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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 11th, 2023

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  • When I got banned I tried to create a new account several times and used up several clever usernames which were immediately banned. So I gave up on having a Reddit account. Several months later I decided to try again, this time with a username that was just a random string of digits and using a brand-new browser. I think I was on a cellular connection instead of my home internet when I created the new account. For whatever reason it worked that time. Maybe the fingerprinting isn’t as effective if you haven’t logged into Reddit for several months?


  • It depends on the cause of your back pain so I agree with the people who said maybe see a doctor. Some people have weak back muscles so strengthening exercises help. My back pain was caused by tight hamstrings and overuse of my back, so I fixed it with a lot of hamstring stretches and getting out of my office chair as much as possible. My brother in law has a bulging disc so neither of those things would help him.

    Probably the biggest help for me was WFH so I could get out of my office chair - I can lie down, walk around, or sit in different chairs when I’m taking a break, and I take a lot of breaks. I stretch my hamstrings after most workouts so I’m warmed up. I bend over to touch my toes with my feet together for 90 seconds, starting gently, breathing as I relax, and slowly increasing the stretch a little as my muscles loosen up. Then I take a 30 second break, then I move my feet to somewhere width apart and do another 90 second slow hamstring stretch. Another 30-second break, then I put my feet about halfway to a split and do a other 90 seconds touching the ground. Then a break then as wide as I can go and bend over to touch the ground. I think the slow process really helps me relax.








  • True, but it’s worth noting that this is an average and will vary wildly. Since I started tracking my annual returns have been 9.42%, 1.12%, 8.44%, 17.28%, -5.30%, 22.04%, 18.75%, 15.60%, -17.58%, and 18.11%. Which averages out to 7.75% — not far from the usual 7% figure.*

    So for anyone just learning about investing, you’ll almost never have an “average” year. Each year will be all over the place. It’s only when you’ve been in the market for a long time that your returns will average out to something close to typical.

    *I’m also ignoring an important distinction: IIRC the stock market averages close to 10% returns if you only look at dollar values. But when you account for the fact that inflation makes reach dollar worth less, on average returns are 7% in terms of real purchasing power. The returns I posted above are not inflation adjusted, but they include some bonds which don’t return as much as stocks. So it’s no surprise that my returns are on average less than 10%.





  • Theoretically, Biden could do it and not be prosecuted.

    But if he ordered a member of the military to do it, they are required to refuse illegal orders. I don’t know the rules about illegal orders but I bet this would fall under that. At the same time, the President can pardon people convicted in military court so that’s not much of a deterrent.

    Similarly if he ordered a civilian (say, CIA) to assassinate Trump, that person could be tried. But again, the President’s pardon power makes federal charges not much of a threat.

    BUT — the President cannot grant pardons for convictions in state courts. So anyone involved would be in trouble if it happened in a US state. And if the Supreme Court did not make the President immune from state-level prosecution, Biden could be tried for being involved… but it seems unlikely that they would go for “the President is immune from federal prosecution but not state prosecution.”

    Of course, all this show how insane and dangerous the idea of Presidential immunity is. It’s a terrible idea.


  • The approved mRNA vaccines went through the same approval process as any vaccine. And once approved, they are monitored for safety like any other vaccine. Between pre-approval testing and post-approval monitoring, we would have detected any issues. So the proof is in the pudding — lots of countries have approved them and none have found risks that are worse than the disease they protect against (currently only COVID but there are more mRNA vaccines in the works).

    There’s also no reason to fear the way they work. Other vaccines introduce antigens (molecules that your body doesn’t like and produces antibodies to attack) in various ways — sometimes with a weakend virus, sometimes with a dead virus, sometimes just the antigens themselves. mRNA is just another way to introduce antigens so your body learns to fight them. For a little while your body follows the instructions in the mRNA to produce the antigens, and then your body learns to attack those antigens. It’s not all that different from the way other vaccines work. mRNA breaks down pretty quickly in your body so it’s not even in your system for very long, and there’s no mechanism in the body for mRNA to produce lasting changes. So it’s a lot like you got a cold: for a little while the cold makes your body produce molecules, then your body fights it all off, and then in the end there’s no permanent change except your body learned to fight off that particular antigen.