Reality has a surprising amount of detail (2017)

Post by SolarNet » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 11:39 PM UTC

cecilpl2 wrote: post #170

DoofusOfDeath wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've sometimes had the problem as well. Usually because my self esteem had been based heavily on believing that I'm really smart.

It sounds like you had equated being smart with knowing things. My self esteem has also been heavily based on believing that I'm really smart, but I never had a problem admitting I didn't know something. "Smart" to me means my ability to learn, problem solve, and make connections. One of the most significant factors in my success to date has been my almost eager willingness to admit my lack of knowledge, and to ask o…

Post by lkrubner » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 11:56 PM UTC

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #10

Something I've noticed now that we're all communicating online in written form: a lack of people saying "I don't know" It seems that everybody knows everything. Whatever the issue, a little bit of Googling and suddenly you know all there is to know. Even more wondrous, no matter what position you take on anything, some more search engine Kung Fu and you can find a hundred people willing to support you with arguments,…

Post by archagon » Sat, Jan 20, 2018, 1:04 AM UTC

dsr_ wrote: post #35

CurtMonash wrote: post #8

There's something of a connection here to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Two examples come to mind: 1. The narrator thinks it's important to have in your toolset hammers of multiple hardness, because your hammer should be softer than whatever material you're hammering on at the time. At least, that's how I remember it; I might well be wrong about -- well, about the DETAILS of that example. Please correct…

He’d been innovating extensively. He’d been having trouble with students who had nothing to say. At first he thought it was laziness but later it became apparent that it wasn’t. They just couldn’t think of anything to say. One of them, a girl with strong-lensed glasses, wanted to write a five-hundred-word essay about the United States. He was used to the sinking feeling that comes from statements like this, and sugge…

Post by flamtap » Sat, Jan 20, 2018, 1:18 AM UTC

52-6F-62 wrote: post #142

sly010 wrote: post #117

A few years ago I co-founded a standing desk company without any experience in real world products in general. The plan was to source desks and sell them to companies. How complicated could it be? Well, the freight company requires a lot of information about the destination building. The destination building require a lot of paperwork in a very specific format just to deliver something. The paperwork is always a litt…

Your short tale reminds me of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyTf7y3ityk In sincerity, I found that interesting. Lessons noted!

Post by atrus » Sat, Jan 20, 2018, 1:44 AM UTC

TeMPOraL wrote: post #211

skolos wrote: post #159

> If your screws are longer than 2”, you’ll need different ones, otherwise they will poke out the top of the board and stab you in the foot. Actually nominal 2 inch lumber has thickness of 1.5" [1]. So your screws should be shorter than 1.5". [1] https://www.archtoolbox.com/materials-systems/wood-plastic-c...

> Actually nominal 2 inch lumber has thickness of 1.5" And, as I've recently learned, two-by-four is in fact 1½ × 3½ inches. How on Earth does that make sense? Why do people call things as if they were X, while knowing perfectly well they're not X? Is this an American thing?