a break and just go back to normal life for a bit. Even stop meditating. Just watch some TV for a while or go for a walk in nature and fall back into the illusion a bit.

If China really wanted to go to war with America (or put tons of pressure on Taiwan through them) they don't need tanks and bombs. Just make a few strategic sanctions where they refuse to sell stuff to the US and watch the US crumble to their demands. Imagine if China decided to stop selling us just diabetes, blood pressure, and anti-anxiety medications alone, how much chaos it would cause. I don't think people realize how reliant on them we are. In a real war with China, Walmarts would be 90% empty... clothes, food, medication, electronics... and it would take us months to spin up domestic manufacturing or source materials from other countries to fill in the gaps. The next big war will be an economic war of attrition and China will be in a lot better position than we are. Pretty much the only thing they import from us are US dollars.

The character in the game doesn't have free will, the player does. Think Minecraft or GTA. The character on the screen has 0 free will, they're just an illusion created from code. They take input from the person with free will sitting outside of the TV / simulation. Note that the total potential of the person sitting outside the game is artificially limited by its rules and boundaries when they "go inside" the game via their avatar (they incarnate into the game without ever actually leaving where they are)

I've always been pretty against the idea of taking medication for things like anxiety or depression. The idea of something changing something as foundational as the thoughts in my head seems pretty scary. (I'm guessing many people on the forum feel the same way.) It's also scary that you become dependent on many of them and need to wean off if you ever want to stop. However recently my anxiety has been getting increasingly worse over the years, and now it's at a pretty debilitating point. I'm pretty much constantly feeling stressed, anxious, and wound up about just... pretty much everything. More things than not at this point. In the past I've always rationalized that I'd rather just suffer and be my genuine self than change my brain chemistry. But now it's so bad that's not really true any more. What's changing my mind and making me more open to the idea of medication -- My dog is super anxious and scared of fireworks and thunder, so we talked to the vet and decided to put him on anxiety meds for the summer. (He's on Fluoxetine aka Prozac, same thing people take just at a lower dose.) I've noticed a big improvement in his temperament and anxiety, it's really significantly changed him for the better and made him a calmer and happier dog. So I wonder if I should give meds a try myself and take the edge off for a while so I can just relax for once. Most likely my doctor is going to put me on an SSRI like Sertraline though. And with the recent study about serotonin and depression I don't know what to think about that. If anybody's had experiences, either good or bad, on specific medications, let me know. Or if you have any other ideas or suggestions, maybe something more natural like ashwaganda or something, let me know. I don't know if therapy would help. I feel like my anxiety is so bad that it's able to rationalize pretty much anything. And of course I'm super anxious about the idea of getting a therapist and talking to someone new about something so personal. Plus I've heard from more people than not what a struggle it was to find a good therapist, it sounds like most people go through like 5 on average before they find one they like. Also with the whole personal development thing, I feel like I know myself better than most people and can pretty much self-therapize myself better than an outside person, if I just had the right questions to ask myself and contemplate. So if you know any kind of online course or worksheets for anxiety that you'd recommend, I would be very interested in those. I've tried free CBT for anxiety offered online by the UK or AUS government but it was boring and too theoretical.

I don't buy it... give it a month or two until farmers start harvesting all of their wheat, corn, sugar beets, etc and see what happens to food prices. Watch as mortgage rates continue to rise and people can't afford their houses any more, and panic when they try to sell only to realize there's no more buyers. Then see if we're further ahead or behind than today. Frankly I can't believe the US Govt or media any more because they BS all the numbers. How many of those 528,000 jobs are part-time jobs, people working retail or McDonalds? Unemployment numbers are fudged because once you're unemployed for a certain amount of time, you just fall off the stats and don't count. The powers that be have told you that things were fine or actually improving the entire way down. It's like the captain telling you everything's fine while the Titanic is sinking. You can look around and use your own logic to see what's really going on... what are the prices like at the pumps, is your grocery bill up or down, when having casual conversations with people does it seem like things are getting better or worse for them? Or you can keep listening to the lies until things get so bad that you can't ignore it any more. My guess is that even when people were starving in Soviet countries, the propaganda was still telling everybody how great everything was. Personally I'm gonna assume the next year will be bad and prepare accordingly, and if things actually do improve it'll just be a nice surprise and I'll be even further ahead, but I'll be ready either way.

I've met a lot of cool people through Reddit. Once you find your life purpose, there's probably a subreddit devoted to that subject where you can start meeting people, and then go off-platform. There are also a lot of generalized "make friends" subreddits: /r/chatpals /r/gamerpals /r/internetfriends /r/meetnewpeoplehere /r/makenewfriendshere /r/needafriend /r/penpals --- in these subreddits you can make an ultra-personalized post, with exactly what you are and aren't looking for. You can specifically say... must not be racist, certain gender or not, age range, have X interests, open to video or voice chat. You still get a lot of people ghosting you if they don't feel a connection, or just because lots of people are unreliable. But probably the most efficient way I've found

Depends on the person and why they're buying it. Think about stocks. What % of people buy a stock because they think the company will make more profit next year and the stock price will go up? VS what % of people buy a stock because they think it's doing good in the world? I would say 95% or more people buy stocks for low consciousness reasons, 5% or less for social reasons even as a factor they consider. Bitcoin is a bit better. I'd estimate maybe 20% or more believe in Bitcoin as a principle and want to see finance decentralized and censorship-resistant. Many people are hodlers who will never sell their Bitcoin as a principle whether it goes to $100 or $100,000. But the vast majority are still only buying to make a quick buck. Even a lot of those saying they're in it for the technology are lying or in denial. To tell if someone is in crypto for the "right reasons" or not: ask them if they'd still be buying or holding if Bitcoin had only ever been a stablecoin and always pegged at $1 = 1 BTC or 1 oz of gold. Within the crypto space, consciousness can also vary a lot between projects. I think most Monero holders are ideological and sincerely are more interested in privacy than price appreciation. Charles Hoskinson and Cardano have a very stage yellow feel to me, helping create financial inclusion across Africa, the fact everything goes through a peer review process, and favors doing things right but slow, instead of the usual silicon valley "move fast and break things" motto. At the low end you've got stuff like Dogecoin plus most NFTs that are almost purely for profit and memes.

Oh how I suffer being water, I wish I was air... so free and unrestrained, floating up to infinity.

I've tried mastic gum, it's gross. Tastes like pine sap (it basically is), the consistency is wrong, takes a while to get it soft and feels like it's going to pull the fillings out of my teeth when I chew it. I like PUR gum. It's made with xylitol, which is a natural sweetener derived from birch trees, and one of the few substances shown to inhibit and actually reverse tooth cavities. No sugar, no aspartame, vegan, nut free, soy free, gluten free, non GMO. Tastes and feels like standard gum and flavor lasts just as long as something like Excel. I buy 8 packs at a time (55 pieces per pack) off Amazon for $30 CAD and it lasts me for a year or more chewing 1 - 2 pieces per day.

Not hard, people have been botting in games like Runescape and World of Warcraft for 20 years. I made a script to automate playing Farmville for myself in my teens using AutoHotkey. People make careers out of it: https://www.reddit.com/r/2007scape/comments/cnbuif/i_make_58k_usd_a_year_after_taxes_with_bot/ It's much more lucrative to farm currency in games that have it and sell that to players, instead of selling whole accounts. I don't recommend it as a life purpose though, you're doing something very low consciousness. The whole market is full of scammers and thieves. Your clients don't have morals so they'll do credit card chargebacks or report you to the game, getting every account created on your IP banned in one swoop. Besides, game companies are way better at detecting and banning cheaters nowadays. It's a game of whack a mole where they make an improvement, hackers get all their accounts banned and need to find a way around it, the company patches it, repeat. If you're interested in the training AI side of things as a life purpose, as opposed to just an easy way to make money, you might be better off learning about general AI, machine learning, and neural networks. Then you can create an AI that can teach itself to beat any game all on its own through trial and error: IMO this is much cooler and more fulfilling than making a dumb bot that just mines ore from rocks and sells it in a loop for 24 hours a day.