I worked for a middle-sized local company that got bought by a large local company and it sucked out whatever little soul was left in it. I still cared about doing my job exceptionally well but I did not care about the company at all. All the corporate crap they brought with them was incredibly repulsive to me and it felt like going from a member of a team to a cog in the machine.

Now I'm self-employed and I refuse all business advice I get that doesn't sit with my morals or intuition. I'm not interested in playing the game or competing with other people or companies - I'm doing my own thing. People tell me I should do X and Y, and I tell them that they're free to start their own business and run it exactly the way they want to and that is also what I'm doing with mine. Maybe I'm leaving money on the table but at least I don't hate getting up in the morning and I'm receiving a constant flow of genuine gratitude and sense of meaning in exchange.

To be fair, a year is pretty pathetic performance even for work books unless you step on landmines for living.

I'm not a fan of Apple but to suggest their products aren't of exceptionally high quality is a bit ridiculous. They're not exactly known for cheaping out on stuff. I have an 11 year old MacBook still in daily use because it refuses to die. I plugged in my iPad too the other day and it fired right up. This one is from 2012.

Maybe not every company.

Peterson mostly agrees with Harris? The guys who spend an hour trying to define the word "truth" and failing to do so? I could not disagree more.

VLC has hotkey for this. It's pretty easy to tweak with just trial an error and no need to go to settings to guestimate the values.

The massive horse dildo may be a bit of an head scratcher, though knowing me - maybe not that surprising thing to find.

He is clearly uninterested in convincing his opponent.

Having watched his debates with Sam Harris, I'll at least give him credit for being able to steelman the views he's arguing against.

Whether one is able to get others to change their deeply held beliefs is another thing but simply being able to demonstrate that you've actually understood the point you're arguing against is a rare skill in of itself.

I've definitely had people reconsider their stance by bringing in more data or an alternative perspective but I'm not sure if anyone has ever admitted to having their view change about something. Then again, I don't always announce it either despite the fact that it does happen so I guess it's safe to assume I've then made it happen too.

In all honesty though, most online arguments are people talking past each other and disagreeing on minute details. Often the conclusion is "we're broadly in agreement but we disagree about this one thing."

That's why it's so ridiculous that people treat disagreement as if the person must then hold the exact opposite view. That is almost never the case.

The issue has been pretty much solved. Now we just need to distribute the solution to the people that need it.

Should all humans adhere to common decency?

Yeah, would be nice. It's just not going to happen. It's an impossible ask.

Can't think of one right now, but what it should be is "I hope all your tool batteries don't run empty at the same time"