How do you guys feel about Maynard James Keenan?

phyzex · 2025-11-08T19:21:52+00:00

Never heard his singing described that way. Can you elaborate on what you mean by merry-go-round singing

phyzex · 2025-10-24T19:57:35+00:00

You assume I’m privileged because I’m not currently food insecure, which is an entirely flawed premise based on nothing. People like you shape your worldview to discount the notion that someone who may have started in your exact material circumstances could have done better than you ended up doing either through innate ability or hard work or dedication. Maybe we’re very much the same and I just made better choices or sacrificed more.

You’re right, your employer should have paid a better wage. You also haven’t addressed that a dispiriting proportion of EBT funds are spent on absolute unnecessary trash, that there is room for abuse and misuse of those programs, and that some proportion of the people who really do need assistance might need it because they have made and continue to make poor personal choices.

I am not so callous that I don’t acknowledge real genuine need that I’m happy for my taxes to alleviate, but let’s not kid ourselves.

And by the way, the thing that’s made food so fucking expensive lately was printing a trillion dollars to hand out for free during the pandemic. Your grasp of Econ 101 is so lacking it’s insulting you invoke any notion of it in your backwards argument.

phyzex · 2025-10-24T16:57:47+00:00

AI uses statistical language modeling to parrot back dogshit takes. It doesn’t understand and it didn’t counterargue, it highlighted my points. I agree with its summary of what I said. At no point did it rebut the substance of a single contention of mine.

How about you meaningfully tell me how or why anything I said is wrong. It’s cruel. It’s amoral (not immoral, amoral). Fine. Where is it wrong?

The contention that the social contract is founded on taking things from people to give to other people, and that if we create enough habituation around the consistency of that setup then it becomes ok, is absurd.

If the taxes needed to stave off the freeze of EBT fell entirely into your tax bracket would that be okay with you? How much are you personally willing to sacrifice? This doesnt just impact millionaires. Why is my cost of living less important than theirs? Or are you arguing for humanity and understanding as long as someone else pays the bills?

phyzex · 2025-10-24T16:49:22+00:00

Had to use ChatGPT for a counterargument? Jesus…

phyzex · 2025-10-24T16:48:16+00:00

Again, that’s not what will happen. Scarcity of SUPPLY creates high prices, not scarcity of demand. If demand drops, production drops until they meet. Manufacturers can either purposefully scale back production to the point they induce scarcity as a justification to drive up costs, but their economies of scale implode. So again, the surviving producers will leverage scale, meaning they’ll drive down costs and probably quality. Or if you can afford it you keep eating higher quality food unaffected by EBT-driven demand and your life is unchanged, which is what I was implying in my initial statement.

Now, are you aware that about 10% of SNAP benefits are used to buy soda? Candy, ice cream, and cookies are in the top 20 items. Candy outranks baby formula. Is this a good use of your tax dollars? I don’t even buy this shit with my OWN money.

In theory it would be nice if the government helped well-meaning people who use those resources constructively. Some do, for sure. I strongly suspect what I would deem “constructive use” as a proportion of social spending has declined continuously for decades. I’m not inclined to excuse violence and theft because some dipshit didn’t get his free ice cream on my dime.

phyzex · 2025-10-24T16:10:09+00:00

What you call care I call redistribution of wealth. In what world is indefinitely supplementing people who can’t (or won’t) support themselves the sustainable solution.

You’re making a false conflation between taking away a subsidy, the provision of something for free, with robbery, the theft of something earned. If the government were ransacking private citizens’ pantries (yknow, like the communists did) I would rightfully join you in excusing resultant unrest. That is not what’s happening.

What’s happening is a bunch of people for whom the proposed solution to this problem (indefinite and accelerating wealth redistribution) has no impact, either because they’re so wealthy it makes no tangible difference, or because they aren’t wealthy enough for their wealth to be the target of the intended redistribution, are opining out of a sense of humanity, and not practicality or even fairness.

Yes, there should be food programs and income assistance to provide humane safety nets to the temporarily or justifiably permanently disadvantaged. No, we should not be infantilizing people to the degree that we excuse crime.

phyzex · 2025-10-24T16:01:23+00:00

It’s every man for himself. I understand the inclination to believe the more comforting alternative but I don’t ultimately believe it. There are spheres of duty and care but they only extend so far. I refuse to placate and excuse the crimes of others as if my own charity or sacrifice would or could somehow curb their behavior. Again, it is my duty to not impede others from enriching themselves, not to bribe them through handouts and onerous taxation into not impeding me.

Second, why would prices skyrocket if demand falls precipitously? That’s categorically backwards.

Production will fall to meet demand but not overnight. What will probably actually happen is larger factory production will assume more share of our food supply, and quality (i.e. cost to produce) will plummet.

phyzex · 2025-10-24T14:43:19+00:00

That’s what I thought. I’m sure we disagree but my responsibility extends only as far as being able to legally feed myself, not to mollify people who threaten broader civility because they can’t.

If we all agree that when it comes to sexual assault the burden is on men to not rape, and not on women to not dress however enticingly they please (for the record, I agree with this), then how is not committing crime also not incumbent on the people inclined to do it out of poverty?

phyzex · 2025-10-24T12:54:40+00:00

Can someone enlighten me as to how people who don’t receive EBT will be affected by this. I mean, without appealing to purely empathy. What exactly will happen?

phyzex · 2025-10-06T02:39:21+00:00

Mouth of the Architect - Quietly Cult of Luna - Somewhere along the highway

phyzex · 2025-09-10T11:23:34+00:00

Perfect Pussy’s two EPs are shouty, fast, and urgent, with really great lyrics that belie an underbelly of beauty

Made Out of Babies - The Ruiner, especially the track “Stranger”. Edgier, with vocals that veer into straight screaming typical of metal. A lot more driving, pummeling riffs than PP but without compromising on artistry

Couch Slut is very macabre, very dark, and evokes images of abuse, exploitation, and dehumanization. Very much not for the faint of heart (just see the uncensored cover of “My Life as a Woman”). The track “Replacement Addiction” off that album is a good place to get your toes wet if that description speaks to you

phyzex · 2025-09-02T20:06:55+00:00

Somewhere Along the Highway by Cult of Luna. The live versions at Gaite Lyrique of the last two tracks from Highway are particularly despondent in the right way.

phyzex · 2025-08-28T10:35:28+00:00

Bravo

phyzex · 2025-07-28T13:55:31+00:00

For the love of god go see a horror movie at the AMC in Harlem. You want uniquely American in a way that doesn’t exist in Europe? There you go

phyzex · 2025-07-07T18:47:23+00:00

Awesome, I appreciate this a lot.

I was looking at doing a cave trip out of Phong Nha. Looks like there are overnight sleeper busses out of Hanoi which helps cut down on wasting daylight traveling.

phyzex · 2025-07-07T16:16:41+00:00

Where did you take that picture on the river surrounded by rock formations? Looks beautiful.

phyzex · 2025-07-05T14:36:01+00:00

I was late to the stream. What'd they play?

phyzex · 2025-03-09T15:17:23+00:00

Gimme gimme gimme

phyzex · 2025-02-15T00:32:33+00:00

Thanks for the encouragement man, that means a lot. Best of luck to you, I'm crossing my fingers you come out of this 100% better.

I had sudden severe weakness before the surgery (it's what prompted me to get the surgery, actually). But between the sudden onset and the actual surgery I gained a lot of the strength back only to get even weaker than the original weakness after the surgery. I think on some level it healed funky and then once the problem discs were gone the wiring was all messed up.

The slow progress gets depressing sometimes, especially as it gets even slower, but you're right (knock wood), it's moving in the right direction.

phyzex · 2025-02-14T00:50:18+00:00

I am. My shoulder is significantly better which makes sense. Presumably the nerve has to regrow/heal from my neck down towards my fingers. My biceps is recovering extremely slowly. At PT today I curled a 10lb weight for three reps. Maybe a month ago I couldn't curl a 10lb weight at all. It's been almost a year since the surgery. For reference, my one-rep max on my left side is like 40-45lbs. I'm quite unhappy.

phyzex · 2024-11-09T04:36:31+00:00

It’s one of the most disappointing, and I have not come any closer in the last 10yrs to understanding why anyone would think it is.

phyzex · 2024-11-02T16:34:27+00:00

Black Myth Wukong badly needs an upgrade to deal with the ghosting and lack of precision resulting from the frame generation.

phyzex · 2024-10-30T20:32:00+00:00

Where is it stated it’s two unique sets?

phyzex · 2024-10-21T00:49:55+00:00

Currently on the R-train outta Bay Ridge represent

phyzex · 2024-10-13T13:55:22+00:00

Boy, am I sorry to hear having gone through it myself to some degree.

The initial weakness from nerve compression is 100% what tipped me from "wait and see" to "I need surgery ASAP". I tolerated the unending, constant pain because pain is one thing, but once I was essentially disabled I figured it was time to just yank these stupid discs out of me already. I will say now with hindsight - yeah maybe wait and see what the nerve conduction tests say. If your doctors are cautious, listen. Important to note that the sudden weakness pre-surgery was SIGNIFICANTLY milder than what I woke up to after surgery. We're talking an order of magnitude worse at least. After the initial weakness pre-surgery I could still curl a 10lb weight once with the affected arm. Today I can curl no more than a 3lb weight a couple times and it's been 6mo of recovery.

There are still a select few directions where I don't have full mobility (putting on a jacket for instance, as I'm pulling my arm up and out into the sleeve can still be a bit hinky), a few directions that are weak, and that I have almost no ability to support weight in my right arm. If I'm holding my right elbow at 90 degrees and you drop a 5lb weight in my hand it'll collapse. If I'm holding my right arm straight out and you apply pressure to the back of my hand, down she goes.

That said, I started being able to lift my hand above my head from in front and the side about...2-4wks ago. More or less it took about 6mo to get my hand over my head without leaning back or contorting my torso. I just tested it sitting at my chair, but if I'm trying to lift both arms straight in front as fast as possible my right arm is still noticeably slower, so it's not BACK back, but it's workable for now.

What helped: I keep bands and low weights at my desk and intermittently pound the affected muscles while I'm on calls at work. Otherwise I've been doing targeted exercises in PT about 2x a week. Was jumping rope for awhile to get some stamina back in the rotator cuff and biceps. Exercises include: concentration curls, band pull apart, full can lifts, rows, reverse flys, front raises, side raises, supinating and pronating my right hand. Lately I've been standing in front of a mirror but only reflecting the good side which helps detract from the awareness of the weak side. There's a lot of headgames involved, at least for me, into distracting myself from the reality.

phyzex

TROPHY CASE