Please_Do_Not

joined 7 months ago
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

I was talking to my wife about the feeling of underachieving relative to unrealistic childhood goals, and she mentioned that she never thought she was smart or special enough as a child to dream of being THE anything. Like she wanted to work in science, but never took that to mean that she wanted to be THE one to get famous curing cancer or writing a Malcom Gladwell-type book or running her own lab.

I, of course, think she is the most special genius I know, and I think she'd do a great job in any of those situations, but the depressingly realistic expectations she set out of lower self-confidence as a kid have now served her well in terms of job and life satisfaction. It made me sad to hear and angry at her parents for not communicating that she was and is exceptional, but I am also sad and angry that I am not the next Bob Dylan with a universal acceptance of my genius and no need to do anything but write poetry and receive accolades. At the same time, I'd hate to actually live on the road and/or have the life of most ultra-famous writers, but I still feel like I've betrayed my childhood potential by not doing so and by being unremarkable.

Hard to say if that disappointment is worse than growing up without being told you even could achieve something like that. My wife is healthy now, but had a lot of shit she had to overcome in her childhood and adult mental health journeys, and while/since I have as well, I don't think we'll ever get answers about every different thing that affects our current and past contentedness. So I am just left with the contradictory disappointments of having failed to live up to grand self-determined goals and that no one ever told my wife she could set hers like the incredible person, thinker, and worker she is--even knowing that just may have led to her feeling my current disappointment in place of any she felt as a child.

Long and complicated, no resolution, it's just been weird to see and think about our two very different experiences.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

While your instincts may say so, not according to any one of the major style guides (AP, MLA, Chicago, NYT, APA, Columbia). An apostrophe is only added for possessives rather than plurals with acronyms, but a lot of people still add them erroneously. Most sources online will say "don't do it but some people do by mistake."

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago (3 children)

That and, depending on the stylebook you use, some specific words and uppercase letters that could be considered confusing when pluralized, like "Oakland A's" and "Do's and Don'ts" (according to AP, while I much prefer Chicago's guidelines).

[–] [email protected] 31 points 6 days ago (5 children)

Folks should just remember that apostrophes are never used to pluralize. Of course there are like 2 exceptions, but better to be right 98 times out of 100 than guess every time.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Surprisingly hard. Confused me in just the right way, made me ask just the right questions about who could have written this and how someone ended up with it in an entirely unhideable spot. Also reminded me of how many people there are out there making decisions every day that I can't imagine...

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 week ago

I'm afraid you have too much faith in the decision-making of certain people. Apparently this text is from a preexisting meme, and even if 99.999% of people would never permanently put a meme tweet directly on their neck forever, there are 7 million people walking around with tweets tattooed on them.

Just look at all the copycat "shrimps is bugs" tattoos out there...

[–] [email protected] 77 points 1 week ago (7 children)

This actually makes me laugh pretty good. Side of the neck is an insane place for it, but the joke lands perfectly and rewards rereads. 9/10 humor, 0/10 decision-making.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

Poor sleep consistency/quality and interrupted circadian rhythms have already been found to be associated with a higher risk of Alzheimer's, so artificial light could definitely be contributing to a previously identified risk factor. I am sure there are other variables at play that are associated with light sources, too, but it is definitely possible/even likely that the light itself is an issue.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

That should help with the ground. I guess my advice would be to get out there and try it once before it's your coldest season. See if you're comfy at 40⁰ and then take your best guess about another 8⁰

 

It often surprises me to see people with time, money, and knowledge settling for subpar experiences that have night and day differences to me. Even at my brokest (pretty darn broke), speakers, headphones, and glasses were always worth researching and some saving up, and the difference between what I'd end up with and the average always feels like it paid off tenfold.

I've got a surprising number of friends/acquaintances who just don't seem to care, though, and I am trying to understand if they just don't experience the difference similarly or if they don't mind. I know musicians who just continue using generation 1 airpods or the headphones included with their phone, birdwatchers who don't care about their binoculars, people who don't care if they could easily make their food taste better, and more examples of people who, in my opinion, could get 50% better results/experiences by putting in 1% more thought/effort.

When I've asked some friends about it, it sounds as much like they just don't care as they don't experience the difference as starkly as I do, but I have a hard time understanding that, as it's most often an objective sensory difference. Like I experience the difference between different pairs of binoculars and speakers dramatically, and graphical analysis backs up the differences, so how could they sound/look negligibly different to others? Is it just a matter of my priorities not being others' priorities, or do they actually experience the difference between various levels of quality as smaller than I seem to? What's your take on both major and, at the high end, diminishing returns on higher quality sensory experiences?

 

Pretty much all posts linked to redgifs produce the same error, which messes with how the feed looks and loads. Incredibly grateful for all you've done with the app!

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