Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the idea of a German atomic bomb was an even greater concern for Einstein, and for others. The years leading up to WWII were very, very complicated. It's unrealistic to claim that your hindsight (or anyone's) is 20/20 with respect to what should have been done.
Agreed, the only reason there even was a US atomic bomb so early was because the US military intercepted multiple uranium shipments bound for Japan. When Germany fell they tried to get enough refined material for the Japanese to get the bomb first so the war would be won by their allies and not their enemies. Fortunately the US Navy had recovered enough by that point in the war to hunt down the U-Boats. If the US Nav…
I don't want to work very hard
141–150 of 200 posts
Re: I don't want to work very hard
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the idea of a German atomic bomb was an even greater concern for Einstein, and for others. The years leading up to WWII were very, very complicated. It's unrealistic to claim that your hindsight (or anyone's) is 20/20 with respect to what should have been done.
Agreed, the only reason there even was a US atomic bomb so early was because the US military intercepted multiple uranium shipments bound for Japan. When Germany fell they tried to get enough refined material for the Japanese to get the bomb first so the war would be won by their allies and not their enemies. Fortunately the US Navy had recovered enough by that point in the war to hunt down the U-Boats. If the US Nav…
It's true that Germany sent Uranium to Japan as their defenses collapsed. That was 25 March, 1945. German forces surrendered about six weeks later, around 5 May. The Captain, Feher I believe, surrendered to Allied Powers following orders for all U-boats to surrender (insert interesting tangent here) Assuming he would have violated orders and made it to Japan, it would have only meant Japanese would have had Uranium in mid 1945. The first working nuclear bomb was detonated at the Trinity site in July 1945, just a few weeks later. The United States bombed japan in August, just a few weeks after that. There has been no significant evidence that the Japanese were anywhere near capable of using the Uranium to construct a working bomb in those 8-10 weeks. And even if they had, industrial production in the states would have landed a dozen nuclear bombs on Japanese soil for every one they could have built.
It's also true that the Japanese feared the Russians more than the United States, but Japan was a complex cauldron of interests at that time. For instance, the surrender recording by the Emperor had to be smuggled out of the Palace because military elements would have destroyed it if they had found it. So simply saying that they would not have surrendered solely due to the atomic bombings is misleading at best. Oddly enough, you're over-simplying it. There were many interests in Japan, and the interests of surrendering to the United States won out. At the end of the day, it was the emperor's call, and the diplomatic service won out over the military.
History is complicated, yes. The British performed against the Germans in a way that lent credence to Churchill's statement that this was "our finest hour". But there was also lease-lend, and lots of loans, and secret help from the United States. FDR realized the war was coming but had to wait until American popular opinion realized it as well. There was also Hitler's mucking around with the execution of the air war, diverting bombing raids from airfields (where they were devastating) to civilian targets, where they inflicted terror but were militarily not as significant.
Re: I don't want to work very hard
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
Huh. Somehow it had not occurred to me to try to make this cycle explicit. That's a really interesting idea, thank you.
I'm not sure where you live or what your interests are, but this is the way contracting at Microsoft works. Every year contractors have to take a ~100 day break. Some contractors take that time off to relax / do hobby things, others take short term temp contracts or other part time work to fill the gaps.
Re: I don't want to work very hard
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not sure where you live or what your interests are, but this is the way contracting at Microsoft works. Every year contractors have to take a ~100 day break. Some contractors take that time off to relax / do hobby things, others take short term temp contracts or other part time work to fill the gaps.
That's interesting. Could you be more specific about the numbers? Are these workdays? This would be the equivalent of 5 months. Or are they calendar days, which make it a little more than 3 months? Do they have to take the break after 12 months of work? Or do they take it every year, making them work 9 months per year (assuming you count the break in calendar days)? Another question. It sounds like Microsoft contract…
Having the Contractor leave and come back is the loophole/workaround for this.
Re: I don't want to work very hard
#145Re: I don't want to work very hard
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
At some point though we start to create problems for ourselves. It depends on the job. Some jobs let your creativity go wild by pushing your limits and mental capabilities. Sometimes they don't and they feel stale and not moving anywhere. The stale jobs (and I see this) cause good thinkers to start thinking up big problems to solve. They don't like to be bored with monkey work (coding where no amazing creativity is n…
You can ask this question, but I doubt you will get a truthful answer, sorry to say. In multiple instances, I had been excited b/c the interview had challenging technical questions, only to be disappointed when I actually get into the work. Remember: the relationship is you work for your employer, your employer pays you. Don't expect any more or less than that.
Re: I don't want to work very hard
#147Several quotes came to mind when reading this: "If you win the rat race, you're still a rat." - Anna Quindlen, Harvard Commencement speech "No man on his deathbed ever said, 'I wish I had spent more time at the office.'" - The late Massachusetts Senator Paul Tsongas, speaking at another Harvard Commencement There's another quote that also springs to mind, but I can't remember who said it. It is "time is the ultimate…
> "No man on his deathbed ever said, 'I wish I had spent more time at the office.'" - The late Massachusetts Senator Paul Tsongas, speaking at another Harvard Commencement No, but I bet a lot of men have said, at least to themselves if not out loud, "I wish I'd had sex with a lot more gorgeous women." cf. Little Miss Sunshine. Spending more time at the office is a fairly reliable way of upping your odds when you're n…
Re: I don't want to work very hard
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, my current expenses are a little under 20k/y. It's how I affored the idleness between jobs, and I've stretched it as long as I can.
To make 20k/year safely for the next 60 years you need around 1/2 a million invested well which you skim off 4% and use the rest to keep up with inflation. (70% stocks 25% bonds, 5% cash or cash equivalents.) Saving 1/2 a million is hard but if your willing to live off of 20k/year then ~7+ years at 120k and you can reach that (tax is your major problem). Max out your 401k etc and dump the rest directly into savings.…
Re: I don't want to work very hard
#149I agree and disagree. People here will crucify you for what your saying but it sounds like your exactly like me. I'm not even out of school yet and I've been working part time developer during the year and full time during summer/breaks(pay the bills). Anyways I'm already starting to feel bored and distracted. May I suggest going to school? Getting a phd and then become a professor and sit around most days grading pa…
Re: I don't want to work very hard
#150Do you have some sort of nobility in your ancestorship (or in the army) ? I noted that this feeling would be more frequent among descendants of aristocrats. During the Aristocraty paradigm, work was despised more than anything else. We are now living in a bourgeois world, where work is sanctified as the alpha and omega.
I don't like work. The one thing I dislike more than work, are the people who try to make me feel guilty for it. Usually, these are the same people who do not know how to enjoy life outside their work. They are hypocrites, because work is their escape route from boredom rather than a burden, and the truth is that if you allowed them to quit, they wouldn't. Or not for long. Because the true burden to them is exactly doing nothing special. They don't understand people can be different and actually enjoys spending time doing nothing special. As your nickname suggests it, we have a word in french for the vertuous laziness : flanerie. While these people find it intolerable when they don't work, we are pretty much the opposite. The zeitgeist is certainly on their side for now.
I have a true respect for hard work, but no admiration. I am deeply unimpressed by success stories and rich people who worked hard to climb to the top of the ladder. This kind of satisfation is foreign to me. I don't ask for your admiration, only for the respect of who I am whatever might be my activity and my aspirations. I doubt I'll buy all your products, but I won't harm your family or ask for your money, and I despise the nanny state as much as you probably are.
Go in peace, my brother ;)