The Open Thread is a place for open discussion among my readers. Post anything you feel like sharing! From now on, the Open Thread will no longer be monthly. Instead, there will be a new Open Thread whenever it is adequate. The stage is yours. Go ahead!
The latest Open Thread is made ‘sticky’ to improve access.
Please consider throwing a few coins into the tip jar, and buy my books! They are great. Your support is greatly appreciated.
May I ask if you plan to get a pet,Aaron?
I legitimately think adopting an already trained dog (assuming one wants a dog specifically) is the best to go for. I’ve seen my dad buy new dogs and willing to spend on getitng them toys,yet being too stingy to get actually get them trained. (Which would be of much greater value than all those toys he bought them and those special cages Honestly,I think he’s actually ended up spending more for those miscelleneaous items than he would have if just bought them training from the start…)
People think a dog will automatically protect them even with no training. I think statistics actually show otherwise. training really ramps up the reliability on that,among other QoL.
I had three cats with my ex-wife but I have no plans of getting a new pet anytime soon. I could imagine getting a dog at some point, and I would also make sure it gets properly trained.
So SVB is the biggest banking collapse since 2008 and the second largest in US history. Of course this has nothing to do with their woke politics. It’s just a coincidence that their last two chief risk officers and their chief risk officer of Europe, Middle East and Africa are all radical woke women.
I read up on this earlier today. The SVB collapse is a dumpster fire of enormous proportions. The funny aspect is that risk is one of those fields where clueless outsiders may wonder what those people do all day. However, if they do their job well, it should appear as if they don’t do anything. This is also a problem in Engineering. Imagine you are responsible for a component that has to be available basically all the time. If this is indeed the case, your managers may ask you what you actually do all day because to them, something running smoothly may mean that people are slacking off because they do not see them do any work. Well, thanks to the SVB faggot bank, we now have an excellent example of what happens if your risk officer is a woke idiot. The job of those people is to ensure that nothing bad will happen, but this does not mean that they should not do any work at all or, in the case of SVB, actively undermine the bank by pushing their woke garbage agenda.
The New York Post has a brief article on the SVB fiasco, with a number of rather humorous quotes:
https://nypost.com/2023/03/11/silicon-valley-bank-pushed-woke-programs-ahead-of-collapse/
SVB probably thought risk management was a useless position where they could hide incompetent wokes.
Pretty funny when you look at the chief risk officers cvs. You need a quantitative background for the job. But both studied easy non quantitative degrees such as business administration and political science as an undergrad. And at crappy universities too. (Back then AA was not as widespread – nowadays they would probably get straight into Harvard).
>However, if they do their job well, it should appear as if they don’t do anything.<
Another easy example to use is Bouncers and Security. If no trouble brews,it looks as if they aren't doing anything but standing around looking intimidating…BUT THAT'S PRECISELY THE POINT! Any altercation that actually happens bears a risk and/or potential costs (i.e. damaged furniture,scared customers not coming back,etc.),but when trouble is deterred from happening altogether,its the ideal outcome.
The best bouncers aren't necessarily the best head smashers (albeit its a requisite),but the guys that can make it so smashing heads doesn't need to happen.
Without those guys,any guy coming in an establishment with bad intentions will have much less hesitation acting it out.
Aaron:
That is hilarious, thanks for sharing the link!
“As a queer person of color and a first-generation immigrant from a working-class background”
She was playing diversity bingo, heh. 🙂
With all the promotion of homosexuality she was doing, I doubt she’d have had time to do a good job in her position even if she had been well-qualified for it.
As much I hate this woke BS – at the end of the day it was just bankers being bankers.
Woke was not in the mainstream media the least bit during the 2008 financial crisis.
Anthony
Wokism caused the 2008 financial crisis as the US government forced banks to loosen conditions for mortgages for “sub-prime borrowers”, which disproportionally meant blacks and third-world immigrants.
Aaron,
This was to make more money – they don’t give a shit about anyone lol.
Those banks would certainly have preferred not to come under great fiscal pressure. This was precisely why they tried to offload those mortgages. Sure, they wanted to make money, as they always do, but government policies burdened banking with an additional risk factor they otherwise would not have had to deal with.
Anthony:
I’m not sure if you are saying that economic issues can arise without the influence of wokism, or that this one had nothing to do with wokism.
If it’s the first I agree with you, if it’s the second I disagree. They had a head of risk management who spent more time promoting homosexuality than doing her job, by the sound of it, and had dubious qualifications as well.
I think it’s pretty obvious that that poses, well, a _risk_. 😉
Indeed, imagine what a clown show Silicon Valley Bank was when their Chief Risk Officer posed an existential risk to the survival of the company.
Aaron, Karl:
The 2008 financial crisis has NOTHING to do with wokeism. Can you really say with a straight face that bankers were saying “I don’t want to give these loans. I’ll make more money but I don’t care about risk even though the government will bail me out”
I repeat: the banks created subprime mortgages to make more money. The government didn’t force rich people running banks and all their colleagues to do so. Everyone one was making an insane amount of money and they got drunk at the wheel . End of story.
If you don’t feel like reading into the matter just watch the Big Short.
I think you do not know enough about how banking works. If a bank hands out a loan and the borrowers does not pay them back, what do you think it is going to happen? Lehman Brothers went under because of it, i.e. bail-outs were not at all guaranteed. I watched The Big Short, and it unfortunately does not at all highlight the role of US government in it. It was basically a deflection, telling a story about banks and rating agencies colluding.
By the way, today the EEOC tells businesses they need to hire more women and “underrepresented minorities”. They have to do this even if those applicants are less qualified. Do you think businesses happily do this? Do you think Silicon Valley Bank would have hired a woke and wholly incompetent Chief Risk Officer if they had not been pressured to do so? Of course, here the issue is that the CEO and board apparently thought that they can put a dud into this role as it does not matter at all. However, they arguably would not have done that if the political climate had been different.
Here is a brief article on the role of government in creating the subprime crisis:
https://fee.org/articles/how-the-federal-government-created-the-subprime-mortgage-crisis/
Of course, if you look up press releases or papers sponsored by the government, they will have the opposite conclusion and tell you that they are not to blame at all.
Anthony:
Well, first of all, the 2008 crisis was quite a different animal from the crash of this bank. Aaron was at first just speaking of the bank, and I’m not sure why you brought up the 2008 crash?
In terms of the 2008 crash it was an event on an entirely different scale. I don’t have very profound knowledge about it, but from what I understand it was a combination of government policy flooding the market with subprime mortgages, and financial institutes taking advantage by bundling subprime mortgages with high-quality mortgages in MBSs, an investment vehicle that is otherwise reputable and generally profitable.
Disagree that wokism wasn’t in the media back in 2008. Not as intensely, and the trans movement wasn’t a big deal yet, but race was already well-entrenched, and homosexuality as well. Not that I’m sure how that relates to the topic of the subprime crisis, but oh well. 🙂
Aaron,
That article just rehashes common arguments republicans were making which are kind of BS. As I noted, it was mostly Wall Street’s recklessness.
If you want a better summary consider reading this if you have time.
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/2008-housing-crisis/#:~:text=To%20be%20sure%2C%20the%20GSEs,Freddie%20Mac's%20income%20dropped%20significantly.
Anthony:
You wrote “That article just rehashes common arguments republicans were making which are kind of BS.”
Where did the article Aaron linked err?
Karl, Anthony is not too fond of making substantiated arguments. He is not going to answer this question because he cannot do so.
Aaron,
In your Open Thread 274, there was a discussion on “how to raise a daughter”. There’s one thing I’ve been curious about, how would you teach a daughter on how to find and spot good husband?
I’ve come across many women who have complained about their boyfriends/husbands beating them. Are there certain behavioral traits a father needs to show her daughter how to spot a women beater and avoid him at all cost?
I’ve known some few men who have come from decent background, but would insult, berate, and disrespect their partner. Some had alcohol issues, some were controlling and possessive. Of course, if I had a daughter I definitely wouldn’t want her to be with a guy who’s controlling, possessive, a drunk etc. I understand that sometimes couples make insults in the heat of the moment and argue.
I think that the parents should play a much bigger role in finding a good husband than it commonly done nowadays. Letting women choose their husbands themselves sounds like a recipe for disaster, and it certainly is in our system of quick divorce. I think there are certain risk factors that make it more likely that a guy will hit his wife or girlfriend, such as impulsiveness. Well, the good news is that those people normally do not hide their true nature, but the bad thing is that women who complain about their husband beating them did not complain when the very same guy slapped her around the room when they were dating. Back then, she thought it was hot, and the make-up sex great.
Also, keeping your daughters away from social media is probably a must, too. I just watched this brief Babylon Bee video:
It’s two years old but arguably much more relevant today than it was back then as trannyism is being pushed a lot harder on girls today than it was back then.
Aaron,
About a year ago I met this girl who was a parent. She told me that raising kids nowadays is very challenging because social media is the biggest influencer and that its very powerful. We didn’t have much access to information like this generation does.
Fully agreed. Social media poisons your mind, and girls are most affected by it. The current tranny wave could not have gotten off the ground without social media. The pattern is as simple as it is demonic: young girls get bombarded with fake pictures of attractive women, which makes them feel insecure, and this is where the tranny brigade comes in as they promise those girls that all their problems will be solved if they get their tits cut off and their uterus removed, in addition with injecting them with testosterone.
Hanging out with the wrong people too early in your life can definitely leave you for worse in the long run,and there’s no limit to the kind of folks you’re exposed to on social media.
Matt Kroc,the guy who invented the weight lifting technique called “Kroc Rows”,is now a tranny. But at least grew up around testosterone all his life and the decision was not at all influenced by his social circle. (quite the opposite,actually) In his case,perhaps becoming a tranny expresses who he truly is deep down since he became one despite everything in his surroundings discouraging that kind of transformation.
Unlike probably what a lot of other transexuals experience where they became one as a result of being influenced. I still remember that classmate of mine who started off straight,but ended up gay when he started hanging out with a gay friend. I have no idea how it works,but I guess at that point in your development,sexuality still has a lot of plasticity.
Gays prey on young boys, literally turning them gay. Also, quite a few roiders seem to have an inclination towards transsexualism. Juicing for decades seems to really mess with your hormones and your mind. There are quite a few well-known examples in US athletics, such as Bruce Jenner.
Yeah,Steroids could very well have played a major role here. especially if he had happened to start at a young age. its saddening to see teenagers start doing it,honestly. I’ve already explained before that this is a stage in a man’s life where he will have the most testosterone and be able to make the most of his gains. These boys are legit destroying that stage just because they’re impatient. Doing roids will unfortunately permanently damage your body’s ability to produce its own T. and that’s why these guys end up on TRT.
In my opinion (I’ll admit first and foremost that I’m no expert on the topic however),you should at least wait till your late 30’s or 40’s before you get on that kind of stuff,assuming you’re still interested by that point. Its kinda by this point that your T production is going to start dying down anyway. I think its better to do it at this stage instead of at the peak of your natural T production if one insists on this.
I mention this beccause I’ve spoken to a teen in the past (and their parents are supporting this!) on discord who is planning to take the stuff very soon. Then again,they’ve told me that becoming a bodybuilding champion is legit their lifelong dream so I dunno,maybe the kind of advice shelled out here for the benefit of the average guy is not applicable to him.
That were women with class: https://youtu.be/-Otg5w4l8ZI
This young lady is Natasha Rostova, the heroine of Leo Tolstoy’s world-famous novel “War and Peace”. And the officer who invited her to dance is another hero of this novel, Prince Andrei Bolkonsky. The film that was used in this clip was shot by Russian director Sergei Bondarchuk, who received an Oscar for it at the time.
Gerd:
That is a classy scene, but Natasha for sure was not. I read the book (highly recommended) and she’s one of the trashiest women in it.
SPOILER ALERT:
She’s engaged to prince Andrei Bolkonsky, but still plans to elope with Anatole Kuragin, and it only stopped because the plot is leaked and her family has their staff stop it when Anatole arrives to take her away.
Anatole himself is the most useless male in the book, a pretty boy of no substance, who at the same is also married to a Polish woman he abandoned, meaning he was attempting to commit bigamy, and he was also rumored to be shtupping his sister Hélène Kuragina (the only woman in the book who was worse than Natasha, IIRC).
That disgusting female cop that got herself and along with half the male police force fired in Tennessee recently spoke out claiming she was groomed and coerced. Basically, she’s claiming victim status (and mental illness) and has even went so far as to file a lawsuit. I guess it never dawned on her before taking a half a dozen dicks that she could have just quit her job: https://leoaffairs.com/they-did-not-protect-me-meagan-hall-speaks-out-for-the-first-time-blames-senior-leadership/
Some people are even blaming the husband in this instance saying that he put her up to this. Somehow I kind of doubt this cucked beta has any legitimate sway over what this slut ultimately ends up doing. It seems like everyone but her deserves some blame. It could be interesting to see how this plays out.
Heh, this is what she said just over a month earlier:
“The Tennessee cop fired for having sex with multiple officers while on duty told investigators she “cracked” while going through a difficult divorce — leading to affairs with randy male colleagues who would “stick their d— in anything.”
When confronted by an internal investigator, 26-year-old Maegan Hall came clean about the sordid affairs and explained how things spiraled out of control, according to a transcript of the interview first obtained by WSMV 4.
“Me and my husband were kind of on the verge of a divorce and I just cracked and then it just kind of got out of hand,” she said, according to the transcript.
“I got stupid, I got desperate, I guess and guys are guys and they’ll stick their d— in anything.”
Hall sat down with the department’s head of human resources Andrew Patton for three interviews.
In one part of the 61-page transcript, Hall admitted to performing oral sex on Sgt. Lewis Powell inside a police substation. She said their affair involved “a lot of sex” and was sparked by troubles in her marriage.”
Source: https://nypost.com/2023/01/30/ex-cop-maegan-hall-details-wild-sex-escapades-in-transcript/
She obviously got too much crap for being a slut, and is now changing her story to being raped. Quite a turnaround!
One of the comments in Karl’s link said this:
________
I commend her for what she was doing. She was draining the aggressiveness from the male police members. Happy cops are less likely to beat motorists they pull over to death.
________
You know what? I think he’s got a point there! maybe having someone like her around actually makes it less likely for police abuse of civilians to happen. lol!
“You know what? I think he’s got a point there! maybe having someone like her around actually makes it less likely for police abuse of civilians to happen. lol!”
Haha, that’s and interesting way of looking at it.
Karl, thanks for the added context. This chick is clearly full of it.
Aaron,
I am currently studying for A2 German exam. Do you happen to know any good novel or short story that is written in an accessible way to an “Anfanger”?
German sentence structure is quite something to get my head around. Have you had a chance to speak to foreign exchange students? Do you find their way of expressing themselves natural?
German sentence structure is certainly mind-bending.
You should look for books especially written (or rewritten) for non-native speakers or perhaps school children. The English term is “graded readers”, but I am not sure if there is an established term in German. I have seen “einfache Lektüre” (lit. “simple reading”), but you need to distinguish this from “simple German”, which uses a reduced vocabulary and simplified Grammar. Also, you would probably benefit a lot from going through grammar exercise books.
I have never met a non-native German speaker who could express himself reasonably well. Even when I studied abroad I was quite surprised at the comparatively low level of local students enrolled in German. I was quite surprised when I later learned that it was “prestigious” to study foreign languages at the better British universities.
It is funny that many foreigners think that Russian is harder than German in terms of grammar. It is true that Russian grammar is harder than German in many respects, but not sentence structure. The basic word order in Russian is similar to English, although in many cases, sentence constituents can move around, like OVS for example.
German word order, however, requires rewiring your brain. That is why I love German so much.
Do you find Swedish sentence structure similar to your native language?
How do you say “word order” and “sentence structure” in German?
Swedish grammar is downright primitive in contrast to German.
“Primitive” here means harder or easier? That is the first time I saw primitive being used to describe grammar of a language.
CQV, Swedish grammar is really simple compared to German. Also, many words are quite similar to their German equivalents, too. In fact, it reminds me a bit of Yiddish, which is a pidgin version of German. The first time I picked up a Swedish newspaper, I was able to mostly understand what I was reading.
CQV:
I can’t speak for Aaron, but I believe he means that Swedish grammar is simpler (which of course makes it easier). I speak Swedish and studied a little German in elementary school, and German grammar is more complex in most areas.
Aaron:
I’ve noticed the same thing. Most people who study another language never get anywhere close even to working proficiency, much less fluency or native-level ability. The only exception is English, and even then it’s usually with a bad accent, and mainly northern Europeans and east Asians.
The people I’ve met who are fully bilingual in two non-English languages are usually either products of international marriages (so they had parents who spoke separate languages to them growing up), or immigrants with affluent parents who brought them to another country when they were young, yet spoke the origin country’s language at home.
It used to surprise me when someone told me they studied a language for years in college, yet they couldn’t even speak it at the level of a native elementary student. Doesn’t surprise me any more, though, now that I’ve realized it’s the norm.
The Manboobs creep is offering free writing sessions!
https://www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/2023/03/14/free-writing-coaching-for-three-lucky-whtm-readers/
Lets all go there and ask him to write about how bad feminism is!
Aaron,
Credit Suisse the second largest bank in Switzerland is on the verge of collapse. Soon were going to see a ripple effect. And many people believe there’s no downside to all of this. They trust their own government and everything is going to be fine.
https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/credit-suisse-shares-drop-fresh-record-low-cds-widen-2023-03-15/
One day later we have not only seen the Swiss National Bank lending 50 billion to Credit Suisse, in the US the major banks got together to support First Mutual Bank. Those are not good signs by any means. Don’t worry, though, the money masters have it totally under control. Right now, we are going though a fiscal contraction where liquidity gets drained from the economy. The end effect will be that the usual suspects who sit closest to the money taps are going to buy up assets for pennies on the dollar. It’s the usual manufactured boom/bust bullshit all over again.