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Things you're allowed to do (2020)

milan.cvitkovic.net

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Re: Things you're allowed to do (2020)

#181

Post by yura »

LelouBil wrote: post #142

About the personal assistant, I'm starting to think if it would be worth it for me in the future. Right now I'm still in engineering school so I don't have the money for it but I have so much sideline stuff that I'm hitting the limits of just reminders. I have a very bad memory for things I have to do but since reminders I set up never appear right when I can do the task I still forget about it. I have "buy new shoes…

> I have a very bad memory for things I have to do but since reminders I set up never appear right when I can do the task I still forget about it.

Taking some inspiration from GTD, you can have different reminders, or rather task lists, for each different environment/moment. You can have one for “on-the-go” which are things you want to do when you are out of the house doing errands (“buy new shoes” would go here probably).

At least where I’m from, you have to schedule a doctor’s appointment before going there, so I’d replace “go to the ophthalmologist” with “schedule ophthalmologist appointment”. You can do that over the phone in less than 2min in your free time so I’d put it in a “free time” list. After that it’s no longer a task/problem, all you have to do is show up.

Re: Things you're allowed to do (2020)

#182

Post by Handprint4469 »

tokai wrote: post #168
Handprint4469 wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have worked at 2 different universities, and later a startup where reading Nature/Science papers was necessary. Everyone, and I mean _everyone_, used SciHub to download papers. I can assure you that most of the academic world _does_ use SciHub.

You are misunderstanding. Ofc everyone does it, you'd be stupid not to. But it is most definitely not allowed, as it is illegal to download papers from there. Nobody ever gets busted, but its bull to put that on a list of things you are allowed to do.

I think you're taking the title too literally. The article is about things you can do, but that you probably didn't ever consider as options. Replace "allowed to" with "can" in the title, and you'll get closer to the real point of the article.

Re: Things you're allowed to do (2020)

#183

Post by 12ab3c »

tokai wrote: post #147

> find [research] on SciHub or Libgen Eh what? That's definitely not allowed in most of the world. Other than that many of these are just you are allowed to pay other to do stuff for you, which is more a question of wealth than about if one dares to do it. The thing about treating fines like payment is peak clueless upper-middle-class-plus to me.

Better than doing this is to email the author and ask for a copy. It's their work, and they usually (maybe always?) have no financial stake in the gated access which dominates academic publishing. I've had success using this method to read papers to which I did not have access through a paid service.

Re: Things you're allowed to do (2020)

#184

Post by onetimeuse92304 »

> Buy goods/services from your friends

I actually don't think that's a good idea. I have observed so many friendships break this way that I think it is not worth it. I also have bad experiences personally.

Why would you want buy/sell services with your friends? To get a better deal? If you are getting a better deal out of this, you are likely to cause your friend to think they are getting bad deal and are exploited in this relationship. If you don't want to get a better deal than the market rate, just go and buy from anybody else in the market.

Even if you buy/sell with the friend at a market rate, he or you might be pressed into thinking you or them are expected to provide a better service. And this might come with the resentment ("I am being paid the same but expected to do more/better job")

If you provide services at a market rate to a friend, they might think they should be getting a better deal from you for the fact you are their friend. So for example, if you are a car mechanic and you are fixing their car, you might be doing a more thorough job but still charging them the same and at the same time they might not be able to appreciate that they are already getting a good deal and be unhappy with what they are getting.

As I work with computers / do software development, I simply refuse when friends ask me if I can do a website for them or fix their computer. I certainly could do this, but I am also certain that nobody is going to be happy with this relationship. My real hourly rate is so enormous and my website making skills so poor that they are 100x better just going to fiverr which is what I try to steer them to.

So my personal rule is to try to stay away from doing business with my friends unless they are friends that became my friends because I was doing business with them in the first place and we have healthy business relationship. I call them business friends/acquaintances. These people actually understand the business and understand the services I provide and can appreciate when they are getting a good service. I can charge them more than market rate and they will still be happy because they are getting much better service with much less risk.

Re: Things you're allowed to do (2020)

#185

Post by approxim8ion »

elvis10ten wrote: post #71
MichaelRo wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually they are right. Physio doesn't do shit for the pain and mild pain killers plus "wait and see" is all you got for back injuries. The good part is that it does sort it out but it takes years. It's still a good idea to do some physio for learning some exercises that help on the long run. You'll have to do them yourself from time to time and they relate to exercising the muscles that sustain the spine. Don't thi…

I have had back pain and RSI for almost two years. My situation only got better after I started doing my physio exercises consistently. I also learned things from physios on YouTube (e.g. Bob and Brad) that made a difference especially with the RSI in my hands. My anecdotal experience doesn’t scaling with your claim. Of course, each pain is different and some just require good ol rest like you said. But that’s why yo…

Bob and Brad ("the two most famous physical therapists on the internet") are an absolute treasure. Always good to see them get some appreciation online.

Re: Things you're allowed to do (2020)

#186

Post by xkcd1963 »

SpaceLawnmower wrote: post #173
xkcd1963 wrote: post #164

"Surgery for appearance or comfort" For appearance this is a bad choice. Not only does it not solve the root cause, it also is shortterm thinking.

What do you mean? If my problem is that I have a big mole or skin tag on my body, or my nose looks weird, then surgery absolutely solves my problem.

If the mole or skin tag is detrimental to your health, or if you nose's pathway is giving you trouble breathing, then yes, I'm in favour of an operation.

If it is just for cosmetics you are not doing yourself a service. Most of the time people do it because they have a low self esteem.

Re: Things you're allowed to do (2020)

#187

Post by jmye »

kawhah wrote: post #127
shmde wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a connection on LinkedIn who works in a leadership position in Microsoft who had recently written a post about why she doesn't send "thank you" email because she wants to save the world by reducing their carbon footprint by reducing the number of emails sent. I am a liberal at heart but I really wanted to comment "Shut up, please shut up, I am begging you to shut up." I want to say the same to you.

It seems odd to treat the suggestion that unnecessary emails cause excessive carbon emisions and the suggestion that unnecessary air travel causes excessive carbon emissions as the same or similar.

Do you think one has a meaningful impact?

I think the implication is that on an individual level neither matters, and that suggesting, on social media, people stop traveling to prevent climate change is both ridiculous and harmful to anyone working to actually improve carbon emissions.

Re: Things you're allowed to do (2020)

#188

Post by IshKebab »

SpaceLawnmower wrote: post #174
IshKebab wrote: post #139

This is one of those lists where it's ruined by the author's compulsion to make it impressively long. As a result it's filled with things that you're obviously allowed to do ("Ask questions online", "say I don't know", "give to charity", "quit your job") which make it more difficult to find the small number of good ones ("Hire a researcher"). It means that overall the list is quite pointless and low quality.

Quitting your job is not an obvious thing for many people. There are so many assumptions for how somebody should quit their job that are baked in to people's minds. I should stay an extra few months for the bonus, I should wait until I have another job. Or you could just... quit.

Rubbish. Everyone knows they can quit their job. That's how you leave jobs. Do you think there are people working in the same job their whole lives because they don't realise they can quit? Of course not!

You've just given a few reasons why people don't just quit their jobs, but they are obviously aware that they can just quit their jobs.

Also this is clearly written from the perspective of an overpaid programmer. Most people can't just quit their jobs because they need to pay rent/mortgages and don't have huge savings pots.

Re: Things you're allowed to do (2020)

#189

Post by a_wild_dandan »

werzum wrote: post #144
an_aparallel wrote: post #16

+ Learn how to decorate/style/design your interior spaces. Making the space you spend most time in unreal, is a great use of time. Or i guess as the article states - pay someone to do it? :)

do you have any good resources on that? Since I am interested in those topics I read a book on interieur design a few years ago, but it really wasnt that good, and I am still looking for more practical guides.

If you can, hire a professional. There are online services for it, and you can pay by the room. It’s affordable. You tell them your goals/constraints, they reimagine the space, and you just buy the referenced products.

Interior designers are miracle workers. Like many things, the difference between “the DIYer tried hard” and “this was done professionally” is night/day. It’s an option, anyway!

Re: Things you're allowed to do (2020)

#190

Post by uwagar »

dudul wrote: post #10

I'm probably a weirdo, but the "write in books" is a massive no no for me. I can't imagine writing in a book (unless it's a total turd, but I assume we're talking about good, insightful books). I do take notes, but always on separate sheets that I keep in the book. Just no way I'll write on the book itself.

i write with a pencil...can erase it later.

i've also started illustrating books by printing pics from wikimedia relevant to the topic im reading. i just glue them in. its more 'destructive' than the pencil underlining but it can be fun to come back to such a book later or after many years.

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