You can easily continue this into a conversation, FYI:
"Oh, lol - you did X, and I knew another Canadian who did X, so I thought that might be a Canadian thing. Where are you from then?"
As long as you don't bring up politics, religion, or money, you would be hard-pressed to make it so bad you wouldn't be able to stay or even come back. If things are SUPER awkward, just move to the other side of the gym or go to the bathroom for a little bit (~5-10m or so) then feel free to return, just don't talk to that person again other than a simple "hi" if warranted.
"Hey man, can you spot me?" Is a pretty universal request, and frequently honored. Once you are done with your set, offer to spot them, and while you are both resting after your respective sets, start up some small talk. If small talk works, continue to bigger conversations.
I’m typing this comment from the gym, actually! Spotting someone is common and I’m happy to do it.
That’s not what I was talking about. The part that fails is when someone asks for a favor but then it becomes apparent that they didn’t actually need the favor, they were just trying to find a way to talk to you. Like when someone requests a spot and then you come over and realize the weight they’re lifting is so light that there is no reason they needed a spot other than as a conversation starter.
If you actually need help then asking is fine.
If you don’t need help but you’re coming up with reasons to trick someone into giving you help so you can talk to them, that’s a situation with an ulterior motive. People are good at identifying ulterior motives and it doesn’t set you up for conversational success.
If someone just wants to talk, I don’t recommend playing these mind games. Just learn how to strike up conversation. The honesty will be appreciated and it won’t trigger other people’s ulterior motive detectors.
"If you don’t need help but you’re coming up with reasons to trick someone into giving you help so you can talk to them, that’s a situation with an ulterior motive. People are good at identifying ulterior motives and it doesn’t set you up for conversational success."
Lmao unless you're a female... I've never seen this happen in a gym. And im a religious gym-goer of the past 10 years.
That's literally the point of the comment: It's an unnatural thing to do so we shouldn't be suggesting it as a conversation starter.
I wasn't saying it was normal. I'm trying to explain why it's not normal to do that as a way of discouraging readers from thinking it's a trick they should use to start conversations.
No. Don't start up some small talk right then, unless they are clearly inviting it. Leave them alone, they did what you asked. After a couple of workouts, you know their name, they know your name, you are familiar to each other, then maybe you start asking what they do or getting to know more about them.
At least that's what I do. If someone I don't know at all asks me for a spot and then starts immediately hitting me with a bunch of questions/chitchat I'm suspicious. The last time this happened it turned out to be a guy who fancied himself a powerlifting coach and was looking for new clients.
> activities suggested by r/Syracuse like volleyball ... require you to already have friends.
False! Find a gym with open hours and just show up! I used to do this all the time with my friends, but there were always a few people there on their own. There is always someone a couple players short for their team, so just ask around ("Hey, you need anyone else on your team?") and you'll find some people to play with. Keep coming back week after week and you'll make some friends eventually.
I assume this works equally well for most team sports that can be played casually such as basketball, soccer, and others.
You can make bombs out of pressure cookers. Since they are so good at holding pressure, you seal off the over-pressure release valves and then pressurize them until they burst (usually via some stupid or illegal means to begin with) then when they burst there is a ton of excess pressure. Big pressure = big boom.
But if you're not working with cutting torches and welding equipment, there's no easy way to open a propane tank enough to put an explosive in it (assuming purely amateur equipment) and then seal it up again good enough to hold high pressure. A pressure cooker on the other hand is ready made to have a big opening to put lots of stuff inside and then seal it up again.
Obviously annecdotal, but a couple years ago my friends kid was sick, and doctors were trying to figure out what was going on. My friend threw the symptoms and test results into ChatGPT, and it said the likely cause was leukemia. A few hours later the doctors handed them an official leukemia diagnosis.
I think AI, like in all other fields, will become a great tool to help augment. Throw the patient data in and get a response and that can be the first thing the doctor checks for, but they shouldn't simply take AI as truth.
P.S. friends kid is doing great - it was caught early enough. They are due to be completely done with treatment in just a couple months!
TBF, I think Anthropic is a victim of their own success right now. We've had clients reach out to their sales team and be unable to reach anyone. I think they are just busier than they can actually handle.
I had a very mediocre experience with their sales team when I was trying to understand how my company could sign up for their enterprise plan. I could barely get the time of day from them and once I finally got a response, the rep knew very little and never responded to my follow up questions. At that time, enterprise plans started at a $250,000 minimum spend/year, which we would've been well over.
Yes, it’s pretty much the case, they are trying to scale as fast as they can from what I understand. Their growth over the last year has been just insane
Yes, but how many decimal places did you optimistically give it, only to never use more than the "10s" place?
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