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‘I’m Broke and Mostly Friendless, and I’ve Wasted My Whole Life’

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Re: ‘I’m Broke and Mostly Friendless, and I’ve Wasted My Whole Life’

#531

Post by Kye »

kerryfalk wrote: post #293
ta3216 wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what if he had Fortnite etc back then? Would he have really excelled at computer work? Maybe.

We didn't have Fortnite but we had many other venues for entertainment on computers: MUDs, Ultima, DOOM, Duke Nukem 3D, Wolfenstein, Wing Commander, etc. etc. The list goes on. My early family life resembled the parent's. The difference in my case and related to your point wasn't the absence of distractions it was to get at them I had to learn how to make the damn computer work. I once tricked my 286 into thinking it…

So much truth. I must have beat Wing Commander 100 times. To play it, I had to tinker. I didn't want to tinker, but it was the only way to blow up evil cat people in space. Things are more stable and reliable these days. I prefer it for the usability, but I recognize the limited hackability of most modern computers means few people will take an interest.

Re: ‘I’m Broke and Mostly Friendless, and I’ve Wasted My Whole Life’

#532

Post by jf- »

radford-neal wrote: post #529
jf- wrote: post #524

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s the best case scenario. Add in smoking, drinking, high blood pressure and obesity, all of which are common, and it’s as low as 62, from a starting age of 51.

Add in heroin addiction or a love of mountain climbing, and it can be pretty low at age 25!

If you happen to also have a time machine.

Re: ‘I’m Broke and Mostly Friendless, and I’ve Wasted My Whole Life’

#533

Post by radford-neal »

jf- wrote: post #527
radford-neal wrote: post #517

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh? Would you like to tell when is a _good_ time for your father to die? He's going to die sometime, you know. And maybe taking care of a parent with dementia is actually more of a problem when you're older and have kids of your own? At my advanced age, I have the advantage of remembering things like the arguments you would hear back in the 1960's about why interracial marriage was a bad idea. Not because we're racis…

> Oh? Would you like to tell when is a _good_ time for your father to die? The later the better. > And maybe taking care of a parent with dementia is actually more of a problem when you're older and have kids of your own? It would certainly be easier to deal with when you have more stability in your life and are more emotionally mature. > At my advanced age, I have the advantage of remembering things like the argumen…

Well, it may be that you're not ageist. You may instead be anti-natalist. If we were talking about a 20-year-old having a kid, you might go on about how they don't have the maturity necessary to take on such a responsibility. And of course it's obvious that you shouldn't have kids if you haven't achieved an upper-middle-class level of financial stability. Then there is the matter of genetics. Do you have ancestors who died of Alzheimer's disease, cancer, or heart disease? Those all have a genetic risk component. Do you want to pass on such genes to your kids?

The fact is that every kid comes into the world with some advantages and some disadvantages. Any disadvantages from having an older parent are at most on a par with the disadvantages from not having particularly wealthy parents, or not having parents with perfect genes, or having parents who were abused by their own parents, or having parents who aren't citizens of a first-world country, and so on and so on.

Re: ‘I’m Broke and Mostly Friendless, and I’ve Wasted My Whole Life’

#534

Post by cylinder »

peterburkimsher wrote: post #207
cylinder wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what was your motivation for choosing NZ? I think NZ could be a very lonely place for a newcomer without an ethnic immigrant community. Your best bet is picking up a trade. You'll not find a large enough white collar economy in NZ.

Ok, which trade? Is it possible to get a student visa to study that trade? I figured out how to find certifications that are in demand; is there a similar way to find trades that are in demand?

Lots of trades in demand in Australia. Not sure about NZ. You can get PR simply by being a bricklayer or panel beater. Not sure if you can without any experience though. Consult a migration agent or lawyer if serious

However if you're a software engineer or IT just do that

Re: ‘I’m Broke and Mostly Friendless, and I’ve Wasted My Whole Life’

#535

Post by hanoz »

jf- wrote: post #487
radford-neal wrote: post #477

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a kid at age 51. That was 11 years ago. My age has caused no problems whatsoever. I don't expect it to be a problem in the future. People who are no longer young should simply ignore this sort of advice. Unless you're in (seriously) poor health, just go for it.

I debated about whether to post this, because it’s rather emotive, even unsettling, but on the off chance it might actually sway someone, I will. The average life expectancy for a male in the USA is 76. All other things being equal, a 51 year old father will die when their offspring is 25 years old. This is too early to lose a parent. Think about how this would have effected you, reader of this post. This is also ass…

I don't wish to belittle the hardships and sadness having an elderly parent at a relatively young age may potentially bring, but the alternative you're suggesting is never being born, which surely is even less preferable.

Re: ‘I’m Broke and Mostly Friendless, and I’ve Wasted My Whole Life’

#536

Post by prawn »

40acres wrote: post #18

Everyone around us is fighting their own little war. I've felt similarly to the writer -- I moved out of my childhood home the day after graduating college and started work that Monday. I only moved 215 miles (NYC to Boston), but it felt a world away, especially considering most Americans live relatively close to where they grew up and 215 miles in Europe goes a long way. I've made and abandoned friends at almost eve…

Do you need to have a best man? Just go without if it doesn't feel right. My brother was mine, and my wife had five bridesmaids, but I don't see why you'd be obliged to have one or give them any formal duties. Always baffles me when couples go to awkward lengths to balance each side of the aisle.

Re: ‘I’m Broke and Mostly Friendless, and I’ve Wasted My Whole Life’

#537

Post by whatusername »

keiferski wrote: post #141
52-6F-62 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> like the fact that Legos are sold as pre-planned structures and not generic building blocks This is completely tangential, but to be fair they're sold in both ways. I'm what most people would call a grown man, but I still can't help myself (or my girlfriend sometimes) and we pick up the odd set. You can still buy large sets of mixed blocks, as well as the models. I've got a few models posted around my place because…

Yeah you can still buy them, but when I was a kid 25 years ago, there were no corporate-branded sets and “classic” Legos were the default.

When I was a kid ~25 years ago it wasn't the "classic" blocks I was jealous of my friends for having though. It was something like the Forbidden Island (6270) set as shown here:

http://legosteveblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/lego-pirates-wave-...

Not corporate-branded -- but not total freeform.

Re: ‘I’m Broke and Mostly Friendless, and I’ve Wasted My Whole Life’

#538

Post by adamrezich »

saeranv wrote: post #528
adamrezich wrote: post #506

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A post showed up on my twitter timeline the other day saying something to the effect of, "hey, these guys just landed a thing on a tiny thing in space, so hey, maybe listen to them about climate change, you idiots," completely devoid of sarcasm. A friend of mine had retweeted it. This is how many, if not most, people think these days; instead of looking to people wearing vestments and robes for guidance, they look to…

Belief in science is nothing like belief in religion. The former, ultimately, is a belief, based on evidence, in the scientific method (empirically acquiring knowledge). So yes, I would argue that even if someone doesn't understand all the scientific principles behind climate change, they can still reasonably trust "science" and "scientists", since that work is built on top of empirically-backed, peer-evaluated resea…

"Science" and religion are both equally fallible because both are interpreted, disseminated, and perpetuated by man, which as we all know is about the most fallible thing there is. It's obvious and demonstrable that various religious institutions have had varying levels of corruption over the years as their power has waxed and waned based upon how much faith the people have in them. Why is it such a stretch to see that in this modern era where religion has been pretty much been given up on in favor of a more or less blind belief in whatever headlines tell us "scientists" now say, that once again, power and political motivations corrupt once-pure institutions?

Imagine trying to convince someone of incredible religious conviction that their earthly Church demonstrably has repeatedly fallen victim to corruption over the years, only to have her respond to you with, "but that can't be; the Word of God is unquestionably infallible!" There shouldn't be any problem in holding both of those ideas ("the Word of God (Bible) is literally Gospel and infallibly true" and "absolute power corrupts man") in your head at the same time (if anything, the former explicitly reinforces the latter!), and you'd be hard-pressed to find a Catholic today that won't admit that their earthly Church hasn't gone through periods of incredible corruption and downright evil.

Nobody's going to argue the validity of the scientific method, but when you look at the innate nature of man (demonstrated time and again over the course of all recorded history), it's easy to believe that modern "science" is just as corrupt as any other institution man has made at any point in time that rose to power in the minds of the people, i.e. "very"

Re: ‘I’m Broke and Mostly Friendless, and I’ve Wasted My Whole Life’

#540

Post by thrower123 »

whatusername wrote: post #537
keiferski wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah you can still buy them, but when I was a kid 25 years ago, there were no corporate-branded sets and “classic” Legos were the default.

When I was a kid ~25 years ago it wasn't the "classic" blocks I was jealous of my friends for having though. It was something like the Forbidden Island (6270) set as shown here: http://legosteveblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/lego-pirates-wave-... Not corporate-branded -- but not total freeform.

The 90s LEGO sets were maybe the golden age. Classic pirates were maybe some of the best that there ever were. I salivated over those sets back in the day
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