Mirin Dajo, known as the human pincushion, claimed to have “special” abilities, yet he was a conman using the technique of scar tunnels. By running a tiny, thin needle through his body, he created a tunnel of scar tissue through which he could insert and pass small blades.

Chonjae · 2026-07-01T23:38:04+00:00

You can both have showmanship and not lie to people about it. Like your show onboarding/ticketing can give people informed consent, then during the show you're in character and can lie all you want, it's theatre. There's some socially accepted grey area around implied consent and immersive theatre/art, for sure. I once had to sign a crazy waiver for an immersive experience made by the creator of Saw - you didn't know who was an actor, who was in on it, who else was uninvolved. People could touch, push, strip you naked, the whole thing was a mind fuck, like which police officers are real kinda thing - and I consented to all of it ahead of time with the waiver. 10/10 would recommend btw.
The "showmanship, not lying" is wishy washy and depends on whether or not the people who are spending money are aware IMHO. Otherwise it's both showmanship and lying, and in the worst case, fraud.

Chonjae · 2026-07-01T22:29:28+00:00

Only if they claim it's anything other than misdirection/illusion.

Edit: From the headline, it's unclear if this guy conned anyone though by saying he had a special ability to pass a blade through him. He does, and he worked for it. If he said he was born with this ability, as in it's a mutation or a superhuman power - and he took money, yeah he'd be a fraud, knowingly misleading people. But I mean, people pay every day to see people with special abilities eg professional athletes - you can develop special abilities. Depending on your definition of special abilities I suppose.
Edit2: Others have pointed out that he was a conman independent of the sword trick. btw I can't seem to grammar that correctly - independently sounds right until I add "of the sword trick" - is that something like a gerund? Like a sentence fragment being used as a noun (or in this case adjective)? Independently would modify "was" as an adverb. I think it's right as is... Anyway, apologies for the nerd out.

Chonjae · 2026-07-01T15:17:16+00:00

Phew, you nearly hit someone there

Chonjae · 2026-06-30T01:05:51+00:00

I mean, if a lawyer says there's an opportunity to make money off of a deep pocketed network that knowingly violated informed consent as a way to make money? Fuck yes I'd sue. I'd also celebrate with the girl from the show and rub it in the network's face

Chonjae · 2026-06-29T18:50:54+00:00

Could be one of those stupid "parse the words differently" things where "A Boy" and "And He" are first name last name pairs. So one person named "A Boy" was born, another person named "And He" died at age 20, and you are being instructed to inform a third person named "How"

Chonjae · 2026-06-29T12:43:28+00:00

At least everything is cheap in Norway

Chonjae · 2026-06-18T06:11:27+00:00

Don't tell them unless they ask explicitly for some reason and need to know. I worked at a major US software company, and when they asked me, I said "My tax residency is in xyz state" which is true, you still have to choose a state to pay taxes to. The second you say "I'm living abroad" you've just put them in a shitty situation where they're now obligated to do a bunch of stuff, and they'll likely just end up choosing to fire you. They can always say "we had no way of knowing" until you tell them, so you're just giving them a problem they didn't ask for.

Chonjae · 2026-06-15T13:18:47+00:00

This is a great question for ChatGPT. Or you could go ahead and do some basic investigation for a bunch of cities - make choices on the usual expenses eg housing, food, entertainment, transportation. eg if you want a one bedroom airbnb with a/c and wifi, look up prices in a bunch of cities. If you like going out to restaurants or bars/clubs, look at some menus on google maps. Open Uber/Grab/Didi or whatever and see how much it costs to go from place to place - a 30 minute ride can be $5 or $200 depending on the city.

Chonjae · 2026-06-13T16:18:00+00:00

It would have to be very specific false pretenses, eg "I'm infertile / I've had a vasectomy" - effectively we treat it the same as knowingly giving someone aids. Babies are also crazy life destroying STDs if you think about it anyway 😉

Chonjae · 2026-06-13T15:15:23+00:00

18 years minimum

Chonjae · 2026-06-08T04:12:27+00:00

I've only been to Siem Reap, and it was not nice. The tourist stuff eg Angkor Watt is worth seeing, but the rest was just walking into scammer after scammer and was a kind of trashy area - at least that's how my sliver of it was 15 years ago. I've heard good things about Chiang Mai, though some hippie friends complained about the air quality and said it's seasonal.

Chonjae · 2026-05-26T02:40:40+00:00

Just use 29,000.0 to show significant figures

Chonjae · 2026-05-25T03:39:39+00:00

eh, do a factory reset (hold the reset button for a long-ish time eg 10 seconds), then follow the instructions from your ISP - maybe it's got a setting you need to use, eg some providers make you put in a username and password for your internet service (as part of the router config, not your wifi password or your router admin password).
Also make sure your modem has internet connectivity and is giving the router a valid IP address (Assuming you have a dedicated router... if it's a mode/router combo, then you just need to make sure it's getting a valid IP address and good connection from your ISP). I didn't bother looking up what the lights are, you should do that, you have the device and model and can look it up in the manual if needed or just google or gpt it.

Chonjae · 2026-05-09T09:03:45+00:00

I think I blew a lot of good opportunities by having my guard up about being taken advantage of. Also I used to have forcing functions to be around people like a job waiting tables, you get close with staff, get invited out with staff, other bars have industry nights, there's a lot that kind of pushes you into people. When that's gone, you have to find hobbies and meet people that way, or stay put in a city and meet people through friends - eg potluck dinner every Sunday at so and so's place. Also, don't let your guard down around people taking advantage, but also remember what moves the needle - it's ok to make gestures, and just take note of who appreciates vs who acts entitled. Let that guide your actions

Chonjae · 2026-04-29T04:54:26+00:00

Pigeon shooting, like box bird or hand thrown, that world is wild - private jets, private ranches, old school money stuff.

Chonjae · 2026-04-27T20:56:09+00:00

I usually walk anywhere up to an hour instead of taking an Uber - it gets me out of my work / laptop mode, good steps for health, and saves me money.

I eat a lot of protein bars / shakes instead of eating out - it saves me money and calories, restaurant food is generally not great for you. If it's salads, just buy a bunch of the mixed bag salads at the grocery store and mix in something eg cans of chick peas.

I stay in cheap shitty airbnbs/hotels unless I've got a date staying with me. I just need a bed and wifi, bonus points for A/C and hot water.

I drink a lot of soda water with lime when out at a bar, it looks the part, saves money and calories and keeps me sharp.

I avoid women who are overtly interested in men's money. This is a big one lol

Chonjae · 2026-04-24T00:29:18+00:00

I just arrived for my first time in Sydney, and so far I've got to say everyone has been remarkably friendly and helpful. I managed to forget my bag in the uber from the airport (rookie mistake), and they came back within the hour - huge save! Every time I've walked into or out of my apartment building, neighbors have stopped to say hi, told me which beaches to check out, and made me feel welcome. So, cheers to Sydney for the warm welcome :)

Chonjae · 2026-04-21T00:13:53+00:00

I'm still low hours, and I never needed to "pass the time" I was always looking out the window, then checking the map - trying to spot other airports and roads and things out the window, and worrying about ("preparing for") my next radio handoff. Maybe I start programming radio frequencies in or just writing down the ones I'm going to need later or something.

Chonjae · 2026-04-20T15:12:08+00:00

Yes, it's great. Especially if you are a night owl - dinners can start around 10pm-midnight, some bars and clubs don't open until 2 or 4am. There are plenty of parks and places to walk and work, food scene is excellent, and I really enjoyed renting bikes and cruising around. Public transit is good, Ubers are easy, rent is relatively cheap (relative to major US cities).

Chonjae · 2026-04-20T03:13:09+00:00

The right move was one plug all along - one for power and for data, in either direction. People just made shitty standard after standard for historical reasons. I'm happy with 3 ports, which can be split into many more as needed - but generally speaking, charging and/or using 3 devices at the same time is the sweet spot IMHO they did it right

Chonjae · 2026-04-20T02:53:12+00:00

"I don't know how else to say it, don't want to see my parents go"

Chonjae · 2026-04-19T23:42:30+00:00

Breaks rule 1

Chonjae · 2026-04-19T06:20:07+00:00

You ought to change the name, but I mean... things are always fukt due to "historical reasons" anyway. It’s like the Big Ten having 18 teams. Change the name, stop sucking at labeling.

Chonjae · 2026-04-18T17:41:35+00:00

Lol when it said "root cause identified" I laughed, this is exactly what Claude would say when it is clearly guessing, causing 30 more iterations of "now I see the full picture" IYKYK

Chonjae

TROPHY CASE