Open Thread

Open Thread #348

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48 thoughts on “Open Thread #348

  1. I just wondered if I should give Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag a try as it is often praised as either the best or one of the best games in this series. Who would have thought that Ubisoft still wants 40 euros this 10-year-old game? Amusingly, they do not even list the release date on the Steam page. Someone help me out here, why do big publishers want to so desperately get away from physical releases? I really can’t figure it out. By the way, on Amazon, a used PS4 copy of this game sets you back about seven euros at the time of writing.

  2. I’d like an answer from Alek on this,but of course everybody else is free to chime in too:

    What do you think of the idea of keeping women who genuinely love you (Not just “like/attracted to you”,but somebody who really gives a shit about you and is a general source of positive benefit to your life),but you just aren’t attracted to,as friends? (no,not “that” kind of friends)

    We talk a lot about the shitty and entitled behavior of the so-called “fairer sex”,but lets not forget…

    https://blog.aaronsleazy.com/index.php/2017/01/26/reminder-women-can-be-pretty-great/

    When I first thought about the context,it feels just as shitty as when women string along beta orbiters,but people (both men and women) who are in love in general struggle to cut off their object of affection. for obvious reasons I’m sure I don’t need to lay out. and I don’t think its appropriate to cut off somebody just for having feelings for you if they aren’t causing issues as a result of it.

    You’re a guy who has mostly female friends,and I’m assuming at least a few of them are probably at or below the 5/10 mark for you,so I feel like you’d be the perfect guy to answer.

    Tbh,I feel like this is not that common of a thing,because dudes rarely ever make friends with the opposite sex whom they wouldn’t at least consider consider worthy of a shag (or at least consider a pleasant view),even if they wouldn’t consider them LTR material. but you’re in a pretty unique position given that most of your friends are female.

    1. @Maou

      I have no intention of ever having friends below 7; and I only say 7 because there’s a few who used to be 8s and dropped to 7. For new ones, would never go below 8.

      The issue is that they always do hallucinated rejections. I tried being nice to the 6s and 5s in groups, but no good deed goes unpunished. The moment you’re nice to them, they start rejecting you, i.e. they hallucinate nonexistent interest just so they can freak out about your nonexistent interest and then reject you, making it known to the entire group they’re not interested and “you should stop trying to get them”.

      All of this hallucinated interest is triggered out of basic courtesy. I think when people said men and women can’t be friends, they base this on mid chicks whom you can’t be friendly to, without them confusing it for interest.

    2. When I first entered college,I was courteous to everybody. Having come from the kind of background I did,I was a believer of being kind to everybody. That doesn’t mean I acted like a saint and went out of my way to help everybody at my expense,but I was grateful at finally being treated with courtesy on my day to day and returned the favor.

      Unfortunately,as you’ve experienced yourself,this often got mistaken for sexual/romantic interest. unattractive chicks and even some gay dudes (they are the ones I’ve actually gotten the most entitled/disrespectful reaction from.) perceived my bubbly attitude as if to mean I was open for business. That in itself isn’t a problem (its flattering),but the negative entitled reaction to my polite rejection (almost never direct.) of their advances definitely unnerved me the first few times I encountered it.

      Some of these guys/girls even came from a similarly oppressive background,so you’d think they’d have just been grateful about finally not being treated like a buttmonkey. Its a little alien to me how these folks could have mistaken this very basic courtesy as romantic interest. as if the only reason to be kind to someone is to shag them.

      I now understand why some high status folks adopt a snobbish/dismissive outer demeanor to strangers. I guess these are the “Bitch Shields” that PUA’s talk about? lol

  3. I have a question targeted mostly to Alex, but everyone can feel free with answering to it.

    You frequently mentioned here how important for skincare is a daily use of sunscreen.
    In a below thread you wrote that your routine consist of applying sunscreen only once in the morning :
    https://blog.aaronsleazy.com/index.php/2024/01/28/dealing-with-fast-and-slow-life-history-strategies/

    I have researched the topic of how much and how often should we apply the sunscreen and it is often recommended to do it 3 times per day. And this recommendation applies only if we stay indoor. If we are outdoor we should apply sunscreen every 2 hours.
    I don’t use sunscreen in the winter and I don’t use it if I stay indoor, but I think this is wrong. I’ve just seen a photo of some older woman, who was working in the office and one side of her face was exposed to the sun via a window. It looks completely destroyed compared to the other side of her face.

    I haven’t researched this topic as obsessively and in-detail as you, Alek, and I would like to hear more about what do you think about it. I trust you more than some random information that can be found on the internet.
    Sunscreen is a damn expensive product.

    Could you also share how much do you apply?

    1. Also, do you use in the winter the same as in the summer?
      I am based in Poland and the winter here are quite harsh. But I guess I still should protect myself from the sun.

      Thanks in advance for any answer.

    2. Michal, would you mind sharing the picture of that woman, of course in a way that does not lead to any data privacy issues? Also, I am wondering why she did not start to pay attention to this earlier. If this was not a meme picture, I would assume that she should have noticed a difference between the two halves of her face early. Women obsess a lot over their looks, so I a bit skeptical that she just let this happen.

    3. Actually I haven’t researched sunscreen at all and there’s conflicting advice. To where some big names claim you don’t need it at all indoors.

      I know that’s incorrect since half of my face is older, and it’s the one facing the window in my home office. So zero is wrong, but 3 sounds overkill as a requirement.

      I might end up putting on more than once, now that you mentioned it, but I wouldnt obsess over it. Like the first one is a must, and if I end up putting 1-2 more times before sun goes down, that’s a bonus.

    4. @Aaron, this is pretty well established. In fact, it’s dermatology’s equivalent of “twin studies”. Where people have different skin on one half than the other, I do. I wouldn’t consider sun damage something to be skeptical or controversial about.

      The reason you don’t notice it is because the changes are 0.0001% a day. Since you see yourself in the mirror every day, you don’t notice the changes. By the time you notice it’s already a large difference.

      I myself only noticed it when I started getting into skincare and studying the lines and facial fat levels… Only to notice to my horror that my right side is like 5 years older. My home office has me facing a computer screen head on, with a window on my right side.

    5. @AlekNovy I am not skeptical of the damage of sunlight but of the explanatory power of that image. It is presented as showing skin damage due to excessive sunlight exposure but this person does not refer to the image source so it is not possible to double-check this. It could also be that the other side of her face got damaged due to, for instance, an acidic substance.

    6. I think the reason she doesn’t go out of her way to prove it is because it’s pretty common. Dermatologists discuss case studies with the same thing all the time. But also, everyone who is in skincare knows a friend who experienced this. So I think when she’s shooting the video she forgets that it’s not “common knowledge” for people who hear about it for the first time. So in that sense she needs to do better, and link to more case studies etc;

    7. You can also compare how feet and hands differ in terms of skin quality. In older person the difference is staggering.

    8. I am not sure this is a good comparison when you consider how we use our hands and feet. Even curling one’s toes would be unusual. In contrast, you use your hands and fingers basically all the time. To me, it seems like a comparison between a winter coat and a T-shirt. Of course the latter will not last as long as it is used much more extensively.

    1. This is quite shocking, if it is true. Too bad we do not get more information about these pictures. Also, the woman presenting this video got a pretty obvious nose job and likely plenty of botox shots. I would not consider her an unbiased source of information on skin care, seeing how heavily she seems to be promoting various products. I briefly looked into her, and noticed some speculation on whether she is Jewish, what kind of psychological disorder she has (apparently narcissism) and even some musings on whether she could be a tranny. One explanation of her quite unfeminine voice is that this is a consequence of lowered estrogen due to anorexia. All of this could be wrong. The point I am making, though, is that she seems to be a controversial figure.

    2. plenty of botox shots

      As if it was a bad thing. It’s a preventative medicine, essentially. It has some risk due to being an injectable, but lots of things do

    3. @cycle

      I too was surprised when I started researching botox. By the way it’s used in popular mainstream culture, you’d think it was something bad. Lots of negative stigma attached to it. Seems like societal policing of some sorts.

      Objectively botox makes perfect sense. Personally I wouldn’t use it because I’m insane in my injectables phobia. So I use things that are far less efficient. Logically though I understand it makes perfect sense to use it.

    4. Yeah, I thought that fillers are safer than botox because I’ve never heard anything bad about fillers before looking into it, but a lot of stigma related to botox. I was surprised to learn that fillers are more dangerous. I’m still considering getting some for my frown lines, and maybe even improving chin, but still looking for a good doctor. It’s risky and expensive

  4. Yes, for me it’s also quite shocking if it’s true.

    A little bit later I have found another channel and I have found information in it to be more plausible. The woman with an obvious nose job recommends to use sunscreen three times per day when being indoors.
    A woman in a below video(short one) recommends to apply sunscreen only once, in the morning, when being indoor. She also present some scientific studies to prove her point:
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eKvKVh6OUD0

    She also doesn’t talk about any specific products.
    Well, another thing that I learnt today is that there are different types of skin. And we should buy sunscreen based on the type of skin we have.
    I have no idea which type of skin do I have, though.
    There is so many different products on the market that is so damn hard to choose one.

  5. Are you sure she is promoting products and not making reviews of them? I didnt watch her much too, since I have found a better alternative.

    1. It seems she is making reviews in order to promote products. She is making a lot of money with this.

  6. @Cycle Path

    I tried to post this response on an old convo of ours,but for some reason didn’t go through. (I do want to say that its great you now have a comment delete option during the edit time though,Aaron!) so I’ll share it here. I think this video will resonate with you given your stated viewpoint on exercise:

    To give my own input:

    If your reason for exercise is purely about health,then I absolutely agree with him. As I’ve said,I am a believer that the health benefits of physical activity is best obtained in a form that you find fun and exhilarating. even better if its through a variety of them like the uploader is advocating here.

    If you’re training for a specific purpose/goal however,its a little bit different. If you want big biceps,you have to do your bicep curls even if you don’t find curls to be particularly fun or enjoyable.

    Squats/Deadlifts/Lower body work if you don’t want mismatching chicken legs. (Interestingly,I’ve run into a few people who you can tell definitely worked on their upper body and arms,but skipped leg day. I certainly feel more pride in my accomplishments now!)

    And if you want to learn how to fight,you EVENTUALLY have to do some hard-contact sparring and learn to get acclimate to it,even if you find it unpleasant. (keyword here is “eventually”. There are sadly many terrible Boxing/MMA/Combat Sport gyms that essentially throw you to the wolves by having you get roughed up by an experienced fighter,sometimes as early as your first day. Rambling about that is probably best saved for another time though.)

    Maybe one day I’ll give tumbling a go. Really wished I got into it as a kid.

    1. Your other comment was stuck in the moderation queue, but it is unclear why. For the others, you can find it here.

    2. My current style of lifting, which I’ve alluded to on this forum before, takes so little time that I don’t think I’d ever give it up. It’s also soothing on my joints as I lift so slowly where as most forms of working out are the opposite. However, I did find the video inspiring. I’ve got tons of friends learning MMA rn, and have been debating joining my local MMA gym. This nudged me into the join column. Now the only thing that’s stopping me is a foot that’s healing.

    3. I usually only deliberately lift slow (that’s not to say I rush the lift however. definitely bad to do that) on the lifts that I’m relatively new to and still taking the time to learn. The Romanian Deadlift for example.

      That being said,the (conventional) Deadlift I would say is an example of a lift that I lift rather slow on,despite having more or less “mastered” it. (Just yesterday,I lifted 303lbs for 2 reps,failing on the 3rd rep. No belt. I’ve definitely been feeling it on my back and calves,haha)

      Particularly on the descent part of the lift. People usually let it fall and slam unto the floor after lifting it up,but I don’t deliberately do that. (Although when the set gets heavy and hard enough,I can’t stop it from slamming anymore. just that I try not to do it as much as possible) I believe you get benefits from controlling its descent unto the floor alongside the benefit of preserving the equipment. I have a feeling controlling its descent also lowers chances of injury but some others have told me its the opposite,so I can’t vouch which part is true. All I can say is that its been working out for me.

    4. My understanding is that your body doesn’t know the difference between different amounts of weight and reps. It only understands fatigue. I lift 4 seconds concentric – 1 second pause (or squeeze depending on the lift) – 4 seconds eccentric – 1 second smooth turnaround. Repeat for 8-12 reps. When I’ve attempted to move the weight for 10 seconds and it doesn’t budge, that’s what I call failure. Then onto the next exercise.

    5. I don’t like this guy’s new age bullshit. He’d be better off just stating those things as his opinion and not try to prove it with such weak arguments. It’s also hilarious how he appeals to both Jesus and Yin-Yang in the same video, despite the fact the they are from mutually exclusive religions.

      If we filter that out, he basically says you should have fun. Well, I agree. My opinion didn’t change much since our last discussion, I think sport’s affect on attractiveness is very small, and health benefits are not clear, so one should only do sport for fun or for other tangible benefits. It’s way easier to forget about self care when you are not getting feedback from people.

    1. I only saw one comment of yours, which I manually approved. Please double check and let me know if there is still a comment that has not been published yet.

    2. I think there was one more,but its pretty much just another repost of my recent comment,so it can be ignored. I thought things were glitching out so I was trying to repost.

      At least I know now for sure it was just going to queue.

      Looking forward to seeing more improvements on your blog! At least you’re like the opposite of where many mainstream social media sites are going.

      Youtube used to be a great social media site for example. It was the first ever platform where I interacted on the internet and even made a long term friend in the process. Unfortunately,all it is good for today is watching videos. of course,maybe the people who pay for live streaming services tell a different story,but its certainly not a great social media site anymore for free users.

    3. I think that the big tech companies have been working very hard on not facilitating personal connections among its users. Reddit, for instance, deemphasizes user names so that you do not even associate comments with people, for instance. On the various gaming platforms, people used to make friends via voice chat, but that is gone, too. In fact, an AI may just decide to kick you off the platform, ban your account, and not refund your money just because your name is Brandon. YouTube seems to only be interested in a model in which there is only communication between users and channel owners, but not between users.

  7. this is hilarious:

    https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/andrew-huberman-podcast-stanford-joe-rogan.html?utm_campaign=nym&utm_medium=s1&utm_source=insta

    Anyone else but me think these middle aged Karen’s have a huuuuuge since of entitlement? I mean if the shoe was on a different foot and I cried that a tranny had tricked me and I might’ve gotten HPV from it, k they would be all “that’s what you deserve you filthy incel!” But since theses Karen’s are wealthy white women, it is “love fraud!” hahahahaha…

    1. Huberman sounds like a dick, and the women sound like idiots. Not sure about entitled, though?

    2. I am amused that a relatively high-brow magazine like New York Magazine — they broke the Watergate scandal — has fallen so far that they chose to publish dozens of pages on whom Andrew Huberman does or does not bang and why he is an a**hole for not banging some Karen. This is beyond ridiculous. On the other hand, it is a great illustration of the decline of US society.

    3. How would you guys rate Huberman on SMV scale? I’m surprised that someone of his calibre isn’t able to snag a younger woman without children from previous relationships.

    4. According to online sources, his height is 185 cm, which is good. Thus, we are dealing with a guy who should be worth at least a few million dollars, has a high status position as a Stanford professor and managed to become a minor celebrity. He is of course getting older and there is furthermore a chance that he has not been able to shake off the internalized geek mindset. It seems he only got popular in the last two to three years and before that, he toiled in relative obscurity. I would not be surprised if this guy was a social outcast at least until finishing his PhD, and only as an assistant professor, where you are placed in some kind of a leadership position as you supervise other students, his self-image may have started to change.

      All he needs is some bro to slap some sense into him. This guy should have no problem getting hot, young pussy. I am not talking about some tatted up sluts with fake tits but instead ambitious undergraduate or graduate students. He can probably get an Asian bombshell (with an IQ above 120) with relative ease and even among white women, he should be quite competitive. He is arguably an 8, perhaps even a 9, on the SMV scale as he is tall, rich, accomplished, and popular. However, his age is starting to be a problem. Prime-caliber women can get guys who have a similar amount of money but who are ten to fifteen years younger. Mainly due to his age I would put him at an 8. He will likely strike out against reasonably good-looking finance or tech bros in their late 20s or early 30s who pull down $300k/year.

    5. He even works out and isn’t skinnyfat like most techbros.

      Its either some kind of internalized geek mindset or maybe he thinks that dating or marrying younger would hurt his reputation. But what’s the point of making accomplishments if you’ll be stuck dating some reproductively geriatric woman with kids that are not your own?

    6. Personally, I am all for Huberman raising someone else’s children. Let him show the world what a real cuck looks like. In fact, he is a great example that you can be eminently successful yet be a total cuck with a loser mindset.

  8. I generally concur with Aaron’s analysis. On top of that the article mentions him being jacked.

    Physically he doesn’t seem to have any glaring issues. He’s got that whole “Jewbro”-look going, though:
    https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Andrew_D._Huberman,_Ph.D..jpg

    (Sorry, can’t get the link to work. The double .. seem to make it break.) [Admin edit: Same here. There is something fishy going on at Wikipedia.]

    Kinda like a less handsome, Andrew Sandler-like appearance. Not outright ugly, but pretty plain.

    He seems to have serious social issues, though. Even the men they interview in the article basically write him off as an unreliable jerk. If you read the actual messages he sent (they had proof of some of them) he sounds borderline autistic.

    1. In his main black-and-white picture he looks a lot better than on the others of him that are floating around onlne. Personality issues are a big red flag. You can be a bit of a jerk, in particular if you only care about pulling club sluts, but you are likely not going to get, let alone keep, a quality girl if you do not know how to act like a normal human being. Also, anything more than mild autism will seriously crater your chances with women if you do not have the physique of Zyyz, and even that will not get you very far.

    2. Thanks, Aaron.

      Yeah, looking at more pictures of him that Wikipedia image is definitely one of the worst. He’s definitely one of those guys who benefits greatly from growing a beard. Check out these images, for example:

      https://med.stanford.edu/services/api/cap/profiles/photocache.9622.jpg
      https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_social_share_1024x512_center,f_auto,q_auto:best/mpx/2704722219/2023_10/1697720526544_tdy_pop_8a_shriver_andrew_huberman_231019_1920x1080-bl9n1w.jpg
      https://cdn-wp.thesportsrush.com/2024/01/baf836a2-andyh.jpg?format=auto&w=3840&q=75

      First one’s from Stanford, the other two are from media outlets.

      It’s interesting how the beard makes him look almost Anglo-Saxon. You can see a slight hint of a Jewfro in the hair, but because it’s cut so short the curls don’t really jump out unless you look carefully.

    3. Huberman is a Jew. Yet, he seems to not be particularly forthcoming about this, unlike a lot of his co-ethnics. I wonder why this is. It could have something to do with him deliberately targeting people who are skeptical of mainstream medical advice as these people also tend to not be overly keen on getting booster shots, triple-masking, and having their neighborhoods culturally enriched. They may also be marginally more based than the general population.

  9. rumor has it this is one of his broads….

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anya_Fernald

    What gets interesting is that she seems too be a bit of a scammer as her company was involved in a scandal. (Belcampo Meats.)

    Gee,
    I hope that those AG1 Greens I bought a lifetime supply because of Huberman aren’t a scam. I should know better by now, those boner pills I bought from Alex Jones actually made me smaller (and there wasn’t much there to begin with.)

    1. I think that Huberman is a bit of a scammer himself. He is using his real-life credentials to give the impression that he is an expert on health overall and of supplements in particular. Also, if that is the caliber of women he gets then he is a great example of “anti-game”. He should be able to do a lot better.

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