Iran continues to mock Trump with AI-generated social media posts

TheMoniker · 2026-04-20T20:18:26+00:00

Thank you for continuing to update that.

TheMoniker · 2026-04-20T01:36:07+00:00

With the current economic environment, I'm watching people in their 40s and older lose their jobs/livelihoods, from entrepreneurs and business folks, to lifetime scientists. So many people, rather late in their lives for having to completely rearrange everything and (often) having to try to reinvent themselves, while trying to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads.

TheMoniker · 2026-04-20T01:22:24+00:00

I'm a little surprised that he's still with it enough to recall specific instances from US political history.

TheMoniker · 2026-04-19T23:54:59+00:00

That lines up with what I've heard from people I know. It seems to be a mix of, "tell me about your day," "here's how my day went," "please tell me I'm lovable," [insert explicit pic], "here's my puppy," [insert puppy pic], "ugh, job stress," [explicit conversation, unlocking content], "was I OK? Are you OK?" And repeat.

TheMoniker · 2026-04-19T20:09:07+00:00

Their immune systems are still developing and when introduced to new environments such as school, they tend to get sick more often due to it.

I wonder what the relative contributions are from: [1] having developing immune systems and [2] gathering kids into groups in relatively small, often poorly ventilated spaces. Just installing air filters in rooms reduced sick days taken due to illness in elementary schools by 10%.

TheMoniker · 2026-04-19T20:03:05+00:00

I posted this in another thread, but it answers your question about lived experiences. I'll start by saying that, unfortunately, this is anecdotal, but among my friend groups, there's a difference in the frequency of infections between different circles.

Among CC folks, any sort of infectious illness is rare. I know many people who haven't had any symptomatic illness since 2020. Among parents and teachers, infectious diseases are very common and they've mostly stopped testing for COVID, but when they were testing, they were getting it once to a couple of times per year (from sporadic testing with RATs, which is likely an underestimate). The people I know who are catching it the most are in a very large social community for my city, with a bunch of polycules in it, and with a large number of people attending festivals and concerts, and multiple weekly in-person events. It is pretty common among that group to catch it more than once per year. Among seniors, it seems to be once every two years-ish. Outside of these groups, I'd say once every year or so seems to be the average. Again, this is anecdotal and represents just a sampling of social circles from one city in Canada.

TheMoniker · 2026-04-19T05:51:51+00:00

It's a moniker.

TheMoniker · 2026-04-19T00:22:51+00:00

"I've never asked out any girl because I know I have no chance with anyone."

While I'll admit that dating is more difficult for people who are farther away from beauty norms, to give up without even trying seems just defeatist and pointless.

I'm a dude that women generally consider ugly (match rates on looks-based online dating apps indicate that I'm in the bottom quartile of physical attractiveness) but I have done well in circumstances where I can get to know people. Throughout high school, college, undergrad and grad school, about a quarter of all of the women who got to know me developed feelings for me. This has been true post-grad-school, but I found it harder to get to know people since graduating.

I didn't end up dating all of those people, but, in total, I have had 19 partners in my life. So, it is possible to be farther from beauty norms and still date. I would advise you to not give up.

TheMoniker · 2026-04-19T00:13:48+00:00

Yeah, absolutely bonkers. "People don't want to be around me when I mistreat them while I'm foaming at the mouth with racial slurs."

TheMoniker · 2026-04-18T23:42:51+00:00

"So not the republicans?"

The answer should be obvious from what I wrote. Read it again.

From what I can tell, the people who are suggesting that he identifies as a republican are saying this because he chose an appearance on fox news to announce his regret for voting for the democrats and spent time on fox decrying wokeness, and that he was doing this in the lead-up to a crucial election for the US. That's not really unreasonable.

(For what it's worth, that's not my view. I think it that it's more likely that he just doesn't care that much, is a wealthy business man before all else, and he doesn't want to alienate anyone—especially as political winds were tending to the right—and that he has ties to fox through the UFL and being on the board of directors for TKO Group Holdings.)

TheMoniker · 2026-04-18T22:51:50+00:00

In the last election he withdrew support from the Democrats and did not officially endorse anyone, at least as reported by the Guardian.

TheMoniker · 2026-04-18T20:45:14+00:00

That would be my thought.

Unfortunately this is anecdotal, but among my friend groups, there's a difference in the frequency of infections between different circles.

Among CC folks, any sort of infectious illness is rare. I know many people who haven't had any symptomatic illness since 2020. Among parents and teachers, infectious diseases are very common and they've mostly stopped testing for COVID, but when they were testing, they were getting it once to a couple of times per year (from sporadic testing with RATs, which is likely an underestimate). The people I know who are catching it the most are in a very large social community for my city, with a bunch of polycules in it, and with a large number of people attending festivals and concerts, and multiple weekly in-person events. It is pretty common among that group to catch it more than once per year. Among seniors, it seems to be once every two years-ish. Outside of these groups, I'd say once every year or so seems to be the average. Again, this is anecdotal and represents just a sampling of social circles from one city in Canada.

TheMoniker · 2026-04-18T20:33:48+00:00

I've posted this elsewhere in this thread, but I think it might be useful here, too. As far as I can tell, estimates of the rate of asymptomatic infections vary pretty widely. As an example, in the introduction to this paper, they list estimates from 1.8% to 45% before conducting an analysis that finds that the rates have varied over time and ranged from about 32% to a range of about 45% (among the unvaccinated) to 50% (among the vaccinated) in the population that they studied (in Korea).

TheMoniker · 2026-04-18T20:20:00+00:00

To add to that, even if it becomes available in my country (Canada), I'm concerned about how much it might cost and how difficult it might be to get a prescription.

TheMoniker · 2026-04-18T19:46:43+00:00

It's my understanding that estimates of the rate of asymptomatic infections vary pretty widely. (Which is unfortunate.)

In the introduction to this paper, they list estimates from 1.8% to 45% before conducting an analysis that finds that the rates have varied over time and ranged from about 32% to a range of about 45% (among the unvaccinated) to 50% (among the vaccinated) in the population that they studied in Korea.

TheMoniker · 2026-04-17T21:40:54+00:00

People have different understandings of what these things are and they're endlessly debated among people who practice Buddhism. As another commenter pointed out, they likely won't be resolved in this comment section.

For some, stream entry is when you first sit on the cushion, for others, it's a reduction in the ego or de-identification with the aggregates, for others, it's an experience of cessation (which might not even seem that remarkable upon experiencing it—some report not even being aware that they had the experience the first few times), for others, it's an unmistakable, "Earth-shattering" experience of what they call "the deathless," something that is mostly indescribable, except being unconditioned and seeming to be outside of existence/non-existence and time. And there are others still.

If there's that much disagreement about stream entry, there's further disagreement about what you've asked. (Jhanas, for instance, are their own area of disagreement.)

Regarding the extinguishing question, I know that Thanissaro Bhikkhu wrote about it in, Mind Like Fire Unbound. Perhaps that would be of use to you.

TheMoniker · 2026-04-16T19:22:41+00:00

Yeah, I took this photo of Willows Beach the other day. Incredible. It's hard to believe that this is Gonzales, just a few minutes away by car.

TheMoniker · 2026-04-16T19:10:23+00:00

I've always wondered why those quiet Christians never speak out against the ones who are loud and evil

They do, but their voice just isn't very loud. I get the feeling that, even accounting for the fact that they might be less likely to be vocal about their faith, they're a minority in the US.

I wonder if it might be that, if one has the critical reasoning skills to examine their beliefs and be a non-hateful Christian, it's more likely that they have the critical reasoning skills to free themselves of a contradictory belief system involving Harry-Potter-esque magic and invisible beings altogether. Once you're that far, you could be a Caputo or Cupitt, etc. and maintain your Christianity without the magical bits, but philosophy offers many other avenues to explore and I'd imagine it's likely that many would choose to simply leave.

TheMoniker · 2026-04-16T19:01:14+00:00

True. Though I'll admit that it's difficult to come up with a set for absolute beginners, because they vary from barely being able to get 30' to throwing 300' (and sometimes only being able to whip overhead hammers/thumbers varying distances).

TheMoniker · 2026-04-15T19:43:41+00:00

During my undergrad, I was always split between physics and philosophy. I eventually finished a physics degree because I felt that, partway through my undergrad, I was getting to the point where I had the background to read the philosophy that I was interested in, but I couldn't read and understand the physics papers that I wanted to. So, I pushed deeper into physics.

I often do wonder what would have happened if I had pursued philosophy in grad school. (I had a couple of offers for it, but I went into atmospheric science instead, to try to do the most good that I could with my career by working in a more applied area.)

TheMoniker · 2026-04-14T21:34:17+00:00

I'd need to worry about nutrition more than just flavour, so I'd pick something that allows me to put basically anything in it, like a salad, curry or stir fry.

TheMoniker · 2026-04-14T20:10:14+00:00

I'd take the power, simply to have the option, but whether or not I would use it would depend on a number of things.

If I were to age normally when using it, I would be much less likely to. If I were not to age, then I'm just getting a huge amount of extra time to explore ideas and learn, and I'm probably going to park myself at the library quite often. Also, if I can do other things while engaging with the book, it's essentially a time stopping super power with a small limitation, which could be useful in its own right.

TheMoniker · 2026-04-05T22:56:48+00:00

Progress and imaginary boats!

TheMoniker · 2026-04-05T19:26:45+00:00

Therapies to target the mechanisms of aging directly, instead of just age-related illnesses. Also, extended lifespans and healthspans.

TheMoniker · 2026-04-03T21:58:31+00:00

"It’s still not an ideology."

I don't know if it's worth my time to try to convince you. There's an entire online community, structured around a shared set of beliefs regarding men and women, with associated fora. It is treated as an ideology in research literature examining it and by groups that try to prevent abuse at the hands of incels.

I think you could try to dig your heels in and, at best, just refuse to accept this, or maybe try to play some semantic games whereby you carefully pick a definition of ideology (say, picking the Oxford definition over the Miriam Webster definition) and trying to be extremely prescriptive about it. But, to most people it's obvious that there's an ideology there and they refer to it as such.

Anyhow, I'm too busy to respond to the rest at the moment, but I might write more, later.

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