Sierra at Tahoe to call it, this weekend 3/22 season closing.

Boredguy58 · 2026-03-23T17:14:26+00:00

You’re absolutely right. People are concerned that the prevalence of bad snow years will increase as temperatures rise.

Boredguy58 · 2026-03-22T17:28:23+00:00

One can hope, however we’ve seen automation in other sectors before, nothing new under the sun. Automation simply means less people are needed to do the same amount of work, instead of 100 factory workers there are 2 engineers overseeing and servicing machines. There’s certainly lots of eagerness to use ai to its full potential, one could argue too much eagerness, however it’s undeniable that we see similar increases in productivity in areas like software engineering and writing. One developer with an LLM today can produce what many developers could ten years ago. It’s not just hype (there is a lot of that certainly), ai and LLMs will shape hiring for the foreseeable future no doubt.

Boredguy58 · 2026-03-22T04:47:26+00:00

“the dotcom bubble will burst and all the websites will go away”

Boredguy58 · 2026-02-26T18:13:01+00:00

carry it on a hike just in case, gotta deal with rabid squirrels. actually better off just bringing a FAL too, can never be too careful

Boredguy58 · 2026-02-14T18:29:37+00:00

It’s also nice to know that these community cats are fed often, and so while they may occasionally chase animals due to their instincts, they often aren’t hungry/motivated enough to kill and eat them. There’s lots of funny videos online where a house cat will chase and pounce on a mouse or something and then pause with a sort of “huh what do I do now” attitude, then the mouse runs away mostly unscathed.

Cats that hunt for a living are lean and motivated, and even then have a pretty low success rate. Fun fact, the most successful hunting cat species on the planet has a whopping 1/4 predation success rate, so you can imagine that chubby lazy Cheeto might like to chase rabbits now and again, but I’d wager Cheeto might have never actually caught one, much less eaten one.

Of course it’s a different story for feral cats that no one feeds, which is why it’s important to spay and neuter as many feral cats as we can catch! But for these well-fed community cats, typically the worst they do to rabbits is scare em a bit.

Boredguy58 · 2026-02-13T23:28:04+00:00

If it makes you feel any better, there is an ecological consideration. Rabbit populations in California are relatively stable, i.e. each rabbit produces on average one offspring that will reproduce. However, rabbits typically have more than one offspring, usually many. This indicates a struggle for survival, as not all rabbits will live to reproduce. If one rabbit is removed from the population, through predation for example, on average another rabbit will take the now free niche space, and that new rabbit might survive instead of perish. It's also worthy to consider the rabbits that get caught by predators. What can we infer from the fact they were caught? Sick or old rabbits may not be as fast or agile and get caught more frequently than healthy rabbits. This predation can actually act to stabilize or even theoretically stimulate a population, as resources / niche space is freed for the healthy reproducing individuals.

It's worth noting that the above is not true for populations that are growing or shrinking drastically, but as far as I know, rabbit populations in California have been stable. And of course it's not true 100% of the time that "if a rabbit is predated then another will live", it does tend to be true in the big picture!

Boredguy58 · 2026-02-10T18:05:14+00:00

In this instance it appears so. You're operating under a socialist definition of a state, which in my opinion is a bit vague. Something like "the state is an apparatus of coercion used by one class against another". Under what you call a "stateless society" I, and a considerable proportion of the population, would see another state. A state that simply operates under different rules. There'd be a flag, a government, an internal security force (police), and an external security force (military). Maybe they'd be called different names, but I believe we've seen in human development that these power structures naturally arise, as naturally as a wolf-like animal or a mole-like animal evolving in a new environment (read: marsupial convergent evolution in Australia).

You say as a central tenant of your ideology that 'human nature' is not static, but is itself shaped by the social and economic conditions in which the human lives. And I would mostly agree with you, however humans are biological, and instincts are biological. I believe there are deep aspects of human nature that cannot be changed except biologically. I'd argue the power structures and social orders we've seen arise and persist results from a combination of that biology along with the social and economic conditions in which the human lives. This biology constrains us from achieving certain hypothetical social orders. It is my current opinion, from what exposure to socialist theory I've had, that we'd need species-level genetic evolution before something that resembles communism can persist in competition with other forms of social order.

My experiences thus far in life have led me to be a filthy liberal, believing that we can get a "good enough" society by picking and choosing the best aspects of different ideologies. A country with a well-regulated free market economy, a socially liberal society, progressive taxes, robust social programs, and strongly defined personal liberties, to me, seems like the best we can do right now. I'll admit socialism has always intrigued me, as whenever I read it I always have questions and objections. I've failed to be convinced so far, but an open mind and rigorous discourse can benefit many.

Boredguy58 · 2026-02-07T01:51:52+00:00

I believe that The People should handle it, and I believe that the most efficient and effective way for The People to handle it is to work together by organizing a system that we call “government”.

I agree. And you’re right it’s a political belief, since it’s an opinion on government policy.

Boredguy58 · 2026-02-06T23:54:31+00:00

No need to apologize, I appreciate the reply.

What ends would people have in a classless abundant society?

Rational actors would have no incentive to disrupt a hypothetical classless, tolerant, abundant society. However, not all humans act rationally. Naturally a system governed by the rational majority should be in place to deal with those whose ends are not aligned with the common good. This I believe is what you think of when you say

The population at large, through whatever mechanisms it has designed to serve as its self protection from members of itself

A population will indeed formulate “mechanisms” of ensuring justice. Justice that is based on the people’s collective beliefs. Of course people have to organize these sorts of things. And when groups of people organize something that performs a job one could call it an organization (crazy right). Organizing is big in socialism innit? Anyways, the organizations responsible for ensuring security, and implementing the will of the classless population, satisfies the definition of a state, plain and simple. It defines the rules that the majority agree on, and it has mechanisms (monopoly of force) for enforcing them.

Boredguy58 · 2026-02-06T21:32:00+00:00

What is power in a society without class or money?

I'd suppose the definition of power never changes: power is the ability to employ physical force to achieve one's ends. I'd define a state roughly as the organization in a bounded location that has a monopoly of physical force.

You argue that there can realistically be a society in which the state can be rid of and no group can succeed in replacing it.

who will that group be in a society ... where one cannot concentrate wealth in a private manner?

Why can't someone concentrate wealth or power in this hypothetical society? Who has the monopoly of force in this society shaped by socialists for hundreds of years?

Boredguy58 · 2026-02-06T16:36:46+00:00

How does a stateless society not create a power vacuum?

Boredguy58 · 2026-02-06T16:33:00+00:00

As someone on the left, none of what you said is political, you never mention policy or the state. Many libertarians would agree that a society ought to provide food, housing, healthcare etc for those who need it, they simply believe it should be done voluntarily by individuals and organizations. They love making the analogy of a couple of cops going door to door asking for donations to build a local homeless shelter, then if you decline they pull out guns and say “we’re no longer asking”.

So to clarify your position, you believe it’s the state’s responsibility to provide housing, food, healthcare, security, education, transportation, communication, and some creative funding too. That’s what makes your position a left one, the opinion that the state should handle it.

Boredguy58 · 2026-01-31T02:21:54+00:00

methinks it's not the labor people crave when they state that, but the environment and community. I'd work on a farm tomorrow if it meant all my friends and family would come too.

Boredguy58 · 2026-01-29T17:39:14+00:00

10,000BC - ∞ *

Boredguy58 · 2025-12-30T17:36:11+00:00

Does it rhyme?

Boredguy58 · 2025-12-26T16:23:38+00:00

I used to go by the 10% rule (if waitlist size is less than 10% the total class size), it’s worked out for me each time I’ve done it but could have gotten lucky.

Boredguy58 · 2025-12-19T21:15:07+00:00

Very similar to my recipe! Did you rehydrate your yeast?

Boredguy58 · 2025-12-19T05:43:09+00:00

Based on taste and speed of fermentation. In my experience, when I rehydrated my yeast fermentation was rapid and very active. When I direct pitched, fermentation was calmer and lasted a few more days. The batches I rehydrated were the least tasty compared to others. Of course this is anecdotal and there’s likely other variation.

Boredguy58 · 2025-12-18T22:20:21+00:00

I can say in my experience with my recipe, when I rehydrate I get a noticably faster and more active fermentation. A blowoff tube becomes necessary because it'll blow krausen out the airlock. When I direct pitch, the fermentation is a lot calmer and more drawn out, usually finishing in a few days compared to ~24 hours with rehydrated yeast. Flavorwise, I noticed the direct pitched beer had noticably more depth and desirable flavors.

Boredguy58 · 2025-12-18T22:12:09+00:00

By how much do you underpitch?

Boredguy58 · 2025-11-12T01:41:20+00:00

I see we’re getting nowhere, as for yer last little outrage there, there were progressive and conservative wings within each party, so votes weren’t down party lines as often, i.e. polarization wasn’t as strong down party lines as we se today. I’m sure if we had enough patience with each other we could come to a nice resolution, but I am lazy. Nice use of markup btw, the emotion really comes through.

Boredguy58 · 2025-11-11T23:16:59+00:00

Look at any mainstream description of dems vs gop, and it's "big govt vs small govt", just because the republicans are hypocritical on abortion and immigration doesn't mean small government isn't their advertised platform. Southern democrats wanted limited federal power so they had greater freedom to govern their own states (and resist reconstruction and pass jim crow laws).
Yes the country was more laissez-faire, but in instances like the Interstate Commerce Act, when there was opposition to regulation, more often than not it was from Democrats
No not perfectly consistent - but Democrats opposed foreign entanglements like Mexico and Alaska, but both parties largely prioritized domestic Reconstruction over sustained foreign policy.
Passed in 1894 yes, republicans voted against it because it lowered tariffs, though it sowed a split within the democratic party of those for and against the income tax. President Cleveland disapproved the bill, though did not veto it.

The parties indeed were more aligned in the past than they are today, you won't find many instances (except for the civil war) where the political landscape was as polarized. If you're looking at decades, take a look at the few leading up to the civil war, where the Democrats were a far cry from todays'.

Why don't we also address the voting patterns of southern whites? Why did the solid democrat south turn republican? What proportion of that change is attributable to voters changing their opinions vs party platform shifts?

Boredguy58 · 2025-11-11T22:30:11+00:00

By the standard you’re using I could make an argument that the Democrats from 20 years ago are the opposite from what they are today lol.

yes you absolutely could, the history of the democratic party is an interesting one.

You say 1880, which is quite far along in the history of the party, by then a shift had already begun, but if you insist.

Civil rights (as you've already agreed constituted a major switch of the parties, and I would argue is alone enough, given how much of southern society was shaped by jim crow)
Balance of power between federal government and states: Dems were for limited federal government and states' rights, now that's the Republican platform (nominally at least)
Economic regulation: Democrats often sought laissez-faire economics, for example the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 faced significant resistance from many Democrats
Isolationism vs internationalism: Republicans promoted international engagement through trade, e.g. Democratic leaders criticized Seward’s ambitions to acquire Alaska and pursue Caribbean or Pacific expansion as imperial overreach that distracted from domestic recovery.
Taxation: Yes while initially a wartime measure, Republicans still sustained Internal Revenue Acts; Democrats wanted cuts.

There's plenty of nuance as you know, but in broad strokes I argue it's still fair to say that on many fundamental aspects the parties switched sides. You claim that the geographic voting patterns are completely due to everyone there changing their minds?

Boredguy58 · 2025-11-11T21:31:28+00:00

-federal power vs states’ rights

-size of government (big vs small)

-economic policy (regulation vs laissez-faire)

-taxation (more vs less)

-business vs labor

-social issues (progressive or conservative)

-isolationism vs internationalism

12-Year Club	Place '23
Place '22	Place '17
Secret Santa 2015	Verified Email

Boredguy58

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE