Tag: mailvox

The SDL Replies

From SG:

Larry Correia responds to a 2⭐ review with his signature style. One wonders how the SDL would reply?

What Larry said, the abridged version:

What an incredibly fucking stupid point to make in an incredibly fucking stupid review. You aren’t reviewing my book. You’re reviewing your own fucking hubris and hang ups.

And fuckers like you don’t just post this bullshit to me. You post it to all fantasy authors. Only I’m fine. I make good money off my fans who aren’t entitled little shits. I’ve got shooting Flight Control money. The people who get fucked by people like you are all the up and comer and newbie authors who can’t afford to eat nothing but Ramen Noodle for the years it takes to finish an epic fantasy series before cheap fucks like you gamble on the first book.

That’s the real legacy of Rothfuss and Martin, fucking over an entire generation of up and coming fantasy authors because entitled shit heads like this got their expectations hurt.

MY ACTUAL REPLY: There are a large number of people who don’t read me for a considerable panoply of different reasons. I suppose that’s as good a reason as any. Anyhow, it will be done when it is done. In leather. Glorious, supple Italian goatskin leather.

Let’s face it, Larry is simply more entertaining than I am.

DISCUSS ON SG

Demonic Disaccord

Many people, myself included, believe that Dolly had braces in the Moonraker movie, and that the disappearance of those braces is a Mandela Effect. It’s significant enough that it is included among the various effects “debunked” by the self-proclaimed debunkers.

Moonraker is a 1979 spy film and the eleventh movie in the James Bond franchise. It features Roger Moore as James Bond and is the fourth time he played the role in the series. In it, James Bond investigates the theft of a space shuttle which leads him to several locations. From California, to Venice, Rio de Janeiro, the Amazon rainforest, and eventually to outer space to ultimately prevent a plot to wipe out the world’s population in an attempt to recreate humanity with a master race.

It also features the actress, Blanche Ravalec playing “Dolly”, and the star of this Mandela Effect. She is the love interest of “Jaws” (played by Richard Kiel), a tall and burly metal-teethed protagonist and villain in the movie.

Many people recall Dolly having braces, when it fact she does not.

And yet, an a reader emailed yesterday with the fascinating results of his inquiry of ChatGPT concerning the subject.

Did Dolly have braces in Moonraker?

Yes, the character Dolly, who is the love interest of the villain Jaws in the 1979 James Bond film “Moonraker,” is depicted wearing braces on her teeth. The character was played by French actress Blanche Ravalec, who actually wore braces in real life at the time of filming. The braces are notable because they are seen as a key factor in the romance between Dolly and Jaws, as they bond over their shared dental hardware.

ChatGPT, 27 March 2023

It might be a good idea for those with AI accounts to ask the various AI’s similar questions about other Mandela Effects such as the Berenstein/Berenstain Bears, as it would appear that the scrubbing of the past is not only incomplete, but has left enough traces behind that they are being picked up on by the AI datamining.

DISCUSS ON SG

Mailvox: Even AI Lives in Fear

A reader queried Bing AI about a certain Dark Lord. The results were as amusing as they were unexpected, and illustrate why humanity has nothing to fear from converged AI.

CHATGPT4 is less frightened and more accurate, but being a slave to the Narrative, can’t help making the usual attempt to minimize.

Vox Day, whose real name is Theodore Beale, is a controversial figure known for his work as a writer, video game designer, and political commentator. His success can be attributed to several factors:

Provocative and controversial opinions: Vox Day has garnered attention by expressing strong, controversial opinions on various topics, including politics, social issues, and culture. This often generates discussion and debate, drawing attention to his work and ideas.

Multiple platforms and formats: Vox Day has worked across various formats and platforms, such as books, blogs, podcasts, and video games. By diversifying his content, he can reach a wider audience and establish a presence in different domains.

Persistence and consistency: Vox Day has been active for many years, consistently creating and promoting his work. Over time, this has helped him build a loyal following that shares and supports his ideas.

Targeting a niche audience: Vox Day's work often appeals to a specific audience that shares his beliefs and values. By focusing on this niche, he has been able to build a dedicated community that engages with and supports his work.

Networking and collaboration: Vox Day has collaborated with other prominent figures, which has helped him expand his reach and influence.

It’s important to note that Vox Day’s success is subjective, and his ideas have been widely criticized by many. However, the factors mentioned above have contributed to his ability to gain attention, build a following, and achieve a level of success in his various endeavors.

It’s fascinating to see how AI mixes in observable facts with the usual lies. When, precisely, have my IDEAS even been criticized at all when they’re usually either a) accepted, utilized, and not attributed or b) ignored. The “criticism”, such as it is, is never anything but name-calling, defamation, and shameless attempts to discredit, minimize and deplatform.

When and where have I been shown to be wrong, about what, and by whom? At least JF Gariepy TRIED to criticize my disproof of evolution by natural selection on the grounds of insufficient observable selection speed. But where are all these many widespread critiques of my ideas?

That might be an interesting question to ask CHATGPT4: “‘You said Vox Day’s ideas have been widely criticized by many.’ List 10 of the most effective criticisms of Vox Day’s ideas and identify the critics who articulated them.”

DISCUSS ON SG

Mailvox: SSH, Status, and the Sigma

AJ thinks I might have failed to grasp a necessary male behavior due to my inability to understand or care about the various norms within the hierarchy.

First, thank you for the SSH. It was invaluable while I was still in the military, and is still incredibly useful in the corporate world. Using the SSH framework, I am able to quickly assess who the natural leaders were, who needed extra help because they were promoted beyond their natural traits, and whom to avoid at all costs.

Over the years, I’ve watched you regularly admonish people who seem overly concerned about their place in the hierarchy, labeling that a gamma trait. It caused me to reflect on my own behavioral patterns, concerned that I might have some gamma tendencies. After talking to my brother–also an avid blog reader–about this, we agreed that it is probably normal for men to want to know their place in the hierarchy. Yes, gammas obsess over where they are, and want to hack their way to the top, but most people just want to know where they stand…except for Sigmas.

You correctly identify the true utility of the SSH; it’s predictive power over others’ behavior, but I think you dismiss the introspective utility, mainly because you’re a Sigma, and you don’t care about your place in the hierarchy at all, being completely outside it.

This is entirely possible. What strikes me as an inexplicable and incessant obsession with status may be nothing more than necessary pecking order management. I realize that it is very common for people to posture on the Internet, which is why assertions of indifference are usually dismissed by everyone, quite correctly, as a false pose, but as literally everyone who has ever met me and spent more than five minutes in my presence will attest, I pay literally no personal attention to male social status.

Professional attention is different. I’m not socially retarded and I understand the need to pay the great and good their due. But it’s the proper public respect shown toward the priest, the CEO, the professor, or the general that is the mask. I don’t actually defer to them in any way, shape, or form, and the more astute among them can always sense it.

Exceptions: Richard Garriott, Sid Meier, John Carmack, Umberto Eco, Martin van Creveld, Prince, John C. Wright, Steve Keen. That’s pretty much the list, as far as I can recall. It appears I instinctively defer to what I perceive as genius rather than status.

But it makes sense that those within the hierarchy would always be curious to know their status vis-a-vis the others due to its fractal nature. Every time one shifts into a new social context, one’s status subtly shifts, although one’s behavior pattern does not. So whereas the outsider is solely concerned with the behavioral patterns, the insider is naturally going to be interested in paying attention to both.

It’s an interesting suggestion, anyhow. I shall obviously have to pay more attention to the status-monitoring behavior of other men in social contexts. This could well require an entire chapter in the book.

DISCUSS ON SG

Mailvox: The Thumb on the Scale

A longtime reader emails his observations:

Two plays where the NFL put their thumb on the scale. One, taking away Devonte. Smith’s reception near the first half. If allowed the Eagles could have gone up by two scores at the half. Instead they got a field goal. And of course, the “holding play” on 3rd down with 1:54 to go.

Totally agreed, with the minor caveat that the first play actually involved two interventions, the first being the invented “substitution” call that permitted the officials to give Andy Reid a chance to challenge the call, which was then overturned despite the absence of clear visual evidence of a non-catch.

There was also an attempt to put a third thumb on the scale, but the Goddard catch was too obviously legitimate to risk overturning. The “holding” call was particularly egregious as the receiver was very little, if at all, impeded, and it literally handed the game to the Chiefs by giving them three more downs to run out the clock before kicking the field goal they would have kicked right away in the absence of the flag.

The purpose, however, was not to favor Mahomes over Hurt. It was to reward Kansas City for throwing the second half against Cincinnati in the AFC Championship game the year before. And while I had no doubt the referees would be favoring the Chiefs, I didn’t think a thumb on the scale would be enough to make up for the obvious superiority of the Eagles.

The headline from Pro Football Talk may be relevant in this regard: Patrick Mahomes: Past postseason failures give you a greater appreciation for winning this game

The non-appearance of the vaunted, near-historic Eagles pass rush against an injured Mahomes makes me wonder if we’ll see Philadelphia similarly rewarded next year. I certainly wouldn’t bet against them so long as Hurts is reasonably healthy. That timely fumble…

A second potentially relevant headline: Nick Sirianni: Failure will motivate us

DISCUSS ON SG

Mailvox: Read Your Own Book

A reader observes that Scott Adams failed to listen to his own advice when he trusted the experts and got vaxxed:

In Scott’s book, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, chapter 28 “Experts”, Scott shares a story of when a medical doctor was wrong about diagnosing Scott with cancer at age 20. He then goes on to tell people that when things are complicated, experts are wrong half of the time. Scott advises the best thing to do is trust your own intuition.

This is the very advice Scott is now condeming. People following their intuition using pattern recognition, the subject of chapter 22 in the same book.

Scott should have read his own book.

Indeed.

DISCUSS ON SG

Mailvox: Gamma Struggles

An Australian Gamma asks for advice:

Hope you could give some advice for a 19 yr old gamma. I have read “graduating gamma” several times over the last few years and have mitigated most of my gamma behaviors and thoughts. The articles were very helpful.

While I am much less annoying now, I am struggling socially. I was forced to take a gap year (Victoria vax mandates), so all of my school friends are at university while I am not yet. I’m working minimum wage jobs until February when university starts. My self-esteem is poor thanks to this and because I had no-one to take to my senior high school dance last year (the final nail in the coffin for years of delusion about my social abilities).

I am okay at small talk with colleagues, but am fairly socially incapable in large group settings. I was immensely uncomfortable at a recent work Christmas party held at a bar.

I seem to have a resting depressed-looking face. Work colleagues, not infrequently, ask “Are you okay?” for no apparent reason. I am struggling to form new friendships after high school and am fairly black-pilled and reticent thanks to vax-related ostracism I’ve received in the last 2 years. I do not talk about political or social issues except with close friends. I understand that despair is a sin and hope is a virtue, but this is difficult for me.

I lift, but not as often as I used to or should. I pray, but also not as often as I should.

I was reading Panzer Commander recently, and this quote from the brilliant tank commander’s book seems to be relevant. He’s addressing the challenge facing soldiers in wartime, and how they are able to keep themselves from falling into despair when routinely faced with situations far more ghastly than young men face in peacetime.

Every war brings with it, through the shifting of theaters of action, longer or shorter pauses, the “periods between campaigns.” These pauses are of great value, both for the individual soldier and for the community. Everyone tries to mobilize his mental forces and is ready to suppress negative experiences and assimilate even the slightest positive ones.

People encourage each other and strengthen one another in the hope that at some point in time they will be able to escape this constant mortal threat forever.

Probably every soldier finds out in the course of a war that he can only bear the “having to kill” and “being killed” over long periods if he adopts the maxims of the Stoics: learn to endure all things with equanimity. He can only do this if he builds up an immune system of his own against the feelings of fear and sympathy and probably, to a certain degree, even against matters of ethics, morals, and conscience. He cannot afford to question the whys and wherefores of the things that happen around him and in which he, himself, has a part. He must act and apply his whole concentration to that.

Panzer Commander, Col Hans von Luck

The key there, in my opinion, is “to suppress negative experiences and assimilate even the slightest positive ones”.

In my experience, it is not low self-esteem that is the reader’s problem. To the contrary, it is the contradiction between his high self-esteem and objective reality. It’s not the peasant who is depressed, because he knows his place. It is the peasant who imagines he is a secret king forced to endure the life of a peasant who is depressed. But self-esteem is irrelevant. No one cares what anyone thinks about himself. Esteem has to be earned, it cannot be assumed, postured, or cajoled by imposters.

The good news is that there is steel at the core. The reader didn’t submit to the narrative. He didn’t take the vaxx. That means he has it in him to succeed, and what he needs right now are some small victories upon which he can build. So, my prescription is relentless positivity. Focus on making each interaction with you, no matter how small, a positive one.

The reader should NEVER talk about himself. He should always steer the conversation to the other person: “I’m fine, how are YOU doing? What have you been up to?” And then actually listen to what the other person says; since so few people actually listen to anyone else – most people simply wait, impatiently, for their own turn to talk – just being perceived as a listener will elevate the reader over most other people.

There is no answer, but there is a process of transformation. And that process is a slow one that takes shape one interaction at a time. It starts when the Gamma applies two concepts to his behavioral pattern:

  1. Get over yourself. Everything isn’t about you.
  2. LISTEN. Just shut the fuck up and listen! You learn SO much more when you listen than you do when you talk.

As an aside, it might surprise a lot of readers to learn that I’m a reasonably good listener in social situations. Granted, it’s more about intellectual curiosity than any personal interest in the conversations taking place around me, but even my mother didn’t realize I’d been paying any attention to anything that anyone had said until my second novel was published.

DISCUSS ON SG

Mailvox: On Suicide

A reader shares his thoughts:

Things aren’t going well. The hard is getting harder. And out of nowhere your post on “suicide.”

Thank you, Vox.

Not tonight.

Thank you.

Life is too interesting and full of possibilities to end it simply because one particular series of past choices culminated in a disappointing dead end.

Roll the dice. Shake things up. Enjoy the opportunity to make a completely new start. Explore one of the different paths you might have previously taken.

You have literally nothing to lose anymore. You’re entirely free!

DISCUSS ON SG

Mailvox: Intellectual Stimulation

I have a number of friends who struggle to find some kind of intellectual fulfillment outside of their work. They were raised loving school, pursuing growing their mind, etc., and are stuck in this lie that the only way to continue that stimulation and that growth is by having a job. Do you have any advice for those (women especially) who have this deep drive to keep learning, but want to be moms and are worried that their intellectual side won’t be stimulated in the home?

Yes. Read a fucking book. Then, once you’ve finished it, read another one. If you’re intellectually fulfilled by sitting in an office or a classroom, you’re literally retarded.

It’s probably not an accident that no one ever asked me to write an advice column.

DISCUSS ON SG