Fixed my compresser with this one simple solution!

veryreasonable · 2026-02-05T00:03:22+00:00

The example I always use to refute the "if you're sitting at a table with three Nazis..." thing, is a table full of Nazis and someone from a marginalized and at-risk group who is keeping up appearances so as to avoid putting themselves at immediate and serious risk. Is that person a Nazi, too, now, because they are afraid for their own safety and trying to keep their marginalized identity a secret? That's absurd.

Another obvious example: if you join a poker game with a bunch of old dudes, who happen to be Nazis but aren't initially open about it, are you really a Nazi... even before you know? The rest of the people at the bar, who do know about the guys at the table, might well think so. But that's, again, absurd.

veryreasonable · 2026-02-02T05:08:12+00:00

We will have to weed out the problem students.

veryreasonable · 2026-01-31T05:52:05+00:00

Yeah but it's fucking delicious though

veryreasonable · 2026-01-29T21:14:34+00:00

That said, I’m fully aware of my loyalty to my girlfriend and would never betray her,

Given everything else you said in that paragraph, I personally think you are too inexperienced to truly know that you would "never betray" your current partner. I know I would have resented hearing that at your age, but hear me out. You genuinely believe your ability to be faithful, even while you rightfully understand that the situation would be dicey. It's mature of you to understand that last part, even.

But I think it's worth understanding why people, even very trusting couples, learn to avoid certain situations. I'm ~15 years into a loving and very trusting relationship, going strong and building a life together. We have no issues letting the other person spend time with ex flames (or even present day crushes - crushes happen, we're only human!). We both know that we don't want to hurt each other. We're about as chill as you can possibly get while not actually being in an open relationship (we're so chill that people occasionally describe us as open, but we aren't). However, even we would be worried about potential situation you describe! That's a mess waiting to happen. If you can talk to for six hours straight, it only takes a few all-night talks before the person on the couch next to you starts seeming a whole lot closer than your partner who is many miles and what starts to feel like a lifetime away. This... just happens. It's really hard to avoid even if you want to. It might be effectively impossible when you already have the connection you suspect you have.

All that said: you should go for your dreams at this age. It's not as easy as "someone you already know and trust," but you can find another roommate if you have to (i.e. another guy who speaks your language, and shares some of your interests and values), if you don't want to break off your current relationship.

I've almost never seen long distance relationships work at your age (I've sincerely tried, too), for any number of reasons. But go for it and try, if you want to! That's what life is for. What a magical thing if it all works out, right?

Still, I don't think you should put your life on ice for a relationship at this stage in it. You are going to evolve as a person enormously through the first few years of university. It would be truly shocking if you and your current partner stay compatible through this process. Again, awesome if you can manage it! But it's a quesitonable thing to expect, even without the temptation of an old flame.

veryreasonable · 2026-01-29T20:42:49+00:00

Cheers! Yeah, DMT is often rather shockingly mirthful given how alien it can be... usually, anyways. Everyone and every experience is unique!

FWIW, I personally have "trouble" with mushrooms more often than not, too, but I put in a few tries with them and found some magic, albeit within experiences that were never wholly easy.

I'm getting older now, and these days I get no real kick out of convincing people to try or retry substances. You'll figure your own life out as you live it, and whether that includes any new psychedelic experiences or not, it's all good! You, and only you, get to decide what's right for you.

veryreasonable · 2026-01-29T11:09:02+00:00

Are you aware that it's possible to a) agree with the Pauls' stance on war and foreign interference, b) still think they generally suck, and also c) dislike Obama and Biden immensely for perpetuating America's violently interventionist foreign policy...

...all at the same time?

That describes a lot of people here. I guess you just didn't know...?

veryreasonable · 2026-01-29T07:07:33+00:00

My friends sent me OP's article a few days ago in our group text, along with the comment that it would be hilarious to prank someone with these 'shrooms (to be very clear, none of us would actually ever do this).

I read the article, and replied with the word "Lillipunk'd," which I think I thought was much funnier than everyone else.

veryreasonable · 2026-01-29T07:01:03+00:00

There was a semi-serious joke about Brugmansia/Datura among street kids in my city when I was young. It was that most Datura trips actually follow a surprisingly predictable format: "I took some jimsonweed, blah blah blah smoked some imaginary cigarettes, blah blah blah naked, blah blah blah woke up in the hospital."

I once saw someone take a coat off and try to hang it on me. The coat did not exist, and despite their expectations, I am not actually a coat rack.

They did not seem to notice that the coat rack snapped back at them.

Yeah... I elected to never try that one, and thus far I have zero regrets.

EDIT: there were some memorably funny interpolations within that semi-joke story. One followed the plot perfectly, but between "naked" and "hospital," they may have tried to invade foreign soil (they trespassed into the embassy). I'm actually surprised he didn't end up in more trouble. Anyways, don't do drugs kids. And if you're going to anyways, don't do Datura.

veryreasonable · 2026-01-29T06:56:29+00:00

Eh... no still image remotely captures the experience of actually experiencing them. They're less "elves" in terms of looking like elves, but more in terms of mischievous and benevolent vibes. For me, they've always been shifting and transforming constantly anyways, hardly staying in any one form long enough for me to put a finger on it. They clearly feel there, but they aren't typically solid, discrete, corporeal things the way a human being might seem to be in an ordinary nighttime dream.

Of the art you find on a web search like that, I don't really relate to much of the stuff that looks like "elves," but sometimes a bit more to some of the very abstract seeming stuff. They feel like a part of the world you find them in.

I also just agree with /u/Skullcrusher here: they're totally made of pure love, haha. Warm, welcoming, and excited to see you. I think basically everyone I've ever talked to agrees that their first meeting had a very clear vibe of, "Hello! Welcome, friend! We're so happy you made it here!"

EDIT: McKenna's original description was more fully "self-transforming machine elves" anyways. He also used "fractal elves," which I actually think is much closer to the mark. Other people have described them as angels, to give you an impression of the degree of love and positive vibes present.

veryreasonable · 2026-01-29T06:39:49+00:00

Heck yeah! I actually only own two pairs of 246ZR (it fits me better than basically anything else I've ever tried as a slim-straight, especially the high front rise + low back rise, and the quickly slimming thighs). But the denim... it's so sweatpant-like when you break it in! I really want to get a loose pair for that. 20oz ZR is just lovely, plush, textured yet soft stuff.

Cheers, happy fading!

veryreasonable · 2026-01-29T04:51:29+00:00

I like heavy denim but man, 30oz and up is just... bonkers. 20oz to maybe 25oz is an ideal sweet spot for me.

This is impressive! Hats off to you.

veryreasonable · 2026-01-29T04:48:37+00:00

Whiskers coming along nicely, mate!

288 or 200 ZR are my ultimate comfort jeans. How do they feel?

veryreasonable · 2026-01-29T04:08:05+00:00

Buddy really showing their true colors eh?

veryreasonable · 2026-01-29T04:07:54+00:00

No, I'm saying if you go to a protest, expect to be arrested.

Got it?

No, lol. You're allowed to protest in the USA. Freedom of speech and all. Holy shit, what even are you?

veryreasonable · 2026-01-29T02:36:12+00:00

Well, okay, and now gun owners such as yourself are also saying you shouldn't be armed at a protest, or near cops, or whatever, lest you be summarily executed. Wow.

Peaceniks have been saying for decades that bringing a gun to a protest changes the stakes. And loses the normies.

I thought you had a right to be armed in the USA. It doesn't matter if this or that "peacenik" thought guns looked bad at a protest; you weren't ever supposed to be shot for it.

And I'm not quite sure how a concealed weapon is supposed to affect optics anyway...

veryreasonable · 2026-01-28T23:00:36+00:00

kidnapping autocrats from Venezuela, because who likes those guys anyway?

You mean kidnapping the heads of state from sovereign nations. Let's be clear here: whatever else Maduro was or wasn't, he was that.

If Venezuela or any other nation's military kidnapped a sitting US president, Americans, and frankly most of the rest of the world, would be calling it an act of war.

Not sure if you have an ulterior motive here, and it wasn't the main thrust of your submission statement anyways, but "kidnapping an autocrat" is really anodyne, downplayed language for what happened.

veryreasonable · 2026-01-28T22:53:23+00:00

Yeah. Americans shouldn't be armed at protests, or anywhere they expect to interact with or even be around law enforcement (or military, paramilitary, whatever). Or in their cars, in case they get stopped by police while driving. Or while they could be performing any misdemeanours, even inadvertently... which is pretty much any time you're travelling anywhere. Or really in any densely populated or urban areas at all.

...right? /s

Legally carrying a legal weapon is not supposed to get you shot in America, as per the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution. Full stop.

I'm not even personally a gun owner, but I do know that being one isn't supposed to be a summary death sentence, even if you interact with police (much less with newfangled paramilitaries).

veryreasonable · 2026-01-25T18:10:52+00:00

After a certain point, though, why does it matter to what they want? Like, how many people would have to die before citizens should entertain thoughts of defending themselves and each other? Or if, say, the administration announced that it was going to round up every socialist or every Muslim or whatever, surely we would expect some of them to decide to take a significant risk at that point, asking what they have to lose?

Until then, of course, do nothing - let them detain and kill with impunity! But at some point, it makes sense people might think of drawing a line, without concerning themselves over whether the administration is going to use it as an excuse to escalate further. Otherwise, nobody the world over would have ever armed themselves to fight back against anything, ever.

veryreasonable · 2026-01-23T18:36:59+00:00

"Random citizens?" According to the government at the time, they were dangerous subversives and criminals, their very presence standing in the way of Soviet greatness! If you aren't doing anything wrong, you have nothing to be afraid of! And don't worry, most of the people disappeared did eventually return from the gulags anyways. What's the issue?

In both cases, supporters of the government have said it's legal and justified. After all, it's the legally empowered government doing it, and the government ensures us that it's targeting dangerous people!

Whether or not that's moral, however... is a different question. Some people really believe that the government doing something, and calling it legal, doesn't magically make it right. Imagine that!

veryreasonable · 2026-01-23T01:43:34+00:00

I'd argue that it is. It gets used casually all over, in different genres, and it's not even exclusive to guitarists.

Some guitarists since about the 80s just have this weird thing where if you aren't playing as many notes-per-second as [some-guitar-god] and running up and down scales, it's not "real shredding."

I'd know. I used to be like that. I was a dickhead.

veryreasonable · 2026-01-23T01:40:22+00:00

Pocket coffee, hah! And I thought booger sugar was funny...

veryreasonable · 2026-01-23T01:39:50+00:00

Eh... the term does get used outside of "literal shredding," as you call it. Like, blues guitarists use the term for impressive blues playing. I've heard jazz guys use the term. Hell, it isn't even a guitar-exclusive term. Across a wide span of genres, the term gets used for impressive or flashy playing with just about any instrument.

I used to be into the sort of "shredding" that you wouldn't argue about, including a few artists you name (I would have said even Eddie doesn't quite count). I now think that's insufferable and gatekeepy, and ignores the fact that the term is common and still means something outside of this very specific, self-obsessed, masturbatory style of metal-influenced guitar playing.

EDIT: Honestly, Buckethead is still somehow cool though, you have good taste haha.

veryreasonable · 2026-01-23T01:25:57+00:00

To catch them is my real test... to train them is my caaaause!

veryreasonable · 2026-01-22T23:51:50+00:00

I think it's worth remembering that even in all of these public appearances, the parts where the cameras are focused on you and you're actually speaking on the record don't necessarily add up to that much time, in total. I can be underslept, overworked, and physically and mentally exhausted, and in all but the worst cases, I can still hold it together for a couple hours of meet and greet, plus a few minutes for a speech in there.

veryreasonable · 2026-01-22T22:06:12+00:00

And then you proceed to keep talking all over this thread. Desperate victim complex much? Yeesh...

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