People training technique will grey out pretty much routinely as they talk through things with their partners and work strategies for techniques.

People go out now and then, usually on purpose with folks who understand when it happens.

The BJJ community is mature at this point. There are folks on comp teams basically having fights every day. I suspect when those people go out, you are right. Damage is done and it accumulates.

I suspect when folks like me and my training partners go out, there is no trauma to speak of.

What is the net of this lifestyle? I don't know; I've had no major injuries (requiring surgery or major downtime-- popping the cartilage in your rib working top control drills will take fucking forever to heal tho), I've learned a lot, made good friends, and have only this life to spend as I see fit, so I can only anecdata.

But the understanding in our world is this: trauma is traumatic (and sometimes causes loss of consciousness, sometimes not), but not all loss of consciousness is traumatic.

I will say this about the passage tho: McCarthy writes a small narrative which does seem to explain her choices and character as it affects John Grady. It's convincing, and she's a good character, but even there she's something of a set piece.

Still, glad you mentioned this. Thanks.

That fire they carry is not extinguished even in a world where all systems and pretenses at civilization have been ruined. It finds the wider flame, and decent folks to tend it.

It is one of the more optimistic works he's done, not despite the setting, but because.

He did ok with Alicia in his last couple books, but even there he flounders some. "If I had a baby I wouldn't care about reality"? Hmm, ok?

"His face was all covered in girljuice"? C'mon bud.

But no writer is flawless.

If you want to read McCarthy doing nihilism, maybe try the sunset limited.

"You give up the world line by line. Stoically. And then one day you realize that your courage is farcical. It doesn't mean anything. You've become an accomplice in your own annihilation and there is nothing you can do about it. Everything you do closes a door somewhere ahead of you. And finally there is only one door left."

I don't want to spoil, but the optimism isn't for the characters, it's for we the reader, and the species.

The thimble of fire joins the wider flame. Goodness survives even there, and even then.

The Road is not a violent or pessimistic book, tho there is violence and pessimism in it. Don't confuse the set and the setting.

Why write about, 'the worst among us'? Some art (and Cormac tottered over the line between wrought and overwrought plenty) is about finding meaning in the margins, in the edge cases. The statistical noise at the outerbands of anything might make it an impossible endeavor for meaning-making, but that's why art. You try anyway. Some writers are skilled enough to make the mundane sing and that's great, but McCarthy obviously didn't seem to care for that approach.

I think I can see why Child of God put you off enough for the thoughts of others to prevent any further effort, but I'd suggest you give him another go.

I'd save blood meridian for later tho; If you don't get too distracted by the setting of the road, it's a perfectly optimistic book.

As the poet said, something in us does not erode (free pun!)

https://nautil.us/the-kekul-problem-236574/

McCarthy's perspective on language is interesting in this regard: dreams being a sort of pre-language mind for operating an animal without the kind of consciousness that developed in us quite some time ago. That mind remains, it is distrustful of the language virus that took over, but it tries to help.

It's an interesting thought.

https://community.kronos.com/s/feed/0D54M00004wJCdJSAW?langu...

Which board? What implementation of capitalism? You don't pretend that the States are running a free market or anything absurd like that, do you? The States have a Crony system at best.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for capitalism. I think humans are a rotten animal at heart and capitalism is the only way to effectively harness that bad nature for good results. But like any technical system, the implementation matters, and the implementation in the States in the last 50 years has been dreadfully short-sighted.

We have gradually whittled away at every collectively positive subsystem for generations now and are left with an inordinate number of miserable people whose day to day life would show up as, 'improved' on the Pinker style charts & graphs.

The subjective is the core of wellbeing.

Objective reality matters, certainly. But all the more so when you apply nuance to your reading of it.

Full disclosure: I dual boot, but only to game. Linux been my daily driver since before 7 went eol. I am that linux fanboy. Debian, primarily.

Defense in depth, always.

What a perfect example of gambling on the credit of the unborn. And then to be further punished by the absurd healthcare system in this country.

Christ what a depressing post to start the day.

https://www.amazon.com/History-Money-Jack-Weatherford/dp/060...

This article includes some interesting tidbits: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/08/05/the-invention-...

Second, adoption is way up and btc is only one cryptocurrency. It gets first-mover advantage in this market (unfairly, probably) and so continues to be a bellwether despite the fact that it is a relative dinosaur, technology wise. I'm fine with that, personally, despite the problems with the technology.

That you haven't adopted the tech doesn't mean that adoption is failing, you know. There are more users every year (this is difficult to pin down for obvious & good reasons, but the indicators are solid) and no technology with millions of users globally, including institutional adopters, can be said to be failing.

Further, to call any payments technology 'mildly popular' which safeguards USD 1.5-2.5 trillion (total cryptocurrency market cap, BTC accounting for over 760 billion alone, despite the recent corrections) in deflationary wealth undermines your argument to the point of bad faith. Is the cryptocurrency market overheated and full of nonsense? Of course. But let's do the analyses with level heads at least.