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I put my whole life into a single database

howisfelix.today

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Re: I put my whole life into a single database

#141

Post by nicbou »

integralid wrote: post #135
nicbou wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing is that everyone alive today and in the future is footing the bill for that indifference. It's nice that you don't care, but it's not something I'd brag about.

I too don't want to be a martyr hermit who don't travel and consume just to cur my CO2 emissions in half, while someone else generates 10x of that living a full life. That's just dumb, and I consider this whole movement rich people telling poor people that they should be considerate and sacrifice themselves. If you truly care about the planet, don't have children.

It's an "all hands on deck" situation, yet everyone seems to think that someone else has to do something. You don't need to be a martyr, just to make an effort.

At the very least don't brag about not giving a crap.

Re: I put my whole life into a single database

#142

Post by crazygringo »

lukakopajtic wrote: post #119
crazygringo wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want to reduce air travel for environmental reasons, then tax it more. Shaming individuals doesn't seem to be productive or helpful. Air travel works for people if the benefits outweigh the costs. The only thing that changes behavior is to change the costs. And even if costs were 10x there are still plenty of people who will fly tons, because it would still be economically productive. There are always going to…

You wrote one of the solutions as if it conflicts with the other one. Let's raise the tax on an activity according to its negative side effects, while pointing out individuals that do a lot of it and dont take personal responsibility.

If you run a company or companies on two coasts and have a wife and family on another continent (say she has her own career and can't move), then what exactly are you supposed to do?

I don't know this guy's personal life, but the people I know who fly tons fit into this profile. E.g. the wife can't move because she's a tenured professor at her university, and he's got to be at both offices regularly. He's best qualified to run the company/companies, and he's not going to get divorced to reduce his CO2 emissions.

What exactly is the solution you propose? What personal responsibility do you expect them to take? You think he should get divorced? Only see his wife and kids four times a year? Have his company/companies suffer because he can't be there in person? Quit his jobs?

And let's be clear, there are lots of jobs that require tons of air travel. If you're a highly specialized repair technician for certain equipment, all you do is constantly fly around the world fixing equipment wherever it is. If you're a CEO of a multinational company, you're constantly flying around to different offices. Are you looking for "personal responsibility" here too? How?

Re: I put my whole life into a single database

#144

Post by panlana »

noemit wrote: post #14
brodo wrote: post #4

The takeaways at the very bottom of the page are valuable: > Overall, having spent a significant amount of time building this project, scaling it up to the size it’s at now, as well as analysing the data, the main conclusion is that it is not worth building your own solution, and investing this much time. When I first started building this project 3 years ago, I expected to learn way more surprising and interesting f…

A counter example: I've been wearing an Apple Watch for close to 10 years. I've tracked my weight as well along those years but nothing crazy like OP. The Apple watch tracked plenty. I had some strange symptoms and two doctors insisted I had a weak heart and potential heart failure. This was shocking! Turns out I do have a really "weak" rhythm, but heart failure is when your heart is progressively getting worse in it…

My first car had a broken speedometer. It was a "hand" style like a clock. Instead of moving to the speed, it would spin 365 degrees. The faster the car went, the faster it would spin. Turns out, I acclimated to it and generally knew what speed i was going (relatively speaking).

The lesson, I think, is everything is relative. Even a dashboard with flawed data that is "consistent" can highlight anomalies. And often, that's all you really need out of them. (Or the lack of anomaly)

Re: I put my whole life into a single database

#145

Post by brodo »

PurpleRamen wrote: post #131
brodo wrote: post #4

The takeaways at the very bottom of the page are valuable: > Overall, having spent a significant amount of time building this project, scaling it up to the size it’s at now, as well as analysing the data, the main conclusion is that it is not worth building your own solution, and investing this much time. When I first started building this project 3 years ago, I expected to learn way more surprising and interesting f…

I kinda disagree. Doing something about open questions which are bothering you can be valuable in itself, even if the result of the process is useless in the end. And usually you are also learning some valuable things along the way, or just push your life into a necessary direction. That isn't related to OCD or perfectionism, it's just gaining more control and insight about some aspects of your life.

> it's just gaining more control

Yes it is! And if you control everything, you won‘t make mistakes.

Re: I put my whole life into a single database

#146

Post by MarcelOlsz »

nicbou wrote: post #126
adamtaylor_13 wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people don't spend a lot of time wistfully considering their CO2 usage, myself included. The religious zeal by which people feel the need to tell me about the ever-warming planet is honestly more off-putting than most actual religions. Of the very few "f*cks" I can give in my life, I prefer to spend mine as I choose rather than being scolded for not giving mine to the pressing issues that others deem important.

The thing is that everyone alive today and in the future is footing the bill for that indifference. It's nice that you don't care, but it's not something I'd brag about.

Is the OP flying a private jet or something? Unless he is, it's a useless metric. The people flying private are responsible for a 1000x a regular persons emissions. It's offensive to suggest regular salaried people are supposed to be "doing something" in this CO2 effort.

Re: I put my whole life into a single database

#147

Post by kworks »

afc wrote: post #69
cj wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like anything else, I think it comes down to having a good use case. I've gotten deep into weightlifting/bodybuilding over the past couple of years, and that's the kind of hobby where micro-optimizations and data tracking can have a pretty big impact on results (and sort of necessary, you can't fly blind with things like diet, especially) E.g. I track and weigh everything I eat, take body measuraments on a weekly bas…

How long have you been tracking? Can you share an insight you've had from your data? I've been weight lighting for ten years and initially tried to track things (down to how many reps I did of which exercise, with how much weight) and quickly came to the conclusion that is want worth it for me.

I initially came to the same conclusion. Though I lifted in accord with decent training principles regarding reps and sets, I didn't track for years. As I entered middle age, I started keeping a training log (just one big org file in emacs), mostly out of curiousity. As I entered my 50s, I experienced what Haruki Murakami references in "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running" --- Fat is easy to gain and hard to lose. Muscle is hard to gain and easy to lose. Now I track a couple of critical metrics and it's working great. I weigh first thing every day, track all kcals (even if I overeat), plan and track workouts. I write my own plans pulled from principles in these books (don't work for the company, just a satisfied customer) https://muscleandstrengthpyramids.com/ I don't use the vast majority of the info in those books as I'm just a hobbyist who wants to be healthy and strong. The biggest shift came from learning I was doing waaay too much training volume at the gym while trying to lose fat too quickly; a fine recipe for injury. Now, when I'm in a fat loss phase, I try to lose it as slowly as possible while still making progress. Strength training and fat loss is a very long very slow marathon, not a sprint. Perhaps paradoxically, the awareness that's come from tracking has helped me relax. No need to major in the minors; pretty good is pretty good. The tools I use are a scale, loseit, and org-mode.

Re: I put my whole life into a single database

#148

Post by harrall »

noemit wrote: post #14
brodo wrote: post #4

The takeaways at the very bottom of the page are valuable: > Overall, having spent a significant amount of time building this project, scaling it up to the size it’s at now, as well as analysing the data, the main conclusion is that it is not worth building your own solution, and investing this much time. When I first started building this project 3 years ago, I expected to learn way more surprising and interesting f…

A counter example: I've been wearing an Apple Watch for close to 10 years. I've tracked my weight as well along those years but nothing crazy like OP. The Apple watch tracked plenty. I had some strange symptoms and two doctors insisted I had a weak heart and potential heart failure. This was shocking! Turns out I do have a really "weak" rhythm, but heart failure is when your heart is progressively getting worse in it…

Collecting data is great.

But I see people start min-maxing these numbers as a replacement for big picture health goals.

From the outside, I see someone spending a lot of time focusing on numbers while they are actually regularly stressed, who doesn’t get good sleep, and has somewhat bare minimum exercise.

Collecting data is great but don’t sink so much effort into it until you have a problem.

Re: I put my whole life into a single database

#149

Post by ceroxylon »

alex_duf wrote: post #46
lejalv wrote: post #38

A simple back of the envelope calculation shows that Felix causes between 70 and 110 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year just from flying. Paris accord says 1.5t per person per year, from all activities, Felix's flying alonre is ~10-15x current European yearly per person emissions and ~50-75x those compatible with +1.5C.

Exactly, I stopped reading when I saw the flying stats. There are people who still haven't clocked where our climate is headed. I get that you may have to see family abroad or maybe indulge for a holiday, but this is "I'm using an airplane to commute" kind of level. And here I am trying to book my train tickets to go to London instead of flying even though it costs three times as much just to avoid a few kg of CO2 (a…

I stopped reading at "San Francisco was always scary to walk"...
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