Just look at the ease a window washer cleans a window stripless and fast, or a bricklayer just gets stones on the same height with 2 small taps on the brick consistently. Many more examples like that..
Years of experience and muscle memory make it look easy.. but it isnt.
Sure, but I'd imagine that Joe the Bricklayer may have a slightly different reaction when you tell him the exciting news that he doesn't have to lay bricks anymore because a robot can do it.
That's because something's wrong with our system. Joe the bricklayer has others things HE wants to do, but reaping the rewards for the businesses he helped build is in the cards for most.
I don't disagree, but that bigger picture sentiment isn't keeping the lights on at Joe's house.
For the record: I am completely against the notion that we should stifle technical progress to preserve jobs and the status quo, but I just also feel it's something that we owe it to ourselves as a society to manage that issue alongside the progress so nobody gets left behind.
That's how we ended up with the solidly blue rust belt turning very purple over the past 50 years, and a state of coal miners like West Virginia becoming blood red.
No doubt. People live and die in the hear and now. Its just frustrating how normal the idea that automating or making things more accessible means that it might ruins peoples lives. Like what a nutty notion, only made possible by the disconnect.
But the thing is, we don't have to replace Joe with a robot.
The hard part about being a bricklayer is having to make cement, carry that cement in buckets, carry concrete blocks, amongst other things that I don't even know (I watched my father in law working a few times).
Why can't we just replace the "heavy" part with robots?
Let's use robots to our advantage, but keep people doing jobs they actually like.
Honestly, stuff like underwater welding should be done by robots. Stuff like that is so unbelievably dangerous. I could see a lot of dangerous jobs getting swapped over to robots (bomb defusal, hotwork, chemical processing or oil rig repairs when the plant is shut down, etc).
Having an interesting conversation with someone you just met. I see people do this shit all the time and they make it look like it comes naturally but every time I'm in that situation it is so difficult. Its like a series of quick time events that im severely underprepared for
It really depends on the person, you have to have some sort of jumping off point. Whether that is sharing something in common with someone or having cool hobbies.
I think this is the biggest myth of conversation. People always tell you to search for people whom you share something in common with, but the reality is that nearly everyone shares something in common and there’s no reason to go searching for it.
The key to a good conversation with a stranger is to initially do two things: 1. Ask details about the stranger and 2. Intertwine that with yourself in some way. You don’t even need to share this part.
Good conversations have these things I’ll call “footholds” where you intentionally give each other details shortly after meeting in order to create those ties in conversation. If you ask where someone is from, you should shortly offer up where you are from as well. Or if you ask about a hobby, offer a light comparison to your own.
Once you have enough of these footholds, the conversation should flow freely. If it ever doesn’t, ask the stranger more about themselves. And trust me, just be interested in what they say.
As a general rule, I don't like apps. I like to have as much web traffic as possible routed through my browser, which I can then use to block cookies, trackers, etc. Generally speaking, apps are much worse on privacy.
Yeah I'm with you there in most cases but I can't get videos to upload with anything. Five different devices, four different OSes, three different browsers, two different Lemmy instances, and even a VPN to bypass my own firewall and yet I still get nothing but JSON partridge in a fucking pear tree parsing errors when trying to post videos.
Your dogs are so cute! I love the upside downness. How often do you groom them? They look very clean. I've got a hairy dog and I really should be taking her to the groomers every week, but it's so expensive.
Thanks! The only thing I do for them regularly in terms of grooming is to cut their nails. They get baths if they're dirty or smelly but they've never had a haircut. Short-haired breeds are awesome.
I'm not perfect at it, but what helps me is that I genuinely love to learn and I like to take the opportunity to learn from people when I meet them. I just need to find an entry point (job, hobby, something the person is knowledgeable about) and then I start asking questions, and applying the limited knowledge I might already have on the subject.
With short interactions with people that are working (supermarket, bank, restaurant, phone assistance) I usually go for empathy, and overall just being nice. When one comes to me I go for a joke to brighten their day a bit.
Parenting. Before I had kids I was often judgmental of parents, but now I've realized all the things I didn't take into account and all the things you just don't have control over. In my case, I was not expecting to be a single parent, there was the pandemic, and I did not factor in how impactful the lack of sleep and autonomy would be.
Even without suddenly becoming single, or a pandemic, or anything, being a parent isn't something that can be explained to someone who hasn't experienced it, IMO. You can use words to explain, that you think are accurate. But it just has to be experienced to fully understand. The fatigue, the change in stress levels, the amount of time you lose. Conceptually not hard to grasp. But the way it feels, different story. "Wow, this is worse/more than I thought."
But given all that, it's also hard to explain that it's all worth it. One of the best things about being a parent right now for me personally, is watching my kids learn everything for the first time, and the wonders of learning, beaming from their eyes. It's such a privilege being the one to have a chance to teach them a bunch of things. Being a role model, being someone with whom they build trust.
Also walking into their room after they've fallen asleep and watching two absolute gigawatt units expend their energy non-stop all day, now completely still (and silent, JFC), and just so peaceful. Their eyes just two lines, rather than two open balls all day. Adorable.
Once they become teens, the joy is in seeing them realize how much they don't yet know. It happens rarely, so make sure to document it.
Nothing is more entertaining than being a parent.
There is also nothing to explain the disassociative feeling of having them kidsplain to you things that you taught them, or were actually there for. It's like, dude, you didn't know how to wipe your own bum until I taught you. I think I have a handle on 9/11, liberal vs. conservative politics, the Cold War, collapse of the Soviet Union, or how to drive/ shop for groceries/ pay taxes/ vote/feed my dog/apply a bandaid, or whatever thing you think just came into existence because you learned it.
lmao that's funny. Yeah this is already somewhat the case with my 3 and 4 year old. Even sometimes when they were 2. They'll tell me things I told them, repeatedly. Things they learn in preschool. Things that they make up on the spot that are completely untrue bullshit. And you'll just go "oh really, wow, how interesting". It's all about sharing with each other at this point lol. Everything doesn't have to be exactly right or true. I'm trying to remember that because my oldest is a bit of a know-it-all. Trying to prevent further damage to him being a little annoying prick with that behavior. 😆 Especially towards the younger one.
you didn’t know how to wipe your own bum until I taught you. I think I have a handle on 9/11, liberal vs. conservative politics
I agree completely with the one exception being the current aging generation that is so completely brainwashed by Murdock et al, that think the working class are the badies, among other misconceptions...
I went through Army training where they intentionally deprive you of sleep for 9 weeks, and I had still never been as tired as I was the first 6 months of parenthood. I didn't know that you can get that tired and still be alive.
I have a friend with kids. I'm also an aunt. I think it's absolutely fantastic when people can be parents, but I also don't at all understand how anyone is capable of doing that shit. I'm more than capable of briefly watching and playing with kids for several hours at a time, but not caring for them 24/7 forever.
It's especially wild to me when parents basically explain to me that they are constantly legitimately going through extreme suffering in what you describe in your first paragraph.
But then they tell me how literally suffering 24/7 is somehow all worth it to them and it makes even less sense. I'm guessing there's some sort of hormonal thing going on to trick the brain into giving periodic happiness episodes in the middle of what sometimes seems to be flat out torture.
😆 Sounds very accurate to a normal parental experience indeed.
I don't know if it's necessarily hormonal. I mean... Everything brain related is, perhaps. I don't know about such things. But it's mostly for me about how beautiful it is to have such a purely innocent being put their full trust in you and love you unconditionally (whether by instinct or not). You get to have an extremely tight emotional bond with someone who is completely dependent on you, and that really sharpens your morals. It grows you the fk up. You start having a lot more empathy, even if you thought you had a lot of it before.
It just changes you, completely. Like, I've explained it now, in some pretty well-chosen few words, but there's still this explanatory gap here that will never be bridged by words, only through experience. It's... hard to explain. 😅
You even feel a little conned, sometimes. Always tired, annoyed, want to be alone, stuff like that. Then when the kids are away for a day or more, "I miss them". Like what the actual F. 🤡 Am I infested with brain parasites or am I a parent?
My mom told me she used to judge the parents in the shops with screaming kids, we didn't do that and she thought it was her excellent parenting. She said "Then God gave me Janet" to cure her judgemental hubris, lol.
Nobody is a good parent all the time, we aren't robots and exhaustion is such a drain on intelligence and compassion. But most of us are good parents enough of the time, thankfully.
I was one of those rare, quiet kids, so until my brother was born my parents were just reinforced in their belief that other parents were just shitty parents.
And those people in comments that are always shitting on parents? Wait until you see what they look like and how they live. Often the most outrageous comments are made by the most outrageous people.
I can't even conceive of the lack of sleep. Like I'll miss out on a few hours and feel like death, but staying up an entire night? And then having to drive, with a sick kid in the car?
But I mean ultimately I don't want kids of my own, so I don't have that internal ember to stoke my motivation. But man, parents must really want it to go through all that I see them doing.
Anyway hope things are going alright for you. One of the nice things is that it can (generally) get easier over time, and then eventually you have a new adult family member that you helped make :)
I'm really struggling with this right now. I've joined to some new interest groups, but everyone including myself, seems so guarded, every time I leave feeling like I've failed a barrage of social aptitude tests. I feel like so many adults have baggage that by 40 they're spring loaded to overreact and overthink, they come across as unapproachable. Or maybe I'm awful, which is what keeps kicking around in my head.
You're not awful. It can be very hard, especially if you aren't outgoing by nature. Doubly especially if you don't have an identifiable "thing" for people to know you by.
The best I've done is let people know my interests, and my values, and just generally who I am . People who are on the same sine will gravitate to you, while everyone else will rightfully treat you like a weirdo.
Thank you for your kind words. Logically I know I am not awful as I have friends and try to act with kindness every day. But when you seem to be the common denominator it can be hard not to think you are the reason. I've read you aren't supposed to talk about yourself a lot, that it can be off putting. I try to use approachable body language, actively listen, remember when someone tells me things about themselves, but I am so in my head with social interactions I know I am coming off real weird, like I was raised in a cave. It'll be ok ; I can always get more dogs to hang out with.
I relate to that. Actually you sound like you're more on the ball then me. I would describe most of my social interactions as going 50% or lower than an imagined ideal, and even when things go perfectly I'm wracked by "cringe attacks" for weeks. But I would still consider myself to me thriving.
Maybe you don't relate to the above, but I think social life is just harder for some of us. If you can keep a conversation going by contributing anecdotes and recalling details about the person, that's incredible! People who can do that seem like superheroes to me.
I'll wade into a social situation but then just be like uhhh what now? I feel proud if I can just remember someone's name, let alone remember to talk about something other than myself.
Anyway I don't feel bad for myself lol. My point is that maybe we do alright. Maybe we're just overthinkers.
Socializing. Things to say in a conversation don't come to me naturally like they seem to do with other people. Often people remark it's like talking to a wall because I don't know how to come up with an answer to their open questions on the fly. And without that, they see no foundation to build friendship on.
It helps if you realize that most people are delighted to talk about themselves, if you can find the right angle. They may be passionate about cars, or gardening, travel, their children.
Also realize that most people have spent a lot of time doing whatever they do, and there are things they know about it that few other people do.
For example, someone who works in a laundry might have insights into the laundry business, or the people who come in late at night or the values of different kinds of detergent.
Someone who works at a mall may well know things about them all that you don't. There may be aspects to their job that they find challenging or painful.
I seem unable to care much about other people (not officially diagnosed on the spectrum, but it seems obvious to most people who know me), but I am interested in the insights they can give me, and I genuinely want them to be happy.
Having a conversation like that also beats sitting around awkwardly.
Not necessarily but a bunch of political commentators sure like to act like it is whenever they're complaining about something the current admin isn't doing or that it is doing but under legal obligation.
This SO much. I was involved some years ago with a non profit, run by a guy with significant personal wealth. He burnt through nearly a million bucks, and did manage to get some change to happen , but it was incredibly difficult and incredibly slow, even with the backing and support of a number of other wealthy and connected individuals plus mass public support as well.
A tip one contractor passed on to me when caulking: use pieces of toilet paper to smooth it out after applying. You won't get your fingers gunked up, and toilet paper's cheap enough that you can use a bit to smooth off a few inches of caulk and throw the paper away.
Think I got through half a roll when sealing up a window frame a couple years back, looks great.
With silicone the proper way is to first wipe the surfaces clean with acetone. Then apply a thick bead of silicone making sure it sticks to both surfaces with no gaps (very important), doesn't need to look pretty. After that you spray it with soapy water which prevents it from sticking where you don't want it to and then use a wet/soapy popsicle stick (or a dedicated tool) to scrape off the excess. After that you can spray it again and super gently pull your finger over it to smooth it out. Should come out looking something like this.
I've gotten good results doing caulking like this aswell but some people say that acrylic caulk may react with the water/soap and you should instead use a dedicated tooling agent.
Watched dudes install a countertop. Apply caulk, one wipe, beautiful. After countertop installed I put in trim (it's a window to a patio) and need to caulk literally a straight fucking line six inches long. Caulk, wipe, looks like ass. Great work!
Cutting the caulking tube tip is very important. If all the gaps are big, cut it so the hole is big. If they are small, cut it small. Cut it at an angle because you don't use it straight on. If it is water based, have a bucket filled with water and a couple drops of dish soap. Put one or more rags in the water depending on how much caulking you have to do. The water and soap are there so it won't stick to your hand and fingers as badly. Keep as clean as you can.
I used to have to use cases of white lightning to caulk millwork and French doors on new McMansions several times a week.
If it's not water based, use acetone or denatured alcohol depending. The tip cutting is still very important no mater what solvent or water is being used. Too small is better than too big.
Put in my own dog door, I've used this stuff once before and thought I remembered how much comes out when you barely press. And then how much it expands.
That was a year ago and I swear sometimes it's bigger than it was before, still
Knitting. Always see people do it on the subway or watching tv without paying attention or trying. Spent a few hours trying to learn once and couldn't do it.
Crochet for me. It took me forever to figure out how to do it - to even get one simple stitch done. Somehow I figured it out but it's still really hard
No, socialism is a set of ideals, beliefs and values as well as a system (you can't have a system without the idea behind it afterall). It's perfectly reasonable to convert someone into believing in a set of ideals, beliefs and values.
True. But hardly relevant. To convert someone to something is a perfectly fine grammatical usage. Another example would be when people say they converted to Christianity.
Try talking to a socialist about something you disagree with then u will understand why people don't want it be socialist. I'll give u a hint its not necessarily the ideas of socialism most of the time its the people promoting them u willing to to even entertain an opposing idea.
As a member of the democratic socialist party I often am out speaking to people and for the most part I receive a sincere and accepting response from the regular public, but sometimes I will speak with a working class right winger and they either dont want to know or regurgitate false information usually of the fear mongering verity so I dont think people are put off due to members, not saying it never happens where a member has put someone off but I can't imagine it to be all that regular.
Well I'm not nessasarilly talking about you just a general thing I've noticed. Some socialists great we disagree its a civil discussion we both learn something about the others perspective. Most unfortunatly ends up with me being called racist or sexist or homophobic or transphobic or a Nazi for controversial beliefs such as equality of opportunity and being opposed to equality of outcome.
Why would you be apposed to equality of outcome? Don't you think the homeless on the streets deserve a liveable life, or the African Americans a way out of repression, and women should be able to walk home at night with out fear of rape. Then internationally the poorer country's having their resources plundered by the capitalist while the residents have no education or clean water, hospitals, this all allowing the rich to live exceedingly extravagant lives.
I doubt your racist or a Nazi but rather poorly information in socioeconomic and the greater reach capitalism has in devastating lives.
Because equality of outcome is guaranteed to breed inequality. We will see the same effects as the soviet union of people taking advantage of the system because why put any effort in if it doesnt make ur life any better. Ur point about no education that most certainly isn't equality of oppertunity educate them abolish private funding of schools etc. Health care I would also argue is equality of oppertunity. Is this not a socialist idea itself?
I don't think I'm poorly informed I simply think that socialist ideals are exactly that ideals. I guess I simply prefer to live in reality.
Equality of opportunity does not work, the richest 1% continue to get richer year over year whilst the poorest get poorer and this isn't a slogan this is a real statistic we can see. Even the middle classes are entitled to less now and the trend will only continue. Then we have inherited wealth, people tend not to work for they're fortune its often inherited.
So if the intention of equality of opportunity is to bring prosperity than its failed the largest percentage of people. Really I think its a way for people to say "well we tried, we gave them the opportunity" and in that way they can sleep at night.
The USSR took place 1922 to 1991 where homelessness fell drastically, literacy bloomed to near 100%, people who'd only heard of electricity suddenly had electricity, 'diets became much better as well as food portions' (this is power phrased from a leaked FBI document which detailed nutrition being better of an american), work was a given thing if someone was of ably body and mind they'd have a consistent job. In truth the USSR worked amazingly at points, especially considering the state it came from, they skipped capitalism and were feudal before the revolution so had no modern infrastructure like farm equipment, industry and others.
The USSR was a messy thing and to understand the full context would take a lot of explaining, inside the politburo there were bad actors for sure but externally the USSR had to deal with Americas mccarthyism and strong arm tactics, setting nukes on the Russian border or training and supplying arms to terror organisation to economically drain the USSR which the damage can be seen current day in the middle east and even in the USA and Russia with the opioid crises.
But the best part is that once the USSR crumbled we'd like to think the victory of capitalism lead to prosperity and liberation of Russia but the standard of living has dropped, social housing is now privately owned and rented at prices most can't afford, the average age has declined in Russia, dietary standards have dropped, domestic abuse risen, education levels fallen.
With your last statement I'm sure the feudalist said the same to early capitalism.
The rich get richer and the poor get poorer because we don't have equality of oppertunity. Still if u worked for ur fortune or not do u really want to take that oppertunity away from everyone else?
Again we do not have equality of oppertunity nor is the ideal of it even particularly tied to capitalism. But we didn't give people the oppertunity we didn't give them a fair chance anyone who pretends we did is either stupid or promoting a straw man.
As for everything u said about the USSR stop sucking the dick of a dead empire.
Maybe social standards dropped cos of a dictatorship not capitalism but who knows. From my understanding there are many nations that had and continue to have far better standards than the soviet union and well all of them are capitalist.
Then again I'm not arguing for or against capitalism or socialist/communist just that we should be willing to accept ideas from both and incorporate them to build something better.
Looks like an incredibly simple project for a beginner woodworker, doesn't it? Get some nice wood, rout in a rabbet for the glass/art/backing, rout on a nice decorative profile, then set your miter saw to 45 degrees and make 8 miter cuts, apply some carpenter's glue then wrap it in a band clamp. What's so tough?
I'll tell you what's tough: the precision with which those miter cuts must be made is exceptionally fussy. Say each cut is a quarter degree off. Well, after eight cuts that's two degrees of error. Three of the joints will look fine, the last one will look like an axe wound.
The issue isn't making the cuts at 45°, it's making them at 45.0000°. Or, more realistically, making them truly complementary.
This same issue applies to moldings around cabinetry, with the added bonus that the carcass of the cabinet won't let any of the joints close tightly, so they all look like trash.
I'm not a woodworker, but this is the reason I always finish with sanding. You can sand sand sand, check... sand sand sand, check... Just repeat that 500 times and you're done!
I don't work in a kitchen but notice many people take it for granted. If someone is on crutches, people won't see the irony in saying "pick up that heavy object and put it in the oven". Hence all those old graphic kitchen accident commercials.
They're like stilts people with leg handicaps use to move around. You may have seen someone use them in school if they injure themselves. If you're using them, your hands aren't exactly free enough to toy around in a kitchen setting.
I know what crutches are and how they work, I've had to use them before.
If someone is on crutches, people won't see the irony in saying "pick up that heavy object and put it in the oven".
This is what I'm confused about. Do you mean people would ask someone using crutches to put something heavy in an oven without taking into account they're using crutches?