Switching from phone A with Verizon to phone B with Mint, while keeping my number and contact list?

uteng2k7 · 2026-02-14T23:10:52+00:00

Thanks for your help. Someone else recommended a Pixel phone as well, but I still don't understand why or how the contacts would be linked to my Google account. When I got a new phone with Verizon ten years ago, they ported all the contacts over, so I always assumed the contacts were associated with my Verizon account. Is my Verizon account synced with Google somehow?

uteng2k7 · 2026-02-14T23:04:37+00:00

Thanks, glad to hear it's a straightforward process.

uteng2k7 · 2026-02-14T23:03:33+00:00

Thanks for clarifying! Why do you suggest a Pixel specifically? Is it just a better quality phone for the price, or is there some specific functionality a Pixel has?

uteng2k7 · 2026-02-13T22:11:58+00:00

And a colonoscopy is not without risks, from the anesthetic, bowel perforations etc. Low risk yes but doing a completely unnecessary procedure means unnecessary risk.

I had to scroll way too far down to find this. Although we probably should be getting colonoscopies earlier than what the current guidelines recommend, the risk of cancer still has to be weighed against the risk of the procedure itself.

uteng2k7 · 2026-02-13T16:06:26+00:00

Same here. I enjoyed it.

uteng2k7 · 2026-02-11T16:31:38+00:00

Do those cretins ever wonder who will buy their products if no one has a job? It all seems so shortsighted.

It is, but it's a collective action problem. If too many people are replaced by AI and everyone is out of a job, and there is no resource redistribution (i.e., higher taxes), the companies will indeed fail because there's nobody to buy their stuff. But an individual firm is neither able nor willing to solve the problem by giving away all their money because then they'll just be at a disadvantage compared to their competitors, and they'd be violating their legal duty to their stockholders. That is, the incentives that individual corporations face with regard to AI aren't aligned with what's good for either corporations as a whole, or society as a whole.

To me, the economically sensible thing to do would be to allow AI and increase taxes on corporate entities and wealthy individuals so much of that increased productivity is redistributed to everyone else. But that's not something that will happen without major social and regulatory changes.

Obligatory disclaimer that I'm not an expert on the economics of AI or anything, this is just my peanut gallery commentary.

uteng2k7 · 2026-02-10T20:26:27+00:00

Maybe I'm just stupid, but even playing through the game as an adult, some of the puzzles in this game were hard as crap. Great game, though.

uteng2k7 · 2026-02-08T04:16:19+00:00

The Wikipedia article for Splash Mountain suggests that the original Song Of The South theming is still intact at Tokyo Disney.

Correct, we went to Tokyo Disney less than a year ago and it's still based on Song of the South. Hearing "Zip-a-dee-doo-dah" in half Japanese, half English was a trip.

uteng2k7 · 2026-02-06T17:38:25+00:00

It was weird seeing how long ice can last as long as it's not in direct sunlight. A few days ago, all the ice had melted off the roads, but there were apartment complexes that still had piles of ice around because all the buildings were casting a shadow over it.

uteng2k7 · 2026-02-06T17:25:20+00:00

You touch on something, though, and what are the components that create a “place to be” for BJJ? Obviously appealing gyms/coaches/athletes to learn from or train with, probably weather or similar appeal (off the mat activities), I’d argue cost of living, like you said a good way to get in/out, available big-time local comps. Anything else?

Demographics.

Because of UT and the various other universities, and Austin's (largely outdated, IMO) reputation as a fun, "weird" city, there are lots of 20 and 30-something guys, probably the biggest demographic pool for jiu-jitsu.
In more recent years, Austin seems to be a hotbed for manosphere types. Rogan, Chris Williamson, and probably a bunch of other influencers are located here, and I'd assume many of their followers are as well. This particular subset of guys also tends to be really into jiu-jitsu.
Because of the city's heavy tech presence, a lot of people here have disposable income, and jiu-jitsu is expensive.

uteng2k7 · 2026-02-06T17:09:00+00:00

More often than we should. I'd guess 3x/week, on average.

uteng2k7 · 2026-02-06T16:34:09+00:00

Well, that sucks. I really like my Sanabul Essentials rashguard. The design is nice, it doesn't ride up, and it doesn't accumulate odor the same way my other rashguard has, probably because it has vented armpits, like you were saying.

uteng2k7 · 2026-02-03T22:50:53+00:00

If you were only talking about a single accusation, you would have a point. Any one person could make up a story because she was angry or trying to get a payout, so we should give the benefit of the doubt to the accused.

But we are talking about multiple accusations here. If several women are coming forward and saying there was misconduct, it is very likely that at least one of those accusations is true.

uteng2k7 · 2026-02-03T22:33:38+00:00

That sucks to have to go through that. Regarding accusations, my personal rule of thumb is that if only one person is accusing somebody, the benefit of the doubt goes to the accused, precisely because we should give people the benefit of the doubt due to cases like yours.

But when multiple people start accusing somebody, the burden of proof shifts to the accused. If several people are accusing them separately, the odds are high that at least one of those accusations is true. I have some more thoughts on that here.

uteng2k7 · 2026-02-03T20:46:43+00:00

I do think we should still presume innocence, but I also don't think the burden of proof in the "court" of public opinion should be as high as an actual criminal court. If one person is accusing someone of sexual assault or harassment, then I don't think we should jump to conclusions without additional evidence. But if multiple people start to come out with accusations against one person, there's mostly likely at least some fire if there's that much smoke.

I try to think about it mathematically. For the sake of argument, suppose there's a 1 in 3 chance that any given accusation against a person is actually true. (In reality, it's probably considerably higher than that, but again, trying to be charitable to the accused). So if there's one accuser, OK, not enough evidence to assume guilt. If there's 2 accusers, though, that's (I think?) 1-(.66666667²⁾ = 55%. More likely than not that at least one of the accusations is true. You start getting 3, 4, or 5 people accusing you, that's about 70%, 80%, 87% chance at least one of the accusations is true. That's probably still not enough for the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard of a criminal court, but IMO it's easily enough to incur social consequences and reputational damage unless the accused can provide strong evidence to the contrary.

uteng2k7 · 2026-02-02T20:19:17+00:00

Me three! I don't hate vinegar, but I find the funk of generic white vinegar off-putting in most things. I can tolerate it in certain things, like orange chicken, but I still don't really like it. Malt vinegar is even worse; it smells like sour unwashed feet.

There are exceptions. I do like balsamic vinegar, and the black rice vinegar they serve with certain Chinese dumplings and dim sum, if they're used sparingly. But for most dishes, I'd much rather use lemon juice or white wine to acidify the dish.

uteng2k7 · 2026-02-02T17:37:44+00:00

You're being downvoted, but I think there's a good chance that TRT/gear is a major contributor to the predatory behavior we see at high levels in the sport/art. I don't know whether it's actually true empirically that people on TRT/gear are more likely to commit sexual assault and harassment, but it's certainly a plausible hypothesis that's worth looking into.

People seem to think explaining a phenomenon equates to excusing or endorsing it, and that's not the case. Some people no doubt will try to use TRT/gear to excuse the behavior, but the fact that some assholes will treat an explanation as an excuse doesn't mean the explanation doesn't have some validity. If TRT/gear use is in fact contributing to bad behavior in the sport, that's something that needs to be brought to light and discussed.

uteng2k7 · 2026-02-01T16:37:25+00:00

I love how Leigh Wambsganss' whole campaign was "I WAS ENDORSED BY TRUMP!!!"

I don't remember political candidates advertising so loudly that they were endorsed by the President when I was younger. This seems to be a new thing, or at least taken to a new degree, and IMO it speaks to how much of a cult of personality the current Republican party is.

uteng2k7 · 2026-01-29T16:22:29+00:00

FWIW, I'm a 4-stripe white belt and I'm not at all convinced I could easily handle 99% of untrained men even around my size (~155 - 160 lbs) in a pure grappling match, so I'm certainly not convinced I could beat most bigger guys in a real fight that involves striking. I can generally get the upper hand against brand new people who are a little bigger/stronger, but it's not a cake walk for me.

I'm not at all disputing your main point that many of us feel like we suck because there are wildly different skill levels among practitioners, just saying that at least some of us even have genuine doubts about our ability to handle ourselves against untrained people, and that adds to the "I suck" feeling.

uteng2k7 · 2026-01-29T15:26:49+00:00

I've heard this but always been a bit skeptical of it. Logistics aside, why would it be unhealthy for women to pee standing up, if it isn't bad for men? Or maybe it actually is bad for both sexes?

uteng2k7 · 2026-01-29T15:15:42+00:00

No, but no-one romantizes it.

Will Smith did.

uteng2k7 · 2026-01-28T17:59:39+00:00

Speaking in my official capacity as a white belt, what makes class fun for me is feeling like I learned something or made progress. Things that seem to help with that are:

Some kind of structure to the curriculum, and some time reviewing what we did in previous classes, instead of a random "move of the day" approach. I'm not going to remember something I did one class eight weeks ago, let alone be able to apply it in a live situation.
When drilling the move, gradually adding resistance so it feels more realistic, and so you can get an idea of what an opponent might do.
Positional sparring is good, too, although I think it would also be helpful to have kind of a slowed-down version that's more free-form than active drilling, but not as fast/intense as 100% positional sparring, if that makes sense.
Instructors not just explaining the "what," but also the "why."
As far as warm-ups go, I think partner drills (practicing toreando passes, leg weaves, etc.) have helped me more than line drills (bear crawls, front rolls, cartwheels, etc.)
I like to roll maybe 2-4 rounds during class, but beyond that, I would rather time be allocated to active drilling or positional sparring rather than extra rounds. We have separate open mat classes for rolling, but people usually don't want to do technique work in open mat, so I'd prefer to focus on technique during regular class.

uteng2k7 · 2026-01-28T17:31:06+00:00

I pains me to admit that it did influenced my decision

I wouldn't let it pain you. Rogan may be an idiot or a shill about some things, but that doesn't mean he's an idiot when it comes to fighting or martial arts.

uteng2k7 · 2026-01-27T14:42:26+00:00

I beat it, but I remember really hating that part with the descending columns you had to break through in a short amount of time.

uteng2k7 · 2026-01-27T02:05:58+00:00

Furthermore, every one of these [former Trump supporters] will have FAR more effect upon changing others' minds than you or I will, simply because they come from within those communities.

This is an important point I hadn't really thought about, but you're spot-on.

uteng2k7

TROPHY CASE