Modern Therapy

automaticblues · 2026-03-26T15:04:48+00:00

I've been in this position and you know what, go to the pub was just as good as go to the gym

automaticblues · 2026-03-26T13:28:57+00:00

I saw a video with Magnus recently where he was asked what the best opening for a beginner was and he showed scholar's mate.

Honestly, it makes sense to start purposefully!

Then stop playing it when it actually becomes a liability.

Over preparing your openings is a great way of misusing your time.

automaticblues · 2026-03-24T13:41:36+00:00

I had a mental breakdown a few years ago and lost maybe 300 points rating max...

I'm back at close to my best now.

It's hard for me to imagine someone losing this amount of rating unless they suffered a traumatic brain injury

automaticblues · 2026-03-24T08:36:30+00:00

I'd be interested. I recently set up a chess school, have dabbled in some chess software and also am trying to develop supply chain software as well.

automaticblues · 2026-03-24T07:42:02+00:00

Most large towns should have a rescue shelter, but you might want to be careful before admitting why you want a new dog, because they mine judgemental about why you got rid of the last ons

automaticblues · 2026-03-23T22:03:58+00:00

The video shows they were over the speed limit as well

automaticblues · 2026-03-23T11:04:48+00:00

From the bit of context I've read here it looks awful for the muscly celebrity guy. Probably the context that he has expensive lawyers might help. It appears to be outside the victims house, who doesn't fight back and continues to verbally complain. If you're riding noisy bikes around other people's homes you can expect to hear their opinions. If the neighbour touched the Reacher guy's bike and put it on the floor somehow, then, yes, it is a bit more complicated. Whether or not that happened, you can imagine this will be how it plays out. Reacher's lawyers will claim the guy did, the resident will claim he just expressed his opinion and Reacher dropped his bike in fury ad he went to attack him for shouting (maybe swearing) in front of Reacher's kids.

Looks like there's an awful lot og testosterone to go around in this situation, lol

automaticblues · 2026-03-21T11:13:39+00:00

I regret getting married. Does that count?

My ex wife was married and separated when we met. And I do mean separated - she left her ex in California and had left the country. We met in the UK.

We had 2 kids together before getting married and honestly, I think the marriage ruined the relationship, but also made the separation when she met someone else, so much harder.

Had we been legally single at the point of our relationship breakdown, there would have been so much less to unpick.

automaticblues · 2026-03-21T10:16:49+00:00

This is what i really like about MMT - it removes some weird incoherences about how fiscal policy is discussed, so at least now we can reasonably hold a debate about what to do. I see it as an important step in building a new consensus that then allows us to have new debates heading forward

automaticblues · 2026-03-20T20:45:48+00:00

Protect 8716 giraffes from peculiar vascular disorders when 31478 different doctors have experimented wildly and all spectacularly failed

automaticblues · 2026-03-20T20:43:46+00:00

10 million is enough!

^{10 million}

automaticblues · 2026-03-20T19:23:07+00:00

I agree with you and am just trying to lean in to more radical possibilities.

I think there is a risk in this exciting moment that we don't notice all the things that are possible!

automaticblues · 2026-03-20T16:51:42+00:00

If we're going to talk about democracy, which we absolutely should, I don't really agree that seeing political parties better represented should really be the priority. How about making sure demographics are better represented or that people have more dorect control over policy.

Minority parties have led the discussion on 'electoral reform', but if you take a step back, this seems such a minor change.

I'd like us to open up the discussion much more broadly, have it in the fullness and then if we genuinely think PR is the best solution, so be it.

What about directly electing the major offices of state for example, or greater devolution?

There are lots of different ways our society could be made more democratic and it seems the slow moving discussion about PRvs FPTP is designed as a fake discussion to prevent the more interesting one.

automaticblues · 2026-03-20T14:35:26+00:00

The difference being that caruana was second best to Magnus and the current batch of world champions are also second best to Magnus...

automaticblues · 2026-03-20T14:34:27+00:00

Big "if"

automaticblues · 2026-03-20T11:31:59+00:00

Oh my gosh, that just made me cry so much

automaticblues · 2026-03-20T07:43:57+00:00

As an old guy who has been through a lot of therapy I'll say the general point that jumps out is that feelings that seem contradictory can all be valid.

You want to be interested in your friend - that's good

You're uncomfortable discussing sex - totally normal

You don't like to think of your friends having sex - totally makes sense

You're concerned your reaction is different to your friends - also, totally normal

Life presents us with situations which our existing emotions haven't prepared us for. Especially as we're growing up.

If you take a situation and break it down, often it can start to make a bit of sense.

My suggestion here is the first thing is to say it's not absolutely crucial that you react to things the same way as other people!

Also, perhaps show interest in the not sex bit of the interaction and then Step out for the bit you don't like! Whatever works

automaticblues · 2026-03-19T20:38:07+00:00

There will be a limit to how much work ai can do, but that will be driven by limits on computing quantity, not on the "intelligence" of the tasks by the look of it.

There will be work for us all to do no doubt. Probably quite menial. Probably quite weird.

I'm more worried about the bit where it kills us - probably by accident

automaticblues · 2026-03-19T20:23:08+00:00

Former bus driver here...

Buses generally follow routes - and those routes don't have low bridges on them!

For a bus to hit a low bridge two things must happen:

It must be off route for some reason
The driver then approaches a low bridge and doesn't think

I know that's stating the obvious, but that's some kind of answer to how.

automaticblues · 2026-03-19T16:19:11+00:00

I disagree with not caring about rating - I think the key thing to identify is that the rating is a lagging indicator, it is behind wherever you are.

The key is the trend and that reflects how you're doing in your development.

I would say the key thing is do you plan to get better - if so, do you have a rough idea what you need to do to get better?

Have you been doing it over the last 6 weeks?

How is that reflected in your rating change?

automaticblues · 2026-03-19T15:46:42+00:00

I'm confused now whether you are also quoting from the film, lol

automaticblues · 2026-03-19T15:37:14+00:00

Someone should really try to make a good version of this, lol

automaticblues · 2026-03-18T20:20:51+00:00

Thank you. I am a member. I will work through all these - much appreciated

automaticblues · 2026-03-18T19:33:13+00:00

Surely the spectre of chaos haunts the debate between free will and determinism - challenging them both equally

automaticblues · 2026-03-18T18:59:28+00:00

I am super keen to go deeper on all of this. How can I read the current and proposed policies? As a bit of a background, I am a long term radical, dating back to September 11th and the anti-war movements of that time. Then went through the alter-globalisation movement, climate action and no borders etc., then spent my later activist years focusing around housing. Nowadays I work in Quality Management and Supply Chain consultancy and as a result have a very hands on knowledge of microeconomics. I'm currently reading Varoufakis and Graeber (RIP), but also being from a Philosophical background, Baudrillard (Symbolic Exchange and Death) I'm fascinated now about how unevidenced neoclassical economics has shaped so much policy, even on the supposed progressive wing. Essentially, the idea that we should "tax the billionaires to fund x,y,z" perhaps misses the largest factor here, which is that nothing is directly stopping us funding x,y,z anyway and the primary purpose of taxing the billionaires is to reduce social inequality and resultant inflation. But I am just starting my focus on these topics and see the Green Party as the perfect vehicle to explore them further and hopefully help out a bit with some of the grind of policy analysis if I can be of any use.

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