Acamon

@Acamon@lemmy.world
7 Post – 152 Comments
Joined 1 years ago

Original SEO

I think 'most' is hyperbole for dramatic effect / increased engagement. "more files than you might think are actually following the zip file structure" isn't as punchy.

I remember when everyone was excited about playing Pokemon Go and wishing that there was a way to do something similar but in the wilderness rather than cities. I wanted to be able to wander around the wilds trying to encounter strange and rare creatures. Then I realised I had just invented birdwatching.

1 more...

Saw a Ted talk that said the same thing. The guy over came some social anxiety by actively putting himself in an awkward situation each day (his was asking if he could get his coffee for free at the coffee shop). Once he got use to low stakes situations where people were surprised, confused or mildly judgemental (but also amused or just disinterested) it was easier to do things that actually mattered without worrying about people's reactions. And he got a few free coffees.

8 more...

I mean, I agree, I'm not going to be losing any sleep worrying about the unsatisfied billionaires. But what he's saying is that given the cost (losing 30 years of his life) the 'reward' ($35 billion) wasn't enough. He's not saying he doesn't like or want the money, he's saying its not enough to give up your life for.

If anything, it would explain why rich people keep pursuing money long after any sane person would be content with their millions/billions. Maybe if you just get given a few million you could be satisfied with it, but if you've had to sacrifice your life, friends, morality and so on to get it... And you realise it doesn't actually make you happy, so you keep chasing more, hoping that eventually enough will be enough. Better that than realising you're an idiot who fell for capitalism's big lie and gave up the stuff that actually mattered in life to get more numbers on a sheet.

2 more...

An increase in supply would reduce wages, unless it also increases demand. If you think about wages in cities vs rural areas, you'll see that most of the time more people = more economic activity = higher wages.

Where this breaks down, is if there's barriers of entry that prevent immigrants from participating in the economy fully. If immigrants aren't allowed to legally work or start business (as happens with some asylum seekers or 'illegal' immigrants) then they are forced to compete over a small pool of off-book / cash-in-hand jobs, which could see a reduction in wages without a significant increase in overall economic activity.

People act like this hasn't been a thing for over a century...

1 more...

Yeah, I think challenge can be a bit motivator for adhd folks. Once I've completed the main part of something, I find it really hard to care about the details, to the extent that the unfinished parts sometimes spoil the bit I had completed.

I feel like it's the dopamine of the chase is actually what's motivating, and challenge is a version of that. I'll get sucked into finding some obscure game and getting an emulator working to be able to play it and all the way I'm super engaged. Then I start playing this game I was so excited about and meh, don't care.

Maybe you could think about ways to refocus that drive? A therapist told me once that adhd people don't get satisfaction from completing things, but are excited about new things. So, instead of feeling proud of getting into college try and immediately find the new challenge (now I want to get a prostigious internship!) if you succeed at your fitness goals, maybe you can raise the stakes see if you can beat a friend or a record or something?

Teach at a university

1 more...

Two years certainly could be enough, but it really depends what the environment. If OP, like many English speakers who live in France for a couple of years, was teaching English, or studying in an English speaking postgraduate course, and then socialising with a mix of people from different places, who all use English as their shared language... It can be pretty easy to miss out on a lot of immersion.

And the level of language to comfortably phone up a hospital, explain a slightly odd request and be bounced around different departments with the administration... I know plenty of native French speakers who would avoid doing that.

4 more...

You don't want to mess about with that democracy nonsense. We've had a monarchy that has worked decent for a millennium, and you want it replace it with some untested, newfangled system?

I switched to Lawnchair a while back (android 14 broke folders in nova for me). It's not got the same depth of customisation, but ive found it pretty good alternative. And so far seems quick and reliable.

I guess it'd be interesting if you could measure the drop in undeclared income by seeing places that increased their turnover as electronic payments became common. Although because covid was a big driver for that in many places, and disrupted all the expectations for business, demand, costs etc it might be hard to pick apart.

That's exactly it. I think one of the reason many people who struggle with small talk is because they take these conversations at face value. It doesn't matter if you don't care about how their family is doing, you're not asking because you want the information. You're asking because the question itself means "I respect you as a peer and am showing interest in you".

And it's also why the answers don't generally matter. They don't care what you're really doing for your holidays, just give a simple but positive response "just looking forward to getting some rest!", "going to see my family". If you show you're interested in them, and you respond to their questions that's enough for most people. Even if those questions and answers are completely vacuous.

12 more...

I really want to like this and keep trying to convince myself that the little problems would be manageable... I'm not too fussed about bezels, the camera or the screen not being that bright. The processor and "sluggishness" seem like the main issue - is it noticeable during day to day use? I don't play games but I do flick between apps a lot, is it noticeable?

And the charging seems frustratingly slow, even my midrange phone for a few years back had 65w charging. Is there an external battery charger? That way I could always be using my phone and just have a couple of spare batteries that can be charged externally.

8 more...

Ereaders like kobo / kindle have gentle backlight, just make sure you get one with adjustable warm /cool white backlight, so you can make it warm and not blue. I also use a little clip on booklight with adjustable brightness and color. If it's dim and red/orange you're not disturbing anyone but it illuminates the page perfectly.

Having taught courses on interview techniques, I'd say the quick advice is - remember that for all the questions they ask, they are not primarily interested in you answering the specific question, they are trying to provide an opportunity or a challenge to hear how you fit their idea of a good candidate for the post.

So they don't care about knowing you as a person, they want to hear you're "innovative" or "ambitious" or "compassionate" (depending on the post), with a little anecdote or explanation that shows you understand what that trait means. "I guess some people might call me driven, because from a young age I've always want to be the best at everything. But personally it's not just about being 'ambitious', when I'm passionate about something then I really want to do my best at it, that's why I love learning new approaches and methods to improve my skills, and love working in an industry like ours with so much potential. And from what I understand about your company... " blah blah blah.

It defintely doesn't need to be all bragging and corporate speak (unless that's your work field) but most people do better at interviews once they realise the questions are just the superficial layer, and yoh don't need to worry about them too much. You should answer them (otherwise you seem like you have poor communication skills) but the content of them is just your chance to show off skills and qualities that they want, and to show you understand the job and industry you're in. Having a close read of the job description, company's values and other info should reveal a bunch of target traits that they want to hear about from you.

Are they? I have plans in both the UK and France, and I think they're both unlimited sms. Not expensive plans, I think the UK one is £7 for unlimited sms, unlimited calls and 20gb of data. French one was 13€ for unlimited sms/calls, and 130gb data on 5g.

2 more...

I work with a lot of nonnative English speakers, and someone sent out an invite to a meeting on Thueisday and my brain melted.

Not the op, but I think I get what they're getting at. I have been scrolling lemmy a lot this last week and everytime I see something about the climate catastrophe, unions being fucked over, terrible politicians etc I up vote it. These are all important things, and by up voting I feel like I'm čsupporting the cause" and "raising awareness".

But I do wonder if it's actually very helpful, for whatever cause, for me, or for lemmy. It makes scrolling lemmy stressful and depressing, which is accurate for how the world is, but it doesn't really make things better. I feel like I'd rather be reading something interesting or informative that might make the world a better place, whether it's by actually making real chnage, or just me learning something meaningful.

"Starbucks fucks it's employees!" "Trump lies about soemthing!" "the world is on fire!" are always going to drive engagement because these things upset us and we want to do a small act to make ourselves feel less powerless. But I'm not sure they're really doing more than preaching to the choir, and leaving said choir frazzled and distracted.

Yeah, defintely not a swifty, but down voted. I don't know a lot about TS but the little I do she doesn't seem noticeably goofy. Distinct lack of a case presented by op.

SwiftKey. There's some things I don't love about it, but I'm trapped by swipe punctuation and predicting emoji from words. Every so often I get mad at SK and try something else, but it never lasts.

1 more...

Is mullvad good? Are they no log?

1 more...

I'm not American, so I assume I don't have the full story. But i feel like everytime I hear about government shutdown / not passing budgets it's republican politicians. Is that accurate? Or do both parties do it equally often?

2 more...

I understand the frustration, and I think we've all seen locked posts we would like to have participated in. But can I check what you're actually arguing, are you saying that if there's ever significant interest in a post (hundreds of comments etc) then it's not appropriate for one person to close it?

If I make a "Trump just did something crazy!" post in a Android community, and I get lots of responses and spirited debate, is it wrong for the mod to close it because it's completely unrelated to the community?

If I post some super hot NSFW "does my ass look good in this thong?" post in NoStupidQuestions community, is it wrong for the mod to remove it for breaking community rules? Even if it's a question and it's getting lots of up votes and comments?

I don't know, I feel like it sounds a lot like burn out (or at least how I understand the term, which might be wrong!) I would manage alright at a job for a year or so, and then the combination of repetitiveness and lack of interest (for more low level jobs) or the accumulated stress and exhaustion from trying & failing to keep on top of everything (for more professional jobs) would bring me to a point of anxiety, depression and 'mental shutdown'.

Mostly I'd walk out on jobs when it started happening, but I'm my longest job (5 years) I just kept getting signed off work for increasingly long periods, and then I'd come back and be okay for another 12 months and fall apart again.

But I don't think it's cyclical depression or something. I had a two year period where I was fortunate enough to not have to work and I was in good form for the whole two years. Now I've moved in to academia, and the university schedule with four months off in summer seems to be enough that I don't hit that point. The end of each semester has me worn out and approaching burnout, but then I get plenty of time off to recharge.

1 more...

In Britain lots of beers come on both sizes, and it makes comparing prices #mildlyinfuriating. Is 6x500ml at £7.99 better than 4x440ml at £4.50? What if there's an 12 pack of 330ml stubbies for £15, but it's Buy One Get One Free?

3 more...

Sorry, genuinely trying to understand here. So are you saying "in movies, women who have strength of character are also shown as being 'manly' (big muscles, punches people, etc). Is that how it really is?"

If that's what you're asking, I don't think it's true. Some movies have women of very strong character, who are physically weak, pacifist, etc. And some movies have women that have strong characters and are physically strong, cabable of violence, etc. And some movies have women who are douchey, flawed characters who can be physically strong.

I'm not sure I see any correlation between strength of character and physical strength, or propensity to violence, for either men or women. It's more of a genre thing - in action movies men and women are more likely to be physically tough, and in political dramas they're more likely to be physically weak. And there will be a mix of people with "strong character" and people with flawed or weak characters.

Trying to use "!" as a NOT doesn't really work on Lemmy because it is superceded by the local usage of "!" as Community.

Is that not a word you hear very often? Or does it sound like a dirty word or something?

Is there some reference I'm not getting? Or is this just a "there are more things in heaven and earth, buddy, than are dreamt of in your philosophy" kinda thing?

3 more...

That's a really good description. I feel like people focus on the highs and the lows of addiction. But one of the main reason it is hard to give up an addiction is it's such a comfort. The ecstatic highs are fun, but the real appeal is having something so simple that makes you feel good.

We'd get non religious holidays developing / being promoted to sell a bunch of shit. Some people classify halloween as a "religious holiday" because of its roots as All Saints Day eve, but it's pretty clearly a nonreligious "dress-up / horror" holiday nowadays.

If there was no Christmas there would be some generic winter cosiness holiday (as xmas/ December actually is for most Western countries). I live in France and there's loads of "Christmas" junk but it's 99% non religious. Even compared to the UK, where some people complain about "Christmas loosing its roots", it's noticeable to me how few of the decorations or cards have any religious imagery (even pretty neutral things like stars or angels). There loads of snow and winter animals, no wise men/shepherds, let alone 'baby jesus'. France is officially opposed to religious holidays because they're a "secular state" but they keep a winter and spring public holdiays that are at the same time as Christmas and around Easter. But other public days off are just other non religious events (national holidays like Bastille day, workers rights on may day, etc.)

And in seasons like summer that didn't have big religious holidays (or not popular ones anyway), there's loads of secular sources of themes / merchandising. The Olympics and World Cup (or whatever sports your country is into) always end up filling the supermarkets with loads of cheap junk and create a shared topic to "being people together".

Another French holiday is the midsummer "fête de musique" which was created by the government decades ago to replace the dangerous (notionally Christian but clearly pagan) "fête de Saint Jean" where people built big bonfires and young men tried to jump over them (leading to lots of injuries!). Now all cities and towns and even small villages will organise some concerts or live music evenings.

Tldr : if companies weren't promoting religious holidays, they'd just find other holidays to sell stuff.

1 more...

In philosophy there's a term "second order desire" which is "wanting to want" something. So, when you want ice cream it's a first order desire, you just want it. But when you want to eat healthily, it's often a desire for wellbeing, long-term goals, etc. Not a sudden urge for carrots.

The challenge for adhd is that second order desires aren't that motivating. When I'm in a sporadic fitness phase (seems to hit for a few weeks every few years) then I really want to exercise (first order desire). I'd rather do exercise than play on my phone or watch TV. But the rest of the time I want to want to do exercise (to be fit) and if I had a magic wand or a pill I could take I'd prefer that to the exercise, because it's not something I genuinely want for itself. But going for a walk somewhere beautiful, or going dancing with friends, are things I genuinely want to do, so are easy to achieve. And they have a byproduct of being some physical exercise.

Lol

I thinknif you've lived in Britain that long most people would think of you as British, especially if you have a reasonably British accent. Where I live in Scotland, most people are happy to accept anyone who actually wants to live in Scotland as Scottish!

Hut there's always going to be racist idiots. I've been told I'm "not really British" just because I'm from Scotland (by someone who obviously doesn't understand the difference between England and Britain. And I've seem the whitest, pure Anglo-Saxon English people being called "not really British" because they wanted to stay in the EU. So, try to ignore the idiots!

With the proviso that it depends how you define the scientific method...

One strength is it gives us a reasonably reliable way to investigate and share information, moving slowly forward with problems even though the people working on them might never meet, or even be alive at the same time.

A major downside is that (at least most popular versions of the scientific method) are designed to look at population level tendencies. And depending on the design and scale of these studies it can erase genuine differences. Let say we take a 50 people with skin rashes and give them some antifungal cream. For the vast majority of people this doesn't help, and so our study shows that it's an ineffective treatment for rashes. If we'd found a group of 50 people with rashes caused fungal infection, it would have been a highly effective treatment. So, if that's the extent of our knowledge of rash treatments we would dismiss claims that antifungals "really helped me" as quack anecdotes.

Obviously, this is the process of investigation and refinement that is part of the science. But in the interim period, when working with things that we know we do not fully understand, we have to be careful to not over privilege "scientific evidence". In a relatively new field, if one approach has "good evidence" and others don't, this doesn't mean they are necessarily less effective. They might just be less amenable to experimental designs that allows for their effectiveness to be shown, or they are effective for a specific subgroup that hasn't been clearly identified yet. (obvs, this is not meant to be taken to say any woowoo bullshit 'could' work, but that there's a whole messy middle between those two extremes.)

Tbh, almost all oven thermostats are not accurate for the actual temperature of the oven. Like, they probably are measuring 170 accuretly, but the thermostat is in the very back top corner and the temperature in the middle shelf is 15 degrees off.

People who are keen on baking, roasting meat etc where temperatures are important often recommend getting an oven thermometer so you can see the real temperature.

Earplugs are so tiny that carrying two pairs is negligibley different from one. I have used multiple pairs simply because I've misplaced one during the night (fallen out my ear and rolled off the bed) and I'd rather have a spare than have to turn a light on and search.

As to the eye mask, it depends how much you care about light. I find that many hotels have too much early morning light for me, so I use it more often than not. But even if it was only 10% of hotels, carrying a flat, compressable 200g item would still be worth it. Particularly because you often can't tell until the dawn whether the light will be an issue, so having it available makes more sense than having to pick one up at a 7-11. But if you only use it 1 in 100 trips, or you're OK with disrupted sleep, then it's a different evaluation.

Tbh, a stoned discovery that I still enjoy is chocolate chip cookies dipped in hummus.