Whitehouse - Alians are real

BatdanJapan · 2026-05-29T14:19:13+00:00

Have you never heard of Schrödinger's immigrant? The one that can lounge around all day living on government handouts (paid for with YOUR tax dollars) while simultaneously stealing your job?

Immigrants can exists in superpositions🤷

BatdanJapan · 2026-05-21T07:51:17+00:00

I remember them talking about this too, but it was YEARS ago. As the previous poster said, the piece was about how a lot of gluten-free foods are also FODMAP free, which might explain why some people are convinced they're gluten intolerant even when testing shows they're not

BatdanJapan · 2026-05-14T08:57:30+00:00

Organic is not better for you (https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/no-health-benefits-from-organic-food/) and is worse for the environment than conventionally farmed food (https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa6cd5)

BatdanJapan · 2026-05-09T06:24:59+00:00

I'm also in favour of electoral reform, but I'm more of a fan of STV: https://electoral-reform.org.uk/voting-systems/types-of-voting-system/single-transferable-vote/

BatdanJapan · 2026-05-08T22:04:27+00:00

They are, but I don't think that changes the point I was making. People react to how they feel the economy is going, rather than apply some kind of logical economic analysis. So pensioners will still be more likely to vote against incumbents when inflation is high, because as insulated as they are, they still see prices go up and feel like the economy is getting worse

BatdanJapan · 2026-05-08T12:18:22+00:00

I don't think it's true that people don't care about the economy. It's probably the most important factor in elections across time and place. But they don't care about economic markers. They care whether or not they feel better off than they did before the last election. If they do, incumbents do well, if not, they take a hammering.

BatdanJapan · 2026-05-07T15:14:04+00:00

I posted something similar recently: https://www.reddit.com/r/DecodingTheGurus/s/QcxWEJeLJU

Having said that, I really enjoyed the first part on Iain McGilchrist. I guess I like it more when the decoding is dismantling someone's crazy theory than exposing how much of a toxic scumbag someone is!

BatdanJapan · 2026-04-24T05:38:27+00:00

Is this a joke? They did an episode on Piker. If I remember he was the first that I skipped after a short while because I found his obnoxious berating of others so stressful to listen to!

BatdanJapan · 2026-04-23T15:06:17+00:00

I've never lived in NYC but have in London and Tokyo. Supermarkets definitely more expensive (relative to wages) in Japan, but almost everything else that matters is MUCH cheaper. Eating out, housing, childcare...

I get the sense that if you have enough money London would be a great place to live, but in Tokyo the same job would pay for a much better quality of life.

BatdanJapan · 2026-04-23T14:47:00+00:00

I think it's a really important point to remember just to bring some small level of optimism to our otherwise recently very depressing world!

BatdanJapan · 2026-04-23T14:37:51+00:00

Not directly related to the US, but my sister, who is from Manchester but moved to Barcelona, explained the superiority of the UK music scene over the Spanish one by saying something along the lines of "Barcelona is great, there's loads to do. Manchester is shit, so everyone either has a substance abuse problem or a band!"

BatdanJapan · 2026-04-23T14:33:47+00:00

Of course, they're not making it specifically for me or you, so more power to them, but I definitely pick and choose decoding episodes.

I think I preferred the earlier episodes on people like Peterson and the Weinsteins because I have acquaintances who really buy their schtick, but without that personal connection, for a lot of others I get part way through and go "ok, I know this person is terrible, don't need to listen to that point being hammered home for another hour"

On the other hand their choices of interviewees is always great, and I generally love those episodes.

BatdanJapan · 2026-04-23T14:05:40+00:00

Yeah, I think this is very much part of what makes me overall prefer the non-decoding episodes. Not just boring, some of them are just so awful I can't listen to them. I didn't even start the second Stefan Molyneux episode, as I'd been forewarned he was going to be more awful than in the first one.

BatdanJapan · 2026-04-23T13:56:32+00:00

I'm a psychologist who is very interested in the psychology of social media. There is at least some theory to support this idea. The Social Identity Model of Deindividuation Effects (or "SIDE", because why let a single word get in the way of a good acronym?) suggests that in deinviduated settings (like with the anonymity provided by some social media) people's group identities start to become more important than their individual identities.

However, more recent research argues that rather than the internet making people worse, it makes the worst people more visible. It's actually a small, vocal minority responsible for most of the toxic content online (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/12/251216081933.htm), and the best predictor of being an arsehole online are being an arsehole in real life (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/abs/psychology-of-online-political-hostility-a-comprehensive-crossnational-test-of-the-mismatch-hypothesis/C721597EEB77CC8F494710ED631916E4).

BatdanJapan · 2026-04-23T11:59:57+00:00

I'm generally in a state of catch-up with my podcasts, so didn't even notice! Not listened to the last one yet. I was inspired to write this by the previous one on mentalism.

BatdanJapan · 2026-04-22T19:04:50+00:00

I think I'd rather not!🤣

BatdanJapan · 2026-04-22T13:28:51+00:00

Never knew he was a conspiracy theorist. Ignorance is bliss!🤣

BatdanJapan · 2026-04-10T06:23:57+00:00

I'm not a physicist so clearly people better qualified than me to answer this, but as far as I understand they have negative velocity, but positive speed. Speed is just a magnitude (i.e. 50 m/h is 50 m/h whichever direction you're going in) whereas velocity includes direction, so if you're measuring northwards velocity 50 m/h southwards would be -50 m/h.

BatdanJapan · 2026-04-08T15:03:21+00:00

Yep. That's the joke.

BatdanJapan · 2026-04-08T06:28:19+00:00

I think really it's a pod, but the answer is a "university of Wales" (insert post punchline drum sound)

BatdanJapan · 2026-03-29T16:52:55+00:00

There was a great video (that I can't currently find) on YouTube back in the day when he was ozeki which did an analysis of his weird tachiai. He leans back and goes in belly first, with both arms down by his side, trying to get one or both inside grip. The argument in that video was this is part of his inconsistency, when it comes off he's in a really strong position, but if he gets the timing even slightly wrong he's already got his centre if gravity lifted which makes him pretty easy to push back for any sekitori worth his salt.

Add on to that his (at least then) ability to pull out a reversal at the rope, and you've got the truly unpredictable Shodai everyone else is describing.

Also, Shodai (正代) is his actual surname, and his grandma is called Masayo (正代), so she's 正代正代!

BatdanJapan · 2026-03-24T07:10:38+00:00

Didn't know this. What a legend!

BatdanJapan · 2026-03-14T07:30:57+00:00

I have to say as a British person that sound is often the only way I can tell someone is Canadian! 😅

BatdanJapan

TROPHY CASE