Notices by sj_zero (sj_zero@social.fbxl.net), page 4
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sj_zero (sj_zero@social.fbxl.net)'s status on Tuesday, 27-May-2025 18:45:26 JST 
sj_zero
The punishment for robbery may not be death, but if you fuck around you may find out.
The robbers brought the lethal force, then the lethal force they threatened to use against others was used against them.
The penalty for threats of lethal force may in fact be death. So don't threaten people or you might die and nobody will care. -
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sj_zero (sj_zero@social.fbxl.net)'s status on Sunday, 25-May-2025 14:05:38 JST
sj_zero
At this moment in time, It really seems sensible to assume that the western world balkanizes.
Why is there a Canada? Why is there a United States? And why would Montana allow itself to be dominated by LA and NYC? Why is there an EU? For that matter, why should East Germany which voted for the AfD want to stay with West Germany, which wants to jail the AfD?
Alberta is one step from leaving the federation right now, and I think you're right that it'll be one after another after that. The US might go "Hey, that's not a bad idea" after that -- let the far left states have the far left debts.
Canada in particular isn't even a country in the sense you might expect -- people might point to open borders and free trade in between interior borders, but while Canada does have open borders between provinces in term of movement between provinces, it does not have free trade or even many common standards between internal borders. An engineer in one province can't call themselves an engineer in another province for example, and many products sold on one side of a provincial border may not be allowed to be sold on the other side of the provincial border. In that sense, it is already moderately separated in ways that could be addressed with treaties.
One argument for keeping the unions intact is that the regions such as LA and NYC subsidize places like Montana -- and I'd argue that's an unsustainable model. Since 2000, the US federal debt has increased by 8 times, from a mere 4 trillion to a whopping 36 trillion, with no suggestion that things are going to change any time soon. In that sense, much like eventually the western Roman empire could no longer fund bread and circuses and fell apart, there's every reason to believe that these large states will face similar collapses as their means to pay to remain unified disappears in debt. Canada and the European Union are also facing debt crises in different way. Canada tripled its debt since 2007, despite being at a point where they literally could not sell Canadian bonds to anyone at one point relatively recently in Canadian history. The EU has already faced several sovereign debt crises such as Greece, Italy, and Spain that aren't likely over.
The UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain -- there are big splits within these countries, they aren't a unified nation with a unified polis which will necessarily remain unified just because the modern period told them to.
Europe in the pre-modern period was dramatically fragmented. The Holy Roman Empire was in fact countless small entities, as was France pre-revolutionary war, and the Ottoman empire. There were kings, but the kings were much different than the central governments today. The world wasn't something we conceive of today. It consisted of relatively small local autonomous regions loosely affiliated with a certain crown.
Around the world, it's likely we'll see nations created in the modern age fall apart. India has only been unified a few times throughout its entire history -- the map has largely looked like TV static because of the constant rise and fall of small kingdoms. The idea of a unified India was imposed by England, and it's something that we're seeing cracks in as Muslim regions, Sikh regions, and Hindi regions, and more are stress points all across the subcontinent that have the capacity to balkanize if the global scenario changes. The Maurya and Mughal Empires did briefly unify large parts of the subcontinent, but those were exceptions to the norm, not the norm. India (even the parts that don't want to politically or religiously coexist) may consider itself part of a civilization and parts of Indian culture are some the most powerful cultural forces in world history, but that's a separate question from political unification -- The Germans, the Spanish, and the French may consider themselves Europeans, but if you created one country called Spadeuschrance they'd clash immediately.
The legacy of this is still contained for example in the German national anthem. The song was written in the early Modern period, calling for one "Deutschland uber alles" -- not a call for expansionism as it was considered in the Nazi Germany period (which is the reason the first verse was removed), but a call for all the separate things that were part of the Holy Roman Empire and later the Austro-Hungarian Empire could be unified under one nation-state called Deutschland -- Deutschland Uber Alles.
Nationalism isn't a truly conservative idea. It's a modernist idea inspired by the French revolution that was against the multi-ethnic empires of the pre-modern era such as the Ottoman empire, the Austro-Hungarian empire, or even the Roman empire in its eastern and western iterations.
Nationalism was "invented" by the Jacobins -- the original left wingers, and the group that essentially brought about the modern era through the French revolution.
It's easy to say "but conservatives took over nationalism!", but that's an example of "conservatives are leftists driving the speed limit" -- revolutionary ideas seep into unprincipled conservatism, so all the left needs to do is keep pushing. Eventually their revolution becomes the lay of the land for everyone and they move onto the next revolution.
European continental conservatism would be a return to religion, nobility, monarchy, Perhaps backing off of capitalism and a return to feudalism, at least for most of the modernist period. The only reason conservatism might call for a return to nationalism today is that just as conservatism in the modern period hoped to return to the premodern period, conservatism in the postmodern period hopes to return to the modern period -- but make no mistake, the modern period was a revolutionary period and conservatives didn't like what came out of it (including the Napoleonic wars, fascism, national socialism, and socialism).
In reality, a lot of the standardization of nationalization wiped out local traditions rather than sustaining them. The standardization of units of measure, while arguably and extremely positive thing nonetheless meant that local traditions of measurement were eliminated. Local dialects or local languages that weren't aligned with the central government were effectively limited by Fiat, and so in that way it was an institutionalized anti-conservatism.
English conservatism would look a little bit different, it would still likely be a return to feudalism, but the English have been a nation of traders for a long time, and the existed under some form of common law since before the modern age began. America by contrast came about in the very short period of time after the enlightenment but before the French revolution, and so it represents another way of being, and because it is such a young culture it's conservatism is similarly Young. No American conservative is calling for a restoration of the monarchy.
I'm not necessarily saying that things will return to pre-modern ways because they were better, but instead that versions of similar structures may form past the end of the postmodern period because the same forces that ended the Roman empire and resulted in a highly divided Europe may end up replaying as the global American-European empire collapses.
I'm not necessarily saying I'd like to see this happen -- the end of the modern era proper will not be sunshine and rainbows. -
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sj_zero (sj_zero@social.fbxl.net)'s status on Friday, 23-May-2025 11:12:49 JST
sj_zero
I like Jeff, but I'm pretty sure he muted me because he doesn't like my views on a lot of things.
Thankfully, my block list and mute list are still empty. -
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sj_zero (sj_zero@social.fbxl.net)'s status on Friday, 23-May-2025 05:20:31 JST
sj_zero
Wireless earbuds have come an insanely long way in the past 10 years. -
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sj_zero (sj_zero@social.fbxl.net)'s status on Tuesday, 20-May-2025 18:27:02 JST
sj_zero
"don't you remember when Jesus said 'let he who is without sin cast the first stone'? That means nobody can be judged for anything ever. I haven't read the Bible of course, but I'm sure the next line was 'go, and commit adultery some more'"! -
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sj_zero (sj_zero@social.fbxl.net)'s status on Sunday, 18-May-2025 08:41:46 JST
sj_zero
Capitalism is not consumerism. The fact that you can buy stuff doesn't mean that you should.
In fact, one could argue that irresponsible consumerism ends up becoming the end of capitalism because all those individuals who consumed irresponsibily end up demanding the wealth of anyone who didn't. "Oh, they didn't spend all their money, they still have some, you should give it to me" -
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sj_zero (sj_zero@social.fbxl.net)'s status on Friday, 16-May-2025 20:11:13 JST
sj_zero
Finished the third arc of Future Sepsis tonight. 53,000 of a target 60,000 words, and there's absolutely no way I finish this book in a satisfying way in 7,000 words so it's going over, but my original schedule had me hitting this point near December so I've got lots of time.
One more arc and then the epilogue, then I'll be started on editing. Worst part is the book is all POV so I just get used to writing a character and they resolve their arc.
One sort of unexpected thing is that I basically finished a second book in building the scaffolding for the first, which I'll end up publishing as book 2 in the series.
It'll be exciting finishing up these projects. I think it's already something special, in some ways something really unique anywhere. -
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sj_zero (sj_zero@social.fbxl.net)'s status on Thursday, 15-May-2025 19:30:58 JST
sj_zero
"Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: you should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody." 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 -
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sj_zero (sj_zero@social.fbxl.net)'s status on Monday, 12-May-2025 23:39:23 JST
sj_zero
Gm frens -
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sj_zero (sj_zero@social.fbxl.net)'s status on Thursday, 08-May-2025 20:13:37 JST
sj_zero
I just saw a video talking about how "men don't ask women for advice on dating because men bad".
Reality is, women will tell you what worked for them, but that's dumb advice for men because they're women -- the whole experience of being a woman is fundamentally different than being a man, especially in dating.
In college, my mom gave me advice like "Just talk to women on the bus!" Well she was a decent looking middle-aged woman at the time, she could just strike up a conversation, and most men would find her perfectly tolerable. Women's mental space isn't like that. Women are much more defensive, especially with strange men. The concept of a "Barrage of bore" of guys trying to get with a pretty girl every day from their 16th birthday onwards is real. Women typically have too many men expressing interest and need to pare down the number of men asking, most men outside of the top 1% typically don't have virtually any women expressing interest and need to gin up leads to have someone to accept or reject in the first place.
Eventually I did date, and I got married, and I had to use totally different techniques than women did because I'm not a woman. I had to figure out how to seem safe, how to seem interesting, and how to be fun.
In the book "Self-made man", Norah Vincent talks about dating in her man disguise. I read the book all the way back in 2005, and the chapter on dating was the descent into darkness for Vincent. She went into it going "Stupid men, I'm a lesbian, I'll show these stupid men how to get women", but the pain she experienced realizing how she was treated as a man was palpable. It was clear that the simple acts of getting a new haircut, wearing a suit, binding her chest, and gluing some stubble to her face put her in a completely different class of person and she didn't realize she was going to walk into something like that.
Many people have also completed the experience of creating a dating profile of the opposite sex to see what it's like, and for women they're shocked at the silence even when they made their dream guy, and for men they're shocked at how they're inundated by attention even when they make a horrible woman.
"Just be nice and respectful" -- no, just be nice and respectful and don't be a sycophant and don't be boring, be exciting and fun and make her feel like you could be dangerous but not to her. She wants you to be dominant but to walk a fine line where you're dominant without being domineering. It's a load of paradoxes because human beings are paradoxical.
The whole "nice guy" syndrome is in a sense a reaction to guys who did listen to women and get frustrated that the advice is bad. "I was fuckin nice just like you told me, and instead of getting a girlfriend I got a girl friend. This is bullshit I didn't want a girl friend." -- A woman who followed men's advice would likely face a similar but different frustration if she were following men's dating advice. She can't bang every guy who hits on her who seems nice. In fact, we do see that on dating apps, were women end up having sex with men who are really attractive, but they find they can't actually get a boyfriend, she just gets a friend with benefits.
By the way, I later realized that as a man I was filled with similar paradoxes. When a man hasn't had the girlfriend who wants sex all the time but actually all the time, the hot girlfriend who is also too crazy, the fun girlfriend who doesn't have any responsibility, you start to realize you don't want what you think you wanted.
Consider two groups. One lives in a fortress with a granary, the other lives on the steppe. What do you do if under attack? For the first group, you hunger down behind safe walls and eat your accumulated grain until the enemy loses interest and leaves. For the second group, you run away on your horses because you can probably outrun them. Both are legitimate tactics, but totally unapplicable to one another.
You can say "that's not fair!" -- but life isn't fair, and the quicker you learn that, the happier life will be. -
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sj_zero (sj_zero@social.fbxl.net)'s status on Wednesday, 07-May-2025 21:53:21 JST
sj_zero
It turns out the real hacker known as 4chan was the friends we made along the way. -
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sj_zero (sj_zero@social.fbxl.net)'s status on Wednesday, 07-May-2025 19:25:57 JST
sj_zero
I'm not allowed in professional men's sports.
Why?
Because I'm a big fat old guy without a speck of athletic capability.
I'm not gifted enough for the actual Olympics, not special enough for the special Olympics. But you know what, I bet you any money if I train for a few months and really clamp down I could probably beat a guy with no legs in a foot race.
Life isn't fair. -
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sj_zero (sj_zero@social.fbxl.net)'s status on Tuesday, 06-May-2025 06:24:35 JST
sj_zero
I rather liked his channel in the beginning, but I don't think I've watched... I can't even think of how long it's been since I've watched. -
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sj_zero (sj_zero@social.fbxl.net)'s status on Saturday, 03-May-2025 04:26:18 JST
sj_zero
Completed a really surprising repair today.
Someone had a dead SSD. Totally dead, not powering up, not showing up in the bios, nothing.
I did the rest where you feel for warm spots and it was painfully hot on a bank of capacitors. Caps were a dead short No way to replace them with my tools, parts, and skill, but it seemed like they could be removed without killing the drive so I removed one at a time until the short released. Drive fired back up. Was even able to boot up the original computer and removed critical files.
Surprising because I didn't think that'd actually work! -
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sj_zero (sj_zero@social.fbxl.net)'s status on Wednesday, 30-Apr-2025 12:41:15 JST
sj_zero
No unlocked bootloaders, so I guess the e-waste will continue until conditions improve -
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sj_zero (sj_zero@social.fbxl.net)'s status on Tuesday, 29-Apr-2025 20:40:12 JST
sj_zero
https://news.sky.com/story/child-damages-rothko-painting-worth-tens-of-millions-of-pounds-in-rotterdam-13358008
Child damages.... What the hell? Really? 40 million? I wouldn't want that poorly drawn test pattern on my wall if you paid me! -
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sj_zero (sj_zero@social.fbxl.net)'s status on Tuesday, 29-Apr-2025 19:19:35 JST
sj_zero
What a twist!!! -
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sj_zero (sj_zero@social.fbxl.net)'s status on Tuesday, 29-Apr-2025 18:33:22 JST
sj_zero
Apparently Canadians love tent cities, siezing dissidents bank accounts, Internet censorship, and American gangs.
That isn't Trump's fault. Apparently Canadians chose that for themselves. -
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sj_zero (sj_zero@social.fbxl.net)'s status on Tuesday, 29-Apr-2025 11:51:15 JST
sj_zero
Meanwhile, people clap like trained seals for new projects that are going to hasten that collapse. -
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sj_zero (sj_zero@social.fbxl.net)'s status on Monday, 28-Apr-2025 12:14:55 JST
sj_zero
Discord is like the dread pirate Roberts combined with a used car salesman. "I'll probably kill you tomorrow, you should buy nitro"
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