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Underrated Reasons to Be Thankful

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Re: Underrated Reasons to Be Thankful

#321

Post by autarch »

lisper wrote: post #295
autarch wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oddly, I regularly think about how great plumbing is, and I've been noticing this for the past 5-10 years, I think (I'm in my 40s). I think one day I was probably in the shower and thinking about how awesome it was to have a hot shower. Then I started thinking about how great not having to use a "night soil pot" or an outhouse is, especially in hot or cold weather. I don't think I've spent as much time contemplating…

> I don't think I've spent as much time contemplating the joy of HVAC You haven't spent enough time in hot, humid climates. Go to Houston in the summer and you will not have to contemplate for long.

I've been there. I've also been to Taiwan in the summer multiple times.

Re: Underrated Reasons to Be Thankful

#322

Post by AtlasBarfed »

"12: That private life exists and that markets, while we all (some?) appreciate their power to allocate resources, don’t permeate every single part of life, that there are moments of beauty and grace that aren’t best understood as competition and harnessed selfishness."

Hackernews/Facebook in annoyed response: Um, we're WORKING ON IT. Sheesh, penetrating all aspects of off-time via social networks will have to wait for Meta.

Re: Underrated Reasons to Be Thankful

#323

Post by lisper »

autarch wrote: post #321
lisper wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't think I've spent as much time contemplating the joy of HVAC You haven't spent enough time in hot, humid climates. Go to Houston in the summer and you will not have to contemplate for long.

I've been there. I've also been to Taiwan in the summer multiple times.

Without air conditioning???

Re: Underrated Reasons to Be Thankful

#325

Post by amelius »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #191
butwhywhyoh wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm thankful for oxygen because we can breathe it! And it can be found pretty much everywhere in the atmosphere of planet Earth. And I'm thankful for all the other elements that I'm composed of. They can even be used to do other miraculous things. Wonderful!

I'm thankful for mitochondria which allows us to use the oxygen to perform aerobic respiration, enabling more complex forms of life. It seems they were once bacteria which were somehow absorbed by eukaryote cells and turned into an organelle, an hydro-eletro-chemical power plant. Thanks bacteria!

Be careful with certain anti-bacterial drugs, they might affect your mitochondria.

Re: Underrated Reasons to Be Thankful

#326

Post by lisper »

autarch wrote: post #324
lisper wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without air conditioning???

No, fortunately. AC is pretty pervasive there, and my mother-in-law's house has it.

OK, well, try it without AC some time and you will be amazed how quickly you will learn to be thankful for it :-)

Re: Underrated Reasons to Be Thankful

#327

Post by dave1999x »

WalterBright wrote: post #234
quickthrower2 wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

California sounds so extreme in this regard. When I started working in software in the UK I made much less than say a hairdresser, and never saw homeless people (not in a city so…). I didn’t feel this stark difference that being in 2020s + SF seems to highlight.

When I'd visit London on business in the 80's, the homeless were very much present and visible. The concierge at the hotel told me not to leave the hotel before 6AM (I had jet lag and was headed out for a walk) because I'd be easy meat.

London really cleaned up in the 90s. There is still visible homeless, but nothing like US cities with homeless camps. Officially, there are a lot of "homeless" but far fewer "unsheltered"

Re: Underrated Reasons to Be Thankful

#328

Post by major--neither »

thowaway959125 wrote: post #232
pkdpic wrote: post #176

Im thankful to have a job and a roof over my head and a little bit of savings. Not having to really worry about money still blows my mind now and then. Looking across the street every day in California and seeing the homelessness crisis in full swing is an ever present reminder of what this economy and this society can do to you if you slip up for even a second and / or have even a minor run of bad luck. Working in s…

> Looking across the street every day in California and seeing the homelessness crisis in full swing is an ever present reminder of what this economy and this society can do to you if you slip up for even a second and / or have even a minor run of bad luck. Working in software isn't always easy or fun or fulfilling but its still an incredible privilege to be working in this industry. I'm a senior software engineer wi…

yikes! glad you climbed back.

Re: Underrated Reasons to Be Thankful

#329

Post by WalterBright »

xpe wrote: post #317
WalterBright wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Seattle anyway, 90% of the homeless are either drug addicts or alcoholics. Becoming one is a choice under your control, not god smiting you. > Working in software is a heluva lot better than stoop labor, what people have done for millennia. Every time I work on the yard I'm reminded again at how hard stoop labor is, and how I'm glad to work sitting in a comfy chair in a warm house with the stereo playing in the ba…

Describing human actions as either ‘under one’s control’ or ‘not’ is an oversimplified and inaccurate world view. I think the evidence suggests a different understanding: 1. One individual’s willpower varies significantly over time (over a day for example) 2. One individual’s set of options varies in many ways — not limited to education, awareness, culture, economic opportunity, and luck. 3. Many important actions ar…

I understand that today it is popular to assert that people are just hapless victims of circumstance, that they don't have agency.

I don't buy it.

Furthermore, when people take responsibility for their lives, they tend to have much better outcomes. I'm old, and I've observed this play out constantly. Blaming others and circumstance might make one feel better, but it is completely useless.

And lastly, successful treatment for addiction and alcoholism involves the person taking responsibility for the addiction.

Re: Underrated Reasons to Be Thankful

#330

Post by WalterBright »

adriand wrote: post #308
WalterBright wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never said compassion was unhelpful. If compassion helps an addict choose to stop using, great! But it's still, in the end, the addict's choice.

You could choose compassion but instead you choose judgment.

Asserting that people have agency over their lives empowers them. That does not preclude compassion for the state they're in. Not at all.
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