Book Recommendation: The Scout Mindset by Julia Galef

In the introduction for her new book, The Scout Mindset, Julia Galef defines said mindset as the motivation to see things as they are, not as you wish they were. This definition is in opposition to the soldier mindset in which we defend our currently held beliefs at all cost. Before I get into the book there is a TEDx talk by the author that gives a good intro to the topic.

I loved this book. It felt like a deeper spiritual sequel to The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan. With The Scout Mindset, Galef has created a kind of self help book for increasing intellectual honesty!

At the beginning of the book Galef lays out what the Scout Mindset is and how knowing about logical fallacies is not enough if you want to improve your thinking. She writes that, Knowing that you should test your assumptions doesn't automatically improve your judgment, any more than knowing you should exercise automatically improves your health. The introductory chapter of the book also goes over how finding out the truth isn't in conflict with your other goals such as general happiness. It is not necessary to deceive yourself in order to have good mental health.

Chapter five of The Scout Mindset goes through different thought experiments for dealing with motivated reasoning. With the Double Standard Test you simply ask yourself, Am I judging other people's behavior by a standard I wouldn't apply to myself? The Outsider Test asks you to imagine if someone else was put in your position and wonder what you would expect them to do. Using the Conformity Test requires you to ask yourself, If other people no longer held this view, how credible would you judge it to be? Other tests Galef writes about are the Selective Skeptic Test with which you can avoid dismissing evidence for opposing viewpoints. This is done by wondering how credible you would consider a piece of evidence if it pointed to the other side being correct. Finally there is the Status Quo Bias Test which asks, If your current situation was not the status quo would you actively choose it?

There is a lot more to the book and I would highly recommend it! You can also check out an interview with the author about The Scout Mindset before purchasing it. If you choose to read the book and want more from Julia Galef please listen to her podcast, Rationally Speaking.

That's all from me so thanks for reading this post!

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Today's Bandcamp Purchases

Today I purchased two albums from Bandcamp on a whim.

Music for Nine Post Cards

Music for Nine Post Cards is an album of ambient music by Hiroshi Yoshimura. Perfect album to daydream to while laying in the sun. Also great to have on when pondering something.

Here is the link to purchase the album digitally. Vinyl copies of Music for Nine Post Cards can be ordered through Light In The Attic records as well.

If you end up liking the music please check out the album GREEN by the same artist.

30​.​7​.​94 Live

30​.​7​.​94 Live by Sun Electric is another ambient album. Perhaps less relaxing than Music for Nine Post Cards but it is just as enjoyable. The recordings fade into the background well when working, and are also a great listen.

30.7.94 Live is available to purchase digitally on Bandcamp. If you want it on vinyl you'll probably have to go through discogs and I don't think the physical releases have the exact same tracks on them.

Both these albums are awesome so I'd encourage you to give them a listen!

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WaniKani and KameSame

Now that I've (more or less) memorized hiragana, my Japanese studies have moved on to kanji (also katakana). Learning kanji is hard so luckily I have WakiKani to help me out!

WaniKani is a web application for learning Japanese kanji and vocabulary with the goal of teaching you around 1,700 kanji and 5,000 vocabulary words in about one to two years. It was created by the people behind Tofugu and seems like a great program though I am still only on level one. The program works by using spaced repetition. This means that the more often you get the reading or meaning of something right the less often you will be forced to recall that particular radical, kanji, or vocabulary. There is a more detailed explanation of how everything works on the site.

I haven't gotten to using it yet but to go with WaniKani there is also KameSame! WaniKani is free for the first three levels however KameSame is completely free (though it does have a patreon). I'm not sure I totally understand the service yet so I will link to its description.

If you are learning Japanese I would highly recommend at least checking out WaniKani. It seems to be working well for me even in my beginning stages of learning the language.

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Quick Thoughts on Major League Wrestling

Major League Wrestling is a professional wrestling promotion started in 2002 by Count Bauer. These days it features great talent such as Jacob Fatu, LA Park, and Lio Rush. When I tune in to MLW to see these talents clash I am always left with one thought. Why is this so boring?

It was recently reported that MLW is in talks with Discovery for a broadcast deal. This made me ponder one of the great mysteries of wrestling. Why is MLW's product so mind numbingly dull? Honestly I don't have a great answer for you. I tried watching some of their stuff on YouTube again today and got the same feeling I did the previous times I watched MLW.

One aspect that I believe to be a big contributor is that the way they run angles feels so behind the times. At least that's the way it seems to me. Or is it the fairly muted fan reactions they appear to get? Well perhaps the great mystery of MLW will never be solved. If it ever is though I will try and write another blog post!

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Thoughts On What Could Have Been For the Music Industry

According to an article from complex.com Bandcamp started to become a big thing in 2017. What I'm wondering is what would the music business look like now if Bandcamp was around in say, 2001? Sure the iTunes Store was started in 2003 but it was encumbered with DRM until 2009 when it was probably too late as Spotify was starting to become a thing even then.

The iPod launched in 2001 with a 5 GB model. Pair that with the ability to download albums in whatever digital format that you want (within reason) and there might have been something there. Basically what I'm wondering is if Bandcamp or something very similar was available would the music industry be in the same streaming controlled world we currently live in?

Also if Sony had been smarter (i.e. more open with the format) about SACDs could that have been a market? I really have no idea if DSD makes a difference but the larger storage capabilities and 5.1 support are differentiators from a regular CD. SACD is of course a tiny market these days and I don't think there was a way to make it as big as CDs were, however it probably could have been bigger.

I'm not sure if these thoughts make any sense I've just been wondering about this issue. Artists seem to be getting the short end of the stick whether or not the huge music companies make tons of money or not. The form in which they make this money such as physical media or streaming doesn't seem to matter either. They just come up with new ways to stop the money coming in from going to artists. Hopefully that changes at some point in the future! This is my day 96 post for #100daystooffload ----

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Trying Out Sublime Text 3

I've been trying out Sublime Text 3 the last few days. So far I've been enjoying learning how to use it, though I do keep running into one bug related to Gnome 3.38.

After going through Sublime Tutor and seeing what it can do I was impressed and might end up buying a license. If I do switch from Emacs I did notice somebody is even working on an org mode package for Sublime!

The package enabling vi key bindings (which I am slowly learning) in Sublime Text is called Vintage and seems to work fine for my needs. It should also be noted that Sublime Text 4 is currently in private alpha though I'm not sure when they plan to release it.

Using vi key bindings with Sublime Text 3 seems to be working for me, so we will see where my relationship with this text editor goes in the future!

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My Immediate Reaction To Attack on Titan's Final Chapter

Unfortunately, it was a let down. The last chapter mostly made sense I guess but thematically seamed like a disaster. Felt like it was stuck between a happy ending and an extremely dark one. It's kind of amazing that this is the same author who pulled off the basement reveal that was built up so much.

I still feel like the series can be recommended to others but not with quite the same enthusiasm as I would have a day ago. Oh well, it was still a great journey over the years!

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Evolve 65

Remember Evolve Wrestling everyone? Oh you know Evolve! The promotion around which FloSlam was built! OK that disaster aside the wrestling in Evolve was usually awesome. They were running shows during the height of independent wrestling so a lot of talent was available. Wrestlers such as Ricochet, Will Ospreay, Lio Rush, Chris Hero, and Zack Sabre Jr. among many others performed there.

For this post I would like to focus on one show in particular. On July 17, 2016 Evolve 65 took place at the Melrose Memorial Hall in Melrose, Massachusetts. I'll be looking at each match on the card in order (except for one I'll just skip). Here we go!

Tommaso Ciampa versus Cedric Alexander

A WWE Cruiserweight Classic Spotlight Series match set for one fall (one fall!) with a twenty minute time limit? Sign me up! Cedric Alexander came out first followed by Tommaso Ciampa entering as "Psycho Killer" played throughout the building. They shook hands before the match as instructed by the referee and Lenny Leonard began his commentary duties for the night! Ciampa brought Alexander to the mat and attempted a pin after a bit of comedy. Ciampa once again brought his opponent to the mat but Alexander reversed the position. After running the ropes Alexander hit a big head scissors and gained control of the match. There was a dropkick to Alexander after he attempted a big move. While he controlled his opponent's arm Ciampa made jokes about facing the hard camera. Huge dropkick to the face of Ciampa who went to the outside. On the outside of the ring Ciampa dropped Alexander on the guardrail. As the referee was counting the crowd started shouting out the wrong numbers. At the end of the match Alexander hit Ciampa with a lumbar check to pick up the victory.

I know I'm coming from a place of watching this match in 2021 where pretty much everything they did is tired from being so overdone, but I wasn't a fan of this match.

Ethan Page versus Travis Gordon

Travis "Flip" Gordon was the first to appear from the back, then it was Ethan Page's turn. To begin the match they locked up but Page quickly took control of the action. Ethan Page quickly hit Gordon with a package pile driver and that was the end of things. Page cut a promo after the match before being taken out by Drew Galloway. Who then cuts his own promo.

Chris Dickinson, Darby Allin, and Jonathan Gresham vs. Catch Point (Drew Gulak, Fred Yehi, and Tracy Williams)

Drew Gulak and Darby Allin started the match. Allin got caught in a submission, but his partners made the save. In came Dickinson who used Darby as a weapon by piledriving him onto their opponent. For the finish Drew Gulak submitted Jonathan Gresham with a dragon sleeper. This was a decent match that I probably would have enjoyed much more in 2016.

Timothy Thatcher versus TJP

Up next was a match for the Evolve title. This was my favourite match on the card so far! Thatcher picked up the victory to retain the title.

Zack Sabre Jr. versus Tony Nese

Another WWE Cruiserweight Classic Spotlight Series match! It was a muscly boy versus a bendy boy for this bout. ZSJ was the winner by pin fall.

Drew Galloway vs. Johnny Gargano

Main event time! One half of the Evolve Tag Team Champions, Drew Galloway, took on Johnny Gargano. The match started with Gargano super kicking Galloway and going for a pin. Galloway kicked out though. It was a pretty good contest as the end of a blood feud. Lots of trying to kill each other! Galloway won with a tombstone piledriver then after the match tried to do more damage to Gargano. Luckily for Gargano, Ethan Page ran in to make the save.

Evolve 65 would probably have been considered a good show by the standards of 2016, but watching it now I wasn't that into it. Some solid stuff was there though. I know a lot of people thought Timothy Thatcher was boring as Evolve champ however I felt that his match with TJP was the best of the night.

Hope you enjoyed reading this look back at a random Evolve show I bought five years ago!

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GCW Josh Barnett's Bloodsport 6 and GCW Spring Break 2021

GCW: The Collective 2021 is almost upon us! Twelve events over three days from April 8 to 10. It is possible to watch all these show through fite.tv for the low, low price of $139.99 USD (probably a reasonable amount actually) by buying the Collective Bundle 2021. But personally, I'm most interested in two of the shows.

GCW Josh Barnett's Bloodsport 6

Bloodsport is back! Also we are finally getting the match that was scheduled for Wrestlemania week last year in Josh Barnett versus Jon Moxley. The rest of the card is listed on cagematch, but the matches I'm excited for are mentioned below.

Rocky Romero versus Chavo Guerrero Jr.

New Japan Pro Wrestling's Rocky Romero takes on veteran wrestler, Chavo Guerrero Jr. I'm more curious than excited for this one, but it's rare that a Bloodsport match is actually bad. I'll predict Rocky to take this one!

Chris Dickinson versus Shane Mercer

Chris Dickinson just turned heel in GCW so I wonder if that persona carries over to Bloodsport. This match should be awesome since Shane Mercer is a big, strong dude. Let's go Mercer!

Lio Rush versus Yoya

I'm sure Lio Rush will be much less flippy than usual in this match. Yoya is not a wrestler a have seen before but I think he competed in Paradigm Pro Wrestling's UWFi rules events. Hmm, guess I'll pick Yoya to win.

Josh Barnett versus Jon Moxley

No idea who picks up the win for this match. Could be a draw even! Either way I'm excited for it!

GCW rSpring Break - fka JJSB5

Due to Rickey Shane Page beating Joey Janela at a previous GCW show 440H got control of Spring Break! Oh well, the show still looks awesome. Let's look at some of the matches.

Masada versus Atticus Cogar

Is this a deathmatch? I'm not entirely sure but it should be fun no matter the stipulation. Atticus Cogar will probably win this bout.

Chris Dickinson versus Joey Janela

Dickinson was last seen costing Joey Janela the GCW title and control of Spring Break. This is Janela's shot at revenge. Dickinson will almost certainly win this match.

Rickey Shane Page versus Nick Gage

Nick Gage has returned from his injuries and is ready to take his title back! I'm not sure which direction GCW is going but I'll go with Nick Gage!

Those are the two events I will be watching for this year's Wrestlemania week! I'm looking forward to them but mostly I hope everyone stays safe.

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Spring 2021 Anime Recommendation: Those Snow White Notes

I was curious about this show as soon as the fact that it was a thing reached my brain. I'm a sucker for music anime! Those Snow White Notes is based on a manga by Marimo Ragawa. I guess the series has 27 volumes so far and I'm not 100% sure how many episodes the anime is planned for currently. Well hopefully the strength of the first episode is carried through to the end!

Anyway, Those Snow White Notes follows shamisen player Sawamura Setsu as he leaves his home town to go to Tokyo. After the death of his grandfather, whose shamisen playing he admired, Setsu feels that his own sound has disappeared. Once in Tokyo Setsu runs into trouble with local toughs but is saved by aspiring actress, Yuna Tachiki. Later the two have a tense meeting with Yuna's scummy boyfriend Taketo who plays the guitar. On that same night Yuna hears Setsu playing the shamisen and becomes inspired telling him that she is going to leave for awhile.

Setsu then runs into Taketo who brings him to his band's show. Taketo takes out his frustrations on Setsu who is once again saved by Yuna. Due to the delay caused by this the crowd is getting restless but Yuna sends out Setsu to perform as the opening act. The crowd is mesmerized by Setsu's shamisen playing.

Later Setsu sees off Yuna as she leaves on a train. He meets up with Taketo when the door to their apartment is knocked down by a mysterious woman.

So that was the first episode! I'll definitely be watching this one weekly. Oh and it can be watched on Crunchyroll. Check it out!

This is my day 91 post for #100daystooffload

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