Not to mention, everybody gets to determine what is or is not "classified". The shit is a joke when you actually talk to the people who stamp the shit.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48509216)

You wouldn't believe how much ABSOLUTE BULLSHIT is stamped classified, even though you could read about it on Yahoo! News.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48509241)

How much are you thinking about your own mortality these days? What are your coping strategies if any?

How fast or slow does time seem to be passing for you? Does it feel like it’s clipping by like it presumably did in many of your “adult” decades or is it slowing down for you as you age in a U-shaped curve fashion (return to slower passage of time as in childhood)?

Thank

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48509003)

Subjective passage of time continues to speed up. We were talking about retroviewing today. It's interesting that the past seems simultaneously far away and near. Many things from 50-60 years ago feel very recent and look quite sharp in my mind's eye, until I really focus on them and then feel like I'm looking down a long tunnel.

I am aware of mortality, though I don't obsess about it. I feel considerable curiosity about dying and what it is like, though I dread the possibility of wasting away in some nursing home.

All I have done is create a comprehensive estate plan and stay sort of healthy. Have had trouble keeping as active as I would like with the hip, but hope to change that.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48509037)

Deporting everybody is neither feasible nor desirable. What Trump is going to do, IMO, is get rid of as many bad apples as judges from Hawaii will let him. Hopefully we then can develop a system that benefits the country rather than turning us into a complete dumping ground in spite of the sentiments expressed on the Lady Liberty. Got into a pissing contest about this with a former friend of 50+ years who will now not talk to me. He is an open borders Dem. My ancestors started coming here in 1632 from England and the most recent arrivals I know of came in 1680ish to Virginia.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48509089)

Younger son was sent to the psych hospital last Friday, which is why I am late. He became extremely psychotic again and after numerous police calls and unproductive visits from mental health people, finally got bad enough to be taken in. What he was doing specifically was throwing cans of food at his neighbors while calling them fat faggots. He went to a private hospital this time instead of the state place and is responding much better. They are adjusting his meds. I visited with him today for about an hour and was happy with his progress. They will probably discharge him this weekend and we'll just have to see what happens.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48509125)

are the neighbors fat faggots?

are either of your sons actually dangerous to others? selves? you?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48509205)

I don't think they are likely to attempt suicide, but I think the younger one could be a little dangerous when he is extremely psychotic. He likes to throw things and can swing a mean golf club, but is more likely to just shout and threaten. You just never know for sure. My bigger fear is that he will scare someone who has a gun and get himself shot.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48509231)

edit: saw your response above ty

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48509233)

It seemed to me that things took a shittier turn in late 1969 into 1970. Government excesses in trying to win in Vietnam were becoming really evident and the economy tanked, especially for techie types. Many universities shut down and there was a lot of rioting. Urban infrastructure, not a high point in the 60s seemed to be really crumbling. That accelerated through the 70s, but I'm getting away from 1968.

In 1968 I felt a little bit optimistic. I thought I would get out of school, get a draft deferred job, and live some kind of normal life. By 1969 grad school and job deferments were gone and I was staring down the barrel of the draft and feeling a lot more pessimistic. Fortunately I was in the MIT engineering honors program and started grad school early, which gave me another year's draft dodged

One thing that make today feel much worse than the late 60s is the constant pace of change and info overload. In 1968 technology was not driving things and obsoleting itself every month. There was no cable TV(hardly any color TV), no cable news channels, no internet, no social media, and computers sat in big rooms being fed by punch cards. If you wanted to know what was going on you had to read a newspaper, wait for Walter Cronkite, or ask somebody. Now there is this constant flood of stuff, much of which is wrong, making you wonder what the fuck is really going on.

This doesn't seem like a very good answer. Come back with something specific and maybe I can do better.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48509221)

So how much danger would you have been in unless you were put in a Combat Arms unit?

I doubt they'd put someone with your extensive grad school as an Infantry line officer.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48509228)

you also had the existential threat of nuclear war, as do we i guess. but as far as existential matters go, today seems more fraught to me.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48509251)

She mostly will not discuss sexual matters with me. If I bring it up I am met with silence. I don't know what goes on in the inner sanctum of Opus Dei, but she has had several celibate women spiritual advisors over the years who have influenced her greatly.

Before we were married we had a lot of sex, though she had occasional bouts of guilt over it. Once a priest refused to absolve her at confession for her fornications. That caused a lot of trouble. She eventually worked her way out of it, but I never quite knew how. I guess it was the prospect of losing a potential husband by cutting him off abruptly after a year of screwing. Immediately after marriage sex slowed 'way down. It was like somebody threw a switch, but at least we were still at it.

Her avowed number one goal is to be a saint in heaven. Everything else is secondary. She is a grinder and perfectionist and is a little OCD some times. I've even seen an Opus Dei priest castigate her mildly for being too serious.

It's compounded by the fact I'm not Catholic. I guess to her it's like sleeping with the enemy.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48510957)

after 70 years what do you believe is the ideal time to get up in the morning

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48509242)

In 2024 he still did the Trump rally thing, but somehow seemed more mainstream. Maybe we just got used to him. I do think he became a bit more humble sounding after nearly getting shot.

If I didn't hit it, please ask again.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48509279)

I think he will end up being more consequential than if he had just been re-elected in 2020, if for now other reason that the Republican establishment needs him more than he does.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48509329)

Assuming you no longer golf/hike in the mountains, at what age did that become physically infeasible? I want to know what my timeline is for an active “retirement.”

Thank you for your service.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48509395)

From watching others it seems that aging sets in fiercely for everybody after 85. 80 seems to start a downhill slide for many. The guys stayed fit seem to have an advantage. Smoking and heavy drinking cause problems by 65 for many. One thing I've noticed is that fittest old guys seem to be the softball players. Another thing is that the most active men are also the most sociable. Loners die young.

My parents were both long dead at my age, but my sister made it to 90. She did great until the last 5 years. You just never know.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48509526)

what are they?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48509536)

I am not super social, but I have a good number of friends, almost all of whom are strange in some way. I'm not anti-social, but I guess there is something about the way I present that is different. I have always tried to be a regular guy but there are limits to the deception. I generally do not hang out with a high net worth crowd and we do not belong to a country club. We tried that when we lived in LA. Other than playing golf on the very nice course we never went there. The free dinner coupon we got upon joining went unused.

I do belong to a golf club in AZ. It's not a country club because the neighborhood HOA runs all the amenities (tennis, pickleball, pools, softball, shuffleboard (really), bocci ball, pool, various activities. The golf club is separate from the HOA and is purely golf. I like to play and socialize during golf but don't participate in the banquets, etc. We do have a small group (not golf) that meets every Sunday night for dinner. It used to be a dozen, but everybody has died except for the last 5 of us. We need to recruit new members.

Most of our socializing is either family or dinner with other couples. We go to concerts, plays and such, sometimes alone and sometimes with others. Our neighborhood in AZ is very social. There is a daily (weekdays) happy hour that we often attend. There are usually a dozen or so people there. It rotates from house to house. Some people are well off and some are not. It's hard to tell, because nobody talks about it. If someone asks me about my life I tend to be vague. It's all hard to explain. Maybe I should tell them I poast on xo.

I have good friends geographically dispersed whom I see perhaps once or twice per year. We stay in touch by phone and email.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48511035)

So it sounds like most of your friends in AZ came from the neighborhood/retirement community. It seems there is an advantage to owning your second home, despite the obvious headaches of upkeep as it allows you to participate in the HOA events and likely lends itself to maintaining relationships. My thought was initially to rent a place for 30-60 days at a time and avoid headaches of a second home but you’ve given me additional considerations to think about.

It also sounds like you spend a lot of time with your wife. Do you get along/have the same interests? Seems like a difficult thing to maintain without children. I’m relatively early in my marriage but already try to spend as little time as possible with my wife. The best times are with kids. Take them out of the picture and I’m out. Maybe things change as you age.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48512727)

oldhlsdude is a couple standard deviations smarter than sailer

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48509970)

Being mentally ill is a problem, but depending upon the nature of what you think is mental illness it could be a good thing. Ted Turner was manic most of the time. He would go off meds when he had to do some major deal and just wear everybody else down.

Good communication skills help people get rich. A little personal charisma helps. Showing up on time is important. I guess my advice in a nutshell would be to get reasonably good at something that people will pay for then try to build a business around it.

At 35 I don't recommend school. If you need to acquire a core skill set you'd be better off to find a place to work, learn how they do it, then branch off on your own.

If there is a entrepreneurs' organization in your area you might try just hanging out at their meetings to see what other people are doing. Most opportunities come from networking and learning from and integrating what other people are doing.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48510623)

How would you plan for black swan risk if you have to survive these upheavals for another 50 years?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48510084)

I think the best thing to do is to find a way to cooperate and coordinate with other people. IMO a group with diverse skills and resources is more likely to make it than the lone wolf survivalist. I live in a rural area with several survivalist neighbors. We have actually met a couple of times to discuss our various capabilities and what to do if a major disaster occurred. We don't have a fixed plan, but I'm sure we would meet and share resources.

If you're referring to mainly economic black swan events such as wholesale displacement of humans by AI, I suppose the best defense is to have diverse skills and an entrepreneurial spirit.

In all scenarios, robustness is important. Try not to make life dependent upon a few failure points.

If our alien overlords show up I guess I will try to find out if I can have sex with aliens for money.

You also have to be adaptable. The world has changed in many ways over the past 50 years. If I hadn't learned new stuff along the way I would be even more useless. Even if huge changes occur suddenly adaptability is still an asset.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48510778)

It's possible to overdo togetherness, and we also spend a lot of time doing our own separate things. Right now I am poasting on xo and she is sitting behind me doing something on her laptop. We share a home office cluttered with papers and books. We have two desks so we can sit back to back. We also eat almost all meals together.

It's fine.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48510804)

Merry New Year and a Healthy and Prosperous 2025 to you!

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48511009)

I try to practice Christianity to the extent I am capable.

My direct experience with people is limited mostly to people who are literate and "civilized." I have no idea what it's like to live among the beggars of Mumbai, for example. Of the folks I know and have interacted with, the great majority are trying to do good, or at least no bad, but there are plenty of evil people and crooks around. Most of what I think I know about true evil comes from secondary sources - books and news. I have plenty of direct experience with cons and crooks and just general assholds. Most of them are economically greedy and evil, but would not kill someone. I did know one guy who became a murderer. He killed a young woman and grievously injured another when he was in the Army in Germany. I was totally surprised. He seemed like a nice fellow. I even had a couple of double dates with him (no homocide). That made me realize I don't understand evil. The Banality of Evil comes to mind. I read a book once about the nature of evil, "The People of the Lie" by Scott Peck. I sort of get it, but not really.

People often lie intentionally. Most people are not very good observers, so you can't always rely on a reported direct observation. The drone flap is a fine example.

Societies have all kinds of compromises built into them, so there is always plenty to complain about. The individual is unlikely to be able to do much about it, so it's good to be adaptable. "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, and unto God that which is God's."

I feel a duty to be useful and to contribute to my community, so I volunteer a lot and give a significant (to me) amount of money, mainly to local causes in which I have confidence.

I do believe in God, though my views are probably not in anybody's orthodoxy and my wife likely thinks I am hellbound. If there is some post-corporeal experience I will be interested to try it out. I have some beliefs in that regard, but again nothing orthodox. These kinds of things do not seem to be accessible to either experiment or reason.

I dislike super aggressive people, but they seem to be necessary to make society progress. We are all part of an ecosystem and each of us has one or more roles to play. I have a bit part for sure.

I don't feel wise. I'm not sure age brings any specific wisdom. Sometimes I couch my thoughts in that regard to messages to my young self: don't worry so much about the future, just focus more on the moment (I'm very bad about living in the future), whom you know is at least as important as what you know (big surprise to a nerdy kid like me), spirituality is important. I also stole a piece of advice from a line in Norman Mailer's "The Naked and the Dead." Keep a tight asshole and everything will turn out all right."

Seems like a weak and not very profound response.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48511743)

no longer engaged?? the business has died or the business is profitable, but you don't like it anymore?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48513389)

I have done more of less the same thing multiple times. Basically walked away from something that was decent and started all over in a new thing. My resume looks like a drunkard's walk. If you need to earn money, I guess I would suggest being open to opportunity and talking with everybody you can find. Almost everything I've ever done is because of some random connection I made somewhere. The probability of a good thing coming out of all the noise is probably 1/1000, but I thing getting yourself into a mindset for finding a compatible opportunity is important. When I was about 17 and old guy (probably 50) told me that every man gets three opportunities in his life and that it's important to recognize them and act on them. The other good piece of advice I got was at about age 22 when a boss told me never to make a career decision based on the concept of job security, because there wasn't any such thing. He and I actually worked together 3 different times over many years. He's 92 now and still kicking, though in assisted living.

If you don't need to make money I suggest volunteering. I'm on a couple of non-profit boards and I really enjoy it, though it can be aggravating at times. It's very satisfying to add value to a struggling thing and see the results of your efforts.

One other thing I did successfully was gig work. After I retired the second time I started getting phone calls about doing things. I hadn't planned on doing anything at all, but a friend at Caltech called and asked me to teach a short course 3x/year, so I did that for 5 years. Some of the students hired me as a consultant. While I was doing that a headhunter called me about a job and when I told him I didn't want a job, he asked to help him with the search. The ultimate result of that was doing 50 or so executive search assignments. I could have made a full time job out of it and was eventually offered a partnership in a big firm, but did not want to do anything so constraining.

The bottom line of all this rambling is that I suppose my only advice is to yak it up with everybody you can think of and try to keep yourself alert to any kind of opportunity that feels interesting.

Insofar as being motivated goes, I like novelty, so anything I know little about is appealing, though of course it has to have some nexus with some experience I have or nobody would ever engage with me. I have no idea what grabs you, but in my case it's the chance to see if I can do something different.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48514300)

A boomer who got an MIT stem degree and an HLS degree on merit shouldn't have imposter syndrome. It makes sense for people who AA'ed into a job. Not for you.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48512943)

When I was in college if I took a course that gave me some trouble, instead of avoiding that subject I would be sure to take a more advanced course in the same field next. I felt like compensating for a weakness was more important than building on a strength. I'm pretty sure that's counterproductive, as it seems better to get really good at something in which you have some talent than to dilute yourself. But I was young and dumb and didn't know any better.

Understanding is an approximation and is like peeling an infinite onion. No matter how long you keep going there is always another layer. Practicality requires that you stop at some point and accept whatever level of approximation you are at. Problem solving is similar. At some point you have to stop and say here's the answer, or at least some provisional answer which may have to be revised.

I have never failed at anything, but I still feel like it's all luck that could change at any minute. When I was a kid I had drilled into me that it was a terrible sin to even think you might be better than somebody else at something, and that I in particular was a worthless piece of shit (courtesy of my mother and Southern Baptist Sunday school. I decided I must be reading other people's minds in order to get high scores on tests without doing much studying. It sounds stupid, but I really thought that.

MIT is pretty good at making you feel like a dumb ass, and law school reinforces imposter feelings. While LS is not very hard, the approach is, as you know, one of being critical of everything and placing a high value on risk avoidance. I used to imagine I had grown a little gnome who sat on my shoulder and criticized everything I wrote, said or did. I had to gag him to become a start up entrepreneur.

I remember being terrified during moot court in LS. I was sure I had made a complete fool of myself during the oral argument. I was floored to be named best oralist. It's much better to have an accurate self perception, methinks.

On the whole I suppose law school was a good thing, as I had to learn to argue for something even when I was coming from an objectively weak position.

I have always supposed that most people feel like this. Never talked about it with anyone.

This got far too long.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48513336)

fuck off for voting for tommy turdskin over me who is one of the lamest fucks on this board, but such is life

pensivegunneratttt likes to create new personas and tries to be introspective, but his lame fucking schtick doesn't have a chance with you around

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48513395)

I don't think I have touched on this in poasting this time, but the absolute worst thing about aging is that so many close friends die.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48514380)

I'm curious about a lot of stuff and used to read the encyclopedia, hopping from one thing to another. Now I do that on the internet. It's like having the great library at Alexandria in hand, though probably with more bad sources. I wish the internet had been available when I was in school.

In the 80s I bought the kids an Atari 400 and burned myself out on Asteroids, etc. I even wrote a little gravity well game in the Atari graphics co-processor assembly language. As a result I think I developed antibodies to things like WOW and Halo.

For a long time I used to make myself a hard math problem once in awhile and solve it, but I lost interest, plus my skills have decayed so much from lack of use it's too much work now. One such problem I remember was writing a solution for solving a little game called "Instant Insanity." It's a series of cubes with different color sides and you have line them up so it's all one color on each side. I remember that one because it gave me trouble for a couple of hours one day then I dreamed the solution. It has been so long ago I couldn't easily replicate it now.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5658033&forum_id=2Elisa#48514357)