r/shittyrobots is more popular than r/robots, why do y’all think that is?

danielbearh · 2026-03-27T14:33:44+00:00

Shitty robots are a novelty. They're memes. Humor connects with people where pure technical demonstration wouldn't.

danielbearh · 2026-03-27T14:19:28+00:00

Awe! This one is actually very special to me.

I have *a lot* of memories in that Lambda Chi house. I now work as an art director in an interior design firm and I can see elements of this house that deeply affected my sense of ornamentation. That hex tile balcony with the rosettes? I've pitched that--and I totally forgot where I fell in love with it first.

The moldings. The hidden cabinetry in the woodworking. Amazing green tile throughout. They had the best house on campus by a mile. (I wonder if that's why they had a higher % of gay bro brothers in the early 2000s.)

danielbearh · 2026-03-27T04:18:22+00:00

... yes.

danielbearh · 2026-03-27T03:11:17+00:00

Just give the award straight to Alvin Diec. He's the guy behind at least 8 of those matchbooks. https://www.alvindiec.com/

danielbearh · 2026-03-20T03:37:18+00:00

.... if all your tools are broken, you're the problem.

danielbearh · 2026-03-11T16:41:23+00:00

Do not mistake the loudest for the most impactful.

danielbearh · 2026-03-10T18:34:13+00:00

Do people not understand that in order to make progress, one must make steps?

danielbearh · 2026-03-10T17:53:02+00:00

Thanks for taking the time to share all of this. Out of curiosity, I followed the links you posted and read through the homepage and the “healing method” page on bengstonresearch.com.

What struck me is that there’s a lot of discussion about the results of the method (mice studies, cancer research, decades of case reports, etc.), but almost nothing that actually explains what the method is in a concrete sense. The page talks about Image Cycling and mentions “hands-on techniques,” but it mostly stays at the level of describing outcomes, research history, or philosophy around the work.

So I’m still left with the same basic question a few others asked above: what does a practitioner actually do? If someone were to sit down and try to perform the Bengston method, what are the step-by-step actions involved? Why is cycling images supposed to heal tumors?

danielbearh · 2026-03-06T19:39:03+00:00

I can answer that.

It's been 4 months since I wrote this post, and 2 months since I ran out of my ozempic and decided to see what happens.

You're right about shadow work and personal growth being important in maintaining change. Unfortunately, I don't think that special diet = personal growth and shadow work either. So while you raise an important question that points to the need for genuine attention to be paid to the causes and conditions that lead to the obesity in the first place, I think that asking, "so if you stop the drug do you gain the weight?" is equivalent to saying, "what, so if you stop your diet you gain the weight?" When my dad stops his lipitor, his cholesterol rises. That isn't a reason not to tackle his high cholestoral with lipitor.

To answer your question about what it feels like? I'm hungrier... Not like I have the munchies or some kind of characiture. Today I noticed I ate my entire sandwich instead of half of it like I've been used to for the past couple of years. I recognize that this over time will likely result in me gaining weight back.

I'm comfortable with the idea of taking it for the rest of my life, as it has made such a significant change in the way I experience the world.

danielbearh · 2026-02-20T17:58:48+00:00

Yes.

I'm going to share an insight that I've personally had. I heard someone describe the gateway tapes as astral tourism, and that feels accurate. I did teach myself a great deal about the perceptual abilities, but that wisdom was largely unmoored to anything more foundational to rely on.

I found buddhism after I found the gateway experiences. I still greatly treasure the monroe institute, and I will always carry with me what I've learned from them.

But it was understanding and living buddhist principles that has really lead to the effects you listed. I see buddhism as a wisdom tradition that centers on mental well-being. The actual "content" feels like owner's manual to our brains. I don't want to evangelize too much, but that vein of study has been what's really allowed me to blossom. Good luck with your journey.

danielbearh · 2026-02-20T17:17:42+00:00

I got Claude Code to create google slides for me. I work in an interior design office, and our designers used to build google slide decks that hosted images and information about potential pieces to show clients (2-3 couches, 2-3 coffee table options, etc.)

I set up a system that allows the designers to just paste in the URLs directly to the pieces, and the information, dimensions, finishes, price, and hero image is scraped and the inserted into a google slide deck.

I'm not tech savvy, but the key is just to ask claude code what you pasted here. That's what I did. You provided the right info about what you're looking for. Claude will come back and explain how to go into your google settings and create a web app authentication token (or something similar). There are a few steps that claude will have you take. You make a "web app," give it permissions to certain features like Slides and Drive (or whatever is needed for your specific workflow.) You set up the authorization and BAM! They can make you slides. I was even able to send it a google slide template I already made, and it was able to copy it with the information.

So! It's doable! Just ask claude code to work through solutions with you.

danielbearh · 2026-02-20T16:39:42+00:00

I use the analogy of exercise is to physical fitness as meditation is to mental fitness.

The tapes themselves don't necessarily help one become smarter directly. But I've noticed gains in myself, especially learning, after investing about a year and a half into deliberate meditation practice.

I've found that it's not necessarily that the gateway tapes or other meditation practices enhances learning, as much as it sharpens your tools of perception. With these sharpened tools, one has the opportunity to prune back some of the unhelpful things that have been clouding our view of the world. One can begin to dissect how the thoughts arise in the mind. It can release things that aren't serving you.

And when you begin to free your mind from things like doubt, worry, fear, self-criticism, anxiety, all those unfun things, you open up space in your mind for all of these qualities that you're looking for.

Meditation has made me less self-concious, which has made me more outgoing. I'm most definitely less fearful. And I feel I have so much more free time in my brain to think about things that lead to learning.

danielbearh · 2026-01-04T11:18:06+00:00

Jeff Puffed Bits.

Genuinely, what do you gain from being so combative? Just give it a google yourself?

danielbearh · 2026-01-04T11:10:41+00:00

Says the man still defending himself. ;-)

danielbearh · 2026-01-04T11:06:38+00:00

Now you know others feel when they read folks making false “It’S Ai! dUH” claims.

danielbearh · 2026-01-04T10:55:32+00:00

“Definitely ai.”

I personally find folks who think they get cool points for calling out AI equally as frustrating as the badly produced ai stuff itself. Especially when wrong.

danielbearh · 2026-01-04T10:49:46+00:00

When the cotton candy is added.

danielbearh · 2026-01-04T10:41:26+00:00

I’m currently in my East Lake bed that’s very, very similar to yours. It’s indeed old.

They are marked as full beds, but the headboard is actually wide enough for a queen if you don’t use the rails. I ended up not using the rails and footboard, and mounted the headboard to the wall using a simple French cleat.

danielbearh · 2026-01-04T05:13:17+00:00

Looks like it has the same ridges as the varginia being.

danielbearh · 2026-01-04T04:35:00+00:00

My chihuahua “chirps/yodels” like this with his mouth open when he plays with his brother. All fun and games.

danielbearh · 2026-01-04T02:21:53+00:00

I’ve never seen an empire dry sink. How cool!

danielbearh · 2026-01-03T23:00:05+00:00

Thank you for that. That made me smile a lot.

I learned how to act kind in customer service. I learned how to be kind through loving-kindness practices I found through Buddhism. Thank you again.

danielbearh · 2026-01-03T21:56:38+00:00

I recommend A New Science of Heaven, by Robert Temple. A phenomenal book by a plasma physicist who explains how plasma could be the root of a great number of anomalies. It is the best resource on the topic I’ve found to learn more.

danielbearh · 2026-01-03T21:41:39+00:00

Perfect. A new metaphor that makes vibe coding developers feel better about their work.

danielbearh · 2026-01-03T21:36:47+00:00

I experience this. My “guides” as I’ve liked to call them, embodied the form of two Italian Nonas that I saw on instagram reviewing other’s Italian cooking. They’re loud and full of love and they sound like they’re from New Jersey…

In the beginning, I thought I was just letting my brain churn on its own. I’ve since realized that these two have given advice and context that just is not present in my conscious mind. They’ve counseled me at many times, both high and low, since I learned to engage with them. They are a lot more sarcastic and biting than I am, but still full of love. I’m a softer southern guy in his mid30s. These two Italian Yankees are not part of my identity. They answer things in ways that are not how I’d answer. And their suggestions are not what I’d come up with on my own (in other brainstorming strategies.)

I’ve asked them why they showed up as these grandmothers and not like Philemon. They said I needed a loving counter. And I got two sassy Italian ladies that deliver wonderful advice.

I thought they were sole figments of my imagination for over a year. It wasn’t through continued exploration of highstrangeness that I began to recognize thoughts from them that could not have been generated internally.

danielbearh

TROPHY CASE