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Post by Ozymandias on Apr 25, 2022 21:42:39 GMT
Just finished reading a book recommended by Boban, which can be summarized by the following paragraph: In other words, if you aren't fully onboard with the TINA program, you have it made, as in you just bought yourself a pair of cement shoes.
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Post by matejst on Apr 26, 2022 8:30:39 GMT
Ozy,
On my side -- I am trying to "rework the tools". I read without any plan for years (linguistics excepted), and after failing to understand several things, I decided to spend the next month with "dummies" books -- logic and critical thinking are the first two I read now (I was in fact inspired by a chat we had here), and I bookmarked statistics and economics as the following two. I am also rereading a schoolbook about geopolitics. Hopefully, I go to work only once in two weeks for two days, I stay mostly here at home.
And I have a paper about phonetic evolution of latin/french and slavic to finish...
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Post by matejst on Apr 26, 2022 8:49:32 GMT
To respond to your message -- some interesting details: many factories were sold off and closed immediately after the war, despite the fact that they were making money. I remember the case of a confectionery factory. The workers (women), who knew they were all going to be fired, tried to prevent the privatization and closure of the factory by chaining themselves to the entrance gate, to no avail.
Nothing socialist was allowed to remain. A minister at the time (Predrag Bubalo) said on television that it was better not to have a job than to keep social/state property. What a son of a bitch.
When one understand the violence used by capitalists against the working classes, he can also understand the violence of the working classes in a revolution. Seeing all of this, I changed my mind about October.
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Post by Ozymandias on Apr 26, 2022 9:20:32 GMT
It's not just one group that suffers, and it's not just capitalists who do it. It's common among people in power to abuse anybody they can, what would they seek power if not for that? Exceptions are just that, idealists with charisma and willpower enough to promote their cause, but as the powerful grew in knowledge, ostracizing and ridiculing those dissonant voices has become increasingly easy. Nowadays capitalists are the perfect example of what powerful people "should" be. And yes, the mainly take it out on the majority, but if someone in their midst pretends to go against the flow, watch out. It'll be interesting to see how Elon Musk fares, for example.
In the past, power could be inherited, which made merciful tyrants possible. Since the French revolution (what a misnomer) most of those who have power seek it out. The one who inherits it must prove "worthy" or be relegated between their ranks. Like sharks, the rest will notice weakness among their ilk and carve them to pieces. Exceptions to the rule become more and more rare. Ruthlessness becomes the norm. It doesn't help that an alternative can't be clearly seen.
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Post by matejst on Apr 26, 2022 10:45:48 GMT
Ozy, of course, it was always a question of power. Those who don't understand that don't understand the world, don't understand history.
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Post by Ozymandias on Apr 26, 2022 12:52:21 GMT
I also think it's a binary proposition, you either accept that power rules or you think that flower power is real. What I don't get is the position of people who claim everything is ruled by oligarchies, but then deny their existence in western societies, which are self-ruled (you know who I'm talking about).
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Post by matejst on Apr 26, 2022 13:24:55 GMT
I also think it's a binary proposition, you either accept that power rules or you think that flower power is real. What I don't get is the position of people who claim everything is ruled by oligarchies, but then deny their existence in western societies, which are self-ruled (you know who I'm talking about). Of course I know.
It is just a matter of logical thinking -- and I also am guilty of not using logic all the time, just like most of us are. But at least I try, and the more I do it, I find it easier to do. The first thing to do is, of course, to find the data, and to make conclusions based on the available data. We can't know all, of course, but we can know a lot from what is available. But, as you wrote here, people just don't want to know.
BTW, there is an excellent series of article about COVID. It starts here, and you'll see that there is a link to the biolabs found in Ukraine. (A friend told me that there were four such laboratories in Serbia.) It is worth reading and having a thought or two about it.
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Post by Ozymandias on Apr 26, 2022 14:25:53 GMT
If we start with data collection, I'm afraid we might end with clear thinking. Hard pass One of the things I also try to do, is look at the face of people when they talk, they let on more than they think. Not very useful with Putin, as already noted in the other forum, but take Biden, not a single honest expression on his face. Take Borrell, Poroshenko, Nuland, Psaki... I will take Lavrov word over any of them, any day of the week.
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Post by matejst on Apr 26, 2022 15:35:50 GMT
Two topics.
First -- I trained in body language twenty years ago. As an important but hidden part of linguistics, it interested me. And then, it is tremendously useful in everyday life (unfortunately, today I lost most of my awareness, and I have -- just like most men -- to make an intentional effort to notice some important things). I often watched films without sound to check what I noticed. Rewind and slo-mo were god sent tools for this. Aside some fundamental things, one learn to trust his own feel, sixth sense, ability to read people. Most politicians are bad actors (most actors are bad, btw). Some can't even hide their evil (Macron is an obvious example).
Then. I was reading "Economics for dummy" and had the bad idea to have a look at Christopher Leonard books about the monetary politics of the Federal Reserves, and what are the implications of "quantitative easing". It's exasperating, Ozy. I switched back to the foundations (for dummies...) -- to be able to fully understand more complex things. (There is always another solution: I could ask TSI -- he'll gladly find a link to wikipedia for me where everything is nicely explained).
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Post by Ozymandias on Apr 26, 2022 15:41:11 GMT
So you already beat SF 15? Can't devote some of that time and energy to study chess? Seriously, you undertake too many concurrent endeavors, ease up.
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Post by matejst on Apr 26, 2022 15:41:50 GMT
If we start with data collection, I'm afraid we might end with clear thinking. Hard pass
Some of us make conclusions with more or less limited data -- that's what we try to do, you and I. But, what can you say about TSI, Ed or Thorsten? They simply ignore facts, they are not interested by facts at all.
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Post by Ozymandias on Apr 26, 2022 15:45:11 GMT
BTW, there is an excellent series of article about COVID. It starts here, and you'll see that there is a link to the biolabs found in Ukraine. (A friend told me that there were four such laboratories in Serbia.) It is worth reading and having a thought or two about it. Science aside, which would be much more arduous to tackle, I find the premise strange, to say the least. So it's a Jew thing, designed to get people injected with products from two particular companies, and the ones that actually bypass them are China and Russia? Not Israel?
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Post by matejst on Apr 26, 2022 15:47:18 GMT
So you already beat SF 15? Can't devote some of that time and energy to study chess? Chess is after 7h. The plan for today is tactical exercises, than study of endings, then learning openings. I will also play a game against Maia 1500.
Seriously, you undertake too many concurrent endeavors, ease up. That's what I do for years -- read, write, don't publish. But yes, I should put more order in my activities. I have a timetable, but I usually forget about it.
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Post by Ozymandias on Apr 26, 2022 15:53:58 GMT
That's some serious plan. I just play, play, play. I have the intention to take a look at the tree, to at least identify the things I'm doing wrong in the opening. It wouldn't be very time consuming, but when I switch to chess... I just play.
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Post by matejst on Apr 26, 2022 16:46:21 GMT
I finalized my opening choices. Now, I am learning these openings with Chess Position Trainer (I still have the old, free version; tried the new one, but it brings nothing really useful) and playing training games against Maia in these openings. Still white. So far, I easily beat Maia 1400, and Maia 1500 is not too difficult, but it forces me to stay focused. Maia 1900 is relatively tactically weak (in complicated position, if you have time enough, you can always find something, but you have to work), but it is positionally well over its rating, and I can't beat it in quiet positions. So, the plan is to go step-by-step, beat Maia 1500 100% of the time, stop blundering (almost there!), improve the depth and width of calculations -- be methodical! -- and then switch to Maia 1600, 1700, etc.
I don't know the level of the young guys -- I see that chess has changed a lot -- but I hope than in three, four months, I would be able to beat Maia 1900 all the time, and when I compare it to the level of the nineties, it would be about 2100 Elos, perhaps more. The key is to improve my technique in simple positions, to stop getting asleep when I have a clear advantage.
The tempo of my games is 40mn + 30s, but it is too fast, and I will probably switch to longer time controls. (Playing blitz is useless when you want to improve.) The worst part is always the analysis of my games, when I discover how many blunders I made, and how many good moved I missed.
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