illegal_in_ca

The signal to noise ratio around my kitchen table is a lot higher than on reddit (or even HN), and there are a lot fewer trolls.

We used to say "Never trust anyone you can't punch in the face."

I personally have no doubt that the above response was not written by bot. At this current moment in history -- mind this was written on 2017-07-25 (ISO, EDT, YMMV, HHGTTG, etc.) -- bot technology had not yet progressed to the stage that all HN comments were being persused by bots that knew that dead prez was written in lowercase, not uppercase.

I'd like to thank my bot for calling this to my attention so that I could answer personally. He only deploys on special occasions -- I doubt that any more than 0.4% of HN comments have been made by him.

<random quote> For we are the future, and we are the past. We are not the present -- this is not a gift. </random quote>

I would, however, cut the the paragraph as follows. Everything after is just an adversisement for the authors blog.

When evening comes, I return home and enter my study; on the threshold I take off my workday clothes, covered with mud and dirt, and put on the garments of court and palace. Fitted out appropriately, I step inside the venerable courts of the ancients, where, solicitously received by them, I nourish myself on that food that alone is mine and for which I was born; where I am unashamed to converse with them and to question them about the motives for their actions, and they, out of their human kindness, answer me. And for four hours at a time I feel no boredom, I forget all my troubles, I do not dread poverty, and I am not terrified by death. I absorb myself into them completely. And because Dante says that no one understands anything unless he retains what he has understood, I have jotted down what I have profited from in their conversation and composed a short study..."

* Dictated, not read.

The death of thinking is threatening the soul.

• Bill Gates reads 50 books a year. • Mark Zuckerberg reads at least one book every two weeks. • Elon Musk grew up reading two books a day. • Mark Cuban reads for more than three hours every day. • Arthur Blank, a co-founder of Home Depot, reads two hours a day.

Yup. He didn't get those factoids from reading books. Mayhaps he received these gems of wisdom from:

When I read an online article from the Atlantic or the New Yorker, after a few paragraphs I glance over at the slide bar to judge the article’s length. My mind strays, and I find myself clicking on the sidebars and the underlined links. Soon I’m over at CNN.com reading Donald Trump’s latest tweets and details of the latest terrorist attack, or perhaps checking tomorrow’s weather.

I have 20,000 books to the author's 5,000. I'm not kidding. SQL database provided on demand. # books don't matter so much, it's what you do with them.

Reading is a proxy for thinking. Reading is only useful for those eureka moments (now called "a-ha moments" -- I guess it's shorter?) and for information gain. A walk in the woods, a pithy tweet, an encouter (a dialog -- a communiation -- a discussion -- an interaction -- an intercourse) with another human (fucking) being can also provide that eureka moment.

Stop reading, start learning. The best education is observation and participation. I'm all for books, but if they ain't teaching us about how to solve our own problems, then fuck them books. Get the knowledge, get the power. But be conscious, be aware, pay attention, did you miss it? You missed it. That's okay, I did when I wrote it, but if you hash the previous paragraph (algorithm you'll have to figure out), you'll get 2 bitcoins. I hear they might still be worth something. I read that in a book.

Edit: I have NewEgg Premier though, so I get free shipping on certain items and free RMAs. Cheaper than Amazon Prime. I'm always amazed NewEgg doesn't get more love around here.

Amazon prices might beat local retail, but they are only sometimes competitive with other (often more specizlized) online retailers at this point.

Also, at least for me, shipping New Egg, Walmart and BBAB was faster than Amazon. I don't have Prime however.

Politicians taking bribes? Not newsworthy, been happening forever.