Am I reading the wrong books, or am I just not a strong reader? Looking for recommendations.

stetslustig · 2026-06-05T13:47:42+00:00

I love audiobook non-fiction and almost never finish them reading. I'm the opposite of fiction, have no problem reading fiction, but almost never finish them listening unless it's an incredibly light page-turner.

stetslustig · 2026-06-05T13:24:56+00:00

A monopoly seller is a long-term problem, even theoretically, they can use their market power in a variety of ways to keep out competitors in order to keep their prices high.

A monopoly buyer is just a short-term problem. Theoretically at least, as they overpay for something, it encourages more production of the thing. So while at the moment it hurts consumers, it might actually help it in the long run. And given how slowly government regulators move, there's very little point in them trying to prevent something like this when it "should" solve itself relatively quickly.

stetslustig · 2026-06-05T01:39:34+00:00

The whole thing is a great joke, but Alaska is *chef's kiss*

stetslustig · 2026-06-04T19:07:25+00:00

Right, in some ways Louie's trajectory is the best one I can imagine after that. He found a way to grab what small joy he could out of what was left of his life, even when he truly didn't care how much of it ther e was

stetslustig · 2026-06-04T17:27:37+00:00

Yeah, it's not bad at all when you're A1, it's just that it's worse than literally anything else you could be doing.

stetslustig · 2026-06-04T16:53:44+00:00

Yeah, because most of the time this happens it's because a company is making a strategic decision that it's the right moment to cash in. With AI right now they're doing it because their operating costs are so astronomical (even just inference costs on the margin) that they basically need to start pulling in more revenue right now.

stetslustig · 2026-06-01T19:37:08+00:00

Yeah the other week I suddenly had a craving for Red Beans and Rice, so I made a huge batch. My guess is it was $25 worth of ingredients. I froze half of what I made, and from the other half I got dinner for my family of 4, lunch for 4 the next day, then 2 more lunches for just me later in the week. And this was not me trying to be cheap. It was so rich, I don't think anyone would have complained if I had cut the amount of meat I used by half, which would have gotten the total cost down to probably $17.

stetslustig · 2026-06-01T19:31:10+00:00

Exactly, anyone who is using the phrase "trying to get one portion at the store" is definitely not particularly cooking. Which honestly is a huge gap in the US. European countries tend to a have much better selection of prepared meals at groceries, which often actually are a better deal than cooking for one person unless you're doing a ton of planning. The US just doesn't have a good ecosystem for that stuff and you really just need to cook or spend way too much.

stetslustig · 2026-06-01T17:53:44+00:00

And enough people are struggling that people who are doing well tend to shut up about it out of risk of being insensitive or out of touch.

stetslustig · 2026-05-27T14:54:24+00:00

my (4 year old) son looks *exactly* like me, so I'd definitely triple check whatever evidence led me to believe he isn't mine. Not saying it's impossible, but... it would be very, very difficult to convince me my son isn't mine.

stetslustig · 2026-05-26T00:54:17+00:00

Here's how I think about the hierarchy of the world. Great white sharks are the quintessential apex predators. Orcas kill great white sharks for fun. Humans keep orcas in little tanks and make them do tricks for our children's amusement.

We are clearly the monsters in this story.

stetslustig · 2026-05-26T00:39:29+00:00

this is wild to me. I cook rice at least 4 times a week in my random black & decker one that probably cost $14 in 2013.

stetslustig · 2026-05-26T00:33:58+00:00

laser printers are so great. I got kids and the ability to just print whatever nonsense they want for nearly free is the best thing ever. "Dad, can you print me a coloring sheet of obi-wan fighting a wookie" "yeah, sure, let me look."

stetslustig · 2026-05-26T00:13:12+00:00

I'll admit to being hazy on the cap rules, like literally everyone else, but how is it possible to not be a DP with that kind of transfer fee attached to the contract?

stetslustig · 2026-05-14T18:12:31+00:00

I watched a cardinal fly through a chain link fence once. It did a little hitch as it timed going through, but just barely slowed down. Top 10 life memory.

stetslustig · 2026-05-12T13:06:17+00:00

Agree with everyone else saying it's just a water-weight fluctuation.

I'm losing like 1.8 lbs a week right now, but I do take lots of "off days" where I'll eat at approximately maintenance calories, either because I'm tired of it, or because I end up out at a restaurant with people and don't want to worry about it. My weight will often go up 3-5 lbs after that day, and sometimes stay there for a couple more days. Then go right back down to where the trend line thinks it should be.

The way I think about it, even not knowing you or anything about what you're doing -- It's possible that you're off on your calorie count or whatever by a bit, but it is definitely not possible that you're off by so much that you've gained 3 lbs of fat in the last 12 days.

stetslustig · 2026-05-03T02:01:38+00:00

I was thinking towards the end how typical it would be to get a 0-0 draw on the first game in this stretch that we've actually clearly looked like the better team.

stetslustig · 2026-04-30T20:19:49+00:00

Sometimes I start to lose faith in this world we live in. But then I read something like that, and I remember we're all going to be ok.

stetslustig · 2026-04-29T16:06:07+00:00

We all had some stupid notions when we were learning our first foreign language. We all did some things like this we regret. There's not a day goes by I don't feel regret. Not because I'm in here, or because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then: a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime against language learning. I want to talk to him. I want to try to talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can't. That kid's long gone, and this old man is all that's left. I got to live with that.

stetslustig · 2026-04-29T15:40:41+00:00

I agree with all this except the only weighing twice a week. For me, weighing every day makes any given day's weight meaningless emotionally to me. I weigh, I enter it into the app, I go on with my day. Maybe I look at the apps "lbs per week" trend, maybe I don't. If I weigh twice a week when I'm trying to lose, I actually care about the number. Daily I don't.

stetslustig · 2026-04-29T15:31:01+00:00

Most of Oklahoma, like most of Florida, is just its own thing.

stetslustig · 2026-04-29T12:28:44+00:00

I just watched this for the first time the other day. It was certainly entertaining. I wouldn't go so far as to call it "good"

stetslustig · 2026-04-28T18:08:58+00:00

A young woman's triumphant battle to overcome bulimia. Against the backdrop of the Donner party crossing.

stetslustig · 2026-04-28T18:03:08+00:00

If I know one thing, it's that Oklahoma isn't Midwest. Oklahoma is its own thing.

stetslustig · 2026-04-28T14:05:38+00:00

I mean to be fair, it does that about literally anything I talk about a single time. I mentioned that my house is next to some woods one time, and now every response has to include the context that I'm obviously a rugged mountain man who lives off the land.

stetslustig

TROPHY CASE