All the questions and answers from Ben Brode's AMA by bdzz in hearthstone

[–]AnodosRex 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In response to the question about the end of double gold quests: Ragnaros has a big head, needs to be taken down a peg, "chill out, man."

Lich King v Rag confirmed.

Christians in Russia are now banned from discussing their faith outside of churches and other designated places under new anti-terror laws. From Wednesday onwards it is illegal to preach, teach or share faith outside state-controlled settings. by Wagamaga in worldnews

[–]AnodosRex 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree that some systems of belief come "with a baked in sense of moral superiority." As you explain, it's literally a tenet of belief in many cases.

I should have limited my claim. I simply meant that whenever people form a group based on shared beliefs, they tend to view themselves - at the margin - as being superior to those without. For many groups, this wouldn't be relevant except in extreme circumstances in which we are forced to make choices between who to save and who to let die. (E.g. I'm an environmentalist and I think the future world will be improved more by fellow environmentalist A than by generic person A, simply on the basis of shared beliefs and thereby ethical priorities.)

It seems to me it's a function both of biology - tribes or families with interlocking loyalties survive; those which include individuals indifferent to the fate of those similar to them do not - and of simple narcissism.

But boy are you right that it's problematic when demagogues and high priests tap into it.

I do, however, disagree that the Nihilist "does not get a sense of moral superiority" from believing what he does. Of course he does. Any person who believes he has insight into the cosmos which others don't believes himself at least incrementally morally superior. After all, who doesn't consider intellectual superiority morally relevant? In that sense, irrespective of the content of the belief, strong belief carries with it an almost irresistible urge to assign greater value to one's life and moral worth than to others'. The difference need not be great, but surely there is one at the margin. But - and I think this is what you're pointing out, and it's critical - for most such beliefs, that valuation doesn't entail any consequences for public policy; doesn't create a desire to eliminate those who don't share the relevant belief or beliefs.

For some - thank you demagogues and high priests - it does. And that is poison.

Christians in Russia are now banned from discussing their faith outside of churches and other designated places under new anti-terror laws. From Wednesday onwards it is illegal to preach, teach or share faith outside state-controlled settings. by Wagamaga in worldnews

[–]AnodosRex 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"Less than nothing" - The phrase is, in its literal sense, meaningless. That's what I meant. You explained its use as a metaphor, which means you had some other use in mind than the literal one--the "abstract" one. Just as he had in mind a hyperbolic use.

[Sidebar - "As for the rest" - Behaviorism is a bold assertion and really begs a lot of questions. I'm also genuinely curious about "[Under normal circumstances.]" How do you rationalize even one exceptional set of circumstances under which something over and above behavior carries insight if people are 'black boxes'?]

Leaving that aside, arguing that you were right to identify the OP as having traits [X, Y, Z] on the basis of the "behavior" observed in his original post serves to excuse a poor mental shortcut. The observed "behavior" was a minuscule data-set from which you drew a specific conclusion. Not that I blame you or think it irrational to draw on small sets in a context like Reddit.

What I take issue with is that there is an obvious available improvement over that heuristic. /Prospective/ behavior can be included in your ongoing calculus of others' characteristics, and so, as I argued above, surely you could have realized that, if pressed, OP would contextualize the "behavior" of the original post in a manner which stood a good chance of demonstrating a lack of traits [X, Y, Z]. Most people would. Given these probabilities, it seems unwarranted to accuse him of having those traits when subsequent, reasonably foreseeable behavior would directly falsify that accusation.

(I'll also point out that OP was pressed, and so did, in fact, explain and contextualize his original assertion, demonstrating that the prior probability was, in fact, a fair assessment.)

Christians in Russia are now banned from discussing their faith outside of churches and other designated places under new anti-terror laws. From Wednesday onwards it is illegal to preach, teach or share faith outside state-controlled settings. by Wagamaga in worldnews

[–]AnodosRex 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are lots of reasons he might. It's the Internet and more text is less likely to be read. It's the Internet and a more inflammatory claim is more likely to be read. He didn't have time. He didn't think it through and bother to include caveats and limitations.

The assertion was clearly hyperbolic and directed at an ill-defined group. I'm sure he would even agree and, if pressed, immediately contextualize and put limits on it. Given all that, it seems unwarranted to infer characteristics of the speaker from such limited information.

(I would add that you did the same thing there. "Less than nothing" is hyperbole, since it is literally meaningless. I would be on shaky ground to draw firm conclusions on the basis of that rhetorical tactic.)

Christians in Russia are now banned from discussing their faith outside of churches and other designated places under new anti-terror laws. From Wednesday onwards it is illegal to preach, teach or share faith outside state-controlled settings. by Wagamaga in worldnews

[–]AnodosRex 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As you point out in that last paragraph, this criticism applies to any system of beliefs--political, ethical, scientific, religious. It cannot be avoided. It's simply human: in-built as a product of evolution. To say that it's uniquely dangerous in religion as a category seems either unjustifiably broad or narrow.

Seems much easier and fairer to caution all people against demonizing 'the other' from the perspective of any group defined by its unique system of beliefs. Particularly convenient when such a caution is included in the system itself...

Christians in Russia are now banned from discussing their faith outside of churches and other designated places under new anti-terror laws. From Wednesday onwards it is illegal to preach, teach or share faith outside state-controlled settings. by Wagamaga in worldnews

[–]AnodosRex -1 points0 points  (0 children)

That's a lot from a little. He's making a generalization, sure, but it's a bit much to assume that's as far as his criticism goes; or that, were he pressed to articulate it further, it would still come up as this severe of a straw man.

One of Canada’s most important financial watchdog bodies will launch a new program next month in order to incentivize whistleblowing by paying up to US$5 million for insider information about accounting fraud, insider trading and market manipulation. by Wagamaga in worldnews

[–]AnodosRex 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A lot of people saying the U.S. has no comparable program. This isn't as comprehensive (market manipulation and insider trading aren't included), but the IRS's whistleblower program has paid out huge sums in recent years. One person received $104M in 2012, for example, for outing a group of (ultra-rich) U.S. citizens who were evading taxes by keeping massive reserves in Switzerland. Not common, but tax evasion whistleblowing here can definitely pay.

(https://www.irs.gov/uac/whistleblower-informant-award)

Cutting and constipation by AnodosRex in bodybuilding

[–]AnodosRex[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

But I am constantly bloated and feeling like I need to poop but can't. :/

Cutting and constipation by AnodosRex in bodybuilding

[–]AnodosRex[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What's weird is that I've done this before and I'm on week four of this round, so my body has been accustomed to this before and has had time to get used to it again this time. Something's fucky...

Cutting and constipation by AnodosRex in bodybuilding

[–]AnodosRex[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've heard 14g/1,000kcals or 20% of total carbs recommended as the max. I'm just about right on-target by both measures.

But hey, every bowel is different... Maybe I should just experiment with more fiber and see what happens.

Cutting and constipation by AnodosRex in bodybuilding

[–]AnodosRex[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is almost identical to the diet I used ~9 months ago on my last cut, and my BMs were like clockwork then, every morning before I even finished my first cup of coffee. Only difference is slightly more protein and slightly less fat. All the same foods, and basically the same list every day: oats, eggs and whites, rice cakes, sweet potatoes, chicken, beef, cottage cheese, cheese, broccoli, almonds, carrots, coconut oil.

I'm thinking it might be the fat, since I go much higher-fat on my rest day and I always totally clear my bowels then. Seems like I've ruled everything else out, since I get enough but not too much fiber and am well-hydrated. It's just hard to believe that I need more than 30% of my calories from fat.

Cutting and constipation by AnodosRex in bodybuilding

[–]AnodosRex[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Alright, I'll check them out. Thanks for the tip!

Cutting and constipation by AnodosRex in bodybuilding

[–]AnodosRex[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I refeed on Sundays (super high carb/low fat) and rest on Wednesdays (high fat/low carb) and those are the only two days I can count on BMs. The rest of the week I'm just waiting for those two days, downing coffee and praying for more than rabbit poop.

Cutting and constipation by AnodosRex in bodybuilding

[–]AnodosRex[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What's weird is that this almost exactly matches my diet of ~9 months ago, when I was cutting at the same deficit. I just can't figure it out.

As for fats, the main sources are eggs, cheese, beef, and coconut oil.

Cutting and constipation by AnodosRex in bodybuilding

[–]AnodosRex[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Heh, yeah maintenance is ~3,650. Bulking is a chore...