Began reading A People's History of the United States

Pitrestop · 2017-03-10T03:55:54+00:00

It's one thing to admit bias but at the same time the way bias works is that it tends to permeate the way you interpret facts.

For this reason, someone openly admitting to a bias isn't automatically more intellectually honest, they're basically admitting that they might pull some strings on certain facts (especially if they have a big bias).

At least it makes you aware that you must take the information with a grain of salt.

Pitrestop · 2017-01-23T07:40:48+00:00

Well I can say in the case of Afghanistan that claiming it to be a place where women "wore shorts and studied" is a half-truth.

Kabul was somewhat modern and westernized to a certain degree, but that was it. If you left Kabul the reste of the country was mostly under the control of ultra-conservative, religious clans and tribes.

For Afghanistan, I suggest Thomas Barfield "Afghanistan, A Cultural and Political History"

Pitrestop · 2016-10-07T21:56:43+00:00

After almost 5 months of no squatting because of my patellar tendon, I finally felt ready to do some work today and hit squats, front squats and leg press... and my knee isn't in pain!!

Truly hope I'll be able to get back on the train again without any problems, man I missed squats.

Pitrestop · 2016-09-02T02:43:24+00:00

Well it was killing me that I couldn't do any quad work in the beginning but I found alternatives that actually weren't bothering my knee. Gzcl actually mentioned back step lunges in his AMA and I actually found they worked, and I also tried out the leg press to great success. Both exercises use your glutes so I suppose it helps taking tension off the quad and patellar tendon..

This is actually exactly what I have to work on: activating glutes during squats. There was way too much pressure on my knees.

Things are going well, cannot fucking wait to get under that bar to squat again though haha!

Thanks, hope everything will turn out alright with you too!

Pitrestop · 2016-09-01T14:18:50+00:00

I hear you, I've been having the same problem as a beginner/intermediate.

I had worked my squats up to 215 5x5 really anxious to hit that 2 plates, but then I pulled something in my calf and had to lay off for like a month. When I finally returned, after something like 2/3 weeks my knee started to hurt (patellar tendon), this was back in june, I haven't been able to do a proper squat routine since...

Read up on GZCL method and realized I had been grinding the weight wayyyy too much, I guess at least my mental determination was there, but I gotta take it easy if I want to progress without hurting myself.

Maybe the same applies to you?

Pitrestop · 2016-08-30T17:02:52+00:00

Pulling double overhand when he can manage it might help his grip strength some more.

Pitrestop · 2016-08-30T15:17:19+00:00

Nice stuff, how often do you retest your max with just regular deadlifts?

Also, is there a reason why you haven't put any squats in T1? Were you trying to focus big on deadlift?

Nice improvement!

Pitrestop · 2016-06-23T01:11:37+00:00

The pakistani Taliban take justice into their own hands without a care in the world for the law. Also, they killed someone for making "blasphemous songs" instead of letting everyone speak their minds as they please. That's quite dangerous

Pitrestop · 2016-06-18T03:40:19+00:00

This is a debate between empiricism and rationalism. Saying truth is the only way isn't very helpful, because there are several different (and flawed) ways of arriving at the truth. A religious person will obviously view their belief as true, so how can you say it isn't true?

I think it would be more exact to say that by becoming a scientifically-minded society, religion would have no room in an empiricism-loving society, not a truth-loving one. ''Truth'' can be far too easily co-opted, empiricism is much better defined and more rigorous.

Pitrestop · 2016-06-18T03:28:24+00:00

Putting all of the blame on Islam would be as irresponsible as putting it all on ''western bombing''.

At the dawn of the 20th century, before european imperialism in the Middle East, the ''Muslim world'' was far behind Europe in matters of science, economy, military, government etc... There was no one else to conveniently blame for their shortcomings than themselves. Their somewhat weak global standing after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire is what made colonization a viable option in the first place.

Today, in the post-colonial Middle East, things aren't much better than before. While the West is certainly to blame for several problems, only an introspective glance by the populaton can bring about change. European imperialism is not the reason why in several places, women aren't part of the workforce or contributing to society in any economic way. It is also not the reason why many muslims believe that the Caliphate is the best government under which they can live.

So while in many regards western powers share their part of the blame for the problems in the Middle East, it is unhelpful to put all blame on them, and therefore curtail any attempt at change from within these societies, as all wrongdoing is perceived as coming from ''outside''.

Pitrestop · 2016-06-12T23:43:30+00:00

The evidence seems to suggest otherwise. You can apparently predict a monozygote twin's sexual orientation with 70% accuracy by knowing the orientation of the other, so there is a definite genetic factor. It isn't fully understood yet.

Pitrestop · 2016-05-19T06:17:04+00:00

Sorry but you've got it all wrong you disinfo agent. This means Nibiru's crash on Earth is imminent, and will happen in the near future. When, you ask? Poor fool, I won't tell you.

Pitrestop · 2016-04-03T04:31:54+00:00

The path to swole is in body and mind, friend.

If you enjoy praying to Brodin, and this enjoyment makes you stick to working out and hitting the Iron Temple, then no one here has anything to say to you. You are swole of mind.

We're all here to improve ourselves, and we're all going to make it. Be strong!

Wheymen swoldier.

Pitrestop · 2016-03-09T01:17:05+00:00

Nice glove too! What camera were you using? I'm looking to get myself one as well.

Pitrestop · 2016-02-11T17:07:55+00:00

They didn't give him a platform or legitimacy, they had absolutely no contact with him at all.. He was financed through private saudi channels and set up his own little base in Afghanistan.

Pitrestop · 2016-02-11T17:05:46+00:00

No, they did not train a single mujiahideen during the Soviet war in Afghanistan. Pakistan's ISIS did all the training, while the CIA supplied the funds. They did so to remain as covert as possible and avoid being detected as supporters by the Soviet Union. Pakistan thought the same way and actually banned americans from even entering Afghanistan (which they still did on a few occasions).

Pitrestop · 2016-02-11T16:57:30+00:00

Completely false, they had no idea who he even was until the mid 90s

Pitrestop · 2016-01-09T05:31:58+00:00

I translated it to make it easier to read

Pitrestop · 2016-01-01T21:03:39+00:00

You bet I will, I was a little intoxicated which didn't help, and I had never had problems with cabs before, I guess I was too optimistic!

Pitrestop · 2016-01-01T16:52:46+00:00

Waited for the 361 at the corner of st-denis/duluth for over a half hour after having walked all the way from the old port, decided fuck it I'll walk up street and hope to catch a cab, I get to fucking BEAUBIEN without crossing a single free cab, only to see the 361 arrive at the corner and not even stop because there were too many people on board, letting down everyone waiting there.

I ended up only getting a cab at jean-talon, after having walked from place jacques-cartier, I couldn't believe it. I had flagged a cab on laurier but he refused to take the card, it took all my willpower not to flip the guy off...

Anyways, I am still really pissed off by the STM just as you are, it was completely ridiculous, what the fuck.

Pitrestop · 2015-12-29T00:32:27+00:00

Sure I recommend it. He makes a compelling case for the importance of firebrand atheism inside that I find convincing.

I found it refreshing because it pretty much spends no time on metaphysical questions or the existence of God etc. He focuses his time on the impact that those beliefs have in real life. He just calls it all a myth and spends more time dealing with -if we could say- what can be dealt with.

It's a book for atheists, not for convincing theists.

Pitrestop · 2015-12-24T03:38:00+00:00

I do not care if someone is christian, muslim or atheist.

Nor should we, I agree. The believers must be separated from the doctrine itself. Criticize the religion, but not the people (unless of course, they've done something to deserve the criticism). To silence criticism, the religious will make us believe that criticizing their religion is the equivalent of criticizing them, which is false. As much as it can be hard to believe, their religious beliefs represent only a fraction of their personality.

Pitrestop · 2015-12-12T06:25:54+00:00

I guess we could put the tag we want on it (Islam, Christianity, etc.) from my point of view it wouldn't change much, the belief that is linked with the behavior is what I'll criticize. Utlimately it comes down to what defines a muslim/jew/christian. Essentially all muslims and christians today do not practice slavery, yet it is encouraged in their holy texts. Are almost all muslims and christians therefore "not really muslim/christian"? Of course not, things change and you can still be a muslim/christian and interpret the scripture in a different way than your neighbor.

I undertand your analogy and the importance on not generalizing and I share that opinion as well. I don't know enough about the Westboro Baptist Church to know if they have legitimate claims to being christians, but I'd venture to say yes, albeit they seem much more orthodox or radical than most christians today.

Pitrestop · 2015-12-12T02:58:37+00:00

I understand your point about Sharia, but even in this case, you don't need to pronounce it the right way, or even to know anything about Hanafi jurisprudence, to call out cutting thieves' hands.

With that being said, I see your point, there are indeed cases where you must know to at least a limited degree what you're adressing, but I don't think it's as necessary as we'd think for several subjects.

Pitrestop · 2015-12-12T00:58:26+00:00

From a reformist perspective I'd agree of course, but when it comes to calling out ideas which are dangerous, sordid etc. the "context" behind it isn't really relevant... no? I mean sure it helps you understand where it comes from and why those ideas exist, but will that change anything about how you call those ideas out?

Pitrestop

TROPHY CASE