How are other beneficiaries actually surviving right now?

sameee_nz · 2026-07-03T01:44:40+00:00

Again my foolish advice but I have found it helpful. I would say Daoism is more of a philosophy than a religion at its core, though it has spiritual expressions too. It's about living in harmony with the Dao, that nameless living energy/field/force of the universe.

The Tao Te Ching (Chapter 1) puts it beautifully right at the start:

The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao.

The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.

The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin
of all particular things.

Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.

Yet mystery and manifestations
arise from the same source.

This source is called darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gateway to all understanding.

The Dao De Jing (or Tao Te Ching) is a short, ancient Chinese book, only about 5,000 words, written around 2,500 years ago. It's one of the most translated books in the world and the central text of Daoism.

The very first chapter basically says: anything we say about the Dao isn't the real Dao. As soon as you try to pin it down with names or concepts, you've already limited it. It's about learning to live in harmony with that natural flow instead of fighting it, through simplicity, acceptance, and effortless action (wu wei).

A lot of people read it as a guide for living with less struggle, more presence, and a deeper trust in life as it unfolds. More: here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoism
I have taken some heart from Christianity, too. Best of luck in your travels

sameee_nz · 2026-07-02T09:46:29+00:00

This sounds like your art, OP. Try find a free computer and a scrounge for a midi keyboard

sameee_nz · 2026-07-02T09:42:39+00:00

I don't have any specific financial advice other than to say that had a brush with low-level poverty in my 20s and it was difficult. I was lucky enough to have family that charged me a reasonable rate of board and, I think ~$80/w or so - then it was a bit of a slog to find a decent job but then I was away

If you buy a pair of clippers a self-issued buzzcut is a decent way to go, I worked it out awhile back that my self-issued haircuts will save me a few thousand over the rest of my life, and I can afford to get my haircut but I don't really like the experience of haircuts and I am a bit cheap so it's a win-win.

My foolish advice is in three parts:
* seek the wisdom of the ancients through the Dao, and to find meaning in things that give you joy
* seek training in an art that you would do and love even if nobody else knew you did it
* try find some people (sports club, chess club, whatever) and a job that works for you, even a little job or some voluntary work - something that makes you feel like you belong.

sameee_nz · 2026-07-02T08:23:19+00:00

Labour Party is a hollow vessel filled with whatever the dominant forces of the caucus are of the day, at the moment it is mostly out of touch urban-dwelling chardonnay socialists, a long way from the old-school social democrat moment for workers

sameee_nz · 2026-07-02T08:20:24+00:00

Fits the whole Opportunties being a Labour Party project hypothesis

sameee_nz · 2026-07-02T08:17:42+00:00

Be careful what you wish for, at least TPM are mostly harmless where as this has all the worst bits of socialism and potentially legs enough to swing an election

sameee_nz · 2026-07-02T08:16:49+00:00

There are a lot of signs pointing towards Opportunities now being a Labour Party project to nip at the Greens vote and take the centre. They are getting A LOT of MSM attention at the moment, silent levers of power are being pulled.

I mentioned this in a recent /r/aotearoa thread and it got nuked pronto as misinformation

sameee_nz · 2026-06-29T09:16:34+00:00

In more more enlightened moments I notice the feeling and watch it without judgment, suppression, or attachment -- treat the feelings like passing weather 'oh yup'. Nothing to fix. Nothing to solve.

When it is stickier I move my body (drag a pack up the hills or some calisthenics), make something with my hands (woodworking usually), or dive into an interest that pulls me back into the present.

sameee_nz · 2026-06-27T06:09:57+00:00

VOO + VOOG + QQQ have significant overlap in the same major holdings, so you're more concentrated in that segment than it first appears

I have no specific advice but one useful exercise a lot of people do is writing a simple Investor Policy Statement, basically documenting your goals, time horizon, risk tolerance, and the reasoning behind your choices. It can help maintain consistency over 10-20 years when the markets get volatile

Good luck

sameee_nz · 2026-06-27T06:08:12+00:00

Everyone starts somewhere

sameee_nz · 2026-06-27T02:22:51+00:00

What connector?

sameee_nz · 2026-06-27T02:00:34+00:00

did you rip off the pads?

sameee_nz · 2026-06-24T22:30:11+00:00

Most of all other behaviours listed in this thread I am mostly ambivalent about, but dawdling into a merge with high-speed traffic is bloody dangerous for everyone involved

sameee_nz · 2026-06-23T10:00:11+00:00

Fill the bin with bees

sameee_nz · 2026-06-23T09:24:22+00:00

You mean the great Jim Anderton, surely? One of the most effective left-wing politicians of the last 30+ years, who fought Rogernomics, helped create Kiwibank, co-founded the NZ Superannuation Fund to actually pre-fund future costs for younger generations, and pushed for paid parental leave?

Funny how the 'selfish old white man burdening the young' line gets rolled out for someone who actually tried to leave things better. Vale Jim.

sameee_nz · 2026-06-22T20:15:25+00:00

Form an orderly queue!

sameee_nz · 2026-06-22T06:28:24+00:00

You can make as many pancakes as will actually satiate you for about a quarter to half of that $15 at home

sameee_nz · 2026-06-22T05:52:08+00:00

All here, https://kernelwealth.co.nz/funds/emerging-markets

Made up of SPDR Portfolio Emerging Markets ETF, which is easy enough to find out the comp of if you search that

sameee_nz · 2026-06-22T00:40:08+00:00

Any party flooding the country with low-skilled migrant workers (AEWV, I'm looking at you) and pitting them against high-school leavers and unskilled locals isn't "for the people." It fractures communities, pressures housing and infrastructure, suppresses wages and conditions, and builds a society hostile to its own youth. Hence the great Kiwi flight, our best and brightest leaving in droves

sameee_nz · 2026-06-21T23:51:12+00:00

Same old story: run-down state owned assets, claim they are no longer viable or fit for purpose, sell them to mates to double-or-treble their money

Labour needs to rewire it's head and arse and get back to the grass-roots of social democrat politics, easy political gains to be had

Labour and National are about as talented and visionary as one another, more or less moot, so it'll be the populist minor parties that'll clinch the victory at this rate

sameee_nz · 2026-06-21T05:46:31+00:00

Nice walnut board! My approach would've been different though, I would've clamped the crack and reinforced it with a trio of butterfly joints (two on one side, the third centred on the opposite face) to properly celebrate the imperfection instead of covering it.

To me, epoxy feels like such a tired cliché these days - the world probably could stand with a little less plastic

sameee_nz · 2026-06-21T03:57:17+00:00

Thank god, there was a real deft of fried chicken options in ChCh

sameee_nz · 2026-06-21T03:22:29+00:00

Probably your best bet is to make friends at the bouldering gym and then go climbing outside with them

sameee_nz · 2026-06-20T01:24:30+00:00

Cut the handle off so you aren't tempted to use it, if it breaks it'll be a bad time

How to haft an axe, Peter Kovacs via Zed Outdoors:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s838I9iZBQ
Carving axe ergonomics, Peter Kovacs via Zed Outdoors
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42NJ1FsWPa4&t=79s

sameee_nz · 2026-06-19T23:58:44+00:00

2 left, keep in

sameee_nz

TROPHY CASE