u/auximines_minotaur

They start out sympathetic, then quickly become less sympathetic. And then over time, the dawning realization that they’re deeply unhinged. And then the final reveal that they’re the actual bad guy.

For the record, I think Lindsay was the most sympathetic character. She would have been fine with Josh quitting his job and selling the house. She just wanted to be happy again.

And I feel bad for Eunice, but only to a point. She knew exactly who she was working for.

Find me one better. I dare you. I double dog dare you.

To be clear, I don't want my feed filled with slop. But back when I was an active FB user, I was part of these groups (and a few similarly named spinoffs) that were actually funny. They were all kinda smart/nerdy humor, but also absurdist, and most importantly *actually funny*. Are there any like this on Reddit?

Recent convert to trekking poles. Never used them before, but I've been doing more challenging trails recently.

What I'd really like is a pole with a really short collapsed length that can fit inside my backpack. I typically only want a pole if it's going to be a challenging trail, but you don't always know what will turn out to be challenging. Most telescoping poles have a collapsed length of 24-25", which is a bit too long for my 40L backpack.

I know some poles collapse by "folding", but this is not what I want. The telescoping poles can be useful when "collapsed" because in certain tough situations, it can be useful to have a shorter pole you can use to gain traction. Don't ask me how I know this.

Any suggestions?

Recent convert to trekking poles. Never used them before, but I've been doing more challenging trails recently.

What I'd really like is a pole with a really short collapsed length that can fit inside my backpack. I typically only want a pole if it's going to be a challenging trail, but you don't always know what will turn out to be challenging. Most telescoping poles have a collapsed length of 24-25", which is a bit too long for my 40L backpack.

I know some poles collapse by "folding", but this is not what I want. The telescoping poles can be useful when "collapsed" because in certain tough situations, it can be useful to have a shorter pole you can use to gain traction. Don't ask me how I know this.

Any suggestions?

A: He thought he was the Khufu

Wondering if anyone here knows anyone who knows him or has any real insight into the situation. I'm one of his backers on patreon and every once in a while I skim his "work log," but can't make head or tail of it. Mostly seems to be him complaining about his back problems or whatever?

I know he got pissed off when the Showtime series on George and Tammy came out, thought he was plaigerized or something (I have no clue, never watched the show). Not sure if that soured him on podcasting or what.

And yes I know his dad recently died, but he wasn't doing anything before that either, and it's been years at this point.

So I'll preface this by saying I'm a sworn enemy of the "wandering period" fallacy (blah blah blah, early burst of genius followed by extended wandering period blah blah blah, found their footing with meddle then went on to superstardom with Dark Side, blah blah blah blah blah). Atom Heart Mother is often used as Exhibit B by the Wandering Theorists (we all know Exhibit A, no need to discuss the Voldemoort album (which I love) here). And honestly, 69-71 is the period where I'd say PF most resembles the Grateful Dead, in that their live performances were just 1000x better than their studio releases. One track that stands out from this period is the AHM suite.

Until I started listening to bootlegs, AHM was one of my least favorite tracks. But once I started listening to bootlegs from 70-71, AHM actually became one of my favorites! Turns out there was an incredible piece of psychedelic rock hiding under that ghastly horns section and choir.

Anyway, it all fell into place for me when I learned one of the early working titles for AHM was "Theme for an Imaginary Western." Finally, it all made sense! With the choir and brass, AHM sounds very "soundtracky," but only if you're familiar with the Westerns that were popular at the time (Sergio Leone, etc). And that's a genre that was insanely popular at the time, but is kind of a niche genre for us. So the first several times I heard AHM, I was like, "what is this garbage?" I didn't think, "oh this is a clever, psychedelic take on film music!"

Without the brass and choir, it's a genius piece of psych rock, one that has accompanied me on numerous journeys. And I think at least some of the band agrees with me, as they released a number of live renditions on the Early Years box set. And of course later I find out that the band had a major bust-up with the conductor of the orchestra, and I suspect that's the reason why bandmembers continue to trash the album, even though live versions of that song fucking rule! AHM might be their album that would benefit most from a Deluxe Reissue, although I doubt it'll ever happen.

Anyway just thought I'd share this insight, in case there's anyone else out there who hates the orchestral AHM but loves the live version. You are not alone.

Part of the Beatles narrative is they had to stop touring because stadium sound systems weren’t up to the task and they couldn’t hear themselves play over the screaming girls. Accordingly, they became disappointed in themselves because they felt their playing had suffered as a result.

And yet the Stones drew similar crowds and have toured consistently since their inception. So what’s up with that? Were the Stones better able to play under adverse conditions? Did they have better sound systems? Smaller venues? Or did they just not care about the crappy sound systems?

My theory is “they couldn’t hear themselves play!” is actually overblown, and the real reason the Beatles stopped touring was because it became a pain in the butt, and they were successful enough that they didn’t have to tour anymore if they didn’t want to. That, plus the death of Brian Epstein, and the desire to “use the studio as an instrument.”

Odysseus: Terrible manager. Always getting his team killed. Should have stayed an engineer.

Athena: Excellent manager. Knows how to delegate, helps out when necessary.

Telemachus: Intelligent. Honorable. Lacks maturity. Doesn't know what he doesn't know. Promote to Senior Engineer and encourage to stay on the technical track.

Penelope: Clever. Skeptical. Adept at stalling. A skilled project manager.

Argos: Dies the moment you show up. Your product, whenever you try to demo it.

Calypso: Attractive. Persistent. Always trying to give you something you don't want. Sales associate.

Circe: Clearly smarter than you are. Can turn you into a pig if you're not careful. Lead Engineer. And don't piss her off.

Nestor: Long, boring meetings where attendance is mandatory. CEO.

Zeus: "Do whatever you’re gonna do, just leave me the hell out of it.” CTO.

The Sirens: Impossible promises. Sweet, irresistible song. Will eventually kill you. Your product roadmap.

Scylla: Will eat some of your crew, but can't be avoided. Performance reviews.

Charybdis: Will eat up your ship and spit it out again. QA.

Eumaeus: Drinks the kool-aid. Happy just to be here. Summer intern.

Poseidon: Grouchy and dangerous, but true to his word. Devops.

Polyphemus: Shortsighted. Cannibalistic. More wealth than he knows what to do with. The entire software industry.

Antinous: Arrogant and entitled. Thinks he owns the place. Prone to drunkenness. Obviously a customer.

I love love love love love hearing Brent on the B3. In general I'm more of a 60s/70s guy, but 82 is the big exception for me. I would love for more people to discover 82! For me, it was sort of an "easter egg." I didn't even know about 82 until I'd already been listening to the Dead for a few decades.

No shade on the rest of the 80s, but 82 will always be special to me. Probably one of the most unique-sounding years for the band! And the app currently only has a few shows from that year! So yes, more 82, please :)

On the one side, you have what's historically been called "the Great Man Theory." I personally hate this name, but I'll use it here because it's the most familiar. Basically, that individual historical figures and events matter a lot. No Hitler or Stalin means the 20th century turns out completely differently. Persians win the Battle of Marathon, then no Plato and possibly no Christianity

Then you've got the "Trends and Forces" theory. Individual figures matter when it comes to the specifics, but all the important stuff was alwys going to happen anyway. There would be one or two cataclysmic wars around the 20th century. Nukes would be invented. In 2026, there would be one country whose military would considerably more powerful than everyone else's, although it may not be America. The specifics would be different, but the general picture would look the same.

If you could run an infinite number of simulations, could you answer this conclusively? Either significant figures and events matter a whole lot, or they matter very little, or maybe they matter sometimes, but only in outlying cases?

And if you could answer the question, how would people respond? Would more people vote? Maybe fewer? Would people invest more in medicine than weapons if wars were seen as inevitable? Would we care more about climate change? Or maybe less?

Women do all kinds of crazy things and spend so much money on beauty treatments that men never notice. And they become insecure and depressed because they compare themselves to other women over things most men never even notice.

The truth is, if a woman is normal weight (not even skinny, just normal weight), most of the time they’re at least reasonably attractive. Yeah some are particularly gifted or gorgeous, but as long as they’re not overweight, most of them are at least attractive enough to get a boyfriend.

Also I’m not saying women have to be skinny, because honestly that’s not even attractive most of the time. And it often requires a level of self-involvement that often just isn’t very appealing in the long term.

When I’ve known women who were unwillingly single or constantly in bad relationships, half the time it’s because they have bad taste in men. The other half the time, it’s because they feel like they need to be standoffish or play hard to get, and they scare off the kind of men who would make good boyfriends.

Ever noticed a girl who might be kinda plain-looking or even a little overweight, but always gets laid or always has a boyfriend? 99 times out of 100 she’s it’s because she respects herself and knows how to hold up her end of a conversation. These are the girls I chat up when I’m at a bar or a party and I don’t know anybody, because honestly I’d rather have a few laughs with a random stranger than to feel like I have to play some sort of game.

Starlink is obviously fine. And I'm okay with wifi going out occasionally as long as I can fall back to cell/tethering. What i'm really concerned about is some kind of power outage that will wipe out both Wifi and Cell Data, in which case I'm well and trulyboned.

Would like to avoid places that are super touristy, but I'm willing to put up with some of that if it means having reliable internet. I'm not afraid to spend some money, I just want to have an interesting experience.

One thing that might help: if any of these towns have coworking sites that may have their own backup generators who can save my butt in case of emergencies. Either that or a nearby town that may have better connectivity.

Current candidates: Puerto Escondido, Conzumel, Puerto Vallarta, Mazaltan, Troncones, Puerto Vallarta, any others you may recommend?

I've heard Tulum, Cabo, and Playa Del Carmen are a complete waste of time, so I'm not even considering them. Although please feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken here.

Starlink is obviously fine. And I'm okay with wifi going out occasionally as long as I can fall back to cell/tethering. What i'm really concerned about is some kind of power outage that will wipe out both Wifi and Cell Data, in which case I'm well and trulyboned.

Would like to avoid places that are super touristy, but I'm willing to put up with some of that if it means having reliable internet. I'm not afraid to spend some money, I just want to have an interesting experience.

One thing that might help: if any of these towns have coworking sites that may have their own backup generators who can save my butt in case of emergencies. Either that or a nearby town that may have better connectivity.

Current candidates: Puerto Escondido, Conzumel, Puerto Vallarta, Mazaltan, Troncones, Puerto Vallarta, any others you may recommend?

I've heard Tulum, Cabo, and Playa Del Carmen are a complete waste of time, so I'm not even considering them. Although please feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken here.

Starlink is obviously fine. And I'm okay with wifi going out occasionally as long as I can fall back to cell/tethering. What i'm really concerned about is some kind of power outage that will wipe out both Wifi and Cell Data, in which case I'm well and trulyboned.

Would like to avoid places that are super touristy, but I'm willing to put up with some of that if it means having reliable internet. I'm not afraid to spend some money, I just want to have an interesting experience.

One thing that might help: if any of these towns have coworking sites that may have their own backup generators who can save my butt in case of emergencies. Either that or a nearby town that may have better connectivity.

Current candidates: Puerto Escondido, Conzumel, Puerto Vallarta, Mazaltan, Troncones, Puerto Vallarta, any others you may recommend?

I've heard Tulum, Cabo, and Playa Del Carmen are a complete waste of time, so I'm not even considering them. Although please feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken here.

Starlink is obviously fine. And I'm okay with wifi going out occasionally as long as I can fall back to cell/tethering. What i'm really concerned about is some kind of power outage that will wipe out both Wifi and Cell Data, in which case I'm well and trulyboned.

Would like to avoid places that are super touristy, but I'm willing to put up with some of that if it means having reliable internet. I'm not afraid to spend some money, I just want to have an interesting experience.

One thing that might help: if any of these towns have coworking sites that may have their own backup generators who can save my butt in case of emergencies. Either that or a nearby town that may have better connectivity.

Current candidates: Puerto Escondido, Cozumel, Puerto Vallarta, Mazaltan, Troncones, Puerto Vallarta, any others you may recommend?

I've heard Tulum, Cabo, and Playa Del Carmen are a complete waste of time, so I'm not even considering them. Although please feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken here.

Starlink is obviously fine. And I'm okay with wifi going out occasionally as long as I can fall back to cell/tethering. What i'm really concerned about is some kind of power outage that will wipe out both Wifi and Cell Data, in which case I'm well and trulyboned.

Would like to avoid places that are super touristy, but I'm willing to put up with some of that if it means having reliable internet. I'm not afraid to spend some money, I just want to have an interesting experience.

One thing that might help: if any of these towns have coworking sites that may have their own backup generators who can save my butt in case of emergencies. Either that or a nearby town that may have better connectivity.

Current candidates: Puerto Escondido, Conzumel, Puerto Vallarta, Mazaltan, Troncones, Puerto Vallarta, any others you may recommend?

I've heard Tulum, Cabo, and Playa Del Carmen are a complete waste of time, so I'm not even considering them. Although please feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken here.