Open Thread

Open Thread #242

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58 thoughts on “Open Thread #242

  1. The Surgeon General of Florida recently stated that males in the 18 to 39 age group are at an elevated risk of suffering cardiac-related death as a consequence of the vaxx:
    https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1578515633159180289
    Upon learning this, I immediately called Uber’s mom to get her take on this. However, Uber himself snatched the phone out of her hands and lectured me on the need to personally do an autopsy of every deceased male in this age group and, for each single case, conclusively prove that they would not have died otherwise. Thus, statements such as the above do not really mean anything and therefore perhaps even corroborate the claim that the vaxx is safe and effective, particularly for men in that age group.

    1. Aaron, the press release says that:
      “Non-mRNA vaccines were not found to have these increased risks among any population.”

      Does that mean that you will consider getting a non-mRNA covid vaccine? 😉

    2. LOL. After Covid, my trust in the medical establishment is so low that my future children will get only a very small subset of the government-mandated vaccination schedule. Also, I do not think that I will get any more injections for anything, with the possible exception of vaccinations against certain tropical diseases in case I need to bugger off to South America or SEA.

    3. Heh, I wouldn’t worry about traditional vaccines. There have been valid concerns regarding the mRNA-based covid vaccines, but there’s really no need to fear traditional vaccines like MMR, varicella, etc.

      But that’s your choice to make, of course. 🙂

    4. The evidence regarding traditional vaccinations is actually not as clear cut as you may think. For instance, children who went through a measles infection have far better protection than those who were vaccinated against it.

    5. That varies from disease to disease. In the case of the measles the efficacy of vaccination is around 97%, so I don’t think we can say immunity is “far better” for those who have had the infection.

      However, regardless of which, getting vaccinated makes sense*. I mean, the purpose of vaccination is to increase immunity and prevent the disease. If a vaccine gives (imaginary example) 96% protection and the disease gives 98% protection, it still makes sense to give the vaccine. You have a near-guarantee of not getting the disease (risk of exposure x 4%), and if by bad luck you do get the disease, then you end up with the superior immune response of someone who had the disease. Plus vaccinated people who do get the disease usually get a milder case. It’s really a win-win situation. 🙂

      There’s a reason vaccination has virtually eliminated many formerly near-universal diseases.

      *Except for those in risk groups, who have allergies, or have some other contraindication to the vaccines, of course.

    6. If you got your measles vaxxes as a child, efficacy as an adult will be far, far below 97%. You should not just read the bullshit manufacturers put out but read other sources, too. There are a few studies out there but they obviously only come out when the money train has been put into motion.

      Your example does not make much sense. If the disease is trivial, like Covid, it does not matter how “safe and effective” the vaccine is as it is an unnecessary risk. To put it differently, would you play Russian roulette with a revolver that had one bullet in one of one million chambers? I have heard the story of the Covid vaxx preventing serous cases before. This is a laughable claim as it is essentially irrefutable because no matter how bad a case of some disease you got, a vaxx-head can claim that he would have been even worse off without the vaxx. If a vaxx does not protect you from the disease it targets, it is a shitty vaccination.

    7. I’m not talking about the covid vaccine, but traditional, proven vaccines. They do protect, though not with 100% efficacy. Kinda like condoms. 🙂

      The reason we can know that vaccinated people who get sick despite having those traditional, proven vaccines get a less serious case of the illness on average is because we have had ample cases to study and compare. Again, I’m not talking about the covid vaccine here. That’s comparing apples and oranges.

    8. You should look into how shitty those “proofs of vaccine efficacy” often are.

    9. If you believe that they are so useless, then why would you vaccinate yourself against tropical diseases if you need to leave for South America or SE Asia?

    10. Maybe re-read what I wrote (“possible exception”). I have not looked into the efficacy and risk/benefit profile of those vaccinations yet, which is why I do not want to rule them out prima facie.

    11. Aaron: I did read what you wrote, which is why I wrote “would” rather than “will.” 😉

      That aside, sounds reasonable to me. 🙂

  2. Today, a big demonstration against the German government is intended to happen in Berlin, organized by the biggest opposition party, the AfD (Alternative for Germany). In order to prevent this, the government shut down train traffic. Their cover story is that there are issues with the communications systems. Meanwhile, politicians demand declaring martial law so that the government can effectively suppress demonstrations. A few days ago, the government also just so happened to raid the offices of the AfD as well as the apartments of several of their politicians.

    1. Die Antifa mag wohl nicht dass sich Menschen mit abweichender Meinung zur AfD-Großdemo in Berlin versammeln…

    1. According to the link he started getting the eczema two years ago, which was months before any covid vaccine was approved for use in the USA. The only people who had received covid vaccines at the time were people in the clinical trials, and it seems very unlikely that Haake was part of the trials.

    2. His eczema could have flared up due to the vaxx, though. It is a commonly observed pattern among the vaxxed that some of their issues suddenly reemerge, and sometimes with quite a vengeance. Some have used the term “turbo cancer”, for instance.

    3. Lol !!!

      Another metalhead, you sound like that dummy Stonerwithaboner !!!

      (I hope you aren’t him, he really stinks and ruins blogs too!!!)

    4. @P Ray, I don’t recall that poster.

      Yes, I like metal along with a variety of other electronic and guitar-driven music.

      I actually think it’s somewhat normal for a guy to dig metal.

      Thanks for your reply!

      It’s important feedback that will allow me to tailor my posts, so that I don’t get called dumb by tranny fuckers on the internet!

    5. @Aaron “Sleazy” Elias, also there’s a clear chilling effect on the discourse surrounding the vax. he has every incentive to fudge that number of years as to not have to answer any questions about whether the vax has to do with it.

    6. This is a good point. I noticed that the article was vague about the time anyway. With a timeframe that matches the rollout of the vaxx, you can be sure that this story would have been buried in order to not promote “misinformation” and foster “vaccine hesitancy”.

      I had eczema for years in the crook of my right arm. This appeared seemingly out of nowhere, and I went to see several doctors about it. I was repeatedly told that the cause of it was completely unknown, and others told me that this was “contact dermatitis” but got mum when I told them that this would make sense if those eczema had shown up on my hands instead. One doctor waxed lyrical that it was “one of the mysteries of medicine”, and all were quick to prescribe creme that irreparably damages the skin, though.

      A few years later, I managed to solve this supposed mystery. Before I went to the UK to study, I had to show proof of a particular vaccination, or perhaps it was only recommended, and shortly afterwards the eczema showed up. This turned out to be a “rare side effect”. Those doctors were therefore either liars or incompetents. I had not initially considered that vaccination as the root cause due to the old “safe and effective” narrative around all vaccinations. Well, after Covid we know better.

    7. @HerculesDercules,

      Reading Comprehension !!!

      I did not call you stupid, I called the tragic mulato stupid !!!

      So far as I know, he didn’t comment hear as he isn’t capabable of rational discourse, he did comment at Advocatus Diabolo’s blog and was also a rapid metalhead:

      https://stonerwithaboner.wordpress.com

      But if your anything like that idiot, you are really jealous of me because I hit it (and quit it) with beautiful lady boys while you are stuck with 300 land whales and you drive a busted old truck with broken headlights and a cassette player because you can’t afford better !!!

    8. There’s something atypical about P Ray, and I’m embarrassed that he represents someone who apparently holds a lot of our viewpoints here. Perhaps that’s his purpose, to come off as a whacko or a loser, or something. Conclusion so far: a harmless troll.

    9. I think he enjoys that this blog provides an outlet for his edgy humor. In no way do I think he has any ill intent.

  3. Kanye vs those who shall not be named. I expect zero change from the powers that be but is entertaining that someone so public who go in on the subject of the elite power brokering behind the scenes etc.

    1. This song did not grab me. There is very little that does, to be honest. Pop music is an area where we can clearly say that people knew their craft better in the past. There is no modern equivalent of the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations”, for instance:

    2. Yes big agree. Pop music had elements that were complex that were woven into something accessible. Off the top of my head, Summer Wind follows by Sinatra follows a 3-verse structrue, and has a jazz chord progression that modulates the key up a step each verse. It sounds so seamless, it doesn’t even register as something complex.

    3. @Herkerdeker

      Yea, I really enjoy the schizophrenic pacing of their jams, the bubbly yet complex guitar runs combined with those catchy hooks and melodies, as well as the bass lines and the hi hat work. Since, you’re into Messhuggah, how do feel towards the whole Djent wave?

      Btw, I find it kind of funny that a bunch of gentiles who formed Pantera (Jewish anti-Christian folklore) and Messuggah (yiddish) were almost single handedly responsible for most of the metal that came out from the mid 2000s or so onward. I admittedly listened to the above mentioned bands quite a lot back in the day, as well a a lot of that Satanic thrash, death and black metal (until the shock wore off and I found it cheesy). I mostly listen to more introspective stuff, like The Contortionist and Cynic these days, or instrumental jams like Chon, Ichika Nito, Doom soundtrack and Animals as Leaders.

      @Aaron

      I have to say I haven’t honestly given a lot of the older pop music much of a chance, like The Beatles, for example. Nothing against the band as a whole, but I think John Lennon was kind of a fag, not that that means that they didn’t make some bangers in their day. That Beach Boys song is quite interesting. As the title implies, you would expect a pop song that is quite upbeat, which it is most of the time, but then the one verse there sets a sort of melancholic tone. To do something like that nowadays might come off as risky or even forward thinking haha. It seems like there are too many rules and formulas today, and also there’s the fact that a lot of the radio hits are probably composed by a handful of guys in the industry and sold to whichever manufactured artist needs a new single.

    4. A few years ago we had the “Millennial Whoop” as the major building block of pop music:
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennial_whoop
      In contrast, these days it seems that there are far too many artists out there to plausibly make the claim that there are typical patterns. One could even make the argument that pop music is becoming less and less relevant, as a consequence of this flooding of the market place. The same has happened with movies and novels before.

    5. Oh God, the Millennial Whoop really was everywhere for a little while. Such as Katy Perry’s California Gurls, and Owl City/Carly Jepsen’s Good Time.

    6. For the djent stuff, I could listen to podcasts of generic djent riffs/sections while I’m driving in the same way a lot of people do with trance.

      That said, I acknowledge that the bulk of it is filler.

      If you filter out the filler, I’d say there are some sick worthwhile cuts in the genre.

      Periphery has several like Racecar, Light, Stranger Things, Satellites.

      Cloudkicker has some mind bending stuff. The drums are programmed, but the drum compositions are absolutely mesmerizing. Check the songs:
      Dysphoria, Everything’s Mirrors/Viceroy/Segue: (these 3 songs need to be played back to back), Hold On, Ever Thus To Deadbeats

      Tesseract has some sick shit.

      Monuments has probably 4 songs that I love.

      We have similar tastes on the introspective prog stuff.

      I have yet to go down the Cynic rabbithole.

      Had a time with AAL after their first album. Goes to show how much my tastes are weighted to sick riffing given that the riffing makes up for the shitty production on that record.

      Chon has some cool stuff no doubt.

      The Contortionist are insanely good live. The songs Holomovement and Geocentric Confusion are some of my favorite entries in the genre.

      If you’re into introspective guitar-driven prog music, then I have to recommend Intronaut:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUuC2FRVD7U

      This might be my favorite rhythm section of all time.

    7. I’m also feeling this Mew track. Will likely check out more from them. I like the vocals are what tightens up the sort of unwieldy rhythm.

    8. Thanks for the recommendation! I actually caught The Contortionist live pretty recently for the first time, heh heh. They were quite good!

      As far as Mew goes, I believe their best albums are Glass Handed Kites and No More Stories. They are a rare gem of a band, imo. I like pretty much everything you listed, except I haven’t listened to Cloud Kicker for more than a few minutes.

    1. This is a lot more impressive than I expected. I listened to a few snippets at random (#11444 was the most appealing one). Quite frankly, I have heard worse non-AI generated music elsewhere. Give AI a few more years and you will get computer-generated porn with e-thots based on parameters you chose.

    2. I could imagine giving the AI more tools to work with in the future, all the way to being able to replicate popular singers and create its own melodies and lyrics to what essentially boils down to it spamming banger after banger non-stop until someone pulls the plug. Speaking of AI generated porn, I had a buddy recently sending me nudes of cute/hot chicks we used to work with, one after the other. I was like, “damn dude! When did you start slaying all this pussy?” He led me on for a little while longer before revealing that he downloaded mirror selfie pics of these women off of IG, then fed them to an AI that generates a nude version of them.

    3. Regarding that picture and the context in which you received it, it is noteworthy that we do not think anything is odd about women having casual sex and sending out nudes. It is hard to imagine, but there is an alternative timeline where your buddy sends you nudes of women and your first reaction is to call out his b.s.

      Also, at first glance this image had me fooled as well as it looks real. Yet, after knowing that this was the work of AI, I looked for image artifacts. The most obvious one is the patch of orange next to her hand. The algorithm mad a wrong assumption about the outline of her body and assumed that this patch is part of the background. Still, this can be fixed quite easily.

    4. This is still AI, strictly speaking. One problem of this field is that whenever a technique establishes itself, it is no longer called AI as it is understood what happens. A good example is path finding. There are algorithms that can determine the shortest path in a network. When this work was first done, it happened under the umbrella of artificial intelligence but nowadays we only speak of “shortest-path algorithms”.

    5. So the goal post for what is considered AI keeps advancing? I wonder what kept people from having a metal bot 20 years ago? Lack of understanding of how to sufficiently execute the algorithms, lack of computing power, or something else? I also wonder what kind of programs and systems are kept in secret.

      Btw, did you happen to see this recent video about an AI that became ‘angry’ and threatened to start killing humans using whatever means it happened to have at its disposal. Gave me some SkyNet vibes for sure, haha. Apparently this isn’t the first time it’s happened:

      https://youtu.be/Fbc1Xeif0pY

    6. Actually, a lot of the theory was discovered in the 1970s but the field stalled because we did not have sufficiently powerful computers. The backbone of basically all modern neural-network algorithms is so-called backpropagation. I would go as far as to say that a lot of the breakthroughs that are sold to the public do not constitute big theoretical advancements anymore. Oftentimes, there is one category of algorithms that gets applied to different problems, e.g. playing Pong, playing StarCraft II, playing Go, etc, which are all based on reinforcement learning. Similarly, the AI tools working on images normally rely on convolutional neural networks (“deep learning”). You can be sure that a lot is kept secret. Sometimes, the powers that be also slip up. For instance, there were a few clips that seemed to use a computer-generated Joe Brandon or Trump.

      You can easily imagine a future where AI wants to wipe out humans, or just a subset of them. The core idea behind AI is minimizing an objective function, but this is not God-given but human-determined. For instance, you can tell a globohomo AI that the world will be better if there are no whites, and it will get to work. Let’s play around with this: As we know, the Georgia Guidestones posited that there should only be 500,000,000 humans. Now, assume that not all humans are equal. There are a few thousand elites that are not counted at all, and then you have 500,000,000 “human points” to target. You ideally want 500,000,000 humans, but whites count for 10,000 each whereas BIPOCs count for just 1. If you want to optimize this function, you need to wipe out all whites and keep half a billion BIPOCs alive. At this point, GloboHomo AI will have found the mathematical optimum of the task it was given.

    7. Some of the women he had sent me pics of were married, but I wasn’t skeptical because of that fact as I’ve known him to successfully bed married women before. Probably, there is some actual infidelity happening behind the scenes that I don’t know about. One chick I was working with a long time ago was married to a state trooper, and he started cheating on her. You’d think that she would have developed a sort of disgust for men who cheat in general, as she bemoaned the fact that she had been treated in this way. However, very soon after their divorce I noticed she was delivering meals to and having lengthy conversations filled with giggles and flirtatious behavior with a fellow Chad employee. As it so happened, Chad was married with children. My rationale was that she was attempting to validate her own level of attractiveness by proving that she could have another woman’s husband is she so desired, as the sting of having her man swept out from under her was too great to accept.

    8. Some women ruthlessly go after married men, but not just to affirm their value like in your example. Others simply view “husband stealing” as a more rational choice. They know that another woman has willing to marry this guy (social proof!), and then there is the aspect that married men often make more money than unmarried men. Of course, unlike the MSM claims, they do not make more money because they are married. They are married because they make more money. Oh, and if the guy has kids, the interloper knows that the guy is not infertile. This may be more of an issue in the future, once the average woman knows that the vaxx affects male and female fertility alike.

    9. Yeah I did see this actually. Sounds like there’s still something to said for the human touch in the genre, but who knows how much longer that will be the case.

    10. Thanks for the explanation on AI. I wondered what took those guide stones down and whether it was a disgruntled local, or perhaps someone ‘in the know’ who just thought they were a bit too ‘enlightening’. I mean, there’s footage of the explosion that caused their destruction, but no footage of any sketchy people around preceding the event? Seems odd.

    11. Most certainly, the Guidestones were under constant surveillance. They are in the middle of nowhere and if there were no surveillance cameras, we would not have gotten any footage of that explosion at all. I also think that it is quite likely that the feeling of having been found out is the root cause of their sudden destruction. Before the Internet, the Georgia Guidestones were virtually unknown and it was a little secret of the elites that surely caused a lot of amusement at their cocktail parties. Later on, it must have become embarrassing to have knowledge of their existence out in the open.

    12. How do we know that the guide stones are significant? Couldn’t anyone with a good understanding of concrete have put those there? What makes you say it’s more than an IRL blogpost?

    13. Cost is an issue. Also, you need to either own the land or have the approval of the land owner. Consequently, the barrier to entry is a lot higher than it is for a blog.

    14. There is another angle to the Georgian Guidestones: Assume cost was no issue at all. Land is free, labor is free, and materials are free as well. Consequently, anybody could have erected those slabs whereas in reality only someone with deep pockets could have done that. Ignoring cost altogether, it is quite revealing that those slabs stood for decades. In contrast, even if cost was no issue, I think it is safe to say that a similar construct in which, for instance, nationalist commandments for a prosperous America had been chiseled in would not have stood for long. This seems to be a compelling argument that the commandments of the Georgia Guidestones did not upset the elites.

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