Phil Landmeier @shuttersparks@social.cleverlibre.org

@TruthSandwich@toad.social @justicedemwatch@toad.social Musk is clearly a Russian asset. But what can we do about it? He bought the bully pulpit and there are 124 million people who are not ashamed to follow him.

@TruthSandwich@toad.social @SusieMu45 @jimstewartson Yeah, your last point is a good thing to keep firmly in mind.

@psetnik Welcome to Mastodon. I'm glad I found you again.

@jaskot @TruthSandwich@toad.social @jimstewartson Musk started with money and had a knack (luck) to find the right fledgling businesses and invest in them.

He didn't invent PayPal.
He isn't the brains behind SpaceX.
He didn't invent Tesla Motorcars.

He made fortuitous choices.

@TruthSandwich@toad.social @fatsam To some degree, yes. High stress, high-pressure, noisy, and a lot of information has to be passed between the chefs without mistakes. And once 5 PM comes, you have to do it for 4 hours straight, non-stop, no breaks, at top speed. You begrudge the couple of seconds to drink a slug of icewater because you don't have time. I often have three pots and four skillets going at once. There's literally zero time out for 4 hours. It sounds terrible but once you get the hang of it, it's actually fun.

Speaking of unflappable, my VP of sales in the 1980s and early 90s was a great guy, very smart, brilliant actually. Great writer, typed with two fingers. Great with groups. Knew thousands of people in the industry instantly by name and remembering details about them and their family, even if he hadn't seen then in five years. Amazing. This is a skill I DO NOT have.

He was absolutely unflappable, steady, fearless. He served in the Army Corps of Engineers in Vietnam and he had stories that gave ME nightmares. Lots of stories. I remember many of them because he was a great storyteller. Some of them funny. Most of them not funny. Several things he did using his skills to rescue soldiers sounded like Medal of Honor material, but he brushed it off as all part of the job. He was also wounded more than once. One time he was in the hospital for six months for burns. He was carrying two Jerry cans of gasoline and one of the cans got hit by a .50 cal, which engulfed him in burning gasoline. I'm sure he must have had some PTSD effects too, but I finally understood how this kind of experience will turn you into solid iron, which he was.

So yeah, the samurai veteran thing is real, I'm sure. War is war and it's horrible no matter the place or time.

@isleofmandan@mathstodon.xyz I like it. Thanks.

@TruthSandwich@toad.social @fatsam Yes, exactly. It doesn't work in every single case but it does in many and when it works it works spectacularly. Fear is irrational so when you subject the person to the same fear repeatedly or continuously, eventually the brain gives up and stops its silly behavior. That's the layman's explanation. Lol.

@TruthSandwich@toad.social @fatsam Yes, that's sort of the principle of flooding. NASA uses it extensively when training astronauts. It's why they remain calm and effective even if they're EVA and vomit inside their helmet, get it in their eyes, and can't see, can't touch their eyes.

Flooding is what cured me of my screaming panic fear of bees and wasps I had all my life until age 35. Once cured, I kept a hive of bees, have had both hands covered with warm bees, and my heart rate doesn't increase whatsoever. Instead of fear, I enjoy it. This was unimaginable when I was young. (They're amazing little animals, by the way.)

I see the warhorse scenario as similar. It's like training a hunting horse. The horse will stand stock still while you stand beside the horse, lay a rifle across the saddle, and shoot.

@TruthSandwich@toad.social @jimstewartson Hahaha. Well said.

@TruthSandwich@toad.social @fatsam If you're thinking of flooding, yes, flooding works like gangbusters. And that might be it.

I'm fine now in the restaurant kitchen environment where there's high noise and six people are shouting at once. That was totally out of the question for me for most of my life. Now it doesn't bother me and I even pick up what they're saying to someone else. They walk up to me and I say, "You need a tomato plate, right?" And they're like "What? How did you know that?" I picked up what they said to someone else across the kitchen. It's fun.

@fatsam Same here, so far, knock on wood or whatever superstition you like. At my age I sometimes wonder if it's illusory, that my ability to self-evaluate might be degrading. But I keep testing and testing myself and my competence in all fields continues to improve -- so far.

@TruthSandwich@toad.social @fatsam Fascinating. Well, I'm pleased to meet another person who is auto-analytical, who examines their own thought processes and tries to understand. (We're not a common breed.)

@TruthSandwich@toad.social @jimstewartson And what does Elmo's behavior look like? He's having a blast messing with people.

@SarahOestreich @GregSargent @mmasnick But by responding you feed into the right-wing narrative. Responding in a reasoned manner is seen as weakness by the Nazi and results in laughter. So after years of trying the reasoned method, I switched to laughing first.