The Box of Chocolates Thread (You never know what you're going to get!)
Welcome to the General Discussion thread. If you have a topic that doesn't warrant its own thread, post it here. Have a free form discussion going that no longer fits in the original thread? It may be moved here to give it a place to wander. Also, general chit chat is welcome!
Why do you suppose that Nirvana was such a huge hit in the 90s? There were dozens of "grunge" bands in the late 80s to early 90s. The song I linked below came out over a decade before "Nevermind." Nirvana's technical musicianship was below average for the time. So what was it about Nirvana specifically that made them so popular?
The answer to that question is honesty. It is one of many reasons that Seinfeld, Taxi Driver, and
This is a good song, Nirvana even covered it. But it sounds to me like a slightly lesser version of something from Wire's "Chairs Missing" album, which came out two years prior.
I don't think Nirvana got popular because of "honesty"; their biggest hit, the song that broke them, had such mumbly, obscure lyrics that Weird Al made a parody about how no one knew what Kurt was singing. They got very popular because their songs (especially SLTS) were catchy, and they happened to hit at the right time when enough people wanted to listen to something punkier / grungier. They were kinda derivative of the Pixies (as Kurt admitted), who I think were a better band overall, but they still put out some very good music.
It isn't current gdp because it's mostly about the past.
They did things that then and now allow people to live better than they would otherwise.
An antibiotic in many countries is 3 euros or equivalent, and it can save a child. That's not 3 euros of contribution to human welfare, rather a "tad more".
Some for electricity, you pay 100 or whatever a month, your benefit is a "tad" higher than that.
I'm not sure it actually makes people happier though.
Right now I'm in a small town of about 15,000 people about 3.5 hours from Medellin and I live about 20 minutes from town off of a dirt road. I'm on a small little house with concrete floors and brick walls on a coffee farm. My neighbor is a literal coffee farmer. He fertiilizes the plants, picks the fruit, separates the beans from the fruit, dries it, takes it into the place where all the coffee is sold for not a lot of money. I think I've only ever seen him wear two different shirts. He's probably happier than 90% of Americans.
I was in Brazil last summer and talking to a girl there who had lived in Angola , and she was like "everything that you think about Brazilians and about how nice and warm and friendly they are, that's Angolans x 5. And I dated a Kenyan girl myself so I have my own experiences with Africans, but all of my experiences both with her and her family and with my experiences in Latin America tell me that Latinos and Africans are just happier people than Westerners. So all of those contributions don't really mean that much if it's just going to make people miserable.
I'm not sure it actually makes people happier though.
Right now I'm in a small town of about 15,000 people about 3.5 hours from Medellin and I live about 20 minutes from town off of a dirt road. I'm on a small little house with concrete floors and brick walls on a coffee farm. My neighbor is a literal coffee farmer. He fertiilizes the plants, picks the fruit, separates the beans from the fruit, dries it, takes it into the place where all the
Do you think that the coffee farmer would be happier if his sister died when she was 4, or if she lived and had 5 children 2/3 of them had died before 5? Because that was life before antibiotics.
And do you think he fertilizes without modern fertilizers? And uses to modern pesticides? And does it take the produce to the place where he sells it without a combustion engine?
Who do you think invented and created processes to produce at scale, all those things?
Do you think that the coffee farmer would be happier if his sister died when she was 4, or if she lived and had 5 children 2/3 of them had died before 5? Because that was life before antibiotics.
And do you think he fertilizes without modern fertilizers? And uses to modern pesticides? And does it take the produce to the place where he sells it without a combustion engine?
Who do you think invented and created processes to produce at scale, al
No I don't think he would be happier if he sister died or if half of his nephews and nieces died at a young age.
I don't know what they use to fertilize here-- it could very well just be horse manure but the pesticides aren't organic although that is a thing.
It certainly isn't my claim that the white man's technology hasn't helped people in the developing world. It's more my claim that hasn't helped the white man himself.
In before we find out that Naughty Cheerleaders Volume 27 is a "book recently banned from public high schools." In which case I'm all for it; my only reservation is if I will still be able to follow along with the plot, not having read volumes 1-25?
curious...would you say anyone that leans right is horizontal????
I'm not sure it actually makes people happier though.
Right now I'm in a small town of about 15,000 people about 3.5 hours from Medellin and I live about 20 minutes from town off of a dirt road. I'm on a small little house with concrete floors and brick walls on a coffee farm. My neighbor is a literal coffee farmer. He fertiilizes the plants, picks the fruit, separates the beans from the fruit, dries it, takes it into the place where all the
first off, i am jealous of your living conditions. my goal is the amass enough wealth to live in what americans would describe as poverty. provided i have access to the internet and jiu jitsu, of course.
second, i agree with you. the happiest people i have encountered in my life are not american born citizens. i havent travelled much but have always lived around cities with massive immigrant populations and generally speaking those people seem happier/friendlier/kinder than americans.
there are certain immigrant groups that are nicer than others (latin and african) but i will leave out the ones i dont like as much. generally they come from places that view women as dogs.
No I don't think he would be happier if he sister died or if half of his nephews and nieces died at a young age.
I don't know what they use to fertilize here-- it could very well just be horse manure but the pesticides aren't organic although that is a thing.
It certainly isn't my claim that the white man's technology hasn't helped people in the developing world. It's more my claim that hasn't helped the white man himself.
there was certainly a point in history where the "people who pushed society along" hit a sweet spot in terms of science, philosophy and agriculture where a person was the happiest. we are far past that point, imo, and its probably going to just get worse.
do you think Europeans were better off when they were killing each other in large numbers because they disagreed on how to read the bible?
I can only really speak for Americans. While I do know lots of Europeans-- they're Europeans I've met in Latin America (mostly French and German with smatterings of elsewhere in western Europe) so my sample size is largely skewed towards people spending 6 months or more of their lives travelling around South America.
I do have the general impression that work/life balance is a lot better in Europe than it is the US and that a lot of American's unhappiness comes from a lack of that.
I can only really speak for Americans. While I do know lots of Europeans-- they're Europeans I've met in Latin America (mostly French and German with smatterings of elsewhere in western Europe) so my sample size is largely skewed towards people spending 6 months or more of their lives travelling around South America.
I do have the general impression that work/life balance is a lot better in Europe than it is the US and that a lot of American
I think it's about family values, which are being lost fast in america.
Which is why older people regularly.report to be far happier than younger people in the USA, and latinos, after controlling bybage, report higher happiness than all other ethnicities in the USA (whites overall are a tad higher, but only because they are far older).
moreover total hours worked per employee are higher in Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Costa Rica than the USA so your hunch can't be correct
there was certainly a point in history where the "people who pushed society along" hit a sweet spot in terms of science, philosophy and agriculture where a person was the happiest. we are far past that point, imo, and its probably going to just get worse.
like when? because until approx 1900 a ton of children died young, your teeth were horrible, and most people didn't eat meat more than very occasionally because it was too expensive
first off, i am jealous of your living conditions. my goal is the amass enough wealth to live in what americans would describe as poverty. provided i have access to the internet and jiu jitsu, of course.
second, i agree with you. the happiest people i have encountered in my life are not american born citizens. i havent travelled much but have always lived around cities with massive immigrant populations and generally speaking those people se
Where I am is absolute paradise. It's in the mountains at around 6,000 ft and the weather is basically perfect year round. I spent 6 months here last year and I pay about $120/month for an apartment. There are rivers that you can swim in in pretty much every direction including one right at the bottom of the hill from my apartment. I'm actually leaving tomorrow to spend the night in Medellin and then I have a flight Monday to a place called Villavincencio which I've never been to before that's on the eastern edge of the Andes where it starts to become what they called "los llanos"- or the "the plains" and then onto another small town hopefully similar to where I am now but at much lower elevation. Sad to be leaving Antioquia because I know how great it is here but it's time for new places.
But yes definitely do it. No point in slaving your life away in the US so that you can pay $14 for a chicken salad sandwich and be around a bunch of miserable people doing the same.
like when? because until approx 1900 a ton of children died young, your teeth were horrible, and most people didn't eat meat more than very occasionally because it was too expensive
1990 actually. All your antibiotics and just enough technology to stave off the boredom but before cell phones were a thing .
like when? because until approx 1900 a ton of children died young, your teeth were horrible, and most people didn't eat meat more than very occasionally because it was too expensive
if i had to guess it was within a few decades of the smartphone being introduced.
damn, luckbox beat me to it by a minute.
Where I am is absolute paradise. It's in the mountains at around 6,000 ft and the weather is basically perfect year round. I spent 6 months here last year and I pay about $120/month for an apartment. There are rivers that you can swim in in pretty much every direction including one right at the bottom of the hill from my apartment. I'm actually leaving tomorrow to spend the night in Medellin and then I have a flight Monday to a place called
i take it there is no jiu jitsu in your mountain paradise?
how likely am i to meet a younger woman and start a family in this paradise? what about visa issues? my spanish is improving on the daily fwiw.
i take it there is no jiu jitsu in your mountain paradise?
how likely am i to meet a younger woman and start a family in this paradise? what about visa issues? my spanish is improving on the daily fwiw.
Well jiu jitsu is Brazilian but the good news is that when you learn Spanish you get Portuguese at half-off.
Visas in Colombia are tough. I'm going to try to figure it out but you either have to be involved with a business that's actually making money (i.e. you can't just start a phoney company like people used to do)-- or make a substantial investment which is something like 80 or 100k USD. Otherwise you're limited to 6 months in a calendar year. A place like Guatemala would be a lot easier because you can live there indefinitely provided you get your passport stamped every 3 months.
Where I am is pretty much an old-man-drinking-coffee-in-the-park sort of place. It gets plenty of tourists-- both foreigners and Colombian tourists primarily from Medellin looking to get away for the weekend, but it doesn't really have a ton of culture or young people. What it does have is incredible nature and hiking which is why I like it, but there are some other nice small towns (Guatapé comes to mind) that has younger people and some gyms. Of course in a place like Medellin you'll definitely find jui jitsu but then you're in a big city.
And yeah knowing Spanish is important. If you're just travelling on vacation for a couple of weeks or whatever then you can get by without it here just fine (I assume because people do it)-- but knowing it has opened up a lot of doors that wouldn't have opened for me otherwise.
Some may prefer budweiser - that is subjective and about the drinker's failings as a human being.
That most crafts beers, real ale etc are a better product is objective fact
even writing is tricky. i tried reading blood meridian once and just couldn't do it. i even made it through war and peace once but cormac i cant do.
dostoevsky, otoh, may be the pinnacle. followed closely by maia kobabe.
I mentioned this awhile back:
I've tried to read Blood Meridian several times and can't get through it. I do not get the lack of punctuation at all. Next time I might try audible or something.
I would really like to read his books.
I'm not sure it actually makes people happier though.
Right now I'm in a small town of about 15,000 people about 3.5 hours from Medellin and I live about 20 minutes from town off of a dirt road. I'm on a small little house with concrete floors and brick walls on a coffee farm. My neighbor is a literal coffee farmer. He fertiilizes the plants, picks the fruit, separates the beans from the fruit, dries it, takes it into the place where all the
Sure, but you're still on the internet. I'll believe it's better when you voluntarily take on that lifestyle.
I think it's about family values, which are being lost fast in america.
Which is why older people regularly.report to be far happier than younger people in the USA, and latinos, after controlling bybage, report higher happiness than all other ethnicities in the USA (whites overall are a tad higher, but only because they are far older).
I think the reason for that is not a generational decline in happiness but more likely an increase in happiness that comes with age. I know that I'm happier than I was when I was younger, even though my health, income and social status has declined. And most people gain income and social status as they age.
For men, I think a large reason for the increase in happiness may be lower levels of testosterone (the same reason violent behavior decreases with age). It's tough to be calm and content when you have anger poison running through your veins.
