What's causing populism around the world? It's the Internet Stupid (Fukuyama)

Post by aebtebeten » Thu, Jan 01, 2026, 8:42 AM UTC

gsf_emergency_6 wrote: post #28

aebtebeten wrote: post #27

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Hmm... I'm a relatively poor shot, and I've never tried meditation myself, only listened to people talking about it, so maybe I should retract that. What would you say the major differences are? (might you see more of a parallel between ice climbing and meditation?)

To your kind of meditation, yes! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41326474 To Fehmi's (& what I called "meditation"(/"prana-bindu") above, to be investigated.. Happy 2026! Ps presumably your dad was with the Navy?

Post by aebtebeten » Fri, Jan 02, 2026, 11:27 AM UTC

gsf_emergency_6 wrote: post #32

aebtebeten wrote: post #31

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Have an excellent 2026! (and a good slide in, on the slim chance it's not too late for you) PS the US Navy (although its final cause is instrument of empire) is one of the easier ways for a young man with little cultural capital and even less economic capital to find himself in an organisation that not only values lifetime learning but even goes out of its way to support it.

In ("cultural") theory, USMC, being "integrated", should have an advantage over USN but in practice(, putting sentients together in a confined space .. :)?

Post by gsf_emergency_6 » Sat, Jan 03, 2026, 5:15 AM UTC

aebtebeten wrote: post #26

gsf_emergency_6 wrote: post #24

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Okay I feel i'd said something stupid ---about the train--- without knowing what or why :) I had a notion that, compared to the US military, it was the Civilian Enforcers that practise apartheid-- ~a decade ago, not sure about now, they forced a black admiral to retire weeks back? Then again I was surprised that I was surprised at the inflation in NYC since the start of the pandemic https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12…

I think that notion is largely true: the military started desegregating in 1948[0]; the Civilian Enforcers not until decades later[1]. (I'd believe, recent purges notwithstanding, that the military has successfully integrated[2]; civilian society apparently ... not as much as one might have hoped, 160 years after Reconstruction[3]?) I'm not surprised at the inflation: USD has crashed by ~20% against CHF since last ye…

Post by gsf_emergency_6 » Sat, Jan 03, 2026, 2:25 PM UTC

aebtebeten wrote: post #36

gsf_emergency_6 wrote: post #34

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Gemini: Hunter Thompson "milks the trigger", "drugs+guns" Any high-adrenaline meditative sport (:) to recommemd (besides fencing, I found that too un-meditative but then again that could be a skill issue)

Never tried it myself, but this Gracie interview (7:30-8:32) makes it sound as if Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (at least with enough skill) could be high-adrenaline meditative: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdRIBYw6kNQ&t=450s (also 9:00-9:15. I believe what's happening here is that Gracie calls the end result, but he has multiple paths to get there; the interviewee defends against one path, and Gracie, like water, just "flo…

Post by gsf_emergency_6 » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 4:48 AM UTC

aebtebeten wrote: post #33

gsf_emergency_6 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In ("cultural") theory, USMC, being "integrated", should have an advantage over USN but in practice(, putting sentients together in a confined space .. :)?

In theory, https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Кот_Матроскин was surprising to Fedya's mother because he knew how to sew. But of course he does, because on a cruise one can't just run into town in order to get something done by someone else; it's not just his striped pattern that makes him resemble a sailor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Fedya,_His_Dog,_and_His_...