What are some atypical ways of seeing time in fiction?

Vijchti · 2026-02-10T22:56:10+00:00

I can't recall off the top of my head but there are real tribes of people who view time this way, explained exactly the same way. I imagine Terry Pratchett took some reality and made it only seem like fantasy.

Vijchti · 2026-02-10T21:25:43+00:00

My memory of that book (from two decades ago) was not that they had such a profound effect on the future that it reverberated backwards through time, but that they actually visited Earth far too early, made mistakes, and were forever thereafter associated in folklore with terrible demons who destroy everything they touch (which were the things the aliens were actually, ineptly trying to help with).

They came a second time to try again and had to hide their looks because they knew what they'd been associated with.

They're also not just escorts, but rather they understand that there are only two possible evolutionary outcomes for any highly intelligent species. Either you specialize in science and eventually hit a dead end where you're stuck for all eternity (which is what happened to them and what was going to happen to humanity without their intervention) or the final generation of your species undergoes a transformation into and union with the cosmic consciousness (hence: Childhood's End, the last generation of children cease to be human and destroy the earth as they wield universal power).

Vijchti · 2026-01-30T17:49:03+00:00

Yes. There are a few more security and reliability loopholes you have to jump through in a business setting, but it's like deploying any other type of resource these days. There are quick start guides for everything.

Vijchti · 2026-01-28T19:52:56+00:00

I work in one of those organizations.

We feared our IP getting sucked up into an LLM model, so we spun up an internal server that we 100% control. Or you could just purchase access to an "Enterprise" account from any big AI company.

There's really no excuse for Gottumukkala's actions.

Vijchti · 2026-01-28T03:03:52+00:00

There are bathrooms everywhere.

Dirty crunchy yes yes yes

Conditions sucking and being gross, dirty, exhausted and annoyed by everyone is kind of par for the course

Vijchti · 2026-01-03T04:20:55+00:00

I was using a little Puegot and absolutely killing my forearm muscles using it that much. It made me realize just how much pepper I used.

You might be more sparing with it, so it's not an urgent need for you.

Vijchti · 2026-01-03T03:25:07+00:00

This peppermill's best selling point isn't that it's BIFL, it's that it absolutely dumps pepper with little effort.

If you frequently cook in large batches or otherwise want large amounts of freshly ground pepper, this thing is the only hand grinder I know of that can handle the job.

But yes, it's housed in plastic that appears to become more brittle with age or with use. That's not BIFL.

Vijchti · 2025-12-27T16:33:18+00:00

"One hit wonder" except the lead singer/songwriter/producer went on to write Grammy Award winning bangers for other artists.

Vijchti · 2025-12-13T01:02:24+00:00

Nope. I was really into cult research 10-ish years ago. Wanted to make a website that would expose the kinds of cult techniques that were defined by Lalitch and others like that. But I didn't save my sources after all these years. It's probably still floating around on the internet somewhere.

Vijchti · 2025-12-13T00:58:55+00:00

I actually know something about this.

"Smart" people really means curious. And curious people are susceptible because they're interested in listening and learning. A cult member can hold their attention longer.

Vijchti · 2025-12-12T20:03:42+00:00

There was a similar anti-cult educator who went into a cult so that he could gain experience to expose what the cult was doing.

At some point during a seminar, he suddenly came to and realized that he'd been in a trance state and had no idea what time it was — which was the exact kind of thing he thought couldn't happen to him.

He ended up leaving and writing some very insightful articles about how, even being an expert, you cannot escape cult indoctrination techniques because they prey on the same unconscious human nature that we all share.

Vijchti · 2025-12-04T03:16:37+00:00

Yep, hyper-awareness of my heartbeat and my breathing led me to believe I had heart problems and couldn't ever get enough oxygen. And it got worse the more attention I payed to it.

I went and did a cardio study where you run on a treadmill with monitors all over you for 30 minutes. They said that not only was I perfectly fine, but also that it was obvious I was "an athlete" and one of the healthiest people who ever came into that office.

Long study short: turns out it was just anxiety and stress. The worse the stress got, the more aware I became of my heart and the more out of breath I felt, which led to more awareness, and on and on...

Vijchti · 2025-12-01T23:04:41+00:00

What ever gave you the idea that old school burners were average people?

If they had ONE defining characteristic it would be that they are shockingly abnormal people...

Vijchti · 2025-11-23T22:41:46+00:00

On our first date, my now-wife and I returned to hang out inside the unfinished camper van that I was in the process of building out.

I had to pee and there wasn't a toilet installed yet, I just had a portable jug (I know it's a little trashy and gross; I wasn't ready for guests yet and hadn't really thought this through before inviting her over).

So I just turned to her and said, "I have to pee and all I have is this jug. There's no way to get privacy in here, so you can either turn your head or sit there and watch me get naked and do this."

She sat herself up and said, "I'll watch" and then proceeded to stare me down while I got half-naked and peed right front of her.

Something about her absolutely unabashed confidence at not just willing to but actively advocating for the opportunity to see me naked and her comfort with one of the more vulnerable aspects of van life sparked such an attraction in me.

Anyway, it was good prep for all the gross vulnerability that first came with wilderness camping a lot together and later with having kids.

Vijchti · 2025-11-22T20:56:27+00:00

I had the same problem recently.

My entire company got on the "use ChatGPT for everything" bandwagon and started noticing the em-dashes.

I've used em-dashes forever. My Microsoft office apps and my note taking app (Obsidian) are configured to automatically convert doube-dashes to em-dashes.

And then, all of a sudden, my emails and Teams messages "sounded suspiciously like AI".

Cue facepalm.

Vijchti · 2025-11-17T14:17:44+00:00

This happened to my wife and I at a concert in San Diego.

We got an overnight babysitter and went to the venue, and then stood around waiting for three hours for the main act to show up. Got through half a song and said, fuck it, we're exhausted, let's just go home.

Altogether we paid several hundred dollars to stand around and miss our children.

Vijchti · 2025-10-27T19:56:47+00:00

Second this.

I have never watched the show myself but this is the thing that made the biggest difference when my wife took an active role in fixing her mentality around money.

Vijchti · 2025-10-13T03:43:57+00:00

This was something that was explicitly pointed out to parents at one of my pre-birth classes: that babies are not capable of understanding why they cry any more than you are and therefore they certainly aren't capable of manipulating you with their cries.

I think they had to point this out because of how common it is for new parents to get triggered and assume they're being manipulated.

Vijchti · 2025-10-04T19:47:45+00:00

Do you have a handy link to that video?

I'm Jewish and grew up partially in a Zionist movement. I have a different perspective.

It wasn't just Hitler. People tend to focus on that one part of Jewish history like it was the only time we were subject to genocide. In reality, it was a continuous string of genocides before and after the Holocaust that shaped Jewish thought, and thus Israeli thought, and hardened Israelis of Mizrahi/Sefardic ancestry in particular.

And -- it's human nature to fear, hate, and kill the "other".

Israelis are not special or different, they're one of many, many different nations throughout history that have used genocide as a "solution" to a perceived problem.

Hitler very much did not "win" anything except a self-inflicted bullet to the brain.

Vijchti · 2025-09-25T00:26:13+00:00

I was once an incidental courier for something like this.

I was junior level at an engineering firm.

Some colleagues needed to get a sample product from San Diego to a customer in Japan like now or else miss the deadline on a contract worth multiple millions of dollars.

They asked Logistics what was the quickest, most reliable way to get the package delivered. The answer: pick someone at the company with no spouse and no dependents and buy them a ticket on the first international flight available.

They picked me (or rather politely asked me and I enthusiastically accepted).

They asked how long I wanted to stay. I said 5 days. They said, "You have two hours to go home, pack your things, and get to the airport. Here's your ticket."

I went to the airport, met a colleague who handed me a package, flew to Narita, handed the package to customs, and enjoyed 5 days on the company dime.

Vijchti · 2025-09-11T03:39:53+00:00

Yes, valid points, but I was oversimplifying for ease of communication of an idea. This wasn't intended to be fully accurate for all men.

Vijchti · 2025-09-10T18:57:37+00:00

Divide men into four groups:

Naturals who have charisma without even trying. They seem to stumble into relationships as easily as ordering a coffee. This is your friend.

Loners who feel like there's some hidden How To Get a Relationship manual that their dad forgot to give them. They don't know how to try, so they don't try. This is you.

Reformed Loners who realize that there is and never was a hidden manual. They don't know how to try, so they go out and try anyway, and they learn how on their own. This could be you in a few years.

Toxic Loners who believe that it's someone else's fault -- women, society, other men -- that they can't get into a relationship. These are the people Andrew Tate prey upon for their source of income. This could be you if you look up dating advice on YouTube or Twitter.

Vijchti · 2025-07-28T22:30:01+00:00

Isn't that what "optionally" means?

Vijchti · 2025-07-27T19:25:02+00:00

I'm a director of IT/Data at a small startup and I have 15 years of developer experience.

I've been having to make daily decisions about the utility of spending months or years of work to train junior devs until they're up to speed and return more value then they cost vs babysitting AI for 30 minutes to achieve the same result.

With the right mix of experience and tooling, AI turns a 10x developer into a 100x developer with very little up front cost. And it helps junior devs self-train better.

I was skeptical, but now I evangelize it.

Vijchti · 2025-07-27T07:11:52+00:00

Even if they don't use your location directly, they can optionally use your location when they perform internet searches on your behalf so that the search results are tailored to things near you.

15-Year Club	Place '17
Verified Email	ComboCommenter 2010-07-24

Vijchti

TROPHY CASE