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I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

theguardian.com

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Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#111

Post by MattRix »

paxys wrote: post #68
c3534l wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean if there was a strong implication that there wasn't a genuine choice, but an adaptation to hardship brought on by human rights abuses and an authoritarian government? Call me hypocritical, but no. I don't think I'd have the same reaction.

- You are living a certain life and don't know a different world exists - You are living a certain life and don't have the means nor the inclination to change it - You are living a certain life, can probably strive for something more, but choose not to Can people be equally happy/content in all these situations?

You can’t just boil an entire life down to a single metric like being happy/content. Many things (like freedom) may even decrease “happiness” yet also have deeper value.

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#112

Post by lmm »

noofen wrote: post #31
lmm wrote: post #6

How incredibly small-minded. I respect people who've tried something and decided it's not for them. But to never even try a different kind of food? I suspect it's less that he's found what he likes and more that he's scared he'd find out he actually liked something else better, and has wasted those 10 years.

> How incredibly small-minded. How incredibly patronizing. Have you considered that people have different tastes? Personally, I hate eating; if I could take a pill to replace all my nutrition needs, I would in a heartbeat, even if it costs more than my current dietary expenses.

> Have you considered that people have different tastes?

Yes. If he'd tried eating a variety of foods and hated it, I'd say fair enough. But how can you possibly know something like that without having tried it? To just dismiss so much of human experience without even considering it is honestly tragic.

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#113

Post by dang »

sg47 wrote: post #107
FredPret wrote: post #90

This is the kind of person who has a wifi password like welcome2007

He's probably happier than your arrogant little self

Hey, please don't respond to a bad comment with a worse one. I get why you didn't like it but escalating just makes things worse.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#114

Post by Jtsummers »

maxerickson wrote: post #109
Jtsummers wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US. While many businesses (especially restaurants) shuttered in 2020, most retail businesses reopened rather quickly though usually with a limited capacity (Home Depot, a massive store, was permitting something crazy small like 200 people in at a time here last spring and early summer). Hiking trails and state parks in CO opened up by late spring or summer 2020. Restaurants and bars were really the places most im…

Many schools in the US also went remote. I think indoor dining/bars and schools are the things that were significantly restricted more than a few weeks in the US. (work from home isn't really comparable to those I think; I worked from home for months and liked it, and I think for people that don't like it, it still isn't as impactful as the restrictions for restaurants and schools)

True. I have a blind spot around the schools situation since I don't have kids of my own. I tend to forget the full extent of it as it didn't impact me or my immediate friends much (school closures) as I have few friends with school aged kids anymore (they're all infant to toddler or college aged or older).

Restaurants, bars, and schools were the things most consistently closed. Around here, they opened up for this current (now finishing) school year but had frequent closures based on COVID cases amongst the students/staff with an option to stay home the whole time if desired.

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#116

Post by natmaka »

lostcolony wrote: post #95
FractalParadigm wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I came to this realization in university - I love software, I love writing programs and solving problems, but I really don't love office work or the idea of sitting at a desk all day. I dropped out of a software engineering program to work on a factory floor, a decision I haven't regret once in five years (even if my parents would consider me a failure). The hours are good, the wage is good, benefits are good, I get…

I can relate a little bit; early on I worked a job where I basically just wiped computers and confirmed they were working, then loaded them on pallets. It was purely physical work (lift a computer, take it to a desk, connect it, power it on, boot to a CD, confirm HD was wiping, go to one that had finished, pop out CD, shut down, disconnect, carry to pallet), in a hot warehouse, but the whole time I did it I felt good…

There is a huge satisfaction, or maybe even a need, to do something then feel the patent and "finished" result of our action.

In most occupations we are a cog in some huge machine working in a way forbidding us to enjoy this feeling.

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#118

Post by worik »

flatline wrote: post #57

> She has two carers who come in four times a day, and they are wonderful. My dad arranged something similar for my mom in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s. It is nearly impossible in the US, I don’t even know if you can still do it without being wealthy. It required long term care insurance prepaid for years, and it was still a nightmare of weekly paperwork to manage all the claims. The care for his sister, and tr…

Socialised medicine. It is great

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#119

Post by fencepost »

greshario wrote: post #76
ricktdotorg wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

mini quote from a good article about the Guardian's Experience column works: > [Our writers] tend to interview the subject and then work with them to tell their story in their own words. via https://www.theguardian.com/membership/2021/feb/15/experienc...

> work with them to tell their story Hmmm... Suspicioun that this is heavily editorialized intensifies.

suspicion of editorializing

Not editorialized, but likely transcribed from one or more interviews and the interviewee and interviewer edit lightly.

There are people who couldn't write something like that given weeks but get them to start talking and they do a marvelous job. Drawing that out of people is one of the things that marks good interviewers.

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