Open Thread

Open Thread #217

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40 thoughts on “Open Thread #217

  1. Anyone else here fascinated with coyotes? There are many coyotes in southern California and many “missing” pets . It’s weird. Like I hate them but intrigued at the same time. Know thine enemy I guess.

  2. *Know thy enemy. I always thought it from Shakespeare, but it’s from Sun Tzu. I’ve never read The Art of War. It sounds like the Chinese are always winning a never ending chess match.

  3. What do you guys think the (I hate to use the term) end game is with the Ukrainian conflict?

    1. Putin proves the US is no longer a super power as Biden metaphorically stands around with his dick in his hand and says “Putin Bad” !!!

      He also proves Nato is teethless and empowers China to act much tougher towards Taiwan.

      Russia is an energy independent state and Europe needs them more than they need Europe. The sanctions may sting in the short term but in the long term both China and Russia will be further along.

      Note: I am not saying what Putin is doing is ethical. I stand with the sentiment of “stand with Ukraine” as it is morally wrong to invade a sovereign nation. I do think he will be proven right in the long run though as he will win and the West will have egg on their face.

    2. I’m actually quite surprised by how the Russian invasion has developed. I had expected Russia to have Ukraine well in hand by now.

    3. It seems you are a staunch follower of the mainstream narrative. First, we do not know what goals Putin has. Given that he has been focusing on the East of the Ukraine, it seems likely that this is what he considers the goal. Why would he need to take Kiev if he wants to liberate the Russian-speaking parts of the Ukraine? Second, the Russian army seems to proceed in a highly methodological manner, designed to limit civilian casualties. Of course, this takes longer than US world peace, democracy, and homosexuality tours where they just bomb the country five times over. You should also know that Putin is not just fighting the Ukraine but the West. The UK sent SAS units there, the US shares intel, and on top there are weapons and billions of money flowing into the country.

    4. @P Ray

      I don’t understand your post. Putin had not proved that the US was no longer a superpower. It still is. The reason NATO and the US avoid direct confrontation is to save the world from the third WW. I thought this was clear to you. How could that escaped your attention. If both sides want to drag on their bravado, we would be amidst a nuclear war.

      Don’t mistake carefulness with weakness.

    5. When did the US ever want to save the world from a world war? Your statement is laughable. In case you did not notice, the US recently brought back the lend-lease act, and judging by historical precedent we are probably only about a year off before they stop their covert involvement and try to actively intervene.

    6. Aaron,

      My point was that I thought Russia was so strong that they would easily have defeated Ukraine by now, regardless of their goal. That is pretty much the opposite of “the mainstream narrative,” by the way, which seems to be that Russia is weak and decrepit.

    7. Why do you think that? It is not as if the US wins every war within a few months. It seems they enjoy their wars to be decade-long money pits, from which they do not emerge as victors. Also, can you refer to any other war in recent decades at this scale that was over within a few months?

    8. Well, my point was that I overestimated the Russian strength, which is contrary to the mainstream narrative.

      As to what I was expecting, I expected something more like the U.S. wars against Afghanistan and Iraq – swift victories and conquest of the country, but with an active insurgency surviving and making the victory incomplete at least for a time.

    9. Russia has been using only a fraction of its army, and seemingly less well-trained troops. In addition, the equipment is quite old, for the most part.

    10. Hmm… Why do you think they would do that, Aaron? Using old equipment and less well-trained troops, I mean; not committing sending their entire military into Ukraine makes sense.

    11. I think that Russia is keeping their good stuff for NATO. Also, The Ukraine is not a serious enemy. It is similar to the United States attacking Mexico, or Germany launching an attack on Denmark. The idea that the Ukraine stands a chance is ludicrous, except for those whose paycheck depends on believing the opposite.

  4. I just came across the counterpart of “cock-blocking”: “clam-damming”. This is witty but sadly it does not seem to have caught on. Perhaps this is due to societal expectations that women are nasty towards each other whereas guys are supposed to be supportive of each other and if they are not, or if some other chick interferes, there is more of a need of a special term such as cock-blocking.

    1. I remember telling you a story about a girl I danced with at a bar and the second one of the girls in our group told me the girl didn’t like me I gave up. I was very insecure back then. So I think this was an example of a woman sabotaging another woman.

      Still. This was all my fault.

  5. “I don’t understand your post. Putin had not proved that the US was no longer a superpower. It still is. The reason NATO and the US avoid direct confrontation is to save the world from the third WW. I thought this was clear to you. How could that escaped your attention. If both sides want to drag on their bravado, we would be amidst a nuclear war.

    Don’t mistake carefulness with weakness.”

    The US has serious problems that very few are willing to talk about. The US has had these for many years and they aren’t getting better, they are being swept under the rug. Putin would never allow something like Jan. 6th to happen. Old man Biden was left standing with his penis in his hand. A few hooligans will face less jail time than a common drug offender. Did you know that the US has more men in prison than Russia or China? did you know that white men over 50 are dying what they call deaths of despair? Did you know that there are many fentanyl overdoses and the media doesn’t report suicide because they don’t want to be sued when there are copycats?

    Sure if you make over $80,000 a year and avoid the fast food and narcissistic women you can probably have a good life. This income is a bit above average and I know Aaron will say be a bit above average. But what isn’t being said is that average people in other countries have better lives, better health and more secure wealth in their old age through pensions and other such measures.

    The US does not have the ability to wage war any longer. Sure, they have enough technology and enough bombs to win a quick one but look how they lost Vietnam so many years ago just as the French had done. Look how they lost Afghanistan just as ironically the Russians had before them. But further ironic is they give the baddest dude on earth, Osama Bin Laden weapons and funding. I literally cannot make these things up. Read some history and you will find it is even crazier than what comes out of the mouth of that obese hack AJ! (Using initials because my last comment mentioning him got me spam folder!!!)

    The US was possibly not a super power by the 1980’s but definitely by the recession of 2008 it had seen better days. The US is energy independent and if it can”clean it’s own room” as Jordan Peterson would say, it can enjoy it’s sovereignty and be a place for the wealthy to play but it is not capable of influencing the world as it once was. Even culturally, the rest of the world is now seeing the US as bankrupt. It does not have the cultural hegemony that it did from the 1950’s to 1980’s. In fact, I speculate in a few years it will be “cool” for US teens to watch foreign movies and listen to foreign music as it was for Russians of the 1980’s to buy jeans and records on the black market.

    1. This is an excellent comment! I think that US soft power has faded quite dramatically. This country is not seen as “cool” anymore. Instead, there is a perception, based on truth, that the US is pushing extreme degeneracy onto the rest of the world. The most recent aspect is the sexualization of children, which is, quite possibly, a major reason for the center of society to have lost trust in government. Private school enrollment in Germany, for instance, is skyrocketing. People no longer trust the government with their children.

      Regarding the issue of societal wealth, there was a great tweet the other day where someone pointed out that the US readily sent $33bn to the Ukraine while their society is falling apart. For effect, a brief video clip of Philadelphia was added. Here is the tweet:
      https://twitter.com/kayrosef/status/1520605986259873793

    2. Another aspect is that you should not need to be a high-income earner to enjoy a stable, safe, and secure life. Of course, this is a right-wing extremest position because it is racist to spend taxpayer’s money on improving society. Democracy means that we feed dozens of millions of illegals, have gang wars on the street, drugs on every corner, and inject children with hormone blockers. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by God because of their wickedness. How much longer do you think God will remain idle?

  6. Guys, I have a refreshing nice story for a change. I know this sweet pretty girl that works with me. She said she met her boyfriend in college and they’ve been together for 7 years! She’s not from California of course. Texas. I encouraged her to get married and she is dropping hints to him. He works in tech. She also feels for me for all of the bullshit I deal with from old bitter women I work with.

    I told her most women in Cali tell their boyfriend’s when and where to propose, pick out the ring etc. She said she’s considering that. I said “No! Don’t become one of those California girls!”

    1. Where is the joke? She should be busy raising children instead of pursing a career.

    2. She said my comment was “insane.” I told her it used to be the norm. She said that it’s unaffordable. That is the ONLY reason why Americans don’t procreate like they used to. Women would love to do it of they could. Feminism and corporatism teamed up to destroy my country.

  7. Now that Russia is telling the Western world to pay for gas and oil in rubles, Western politicians have had some rather surprising ideas about how to reduce energy-dependency from big, bad Putler. Here is a particular specimen from Germany that tells you that you should no longer take pictures of your food:
    https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article238701925/FDP-Minister-Wissing-kritisiert-das-Fotografieren-von-Essen-Enormer-Energieverbrauch.html?source=puerto-reco-2_ABC-V6.0.A_control
    A few weeks ago a “scientist” explained German rubes that they do not really need to take showers anymore as they only have to wash their feet, groin, and armpits. What a clown show! Thank goodness ze Germans shut down their nuclear power plants and spend gorillions of euros on third-world immigrants. They really got their priorities straight.

    1. The elites should be very careful, they would NOT like it if people were deprived of their smartphones or internet. The only reason there weren’t mass riots starting in the latter half of March 2020 was because everyone had their face buried in a screen.

      If more people are forced to start living in meatspace, they’ll start to notice how shitty meatspace has actually gotten in recent times, and will start holding those who made meatspace shitty accountable.

  8. Another of my observations on development as a noob and somewhat of an outsider. While I’m not a real developer (yet), I think I can recognize BS when I see it.

    The more I learn, the more I wonder why certain types of development are overpaid. For example, I’ve been told that front-end development isn’t as easy as you think, you just think that coz you havent studied enough. But the more I learn, the more I see that yes, this shit is a joke. Actual retards can work in companies and create “apps” with frameworks.

    So I’ve been googling a lot recently questions like “why the fuck are frontend devs overpaid so much”. In fact, they get paid more than backend devs, and comparatively backend dev is a lot closer to requiring an actual IQ and more akin to “real development”.

    And you typically get QA sites where the top answer is something like:

    “Ohhhh you just say that coz you’re a noob… you’ve never been involved in a REAL BIZ, where making one mistake in your react can cause performance slowdown for billions of customers bla bla bla bla”.

    And I always see this card played. And while I’m not a dev, I am experienced in detecting logical inconsistencies and bullshit. The above argument can be made for anything, not just react.

    Yet you see bimbos with two braincells working as react devs. They seem to also have a ton of time to constantly put pictures in bikinis from different vacation resorts, so I don’t think they’re putting in 16 hour days or stressing about billions of customers suffering because of “non-optimal css”.

    The point is, the same holds for backend. If real dev is when you’re working in a company with 1000 devs and small tweaks impact billions of customers, doesn’t that also apply to backend? So it kind of cancels the fucking “argument”. Point is backend requires an actual brain, and I don’t see any bikini babes in backend work.

    And besides, the question isn’t about the elite levels. It’s about junior developers and average developers (not the elite). So that whole thing is a redherring. Like you ask about why bikini bimbos make more money than backend guys (average position/salary, not top/elite).

    And you get back “but you don’t understand what the elite levels is like”! Ok, but we’re comparing average frontend to average backend. If you gonna compare elite to elite the same still holds, backend is far more complex and at elite levels probably requires quite high IQ levels.

    People who do easier work seem quite intent on pulling this “argument”, almost like they’re defensive or something or want to keep the price artificially high so more people don’t find out how easy it is and flood the job market.

    1. Although backend might be slightly more difficult relative to frontend on average, the difference is not that big. If a person is able to learn one, he will also be able to learn the other. Both have plenty of cookie-cutter development which doesn’t require much aptitude. Therefore if you make frontend underpaid, developers will switch to backend and the salaries will have to get equalized due to supply and demand. As a matter of fact, majority of developers have a disdain for Javascript which opens up possibilities for self-taught devs and bootcamp graduates to enter the job market, which could explain that bikini developer phenomenon. That or the HR department was simply chasing the gender quota.

    2. I beg to differ. You can be an effective frontend developer even if you know hardly anything about data structures and algorithms, concurrency, or topics such as space requirements of types, to say nothing of low-level engineering where you are dealing with manual memory management. In a properly run tech company, the serious backend jobs are given to people with seriously high IQs. The average frontend engineer will not be an effective backend engineer. On that note, I have seen people switch from backend to frontend, but never the other way around. Also, bootcamps churn out frontend developers, not backend developers, because the skills are infinitely easier to pick up.

      Amusingly, backend and frontend engineers tend to look differently, too. In many cases, you can tell what someone works on even if you know nothing about them expect that he or she is a developer. The CVs are a lot different, too. Chicks applying for frontend roles sometimes put utterly inappropriate pictures on them, even when you are supposed to not even include a picture. I have seen a few CVs where the women used pictures of them in which they looked like streetwalkers.

    3. After writing it I wish I had edited it to make it more clear, in some places I said “frontend” whereas I meant “react”. I’m guessing it’s similar for frameworks in general. They basically do all the hard work for you.

      But here’s the weird part, react developers make more than backend developers. (frontend doesn’t pay more than backend by itself, react does).

      Is there an equivalent of React for the backend where a framework literally handles 90% of the hard work and thinking for you?

    4. I am not sure about that. This may be true at the entry-level but a good backend engineer can move into roles that are very well compensated. I know someone who makes 150k Euros somewhere in Europe working on improving the implementation of some database. With frontend bullshit, there is no equivalent. One of my colleagues recently remarked that he cannot even tell apart junior and senior frontend developers (presumably, the female junior devs are hotter because they are younger, but this was not about looks). Apparently, the skill ceiling is really low.

    5. By asking that I realize that wasn’t clear either. I’ve built both flask and django apps, so I get frameworks on backend as well. But there’s still a ton which is not handled by frameworks… you still have to study dev-ops and databases for example.

    6. This is exactly right. There is no equivalent of a backend task like maximizing CPU utilization by increasing the level of concurrency on the frontend. Heck, even a relatively simple task like writing a straightforward SQL query is often too much for them.

    7. Now that I think of it, yes I did make a mistake in my thinking. I assumed the average backend developer is doing more exciting stuff, not just using a backend framework to support a simple website. If most backend developers are just doing the same, then the salaries do make more sense.

      Still though, I don’t see any retards in backend, might be a proclivity thing and even retards can do backend, but I haven’t seen any. You see actual retards and bimbos in frontend though.

    8. Retards can cause serious damage on the backend, which is why you will not see any, or at least not for very long.

    9. Funny thing, right after having this conversation here… I get an email from facebook pitching some developer certification program run through coursera… And they have like different paths, with an image to represent them.

      – The database path is represented by an arab chick in a hijab
      – The backend path is an image of some hot chick that would fit right in a “latinas do anal” porno (or a frontend role)

    10. I am not sure about that. This may be true at the entry-level but a good backend engineer can move into roles that are very well compensated. I know someone who makes 150k Euros somewhere in Europe working on improving the implementation of some database. With frontend bullshit, there is no equivalent. One of my colleagues recently remarked that he cannot even tell apart junior and senior frontend developers (presumably, the female junior devs are hotter because they are younger, but this was not about looks). Apparently, the skill ceiling is really low.

      Yeah exactly. That kind of proves how much more depth there is in back-end. At the elite levels, if you’re coming up with new types of optimizations that shave off milliseconds, you can get into as much complexity as say theoretical physics.

      Frontenders like to pretend that there’s an equivalent for frontend. So whenever someone points out the shallowness of Frontend, they give this bullshit scenario I described in my OP of an elite-level of frontend.

      But the funny part is the question is about average react vs average backend… yet they give examples of a supposed top-elite level to justify a junior reacter making more money than a junior backender.

      Btw, the numbers are about averages, not elite yes. An average React* dev makes more than an average backend developer according to the salary websites, which to me is just bonkers/insane.

      *Average “frontend developer” makes less than average backend developer though, according to the same websites. Which makes sense. I just don’t get the react thing, it’s like a glitch in the matrix.

      React is actually easier than doing sites without react. And rather quick to learn. It’s like an extra 2% learning if you’ve already learned everything in frontend. Maybe there’s a glitch in how they calculate the salaries or something, because it just doesn’t make sense.

    11. I also agree that backend development has a higher skill ceiling for sure, but I believe the topic whether an ‘average’ frontend dev is overpaid relative to an ‘average’ backend dev. I’d say both are relying on well established work patterns (hence the phrase cookie cutter development). Time&space optimizations are out of the domain of an ‘average’ developer’s workload in both fields.

      Arguably the most complex frontend development happens when part of backend’s processing needs to be offloaded onto client but in an efficient manner in order to maintain good responsiveness even on mobile phones. Even then it doesn’t come close to the complexity of an elite level backend work, but this divergence only happens past medium level positions. The average level, 2-4k € salary devs are doing work of comparable complexity in both of the fields.

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