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Why Japan’s Rail Workers Point at Things

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261–270 of 334 posts

Re: Why Japan’s Rail Workers Point at Things

#261
post #60

I have a strict rule that I must touch my keys before closing the front door, because I discovered the keys in my memory don't open the door as well as the keys in my pocket.

Same. I have a "keys-wallet-phone-pad" routine in which I make sure my pockets contain all of: my keys, my wallet, my cell phone, and the 7-inch tablet that I carry everywhere. I've gotten into the habit of doing it every time I get up if I'm not at home or at my desk at work.

I do the tap phone and keys check, but I keep my wallet in my backpack tied to a string on a carabiner, so it's always in my bag, except when in my hands.

Same thing with my glasses, either they're in my bag, or on my face.

Re: Why Japan’s Rail Workers Point at Things

#262
post #259

If you don’t point to the knot on your harness when calling out that you are tied in, and we don’t audibly call out “On belay... belay on” to each other, we aren’t climbing together. These exact same rituals have been developed for climbing because everyone, experienced, and inexperienced, can make mistakes. The greatest climber of her generation (of any gender!), Lynn Hill, opens her autobiography with the story of…

Does that say 75 feet? How on earth do you survive that?

> Hill has experienced only one major accident in her climbing career. On May 9, 1989, she fell during a climb in Buoux, France; after forgetting to tie a safety rope, she fell 85 ft (25 m) into a tree, and was knocked unconscious, dislocated her left elbow and broke a bone in her foot. She had been training hard for the World Cup and had to stop competing for a few months to recover; she was devastated to miss the first World Cup in the sport. However, only six weeks after her fall, she was back climbing. [0]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Hill#Competitive_career (last paragraph)

Re: Why Japan’s Rail Workers Point at Things

#263
post #32

I noticed the problem on myself on several occasions and kind of invented the same solution. For example, sometimes I would take a medicament mechanically while doing something else and just a few minutes later, forget if I took it or not. Solution: say loud to myself "I'm taking a pill". Another: sometimes I'd lend some amount money to a colleague, and a few weeks later I'd have a hard time figuring whether they gav…

> Solution: say loud to myself "I'm taking a pill".

Having OCD, I started doing the same when I'd leave the house and needed to be sure that I'd closed the garage door so I didn't think about it all day (otherwise I'd have to drive around the block a couple of times to check it before I could drive to where I was going).

Eventually, "the garage door is closed" just led to me wondering I was remembering saying it a different day, so I'd have to say, "It's Tuesday and the garage door is closed."

Now I have a SmartThings device attached to it so I can check any time. Of course, I worry about it displaying stale data, so I think I'm going to need a live video feed.

Re: Why Japan’s Rail Workers Point at Things

#264

I have a strict rule that I must touch my keys before closing the front door, because I discovered the keys in my memory don't open the door as well as the keys in my pocket.

I do the same. Every time I leave the house, before I close the door, I make sure to tap my phone, wallet and keys.

Same when exiting my car, I make sure I have my keys in my hand when I close the door (I don't have remote locking).

Re: Why Japan’s Rail Workers Point at Things

#265

Slightly off topic but this practice of talking-out-loud to get yourself doing stuff is also beneficial to people with executive dysfunction. If your executive function is impaired you generally don't have the "internal monologue" or the voice in your head. This makes seemingly simpler things like taking a shower, driving, or eating, very difficult! I'd often "forget" to eat, simply because I could not get myself to…

Sometimes if I find myself task saturated, I'll say to myself something like, "OK, what am I doing. We need X, Y, and Z. X is most important, so let's do X," as a way of regaining focus. Then again I work from home, so if I didn't think aloud from time to time, my vocal cords would rust from disuse. :)

I apparently so this a lot when I'm cooking. I never noticed it until my wife watched me cook for the first time.

Re: Why Japan’s Rail Workers Point at Things

#266

Slightly off topic but this practice of talking-out-loud to get yourself doing stuff is also beneficial to people with executive dysfunction. If your executive function is impaired you generally don't have the "internal monologue" or the voice in your head. This makes seemingly simpler things like taking a shower, driving, or eating, very difficult! I'd often "forget" to eat, simply because I could not get myself to…

on youtube a lot of single people operation use the "We" pronoun a lot. I guess it' a mix of wanting to look bigger, wanting to include the audience, but now it's become a trend.

this isn't because of Youtube. this is because it helps to envision the "you" you as a different entity from the "you" you. I know that doesn't make sense :) It's like saying there's two of us: the one who forgets to do things like lock the door, and the one who really wants to lock the door. "We're going to lock the door right now," we say, because we know one of us will probably forget.

I'm a serial talk-to-myselfer, and I've been saying things like "ok we're going to get gas for the car now" or "we're making french toast this morning" since I was twelve.

Re: Why Japan’s Rail Workers Point at Things

#267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With respect, you figured out what he meant, and then you figured out that he's not a native English speaker. He probably doesn't need to have that fact pointed out to him. I'm sure there's a better way you could have given the hint to the correct word for the benefit of others who didn't figure out what he meant, and done so without being condescending to the post you were replying to. Yes?

OP here, no issue, thanks for pointing it out; I even appreciate it, I'm a bit of a grammar nazi myself - but yeah people vary. I think it's ok to post that kind of comments on HN, outside of HN probably less.

The word is somewhat obsolete, but it's definitely a word and you used it correctly. Also, it obviously shares a root with "medication"; someone who doesn't know the word should be able to figure out what it means. I hate to see people discouraged from using interesting, rare words.

Re: Why Japan’s Rail Workers Point at Things

#268

If you don’t point to the knot on your harness when calling out that you are tied in, and we don’t audibly call out “On belay... belay on” to each other, we aren’t climbing together. These exact same rituals have been developed for climbing because everyone, experienced, and inexperienced, can make mistakes. The greatest climber of her generation (of any gender!), Lynn Hill, opens her autobiography with the story of…

One of the most experienced climbers I know clipped into a gear loop instead of a belay loop without looking down at it and sat on it. He's only alive because he's got really fast reflexes. Checklists and rituals save lives.

Re: Why Japan’s Rail Workers Point at Things

#270

Slightly off topic but this practice of talking-out-loud to get yourself doing stuff is also beneficial to people with executive dysfunction. If your executive function is impaired you generally don't have the "internal monologue" or the voice in your head. This makes seemingly simpler things like taking a shower, driving, or eating, very difficult! I'd often "forget" to eat, simply because I could not get myself to…

This actually describes me a lot. I never had a word for it, but I often describe my ADHD by telling people that I don't have the internal monologue that tells me to eat, take out the trash, or what I was doing before I was distracted by HN. I've actually been in the middle of typing a word and had to remind myself, out loud, what I was doing. It's very strange to see something I thought was very specific to me be described by sometime else
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