IGX

Thanks for all the hard work, Dux

I hope I can find meaning via working on being a better personal trainer and surfer. I don't want to neglect all the other things that are important (a strong global education, a healthy global environment, justice and opportunity for all), but it's challenging to know the best ways to help those go...

Gotcha. I watched one of the Epstein documentaries on Netflix, which is as nauseating and evil as it gets. And there's a ton of loose threads there attached to the high and mighty. QAnon seems like a red herring for a big issue, so I avoid it, but seeing all those young people traumatized is fucking...

Don't take this personally, but this reaction is what I don't understand. If the whole Epstein scandal laid one thing bare, it's that there really is an elite--with ex-presidents, moguls, and movie stars among them--in this country that considers themselves above the law and engages in a lifestyle ...

By the way, Fat Cat, I recommend Eiger Dreams by Krakauer. It's a collection of short stories on climbing and mountaineering -- I think Nafod suggested this to me, thank you! While I don't have much interest in going climbing, I enjoy learning about it. Krakauer is a great writer in general, but he ...

Finished The Dorito Effect, recommended by Syaigh. There's a few central ideas: Nutrition and flavor are traditionally linked. Animals, and humans, eat what tastes good, in part because it's good for us. A sick chimp, for example, will seek out certain plants when sick. Modern foods are selected for...

I made it through a few minutes, and found myself staring at the ceiling, eyes wide open, mouth agape, brain shut off, before stopping it. Then restarted it, and lasted less than ten seconds. I can't take filling my head with this nonsense: "when I see the number seventeen, I think Q, because Q...

It's Not About You by Bob Burg. Short business book, told as a story. Found it fun and exposed some glaring weaknesses, professionally and otherwise. Also provided ideas and clarity on other things. Recommended for those who like this sort of thing (self-help/biz books). https://www.amazon.com/Its-...

I finished a Carl Hiassen novel called "Skin Tight" which has a great protagonist, but was overall okay. I kept catching myself imagining all the characters wearing Covid masks by accident, even though the story's set in the late 80's. I'd be asking myself, "How do they know what thei...

Wow. I remember when the Rodney King verdict was announced, and I was so shocked and outraged I took my shoe off and flung it at the TV (I was in junior high). When the riots started, I wasn't surprised. Right now, I'm shocked again, but have a sense of peace this time around. And if riots start thi...

One example of "Doing what i'm supposed to," that was a regret: Fresh out of college, and a newly employed trainer, I went to massage school to learn anatomy. I loved it. Loved giving massages. Loved focusing on having other people feel great after. But I told myself, "you have to foc...

I am not interested in a debate on gender identities, polyamory, etc. What did come out of reading this, particularly the quoted parts, is re-examining what I'm doing because I'm supposed to. How does this apply to you? Would you rather be saying: "Fuck it, I'm gonna dress like a viking and wri...

Super funny and highly recommended.

Time-loop/Groundhog Day type-movie.

Nice story, thanks for the share :)

He's got a good head on his shoulders. I can't imagine having $75 million and spending basically none of it after four years. It says he lives in downtown New Orleans and walks home after games. Admirable.

First time listening litrpg. "Reality blenders" series by Michael Atamanov. Just ended first book "Countdown". Unexpectedly very good. Is that where characters in the story "level up" like in a role-playing game? Heard a friend mention the genre... Just finished Gerry ...

baffled wrote: ↑Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:41 am
That's the kind of energy this place needs.

I just look at it as balance. Free speech goes both ways. You can say hateful shit, and you can argue against it.

Did you have brothers and sisters growing up? Because that's an only child's line of thinking. Everyone is both bully and bullied in their life. That's my point. To give that up, just like trying to artificially force yourself to give up your natural in-group preference, is fake and gay. The very o...

Fat Cat wrote: ↑Thu Apr 01, 2021 10:35 pm This thread is proof of the toll xenoestrogens are taking on our health.

Standing up to people is generally scarier than bullying them.

Bullies usually are choosing the weak to pick on.

Would you rather be the person that puts somebody down or the person that stands up for somebody else?

Thanks for the kind words and the Pete Ralson rec, newguy :) To the pursuit of good things

Seeking harmony all the time is like seeking a germ-free environment all the time. It disrupts the antifragile characteristics of our organism that thrive and build themselves through conflict. I'm not saying everything needs to be a battle, but I always get the feeling that some people are just pu...

Transcending thoughts of good or bad seems to be on the money for a life of harmony — and not what I’m doing here. Da struggle. I am not sure this is accurate. For many years I thought it was. But I am beginning to think it's wrong. First - I think that we in the west really have no idea what Zen o...

Just finished Cosmic Banditos by A.C. Weisbecker. This was such a bat-shit crazy, funny tale about drugs, mayhem, banditos, and quantum physics. One character's solution for every problem is to throw a grenade at it, usually while smacked out of his head on coke and booze. Another is a shaman who sw...

Thanks newguy :) I know life is capricious. Trying to stay grateful :heart: I guess I get lost in this shit, because I look at philosophy (or our worldviews) as an adjunct to physical fitness....how do you be spiritually and mentally healthy and vigorous? I don’t think hate and anger are the answer,...

Without going into a full length whitepaper, in my view, human emotions are an evolved adaptation to the environment. That means the full gambit of human emotions has some purpose, imparts some evolutionary advantage, or it wouldn't be there. Hate is, for lack of a better term, an "extreme&quo...

I dunno, brah. I reject the idea that racial or other prejudices automatically equal hate. Everybody makes generalizations about the "other"--many of them negative--and that's not likely to change based on the way our brains work. This is a pivot tho. Homeboy baffled is touting the benefi...