There’s a very weird group of people who are deathly afraid of covid but nonchalant about nuclear war.
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John Durant
@johndurant
A little bit of this, a little bit of that. Founder of Wild Ventures. NYT bestselling author of The Paleo Manifesto and Spartan Fit.
johndurant.netJoined April 2009
John Durant’s Tweets
You have no idea the sacrifice your parents made for you until you become one.
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I mistook Celsius for hard seltzer last night and accidentally drank 600 mg of caffeine after 8p.
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I don’t have to genuflect to anyone’s made up bullshit
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The best estimates are that 20-25k Russian soldiers have been killed, versus 125k+ Ukrainian soldiers dead.
As for losing some tanks, many from massive Cold War stockpiles, is there any nation that can more easily make tanks than Russia? Have you read any history?
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Replying to @johndurant
At a cost of a 100k+ troops killed, wounded or deserted and a significant part of their armor knocked out? They are being killed faster than they are being replenished.
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We might not be weakening Russia’s military, but strengthening it.
The war has forced Russia to deal with corruption, sort out supply chains, streamline recruitment, identify dissidents, rally the country, test new weapons, and train more troops.
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Sending more tanks to Ukraine, and flirting with sending more advanced weapons, will accomplish nothing.
The media is lying: the Ukrainians are getting slaughtered and losing badly.
We need to stop escalating a regional conflict into a world war between the US and Russia.
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Life with less plastics: traditional Japanese wooden wrapping paper, kyōgi (経木) is making a comeback, replacing styrofoam, plastic containers in upscale supermarkets. Made of 0.05-1.0mm slices of pine or cedar wood. Antibacterial, breathable (doesn't condense or trap moisture).
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Huge fan of store brand pickles.
The big name brands are yuck.
The premium brands are try-hard.
Store brand pickles hit the sweet spot.
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Flipping through Rick Rubin's new book.
Already underlining a lot.
Resonates.
It's great.
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Russians have taken Soledar, breaking through the second defense line in Donbas with cascading effects.
Horrific images of Ukrainian losses and frostbitten soldiers surrendering.
Ground is now frozen.
The Russian winter offensive appears imminent.
Winter has come.
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I’m old enough to remember when Universal Basic Income was an urgent social necessity, allowing millions of unemployed truck drivers to become artists.
That was always bullshit. And AI is better than most at art.
There’s always gardening.
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people keep telling me the out of work truck drivers and service workers and lawyers and writers will finally have the time to build great businesses and pursue their dream careers in art. 1) this will never happen 2) robots also automating most of business and all of art
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Twitter stats being open now shows how embarrassing it is for people to respond to media hit pieces. You can see how few are reading those. Why say anything? “Never being enemy propaganda across your own defensive lines.”
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1,500-word days are good days.
The sky could light on fire and it wouldn't matter because I more than completed my task.
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Cameo, but just the cast of Deadwood.
I will be conducting all future business dealings through my proxy: Ian McShane as Al Swearengen.
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A lot of hoopleheads on this site.
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Starting season 3 of Deadwood.
A high crime that this show was cancelled.
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A lot of mobile game ads appear to be written, directed, and produced by Saul Goodman.
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The holidays are great, but I love getting back to work and back into my routine.
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If AI saves people from having to write, it will also save them from having the ideas that writing engenders.
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Here they play a short clip of Marvin Gaye, and Lex talks over the track like 4 or 5 times, destroying the moment of getting to listen to Marvin Gaye with Rick Rubin:
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It's okay to start an interview like this:
"Hey Rick, I love music but I'm not really a music person and I'm out of my depth. Could you help me hear music -- really *hear* it -- and appreciate it more?"
And then start with the very act of listening.
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A good interviewer doesn't have to be a cultural sophisticate with perfect taste.
Lex should be smart enough to realize that he knows next to nothing about music, and so his role as interviewer should be to let the masters talk and teach.
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I actually remember listening to this episode at home alone, and yelling "Shut the f*** up Lex" multiple times
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You've got Rick Rubin on your podcast, for gods sake, just give him some prompts and let him run with it.
And when Rick selects a song to play, shut the f*** up and listen.
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Dollar to donuts, Lex or his assistant just googled "famous quotes on music" and clicked the first link: brainyquote.com/topics/music-q
Wow, Nietzsche on music...deep...let's use it!
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Then Lex opens with a Nietzsche quote: "Without music, live would be a mistake."
This may be the most pedestrian Nietzsche quote of all time and has nothing really to do with Nietzsche or philosophy.
It's faux sophistication.
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Lex's opening comment puts Rick on the spot as to whether he's nervous.
Rick rolls with it and graciously (and correctly) suggests they just get started.
Instead, Lex luxuriates in the awkwardness as some kind of strange self-help exercise.
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Lex Fridman reading list reminds me of the Lex Fridman interview of Rick Rubin.
Lex talks too much; has bad taste in music; and won't shut up while listening to selections (Rick is quiet so we can hear too).
We want to hear Rick & great music, not Lex
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R.I.P. 2022 (2022 - 2022)
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Great thread here. And I will note that this is one of the rare movies from my childhood that has held up for my own kids.
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The other day I saw a meme saying that in Home Alone, Kevin "could have called the police at any time, but he enjoyed torturing those men."
That's untrue; the phones were disabled by the power outage, and Kevin believed he was wanted by the police for stealing a toothbrush.
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It's a bit of a weird thing that documents came out showing Lee Harvey Oswald was probably a CIA asset and there's very little coverage. Like, there's a reasonable chance the CIA was directly or indirectly involved in killing JFK and, well, shrug.
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This was obvious to anyone with a shred of intellectual honesty. But religious fanatics intimidated cowards and social climbers into silence and compliance.
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NYT reports New studies show that puberty blockers are not "reversible." May lead to loss of cognitive function and bone density loss, and are likely to put kids who would outgrow their gender dysphoria on a pathway to cross-sex hormones and surgeries.
nytimes.com/2022/11/14/hea
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It was another succulent genocide during the Austin freeze. ❄️
My blue agave. My cacti.
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A young and beautiful woman living in the French countryside, but still dissatisfied?
I can provide plenty of adventure, a monumental library, and a beastly demeanor that needs work.
Still working on the castle with servants, but not out of the question…if the love is true.
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"Mommy, mommy, MOMMY! Eric is looking at bad documents again! Mommy, DO SOMETHING!"
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Just had Google Docs tell my son that a completely innocuous academic document he wanted to share with me was 'flagged as inappropriate'. And this apparently requires review...
Do you want to complain about whether I separate my laundry? Do we kiss wrong too? Bad taste in music?
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In Beauty & the Beast, I find it amusing that Belle is so dissatisfied living in the French countryside.
I get it in terms of the plot and the provincial nature of her existence.
But is there any better place to live provincially?
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