Would you go from full remote to in office for twice your salary? but there is a 1 hour 10 minutes commute.

Fuck no. I would not go into an office for 10x my current salary. For that, I might consider once a month. Maybe. (Still probably not with a horrible commute.)

It’s so incredibly unproductive to be in an office. I will never, ever go back to the days of being constantly interrupted with trivial bullshit and then spending 5-10 hours at home every night getting my real work done. That was miserable and I did not realize how terrible it was until I was not doing it any longer.

Being in an office means nothing gets done by nearly anyone. Never again.

Even though the winter here in California is mild, it still sucks and I’ll be glad when it’s over. Winter is terrible and if it were practical, I’d live in Buenos Aires half the year and California the other half.

I do not trust people who prefer winter.

What’s a personal “red flag” about yourself that you’re self-aware enough to admit? How do you address it with others?

I’m very grumpy. It’s not personal. It’s just how I am. I try to curb it, but it’s gonna come out if you hang around me long enough.

I address it by saying, “I’m very grumpy. I try to not let it get too bad, but it’ll happen.” Being extremely high on disagreeableness will do that to you.

Probable burglar casing homes in the neighborhood earlier.

No, I haven’t gone full NIMBY; it was fairly obvious (my gf talked to him on the sidewalk briefly). We’re almost always home and I’m one of those evil “stand your ground” types, so his chances are low.

I haven’t run across one of those in quite a few years. Everyone needs to make a living I guess.

why is it okay/normalised for people to tell me to speak more or ask me why i’m so quiet but it’s rude to ask someone why they talk so much?

I’ve been told I’m “too quiet” my entire life. And yet when I do talk, people don’t usually like it all that much.

There’s a reason I am quiet….

We have done this and it’s mostly complete now. I’ve spent roughly $4,000 on computers, related gear and other crap in the last few weeks because it’s all about to get vastly more expensive. And if we go to war with China, it’ll become unavailable altogether. Tariffs and possible world-altering conflict are on the way. Now is the time to prepare, because later I’ll be saying “I told you so.”

(Also, I think she meant “coats” there instead of “costs.”)

Zelensky is indeed very courageous. The logical and easy move for him would’ve been to flee to Berlin or Brussels and let Ukraine fall to destruction and genocide. Instead, he has spent three years with a target on his back fighting for his country and the survival of his people.

I’m fairly brave, but I’m not sure I would’ve done as much. People hate anyone who in the face of great risk stands up for something resolutely, because most of them know they would not.

Exactly.

I likely would’ve done the same thing Penny did. Men are now penalized for being protectors and not being protectors. Cannot fucking win.

Luigi Mangione had truly atrocious opsec, though it is somewhat impressive he managed to escape NYC at all.

However, if he’s is allowed to live long enough to go to prison, he’ll be a king there.

It’s great to realize that even when you get massively hotter and women flirt with you obviously all the time, that you still want your wonderful partner just as much as before, if not more so.

Options are nice and it’s certainly flattering, but most people are pretty boring tbh. I am honestly not even tempted.

The Rage and Glee That Followed a C.E.O.’s Killing Should Ring All Alarms.

Zeynep’s response here is disappointing. And she doesn’t seem to understand that the word “depose” on the brass is referring to taking testimony under oath for a court case. Her column is so dissatisfyingly milquetoast and takes no side. No, I wasn’t expecting her to celebrate the assassination, though it should be celebrated. She just holds it all at such a remove.

Having good health insurance and having had it for basically her entire life in the US, she has trouble identifying with and understanding anyone who is not so lucky. It’s a common failing of the PMC liberal class, even for someone so smart as she is.

Unlike Zeynep, I do condone justified murder and I’m glad Brian Thompson was killed. He deserved it and in fact got what he was owed by fate and karma. After WWII, we put concentration camp guards to death who were involved in a few thousand murders. Thompson has the blood of hundreds of thousands on his hands. Why should that sociopath get to live in opulence and comfort with that much harm done to the world?

Do I think his death alone will improve the world? No, I do not. But when reforms are made, you need two sides: the militant wing and the reasonable wing. Both factions are vital. The reasonable wing offers the possibility of alleviating the threat that the militant wing augurs if the less bloody path is not chosen.

That’s the only way societal reshapings work.

This is true. And this is exactly what I do. It’s important to note that you cannot become an actual (what I would consider an) expert in two months. But in that time you can learn more about a topic and be more competent at it than 99.9999% of regular people, and about 65% of so-called credentialed experts. Depending, of course, on the topic.

All it takes is 4-10 hours a day for a couple of months, depending on how much horsepower you have up there in the noggin.

Don’t (Specifically) Date Ugly Women.

A lot of guys do try to date women considered ugly because they assume they’ll be easier to deal with and less entitled. Alexander is right, though. That’s a bad strategy. Don’t do it. Women are individuals, first, of course. You can’t judge how someone will behave and what they’ll be like solely (nor even mostly) based on her appearance.

However, in general, more attractive women will have higher self-esteem. They also tend to have superior social skills and are used to being approached so often handle it better and more playfully ¹.

Also, no one wants to feel that you’re dating them or are with them as a favor or that they are your second or third choice. It’s horrible. It only breeds resentment and then, likely, contempt. Avoid, avoid, avoid.

I really dislike the numerical categorization of people by attractiveness, but I guess I’ll do it too as it’s easy at least. I’ve dated women most people would call 10s and I’ve dated 3s. Since in all cases I dated them mostly for their personality and compatibility ², I think my experiences might not be representative. However, all that said, what he concludes with about self-esteem is correct: no matter if absurdly beautiful or plain, that self-esteem portion is what matters.

Just like choosing a beautiful woman only because she’s beautiful is a bad way to do it, picking an ugly woman just because she’s unattractive is also (unsurprisingly) an atrocious strategy.

1. I’ve been rejected by very beautiful women where I actually felt better than before. Now that’s a skill!
2. Yes, there has to be some initial attraction first, duh.

I like Aella, but this is a fucking idiotic take. It’s both, of course. That dude was a sociopath and the system sucks. He very much deserved death. That assassination was justice and the system itself should be torn down and reconstituted completely to be fair and equitable.

Why is that so fucking hard to understand? Aella is sex worker, but she’s also fairly right-wing in a lot of ways (this is more common than you think).

Anyone who wants a pit bull should be required to go into a locked room with one that has been starved for a week and fight the dog barehanded. If that person survives, they can then have a pit bull.

Easy. Clean. Fair.