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68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice

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Re: 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice

#51

Post by GuB-42 »

londons_explore wrote: post #26

I can confirm that one shouldn't trust all-purpose glue. Bought a tube of it a year ago, and out of about 10 times I've tried to use it, I don't remember a single one not needing re-gluing with something else later. All except your fingers of course - glue them, and they're sticky for weeks.

Cyanoacrylate (super glue) works best on fingers.

So well in fact that it can be used as an alternative to stitches. Medical grade cyanoacrylate is a bit different (less irritant) but in an emergency, the regular household kind can be used.

Re: 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice

#52

Post by nunorbatista »

fraktl wrote: post #40
nunorbatista wrote: post #39

> Optimize your generosity. No one on their deathbed has ever regretted giving too much away. Not sure if I agree completely. I've seen people regret giving their life to the service of others and not noticing they were not living their own life until too late.

You don't have to take it in as black or white. It does not mean "give away everything you have and be miserable". The way I read it was: don't hoard, make others happy. It does not mean I should live a miserable life in hope that someone, whom I'm giving to, will recognize it. The wisdom can escape you if you take what's written literally letter for letter, as if you're a computer.

"giving too much away" is not only material stuff. You can give too much time away, mainly taking care of others that should be able to find a way to take care of themselves (obviously not talking about elderly people).

I'm married to a nurse, and I know a lot of people on the field. I'm constantly amazed how they are wired to take care of others before themselves.

Re: 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice

#53

Post by nunorbatista »

goodcanadian wrote: post #47
nunorbatista wrote: post #39

> Optimize your generosity. No one on their deathbed has ever regretted giving too much away. Not sure if I agree completely. I've seen people regret giving their life to the service of others and not noticing they were not living their own life until too late.

The key word is "optimize." Note that the author didn't say "maximize."

Agree, but my comment is more on the second part of the phrase: "No one on their deathbed has ever regretted giving too much away." - I'm not sure this is completely true.

Re: 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice

#54

Post by Someone »

splatzone wrote: post #12

This page really is a goldmine. In the spirit of not being afraid to ask stupid questions, I don't understand a couple of them - anyone care to explain? > When you die you take absolutely nothing with you except your reputation. Is this saying that your reputation dies with you? I don't get this, surely people will remember how you acted when you were alive. I'm probably taking it too literally. > Don’t ever respond…

I think a better ways to phrase this is “When you die you lose everything except your reputation”

Re: 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice

#55

Post by glangdale »

Shakespeare knew what to do with people who proffer great quantities of unsolicited advice; look what happened to Polonius.

A bunch of these are good, a bunch are just... OK, and some are questionable or just a matter of simple opinion. A lot just reek of "truthiness"; a sort of middle-brow confidence about art/business/doing stuff that's manages to frequently just pass off made-up bullshit as authoritative. The "rule of 7 in research", "Pros are just amateurs who know how to gracefully recover from their mistakes", "Talent is distributed unfairly, but there is no limit on how much we can improve what we start with" - a lot of these don't make a lick of sense on sober examination.

Re: 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice

#56

Post by GuB-42 »

> Don’t be the best. Be the only.

No, if you are "the only" you are going to do that for the rest of your life.

Also, it is at odds with the second previous point "Hangout with, and learn from, people smarter than yourself". You can't have people smarter than yourself if you are the only.

And it is at odds with all the other points promoting sharing and generosity too. If you are the only, it means you didn't share your knowledge.

Re: 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice

#57

Post by searchableguy »

sifar wrote: post #45
splatzone wrote: post #12

This page really is a goldmine. In the spirit of not being afraid to ask stupid questions, I don't understand a couple of them - anyone care to explain? > When you die you take absolutely nothing with you except your reputation. Is this saying that your reputation dies with you? I don't get this, surely people will remember how you acted when you were alive. I'm probably taking it too literally. > Don’t ever respond…

A while ago, I wrote a haiku on this. Gods, sages, authors Each a prisoner of their work. Be legacy free.

You should have mentioned banking systems. They need to be legacy free more than others on that list.

Re: 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice

#58

Post by glangdale »

goodcanadian wrote: post #47
nunorbatista wrote: post #39

> Optimize your generosity. No one on their deathbed has ever regretted giving too much away. Not sure if I agree completely. I've seen people regret giving their life to the service of others and not noticing they were not living their own life until too late.

The key word is "optimize." Note that the author didn't say "maximize."

Like most of these these platitudes, it can mean whatever you want it to mean. "Optimize" - you mean "do the ideal thing"? Good thing that's so easy to figure out at the time...

Re: 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice

#59

Post by wizzwizz4 »

shark_laser wrote: post #42
splatzone wrote: post #12

This page really is a goldmine. In the spirit of not being afraid to ask stupid questions, I don't understand a couple of them - anyone care to explain? > When you die you take absolutely nothing with you except your reputation. Is this saying that your reputation dies with you? I don't get this, surely people will remember how you acted when you were alive. I'm probably taking it too literally. > Don’t ever respond…

> When you die you take absolutely nothing with you except your reputation. I look at it slightly differently. I interpret it as, you take your reputation with you to the grave because when you die, your reputation as it stands, is as dead as you are. How you act while you're around will be interpreted in one way, but when you're gone, you are no longer around to defend your reputation, or to act in a way that reflec…

It doesn't take a superhuman effort to do better than the society you're in. It just takes recognising the issue, and then a small amount of introspection every now and then; that's beyond most people, but it's still possible.

The amount we can (unhypocritically) criticise these people for not doing better than their times is proportional to the likelihood that they would've noticed the systematic issues in their society, of which they played a part.

Nietzsche and Gandhi… well, they definitely should've known better. Albert Einstein? He probably was exposed to feminist ideas, but I doubt he internalised them. Shakespeare? We can probably give him a pass.

And remember: achieving great, good things doesn't mean you haven't done bad things. It just outweighs them.

Re: 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice

#60

Post by fraktl »

GuB-42 wrote: post #56

> Don’t be the best. Be the only. No, if you are "the only" you are going to do that for the rest of your life. Also, it is at odds with the second previous point "Hangout with, and learn from, people smarter than yourself". You can't have people smarter than yourself if you are the only. And it is at odds with all the other points promoting sharing and generosity too. If you are the only, it means you didn't share y…

Maybe you're reading it wrong. It makes no sense to provide wisdom that clashes with other points. So.. you might be applying it wrong.

You could be the only love of someone's life. Or the only that made a difference. Or the only father. Or brother. I didn't read it in terms of competition, where you STRIVE to be the only.

It's a matter of perspective.

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