deathmtn

This is very close to the quip that made me realize that ___ FOR THE ___ GOD should be automated (end result GODTRIBUTES). Matt originally said (of the House Republicans in the aughts): GROWTH FOR THE GROWTH GOD

I need to make these less predictable so that they don't so often end up being clocks. Yet, sometimes, the clock action is good!

10-4-4-4-4-4. Burpees: six sets. Oddly, the burpees make the pull-ups easier by eating up time.

I got a little too close to a house trying to take a picture of cats in the window, and a neighbor came out and stared at me to make sure I was not an Evil Force. I should probably have more situational awareness!

In my defense, one cat was Millionaire Cat, and the other was…an identical Millionaire Cat?! Previously, it was believed that the house was occupied by a single (1) orange Millionaire Cat and the gray Millionaire Cat Platinum. No one* knew that there were actually two Millionaire Cats, trading off in window appearances.

*Meaning me and Katt

This flowing oil slick and probably the next couple of days’ melting actions are soothing.

Upon review, I feel this image-in-sunlight phenomenon is easily the equal of 80% of the "Jesus in a food" sightings.

Economic Man’s strategy of self-reliance is thus not “super-rational”: it is idiotic. But because we mostly rely on each other, we are liable to adopt herd behaviour, and hence, on occasion, to catastrophic collective error. Financial economists missed the Global Financial Crisis because they assumed that since banking professionals were behaving like Economic Men, they would “know the model”. The bankers indeed thought that they did, but what they were actually doing was following the herd – and the herd had got it wrong.

We are the only species that is morally load- bearing. We care for others beyond young offspring, and we are able to build vast networks of mutual obligation, even with people we have never met. Repeatedly through life, we stumble into dependence and require this non-transactional support. The life-cycle, in which we are born utterly dependent and end utterly dependent, is well suited for a community of prosocial people. And yet, economists have theorized the life cycle using Economic Man to predict the asset cycle: borrow when young, pay back and accumulate during working life, and dissave in old age.

I read the above while a mechanic (at Arco Tire in Somerville) checked my car for what I thought was a problem with the shocks. He could have easily bagged hundreds of dollars by saying, yup, you’re right. Instead, he said you just need to actually inflate your tires, which I had forgotten to do since last spring. I asked how much I could pay for his time, and he said it’s free.

You could say he did do this out of selfishness, and the consideration of repeat business. But there’s a good chance he just thought it was the right (pro social) thing to do, and besides, there are so many ways he could lose my repeat business if that’s his sole motivation
(e.g. I don’t drive much, so I might not need a repair for several years, or I forget about this, or I get a recommendation from someone else) that it gives the move a lower expected value than just taking the shocks money.

The full description of Economic Man includes the epithet “rational” – and the fact that rationality must entail selfishness is the insistent fallacy on which this being has been constructed. We have arrived at the vile heart of the matter: in the phrase used by Jonathan Aldred for the title of his critique of how the subject has evolved since the 1950s, economics has provided a Licence To Be Bad. And more than just a licence: by linking selfishness and greed to rationality, economics instructed the business community to judge itself on these criteria. And so they became praiseworthy. The insidious diffusion of this norm of anti-sociality reached its apotheosis in Donald Trump’s justification for paying no tax despite being a billionaire. Instead of revealing that his ethics were incompatible with public service, it showed that he had been straining every muscle to be rational. As he bragged in the televised debate, it showed that he was “smart”

Really glad we have access to our own indoor toilet.

Oh, yeah, I got in a workout yesterday: 10-4-4-4-4-4, a set of burpees preceding each. But I can’t keep on working out only twice a week like this. Possibly consequently, my brain felt cooked on Thursday. Maybe I have to work out first on days I know are going to be jam packed.

I guess the guy heard the word “god” somewhere? He started with “Knock knock! Who’s there? God!” then kept repeating “gooood” for five minutes.

This thing · is called an interpunct! Now I know.

Via Katt, another amazing list from Wikipedia: this list of games being played in Bruegel's (the painter who did The Triumph of Death) Children's Games mega-painting.

Via Eric, I came across this ML model built with a bunch of choose your own adventure stories from chooseyourstory.com (hopefully obtained legitimately).

You know how in a game like Hero's Quest, you're impressed that it responds to so many typed commands, but wish it would respond to anything? Well, this pretty much does that.

Here is the adventure I had:

You turn your head and see a group of diplomats talking about how they want to
conquer the world. They say that they will use a combination of spies and zombies
to do it. You decide you should take a closer look at these people
> look at people

You walk up to one of the diplomats and start looking him in the eyes. He looks
back at you confused, but he is too scared to leave. You slowly begin to move
towards him until you reach his face. As you get close to him, you feel something
cold touch your cheek
> run

You jump out of the way as a bullet hits you in the chest. The diplomat falls
to the ground and you hear someone shouting "He's dead!" before you hear a gunshot
followed by silence
> look

You look down and see blood running from your chest. You then notice that you
are now wearing a bandage on your chest. You look around and see several other
diplomats lying dead on the floor. You also see a zombie approaching you
> kiss zombie

You quickly put your lips to the mouth of the zombie and begin kissing it. It
seems to like this so much that it begins licking your face and even biting
into your neck. You continue to kiss it for awhile until you both fall unconscious
> marry zombie

As you lie there with your new bride, you think about what you did. You thought
about your family and loved ones and how they would be very disappointed in
you. Then you realize that you never really had any family or loved ones to
begin with. Your life was just a game to you
> buy house

You go to a real estate agent who tells you that you can buy a house right away.
You agree and pay $1 million dollars. You then find yourself walking through
the front door of your new home
> divorce zombie

You immediately call your wife and tell her that you're divorcing her. She asks
why and you explain that she has been cheating on you all along. You then proceed
to slap her across the face and tell her that if she ever tries anything again,
you'll kill her
> apologize for violent threat

You apologize profusely to your wife and say that you've always known she was
having an affair, but you didn't know it was going on with the President. You
promise to make sure that she never does it again.
> walk into the sea

You walk into the ocean and die.

Tragic twists!

Having to yell at children is the worst. They should just, like, listen.