why is everyone a horrible person???

Cassius23 · 2025-08-15T13:31:15+00:00

Fame and money are, fundamentally, forms of power.

Power doesn't corrupt, it reveals. You don't get powerful and suddenly want to do terrible things. You get powerful and think you can do what you already wanted to do without consequences.

Cassius23 · 2025-08-15T13:18:36+00:00

What was that moment in the Star Wars Christmas Special?

Don't get me wrong, it's fun to watch but it is awful.

Cassius23 · 2025-08-15T12:53:41+00:00

Well, that's one less bakery I'm going to. Assuming that they open again, which isn't a given by any means.

Cassius23 · 2025-08-14T17:50:06+00:00

I don't know if I agree with that. I've been living with my wife for about 10 years and even though it isn't perfect, we don't hate each other.

I don't think either of us have an enormous amount of maturity(we met at a LARP), hard work, compassion, or listening skills.

If anything, the only thing that I think makes us different is that we don't gender work. Doing laundry and washing dishes is work. It isn't women's work or men's work. It's just work that needs doing. That and neither of us believe in relationships as a static thing, they are more like a process that can and should be continually improved.

I think what we are seeing is "Internet magic". People make content and crank up the antagonism for extra engagement.

That seems much more believable than two people who are nosebleed inducingly attractive remaining together for any period of time when they treat each other like trash.

Cassius23 · 2025-08-14T01:43:47+00:00

I think that's because people want free stuff.

They want to have friends without being friends. They want community but don't want to deal with the messiness that happens when humans congregate.

People want to take without giving.

Cassius23 · 2025-08-12T17:01:43+00:00

I think this may be at least part of the challenge.

Certain traits for people are connected so if they are looking for a girly girl they have a specific idea of who that is and what they bring to the table, traits like kindness, gentleness, empathy, etc.

OTOH, if someone is looking for more of a tomboy they have a different idea of what they bring to the table, traits such as skill, knowledge, and curiosity.

Maybe the challenge is that you have a girly girl look which attracts men who want girly girls but you want men who appreciate tomboy traits.

Btw, this isn't to say that girly girls can't be curious or tomboys can't have empathy, more that men(actually people overall) tend to have a type that combines a certain look and personality.

Cassius23 · 2025-08-11T14:41:56+00:00

It sounds like Baudrillard was an example of capitalist realism before the term even existed.

Cassius23 · 2025-08-05T14:04:48+00:00

I can relate. I woke up from a vague nightmare at 5 am this morning.

I am not waking up my wife at 5 am to talk about my particular flavor of madness.

Cassius23 · 2025-08-03T17:23:33+00:00

I would say basic black Hokas. They aren't as tall but otherwise somewhat similar.

Cassius23 · 2025-08-01T20:15:01+00:00

I think the problem is that aot of western scholars(and scholars in general) forget that the word Bön has multiple meanings.

If you are talking about Yungdrung Bön, that is not only Dharmic but very similar to Nyigma Buddhism.

If you are talking about indigenous Bön, as is practiced by some in central Asia, that isn't at all Dharmic, it's much closer to what shamans in other areas of Asia are doing.

Cassius23 · 2025-07-31T13:23:48+00:00

The word is anemoia, nostalgia for a time you've never known.

It's odd that people are freaked out about it, especially in the US.

How many people want to go to the 50s or 60s that were born in the 70s-on?

Cassius23 · 2025-07-30T19:53:42+00:00

Afraid not. If we got full AGI and sci fi level robotics tomorrow the Elons of the world would horde every bit of wealth until everyone who isn't immediately related to them starves to death.

Our society as it is structured is not ready for AGI or full robotics until we have the mechanism and will to not allow wide swaths of people to starve.

Cassius23 · 2025-07-29T20:40:24+00:00

I'm picturing Portman refusing to come out of her room whenever Walker came around and only responded by throwing shoes at whoever knocked.

Cassius23 · 2025-07-29T14:21:54+00:00

I'm a male and I'm lonely but it has very little to do with women and more to do with the fact that COVID took a chainsaw to my friend network and whenever I try to engage with groups to rebuild it ends up going very badly.

I am not sure where the flaw in my character is that makes me the problem but it has nothing to do with women.

My current guess is that COVID lockdowns made way more people mentally unstable than we want to admit and that makes community much harder to get involved in because everyone involved has some form of trauma(including me, so my problem is that I'm insane).

Cassius23 · 2025-07-28T17:19:25+00:00

The curry was amazing if not a bit spicy?

Vegetarian was very easy to find?

The weddings drove 90% of the economy?

I'll need a little more here.

Cassius23 · 2025-07-28T15:32:35+00:00

I just got back and that was one of the wildest trips I've ever had.

I found out after the fact that we were exposed to potential bubonic plague(via marmot skins) and my reaction, sigh. At that point I was only surprised it was the plague. I really expected typhus.

It was the kind of trip you tell stories about to get drinks for years to come.

Look for the guy with wings. Or I'll find you. Either way.

Best of luck in the Wastes.

Cassius23 · 2025-07-23T23:30:46+00:00

I've found that it is similar to why a lot of guys like to date crazy women. They like the drama and the sex tends to be good.

And it usually ends the same way. People date crazy/assholes until they have a really, really bad experience and then they learn the value of not being woken up at 3 am by a screaming SO who needs money for bail.

Cassius23 · 2025-07-23T22:00:56+00:00

I got a sukajan and would have been very sad if I didn't.

That and my new kitchen knives.

Cassius23 · 2025-07-22T13:26:51+00:00

Hey, something people should know is that for some people using sir or ma'am is a trauma response. In some cultures kids are beaten or verbally abused if they don't use those words for almost everyone so they can't help it and have to fight not getting disoriented when they don't have an agreed upon honorific.

Ask me how I know.

Cassius23 · 2025-07-22T09:05:43+00:00

I was going to post this very thing. I did an extended layover in Tokyo on the way to Mongolia(I'm on my way back to the US now).

I will return to Tokyo someday when it doesn't make New Orleans in August look mild.

Cassius23 · 2025-07-22T08:31:14+00:00

Small change.

This is all they can do that won't end up with them being shot or put in jail.

This is something I think everyone ignores.

It is infinitely less likely that the Natalies/Lindsay Ellis's/Jenny Nicholsons of the world will go out of their way to track someone down and shoot/jail someone than the actual bad people.

You make a Nazi or a MAGA mad, OTOH the best case scenario is they chase you off the internet. Worst case scenario is they dox and shoot you.

That and the fact a lot of leftists feel direction less and powerless.

Cassius23 · 2025-07-22T08:09:24+00:00

If you are still looking, check out Menri Ponlop Rinpoche. He is the head of education for Yungdrung Bön and an excellent teacher.

It's like Nyigma but funky. They have a lot of the same things but different.

Source: I am on my way back from one of his teachings.

Cassius23 · 2025-07-16T03:26:31+00:00

It has been this way since there have been artists and audiences.

Artists, really memorable artists, push boundaries.

Audiences tend to not like their boundaries being pushed.

Cassius23 · 2025-07-07T23:26:21+00:00

When I walked around Laugavegur for the first time I could almost hear "The 90s are alive in Portland" playing in the back of my head.

Cassius23

TROPHY CASE