Open Thread

Open Thread #91

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158 thoughts on “Open Thread #91

  1. Does anyone of you play some grand strategy games?

    Currently getting into crusader kings III, which is like a medieval dynasty simulation / role playing game. Very complicated but at the moment exactly what I need to get through the winter.

    My favorite 4x games are master of orion 2 (still the best of that kind of games imho) and civilization 5. Sunk lot of my lifetime into those.

    1. @Assanova: I guess according to modern feminist standards I’m a manchild / irresponsible bachelor 😀 No kids, no wife, no worries :D. How dare I use my free time to have fun 😀

    2. Still playing Starcraft 1
      Probably the most balanced RTS ever made
      & its getting a new rise after 20 years now in South Korea …

      really worth playing (or watching online)

    3. There are a number of games that have been around for well over a decade and still have a steady following. This ranges to 90s fighting games, which people still play via Fightcade to early MMOs, to speedrunning favorites like Mario 64. I find it quite fascinating that people dedicate a good part of their life to a game that may be as old or even older than themselves.

  2. Currently reading a book about the roman empire. I have the impression that some periods of it were the peak of European civilization (before it got infested with Christianity).
    Do you guys agree with that statement? If not, which period do you think was the peak of our civilization?

    1. You’ll have multiple peaks and they all coincide with the respectivr society having had a hard money standard.
      Last peak was 1871 to 1914 (“La belle époque”).

      The Roman empire went to shit, once they debased their money.

      Wanna fuck up a society? Increase their money supply/debase their currency. Works like a charm.
      Jesus chased away the money changers for a reason.

    2. …and today we have to call them “money changers” because we can’t mention their ethnicity.

    3. You only have to look at the art and architecture of the Romans and compare this to the glass-and-steel abominations of today. Roman ruins are more evocative than all of contemporary Western architecture.

    4. Jacques Barzun identifies 1912 as the year all art and architecture went to shit in his book “From Dawn to Decadence: 1500 to the Present- 500 Years of Western Cultural Life”

      He didn’t connect the dots, though by pointing out that this is the year the Fed was established. A privately owned money printer… you gotta be kidding me.

      We all know the ethnicity of the owners of the Fed et al.

  3. Aaron,
    Question…

    Over the last few months, Biden and Trump hosted their presidential campaigned. There was no shortage of so-called Body Language experts who dive deep into the minuscule details of micro-expressions and body movement. On the other hand, you also have law enforcement personal who study body language. Your average normie in society is able to recognize basic everyday body language. There are so many Body Language Gurus who over-complicate the process like the PUA Community did in its heydays. When it comes to meeting women, how much do guys really need to know about body language and micro-expression aside from identifying sexual interest and non-sexual interest?

    1. Aaron,
      Forgot to mention..
      One area where its slightly difficult to read and identify sexual interest is the strip clubs. A lot of girls are focus on making money. They often tell guys what they want to hear. But, there’s always that one girls who will make her interest known. For the most part, a lot of girls just go through the motions with every customer.

    2. I have a lot of experience in strip clubs and most guys think strippers treat all clients the same. I strongly disagree. Even if they don’t necessarily want to fuck you, they will treat you better/let you do more if they think you are handsome. Its not like they cease being women when they enter the walls of the establishment.

    3. Same thing with cocktail waitresses. Most guys say, “Oh they flirt with all of their customers.” While this may be true, sometimes they actually mean it. Why would they deny themselves the opportunity to meet a Chad simply because they are at work? That’s just as ignorant as saying all of their flirting with every customer is sincere. I knew of a guy that got a number from a young hot Hooters girl and they fucked on the regular for a while.

    4. @GoodLookingAndSleazy
      Choosing the right stripper is biggest obstacle in strip clubs. Choosing the wrong girl will end up costing you time and money. And worst, you won’t get laid. It’s not like a regular bar or club where some random girl signals her sexual availability. A lot of these girls are focused on money, and of course if they see a Chad, they will make their sexual interest known.

      However, establishing physical contact and escalating is not a reliable way of identifying sexual attraction. A lot of these girls will often let guys establish physical contact as it gets them to spend more money. I’ve had girls who allowed me to do whatever I wanted, and I didn’t get laid. On the other hand, I had girls who wouldn’t allow me to touch them and I got laid by them. These two are very opposite of each other.

      The way I choose a stripper is usually filtering them via conversation. It’s not just one conversation. I try to get to know them over a period of time without spending any money. And if I do spend any money its very trivial. Of course, you can always ask a stripper upfront about play for pay, but they can always lie about it and tell you they don’t have sex for money.

      The other issue is that if you choose the wrong girl, you won’t get your money worth. Her whole objective will to make you cum and leave immediately. That’s why I try to get to know them a little bit before asking for sex as it allows me to see if they are attracted to me. I had girls who told me, “we can have all the sex you want” vs your typical stripper who tries to get her money and leave. Which is better?

    5. I was talking about mileage in the back, as I’ve done everything back there at no extra cost, besides BJs. But you may have a point. I remember Aaron saying that I could have fucked these girls for free. Maybe he was referring to what you mentioned about getting to know them first. When I see a complete hottie at a strip club I can’t help but touch them. I guess it works in a night club but not a strip club. Strippers and prostitutes are so different than “normal girls.” Like rules about kissing etc.

      I asked a stripper one time about why some guys talk to them so much, but I always go immediately to the back with physical escalation. She said that she charges them for the conversation. That her managers get pissed off if she spends too much time on the floor without making any money for the club. And these guys end up in the back anyway. Its so funny. “Regular girls” get bored if you talk to them a lot without physically escalating. Strippers want the opposite from a Chad apparently.

      Still, Chad’s get more action in a lap dance than average guys. Some guys don’t even believe that. Maybe I’ll try to resist the urge to touch them in the future and just “make conversation.” I actually do this with the girls I’m NOT attracted to ironically. Just to pass time. And they are also the only ones to tell me I am good looking. I said to one of them, “are you only telling me this to get a dance?” She said, “Oh, I know your not getting a dance.” Hhhmmmm, maybe I can be fucking the hot ones for free as long as I take it slow.

  4. Aaron,
    I know in previous discussion you noted that you like to work out at the gym. However, have you ever thought about running a marathon? I plan to travel to Europe and start competing in marathons over there. I’ve done my share of marathons here in the US, and now I would like to travel and compete. Of course, I’m not sponsor, but I would like to try something new.

    1. If you want to attract women I would not train for marathons. Just look at the average marathon runner… they are not what most women find hot. (if you want to be competitive you will have to lose most of your upper body muscles)
      Also it’s not healthy. Interval sprints are much better.

    2. @Ubermensch
      The average marathon isn’t really that skinny. Your average marathoner doesn’t really train for a marathon. They usually run the course within a four hour time frame or greater. In addition, your average marathon cannot run a 3 hour marathon. Running a 3 hour marathon is not easy for the average runner. You’re talking 7 minutes per mile. Its very time consuming to be training for a marathon. Runners are split into either competitive or recreational runners. The majority of runners are recreational runners. I do agree that being too skinny is not very attractive to women. If you’re competing in marathons, weight matters a lot.

    1. I have a very high-paying job with amazing benefits. Wasn’t worth the risk of my employers finding it.

  5. I watched a couple videos of basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain recently and was very impressed. The media always paints him as a selfish arrogant blowhard. But what I saw was an intelligent, articulate “alpha” who gave all fucks about going against the grain. He made “outlandish” claims about being better than Michael Jordan, players making too much money, and fucking 2,000 women. He explains it all very well IMO.

    I didn’t know that he was a fantastic track and field athlete who had a great vertical and fast as hell on top of being 7’1. He also claimed to be able to bench almost 600 pounds. Too many dismiss his dominance as simply being tall. About fucking 2,000 girls, even he wasn’t sure about it’s accuracy, but once you lose track, that says a lot. But he sure didn’t exaggerate about scoring 100 points in one game or grabbing 55 rebounds against fellow legend Bill Russell.

    What people fail to realise about the 2,000 girls claim he put in his book is that he was explaining that lay count is overrated. And he would rather have sex with the right woman 2,000 times. I have a whole new respect for the man that just seems to be misunderstood and a victim to the fake media. All sports media is owned by the same MSM conglomerates after all.

    1. 20000, yeah sure.
      you realize almost all men inflate their laycount?

      if he got a new girl each day, it would take him 54 years to reach that laycount.

      LOL.

      you need a better bullshit detector…

    2. Nah bro, I didn’t say I believed him. Just correcting my mistake on what he claimed.

    3. I also don’t think he could bench almost 600 pounds. He still was the strongest basketball player ever (including Shaq).

      I don’t know why he felt the need to exaggerate. But his basketball and track credentials are documented history.

    1. Yeah I love that interview. He sure made a good case. Also said he doesn’t like playing golf with women. Walters was good at putting people on the spot but it simply didn’t work with Sean.

      Walters: You might get some mail after this.

      Connery: I might get some female.

  6. Hello Aaron,

    Could you please talk about ways you have managed the emotional pain of a breakup or rejection by a lover? Ideally a situation where you were still interested in more but your partner was ready to move on.

    Do you have any techniques to soothe the pain? I feel a physical pain in my chest and a nausea that just won’t go away. I’ve struggled to focus for days now. It’s so frustrating.

    I have tried and failed to develop “outcome independence.” Something about being rejected by someone who you like and who happens to know you well cuts right down to the bone.

    1. You’re asking for a consultation. If you want that, feel free to book a session.

      Dealing with a breakup is part of my upcoming book on relationships as well, but that’ll be a while longer in the making.

    1. Well, I bet this guy regrets making that bet now. I literally watched GA flip blue with 99% of the vote counted. Miraculous. If they call it today, that gives Biden the presidency. I’m literally shaking (from laughter).

  7. How do you guys pick up shy girls? I’m talking about girls that give you strong signals–great eye contact, smiles, and even touching, but they are not good conversationalists. Do you just get more aggresive and put the physical escalation into overdrive?

    1. Some women only pretend to be shy. In any case, run less aggressive game, stretched out over a longer duration of time. You have to decide for yourself it this is worth it for just a hook-up, though.

    2. When I saw your comment a few days ago I made a note to reply, but I see Aaron posted much the same what I wanted to say.

      Not worth it dude. Even not-shy girls are a bad-return on effort for something that often is no better than a good wank.

      Also expect the sex to be much worse with a shy girl.

  8. cucked beyond belief:

    I’m sure you guys heard about the Islamic terror attack in Vienna.

    My mother only lives 100 meter away from the area and she actually heard the gunfire, so I was quite involved in this. And my sister knows someone who actually got hit by a bullet (but not lethal)

    the terrorist was a known collaborator of the Islamic state, who was allowed to walk freely in Vienna without any observation.
    so basically they can declare that they hate the west, and want all of us dead, and still nothing happens to them.
    at the same time, normal citizens are not allowed to move freely because of some virus which is basically a slightly aggressive flu.

    I’m starting to repeat myself but this is beyond crazy.
    The terrorists are insane, but I think so is our response to all of this madness. The world is really a madhouse.

    1. Nah, Covid is serious. There are piles of dead bodies just down my street. Millions have died already. This is getting worse than the Black Death.

    2. “Nah, Covid is serious. There are piles of dead bodies just down my street. Millions have died already. This is getting worse than the Black Death.”
      I thought you said it was no more than fluenza?

    3. Also, compare a plague that happened in the XIV century, when the medical conditions and facility was even more primitive than third world countries in modern time constitutes a fair comparison.

    4. @Cuong Quoc Vu

      Death rate is very similar to the flu, only slightly higher.

      1) Based on both WHO data for total number of infections
      – Death rate 0,17%

      2) As well as based on the diamond princess (which was the perfect scientific model, almost like a special experiment run just for this). A cruise ship filled with thousands of older-than-average people sharing a confined space with infected people for months.
      – Death rate 0,3%

      What makes this virus scary to the medical system isn’t the death rate (it’s not big). What scares them is the small number of people who’ve had it (i.e. almost no population immunity), because of which it spreads much faster than the flu.

      With that said…

      The issue is this. It’s at best 3x scarier than a normal flu season (depending on how you cut and slice your logic to determine scariness). We’re treating it as if it were 10,000x worse. And that’s the issue. Huge mismatch between the two.

    5. What do you mean opinion. It’s not a music band so that I would give my opinion it. Stop the shitty wanna-be-sophistry, make an argument or don’t.

    6. “What do you mean opinion. It’s not a music band so that I would give my opinion it. Stop the shitty wanna-be-sophistry, make an argument or don’t.”

      You want to cause war by being confrontative for no reasons? I said what was your thought on the mortality rate between Covid 19 vs the Spanish flu. You said the Covid 19 mortality rate was similar to flu, so I ask you how does it compare to Spanish flu.

      What is your beef against that question?

  9. What do feminists mean when they say “women don’t need men?” Honestly, WTF do they mean? For relationships? Marriage? Child rearing? I’m assuming that’s what they mean, but they don’t complete the sentence. I’d like these bitches to try getting by with no men helping them out in some way in their daily lives. Shit, practically everything they use was invented by a man.

    And if they are talking about marriage/family, this would actually be a good cop out for dead beat dad’s. Imagine, “Your honer, I can’t make my child support payments because she just doesn’t need me. She said it herself. “

    1. This is why feminism caters to bitter lonely bitches, who are misdirecting their anger. They are lying to frustrated women who haven’t found/will never find Mr. Right and telling them that a patriarchal society is to blame for their dissatisfaction. Not what they feel instinctively. Might I add that the patriarchy died before these bitches were even born. And feminism itself should be blamed for these bitches being alone, frustrated, and completely unhappy.

  10. @GoodLookingAndSleazy
    If a woman is telling you “she doesn’t need a man”, she not interested in casual hook-ups or doesn’t have any romantic interest. As far from feminism who make the claim “I don’t need no man” is simply a lie.

  11. Any of you guys accepting this Biden “win”? 😉

    Thank gawd for those 4am ballots for Biden! And good thing the mainstream media refused to call those states as ‘Trump wins’ because after a few days, they became Biden wins (i.e. Georgia, and soon Pennsylvania!)

    1. I suspect, in the era of smart phones and with all the evidence piling up, that the lawsuits should be open and shut. I expect Biden to at least take GA and PA soon, and he will illegitimately win. Will the SC do their jobs and rule in Trump’s favor? If not, it looks like we’ll have a certified banana republic controlled by the media from here on out. Anyone with a lick of sense will never trust in the electoral process ever again if you were alive to witness this charade. What are your thoughts?

      Btw, this very process was predicted by several people. The called it the red mirage.

    2. @Pickernanny – it seems like the media outlets are quick to call Biden electoral college votes (and soon the presidency) as a way of cementing that Biden was the winner.

      That way when Trump challenges, even if he wins, there will be a huge black cloud hanging over Trump that he was illegitimately re-elected (instead of Biden being illegitimately elected).

      Or worse, maybe the courts will bow to public pressure and the mainstream message that Biden won the presidency.

      Funny – if this were reverse (eg allegations of Biden losing unfairly, there would be the mostly “peacful” protests of looting, rioting, fire-bombing, etc…..

    3. I don’t know about you guys, but here in LatAm we know a fraudulent election when we see it, and this DemocRat shenanigan is pure leftist third-world regime playbook. Everyone thought it would be impossible to pull off something like this in the US, right?

    4. I was expecting some foul play but nothing along the lines of stopping the count and mysteriously discovering however many Biden votes there are needed to steal the election. It’s an utter travesty.

    5. I know Democrat fraud is likely the predominant viewpoint here, but I disagree. Biden will be legitimately elected. Claims of fraud are entirely without evidence. What the press has to say is irrelevant – it’s the votes that count.

      Mail-in ballots are a perfectly legal way to vote. There are a lot more of them this election due to the pandemic. Trump knew that mostly Democrats would be voting by mail, so he tried to cast mail-in ballots as illegitimate, but that’s simply false.

      It was proposed that mail-in ballots be counted as they arrive so that the winner is known as quickly as possible, but Republican state legislatures insisted that mail-in ballots be counted on election night. Consequently, the vote counting is delayed. The Republicans likely wanted this to create doubt. But I don’t think it will work.

      America chose Biden. Trump simply lost ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Accept it.

      P.S. I doubt Trump will ever concede, but the Secret Service will escort him out of the White House and that will be that.

    6. I have a hard time believing your post is not meant to be ironic. Here’s a nice summary of the fraud:
      https://dailystormer.su/2020-election-more-evidence-of-fraud-6000-michigan-votes-flipped-for-biden-and-other-such-scandals/
      Also, I’d advise anyone reading this to not just focus on the mysterious glitches that lead to batches of new Biden votes coming out of nowhere after the counting had been stopped. I believe that this is merely the tip of the iceberg, i.e. we know that countless dead people voted for Biden and other shenanigans. The mysterious late votes are just the cherry on the top. This was a last-minute effort.

      Also, for the future of the United States it is not all that relevant if there has been any foul play at all because this election proves that the two-party system has failed. There is now such an enormous chasm between the elites and non-elites, between Republicans and Democrats, between mainstream society and the fringes that the country is almost ungovernable. There is now systemic distrust in the institutions. The best outcome of this is secession of key states, building a wall around them, and, conversely, bussing all Democrats into their liberal cities where they can enjoy their socialist squalor and vibrant diversity.

    7. @Gmoney:

      We might be a small country, but some of these individual States have populations comparable to the ones in our countries. There’s absolutely no justfication for days-long delays unless there was a major screw-up, amd so far there are like 5 of them. The other possible expñanation is Banana Republic style FRAUD attempts.

      Besides, the claim is not that the mail-in voting by itself is the fraud. It’s just the means to it.

    8. This blog, including Sleazy, is infested with members readily believe in all kinds of conspiracy theory.

    9. You need to provide concrete evidence instead of engaging in baseless accusations.

    10. Just wiki the page daily stormer, as expected, the Daily Stormer is a neo-Nazi and Holocaust denial website.

      It is no surprising that it is used as a source by Sleazy. He used these kinds of right-wing websites all the time.

    11. Someone has to calculate the mathematical odds of this happening too. I would love to see a data scientist say this isn’t less likely than winning the lottary 17 times in a row.

      So (quick summary for those who don’t know).

      — Trump is leading in battleground states by huge margins (like half a million votes in one) at end of election day with regular votes.

      — Then they start counting the absentee ballots the next days, and all of them are for Biden.

      – Overcoming a huge lead by Trump once absentee ballots come in is one thing (let’s ignore all the other issues). The fact that they happen to be exactly the number of votes needed to close the lead is pretty incredible.

      – Not to mention so many of these batches of extra votes to be counted were 100% for biden.

    12. I’m having accelerationist thoughts on this. My hope is it spurs the red states to secede and leave the commies to their own devices.

      It is a matter of time when it happens, but I’d rather it not take 200 years, I hope this accelerates things so that this happens now.

    13. @CQV:

      Come on man, you disappoint me, are you really thay gullible and naive? I could let you off the hook only if you stated this: “as a historian, I’d rather discuss events from the past, because the present is too confusing when you try to separate true information from the false”. But you’re not doing that.

      I get that, as I said before, very few thought this could be possible in the US, and you idolise this country you adopted as your own. But get your head out of the sand.

    14. I don’t know if it was legit, but Trump didn’t do a fraction of what he said he was going to. If he had, it would have been such a landslide in his favor that rigging it would have been impossible.

      He would have gotten much more independent voters, some Dem voters, and even many SANDERS voters. Think getting us out of the Zionist wars, rebuilding the rust belt, getting a health Care system and tax plan that he spoke of, rebuilding our infrastructure etc.

      He didn’t do shit. I know it’s “congress’ fault.” He should have known Congress would get in the way. Was he absent for 12th grade government? Previous presidents faced hostile congresses, hostile political donars etc, and still got shit done because they knew how to politic. Even Bernie Sanders had a plan of action on how to deal with congress.
      The man simply doesn’t know how to govern. And that’s if we take him at face value on what he campaigned on in 2016.

      I didn’t vote because America would be the same fucked up country in 4 years either way. This is coming from a huge Trump supporter and campaigner 4 years ago.

    15. “Come on man, you disappoint me, are you really thay gullible and naive? I could let you off the hook only if you stated this: “as a historian, I’d rather discuss events from the past, because the present is too confusing when you try to separate true information from the false”. But you’re not doing that.”

      My attitude towards the election is precisely ambivalent due to the confusion created by a plethora of sources. I cannot have any source verified and thus remain indecisive.

      That being said, I have constantly observed that sources Sleazy used all have affiliation to neo-Nazi, right-wing, Holocaust denial, etc. I am reacting to that. My current assessment is that, if most major online newspapers are left-wing, than one can only recourse to far right-wing sources to derive truthful information. This creates a situation where both sources are heavily contaminated, but are used as truthful

      Within the webpage that he posted, images are being posted up but no links to confirm the veracity of the image. There is even an image of an Excel spreadsheet with no links to download it nor any reference to where it comes from.

      How do I know it is not another conspiracy theorist website?

      “I get that, as I said before, very few thought this could be possible in the US, and you idolise this country you adopted as your own. But get your head out of the sand.”

      I wouldn’t call my attitude as being idolized. I belong to the upper class family in my own country, and am therefore spared from many hardships citizens of the US face, thus my view on the US is not representative. However, I have lived long enough in states where Sleazy “idolize”, so the difference between the two are much clearer to me than ever.

    16. I am waiting for Trump’s law suits. This matter should be dealt with conclusively so that there is no “stab-in-the-back” legend produced in the aftermath of WW1.

      During a speech by Giulliani, he said that around 120,000 ballots appeared in the morning. Tracking this claim on google, it returns that this comes from a facebook web:

      https://www.facebook.com/kevin.foehl.1/posts/1565357267008116

      Fact checks points to me this facebook post:

      https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/nov/04/facebook-posts/social-media-post-falsely-claims-wisconsin-found-1/

      I am unsure whether this 120,000 posts that Giulliani is this 112,000 posts. It seems to be the same.

      Now, you can dispute the veracity of the fact checking website. But to me, these kinds of claims are not yet verified. These are fertile grounds for conspiracy theories.

      Just have a look at many posters who hurriedly jump into the wagon of “rigged election”, it is no overstatement to say that they readily believe in conspiracy theories and unchecked claims.

    17. @CQV:

      So from your confusion about the sea of contradicting info, you’re concluding that “alt-right” sites are all conspiracy and mainstream media is much more credible. But why? In relation to politics, that’s so painfully obviously false that you lose all your credibility as an “intelligent” person by saying it so nonchalantly. I mean, I check Wikipedia for my sports info, but politics/ideology articles… are you serious?

      And yes, you idolize the United States of America. I get it, capitalism good, communism bad; but we’re not in Cold War times anymore. I agree with you more often than not in your arguments against Aaron regarding the Dog-Eater Empire, but “Commies vs the Free World” is not the whole story anymore: it’s actually kind of outdated.

    18. “So from your confusion about the sea of contradicting info, you’re concluding that “alt-right” sites are all conspiracy and mainstream media is much more credible. But why? In relation to politics, that’s so painfully obviously false that you lose all your credibility as an “intelligent” person by saying it so nonchalantly. I mean, I check Wikipedia for my sports info, but politics/ideology articles… are you serious?”

      Check these two websites yourself:
      https://www.unz.com/lromanoff/the-anger-campaign-against-china/

      They sold many Holocaust denial books:
      The Einsatzgruppen in the Occupied Eastern Territories
      This is from Open-thread 84

      The recent site:
      https://dailystormer.su/2020-election-more-evidence-of-fraud-6000-michigan-votes-flipped-for-biden-and-other-such-scandals/

      is also a Holocaust denial site:

      https://dailystormer.su/section/jewish-problem/

      The sites spell for themselves, I only have to wiki to further my investigation.

      “And yes, you idolize the United States of America. I get it, capitalism good, communism bad; but we’re not in Cold War times anymore. I agree with you more often than not in your arguments against Aaron regarding the Dog-Eater Empire, but “Commies vs the Free World” is not the whole story anymore: it’s actually kind of outdated.”
      Got nothing left but your lame rhetoric?
      Try to have that kind of freedom of access to internet press in China and see if you can get lucky.

    19. “And yes, you idolize the United States of America. I get it, capitalism good, communism bad; but we’re not in Cold War times anymore. I agree with you more often than not in your arguments against Aaron regarding the Dog-Eater Empire, but “Commies vs the Free World” is not the whole story anymore: it’s actually kind of outdated.”

      You can ship your political naivete and understanding of China back to your house, don’t spill it on me. If you intend to make a caricature out of this, with you at the center of the spotlight as an entertainer, then you have astoundingly succeeded.

      China economic model has changed, her political structure, despite going through several changes, still remain basically the same. It is a unitary party rule. It shares many common features with the former Soviet Union and former China (pre 1979). I don’t expect you to be able to draw a good comparison because you probably don’t know the basic outline of Chinese government.

      There is a reason why the Constitution of China is not taught in schools. This is because the functioning of the government is not reflected in the Constitution.

    20. “So from your confusion about the sea of contradicting info, you’re concluding that “alt-right” sites are all conspiracy and mainstream media is much more credible. But why? In relation to politics, that’s so painfully obviously false that you lose all your credibility as an “intelligent” person by saying it so nonchalantly. I mean, I check Wikipedia for my sports info, but politics/ideology articles… are you serious?”
      Are you blind, or you lack basic reading comprehension.
      Read back what I wrote:

      “This creates a situation where both sources are heavily contaminated, but are used as truthful”

      AND

      “Your website is as neutral as New York Times, which is pro-Biden.”

      These two quotes implies that I don’t blindly trust the mainstream media and their skewed portrayal of Biden and Kamala Harris.

      You also have no idea of how I go around collecting information regarding the alleged fraudulent practices accused by Trump. Let me light up a few points so you can get a basic understanding. Since most big media such as CNN, ABC, NBC, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, etc are all pro-Biden, I group them as group 1. The search for media outlets that support Donald Trump is much harder. I use Yandex and Baidu to search for them. The richest source to collect them is nowhere new but president Trump’s twitter. Through him, several outlets come up such as “Breibart”. I group them as group 2. So far, I haven’t come up with any kind of systematic list of fraudulent claims. They are all mixing up together. So I have to do it myself. I document the claims and pay attention to the time so that I can form a chronological order. These reveal that Trump shift his attacks on different issues as time goes by. Interestingly, after the Nov/7, various witnesses come up and speak out. All these testimonies form the basis of group 2. I match them by themes with claims made by Trump.

      That’s basically the outline.

      I have two posts waiting on the moderation queue for some reasons. Let’s wait until Sleazy authorize them so you can read.

    21. “And yes, you idolize the United States of America. I get it, capitalism good, communism bad; but we’re not in Cold War times anymore. ”
      And to poke more holes on the caricature you drew up and put it in my mouth, I am not that interested in the ideology of the two countries, US and China. I am interested in its political systems (government structure), its institutions, its legal structure. There, you have it, much more precise and much less like a Looney Tunes episode from your post.

    22. @CQV

      Why do you feel the need to write TWO posts in relation to my understanding of your understanding of the Dog Eater government? When I pretty much agree with most of your views on it. I pass.

      Let’s wait for your queued posts to see if it’s worth the engagement.

    23. “Why do you feel the need to write TWO posts in relation to my understanding of your understanding of the Dog Eater government? When I pretty much agree with most of your views on it. I pass.”

      I break them down into 2 posts because it seems that post-length cause my 2 other posts to be stuck in the moderation queue.

      If you are in agreement with me, why draw a caricature of Communism and Capitalism?

      I also have no qualm with the fact that many Chinese eat dogs. That’s a local custom, similar to how the Mongols eat goats and sheeps.

    24. Do Vietnamese also eat dogs? I seem to recall they do, in smaller scale.

      It is too noble a creature to be eaten. Cultural custom my ass, the Japanese don’t do it. Savages…

    25. “Do Vietnamese also eat dogs? I seem to recall they do, in smaller scale.

      It is too noble a creature to be eaten. Cultural custom my ass, the Japanese don’t do it. Savages…”
      We do.
      That is solely your opinion.
      The only thing that does create a disgust is human meat. Yet when the time has come, men eating one another are not without records.

    26. “@Cuong Quoc Vu you are free to leave if you don’t like this blog, we don’t owe you anything”

      That’s for me to decide, no?

    27. “I can decide whether I can post on this blog or not.” – Again you are mistaken. Aaron Sleazy decides.

    28. Unless I violate the posting policy, otherwise, I don’t see why my right of posting is revoked.

      Voicing opposition is not a violation.

    29. This is a private blog, you don’t need to break any policy to get banned. Or for Aaron to turn off comments altogether.

      It’s the equivalent of being in Aaron’s house and we’re all guests.

      Everytime you post it’s because Aaron has decided to let you/us post. It is not your decision.

    30. But if he bans me for no particular reason, he himself tramples upon the “right of freedom of speech”, which he accuses European governments of doing and perpetrating.

      Banning people arbitrarily just because they voice opposition makes him no better than those PUA gurus in the past.

    31. I think only trolls should be banned.
      But Cuong Quoc Vu doesn’t seem to be trolling to me, he just has different opinions.
      If you bann people with different opinions, you will just end up circle jerking to your bubble.
      Banning him would only make sense if Aaron has an agenda, but I don’t think he has.
      So people please just have your opinions and have a civilized discussion.
      Aren’t we supposed to be above the infantile leftists on this blog?
      The “bann everyone who doesn’t agree with me” is a leftist/SJW move in my opinion.
      If someone just makes low effort posts this would be consideration for a bann, but Cuong Quoc Vu puts quite a lot of effort into his comments.
      Now obviously Aaron is free to bann everyone, but Cuong Quoc Vu is right, if you are supposed to be a free-speech defender, and then you bann people you disagree with.. well you just look very stupid/dishonest.

    32. @Ubermensch

      – False equivalence. This blog is the equivalent to a house party in Aaron’s backyard.

      – We are all issues an invite to this party, that Aaron can revoke at any time

      The first time that you comment to your blog, it goes through an approval process, where Aaron decides to let you post on his comment. It’s not an open forum, it’s a PRIVATE FORUM.

      If you don’t believe me, open up an incognito tab, and come try to post a comment here under a different email/name… your comment will not appear. That’s because you need to have been issues a pass to this private party first.

    33. – Free speech refers to the ability to say what you want in a public space, and not be punished for your WORDS

      – This comments section is not a public space, and you are not ENTITLED to be present here

      Nobody ever mentioned speech or “banning”. The discussion was about who decides whether you can post here. YOU DONT DECIDE if you can post here. Aaron does. It’s his decision. In fact, it’s a button he point-blank has to click to allow you to start commenting on this blog. He has to decide to click it.

      He can revoke his invite to this backyard party for any reason, no matter how trivial. Maybe he thinks your music taste is shitty… invite revoked.

      “But but but how is it private if others can see my comments” – just like people from the outside can see what you’re doing in someone’s backyard. It’s visible to outsiders, but there’s still a fence (in this case Aaron approving your commenter status, which is a license tied to your name and email address). It’s a VIP pass of sorts, to a private backyard party.

    34. The original intent still remain the same:

      He attacks the West for the lack of freedom of speech, yet censor comments that oppose him in many ways. This is the same with his attack on Ross Jeffries and his NLP seduction techniques many years ago. Sleazy was banned there because he debunked that guy.

      What differs him and Ross Jeffries now?

    35. Your claim that I “censor comments that oppose him in many ways” is unfounded. In fact, I exhibit the patience of a saint. It is an achievement to get banned on this blog after you’ve managed to get off the moderation queue.

      I’ve skimmed your contributions to this thread. Let me remind you that my blog is a hobby project. I do not need to spend my spare time reading your vitriol. You can watch us discuss from the sidelines for a while now.

    36. “YOU DONT DECIDE if you can post here. ”
      After Sleazy’s decision, I am still the one who decide whether should I post here or not. Happy now?

    37. @Alek: you don’t need to explain this to me. of course Aaron can decide who is allowed to post here and who is not, that wasn’t my point.

      My point is:

      If Aaron says he is an advocate of free speech, but then he banns people on his own private blog because they post something he doesn’t agree with… well then he is just not very constitent.

      Obviously he would still remove trolls, or people who just post stuff that is not relevant to the discussed topic.

      But if Cuong posts something that is relevant to a topic which is discussed, and he is not personally attacking Aaron or anything like that, just his arguments, then I think it would put a very bad light on Aaron just banning him.

      Yes he can do it, obviously, but this is the same like making a party, and you say everyone who behaves is welcome, but then you bann someone because you don’t like their face or something like that.
      You can do it, but it wouldn’t be the best for your reputation.

      And I don’t think Aaron has any agenda her or a reason to bann him, so don’t really see why he would do it.

    38. Of course. Yet, if you host a party and someone shows up drunk out of his mind, and acting in an obnoxious manner, you should kick them out.

    39. And I don’t think Aaron has any agenda her or a reason to bann him, so don’t really see why he would do it.

      Completely off topic. In fact your entire rant is off topic.

      The topic was who gets to decide. Not what which decision says about whom, what light puts where on whom bla bla bla.

      The topic is who decides if we can post here.

      Aaron does.

      Simple.

      What it says about him if he hypothetically decides not to let us post here is completely different topic.

      Whatever what given decision says or doesnt say about the decision maker does not change who the decision maker is – Aaron.

    40. To add to this discussion: This is, as has been pointed out, a private blog. On my forum, I used the metaphor of a cozy bar with a bunch of regulars and some guys who show up once or just a few times and notice that it’s not the right place for them. It’s not a public square. Free speech has nothing to do with it. I would not violate Cuong’s free speech by kicking him off my blog because he can easily set up his own blog (this argument does not work in the case of a monopoly like Twitter or Facebook). In other words, I have absolutely no obligation to let anybody comment on here.

      On that note, Cuong is a peculiar case. In fact, two people approached me, asking me to ban him as they perceive him as disruptive. One of them was a regular reader and commenter who wrote that he is a major factor why they no longer enjoy reading and participating in the comment section. Now think of this: if you wanted to make the free speech argument and call me a hypocrite if I banned him, would you seriously claim his supposed right to post on this blog is worth more than the reading experience of others? Let’s take this one step further: assume he spent days flooding this blog with communist drivel, driving everyone away. Would that be reason enough to kick him off or would I still be a hypocrite?

    41. “I’ve skimmed your contributions to this thread. Let me remind you that my blog is a hobby project. I do not need to spend my spare time reading your vitriol. You can watch us discuss from the sidelines for a while now.”

      Fine, this is your blog, your call.

  12. @AlekNovy:

    Been seeing some stats about the well-above average voter turnout.

    Of course, the lefty/normie reply is that “well, you know, main-in ballots and we hate Trump, so of course there is high voter turnout”.

    Ah, for the simpler times four years ago when the Left bought into the “Russia interfered with the 2016 election”.

    Now in 2020 they say “voter fraud is IMPOSSIBLE”.

    Meanwhile, Facebook, Google and twitter are censoring anything “alt-right”. Not election interference. Nothing to see here, folks! /s

    1. Biden is the most popular person to ever run for president, which is why he got the most votes ever. Obviously. It’s a mere coincidence that ballot boxes showed up with 100% Biden votes.

  13. if the fraud is so obvious as Trump suporters are portyaing it and the dems still get away with it then the republican party is a fucking joke , don’t they have their own people influencing the system ? . Seriously if Trump doesnt win the legal battles , it would almost look like the dems are all powerful. Republicans are probably control opposition anyways.

    1. They’ve always been controlled opposition. All the hardcore Trump supporters have acknowledged so since 2015.

      You have to look hard to find worthwhile politicians in a sea off so called RINO’s.

    2. COMMENT
      Bush, Romney and others have already congratulated biden . It seems everything that hapenned this years was nothing but the good old táctic of using a dumb populist who counts with the support of the masses while pushing a very different political agenda instead . The reincarnation of Hitler was a useful idiot after all lol.

    1. Tucker has them shaking in their boots. A populist who sticks up for white males too? Its the establishments worst nightmare. I don’t know if he will though. There was a lot of buzz about Lou Dobbs as well back in 2008. Nothing came of it. Lou was considered controlled opposition himself. Plus Tucker used to work for the Cato Institute. But even TYT knows where most Americans stand and it scares the fuck out of them. And if Donald Trump can be president, why not Tucker Carlson? We live in a new era.

    2. Demographics may have shifted to make it impossible for him to win by then, but he is a savvy one. Maybe he could pull it off.

    3. I’m still holding out that Trump will be sworn in this January. I don’y think this is over yet.

    4. It’s really hard to say what will happen. I also think it’s possible that Trump will serve a second term. However, I think it’s just as likely that supposedly impartial judges decide to not allow him to appeal and throw out even egregious cases of voter fraud in court in blatant violation of the law. We are already at the point where law is some kind of joke. Oh, wait, it’s called “living constitutionalism” where you get a bunch of political activists like Harvard Law professors talk about what the founding fathers really meant, even when they said the exact opposite in the constitution.

    5. If the GOP (and RINOs) think they have a chance in 2024 after what’s going in 2020 (assuming the cheating is real BUT slides through)…then the GOP is screwed.

      BTW, “Maiden Gate” is trending hard. No idea if true – but the allegation is that married women already voted but somehow there are votes for them via their maiden name.

      And more Dominion voting machine “software glitches” alleged.

    6. If Trump is out, right wingers will vote for Tucker or whoever the gop supports . What else could they do? They won’t vote for kamala .

    7. It doesn’t matter who right wingers vote for once white people have been sufficiently cleansed. Minorities vote for the left by a factor of 3 to 1 if I recall correctly.

  14. Hey Aaron,
    Long time fan of your older blog as you know…and getting up to speed on your new blog .Just bought your Sleazy Stories II & III looking forward to reading those also…
    You may have covered this in your blog or MG, CG books already but what in your opinion is the primary #1 “Trait /Attribute” or “Vibe” that great seducers project that women pick up on…

    Is it Power ? Dominance? ( are they one and the same?) Like in the first 0-5 seconds of the first impression …which trait ‘wins’ over all others to project on the open/approach basically Im looking for.

    Thanks James

    1. It’s looks and good body language. You can forget about body language if you don’t have the looks to match them. Also, good-looking guys with poor posture can do surprisingly poorly with women.

    2. I think if good looking guys don’t know the power of their looks, their body language may suffer. Also the gym helps out a lot. Both with looks and posture. Partially because a physically fit body will naturally have better posture, and because of the confidence one achieves from knowing they look good. Good clothing helps too.

    3. Thanks for your replies fellas..

      That’s pretty much in line with what I’ve been studying during lockdown ,a TCC course on Body Language which is all science based. Some stats mentioned really raised my eyebrows , for example studies of first impressions have apparently shown that people gauge another persons levels of XYZ characteristics ( trustworthiness, etc) with very high accuracy, in less than 1 second …I think 1/10th of a second for snap judgements , thin slicing and whatnot. Also that women use more parts of their brain to read body language like 18-24 vs. men around 8 parts on thermal imaging…so looks and body language on the open makes total sense.

      So based on the above, would step 1 for any guy trying to become a Playa/G would surely should be ..go get Alexander Technique for posture, take acting lessons for power body language and voice coaching for power voice?? (After buying Aarons books of course) 😀 😉

    4. I have to tack on this also, re Looks and confident body language etc. particularly re Height.

      I used to ‘wing’ with this little Brazilian guy in Melbourne ..a fabled ‘natural ‘ I suspect . A little runt about 5’8″ maybe,. but was the most ‘Boss’ guy I ever saw with women ..could get in sexual situations extremely fast. I ‘ll try and recount his traits.
      A super dominant character , with a very distinctive ‘Brassy’ voice, always seemed to be speaking in ‘commands’ or something. Didnt give a f*ck attitude. Certainly had the dark triad traits. a very cunning sneaky little fvcker always ‘tricking’ and joking with people.

      …The thing that surprised me was that ,until then, I had pretty much ‘ nice guy’ thinking about women.
      But observing the effect he had on women made me think ..” shit , all I gotta do is boss them around.. they love it” ..!!?
      Like, he polarized for sure but some chicks seemed to really react very well to him..
      So i guess my theory is could ” Total Dominance = Total Submission” or something like that??
      Like, could it be that when certain women hear that tone in a mans voice and feels it, does she unconsciously just go into a state of sexual submission leading to ‘ lordosis’ ie on her back with her legs in the air!?? Like would it work for me if I just crank the dominance in the mindset, body language and voice primarily? I seem to remember it did but I was drinking a lot back then its a bit fuzzy 🙂

      Always made me wonder since ‘how did that guy do that/ how did he have that effect’
      I will add to my hypothesis the fact he was pretty good looking a bit like a short arsed Ronaldo the soccer player haha…dressed well .
      Oh and was very polarising with guys , a lot of guys wanted to fight him after about 15 minutes…did he just have super high testosterone or what?
      Id like to hear your thoughts on this type of guy and if that fits the bill of a seducer i guess. I hope this post aint too long 😀 thanks

    5. When people act in a way that does not suit their looks, they get pushback. In your example, this guy had others challenge him to a fight because he was acting like a leader even though he did not have the stature. This is incongruent and people don’t react well to it. He sounds like your typical try-hard PUA type.

    6. I get what you are saying about pushback.

      This guy was very congruent though. That was his personality. Not a ‘fake alpha ‘ posturing PUA type I don’t think. Small Man Syndrome maybe.
      Some of the other Brazilian girls in our extended social circle referred to him degradingly “a typical Brazilian man” , which I think meant ‘always trying it on’ or ‘sleazy’ or something like that. It didn’t seem to matter to him if a girl had a bf or even if said bf was a friend of his.

      I was just a bit perplexed by the reactions he was getting from certain women at the time I had never seen compliance like that!
      Maybe he was just the ‘ bad boy archetype’ (lots of tattoos across his chest and arms he was always showing off…) again it comes down to ‘Looks’ or Stereotype, I suppose.

    7. You’ve seen fast seduction in action. I wrote about this in my book Club Game. Still, I think the problems your friend has are because he’s putting off guys. You can get laid a lot without other men wanting to beat you up. In fact, quite often they want to associate with you because you’re successful with girls. Of course, they hope to steal chicks from you.

  15. Hola guys, got a theory about attraction and dating.

    Recently was at a checkout line in a store. The guy at the counter billed my items as expected but then immediately reached behind me and grabbed the basket of items from the girl behind me.

    Yep. The checkout guy thought we were both “together”. After awkward smiles I left the establishment, but as I left I took a good look at that girl that was behind me and she was meh… in the looks department. 5-6max. And yet the checkout guy a complete stranger assumed we were together.

    After a couple of hours it finally dawned on me that I myself was a 5-6max.

    Has anyone else experienced something like this? What were your thoughts at that moment … and also after some reflection?

    Also with all the recent developments in AI and machine learning its time someone / company stepped in compared all the images of men and women and ranked them in tightly ranked slabs. 5s for 5s…. 6s for 6s etc… should take out all the gambling (Tinder) out of dating. Just spit balling here….

    1. This is quite rare. I bet that woman gave off some vibes that she’s into you, for instance by standing a bit closer to you than she otherwise would. Your observation is valid, though. You were assumed to be a couple because it seemed superficially plausible.

    1. I’ve heard that it’s a really progressive place. The people who told me that it is “awesome” didn’t quite convince me that it could be.

    2. @Nick

      Along the lines of what Aaron mentioned. That it’s this awesome place full of gorgeous women. Women who are “sexually liberated” and even approach the guys.

    3. I was there for a weekend when I was 22 I was too young and dumb to say if it’s easy to get laid there..but heard the strip clubs are amazing! Kicking myself I didn’t visit those haha Plus they all speak French so surely they a bit more progressive , certainly felt more than say Vermont across the border where I had come from…chicks speaking French is sexy : D

    4. Sorry for the late reply guys.

      Outside of, arguably, Miami, Montreal has the best looking women in North America hands down. The women are very sexually liberated and yes progressive but not all of them. The city is very classy and oozes sexuality.

  16. Question to all the devs out here. I know theres a lot of regulars here who’ve often gotten into discussions about dev paradigms and what not.

    What do you guys recommend as the best way to learn about development, for a complete noob who’s only interested in it from a business managerial aspect.

    I have no intention of becoming a programmer. I came at this from the fact that I needed to automate some business processes and so started using “low code platforms”… one thing lead to another and I realized I can get a lot more flexibility if i have basic coding ability.

    A lot of the low-code solutions become more powerful if you know js (like you can build your own addons and modules using js). So I’m studying JS.

    I also got some python stuff as it seems to be popular for business stuff (automation and data analysis).

    The other thing is that as my business grows I will be hiring programmers to develop stuff for me. So I need to know things well enough to be able to manage and hire well.

    Any tips or thoughts on this?

    1. “The other thing is that as my business grows I will be hiring programmers to develop stuff for me. So I need to know things well enough to be able to manage and hire well.”

      I’m in the middle of a project where we have hired some folks. We’re about halfway through and expect to go live early next year.
      If you feel like an exchange could benefit you, you and I can send some emails back and forth.
      I cannot share much here, other than that we’re developing a niche product and have very complex processes. I cannot help you on the dev side, but I can definitely provide you with insights from an entrepreneurial/product management side, as we have a significant amount of coordination work with the guys.

      @Aaron, I’m OK for you to share my yandex email with Alek, if he feels he needs it.

    2. Thank you. That’s awesome. However that’s very far off in the future for me now. I think I’d get to the hiring and managing programmers thing in a few years, maybe.

      My question was more in terms of learning scope and direction. How much and what would you learn if you only need to know the basics, be able to tweak ready made code and be able to manage and hire people to program for you.

    3. As a manager I think learning some SQL will definitely help. For this I recommend this wonderful website: https://www.sql-ex.ru . It has over 150 exercises with help topics. You read help topic, then do exercise and after some time you will be good at SQL.

      Python is very good for writing scripts, but due to its weak typing it is rather poor choice when developing a bigger product.

      When you will hire developers you maybe will want them to work in some structured fashion. The most popular methodology of handling software project as of today is SCRUM. It can work in some environments, especially when you start creating a new product, but more often than not it is terrible way of developing software. I unfortunately don’t have experience working in different methodologies, so I can’t help you more here. I haven’t read, but heard good opinions about this classic book about project management “The Mythical Man-Month”.

      Also, I would not recommend for you to hire devs if you have no experience in programming. Ok, if you will hire someone from some respected University, then he is there is a high chance that he will have no problems developing this enterprise product for you. I would be very careful with hiring people after boot-camps. After you will have a developer on your team I would put the responsibility of hiring new developers to him.

    4. Python is very good for writing scripts, but due to its weak typing it is rather poor choice when developing a bigger product.

      Yeah, I don’t plan on building “products” myself. When it comes to my own programming, I just intend to automate a business process here and there.

      And as the business grows:

      1) Gradually I’d get to where I outsource, and pay people for one-time projects. Like build a small simple app that helps our staff keep track of xyz.

      Btw: I’ve done it in a previous business. We had a team of writers and we just paid someone to create a simple app that tracks who wrote which text, and what text was reviews by which editor, etc… Back then I didn’t know anything. It was a very successful venture and the app helped a ton. I didn’t need to be a developer in order to describe to that programmer what we need the app to do.

      2) Gradually I’d get to a level where we might even have an on-staff developer if there’s enough work to make it more affordable than

      3) (in the future, far off), we might offer development work to other similar businesses. Like develop the same kind of apps that we use internally for other businesses in our industry.

      Also, I would not recommend for you to hire devs if you have no experience in programming.

      Well that’s exactly my question. How much experience do I need and what kind.

      he will have no problems developing this enterprise product for you.

      I’ve seen complete retards get a university diploma in computer science. I don’t think it’s a good metric of anything.

    5. Btw: I’ve done it in a previous business. We had a team of writers and we just paid someone to create a simple app that tracks who wrote which text, and what text was reviews by which editor, etc… Back then I didn’t know anything. It was a very successful venture and the app helped a ton. I didn’t need to be a developer in order to describe to that programmer what we need the app to do.

      I was saying this in the context of “you need to be a programmer to hire programmers”. We had a ton of success paying someone to build an app for us, at a time when words like “variable” and “string” to me were the equivalent to random noise, or equivalent to the names of villages in a random country I’ve never heard of.

      Obviously there are levels. Just to make it clear. I’m not building a business that builds SaaS products or anything like that. We just use software to make the business more effective. Like automate and make more productive certain sales or marketing or administrative tasks.

      I’ve just found that using ready-made software always sucks (whether that’s excel or access or a CRM or a marketing tool). It never does what you want it to and you find you have to fit your business, sales and marketing processes to fit the software. Custom apps developed just for your business and how your business does things tend to be a lot better.

      Though I can see a future where we do build software solutions for others. But these would be the equivalent of building a script to automate something and patch together ready-made software solutions.

      Like teaching them how to use a ready-made crm, and we just develop a custom plug-in/add-on, or custom API integration that sends data between two tools that don’t have their own native integration.

      Or build a small simple custom app that their administrator uses to log marketing campaigns, and integrate it with their sales tool of choice.

    6. Alek,
      We’re doing SaaS and none of us founders knows how to write a single line of code.
      We do have an external code-reviewer, who does not work for the dev team. Yes, now we have to trust him instead of the dev team, but we’re fine with this.

      Also, the design role is separated from the dev team. We got lucky with her, I tell you. Fantastic designer and great business analyst. I guess what helps is that both designer and devs have experience in financial industry. What I’m saying is, don’t hire somebody who’s done dating apps to build a crypto derivatives exchange.

    7. @Alek

      Hiring and managing programmers as a non-programmer is a hard problem.

      If the plan is to hire on the basis of personally evaluating their skills, I’d say that you have to get your skills up to at least a junior level programmer in whatever kind of programming you need. You want to be able to implement whatever it is you’re hiring for. Maybe it’s not the best solution, but it works. Or at least in principle you could see yourself being able to solve problem X with your current skills/knowledge. Perhaps you’ll need to lookup a few things, but you’re not too far off in terms of skill.

      Then during the interview you might show them your code or your technical design as ask them how they might improve it, and ask them to explain why it’s better. Ask them what future problems they envision with your solution. For more complex problems you can ask for alternative solutions/approaches and the trade-offs between them. That will give you a good idea if the person in front of you is capable.

      JS and Python are good choices. The general answer is to learn whatever you’ll need in your context, which is what you’re doing.

      The other option is to hire on the basis of reputation, references, and past track record, but this is also not easy, especially for more simple problems.

      Also read this:
      https://blog.codinghorror.com/why-cant-programmers-program

    8. For hiring you could use recruitment platform like Codility which offers a collection of programming assignments. It won’t test the knowledge of particular tech stack your company might be using but it does reveal general programming aptitude.

      If you are planning on making a software that will be sold to other companies then you should consider hiring a senior developer as your CTO and delegate hiring decisions and dev team management. A lot of projects blow up due to technical debt ie poorly written but functional code which at some point becomes unmaintainable and requires a re-write. In case you insist on managing the team yourself I suggest reading on test driven development and enforcing the practice in your team.

    9. Thanks guys, going to read the comments in more detail. Note I don’t have a problem learning to program. I already am. Probably finished about a dozen courses so far with hundreds of homeworks and assignments. I’ve gotten addicted to mastering programming and I’m going at a pretty fast pace.

      I’m just asking how good do I need to get in order to:

      Goal 1) notice obvious bullshit and bad code (initial goal) for when I hire people to just save time on building simple apps (just paying someone to do the legwork instead of me).

      Note: I plan on being able to build simple apps myself. So at this stage I’d basically just hire freelancers to save time. Pay someone to do something I could do anyway (they’d just do it faster and better than me).

      If you are planning on making a software that will be sold to other companies then you should consider hiring a senior developer as your CTO

      That’s more like stage 15. Quite far off into the future. Being able to hire people who can do amazing full-products is many years into the future, and I am looking to take this one-step-at-a-time. I won’t even remember these recommendations by the time I get around to this, if I ever do.

      I might never progress past the level where we just build scripts, addons and plugins for existing software to our clients (not actual full software). While it’s possible we’ll get to the SaaS level, it’s quite far off, and might never even happen.

      – Businesses basically hire me for my marketing and management expertise.

      – What happens often is that your marketing, management or admin suffers because the software you use has software limitations. So I learned how to make existing software stacks more efficient by using low-code solutions to upgrade their abilities.

      This is usually quite effective, and I might never move past this level. For example if a client is using salesforce, and there’s a peculiar admin thing that’s clashing with how salesforce does things, I just build a google sheet template and a low-code automation that converts the data between the two… so that sales and admin are aligned, even though admin is entering stuff in google sheets in a format that’s not directly usable in salesforce (I just build the automation that translates and aligns).

      I don’t think I’d ever get to a level where I’d say to a client drop salesforce completely and replace it with our SaaS solution. There’s just no need for that.

      Then during the interview you might show them your code or your technical design as ask them how they might improve it, and ask them to explain why it’s better. Ask them what future problems they envision with your solution. For more complex problems you can ask for alternative solutions/approaches and the trade-offs between them. That will give you a good idea if the person in front of you is capable.

      That’s amazing, thank you. Great solution. I can totally see this working well. I also know from experience in many fields that you can tell who’s good by how well they can explain why a certain method is a better way of doing something.

      Let’s say I get to level 3 programming ability, and I’m hiring level 7 programmers. I can totally see this method being very practical. I show them my level 3 solution, and ask them how they could do it better, and to explain to me why it’s better that way.

    10. if you just want to have basic coding ability just go with straight procedural programming.
      oop & functional programming is not really required for most small projects, and most people who do oop are doing it wrong anyways.
      python and javascript are good choices.

    11. Another thing:

      If you want to hire a programmer, you really need to give them some coding problems to solve.
      There are people who have master degrees in computer science who can’t solve very simple problems. But obviously they know all of the buzzwords so you won’t figure this out with just an interview.
      This will be hard to do if you cannot program yourself though. So it’s a very good idea to learn basics/moderate level yourself.
      Or know someone who is a good programmer and let him assist you with the interviews.

      To get some puzzles, you can just take them from a website like leetcode for example.

    12. Thanks for the comments ubermensch. Lots of good stuff.

      And yes, my learning strategy and goal is to do as many real-world projects as possible. I’m not interested in learning a language in a theoretical way.

      I’m basically acquiring as many sources of “real world project” exercises for python and javascript as I can.

      p.s.

      If any of you guys have recommendations for sources of “coding challenges” (based around real-world case test-cases), let me know.

    13. @Alek: I would just get some easy/medium examples from https://leetcode.com/
      they have problem sheets which companies like google, amazon use to screen candidates.
      Lot of the puzzles also have explanations and you can get them with a free account.

    14. Yeah I saw the leet one. Looks too advanced and theoretical for me.

      It’s even in the name… it’s for those who wanna reach leet levels.

      I need more real world shit like “build an attendance tracker” and “build a payroll calculator that integrates with bank through api”.

      No desire to become an elite coder.

  17. Neutralrandomthoughts, I would like to connect with you via mail as well. If you agree, then please allow me to contact you.

  18. Chinese government being the stupid fucks I always thought they are.
    Somebody needs to explain game theory to these lunatic power-hungry idiots.

    https://www.trustnodes.com/2020/11/18/miners-unable-to-sell-their-bitcoin-as-china-freezes-accounts

    Watch Hash rate go to all time highs as relocation to other countries accelerates.
    Gosh, how can you be so retarded and try to make life hard on Bitcoiners in favour of fiat on steroids in the form of Central Bank Digital Currencies?
    Might as well keep cutting the head(s) off of that Greek mythic monster where for every head you cut off, two more grow after it.
    It’ll work one day, right?

    Seriously, I’d never think one nation would shoot itself in the foot like this.
    Goes to prove my point about there not existing a global conspiracy. It’s just a bunch of really stupid people.

    1. I think crypto currencies will never be mainstream.
      Governments just cannot allow that.
      They will just make it illegal, and everyone who deals with it will be declared a terrorist.
      (they just have to come up with a fake story how terrorists used bitcoin to finance their operations)
      This will be enough to basically kill it.
      Or would you buy bitcoin if the risk is going to jail for life?

    2. And people who say that bitcoin cannot be controlled because it is decentralized, are a little bit clueless how the real world works in my opinion.
      They cannot control the network itself.
      But at some point, you need to exchange your bitcoin for some real world stuff (either real goods or currencies). And these “exit” points can be controlled by the government quite easy.
      Only reason this is not happening at the moment is that most governments still don’t take crypto serious at all.

    3. LOL.
      Dude, stop smoking the FUD weed.
      Yeah govs will ban crypto, right…
      You think the US will ban Bitcoin if a bunch of companies are holding it as part of their treasury? Read up on Microstrategy and Square.
      Take a look: https://bitcointreasuries.org

      Also, about your exit argument: It’s the onramps with KYC/AML exchanges that are dangerous. What exit? You think there won’t be a Bitcoin economy? I can buy more stuff with BTC today than I can with gold. Heck, I’ll coinjoin them to death and then good luck with that chainanalysis that’ll cost so much that it really becomes ridiculous to find out who I am.
      As for the onramps: Paypal just enabled BTC purchases. Yeah I guess they’ll get banned. Look the true danger are CBDCs and if they can be set in a way that you can’t buy crypto with it. But look, CBDCs have to solve the same scalibility challenges other cryptos have to solve as well. And contrary to say the Lightning Network, the Central Banks don’t have a bunch of intrinsically motivated engineers from the private sector working on this. It’ll take time.

      Already now there are 18ish mio BTC mined, only 3 left to go. And a looot of folks ain’t selling. So good luck betting against the biggest fucking short squeeze we have ever seen. The proverbial cat is out of the bag. Bitcoin can’t be un-invented and govs will shrink to their natural size which is a single digit percentage of GDP. This whole covid shit is just the last push, “das letzte Aufbäumen”. Tell me how they’ll increase the supply by 20% like the Fed did this spring by jacking up M2 from 15tr to 18tr in order to fund their lockdown nonsense.
      It’s over. Watch game theory infold infront of your eyes when the first central bank comes out and says it has bought BTC as reserve, the same way they used to buy gold.
      You think BTC hodlers are waiting for it to hit some magic number in fiat currency and then buy a lambo? Pfff… That’s like me asking you what your net worth is in Venezuelan Bolivar or in German Reichsmark. You could look it up, but it neither means anything to you, nor should it. There’s no fundamental difference between the Mario Coins from Venezuala or the Swiss Franc. They are all worth zero.

      No, the name of the game is not to sell BTC for x amount of USD or EUR, but to wait until it becomes the unit of account.
      Think a few steps further. Stop drinking the kool aid.

    4. You must be completely naive if you think governments are gonna give up their ability to tax people.
      They would rather start ww3 before this happens.
      I know these bitcoin nerds who dream of a libertarian utobia, I was once one of them. But it won’t happen. They ignore bitcoin for now because it is insignificant.
      Once it reaches a certain market cap they will just nationalise the mining pools and then probably force people to register their keys or just block the transactions.
      And game theory blabla.
      I tell you what the theory is:
      The US Dollar is the reserve currency because the US own 20 aircraft carriers and like 5k nukes.
      This power is the reason the US Dollar is used and not the Zimbabwe shit coin.
      And this same power will be used to confiscate miners.
      That is how the real world works.
      Who has the nukes, decides who pays the tax.

    5. They are not stupid. This is in complete accord with the doctrine on which they operate. The government must have a firm grasp in almost all economic fields. This is their strength, but also their weakness.

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