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Comment by Dylanlacey | Hacker News Reader

In all seriousness? Why not enter into a social contract with me. I will repay you a percentage of a lump sum for every time you go to the gym. When you don't go, I'll donate it to the RSPCA instead.

Deal?

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Money is empirically less effective at motivating me than magic purple pixels. Seriously, the subjective experience of being offered $X00,000 was a lot less fun than most WoW loot upgrades. Offering me $10 of my own money won't get me to go to the gym.

What about getting someone to change your WoW password unless you exercise 4 out of 7 days?

I quit WoW a while ago, and restarting WoW to get me to go to the gym more often sounds like it will be as effective as addressing tooth decay with an icepick. But if you can capture the magic of "Ding! Gratz!" for me when I'm at the gym, I'd pay you a substantial portion of the hmm $6k I have spent at my gym.

Ahh, I think I smell what you're shoveling, the intrinsic motivation is missing for the gym because, well, all you get is sweaty.

BTW I lost 20kg and loved it, I'm serious about helping. I'll enter into a formal contract, give you clean and clear account details et al.

You can do the same contract on yourself but switch the "don't go" to donating to the BNP/Republican Party/similar. A great way to ensure you never give in.

You might not know me as well as you think you do.

You support the British National Party? :)

Putting the BNP alongside the US Republican Party is a bit controversial. I'm not sure American politics permits a fair comparison to the BNP (a party that were taken to court before the last general election because their rules essentially didn't permit black people to join) - the Klan are essentially a terrorist/paramilitary organisation. Is there an American Nazi political party?

Er, yes? Guess what the first results are when you type in "American Nazi Party?" That's right - the homepage of just such an organization.

I rather doubt they have any real influence or electability, though. As bad as the dichotomy in US politics is /now/, there are some levels to which we just can't quite stoop to.

Putting the BNP alongside the US Republican Party is a bit controversial.

Though not in the context I was under. I was listing organizations that the general swarm of liberal types on sites like HN may feel strongly polarized against.

I could extend the list to something like BNP/Republican Party/Microsoft/SCO's legal fund/the Nazi party - the list is valid even though comparing Microsoft to the Nazi party makes little sense in any other context.

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